The man knocked Kelly’s M-16 aside and swung his fist into the side of her face. He must’ve thought Caitlyn and Myriah would freeze up. Instead of freezing up they both took a shot at the man attacking their mom. The bleeding soldier fell to his knees from the two close range shots to his torso before curling up on his side crying out in pain. One of the men who’d been backing up the man who attacked them put his hands in the air to show he wasn’t going to try anything. The other one pulled a pistol to shoot back.

  A soldier who’d been standing around watching cracked a baseball bat over the vengeance seekers head before he could pull the trigger. The man dropped to his knees. His gun fell out of his hand and landed on the ground beside him. Kelly recognized the man who’d swung the bat as one of the men who’d been with them when they originally made the trip to the warehouse. She nodded in thanks to him. He smiled and gave her a cheerful wave before stepping forward and kicking the guy in the stomach to make sure he stayed down.

  Janet showed back up at that point with the base commander. He was a skinny man named Frank who’d been a logistics officer in the army. He was used to dealing with getting supplies from point A to point B and not at all sure about how to deal with the mess he walked into on the beach. Janet was busy filling him in on all the details. He spoke briefly to a few of the men who’d witnessed everything. He glanced disgustedly down at the man bleeding out on the beach. A couple of men were working on bandaging him up, but he didn’t look like he was going to make it. The other guy was busy vomiting from the hard kick he’d just taken to the stomach. The concussion from being hit in the head with a baseball bat probably wasn’t helping his nausea either.

  “Is it your fault Marco died?” Frank asked Randy.

  “Yes sir. He tried to help me find my girls. I thought they were lost in the warehouse. He got bitten after we decided they weren’t in there and we should make a run for the boats. He shot himself to avoid turning.” Randy answered simply.

  “Ok. So not really your fault. Just the way this craptastic world of today works. These your daughters who shot this man?” Frank asked looking at the tight knit little family. Both Myriah and Caitlyn still held pistols in their hands. They were leaving them politely pointed at the ground, but they weren’t putting them away yet. Kelly was sporting a bloody nose and a swelling eye. She also had her rifle in her hands. She was holding it casually but that could change in a heartbeat. They were all standing protectively in front of the little girls.

  “Yes, they are. They defended me against a man who struck my wife and was getting ready to kill me in front of them.” Randy answered. Frank nodded in a preoccupied way. He seemed annoyed by the man lying on the beach groaning in pain. The man who’d vomited up hit guts was sitting up now. Someone had taken all his weapons away from him. Frank went around and had some quick conversations with the different men in the circle.

  He must’ve made up his mind because the men who’d assaulted them were all dragged away. The man the girls had shot left a trail of blood in the sand behind him. He’d stopped moaning and moving around. He wasn’t dead yet, but a proactive mortician would go ahead and start getting the formaldehyde and toe tag ready.

  “You guys can take that tent over there. Sorry about the mess and those morons. You don’t need to worry about them anymore. I’ll make sure they don’t mess with you again. We’ll probably be here a week or so depending on how many Zombies show up after all that gunfire. You may actually leave sooner. It just depends when the next patrol comes through. You’re planning on staying in the settlements, right?” Frank asked. Kelly assumed Janet had told him that they were debating if they wanted to stay or not. She looked at Randy hoping this incident hadn’t soured him on staying.

  “I think we’re definitely interested in learning all about it.” Randy said politically.

  “Excellent! I’ll give you guys the rest of the day to get settled in then swing by in the morning to pick up where we left off.” Janet said with a bit too much enthusiasm.

  Chapter 3: The South Will Rise Again

  “Our casualties weren’t as bad this time around. We‘ve been moving men away from the camps to get them positioned to attack the settlements. We should have ground forces in position by the end of the week to start that attack with air support from the drones. The biggest holdup is the armor since it’s harder to transport. We’ve also lost some ground in South Carolina and have to rebuild our supply lines as we go.” Krantz wrapped up his summation. He was in a small room surrounded by wires and cables. He was standing in the middle of the room staring at a large monitor with a web cam on the top of it. The Senator and Sam were both staring back at him from the monitor. The two of them were sitting in space age looking chairs at an expensive conference room table with a pitcher of lemonade sitting in front of them.

  In theory the Senator was still at the underground bunker Krantz had met them at. Knowing how squirrely the Senator was though they could be anywhere. In this post-apocalyptic world complacency killed way more people than heart disease. If you stayed in one place too long the Zombies would eventually come knocking. The senator had to worry about assassins as well as the infected. If the north knew where he was, they’d come knocking with a bunker busting missile. The Senator’s high level of paranoia was completely justifiable.

  “What challenges do you see around us taking North Carolina and Virginia rapidly?” The Senator asked. The sociopathic leader of the New American people didn’t seem to care that they were fighting their way through an ocean of the infected to try and kill other survivors for a bunch of land they had no real use for. On the other hand, Krantz was fully invested in defeating the enemy because the enemy had decided to start bombing the hell out of them. Krantz was the consummate survivor. Cock roaches could learn a lot from him.

  Krantz considered the question posed by the Senator. He’d almost laughed out loud when he’d heard it. There were so many things that could go wrong with this plan. He honestly didn’t even know where to begin. He decided to give a high-level assessment and try to avoid getting into the weeds too much. If he didn’t strike the right note of optimism, he’d be looking for a new job before the meeting was over. The Senator needed someone with a can-do kind of attitude. Doing his best to sound enthusiastic Krantz let his lips start flapping.

  “There are a lot of variables in play. We’re moving a large number of men by foot, motorcycle, and air through a territory with massive herds of the infected. We’re up against an enemy with an unknown quantity of military assets. An enemy who’s already shown they have no problem striking out at us when threatened. We do have more men moving into their territory than they’ll be able to repel if they stick to their current tactics. They think they have a serious aerial fighting advantage, but we have a fleet of drones they don’t know about yet. We’ve got the right game plan to get this done we just need to execute on it. There’ll be setbacks and challenges but at the end of the day we’ll come out on top.” Krantz finished up. He felt like a used car salesman glossing over the fact that the car was missing a tire. He also avoided mentioning that he’d just finished winding the odometer back a hundred thousand miles.

  The Senator seemed satisfied with his answer. He directed Krantz to carry on and let him know if he needed anything to make it happen. They planned a time to communicate again the following week. Krantz was told to check in with Sam daily and give her a full download of what was going on. Before signing off Sam asked Krantz to stand by for another call with her in about an hour.

  Krantz waited outside for Sam to reach back out. He stood inside a fenced in area surrounding a telecommunications fiber relay building. The technicians they’d used to set this site up as an alternative communications center had gone the extra mile and enabled video conferencing over the fiber. Most of the equipment in the small building had been powered down. Power was reserved for the gear needed for the specific things they needed the communications hub to do. Those electronics were all supported by
solar cells and batteries that’d been retrofitted for the site. There was a set of directions written out by the engineers who’d set the place up as to how to power everything on and use it. The directions might as well have been written in Greek as far as Krantz was concerned. He’d happily handed the paper with the cryptic symbols scrawled on it over to the networking nerd on his team. Tom had immediately set to work flipping switches and typing in strings of numbers.

  Tom was inside now waiting for Sam to call back so that he could get the call setup. Once everything was working, he’d exit the building to give Krantz the privacy he needed to maintain operational security. None of the men had an issue with not being trusted to be in the same room during these calls. They all knew if the Senator or any of his informants thought a group of people may have a spy among them that they’d wipe out the whole group. It was a lot healthier to make sure you didn’t know anything you didn’t absolutely need to know.

  The communications hub was on the side of a hill near the border of South Carolina and Georgia. The small building was surrounded by trees. A gravel road ran up to the gate in the fence surrounding the weed covered area around the hub. It was a great place for them to drop in and reach out to the Senator then leave. They’d set the helicopter down about five miles away in a national park. Most of the people who’d made it out of the Iron Eagle outpost were soldiers. Krantz was considering sending them up to take on some special missions for him in Virginia. He needed solid people up there that he could trust. He knew that their leader, Forrest, was capable of thinking for himself. The only reason he hadn’t already sent them was that this detour to talk to the Senator was deemed a higher priority.

  “Sam’s on the line sir.” Tom said holding open the door and waving to get his attention. Krantz walked briskly back into the small building. Sam wasn’t the kind of person you made wait around. Tom escorted him back over to the video unit and made sure the connection was good before leaving. Krantz waited for Tom to shut the door before leaning back against a rack full of equipment and waiting for Sam to ask whatever was on her mind.

  “You want to tell me what you think our actual chances of taking North Carolina and Virginia are?” She asked.

  “We’ve got more men than they do but they have an aircraft carrier. They also have a substantial number of well-trained soldiers. I’d say we’ve got a pretty good chance overall. Especially if they really are loading up the carrier and leaving. If they have an escape route, I say we press them to use it.” Krantz answered.

  “So, your path to victory depends on them shipping out in the very near future? What if they decide to stay?” Sam asked shrewdly.

  “If they decide to stay then this is going to get very bloody very fast. They’ll have the home field advantage which is going to help them substantially. All they have to do is dig in and make a bunch of noise and we’ll be swamped by the infected. They can win the war by setting off some noisemakers. If the battle goes on too long, we’re screwed. We have to hit hard and fast. Unfortunately, Roberts managed to get most of our helicopter pilots blown up so we’re down to trying to hit hard and fast with men on foot. Not ideal.” Krantz stopped talking. He was hoping he hadn’t accidently revealed too much. If he wasn’t careful, he might reveal how he really felt about the whole situation.

  The truth was they were going to be fighting an uphill battle. A battle they’d probably lose unless the settlements did get most of their people evacuated via the carrier. They needed to make it more dangerous for the people living in the settlements to stay than it was for them to hurry up and leave. If that didn’t happen then this was going to quickly become a war of attrition. At some point the soldiers fighting for the Brotherhood might figure out how pointless it all was and rebel.

  “So how do we do better? What do you need?” Sam asked. Krantz squirmed as he walked the tight rope of answering Sam honestly without sticking his head in a noose by over sharing. He needed to come up with some ways to hedge his bets.

  “I need more intel on what they’re planning to do with their carrier. I need more intel on when they’re planning to leave and where they’re planning to go. More air support would help if you happen to have a fighter squadron or two hidden up your sleeve. If we were to give the settlements enough time, they really might just leave on their own.” Krantz answered.

  “I’ll see what we can do about additional air support and get you all the intel we have. I’d recommend you press hard to show some wins soon though. The Senator’s not a patient man. He believes that if we don’t keep expanding, we’ll lose our momentum.” Sam signed off soon after that leaving Krantz to mull over her words and consider his options.

  As a commander he knew the best way to accomplish what the Senator wanted given all the variables was to slow everything down. Rushing their troops north to blindly attack the settlements was a huge gamble. Krantz had rolled the dice and set that all in motion already so he was covered as far as showing the Senator progress. The problems were going to come in about a week if they got bogged down in a long drawn out engagement. There wasn’t much Krantz could do about that though. If he tried to slow the assault down the Senator would just replace him with someone else. With no good options in front of him he found himself running with scissors down the path of least resistance.

  He walked out of the communications building with a heavy heart. The weight of the decisions he was making causing him to pause and reflect on where he’d ended up. His orders were going to result in thousands of people on both sides dying. They’d be dying for no discernible reason other than the ego of a man hiding six stories underground in a bunker far removed from any of the actual fighting. The man in the bunker had a long reach though. It wouldn’t surprise Krantz at all to find out one of his men was reporting directly to Sam. A mole who’d shoot him in the back without hesitation if given the order. Krantz sighed inwardly at his own newly discovered paranoia. Unfortunately, he felt his paranoia was also completely justified.

  Tom secured the communications building after powering down all the equipment and they began the trek back to the helicopter landing area. Krantz was planning on moving his base of operations further north into South Carolina. He hoped the techs had managed to get the communications gear setup there and it hadn’t been blown up during the recent raids. He mostly wanted to get to the base and see if he could drink away some of the self-loathing that was creeping up on him.

  Chapter 4: Suicide Mission

  “I thought you said this was a suicide mission.” Kyler said. He was walking with the chief back across the courtyard after their meeting with the captain.

  “Getting out of bed in today’s world is a freaking suicide mission. Glad you decided to come along. We’re going to need every bit of that luck you seem to have. Your understanding of how the Brotherhood works should help a lot too.” The chief answered.

  “If you’re counting on my knowledge to get us anywhere, you’re going to be disappointed. They’re a lot like us. They move around constantly in small groups. They’re about fifty times more secretive than we are up here. If you’re not involved in an operation, then they don’t tell you about it. They compartmentalize everything. They’re all beyond paranoid about someone being around their top people then defecting.” Kyler stopped talking suddenly when he realized he’d just described his own situation. The chief grinned wryly over at him.

  “I’m thinking that big ass brand on your back is going to be our greatest asset. The rest of us are just a band of looters that’s been ordered to gather ammunition and bring it back to the front. You’re there to make sure we get it done. If you hadn’t showed up, we were going to have to hold down some other poor slob and brand him.”

  “As long as we don’t run into anybody who knows me then we should be good to go. They probably handed out my picture to tons of people when they were trying to track me down.” Kyler said. The chief looked thoughtful at that.

  “I really doubt anyone cares too much about anyth
ing that doesn’t directly impact them. By now your last week’s news buried under a pile of new crap with some other dudes picture smiling up at them. Besides I don’t think they’d have wanted to advertise that a high-level Brotherhood soldier defected. It may give others the same idea. Especially others who don’t necessarily have family being held hostage.”

  “I wasn’t high level. Just another grunt.” Kyler said.

  “Another grunt who was rolling around the country with the guy next in line to lead their military. Plus, as far as I know they don’t just put that brand on anybody. It’s a big deal. Anyway, enjoy the mess hall and your air-conditioned barracks for the rest of the morning. You have training starting at sixteen hundred out on the parade field. You can meet the rest of the team then. Bring your gear with you. We’ll be heading out directly after the training.” The chief said before turning to walk towards the NCO quarters.

  Kyler walked back to his room to pack. He didn’t have any inclination to sit in the room now that he was awake, so he spent a few minutes making sure his gear was ready to go then headed towards the mess hall. He got there right as lunch was starting to be served. He grabbed a plate of pasta with marinara sauce spooned on top of it and headed for a table by the door. He was early so there wasn’t anyone to sit with to pass the time, so he ate quietly by himself instead. He wasn’t even really all that hungry considering the breakfast he’d stuffed down his throat before the morning meeting with the captain. Out in the field he was used to going a day or two in between meals. If he spent too much time here, he was going to turn into quite the spoiled little princess.