Wednesday, December 14, 2011

18th Entry

Bouncing around in the back of the truck surrounded by soldiers all having trained for years for the moments they were in I couldn't help but feel like a fraud a fake, but Bodies is what they needed and we were willing to shoot at the "things". I sat in anticipation for the next chapter in this crazy life I was now in , but was thankful I at least had a chance to go on unlike the people who I had met and seen become victims along the way. Not to mention the people who were just chalk outlines at this point. The thought of the last few days were rolling thru my head and I closed my eyes searching for that sandy beach in the land of dreams . I was in a happy place, waves crashing in slowly , people in bikinis and drinking their umbrella drinks. It would make me think , maybe out there in a place like Hawaii or Puerto Rico this had not spread , maybe there was a chance for that day on the beach. It sure would be nice I thought , to just get in a boat or a plane if they even had any , and just go where the world was still civil and not this.

The soldier in front of me ruined my dream like state and tapped me . I opened my eyes and looked at him in a stare only equaled by a possum at night. He stuttered a bit and then said " you seen any action lately'?
Me and the man who were posing as soldiers started laughing in a murmur sort of way almost like condescending. I leaned over to the soldier knowing now I was actually in my element more than initially thought and said "I've had blood on me from people I love and people I never knew and children too, if you haven't seen any action just remember , do not hesitate or you are dead". Then I leaned back , the poor guy looked like he was about to crap himself. I didn't realize the soldiers were unaware of what was out there I mean how could you be a soldier and not know? Then the man leaned into me and said "sorry I haven't been out there the soldiers rescued me and dropped me on this truck and said to start fighting".

My face dropped, and as I looked around I noticed everyone in the back of that truck was staring blankly back to me and the soldier with the same frightened eyes. I said at the top of my voice shy of yelling "who in here has never been in the military and was given a gun to fight tonight"? Everyone slowly started raising their hands."who here has fought with the "things"? All of the hands went down. Just great , me and my sidekick here were the only battle hardened vets in this brigade of posers and I was nervous.

Fish looked at me and smirked and whispered " looks like we jut got drafted in the dead meat infantry". I smirked back and said "no we got drafted into the watch the dead meats die infantry". We both chuckled and then another man in the nose of the truck said to us" this isn't funny were all going to die aren't we"? I looked him right in the eyes and stopped smiling and said in my best tough guy movie scene"we all have to die sometime man, just make sure you look cool doing it". I knew I piece mealed that together from a bunch of bad tough guy movies but off the cuff it worked and made everyone shut up for a moment. I felt this was a band of misfit survivors who just wanted to be saved and instead were stuck into camo and handed guns. I made a play for the leadership role by standing up somewhat and addressing the men.

"Men this isn't what any of us wanted , we all wanted to be safe to go to a base and just be told we were safe. Nothing out there is safe and no one is while they are out there. You have been given a chance to fight back and save someone like yourself, someone somewhere frightened hoping someone like you will come and take them to safety. If you want to curl up and cry that's fine you will likely die doing it. If you want to be known for what you have done with you life to this point go ahead and fetal it up. I myself am going to start to make a new story for myself a story that doesn't start with , He hid and made it thru, instead it will say he got up brushed himself off and handed those THINGS out there their asses". "You have to decide how you want your story to end, is it here is Jon he sold fax machines and was eaten or here is Jon he was the man who saved hundreds of people from death and never faltered or wavered when his life was in jeopardy". "no matter who you were , you are no longer that person, your Christmas tree this year will not be surrounded by loved ones, you are now in survival mode, are you a bad mofo? or dinner? the choice is yours." "Just let me say being experienced from the past few days if you hesitate for a second or loose track of your ammo or get backed into a corner you will die, it's not a question of when, or if ,but how, these "things" do not stop coming or trying and only a head shot like all the classic zombie movies will kill them, shut down the brain and shut down the monster".

One man on the left side of the truck raised his voice and asked"how did this happen"? I looked back and said with an authoritative tone "So far as I have seen and heard no one knows and it doesn't matter how at this point all we need to know is they will not die from mortal wounds just brain trauma and they infect you thru biting like rabies." It was like the entire truck did a collective swallow. Fish stood up and added " I fought side by side with this man this evening and we took down four or five dozen of those monsters and they had another four or five dozen behind them, if you think you can hold them off you can't not when there is a mob of them, don't make any more noise than you have to and if it feels like your losing ground retreat, it isn't being a coward its simple math, we watched an infantry of trained man loose ground and a few of them stayed the course too long".

Just as he finished his speech it dawned on me that the infantry we were saved by that held the line too long was very possibly an infantry like this, maybe that's why they held too long maybe they were a band of saved men who were given uniforms. My stomach felt like it had lead in it and the dire situation was beginning to look even worse. I started to think aside from the man in charge of each infantry the drivers were the only other soldiers, and if so how did they loose so many soldiers they were make shift drafting us? what happened to narrow the militarise numbers so quickly?

My thoughts were wandering and after the speech I had made myself feel better about the situation I was now feeling worse. I didn't have long to worry , just as I had my head spinning the truck came to a stop and we heard from the cab " alright men get your gear and jump out were here". I grabbed my gear and me and Fish went for grenade's and a few flares and then headed to the back. Neither of us was prepared for what we were jumping out into.

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