Rend, page 23
“Yeah,” she muttered dejectedly and gently pushed Steve from behind to indicate that she was ready to go. She felt like her mistake just signed their death warrants.
*****
18 June, 0919 hrs local
FBI Forward Field Headquarters
Quantico, Virginia
Reston sat in the Emergency Operations Center and watched the activity around him. Immediately after calling the director, he’d initiated an emergency recall of the EOC personnel. Given the time of day, the emergency recall amounted to a one-hour early report for the officers and technicians who would have reported as normal at 9 a.m. today.
He’d gotten a phone call from Ryan Blackhurst thirty minutes ago stating that he’d made radio contact with a female on Allyson’s mask frequency. The sound was so distorted that he hadn’t been able to fully understand what she’d said though. There had been a few transmissions between the two and he was positive that she said they were inside Fort McHenry, which would have made sense given the IR satellite video that Reston had seen earlier during the search of the helicopter crash.
When the EOC workers began to report, he’d been able to task a medium-sized Shadow UAV for overflight of the area from the US Army. Reston had hoped for something smaller that the Army would allow to operate at a lower elevation, but the range of the smaller, less expensive craft meant that they couldn’t make the fourteen miles from their base of operations just north of The Wall to the Baltimore Harbor. The RQ-7B Shadow could fly at just over fifty feet above the ground for about six hours at a stretch, which should suit his needs well enough.
“Mr. Reston, the drone is coming up to the harbor now.”
“Thank you, Michael,” he responded and focused his attention on the live video feed displayed on the large center screen near the bottom of the stadium-style EOC.
The brown water flew by rapidly below the aircraft as the operator maneuvered down the Chesapeake from the north and was set to begin the turn over the fort. The operator had taken his request literally, flying at exactly fifty feet above the surface of the water. Mist obscured the image slightly, but not as much as it had on the satellite imagery, which wasn’t able to penetrate the dense fog at all.
The image skewed slightly as the drone banked westward toward the fort. It reminded Reston of a virtual reality ride he’d once taken with his children that simulated a roller coaster in space. It wasn’t a pleasant memory since his son had thrown up about halfway through and there was no way to end the ride quickly. The airspeed indicator slowed several knots as the Shadow passed from over the water to the land. Several green splotches indicated that the grass was finally beginning to return to the park surrounding the fort after acid rain killed it during the first few months after the blast.
The helicopter wreckage passed rapidly below the UAV’s camera. Bodies were strewn about in all directions. Too many to be just from the helicopter crash, but Reston’s analysts in the EOC were recording the footage and would be able to view it frame by frame to determine what that meant. The mist had burned off slightly as the morning began to heat up, but it was enough for the deputy director to see hundreds—if not thousands—of zombies milling around outside the fort.
He cursed slightly under his breath about the zombies and then out loud as the UAV passed over the earth-covered walls of Fort McHenry and the courtyard came into view. It was also teeming with the goddamned things. They’d broken in and there was no way that the two survivors were alive.
“Wait, what was that?” one of the officers asked.
“What did you see?” Reston demanded.
“I don’t know. Can we back up the feed a few seconds?”
Reston nodded and Michael tapped a few keys. The live feed shifted to the right secondary screen and the main screen showed the paused camera feed. Michael backed the image up slowly until the officer yelled, “Stop!”
Everyone in the room squinted to figure out what he’d seen. “Okay, advance it a few frames. Right there. What the hell is that?” he asked and pointed toward the center of the screen where the top of a figure’s head and part of its naked body could be seen moving rapidly under the cover of a building’s covered patio.
“I think I know what it is,” the deputy director said as he examined the Type One on the screen before him. “That’s one of the original Pentagon zombies. They look different than the others. The military assured us that they’d killed them all.”
Reston pointed toward his communication chief and said, “Get that pilot on the phone, see if he can angle in lower and slow down.”
He watched the man for a moment talking on the phone before the commo officer answered, “Sir, he says that he can’t fly any lower or else he’ll risk hitting power lines and he’s at his minimum safe speed to keep the drone aloft. This close to the ground the images are going to fly by fast, but if he was higher up he’d be able to stabilize the camera on a certain area.”
“That damned fog is keeping us from doing that! My satellites in space could have done it if it wasn’t for the fog,” Reston snapped in frustration. He made an effort to calm himself down and then continued, “Okay, tell the operator to keep flying around so we can get as much intel as we can before he has to return for fuel.”
The implications of a Type One in Baltimore were serious. That meant that there were probably more of them out there. Hank Dawson had said that the creatures learned a lot over the few months of the war. What had this one learned in five years? The director would need to know about this as well and she’d want a full briefing prepared so she could go to the Joint Chiefs and the president with the discovery.
His hand hovered over the phone when Chris, the satellite imagery specialist who’d so unwisely taken a smoke break with Michael earlier, yelled out, “I have two heat signatures that just emerged out of nowhere on the southern side of the fort near the water.”
“Bring it up on the main screen,” Reston ordered.
Two human-shaped heat signatures were running along the southern shore of the peninsula toward the west. They were crouched over and clearly trying to hide from the creatures that infested the park around the fort. Reston ordered the satellite imagery operator to zoom in, but the figures’ posture made it impossible to tell if either of them was a woman.
“Have the drone pilot fly over that area, but make sure he doesn’t stay in one area too long and alert the zombies’ attention,” the deputy director told his communications officer.
“Roger, relaying that now,” the man answered. “Should be coming on screen… Now.”
“Shit, switch back to the live feed from the Shadow.”
“Got it boss,” Michael replied.
The center screen once again displayed the video feed from the drone as it circled out to the end of the peninsula and then headed westward along the southern shore. Through the swirling mist, the camera showed two people up ahead running along one of the fort’s pathways. A few skeletal trees concealed them, but not much else. The second figure stood up and turned around to look directly at the drone as it flew low overhead. The person started to wave their hands above their head, but the UAV had already passed over before the motion could be finished.
“Rewind and then replay that person slowly,” Reston said.
The video rewound a few frames and then began moving forward. Michael paused without being told and zoomed in on Allyson’s face.
“That’s our girl!” Reston stated as a small cheer went up around the room.
“Where’s her mask?” the same officer who’d noticed the Type One asked.
“She doesn’t have it,” the EOC’s chemical specialist said. “We need to be prepared for radiation poisoning in both her and that other fellow.”
“Got it, let the hospital know. We’ll send in a team right away to get them,” Reston answered.
“Mr. Reston,” Chris bellowed. “I don’t know what happened, but now they’re running at full speed toward the city,” he stated as he watched the satellite’s infrared imagery scroll by on his monitor.
“Re-tasking the UAV,” the commo officer announced.
“Go back to live feed,” Reston directed.
The Shadow flew rapidly across the same area that it had just flown over and a mob of undead pursued the two survivors. They streamed through the dead tree line and followed up the path after the retreating figures. “Shit. How do we get in contact with them?” Reston asked. “I need answers, people. Now!”
He was met with blank stares as he watched the live drone feed of Allyson and her companion. They entered the neighborhood that edged its way onto the peninsula and passed out of the EOC’s view.
NINE
18 June, 1856 hrs local
Rocky Mount Backpacking retail store
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Asher walked into the stockroom to see if they had the size six waterproof hiking boot that the customer had requested. He was about two hours into his four-hour shift, three with customers on the sales floor and one replenishing the stock after the store closed for the night. He was having a good time helping outfit customers for their summer outdoor adventures, even if Allyson’s mission distracted him somewhat.
He stepped up to the metal shelves and scanned the contents. There was one pair left in the chocolate brown that the girl out front wanted so he grabbed the box and checked his watch again. Allyson had been on the mission for about twelve hours, but it was only supposed to have taken two. He was no stranger to screw-ups in mission timelines so the tardiness itself didn’t bother him. It was the fact that he hadn’t heard anything from her about a delay that got on his nerves.
He walked out of the back and presented the box of boots to the young coed. “Here you go, Kendra. Why don’t you try these on and see how they feel.”
She took them from him and set the box on the floor. “You know, a few of us are going out to the creek tonight. You should come with us.”
Asher laughed and replied, “I’m way too old for that!”
“No way. How old are you, like thirty or thirty-five?”
“I’m just shy of fifty. I’m too old to go to a college party, Kendra.”
Her eyes bugged out of her head, “Wow, you’re in great shape for such an old guy!”
“Gee, thanks,” he said giving her an offended look.
“Oh! I’m sorry, Asher. I didn’t mean that. It’s just, you were in undergraduate classes with me, I just thought you were… a lot closer in age to us.”
He smiled, “It’s okay. I’m not offended, just playing around with you.” Asher pointed to the boot she clearly hadn’t placed on her foot yet and asked, “Do those fit you alright?”
Kendra quickly placed the boot on her foot and laced it up while he laced the second one and handed it to her. After a moment she stood and walked around. “Yeah, I like ‘em. They feel really good.”
“Great, want me to box them up for you or do you want to wear them out?”
She looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a spaghetti strap tank top and cutoff jean shorts that were so short the pockets were hanging below the cut line. “I don’t think they go with my outfit, but yeah, I’ll take ‘em.”
He crouched down on one knee to help her pull the boot off when his phone rang. He glanced at the readout and said, “I’m sorry, Kendra. I really have to take this. Robert will finish helping you out.” He answered his phone and tapped Robert on the shoulder indicating that he should help the girl.
“Hello?” he said as he walked into the stockroom.
“Hawke, its Alistair Reston. Are you somewhere that you can talk?”
“What happened?” He’d been in the game for far too long to misinterpret a phone call from his girlfriend’s boss.
“There was an accident. Both helicopters crashed in Baltimore. Allyson was the only survivor, but she fled into the city to escape a mob of zombies.”
Quick and to the point, same thing I’d have done, he thought. “Okay, she’s still alive. I’m going in.”
“You can’t just go behind The Wall, Asher.”
“Bullshit. There’s no law saying I can’t. I know my way around the military and I’ll get access within a day.”
“Listen, we’re organizing a rescue now. I know I can’t keep you out of the city, so I’m offering you a spot. I need you to get up here as soon as you can.”
“I’ll be there in about three hours.”
“The mission won’t go until tomorrow morning, so don’t kill yourself driving like an idiot to get up here,” Reston admonished.
“You’re waiting until tomorrow morning?” he asked incredulously. “Given the belief that most people don’t make it ten minutes after they’ve been kidnapped and tossed over, don’t you think we should go after her now?”
“The aircraft aren’t available until tomorrow morning,” Reston countered. “We’re still trying to pull our other teams out of the city as we speak and those birds are in need of some maintenance after flying in the radiation all day. Hawke, there’s something else. We know without a doubt that someone helped her out. The person lifted her over the fort’s walls and then they ran with her when the fort was overrun.”
“Someone else helped her out? Are you telling me that there are other people living behind The Wall, Reston?”
“There is another human with her,” the deputy director acknowledged. “We don’t have any idea of who the person is, though. We don’t know if he’s some type of survivalist in the city, an outlaw or someone who’s in the city stealing artifacts like the team at the National Gallery of Art. All we know is that she was a goner immediately after the helicopters crashed and he helped her out. And it looks like he’s still helping her.”
“Where are they now?”
“We don’t know. We tasked the satellite to watch Fort McHenry and were able to see them run into one of the neighborhoods near the fort, but then we lost them. By the time we’d re-tasked the satellite to shift the camera focus, they’d hightailed it far enough away to be outside of our view.”
“Or they were dead and the satellite’s IR couldn’t pick them up anymore,” Asher retorted.
“No, we know from the other members of her team that they’ll show up on IR for a couple of hours after they turn. It takes that long for a body to lose all of its heat completely.”
“So there were other survivors of the crash that didn’t make it into the fort with her?” Asher asked.
“Eight people made it off the first helicopter before the second one crashed into it. The other seven were systematically torn apart as they tried to escape the zombies coming to investigate the fire.”
“I’m sorry, Reston. It’s hard losing people and you lost a lot of them today.”
“Part of the job, Hawke. You know that. I need to go. The mission kicks off at 0500, be here before then.”
“Got it. That’ll give me time to go home and get my weapons.”
“Hawke… Asher, I’m sorry that this happened. It was supposed to be an easy mission.”
“There are no easy missions, Reston. I’ll see you in a few hours.” He hit the end button to hang up his phone and rushed from the back of the store.
“I gotta go, Robert,” he told the shift supervisor that was less than half his age.
“Asher, wait! Who’s supposed to help me stock up?” Robert pleaded.
“Not my problem man, I’ve got an emergency,” he called over his shoulder as he pushed the store’s front door open. “I won’t be in for tomorrow’s shift either.”
Kendra looked at Robert with wide eyes and asked, “Did he just quit?”
“I don’t know,” he replied with a shrug. “Maybe?”
“Cool,” she responded and watched Asher walk to his truck in admiration.
*****
18 June, 2114 hrs local
Federal Hill Neighborhood
Baltimore, Maryland
Their plan was to make it to downtown before tomorrow night and get into a skyscraper somehow before a group of the creatures cornered them and they weren’t able to escape. Steve told Allyson that zombies can’t climb the stairs, but secretly he knew that the other thing could. He’d seen it watching him from that second floor office window a few weeks ago. It just was easier to tell the woman that they couldn’t climb than trying to explain his absolute terror of the creature that they’d seen in the Fort McHenry courtyard.
The agent had traveled beside him in silence for most of the day after they lost contact with the drone. She pretty much went into survival mode and talking wasn’t part of it. Of course Steve knew that he didn’t make it any easier for her to talk to him because his mind kept doing funny things. Sometimes he was brave and felt like he could lead an army in a charge against the zombies, other times he was so scared that he wanted to piss his pants and curl up in the fetal position until everything passed him by. It was strange because his true personality, the one he had before the goddamned mob kidnapped him, was somewhere in the middle of the two and he sure as hell didn’t experience the dramatic mood swings that he had now.
He’d always played it safe. He married his high school sweetheart, went to college and then law school because his mother wanted him to make something of himself. He even attended Mass every Sunday. Where was God now? He wasn’t in Baltimore. The dead ruled this place.
“What did you say?” Allyson whispered.
“Hmm? I didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, you did,” she stated. He could tell that she was staring at him in the darkness of the abandoned house. Her eyesight might not be good enough for travel at night yet, but he’d lived here a long time and had adapted accordingly.
“Sorry, I just had a mental image of something that I thought was funny,” he answered.
“You’ve got to keep it together, man. Talking out loud to yourself is not healthy. Besides, you keep telling me that we need to be quiet and that these things can hear the slightest noise…”
