Time to Move On (Part 2)

Posted on Sat Jun 15th, 2024 @ 9:09pm by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Alonzo Blazevic & René Rouen & Reuben Baptiste & Vienna Quinn & Civilian Thea Matthews

1,967 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Winter is Coming
Location: Outside of Bangor, Maine
Timeline: 6 September 2010 - 9:00 a.m.

Continued

“Of course not” Vienna offered a kind smile. “You were alone, and in your condition that’s not good especially not now! Your baby is the future, you both need to be safe.”

René stepped over to Thea. "You are not a burden Mademoiselle Matthews." He spared a quick glance at her midsection before looking at her face. "Your child is a gift, a sign from God that while there is life, there is hope. Always remember that."

Thea nodded, “I know I should see it that way, but it’s hard when people have to protect me.”

“Your baby is the future, a future we all need right now Thea” Vienna offered a smile. “The way it’s going every woman left will have a responsibility to help start the next generation. I know I’d like to have kids in the future.”

René glanced at Vienna. The two had kissed a handful of times in the last few weeks and she was now saying how she wanted to have children in the future. He gave Vienna a small smile. He didn't say anything, but he was hoping she meant with him...when they found someplace safe and preferably with a priest.

Vienna smiled back, they hadn’t talked much about where they’re relationship was heading but she planned on talking when they were safe again.

Meanwhile, Hale joined the others at the door. "There's a large number of the not-quite-dead nearby. Good news is there's a steep hill between us and them so as long as we're quiet and don't given them any reason to exert themselves, we should be good." He gestured with his free hand toward the door. "What are we looking at in here?"

"Well major, I found the wonderful smell of Eau de dead. Definitely more than what can be accounted for by spoilage of food in the break room. So, it is a case of either suicide by the occupant or occupants, or the 'zombies' created by the virus. I am praying it is the former but given my luck it is more likely the latter. I was just asking mister Blazevic if he was up to helping me clear the room when you approached. It is going to have to be a no firearms situation, as I was telling mister Blazevic." replied Reuben, in a military concise report, as he scratched Kenny's ear with his right hand and fidgeted with his survival axe with his left.

"Alonzo," interjected the man. "Whatever is in there, if it moves I'm going to plunge this knife right into its damn eye socket" said Alonzo. "And I'll keep going until anything not dead enough in there is motionless."

"Works for me," Hale said. "C'mon. There's a large group of the not-nearly-dead-enough not too far from here. Terrain might slow them down a bit but still, I want us to be gone as soon as we can." He opened the door and slid noiselessly into the dealership, gesturing for Reuben to go right and Alonzo to go left while he chose the middle path. Crouched, he moved along the side of a vehicle and saw a series of open offices along one side of the showroom and farther beyond that, what looked to be a seating area.

Crouching. Wonderful thought Alonzo who matched Hale and did as instructed going left in this three pronged advancement. He wanted nothing bad to happen, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was not going to go as well as they'd hope.

Reuben moved forward on his right a pristine forest green 1979 Jeep J-10 and quickly looked in, no bodies, that was good. On his left a pristine powder blue 1967 Ford Sport Bronco, a quick glance showed no bodies.

Hale moved up slowly, checking the cars which were unlocked and empty, and then, as he moved past the second vehicle, he saw them. The back door was propped open and it looked as though someone was preparing to leave. The not-nearly-dead-enough, well, they were clustered around a pair of suited corpses. He gestured toward Reuben and Alonzo, pointing to the dead-ish and gesturing for them to move up with him.

He then noticed Hale making a gesture toward the undead. Reuben saw what Hale was wanting to do and moved forward, his target would be a blonde female crouched down over some unfortunate individual.

Alonzo continued moving as Hale instructed or rather directed like he were conducting an orchestra. Alonzo looked over at Hale and made a stabbing motion as if to ask if they should attack them.

Hale gave the 'go' sign to both Alonzo and Reuben and then moved up. The trick was to take them down quickly without letting them get too close. He opened two car doors, one on either side of him, creating a narrow funnel and then stood up and whistled. The dead turned toward him and began shuffling toward him. The idea was for Reuben and Alonzo attacking from the sides, and him from the front and when the first one reached the opening, he took it down with a knife to the temple creating a block that would make it harder for the next one to get near him.

Reuben was ready for Hale to signal the 'go' sign. When whistled Reuben was already in motion. The creature in front of him was once a blonde female wearing a dark grey skirt and a white blouse smeared in blood. As she looked toward the sound of Hale's whistle, Reuben crept up and cracked the back of her skull open with a deadly blow from his survival axe. He was glad he had ordered Kenny to remain with his backpack, one less worry for him.

The next one, trying to avoid the downed guy in the suit, moved a bit to the left and began pushing it closed, so Hale kicked it back open with one foot, causing him to stumble backwards. While he was off-balance, Hale pulled the door shut and took it down with a sharp blade to the temple and when another reached toward him, he kicked out sideways, driving it into the side of the car. "Keep," he growled softly, "your dirty dead hands off of me."

Alonzo had the fortune of his target not facing him, if there was any luck to be had, Alonzo had it in his favor as he proceeded forward to launch his attack on the dead, a reanimated being void of life. With his knife ready Alonzo crept up and sprung. His knife plunging into the eye socket of the dead which quickly lost its animation, going limp and fell.

Reuben took a deep breath and let Hale and Alonzo deal with the last of the not so dead. He made his way forward down a dark hallway. There were three doors; the one on the left had the female stick figure symbol on it, the right the male stick figure sign, the one dead ahead was closed with a sign reading staff only.

Once they were dead, well ,dead again, and please don't let them just stand up and start shuffling again, Hale turned toward Alonzo assessing his condition before gesturing toward the offices. "Let's find some keys."

Reuben decided to check the female restroom first, make sure it was clear and perhaps it would hold feminine hygiene products. He gently pushed on the door and slowly entered, ensuring it did not slam behind him. There were three stalls and Reuben checked all three, empty. As he suspected there on the wall was a dispenser with both tampons and feminine pads. He walked over to the dispenser and quickly assessed it. It would be very easy to pry open with little to no noise. He looked about and saw the trash can with some trash. As quiet as possible he pulled the bag out and gently turned the trash bag inside out, redepositing the garbage in the trash bin. The bag was clean with no obvious particles of harmful nature. He then went to the dispenser and took his survival axe, laid the edge in the seem where the lock was and pried it open. Bingo, it opened up easily with minimum noise. He was able to retrieve 18 tampons and 12 feminine napkins., which he quickly placed in the garbage bag. Well it will help a little he thought as he made his way out of the restroom.

[Meanwhile Outside]

Emma and Vic moved off together and conversed silently. Ethan, watching from his safe vantage point, could tell, even without sound, that the conversation was heated. Finally, the gestures quieted and two seemed to come to an agreement. Jaspar moved to sit quietly at Emma's side as she spared Ethan a slight shrug that carried with it more than a little regret while Vic walked inside the dealership. The conversation with Hale must have been quick and to the point because she was outside again almost immediately, this time with a set of keys in hand. The two headed to the employee lot where they got into a nearly new sedan and drove out of the lot.

[Back in the Dealership]

Hale was sitting at what he figured was the manager's desk; he'd never been comfortable with paperwork or the nine to five routine but this, searching for information was something he understood very well. It hadn't taken long to find the keys and records of the vehicles they had on hand. Four vehicles. All being readied for long-term lease. All, mercifully with full gas tanks.

With Vic and Emma, well, leaving, four vehicles worked. Rene and Vienna in one. Reuben and Thea in another. Alonzo and Ethan with him in the third. Calista and Killian in the fourth. Toyota Highlanders, all of them new this year. He found the keys and went hunting for the vehicles in the lot.

Reuben steeled himself and gently opened the male restroom. He needed to be sure no, zombies, undead, or not-so-dead? he thought about what to call them as he entered. There was the harsh smell of death in the restroom. He girded himself and made sure he had a good grip on his survival axe. He checked the first of three stalls, empty, the second one was also empty. That left the third, a handicap stall, to check. He gently pushed the stall door open and saw the remains of a male, in a business suit, with a female, also in a business suit, in his lap. It appeared that it was a murder-suicide, and sure enough there was a letter and a pistol. Reuben immediately secured the pistol, it was covered in blood and would need to be cleaned. It was a IWI Masada, an Israel made pistol, he ejected the magazine and cleared the chamber, catching the bullet. He sighed and debated whether to also take letter and decided against it. He quietly slide out of the restroom with the pistol, magazine and bullet in his cargo pocket. That left one last door to clear.

He had seen her leave. The girl. And he would follow but first, a parting gift, if you will, for those she had traveled with. It hadn't been difficult to encourage the new citizens of the world to move in the right direction nor had it been hard to open, lesser used, emergency doors to both of the buildings, encouraging their entrance with a bit of food tossed in. Not hard. A close call or two but he liked that. Enjoyed living on the edge. And now, Emma, he thought as he snuck away. Time to reintroduce myself.

 

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