The Fall of Bangor (Part 5)

Posted on Thu Feb 22nd, 2024 @ 5:48am by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Vienna Quinn & René Rouen & Victoire Olaffson [Lieutenant, United States Navy] & Emma Lynn Starsky

2,441 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Bangor or Bust
Location: Victoire's House, Safe Zone, Bangor, Maine
Timeline: 4 September 2010 - 06:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Back at the Stratton/Blazevic House

Hale broke apart from Alonzo and headed back to the front door. He opened it without checking, since the not-dead-enough weren't likely to knock (at least so far), and stepped back to let Reuben inside. "Still waiting on Vic," he said. "If she doesn't get back soon, we'll have to track her down."

Reuben nodded his head "Understood, it will give me more time to ensure my improvised spear is going to hold up under pressure." Reuben then walked over to sit down, he had one last task to do with Kenny. He removed his lead and placed it in a saddle bag, he then leaned in close and whispered in Basque "Borroka egiteko garaia da. Kutsatuei kosk ez. Geldi zaitez nire ondoan." ~Time to go into combat mode. No biting the infected. Stay close to me.~ Kenny gave a low growl and licked Reubens left hand then sat down; eyes and ears drawing in his environment. Reuben took the spear he made and reviewed the work he had done.

Hale didn't wait long. The promise of supper and one last evening of normal before they had to leave drove him to his feet almost at once. "Come on," Hale said, as he picked up his gear, "let's go get her. There's dinner waiting after all."

"Sure thing, a meal is always a good way to motivate the troups." with that Reuben got up and went to the door.

It was nice to see the canine was obedient, perhaps more so than these teenagers were. Ethan at least had a good shoulder on his head, and didn't do anything too stupid or reckless. Alonzo had a story to tell, one of survival. Every opportunity he got to write down how events unfolded, he did.

[A Bit Later, Back at Vic's House]

The walk over had been uneventful though things were changing and that was certain. He couldn't have said how much longer this 'safe zone' would actually be safe. Two days maybe. Not much more than that.

He stepped up to Vic's front door and knocked then waited in full view so that she knew it was him and that it was safe to open up.

Vic’s hand shot to her SIG at her hip at the knocking and she went to check, breathing an audible sigh of relief before she both signed and spoke. “It’s Major Hale, he is our friend” She looked to both Vienna and René before descending the stairs and going to the door to open it.

“Major, welcome in. I didn’t realize it had taken so long to familiarize Vienna and René with Emma. How did the search for Ms. Quinn go?” She motioned him inside and pointed to the bedroom at the top of the stairs.

Hale ran his hand through his hair as he said, "you were going to check at the nurses' station. Give us a lead." He paused a second. "But then, I could check with the gate guards see if they know anything."

"Or both. Couldn't hurt to get intel from both sources." replied Reuben.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do” Vienna offered a polite smile. “If I know mum she’ll be busy helping as many as she can.”

“I think René and Vienna are comfortable enough that Emma and them can get along until we get back” Vic chuckled, looking to Vienna and then up the stairs to Emma’s room. “I’ll head over to the Hospital, it’s a quick jaunt and I can leave Jasper here with them” She looked out the still open door and frowned slightly, there was an air growing around Bangor that didn’t sit right with her.

"Let's go then," Hale said. "There's dinner waiting and ... I don't want to leave anyone alone for too long."

Vic stepped fully outside nodding and calling back. “There is plenty of blades and if absolutely necessary there is an extra pistol in the kitchen drawer next to the stove.”

Somewhere in the woods outside Bangor

"Kil, can we stop for the night, or least for a little bit," Calista stated. The tone of her voice was a mix between pain, exhaustion and frustration. No matter how long they had walked in the silence in the woods, everything seemed like it looked like they were going in circles.

"I know you're tired, Cal, but we should get a little bit more ground under us. I've been looking for a place for us to hunker, and either the tree are too tall, or there's not enough ground cover that we could stop and get ourselves protection for the night; not yet at least," Killian replied.

Calista sighed. "This is beyond stupid. Everything looks the same."

"I know. We're far too used to hiking on fixed paths. We're blazing our own trail again," her husband stated quietly, trying to keep an ear on their environment. While he was a far cry from a hunter, they both had picked up habits they didn't know they had over the last couple of days hiking through the wilderness of the woods of Maine.

Scoffing, Calista kept up to him. Everything in her body was screaming. She was hungry as she was thirsty. They had been going through a heatwave the past couple of days. "At least the broiler is turned off," she commented sarcastically. They had lost some ground that day due the rain. They had found some cover that had allowed them to ride out the worse of the storm.

"Yeah," Killian replied. "If this is like our storms, we should cool off for a couple of days. With the nights getting pretty chilly, I think us getting a move on is smarter rather than later."

At least their clothes had mostly dried out by now. "What I wouldn't give for a good ol' transporters, shuttlecraft, or Doctor Bones miracle pills right about now," she joked.

Killian laughed quietly. They had done what they could to remain mostly quiet hiking through the woods. Over the past couple of days they had gotten used to watching their foot falls so that they didn't break so many branches. What wildlife they had found, scattered usually due to something else and not them at this point in time. "If only science fiction was real, suga'. It'd make our lives a whole lot easier, and we wouldn't be in this mess."

"It does seem like we skipped from sci-fi to horror, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Oh for certain. Come on. I know you're ready to call it quits, but I want to find us a modicum of shelter for the night that one of us can take watch while the other sleeps," Killian stated. That's when he heard a crash in the forest behind them. He put his finger to his lips and pointed in that direction. They both stopped and listened to something well behind them. Ducking behind a couple of trees, Killian peered out and saw the shadows of something crossing from his right to his left off into the distance far enough away from them.

After what seemed like ages, they started moving again, well assured whatever it was had truly left the area. "Any idea?" Calista whispered.

"It moved fast, so it wasn't one of the creatures. But it didn't seem like they were following us, caught wind of us, and were off on their own. It could have been a deer or a hunter trying to go after a deer. Suck it up, buttercup, I think we need to walk quicker and into twilight if we can." Killian while trying to put on an air of everything was okay, was definitely jarred by the sudden movement in their quiet reprieve they had that day.

Out in the Safe Zone

As Vic led the way to the hospital she shook her head and kept glancing up at the skies and toward the perimeter walls before falling into an uneasy and unnerved silence as she took on a brisk pace, her hands never far from her weapons.

This was the most defended part of the zone. Danforth had ordered that. When retreat proved necessary, owing to dwindling forces and what seemed like a strong push by the not-dead-enough, he'd made it clear that their makeshift hospital, supplies, and staging area for the evacuation took priority. So, there were guards, alert and ready, at every approach; it was clear, however, that things had changed.

Lack of agreement over the problem was part of that. There were some who waited for the government to solve all their problems while others were taking advantage of the situation to prepare themselves, generally at the cost of others. He himself had seen places where the barricade had been deliberately broken to allow passage in and out and it seemed as though, no matter how many they found and repaired, more showed up. To his mind, there was a base of operations somewhere on the edge of the zone and he'd been hunting it on his frequent trips out.

Here's hoping, he thought, sending up a silent prayer, that Vienna's mother hasn't found it first.

He nodded to the guards as they approached the tent, both Vic and himself being known, and waited near the entrance to chat while Vic went inside.

Vic approached the nurses station and was fortunate enough to catch the currently on duty charge, to whom she gave a grim smile. “How goes the Evac?” While she waited for the charges response she glanced over the papers at the nurses station, looking for the listing of the nurses and their assignments.

Susan, curly blonde hair pulled up in a disorderly knot on top of her head, stopped from her review of the discharge list and rolled her eyes. "About as well as can be expected," she said. "Everyone's on edge. The elderly have all be sent out. Children are going out in the morning and then the last group, the injured, are scheduled to leave sometime tomorrow."

"Danforth wasn't happy about that. Wanted everyone gone today but there are limits to what can be done with the resources we have." Susan shook her head slightly and then placed one hand beside her mouth as though sharing a confidence. "Him and the Major had … words … about it earlier. Oh to be a fly on that wall!"

Vic nodded, listening and leaned in slightly at the part about about Danforth and the Major though she had already heard it. “Oh; I can only imagine. Have you seen Nurse Quinn recently, Susan?”

Susan dropped the page she was holding, letting it fall back into place on the clipboard; her expression turned serious as she fumbled in the pocket of her jacket and fished out a scrap of paper, literally the back of a advertisement because paper, like everything else, was in short supply.

"Funny you should ask. Found this about ten minutes ago," Susan said quietly. "She decided that she couldn't wait for a team to go with her and headed out on her own. I told her that it was a trap but she wouldn't believe me. You know how it is with the newer ones. Still living in the world that was. I've asked Danforth to send a team after her but he says that there's no one available at the moment and poor Harris has been up for forty-eight hours straight so he's no help. Maybe its nothing but," she shrugged, "I've got a bad feeling about it waiting much longer."

Vic took the scrap and looked it over, nodding as her own suspicions were confirmed. “I am glad that you held onto this…. If Danforth doesn’t think that one of our Nurses is important enough to send someone after then I guess myself and the Major will do it ourselves; Brass never does remember well enough what the field is like,” her tone as she finished speaking was a touch sarcastic as she took mental note of everything on the scrap of paper and turned to leave.

Susan drew breath to answer but stopped as she saw one of the two remaining orderlies coming down the corridor. "Stay safe," she called out. Nodding to herself, she grabbed the clipboard and hurried off, moving to intercept the man who was all but grimacing at the sight of her.

At Vic's House

René had spent time studying the book on ASL. He felt at least a bit familiar with the alphabet and gestures that conveyed words such as please, thank you, hello and good bye. He realized that learning ASL would probably take several weeks before he would fully understand Emma. He finally set the book on the coffee table and rose to his feet. He glanced at the two girls. "I am taking a break for a moment. Is there anything I can get either one of you?"

Vienna looked up from a book she was reading. “I could do with something to drink please René.” She smiled, then looked towards Emma. “What about you Emma?”

Emma shook her head politely and then, because she was trying to teach them, made the sign for 'no' with one hand. She was sitting by the window now, in shadows, away from the lit candles, watching the street. Her earlier run-in with … him … had left her nervous. He was good at sneaking around. Better than herself. Better than anyone she knew.

Much as she hated even the thought of it, her hand strayed to her backpack. Sometime soon, she'd have to draw his face. Maybe add some notes about him. So that others would know what she did … if the worst happened and he got her.

René went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the pack on the kitchen counter. He returned to the living room and handed Vienna the plastic bottle. He felt a bit restless and glanced at the door. "I'm going to step out onto the porch, maybe walk around the house and check on the doors and windows." He glanced at Emma. "Can you lock the door behind me. I will knock three times followed by two more times when I get back."

Emma nodded as she signed 'yes' then walked with him to the door pulling a pencil from behind her ear as went. When he reached for the knob, she wrote on the wall "be careful."

 

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