The Fall of Bangor (Part 10)

Posted on Mon Mar 25th, 2024 @ 9:33pm by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Emma Lynn Starsky & Alonzo Blazevic & Calista Sutton & Vienna Quinn & Killian Sutton & René Rouen & Reuben Baptiste & Victoire Olaffson [Lieutenant, United States Navy]

1,982 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Bangor or Bust
Location: Safe Zone, Bangor, Maine
Timeline: 4 September 2010 - 9:00 p.m.

[Back at Hale and Alonzo's Place]

Vienna sat silently staring into empty space, her eyes were red and swollen from all her crying. It hadn’t taken long for her mother’s final words about her brother to turn into a deafening pause, and then it had gotten worse from there. She’d managed to pull away just in time, before she was ushered out of the room, the sound of the kill shot was still ringing in her ears.

René sat next to Vienna on the porch. He didn't have any words to comfort her. He couldn't imagine how she felt, despite knowing that France was probably in a similar situation and that his own family might already be...he squashed the thought. He sighed softly as he did the only thing he could think of.

Rene took Vienna’s hand and gave a gentle tug. "You need to eat something and the group is going to decide what to do next. We should give our input on that."

Reuben had walked back to Hale's and Alonzo's place lost in the past, though there was the part of him always on the alert and vigilant. When he got there, he had taken up a guard post in the shadows. He recalled the first time the special forces team he was on lost their team member, it had had a profound effect on the team, and they had been pulled out for "reconstitution". It had been decided to reassign him to another team during the "reconstitution", and he knew that two of the members, his friends, sent stateside for undisclosed reasons. He later found out for severe PTSD, with one eventually committing suicide. Now back at Hale's and Alonzo's place he watched the two young adults, on the porch, and wondered if they were strong enough for this new reality.

Evenings were quieter now which made it all that much easier to hear the sounds of the group returning from the Iso-tent. Hale walked outside and saw Rene and Vienna sitting together and the look on her face spoke volumes. He dropped to the ground in front of them, sitting at an angle so that he could see them both. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I wish you both could have been spared this."

René nodded gratefully at Hale. He had not had a lot of time living with the Quinn family prior to the school field trip to Millinocket, but the Las two weeks had been a mixed blessing of sorts. His growing feelings for Vienna had been tempered by the end of the world and by the presence of Vienna’s mother upon their return to Bangor. He looked at Hale with a sad expression. "Merci Commandant (French for Major) Stratton."

"Hale please," he answered quietly. "I"m just Hale. I know there's this whole ..." he gestured toward himself, "... military side of me but that's not all I am. I swear."

Vienna looked between René and Hale, but right now she couldn’t find the words to say anything. She squeezed René’s hand trying to convey that she wasn’t ignoring what he was saying. Her other hand wiping away more tears.

Emma found a spot on the porch railing, farthest from the group, and sat quietly, watching the surroundings. Just a couple of weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, a time when she had been looking forward to aging out of foster homes and starting art school. The sadness she felt, the loss of the few dreams she had had, was nothing compared to what Vienna was going through and yet, there it was. Maybe, she thought, I'm just mourning for the end of what was. Not that it was that great most days.

Vic had returned toward the tail of the group and sorta thrown herself on the ground under a tree; she was dead exhausted and she needed a moment or five to clear her head. It had been a long day and at the moment all she could see was chained up undead and she felt like the monster that had chained another just to let Vienna witness its turning. She glanced over to René and Vienna and then to Emma and she glanced to the skies, one hand rubbing a tattoo of Mjolnir on her wrist before she stood and called out to the teens. “I don’t know about you three… but I need a drink, I’m going to search for some alcohol; I’ll make ‘em if you want ‘em.”

"I know where there's a bottle in HQ," Hale said. "Bourbon. The Colonel and I saluted a team that didn't make it back one night."

“Where there’s one, there’s more” she commented and turned on a heel, heading to HQ to retrieve the bourbon and anything else alcoholic she could find and return with it.

René was not much of an alcohol drinker despite the lack of a legal drinking age in Europe. He was not adverse to the occasional glass of wine with dinner or when toasting the holidays, but drinking for the sake of drinking was not his fancy. "I will decline Doctor Olaffson, but merci." He glanced at the silent Vienna and stood up. Vienna needed time to grieve on her own. "One moment Doctor. I will come with you."

“I...I’ll have one.” Vienna looked up. She wasn’t really serious, she’d never tried alcohol before but right now she needed something. “Just...a shot.” She’d heard her father say that he’d give her a shot of drink when she turned 18, not that she was 18 yet.

Hale watched Vic head off in search of alcohol and wondered just how much she would find. He hoped there wouldn't be much but the cynical side of him said there'd be more than a little. Self-medication. The age old means of hiding from reality.

"How about we all go in," Hale said as he gestured toward the door, "Alonzo has dinner waiting and … I think we all need to talk."

[En Route to Headquarters]

René was quiet for the first few minutes as he and Vic walked to headquarters. He rested his hand on the hilt of his rapier and realized, that while it might prove effective against the Soulless, he would be at a serious disadvantage against a person with a firearm. "Doctor Olaffson, I'm thinking that we are all going to need to procure better armament in the near future. Knives, baseball bats and even my rapier and dirk are not going to be sufficient if we come into conflict with other survivors who...may have ill intentions towards us."

“I have been pondering that as well. Perhaps while we are in headquarters we ought should search for any firearms leftover…. Though we should also consider the fact that we will ultimately need something quiet so we don’t attract large amounts of the Soulless.” Vic shot a wink to René and nodded. “I’m sure there will be a couple duffle bags lying around a storeroom somewhere in HQ.”

René patted the hilts of his rapier and dirk. "Quiet I can do. What I need is something with more range. I have a little experience with bolt action rifles and breech loading shotguns from hunting in the French countryside with my father and grandfather. I have never handled a pistol though. Not sure I would want to either."

Vic chuckled slightly as she listened. “Pistols have their advantage…. But we will see what, if anything we find. Us military folks tend to be rather…. Attached to our firearms so it’s rare to find them forgotten. It’s not impossible that there are some more of the ‘mundane’ ranged weaponry in the HQ armory though so it doesn’t hurt to check.”

Convoys had been leaving all day; the last one having left earlier in the afternoon. For the first time since the Zone was established, the gates were no longer manned. And the dead, always interested in light and life, were moving in their direction. Ones and twos, joining up, forming a larger group and all of them, numbering more than fifty, were heading directly for the main gate.

[And Back at Hale and Alonzo's Place]

Meanwhile Vienna looked towards Hale, he’d suggested going inside for dinner, her rumbling stomach was the perfect giveaway that she was feeling hungry. She got to her feet, wiping away her tears. “I’m ready to go in now.”

"Good." Hale rose smoothly to his feet and stepped back, allowing Vienna to proceed him. "I, for one, am starving."

Reuben roused from his ruminations of the past and made his way onto the porch. "Hey, that's right. You promised us all a nice dinner with discussion on the next possible move."

Vienna was feeling hungry, she knew it wouldn’t help anyone especially René if she became ill because she didn’t eat. She knew that her mother would want her to keep going, to try and find her brother.

Reuben and Kenny silently went into the house. Reuben found a seat and sat down. His brain weary from all the stress. Scratching Kenny's ear, he sat back and slowly faded to sleep.

Alonzo acknowledged the arrival of several individuals back to his and Hale's place. "Oh you are back. Wonderful," he said in a nonchalant tone. "I was beginning to worry there would be a bunch of leftovers."

Hale nodded to Ethan and the two of them got to work setting up the table with dishes, silverware and glassware. One last taste of civilization before everything fell apart. And Hale was certain that it was definitely going to fall apart.

[Outside of Bangor]

The thing that went bump up the stairs had stopped making any noises. With the smells in the house, it wasn't something that they were particularly worried about someone still actively living there, or at least they had hoped they weren't intruding. The sound was enough to hear something clatter, but then not repeat.

At that moment, all Calista could hear was her heart beating in her ears. Her stomach growled at the most inopportune time. "What do you think that was?" she whispered quietly in the dark.

"I'm not sure. Animal maybe?" Killian replied softly. Their eyes were still adjusting back to the darkness that already was there. The cloud cover must have started to come back through, there wasn't much moon light and their eyes got to cheat for a bit with the flashlight before it just died. It was definitely inopportune that it died when something managed to have made a noise in the house. "Maybe a window open outside due to the smell inside?" he asked more to himself than anything.

"We can't pretend we didn't hear anything, can we?" she asked, more impatient to know what had caused the noise. She was disappointed that their smelly haven may not be such a haven.

"Nope," Killian replied quietly, emphasizing the p more than the rest of the word. He had found a lamp, he had a flashlight. Between the two, he should be able to have some form of light.

Right now the two of them were sitting in a sea of darkness. It was unsettling that the noise bumped, and then didn't continue. It'd been one thing if it was really windy outside, but it was not. "How are we going to do this with how dark it is?" she asked, knowing that it was possibly not safe for them here tonight.

"We wait until we can see and we go and figure it out. We wait til we can find the stuff to actually see," Killian replied.

"Alright, I'm going back for food."

 

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