FALLEN PART TWENTYFIVE

FALLEN PART TWENTYFIVE

We loaded up and started moving north. The going was slow. What was an hour drive before The Fall was now taking several hours. There were fewer cars on the highway but there were more tractor trailers. Our rig had no trouble moving them but it took some time. The horses had been locked in for a few hours and everyone else was getting impatient. It almost reminded me of those television programs and commercials when the bratty kid constantly asks “Are we there yet?” That question gets worse when it’s an adult. It gets really annoying when you’re pulling a trailer with horses kicking the walls. I realized about half way into our drive that we’d have to stop somewhere and hold up for the night.

An occasional zombie got to gnaw on our bumpers. Most of the living went to town for safety. Many of them ended up sick and infected. The towns with National Guard and Reserve units were getting crowded before the train crash on November 7th. At one point we saw a number of people run away from the highway. As we realized before, zombies don’t run away. Our plans did not involve stopping and making contact with other survivors at this time.

We got off the highway near Milton. The town was built up around the gravel pit that employed most of the people in the area. There were a number of lumber companies near here too; so many that a log cabin manufacturer decided to establish their headquarters here. That was our destination. Once the logs were brought in they were cut, processed and treated in a large warehouse. All the log homes were built inside another huge warehouse and the logs were cut and numbered. They were then disassembled and transported. It was getting late. We had a long day and needed to sleep. We were about to travel through the mountains and I didn’t want to get stuck on a mountain road after dark. We could secure one of the warehouses and be relatively safe until morning. The horses could stretch their legs inside too.

We pulled up onto the property. I didn’t realize how huge these warehouses were. The doors were open on both ends. One could see two fully built cabins and two that had been started inside. If you’ve ever cleared a house before you know what was in front of us. We stopped at the property’s gated entrance. We got together and decided to move all the vehicles into the warehouse, close it up, set up a perimeter and clear the entire building. We would secure perimeter doors as we cleared.

We pulled into the closer end of the building, set up a perimeter and began closing the huge metal sliding doors. That noise alone stirred some uglies who decided to check us out for dinner. Marley, Baer, Powers and Barnes made there way to a control room along the second story at our end of the building. A number of shots were fired as they cleared the control room. One of the targets flew through a window and down to the concrete floor below. You could almost feel the crunching bones as it crumpled in a heap.

I could see to the other end of the warehouse and didn’t like my view. There were zombies moving up toward us but there were also more moving into the warehouse from the outside. We had to close the doors on the opposite end.

“Listen up!” I got the attention of everyone left on the floor level. “Kevin, Marty, Mike, Nick and Kelly are with me. Everyone not with me or upstairs get up on the trailers and trucks. We’re going “Direct Threat” to the opposite end and close those doors. You guys up top take out any zeds that get too close to you. DO NOT shoot us! Is everyone topped off?” We checked our firearms and our mags. Every cop in the state maybe even the nation had been trained in “Active Shooter” response after the Columbine incident. The basis was for a minimum number of first responding police to make entry and move directly for the active shooter. You move to the direct threat and bypass lesser or non-threats.

“Kevin you have point, Nick and Marty flank him, and Kelly and I have the rear.” I set up our formation.”Stay tight; do not get away from the group. Once we get to the other doors set a perimeter. Nick and I will get the doors. Watch your six. MOVE.”