Zombie Theorem: The End Game (9 page)

I pulled up my shirt and ripped the bandages off showing my bruises and scar tissue. “I don’t think I need to explain myself at all. Let me ask a question now. Did the Librarian answer all your questions?”

Vic looked away from my chest and studied something on the floor. “Yes, he did happily.”

“Great, so what the fuck is the problem?”

“The problem, is that you did not follow protocol. You never asked for permission.” Kuppers answered back. He had finally calmed down while looking at my wounds.

“Kuppers, I don’t know your protocols. Also I know that if I would’ve asked for your permission you would’ve said no. I did what was best. If you don’t agree with my methods, take my rank away kick me out of your little army, and send me and mine away from your base. But I will not stop fighting Ridder and the Initiative. And oh, by the way, I have data in that other room you may be interested in. Seems that a huge fucking horde is making its way here like a bullet fired from a gun.”

Brian stood behind me, arms crossed, enjoying the show between Vic, Kuppers, and myself. I looked at him and pointed toward the door. He grabbed the handles and pushed me out of the room leaving a stunned Vic and Kuppers behind us. I was beyond pissed, at this silliness of them expecting me to say ‘mother may I” before I did something.

We entered the room and Julie saw the look on my face. She gave me a concerned look and mouthed, “Are you ok?” I gave her a tired smile, as Brian parked me at the table.

“Alright people, are we ready to put on a dog and pony show for the Colonel?”

Just then, the door opened and a red-faced Kuppers entered with a contemplative Vic behind him. Four other men came in behind them and took their seats. I pointed to Amanda and she took her position up front and started her briefing.

I watched Kuppers as he worked his way through the prepared data and photos. Vic kept making notes on his pad and stealing looks at me. The other four gentlemen looked horrified at what they were hearing. Amanda finished her part and Gunny Mauseth took over. I had put him in charge of finding out what resources the base had left, and how he would defend it.

He took the front of the table and handed out some fresh printouts. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are in for a giant world of hurt. Our resources at this base are terrible when it comes to rifleman, personal weapons, and ammo. We do have plenty of air support in the fighter planes, but they are really useless when it comes to fighting the dead. We can’t lay enough bombs down to stop them. I do suggest that we send as many of the support groups out of here right away and then decide if this base is worth fighting for. The only thing going for us here is that we are in the middle of nowhere.” He waited for questions but Kuppers and his team seemed stunned. The Gunny sat and gave me a nod.

I nodded back and waited for the inevitable questions or orders from Kuppers. He stood after a couple of minutes. “We need time to plan. First, Vic, call the General and brief him on what is going on. Lieutenant Oord, figure out air transport and figure out the non-essentials and get them out of here. Sit with Colonel Phillips and figure out where to send them to. Major Deepak work with the Gunny there on our resources and see if we can get them out of here also, I don’t want to leave any bombs, missiles, food, or ammo here. Also, figure out where we can send them. Someone get Paco in here. Amanda you can work with him on the aircraft status and whatever other resources he can think of.” He looked straight into my eyes and sighed. “Major Welko, you and I will work on if this base is worth protecting.” He looked around the table and when no one got moving, he slapped his hand down on it hard. “Now people! We don’t have much time to fuck around. Tomorrow morning, oh five hundred meeting right here, so you better have your shit together.”

The room emptied quickly, leaving Julie, Brian, Kuppers, and myself alone in the room. We all kind of stared at each other for a while. “Julie babe, can you and Brian give me and Kuppers some time to chat alone?” She bent over and kissed me quickly then took Brian’s hand and led him from the room. They ran into the cafeteria’s rep, pushing a cart of food in our direction. I heard Brian directing him to a new place to drop his goodies at, then the door closed, leaving one pissed off Kuppers and I, alone. 

“Are you going to stare daggers at me forever?” I asked.

Kuppers rubbed his hands over his face and cracked his neck and knuckles. “You have no idea what it takes to run this base and its operations. I need people to follow military decorum and respect the chain of command. Or this entire place will fall into chaos.”

“I understand that, Kuppers, and I respect you for doing all that you do. I also appreciate what you have to do to make that work. But I never asked to be a part of the military. I would be happy acting as rebels and hitting Ridder where it hurts, instead of running full military missions and stuff. I doubt we even have a real mission statement.”

“Do you know why I left the military?” Kuppers came over and sat in the chair next to me. I shook my head no. “I kept getting busted for not following the rules and never using the chain of command. Yet here I am, yelling at you for doing what I used to do.”

“Kuppers, let’s figure some things out about the base and then, let’s figure out how we can hurt the Initiative. I want to finish this war quickly, so we can start rebuilding. I don’t want to lose so much, that Ridder gains a big toe hold and we have to dig them out. Let’s strike while the iron is hot.”

He scratched at his chin, then pulled a file out of his case and threw it in front of me. “I guess I can’t bust your balls for doing what I am accused of doing. That file is all the info we have on this Joseph P. Hedley guy. You are going to handle the interview, wring him out and do what you need to do. I agree with the fact that we need to empty this base, it is not worth one life. We just need a place to send everyone. I also agree we should start hitting Ridder, but that will need to be planned out.”

I looked into my notebook and flipped to the last page, pulled out my pencil and jotted down some thoughts that had popped into my head. Kuppers had seen me do this before, and opened the door and yelled for a couple of enlisted men. Once they came around the corner, he started barking orders and yelling for things. I pushed back in my chair and opened the file Kuppers had given me on Mr. Hedley. I read through it and made more notes in my notebook from the data within. I finished the file, threw it on the table, and looked around the room. I was all alone and wondered again, how long I had zoned out. A note was taped to the door. I pushed back my chair and wheeled myself over to it, ripped it off the wall and read through it. Kuppers had left me a note saying he had a guard standing outside the door to take me back to my office or home. He also stated that I had been given full access and reign of the base, plus any access to files or information.

I folded the note and tucked it away in my blouse pocket. I unlatched the door and pulled it back. The guard outside looked in and saw me struggling with the door and waved me back. I struggled with the chair to move it back, out of the way of the door. The guard pushed the door open and came in. “What can I do for you, sir?”

“First my name is Dan, second, I am not big on ranks and stuff. What is your name?”

“I think I am going to like you, Dan. My name is Lewis.”

“Great, Lewis I need to pop by my office, then I will figure out our next move.”  I threw him double thumbs up.

He returned it and laughed, grabbed the chair and we shot through the hallways. We arrived at the office and I found Amanda and the Gunny working on their terminals. “Hey, guys. Any idea where Julie and Brian are?”

Gunny turned and pointed down the hallway. “Last I saw of them; they were headed back to their quarters.”

“Thanks Gunny. I want you two to catch some shut eye as soon as you can. Sleepy analysts make mistakes, and then we will be behind, trying to identify them.”

“Yes, sir. We just finished updating the latest reports now. We will go catch a couple of hours and see you back here.”

I twirled my finger in the air and Lewis turned us around and headed to the front door. We found a Humvee out front with a driver standing nearby smoking a cigarette. When he saw me he put it out quickly and snapped to attention. “Sir, do you need a ride?”

“Airman, he wouldn’t be sitting here if he didn’t. Open the door for the Major. He is in a hurry.” Lewis ordered.

The Airman ran over and opened the door, still standing at attention and now holding a salute. Lewis pushed me over closer to the door and helped me stand. I saluted the airman back, and then climbed into the back seat. Lewis folded my chair up and placed in the rear. It was a quick ride back to the house. We pulled into the driveway and the driver left the engine running as he stepped out and pulled my chair from the back. Lewis got out, came around to my side and opened the door for me, offering me his arm. I gripped on tight and swung my legs outside, and using his strength, helped pull myself to my feet. I took two steps and sat down on my chair. The door to the house opened and Brian stepped out, wearing a pair of combat pants and nothing else. I was always blown away at how big the man was.

Lewis and the airman both took two steps back and stood there staring at Brian. “Hey, Boss.” He stopped and stared at the two guys behind me. “Thanks for bringing the Major home. We will need a ride back to the base at oh five hundred sharp. I expect you two to set that up, Dismissed.”

“Yes sir, we will make sure to have someone here at oh five hundred.” Lewis barked out. They climbed back in and drove away.

“You enjoy scaring the lower ranks, don’t you?” I mused.

“Not just the lower ranks. Pretty much anyone smaller than me are on my list. Even you, Boss.” He laughed, while pushing me inside.

Julie met me at our bedroom door dressed in sweats and a really big t-shirt that fell to her knees, that read Marines in big bold black letters. “Looks like one of Brian’s shirts, fits you like a dress. Like a little girl wearing her daddy’s clothes.”

She play-slapped me in the back of the head. “So, my love, what’s new?”

“Nothing much, just had a nice little talk with Kuppers. Mind if we crash? We have an early morning.” She cocked her head at me like a dog would listening to a faraway sound. She gave me a tired smile and helped me out of the chair, giving me a quick wash down with a cloth. One of a thousand whore’s baths I had taken, since the fall of man. She helped me into a shirt and shorts and we climbed into bed. She pulled me in close to her and held me. I felt the exhaustion and pain of the day melt away, her love filling me up, and I fell asleep in her arms.

Dreams started back up again. There I was standing at the fence of the base and looking out at the horde coming in our direction. I was dressed in full combat gear, my armor was new and shiny. In my hands I held two very long blades, almost the length of swords. I was thinking of how I’d would do better if I had guns with lots of ammo. Or better yet, a tank. I looked to my right and found Brian standing there, dressed as an honest to God knight, in metal armor and holding a giant axe on one side and a wicked looking hammer on the other side. The word
Malleus
came to mind, which I knew was Latin for hammer, But I had no idea how I knew that. Brian moved his head to look down at me, he winked and gave me a sly grin.

I looked to my left and found Julie, dressed as if she was Joan of Arc holding a two handed sword. She looked over at me, gave me a wicked smile which showed no fear. “I told you, my love, I would never leave you,” she said.

I turned and looked behind me, and found an army of mixed soldiers. Some dressed as knights, some wearing their battle armor of today and standing in front, my SWAT and Delta family, dressed differently than each other. Apache stood tall, dressed in what I figured was traditional native warrior garb. In her one hand, she held a tomahawk decorated with feathers, in her other hand a bow, with a quiver slung across her back. Her hair was done in two large braids each hanging down onto her shoulders. Doc was wearing a cowboy get-up, complete with a duster and a black cowboy hat. Slung around his waist and sitting on his hips sat a gun holster belt with two big Colt six shooters, like you would imagine a cowboy would wear. Resting in the crooks of his arm was an old time shotgun, or street sweeper. Hase and his men looked scary, dressed in their full combat armor and loaded to bear with weapons and ammo. Heaven stood aside of his team and he was dressed differently. He wore a priest’s smock and in his hand he held a huge flaming sword. His usual short cropped hair was long and flowing around his shoulders. He looked deadly serious. The rest of SWAT were decked out in their SFPD battle armor and loaded with weapons. Kuppers came up to me and looked over the army we had.

“I must ask, is this a dream Dan?”

“I don’t know what this is, Kuppers.”

“Weird costumes you have everyone dressed in.”

“I don’t get it myself, Kuppers. I have had weird dreams before, but this one takes the cake. Usually my dreams have a prophetic meaning; an omen, I guess you could say. But the meaning of this one is not computing.” I turned my head, watching the horde advance slowly on us.

“You stand at the front of an immense army, obviously the leader. Your friends are dressed as great warriors, and as you see them. A horde of dead are advancing on us and yet here we stand, unmoving. I think the meaning is clear.”

“As clear as mud, I don’t get it.”