Surviving the Apocalypse

Camp Bright

The next morning Hanna and the teams were getting ready to deploy to clear more of the city when Melissa came running in. “Hanna, there is a Major General Jason Mars on the radio, said he got the frequency from joint command.” She said as Hanna looked at her and ran to the communications room with Montgomery hot on her heels.

“Delay deployment Captain Smith. All teams.” She ordered just as she got to the door and ran through it. It didn’t take long for her to get there either. “This is General Storm of Camp Hope, Over.” She said into the mic.

“Hanna? Thank God, I am in a bit of a pickle and could use any assistance possible. I have 300 second years on the annual survival program. Camp Bright was selected and well, we have a zombie problem here. I managed to access command, and it gave me this frequency.” Mars reported as Hanna pulled up the maps and found Camp Bright 20 miles away.

“How secure is your position?” she asked knowing he would give her a sitrep.

“Food and ammo for a week of we stretch it.” He said uneasily.

“Only need a few hours, maybe a day.” Hanna told him as she looked at the map carefully.

“We can hold that long. Mars out.” He said as she looked at Hellen and the map.

“Dicey, there are going to be a lot of zombies here.“ she said pointing at a large group of factories that was on the direct path to and from the Camp.

“Not what I want to do, but a quick strike is our only option. We need 11 transports for them, which means we only have one for troops. 12 trucks with 4 man team each and 30 in one of the transports leaves is with 80 tops.” Hanna said as Hellen nodded.

“Let’s make it volunteer only.” She said as they walked back out.

“Assemble all the Scavengers and Builders.” Hanna said as they all took formation in front of the two women. “We just received a distress call from General Mars at Camp Bright which is 25 miles from here. Normally this your of mission we wouldn’t dream of risking ourselves this way, but he is like family with 300 cadets who had no clue during survival training. This is volunteer only, we have room for 80.” Hanna said as nearly everyone stepped forward.

“Ma’am, if memory serves me, the bus depot for the camp is a mile down the road. The transports should be there and only lightly defended. If we take a tactical response and deploy one team to retrieve their buses, we should have plenty of firepower for what we could face as well as the transport to rescue them all at once.” Hammond said volunteering the information he had.

“He is correct, they are normally stationed there in case of emergency evacuation. They must not have been given the signal.” Hellen said knowing as she had taught the class many times.

“Ok, listen up. We are regearing for a blood bath. Go to commissary, take 4 Evojuice and put them in your inventory. Do not be afraid to use your powers, and we are going in completely hot. No noise makers or party poppers. Incendiary and antipersonnel booms period. Preferably suppressed weapons, but if you want that saw make sure you pick your storage full of ammo. Full kits gentlemen, we move to bring the rain. Break into two team groupings and cram into a truck, comfort is secondary gentlemen.” She ordered as all 24 teams of men ran for the barracks and their personal weapons stashes.

20 minutes later 480 men pulled out of Camp Hope, armed to the teeth as they went on a rescue mission of someone both Hanna and Montague knew well. It was 25 miles through zombie infested streets that they had reinforced the front and sides of the vehicles against. The back was protected by the men inside of it, the Earth Ability users that had reached level 3 erecting small walls between the buildings and at intersections behind them to control how many zombies were able to actually chase them. Except for the access road, they had selected a completely different route through the city so they weren’t plowing through already agitated zombies that could overwhelm them. As it was they were plowing through dozens of them at over 60 through the city streets.

When they got to the depot below the Camp, the teams selected for bus retrieval stormed the depot with their weapons and abilities while the rest stormed up the mountain. Once they got to the proper Camp, Hanna was glad they had decided to come in force. It had been an evacuation point where 20,000 people were crammed inside the fence. Hanna was amazed that General Mars had even made it into the communications room, the zombies looked like they were everywhere.

“There is a trail here ma’am.” Lucas said pointing carefully to a well concealed trail.

“Team 2, follow it. Teams 3 and 4, we need a point of entry we can defend if necessary. 5 and 6, take the north and east.” Hanna said as the teams split up and scouted the perimeter of the Camp.

For twenty minutes no one did anything before Team 3 reported they found the path that General Mars had used to get to the Comms Room. He wasn’t there, but there were now 2 dead zombies in it, and they were following his trail when team 2 reported they had the survival course Cadets 2 kilometers from the road where they entered the woods.

“Oh how I wish we could kill them.” Hellen said as Hanna looked around.

“You remember about being careful what you wish for?” she asked as the zombies nearest them caught the scent from the shifting breeze and were trying to pinpoint the direction. The fence barely contained the few that were pushing against it now, if they swarmed trying to get to them it was going to be a s**t show. “Team 2, haul balls. Team 12, how’s the busses coming?” Hanna demanded in the radio.

“Departing station now, 2 minutes.” Sergeant Bowers reported back.

“Stop short half a click from the gate and get them turned around.” She said as she drew her AR and selected single fire while she checked the slide to ensure it was ready to roll.

“Team 2, ETA 6 minutes.” Came the reply.

“Haul balls Team 2, not sure we have 6 minutes.” Hanna said as the wind shifted again for just a second and caught the attention of a few more.

The men watched in fascinated horror as the seconds ticked by where they were just out of smelling range unless the breeze shifted in just the right way. Hanna knew if they retreated even a step they would lose Team 2 as well as the Cadets when the busses pulled up just 50 yards behind them and began turning around quietly.

“Team 2, half a click. 2 minutes.” Bowers whisper yelled as she heard the sounds from the Cadets approaching as quietly and quickly as they could.

This time when the wind shifted, it gusted at twice the strength as before, driving the scent of human flesh right into the swarm that turned right to them and began ramming the fence to get to their food.

“MOVE!” She yelled as she leveled her rifle as the fence have way and the zombies began pouring out. All of the soldiers opening fire on the horde of zombies that was now running right at them. The drivers of their trucks positioning them for maximum safety during the withdraw as well. They had no intention of killing all of them if they didn’t have too. The distance and the guns with people who had been retraining how to fight the zombies held them back at first, the first students arriving just shooting blindly. “Controlled fire, head shots only!” she yelled seeing them aiming for center mass of the chest. She had seen a quest appear when the shooting started, could see the numbers of lives as well as the number of zombies killed, making her believe it was more than one quest she was working on when her bolt locked back.

She was glad her gun was on a sling as she dropped it and used her hands to conjure the fire that she shot from both hands like a flamethrower blasting out 5,000 degree infernos that made her glow with the intensity of the power she was using. For twenty seconds she incinerated the zombies caught in her ability as she heard the cracks of lightning mixing with more people using their fire abilities to thrown explosive fireballs or walls of fire as each ability was slightly different with what the person could accomplish.

“Students on the busses, now!” she ordered as she and most of the rest of the men reloaded their guns that were empty and downed a dose of Evojuice. Hanna slammed the drum home and clicked the bolt forward to finish loading the chamber before she launched another wave of flames over the zombies closing in as the line of men firing erupted in controlled bursts. Each shot carefully aimed to be a headshot, some of them getting two or three at a time with lucky shots. As they were killing the zombies, she noticed that the Heart Crystals were automatically being deposited into her storage, each team getting the points for the kills from their members as they were nearly constantly switching between powers and bullets.

Hanna was on her third reload when the signal that all busses were loaded came in. Their trucks were 50 yards behind them, none of them able to just turn and run without casualties. “Keep firing as we fall back.” She ordered as they began walking back between shots. It wasn’t difficult until they began loading in, the first two trucks pulling to the front as soon as they were loaded, all of the men getting ready to perform a rolling load. “Move out!” she ordered, the busses following sandwiched between trucks of the convoy with soldiers as they loaded as well.

With only 4 trucks to go Hanna used her Earth ability and last of her Evojuice to make a wall 30 feet tall, 2 feet thick and 500 feet long in a semicircle away from them. As soon as it appeared she jumped into the truck she was assigned to as the others took the cue as well to jump in and haul ass away from the Camp. With a shaking hand she drank the last of her 5 doses, the men and women of the first two teams doing the same as they had used all their bullets and every scrap of energy they had as they drove the 25 miles back to Camp Hope as fast as the busses would move. Despite her hope, the zombies from the Camp followed them for nearly half the distance before the last ones finally fell from view as they crossed into the downtown section that they blasted a new corridor through. This time the engineers barely having enough energy left to make walls half their normal size, but just enough to keep the zombies from chasing them as they made their way to a clear section of the city.

40 minutes later they pulled up to the outer wall of the Camp where Hanna ordered them all out, including her men as there was just to much equipment and vehicles to do this in a controlled manner. Hanna was exhausted as she stood at the front after they all entered the port between the outer wall and Camp itself.

“Welcome to Camp Hope Cadets, I am the Camp Leader General Hanna Storm. Our motto here is that every person must help us help them. As you have experienced, none of us can survive alone out there. As such, each person is expected to help the Camp survive by performing whatever function you have the skills, ability and desire to perform. Do this, and the Camp will provide the shelter, food and security you need to live life as free as anyone can in this environment. I understand you have been isolated for several weeks and may not know what is actually happening.

“Long story short, 2 weeks ago the world as you knew it, ended. Every major city, town and village is overrun with the walking dead. 90 percent of the global population has already perished. 85 percent of the nations military bases have fallen, none have activated Wildfire Communication Protocols.” Hanna informed them with clean military precision.

“What about our homes? Some of us need to try and return there.” One of the Cadets said rudely.

Hanna nodded as she looked right at him. “You are correct, many of us would like to return home. Mine is two miles that way, burnt to the ground by a napalm bomb that incinerated 12 blocks of houses. Returning home in these conditions, is more than a dream it would be a fantasy. You would never make it far alone, just as none in this Camp can survive alone.” Hanna told him.

“What Rank General are you ma’am?” One of the Cadets asked.

“General of the Army until such time as fair elections can be held to vote in a new President and Congress.” Hanna replied.

“Ma’am, there would have to be a declaration of National Emergency or War for you to be promoted to General of the Army. There hasn’t been one in 170 years while WW3 raged.” The same cadet replied as Operation Wildfire was shown on the main screen.

“Funny you should mention National Emergency Declaration, as the President declared a National Emergency 27 minutes before his chopper went down killing all hands. At the time he activated project Wildfire, an Emergency Response to reorder the chain of command through a unified command . If ever activated, if loss of communication with all Command and Control avenues occurs, all base commanders are to initiate Wildfire Communication Protocols at earliest convenience. At the top of the list is the promotion of one Hanna Storm to the rank of General of the Army with orders to restore the American Society by an and all means necessary. If you would like to examine the Presidential Seal or any of the weapons platforms delivered to this base for point defense systems, we can roll out the red carpet for you Cadet.” She replied sharply making it clear she was done with his questioning her. “I do not personally care where any of you call home before this occurred two weeks ago. The ugly truth of the matter, it is likely crawling with zombies that will need to be killed before human civilization can return there. Anyone who has been turned or bitten, is no longer your friend. They are infected by a disease we currently have no hope of curing, and no vaccine to protect against it. Anyone not willing to destroy zombies regardless of who they were, should probably not volunteer for combat roles under this command.”

“Ma’am, we need to return to Mansfield, some of us have second half summer courses that begin in 3 days.” One of the girls said bravely.

“Mansfield Academy fell the first day of the outbreak. 32,412 Cadets and professors turned into zombies. The only course being offered at Mansfield Academy at the moment is how to avoid having your throat ripped out by a zombie. First lesson, is don’t enter areas where there are more zombies than humans. Any further questions about the life you will not be returning to?” she demanded.

“What kind of prank is this, it is sad and depressing “ the Cadet said making Hanna lock onto him.

“Cadet, what is your name?” she asked glaring at him.

“Cadet Captain Thomas Miller.” He said standing at attention.

“Well Cadet, if this is all just a prank that is being played on you, feel free to walk out that gate and find one of those fake zombies. The lesson that it is not fake will be so much easier for the others to observe as they rip you apart piece by piece until you turn into one of them. The billions of walking dead will surely stop acting long enough to show you that the world you left still exists.” She told him before the screen began showing the images that were broadcast from Mansfield as the Cadets there tried to prevent the total collapse of the school.

They all watched as they were forced to watch their professors and fellow students be latched upon and torn to pieces before the ruthlessly attacked others once they turned. That was the moment it became extremely real for them, as the doctors indicated they are ready.

“Now, before entry into Camp Hope is permitted, every person must go through medical screening an and evaluation. Once cleared, you will be registered as new residents and allowed to choose an assignment or be given one. School is no longer in session, as the real world has come calling, we are all that stands between extinction and the return of humanity. This Camp only those who help us help them, if you are not willing to commit to that cause, there is the door. You are welcome to walk through it and find another Camp to call home. The odds of reaching it however, are not in your favor. Women on the left, men on the right.” She told them as she led the other Generals in to be processed first.