“Well, a few days after Connor died, we were trying to get the hell out of Boston, so we headed north. Figured that the fuckers would freeze in the snow up in Canada, or at least more rural New England. We had just hit Baltimore when we ran into Cathy, all by her lonesome. When we asked her about the rifle, she explained that her husband was a jarhead in the Balkans. It was his rifle, decked out and everything, just for something like this. When the outbreak first hit and his bosses at the CIA told him to stay home, he taught her how to use it. She already knew how to use a pistol, but rifles and pistols ain’t exactly similar.”
This is true. Pistols you grip with both hands just behind the trigger, or with only one hand. Rifles you grab with both hands, one at the front and the other on the handle.
Rifles you grab with both hands, one at the front and the other on the handle. This one was really nice, with a horizontal foregrip and a hunting scope. Most foregrips are vertical, so that you sort of pull it down, but horizontal foregrips are much more ergonomic, so that you do the same thing with only using half the effort. Hunting scopes have a variable zoom option, so that you can go at close, medium, or long range and still take the dick off a fly with its adjustable crosshairs.
Then, for added accuracy, it has a laser-sight on it. Batteries last forever, so it’s a great weapon. Given that they traveled from one coast to the other, I’m went ahead and assumed that she also had a night-vision scope for night-time hunting. That was when it occurred to me that they could have camped out in New England for a while, so why come here?
“We asked her what happened to him, and she said that he got infected just after the initial outbreak. He had a flu at the time, so his immune system couldn’t keep back the airborne stuff. Heh, it’s funny. You’d think that in the 21st century, we wouldn’t be worrying about getting killed by the flu.”
It made sense. Obviously it was airborne, and if your immune system was weakened enough that could happen. I’d never heard of it happening before, but I was still learning how to live in this world.
“Why’d you come all the way here?”
He started to chuckle, then he answered. “The problem with New England in the winter is that it’s too cold. We couldn’t last very long in the snow, so we had to come to a place that didn’t get that cold, but still had a small enough population that we could scavenge. We were going small town to small town, scavenging when we had to.”
“When did you start stealing from other survivors?”
“We needed the bike. We figured that it was best to keep the group small, knock you out and take it. Jason could’ve easily done it, but you put up a better fight than any of us anticipated. We figured that we’d try to shack up with you. Jason figured that if you could talk me down, you can talk down anybody.”
I still think that they might’ve overestimated my abilities, but it was worth a shot. Jason had finally gotten the rifle from Cathy, but he had to hand her his pistol in return. I don’t know why it surprised me that it was a Glock. Glocks are famous throughout the US because of their reliability. They fire just like every other 9mm on the market, albeit a bit bulkier and clunkier, but it was more reliable. Like the AK platform, its reliability was due in large part to the fact that it had half the parts of its competitors, could be buried in the mud for months and still work flawlessly, and it was used by military and law enforcement agencies throughout the western world for that very reason. This is one time that our military industrial complex actually paid off.
The only customization on his Glock was a laser-sight, so it was a lot easier to use. She put that one in her waistband while Bourne put on the strap of Cathy’s M4, checking the magazine on it first. That ammo’s somewhat easy to find, as the AR platform was pretty popular for hunting and shooting.
“Last question?”
“Go for it.”
“Would you mind cutting me loose? I’m not gonna be much use if I’m duct taped to my axel.”
He chuckled, taking my knife and pointed the tip at me.
“If you try to kill any of us again, I’ll kill you myself. You know what Connor and I used to do.”
“And you’ve gotten a lot meaner since he died.”
“Exactly. You fuck with me, I’ll fuck you up in ways you can’t even imagine.”
“Understood.” Satisfied with that answer, he finally cut me loose. He handed my knife back to me, making me wonder where my vest went. After asking him, he had Jason bring me my vest and MAC. I sheathed my knife and strapped my MAC, checking the ammo and chamber before flicking on the safety.
I asked them if we were ready to go, and they all loaded up. After Jason and Murphy pulled up the garage door, Cathy jumped in the driver’s seat and backed up so that they could close it. After that, Murphy rode shotgun, and Jason and I rode in the bed. We both sat with our backs to the glass while I put my bandanna and sunglasses back on. I directed them to the house and had them slow down when we were in earshot. That was when Jason propped the rifle on the side of the bed and took aim, using it for cover. Not a terrible idea, but I would’ve used the wheelwell. I told him that and he shrugged it off, so whatever. I figured that he’d been doing this longer, so whatever.
As expected, he just barely missed one of the tires, yelling “THAT WAS A WARNING SHOT. IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO TRADE, GO THE FUCK AWAY.”
Now it was time for me to do my job. Without getting up, I leaned toward and yelled back “HARRY, I BROUGHT THEM HERE. I THOUGHT THEY COULD JOIN US HERE.”
“JAMES, YOU KNOW THAT I LIKE TO KEEP IT SMALL. YOU CAN STAY, BUT NOT THE REST OF THEM.”
“HARRY, COME ON. WE’RE SITTING ON MORE MEDICINE AND AMMUNITION THAN WE CAN EVER USE OR TRADE. WE’VE GOT MORE THAN ENOUGH ROOM FOR THESE GUYS, AND WE CAN USE THE HELP. YOU’RE OLD, YOU SHOULD’VE DIED YEARS AGO, AND I NEED SOMEONE WHEN YOU FINALLY DO GO. WE’LL FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS, LIVE UNDER YOUR ROOF, AND OPERATE JUST LIKE NORMAL. JASON CAN TAKE OVER WATCH FOR YOU AT NIGHT, AND TAKE THREE MAN SCOUTING PARTIES. WHAT COULD IT POSSIBLY HURT?”
There was a pause, like he was looking for an excuse.
“THERE ARE MORE OF THEM THAN OF US.”
“JUST BY ONE. THEY’RE FANS OF YOURS, EVEN.”
“THEY WERE CRIMINALS.”
“HARRY, I WAS NOBODY BEFORE THIS, YOU’VE BEEN NOBODY FOR 20 YEARS, THEIR RECORDS HAVEN’T AMOUNTED TO SHIT SINCE THE WORLD ENDED. YOU KNOW IT, I KNOW IT, THEY KNOW IT. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO OR WHAT WE WERE IN BACK THEN, ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHO WE ARE NOW AND HOW WE CHOOSE TO STAY ALIVE. THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT THERE ARE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.”
Another pause. He didn’t respond for a minute, so I took a leap of faith. I kept my gun on safety, hopped out of the vehicle. Jason asked me what I was doing, I held my hand up to get him to stop. I raised my hands, walked in front of the truck to continue this. I could see the laser slowly move over to my chest, then my heart, then my forehead. I was sweating bullets, but I had to do this.
“HARRY, WE NEED THIS. THEY NEED THIS. YOU NEED THIS. I’M SAYING RIGHT NOW THAT THIS WILL KEEP US ALIVE A LOT LONGER, AND I’M BANKING MY LIFE ON IT. JASON, YOU GOT HIS POINT TARGET OR JUST HIS AREA?” Those are military terms. Area target is his upper body, like his chest, but a point target is a specific area, like his left shoulder.
“Point target, forehead.”
“YA HEAR THAT, HARRY? IF YOU SHOOT ME, LETHAL OR NOT, HE WILL KILL YOU. LAY DOWN YOUR GUN, OR HE WILL SHOOT. I REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO THIS, BUT THAT’S HOW IT WORKS IN THIS NEW WORLD. DON’T YOU GET IT? WE’RE ALL JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE! WE SHOULDN’T BE WORRYING ABOUT EACH OTHER, WE SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT THE SORRY SONS OF BITCHES THAT ARE ALREADY DEAD!!”
“Speaking of which…” Murhy muttered. I turned to look in his direction, and he wasn’t kidding. I don’t know if it was the shot, the yelling, or both, but there was a mob of zombies heading right for us from the treeline. I saw the laser move as Harry waited for them to get to the barbed wire across the street. We all did, until Jason started shooting. I saw what he was doing, so I called over Cathy and Murphy and hopped the fence. I still don’t know if they knew what I was doing, but regardless they followed my lead. I hopped the fence, flipped the safety off my MAC and grabbed my knife. Murphy and Cathy spread out from me so that we could keep a uniform shooting position, firing single rounds. When they got close enough, I used my knife while Murphy and Cathy just shot them, but Jason and Harry kept shooting. I hardly noticed when they were reloading, cuz I was focusing on my cluster.
I think that was when Harry realized that there was no way he and I could’ve taken them on alone, and they couldn’t have come that far based on how soon it had been since we started shooting and shouting. It took us fifteen minutes, but we cleared the field without having to retreat past the fence, and Harry didn’t start picking them off. He had to know that he could have, and I’ll guarantee that it occurred to him at least once, but he didn’t act like it.
After the fight, Cathy checked us for wounds, then we checked out our own weapons and ammunition. We parked the truck and went into the house, acting like it was nothing. Jason went up to relieve Harry while I made some coffee. Once he got done, he made sure we all had our weapons on safety while I served the coffee. He actually smiled when I served it. I knew this was going to be the start of something good.
FINAL ROSTER-
Harold “Dirty Harry” Callahan- Captain
David Webb, a.k.a. “Jason Bourne”- Sniper
Murphy MacManus- Berserker
Caroline “Cathy” Ryan- Medic
James Franklin- Negotiator/Scout
