Last Another Day (17 page)

So engrossed was he in his thoughts, Breytenbach didn't hear Kirstin speaking.

“Captain. Sir,” she said.

“Huh? I mean, yes Kirstin? What is it?”

“Look at all the cars, Sir.” She pointed at a double row of cars parked along the street next to the church just as his gaze drew even with the doors. His mind scrambled to make the connection, then it hit him.

The townspeople.

Spotting movement from the corner of his eye, he was in time to see the first infected push out of the church doors and race towards them. Its eyes locked with his and it seemed to smile at him with demonic hunger. As if a dam wall broke inside the church, more infected flooded out. Abandoning all thoughts of exploration, Breytenbach raced away.

When the last figure disappeared from view, Lenka voiced what they were all thinking. “They sought refuge inside the church when the infection hit.”

“Only to have that sanctuary turn into a tomb when somebody inside turned,” Breytenbach confirmed, shuddering as he pictured the bloodbath that must have ensued. It took him back to the night at the kindergarten, full of dead and dying children. A night he would never forget.

In a sudden rage, Breytenbach slammed his hands against the steering wheel as his dream of an infection free town flew out the window.

Damn it. This place would have been perfect.

Silence fell inside the cabin, the atmosphere heavy.

Mike shattered the somber mood. Propping his feet up on the dash, he sang, oblivious to everyone's stares. “Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog at the...something, something. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife. Offer me that deathless death, woohoo...” He broke off and looked around, shrugging, “What? It's a great song.”

After a moment of dead silence, Ronnie burst out laughing. “The singer, what was his name?”

“Hozier.”

“That's right. He's probably dead now.”

“More than likely.”

“That's too bad.”

“Who's Hozier?”

“Never heard of him, either.”

Breytenbach burst out. “You're all a crazy bunch of fuckers, you know that?”

“Ah, but you love us all the same, don't you, Captain?” Mike fluttered his eyelashes and Breytenbach tried to suppress a grin.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Now get your feet off my dashboard!”

It was raining once more on the way back to camp. A damp, dreary drizzle misted up the windows and turned everything into a monotonous gray canvas. Isolated inside his mind, Breytenbach tuned out the quiet talk of the team.

He was tired. So tired. Not as much physically as mentally but he would die before he showed it to the others. They relied on him as their leader. With every action he took and every decision he made, he held their lives in his hands.

Breytenbach knew he dared not show any weakness nor exhibit signs of hesitation. They would lose faith in him and the team's cohesiveness would be lost. It was that alone which had kept them alive so far. As different as they were, as disparate as their backgrounds and personalities might be, they were a team and functioned as one. Each of them acted as part of a whole. If only he could shake off the mind-numbing apathy that held him in its grip.

Up ahead, Breytenbach spotted a figure stumbling along the side of the road. He slowed and excitement gripped his heart when it became apparent that the person was a young girl. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a tank top, her head crowned with a wet and bedraggled looking ponytail.

Like a slow-motion scene in a movie, his window drew alongside her and he glimpsed her face. His heart dropped when he recognized the signs of infection. The blank eyes that stared ahead but turned hungry when they registered life, the thin lips that pulled back like a shark's, exposing her teeth, gray skin crinkling with decay.

Breytenbach sunk lower into his seat as he drove past, ignoring the girl who now stumbled after them with outstretched arms. Just one more victim sacrificed to the plague. He felt like he had swallowed a stone and wondered if he had the strength to make it through the day.

He pushed such thoughts aside as they neared the gates of the compound. It was mid-afternoon and the weary soldiers guarding the gate had been relieved with fresher ones. They looked no less miserable, though.

“Any luck today, Captain?” one of them shouted as he drove through. His pale complexion and hollow eyes reflected the same hunger and hopelessness they all suffered from.

“We'll eat tonight, soldier,” Breytenbach called back, tossing them a box of smokes and two protein bars. It was tradition and the soldiers looked forward to it as their only relief during a long day.

Parking the Mamba in its spot, they piled out and each grabbed a bag of goods, preparing to drop it off at the supply depot. Walking through the throngs of people, dejected faces brightened up when they saw the bags and his weariness fell away at the relief and joy on the starving faces.

This is why I carry on, day after day.

At the depot, they were greeted by a harassed looking Lieutenant who ran around with a clipboard and a calculator. “What have you got for me today, Captain?”

“We got lucky, Lieutenant Nathan. We found a grocery store that's intact. I'm planning to go back tomorrow but this should hold us for now.” Turning to the team, he said, “You can all go do whatever it is that you do when I'm not around. I'll help the Lieutenant here. See you at dinner.”

Nodding, they disappeared to their various haunts. Mike would head straight for the gambler's corner while Johan and Ronnie obsessively patrolled the fence. Kirstin's activities were a complete mystery to him and he had given up trying to guess. Lenka had a girlfriend...or two, maybe three, Breytenbach wasn't sure and wouldn't ask either.

He spent the next hour unpacking as the Lieutenant arranged the goods on the shelves and wrote everything down on his clipboard. He was just about finished when Vicky showed up. “Hey, Captain. I heard you came back and brought goodies for us.”

Waving to the full shelves, he couldn't help but smile. “That we did, Vicky. Help yourself.”

“Oh, thank God! I was so worried there'd be nothing to feed people tonight.” Going through the shelves, she chose rice, salt, soup powder, and bully beef. Feeding three-thousand people was no joke. “There are even veggies here!” she cried, spotting cans of curried vegetables.

Boxes of cereal and long life milk for breakfast rounded out her selection as Lieutenant Nathan loaded everything onto the forklift outside. “I'll send someone over with the stuff. See you tonight.”

Smiling, she said, “See you both at the mess hall tonight.”

“Will do, Vicky,” Breytenbach replied, watching her retreating form.

Turning back to Lieutenant Nathan, they discussed the state of their supplies. It was a pitiful amount, and they were in dire straits. According to the Lieutenant, they only had enough to last two or three more days.

“I'll go back to that grocery store tomorrow. The town is untouched. I'm going to need help, though. We can't load enough supplies into one vehicle and we'll need backup now that the townspeople are out of the church.”

“I'll arrange with our other teams to join you tomorrow. I'm expecting them back any moment now.”

“Have them meet me at the gates at dawn.” Breytenbach gestured to two backpacks. “I'm taking this to Jonathan. He asked for meds and vitamins this morning. Sounds like things are going from bad to worse.”

“That it is.”

Breytenbach trudged off in the direction of the medical tent, leaving the Lieutenant to his job. On the way, he stopped off at a large, khaki colored tent. The soldiers had donated it to a group of single women who were looking after orphaned children and babies.

Ducking through the entrance, he spotted Mannuru, one of the teachers he had saved from the kindergarten weeks ago. She smiled when she saw him and walked over to a playpen. Inside, Samantha was sitting upright, playing with colored blocks. She was plump and pink-cheeked.

“There's my little angel.” He reached inside one of his backpacks and produced a small teddy bear for her amusement. Giggling, she grabbed it and proceeded to smash its head into the bars. “You take after your mother, I see. A real fighter.”

“She's doing well. So are the others,” Mannuru said, indicating the other children in the tent. They ranged from the ages of a few months to ten years of age and all of them were orphans.

More casualties of war
, he thought.

Setting down the backpacks, he pulled out formula, vaseline, diapers and baby wipes. “I know it's not enough, but I'm getting more tomorrow, I promise.”

“It's alright. I know you try,” she assured.

“Any special requests?”

“Yes. I request that you get some rest, Captain. You look exhausted and we all rely on you for our survival.”

“I'll try.”

He bent down on one knee next to the playpen and watched Samantha for a few minutes. He smiled when she chewed on the teddy bear's ear, drooling all over it. Acting like a proud father, he cheered when she pulled herself to her feet and stood there, swaying.

“That's my girl.”

He noticed it was getting late and took his leave of Samantha and Mannuru, sad to leave their happy little world. He made his way over to the medical tent where the doctor tended to a long line of the sick and suffering.

“Captain. You made it, I see. Got anything for me?” Jonathan asked as he pulled off a pair of disposable gloves, tossing them into an overflowing bin.

“I got you vitamins and over-the-counter cold and flu meds. It's not much but I should be able to get more tomorrow.”

Breytenbach eyed the doctor, recognizing the signs of burnout. He was young, barely out of med school—which was probably why he preferred being called Jonathan—and idealistic.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two protein bars and handed it to Jonathan, ignoring his protests. “You need it more than I do. You're overworked and the only doctor we have. Eat.”

Blushing, Jonathan took the bars, promising to eat them later but Breytenbach knew he'd give them to a sick patient or hungry child, instead.

Oh well. I tried. God knows we all do.

When Breytenbach reached the mess hall, dinner was being served. After queuing for fifteen minutes, he received a plate of rice with a generous portion of bully beef and curried vegetable stew from Vicky along with a cup of precious coffee.

Sitting down on a plastic chair that groaned dangerously underneath his weight, he leaned his elbows on the rusty table and savored the food one bite at a time. Little by little, the ache in his stomach subsided, and the cramping stopped.

Halfway through, he was joined by the rest of the team and they all ate their food in silence. They knew how little there was and enjoyed it to the full whenever they had it. Even Mike kept his mouth shut until his plate was empty.

After everyone had finished their food, Breytenbach cleared his throat and looked at them. “Right everyone. So we've found a town that's still untouched by raiders so far. Tomorrow, we'll be setting out on a joint expedition with members of the SANDF. Hopefully, we’ll be able to empty all those stores of their supplies before anyone else finds it. Any questions?”

“How many are going to join us?” Lenka asked in his signature deep voice.

“I'm not sure. Lieutenant Nathan promised at least two trucks and twelve men, maybe more.”

“Bah, we don't need them,” Lenka boomed, throwing a look of contempt at a nearby soldier, barely out of his teens. The poor boy took one look at Lenka's bulging muscles and hostile face and decided to have his dinner elsewhere.

Laughing, Breytenbach said, “Maybe not but they can load the supplies.”

Mollified by the idea that the soldiers would do the grunt work, Lenka relaxed into his chair with a grunt. Nobody else volunteered anything further, and they said their goodbyes, trudging off to their sleeping quarters.

When he reached his tent, Breytenbach collapsed onto his stretcher. He was passed out and snoring within seconds, even forgetting to take his boots off. He slept fitfully, tossing and turning until he awoke several hours later, confused and disoriented.

What the hell? Was that an explosion?

Echoes of the blast rang in his ears and got him up in record time. He shoved his knives and sidearm into their holsters and grabbed his rifle, rushing outside. Another explosion rocked the night, and he pinpointed the direction. It was on the Western edge of camp, close to the gates.

Grenade. It must be another breach.

All around him, people were waking up, screaming and panicking. The whole camp had erupted into total chaos, with people running around like headless chickens. Pushing through the throngs of frightened people, Breytenbach made his way over to the blast area. It was dark and he tripped over tent poles and people, until a flare shot up, brightening the night sky.

What the fuck? What idiot shot up a flare? Does he want to signal to the entire country's zombies that there's an 'all you could eat buffet' tonight?

Another flare lit the sky.

“I’m going to kill the bastard that did that.”

Halfway to the fence, he was joined by Ronnie and Johan and together they forced their way through. When they arrived, Breytenbach's heart dropped into his boots. A whole section of the fence had been flattened and a horde of infected jostled for position, flooding the camp. Soldiers valiantly tried to stem the tide without success.

There's hundreds of them!

With a scream of pain, one soldier disappeared beneath the onslaught but only after pulling the pin on his grenade. It exploded, and a shower of dirt and body parts erupted into the air.

Breytenbach grabbed a fleeing soldier and shoved him back. “Stand fast. We can’t let them in.” He turned to the breach, yelling at the faltering defense. “Hold them back. Hold!”

He took a stand, flanked by Johan and Ronnie and they laid down suppressing fire on the horde pouring through the gap. “Somebody man the damn RPG’s!”

His rifle clicked on empty and he tossed it aside, picking up another dropped by a fallen soldier. His eyes landed on the man’s belt filled with grenades, and he fumbled for the buckle, pulling it off. With swift movements, he pulled the pin on one and tossed the entire string into the gap.

A series of booms erupted, rendering the scene in brilliant light and awful silence as his ears sang. Lit by the explosions, Breytenbach saw the sheer amount of infected clamoring to push their way inside.

It’s too late.

Making a decision, he screamed at the soldiers, “Fall back. Evacuate now. Evacuate!” Turning to Johan and Ronnie, he added, “Get people to the vehicles. Spread the word then meet me at the Mamba in ten.”

With that, he turned and ran for the orphan tent, shouting to people to get to the vehicles along the way. Here and there, he stopped to kill an infected but hardly slowed in his headlong rush. Bursting through the tent flap, he was met by screaming children and babies with the volunteers barely keeping order. “Get to the vehicles now. We're evacuating the camp.”

Screams of panic met his announcement, but the women acted quickly, scooping up toddlers and babies and herding children outside. Breytenbach ran to Sam's crib, snatched her up and bundling her into a blanket. Clutching her with his left arm, he wielded his gun with his right.

“Follow me,” Breytenbach ordered, storming into the night. It was absolute chaos outside, but he forged ahead with single-minded determination, checking now and then that the others were still behind him. An infected stumbled out of the darkness and onto him but he shot it without pause. Continuing on, he was joined by more people as he shouted at everyone to evacuate.

Samantha screamed, but he ignored her. Someone was taken down by an infected and fell away into the darkness but Breytenbach didn't stop, knowing that salvation lay in getting to the vehicles.

As the convoy came into view, he was relieved to see his team were all there, taking a stand against the growing tide of infected as people flowed around them. A handful of soldiers stood with them under the command of Lieutenant Nathan.

“Come on!” Breytenbach shouted to the motley group behind him. His team spotted them and laid down cover fire until they reached safety. Visibility was poor, but the floodlights positioned alongside the fence took them out of the total darkness, at least.