"Terra Mortis" - Chapter 5

Terra Mortis

Chapter 5

By Dwayne MacInnes

Brady watched the sun rise in the west during his watch. Everything seemed so peaceful. There was a light fog hugging the ground that gave everything a slightly otherworldly feel. The birds were chirping away unaware of the changing world around them. Brady contemplated waking the others up, but decided that a few more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt. He looked back at the camp and noticed that Nori was sitting cross legged with a book on her legs. Nori looked up and noticed Brady looking at her; she waved him over to sit next to her.

"Good morning." Nori greeted.

"Good morning. Watcha reading?"

"The Bible. Remember I'm a good Catholic, but with there being no more mass or churches, so much of the burden of my religious obligations fall upon me. I've been reading the 23rd Psalm. It's very comforting, especially seeing as how this could literally be called the valley of the shadow of death," smiled Nori.

"I've never read the Bible. My family wasn't very religious. The only time I've ever prayed was when I was in trouble. I feel that God has deserted us." Brady looked down at the ground fighting off another bout of sudden crying as he remembered his parents. "How long will it be before the pain subsides?" he thought to himself.

"Oh, no! He's still with us. Maybe this is one of those tests that Job went through. But think about it, you were pretty close to becoming zombie chow if Ronnie and I didn't find you."

"Ron, Sarge, Sergeant, Mr. Greene, but please not Ronnie," Ronald said behind them. Nearly scaring them both to death. "I see we are all up. Coop and I'll grab some wood. It'll be a little damp with the dew but I can still get something going. You two can make breakfast. Oh yeah, keep an eye, ear, and nose out, especially the nose in this fog. You can smell those ripe bastards miles away. If anything smells like real bad cabbage or brussells sprouts give out a yell."

With that Sarge and Coop disappeared into the green woods. Nori started rummaging through a pack and pulled out a bag of powder eggs and a water bottle. She then pulled out a small pan.

"We've got plenty of dry goods. So we'll have eggs again today. At first they taste a bit like rubber, but when you are hungry you'd probably eat a tire and think it was a gourmet meal," laughed Nori.

It was hard to be down for long around Nori's bubbly personality. Before long, there was a small fire going and breakfast was served. Brady did the dishes and Nori repacked the backpack. As usual Sarge kick out the fire and Cooper just stared at the dying embers before Sarge poured water on them. When they were fully doused out, Sarge distributed the supplies amongst the backpacks. Sarge, Nori, and Brady each grabbed an M-16.

"Well, let's get going," ordered Sarge as he shouldered a backpack. It was military pack that was much larger than Brady's school backpack. Nori had a framed hiking pack and Cooper carried a school pack much like Brady's. They all looked a little odd carrying their weapons and packs. Brady was amazed that Nori could carry her pack, an M-16, and her sword. Sarge led them down a dirt road that didn't seem to lead to anywhere.

It was about noon when the sounds of chopping cut through the air. It was helicopters and lots of them. Sarge waved them all into the underbrush.

"Keep your face down!" yelled Sarge, "They are more than likely looking for vehicles or large groups. But we shouldn't give them any chance to notice us."

The helicopters flew over head and continued on their way without noticing them. As the sound receded the small party crawled out from under the foliage and resumed walking on the road.

"Looked like some Cobras and Apaches," Brady said.

"That's pretty good. You seem to know something about military hardware," responded Ronald.

"Yeah, I know a little. But why didn't they nuke Seattle instead of fire bombing it? I mean one tactical nuke from an artillery unit would have been easier to do than sending God knows how many B-52s with incendiaries," continued Brady.

"You're probably too young to remember Mount Saint Helens' eruption in 1980. After that explosion, enough ash was thrown into the air that parts of western Montana had to close businesses and schools. There was even some ash falling further east. So you can guess why they didn't nuke it. Radiation doesn't know or care about borders."

"Do you think things will ever be back to normal?" asked Brady.

"I don't know, son, I don't know."

They took a small break and ate a quick lunch and then continued their march. Brady noticed that his feet were starting to kill him. His backpack straps and the M-16 sling were also starting to bite into his shoulders. The shotgun in his right hand was like carrying a lead weight. When Brady started limping and fell behind the party, Sarge called a halt.

"How's your feet, son?" asked Sarge.

"I think I've got some bad blisters on them." Brady responded.

"Same thing happed to me when I first met Sarge. I think he forgets that 17 year old girls are not veteran soldiers," Nori laughed.

"Well, you seem to be coming along anyway," Ronald smiled. "We'll camp here. You're no good if you can't walk."

Brady removed his tennis shoes to see that his sweaty socks were also stained with blood on the heels. Sarge removed Brady's socks and then poured some lukewarm water onto his aching feet. The water was quite refreshing. The sergeant then began wrapping a bandage around Brady's wounded feet.

Ronald looked up at the blood red sun burning through the smoke filled sky. There were some threatening clouds starting to form up.

"I better get a shelter set up over in those trees. Coop you stay with Brady. Nori you come with me and help out."

The Sarge then pulled a tarp out of his pack and gave it to Nori. After that he grabbed his large combat knife and started hacking at some branches on the evergreen trees. After stripping the smaller branches free of the bows Ronald started fashioning a lean-to over the tarp that Nori had laid onto the ground. The tarp was large enough that Ronald was able to pull the extra length of it over the sloping side. Nori then helped Sarge lash down the tarp. Ronald then covered the new roof with the small striplings he had cut off from the branches he had used for the frame of the structure.

It wasn't five minutes before everyone was in the new shelter when another Washington rainfall had started. It wasn't as heavy as the storm Brady drove through, but it was a steady rain. The four of them huddled under the blanket to keep warm. Brady had always liked the rain. It was what made the Pacific Northwest so green and beautiful. From the ferns that covered the ground to the tall pine trees that hovered over them. But now after being in it for hours Brady was starting to see why many people didn't like it. Even though they were all in a lean-to and under a blanket they were still a bit damp and that wasn't really all that comfortable.

"Why don't you have a leather outfit like Nori?" Brady asked sergeant Greene.

"Well, these fatigues are lined with Kevlar. It won't stop a mortar, but it'll stop a zombie bite. I could have tried to have found Nori an outfit and you for that matter, but I don't think you'd like to wear something straight off a dead man. Plus, trying to find something in Nori's size would be nearly impossible," Ronald replied.

"Hey, you found this helmet," Nori pointed to the police riot helmet on the ground next to her.

"Fortunately, those are adjustable," Ronald responded.

"Is that why you cut my hair?" Nori asked.

"Well, no. The last thing you want is to give a zombie something to grab onto. The shorter the hair the better."

"Great! You'd have us all shaved bald just so we'd look like you," giggled Nori.

Ronald laughed and pulled off his helmet and ran his hand over his bald head. "Really? I think it'll be all the rage."

The rain pelted the shelter all evening. Though the lean-to kept out most of the water some still got in. "Man, I don't think I've ever been so miserable," Brady complained to himself.

There were only the three of them in the shelter after Sarge went to take the first watch. It would be the same rotation as the previous night with Brady taking the last watch before dawn.

It was about 10:00 p.m. when the rain finally stopped. The wind rustled through the trees dripping droplets of rain water from the overhead branches onto the shelter. It was much like a dog shaking himself dry. It may have been sheer coincident, but at the moment a spine chilling howl split the night.

Nori, Brady, and even Cooper all shot straight up from their various states of sleep. They looked at each other showing on their faces an ancient fear none of them knew before. The first howl was then taken up by a second and then a third. "Oh God, they are close," thought Brady.

Nori was starting to scramble for her gun when Ronald skidded around the shelter. "Everyone up!" He whispered.

With Sarge's order, everyone went into action. Nori and Brady reached for their weapons. Coop ran over behind Sarge who himself was engaged in trying to start a fire.

"Damn wood is too wet," Ronald cursed. "Brady, give me your backpack."

Brady tossed over his pack without a second thought. Sergeant Greene started tearing through it. Another howl broke into the air not far behind the shelter. Nori had her pink pistol in hand. Brady had his shotgun at the ready. Another howl answered somewhere in the woods in front of the shelter.

"Damn things have us surrounded," muttered Sarge as he continued his work.

"We need light! I can't see a damn thing!" screamed Nori.

Brady was focused on the sounds emanating from the woods around them. He thought for sure he could hear snarling and panting. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to accurately shoot at anything until they were right on top of them. There was the sound of movement in the underbrush near Brady. Suddenly the sound of something charging at them came from the woods. Brady swung his shotgun in the direction of the noise knowing that if he fired into the darkness he'd be lucky to hit his target even with the shotgun. He started to squeeze the trigger of the Remington as the charging beast closed the gap.

Light bathed the area around them to reveal a huge shaggy black wolf running towards them. Brady adjusted his aim slightly and fired his gun at the beast just as it started to pounce. The wolf froze in mid air as the 12 gauge's projectiles canceled out the forward momentum of the wolf. As the huge beast fell dead to the ground Nori fired her pistol randomly into the woods. The rest of the pack retreated in quick order.

Ronald and Cooper stood near a small fire. "Thank God you had that lamp oil," smiled Sarge.

"Looks like those wolves had enough of us tonight," Nori added.

Brady stood there trying to catch his breath looking at the black shaggy beast. "Wait a minute," he thought.

"There are no wolves in this area!" Brady exclaimed aloud.

Sarge stooped over the carcass and ran his hand over the neck of the dead animal.

"Not wolves," he said as he pulled off a chain with a metal tag on it, "dogs that have gone feral."