Journey Home Series-Unfold the Pages of Chapter 1

6 Months Earlier

When we landed at Cherry Point, it was total chaos. There were people running around everywhere, we finally got the word that we could off load our gear and vehicles and then stand by for further word, then that was followed up by the usual Hurry Up and Wait. The President had ordered that all troops stationed overseas to halt all operations immediately and return to their home bases and ports across the United States. 

The rumors were running rampant all over the airbase, the stories that I were being told were so unbelievable that I didn't know whether to believe them or not and I didn't want to hear another outrageous story, I’ll just wait to get the true scoop from the top brass. Finally, Gunny Davis called us all together and told us we had a formation in thirty mikes, finally we might get some true scoop as to what's going on around the world. 

So finally, Captain Harrep shows up at the formation and we all come to attention and he immediately puts at ease and tells us to take a seat. “Gentlemen, we have some serious business to talk about, seems that there is an unknown virus that is moving across every continent on the planet at a rapid pace. They are calling this virus, the Zulu Virus and yes it turns its victims into something like zombies”, we all start to laugh and acting like the zombies we’ve seen in movies and television shows growing up. Gunny Davis steps up next to the Captain and crosses his arms and gives us all that look, “At ease you knuckleheads, you better pull your heads out of your asses and listen to what the Captain has to say, this shit is real and is about to wreak havoc on this great country of ours!!” We all snapped out of it and bring our attention back to Captain Harrep and what he has to say, “Thanks gunny, gentlemen I will cut straight to the chase. Bravo Company - 2nd LAI Battalion has been given the assignment of moving back to Lejeune and once there, we are to refit and resupply. We should know more about our assignment in a few days, gentlemen this is a serious situation and we need to take it seriously, I know the word zombie seems like a joke to you guys but believe me it is not. The video that I just saw in our briefing is not something we should take likely, people are dying out there.  Let's get our vehicles loaded up and head home.”

We all headed back to our staging areas and commenced to getting our vehicles packed and ready to move out. Everyone is being pretty quiet now, there is some talk about the virus, but other than that everyone is lost in their own thoughts about what is really going on out there in the world. Me, I think it sounds a little farfetched myself, but something must be going on to pull every unit stationed overseas or out on a float back to their home bases. I wonder what was in that video that the Captain saw, a virus running rampant and turning people into zombie like creatures, I guess we will find out for ourselves. 

We finally get the word to move out and we get an escort to the main gate from the MP’s. The local police stop traffic for us as we roll out the main gate and turn left towards home, I’m actually looking forward to the hour or so of sleep that I might get on the ride back to base. 

The streets are overcrowded with vehicles and civilians trying to get to wherever they are going, there are wrecks everywhere and you can see smoke rising up into the sky in each direction I look. I have seen the look on everyone’s face before over in the sand box walking through the different towns and villages after a clash with a group of the bad guys, I thought I would never see that here at home. 

Present Day

We've been back at Lejeune now for six months now and the shit has really hit the fan here on base. The virus has really taken a big toll on the world, the U.S. alone has almost lost three quarters of its population to the virus already and the people do not stay dead when they die, they actually do come back from the dead and roam around looking for fresh flesh to devour to satisfy their hunger cravings. I’ve seen things outside the gates that have given me nightmares every time I close my eyes, so I don’t get much sleep anymore. 

I’m on guard now with my best friend Kyle Walton from Muscatine, Iowa, I couldn't ask for anyone better to have my back in the middle of a situation like we are in now. We've been friends now for about three years and it's been one hell of a couple of years for us both. Kyle is officially a Tow-Man by MOS training, but everyone in the Corp. is just a plain old infantryman at heart. 

We've been on our shift for guard for about five hours now, all shifts are forty-eight hours on and twenty-four hours off now due to the lack of men right now. They have been pulling units out of Lejeune and sending them out to reinforce the forward positions here in North Carolina, the forward units are having a rough tough time of it out there is the word going around the base. The dead have overrun a lot of positions the past few days, they come at you in massive numbers and you just can't hold them back. I’m sure one of these days our unit will get the call to go out and fill in the gaps like we have done before, hopefully later than sooner.

Kyle and I just stand there in silence looking through the barricades looking for the dead that wonder into the kill zone, we don't get to see too many because of the waterways on this side of the base. When we do see them in our area, we let them get close enough and then we put a round in their brain pan and free their souls. That's what we call it when we shoot the dead, freeing their souls. Every so often when the coast is clear, we go out beyond the barricades and drag the dead to the burn pit and set them on fire, they say that's the fastest way and most efficient way to get rid of them and any diseases that they might be carrying. We haven't seen any dead since we started our shift.

The sun is starting to set and the air is getting a chill to it, so I go to our vehicle and get my field jacket liner and put it on to fight off the chill. When I head back to our post, I see this look on Kyle's face that I haven't seen before so I ask him what's bothering him, “Penny for your thought?”, that's what my grandmother use to ask me all the time when I was a little kid growing up.

 It took a few seconds for Kyle to spit out a response, “Dave I don't know why you are still here, you have family back in Indiana, if I was you I would have split this scene a long time ago my friend. Me, I don't have any family left, but you should head home and check and make sure that they are alright. I'll stay here and cover for you, I've got your back and I don’t think anybody with a brain would hold it against you.” He just sits there and looks at me tossing a rock back and forth from hand to the other.

Kyle lost his family in a car wreck when we were out on a deployment a year ago, they flew him out the very same day that they let him know what had happened, he wanted me to go back home with him, but command would not approve the request. He was gone for a few weeks, but then he returned back to the unit, he hasn't said much about it and I don't ask him about it, I think he will talk one day when he is ready. I always let him know that I am his family now and I'll always be there for him no matter what happens in this messed up world we know now.

He just stands there waiting for my response, “Kyle, I'm sure that my family has headed to the property when they realized how bad the situation was getting, besides you're my family to and we need to stick together and see this thing through. I’m sure my family is safe now and being cautious of other people. Besides, who would look out for your dumb butt if I flew the coop, you wouldn't last a day without me here.” I laugh and kick some dirt at him.

We both start laughing and I reach over and give him a hug, he’s so strong that he squeezed the breath right out of my lungs, then he finally lets me go, “Dave you are my brother from another mother and I really appreciate all that you have done for me these past three long years. Now can we eat because I'm starving?” He heads for the open box of MRE’s. I just smile and tell him, “Sure but I get first pick this time.” I turn and follow him over to the back of the Hummer.

The property that I'm talking about is about 150 acres out in the middle of nowhere back in Indiana, my parents bought it years ago for some project that they wanted to do. My parents became preppers a few years back and they had someone come in and burry about four Conex boxes in the ground for them that they bought at an auction. They installed solar panels and ran power to the Conex’s, there was also a backup generator down in the Conex’s themselves with a nice exhaust system. There was a nice creek that ran on the property that they could use for drinking water and other stuff, so they installed a pump with a water purification system so they could have water run to the place also. There is also plenty of food there that they have been bringing every time they go out there for a visit, they've been stocking food and water for years now. There is even an armory there with an assortment of firearms and plenty of ammunition, my whole family is pretty efficient with all the firearms in the armory. It's the perfect place to go off the grid if you wanted to, it's a good two day’s march to the nearest town.

We sat there and ate our MRE’s in silence and after we were done I pulled out my last two cigars and tossed one over to Kyle. He took it and ran it under his nose to make sure he got a good whiff of it, then I told him,” You better enjoy that because it's the last one I have. Next time I get a chance, I'll see if I can find some more somewhere.” Kyle pulled out a lighter and lit his cigar and then walked over and held the flame out so that I could get mine going also. “You know Dave, you're probably not going to find anymore stogy’s out there, at least not as good as these are.”

It was time to figure out the watches for the night, I figure that I would take the first watch while Kyle gets some sleep since I haven’t been sleeping well since we got back. I turn to Kyle, “I’ll take the first watch, why don't you get some shut eye and I'll wake you at midnight.” Kyle looks like he is going to argue with me about who's taking the first watch, but he doesn't and turns around and heads for the vehicle.

He says something over his shoulder, “That’s fine, if you have trouble staying awake you can always wake me up, I'm probably not going to get much sleep anyways.” He then disappears behind the Hummer.

I've been sitting here for hours lost in my thoughts of what's to become of this great nation of ours and my family back home in Indiana. I've decided that if things get any worse, that I am taking Kyle with me to Indiana and we will head for the safety of my parent’s property. Hopefully Kyle will come with me and not want to stay here with the unit while they are destroyed little by little, although I know he will come without a doubt in my mind.

I pull out an old map I have in my pack to start planning on a route that we will take if we decide bug out and head west, by the looks of it, it will take us a while to get there if we have to do any of this journey on foot. We have no idea of the conditions of the roads we are going to travel outside the base, we have heard rumors that most of the interstates and state highways are parking lots with all the abandoned cars just sitting there, if that is true, then looks like we will be walking at some point in time. I want to try and keep the main Interstates close to us, but far enough away that we avoid any trouble that might be out there looking for the weak to prey on. You never know what desperate times will drive people to do, just like in the movies and books you read, the desperate will do anything they have to to survive in this new world. Looks like we will take State Road 25 over to Interstate 40 and follow it all the way up to Knoxville for now, if we make it that far, then we will plan our next route from there.

I reach over and grab the radio out of the Hummer so that I can make my 2300 hour’s radio check back to battalion, we are to do it every hour on the hour per orders, “Bravo 6, Bravo 6, this is Bravo 9, radio check over”.

When I release the talk button I get the usual static, “Bravo 9, this is Bravo 6, read you loud and clear. Bravo 9, give us a sitrep over”. 

I take a few moments to gather my thoughts, “Bravo 6, sitrep normal, no z’s at our pos at this time. How are things with you guys and the forward units, over?”

There is an unusually long pause this time, “Bravo 9, not good, forward positions taking heavy casualties and being overrun as we speak, will update you at later time, Bravo 6 out.”

 I set the radio to the side and sit here and imagine how bad it must be for the guys in the forward units, as the old saying goes, “Better them than me.” Things must be really bad out there if they're being overrun that easily and taking that many casualties. I hope things turn around for them.

At about 2345 hours, I am startled by a huge explosion that shakes the ground and lights up the sky like it’s the 4thof July. You can hear all kinds of rifle fire and more explosions coming from the direction of the front gate of the base and that is quite a distance from here. Standing there watching the bright sky fade back to darkness and listening to the fire fight that is raging makes me wonder if this is the end of it for us, I hope that they can hold the line.

I turn to head for where I left the radio sitting and I walk right into Kyle, it's you’re walking into a brick wall when you do. He is still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when I regain my balance, he just stands there with a dazed look on his face. I move around him and head for the radio and he turns around and asks, “What the heck is going on Dave, what was that explosion from?” I just point towards the direction of the front gate.

I grab the radio and turn back around to face him and by this time he is striding towards me, “Not sure what’s going on, I was getting ready to radio in for a sitrep when the explosion and rifle fire started.” I threw the radio on the hood of the Hummer and check to make sure the frequency is set right, I raise the handset to my mouth and depress the send button, “Bravo 6, Bravo 6, this is Bravo 9, sitrep over”, I wait for a few seconds before I transmit again, “Bravo 6, this is Bravo 9 over.” All I get back in my ear is static. 

I just stand there for a few minutes gazing in the direction of the front gate, finally there is a break in the static, “Bravo 9, this is Bravo 6 over.”

I reach back over and grab the handset, “Bravo 6, this is Bravo 9, what is the situation at your position, over.” There is another long pause before I get any reply from Bravo 9.

“9 this is 6, the front gate has been breached, I say again the front gate has been breached, we have taken heavy casualties and are pulling back to regroup at rendezvous point Charlie and form another defensive line there, over.” You can hear the excitement and fear in his voice at the same time, plus all the rifle fire and explosions in the background.

I look at Kyle and shrug my shoulders, I grab the radio and head towards the back of the Hummer, “9 this is 6, do you want us to move to your position, over.” Nothing but static, “9 this is 6, over.” Again, nothing but static.

Again, I look at Kyle and this time he sees the worried look on my face, the static breaks once again on the radio, “9 this is 6, negative on moving to our position, I say again negative on moving to our position, stay where you are, will contact you later, 6 out.” Nothing but static fills the ear piece again.

I set the radio down and turn and face Kyle, we just look at each other for a few seconds and then we turn towards the sounds of the battle coming from the direction of the front gate. You can tell that there are fires in the distance by the red glow on the horizon off in the distance, the fighting doesn't sound as bad as it did a little while ago, probably due to them being on the move.

I slap Kyle on the shoulder and grab my gear out of the back of the hummer, Kyle follows suit, “What do you think is going on over there Dave and what's our next move going to be?” He walks up and stands next to me.

I turn a bucket over and take a seat next to my gear, “I think we should stay here for now and wait for them to contact us and I’m sure they will once they fall back and set up a new defensive line. We should go over our gear and get it ready just in case we have to bug out fast.” I start to empty out the contents of my pack on the ground, “Make sure you got everything you will need, make sure you have some extra ammo packed away, you know we will need it sooner or later.” I nod towards the ammo cans sitting at the front of the Conex box.

Kyle follows my lead and unpacks his gear and takes inventory and then repacks it just like me. He also packed a lot of extra ammo for the M4 and M9 that we both carry. He turns towards me, “So how long are we going to wait for them to contact us before we do something, I mean it doesn't sound very good now, you could hear it in that radio operators voice the last time he spoke, he sounded pretty scared to me and the battle over there has died down quite a bit now.” He swivels on his bucket to face me.

As I continue to work on my gear, I talk nice and calm, “I think we should give them to dawn and if we don't hear from them by then, that’s when we will get on the horn and try to contact them. If we can't get a hold of them by radio, I'll take the Hummer and go have a look for myself and you’ll stay here and watch the back gate. How’s that sound?” I toss him a couple extra magazines to pack away in his pack.

He sits across from me finishing fastening up his pack, he looks up at me with a smile on his face, “Sounds good to me Sarge, that's why you get paid the big bucks. I’ll stay here and watch this desolate place while you're gone checking things out.” He stands up and kicks his bucket out of the way.

The sun starts to rise and we still have not heard from Bravo 6, the battle has trailed off quite a bit now, we only hear a few rifle shots here and there from that direction. I head over to the Hummer and grab the radio off the hood and take a seat in the Hummer, “Bravo 6, this is Bravo 9 over”, nothing but static in return.

 I wait a few minutes more then try it again, “Bravo 6, this is Bravo 9 over”, again nothing but static. Suddenly I have a bad feeling come over me, I replace the handset back into its clip.

Kyle sees that I am done with the radio and walks over towards me from the barricades, “So did you get a hold of battalion, are they alright?” He stops in front of me and lights a cigarette. 

I climb out of the Hummer and walk over and stop next to Kyle, “No I didn't get a response from them, I have a bad feeling that they got over run last night. Think I'm going to drive that way and see how close I can get and take a look at the situation. You stay here and keep an eye out here, this could be our only way out.” I turn and head for my gear.

Kyle turned and started to head back towards the barricades, “Dave, don't do anything stupid out there, if they are done for, come straight back so we can figure out what we are going to do. Be careful and watch your six.” Kyle flips me the bird and finishes the walk back to the barricade.

I climb into the Hummer and fire her up, I spin her around and pull out onto the hard top and head towards the front gate. I check to make sure I have a full mag in my Beretta and M4 as I'm rolling towards the location where the battle was raging last night. I pick up the handset to the radio and try and reach battalion once again, but as I suspected all I received back was static. 

As I was driving along, the steady hum of the tires on the pavement was causing me to relax just a little too much for the situation that I we are in. I shake my head to wake myself up and cracked the window to get some fresh air in the vehicle. As I drive around a bend in the road, I have to stand on the brakes really hard to get the Hummer to stop quickly. About 100 yards in front of me, the road is blocked by what must have been a couple of hundred of the dead on the road and heading towards me. I had no idea they were there because of the brush and pine trees blocking my view of what was around the bend in the road.

About 40 yards ahead of me on the right there is an entrance to a tank trail, I stomp on the gas pedal to get there in plenty of time to beat the dead. I turn right onto the trail so I can make my way around the dead blocking the road. Before I follow the trail around a bend, I sneak a look in the rearview mirror and see the dead following me down the trail, they must follow the noise and movement of the Hummer. I continue on down the trail; I know where it is taking me because I've used it a hundred times before. There is an observation tower about a couple of miles up the trail that will give me a good view of the area that I want to see.

When I reached the top of the tower and look in the direction of the battle last night through the binoculars, what I saw makes bile rise in my throat, I barely managed to keep it down. There were hundreds of dead bodies everywhere, both Marines and the dead. The dead still walk among the bodies of the dead and dying like they were not sure what to do. When the dead came upon a wounded soldier, they would pounce on them like a cat would do to a mouse. I could barely hear the screams of the wounded as they were literally eaten alive. I finally succumbed to it and lost the contents of my stomach over the handrail of the tower.

As I am hanging over the handrail, I see a Marine staggering towards me about a hundred yards out and he has two of the dead on his tail, they are gaining ground fast.  I start heading down the stairs of the tower in hopes of getting to him before the dead reaches him and make a meal out of him.

When I stop in front of him I see the sergeant stripes on his collar and that his name tape says Vanhook, I help him to the ground and lean him up against a nearby tree. The dead are only about fifteen yards away now so I pull my M4 off my back and raise it to my shoulder. I take the closest one in my site first and it use to be a female Marine at one time, I pull the trigger and turn her head into a chunky red mist. The male one following close behind her stumbles over her lifeless body and land flat on its face, he looks like he has been one of the dead for a while now, his skin is all wrinkly and looked like dried leather. I use the butt of my rifle as a battering ram to crush its head like a watermelon.

I kneel down next to the sergeant and check him over for any obvious wounds and I notice that there is a big chunk of skin missing from the back of his neck and the left side of his face that are bleeding profusely. I take my canteen out and give him a small drink of water, “What unit are you from sergeant?” I help him with the canteen.

When he looks up at me, you can see the life just draining from him, “I'm from headquarters, call me John. We got over run last night, we tried to make a second stand, but there was just too many of them to do anything.” You can tell that he doesn't have much longer before he succumbs to his wounds.

He pushes the canteen back into my chest, “They left us there, the brass said every man for himself over the radio and they took off in their vehicles. They left us there to die, they just left us there to die.” His head drops back to his chest.

I give him another drink,” Do you know which way they went and are we to regroup somewhere?” He just stares at me for a second.

He can barely lift his head to look at me, “I don't know where they went, the military is done for and our forces are being overrun all over the country. There's nothing we can do to stop them.” He tries to stand but falls back into a sitting position against the tree.

He mumbles something that’s hard to understand, “Get out while you can, there are so many of them heading this way. You have to do a favor for me before you go, put a bullet in my head so that I don't become one of those things, please you have to.” The pleading looks on his face sent chills up and down my spine. 

I stand up and look down at him, he eventually takes his last breath and slumps over onto his side. I raise my M4 to my shoulder and put a round in his head before he had a chance to come back as one of those things like he asked of me. I hope Kyle can do the same if I should fall to the same fate as the sergeant did.

The drive back to Kyle and the barricades, the drive seemed like it took forever, I just kept thinking about taking the life of a fellow Marine like that, a brother. That just really got to me, the sergeant told me that when you get bit by one of them, you eventually die and come back from the dead to be one of them. I've seen movies, I’ve read books and I’ve seen shows with zombies in them but would never have believed that it could truly happen, I guess anything is possible.