Zombie Theorem: The End Game Read online

“Great, so Doc, go get me a cup of coffee.” I laughed then had to stop due to the pain emanating from my belly.

  “So, when do I start work Colonel Kuppers?

  He smirked and turned to Vic, ignoring my question for now. He turned again and pinned two things to the blouse. I looked down at one of them and recognized the Purple Heart, given to service men who have been injured during battle. The other, I had no idea, so I said as much.

  “That is a new medal that I came up with. It’s the Medal of Heroes for valor while fighting douche bag Ridder forces and puke-bag zombies.” Kuppers said with a giant grin.

  “Awesome. I hope everyone got one then.”

  “They did. I expect to see you ready for duty, tomorrow morning. I will see you in the Command Center by 0800 hours. I am sure that Mr. Leeder can roll you there. You have a desk that you will be manning, I’ll fill you in on your duties at the morning briefing. Now if you will excuse me I have a ton of paperwork to deal with.” He saluted again and left with Colonel Phillips in tow.

  The rest of the group stuck around bullshitting with me about the last couple of days and the trip to this base. It sounded like everyone had been given new ranks and put to work on the base. Someone knocked on the door then it opened and in came doctor Harmidi was taken aback at all my visitors. “Dan, good news. You can be discharged right away. If all of these nice people can wait in the hallway, we can get you unhooked from all these machines, remove your IV, and get you dressed.”

  “That is the best news Doc. I would like Julie and my Sasquatch friend here to stay and help, if you don’t mind.”

  He gave me a smile and agreed, then shooed the rest out the door. Two nurses came in and got to work unhooking me from the machines and removing my IV. Once done, the Doctor and nurses left me in capable hands. Julie and Brian worked together to get me out of the hospital gown and into my new uniform. I almost felt alive again. Brian lifted me up like a child and slid me into my new wheel chair. Julie leaned down and kissed me lightly, she knew I was putting up a brave face for everyone. I was still hurting deep inside, and feeling Angel’s loss more than I was willing to show. That little girl had always known when I needed her. If she’d been here she, would’ve climbed up onto my lap kissed my face and smiled at me. The thought of that, raised my heart-beat a little and I grinned slightly. I guess she didn’t completely leave me yet, after all. They wheeled me into the hallway and the team followed as I was taken outside. The sun kissed my face and I put my hand up for Brian to stop. He did and stood with his arms crossed waiting patiently. I enjoyed that brief moment of sun, and peace.

  I was given a brief tour of the base, including the flight line. The place was packed with all sorts of aircraft, an army in their own right, of mechanics and specialists climbing over the fabulous sleek machines. Some noticed me and would stop what they were doing snap into attention and salute me. I just waved at them, not really into all the saluting and stuff. “I’m getting a little tired, and hungry.” I said.

  Julie kneeled down in front of me. “Would you like to go to the chow line or to our new home and have someone bring you food?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip for a while before answering. “Why don’t we all go eat as a family, then you can take me home, to rest.”

  Brian tilted back my chair pivoted it into a new direction and pushed us into a jog. Everyone gave chase, laughing and hooting. It was the first time that I’d seen everyone so happy all at once. When we entered the cafeteria, we were met with open arms. The kitchen workers cleared us a space, so that we could eat together. Brian skipped the line-up and planted me and my chair in the head spot at the table. A cook came out of the back and placed a tray in front of me.

  “Doctor Harmidi called in your special diet to us already. We have beef broth, and some soft potatoes for you. I was told no to the coffee, but your pet Sasquatch there threatened my life, if I didn’t bring you some.” He produced a carafe of coffee and a nice big ceramic mug. He poured the steaming beverage into it and slid the mug in front of me.

  “Thank you, and I wouldn’t be too afraid of the hairy one. He’s really just a big teddy bear, rub his tummy if he tries to attack.” I stage whispered, so Brian would hear every word. The cook blanched and forced a laugh retreating back into the kitchen. I waited for our team to take their places and we ate. My Dad sat to my left, Julie to my right, and Brian right next to her. I sipped at my coffee and deemed it drinkable. I tried the beef broth and found it nice and salty. I dumped my potatoes in it, stirred, and ate them like I was a starved refugee. It was the best meal I had ever had.

  Apache and Doc traded barbs and when they weren’t, Hase and Apache would hold hands and whisper to one another. It was nice to see that they’d found happiness with one another. I didn’t speak much, I ate and sipped my coffee, and enjoyed my team. No, not a team anymore, more like a family. I watched my Dad through the corner of my eye as he continuously stole looks at me. I stopped drinking, placed my mug down and placed my warm hand on his. He took it and smiled at me, tears threatening to break free. I don’t remember much of the conversation before I felt my eye-lids become heavy, and I fell asleep.

  I awoke to Julie rubbing my head. I was lying on a nice comfortable bed in a bedroom that I didn’t believe belonged on an Army base. I was expecting a metal cot in a room full of people. Instead Julie and I had this one all to ourselves. “How did you sleep, sweetie?” I croaked out.

  “Anytime I get to sleep next to you is a day in paradise, my love.”

  When she said paradise, I had a twinge of lost run through me. I remembered the boat and island, and felt sad for a second. I must’ve shown it on my face as Julie asked. “What was that all about, hun? Tell me.”

  I tried to brush it away as nothing, but this girl could read me better than a wide open book. I told her about my dream in the boat, how I was denied paradise. I told her about the dream with Kuppers, and how I had authorized something that had upset Kuppers. I told her how I missed Angel but could somehow still feel her pull. Julie listened to it all, then she wrapped her arms around me, being careful not to disturb my injuries. “You were not denied paradise hun. Sounds to me, that whatever you are needed for here, is more important. Paradise will be waiting for you, and I will be there with you, after we pass of old age. I will be your rock and your confidant.”

  She rolled off the bed and came around with my chair. I waved her off and slowly worked myself to a sitting position on the bed, the pain so far was manageable, I just felt stiff. I tried to stand, but my legs felt sore, yet numb, as if wrapped in three feet of gauze. Julie offered me her hands and I took them. Using her strength, I forced myself to stand. When I felt stronger and more assured of myself, I let go and took a small step. The legs listened and I didn’t fall on my face, so I took another tentative one. I would master this walking thing, no way was I going to spend more time in that chair than I had to. She stood by my side offering to help if I needed it. I made it to the bathroom and took my first pee standing up that I’d had in eons, or so it felt. She used a wash cloth to help me wash myself then while she got dressed, I took it upon myself to put my own clothes on

  I was pretty close to being dressed when Julie stepped into the room dressed in a dark green skirt and white blouse, Army-issued uniform, I guessed. I had managed to get my boxers on and blue trousers with a yellow line down the outside of the leg. I had somehow wormed into an undershirt and got the white blouse shirt on, but had problems buttoning it. Julie came over and took care of them for me, and helped me with socks and shiny shoes. I felt a little funny in these clothes. I was happy in my Khakis and polo shirt, although I was fond of the BDUs or battle dress uniform that soldiers across the world wore.

  Julie slid over the wheel-chair and I was about to protest when she stomped her foot and gave me a wicked look. I relented and figured I would never be able to walk all the way to my office. She wheeled me through a small house, and stopped at a bedroom door. She knocked and the door opened q
uickly. Brian stood there, dressed in his standard BDUs that he loved so much. Behind him, my Dad was in his favorite cowboy clothes. He waved at me and came to the door, but he had to wait till Brian moved, since he took up the entire doorway. “Son you think you could ask your pet Sasquatch to get out of my way before I cut his legs off and beat him with them?”

  Brian snorted but moved into the hallway, allowing Dad to come up and give me a small hug. “I took a job helping in the motor pool, so I’d better get going. Have a fun day, Son, and don’t take shit from anyone.” He walked past me, and out the door he went. Brian collected his weapons from his room and followed Julie and I out the door, and outside to a sun just coming over the top of the east mountains.

  “So, what job did you get Brian?” I enquired.

  He took over the pushing duties of my chair from Julie. “Personal body-guard of a pompous ass Major, named Dan.”

  I laughed and doubled over from the pain. “Oh my God, that hurts when I laugh. I order you to stop being a wise-ass, joke-cracking Sasquatch.”

  “Sure, the minute you can get up and kick my ass, I will stop. Plus, I like seeing you in pain.” He chortled and kept pushing my chair down a serene, tree lined street. Life almost felt normal, no immediate danger of zombies or of Ridder trying to kill me.

  “What about you hun? What are you doing?”

  “I’m the aid to the same pompous ass that Brian is tasked to guard.” she quipped.

  I tried my best Rodney Dangerfield voice. “I tell you, I get no respect.”

  “That was a terrible impersonation of Robin Williams.” Brian said.

  “That’s because it was Rodney Dangerfield.”

  “Like I said, that was a terrible Robin Williams.”

  I said nothing else as we came to a large two story, brick structure. So this is where I start my new job, a round of emotions took their turns, working their way through me. It started with panic, went to anger, then finally muted to excitement. I know that sounds weird for me to go from panic then anger, only to end in excitement, but you have to remember, I love working. I love being busy, I cannot be the guy who sits around and do nothing. I like being productive, and a part of the solutions. Brian pushed me up the ramp and we entered the lobby. Kuppers stood there dressed in new camouflaged BDUs. I felt set up, wearing these formal clothes. He had a small army of men and women standing behind him. As I entered, the staff came to attention and saluted. I moved my feet to the ground, gripped the arms of the wheel-chair, and pushed myself up. Brian and Julie tried to reach out and grab me to help, but I pushed them away. I stood as straight as I could and saluted back.

  Kuppers cracked a smile as if to say, good job son. I dropped my salute and the staff surrounding Kuppers stepped forward to shake my hand. I eased myself back into the chair, hissing quietly to hide the pain it took to do that. I tried to remember names and titles as they gave them to me, but shortly, I became overwhelmed. I kept a smile though and shook everybody’s hands.

  “Alright, that’s enough, everyone back to work. Major, follow me.” Kuppers swung on his heels and walked away. Expecting that I would follow.

  Brian took the chair and pushed me quickly to catch up. We entered a large auditorium room, and Kuppers led us to a bank of computer stations. “You and your staff will work from here. If you need something, let me know. I have already uploaded all of the intel reports we have gathered. I need you to go through it, and give me an operational view of what’s going on. Oh, before I forget, we somehow wrested control of two satellites from Ridder. Alright I will leave you to it.” Kuppers patted my shoulder and headed down the stairs to the front of the room and sat at what I guessed was his station. Once he’d settled, a line of people appeared in front of him, with items that needed his attention.

  I grabbed the desk and pulled my chair up to one of the work stations, locked my wheels, stretched, and opened a file on the desktop. One hundred and forty-five PDFs appeared. Brian took the station to my right and Julie, the station to my left. “Alright, this is how I want to do this. Let’s break down these reports into categories then rank them by priority and actionable content. We will need a couple of other analysts to help out. Julie, can you take control of getting the staff we need? Brian, we need lots of coffee and if you can take control of compiling data?”

  “Boss, it’s so nice to see you get back to work.”

  “Oh, and get me some different clothes. I can’t work dressed like this, I feel out of place without BDUs and my side arm.”

  Brian stood from his chair and threw a salute. “Sir, yes sir!” Then walked from the room laughing.

  “You’re a giant pain in the ass, you shaved Sasquatch!” I yelled at his retreating backside.

  Julie turned her chair to me and reached out. She turned my head to her and gave me a quick kiss. “I don’t know if I can handle being bossed around by you.” She laughed, stood, and walked away to handle what I’d asked her to do.

  I turned my attention back to my work station and started opening and skimming the reports to get a gist of what they said. I created new files on the desktop and got to work categorizing. Some of the things I read, did not make me feel too happy. It was a plethora of Ridder movements, Zombie attacks, supplies, rescue reports, and a hundred other topics. I hadn’t noticed when Brian and Julie had come back. I’d picked up and started drinking a hot cup of coffee and was halfway through it, when I finally stopped to wonder when it was given to me. My brain was starting to get foggy and the pain had made a roaring come back. I drained the coffee tilted my head back and closed my eyes, letting a moan escape my lips.

  A giant hand rested on my right shoulder. “I think we should get you some food and some pain medicine. Then back to the house so you can get some rest.”

  I opened one eye and looked at Brian. “Buddy, I have so much work to do. I agree with a break for food but then I want to come back here. No medicine, that will just make it harder to concentrate on the work, that needs to be done.”

  “You will have to rest at some point.” came Julie’s voice from my left. “You won’t get better if you don’t. Oh, and there is the fact that I need some alone time with you.” I swiveled my head quickly over to her and opened both eyes. She looked deep into my eyes and then slowly bit her bottom lip.

  “I think we are done for today. Let’s hit the chow line to get some food and head back home, post haste.” For the first time I realized three new analysts were sitting next to Julie. Two women and one man, and they looked as tired as I felt. Julie turned in her seat to look at what I was staring at.

  She laughed and punched me lightly in the arm. “You don’t remember meeting them do you?” She rolled her eyes at me and turned to face the new staff. “Looks like our illustrious leader was so busy earlier that he doesn’t remember meeting you. Dan, sitting next to me is Staff Sargent Ashley Redhill, next to him is Corporal Jeanette Lau, and last but not least, is Lieutenant Amanda Hammermeister of the Royal Canadian Air Force. She was a liaison at NORAD as a satellite reconnaissance analyst. She happened to be on vacation out on the west coast, when all the shit went down. The General met her at one of the refugee camps and tasked her out here with us. She is the one who got us access to those two satellites.

  I unlocked the wheels from my chair and rolled myself over to where they sat. I shook each person’s hand and thanked them for joining our little ragtag group. I told them to call it a day and invited them to dinner with us. Only Amanda accepted, the other two had additional duties to perform for Kuppers. Julie took over the pushing duties from Brian and we made our way over to the cafeteria. I hated the looks that people gave me as Julie pushed me in. I felt like they had pity for me, which pissed me off to no ends. Julie left me at a table alone while she, Brian and Amanda went off to fetch food. I took out my trusty notebook and started to flip through it, reading over the check list for the next day’s goals. A shadow appeared over my shoulder and onto my notebook. I raised my head and looked over. Two men on c
rutches and a woman in a wheel-chair were lined up, looking at me.

  I opened my mouth to say something when the woman, cut me off and started to speak. “We would like to introduce ourselves, sir.” I unlocked my wheels and backed up from under the table and turned to face them fully. “I am Marine, Master Sergeant Maria Cruz, the young man behind me is Sergeant Tony Torrez, and the grizzly-looking old guy at the end is Gunny Sergeant Neal Mauseth. We were attached to a Marine platoon that was hit and decimated by a combined Ridder and Army company. We have been on this base for almost a week and have no duty. Marines do not do well sitting around doing nothing, we would like to volunteer to work for you, sir. We are very adept at gathering and assimilating intel.”

  I sat quietly, looking each of them in the eye. I smiled when Brian walked up behind them. “I have a soft spot for Marines. This is Brian Leeder; you will work for him.” I pointed at the new recruits and smiled at Brian. “Brian, these are some of your kind and they want to work with us, so they are yours, since I do not speak Marine.”

  Brian put the two trays of food down on the table and held out his massive hand. He shook their hands in turn and wrote their names down on a notebook he’d started carrying. “I was a first Sergeant with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Now I do something harder, I work for this moron. Grab your chow, let’s get these tables put together and join us for a meal.”

  All three moved off to gather their food and, then watched as the Sasquatch picked up a table by himself and put it down against ours. He pointed to the chairs and told them to park it. They did as were told and we sat around enjoying our warm food and chatting. I explained what their jobs would entail and that it was not going to be easy. I asked Julie to pass it by Kuppers that we’d brought on these three. She wrote it down in her notebook and ate some of the mashed potatoes on her tray. I looked over the food on my tray, and felt my stomach start doing back-flips.

  Julie watched me out of her peripheral vision, and tried to hide a smile. She then turned toward me and produced a bowl of soup that she had been hiding. “Something made me think that you wouldn’t be able to handle regular food yet, so I got you some crackers and soup just in case.”