![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zyracuse.com\/images\/titles\/thinningtheherd.jpg?resize=463%2C173&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The front cab of the M939A2 cargo truck smelled like the Army. It was a mixed smell of metal and\u00a0 some type of oil or grease. It was comforting and took Lieutenant Rhine\u2019s mind back to more pleasant times in his life; times when the term \u201cZombie\u201d had only been \u00a0a stupid movie gimmick. The jolt of PFC Garner\u2019s knee digging into his back brought him back to the real world.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry sir, just trying to adjust my stance\u201d Garner said from his position standing on the passenger seat with his upper body out of the cab\u2019s rooftop turret and manning the trucks M2HB .50 caliber machine gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts fine Garner, I needed it anyways\u201d Rhine said, grabbing his SCAR and opening the door to step out<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The platoon had acquired the two five ton M939A2\u2019s from an infantry unit that had poorly positioned itself during an engagement with Zack and as a consequence, had ceased to exist. Rhine\u2019s company commander called them in to plug the gap that Zack had punched in the dangerously thin defensive line and \u201cplug\u201d they did. They had dismounted from their Humvees and engaged the group of around 40 Z\u2019s; their silenced M-4\u2019s and SCARS dropping the undead with slightly hushed pops.\u00a0 As they scoured the area, it was noted that Zack\u2019s original formation had only been of about 30 Z\u2019s; the remainder being made up of members of the fallen unit whose corpses had risen and joined the attack. Advancing past the permanently dead corpses, they reached the unit\u2019s position and discovered the two trucks; their insides filled with some valuable supplies. Rhine decided to take the trucks and their goods since their previous owners certainly didn\u2019t need them anymore. Their little rolling war machine now consisting of three Humvees, the two M939s, twenty five Rangers and five Colorado National Guardsmen sat off to the side of the highway on I-25, just South of the New Mexico-Colorado border and about 7 \u00bd miles North of the town of Raton, New Mexico. The platoon was down to twenty five Rangers from the original thirty they had assaulted Dallas with. The five Guardsmen they had been given may not have been as highly trained as Rhine\u2019s Rangers but they were competent and did their jobs \u00a0so they fit in well. The whole contingent of men was currently holding a checkpoint to observe and assist refugees fleeing North from Albuquerque and its surrounding cities North to Colorado.\u00a0 \u201cCheckpoint\u201d was a drastic misuse of terms Rhine thought to himself. The highway was filled from shoulder to shoulder with haggard and beaten looking refugees; god knows how many of whom were infected and just weren\u2019t showing signs yet. There was absolutely no way the platoon could spot even one-tenth of the infected amongst the refugees if they weren\u2019t showing signs of illness. It was a hopeless task and Rhine felt they should have been far to the South helping to keep the horde of Z\u2019s chasing the refugees off their tail.<\/p>\n
He stood with my back leaning against the truck\u2019s door thinking of how stupid it was to have some of America\u2019s most elite soldiers pulling checkpoint duty. It was like using your Ferrari to tow a boat; it just didn\u2019t make any sense. He guessed the Army was really running low on personnel to have crack troops pulling traffic duty. As he was getting lost in his mental crusade against the poor planning on the Army\u2019s part, a commotion roughly thirty yards South snapped his attention back. The crowd had parted and he could see some of his men running to the spot, rifles up and ready. Rhine followed and soon found himself standing in front of a man on his hands and knees, coughing deeply, droplets of blood falling from his mouth onto the pavement. Two Rangers quickly donned thick rubber bit proof gloves and grabbed the man, forcing him all the way to the ground. The man fought back, trying to escape while the Rangers tugged at his clothing, trying to locate infected wounds or bite marks.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet your goddam hands off me!\u201d the man grunted as he reached out towards a Ranger\u2019s face, trying to fight back.<\/p>\n
A third Ranger standing above them saw the move and brought the butt stock of his SCAR down hard\u00a0 into the man\u2019s shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. The man\u2019s wife and children standing nearby began sobbing. Rhine nodded his approval of the Ranger\u2019s move. It had caused just enough pain to get the man to cease his reaching but didn\u2019t cause any blood splatter such as a similar blow to the face would have.\u00a0 One of the Rangers called out as he pulled the man\u2019s shirt up and located a deep bite wound on the man\u2019s upper back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a bite here, he\u2019s infected!!\u201d the Ranger hollered as his standing comrade placed the SCAR\u2019s muzzle against the infected man\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
The crowd of refugees surrounding the commotion recoiled back in fear, a virtual parted sea flowing around the infected.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove again and you\u2019re dead\u201d the Ranger with the SCAR said to the infected man, the adrenaline in his bloodstream ratcheting up his nervousness and aggression.<\/p>\n
Rhine moved forward, pulled the two Rangers off of the infected man, and grabbed him by the arm.<\/p>\n
Once he had helped him up Rhine looked him in the eye and hissed under his breath \u201cDon\u2019t you dare do this in front of the children! You know what this means, now be a fucking man about it!\u201d<\/p>\n
The man hung his head and sobbed. The truth about his fate that he had so desperately been denying was now visible for the world to see and he could no longer hide it.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids, you and your mom gotta keep going, your dad needs to stay here and help us stop the bad people.\u201d Rhine said followed by a loud shout of \u201cEveryone keep moving! Come on, you gotta keep moving North!\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd began moving again, the wary eyes of passing refugees tracking the man as they passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I say goodbye to my family?\u201d the man asked, desperation in his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYea; make it quick though, I can see your skin losing its color already\u201d<\/p>\n
The man began to walk away when Rhine grabbed his arm, \u201cHugs are fine but DO NOT kiss them, the risk of infection is too great, I am sorry but those are the rules\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts ok\u2026\u2026. I understand\u201d<\/p>\n
Rhine could see that the Rangers were uncomfortable with the man being so close to the children. They all should have known by now that the infected would pass out and died before the infection took hold. They didn\u2019t simply go from living to Zombie in an instant. The young Lieutenant wanted to turn away but forced himself to stand and watch this man\u2019s last moments with his love ones. He was about to take this man from his family. Infection or not, Rhine would be the one taking his life and watching these last moments was his punishment. He stood and was escorted into the tree line and out of sight from the road by four Rangers. Rhine caught his wife\u2019s eyes as she began walking past while holding a hand of each of her children. She hated him and he understood; no matter what the situation. They always gave him that look. Regardless of the fact that the infection would have killed her husband anyway and transformed him into a walking cannibal, in her mind, Rhine was the Grim Reaper.<\/p>\n
He walked away and through the woods, entering a small clearing to find the man sitting on the ground. A couple feet away from him lay six other bodies hog tied with high strength zip ties. Unlike the man, these bodies drooled blood from their snapping mouths and thrashed like beached sharks, still trying to attack but unable to move far enough to do so. The man was smoking a cigarette offered to him by one of the Rangers, his tears dried, finally at peace with his situation. Rhine stopped next to Staff Sergeant\u00a0 Moreno, taking the silenced MP-5 from his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese six all turned in the past hour. God it creeps the hell out of me when their eyes open back up and they stare at you and start snapping.\u201d Moreno said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to keep doing this sir, I can handle it\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Enrique, this is what they mean by \u201cthe burden of command.\u201d The shit rolls uphill in this platoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The infected refugee stubbed his cigarette out and looked at Rhine, \u201c I\u2019m sorry for fighting your men, I was so scared. It was stupid to put my family in danger like that\u2026\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIts ok, I understand and my men do too\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWill it hurt? You know when you\u2026when you do it?\u201d he asked, the tears building back up in his eyes.<\/p>\n
Rhine had no idea if it would hurt; he had never been shot in the head before. He lied anyways \u201c I promise, you won\u2019t feel a thing. You are just going to sleep. \u00a0Now just close your eyes and relax.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man closed his eyes but began to shake, his clenched fists turning white as he tried to control the fear coursing through him.<\/p>\n
Rhine had an idea that might help. It wasn\u2019t the best idea, just the best he could come up with at that moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know this cold weather is telling me we are going to get a pretty good snow fall this winter.\u201d \u00a0He said, the MP-5 suddenly feeling very heavy in his hands.<\/p>\n
The trick worked and the shaking stopped as the man\u2019s mind briefly left what was happing and focused on the snow and what Rhine was saying.<\/p>\n
\u201c With any luck we can—\u201c.<\/p>\n
The MP-5 answered Rhine\u2019s squeeze of the trigger and fired a three round burst, blowing the refugee\u2019s \u00a0brains all over the damp ground. He had hoped that his attempt to comfort the man would put a dent in the darkness he felt but he had no such luck. Flipping the selector switch to semi-auto, he walked down the line, firing a single 9mm round into the head of each bound Zombie. There were no spoken words this time, just the cold metallic clicking sound each time the firing pin struck the primer of a round, the pop of the bullet, and the MP-5\u2019s chamber cycled another round in its place.<\/p>\n
Rhine handed the MP-5 back to Moreno, \u201cI\u2019m gonna \u00a0get back to the road and start packing things up. Get these bodies ready to burn. We move up the road for the next checkpoint in 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
It was an hour and a half later and dark while the platoon sat roadside on the Colorado side of the border. They had moved up to checkpoint being manned by another unit. Rhine put his men on 25% watch, which meant three quarters of them got get some desperately needed sleep while the rest pulled guard duty.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that he didn\u2019t trust the soldiers manning the checkpoint, it just felt better knowing his boys had a say in the safety of this area. He was sitting in the cab with 1st<\/sup> sergeant Rhodes using a blue filtered Surefire flashlight to study a map of the area when his intuition was proved correct. Both of their heads snapped to the right as a blood curdling scream filled the air. They looked out to see the sea of refugees scatter in panic. It was pandemonium everywhere, people fleeing in terror. Rhine flipped down his helmet mounted night vision goggles and saw a thin green beam stabbing through the night to a point on the opposite side of the road, about fifty or so yard down. Someone had spotted the source of the panic and was using his rifle mounted infrared laser designator to point it out to the rest of the platoon. They could see clearly now that four Z\u2019s had come out of the tree line and run right into a soldier from the other unit who hadn\u2019t been paying attention. The soldier was flat on his back, still fighting as the Z\u2019s tore into him. Rhine was about to holler up to PFC Garner to open fire when he unleashed with the M2. The noise was deafening, causing both Rhine and Rhodes to duck their heads in surprise. \u00a0Shell casings rained down onto the truck\u2019s hood and foot long muzzle flashes lit up the night as Garner\u2019s M2HB heavy machine gun unleashed half inch rounds that decimated the five bodies on the ground. The armor piercing-incendiary rounds blew the four Z\u2019s as well as the fallen soldier apart, pieces scattering in all directions. The M2 fell silent and a deep and eerie quiet followed as the soldiers scanned the tree line with their NVG\u2019s and the refugees began picking themselves up off the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cGood work Garner, keep your shit tight while we get this place back under control!\u201c \u00a0Rhine hollered up through the turret hatch.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have a clean shot, I shouldn\u2019t have fired\u201d Garner said, sadness seeping into his voice. Rhine knew what he was feeling; it was becoming a daily part of their lives now.<\/p>\n \u201cThat soldier was dead the second Zack popped out of the tree line and he wasn\u2019t paying attention. Someone gets bit, you burn \u2018em; end of story. I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s a refugee, myself, one of our boys, or\u00a0 Mother Theresa. You saved a lot of lives by being on point and doing your job. Sgt. Rhodes and I are proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes sir, thank you sir\u201d Garner hollered back, the usually confidence restored to his voice.<\/p>\n Rhine brass checked his SCAR, pulling the bolt back slightly to make sure a round was chambered, and grabbed the door handle. \u201cWhat do you say Sgt? Feel like waking the boys up and earning our paychecks?\u201d<\/p>\n Rhodes brass checked his M-4 and shook his head, \u201c LT, the only people who aren\u2019t awake \u00a0after Garner\u2019s little fireworks show are in a pile down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The front cab of the M939A2 cargo truck smelled like the Army. It was a mixed smell of metal and\u00a0 some type of oil or grease. It was comforting and took Lieutenant Rhine\u2019s mind back to more pleasant times in his life; times when the term \u201cZombie\u201d had only been \u00a0a stupid movie gimmick. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":924,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-unedited-drafts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/semv8-2581","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2581"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2657,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581\/revisions\/2657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}