This Forsaken World

This Forsaken World Chapter 24

This Forsaken World Chapter 24

Sergeant Victor Grimm

A rough shake woke me from my slumber and I shot up in alert, reaching instinctively for my assault rifle which wasn't there. Rubbing the sleep from my eye's I looked around in confusion before my foggy brain remembered where I was and what had happened the last few days.

Sighing I noted it was Evan who had awakened me and I looked around to survey the situation. The Recon Troopers were in the process of breaking camp, gathering up there equipment into backpacks. Hank was eating an MRE and Evan was holding one out for me, a second in his free hand labeled spaghetti which he had reserved for himself.

"Sorry Sarge, we let you sleep in longer since your injured. You were out like a rock, took a few tries to wake you up." Offering me the food pack I accepted it with a grateful nod and sat up. The Meal Ready to Eat I'd been given was ravioli and I promptly broke the seal to begin eating it.

Evan moved to sit beside me and followed my example. The Recon team more or less ignored us as they went about there well practiced routine. I noticed the Lieutenant and one of his men were missing and pointed this out.

"Oh, there out checking out an approach to the city. The LT decided we were going to hit it today instead of waiting. They wanted to let us recover before we moved out. Should be back soon." Evan made a face as he ate his food and I chuckled.

"Alright. Hope we can find some people to save or this is going to be a short resistance movement." I nodded to Hank who had been quiet since my awakening and was rewarded with a simple grunt.

"You alright Staffs?" I asked. The gruff veteran seemed a bit reclusive at the moment and I wasn't sure why. I had noticed since the situation at the supply depot his mood had darkened and had yet to let up. I assumed it was because he took it as a personal insult for his fellow armory soldiers to betray us the way they did.

"I'll be fine. Let's finish eating so we can get going." While the man had shown courage in every engagement to this point I knew he wasn't a combat soldier. For him to show initiative to actually go out to fight surprised me but I kept my thoughts to myself.

It took a few minutes to finish my food before we were ready to move out. The Recon team that was still with us had waited patiently for us to finish up and they formed a circle around us as we made our way towards the distant city. The trip was going to take a long time with no transportation to speak of but for these guys it was nothing, they showed no signs of fatigue after several miles.

The countryside was a ruined landscape with skeletons of both human and animal littering the ground. Since we were cutting across open ground instead of using the main road we had traveled on to get to the supply depot we passed various towns that I'd missed before. Every population center told the same story, death and violence.

We were forced to ground a dozen times to avoid groups of zombies that were simply trudging along at a slow walk. They seemed to be in a docile dormant state barely moving unless they saw or heard something to trigger there blood lust.

At one point a neighborhood bulldog that had somehow survived the apocalypse got too close and the mob rushed it. I felt bad since the dog simply stood there with its tail waging, obviously used to humans being friendly, before they tore it to pieces. Anger rose in my throat and I wanted to slaughter the lot of them but it was too dangerous and a waste of ammunition.

Finally a pair of figures in camouflage combat gear joined us and I nodded to Lieutenant Jasper and his scouting companion. Fanning out the Recon team formed a tight perimeter, guns facing out and backs to us as the officer crouched beside me and laid out a torn and aged map.