CHAPTER II: CLEANSING
The next day showed men whose nerves were in good repair after having reinforcements come in. And let me tell you, I was happy, but I was also just a little jealous. Though you might not think it, the facility in Salt Lake City was one of the most heavily fortified in the country. They possessed advanced armor and more powerful boost charges. When Al saw them in their suits for the first time, he scoffed and said, "Look at them. They think they're so awesome." I said, "Well, that's thanks in part to the fact that they are." Al turned around and said, walking away, "I'm going to let off some steam in the training room." I waved bye to Al and saw Gerald coming towards me. He put up his hand and said, "Hey, Turner. How are you?"
When he reached me, I replied, "I'm fine, considering what happened…what happened to Johann." "Well, at least you're not a crying mess," said Gerald, "I doubt, from what I hear, that Johann would want that." "Oh, he wouldn't," I said. "Well," continued Gerald, "I saw your friend over there…" "Al," I said. "Yeah, Al," said Gerald, "I take it he doesn't like us all that much." "Yeah, he's not so big on the whole 'advanced advanced warfare' thing," I said. "Hm," said Gerald, "Nonetheless, I'd like to meet him." "If you got to know him, you'd like him," I said, "Course, he'd have to want to meet you first, and I think we're a ways from that." "Too bad," said Gerald, "Well, I have to report to the higher-ups. I'll see you later." "Sure," I said.
As I turned around to start my watch shift, Kyle walked up and said, "New friend, I see." "Are you worried about competition?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "No," said Kyle, "I'm just asking: who is he?" "His name's Gerald," I said, "Nice guy. He had a girlfriend who died, too." "Ah," said Kyle, "So you sort of identify with him." "You could say that," I said, shrugging. "I've got patrol shift, so here's where we part ways," said Kyle. He split off and headed in a different direction, while I took up my rifle once again. That day was slightly inactive. I had to take out one or two zombies, but the rest of the day, nothing.
A few days before, Max got a call saying that the virus had spread, mostly in the places that had already been decimated. This put a little more weight on our hearts, but fortunately, like here, they were pretty much dormant because there wasn't anyone to cause any action. That meant that we could focus on the city we were currently in. The plan was simple: have the guys at the facility push outwards while some soldiers from Salt Lake City who were dropped around the outskirts push inwards, effectively executing a "squeeze" extermination. At this point we were simply getting ready to start with our part of the plan. We would probably have to do it all in one day after we started.
At the end of the day, I went to my bed and again took out the photo of Natalie. I sighed and put it away after a few minutes, attempting to go to sleep. I failed for several hours until I finally drifted off out of just plain fatigue. The dreams returned, with not only the pile of ripped alien flesh from the Baton Rouge facility, but also poor Johann, whom I watched in the dream slowly change into the monster that sealed his fate, ending with his head exploding, as though a bullet had violently pierced it. I wanted to pull myself out of these horrors, but I just couldn't. I had to wait until dawn the next day, when I was woken up by the sunlight.
It was the day we were going to get rid of all the undead in the city. The whole morning consisted of getting ready for the massive operation. At around noon, Max stood on a balcony circling the rotunda to shout down to us, "Alright, everybody, bring it in!" We all gradually huddled into the rotunda, eventually ending up with a few of us having to go up to the balcony as well. Max continued, as loud as ever, "It's time for an extermination, guys! We're going to clear out all the undead and meet up with the rest of the guys in the middle, after which we'll all be transported out of the city via carrier choppers. But even though this sounds like a run-of-the-mill mission, I have to remind you about the difference."
Everybody listened even more attentively at this point, wanting Max to get on with it. He shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the floor for a few seconds, eventually continuing, "I'm going to need you to remember that we'll encounter some of our own guys. I know that'll be difficult, but you're going to need to shoot your comrades. It's a small comfort, but if you do what needs to be done, then they can have a real burial, and be given the honor they deserve. As many of you know, we've had to bury a few of the guys here already. One of them killed himself to save his friends. His name was Johann. And now, we need to be as brave as he was. I'm sure you can deliver." He struggled with the final words, knowing that he may have to gun down some of us. He finished, "Let's head out."
No one said a word for minutes afterward, simply facing up to what would follow. We went out almost immediately, traveling as a tight-knit, three man thick circle, flowing outwards towards the city. Others would trail behind to pick off stragglers. I was in the group behind the main force. Only about two minutes into the operation, I heard shouting and gunshots. One soldier had already killed two zombies. There wasn't any casualties on our side. There was another soldier standing beside the one who killed them, and he was shaking, breathing heavily. I walked towards one of the guys in front and said, "What happened?" He replied, "The guy on the right…he didn't want to kill the zombies, so the guy on the left starting shouting at him, and then he up and took them out." I looked at the zombies. I could see why the soldier was his current state. They were once Raze soldiers.
Grimly, we continued, most not glancing at the slain zombies. I did. I didn't just glance at them, either. I stared at them, long and hard, wondering how it could've come to this. At this time, the Raze war was the bloodiest in history, with around two billion deaths. That included civilians. It seemed like it was going downhill. Looking back on it, it was. All the sorrow we faced was unlike any other soldier ever had in previous wars. This wasn't just killing men on another side, this was killing men whom we might have liked, maybe even called a friend. I had to drive the thoughts out of my head, otherwise I might've ended up like the poor soul in front of me, shaking in horror.
We kept on, knowing that if we stopped for just one night, we might be slaughtered in our sleep. The landscape was not only desolate, but also a disturbing testament to the infinitely more terrible horrors that were presented to us during the war. Blood, both red and black, coated the ruined walls we walked past. Austin was lost. The whole state was lost. And not just this one. New York was shredded. Nevada looked as if it had been bombed several times over. Everything seemed a hopeless mess. Still we trudged on, taking out any zombies we encountered, still without substantial casualties. By the time it was five o' clock, we were nearly done. We had made surprisingly swift progress. I myself had to kill a few stragglers, aliens and former humans alike. I always closed my eyes before pulling the trigger.
Soon, at around five thirty, we had met up with the others. There wasn't any extravagant celebration, as we were dead tired from the day's work. We were just happy we survived. The following day, a large team was sent out to bury the soldiers that had been slain throughout the city. They came back twelve hours later, their sad task finished, their eyes fraught with the strife that came with our situation. I found Gerald, Hishi, Al, and Kyle, seeing how they fared. Al, Kyle, and Gerald were fine, but Hishi had a gash on his thigh from falling on a rebar when he was surprised by a zombie. I went up to him, saying, "So how're you feeling?" He sat up, grimacing, then saying, "About the same as any other guy who's been severely injured by a piece of metal. But don't worry, Frank says I'll be fine, albeit out of action for a couple weeks." "Good," I said, patting his shoulder, "It'll give you a chance to rest." He nodded.
I walked up to Kyle, saying, "So how was the Austin zombie experience for you?" Kyle looked at me and said, "It was terrible. I had to take down at least five zombies who were soldiers in life." "Hey," I said, looking him directly in the eye, "Don't beat yourself up. You ensured that they were laid to rest as heroes, as they should have been. You did them a service." "It doesn't feel like it," he said. I looked past Kyle, seeing Al on a bench, bouncing one knee rapidly with his headphones in. I walked over, asking, "Are you doing alright?" "As long as I have my music," he said, "I'll survive." He avoided my gaze. I grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "Hey, dude, seriously, what's wrong? I need you to tell me." He laughed bitterly and said, "I don't know, man. It was too much." I let go of him and looked at the ground, saying, "Alright, fine. You don't have to say anything. It's been hard on all of us." With that, I walked towards Gerald.
I quickened my pace as I neared him, saying, "Are you doing any better than the others?" He replied, nodding, "I didn't have to shoot anything. That made it a little better. But still…the sound of it…all the screeching and gunfire…it's enough to send chills down your spine. I didn't know if I would make it." "I don't think anybody really did," I said. I heard whimpering to my right, seeing the young soldier who shied away from killing the zombies. I looked at Gerald and said, "Hey, I'll see you later. I'm going to see if I can help this guy." I ran over to him, where he was seated on a rock, crying. I looked at him and said, "Hey, are you okay?" He shook his head emphatically and said, "No." "I'm going to help you, okay?" I said. He nodded and said, "Okay." I patted his arm and surveyed the ripped landscape as Max stood to give us our orders.