Fiction – Ruth’s Story Part #16 Away from SeaTac at Last

The Smart Forfour car I desire is one of the newest and the largest car from that particular manufacturer. It is also the manufacturer’s first all-wheel-drive four door model.

The Forfour’s 2.8 liter, four cylinder, rear mounted diesel engine is fed by piezoelectrically-controlled injectors and a small supercharger. The supercharger is in turn fed by small, variable geometry compound turbo chargers.

With the amount of air the supercharger and turbochargers can dump in the little diesel engine, it hardly ever blows black smoke, at least according to the advertisements. Not like the older, sluggish diesels that constantly blew black smoke.

The little Forfour gets nearly 75 miles per gallon. It also has a top speed of 130 miles per hour, but I doubt I will be able to find a long enough stretch of clear roadway where I could get it going that fast.

While it lacks an intercooler probably due to space constraints, the Smart Forfour has a methanol-water injection system to cool its exhaust and help meet the strict CARB 2016 emission regulations. A urea injection system in its exhaust also helps clean the emissions.

Not sure where the hell I am going to get either methanol or urea now. I hope the little car will run on plain water and not give me grief when it runs out of urea. I read somewhere that the little car will run on plain distilled water, but you lose a little horsepower and maybe a mile or so per gallon.

Also heard that you can substitute certain window washer fluids for the methanol but not sure the soap is such a good thing to inject into the engine. Craziest thing I ever heard of injecting water and methyl alcohol after the turbo chargers and before the super charger into the air intake of a diesel engine.

Apparently liquid-intercooling (as it is called) cools the air intake charge actually better than what an intercooler could mounted in the rear of this little car. Liquid-intercooling reduces the amount of particulate matter caught by the diesel particulate filter (DPF) in the exhaust system. Also helps reduce NOX emissions making it one of the cleanest diesels on the road.

Growing up with an older brother I have always been a bit of a gear head. I do not like to get dirty working on the cars, but I like to know what is going on inside the car, so that I can tell when the mechanic is giving me a line of shit.

While standing here thinking about diesel engines and logistics problems I have been scanning the area for zombies. My little Surefire flashlight on low gives me enough light that I can see in the general area. I keep the flashlight pointed down at my feet so I do not ruin my vision now that my eyes have adjusted to the dark parking garage.

It is not quite as dark inside the garage as I at first feared. Now that my eyes have adjusted, I can see well enough to get down to the Hertz and Avis rental cars. I walk to the rear of the two white sensible sedans I have been standing between and look up and down the row of parked cars.

Hunching over so that I do not silhouette myself, I trot down the line of cars looking for my desired vehicle. Several meters down the line of cars I come to the rear of the little Smart Forfour car I have been looking for.

It is a sporty little black and red model. I shut off my Surefire E2L flashlight and stuff it in my pants pocket. My pistol I keep handy as I scan the area again for any zombies chasing me that might have seen my movement.

I dig out the Smart Forfour key from my shirt pocket. I realize that I made a mistake shutting off my flashlight as it is too dark in here to read the key fob. Walking to the front of the little Forfour I dig out my Surefire E2L flashlight.

Setting my flashlight on low again, it takes me a moment to find the correct button on the Forfour key fob. I press the unlock button on the key fob and wince and the car chirps and flashes its parking lights indicating that it has unlocked the doors.

Shutting off my flashlight and stuffing it back in my pocket I also tuck my pistol through my waistband at the front of my pants. Thankfully, I lack the genitalia that would be in danger from shoving a loaded pistol with the safety off in my pants.

I next press the bonnet release button and it pops up so that I can bend down and release the safety lever and lift the front bonnet which remains open on gas struts. I drop my backpack in the front bonnet and take my Scottevest jacket off the outside of my pack.

I try to quietly close the bonnet, and wince as it thunks shut and sounds awfully loud. Kinda reminds me of the old-model, original Volkswagen Beetles that are still very common in Israel despite most of them being over 50 years old.

My mind is going nuts imaging hordes of zombies in the dark. Carrying my Scottevest I walk to the driver’s side door and get in the car. Ah, new car smell!

I quickly shut and lock all the doors. A quick visual check inside to make sure there are no unwanted passengers, and I check my mirrors. I toss the Scottevest jacket in the passenger seat.

Putting the key in the ignition I start the little car and wince as it roars to life with the distinct diesel rattle and turbo whine. Not seeing anything in my now adjusted mirrors I back the little car out of the parking space.

Thankfully I am on the ground floor and head for the exit. I drive slowly because I do not want to hit anything too hard in the dark. I do not want to attract more attention by turning on the headlights either.

I keep my head swiveling to look for trouble. I see there are several cars that are either wrecked or crashed in the parking garage. Several times cars block my path and I have to back up and drive around these cars. Thankfully this car is small enough I can slip between the parking spaces and the cars to get to the exit.

I am sure a few of these cars might have trapped zombies inside but I do not want to stop and find out. Just as I get to the exit I see behind me in the rear view mirror a small horde of zombies following me. Maybe not exactly a horde, but more like twenty or so zombies are slowly following my little car.

At the exit I see someone has already smashed the exit gate. The fiberglass pieces of the gate are scattered all over the pavement. I am grateful to whoever did that as I do not have to damage my little car doing it. As I exit the parking garage and come out in the bright sunlight I am momentarily blinded.

Driving up the hill on the road leaving the airport I listen to the little car’s five-speed automatic transmission shift. Reaching the crest of the hill almost parallel with the airport control tower, I see parked in the grass median on the side of the road,  a sand-brown military High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) or better known as a Humvee.

As I come closer to the military vehicle I see that it appears to be intact. All four doors are open, and there are no obvious signs of damage. A M242 Bushmaster 25mm chain gun is mounted in a turret on top of the Humvee. Looking behind me I do not see any close pursuit so I decide to stop and see if there is anything that I could use in the Humvee.

I am half tempted to take the whole Humvee but they eat diesel like crazy; low single digit fuel economy at best. That M242 is a hell of a cannon mounted in its remote-controlled turret. I pull into the grass of the median and stop the car. I leave my little Fortwo idling and my passenger door open.

I needed to stop and rearrange anyway. My damn pistol with its silencer is digging into my stomach. In my excitement and haste to leave the airport I forgot to remove the pistol from my pants.

I look behind me and see that the roadway leading towards the highway is clear of cars. However, the roadway leading to the airport is a disaster. Abandoned cars and strewn luggage everywhere. The M242 is pointing that direction; pity whoever they shot with the cannon.

A few cars show signs of having been once on fire. There are several flame-gutted hulks, some with charred corpses sitting in them. Standing in between the Humvee and my little Forfour car in the median, I survey the surreal scene. All is quite with the exception of the soft diesel rattle of my little car as it idles patiently behind me.

I must be a real sight standing here with a suppressed pistol in my right hand, left hand held across my brow to shield my eyes from the sun. One thing I am not surprised to see is large flocks of ravens and crows. There are quite a few corpses scattered among the abandoned vehicles. Looks like the ravens and crows are having a feast.

I walk towards the Humvee and notice a lot of spent military 5.56 NATO brass in the grass. Looks like the guys were shooting at something a lot. As I get closer to the Humvee the brass gets more frequent as well as splotches of blood.

Coming up to the Humvee’s open rear passenger door, I see the grass is soaked in blood. Lying in the bloody grass with the numerous empty rounds of 5.56 NATO are several empty 25mm casings. Not sure what they were shooting with that big cannon.

Maybe the cannon fire set fire to those cars. I cannot tell from here what caused the damage to the cars and I am not going down there to find out.

Looking into the Humvee’s cab I see a dead Caucasian male soldier dressed in old digital Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) fatigues lying in the driver’s seat. A gaping hole through his Kevlar Personnel Armor System Ground Troops Helmet (PASGT) helmet tells me probably one of his squad mates, perhaps a friend shot him.

I am surprised the corpse is not wearing one of the new Advanced Combat Helmets (ACH). I thought all the PASGT helmets had been replaced or sold to other countries like Israel. I wore an old American-made PASGT helmet the entire time I served in the IDF. I hated that 1.59 kilogram neck-killer.

A blood-soaked, maggot-crawling typical military combat dressing on the corpse’s right thigh indicates where he was probably bitten. Looking inside I see another Caucasian male corpse sprawled across the back seat in the weapon control position.

As I lean into the Humvee the corpse in the back proves to be a zombie as it suddenly sits up and lunges for me. Screaming and falling back on my ass in the grass, I realize that I have pumped four rounds into soldier zombie’s chest.

Fuck! That was a waste of ammo! Startled, I see that I shot on reflex. Had this been a living target he would have been quite dead. Or at least a lot more dead than he is now. Looking closer, but remaining out of reach still sitting on the ground, I see that the soldier zombie is still strapped into his seat and has not figured how to release himself.

I take careful aim and shoot soldier zombie in the head with an upwards shot through the point of his chin up through the roof of his mouth. Because he was still wearing his Kevlar helmet the splatter is not as bad as when I shot Hana zombie. The 9mm Hydra-Shok bullet striking the back of his helmet whips his head to the rear and I hear the distinct sound of his neck vertebrae shattering.

Propelled by the energy of my bullet, the weight of his two kilogram helmet even minus the night vision goggles, is enough to snap his neck. The dry twig snapping sound of vertebrae shattering is something I will never forget once I heard it in the field.

While I was serving in the Sayeret Maglan during the 2^nd Lebanese War of 2006, I watched Aharon snap a Lebanese sentry’s neck with his bare hands. Once you hear that sound you will never forget it.

Getting up off the ground I see that thankfully the blood in the grass is fairly dry so not too much got on my pants. Shoving my pistol with its slightly warm suppressor back in the front of my pants, I walk to the rear passenger door. I check the crew’s weapons storage racks and see all four M16s are gone. Damn that would have been nice.

I look and see that the M242 has about half a drum of ammo left. I would love to take the gun but there is no way I could move it. Going to the rear of the Humvee I see that there are still two current issue Modular Lightweight Load-bearing Equipment (MOLLE) assault ruck sacks tied to the rear of the Humvee.

I take the MOLLE ruck sacks off the rear of the Humvee and set them on the ground, I will search them in a minute. Having moved the ruck sacks I start looking for the latch to pop open the boot of the Humvee. As I am looking for the release I notice four metal sand-brown military five gallon cans of the type I think the Americans call Jerrycans.

Two of the Jerrycans have a yellow D on the side which if I remember correctly means they hold diesel fuel. The other two have a dark blue W and are made of plastic which I think means potable water. Checking the two Jerrycans with the canary yellow Ds reveals they are both full of diesel. Checking the two plastic Jerrycans reveals one to be empty and the other is about half full of water.

I go to my little idling car and push the button on the key fob to pop open the bonnet. Nothing happens so I press it again and still nothing happens. Must be a safety feature so I shut the engine off and press the bonnet release button on the fob for a third time. Ah ha success!

Stupid safety feature! You cannot pop the bonnet if the engine is running. I quickly move the four Jerrycans into the bonnet of my car sliding them to the rear and leaving my pack to the front. On second thought, I decide to put the two MOLLE ruck sacks in the bonnet of my car as well. I will search them later.

Returning to the Humvee again it takes me a few moments to figure how to open the back of the truck. Then I realize that the gun mount is in the way and will not let the boot open all the way. Going around the Humvee to the driver’s side I see that this side of the truck is worse than the other.

Scattered in the grass are literally hundreds of brass casings. Scattered all along this side of the median and in the grass are hundreds of dead corpses probably shot by the soldiers. A few of these corpses still move feebly. The zombies bodies might have been shattered by bullets but the brain is still alive and driving the zombie to feed.

Standing there a minute surveying the carnage, I see the group of zombies that followed me out of the parking garage. I see a few zombies walking among the abandoned cars on the road to the airport too which have spotted me and are heading this way.

I did not want to crawl over soldier zombie in the Humvee but I do not really have a choice. Moving around the Humvee back to the passenger side, I climb in the truck and over soldier zombie.

Digging out my little flashlight I shine it around and see that my first four rounds into soldier zombie were stopped by his Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI) plate in his MOLLE vest.

I see that soldier zombie still has his six standard issue fully loaded M16 30-round magazines in the two magazine pouches on his vest. I take all six magazines and put them in my pockets. Patting soldier zombie’s pockets I find no other magazines on his body but I do find two M67 fragmentation grenades.

Climbing out of the Humvee I run to my little car and put the six 30-round M16 magazines on the passenger seat. I carefully place the two M67 frag grenades on the passenger seat as well. Taking a moment to look around to see where the zombies are I see that I have enough time to search the Humvee again if I hurry.

Climbing back into the Humvee and over soldier zombie’s body I reach behind him into the back of the truck. I find a sealed cardboard box of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs). This box contains 90 pouches of MREs.

While the thought of eating MREs does not exactly thrill me there is something that has become precious in each of those little brown pouches. Each pouch contains a small roll of toilet paper. Since I will need to eventually go play bear in the woods, having more TP is a great relief, literally.

I take my case of MREs to my little car and put them in the backseat. Checking the location of the zombies again I notice they are closer but not too close that I cannot search the Humvee some more. Running back up the grassy hill to the Humvee and crawling back inside the truck I begin rummaging around in the back of the truck with my flashlight.

I find two ammo boxes full of 25mm ammo. I slide them to the side as I have no use for them. Beside the two boxes of 25mm ammo are two ammo boxes of 5.56 NATO ammo. Ah ha, this is what I was looking for!

Each green metal 5.56 NATO ammo box contains 420 rounds of 62 grain M855 green-tipped steel core penetrator on ten-round stripper clips. I quickly haul the two ammo boxes of M855 ammo to my car. I put one ammo can in the bonnet and one on the floor in front of the passenger seat.

Another quick look at the zombies and I have time for one more trip to the Humvee. In the truck again I dig around the back finding the usual litter in a soldier’s vehicle. Cigarette butts, empty water bottles, empty Red Bull cans, empty M&M wrappers, empty Pop Tart wrappers, and a couple of empty cans of Copenhagen.

As I dig around I find a large green ammo can crammed in the back. I pull it forward and see that it must have sat there for a while and been forgotten. It is still sealed with the metal anti-pilfering wire. I am hoping for something great in this can as I lift it over the rear seat and trot to my car with it.

Setting the larger ammo can in the passenger seat I see that it is labeled as containing 500 rounds of linked M33 7.62 NATO machine gun ammunition. Well shit! I do not have a belt fed M60 or other .30-caliber weapon so I just wasted my time and effort.

Running back up to the Humvee I go around to the driver seat. The zombies are close enough now that I can hear them shuffling along the pavement. Thankfully there is little breeze or I am sure I would smell them.

In the driver seat of the Humvee I look to see if I can start the Humvee so I have power to use the M242 25mm Bushmaster cannon. I now see that the Humvee was left idling and must have run out of fuel. The electrical system is completely dead as well.

So much for that idea! Would have been fun using the Bushmaster cannon on the zombies. I run back to my little Smart Forfour climb in and shut the door. Turning the key I am not pleased as the motor does not start. A buzzing noise alerts me that the bonnet is still open.

Crap! I would have tried to drive off with the damn nose open like an idiot. Jumping out I slam the bonnet closed and see the zombies are a lot closer than I would prefer and jump back into my little car. Sitting down in the driver’s seat I realize that I have done it again. My damn pistol is digging into my stomach. I get out and stand real quickly pulling my pistol out. Leaping back in the driver’s seat I put my pistol on the passenger seat within easy reach. Slamming the driver’s door shut, I turn the ignition key.

This time turning the key produces the reassuring rattle of a diesel engine with its characteristic turbo whine. I slam the gear shift into drive and floor it. Spinning all four tires sending grass and dirt flying at the zombies, I shoot down the roadway on my way finally.