Zombie apocalypse fiction – Ruth’s story #101 More Booby-trapped cars, personnel updates, cannibal problems, etc. SHTF TEOTWAWKI

The Deadly Tercel Continued …

A convenient corpse was located, which was then nauseatingly dressed in cast-off BDUs and then dumped into the Tercel’s driver’s seat. I am glad that disgusting task was not mine. Inside the Tercel are four 105mm HE artillery shells. Two of the artillery shells are hidden in the trunk where the spare tire would rest.

The other two shells lay on the floorboards of the rear passenger compartment. Discarded useless blankets cast off clothing and discarded luggage cover the artillery shells from all but the most ardent search of the vehicle. Packed around the artillery shells is an assortment of electronic refuse, small rocks, broken bottles, and other convenient shrapnel rubbish.

All of the HE shells have C4 packed into the nose cones where usually the fuze would reside. Detcord connects all of the shells together which is in turn wired to either an US M5, M142 or a Soviet-era Yugoslavian UMNOP-1 firing device provided by our Russian friends.

A large US military rucksack rests on the rear floor boards of the little Tercel behind the corpse. The olive drab rucksack rests on top of a pile of rags, newspapers, and discarded electronic rubbish. The ruck is filled with more of the same rubbish but with the added incentive of a M16 magazine sticking out of the top flap. The damage to the M16 magazine is hidden by the olive drab ruck cover.

Two green tipped NATO 5.56 rounds are in the damaged M16 magazine. The magazine is turned so that the 5.56 rounds are plainly visible through the windows of the Tercel from the passenger side windows. The ruck rests upon the booby trap firing device. Removing or shifting the ruck triggers the bomb.

I pity the poor greedy bastards standing beside that little Tercel when the four 105mm shells detonate. There are many other booby-trapped cars besides the POS Tercel. I am only going to mention two other trapped cars in my journal since I found them interesting.

The Deadly POS Civic …

The next booby-trapped car is a faded light blue and rust, three-door, hatchback Honda Civic. The little POS Civic has the same explosives load as the Tercel and is similarly manned by another handily acquired corpse. The corpse in the Civic is that of a motorcycle police officer still dressed in his black storm trooper outfit.

Laying behind the dead officer, underneath a faded and ripped blue plastic tarp are the four 105mm HE artillery shells. Peeking through the rips in the tarp is a strategically placed pair of (broken) NVGs. The NVGs lenses just poke out of their olive drab plastic carrying case. A booby trap and trigger identical to the Tercel’s setup rests underneath the NVGs.

The Deadliest of Excursions and a VW …

The last booby-trapped vehicle that I am going to mention is certainly not the least. A fucking monstrous ancient white Excursion lays on its passenger side, its bottom resting against a little yellow VW bug. The bottom of the Excursion faces away from the gate of the farm, offering a large tempting area to seek shelter from our defenses.

Should someone take cover behind the fucking huge Excursion they will discover that the little VW is booby-trapped, not the Excursion. Packed with many (sorry, I did not get an exact count) 105mm HE shells, and filled with all the coins and other loose bits of metal and other rubbish the lads could find, the VW is one deadly little surprise.

The VW is the only vehicle that is command detonate capable for now. Other command detonate explosives line the driveway including several claymores, various land mines, and other such fun items for area defense. The lads also left a trail of liquor and beer bottles, filled with water strewn along the sides of the roadway. They even used some creatively emptied beer cans refilled with dirt as bait along with the water-filled bottles.

Underneath the bogus containers of alcohol, the Russian lads buried a few of the ancient Soviet RGD-5 grenades with zero-delay fuses fitted. The American lads, including my lovely Shack also buried M26 grenades underneath the bait with one of the precious few M5 pressure-release booby-trap firing device fitted.

Shack, Nikola and the lads also buried many old American M16A1 and A2 mines as well as many Soviet era PROM-1 mines. Empty containers of Pringles, empty cigarette cartons, and many empty junk food containers are also used as lures for the unwary.

The American lads called junk food “Pogey bait.” I had never heard the term before so Shack had to explain the word to me and its connotation. Since we are planning to be here for an extended period, our defenses are essential. I am amazed at the creativity the lads displayed for rigging various trip wires, fuzes, and explosives.

Deadly Flashlight Tag …

I was not aware that an aluminum bodied flashlight can be used to create an excellent booby trap or rather an IED. I watched Nikola, and a few of the Spets lads pack plastic explosives, detonators, and a small battery into various flashlights. They then attached the detonator to the switch and the battery. Anyone holding the flashlight and pressing the button to test its batteries is in for a rude surprise.

Although the larger flashlights will be deadlier, and can even be packed with shrapnel additives such as small coins or nails, just the explosive alone is usually deadly enough. Particularly gaudy flashlights made of brightly colored anodized aluminum are used as well as several innocuous looking civilian flashlights. The flashlight IED may not kill every time, but it will certainly maim.

The best tactical flashlights are kept in hopes that we may yet find ways of either replacing the batteries or finding another source of power for them. In our desperate situation with the lack of industrial lighting, any working flashlight is precious. I was amazed and dismayed at the same time watching the lads assemble the IEDs.

Deadly Toothpaste …

The boys took some of the most inoffensive looking household items and made them into IEDs. An empty Mentadent pump-action toothpaste canister is rescued from the rubbish heap. The toothpaste canister is pulled apart, filled with plastic explosive with a detonator hooked to a small battery and pressure switch underneath the pump lever.

The handy 10.5 ounce size of the Mentadent canister provides enough room for a fair amount of plastic explosive. The solid white plastic toothpaste canister hid the plastique and imbedded metal shrapnel pieces, such as dimes, wood screws, nails, and other various pieces of metal detritus. A careful person would realize that the toothpaste canister IED is slightly too heavy.

I pity the poor bastard that finds the toothpaste IED canister. Should the person push down the lever on top of the canister checking to see if there is any toothpaste left inside, it will explode with terrifying results. The lads chose items such as toothpaste and other toiletries for booby traps because of their high demand due to scarcity.

Trous de Loups …

Another deadly trap used liberally by the lads are trous de loup (French for “wolf holes” AKA “tiger pits”). Most of our trou de loup are designed to catch the occasional wandering zombie, but some are placed more strategically. A few of the tiger pits are quite obvious.

Spotting the obvious trap a thinking live person will seek a “safe” path which has been trapped with claymores, various land mines, tangle foot wires (some attached to even more land mines), and some more creative booby traps. Most of the booby traps in the area are of the creative kind designed to snag the thoughtless, greedy and unwary rather than zombies.

The zombies will fall into the obvious traps whereas a thinking opponent will take the obvious safe path which is anything, but safe. The trous de loup, should the zombies act as they have since the beginning of the KCAP outbreak, will quickly fill with the walking dead. Every zombie that we can detour into a trap is one less that we will have to deal with on the farm.

I admire the lads creativity, but I worry about the sheer glee that Shack and some of the other lads displayed while constructing the IEDs. I am a child of the Middle East; IEDs were something that we grew up with as a constant threat. Watching my lover make these horrifying devices left me feeling conflicted.

Flashback to the Battle of Jenin during the Al-Aqsa Intifada …

I was not at the Battle of Jenin during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, but many of my fellow IDF soldiers were veterans of that bloody conflict. Because of my Lebanese heritage there were many who felt that I had no place in either the IDF, or later, the Mossad so I always wonder if maybe that is why I was not deployed.

It was not until several years later that I learned that my father, through a friend of his, was highly influential in ensuring that my application to the Sayeret Maglan was approved. Despite my Arab heritage and the pervasive bigotries prevalent in Israeli society my father’s friend, whom I later learned was a senior IDF general at the time, was able to influence the selection board, allowing me to be one of the exceedingly few non-pure Jews to serve ever in the Sayeret Maglan.

It was once said that a Goy had a better chance of entering the Maglan than a half Arab woman. In general the average Israeli does not trust an Arab based upon centuries of conflict between Arab and Jew. For me to apply even and hope to join the Maglan, and in the Intelligence field no less, someone in the IDF selection board must have surely thought that I was meshuge.

During many intelligence briefings during and after the Intifada, I learned about the horrors the thousands of IEDs used in that conflict caused. I will not bore the reader with all of the details of the Intifada, but many lives were lost on both sides due to IEDs.

Back to the present …

I hope that no one grabs one of the IEDs unless they are trying to sneak into our compound undetected. What is important is that the small IEDs which may not kill, the noise they produce and the fear they instill may provide enough warning. For us to defend ourselves, we have to dispense with some of the niceties we were once used to. I hate having to use a weapon that I despise so much.

Seeing someone who I love, create a weapon that I despise so thoroughly leaves me in a quandary. I always worry about tomorrow. I worry about Shack’s and the other young lad’s mental state. The poor guys have witnessed one horror after another. It is a wonder that any of them is sane.

The mines are carefully plotted on everyone’s maps, to reduce the chance of friendlies wandering into the trip wires connected to them. A good hand drawn map showing the location of the mines and booby traps is sent to the Adventists who seemed aghast at our defenses. We also warned the Adventists about the booby-trapped innocuous-looking items should a child wander into our area.

Troubles with Cannibals …

Speaking of children, the parents of the twins have had to separate Thing 1 from his smaller brother. The little cannibal already tried to snack on Thing 2 while they tussled in their crib. Thankfully, the little cannibal lacks any teeth so most likely he has not infected his brother.

At this point, the twins are going to be kept separated and fed individually. Someone found another crib so that the parents could put the babies down to sleep in separate cribs without worry of the little cannibal rolling over on top of his smaller brother and attempting to bite a chunk out of his brother’s face.

The blood curdling screams of the much smaller Thing 2 quickly brought his parents running. The parents rescued the little guy pinned underneath his much larger and hungry brother. Not sure if Thing 2 was more upset that his nap was disturbed or that his brother was gnawing furiously upon his face. We now have to watch Thing 2 making sure that his brother did not infect him.

The little cannibal drools an awful lot. I have not been around babies that much as I never had any desire to be a mother myself. Any question about children I always asked my mother when she was alive or my younger half-sister. Due to my lack of familiarity with babies I am not sure if the little cannibal’s drooling is unusual.

Seeing the little monster with strings of drool hanging off of his chin sends shivers up my spine. No one else in the convoy wants to be close to the family with a cannibal member. I cannot really blame the other convoy members. I can empathize with both the other members of the convoy and the small young family. But the little fucker gives me the creeps.

Poor Gennady has been ostracized from the other Spetznaz soldiers because of his family. Being separated from his brothers in arms must be hard on the young man. I know that the young family and the medical personnel worry about violence to the little monster as he is protected always.

A Marriage …

Gennady and Sarah held a simple handfasting ceremony. Despite lacking the traditional, six silk cords and family as witnesses, the couple, stated their vows and their intent to live as a married couple. The colonels, Terrance, Nguen, Shack, Jeff and I witnessed the short but beautiful ceremony. Sarah changed her last name to Patsayev to reflect her married status, as if anyone really cared what her last name is or was.

The cooks actually made a decent wedding cake that was quickly consumed despite the fact that it lacked frosting. The married couple is now part of the medical crew with Gennady moving all of their personal belongings into the medical tent. The medical tent is not too crowded even with the Patsayev family living in what should be a hospital bed section.

Gennady is assigned now to guard the medical tent and its contents. The young soldier trades with Terrance and Nguen, who still occasionally pulls a shift in the radio tent. For the most part radio is manned in twelve-hour shifts by Carol, Nikola, Shack and I. Between shifts in radio I duck my head into the medical tent.

The Beginning of the Demise of Shen …

The medical tent is where the twins and their parents are permanent residents along with poor Shen. Shen is slipping fast and does not have much time before the infection will kill him. His leg is eaten clear to the bone, but he refuses to let Doc at least attempt to cut some of the infection out.

Next chapter: More cannibal troubles and Shen’s final rest.

I am experimenting with H1, H2, and H3 tags in my posts. I am not sure that the new tags and the new formatting with result in more readership, but we will see. I would like to have more comments about my writing regardless if readership picks up or not.