Zombie apocalypse fiction – Ruth’s story #102 More personnel updates, Shen’s death, and Adventists SHTF TEOTWAWKI

The Death of Shen

The only treatment for a flesh-eating bacteria infection is aggressive surgical debridement. We lack enough Morphine to either keep Shen out of pain or put him out of his misery, permanently. We also lack enough Vancomycin to treat Shen’s other infections and help him survive the amputation.

Poor Shen is in incredible pain. His wound has spread from the side of his left thigh to his knee and clear up to his hip. Seeing bare bone in Shen’s thigh surrounded by the raw hamburger colored bloody flesh is nauseating. The sight of the gaping wound on Shen’s side takes a strong stomach not to lose one’s meal.

Rare antibiotics like Vanco are in finite supply with little chance of finding more. Our Scouts scoured the countryside and reported finding nothing of medical worth. Doc Jamal and Terrance as medical professionals are both reluctant to kill the patient as they feel it is a violation of their oath.

Thankfully, they do not teach the Hippocratic Oath in Russia. Nikola nor any of the other Russian lads with even a smidgen of medical training have any issue putting Shen out of his misery, if necessary. Surprisingly both Scarecrow and his lady friend have been helpful taking Shen’s bloody bed-clothes to be burned. Unfortunately neither one is particularly trustworthy, otherwise, doing just enough to keep us from either shooting or banishing them.

The longer we delay Shen’s treatment, whatever it may be, the worse he is getting. I never really cared for the Chinese soldier, but I feel bad for the poor man. I do not believe that we gain anything prolonging the poor man’s suffering. Since he is unwilling to risk even an amputation, I feel that we should euthanize Shen as soon as possible.

The question is who is going to euthanize Shen. Sam is willing to do it even as much as he does not relish the idea. Surprisingly it was Junior who came up with perhaps the best solution. As best as we can translated through Nguen’s shitty Mandarin we try to explain to Shen that we are going to set up a way for him to end his misery.

Our Scouts have raided every veterinary clinic. From some of those vet clinics, a small amount of Nembutal was found usually forgotten in some dusty corner. A quick inventory by Jeff reveals that there is one sterile sealed 100 milliliter bottle of liquid Nembutal. Of concern, is the expiration date which is many years past.

Sam donated a sealed bottle of Crown Royal whisky to mix the Nembutal with. Nguen tries as best as he can to explain to Shen that if he does not wish to die, he will not mix and then drink the alcohol and drug. By allowing Shen the ability to choose to end his life rather than one, of us killing him, we can be certain that Shen chose to die rather than live with only one leg.

I was sitting in the radio shack playing Solitaire when Junior walked in and told us that Shen was dead. Talking to Nguen later, he said that Shen jumped on the alcohol and drug like a man possessed. He poured the entire contents of the sealed 100 milliliter bottle into a tall glass, poured enough Crown whiskey in to fill the glass and chugged it in one gulp.

Shen was dead in less than 10 minutes, may he rest in peace. There are still many questions concerning how he ended up in the water, why was he was not armed and what was he doing outside alone at night. The black female cook has said repeatedly that she was unaware of Shen’s interest in her.

The Investigation Continues …

The black cook was very upfront with the fact that she had no interest ever in dating Shen. The colonels said that they could not sense any evasion or malice in the cook. I thought the colonels were very composed despite the fact that the cook was enthusiastically wielding a large, bloody machete butchering barrels of American bullfrogs for our meals.

I was more distressed by the fact that I had been eating slimy green frog legs than any misdeed that the black cook might have committed. As far as I was concerned feeding me frog meat was a misdeed in and of itself. Hunger made me get over my revulsion, but I still have to fight my gag reflex sometimes thinking about what meat I might be eating.

The cook’s guard and her fellow cooks give the black cook a solid alibi that was corroborated by several other soldiers in the mess tent at the time that Shen was discovered in the creek. The black cook was never out of sight that evening long enough for her to have rendezvoused with Shen and then made it back to the cook shack.

The black cook (whose name escapes me at this time) also mentioned that she did not talk to Shen at all the evening he ended up in the creek. It is still a mystery as to how and why Shen ended up impaled in the creek. From what we have been able to determine the poor bastard was out there alone with no weapon and not even dressed appropriately for the weather.

The lads used one of the tractors with a digging implement to bury poor Shen very deeply so that his infected body does not pollute anything. I wish that we had some quick lime to pour over his dead body. Sam said a few words over Shen’s grave, but otherwise the poor man was buried without ceremony. I would have rather cremated the poor man, but we lack a suitable amount of fuel.

If Shen was religious he never mentioned to anyone as far as we know. No one bothered to mark Shen’s grave. We have become numb having buried so many friends and lovers. Shen’s grave is just another in a long line of many that we have dug.

Surprising Discoveries …

Shen’s unusual QBZ-95B-1 bullpup-style carbine with its unique and exceedingly rare 5.8×42mm ammo are earmarked for giving to the Adventists. Shen possessed 177 rounds of the unique ammunition. There are five, full 30-round magazines for the rifle with one short magazine containing only 27 rounds. When searching Shen’s possessions, it was discovered that the little dead bastard had hidden a QLG10A 35mm grenade launcher.

Shen also secreted 23 DFS-10 35mm caseless grenades for the QLG10A. Similar to the Russian VOG-25, the DFS-10 is an effective, lightweight caseless grenade. Shen owned 11 high explosive dual-purpose (HE-DP), seven high explosive fragmentation (HE-F), and five less-than-lethal riot control grenades.

The caseless grenades and its launcher, now attached properly to the Chinese carbine are added to the pile of weapons for the Adventists. The less-than-lethal grenades are slated to be used for practice and training. With zombies, the last thing you want to use is anything less-than-lethal. Our last encounter with cannibals we were surprised at how resilient they were to riot control grenades. We will not make the mistake again of using less-than-lethal ammo against cannibals – ever.

Another surprise in Shen’s possessions was a cunningly hidden, old, but well cared for, Norinco Type 54 7.62x25mm pistol, with externally attached suppressor. Commonly referred to as a “Black Star” pistol by the Chinese due to the stars on the black plastic grips; the little pistol is a direct copy of the Soviet Tokarev TT-33.

Also in Shen’s possession was a lot of porn. Most of it was fairly gruesome stuff featuring BDSM, masochism and autoerotic asphyxia. Unless some other sick bastard in the convoy wants the pornographic material all of it gets earmarked for the fire pit. The glossy pictures and heavy, high quality paper will burn hot and fast.

This Little Light of Mine …

The convoy has kept a nightly fire in the center of the compound. Hidden and surrounded by the various tents with the old white farmhouse to its back, the nightly fire has become one of comfort. Two of the old dilapidated barns, as well as an old milking parlor and a hay barn, are slowly being torn down for the wood. We are also slowly cutting all of the trees down in an ever enlarging circle around the farm to use as firewood.

With most of the livestock now either gone or corralled where we can track them easier, the unnecessary wooden fences are also being torn down and burnt. The rusty barb wire and fencing material from the removed fences is added to the tangle foot traps and other booby traps around the perimeter. Dry seasoned firewood is of high priority for the Princess’s laundry as well as the nightly campfire.

A few of the soldiers have shown a talent for some simple musical instruments and a few can even passably sing. Most nights the campfire is a simple, silent affair with soldiers, friends and family sitting together enjoying the warmth of the fire and the camaraderie. Often a bottle of hooch gets passed around. We still have to maintain noise and light discipline, so most nights the fire is a fairly quiet solemn affair.

Construction on a smoke house goes as well as could be expected. Some encouraging news is that the Adventists have several talented carpenters who will assist our construction efforts. The leader of the Adventists, with a few of the women and some men are coming to our camp tomorrow to look over our plans for a smokehouse.

Load Me Mandrake …

Sam shocked us all yesterday or was it perhaps the day before? The days are beginning to run together. Sam, knowing that the Adventists are coming over for a larger trading and planning session, he provided a Browning 1919 A6 still in the original .30-06 caliber to give to the Adventists. The 1919 A6 is still quite common in Israel, although most have been converted to the more common 7.62 NATO.

In the IDF, what few of the 1919 A6s remain are assigned to reserve units. I am passingly familiar with the 1919 and its variants, but have never shot one. Sam and the rest of the Vietnam veterans are quite familiar with the 1919 which was quite prevalent in that conflict. Of interest, though, is how many of the canvas 1919 belts do we possess, and do the Adventists have anyone named Mandrake?

I do not get the Mandrake reference until someone tells me it is from some old American movie well before my time. Looking over the 1919 canvas belts, of which there are quite a few, some of them are in rough shape and will need repair work. I hope that the Adventists have someone who can at least patch and repair the heavy canvas belts. I do not envy the poor bastard that is going to have to hand sew the heavy canvas ammo belts as I doubt the Adventists have a sewing machine heavy enough to handle the canvas.

The Adventists have several horses, and a lot of horse tack, so if they can maintain and repair horse gear, than perhaps some canvas machine gun belts will not be so difficult. I believe that it will be harder to find enough ammo for the 1919 A6 machine gun than anything else. Thankfully, for the Adventists, I understand from the lads that the .30-06 cartridge is very common. Perhaps if the A6 had been converted to 7.62 NATO, than it would have been easier to find ammo. Sam is even able to provide a couple of spare 1919 barrels in either A4 or A6 configuration.

Some of the 1919 barrels are new while others are slightly used. Interestingly enough, the used barrels are US GI issue while the new barrels are all IDF service. There is some discussion about utilizing only the used barrels for training. Regrettably, there is no flash hider available for the 1919. Tools are also limited for the 1919, but there are at least the proper tools to change the barrels including the proper gauges. A few M1918A2 BAR machine gun carry handles are also added to the pile.

Next chapter: Meeting the Adventists

I am still experimenting with H1, H2 and H3 tags in my posts. Please let me know what you think of the new format. I am attempting to keep each post to about 2,000 words.