Zombie apocalypse fiction – Ruth’s story #119 Life in the Compound During a Zombie Apocalypse #SHTF #TEOTWAWKI

The next few days pass in a relative blur. Honey is a reliable zombie and cannibal dowsing rod with very limited range. The Scouts ask for her presence when they suspect either a hive or enclave of zombies or cannibals.

Honey confirmed the suspicions of the Scouts by verifying the existence of a large zombie hive occupying an old Protestant church near the highway. An opportunity to use some of the less lethal munitions in a constructive capacity, the hive occupied a large mostly wooden building.

Surrounding the building at night while the zombies were dormant, the soldiers deployed many M202A1 FLASHs (FLame Assault SHoulder weapon). A cumbersome, four-barreled, re-usable, smoothbore, multi-shot rocket launcher firing 66mm M74 incendiary rockets, the M202 FLASH has a range of about 200 meters.

After quietly surrounding the building the soldiers fired rockets about as fast as they could through the large windows of the building. Since most of the glass was already broken out of the window frames there was nothing to impede the rocket. Supposedly the FLASH can fire a rocket per second but our lands managed a rocket per minute on average. Our soldiers had varying levels of success with rapid fire, some taking a little longer than others to empty their weapon.

Deployed in two-man teams, the soldiers were able to empty their FLASH and while kneeling reload it with factory-loaded M74 rockets, pre-loaded into separate aluminum tubes that assembled together form a single, four-shot clip. The clip attached to the rear of the launcher each loaded tube forming an extension to the barrel.

The M74 rocket’s fire burns as hot as 1800-2200° C. Each rocket’s payload of self-igniting triethylaluminum (TEA), a gel-like substance, burns for several minutes. The resulting fire gutted the building killing most of the zombies.

Zombies whom managed to escape the fire were quickly killed by soldiers. Regrettably the intense flames of the large burning church drew far too much attention gathering more zombies from the surrounding woods. Having slain the majority of the zombies, the soldiers left the burning building hoping that many more zombies would walk into the flames and be consumed.

Emptying the FLASH rocket weapons allowed for reloading with the four round clips. There are several M202A1 reload clips with four M74 rockets available, Jeff tells me, but the soldiers decided to reload the emptied FLASH rocket launchers with M72 LAW HEAT rockets turning the launchers into M202A3s.

Jeff explained that the LAW HEAT rocket version of the FLASH was never officially fielded but is something the lads cooked up. The emptied four-round reload clips are themselves reloaded with more M72 HEAT rockets.

I am not that familiar with the M202A1 FLASH only having seen it before in Infantry Officer Course books. The M202 FLASH was made famous by Schwarzenegger in the 1985 movie “Comando” perhaps its best role to date.

I was told that there had been some problems with the FLASH igniting the rocket’s payload upon loading but our soldiers experienced no problems despite the age of the weapons. Designed near the beginning of the Vietnam conflict, its reputation as dangerous to the operator made it less than popular with the troops.

Israel used a lot of American weapons, especially those deemed old or obsolete. I am sure there were more than a few FLASH weapons stashed in some dusty Israeli arsenal. Not much use for incendiary weapons in the desert. However, when surrounded by oil-rich, Jew-hating Arabs, possessing the means to incinerate your enemy’s wealth is a sound tactic.

I never saw a M202 FLASH deployed until that dark rainy night when we attacked the zombie hive. It was nice to get out of the radio tent at least for one night. I never will get used to the flaming zombies flailing around, intent only upon reaching fresh meat.

I watched the zombies burn to death (second death?) without uttering a single sound. A few blazers (crude term for burning zombie) that got too close were mercifully shot with suppressed weapons. I do not know why the lads bothered with using suppressed weapons as much noise as those damned rocket launchers made.

Later back in the compound, I looked at a map and realized that the colonels are attempting to clear a wide swath of land around us. I suppose that when we depart, the colonels want to leave the Adventists in the best possible position. By clearing all the zombie hives, and removing any cannibal enclave, the Adventists have a better chance of surviving.

Walking back to the radio tent to relieve Nguen for the rest of the night, Shack and I were content with silence. The radios have also been silent for the last week or so. Occasionally, at night we are able to pick up an old “border blaster” station, XERF-AM at Ciudad Acuña in Mexico.

Transmitting at 250,000 watts, five times the old US limit, the AM station has transmitted some interesting facts about KCAP. Thankfully even though my Spanish is Castilian, I am able to understand the broadcasts. I just cannot write fast enough to keep up with the broadcaster.

The Mexican broadcaster is part of a group of survivors living in the Santa Maria de Guadalupe Church. My Spanish is a bit rusty, and unfortunately I cannot talk with the transmitter, but the man sounds as if he was educated the States. From the occasional transmissions we learned that not all of the bridges from the States into Mexico were destroyed either by the military or Homeland Defense.

Mexico’s military also chained and welded shut pedestrian turnstiles and even destroyed bridges to reduce the number of gringo zombies from entering Mexico. Unfortunately, the Rio Bravo river (known as the Rio Grande in the US) is so shallow that numerous zombies walked across it.

The Mexican broadcaster indicates that things are very bad along the border. Large hives of zombies wander the streets. He also indicated that the border crossings are waste lands filled with the undead. Thousands of abandoned vehicles litter the highways, many of them containing undead.

In the heat of the northern Mexican desert, I can only imagine what the smell must be like. Here the zombies can survive several days trapped in a car until they starve to death. I wonder if zombies die like a dog when trapped inside a hot car?

Dying of heat trapped in a car is one of the most horrible ways to die. I wonder if a zombie would understand what was happening and would it feel pain or fear? Most of us could give a shit if the zombies suffer or feel pain.

I have seen enough zombies burn alive, without issuing a single sound, so I believe that even if they do feel pain, the zombie’s brain is incapable of expressing it.

The Mexican broadcaster does not ever use his name, but he indicates that the weather has been cool for the area, but dry. Quite a bit of the city on both sides of the river has burnt. Smoke clouds the sky with little wind to clear it.

His last transmission more than a week ago indicated that the situation in Mexico is terrible. Unlike large American cities which have “donut” formed population densities, Mexico still had dense population centers.

American cities had business centers (the hole in the donut if you will) where no one lived. After the work day, nearly everyone commuted out of the business areas. Surrounding these business centers are affluent suburbs that tended to become more affluent the farther they got from the business center.

The Mexican transmitter mentioned that hordes of undead are crossing the border at will. Mexico had some densely packed cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. We have had some discussions that the large steel and brick business buildings might be something to investigate later.

Shack walks silently beside me as I reflect on the Mexican’s last transmission. It is nice being with someone who feels comfortable with silence, not feeling the need to always talk. Perhaps he is remembering this morning. I want to talk about it too, but I will wait for Shack to broach the subject.

We pass some of the new arrivals to the compound as we walk. A few days ago two men and a woman arrived in a big fucking yellow school bus packed full of kids. We now have 38 kids in the camp varying in age from newborn to late teens.

The two men and the woman were Scout leaders. They were able to gather most of their respective Scout troops together. The addition of 33 kids to the compound was greeted with enthusiasm. Like most of us, they heard the rumors of safety in the frigid northern Canadian territories.

The woman is a curvaceous buxom strawberry blonde that would be very attractive if it were not for the horse-shoe shaped scar running vertically across her face. the open part of the horseshoe scar points to the right side of her face. The horizontal sides of the horseshoe cross her forehead and her upper lip, giving her a permanent sneer. One of Bettina’s eyes is vivid green with gold flakes while the other is dark brown. Bettina must have been a bit chunkier when the KCAP apocalypse happened her clothes just hang off of her frame.

Bettina is not as pale as Carol nor is her hair as dark, but she does have a few freckles. One of the best things about Bettina is that she is a veterinarian, something that the Adventists desperately needed.

Brenda has been a wonder with the animals. A licensed and certified veterinarian was definitely something the compound needed as she has already saved several sheep that would have died delivering lambs. Brenda has happily returned to her gardens and herb collecting.

Since arriving at the compound, Bettina has been ensconced in the Adventist’s barn handling birthing and other vet duties. The 11 Girl Scouts Bettina managed to save were added to the general kid population of the compound. The 22 Boy Scouts were older and most of them are now either in training, or have been assigned guard duty.

Bettina carries an ancient arsenal reworked Japanese Type 26 Revolver with Siamese numerals on the front of the grips. I do not know how much of the unique and very rare Japanese ammo she has for her pistol. I would not have chosen such a unique and unwieldy pistol for my sidearm.

Her open-topped, brown leather holster was obviously made for another weapon. Her pistol tends to flop around in the holster. I hope that she can pull it if she needs to use her pistol.

I wonder, though, if Bettina (she does not like to be called Betty) had a choice in selecting her pistol. She strikes me as someone who probably was not into guns until too late. She probably had to find and use whatever she could.

There is something about that bunch and odd weapons, though. I ponder this conundrum as one of the newly arrived Boy Scouts passes me with his rifle at port arms. The lad carries a Remington Model 8 in .25 Remington, another odd and exceedingly rare cartridge.

The Remington carrying youth accompanied by another new arrival carrying an old, battered Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun that must have at least a 30-inch barrel. That is when I notice the lad with the shotgun has an ancient Webley revolver in a tan burlap flap holster. What the fuck is up with this bunch.

Shack and I pause at the entrance to the radio tent. I turn to intercept the shotgun carrying kid with the ancient British revolver. Shack’s curious eye brow lifting expression is the last thing that I see before I turn around raising my right hand to stop the pair of boys.

This should be interesting.