side if we lived long enough. The creeps were just walking cadavers, each one slowly decomposing with every passing day.
I folded up the map and stuffed it in the pocket of my combat trousers. “Thanks for the pep talk, Cruze,” I said.
“No problem … let me see the map again.”
“Why?”
“I just need to check something, alright?”
Feeling slightly annoyed, I pulled the map out of my pocket and handed it to her. Cruze unfolded it across the hull and pointed to the spot I’d chosen to go to ground.
“What is it?” I asked as she placed her index finger and thumb on the distance scale, moving quickly to the black dot I’d picked for our crew to go to ground for the night.
“I think we’re still too close to built-up areas, Dave. The place you’ve picked isn’t far enough from Airdrie. The creeps will hear our vehicles … that or a repeat performance of what we dealt with in the city.”
“Well I’m not the world’s greatest navigator, Cruze, but the area is heavily wooded and it’s the highest feature on the map for miles. There’s a utility road in and out in case we need to leave in a hurry.”
She grunted and pointed to another high feature about an inch away from where I’d plotted our route. “I think you mean this one here,” she said, tapping the other hill with an index finger. “Are you sure you picked the right spot because I’m not convinced.”
“Geez … you go from giving me a pep talk to questioning my route?” I said with a tinge of sarcasm in my voice.
Cruze spun around and pointed the map in the opposite direction from our route. She ran a finger along the shaky black line I’d scrawled onto the map as we broke out of the city and then lifted her head and gazed out on the horizon.
“You know what? Never mind.” she said finally. “I don’t like the place you’ve picked but we voted you in charge and the last thing we need is a disagreement because we all have to support each other. If we get knee-deep in the shit, we can pull out in a hurry.”
I glanced at the map and then shifted my gaze to Cruze. “Well … we could still go to the high feature you picked but we’d burn more fuel getting there.”
She slugged me hard in the arm and then deftly jumped over to her APC. “Don’t sweat it. Anyway, we probably wouldn’t make it to my spot with any daylight left to scout the area. We also don’t need the others to see us disagreeing on anything. Team cohesion and all that shit. So what’s the plan?”
I gazed out at the rooftops dotting Lynx Ridge. “We fuel up to three quarters of a tank and press on until we’re in open country.”
“Fair enough,” she said, turning on her heels. “Mel, get out the fuel kit and dump one Jerry can in the tank. Kenny, put together a sentry list for tonight. We’ll stay inside with the combat locks on until first light, and then we’ll press on in the morning.”
Kenny and Mel both gave Cruze a thumbs-up as I turned my eyes to my section. “Same thing for us. Sid, throw in one can of diesel and Kate, get the sentry list going. We pull out in ten minutes!”
12
The crest I’d chosen to go to ground was surrounded by eight-foot-high scrub brush, providing excellent concealment for both carriers. Doug and Kenny parked back-to-back; the APC’s facing east and west to give both turrets a 360 degree field of vision for our night sentries. We couldn’t open the rear doors without the interior lights spilling into the darkness and giving away our position, so any interaction between Arks One and Two would have to be via radio. The swarm following had to be more than 15 km behind us – we’d gunned our engines to about 30 km/hr and driven cross country for 45 minutes after we fuelled up. I estimated there was little chance they’d catch up to us by first light – we’d still be about three or four clicks ahead, and that was a conservative estimate. The ground was uneven and there were cattle fences stretched out
I folded up the map and stuffed it in the pocket of my combat trousers. “Thanks for the pep talk, Cruze,” I said.
“No problem … let me see the map again.”
“Why?”
“I just need to check something, alright?”
Feeling slightly annoyed, I pulled the map out of my pocket and handed it to her. Cruze unfolded it across the hull and pointed to the spot I’d chosen to go to ground.
“What is it?” I asked as she placed her index finger and thumb on the distance scale, moving quickly to the black dot I’d picked for our crew to go to ground for the night.
“I think we’re still too close to built-up areas, Dave. The place you’ve picked isn’t far enough from Airdrie. The creeps will hear our vehicles … that or a repeat performance of what we dealt with in the city.”
“Well I’m not the world’s greatest navigator, Cruze, but the area is heavily wooded and it’s the highest feature on the map for miles. There’s a utility road in and out in case we need to leave in a hurry.”
She grunted and pointed to another high feature about an inch away from where I’d plotted our route. “I think you mean this one here,” she said, tapping the other hill with an index finger. “Are you sure you picked the right spot because I’m not convinced.”
“Geez … you go from giving me a pep talk to questioning my route?” I said with a tinge of sarcasm in my voice.
Cruze spun around and pointed the map in the opposite direction from our route. She ran a finger along the shaky black line I’d scrawled onto the map as we broke out of the city and then lifted her head and gazed out on the horizon.
“You know what? Never mind.” she said finally. “I don’t like the place you’ve picked but we voted you in charge and the last thing we need is a disagreement because we all have to support each other. If we get knee-deep in the shit, we can pull out in a hurry.”
I glanced at the map and then shifted my gaze to Cruze. “Well … we could still go to the high feature you picked but we’d burn more fuel getting there.”
She slugged me hard in the arm and then deftly jumped over to her APC. “Don’t sweat it. Anyway, we probably wouldn’t make it to my spot with any daylight left to scout the area. We also don’t need the others to see us disagreeing on anything. Team cohesion and all that shit. So what’s the plan?”
I gazed out at the rooftops dotting Lynx Ridge. “We fuel up to three quarters of a tank and press on until we’re in open country.”
“Fair enough,” she said, turning on her heels. “Mel, get out the fuel kit and dump one Jerry can in the tank. Kenny, put together a sentry list for tonight. We’ll stay inside with the combat locks on until first light, and then we’ll press on in the morning.”
Kenny and Mel both gave Cruze a thumbs-up as I turned my eyes to my section. “Same thing for us. Sid, throw in one can of diesel and Kate, get the sentry list going. We pull out in ten minutes!”
12
The crest I’d chosen to go to ground was surrounded by eight-foot-high scrub brush, providing excellent concealment for both carriers. Doug and Kenny parked back-to-back; the APC’s facing east and west to give both turrets a 360 degree field of vision for our night sentries. We couldn’t open the rear doors without the interior lights spilling into the darkness and giving away our position, so any interaction between Arks One and Two would have to be via radio. The swarm following had to be more than 15 km behind us – we’d gunned our engines to about 30 km/hr and driven cross country for 45 minutes after we fuelled up. I estimated there was little chance they’d catch up to us by first light – we’d still be about three or four clicks ahead, and that was a conservative estimate. The ground was uneven and there were cattle fences stretched out
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