Walkerz Iraq

Week 12

Walkerz Iraq

(Week 12)

Their small convoy continued west. They avoided most cities and settlements, but once a day would stop and clear out smaller outposts to resupply with food and fuel. They got pretty good working as a team, despite the difficulty of speaking different languages. Amal proved invaluable in bridging the communication barrier.

Several days into the 12th week, they came up to a small military post. The Turks were familiar with it, since it served as a regional hub to move soldiers and supplies. There were several low buildings that served as warehouses and barracks encompassed within the boundaries of a large eight foot wall. At regular intervals along the wall were elevated guard towers, similar to the one Eric and Ross had occupied in Iraq.

They were still a distance away from the post, but could see movement in the towers. Eric and Ross saw this as a good sign, but Amal had different news. He had been on the radio with the BMP. They reported that the post wasn’t answering their radio. It was possible that they had no power and that the radios had failed. Regardless, they would approach cautiously.

Slowly they approached the walled post. Weapons and personnel ready for the worst. As they got closer in, they began seeing human remains littering the terrain. Closer still, the number of bodies increased, until they could see piles, several bodies thick, mounded at the walls of the post.

Amal had a set of binoculars. He set them down and called for Eric to stop driving. He said the same in the hand held radio he had, and the BMP stopped at well. He spoke into the radio again and then said to Eric and Ross, “The men in the guard towers, they’re infected.

The figures in the guard towers were once Turkish Soldiers. Now they showed the dark eyes and soiled clothing of the infected. The guard towers all mounted heavy machine guns, but the infected were oblivious to such tools of destruction, and the barrels pointed helter-skelter. The infected rocking against the sand bags, agitated by the appearance of the truck and BMP.

They stopped and had a meeting. Inside the Turkish post was a wealth of supplies. There would be food, fuel, ammunition and a wide array of weapons. There would also be spare parts for the BMP, whose tracks were starting to show signs of wear, a normal occurrence of all tracked vehicles. They really could continue on and continue to scavenge food and fuel without problem and they had enough ammunition to last several more weeks, even with our daily raids of small outposts. What swayed them to stay and get supplies from the post was the need for spare parts for the BMP. Breaking a track or a road wheel would force the Turks to abandon a powerful and secure fighting vehicle, that was truly effective against the infected hoards.

Using the height of the truck, they drove up to the wall and visually scouted the interior of the post. What they saw shocked them. There were at least two hundred of the infected milling about the complex. When the infected saw the truck and it’s occupants, they surged, screaming, to the wall. Even separated by the wall, the mass of infected set the soldier’s nerves on edge.

They came up with a simple plan. With the truck’s height, they were able to see over the wall easily. Setting on tops of the truck, they’d be able to eliminate the hordes with rifle and machine gun fire. Once they’d cleared out the open areas inside the walls of the compound, they’d force open the gates. The BMP would roll inside to clear the interior while the truck covered them at the gate. Once they cleared the exterior, the Turk soldiers would clear the buildings, with the truck providing firepower from the gate.

Executing the first part of the plan proved to be very simple. 11 weeks ago it would have turned their stomachs, but now the infected were no longer human. Slaughtering the masses was like swatting mosquitoes. There were plenty to go around, and they wouldn’t stop until they had your blood. They went through several magazines and belts of ammunition, before the infected stopped coming. There was an alarming pile of bodies that provided a ramp up the wall from the inside, but none of the infected made it to the top of the wall before being cut down in the withering fire.

Once the grounds were cleared, the Turks loaded up their BMP and then sealed all of the doors. They drove both of the vehicles to the main gate, where the BMP used their cannon to blast apart a heavy duty lock. The BMP pushed into the compound and the truck moved into the gateway to take up a fire position to cover the BMP’s progress.

The nearest building appeared to be vacant. The doors and windows looked as if they’d all been busted in. Nevertheless, the BMP rolled up to the front of the building and aimed it’s cannon inside the front door. It stopped and the turret hatch popped open. One of the soldiers stood up with a bull horn and called out. They waited momentarily and when nothing happened, the troop doors of the BMP shot open and the entire squad exited and assaulted the building. They wore gas masks as they sprinted from the vehicle into the building, weapons at the ready.

Eric, Ross and Amal waited. There were no shots fired. The hand held radio crackled out a message and Amal translated. “The building is cleared. There were survivors, but the infected broke in…and…ate them. They’re going to move on.”

The Turks re-boarded their BMP and moved to next building. The doors and windows were all closed with this building and appeared to be barricaded. Once again they used the bullhorn. There was no answer. They sealed the hatch and a moment later fired the cannon. The door was blasted in. They waited for the smoke to clear from the darkened entryway. They watched as a disoriented figure made his way from the darkened interior to the bright outdoors. He stumbled briefly as he crossed the thresh hold and then looked up. His darkened eyes scanned his surroundings, not registering that the hulk of the BMP was a threat or completely filled with uninfected survivors. Another form appeared in the doorway and the BMP fired it’s cannon again. Both figures vanished in a burst of flame and smoke. Suddenly more bodies began to emerge from the door way, panicked or angry, no one was certain. The BMP’s co-axial turret machine gun began to fire into the quickly growing mass. It lasted a few seconds and then stopped.

They waited another minute for more infected to appear. When they didn’t, the Turks assaulted the building. Again there were no shots. Amal reported that it appears as if they soldiers inside had successfully barricaded themselves, but had somehow become infected.

The next building they had to blast open the doors, but no infected emerged. Amal reported that there were many corpses inside. They found a note next to a deceased soldier. It read, “The screamers managed to get in before we could secure the doors. We killed them all, but we’ve become infected ourselves. All of the other’s already passed into the coma. I put a bullet into their heads. It’s just me now. I will pass into a coma myself, and soon. I beg forgiveness for my soul, since I will take my own life.”

They finished clearing the rest of the buildings in the same manner. Only once did Eric, Ross and Amal have to provide additional firepower. The BMP had blown open a large set of double doors and couldn’t effectively cover both sides of the screaming infected as they poured out of the wide opening.

The warehouses were free of any living or dead and were simple to scavenge for supplies. They topped up on water, preserved foods, fuels, ammunition and spare parts for the BMP. In addition, the BMP found a trailer to mount to the rear and carry much more of the supplies it would need. Ross and Eric secured a variety of different weapons to supplement and eventually replace the US weapons they’d started with in Iraq. The US caliber ammunition was starting to run low and they’d have to begin using Turkish weapons.

They secure their supplies and moved out of the compound. The smell of death and the pall of flies was becoming oppressive. They stopped several miles away before making camp and planning their next movements.

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