Blogs of the Dead Pt 3

Ritchie’s battered company SUV came to a halt just beside a sign announcing the start of Sarubi’s town limits. Lake Kabul lay somewhere of to the right but some ridgeline obscured his view. The sign was dusty and battered with numerous bullet holes. Much like many of the signs along the ‘Stans basic road system.

They’d left Jalalabad a few hours ago but having to be careful of IED’s and the possibility of ambushes had meant they had travelled slower than usual. Al’s SUV had fallen victim to an IED about 15km’s back. It was a big one, a couple of linked 155mm arty rounds and it had made short work of the Ford Explorer.

In a practiced movement Lyle and Dimitri exited the SUV and took up covering positions whilst Ritchie once again tried their offices in Kabul. It was the same thing the line just rang out. For once he managed to get a few bars of reception on his smart phone so tried the social networking sites the only things that seemed to work at the moment, he caught Sophie’s message but couldn’t remember if she said she’d be now in Barcelona or Madrid, so he sent a quick message
“Hang on you’re not alone”

The irony of that made Ritchie laugh for a second.. as very few people seemed not to be alone. Signalling his two colleagues he quickly reassessed their options. The best one was to drive back along the A01 to Kabul and try and get some sort of transport out the country. He just didn’t want to try and make a break through Pakistan and the war zone that was the tribal areas.

“So what do we do now?” Asked Dimitri the tall Russian had been working with Ritchie for nearly a year now and he was very dependable.
“Go to HQ and see what we see, I suppose” replied Ritchie “There’s a compound nearby so we can refuel and then we’ve got enough fuel to get us to Kabul”
“But how are going to get out this shithole?” Asked Lyle an American, who’d been with them for a few months.
“Dimitri can fly and there’s an Antonov that used to be owned by Blackwater sitting on the tarmac at Bagram ready to be used.” Ritchie said, moving the vehicle back onto the road, kicking up a fair amount of the ever present Afghan dust in the process.
“Yeah, I guess they won’t be needing it anymore!” agreed Lyle.

As they drove on towards the town there was silence before Dimitri re-opened the same conversation they’d had since the morning.
“So, do you think that feed from the Reaper was real?”
“Wasn’t no Pixar cartoon that’s for sure!” quipped Lyle
“Dimitri, I just don’t know it looked real and it didn’t look natural, but since the meteor storm most people who were outside are now dead so maybe it was radioactive of something” opined Ritchie.
“That green glow shit was pretty scary” said Lyle scratching his head vigorously before gazing out of the window looking for threats.
“Well doesn’t radioactive stuff glow green?”, asked Ritchie before continuing “I’ve checked some of the networking sites and there still seems to be people alive out there”.
“Where should we fly to though? The 32 has a range of about 2500 kms?” Dimitri asked thoughtfully.
“Oman I guess” said Ritchie, “plenty of stores there and I remember that Se’eb airport is dual use so we can pick up gear before moving along to Israel from there the Med is our oyster”
“You are assuming that Israel will be in a similar condition to here though” Stated Dimitri.
“it’s not rocket science Dimitri” said Lyle “Listen if this the end of the world it’s the end of the world and Israel’s not going to have any say in the matter, unless of course they caused it” he finished with a sneaky smile.

They conversation had taken them through the majority of Sarubi and almost to the company’s compound.
‘Look!” said Lyle pointing down the street “Birds won’t tough the bodies but those goddam doggies will!”
Sure enough a pack of four dogs were attacking a couple of bodies with gusto further down the street.

“Don’t take any chances. Lyle, you open the gates. Dimitri, you provide cover got it”
The other two men nodded.
“Good, we’ll be there in a moment”

The SUV pulled up outside the compound. The complex’s walls were thick and additional lighting and some security camera’s had been installed when the company took the place over in 2002. The only problem was the feasting dogs were now only 50 meters away but seemed to be giving the vehicle no mind. As the day was filtering away Dimitri and Lyle both activated the tac-lights on their customized AK-104’s before piling out.

One dog looked up as the SUV’s doors slammed shut, and Lyle ran to the gates and Dimitri took and over watch position opposite. Fortunately there was still enough power for the gate motors to work and they were in the compound in seconds. Ritchie dismounted his 417 recon rifle replacing the 50 round drum mag with a handier 20 round one.

It took only a dozen or so minutes for the three men split up and search the building for survivors. Finding none they met up back in the courtyard.
“Find anything?” Ritchie asked
“Only dead bodies” replied Lyle helpfully
“ The Intel cell team seem to have suicided” said Dimitri “Two had taken their assist pills and the third had shot himself”
“Maybe they knew something we don’t, sneaky bastards!” proclaimed Lyle
“Or they took an easy way out” countered Dimitri.
“Well it doesn’t matter now” put in Ritchie “Lets clear the compound of the bodies and settle in for tonight, and inventory what we’ve got..”

“What was that!” Lyle half shouted.
His two colleagues looked in askance
“That body, it moved..I’m certain of it” Lyle continued.
“Of course Lyle” said Ritchie not in the mood for one of the American’s jokes.
‘No I’m certain” replied Lyle sounding quite scared.
In the deepening gloom of the evening it was getting harder to see as the perimeter lights were not on. Lyle switch his rifle mounted tac-light back on and panned it around the courtyard.
“What the fu…”
All the bodies they could see were twitching as if suffering a severe epileptic attack. Before the men’s disbelieving eyes the bodies of their co-employees slowly started to get to their feet in a jerky un-coordinated manner.
“Things have got worse” muttered Dimitri…