The Remainder Of The Camp

Barker let go of Marcus; the marine's head is low, and Barker can see the man actively processing what just happened. A bit of the elder doctor's blood had spurted out, leaving a streak along Marcus's face, "Marcus, we couldn't do anything for him. He was already gone." The soldier reached into his pocket, passing over a rag to his friend. "We still saved the others. That's still a victory."

"Yeah...sure, whatever you say, Ryan." Marcus took the rag and did what he could to wipe his face clean, "Try telling her that." Marcus jutted a finger over to Alice. Barker let out a soft, sympathetic exhale as he watched the woman weep for the loss of her friend and colleague.

His eyes then moved to the two men who were standing by the front gate, still huffing hard from having yanked it open in the first place. The first was a man Barker had yet to meet; he was a civilian, to be sure, a bit shorter than most and had a touch more weight than the others. His short brown hair was well combed, and his face perfectly shaved; based on what he was wearing, Barker could sense the man was at the very least a bit dorky and likely a shut-in. The man next to him, however, Barker recognized. A sharp crew cut and standard military fatigues, he was a member of their checkpoint, a corporal who was sent out recently to gather up more survivors as well.

"James?" Barker asked, and the young man gave him a half-hearted smile,

"It's good to see some more friendly faces," James brought a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck, "I was starting to get worried it was only going to be Noah and me here."

Barker's eyes widened, and his nose flared, "What? What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean the only ones?"

The group all looked to the young man, who swallowed hard, "I - I mean...everyone is gone, man. It's only Noah and me in here; that's it."

"What?!" Marcus suddenly boomed, "They left?!"

"Calm down, Marcus," Barker was quick to ease the tense man, "James, start for the beginning; what happened to Evan? You two left the same time we did."

James glanced at Noah before looking back to Barker, "Evan didn't make it back at all, Barker. When we found some people, but a group of the dead ones got the jump on us. Evan tried to save them, but there were too many. I would be dead too if Noah here hadn't gotten to me in time. We hid in a bread truck for a few hours and then walked back here. The base was empty, man, no one, none of our checkpoint, none of the civilians we saved, just a ghost town. The power kicked out like an hour ago, and we were trying to get it back on when we heard you guys shooting."

"Jesus Christ...Jesus fucking Christ..." Marcus squatted down, cupping a hand over his face, "They just abandoned us? How could they do that?"

"What the hell does that all mean? You brought us over here to get us evacuated, and you're telling us we missed the fucking bus?! What about my family?!" Mac snapped out,

"Yeah, genius, that's what abandoned means." Mac flashed him a menacing scowl, though Darius wasn't phased, "These fucking assholes didn't care about little guys like us. Not when this shit is going down," Darius scoffed,

"M-Maybe they'll come back!" Mitchell pipped in with a hopeful tone, "This place is still safe; we should wait for them, right?"

"That's a hell of a lot of faith to put on them to come back for a group of civilians and a few soldiers." Ivey pointed out with a sigh, treating the situation with the brutal honesty it required.

"What if we contacted them? You guys had the radios, right?" Amy suggested,

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna do us shit with the power out," Marcus sighed as he pushed himself back upright, "Not to mention, the thing is on the fritz; I've been meaning to try and fix it."

"I could...be of assistance," Noah hesitantly offered, "I'm familiar with electronics, not so much with your base's power generator, but a radio I could do well with."

"Well, from what I'm hearing, I guess we're positively made of time right now," Holly muttered with a toss of her eyes, doing little to hide her disappointment,

"Regardless, the boy is right." Mike finally pipped in, motioning to Mitchell, "This place is safe and secure; we ought to be at least thankful for that.

"Right." Barker took a moment, settling all the information into his head and deligating it through, "James? How much is left here? Did they take the supplies?"

"Looks like most of it, but not everything," James replied, and the two began to walk, causing the remaining survivors to follow close behind. They traveled up the small entry gate corridor, passing through another gate entrance into a wide open zone. Little more than a walled-in box with tents and a few trailers, the base wasn't much, but as of right now, it was a lot less crowded than it had been the last few weeks. "They mainly took most of the weapons; it looks like. The food supply was barely touched, and it looked like the roll-out infirmary had a rushed gathering. It's a mess in there, but it's not empty."

"That's better than I was expecting," Barker nodded, "Vehicles?"

"Only have a few humvee's left, and one transport helicopter was left. I don't know if they left it for us or if they just didn't need it. Whatever this was, it happened fast." James returned,

"Had to of," Marcus muttered, "When we left this morning, everything was running smooth and in routine. No one mentioned leaving today once."

Barker motioned for Marcus to come closer until the three soldiers were walking side by side, the rest of the group behind, "Listen, I want everyone to remain calm and not panic. We will figure this out, but right now, if they think we're worried, it'll only make all of this worse."

Marcus slowly nodded, "I think we ought to have them all go relax, feed them, and then James and I can go look at that generator."

"Perfect, let's get them into some of the tents, make them feel comfortable until they settle. Then we can talk about the next step we take." Barker nodded,

"Uh, Barker? What is our next step?" James scratched the top of his head.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Barker assured the man with a pat on his back, though the man felt his heart beating a bit quicker and a nervous bead of sweat forming at the top of his brow. Nevertheless, the man turned, "Okay, guys, listen up!" He called out as the trio stopped before the group, each of them looking at him for guidance, "Until we can get the power back on and that radio in working order, we're going to have to just settle down in here for a while, Now I know we promised you all evacuation, and that is still our intent. There is a helicopter still in the base, and if need be, I can fly us somewhere safer once we figure out where safer is."

"So your damn plan is for us to sit here with a thumb up our asses?!" Darius snapped back, "You assholes were supposed to have this shit under control!"

"Asshole, look around you! Does any of this shit look under control? Didn't we just lead you out of a city swarming with those things?" Marcus took a half step forward, barking out his words, "Why don't you be damn grateful that you have a place to rest your head and some food to eat!"

"Whatever, dude," Darius scoffed and stormed off,

Holly's brow slightly raised as she watched the man, "H-Hey, wait up!" She called out and scampered off after him.

Marcus let out a scoff, tossing a hand up and shaking his head, "Right...anyone else with something to say?" Barker merely asked, "Now would be that time, I suppose."

"Can we help in any way?" Josh asked after a moment, "If it's just three of you, we could give you a hand."

"Yes...I suppose that would be the smart call," Barker nodded in agreement, "Noah?" The dorky man took a step forward, "You said you could repair that radio?"

"I think I could," Noah's voice held confidence even if his stance didn't,

"Then why don't you take a look at it?" Barker motioned for James, who nodded, waving Noah on,

"I'll go too." Ivey quickly offered, following close behind,

"Guess I'll take a look at the generator," Marcus said to barker before looking over the crowd until his eyes landed on Amy, "You give me a hand with it?"

"Sure." Amy accepted with ease,

Marcus then looked to Mitchell and blankly held out his hand. Mitchell stared back at him in confusion for a moment before looking down and seeing Marcus's **** rifle still clutching in his hands, "Oh, sorry!" Mitchell jogged over, passing the weapon over, "I took it without asking; I just reacted and --"

"Nothing to apologize for, kid; you did good." Marcus patted him on the shoulder as he took the rifle back,

"Just sorta pointed and shot," Mitchell shrugged,

"Sometimes that's all it takes," Marcus assured him, and with that, he and Amy headed off as well.

"Rest of you, tents are available, fire pits are set up, make yourselves comfortable. That trailer over there is our food supply. Help yourselves, get a good meal, but just....don't go overboard, please." Barker told the others, and they all nodded, "If you need me, I'll be at the infirmary trailer; need to account for what we have left and clean it up."

Barker then heard a sniffle, and Alice stepped forward, wiping her eyes dry, "Let me help. I take it you won't know what you're even looking at in there."

The soldier let out a half-hearted laugh, "Yeah...I suppose I wouldn't." Barker motioned for her to follow with a nod of his head, and the pair walked off while the remaining survivors headed over to the row of military tents and the rations trailer.