"I'm sorry." she softened.

Matt got the bus rolling. They went down the hill towards the western perimeter road. As they passed the western garrison, two Apache gunships were lifting off, heading North x Northeast. Going out to search for large gatherings of zombies most likely.

Looking in the rearview mirror, he could see that Susan had went back to speak with her mom and brother, who were now just awakening. At the western road he turned south. Just ahead he could see a military transport truck parked at the shoulder of the road. Three soldiers stood about, holding their rifles not quite drawn, and not really relaxed either. Just beyond it was an M1A1 Abrams tank, also pulled to the shoulder of the road, turret-pointing west, where the ground sloped down into more suburbs. Between the road and the 'burb's was a perimeter defense line of trenches, sandbagged heavy weapons emplacements, and several Humvees and regular army jeeps and dozens of armed soldiers spread in a line for hundreds of feet in either direction. Last night they had been unable to see this defensive line in the dark.

As they continued down the road, Matt could see a transport truck parked every few hundred yards. On two different occasions Humvees passed them going the opposite direction, back towards the base. On the left shoulder of the road abandon cars had been pushed to the side. Ahead, about another half mile there was a four-way intersection. The roads leading south and west were barricaded with a pair M1A1 Abrams tanks apiece as well as several dozen soldiers. The road to the east was the main entrance to Fort Douglas. It was blocked by the double arms of a raising steel gate attached to either side of a solid steel guardhouse set into the middle of the road. Matt pulled the bus to the left side so the main doors opened to the guardhouse. The soldier who had spoken earlier moved to the open doors. He conversed briefly with the man in the guardhouse, relaying the password and his orders. Of course the gatehouse had been expecting them, but security was very strict. The double arms swung up, and they were in the Base. The main road wound up the hill, much like the hospital, only this hill was occupied with rows of long, two story, yellow barracks instead of a sea of humanity. Not to say the base was unoccupied. Far from it. People were everywhere, most all of them soldiers; some were in full battle dress, most were merely in fatigues. All were armed, even if only with a sidearm. Following the soldiers instructions Matt went beyond the barracks to the administrative center of the Base where he spotted the command center, hospital, PX as well as the bases R & R facilities. He pulled around to the emergency ambulance entrance. As soon as he came to a stop and opened the door two orderlies entered the bus, unstrapped Zack from the seat, lifted his stretcher and carried him off.

Jenkins stepped up onto the bus. "He's in good hands. Let's get you people to some quarters."

Jenkins's guided him further east, where even more barracks awaited. They stopped at the corner building of the first row.

"You've been assigned bunks in this barrack." Jenkins said.

"I live in this barrack." Ron said.

"You do?" David asked.

"Me, my brother and his family."

They exited the bus and entered the barrack, where a single uniformed guard sat behind a metal desk. He snapped to attention at the sight of Jenkins.

"At ease." Jenkins grumbled. They passed the desk down one of the hallways through a set of double doors into a room full of cots stacked bunk bed style. Several of the cots had a bedroll and pillow resting at one end, more than enough for all of them. "Here you go." Jenkins said. "Make yourselves at home. I've got to get back to the hospital." He looked from Ron to Matt. "I'll see you in the morning." With out another word he was gone. Matt moved to the nearest cot, laying back.

"You get some rest partner." Ron said, again clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll see you later." he nodded to the rest of them before leaving.

"I sure hope Zack is ok." Susan said.

"Don't worry." Matt said. Now I'm sounding like Ron. "These guys are on the up and up. Zack is in far better hands that he was at U."

"I'm hungry." David said.

"Yea, me too." Matt said. They set about making up their beds. As they worked in walked an army nurse carrying a medicine bag.

"Good afternoon." she said. "I'm here to give you all a quick physical. Lets start with you." she sat her bag beside David. The nurse checked his blood pressure, pulse and temperature, as she did with all of them. "Everybody seems fine. Just some exhaustion." She gave them all a Valium and told them to get some sleep. They would be awakened at dinnertime. They were too weary to argue...

Matt awoke to the sound of several people talking. For a moment he panicked, a wave of paranoid fear washing through him like some kind of drug. He sat up quick as lightning, eyes wide. Sharon and David were sitting on her cot talking quietly. Susan stood near the door speaking with Ron.

"Mornin'!" Ron called full of good humor. Matt's brain was foggy. His eyes sticky with sleep.

"What time is it?" he asked, stretching.

"It's tomorrow morning." Ron said.

"What?" Tomorrow morning?

"You slept all day and night. It's 9:00 O'clock Saturday morning." He had slept about seventeen straight hours.

"I don't think I've ever slept so well in my life." Matt said, stretching again with a loud groan. "Is there a toilet in this place?" he asked. His bladder felt as if it were going to burst.

"Just out the door and across the hall. There's a shower as well. I even brought you some towels." Matt gave him an odd look that got Ron laughing again.

"I want to see Zack." Matt said as he left the room.

"I already checked on him this morning." Ron called after him. "He's sedated so he can sleep."

"How long until he'll be back on his feet?" Susan asked.

"At least a couple more days. He was shot with an M-16. It did a lot of damage. Plus that parking lot surgery didn't do him any good either. Yeah, it's going to be at least another couple days, and even then he won't be but fifty percent. He needs rest, and a lot of it."

Susan turned away from Ron, looking at her family. David looked much better than he had yesterday, and he was putting up a brave front. A good nights sleep and a hot shower had done him wonders. But Susan could see the cracks in his armor. The dullness in his once sparkling blue eyes was unmistakable. Her mother still slumped with depression, her eyes red and swollen with fresh tears. Susan could hear her telling David stories about their father as they were growing up. She spoke as if Frank were still alive and would come into the room any moment. Susan felt the emotion swelling in her once again.

No more tears!

The time for tears was yesterday. Now there was time only for the safety and survival of her family, which now included Matt and Zack. Once they were safely out of the city secured at the cabin on Rainbow Lake then there would be time to grieve properly, but not before.

Father I swear to you your death shall not have been in vain. We will survive!

Chapter 11.

Saturday June 23, 2001 Fort Douglas Salt Lake City, UT 9:37 AM.

As soon as Matt had showered and dressed Ron was ready to move out. Matt was not looking foreword to it, but it was necessary.

"You're really going to do it?" Susan asked.

"I explained all of this yesterday." Matt said. "Please don't argue about it."

"I'm going with you." she said. Her words caught him off guard. He blinked several times.

"Like hell you are." he said.

"It's my decision. Not yours. And I'm going with you." She had made up her mind last night while lying in bed. If she was going to see her family to safety, she wasn't going to do it sitting on her ass waiting for someone else to do it.

"You need to take care of your family." Matt said.

"David can do it just fine." her tone was hard. She was not going to budge.

"I promised your father that I would take care of you!" Matt was almost pleading now, sensing he had lost the battle.

"I don't need you to take care of me!" She was angry now. Take care of her! As if she were some baby who needed a nursemaid. She had taken care of herself while growing up in Bennies street gang. "I need you to help me protect my family and get them out of the city!"

Matt was stunned into silence by her outburst. He wanted to protest. Her father, with his dying breath, had made Matt swear to protect them and see them to safety. And he would do that. But Susan was also right. She was a grown woman able to make her own choices. How could he expect her to sit by and do nothing to help protect her family? Had he been in her position he would have done the same thing.

"This ain't no field trip girlie." Ron said.

"No shit." her words were iron. She wasn't about to let him bully her with his macho man attitude. Their eyes locked for several long seconds. Susan's glare daring him to argue further. By the look on Ron's face Matt was unsure whether he wanted to slap Susan in the mouth or throw her down and fuck her brains out; Probably a little of both.

"She's a big girl," he said with a smile, looking her up and down. "She wants in, let her in."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Matt asked her.

"No." she said, a weak smile playing across her face. He smiled back, patting her on the cheek.

"Jenkins and my brother are waiting downstairs. Lets get this show on the road." Ron exited.

"Davey?" Susan called to her little brother. David came over, his expression showing he already knew what was happening.

"You take care of mom."

"Please don't go!" Sharon pleaded, gripping Susan's arm tightly.

"Mom you're hurting me!" Susan yanked her arm away.

"You know I have to go. Just like Davey went with them at the school. If we are going to survive we have to make it happen! I know that. You know that. And Dad knew that!" this last bit came out especially viscous and she immediately regretted. Her Mother was not coping well with her husband's death. She constantly talked about him as if she expected him any minute. The mere mention of his name was enough to send her into tears. That last bit had been no exception. Susan's guilt became an aching lump in her chest. She reached out to embrace her mother.

"Mom I'm so-"

"Get away from me!" Sharon screamed shoving Susan away violently before collapsing into a wracking heap.

"I hope you're fucking happy!" David screamed, himself breaking into tears.

"I didn't mean to d-" Susan was pleading, her emotions threatening to break free of her control once again.

"Why did you have to throw dad in her face?" he seemed torn between running to hold him mother or punch his sister in the face. Susan opened her mouth to reply but he cut her off.

"Get out of here you fucking bitch!" tears ran in rivulets down his face.

Susan was shocked. She had never seen her brother this way before. "Davey I-"

"Get out!" he took a step toward her fists clenched. Matt quickly stepped in front of him.

"Easy now bud. She didn't me-"

"Fuck you!" David screamed, fists drawing back to strike Matt.

"Don't do it David." Matt's voice was icy calm. "Think about it for a minute."

"Davey I didn't mean to hurt her." Susan finally managed.

"Why did you have to throw dad in her face like that?" his tears had slowed, but not stopped completely. "WHY?"

"Because it's the truth and you know it." Susan had enough. There was no time for this bickering. They should be pulling together now instead of tearing at each other's throats. "Dad knew it when he let you go with Matt and Zack in the school. He knew that if we were going to survive that we would have to learn to survive." Her eyes were fire, her voice a razor sharp lance.

"Don't you be-"

"I'm not finished!" It was David's turn to be cut off. "Dad died protecting us. I AM NOT going to let his death be for nothing! And neither are you! Or her! I WILL NOT LET YOU make his death be in vain!" Everyone was silent. The only sound was Sharon's sobs. Even David had stopped crying, and stood there silently wiping his eyes. Susan could be hard no longer. "Davey?" her voice was soft. "I miss dad as much as you. But right now I can't let that distract me from doing whatever it takes to get us safely out of the city. We are going to need things to help us survive in the mountains. I need you to stay here and take care of mom. Ok?" David lowered his head and nodded. "Thank you Davey." she put a hand on his shoulder and he leaned foreword and hugged her.

"Sorry for calling you a bitch." he said.

"Don't be." she answered. "I Am." they broke the embrace. "I'll talk to mom when I get back." she said.

"Be careful." David said as they left the room.

The bus was still parked right in front of the barracks where Matt had left it. Milling about the front of the bus, smoking cigarettes and bullshitting were Ron, his brother Rick, Jenkins and one other soldier garbed in full combat body gear.

"You remember my brother Rick?" Ron said. They were quickly reacquainted. "And Jenkins brought Pvt. Wilson." The soldier was fresh into manhood, not a day over 20. But his brown eyes had the cold, lifeless stare of a hardened killer. Matt pulled the doors open and they all filed onto the bus. He started it while they took seats and slowly eased into the street...

As they left the base through the main entrance two large troop transport trucks were just arriving. Instead of turning right at the four-way intersection and heading back to the college, Jenkins had instructed Matt to take the west road. The two Abrams tanks rolled back, widening the roadway enough for the bus to pass. Beyond the tanks Matt could see the heaps of dead bodies a hundred yards away. That was as close as the soldiers allowed them. Like the ones on Wasatch Boulevard these too had been bulldozed off the road. The cloud of flies feasting on the rotting corpses was visible from here and the stench was enough to churn his stomach. They drew nearer in silence until bloated, maggot infested piles of bodies passed by them on either side. By now the smell was almost unbearable.

"Suck it up. You get used to it." Jenkins growled from somewhere behind Matt.

This area had been largely commercial. Sprawling parking lots were visible to either side. Abandoned vehicles strewn about like children's toys. Unmoving bodies scattered about and staggering deadfucks dotting the landscape as well.

"Jesus." Susan said, wiping her mouth. "Why don't you guys come out here and burn them or something?" her face held as much disgust as her voice.

"It keeps most of them away." Jenkins said.

"What?" Matt and Susan asked simultaneously.

"He's right." Ron jumped in. "We did burn them when it first started. But after the fires burned out more would keep coming."

"After a couple weeks it was just becoming too dangerous to go out there." Jenkins was talking again. "So we just let them pile up. We would send the 'dozer out every now and again to clear the road but other than that we just left 'em. And wouldn't you know it? Stupid deadfucks tapered off. Sure there were stragglers that wandered up but we rarely got packs of more than a half dozen."

"It's almost as if seeing those piled corpses scared them away." Rick said.

"Out of sight out of mind." Ron said. "Once the bodies were burned the deadfucks couldn't see them and could only think of attacking the living. But the piles of bodies triggered some kind of memory or something."

"You think zombies can remember their lives?" Susan asked.

"Look at them!" Ron pointed out the window. "They're us, that's all."

Out in one of the parking lots a female creature wearing a tattered blue dress pushed a shopping cart aimlessly about the parking lot. Just one hundred feet away a male creature sat behind the wheel of an abandon Mazda, its hands on the wheel. Susan also noticed how those that milled about stayed close to the sidewalk. Few were in the road. As they passed beyond the field of bodies into the open road a cool shiver of dread passed through Susan. They were beyond the so-called "safe zone" now. Back into the city and on their own. Zombies had begun staggering towards the slow moving bus, attracted by its noise and movement. Within a minute the visible numbers had doubled. Ahead they began stumbling into the street. Matt kept the bus at and even 10 mph and plowed through those in the street like bowling pins. Most were knocked aside by the huge front-end of the bus but a few were pulled underneath, the bus barely rocking as they were pulped beneath the wheels.

"Stupid deadfucks." chuckled Rick.