The Abandoned Base

Zane's POV

Zane woke up to a nudge from Daniels', He had fallen asleep at some point in the Humvee. Zane looked over at him; tired as well as a little drowsy from sleep and asked,

"What's up?"

"We are almost at an abandoned base a few miles away from boston. We had a hell of a night so it will be a great place to stock up and rest." He said this very sadly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him directly.

"Well I just lost my home man. I'm bound to be sad and depressed." He said this very down and out. As if he had given up. He didn't want to chat so Zane let it be.

He had a point though. They were driving along the country backroads as highways could be congested in abandoned vehicles. Zane took in the beauty of the countryside. They are driving past a farm, the fields had overgrown and crops had either died or fought to survive against the weeds. Crops like corn and wheat were doing fine from what he could tell. It looked as if nature itself had taken over what was once tended to so tediously.

Zane looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the three other Humvees were still following us. All of us had radios, but we left in a hurry and He didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment.

Richards and Anderson were in the Humvee with us but overall the mood was silent. The Humvees had radios, but now he didn't feel like talking anymore. Daniels pulled down a dirt road to the left and as they went down it Zane could see a large fenced base.

The gate is knocked down and trampled. The kiosk is in shambles with weeds and overgrowth all around it, rising through the concrete. They drove past the kiosk into the parking lots that were just at the end of the driveway. There were buildings all over the property. What seemed to be the headquarters was near the parking lot; there were old tanks and humvees just sitting there in the lot, abandoned. Rust has crept up on the vehicles adorned like disease due to negligence.

The mess hall is a bit further into the property and near the center, there is a driveway to it and we followed it up to the building. There is an obstacle course in the center of the base and barracks were to the left and right of that.

There is a running track around the entire obstacle course. The other Humvees had pulled up behind us and were starting to exit their vehicles. There were three Humvees and eighteen survivors in total.

Only eighteen people survived that carnage. Well more could have gotten away but Zane doubted they made it very far from the base. Due to his experience in this type of tragedy, Zane knew not many got away. Those that did, had the luck of god's grace on them.

Everyone exited the Humvees and gathered in the parking lot. From what Zane could see Daniels was the highest rank, besides the other Sergeant. His insignia was different from Daniels but he assumed it was Sergeant anyways.

This Sergeant was about 6'1, he was an african american man with finely toned muscle. Zane could not see his hair, but green eyes shone from beneath his bandana that he wore on his face. His eyes were bright against his skin tone.

Zane assumed he had a shaved head with a finely shaved beard. His men were all a little shorter than him. They looked like hardened men. Their faces were covered with bandanas and their helmets were black as well.

They all have different designs on them, the Sergeant's has a skull and crossbones. It was on top of the helmet. The other six men have rifles and snakes on their helmets.

These men and the four civilians stood near the Humvees. The civilians were standing in the parking lot while these seven soldiers scanned the base with their eyes. Their rifles were up and pointed in each direction I could see.

One was overlooking the road behind us from the hood of the Humvee they arrived in. Daniels and his men were over by the Humvee we arrived in. He and Richards were the main culprits in an argument. They were talking about what to do next, arguing with each other in hushed tones.

I caught pieces of the argument. They were pretty much bickering about going back to the base. Daniels was putting them down telling them no. Honestly, Zane agreed with Daniels on not going back to base.

We had put a large barrier between us and the Pales by driving this far. He was about to chip in when the other Sergeant walked up and punched Richards in the face. He then said,

"Get it together, soldier!" Everyone but Daniels held Richards back from swinging at the man. Richards was straining, trying to get a punch in.

He was screaming, "Get the fuck off me!" While he was struggling to get loose and swing at him.

Daniels grabbed him by the face and shouted at him, "You see that insignia?! He's a higher rank than all of us!"

Zane was curious now as he thought Staff Sergeant was the highest rank on the base, so he asked, "Is he a Staff Sergeant?"

"No. He's Special Forces." He responded.

"That's right, I am Special Forces Operations Sergeant William Bellman. Treat me with respect, Corporeal! Now let's get our shit together and sweep these buildings! Everyone got a radio?" Everyone nodded. "Good, set it to channel one and let's sweep these buildings."

With that Richards calmed down and seemed to be thinking rationally. They put their asses into gear and got into formation. We changed our radios to channel one and Bellman spoke out,

"Alright, so my team will clear the mess hall and your team will clear the Headquarters." He said to Daniels. We were about fifty yards from both buildings. Daniels told Zane to take point, so he did. They started to approach the Headquarters