Chapter 6 Just a quick phone call

On the fourth day since reactivation, the first bandits fell into his traps and he was able to mark movement routes. Scanning the town, reading through the files and checking the supplies, he got a bad feeling, a very bad feeling. After several cigarettes and checking possible supply runs that Schmidt and others had done or spied on, the feeling didn't get any better.

He looked for an empty garbage can and tipped plastic waste into it. 

Schmidt came and looked at him questioningly.

Alex poured gasoline into it and lit a match.

"Eh..." came from Schmidt.

Alex saw the thick cloud of smoke rising and hoped fervently that the madman was still there.

"What are you doing?", Schmidt asked, looking up.

Alex looked at the rising smoke.

"I'm making a phone call..."

"Oh, you know we have a satellite phone. Who are you going to call? It's all fucked up here."

"An acquaintance..." Alex replied. 

Schmidt scratched his head.

Alex had to grin.

"No... But he said I could reach him that way."

"You do realize that the bandit fools see the smoke, too?"

"If it goes well, it doesn't matter..."

"I'll remind you of the words if they attack us again or sic infected on our necks..."

Alex waited for an hour, but nothing happened. Schmidt disappeared at some point and Alex sat down on a crate, his head bowed. He thought about how to get rid of the bandits, but he couldn't think of any terror campaigns. Mentally, he was at a dead end.

He sighed.

"Man man man, those are some serious scratches on your neck, Alex. Don't tell me you came in here just to get laid," Uther suddenly said.

Alex jerked his head up and he was standing in front of him, wearing a suit and holding a coffee mug. He saw the SUV parked behind him. 

"Come on, pack your things, I saw a luxury yacht a few bays away. I know an island with villas, there should be a few rabbits there that won't scratch you up like that," Uther commented as he sipped his coffee.

Alex stood up abruptly and grabbed him by the arms with both hands.

"I need your help."

He looked at him.

"Did you get her pregnant? Alex..." 

"No..." "I want to make this area safe," Alex said.

Uther looked at him in silence. Uther looked at him in silence.

"Well, the pregnant thing definitely sounds better..."

"Please..."

Alex couldn't say what he was thinking. Uther finally sighed:

"Alright, so the zone here is supposed to be safe?" 

"It's safe... I've read the reports..." 

"Sure," he broke free of his grip, walked over to a manhole cover, and squatted down, sipping his coffee.

"Have you looked down there too?" pointing downwards.

"Hmm, I don't know, I'd have to look..." 

"Okay, have a look. I'll wait here and then you tell me what your plan is," Alex said, nodding. 

He rushed to his command car, rummaging through the mountain of files that Schmidt and others had left him. "Alex, why did it suddenly smell so bad?" came from Gitte. He rushed to his command vehicle and rummaged through the mountain of files that Schmidt and others had bequeathed to him.

He continued to search, pausing when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Alex?"

He looked at her.

"Have the canals and other places in Kiel ever been cleaned?"

She looked at him questioningly.

"No, not as far as I know. The zone was cleared very quickly and the entrances were blocked or welded shut." 

He grabbed his pistol and rushed back to where Uther had been. Gitte ran after him.

"Alex, what's all this about?" she asked. 

He stopped because he had to process the image first. The manhole cover was barely a meter away from the manhole entrance. Infected were trying to get out, but they were stuck. Uther was still crouched, sipping his coffee and looking at the infected. He looked up at Alex.

No matter how Alex mentally spun it, Uther looked too relaxed, like someone looking at a dog.

"Well... doesn't seem to have been cleaned after all, Alex. So, what?" he grinned and looked past him.

"Is that the girl you nailed?"

Gitte raced past him and tried to kick Uther. She intercepted her kick with her hand and held her foot.

"And spirited," he grinned.

Gitte tried to get away, but Uther jerked her foot to the side, causing her to lose her balance and land on her hard bottom. 

He grinned and pressed harder on her foot, causing Gitte to cry out in pain.

"Uther, please let her go," came from Alex, who rushed over. Uther looked at him, then at Gitte.

"Oha, you really have something for her," he let go and Gitte rubbed her foot and scowled at him. Uther continued to grin and then sipped his coffee.

"So, if this," he pointed at the infected, who reached greedily towards Alex and Gitte,

"your plan is..."

"Why aren't they attacking you?" growled Gitte. 

Uther fished a fag out of his pocket and lit it. He looked at Gitte.

"I've got better perfume than you two and you've got wounds, so you're more interesting."

He blew a cloud of smoke in the direction of the infected.

"They don't give a shit as long as it's human," Gitte growled in response. She tried to get up, but her face grimaced as she felt pain when she stood. Alex helped her up and was about to say something to Uther when he looked at him. The infected dead lay there and he kicked them into the gully. He walked over to the SUV without comment and rummaged through the trunk in a good mood.

"Who's that?" came painfully from Gitte. 

"A friend..." 

Uther lifted two 5-liter plastic canisters out of the trunk and carried them to the gully with no sign that they were heavy. 

"So Alex, when you were busy with the rabbit..." he said, setting the canisters down, squatting down and unscrewing the lids.

Gitte growled as a comment.

"Have I been experimenting on infected people again," Uther continued. 

Alex turned pale and remembered Uther's experiments. 

"There's hardly any room down there and it's not easy to clean," he said, tilting the canisters so that the contents gurgled into the opening.

"I've decided to kill them with the chemical club." 

"Are you crazy? What about the drinking water?" came from Gitte. 

Uther put his head to one side.

"Well..., you can still drink it. I've tested it...more like others," he said with a grin and took a drag on his fag.

Rattling echoed from the manhole, Uther looked down.

"Ah, it's starting. Since you're not down there, just imagine it like overripe fruit bursting in the heat."

No sooner had he said it than plopping noises, like someone blowing open bread bags and bursting them, echoed from the hole and other manhole covers. 

Alex was horrified and fascinated at the same time. The spinner had pulled something off again and was sitting in a crouch, looking down into the sewer with amusement. He screwed the canisters shut, loaded them into the car and looked at Alex and Gitte.

"Come on, I'll drive you. You can tell me what your plan is."

"Sure..." He helped Gitte to the car and into it. As he pushed back the manhole cover, he looked at him. Alex made himself comfortable in the back seat next to Gitte, which surprised him every time. The car smelled like a new car, clean and fresh.

"Did he steal the car?" Gitte asked in amazement, looking around. 

"Ehm..." he pointed to the sleeping bag he had used as a pillow.

"He's very meticulous when it comes to the car." 

Uther got in and fastened his seatbelt. 

"Like where to...",

He turned to face them.

"Yes, where to? Otherwise it's straight to the yacht and you can put sun cream on your bunny every day."

"To the marina club."

He started the car with a low rumble and accelerated straight away and Alex had another bad memory of Uther's driving style. He held on tightly to the door handle, as did Gitte, because it was a hell of a drive. 

They came to a halt in front of the yacht club building, tires skidding. Soldiers came running out, confused looks on their faces. Uther turned to him and Gitte. 

She looked very pale, wanted to say something, but she threw up explosively and primarily hit Uther; he looked to him.

"Are you sure she's not pregnant? She throws up a lot too," Gitte commented

with more vomiting. 

Alex helped her out and in to the doc, giving the soldiers instructions to take Uther to the showers and give him a change of clothes. 

The doctor examined Gitte and looked at him.

"So? You're bringing her here because of the vomiting? But the way you did it..."

"More like the foot, the vomiting was because of the drive here," he said skeptically and then turned to Gitte:

"Which one?"

She lifted her left foot. "Looks more like a swelling."

Gitte said, shaking her head.

"No, I wanted to kick the ass that grabbed my foot," she grimaced as the Doc touched her foot. 

"Alex, after you shake off the bandits, you need to get me some better gear."

"Can't we raid the hospital?"

"Everything was emptied at the time and taken to the fleet. They only left the bare essentials."

"I'll see what I can do. Gitte, I'll come by later."

He left them both and walked out, finding Uther in a BDU, smoking a cigarette, scrubbing the car interior. 

He grinned at Alex as he came closer.

" Well? What's the puker doing?"

" She's complaining, but you've got a driving style too."

He shook a can and sprayed inside the car.

" So what's up with this bandit thing now?"

Alex sighed.

" I'm supposed to get rid of them. "

" Uh-huh... and what's stopping you? " 

" Well, I have a plan, but "

Uther looked at him studiously.

" I'll help you, but I'll be looting around a bit, so. Give me the fattest truck you've got. "

" I can only give you what's around here." 

" Alright then Colonel, let's go over your plan. "

Together with Uther, he went to his command vehicle and went through the map of the area. He arranged with him to set up bandit patrols and for Uther to wreak havoc elsewhere.