Read Online Hell Released (Hell Happened Book 3) by Terry Stenzelbarton, Jordan Stenzelbarton - Free Book Online
Authors: Terry Stenzelbarton, Jordan Stenzelbarton
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officer, “you should really be the one in charge. I’m in way over my head and in civilian life, I’m in advertising and don’t know much about running a community. If you want the command, I’ll gladly step aside.”
Of all things Russ had pictured happening, becoming the leader of a community was furthest from his thoughts. Just an hour ago he was playing golf and now there were 12 people looking to him for leadership. Counting Lisa, who was still lying besides the building waiting for Russ to signal her when it was safe, it was 13 others.
Russ had never been someone to shirk responsibility and while he didn’t feel obligated, he felt these people needed solid leadership.
Russ ran his fingers through his hair. That was the signal for Lisa that it was as safe for her to come out. “I have a friend who will be coming up behind me. She’s a dark-haired woman with an M16.”
Sgt. Bare saw her first and waved her over. When she was at Russ’ side she looked over the faces of the people milling about. All of them were younger than her and Russ. “I’m Lisa Schaeffer. How y’all doing?” she asked pleasantly, as if the end of the world hadn’t crushed all of their dreams and hopes.
Introductions were made all around. The conversation told Russ that Capt. Eldred and Sgt. Bare were two of the five here who were former military. There were also an Army specialist and a private and one Marine lance corporal. The other six were civilians between the age of 16 and 28. They had banded together out of safety. The Marine had lost two of his friends off base to the zombies and Bare had lost one. She only survived by driving over the beast that had killed and was eating her friend.
All of the people here had been from this area around Ft. Benjamin Harrison, or were on temporary duty here. They gravitated to the base when the deaths became overwhelming and they were hoping the military had some answers.
The military had no answers then and did not have them now.
“You’re in charge now, colonel,” the captain said to him. “I’ll gladly be your exec if that’s what you want.” Russ wasn’t sure there was any reason to have a military anymore, but it seemed to calm the 13 others so he went with the theme.
“Okay, captain, first thing we need to do is get a sustainable food supply and power. We’ll need to get a septic system going if we can, or build our own. I don’t know the power grid here, but we should look into it.”
Russ and the captain talked for 25 minutes about projects the group could and should do or at least get started. Lisa talked with the other men and women in the group. The sergeant brought the captain and colonel bottles of water to slake their thirst as they talked.
“I’m getting hungry,” Lisa finally announced. “Are you men going to go kill me a cow or something or is there food available somewhere near here?”
The captain laughed heartily and Russ smiled at the woman. She seemed to naturally put every one at ease.
“We have food back in the quarters we’ve moved into. Most of the food is MREs or in boxes and cans. There’s almost no fresh food left because we don’t have any refrigerators.”
Russ thought getting power back to the housing should have been a higher priority than zombie hunting, but he didn’t say anything. He was getting hungry too and he still had some fresh fruits and vegetables even after two weeks because he thought to fill a freezer with ice and insulate it with comforters. He didn’t say anything to the rest of them. He’d bring out the fresh, or at least freshly frozen food, sometime in the future if the chance arose.
Russ rode with the captain down to get his truck from the golf course. The HUMVEEs were nice, but Russ knew where there was a 500-gallon tank filled with gasoline, so he’d continue to drive his favorite truck. He followed the captain back to the group and Lisa climbed in. They followed the HUMVEES to the base housing where the
Of all things Russ had pictured happening, becoming the leader of a community was furthest from his thoughts. Just an hour ago he was playing golf and now there were 12 people looking to him for leadership. Counting Lisa, who was still lying besides the building waiting for Russ to signal her when it was safe, it was 13 others.
Russ had never been someone to shirk responsibility and while he didn’t feel obligated, he felt these people needed solid leadership.
Russ ran his fingers through his hair. That was the signal for Lisa that it was as safe for her to come out. “I have a friend who will be coming up behind me. She’s a dark-haired woman with an M16.”
Sgt. Bare saw her first and waved her over. When she was at Russ’ side she looked over the faces of the people milling about. All of them were younger than her and Russ. “I’m Lisa Schaeffer. How y’all doing?” she asked pleasantly, as if the end of the world hadn’t crushed all of their dreams and hopes.
Introductions were made all around. The conversation told Russ that Capt. Eldred and Sgt. Bare were two of the five here who were former military. There were also an Army specialist and a private and one Marine lance corporal. The other six were civilians between the age of 16 and 28. They had banded together out of safety. The Marine had lost two of his friends off base to the zombies and Bare had lost one. She only survived by driving over the beast that had killed and was eating her friend.
All of the people here had been from this area around Ft. Benjamin Harrison, or were on temporary duty here. They gravitated to the base when the deaths became overwhelming and they were hoping the military had some answers.
The military had no answers then and did not have them now.
“You’re in charge now, colonel,” the captain said to him. “I’ll gladly be your exec if that’s what you want.” Russ wasn’t sure there was any reason to have a military anymore, but it seemed to calm the 13 others so he went with the theme.
“Okay, captain, first thing we need to do is get a sustainable food supply and power. We’ll need to get a septic system going if we can, or build our own. I don’t know the power grid here, but we should look into it.”
Russ and the captain talked for 25 minutes about projects the group could and should do or at least get started. Lisa talked with the other men and women in the group. The sergeant brought the captain and colonel bottles of water to slake their thirst as they talked.
“I’m getting hungry,” Lisa finally announced. “Are you men going to go kill me a cow or something or is there food available somewhere near here?”
The captain laughed heartily and Russ smiled at the woman. She seemed to naturally put every one at ease.
“We have food back in the quarters we’ve moved into. Most of the food is MREs or in boxes and cans. There’s almost no fresh food left because we don’t have any refrigerators.”
Russ thought getting power back to the housing should have been a higher priority than zombie hunting, but he didn’t say anything. He was getting hungry too and he still had some fresh fruits and vegetables even after two weeks because he thought to fill a freezer with ice and insulate it with comforters. He didn’t say anything to the rest of them. He’d bring out the fresh, or at least freshly frozen food, sometime in the future if the chance arose.
Russ rode with the captain down to get his truck from the golf course. The HUMVEEs were nice, but Russ knew where there was a 500-gallon tank filled with gasoline, so he’d continue to drive his favorite truck. He followed the captain back to the group and Lisa climbed in. They followed the HUMVEES to the base housing where the
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