Read Online The Lost Journal (A Secret Apocalypse Story) by James Harden - Free Book Online
Authors: James Harden
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a genius to figure out why they did it.
They locked up those poor people. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Then they cleared out and set them on fire.
They were burned alive.
I woke up that morning and my whole body was sore. My feet, my legs. Even my throat was sore from the smoke.
I was hoping today we would be given a chopper ride back to the main barracks. Grab a shower. Some real food.
Get some rest.
But no. We had been assigned to guard duty.
We were to set up at a checkpoint about a mile outside of the outer-perimeter and watch for anyone who had broken through.
The fire and the shooting in the town had put everyone on edge. And understandably, people were trying to get the hell out of here. Not just the immigrants, but people from the township as well.
I can’t blame them.
But no one was allowed to leave. Didn’t matter if you were healthy.
Our orders were to keep a look out for anyone trying to make a run for it. We were authorized to eliminate any probable threat or any persons we believed were infected beyond help. If they were infected we were authorized to use deadly force if necessary. They reminded us that a head shot was the only way the only way to stop a person infected with the virus.
If we couldn’t contain the threat, or if the outer-perimeter was breached by too many people, we were to call in the gunships for aerial support.
Usually we operated in pairs. One shooter and one spotter. But since Gordon was still in hospital and apparently they were running low on field experienced snipers, Command said we had to split up. They wanted to cover as much ground as possible. They wanted as many shooters as possible.
So we split up. We were about a hundred meters apart. The low lying scrubs provided plenty of concealment. We settled in and positioned ourselves. I was lying flat on my stomach, rifle pointed back towards the town of Woomera. Once Drake and Franco had positioned themselves, they completely disappeared from my sight. If anyone was walking through here, there’s no way they would see us.
I was praying that no one would be stupid enough to try and escape.
My prayers fell on deaf ears.
Two guys ran towards us, about half a mile away. They were hunched over, trying to keep low and out of sight. They had no idea they were being watched. They seemed to be running between the low lying scrubs and every now and then they would dive behind one and wait for a few minutes. Once they thought it was clear they would continue running to the next point of cover.
Out in the desert it wasn’t much but the shrubbery actually provided pretty good concealment. Unfortunately for these guys it wasn’t good enough. We could see them easily.
I spoke into my mic. "Franco. I got a couple of guys here in my sights. About half a mile away. Directly in front of me. They’re headed towards your position. Do you see them?"
"Ah, that’s a negative," Franco responded.
"Are you sure? They’re right there."
"Oh, wait. Yeah. I see them."
"What do we do?" I asked.
"We better call it in."
"But we don’t even know if they are infected."
"Why else would they be running?"
"Because they’re scared?"
"Look, we got orders to stop anyone from getting through here. Doesn’t matter if they’re infected or not."
"I’m going to talk to them," I said. "I’ll just tell them to turn around. Nobody has to get hurt."
"What? Kenji, no. Stand down!"
I turned my mic off. I don’t know what came over me. But I wasn’t going to sit there and call in the gunships. Who knew how those guys would react? And I sure as hell wasn’t going to take pot shots at innocent people. And for all we knew these guys were innocent. For all we knew they probably weren’t even infected.
I decided to take it upon myself then to save their lives. Tell them to turn around. Go back before they did something stupid like get themselves killed.
I stood up and started walking towards them. I looked over in the direction where I knew Franco
They locked up those poor people. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Then they cleared out and set them on fire.
They were burned alive.
I woke up that morning and my whole body was sore. My feet, my legs. Even my throat was sore from the smoke.
I was hoping today we would be given a chopper ride back to the main barracks. Grab a shower. Some real food.
Get some rest.
But no. We had been assigned to guard duty.
We were to set up at a checkpoint about a mile outside of the outer-perimeter and watch for anyone who had broken through.
The fire and the shooting in the town had put everyone on edge. And understandably, people were trying to get the hell out of here. Not just the immigrants, but people from the township as well.
I can’t blame them.
But no one was allowed to leave. Didn’t matter if you were healthy.
Our orders were to keep a look out for anyone trying to make a run for it. We were authorized to eliminate any probable threat or any persons we believed were infected beyond help. If they were infected we were authorized to use deadly force if necessary. They reminded us that a head shot was the only way the only way to stop a person infected with the virus.
If we couldn’t contain the threat, or if the outer-perimeter was breached by too many people, we were to call in the gunships for aerial support.
Usually we operated in pairs. One shooter and one spotter. But since Gordon was still in hospital and apparently they were running low on field experienced snipers, Command said we had to split up. They wanted to cover as much ground as possible. They wanted as many shooters as possible.
So we split up. We were about a hundred meters apart. The low lying scrubs provided plenty of concealment. We settled in and positioned ourselves. I was lying flat on my stomach, rifle pointed back towards the town of Woomera. Once Drake and Franco had positioned themselves, they completely disappeared from my sight. If anyone was walking through here, there’s no way they would see us.
I was praying that no one would be stupid enough to try and escape.
My prayers fell on deaf ears.
Two guys ran towards us, about half a mile away. They were hunched over, trying to keep low and out of sight. They had no idea they were being watched. They seemed to be running between the low lying scrubs and every now and then they would dive behind one and wait for a few minutes. Once they thought it was clear they would continue running to the next point of cover.
Out in the desert it wasn’t much but the shrubbery actually provided pretty good concealment. Unfortunately for these guys it wasn’t good enough. We could see them easily.
I spoke into my mic. "Franco. I got a couple of guys here in my sights. About half a mile away. Directly in front of me. They’re headed towards your position. Do you see them?"
"Ah, that’s a negative," Franco responded.
"Are you sure? They’re right there."
"Oh, wait. Yeah. I see them."
"What do we do?" I asked.
"We better call it in."
"But we don’t even know if they are infected."
"Why else would they be running?"
"Because they’re scared?"
"Look, we got orders to stop anyone from getting through here. Doesn’t matter if they’re infected or not."
"I’m going to talk to them," I said. "I’ll just tell them to turn around. Nobody has to get hurt."
"What? Kenji, no. Stand down!"
I turned my mic off. I don’t know what came over me. But I wasn’t going to sit there and call in the gunships. Who knew how those guys would react? And I sure as hell wasn’t going to take pot shots at innocent people. And for all we knew these guys were innocent. For all we knew they probably weren’t even infected.
I decided to take it upon myself then to save their lives. Tell them to turn around. Go back before they did something stupid like get themselves killed.
I stood up and started walking towards them. I looked over in the direction where I knew Franco
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