Time for some more creativity. I wrote a ZEADS story in WWZ format. I changed it around though. Instead of just doing questions and answers, I wanted to imbed the reporter in a way. For those that don't know, ZEADS was an ARF RPG for some of us. Do an archive search.

Anyway, since the first stories, I have wanted to do one of these. It took a while to get off my ass to do it. Back in Feb, I wrote until the showing the reporter the aerial scenary over the base. I had it done for 2 months and drew a blank. One day at work, I put myself in my characters shoes and the story just flowed out of me. This thing isn't even halfway done. There's a lot more to it. I just wrote somemore today. I hope to be all the done in about 2 weeks or less. Hope you guys enjoy it.

[I finally have an interview with the top 2 guys from ZEADS, USMCDAD and 50Calover. It’s taken me almost 2 years and hundreds of phone calls, but the leadership of the Zombie Execution and Disposal Specialists has finally agreed to meet with me. In return, I had to send copies of my books research material so they could go over it. That was three months ago. I was told I could stay for a few days and take in as much as I wanted about ZEADS. It’s just after noon on this late spring Friday. A Humvee picks me up from the Goodyear Airport nearby. The driver doesn’t speak to me much. As we leave the airport, he says into a radio, “I have the interviewer”. It’s only a 10 minute ride. As we approach the North entrance to the ‘South Mountain Complex’ I see a helicopter landing on a platform. Calling this entrance a platform is an understatement. It resembles a small modern, medieval castle that has a wide vehicle entrance, I’m told later, that will accommodate three Humvees side by side. The helicopter, again I’m told later, is an old US Air Force MH-53 III Pave Low, is shutting down on the helicopter pad 40 feet up. At the east and west ends of the platform are two enclosed towers, approx. 60 meters apart. I see armed men inside both towers. The Humvee stops just short of the entrance. When I get out, a voice booms from speakers on the towers, “Wait there.” A bell sounds as the main door slowly lowers inward. The door is approx. 20 feet high and 30 feet wide. As it stops with a thunderous boom, I can see across to the other side, almost 70 meters, where another door is opening in the same fashion. I was told I would be meeting USMCDAD and 50Calover. Instead, I’m greeted, rather harshly, by WPNS462.]

You the interviewer?

Yes, I’m….

Yes, we all know who you are. You’ll be staying with me for the time you’re here. I have plenty of room for you and your stuff. We have you staying with ZEADS for a few days if that’s ok with you.

Perfect. Let me grab my notebook and recorder from my pack.

Just bring your voice recorder. You’ll know when to use it and when not to. You can write in your fancy notebook later.
[I think he sensed my doubt.]
Look, you came to us. You’re going to have to trust me.

OK.

[WPNS462 turns to the driver.] Chris, take his shit to my place. My wife is waiting for it. Thanks for picking him up. Do whatever the hell it is you do when you’re done with that. [WPNS462 and Chris laugh. Chris says, “Fuck you WEPS” and takes off through the main doors. As the HUMVEE leaves, we walk inside the gate area.]

I’m sorry to tell you, but you’re stuck with me. There’s an exercise near Wickenburg that USMCDAD and 50Calover had to “oversee”. If you ask me, I think it’s their way of avoiding you.

Why is that?

Honestly? It’s because everyone is pissed that ZEADS was never mentioned in your book or your reports except for what DragonsBane told you. I know it’s not your fault, but you know how it is about pride. How did you find DragonsBane anyway?

A guy down in Tucson that I interviewed 2 years ago mentioned DragonsBane. I contacted him and it went from there.

Tell me you didn’t drink that shit he calls moonshine. Almost made me go blind when he came to visit one time with a batch.

He comes down here?

Not as often anymore. He comes to help spin up our trainees on S.C.A.R.A.B. when he’s sane enough to last a week. Since S.C.A.R.A.B. is his creation, he helps with that beast. Training for it is usually the last two weeks in our cycle.

[We walk into a small office just inside of the main door. It’s myself, WPNS462 and an armed member of ZEADS.]

This is a formality. I need to ask you some questions and check you for bites and shit. First of all, do you have any unexplained marks, bites or scratches on you?

No.

When was your last contact with a Zombie?

About a year ago on a ship. He was chained to a wall. I shot him from 20 feet away. It was a pretty horrific experience, but I did it for personal reasons.

OK. I’m going to have to ask you to strip down to your boxers. And don’t make me ask you again.
[I don’t like this, but I do as I’m told. WPNS462 gives me a quick look over.]
OK. I don’t see anything wrong with you. We can stop here.

You mean there’s more to your inspection?

If we see anything on you that you say shouldn’t be there, then we go into a more thorough check. One of our docs does that. This is just the cursory inspection. Looks like you passed. [Turns to other ZEADS member] Barry, hand me that flight suit. [WPNS462 hands me a flight suit the same color as his without ZEADS patches.] Put this and your shoes on. Put your other clothes in this bag. We’re going for a ride in the helicopter on the roof.

[I quickly do as he says.]
Uh, I’ve never been inside of a…what kind of helicopter is that?

That’s an old Air Force MH-53 III Pave Low. Or what used to be. We stripped it of any high tech junk we didn’t use or need. It’s old as shit. They were retired before the Zombie war, but brought back into service for our needs. Alright, let’s go. [He speaks into a radio] Spool her up. [We start walking upstairs] See you later, Barry.

[Barry] Later, dude.

I’m sorry about my introduction. We don’t get too many civilian visitors, let alone reporters. I’m WPNS462. You can call me WEPS, just don’t call me Sir. I’m the recon squad leader for ZEADS. I’m also the Public Affairs dude because apparently I’m more tactful with the public. Whatever the fuck that means. I deal with outside agencies who want to visit us.

[As we near the top of the stairs, I hear the helicopter with its blades spinning. At the top, I see that the helicopter is huge. I see a ramp on the back end of it. WEPS has to shout to be heard.]

Listen. I need you to follow me to the ramp and inside. Don’t wander off near the tail blades. Follow me and you’ll be ok. When we get in the back, I’m going to hand you a helmet. Put it on, sit down, buckle up, shut the fuck up for a few minutes and hold on to something.

[I follow as suggested. Inside, I see a dune buggy and two dirt bikes. WEPS hands me a helmet and I find a seat across from him near the front. I can see the two pilots in the cockpit. They look terribly young. WEPS must have seen the confusion on my face. After he puts his own helmet on he says to me…]

I know they look young. They’ve been flying since they were both 13. They both had an interest in flying as kids. We needed more pilots, so why not. They had 3 years of training from some of the best pilots that we had on loan from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. They’ve been flying operationally for 4 years now. They’re both 20 years old. These are my youngest kids. K-man and Mina. They’re just 10 months apart. They’re the best of friends. They know nothing of the Zombie war, except from what they’ve seen of our video footage from it. Some from my own helmet-cam.

[They both look my way again and I can tell that one is a woman. She says to me…]

My brothers and mine favorite helicopter is the MH-6 Little Bird, but it can’t carry all the stuff that dad wants for the tour of yours.

[K-man turns towards WEPS.] Ready when you are, dad.

OK. Take us to fifteen hundred feet and hover over the center of the complex. And be gentle for this guy.

[K-man] Roger that, dad.

[WEPS to me] Make sure you’re buckled in and hold on. Damn it, I hate this part.

[I don’t know what the maneuver was, but it felt like we lifted off a few feet and spun 180 degrees. I could see nothing but the ground from the front windows when I glanced that way. WEPS has his eyes closed and is holding his stomach. After a few minutes of normal flying, K-man announces we’re in position over the complex.]
Alright, unbuckle yourself and follow me. [I follow towards the ramp. WEPS puts a belt on me and clips me to a strap. He clips himself to another belt and strap.]

These will help keeps us from falling out in case shit happens. Sit down on the edge of the ramp, like this. [I follow his lead. The ramp currently faces to the north]
What you’re looking at is what used to be known as Estrella Mountain Ranch. It’s just south of Goodyear, AZ. We chose this site for the natural boundaries to the north and east of the main complex. This is our housing area. Several of the remaining original ZEADS members live here including me. The rest are scattered about the U.S. They couldn’t cope with a somewhat normal life. A lot live in seclusion from society. Some are just too fucked up. We all have our demons I guess. Also here are the new generation of ZEADSs. Most are too young to remember what happened. Some are children of original members. Some are survivors we picked up during the war. [To K-man and Mina] OK. Slow 180, clockwise. [Back to me as we stop] Here you see our twin runways just south of these hills here. As you can see, they look like a weird ‘X’. They’re both 16 thousand feet long. We have the largest, private flight line in the U.S., mostly filled with C-130s and a shit load of helicopters to include UH-1 Hueys, AH-1 Cobras, MH-60 Blackhawks , MH-6 Little Birds, MH-47 Chinooks and some of these here 53’s. Occasionally we get some MV-22 Ospreys out here for training and familiarization, but the military keeps them and the AH-64 Apaches to themselves. Greedy bastards. We get the A-10 Warthogs from Davis-Monthan here on a regular basis. [Again to K-man and Mina] Turn 90. [Back to me] Off to the west, you can see our ground vehicles. We have dozens and dozens of Humvees. Those things are so versatile. We can mount practically any weapon in our arsenal up top. We have plenty of deuce and half trucks that we used to transport goods to the surrounding areas and ZEADS dudes to the fight, several M1A1 Abrams, some Strykers, uh…we have some Bradleys and some old Marine LAV-25s. And let’s not forget the Fast Attack Vehicles, one of which sits behind us, and the dirt bikes we use. Just south of our transportation unit is our training facility. We train people from different countries on how to fight an undead, flesh eating horde that doesn’t care about anything but eating you alive. Our training cycle is 4 months long. We go over tactics, survival a lot of which we learned on our own, but we also learned some tips from other survivors, helicopter ops, vehicles…we also have some ‘unorthodoxed’ training. Am I going too fast for you?

No. I’m fine. I was hoping to use my recorder but it’s pretty loud in here.

Don’t worry. Our conversation is being recorded. We record everything so we can learn from it. We use helmet cams and voice recorders on ground missions. Flying ops are normally only voice recorded. [To K-man and Mina] OK, let’s move. [We turn a little and head south towards the flightline. WEPS turns back to me] Do you have any quick questions I can answer?

From what I understand, ZEADS started off as an online group with some meetings for shooting, training and good times. How did you get your own base and all this equipment?

Great question, but long answer for later. Anything else?

Barry back there called you dude, not Sir or by your rank.

We’re not military. A lot of us are former military. We have a leadership structure, but no formal ranks. We all know who’s in charge of the various squads. We’ll talk about that later.

You mentioned trainees. Are there any currently here? I’d like to see some training.

Sure do. I’ll show you or perimeter wall first and then our training facility. We have about 20 students here from Russia and China and about 20 more from the U.S. Let’s get back to our seats. [As I’m buckling myself in again, WEPS checks to make sure the dune buggy and dirt bikes are secured. He then buckles himself into his seat] K-man, make sure you call ahead to 2T2_Crash at the tower and warn him before you do this.

[K-man]Already have. [Laughing from K-man and Mina]

I love my kids, but sometimes I hate them. I suggest you hold on to something as tightly as you can.

[Mina] Ready back there?

[WEPS]Just fucking do it already.

[All of a sudden, the helicopter does a nose dive. I look to WEPS who looks a little green. K-man and Mina are talking to each other counting down the feet remaining. When they reach 150 feet, they ‘flare’ the helicopter. We make a soft, safe landing a few seconds later. I stay in my seat as the helicopter is being shut down. I look to WEPS who has a motion sickness bag open in front of him. He lurches twice and throws up. K-man and Mina have removed their helmets and they’re high-fiving each other.]

[K-man] That’s twice this week, Dad.

Just get me a water bottle.

[K-man laughs as he goes to a cooler in the back of the dune buggy that I didn’t notice before. The lid is strapped down with bungee and Velcro straps. Mina explains WEPS condition.]

[Mina]Dad has motion sickness. He’s always hated roller coasters and flying. But, when he flies with us, he knows he going to lose whatever is in his stomach. Just a fact of life. Right, Dad?

You know, I don’t know who teaches you guys this shit, but they need to be shot, turned (into a Zombie) and shot again. [K-man comes back with the water and WEPS takes it.] Just give me a minute. You two can start unstrapping the bikes. I’ll take the FAV.

[FAV?]

The Fast Attack Vehicle I mentioned earlier. The Navy SEALs used them first during the 1991 Gulf War. A lot of Special Operations units started using them shortly after, but other countries and branches have different needs and missions. They use other vehicles for pretty much the same job.

[WEPS gets up and starts unstrapping the FAV. K-man and Mina unstrap the bikes and take them down the ramp where they put the kick stands down. They come back up and help WEPS finish with the FAV. WEPS jumps in, starts it up and drives it down the ramp where he shuts off the FAV. The three of them open a few cases on the FAV that are holding helmets and hand guns. They strap the handguns on their legs and WEPS hands me a helmet.]

Like I said, we’re going to show you our perimeter wall. We’ll look in on the trainees after that. The guns are standard operating procedure for us on duty. We just didn’t feel like strapping them on for the chopper ride. We’re going to do a comms check real quick and be on our way. Go ahead and get in the passenger seat. [WEPS says to K-man and Mina] I’m going to call Crash so we can get clearance to make a run down the runway. It’ll give us a little less bouncing around time. Just be careful out there. I don’t want to have to explain to mom we were out joy-riding and one of you kids fucking crashed. [K-man and Mina laugh and start their bikes. WEPS gets into the FAV and starts it up. He holds up his cord, points to mine and shows me where to put it in the comms box.]
You press this button to talk. Release it when you’re done saying whatever it is you’re saying. No need to say ‘over’. There’s a sound that lets us know you released the button. [He releases his and I can hear the sound.] Did you hear it? [I tell him I do.] K-man, Mina, you copy me?

[K-man] Gotcha, Over

[Mina] Roger, Dad…over

[I see them laughing to each other on their bikes. WEPS just rolls his eyes.]

Head to the runway, smartasses.

[They high-five each other, lift their kick stands and start towards the runway with WEPS and I following. On the way, WEPS tells the bikes he’s switching channels to call the tower. They give him a thumbs up.]

Tower, WEPS.

[Tower] Go ahead WEPS.

Crash, any air traffic coming in in the next 10 minutes? I want to take the runway down to the south wall.

[Tower] No. Go ahead. Who’s going to win this time?

Well, I have an extra… [WEPS looks my way] How much do you weigh?

[About 185]

…I have an extra 185 pounds, so not me.

[Tower is laughing] Roger, that. Go ahead. I’ll give you 15 minutes to get off my runway since you have extra weight with you.

Roger that. Switching channels. [After the switch] K-man, Mina, we have 15 minutes to get on and off the runway.

[I hear two ‘Roger that’ over the radio. We take a taxi-way to the north end of a runway. There’s one more right turn to make and we’re on it. Before we turn, WEPS warns his kids again.] I’ll meet you back at this end and we’ll make a run down. Don’t do anything too stupid. [K-man and Mina make the right turn and take off as fast as they can go. We make the turn and WEPS tells me to hold on as we take off. About half way down, the bikes turn and head back down to the north end. They pass us as we turn around and head back, too. ]Crash is going to be pissed, but he’ll get over it. I won’t be surprised if he switches to our channel and complains about this.

[Tower] WEPS, tower, what the hell are you doing?

[To Me] Speak of the devil. [To Crash]Taking as much of the 15 minutes as we can.

[K-man] Crash, you’re just mad you have to sit up in that tower and not down here fucking around with us.

[Tower] Don’t forget, kiddo, I approve your flight ops.

[K-man] Shit!

Crash, just count down for us when we line up.

[Tower] You assholes are going to drive me nuts. Just let me know when you’re ready.

[I don’t quite get what’s going on, but WEPS assures me it’ll be worth it.]

Relax. Just hold on. This will be fun.

[The bikes and FAV line up tire to tire facing south.]

Bets?

[Mina] If I win, I sit in the pilot’s seat for a week.

[K-man] You’re on.

You two ready? [The two give a quick nod.] Ok. No cheating. Crash, count down.

[Tower] Assholes!!! Get ready…3…2…

[On 2, we all take off. The bikes are quicker so they pull away from us pretty fast. They start weaving in and out of each other about a quarter of the way down. After a couple of minutes, Mina says she’s first. K-man admits he lost. We pull up a minute later.]

Tower, WEPS, how much time do we have.

[Tower] Six minutes.

Wanna let us make another run?

[Tower] NO! Get the hell off my runway. We have three rescue choppers from DM [Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson] in bound that I had to make fly circles while you were fucking around.

Alright, alright. Thanks, Crash.

[Tower] Yeah, yeah. I’ll meet you later.

Yeah, don’t be late. 1800 sharp.

[6 pm. I look at my watch. It’s now 1:30pm.]

Head out to the wall. [The bikes start towards the wall about half a mile away. We follow a lot slower then what we were just doing] Dinner is at my place tonight. The original members usually get together every Friday and Sunday night. Well, whoever isn’t out doing exercises. A couple of nights during the week, all ZEADS members eat at our cafeteria with the trainees. The other nights, I’ll spend with my wife and the other guys with their families. I have to warn you …don’t ask the guys a lot of questions. Just enjoy what’s going on. Eat, drink and be merry. You’re here to ask me questions and just observe everything else.

[The bikes are up ahead. The kids get off the bikes and remove their helmets. We pull up alongside and do the same with the FAV. The first thing I notice is the size of the wall.]

Our wall is 12 feet high and a foot thick. A six foot wall could stop those eating machines, but we have to deal with raiders, too. Hell, we use to have a six foot wall, but after some raiders decided to fuck with us, we made it bigger and put in some cameras, motion sensors and infrared. Zombies don’t show up too well on infrared, but those raiders sure as hell do. We threw in some mics, too so we can fuck with them. [WEPS grabs some waters for us from the cooler and hands them out]Our last encounter with raiders was 3 years ago. Just twelve of them. They were taken down with no injuries to any of us. They had a two homemade 20 foot ladders that they used to climb our wall. What they didn’t know was we saw them way ahead of time. It was 0200.We loaded two squads [16 men] of shooters in some Humvees. We didn’t want to warn the raiders that we were there yet, so they were dropped off 400 meters from the wall. Our guys ran up to within 100 meters and watched the raiders climb the wall. It was pretty dark out so the raiders didn’t see our guys. The squads had orders to not fire until the raiders were all on our side of the wall. When that happened, the squads lit them up with their rifle lights. The raiders panicked and starting shooting. They were taken down fast. One guy survived for a few minutes before he died from his wounds. He said they just needed some vehicles. Stupid fucks. How did they think they were going to get our vehicles off the compound anyway? We don’t wear Kevlar often, but that was one of those times.

[K-man and Mina climb a set of metal stairs that I didn’t notice before that leads up to a catwalk.]
Every hundred meters is a set of these stairs with a camera, sensor bundle near them.

[The view at the top is pretty average. Nothing but flat land with some hills and mountains off in the distance. The catwalk is about four feet wide. There are bars on both sides to keep anyone from falling.]

Not very exciting, is it? Nothing around for 3 miles to the south of us. Just flat nothing-ness. It helps our cameras and sensors. If we get any undead visitors, we have almost an hour to respond. IR won’t read them that far out, but our cameras can. We switch to NVG at night.

[They still show up here?]

Sure do. Depending on how many there are, we’ll either capture some or kill most and take the rest. Until two years ago, we would have about 20 single Zombies and about 2 small groups of maybe a dozen every year since the official end of the war. We once had a large group of maybe 250 come up from that valley. There’s a lot of open ground between here and Mexico. It’s only a guess that they’re coming up from there. Our last undead visitor was two weeks ago. She’s here on base somewhere.

[I stare at WEPS for what seems like forever.]

[Mina] Uh, dad…I don’t think he knows.

Oh, shit. I didn’t tell you earlier. We capture some of those fucks for testing and training. We have some live, undead here. Kind of an oxymoron isn’t it? Live undead. [WEPS laughs at his own joke.] Yes, there are Zombies here on base. About 50 of them I think at last count.

[Three helicopters fly over us towards the runway. WEPS, K-man and Mina wave. For the next few minutes, WEPS is quiet. He’s leaning on the waist high bars staring off in the distance. I’m not sure what he’s looking at. And then I get it. He must come up here to forget or remember. ..I’m not sure at this point. I have seen this dozens of times from the people I have previously interviewed, just staring off in the distance. In the wars before the Zombie war, veterans called it the thousand yard stare. Mina leans in and whispers to me.] I’m sorry. Dad comes here a couple of times a week. He tries to forget everything and enjoy some peace and quiet, even for a few minutes. He says he’s going to check out the cameras, but we all know what he comes up here for. I know it sounds weird, but try and put yourself in his shoes…try and put yourself in any one of the first ZEADS members shoes. Most of my family and I will never understand what they have gone through…the friends they lost, the time they lost with their families and the burdens they had to endure, all the shit they went through…all these guys have their own ways of dealing with it. He says up here, it’s nice to just look at nothing. No instruments of war and no Zombies. We’ll give him a couple more minutes.

[I let my mind go for a couple of minutes. It actually is nice. There are no distractions in the distance. Just the hills and mountains. I see the valley. And there’s a slight breeze. It’s pretty calming. ]

[Mina walks to WEPS left side and loops his arm with hers. K-man goes to WEPS right side and puts his hand on his dads shoulder. ]

[K-man] Dad…dad…we gotta go. [Without saying a word, WEPS looks at his kids, turns around and walks down the flight of stairs. K-man motions me to follow them. As I approach the FAV, WEPS tosses me the helmet I was wearing. He continues on like he did before his brief silence]

We’re going to check in on the firing range first. It’s on the way to the training area. We’ll meet some more of my kids there.

[You have more kids?]

Sure do. I have 9 kids total. K-man and Mina were born at the early stages of the war. I missed a chunk of their early life. Four of my other sons are primarily range instructors and another helps with E&E. [Escape and Evasion] My two other daughters work in comms gear and other hi tech shit that I don’t understand. They make sure it works when we use it and that’s all I care about. We’ll meet them all in the next few days. Let’s get going.

[The four of us put our helmets on and perform another quick comms check. We start up the vehicles and head east following the wall. Every 100 meters I see the stairs and camera, sensor bundle. It’s not long before we see a huge sand berm in the distance. We pull away from the wall and come to a stop at a couple of small buildings. The sand berm is against the compound wall. The buildings are about 200 yards back from the berm. We take off our helmets and I can hear some shooting. I hear the ‘pop’ of bullets hitting metal targets. As we walk to the buildings and the firing line, I hear a voice over a loud speaker. ]

[Loud Speaker] Cease fire, cease fire. [There is one person at a booth and two range instructors on either side of the booth overseeing the firing line.] Is the line safe? [Pause] The line is safe. Step back from the firing line. We have visitors.

[We walk to the booth where the other range instructors meet us. K-man, Mina and the others greet one another with hugs and handshakes. I hear four men say, “Hi, dad” and one say WEPS. A handful of trainees bow and the others wave to WEPS. He bows and waves back. They are wearing their respective countries post-war uniforms. ]

These are my sons. SVargas is the range instructor. He’s a former artillery Marine. Who better then a Marine to teach shooting? Helping him are Shorty, Dust and Cal-El. They weren’t in the military, but took to guns at an early age. The other guy here is Don. He’s a former Air Force Combat Arms (CATM) instructor. They’re teaching these 20 Chinese and Russian dudes the basics of shooting. Some are in their respective militaries and the others are Law Enforcement in different regions of their countries.

If they’re military and Law Enforcement already, wouldn’t they already have the basics of rifle shooting?

You’re right, but this is one of the first steps in learning the ZEADS way. We have to see how they are to our standards. Most countries don’t have high standards when it comes to shooting like the U.S. does.

[I can see room for 60 trainees. WEPS can tell there’s something I’m missing. ]

We have room for 60 trainees at a time. They started out with 20 Chinese and 40 Russians. These guys are young. They have never experienced combat of any kind, let alone an unstoppable eating puss sack. The rest washed out in the first two weeks. They couldn’t handle the ‘Fun house’. There are 15 Russians and 5 Chinese left. We've had all 60 spots filled at this point in the training cycle.

[SVargas] Fucking pussies. [The others laugh.]

The Fun House?

We’re going there next. After that, you’re going to need a break for the night. [The others, including the trainees nearby laugh at that comment.] We’ll go to my place and get cleaned up.

[Cal-El] And get a new set of shorts. [Now the others really laugh, including WEPS. I don’t think I’m going to like this.]

Let’s go, K-man and Mina. Lead the way. Take this guy with you. I want to talk to the boys real quick.

[I follow K-man and Mina to the FAV and bikes. WEPS joins us a couple of minutes later. ]

OK. Next stop, the ‘Fun House’. [K-man and Mina take off ahead of us. WEPS and I put our helmets on again start the FAV and take off. WEPS points out other ranges and some other buildings to include one of three armories. We approach a big warehouse style building. We stop in front and get out of the FAV. K-man and Mina are waiting at the main door. ]

Our first week of training is orientation and video watching. Remember what I said earlier about us having video footage? We go over some footage for a couple of days in the first week. The second and third weeks are spent here. This is the ‘Fun House’.

[WEPS opens the door and we’re greeted by three men in regular clothes.]

These guys run the ‘Fun House’…Larry, Moe and Curly. [WEPS lets out a loud laugh.] Oh man, that never gets old. [He wipes a fake tear from his eye with a finger.] Actually, they’re civilian contractors, some local psychologists that we use to help weed out the weak ones.

[I shake hands with them, but don’t get formally introduced.]

Ok. Let’s do this. [WEPS leads me into a dimly lit room in the warehouse. There’s a plexi-glass room in the middle of this room. As we walk towards the room within a room, I see a couch, a set of bunks and some chairs with a small table and a toilet in the corner, like in a prison cell. There are holes in the ceiling of the plexi-glass room. The room is about 15’ x 15’ and 8 feet high. We walk in through a door at one end.] This plexi-glass room is very thick. We need it pretty thick. We can fit a dozen people in this room comfortably.

What do you use this room for?

Well, since you asked. [WEPS gives a thumbs up to the three psychologists who I just noticed are on the second floor behind observation windows. I see K-man and Mina with them.]

[Twenty doors slide open. The doors are 30 feet from the room I’m in on the edges of the warehouse. I see movement in the few I’m facing and hear a familiar noise that I recognize almost right away. Behind me, three Zombies have already walked out of their hidey holes. I start panicking. ]

[WEPS grabs my arm.] Relax. I’m telling you right now, it’s safe. They don’t have teeth and their hands are covered so they can’t grab you. See those collars around their necks? There’s a cable attached to it. The other end is attached to a reel. The three stooges up there can reel in these training aids at any time. [WEPS releases my arm.]This big warehouse room is kept a lot darker then we’re seeing now during training. The trainees can barely see anything. They know what’s going on, but because it’s kept darker in here, their imaginations get the better of them.

Training aids?

Yes. Ever been stuck in a tree for 3 days with a broken leg with a few Zombies reaching for you? Ever been trapped in a broke Humvee surrounded by a hundred Zombies? Ever been trapped in a house/condo/building with thousands of these fuckers banging on your walls, on your doors, on your windows trying to get in to eat your ass and make you into one of them? Most of us have at one point or another during the Zombie war. We had a couple who couldn’t handle it during the real scenario. They cracked. Most people would. But for those few who can handle this or something like I mentioned…those are the people we want in ZEADS. We came up with the idea to use it in our training.

Have your kids gone through it?

You bet they have. Even original members have. This is one of the requirements into ZEADS or to make your own ZRT (Zombie Response Team).

[By this point, all the Zombies have reached the room I’m in and are pounding on the walls. WEPS walks around the room and greets them with his middle finger.]
We leave the trainees in here several times. Once as a group of ten or twelve for about half an hour. Then in groups of three for six hours. One of the final times is alone for 12 hours in a Humvee. Many trainees crack at that point. [WEPS to the psychologists.] Pipe the sound in here. [I get a chill down my spine as their moans and pounding sounds louder in our room.] There’s a small speaker near the toilet and one inside the couch over there. It enhances the effect. We actually want to make the trainees crack. In military training, you’re broken down and brought back up. In ZEADS, once you’re broken, we ship you out back to where ever you’re from. The strong ones stay and continue training. Those mics in the corners [WEPS points them out.] are used to listen in on what’s going on with the trainees.

Can I get a closer look at the Zombies?

Yes. That one over there is one of our newer ones. We got him 2 years ago. We control their environment to help them last longer.

[I walk over to the one he points to. I stay a few feet back from the glass. I can see this one doesn’t have teeth and his hands are covered to prevent grabbing. I see the collar and the cable around its neck. At this point, the lights dim lower. I look around and WEPS is gone. I was so involved with the Zombie I didn’t hear the door open and close. The Zombie nearest the door to the room was moved back to let WEPS out. I can’t help to think he planned this out ahead of time. He appears in the observation windows with the others. ]

You’re going to hate me but I’m ok with that. You’re staying there for an hour. I’ll be back then. Enjoy your stay.

[The observation booth darkens. The lights in the room dim lower...so low I can just barely make out the Zombies. The volume gets turned up a little to my dismay. As if I couldn’t stand it when WEPS was in here, I’m beginning to panic again. WEPS assured me this is safe. He also said your imagination gets the better of you. And it does. I imagined hundreds of ways these walking dead could rip me apart and chew me up. Their moans and poundings are relentless. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the lights brighten in here and in the observation room. The Zombie by the door to the plexi-glass room moves back. WEPS enters the warehouse room and makes his way through the other Zombies.]

I told you I’d be back in an hour. How’d you do?

[I stand up, shaking. I didn’t realize I was sitting on the floor.]

You keep people in here for 12 hours by themselves?

Not in here. We can put multiple set-ups in the main room. This plexi-glass room can be torn down or put up in 30 minutes. It is the first part of training in the Fun House. We can put a single vehicle, whether it be a deuce, Humvee or a helicopter. We throw scenarios at them that we’ve been through. Twenty Zombies might not be too much, but it’s enough for some of them. They have some food and water. They have some other items here with them. They have to do some basic tasks. Longest anyone spent here was 5 days…by choice. It sure as hell wasn’t me. I was one stuck in small building with a hundred of these fuckers outside. It was my recon squad and I. Some Raiders disabled our vehicles. We were able to take them all out, but one of my guys was shot in the thigh. We were four days hike from Luke AFB. There was an old house about three miles from where we were disabled. We waited for a rescue for 3 days. They had other issues going on and couldn’t spare anyone to come get us. That was early on in the war when manning and vehicles were at a minimum. One of the guys, the one who was shot, and I made it out ok, just a little rough around the edges. The other guy….he cracked and killed himself two days after the rescue. [To the observation booth.] Reel them in.

[The cables take up the slack. I can see the Zombies being pulled by their necks. It takes a few minutes, but they are back in their holes. They fought to get us the entire time. ]

Well, it’s 1630[4:30pm], let’s get to my place and get cleaned up. The guys will be there at 1800.

[We walk out of the facility. Out front is a black SUV. K-man and Mina are nowhere in sight.]

While you were entertaining your new friends, I swapped vehicles and let my kids go. Last I saw, they were racing down this road here.

[We get in and head to WEPS house. We pass Motor -T, where I see hundreds of vehicles. We pass the main armory. There are what looks like barracks next and then the main housing area. ]

This compound is a small town. We have everything any other town or military base has here within our walls. We have a massive bar, a huge movie theater, and some grocery stores with gas stations and a couple of pools, both Olympic sized.

Who runs all these places?

We have a shit load of civilian contractors who run things for us…our theater, bar, stores and some of the training that doesn’t involve killing Zombies. We have some scientists here who study, study and do more studying of those creatures. The contractors still get checked out every other time they come in. It sucks for them, but it helps keep the compound secure. A couple of them do live on compound, but in a separate area near the trainees barracks.

Were those the barracks back there?

Yes. That’s where the trainees stay. The housing section we’re going to is home to most of the original members of ZEADS. This new generation has only seen a few actions against Zombies. We lived it for years. We have a bond like no other in the world. Staying together helps us when one is having a rough time of handling himself. Nightmares, day-mares, flash backs…you name it. It happens. Doctors call it Post Zombie War Disorder (PZWD). [He uses his fingers as quotation marks.] Fucking morons. We’re just fucked up is all.

[We pull into the driveway of a very big house. I lived in a pretty big apartment a few years ago. I think I could fit four of those apartments in this house. This street has several houses this size on it. ]

Pretty big, isn’t it? A couple of the rooms are still empty. We made one into a guest room for you. It has its own bathroom for privacy. A couple of other rooms have emergency items like food, water and ammo. All of our houses and barracks have generators. We do have our own power station nearby, but you never know when shit happens.

[We get out and approach the opened front door. WEPS wife is there to greet him with a smile and a hug.]

Hi, Babe.

[Wife] Hi back. How did your day go?

Pretty slow until we got to the ‘Fun House’.

[Wife] How long did you make him stay there?

Just an hour. This is Max. He’ll be staying with us the next few days. Max, this is DLL.

[She shakes my hand.] You’re lucky Max. Just an hour. He made me stay in it with him for 2 hours last year. He massaged my back and feet, but it didn’t make the experience less hair raising. I can only imagine what they have gone through. Well, your stuff is in the first room upstairs to the right. I got your clothes sizes from the clothing in the bag. Hope you don’t mind. I went out earlier and got you a few sets of clothes, two sets of PT gear and a couple more flight suits.

Thank you. I don’t know what to say.

Don’t worry about it. WEPS would give you the clothes off his back, but I think you want to avoid that.

[I look to WEPS] Uh, she said PT gear.

Yes. Yes she did. What the trainees don’t know is tomorrow morning at 0700, whether they’re hung over or still drunk, we’re going for a 5 mile run with a 35 pound pack, in boots with weapons. You can either join us or hang out in the trailing vehicle. It doesn’t matter to me either way and I won’t judge you for not doing the run with us. But…I am going to wake you up at 0600, so watch how much you drink tonight.

[I must have looked shocked to WEPS.]

Demented, I know, but it serves a purpose. They have to be ready no matter what their doing, to react and do what needs to be done, no matter their physical condition. Unless of course, still stumbling drunk or physically broke. Now, if you’ll excuse me, our bedroom is down here. I’m going to take a shower and change. Just put on whatever clothes she put out for you. I believe this is Hawaiian night. Be down here at 1730. It gives you 30 minutes.

OK. [I go upstairs to get cleaned up. I check the voice recorder first. It sounds weird where the missing parts are. But WEPS assured me everything is voice recorded. I check the set of clothes. It has a hideous looking Hawaiian shirt and a pair of shorts. There are also some flip-flops on top of the pile. After my shower, I put it all on and meet WEPS downstairs who is wearing a similar hideous looking shirt.]

Pretty horrible, isn’t it? I don’t know who came up with the Hawaiian idea, but he needs to be beaten and fed to the Zombies.
[DLL walks out from their bedroom.] Well, this dress is very pretty. [She has on a pink, flowery Hawaiian dress on.]

No way, Babe. You make it look pretty. [They hug and kiss.] OK, Max. You have your voice recorder in your pocket I see. Before this party starts, take it upstairs. You won’t need it until tomorrow morning. I’ll help you fill in the gaps for your book. [And he did.] Let me show you around my house. All the other houses on this street have a similar set-up. This is one of the largest living rooms I’ve had. It’s usually just my wife and I so we actually have too much room for just the two of us. Our kids are a part of ZEADS so they come over often, usually for dinner. They don’t have families but they live in three houses right next to each other. Other dudes have older kids on the compound, but don’t live with each other. We kept the lakes that were here before the war. You can see one out back.

[Sure enough, there’s a small lake not too far from the back fence.]

DLL and I usually sit out back on our nights by the lake. We sit and just talk and have a few drinks. She lets me talk about the war…things I’ve seen and done. She doesn’t ask me too many questions…she mainly just listens. My wife is better than any of those fucking psychologists any day. The government, who budgets and pays us, makes it mandatory for some of us to see a psychologist every other week. If I’m like the rest of the guys, we mainly mumble on through the questions and answers. Follow me back to my home office here.

[There’s dozens of pictures on the wall in his office, all of them ZEADS, I can tell by their uniforms and flightsuits. I see some Zombies in some of the pictures. There are lots of action shots. I see WEPS standing in several of the pictures with different sets of guys with three dirt bikes and a FAV in the background. There’s one picture that is covered by a piece of cloth in the center of one of the walls.]

Before you ask, this picture may disturb you. You’ve seen adult Zombies, I’m sure, but how many child Zombies have you seen? When I say child, I mean under the age of 10.

I’m not sure. Some of the people I interviewed mentioned seeing child Zombies, but not many. There were a lot of young teens on up to the elderly mentioned.

That’s because a lot of the smaller ones were pretty much devoured. Not too many that I know of were just injured to the point they could escape. This kid was. He lived on my old street before the war. After we evacuated our families to the Rockies’, we came back to re-take Phoenix. That was the start of the present day ZEADS, not just the online group. I went back to my old street to pick up some survival items I left behind. Stuff I figured I needed in the coming days. My first squad came with me. We had dual sports bikes and a civilian sand rail back then. We stopped in front of my old house. We needed to hurry because we weren’t sure how many Zombies were around. I rushed in and grabbed the things I needed and left. When I was coming out of my house, the other guys were taking down three Zombies. They stopped when they saw Charlie here. [WEPS lifts the cover. There’s a little boy with his nose and part of his mouth missing. He’s wearing a white shirt with dried blood on it.] I didn’t know this kid too well, but my kids did. I had killed a few adult Zombies, but Charlie was my first kid one. I took this picture right before I shot him. This was the start of my nightmares. We went into his house where both his parents were still inside shuffling around. His dad turned first…he turned his wife. I’m guessing while dad was attacking his mom, Charlie tried to defend her. His nose and mouth were taken in the process. Mom fought dad off and was taken down. That’s what the scene in the house suggested anyways. The living room window was opened and Charlie here broke through the screen. He died not too far away from his front yard. We killed his parents before we left.

[WEPS stares at Charlie for several seconds. The door bell rings and he covers the picture again. WEPS wipes his eyes and takes a deep breath.]
Let’s go see who’s ringing my door bell, shall we.

[We leave his office and go out into the living room.]

Crash, how many times have I told you about ringing my door bell? Just walk in for Christ sake.

[Crash] That’s what you get for fucking around on my runway.

Yeah, great. Where’s your wife at?

[Crash]Out front with your wife.

OK. Need help with the beer?

[Crash] You bet.

Max, Crash…Crash, Max.

[Crash] Great to meet you, Max. Whatever WEPS told you about me is abso-fucking-lutely a lie.

Funny you should say that. I told him what a great guy you are with a kind, loving heart, who is a master at anything to do with aviation. But, like you said, that’s a lie.

[Crash] HA HA asshole. Let’s get the beer.

Max, if you could…leave your recorder upstairs now. This is the nicest anyone will talk to each other tonight. The other shit doesn’t need to put in some book. I will help you remember some things about tonight though. Just not everything.

[When I come back down, WEPS and Crash bring in a cooler of beer. Two other guys with wives follow them in with coolers of their own. Crash’s wife and DLL follow them in. By 6:30, almost 75 people are here…about 50 ZEADS and the rest wives or girlfiends. The rest are doing exercises in Wickenburg. WEPS introduces me to everyone but I only remember the squad leaders’ names.

Skiddy79 – Amphibious turdferguson - Supply
CaRbZ13 – Armory protus – Specialty Maintenance
Stubs – Comm Squigglez – Training (previously interviewed while on vacation)
Petard – Logistics Cowboy_Pax – Sniper/Long Range
GR8TWYT – Medical SanTifiQue – Silent Kill Team
Crowdlg – Motor-T ArmedSuspect – SRT

[Lots of combat squad leaders…RetMAC, SnakeaterM24, BamaTactical, Shadow4Golf, Solodevice, Torque556, OMP1973, Type56, roin083, Critical_Will, WarHound55 and Draggedoutandshot. WEPS wanted me to post this note:< ZEADS bros, don’t be mad he didn’t remember all your names. Hell, I can hardly remember all of you, Assholes. Just be glad he’s writing about us.> {Apparently the word Asshole is a term of endearment among ZEADS}]

[The night started out in the backyard with a toast to fallen members and a moment of silence. Someone said {You assholes are true heroes.}]

[Someone else said {You know, those guys are up there laughing at our shirts. Who came up with this idea?}]

[The night was like any other normal house party. The backyard had lots of tables, chairs and alcohol. Steaks and vegetables were served for dinner. Everyone brought something. After dinner, the women moved inside. The men stayed outside. I was invited to stay with them. I heard a lot of stories. These guys…they went through lots of emotions. I won’t share too much out of privacy for them. WEPS helped me remember the following events. Late into the night a fist fight broke out between two members. Everybody else moved out of the way to give them room. WEPS tells me the fighting rules.]

Those involved will fight it out with fists only until they are done. We don’t cheer them on and we don’t interfere. When they are done, they will shake hands like men and be done with it. The night will go on. Any broken bones will stop the fight right away and the one with the break will be sent to the clinic in the compound. Anything broken at the hosts’ house will also put an end to the fighting.

What causes these fights?

The professionals think its survivors guilt, but who the fuck knows. Most of us have fought each other the last few years. See that sexy man beast over there? [WEPS points to someone across the yard. He sees WEPS pointing to him and sticks his middle finger at WEPS with a smile. WEPS smiles and waves back.] That’s SoloDevice. We had a fight a few months ago during our Christmas party. I don’t know what set me off, but we were just talking before I started hitting him. You see how big he is compared to me. We traded a couple of punches before he pinned me to the ground. As far as I know, that was the shortest fight on our records. Leadership keeps track of who fights and with whom, but it’s kept internally to us.

The cops aren’t called?

Cops? We don’t have any fucking cops here. We police ourselves. Given the nature of what we did and still do, no one in the compound gives a fuck about how loud we get. We’re too far away from any other town for anyone else to notice this. This is Friday night. I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the compound is drunk off their asses by now.

True to the fighting rules, the two men finish fighting and shake hands. There isn’t any cheering or back patting. One guy not involved in the fighting staggers back to his seat saying {Finally...I can sit down before I fall down.} Everyone laughs. WEPS is host here. He grabs a couple of towels and throws them to the fighters.]

Clean yourselves up and grab another beer.

[ZEADS1] WEPS, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to me.

[ZEADS2] I’m sorry, too, WEPS.

Hey, no one was hurt too bad. Shit happens. The only thing I see wrong are your spilled beers. Wipe your blood off yourselves and grab another beer.

[The man that WEPS pointed to earlier approaches us.]

[SoloDevice.] What the hell were you pointed at me for?

I told Max here how I kicked your ass during the Christmas party last year and how I put you in the hospital for a week in a coma.

[SoloDevice] Yeah, right. Don’t believe him, Max. What did he tell you?

[WEPS nods.] Go ahead.

He told me you both traded a few punches and then you pinned him. He said it was the shortest fight anyone had.

[SoloDevice] That’s the truth. We were talking about some of the new recon guys reminding him of some of his previous guys. He threw the first punch and split my lip. I took it easy on him but I got tired of him hitting me in the face so I pinned him.

Thanks for making me look like a pussy.

[SoloDevice] Hey, that’s what I’m here for.

Get out of here already. Go drink yourself to death. [They both laugh as SoloDevice goes back to his seat.]

Let me introduce you to some important motherfuckers to me. Remember I said I was stuck in a building for 3 days with two other guys surrounded by Zombies?

Yes

These guys pulled our asses of there. [WEPS and I walk to a small group.] This is 1st Squad, 2nd Team…BamaTactical, BOBLATHON, Enigma10283 and Couch-Commando. [I shake their hands.] My squad and I were just past Gila Bend Aux Field heading to Ajo to do some overnight recon out there. The pre-war Border Patrol office was there. We used it to run recon out of there. On the way down we ran into some raiders about 10 miles from Ajo. They threw down some old spike strips the cops used before the war. Two of us on bikes and one in a FAV. We all hit the spikes. We took it for granted that no one would be that far out. We formed up at the FAV to get our main weapons out. After some negotiating with the raiders for our gear and vehicles, they started shooting at us. We took all four raiders out. Only one of my guys was hit and in the knee of all places. We patched up our wounded and tried calling for a rescue. Well, our main radio was busted up. Our personal radios didn’t have the range to get back to main base. About a mile away, we saw some Zombies heading towards us. The shooting must have alerted them to us. We talked about setting up in the run down shack we passed and that’s what we did. The other guy and I had to take turns carrying our wounded guy and food and water supplies. The house was pretty dilapidated, but it was better than nothing. We used what we could to block the doors and windows which wasn’t much. Then, we waited. We had enough ammo on us to take on all the Zombies that surrounded us, but we didn’t know how long we would be holed up there. And with one guy who couldn’t walk, it would have turned a normal four day hike into a much longer one. So, we waited. As SOP, we planned out our routes with leadership. After a day long battle in Phoenix, these guys came to rescue us. A chopper took to the air. We heard it flyby. It was kind of easy to figure out someone was inside the building by the hundred or so Zombies surrounding the house. We popped smoke anyway so they knew we were ok. The chopper alerted the nearest deuce which had these guys in it. They cleared the outside for us. Enigma here asked if we ordered room service when we opened the front door. That was the first rescue op of ZEADS guys, but certainly not the last.

[Someone I recognize approaches WEPS] WEPS, are we still doing the run in the morning with the Russians and Chinese?

Yeah, Squigglez, you bet we are.

[Squigglez…I interviewed him in the past.]

[Squigglez] Nice to see you, Max.

You’re a part of ZEADS?

[Squigglez] Always was. I didn’t want to talk shop when you interviewed me because I was on vacation. I’m the training leader here. Leadership tells me what they want to see done and I implement it into our training cycle. I oversee all training here, whether it’s with these old dinosaurs here like WEPS and 1st squad or those noobs you saw earlier.

Anyway, yeah, we’re doing the run at 0700. Its 2400 now, let’s break this up and get some rest before the run. Max will probably ride shotgun with GR8TWYT.

[Squigglez] Where is he anyway?

While Max was at the Fun House with his new friends, I heard one of the American trainees broke one of his ankles rappelling from a 47[MH-47 Chinook]. He said he’d be with us in the morning.

[Squigglez] OK, I’ll have them formed up before you get there.

Roger that. [WEPS addresses everyone.] Hey, you assholes don’t have to go home, but get the fuck out of my house. Leave your beer here and get it in the morning, I don’t care. Just get out of here. Bars still open til 0200. Anyone running will meet at the trainee barracks at 0700.

[Everyone mumbles but leaves anyway. They know WEPS is running in the morning. Everyone thanks WEPS and his wife for the get together. WEPS walks the guys out who fought earlier. I only hear {Are you guys alright?} before they are out of ear shot. WEPS runs back in a few minutes later.]

OK, Max, I’m waking up at 0600. I’ll wake you up then. Put your PT gear on in the morning. I’m going to bed. I suggest you get some rest, too. I’ll show you around more tomorrow.

[I thank him and his wife and go upstairs. Before I crawl into bed, I jot down some notes about the nights events.]

[6am comes early. WEPS knocks and pokes his head in the door.]

Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty. Nothing like a post-party run. Let’s do this.

[I quickly put on the PT gear he provided for me and grab my voice recorder. I go down stairs where DLL has set out some small items for breakfast. WEPS warns me to eat light so I grab half a bagel and some orange juice. WEPS hugs and kisses his wife and we leave. He hands me a bottle of water after we climb into the SUV and drive to the trainee area.]

I love tormenting our trainees. When they figure out we run on Saturday mornings, they won’t drink on Friday nights. When they think they’re safe on a Sunday morning after a binge on Saturday night, we’ll run on Sunday. They can quit anytime, but they don’t. Most of us old-timers show them up and they don’t want that. They want to prove to us they have what it takes. These guys will take their training and form ZRTs back where they’re from. We sometimes take new ZEADS members form the American trainees, but they have to meet certain requirements first. I won’t tell you so you don’t let the rest of the world know.

[We drive to the north side of the trainee barracks where there’s already some ZEADS members in PT gear standing by a couple of SUVs and two deuce trucks. I don’t see any trainees at this time. We pull up alongside Squigglez and get out.]

[Squigglez] Little early, aren’t you?

You know this is my favorite part. I like seeing their scared faces when we set off the alarms.

[Squigglez laughs] Yeah, priceless. By the way, GR8TWYT is on the way. He should be at the runway by the time we start.

Good deal.

[At this time, I hear the alarms. Less than a minute later, 20 trainees run out in clusters in various stages of dress scared out of their minds. I chuckle a little as one of the Chinese guys is nude and covering himself up. There are women present.]

[Squigglez] Listen up. You have three minutes to get your asses up stairs, put your PT gear with boots on and haul your asses back down. Go, go, go. Assholes and elbows, boys. Especially for you, Chung. [ He’s the nude one. Everyone laughs. I recognize some from last night.]

[After that, 6 men and 3 women walk up to us wearing PT gear. I recognize his kids that I have met already. The others I don’t.]

These are the rest of my kids. MHil, BVargas and Siss. [They shake my hand. WEPS daughters give him a kiss on his cheek. The men shake hands with him.]
MHil was with the Americans yesterday. They rappelled from an MH-47 about 20 miles away. One of the trainees landed wrong and broke his ankle. GR8TWYT was with them for the insertion. He showed the rest how to handle it when one of your team in wounded and he got evaced and the rest pressed on. They E&E’d back to the compound.

Do they go to the main door I came through?

No, there’s another entrance by Motor-T. We’ll check it out later.

[Dust] Why was Chung naked?

[Shorty] Who the hell knows?

[BVargas] It’s true what they say about Chinese men. Reminds me of that guy from the first Hangover movie [A pre-war movie.] that jumps out of the trunk.

Here they come. Let’s go.

[The 20 trainees form up in four, five man squads. Some look a little hung over.]

[Squigglez] Good morning, Gentlemen. I hope everyone had a good night’s sleep. This morning we are going to do a five mile run wearing 35 pound packs with weapons. We will be running… [One of the Russian trainees throws up.]…a little too much vodka, eh, Comrade? As I was saying before Petrov rudely interrupted me, we will be running on the flight line down the runway and back up. It’s more like 6 miles, but you won’t notice the difference after the third mile. It’s going to suck. Get in the deuces and let’s go.

Any of you want to ride with me? [K-man and Mina say they do.] OK. Let’s go. Squigglez, I’ll call the tower.

[Squigglez] Roger that.

[The four of us get into the SUV and drive to the flightline. On the way there, WEPS calls the tower over a handheld radio.]

Tower, WEPS.

[Tower] Go ahead.

We’ll be on taxiway Alpha in 5 minutes for our run down the runway and back.

[Tower] Roger. No air traffic til late today.

Great. Mina, can you reach back and grab us some waters? [Mina grabs 4 bottles and hands them out.]

Does everyone have a cooler with them?

This is Phoenix, dude. In the summer it reaches 118 if not more. Water is liquid gold out here. Drink up.

[We all drink our waters. Up ahead on the flightline is an ambulance with two guys around it.]

Cool, GR8TWYT is already here. [We park and get out. WEPS introduces me to GR8TWYT. He’s the Medical CO.]

[GR8TWYT] How was the party last night?

Eh, you know. Pretty uneventful.

[GR8TWYT] Not bad. One fight then, huh?

Yep. Max is going to ride shotgun with you.

[GR8TWYT] Actually, I’m running with you. He can ride with Bill here.

Sounds good. OK with you, Max?

[I tell him yes. The deuce trucks arrive and everybody gets out. After the trainees exit the deuces, they reach in for packs and weapons that I’m told were there before they were picked up. The weapons, old school M-4s, don’t have a magazine in them. ]
You don’t use SIRs?

Nope. We use what we know. Most of us were military or LEO, so we’re familiar with the M-4 style controls. The trainees can take their training and apply to whatever weapon system they use back home.

[Squigglez] Form two lines. Let’s go. WEPS, if you guys want to start, I’ll handle these guys.

OK. Max hop in the ambulance with Bill. You’ll be following the trainees.

[As I’m getting in the ambulance, WEPS and the rest of ZEADS grab their own packs and weapons. The twenty or so ZEADS members form two lines and take off running holding their weapons in their hands. A minute later, the trainees take off with Bill and I trailing them. Bill tells me he’s here in case of anyone falling out or getting injured. A mile down, we turn right onto the runway. By the time we get to the end of the runway, half of the trainees have thrown up. WEPS himself and a couple guys from last night also have thrown up. Back at the north end of the runway, when ZEADS gets back on the taxiway, all 20 of them take off running the last mile as fast as they can. Somehow they all manage to make it back at the same time. The trainees, however, don’t fare as well. Only three manage to run hard, the others lag behind. When everyone finishes, the trainees form back up. Bill and I get out of the ambulance.]

[Squigglez] Gentlemen. That concludes this morning’s training run. When you get back to the barracks, you’re released for the remainder of the day.

[WEPS hands out bottles of water from his SUV to the trainees. The Chinese bow to him. When he gets to Chung, he leans in to tell Chung something and he laughs. Chung turns red with embarrassment. The Russians nod when WEPS hands waters to them]

Good run, all of you. Maybe we’ll do this again next weekend.

[The trainees collectively look to WEPS]

I’m kidding, I’m kidding……or am I?

[He laughs as he walks away.]

OK guys. I’ll see you all later. I’m going to shower and show Max around the compound more.

[A chorus of ‘Later, dudes’ and ‘Bye, dads’ ring out. We get into his SUV and drive on to his house. His wife meets him with a kiss and a hug like always. He goes into his room to shower while I shower upstairs. He instructed me to wear either more PT gear or a flightsuit. I opted for the PT gear pants and shirt. As we meet back downstairs I see WEPS in a flightsuit with his gun strapped to his leg. DLL has breakfast set out for us.]

[DLL] Please, eat much as you want. Coffee?

Yes, please. Thank you. [Over breakfast, WEPS tells me we’re going to see Motor-T, main armory and the barracks and later in the afternoon, we’ll go drop off the American trainees out in the desert again. He also tells me that tomorrow, we’ll see the ‘Kill House’ and the building mock-up. It’s a four story building that they use for CQB training fully equipped to make it look like an office complex or apartments. He mentioned maybe a surprise or two for the Kill House tour.]

OK, Max. You ready?

Yes [We get up and put our dishes in the sink.]

[To DLL] What are you doing today, Babe?

[DLL] The girls called and said they are taking me out for lunch in Goodyear.

OK. Be careful. I’ll be home for dinner. The kids should be here tonight. After dinner, I’m going to let Max ask questions about ZEADS and the war. [They hug and kiss before we leave.]

[In the SUV, WEPS asks if I have questions ready for tonight.]
I do. I also have had more questions since I arrived.

Good.

[We pass the same buildings as yesterday. We drive past what looks like a flightline for vehicles. There are a lot of vehicles here. Too many to count. Looks like most are military vehicles. There isn’t a fence surrounding the vehicles. We drive to a large building on the south end. We start at the south end and work our way to the north end. We get into a pre-war electric golf cart. ]

I don’t think anyone is here today, so we have the place to ourselves. Not too much happens on the weekends. DragonsBane use to run Motor-T during the war. Now we have crowldg. DragonsBane and his crew did some amazing things for us with the Humvees ,FAV and our heavy vehicles when we got them. He made our jobs a lot easier with his mods. I’ll explain as we go along. First up are these deuces. As I said before, we used them to ferry supplies to the surrounding areas and move troops to the fighting. Pretty cut and dry. Nothing spectacular about them. We have plenty of these to get the squads moving. Next up are the tanks. These we didn’t use too much in the war, but they were used. We put canister rounds in them. Imagine a shotgun shell on steroids. Just under 1200 tungsten balls. When we were at Luke AFB, we had a couple of tanks on our wall with those rounds. Takes out hundreds of Zombies with one round. [We drive a little further up and get out of the golf cart.]Next are the heavy vehicles. We have a handful each of Strykers, LAV-25s and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. We love these for long range recon. We would work with the Cowboy_Pax and his sniper/long range surveillance teams. DrangonsBane and his guys made them modular, meaning we can add some equipment carriers to the outside of the vehicles. We weren’t being shot at by Zack and they weren’t going to steal our stuff, so we put these bike carriers on the outside of them. A little motor was put on them so we can raise and lower the bike carriers so they wouldn’t interfere with the tires or tracks and they could be tucked against the armor plating. It was an awesome idea. Recons squads can take one of these, fill it full of food, water and other supplies and use it as a mobile base when they’re doing recon missions. We would sometimes spend a week or two out in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. We used the LAV-25 a lot on long missions because it was air transportable by certain helicopters using the sling load. Or if we were hanging out with Long Range guys, we’d roll out in a Stryker, but leave the bikes. We could do so many things with the vehicles we have. The Bradleys were used a lot in Phoenix in our efforts to retake it. We could back them up into a building and lower the ramp. Before the war, Enigma did just that in an MRAP to rescue some of his guys in Iraq. He got a medal out of that. He gave us the idea and we used it to rescue survivors trapped in rooms of buildings.[We get back into the golf cart and head towards a massive fleet of Humvees.]

Here’s the main vehicle we use, the ever versatile HMMWV, or Humvee. We literally had so many Humvees at the peak of the war that each four man squad had one. We’ve since given some back because we didn’t need so many. The regular military is still growing in numbers so they needed the vehicles. We were offered MRAPs [Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicles] but we didn’t need that level of protection.

How did you get all of these vehicles and equipment?

Let’s save that for later. [We get back into the cart and move on to the FAVs and dirt bikes.]

These, of course, are mainly used be recon. We used for local recon missions, hit and runs and quick hits against Zack. Sometimes, we were used as bait to get Zack to a enter a kill zone the squads set up. That was fun…sometimes. If we had intel on survivors, we’d get a couple of the FAVs and roll out in front of a couple of squads worth of Humvees. We’d usually be first on scene to put eyes on the scene. We’d radio back to the squads what we saw. We help them to get on target quicker so that they wouldn’t have to stop short of the target area and recon themselves. On the sides of the FAVS we can also install equipment carriers. Sometimes we took these on overnight missions. We didn’t use these for any longer than a couple of days. We can mount a third bike on a carrier on the back of the FAV. [We walk to the bikes.] We use to have civilian dirt bikes. These here are military used KLR 650s. This is the version the Marines used. Just like the FAVs, the KLRs can use both diesel fuel and JP-8 aircraft fuel. It didn’t use regular unleaded which helped us a lot. We had plenty of diesel and JP-8 for or other vehicles and aircraft. After the FAVs and bikes, you can see the side gate that we use for the vehicles. The side road leads to just west of the main gate. This way we don’t have to drive though housing in a small convoy at all hours of the day. Our families still have to sleep. [This gate has a small, single tower to one side of the gate. WEPS tells me it opens in the same way the main gate does.] Let’s get to the armory. I’d like to meet the trainees for lunch before we drop off the desert E&E guys. [We get back into the golf cart and park it by the SUV. The main armory is a large warehouse.]

This is our only secured building. The weapons used on the ranges are normally kept here when not in use. That small armory is mainly for parts and cleaning of the weapons. We don’t keep barrels or stocks there, though, that way in the off chance we miss some raiders climbing our walls, they can’t make entire weapons. [WEPS punches in a code to the main door. There are a series of beeps and then metal on metal sounds. He pushes it open like a normal door after this. Inside, I see racks and racks of weapons, from wall to wall.] Our main armory is about the size of a pre-war Wal-mart. It has to be. Over there in the back corner [WEPS points.] is a dozen newer S.C.A.R.A.B.s. We have about half of the ones DragonsBane back there as well. We’ll make it back there eventually. Everyone keeps a handgun in their house. And like I said, these .45 handguns are SOP for when we’re on duty or in uniform. With the exception of some QRF/SRT weapons in the housing armory, every rifle, machine gun, whatever we have is kept here. CaRbZ13 and his crew can also reload here. They have the ability to make new guns here to fit our needs. We have thousands and thousands of rounds here for every caliber we use. [As we talk, WEPS and I are walking around. He points things out to me.]

Do you have any cherry pie rounds?

We sure do, but some of us stopped using them after the first time we saw Zacks eyes glow at night. That caused some nightmares for weeks after that. I’d like to kick the ass of the person who fucked up the chemical mixture. It won’t get rid of the nightmares of glowing eyed ghouls, but it’ll make me feel better.

[He shows me rows and rows of weapons. All were used in the two wars before the Zombie war. ]

We have some XM25s. It’s a 25mm rifle. The 25mm rounds are smart grenades. You can lase a spot by a window and set the grenade to burst a meter or two past it. Shoot it into a window where Zack is and it takes them down inside that room. The troops in Iraq were calling it the “Punisher”. We have Multiple Grenade Launchers [MGL] that are devastating with shotgun style rounds in it. We call it our six shooter. Along with the MGL we have Mk-19 grenade launchers. We alternate rounds in that. Every other round is either high explosive or frag. We have sniper rifles. Shit, do have sniper rifles. Our snipers are some of the best. Everything from 5.56 to 50 cal. The 50s don’t get used too often though. Mainly the 5.56 and 7.62 NATO round ones. We have tons of shotguns. Mossberg 500s and Remington 870s mostly. We also have this M26 MASS [Modular Accessory Shotgun System] that we can put on a rail under an M4. We love these due to the fact they are magazine fed instead of loading one round and a time. It’s quicker to slap in a new mag. We can also use it by itself instead of mounted under a rifle. And then we have M249 SAWs, M-240 Bravos and M2 50 cals. . They are used on our Humvees and heavy vehicles. We do use some SAW and Bravos for dismounted patrols. Lastly, we have MP-5s, both suppressed and unsuppressed. Our main weapon, though, is the old, trusted M-4. We have a few thousand of them.

Don’t you use mini-guns?

We sure do. Mainly on our helicopters. Although we did use a few on our walls at Luke while we were there. Those are kept separately on the flightline. Munitions and guns used on the helos are kept there. We tried a few on our Humvees, but it was a massive waste of ammo that could have been used for another weapon.

[We approach the S.C.A.R.A.B.s. The newer ones look larger than the originals. Maybe a little sleeker as well. ]

These bigger beasts are S.C.A.R.A.B. II. DragonsBane did an outstanding job for what he had. But this is America. America likes bigger things. It’s three feet larger all the way around and has newer software. There’s a small version of a mini-gun on the right arm. It shoots a special 5mm round that was made after the war just for this gun. It uses a minute amount of explosive in it. The rate of fire on this mini-gun is a lot slower then on other Vulcan cannons that this is based off of. Vulcan cannons in aircraft and mini-guns can shoot anywhere between 2,000 and 6,000 rounds a minute. To save on ammo, the rate of fire on this is slowed to 600 rounds a minute. The slower rate also helps control the weapon against recoil from a higher firing rate. Vulcan cannons traditionally have six barrels. This only has three which also helps with weight management. They also put a flame thrower in the left arm.

You sound like you don’t agree with the flame thrower.

Setting a Zombie on fire is a shitty idea. Its fine when you’re in the suit, but for a person without a suit it’s a pretty stupid idea. A Zombie wanting to eat your ass is bad enough. It makes it worse when that Zombie is on fire wanting to eat your ass. They tend to set other things on fire. People panic when those flaming fuckers aren’t going down as quickly as someone wanted them too. They tend to burn for anywhere between two to five minutes depending on how new of a Zombie they are.

Have you used S.C.A.R.A.B. yourself?

I’m familiarized with it, but I never used it operationally. I’ve only toyed with it on the range. After an hour of screwing around, I was exhausted for the remainder of the day. Both models have the same physical effects on a person that DragonsBane previously mentioned. More than 24 hours of use and you need 2 to 3 days to recover. The people that will use S.C.A.R.A.B. exclusively in their countries will be genetically enhanced to help stay operational for 48 hours of continuous use. But they will still need a full week to recover from it. Every four months DragonsBane comes down to help with training for a week. We call him a week in advance so he can stay sober for a few days. He tries not to stay in it for too long himself anymore. Using S.C.A.R.A.B. during the war took a major toll on him physically and mentally.

Do you use any kind of bladed weapons?

Of course. We started out using mainly machetes. They didn’t last too long against multiple Zombies if you had to switch to them. We took a couple of guys in just a bit after the official start of the war. They made custom blades for us. They weren’t ZEADS, but they stayed with us for a few years. We had several people not a part of ZEADS that stayed with us. They had skills we didn’t have. They handled their trades and we kept them safe. It was a good trade off. Anyway, these guys made anything we requested of them, usually in a couple of days. I used a version of the Roman Gladius. It had some heft to it to help chopping off heads and going through skulls. These guys also made short versions of the Lobo for us. The Lobo was an awesome idea. We just didn’t need it quite as long. Variations of Gurkha Kukris were also used. [WEPS looks at his watch.] Let’s get out of here and grab some food with the trainees.

Sounds good. [As we leave, I’m in awe at all the firepower these guys have. They have enough troops and weapons to invade and take over a small country. We leave the armory and get into the SUV. From the armory, we drive to a cafeteria near the trainees barracks. It resembles old pictures of military chow halls that I have seen.]

We have some pretty good food here. The cooks are pretty creative in what they make. Dinners for these guys are some of the best meals. Because there are so few of them, they have to let the cafeteria workers know whether or not they will be here for their meals. They can get food from our stores for their rooms, but these guys are usually too worn out to cook for themselves. [We walk in and we see the trainees are already eating. WEPS hands me a tray and we go through the line. We both get hamburgers and fries with some sodas. I see chicken and ribs with vegetables also in the serving line. The workers greet WEPS. We get our food and walk to our table without paying.]

Is this stuff free?

Everything is taken care of. Our funding buys our food for the trainees. The contractors get paid from those who fund us.

[We walk past the trainees. They all stand at attention.]

What the fuck are you guys doing?

[Russian trainee.] Sir, Squigglez told us you’re a retired Air Force Master Sergeant.

Did he now? All of you sit the fuck down. I was retired when most of you were still in diapers. That was a lifetime ago. If you knew everyone who used to be in the military before the war, you guys would never sit down.

[They sit back down. We sit a table away from them. WEPS talks to a couple of them.]

Chung, it’s great to see you. Especially wearing clothes. [Chung turns red and everyone laughs.] That will teach you not to sleep nude here anymore. Petrov, are you ok, Comrade?

[Petrov] Nyet, Comrade. I’m still hung over. The run really fucked me up.

If it makes you feel any better, I threw up, too. I had a little too much last night. Most of us that were at the party threw up….[Petrov gets up and runs to the bathroom. WEPS laughs.]

Holy shit. You guys need to keep an eye on him. [The other trainees laugh.]

They seem comfortable around you.

After the ‘Fun House’, they’re pretty much accepted. We don’t have the bond with them that others ZEADS has with each other, but they went through and made it out of what few people have. They have what it takes. After the ‘Fun House’ we don’t kick anyone out. They have to really fuck up major for us to release them. Even then, we kick their asses first. They get one more chance after that. In the history of our training, it’s only happened once. An Aussie trainee assaulted one of the wives in the compound during our second class. [This is class number 15] The training cadre gathered him up and beat the crap out of him. He changed after that and got back on track after his broken arm mended. What we do is for humanity, not for individual gain. We recorded it to show the trainees what happens when you fuck up here. You can see it if you like.

No…thanks.
Didn’t think so.

[The trainees and WEPS talk and joke. WEPS goes back for seconds. We soon finish our lunch and move on to the flightline. We park in a designated area near an MH-47. Mina and K-Man are waiting for us near a smaller helicopter. ]

We’re going to ride with K-man and Mina in that MH-6 Little Bird there. They’re pure magic with that thing. Which reminds me, I shouldn’t have had lunch before this ride. Fuck me. You think they’re crazy in the 53, you’ll see how they are in the little bird. [WEPS groans a little.] Fuck. [We walk straight over to K-man and Mina.] Hey guys. How was the rest of your morning?

[K-man] I slept until about an hour ago.

[Mina] I had lunch with mom and the girls. Mom says Hi by the way.

OK. [To me.] I didn’t have a chance to grab a rifle.

[K-man] I got you covered, Dad. I grabbed your rifle from the house on the way in and MP-5s for us. It’s in the back waiting for you.

Damn, you guys are the best. What would I do without you? [WEPS grabs a vest and rifle from the back seat of the helicopter and puts on the vest.] We’re going to fly out, per our SOP, a few minutes ahead of the Chinook and scout the area out just to make sure there aren’t any unexpected surprises. Here they come now.

[A couple of deuce trucks pull up. MHil, a few people I don’t know of and the 19 American trainees hop out.(minus the injured one) They grab packs, rifles and other gear from the other truck. The pilots and crew for the Chinook come down the ramp in back. I didn’t realize they were back there. I see mini-guns, one in the window facing me and one on the ramp. MHil waves to us.]

MHil and the pilots will cover the safety briefing. Let’s get going. Max, sit on the right side behind Mina.

I don’t need a flight suit on?

No, you’ll be fine. Just put the helmet on when you get in.

[I walk around to the right side with Mina. I see a mini-gun underneath where I’ll be sitting at. Mina explains to me that before the war, little wings could be attached to hold rocket pods and mini-guns. After the war, they built pods that house the mini-guns that can fit underneath the bench I’m looking at, that mount flushed against the fuselage. They don’t need rockets for every mission. The bench provides a quick way for shooters to leave the helicopter. I follow Minas lead on how to step up and in. WEPS is in the back with me. He hands me my helmet and I put it on. K-man and Mina are flipping switches. The helicopter starts a minute later.]

[Mina] Comms check.


I hear you loud and clear.

[WEPS] Same here.

[I also say ‘loud and clear.’]

[Mina] Roger, I got you all. Tower, ZEADS 3-8.

[Tower] Go ahead, 3-8.

[Mina] Leaving from our current location. Lifting 100 feet and heading west.

[Tower] Roger that, 3-8, 100 feet, heading west. Skies are clear. Good luck.

[Mina] Roger, tower.

We don’t have to hover taxi down the taxiway or the runway?

No. Our flying operations aren’t governed by the FAA or the military. As long as we give enough clearance to any obstacles, we’re fine. This is how we would take off to react to a sighting.

I saw a mini-gun on the way in. Do you always fly armed?

If we leave the compound, yes. Even on training missions. In the past, we’ve had a training mission end up near Prescott looking into a sighting. Lots of wooded areas there. Two of them were spotted north of Prescott. Not much to react to, but it could always turn worse.

[As he tell me this, WEPS loads a magazine into his rifle. Mina makes another radio call once we cross the compound wall. WEPS tells me later that once we reach Buckeye to the west of the compound is when the following takes place.]

[Mina] Luke Tower, ZEADS 3-8.

[Luke Tower] Go ahead, 3-8.

[Mina] We will be entering your airspace from the south west at 500 feet, heading north east, following the river north to Dos Rios. We may fall off your radar a few times.

[Luke Tower] Roger, 3-8...south west to north east, 500 feet, north to Dos Rios.

[Mina] Be advised, ZEADS 2-5 will be following shortly.

[Luke Tower] Roger, 3-8. 2-5 to follow.

Hey, what the fuck do you mean by falling off radar?

[K-man] You know us, dad. Have to show off our flying skills to new people.

Damn it. Max, I don’t know how low you’ve ever flown, but I guarantee it was never as low as to what you are about to be.

[We head north west from Buckeye. We cross a free way that WEPS tells me is the I-10.]

There were lots of cars on the 10 going east bound during the Great Panic. West bound was pretty clear. San Diego and Los Angeles were pretty well fucked then. No one was going that way. [A few minutes later.] Off to the left is Luke Air Force Base. [AFB] I was stationed there before the war. Luke was a pilot training base. When the military realized that the cost of flying a plane for an hour could buy thousands of rounds and provide for hundreds of troops to kill thousands of Zombies, the Air Force shut it down and mothballed the fleet of F-16s to AMARG down in Tucson. We were given Luke as our first base after we rescued some high ranking officers. The pilot that crashed in Louisiana flew out of Luke that day. We’ll talk about it more later.

[K-man] Coming up on the river bed.

Well, Max. Here we go. Look at this way, if we die, it’ll be over quickly before we know we’re dead. Nice knowing you.

[Mina] Max, dad is being dramatic. We’ll be fine…trust me.

Oh shit, famous last words. Might as well of said, “Hey, ya’ll, hold my beer and watch this.” [He says this with a southern accent. K-man laughs.]

[K-man] Relax, we’ve done this dozens of times.

Actually, Max, this isn’t too bad at all. I just hope she doesn’t blink.

[The helicopter dips down really low. WEPS tells me just a few feet in some places. We’re flying underneath some of the bridges that span across this river bed. It has my heart racing, but the thrill of it is pretty spectacular. After 10 minutes of flying, Mina announces our approach into Dos Rios.]

The trainees are being dropped off here. They’re going to hike back to the compound. About 25-ish miles, more or less. We’re going to pick up MHil and the trainees are going out on their own. They just don’t know it yet.

[We fly around for a few minutes looking for Zombies. We don’t find any so we land facing south. Five minutes later the Chinook helicopter is in sight. We lift off again and fly circles. ]

We’re flying over watch per SOP. The trainees and MHil will rappel from the ramp of the 47. As each one gets to his feet, they’ll fan out to provide 360 degree cover for the remainder. Mina, fly clock-wise so he gets a good look at it.
[Mina] Roger that. [We do a 180. I’m now facing the Chinook. The first trainee comes out followed by the rest and MHil last. They form a loose circle around the landing point as they touch down. It all happens in a matter of seconds. The thick rope falls free from the Chinook and it takes off from there, back to the compound.]

Pretty cool, isn’t it?

It looks exciting. [I can see MHil pointing southward. He then splits from the trainees and gives us a thumbs up. Mina takes us down and we land in front of MHil.]

Max, sit closer to the center of the seats. [WEPS scoots out to the bench on his side while MHil sits on the bench closer to me. K-Man hands him a helmet which he puts on. We lift off again.]

[MHil] Comm check.

How did they take it?

[MHil] Total shock. I told them to be back by midnight or the gate will be locked til morning.

It’s only 1600. They’ll be fine.

[MHil] Mina, can you do a slow fly-by at the McDowell Bridge?

[Mina] Sure can. What are we looking for?

[MHil] This morning, we hooked up a couple of surprises underneath the bridge. By the time they reach it, they’ll be pretty tired and it’ll be dark. They’ll hear the moans of the Zombies underneath the bridge and shit their pants.

Good thinking. I just hope they don’t shoot first and ask questions later.

[MHil] No. They saw some vids on Quislings. They know to ID their targets first. They’ll see the chains and just leave the Zombies there. Just for a quick scare.

I love it. I wish I was there to see it.

[MHil] We installed a couple of cameras nearby. You can see it later.

[Mina calls ahead to Luke tower again and tells them we’re going to fly south all the way, but will fall off radar again a few times. MHil and WEPS get a close look at the ground. At the McDowell bridge, Mina hovers for MHil.]

[MHil] One on two bridge legs attached to a 6 foot chain.

Nice.

[MHil] The trainees won’t think so.

[We follow the I-10 west to Buckeye and get back to the compound the way we left. We land back in the same spot and shut down the Little Bird. Everyone gets out and circles in front of WEPS’ SUV. ]

Max and I are going to the house from here. I’m sure mom is waiting for us for dinner. You guys coming over tonight? I’m going to open up to Max for questions.

[Everyone agrees to.]

OK. Bring more beer. I’m going to need it. Just get there when you can.

[At the SUV, WEPS takes off his vest and puts it and his rifle in the back seat. We drive on to his house. As the previous times, DLL greets him with a hug and a kiss.]

About halfway through your post you have an extra bracket that I think is causing the issue. The paragraph that starts with "<true to the fighting rules," has the extra bracket at the end. I removed the extra bracket in the quote below to help clarify.




ETA: This is my tag for later, I didn't read the whole thing yet.

Great Job - WEPS, are you planning on adding more to the story line


I'll have to go back through the archives and see what all I can find.

I only remember doing one of the exercises, but maybe I had done two

we could all toss you some info from those exercises if you want to use them.

nice!

Part 2 will be up tomorrow 11 May..evening-ish. I'm on my first week of a 2 week leave and I had to start the honey-do list. Got my leave beard going, too. Wifey and daughter hate it.

Skillz..............................you have them.

Thanks, dude. First attempt at something like this.

Solo...here's a decription of SCARAB from DragonsBane story...

WHAT is that?

What? (I look over to the cornerwhere he is pointing) Oh ,that! ( I walk over on remove the sheet covering it) Meet S.C.A.R.A.B.

Scarab?

Self Contained Armor, Recon, Assault, Battle. This is what effectively ended WWz for the most part. You see after Tucson, I took it upon myself to design an effective body armor. I had a rough design when we cleaned out Phoenix. It worked really well if a little cumbersome. The Military brass we saved gave me access to the resources they had in Colorado and New Mexico and this is the result. It is self powered by a small nuclear reactor about the size of your hand and completly shielded to protect the user. It has a heads up display that has both infrared and night vision. Any movements are augmented by microhydraulics that give the user the strength of 100 men and has a top speed of 25 kilometers per hour. It is totally impervious to any and all zack attacks and will stop up to a 20 millimeter round and the pilot feels almost nothing thanks to an inertial dampening system. All air in the armor is filtered and the suit is capable of operating underwater.

And here is the World War Z - The ARFCOM Chapters... w/ more material

I made it halfway through the OP and it is gripping as all get out. I need to get to sleep, but this is the first thing I will look at later.

So far, awesome story telling. I love to write, and even come up with a gem now and again, but this is a whole other level. Keep this up and you will have the next wwz movie..

Tag-o-rama

Sorry. I had a lot of ideas rattling in my melon for a couple of years. Had to write them down

Thanks.

I am starting on it today. I was on leave for 2 weeks and just returned back to work this morning.