Forming Plans

That night, Jude got little to no rest. He was plagued with nightmares from his childhood. Sometimes, memories he had locked away, ones having to do with his parents death, crept back into his psyche and chased away any hope of resting - A reverse “out with the old, in with the new”. When he awoke in a cold sweat for the fourth time, the sun was high enough in the sky that he decided to get moving. Stella remained snoozing in the tent, cuddle up in an old blanket like a bug. Jude had been with her since he was 12, and she somewhat filled the void the absence of his parents produced.

Outside, the wind was blowing and he could definitely tell that Yule was on the way. This was jacket weather, but unfortunately for him, Jude’s coat had been destroyed in the fire back home. His wondering frozen thoughts soon were pushed aside by Mac, who called to him from across the yard. Jude jogged towards the large shed he was standing by.

“Good morning, Switch” Mac exclaimed happily.

“Switch?” Said Jude confused.

Mac slapped him on the back and chuckled deeply.

“Hell yeah! You’re my new mechanic, remember? I give everyone nicknames, so yours is Switch” He stated matter-of-factly.

“Well alright” Laughed Jude. “How can I be of service?” He said saluting sarcastically.

Mac motioned for him to follow and stepped inside the shed, which housed a large generator and a work bench. Mac took a seat at a makeshift table, built from a large wooden cable spool. He pointed to the other milk crate and waited until Jude was seated before taking a small piece of paper out of his pocket and clearing his throat.

“Alright, so here’s the deal… I think its obvious The Compound isn’t living up to its name. We’ve been hit four times in the last month by a local gang. Now, gangs aren’t something new to us. Hell, we’ve been keeping them at bay since before you were born… But the gang that’s been attacking recently… Well, they ain’t what you’d call normal” Mac explain grimly. “I told you I had lost some men, right?” He asked Jude, who nodded quietly. “These bastards didn’t just come in and kill them for supplies... Fuckers took the corpses with em. Found a few of my boys about a mile away, cut up like fucking cattle… They’re eating us, Switch” He whispered.

Jude sat forward, a look of great concern on his face.

“Wait… Cannibals? I ran across an attack a few days back. That’s how I got that jeep” He informed.

Mac brushed his mustache down and sighed.

“Then you can see what we’re dealing with. We started calling them The Crazies because of how they act. One of the men lucky enough to get away told us they’re a pack of feral dogs. Grunts instead of words, no evidence of remorse… Fucking killing machines. That’s why I need more guards, Jude. We’re about 14 strong now, and from what our recon team gathered, there’s at least 25 living in an abandoned hospital up the road. Worse part is… They looked like they were prepping for an assault. That was yesterday morning, so I’m guessing they’ll attack tomorrow or the day after… And we will not be ready” Mac continued, staring down at the floor.

Jude knew what The Crazies were capable of, and The Compound didn’t stand a chance at the moment. Mac unfolded his paper and placed it on the table.

“Now, I’ve been thinking about how I can fortify our defenses, but The Guerillas aren’t too good with wires. The guy we had in charge of maintenance was killed in the first attack” He said and pointed to the list. “Weapons ain’t the issue here, it’s barriers. Those freaks can climb almost anything. First line of defense will be some IEDs I had the boy make, but if the get around those, the next obstacle is the fence bordering the area. They won’t think twice about it and climb right over, and that’s what I’m hoping for. I wanna hook our gene up to the chain link so we can fry those hard-ons” Mac explained.

The large Titan was very rusted and wasn’t running. Jude wondered if it had ever worked.

“That leviathan would definitely cook em up good, but the grid is shot to shit. That’s where you come in, Switch. You think you can get her workin again? I can jury rig the electric fence but I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about how that beast works” He said sadly.

“I don’t think it should be too hard, provided I can find replacement parts for it” Jude said standing and checking out the wiring. “Might have to make a run into the city. Police stations and Fire departments usually run off the same kind, so maybe we could try those… That’s if someone else hasn’t beat us to it” He added.

Mac thought for a moment, stroking his chin then snapped his fingers.

“I got it!” He exclaimed, springing up. “About 30 miles up the road is Patrick Air Force Base. Now I know ain’t nobody been rummaging around there” Mac said, showing Jude on the map.

Jude looked down and watched Mac’s finger trace the route.

“Why hasn’t it been occupied?” Questioned Jude wearily.

Mac’s excited smile turned serious as he remembered why folks didn’t venture up that way anymore.

“Used to be a missile testing area before The Fall. Bout 17 years back, some no-goods finally managed to get past the walls, but they all wanted the find for themselves. Story goes one of them figured if she couldn’t have it, no one would. Detonated a warhead she found in storage. Killed them all and wiped out The Space Coast, which is the living quarters the raiding group was staying in” He said, sitting back down.

“Well, what’s the problem? We need parts for the generator, not shelter” Jude inquired.

Mac drew a smoke from his pack and lit it up. His exhale filled the room with smoke.

“You’re right. The generator is probably in the clinic. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had multiple Titans in case the power went out. They’ll be untouched too cause those Raiders that blasted the Space Coast wanted weapons, not power… But that’s not our problem, Switch. Word passed around in the caravan said the crazy bitch didn’t understand what she had gotten hold of. She assumed it was the run of the mill conventional weapon… Like a Fragmentation Warhead, and it’d just wipe everyone out in the blast” He explained, pausing for a moment. “It was a fucking RRW” He said finally.

Jude thought hard but couldn’t place the abbreviation. Explosives had never been his forte.

“And what exactly does that mean, Mac?” He asked quietly.

Mac grinned at him, the disappointment in his eyes shining brightly.

“Reliable Replacement Warhead. Nuke warhead… It was a small one though. Normally, the yield about 200 Kilotons and that would have destroy the entire base. Probably would have got The Compound too. The one she set off was an experimental Pocket RRW. It was meant to wipe out enemy dens during The Korean Empire Conflict. We would shoot it into the hole, and kill every last fucker inside. The long term effect was the icing on the cake though. With most bombs, it peters out a few weeks to a year later. With the Pocket RRW though, radiation would stay in the area for years, an idea spawned from one of those fucknut bigwigs. Keep those little Asian bastards out of those foxholes for a long time… That place is still teeming with rads, so the scavengers stay away” He finished, taking another drag.

Jude sat down and began to think, scribbling on Mac’s piece of paper. Mac sat in silence, watching the boy work. After a few minutes, Jude looked up at him and smiled. Mac knew whatever he was planning was going to be risky, but they didn’t have a choice. The Crazies would tear them apart if they made if over the fence, so he had to place his faith in the young man, whom he had only met the night before. Looking down at the paper, his doubts slowly melted away.

“This could work, kiddo. We have everything here at the camp” Mac said, scanning over the instructions.

“Then we should get to work. We’re gonna need lead, lots of it” Judah stated. “And the suits gotta be done by the evening if we’re gonna make the deadline” He added.

Mac finished his cigarette and crushed it with his boot.

“Alright… We leave tonight. As soon as you get them ready, Switch” He said with a smile.