Two Weeks before Operation Cauterize

Rummaging through my closet I finally find my old uniform for Rich’s company. I grab the clothes and walk out of my room, closing my door gently so as to not wake anyone up. I walked into the bathroom and took a shower, shaved, and got dressed. I walked out of the bathroom and made my way down the steps, every step I took was carefully placed so as to not make any noise. As I get to the bottom of the steps I see Jager. He looks up at me from his bed, tail wagging a mile a minute. His ears dropped down as his eyes gave off a puppy expression. I walked over to him and laid down Infront of him. I placed my hands on both sides of his face and petted him. I looked into his eyes as I kissed his forehead. “I love you buddy. Now, be a good boy.” I stepped up and began to make my way to the door. As I looked back at jager, my eyes caught something on the kitchen table. I walked over to find a lunchbox with a small sticky note. I picked up the note and viewed what it said. “Good morning sparky! I packed you your favorite, Ham and American cheese with yellow mustard. And I snuck you some of your dad’s snacks! I’m so happy you’re home! I love you! Now have a great day, love mom!” I chuckled when I saw that, I even felt a small tear come from my eye. I quickly grabbed a sticky note and scribbled a note back to my mother and placed it on the coffee machine. I grabbed my lunch and rushed out the door. As I made my way towards the shop, I turned on my music. “Monsters” by Shinedown began to play. I sang along as I drove. Eventually I made it to the shop, I turned down a long, gravel path towards a large warehouse. There I saw three trucks getting ready for the day ahead. Dad must’ve not given them the heads up I was home, because as I drove over to park my car, they all stared at me like they were seeing a ghost. I got out and walked over shouting

“Rich! Did you miss me?” My arms outstretched a huge smile on my face. Yet all of them just stared at me white as ghosts. Rich was a large man with tons of muscle on him, yet had a huge beer belly. His face was gruff and sported a large mountain-man beard. His face was contorted into a look of shock and a bit of fear.

“Holy shit.” He finally said.

“What the fuck? I thought he was dead?” Said Ronald, the old man of the crew.

“Jason?” Rich said, confused by the whole debacle.

“Yeah, okay! Hold on! Let me explain.” I said, already knowing this conversation was coming.

“So the army fucked up and said I was dead, I’m obviously not! And there must’ve been a clerical error. There are people looking into it now. I just came home for leave the next couple of weeks, I just got home last night and Dad thought it’d be a good idea to come work with you guys for a couple days to readjust to civilian life. And I kinda agreed, so you have any work I can tag along on?”

“Uh, yeah? I mean, wouldn’t you rather chill at home than work today?” Rich said in response.

“I mean kinda, but I also missed you guys and wanna work!”

“Uh alright, I guess you can tag along with RJ when he gets here.”

“Is he late as always?”

“Yep. He will be here, just don’t spook him like you did us would ya?”

“Hey! I didn’t even mean to spook you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say Casper!”

After a few minutes the guys walked over and all patted my back and were happy to see me. And we’re happy I wasn’t dead. They all began to head out to all of their jobs and I was eventually alone, waiting for RJ. Then I heard the sound of an engine rushing around the corner and into the bay of the shop. There I saw RJ in the drivers seat. He was a huge guy, only an inch shorter than me at six feet four inches. His face had a large goatee with a shaved head. As he got out of the seat and walked over several empty redbull cans fell out of the cab and hit the ground.

“What’s up slut! You get our shit!” He shouted with his arms outstretched.

“Wait what shit?”

“Our shit! For today? Did you grab it or not? Rich said he told you to grab parts!” He looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

“What the fuck do you mean! He literally told me just too wait for you.” I began to slightly scramble.

His face of seriousness turned to one of laughter. “If you stopped sucking so much dick, you probably would’ve heard it!”

“Oh what the fuck!” I said as I began to laugh. “It’s good to see you man!” I reached out and gave him a hug.

“Ew! Get off me! I can feel your titty sweat already!”

“Shut the fuck up!” I retorted as we stopped for a moment.

“Now what the fuck do we need?” I asked.

“Well I don’t know about you, but I need clamps, splicers, and a competent helper!”

My eyes dropped to an expression of fed up with the man infront of me. His cackle of laughter echoed in the huge warehouse. “I hate you.” I said in response.

“Good! Now find our shit! We need one forty fives and three eighth splicers.”

“You got it.” I said as I rushed throughout the parts room of the shop grabbing bags of what we needed. We got into the truck and we’re off for our day.

Before I got into the truck he stopped and stared at me from the drivers seat. I sat down and closed the door. I quickly met his gaze and asked,

“What wrong?”

“Nothing, just, how in the hell are you going to come back from the dead and still be that fucking ugly! I mean damn! Did you just hit all bad rolls on the resurrection?”

“Bold words coming from someone that literally looks like the missing link between humanity and Neanderthal.” I said back. We both laughed as we began on our route.

As we drove, I talked to him about family, what’s been going on in the company, shot the shit about video games and current politics. Honestly it felt great being back home, I forgot how fun and entertaining this whole job was. Eventually we reached one of the final spots for the day. As I prepared to get out of the truck, RJ lifted his hand and said “Hang on a second, relax for a minute.”

“Alright, I’m down.” I closed my door and waited a minute.

“We weren’t supposed to be here this early, they’re probably still putting the countertops on.”

“Bet.” I said as I sat there. As I sat there on my phone I kept debating asking him a question. Back and forth in my head I yo-yoed the idea. Finally I said it.

“So, I bought a ring and I think I’m gonna propose to Jules.”

His eyes slowly left his phone and looked at me, a smirk already on his face for his response. “Oh, you finally wanna tie the knot with Ted?”

“God fucking damnit man! I’m serious!”

“Hey! So am I! All I’m saying is I never met her, so until I do Ted is a great guy for you! I’m sure he’ll be delighted to have a ring!”

“God fucking damnit!” I put my index finger and thumb on my bridge of my nose and close my eyes.

“Tell me! Did you at least get him a matching cock ring?” His laugh almost masking the words.

I slammed my head on the dash in defeat. My voice, muffled, announced “Why are you like this?”

“Do you mean why am I a fucking legend?”

“I’m not talking to you anymore.”

“Good! Maybe now I can read my shit in peace.” He says as he shakes his phone.

“Look im serious, i already bought the ring and everything, I just have to wait for her to come back from vacation.”

“It’s not my place man, honestly if you think it’s the right move, go for it! But just remember, a married man gets zero pussy! Trust me! I can barely find the hole anymore!”

“Even when you’re serious you’re fucking joking, goddamn it!”

“Keep asking your imaginary friend to Damn me! It isn’t gonna happen.”

“I hate you.”

“Come on let’s go! Apparently somebody doesn’t remember how to do their job and is sitting in the truck looking at me instead of prepping for us!”

“What! Oh my God I’m fucking done!” I shouted as RJ laughed throughout the entire situation.

I got out of the truck and began grabbing the tools we needed. I kept thinking about everything that RJs been doing and I couldn’t help but smile, it’s all fun and games and I really missed it. “It’s really nice to do a job for once that doesn’t involve me getting shot at.” I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and made my way inside.

“Hey RJ, I grabbed th-“ I stopped short at that viscous sound.

“MG!” Shouted Kelly.

“Watch left!” Jackson said as bullets whizzed past us.

I was just standing there, watching as my men were rushing forward. The restaurant I was in disappeared as I felt the sun of the mountainous city caress my skin. I was in the middle of a street as I heard jackson scream “Jason! Wake up!” Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, my gaze ripped towards RJ, now staring at me.

“Hey, Jason! Wake up! What? You got dicks in your ear?” He said with a slight chuckle.

“Hey man, are you good. You straight up just stopped mid sentenceand stared at the plumber. Gave him the creeps.”

Y-yeah.” I responded as I looked at the sound I heard, it was just a jackhammer. I then looked to the plumber, “Sorry buddy, I must’ve spaced out.” He said it was all good. “Come on, we have a job to do.” My voice became monotone.

“Uh, alright. Here hook up this tower, ima head in the back.”

“Got it”, I crawled under the counter and got to work.

After a few hours we finished up and headed out with all of our tools. We sat in the truck and waited for Rich to send us the next stop. Then RJ shot up.

“Holy shit! Look at this!” He shouted showing me his phone.

The video he showed me was grainy as all hell, but it was of rioters attacking a military checkpoint. The soldiers there unloaded on the rioters but it didn’t matter, at least forty rioters dropped before they reached the first soldier, they ripped his gun out of his hands and beat him with it, next what looked like Molotovs hit the vehicle that was holding down the position, the ripped out the driver and continued to beat him. All of them were chanting “Down with the fascists.” I was in horror, in a reaction I quickly asked “Where the fuck did this happen? Tehran?”

“Dude, this was earlier today, in Elkhart!” RJ said, no joke this time. He was completely serious.

“Jesus Christ.” I slumped in my seat, my mind raced at the fact that we are being attacked not just abroad, but in our own cities too. “What did this mean? Will it happen in other cities? Will they go after off duty soldiers too?” I thought as I tried to wrap this realization around my head. RJ must’ve seen my concern, so he quickly pipped up.

“Don’t worry, I can guarantee this is a fluke, nobody else would dare attack a military checkpoint like that, I’m sure of it.” He said with confidence.

“Y-yeah, you’re right.” I agreed with him, yet I kept thinking about what my dad said, the harsh reality hit me like a bus.

After a few moments passed, “Come on, let’s get outa here. Do you mind if you drive?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.” He said with a sigh.

“Thanks.” I said.

For what felt like hours we sat in silence. The music on the radio is the only noise filling the cab of the truck.

“Ya know! You always have the most ingenious plans, what would you do in a “country shattering” situation.” I asked, attempting to break the silence.

“What kind of shattering are we talking about? Like Zombie? Or political? Enemy invasion? Or like some mad max shit? Because they would vary wildly.”

“Uh, zombie. What would you do in a zombie apocalypse?” I asked, not thinking.

“Well that’s easy. Go north!” He iterated with complete confidence.

“What? Why?” I asked, confused.

“It’s simple! All these people in the movies and shit, always hold up in some warehouse, Walmart or some other shit! Well guess where else everyone is gonna go? Like fifty million others are gonna have that same idea! So first of all avoid that shit, then head north. You see, the cold up north will slow them down! The human body freezes rather quickly, but if it’s a dead corpse, it’ll take like twenty-five minutes. And that’s if the body still has full motor control, like can sprint and shit. So that buys plenty of time, slows down their bodies, and most importantly, always keep moving! Sure walls are nice, but they draw attention. The best move is to find an out of the way building, keep it as a safe house, only going there in dire situations. But you have to keep moving as supplies would eventually run out, so it’s impossible to stay in a city or town with a justifiable reason. I would stay far out and collect rain water, use small fires to boil the water, making sure to not cause a large smoke stack. Again, to be honest, I’m not worried about zombies, I’m worried about the people who survived. So I would trap the shit outa places I’ve been. But on a side note, I’d try and capture some zombies.”

“What? Why? Do you have any idea how dangerous that shit would be?”

“Yeah! But that’s just it, I’m sure there are other ways to stop them beyond just smashing the head! I’d start experimenting and trying to find the easiest way to kill Them. A hit to the neck? Spine? Maybe a pelvis or some shit. The issue is everyone aims for the head or the knees. Those are rather hard targets. There had to be an easier way! I’d also wanna know exactly how far they can see, smell, and hear. And if I can mask myself in any way.”

“Huh, I mean maybe? That’s actually kinda smart.”

“Yeah! I’m telling you! Best thing to do in that situation! Oh and on a side note, if you can’t hunt, you’re fucked. Sooner or later Campbell's chicken noodle will run out!”

“Yeah, I never even thought about that.”

“Nobody ever does!” He chuckles to himself.

The conversation lasts until we reached the shop. He shot me one last goodbye, but stopped me.

“Hey! Jason.”

I stopped to look back at him.

“Glad your back man.”

“Me too.” He shot me one last nod as I got back Into my car and headed home.