Chapter 59 The Mercenaries
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Their aim is to hide here to avoid the plague and also the city dwellers for a week or two until the plague subsides. They will then take over the neighboring farm to make it their new base where they clandestinely plan to dig in and operate from. Paola will keep them up to date and will inform them about developments at the Eastwood Estate. She is in the possession of a secret radio. It will be the task of Recce, the ex-operational soldier, to visit the farm frequently and goes near enough to the army base in order to exchange information and orders with their spy Paola.
The sun has just crept over the horizon when the radio shatters the silence of the forest. "Anthill! Come in!"
Recce jumps up astonished from where he sits at the campfire and sprints to his radio in a small sunpanel loading station. There is only a scant opening in the dense foliage of the blue gum trees above that ensures that his radio is ready and charged when needed.
He snatches the radio while Spyker, Leo, and Joss all crawl out of their tents and inquisitively approach him to be informed of the latest news when Recce answers: "Anthill here, please talk Mail Pigeon."
Paola's voice is serious: "You must evacuate immediately! The dogs and foot soldiers are on their way to your part of the farm to do reconnaissance and secure it before the water lorry, covered by Casspirs, will depart for the dam. Over."
Surprised Recce frowns: "Mail Pigeon, when have they decided this? Yesterday afternoon and early this morning we heard a helicopter and had to extinguish our fire immediately. Have they done the investigation? Have all the spiders died out? Over."
"Yes, they have visited the town and a team of sentries hid on a roof of a building during the night and they were Morrison's guinea pigs to make sure the plague has ended before they flew back to base early this morning. It seems that all the spiders are dead. Like I told you last week, they sent drones when the plague was in full swing last week. Millions of spiders emerged every evening from the gutters and attacked people and then flew to their next destination and vanished just to emerge the next evening to carry on with their deadly attacks. No spiders came out last night and they could monitor the street from their position on the roof. They found that wild gangs roam the streets that attack one another and carry corpses or injured people away. All services and order are destroyed. Total anarchy reigns and it seems as if the spiders probably succeeded in infecting about all inhabitants and turned them into villains who prey on one another. Yesterday evening a birdie told me that they are going to secure the dam and this is the first opportunity I've got to warn you. You must move your asses! The dogs and troops are going to leave at any moment now. Over."
Recce's brain works overtime. "Mail Pigeon, this means Anthill will be out of touch for a while. Don't stress if we are silent for a few days. I will try to contact you regularly. As soon as we have set up our new camp, I will come within your reach and wait for news, but only one thing else: is the date of April Fools still the same? Over."
"The date won't change and everything has been arranged. Over and out."
"Over and out."
The guys look with question marks on their faces and then Joss jumps into action.
"I wondered about the helicopter. They now want to replenish their water supplies and at the same time make sure this important part of the farm with the dam is safe. I am really surprised by the colonel. It is only ten days from the outbreak. He is quite daring. It seems as if he simply ignores the fact that he endangers his soldiers' lives as long as he gets what he wants."
Joss turns away to the nearest tent where two ladies are sleeping late. Up to now, nothing has pressed them and these two regularly enjoy sleeping late. He bends at the tent entrance and the next moment pulls the two robustly with their sleeping bags out of the tent while he yells in the direction of the rest of the camp. "Out of your tents now, and move your asses! It is time for action, ladies and gentlemen. Take down your tents and move or you will leave corpses behind because either you are quick enough to move with us or we kill you because dead people don't talk. Come, there are dogs and soldiers on their way. Put on your fighting gear and get your weapons. It is time for action."
Suddenly the serenity of the camp is gone as the people rush out of their tents and anxiously start to gather and pack up their things and eventually carry it to the 4x4s and quickly load it in. No one even dares to ask a question or to object because they all know Joss Baxter's word is law.
This monster of a man demands respect while he, with his number one shortcut hair and bulging muscles full of tattoos, walks to and fro and with his coarse manly voice shouts at his mercenaries to prepare them for what lies ahead. Leo packs Joss's belongings with his own while Joss is checking the proceedings and sometimes kicks someone heavily in the ass to get him up to speed. "I am going to enlighten you in the meantime while you are packing. We have just received confirmation that the plague ended and that the civilization has collapsed. We are going to leave from here where we had to hide from the spiders next to the dam that supplied our water. We must be gone before the dogs and foot soldiers reach here and discover us and we are going to occupy the neighboring farm and make our base there.
"Maybe you are wondering why we chose this farm. We had very good reasons for this. Let me explain to you how things are going to proceed from here on. The world is in total anarchy. I trained you well and prepared you for survival outside but let me just remind you of what we are facing. We are mainly going to encounter man-eating monsters and infrequently small groups of normal people who evaded the monsters and have not been infected. I want to remind you that these normal persons must be kept at a distance and they will have to undergo a 24-hour quarantine before we only exposed one of US to them and thereafter that person will also have to undergo another 24-hour quarantine together with them. Only then we will be sure they are not carriers of the virus. We will have to sanitize each other thoroughly and also all new terrain before we occupy it and only then can get rid of our protective gear.
"Further: just for your information on how the new world will work. There are two organizations competing with each other that want to take over the world when the plague ends. Earlier the world was run by an underground organization consisting of very rich people. In the future, we will call them The Elite. The Elite's world is now gone because they had to take flight before the plague. Those who could save themselves, established army bases like this one on Eastwood Estate where they will now try to survive. In the meantime, they are trying to discover what the organization that initiated the plague is planning as they want once again to win back control over the world. Colonel Morrison services The Elite.
"We are going to dig in on the neighboring farm and operate from there because it not only has everything that we need but also because we must be in the vicinity of the Eastwood Estate. The organization that initiated the plague and stole the world from The Elite, promised that they will eventually free the world from the plague and The Elite and will start a new, better world. In the future, they will be called The Saviors.
"Leo and I had still been locked up in jail when my ex-colleagues, Recce and Spyker, got a special contract from the leader of The Saviors. Ahmed, a stinking rich, eccentric, young Indian, who had used our services previously, contacted them and asked their help when he heard that an international anti-terrorism unit with their leader Morrison, was hot on their heels here in South Africa. Ahmed wanted them to plant a spy in Morrison's camp and they succeeded by putting Paola there who still supply us with information. The Saviors know that Morrison does the dirty work for The Elite by trying to sniff out the Saviors and he will regularly be in contact with The Elite. Paola our spy in the midst of The Elite thus is extremely valuable to The Saviors.
"We are also very valuable for The Saviors because they plan to use our specialized services to annihilate The Elite. They promised to hand over special operations to us and for every successful operation, we will be paid handsomely with precious supplies to sustain ourselves. That is why they told Spyker and Recce beforehand of the plague that was due.
"My two comrades haven't forgotten about me and realized that we would have to escape from prison before the plague starts. We did and I took over from them and deliberated with The Saviors. They already gave us our first important mission that must be carried out on 1 April. They promised to compensate us handsomely for that by visiting our base and amply supply us with provisions. Together we decided on the neighboring farm for our base and rendezvous point and they will reward us there for our services. People, these Saviors are in charge of the new world they have created and for which they had for a long time prepared. Thus, we are going to benefit handsomely by, at first, working with them. But as you all know, we are mercenaries and if things change, we usually choose the side that is the most beneficial for us.
"We called our first critical operation April Fools and we will have to work from today to be ready to execute our operations on 1 April successfully. First, we are going to occupy the farm next to the Eastwood Estate and secure it. Then we will move to town and face gangs and gather as many supplies as possible in order to dig in properly. It is 11 March today and I will decide which of you are going with me to Port Elizabeth and who will stay behind as security to keep the fort."
Everything is loaded when Joss finishes and they are now dressing up in their fighting attire. Joss trained them well and accustomed them to the equipment and he is now walking from one to the other, pulls heavily here and there to test the equipment and once in a while he violently bumps a soldier to test his firmness on the ground. Eventually, he is satisfied. They look fearless and fighting fit in their special equipment with metal scales that glide over each other and hide their army attire. Each one has a helmet that looks like a cross between a motorbike and a diving suit helmet with a reinforced piece of glass that can be opened or closed quickly. They all carry R5 machine guns and crossbows with arrow bags and also Samurai swords over their shoulders.
Satisfied Joss nods and gestures that they must climb in. In fours, they jump into the six double cab Ranger 4x4s and the procession starts to leave the camping site.
