Juan nodded, so did Hank, the Major looked at them and went on, "I see you might be able to confirm a few stories I have heard too. I have to tell you I have not been out yet, this is my first foray into the field to meet you guys. I have been sending out troops on reconnaissance patrols and to keep down any zombies that get close to the base. I have not seen any combat with these things, you guys have me beat there, I would bet, and any information you could give me would help. So far what I know is not good."
"Yeah, okay, we can help with that, some of your boys had to get back from the radio station. I mean the guys that came in here said some made it back or were headed back?" asked Hank.
Shaking his head Ed said, "Not as many as you might think, that was a clusterf..", Looking at Nanci, he amended himself, "a…mistake from the get go. We deal in wounds, a normal enemy is bogged down, demoralized and defeated when he sees the wounded pouring in and hears of the dead left on the field, these things are not affected by wounding, our technological edge is not completely negated by their durability, but it is hampered. We were ordered to secure the radio station and tried to do just that in a conventional way, with only the most basic of information. It was not enough and we did not know who or what we were fighting. I have some video of the confrontation and we are learning from it, most of those men died. The few who made it back are more than half crazy and are getting the rest of my guys, worked up. No one likes to play soldier when their wives, girlfriends, parents and children are in immediate harm's way. Most of those at the base were reserve units, the special forces I am in command of were already serving overseas, I am, was, just pushing paper around on this side of the Pacific until we shipped out to relieve the rest of my unit."
Juan eyed him, "So, what, who you have, are mostly new guys and reserves?"
"Oh it is not like that, you don't get recruited into the special forces off the street. I have a lot of well trained infantrymen under my command, with a core of instructors who are literally the best at what they do in the world. Most of the new recruits are veterans of the war too, they have been around the block a few times, I have too for that matter, I didn't walk into a rear echelon job, I was assigned to it when I was recovering from an IED that hit my command vehicle. We have combat experience. Plus the reserves have already done one tour overseas. The United States Army is the most highly trained armed force in the world and the men I now find myself in command of are good representatives of that training."
Hank snorted a bit "You sound like a recruiter Ed. So the base is mostly empty? Is it more secure than this place?"
"I couldn't make the numbers to be a recruiter, they have a tough job these days, who wants to die in desert half the world away? The base is more secure, but not much more, it is not a fortress, just chain link fences with a guard house at the front to keep the riff-raff out. I have the troops putting up guard towers today, right now we can see things pretty good with our helicopters, but we don't have unlimited fuel and the way things are I think we can safely say we are not going to be getting any more for months, if not years."
"'The way things are', how are 'things'? Do you know?" Hank asked.
Ed looked a bit worried, his clean shaven face frowned at them and again he shook his head, "Not good. Between the edges of Colorado up to the Mississippi there are few reports of enemy activity, the area is mostly secure, but that is a lot of territory, Chicago is a nightmare, it would be worse than Denver, but let's face it, Denver is gone, there is almost no one left here, the enemy moved up into the mountain towards the smaller towns pursuing anyone who got out or they flooded the plains heading towards North Platte and Kansas City. Further south Pueblo is still fighting and they are holding better than Colorado Springs did, New Mexico is still mostly untouched, though there are reports of enemy actions in Santa Fe. Wyoming? Pretty clear right now. The Dakotas are clear and Canada, internal Canada is still clear too, the coasts of the entire continent are dealing with enemy incursions. A bright spot is Mexico City, no reports of enemy activity, over a million God damned people and nothing going on there at all. Yet. Hell I read a report before I left and I could spend half the morning relying the information to you guys, do you have any specific areas you want to know about?"
"Well, we could head north? Try to get to Wyoming or north east to the Dakotas? How is Boulder? Or Fort Collins?" asked Hank.
"Boulder is like Denver, a lot of stragglers, a few humans moving around or trying to contact us with cell phones or radios, Fort Collins is the Pueblo of the north, they didn't get hit so hard, but they have less people to help fight the enemy off, it would be tough to break out with the number of people we have, especially the non-fighters."
"You got a plan, you must, it is what you do. If we can't leave then we stay here. Bunker down and wait the zombies out or for something else to change?"
"Yes Hank, that is what I was thinking, we still have a bunch of, well not even second line machines now, but the older vehicles and civilian vehicles will work to forage food, gather survivors and keep us alive. There is still food and fuel here and in Colorado Springs to keep us well fed and comfortable for years if the number of survivors we estimate we have to care for is even close to accurate. Hopefully we got most of the enemy leaders with the nuke this morning, they could be the real problem."
"I don't know, I am not so sure staying would be a good idea, the food will run out, the fuel will go, what will we do if the numbers you have are off, or if the zombies come back? Can you defend us with the guys you have?" asked Hank.
"If the enemy came back we could not stand against them." Ed let them digest that for a moment before continuing, "It is a numbers game, the base is a fort, we have ammo and guns, we have mines, bombs, grenades and a few people who know a whole lot of dirty tricks. All those pluses are wiped out by the sheer number of enemy personnel that we could be dealing with. I have already said the base is nothing more than chain link fence, heck in some areas it is only a normal barbed wire fence. That means we would be using the guard towers and buildings as firing positions, and they were not designed for that. We don't have a bullet for every man woman and child in the front range, let alone the state of Colorado. When you factor in that each of the enemy must have their brain destroyed, not their hearts or legs or guts…", Major Stanson shrugged his shoulders, "This isn't a Rambo movie, my guys are good shots, but a head shot every time? Against a moving target, hundreds, thousands, even millions of targets, it is just not possible."
"So you are banking on them not coming back?" put in Nanci.
"No, not really, for the short term yes, long term, maybe even sooner, they will get back, when the, uh, food supply runs out. We can prepare for them as best we can, we have the whole of Denver to draw on for resources, three or four of my guys come from combat engineer units, and they know what they are doing, we can pour cement, we can build a fortification, a keep at first then expand the walls and reclaim more territory. We can build silos to store food and water in, we can farm land, raise livestock, prepare and prepare and prepare. This is the worst case. I don't count the United States out yet, we will get a handle on this thing, however until then it seems prudent to prepare."
This little speech had a slow reaction on Hank, Juan and Nanci, they thought it over for a few minutes then Juan leaned over and looked Hank in the eyes and said, "What do we do?"
Hank looked at Juan and Nanci then back to the Major, "This is like a what do you call it, a feudal state, practically, is that right?"
The Major hesitated, then nodded slightly, "Not that far, no Lords and Ladies, we maintain the democratic process, however some things could not be debated, within each position of power people are going to have to be able to make choices and enforce the laws of the community. I am not going to create a government from scratch, that will be your job. I will submit the military to whomever the civilians elect as their proper leader. This is similar to how the national guard operates now, the governor of each state has control over how they are used. This is a good system, as it will not circumvent anything we have in place, we will still have the same chain of command that we are used to. We'll still need 'state' level support, representatives, judges, hell even lawyers, sooner or later people are going to commit crimes against the community."