Red Hammer: Voodoo Plague Book 4 by Dirk Patton Page A

be in outstanding
physical condition.  The name tape on her uniform blouse read Martinez and when
I looked in her eyes I recognized something that told me she was not a woman
you wanted to mess with.  The other man was an AF Staff Sergeant named Yee,
nearly as short as Martinez and whip thin.  He looked like the type that could
run a marathon as a warm up for the day.
    The two Sergeants were part of a very small and elite group
in the Air Force called SOF TACP or Special Operations Forces Tactical Air
Control Party.  They normally run with Army SF units to coordinate any air
support that unit may need to complete their mission.  To be able to do that
they had trained to the same level as their Army counterparts and in most if
not all cases were just as capable.  I was glad to have them along for the
fight.    Martinez didn’t have the same level of training, though she looked
like she could have made it through the selection process, but was a helicopter
pilot.  Her job was to ride along with us and if we found the opportunity to
get our hands on a helo, she’d fly us where we needed to go.
    Looking down at the gear I couldn’t help but smile.  New
weapons, clothing, radios, jump suits, parachutes, the list went on and on. 
Everything was neatly separated by category and I was happy to find a change of
clothes and lightweight but very warm long underwear.  It was going to be cold
where we were going. 
    “No night vision?”  I asked, hoping there was some that just
wasn’t out in the open.
    “That’s the one thing we couldn’t get our hands on.”  Scott
shook his head, looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.
    Glancing up at the clock I was surprised to see it was
already 1500 – 3 pm.  We needed to get our gear together and start getting
ready to depart for New Mexico.  But, first things first.
    “Have any of you fought the infected, face to face?”  I
asked, looking at the three AF personnel.  All three shook their heads.
    “Not like you have,” Sergeant Scott spoke up after glancing
at Captain Martinez.  “We’ve had some on base and also been into parts of town
to help clear them out, but we’ve always had superior numbers.”
    “OK, then you know some of the basics.  These are just
humans.  They aren’t zombies or vampires that can’t be killed.  That said, they
are so pumped up on adrenalin from the infection that they don’t feel injury. 
Body shots are all but useless unless you hit the heart.  Head shots put them
down instantly, and if they’re really close a good knife thrust to the heart or
brainstem works well too.  I’ve seen infected take injuries that would
completely incapacitate one of us and keep on coming like nothing happened. 
Those injuries will eventually kill them, but they don’t feel pain or go into
shock.  They go until their body completely fails.  Questions?”
    There were none, so I continued.  “Have you been briefed on
the smart infected?”  Nods all around this time.
    “I won’t beat a dead horse, but the smart ones, which seem
to be just the females, are scary as hell.  I’ve encountered a few and they
understand death and the concept of self-preservation.  They also are able to
work together and set up ambushes as well as form hunting parties.  They don’t
just scream and run at you, they stalk you and strike when you’re vulnerable. 
Heads on swivels out there.  Got it?”  There were more nods and I was happy to
see that while they were taking me seriously, none of them were looking like
they were going to freak out.
    “One final thing.  They are strong as hell, both male and
female.  Remember, they’re in a rage.  I’ve fought females that were the size
of Martinez here, and they were nearly as strong as I am.  You cannot engage
with multiples in hand to hand.  They will overpower you, especially since
nothing you’ve been trained to do will stop them short of a knife or a bullet. 
The males are slow, but the