Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Escaping the Dead) by W. J. Lundy Page B

used to.  He still carried his M9 pistol in a holster, but other than
that he felt naked.  Robert walked to the mess hall and said good morning
to the Mess Sergeant that ran the dining facility.  She gave him a scowl,
obviously not happy that she was always being assigned the other units trouble makers
to work in her facility.  She needed the help though, and couldn’t afford
to turn anyone away. 
    She
told Robert to get washed up and got him started on peeling and slicing hard
boiled eggs.  Robert was disgusted by the work assignment, but he settled
in and got busy.  Even though it sucked, he found the work surprisingly
easy.  He looked over the counter at the end of his work area and watched
the soldiers begin to pile in for the morning meal service.
    After
a few minutes of peeling eggs Robert decided to put himself on break and he
wandered into the seating area.  He saw a good friend of his and a fellow
trouble maker, Staff Sergeant Bolder, just sitting down with his tray. 
Robert grabbed a cup of coffee and made his way over.  “Hey Bolder, how are
you doing buddy?” Robert asked him while he sat at the table across from his
longtime friend. 
    “I’m
good, I see they still got you on Kitchen Patrol, how long you got to do this
for?” asked Bolder.
     “Well,
Sergeant Turner says I can be done at the end of the week if I stop being late
all the time, but he said K.P. will be my permanent job if I screw up again,
it’s all bullshit man. So anyway what’s new on camp?”
     
“Shit Bro, didn’t you hear?  There was a big fight in the aid station last
night… Yeah from the MedEvac that brought in those wounded civilians
yesterday,” Bolder said.
    “What?
That was just a bunch of women and children and such.  They were just cut up
and scratched bad; I even helped unload them from the choppers.”
     “Yeah
that’s the group,” replied Bolder.  “Seems they got into some shit, must
have been on acid or something, cause a couple hours after the medics got them
all patched up and into bed, them folks woke up angry as hell.  They went
ape shit on the medics.  Damn, even the kids were biting and scratching at
everyone.  Had to pull security off the walls to handle them.” explained
Bolder.
    “What
the hell bro, that’s crazy!  So where they at now?” asked Robert.
     
“Oh the Military Police got them all locked up, but man it took half the guards
on night shift to shut them down, wasn’t cool bro.  I have never seen
nothing like it.  Anyhow the Captain gave all the guards the rest of the
night off and told them to get some sleep.  He called my crew in early to
take over.  They needed it though man, some of those guys had some deep
scratches; a couple even got the shit bit out of them.”
    “Man
this place is crazy.  They just need to send our ass’s home.  Got drugged up
civilians attacking us now; what’s next you know?” said Robert. 
    “I
hear ya buddy, I hear ya,” answered Bolder shoveling in a fork full of eggs.
    Robert
was about to get up and head back into the kitchen when he heard a loud
commotion coming from the main entrance.  He turned to see what was going
on just as two soldiers burst through the front door.  One was dressed
only in pants with no shirt; the other was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. 
The shirtless man had tackled a soldier in the doorway and several others were
trying to pull him off.   
    The
Mess Sergeant ran from the kitchen looking angry as hell and ready to confront
them.   Yelling, she charged directly into the chaos; T-shirt pushed
off from the crowd and ran directly at her grabbing at her shoulders.  The
Mess Sergeant screamed for help just as the crazed soldier took a snarling bite
out of her exposed neck.  Robert could see the man pull back with its
mouth full of flesh, and blood spurting out of the wound.  The Mess
Sergeant staggered backwards and fell to the floor.
    Robert
got over the initial shock of what he had just