If you haven't read Chapter One yet you can find it here: Crypto Zombie Novel - Chapter 1: The Great Outbreak, Here Is How It Started!
Chapter 2
'Hey Ebenezar, are you sure about this?' asks Nebu. He's not a man that normally questions my judgment but staring down at the warehouse with a horde of sleeping zombies outside I could kind of see his point. Yes, I said sleeping zombies but no, they are not lying down with their eyes closed. They are more in a dormant state, standing absolutely rigid and at attention, just waiting for something (or someone) to draw their attention.
'I have verified the shipping documents with DeepVault, the items we want are in that warehouse' I answer him knowing that is not what he meant. But I am also 100% sure that the what we are looking for are in there, the shipping documents have been verified against the digital fingerprint on the Blockchain and the end destination matches the warehouse address.
'The generator parts are worth 2 months of food rations for all of us and enough gasoline to drive from here to New York and back.' I say to illustrates my point, it's a damn good bounty. Not that we would ever go to New York, that place is a death trap! Better out here in the wilderness within the confines of the Gwinn Sanctuary.
'We have already accepted the request and spent resources getting out here, so we are going to get that package.' I continue hoping to end the conversation. Nebuchadnezzar, Nebu for short, just grunts in response, which is what he always does when he has nothing more to say on the subject.
It was true that we needed this, our rations were running low and the gas spent getting here and back would pretty much deplete our supply. The information also hadn't come cheap, I might have a mountain of digital currency but it is not an infinite supply and can't be squandered. The verification using DeeVault hadn't cost me a thing but it was getting hold of the shipping documents that had cost a pretty penny and I didn't intend to see them wasted.
How a person like me goes from being a computer programmer to chasing bounties might be seen as a fair question. In a world where technology is on the decline not much need is called for in the programming department and a guy's got to make ends meet. Having a fortune in $ONIONs (digital money) makes it possible to get a hold of a bunch of useful information, like the location of this package, but sadly it doesn't put food on the table. Ever since the Outbreak people stopped using currencies in the real world, all trades are now done in manual labor and tangible things. Not much use with lumps of gold or pieces of digital code when you are starving. Which is why I am out here doing good old-fashioned legwork.
The money does, on the other hand, come in very handy in what remains of the digital world, in there information still has value and requires a global currency system like DeepOnion to function properly. Can't really send supplies around the world anymore, FedEx and everyone else is gone. Not that I would ever let my team (or anyone else) know how much $ONIONs I really have, or my real name for that matter. Privacy and anonymity saved my ass during the Outbreak and that is a lesson I have taken to heart. No one on my team shares their actual names since who knows what someone (like me) could find out with that information; loved ones, weaknesses, etc... Information is power so everyone plays it close to the vest. Well, everyone except for Wiley but he is... well he is Wiley.
Back to the matter at hand; warehouse, zombies and a package that needs extracting. Lucky I got a team of 'trustworthy' mercenaries to help me out. It is not like we weren't prepared for this eventuality being experienced Bounty Hunters here! I laid out the plan in its simplicity, which all great plans are. We needed someone to draw the attention of the zombies and lure them away from the warehouse, while the rest of the team go in and secure the package. Wiley being his usual cherry self, volunteered to become bait for the zombie horde seemingly enjoying himself. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding that man...
I did mention that zombies are smarter than the average movie blockbuster undead but they are still more animals than people and I don't know of any predator that can resist a running prey. While Wiley is distracting the horde the plan is for me, Nebu and Blade to make our way inside while Izzy stands watch outside with the minivan c ready for extraction. We each got Walkie-Talkies to keep communication lines open in case we need to move out quickly.
Time to put the plan into action. Wiley circled around the hill covering our position and took off running west away from the warehouse, making some noise along the way. It isn't long before he's got the attention of the horde. What was once a bunch of standing corpses suddenly takes off, in unison, at full speed in Wiley's direction. A few stragglers were left around but they shouldn't pose much of a problem to us. Zombies can take a helluva beating but they are basically human and a few shots in the right spots will bring them down. But they don't register pain or feel fear so make sure your shots count.
We made our way down towards the warehouse taking care of the stragglers with a few pinpoint shots. One of them had on a cool vintage T-shirt with the DeepOnion logo saying "HODL". It reminded me of a happier time of hopes, dreams and regular life. But that didn't stop me from putting a bullet in him, sentimentality in this world will get you killed. With the way ahead cleared we made our way into the warehouse.
My information gave me a serial number but nothing more so we split up and started searching; I wanted to be in and out as fast as possible. Luckily the storage system was easy to figure out and I started making my way in the right direction. The package was said to weigh about 20 kg (yes we are using the metric system now, it only took the end of the world, go figure) so it would be possible for one person to carry. Before I even made it halfway to where I thought the package was being stored, the sound of gunshots filled the warehouse. I wasn't overly worried, my team could handle themselves but it confirmed that some stragglers where still around and in the warehouse searching for prey.
I picked up my efforts and within a minute I was in view of the package which was on the top shelf of a 3m high stack. Not finding a ladder in sight I resolved myself to start the climb. Now and then gunshots rang out in the warehouse but I ignored them, instead focusing on the task at hand. Climbing up was the easy part, getting the package down without dropping it proved more trickier but by lowering it down a shelf at a time I managed to get it down without damaging the content.
I radioed in for everyone to proceed to the exit and get ready to bail out. I headed for the entry point but I barely got a few meters before something hit me hard from the side. A female zombie had come out of nowhere and decided I was on the menu. The package tumbled to the ground and I was on my back trying to keep the girl from biting my head off. At times like this adrenaline starts to run high and it is easy to panic and do something stupid, luckily this wasn't my first time in this situation. Might be a strange thing to consider lucky but right now I was thankful for my experience. I had to move quickly before more of them arrived so I made sure to keep one of my arms between me and the teenage zombie. I gathered my legs to my stomach and in a concentrated effort threw her off me (she was only about 40kg, not much more than skin and bones so it wasn't too hard). While she recovered and prepared for another lounge I pulled my gun and shot her twice, one in the heart and one in the head. She immediately stopped and dropped to the ground, unmoving. That might have seemed a cruel thing to do to a teenage girl but believe me, there was nothing anyone could do for her and this was the only mercy left in the world. I went back to pick up the package and made double-time out of there. Running with a heavy, blocky package isn't easy, doing it while hearing zombie screams coming from the dark behind you makes it even harder.
Blade and Nebu were waiting for me at the exit, Blade had a bite mark on his hand and Nebu had some faint claw marks on his chin. Guess they had been in some tougher quarters than I had. I wasn't worried about them turning into zombies and attacking me, whatever the neural implant had done to make these people zombies it wasn't anything contagious (thank god for small favors). They aimed and fired in my direction and I heard the bullets hit home in something behind me, I kept on running.
We made our way outside where Izzy was waiting with our ride. We all tumbled in and set off at a high pace while more zombies streamed out from the warehouse hard on our tail. Safe in the relative comfort of the minivan we set out for our rendezvous with Wiley, a few clicks (km - look at me using military jargon) down the road. Again I wasn't particularly worried, Wiley was an excellent runner and even had one of our precious mobile phones in case he needed to get into contact. Yes, mobile phones still exist and some function (to a limited degree), the satellites are still up there and as I mentioned some of the communication structure still exist from the "old world". But phones are rare and using the network cost $ONIONs I would rather save.
Wiley got in touch, via radio, telling us where to meet up, he was still on the run since some of the zombies were proving to be quite persistent. We picked him up without any issues, Wiley still smiling, and headed back to the Gwinn Sanctuary. Boy, was the council going to be glad to see us, one of their generators had been out of commission for a week and people were getting restless. The generators provided heat and power to the community and with one down people had to ration. Thereof the big bounty and us being out here in Zombieland.
On the drive back I looked around and smiled for myself, I have a pretty good team that I can trust and rely on. At least as far as a security conscious, semi-paranoid individual like me can trust anyone. After about an hour of driving the Sanctuary came into view, "Home Sweet Home". Collecting this reward would mean I finally get to stop hearing Wiley and Izzy complain about the canned beans dried jerky for a while. The promised food rations were on freshly grown produce from the Sanctuary farms and even a nice addition of some livestock. Until you have been through a zombie-apocalypse you'll never appreciate the luxury of fresh food. I've been dreaming of a nice juicy steak with fried onions for months!