chapter 40 : Black bird and White Canary

*TCHRRRAAK*

 *POHPH*

 *TCHRAK*

 Calvin and Paul, one with a pickaxe and the other with a shovel, dug the grave where they were going to put the three bodies of Jonathan and his family in the garden of the house.

It was barely 4 p.m., the low, greedy growls of the zombies attracted by Jonathan's gunshot outside the barrier could be heard as the two men dug silently when in annoyance, Paul threw his pickaxe to the ground.

 "I've really had enough of these assholes outside...Boss we have to get out of here." He told Calvin who calmly asked him to continue digging.

 Paul: You're not even worried about the things from earlier ?!

 Cal: Yes, a lot even. Do you know what's scariest about our situation ?

 Paul: That these enraged biters can run and compete in strength with us ?

 "No, just the fact that the dead come back to life is already a bigger shock than all that. Our current situation is bad because we lack information." Calvin said as he continued to dig and Paul looked at him before starting again too.

 Paul: We don't know if these two were isolated cases and if there are others in this city, this county, this state...We don't know if they are the same virus or if it's an-(Interrupted) 

 " Evolution ? The chances of this being the case are immense, viruses tend to adapt and then evolve and if that's the case with our necromancer virus then we're screwed" Calvin said calmly as he completed. 

 Paul: So far, we've managed to sort of get by. We can fight these things in reasonable numbers and we have trained the young to be able to defend themselves against these slower and weaker monsters. They were no longer a threat like at the beginning but now...if there are more runners like these two, we're fucked. 

 "In the end, it's a good thing you're here. I need you to return to the others to watch over our sons. You and Christina are ex-military and experienced fighters, i would be really reassured if you were with them in case any more of these runners were around. I'm starting to have a very bad feeling..." Calvin said looking into his eyes.

 Paul: I am of the same opinion. Do you really trust me then ?

 "Of course, and you have no idea how happy I am that someone as competent as you is in my camp. Look, I'm sorry for reacting the way I do at times but there are things I can't pretend to forget. If you say you've changed then that's cool, I'm a former drug dealer myself and I no longer have anything to do with that kid from Campton that I was. You are a good guy and a good father so go protect our sons, you...have all my confidence for that.

I'll take care of the rest very quickly, we have new concerns so I will quickly finish with our supremacist friends." Calvin said taking the pickaxe from Paul who looked at him.

 "You can believe me, it touches me, boss . I wish I was near you to kill those inhuman bastards." Paul said and they shook hands, Calvin gave him further directions before Paul left leaving his leader to finish his task.

Although they had come to this place to rest, Calvin had become in a hurry to leave this town, he seriously had a very bad feeling. 

he took his equipment to leave this house and head towards the target outpost first on his list, that of Park Plaza Mall.

 Once again he went there by bicycle and after looking at the glass-roofed shopping center from his vantage point for a few dozen minutes, Calvin had to think of a much safer plan to his survival but which also matched the situation and it was very quickly that he found it before contacting Vincent by Walkie Talkie.

 Cal: [Black bird to white canary. Do you receive me ?]

 (sizzling)

 Cal: [White canary, this is Black bird. Do you receive me ?]

 [Calvin, is that you? Did you just give us code names? Oh that's freakin cool dude…] Vincent asked amusedly and Calvin rolled his eyes as he listened.

 Vince: [I'm listening, finished...]

 Cal: [I've come up with a safe plan to kill your lieutenants but 'cause I don't fully trust you, I'll just give you your part of the plan. Finished…]

 Vince: [You really are a careful man, uh? It's fair game, I'm listening to you, black bird.]

 Calvin: [The fire I started in the night must have been noticed by one of the outposts even from a distance and it is certain that people were sent to see what had happened. A lack of reaction on your part would be suspicious so you'll send emissaries to warn them of an attack by a foreign group and summon your lieutenants and their most important men for a meeting. Do you see where I'm going with this ? ]

 Vince: [You want me to trap and eliminate them here where they'll be outnumbered.]

 Cal: [That's it, you'll have eliminated your unworthy lieutenants by yourself as you wanted and for my part, I will take care of the rest. Finished…]

 Vince: [I guess you're not going to tell me anything about that. Well, I swear to you on my race that I will do my part. Finished…]

 [Send a first emissary to the Park Plaza Mall outpost, be quick and tell him I'm sorry for his shoulder. Black bird, End of transmission...] Calvin ended the conversation when Vincent wanted to ask him for an explanation for this shoulder thing.

He looked around a little longer before pulling out his silenced AR-15 and gear to begin preparing.

 A little less than an hour later, Calvin saw a convoy of three modified vehicles arrive who parked in front of the outpost's homemade gate and the men got out of the vehicles to begin killing the zombies that were attracted by the noise of cars.

Less than five minutes later, men opened the gate and when the people in the vehicles came out, Calvin prepared to shoot...

 "I asked him to only send one person…" Calvin said boredly before opening the wrapper of a lollipop and putting it in his mouth. 

 Immediately, all these men in discussion were surprised when several of them were fatally struck in the head or neck by bullets fired from an unknown direction, those who got out of the cars were hit in non-vital areas , arm, shoulder or legs.

 "WE ARE ATTACKED…" the alert was given while Calvin also deliberately lit some firecrackers while shooting everywhere and making several bullet holes simulating a certain number of shooters before calmly leaving there.

He let Vincent's men do the rest inside, their leader had warned them that they were going to be shot at, that they had to keep the plan in front. They told as expected that an unknown group had already attacked one of the outposts, that they needed to meet urgently and if Calvin had witnessed their part of the plan he would have been admiring their level of loyalty to Vincent to maintain their roles after getting shot like that.

 Calvin left there as the zombies began to dangerously gather in the area, he disappeared from there quickly to go to the hotel outpost as it was a important outpost where they did both poultry breeding and cereal farming thanks to certain facilities.

Arriving there, Calvin applied the same process as for the first outpost, he kidnapped and tortured one of the supremacists who, in pain, told him absolutely everything he wanted to know.

The place had 214 soldiers, the majority of whom were armed with melee weapons and the rest had guns.

 Apparently, their leader Saul Carter had a little brother who was not on the same wavelength as him and his ideology. Nathan the little brother was a 1% ER Biker, he and his gang were criminals but in no way were they white supremacists.

According to the confession of the man Calvin tortured, Nathan had recently stolen many guns from the majority of the outpost and hidden them somewhere, a rebellion caused by the deaths of four of his sworn gang brothers who were black or natives.

 Nathan apparently hated his big brother for locking him in a cage in the middle of the outpost's cornfield, and he never said where the weapons were. This guns affair made Calvin smile before he broke the supremacist's neck, he looked at his watch when cars arrived and it was Vincent's other emissaries who came to convey his message.

 After several tens of minutes, he saw a convoy of vehicles leaving there with the emissaries. Apparently the meeting will take place today because yesterday an outpost was attacked and today the Mall outpost was as well too.

An unknown enemy group was waging war against them and given what they did at the first outpost, they were extremely dangerous.

 Later at a safe location, Calvin was eating when someone radioed him.

 [Black bird here white canary, do you hear me ?] Calvin heard Vincent's voice and picked up his radio.

 Cal: [ White Canary here Black bird, I get you 5/5.]

 [The rotten eggs have been broken, we have finished our part. I don't know what you've planned but I wish you good lucky. White Canary, End of transmission...] Vince cut the exchange and from his voice, Calvin could notice that Vincent was really serious and even a little cold.

 "He really killed his lieutenants !!? Nah this nigga is wild…" Calvin said with amusement but also appreciation before getting up to start stretching then he left with his belongings .

[ Entities ] 

Reality : I'm really starting to like this guy, I think he has a certain chemistry with Calvin. 

Eternity : It's quite unusual but he's clever, for sure... (Watch Death).

Death :... 

Eternity : Listen, what needs to happen is an integral part of this reality and it's your job to-(Interrupted ) 

" Stop, he's the one who proposed that we look at this reality, he's the one who blessed Calvin and he's still the one who will-(Stops to sigh) ... in short, leave him alone." Reality told her and the three remained silent thinking about the events to come.