Free Outbreak: Better Days by Robert Van Dusen

Outbreak: The Surge
    By Robert Van Dusen
    Chapter One
    2 July 2011 0721 hours NorthCom Forward Operating Base Freedom Sanford, Maine
    Senior Airman Amy Frays sighed and rolled her dark brown eyes before setting back into the paperwork on the desk before her. She was a short somewhat attractive woman even though her hips were a little too wide and her legs were kind of short. The fact that she was also about five months pregnant complete with a good sized baby bump definitely knocked her down a couple pegs on the old one to ten scale in her opinion. There were bags under her eyes too that made her look like a tired twenty five or so instead of her actual age of twenty one.
    However, since she was pregnant and they did not have a uniform top that would fit her she got to wear a baggy grey MIT tee shirt instead of the top to the Marine cammies they gave her a few days ago. The woman’s LCS was let out almost as big as it could go and her flak jacket was already too small. She was heavily armed with an M4 with an M203 hanging off her shoulder and a bandoleer with four HE grenades across her chest. There was also an M9 pistol in the drop leg holster strapped to her right thigh. She rolled her shoulders trying to move the gear into a more comfortable position.
    Frays frowned and gru mbled to herself as she tried to concentrate on filling out the stack of reports in front of her. In addition to the sweat rolling down her back and stomach the little boy growing in her womb was stomping the everloving crap out of her insides again.
    “Airman Frays!” called a voice nearby making the woman jump and look around for a second. A tall wiry man with blue eyes and a ‘high and tight’ type crew cut in Marine cammies came up to Frays’ desk. “Gonna need you on radio watch from ll00 to 2300 tonight.” Sergeant Bill Hanes said with a little bit of regret in his voice. He smiled awkwardly and shrugged, obviously feeling crappy about having to break the news. “Sorry.”
    Amy hid her disappointment with a smile. Another twelve hour detail was not going to be fun… “Alright. Who am I working with?” she said and smiled back then winced. Frays laughed at the startled look on Sergeant Hanes’ face. Frays found that she liked the man even if he did seem to be a little slow. “Don’t worry, Sergeant. Little guy just kicked me again.”
    The man nodded knowingly as if he had suspected as much. “Okay. Well…get those morning reports done.” Hanes said quietly then moved off a couple steps and paused a couple steps away from the desk and motioned towards the paperwork. “Once you get those filled out just make sure you’re at the TOC for watch.”
    Amy grinned and nodded as she took another pen out of her desk then slid the report she was working on over to the side. “Challenge accepted!” the young woman proclaimed and started in on the paperwork , filling out a sheet with each hand. Sergeant Hanes snorted a small laugh and shook his head as he walked away.
    Amy wriggled her fingers after dropping the stack of reports off on Sergeant Hanes’ desk and walked out side, pausing to put her patrol cap on just outside the door. She frowned then rolled her head, making her neck pop and sending a delicious little shiver down her spine. Thankfully she did not have to wear the stiff neck brace the medics had put on her to keep her from reinjuring the bulging disk near where her neck met her shoulders. Frays checked her watch then started off towards the FOB’s medical center at a fast walk.
    The morning was warm and muggy making her shirt stick to her back as she walked the six blocks to the former cancer treatment center. The air was tinged with the caustic stench of burning garbage emanating from the burn pits on the far end of the FOB. Thankfully it did not smell like they were disposing of any infected that might have wandered up to the perimeter fence. It seemed like they did that every couple of days, the putrefied flesh soaked in