Capshaw's First Command Read online

  The screen was filled with the image of a young woman. She appeared to be dressed in the tattered components of a business suit favored by federal agents. Her skin was pale and there was a quaver to her voice.

  “This is NSA Agent Jillian Walker, it has been twenty-seven days since the dead began to rise and I was ordered to lock myself in this hub station. It has been two days since my last contact with anyone in my chain of command. When that last contact took place I was given orders I cannot morally follow and have cut links to both Colorado Springs and Anchorage. Things have fallen apart and I refuse to be part of what they are doing.”

  She coughed and when her hand came into view the bloody bandage on her wrist was clearly visible. She realizes this and holds her arm out for the camera to get a better view.

  “I made the mistake of checking out the upper levels this morning and paid the price. I am leaving this message unencrypted for anyone to find. If you are watching this I only have one request.”

  She coughs hard again and the men can see the blood vessels in her eyes breaking. They’ve all seen this a hundred times in the last year. Agent Jillian Walker was almost done with life.

  “I have a daughter, her name is Hannah and she lives with her father in Chicago. I know it’s a long shot but if you ever meet her can you please tell her that her mother stayed at her post but never stopped loving her and thinking about her.”

  Jillian holds up a picture of a young girl with braces and pigtails.

  “The dead are bad but what is coming is worse. Stay away from Alaska and don’t trust the liars in Colorado and Arizona. The Fleet might be trust worthy, I’m not sure.”

  She doubles over coughing even harder.

  “One last thing, when you find me please bury me… I don’t want to be burned.”

  The camera turns off.

  “Well that was cryptic,” Nate said. He then walked to the store rooms and began doing a rough inventory

  “What did you do with her body?” Brian asked.

  “She’s body bagged with our two losses. We’re going to take her back to the Island for burial.” He looked a little self-conscious. “It just seems like the right thing to do.”

  Brian nodded agreement. “We’re going to need to get some people down here who know computer systems and how to break them. We need to know what she was talking about, because if it jibes with what the Alaskan’s told you, we’ve wasted too much time as it is.”

  “This place is just one of the installations on the Senator’s list,” Riley replied. “I think we have a big job ahead of us.”

  Gunfire could be heard upstairs as a straggling zombie was put down.

  “So what else is new?” Brian asked.

  To Be Continued…

  A Call to Action!

  If you will forgive me, and even if you won’t, I am going to take a few minutes of your time before you dive into your download.

  I am an Indie Writer. This means that I am either self publishing my work or I am being published by a small company and not one of the “Big 6” publishers. I enjoy being independent, I can write what I want when I want with little to no oversight from above.

  It also means I am doing all of the heavy lifting for myself.

  That is the part I enjoy the least. I don’t enjoy constantly spamming social media with information on my latest work, but it is a task I have to do.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  When I was born on August 3, 1976 in the great state of Michigan the hills shook and the sky was swept with fire. These were portents of the greatness for my future that was written in the stars ... I'm still waiting for that greatness.

  My name is Josh Hilden and I am many things. I am a husband, a father, a son, a friend. These are all important things but at my core I am an artist and the medium that I work in is words. I am a writer of Role Playing Games, short stories, essays, poetry, novellas, and novels.

  In the everyday world I can be found spending time with my family and friends. I have been married to my lovely wife Karen since September of 1996. We have six amazing children. We tend to be a family of unabashed geeks and gamers who were geek before geek was chic.

  If you are really interested in me I am very active online with a personal and a writing blog along with a plethora of social media outlets. All links are available at my website (www.joshhilden.com). If you have any questions or just want to chat hit me up!