C2 The journey begins

The plan was to go around the capitol on the Berliner Ring keeping as much distance as possible, because if this insanity had reached the little backwater village already where Daniel had met his fate, then Markus did not want to imagine what was going on Berlin.

Once his engine was running Markus first plugged his mobile phone into the cigarette lighter with the help of the charging cable and turned the heater up to dry his wet clothes at least somewhat. The phone should be working again after half an hour at the latest and be able to receive new messages.

Markus had the route in his head vaguely and tried to calculate the approximate driving time. If everything worked out fine he should be home in about eight hours. Maybe some time later, but at least in a foreseeable time frame.

In his rearview mirror he could see the pale face of Sabine behind her steering wheel, who was moving her vehicle behind his. Slowly Markus let the Defender roll out of the exit. The highway lay deserted and gloomy ahead of them, not even one vehicle seemed to be about. Everybody had surely holed themselves up at home, to simply sit this thing out. Maybe the empty roads were also a result of the curfew.

Markus accelerated, making a left turn. Soon the exit, and the adjacent playground, had vanished behind them in the darkness. In Germany simply everything was regulated and there were emergency plans for every situation. Thinking back on the news of the last weeks, on the moment, when this novel flu virus had spread at first in Russia and then across the entire European continent, he was still fascinated with how fast emergency centers and contact points for immunization had been set up.

Regardless, whatever they had given the patients, their conditions only worsened even more. Slowly at first, as if the virus was still adapting to the human organism, and then consistently faster.

There had been deaths at the beginning, of course, which had been attributed to the virus, but that was nothing new when it came to such diseases. One only had to think about how many people die every year because of the normal flu. Numbed, as a result of the bird flu, BSE and finally EHEC, Markus and Sabine finally had gone near Berlin - ignoring all the signs successfully - in order to participate in the long desired role playing game.

They had just shared the common view that nothing would happen to them, especially not in Germany. Markus was jerked out of his thoughts suddenly when the gas station, about which Daniel had told them, appeared on the left side of the road.

The whole area was bathed in glistening floodlight, it stood out of the all engulfing darkness like a bright island. Typical gas station structure, in front the covered area with gas pumps, behind it the main building and on the right two large doors, through which one could reach the repair shop area. Some cars were still standing around the gas pumps, one car still had a gas nozzle stuck in its gas filler neck.

Markus‘ focus however was shifted towards four heavy vehicles of the Bundeswehr, which were standing with their motors running in front of the area. The first and last one of them were heavy armed Dingos with attached MG3s, the two vehicles in the middle were big, edgy MAN with container like superstructures. The MAN at the rear even had a long telescopic arm extended, on which halogen headlights were attached, bathing the whole area in cold light. Between the vehicles, heavily armed soldiers with gas masks and rubber gloves were busy with some activities. Two of them were just about to lay an apparently heavy black plastic bag on the side of the road, which formed, together with the other bags already placed there, a long row. Markus swallowed hard. Those were surely for body bags.

But no, that was just not possible. Not here, not in this country. It did not escape Markus that behind the MG3 in the first Dingo was a rifleman who followed the movement of his Defender with his weapon. Scared he slowed down in order to not make the soldier even more nervous. When two soldiers stepped on to the road with a red glowing signaling disk, he slowed the vehicle down and finally stopped.

When he was about to lower his window it dawned on him that he would probably be an odd sight for the soldiers. There is this guy in his old, rattletrap Defender, wearing this used army outfit and a protective vest from the British Army. The man with the disk was shining a light in his face with a Maglight and moving towards the driver‘s door, while the other one stood a little off to the side with his G36 at the ready.

“Please turn off the engine and place your hands on top of the steering wheel. In a way that I can see them. I‘m moving towards you now in order to check your documents.”

Markus followed the orders without hesitation even though the soldier‘s voice sounded young and insecure. The guy with his sandy hair in his camouflaged armor was not much older than twenty-five years of age, at the most.

The men made a strained impression and he could imagine just too well what was going on inside their heads. It was not everyone’s cup of tea to be on duty with an uncertain outcome on a deserted highway, while ones family had to fend for themselves at home.

The engine noise of Sabine‘s Peugeot behind him died down as well. The man looked systematically through the interior of the car with the beam of his flashlight. Daniel had not told them bullshit after all - the Bundeswehr was doing the police‘s work.

Internal military deployment, something that before had seemed nearly unthinkable.

“Where are you coming from and why are you on the road during the curfew?”

This question had to come. Markus decided to not tell some flimsy story but to tell the truth instead. “We, I mean myself and the woman in the car behind me, we‘re coming from the recreation area of the KJG and we‘re on our way home.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Role playing.”

“Role playing?”

“Yes, role playing. You think of different characters and a plot and then...”

“I know what role playing games are!”

There was something about the tone of the soldier‘s voice that Markus did not like. Something different than the usual rejection when he told people about his role playing. Normally he earned incomprehension or a weak smile at the most, but this man was annoyed by the topic right away.

“What‘s inside the aluminum box in the back of the car?”

Markus had forgotten all about the box. He stored some medieval reenactment weapons inside it. A mace and a homemade crossbow to be exact. Marcus’ real hobby was acting as a sergeant of the Milites Templi from around the year 1250. Actually Daniel had wanted to buy those two weapons after the game, but that would not be the case anymore now.

“A couple of things for medieval reenactment.”

The soldier frowned, but did not ask anything more. It was for the best. “Do you carry any modern weapons with you?”

“You mean firearms?”

“Yes.”

“Not that I know of.”

“YES or NO!” The man really seemed pissed.

“No.”

Right at this moment his mobile phone came back to life with a loud signal tone. The soldier flinched, reaching right away for his weapon, the barrel of the G36 which had been aimed at the windshield jerked up as well. Markus raised his hands reassuringly.

“Guys, that‘s just my mobile! Just my mobile, understand?”

The soldier nodded curtly instead of giving an answer and withdrew with Marcus‘ documents in order to check on them. He could observe Sabine through his rear view mirror. She seemed really nervous, smoking a cigarette, agitated. He had no clue what would happen next.

Finally the soldier returned, giving him his papers through the open window. “Everything is in order so far. We‘ll take care of your safety now. Our convoy is about to leave, we‘ll escort you to the checkpoint Platkow. Then we‘ll go from there.”

Markus was thinking hard while he drove his Defender onto the parking lot beside the military vehicles. They were losing precious time right now and he was sure that once they had reached this mysterious Platkow that they would not leave it for awhile. As soon as he had stopped, he already held his mobile in his hand.

>> Stuck at a checkpoint. Hope we‘ll be moving soon. I‘m ok. Everything is fine. Will touch base again. Take care. Many kisses. M.<<

What followed was endless waiting. The soldiers were kind enough to bring them hot coffee and Bundeswehr blankets. Sabine wrapped up in hers thankfully.

They had already been sitting in the parking lot for over two hours and were able to watch with a strange feeling, how the men loaded the body bags on the truck with the lighting post. On the doors of the gas station big yellow signs, bearing the symbol for biological hazard, were put up, that cryptic sign one normally only knows from movies.

There was nothing left to do but to watch the soldiers at work. Markus was so tired that his eyes burned everytime he opened them. The moist cold had succeeded to crawl into even the tiniest gap of his clothes, letting him shiver. Not even the steaming coffee could change that.

It was the same for Sabine. Systematically she had used up her last cigarettes one after another. Besides that, she was cold and had a backache again that had been plaguing her for some months now. The doctor had told her something about deterioration and he had prescribed her some pills, which she had never taken. The cold intensified the pain multiple times.

It was her own fault, but because of it she had to crawl through wet ditches in the forest, in the snow, whenever her back would give out. Again and again she looked at her Smartphone, hoping for a new message from Pascal, only to time and time again see the mocking zero besides the mail symbol. She would have loved to throw this thing against the head of one of those idiots who held them up unnecessarily. She was annoyed by every little thing, especially by the splashing noises when Markus was playing around in one of the oily puddles with his foot.

Finally the soldiers mounted up and the signal for departure was given. Vehicle doors were slammed and the heavy motors of the military vehicles came to life boomingly. It smelled of emissions and diesel gas right away. Sabine and Markus had to queue themselves between the heavy MAN-vehicles, then the little convoy set in motion.

Markus looked at his fuel gauge skeptically. Half full. That should last for awhile. They passed the backwater village, of which Daniel had told them. The whole village lay pitch-black beside the road, even the large lanterns on the sidewalks were turned off. The single buildings were passing by them, extinct like a ghost town and finally disappeared in the darkness.

Once they passed the village, they moved towards the Berliner Ring, but then they turned right at a tiny crossroad into nowhere.

The federal highway turned into a moderate country road, just to finally turn into a bumpy industrial road, which lead through a pitch-dark forest area.

Through his rocking rear view mirror Markus could see Sabine’s furious face, she was cursing loudly behind her steering wheel. Her small car lurched alarmingly from one pothole to the next and Markus was surprised that the car was still moving forward at all and not just broke down with a broken axle.

The path, because one could hardly call it a road anymore, wriggled like a slippery eel through the forest. It did not take long and he had lost his sense for orientation completely. They passed warning signs multiple times, letting them know that they were on military ground and that by illegal trespassing there would be use of weapons.

They had been driving for over two hours when Markus thought that he could see some lights between the trees. He passed the Frankfurt airport on the A5 sometimes at night. Those lights, which came through the trees, reminded him of that. It was really bright and still it spread a yellowish glow. A light, which made one tired and strained the eyes.

While he was in thoughts, the vehicles rumpled over a small hump, behind which the forest opened up to a nearly gigantic open area. And yes, he had not been wrong. Everywhere on the compound, that was surrounded by a high metal fence topped with barbwire, there stood large poles with huge flood lights at their tops, emanating this yellow light.

In a long row, approximately in the middle of the area, there were five barracks made of corrugated metal in this semicircle shape, in which the roof tops reached the ground like bent steel sheets, similar to the ones one could see at smaller airports. A little further in the back were some cube shaped concrete buildings with four floors each.

The main part of the open area was concrete and reminded Markus of an old airfield. There were some Hercules cargo planes and five to six smaller helicopters all the way in the back. Vehicles were standing around everywhere on the spaces freed of snow, everything from a small transporter to a battle tank. Everywhere, boxes were dragged around, vehicles prepared and refueled and it was bustling with activity. Their convoy moved towards the last barracks on the left end of the row, where a big red cross was painted on a white round field. There was a sign with a large red spot attached at the front. Involuntarily Markus had to think of the Japanese flag, which was nonsense, of course.

The entrance area looked interesting. In order to get inside the barracks one had to walk through a gate, which was guarded by two armed soldiers in dark green protective suits. Each barracks had its own symbolic color. Red, yellow, green, brown and black. Their destination was, as stated, the red one, in front of which the convoy finally stopped. One of the soldiers requested from Markus and Sabine to get out of the car, to remove their personal belongings from it and to walk over to the masked guards at the entrance of the barracks. That was the first time that Markus did not comply.

“Guys, that’s all well and proper. You’ve brought us here and for a reason I’m sure. But it’s about time that somebody lets us know, what is going here. As long as nothing is happening along those lines, I will not move another meter from my Defender.”

To emphasize his words, he crossed his arms, pausing beside the driver’s door. He felt Sabine right behind him. The soldier stopped unsettled, starting another attempt.

“Please, move along to the medical barracks, everything else will be explained to you there. There are doctors present who will answer all your questions gladly.”

He raised his hand invitingly, pointing in the direction of the entrance, but he did not move closer towards them.

“I want to talk to somebody in charge, right away!”

This time Sabine could not stop herself. She was nervous and pumped, she missed nicotine and she needed to pee badly on top of it. “Besides that I need to use the restroom!”

The soldier nodded. “You’ll find all of this inside the barracks. Either you go there on your own account or by force, that’s your choice.”

Markus got nervous now. He felt how his skin started itching, like every time when he was stressed out. He did not notice however how he gave in, scratching his arms extensively, he only noticed how the itching was replaced by the comforting burning pain, which he knew just too well. Regardless, he stood unwaveringly in his spot, not moving a millimeter. The so called medical container scared him. Scenes of various horror movies were building up in his mind, in which there were only negative things connected to such buildings.

“What will happen to our vehicles?”

The almost unnaturally patient soldier answered placidly.

“There’s no need to worry. We’ll park them together with the other civilian vehicles behind the barracks. You’ll get your keys back as soon as we’ve done that.”

Reassuringly, the soldier moved his G36 onto his back, reaching out with empty hands, because he was dealing with two understandably stubborn subjects here.

“Believe me, no harm will come to you. One of the doctors will examine you quickly, answering all your questions meanwhile. After that you’ll get a cot inside the green barracks together with the other civilians and something to eat. You’re hungry for sure, right? And tomorrow, at the latest, we’ll see to it that you get home.”

Markus could hear Sabine shuffling with her feet. “Tomorrow morning?” he asked for reassurance.

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Reimann and I’m responsible for the accommodation of the civilians. I’m a Private.” The man looked honest enough and his words got Sabine to budge finally. Determined she shouldered her back pack, moving towards the entrance, because she wanted to get out of the cold and get this thing over with. With that Markus’ resistance broke as well. Without saying a word, he pulled the olive-green duffel bag out from the Defender and followed Sabine, shaking his head. He hated when she did that. Simply because he himself was often unable to make decisions directly, instead he let others act first in order to ponder in which direction the scale would tip.

No, that was wrong. He rather hated himself, because he was not the way he wanted to be.