Dead America The Northwest Invasion | Book 12 | Dead America: Seattle [Part 10]

by Slaton, Derek

  DEAD AMERICA

  THE NORTHWEST INVASION

  BOOK 12

  SEATTLE PART 10

  BY DEREK SLATON

  © 2020

  CHAPTER ONE

  Day Zero +28

  The sun had been up for a few hours now, though Captain Kersey and David Frazier wouldn’t have known it, since they were hunkered down in the windowless communications room at the Cle Elum airport.

  Multiple radios surrounded the two with several soldiers monitoring them, relaying orders and up to the minute information to troops in the field. For the last thirty hours, the Captain had been a fixture in this room, poring over every bit of information that came in. David, his communications expert, updated the giant war room map sitting on a table at the back.

  Kersey was surprisingly alert despite having been up for days, only catching short fifteen-minute catnaps here and there. But this was the final push towards victory, and even though the Seattle mission was essentially on autopilot at this point, he couldn’t pull himself away.

  “Failed building containment heard,” one of the soldiers said into his headset, “what’s your current location?” He paused to listen, and Kersey watched his pencil scribble across his notepad. “Four story building, section forty-seven to the south of the I-ninety. Confirmed. Size of force?” the soldier asked. After a beat, he repeated, “Forty outside, unknown number inside. Slow-moving breach. Stand by.”

  The soldier turned to David, who stood at the ready over the map. He’d perked up at the notice of containment failure and already had his finger over the target. He trailed down to a marked spot just south of the building.

  “Containment breach solution,” he said.

  The soldier nodded. “Go.”

  “Sweep team thirty-two are in the area on store purges,” David replied. “Redeploy some to deal with it.”

  “Heard,” the soldier replied with a nod, and turned back to his unit, dialing up the sweep team to issue their new instructions.

  David kept his ears open, listening hard for certain words as the soldiers spoke to the troops in the field. Breach, overrun, runners—all three of those words brought a sense of urgency, and he had to react quickly.

  One word, however, brought not only relief, but a sense of joy.

  “Barricade formed on the I-five south of airport,” another soldier declared.

  David grinned. “Which airport?” he asked.

  “International,” the soldier replied.

  The communications expert couldn’t stop smiling as he took his bright red marker and drew a line across the interstate to the south of the airport, connecting a previous solid red line from the water of Elliott Bay all the way to the Renton airport. The latter had been the main hub of the southern barricade for days now, and their position was only strengthening.

  “Kersey, come take a look at this,” David said, waving him over.

  The Captain got up out of his chair and walked over, leaning over the table. David pointed to the bright red line running along the entire southern border of Seattle. It joined another at the northern portion of the map. Little green plastic army men stood all along the eastern waterfront in between, creating a massive safe zone.

  “Is that confirmed?” Kersey asked, eyes widening.

  His companion nodded. “Triple confirmed,” he replied. “I even sent one of my drone pilots up so I could fly the length of it. It’s solid.”

  “Resistance from the south?” the Captain asked, afraid of the hope blooming in his chest.

  “Minimal,” David replied. “The southern teams pushing up from Olympia pulled a lot of them their way, so barring some unforeseen circumstance, the southern flank is secure.”

  Kersey let out a huge sigh of relief, nodding and scratching the back of his head. The main portion of the battle was approaching conclusion, and he allowed himself to embrace hope. It wasn’t over yet, but it was getting there.

  “How are the teams pushing west looking?” he asked.

  David reached down and picked up one of the little army men that had been positioned at the western coast. “Well, as you can see by my state-of-the-art place holders, they have almost completely cleared the streets within the interior of the safe zone,” he explained. “We have a couple hundred scouts constantly patrolling the area to make sure we don’t have any jailbreaks, and a hundred sweep teams taking out high priority targets. Store and weak looking structures, stuff like that. So far, the trouble has been minimal, with the group we just dealt with being the worst we’ve had in a while.”

  Kersey stared at the map in silence for several moments, everything imaginable running through his head. Soldiers wiping out zombies, a clear city, civilians able to walk around without worrying about certain death.

  “David,” he said slowly, “have we actually pulled this off?”

  His companion nodded, putting a hand to his forehead. “I think we have, Captain.”

  The two men laughed, shaking their heads, partially in relief and part disbelief that they’d come to this.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, Captain,” a soldier said from behind them, clearing his throat.

  Kersey turned to him, motioning for him to continue. “No, please do,” he assured him. “What do you have for us?”

  “Just got word that they cleared out the horde in front of the stadium by the Coast Guard base,” the soldier replied.

  David punched a victory fist into the air. “Liberated the first VIP camp, that’s amazing!” he cried.

  “Now we just have to hope the people inside are useful to the litany of new issues we’re going to be facing,” Kersey replied, turning back to the table.

  “I’ve been talking with Whitney and John from the President’s team about that,” David said, “and they seem confident that Captain Galvan did a better job than most.”

  The Captain cocked his head playfully. “Talking with Whitney and John, huh?” he asked. “You trying to take my place with the planning?”

  “Nothing like that,” David replied, chuckling. “Just idle chatter, spit balling when we need a break from the mind-numbing invasion planning.”

  Kersey clapped him on the back. “I’m just fucking with you,” he assured his friend. “Although if you do have any bright ideas on how we can turn this war zone into a home, I’m not going to turn them down.”

  “Funny you mention that,” David replied, holding up a finger. He headed for his desk and pulled out a giant binder. He held it out and dropped the heavy tome onto the desk with a loud thud. “I have had a few thoughts.”

  The Captain stared at the thick book, eyes wide. “Mother of god man,” he breathed, “when did you have time to work on all that?”

  “Well, only the last few pages are my ideas,” his friend replied, smirking. “The rest of this behemoth is the info you’re going to need for the next strategy meeting.”

  Kersey shook his head. “I was getting ready to say—”

  “Pardon me Captain,” the soldier piped up again, “but General Stephens is on the line for you.”

  “Speak of the devil,” David quipped.

  Kersey pointed to him. “Get that binder ready,” he instructed. “I think we’re about to take a trip.” He headed over to the radio and picked up a headset. “General Stephens.”

  “Captain Kersey,” Stephens greeted, “how are you holding up, my friend?”

  Kersey chuckled. “Been running on fumes for the better part of a week now,” he admitted, “but still kicking.”

  “Uh oh,” the Gene
ral replied playfully, “don’t tell me you’re back to your old sleep schedule?”

  The Captain laughed. “You mean going full throttle with the occasional fifteen minute power blackout?” he asked. “Yep, that’s me at the moment.”

  “Oh, to be young and full of energy again,” Stephens replied wistfully. “I remember those days.”

  Kersey shook his head. “I remember those days as well,” he agreed. “Been a while since either of those things applied to me.”

  “Well, if you’re anything like me,” the General said, “the last week has aged you ten years, so you might be right.”

  The Captain nodded and pulled up his chair, falling back into it with a sigh. “Ain’t that the truth,” he agreed.

  “So, how are things looking on your side of the battle?” Stephens asked.

  Kersey reached for his mug of lukewarm coffee. “We’ve been in the war room for the last thirty hours or so, keeping track of everything,” he reported. “As of right now, it looks like we have ourselves a solid, safe foothold here in Seattle.”

  “That’s what my people are telling me as well,” the General replied. “In fact, I just heard we’ve pushed through to the Coast Guard base by the stadium. Seeing as how you played a huge role in making this happen, I wanted to invite you out to the official liberation of the fortress.”

  Kersey glanced over at David as he took a large gulp of coffee, and his friend nodded approvingly at him. “Absolutely General,” he said into the radio, “it would be my pleasure.”

  “Outstanding,” Stephens replied. “I have a helicopter on standby that I can send out your way from the ships and pick you up.”

  Before the Captain could respond, he noticed David wildly waving his arms. “One second, General,” he said, and then turned back to his friend. “What is it?”

  “Benny landed a couple of hours ago,” David said with a smirk. “He might get a kick out of meeting a General.”

  Kersey barked a laugh, shaking his head as he raised the receiver to his lips. “Actually General, I have a ride already here,” he said. “Where would you like us to meet you?”

  “The Coast Guard base on Elliott Bay would be just fine,” Stephens replied. “I’ll let them know to expect your arrival.”

  The Captain nodded, swallowing the last sip of rapidly cooling brew. “Look forward to it,” he said. “We’ll be heading out shortly.”

  “Guess I should get moving too,” the General said. “Enjoy the fly-in, Captain. You’ve earned it.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kersey replied, and set down the receiver. He beamed with pride, taking a deep breath and allowing himself to enjoy the fruits of all of their hard work. He turned to David, who stood behind him, already holding the giant binder.

  “I’ll go wake Benny up,” he said.

  The Captain nodded and held up his empty mug. “Might want to have some coffee in hand before doing that,” he suggested. “He seems to be feisty when he doesn’t have his fuel.”

  “Tell me about it,” David replied, rolling his eyes. “I had the unfortunate task of getting him up a couple of days ago, and I swear it looked like he was trying to stab me. Like he legit tried to pull something from his waist and thrust it forward.” He shook his head. “I didn’t take it personally, because I thought he was just reacting to a bad dream or something, but the more I think about it…”

  Kersey paused. “Yeah… we should probably get some bourbon as well before waking him up,” he said, and the duo shared a chuckle before heading out of the comm room.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Benny piloted the chopper towards the battle zone, Kersey in the passenger seat and David sitting in the back. As they approached the easternmost battlefield, the Captain gazed down at the carnage.

  There were a few small fires burning themselves out, as well as numerous troops in the road, doing patrols and shuffling gear around. Several trucks stood outside of a shopping center, soldiers loading up goods from inside.

  “They’re not wasting any time, are they?” Kersey asked into his headset.

  Benny shook his head. “Naw, they sure aren’t, Captain,” he replied. “I swear, half the loads I ran yesterday they pulled right out of the stores and put it right into my baby here.”

  “I can believe it,” Kersey agreed. “Our meager stack at the airport was wiped out pretty quick. I know we weren’t high up on the totem pole, with most of the stuff going to the front lines, but didn’t expect it to go that quick.” He peered out at the I-90 bridge that connected with Mercer Island. “You doing okay on fuel?” he asked.

  The pilot nodded. “Oh yeah, we’re good,” he replied. “Why, you wanna take a detour?”

  “Can you fly me along the southern border?” the Captain asked. “I just want to see for myself what it looks like.”

  “You got it,” Benny said, and adjusted course, sending the chopper south to cut across Mercer Island.

  Kersey looked down and watched a line of trucks moving across the I-90 bridge towards the interior of the safe zone. There were tons of troops moving to the west as well, abandoning the island. As he focused his attention on the far side of the water, his eyes widened at the sight.

  Tens of thousands of zombies lay dead, stretching for hundreds of yards back from the water. Pile after pile, rotted crimson flesh stacked high, limbs splayed everywhere.

  “Looks like the island diversion worked to plan,” he said.

  Benny nodded. “That’s an understatement,” he replied. “I talked to a couple of boys who were with the team coming up behind those things. Said it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Just had to walk up and plug them in the back of the head, one by one.”

  Kersey smirked to himself, happy that his suggestion had paid off with dividends. As they reached the south of the island, the Renton airport came into view.

  “And if you will look straight ahead, you’ll see the Renton Airport, home to some of the most ingenious fighting men this country has to offer,” Benny declared in his best faux-airline pilot voice. “One Sergeant Farley had the bright idea to combine jet fuel and high explosives, creating one of the biggest bombs I’ve ever had the pleasure of dropping.”

  The Captain blinked at him. “Wait, was that the Volunteer Park bomb?”

  “The very same,” Benny replied with a grin.

  Kersey laughed, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure I heard that one back at the airport.”

  “That may be,” the pilot replied, “but you probably didn’t hear the smaller five gallon molotovs we dropped on the interstate horde down there.”

  The Captain looked down and spotted a couple hundred yards of dead bodies on the interstate, charred to a crisp. Benny lowered the chopper down so they could get a good look at just how far the carnage stretched.

  Far in the distance, Kersey noticed a smattering of zombies, a group no bigger of fifty or so. “Even with all that, they’re still coming,” he said with a sigh.

  “Chances are we’ll be clearing those fuckers out for months,” Benny replied. “But their numbers aren’t anywhere big enough to break through.”

  The Captain nodded, pursing his lips. “Hope you’re right, buddy,” he murmured. “Hope you’re right.”

  Benny turned the chopper around and flew back to the main line, flying along it so his passengers could get a good look.

  At every single street there was a fortified barricade. Most of the time it was made from cars they’d appropriated from local neighborhoods, but every so often there was a larger vehicle like a dump truck, with some chain link fencing stretched across the roads.

  Kersey chuckled as he appraised the flimsy fencing. “Yeah, we might need to pencil in some more concrete barriers, there,” he said.

  “Just add it to the shopping list,” Benny said brightly, “and we’ll get around to it.” He flew a little further down the line before making the turn north towards the Coast Guard Base.

  Just in the few miles from the line to the base, there was a wide var
iety of activity around. Several groups had already pushed to the water, others still several blocks away, engaged in skirmishes with the dead.

  In a few cases, groups broke away from the coast and moved back in to reinforce their comrades who were in harm’s way.

  Closer to the Coast Guard base, the stadium loomed in the distance just on the other side of it. For the last mile or so, there wasn't a zombie in sight on the street, just a huge military presence with tens of thousands of troops roaming the street and clearing the buildings closest to it.

  “Man, they’re making a hell of a lot of progress here,” Benny said. “When I flew over yesterday, they were still a ways off from the water, and now they’re half a mile deep in clearing things out entirely!”

  Kersey grinned. “Well, they’re bringing in heavy hitters like you, buddy,” he declared. “Can’t take any chances, after all.”

  The pilot chuckled and shook his head, happy for the playful banter with a familiar passenger. He focused on the base, noting a spot close to the main building that was clear.

  “Not sure if I’m supposed to land here or not,” he admitted, “but fuck it. What are they going to do, stop me?”

  Kersey laughed. “I got your back,” he promised. “Have at it.”

  Benny lowered the chopper to the ground, and almost immediately a young soldier came running over, waving his hands in the air frantically.

  “Whoa, whoa!” the soldier screamed as Kersey’s boots hit the pavement. “You can’t land that here!”

  The Captain raised his hands. “Relax soldier,” he said calmly, “we’re expected.”

  “And who are you?” the soldier demanded.

  “I’m Captain Kersey,” came the reply.

  The young man’s eyes went wide as saucers, face white as a sheet. “Oh my god, sir,” he babbled, waving his hands back and forth in front of his face, “I’m so sorry.” He scrubbed his fingers down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry, sir, really-”

  “Hey, hey, relax,” Kersey cut in, taking pity on him. “Take a deep breath.”

  The soldier finally bit back his rambling and lowered his arms.