Outpost H311

by Sara Jayne Townsend

  “I reckon so. They’ve been trapped in that corridor for seventy years, and now they’re hearing me banging away on their prison door. They’re really pissed.”

  Ellen groaned. “Great. So once we blast open that passageway, we’ll have to deal with a bunch of angry zombies.”

  Jake grinned. “Don’t sweat it. They’re toast against us. Have you ever used a shotgun before?”

  “Does playing Resident Evil count? I’m pretty good at blasting zombies in that game.”

  “It’s a bit different in real life,” Jake said. “Shotguns are pretty good weapons because you don’t have to be too accurate – the blast range is wide. But you have to remember to have a firm grip. The kickback can be a killer. If you can’t handle it, just pass it to me and pick up one of the other weapons.” He turned back to focus on the task of setting the explosives. Ellen watched him work. He’d stripped off his outer layers and his arms were bare underneath his camouflage vest. His large biceps flexed appealingly every time he drove the hammer and chisel into the concrete. Ellen supposed that being fit made you a more effective soldier. She also noticed how snug his pants fit over a nicely rounded bum.

  Jake turned around. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  “Oh.” Ellen blushed and turned away, staring at the pile of weapons in the corridor. “Sorry.”

  “Hey, if you’re admiring the view, just say so. I won’t be offended.”

  “That’s a somewhat arrogant assumption.”

  “I work very hard to stay in shape. It’s flattering when someone notices. Especially if it’s an attractive woman.”

  “I wasn’t...did you really just call me attractive?” Ellen felt her face going red.

  Jake grinned at her. He had a winning smile. She wondered why she hadn’t notice before. “Just stating facts, babe. Have you looked in a mirror recently?”

  “Actually, no. Not with the plane crash and fighting for survival and all. It seems a bit...inappropriate to be flirting like this, when we’re probably about to get eaten by zombies.”

  “It’s a well-known fact that danger is an aphrodisiac.”

  “I think you just made that up.”

  “Nope. A fight for survival gives you a new appreciation of life. And sex is all about creating life. Besides, flirting raises adrenalin levels, and we’re about to need all the adrenalin we can get.” Jake winked at Ellen and then turned back to the explosives. “These are all set, I just need to roll out the fuse. And then we have to get the hell out of here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Jake pointed south down the corridor, towards the barrack rooms. “That way. Where the others are. Take the shotgun, go back towards the middle corridor and make yourself as small as possible. When the smoke clears, everyone can grab weapons and start taking out whatever’s going to come out of that corridor.”

  Ellen picked up the shotgun and hurried back down the corridor. She couldn’t see any of the others, but she heard low whispers behind the door of the barracks room. She stepped over the pile of weapons and hunkered down in the corridor, curling herself up into a ball with her hands covering her head. She heard Jake’s heavy footsteps as he ran past her.

  A moment later the explosion rocked the base. Ellen felt the place shake, and chunks of concrete and ice rained down on her.

  When things grew quiet, she tentatively raised her head. Smoke filled the corridor. Jake was behind her, already on his feet. He put a hand on her shoulder as he stepped past her, pistol raised and ready to fire. “Heads up, babe. We’re about to have company.”

  As the smoke began to clear, Ellen understood what he meant. She could already see shapes, indistinct at first but then gaining form as they lurched forward. She heard them groaning.

  Jake pressed himself against the wall, aiming at the first figure as it moved out of the smoke. Ellen got up, clutching the shotgun, and moved closer to him. The lead figure materialised out of the smoke. It wore a Nazi uniform and a helmet, the flesh on its face grey, one eye hanging loose on a bloodied optic nerve halfway down its cheek. Jake fired the pistol. Ellen heard a ‘ping’ as the bullet ricocheted off the zombie’s helmet. Jake swore under his breath and fired again. The second bullet hit the zombie in the shoulder. It staggered back, but then kept on coming, moving ever closer. Other figures were now visible in the corridor behind the first. Ellen could see at least two, and there were several others moving into position behind them. She brought up the shotgun, which suddenly felt very heavy. She crouched down, balancing the shotgun on her knees and pointing the barrel down the corridor.

  Jake let off a third shot, which hit the first zombie right in the middle of its face. It roared and teetered for a moment before toppling to the ground, giving Ellen a clear view of the two coming up behind it. She aimed the barrel at them and pulled the trigger.

  Smoke plumed from the barrel. The kickback sent Ellen onto her back in the corridor, still clutching the smoking shotgun. She struggled to sit up. The two zombies behind the first were both gone, bodies sprawled over the first in the corridor. “Hey, I got them!” Ellen said in surprise.

  “No time to get cocky,” Jake said. “Plenty more to take their place.”

  As the smoke dissipated, Ellen saw what Jake was referring to. A crowd of zombies lurched down the corridor. Ellen couldn’t even see how many there were – she could count at least six, and there seemed to be more behind them. They moved forward unsteadily, but to Ellen the movement looked synchronised – almost as if they were marching.

  Jake fired three shots in succession and took two of them out then ducked back to reload his pistol. “Little help here!” he yelled.

  Ellen crouched down again and brought up the shotgun, braced her feet, aimed the barrel, and fired. The kickback sent the butt of the gun hard into her shoulder, but she managed to hold her position. The head of one of the zombies exploded in a spray of gore. Its body was thrown back, colliding into the zombie behind it and knocking it off its feet. Ellen pressed herself into the wall to reload the shotgun. She heard Jake firing off a few more shots. Beside her, the door to the barracks room opened and Allison hurried out, followed closely by Neeta. The two of them headed for the pile of weapons. Allison selected a shovel.

  The zombies were very close now. Jake rattled off the last three cartridges in his pistol, moving back down the corridor so he was out of range of the front zombies to reload. “You need to be faster with that shotgun, babe!” he yelled.

  “I’m doing my best!” Ellen shouted. “I’ve never used one of these before.”

  “Do you mind?” said Neeta, taking the shotgun out of Ellen’s hands. Ellen was too surprised to speak. “I’ve used these things before,” Neeta added.

  Allison ran at the nearest zombie, which reached out to try to make a grab for her. She smacked it on the side of the face with the shovel. It staggered backwards but then righted itself and came at her again. Allison turned the blade of the shovel sideways and drove it hard into the rotten flesh of the zombie’s neck. Its head dangled for a moment before the weight pulled the head clean off the body and it dropped to the ground with a wet thunk. The body remained standing for a moment, as if it was trying to figure out how to move forward, before toppling over. Allison dodged backwards, out of the path of the falling zombie.

  “Allison, duck!” Neeta yelled. Allison dove to the ground. The blast blew three zombies back. Neeta fired again. Two more zombies disappeared.

  Ellen stared at Neeta, who stood clutching the smoking shotgun in her hands. “How did you learn to do that?”

  Neeta offered a shy grin. “I grew up on a farm. My uncle used to take me shooting. Do you have ammo for this thing?”

  Ellen tossed her the box of shot gun ammunition. Neeta ducked back against the wall to reload. The zombies at the front had all been taken out, but more were already making their way down the corridor.

  “Just how many more of these things are there?” Allison muttered, stepping forward with the s
hovel.

  “I don’t think I want to know.” Ellen inspected the pile of weapons and selected a kitchen carving knife.

  “Pete!” Allison bellowed. “Put that bloody thing down and help us, will you?”

  Ellen glanced behind her. Pete was in the corridor filming the zombie fight. “No one’s going to believe this shit unless I film it,” he said.

  “We’ll not survive to tell anyone about it unless we take out all these things,” said Allison.

  Jake fired off another two shots, taking out another zombie making its way down the corridor. A moment later, Neeta fired twice blasting back four more zombies.

  Allison and Ellen advanced with their melee weapons. They got into the rhythm of combat. Jake fired and then Neeta fired, and as they were reloading Allison and Ellen rushed to any zombie that was still moving to take it down. Ellen found the knife was most effective when plunged directly into the head. For those zombies wearing helmets, she drove the knife in under their chins and angled it up into their brains, but she had to do it fast, before the zombies could fight her.

  Eventually all the zombies were taken out. Ellen looked back and tried to count the number of corpses littering the corridor; there had to be at least twenty of them. She was sweating profusely and breathing heavily; Allison was in the same state. Jake and Neeta still clutched weapons. Pete was still filming. Nathan peered out from behind the door of the barracks, face pale. Everyone seemed to be staring at Ellen and Allison. Ellen looked at Allison and noticed her face, hair and clothing were smeared with black ichor from the zombies, and for the first time realised she must be in the same state. The smell was appalling.

  Ellen dropped the knife to the floor. “Just as well we got the shower working again,” she said weakly.

  “Before anyone calls dibs on the shower we need to check out the weapons store,” Jake said. “Let’s see if the battle we just had to endure was worth it.”

  CHAPTER 30

  “Well, we scored big with the weapons.” Jake pulled an MG81 machine gun from the pile stacked up on one of the tables in the refectory.

  Neeta sifted through the pile, which also contained Luger and Mauser handguns and Gewehr and Karabina rifles. She picked up one of the rifles and tested its sight. “I assume we also have ammunition?”

  Jake pointed at another pile, where boxes of ammunition were neatly stacked. “Plenty.”

  Pete and Nathan carried Daniel into the room, setting him down at one of the other tables, his bad leg propped up on a chair. Daniel took in the pile of weapons with admiration. “The mission was successful, I see,” he said.

  “We have enough weaponry to take out an army of zombies,” Jake said.

  Nathan collapsed into a chair, groaning as he rubbed his back. “Just as well since we’ll probably have to.”

  Ellen entered the refectory from the kitchen, carrying a bowl from which steam wafted up tantalisingly. “Food’s ready, guys. Allison’s boiling the kettle, so if you want tea or coffee, go grab yourself a bowl.” She put the bowl and a spoon down in front of Daniel.

  “This smells amazing,” Daniel said.

  “It’s only fried corned beef and beans, but it’s hot,” Ellen said. “Do you want coffee?”

  “I’ll go for tea, thanks. Two sugars.”

  “Going for tea, not coffee? We’ll make a Brit out of you yet,” Ellen teased and went back to the kitchen to get Daniel a drink.

  There was a flurry of activity as everyone collected food and drinks and settled down in the refectory to eat. After he’d taken a few mouthfuls of food Daniel said, “So the weapons raid was a success. What about the electronics storage room? Anything useful in that?”

  Jake shook his head. “There was a bunch of screws and nails, a few small tools, some broken bits and pieces.”

  “Nothing that will help us fix the radio?” said Daniel.

  “That’s the bad news,” Ellen said. “We might have weapons, but we still can’t call for help.”

  “So what’s our plan?” asked Daniel. “Do we have a plan?”

  “We need to get down to that hangar,” Jake said. “If there’s a plane that still flies, it’s our ticket out of here.”

  “But how?” said Allison. “There are two ways down there, and they’re both inaccessible. The stairs down from the west corridor are blocked, and the lift in the east corridor still doesn’t work, even with the generator working.”

  “It should be easy enough to climb down the elevator shaft if we lower a rope down there,” Jake said.

  “But the lift is stuck at the bottom,” Allison said. “How do we get past it?”

  “Here’s what I propose.” Jake put down his mug of coffee and leaned forward. “The elevator car will have a service hatch at the top. Someone shimmies down the shaft and takes off the hatch, gets into the elevator car and then opens the doors, so we have clear access to that lower floor.”

  “Are you volunteering for this job then?” said Nathan.

  “As far as having the strength to shimmy up and down a rope, I would be the most logical choice,” said Jake. “But I weigh nearly two hundred pounds, before equipment. I think we need someone small and light to do this. First of all, they’ll be walking around on top of the elevator car. And second, if there’s any trouble, the others might need to be able to haul them out of the shaft.”

  “That doesn’t sound very reassuring,” Ellen said. “I suppose you’re still looking at me for this mad mission.”

  Jake looked her up and down. “You’re small and wiry. The best person for the job. And you.” Jake pointed at Neeta.

  “I’m not agreeing to this,” Neeta protested. “I’m a film producer, not an Arctic explorer.” She looked straight into the camera lens Pete had focused on her face.

  “That’s great,” Pete said from behind the camera. “A nice soulful look.”

  “Not often I get a chance to be in front of the camera,” Neeta said.

  “You two are the smallest.” Jake looked from Neeta to Ellen and back again. “The two of you must weigh no more than two hundred pounds between you.”

  “If Neeta doesn’t want to go I’m happy to go alone,” Ellen said.

  “Nobody goes anywhere alone,” Jake said. “For all we know the hangar’s crawling with those Nazi bastards. We all need to watch each other’s backs.”

  “So what, exactly, is the objective of this mission?” Ellen asked. “Once we get past the lift, of course.”

  “Just reconnaissance,” Jake said. “You find the hangar and the boat room. You check out whether there’s any usable form of transport down there, you come back and report.”

  “And what if the place is crawling with zombies?” Neeta asked.

  “You’ll have weapons with you, and you take them out. I’ve seen what a good shot you are. That’s another reason why you’re good for this mission.”

  Neeta sighed. “Oh very well. I’ll do it. But I want reassurances that the rest of you are going to be hanging around near the lift shaft. If we start yelling, you come to help.”

  Jake grinned. “Of course. Nobody leaves behind a member of the team.”

  “We can’t all hang about near the lift shaft,” said Allison. “We can’t leave the rest of the base unguarded.”

  “I’d like to spend a few hours by that machine, if someone can help me into the lab,” said Daniel.

  “I know we talked about this, but we should see if the penicillin helps first,” Ellen said. “We don’t know what that machine will do.”

  Daniel shrugged. “I’m enough of a realist to understand that the infection is probably too far gone to be treated. If the machine doesn’t work I might be dead anyway.”

  “Or it might turn you into a zombie,” said Nathan.

  “If it does, you’ve got enough weapons to take me out,” Daniel said. “I don’t see what I’ve got to lose at this point.”

  “We’ll set up a camp bed in the lab and put you on it,” Allison said. “Nathan, you and I can
do that and get Daniel settled on it, and we can keep an eye on the south side of the base. Jake, you and Pete can stand watch by the lift shaft in case Neeta and Ellen need assistance.” She stood up and started to collect the empty bowls. “Let’s just clear this stuff away and get to it. We’ve all got jobs to do”

  Half an hour later, the small group gathered at the lift shaft. Neeta and Ellen had equipped themselves with climbing harnesses from the equipment salvaged from the wrecked plane, and they each had a head torch. They both had a weapons holster holding a Mauser handgun. Neeta also had the shotgun secured to her back. Ellen had opted for a rifle. They also each had a crowbar from the equipment store, and Ellen had a variety of tools in a cloth bag hanging from her belt.

  At the open lift shaft, Jake leaned over and shone his torch down. “The elevator car’s about fifty feet down. You’ll have to climb down onto it and then remove the service hatch.”

  Neeta sighed. “Let’s do this. Before I chicken out.”

  “OK then,” said Jake. He held out the rope. He tied one end to Ellen’s harness, standing very close to her as he did so. She could smell the sweat from his body, and she watched the muscles in his biceps flex as he fastened the rope. Her face grew hot, and she looked away.

  He stepped away from her to tie a rope onto Neeta’s harness. “Shouldn’t we be tied together?” Neeta asked nervously.

  “I wouldn’t recommend it,” Jake said. “When one goes, they take the other with them.” He finished tying Neeta’s rope and stepped back.

  “So what does the other end get tied to?”

  Jake leaned into the open shaft, shining his torch around. Ellen found herself staring at his backside. He retreated back into the corridor and said, “There aren’t many hand holds, but there’s a steel framework in place to hold the elevator. I suggest that Pete and I each hold the end of one of the ropes to lower you girls down. When you get down to the top of the elevator car, we’ll tie the end of the ropes to the frame and you’ll have to release your end. Leave the ropes in the shaft. If you do find some working transportation down there, we’ll need to get everyone down the elevator shaft.”