Dead America The Second Week (Book 7): Dead America: Carolina Front, Part 4

by Slaton, Derek

  He surveyed the myriad of broken windows in the building facing Terrell, noting a skywalk from his floor across. That could be handy for him to quickly get across, as long as everything was unlocked.

  He raised his scope to his eye. “Where are you, motherfucker?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Terrell and Phil took up positions on either side of the window facing the building with the snipers. Miles stood in the hallway at the far end, just inside the room that the other three were using to get themselves down to the second floor.

  The Captain tightened the strip of denim around his palm before gripping the edge of the one-way mirror they’d liberated from the office. “Okay, ready?” he asked, and Phil nodded, taking the other side. Terrell lifted his radio to his mouth. “In position, Coleman,” he said.

  “Ten-four, Captain, go ahead,” the Corporal replied.

  The duo lifted the glass, and before they could even prop it up in the window frame, it shattered following two cracks.

  “Fuck me, there are two of them,” Phil breathed, staring down at the two little pieces of glass left in his hands.

  Terrell nodded, and pressed himself against the wall, and then at the sound of another bullet, peeked around the frame to see a body fall out of a window across the way. There were more cracks, but they were aimed at the building alongside, into a line of windows.

  “Go!” the Captain cried, and he and Phil ran down the hallway. Miles ducked into the office, waving to Jacob who stood next to a busted window, holding thick rope around his waist as he braced himself against the wall.

  Terrell grabbed the stairwell door as Phil tore into the office, and jerked it open, diving inside as Phil slammed the office door behind him. Zombies poured into the hallway, and they shoved a desk against the flimsy door before running for the window.

  “Mario and Vince are already down, go, go!” Jacob urged, and Miles swung out over the ledge and slid down the rope. Phil followed, and Terrell clapped Jacob on the shoulder before heading down himself.

  “-what the everloving fuck, man?!” Phil was screaming as the Captain hit the floor. He caught the rope and pulled it in, dropping it to the floor before hanging out the window again. Jacob hung from the sill on the floor above, but before he could drop down, a bullet hit him in the back, flesh tearing away and causing his body to plummet to the ground. The window frame exploded and Terrell threw himself into Miles, slamming them both to the floor. Phil cried out as a bullet punched through his shoulder, and he fell down next to Mario, who was already on his stomach, hands over his head.

  “Where’s Jake?!” Miles cried.

  The Captain shook his head. “They shot him out of the window,” he replied, motioning to the door. “We need to get into the hallway!”

  “Phil!” Miles crawled over to him, clamping a hand down on his friend’s wound. “We gotta move, then I can look at that, okay?”

  He nodded jerkily, and winced as he rolled over onto his stomach, using his good arm to drag his way along the floor.

  “Fuck, they got Vince,” Miles groaned.

  Phil shook his head. “No, Mario got Vince,” he grunted as he moved.

  Terrell narrowed his eyes.

  “He fucking attacked me, as soon as we got down here!” Mario hissed over his shoulder as he scampered into the hallway.

  “Vince wouldn’t do that!” Phil groaned, and Terrell was inclined to agree. He hadn’t known this crew for very long, but he highly doubted that the terrified man had instigated anything.

  Miles shook his head. “What happened?” he asked as he helped Phil into the hallway, leaning him up against one of the walls. Terrell leapt to his feet as soon as he was clear of the office, double-checking the stairwell door to make sure it was secure, and then heading in the other direction to make sure there were no zombies lurking about.

  “He fuckin’ attacked me!” Mario’s voice carried down the long corridor. “He was crazed! I thought he turned into one of those things!”

  Phil let out a deep groan of pain as Terrell returned from his sweep, Miles inspecting his shoulder.

  “Bullet went straight through,” the latter said, and took off his button-down shirt, tearing it into strips. As he worked, he turned to Mario. “You think Vince was bitten and didn’t tell anyone?”

  Mario shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Terrell studied his face, unconvinced. He pursed his lips as he studied the man’s face, his smooth unworried brow. It was not the face of a man mourning the death of his comrade. Either Mario had killed Vince on purpose, or he was that heartless that he didn’t give a shit he was dead.

  Either way, the Captain didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  As soon as Terrell raised his mirror, Coleman was ready and watched carefully where the snipers were popping out of the other building. He fired immediately into the farthest one, catching him and sending the body tumbling down out of the window to the zombies below. He ran across the office as the other sniper fired into the windows where he’d been standing.

  Glass exploded everywhere, and he tried to get a read on where the main sniper was, but there was too much going on. One of the other buildings on the far side had another shooter, and Coleman ducked around the other end of the wall of windows. He peered through his scope and located that sniper, putting a bullet between his eyes.

  But the one Terrell needed him to get was still in that building. He was going to have to get over there.

  The Corporal hurried back out into the hallway, knowing he needed to act fast. He peered through the small window leading into the skywalk across to the other building, but there was no movement inside. The door was miraculously unlocked, and Coleman pushed inside, hurrying past the windows to avoid detection. As he made it across into the other building, a guy’s voice echoed down the hallway.

  “-fucker’s got a sniper, man!” he bellowed. “I think I got him, but he took out everyone but me… no, I don’t know what’s going on with Miles and his shits… well I was too busy trying not to fucking die!”

  Coleman crept silently down the hallway, readying his handgun and his knife as he neared the office at the end.

  “I don’t know!” the redneck cried into whatever device he was using to communicate with his higher ups. “I didn’t know there was gonna be another sniper-” he paused, grunting. “Yes, sir. I’m gonna-”

  There was a metallic clang as Coleman accidentally kicked something in the hallway, something that sounded suspiciously like a paint can. He winced, and fell into a fighting stance.

  “Shit,” the redneck blurted, “somebody’s here.”

  The Corporal decided that he didn’t want whoever was on the other side of that line knowing what was going on, and went on the offensive. He took a deep breath and dove into the room, firing his gun as he fell into a roll on the linoleum.

  The sniper cried out in alarm, swinging his rifle around as he took a bullet to the stomach. Coleman sprang to his feet and launched himself forward, knife flailing, and the redneck raised his rifle just in time to block the Corporal’s arm. They wrestled for a moment, until the sniper reeled back and slammed up with the gun, catching Coleman directly in the nose.

  He grunted and slammed his fist into the belly wound, jabbing twice. The sniper screamed in pain, and fell to one knee, and Coleman slammed his knife down into the top of the man’s head.

  “Arnie?” a voice cried from the headset that had clattered to the ground in the scuffle. “Shit, Boss, I think they got him-”

  The Corporal slammed his boot down on the little device, smashing it to pieces. He pulled his radio from his belt and took up position in the window, surveying the area.

  “Captain, the snipers are dealt with,” he said. “How’s it going on your end?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Terrell lifted his radio to his lips. “Good to hear, bud,” he replied, shaking his head. “We got boned coming from upstairs… there are only four of
us left.”

  “Shit,” Coleman came back, “how’s the zombie situation in there?”

  The Captain pressed his hand against the stairwell door, listening to the thundering bodies on the other side. “They might have flooded the top floor, but they’re still all over the stairs. We’re not getting down that way.”

  “There are zombies fucking everywhere outside still,” Coleman said. “I think those trucks had a lot more in them than we’d originally thought.”

  Terrell shook his head. “I think we’re going to have to do the same as we did upstairs,” he said. “What’s the hostile situation on the other side of the building?”

  “You’ve got more zombies on one side than the other,” came the reply. “I can pick off some of them but I don’t know how many are in behind.”

  “Hold for now, in case it gets hairy,” Terrell replied. “I don’t want to draw anything with noise unless absolutely necessary.”

  “Ten four,” Coleman said.

  Miles drew his bottom lip between his teeth as he finished patching up Phil. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “The big explosion happened on the stairwell side,” Terrell mused. “So if we do what we did upstairs, open up the door and then barricade in an office, enough of them might flood in so that they’re occupied while we jump down to the ground.”

  “Might,” Mario scoffed.

  Terrell ignored him. “It’s all we’ve got. Coleman is going to cover us.”

  Miles nodded. “Okay, you guys get into the office, I’ll do the stairwell door and you be ready to barricade us in when I come back though,” he said.

  “You sure?” the Captain asked.

  “Yeah, give you a break from bein’ the hero, huh?” Miles replied with a thin smile that seemed forced. Terrell simply nodded, and helped Phil to his feet.

  “You gonna be able to do this?” he asked.

  The wounded man nodded, shrugging his arm out of the soldier’s grip. “As able as I can be,” he said, and followed him back out of the hallway. Terrell got ready to shoot out the window while Mario and Phil stood ready at the door to cover Miles as he ran back in.

  The man in question counted down from three, and then threw open the stairwell door, tearing back down the hallway full-tilt towards them. As he dove inside, Phil slammed the door and Mario shoved a desk behind it as Terrell shot out the window.

  Automatic fire suddenly peppered the office, and they all hit the deck.

  “Cap! Hostiles on the ground!” Coleman cried through the radio, and then there were a few crack’s as he fired on them.

  Terrell grunted and clicked his radio. “Yeah, thanks,” he replied, sarcasm evident in his tone.

  “They’ve got cover, the bastards,” the Corporal replied.

  “Do what you can, we’re gonna try to move,” Terrell informed him, and clipped the radio back to his belt.

  “What the fuck are we gonna do?” Mario demanded.

  Miles glanced at the office door, visibly shaking from the force of the zombies smashing into it. “We can’t go back that way.”

  Terrell pulled his sidearm and handed it to Miles. “We’ll provide cover fire, you two get down there and get behind the cement medians off to the right.”

  “Fuck that,” Mario began, but Miles grabbed his shoulder.

  “Listen, if you won’t trust him to cover you, trust me,” he hissed. “You get your asses down there and wait for us.”

  Phil shimmied forward with the rope, looping it around a thick leg of the heavy steel table along the far wall. He crawled back to the window, and Terrell and Miles sat up with their backs on either side of it.

  The Captain counted down from three, and then they turned, firing into the alcoves and areas where they’d been shot from. Phil slid down the rope, Mario hurrying behind him, and the two dove behind the cement median. Terrell nodded to Miles, who slid down as he fired, and rolled out of the way just as the enemies began to fire again.

  A body flopped out from behind a truck, having likely been taken out by Coleman, and the Captain stayed behind the wall as more bullets peppered the office.

  The desk holding the door shut began to creak forward, and he groaned as the door inched open, rotting hands clawing their way into the gap.

  “Of fucking course,” he muttered, and glanced down at Miles.

  As his tentative new companion leaned out to fire, Terrell took his chance and flung himself from the window. He caught sight of the zombies breaking through the door just as he grasped the rope, and fired wildly behind him as he slid, diving behind the cement median as soon as he hit the ground.

  Corpses flopped over the window ledge and smacked into the ground next to them, writhing and screaming as they tried to get to their feet.

  “Where do we go?!” Phil screamed, pointing to their other side where a wall of zombies closed in. Coleman seemed to be taking some out, but it wasn’t enough, they just kept coming.

  Terrell leapt up and smashed the window of the building’s first floor, quickly checking the room before waving the wounded man forward. Bullets smacked into the wall above them, but soon enough their enemies were battling their own zombies. Miles gave Mario a boost inside, and then he and Terrell followed. They dragged over a nearby shelf to try to close themselves in, but it seemed the horde was passing by the window in favor of the Boss’ shooting lackeys.

  “Well, genius, now we’re still trapped in the same fucking building,” Mario snapped.

  Terrell took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from shooting the asshole right there. “Let’s sweep this floor, see what we’re dealing with.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Clear,” Miles declared as the quartet met back in the hallway. The stairwell, of course, was full but secure, and one of the warehouse bays had been blown apart, but the door to the main hallway was locked tight.

  “We’re stuck on the first floor now, what’s it looking like out there?” Terrell asked into his radio.

  “Progress, right?” Coleman replied brightly. “Where you guys jumped down is crawling with zombies, so going back that way is a no go. The other side is thinner now but I’m seeing movement of the human variety. There’s at least a half dozen waiting for you down there, by the line of crates by the runway.”

  “Wonderful,” Terrell replied. He peeked through the slats in one of the conference rooms and noted a small outbuilding kitty-corner to the building. He raised the radio again. “There’s a maintenance building outside… if I could get to that then it would only be a thirty-yard sprint to catch the guys behind those crates… you think you could distract them enough?”

  “Oh you know me, Cap, a big ol’ distraction,” the Corporal came back. “Just say the word.”

  Terrell nodded. “Be ready,” he said, and then returned the radio to his belt. He turned and motioned to the open broom closet at the far end of the room. “Hey, Miles, how much ammo you have left?”

  “None,” his companion replied, pulling the mag from Terrell’s handgun.

  The Captain pulled out a broom, breaking the handle over his knee. “Run into one of those offices, see if there’s black permanent marker.”

  “What the…” Mario threw his hands up as Miles hurried back out into the hallway.

  Terrell broke another broomstick. “Miles and I are going to make a run for that outbuilding, take cover, and then flank the rednecks on the runway,” he explained. “You and Phil are gonna provide decoy cover.”

  “Decoy cover?” Mario snapped. “What the fuck is decoy cover?”

  “We don’t have any guns, so you two will be in the window on the other corner of the building, making them think we do,” Terrell said, as Miles returned with a handful of markers.

  “Smart idea,” he said, pulling the cap off of one with his teeth and handing the rest to the Captain.

  Mario shook his head. “No, the smart idea would be giving us that rifle on your shoulder so we could provide actual cover.”

  Terrel
l paused, weighing how he wanted to respond to that. He still didn’t trust this asshole. And for sure he wasn’t about to give him their only gun. But he was tired of this power struggle.

  “We’re gonna need it more than you,” Miles cut in, saving Terrell the trouble of answering. He handed the blackened handle out to his annoyed comrade, and Mario snatched it from him in a huff.

  Phil took the other one, giving the Captain a salute. “We’ll cover you as best we can,” he said, cracking a half smile through the pain his shoulder.

  “Thanks,” Terrell replied with a smile of encouragement.

  Miles rifled around in the broom closet and emerged with a screwdriver. “I guess this is as good as it’s going to get for me,” he said with a good-natured shrug.

  “Okay, you two get into position, and once we’re clear wait for us to come around and pick you up,” Terrell instructed. “The zombies will probably end up circling around to your end of the building, so stay put until we come for you.”

  Phil nodded. “I ain’t making a run for it through those things,” he assured him.

  Mario simply grunted as they headed off to their post.

  Terrell peeked through the blinds again. “You ready?” he asked.

  “As ready as I’m gonna be,” Miles replied, tightening his fist around the screwdriver.

  The Captain raised his radio to his lips. “Distraction time, Corporal.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Terrell gently slid the window open and punched out the screen, and waited a beat before Coleman fired. He leapt out, tearing for the maintenance building, Miles hot on his heels. He peered over at the window where Mario and Phil stood, silhouettes ducking up and down with their broom handles looking enough like rifles to be intimidating.

  The Captain peeked around the corner and saw a row of rednecks in various stages of plaid firing up at Coleman’s position with automatic weapons.