Zombie Invasion

by R. G. Richards

  Sergeant Moore peered into the darkness in search of faces for the voices. Toward the back of the room, he saw shadows. The shadows moved forward a step and stopped.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello.”

  “Hello?” Sergeant Moore returned the word to the darkness. No response came from the shadows. Everyone gathered around Moore.

  “What do you think?” asked Pierce.

  “I can’t tell, it’s too dark,” said Moore.

  “Could they be kids?” asked Jodi.

  Sergeant Moore rubbed the stubble on his face in deep thought. He tried again, “hello?”

  “Hello,” the first said.

  “Hello,” said the next in the same childlike metallic voice. Both remained positioned in the shadows.

  “Forget this,” said the soldier next to Pierce. He put his gun on the floor and held up his hands, moving closer. “Hello, I’m a soldier. I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Ross. Can you tell me your names?”

  “Ross,” hissed Moore.

  Ross ignored him and moved closer with his hands above his head in a nonthreatening manner. He fell into the shadow with the others. Bester moved up to join him. He too fell into shadow while the rest of their party fixed itself to the wall near the door.

  As both soldiers advanced another step, the shadows sprang at them with a tremendous leap. The men fell to the ground, screaming.

  “Hold your fire!” the word came from Moore. He motioned them forward and they gathered around and hit at the fighting youths who clawed and bit at the helpless soldiers. When they separated them, they fired. The first zombie boy fell immediately. The second dodged the assault. He leaped to a wall, bounced off, and with super strength and speed, landed on Ross and tore him apart. The zombie flung a piece away, then another, and chewed on the rest.

  The soldiers jumped back. “Fire,” said Moore. Jodi stood with the others and fired point blank at both Ross and the zombie devouring him. Both thrashed about and then stopped. Moore came forward and put a bullet in the head of each.

  All eyes turned to Bester.

  “No! No! I’m fine. See, look, I’m fine!” Bester’s pleas fell on deaf ears. They raised their guns and fired.

  Moore moved to the youths, examining them. “These are the kids that went to the bathroom with the woman earlier. My god. We have to find her.”

  “There is a little girl too,” said Jodi.

  “What?”

  “A girl: long brown hair, so high, about five or six. She came in with the others.”

  “Oh lord!” Moore put his hand to his head and fell to his knees. “Spread out and find them.” His squad had now been reduced to him, Pierce, and a female civilian.

  Sergeant Moore was on his knees coming to grip with the madness life had become. He heard screams and then gunfire. He got to his feet and bolted out of the room with his rifle. The sound of gunfire increased. Around a corner he went. He passed by dead zombie soldiers, not stopping to identify them. Their distorted face and the blood were enough for him. He continued around in an arc, making it back to the first room they came into.

  Jodi and Pierce pointed weapons at a desk. Something was there, moving. He stood with them and aimed his weapon. “What you got?”

  “The woman,” Pierce said.

  “Miriam,” said Jodi, clearing up the confusion.

  “All right, Miriam,” said Moore. “Come on out, girl. Let’s have a look at you.”

  To his amazement, the woman stood. Red eyes peered from behind a dirty face. A low guttural sound came from her as if she found it hard to breathe. She glared at them.

  “Well,” said Moore, at an obvious loss for words.

  “Well,” the zombie repeated in a deep voice no longer that of a woman.

  “What?” Moore asked. He looked at the others, but kept his gun on the woman like the rest.

  “What?” the words came slow and long.

  “Enough of this, blast her,” said Jodi.

  “Fire,” said Moore.

  At the same time they fired, Miriam performed an unbelievable feat, leaping in the air and clinging to the ceiling. She hissed down at them. They fired at the ceiling. Miriam dropped down, mouth wide, aimed at Moore. They continued their fire and added a scream of their own. Miriam fell at his feet. Moore, filled with adrenaline, took his gun and emptied his clip in the body. Green goo spread on the floor, giving off a foul stench.

  Chapter Twenty: Jodi

  Jodi, Pierce, and Moore heard a noise further back in the building. They thought their job was finished, when they heard the noise, they knew they weren’t. They raised their guns and retraced their previous steps. Around the corner they went. The disgusting task of having to walk over their dead was before them. Body parts once belonging to brave guardsmen lay strewn in pieces on a cold, once-white floor. Now the floor smelled of death and held a crimson tinge to it. Jodi looked at an arm and a leg, they didn’t go together, one white the other black. They must have died side by side, fighting. Brave boys, she thought. She was last to move past the area and gave a last gesture of prayer before rejoining the others. Next, they went inside a conference room. In the back, they saw a closet with slits going halfway to the top on double doors. Two slits were damaged and blood was on one door.

  “Come to momma, baby,” said a female voice with a deep metallic tone to it.

  They saw no one. Then, one of the closet doors opened and out walked a little girl. The girl clutched a teddy bear and slowly moved toward the voice.

  “Come to momma.”

  Pierce moved toward the girl. Jodi held up her hand. “What?”

  “She might be a zombie,” said Jodi. Her expression concerned Pierce, he halted.

  “Hey,” shouted Sergeant Moore.

  The girl stopped and looked, her face riddled with uneasiness as if mulling over a tough decision.

  “Come,” said the voice.

  Jodi looked ahead of the girl, but saw no one. Carefully she moved around the room, not toward the girl, but at an angle to see who spoke. Her first glimpse revealed a woman in shadow. The woman held her arms out toward the little girl, but did not move out of the shadows.

  “Zombie!”

  Jodi shouted and ran for the girl. Moore and Pierce ran for the girl. To make matters worse, the shadowy figure ran for the girl. Jodi ran and saw everything occur in slow motion. She was farthest from the girl and would be the last to reach her. The girl turned to see Jodi running at her. Fear flooded her face. She turned to see Moore and Pierce advancing on her as well. A howl forced her to turn back to the figure in shadow. The figure stepped forward into the light, it was her mother.

  “Mommy!”

  The girl made a motion to run to her mother. The mother moved with incredible speed, her mouth open, eyes red, and teeth crooked and sharp. She raced for the girl. If not for Moore, she would have had her.

  Zombie Mom smashed into Moore, who smashed into the little girl and both went flying into the wall. With great effort, Jodi stopped before smashing into the zombie. The creature had Sergeant Moore on the floor and with an easy pull, she removed an arm and munched on it. Moore lay writhing on the floor, trying to stop the flow of blood at his missing arm, screaming in pain. Jodi used her gun to hit Zombie Mom in her head. The zombie fell back to a wall, her prize gripped firmly in her mouth. She lay on the floor, content to take a bite from her prize. She snarled at Jodi before devouring the flesh.

  Jodi reached down to attend to Moore. Pierce scrambled for his rifle.

  Moore held his hand up, “I’m okay, I’m not bit.” He winced and put his hand back over his wound, attempting to stem the crimson flow.

  Zombie Mom finished her treat and stood to charge at Jodi’s back. Pierce fired twice, wounding her. She howled at him, turned, with drool hanging from her mouth, then ran. Her burst of speed was too much for Pierce, he fired wildly, but missed her with his spray.

  Pierce went to Moore. The man screamed in pain, clutching his shoulder.
Jodi applied pressure best she could and hoped it helped.

  “Are you okay, sir?” asked Pierce.

  “Hell no, you fool, do I look all right?”

  “Sorry, sir.” Pierce knelt. “What can I do?”

  “Where is she?” asked Moore, his breathing rapid. Pain gripped him and he yelled.

  “She went past me so fast, I had to hold my fire to keep from hitting you two.”

  “Where’s the girl?” asked Jodi.

  “Hey,” said Pierce, “come here.”

  The little girl was standing against the wall, tears streaming down her face. Unlike Moore, she made no sound. With hand waves of encouragement, she ventured in their direction at a cautious pace.

  Jodi stood and held out anxious hands. The girl looked at the bloody hands and stopped in her tracks. She searched the woman’s face, as if determining whether she would be safe.

  “It’s okay,” said Jodi. “I won’t hurt you. We need to go and we want you to come with us. I’m Jodi. What is your name?”

  The girl searched her face. “Tammy. I want my momma.”

  Jodi gave a warm smile. “That wasn’t your momma. She hurt your momma like she hurt my friend. Come with us so she won’t hurt you.”

  Tammy searched again. “I want my momma.”

  “I know,” said Jodi. “I want my momma, too.”

  Tammy looked at the struggling man holding his shoulder.

  “You dropped your Teddy,” said Jodi. “Go get it and we can leave. All right?”

  Tammy turned and went to get her bear. She returned quickly and gave Jodi her free hand. Moore struggled to his feet, trying not to yell out and frightened the child. Pierce helped on one side and Jodi the other. Together, they walked to the front with Tammy in tow.

  At the front of the building, they stopped and gaped at the broken door. Apparently, Zombie Mom crashed through the door and was somewhere outside the building, in the woods. Jodi and Pierce had their rifles slung over their shoulders. Each stopped and pulled their weapon before going further.

  “Tammy, stay with me, baby,” said Jodi. “Put your hand around my waist.” She needed her free hand to aim and fire her rifle.

  “Okay,” said Tammy. She kept a tight grip on her bear with her right hand and held on to Jodi’s shirt with the left, slightly behind Jodi. Her face showed worry and her eyes looked about in disbelief, searching for danger.

  Jodi gave another smile for encouragement, Tammy returned her smile, but kept searching.

  They exited the community building. Carefully, they looked for the zombie. Seeing no sign of her, they hurried with Moore across the road to an adjacent building, the North Carolina National Guard compound. They went inside.

  “There,” said Moore. “Set me there, I have to call this in and we have to find that woman.”

  “Zombie,” said Jodi, correcting him. She looked at Tammy. No need to get her hopes up, her mother was long dead. The thing they saw was not human, not even its voice. She was a zombie and had to be stopped.

  “Get my radio, Pierce, before I pass out and bleed to death.”

  “Sergeant!”

  Jodi hinted with her eyes, reminding him of the underage girl in the room.

  “Sorry. Pierce, radio, now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Pierce went to the cabinet to retrieve the radio. Jodi broke Tammy’s grip and set her near the man. It was necessary to take a look outside. What if Zombie Mom returned? Jodi mirrored Pierce at the row of weapons. She wanted an uzi, but settled for what looked to be a machine gun. Squeeze the trigger and spray, what a great weapon this will make. She grabbed the gun.

  Jodi walked outside with her new toy and stood between the community building and the guard compound. An expression formed beneath her nose. It spread over her face. Her eyes grew big. She raced back inside the compound. Pierce had retrieved the radio and set it up in front of Moore.

  “Pierce?” she called him to the door. She patiently waited until they made eye contact, then he came to her. She spoke near whisper level to keep Tammy from hearing. “How many people are normally here at this time?”

  “What?”

  “How many?” she asked softy.

  “Um, I don’t know.”

  “Think.”

  “Um, our squad has twelve. I would say maybe another three for park staff and half a dozen campers at most. Why?”

  “Where are they? Do you see any of them? Where the hell has everyone gone?”

  Pierce moved past her to the outside, stopping in the road, looking in all directions. He widened his eyes in surprise. “Holy Hell!”

  Before them stood five buildings, three similar sized buildings to their right, including the guard house in the center, and the largest building, the community center to their left with storage shed next door. Ahead of them, tall trees and a small trail leading into them, and behind that, more trees.

  Pierce pointed his rifle at the storage shed. Jodi nodded her head in agreement. Weapons aimed at the shed as they crept toward it. Pierce kept his gaze forward. Jodi, swiveled her head from side to side, and then looked back, she hated for someone or something to sneak up on her. Her finger was on the trigger and her father taught her how to aim and shoot years ago. With her life at stake, she would mow down any assailant coming for her.

  The door opened with a low groan. Pierce walked inside, Jodi followed. Light filtered in through curtain-less windows, one had two panes broken out. Enough light shone where they could see. Pierce swept right, Jodi left. Each turned for a sweep of the opposite side, not fully trusting their partner’s appraisal. When done, they faced each other, a look of relief on their faces. Horror flooded Jodi’s face, alarming Pierce. His face mirrored hers. Slowly, her eyes rolled upward without her head moving. Pierce followed.

  A shrieking sound came.

  Both aimed high and shot their weapons in rapid fire. Not one, but two zombies fell from beams in the ceiling. Gunfire hit the zombies. The first landed with a thud, bullet holes riddled its body. The second fell but did not charge them. Instead, it burst through a window and disappeared, gunfire trailing it as it went.

  Yelling came from the room during the event, loud yelling. Jodi wanted it to stop, before realizing, the sound came from her. Not only her, but Pierce roared as he fired. She closed her mouth and the noise died. Pierce followed and all was quiet. They ran out the shed and saw the zombie fleeing through the shallow trees ahead of them.

  The zombie ran to an opening as they stood watching. It stopped, standing in a clearing with two people. At first, Jodi feared for them and made a move to charge to their rescue. Pierce caught her arm. Shaking his head, words froze in his throat. Jodi watched. They weren’t human, they were zombies. Together, they moved off, deeper into the woods. Jodi let out a small gasp. Pierce’s gulp was loud enough for her to hear. Each looked at the other.

  They returned to the shed. The dead zombie wore a uniform. Pierce rolled him over to read his name tag. Schuler.

  “Damn.”

  “What?”

  “His wife is in the hospital. She gave birth to triplets. Mike was going to enlist in the army next week to get more money for them. This training session was his last.”

  “Man.”

  “He only had two more days. Damn!” Pierce reached down and yanked on the bit of metal around his former friend’s neck.

  “Come on,” said Jodi.

  Pierce put something in his pocket she couldn’t see. “We have to tell Sergeant Moore. He will know what to do.”

  “We have to check the other buildings first,” said Jodi. “Then, we tell Moore.”

  “Why would we do that?” Pierce’s voice contained a shaky element. It wasn’t there earlier. Was he losing his nerve? Jodi gauged the pulse in his forehead. Going into more buildings was the last thing she wanted to do. Staying out in the open seemed more life affirming, but it had to be done.

  “Secure our perimeter,” she said.

  “Yeah, right. Secure
our perimeter.” Pierce said the words with a frown, as if he should know. His voice was strong and steady. Confidence came back to him.

  With a nod, Jodi followed the soldier to the other side with the three buildings. To the far left they went. Jodi made a point of stopping at the guard house. She kicked in the door and found the remains of a dead man inside. She shot him in the head to be sure then reached on the wall for a clipboard. Snatching a list off the board, she shoved it in her pocket and quickly closed the door to keep from feeling sick. Afterward, they made a quick check of the others, before returning to the center building, National Guard Headquarters.

  Jodi walked through the door relieved. She was still alive and no more zombies had been found.

  “Sergeant!”

  “Calm down, Pierce,” said Moore. Moore lay on a couch holding his shoulder, sweating. Tammy sat next to him, clutching her bear, eyes wide. A woman in uniform tended to Moore’s shoulder, bandaging it.

  “Hey, Tammy,” said Jodi. She gave a warm smile, eliciting one from the child.

  “Hey.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  Tammy gave it thought. Her eyes moved rapidly, then she nodded. Jodi took her hand and led her to a vending machine down the hall. Tammy clutched her bear and followed, eyes searching. Jodi’s eyes danced the same dance. They stopped in front of a soda machine and a snack machine. Jodi patted her pockets, looking for the telltale sign of coins. She remembered her back pocket and pulled out folded bills.

  “My treat. What will it be, young lady?”

  Tammy viewed her choices and pointed to a bag of Doritos. Her hand sidetracked to a Milky Way bar.

  “Sounds good to me.” Jodi unfolded her money. She only had two dollars. A thought occurred to her. “Stand back, Tammy.” She wanted to kick, but glass would go everywhere, instead, she aimed and fired at the locking mechanism.

  Tammy’s covering was unique. Her right hand covered the right ear and the left held on to her bear, which covered the left ear. No scream came from her.

  Racing to their aid was Pierce. Fear danced across the face of a soldier ready for battle. “Where are they?”

  Pierce looked at Jodi. Her gun aimed at the machine. Embarrassment flooded her face, anger his. “Sorry. I just . . . .”