Zommunist Invasion | Book 2 | Snipers

by Picott, Camille

  In an attempt to cover up how much she looked forward to it, she said, “Sure thing, Jock Face.”

  “You don’t stand a chance against my sister.” Jennifer rode up beside them. “Have fun getting trounced, Leo.”

  For some reason, Jennifer winked at him. Her expression was smug. Leo ignored her. It occurred to Cassie they might not be talking about chess, but she couldn’t be certain. Maybe it was an inside joke between them.

  “After dinner?” Leo asked after Jennifer had ridden away. “You said you wanted to play outside under the stars, didn’t you?”

  “I said I didn’t want to play under the stars because I might get eaten by a bear. Or a mountain lion. Or whatever else lives outside. But I guess I know how to shoot now. Can I keep a gun on the table while we play?”

  Leo’s shoulders shook with laughter. “So long as you don’t use it for a chess piece, that won’t be a problem.”

  Chapter 16

  Gordon Gambit

  THEY SPENT THE NEXT two days making bombs under Nonna’s supervision, gathering supplies from the Gonzales farm, and target practice.

  Cassie never dreamed she’d feel comfortable walking around with a rifle over one shoulder, but after long hours of practice with Leo and Anton, she now took one with her anytime she left the cabin. She might not be an expert marksman, but she knew she could defend herself. And not shoot the toes off of her friends.

  She and Leo played chess each night. He couldn’t beat her, of course, but he was starting to play with real strategy and tactics. Cassie spent her days anticipating the evenings with Leo on the cabin porch. Her crush on him was escalating to ridiculous heights, though she did her best to tamp it down. It would help if he wasn’t so damn nice.

  The only thing keeping her from making a complete idiot of herself was Jennifer. Though she and Leo argued like siblings and didn’t appear to be reigniting their relationship, Cassie didn’t think she’d appreciate her little sister flirting with her ex-boyfriend.

  The afternoon of the third day, she, Jennifer, and Amanda had their hour of target practice. After that, Cassie got to work inventorying all the supplies Jim and Bruce and scavenged from the Gonzales house. She was counting bags of black beans when she heard the shout.

  “They’re back.” Anton’s voice echoed through the clearing outside the cabin.

  Cassie hurried outside. Everyone else piled out onto the porch as Lena, Dal, Jim, and Tate rode up the hill on their bikes.

  The group had already gone once to the Craig’s house to spy on the Russians. Lena had learned of a round-up of residents in western Rossi, but it had taken place the day before. Everyone had been frustrated they hadn’t learned of the attack before it happened.

  Today was different. Cassie knew it was soon as Lena and the others arrived back home. Every last one of them pedaled with urgency.

  “What is it?” Leo demanded.

  “There’s another attack planned for tomorrow.” Lena dropped her bike to the ground, breathless from the long ride up Pole Mountain.

  “Where?” Anton said. “When?”

  “Everyone, inside,” Nonna barked.

  Once they were gathered inside the cabin, Lena related everything she had learned. The Soviets were planning yet another round-up. Their target was a tiny town north of Bastopol called Hillsberg.

  “We have to get the word out,” Dal said. “We can save people.”

  “Not if we tip our hand too early,” Leo said. “Lena, what time is the attack on Hillsberg?”

  “Tomorrow morning,” Lena said.

  “Then we make sure we are in position by dawn,” Leo said. “We’ll ambush the Soviets. Dal, you and Lena can warn the people at dawn.”

  “We can’t wait that long,” Dal argued. “That won’t give people enough time to get away.”

  “If we broadcast too soon,” Leo said, “the Soviets could change their plans and attack someplace else. It has to be this way if we’re going to ambush them.”

  He grabbed a stack of auto maps off a book shelf and rifled through them. He found one for Hillsberg and spread it out on the kitchen table.

  “We need to figure out where they’re going to take the people to be infected,” Leo said. “They’ll likely pick a central location for the soldiers to bring the people to. At the Westville round-up, they picked a main highway crossroad. We just have to figure out where that central location will be in Hillsberg.”

  “Downtown square,” Anton said. “Or the high school football field. Those are the best places for a large crowd.”

  “I say we start with the high school,” Bruce said. “At least there are vineyards that grow close to it. That will give us a place to hide for a stake out. There’s no place to hide downtown.”

  “But what if they never show up at the high school?” Tate asked. “Then we’ll have wasted all that time setting up an ambush for nothing.”

  Cassie considered this argument. Leo and the others had gotten lucky when they stumbled onto the round-up in Westville. There was no guarantee they’d get lucky a second time.

  “The Gordon Gambit,” Cassie said.

  Nearby, Stephenson groaned. “Enough with the chess moves, Cas. That way of thinking almost got us killed at Amanda’s house.”

  “That’s not true” Amanda said. “Cassie got us out of the house. It’s not her fault those zombies broke through the window.”

  “What’s the Gordon Gambit?” Leo asked.

  Cassie made an effort not to get technical. She turned the strategy over in her mind, boiling it down to its base form. “In chess, you trick your opponent into taking a poisoned pawn. They think it’s a decent move, but you’re really setting up a double check that turns out to be checkmate.”

  “A poisoned pawn?” Bruce asked.

  “A pawn that looks innocuous, but capturing it sets up the opponent to get creamed in the worst way,” Amanda explained.

  “Basically, we trick the Russians into taking us prisoner,” Cassie said. “We sneak into a house and get ourselves caught. We’re the poisoned pawns. It doesn’t matter that we don’t know where the round-up will be. We’ll let the Soviets take us right to where we need to be.”

  “That’s a terrible idea,” Anton said. “We can’t take any weapons with us if we do that.”

  “Sure, we can,” Cassie countered. “We’ll look like stupid kids to the Russians. We can all shove a few bombs down our pants and hide handguns in our socks and waistbands.”

  “It’s a good idea,” Leo said.

  “What are you talking about?” Anton frowned at his brother. “It’s the dumbest idea ever.”

  Leo opened his mouth to say something, but Cassie cut him off. She’d run all the scenarios in her head in the last thirty seconds. She might be mediocre with a gun, but she excelled at looking three to five moves ahead.

  “We’re at a disadvantage,” she said. “We don’t know where they’re gathering. There’s no way to move in ahead of time and set up an ambush. We could go to the high school like Bruce suggested. But if no one is there? Diverting to downtown will take too long, especially with patrols everywhere. We could have the reverse problem if we chose to stake out downtown. The only way to guarantee we are in the right place at the right time is to get ourselves captured. Then we set off some bombs to cause a distraction, steal guns from the Russians, and attack from the inside.”

  Everyone stared at her as though seeing her for the first time. Except for Leo. His eyes gleamed with pride when he looked at her.

  Leo turned to his younger brother. “Do you have a better plan? Do any of you have a better plan?”

  No one responded. The look Anton gave Cassie was one of consideration. It was a bit unnerving. Despite being in the same grade as him, she was pretty sure he hadn’t even known who she was until she arrived at the cabin a few days ago.

  “We go with the Gordon Gambit,” Leo said. “That’s our play. Lena and Dal, you’ll make the broadcast at dawn.”

  “Stephen
son and I will help with the broadcast.” Amanda raised her hand like she was still in school. “I’ll help Lena keep watch around the truck. Stephenson can help with the transmitter and antenna.”

  Stephenson opened his mouth to protest, but Amanda stepped on his good foot. “We all have to do our part,” she said pointedly.

  “Anton, Bruce, Jim, and Tate,” Leo said. “You’re with me. We’re riding out to Hillsberg before dawn.”

  “Don’t forget about us.” Jennifer grabbed Cassie’s hand and dragged her forward. “We’re going.”

  Cassie was torn between wanting to help and wanting to crawl under the table. Since Jennifer had her hand in an iron grip, she remained where she was.

  Leo frowned at Jennifer. He opened his mouth, argument clear on his face.

  “Leo, we’re going,” Jennifer said. “You need every hand on deck for this.”

  Leo pursed his lips. “Fine. You guys can come. Just—promise me you’ll be careful.” His eyes met Cassie’s for a brief moment. “It’s going to be dangerous out there.”

  “All the more reason for you guys to have all the help you can get,” Jennifer replied sweetly.

  And that was how Cassie found herself rousted from bed at four in the morning. With a Russian machine gun slung over one shoulder, she exited the cabin with the group bound for Hillsberg.

  Chapter 17

  Hillsberg

  LEO’S TEAM RODE OUT on bikes. They left the horses at the cabin, knowing they’d have to leave them when they went into Hillsberg.

  He wasn’t too worried about Jennifer being on the mission, but he had misgivings about allowing Cassie to come. Just because she had a few days of target practice under her belt didn’t mean she was ready to take on Soviets. She wasn’t a natural shot like Jennifer.

  His own hypocrisy mocked him. It wasn’t like he was a real soldier with training. Growing up hunting on the family property was a pathetic resume for war. Besides, Cassie had an important role on his team. As evidenced by the fact that she had come up with the only viable plan of attack.

  He took up position beside her as they rode through prune orchards on their way to Hillsberg. She looked scared out of her wits, though she had yet to complain. And she hadn’t balked when it came to stashing the homemade bombs in various parts of her clothing.

  He’d been careful not to watch when she shoved two of them down her shirt into her bra. Or at least, he hadn’t watched directly. He couldn’t exactly turn off his peripheral vision.

  His crush on Cassie was intensifying. Even knowing this, he was reluctant to act on his feelings. They were in the middle of a war. Dating would just be a distraction. He needed to stay focused. It was bad enough he spent much of his daytime hours anticipating their evening chess games.

  When they were less than a quarter mile from Hillsburg, they ditched the bikes in a vineyard. Leo reluctantly set his machine gun on the ground. This was the end of the line for their firearms. At his nod, everyone removed their guns and left them in a pile under the grapevines. Nothing but knives and bombs from here on out.

  Leo led them on foot into the outskirts of Hillsberg. The tiny farming community had a few small subdivisions on the west side. They would take up position in one of those homes.

  “Stay with me,” he murmured to Cassie.

  She nodded and scooted closer to him. Thank God she didn’t argue with him the way Jennifer did. He wasn’t sure he could deal with two women like Jennifer.

  The neighborhood they entered was muted and dark. A pack of nezhit prowled the far end of the street. Somewhere farther off, a rooster crowed, a herald to the coming dawn.

  The rooster ignited growls from the zombie pack. And not just the group visible to Leo and his team. Growls and barks went up from all over the neighborhood.

  Leo tensed. They needed to get out of sight. He led them a little deeper into the subdivision and picked a house at random.

  He sent Jim, Jennifer, and Anton to scout the back of the house. He, Tate, Bruce, and Cassie scouted the front.

  They looked in all the windows. Leo even went so far as to tap his knuckles against the kitchen window. If there were zombies inside, that would set them off. The house remained dark and silent, but growls came from nearby.

  His shoulder blades prickled. He hustled everyone into the backyard just as a pack of nezhit stalked into view. Leo glimpsed a mutant among them before he closed the backyard gate. He was careful to stop it before the latch snapped into place, not wanting the sound to draw any attention.

  Leo took his group into the backyard and met up with the others. “There are more zombies on the street. A mutant is with them. The front of the house looks clear. How about the back?”

  “All clear,” Jim said. “No one is home.”

  Leo pulled out his pocket knife and pried open a window. The metal groaned under the pressure but soon gave way. He went in first, stepping lightly onto the kitchen linoleum.

  The house smelled like death. He went into hyper alert, holding up a hand when Bruce tried to follow him.

  “There’s dead in there,” Jennifer whispered. To his annoyance, she shouldered past Bruce and climbed in beside him. “Come on, we have to find them.”

  Leo grabbed her arm to hold her back. “They could still be alive. We can’t just—”

  Jennifer shook him off and marched away. He had no choice but to follow her.

  “Seriously Leo, when are you going to stop trying to protect everyone?” Jennifer whispered. “There’s going to come a time when you’re going to have to trust us.”

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you guys, it’s—”

  “Of course it’s about trust.” To his horror, she tapped softly on the hall closet door. “You don’t trust any of us to get shit done without your supervision or protection.”

  Anger flared in his gut. He did his best to stuff it down. Losing his temper wasn’t going to help anyone right now. Couldn’t she see that he was trying to keep everyone alive and safe?

  Gritting his teeth, he peered around the corner as the rest of the group made their way into the house. His eyes immediately found Cassie. She bumped her forehead on the window as she climbed in. He should not be noticing how good she looked in those jeans. He gestured to Anton, waving them all over to where he and Jennifer stood.

  When there was no response from inside the closet, Jennifer opened the door. She made a gagging sound and immediately closed it—but not before Leo saw the bloody, decomposing corpse inside.

  “Well, we found the source of the smell,” Jennifer said. “Poor thing.”

  “The dead body is in there?” Anton gestured to the closet door. The rest of the group had reached them by that time.

  “Dog.” Jennifer’s voice was clipped. “Half eaten.”

  “Eaten by what?” Bruce asked.

  “Zombies,” Jim replied. “They bite humans to spread the virus, but they eat animals. Dal and Lena told me all about it. They saw a bunch of half-eaten livestock at the junior college.”

  “I don’t know why you’re all worrying about a dead dog,” Tate said. “We need to be worrying about what killed the dog.”

  Silence fell. Everyone stared at the uncommunicative closet door.

  “We split up again,” Leo said. “My group checks upstairs. Anton’s group takes the downstairs.”

  The smell of rot and decay dissipated as they went upstairs. Cassie’s eyes were wide with fear as she sandwiched herself between him and Tate. The first bedroom—a little boy’s bedroom, from the look of it—had a huge bloodstain near the dresser.

  The upstairs was deserted. The former residents appeared to have fled in a hurry. There were clothes all over the hallway. Contents in the master bedroom had been strewn across the floor.

  Cassie padded to a window that overlooked the street. “No sign of Russians, but the zombies are still out there.” She leaned forward, peering through the slats in the blinds. “I don’t see the mutant anymore.”

  “Let me
see.” Tate shouldered up beside her and peered through the blinds.

  Leo joined them at the window. He unconsciously patted the small sachet bombs in his front pockets. Stuffed into his sock was the zippo lighter. Feeling them was a small compensation for his lack of a rifle.

  The sky was a pale yellow. The streets were still in shadow. Leo immediately picked out the zombies below. Cassie was right. The mutant wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  But there was another one further up the street. Her deformed body moved with an uneven gait. Despite that, she covered the distance down the street with eerie agility.

  Maybe the mutants would take out a few Russians while they were out and about. The Soviets might have their nezhit vaccine, but that didn’t make them immune to flying rocks. Maybe they’d even—

  A shout went up from downstairs, followed by an explosion of glass.

  Leo moved without thought. He tore out of the bedroom and raced down the stairs two at a time.

  “Help!” Jennifer yelled. “Mutant!”

  Her scream was punctuated by a bellow from Anton. “Somebody fucking help!”

  Leo hit the bottom of the stairs with such force that he skidded across the carpet and smashed into the wall. “Anton!”

  In the kitchen was his worst nightmare. There was blood and glass everywhere. Jim was on the floor, the mutant zombie on top of him.

  The mutant had massive shoulders, one side larger than the other. His shirt had torn open from the deformed muscle mass. Infected veins scissored over the skin of his body in a web of black lines. Blood completely filled his eyes, making him look like a demon.

  Jennifer had a barstool over her head. She brought it smashing down across the back of the mutant. Wood splintered from the force.

  Anton was on the other side. He attacked with his knife, striking at the mutant’s ribcage.

  The mutant didn’t even notice the blows. All his attention was on Jim. His jaw snapped as he snarled.

  “Help!” Jim shouted. “Help!” His palms were pressed into the mutant’s chest. He struggled to hold the monster at bay.