Zommunist Invasion | Book 2 | Snipers

by Picott, Camille

  Cassie inched forward on the ground, pressing the binoculars to her eyes. “They’re two-thirds of the way back and moving fast.” She tracked their movements down the bridge. They were dark smudges blurring between the bridge railings. “They just reached the support pillar closest to the road. They’re climbing back over the side.”

  It was no more than a ten foot drop to the ground. Cassie lost sight of them as they disappeared over the side. She shifted her sights, scanning the open grassland. A few seconds later, Jennifer’s head popped into view.

  “I see them. They’re going around the soldiers and heading back to the road.”

  Beside her, Leo swore and clicked the safety off his gun.

  “What?” Cassie hissed. She kept her eyes locked on Spill and her sister.

  “The zombies,” Leo said. “They’re sniffing the air. I think they can smell Spill and Jen.”

  Cassie bit her lip so hard it bled. Before she could stop herself, she jerked the binoculars back to the Russians. Three of them stood on the edge of the road, looking in the direction of Spill and Jennifer. They had their noses in the air, just like hunting dogs.

  “Should I shoot them?” Bruce asked.

  “Not yet. Cassie, where are they?”

  Cassie jerked the binoculars back to the open grass. It took her a few seconds to pick out Jennifer and Spill. She couldn’t actually see them, but she could see the back of Spill’s backpack poking up from the grass.

  “They’re twenty feet away from the road and still moving,” she reported. “They’re crawling and mostly out of sight, but—”

  Something blurred in the binoculars. It took her a second to register that it was one of the Russians. He sprinted straight for Jennifer and Spill, moving faster than a regular human ever could.

  Leo didn’t hesitate. He fired. Shots rang out on either side of her as the guys opened fire. Cassie dropped the binoculars and fumbled for her machine gun.

  “Don’t lose sight of them,” Leo roared at her.

  She fumbled the binoculars back into her hands. Just as she did, two of the Russian zombies sprinted toward the hillside overlook. It was steep and rocky, but that didn’t slow them down. They scrambled straight toward Cassie and the others, bounding up the side like circus acrobats.

  Cassie decided this was an acceptable time to disobey orders. She dropped the binoculars altogether and seized her machine gun. She opened fire, spraying bullets at the two zombies flying up the side of the hill. She didn’t even realize she was screaming until her gun clicked empty.

  The two zombies on the hillside slid back down, their blood slicking the rocks and foliage. All of the zombies were dead except for one.

  The last one was in a wrestling match with Spill. Jennifer was yelling, aiming her gun but unable to shoot for fear of hitting Spill.

  “We gotta go,” Leo said. “Grab your packs and move.”

  He was over the ridge line in a flash, half scrambling, half falling to the road below with Bruce on his heels. Cassie paused only long enough to jam a new magazine into place before rushing after the guys. She hit a loose patch of gravel and slipped, bumping painfully over rocks before she finally managed to wedge the bottom of her shoe against a boulder. She grabbed weeds and used them for handholds as she went, scurrying down as quickly as she could.

  Leo and Bruce beat her to the road. They charged through the carnage, hurrying toward Spill and the remaining Russian. Cassie tried not to look too hard at the bodies as she hustled after them.

  “Spill, down!” Leo barked. Two shots rang out.

  The zombie dropped. Spill jumped up, shouting, “My pack! The fucker tore my pack off.” He dove into the grasses, desperately searching. “Anyone have a flashlight? The detonator is in that pack!”

  They joined the search, all of them spreading out and searching. In the distance, Cassie heard the rumble of an engine. She jerked, looking at the bridge.

  “More Russians are coming,” she cried.

  “Fuck.” Leo stood there, eyes flicking between the bridge and the frantically searching Spill.

  “We have to split up,” Cassie said. “One group has to lead the Russians away. Another group has to stay here and blow the bridge.”

  Leo gave her a tight-lipped nod. “Bruce, Spill, you’re with me. We’re taking one of the jeeps. We’ll lead the Russians away, kill them, then double back. Cassie, Jennifer, find that detonator and blow the bridge. We’ll be back to get you guys. Cas.” Leo paused long enough to plant a kiss on her lips. “Be safe. See you soon.”

  “See you soon,” she replied.

  Leo, Spill, and Bruce hauled ass to one of the Russian jeeps and jumped inside. Bruce took the driver’s seat under Leo’s direction, laying into the horn and flashing the headlights to get the attention of the oncoming vehicles. The two jeeps on the bridge accelerated.

  “Drive, Bruce,” Leo ordered.

  The former teenage football player threw the jeep into reverse, pulled a three-point turn, then raced away into the night. Cassie and Jennifer threw themselves flat on the earth, barely daring to breathe as the two jeeps raced across the bridge. Jennifer grabbed her hand and squeezed. Cassie squeezed back.

  The two Soviet jeeps reached the end of the bridge. They slowed, flicking flashlight beams at the carnage on the road. Cassie wondered if any of them were on the verge of turning, but she wasn’t dumb enough to lift her head for a look. Heck, for all she knew, they already had turned. The other Russians zombies had retained high brain function; who was to say they couldn’t drive?

  After less than a minute, they sped off down the road. Cassie and Jennifer were left in the darkness.

  The only Russians in sight were the dead ones.

  Chapter 45

  Zugzwang

  “WE HAVE TO FIND THAT detonator. We can’t blow the bridge without it.” Jennifer crawled on her hands and knees in the grass, searching.

  Cassie joined in the search, retracing Spill’s route back toward the bridge. She was moving so quickly that, in her haste, she didn’t even see the pack until she tripped over it. She barely managed to keep herself from face-planting on top of it.

  “Jen, I found it!” The pack rattled ominously in her hands as she picked it up. Her heart sank.

  Jennifer bounded over to her side. They yanked open the backpack and looked inside.

  “Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit!” Jennifer stared down in horror at the contents of the backpack.

  Cassie wasn’t exactly sure what a remote detonator looked like, but she was pretty sure the smashed bits inside the backpack belonged to it. Jennifer reached in and pulled out some of the larger pieces.

  “Someone must have stepped on it,” Cassie said.

  “Shouldn’t the bridge have exploded when it got smashed?” Jennifer asked.

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Cassie wasn’t the electrician. Where was Stephenson when she needed him? “Maybe the pieces that connect to send the signal were disconnected. Maybe we can still get it to work.”

  The two girls fumbled with the various parts, trying to fit them back together. When that failed, they poked and prodded at the pieces, attempting to set off the detonation some other way.

  Nothing worked. The bridge remained woefully intact.

  “Dammit!” Jennifer threw her pieces to the ground in frustration. “Now what are we going to do?”

  “Rocket launcher.” Cassie jumped back to her feet and ran to the remaining jeep. “Maybe we can blow it up that way.”

  She reached the jeep. Nothing. Except for a few boxes of half-eaten food supplies and an extra duffel bag of ammo, the jeep was empty. The Russians had stationed soldiers here only as a precautionary measure, not because they really thought there was a threat.

  “Anything?” Jennifer ran up, Spill’s bag gripped in one hand.

  “Nothing.”

  They stared at the bridge. Cassie’s mind worked overtime. No way had they come this far to leave the bridge standing. Griggs had died for this missi
on. Leo was counting on them. She didn’t intend to let either of them down.

  An idea snapped into place.

  “Jen, do you have the extra spool of fuse wire Nonna gave us?”

  Her eyes brightened. “Yes!” Jennifer swung her backpack around and rummaged inside, producing the spool.

  “We have to put Nonna’s bombs on top of the C-4,” Cassie said. “We run some long fuses so we can light them from the ground.” She chewed her bottom lip. “It’s going to be risky. I think the bombs will blow before we can get off the bridge.”

  “Not if we take the jeep. Come on.” Jennifer led the way, jumping into the driver’s seat. Luckily, the keys were still in the ignition. She drove onto the bridge, taking them to the northern-most set of trusses with C-4 bombs.

  “You’ll have to do the climbing,” Cassie said. “I’ll hold the spool and cut it.”

  “Good idea. I didn’t think I’d have to plant bombs twice in the same night. At least there are no Russians around this time.”

  “There are no Russians around right now,” Cassie corrected. “That could change any minute.”

  The girls got out of the jeep. Jennifer didn’t waste any time. She tucked Nonna’s bombs into her shirt, tied one end of the fuse wire to the belt loop, and began to climb. Cassie stayed on the ground, holding the spool in one hand. In her other hand was her knife, ready to cut the wire when Jennifer had it in place.

  Jennifer scaled up the truss with ease. Technically, Cassie supposed Luma Bridge could be reimagined as a giant jungle gym. The long metal truss beams were held together with dozens of tiny, criss-crossing metal supports, which provided plenty of hand and footholds.

  But it was a long way up to where the various pieces of C-4 had been placed. Cassie was glad Jennifer was the one doing the climbing.

  Jennifer reached the first lump of C-4. She slid her legs between the truss beams, locking her knees around the criss-crossing supports as she pulled out the first of Nonna’s bombs.

  “The C-4 is pliable,” she called down to Cassie. “Makes it easy to stick Nonna’s bomb in place.” Jennifer pulled the edge of the fuse from her belt and attached it. “It’s secure. You can cut the wire.”

  Cassie placed the edge of her knife against the fuse, silently thanking Leo for insisting she carry it. The blade nicked easily through the wire.

  Jennifer continued up the side of the bridge, placing the second and third bombs. In less than five minutes, they had all three bombs in place.

  “Cas, do you see that?” Jennifer landed lightly on her feet beside Cassie on the bridge, pointing south.

  Cassie squinted into the dark. At first, all she saw was the dark hump of land on the left and the watery blackness of the ocean on the right.

  “Right there.” Jennifer extended her index finger, pointing.

  Cassie’s breath caught in her throat. “Headlights,” she breathed. They slipped in and out of sight as they followed the natural curve of the land.

  “Several sets of them,” Jennifer said grimly. “Think it’s the Russian busses?”

  “It has to be. Who else would be out here? Come on, we have to hurry.”

  They drove down the bridge to the last set of trusses. Jennifer didn’t waste any time scaling up the side. Cassie kept her eyes on the approaching vehicles, nervously chewing at her bottom lip.

  Thanks to the vantage point of Luma Bridge, they could see for miles down the coastline. The Russian busses were still quite a ways off, but they would eat up that distance quickly.

  The arrival of the busses changed everything. Blowing the bridge was only part of the mission. The original plan had been to blow the bridge with the Russians on it.

  Zugzwang. She’d come full circle from her time in the Nielson house, once again faced with bad choices on all sides.

  They had only two moves.

  a) They could wait and blow the bridge when the Russians were on it and likely die in the process.

  b) They could blow the bridge now and save themselves, but leave four busses of invaders out there, who would eventually make it to West County.

  What were they supposed to do?

  In chess, the answer was easy. But life wasn’t a chessboard.

  Or maybe it was a chessboard. Jim had proven that, hadn’t he? Cassie was just having a hard time accepting it.

  Jennifer finished placing the bombs and dropped back to the ground just as Cassie cut the last fuse. She took one look at Cassie’s face and set her lips. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  Cassie glanced in the direction of the approaching busses. The headlights had momentarily disappeared behind a curve in the land, but she knew they were getting closer by the second. “We have to try and take out the busses. We’ll blow the lower portion of the bridge now.”

  “You think it’s safe? What if the bridge falls?”

  Cassie shook her head, recalling the details of the Anarchist’s Cookbook page in her mind. “The Cookbook showed that both sections need to be blown to completely disable the bridge. Blowing the first section will weaken it, but both sections have to go to bring it down. We’ll wait for the busses to arrive before blowing the second section. Then we drive as fast as we can and hope for the best.”

  “No.” Jennifer shook her head. “If they see the jeep on the bridge, they might figure out it’s a trap. You need to take the jeep and wait for me at the entrance. I’ll stay behind and light the last set of fuses, then run like hell. I’ll have several minutes before they explode.”

  “But what if you’re spotted?”

  “I’ll be hard to see. They won’t be looking for someone on foot. They’ll be so distracted by the fuses they won’t even see me.”

  That was a big if. The thought of losing Jennifer left Cassie feeling sick. She opened her mouth, but Jennifer forestalled her with a raised hand.

  “Of the two of us, I have the best chance of escaping on foot.”

  Cassie swallowed. “They’re not great odds, Jen.”

  “I know. But I’m willing to take the risk. I’m the athlete, you’re the brains.” Jennifer tenderly touched the side of Cassie’s cheek. “It has to be me.”

  She was right. A bishop couldn’t fight a knight’s battle anymore than a rook could fight a bishop’s battle. Every piece on the board was designed for a specific purpose. Only working in tandem could true military brilliance be achieved.

  If they were going to take out the busses, Jennifer was the best person to do it. Cassie blinked away tears. Now was not the time for a breakdown. This was war. They were playing for keeps.

  Besides, Jennifer was awesome. If there was anyone who could escape an exploding bridge and four busloads of Russians, it was her.

  “We have to do it now while the busses are out of sight,” Jennifer pulled out her Zippo. “Get ready, Cas.”

  She was right. The land still blocked the busses from view. Cassie knew a long stretch of the highway snaked inland for many miles. With any luck, that meant they could set off the first explosion without being seen.

  Jennifer began to ignite the fuses. The first of them lit with a hiss, sending out a soft glow of orange light.

  Something moved on the bridge. Cassie’s heart froze. Was that a person? Who would be out here in the middle of the night?

  You are, Cas, she chided herself.

  Jennifer lit the second fuse. More light flooded the night.

  There was most definitely a person on the bridge. Whoever he was, he was coming from the south and moving fast.

  The third fuse hissed to life like a dying star.

  It was just enough light for Cassie to see the man on the bridge was a Russian. He wore the familiar uniform with the star, sickle, and hammer. He ran on cat’s feet down the bridge, gun in hand.

  Where had he come from?

  Was he human or zombie?

  Whatever the case, his sights were set on them. His machine gun was raised—aiming straight for the two of them.

  “Come on,” Jennifer
screamed, running for the jeep.

  Cassie didn’t budge. “Soviet! Look out!” She grabbed her machine gun and sprayed bullets into the night.

  Chapter 46

  Drive-In

  LEO WAS PROPPED ON his knees in the back seat of the jeep as Bruce roared down the highway. He’d traded his rifle out for a machine gun. He was ready to open fire on the Soviet bastards as soon as they came into sight.

  They weren’t far behind. He caught glimpses of their headlights, but this part of the highway was twisty. Every time the Soviets came into sight, Bruce tore around another corner and lost them.

  “We need a plan.” Spill was next to him, machine gun also in hand. “We can’t just try to outrun them. It’ll never work”

  He was right. Sooner or later, they’d run into zombie, mutants, a car wreck, or more Russians—maybe all of the above. They had to take these guys out.

  He wracked his brain, mentally scanning the road ahead of them. It wouldn’t be long before the highway straightened out and widened into a proper four-lane freeway. They had to be rid of the Russians before then.

  “Bruce,” he shouted over the roar of the wind. Leo shifted his weight as Bruce took a hard corner. “Have you ever been to the old drive-in theater on Bolinas Ridge?”

  “I know the place. Took a few girls there for dates.”

  “The turn-off is coming up,” Leo said. The drive-in was situated on top of a bluff, the back of which overlooked the freeway. “If you can get up there fast enough, we might be able to get the drop on the Russian bastards.”

  “Got it, Cap.”

  Leo was nonplussed by the title. He’d graduated before Bruce had joined the varsity football team. He realized with a jolt of surprise that Bruce wasn’t making a football reference; he was calling Leo his commander.

  Leo unzipped his backpack, dumping a few extra bombs onto the seat between him and Spill. “We’re outnumbered,” he said. “If we can hit them with these, it will even the odds a bit.”