by Luke Duffy
He struggled to form his words, gulping oxygen and trying to regain his composure. "For a moment there, I thought I was dead."
"You very nearly were, Carl," Steve said as he reached down, holding out his hand to help him to his feet. "Come on, let's go home."
"Gary, we've got them, mate," Lee called out on his radio, a tone of relief in his voice. "Both okay and on our way back to you."
"Great stuff," Gary replied. "I'll put the kettle on."
13
"Whose great idea was this?" Stu screamed as he bounded down the corridor and past Marcus.
Marcus looked beyond him at the double doors at the far end. They shuddered and trembled with each assault against them from the horde outside. Jim and Sini were busy piling beds, chairs and anything else they could find against them and adding to the barricade that they had made. Hussein and Stu reappeared from behind carrying a large steel locker they had found in one of the rooms. They struggled with the heavy object and lugged it toward the doors.
More thuds and pounding from outside and the doors rattled again. Marcus watched as Sini and Jim jumped back.
"Jesus," Jim cried, "What have they got out there, a battering ram?"
Stu and Hussein hefted the heavy steel locker and piled it on to the barricade. It crashed against the wooden chairs and beds, snapping limbs and frames with its bulky weight. All four men turned and edged their way back from the doors and towards Marcus who stood at the foot of the stairs, his rifle held on his shoulder and aiming at the shuddering doors behind the barricade.
"How are we looking at the doors at the far end?" he asked them.
"Not good," Sini answered, "we're surrounded, boss."
"Shit." Marcus bit his lip, looking at the floor with thoughts racing through his mind. "How many do we have, would you say?"
Jim placed the stock of his rifle against his hip, the barrel pointing up at the ceiling. "Well, from my calculations, and guessing how many there could've been already inside the barracks, I'd hazard a guess at fucking hundreds, Marcus."
Stu looked across at the American and nodded. He turned back to Marcus. "Yeah, good one, I'd say that's pretty accurate."
For four days, they had remained holed up within the accommodation block. Sandra was recovering, but she was not out of the woods yet. She was able to move but slowly and with pain. Stu kept an eye on her and regularly topped her up with painkillers and antibiotics. Within just a few hours of Stu operating on her, she was insistent that she could move and that there was no reason for them to stay. Marcus, however, decided that she should remain immobile to give her the best chance of recovery.
The number of dead at the doors steadily increased, and by now they were close to being overwhelmed by them. Each day, the team had had to venture out beyond the barricade and deal with the bodies that stumbled toward the barracks. At first, it had been a couple at a time and easy enough to handle.
By the second night, the numbers of curious wandering dead had increased. There were too many for the team to take care of safely, silently and at night so they had decided on taking care of them at first light. By then, though, there were too many and more and more were coming every day.
"Okay," Marcus looked at his men, "let's put our plan in motion. I think we've waited long enough."
Stu nodded. "Thank fuck for that." He turned to Hussein, "Okay, mate, you know the drill. Come on."
Stu and Hussein took off towards the stairs at the far end of the corridor, close to where the second set of doors and barricade was. As they passed and headed for the steps, they saw that the doors at that end were also taking a beating and Stu wondered how much longer they would hold out.
"My God," Hussein uttered as he stood watching the doors shake. The noise of the moaning dead was all around them, their haunting voices echoing along the narrow corridor.
"Move it, Hussein, we don’t have long. Those doors won't hold!” Stu shouted as he began to sprint up the stairs taking two steps at a time.
Jim and Sini bolted past Marcus and up the stairs toward the room where Sandra rested. Marcus followed them.
Sini leaned over the bed where his girlfriend lay. In their native tongue, he informed her that they were about to move and follow the plan he had explained to her earlier. Weakly, she forced a smile and nodded as he helped her to her feet and led her over to the makeshift stretcher.
Jim positioned himself at the head of the stretcher, ready to lead off.
"Okay, you ready?" Marcus asked them.
Both men grunted and heaved the stretcher up and adjusted their grip. They carried their weapons on slings across their chests, ready to be brought to bear quickly. Sini looked down at Sandra and began whispering words of encouragement to her. She was at the mercy of the men around her. If they fell, she would fall with them. She was helpless.
Marcus reached for the radio attached to his assault vest and spoke in the mouthpiece. "Stu, how are you getting on up there?"
"We're in position. Good to go." His voice sounded broken and as though he was shouting against the wind. "Got eyes on the vehicle and there aren't too many in that area. The doors are completely blocked with them though."
Marcus nodded to himself as he heard Stu's voice in his ear. "No worries, as long as they stay at the doors. How's our escape route look?"
There was a pause and Marcus imagined Stu and Hussein, up on the roof, conducting a count of the dead in their path.
"We'll have our hands full up here, but you should get through okay. Just don't stop for anything."
"Roger that, moving now,"
Stu gave a double-click on the radio in acknowledgement.
It was time to go. Marcus turned to Jim and Sini and nodded. Both men gave him the thumbs up.
"Let's do it, boss," Jim grunted.
"Okay, keep close behind me."
At a trot, they moved along the corridor and down the stairs. Twenty metres to their right on the ground floor, the doors crashed and rocked as the horde outside pounded and attempted to smash their way in.
Marcus caught the eye of Sandra, who lay strapped to the stretcher to prevent her from falling out. She looked at him with complete terror in her eyes. Marcus could understand how she felt. He was scared enough as it was and he was on foot and armed. Sandra was completely helpless and her safety was entirely in the hands of Jim and Sini.
They turned right and headed away from the doors. Marcus entered the room that they had agreed upon to use in their escape. A small annex style structure protruded out from the rear of the main block. The window was larger than the rest that were in the accommodation rooms and provided them with a better chance of getting through safely and without the stretcher becoming fouled.
Marcus stopped at the side of the window, keeping himself from view. It was dark outside and Marcus struggled to see much beyond the glass.
Jim and Sini took the opportunity to rest their arms before the breakout began. They placed Sandra on the floor, rolled their shoulders and shook their wrists. Each of them checked and adjusted their weapons. Marcus flicked off his safety catch and checked the magazine was securely in place.
"Stu, we're in position, mate. As soon as you open up, we'll move."
"Roger that. Stand by, stand by."
A moment later, Marcus and the others heard the muffled reports of Stu and Hussein's weapons as they began to pour fire into the wandering bodies below. From the window, they could see the faint flicker of light from their muzzle flashes above as they illuminated the ground below. In the instances of light, they could see the numerous bobbing heads of the dead that lurked in the darkness outside.
Marcus gripped the window in both hands and forced it open. It opened inward and he continued to push it until the frame creaked and then snapped at the hinges, leaving it incapable of closing on them again.
"Move, move," he roared as he hefted himself up on to the chair he had placed below the windowsill.
Sini and Jim heaved the stretcher up and mo
ved toward the window, close behind Marcus.
With both feet on the window frame, Marcus raised his weapon and shot two faces that loomed up at him out of the pitch black. The recoil in his shoulder was barely noticeable with the smaller calibre round, but the noise in his ears from the blast was reassuring and the effect that the rounds had on the two corpses as they punched through their heads was all the effect he wanted. The two bodies dropped immediately and Marcus jumped from the window. His feet hit the hard concrete floor and he began to move forward with his weapon pulled tightly to his shoulder.
Outside, the sound of Stu's weapons from the roof was less muffled. Their rounds snapped the air above him and he watched as body after body fell to the floor. Behind him, he could hear the grunts and heavy breathing of Jim and Sini as they handled the stretcher and negotiated the window as best they could.
Marcus fired again as a figure staggered towards him. In the gloom of the night, he could only see the silhouette but it was unmistakable. It was another of the walking dead. Its hands reached out ahead of it and a long mournful moan emitted from its dried and rotting vocal cords.
The shot hit it in the neck, passing straight through with a spray of congealed blood and putrid tissue. Its head lulled to the side as the muscle was ripped away by the vacuum created by the bullet as it passed through its neck. It continued to approach.
Marcus aimed more carefully. It was just metres away and instead of peering through the sight, he looked over it. The weapon jerked in his shoulder again and the advancing corpse was halted. Its head snapped back as it rocked on its feet, and then collapsed to the floor. Marcus spun and fired into the heads of two more that approached from the left. They fell to the ground and he stole a glance over his shoulder to check on the progress of the others.
"Get a move on, they're all over the place!" Marcus barked over his shoulder as he raised his rifle and fired into another approaching corpse.
Jim rested the stretcher on the ledge of the window and dropped down to the floor then turned to ease Sandra out until Sini was ready to jump. All of them were now outside and together again. They began to move toward the vehicle with Stu and Hussein cutting them a clear path from the roof above them and Marcus picking off the strays.
Forging a path, Marcus moved at a slow trot. Even though his mind screamed at him to run as fast as he could, he stayed close to the others, knowing he was their only close protection as they carried the stretcher. They could not afford to slow down and join in the fight. It was their job to plough on ahead, following in Marcus' wake.
They were only a few metres from the vehicle. It appeared before them out of the night. More of the dead were staggering towards them, their moans audible even over the noise of the weapons that were firing constantly.
Marcus rushed to the tailgate and quickly lowered it. He climbed onto the bed of the Land Rover, ready to receive the head of the stretcher. Jim passed it over to Marcus. He hefted Sandra onto the vehicle and out of immediate danger, as Sini and Jim released their weapons and began to fire into the approaching masses that came from all directions.
In the flash of the rounds as they exploded from the barrels, Marcus could see hundreds of the dead. They were surrounded and the crowd was becoming more tightly packed by the second. They needed to move, soon.
Vaulting into the driver's seat, he turned the key in the ignition. For a moment, the engine coughed and sputtered and he feared the worst. If the engine failed, they were dead. He turned it again and, slowly but surely, the starter motor turned over until the engine finally bit and roared to life.
Sini and Jim jumped on to the tailgate and took up their positions to cover the left and right flanks. They loosed off more and more rounds by the second, a clear indication of the number of dead that was approaching.
"Stu, move your arse. We're ready to move!" Marcus screamed over the radio.
He hit the headlights and the beam settled on the path ahead of them, the path that Marcus and the others had taken and the same path that Stu and Hussein would follow. It was littered with dozens of still and lifeless bodies.
The weapons behind him roared as Jim and Sini continued to provide cover as the fire from Stu and Hussein stopped, indicating that they were on the move.
Marcus craned his neck in order to see Stu's progress. On the edge of the roof, he saw a figure begin to lean back from the ledge. They were both wearing makeshift harnesses to allow them to abseil to the ground.
Marcus got to his feet in the driver's seat and began picking off the bodies that blocked them from having a clear run to the Land Rover. As he fired, he willed Stu and Hussein to descend the wall. His jaw was clenched shut and he could feel and hear his heart pounding in his ears. He wanted to run forward and grab them both, dragging them back to the vehicle.
The dead that had crowded the entrances now began to pour around the corners and head towards the vehicle. The sound of Stu and Hussein climbing down the wall attracted many of them away from the main group and Marcus had to increase his rate of fire to keep the area clear for the remaining two to escape.
"Magazine..." Sini cried from behind, informing everyone that he had to change his ammunition.
Marcus spun and began firing toward the left flank to cover Sini's position while he inserted a fresh magazine in his weapon.
Stu and Hussein were at ground level.
Marcus watched as they struggled to free themselves from the ropes. Stu was entangled. Marcus could see that. Hussein rushed over to him and began pulling at the knots around Stu's waist that had obviously tightened as he had descended.
The dead closed in.
Marcus began to climb from the seat, ready to sprint forward and help Stu and Hussein. The horde of attacking corpses was becoming too thick around them and Marcus feared that they would become trapped. He began to fire again, directly into the crowd and hoping not to hit either of his friends as they struggled to free themselves.
"Come on, Stu, move," he growled between his teeth as he fired repeatedly. He had now lost sight of them both and they were replaced by a sea of rotting bodies.
"Marcus, get back in the fucking seat," Jim cried across at him.
Marcus turned, realising that he was leaving the vehicle a sitting duck with no driver if he moved away from it. He climbed back in the driver's seat but remained standing. He strained his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Stu or Hussein.
Shots rang out from the area that he had last seen Stu. The rate of fire increased and it was obvious that the pair were both firing their rifles on full automatic, trying to stem the tide that closed in around them. Suddenly, the firing from Stu and Hussein stopped.
"Marcus, we got to move!" Jim shouted. "There are too many."
Marcus hesitated. "Stu and Hussein are in trouble," he cried back.
"We're all in fucking trouble. We have to go."
Marcus turned in his seat. "We can't leave them behind, Jim."
"They're gone, Marcus!" Jim shouted back between bursts of fire. "The dead have swallowed them up."
Marcus saw the swarm of dead faces that enveloped them. They were just metres away from the sides of the vehicle and there was no way that they could be held back for much longer.
"Stu, where are you? Stu, Stu can you hear me?" he called out on his radio.
He pressed his hand against his ear to cut out the sound of the discharging weapons around him as he waited to hear Stu's reply through his earpiece.
"Stu, we need to move, can you hear me?" he tried again.
There was nothing. No radio signals, no movement and there was no more firing from the area where they had been struggling to free themselves from their ropes. There were shambling figures all around the area where they had been and Marcus feared that they had been overwhelmed.
As the dead approached on all sides, Marcus had to slam the vehicle in reverse. He steered it around to the left as he backed up, the tailgate making contact with a number of the dead and knocking them flat be
fore Jim and Sini shot them.
Marcus continued to watch for Stu as he slowly began to pull away. He felt the pang in his chest, as he knew that he had lost another good friend. The darkness seemed to envelop him as he pushed his foot down harder on to the accelerator and pick up speed. He was leaving another two of his men behind for the sake of saving the rest of them.
Marcus swallowed hard and steered the vehicle away.
There were bodies in his path and he had to increase their speed to be sure of getting through them. The nearest of them bumped against the body of the vehicle with loud thuds, and then they spun away into the rest of the crowd as the force of the impact threw them backward. Some were pulled beneath the wheels and Marcus could feel them being crushed beneath as the heavy Land Rover bounded over them and spat them out to the rear.
The lights illuminated the exit point of the parking area that linked on to the main road leading through the centre of the barracks. There were far less corpses in that area and it seemed that the entire dead population of the barracks were headed towards the accommodation block.
The engine roared as Marcus shifted up a gear, increasing their speed further.
"We got movement on the left!" Sini shouted from his position.
Marcus looked across to the area where Sini had begun to fire. He saw brightly lit red tracer rounds smash into the crowd and watched as the bodies toppled as the fire thumped into them. Figures dropped to the floor, others folded and some spun as they were hit. Heads exploded and limbs disintegrated as numerous bullets ripped through their decaying flesh and out the other side.
Amongst the flurry, he saw the energetic movements of living people. Stu and Hussein were alive. They were sprinting toward the Land Rover, clubbing their way through the mass of dead, as they fought for their lives and headed towards safety.
Side by side, they fought and the bodies were knocked back from around them as they smashed away with the butts of their rifles.
Marcus slammed the vehicle in reverse and swung it around so that Stu and Hussein could vault directly onto the bed of the Land Rover as Jim and Sini increased their rate of fire and more of the dead began to pile up around them.
