He snapped the pointer against the area just to the north and east of the bay. “Before we can do that, however,” he continued, “we have to pacify the town of Aberdeen. As you can see, the bulk of the town is situated between three rivers, the main one running along the southern border, and two smaller ones to the east and west. Our landing point is going to be to the harbor on the northwest of town, less than a quarter mile from a non-insignificant population area to the west of the river.”
A hand shot up in the middle of the room, and the Captain sighed, reluctantly pointing to it.
“Sir, we have no landing craft on board,” the soldier called. “How are we going to get ashore?”
Odom clucked his tongue. “I’m getting to that soldier,” he said impatiently. “We have orders from the top of the food chain to beach the ship on shore so we can rappel down the side.”
The stunned silence in the room was so pregnant, it was as if the soldiers weren’t even breathing.
“Believe me when I say that I share every thought currently running through your heads,” the Captain said firmly. “I even went so far as to share some of them with the General, who politely informed me that the enemy didn’t have a Navy, so the mission is more important than the survival of our ship.”
Murmurs broke out amongst the soldiers, some of them nodding, few still wide-eyed.
“Moving on,” Odom said loudly, commanding attention once again. “Upon landing, we will be forced to rappel down the side of the ship. Thanks to the great resource purge, we will only have four lines coming down from the deck, so it’s going to be a long process to get people to the shore. And with the noise we’re going to be making, we’re going to have quite the crowd before we’re ready. This area had around twenty thousand people, so we are expecting a stiff resistance. To protect us from being overrun, I need three teams to volunteer for diversion duty.” He paused, raising his chin. “I’m asking for volunteers because the likelihood of survival is… low.”
Jinx’s hand shot up into the air before anybody else, and Odom raised an eyebrow at him.
“Oh hell, is that Jinx?” somebody called from the back. “Gonna be a wild ride if it is!”
Laughter rippled through the men, but Odom didn’t react, simply scanned the room for more volunteers. A few moments later, two more hands reluctantly went up, and the Captain nodded.
“Okay, that’s our three,” he declared. “Need you to stay behind, the rest of you get your teams together and see my assistant on the way out for your landing assignments.”
The soldiers began to filter out, varying noise levels of chatter as they went. Corporal Spence and Sergeant Dickerson approached the front of the room.
“Yeah, I thought that was you,” Dickerson said with a lopsided grin as he stepped up next to Jinx.
Odom cocked his head. “You two know each other, Sergeant?”
“Oh yes sir,” Dickerson replied. “Corporal Jinx and I go back a ways. Had a few misadventures in the sandbox.”
The Captain raised his chin. “Is this going to be a problem?”
“Oh, not at all, Captain,” the Sergeant assured him, raising his palms. “The Corporal and I get along real well. In fact, I’m kind of relieved to know he’s on this suicide mission.”
Odom clucked his tongue. “Oh yeah?” he asked. “And why’s that?”
“Because the only way he could be any luckier is if he shoved a rabbit’s foot in places best left to the imagination,” Dickerson replied.
The Captain gaped at the soldiers, shaking his head. “Luck?” he asked. “You’re excited to have him along because he’s lucky?” He blinked and then turned to Jinx. “So you’re lucky, huh?”
“In a single tour, my team and I walked away from four IEDs, a dozen ambushes, and a whole host of other situations that have since been erased thanks to the hard work of bourbon destroying those brain cells,” the Corporal declared proudly.
Odom clucked his tongue again. “Lucky indeed,” he replied dryly. “Let’s hope that keeps up.” He motioned for the trio to cluster around the map.
He removed the top sheet to reveal a tighter shot of the city of Aberdeen. He used the pointer to motion to the area on the west side of the bridge.
“Once you’re on the ground, you need to push forward across this area,” he said. “It’s ten blocks of mostly residential housing leading up to the bridge. Once you’re across is when the real fun begins.” He motioned to the north. “This area to the north is a shopping center that should provide cover to draw the enemy up there.” Odom pointed to a specific spot in the south by a river. “Same thing with this spot in the south. I need a team to go to each one, set up a diversion, and hold the enemy’s attention while we get a foothold.”
“Sir, my team can take the southern target,” Spence piped up.
Dickerson nodded. “My team will take the northern target.”
The Captain turned to Jinx. “Then that leaves you with the big job.” He pointed to a shopping center on the far east of town, practically on its own little island with two bridges leading across to it. “Corporal, your team will have three primary goals. The first is to get to the target and draw as many of those things as you can. The second is to escape via the river within a stone’s throw of the building, circle back, and block off the bridges with whatever you can find. And the third is to cause as much havoc on the way there as you can. Set up traps, set things on fire, whatever you need to do to distract the enemy and eliminate them.”
Jinx nodded. “My team and I can handle that, sir,” he said, and then raised a finger. “But I do have a question.”
“Go for it,” Odom said.
“If we’re blocking off the bridge on the east side of town to trap these things,” the Corporal began, “then why don’t we just block off the bridge into Aberdeen and call it a day?”
The Captain took a deep breath. “We considered that,” he admitted, “but with the amount of enemy forces in town, the higher ups felt like we could end up in a surge situation. If the barricade failed, our landing zone would be overrun and there would be little we could do about it.”
“That works for me,” Jinx replied with a nod. “Like a lot of the soldiers on this ship, my team and I are ready to get into the action. Lot more fun rampaging through the streets than babysitting a barricade.”
Odom raised his chin. “Well, Corporal, you and your team have free rein to do whatever you deem necessary,” he declared. “This isn’t a strategic target, so once we clear it, it’s unlikely anybody is going to be back here for quite some time.”
“Burn the city to the ground, got it,” Jinx replied with a playful smirk.
The soldiers chuckled, and Odom shook his head.
“Not sure I would go that far,” he replied with a playful shrug. “But if it comes to it, then it comes to it. Now, go brief your teams and get ready to move. We’re grounding this ship in thirty, and your teams are the first over.”
“Yes, sir,” the soldiers replied in unison as the Captain headed out of the room.
Dickerson smacked Jinx on the shoulder. “You ready to get after it?”
“Just another walk in the park,” the Corporal replied with a smirk.
“What channel are you going to be on?” the Sergeant asked.
Jinx winked at him. “Lucky number thirteen, as always.”
“Same as it ever was,” Dickerson replied, chuckling and shaking his head. “You give me a call if you need a hand.”
The Corporal nodded. “Likewise,” he said, and then turned to Spence. “Same goes for you. We’re running headlong into the shit, we got each other and not much else for a while.”
“See you two topside in thirty,” Spence replied with a firm nod, and the three men exited the room, splitting off to seek out their respective teams.
CHAPTER TWO
Jinx entered the mess hall, which was crowded as usual. Soldiers were everywhere, trying to get whatever bits of food and drink they could before it r
an out. Rationing had been going strong since they’d set food on the ship, but even with that food was beginning to run out.
“Yo Jinx, over here!” Davila called, waving his hand in the air.
The Corporal approached the table, giving a nod to the shorter latino soldier. “Hope you are getting your rations in, because we’re about to go raise some hell,” he declared.
“Do tell, Corporal!” Private Stein drawled, leaning his broad shoulders forward.
Jinx took a seat. “Oh, just the normal shit, storm the beach head and distract the enemy so the bulk of the force can get a foothold,” he said.
Private Burch’s eyes widened. “Beach head?” he asked. “What are we doing? Swimming to shore?”
The Corporal shook his head with a devious smile. “Nope,” he replied. “We’re crashing the ship right onto shore.”
Private Jarvis furrowed her brow. “Have I been in a coma?” she asked, pointing her fork at him. “Because I totally missed when they promoted you to Captain.”
Jinx barked a laugh. “Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t my idea.” He put up his hands in surrender. “I mean, let’s be honest, if it was, there would be more explosions.”
“This is true,” Jarvis agreed.
“So, is that all we’re doing is running around, blowing shit up?” Private Rollins asked, the fluorescent lights shining off of his dark, bald head.
“You say that like there’s anything else to do in life,” Burch quipped.
Rollins shrugged. “I mean, I can work with it, but it would be nice to have a solid objective,” he admitted.
“Don’t worry, we got one,” Jinx assured them. “Long story short is that we have to get to the other side of town, pull a whole mess of zombies across some bridges, and then block them off. Nothing we haven’t done before.”
Jarvis shook her head. “Again, coma,” she said. “When in the hell did we lure zombies somewhere?”
“How many men have you lured back from the bar in your day, Jarvis?” Davila asked innocently.
She shot him a sheepish smile. “I withdraw the question.”
The table erupted in laughter, and Jinx got to his feet.
“Where you off to, Corporal?” Burch asked.
His superior inclined his head to the door. “Going to see if I can procure us some extra provisions,” he explained. “As for you five, finish up, grab your gear, and be up on deck in twenty.”
His team nodded, and he headed off to make some last minute preparations.
CHAPTER THREE
Jinx led the group up to the deck, joining the other two teams standing at the top. Odom stood there with them, along with a few other troops who were making preparations on the rappelling lines that were being connected to the railings.
Jinx raised an eyebrow at the line, which was made of chain link. “Sparing no expense for us, Captain?” he asked.
“So much stuff was cast overboard to make room for more soldiers that this is all we could scrounge up,” Odom explained. “Four chains.”
The Corporal raised a fist. “Don’t worry Captain,” he said firmly, “we’ll buy you all the time you need to unload.”
“That’s what I’m counting on,” he replied.
The soldier by the railing made the final check before turning and giving him the thumbs up.
“Looks like we’re good to go, here,” Odom said.
Jinx nodded. “We’re ready to rock-and-roll too.”
The Captain nodded and pulled out his walkie-talkie, raising it to his mouth. “We are ready to go up here,” he said.
“Yes sir, moving out,” the soldier from the bridge replied.
Odom put the radio away and turned to face the three groups, each of them six strong. The boat began to move from position towards the bay entrance.
“Everybody listen up,” he declared. “Just gave the order, so we’ll be on shore in a matter of minutes. We have a handful of snipers on board, so once we make landfall, they’ll be covering your descent. You all have your assignments.” He raised his chin. “Be safe out there.”
There was a chorus of “Yes, sir!” as the Captain headed back inside the ship.
Jinx approached the railing and stood next to Stein and Burch, staring out at the bay as it grew closer and closer.
“What do you say, Jinx?” Burch asked. “You think we got a chance of pulling this off?”
The Corporal grinned. “Yeah, it’ll be a walk in the park,” he said, spreading his arms. “A giant, zombie filled park.”
“You able to find us anything fun?” Stein asked.
Jinx smirked. “Oh yeah,” he said, “but if I tell you about them, it won’t be a surprise.” He winked and then headed over to Spence and Dickerson, who were prepping their teams. “If you gentlemen don’t mind,” he said to catch their attention, “I’d like my team to be the first over the side. We have the furthest to go, so I’d like to get a jump on it.”
“Fine by me,” Spence replied. “My team isn’t too happy I volunteered them for this, so pretty sure if I made us go first, I’d be in line for a friendly fire incident.”
Dickerson chuckled. “Look forward to following in your carnage-filled footsteps.”
“Come on Sergeant, that was one time,” Jinx drawled, rolling his eyes.
Dickerson shook his head. “One for me,” he corrected. “I’ve heard stories from others who have followed you into battle.”
“What can I say?” Jinx replied, puffing out his chest. “I take pride in my work.”
The trio shared a laugh and then exchanged fist bumps.
“You stay safe out there,” he said, in a rare moment of seriousness. “We’ll swap stories on the march to Olympia.”
“Back at you,” Dickerson replied.
The Corporal headed back to his team, all of which stood, looking out over the water. The ship was passing through the entrance to the bay and making the turn towards the landing zone. The beachhead was another thousand yards away and closing quick.
“Okay, we’re first over the side,” Jinx announced. “So, as soon as we stop moving, get those chains over and start climbing.” He looked around. “Who has binoculars for me?”
Rollins reached into his bag, pulling out a pair and handing them over. Jinx looked through them to the beach, seeing several dozen zombies wandering about, some of which were looking towards the beastly ship.
“Damn, we’re going to be coming into a crowd,” he muttered. He looked past them at the thick line of trees about a hundred yards behind. It was hard to see, but he spotted movement within the branches. He continued to scan, finally focusing on a small shack at the far end of the beach. “Got movement in the trees, too.”
“Any idea how thick the woods are?” Burch asked.
Jinx tilted his head back and forth. “Twenty, thirty yards max,” he said. “Edge of town is on the other side of it, which is where the real fun begins.”
“If there’s this many on the beach, we could be coming in for one hell of a welcoming party,” Jarvis said dryly.
Jinx nodded. “Which means we’re going to have to move quick,” he said. “As soon as your boots hit the sand, make your way to the shack on the far end of the beach. That’s the rally point.”
“And the zombies?” Rollins asked.
The Corporal handed back the binoculars. “Clear the landing zone for the other teams and let the snipers handle the ones coming from the woods,” he instructed. “We got a double load out, but four hundred and twenty rounds is gonna go quick. Questions?”
The team shook their heads, making noises in the negative.
“Let’s get ready to roll, then,” Jinx said.
The soldiers geared up, loading up their ammunition and gear bags, and checking their files. Burch leaned over and looked at the chains, inspecting the thick gauge metal with large chunks welded to it every few yards for hand holds.
“This is some Frankenstein bullshit right here,” he muttered.
The deck t
eams lined up on the railing, bracing themselves as the ship hurtled towards the shoreline. As they reached the hundred yard line, the PA system crackled to life.
“All hands, brace for impact!” the Captain bellowed.
The ship began to run aground as it approached the shore, hitting the low part of the sea floor. Everyone lurched forward as the momentum quickly stalled. There was a horrific loud sound of metal vs rocks as the ship skidded along the sand.
The strike teams rattled around, holding onto the railing. Jinx’s eyes were wide, a massive grin on his face as if he were on a roller coaster. A few members of his team looked excited as well, prompting a few of Spence’s team to stare at him with furrowed brows.
Jinx flashed them a hand with his pointer and pinky fingers extended in the iconic devil horns sign, letting out a whoop.
Finally, the ship came to a stop on the shore, the front end of the ship about ten yards onto the beach.
“Chains overboard!” Jinx barked, and his team moved fast.
The soldiers shoved the heavy chains over the side of the ship. It took two people on each one to get it going, but soon the metal plummeted to the ground below.
Jinx looked over the side, all four lines close together, no more than five yards apart, landing on the sand below. One of the chains smacked a zombie on the shoulder, ripping the arm clean off.
“So close Davila,” the Corporal cried, “you almost had a headshot!”
Davila chuckled and tapped his gun. “Don’t worry, I’ll make up for it.”
“Davila, Jarvis, Rollins, on me,” Jinx said, “let’s move!” He hopped over the railing and grabbed onto the chain as his three teammates did the same.
He looked down the forty yards to the ground, watching the dozen zombies directly below them, and a few dozen more on either side of them on the beach, and headed their way. He climbed down quickly, hand over hand with his feet walking down the side, moving faster than his soldiers. When he was about ten yards from the ground, he stopped, looking at the dozen zombies reaching up for him hungrily.
Dead America-The Northwest Invasion Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 35
