Dead America-The Northwest Invasion Box Set | Books 1-6
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“Fuck, we gotta move,” Jinx urged. “She’s going to attract a crowd.”
The soldiers swam as hard as they could towards the southern bank. The current of the river wasn’t strong, but they still had to fight against it to make sure they didn’t end up downstream. As they paddled across, gunfire erupted from the building up ahead, a lot more sustained than was comfortable.
The trio pushed even harder and faster.
After a few minutes of intense swimming, they finally reached the other bank, just below the store. Gasping for air, they staggered forward, pulling their rifles from their backs.
“Suck it up boys,” Jinx huffed, “we gotta get up there.”
They climbed the grassy hill, struggling to reach the top with their slippery boots and heaving lungs. When they finally crested the hill, they saw their three teammates standing in the back of the truck firing down at a small army of zombies, easily sixty or seventy strong.
“Clear ‘em out!” Jinx barked, and the trio raised their weapons, hitting the ghouls from the side.
The mass of rotted flesh was twenty yards away, which was an easy distance for headshots. A few of the creatures nearest the new source of noise turned to move towards it just in time to take a bullet to the face.
The soldiers burned through mag after mag, sweating and breathing hard, focused on the battle raging around the truck.
Finally, the battlefield fell silent, the last of the corpses fallen, and the soldiers lowered their weapons. Jinx looked back towards the bridge and top of the driveway. There was a smattering of zombies staggering their way, but they were still fifty yards and moving slowly in the heat.
“Get the bridges squared away?” the Corporal asked.
Jarvis hopped down from the truck. “Not a hundred percent, but the ones on the other side are going to have a hell of a time getting back,” she said.
“Good enough for me,” Jinx replied.
Burch took a knee to catch his breath. “So now what?” he asked.
Jinx jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the grocery store. “Let’s go clear that out, get comfortable, and wait on help to get here.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The sun hung low in the sky, bathing the front of the grocery store in a golden glow. The reflections on the nearby water caused the front window to sparkle.
Sergeant Dickerson led a squad several hundred strong across the southern bridge, ignoring the stray zombies his men took care of for him. He looked at the grocery store across the way, looking beautiful in the evening light, and spotted the truck that Jarvis had been driving earlier in the day.
He shook his head at the mountain of dead zombies around the vehicle. “I think we found them,” he said.
“Sir?” the soldier next to him asked.
“Come on,” Dickerson said, “let’s go make sure they’re safe.” He motioned for a few soldiers to follow him as the rest of the force moved into the southern portion of town.
They carefully stepped through the sea of corpses on the way to the front door, and the Sergeant’s heart leapt into his throat at the sight of smoke coming out of the seams. He rushed up and banged on it.
A moment later, Burch appeared, waving smoke away, and when he locked eyes with Dickerson he grinned and opened the door, a flood of smoke billowing out.
“What the hell is going on in here?” the Sergeant asked, walking inside.
Burch held up a metal spatula, motioning to the charcoal grill behind him. The others waved, kicking back in chairs with their feet propped up on checkout lanes.
Dickerson laughed, shaking his head.
“Sergeant!” Jinx bellowed, spreading his arms. “Welcome. Can we get you something? Lukewarm beverage? Something from the grill?”
Dickerson put a hand to his forehead in disbelief, still laughing. Right in the middle of the biggest invasion in U.S. history was a cluster of soldiers having a cookout.
“Jinx, it’s been nearly a month since this place had a fresh delivery or power,” he declared, “so I’m afraid to ask what you’re cooking up.”
Burch used a pair of tongs to hold up a slice of canned meat, grilled to perfection. “This stuff takes forever to go bad,” he said. “Pretty sure the secret is to coat it in a metric ton of salt.” He slapped it down onto a tortilla that looked slightly stale and handed it to Dickerson.
The Sergeant reluctantly took it. “Guess I should enjoy this now,” he conceded, “since it’s going to be awhile before I have anything like this.”
“That’s the spirit!” Jinx exclaimed. “We work hard, we play hard, right?”
Dickerson took a bite of the food and nodded in surprise at the decent flavor. “Well, just don’t play too hard,” he said after he swallowed, “because the Captain is going to be here within the hour.”
“Is that your way of telling us to take it easy for a bit?” Jinx asked as his friend gobbled down the rest of the taco.
The Sergeant shrugged, wiping his mouth. “I do owe you one for earlier today,” he admitted. “We’ll finish clearing it out, just do me a favor, will you?”
“Sure thing,” the Corporal replied, curling his hands behind his head comfortably.
“Save another one of these tacos for me,” Dickerson said. “I’ll be back soon.”
Jinx raised a plastic cup filled with an unknown substance to his friend as he headed out the door. “Everybody, listen up,” he said to his team. “Each and every one of you did a hell of a job today. We keep this up, we might just live to see this thing through.” He raised his cup high. “On to Olympia!”
The others raised their own cups and bellowed, “On to Olympia!”
END
Up Next - Private Janey Watts finds herself trapped behind enemy lines when a mission to the north goes horribly wrong in “Seattle - Part 5”.