Apex Predator

by Glyn Gardner

  “Fuck it can’t change it now.” With that Anderson sulked away. The other troopers thought they could hear him crying.

  “Sarge, what if Anderson does turn into one of these fucking things?”

  “Let’s deal with that later. We got more immediate problems, Jackson.”

  Clank. Clank. Clank. The fence rattled. Two of the creatures banged the fence in an attempt to get at the three troopers on the other side.

  “So how do these fucking things die?”

  “Let’s find out,” said SSgt Brown. He fired a round into the belly of the creature that bit Anderson. It stumbled backwards, but did not fall. It returned to the fence as if nothing happened. He fired another round into the chest of the second ghoul. It also did not fall.

  “Fuck this.” Anderson exclaimed as he walked back around the corner. He shot the one that bit him in the head. It fell, and did not move. Jackson jammed his bayonet into the eye of the second ghoul. It stopped grappling with the fence and went limp. Jackson shoved his foot against the fence and pulled his rifle back, freeing his bayonet. The body slumped to the ground next to the other dead creature.

  “Ok guys, we’re drawing a crowd. We need to get outa here.” Several of the ghouls were shambling towards the yard they were in.

  “Where we going Sarge?” asked Anderson.

  “You ok Anderson?”

  “I’m ok, Sarge.”

  “We move north through this neighborhood until we hit then next major road. Go east and see if we can’t get onto the base through the east gate. How’s your ankle Anderson?”

  “Ok. He only got a little chunk of flesh. He’s dead and I’m still walking. I’m good.”

  “Alright, follow me, quick and quiet.”

  They jumped the back fence, and crossed through several open yards. As they crossed the street, they noticed the several zombies shuffling around aimlessly. One appeared to notice them. It turned toward them, moaning as it picked up its pace. The others on the street turned. They too moaned and began a slow pursuit.

  “Through that wooden fence, there, GO!”

  Anderson opened the gate, stepping back. He was face to face with the home owner, or what used to be the home owner. A quick bayonet thrust to the face, home owner-zombie down. Jackson closed the gate after they had passed through, ensuring that the latch was caught. The back yard was large. There was a wooden play set near the back of the yard. SSgt Brown climbed it, looking over the fence.

  “Ok guys, the next street seems clear for some reason. We go over, and move east. If we see any of these things we hit the first backyard we can. Go,” he whispered. They jumped the fence and ran down the street until they got to the end of the street. They took cover behind a parked car.

  “Jackson, take a peek around the corner.” Jackson ran crouched to the corner of the house on the corner, the others covering him. He ran back.

  “It looks like the next street north has a school. It looks clear that way. South is the north gate of the base. We ain’t going that way. Looks like about a hundred of those things trying to get though the fence over there.”

  “Alright, we go north. We get spotted, keep moving.” They crossed the street, and moved north. None of the zombies seemed to take notice. There were several zombies near the school. They were occupied with beating on one of the doors.

  “Sergeant Brown, what are they doing over there?” Anderson asked.

  “My guess is they got some folks trapped in there.”

  “We gonna do anything about it?”Jackson interjected.

  “How many you see there?”

  “I count seven. We can take them. They’re slow.”

  “What about the others down the road? They hear us, we’re fucked.”

  “Sarge we can’t leave a bunch of kids to get eaten or to starve,” Anderson pleaded. “C’mon Sarge you got kids. How would you feel?”

  “Shit. Ok, we hit hard and fast. One shot each on my count. Anderson, take the one farthest to right. Jackson you get the guy second to the right. I’ll take the third from the right and the middle guy. We use bayonets for the last three.”

  They re-crossed the street and closed to within 50 yards of the creatures who were still unaware of their presence. SSgt Brown waived his right hand towards the ground. The two other troopers kneeled and took aim at the zombies.

  “On three,” he whispered. One. Two. Three.

  Crack! Crack! The four zombies fell. The other three turned on the troopers. The troopers didn’t wait. They charged the creatures, easily dispatching them with bayonets.

  “Open up.” SSgt Brown banged on the door. “U.S. Army let us in!”

  The other two covered the NCO as he tried to get into the school. The door opened. The person in the doorway looked tired. She looked to SSgt Brown to be about mid-forties. She looked like a teacher should look. There were tears running down her face.

  “Oh thank God! They’re here kids.” Three pre-teen children immerged from the classroom nearest the door, two boys and a girl.

  “Sergeant Brown, we got a problem,” Anderson reported. “Looks like the shooting got the attention of the locals. We got about ten coming up the street from the base.”

  “I got four coming outa that neighborhood we just left.”

  “Ma’am I’m Staff Sergeant Brown. We’re Louisiana National Guard. We need to move. How many kids you have in here?”

  “Sergeant Brown, I’m Mrs. Sparks. Thank you so much for coming for us. I thought we were…”

  “Ma’am, I need to know how many people you have in this school. We can’t stay here.”

  “Sorry. There are five of us. There were six, but Tommy Winslow died this morning.”

  “Ok, we have to move now.”

  “I have an injured child. She can’t walk. She’s in here.”

  “Stay here guys. Right back.”

  They walked into the classroom. On the teacher’s desk was a young girl, maybe 10 years old. She was pale, and clammy. She looked like she was asleep. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. She had a paper towel folded up and taped over her left hand. Blood still oozed out from around the makeshift bandage.

  “She was attacked and bitten yesterday, along with her brother”

  “Can she walk?”

  “No, she’s burning with fever. She needs a doctor.”

  “Jackson, get in here!” he yelled. The trooper trotted in.

  “Sarge, they gettin’ mighty close.”

  “Great. Pick this kid up and we gotta go.”

  Jackson slung his rifle across his back, and picked the little girl up.

  “She’s burning up, Sarge.” The NCO only nodded.

  SSgt Brown addressed the children, “Alright kids, keep up with Mrs. Sparks. Do what she says. Mrs. Sparks, you do what I say. Anderson, you take point, I got the rear. Let’s go.”

  They crossed the schoolyard. The zombies were getting close, and moaning. Their pace picked up. The little group also picked up their pace. Several of the children began crying when they saw the zombies. Mrs. Sparks tried to keep them calm, and corral them behind Private Anderson. SSgt Brown could see that they were opening the distance.

  They reached the next cross street. Anderson turned them east. The road was four lanes wide. There was a skating rink on the right and up ahead there was a bowling alley. The street was empty. They were able to move quickly. They passed some industrial buildings; still no signs of life.

  “Sergeant, the gate’s rights up around that bend in the road,” Mrs. Sparks informed him. About that time, Anderson knelt holding his right fist over his shoulder. Then he lowered his open hand towards the ground. The other troopers knelt. Everyone fell silent. They heard the moaning.

  “Jackson, set that girl down and go check it out.” Jackson trotted quietly to the edge of the metal building near the bend in the road. SSgt Brown could see him peer around the corner. He stood there for a second and then trotted back to the group.

  “I count about sixty of t
hose things around the gate.”

  “Shit. We gotta get off this street. Anderson, you and Jackson go check out that auto body shop. No shooting.”

  The troopers trotted toward the open bays of the body shop. SSgt Brown noticed that Anderson was starting to limp a bit. Damn I hope that kid’s ankle is ok.

  “So Mrs. Sparks what happened? How did you guys get locked in the school?”

  “Well, I came in early yesterday. Mr. Jones was already at the car line. Next thing I know Tommy came running in. He and his sister Cindy had been attacked by someone.” She pointed to the injured girl “I took them to the school nurse’s office, but she wasn’t there yet.” She started sobbing.

  “I dressed their wounds the best I could. I heard yelling and screaming. I ran to the door you came through. Officer Dale and Mr. Jones were being attacked by two of those things. Stacy and Treshaun were running to me. I let them in and locked the chain. Thank God the rest of the doors were still chained.”

  “How did Cindy get hurt?”

  “She only had a scratch on her hand. I ran it under tap water and covered it. It hasn’t stopped bleeding in almost two days.

  A couple of minutes later the two troopers waved from the open bay.

  “Ok kids, let’s go. Quietly run to Private Anderson.” SSgt Brown picked up the young girl. They made it without incident.

  “Building’s clear boss,” reported Jackson. “Two rooms in the back. Empty. Storage area upstairs, just paint and stuff. We got a door in the back, locked, a window upstairs, and a fire escape from the storage area.”

  “Alright guys we need to get this door shut. We do it quick.”

  The three troopers tugged the door down. BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG! CRASH! The door was down. SSgt Brown ran up the stairs to look out the window. Several of the creatures were walking down the street, attracted by the noise. They didn’t seem to know exactly where it came from. They ambled by. They ambled and SSgt Brown watched.

  A few minutes later he heard a crash. He continued to look outside. The creatures turned at the sound of the breaking glass. They slowly began walking back towards the body shop. They ambled right past it. Heads turning left and right, like little shambling radars; looking, searching, hunting. He jogged down the stairs. The two black kids were in the waiting area, playing hide and seek under the chairs.

  “…half a fucking battalion! Those things tore through like 250 guys like we weren’t there. What the fuck, Andy!” Jackson kicked the rest of the glass out of the candy machine.

  “Who’re you tellin’? I’m the one that got bit. You know what that means! I’m fucking dead!” Anderson was pacing around the room.

  “Ok guys, calm down. We don’t know shit yet. We keep our heads, and we’ll get through this?” He reached into the candy machine, and grabbed a candy bar. He looked at Jackson

  “Kids were hungry,” Jackson stated as he finished a Snickers bar.

  “Kids, huh?”

  “Hey, combat burns a lot of calories,” replied the young trooper.

  “You and Anderson follow me up stairs.” They followed him.

  “Ok guys, here’s our OP. We have one up two down at all times, four hour shifts. Anderson, how’s the leg?”

  “Sore, but I think I’ll make it.”

  “Alright, we’re Cav. Observe the enemy. Report on his activities. I want to know what every one of those things that walks by looks like, what it does, and what it’s wearing. Jackson, you take first watch. Anderson, let’s get down stairs and see what we can use in this place.”

  The two guardsmen walked down stairs. They each took a room. SSgt Brown didn’t find anything useful in the room he was searching, just a phone. Fuck it, what the hell. He picked up the phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.

  “1st Squadron 108th Cav, Sergeant Harris,” the voice on the phone answered.

  “John! It’s Dave. Dave Brown.”

  “Dave, holy shit,” Sgt Harris covered the phone, “Colonel! I got C Troop on the phone!” He came back on, “Dave you ok?”

  “No John, we’re pretty fuckin’ far from ok. I only got two troopers with me and one is wounded. I got a teacher and a couple of kids. One of them is sick. I don’t know where anyone else is. And, to beat all, it seems like everyone around here is some kind of fucking monster who wants to kill us all.”

  “Sergeant Brown, this is Colonel Pinson. I heard your report. Where are you and how bad are you’re wounded?”

  “Sir, we’re held up in a body shop about 200 meters from the east gate of Barksdale. Sir, I got a child who has a high fever and a trooper that got a bite wound on his ankle from one of those things.”

  “Ok. We have some casualties here too. Are you in contact with anyone from Charlie or Alpha Troops?”

  “No sir, we got separated. Alpha got run over by these things. Lt Foote ordered our platoon to try to pull them out. It was a fuckin’ slaughter, sir.” He paused. “Is anyone else alive out there?”

  “No son, no they’re not. Major Finch reported the TOC was being over-run by rioters. That was two hours ago. The squad that was on the Red River Bridge, made it onto Barksdale. As far as I know I have a total of twelve survivors out of half of my battalion.”

  “Any chance anyone is coming for us sir?”

  “Not right now Sergeant. We tried to get out this morning. I lost an entire platoon in about a minute, and they didn’t get 100 meters out of the gate.” The Colonel paused, took a deep breath. “What’s your supply status Sergeant?”

  “We’re ok sir. Ammo is good, water ok, food sucks. We got into the candy machine here but it won’t last.”

  “Ok son. Sit tight.” SSgt Brown could hear shooting and shouting in the background. “Ok, Sergeant, coms check in twelve hours.”

  “Yes sir. Rock 3-3 out.”

  Anderson walked into the room

  “What ‘cha got Anderson?”

  “I got Shit. I got two doughnuts, a cold cup of coffee, bunch of pens, paper, and office supplies.”

  “Ok, get that little sick girl onto the couch. Look around for some medicine or something. Anderson came back in a few minutes later. “No meds, Sarge. But she’s comfortable. Were you talking to the Colonel?”

  “Yup.”

  “What did he have to say?”

  SSgt Brown repeated what the Colonel said.

  “Doc, Ramirez, Peeves? They’re all dead?” asked Anderson. “How did this happen? How did we walk into this? Fuck Sarge! These things just wander around. They don’t seem to think much. Shit they couldn’t even open a gate back there. Did they really ambush half a battalion of cavalry troopers? How were we so stupid Sarge?” Anderson began to weep. SSgt Brown placed a hand on the troopers back.

  “I don’t know Anderson. I just don’t …I don’t know.” SSgt Brown walked out of the office.

  Day 5

  Oak Hills Drive, Bossier City LA

  Jen woke Mike early in the morning. They climbed down the ladder and into the kitchen. The sound of moaning seemed louder than before.

  “Anything new?” asked Mike as he cracked a soda.

  “Davy seems to have drawn a crowd our way.”

  “Damn. I can’t believe I let that kid fall.”

  “You couldn’t do anything Mike. We needed to signal the outside world. Poor Theresa, she’s watched her whole family die.”

  “She sleep much?”

  “She finally stopped crying about 2 hours ago.”

  “Damn. Well, get some sleep. I’ll have breakfast done for you when you get up.”

  EEEEEEEEEKKKK.

  “What was that?

  EEEEEEEEEEKKK.

  Mike crept to the window. As he peered between the slats, his eyes were met by the eyes of a female ghoul. Her eyes were a pale blue. Her skin was grey. Her face was covered in blood from the nose to her chin. She bared her teeth at the sight of him. Her long thin fingers scratched the glass again.

  EEEEEEEKKKKKKK! EEEEEEEKKKKKKK!

  She clawed at the
window, getting more and more frantic. She moaned. She began banging on the window. Several other monsters were at the window now. They were frantic to get in. They hammered at the glass.

  CRASH!!!

  The glass broke. Fingers began clawing at wooden slats. They watched in horror as the first wooden slat cracked, and then gave way. Pale cold arms reached in. Grasping. Flailing. The second slat gave way.

  “Shit!” exclaimed Mike. “Upstairs! Go!”

  They both darted for the ladder. Jen first, followed by Mike. As he reached the top, Mike stopped. “The rifle!” he exclaimed. He slid down the ladder and sprinted for the kitchen. He saw the carbine leaned against the refrigerator.

  CRACK. Another slat gave way. He grabbed the rifle and spun in one motion. One of the things was crawling through the window. Mike sprinted as fast as he could past the window to the ladder. The creature lunged at him. Mike dodged right, tripping over the coffee table. He landed hard on his left knee. The rifle skittered across the floor.

  The zombie closed the distance. His eyes fixed on his prey. He was tall. He wore a dark blue robe that was stained in blood. He had on one house shoe. His other foot was bare. Mike was still on the floor. He reached for his pistol. It was under his ass. He rolled onto his left side. He felt a lightning bolt shoot through his left knee as he did. AGH!

  The tall zombie had closed the distance. He was reaching down towards Mike. It’s mouth open, baring blood stained teeth. Mike brought the pistol up. He thrust it forward into the ghoul’s mouth. BAM! The zombie fell on top of Mike, the pistol still in its gaping mouth.

  Mike rolled again, freeing him from the body that had him pinned to the floor. He grabbed the rifle as he limped towards the ladder.

  “Hurry, Mike!” Jen yelled.

  Mike glanced at the window. Several of the monsters had made it into the living room. He lunged for the ladder, making it in two strides.

  “C’mon, Mike! Hurry!”

  Mike started climbing the ladder. He was almost at the top when he felt a cold hand grasp his right ankle. Turning, he saw the same zombie that had been scratching the window. Her eyes were now focused on Mike’s foot, her mouth opening. Mike could feel her grip tightening around his ankle. He tried desperately to free himself. Her grip was too strong.