by S. Ganley
Pushing forward towards the patrol car she reached the passenger side door and used her non firing hand to grip the brackets for the overhead emergency lights to help pull herself forward towards the hood. She couldn't help but steal a quick glance inside and saw Kyle and Doug in the back seat with only Shellie up front behind the wheel. Emily and Cameron had been assigned to ride with Miranda in the Range Rover. The idea behind that was that it would probably be best to keep the husband and wife team separated for the time being so Doug could concentrate on keeping Kyle alive instead of dealing with his wife. Miranda had already demonstrated her ability to keep Emily in check and it was pretty clear that the large woman was somewhat intimidated with Miranda. Looking into the car window Miranda saw Shellie with the driver’s seat reclined back as far as it would go as she crouched on the seat close to the headrest. Shellie had the shotgun up and ready, swinging it back and forth methodically from the driver’s door window the front windshield. Miranda thought she was trying to monitor the progress of both zombies and determine which was the closest to successfully breaking through the glass and climbing inside after her. There was a look of absolute terror on Shellie's face as she contemplated what was waiting for her through only a thin sheet of glass. In the back seat of the cruiser Miranda could see Kyle's face contorted in pain as he positioned himself with his M4 rifle ready to back her up.
Miranda turned away from the desperate scene inside the car, she didn't think any of them had noticed her outside the car since their entire focus was towards the pair of zombies in the front. Using the brace on the roof of the car for leverage she summoned all the strength she had and pulled herself forward until she was at the edge of the passenger side door overlooking the hood. The zombie beating against the windshield was now right in front of her and was so focused on the people inside the car that he had no idea that Miranda was standing well within his reach all of a sudden. While keeping her grip on the roof bracket she brought the pistol up and level with its head. This time she didn't wait to try and steady her grip, as soon as the barrel was level with the side of the zombie's head she took her shot. The bullet caught the zombie just above its ear, even though it was not the best shot she had ever pulled off it was enough to do the trick. As soon as the zombies grip on the top of the hood slackened its body tumbled off to the side of the car and out of sight. Miranda now focused on the zombie on the driver’s side of the car. She didn't think she would be able to pull herself around to that side of the car, fighting against the wind and rain had already sapped so much of her strength that she was struggling just to remain upright where she was. A thumping against the glass caused her to look down and into the passenger side window of the cruiser. Shellie was leaning across the seats beating her hand against the window to get her attention. They had noticed her presence and watched her dispatch the zombie on the hood. Shellie must have realized her predicament in trying to reach the other zombie and was motioning for her to fire her pistol over the roof of the car. She then pointed towards the back seat of the car where Miranda saw Doug poised to lower the window while Kyle was ready to leap forward with his rifle. They wanted her to distract the zombie long enough for Kyle to line up a shot from the window in the back seat. If the zombie noticed the window coming down it would take only a fraction of a second for it to grab the top of the glass with its hand and break the window free from the door with just a snap of its wrist. Miranda nodded back to Shellie to show that she understood what they wanted her to do. Turning towards the cruiser she flattened her body against the passenger side front door and raised herself onto her tip toes as high as possible. She could see the top of the zombies head bobbing back and forth as it furiously worked to break through the window on the other side, the head came and went from view so fast and at such varying angles that she knew she would never get a clean shot. Instead of aiming for the zombie directly, Miranda lined up her sights on the emergency lights just over its head. She fired a single round into the side of the light rack and sent a shower of broken bulbs and colored plastic remnants spraying over the driver’s side of the cruiser. The zombie jerked back up into view an instant later, attracted to the sudden deluge of debris raining down on him and the audible explosion of the breaking plastic and bulbs. Miranda waved her arms wildly to keep its attention and was rewarded with the zombie making a sudden desperate lunge towards the roof of the car in an attempt to leap over it and reach her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of light from inside the cruiser and an instant later the top of the zombies head simply ceased to exist. The zombie fell forward against the side of the car and slid out of sight. Grasping the door handle and pulling with all of her remaining strength, Miranda yanked the passenger door open just enough to squeeze inside and plop down on the seat.
Chapter 15
Crusher had spent the early morning hours monitoring the storm that had suddenly appeared over their patrol area. His flight for the second reconnaissance mission was supposed to have taken off just after five that morning but had been put on hold when the severity of the storm blanketing the region was realized. Normally they would have had ample warning about the pending storm including accurate measurements of the storms strength. Unfortunately the satellites that provided that information were not all functioning normally. Three of the major weather and observation satellites covering the region that the carrier depended on for real time information relied on land based operators to constantly adjust their atmospheric measurement patterns. The day after the outbreak those stations in charge of satellite tracking went offline, less than twelve hours later all three of those satellites began transmitting inconsistent data. Ever since then that data had grown increasingly garbled and unreliable. Their sole means of weather forecasting was now reduced to the limits of their own radar capability. This allowed the storm that was now battering the Washington, DC area to sneak up on them and they could not accurately determine what it was going to do next.
"Telemetry shows that we have probably another three to four hours of the hard stuff and then at least several more hours of moderate to severe winds and rain." Crusher pointed out to Huntress as they sat together in the ready room studying a computer screen of weather information and projected flight data. "If we schedule a noon departure we should be able to avoid the worst of it while still being able to meet the mission objectives."
One of their objectives was to gather atmospheric samples during periods of adverse weather. Dr. Woods had explained that storms in an environment affected by a viral contaminant were capable of picking up spores and depositing them back into the air. If samples gathered from the storm clouds tested negative it would be a good indicator that the virus was no longer a threat at ground level. This single flight could be all they needed to get the go ahead for the next stage of their mission and put teams on the ground. The downside was that they were purposefully planning to fly a mission directly into a dangerous storm. While the F-18 was considered an all-weather fighter, any mission flying into high winds and lightning presented dangers that most pilots tended to avoid if at all possible. Crusher had presented this mission to Huntress as optional and gave her the choice of stepping down for another more experienced pilot if she wanted. He knew even before asking the question that she was not going to allow someone else to fly the mission in her place. Her argument was one that he had predicted and made sense. The only way she was going to get that kind of experience was to actually do the job and not by playing it safe back in her bunk while someone else did it for her.
Crusher's flight plan had them completing two full racetrack patterns over Washington and close to a hundred miles into the northern Virginia countryside and back again. They would not be able to obtain any useful video footage on the ground during the storm so they would be able to maintain a moderate flight level avoiding dangerous gusts at lower altitudes. Their biggest threat would come from lightning strikes and rapidly shifting pockets of rough air that would make for a bumpy flight. Crusher had flown t
he F-18 in strong storms before and understood firsthand the level of skill it took to maintain a detailed flight plan. While the fighter's autopilot was more than capable of taking them in and out without either of them having to lay a hand on their flight sticks, any pilot worth their weight in the air would prefer manual control during such a mission. It would be an exhausting mission fighting a buffeting fighter plane against winds just below hurricane strength and the less time they remained over their target while still able to complete the mission the better.
With several hours remaining before they needed to be on the flight line, he sent Huntress off to grab a little rack time with plans for both of them to meat for a bite of chow and a final mission briefing just before noon. Crusher ran through the computer readouts one last time and decided to grab a couple hours of rest himself.
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Garrett had lost track of time, he thought it had been at least twenty minutes since they had left the Ranger Station together. If that was the case then he knew that if Miranda had followed his instructions the rest of them should have already started rolling out already. The severity of the storm and the sudden surge of zombies into the woods had caused him to misjudge just how long it would take him to make the round trip. If they came out of the woods and found everyone else already gone, he planned to keep pushing on and reach the main nature center closer to the park entrance. There was a utility shed off to one side of the main building and he hoped to find at least an ATV if not a truck or other form of transportation. He knew where the others were heading and had faith that they would still be able to catch up with them eventually.
They had been moving slow and easy through the woods, carefully picking their way from tree to tree. Garrett had lost count of the number of zombies they had passed along the way, all heading in different directions. He thought their numbers were well over a hundred and maybe closer to two hundred just in that one section of woods. From what he was seeing he was confident that the storm had completely scrambled their ability to track a target. They had come within only a few feet of zombies on several occasions and simply froze in place until the creatures finally passed them by without a clue they were so close. Garrett felt the ground at his feet become smooth and hard compared to the soft and spongy dirt they had been used to. Tugging Kimberly by the arm the two of them stopped while he surveyed their surroundings. Even with the wind and rain still driving the lower branches of trees out from their trunks to cause a solid and almost impenetrable boundary all around them, Garrett was sure that they had stumbled onto the trail between the road and Ranger Station. Feeling along the ground with his feet he figured out the orientation of the trail and then considered the direction they had been moving. Their progress through the woods had been much slower than he had managed on his own, he thought that if they could follow the trail the rest of the way they would be able to make better time as long as they kept at a steady pace. Kimberly had been holding up surprisingly well but Garrett didn't think she had much more to give. During the last flash of lightening he had a chance to get a good look at her face and it was evident that she was struggling against overwhelming fatigue and probably a variety of pains that she was not telling him about. If she dropped before they reached the road he would be forced to carry her the rest of the way. If it came to that their chances of stumbling into a random zombie before reaching safety were much greater than he wanted to think about. In the tight confines of the woods they could easily walk to within inches of one of the undead before realizing it.
It was Kimberly who tugged against his arm next to signal for him to stop. Freezing in place Garrett slowly spun his head back towards her until he was able to see her wide and terrified eyes looking off to a point beside her where it looked like a tangle of tree branches had wrapped around her arm. Garrett was just reaching across her body to pull the branches free when he saw something odd in the midst of the tangle of evergreen bristles. As he looked closer his blood froze when he realized that in addition to the branches there was also a tattered and discolored arm reaching out to her ending at a hand that had grasped her firmly by the bicep. He had just realized what he was seeing when he felt Kimberly jerk away from him and stumble towards the darkness between the branches. Ripping his knife free from its sheath he lunged blindly into the darkness around the tree while thrusting forward with the blade at the same time. Feeling the knife strike something soft he twisted his wrist and forced the blade upward while at the same time he brought his other arm up underneath the forearm that had a grip on Kimberly and drove it up with all his strength. He was rewarded by seeing the hand release its grip on Kimberly's arm and send her tumbling out of sight into the dark night. Hoping that his knife had penetrated at least to a point under the zombie’s ribcage, Garrett bent down at the waist and pushed upward with the knife until he felt it strike something solid. Using his knife arm as a pendulum, he lifted the zombie’s body up and onto his shoulders and then stood up suddenly while shifting his weight to the left. The move sent the zombie flying over his back and further into the thick cover of evergreen trees off to the side of the trail. Garrett remained in a crouch with his knife out in front of him ready for a follow up charge by the zombie but nothing came. After several seconds without the zombie materializing back out of the darkness, Garrett turned back to the where he had seen Kimberly disappear and carefully started feeling around for her. When he felt the hard ground of the path turning into the soft leaf covering at the edge of the woods he turned back and started again a few feet further down the trail. The trees were too thick off the trail for Kimberly to have fallen past them into the woods, she had to be still on the trail unless she had stood up and moved on her own power. It was at that point when Garrett also recognized where he was on the trail. A large oak tree had marked the first bend in the trail only forty feet from the road. Garrett remembered the twisted ankle breaking snarl of roots sticking up out of the ground all around that tree, it was there in the darkness feeling around on the ground for Kimberly that he felt those same roots. They had made it through the woods and were only a few seconds walk from the road when the zombie had grabbed Kimberly's arm and Garrett had lost her in the darkness.
Rising to his feet, Garrett expanded his search area and began calling out for Kimberly. His voice was swallowed by the storm so he was not concerned about attracting any other attention, but he also knew that she would have to be very close-by to actually hear him. He was growing more and more concerned that she had run off into the woods or there had been another zombie nearby that may have grabbed her while he was distracted. In either situation the chances of finding her in the storm were pretty much impossible. Finding his way back to the point where he had last seen her at the edge of the grove of evergreen trees, Garrett stood still and waited for a flash of lightning to illuminate the area. When the lightning finally flashed it showed him a scene that he was not ready for. At least twenty zombies were in the trees around him, all within a few feet of the trail. Directly in front of him and several feet past the top of the bend in the trail near the snarled roots of the large oak tree he spotted Kimberly. She was lying flat on her side with her knees drawn up tight to her chest. Standing around her were four zombies, one of them was so close that it looked to Garrett like he was standing on her hand. The lightning had passed to quickly for him to see if she was conscious or not, but judging by her position on the ground he believed she was and that she was remaining as still as possible with the knowledge that she was surrounded. It didn't appear that the zombies were aware of her presence at their feet, the storm was still providing sufficient camouflage to keep her hidden even at their feet. They also didn't look like they were just passing through on their way to the station. Garrett thought they may be aware that the two of them were nearby but their senses were still too hampered by the weather to find them. It would only take another one or two bursts of lightning for the zombies around Kimberly to notice her. Being on the ground was the only thing keeping her out of the
ir limited line of sight at the moment and Garrett hoped that she didn't suddenly panic and try to make a run for it.
As he was considering his options for getting Kimberly out of her situation he sensed movement close behind him just over his right shoulder. It was the way the branches behind him moved that alerted him to the presence of the zombie. Garrett was sure that it was moving in a direction that would put it directly behind him and probably within touching distance. He didn't want to move out of the way and risk losing his bearings to where Kimberly lay. Keeping his feet firmly planted he twisted his upper body to the side just enough that he was in line with the profile of the zombie as it reached a point next to his right shoulder. He counted off two seconds and then let his knife hand shoot out into the darkness right where he pictured the zombies face should be. His mistake was not taking into account the branches that were continuously slapping back and forth in the wind. Instead of landing a blow to the zombie’s face or head the blade glanced off a thick branch that crashed into his forearm and drove a sharp splinter of wood into the meat. He winced at the sudden and unexpected pain and pulled his arm back towards his side. The movement of his arm caught the attention of the zombie as it was about to walk past. Garrett found himself staring into the dead eyes of a woman in her early twenties, the rain had washed much of the grime and gore from her face and a brief glimpse of the original youthful beauty that had once been there appeared for a moment. Cradling his wounded arm against his stomach, Garrett started to reach back for the butt of his rifle and swing it forward when another branch flew out of the darkness behind the woman and slapped her in the center of her back. Just as the woman's eyes started to open wide in recognition of Garrett she was thrown headlong past him and onto the trail beside him. His strong arm was in too much pain for him to deliver a decisive knife strike and he didn't want to risk a gun shot with so many zombies mixed in amongst the trees all around him and Kimberly. Knowing that it was only a matter of seconds before the young zombie girl jumped back to her feet and came after him, Garrett made an impulsive decision and darted directly towards where Kimberly lay on the ground. In the darkness the zombies appeared like wraths suddenly materializing in front of him out of the blackness of the storm. Tucking his head down to his chest he barreled through two of them like a linebacker and sent them spinning off into the trees. He was hoping that by the time they turned back to find what had struck them he would already be long gone. He almost tripped over Kimberly's legs and had to stutter step over top of her curled form on the ground under him. Bending down close to her head he called out to her, assuring her of who he was and reaching for her hand. He saw her eyelids pop open and considered himself lucky to find her conscious and responsive. Pulling her by the hand he jerked her to her feet and wrapped his arm tightly around her waist. Pulling her tight against his body he charged forward and plowed into another zombie who was starting to show a little too much interest in their activities. Without looking back he knew that they had picked up a couple zombies who were not far behind them. His goal at that point was to just make it clear of the woods. The confusion and darkness was making it impossible for him to mount any kind of defense.
