By morning, the trench was almost entirely full of infected, and a major assault would for the first time, definitely reach the fence line. Sure enough, just after sunrise, an even larger host of infected than either of the first two appeared. This battle raged for almost three hours. The trench had been fired again at first light, and thousands of infected immolated, but Stone estimated that this horde was at least fifty thousand strong. Troops fired at them, scything down hundreds, but still thousands more advanced on. They crossed No-Man’s Land and began dropping into the trench like lemmings, tumbling in first by ones and twos, then by dozens and finally by then hundreds. The trench filled and because of the huge numbers of infected, attempts to incinerate them again failed.
In desperation, a flight of four CF-18s from Cold Lake had dropped several cluster bombs into No-Man’s Land. Troops were warned to take cover and seconds later a pair of cluster bombs erupted, popping and crackling as hundreds of bomblets exploded. One sniper who had been too slow to abandon his tower had the top of his head taken off by a fragment from one such bomblet. Other fragments slammed into the shipping containers lining the fence line, sounding like hail on a tin roof. One fragment even punched through the thin corrugated metal and ripped the arm off a soldier hunkered on the other side.
The first pair of planes each made two passes, dropping two cluster bombs each time and then each took turns firing their cannon into the horde below before heading back to the base. The other pair of fighter-bombers each dropped a massive napalm canister to the rear of the approaching horde and then also added their own cannon fire to the carnage. After the fighters had left, their afterburners screaming, Master Corporal Stone climbed back into his tower from his shelter behind a shipping crate and gazed into No-Man’s Land. Corpses were piled everywhere in heaps of flesh. Here and there, some infected stirred, but No-Man’s Land was now covered in the remains of thousands and thousands of Canadians. He gagged at the sight and paused momentarily, waiting for the nausea to pass, then wearily hefted his rifle and scanned for a target.
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On their fifth day at Costco, Xander and Evelyn watched on TV as it was announced that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet had been evacuated from Ottawa to CFB Petawawa, where the army would keep them safe. He kept broadcasting, telling Canadians to be resolute and to listen to the local authorities. Within a couple of days, those transmissions stopped, after the base was overrun by zombies somehow.
Xander sat on the roof, watching the growing numbers of infected below.
The first few days, there had been cars on the street all the time, each one harassed by a handful of zombies here or there. Every once and awhile, a police car or two would drive through, shooting the zombies, allowing people to escape. As time went on though, and more and more people in the area turned to zombies, the roads became more and more congested with zombies. The lone zombie turned to five, then dozens, then finally hundreds over the course of the week. Most of them stayed in the residential area across the street for some reason.
At first, everyone found it was hard turning away strangers, but after their run-in with Tom and his band of thieves, no one was really interested in letting people in or even offering help. Therefore, most people who stood watch on the roof sat well back of the edge so that they were less visible from the roads nearby.
That afternoon, a family had desperately tried to get inside the Costco, and after Xander consulted him over the radio, Steve had vetoed it, on the grounds that infected might also get inside too. Xander had to agree, but that didn’t mean he liked it.
The family had been riding bikes north on 50th Street when a group of infected erupted out of the apartment buildings nearby. Xander stood up when he saw the group of infected pouring out the apartment, wondering what was happening.
That was when one of them had seen Xander, and all five turned towards Costco. They were followed by a group of almost one hundred zombies, scrambling after them in that odd shuffle they used. The problem was that there were also dozens of zombies stumbling around outside the Costco, too.
They approached the south side of the building and jumped off their bikes, shouting, “Let us in!”
Xander leaned over the roof and looked down at them. They were a ragged group, and the youngest children were not yet teenagers.
“Sorry, we can’t let you in!” Xander shouted down to them.
“Please, there’s only five of us!” the father pleaded.
“Look, I’d like to, but we don’t know that you’re not infected yourselves.”
“Have you ever heard of infected talking or riding bikes?” the father shouted back.
“No, but how do we know if one of you was bitten recently and will turn soon,” Xander replied.
“I promise none of us are infected!” He begged. “You can even strip search us for bites!”
“Look, I’m sorry, I truly am. But the decision isn’t mine. You need to go right now!”
Suddenly, Jack and Steve appeared behind Xander, both carrying a rifle.
The father blanched at seeing the rifles.
“Look, if you don’t leave right now, you won’t make it out of the parking lot!” Xander said. “We can give you some covering fire, but you have to leave now. Head north around the western edge of the building and then go around PetSmart and keep heading north.”
Steve and Jack turned to start firing at the oncoming infected. Their shooting was terrible and they seemed to miss with every shot. Still, the noise attracted the attention of many of the infected in the area and pulled them away from the family that was peddling as fast as they could.
Xander followed the family as it raced around the west side of the building. After they turned the corner, he shouted, “Great, now head towards the PetSmart and keep going!”
Xander fired his AR-7 at several infected trying to get to the escaping family. He put two of them down and the other two tripped over their corpses, giving the family much needed seconds to escape. They turned west and rode up the overpass. At the top of the hill, one of the kids looked at Xander and gave him the finger. Then all five were gone, heading north on Manning Drive. Xander watched them fade into the scenery for a few minutes, and then walked over to where Steve and Jack were standing. They had stopped firing as soon as the family was safe and were watching the infected milling below.
“Should we take them out?” Jack said.
“Seems like a waste of ammo – besides, we have so little,” Steve replied.
“If your marksmanship was better I’d say yes. Did either of you two hit anyone down there?”
Both mumbled back, “No.”
“I guess we need to have practice then,” Xander said. “Good thing you brought your fancy pellet guns, Jack.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone can learn to shoot without wasting real bullets,” Xander replied. “I guess we’ll have to schedule some time for everyone to get some practice, Steve.”
“Sure thing, I’ll print something out.”
“You gonna be okay up here by yourself, Xander?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Xander replied.
Then Steve and Jack nodded to each other, turned around, and went back inside.
Xander went back to watching the infected wandering around below.
After the family disappeared over the bridge, most of the infected slowed their chase and then gradually turned back towards the Costco.
In less than an hour, more than a hundred infected surrounded the Costco.
Chapter 18
September 29th
“Steve, do you have a minute?” Xander asked, knocking on Steve’s office door.
“Sure thing. What’s on your mind?”
“Well, there’s some griping going on. It’s nothing serious, but some of the non-Costco people are starting to feel kinda powerless and are beginning to resent being ordered around by the employees,” Xander stated flatly. “I don’t think it’s a big deal, but we should try
and nip it in the bud, if possible.”
“Did that asshole Donald send you in here? He’s just pissed because I yelled at him for being a lazy, good-for-nothing, waste of skin!” Steve replied.
“No, Steve, no one sent me in. I heard some grumblings at the breakfast table and I thought you should know. And yes, Donald is pretty damned useless.”
“Sorry, I’m a little touchy, I’m just so busy trying to coordinate everything,” Steve said.
“I know. I don’t want people getting pissed at each other and a stupid squabble starting. Given how it looks outside, it appears that we’re all going to be here for a long time, and we should make it as pleasant as possible, don’t you think?”
“What’s your solution?” Steve inquired.
“I don’t have a solution. I’m just here to tell you there could be a problem somewhere down the road.”
“You must have something, or you wouldn’t have come to see me,” Steve said. “Come on, spit it out.”
“You really only have two choices – dictatorship or democracy. I prefer democracy,” Xander said.
“Any other bright ideas, smartass?” Steve shot back.
“Well, I haven’t given it a lot of thought, but if you ask me, a committee might be a good solution. Three people, one from the Costco staff, one from the outsiders, and one everyone else elects. Three people means there are no ties when it comes to making decisions,” Xander replied. “If you don’t like that idea, come up with one of your own; it doesn’t really matter to me.”
“No, a committee sounds fine. We can hold an election after dinner.”
Xander walked out of the office and went back to his efforts to make the warehouse more secure. Over the course of the day, a few people talked to him and he let slip that Steve was considering creating a committee to help run things. The grumblers weren’t positive it was a step in the right direction, but most everyone was content to see some flexibility in the decision making.
Jessica’s voice jumped from the speakers inside the warehouse. “Dinner’s ready, come on and get it, folks!”
Xander stopped what he was doing and wandered over to the electronics section, looking for Evelyn, but she had already taken the kids to dinner.
Xander walked into the staff room and got in the food line-up. Along the wall, several tables were set up and deep pans filled with all sorts of food lined them. Xander waited, got his food and then plunked himself down beside Evelyn, who was already half finished her meal.
Steve stood up a minute later and announced, “In light of the fact that it looks like we’ll be here for awhile, and to prevent discontent, we’re going to create a committee to help make the decisions around here. We’ll elect three reps, one from the Costco staff, one from everyone else and a third who can be voted on by everybody. Any questions?”
“Who can be a rep?” someone in the back asked.
“Anyone can be a rep, they just need someone to nominate them.”
One of the Costco employees immediately stood up and nominated Steve for a spot on the committee.
Evelyn did the same for Xander, and seconds later, Diane did the same for Donald. Within a few minutes, there were nearly a dozen candidates.
“Okay, anyone else?” Steve asked.
When no one said a thing, Steve said, “I’ll go make some ballots and we can draw names after dinner.”
After Steve left, Donald stood up and said, “If you elect me, I promise to get us better food, less guard duty, and more free time.”
Evelyn nudged Xander in the ribs.
Xander waited until Donald was finished, then stood up and said, “If you elect me, I’ll promise to do my best to represent all of us who feel powerless in here.”
Other people stood up and announced their ‘platforms’. For the most part, it was a mix of those who promised more free time to watch TV and have fun versus those who promised hard work and survival. Prevailing opinion was running with the have fun crowd.
Xander whispered to Evelyn, “It looks like that numbnuts Donald and another screw-up are going to get elected and get us all killed.”
“Then say something to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
After everyone had had their say, Xander stood up once more. “I’d like to add that my promise to represent all of us will focus on one thing and one thing only – to do my best to make sure that we survive this hellish ordeal. I know that some of the others are promising rainbows and lollipops, but for anyone who’s been on the roof this past week, we all know there is no such thing any longer. I know it sucks standing guard on the roof and rationing food and everything else. But if we all want to survive this – these are the things we need to do.
“I know it’s not popular to say, but I won’t bullshit all of you and tell you that the land of milk and honey is just around the corner, because it isn’t. Eating all the Oreos and fried chicken in the next week isn’t going to help us in the long run. What happens when the power goes out? How will we cook our food? How will we stay warm? These are things we need to think of now, so that we are ready to deal with them, not wait until the last minute because we want to watch movies on a 52 inch plasma TV.
“Finally, please remember, it was me who called most of you and told you about this place and helped you get in here. If I cared that much to think of you in these dark times, please think of voting for me in this election – because I have your best interests at heart – not some selfish desire for hot wings and beer.”
Xander sat down and went back to eating. In the back of the room, someone clapped, then another and soon the whole room was clapping.
Xander blushed and waved at everyone. He was saved from any more speaking by Steve’s return.
Steve arrived with a stack of papers fresh from the printer in the office.
“Okay, this is how this is going to work. Everyone gets three votes – one each for a Costco employee, one from everyone else, and finally a vote on everybody inside the building. Don’t bother voting for the same person twice because we’ll spoil your ballot if you do.”
“How the hell can you vote for the same person twice?” someone asked.
“Well, the third column has everyone’s name in it, so you could vote for them as a Costco representative and again as the third committee member. Any questions?”
“Okay, let’s vote! When you’re finished eating, come out into the hallway.”
At the end of the hallway near the bathrooms, Steve had set up a table and chair.
People started forming a line and Steve handed out a ballot to each person in line. Then one by one, they went down to the table and made their selections. Then Patricia collected their ballots as soon as they finished. Once everyone had voted, Jessica went into the office and tabulated the results. After about twenty minutes, she emerged with a printout.
As it turned out, Steve was elected as leader of the Costco employees and Xander the representative of the non-Costco group. Jessica, the blonde-haired, cute and very friendly Costco part-timer was selected by the group as a whole.
Donald was quick to voice his complaints. “What’s the fucking difference? Now the Costco people control the committee and still run our lives.”
“Will you stop your bitching for five minutes, Donald!” someone in the back of the room fired back.
A barrage of comments like “Yeah”, “Shut up already” and Knucklehead” backed up the anonymous person.
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Master Corporal Stone and the other snipers had spent most of the last day firing into anything that moved in the No Man's Land between the fence and the highway. The hordes of infected were gone – Stone guessed it was simply because all the infected who lived in neighbourhoods bordering the base had already come north looking for a snack and found only full metal jacketed death instead. Given the losses they had sustained over the past few days, Stone guessimated that the brigade had lost at least twenty percent of its personnel – with losses heaviest in the units that ha
d gone into Edmonton – its medical and military police units. Deep down he was pleased that the General wasn’t foolish enough to send large numbers of troops into the city to deal with the infected. He knew that hordes like the one that had just attacked the base would have killed everyone, leaving no one to protect the base and provide a safe haven for refugees.
Occasionally, lone infected would shamble out of the woods south of the training area, but for the most part, the snipers main focus was on the thousands of corpses strewn outside the fence line. When General Raines was satisfied that most of the infected had been eliminated, several Leopard Armoured Recovery Vehicles rolled out of the base and began pushing the bodies into massive piles.
In No Man’s Land, engineers quickly began to dig yet another series of deep anti-tank ditches, roughly three metres deep and three metres wide. The dirt from the trenches was trucked back into the base, to build hills along the fence line. This ‘moat’ as it was being called, prevented infected from the city from even getting close to the base perimeter. Eventually, it would entirely surround the base, but for now, the emphasis was on the southern edge of the base, which bordered the city. Areas to the north, west and east of the base were too lightly populated to create a dire situation where large numbers of infected might actually breach the wire. Once the trench closest to the city was finished, the massive piles of corpses were doused with gasoline and set ablaze.
Three north-south city roads crossed No- Man’s Land, at 66th, 82nd, and 97th streets respectively. All three roads had been dug up as well, and at 66th and 97th streets, a portable bridging tank now sat, ready to deploy its bridge over the trench to allow troops in and out of the area. 195th Avenue separated the training area from the base itself, and at the eastern edge of the base, it had been dug up as well to prevent infected from the city’s northeast end from getting close to the perimeter.
Zombie Night in Canada (Book 1): First Period Page 18
