by John Ringo
“It’s better than that,” Copley said. “But not much.”
* * *
“So… You guys get to shoot ’em ?” Randall asked.
“Not usually,” Faith said. “Usually we have to taser ’em. There were too many this time. You guys gotta wear that rig all the time?”
The National Guardsmen were in masks, hoods and ponchoes.
“Keeps the blood off,” Randall said.
“Makes sense,” Faith said. “I got in a scuffle with one the other day and it bled all over me. Ended up very nearly going zombie myself. You do not want to get it even if you don’t zomb. Sickest I’ve ever been in my life.”
“Damn,” Randall said. “So… You’re not going to zombie, right?”
“Certified immune,” Faith said. “My immune system got it. Low dosage of the virus I guess. Don’t even have any antibodies anymore, which is medicalese for ‘you’re not going to be a zombie.’ Shook it off completely. Not that it was much fun. Horrible sick.”
“I’ll keep my poncho on, then,” Randall said. “Let me tell you, this shit is hot, though.”
“Better or worse than the Sandbox?” Faith asked.
“Oh, better,” Randall said. “But not much.”
“Nice rig,” Astroga said. “What is that rifle?”
“Shotgun,” Faith said. “Saiga. It’s an AK variant that fires twelve gauge.” She dropped the magazine and cleared and handed it over to the private. “Ten round magazine. Which beats a pump all to hell.”
“Is it reliable?” Randall asked. “May I?”
“Sure,” Faith said. “As long as I get it back. Especially if we get any more visitors.”
“Nice,” Randall said.
“Love the kukri,” Faith said, gesturing at the combat knife on his belt.
“Carried it in Iraq and the Stan,” Randall said. He hesitated for a second, then handed it over. “Thought it might come in handy.”
“Sweet,” Faith said, examining it. It had the word “Boosh” carved on the handle. “I’ve got one on the boat. They said it was overkill for tonight. Famous last words.”
“There is no overkill,” Randall intoned. “There is only open fire and reload.”
“Schlock fan, huh?” Faith said. “I knew the world was coming to an end when Schlock didn’t update.”
“It’s heavy,” Astroga said. “The Saiga.”
“I’ll take the firepower any day,” Faith said, gesturing with her chin at the M4. “The U.S. started to go downhill when it changed from a round designed to kill our enemies to one designed to piss them off.”
“Nice quote,” Randall said. “That one I don’t recognize.”
“Read it on some blog,” she said, then looked up. The entire skyline had gone black as had all the lights in the park. “Oh, that is not good. Getting home is going to be a bitch and a half.”
“I wonder if the subways are out, too,” Astroga said nervously. “I’d hate to be in a subway in the dark in this.”
“We’ve got…” Faith then paused. She reached for her Saiga. “Wasn’t what I was going to say but what we’ve got is movement.”
A woman was running through the park pursued by a zombie. Before she could get to the relative safety of the group of concert-goers, another came at her from the side and knocked her down. She started screaming.
“Move it!” Copley said, waving.
The threesome ran to the woman, stopping just short to fire tasers into the zombies attacking her. One of them seemed to be trying to sexually assault her.
“Okay,” Faith said. “That’s just gross.”
She looked away and then turned back at another scream. Astroga had been attacked from behind by another infected. She was struggling to throw it off. Randall tasered it but there were more. Suddenly, the threesome was surrounded by zombies and there were now screams from the concert goers.
Looking around, Faith realized that there were more and more of the zombies closing on the concert.
“The lights!” Tom shouted. “They’re zeroing in on the lights!”
Suddenly, an M4 went to full auto and Faith heard rounds zipping by her head. Copley pushed his way through the crowd of zombies, dragging Astroga by the harness. She could see Randall, clearly out of rounds and with no time to reload, wielding his kukri and chopping zombies left and right.
“Rock and roll!” Copley screamed. “Just shoot! We’re in armor!”
“Authorized,” Tom said, taking a two handed stance. “Try not to hit the good guys.”
“Uncle Tom!” Faith said, backing towards her group and firing to the side. “We’ve got more coming!”
“This way, too,” Stacey called. “They’re in the concert.”
Faith glanced over her shoulder and saw something she never expected to see. Ever. With the defenses around the actual stage, where the lights were, the zombies couldn’t climb up. Zombies coming down Fifth Avenue had bent around the stage until they hit the dancers in the mosh pit. A naked, writhing zombie was being crowd-surfed over the group. So far, the moshers seemed to consider the zombies to be a feature not a bug. Just more people to hit.
When it dropped into the regular concert-goers, the screams started. and there were more being crowd-surfed back.
“Remind me to pick up some mosh gear,” Faith shouted.
“On you,” Sophia called.
“Cover me while I reload,” Faith said. There was a tidal wave of zombies coming for them and she made if not the fastest reload in her life than close. She had to make sure to keep the magazine since she foresaw a time in the not too distant future when getting more would be a bit of a pain.
“And we’re back,” Faith said, taking three quick blasts to clear their side. “Where the fuck are they all coming from?”
“Thanks,” Copley said as the three soldiers reached the perimeter of the contractor group. “Thanks, thanks…”
“Reload and start laying down,” Tom said. “We’re not out of this yet. And call for back-up.”
“Roger, sir,” Copley said.
“You, specialist,” Tom said, pointing to Randall. “East side. Durante, South. Faith, West. You, private,” he said, pointing at Astroga. “North towards the concert. We’re going to start moving south. Myself and Steve will back Durante.”
“That’s right into most of them, boss,” Durante pointed out. He was keeping up a slow-aimed fire with his Saiga. “Reloading.”
“Covering,” Steve said.
“Questions later,” Tom said, taking down two zombies with two shots. “Sergeant, stay on the horn.”
“Roger, sir,” Copley said. “The NYPD liaison net is down. Ditto cell. I’m down to military radio.”
“Keep at it,” Tom said. “Durante, start moving forward as soon as we’re reloaded.”
The concert crowd had started to scatter as more and more of the infected swarmed the only light in a mile. Faith could hear screams over the music as they were picked off one by one in the surrounding darkness. She keyed on her tactical light as they moved down the road into the woods.
“No lights,” Tom said.
“Boss,” Durante said, firing.
“They’re attracted to the lights,” Tom snapped. “The reason we’re going south. No lights.”
“Lasers?” Faith asked.
“Authorized,” Tom said, firing carefully.
“Oh, my God,” Astroga said.
Faith glanced to the side and blanched. It was just possible to tell who was a zombie and who was a mosher but it didn’t look as if many of the moshers were left. And the zombies were fighting their way over the fences and razor wire to get to the band. Most of Voltaire’s back-up had quit, one was pounding a zombie with an electric guitar, but he was still strumming along.
“Jasper glittered all over the wall, so they /Hung him from the ceiling for a Disco Ball. /There was so much angst after the fight, /Edward and Bella broke up that night. /While some wolves chowed down on a puddle of food /That used to
be some rasta vampire dude…”
There was a crackle of sparks as a zombie hit the power leads for the concert and the lights shut out with a sudden finality. Faith couldn’t see what happened in the darkness. But she could hear the screaming.
“You wanna, you know, fight zombies here?” Sophia asked. “I’m borrowing a pistol.”
“Go,” Faith said, returning to fighting. She tried to ignore the screams from the crowd.
“Don’t shoot!” a woman screamed, running towards the group. “Please! Help!” There was an infected in hot pursuit.
“Down!” Astroga shouted. “Get down!” The woman was directly in her line of fire. And she wasn’t listening.
“Cover!” Faith snapped. She could barely see, her eyes were still adjusting, but she drew her sidearm and tracked the zombie one-handed. There was a boom.
“Got it!” she shouted.
“Nice shot,” Copley said.
“Thanks,” Faith replied, firing into the darkness. There was a scream and something started thrashing.
“Thank you, thank you…” the woman sobbed.
“Hey, Christine,” Sophia said, airily. “I thought you wanted to be a zombie.”
“I changed my mind, okay?” Christine said.
“Quiet,” Tom said. Christine started to say something and he hit her on the back of the head. “I said, quiet. Listen.”
“I don’t like being under these trees,” Faith whispered. It was darker even than in the main square and very hard to see the zombies. She flashed her laser around and was rewarded by another thrashing sound. She moved it again and there was another thrashing.
“Are you playing laser tag with a zombie?” Sophia asked.
“I think it’s trying to chase it,” Faith whispered. The sound of the city had nearly died and all there was was the sound of their breathing, the crashing of zombies in the trees and the occasional scream in the distance. A horn started blaring and there were howls in the distance.
“Just keep moving,” Tom said. “Don’t fire unless you have to.”
A zombie came loping at the group and Durante turned to fire.
“I’ve got this,” Randall said, stepping forward. He let his weapon drop on the sling and held out his left hand. “Come on, zombie, nice fresh hand to bite…” He carefully drew his kukhri.
The zombie grabbed his arm and bit down on the offered hand. As he did, Randall brought the kukhri down and to the side, chopping into the back of the zombie’s neck. It dropped to the ground, twitching.
“Stay away from the blood spray,” Tom said.
“Oh, yeah,” Durante said. “Those masks and ponchos make more sense now. You get bitten?”
“Two sets of gloves,” Randall said, holding up his hand. “Rubber MOPP gloves and tacticals. Didn’t even penetrate the rubber.”
“You’ve been planning that, haven’t you?” Copley said.
“Since we got deployed.”
“Sergeant,” Tom said, quietly. “Support?”
“Multiple teams in contact,” Copley said. “The reaction team is in contact. The bases that aren’t deep in buildings are all under attack.”
“If you can, pass that they’re attracted to sound and light,” Tom said. “Go to NVGs.”
“Wish we had them,” Randall said.
They finally cleared the park. There was more light on Washington Square South but not much.
“We need wheels,” Tom said. “Where’s the nearest headquarters that’s not under attack?” Tom asked.
“Fourteenth Street precinct reports no movement,” Copley said.
“Bank’s closer,” Tom said, pointing with his pistol to the west. “We’ll go there. We’ve got a heavy rescue vehicle. We can get you back to your people.”
“Not going to complain,” Copley said. “Wait…” He put his ear to the radio. “Roger… Is that confirmed? Roger… We’ve got ten personnel, say again, ten. Team eight-three, one civilian, six contractors… Okay… Roger… Do no, say again, do not use lights… Roger…”
“What?” Tom asked.
“There’s an MRAP moving down university place to NYU to pick up another team that’s hot. They can do pick-up for us as well.”
“All of us?” Tom asked. “Or just your team?”
“All of us,” Copley said. “It will be tight but they’ll pick us up.”
“East it is,” Tom said. “Rotate with Durante on the park side. Faith, you’re plowing the road.”
“Oh, goody,” Faith said. “Which way?”
“There,” Tom said, grabbing her shoulders to point her in the correct direction. “Specialist, take the back door. Private, you cover the street side. Sergeant, back-up Faith in clearing the road.”
“Roger, sir,” Randall said.
“On it,” Copley said. “We’d better hurry, though. I’m not sure how long they’re going to wait. Or if they can make pick-up if we don’t make the ETA.”
There was a sudden flash of light and a Yellow Cab took the turn onto the street from the direction of the university. Which meant it was going against the traffic if there had been any. It was weaving from side to side, dodging most of the zombies. As Faith watched, it hit one, tossing it half way across the street. As it zoomed by the group it tooted its horn and a faint big band swing medley dopplered into the distance.
Unfortunately, its antics had attracted the zombies in the park. And they were now closing in on the group. Some were getting caught on the low, metal fence of the park but most were successfully clambering over.
“Contact,” Durante said, pulling the trigger. “Tango down. Multiple contacts my side.” He fired again. “Tango down. Not clear…”
“New plan,” Tom said. “Middle of the street. Plow the road and shag bloody arse.”
“We are in heavy contact and moving to your position,” Copley shouted over the radio. “Request support soonest.” He was firing his M4 one handed as he ran.
“Here zombies, zombies, zombies,” Faith said. She was panning the Saiga back and forth at shoulder level. As soon as the red laser would appear, meaning something was in its way, she fired.
“Oh, there’s a bunch behind us!” Randall shouted. “Cover me while I reload!”
“I really wish I’d brought more Saigas,” Steve said. “But what could go wrong with a concert at night in a zombie apocalypse?”
“You’re never going to let go of that, are you?” Faith asked. “I’m out!” she yelled. Zombies were too close to reload so she pulled a pistol and started firing.
“We’re getting surrounded,” Tom said. “We need to keep moving!”
“Take cover!” Copley said. There was a sound of a heavy vehicle moving and a burst of machine gun fire suddenly hit a group of zombies by the park.
“South side,” Tom shouted. “By the buildings!”
“Shit!” Faith snarled. She’d dropped behind a concrete planter just as a burst of bullets ripped over her head.
“Friendlies!” Copley shouted. He was face down on the ground. He popped a chemlight and threw it in the air towards the MRAP.
The unlit MRAP continued to lay down fire over their heads as it moved forward, slowly. When it was opposite the group it stopped and the back doors opened.
“You waiting for an engraved invitation?” somebody shouted, then fired to the rear.
“Waiting to make sure you weren’t going to shoot us,” Astroga shouted. She was in the heavy vehicle like a shot.
“Thanks,” Faith said. “I think. You nearly tagged me back there.”
“A miss is as good as a mile,” the vehicle crewman said. “Who’s got the count?”
“Me,” Tom said. “And we’re good,” he added as Durante boarded.
“Ow!” Sophia said, banging her head. “We should have worn helmets.”
“Military vehicles are designed for them,” Steve said, leaning forward. “Hunch and you probably won’t hit your head as much.”
“When did we go hot?” Copley yelled. Th
e inside of the MRAP was like being in a rock crusher. It also was occasionally tossing around as if it was hitting potholes.
“When the lights went out and every zombie in New York City headed for anything with lights on,” the crewman shouted. “Every team’s been hit and just about every headquarters. We are ‘redeploying for active clearance.’”
“About fucking time,” Randall snarled.
“It’s going to get really tight in here,” the crewman said. “We’ve got two more teams to pick up and they’ve got some civilians, too. I guess the zombies are enforcing the curfew for us!”
* * *
It was nearly dawn by the time Tom was able to arrange pick-up for the group and get back to the Bank.
“So are you pulling the handle?” Steve asked.
“I’ll have to see what the Fed and the Board say when they get around to meeting,” Tom said. He was looking out the window of his office at the darkened skyline of New Jersey. There were a few lights. And although he couldn’t see him he was sure that each was surrounded by a wall of “infected persons.” “I can’t pull the handle until the tipping point has clearly been reached, the Fed orders temporary suspension of all operations or the Board orders suspension.”
“I’d say last night was a tipping point,” Steve said.
“For us, maybe,” Tom said. “But I’ve got to stay until they pull the handle. You can go. The evac plan is solid. Everybody involved in critical actions or in the evac group has been vaccinated and boosted.” His phone rang and he picked it up.
“Smith… Roger, sir… Understood… I’ll send a team to pick them up… Roger, it’s under control…”
“Pulling the handle?” Steve asked.
“Sounds like it,” Tom said. “The Chairman and his family are holed up in their apartment on Park Avenue and apparently they can’t get out. Zombies don’t you know. Do me one last favor?”
“Short on teams?” Steve said.
“Very,” Tom said. “Take the BERT truck and go get them. There’s a few other board members as well. Then take it over to the dock and trade places with Kaplan. I’ll send Durante with you but he may need some fire support.”
“I’ll contact you on Channel 47,” Steve said, standing up wearily. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
