“I need volunteers,” Johnston said, heavily. “I need twenty men to go take out the Azael’s artillery.” Of the three hundred men present all raised their hands. “That’s what I thought,” Johnston remarked. “I guess I should have said I need twenty of the fittest men we have. Drop your hands if you did not have a perfect score on your last PT test.”
Only twenty-two hands remained up in the air—one of these was Sadie’s in spite of the fact that she had never taken a PT test in her life; she had run track in high school and was still in great condition and figured that was close enough.
Johnston nodded at the hands—except Sadie’s, which he ignored. “Everyone with their hands in the air remain. The rest of you make one more sweep of these hills and then report to your units.”
When the main group of men departed, the remaining twenty-two arrayed themselves in a much smaller formation. Sadie affixed herself to the back row; she felt tiny next to the tall men and couldn’t see a thing in front of her as she came only to shoulder height of the smallest of them.
The general walked down the rows, his eyes darting over each man. In the third row he came upon a lieutenant with a bandaged hand. “Sorry Boyd. With that hand you won’t be able to cut it.” Lieutenant Boyd left and Johnston finished his brief inspection, stopping in front of Sadie. “If you don’t mind,” he said, “I would appreciate it if you left my formation.”
“Let her stay,” Neil said in a voice of command. “What we need is endurance and she has plenty of that.”
Johnston’s jaw clenched, briefly, before he turned away from Sadie as if she wasn’t there. He cleared his throat and said in his deep, rumbly voice: “Your mission is simple: you will find where the Azael have made camp, assault it, and destroy their artillery before they can take down the two walls erected across this highway. You have less than two hours to complete this task and that is why I asked for the fittest among you. A third wall is being erected but it won’t be completed for two more hours. In the mean time we will be fighting the stiffs man to man on open ground so you can understand why it’s imperative that you complete the mission in the time stated. If a man falls out on the way, leave him and go on.”
None of the soldiers were so undisciplined as to speak in formation; however, many shifted uneasily, Sadie included. The general consensus was that the Azael were camped on Highway 34 nine miles to their east; nine extremely mountainous miles. The idea of even getting to them in two hours seemed ludicrous and then if they did, they would have to fight at five hundred to one odds.
Though many of the men shifted, General Johnston only appeared to notice Sadie’s discomfort at the arduous plan. “It is a difficult task,” he said, “But not an impossible one. There is a steep little trail that winds over that ridgeline.” He pointed at a run of ten thousand foot peaks that blocked their view east. “We have scrounged up five ATVs that will transport the twenty of you over it. From there you will have to go on foot.”
“It’s five miles,” Neil said. “But that’s five miles as the crow flies. It’s double that on foot and that’s why we need people who can keep up.” Neil pointed to the largest of the soldiers there. He was a hulking man with a back that was as wide as a doorway. “He won’t be able to keep up. I’m sure he’s in great shape, but this will be an endurance run and he’s not built for it.”
For a second, Johnston’s dark eyes blazed, but then he gave the hulking man a second look. “The Governor is right. Tomes you’re out. Miss, you’re in.” As Tomes stepped away from the formation, swearing under his breath, the general went back to the front. He held up a map and said: “Captain Grey will be leading you. Since we don’t have a second to lose, you’ll be taking the weapons you have on you. Prepare to move out in one minute.”
One minute? Aghast, Sadie glanced down at what she was carrying: her Glock 17 in a hip holster, two magazines of 9mm ammo in her back pocket, the M4 she had ‘borrowed’, one extra magazine of 5.56mm ammo for the M4 in her right pocket and a bottle of water in her left.
Without hesitation, she undid the hip holster and dropped the Glock to the ground; the two extra mags went into the clump as well. Next she unzipped her jacket and let it drop but not before she took from her pockets the extra 30-round magazine for the M4 and the water.
She looked at them, knowing she wouldn’t be able to carry both. Figuring she wouldn’t be able to make it without water, she was ready to drop the mag when a hand grabbed it from her.
“Stop,” Grey said. “When we get there, you’ll need it. Here, watch.” From his chest rig, he pulled out a circle of silver duct tape. Without asking, he took the M4 from her and then, turning the extra magazine upside down, he taped it to the one protruding from the M4. “When the first one runs out of ammo, simply turn it over.”
She was about to say thanks, when he abruptly handed the weapon to her, spun her around, ran his hands up and down her sides as if checking her for an unseen weapon, and then spun her back. “You’re good to go,” he declared and then went to the next man and did the same thing.
Sadie’s head was spinning. Sure she was good to go, but for what? Had she known that she was going to be assaulting the entire Azael army along with just a handful of soldiers she might not have been so quick to put her nose where it didn’t belong.
Chapter 12
Sadie Walcott
While the men hurried to get ready, she was still standing there, feeling useless when suddenly, Neil appeared at her side. “Be careful out there, will you?” he said, his scarred face folding into what he probably took to be a look of concern.
How was one supposed to be careful on a suicide mission, she didn’t know. “Yeah, sure,” she whispered. Self-consciously, she brought a shaking hand up to touch her cheek, certain that she was just as white as a ghost, certain that everyone could see how scared she was. The other members of the squad didn’t seem nervous in the least. They were quietly checking their gear, their rugged faces set in stone.
Neil patted her on the back, paused for a moment in indecision and then leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Be careful and come back in one piece or you’re going to be grounded. And I mean it this time.” He tried to laugh but failed as the sound dried up in his throat. Sadie wanted to laugh as well, but she couldn’t, nor could she think of anything to say in the two seconds before Grey barked them into motion.
The next thing she knew she was jogging down the hill, trying to keep up with the soldiers. With Captain Grey leading, they practically sprinted down to where a Humvee was parked in front of a row of green ATVs. They looked like miniature dune-buggies to Sadie. “Mount up!” Grey shouted as he reached the first.
There was very little room for any actual mounting. Perching was closer to what occurred. The driver and one passenger had seats; the other two people had to cling as best they could to the back. As Sadie was the last in line, she ran to the furthest ATV and climbed on the back, wondering how she was going to hold on going up and down the steep ridges.
The man in the passenger seat glanced at her, made a face and then started to get out. He was going to do the chivalrous thing and offer up his seat, however the driver grabbed him. “We don’t have time for that. Get in.” Grey was already gunning his loaded ATV off down a very narrow track.
“D-Don’t worry about m-me,” Sadie said, her frayed nerves embarrassing her as she stammered.
“No, switch,” the man said to Sadie. She did a double take, amazed to see that it was PFC Morganstern offering up his seat. She had been so preoccupied with her escalating fears that she hadn’t recognized the apple-cheeked soldier.
With a soft: “Thanks,” that was barely heard, she ran to the front and jumped in next to the driver, who barely waited for Morganstern to climb on back to peel out.
“I woulda let her sit on my lap if I was you,” the other soldier clinging to the back said. “That’s what I would call...” He couldn’t go on as their ATV was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of dust and dirt kicked up by
the passage of the previous four vehicles. “Don’t follow so close,” he yelled. “It’s not like we’re going to get lost.”
The driver slowed and for the first twenty minutes they hung back a ways as they climbed the towering ridge. It was a frightful ride for Sadie as the ATV was frequently pitched up at an obscene angle and it was a wonder they didn’t fall backwards at times to go rolling down the hill. More than once she silently thanked Morganstern for switching positions with her.
The view from the top of the ridge was utterly fantastic and utterly brief. They were barely in the open for five seconds before they went hurtling down the other side of the ridge. Gravity became their enemy as it pulled them toward steep drop-offs at every turn of the crooked trail. There were times when Sadie was literally staring down at sheer three hundred foot drops with her heart in her throat and her hands in a death grip on the dash of the ATV.
Faster than they had ascended, the train of ATVs was down in another gorge. They followed it until the land opened up somewhat and they found themselves in a craggy, boulder-strewn valley, a half mile in width. They dashed across it while above them the sky continued to scream as if in pain as the 155mm shells tore through the air.
The sound seemed to send Captain Grey well past the point of prudence. He led them across the valley at break-neck speeds and it was all the men could do to hang on for their lives. In five minutes they had crossed to the far side and were ranging up and down hills. This part of the ride was smoother, but unfortunately it didn’t last.
The trail ran up against another tall ridge and then turned north. The moment it did, Grey leapt out of his ATV and consulted his map. “This is it! Dismount! Take a drink and let’s move. Any man who falls out will be left behind. If you fall out, do your best to catch up.” His eye caught Sadie’s at this; she quickly turned away, fully expecting to be the first to drop out of the run.
It was going to be hell. The Azael were five miles away, on the other side of what looked like a mountain or maybe two.
Sadie swallowed half her water and slung the M4 across her shoulder. In that short time, the others were already moving out. Grey set a blistering pace. She had always been a runner; however she was used to speeding on a flat track with just the wind and an occasional runner to pass as her only obstacles. The mountains of Colorado were the complete opposite of this.
There were fallen logs to leap, streams to splash through, sudden drop-offs to keep from falling off of; and there were small rocky hills and medium treed hills and tall steep hills that caused her legs to burn as if they were on fire.
The pace was so fast that Sadie was absolutely sure she wasn’t going to make it. There was no way she could run for so long at such a speed—every part of her was in some sort of agony; and yet, after two miles, they hit the first ridge line, she was surprised when she passed one of the soldiers. He had slowly dropped back in the formation and soon she was on his heels.
“On your right,” she said as she worked her way around him. He cursed but with his breath gone it came out in a mumbled hoarse whisper. He continued to drop further and further back and soon, even his panting couldn’t be heard.
The ridge line saw two more men drop back. Grey took it at a diagonal, adding to the length of the run; it was a necessity. The hill was a few degrees short of vertical and even the path they took demanded a fair bit of climbing and a grueling degree of self-discipline.
Any slip of the foot meant a sprained ankle as a minimum penalty, while a broken neck was a very real possibility. They climbed so high and the way so steep that there were points where Sadie swung from the spindly trunks of the pines with dreadful drops below. Very soon, her hands were raw and her shoulder ached where the M4 was a constant thump of metal against muscle.
Still she made the top when two men hadn’t. One had literally dropped out of the run when part of the hill crumbled beneath his feet. He fell thirty feet down the slope before crashing against the trunk of a stunted pine growing out of the slope.
Sadie yelled down to him: “Are you ok?” In answer, he waved her on. She left him with her heart full of worry. No one else had even looked back, perhaps because they knew they were all running to a far worse fate than a few broken ribs.
The next man who she passed was less of a medical issue—he was simply fetched up against a tree, gasping for breath and looking as white as a ghost. She gave him a crooked smile as she darted around him. He gave her an odd look as if he was about to ask her a question. When she paused and cocked her head, he threw up on the side of the hill. It was a great green mess; it looked as though he had been eating a soup made from crabgrass.
She left him and this time she didn’t look back.
Just like with the ATVs, she hit the top of a ridge and wished she had time to stop. The view was magnificent, an oil painting depicting high summer, all green and gold; but it wasn’t just the view that made her want call a halt to the insane run. Her lungs burned with a fire she had never known and her legs felt weighted as if liquid cement was running through her veins.
There was another soldier at the top. He was on all fours and even as she watched, he keeled over and passed out. Though he might have been dying, she didn’t stop. No one did. The time it would take to save one life on the torturous run could mean the death of a thousand. They all knew it. They all accepted it.
The man was left behind and so was the next whose foot slipped off the side of a moss-covered log. There was a snap and then he was down among the old pine needles writhing and groaning. Would he be able to crawl back to Estes? No one knew and no one spared an ounce of energy wondering.
Down on the other side of the high ridgeline, another rock strewn valley greeted Sadie. It was open enough for her to see that the remaining men had broken into two groups. Captain Grey led eight of the hardiest men; they were a hundred yards ahead of the second group that was slowly dropping back. With the land somewhat flat, Sadie made an effort to catch the first group. She put her head down and concentrated only on two things: her breathing and where her next foot was going to land.
Around her men sounded like broken horses and gradually she left them, gagging or puking or fainting as she caught the first group. She was spent, almost to the point of stumbling. There was no way of knowing how long they had been running or how far they had yet to go. Sadie only knew that she was using the last dregs of her energy but, then again so too were the men around her.
All except Captain Grey.
They hit the base of another ridgeline and he didn’t even pause to look up at the immense wall before them. Everyone else stared up in dread. “Let’s move!” Grey demanded. Sadie, who had been bent over, sucking air looked up at the side of the mountain, turned and saw that Grey was already twenty feet up the slope. She couldn’t help wonder if he had flown there.
With all her heart, she wanted to stop and just breathe, only she couldn’t. Neil was back in the pretty Estes Valley. He was in danger and every second that she procrastinated meant he was one second closer to death. Whenever her life had been on the line, he hadn’t rested; he hadn’t stopped until he had done everything possible to save her.
She was the first up the hill after Captain Grey. The climb was easier on her than on any of the men. There were many spots where she was pulling herself up by the strength of her arms alone. It wasn’t as if she was stronger than any of them, she was simply feather-light and her burden was a fraction of theirs. They had come prepared to fight while she had brought only enough ammo to be a nuisance to the Azael.
Yet, her presence among the soldiers was worth far more than that. The men saw her, not only keeping up, but also passing others. They forced themselves on far beyond their natural endurance. Of course it wasn’t just Sadie that pushed them, it was their captain. He seemed limitless both in body and spirit.
Where the men could barely find the breath to grunt if their ankle turned and a bone broke, the captain somehow found the air to bellow constant encouragements. He w
as steadfast where they were weak. He was undaunted in the face of every one of the hundreds of hills they climbed, while they quailed before each. Where they cast aside what they could to lighten their loads, he picked up more. Unlike the others, his chest-rig was full of magazines and around his neck was a string of odd shaped little bombs.
He pulled the soldiers along in his wake and, very quickly, Sadie lost track of everything save for the heels of his boots. With dogged determination, she put her feet where he put his and she breathed in the same rhythm he did. Nothing else seemed to matter. She was going to make this run, even if it killed her. Even if she got to the end and could only fire her weapon once before her heart exploded.
She was going to make it.
Eventually they broke once more into the sunlight and found themselves at the highest peak within miles. Far down below them to the east was an open expanse of highway where thousands of men, looking like toy soldiers with the distance, stood around waiting for the zombies to finally surge ahead. It was the army of the Azael.
Now Grey finally paused. He stood with his great chest heaving, running sweat from his brow in rivers while looking over every one of the little hills and water-filled gullies and small stands of trees that laid between the base of the mountain and the howitzers—these monsters were still belching fire and metal every thirty seconds or so. They fired only twice before Grey said: “Let’s go.”
Sadie cast a weary glance back at the others—there were only five soldiers left, each looking as though they couldn’t take another step. “You heard him,” she wheezed and then loped off after the captain. The way was all downhill—the only reason she was able to keep up with Grey. She let gravity suck her on and it was only a matter of luck that she didn’t trip and run a stick through her eye or fall off a cliff face.
Exactly ninety minutes after leaving the ATVs, the remaining men, and Sadie, reached the forest just above the open space where the men of the Azael had made their encampment.
The Apocalypse War: The Undead World Novel 7 Page 12
