by Andrew Lauck
I made one last stop before going to the gate, checking my room to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I left the .22 propped up against the wall, and emptied all but two cans of food from my backpack since I didn’t plan to be gone long, and the two rifles would add some weight. Before I left, I stared long and hard at the broken watch on my wrist. Samantha had given it to me on our first anniversary, and I had kept it ever since. I unlatched the band and set the watch on the bedside table, letting my past sit this one out. Not only could memories get in the way, but I felt that Samantha’s memory deserved some peace.
Matthew was waiting for me at the gate by the time I walked up, handing him an M4 assault rifle. It had a shorter barrel than the M16, but I had the long-range shooting covered if we got in a firefight. I hoped to avoid that, though, if Schafer came through on his part of the deal. He inspected the rifle before hefting it in his hands and nodding approvingly.
A jeep was waiting for us outside the gate, and Jessica handed me the keys when I walked up. Matthew climbed into the passenger seat and looked around to make sure nothing would sneak up on us while I said good bye to Jessica. I think he was just trying to ignore us in case things got mushy, a situation I also hoped to avoid.
“I won’t say take care of yourself because I get the feeling you never do, but do I have to tell you to be careful?”
“It never hurts.”
“Then be careful, Eric.” I was worried for a second that she would kiss me, not because she wasn’t attractive, but because I wasn’t ready yet for any kind of relationship. Thankfully, Mills just stood on her toes and kissed me on the cheek before going back inside the relatively safe confines of the compound.
Inserting the keys and shifting the jeep into drive, we left the compound shrinking in the rearview. I noted the fuel gauge being almost three-quarters full and smiled, silently thanking Jessica. Trying to keep some dignity by avoiding the term “damaged,” I wasn’t exactly the easiest guy to like anymore so it was nice to know she cared.
The kid stayed silent during the drive, and I wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation either, so the drive was strangely peaceful considering the circumstances. The warehouse came into view after a while, and I pulled off just short of a mile out and exited the jeep. I reached into the back and pulled out my weapons, checking magazines and the receivers one last time. While I had double-checked everything at the compound, I couldn’t afford for anything technical to go wrong during a firefight.
Having filled Matthew in on the plan, he set off toward the warehouse while I circled around to a better vantage point. The warehouse and storage containers were surrounded by hills that made it look like the warehouse was at the center of a crater. Finding a good over-watch position on one of the hills, I unlimbered the M21 and propped the bipod on the grass in front of me. Easing my shoulder into the stock, I peered through the scope and found Matthew. He was a few hundred yards from the warehouse, so I had some time to confirm my suspicions since I didn’t see Schafer anywhere in sight, and this was feeling more like a setup with each passing moment. Shifting the rifle, I spotted no signs of vehicle disturbance nearby in any direction.
That meant one of two things: Either Schafer wasn’t coming at all, or more likely had sent someone to make sure he never saw me again. I was betting on the latter, so I immediately started searching the surrounding hills for anything that didn’t belong. Schafer wasn’t stupid, so he would send his sniper to take me out. With that in mind, I knew my timetable would be moved up, and Matthew was in danger.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matthew bring the radio up. The moment he did, a shot rang out, and the kid jerked back three feet to the ground. Cursing, I traced my rifle with the smoke trail that the bullet left. The trail dissipated before the source, though, so I squinted and scanned the area. There was a dip in the geography where several rocks covered the landscape and created shadows, so I guessed he was there since that’s where I would be. Of course, it also meant that there would be no sunlight glinting off the scope, so I would have to get lucky.
Knowing I would probably only get one shot at this, no pun intended, I had to make it count. I slowly reached into my pack and withdrew a can of beef stew, arcing it into the dirt thirty feet down the hill from my position. The can touched down and sent up a kick of dust, but I saw no sudden movement. This guy was clearly trained, but I waited. Two tense minutes went by with nothing but the dust blowing in a quiet breeze.
Hidden in the shadows of a larger rock, I thought I saw a shift in the scenery, so I exhaled and squeezed the trigger with my sights just above the intended target. I was, after all, half a mile out. I saw the bullet impact and heard the echo of the shot reach me a moment later. Still, I continued to watch that area for any signs that I had missed. Unsure if my eyes were playing tricks on me or the first shot had just wounded him, I caught movement and fired a second shot that resulted in a geyser of dirt kicking up like a miniature volcano. I let several minutes tick by without moving, eventually accepting that I had taken out the sniper.
I returned my sights to the warehouse lot and saw Matthew still lying motionless on the concrete. After another minute, his head lifted up, and he looked down at his chest. I could almost hear him say, “Shit, that hurt” as he got up, which made me laugh. He met me at the body of our friendly neighborhood sniper, and I flipped him over with my foot. Before you get all excited, the answer is no, I didn’t shoot through his scope and hit him in the eye like in the movies. However, the first 7.62x51mm NATO round did penetrate between his shoulder and neck, travelling down his body and severing several vital organs in the process. One of his hands was a few feet to the side, which let me know I wasn’t going crazy. He must have been trying to pull himself behind cover and struggling to breathe after my first shot pierced his lung which was when my second shot caught his forearm and exploded the base of his wrist. It was pretty gruesome, and the kid’s face said exactly what he was thinking.
“You okay, kid?” I nodded to his chest where a hole stood testament to the bullet penetrating his shirt. He unzipped his coat and a bundled mass fell to the ground with a clang. Fearing this situation might happen, I had an engineer at the compound cut down a steel car door and used it to reinforce a Kevlar blanket hidden underneath Matthew’s coat. Matthew took a deep breath and rubbed his back.
“I’ve been better.” He coughed and rubbed his chest. “I’m just glad you know how to use that thing.” He looked to the M21 cradled in my arms.
“And I’m just glad that worked. It worked in the movie, but you never know-”
“You got that idea from a movie?” He looked at me with a look of panic. “I walked around with a car door under my shirt because of something you saw in a film?” I bent down and looked at the door. The bullet was lodged into the metal frame, only a half inch from going through.
“For what it’s worth, it was a really good movie.” Static popped, and I immediately brought up my rifle before spotting the radio on the sniper’s belt. Reaching down, I pulled it off and waited for Schafer’s voice to come through.
“Is it done yet? Is he dead?” I looked to Matthew and then down at the dead sniper before reaching up and clicking the button to talk.
“Not yet, fuckhead, and you just made a big mistake. If you wanted a war, you’ve got it.” I let go of the button and shut off the radio, not waiting for a response. Katherine was at that court house, and we’d get her back, but I knew how fortified it was. A direct assault would be suicide with just me and the kid. What we needed was to overwhelm the place with numbers, but Matheson would never go for it and I wasn’t going to risk any more good soldiers on a mission that practically guaranteed casualties. By the time we jogged back to the jeep, I knew exactly what had to be done and I was more resolved than ever to do it no matter the cost. I just hoped the cost wasn’t too high.
Chapter 49
Sunset
On the way to Crown Point, I clued Matthew into the plan, and he liste
ned attentively until I finished explaining. He nodded at the end, so when we arrived I stopped the jeep and waited for him to get out. We were three streets and several blocks down from the courthouse, so Schafer wouldn’t be alerted to our presence before we wanted him to be. On the side closest to us, the door to a rundown building looked to be open, so the kid would clear that building and wait until I got back. Instead of getting out immediately, though, he stopped and turned to me.
“Sir, I understand why we’re doing this. I want to stop these men from hurting people, and we both want to save Katherine, but don’t you worry about failing? Or dying?” The look in his eyes was so much older than his physical appearance, and I couldn’t help but think of how he, like so many his age, was robbed of any growing up they would have left. It proved the impact of this disaster stretched well beyond the physical suffering and wouldn’t be fixed even if we took out the last zombie.
“For me, dying is failing. It’s weird, though. I’m strangely not worried about it. I guess that after surviving and fighting for so long, death is just something that’s become part of my day. Hell, maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad for me at this point.” I looked at Matthew and couldn’t meet my gaze.
“Yeah, but…” He glanced out the window and took a deep breath. “What I mean to say is that we could die tonight to possibly save her, but we could just go back to the compound and spend the rest of our lives with people like us, building new lives as survivors of the virus. Lieutenant Mills obviously cares about you, maybe you could make a life with her. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t plan to leave things unfinished here, but with how much you have back there, how do I know you won’t ditch me?”
While I would have loved to make a joke about a prom date there, the fact is the kid had a point. I hadn’t given it much thought, but after finding what I wanted for so long, I had to think for a long while on why I was so willing to give it up. Okay, the actual reasoning came pretty fast, but I had to phrase it right.
“If you had asked me that a month ago, I wouldn’t have had an answer. In fact, I might not have come because I thought what I wanted more than anything was a civilization to settle down in. But now, after so much has happened, I’ve realized that what I was really looking for was hope, and I found it when I found Kat. Want to know something?” I paused and looked at the kid, rubbing my jaw. “I was ready to give up, gun to my head and everything, but then I found her. I was so quick to give up the compound because the only person I need is out here, so I guess that if I have to die I can’t think of a better reason than repaying that debt. She’s a cause worth dying for.” My thoughts drifted to the courthouse, where Schafer’s men were undoubtedly waiting with their fingers on the triggers. “Besides, I won’t lose my family a second time.” I looked to the kid, waiting for a response.
“Just promise me this isn’t out of a movie,” I laughed.
“I didn’t see them all, but I’m pretty sure. Trust me, kid, no main character is this stupid.” Accepting that as a viable answer, he got out and headed inside the remains of what had been some sort of restaurant based on the faint lettering and picture on the main entrance. Two minutes later, he walked back to the door with his M4 slung, and gave me a thumbs-up.
Knowing that Matthew was safely hidden, I drove off into the night heading west and mentally reviewing my plan for any obvious flaws. Ironically, it was something Schafer had said that gave me this idea. Matthew was right to be skeptical, due to so many variables, but neither of us could come up with a better one. Despite all of my planning and strategy, I knew there were a lot of ways this could go south which is why I made sure I was the one really putting my ass on the line.
There was no turning back as I came over a rise and nearly smashed into a zombie head-on. I slowly backed up enough to turn around and led that small group toward any other zombies I came across. Unfortunately, they were walking, so the process was time-consuming. After the temperature had dropped enough to send chills through my coat, I decided I had amassed enough of a horde. With just enough moonlight to make out the silhouettes of at least a hundred zombies, I lured them back toward the heart of Crown Point. Hopefully, the zombie horde would distract Schafer enough for me and Matthew to get inside.
I arrived back at the restaurant and quickly got out, rushing to the door and peering inside. Knowing I was on a tight schedule, and with an army of the undead right behind me, I risked calling his name. Matthew got up from behind the counter and jogged outside with me, his eyes widening when he saw them.
“Holy shit,” he muttered, his breath visible in the cold night air. Not making a point of his first use of profanity, I tapped him on the shoulder, and we headed off toward the center of town and our impending confrontation with Schafer. There should be some sort of disclaimer that baiting zombies is not a smart tactic to try at home for fun, but if you’re so desperate that you have to use one of my plans, then you’re pretty fucked already.
I left the M21 in the jeep, knowing everything would happen up close and personal, and we took off on foot. When we were close enough to make out the courthouse, I stopped and glanced back at the zombies to make sure I had time to ask a favor of Matthew.
“I need you to promise me that no matter what happens in there, you get Katherine out and take her back to the compound.” He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. “I screwed up when I didn’t give you a chance, Matthew, and I’m sorry for that, but I’m trusting you now. With or without me, you keep her safe.” I gave him the look only a father would be able to pull off, and he could see how serious I was. He nodded and promised, so I knelt down and pulled out my journal to take care of one last thing.
Uncertain of how things will go down in the courthouse raid, I’m not sure if I’ll get another chance at things. With that in mind, I’m going to write some final words to Katherine because no matter what happens tonight, I know that we’ll save her. It’s up to you, reader, if you want to read it. I might get emotional.
Kat, there are so many things that I never said to you, and I regret that now. We’ve come so far together, and I’m so proud to have been with you as you’ve grown into the young woman that you are. You’ve given me something that I thought was lost, and for that I need to thank you because I can never repay you. I guess I’ll have to owe you that debt if I don’t make it. You’ve been through so much, more than most people have in their entire lives, and the fact that you were able to hold onto who you are stands testament to how strong you really are. Now, you know my story and that I had a son, but if I had ever had a daughter I can only hope that she would have grown up to be just like you. In case I’m not with you after this, I want you to promise me that you’ll find somewhere that you can finally settle down with real people where you don’t have to fear for your life every second of the day, and remember to live. That’s something I forgot to do. The one thing I always tried to hold on to was my humanity, and over the course of events I’ve felt myself slipping. Don’t let that happen to you, because you’re a good person, Kat. Never lose who you are, because you were a daughter to me, and I should have told you that. The one thing I’ll regret most, though, is never telling you that I love you. If I don’t get to tell you in person, I want you to know that. Lastly, I need you to do one more thing for me. Never blame yourself for any of this, because it’s not your fault. Thank you for saving me.
As I closed the journal and shoved it back in my pocket, a lightning strike split the sky, and I felt frozen rain touch my skin. I smiled coldly and looked to the kid. The time for soft words and sappy emotions was over, replaced by anger and violence. Several cliché lines came to mind, but I decided on a line from one of my favorite television shows.
“Time for some thrilling heroics.”
Chapter 50
Snoopy would have had a field day with this one, because it really was a dark and stormy night. What began as a few sprinkles soon turned into a harsh downpour that hindered visibility which helped our cause as we approach
ed the courthouse. I figured, knowing Schafer, he had a lookout posted to watch for our arrival, so ironically if Matthew and I tried to sneak in we were more likely to get noticed. With dozens of zombies marching down Main Street like they had a political agenda, as long as the two of us stayed moving toward the front door, we’d fit in enough to escape suspicion since the rain was concealing the fact that we were human. Of course, we also had to stay close enough to the zombies that we didn’t stand out, which wasn’t exactly comforting.
Sure enough, I spotted a new lookout in the watchtower—since the old one was absent a la me—through a brief gap in the sheets of rainfall that were blowing across the landscape. Luckily for us, none of Schafer’s men had night vision, because that might have put a damper on my plan. I could feel the tension under my skin as we got closer, the moaning chorus behind us giving me a chill. If we were spotted by the lookout, we would be gunned down. If our pace was off even a little, the zombies would devour us. Fun times.
Once we were close enough, he perked up, and I saw him speak into his radio, probably freaking out about a sudden spike in infected activity on his doorstep. With the lookout distracted, I grabbed Matthew, and we made a break for it, sprinting around the side of the building. We pushed through the foliage, and I let a full minute tick by before slowly opening the door, peering inside to observe the situation.
Chaos reigned as the remaining two of Schafer’s men darted back and forth, hauling various weapons and crates of ammunition or grenades. The lookout jogged down the stairs to my right and joined them in their frantic preparation. As they had been trained, the three set up a firing line and waited. The horde outside was relentless with their hunger, banging on the door with a determination to get at the tasty treats inside. Despite the fortifications, the courthouse doors weren’t meant to withstand a hundred bodies pushing against it, and before long the doors buckled and swung inward. Schafer’s men immediately opened fire, showering the courthouse lobby floor with bullet casings. Unfortunately, no amount of training and combat can erase human error under pressure, especially the pressure of a hundred zombies trying to get a piece of you. Basically, not every round fired scored a headshot and added to the men’s frustrations.
