Zombie Killers: Ice & Fire

by John Holmes

  Once I finished on the roof, I took to the stairs with my flashlight, going down as fast I could, as stealthily as I could, and when I reached the ground level, I crept out the emergency exit and down the alleyway until I reached the road. Once I scanned up and down the road, I decided to go in the direction the chopper was going when I was thrown out, hopefully I could find some of the crew.

  As I was trotting down the street, I found a nice mountain bike that someone had chained to a railing. After I made sure I was clear enough, I unslung my second bag and sat it on the rear rack, then took off my pack and rummaged through till I found my air pump (can’t risk having a flat football, let alone flat tires), then strapped it back on and began inflating the long-flat tires. After stowing my pump, I pulled out the bolt cutters I carry and snapped the chain. Now that I have better means of transportation, I checked my surroundings once more, hopped on, and took off towards the now visible black smoke.

  It seemed that, as I was getting closer to the crash, I was leaving the claustrophobic city and heading towards a residential area. I should have picked up a bike sooner after the world ended, this thing seriously cut travel time, and even better, I could breeze by the cold dead hands regularly clawing for me.

  Chapter 16

  I was close now, I could smell the smoke, but I still couldn’t get eyes on the wreckage. God I hope Ethan and the crew had a softer landing than we did. I was almost there, but I could tell that I wasn’t the first to respond to the scene. I could hear engines and voices coming from the cul-de-sac a couple streets beyond me. I pulled my bike up through the yard in front of me and stowed it and the extra gear I had under the back deck of the house. Though I still didn’t have a sight line on the wreck, I stealthily made my way into the back yard of a house that faced the crash.

  What I saw was something straight out of a tropic horror movie; random patrol in the area comes to check out the crash site, looking for anything of use, and kills anyone who survived, after trying to get valuable Intel out of them. It was sickening, even after this cruel world had desensitized me so much; this was still hard to stomach. I saw them drag what looked like one of the SEALs out of the woods nearby. He didn’t seem to be cooperative, or maybe he was almost dead, but they made sure of that after he hocked up a mouthful of blood into one of their faces. Damn. It’s always hard to watch a comrade die, but I couldn’t react and give away my position, especially since I didn’t see Ethan at the site, so I can only hope he got the hell out of Dodge.

  “These guys are kitted out similar to me, even dressed in Multicam. If I’m seen they may not think anything of me.”

  The group showed no signs of leaving early, so I knew I needed to get out of there before they came looking for anyone who was still lingering around the crash site. I backed out of the yard feeling like I was with Scooby and Shaggy, sneaking away from the bad guys, hoping they didn’t notice.

  When I slunk back through the yard I noticed that someone in uniform was pulling my bike out from where I had stowed it. Though I could have eluded detection and escaped, I wasn’t ready to part with my recently acquired means of transportation, and the gear I had attached to it. I positioned myself behind a tree and spoke out, just audible enough that soldier heard, but not the rest of the group, to stop and move away from the bike. I shouldered my rifle and flicked off the safety. The surprised soldier laid the bike down, put their hands up and spun around to face me. I saw a young woman, wearing multicam.

  Without hesitation, I fired my suppressed rifle and she fell to the ground and tried to let out a scream, but couldn’t make a sound. After putting another round into the Z that had been stalking her, I walked over to my bike, picked it up and began to walk out of the yard. The girl called to me, thanking me for saving her from the zombie that snuck out from behind the house towards her, then she apologized and pulled her gun and told me to stop where I was. Some nerve. I wasted precious ammo to save a woman I don’t know, who appears to be working under the command of a different military, and she had the gall to draw on me. I had no time to deal with this.

  Just like in the movies, she was talking her way through justifying killing me, all while I was estimating how long it would take for me to quick draw my pistol and be finished with this so I could complete my mission. Lucky for me, the voices of her commanding officers distracted her enough to turn around so that when she turned back she was staring down the barrel of my rifle. I had no reason to kill her now, she was clearly inexperienced in militaristic aspects, plus I have this thing where I don’t like killing women.

  “Think you could sling your M4? This rifle is a bastard to hold after a while!” I said, attempting to break the ice with a smartass remark. Though she was wary, she did agree to discontinue our standoff. I kept my rifle shouldered and reached down for my pistol, so I wasn’t stuck holding her up with my 17 pound rifle.

  “I don’t plan on going with you back to your superiors, and if you try anything I won’t think twice.”

  “Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?”

  “You’re lucky I appreciate sarcasm lady. Let’s go, I might need a shield if they catch me, and I don’t want to be out here when it gets dark, especially after the racket your men are causing.”

  She knew she didn’t have any other choice. I did not inform her of my plans or why I was flying towards her capital city. It became very apparent that she did not have much training or military experience, as she did not try to move stealthily or quietly, and she would stare back at me blankly whenever I would say something in jargon. However, she did prove to be well versed in survival throughout our journey. We were sticking to the wider streets, both to keep distance from possible choke points and to avoid the chance of dead ends.

  She stuck close to me when we started out, so I guess she thought I knew what I was doing, (how wrong she was), or maybe she was just scared to be away from wherever she had been before. Since she didn’t seem too inclined to escape and was struggling with my pace, I told her she could mount the bike so long as she was cautious. She didn’t hesitate.

  I figured she would be useful if I had any run-ins with patrols, for she could explain that we were tracking a survivor, and I could just pose as a newbie who was accompanying her. After I was comfortable with our distance from the downed Blackhawk, I began to look for a suitable place to spend the night. We had made it to the line where the residential area transformed into the commercial district, but I decided that a house would be easier to clear than a building. With a sliver of sun still showing behind the buildings of the city, we approached a small, 2-story house with a wrap-around porch and I thought it would fit the bill.

  When we stepped up onto the front porch, I asked her if she had ever cleared a house, or anything for that manner. She shook her head no, so I told her I would take care of it. I handed her my rifle, because it was suppressed, and asked her to cover the house while I was inside, but don’t fire unless they were on our side of the street. “How do you carry this thing?! It weighs like 20 pounds!” she said.

  “It has everything I need on it, sights, scopes, silencer, bipod, all that adds up to heavy.” I answered her as I checked under the mat for a key, almost ecstatic that people left a key, meaning we would still have a functioning door.

  When I unlocked the door, I unholstered my Sig, and unsheathed my kopis, then swung the door open hard, and waited. I got a blast of stench that told me the house was occupied, then I could hear the familiar groan of a lurking zed who was hungry. The source of the groan manifested itself at the top of the steps, leaned forward, and toppled end over end down into a heap on the floor. Before it had time to move I stabbed it through the head, then waited to see if I could hear any more. After a full minute of silence, I dragged Stinky out the front door and off the porch.

  I reentered and cleared the house T to A, then invited the girl, Sasha, into the house to help me fortify for the evening. First I dead-bolted the door, then moved a living room chair in front of it.
Next, after Sasha grabbed anything of use from the kitchen, she went upstairs and I flipped a couch and pulled it up onto the steps. Close enough to taking out the stairs.

  Now with full bellies thanks to the extra chunky soup she found, we called it a day and picked a room with a porch roof out the window. As soon as she hit the bed she was out, so I laid my gear next to a chair in the corner, moved the dresser in front of the door, then settled into my chair. No matter how hard I fought, sleep bested me, and I fell fast asleep.

  Chapter 17

  The next morning I woke up at 0613, right as the sun was peeking up from the east. My internal clock was a gift and a curse. I looked over to see if Sasha was still sleeping, luckily she was, so I went across the hall to another room where I sprawled out all my gear from the two packs and my plate carrier onto the bed to consolidate and take inventory.

  First to be emptied was my scout pack, bigger than a normal assault pack, so it was big enough to hold my necessities. It housed the somewhat standard load: hammock, paracord, water filter, 2 MREs, loose ammo, poncho, lighter, and signal flare. The major difference between this and a regulation pack is my compass and multi-tool were on my plate carrier instead of in the pack, and I opted for a Sig Sauer Mosquito, instead of a small .22 caliber revolver. I also had my personal add-ons: flattened football, sports ball pump, small climbing harness (when I’m not wearing it around my waist), American Sniper, my dream career since before the gates of hell opened, Lock pick set, Socks, a sleeping bag strung to the bottom, false insignias, and gum, countless packs of gum that I grab whenever I see it.

  The SEAL’s bag had similar stuff, MREs, .308 and 5.56 ammo, poncho liner, sleeping bag, navigation tools, and the like. He even had a suppressor for an M4 in the bag.

  As for my plate carrier, I had a Camelback, bolt cutters, IFAK, radio, .308 mags, 9mm mags, jungle-taped knife, aforementioned multi-tool, lighters, matches, chem lights, flashlights, some more paracord and duct tape. I estimated that I had about 125 rounds of .308 at the ready, maybe another 160 in my pack, plus 40 rounds from the SEAL’s rifle, and about 60 9mm with 50 in the back.

  After I packed everything back up, I stepped back into the room where Sasha was still sleeping soundly, and set the second bag next to her rifle. If she was traveling with me for now, she’ll need it, the ammo and suppressor especially. I left my pack in my chair, and decided to go have a look around the house. All clear.

  When I got back to our room and saw her there, still asleep, I found myself wondering whether I should leave her here or bring her with me as I continued towards the city.

  “You some kind of creep watching me while I sleep?”

  “Well good morning to you too. I figured you were just going to sleep the day away.”

  “I wish, maybe if you weren’t staring at me. What’s it look like outside?”

  “Nothing close to the house, but there are a few wandering the neighborhood. We should get moving.”

  We cleared the furniture, Sasha mounted the bike, and we were off, heading east, back towards Norfolk

  As we went along we began looking for long roads or fields where I could sight in my rifle since I had to mount that new scope. At one stretch of road we found a rusted out white van. I climbed up, unfolded the bipod, and leaned into the scope. First I had to estimate the distance to a particularly ugly walker quite a way down the road. He was in front of a light-colored SUV, so I could figure out where I was hitting when I missed. My rifle coughed and I saw blood splatter backwards, but he kept coming. 5 clicks up, the gun coughed again. No dice, still coming. 5 clicks more and another cough. Bingo. The walker collapsed into a heap.

  “That should do it.” I said.

  “Well it certainly took you long enough. I thought I was going to have to take over.” She remarked.

  “Why don’t donkeys go to school?” I asked, pausing briefly before I answered. “Because nobody likes a smartass.”

  Awkward silence…

  We climbed down off the van, and continued eastward, I was peddling the bike while she sat on the handle bars. Before we made it very far Sasha announced that she was hungry. I pulled off at a relatively untouched looking house, we dismounted, and she covered me as I approached the door. This one didn’t have a key so I had to rely on my lock pick to get us in and secure for a nice meal. I didn’t care that I had to take my time, I was hungry, and I didn’t want to be interrupted while we ate.

  We had an uneventful house clearing and when we made it to the kitchen we were both ecstatic. She found some kind of Baked Potato Soup, and I found 3 cans of solid white albacore tuna. I thought it was surely a feast fit for kings. To make the experience even better, upon my search of the cabinets, I found Old Bay, the perfect seasoning for any food, especially on canned tuna.

  We were fairly close to the water now, so I had to do without my post lunch nap and head out so I could see if we could get to a building by the docks and see what their general was up to. Ten minutes later I saw a nice four story building with store front windows, perfect for us to for us to climb to the roof and look out across the bay.

  Sasha and I cleared the building floor by floor without a problem and made our way to the roof. After I scanned across the bay at Norfolk Harbor with my binos, I saw something of interest at the dry docks. I focused in on a huge aircraft carrier that was docked at my 1 o’clock. I could see men walking all over it like a cracker overrun with ants. This could be something.

  “What’s going on with that carrier they have docked over there? Looks like a lot of commotion.” I thought out loud.

  “The General is trying to restore it; at least that’s what I’ve heard the guys on my patrol talking about.” Sasha replied.

  I decided it was as good a time as any to get back in touch with the team. I logged onto Facebook on my android and posted a few sentences on out private group.

  “I think I figured out what the general is doing in Norfolk. He is trying to recommission a CVN they have in the drydock. Let me know what I should do now.”

  Chapter 18

  ETHAN

  I woke up, sore as I’ve ever been. I checked to see if anyone had responded to my post and was glad to see William had posted, somehow he had survived the crash too. Ryan had relayed some ops orders from JJ for us to continue our assigned missions.

  I contemplated my next actions as I geared up. I needed to get a grasp on the movements and operations around the outskirts of the city. William would check on things closer to the port. I went to the window and watched for a few minutes before I departed. Normal to light zeke activity around. I wasn’t really worried about them in such small numbers. Even with my injuries I was still fairly mobile.

  Satisfied that I wasn’t going to run into any surprises outside I decided to head out. I knew that my pursuers had approached the crash from the north so I headed in a roughly north-easterly direction, passing more housing developments and parks as I went. I found myself reflecting on the situation.

  We lost a lot of good men on this SNAFU. I’m glad Willy was alright. The lad is seriously hard. Ryan may not be the best CO, but he’ll do what it takes to get us out, or he’ll get himself a ride in here and fight out with us. Plus we’ve got JJ looking out for us.

  I broke through the houses and came to a four lane road leading to a more commercial area. I saw a very promising sight, this road had been maintained. Glossy black asphalt patches indicated that someone was repairing it. Since I hadn’t seen any zombies in hard hats, it was safe to assume this road saw heavy use. I was on the right track so I turned left and started down the road, head on a swivel. If a vehicle was to pass by I’d be ready to hop into the bushes.

  I came up to the commercial area and decided to do some good old fashioned looting. I wasn’t going to have enough food or water to stay in the field for an extended period. As I came up to a Food Lion I lamented that I hadn’t packed my banjo a la Zombieland. I drew my pistol and flash light and cleared the store aisle by isle, finding a co
uple dormant zeds, but they posed little danger. I left the store feeling good about my haul; four cans of pork n’ beans.

  Last stop on the loot express was a CVS which sat right next to the main road. As I came to the disabled automatic doors I could see the cluster inside. At least fifteen zulus still mobile inside. Not feeling confident about waltzing in the front, I made my way around back. I found the drive through pharmacy window smashed, and after hoisting myself up quietly I found it exactly as looted as I expected. Not that I needed any more meds.

  I noticed that the building has a ladder to the roof and decide I could watch the road as I ate. No less than three Humvees came down the road as I ate my pork n’ beans. I jotted that down while eating and also circled the area on my map. I’d have to let Ryan know when I check back in later. I could also hear sporadic gunshots from almost every direction but some distance away.

  I wanted to check the zero on my rifle after the crash and figured no one would question the shots so I set my rifle on the railing on the roof away from the road and took aim at a parking lot 250 meters from the building. I set my sights on the first form I see. Unfortunately it wasn’t a zombie.