Zombie Theorem: Dark Times Book Five

by James Wallace

  As the patrols returned, they jumped in vehicles and helped organize the defenses. Heaven and Hase took the LAWs and moved them toward the direction of the Ridder convoys. Apache repositioned her Humvee inside the circled “wagons” so the M240 could be used against the zombies. The Big Baby broke free of the zombies and moved down toward our positions. I gave Dead Eye more belted grenades, so he could hit Ridder and the horde. The last thing I did was stick Hunter with Moonie, while he worked on the engine of the Osprey. We were way too spread out to be to handle what was coming our way. If I was Dan, I would’ve come up with some idea, I pulled out of my ass and win the day.

  We had plenty of ammo from the pallets Doc brought, and a pallet the Ospreys gave us, plenty of fresh weapons, and some of the deadliest warriors on the planet. So, we should win right? This wasn’t a movie, there was a very slim chance we could win the day, but a lot of people were going to die. The fastest of the dead had been destroyed by the Apaches, so we had time to prepare. No more rounds dropped on us from the Ridder patrols, so we had that going for us.

  “Sasquatch, DP One and Two have an idea they would like to share with you,” Nunzio yelled to me.

  I motioned for them to move up and continue. “Okay so there is plenty of fuel in the bus and those cars. We can puncture the tanks, drain the fuel, and spread it out around us, the smoke and heat should slow Ridder down. We don’t think it would help against the zombies though, they would just walk through it.”

  I looked them over and gauged the distance to the zombies coming toward us. “Alright get to it. We will cover your asses,” I pushed DP Two toward the buses.

  “Kot and Dead Eye watch DP One and Two, while they run a little side mission. The rest of you hit the meat bags,” I yelled out.

  Don’t fuck up

  Vader led a strike force of twenty assorted jets as he moved south toward Las Vegas. He was ecstatic to finally be back in a fighter, fifteen thousand feet above the earth. He hated every minute of sitting on his ass running flight operations on the Reagan, so when he was offered to plan and lead this flight, he jumped at it. Now here he was, preparing to drop a whole shit load of hate down on Ridder and their maggot farm army.

  Vader checked his weapon stores for a thousandth time and his remaining fuel. He was doing good, he should have enough to deliver his strike and get out of the area. If he met resistance though, he would have to bring their tankers in closer, so he could make it back home. Those tankers were their ticket home. Without them, a lot of badly needed pilots would die. A slight beep toned in his helmet, alerting him he was coming up on their preplanned point to break formation. He flicked on his radio and made his last call before his last order for radio silence would go into effect.

  “Boys and girls, you know what I expect. Angels, go to your preplanned orbit. The rest of you follow your flight leaders. The next five mikes is going to spell success or failure for our side. We have a team down there waiting for us to do our job, so they can do theirs. Don’t fuck up!”

  A unison of rogers came across the radio. Vader wiggled his wings and let his eyes follow Angels flight as they climbed higher into the sky. As they disappeared from view, Vader turned his attention to his flight computer and checked his speed and altitude. They were rocketing across the sky at six hundred miles an hour, just about a hundred and sixty-seven miles an hour below Mach one. He had to fight every instinct to push his throttles to their stops and push himself to over a thousand miles an hour. He liked to go fast. He liked to jink around the sky, flying low and slow was not his thing, but the mission called for these tactics.

  Another beep in his helmet told him he was coming up on his target. Vader checked his threat receiver and found it clear. No one had him on radar, and no one had fired a missile at him yet. So far so good, but he knew that would change. He had never flown a mission where everything went perfectly from start to finish. Another beep in his helmet reminded him to arm his bombs and prepare to release them. Vader lifted his head and scanned the area around him for physical threats. The city of Las Vegas was rushing toward him quickly, he hoped the satellite photos he had studied before the mission were up to date. The setting sun reflected off the buildings sending glares out in all directions. Vader had no worries as his helmet’s visor was polarized. His flight broke out of formation and streaked off to hit their targets from different points of the compass.

  Vader had taken the most important target for himself. He was chopping his throttle and dumping speed as he maneuvered north, up Las Vegas Boulevard. His target was The Mirage Hotel, which according to someone named Joseph, Ridder was using it as barracks and R&R center for the majority of their troops. Suddenly a giant explosion rocked to the northeast of Vader, indicating that McCarron International Airport had just gotten hit by three of his flight. One was to hit the runway, while the other two hit the terminal and any planes present. The next explosions told Vader that the airport should be out of business by now. Vader checked his threat receiver and made sure his bombs where armed. All seemed in the green, Vader lifted his head to see the hotels of the strip coming up fast. As another tone sounded in his helmet, Vader activated his JPALS system. The doors on the bottom of the F-35 opened and released eight SDB II bombs. Three hit the hotel near the third floor as the other five impacted the casino and lobby areas. The explosions were amazing as they went off almost on top of each other.

  The Mirage seemed to shrug off the mighty explosions. Vader, strained his neck back and witnessed the bombs hit their target and explode. He was disheartened with the explosions and scope of damage he could see. He had hoped for more, in order to knock out as many Ridder personnel as possible, for the men on the ground to finish their mission. He banked around to get a better view of the hotel. The damage was heavy, that was for sure, but just not what he was hoping for.

  “Anyone out there still have a full load of ordinance? Over,” called out Vader.

  Nothing but silence came back to him. He was going through ideas in his head. Like blowing past the hotel at full Mach 2, but he knew that wouldn’t do anything except possibly kill him. “Vader, I haven’t hit my target yet. I have a full load. Over.”

  “Who the hell are you, and what was your target? Over.”

  “Kirk, my target is the zombie pits. Over.”

  “Okay scrub your target and hit The Mirage, just put your entire load into the tower. Over.”

  “Roger all, I am coming in from the North following the main strip. Over.”

  Vader climbed a little higher and banked again to put eyes on the hotel and the strip. Suddenly the sky lit up with tracers. Small pockets of Ridder soldiers must’ve gotten to their anti-aircraft guns. Kirk was going to have to fly right through it nice and slow. No way was he going to make it through in one piece. Vader armed his gun, tipped his nose, and advanced his throttles. The most he could do was hit as many of the gunners as he could. He would rocket past Kirk in the opposite direction, they would be so close that any movement of the stick would spell immediately disaster as they hit and fire balled.

  “Kirk, stay on course, ignore the tracers. I am coming in on a strafing run, stay vigilante on the stick,” Vader squeezed the trigger on his control stick activating his GAU-22 four-barrel 25mm cannon.

  Two clicks answered Vader over the radio as Kirk was too busy to answer. Three, two second bursts of fire ripped out of the F-35 tagging the roofs of the nearby hotels. Punching holes into the building and mutilating bodies as they hit. Kirk only had to deal with one crew firing at him as Vader had taken the rest out. The scariest part for him was having to deal with the F-35 coming right at him, in the scariest game of chicken he had ever played. Kirk relied on his flight leader to maneuver around him as he kept his course. Kirk was not in the hi-tech F-35, he was in an older F-15, meaning his bombing run was not as controlled. He used his HUD, Heads Up Display to settle his pip on the target and activated his release.

  Vader was coming in fast on Kirk’s F-15’s nose, he could not
pull up in time to miss the plane, nor did he have the room to bank away. He took the last option available to him. He advanced his throttle and flipped his F-35 on its wing. The outside tip of Kirk’s F-15 missed the belly of the F-35 by less than six inches. Vader flipped his plane back right over and pulled up adding power. As he came up he craned his head back and saw the explosions from Kirk’s direct hits on the hotel. He smiled under his mask but was also praying the hotel would start to fall. Two hits on the same target was dangerous, but a third was suicide.

  Vader lost eyes on The Mirage and called out on his radio. “Anybody see The Mirage? Over.”

  A long pregnant pause came over the radio. “Roger, this is Tut. I can see The Mirage, there are multiple explosions and it looks like the towers are about to fall inward. Over.”

  Vader pulled in a lungful of wonderful oxygen from his mask and darted his eyes around his screens once more. His threat receiver was still off he was flabbergasted that they had been able to perform a perfect mission with no losses. As he circled the city, his flight formed up on him and he prepared to lead them out of the area. His wingmen Tut, flying off his right wing suddenly exploded into a fiery ball.

  “Break!” Vader called over the radio and threw his plane to his right and then punched his throttles forward trying to gain extra speed.

  Another plane in Vader’s flight exploded into a ball of fire before he figured out what was happening. The enemy had a squadron of F-22 Raptors. The damn planes were much stealthier than his own, and could out fly him, and the rest of the planes in his flight. He had to do something before he lost everyone, including himself.

  “Scatter and get out of the area, I will stay back and draw as much fire as I can. Angel’s, support the rest of the flights. Over,” Vader smiled under his mask. He was going to finally have a fight worthy of his skills.

  Vader checked his radar again, noting that his flight had gone to maximum power and were scattering out of the valley. Heading in every direction before moving off to their assigned bases. He rolled his head and shoulders and cracked his fingers like a pianist about to play before a grand audience. He put his hands on his controls and pulled his stick back, adding power with his throttle. The nose of the F-35 pointed straight up like a rocket and accelerated, passing two semi-light grey planes. He took note of them as he blew past, knowing that they would be maneuvering to fire their missiles at him.

  Vader pulled back his stick further and chopped his throttle, bringing his jet into the wide part of his arc and looking back to find the two F-22s coming at him. They had bought the bait, that would be their first, and hopefully last mistake. Vader had half his gun ammo and two AIM 120 AMRAAM guided missiles. He would make these hotshot Raptor pilots his bitches. He felt his body go weightless for a split second as he came out of his arc. He heard the growl in his helmet and knew one of his AIMs had a target. He fired it off, and promptly forgot about it. He had the other pilot to deal with. He selected his gun and brought his nose around to the Raptor not engaged by the AIM and fired a quick three second burst. He had to remember that the gun was already half empty and he did not have enough rounds for a long fight. He had to kill these guys quick and get out of the area, so he could tank up and get back to the carrier. His rounds, walked into the cockpit of the Raptor as the pilot tried to come out of his accent to evade. Vader had him, no matter what, the damage was real, and the Raptor would have to disengage the fight and run or become easy pickings for Vader and his Lightning.

  Vader watched the Raptor as he accelerated and headed south out of the engagement. Vader had no idea if he had hit the other Raptor with his AIM or not. His radar showed no debris, or plane. He clawed at the sky for more altitude and rolled over using his eyeballs to search the sky for a glint off the other Raptor. He saw nothing and was about to congratulate himself when he heard a loud bang and his plane started to drift in one direction.

  Weps launch the Skinny

  “You have got to be kidding me,” newly promoted Captain Anaba muttered as she stared at the message in her hand. She tapped her head communications officer on his shoulder. “I want triple verification on this. We are not launching on an American city! Hopefully this is not Ridder trying to dupe us,” she turned to leave the Comms room when her XO walked in.

  “It has been verified and they are using the proper new codes for launch. We have been ordered by our new President to launch, Captain.”

  Anaba closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them, she was back in control. “XO, bring the boat to launch depth. Weps, prepare the Skinny for launch.” Anaba used her own pet name for their smallest tactical nuke on board.

  “Bring the boat to launch depth and prepare the Skinny for launch, aye,” the XO echoed the Captain’s orders.

  The boat became a frenzy of action as they prepared the boat for launch. First, the boat was brought up out of the deep to a proper depth for launch. Second, the Captain and XO used their individual codes and keys to give control of the weapon to the Weapons officer. Coordinates were fed into the missile and the outer door over the missile was opened.

  Anaba closed her eyes and prayed to her gods for forgiveness for what she was about to do. “Weps, launch the Skinny,” she ordered a small tear falling from her eye. Air in the tube threw the missile through the water and out above the waves where, the missile’s engines ignited and guided the missile into the sky on a column of fire and smoke.

  It was a rare clear morning in the city of Seattle, not a cloud in the sky. Ridder personnel men and women moved about running tasks and preparing for a new assault on the resistance. At SEATAC international airport, fighters were being prepared for launch as well as soldiers loading onto transport aircraft. Suddenly the sky brightened with a intense flash of white light. Hundreds of men and women were immediately blinded as their eyes were seared from the light and heat. Their pain would be forgotten soon as the blast wave from the nuclear weapon detonating in the air blew out and down. Almost every structure within three miles was destroyed and turned to ash. Anyone caught out in the blast area was evaporated, out to six miles they were severely damaged. Everything around the target was essentially gone. The radiation fallout, from the weapon would be minimized with the low kiloton yield. The day could not have been better to slow the fallout as there was almost no wind at all to carry it any further then the surrounding area of downtown.

  Ridder was just delivered its first big hit.

  Włochaty chuj

  We continued to concentrate on the horde as it came down toward us. I stopped firing and moved to the other side of our little car fortress and was almost killed. A round zipped by my head, so close that I could hear it. My training took over and I dropped to my knees pulling, my SCAR up to my shoulder. I caught a small advancing force of men on foot, rifles raised, coming in our direction. Ridder had made an appearance at the worst time for us. I fired off an entire magazine at the troops I could see. They dropped to the ground, I had to think of something quick. My team was fully engaged with the zombies. Leaving only me to protect our exposed flank. My hands went on automatic, while my brain was still trying to come up with a plan. My hands plucked two frag grenades off my vest, my fingers were halfway through removing the pin from the grenade in my left hand when my brain caught up. I dropped the pin and let the spoon pop, using an underhand throw I lofted the grenade at the Ridder patrol. It landed in the middle of them and rolled once before detonating, throwing deadly shrapnel in all directions. The men caught in the middle of the explosions screamed in pain and surprise. I gave them no chance to get themselves under control. I pulled the pin and popped the spoon of the next grenade and waited two seconds, cooking the grenade, before throwing it under hand. This grenade exploded before it actually hit the ground. I changed magazines and hosed the men on the ground. That would have to do, to deter Ridder long enough for me to come up with another plan.

  I turned and found Hase and Heaven standing next to me. I pointed my thumb to the to
rn and bloody Ridder patrol. “No ticket!” I yelled above the gunfire. “I don’t know why my humor comes out when I am in the thick of things, but that is how my mind works best I guess.”

  “We will make sure no more try to board without tickets Sasquatch,” Hase placed his hand on my shoulder giving me his best shit eating grin.

  “Good, I gotta figure out what to do next. Fuck how does Dan do this?” I stalked away racking my head for ideas.

  Something hit me then; I felt no heat from the fires that DP One was supposed to set and ignite. Or was I supposed to ignite them? Talk about fog of battle fucking with your head. I pulled a flare from my thigh pocket and ignited it. Red flame burst from the tip, pouring white smoke into the air. I gauged the wet pavement and tossed the flare. It landed perfectly in the fluid and sputtered for a heart wrenching second, before the ground ignited in a whoosh of flames.

  The heat was intense, as long as it kept burning, we should be able to concentrate on the thousands of zombies coming at us. I turned to the broken Osprey and couldn’t see them due to the smoke from the fire. I slid across a hood of a car and ran through the smoke. I came out on the other side to find Hunter pointing his rifle at me. His eye widened and he took in a deep breath as he lowered his gun.

  “Next time call out, you almost got your ass shot.”

  I patted Hunter’s shoulder as I went by. I found Moonie with his head and hands in the broken engine. I tapped his leg and he came out of the nacelle a handgun in his hand. I grabbed his hand with the gun and stopped him before he could point it in my face. He gave me a look mixed of annoyance and fear.

  “You really want your face shot off right?” Moonie spit into the dirt and eyed me.

  “No, I am too pretty for that. How is the Osprey? Can you fix it?”