by TW Gallier
"No," Jake said. Mike tensed, and I got ready for them to fight. "I'll keep all of the pickups to defend the trucks we still have." He pointed at the motor pool. "You can have all of the extra men and as many jeeps as you can man." He looked at me. "And you can have the Geek Squad."
I refrained from correcting him. Going with Jake would be easier, safer, but I really wanted to go with Mike. Maybe the apocalypse made me as crazy as the Deathdealers.
"Awesome," Mike said. "Kyle, grab Ralph and take off now. I need you following them so they don't get away."
Now I was scared. He wanted us to go alone? What if the Deathdealers were waiting for us? We'd have no backup.
"Billy! Count how many men we have," Mike said as he rushed to my jeep. "I need three per jeep, including the drivers and gunners from those two stolen trucks."
Mike hurried into the back of our jeep and turned on the radio. He tested it with the radio in Jake's Trailblazer. I'm not sure why, since we'd already tested it before. Ralph arrived by the time he finished.
"Come on, Olivia, we have to finish dressing."
While we dressed and grabbed the rest of our gear, Mike started mounting M60s on four other jeeps. They were loading ammo, radios, and their personal gear.
"We'll be out of here in about ten," he told me. "Y'all get out there now! You'll have to radio their route so we can catch up."
"Let's go," I said, taking shotgun. Ralph was standing behind the M60 with a helmet on for a change. Olivia removed the steel pot, but kept the liner. Of the three of us, only I didn't have a helmet or liner. I didn't really like them anyway, so put on the Army camo cap I grabbed earlier. I grinned at Mike. "Our call sign is 'Zombie Patrol' in case you forgot."
Chapter 17
"So much for a few hours sleep," Olivia grumbled as we stopped in the middle of the Cartwright intersection.
"No rest for the wicked," Ralph replied.
I stood up to look around. No sign of the Deathdealers. "Kill the engine."
The jeep wasn't that loud, but I heard them the second she turned it off. They'd continued on straight instead of turning down Cartwright. I dropped back into my seat and pointed forward.
"Straight ahead."
"Zombie Patrol, have you found them yet, over?" Mike's voice came of the radio.
The mount held two components, the radio and a speaker attachment. We also had a handset. I was glad we had the speaker so everyone could hear what was said.
"They continued straight to the west past Cartwright, over," I replied.
"Affirmative. Continue, out."
We were driving without headlights. Or any lights for that matter. It was dark, but after a while you get used to it. Olivia only appeared to struggle a few times, and then only for a moment. She quickly got the jeep up to speed. I noticed we were going 40 MPH, though it felt faster in that little vehicle.
We went another three blocks before I heard gunfire. Olivia tapped the brakes, but we quickly figured out they weren't shooting at us. The shots sounded too far ahead to be about us.
"Zombies?" she asked.
"That's my guess," I said. "I hope so. Survivors are a whole lot more dangerous."
If they were shooting, then that meant they were being pressed by either zombies or other survivors. I took my M16A2 off safety, and double-checked the selector to ensure it was on 3-shot bursts. Once again, I wished it was full auto.
"Walkers to the right," I warned, as a trio shuffled out from between two buildings half a block ahead of us. "Don't shoot."
The Deathdealers might hear us if we shot any zombies. We didn't want them knowing about us. They were still shooting ahead of us. Their gunfire was probably attracting more zombies to the area.
Suddenly, the gunfire up ahead really intensified. I motioned for Olivia to slow, since I could see tail lights and brake lights flashing over and over. They were within a few blocks of another of State Highway 635 that left the city to the southwest.
Zombies charged out into the road to intercept us. They looked like teenagers, two boys and a girl. Their faces and the front of their shirts were shiny black with bloody gore, making me wonder if they'd just been feeding off a corpse. The fact they could figure out an intercept course worried me. Maybe they were just lucky. Didn't matter, since Olivia hit the gas and veered into the left-hand lanes to avoid them.
"There are more up ahead," Ralph said. "We might have to shoot a couple to get through."
"No, just plow through them. Ralph, prepare to beat them off with our rifle butts," I said. "Firing weapons is a last resort."
"We seriously need to find some machetes," he said.
"And a shotgun," Olivia added. "You know how much I love shotguns."
I keyed the handset, "Rat Patrol leader. Be warned, scattered zombies along the road. Zombie Patrol, over."
Olivia snorted a laugh, and even Ralph let out a "Ha!" I was kind of proud of myself. We had a name. Mike and the others needed names, too. After all, I'd tagged Jake with "Red Leader" earlier that day.
"What the hell," Mike responded. "I'll be Rat Leader. Billy, you're Dog. Travis, you're Pony. And Sal, you're Bull. Zombies on the road. Understood. Out."
"Ha!" Ralph barked. "Mike's funny. Dog and pony show."
There was a little chatter as the other three acknowledged their call names. I couldn't tell if they were pleased or not. Then we came upon bodies in the street, with zombies kneeling around them and gorging themselves. Olivia groaned and my stomach lurched. I quickly scanned the scene.
"Go to the right of them," I commanded. "Be ready, Ralph!"
Olivia obeyed, and plowed into the zombies. From what I saw, they were spread the thinnest between the corpses and the buildings to our right. Zombies were rushing into the street from both directions, though. It was a pretty good sized horde.
I looked up and around for a landmark as the jeep was jostled and rattled by the zombie strikes, and then we went up over the curb and drove down the sidewalk. Spotting the water tower across the street, I keyed the handset.
"Sizable zombie horde feeding just below the water tower," I radioed. "We were able to plow through."
"Over and out," Ralph said.
"Over." I shrugged. "I keep forgetting."
"You didn't say out," Olivia said.
"I expect him to reply."
"Acknowledged, out."
"See?" I said, turned and grinned at Ralph.
"Stop!" Ralph screamed.
She hit the brakes and we skidded to a stop. I gawked at the horde in front of us. There had to be hundreds of them.
"Turn right," I said. "Go up to Landover, and then back to State Highway 635."
I got on the radio to Rat Leader, suggesting they take Cartwright north to Landover and then turn west towards the state highway. Olivia turned per my instructions, and plowed through a line of walkers. The cowcatcher bent a little more to the right. And then we were surrounded by reaching, grasping, clawing zombies.
Olivia squeaked, and I cried out. Kicking, and butt-swiping, I kept them away from me. Ralph did his best to keep them away from the driver, until one of them got hold of his foot and wouldn't let go.
"Help!" he screamed.
"Hit the gas!" I cried, diving into the back to catch him before they dragged away.
The jeep surged forward, the jolts and rattling intensified. She kept increasing speed.
After wrapping an arm around him, I grabbed hold of the M60 mount and held on for dear life. Ralph cussed like a sailor, kicking desperately with his free foot. We were dragging at least three zombies along, and they were not letting go. So I braced with my legs, pulled my pistol, and shot the zombie holding his leg. Shot the wild-eyed bastard right in the face. He fell away, but another female and male had precarious holds of Ralph's leg, too. So I shot the female, while Ralph kicked the male in the face.
"Almost through!" Olivia screamed. "Don't let go!"
Another dove into the back of the jeep with us. Ralph lay on his back, k
icking at it. I was on my knees swinging the pistol. He came at me, mouth wide like he wanted to bite me. When I threw my forearm up to block him, Ralph grabbed it and yanked it back down. Then he shot the monster in the head, three times.
"We made it!" Olivia called. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ralph said, panting and looking around with wild eyes.
We turned our attention to the dead zombie. I didn't want to touch him. He smelled horrible and was bleeding all over everything. Together, we rolled the bloody mess of a zombie out of the jeep to tumble on the road behind us. Then I scrambled back into the front passenger seat.
"Holy crap," I gasped out, huffing and puffing. "What a nightmare."
A single zombie limped into the road in front of us. I had just enough time to see long blonde hair, mini-skirt, and one high heel. Olivia growled, and turned into her. She hit that walker at 35 MPH, sending a major shudder through the jeep. The zombie flew off to the right, and actually wailed.
"I think you hurt it," Ralph said.
"Good. Stupid zombies," she muttered.
We turned onto Landover a few minutes later, heading west at full speed. We were doing 55 MPH by the time we reached the state highway. I had Olivia stop on the on-ramp.
Scrambling up onto the hood with a pair of binoculars, I scanned the road in front of us. I saw their headlights first, glowing along the service road. In the darkness their lights were like beacons.
"There they are," I said. We watched until the tail end of the Deathdealers' convoy vanished over the next hill up the road. Jumping back in my seat, I keyed the handset, "Rat Leader, the enemy is heading southwest on State Highway 635. Over."
"Good job, Zombie Patrol," he responded. "We're pulling out now. Maintain contact. Out."
"Contact?" I asked. "Does he want us to start shooting at them?"
Memories of helping him scout the armory came back. It was all fine, except he thought shooting at them was a good idea just to find out what kind of weapons the enemy had. I would not make a good Army scout.
"Surely not," Olivia said. "Probably that's Army talk for keep an eye on them."
I didn't care what he meant. I was not going to start something with those guys. The Deathdealers were a bunch of bat shit crazy sons of bitches.
"Can I ask a question" Ralph said, leaning in between me and Olivia. "Why are we doing this?"
"Because they stole most of the weapons and ammo," I said.
Seemed pretty cut and dried to me. The whole reason we came to Emory was to get that post apocalypse treasure.
"So?" he replied, shrugging. "What's it to us?"
"Oh," Olivia whispered, perking up.
He had a point. Did we really have a dog in Emory's fight? The arms and ammo was all for Emory. We'd be lucky to keep most of what we had in the jeep after any firefights with Deathdealers. Jake and Mike might even contest our departure, which could mean another firefight. We belonged to them, or at least they thought so.
"Jake never promised to let us go," I said, nodding. "He just said they wouldn't put us back in the NML Zone."
"Do you trust him?" Olivia asked.
"Kinda, but not the people really in charge back in Emory," I replied. "But they've kind of become friends in the last few…"
"Hours?" Ralph said. "Yes, it's been around twenty-four hours since we escaped the zone and were recaptured. I don't think we've endeared ourselves with them that well."
He had a point. Yet, they expected our help. I hated to disappoint anyone, and I did think at least Mike was becoming a friend, if not already a friend. Jake wasn't our friend. He only wanted to get the job done, nothing more, and nothing less.
"We can go radio silent," Olivia said. "Turn right on the Loop. Disappear off their radar forever."
The Loop was just up ahead. We could be on the Loop, heading west, before Mike's group even reached the state highway. Hell, Mike already knew the Deathdealers were on that highway. One jeep full of computer geeks wouldn't matter in the long run.
"Well?" she asked.
"I'm still trying to talk myself into betraying their trust," I said. I lifted my hand when Ralph started to object. "I know! They don't give a damn about us. Or very few of them care."
"I don't want to die for people who don't care about me," Ralph added.
"I'm glad you still have a conscience, Kyle," Olivia said. "But I'm with Ralph on this one."
They were right. The thought of Olivia or Ralph being seriously hurt or killed just to get Emory's guns back made me sick at heart. Mike and Jake would get over our disappearance. Hell, they might even think we were ambushed and killed.
"Yeah," I said, coming to a decision. "Only if we go up one more exit past the Loop, there's another state highway going in the general direction of Plano. It might get us home faster."
"I know the highway you mean," Olivia said, jumping up and down in her seat. Ralph looked happy, too. "Wahoo! We're going home!"
We passed by the exit ramp to the Loop, driving under the mini-cloverleaf, and continuing down the highway. Embarrassment still heated my face. I did feel like I was letting Mike down, but my first priority was to my friends and family. And I was pretty sure the boys in Emory wouldn't let us go without a fight.
The highway left the city, and plunged back into the even darker forestlands. The clouds were starting to break up above, and moonlight shown through in a few places. My spirits were lifted, at least a little. Everything was looking up.
We were finally free!
"Shit!" Olivia screamed, slamming on the brakes as we topped a hill.
Gunfire erupted as we skidded towards a dozen motorcycles stretched across the road.
Chapter 18
"Go left!" I screamed as my side of the windshield shattered.
She turned the wheel so hard that two wheels came off the ground in that turn. To his credit, Ralph manned the M60 and returned fire. Then we were off the pavement, bouncing across the open ground between the road and the forest.
"Swing around behind them and then go back the way we came," I cried. "The Loop is a better option!"
I turned in the seat to defend Olivia as much as possible with my body. Ralph's M60 ran out of ammo, and the ride was too rough to reload, so both of us returned fire with the M16A2s.
"Who was the moron that decided full automatic was a bad idea?" Ralph growled. "Aaaggh, I'd shoot the bastard myself right now."
Even with 3-round bursts, we managed to throw a lot of shit at them. Enough that the ambushers scrambled behind their motorcycles. Yet, the ride was so bumpy most of our shots were way over their heads. They hit the jeep, but didn't seem to be any better shots than us.
"Tell Mike to hurry up!" Olivia said when the Deathdealers jumped on their motorcycles and came at us. "We need help!"
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I cried, fumbling for the loose handset. "Mike! They're attacking us!"
"Ugh!" Olivia cried.
Her head was knocked to the side as the helmet liner flew off and was gone.
She slumped. The jeep started to slow. I panicked.
"Olivia!"
Her head came back up. Slowly. She shook her head, gasping for breath, but then pressed down on the accelerator. Just to slam down into a ditch and stop, engine dying.
"I'm fine," she croaked out.
She started the engine and put it in reverse. Ralph took the opportunity to quickly reload the M60. He was really getting good at it. Still, my full focus was on Olivia. She didn't look well.
"What happened? Are you shot?"
She bit her lip, face intent, and got the jeep moving forward again. All of the Deathdealers were on their bikes and coming towards us. Fortunately, their aim was even worse when mounted like that.
"Shot in the head," she said. I didn't see any blood. "In the helmet. Felt like I got hit with a bat."
Two women on a dirt bike raced up to us, behind Ralph firing at the largest group. I swung my weapon around to shoot the driver, but missed and killed the p
assenger aiming a pistol at us. There was just enough light, and they were that close, for me to see the surprised look on her face. Then she was dead.
I kept shooting at the rider until I got her, too.
"Aaaaaggh!" another biker screamed as he slammed into the front of the jeep.
The jolt and sudden turn threw Ralph out. I screamed as we went towards the treeline. Straight at an ancient oak. Olivia turned just enough, but still struck the oak with the cowcatcher. I slammed into the hard, steel dashboard, my breath knocked out.
I was still better off than Olivia. She slumped again, head lolling around. Ralph was on his feet, unarmed, and screaming for help. I rolled out of the jeep to hands and knees, gasping pathetically. It took all of my concentration and will power to find my weapon. I used the jeep to steady my aim, and started shooting at the people attacking Ralph.
"Someone just shoot me," Olivia groaned.
I couldn't see her from my position, but heard her crawl into the back. She manned the M60, firing up the Deathdealers. The M60 didn't limit her to 3-round bursts. The men and women attacking us didn't have automatic weapons. They were armed mostly with pistols and shotguns.
The M60 was a beast up close like that, decimating the Deathdealers at an astonishing rate. Ralph was able to break free and come running back to us. He immediately climbed up in back and helped Olivia reload the M60. To my surprise, she refused to give up the M60, firing at the Deathdealers without mercy.
"More coming back!" she cried. "We have to get the hell out of here!"
Headlights were coming our way. Not Mike and his Rat Patrol team, but motorcycles, RTVs, and two cargo trucks.
Olivia gave up the machinegun and jumped back into the driver's seat. She started the engine, but the jeep was wedged between two trees. She turned the wheel this way and that, rocked the jeep by going between first and reverse, and finally broke free.
Too late.
"Abandon the jeep," I said as a dozen more dirt bikes and RTVs swarmed in front of us, with more coming. "Into the woods."
Ralph removed the M60 from its mount. He stopped, couched over atop the jeep and aimed it at the incoming Deathdealers. My first thought was the guy earlier who tried that and was knocked out of the jeep. I started to call a warning.
