“I don’t believe for a second that IST3 is in trouble. Remember it wasn’t that long ago that the first teamers, IST1, were reported missing, presumed dead only to turn up again within the week. They walked right into base like nothing was wrong and continued with a new mission.” I almost shouted to be heard over the explosions from the high explosive shells.
“Yeah well they weren’t in the middle of Philadelphia when they were reported missing or Baltimore for that matter.”
The shelling stopped and we turned to watch the shoreline. Sure enough, zombies started wandering into the area to investigate the noise. The sound of their moaning and their stink assaulted our senses. All in all maybe a hundred curious zombies showed up, a fraction of the total estimated to be in the area.
“Alright, let’s get this over with,” I said with resignation.
Gill began to rack back the cocking mechanism of his twin fifties.
“Don’t shoot, you’re more likely to disable them than kill them, and we don’t want them disabled,” I said.
The PBR motored in towards the edge of the seawall.
“Why am I the one doing this again?” I asked.
“Because you’re always talking about how you’re a marathon runner,” said Ethan.
“Because you have no real authority,” said William.
“Because you want all the glory for yourself,” said Baublitz.
“Because you’re trying to impress Petty Officer Ramsey,” said Markus.
“Because you’re the only one in the Army who wears running shoes instead of boots,” said Walls.
“Because you’re an idiot,” said Marion.
“Yeah,” grunted Bull.
“I hate you all,” I said as I climbed up onto solid ground. Then I did my best impression of Sloth from The Goonies and yelled at the top of my lungs, “HEY YOU GUYSSSS!”
I took off running for the other end of the facility followed by the nearby zombies, which were worked up by their first smell of living human in years.
As I ran I squeezed off a few shots from my 9mm as they got close but for the most part I had outdistanced the group at the shelling site in no time at all. The trouble was all the zombies who had not been drawn to the shelling started popping out from behind shipping containers and crane legs as I ran past and I had to dodge and weave furiously to avoid their grasping hands.
More than once stealthy zombies came within inches of dragging me down but my luck held and I was able to dodge, shoot, or outrun all of them.
Less than three minutes later I was about to take a long walk off a short pier. After running all out I was beginning to tire, but the horde, now several hundred strong, was not tiring. They were catching up. My first biathlon was only halfway over however. I dove headfirst into the brown water.
The vest worked just as advertised and I popped to the surface just in time to see the fastest of my undead competitors complete the first stage of their biathlon and begin the water event.
I started swimming away from the edge of the seawall as fast as possible as more splashes sounded. I turned out towards the center of the river, swimming diagonally away from the point I had jumped from.
Luckily zombies are not nearly as good at swimming as they are at running. Only one got close enough to grab at my foot before sinking. Relatively few zombies bothered to chase me in.
From behind me I heard the PBR come racing up to fish me out of the water. They had dropped the rest of the team off to perform our mission as soon as the zombies had gone after me and then sailed the length of the terminal to grab me.
No sooner was I out of the water than CWO Magann radioed the signal to Sterett. A sound like thunder cracked overhead followed by the sound of rain on an aluminum roof as the 155mm guns Sterett was carrying fired their BB rounds and thousands of ball bearing fell on the heads of would be zombie track stars.
From the PBR the petty officers joined in with their guns adding to the cacophony of noise and carnage on land.
I handed Warrant Officer Magann the sopping wet MOLLE vest. “I believe this belongs to you.” It fell to the deck with a wet thump.
Chapter 13
The Dundalk facilities had been more or less intact according to Baublitz. The team had fought a steady stream of zombies in my absence despite my diversion. The site is just too close to a former population center.
I turned to Walls “Any word on the mission changing yet?”
“Nope.”
“Is the radio functioning properly?”
“Yep.”
“Alrighty then, one last place to search, the former Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, straight across the river from us. I bet we can knock that out before nightfall.”
On the trip across the Patapsco we ate our C-rats. No amount of Kool-Aid powder could get the taste of spam out of my mouth, but at least I was full, despite losing my chocolate bar from the downdraft of the helo when it buzzed us as it continued to sound the channel. More good auspices.
At the bow of the PBR PO3 Gill was taking sounding, not that the PBR drew more than a few feet of water, but an aircraft carrier sure does. As we approached the old Coast Guard Yard he informed us “The deepest this water gets is 20 feet.”
“Yea another wild goose chase. Let’s just get out and see if anything is salvageable.” I answered.
We motored past the base one way, turned around and motored back the other. It was mostly burned out. The locks of the drydock, which was smaller than the one at Sparrows Point, were busted open. The place looked like it had been looted. Worse of all there were zombies all over.
“I’ve got a dozen Zulus by the dry dock,” howled Ethan.
“Score of Zebras by the satellite dish,” responded William
“Mob of Zippers by that warehouse.” said Marion.
“Come on that’s not even NATO phonetic at all. Pack of Zeds in the hanger,” said Dan
“Bushel of Zekes by that burnt out car,” said Baublitz.
“Legion of Zits by the flagpole,” said Markus.
“Zombies over there.” grunted Bull, not quite getting into the spirit.
It wasn’t worth getting out of the boat. As nightfall approached I decided, “Turn us around, let’s go back to Sterett. Marion, did you find anyone to watch the rabbit while we were gone?”
“I thought you did.”
“NO, you said you would.”
“I’m messing with you; I left her with one of the cooks.”
“If I find rabbit on the menu I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“She’s still too small to eat; I’d like to see you try.”
It was good she could still joke after a tough day like today. Everyone looked pretty dejected after repeatedly coming up empty.
It was dark out by the time we tied up to the destroyer’s stern, no point in hoisting the PBR back aboard since I had a feeling we would be using it again in the morning. Sterett was still anchored past the Key Bridge, but the helicopter was back on board.
Chief Aquia met us at the stern. “Captain wants to see you in his cabin, new orders.”
“Thanks Chief. Go get some chow and hit your racks, looks like we’ll be back at this again tomorrow,” I told the team.
Owen met me in his cabin. “Plenty of bad news tonight. I just got off the horn with Reaper 6; the admiral has given up on trying to find Team 3. They are officially missing presumed undead. He has a new mission for you too. It’s in the middle of the Inner Harbor, but if you do it right you’ll be able to get what the admiral wants and collect those zombies you owe me.”
“It’s been a long day; please tell me you have some good news to go along with the bad.”
“The Seahawk scouted out a usable channel for us. If all goes well we will be able to fully support you. If it doesn’t work neither one of us will complete our mission.”
Chapter 14
I am not a morning person, but the strange vibrations coursing through the ship, combined with the thudding noise over my
head compelled me to get up ahead of my 0500 alarm. I strapped on my pistol belt and went to the bridge.
I made it up there just in time to look forward out the window and see the Key Bridge retreating behind us and a white bubbly wake extending from the bow out ahead of us.
That’s when I figured it out; we were sailing up the channel… backwards.
I walked to the starboard bridge wing where Commander Owen was looking through his binoculars, forward, towards the stern of the ship, which was now facing the burnt out skyscrapers of Baltimore.
“This is the first mission back there in two years.” He said without looking at me, gesturing towards the city.
“People used to say Baltimore is a city with Northern charm and Southern efficiency.”
We boarded the PBR by 0630, just as the sun was breaking the eastern horizon, over Dundalk. Sterett was ponderously feeling her way up the channel the Seahawk had mapped out.
“She’s a Coast Guard Cutter right? Have you ever served aboard her?” I asked Baublitz as we pushed. The sea was calm as glass, and the color of Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper used to go great with pretzels.
“Not exactly, she has been out of commission since the mid 80’s. She was a museum but I have been on before. When I was stationed at Curtis Bay us damage controlmen went over once a year to do volunteer work on the exterior of the ship.”
“Explain why we are doing this.” Ethan asked groggily as he poked around the ship’s wiki page on his Smartphone.
“The navy needs this ship. I don’t know if it’s to cannibalize parts, or to use as is, although I doubt it will still sail on its own, or if it’s for the scrap value, it was made in the 1930’s, I assume prewar steel is high quality stuff. God knows we aren’t building new ships, or forging new steel anymore. Besides it’s sure to be full of zombies so we can replace the ones you and William killed the other day.”
“You killed more than we did.” William said defensively.
“Yeah, but the ones you killed were the important ones.”
“Nuh-uh nuh-uh, the one I killed was fresh!”
By the time we got to the Inner Harbor the sun was already overhead. Zombies wondered everywhere. The landscape was worse than I had seen in any post apocalyptic movie, except maybe footage of cities after World War II.
“I heard the Air Force firebombed the city to try and contain the infection. They launched a massive B-52 Arclight raid on the northern part of the city, burnt it to the ground. Didn’t kill the zombies though, flaming zombies carried the conflagrations south and demolished the whole city.” Dan said.
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it certainly seemed to be the case.
Our speculations were interrupted as we reached our target, the former Coast Guard Cutter Taney, a ship with an impressive service record through World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and now perhaps the Great Zombie War.
A lot of zombies were active in the area. I don’t know if they had ever gone dormant or if the helo flights yesterday reactivated them, but they were everywhere.
“Do you want to stand back and clear them from here, or do you want us to drop you off?” CWO Magann asked.
“If we try to shot them from here we will alert every zombie in the city before we finish. Get us as close as possible, cover us, and get ready to rig that tow line.”
Without answer Magann deftly brought the PBR under the stern of Taney and I clambered up over the side of the pier. Immediately zombies began to approach. We killed two dozen before Marion, the last person off the boat, was on the pier.
As the PBR pulled away and opened up with everything onboard I assessed the situation. The outboard side of the ship still retained its white paint, but the side I was looking at now was blackened and blistered. The fire must have reached the ship, but her all steel construction did not burn and the ship did not have a noticeable list. We might actually be able to complete this objective.
We ran for the brow, the gangway, mounted near the stern of the ship.
William went up first, and immediately began shooting at the zombies on deck. By the time I made it up he and Ethan had already cleared a beachhead.
Baublitz was right behind me. He stopped and saluted the stern where the flag should have been, then turned to salute me. “Request permission to come aboard sir.”
“Not the time.”
He stood there. Everyone was forced to stop on the brow, shooting down at the zombies gathering at the bottom.
“Granted god dammit! Get up here.” I yelled.
“Thank you.” He said as everyone rushed up after he had moved out of the way. Then Walls and Bull picked up the ramp and tossed it away from the ship, zombies and all.
From deep inside the ship a loud moaning rose up. I remembered how many people had flocked to the sea to try and board a ship when the plague first hit. Apparently a great number came here too even though the engine had been dead some thirty years. They were still here.
“William, Ethan, clear the deck and superstructure. Baublitz, close all hatches, make sure whatever is down below stays inside the ship, Bull, use your ax and cut these mooring lines, Walls radio Sterett and tell them we are ready to go, Marion help Markus rig a tow line.”
Everybody got to work and things seemed to be going well. With a groan Taney slipped her mooring for the first time in over a decade and began to drift with the current out towards the channel. We attached a thick hawser to the towing bit at the stern of the ship and passed it to the PBR below us. They began to sail toward Sterett, which was just backing into the Inner Harbor as Taney drifted out of her berth into the main channel.
Even as Sterett began to bring Taney’s lifeless hulk under control we heard a blood curdling scream. I looked around.
Ethan did the math first. “Where’s Baublitz?”
We were on the starboard side of the ship, watching the zombies on the pier below us. Marion turned first and headed for the port side. As soon as she rounded the superstructure the zombies were on her. No one could get off a shot.
She swung her M-4 with her powerful farming arms, like Davy Crockett and knocked the first zombie clear off the ship. But she overextended her follow-through and the second zombie was one her.
It ripped her throat out before she could scream, not that she would have. Bull rounded the superstructure and put a round in the zombie as it started to get off of her. Ethan shot her as she started to rise.
I turned and ran for the bow, up the starboard side of the ship. As I ran the football field length I heard more gunshots from the opposite side of the ship. I rounded forward part of superstructure just aft of the demilitarized gun mount and began heading in the opposite direction, towards the stern. Maybe a third of the way back a door to the crew’s berthing compartment was wide open. I grabbed the big metal bar and pulled it down to dog the hatch closed.
I turned and Baublitz was standing there, covered in blood, looking at me through red eyes. I fired once.
Chapter 15
Sterett’s RHIB brought over some Marines and Sailors to take command of the derelict Taney as she began her long, stern first journey to Bermuda. We were photographing corpses for the database and throwing them overboard without ceremony.
Marion and Baublitz were relieved of their equipment and lashed to some 55 gallon drums we found on deck. Walls punched holes in the drums with his K-Bar so that when we rolled them overboard they would fill with water to drag our friends down to Davy Jones Locker.
I was right about Marion not lasting the week.
The RHIB took us back to Sterett.
Chief Aquia was already waiting. “I’m sorry for your loss shipmate. Skipper wants…”
“To see me in his cabin, I know, I know.” I turned to the rest of the team. “You know the drill, grab some chow, steal some ammo from the leathernecks, I’ll brief you in 45 minutes.”
Commander Owen met me in his cabin again. “I’m sorry about your losses. I just got done informing Rapier 6 about your succe
ss. Dr. Morano is glad to have new subjects.”
“I don’t care what that bitch says…”
“It’s alright; calm down, the admiral has one more mission for you while we’re in Baltimore. You can thank the Lost Boys for this one.”
I looked at him confused and thoroughly drained.
“We are gaining ground, but public support is still low. Command wants you to do a little publicity stunt just like The Lost Boys did at West Point. All you have to do is take a picture. We’re retaking Fort McHenry.”
It was one of the most famous incidents from the great retreat. The Second Defense of Fort McHenry. Elements of the 29th Division had come in by chopper. The city was doomed and the army was pulling out everywhere. Everywhere except the fort.
Thousands of refugees from South Baltimore fled to the peninsula, one of the flattest, most open places in the city. The 29th set up a command post in the fort. At one end of the peninsula they set up defenses and a checkpoint to get civilians through. At the seaward side any seaworthy craft was commandeered to get people to safety. The trees were blown out of the way and an airlift rescued more people.
An EOD guy, Chief Nathan Little, slowed the zombies when he blew the Fort McHenry Tunnel. He lost his life, but he saved hundreds with the time he bought. It couldn’t have been more than an hour.
The Zombies reached the Fort and pushed through the outer perimeter in minutes. The last helicopters touched down on the forts flat ramparts to evacuate the troops. The 29th was ordered out so it could fight again.
They refused orders. They loaded children on the last birds out of there and fought to the last man. Eventually the zombies piled up so high in the moat that they were able to climb over the walls. The hand to hand fighting lasted for a few minutes.
Last anyone saw of the fort that day the flag was still flying. It was like Custer’s last stand, the Alamo, and the Fall of Saigon all rolled into one. Now we were finally going back, or at least six of us were.
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