Dead Life (Book 3)

by Schleicher, D Harrison

  “Are we going to stay here for a while?” Rick asked.

  “No, we need to make up some miles today.” I replied.

  “The we'd better get going.” He said. “There's a bunch of zombies headed our way.”

  I looked down the road and saw the group of zombies headed our way. Two were running full out and six more were stumbling along behind the runners. Al pulled his pistol out, nonchalantly shot the two runners, and turned to walk to the truck.

  “Cindy, are you coming?” He asked.

  Chapter 10

  Day 4

  Sergeant Adams came running into my tent a few seconds later shouting that there were zombies in the barracks with the people from the Pentagon.

  “During the night, a convoy of vehicles from Fredericksburg was let into the fenced area up the road. There was about sixty people in all. No one bothered to check the refugees when they came in and I'm guessing that somebody in the group was infected.”

  “Get the men together and let's get over there. Make sure everyone brings their rifles. From now on we stay armed at all times.”

  My tent wasn't far from the road leading to the barracks so I grabbed my assault rifle and ran over. The guards at the gates were staring down the road leading to the barracks. It was only a quarter of a mile away and they looked nervous like they were expecting trouble at any moment.

  “Open the gate. We need to get over there.”

  “Sir, my orders are to not open this gate for anyone.” One of the guards said.

  “I'm changing those orders.”

  “Sir, you can't override Colonel Bradley's orders.”

  About this time the rest of my unit arrived. There were thirty men in all. They looked tired and frightened.

  “Corporal, I need you to get Colonel Bradley on the phone. Right now.”

  “Yes sir.”

  By then the rest of the men and women that had been left behind to guard the airfield started arriving. I looked around and realized I was the ranking officer on sight. It would be up to me to get something done. To tell the truth, I had no idea how to run a combat command. Up until two days ago all I'd done was sit at a desk. Everyone was looking to me for instruction. I couldn't help but be nervous. I needed to be sure of myself. To gain the trust of these men, I'd need to act swiftly and with confidence in my decisions.

  “Sergeant Adams I want you to gather our unit. As soon as I can get this gate open we're going over. Get them ready. Who's in charge of getting the towers manned?”

  A sergeant I hadn't seen before stepped up. “I am sir.”

  “How many men have we got here?”

  “There's one hundred and seventy five of us sir.”

  “How many trained on the machine guns?”

  “I have forty five qualified on the 50 caliber.”

  “Pick twenty, two for each tower, and get them ready. As soon as I get this gate open, I want them up there as fast as possible. The rest I want between the two lines of fencing spaced evenly along the perimeter. When the zombie hordes get here, I'm going to have the electrical fence powered down. You men will use your fire power to support the machine gunners.”

  “Sir, the fence hasn't been electrified.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “The grid went down and our generators don't have enough juice for the fence.”

  “That's great. Your men that are inside the fencing will have to be careful. Don't fire into the fence. If we cause breaches in the fence, the zombies will get in here and we'll all be dead. Try to put the barrel of your rifle through the fence before firing. Pick your targets and aim for the head. The only way to stop them is to destroy the brain.”

  I glared at the remaining guard. “Where's that corporal. We don't have time for this.” He did his best to avoid eye contact.

  “Sergeant, divide your men evenly into ten groups. Load ten trucks with ammunition and set up by each of the towers. The trenches should divert the zombies into firing lanes. Concentrate your men into those areas. The ground between the trenches is mined. That should slow them down and thin them out a little. Have your men support each other. They'll need to be mobile and be able to move to areas that have the most activity.”

  The corporal I'd sent to contact the Colonel finally returned. “Sir, I can't get hold of anyone.”

  “Where is the Colonel?”

  “He looked to the barracks and said. “Over there.”

  “You get this goddamn gate open now.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The corporal opened the first gate and was headed for the second when I saw headlights headed from the barracks in our direction. A jeep pulled up to the gate and was let through. The General and the Colonel were together in the jeep. They stopped and Colonel Bradley got out. General Simmons sped off. He was headed to the airfield. The Colonel walked over to me. I could see he'd been wounded. There was blood on his left shoulder. His shirt was soaked through. Blood was running down his arm and dripping from his fingers

  “Captain, walk with me.” He said. “We let someone infected with the virus into the compound. They must have turned during the night. We heard screams coming from the building with the Fredericksburg refugees in it. Someone opened the door and the zombies came pouring out. I only had about twenty soldiers in there guarding the barracks. They didn't stand a chance.”

  “As soon as the shooting started, the General forced me into a jeep with him. The son of a bitch ran like a scared rabbit. He's on his way to an air craft carrier right now.”

  “Sir, we need to get up there and help those people.”

  “There's nothing we can do for them. When the shooting started, all the barracks emptied out. People were trying to get out of the compound. If they had remained inside they might have had a chance of getting out alive. The ones that aren't already dead have been bitten and will turn soon. The virus has mutated and the infected are turning faster. The people from Fredericksburg hadn't been here two hours before all of them turned into zombies.”

  “Didn't they know they were bringing infected people into the compound?”

  “There was a lady that had a little baby wrapped in a blanket. She was acting strange. Wouldn't let anyone see the baby. I think the kid had already turned and she didn't want anyone to know. That's all I can figure. The rest seemed okay otherwise.”

  One of the helicopters lifted off. “There he goes. Good riddance. The man is a fucking coward.” The Colonel said.

  “What now sir?”

  “You're in charge. In case you hadn't noticed I've been bitten.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “I can feel it already. I don't have much time left. The bombers are gone. They've been diverted. The General wouldn't tell me where they were going. I do know they won't be back. You have two Chinooks left. The pilots are good men. If the airfield gets overrun, have them get as many men out of here as possible. The rest will have to go by truck. I have no idea where you should go. We lost communication with the outside around ten o'clock last night. You should be able to raise someone on the radios aboard the helicopters though. Last reconnaissance says you have somewhere around ten thousand zombies headed this way from the north. You have two, maybe three hours before they get here. From the south there is over thirty thousand coming. They won't be here for at least six hours.”

  “I think you'll be able to hold off the first group. The second I'm not sure of. You might want to try taking on the first horde from the north. Then evacuate the base and head that way to avoid the horde from the south. After that I wouldn't know what to tell you. You'll figure it out. I really wouldn't stay here though.”

  “You're probably right sir. We'll see how it goes with the first horde. Then I'll decide what to do from there.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” the Colonel said. “I'd like to ask a favor from you Captain.”

  “Yes sir.” I knew what he wanted.

  “I don't want to turn into one of those things and I don't think I ca
n kill myself.”

  “I understand sir.”

  I took my service revolver from the holster and pointed it at the Colonel. He stood looking me in the eye, a bold look of determination on his face. I couldn't do it.

  “Would you please turn around sir?”

  “Of course.” The Colonel said as he turned to face away from me. “You know I have a wife. She was in Atlanta when all this happened. I lost contact with her the first day. I'm assuming...”

  I pulled the trigger. The Colonel slumped to his knees and fell forward onto his face. I walked back to my unit. The men were all staring at me with shocked looks on their faces.

  “He asked me to do that. The Colonel was infected. He'd been bitten. I would expect any one of you to do the same for me. I promise you I wouldn't hesitate to do the same for any of you that might become infected.”

  “We're going up to the barracks. First, we'll clear out the infected. Then we're going to bring back supplies. Adams, send someone to get a truck. Have them bring it up to the barracks. We'll need something to bring supplies back in. We don't have much time. Let's move out.”

  I left the guards at the gate with orders not to let anyone pass until checking them for bites and scratches. The men and I started our jog up to the barracks. When we got to the gate for the barracks, the guards normally on the inside of the gate where on the outside. On the other side of the fence were dozens of zombies trying to get at them. Most were civilians but some were military. They all needed to die.

  “I want you men to spread out along the fence. We need to draw the zombies away from the gate. On my command begin firing. Choose your targets and remember single shots to the head. We don't want a bunch of holes in this fence. The idea is to keep them in there.”

  “Sir are we going to kill those people?” One of the guards was addressing me.

  “Yes we are. Then we're going in.”

  “Sir, the General left orders that under no circumstances were these gates to be opened.”

  “Did you see that helicopter take off a few minutes ago?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “That was the General. He's gone. The Colonel is dead. That leaves me in charge of this mess. Questions?”

  The guards looked at each other then looked to me. “No sir.”

  “Then move away from the gate and help get rid of these zombies.”

  The two guards went to one side of the gate and I went to the other. The press of zombies that had been at the gate started to spread out along the fence. The zombies were tugging and pushing at the fence trying to get at the men. The constant moaning increased as they struggled against one another for position.

  “Alright men, remember, those things are already dead. Those aren't your comrades anymore. They're the undead and we're doing them a favor. Aim for the head. Ready, take aim. OPEN FIRE!”

  The sound of the gunfire was deafening as we all started shooting at once. The first line of zombies went down as the ones behind tried to take their places at the fence, only to be shot down before they were able to climb over the fallen. It was a gruesome sight of the zombies stepping up to the fence covered in the blood and brains from the zombies in front of them. The shooting seemed to go on forever. In reality we'd been firing on the zombies for less than two minutes. I called for a cease fire.

  “Let's not tear this fence up anymore than we already have. Put the barrel of you rifle through the fencing. All that noise will bring the rest of them in. Remember men; single shots and aim for the head.”

  It didn't take long for more zombies to show their ugly faces. We ended up at the fence for about fifteen minutes. It took that long for the steady stream of zombies coming to the fence to slow to a trickle. No one was sure how many soldiers and civilians were in the compound, but we'd killed over two hundred at the fence.

  “Looks like it's time to go Sergeant. Get the men in the truck and let's go. Tell them to stay alert. There's going to be more of them in there.”

  As if to confirm that, a zombie stumbled from behind a building. The sergeant pulled his revolver and calmly shot it.

  “We're going for the cafeteria Sergeant. All we want from here is food and water. In and out.”

  I climbed into the cab of the truck and was greeted by an attractive little redheaded Corporal. I looked into her eyes as I turned to get situated in the seat.

  “Sir you might want to close that.”

  My mouth snapped shut and I could feel my face turning red with embarrassment.

  “The door sir. Close the door.”

  “What's your name soldier?” I needed to get back on task.

  “Corporal Lily Flowers sir.”

  “Head for the cafeteria.” I said with a smile on my face. “If anyone steps in front of this vehicle, run them down. I'm not expecting to be finding any survivors in here.”

  No sooner had I said that than someone stepped in front of the truck. It was definitely a zombie. The Corporal steered the truck a little to the right and ran it down. I looked in my side view mirror and saw the crushed body roll out from behind us. Then the truck swerved hard to the left. I looked up and the Corporal was going for a zombie that had come out into the street on our left.

  “Flowers, take it easy. You're going to throw everyone out of the back.”

  “Sorry sir.”

  She wasn't able to run the zombie down but sent it spinning off the side of the truck. This brought a series of cat calls and shouts from the back of the truck. We pulled up in front of the cafeteria and Flowers brought the truck to a stop.

  “Flowers, I want you to stay with the truck.” I said as I climbed down. “Turn around and back the truck to the doors.” She put the truck in gear and started to pull away. “Let the men get out first, Corporal.”

  Her face turned red as she said, “Yes sir. Sorry sir.”

  “No need to be sorry. Men, fall out.”

  The men began jumping down from the truck and gathered in front of the cafeteria.

  “Sergeant, I've never been in this building before so I'll let you lead the men in.”

  “Thank you sir. The main hall leads back to the dining area. From there we'll get to the kitchen and food storage rooms. If you take half the men, we can clear the hall and the rooms adjoining it. I'll take one side and you can take the other.”

  “Sounds good.” I led the Sergeant away from the other men.”Let me be honest with you, Sergeant. I don't have much field experience and am a little out of my element.”

  “Sir, you've done fine so far. Just follow my lead. You'll get the hang of it. Men, line up two by two.” The Sergeant said. “We're going in. Men on the left with me. Right side, follow the Captain. Last man in each line stay outside and guard the entry point. Let's move out.”

  The Sergeant looked to me and I nodded. We went in at the same time. I moved slowly down the hall. There were three doorways on each side of the hall. The Sergeant went past the first door. I did the same. The man behind him opened the door. The next two men went in to clear the room. The men following me did the same thing. I was relieved that they knew what to do because I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Fortunately, the hall and the six rooms were clear.

  We gathered outside of the dining room. The Sergeant and I opened the double doors and we started in. The Sergeant held up his hand. The men stopped. There were two zombies crouched over a body on the floor. The were busy eating it and hadn't noticed us entering the room. The Sergeant looked back at the men and pointed to his eyes then held up two fingers. He motioned for the men to stay. The Sergeant started in and waved me in with him.

  Sergeant Adams switched his rifle to his left hand and pulled his knife from it's sheath. I followed his lead and did the same. The zombies were still preoccupied with eating the body and hadn't looked up. The man that they were so busy eating was someone from the base. He looked to have been wearing military attire. The two zombies were female and were obviously civilians. We positioned ourselves behind the zombies a
nd Sergeant Adams looked at me and said “now.” We plunged our knives into the zombies heads. They both fell onto the body of the soldier they'd been eating. I lost hold of the knife I was using but the Sergeant was able to keep hold of his. It came out with a squishing sound. He pushed his knife into the eye of the dead soldier and waved our men into the room.

  The men formed a circle around us. They were looking at their fallen comrade. His face was gone but his name tag identified him as Hopkins. I wondered if anyone knew him. “Let's get going men. We need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

  Sergeant Adams pushed through the door into the kitchen and the men and I followed. There was a dead man lying on the floor right inside the door. Bloody foot prints surrounded the body and lead off to one of the storage rooms.

  Adams looked to one of the men. “You're with me.”

  They stepped over the dead body and followed the bloody trail to the closed door. The Private pushed the door opened and Sergeant Adams went in. I heard a clanging noise followed by a muffled thud. “Son of a bitch Fryman.” I heard the Sergeant shout.

  I rushed through the door followed by the rest of the unit. On the ground Sergeant Adams sat rubbing his shoulder. Over him stood a large bald headed man holding a frying pan.

  “I'm sorry Sarge. I thought you was one of them.”

  “How many zombies have you seen carrying a rifle, God dammit?”

  “Only seen the one and I crushed his skull with the same fry pan I hit you with. You're right though, he wasn't carrying no rifle.”

  “Is everyone okay here?” I asked.

  “Yeah I'm fine. Just a little sore.”

  The men were amused. I could see it on their faces. Their bad ass Sergeant taken down by the company cook.

  “Good thing you already lost your stripes Fryman. Otherwise the Sarge would bust you down to Private.” One of the men said.

  “How did you lose those stripes anyway?” One of the other Privates said. “Oh, that's right you told Lieutenant Bingham to get fucked.” The rest of the men were laughing by now.