“Matt, what happened?” Laura asked.
“I think Franklin just shot himself,” Matt said.
Laura paled.
This was their doing.
*****
Jack pulled up alongside the hangar and noticed the double doors at the front were standing open. May as well make a grand entrance, he thought. He could see what appeared to be two full squads checking and packing gear. Just another day preparing for the muck.
The two guards normally assigned outside the hangar weren’t posted outside the door. Normal when both squads are topside. Jack rolled up and inside the front area of the hangar. He stopped the engine and opened the door. He clipped his P90 back to his vest, grabbed his duffle and shut the door.
*****
“Who the fuck does this clown think he is?” Wallace asked, nudging Spanky. They couldn’t quite make out the figure in the black SUV at the far end of the hangar, but they both knew he had made a huge mistake rolling up on their turf like he owned the place.
Spanky whistled to Apollo and gave a motion to the front doors. Apollo stepped from around the Humvee and instantly his hackles rose. Somebody was about to get an ass-whoopin! Apollo bowed up and started stepping toward the unknown intruder. The other squad members fell in.
Colonel Mitchell stepped out in front of the squads just as the door to the SUV closed and Jack turned around to face the incoming squads with the colonel in front of them. Just as he had figured, all of the contingencies he had planned on the island and during his drive here went right out the window. The best laid plans of mice and men…and shit.
Jack strode up toward the teams until they noticed who he was and they stopped. The new members had no clue, but he realized that the colonel didn’t seem surprised at all that he was alive.
“Chief Petty Officer Jack Thompson, reporting for duty, colonel.” Jack snapped off a salute.
“Who the fuck is this guy?” Lamb asked.
Apollo broke into a toothy grin. “Phoenix, you son-of-a-bitch!” He practically ran up to bear hug him.
Jack grunted as Apollo lifted him from the ground and the original Monster Squad members surrounded him to welcome him back. Colonel Mitchell held his ground. The new members of the Monster Squad surrounded the colonel. “Who is this guy, sir?”
“A dead man.”
When the original clamor was over at Jack’s resurrection from the dead, he approached the colonel. “You’re not happy to see me, sir?”
“Thompson, we have to follow protocol. You know that.” Neither man smiled.
Jack nodded. “I expected as much.”
Mitchell nodded at the guards who quickly approached Jack. “Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute.” He unhooked his P90 and handed it to one of them. “Careful with that. It’s loaded. Might put an eye out.” He pulled his FiveseveN from its holster and handed it to the other one. “Easy there, buster. That’s a real one. No airsofting with that or somebody goes home in a body bag.” He pulled his magazines from the various pouches and pockets and handed them to his squad mates. “Here, you guys can probably use these.”
He looked up at Apollo again. “Damn it’s good to see your ugly mug again, you brute.” He punched him in the arm, “I can’t believe looking at you would be refreshing.”
“Believe it,” Sanchez said with a smirk.
“Yours?” Jack asked.
“Damned straight, baby.” Apollo grinned again.
“I’m nobody’s’,” Sanchez reminded him.
“That’s right!” Apollo quickly corrected. “I’m her bitch,” he whispered.
Jack laughed. “Sweet, bro.”
“Ahem,” Mitchell interrupted. “Protocol, Jack.”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said, sobering. “Lead the way. I live to serve. Ask and I shall obey. Waggle the carrot and this ass will follow. I’d say some more, but I’ve been driving all night and I really got to pee.”
“Needless to say, we have a lot of questions, son.”
“Oh, we definitely have a lot to talk about, sir,” Jack said, giving the colonel a knowing look. “A lot to discuss.”
“It sounds like there’s a few things on your mind, chief.”
“You don’t know the half of it, skipper.” Jack reverted to his nickname for the colonel from the early days and Matt did a double take. Skipper being the Navy term for most boat captains and Jack being a Navy SEAL, he often called his CO that as a term of affection. This time, Matt knew it wasn’t meant that way.
“Anything I should know offhand before we get started?”
“There’s a war, sir. And we’re stuck in the middle of it. We’re all being played, skipper… by both sides.”
“Really?” Matt said disbelievingly.
“Oh, yeah,” Jack said. “There’s a shit-storm coming. A war like we’ve never seen before and God Himself only knows how many people will pay because of it. What you decide today may very well tip the scales of that war.”
The elevator doors opened and Matt dismissed the guards so that he could address Jack alone. “Just what do you know, soldier?”
“Everything.”
Mark Tufo author of the Zombie Fallout series
Zombie Fallout
It was a flu season like no other. With fears of contracting the H1N1 virus running rampant through the country, people lined up in droves to try and obtain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known, was the effect this largely untested, rushed to market, inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs.
Within days, feverish folk throughout the country, convulsed, collapsed and died, only to be re-born. With a taste for brains, blood and bodies, these modern day zombies scoured the lands for their next meal. Overnight the country became a killing ground for the hordes of zombies that ravaged the land.
This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family and his friends. When disaster strikes, Mike a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for. Can brains beat brain eaters? It's a battle for survival, winner take all!
Please visit us at http://marktufo.com/
or http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Tufo/e/B002I7PJ68/
Titles From May December Publications
The Dead Series
Dead:The Ugly Beginning book 1
Dead: Revelations book 2
Dead: Fortunes and Failures book 3
Dead: Winter book 4
Dead: Siege and Survival book 5
Dead: Confrontation book 6
The Fervor Series
Fervor book 1
Elevation book 2
Transcendence book 3
Providence book 4
The Master’s & Renegades Series
Magic University book 1
Casualties of War book 2
Prisoner of Fate book 3
The Zomblog Series
Zomblog book 1
Zomblog II book 2
Zomblog The Final Entry book 3
Zomblog: Snoe book 4
Zomblog: Snoe’s War book 5
The Ava Series
That Ghoul Ava: Her First Adventures
That Ghoul Ava and The Queen of the Zombies
Special Editions
DEAD: The Geeks
DEAD: Vignettes
DEAD:Steve’s Story
DEAD: Special Edition Compendium 1
DEAD: The Geeks 2
DEAD: Vignettes 2
DEAD:Steve’s Story 2
DEAD: Special Edition Compendium 2
Zomblog: Compendium 1
Stand Alone Titles
Agape by Bennie Newsome
Cryptic by DA Chaney
Dakota by Todd Brown
Elena by Duncan Lloyd
Eat Wild, Eat Healthy, Eat Green by Donna Johnson
Five by Jeffrey Kosh
Goddesses of Lilith by Tracy Ford
Gruesomely Grimm Zombie Tales -1 by TW Brown
Highway to Hell by Alex Laybourne
In The Arms of Ni
ghtmares by Robert Dean
Legacy of the Dead by RD Teun
Nemesis by Suzi M
Return of the Phoenix by Heath Stallcup
Stories Around the Campfire with Uncle Eric by Eric Pollarine
The BoogeyMann by Bennie Newsome
The Book of Joseph by Erik Rise
The Exoterrestrials by TW Brown
The Post-Apacolyptic Cookbook by Donna Johnson
Whisper to a Scream by PS Turner
Anthologies
A Clockworks Orchard: Rivets & Rain
Chivalry is Dead – all male authors
Dear Santa
Eye Witness: Zombie
First Time Dead
First Time Dead 2
First Time Dead 3
Four in the Hole
Fresh Blood
Hell Hath No Fury…all female authors
Midnight Movie: Creature Features
Midnight Movie: Creature Feature 2
Realms of the Undead
Say goodnight to the Bad Guy
Spiders
Vampires Aren’t Pretty
Wake the Witch - our charity anthology – 100% goes to Red Cross
Zero
Zombie: Lockdown
You can find our titles on Audio as well.
The growing voice in horror
and speculative fiction.
Find us at www.maydecemberpublications.com
Or
Email us at [email protected]
Ex Navy, submariner, worked with nuclear weapons until I got hurt bad enough to be medically discharged. Went to college at East Central University in Ada, OK. Biology/Chemistry major. Spent ten years working for the OK Dept of Environmental Quality as a Compliance & Enforcement officer. Moonlighted as a Deputy Sheriff at the Coal County Sheriff's Office. Was eventually retired by the VA and am now Mr. Mom to my seven kids (two sets of twins) and four grandkids (another set of twins). Baseball, softball and basketball, school events and doctor appointments take up the grand majority of my time when I'm not experimenting in the kitchen. My love of cooking (and BASEBALL) is second only to my love of writing which I never had time to explore.
Just recently, my wife challenged me to begin this series after I smarted off to her about a book she was reading. The next thing I knew, I had begun the story. Then walked away. About nine months later, the story long forgotten, I was cleaning old files out of my computer and stumbled upon it. Read through the forgotten words and realized, "this has potential" and took off with it again. One book turned into two, which turned into three and now, I think this 'Trilogy' might see an end with the fourth installment, which is in the middle of the first draft.
The characters took on a life of their own and the story really wrote itself, I simply typed it. When things happened that I didn't like and I tried to change them, forcing my hand against the flow of the story, the story changed it back to the way it wanted it to be. I learned the hard way to simply tell the story. I knew where it started and I could see the end, but the journey was a mystery. Maybe that is how life imitates art? We are all born, we all die, but it's the journey that we must allow ourselves to enjoy!
Heath Stallcup lives in the small town of Tupelo, Oklahoma with his wife, three of their seven children, three dogs and a prissy cat. He can be found on Facebook Facebook.com /Heath Stallcup
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