Thrust & Parry: Z Day

by Luke Ashton

  “Which one’s Rebecca?” Laura asked looking between the two naked bodies on the floor. Jim pointed at the body near the Rupert before continuing. Jim ordered the ladies to stay put while he and Paddy re-cleared the drill hall. Nothing had moved. They moved back to the stag point.

  “Paddy and I will be at the bottom of the ladder waiting for you. It’s up to you where you start but I would advise doing it one at a time. Don’t try take a body by yourself. You can get dressed properly now if you want.” Jim explained and started walking to the store room. The ladies seemed to have forgotten they were topless and Monica’s hands shot up to cover her breasts, she didn’t quite manage it. Sam joined her and covered hers easily with one arm.

  “It’s ok ladies.” Paddy smiles. “If I may be honest you all have really nice bodies.” Monica and Laura blushed and looked at the floor whereas Sam stared him straight in the eye and smiled. Her hands slowly dropped back to her waist.

  “To be honest I’d rather stay topless until this is done with.” Sam said as Paddy turned. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her looking confused. Sam saw this and explained. “I just don’t want to get one of my only two t-shirts covered in blood.” She smiled.

  “Well there not exactly in short supply but don’t let me stop you.” He replied with a wink. It was Sam’s turn to blush now. Paddy left her stood there as he moved to the store room. Jim already had a length of sturdy looking rope over one shoulder and was heading toward the ladder.

  “Anything I can help you with boss?” Paddy asked.

  “Yeah follow me up will you.” Jim replied as he scaled the ladder. As Paddy reached the top he looked round. Jim was over on the side that looked into the car park. There was a flag pole around 5 feet out from the building and he was trying to hook the rope around it.

  “You got weapon oil?” Jim asked as he stopped. Paddy dropped his day sack off his shoulders and rummaged in it for a while before producing a large rectangular tin with a screw off lid on one side. “Good pour it over the parts of the rope that will come in contact with the pole.” Jim explained as he laid out the rope to simulate what it would look like once round the pole.

  “First bodies here Paddy!” Called Sam from the bottom of the ladder. Paddy moved back to the hatch.

  “Good work. Bring the rest and queue them up like they are waiting for a bus. And try not to shout, we don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.” Paddy explained and she slumped off looking crestfallen. Paddy couldn’t help but watch her tits jiggle slightly as he walked. He snapped back into focus and started pouring the oil over the rope. Within about a minute it was covered in oil.

  “Good work. Hold my webbing while I get it round.” Paddy grabbed the back of the webbing belt as Jim leaned out to the pole and slotted it neatly round before pulling it back. He fed one end down the hole and tied the other end round his waist. “I’m the anchor, we tie the bodies and drag them up using the rope. When they are all up we will throw them off.” Paddy nodded and moved back to the hatch.

  “OK ladies, I need you to tie this rope around the bodies chest and under the arms. If there is enough spare you can tie it between their legs too.” Sam peered up stunned for a moment before grabbing Rebecca and, with the help of the others, moving her to something of a standing position at the bottom of the ladder, facing them. Laura grabbed the rope and tucked it behind her and under her left armpit. She reached round to grab the rope from the other side and visibly recoiled.

  “Oh fuck. Ewww I touched her boob.” Laura complained as she stepped back, shaking her hand like it was covered in spiders. Sam groaned at her friend before stepping forward and finishing the job. She had around 8 foot of spare rope when she had finished so she tucked it between Rebecca’s legs, reached round and pulled it through. She tied it off at the back and gave Paddy a thumbs up. Paddy nodded and moved over to Jim. They pulled together and the rope started to move. After about 4 feet the remainder of Rebecca’s face appeared in the hatchway.

  “A little more and I can hold it while you grab her.” Jim told Paddy through gritted teeth. They both gave a massive tug and Jim dug his boots in. She now had down to her belly button stuck out of the hatch and Paddy used the rope to haul her up before dumping her on her front on the roof. He quickly untied her and passed the rope back down. They repeated this process for all the bodies, Jessica, Rebecca, the Rupert and the three zombies that attacked Graham. All that was left to do was to bring Graham himself up. The ladies had left him till last as he was the heaviest and by the time they had him in place Jim could hear them all panting like dogs on a hot day.

  “Laura, Monica. I need you up here. Sam, if you could get him tied up and come join us please?” Jim needed all the hands on the rope he could for this one. Laura and Monica appeared in the hatch and, a few moments later, Sam followed. They were all sweating profusely now and their breasts were glistening in the setting sun. Jim tried to ignore it as everyone got into position. Sam had grabbed the front spot followed by Paddy then Monica. Laura had made sure she was close to Jim, as usual, and Jim was still tied in at the back. They all hauled as best they could, Sam was only hauling with her good arm, until Graham’s arse reached the hatch. Paddy released and jogged over to him to secure him on the roof. He struggled and strained but eventually lay panting next to the body. Jim untied himself from the rope and knelt next to Graham. He paid his respects before giving his next set of orders.

  “Right ladies, if you would pull the rope in and coil it up we need to take care of the bodies.” The girls got to work with the rope while Jim and Paddy grabbed Graham by the arms and legs and carried him over to the edge. “Goodbye buddy.” Jim said as they ‘leg and a winged’ him over the edge and into the road. He landed heavily and bounced slightly before settling half on the pavement, half off, a very sad sight. They repeated the process with the other bodies until a small pile formed. Well, technically just Graham on his own formed a pile but the others added to it. Jim turned and walked back to the girls. They were now sat in a little circle panting. Monica, once again, had her arms across her, attempting to cover herself up. Sam and Laura were leant back on their arms without a care that they were exposed. Jim and Paddy joined the circle and cigarettes were passed round. As the sun set it began to spit and everyone soaked in the cold water. They had been sweating profusely for the last hour or so as they sorted the bodies out and now it was brilliant to feel it hitting them. Jim tilted his head back, as did Sam, Monica and Laura. Paddy, however, did not. He took the chance to take a sneaky glance at Sam’s body. Sam was first to look back down and caught Paddy’s stare. He didn’t see her at first and it gave her a chance to do some staring of her own. She glanced down and caught sight of the bulge in his pants before staring him straight in the eye. He smiled at her and blushed as she returned it with a twinkle in her eye and bit her lip playfully. Jim, Monica and Laura lowered their heads and the moment was gone. It was raining fairly heavily now and Jim stood up and moved down the ladder. Monica, Sam and Laura followed but Paddy didn’t. Jim moved over by the door where a set of kit still lay that Jessica had been wearing next to the Rupert’s kit. It had been moved out of the blood but was still stained in it. He carried it as he moved into the bar and dropped his daysack and the spare kit off before digging out the rations he cooked back on the M621. He dug out his ration cooker and took it into the big office and checked for smoke alarms. He light another block and warmed up the rations once more, adding a few more from his stash to feed everyone and heated them up two at a time before packing his cooker back up. He passed them round as people sorted themselves out in the bar and waited for Paddy to give him one. Paddy didn’t follow.

  “You guys seen Paddy?” Jim asked as he span round. The girls were drying themselves off and all shook their heads. Jim got to the ladder at a jog just as Paddy was climbing down.

  “Where the fuck did you go?” Jim asked as he saw him.

  “Nowhere boss I just needed a minute.” He looked slightly asham
ed. Jim gave a knowing smile and handed him a boil in the bag. They walked back to the bar in silence just as the girls were taking off their boots. Sam and Paddy exchanged glances as they entered and Sam began to giggle.

  “What’s so funny?” Laura asked as she unbelted her pants.

  “Nothing. Just… Nothing.” Sam replied with a smile as she grabbed her towel out of her daysack. She loved the effect she had on Paddy. Jim slid his boots off and his trousers before sitting on his bed with his back against the wall and ate his rations. He watched the ladies change into fresh kit as he sat in his boxers and ate something that once resembled chicken curry.

  “Funny.” He thought “The girls seem so comfortable naked around us now. I wonder if it was Rim putting them off. Then again, they had been forced to be topless for the last…” Jim couldn’t finish that sentence and it dawned on him that he didn’t actually know how long it had been since he left.

  “Ladies, how long were we gone when we went on that patrol?” Jim asked across the bar. There was a second’s pause before Monica chirped up.

  “Two weeks exactly.” It dawned on Jim that his meal timings while incarcerated weren’t as accurate as he first imagined. He had calculated 15 days if it was two meals a day, three during the build-up to his big battle, but had only been gone 14 days.

  “Right, we aren’t going to get any more done tonight. Paddy, sort me out a stag list for tonight. Laura, if you would man the Gimpy and take the first hour. Everyone else get your head down, It may end up being a long day tomorrow.” Jim passed the orders round. “Any questions?”

  “Could you go over how to use it follow me please?” Laura asked shyly. Jim nodded.

  “No worries, anyone that wants to know how to use the Gimpy follow me.” Jim stood up just as Paddy cut in.

  “Do you want the same detail as last time boss?” He asked.

  “No, we are a bit short staffed now, make it one on for 45 minutes at a time.” Normally Jim would ensure that two people were on to reduce the risk of both people falling asleep but if he did that then no one would get any proper sleep.

  “Can do boss.” Paddy relied and buried himself back into writing. Jim slid his trousers back on before wandering out to the bar to find all 3 ladies waiting for him, they all now had fresh kit on including a t-shirt.

  “Right,” he started as he lifted the Gimpy back onto its homemade stand. “The GPMP (General Purpose Machine Gun) or Gimpy for short is a 7.62mm belt fed light machine gun. This means the rounds it fires are standard 7.62mm NATO rounds.” He snapped one off to show them. “It is capable of great suppression against an enemy and devastation against anything it hits, as you have already seen.” Jim proceeded to reel off any knowledge he could muster about the weapon before going into basic load and unload drills as well as NSP’s (Normal Safety Procedures) and firing. He then fully unloaded the weapon and let the girls give it a go. They all picked it up fairly quickly and within 30 minutes they were working the weapon with minimal mistakes.

  Jim finished by going over the stag brief. “Your job on stag is to alert the section commander of any changes. In this case it will have to be via comms cord tied to my leg. Anything changes you tug on it until I come running. When you’re on stag you have what’s known as arc’s. Your arcs while using the Gimpy are between the doorframes but if anything changes anywhere you let me know. For example, if a zed suddenly starts break dancing in the drill hall and you hear it, I want to know.” There was several little giggles around the girls. “Paddy will bring you the stag list. It will show you who you are waking up. You wake them up, bring them to the stag point and give them their arcs, the stag list and anything that’s changed from now on. Any questions?” The girls shook their head and he left Laura to it. She looked nervous but Jim didn’t blame her, first time on stag alone makes you feel like you’re responsible for the world.

  Jim wandered back into the bar, dropped his pants and fell back into his bed space, shattered. He forgot his bed was just bar chairs pushed together and they slid apart as he hit them. He landed on the floor hard and laid for a minute listening to the bar around him erupt in laughter.

  “Fuck me!” He called as he stood up and rubbed the back of his head. He pushed them back together and laid back down as it started to die down. Just as he was getting comfortable Monica wandered over to him, she was now wearing her shorts and t-shirt.

  “Jim, would you escort me to the toilet please?” She asked him with a little smile. Jim knew what was coming and nodded before following her into the toilet. Laura gave her a puzzled look as she walked past and she explained.

  “I didn’t want to ask but we can’t go anywhere alone. You don’t mind waiting by the sink do you Jim?” She asked him.

  “No, no not at all.” He replied as she held the door open for him. 15 minutes later and another explosion over the bathroom floor and Jim was back by the sinks wiping his mouth as Monica sorted herself out to look less bedraggled. Jim waited for her to finish before following her into the bar and bedding down for the night. Jim fell asleep with a smile that night.

  Chapter 15

  Jim was awoken a few times that night. The first of which was Paddy shortly after he had fallen asleep to give him the stag list. He wasn’t on it tonight at all and Paddy explained that section commanders shouldn’t stag on. Jim was grateful for the extra sleep after the last two weeks but couldn’t help thinking that he was giving everyone else more work to do. Paddy had given himself the next stag to give him maximal sleep. He was next awoken as Sam finished her stag. His watch was one of the only items that he hadn’t managed to retrieve as he escaped from his gladiators’ adventure. He guessed it was about 4 or 5 o’clock as the sun was just starting to throw some light on the car park. It wasn’t the car park that caught his eye though. There was movement in the bed next to him. As he glanced over he saw a figure hunched over Paddy’s bed and he could hear quiet whimpers and a sort of squelching sound. Something wasn’t right. He sat up ever so slowly and looked left for another look. At that moment whatever was in Paddy’s bed space suddenly sat up, back arched, head back.

  Jim reached slowly for his rifle before noticing something peculiar. His eyes were drawn to its chest and he watched for a moment as its small perky breasts bounced rhythmically. Jim felt like a dickhead now. It was Sam, she was riding Paddy. As he watched for a moment he realised the whimpers were Sam trying to stay quiet while the squelching was her pussy as she ground against him. Jim smiled to himself as he glanced round. Laura was trying to slyly watch. Jim was sure he could see some hand movement under the sleeping bag but didn’t want to disturb anyone by checking. He slid back down and dosed back off to sleep.

  The next time he was awoken was at 8 o’clock by Monica as she woke everyone up. He stretched and climbed out of his bed space before throwing his clothes on and giving his weapon a quick check over. He routed through his day sack and realised there was no food left in it. He pulled out several bottles of Lucozade and handed them round before calling another meeting in the bar. Technically there should always be someone on stag to protect the area but Jim needed everyone today.

  Jim Passed Monica and Sam a set of kit each and started by going through each set and sorting out what should go where and how to use everything. Once he had finished he got everyone to put their kit on so it could be adjusted to them. After that it was SA80 lessons on using and firing before Jim took Paddy up to the roof to try and find a spot to zero the ladies on. He found it a few minutes later over the road from the gate. If they stood on top of the large office with the key safe in it then the building would be directly opposite them. It was a white walled industrial unit and it had a small alarm system on the wall. Jim figured the alarm system could be the marker for them. Paddy went back down to bring the ladies up while Jim set out a firing lane with bits of wood and crap from the roof. They appeared through the hatch and Jim explained what he needed them to do.

  “Right ladies, I’ve brought you up here to make
sure the rounds you fire with these weapons hit where you want them to. What we are basically going to do is take it in turns to move up to the firing point and shoot at that alarm system with five rounds. When you have fired all five we will check where the rounds are landing and adjust your weapon accordingly. You will then fire a further 5 rounds to check this. We will repeat this process until the rounds hit the alarm and then move on to the next person. Any questions?” The ladies said nothing, just stood looking nervous. “Good, who wants to go first?” Sam stepped forward first and Jim motioned for her to move up to the firing point.

  “Have you done any range safety Paddy?” Jim asked.

  “No but I’ve seen it done enough.” Paddy replied. Jim nodded and motioned for him to take the lead.

  “Ok, you will be firing a 5 round check grouping. Pick a memorable point on the target and fire 5 rounds at it. There is no rush so take your time. Even if the rounds are not hitting it keep the same point of aim. If at any point I call ‘Stop’ you are to apply your safety catch and look into me for further instruction. Your weapon is already loaded and ready so in your own time carry on.” Paddy called to Sam although he was stood right next to her.

  “Does that mean I can start shooting?” Asked Sam looking a little confused.

  “Yeah, knock yourself out.” Jim and Paddy watched closely for a minute in silence while the girls idly chatted behind them.

  “I can’t pull the trigger babe.” Sam called as she turned to Paddy. Paddy blushed a little before responding. He obviously didn’t want anyone to know about his little encounter.

  “What do you mean?” paddy replied as he regained some composure.