Brent Acuff - Undead Nation 02

by Rescue

  Alex shook his head, but kept at his task. "You need to get out more, man."

  Shawn placed a hand on Alex's shoulder and pulled him away from the vehicle. "Go, Alex. We'll take care of checking the supplies. I think someone wants to say goodbye."

  Turning around, Alex caught sight of his wife and daughter, Gemma. Gemma's eyes were red and she had obviously been crying. In her hands were a scarf and a note. Alex recognized the scarf as the one which he had given her last Christmas, the one which she wore almost every day. Looking back to Shawn he said, "Thanks," and went to see his little girl.

  Kneeling down in front of Gemma, Alex opened his arms wide and she rushed forward, throwing herself at him and nearly knocking the two to them to the ground. "I don't want you to go," Gemma said into his neck. She squeezed her arms around him tightly and it took quite a bit of pulling to be able to breath.

  "Yes, little girl. I'm sorry, but I have to go." Alex lifted Gemma's chin so that she was looking him straight in the eyes. "There's another little girl that needs my help, and I've got to go and get her."

  "But why do you have to go? Why can't someone else do it?" The words came out in a rush and Alex had to take a moment to make sure he had heard her right.

  "I've got to go because I'm the only one who knows how. Remember? Who got us out of Austin the first time?" Gemma nodded her head slowly.

  "You?" she asked.

  "Yes, little girl. And now I've got to do it again, so that this other little girl can be safe. Okay? Is that okay, Gemma?" Alex asked this of her, actually hoping that she would say no, giving him a reason to stay.

  "Yes, dad. It's okay." Gemma hugged her dad again, eyes shut against tears and holding back the sobs. "I love you, daddy."

  This time it was Alex's turn to cry. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he worked hard to keep himself as composed as possible. Alex returned his little girl's hug with all the love he could give. He held his girl tight until she pushed herself away telling him, "Daddy, you're hurting me."

  "I'm sorry, little girl," Alex said with a smile crossing his face. "Just wanted to make sure you knew I loved you."

  "I know, dad. I know you'll do what you have to. Just hurry back, and be careful." She held out her hands to Alex and offered him what she had been hold. "Here, dad. These are for you." Alex took the scarf and letter that she held out for him. "The scarf will keep you warm and the letter is for when you are lonely."

  Alex gave his girl one last hug and told her thank you before standing to talk to Morgan. Her eyes were red as well and streaks of tears shone in the morning light. "Take care of our girl, okay?"

  Morgan nodded and hugged Alex. "Be careful, okay? Come home to me."

  "I will. Keep your eyes open and watch out for yourself. Things may not be exactly as they seem." The two broke their embrace and Alex gently kissed her. "I love you."

  "I know. I love you too." She pushed him back towards the trucks. The other members of his rescue unit had started gathered around the vehicles, most of them with a dejected demeanor about them. Lieutenant Colonel Hill stood next to the lead humvee, arms crossed, smiling.

  "Bring back my wife and daughter, Mr. Kemp. Safe and sound, you understand?" The lieutenant whispered to Alex. "Don't fuck this up, sir. If you do, you'll regret it."

  Alex glared at Hill. Thoughts of murder flashing through his mind. "Yes, sir. Anything you say."

  The lieutenant patted Alex on the shoulder. "Good man, sir. Good man."

  Shrugging off the lieutenant's hand Alex said, "Fuck you," and climbed into the driver's seat of the lead humvee. He took one last look over his shoulder at his wife and daughter before closing the door and heading out of the compound door.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Into the Lion's Den

  The men in the convoy drove in silence, most of them lost in the moments that they had just left -- wives and daughters, sons and friends. Few, if any, of the men actually thought they would ever see their loved ones again.

  The small convoy traveled down the road away from the New Hope colony at a fast pace. Alex's plan was to put some distance between the colony and their loud engines before anything in the countryside found where their families were. Four miles down the road, Alex turned hard on the wheel, steering them south onto FM 3054. Liam sat up when he noticed the direction Alex was taking them.

  "Hey, man," he said. "I don't mean to be a backseat driver or anything, but we're going the wrong way." Alex remained silent. The anger and frustration that he was feeling at the moment kept his thoughts occupied.

  "Hey, Alex!" Liam spoke with more force to get his attention. "The highway is the other direction."

  "And so are thousands of cars with god-knows-what in them. We're going the back way." Alex spoke with a determination in his voice that dared anyone to cross him. "Any problems with it?" he asked, looking back to the three passengers in the back of the humvee.

  Liam threw up his hands in mock surrender. "None from me man. I love a quiet drive in the countryside." He turned back towards the front and began whistling a light-hearted tune.

  "Shut up," came a voice from the back. Liam turned around to see who had spoken.

  "Listen, man. I'm just trying to make this drive a little more pleasant. Lay your head back and take a nap." Liam looked to Alex out of the corner of his eye and winked. Alex couldn't help but smile at his friend. "We'll wake you when we get there."

  The man who had spoken up, John, lost his temper. "Fuck you, man! Fuck all of you! I'm stuck in this god-damned truck..."

  "Humvee," Liam taunted.

  "Fuck you," John spat, and threw himself back in his seat. John turned to look out the window of the truck, anger seething from him.

  Liam looked at Alex again and slapped him across the arm, having a good time at the younger man's expense. Silence descended again on the occupants of the truck as they sped through the countryside.

  The convoy only had a few minutes of travel to gather themselves for what lay ahead. Soon empty, and some not so empty, cars began to litter the sides of the road. Many remained in the middle of the road, abandoned where they had stalled and been stopped. Others shook with their mostly decomposed occupants as they desperately tried to get out.

  On more than one occasion, Alex had to keep the men of his unwilling unit under control as they tried to open fire on the trapped zombies inside.

  "That will only accomplish wasting our supply of ammunition," he kept reminding them. "They are trapped. Deaders can't open doors." The men of his group struggled with the concept of leaving the creatures where they were, certain that in doing so they would condemn others to deal with them at another time.

  After the sixth time that Alex had to explain to the occupants of his vehicle that there was no strategic need to kill the zombies locked in cars, John once again lost his temper.

  "God-dammit!" he yelled. "Who the fuck put you in charge, and why should I listen to you?" he demanded.

  Liam looked from the angry passenger to Alex. "Do you want to explain, or should I?" Alex knew what Liam meant and gave his friend a cautious look. He shook his head.

  "What? What is he talking about?" John demanded. The other two passengers in the vehicle were becoming increasingly nervous. With John's outbursts and Alex visible anger rising, neither of them felt same. Marshal Delaney, a dentist with a wife, son, and daughter, kept creeping closer to Trapper. Trapper Lainey, a patent lawyer with a wife, did not protest, but instead pressed himself closer to the door to give the other room. Both men had been pressed into going, their loved ones suffering the indignity of being used to coerce the men into 'volunteering.'

  Liam kept an eye on both John and Alex, finally pushing Alex to speak. "You might need to tell them, man. It might just make things a little better, you know?"

  "What is he talking about?" John yelled again, but this time emphasized his point by raising his Glock .45 to aim at the back of Alex's head. Everyone in the truck threw their hands up and pushed themselves out o
f the path of the weapon, save for Alex who kept his hands on the wheel.

  "Put it down, John," Alex said with an unnatural calm. "Put the gun down before you get us all killed..."

  "The bullet's going into your head if you don't tell me..."

  "And then this car drives off the road and into the trees, or a ditch, probably killing everyone since none of us know how to buckle a seatbelt," Alex said. "And god help us that it does, because if you're trapped in this car when those deaders find you..." His voice trailed off to leave the worst part to their imaginations.

  John lowered the gun, but continued yelling at Alex. "Stop this car. Stop this fucking car and let me out!"

  Alex complied with the man's wishes, if not a little too eagerly. He slammed on the brakes of the humvee, locking the brakes and spinning the wheel to the right. The large vehicle fishtailed and pinned John to the door. They could hear the vehicle behind them slamming on their brakes and turning to avoid slamming into the first vehicle. Both vehicles came to a stop, and just as the passengers were beginning to realize what had happened, Alex reached behind him and swung.

  His fist caught John on the left side of his jaw and snapped his head around. The younger man was not unconscious, but he certainly didn't have his senses about him.

  Throwing the car in park, Alex leaped out of the vehicle and quickly made his way to the passenger door where John was sitting. Hayden Ingram, who had been in the second car, fell out of the door, yelling at Alex.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  Not stopping to answer his brother-in-law's question, Alex wrenched open the door of the humvee and pulled John out. He snatched the gun from the man's hand before John's senses returned to him, ejecting the magazine and clearing the chamber before tossing the weapon back in the open door.

  Liam's hand grabbed Alex by the arm, but it was a mistake. Alex's temper was out of control and before he could think of what he was doing, Alex had swung at his friend, landing a solid punch across his face.

  Liam fell to the ground and lay there, more in shock than from pain or injury. That event seemed to snap Alex back to the present and he deflated.

  "I'm sorry," Alex said to his friend and stooped to help Liam to his feet. Liam pushed away his hands, not wanting Alex's help. Alex stood over his friend, pride wounded and embarrassed.

  After a moment Alex said to everyone, "Back in the cars." No one moved.

  Looking around the group, Alex said again, "Everyone, get back in the cars. We need to move." Still no one moved.

  Dr. Cahn pushed his way to the front and asked, "What just happened, Alex?" Alex didn't respond, nor did he look at the doctor. John still lay sprawled on the ground from where he had been dropped, and Liam slowly got to his feet. All eyes were on Alex.

  "Get in the cars. That shit will have every deader for miles headed this way." Alex's words fell once more on deaf ears. "Fine," he said and walked to the driver side of the humvee. "Suit yourselves."

  Alex pulled the gun from his holster. Flipping off the safety he fired a round into the nearest car, the a second parked behind. The sounds of zombie moans increased in volume as the once trapped zombies now had an avenue of escape. Reaching inside the humvee Alex slammed his fist into the horn and held it there, announcing their presence to everyone in the area. "I'm leaving before those things get out. Any of you coming?"

  Alex climbed back into the driver's seat as the other's picked John out of the dirt and scrambled back to the humvees. To Alex and the other's relief, John was taken to the second vehicle while Hayden joined Alex's. "Everyone buckled in?" Alex asked in mock humor as he slammed on the gas. The sickening crunch of dead bones was the only reply that Alex received.

  -----

  Silence swallowed the convoy as they sped away from the scene of Alex's tirade. Dr. Cahn attended to John in the second vehicle, but he was in no condition to explain what had happened. Cahn humorously remarked to John, "See, I told you we needed a doctor." His hands flew across the young man with practiced ease, checking the man's vitals.

  Ahead of them, the passengers of Alex's vehicle rode in complete silent. Liam rubbed his chin and glared at Alex across the seat, while Marshall and Trapper made themselves as small as possible in the back seat. Hayden looked from one man to the next with confusion, trying to figure out what had happened moments ago.

  "Tell them," Liam commanded. "Tell them or I will."

  "Shut up, Liam" Alex bit back.

  "Listen, you little shit..." Liam began, but Alex tapped on the brakes throwing him forward and ending his protest. "Boy, you'd better..." Alex tapped the brakes again. "Fuck."

  Silence returned to the group, and all of the men kept their thoughts to themselves. It wasn't until the group came across their first real obstacle in the road that anyone spoke.

  "What is that?" Hayden asked from the back. Everyone in the humvee craned their heads to look out the front window.

  A large pile of cars, black and charred, blocked the road in front of them. Zombies wandered around the pile as they tried to get at something in the mass of cars, their moans audible over the sounds of the engines. Alex eased on the brakes, stopping as slowly and quietly as possible in an attempt to not draw the attention of the deaders surrounding the road block. Before the car stopped completely at least a dozen pair of dead eyes turned in their direction. The shambling horde now began to head their direction.

  "Shit," Alex cursed and threw the vehicle in reverse and turned to look behind him. "Back up! Back up!" he yelled at the second vehicle. It seemed as if an eternity passed before the driver of the rear car, Shawn Davies, realized what was happening and began to back up.

  Dead bodies streamed towards them as they tried desperately to back their way out of the area. The small convoy was slowly weaving their way through the tangle of cars that they had just driven, when the rear humvee suddenly stopped. Inexplicably, one of the passenger doors swung open and a man stepped out. John Tolbert raised his Kriss .45 and began firing wildly into the approaching zombies. Bullets flew wide and high striking off cars and burying themselves harmlessly in the ground. Everywhere but in the mass of quickly approaching zombies.

  "Get in the car! Get in the car," came the shouts of the men in the lead vehicle, as well as the second humvee. Dr. Cahn jumped out of the vehicle behind John thinking to pull the young man back inside, but John wrenched himself away from Cahn's grasp. The doctor was forced back so hard that he fell back into the humvee.

  Someone screamed. Panic spread the the occupants of the cars trying to find out who was screaming and what was happening. Hayden looked out the rear window of the humvee and cursed. "Shit..."

  John was only half standing. A dead arm was pulling at his leg, dragging him down. Half a corpse, its guts dragging in long trails behind it, had its teeth in John's calf. The creature shook its head like a dog with a toy, tearing most of the man's calf muscle away. John let loose with another scream, one of shear terror and pain. A moment's clarity allowed him the insight to level his weapon at the creatures head and pull the trigger. Bone and diseased brain exploded from the back of the zombie's head and it slumped to the ground.

  Dr. Cahn was out of the vehicle again and moving quickly to John's side. Alex reacted without thinking, jumping from the car and pulling his Glock from the holster on his hip. "Dr. Cahn, stop!" he yelled and pulled the trigger twice. One bullet punched a hole in John's chest, the other ripped apart the left side of his head.

  The young man crumpled to the ground, the shock of what happened only barely registering on his face before he fell dead. Dr. Cahn screamed and Alex couldn't tell if it was meant for him or Alex. The events of what were happening snapped into sharp relief for Alex as he formed a plan to get them out of this problem.

  The other men In his group poured out of their vehicles, Kriss carbines at their shoulders. Gunfire erupted around them as each man opened fire on the approaching deader horde. Alex realized that the men were firing their ammunition too quickly,
spraying their area with bullets that were wasted as they hit the zombies in their center mass. They kept coming.

  "Hold your fire!" Alex yelled. "Stop firing, dammit!" Confused looks crossed the men's faces as they removed fingers from triggers for only a moment to hear Alex. "Single shots. You've got to hit them in the head or it's no good. Their slow. Take your time and make them count."

  Everyone opened fire again, but his time much slower. The adrenaline was flowing and each man had to force himself to pull the trigger slowly. This tactic seemed to be working, as each crack of the carbines dropped another zombie. The front lines of the approaching zombies thinned and soon they all were able to get some breathing room.

  "Into the cars," Alex commanded and without further prompting everyone dove for the open doors. Slamming the cars shut, each vehicle began to take stock of their situation and presence.

  "Who's injured? Was anyone else attacked?" Alex demanded of the men in his vehicle.

  "You shot John...what the fuck..." Trapper said, but was quickly cut off.

  "He was a dead man. I just kept him from becoming one of those." As if on cue one of the approaching zombies reached their vehicle and slammed a hand down on the hood. Everyone jerked in their seats and Trapper raised his carbine. Liam grabbed the muzzle and forced the gun down.

  "What the hell are you doing?! Get yourself together, man!" Trapper was visibly shaking but able to look Liam in the eye and nod his ascent.

  "Sorry..I'm sorry," he stammered.

  "You don't have to be sorry, just don't be stupid." Liam answered. Looking back to Alex he demanded, "Get us out of here!"

  The words had no sooner left Liam's mouth than Alex slammed on the accelerator. The humvee lurched forward slamming into the nearest gathering of zombies. Bones were crushed under the massive wheels and each of the walking dead were pulled underneath the massive vehicle. Cutting the wheel hard to the left Alex sped off the main road and through a fence off the shoulder.