When the Stars Fell From the Sky

by David Spell

  Scotty's men covered Andy's team as they killed the infected. As soon as the parking lot of the restaurant was clear, he motioned for them to start moving again. Smith saw Chuck's group approaching Poncho's Tacos. The sound of shooting from Fleming's team brought a group of infected stumbling out of the open-air dining area.

  McCain stepped up and began shooting before the Atlanta officers had processed what was happening. Chuck cut down six out of a group of eleven. SWAT soon added their firepower and made good head shots on the last five.

  "Let's clear the restaurant," Chuck said as he conducted a tactical reload of his rifle. He directed two of his men to make entry through exterior dining area. He and the other three would enter through the side door, where the main dining room was located.

  The restaurant appeared to be empty, at least of living people. A petite Mexican girl wearing an apron rushed towards the police officers. Chuck saw bite marks on her face, neck, and arms. Blood was dripping from her growling mouth. He snapped a quick shot that hit her under the right eye. She collapsed to the floor at his feet.

  "Look, it's Saunders!" one of the SWAT officers exclaimed as a figure wearing an APD uniform came around the corner.

  Saunders was a tall, muscular white man who was clearly not himself anymore. Officer Saunders had responded as a backup officer on the initial call in which Howard and Long were killed. He had been the one who had managed to shoot and kill the teenage girl zombie. The problem was that he had shot her in the head after she had bitten his left forearm. The damage was done and within minutes Saunders was infected, dead, and then reanimated as a zombie, himself.

  Now, Saunders looked at his colleagues through glazed eyes, growling at them and snapping his teeth. He raised bloody hands and reached for the closest officer. The Atlanta policemen raised their rifles but hesitated to shoot. Chuck fired a single 5.56mm round that hit Saunders in the side of the head, sending him facedown to the floor.

  "Sorry, guys," Chuck said. "We can mourn him later. If you hesitate, you're dead, and we'll have two funerals instead of one."

  The tactical officers glared at the big CDC agent but knew he was right. They found four employees and five customers hiding in the back who had not been infected. McCain had them lock themselves in the office and promised to send help when the area was secured.

  They were about to leave Poncho's Tacos and continue down the street when one of the SWAT officers gasped. A fat Mexican man had him in a vice grip and was biting his arm. The tactical officer's rifle was pinned against his chest but his thick uniform jacket was protecting him for the moment.

  Chuck quickly rushed over and grabbed the zombie's head in his powerful hands. With a vicious twist, he broke it's neck with a loud snap, and threw it to the floor. He fired a single shot from his rifle into the back of the head just to be safe. McCain turned his attention to the officer who was holding his arm.

  "Roll up your sleeve and let's see. You other guys cover us."

  The three men formed a circle around Chuck and their comrade, pointing their rifles outward. The skin was not broken but it was already starting to bruise. McCain pulled a plastic bottle out of one of the pouches on his vest.

  "Roll your sleeve back down and let me pour some of this on it. It kills the virus on contact."

  Chuck doused the officer's jacket sleeve and his own gloved hands. The solution had been created by one of the teams at the CDC which was working on creating a vaccine. It was of no use to someone who had been infected but it worked perfectly for killing the virus on clothes, shoes, and skin.

  Shots erupted from outside and McCain led his team out into the street.

  As Andy's group continued inside Marie's Diner after clearing the parking lot and Chuck's team was cleaning out Poncho's, Scotty and his SWAT officers moved straight ahead. Smith saw a convenience store on the opposite corner of the intersection and the Highland Hardware Store next door to it.

  A group of eight infected had heard the shots and were charging in their direction. Smith felt exposed standing out in the middle of the intersection but with growling zombies advancing towards them, it was not the time to run. One of the Zs coming towards them was a short, stocky APD officer. Even at sixty yards, they could see the large gaping wound on the side of his neck.

  The virus played no favorites. There was an Asian girl in high heels, two black guys in suits, a big black girl, two skinny white guys, and two young white girls, all growling and all intent on killing and eating the five police officers standing in the roadway.

  "We need to get out of the middle of the road," one of the SWAT officers said to Scotty.

  "You think?" Scotty said, glancing at him. "There's only eight in that group. Let's put them down and then start clearing those businesses," motioning with his muzzle towards the area of the convenience and hardware stores.

  He raised his M4 and started shooting when they were fifty yards away. The police zombie, Officer Dexter Long, fell dead onto his back when the bullet hit him in the nose and continued into his brain. Smith shot two more before the rest of his team got into the fight. Within seconds, all eight of the infected people were lying in the roadway with bullet holes in their heads.

  Scotty started running towards the convenience store. There were several cars in the parking lot and he saw two mangled bodies lying next to vehicles parked near the gas pumps. Almost on cue, the closest one began stirring, a growl emanating from deep within her throat. She was a obese white woman, lying in a pool of blood from her wounds. Without slowing down, Smith fired one shot, hitting her in the side of the head and knocking her back to the asphalt.

  The other body might have been a teenage girl but was too ripped apart for anyone to be sure. There wasn't a lot left to reanimate. Scotty cautiously approached the front of the small store.

  "Two of you come with me to clear the inside. The rest of you, cover us."

  There were beer posters and other advertising covering most of the windows but they did not see any movement inside the business. Smith carefully pulled the door open and listened. Quiet. The three officers entered the store, the muzzles of their rifles moving as they swiveled their heads looking for threats. The retail area was empty. They still needed to clear the restroom, the walk-in cooler, and a room marked, "Private." The two Atlanta officers checked the restroom and the cooler and pronounced them clear.

  "I think I hear something," one them said softly, moving quietly to stand next to the private room.

  Then, they could all hear a heavily accented voice. "Look, I'm going to die. I don't know. They came from nowhere. This may be the end of the world.

  "Please tell my parents I love them and I'm sorry I didn't send them more money. Tell our girls I love them and I'm sorry I got killed. If you can, get out of this crazy country and go back to India where it's safe."

  The SWAT officer knocked on the office door. "Police Department. Can you open the door?"

  "Oh, my God! The police are here. I may not die after all. Hang on."

  The door opened a crack and a small Indian man, holding a cell phone, looked out at them. When he saw that it wasn't flesh-eating zombies, he threw the door open and fell down on his knees, crying.

  "Thank you for coming. Thank you very much." He grabbed the closest officer and began hugging his legs.

  "Well, this just got awkward," said Scotty.

  Ravi Patel did not want to be told that he had to stay in the store a while longer. He also did not want to be eaten by zombies in the street. He locked the front door of his convenience store and then locked himself back in his office. The Atlanta officers assured Ravi that they would send someone to get him after the area was secure.

  "Team One Alpha to CDC One and Team One Charlie, status report," Andy requested.

  "CDC One to Team One Alpha," Chuck said. "We cleared the Mexican Restaurant. There are several survivors locked in the office inside. We're continuing up North Highland, clearing businesses on the same side of the street as the restaur
ant."

  "Team One Charlie," Scotty transmitted, "we're at the convenience store on the corner. One survivor locked inside. There's a hardware store next door that we're about to clear. Then, I thought we'd go the same direction as CDC One, just on the other side of the street. There are a lot of businesses down that way."

  "Team One Alpha clear. We left seven survivors locked in that first restaurant. There's a pizza place and a frozen yogurt shop in the same complex. They're clear. Two survivors at the pizza joint, none at the frozen yogurt place. Let's keep moving. Team One Alpha out."

  There was a short alley between the convenience store and Highland Hardware Store and a wall on the far side of the hardware store, marking the end of their parking lot. A gray Dodge Ram pickup truck was the only vehicle parked in front of the business. Two APD officers went to check the front door while Scotty and the other two covered them. An officer pulled on the door of the hardware store and found that it was locked. They peered in the windows and then came back to report.

  "It's locked. There's blood smeared on the door and we can see one body lying on the floor inside. We didn't see anyone else."

  A scream and the sound of breaking glass came from the rear of the hardware store. Scotty motioned for the other officers to follow as he cautiously made his way down the alley. There was clearly a struggle taking place from the noises that were coming from around the corner.

  Smith did a quick peek and saw a light-skinned black girl standing on top of a gold Toyota Corolla, holding a crow bar. A young white man with an axe was trying to fight off two zombies. Two others were sprawled on the pavement with their heads split open.

  Scotty raised his rifle, putting the red dot of his EOTech sight on the side of the closest zombie's head and squeezed the trigger. The Z spun around and collapsed to the ground. The male with the axe held it horizontally and shoved the remaining zombie in the chest, knocking him backwards several feet. Smith shot that one in the ear putting it on the pavement, as well. For the moment, the area was clear.

  "Are you guys OK?" Smith asked, approaching cautiously. He didn't know if either one of them had gotten bit.

  The girl was still holding the crow bar, standing on top of the car. Her eyes were big and she looked like she was about to go into shock.

  The man laid his axe against the car and reached up to help her down. Billy turned toward the officers. "We're OK, now. Thanks. We wouldn't have been in about another thirty seconds."

  One of the Atlanta officers asked, "Do you guys work here?" motioning at the hardware store.

  Sasha nodded. "I do. Billy came in to buy something and then this other guy came in and..." She started crying.

  "I'm Billy," he said, putting his arm around Sasha's shoulder. "The guy that came in, he had some kind of an injury on his arm. He was talking crazy and then he collapsed. Within a minute, he was a full-blown zombie. He's still inside. I hit him with the axe. We thought it was safe to leave so we came out the back door and these guys came around the corner where y'all came from."

  Scotty took a look at the car. The driver side window was smashed out and the left front tire was flat. One of the dead Zs was lying next to it.

  Dixon saw what Scotty was looking at. "I hit the one guy and knocked him down. Then, I went after the other one and he fell but was still moving. He was right next to that tire and when I swung again, I missed him and my blade punctured it. I finally got him, though. Sasha took a swing at one of them with that crow bar while she was standing on the car and missed. She almost got me, though," he smiled. "That's how the window got broken."

  "This area's still not secure," an Atlanta SWAT officer said. "There are a lot these things wandering around. It would probably be better if you go back inside and wait until everything is safe."

  Sasha shook her head. "There's a dead guy in there. No, I can't do it."

  "My pickup truck is parked around front," Dixon said. "Can you walk us around there and we'll get the heck out of here? I know you probably need to interview us. I'll cooperate and I understand if you need to arrest me. I just want to get Sasha someplace safe. She didn't hit anybody. I killed the guy inside and these two out here."

  Scotty cocked his head at Billy. "Why would we arrest you, sir?"

  "I don't know. Manslaughter or something?" he said, motioning at the zombie's bodies.

  The CDC officer laughed. "I don't think so. As they say in Texas, 'Some people just need killing.'"

  Scotty looked at the Atlanta officers. "Let's get these two around to his pickup truck so we can get back to work."

  They shrugged. One of them said. "Sure, no problem. I'm glad you guys are safe," he said, nodding at Billy and Sasha. "When you leave, please take a right down Virginia Avenue and check in at the police command post down there. That way we can contact you later if we need to. And for what it's worth, I agree with him," nodding at Smith. "You don't have anything to worry about. You were acting in self-defense and in defense of the lady. You also probably kept these zombies from attacking anyone else."

  The sound of footsteps coming down the alley snapped everyone back to attention. A loud growl preceded another zombie wearing an Atlanta Police uniform. Sergeant Terry Jenkins had been one of the first responders and one of the first infected at the original incident scene.

  Jenkins' face was badly mangled and blood covered his hands, arms, and uniform. When he saw the group of officers, his teeth started snapping together in anticipation of a meal. The four Atlanta officers were between Scotty and the zombie and they would have to deal with the threat. He made sure that Billy and Sasha were behind his big body.

  Two shots rang out from two SWAT officers. The sergeant's head recoiled, a bloody mist exploding outward, and he dropped to the pavement.

  "I'm sorry, Sarge," an APD officer said quietly.

  After waiting a few minutes, making sure the immediate area was safe, the officers walked Billy and Sasha back to the front of Highland Hardware and within moments the two survivors were out of the kill zone.

  #

  Virginia Highland, Atlanta, Thursday, 1740 hours

  After checking with Chuck and Scotty over the radio, Andy had declared the scene clear and the officers made their way back to the command post. Smith saw his two CDC teammates chatting next to the CP. As he walked by the SWAT officers who had been with McCain and Fleming, he heard them conversing animatedly. One of them had the sleeve on his tactical jacket rolled up and was showing them his bruised forearm.

  "This fat Mexican zombie grabbed me and was chewing on my arm and had my rifle pinned against my chest. I couldn't shoot him and the smell from his breath was terrible. That big guy over there," he said, pointing at Chuck, "came over and grabbed it's head and twisted it, breaking his neck. I've never heard a neck crack before, but he dropped the body on the floor, shot it in the head to make sure it was dead, and then checked to see if I was ok."

  Another officer picked the story up. "He saved me, too. Right before that, Saunders came around a corner and was just about to grab me and put the bite on me. I froze. I mean it was Joe Saunders. We used to work adjoining beats when we were rookies. But McCain put a bullet into his head and kept me from becoming a zombie, too."

  "How'd the army do?" Andy asked the former Army Ranger as he walked up.

  "We all survived. That's a pretty good day in my book. How about you guys?"

  "I think we got all of them. Of course, some could've slipped through the cracks. But if they did, I'm sure we'll hear soon enough," Fleming answered.

  The three teams had eliminated fifty-four infected and rescued thirty-one survivors. This wasn't the worst situation that the CDC officers had encountered, but part of the reason for that was their quick response time. The Atlanta SWAT officers had performed well in their first zombie encounter and that experience would serve them later on.

  Scotty saw the media vans set up a block south of the command post. Officers were not allowing them to get any closer, telling them that there could
still be infected people wandering around.

  Andy gave Major Thomas the location of all the survivors who were waiting to be rescued inside of businesses. SWAT officers drove prisoner transport vans to those locations, loaded all of them up, and brought them back to the command post. It took a few trips but they did not encounter any more infected.

  The FBI and APD detectives debriefed the CDC agents and the SWAT officers. The CDC Cleanup team would work with the Atlanta police and the FBI's CSI teams to process the different scenes and then remove the bodies.

  Chuck stepped aside to make his notifications. He called Dr. Martin and gave him their status. McCain briefed Martin on the incident and asked for an emergency management team to respond. The federal response team would work with the Atlanta Police Department and Fire Department to clean up the scene and make sure all the necessary protocols were followed.

  McCain's second phone call was to the boss at the CIA, Admiral Williams. "Hello, Mr. McCain. I've been watching you in action on the newsfeed. Well done. Who were all those officers with you? I know you don't have that many agents in the Atlanta office."

  "That's correct, sir. Four of my men are in Virginia tracking down Terrell Hill. The three of us who responded to this incident split up. Atlanta SWAT gave us twelve men and we split them into four-man teams. We each led one of those teams. They performed very well and it allows us to stay in the shadows since APD can claim the credit."

  "Very good. I'm still not a fan of you being on missions like that. You're now responsible for the entire Atlanta operation and I need you to support them and be available if I need you."

  "I understand your concern, sir, but that was one of the conditions of my taking the promotion. I'm sure I won't be in on every operation that we're involved in, but I'm not going to stay in the office when I can use my skills and talents to keep my men alive. Plus, one of my officers, Luis García, is still injured from the fight in Athens. He screwed his ankle up."