by Hetzer, Paul
She looked up from the dead M80 and saw more approaching at a run from the living room. She yanked on the trigger again and nothing happened. From over her shoulder, she heard a loud blast and the lead M80, another male, collapsed to its knees, a red flower blooming on the cloth that covered its chest. It was violently slammed forward onto the floor when the M80 behind it ran over it in her mad lust to get to the girls. There were more blasts and the screaming girls watched the woman’s throat exploded while another bullet blew apart her jaw. The M80s behind her tried to pile past the accumulating bodies, only to be dealt the same fate. Within seconds it was over and a pile of corpses lay crumpled and bleeding in the hallway.
The screams slowly died in the two girls’ throats, leaving a shrill ringing in their ears. Suddenly Katy felt a hand on her shoulder, eliciting another scream from her lips as she instinctively threw herself flat on the floor dragging Angela with her.
“It’s okay! It’s me!” Steven said firmly, kneeling down. Angela bounded up and threw herself into his arms with a sob.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, hugging the little girl back. She shook her head she cried convulsively.
“Are you okay, Katy?” he asked the other girl, who lay on her side looking at him with a shocked expression.
“I’m okay. They killed Melody,” she told him in a broken whisper.
Steven patted Angela on the back, shushing her, trying to calm her down.
“Are there any more of them?”
“I don’t know,” Katy answered him. “I don’t think so.”
He stood up with the sobbing girl clinging tightly to him. He let his rifle hang from its sling, lifted the girl off of him and handed her to Katherine. “Take her into the living room away from this mess and see if you can get her calmed down.”
Still holding the rifle with one hand, Katy took Angela into her other arm and stepped through the carnage back down the hallway. When they disappeared around the corner into the living room, Steven turned right when Dontela, supporting the limping Kera, stepped through the open door.
“Oh fuck me!” Dontela exclaimed when she saw the bloodbath. Then she gasped when she spotted the form of Melody in the hallway. She left Kera leaning against the wall and darted to the woman’s side.
“Aww no,” she moaned, and glanced back at Steven with tears in her eyes. “Angela?” she asked in a choked voice.
“Angela and Katy are okay,” he reassured her.
“They’re coming,” Kera whispered weakly, unable to tear her eyes away from the dead woman with the mutilated face. It isn’t fair, she thought, her own face growing pale. She had already gone through so much, she didn’t deserve this.
“What?” Steven asked.
“Oh shit! I almost forgot!” Dontela said urgently. “There’s a huge crowd of M80s headin’ this way from across the highway.”
“They must have been drawn by the noise,” Steven surmised, pushing past Kera and out to the garage. He closed and locked the exterior door then rushed back inside. Dontela had gone into the other room with Katy and Angela. Kera still leaned against the wall, silent tears streaking down her face.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently, putting his arm around her for support.
She nodded and buried her face into his shoulder.
“Come on, let’s go in with the others and hope that Loony horde didn’t hear exactly where the shots came from.”
He helped her down the hallway and into the living room, and laid her across the couch with a pillow under her knee. Outside they could hear the murmur of a multitude of voices in the distance, coming their way.
“Everyone be quiet and don’t move around,” he whispered to them. “The noises got them stirred up, although I don’t think they have any idea where the shots came from. We’ll be safe here as long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves.”
He crept over to the window and peeked out between the drapes at several thousand Loonies moving up the road and then veering off toward the Target shopping center. It looked like the crowd of insane humans passing by would never end. Finally, only the stragglers or very old or injured were passing, and then they too disappeared from sight.
He and Dontela dragged the bodies of the dead Loonies into the garage and piled them like cordwood into a corner. They debated what to do with their friend’s body. In the end they decided that with the large horde somewhere outside it was better to put her in the garage along with the Loonies and cover her with a blanket.
“How could there be a God who let that poor woman suffer the way she did, and then let those things kill her?” Dontela wondered in a whisper, staring down sadly at Melody’s covered corpse.
Steven shrugged. “Maybe she’s the lucky one,” he said after a moment.
Dontela stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t believe that?”
“Some days, I really do.”
They gathered back in the living room, a quiet, sullen group lost in their own unhappy thoughts, praying for safety that would never really come.
After a while, Steven caught Katherine’s eye and motioned her over. She left Dontela holding the sleeping form of Angela and sat next to Steven on the floor in front of the couch.
“Did you close the door to the garage after we left?” he asked her quietly.
“Yes. We closed it tight,” she answered without hesitation.
“Then they’re learning to open doors,” he whispered in dismay.
“There’s more than that,” Katy said. “When they broke in, Angela was unconscious and I played dead. They kind of prodded us to see if we would move and then lost interest. It’s like they thought we were dead and we no longer existed to them. They left us alone.”
“Playing possum?” Steven mumbled, his eyes growing wide in realization of what she was telling him. “I never even thought to do that. I mean, who would have ever wanted to be the test case?” He paused in thought. “We can hide in plain sight from them by simply playing dead. That’s an invaluable lesson you learned for us. Thank you.” He smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder. “You did really good today.”
She smiled sadly back. “Not that I would want to try that again.”
Chapter Twelve
Heinlich strung the last tripwire and attached the end securely to an electrical conduit on the nearby wall. That was the last of the two Willy-Pete IEDs that they had placed in this building, which one of the swarms was currently using for their nest. Reese gave him a thumbs-up signal that the bombs were armed and backed away from the containers, carefully stepped over one of the tripwires, and sped past a handful of bodies of the pregnant crazies that they had had to neutralize when they entered the building. Carroll and Pickeral were guarding the building’s open door, their weapons trained out into the glaring sunshine which reflected off of the bright-white cover of melting snow as both Reese and the Sergeant raced up to them.
Heinlich gave the two a nod and they fell in with him as he ran out of the building and jumped aboard the Stryker. Reese was the last out, surveying the interior one last time before hopping onto the Stryker. It rumbled to life, and the eight-wheeled transport tore off through the parking lot, throwing out sprays of slushy water as it accelerated toward the road. Within minutes, it disappeared from sight. It had only taken ten minutes from the time that the Stryker had first pulled up at the building until it had sped away after the squad had set the two charges.
The two women and the ten year old boy sat in the cold Humvee, hidden within the darker shadows of the woods on a small rise overlooking the target building. Murchison watched through a set of binoculars as the Stryker disappeared down the road on its way back to base. She then turned her attention back to the building. It remained quiet and lifeless. She scanned up the road in the direction the swarm had taken earlier that morning, and seeing nothing stirring in that direction, set the glasses down and leaned back into the driver’s seat.
“We may as well get comfortable,” Camilla said with a sigh. “I
think we’re going to be here a while.”
She pulled the hairband out of her auburn hair and let her long, thick mane fall free around her shoulders. She glanced over at Sarah in the passenger seat. “You take the next watch. I’m going to catch an hour or two of shut-eye.”
Sarah nodded to her and picked up the binoculars and put them to her eyes. Behind Murchison, the boy was snoring softly on the back seat under a thick wool blanket. He had taken the first watch when they had arrived on the hill right before dawn and had spotted the big swarm emerging from the building in a long, snaking line after the sun had risen.
Camilla pulled the wool blanket that covered her lap up around her shoulders. Even though the temperatures were climbing above the freezing point outside, the air inside the vehicle remained chilly. Running the engine to heat the interior was out of the question. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. She wished McCully was here to help her accomplish that. He may be younger, however he sure wasn’t lacking in experience. She smiled to herself thinking of the red-headed private. They had only hooked up a few weeks back out of boredom and loneliness. Nevertheless, their casual relationship now appeared to be heading in a more serious direction. At least that is what he thought. Not that she minded. In fact, she encouraged it. Her husband had become one of the crazies on the first day and she had barely escaped from him with her life. She didn’t miss him so much anymore. Thank God they had never had children. She wouldn’t have survived as long as she had if she had been dragging a snot-nosed brat behind her. Even on her own, survival had been tenuous at best.
When she started running into other small knots of people she had used her body to get what she needed to ensure she was safe and fed. Men were so damned easy to control.
She and Debra had been the last of a small group of refugees; the rest had succumbed to attacks by the crazies. Not all at once, still, losing one or two at a time every week took its toll. When her newest man had gone out on a supply run with three others, leaving the two women alone at the camp and then never returned, Camilla knew it was time to seek greener pastures. It was the best of luck that they had been spotted by the soldiers manning an observation post at the Interstate 81 and 64 interchange, and even better luck that that bull of a man McCully had been at the post. He had caught her eye immediately and she had turned all of her charms on him. It wasn’t long before she had him sniffing up her skirt. Again, there was a lot of boredom and loneliness at the armory, so for a good-looking woman, snaring a man wasn’t too much of an effort.
She thought she looked damn sexy in the uniform they had supplied her, at least for a girl in her mid-thirties. Getting to put some holes in the fucking crazies was a perquisite that made the deal all the sweeter. I am woman; hear me roar was her last thought before sleep overcame her.
It felt like only minutes had passed until she was being dragged out of a deep dreamless sleep by someone shaking her shoulder. She forced her eyes open to see the boy’s face peering into hers.
“What is it?” she asked groggily.
“The swarm. It’s on its way back.”
She sat up in her seat and stared down at the four-lane highway that swept past the target building. Sarah handed her the binoculars although even with her naked eyes she could see the river of crazies flowing down the highway in a thick, solid stream. She put the glasses to her eyes and could see the leaders, four or five raggedly dressed men who set the pace and walked several steps apart from the body of the swarm.
The head of the snake. The thought leaped unsolicited into her head.
“How long was I out?” she asked her companions.
“Over four hours,” Sarah told her.
The swarm turned into the parking lot and then began pouring through the open doors of the large building in a long snaking line.
“You should have woken me earlier.”
“I told her not to,” Jeremy said from back between the seats where he knelt. “You were sleeping real good and I was up anyway.”
The last of the swarm disappeared into the building and the parking lot was again quiet and motionless. She called Gypsy Hill and informed them that the swarm had returned.
“Now we wait again,” Camilla said.
Except this time, they all kept their eyes glued to the building. None of them wanted to miss the fireworks display.
After the first hour, boredom set in and their attentions wandered from the building. At almost two hours since the crazies had returned, Camilla began to wonder if something had gone wrong with the IED. She picked up the binoculars and scoped the building’s opening. Nothing moved inside or out.
“Something must have gone wrong,” she said. “It should have—”
The ground shifted under them and a flash of bright light and jets of white smoke rocketed out of the front of the building, then the roof bubbled upwards before settling back as if into a depression. The rumbling sound of the shockwave washed over them, rocking the Humvee on its springs.
From the front of the burning building a handful of flaming torches ran into the parking lot, their human shapes barely recognizable. The figures collapsed into smoldering piles on the asphalt, consumed by the white-hot fire.
“Let’s call it in and get the fuck out of here,” Camilla said to her two passengers. Within minutes, the Humvee was racing away through the patchy melting snow on its way back to the armory, everyone inside jubilant after a very successful mission of annihilating several hundred of those murderous creatures.
Every one of the Stonewall Brigade was in a euphoric mood at the armory that evening. They now had a verified procedure to eradicate the swarms that were infecting the city. All of them realized that in time, they would be able to safely live outside these walls and these fences; to be in real homes with real beds and thus to live a somewhat human existence once again. So they celebrated.
Jeremy celebrated with them, however his triumph and joy wasn’t only about the day’s events. After they had returned from observing the swarm of Loonies fry like bacon on a griddle, Shavers had told him that they would leave in the morning on a run to his parents’ farm. He was absolutely sure that he would finally be reunited with his mom and papa after what felt like an eternity apart from them. He had so much to tell them. An hour ago they had had an informal swearing in ceremony for the civilians. Now they were officially-unofficially in the Army. He laughed to himself, all without the dreaded boot camp he had heard so much about.
They would leave at daybreak. Sergeant Greg Heinlich, Private Sarah Ferguson and Private Jeremy McQuinn together in an up-armored Humvee with a stated mission of locating seeds for spring planting and with the unofficial goal of getting Jeremy to his parents’ place. They would be armed to the teeth with more than enough spare ammo and fuel to get them down there and back. Jeremy knew he would have a hard time sleeping that night because of his excitement, just like he used to get on Christmas Eve back when he believed Santa Claus was on his way to leave presents under the tree. The world was spinning in the right direction for him for once, the first time since the day of the Loonies began so long ago. The jubilation instantly drained from his body when he spotted Nantz sitting next to Sarah at another table and saw him lean into her and whisper something in her ear that made her laugh loudly. She leaned back into him and gave him a playful nudge. The two appeared to be acting in a way that denoted more than just friends. Jeremy felt a dark, angry jealousy rear its black head in his gut and he promptly got to his feet and told Kyle to excuse him. Jumper, sensing the boy’s distress, raised his head off of his paws and looked questioningly up at the boy. Jeremy ignored the dog, and with a scowl on his face walked over to the two and pulled up a seat next to Sarah. He shot the sharp-faced man an icy-look, and then smiled charmingly at Sarah.
“Can you give me a hand putting my stuff together for tomorrow?”
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and took another quick sip of warm beer from the bottle in her hand. “Later, Jeremy, I’m trying to rel
ax a little bit.”
“Beat it kid, we’re busy,” Nantz said brusquely.
Sarah gave Nantz an irritated look, “Be nice!” she warned, frowning at the man.
“Sorry,” he replied to her then glared at Jeremy with a forced smile. “Please beat it, kid.”
Sarah slapped the man playfully on the arm and then turned to Jeremy. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll catch up with you later. Okay, sport?”
Jeremy stared at her for a moment trying to convey the dislike for what was going on between her and Nantz before finally nodding and standing up. He left without saying goodbye, his mood soured for the evening. She never did catch up with him later.
The next morning, the three people set off on the mission with little fanfare. They would conduct constant radio checks on their way south until they were out of range. They then would be on their own for the duration. Shavers had made it clear that there were to be no heroics; they were to avoid confrontations with any sizable packs of crazies and only engage small groups if there was no other path to which they could safely retreat. There would be no calling for reinforcements once they were out of radio range.
Sarah had noticed that morning at breakfast that Jeremy was giving her the cold shoulder. She knew he didn’t like Butch Nantz much and the man acted like he felt the same way about the boy. She had talked to Nantz about it last night and he had promised to try and tolerate the kid a little better since it was so important to her. Now she just had to work on Jeremy. She really liked Butch and didn’t want to hurt the boy by rubbing the blossoming relationship in his face. However, she wasn’t about to neglect her love life for the kid either.
