It would be possible to continue on west through the little town of Battlefield. Once through Battlefield, I could take back roads all the way around the western edge of town and avoid the majority the heavily infested areas. I could follow that almost to the jail, and I would be keeping a promise to my wife. Ok, new plan.
“We’re going to take Plainview all the way to Battlefield,” I said.
“Why?” asked Spec-4.
“So we’ll completely avoid that church and the worst of the intersections,” I said, “and to fulfill a promise.”
“What’s that?” asked Daniels.
“I promised my wife that I’d check on her parents. I forgot all about it until I realized we were almost there. It’s on this road, just a little ways down. We’re going to drive right past it.”
“Are you stopping?” asked Spec-4.
“Only if it looks like they’re still there. My wife tried to get them to go with her to the lake and they refused to go. If they’re still there, it’s probably too late to save them. If the place looks barricaded, we might have a rescue to do. Are you up for a little firefight, Sarge?”
“You went out of your way, and risked your lives to come for us,” he replied. “The least I can do is help you do the same for others.”
“You lead, I follow,” said Spec-4.
“Well, fiddlesticks,” said Maddie. “I’m not planning on getting out and walking, so I guess I’m in, too. Maybe you’d better give me a gun.”
“Do you know how to use one?” I asked, glancing at her in surprise.
“Well, I’m sure that I’m a little rusty,” she replied. “It’s been a while since my Harold and I went hunting together. We’ve hunted big game on four continents. I’ve shot moose in Canada, bear in Russia, wild hogs in Brazil and cape buffalo in Africa. I think I can handle a few zombies.”
“Maddie,” I said. “You amaze me.”
“Nothing to it, Wylie,” she said. “I was never a sit at home kind of girl. I don’t want something with a big kick to it. I’m not as sturdy as I used to be.”
“How are you with a pistol?” asked Spec-4.
“Good enough for government work,” said Maddie.
“Give her one of the Berettas,” I said. “Plus a few magazines of ammo.”
Maddie took the pistol and worked the slide. Then she checked the magazines, like a pro.
“Well, it’s heavier than my Walther was,” she said. “But I think I can shoot it.”
“Where’s your Walther?” I asked, impressed.
“The bottom of the Amazon,” she replied. “Our boat almost sank and I lost it trying to shoot an anaconda.”
Sergeant Daniels was looking at Maddie with awe on his face. This was a woman that had truly lived her life to the fullest. She was a wealth of knowledge and information. She was going to make a fantastic addition to our little group of survivors.
“Have you ever gone skydiving?” asked Daniels.
“Yes, once in Australia,” she replied. “I didn’t particularly care for the experience.”
We were approaching Plainview and Scenic, at this point. Up ahead was a subdivision that I knew held quite a few houses. My wife and I had nearly bought a house there, a few years back. Suddenly, I was glad we hadn’t. It looked like a war zone. There were over-turned cars, burning houses, bodies laying everywhere and zombies in abundance.
Getting through was going to be tough. I avoided the worst of the wreckage by driving up onto the sidewalk. But I had to drive over numerous bodies to do it, both animated and inanimate. Southard followed right behind me, and I could see the bodies bouncing as we passed over them. I felt bad for the ones that hadn’t been zombies, but not bad enough to risk getting stuck and eaten. I could see up ahead that there was a large crowd of zombies blocking the intersection. It was going to be tough busting through that.
“Can you cut me a hole in that horde with the 249?” I asked Spec-4.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she replied, grinning.
Spec-4 was up and into the turret in a flash. She was becoming an expert in opening and closing that turret hatch. Seconds later, she was up and readying the M-249. I was closing within fifty yards when I heard the SAW began to chatter. She worked the weapon from side to side, cutting through them like a scythe.
While she didn’t get them all, she did weaken the line to the point that I could punch through without any problems. Southard followed us right into the path she’d created. I felt the wheels slide a bit as I crunched over the wriggling corpses, but we kept traction and shot through. Once clear of the subdivision, it was a straight shot into the town of Battlefield. Just past the intersection, I saw a crowd of zombies gathered around a patrol cruiser. It was from the Battlefield Police Department. I could see that the window had been busted out and the group was feasting on the remains of the officer inside.
“Officer down,” I whispered, as we drove past it.
Only a couple of the zombies even looked up as we passed, but they went right back to their meal. I found that to be very disturbing. It reminded me of Discovery Channel documentaries that I liked to watch on wild animals. How lions would ignore other prey if they were eating, unless threatened. It just struck me as a perfect example of how there was nothing human left. It was all primitive instinct in the minds of the zombies. No higher thought. That was good for us, because it meant they were incapable of forming a plan. The thought of smart zombies scared the crap out of me.
I dodged another parked cruiser, this time a county Charger. No officers were anywhere to be seen, and all four doors on the cruiser were open. I slowed down, almost to a stop. The gears in my head were spinning and I wanted to take a closer look before we continued on. Something about it just made my instincts scream.
“Why are you slowing down?” asked Spec-4.
“Notice anything odd about that Charger?”
“Not really, no,” she replied.
“Notice that all of the doors are open?”
“Yeah,” she said. “So?”
“The car’s been stripped and there’s no blood or dropped weapons around the vehicle.”
“It was abandoned on purpose, not overran by zombies,” said Maddie.
“Correct,” I said, smiling. “I wonder if they’re still in the area.”
“How can we find out?” asked Sergeant Daniels.
“Well, I don’t want to hit the horn,” I said. “It might get attention that we don’t want.”
“Try the radio,” suggested Spec-4.
“Good call,” I said.
Grabbing my mic, I keyed up. “829 to any unit, do you copy? Over.”
There was nothing but static. I switched frequencies and tried again, with the same results. I was about to repeat the process when Spec-4 hit me on the shoulder and pointed out the window.
“Look!” she said.
Just south of us was a house on the west side of the road. Close to twenty zombies were crowded around the front of the house. You could see that the house had been hastily barricaded. I could see wood covering the windows and the word “HELP” was painted on the roof in big white letters.
“Think that might be it?” asked Spec-4.
“Seems like as good a place as any to begin,” I said.
I turned to the left and headed that direction. It was still a little ways away when Spec-4 cut in with the SAW. I noted that she was careful not to hit the front of the house. Still, it was damned effective against the ones that were at the back of the crowd and served to get the attention of the others.
“Watch the house!” I called out.
“Got it!” she yelled back. “I need another belt!”
Sergeant Daniels yanked open a can of 5.56mm ammo and handed her a fresh belt. I heard her changing out the belt and realized that if we didn’t suppress the zombies quickly, we’d be overrun. I slammed on the brakes and screeched to a stop. Then I threw it into reverse and started to back away. I had to slam on the brakes immedia
tely, to avoid hitting Southard.
Southard saw what I was trying to and tried to quickly back up. He let the clutch out too fast and killed the engine. I was trapped. If I went forward, the lead zombies would climb the hood and reach Spec-4 while she was still changing the belt. If I stayed where I was, they would still be on us…only just a few seconds later. I had to make a decision right then, and make it work. Spec-4’s life depended on it.
Without thinking about it, I grabbed my M-16 and jumped out of the door. The lead zombies were still almost twenty yards away, so I let fly with the M-203. The fragmentation round burst behind the front row and among the second. The blast shook the entire Humvee, but had the desired effect. The zombies were scattered. Before any of them could recover, I began firing with the M-16.
I stayed where I was, though. I had learned my lesson about charging at the group. I concentrated my fire on the ones that were the most mobile. I dropped six when I heard Spec-4 work the bolt on the SAW. I continued to fire into the crowd, trying to do as much damage as I possibly could.
“Light ‘em up!” I yelled, and shot another zombie that was getting to his feet.
The SAW came to life once more, and began spitting out Full Metal Jacketed Death. Once again, she was cutting through the zombies like so much wheat. As I prepared to jump back into the Humvee, I saw the front door to the house open up. Four officers piled out of the house. One was wearing Patrol gray, two in Jail black and the fourth was wearing the blues of a Missouri State Highway Patrolman. They began waving their arms in the air.
I jumped back into the driver’s seat and pulled over to them so they wouldn’t have to run as far though the dead. They ran out to the Humvee like a group of kids chasing an ice cream truck. As I climbed out of the door, one of the officers in Jail black ran over to me. It was Samantha Patterson from C-shift.
“Grant!” she exclaimed. “Thank God you’re here!”
“What happened?”
“We were overseeing the evacuation of that elementary school up the road,” she said. “That was me, Greg Mendelson from B-shift, Scott Perkins from D-shift, and Bill Fuller and Brenda Wright from Patrol.”
“Deputy Wright,” Wright corrected.
“Did you get the kids out?” I asked, ignoring Wright.
“Yeah,” she replied. “But we got hit by zombies right as the last bus was trying to leave. We held our ground so the kids could escape, but the zombies got Fuller and Mendelson. They would have gotten us too, if Corporal Thomas form the Highway Patrol hadn’t showed up.”
“What happened, then?” I asked, looking around.
“We were almost cut off, and trying to fall back to the Chargers,” she said. “The zombies were almost on top of us when Thomas ran his car into them. It totaled the car, but it bought us some time. He barely got out before they swarmed the car.”
I looked at the Trooper and gave him a smile and a nod. He just grinned sheepishly.
“Then we all fell back to one the Chargers,” she said, continuing. “The keys to it had been in Fuller’s pocket, so we had to pile into the other one.”
At this point, we started stacking people into the two vehicles. A few of us were going to get very well acquainted with each other before we made it back to the jail. Patterson continued as we crowded her and Wright into the back of the Humvee. Parker and Thomas crowded into the back seat of the Bronco.
“We drove down this way to avoid a bunch of zombies we saw on Golden,” she said. “But when we headed down Weaver, we had to hop a ditch to avoid a wreck. We must have knocked a hole in the gas tank or something. We didn’t make it very far before the car died. We coasted up here.”
“How did you barricade that house so fast?” I asked, shutting my door and locking it.
“We didn’t,” she replied. “It was mostly done when we abandoned the car. The front door was standing open, so we ran inside. Perkins and I blocked off the front door while Thomas and Wright cleared the house. They only had to shoot two zombies. Once the house was sealed, I found some white paint in the garage. The backyard has a privacy fence, so we snuck out and put up a ladder. I painted the sign on the roof and hauled butt back inside.”
“How long were you guys in there?” asked Spec-4.
“Overnight,” said Patterson. “We blocked ourselves in there about 1400 yesterday.”
I pulled forward and turned around in the front yard of the house that they’d barricaded themselves in. Southard followed suit and soon we were back on the street and heading back west. There weren’t as many abandoned cars out this way, so we had an easier time of it.
Soon after we passed the city limits sign for Battlefield, I saw my in-law’s house. I was waiting to see if it had been barricaded or looked like it had been hit. I didn’t have to wait long. The front door and the garage door stood wide open. One of their cars, a blue Dodge Neon, was in the garage. But their red Chevy Astro van was gone. They’d escaped. I didn’t know where they went or how far they made it, but they weren’t at home. They knew the way to the lake house, so they probably headed there. I hoped they made it.
I took this all in as we passed slowly by. I didn’t stop to investigate further. I continued on west until we made it to the stop sign by Battlefield City Hall. There was an overturned Battlefield Police cruiser in the ditch beside the intersection and about fifty zombies milling around the area. One of the zombies was in a BPD uniform. I didn’t wait around for them to come to us, I just hit the gas had sped through the stop sign.
“Think he’ll chase us down and give me a ticket for that,” I said, pointing at the BPD officer.
“Nah,” said Spec-4. “I’m sure he’ll let you off with a good chewing.”
“Hell, he’d probably just chew us all for good measure,” I said.
“Flash your badge at them,” said Maddie. “I’m sure he’ll let just you go with a gnawing.”
I chuckled all the way to the next intersection. To our left was a Stop ‘n’ Rob and beyond it was the County line, a little ways farther south. Ahead of us, the road went past the Old Wilson’s Creek National Battleground, and then on to Republic. I really didn’t want to go that far out of our way, so I turned and headed north.
We passed the Battlefield city limits at the intersection of FF and Republic Road. The intersection was only partially blocked and we navigated our way though without having to ram any vehicles. I was noticing that while we were away from the main parts of town, the numbers of zombies was considerably less. That was good news for us, since it allowed us to make good time.
The intersection at the overpass to the freeway was a little more difficult. Abandoned cars blocked all of the on and off ramps leading from James River. The overpass was fairly crowded, but not impassible. We had to slow down to a relative crawl to cross it. Several zombies ran up to us and tried to get inside, but met with no success. There weren’t even enough of them to warrant using up our ammo. Spec-4 stayed inside and didn’t open the turret hatch.
Just across the bridge, I had to drive into the grassy median to avoid a large wreck involving an 18 wheeler, a large U-haul truck and an overloaded pick-up truck. The semi-truck had overturned, blocking most of the road. It had landed mostly on top of the pick-up, rendering it unrecognizable. I couldn’t even tell you the type of truck it was. All I could say for sure was that it had duel wheels on the back and it was red. I’m pretty sure that the occupants died instantly. At least I hope they did.
Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Page 33
