by Key, Thomas
Chapter 39
My best buddy, Rodriguez, helped guide the women from the Exile camp into the waiting helicopter. He waited for them all to board before turning back our direction. "Any chance this one won't crash?" Rachel said from beside me, with a nervous look on her face. "I hope not. After the most recent bird going down, they began in depth mechanical inspections of all the aircraft on base," he said. "This was the first bird cleared for flight. Unfortunately, they've discovered several of the helicopters and planes have been tampered with." "Tampered with how?" I asked. "It’s the very easy to hide type of sabotage. Someone's trying to help our birds fail but they don't want to be obvious about it." What a great confidence booster, I thought to myself as we also boarded. Once seated, the ramp began to rise, sealing off the outside world. The blades began to pick up speed and we began to lift off. "Where the hell did you find a helicopter?" I yelled to my friend. "I was scouting the other side of their encampment and spotted a downed black hawk. Turns out the radio was working fine." Rachel put her head into her hands. I could only imagine what all she had been through. "Where do we go from here?" I asked him as he sat down beside me. "Cannon. It's about time we get to our destination." I nodded and took a deep breath. I felt our nose begin to dip as we began to accelerate across the desert.
I began to fall asleep, my eyes feeling extremely heavy when the helicopter banked hard to the right. Luckily, everyone was strapped in. I heard Rachel beside me yell out, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Rodriguez was the only one in the back with a helmet on with a headset. He stood up and looked out the right window. "Shepherd," he said, nodding towards the window. I stood, figuring that when I got to the window, I'd see an evil clown hanging on outside or something equally as scary. When I arrived and looked out, I saw what caught the pilot’s attention. Our undead friends from Albuquerque had finally caught back up to us. I figured they'd beat us there but maybe they had to stop at a rest stop for a snack. What appeared to be thousands of the dirty bastards were walking across the sand, reaching out as if to pluck us out of the sky. "I assume HQ knows about this?" I asked him as I sat back down. "They do now. They're preparing the base for the attack." "I hope they have some big ass guns," I told him. In front of the huge ass horde, there were two vehicles out front. They weren't going fast enough to outrun the infected, and seemed to be driving slow enough to allow them to keep up. "What the fuck?" I asked as I pointed the vehicles. As we neared the leading edge, it was two dirt bikes. Rodriguez cursed out loud. "That explains why they didn't stick to the interstate. Those fuckers were leading the infected right to us!" He slammed his fist on the hull of the aircraft. He immediately got onto the radio to call it in. After a quick back and forth with Cannon, he turned to me. "The drone is back at base. We're going to need to deal with these ourselves." I nodded and we both walked to the back of the helicopter. I felt the chopper begin to slow as we transitioned from going forward to entering into a hover. The ramp began to lower, and wind flooded the interior. Rodriguez and I got into prone positions to help steady our aim. As the bikers came over a small hill, we got a good look at them and they us. They immediately started to try to swerve every which way as we began to let loose rounds. Between the wind and their movement, it was sure as shit some difficult shooting. The guardsman hit the biker on the left in the shoulder, spinning him to the ground. His bike continued on before crashing into a rock. We put several rounds into it just for good measure. The biker to the right was much harder to take down. I went to change magazines and heard a rifle shot right next to my head. I damn near shit my pants. Turns out Jaylin was standing above me, and apparently had much better aim than Rodriguez and myself because she hit the man dead center in the chest. "Well, thanks for that," I said as I stood back up. She just nodded and sat back down.
Rachel had a smirk as I came to sit back down. "What’s so funny?" I asked. "Oh nothing," she said. "It must hurt to be outdone by a woman." The smile came back onto her face. The ramp had risen and was now closed. I wrapped my arm around Rachel, "Nope, not at all. I kind of got used to it, thanks to you." She nodded with what was probably satisfaction at my answer. We flew onward, to the only functional military base in this part of the country. Knowing it would soon be under siege did not fill me with warm and fuzzies when we landed. What did fill me with hope was the number of survivors manning the fences. It would take several more hours for our guests to arrive. I, of course, wanted to join in. My army buddy found me some ammunition for my rifle and I found a spot in the line. Rachel, naturally was following closely behind. We found ourselves towards the front of the base, the part with the least added defenses since the apoc. A medic had done a more thorough job of patching me up and had repeatedly tried to take me off the line and to the base hospital. I had to get really creative as I told him over and over no, then hell no, then leave me the fuck alone and so on.
We waited. Then we waited some more. Then a little bit more for good measure. Another drone was launched and found that without the bikers leading the charge, the horde had slowed down to more of a shuffle. This put the infected posse due another several of hours later. The drone emptied its armaments then returned to base shortly after. Everyone in the line had at one point or another, gone back for food, bathrooms or whatever else they thought was important before the fight. Most of the base was already on lock down and now, as is in military fashion, it was time to hurry up and wait. The Chinook and two Blackhawks had been cleared but were on standby in the event of needing to evacuate personnel. Unfortunately, the saboteur had in one way or another, damaged every fixed wing aircraft the base had. The mechanics were desperately attempting to get one of the lesser damaged craft into the air.
Night once again began to fall. As if it was coordinated, a long line of infected could be seen advancing as the sun set behind us. The huge formation of infected former humans was something I surely did not want to behold, but I had to. We drew a line in the sand, with every weapon in the arsenal pointed in their direction. After another thirty-five minutes, I heard rockets fire from behind me. I could feel the explosions hit through the ground. I saw bodies blown into the air, arms and legs and even heads being flung around like confetti. It didn't stop them, and nothing would except a 5.56mm reason shoved directly into their skulls. They continued to shamble towards us. Once they were within our small arms range, we let loose. The undead crowd surged as they saw us in the base, the hunger within them spurring them forever forward. The thousands upon thousands of dead people swarmed, spreading out along the fence line. Body after body fell, but they kept advancing, stepping over their fallen brethren. The feeling of seeing dozens dying at any given time, just to have two dozen more step past the dead and move feet closer is damn infuriating. The amount of ordinance we unleashed into the zombies was immense. Hummers filled to the brim with ammo were being emptied in minutes, only to drive away and be replaced by another one. It was like this all around the base as the now night sky was filled with the flashes from the explosions of tracers from some of our weapons.
The gate began to buckle and it bowed inward as hundreds of hands pushed against it. As it fell with a loud clang, the infected pushed forward, falling over each other to get at us. I went through all of my ammunition, yelling "Out!" as I heard my rifle click empty. I looked around and saw other shooters all around me looking confused and yelling "Out!" as well. I saw several men carrying ammo cans working their way down the line towards us. Unfortunately, by the time they made it to us, we'd be overrun. With sheer numbers on their side, they pushed forward once again, clearing a path into the base. I saw men coming from elsewhere in the base, their rifles firing into the mass in front of us, but it seemed like no use. As they pushed inwards, we began stepping backwards. The sandbags before us providing little protection as the zombies climbed and fell all around them. A line of Humvees behind the line were pouring their own .50 caliber rounds into the horde, slowing down the mass. The problem that I saw was that we were ripping bodies apart
no doubt, but without the head shots, they were still moving. Nothing is more demoralizing than seeing a dozen rounds strike an undead, and see it pick itself right back up and continue coming. The line was breaking, with civilians breaking into a run. I continued to hear shots from what felt like miles down the fence line, other groups trying to fend off infected in their own areas. We continued to slowly retreat, with the line of vehicles now between us and the horde.
A tatted-up fire red haired woman in fatigues managed to get a hold of an M60 machine gun. This brave ass soldier got right up to the sandbags, placed the rifle on the edge and let loose. An older woman, a civilian with a British accent and curly hair held the ammo steady for her as it fed into the weapon. I heard her giving someone an earful for getting inside of her firing lane. For someone who has never really heard anyone from the former homeland curse, she was making it absolutely worth the wait. It was damn near entertaining. It gave us a few moments of respite as finally, one of the men carrying ammo made it to us, and I took all that he would give me, as Rachel did the same. We loaded full magazines and pushed forward, making the dead pay for every single inch. Another surge of infected, and I heard screams. They had pushed forward and those two brave women began to be torn apart. There was nothing we could do but watch as the infected literally pounced on their position. God bless those two, as they fought to the bitter end. Neither of them stopped firing until the life finally left them. Zombies began to climb onto the vehicles, pulling the still firing gunners down from their turrets. I ran for the nearest soldier, a young kid who was trying desperately to knock an infected back off of his ride. I jumped up and grabbed the zombie by the back of his shirt, pulling him down towards me and away from the young man. When it hit the ground I fired once, into the back of its grey decaying head. The soldier yelled out a "Thanks!" and he once again, gripped his .50 Cal. As he swung it back around, an infected was directly in front of him and they were face to face. He fired, shearing the zombie in half. The zombie didn't seem to mind the weight loss and fell towards him, his teeth chomping as his upper half landed onto the soldier. The soldier tried to squeeze back into the Humvee to get away but as it landed on top of him, it began grabbing and tearing flesh from the kid. I didn't see the soldier get back out of the vehicle. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and immediately pulled my rifle around. As my barrel came around, it was pushed away and I heard "It's me!" and saw Rachel holding my barrel at a safe distance. She saw me turn back to look at the kid's tomb. She began to pull me backwards. I began to shake the cobwebs from my mind as I saw an infected right behind her. I pushed her to the side and used the butt of my rifle to cave in its head. She returned the favor by pushing me back. "You could have just told me there was one there," she said, raising her rifle and continuing to fire into the mass of undead. "No time," I responded, taking up a position next to her.
From several blocks away, behind the mass of the horde, stood a lone infected. The wound on its neck, healing rapidly now. He...It watched somewhat objectively as its brethren attacked the compound. It watched in what could be described as fascination as the mass of zombies made it into the base and began to tear apart the humans. Behind him, stood a small pack of other infected, numbering eight’ Each of these other infected had similar scabs on their wounds, and an obvious spark of intelligence in their somewhat sunken eyes. They watched, he..it.. attentively as if awaiting directions. With the smell of blood and the smell of so many humans riding the wind, it was hard to keep still considering just how close they were to feasting. Alas, the lone infected in front, stood and watched, fixated on the spectacle before it. It would delay until the safest route was open for its pack. Until then, they would wait.
We fired and fired and maybe even fired some more. We were a quarter of the way back inside of the base now, trying desperately to keep the dead at bay. It seemed as if it was working, but it may have been that they were just more spread out now. Soldiers were all around us, lending their own fire into the group directly in front of us. I heard a soldier yell out, "Danger Close, Danger Close. Get down!!" There were not many times during my semi short life that I did as I was told. My mother could attest to that. This, however, was an exception to that. I ducked behind the nearest building. I had just enough time to see the sign and say, "Whoa they have a bar?" When I felt the earth shake. Another drone had loosed its payload within just a few yards of us. Blood and other gore also flew past the side of the building. It was like ten different kinds of nasty. As if someone had put a bunch of the bodies into a wood chipper and sprayed them around. I felt several more mini earthquakes as rounds impacted closer to the entrance of the base. Once I deemed it safe enough, I stuck my head out around the building. Holy fuck, it had done some serious damage. My now beloved bar would need some repair, but where the group of infected had been was a crater. I stood there in awe for a moment as I heard the same soldier who issued the warning earlier yell, "Forward!" He had a radio in one hand and a pistol in the other. There was no way this guy was an officer. As he jogged past me, leading a group of a dozen or so men, I saw his rank. The insignia bored three chevrons above three inverted arcs. I, at the time, had no idea what it meant, but the tall, skinny, blond haired guy with glasses was a total badass
Chapter 40
Seeing said bad ass pushing forward, I did what any man worth his weight in salt would do and followed him into battle. After my weapon having completely run dry with no more ammo for the second time that night, I resorted to picking up weapons from dead defenders along the way. As we pushed harder, we began to take back ground. It was a long bloody few hours, but we finally punched through to the other side of the horde. Two of the soldiers re-manned two of the bloody .50's and took up firing once again. I heard other groups blocks away rally as well. Soon, we had the last of infected surrounded. We took all of our remaining anger, fear and sadness and used it as a weapon. We fired every last round that we had, then we beat the fuckers to re-death with our rifles, our hand guns and helmets and several of us even drew knives, pushing the fixed blades into the temples of the infected. When that bad ass soldier stood from stomping in the head of the final zombie, we all stood there, looking around. I'm not sure if it was disbelief, or a feeling that we were compelled to keep killing. Eventually though, it wore off. The remaining 7 soldiers, Rachel and I each met each other’s gazes. The leader nodded to me as our eyes met. I nodded back. "Find a weapon with some ammo," he barked out. "We've got extermination duty." The weight of the night had me feeling as if I could pass out on my feet. The adrenaline was wearing off and with it, exhaustion was setting in. Obviously, we had a duty to do, and I would never allow someone else to take my place doing my job. We walked back and forth along the hundreds and thousands of dead undead looking for stragglers or disabled ones to kill. Other people, civilians and soldiers and airmen alike were coming from all around the base to help us finish them off.
The infected, still watching from afar turned and moaned to its pack. They growled back in return, as if in descension. The must be leader growled back much more deeply which had the desired effect of the others submitting. They began to leave the side of the building, heading away from the military base in the distance. He..It.. took one last glance, looking longingly at the humans now overpowering his kind and killing them in droves. The end would be near for its brethren. The end, however, would not be near for its pack. They would live to fight another day. Next time they meet with the humans, it would be on their terms, in their domain. Until then, he would rally his kind, the smart ones and find a true lair. It growled one last time in frustration at having not eaten in so long, then turned and joined its pack in retreat.
I made it back to the sandbags. Those two fearless women, or what was left of them was a bloody mess where they made their final stand. I learned later the soldier's name tape said Mathews and the civilian was a British immigrant named Hartman who had only been in the states for less than five years. I surveyed the damage all around me, the stink of th
e dead seeping into my clothes and what felt like into my skin. To my right, I saw movement. An infected trying to crawl away. My pistol still in hand, I approached it cautiously. It was in military fatigues, and looked fresh. Maybe one of ours that turned. As I stepped directly behind it and leveled my Ruger at its head, it stopped moving and turned its head towards me. I'll be honest. I tripped backwards and landed hard on the pavement. The creature stared into my eyes, and I stared back into the eyes of what used to be Rodriguez. My friend, my companion. The hatred and hunger radiating from his now infected body was something that I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life. He....No, it began to crawl towards me. Tears streamed down my face and a sob came from my throat. "Oh God," I cried, "I'm so sorry," I told the undead corpse as it continued coming towards me. A still bloody wound from its chest now evident. As my body shook with misery, I aimed my pistol, looking into the now grey lifeless eyes of one of the best people that I had ever met...and I fired.
