by J. R. Knoll
"Don't know," he replied. "Want to check that out for us?" When she nodded, he gave his radio back to her and ordered, "Give me a shout if it's clear and we'll make our way over there."
"Yes, Sir," she complied.
Running that way, she found the elevator by the food court and took it to the first level, then she ran all the way outside. She found herself becoming fatigued quickly from the running, much faster than she ever had before, but pushed herself as hard as she could.
Arriving outside, she looked around her to see the parking lot relatively abandoned. A few cars were still out there and there were three zombies approaching from the other side of the parking lot, but she was sure they could handle three of them.
"Tex," she called into the radio. "There are only a few of them out here."
"Roger that, Princess," he replied. "Colonel, take the Strykers to the Macy's side in two minutes. We'll meet you over there."
"Macy's side in two minutes," Colonel Halstead's voice confirmed. "We'll see you there, Sergeant."
"Zoe," Tex called on the radio, "wait for us right there, okay?"
"Okay," she complied.
It was a very long couple of minutes, but she waited as patiently as she could, continually scanning the parking lot. More zombies were beginning to appear and she grew more and more nervous as she saw them.
The doors behind her finally burst open and all of the soldiers filed out with their weapons ready. The last two were backing away, training their weapons in the mall as they covered the retreat.
Those zombies that were approaching from across the parking lot, now about ten in number, were cut down by a hail of gunfire by the retreating soldiers.
Still more staggered to them from the right and the soldiers set up a defensive perimeter, firing on them as well as those that followed them from the mall.
As things began to grow tense once again, the roar of the Stryker's engines and the automatic fire from their weapons announced the approach of all three of them and the zombies that closed on Sergeant Morris and his team were cut down by the advancing armor.
Soon, the last of the soldiers boarded, ramps were closed and all three vehicles charged away to their base at the hospital.
Inside the vehicle that Zoe and Tex rode in, a celebration was at hand. Though they had abandoned the mall, it was clear that the soldiers were all jubilant about the day and being able to go home after such a fight. Shouting and slaps on the shoulder, high fives and whoops were exchanged, and despite what had just happened, Zoe felt a little scared by all of this and huddled close to Sergeant Morris.
The same private who had held a gun to Zoe's head hours before now approached her and held his hand out, and when she hesitantly took it, he offered her a big smile and a nod and shouted to her, "You rock, Princess!"
All of the men raised a cheer when he said that, including Tex, and she smiled a nervous smile and cuddled in a little closer to the Sergeant.
CHAPTER 4
They arrived home safely and hours later Zoe sat in her room, cross legged on the middle of the bed with her eyes fixed on the TV that was mounted on the wall. A video was playing, a movie she had told Doctor Caswell was one of her favorites. It had been found on the pediatric ward and it had her full attention. She had changed out of her shorts and pink shirt and was once again wearing colorful hospital scrubs and hugging her teddy bear to her as she watched the movie, laughing and giggling from time to time as she mentally and emotionally detached from what had just happened. It would be mealtime soon and she was waiting for someone to come for her, but in the meantime, she was entertained.
At the nurse's station, Doctor Caswell sat down and laid the clipboard on the counter, bowing her head to rub her eyes.
Sergeant Morris leaned on the other side of the counter, resting his forearms there as he stared down at her, and when she finally looked up at him he raised his brow and informed, "She did really good out there."
Her eyes narrowing slightly, Rachel snapped back, "Allowing her to go sniffing around in the mall is one thing. Getting her involved in a major firefight with the zombies is an entirely different matter!"
"We all have to expect that to happen," he pointed out. "Every possible engagement could turn into that, and like it or not she saved a lot of butts out there."
Caswell just stared up at him for a moment, then she leaned back in her chair and looked away. "Zombie or not, she's still a fragile, seventeen year old autistic girl."
"She's not afraid of the zombies anymore," Tex pointed out. "Don't know when she decided that, but she went after ammo for us right through the middle of 'em."
Setting her jaw, Rachel grumbled, "Why did you allow her to stay there with you to begin with? Why didn't you send her back here?"
"Is this more about her safety," Sergeant Morris barked, "or is it about losing a science experiment?" Then the Doctor's eyes shot to him, filled with daggers, he nodded slightly and added, "You'd better get it through your head that we're in a war for survival here. The bad guys have all the numbers. In fact, I figure we're outnumbered about ten to one around here, so any advantage we can get is one more zombie that won't be trying to eat you later." He pushed off of the counter and turned to walk away. "You might want to think hard about that."
Rachel sprang up and hurried around the counter to catch up to him. "Don't you think I know that? We were supposed to give her a cat scan, a full brain scan to figure out why she hasn't turned completely. For God's sake, she could be the key to stopping this plague!"
He just strode on, countering, "The key to stopping this plague is more ammo and killing every damn one of those things. If you can come up with another way to kill them then do it. Until then we use what we have."
"I don't want her going out there again!" Doctor Caswell insisted.
This time, Sergeant Morris stopped and turned on her. "Well she is going out there again, Doctor. She's going with us first thing in the morning when the moaners are moving nice and slow. She's going to do her part for the greater good, to protect lives and take down our enemy."
Rachel hissed, "Nothing had better happen to her, Sergeant, or believe me I'll—"
"You'll what?" he roared. "Leave? Go ahead! Go out there on your own and see how long you last."
A dainty little hand grabbed his arms and tugged on him, and both of them turned to see Zoe trying to pull them apart.
"You aren't supposed to fight," she insisted.
Tex gave her a long look, then his eyes shifted back to the Doctor before he turned and strode to the stairs.
Zoe looked to Doctor Caswell herself, then she turned in pursuit of Sergeant Morris.
He arrived on the first floor before she caught up to him, in the front lobby that was now a staging area for the military actions against the zombies. When she finally took his side, she once again did not know what to say and just looked up at him as he walked toward the makeshift armory.
He turned his eyes down to her and advised, "You should get something to eat, Kiddo."
"Do you want to come with me?" she asked anxiously. "They said something about pizza."
"Yeah," he confirmed absently, "it's pizza night."
She tugged on his sleeve and urged, "Come on, William."
Tex stopped and just stared blankly ahead for long seconds.
"What's wrong?" she asked with concern in her tone. "Don't you like pizza?"
He turned his eyes down. "Seems like it's been a long time since anyone called me William."
"If it bothers you I won't do it," she assured. "I don't mind calling you Sergeant Tex. You can call me Zoe Rebecca if you want. Mom does when she's mad at me sometimes."
His eyes slid to her and a little smile curled his mouth. "How about Princess?"
She smiled and shrugged.
"Hey, Sarge," someone called from behind him.
They both turned to see the corporal striding from the stairs. "You coming to chow? The new lieutenant wants to brief us on something.
He even broke out some beer."
"That's never good news," Tex grumbled. "Okay, McElroy, let's see what he has to say."
As they walked toward the stairs, Zoe stayed at Sergeant Morris' side and innocently asked, "Can I try a beer?"
"No," was his curt answer.
"Please?" she pressed.
"No," both men replied.
**
The dining hall had many of the men in it and all of the high ranking soldiers. The tables had been rearranged so that everyone in the room could have a view of one table, a long one that had the Lieutenant sitting beside Colonel Halstead and another officer, a Captain, that Zoe had not seen before.
Zoe had a few pieces of assorted pizza and a soft drink on her tray and walked behind Sergeant Morris on their way to the table. She did not notice that she was the only civilian in there, she just stuck to Tex's side. The Corporal walked beside him and when they found open chairs, the Corporal set his tray down and pulled out two chairs, inviting Zoe to sit in one before he and the Sergeant took their seats.
Dinner seemed tense for all but the girl, who listened quietly as the men beside her talked to each other. She also listened absently for the most part as they spoke of military matters that she was not really interested in.
Beer was brought out by hospital personnel and the men seemed to enjoy the festivities, and all but Zoe was given a bottle or can of their choice.
About a half hour later, the Colonel stood up and loudly cleared his throat to quiet the room, and in seconds all eyes were on him.
"We had a good day out there," he commended, "but let's not lose sight of the mission. We're outnumbered and for the most part we're getting our asses kicked out there. Now, a little while ago we got a visit from five civilians who came this way looking for medical supplies. They are part of a group of nearly fifty who are holed up in a school about three miles from here. They're surrounded by moaners that, by estimates of the people we took in, number close to a thousand."
Mumbling rippled through the crowd of men.
"Now," Colonel Halstead continued, "We're planning to liberate those people in there. We have enough room here at the hospital and we mean to bring what supplies they have to this building. Based upon what they've told us, the hospital is substantially more defensible than the school. The problem is getting them past the moaners and out of there without being followed. The last thing we want is for the moaners to find out about this location and drag us into a lengthy defense." He looked to the Captain, who stood up as the Colonel sat down.
"Okay, listen up," the camouflage clad officer started. "We have two city buses and a box truck ready to move first thing in the morning. The two things that are going to slow us up are one, fuel. All of the vehicles, including our Strykers will have to be fueled. While that happens we will be vulnerable as hell, especially since we don't want to be discharging weapons while we do that."
"The moaners will come as soon as they see someone get out of the first vehicle," one of the soldiers assured. "Who are we going to have standing outside fueling when we know they're going to come sniffing around?"
"We're working on that," the Captain assured. "Our second major obstacle is all of the moaners between here and there. We may be fighting our way in, then, once we arrive, we'll have to establish a defensible perimeter while personnel and supplies are loaded. This is going to be the most dangerous part of the mission, and with Charlie Company leaving for the base at the same time to collect weapons and munitions, we'll only have about forty men to pull this off."
Zoe tugged on Tex's sleeve and asked, "Why don't we just go with Charlie Company and get more bullets and then pick up the people and stuff from the school on the way back?"
He just stared at her for a long moment, then he turned his attention to the Corporal.
McElroy just shrugged and advised, "Sounds like a better plan to me, man, but you're going to have to break it to the brass."
"Thanks," Tex snarled.
The Captain scanned the quiet ranks and asked, "Any questions?"
Reluctantly, Tex stood up and announced, "We may have an alternate plan, Sir."
Colonel Halstead raised his chin and prodded, "Go ahead, Sergeant."
Tex glanced at McElroy, then he looked to the officers in turn and suggested, "How about we hit the base in force, take the buses and supply trucks with us, then swing by the school on the way back? That way we've got plenty of men and ammo to do the job, that and more artillery to hit the moaners with. Hell, if we're going to liberate the people from the school, we may as well do it right and take out every zombie we can."
Mumbling rippled through the men again, and most seemed to approve of the new plan.
"Only one problem," the Captain observed. "We don't know how much longer the people in the school are going to be able to hold out. They only have a few guns, and otherwise they're defending themselves with clubs and baseball bats, and one of the men who came here tonight mentioned the groundskeeper was there with a chainsaw. We need to get them out of there before the moaners get them."
Tex looked down to Zoe, who looked back at him with her absolute trust and a little affection behind her eyes, then he looked to the colonel and suggested, "We don't know what we'll find at the base, Sir, so how about we hit it in force and I'll take a squad and a Stryker to the school and mix it up there? We can at least lure off most of the moaners and probably kill half of them before our main force gets back from the base."
The Captain seemed to grow impatient, but looked down to Colonel Halstead as his arm was tapped and bent down as the Colonel whispered something to him, and this something took a moment. With a nod, the Captain stood fully and looked to Sergeant Morris, raising his chin as he asked, "How many men do you think you'll need to pull this off?"
Glancing around him, Tex shrugged and replied, "I think about ten heavily armed volunteers should do it." He motioned to the girl with his head and added, "And Zoe."
With a nod, the Captain assured, "You have your mission, Sergeant. Come to my office in an hour with a list of your volunteers and we'll work out the details."
Tex nodded back and offered, "Thank you, Captain." As he sat back down, he leaned over the table and looked to Corporal McElroy, smiling slightly as he said, "Thanks for Volunteering, Corporal."
**
The Captain had taken over one of the hospital administrator's offices and had it a little cluttered with paperwork. Maps of the city hung on the walls in place of some of the administrator's pictures and awards, as did charts of various kinds. The desk was a simple one, a little small for the room but it served the purpose it needed to. One filing cabinet was still there and the couch where the Captain clearly did a lot of his sleeping, as there was still a blanket and pillow lying on it.
The door stood open and he looked up from the report he was reading as a big shadow crossed the doorway, and he bade, "Come in, Sergeant," as he looked to the report again.
Sergeant Morris strode right up to the desk and snapped to attention, his eyes on the window behind the officer.
Without looking up, the Captain simply said, "We should go ahead and dispense with the formalities. I'm a West Pointer, I played football for Army, I served in the last war and I have attained the rank of Captain. Blah blah blah, yadda yadda." He finally looked up, seeing Sergeant Morris standing before him looking back, and the zombie girl standing beside him with her hands folded before her. Raising his brow, he guessed, "This must be Princess Zoe. I've heard a lot about you."
She smiled and just nodded.
"Word is," the Captain continued, "you've been at Sergeant Morris' side pretty much since you came here." When she nodded again, he nodded back, ever so slightly and said, "Maybe you can keep him out of trouble, then."
"I'll try, Sir," she assured.
Looking back to the big sergeant, the Captain asked, "Whose idea was it to circumvent me and suggest another plan?"
Before he could answer, Zoe proudly answered, "It was m
ine, Sir."
His eyes slid to her, then back to the Captain. "So, hours of planning are about to be brushed aside because of a girl's inspiration."
"Sorry, Sir," Tex offered grimly.
"Don't be," the Captain ordered. "We're all running on empty around here and I welcome any fresh ideas that come my way. Have you assembled your team?"
"I have, Sir."
"Outstanding. Now, let me complicate your life. You won't be just hitting the zombies around the school. I'm placing you in charge of getting the buses and truck fueled and to the school. You'll depart ninety minutes after the force going to the base, park the buses and trucks a block away and then hit the moaners with everything you have. Attack hard and drop as many as you can from the Stryker, then turn up the side road in front of the school and execute a fighting retreat."
"You want me to draw them off," the Sergeant guessed.
"That's affirmative," the Captain confirmed. "Your primary mission is to make contact and knock the hell out of them, and get as many as you can to follow you away from the school. Continue your fighting retreat until you hear from the main force. In the meantime, your drivers will move the bus and truck closer and they'll try and avoid any contact with the enemy. In the event they do have contact, they are to retreat into the school and fight from there as long as their ammunition holds out. I want those people to know that we're coming to get them out of there."
"No problem, Sir. Can I recruit a few extra men?"
"We'll need every soldier we can muster at the base, Sergeant, every one we can get just in case it's overrun with moaners."
With a little nod, Tex suggested, "I can find some civilians who have driving experience and any who know how to fire a weapon. We can have a few extra guns aboard the buses and one at shotgun on the truck, and we can fill in the Stryker with any civilians who can shoot a weapon."
"I'll leave that to you, Sergeant. If you can recruit some civilians to help us out, then do it. I'm leaving this mission entirely in your hands. Just make damn sure everyone comes home, especially any civilians under your command."
