by J. R. Knoll
Tex looked down to her and asked over the drone of the engine in a loud voice, "You okay, Princess?"
She just turned her eyes down and nodded.
"We're almost there, Kiddo," he assured.
"Okay," she acknowledged in a shaky voice.
They approached the school slowly and the buses and box truck held back a block as planned.
With the school in sight and about two hundred yards away, the Stryker stopped to assess the situation. No movement could be seen, no zombies milling about as they expected.
Sergeant Morris raised his binoculars to his eyes and scanned the front of the two story brick building. Nothing. The school's parking lot had a few cars still parked in it. A few more were out front, and one had apparently lost control, jumped the curb and hit a tree in the grassy, neglected yard area in front of the building. Windows were broken and there was litter blowing about, but no other activity.
"I don't like this," he mumbled.
The driver squinted as he looked toward the school. "You think they left?"
"The moaners?" Tex asked, then he shook his head. "They wouldn't just give up with people still inside. Take us down the street."
The Stryker lurched forward and slowly crept toward the front of the school. Ports on the sides were open and soldiers watched nervously for any movement. Evans still manned the fifty caliber, though he remained low as he watched for any threat.
"Sarge," the driver summoned in a low voice. "Front door."
Tex looked toward it, then raised his binoculars, and he clenched his jaw. "Damn. They barricaded it, but it looks like it didn't hold." He reached for the radio and raised the microphone to his mouth. "Truant to Principal."
"Go ahead, Truant," Colonel Halstead replied over the radio.
"School's been breached," Sergeant Morris informed. "We're going to recon and will advise."
"Stay in contact," the Colonel ordered.
Looking to the driver, Tex ordered, "Back us up to the front door and give us about twenty feet of maneuvering room. And keep the engine running. We may have to bail in a hurry."
"All over it, Sarge," the driver assured.
Tex looked down between the seats where Zoe sat cross legged, staring back up at him. With a nod to her, he said, "Game time, Princess. Let's go."
Inside the school, Zoe stayed at Tex's side, her wide eyes scanning the area as she looked for any movement. Tensions were high and weapons' muzzles swept the hallways as they expected to be attacked from anywhere at any time.
One of the other soldiers nudged Zoe's arm, and when he had her attention he asked in a low voice, "Do you sense any other zombies nearby?"
She glanced about and replied just over a whisper, "I don't know."
"You can't feel them?" he hissed.
"Not if I'm not touching one," was her answer.
Tex snapped, "Snap out of it, Owens. Zoe, have you been here before?"
"Yes," she replied. "My brother went to school here."
"Any idea where a lot of people might have gone to find safety?"
She considered, then strode up ahead and looked down a hallway to the right. Wheeling back to the soldiers she pointed down that corridor and reported, "The cafeteria's that way. I think it's big enough for a lot of people to go. They might also be in the gym."
Another soldier said, "Cafeteria's the better choice. That's where the food's going to be and it's probably more defensible."
"Let's head that way," Sergeant Morris ordered. "We don't find them there then we'll check out the gym. Lead on, Princess."
Zoe walked a few steps ahead of the soldiers, her eyes on where she was going as she tried not to let on how afraid she was. Coming to a tee in the hallway, she looked over her shoulder and pointed to the left, toward the cafeteria.
Tex nodded and motioned with his head for her to move aside.
She backed away and watched as they took up their positions at the corner of the tee that would turn toward the cafeteria, then she heard the faint moan behind her, a moan like someone would make in sleep. Her eyes widening, she slowly turned and looked the other way, peering down the hallway to the right.
There were many, many zombies there, all looking right at her and the soldiers they could see who were ready to assault the cafeteria. They just stood there, but they were ready, and dead looking eyes were intense and wide with anticipation of the feast to come.
A breath shrieked as it stormed through Zoe's open mouth and she backed away from the mob of zombies, and she retreated into one of the soldiers, making him take a step forward to keep his balance.
Keeping his weapon ready, he half turned, his angry eyes finding the girl as he hissed, "Would you watch it?"
Zoe reached behind her and grasped at him, pointing to the mob of zombies as she backed away another step.
He looked and saw them, raising his chin as he saw the threat behind his team, and he barked, "Sarge!"
Morris turned, looked over his shoulder toward him, then down the other hallway. His eyes widened as well, but he did not hesitate a second before he shouted, "Check six! Everybody fall back!"
All of the soldiers swung around, training their weapons on the zombies who started slowly forward, with unsteady, jerky movements.
Zoe retreated behind them, covering her ears as weapons fired with sharp, ear splitting cracks. Most of the rounds were fired with deadly accuracy and burst through the heads of the advancing zombies that approached first. Those that were hit had their heads snap back, and many of their heads seemed to explode from the back as they began to collapse when they were hit. Not deterred, those behind them continued to advance, and louder moans and growls came from them as they quickened their paces.
Sergeant Morris and his men formed a nearly shoulder to shoulder line as they backed away, selectively and accurately firing as they slowly retreated. Zombies fell one after another, but they kept coming.
Backing up along the wall, Zoe watched the carnage in front of her as the soldiers slaughtered the zombies that attempted to attack them. Looking behind her toward the Stryker where three more men waited, she saw a door open and drew a gasp as another zombie pushed his way through it and into the hallway.
He turned, clearly responding to the sound of gunfire, and his dark gray lips drew away from his gray and yellow teeth as he lumbered toward the soldiers from behind.
Panic erupted from the girl and she backed into the wall behind her, wide eyes locked on the zombie that approached the soldiers, her friends. "Look out!" she screamed over the gunfire. The soldiers could not hear her and they were retreating right into the zombie that attacked from behind. Without thinking, she darted forward with speed she did not know she possessed and slammed palms first into the zombie as he grabbed onto one of the soldiers from behind, making him lose his grip.
The soldier wheeled around and watched girl and zombie tumble to the floor across the hallway. He darted out of the firing line, aiming his weapon at the zombie as he shouted, "Get clear, Princess!"
Though tangled with the zombie that struggled to right himself, she managed to pull away and scramble down the hallway, and as soon as she was clear the soldier fired a short burst into the zombie's head.
Seeing another door open, Zoe sprang up and pointed to it, and the soldier responded immediately, charging another few steps with his weapon held ready and aimed at eye level, and when the zombie emerged he sent a short burst into its head and dropped it as soon as it stepped into the hallway.
Looking to the zombie girl, he shouted over the gunfire of his colleagues, "I'll cover the rear. Get outside and see if it's clear."
Zoe nodded as she turned and sprinted to the doors to the outside, and she slammed into them and pushed them open as fast as she could. Stopping halfway to the Stryker, she saw that it had its back end open with two men guarding it from the inside, and she raised her palms to them as they both trained their weapons on her.
"Wait!" she shouted. "It's me!" She half turned an
d pointed inside. "There are other gray people in there and the guys are fighting with them! I got told to come out and see if there are any more out here."
The two looked to each other, then one asked her, "Do they need help in there?"
"I don't think so," she replied, "but there are a lot of them in there." The door burst open and she barked a scream a she wheeled around and retreated from it.
The soldiers began to charge out, then they turned to form two lines between the Stryker and the school, aiming their weapons back at the door.
Sergeant Morris was the last one out and he grabbed onto Zoe's arm as he strode toward the waiting Stryker, dragging her along as he stormed toward the Stryker, barking, "Get ready to put some fire on that door!" He continued on, pulling Zoe into the Stryker as he yelled to the driver, "Get the engine fired up and secure the front, then get on top to those MG's and watch our flanks." He sat the girl down and ordered, "Stay put. This is about to get messy."
She watched him load a new magazine into his rifle and stride to the back of the assault vehicle. Even in this frightening, high stress environment, she wanted to be involved, but she had been brought up to do what she was told. As the guns began firing again, she covered her ears and balled herself up in her seat, watching as the soldiers cut down the zombies that charged from the school. As they were funneled through the school's front doors, they were easy prey for the soldiers who fired steadily in short bursts. She could not know how many zombies were in there, but they seemed endless and just kept coming!
Zoe looked around her, flinching as the big fifty caliber machine guns on the vehicle's roof fired a few bursts. Her eyes fixed on ammo cans that were under the seats across the Stryker from her, and she remembered helping the soldiers before at the mall by taking them more ammunition. Springing from her seat, she grabbed onto the first can and pulled it from under the seat, dropping to her knees as she opened it and began removing magazines. She shoved one in each pocket and stood with two in each hand, then she cringed under the deafening noise of the machine gun fire. Looking about, she found a first aid kit, dropped the magazines into the ammo can and sprang up, darting to the box. She fumbled with the latch and finally opened it, then she reached in and pulled out some packs of gauze, which she tore open as soon as she got them out. Shoving a wad of the gauze in each ear, she stared blankly ahead as she assessed their effectiveness against the noise of the rifles. Satisfied, she turned and took the magazines from the can before she trotted to the men who fired on the zombies from inside the Stryker. For a moment she just stood there, watching the horror before her as zombies dropped one after another, many with exploding heads, and she shuddered as a sick feeling washed through her. Hearing the gun to her left fall silent, she looked to that soldier and tapped him on the soldier with the magazines in one hand, offering them to him as he looked to her.
In moments she had handed out all of the magazines and gone for more. Sergeant Morris did not scold her for getting up as she offered him one and instead kept fighting.
Within five minutes she had emptied two ammunition cans and was going for the third. She heard the heavy machine guns fire again and looked up. She remembered that he was guarding the flanks of the machine, the sides, and a nervous crawl started in her stomach. With a magazine in each hand, she turned and crept toward the front of the Stryker. She looked out the windshield, and her mouth fell open as her widening eyes found hundreds more zombies staggering toward them, and they seemed to be coming from everywhere!
With a cry of fear, Zoe turned and sprinted to Sergeant Morris, tugging on his shoulder as she tried to warn him, but she could not make words, only child-like whimpers as she tried to get his attention.
Holding his weapon ready, he looked over his shoulder at her and barked, "What!"
She was half turned, pulling on his shoulder as she pointed to the front of the Stryker.
Impatiently, he looked that way, then he raised his head as he saw what she was warning him about. Thinking quickly, he ordered, "Go get strapped in! We're leaving!"
Zoe obeyed quickly as he rallied his men and ordered them all inside, then she watched him run to the front and jump into the driver's seat. With the back still open, the Stryker lurched forward, turning hard to the right to get back onto the road. The men at the rear continued to fire on the zombies that still came out of the school, and many of them had started to run after the retreating assault vehicle. The big fifty caliber battery on the top fired ahead of them and toward the left side, cutting the advancing zombies to pieces.
As planned, the Stryker slowly retreated from the school and drew most of the zombies in the area right to it. Almost all of them from the school were now in pursuit of the big attack vehicle as it slowly drove away.
One of the other men hurried to the front of the Stryker and took the passenger's seat, aiming his weapon out the window and firing a few short bursts. Zoe joined them there, holding onto the backs of their seats as she watched where they were going, and watched them run over zombies that were not cut down by the heavy machine guns. When the gun beside her stopped firing, she patted his shoulder and yelled over the continuing gunfire, "Would you like some more bullets?"
He looked up at her and smiled. "That would be great, Sweetheart!"
Once again she found herself shuttling ammunition to the soldiers who were firing on the zombies that pursued them.
"Well," Tex confirmed as he turned the Stryker to the left to lead the Zombies away. "It's working."
Another soldier appeared behind him and informed, "We've already blown through half our ammo, Sarge. You got a plan B?"
"Yeah," Sergeant Morris confirmed, "Keep blasting the hell out of them! We're only part of this mission!"
As that soldier retreated, Zoe, who had been listening behind him, took his place and asked, "What happens when we run out of bullets?"
Tex looked to her and raised his brow. "Then we'll have a real problem, won't we? Keep handing it out and remind those knuckleheads to use it sparingly!"
Zoe nodded and said, "Yes, Sir," as she went about their task.
The chase lasted about a mile as the Stryker slowly led the hoard of zombies away from the school, away from the hospital they called home and toward reinforcements.
Zoe ended up sitting in the floor at the front of the Stryker after the last can was empty.
A soldier came up behind her, grasping the Sergeant's seat as he informed, "Okay, about two magazines left per man. It's pistols after that, and I should remind you that we only have three magazines of pistol ammo per man."
"Tell everyone to hold fire," Tex ordered. "I'll circle back toward the school and try to keep them about fifty meters behind us. Don't fire unless they're right on top of us."
Without responding, the soldier hurried to the back and shouted, "Hold fire! Hold fire!"
The soldier in the passenger's seat looked to the Sergeant and barked, "What now, Fearless Leader? Ammo's about dry and we still have a lot of moaners out there to deal with."
"I'm working on it," Tex grumbled as he looked around the front of the Stryker.
"Why don't we just get more bullets?" Zoe asked.
"We don't want to lead them back to the hospital," Sergeant Morris replied. "Besides, we're running pretty low there, too, and we have to keep a crap load of ammo there in case the moaners find the place."
"Let's just go to a store," she suggested.
The two men slowly turned their full attention on her.
"My daddy goes to this big hunting and fishing store a few miles from the house," she went on. "They have lots of bullets there."
"Unless they've been cleaned out," the other soldier countered. "The civilians were going nuts when the moaners moved in."
"Still worth a try, I think," Tex informed. "Zoe, you know how to get us there?"
"I think so," she replied. "It's a mile and a quarter down the highway that runs past the grocery store. They built it in a big field about three years ago and D
addy and me would go there to get stuff for camping and fishing. He never let me go hunting with him."
"I'd have taken you," the soldier in the passenger's seat said with a smile.
Tex growled, "Down, boy."
They sped up on their way to the sporting goods store, leaving the zombies as far behind as they could, and they arrived to find the parking lot almost empty. The front doors stood open and this was not a good sign as Morris parked the Stryker right in front of them.
Staring at the open doors, Sergeant Morris mumbled, "Not good."
Another soldier appeared behind Zoe and observed, "We're going to have to recon that place."
Tex looked over his shoulder to the soldier behind him, to the man in the other seat, then they all looked down to Zoe.
She looked up to them in turn, then fixed her attention on Sergeant Morris and asked, "Do you want me to go again?"
In a few moments, Zoe had reached the hunting section where firearms and ammunition were sold. With a radio in her hand, she looked carefully around her, watching closely for any movement, sniffing for any foul odor that would tell her Zombies were in the area and listening through the silence of the store for the shuffling of unsteady footsteps. Though she was sure they would not attack her, she was still very nervous about what she might find, frightened at the prospect of them finding her in there.
As she approached the display case that once held many handguns, she looked behind it to the rifles and shotguns that remained behind it, and she stopped at the glass case and looked down inside. A few guns were still in there, knocked out of place and the inside of it was in disarray from the hasty extraction of the weapons by desperate, terrified people. Few remained and all were revolvers, but this was lost on the girl who looked down at them. Moving along the long case, she made her way slowly to the end of it where she could get to the back. As she thought, she looked to the back of the display case, at the bottom, and there she found the ammunition she had been sent to find.
Raising the radio to her mouth, she pushed the button and called, "William?"
