We stopped before we reached the treeline. If we went any further it would be possible that anyone in the towers could see us. It was important not to lose the element of surprise. We waited for some time as we couldn't move forward with our plans until the undead had arrived. Reese met with us after giving orders to the runners.
“They should be here any minute. I caught up with you after leading them here. Be careful as they're behind us. They won't discriminate between The Compound or us. No use dying that way with The Compound in our sights.”
Faint moans could be heard coming from behind us. Looking back a few dozen zombies could be seen sluggishly approaching our location. If we wanted everything to go smoothly we had to move.
“Quickly, everyone follow me. We have to move or else they're going to see us after they exit the tunnels.”
We moved from our location so we would be behind the tunnels. The zombies kept moving forward until they breached the treeline. Everything was silent for a moment. And then a bell could be heard from inside The Compound. It wasn't like them to wait so long to alert the others of an attack.
Shots began reigning over the undead horde. But unlike the usual pinpoint accuracy, these shooters seemed to be blindly firing in the general direction of the undead. We waited for the hatch to open, but it seemed as if no one was using the tunnels to attack the zombies. The number of undead approaching The Compound from the clearing was thinning. Still, no sign of life coming from the hatch. But that's when something unexpected happened. Violent moans and groans could be heard coming from the opposite side of The Compound. Suddenly a group of freshly infected undead appeared, and they were hungry. We had not planned for this. Where the hell did they come from? Marshall took control.
“Don't worry everyone, this could work in our favor. Stay quiet, hopefully they'll use the hatch to gain access.”
It seemed that they had not noticed us as they kept their attention on attacking The Compound. Small noises could be heard coming from inside the hatch. We moved back as to not be seen. The hatch door swung open and a handful of soldiers began to come to the surface.
“Don't fire on them. If they don't take care of the undead out here we might not be able to make it back to town after completing our mission.”
We dropped down into the tunnels which was oddly enough left unguarded. Why did it seem that they were so short on men? As we continued on I pointed out the secret door that housed the survivors. Marshall and half of his men went to rescue the others while Reese and the others followed me up towards the surface of The Compound. When we reached the surface I split away from the group and started searching The Compound for any signs of Jesse or Gregory. But where the hell was everyone? I couldn't find any of the usual faces... Gregory wasn't in his room or the dining hall. Maybe everyone was hiding because of the attack. But Gregory and Dorian usually led the assault. I knew it was risky, but I ran down to the armory. The walls were bare... Not a single gun left on the rack. What the hell was going on? I came back up and made my way towards the front gate. And then I realized... None of Gregory's men were here protecting The Compound. The survivors in The Compound had been armed and were fending for themselves? Where the hell were Gregory and the others? Dear Lord... They must have left The Compound to attack The Town. They knew we were coming and armed the civilians to defend so we wouldn't realize until the last minute. I had to let Marshall know! I made my way to Jeffrey’s shack. I needed to make sure the survivors were not attacked or followed. It seemed all hell had broken loose inside The Compound. The civilians were having a difficult time fighting off the undead. This must be the first time many of them ever actually handled a firearm. When I entered the shack I immediately ran over and looked down into the tunnels. There were no survivors to be found. Marshall must have already taken them out of the tunnels. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. But then I could see Marshall on the other side of the room in the tunnel system.
“Marshall, what are you doing down there still?” I yelled.
“None of the survivors were in the tunnels when we got here! Where the hell is everybody?”
“Gregory must have moved everyone! Marshall, you have to get back to The Town! Neither Gregory or his men are here! I think they knew we were coming and are on their way to attack The Town now!”
I could see a grimacing look wash over Marshall's face.
“Get back to the town now! I'll go tell Reese and his men so they meet you there. We don't have any time! Go now!”
Marshall exited the tunnels with his men and I made my way back into The Compound to find Reese. Where the hell was everybody? As I approached the front gate I saw one of our men laying on the ground. He had been shot in the back. I ran over to him assuming the worst. But as I leaned over his body he screamed out with a blood curdling cry.
“Ahhhhh, you have to help me please... Don't let me die here. I don't want to become one of them...”
“Please, you have to tell me what happened. Where are Reese and the others?”
“Reese... That monster... As soon as we made it into The Compound him and his men shot me and left me for dead. It was a double cross. He's been working with Gregory this whole time. He left to go back to The Town to meet with Gregory and the others. They're going to slaughter everyone...”
With his last dying breath he had warned me of what was to come. His death wouldn't be in vein. I wouldn’t let it be.
The gate to The Compound had been left open and the undead had begun infiltrating, Both slow and fast alike. I had to get back to The Town... But I hadn't found Jesse yet. I've looked all over. Maybe Gregory brought him back to The Town with him... But then I realized there was one other place I had not looked. I began running towards my old room. I swung the door open and looked around, Jesse was no where to be found. But then I heard a faint noise coming from underneath the bed.
“Jesse?” I yelled.
A second passed before I saw Jesse's head poke out from underneath the bed. The boy must have been hiding this whole time. In tears he ran over and hugged me close. I couldn't imagine what he had been through since I escaped The Compound and he was captured. But how did he escape? That wasn't important right now. We had to get back to The Town.
“We have to get out of here Jesse. This place is overrun with the undead and everyone at The Town is in trouble. I met your sister Cynthia there and she's waiting to see you again.”
I could tell he was too distraught to respond. We began making our way to the front gates. There were dead bodies everywhere. Lucky for us the undead were preoccupied with the fresh meat was strewn throughout The Compound.
We began running through the woods to get back to The Town. Hundreds of the undead could be seen making their way over to The Compound. The smell of fresh meat must have driven them all in that direction. But once they finished would The Town be safe anymore? I don't see how anyone would be able to fend off a horde that big...
As we approached The Town Gregory and his men, along with Reese, were standing in front of the entrance. Marshall stood between them and the town. But to my dismay in front of Gregory stood the survivors that were kept in the tunnels. What was he going to do with them? Trade them for supplies? As if it would be that easy. I could hear Marshall and Gregory screaming at each other angrily, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I noticed Marshall and his men took a step back towards The Town... And at that moment Gregory and his men raised their weapons towards the survivors. Jesse jumped up and screamed.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
But it was too late.. At that moment they were all executed... I grabbed him and pulled him to the ground as he screamed violently. I covered his mouth in hopes that we wouldn't be spotted.
A firefight broke out between Marshall and Gregory. Marshall and his men began falling back towards City Hall. There's no way we could make it to City Hall without being spotted. We had to get to Cynthia. Some of Reese's men had begun going towards City Hall to back up Gre
gory. I was furious with anger. How could they betray Marshall? I picked up my carbine and fired on them from behind cover. The men fell to the floor before they could realize where they were being fired upon from. This was the first time I had taken a shot at a living person in my life. My heart was pounding but I felt sick to my stomach.
“I know another way. Follow me.” Jesse said.
There was no time to question Jesse. We began walking away from The Town. I wasn't sure where he was taking me but I was confident he knew where he was going. After all, he did grow up in The Town before moving over to The Compound. He stopped and gestured over to part of the mountain covered in vines.
“It's over there.”
“What's over there? I don't see anything...”
Jesse walked over and pulled away some of the vines from the cliff. At first I didn't see anything, but then I realized there was a small crawlspace on the ground. This must have been the same passageway Gregory had used to gain access to The Town like Marshall told me. We got on our hands and knees and began making our way through the hole. It was dark and smelled rancid. I didn't want to know what had possibly died in the passage, but luckily I wouldn't find out because it was too dark to see anything. I could see a faint amount of moonlight at the end of the tunnel. When we emerged on the other side, I had no idea where it had brought us. In the distance I could see a pillar of billowing smoke. It must have been coming from The Town. The fire intended for The Compound must have been set on The Town instead. We started sprinting towards The Town through the fields. I could hear a woman crying off in the distance. As we got closer I saw Sarah lying in the grass covered in blood. It didn't look like her own. She screamed my name as she saw me approaching.
“Barrett, Barrett! Where's Marshall?”
“Sarah, where are all the other women?”
“Where's Marshall? Is he okay? What about the others?”
“Sarah, you have to calm down. Tell me what happened.”
“As soon as you all left a group of men took over The Town. They killed anyone who resisted and set up in City Hall, waiting for Marshall and the others to return. I tried to take the woman and children like we had talked about but they captured most of them. Cynthia was with me but when we got outside we separated. I don't know where she is now. Where's Marshall?”
“Marshall is in The Town fighting Gregory and Reese... He's the reason all of this is happening. But he doesn't know The Town was infiltrated... If he reaches City Hall he'll fall right into their trap...”
Sarah began sprinting back towards The Town. I ran after her and grabbed her from behind.
“Sarah, if you go back they'll kill you. Please you have to stay out here.”
But it was no use, she got back up and continued running back to The Town. There was nothing I could do to stop her. I couldn't say I blamed her either. Marshall was the love of her life, without him I don't know how long she would make it.
I realized that Sarah mentioned Cynthia had made it out of The Town. I started running towards the orchard and Jesse was following behind me.
“Where are we going?” He screamed.
“To get your sister.”
We made it to the orchard and I began yelling out to Cynthia.
“Cynthia? Are you here? Where are you?!”
There was no response, but then I heard screaming. I looked over and saw a zombie underneath one of the trees. How the hell did he get in here? And then I saw what he was going after, Cynthia was in that tree.
“HELP ME, BARRETT!” She screamed.
I ran over and drew my gun, shooting it in the head. It fell to the floor beside the tree, lifeless once again. I helped Cynthia out of the tree and we met with an embrace. She cried and gave me a kiss. She hadn't realized Jesse was standing behind her. She let go of me and I gestured for her to look over her shoulder. I'm not sure how long they had been apart from each other, but it seemed like it must have been an eternity. It warmed my heart to see them together again. But there was no time to celebrate.
“Where did that zombie come from?” I asked.
“I don't know, everything happened so fast. After Sarah and I escaped from The Town I ran for the orchard like I promised you. I climbed up into the tree and then he came along. I thought it was you at first...”
“Were there any others?”
“No I don't think so, I haven't seen any others.”
This was bad. Somehow some of the undead were able to get behind The Town. I'm not sure if they cleared the cliff or were already on the other side. There have never been any signs of them here. Regardless... This meant much more trouble than Gregory and The Compound.
“Listen, I need for you and Jesse to get back up in that tree. Be quiet and hide yourselves. Don't come down until I come back to get you.”
“What?... Where are you going? It's not safe, we have to do something.”
“Listen to me, I'm going back to The Town to see if Marshall and the others are okay. I owe them my life. But I promise, I'll come back to you when everything is safe. I haven't come this far to lose everything all over again.”
I boosted them back up into the tree and handed Jesse my handgun.
“Keep that safe for me while I'm gone will ya?”
I started to make my way back to The Town. The pathway was littered with bodies. People must have tried to escape with Sarah and Cynthia but were gunned down before they could make it out safely. I slowly made my way into City Hall. I could hear gunfire coming from the rooftops. As I approached the rooftops I saw Marshall leaning against the wall. It looked like he had been shot.
“Marshall, are you okay?!”
“Listen Barrett, things went bad. There's no way we could have seen this coming. That rat Reese was working with Gregory this whole time. And I thought I could trust him.”
“Where's Sarah and Damian? I asked.
“Damian... They got him after we left for The Compound... He tried to fight back and they killed him. And Sarah...”
He paused mid sentence and began to cry.
“Sarah opened the entrance to the roof to let us back in... But Reese shot her before she could come back inside. We're in over our heads Barrett... We've failed everyone... Gregory and the others are going to be here any minute...”
Marshall stood up and hobbled over to the roof entrance. His men were firing in hopes to pick off any of the men before they reached City Hall. But there were too many of them. I looked and saw Gregory on one of the rooftops with Reese and Dorian. There wasn't much longer until they would be here. Peering beyond the rooftops I noticed something I had not before. And that's when my greatest fears came true... The zombies from The Compound had made their way over to The Town after finishing off whatever they could get their hands on to eat. It didn't seem like Gregory and his men realized they had been essentially trapped between The Town and the undead coming up behind them.
“You see them too, Barrett? Looks like no matter who wins here today. Everyone's a loser. There's no Compound to go back to and I'll be damned if Gregory is going to settle here. The undead are going to reach us soon and take care of the task I could not. Barrett, there's one last thing I have to ask of you before this is all over.”
“What is it?”
“In the armory there is a stash of detonators. I need you to go get one and set off some explosives that are planted in the main hall of the cavern. We installed it underneath the table closest to the exit without the detonator in case we were ever infiltrated and needed to seal off the cavern. There's no code, just set the time and run.”
“That's madness, you'll be killed with whoever is left alive in here.”
“Lets face it, look around. Do you see any survivors left in here? The bodies of my family and friends are lying on the ground because of Gregory. They've slaughtered everyone... I've been shot, and my wife and son are gone. Please, you have to do this. If not then what was all of this for? You have to get going now or else they'll capture you before you can
do it. I'll hold them back as long as I can.”
“I... I don't know what to say Marshall...”
“Don't say anything. Just do this and get out of here. Live your life for as long as you can. Protect the ones you love better than I did today. And never look back on your life in regret. It was a pleasure getting to know you for the past few days, unfortunately this is where we must leave each other. What's that saying? I bid you adieu.”
I got up and ran to the armory that I had first met Reese in when we started planning this awful siege... Rummaging through the few crates that had been left behind in the corner of the room there were no detonators to be found. Where the hell was it? Had they moved it out of here during the attack? And then as I was pulling away some tarps and cloth I found it. A small box marked DANGEROUS. I opened up the box carefully and sitting in front of me was a single detonator. I didn't even want to know where they got this from. There was no time to waste. I ran down towards the main hall. As I passed the entrance I could see that the men were barely able to hold back the others any longer. I could see Marshall sprawled out on the floor. He must have bled out from the gunshot wound. I continued on to the main hall and set the detonator on the explosives underneath the table just like Marshall instructed. I hoped Gregory and his men had no clue where it was located.
I had absolutely no clue how to activate the detonator on the explosives. I began pressing buttons and prayed that I didn't accidentally blow myself up. Eventually a timer began to count down.
“Holy hell I only have 100 seconds before this thing explodes!”
I began running towards the tunnel to get back to Jesse and Cynthia. I looked back over my shoulder and met eyes with Gregory who had finally gained access. He began chasing behind me. I hoped that the explosives would detonate before he could make it out of the cavern. After I made it out I had to keep running as far away as I could before the explosion. I began seeing undead roaming the fields in front of me. What the hell? More must have been able to get through. Fear of losing Jesse and Cynthia ran through my mind. But I had to keep faith that they would be okay. We've come too far to lose each other now. But no one promised life would be fair living with hell on Earth. No one is safe...
Human Zombies: The Compound Page 10
