by Derek Slaton
“Just be mindful of the glass, Reyes,” Frank added seriously. “One bad shot and we’re fucked.”
The Corporal nodded. “Ten-four, sir.” He headed over to Gardner and gave him a playful punch in the arm. They bumped fists as Frank turned to the group.
“Alright, let’s set it up.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Terrell ducked into a destroyed storefront a few blocks from the base. He did a quick sweep of the place, ducking around mannequins modeling various formal wear. There was banging from the back room, and he raised his handgun, taking a few steps towards the back wall. As the banging grew louder, a zombie leapt over the wreckage at the front of the store and attacked one of the mannequins.
Terrell leapt forward, wrapping his arms around the creature’s torso and flipping it over, slapping it headfirst into the floor. Its neck snapped spectacularly, and the bald soldier whipped around to see if the noise attracted any other monsters from outside.
There were several shots in the distance and his brow furrowed. He raised his radio to his mouth. “Coleman, what the fuck is going on?” he demanded.
The gunfire intensified as a group of civilians suddenly thundered by his hiding spot, closely followed by a large horde of undead. Terrell turned around a back corner as two creatures pounced on a stumbling woman, the rest chasing the live ones.
“It’s a goddamn firefight, Sarge,” Coleman replied, and Terrell turned the volume way down on his speaker. “Zombies showed up, some fucking Private got spooked and fired a shot. Next thing we know, civilians are firing back and everybody is getting lit up!”
The Sergeant sighed. “So, I’m guessing y’all ain’t gonna open the front gate for me?” he asked.
“You may have a way in,” the Corporal replied. “Hundred yards west of the main gate, one of the cars we were bringing in got a flat and we rolled it into the ditch. I’ll be there with something to hold down the barbed wire.”
Terrell stiffened as the two zombies feasting on the fallen woman suddenly straightened up and screeched towards him.
“I gotta move, headed your way!” he yelled into the radio, and dropped the three zombies quickly. He leapt out of the storefront into the street. The road towards base was littered with corpses and blood, zombies feasting all over the place and banging on car doors and store windows.
A trio of undead turned from a nearby car and noticed him, taking off in his direction. Terrell took off towards a side street parallel with the base. Two blocks away from his entry point, he glanced back over his shoulder to see that the trio has become a dozen zombies chasing him. He turned the corner to run back in the direction of the base, and a duo of walking corpses popped into his vision, just too late.
He put his head down and crashed through them like a running back, and the stumbling zombies split apart face first into the pavement as he tore away. He hung a right towards the car in the ditch, beside an eight foot fence topped with an impressive amount of barbed wire.
His leg muscles screamed as he tore up the car, just as Coleman threw a giant rug over the barbed wire to give him something to shoot for. He hit the roof of the car and leapt as hard as he could, hitting the rug with his stomach.
His momentum wasn’t quite enough and he began to slip back, so he grasped the bare barbed wire with his hand and jerked hard, flinging himself ass over teakettle. Coleman attempted to soften the fall, but they both hit the dirt fairly hard. The Corporal popped back up and jerked the mat from the fence as the zombies hit it, rattling and groaning.
“Holy shit, Graham, are you okay?” Coleman huffed, falling to his knees in front of the incredibly lucky Sergeant.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Terrell replied, his chest heaving as he cradled his hand.
The Corporal swallowed hard. “Where… where’s the Sarge?”
Terrell shook his head, and Coleman lowered his gaze for a moment, taking a deep breath. He winced and then offered the Sergeant his hand to help him up.
“I need to talk to Colonel Wagner,” Terrell said. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Reyes rested his rifle on the edge of the railing, surveying the lobby as Gardner ducked down behind him. The others clambered up on top of the escalators, poking up over the hasty barricade. Several zombies noticed the movement and shrieked, tearing up the stairs clumsily.
“Nobody fire until I do,” Frank instructed, and his men held steady as several more zombies joined the climb.
They hit the barricade, furniture and luggage shifting and groaning under the weight of the corpses pushing against it.
Frank looked over at the front desk, making sure that the lobby was clear, and then raised a hand. “Gardner, go!” he yelled, and then aimed and hit a zombie in the head.
The other three followed suit, carefully popping off rounds to hit enemy after enemy in the face.
Gardner leapt over the railing, holding on so that he hung off of the other side like a monkey. He turned sideways and sprung out, kicking off of the railing and grasping a light post, sliding down like a fireman. As soon as hit feet hit the floor, he tore towards the desk.
A rogue zombie took off in his direction, but Reyes felled it before it got too close.
The barricade began to crumble, the zombies pressing under luggage and causing it to buckle under the pressure. The soldiers were having a hard time getting good shots with the angle they were forced to take.
“Suppressing fire!” Frank commanded, and Owns and Webb went full auto, pumping round after round into the horde. While not kill shots, the bullets riddling the zombie’s torsos definitely slowed them down, unable to push as hard with their thinner extremities.
Frank and Freeman climbed a little higher and continued headshots through the carnage.
Gardner made it over the desk and looked for the card slot. A zombie popped up from under it, and he grabbed it by the shirt, throwing it over the desk and into the main lobby for Reyes to deal with.
“Got the card!” he declared into his radio.
More zombies from the streets barreled towards him, drawn by the noise from the escalators.
“We got more incoming!” Freeman said.
Frank jumped down from his perch and scrambled onto the center slide of the escalators. “On it,” he said, and ran down. He leapt up onto the makeshift barricade, and leapt over the zombies’ heads, landing into a shoulder roll and popping back up on the other side. As they turned, distracted by him, the three soldiers up top picked them off easily.
Gardner reached the keycard slot and slid the card, but before he was able to punch the code a zombie dove inside and tackled him clean over. He hit the ground hard, pushing up on the corpse’s neck. He shot another oncoming one in the face, and then put the barrel underneath the chin of the one snapping at his nose, blowing up its head. He blinked away a gooey bouquet of blood and brain matter, rolling over to get back up.
“Come and get me, boys!” Frank bellowed, drawing the attention of the zombies pouring inside so they wouldn’t go after Gardner. They rushed him, and he rushed right back, dropping into a slide and slipping right underneath them. Before they could turn around, he popped off three rounds, hitting two in the head and one in the chest. He lowered his shoulder and hit one in the torso, flipping it over his head, and Reyes dispatched it before it managed to right itself.
Gardner punched in the code and the doors locked down, keeping the rest of the street zombies at bay.
“You okay?” Frank immediately asked Gardner, walking over to check him over.
“Could probably use a shower, Sarge,” the Corporal replied as he wiped another slick glob of goo from his cheek. “Feels like I just finished a zombie bukkake.”
Frank barked a laugh. “Lotta firsts today, huh?”
“Too many, sir,” Gardner replied with an exasperated chuckle. “Too fucking many.”
“Holy fuck Sarge,” Freeman blurted as he and the others descended the escalators, “that was crazy! You boys alright?�
�
Gardner nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Alright, time to secure these packages,” Frank said, rolling his hand in a circle. “Floor by floor sweep, Marie tests them. If they pass, move them to one of the conference rooms. If they don’t, lock em up in their room. Let’s move.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Gentlemen, what’s the situation?” Terrell asked as he led Coleman into Lynch’s back room.
“Good to have you back, Sergeant,” Wagner greeted. “We feared the worst.”
The bald soldier raised his chin. “Gonna take more than that to knock me out of action.”
“That’s good, because there’s a hell of a lot more left to do,” the Colonel replied.
Lynch nodded. “The food transport Corporal Coleman came back with was the last bit of supplies we were able to get before the city turned chaotic.”
“The other squad left after us, did they not make it back?” Terrell asked.
Lynch shook his head. “Last report we got from the, they said they were holed up at one of those big box stores on the other side of town. The store got partially overrun but they were able to secure the store room along with a few civilians.”
Wagner crossed his arms, addressing Terrell and Coleman. “Any chance you can get them out?”
“We can, but not now,” the Sergeant replied. “The city is going to be a whole lot worse, and I barely made it back as it is. We go out there now, we’re either going to get eaten or shot by someone who isn’t too happy with the military. Tell your boys to sit tight and we’ll come get them when the sun goes down. Gonna be a whole lot easier for us to get across the city moving through the shadows.”
“I’ll make the call right now,” Wagner declared.
“Lynch, how the transports to Charlotte looking?” Terrell asked.
The Corporal took a deep breath. “Another shipment just took off a few minutes ago. We’re getting that stadium supplied, but we still need more. Even more than they have on that other transport truck.”
“This is what I need from you,” Terrell instructed. “After you do an inventory, give me four or five spots on the map where you think I might be able to find what you’re missing. After we rescue the other team, we’ll do some scouting and stage the gear we need. Then we’ll do one last big sweep at daybreak.”
“Won’t that be risky?” Lynch bit his lip. “I mean, riskier than doing it under the cover of darkness.”
“My boys and I on foot can move well in the darkness and avoid the zombies,” the Sergeant explained. “Can’t really do that with the massive transport trucks. No matter what we do, we’re gonna attract attention. Be better to have daylight so we can spot them rushing us.”
Lynch nodded. “Makes sense. I’ll have the report ready for you in an hour, sir.”
“Take your time, Corporal, we ain’t heading out for several hours,” Terrell said. “I’m gonna go get some food and maybe catch a Z or two. But could you do me one more favor?”
The Corporal cocked his head. “Anything, sir.”
He smiled tiredly. “If my boy Sergeant Kyle radios in, can you come get me?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Frank surveyed the last group trailing into their makeshift testing room by Freeman and Webb. “How are we looking, Marie?”
“Twenty-two more on the top floor are healthy,” she replied. “Only five tested positive.”
He added the numbers to his clipboard. “Alright, that brings us to one hundred and forty healthy people. Eighty-five engineers, thirty-five civilians, and another twenty hotel staff.”
“Why are you separating them like that?” Marie asked, brow furrowing.
He squared his shoulders. “Because the engineers are the mission.”
“Whoa whoa,” she gushed, eyes blazing. “You aren’t thinking about leaving the civilians behind, are you?”
“You do understand that we have limited supplies, don’t you?” Frank threw up his hands. “We let everyone in, then we all die. Our mission is bigger than a handful of civilians.”
“I’m not an idiot,” she snapped. “I know we can’t let everyone in who shows up on the doorstep of the stadium. Not only do they take up valuable space and resources, but they could easily be infected. These people are different, though. They’re actively helping us secure the VIPs. And we know that they aren’t sick.” She lowered her voice. “I haven’t seen the manifest of people that you’re bringing in, but I’m guessing whoever made it didn’t bother to add in low level support staff. Stadium that size with that many people, I’m sure having a few cleaning ladies couldn’t hurt.”
Frank nodded with a sigh of defeat. “Okay, they’re in.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Marie said.
“Please, call me Frank,” he insisted.
She smiled. “Okay, Frank.”
“I swear, you sure you weren’t in Psy Ops instead of being a medic?” he asked, wagging a finger at her.
She shrugged playfully. “Well, I’m a woman, some things come naturally.” She winked and then headed over to the conference room.
“Freeman, get these people ready to move,” Frank called. “I’m calling in the transports.”
“You got it, Sarge,” the Corporal replied.
Frank lifted his radio. “Bill, come in.”
“What’s your status, Sergeant?” the old man asked through the speaker.
“Package is secure, we have one hundred forty civilians ready for transport,” he reported.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news, Sergeant,” Bill said.
Frank sighed. “Seems to be par for the course today.”
“We lost contact with the transport team an hour ago,” the old man said. “They were relaying reports about the city deteriorating, and their message was interrupted by screams and gunfire. We don’t know if they were taken out by looters, or if they were firing on zombies. All we know is we’ve lost contact with them.”
“Dammit,” Frank growled. “Okay, Bill, see if you can patch me through to Fort Bragg.”
“Gonna be just a moment,” came the reply.
“Hey Chad, does this place have a parking deck?” Frank asked.
The employee nodded as he handed out bottles of water. “Yeah, we share one with the mall, but we have direct access to it via an over street walkway.”
“Any idea how tall it is?” the Sergeant asked.
“Pretty big.” Chad shrugged. “Nine, maybe ten stories tall?”
“Webb, go check it out, make sure we can get across it and it’s not overrun,” Frank instructed.
“Sergeant Kyle,” Bill said over the radio, “I have Lieutenant Colonel Wager and Corporal Lynch on the line.”
“Sergeant, this is Wagner,” came the next greeting, “what can we do for you?”
“Any chance we can borrow your transport choppers after they drop off the latest batch of supplies?” Frank asked.
“Yes, just not on this trip,” Wagner replied. “They are scheduled to refuel after this drop and given that they are our only ships, I don’t want to overextend them if I can help it.”
“Understood, sir,” Frank agreed. “What sort of time frame are we looking at?”
“Sergeant Kyle, his is Corporal Lynch,” a new voice came over the speaker. “The transports left here recently, so with the multiple trip flight times and refueling, we’re going to be looking to be at your position sometime around dusk.”
“We can handle that,” Frank said. “We’re going to have around a hundred and fifty people needing transport. We have access to a nine or ten story parking deck, so the top floor will be the extraction point. And we’re going to have to have this thing well coordinated because those choppers will attract a ton of attention.”
“We’ll make it happen, Sergeant,” Wagner promised.
Frank nodded. “Thank you, Colonel.”
“Sergeant Kyle,” Lynch cut in, “if you bear with me just a moment please.” There was a pause. “There we
go. Have you on a private line now. Someone wants to say hello.”
“What’s up Kyle?” Terrell asked.
A massive grin spread on Frank’s face. “Hey Graham, you lived through the morning. Guess I owe Freeman ten bucks.”
“Man, I ain’t gonna let a little thing like the end of the world take me out,” the bald Sergeant replied.
Frank laughed. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you went through half the shit I went through today. I had to grenade a hospital.”
“Oh yeah? I beat half a dozen zombies to death with ten pound dumbbells.”
“Ten pounders? You getting weak on me?” Frank teased.
“Stronger than you’ll ever be, boy.”
“You know Graham, if I thought there’d be anybody left to read it, I’d say we need to write our way story memoirs.”
Terrell laughed. “Hell man, if I could write I wouldn’t have gone into the military. I would have went all Robert Frost and lived a hermit’s life in the woods.”
“Yeah, but knowing you,” Frank replied, “you’d be out there wrestling bears and shit.”
“Better than wrestling stripper assassins.”
Frank sighed. “Once again man, I’m sorry.”
“Just giving you a hard time, bro,” Terrell laughed.
“I know man,” his friend assured him. “Just good to hear you’re still going.”
“Alright now, you and your boys get some rest,” Terrell instructed. “When the sun goes down, the real fun is going to begin.”
“No kidding,” Frank agreed. “Be safe, bro.”
Webb walked back in, Chad on his heels, as the Sergeant ended the call.
“Path is clear,” the Corporal said. “The walkway is on the seventh floor so we’re only going to have a couple of floors to go up to the roof.”
“Finally, something going our way,” Frank said with a grin. “Transports are going to be here in a few hours. So I want everyone to get some rest.” He took a deep breath. “I get the sense it’s going to be one hell of a night.”
END
CAROLINA FRONT BOOK TWO
