by Henson, Lynn
“You think it’s likely this place won’t be able to hold,” Blake said after thinking about it a moment.
“I’d like to think that the military has something up their sleeves,” Kim sighed. “But you saw what we’re up against. What we need is a nuke or something.”
“We wouldn’t survive a nuke,” Blake said.
“Yup. So when the shit hits the fan, we’d better be ready,” Kim said.
fifty
The second defensive line was similar to the first, but this time the buildings had been worked into it allowing the defenders to position themselves on top of them. They were on top of one which had already been provisioned for a protracted fight. Kim and Lisa had fallen asleep in a sitting position, their backs to a metal ammunition crate, slumped together like a couple of dolls. Bree lay flat on her back, her expression still grim despite being asleep. Tiffany had nestled into his side, her face devoid of worry as she dreamed. He looked up into the night sky and it was filled with stars that he could never have seen in the city. The world is vast. There must be somewhere that’s safe. Somewhere where things are still normal.
He didn’t remember falling asleep, but the sound of yelling brought everyone awake simultaneously. Everyone scrambled around in a panic, trying to find their weapons while trying to figure out what was going on. Blake could hear the sounds of explosions in the distance as he picked up and checked his assault rifle. They gathered at the edge of the roof and he could see the zombie army was slowly coming their way. Mortar teams were already hitting them, but the effect was like throwing stones into a lake. The sheer numbers coming towards them gave him tinges of futility. The undead weren’t in their weapons range yet, so they took some time to arrange themselves for the battle to come. Lisa handed out some rations and they ate them in silence, watching the battle creep towards them.
It was only a matter of minutes when the first of the zombies started to reach the barbed wire despite the amount of destructive force they were soaking up. There were several soldiers on the ground close to those lines that were selectively picking off the undead who were closest. Isn’t this just the same shit as before? We’re not even making a dent in them. Eventually, we’ll just get pushed back again because we can’t kill them fast enough. Everyone else who were civilians like them that was still not part of the battle yet because they were still out of range were focused on what was unfolding in front of their eyes. The air was thick with a quiet tension that weighed heavily on those who could do nothing but observe the battle.
Blake could barely make out some yelling and then the soldiers on the ground all hit the deck, heads down. “Wha? Oh, shit...”, he thought out loud. He hunkered down as explosions rang out along the barbed wire. They weren’t the powerful mortar explosions he’d been hearing so much of so he looked out along the line. Big puffs of white smoke spaced evenly along the line rose into the air. More interestingly, the entire front lines of zombies had been decimated. Blake looked closer as the smoke cleared and indeed, most of the front ranks of them had been torn to pieces and were motionless. The soldiers were already rising from their prone positions and were picking off any lucky undead that had escaped lethal trauma. It was quiet for a moment, then the defenders started cheering. Then Blake and everyone around him joined in as well. He felt jubilant and reinvigorated. “That was awesome!”, he declared. “Why didn’t we do that before?”
“What’d they do?” Lisa wondered cheerfully.
“I don’t know,” Kim shrugged, smiling broadly. “Do it again!” she yelled out.
After several minutes, more zombies had pushed forward erasing whatever gains had been made. There was another bit of yelling and the soldiers lay down on the ground again. Blake squatted down too, but looked carefully out along the lines, determined to see what was about to happen. Explosions rang out simultaneously along the line punctuated by regularly spaced out puffs of white smoke, the zombies leading the slow charge were driven backward and shredded apart by multiple projectiles. “It looks like they’re all getting hit by a giant shotgun,” he observed.
This tactic was employed eight more times netting the same results, but finally, the soldiers were ordered to fall back to more protected positions as the zombies continued to press forward and into range. “Open fire!” someone called out distantly and all of the teams along the perimeter poured bullets into the advancing horde. “I wonder why they stopped with the shotgun thing,” Blake wondered aloud between reloads.
“Probably ran out of whatever it was,” Lisa shrugged.
After a couple of hours of endless shooting and reloading, Blake realized his shoulder was aching. He paused to move it around in circles while looking out to try to get a sense of how the battle fared. He saw that the barbed wire was being flattened into ineffectiveness by the weight of the corpses that were covering it. Shit. They should get out the flamethrowers and burn the bodies. I’d bet that those corpses will go up like kindling after walking out in the desert all day. As if on cue, several flares arced out from ground level and landed on the bodies covering the barbed wire. Most were right on target and burned an unnatural hot pink all across the line.
His shoulder felt a little better and he realized he had to take a leak. Everyone was engrossed in what they were doing so he decided to go over the side of the roof. Refreshed, he walked back to his position and reloaded his rifle, ready to get back to work.
The flares had done their job, and the frontmost corpses were burning. Several zombies had managed to get over the burning hump and were still walking persistently forward despite being on fire themselves. The defenders were doing their best to stop the flaming zombies from reaching the second line of barbed wire. The helicopter buzzed overhead, its gunner opening up into the masses directly behind the burning line of bodies. Blake focused on the burning figures that emerged from the smoke and tumbled forward to the floor. They would get to their feet or continue to crawl forward, caring not at all that the fire was consuming their bodies.
After a couple more hours had gone by, Blake paused to drink some water from his canteen. The water was warm and not particularly satisfying. He used his sleeve to dab at the sweat on his face and gazed out at the horde. Despite all the bullets, mortars, and fire they didn’t seem to be making a dent in their numbers. Even worse, the fire seemed to be causing the horde to go further left and right rather than continuing to attempt to walk straight through the fire. That isn’t good. Most of this defense relies on the zombies walking straight towards us. Who’d have thought that they would walk around fire? Maybe it’s some primal instinct, like walking or being hungry. Fire is so obvious that even the undead know to avoid it. He settled back into position and saw that the zombies were indeed spreading out to the left and right, the fire acting like repellant.
Over the course of the next two hours, brave soldiers drove out to the sides of the horde and started fires using Molotov Cocktails in an attempt to corral the horde back into walking forward through the barbed wire and positioning them to take the defenders concentrated weapons fire. It took a while to see the results of the tactical damage control, but the result was that they just couldn’t make the fires big enough to effectively channel the horde where they wanted them to go. The zombies flowed into what was eventually going to be a slow pincer maneuver that would eventually encircle their entire position. They continued to shoot long after the sun had set, taking turns eating, and taking short breaks to get their circulation back. When Blake stopped for dinner he opted for sitting under Kim and Bree’s tent to try out a pack of the infamous MRE. He bumbled through the heating up process and took his first bite. It made him think of microwave burritos somehow. This isn’t bad! I’m kind of into this. He looked at Kim and Bree as they ran through their routines of shooting and reloading, repeat. “This is starting to feel pointless,” he observed. “I don’t think we’ve made any impact and we’ve been at it for hours.”
“There’s too many of them,” Bree agreed.
/> “It does feel a little pointless,” Kim observed, “We’re really only delaying the inevitable.”
“What do you think will happen?” he asked between mouthfuls.
“We’ll retreat. Set up another defensive line,” Bree answered.
“But that’s just the same thing we’re doing now,” Kim pointed out.
“People will not want to leave. You have water, electricity, food, and security here,” Bree explained. “And we have weapons and army guys. We’re going to try to hold this place even if it doesn’t look possible.”
“So that means two things will have to happen. Either we evacuate or we stay and have to try to live with the zombies all over the place,” Kim speculated.
“I’d bet you could live here a long time even with zombies all over the depot. As long as you could keep the infected out of the areas that provide power, food, and water you could stay,” Blake surmised.
“That’s assuming that anytime you go outside you don’t get eaten,” Kim said after firing three successive bullets. “And with this many zombies here, eventually you’ll screw up. Not to mention that they’re going to be trying to get in the whole time. If you think about it rationally, it’s not even an option to stay.”
“But if we leave, aren’t we back in the same boat?” Blake said after polishing off his MRE. “We came here because we thought a military base would be able to stand up against the infected. If someplace like this will eventually be overrun, then where could we go?”
“An island?” Bree suggested as she popped a new magazine into her rifle.
“How would we get to one?” Kim asked incredulously, “And besides that, I have to think food is going to be a problem.”
“Even like at Hawaii?” Blake asked between mouthfuls of warm water.
“How do you know that Hawaii hasn’t turned into Jurassic Zombie Park? That many people and they’d been spared infection?” Kim argued.
“Mountain town? Easy to defend,” Bree thought out loud.
“Same problems. Food. Eventually, the zombies will come for you. Worse than that, at the top of a mountain you might not have any place to run to,” Kim said.
“What about like an underground bunker?” Blake asked.
“What, like a fallout shelter?” Kim wanted to know.
“Sure. They’d be stocked with emergency supplies and you probably wouldn’t have to go outside at all. Aren’t they designed to keep you alive until a nuclear winter is over?” Blake said optimistically.
“That’s not a bad idea. But where would you find one? And even if you knew where one was, it’s probably being used. Would you be able to even get in?” Kim asked.
“Those things only work if you don’t let anyone in,” Bree said. “If you let someone in that’s been running around out here you’re taking a chance. And more people means you need to eat and drink more. If I was in a place like that, I wouldn’t be letting anyone inside.”
“Shit. Well, we’ll think of something I guess,” Blake said as a folded his trash into as compact of a wad as he could. He returned to his position and resumed shooting. “Hey, how was whatever you were eating?” Tiffany asked him.
“It was pretty good! You like microwave burritos?”
“Uh, I’m not sure. That wasn’t really part of my regular diet.”
“Oh. Well, maybe you’re in for a treat then.”
fifty-one
Over the course of the next couple of hours, the defense was fairly effective. The mortars kept reducing the piles of bodies into smaller pieces, keeping the main path clear for zombies to continuing walking into their main defenses. Anytime there were points in the line that were in danger of being overrun, the Humvees were ordered over there to reinforce that section. He took a little pride in that the Humvees didn’t roll up to their particular section, taking that to mean they were doing a good job all on their own.
“Excuse me,” came a voice filled with steel from behind them. Everyone turned to see the soldier who had come up to their roof. “I need three of you to come with me.”
“Why? What’s happening?” Kim asked in a level voice.
“I need to relocate some of you, I’ll discuss it on the way,” the soldier said impatiently.
Blake stood up and grabbed his stuff. Tiffany did the same. Bree looked at her sister and Lisa, rising as well. “Be careful,” she said to them and handed Kim her car keys. “Just in case,” she explained.
Kim nodded. “You better be careful too. I can’t be held responsible if I put a big scratch on your door,” Bree grimaced at that but went over to stand with Blake and Tiffany. The soldier nodded and hustled off the roof. They went down and got into the jeep the soldier had jumped into. He turned it around and drove to the left of the perimeter, heading north. “This is the situation:” the soldier began, “We’ve got a new group of bogies that have broken through the fence to the north. They seem to be from a different group than the one that’s been hitting us all day. We’re going to put you up on a roof as we try to contain the situation.”
“What? Another group?” Blake asked, “How big is this one?”
“I don’t know. We’re just reacting to things as they come up. There’s a lot of them, but I don’t think it’s as big as the Vegas one,” the soldier replied, pushing down on the accelerator urging the jeep faster. Blake glanced to the right and saw throngs of zombies, their hands outstretched in a multitude of directions and moving with dark instinct. He looked forward again, suddenly more uneasy about their prospects of being able to repel this attack.
They pulled up to where a group of soldiers and civilians were trying to get another defensive line in place. The soldier came to a rough stop at the base of one of the ammunition storage buildings and hopped out. Everyone else got out and followed the soldier who was already climbing up the ladder on the side of the building. They got to the top and the soldier beckoned them to where he was. Other than a box of ammunition, there wasn’t anything else on the roof. They jogged over to the soldier who pointed to the north and offered his binoculars to them. Blake grabbed it and looked out in the indicated direction. He looked around a bit, but then he saw the mass of people looking especially horrific in the green night vision of the binoculars. The soldier was right, while it wasn’t as many as the main group, it was still the size of a small army. He handed the binoculars to Bree who also took a look. “This group is going to walk right into the middle of the defenders,” Blake thought out loud.
The soldier nodded in agreement. “That’s why we’re setting up a new defensive line, but you’re going to have to buy us some time. Take down as many as you can. Good luck.” He scrambled off the roof and Blake watched him run to join the pair of soldiers that was covering the truck that was laying out the concertina wire. Those coils of barbed wire give me the creeps. Their small band quickly moved into position and started trying to thin out the large mob of undead that was stumbling towards the soldiers. Gunfire rattled out from their roof and from another one somewhere to their left. He kept an eye on the truck as he was shooting at the zombies, and they were making good progress. At the front of the mob, zombies were dropping like they’d been turned off as bullets smashed through their skulls. The others continued forth like nothing was happening, only physically reacting to bullets that missed their mark and slamming uselessly into their bodies. As it went on though, Blake came to realize that their task was not an easy one. When they started, it seemed like they had all the time in the world, the mob was far from the truck, and the truck was making steady progress. Because they were taking the time to aim carefully, their shooting was more effective. Shots generally found their marks, and reloading was efficient, but even though they were in fine form, five minutes is an eternity in combat, and the zombies were now getting dangerously close to the razor wire team. Blake glanced over at Bree and Tiffany. Tiffany looked stressed out. Beads of sweat now glistened across her forehead and tension had crept into her shoulders. Bree seemed nonplussed and c
ontinued to shoot as rapidly as she had been. The tempo from the other roof changed at that moment and their weapons crackled with continuous fire. Blake paused and saw that the hail of bullets was indeed dropping some of the zombies and perhaps hitting more of them, but it seemed like less were dropping. Tiffany let her rip to his right, peer pressured by the other group of shooters to go full auto as well. By this time, the three soldiers that were jogging along next to the truck were stopping to shoot and then jogging to continue their protective escort of the truck. When Blake reloaded next, he took aim and held down the trigger and tried to make small adjustments once he thought he would land kill shots. I think this is better. And if I get lucky with the volume of fire going out, then that’s great too. Plus, this is satisfying. Never knew shooting guns was so much fun. But there were still just too many of them, and despite the increased number of hits, the zombies were starting to overtake the truck. The wind blew into his eyes, and he had to pause to wipe his face. The truck began a turn, selecting a path to keep them from running into an incoming mass of zombies. Blake targeted the zombies in the path of the truck, trusting the soldiers to handle the ones that were a more immediate threat to their persons. A Humvee rushed up, shining a spotlight on the zombies close to the soldiers on foot and the minigun opened up on the zombies that were starting to reach out towards them. Bodies flew apart, unable to stand up to the volume and power of the fire. Gore splattered the soldiers and the truck but otherwise continued on, unmolested. The Humvee had shown up in the nick of time, and with their fire added to the other defenders, the truck had managed to create the desired perimeter and drove off with haste as the soldiers beat a cautious retreat away from where zombies were already getting caught up in the coiled barbed wire. The Humvee continued to mete out large-scale dismemberment and the rooftop defenders rate of fire slowed a little bit, the tension of protecting their wards lifting now that they had completed their jobs.
