“I’d much rather you do it here than in my truck,” Tommy replied with a half smile.
Terrell chuckled. “Valid point, sir,” he replied. “I’ll be right back.”
“Just go down that hallway past the kitchen,” Tommy said, pointing. “It’ll be the last door on your right.”
The Captain got up and worked his way to the back of the restaurant, and as he entered the hallway the front door opened. He glanced back around the corner to see several armed men coming inside, looking around. They rushed over to Tommy, and exchanged a few low words that he couldn’t hear.
When Tommy pointed in his direction, his stomach sank. Shit, they must have found the training grounds, he thought, and didn’t want to stick around to find out. He turned and hurried to the back door at the end of the hallway.
Before he could open it, it opened from the other side, and he caught a glimpse of an arm in military fatigues, so he immediately kicked the door.
The door flew back, catching the man in the face, cracking his nose and sending him to the ground. Terrell burst outside where another armed man stood, but before he could raise his assault rifle, the Captain smacked the barrel down and chopped him in the throat.
The sudden attack caused the man to squeeze the trigger, the bullet harmlessly hitting the ground. He struck the man’s face, dropping him to the dirt. He grabbed the assault rifle and rushed off towards the warehouse that he’d seen the military men heading into earlier.
The soldier on the ground with the broken nose shakily lifted his weapon and fired a few shots, but he missed badly. The noise forced Terrell to turn and fire a few bullets back, hitting the door just above the gunman. This at least bought him enough time to get to the neighboring house and under cover.
Before he could even catch his breath, an alarm echoed throughout the town. He broke out from his hiding spot, rushing the warehouse. He knew it was risky, but this mission would be useless if he didn’t know what was in there.
He moved up a few houses when gunfire erupted from behind him. The cheap siding exploded, sending shards of material raining down on him. He darted up to the front door, smashing through it and into the empty house.
Terrell ran right to the back sliding glass door, firing a couple of rounds through it so that he didn’t have to break stride. The glass shattered and he leapt into the backyard, seeing a figure to his left. He raised his weapon to fire, but held off when he saw it was just a few young kids, frozen with fear in a sandbox.
“Lay down beside the house, now!” he barked, and the kids screamed and rushed for cover.
The pause gave his pursuers a chance to catch up, and one of them came around the side of the house. Terrell fired a warning show in the air, as he was worried about the kids that were still in the line of fire. The gunfire startled his pursuer, causing him to duck back around the house.
The Captain ran up the block, darting between houses as bullets continued to whiz by him and hit the structures he ducked behind. As he approached the next block, where the warehouse was, he was greeted by gunfire coming from that direction too, causing him to dive behind yet another house. He aimed back in the direction he had come from, waiting for someone to come around the corner.
He didn’t have to wait long. An overly ambitious pursuer came around the corner, and Terrell immediately squeezed the trigger. A single round penetrated the man’s gut, dropping him. His companion stopped behind cover, and aimed and fired towards him.
They exchanged fire as Terrell ran down the back side of the house. When he rounded the bend, he immediately turned and fired blindly, catching a few gunmen by surprise and forcing them behind cover.
He didn’t stop moving, running up the road towards the warehouse. He hip fired as he crossed the street, pinning down the two soldiers still shooting at him. When he reached the other side of the road, he took cover behind a tree, peeking out.
The warehouse had a large open door on the back wall. He broke cover and rushed towards it, only to see half a dozen armed men emerge. He aimed in their general direction and fired, causing them to scatter. This bought him enough time to get across the side street and dive behind a tree.
Terrell peeked out again and saw a large metal structure inside the warehouse, looking similar to Clinton’s own bomb. There were several men loading up stuff into it, although he couldn’t see what it was.
That’s gotta be it, he thought bitterly, but didn’t have much time to contemplate further as bullets peppered the tree and the ground around it. Terrell looked around, back down the street away from the warehouse and saw the outer wall.
He knew this was all of the information he was going to get, so he broke cover, rushing for the wall. As he did, he flipped the assault rifle into three-round bursts and started randomly firing behind him. The panic fire wasn’t accurate, but it was enough to buy him a few seconds to get ahead. When he reached the edge of the house he ducked behind it, moving along in the yard.
When he got to the next house, he came around the corner, firing a few more rounds for cover before the gun clicked empty.
“Shit,” he muttered, but held on to the empty weapon as he sprinted for the wall. When he reached the street running along it, he looked frantically for a path up to the top.
There was a wooden platform built up about thirty yards away, with a ramp that went straight up. At the top of the ten foot ramp was a lone guard who stared back towards the warehouse where the gunfire had come from.
Terrell rushed the platform, the empty rifle pointed right at the man. As soon as he hit the planks, the guard stared at him with wide eyes.
“Drop it now!” the Captain barked, and the guard immediately dropped his gun, raising his hands as Terrell rushed him. Three-quarters of the way up, pursuing gunmen came around the corner and began firing at him. Bullets hit the wall and platform, and he had no choice but to toss the gun and reach the surrendering guard.
He hit the man in full stride, grabbing him by the shirt as his momentum carried them off of the platform. As they fell, Terrell put his shoulder into the man’s chest, who screamed all the way down. They hit the ground with a thud, the guard’s ribs crunching beneath them. Terrell grabbed the handgun from his holster as he gasped for air, just as the first gunman reached the top of the platform.
The Captain aimed and squeezed off several rounds, catching the gunman in the leg. This gave him enough time to run off into the tree-lined neighborhood beside the town. As he darted through the trees, bullets peppered the area, but none hit their target.
Terrell finally ducked beside a house to catch his breath about a hundred yards away from the outer wall of town. He looked back to see a few gunmen had jumped down to join their injured comrade, creating a perimeter around him. He waited for a beat, staring at them, hoping they would be content letting him go.
Alas, it wasn’t to be, as three men in military garb moved swiftly in his direction.
“Seriously guys,” he huffed under his breath, “haven’t you had enough of me today?”
Terrell watched as they broke off from each other, jetting out diagonally to cover several houses at once, their assault rifles in the ready fire position. He contemplated his actions as one of them headed directly towards him.
One shot and his buddies will be on me, he thought. Not to mention his friends back at town. He shook his head and pulled his knife, knowing this would be the only way to make a clean escape.
Terrell watched as the man reached the end of the first house, quickly darting around the corner with his gun ready. The Captain got into position at the front end of the building, knife in hand just above the bushes. He listened closely as the soldier’s footsteps got closer.
As soon as he saw the barrel of the gun emerge, he struck, lunging forward and driving the tip of the blade into the man’s throat.
The enemy immediately dropped the gun to grab his wound. Terrell grabbed the gun and threw the man to the ground between the bushes and the house. He didn’t
wait around, immediately running towards the next row of houses, pausing only briefly before running to the next. At the sight of an open back door, he ran into the house and ducked for cover.
He looked back towards where he’d come from, looking as far to either side as he could. He saw his other two pursuers, checking around the corners of the house, looking into windows for him. His chest heaved, still winded form the fall and the running.
Why aren’t you running, man? he chastised himself. You’re ahead of them, get moving! He motivated himself off of the floor and to the front door of the house. When he opened it, there was a zombie directly in front of him, who turned and lumbered towards him.
Terrell didn’t attack, rather he grabbed the creature, threw it back through the open door and slammed it shut. He rushed off to the next house, darting around the side of it for cover. The slamming door might have given him away, but at least the zombie inside might have been just enough to buy him some time.
He hid as he saw two soldiers converge on the house, moving in tandem up to the closed door. One of them threw it open, and the zombie lunged for his throat. They tumbled to the ground, and his friend had to pry the creature off of him. They both opened fire on the ghoul, sending several rounds into it.
Terrell prepared to move, but one of them pulled out a walkie-talkie. They chattered into it for a moment before the two of them headed back towards town.
The Captain took a knee, exhausted and banged up, but thankful that they’d called off the search, at least for now. Don’t get too comfortable, he told himself, it’s still a hell of a hike to the gas station.
Terrell groaned and heaved himself to his feet, staggering off towards the meeting spot, several miles away. He walked slowly starting out, so he could recover his stamina before what was sure to still be a shitshow of a day.
CHAPTER NINE
It took a good hour or so for Terrell to find his way to the gas station the next exit up. While he had recovered from the fight and fall, he was being extra cautious. Not only wanting to remain hidden from any patrols that might have been out looking for him, but not wanting a zombie encounter either.
He finally made it within view of the station, and took a knee on the side of the road by some trees. He studied the area for a bit, not seeing the SUV, which wasn’t surprising. But at least he was relieved to see no signs of conflict.
Terrell came out from cover, and moved quickly across the road towards the station, a convenience store type building with a few pumps out front. He reached the front door, opening it slowly and inching his way inside while remaining low in case of trouble.
The shelves were mostly bare, having been looted long ago. As he gently shut the door, a familiar voice spoke up.
“Beginning to worry about you, Cap,” Coleman said. “Sounded like a whole lot of gunfire a while ago.”
Terrell stood up, heading over to Coleman and Miles, who were lounging comfortably on the back cooler.
“Yeah, took them a little bit, but my cover got blown,” he admitted. “At least it was after lunch.”
Miles groaned. “Aww man, you got lunch?” he whined. “No doggy bag for us?”
Terrell glanced at the shelf beside him, seeing the only thing left a box of vegan granola bars. He grabbed one and tossed it over. “Sorry bud, this is all we got.”
Miles looked at the packaging and ten tossed it aside with a scoff. “Pretty sure it would be more appetizing to eat the wrapper,” he said.
“So what did you find out?” Coleman asked, leaning forward.
“Nothing good,” Terrell admitted, taking a seat. “They have a small army of ex-military and the weapons to properly arm them.”
Coleman winced. “Guessing we’re not talking hunting rifles and shotguns?”
Terrell handed over the assault rifle he’d taken from the last gunman. His companion looked it over and let out a low whistle.
“Where in the hell did they find these?” he asked.
Terrell rolled his eyes. “One of them fed me a bullshit story about finding a military supply truck,” he said. “My guess is this is some of the stuff they took from the base before we got there.”
Coleman handed it over to Miles, who shook his head.
“If they got these and the people who know how to use them, we’re in some trouble,” he said as he inspected the gun.
Coleman sighed. “That’s an understatement.”
“They also have a fertilizer bomb,” Terrell added.
Miles’ eyes widened. “Like ours?”
“Bigger,” the Captain said. “Guess they had the same idea we did when it came to the Fayetteville horde.”
Coleman groaned. “Guessing reacquiring the nitrate is out of the question?”
“Not unless you want to fight an army,” Terrell replied.
His companion pursed his lips. “So, what can we do?” he asked.
“Running to the hills doesn’t sound like a bad option at the moment,” Terrell said.
“Other than the obvious,” Coleman quipped. “I mean, can we detonate it there?”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the trio.
Terrell finally broke it. “Lots of issues with that,” he said. “Besides, getting in the undetected, we’d need a detonator.”
“I can handle that,” Miles said, raising his hand. “I’ve been building one back in town that I can use.”
The Captain clenched his jaw. “The other problem is that there are a lot of civilians.”
“No offense Cap,” Coleman said slowly, “but you didn’t seem too concerned with civilians this morning.”
Terrell took a deep breath. “Yeah… wasn’t my proudest moment, that’s for sure,” he said. “Just… kinda lost my head after Walter, you know?”
“You don’t owe us an explanation,” Coleman said gently. “We get it.”
“It’s no big deal with me either, Cap,” Miles added.
Terrell let out a deep sigh of relief. “Appreciate it, fellas,” he said honestly. “Means a lot to me.”
“Still,” Miles mused, “we could detonate it there. I can put a hard timer on it, give people ten minutes to get to safety.”
Coleman wrinkled his nose. “That’s a lot of time for someone to disarm it,” he said.
“Not with the way I’m going to set it up,” Miles quipped.
His partner cocked his head. “Touché.”
“I’m not a fan of the plan,” Terrell put in, “but at the moment we don’t really have another viable one. How long until you can have that detonator ready?”
Miles shrugged. “Four, maybe five hours?”
“Well, let’s build it and go from there,” the Captain said. “Worst case, we’ll have an ace up our sleeve.”
Coleman nodded. “Not the worst plan I’ve heard.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m glad my military career ended early,” Miles said, and the trio chuckled, breaking the tension a little.
“Yeah, I’ve got stories,” Coleman began.
Terrell pointed a finger at him. “You shut up now, that’s an order.”
His friend whispered loudly, “His plans,” while playfully motioning to his Captain.
“I heard that!” Terrell declared.
The trio headed out of the gas station and back towards Clinton, trying to ignore the heavy storm cloud hovering over them.
CHAPTER TEN
The sun began to set over the town of Clinton. There were a few more guards up on the towers than usual, at Terrell’s behest. Miles slaved away in his workshop at a complicated trigger device as Coleman watched.
Terrell entered and crossed his arms, standing next to the sniper. “How are we looking?” he asked.
“About fifteen minutes closer from when you asked me fifteen minutes ago,” Miles replied, voice terse.
The Captain backed off a bit, leaning against the counter that Coleman was sitting on.
“What about you, Cap?” Coleman asked. “Figure out a way for
us to get in undetected?”
Terrell chuckled. “Don’t suppose you know how to hang glide, do you?” he asked.
“Why, do you have a hang glider?” Coleman cocked his head.
The Captain raised his eyebrows at him, shooting him a playful look, and they both laughed.
Miles raised his head, flipping up the magnifying monocle from his eye. “Unless you boys know a good plastic surgeon, I’d rather not blow my fingers off,” he snapped. “Would you mind taking that outside?”
The supervising duo lowered their heads, whispering “Sorry,” in sync, and quietly left, leaving Miles to his delicate work. As they emerged into the evening, torches were being lit in the town square to illuminate it for dinner. Ruth and Jane were hard at work on their fire, with a few people already congregating for food.
“It’s a shame it’s come to this,” Terrell said with a sigh. “So many nice people, just wanting to live life. I almost feel a little responsible for it getting to this point.”
Coleman shook his head. “Cap, without us, this place would have been overrun weeks ago,” he said. “If nothing else, we bought them some time.”
Terrell appreciated the sentiment, even if he didn’t one hundred percent agree. As they stood together enjoying the cooler evening air, Xavier approached.
“Gentlemen,” he greeted and clasped his hands behind his back as he reached them. “Was today a fruitful expedition?”
Coleman shrugged. “We got some vital information, even if it wasn’t ideal,” he said.
“And you, Captain?” Xavier asked. “How was your day of violence?”
Terrell rolled his eyes, but didn’t meet his gaze. “Oh you know, nothing unnecessary.”
“That’s good to know,” the old man quipped.
The Captain sighed. “In all seriousness, there was bloodshed, but in every instance, they attacked first.”
“Except for the people they were training to breach our town defenses,” Coleman muttered.
Xavier motioned to the walls. “I was wondering why we had extra guards on duty this evening.”
Dead America The Third Week Box Set | Books 7-12 Page 26