“And that’s just the ones we can see,” Bartlett murmured. “God only knows how many of them have already gone past.”
Benton and Barr walked up, joining the others overlooking the street, gawking at the view.
“Command, this is quadrant three,” Korver barked into his radio. “Over.”
There were a few moments of silence, and the Corporal turned to look out the window as well.
“Command,” he tried again, “this is quadrant three, do you copy?”
“We have you,” somebody replied, “what’s your status?”
Korver let out a sigh of relief and then shook his head. “Position was overrun, have taken shelter one block south,” he explained. “Preparing to engage the enemy. Be advised that the team at quadrant four was taken out.”
“Do you have a count?” came the reply.
The Corporal sucked in a deep breath. “Ten, give or take.”
“No exact count?” command asked, sounding indignant.
Korver sighed. “Negative,” he replied. “However, a survivor from that squad ran through our position, so it’s likely he pulled the runners in our direction.”
“Noted,” command replied. “We are sending reinforcements to your position. The line is being pushed north too much for comfort, so your orders are to take as many as you can out, and hold them there.”
The Corporal rubbed his forehead. “ETA on reinforcements?” he asked.
“Thirty minutes,” came the reply.
Korver nodded. “Understood,” he said. “Korver out.” He pocketed the radio and stepped up to the window, looking both ways to the north and south. “Looks like a few dozen of those things have gotten past this point, but it’s still too dark to see the south past the intersection.”
“How do you want to play it?” Galindo asked.
The Corporal looked around the room as he contemplated, seeing nothing but clothing racks. He stepped over to the nearest one and threw the overpriced dresses on the floor. He grabbed the rack and shook it a bit, testing the sturdy piece of metal that stretched about six feet.
“Benton, give me a hand with this,” he said, and when the Private approached, they picked it up and moved it over to the front door, pushing it up against it. “Door is sturdy enough, solid wood,” Korver mused. “But those things can break through if they bunch up. Benton, Barr, start looking around for heavy things to shore this up. Bartlett, Sellers, start finding us some weapons that don’t require ammo.”
Galindo cocked his head. “What about me?”
The Corporal raised a hand. “We’re going to build us a barricade.”
CHAPTER TWO
In a matter of ten minutes, Korver and Galindo had moved most of the heavy clothing racks over to the windows, and adjusted the heights of them to form an extension of the wooden wall. With the added metal, the barricade came chest high, meaning the zombies would still have a tough time reaching through.
“That’s some quality work there, Corporal,” Galindo said as he stepped back, swiping his palms together.
Korver nodded. “It’ll do it a pinch,” he replied. “At least I hope it will.”
Sellers and Bartlett came out of the back room carrying armfuls of metal posts that had been designed to snap onto the racks that were now pressed against the walls. They dropped them onto the ground, the loud metallic clang echoing throughout the room.
“This is all we could find,” Sellers declared.
Korver picked up one, feeling the heft in his hand. “Got some solid weight to it,” he murmured. He inspected the end, seeing that it was empty but had a spot for something to be inserted. “A shame we don’t have the blade attachments for it,” he joked.
Bartlett smiled wryly and reached into her pocket, pulling out a six-inch long insert. The extended portion was considerably thinner, with a couple of metal notches on it where clothes would hang. She stepped over and slid it into the end of the post with a sharp click.
“It’s not a spike,” she said, “but it’s solid metal and thin enough that we should be able to punch through the skull.”
Korver inspected it and nodded approvingly. “I think you might be right there…” he trailed off, and turned back to the window, which now had the attention of a hundred or so zombies. They’d been filing over with each bump and clang of the barricade building procedures. “Hope you’re ready for a workout, because we have a hell of a crowd waiting on us.”
Benton and Barr emerged from the back storeroom carrying a heavy case, struggling to get it to the front. When they got there, they dropped it on top of the rack base by the door, joining several other various objects.
“Don’t know how well that’s going to hold up, but it’s what we got,” Benton declared.
As if on cue, one of the windows cracked under the pressure from the zombies.
“Looks like we’re going to find out,” Korver said, holding up his metal rod. “Get your weapons and get in position.”
Everyone picked up one of the rods, and Bartlett passed out the extended puncture tips. As they did this, the window on the far right shattered, and rotted arms reached inside. The jagged glass ripped through their limbs, but they didn’t seem to care, being as dead and hungry as they were.
Bartlett and Sellers rushed over and began jamming their weapons right into zombie heads. It took them a few tries to find the right angle, but soon Sellers was able to deliver a kill shot, punching right through the decrepit forehead of a ghoul.
“Put the bar on the metal racks and just thrust forward,” he called. “Don’t worry about aiming, you’ll hit something!”
Bartlett nodded and rested her own bar on the rack, and shoved it forward with all of her might. Despite her tiny frame, the thrust went between two creatures and embedded into the eye socket of a skull in the second row.
“There you go,” Sellers said with a grin. “Now just do that a couple hundred more times!”
She shot him a playful middle finger and then geared up for another thrust.
On the other side of the room, the other four soldiers had taken up positions at their windows.
Tired of waiting, Korver readied his weapon. “Break the glass, let’s get killing!” he bellowed, and thrust through, shattering the window and driving the rod right into a rotted skull.
The rest of the team followed suit, beginning their assault on the ghouls outside.
The fighting was tense, the creatures reaching through as far as they could and nearly grabbing hold of the soldiers trying to keep them at bay. One monster managed to grip Galindo’s weapon, and he let out a roar, shaking it back and forth.
“Motherfucker,” he yelled, “give me my spear back!”
He finally wrestled it free of the death grip, and slammed it through the zombie’s eye socket, letting out a victory shout before continuing his assault.
As the minutes ticked by, zombies dropped by the dozens. Some soldiers began to tire out, needing a breather to rest their thrusting arms. As they dropped their limbs to give them a rest, Korver continued to dispatch ghouls with precision and speed.
“Keep pushing!” he yelled. “This ain’t break time, bitches!”
The pep talk fired up the group, and they went back at it, pushing hard. Bartlett turned and saw the front door hinges starting to warp, and then the to one snapped free of the wall.
“The door!” she screamed. “Get the door!”
Galindo was closest, and glanced over, eyes widening as he dropped his weapon. He threw his full weight into the door as the latch cracked open. Even with his full body weight and the makeshift door jamb, the zombies were too powerful, and the door inched open.
“Need a hand over here!” he bellowed as rotted arms began to reach through the gap, flailing around for food.
Barlett dropped her rod and rushed over to the door, drawing her handgun. She inched as close as she could to the opening, aiming through the crack and firing. She shot quickly but deliberately, dropping every head she
could get a clean view of.
But even with the reduced stress, the door continued to creep open.
“Benton!” Bartlett screamed.
The Private beside Korver rushed over to help with the door. He threw himself beside Galindo, helping to hold it at bay.
Bartlett continued to shoot, while the other three held their own at the windows.
“Shit, they’re starting to get too high!” Sellers cried, and one of the zombies managed to flip over to the inside, having used its dead brethren as a stepping stone. Rather than take the chance, he pulled his handgun and fired one round into the back of its head before resuming his stabbing through the window with the rod.
The others were soon facing similar problems with zombies tumbling inside. Soon enough, the thud of metal to skull was replaced wholly with handgun fire.
Korver’s blood rushed in his ears, the bleakness of the situation setting in, and looked out towards the back of the horde to see if they’d even made a dent. To his surprise, the ghouls at the back were wandering in the other direction, and then a few dropped dead.
“Reinforcements are here!” he cried. “Keep fighting!”
The group summoned an extra bit of strength, changing their strategy from kills to one of outright defense. They used the rods to shove zombies back outside rather than wait for them to get close enough to kill, hoping to stave off the horde long enough for the soldiers outside to take care of them.
The gunfire outside intensified, and the small team held the ghouls at bay as soldiers moved in a single line, shoulder to shoulder, marching towards the store and wiping out all the zombies. As the crowd thinned, several soldiers with machetes stepped up and went to work, slicing and dicing rotted flesh.
As the ghouls moved away from the doors and windows of the store, the group inside began to relax. They sagged, breathing heavily, trying to steady their pounding hearts.
“You okay?” Sellers asked, putting a hand on Bartlett’s shoulder.
She nodded and checked her handgun, finding the mag empty. “Yeah, I’m good,” she replied. “Not looking forward to fighting hand to hand the rest of the day, but I’m good.”
He patted her on the back, and they leaned against the wall to catch their breath.
Korver approached the door and motioned for Galindo and Benton to help him move the barricade out of the way. They shoved everything aside, and when it was clear, he pulled aside the busted door, leading the team outside into the street.
It was total carnage in front of the shop. The bodies by the windows were piled several high, dark blood pooling beneath the corpses. Rotted limp corpses were strewn everywhere, limbs sticking out every which way.
A large man in protective gear walked up to them as the special forces team waltzed through the mess, making sure all the ghouls were dead and dispatched.
“Your team okay?” he asked as he removed his mask.
Korver nodded. “We’re down four, but the rest of us are okay,” he replied.
“I’m sorry for your losses…” the soldier paused expectantly.
“Corporal Korver,” he offered.
“Korver, okay,” he nodded firmly. “I’m Sergeant Bauer.” He looked around, appraising the piles of corpses around the store. “Looks like despite your losses, your team managed to do some damage.”
The Corporal nodded. “That we did, sir,” he replied.
“Is your team operational?” Bauer asked.
Korver inclined his head back and forth. Despite their exhaustion, he knew they’d be in tip-top in short order.
“Physically we are,” he explained. “But we’re real short on ammunition.”
Bauer nodded. “I can help with that,” he replied, and squeezed a small radio receiver on his vest. “Need an ammo resupply on my position ASAP.” He turned to the Corporal. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Wouldn’t turn down a hot meal,” Korver replied with a small smile.
Bauer laughed and shook his head. “Good try, Corporal,” he said, wagging a finger. “Afraid that’s not in the cards for any of us for the time being. Got a lot of work ahead of us before that happens.”
As he finished his sentence, there was a gigantic explosion in the distance, startling Korver and his team. Bauer didn’t even blink an eye as they all looked to the south, the sky lighting up from the flames.
“What the hell was that?” the Corporal breathed.
The Sergeant grinned. “Bringing the fight to the enemy, Corporal,” he explained, spreading his arms. “Which is what I need your team to do. Let’s step inside for a minute.”
He waved for them to follow him into the store and headed towards the back counter. He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and spread it out on the flat surface. It was a satellite view of the area, and he pointed to it as he spoke.
“Okay, we’re here, just south of the water,” he began. “We have a force twenty thousand strong marching down the interstate and headed straight for the center of downtown. Now, we have sniper teams set up on several downtown rooftops to act as distractions, but we need another, which is where your team comes in.” He tapped on the paper. “Your target is Freeway Park, approximately two and a half miles south of us. It’s perfectly situated on the interstate, with the ten story building overlooking it. We have reports of a massive horde moving up the interstate, and we need to slow it down.”
Korver blinked at the page. “I’m glad you have faith in us,” he said slowly, “but there’s only six of us. How are we supposed to distract a horde large enough to threaten our main force?”
“You’re the tip of the spear,” Bauer explained. “We have another, larger team moving in from the east, but they are hours out. Your job is to get there and set the stage so they can just waltz in and start firing. We’re going to be cutting it close as it is, so anything you can do is going to help out. Questions?”
The Corporal cocked his head. “If this horde is such a threat,” he drawled, “then why aren’t they using the Apache’s to just mini-gun them into goo?”
“Because they aren’t densely packed enough yet,” the Sergeant replied, shaking his head. “There is a finite amount of ammo, so they are being very selective about their strafing runs. If you can help get them packed up enough, they’ll be able to take them out.”
Benton leaned forward on the counter, studying the map. “Why not just let the main force take care of it?” he asked.
“Simple logistics,” Bauer explained. “Twenty thousand troops don’t do much good when you can only get fifty to the line at a time. Plus, all it would take is a few runners getting a foothold, and it would be chaos.” He paused as the Private nodded in agreement. “There’s a lot to get done,” he prompted. “Any other questions?”
Galindo raised his hand. “Yeah, what happened to the team that was originally supposed to do this?” he asked.
“Pretty sure you met them earlier when some of them ran up on your position,” Bauer replied. “Now it’s next man up.”
Galindo stared at him with wide eyes, not even masking the horror on his face. This was about to be a bad situation, and the team that had been equipped for it had already fallen.
Bauer held up a hand and then pressed her finger to his ear to listen to a message coming into his ear bud. He nodded and lowered his hand.
“Okay, your supplies will be here in five,” he said. “It’ll also have your contact info for the eastern support team so you can coordinate their arrival. You have a map of the area?”
Korver nodded, patting his vest pocket. “Yes, sir.”
“Good,” the Sergeant replied. “Be safe, move quick, and I’ll see you when this is over.”
The Corporal nodded as Bauer put his helmet back on and stepped out onto the street, leaving the six soldiers alone. None of them said a word, standing in somber silence for a few moments to contemplate what they were about to walk into.
CHAPTER THREE
As the sun came up, the group hea
ded to the south. The streets were littered with the dead, chopped, shot, and mangled beyond recognition. To the southwest, the plume of smoke from the building detonation continued to hang in the air. The troops were careful to step around the dead, just in case any of them were still hanging on to their putrid existence.
“Man, those special forces guys really know how to fuck stuff up,” Galindo murmured as he sidestepped a particularly disassembled zombie.
Barr shook her head. “Yeah, not sure why we’re the ones being sent on a suicide mission when they are much better equipped to handle it,” he added.
“Probably because we’re expendable grunts and they’re not,” Sellers quipped.
Bartlett rolled her eyes. “Thanks buddy,” she drawled, “always one for the uplifting banter.”
“Just calling it like I see it,” he replied with a shrug. “Just like chess, you don’t send your queen rushing behind enemy lines. That’s the pawn’s job.”
She shook her head. “Again, so uplifting,” she replied.
“Look at the bright side,” Benton cut in, “at least we’re out here enjoying the sun. We could be cooped up in a shack, surrounded by thousands of those things.”
“Day’s still young,” Korver said dryly.
The team let out a bit of a chuckle, each and every one of them trying to keep their spirits up and their minds off of the incredible danger they were about to be in.
At the end of the road, Korver pulled out his map. He studied it, noting some developed areas running right along the interstate, with a park a few blocks to the east of it.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Fight our way through civilization? Or take a stroll through the park?”
Galindo raised his hand. “Park all day long, Corporal,” he said firmly.
The rest of the troops nodded and voiced their approval for that plan.
“Park it is,” Korver said, folding up the map and putting it back into his pocket.
He led the group east a few blocks, finding the beginning of the park. They were cautious in the parking lot as there were a few cars there, which meant at one point there’d been patrons at the park.
Dead America The Northwest Invasion | Book 11 | Dead America: Seattle [Part 9] Page 2