DEAD AMERICA
THE SECOND WEEK
BOOK 12
HEARTLAND PART 5
BY DEREK SLATON
CHAPTER ONE
Day Zero +14
The moon sat high in the sky, full and illuminating the thousand soldiers below prepping their gear.
“Sergeant, is your team ready to go?” Captain Kersey asked, as he glanced over the idle train awaiting the troops. The engineer walked the length of it, doing one final inspection before they loaded up.
Sergeant Copeland nodded, motioning to his three-man team. “Just give the order, sir.”
“This is Corporal Bretz, and Private Kowalski,” Kersey said, stepping aside to introduce two of his men. “They were on the roof with the other survivors and have the intel for your mission.” He motioned to the Corporal.
“Gentlemen,” Bretz said, clasping his hands in front of him. “According to the info we have, there are survivors in apartment twelve-eighteen. Apparently the building was heavily infested with zombies, so they’ve been stuck in that apartment since this thing began.”
Corporal Dawson raised his hand, clipping his set of night vision goggles around his stocky neck. “Do we even know if they’re still alive?”
“According to the survivors in our building,” Kowalski put in, “they’ve been contacting each other via handwritten notes on whiteboards, but they haven’t heard from them in a day or so.”
Copeland checked his rifle and slung it over his broad, dark shoulders. “Any other survivors in the building?” he asked.
“Unknown, but probably,” Bretz replied. “You’d like to think some other people were smart enough to keep the doors closed when this hit.”
Copeland attached his night-vision goggles to their passive position. “Incursion point?”
“Through the roof,” the Corporal replied. “Unfortunately, there isn’t a landing zone, so you’re going to have to rappel down.”
The Sergeant grinned. “Not our first rodeo, so that won’t be an issue.”
“Definitely our first time rappelling down out of a commercial sightseeing chopper, though,” Dawson added.
Copeland shook his head. “Still, it won’t be a problem.”
“We don’t know the condition of the survivors, but there’s a good chance they haven’t eaten in a while, so we’re including a care package to meet their immediate needs,” Bretz continued.
Dawson raised his hand again. “Make sure there are some med kits in there,” he said. “Mack here was studying to be a nurse before he decided it was much more fun to hurt people than heal them.”
Private Mack sighed, his blonde all-american hair glittering in the moonlight as he shook his head. “You know, you can just say I went to med school,” he said dryly.
“Yeah, it’s not nearly as funny, though,” Dawson replied.
Kersey checked his watch. “Sergeant Copeland, you and your team have four hours to clear this building,” he said, commanding attention. “We’re making a push for the Riverfront Park island at dawn, and I need you there to lead the assault.”
“With pleasure, sir,” Copeland replied with a salute.
The Captain nodded. “An APC will meet you at the front of the lobby just after dawn, at which point you and your team will need to rendezvous with the invasion force. They’re coming in by train, and the tracks are a few blocks from the hotel.”
“Yes, sir,” Copeland said, adjusting his belt. “We studied our maps your assistant gave us, so we know where we’re going.”
Kersey nodded again, satisfied. “Any questions?”
“What about the Apache?” the Sergeant asked.
“We will have it in the air and awaiting your orders,” Kersey said.
“Thank you, sir,” Copeland replied and held up a clenched fist. “We will make this happen.”
“I have no doubt, Sergeant,” Kersey assured him.
“All right boys, let’s load in!” Copeland bellowed to his team. He tossed his bag in and then motioned forward. Dawson clambered up first, his broad frame taking up the whole door, followed by the leaner but still jock-type Mack. Bringing up the rear was Private Moss, the youngest of the three at a green twenty-five, and he paused at the pilot’s barking.
“We doin’ this, or what?” Benny snapped, sounding halfway between irritated and excited.
Copeland gave Moss a smack on the shoulder, urging him inside, and then hopped in himself. “Fire it up, we’re good to go!” He waved down at Kersey as they lifted off into the night.
“So,” Kowalski said as they watched the chopper disappear, “what now, Captain?”
Kersey took a deep breath and waved for the duo to follow. “Back to the command center,” he said. “There’s a lot to discuss.”
They took in the hustle and bustle of men and gear and hubbub in silence as they made their way back to the command room. It was a hi-tech setup, with four stations. Each had one big screen except for the fourth which had a three-screen setup.
A lanky, geeky looking guy by the name of David Frazier rolled back and forth on his office chair between stations. As the group entered, he turned around to face them, taking a long slurp from his gigantic energy drink before grinning at them.
“Captain,” he said.
Kersey motioned between his two companions. “David, these are two of my squad, Bretz and Kowalski.” There was some handshaking and hellos, and then the Captain motioned to the empty stations. “Where are your underlings?”
“Things have been pretty quiet since the sun went down,” David explained, “so I sent them to get some rest in one of the neighboring rooms. Feels like it’s going to be another long day and they need to be fresh.”
“What about you?” Kersey asked.
David held up his can of energy and shook it with a wink. “I kind of procured a case of this before we left on this assignment. I’m good to go for quite a while.”
“Any chance I can grab one of those?” Kowalski asked.
Bretz raised an eyebrow. “Can you shoot while jittery?”
“Better than I can when I’m asleep,” the Private shot back.
David reached into a duffel bag next to his station and pulled out a can, tossing it over to Kowalski. The Private popped the tab and held it up, David clinking his against it before they both took a deep draught.
“Can you pull up the full map of Spokane?” Kersey asked, crossing his arms.
David spun around in his chair and hammered away at the keyboard of his central station. A full-scale map of Spokane and the surrounding suburbs popped up.
Kowalski let out a long, low whistle. “Whew, that is a whole lot of ground to cover.”
“Pre-war, the metro area had roughly half a million people in it,” David reported.
The Private let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “Ain’t no way in hell we’re clearing this in a day with only fifteen hundred men.”
“Don’t worry, we aren’t killing half a million zombies today,” Kersey assured him, clapping him on the shoulder. “Our mission for the day is to break up the hordes, so that our men can march in from the east. We do just like we did yesterday in Hayden, clear the streets, secure the structures with zombies in them, and we spend a few days sending clear teams door to door.”
Bretz nodded thoughtfully. “I imagine that’ll go a whole lot faster once the main army gets up here.”
“Speaking of that,” Kowalski said, straightening up, “any timetable on them getting here?”
Kersey shook his head. “No clue, but I’m supposed to talk w
ith General Stephens this evening to give him an update on the battle. I’m sure the topic will come up.”
“Okay Captain.” Bretz took a deep breath. “So how we playing this?”
Kersey put a hand on David’s shoulder. “Can you please pull up Verdale?” he asked.
Their geeky friend punched some keys and the map zoomed in on a suburb running along the interstate to the east of town. It was several miles away from the main area of Spokane, densely populated with homes and what looked like a few businesses.
“This is Verdale,” Kersey said, waving a hand towards the screen, “a lovely little suburb that is currently home to tens of thousands of undead monsters. This area needs to be clear before we can push on into the heart of Spokane with the bulk of our forces.” He tapped David on the shoulder and pointed to the far right side of the map. After some more enthusiastic key punching, the drone zoomed in on a bridge interchange on the interstate that was surrounded by absolutely nothing. “This is our defense line. Johnson and his team are going to redeploy from the state line to this bridge, blocking up the road underneath it with trucks and forming a fire line at the top. It’s on the far east side of Verdale, so it’s a perfect staging area.”
Kowalski’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “Is Johnson’s team doing okay?” he asked, not even bothering to keep the curiosity out of his voice.
“Let’s call him and find out,” Kersey said. “Need a timeline update anyway.”
Without even being asked, David pulled up the communications and connected the team with Johnson, setting it on the speaker at the bottom of the screen.
“Go for Johnson,” a voice came through loud and clear, shots ringing out in the background as he spoke.
“Johnson, what’s your status?” Kersey asked.
“Oh, hey Captain,” he came back, “no matter how many of these buggers we shoot, they still just keep comin’. Although in the last hour or so, they have started to slow a bit.”
The Captain nodded. “ETA on being able to move out?” he asked.
“Best guess is in a few hours,” Johnson replied, “but I feel pretty confident that we’ll be good to go by dawn at the latest.”
Kersey pursed his lips and then leaned forward. “Okay, I’m going to send another team your way close to dawn, and they’ll have more ammo for you.”
“What, no breakfast?” Johnson replied, and a chuckle rippled through the room.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Kersey said. “I’ll have your new orders to you before they get there.”
“Appreciate it, Cap,” Johnson replied, and there was a dull click as the line went quiet.
The Captain tapped David on the shoulder. “Super center, please,” he instructed, and the map moved west about a mile, into the heart of Verdale. Kersey pointed to a large intersection to the south of the interstate with two massive superstores in the northern corners. “This is going to be our major draw point in Verdale,” he said. “We’re going to send a team in there in trucks, have them get up to the roof, and start firing away. Hopefully this attracts a crowd from the east so our teams can march on through.”
“Captain, sorry for interrupting,” David said, glancing over his shoulder, “but who would you like to put on that detail? I need to coordinate the supply chain so they can bring ammo to Johnson.”
“Give it to Corporal Herrera,” Kersey replied. “He did a good job salvaging the bridge operation after Gilbert gave it a good fucking.”
David typed a note to himself on one of the smaller screens. “I’ll make it happen.”
“So how many of these hubs are you planning on doing?” Bretz asked.
“For Verdale it’s just this one,” Kersey explained. “The area is mostly residential, at least in the densely packed area. There’s a shopping mall near the interstate, but it’s a ways away from everything, so it’s low priority.”
Kowalski tapped the side of his can thoughtfully. “What about north of the river?” he asked.
“Business park and a few more neighborhoods,” Kersey replied, “but nothing that we’d need to create a hub for.”
Bretz nodded. “I’m going to assume we’re doing similar tactics in Spokane?”
“Yeah, except we're going to have to get real bold with this.” The Captain took a deep breath. “Verdale is several miles away, but with the amount of bullets that are going to be flying, the risk of attracting tens of thousands of zombies to them is substantial. So we’re going to have to create some major distraction points in the city while they’re clearing the suburb.”
Kowalski raised his hand. “Well, my team can hold our own from the top of the apartment building. We can draw them in and take ‘em out.”
“Once that chopper pilot gets back from dropping Copeland off, we’re going to have him start taking men to the city,” Kersey replied. “David’s found a few other potential sites.”
The man in question nodded and held up a hand, counting off on his fingers as he spoke. “The convention center near the river is flat, and there are a couple of hotels spread out on both the north and south sides of the river,” he said. “We’re not going to garner the attention of every zombie in the city, but it should hopefully be enough to stave off the eastern teams from being overrun.”
“Which brings us to our main target,” Kersey said, inclining his head towards the screen.
David moved the map to Riverfront Park, which was an island in the middle of the Spokane River, running right through the heart of downtown.
“Riverfront Park,” he declared.
Kowalski nodded slowly. “Nothing like creating a fortified island fortress on the fly.”
“Exactly how are you pulling that one off, Captain?” Bretz inquired.
The Private shook his head. “Yeah, there weren’t enough boats to move men up there.”
“Wouldn’t matter if there were,” David cut in, “because there are a couple hundred zombies on the island. It would be suicide to attempt a boat landing with such few men.”
“Guess helicopter is out for the same reason,” Bretz mused. “Just can’t get enough men in there in time.”
“That’s why we’re moving them in by train,” Kersey said, as the tracks came into view four blocks to the south. “The tracks are on a self-contained bridge, with a grassy hill just to the east of the landing zone. The APCs will be creating a diversion as they start going to pick up survivors, thereby clearing the way for the team to meet up with Copeland and storm the island.”
Bretz nodded, crossing his arms. “How many men are you sending?”
“Figure fifty plus Copeland’s team will get the job done,” Kersey replied.
Kowalski leaned in, chewing his lip as he stared at the bridges coming in and out of the island. “Cap, there’s like half a dozen bridges on this thing. Fifty men going to be enough to cover that?”
“Probably not,” Kersey replied, “but we do have an Apache in our back pocket.”
Kowalski grinned. “Sounds like a party. Shame I’m gonna miss it.”
“You should have a good view from your comfy perch,” Bretz teased.
“Hey, that’s true!” Kowalski replied, holding up his can in a cheers and taking a long sip.
The Corporal turned to his superior. “So where does that leave me, Captain? You want me back at the airport?”
“Is the situation there under control?” Kersey asked.
“Yeah, the interior is secure and it’s far enough away from everything that any threat can be seen and eliminated before it gets close,” Bretz replied. “So if any zombies decide to follow the APCs as they drop off survivors, they’ll be in for a bad time.”
Kowalski grinned. “Benefit to having an entire squad of snipers.”
“In that case, I want you heading up the west side team,” Kersey said, and motioned to the screen.
David pulled up a map of the west side of Spokane, on the other side of the river. There was a sparsely populated area to the north west with a lone bri
dge leading over into a highly populated residential area that went on for miles.
“This lone four lane bridge is the only crossing over the river on the west side of town,” the Captain explained. “I need you to stop up that bridge and draw a crowd.”
David zoomed in on an apartment complex a few hundred yards south of the bridge. “You should be able to pull some cars from the parking lot here,” he said as he zoomed in. “It’s not a transfer truck but there should be enough vehicles to form a solid barricade and give your men an elevated position to fire from.”
“What this?” Bretz asked, pointing to a collection of buildings just across the road from the apartments. “Looks like a business park.”
“It’s a community college,” David said, “which means no dorms, so it’s unlikely there will be much resistance there.”
The Corporal nodded. “That’s good to know.”
“Any questions?” Kersey asked.
“How many men am I getting?” Bretz asked.
“Fifty,” Kersey replied. “I’ll put you in touch with the troop coordinator, and you can pick who you need.”
The Corporal took a deep breath and cocked his head. “Sharpshooters and car thieves come to mind.”
“Like I said, whatever you need,” the Captain replied with a smile.
“Appreciate it,” Bretz said. “But how are we getting there?”
“The train tracks roll right by your stop,” Kersey said, gliding his hand through the air to accentuate his point. “But you’re going to be a little delayed in getting there, as this is the transport train that’s taking these men to the front lines. You are also going to pick up the east side teams that pushed down to the waterfront yesterday.”
“What about the east side team in Post Falls?” David asked.
Kersey shook his head. “They’ll have orders to clear out that town, then move to the front lines,” he explained. “It’s gonna be a hell of a walk, but they can manage.”
“I’ll make sure they know,” David replied, and typed another note on the small screen.
Kowalski swished some energy drink around in his mouth before gulping loudly. “This is gonna be a bitch of a day, ain’t it?”
Dead America The Second Week (Book 12): Dead America, Heartland Pt. 5 Page 1