by Allen Gamboa
“No, no. Just keep on them!”
“Thank you!” Nix said watching the road.
“Hey guy,” Martone leaned forward from the middle seat. “Isn’t that the Tahoe we left behind at that airport?”
“How the hell should I know Martone? I wasn’t there!”
“Oh fuck!” Digger leaned forward squeezing in next to Martone. “Yeah, that’s our fucking SUV!” The Aussie chuckled. “They stole our fucking car!”
“I wish Diego was here to see this. I don’t think he’d find it quite as funny as we do.” Martone said glancing over at Digger.
“Dolan, that rig is armor plated with run flat tires.” Digger sat back.
“Shite!” The lead mercenary slammed his fist on the dashboard. “Keep on their asses Nix. Grab me some armored piercing rounds out of the back Digger. We’ll turn that rig into a block-o-Swiss cheese!”
“Right!” Digger said gleefully as he reached around in the Explorer's way back. After a few seconds the Aussie pulled out a magazine of armor piercing rounds and dropped it on the seat. “Got ‘em!”
“Well fuck, pick them up!” Dolan said annoyed.”Fucking gotta tell you everything?”
“Remind me again, which end does the bullet come out of?” Martone asked, angry sarcasm in his voice. “Guy.”
“Shut the fuck up and get shooting!’
CHAPTER 56: I’M NOT BIT!
Nitrex Plant
“I found him.” Doc said as he stood over the unmoving body of Lieutenant Uribe. The team had made their way farther into the first floor of the plant in search of their missing teammates. After several tense minutes, they had found their commanding officer face down in a pile of re-killed undead. As the other team members set up a small secure perimeter in the corridor, Doc poked the surrounding bodies with the barrel of his M4. Getting no reaction from jabbing the dead around him, Doc knelt next to Uribe’s corpse.
“Careful.” Mallini said as he watched the medic start to roll the Lieutenant onto his back. Doc stopped for a minute and gave the greasy chemist a ‘no shit’ look then, with help from Hale, proceeded to flip Uribe over. The Lieutenant flopped onto his back letting out a loud gasp in the process. Doc jumped back in surprise as Hale used his free hand to quickly draw one of his tomahawks. Uribe popped open his eyes in surprise. Seeing the big sergeant was about to smash in his head with the tomahawk, he screamed and raised his hands up in defense.
“Fuck me!” Doc scrambled to his feet and pulled his sidearm.
“Don’t!” Uribe shouted as he waved his hands out in front of him. Hale jabbed the flat end of his weapon against Uribe’s blood smeared cheek and gave it a hard shove. The Lieutenant winced and weakly swatted at Hale’s tomahawk.
“Hey!”
“What the hell LT?” The sergeant said cautiously re-holstering his weapon.
“I’m not bit! I’m not bit!” Uribe cried panic stricken as he ran his gloved hands down the sleeves of his blood encrusted shirt.
“Easy!” Hale rested a firm hand on the officer’s trembling shoulder. The other soldiers gave quick, disinterested glances at Uribe before returning to watch the ends of the corridor for any approaching deaders. “You’re safe with us now LT. You sure you’re not infected?”
“Yeah…yeah.” Uribe nodded and ran a gloved hand through his dirty, sweaty mop of hair. “I was running and I slipped on something…went face first into a pile of deaders. I lost my rifle somewhere…” He glanced up at the sergeant with eyes full of fear and grabbed his right arm. “They ran right by me…thought. Thought I was one of them. I just lay there until they were gone.” The officer shivered.
“That was the smart thing to do LT.“Doc said as he knelt down next to the shaken officer and began giving him a quick visual checkup.
“Where’s Finn?” Hale asked. The corridor was becoming a humid hot box and the smell was terrible. Sweat ran down the sergeant’s scarred face.
“Dead…they got him. Dumbshit started firing without aiming. Wasted his ammo…I tried…” He wiped some sweat from his eyes. “Speedy, that bastard ran off on us! I hope they got him too!”
“I’m right here Loo-tenant.” Speedy said over his shoulder. “Where the fuck were you?”
“Liar!” Uribe struggled to his feet with help from Doc. “You split on us!”
“Enough bullshit!” Hale growled as he put up a hand to block Uribe from moving closer toward the other contractor. “I’ll let you two heroes sort this out later. Right now, we need to get back to the transports since this mission is a bust.”
“Right. The drugs…uh medicine gone?”
“All stolen.” Hale said frowning. Something about Uribe wasn’t reading right.
“Fuck.” Uribe said under his breath. He knew there would be hell to be paid for losing the shipment.
“Where did Finn get wasted?” Hale asked.
“Back that way.” Uribe pointed behind them. “Around the corner about a hundred feet. He’s dead though.”
“Uh huh. You have the satphone?” The Sergeant asked.
“Yeah.” Uribe reached into his blood splattered vest and pulled out the yellow handset. “Still works.”
“Great.” He ripped it out of the Lieutenant’s hand and tossed it to Cross. “Hold that. Doc come with me, the rest of you get to the transports. Sergeant Cross you are in charge until we get back.”
“Wait?” Uribe frowned uncomprehending. “Cross in charge?”
“LT you are no longer competent to command and per company rules I relieve you of command.” Hale swiftly reached over and pulled Uribe’s sidearm from its holster. The officer tried to grab for it but the bigger sergeant easily swatted his hand away. “Don’t give the sergeant any trouble Uribe or we’ll leave your ass here!”
“You can’t do this!”
“I just did.” Hale nodded at Cross. “Got this?”
“Oh, yeah.” The redhead smiled as she grabbed Uribe by the shoulder. “Watch your ass Hale.”
“Always.”
“Alright, let’s move.” Cross told the others as she pushed the former officer along.
“Don’t take off without us!” Doc shouted after them.
“No worries Doc,” Hale patted his blood-stained pants pocket. “I’ve got the keys.”
“Nice.” Doc nodded. “Let’s go find Finn.”
CHAPTER 57: GOT ALL YOUR BITS?
On the Road
“Shit!” Jefferson shouted as the first armor piercing rounds smashed through the remains of the SUVs back windows crashing into the rear seats and the plated flooring. The Marine jerked the steering wheel to the right desperately trying to evade the deadly rounds the mercenaries were firing at them. Jefferson was finding it harder to escape the advancing vehicles with all the debris and abandoned cars in the way. More rounds came screaming through the thick armor just barely missing Kantner and Franco.
“Serpentine!” Kantner shouted back to the driver. “Serpentine!”
“No shit!” Jefferson turned the wheel hard to the left causing everyone inside to be flung about. Exasperated at all the debris littering the road the Marine growled back to the pilot. “Want me to pull over?”
“No…No!” Kanter said trying to make himself as small of a target as he could. “You’re doing fine!”
Franco checked his rifle then aimed out through the holes in the back windows. The wounded Ranger aimed his sights at the rapidly approaching headlights and hoping they weren’t armored up too, let out a burst from his M4 toward the front windshield of the lead vehicle. As the rounds impacted against the pursuing SUV it quickly slowed down and dropped behind as a second SUV sped up to take its place.
“Good news!” Franco shouted. “They’re not armored up!”
“That’s good.” Cho said as she turned to help Franco return fire.
“Bad news is, there’s more bad guys!”
Another volley of armor killing rounds zipped through the back windows and doors. One of the rounds impacted right between K
antner’s legs causing him to scream like a little school boy. As Franco continued to fire at the mercenaries, the pilot reached down between his legs and grabbed himself.
“Got all your bits?” Franco asked as he squeezed off another burst. Kantner just mutely nodded. “Well, I’m sure all of the ladies of the world are grateful for that.”
“Luckily it was a small target.” Cho shouted leaning over the seat, using the top of it for an elbow rest. “Cover your ears, this is going to be loud!!” She shouted squeezing of some rounds at the advancing SUVs.
“You okay Kate?” Washington yelled over to the firefighter.
“I’m good!” She nodded. Both she and Washington were frustrated at not being able to do anything to help their current situation. Suddenly from the side of the road, a crowd of fast moving deader sprinted out in front of the SUV. The Marine tried to avoid hitting the undead that, were now filling the rubbish covered street, he knew running them over would certainly damage their vehicle. Jefferson tried to turn the SUV to the left but the hulking shell of an old Army M35 cargo truck blocked his way. The only choice the Marine had was to attempt to drive through the flesh-eating crowd.
“Shit! Hold on!” Jefferson shouted as the speeding vehicle plowed into the group of deaders causing it to slide, swerve then roll over.
CHAPTER 58: BAD GUYS 3
On the Road
“Fuck!” Nix shouted as rounds from the escaping SUV crashed into the windshield just inches from his face. Dolan winced at the unexpected impacts on the SUVs safety glass.
“We’re not armored?” Nix’s voice cracked as he tried to hold it together after being severely rattled by the near misses. “We don’t have fucking armor?!!”
“Naw, Mate.” Dolan shook his head. “These were all we could get on short notice.”
“Fuck!” More rounds shattered the windshield, one of them caught Nix in throat killing him instantly. As hot blood splashed his face, Dolan reached for the steering wheel trying to regain control of the SUV. Fortunately, Nix’s foot had slipped off the gas pedal and Dolan was able to slowly guide the vehicle off the road. The Irish mercenary then pushed the dead man’s leg out of the way and stepped on the brake with his own, bringing the SUV to a halt. Dolan quickly shoved the Explorer into park and shut off the engine. Climbing out of the SUV, Dolan grabbed up his radio and spoke to the drivers of the two remaining chase vehicles.
“Keep on them!” He ordered as he ran over to the driver’s side of the Ford Explorer.
“Cocksucker!” Martone flung open the middle door of the SUV and wiped Nix’s blood off his face. “Hey guy, why didn’t you tell us this bitch wasn’t armored?”
“Would it have mattered?” Dolan asked as he jerked Nix’s body out of the driver’s seat and dropped it roughly onto the ground.
“Well, yes.” Martone nodded. “Maybe Nix there would still be breathing?”
“Don’t be a twat Martone. Do you really care if he is alive or not?” Dolan said climbing into the driver’s seat. “You coming?”
“Yeah guy.” The Armenian let out a defeated sigh and ran a hand through his greasy ponytail. “Whatever.”
“Better hurry and get this thing started.” Digger said watching out the Explorer’s back window. A dozen or so of the undead were starting to emerge out of the surrounding buildings and vehicles. “Bunch o’ flesh bags are headed this way.”
“Keep your panties dry Digger.” Dolan said as he started the engine and shifted the vehicle back into gear. Using the butt of his rifle, Martone smashed out the remains of the bullet riddled windshield.
“Let’s go Guy!” Dolan just grunted at the Armenian and pulled the Explorer back onto the debris strewn road. As the SUV sped off, Digger watched the dead stumble in vain after them. The Australian was getting frustrated with all the killing and not one bit of raping. If he didn’t get his rocks off soon he knew he’d lose it.
“Up ahead!” Martone pointed the barrel of his rifle at the quickly approaching taillights.
“I see it!” Dolan said testily. “Get ready!” Suddenly one of the pursuing Explorer’s brake lights lit up while the lead mercenary SUV jerked sharply to its right then slid into a roll. The other Explorer was also following too close to the lead vehicle and tried to swerve but found itself sliding on the bodies of the undead that had run out into the street.
“What the fuck?!” Martone gripped the dashboard tightly as he braced for a collision.
“Hold on!” Dolan shouted as he tried unsuccessfully to avoid joining the pursuing SUVs in a pile up.
CHAPTER 59: I LOVE YOU BOTH THE SAME
Nitrex Plant
“Why do you always pick me?” Doc asked Hale as they carefully made their way down the corpse littered corridor in search of Finn’s body. The air in the hallway was hot, humid and rank.
“You’re my favorite Doc.” The sergeant smiled as he used the light on his rifle to scan the cadaver and blood smeared floor for the missing contractor. The dim red emergency lights that illuminated the corridor were more a distraction than a help.
“I thought Cross was?” Doc asked as he used the barrel of his rifle to turn the head of a deader so he could get a better look at the face. The medic realized the corpse must have been one of the plant’s security men since he had been wearing tactical gear like Doc’s.
“I love you both the same.” Hale suddenly raised a hand for Doc to halt. The medic stopped his search of the bodies and glanced over in the direction that the sergeant was looking. Hale gave him a hand signal to be quiet then pointed to the far end of the corridor. The medic quickly turned his full attention to the loud scraping sound that was coming from a blind corner where the hallway intersected with another. Both contractors raised their rifles into firing position as the noise grew nearer. A drop of sweat rolled off Hale’s cheek and onto the butt of his M4 as he anxiously waited for whatever it was that lurked around the corner.
“Fuck me.” Doc said flatly as the legless remains of a Deader pulled itself into the middle of the corpse littered hallway. Moaning, the flesh eater snapped its broken teeth at them and doggedly wormed its way towards the two men. The scraping sound was the M4 rifle that was still clipped to its chest and dragging the ground beneath it.
“Finn.” Hale let out a tired sigh as he watched the infected contractor struggle to hungrily crawl its way to them. The sergeant clicked his rifle lanyard and quickly drew out one of his tactical tomahawks. Hale stared at the young man’s face that was now barely recognizable from all the damage the flesh eaters had inflicted upon it. The big sergeant tried to remember that last time he’d even spoken to the young man. Hell, he couldn’t recall what the kid had done before he joined the company or even if Finn had a family. Feeling both saddened and relieved at the lack of personal knowledge of his teammate, he swung the blood-stained tomahawk down hard on his head. With a sickening thunk, the well-used blade smashed into Finn’s skull spraying black blood and brain matter all over the walls and all over Doc. Amazingly, Hale didn’t get a single drop on him.
Doc wiped some of Finn’s blood off his face and glanced over at the big sergeant who was still staring down at the young contractors remains. The medic could see the deep sorrow in the sergeant’s body language. Doc Kegy had enough of his own personal demons eating at him, he could only imagine what the big man was going through. If this damned thing ever ended and if he made it to the end, well, he’d have to deal with all the bad things he’d jammed down inside. Right now, Doc just wanted to survive.
“Sarge,” Doc tapped him on the shoulder. “we need to go.”
“Yeah,” Hale nodded as he shoved his weapon back into its holster. “I can’t even remember his first name.”
“You did him a favor Hale. Had to be done.”
“Yeah,” The sergeant nodded absently. “David. That’s it.” He glanced back down one more time at Finn’s unmoving form. “David.”
“Come on.” The medic grabbed Hale by the shoulder and gave him a forcef
ul jerk. The big man barely moved at the medic’s action but it was just enough to break him out of his stupor. “We need to go!”
“Right.” Hale nodded then turned and faced the medic giving him a hard pat on the shoulder. “I’m good.” Doc just gave him a quick head bob and jabbed him back with a closed fist to the arm. Both men headed back toward the entrance of the plant. A Deader, dressed in a blood streaked lab coat, stumbled out of one of the office buildings and charged at the soldiers. Doc calmly raised his rifle and fired a round into the flesh eaters face causing it to fall backwards against a wall, re-dead.
“Asshole.” Doc said pushing forward.
CHAPTER 60: HAMMERED SHIT!
On the Road
“Ahhhhh!” Washington groaned as he found himself hanging upside down in the wrecked SUV, the shoulder belt digging tightly into his chest. The soldier had been momentarily knocked unconscious when the vehicle’s airbag deployed. Now the remains of the airbag limply hung a few inches from his bruised face. Washington felt like hammered shit as he squirmed in the seat trying to remember what had happened. The sound of automatic weapons fire to his left brought him back to his senses. “Jefferson!”
“About damn time!” The Marine shouted from outside the driver’s side of the SUV. “Get out here sleeping beauty!”
“Sleeping beauty?” Washington frowned as he quickly unfastened his seat belt and dropped heavily to the ceiling. The soldier spun on his side to see sergeant Cho and Kate Denning, carrying the biologic cases, quickly climb out of the damaged SUV. Shaking the cobwebs from his head, Washington desperately felt around the glass covered roof for his rifle. The gunfire outside becoming louder and more persistent. The soldier finally found the barrel of his M4 and drew the weapon up to his chest. He made sure it was ready to fire then kicked open his door and rolled out into the street. Taking cover behind the armored door, Washington could see the tracer fire from the pile up of mercenary vehicles. Apparently enough of them had survived to continue their attack from the protection of the wreckage.