Dead America-The Northwest Invasion Box Set | Books 1-6

by Slaton, Derek

  “Come on, you piece of shit,” Jinx muttered, and gave the cord another hard pull. This time, the engine snarled to life, and he hit the throttle a few times, revving it up to make sure it stayed on. As soon as it was steady, he picked it up and put the hammer down.

  The blade pierced the bark of the tree, and he cut straight down, creating a large notch in the front of it. Then he got to work on the base.

  Jarvis kept a watch on their rear as the Corporal worked, popping off a few shots as some zombies started trying to come over the fence at the top of the yard. As she fired, the other two continued to unload on the horde, both of them clearing out a full mag each and reloading, leaving a pile of corpses beside the house and directly in front of it.

  Jinx managed to get the saw most of the way through the tree and noticed it starting to collapse into the notch he’d cut out. He turned the chainsaw off and stood up.

  “Timber!” he yelled.

  Burch and Stein sprinted away from the falling tree, leaping to either side as the big thing sailed into the neighboring yard. Jinx had been hoping for it to fall diagonally across, but his cutting wasn’t up to par, and it tumbled straight across.

  “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” he muttered as he watched it fall across the fence into the other yard, crushing through a row of zombies no more than five feet from the front of the house.

  The gutters at the far end of the house ripped clean with the branches, but no other major damage was done to the house.

  “Oh hell yeah!” he bellowed. “Just like I planned!”

  The zombies were only two deep in front of the house, and the trunk was large enough to create a decent barrier from the rest of the horde.

  Jinx pulled out the walkie talkie. “Dickerson, get a move on!” he yelled. “Move to our position!”

  Burch and Stein concentrated their fire on either side of the tree, which had damaged the wooden fence a bit, thankfully not so much that the zombies could push through.

  “Jarvis, clear in front of the house!” Jinx barked.

  She turned her attention towards the house, aiming straight down the line and opening fire in single shots, picking off one ghoul after another like a carnival game.

  The Corporal smirked, starting the chainsaw back up and leaning over the fence on the roadside. He stretched over, working his way towards the road, cutting into rotted necks with the blade, sending gore and blood everywhere. This was short lived, as the chainsaw quickly got mucked up with bone, stalling out.

  Jinx dropped the saw, having enjoyed the small pleasure, and then glanced over at the door to see Dickerson emerge with his troops. Torrents of bullets cleared a path, and they hopped down into the gully between the house and tree, racing towards the fence.

  Jinx and Jarvis reached over to help them over one by one, and the six soldiers escaped certain doom, hopping over to relative safety.

  “Come on, our truck is a few blocks away,” the Corporal said, waving them over.

  Dickerson nodded and he and his team followed the group out of the yard, hopping over the fence on the other side. The ten soldiers raced through the neighborhood, running through yards and quickly losing the horde that had been in pursuit.

  After several minutes of hard running, they arrived at the truck, thankfully with no zombies around. The soldiers all caught their breaths, letting out some disbelieving laughter at their luck.

  “I gotta say Jinx,” Dickerson huffed, “you don’t disappoint.”

  The Corporal grinned. “Glad I could be of service, Sergeant,” he replied. “Everybody make it out okay?”

  “All six of my team are safe and sound,” Dickerson replied, straightening up.

  “And I got to check off a bucket list item,” Jinx declared. “So it’s a win-win.”

  The Sergeant chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve always wanted to carve up zombies with a chainsaw, too,” he admitted.

  “No, I’m talking about being a lumberjack,” Jinx said with a wink. “Could never get a full beard to grow in, so I had to abandon that dream.”

  Dickerson lost it, laughter exploding from his belly. “You’re a fucking wild man,” he gasped, smacking his friend on the shoulder. “Never change.”

  “Can we drop you boys off somewhere?” Jinx asked, patting the side of the truck.

  The Sergeant shook his head. “I think we can take it from here,” he said. “You get back to doing what you were doing.” He extended his hand, and the men shook hands. “I won’t forget this. I definitely owe you one.”

  “Given the shit I get myself into, I can all but guarantee I’ll need to call that in sooner rather than later,” Jinx replied.

  “Be safe,” Dickerson said. “We’ll see you on the march to Olympia.”

  Jarvis hopped up into the driver’s seat and started it up, the rest of Jinx’s team clambering into the back. The Corporal smacked the side, and she took off, leaving Dickerson waving to them as they peeled out.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jarvis drove down the residential streets towards the rally point. As they went, the soldiers could see large plumes of smoke rising in the distance, with the occasional firework or brick of firecrackers detonating as well.

  They looked down the side streets, seeing straggler zombies, but none of them in packs greater than five, wandering towards the noise and smoke.

  As Jarvis reached the turnoff road, she looked both ways. Back towards the bridge there were a couple hundred zombies, all moving across the road into the neighborhood. Hope flared in her chest that the distraction was working.

  The other direction was a little more sparse, as the noise from the distractions were waning a little at that point. She made the turn, speeding off towards the rally point. After several blocks, she stopped at the corner of an intersection.

  Davila and Rollins waved at them from a playground swing set in front of the school. They were the picture of relaxation, swinging lightly back and forth. They hopped down and headed for the truck as their teammates exited the vehicle.

  “Looks like Operation Arson was a roaring success,” Jinx said as he hit the pavement.

  Davila grinned. “Yep, got a lot of those fuckers burning,” he declared. “Made sure the houses we picked didn’t have overhanging trees to try to limit the damage to the neighborhood as a whole.”

  “Good thinking,” the Corporal replied, cocking his head. “Any houses with gas?” he asked.

  Right as the words left his mouth, there was a gigantic explosion in the distance, and they all turned to look at a fireball shooting up into the air over the trees.

  “Just one,” Rollins said.

  Jinx nodded in appreciation. “If nothing else, I have timing,” he said.

  “How did it go with Dickerson?” Davila asked.

  Burch raised his hands above his head. “Jinx saved the day by going full lumberjack.”

  “Bucket list item,” Davila replied with a smirk, “I like it.”

  “Day’s not over yet,” Jinx cut in, “you still got time to make some off your list.”

  Burch barked a laugh. “He just burned down an entire neighborhood worth of houses,” he said, “he should be good.”

  “Hey now,” Davila piped up with mock offense, “why would you think that’s on my bucket list?”

  Burch rolled his eyes. “We’ve all heard you talk about the horrors of suburbs,” he pointed out.”

  “Eh, fair,” Davila admitted.

  “Hop in,” Jinx said, motioning to the truck, “we gotta get to the main target. We should be close enough to it now to draw any zombies on this side to it.”

  The soldiers climbed up and Jarvis drove through the back half of the residential area, Davila and Rollins lighting fireworks and tossing them over the side in an attempt to pull the ghouls in their direction.

  After several blocks, the residential area turned into retail, with small shops dotting the landscape alongside a few mini-malls. Zombie infestation was moderate in that area, the parking lots only havi
ng groups of twenty to thirty.

  Jinx motioned for them to stop throwing out fireworks, as the truck noise seemed to be attracting enough that they could handle. There was a huge vacant lot on the far south of town, and Jarvis pulled into it. It was a corner lot, with the main river to the south and the smaller river running to the north. There was no resistance nearby, with the zombies on the bridges or congregating around buildings.

  As soon as the truck came to a halt, Jinx, Davila, and Rollins quickly hopped out, rushing towards the five zombies in the lot and quickly dispatching them with their knives.

  The Corporal was particularly vicious, running at full speed towards the first one and jamming his blade through its eye and shoving it straight out the back, breaking the skull open. He moved in a single motion, stabbing into the forehead of the one behind it.

  With the lot relatively secure, the group rallied in the back of the truck. Jinx pulled out the satellite image of the immediate area and pointed to it as he spoke.

  “Okay, listen up,” he began, “to our south here is the bridge going over whatever major river that is. To be blunt, that’s someone else’s problem. To our north are two commuter bridges that cross over into what looks like Super Center island, because that’s all that’s there. We have to get over there, create a hell of a ruckus, pull as many of those things over as we can, and escape via the water. We also have to block off the bridges with whatever cars we can find.”

  Jarvis pointed to another bridge over the river that looked darker than the obvious commuter bridge. “Any idea what this thing is”

  “Best guess is a rail bridge,” Jinx replied with a shrug. “Not exactly conducive for zombies to get over, but could be our ticket across the river.”

  Davila nodded thoughtfully. “So what do you think?” he asked. “Two teams? One on cars, one on diversion.”

  “Works for me,” Jinx agreed. “Jarvis, why don’t you play escort around the town?”

  Burch grinned. “Not the first time she’s been an escort around town.”

  “One more word,” Jarvis said, pointing a finger at him, “and I will bend you over the back of this truck.”

  Jinx laughed. “I’ll give her the time too, just to see it happen,” he offered.

  “I withdraw the previous insult,” Burch replied, raising his palms in surrender.

  The Corporal shook his head. “Well Burch, I think for your own safety, you’ll be coming with me and Davila to the Super Center,” he said with a chuckle. “Jarvis, you drive Rollins and Stein around to find some cars. Stash them across the street from the bridge so we can move them quickly once we get enough of those things over the bridges. Questions?”

  “Yeah,” Jarvis said, “where are we meeting once we get this done?”

  Jinx pointed to the map. “Just across the southern bridge, there is some sort of store,” he explained. “Get inside and get to the roof. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to relax, so let’s knock this out.”

  “All right boys,” Jarvis declared, clapping her hands together, “hop in, we’re going car shopping.” She got into the driver’s seat and shot Jinx a salute. “See you soon.” Once the other two were secure, she did a burnout, kicking up dirt as she sped off towards the retail area in search of cars.

  The three remaining soldiers coughed, waving their hands in front of their faces to avoid breathing in the dust.

  “That’s on you, Burch,” Davila gasped.

  “Yeah I know,” he replied, “just couldn’t resist.”

  Jinx whirled a hand above his head. “Train tracks, let’s do it,” he said, and led his team across the vacant lot to the property line.

  They looked out towards the Super Center, the massive store sitting no more than thirty yards from the water, which ran on both the back and left side of the store. Two hundred yards to the north was the rail bridge, a rusted out truss bridge stretching over the water. There were a handful of zombies on their side of the bridge, which was a far cry from the transportation bridges half a mile further to the north.

  Jinx pulled out the binoculars and scanned, letting out a low whistle as he did. “That doesn’t look like fun,” he muttered, and handed off the device to Davila.

  The Private peered through the binoculars, checking out the bridges packed with hundreds of zombies each, easily close to a thousand between the two. “Yeah, that rail bridge is a good call,” he said, lowering the device. “But how are we going to pull them off of it and over to the store?”

  Jinx smirked and reached into his bag. “Remember how I said I got us a few things for the mission?”

  “Yeah?” Davila raised an eyebrow.

  Jinx pulled out a hand grenade, tossing one over to his teammate.

  A grin broke out on Davila’s face. “Oh now we’re cooking,” he declared.

  “Figure it should be loud enough to draw them over to us,” Jinx said, “maybe take out a fast food joint or two in the process.”

  Burch nodded. “Find one of those flame grilled places and set off the gas, too.”

  Jinx rubbed his hands together. “Let’s go see what kind of trouble we can get into.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Jinx led the trio across the bridge, Davila playfully walking along the rail like a kid balancing. The other two strolled across the beams, enjoying the brief bit of quiet before the coming battle.

  “Man, I used to do this all the time when I was younger,” Davila said as he moved gracefully across the rail. “My brothers and I would walk for miles on the tracks, even going over to the next town some days.”

  Jinx shook his head. “I had the benefit of growing up in a neighborhood where I was the youngest kid by about five years,” he said. “So when the rest of the kids hit high school, my only options were to wander around alone or play video games.”

  “What did you pick?” Burch asked.

  “If Jinx ever bets he can beat your Galaga high score,” Davila cut in, “just save time and hand over your money.”

  The Corporal shrugged. “On the plus side, my hand-eye coordination is next level.”

  “What about you, Burch?” Davila asked, stretching out his arms to keep his balance. “Happy-go-lucky childhood, or sad glowing screen childhood?”

  Burch shook his head. “Neither,” he admitted. “Been working since I was fourteen and haven’t stopped since.”

  “Christ that’s sad,” Davila said with a sigh. “Yo, Jinx, can we pick him up a Gameboy or something at the Super Center before we head out? Hell, it’ll even be my treat.”

  Burch barked a laugh. “Nah, don’t need a Gameboy,” he assured his friend. “But if you come across a bottle of scotch…”

  “That’s a man with priorities,” Jinx declared, snapping his fingers. “I dig it.”

  They went quiet when they reached the end of the bridge, seeing a couple of zombies wandering by, stumbling over the side of the rail. Jinx motioned for the other two to move up to take them out quietly, while he covered them with his rifle.

  The duo broke rank, rushing forward with their knives and stabbing into the zombie’s skulls as the creatures tried to get up. Jinx walked to the end of the rail bridge, sweeping the area carefully. There were a couple dozen zombies spread out in the area leading up to the Super Center.

  They took a knee in the field across from the parking lot, surveying the situation. Jinx pulled out the binoculars and scanned the lot, honing in on a flame-grilled burger restaurant at the far end near the road, with forty to fifty zombies in their path and a couple hundred more on the road leading to the nearby bridge.

  “Gonna be one hell of a run,” the Corporal murmured. He passed the binoculars to the others, who took turns looking at the scene.

  “Maybe we can get into the Super Center and find something useful in there,” Davila suggested.

  Jinx pursed his lips. “Hold that thought,” he said, and broke rank, running up to the building and hugging the wall.

  He crept along
it and peeked around the corner, checking out the thirty or so zombies milling about the front entrance. He grimaced and then darted back to his team.

  “Well, that idea’s out,” he said quietly.

  Burch cocked his head. “How bad?”

  “Thirty, maybe a few more,” Jinx replied. “Won’t be any problem to take them out, but if we do, the ones from the road will swamp the restaurant.”

  Davila held out the binoculars. “So, straight to the restaurant then, huh?” he asked.

  “Only play I see,” Jinx agreed. “We run up, hit ‘em hard, and get inside. In and out in sixty, then run like hell to the front entrance of the Super Center.”

  “We should be bringing enough noise that it’ll pull them away from the entrance,” Burch pointed out.

  Davila nodded. “You’d hope, at least.”

  “Get inside here,” the Corporal said, “blow the windows, and pull the fire alarm.”

  Burch’s brow furrowed. “The power has been out for weeks now,” he reminded his superior.

  “These Super Centers have to fire backup power supplies for fire systems,” Davila explained. “We just have to hope that the backup battery hasn’t gone dead.”

  Burch pursed his lips. “And if it has?”

  “I’m not opposed to blowing more shit up,” Jinx replied.

  Davila grinned. “One track mind,” he said, “love it.”

  “Okay,” the Corporal said as he pulled his rifle from his back, “three-round bursts, don’t stop moving to aim, go right up the center of them. Burch, you’re on burner duty, get that gas flowing. Davila, you sweep the room. I’ll take care of the exit route. We good?”

  The trio readied their guns and then Jinx broke cover, his teammates a few yards to either side of him. They moved quickly, almost at a full sprint, running towards the group of zombies near the restaurant. They were about forty yards between the first zombie and the eatery, moderately packed in.