by Glyn Gardner
“Ok Jackson, move out.”
Willie opened the gate, and Jackson moved through it, rifle to his shoulder. He made a bee-line to the corner of the house. In front of him he saw another street with houses on the other side of it. Shit, we’re still in the neighborhood. He turned to Willie.
“How many more streets do we need to cross to get outa this neighborhood?”
“We got two more streets, then a big open field and some trees.”
Jackson scanned the street. It appeared uninhabited. The houses on this street were newer than Mr. White’s. They were mostly brick, one story, and they all seemed to have these huge bay windows in the front. Wow what a security nightmare for these folks, he thought.
Several of the houses had broken windows or open doors. Poor bastards, he thought. Only a handful of the houses had fences, and most of those fences were chain link
He picked a house about 3 houses to the west. It had a chain link fence, and the front door and front windows seemed to be secure. He hoped that would mean no zombies. Or, at least no zombies would walk out the door as they got in the yard.
He ran across the road to the closest corner of the house, followed closely by Mr. White. Jackson noticed that Willie turned around and covered the opposite corner as soon as they got to the house, effectively covering Jackson’s back.
Jackson peered around the corner. It was empty. He turned and waved the others on with his left hand. The followed his directions. As the other’s approached, Jackson had to ask.
“Mr. White, where’d you learn to cover the point like that?”
“I did a little time in the middle east. But, that was a little before your time.” The rest of the group caught up. Jackson and Willie rounded the corner and took turns hopping the chain link fence. Jackson followed the side of the house to the back corner. The back yard was empty. He waved the rest on.
The back yard was large, and totally empty. Mike couldn’t help but notice that the back yard needed to be mowed. Behind them was another house with a large un-fenced yard. The back door was opened. There were several dead bodies lying in the yard.
Jackson crossed the yard and jumped the fence, followed by Willie and the rest of the group. He noticed the bodies but didn’t seem to pay them any mind. He passed about five feet from one of them. As he did so, he looked down at it. He almost tripped over his own feet when he realized the pale blue eyes were not only open but looking directly at him.
The thing reached out for him. Its left hand only had one finger, the right hand was missing. It tried to propel itself forward with only one leg. Its face was devoid of a lower jaw. Jackson thought it was the most grotesque thing he’d seen since this whole thing started. He stopped.
The thing continued to try to move. It kicked and reached. It reached and kicked. And it made absolutely no progress in its quest to bite Pvt. Jackson. Wilcox walked up and jammed his combat boot into the back of the crippled zombie’s head. He pinned it to the ground, its single arm and leg flailed reaching with it’s one finger for the unseen assailant. He shoved his foot harder onto the zombie, putting more weight on its skull. The groups stood there. No one could move. No one knew what to do. Finally the creature’s skull gave way with a wet, sickening crunch
“Fuck, ya’ll,” Wilcox said. “It’s out of its fuckin’ misery. Now let’s get out of its fuckin’ yard.” Jackson turned and ran to the end corner of the house. This time Theresa and Mike both covered the open back door as the rest of the group passed. Nothing came out. The group continued across the street and out of the neighborhood without further incident. At the back of the last house, Jackson stopped.
The field in front of them appeared to be someone’s cow pasture. It was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. There were even some cows and a bull in the field. About 400 meters away was a stand of trees. Jackson looked at SSgt Brown and shrugged his shoulder. SSgt Brown shrugged and then moved up beside Willie.
“Ok, Mr. White, what’s up ahead?”
“You see the field. From the road, it looks like those trees go from here to close to the highway. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think there’s anyone around here.”
Mike heard the conversation. “Well, the cows belong to someone. This fence didn’t grow here.”
“But, there should be less people here than in that damned neighborhood,” replied SSgt Brown.
“And, that fence should at least help secure this area,” added Jackson.
“I’m just sayin’ let’s not drop our guard,” Mike answered.
“Ok, I say we head into the woods and try to make the highway,” SSgt Brown said. “Anyone got a better idea? Mike, Mr. White what say you?”
“I think that’s a good start,” replied the bald old soldier. “I got nothing better to do today,” Mike added.
“Ok Jackson, through the field and into the woods. Keep us moving north. Slow and quiet once we hit the tree line. I don’t want any surprises.”
Jackson hopped over the barbed wire fence, and walked quickly across the field. The cows didn’t seem to care that the group was there. Jackson could hear birds chirping up ahead of them. Good, he thought. If there are birds up there, then Zed must be somewhere else.
They made the tree line in about five minutes. Jackson slowed down when they did. Willie closed the distance between him and Jackson. SSgt Brown had the rest of the group spread out left and right in two columns. He and Maria were on the left, and Theresa, Wilcox, and Jen were on the right. Mike brought up the rear.
It took the better part of an hour to get through the woods. The group didn’t run into anyone or anything while in the woods. They ran into a barbed wire fence as they exited the woods. Jackson figured it must be the rest of the one they crossed earlier. His stomach growled. He looked at his watch: 12:00. He stopped at the fence.
SSgt Brown kneeled next to him. “What’s wrong?”
“Just gettin’ hungry,” the trooper replied. “I figured this was as good a spot as anywhere for a break.”
“Yeah, we’ll stay in the trees. I’m hungry too.” He looked at the rest of the survivors. “Ok, if you got food, this is the time to eat. We’ll take an hour break. Let’s try to keep the noise down though.”
Mike had just thrown his pack to the ground when he heard the first explosion. They all turned. It came from the south. CRUMP! CRUMP! CRUMP! CRUMP! It continued without stopping
“That sounds like mortars,” Jackson blurted.
“Eighty-one’s,” replied Mr. White.
“What are eighty-one’s?” asked Theresa.
“Eighty-one millimeter mortars,” Mr. White replied. “A mortar is a cannon that shoots a bomb real high into the air but they don’t have a lot of range.”
“I’m betting it’s the only artillery that the 101st guys brought with them,” added SSgt Brown.
“You think they’re trying to come out and rescue civilians,” asked Jen. Everyone perked up at that.
SSgt Brown highly doubted it. Even if they were making a rescue attempt, no one knew where they were. Na, he guessed it was a breakout attempt. But, he didn’t want to dash anyone’s hopes. “It might be.”
If so,” interjected Mr. White, “they’re probably going to use the road. Let’s move back west and keep the main road in sight. We can flag them down if they come this way.”
SSgt Brown knew the group needed to have hope. He didn’t buy it, but he knew it couldn’t hurt. “Ok Jackson, follow this tree line west until we can find a spot to observe the road. We’ll resume our lunch break there.”
Jackson led them west, just inside the tree line. They could see several zombies shuffling north of them, but none were close and none saw them. They found a good spot to over watch the road. They were maybe 100 meters from the road. They could also see the overpass over the interstate in the distance north of them. Jackson guessed it was maybe 600 meters away. That’d be a lot of ground to cover in the open. He said a little prayer that the Screamin’ Eagles would indeed f
ind them.
Ten or fifteen minutes after they reached their over watch position, they mortar fire stopped. The group heard small arms fire, and a lot of it. To Mike, it sounded like a war movie. The heavy volume of fire continued for about an hour. It was hard to tell if the shooting was moving at all. Then it began to slow down considerably. It was still steady, but the military guys could tell that something was wrong.
CRUMP! CRUMP! CRUMP! The mortars started shooting again. This time they landed farther away from where the group sat.
“They’re landing east of where they were before,” reported Mr. White.
“You think that maybe they found some survivors in east Bossier or maybe Haughton?” asked Jen hopefully.
“Yeah, maybe that’s it,” replied SSgt Brown.
“That’s not it,” Jackson said. “It’s a breakout attempt. Think about it. All the bombers left, then the cargo planes. Now the grunts is moving east. No. They’re getting the hell out of dodge. And, from the sound of it, Zed is fuckin’ them up. You hear the way them mortars started bangin’ when the shooting slowed down. That was someone getting overrun.”
“Shut up Jackson,” barked SSgt Brown.
“But Sergeant Brown…”
“Shut the fuck up!” Mr. White growled as he grabbed Jackson by the collar. But it was too late. The damage had been done. SSgt Brown could see the looks. He could see it in their faces. The hope had drained away.
“Look,” he started. “This doesn’t change anything. When we woke up this morning, we weren’t heading towards the airbase. We weren’t heading towards those troopers and we weren’t planning on being rescued anytime soon. Now, we’re not trying to get onto that base. We’re not trying to get to those troopers. And, we still don’t know anything about a rescue. So, we’re in the exact same place we were two hours ago.”
He could see he was getting through. All eyes were on him. Shit, he wasn’t a great speaker. He was good at telling people what to do. He continued.
“We wait here until nightfall. It’s a quarter moon period, so we should have some good cover crossing this field. We get to the interstate and find some transport. The 101st was heading east so that’s where we go. So, get something to eat and get some rest. We move out at sunset.”
He did his best parade field about face, and marched back to his backpack. He wanted to look back and see their response. But, he knew it would ruin the effect. He sat down and pulled out a Slim Jim. Mr. White sat down next to him as he peeled the wrapper back.
“That was a nice speech. You believe any of that shit you said?”
“It’s true. At least the first part is. We really aren’t in any different shape than we were when we left your place this morning. As for what’s next, your guess is as good as mine. But, it makes sense to go north or east. Biggest population centers around here are Dallas, here, New Orleans, Little Rock, and Atlanta. Once you get past Monroe, it’s pretty sparse ‘till the Mississippi River. We get there, we can use water borne travel. We can go north as far as Canada if we wanted.”
“Well, you got one thing wrong,” the older man replied.
“Oh?”
“We aren’t in the same shape. We’re down a hundred rounds or so after that little skirmish in the ditch. One or two more of those and we’re gonna have to start throwing rocks at those things.”
“You got a solution to our problem?” the NCO asked.
“Yup. We hit the highway; we make a detour about a mile west. There’s a big sporting goods store there. It’s right off the highway. We restock on ammo. Maybe we get some better guns and survival gear.” He pointed towards his feet. SSgt Brown hadn’t even noticed Willie had been wearing house slippers.
“Ok, I get the idea. Let’s get some rest.” The NCO leaned back against his rucksack. He wished he could fall asleep, but his mind was racing. He rehearsed the move across the field a hundred times. What if there’s contact front, or left? What if it’s only a couple, or what if it’s a bunch? His training didn’t fully prepare him for this. He had to think out all contingencies. Shit! Why me? Why couldn’t an officer have made it out with us? Then he could be responsible.
Sometime that afternoon Jen walked over to SSgt Brown. She sat down on the ground next to the NCO.
“So, you got a plan Sergeant Brown?”
“I think so. Of course as you’ve noticed, plans seem to change a lot these days.” The sound of small arms fire was still audible to the south and east of them.
“I know. What are you thinking?”
“Well, I was thinking we could go east until we hit the Mississippi River. Vicksburg isn’t that big of a town. We could try to find a boat or something and maybe try to head north.”
“Why north?”
“Well, for one thing that’s most likely the direction those bombers went. There’s only a few bomber bases in the states. I don’t think west is a viable option. Even if it’s secure somewhere over there, we’d have to try to get through Dallas. That’s a large population center. I’m pretty sure it isn’t secure.” She shook her head in agreement.
“So, that leaves the Dakotas or Ohio. The Dakotas are pretty sparsely populated, so they should be easier to secure. I figure if those bombers left, they must be heading that direction. At least someone believes it’s secure up that way.”
“You’re making a big leap thinking they went to one of the Dakotas. What if they were heading to Washington, or Boston, or even Atlanta? SPC Wilcox did say the rest his unit went to Atlanta.”
“You could be right. I just figure whatever this is; it will grow faster in a large city. To me, that rules out most of the eastern seaboard. Next logical place to fly those bombers would be the Midwest.”
“Ok, I guess I can see that. Mike’s brother is in Atlanta. We haven’t talked to him in a week, but it was fine there.”
“Yeah, and a week ago there were some civil disturbances in the Shreveport area. Things have changed. What and how much, I really don’t know. I’m just trying to get these people to some place we can call safe. If someone has a better idea, I’d sure like to hear it.”
“No, just playing devil’s advocate. I think north is probably the best way to go.”
“I appreciate that. We do need to resupply before we go trekking across the state. Mr. White suggested some sporting goods store west of here just off the interstate.”
“You mean the Academy?”
“I guess. What are your thoughts? I don’t know this area.”
“Not a bad idea. It’s huge. Lots of stuff we can use. I think they even have those dehydrated meals and water purification tabs. Clean water is going to become an issue soon. But, there might be a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“On the other side of the street from there is a big hospital.”
“So?”
“Think about it. You get bitten by one of these things. You spike a fever. Where do you go?”
“Ah…”
“Yup, and then you die. They closed most of the hospitals around here in the first few days. Hospitals always become ground zero when we have an outbreak. Anytime there is an Ebola outbreak in Africa, the hospitals quickly become the epicenter of the infection. I don’t know but I’d be willing to bet that that area’s going to be crawling with zombies.
“Shit. Where else do we go for ammo?”
“Well, I can’t think of a better place.” She called Mike over.
“Yes sweetheart.”
“SSgt Brown was thinking about heading to the Academy for ammo and supplies.”
“Sounds good to me,” Mike replied.
“I was telling him that the hospital on the corner may make that area too dangerous. Can you think of another place we can get supplies and bullets?” She asked.
“Well, there is a Wal-Mart down the road about a half mile, but that’s a busy street. We’ll have the same problem there. Na, I don’t think there’s anything close. But, I think I know how we can get there safe.”
“Ok,” SSgt Brown said. “I’m listening.” Mike picked up a stick, and began scratching a map out in the dirt.
“So, I-220 runs here. Airline is here. The store is here, a couple hundred yards east. There are trees here and a creek here, between the trees and the store.” He used the stick to point as he talked.
“If we move to the trees with whatever transport we got. We move on foot into the trees, and across the creek. We come up behind the store. We’ll never be closer than 300 yards to the corner, and we’ll be shielded by the store itself. All we got to do is get in, get what we need and get out.”
“How deep is the creek here?” asked SSgt Brown.
“There shouldn’t be much water in it this time of year, but the sides of the creek are steep and about 10 feet tall. It should work as a nice moat if we need one.”
“Alright,” said SSgt Brown. “Let’s head out at nightfall and try to get into the trees here before first light. We can hit the store around first light.” The sound of gunfire was fading in the east. SSgt Brown hoped that meant that the 101st made it out ok.
As the sun began to set in the west, SSgt Brown had the group move out across the open field. Jackson, as usual was in the lead backed up by Theresa. The rest of the group fell in line behind them with Mike bring up the rear.
It took about 45 minutes to cross the 600 meters to the road. They climbed the embankment. Instead of finding any vehicles on the road, they found a totally empty stretch of highway for as far as they could see. Jackson looked to SSgt Brown for guidance. SSgt Brown just waved his left hand forward, go that way. Jackson continued on.
By midnight, they had reached the trees that Mike had told them about. Jackson stopped. SSgt Brown walked beside him. “You want to stay on the road boss, or should we get into the trees?”
SSgt Brown thought about it. His training told him to get in the trees and use the cover. He felt exposed in the middle of the empty road. But the trees offered the opportunity for close contact.
“Stay on the road.”
The group continued on. Jackson could make out the top floors of the hospital in the distance. He thought he could hear the collective moans of thousands of zombies. He slowed his pace, concentrating on walking quietly.