by Allen Gamboa
"Got it, Major." Clarke patted Mac heavily on the back and brought his rifle up to point shoulder. "See ya in a jiff!" Hale nodded back to him and waved the rest of the team forward.
CHAPTER 39: BACK DOOR SURPRISE
Half of the lab was engulfed in an inferno. Black smoke and boiling heat filled the interior of the building. A hundred or more of the undead had pushed and crawled their way inside the damaged structure. The surrounding compound buildings were also on fire in various degrees. Zagers, Klattenhoff and three other technicians worked their way to the back door. Several staggering shapes fumbled around in the hallway behind them.
"Okay!" Zagers slung his rifle and drew the .45 he carried. The six of them had stopped in front of the huge, steel door. "I’ll pull the door open. Klattenhoff, you open up with the big gun in case we have any zombies or bad guys out there."
Klattenhoff smiled and stepped forward, the big machine gun in his hands. "I’ll clear us a nice path, Wolf!"
"Doktor, I’ll go first after Klattenhoff. You and your people follow behind me. Stay close to Klattenhoff and cover our asses."
"I hope Meissner made it off the roof," Klattenhoff said.
"Me too." Wolf wiped some sweat off his forehead with his gun hand and coughed. "We head for the Jeeps once we are out. Jeep two is what we’re looking for." Zagers tucked the metal vaccine case under his arm.
"Can we all fit?" Orlac asked nervously.
"I hope." Zagers pulled open the door’s deadbolt with his free hand and grabbed the heavy doorknob. "Stay out of the way!" he told the scientist. "On three!" he said to Klattenhoff.
"Three," Klattenhoff said, readying the machine gun.
"One." Smoke started to fill the back room.
"Two …" The zombies could be heard moaning and crashing around behind them. Zagers glanced over at Orlac and his staff. They were all wide-eyed, sweating, and trembling.
"Three!" Zagers pulled the large, steel door open and moved out of the way. Stepping forward, Klattenhoff unleashed the power of the XM806 machine gun. Streaming .50 caliber rounds chewed up a dozen or so zombies that were right outside the door. Hot brass casings assaulted the scientists as they tried to find cover. Bloodless body parts were splattered all over. Finally, Klattenhoff emptied the big gun and tossed it to the floor. He deftly drew the Benelli shotgun he had strapped to his massive back. "Going to miss that gun," Klattenhoff said somberly as he chambered a round in the shotgun.
"I am sorry for your loss," Zagers said, carefully scouting out the open doorway. Besides the distant sounds of battle, nothing moved near the open doorway. Lumps of fleshy remains of the zombies littered the area by the back door. "Looks clear. Let’s go."
"I can’t go!" Doctor Henstridge stopped in his tracks and was almost bowled over by the giant named Klattenhoff.
"What?" Wolf was outside the building and busy glancing around for the zombies or attacking mercenaries. The two other technicians, Moreno and Fulci, pushed their way past Orlac and sprinted over to Zagers.
"Doctor Henstridge won’t leave the building!" Moreno, a female biologist, said breathlessly.
"Fuck!" Zagers yelled. "Come on." He squeezed the metal case tighter. "Get your asses out here."
"Trying!" Klattenhoff shouted. "The doctor won’t budge."
"Come on, Niles," Orlac pleaded to the frightened doctor.
"No … no!" Henstridge shook his head wildly.
"Grab him!" Zagers shouted, frustrated.
"Okay." Klattenhoff scooped up the wiry scientist in his huge arm and shoved Orlac forward with his shotgun. “We have to move, Doktor!” Henstridge struggled a little as Klattenhoff dragged him outside. Orlac stumbled over to Zagers, still clutching the other metal case to his chest.
Zagers had one of the Jeeps parked on the other side of the lab. If Meissner and Hoffman were dead, he would have to shove all six of them into one of the small vehicles, provided the Jeep was still intact. He prayed the explosion and following fire hadn't destroyed their means of escape. Zagers started to hurry over to the other side of the building when something slammed into his back and pushed him face down into the ground. He landed hard on top of the metal case. He tried to groan but found himself out of breath as a hot wetness spread over his upper back. The security chief realized he’d been shot. Wolf tried to move, but it was too hard. Darkness reached up and pulled him in.
"Wolf!" Klattenhoff saw Zagers go down hard. He shoved Henstridge to the ground and turned his shotgun on the group of Russians that had arrived at the rear of the building. The big German didn’t hesitate to fire on the mercenaries. Igor's head evaporated in a mist of bone, blood, and whatever brains he had left. Klattenhoff racked another round but was mowed down by Dimitry and Nico's AKs.
"Fuck you, commies!" Klattenhoff roared as he stumbled backwards and fired another round at the Russians. Some of the blast caught Nico in the shoulder, sending him backwards into Kata. The female mercenary grabbed his uninjured shoulder and kept him from falling. "Fucking assholes!" The big German gurgled defiantly as he collapsed back into the doorway, dead.
"Don’t shoot!" Doctor Orlac shouted as he raised his hands in the air as high as was humanly possible. "Don’t shoot! I’m the one you want!"
"Ah," Arkady signaled for the others to halt. "Doctor Orlac, I presume?" He chuckled mirthlessly.
"Yes … yes!" Orlac nodded his head like he was a bobble toy. The other scientists had their hands in the air too. The Russian commander saw the metal case in the grass next to Orlac's feet. He waved his rifle's barrel in the container's direction.
"What is that?" the commander asked.
"It’s the vaccine and the virus!" Orlac rattled the words out as fast as he could.
"Grab case, Nico!" Arkady shouted.
"My shoulder, Arkady." Nico grabbed at his bleeding wound. "I was shot by the big Hun."
"Pussy." Arkady sighed. "Dimitry, grab case!" The other mercenary stepped forward and snatched up the metal container. He looked over at Nico and shook his head in disgust. Arkady pointed. "Yuri, Ivan, cuff up the doctors. We take them all."
There was an explosion from behind. Nico smiled evilly as he clutched his injured shoulder. "Americans have found my little surprise!"
"Good." Arkady took the case from Dimitry. "Ivan, have a look and see if we have a transport. The rest of you, fan out and cover. "As the mercenaries set up a perimeter, Ivan quickly returned from his little scouting mission.
"Jeeps are all on fire," he told the Russian commander. "No sign of Alexi."
"Damn." Arkady glanced around. "We need to leave," he shouted to the others. There would be no Jeeps, and Alona and Iosif hadn’t returned either, so no boat ride home. Nothing came easy. Arkady spat. "To the airfield. We're going to take the Americans’ plane!"
"Move," Dimitry said, shoving the scientist away from the compound. "Move, or I will leave you for the zombies."
"We have our payday," Arkady said, thumping the case with his hand. "I really do not need you, Doctor, so do not give me a reason to kill you. Understand?"
"Yes, yes. I understand," Orlac mumbled, wishing Zagers and Klattenhoff were still alive.
"Very good," Arkady said, pushing the scientist forward. The group double timed it away from the burning lab and the mass of hungry zombies into the cover of the jungle.
CHAPTER 40: AW CRAP 2
Brooks looked over her shoulder to see Wu and his cycle sticking close to her rear. The dozens of deaders that had followed them were now too far behind to be seen. The captain hoped the stumbling undead were lost in the dense jungle. Brooks' first instinct was to turn around and head back to the compound to help out the others, but orders were orders. She slowed her bike to a stop, and Wu rolled up beside her. He glanced behind them, saw it was clear, then dropped his goggles down around his neck.
"Captain?"
"Wu?"
The sergeant climbed off the bike, held it upright with one hand, and pointed to the engines with the other. A couple of bullet holes had raked
the engine. "Looks like I got shot."
"Hope it wasn’t friendly fire." She smiled. "Run?"
"Nope." He let the bike fall to the grass.
"Damn. Well, climb on. I guess you’re riding bitch."
"Figures." He climbed on behind her. "Please don’t tell the fellas."
"Oh, I’m telling everyone." She revved the bike a little. "Looks like we lost them." She shoved her goggles on top of her wild red hair. Dirt streaked her high cheekbones. "We just have to find a way to the airstrip!"
"West." Wu pulled the compass from his tac vest. "The airfield is due west. We head in that direction, Cap, we’ll find it. Island’s not that big."
Brooks nodded. "Thank God for that, Sergeant. West it is." She pulled down her goggles and smiled. "Let's find our bird, Wu!"
They rode through the thick jungle for about a mile before coming upon a clearing. Inside it was a wooden building that resembled a church. Parked next to it was an old, yellow school bus and an even older Datsun pickup truck, but what caught the soldiers' attention were the fifty or so deaders that surrounded the structure and appeared to be trying to get inside. Brooks carefully set the bike down right before the clearing. The captain dropped to her stomach and lay hidden in the tall saw grass. The sergeant crawled over next to her and lay flat. None of the deaders had heard their approach; they were too pre-occupied with trying to tear their way into the building.
"What is it?" Wu whispered.
"Hell if I know. Looks like a church," she said quietly. "Put some eyes on it."
Wu pulled out his binoculars and gave the building a once-over. When he was done, he handed them to Brooks. "Definitely people inside. Count about sixty meat sacks outside."
"Damn!" Brooks glanced through the binoculars. "Must be what’s left of the locals inside. Came to the church seeking refuge."
"Some refuge," Wu said. "Place won’t hold much longer."
"No, it won’t."
Wu craned his neck to look behind them. Still clear. He turned back to Brooks. "So we going to find us a way around?"
Brooks shook her head. "No." She sighed. "We have a job to do."
"Captain." Wu could tell what she was thinking. "We have a plane to protect."
Brooks rolled on her side to face the sergeant. "We can’t leave those people to the deaders."
"That’s not our mission, Captain. We have our orders."
"Which we will carry out, but first, we have to take care of this."
"Look, Captain, we don’t know who is inside. They could all be infected. Hell, it could be some animal trapped inside."
"Really, Sergeant?" She rolled back onto her stomach and resumed watching the church through the binoculars. "We need to try, Wu."
"Captain …"
"Listen, Sergeant. When I was a kid, my family was stuck like those people. We would have died if soldiers hadn’t risked their lives to save us. I can’t throw that away. Can you?”
"Aw, crap!" Wu shook his head. He remembered the horror of being trapped in the attic. "No, no I can’t. You have a plan?"
"Yes I do, Sergeant." She checked the magazine on her mini-14. "You take thirty of the fuckers, and I’ll take thirty."
"Real strategic, Captain." Wu rose to a kneeling position with his sniper rifle.
"Simple and sweet." Brooks smiled as she squeezed off a round.
CHAPTER 41: LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD
"Well?" Mister Black sat in the large, overstuffed chair, sipping his expensive Scotch and staring down the senator on the huge, leather couch across from him. Senator Able Collingsworth took a big drink from the thousand-dollar Scotch then rested the equally expensive glass in his hands. Collingsworth always hated dealing with the man, but Black had made him extremely wealthy and would continue to do so.
"Mister Black." He could hear the Muzak version of Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" playing in the background. Black and his damned Muzak. Collingsworth couldn’t figure the man out. He tried, but the man made his skin crawl. "We thought a Beta test on that island would be a good thing. We know it works."
"Yes, we do," Black said evenly. He tapped the fingers on his free hand to the Muzak. "But we already knew the effect of the virus. The vaccine was the only question."
Collingsworth couldn’t meet his cold stare. "Yes, I know that now. Doctor Orlac assured us there would not be a problem."
"Well." He poured himself another drink. "There is one. This does anything to fuck up our plans for Mali, I assure you, Senator, it won’t be good for you."
"Yes." Collingsworth suddenly felt sick. He knew Black would make him and his family and his mistress suffer. "Senator Kubicek and I have contractors on scene. The island will be wiped, and that will be it."
"You do know there are Russian contractors on the island now too." Black stood up and walked over to the giant fireplace behind his chair. "They want the vaccine and the virus."
"Our team should be fine."
"Fine!" Black gritted his teeth, turned, and slowly walked over to the senator. "Mali has just discovered bigger oil reserves than the Middle East. Their makeshift government wants to sell it all to the Russians. We are talking billions and billions of dollars!” Black turned the glass around in his hand. "With that virus and vaccine, we can destroy that country then rebuild it, and all that oil and money is ours. You do like money, Collingsworth? Whores aren’t cheap, are they?"
"I … I …" Collingsworth looked down at his shiny Italian shoes. "Our team will get the vaccine and virus before the Russians," the senator said lamely.
"You better hope so, you little bitch, 'cause I will rape everyone in your family, your whore, and you if they don’t!" He smiled. "Then I will cut you apart piece by piece and make you eat them. Got it?" Collingsworth nodded quickly. "Good. You better pray we get it back." He poured himself another drink then offered Collingsworth more. The senator slowly raised his glass for Black to fill. "Drink up. It may be your last."
CHAPTER 42: ‘BOUT TIME
Hale and the remainder of his team fought their way through the hungry undead to reach the back of the lab building. Most of the structure was now consumed in flames. The major felt like the wind had been taken out of him as he surveyed the carnage around him. Hale saw the open back door and Klattenhoff’s crumpled form half in and out of it. He hand signaled for the others to form a perimeter, then he and Wickham hurried over to the smoking doorway.
"Motherfucker!" Hale glanced from the giant German's corpse into the inferno of the laboratory. He could see several flaming deaders moving around inside.
"Poor bloke." Wickham knelt down and reached into Klattenhoff’s tac vest and pulled out a wallet. He quickly flipped through it until he found the German’s ID. "Meyers, Klattenhoff. Security contractor." He looked up at Hale. "Definitely a good guy."
"We have to find those Russians!" Hale shook his head wearily. Wickham nodded and stood up, sliding Klattenhoff’s ID into one of the pockets on his tac vest.
"Major!" Zoe West shouted from behind as Gonzo popped off a round at an advancing deader. Hale prepared himself for another onslaught of undead but was surprised when he turned to see West waving him over to a spot in the grass. Hale asked Wickham to pull the German’s body outside the building then ran over to West's position. Before the major could say anything, she knelt down in the tall grass. Hale looked down to see another form, dressed like the dead German, lying face down. The man appeared to have been shot in the back.
"He’s still alive," West said, touching the back of his neck.
"Barely." Hale looked around, making sure nothing was sneaking up on them. The rest of his team were keeping up the perimeter. "Maybe we have us a little break." He gently rolled the man over on his side. "Looks like the shot went clean through."
"I got a dressin’. We can …"
"No fucking way!" Hale blurted. West had pulled out a battle dressing but stopped when Hale shouted. Underneath the man was a metal biologic case. The major figured there was no way they
could be so lucky, but he hoped.
"No way, Major!" West said, tearing the dressing open.
"Let’s see, Sergeant." He reached for the blood-stained case beside the man when a strong hand grabbed his wrist and almost pulled him off his knees. The wounded man cursed as he grabbed the major’s gloved hand. West shoved the rifle into the man's ear.
"Easy there, mate! Don’t be doin’ anythin’ ya might regret."
"Yanks and Aussies!" the man groaned. "Finally." Wolf let out a breath then released Hale's wrist. "'Bout time you guys showed up."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Zagers, Wolf Zagers." He groaned as West wrapped the dressing around his back and chest. "Look, inside is the vaccine and virus." He thumped the case weakly with the back of his hand. "Bad news though. The Russians have an identical case … and Doktor Orlac."
"Of course." Hale looked around. Newman and his team were just arriving, followed by Clarke and Mac. "Can you walk?"
"Yah," he wheezed. "I thought I was going to die here." He tried to stand.
"There’s still time for that," West said, helping the wounded Zagers to his feet.
"Thanks, Fräulein." Wolf coughed.
"Sorry about your man." Hale nodded his head in the direction of the other German's body.
"Bastards," he spat. "Klattenhoff …" His voice trailed off and he shook his head slowly. "We have to stop those swine!"
"I plan on it." He stuck his hand out to Zagers, who was still being half-supported by West. "Rollie Hale, Major, Strategic Securities."
"Major." He quickly shook his hand. "We need to get moving."
"Major." Newman ran over to Hale followed by the others on his team. "Jayne and Gibson are dead. Cord got bit, but we juiced ‘im up."
"Alright, Newman." He patted him on the shoulder. More losses. Too many on this cake walk. “We need to round everyone up and head back to the airstrip. Those Russian assholes are going to make a play for our bird." He grabbed up the metal case. "Diamond, get ahold of Captain Brooks and let her know the bad guys are heading her way."