by Dan McMartin
~~~
Chief Petty Officer Jim Anders had already gathered up his friend and confidant, Anna. He, like many others, had retreated from the front lines to defend positions further back as the zombie army advanced. He wound up defending a small intersection just outside the Presidio but had since fallen back into the old Army base as the air attacks commenced. Some might say he abandoned his post but Anders would argue he was saving the ones he loved from what he felt in his gut was the end.
Anders had been positioned at one of the highest points in that part of the city. He could see the air battle as well as anyone save the pilots themselves. The city south of his position was a tangle of writhing bodies, eager to get at their prey. The airstrikes were like pebbles thrown into a pond. Their effects diminished quickly as the undead closed ranks. The horde was being diminished but far too slowly in Anders’ estimation to make any difference.
Now he knew why they nuked Los Angeles. Anders felt a tinge of guilt as he drove Anna to find Pete and Gunny. He should be fighting for the survival of their adopted city but instead he was running. But that guilt paled in comparison to the regret he felt for not being there for his wife and daughter.
“Where are we going?” Anna asked.
“To find Gunny and Pete and get the hell out of here,” he told her.
“What about the city, the people?” she asked.
“It’s too late. We need to look out for each other. We’re family, or as close to family as we can get. I care about all of you too much to stay here and watch you die,” Anders said. Anna didn’t reply and Anders didn’t care. His mind was set. He was going to get his friends, his family, out of the city or die trying, even if he had to haul Gunny out by the scruff of his neck.
Anders had found Anna at the headquarters complex in Cow Hollow when he had gone there to discover the fate of Gunny and Pete, a lucky break that would save him some time. Anders drove a pickup he borrowed...stole might be the more proper term. Anders wasn’t one to give up easily. He had worked many long hours loading ordinance onto fighter aircraft during the war. He knew that his tireless work was helping to save the lives of Marines and soldiers like Gunny.
But this was futile. He had watched as the horde had advanced relentlessly, a seemingly endless mass of shambling bodies. The men and women of the city could not withstand such a thing. Those freaks would never surrender and their losses didn’t matter. They were mindless killing machines who wouldn’t stop until they reached the bay. Anders was certain of it and he couldn’t stand by and let his friends, his family, die needlessly when there was something he could do.
Anna observed the situation as they went. She didn’t speak as the blocks passed. Anders headed to the intersection where the young corporal told him Gunny and Pete had gone with Colonel Widman. Finally, Anna turned to regard him.
“You’re right. There are thousands of them on every street. I..I can’t believe it,” she told him.
“The city is lost,” Anders said but as soon as he did, a squad of Marines darted out in front of the pickup, firing south as they went. Anders slammed on the brakes, barely missing one of the men, but he didn’t stop. He drove right on through that intersection, passing a wall of the undead advancing towards the bay.
“Holy shit!” Anna exclaimed as she witnessed the desperate battle first hand. Anders reached over and put his hand on her knee.
“The airstrikes. I could see them clearly from where I was. They were barely making a dent. I just couldn’t stay,” Anders replied, almost asking for Anna’s forgiveness.
“Our stuff?” she asked, apparently not noticing how much conflict there was in Anders. He knew he was doing the right thing but how many people would die here? Anders knew he couldn’t do anything to save them. He could only save a few and that would have to be enough. But that didn’t soothe his guilt. Not by a long shot.
“It’s in the back,” Anders told her. Anna turned to look. There wasn’t much, just the stuff they had entered the city with and the guns and ammo they had been issued. It was thought that every man and woman, even older children should be armed. But that line of thinking never considered the magnitude of what was happening now. They would need more than small arms and a few helicopters to push back the tide today.
“Where will we go?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know. Anywhere but here,” he replied. And then Anders made a sharp right turn and headed south. Up ahead, a wall of zombies writhed and fell in a hail of gunfire as a small group of men and women tried to hold them off. They were failing. Then he saw his friends. Gunny and Pete fought next to their Humvee, just yards from the advancing freaks. Anders brought the pickup to a stop and climbed out.
“Help us get that gear into your Humvee,” Anders shouted. Gunny and Pete both turned but it was Pete that ran towards them...towards Anna. Anders was sure Pete saw the situation for what it was. He didn’t.
Chapter 17
“You can’t be here!” Pete scolded her, though there was no anger in his voice.
“Neither can you,” the girl shot back.
“I have to help. We’ll be overrun,” he explained and turned to fire upon the advancing horde. Anna put a hand on his shoulder and Pete turned towards her slightly, his rifle still shouldered.
“Pete, it’s over,” she said. Pete knew in his gut she was right but this place, Camp San Francisco as it was called now, was their home. Defending it, defending Anna, was his duty and sole concern. But he looked back south. The street before him was clogged with the undead, reanimated corpses of people who had once had lives, families, hopes and dreams. Now they came to eat his flesh and all at the direction of the man that called himself Stanley.
“We have to fight,” Pete argued but half-heartedly. The doubt he already felt inside surfaced. This was futile. They had lost half the men that were here when he arrived with the Colonel and given up five blocks to the zombie army. It was apparent to anyone that it was a losing battle. Pete had come to terms with the idea that he might die here. He was okay with that...or at least he was. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
“Pete! Anders! Anna! Find a weapon and fire it,” Gunny yelled. He was again the warrior he had been in the time before Pete met him along that road on the way to San Francisco. He barked orders and fought with a ferocity that both inspired and frightened Pete. At times, Gunny abandoned his rifle and fought hand to hand with only his knife. He had killed at least a hundred zombies and saved his men and the others that now followed him several times.
“No, Gunny,” Anders called back. The big Marine turned to regard his friend. Anger and confusion filled his eyes.
“Are you mad? Defend yourself,” Gunny replied. Three helicopters flew over, launching more missiles after being rearmed.
“No! It’s over. The airstrikes aren’t working. We’re going to be pushed into the bay. We’re all going to die,” Anders argued. Gunny’s lip snarled and he marched towards Anders, coming to rest just inches from his friend.
“Pick up your weapon! You’re scared. I get it. But we will die if you don’t reattach your balls and get in this fight,” Gunny yelled, seething with anger.
“Chris,” Anders said, using Gunny’s given name and standing his ground. “I saw it. Anna and I passed a street just a few blocks from the waterfront, Marines in full retreat and thousands of those monsters hot on their heels. It’s over. We need to think about ourselves,” Anders explained. Gunny wasn’t having it. The Marine calmed himself as the battle raged just ten yards behind him. Pete and Anna watched, wary of the advancing front of zombies as they waited to see how this would play out.
“I’ve never known you to just give up, Anders. We can’t leave. We can’t abandon our post. People will die if we don’t defend this city. Innocent people. C’mon, man,” Gunny said, trying to reason with the inexplicable position of his friend. Three zombies slipped through the patchwork line of defense. Anders pulled out his sidearm and shot them all dead before Gunny even knew they were there.
“I’m not afraid and I’m not abandoning anything. In fact, you stupid fucking jarhead, I’m saving your ass and all these people along with you. You’re all I have in this world and I won’t let you die here in some futile, blaze of bullshit Marine Corps glory. We’re leaving...now,” Anders said, his words as hard as Gunny’s. The big Marine just stared at his friend, his eyes searching for something to say. And then, Stanley appeared suddenly out of his army, a missile tube resting on each shoulder, as his army paused in their attack.
“Look what I found,” Stanley said and began to laugh. The men and women turned their fire on the leader of the undead army, each of them there when Stanley killed Colonel Widman. But Stanley was one step ahead. Zombies, at his direction, formed a protective ring around their leader. Bullets took them down but others simply slid into place. His minions mindlessly took bullets to protect him. Gunny called a cease fire. They were just wasting ammo and he was curious as to what Stanley was about. But it was Stanley that did the talking.
~~~
“I remember you. You were with the Colonel...Widman, wasn’t it? He tasted okay, rather old and tough but not bad,” Stanley said. Anders was confused, to say the least. The man standing there appeared to be one of the freaks that surrounded them, but he was different. Besides the obvious difference, the thing was talking, its eyes were different too. They weren’t as cloudy and they showed intelligence.
“Are you going to kill me too, Stanley?” Gunny asked.
“No, I’m going to make you watch. It’s amazing what you can learn from someone when you drain their life away and turn them into one of us,” the talking freak Gunny referred to as Stanley said. To say Anders was confused was a massive understatement but he could see Gunny had met this man...this monster before. Then the freak called Stanley smiled.
Anders could only watch as the thing bent its head and looked down the length of the missile tube on his right shoulder. He held two Javelin missiles, probably taken from Marines or soldiers. Anders knew them well thanks to his former job and if this Stanley unleashed one at them at this range, they would all die.
But he didn’t fire at the small group of defenders. He aimed over their heads. Anders turned to follow the path. Stanley was aiming towards the bay and the ships anchored off shore. He couldn’t take down those ships with a Javelin. But then Anders saw it. The fuel tanker sitting amongst the other vessels. He might be able to damage that ship and take down the rest of the small fleet with it.
“Stop him!” Anders shouted but it was too late. A Javelin missile roared out of the tube and into the sky. The blast from its rocket shot out the back of the tube and mowed down a dozen zombies. Bullets began to fly in a futile attempt to take down Stanley but he unleashed the second missile a moment later. Firing a Javelin was easy but targeting one took some skill and Anders could only assume that skill was obtained from the men that employed those weapons as he killed them.
It made no sense but it didn’t matter. Anders watched as the seconds went by. Gunny watched too as one missile slammed into the tanker followed by the next a few seconds later and nearly in the exact same location. A moment passed and Anders was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the ship exploded. The shock wave could be seen as it rolled towards the city and over the land.
The ship was torn apart from the inside as the fuel inside the tanks ignited. The pressure built and the hull was breached by the explosion. The violence damaged the ships nearby as well. Anders turned back to his friend. “We need to go. All of us, need to go,” he said.
Gunny stared at him, his eyes searching for a solution to a problem that didn’t have one. There was no defense now. There never was. There were too few people to defend against the horde that threatened. Gunny’s eyes lifted and locked with Anders’. The conflict was apparent but every good warrior knew when to cut his losses and retreat to fight another day.
“Yeah,” was all Gunny said and then turned. “Retreat!” he ordered. The defenders, many of whom watched the ship burning and slowly sinking into the bay, didn’t argue. They began to pull back just as zombies appeared behind them. They were trapped.
“You fiddle while Rome burns,” Stanley said from behind his bodyguards. “You forgot, I control these beautiful creatures. While you watched the fireworks show, I sent them to flank you. My friends are going to have you for dinner and eventually every human that inhabits this city. Soon, the world will be mine. I’ll be king of the undead and a new order will arise. In the meantime, I think I’ll see if I can breed with that one,” he continued, pointing at Anna.
Anna gasped and Anders snapped. He couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t understand the relationship the monster known as Stanley had with the zombies and he didn’t care. His friends were threatened and that’s all that mattered. Anders’ gut told him Stanley was the key to all of this carnage so he decided to do something about it.
“I’ll give your love to Nina and Cindy when I see them,” he said to Gunny and then Anders pushed past his friend and into the mass of zombies.
~~~
“Jim!” Gunny shouted as his friend ran past. He didn’t know what Anders meant when he said he’d give his love to his dead wife and daughter but he understood now. “NO!” he cried out as his best friend ran into the knot of zombies protecting Stanley. His momentum carried him through the first line but Anders rush was slowed. He struggled and fought his way through as hands and teeth tore him apart. There was nothing Gunny could do.
Stanley just laughed as it appeared for a moment that Anders’ attempt was in vain. But the courageous sailor wouldn’t be denied. Even Gunny didn’t understand Anders’ intent at first. He assumed Anders meant to shoot Stanley but he didn’t raise his sidearm to shoot the leader of the undead army. Instead, Anders tackled Stanley to the ground as Stanley’s minions followed.
The freak’s lust for human flesh would not be denied. Dozens of zombies rushed in as the smell of human meat and blood filled the air. They tore Anders limb from limb, disemboweling the man in the feeding frenzy and Stanley along with him. Gunny could hear the would be king of the new order squeal like a school girl as his own so-called army tore him apart. In their frenzy to feed, the zombies didn’t discriminate. Anders, however, never made a sound as he sacrificed himself for his friends.
Anna and Pete rushed to Gunny’s side and watched along with him in horror as their friend and their enemy were reduced to a pile of bloody bones and sinew. “Sweet Jesus,” Gunny uttered, fighting to control his emotions. Anna lifted her hand and turned Gunny’s face away as she hugged him, lending him support.
“I’m so sorry,” was all she said. Pete squeezed his shoulder. The undead army ceased to exist. No longer were they controlled by Stanley and they began to mill about aimlessly again. They were still dangerous, however. Those nearby, smelling the scent of living humans, came to feed. The gunfire brought Gunny back from the brink.
“Get to the vehicles!” Gunny shouted. Two Humvees and the pickup Anders had driven were there. The men and women piled in without hesitation, almost more than the vehicles could manage. One woman, a member of the Air Force was dragged down before she could climb in. Her attackers were killed but not before it was too late. She was already unconscious and more were coming to feed upon her.
The three vehicles mowed down zombies as they went, breaking through the scattered army that had flanked them. In the clear, they headed for the headquarters but found their way blocked at every turn by the undead, most milling about in the streets until the small convoy caught their attention. Gunny ordered the vehicles to turn back and find somewhere they could regroup and devise a plan.
~~~
Along the edge of the bay at one of the cruise ship terminals, the small band of defenders found temporary sanctuary. They couldn’t stay for long. The zombies would eventually disperse and cover the city. No one thought the city could be saved anymore. There were thousands, probably well over ten thousand corpses wandering the city. Their
drive toward the bay had been blunted when Anders killed Stanley but they were still there waiting to feed.
Pete had seen the boats leaving the city for the relative safety to be found elsewhere. The dream of a safe place to live and rebuild his life was gone. The group was only there to catch their breath and devise a plan. Or plans as it turned out. Many of the defenders had family. They didn’t stay long. They ventured back into the city to find their loved ones and friends and then to find a way out.
Soon, there were only four of them left. Pete and Anna, Gunny and a woman that reminded Pete of a flower child of the sixties. She was in her thirties, thin with long blond hair. Brenda was her name.
“I was protesting along the Embarcadero when we were attacked. I thought those things were human, that they could be cured. They aren’t. They’re monsters. I escaped and found those men. They handed me a rifle and told me to shoot. I didn’t have any problem after I saw what those monsters could do...and after they showed me how. Then you came along and...well, you know the rest,” she explained when asked by Anna about why she was there.