by Mark Clodi
“Well shit, who does?” said Stewart, “Do you think I want to run up to Chicago through a horde of zombies to take on a super boss zombie master? Look at what happened in Denver, they needed a nuke to take the fucker out.”
Max raised his head, “You aren't going.” he said to Stewart.
“The hell I ain't. Someone has to save your ass.” she smiled at him, knowing he was going to make the trip after all.
“What if I agree to go, but only if you will stay here to look after the kids?”
“Max, I am not their mom. In fact I am not even mother material. I won't be their surrogate parent.”
“But you….”
The tension in the air became palatable and Trisha realized for the first time that there was something other than friendship between Max and Stewart.
“Oh my God!” she said, then brought her hand up over her mouth.
“Aw fuck! Sorry Trish.” Max said quickly.
“Jesus H. Christ! You two are sleeping together!”
“It isn't like that.”
“It isn't?” asked Stewart.
“I mean it is, but not like what Trisha thinks.” said Max blushing furiously.
Trisha put her hand down and fixed Max with a stern gaze, “Sarah hasn't even been dead a month Max! Not one fucking month!”
“I….” Max began to be interrupted by Stewart.
“This isn't Max's fault. I jumped him.”
“You stay out of it! I don't fault you, you weren't married.” Trisha pointed at Max, “He was and I think having your wife die deserves a little more time than jumping into bed with the first woman that comes along.” Turning back to Max she asked, “Have there been others?”
“No. I….”
“Didn't get the chance yet?” Trisha asked.
“No. I….Look Trish, it just happened okay.” Inside Max was seething, he tried not to let it show, but Trisha picked up on his emotions. He could not think of anything to say that didn't sound like a pathetic excuse for sleeping with another woman five days after his wife died. Max wavered between feeling defensive because Trisha hadn't been through what he had over the last two weeks and feeling guilty over what he had done. Finally he shrugged his shoulders and just said nothing at all.
They lapsed into an awkward silence, Stewart seemed to be the least ill at ease of all of them and finally she spoke, “I am going. With or without you. I may not be able to sense the dead like you can, but I am not incompetent. Are you going to come with me?”
“Apt choice of words.” Trisha said bitterly.
Stewart laughed, “I doubt we'll have time. We need to leave and leave soon.” at that moment the front door banged open and they heard some of the kids spilling into the house.
“I told you to stay outside until we were done talking.” yelled Trisha.
Little Max and Nick rushed into the kitchen, with Bill's son saying, “The army is here mom!”
“What?”
“Yeah a car pulled up and army guys got out, we came to tell you. John is talking to them now.”
“Okay we better go see what they want.”
What they wanted was Max.
Chapter 30
Kimberly Tania Tucker took careful aim with her rifle and slowly squeezed the trigger. The zombie she had picked out of the crowd fell silently and disappeared under the feet of his fellows. Kim ducked down behind the low wall of the building she was on, taking care to keep the long silencer on the end of her rifle from banging into anything. The silencer was not held onto the end too well and even a slight bump could cause it to shift, which would mean more work before she took her next shot. Further down along the same wall was her spotter Randy Stevens, he nodded to her, indicating the zombie had stayed down and he had confirmed the kill. A fiber optics cord was fed over the top of the wall allowing him to view the scene without exposing himself to the enemy. Too many military teams had already disappeared here in Chicago and this pair had no desire to join the ranks of the missing.
“Looks like you got him Katie.” 'Katie' for the initials of her first two names, she liked the acronym and as a nickname it worked better than something like 'horse' or 'spud'. “Ammo check.” Randy said, his voice very official.
Katie pulled the box of rounds out of her belt pouch strapped to her back and visually scanned the number of bullets she had remaining, “I have nineteen in the magazine, and twenty three more in the box. Subsonics, that is. I also have another box of twenty six hundreds.” 'Another box' meant fifty more bullets. The subsonic bullets were designed for covert work, to travel under the speed of sound and when combined with the sound suppressor at the end of her rifle, the shots were inaudible. Unlike in the movies a silencer was only effective with bullets that didn't break the speed of sound. The twenty six hundreds she had mentioned would be loud and were supposed to be used when discretion was no longer needed. The two of them had burned through a box of subsonics already and were starting to get nervous because their helicopter pickup had not arrived.
“Any word?” Katie asked Randy.
“Nothing.”
She had to ask, only Randy had a radio and it was piped through the headphones that he wore. Randy needed the radio more than she did, he was the forward observer and called in artillery from the support battery that was located outside of the city. The navy had sailed an old frigate into lake Michigan, parking it just over the horizon, theoretically Randy could call it for fire support too. So far his requests for pickup had all been denied without explanation, but the army still answered his calls to drop artillery on the enemy whenever he spotted a likely looking group of zombies that needed blowing up.
“They are leaving us high and dry.” Katie said.
“Hey all those months you sat and collected a paycheck? Well now you have payback for that.”
“I shoulda been paid more.”
“Woman sniper, one of the very few and the very proud? Someone like you got paid enough if you ask me.”
“Watch it Randy, I'm the one with the gun.”
Technically this wasn't true, Randy had an M-16 with several clips of ammunition and Katie had a light pistol clipped to her belt, but both laughed at the weak joke.
“What are we going to do?” Randy asked.
“Dunno, why you asking me?”
“You outrank me. I think we are going to die.”
“Maybe you will, me I plan to live to give my momma the grandchildren she's always wanted.”
“With me?”
This subject too, had come up a lot between them lately; they had been lovers the last six months and Randy was pressing to make their relationship something more than the 'fuck-buddies' that Katie was comfortable with.
“Tell you what Randy, if we get out of this, I will talk it over with you.”
“Jesus, you are cold! I was more hoping to squeeze you into an undying outpouring of love you would be too embarrassed to go back on later.”
“That is why you love me babe.”
“Yeah, why I love you.” Randy said, with only a trace of bitterness.
“They figure out where we are yet?” asked Katie pointing to Randy's fiber optic cord.
He shook his head, “No, the suits must be working.” both of them were dressed in an outer layer of thin material that the army claimed would bend light around the wearer, therefore, making them blend into their surroundings like a chameleon with the added benefit of dispersing their heat patterns into a form that didn't show up like a normal human's. Katie had seen soldiers using the camo suits and hadn't been very impressed, but they seemed to work wonders against the undead. The suits were not some fantasy 'invisibility cloak' out of the story books, but based on real world physics with a moderate power consumption. The military prototypes has insisted that the suits either use off the shelf power sources or be rechargeable in the field. Katie and Randy wore the self recharging models, which had worked great in broad daylight when the sun could hit the power cells built into the shoulders.
Both of them were worried about what happened in the early morning, the batteries were only good for about four hours in the shade or after the sun went down. Supposedly the suits offered some protection even when not powered, but neither of them were looking forward to testing that theory.
“Two hours until sundown.” Randy said.
“Ask for orders about what to do.”
Randy turned back to the radio and was soon engaged in a conversation, after a few minutes he turned back to her. “They want us to sit tight.”
“Hah! I could have predicted that. You gonna call for artillery fire on the mob down there now that we took out the fast zombie?”
“I was thinking about it.”
“What is wrong?”
“It isn't doing any good. Every rain of fire I bring down, it kills or disables a lot of zombies, but more just rush out to take their place. It is like bailing out the ocean, no matter how much you work at it there is just more goddamned sea water filling the void.”
“That is why we get the big bucks; to fight hopeless battles.”
“No we get the big bucks to go in with overwhelming force, kick ass and pick up the pieces afterward, not for this shit.”
“Well, I don't think we can 'sit tight'. Even stupid zombies get lucky sometimes and that wasn't the last fast one I killed in that mob. I know they have shadows trying to pinpoint us.”
“I haven't seen any.”
“Look harder. I know there was one in that building across the way and if it gets up to the roof we will be exposed here.” The building Katie was talking about was taller than the one they were currently on top of, anyone higher up than them could see them easily. Leaning back so her rifle would not project above the low wall around the roof, Katie pointed the barrel at the floors looming higher than them across the street and began looking for the zombies she knew were there somewhere.
Randy sighed and adjusted his fiber optics cord to scan the building as well, “There ain't nothing there. Some of the zombies are faster is all, some a little smarter, but they don't have tactics or strategy, they are just mindless…”
A bullet ricocheted off the top of the wall next to the fiber optic cable.
“Fuck! Friendly fire! Someone is shooting at us!” From where the bullet had hit Katie knew the shot had come from the other building, she switched to scanning the roof, trying to think of where she would be if she were in the shooter's position. Katie continued to lay on her back on the roof moving just enough to shift her rifle's scope to the rooftop.
“It isn't 'friendly fire', it is the sniper I knew they would send. What is the mob doing down in the street.”
Randy looked at here with wide scared eyes, “What? Why?”
“What I would do is distract us by having some moron who doesn't know shit about sniping and then send the mob up the stairs to finish us off. Are they moving?”
Fiddling with his optics, Randy let out a low moan, “Oh fuck…they are moving to our side of the street.”
“Then they are coming up here and we need to leave. Now.”
“What about their sniper?”
“He ain't no sniper, maybe a rifleman at best. And I don't think he can see us. I think the suits are working. I think he saw our shit, my rifle, your vision gear and took a shot at that.”
“So we run?”
“Climb, the ropes are too goddamned heavy to tote around with us, so we'll use them now and leave them.” When they had been dropped onto the roof they had come with complete packs, in addition each team was given ropes, a harness and climbing gear, which weighed about fifteen pounds.
“Katie, I haven't climbed since….aw hell I don't know when!”
“You think I have? These guys are going to be coming up the stairs, we have the door blocked, but I think they will get through it eventually. So we have to go down the other side of the building.”
“It is six stories!”
“Whine, whine, bitch, bitch. Don't you ever shut up? Grow a pair boy, 'cause it is the only way we are getting out of here!”
“Goddamn it. Fine, but if I die I will haunt you forever.”
“Fair enough. Let's go.” They hastily picked up their gear and ran towards the far side of the roof. “Head for the area behind the access door!” Katie shouted as they ran. The area she was referring to should provide them with some cover from whomever was on the opposite roof. As if to punctuate her words another shot slammed into the roof not too far in front of her, followed by two more in rapid succession.
“See?” she said, “He ain't no sniper, he is, at best, a rifleman. A sniper would not have taken shots at us while we were moving.” They had their backs to the wall the access door was built into, both were breathing heavily despite the short run.
Randy smiled at her, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. Katie pulled back surprised, “What was that for?”
“I am going to do that whenever I think I am about to die from now on, so at least I will die happy.”
“So you want to have your lips on me all the time then?”
“Ideally.”
“Later Romeo. Lets get the gear ready and rappel down.” Katie bent over and started unzipping the large duffel bags with the ropes. Randy eased over to the edge slowly and looked into the alley behind the building.
“Clear?”
“Only one or two.” He responded.
“Good enough, any cars or anything down there for us to steal?” She tossed him a climbing harness.
“Not even a bicycle.”
“Damn. Fuck, look at this shit. We have gear for four people. At least we will have enough rope. We'll toss the unused stuff down when we go and take it with us in case we have to climb again.”
“We could use one rope.” Randy suggested as he watched her tie a second one off on some pipes near the edge of the roof. Just then something hit the door on the roof, which was just around the corner from where they were.
“Well if you really think would could take turns….”
“Fuck no! Tie them both!” Randy tossed their gear into the large bag the rope had come out of, then attached the bag to his harness.
The pounding on the door increased and they heard a ping as something broke, then gunfire from inside the building. Randy swung himself over the edge and disappeared from view, leaving Katie to mumble, “What? No kiss?” to herself with smile.
Six stories was much shorter than either of them had thought it would be, in less than a minute they were on the ground, Randy was on wobbly legs and Katie stumbled when she hit the ground just a little too fast.
“I survived!” he said, leaning over to pick her up and planting a quick kiss on her forehead.
“Cut it out! Oow! Fuck!” Katie said in a low voice.
“What?”
“Goddamned ankle! I think I twisted my goddamned ankle!”
“Can you walk?”
“Given my other choice? Hell yes. Zombie coming.”
Randy turned and pulled out his pistol in a smooth motion, but waited for the slow zombie to get close before pulling the trigger once. The middle aged man in a business suit fell over backwards without another sound. From up above their ropes fell down around them, cut by the mob that had made it onto the roof.
Laughing Randy flipped the zombies on the roof off, “See ya fuckers! And you just cut the ropes you could've used to climb down faster to get us! Dumb-asses!”
Katie had stood up and picked up her rifle, “Uh Randy. Randy!” she screamed pointing upwards. The zombies were jumping.
Randy pushed her against the wall to get them out of the way of the falling bodies. At first Katie thought the zombies had just fallen off of the roof, perhaps pushed over by zealous companions. After the fifth one hit the ground she realized they were aiming for the two humans on the ground. “We gotta fucking move!”
“Our gear!” Randy shouted as she pulled him along.
“You got your communications, I got my rifle, leave the rest of it, we gotta get
out of here!”
Another body, this one of a ten or eleven year old slammed into the ground in front of them, the body hit legs first and the girl's dress slammed into the ground as her broken legs crumpled under her. Katie caught a brief glimpse of both the girl's femur bones snapping through her leg muscles before the dress settled. Worse yet most of the zombies who hit the ground were not dead, they continued to squirm and reach for the two humans as they edged their way along the side of the building.
“Get ready, head for that alley!” Randy said, once they had moved across from a 'T' intersection with another back street. After the next zombie hit, he pulled them forward and into the safety between two other buildings, the zombies could not jump far enough to hit them after they stumbled a little way into this new area.
“Can you run?” Randy asked her looking at a zombie coming into the alley behind them.
Katie stumbled forward into a sloppy jog. “Fuck no! Goddamn it. This is the best I can do.”
“Are you bleeding?”
“I am too afraid to look.”
“Stop.” Randy called, stopping and falling behind her, “No Katie, really stop.”
She pulled to a stop a few yards ahead of him and turned, “What?”
“We don't know how they can see our teams, what if they can smell blood, like a dog?”
“Not physically possible, their noses don't have the…”
Randy cut her off impatiently, “And two weeks ago I would have told you the dead can't come back to life either. So check your ankle okay, if it is bleeding we will bind it up and move out. Quickly.”
Katie stopped and worked the top of her boot down, her progress was impeded by the camo suit, but eventually she could see the part of her ankle that was bothering her. It was swelling and a bruise was forming, but the skin was not broken. Behind Randy the slow zombie was closing in, but it was acting strangely, eventually it seemed to focus on Katie, or more specifically, her half exposed leg. Lacing her boot up and pulling her pants and the camo suit covering back down confused the thing even more. Behind the zombie a virtual mob of undead swarmed into the alley, led by a noticeable faster zombie dressed in military fatigues.