by Mark Clodi
“Christ is that….” Katie began.
“Let's go!” said Randy sweeping her up to stay ahead of the mob. The zombies who had turned the corner were runners, they too, seemed confused as if Randy and Katie were not really there.
Getting to the street corner the two soldiers looked both directions then Randy led Katie diagonally across the four lane street into another alley. The two jogged down the alley and turned right at the end, getting onto an access way behind the tall buildings running the length of the block. Randy led them to another 'T' intersection and pulled them out to the next street. The next ten minutes were an agony for Katie as she moved along nursing her swollen ankle and cursing to herself.
Finally Randy stopped at a loading dock behind one of the many tall buildings and looked at a heavy steel door, which was propped open by a leg. The two had shaken off the zombies that were following them for the moment and he was looking for a new place for them to hole up, either for a few hours or for the night. Approaching the door he pulled out his pistol, ever so slowly he reached for the door and pulled it open. The leg was not attached to a body and the lights of the loading dock beyond were providing a dim glow to see by.
“C'mon. In here.”
“'bout time. I am about dead myself. These suits are not meant for running around in on a hot day in July.”
Randy helped her step over the leg and into the room beyond. Katie slung her rifle over her shoulder and pulled out her own pistol. Letting go of the door Katie watched it close on the leg again. “Should we move that and lock it?”
“I was thinking about that.” said Randy shaking his head. “They got military guys with them, you know converted over. What if they can think, like we were told they might be able to?”
“Yeah, maybe they can.” said Katie remembering the rifle shots at her and Randy on the rooftop.
“Well if they can then they would think we would lock the door, leaving it open behind us would not be too smart. So we wouldn't be in this building, because they can get in easy behind us.”
“Clever, but it also leaves the door open behind us.”
“I didn't say we would leave all the doors open behind us. This is a shipping department, probably there is a building maintenance department down here too. We go there and get keys, every other door we go through stays locked behind us.”
“All the way to the top?”
Randy shook his head again, “No way girl, we don't have any rope to play that tune again and I am not getting trapped up there.”
“So then where do we go Romeo?”
“Down. A basement if they have it, this building is old, maybe they have a leaky coal room we can hide in for a few hours.”
“You take me to the nicest places! Do you have radio contact?”
“Not from here. No way, I will have to go up a bit, but I will do that later. Right now I will conserve the batteries and find us a place to stay.”
As luck would have it they didn't need to find the maintenance area to find a set of keys, the keys found them. When Randy was moving out of the shipping area through a set of swinging double doors a zombie jumped on him and wrestled him to the ground. Behind the older man in the one piece building maintenance uniform were six of his friends. Randy's gun was knocked out of his hand and he hit the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Katie stepped forward and shot her pistol into the other group of zombies, knocking one down with a head shot, but burning through the rest of her clip without further effect. She pistol whipped the man on top of Randy with three sharp blows, the last of which cracked something at the base of his head and sent it into convulsions. Randy shoved the man off of him and recovered his weapon while Katie reloaded.
The remaining zombies were of the regular slow moving variety and the two of them methodically put bullets in each of their heads in short order. Turning back to the convulsing zombie on the ground Katie aimed her pistol only to be stopped by a touch on her arm by Randy.
He shook his head and rolled the zombie over. The man was still not in control of his body, but slowly his shaking started to subside. The name on his uniform said 'Kaleb', and his eyes tracked Katie and Randy's movements.
“What?” Katie asked, “You doing some field work here Randy? I don't think we could learn anything the eggheads back at base haven't already found out.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I think you broke its neck. That is why it was twitching.”
“What else are you hoping to learn?”
Randy shrugged, “I dunno. I just thought…maybe we could get some sense of why this one was smarter and faster and could see us, when the regular ones didn't. Fuck it, you're right, this is a waste of time.” He brought his pistol up and pointed it at the zombie's forehead.
“Wait.” pleaded Kaleb.
“What the fuck?” said Katie, recoiling in surprise, “It can talk!”
“We knew that.” Randy said, “We've seen them talk.”
“No. I meant it talked to me, like it knew what it was saying.”
“I can talk.” Kaleb said.
“See! It did it again!”
“I know what I am saying.”
“Bullshit!” she said, bring her pistol to bear again.
“Easy. Let's just calm down a minute.” said Randy.
“Easy my ass! It is a zombie! I know it's a zombie! Look at the blood dripping out of it, it is old and nasty. This thing isn't human!”
“Yeah, maybe in a minute.”
“Don't kill me. I can help you, if you don't kill me.”
“We can't kill you; you're already dead!” Katie yelled.
“Wait Katie, just wait for a minute okay.”
“One minute.”
Randy turned back to the zombie, “Why shouldn't we kill you?”
“I can help you.”
“How?”
“I know some things, some stuff that is going on.”
“Time is ticking, um, 'Kaleb', so far I haven't heard anything worth keeping you alive for.”
The janitor struggled to right himself on the floor, pulling his body to one wall and moving it into a sitting position, his every move tracked by Katie's pistol.
“That is better, okay, I know a few things about what is happening in Chicago.”
“So do we, it has been overrun by flesh eating zombies!” Katie said, “You gotta 'bout thirty seconds to start talking icing out of your cake hole buddy!”
"What?" asked Kaleb, not understanding, the he said, “Wait! I know where your helicopter went, the one that dropped you off. And I know why it won't be coming back.”
That stopped the two special forces soldiers.
“What?” asked Randy, the first to recover.
“The helicopter, the one that dropped you off this morning, you and your other teams. I know what happened to it. You're stuck here, I know that, I've been playing hide and seek with guys like you for the last week. Your helicopter puts you down on a tall building at dawn and comes and collects you a couple hours after that. Only today it never came back.”
“Maybe the mission is different this time?”
The zombie smiled and shook it's head, all the twitching it had been doing before had stopped, “Uh-uh. It ain't coming back for you. It got shot down.”
“By who?”
“The zombie running this place. His name is Harry, he brought some soldier's back. They manned some of the anti-aircraft defenses that were put in place after the terrorist attacks. You know, to protect the buildings and everything.”
“Yeah, we know.” Both of them knew that the defenses Kaleb was talking about were supposed to be in military hands today too, it had been one of the missions the marines were handed yesterday.
“Harry, he took them over and when you got dropped off, he shot the aircraft down.”
“Fuck.” Randy said.
“Don't believe it.” Katie warned.
“No, it makes sense. I've been on the radio with them, they have been dodging me eve
ry time I asked for a pickup. It makes sense.”
“Don't talk in front of it like this! For all we know it is able to communicate with others of its own kind from where it is now.” turning on Kaleb, Katie asked, “Can you? Can you do some sort of zombie telepathy?”
The zombie seemed reluctant to say anything until Katie threatened it with her gun once more. “Yeah, yeah, okay I can do some of that. A little. Pictures more than words.”
“Prove it.”
“What? How?”
“Tell one to come here. Now.”
“It doesn't work like….well maybe…”
“What do you mean?”
“I can't tell zombies tougher than me what to do, only new zombies or stupid ones. Like these guys here that you killed.”
“Yeah, so? Call one of them.”
“Okay. Gimme a couple of minutes.”
Katie knelt by Kaleb and pressed her gun to his head, “And Kaleb?”
“Yes?” he nodded as his body stiffened in fear.
“Only call one.”
“Got it. No problem.”
The trio waited in silence for a few minutes before Kaleb spoke again, “I got one, it is going to come through the door, the loading door there.”
Both of them backed away from the door, then Randy said, “Okay, bring it in.”
The door slid open slowly and a young girl stepped into the hallway, no other zombies were visible as the door swung back and forth after she entered.
“Fuck. Now what?” Randy asked.
“We kill them both and report what we found to headquarters, let them deal with the information.”
“No!” yelled Kaleb, “I can still help you!”
Randy paused and said, “Yeah, how?”
“I know where some of your friends landed.”
“Tell us.” Katie said menacingly.
“No. I mean, I will, but you have to let me go. I will go into the storeroom and yell it to you there, then you won't see me again.” The girl dressed in an oversized Chicago Bears nightgown turned her head sideways and stared at Katie intently.
“Yeah, right. Kaleb if we let you go you'll just be back here with more of your friends looking for us.” said Randy, pulling the clip out of his gun and starting to reload it.
“No, I mean, even if I came back, you will be gone by then.”
“Why is she looking at me like that?”
“I don't fucking know, I only called her here…” Kaleb began. He was interrupted as the girl opened her mouth and spoke.
Her voice was that of any child, high pitched and full of innocence, “I am trying to decide what part of you to eat first.”
Katie's gun swung onto the girl, but it was too late the child dove away to the left, putting Randy between the two of them. Randy struggled to get the clip back into his gun as the girl caught his arm and twirled him about into the wall. “Kill her!” the girl yelled at Kaleb, who was already moving. Katie moved the pistol down to fire on the janitor when her legs were knocked out from under her by his rolling body.
Randy's hand slammed into the wall with enough force to break the skin over his knuckles, his gun fell from his numbed fingers to land by his side. He immediately slammed the hand with the clip into the little girl's face, trying to impale her head on it. The girl's head snapped back and she gave away beneath his hand, avoiding most of the force from the blow. When she was near the ground he brought his foot around to sweep her feet out from under her, the girl stumbled and fell on the floor and Randy came down hard on her back, forcing her to the ground, with his head near hers.
Katie fell forward over Kaleb and the man rolled until he was on his stomach and then pushed himself upwards in a move that defied the laws of gravity. Katie, however still had a gun, she didn't need to get to her feet to shoot either, instead she caught herself with her hands, then rolled over onto her back. As soon as Kaleb regained his feet he was hit in the side of the head by a single shot from her pistol, this time when he dropped he didn't get back up.
The girl flailed backwards with one elbow catching Randy in the head and knocking him momentarily off balance. She took advantage of the situation to spin around beneath him, then planted a short blow into his groin when the opportunity presented itself. Randy let out a moan and started to fall sideways, but it was merely a feint to get his hands on his pistol. The clip had been lost in the quick fight, but he grabbed the gun nonetheless. The zombie girl tried to push his leg up off of her, then, when that failed she put her mouth down to his thigh and bit down. Screaming Randy tried to get off of the girl, as he moved she came with him, her mouth attached to his inner thigh like a vise. Bringing his gun around he put it to the top of her head and pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed through her head and exited messily out of the side of her neck, instantly her jaws relaxed, dropping off of his leg a moment later.
Katie was on her knees in the hallway, staring at Randy. “I always keep one in the chamber, even when I reload.” he said. Katie didn't reply. At first Randy thought she was concerned about his bleeding leg, then he noticed the blood splatter against her camo suit, looking closer he saw the small hole in at the center of the blood splatter, right above her stomach.
“You shot me.” Katie said, before tumbling sideways onto the floor.
Chapter 31
Max arrived in Osceola the morning after the military men had come to collect him from Bill's house. Stewart was by his side and the two were now dressed in military fatigues. The military authorities had not given Max a choice, they had drafted him using the emergency legislation that the state of Iowa had enacted and taken him away from his crying children after giving him only a short opportunity to say goodbye.
The men were polite, but firm in their insistence that Max go with them. It was only after Stewart had taken one of his handlers aside that they agreed to let her come with Max as a 'body guard', the man she had proven her skills on wasn't permanently damaged. It was four thirty in the morning, according to Max's watch, and the train was already loaded up and almost ready to go. They were waiting for one more squad of men before they left, on board the train there were already two squads led by Colonel Leroy Draper, a tall, fit African American who was not happy to have Max along, but he had been briefed on the plan and had even added a few details to it himself. It was Draper who waited with Max, Stewart, and another soldier outside the train. Draper was older than Max expected, the man had to be close to his own age. Despite the age difference he looked much more fit than Max. 'He is built like a brick shithouse,' Max thought, sizing the other man up. As near as Max could tell he was the highest ranking soldier he had met so far.
“No need to try the saluting and other bullshit with me.” came Draper's voice, it was soft, deep and full of southern twang, “You ain't a soldier, even drafted, without some training. You just say 'Hey Draper' or 'Hey Leroy', don't bother with anything else.”
“Do we have a chance?” asked Max, the question he had been wanting to ask the last twenty hours.
Draper turned on him and stared intently into Max's face. “You.” he said, sticking one beefy hand into Max's chest, “You are our chance. Don't fuck this up. We get in, we kill the bastard who needs killing, we get out. Don't kill me and my men Max.”
“When will this other squad get here?” asked Stewart to fill the void after Draper's short speech.
“I think this is them now.” said Draper pointed at the headlights of a truck that was heading their way. “A squad of volunteers, really dumb volunteers, which is why we have to bring them back. Their only job is to protect the train.”
Max had a sick feeling in his stomach as he watched an old army truck pulled up, his feeling was made worse when he saw the first man to dismount. “No.” he whispered, then turned to Draper, “No. Not him, not his squad.”
“You know him?” Draper asked, surprise in his voice, “I thought you were from Colorado?”
“He is my buddy from way back, I should have known he would v
olunteer, but how did he know?”
“The sergeant?” asked Draper pointing at Bill who was helping an older man from his squad off of the truck. “He volunteered, he said something to his officer about the train, it worked its way up the command line and when we were looking for someone to watch our transportation, they gave it to him. Ten guys with all the ammunition they need should be able to hold this train against anything.”
The train was down to an engine, a tanker to hold extra fuel, a single passenger car and a flatbed loaded with two armored personal carriers and a half dozen motorcycles. The flatbed was the last car in the line and the motorcycles were on the front of it. One squad was riding in the armored personal carriers to man the vehicle weapons, one squad was split between the engine and the fuel tanker, which had two machine gun emplacements embedded into it and the other two squads were to ride in the passenger compartment. Max had asked about the fuel tanker and Draper had said it was a relic left over from the cold war, the guns were even Vietnam era fifty caliber monsters, but the thing had never been used before, not even to protect the rail lines in the countries the United States was involved with. When Max had asked about it Draper had said, “Who would want to be on that car? I mean it is up armored to carry fuel, but an rocket propelled grenade would cut through it like a hot knife through butter and then ka-pow! That is fuel Max, explosive fuel. It was not a good design, but we have one and we are not expecting the natives to be firing rpgs at us. It should shrug off most small arms fire, just not military stuff.”
Bill had assembled his squad and approached Draper, where he executed a sloppy salute that brought a sigh to the officer's lips. “At ease. What is your name sergeant?”
“Bill Carson, sir.”
“I thought you'd have a full squad Bill?”
“We had some casualties, but picked up a few other guys from one of the other squads from Sioux City.” There were only eight men, including Bill in front of the Lieutenant.
“Oh? I heard you were up there. I know you are more like a militia than a regular soldier, but the things I have heard about the fighting up that way…”