by Barry Slater
“For heaven's sake Jack,” Dwayne said into the handset as the thought had just entered his mind. “Do we kill them?”
“Hell yes!” Captain Jack shouted into the handset. “If you want to keep your house you will. You fight for survival Dwayne! They are trespassing.”
Dwayne reached for the generator switch then paused.
“They're coming over the fence,” Captain Jack said. “You need to decide now how you want to handle this.”
Captain Jack's handset was silent.
“Dwayne, it all boils down to this: Do you want to keep your house or have those assholes take it from you?”
“Light them up!” Dwayne said. He switched on the generator then ran upstairs and switched on the outside floodlights.
“Get across!” Colonel Tibbets shouted as the lights blinded his men. “Get to the house, knock those lights out!”
Captain Jack clicked the firing trigger to detonate the napalm.
Taken by surprise, Colonel Tibbets was forced back by the conflagration.
Dwayne tore the curtains down and used them to snuff out the burning couch then—hearing the rumble of the explosions—ran to the rooftop balcony to see the night sky lit up by six massive fireballs erupting from the gasoline bags along the front fence line.
Blinded by the floodlights, several men scaled the west fence—the fence closest to the house—then shot out the lights at Doc Martin's position.
Colonel Tibbets, after firing several rounds, put out one of the bulbs on the dual floodlight fixture on the front corner of the house.
The west side of the house was now in total darkness.
Sparks and broken glass flew over the bastions. Doc Martin, using the Starlight scope, sniped at the intruders. Dwayne opened up with the extra assault rifle, not taking the time for aiming with the sniper rifle, as Captain Jack, using the thermal goggles, sniped from his corner in support.
Tracers streaked from Dwayne's assault rifle as Doc Martin and Captain Jack's firing ripped through the attacking militants.
“We're being annihilated!” Joe shouted as he ran from the fence line to Colonel Tibbets' position. “Either there are more people than we thought or they have figured out how to defend all four sides with just two men with the third as a go-between.”
“What kind of a god damn arsenal do they have?” Colonel Tibbets shouted over the continuous roar of gunfire.
“I don't know, but they are killing us. We've grossly underestimated the situation here!”
The other two groups flowed in from the trees behind the house—the north side—and from the east side.
Dwayne shifted positions to cover the rear of the house and poured automatic fire into their ranks. Captain Jack took down several of the intruders coming in from the compound side which was now in grave danger of being overrun.
Captain Jack heard a bone chilling scream at the compound fence. Through the thermal goggles he could see a man taken down in a struggle with an unseen force.
“It's B.J.!” Captain Jack shouted.
Attracted by the fighting, B.J. crashed the compound gate and came in behind the attacking militants. He had survived the gunshots and the fire by pulling himself out of the pit with a limb that had gone unscathed.
“They're decimating us!” Joe shouted.
“Pull them out,” Colonel Tibbets shouted. “Pull them all out. Get them out of there!”
Two of the rouge militants made it to the back of the house but were wounded by Dwayne and Doc Martin.
“Shit,” Captain Jack shouted. “I'm hit!”
“Cease fire,” Colonel Tibbets shouted. “Cease fire!”
The militants ceased firing then moved up to retrieve their wounded on all sides of the house except the compound side where B.J. was mauling his victim.
“Stop firing,” Dwayne shouted. “Stop firing everybody. Hold up!”
“Keep firing,” Captain Jack retorted. “Take those assholes down!”
“Jack,” Dwayne said calmly. “Let them leave.”
“So they can attack us again?” Captain Jack said. “You know they'll try this again. Either that or they'll catch us next time we're in town. It's a game of survival, Dwayne. We've got to get as many of them as we can now!”
“No. Let them go. Maybe they've had enough.”
“I hope you're right,” Captain Jack said as he breathed in then leaned back against the bastion and looked at his grazed arm. “I hope to God you're right.”
#
“You got a lot of us killed trying to take that house,” Joe said angrily.
“What are our casualties?” Colonel Tibbets asked. “Give me the numbers.”
“Ten dead so far,” Joe answered. “Five wounded, two seriously. We should have continued living off the land and moved on.”
“And let those dead bastards sneak up on us at night without our night vision? Why do you think those guys are defending that place so well? We can't fight from foxholes the rest of our lives. We need a solid defensive position to fight from just like they do.”
“If we run out of ammunition,” Colonel Tibbets continued. “We will still have a fortress to protect us. As long as those dead bastards can't get in then we will be safe.
“For now we dig in and stay concealed.”
“We need supplies,” Joe emphasized. “We need more bandages and antiseptic.”
“We'll go into town and look for supplies,” Colonel Tibbets agreed.
“We need Doctor Martin,” Joe said somberly.
“And those generators and their vehicle and that whole damn place!” Colonel Tibbets said louder with each point. “Now are you starting to get the picture?”
Colonel Tibbets paused. “We have to try again,” he said calmly.
“We should have approached this differently to start with,” Joe responded. “I think we should talk to them.”
“Do you think they would trust us now?” Colonel Tibbets asked sarcastically. “We had no idea what we were walking into. We didn't know if we could trust them, of course they couldn't trust us. Besides, that's all water under the bridge now.”
“We still should have had a better plan.”
“That was then, this is now. If you have a better plan for now lay it on me dude, because I'd really like to hear it!”
“We go into town,” Joe said through his clenched teeth. “And get supplies for our wounded.”
#
Wearing his ghillie suit, Captain Jack moved as close to Doc Martin’s house as he could. Dwayne stayed back out of sight but still in range of the handsets.
“They're still there,” Captain Jack whispered into his handset.
“I have to say you were right Jack,” Dwayne said. “These assholes are here to stay. Like you said, what if we run into them in town or they try to take the house again?”
“We've got to take the fight to them,” Captain Jack responded.
“We'll come up with something,” Dwayne said. “Let's get back to Doc Martin.”
Captain Jack eased out of the wooded area near Doc Martin's property then met Dwayne near the roadway. Careful to avoid B.J., Dwayne and Captain Jack hiked silently through the snow powdered forest along the road back to Dwayne's house. Dwayne gave Doc Martin a thumbs up as he and Captain Jack emerged from the tree line.
Dwayne called out as he opened the front gate, “How you doing Doc?”
“Good,” Doc Martin said with a smile. “The pneumonia is completely gone. The antibiotics did the trick.”
Dwayne and Captain Jack met Doc Martin in the living room.
“What's the story?” Doc Martin asked.
“They still have your house,” Dwayne replied.
“We're working on a way of getting rid of them once and for all,” Captain Jack said.
“I was thinking,” Doc Martin said. “I was watching with the thermal goggles as you two came through the woods.”
“Is everything alright?” Captain Jack asked.
“Yes,”
Doc Martin responded. “I was just wondering how the dead see us. You know, through their discolored eyes and their thousand-yard stare.”
“What about it, Doc?” Captain Jack asked.
“If we knew that then we could counter it. If we could walk among the dead, along with the music, then we would have a great advantage.”
“Are you thinking it's thermal?” Captain Jack asked while Dwayne listened closely.
“Could be,” Doc Martin responded. “That could explain why they don't go after each other.”
“You mean,” Dwayne said. “They can see our body heat?”
“I think so,” Doc Martin theorized.
“I think you're onto something Doc,” Captain Jack said.
“What blocks body heat?” Dwayne inquired. “What can we use as a shield?”
“If it only has to hold in body heat,” Captain Jack responded, “then I've got just the thing.”
“What?” Dwayne asked.
“A thermal blanket,” Captain Jack offered.
“A thermal blanket?” Doc Martin asked.
“Emergency responders call it an emergency blanket,” Captain Jack explained. “It's a thin sheet of the stuff they make birthday balloons out of. I keep one in my survival kit in case I'm stuck out in the cold. It blocks your body heat from getting out.”
“We'll have to test our theory,” Doc Martin said.
“We can use the thermal goggles,” Captain Jack submitted.
Doc Martin looked at Dwayne.
“We'll have to test it on a live subject,” Dwayne said in discernment. “Or a dead subject to be exact.”
“We can lure a zombinee into the compound with your music,” Captain Jack said.
“OK, let's plan on doing that,” Dwayne said.
“There's only one problem,” Captain Jack said.
“What's that?” Dwayne asked.
“My survival kit is still in my truck.”
“OK,” Dwayne said. “Doc, you're on the roof with the sniper rifle and the thermal goggles. Jack and I will go down to his truck and get his survival kit. You'll see both our heat signatures.”
“Why not drive?” Doc Martin asked.
“If those assholes get us,” Captain Jack answered. “They'll get our only functioning vehicle also.”
“Correct,” Dwayne said. “I'll cover Jack and I will never be more than ten feet away from him. If you see any other heat source besides ours, call us on this handset.”
Dwayne handed Doc Martin his handset as the three men climbed the stairs to the rooftop balcony.
“Doc,” Dwayne said. “Jack's truck is about three hundred yards down the access road. Do you see it?”
Doc Martin shifted his body to face the roadway as he looked over the bastions. “I see it.”
“What's the range on the handsets Jack?” Dwayne asked.
“About three thousand feet,” Captain Jack answered.
“Then we should be OK,” Dwayne said.
“I suggest we get down there and back as fast as we can,” Captain Jack said.
Doc Martin looked at Dwayne and nodded.
“Agreed,” Dwayne said.
#
Dwayne gave Captain Jack a ten-foot head start past the front gate. They hurried by the pile of burned zombies and the charred tree line. Many of the bodies were moving, their arms and legs too damaged to walk or crawl but still able to reach out at the living tissue moving quickly past them.
Inspecting it from a distance, they quickly, but cautiously, approached the truck. The truck had been broken into, Dwayne noticed, as he climbed over the tailgate and stood watch in the bed of the truck with the assault rifle.
Captain Jack peered through the shattered windshield then carefully opened the driver’s door.
The truck had been straight wired, started and shifted into gear, then abandoned because of the seized rear axle.
Captain Jack looked underneath the truck. The body was still wrapped around the drive shaft.
A mist rolled up from the valley below. The air became heavy with moisture and tiny snowflakes began falling, greatly reducing visibility.
“We've got weather coming in,” Dwayne said from the bed of the truck.
Inside the truck, Captain Jack rummaged around beneath the seat.
“Is your survival kit still there?” Dwayne asked.
“Got it,” Captain Jack said.
“We need go,” Dwayne said. “I can't see past the tree line.”
“I'm ready,” Captain Jack said.
The sound of a limb snapping flowed out of the woods along the roadway. Dwayne and Captain Jack froze in place.
“What was that?” Dwayne whispered.
Captain Jack shook his head as he scanned the forest on the other side of the truck.
“Doc,” Dwayne whispered into the handset. “Are there any heat signatures out here besides ours?”
From the balcony, Doc Martin scanned the area with the thermal goggles.
“No,” Doc Martin whispered into the handset. “Just you two.”
“I say we high-tail it back,” Captain Jack whispered to Dwayne. “We drop anything that gets in our way.”
Dwayne nodded in agreement.
“Doc,” Dwayne whispered into the handset. “I need you to come down from the roof and open the front gate. I'll tell you when.”
“Gotcha,” Doc Martin whispered.
Dwayne climbed down from the bed of the truck to the driver's side next to Captain Jack.
“It has to be a zombinee,” Captain Jack whispered.
“Let's ease to the front of the truck,” Dwayne said. “Then walk back as quietly as we can.”
“If Doc Martin is right,” Captain Jack whispered, “then it's not just noise that attracts them. Thermal images show up in rain, snow, fog, smoke or any other atmospheric condition. If Doc can't see it then it's something with no body heat but they can still see us. That might be how they do it. They have no body heat of their own to interfere with our thermal images.”
“Well Jack,” Dwayne whispered. “It doesn't matter how they see us right now, we still have to get back to the house. Let's just start off slow and then go from there.”
Dwayne and Captain Jack slowly moved to the front of the truck then across to the passenger side. They looked the forest over on the other side of the roadway and could see only about ten feet past the mist-shrouded tree line.
“Are you ready?” Dwayne whispered.
“Ready,” Captain Jack whispered back.
After taking only several steps beyond the front of the truck and totally exposing themselves, a spine tingling shrill rang out from the forest. Dwayne and Captain Jack froze solid.
“What was that?” Dwayne whispered.
“Zombinee,” Captain Jack replied.
“OK,” Dwayne whispered. “Let's pick up the pace.”
The sound of feet shuffling through fallen limbs and leaves heading in their direction could be heard over their own heavy breathing. Their increased heart rate pounded inside their ears. Captain Jack and Dwayne's increased body heat warmed the air around them each time they exhaled.
Dwayne and Captain Jack checked the 360 degrees around them as they jogged toward the house on the misted road.
“The good thing about it,” Captain Jack said between breaths. “We can out run the zombinees. That means we can conserve our ammo.”
Out of the mist, about twenty yards in front of Dwayne and Captain Jack, appeared the figure of a human. Dwayne and Captain Jack stopped.
“Except for the ones between us and the house,” Dwayne said.
“I've got 'em,” Captain Jack said.
Captain Jack pulled the Excalibur from its sheath. The zombie examined Dwayne and Captain Jack's thermal image and then emitted a high pitched shrill. A chill shivered Captain Jack's spine. The hairs on Dwayne's neck stood on end.
The zombie shuffled forward. The thermal image of Captain Jack advancing rapidly and swinging a cold object to
ward its neck was the last thing the zombie saw before its head tumbled toward the ground.
The sword made a “chinging” sound as the blade passed between the zombie's second and third cervical vertebrae. The head bounced like a pumpkin off the roadway then rolled into the brown winter grass beside it.
The headless body remained standing momentarily then fell forward onto the wet asphalt.
“Recognize him?” Captain Jack asked.
Dwayne came up then looked at the zombie's head. Its eyes starred up at him as its jaw opened, trying to shrill but with no diaphragm to pass air across its vocal chords.
“No.” Dwayne was mesmerized by the sight of an animated head.
Captain Jack held his hand out. Dwayne handed Captain Jack the handset.
“Doc,” Captain Jack whispered into the handset. “How’s it looking out here?”
“Still just you two in the goggles,” Doc Martin answered.
“Dwayne,” Captain Jack whispered. “What's that gate code?”
Dwayne was still looking at the head.
“Dwayne, the code?”
“Nine two five three, then enter.”
“Doc,” Captain Jack whispered into the handset. “Open the gate. The code is nine two five three, then enter. We'll be coming at you hard and fast.”
Keeping a close eye on both sides of the roadway and in front of them, Dwayne and Captain Jack double-timed toward the house.
Emerging from the trees along the fence line, a zombie zeroed in on Doc Martin's heat signature as he punched in the gate code. Seeing the heated images of the numbers nine two five three on the keypad at the end of Doc Martin's fingertip, the zombie shuffled out into the driveway then stopped in front of the gate.
Doc Martin pressed “enter” and the stored energy in the solar power cell opened the gate. Scanning the roadway with the thermal goggles, Doc Martin could see the heat signatures, one in front of the other, of Dwayne and Captain Jack in the distance and the human figure standing still in the driveway blocking their rapidly approaching images. There were two very small heat sources exactly where the zombie’s eyes were, revealing the tiny amount of energy controlling its infected brain.
Lowering the goggles, Doc Martin could see the zombie just beyond the press. The zombie let out a deafening shrill then turned to the sound of footsteps coming up fast behind it.