by Diane Butler
The driver did not see Ed’s car in time to stop and smashed into it, scattering the two armed men who Ed had released from the trunk. Their confusion temporally gave the group their advantage back. They poured lead into the truck before anyone could get out but had to duck again as the second truck burst into view. It stopped before entering the circle to lay rapid fire back at them. Two men got out of the first vehicle and also began shooting at them. Dirt and pebbles kept flying up into their faces and it was becoming difficult to see. Sally cried out and Roxanne turned to see that blood was streaming down Sally’s cheek.
Gene knew that they were attempting to keep them hunkered down so that some of them could enter the bus and gain access to the other side. If that happened then Caleb would blow the bus which could take down the tunnel and them with it. But by lying in the grass their view was restricted to the outer portion of the parking lot and he had no idea if anyone had approached the bus or how close they were to the fence-line. The rapid gunfire was keeping him from crawling further out so he could see what was happening below him.
Caleb was kneeling behind a cement barrier thirty feet outside of the tunnel with his hand on the cord that would set off the grenades. He was so afraid that he trembled. No matter how many zombies he had killed, how many times he had hidden or run he still became mad at himself for being afraid. He thought he would have been over it by now since it had been a way of life for him for the last year. He knew what Gene was indicating, that if anyone came out of the bus and through the tunnel that it meant everyone in his group was dead. The thought of being alone in a ZA world frightened him even more. He looked at the cord in his hand and wondered why he was holding it instead of his crossbow. Then it occurred to him that Gene had not expected the windows of the bus to be blown out and just because someone came through the tunnel it did not mean that everyone was dead.
He dropped the cord and pulled his crossbow to him instead, then ran to the mouth of the tunnel and stood behind one of the pillars, keeping his eye on the door of the bus. The inside of the tunnel was dark but he should be able to see the silhouette of anyone who came through the bus and he wanted to be prepared for them. To comfort himself on his inability in the past to make a head shot he reminded himself that this was a human and any arrow that made contact would have an effect.
At that moment he saw movement on the bus. Someone was walking down the aisle to the front of the bus. He told himself to remember his lessons, take the stance, and position yourself. It is just a target and doesn’t need to be a bulls-eye. Just hit the target. He let out his breath because his heart was beating so fast and knew that in a short period of time his legs would become wobbly on him again. He took aim at the center of the doorframe and when the shadow stepped down he released the arrow. ‘Thump’ and a scream followed. “Yes,” Caleb whispered. He quickly put another arrow in the shaft.
There was still continuous gunfire so Caleb knew that his group was still fighting, which gave him hope. Hitting his mark increased his confidence and he realized that his legs had steadied. He saw another shadow climb into the bus. Feeling that he had just crossed the threshold into manhood he smiled and whispered, “Come on sucker. I got you nailed.” But the man knelt down behind the seats and called out to his partner, “Nuyen, you alright? Where you hurt man?” Caleb adjusted his aim and waited until he saw the man come forward to kneel over his fallen comrade. Releasing the arrow he hit the man between his shoulder and neck. The man cried out and Caleb quickly reloaded when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Caleb gasped and quickly turned, pulling away from the grasp on his shoulder. “Relax Caleb,” Lucky said. “I want one of them alive to question. Don’t kill them all off” he smiled. Then they both ducked when they heard explosions in the parking lot circle.
Randy had been feeling useless on top of the mound while everyone was attempting to hold back the assault. This was not a situation in which his knife throwing skills would help them and his revolver was no match for the amount of power being thrown at them. Then he remembered seeing grenades in the ammo shed below. As he climbed down the ladder he looked over to the cement culvert where Caleb should have been positioned but did not see him there. He assumed that the poor kid was down on his hands and knees hiding behind the pillar in case he had to blow the tunnel. He found a box of grenades and took three knowing that his throwing skills would meet the target of anything he aimed for. All he needed was a quick glance at where the target was stationed and he could throw blind.
He climbed back up the ladder and crawled to position himself behind the others who were on their bellies. He quickly popped up and saw a truck at the entrance to his right. It was a good distance but to him it was no more than an overhead lob. While in a lying position he removed the pin and lobbed it in a high arc over his right shoulder.
“Kaboom!” They heard metal being torn apart and some of it started to rain down on them. Gene was on the other side of Roxanne and turned to look behind them when he saw Randy grinning with grenades in his hand. A few more pieces of metal fell among them, causing them to cover their heads. “You could have given us a heads-up Randy,” Gene said, “but nice one!”
They were able to crawl forward and see what was happening below them. Two bodies were on the ground, a third was crawling with his hands over his ears, one man was just climbing into the back of the first truck to use the machine gun and one man was making a run for the bus.
Morgan saw Randy make a move to use another grenade and yelled, “No, I want that truck intact with the machine gun mounted on it. Somebody get that sucker and I’ll go down to meet the other guy when he comes out of the bus.” Morgan heard three shots ring out as he climbed down the ladder, but only two of them came from his group on the mound. The other shot came from inside the bus.
Hoping that Caleb had stayed put he quickly rushed down the ladder and looked into the tunnel to see Caleb standing there with a gun in his hand. Morgan rushed to Caleb and put his hands on his shoulders, “Are you hurt son? What happened?”
“I’m fine” Caleb answered. “It’s his gun,” he stepped aside and Morgan could see two men crumbled together on the bus steps. Both had arrows in them. Morgan expelled his breath not realizing that he had been holding it. Then he saw movement on the bus and quickly shoved Caleb aside to pull out his gun. “It’s OK, Dad. It’s Lucky.”
“Morgan, help me get these bodies out of the doorway so I can pull this other one out and question him,” Lucky said.
The rest of the group came down the ladder to greeted Cami and Brandon who had stayed behind when they saw Ze’s inside the Park. “Someone cut that portion of the fence that Ed was working on,” Brandon said. “It was wide open and Ze’s were coming through. We could hear the gunfire but Lucky ran ahead while we took care of the zombies. The fence is still open and we are not safe yet. It is going to take some big time repairs and the back gate we only temporarily blocked with a truck. I think we are going to be working all night and should not let our guard down. They wanted this place so much that they let zombies in to take us out if they couldn’t.”
Sally was holding a rag to her face and looked up to see that everyone had bleeding gashes and wounds on the face, neck and shoulders from debris kicked up by the rapid fire on the hillside, and later by falling debris from the truck Randy blew up. “Right now we need to get everyone inside so I can take care of the wounds. Roxanne that shoulder needs stitches. Lucky, can’t you and Brandon handle this guy while Cami stitches me up and then I can take care of everyone?” she said.
“The hell I will. I can’t stand the sight of blood,” Cami said. “Faint every time.” Everyone turned to look at her. “Well, except if I killed them, then I’m OK with blood. Speaking of which, I better get out front and kill the dead so they don’t turn.” With that she pushed by Lucky and went through the bus.
“I have unfinished business to take care of,” Roxanne said as she also stepped over Lucky and followed Cami to the back
of the bus. “You can stitch my shoulder later, Sally.” She went over to the car that Ed had driven and saw that he was still alive, laying across the car seat sniveling. Cami looked up after shooting a dead guy in the head to see Roxanne open the car door and pull Ed out, shoving him up against the back window.
“They made me do it, Roxie,” Ed whined. “Look at my face and you can tell that they beat me to get information.” Her answer was to grab his shoulders and use all her strength to bang him up against the window. “Ow, Roxie,” as his head hit the glass. She grabbed his head in both hands to pull him down and then smashed his head against the glass again. She did this again and again until his legs started to crumble but she used her body to pin him against the car, ramming her knee between his legs to hold him up while she continued to use his head to smash the glass. When the glass broke Roxanne shifted his body to pound his head against the door frame.
Cami watched and wondered where Roxanne found the strength to hold up his body while pulling his torso forward only to smash it repeatedly against the metal. Her hands were becoming slippery with blood and grey matter began to ooze down the car yet Roxanne continued after Cami put a hand on her shoulder and softly said her name. She smashed him again until Cami put her arm across Roxanne’s chest and pushed her away, “Roxanne!” This time Roxanne stepped away breathing heavily and watched as Ed’s body slowly slid to the ground, leaving residue on the side of the car. She raised her hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead but Cami grabbed her, “No don’t. Here,” she pulled a water canteen off her belt still holding onto Roxanne’s wrist. As she washed the blood and brains from Roxanne’s hands she looked up to see Lucky standing at the back door of the bus.
Lucky had shot the man in the chest and he was gurgling badly. He shook the man and asked, “How many of you are there?” The man tried to talk but only managed to cough. Lucky poured some water on the man’s face and asked again. This time the reply was “Too many.” Brandon and Lucky looked at one another, not liking that answer.
“Where is your campsite?” The man began gasping for breath, “You….are all dead……Chen Le will…….slaughter…….you.”
They worked all through the night. Gene found plywood and boarded up the windows in the bus. The bus wouldn’t start and they knew that they needed to find another way of blocking the front entrance and still allow them access in and out, but there were more important things to attend to at the moment. It took both Brandon and Lucky to hold up the fence that had been cut while Cami used chains, wire and hooks to tie it back into place. They were not confident with it and planned on using some of the carnival rides to block it later. Everyone except Sally, Caleb and Morgan, who they later discovered had dislocated his shoulder and had not said anything, did a final sweep of the entire park, finding some zombies still wandering around. They had the opportunity to see Randy at his best, taking them down with a knife throw or a hatchet.
They left the dead where they fell, including the humans they had killed. Now was not the time for gathering bodies and hauling them down the hill. There were more pressing issues “like this Chen Le” Morgan said at the meeting.
“He could have been just trying to scare us,” Sally said as she put the last of the dressing on Morgan’s shoulder. Roxanne was holding a rag against her shoulder waiting for her turn. The wound had opened wider while she was killing Ed.
Dawn was just appearing through the windows and everyone was exhausted but Lucky knew that timing was crucial. He shook his head, “I don’t think so. There were eight at the back, nine at the front, that’s someone who has accumulated a large force. He wouldn’t have come along with them. He would send people to do it for him while he stayed back with his own protection. He could have fifteen to twenty more.”
We need to move on,” Randy said. “I’ve seen groups like this in PA. They’re vicious. They will stop at nothing and there are only nine of us.”
“I’m not leaving,” Cami said.
“Neither am I,” Roxanne said. “And I’m not waiting around to see if they show up.” Everyone turned to look at her. “We need to attack them. They won’t be expecting us, even if they had scouts watching last night to report back to them. They think we will take the day to rebuild and patch our wounds. But they won’t wait so we need to get to them first.”
Everyone was quiet, stunned by the statement. No one had expected this analysis from Roxanne but rather from Lucky since he had been Secret Service. The thought must have been in all their minds but it was Gene who asked the question. “What do you say Lucky,” Gene put his arm around his wife. “Do we go after them and how do we know where they are?”
Lucky was still staring at Roxanne and needed to pull himself away from looking at her. She still had the ability to shock and amaze him and he couldn’t get the vision out of his head as to how she had just killed Ed. “I…uh…yes, she’s right. We need to take into consideration that Ed was their decoy and gave them information. He would have told them that we guard the front entrance every night and that the back gate would be left unguarded. Also, since Ed left here by the back gate I think that is where he ran into them, somewhere along that road. Roxanne, you said you abandoned your car and came through the mountainside. You said there were a few homes scattered along the way. Would you remember how to get back to that road?”
“Yes, and I’ve remember a place. A farmhouse with a rambler built next to it and a barn in the back. If they have as you say, fifteen to twenty more people that place would be suitable for them. But it took me a half day to come down the mountain and we will be going uphill on the way back carrying equipment. It would be close to dark and we would need to do a quick assessment of the place. This time the advantage would be theirs because they know the place and we don’t.”
“This is suicide for everyone,” Randy said. “We don’t have enough personnel to attack and to protect this place at the same time. The people you leave behind can’t defend themselves if fifteen people attack again tonight. And how are five to six of you going to fight a mob in an unfamiliar territory like the one you just described?”
“I’m sorry Roxanne,” Morgan said, “but I tend to agree with Randy. I think we should call our losses and go.” “So do I,” Sally said.
“Ed didn’t know everything about this place,” Cami said. “There is a trap door under the stage of the theater. I think that Morgan, Sally and Caleb should take several days’ supply and stay hunkered down in there, not venturing out in case the place is being watched. The rest of us start hiking uphill where I will finally get to use my rocket and grenade launcher. Let’s just blow their heads off.”
It was agreed that if they did not get back in two days that Morgan, Sally and Caleb would leave the Park. There would be plenty of vehicles if the park wasn’t overtaken. If it was occupied by outside forces then they would make their way to the logging road where they had mended the fence. They were not to take the service road because it could lead them into an ambush. No one knew where the service road met the highway that Roxanne was on when she ran out of gas and it was the area suspected to be where Chen Le was holding up.
Everyone was running on adrenalin without any sleep since the battle. The assault had taken place that night, everyone had been patched up, the fences secured, the zombies killed and now that dawn was breaking they were preparing to hike up the mountainside. In addition to their gun bags Randy took grenades, Cami the Rocket launcher, Gene the grenade launcher, Lucky the submachine gun, Brandon the semi-automatic 12 gauge and Roxanne the AA-12 combat shotgun. They knew that this could not be a hand-to-hand combat situation if they were outnumbered and that they needed to take the place out undetected if possible. No one felt guilty about not giving them a fair fight. They needed to destroy them, and do it quickly.
“Before we leave I need to make sure that no one here objects to killing an unarmed man,” Lucky said. “Randy?” Randy shook his head, “No, I’m in it with you. Those guys who attacked my brother didn�
�t give him a fair fight. If we don’t kill them, they’ll come after us. You can count on me.”
Morgan, Caleb and Sally filled the room under the stage trap door with supplies and sleeping gear along with as much ammo they felt they could carry if forced to leave on foot. The goodbyes were tearful since everyone realized that Chen Le could have already sent his own forces to attack the Park a second time. Roxanne led them through the now shattered bus and to the left of the gate toward the mountainside, passing Ed’s body along the way. She glanced down at it, but did not stop or say anything.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that Roxanne was right about walking uphill with all their equipment and that it would probably be late afternoon or early evening before they found Chen Le’s settlement. They had to stop three times to catch their breath and take a break to drink water. They ate while climbing, not wanting to lose any additional time. No one spoke the whole time, each consumed in their own thoughts of survival and concern for those who they had left behind and the uncertainty of their own future. Randy never suggested that they should turn back or that they were making the wrong decision. Once committed, he was determined to earn his worth as a member of the group and he was confident that he could throw the grenades in effective areas at the right time. He knew he would be an asset to them.