by Amy Miles
“Well, that went well,” Vaughn mutters as I close the door behind us and wait for Tyrel to seal us out. “I blame the hot chick for being impulsive.”
“I have a name, you know?” Ember flips her hair and places her hands on her hips. “Besides, he was pulling a gun on Roan.”
“So maybe he was. Does that mean we just assassinate prisoners now?” I round on her while fighting to keep my voice low as anger spills through me. “What if he really was innocent and was just scared? You might have just put a bullet through him for nothing.”
“Can you honestly tell me that you didn't think he was dirty, too?” When I don’t respond she continues. “This is war, Roan. You of all people should know that. People die. It happens.”
I grab onto her arm as she tries to push passed me. “My rules, remember? You don’t shoot unless I tell you to, got it?”
“Fine.”
“How do you know how to shoot like that anyways?”
She shrugs. “You’re not the only one who knows how to pick up a gun.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, Ember. That was a clean kill shot not dumb luck. You didn’t hesitate or show a hint of remorse afterward and your hands aren’t shaking now from shock. This wasn’t your first kill.”
She glances at the guys encircling her and for a moment remains defiant before finally rolling her eyes and turning to look back at me. “My dad was a Navy Seal. He taught me a few things along the way.”
“He taught you how to kill?” Vaughn squeaks.
“He taught me how to protect myself and to know when someone is lying, or stalling in that guy’s case. I’d stake my life that he wasn’t one of us. Just before he stood up I thought I saw him pass a handheld radio to Mrs. Thorpe. If he did that means he had it all night and never used it once. Don’t you think that’s a bit suspicious?”
“So your guess justifies murder?” I turn to look at Coleman and see the panic in his eyes glossed. It takes only a couple of seconds for him to latch onto the same thought that just slammed into me: the military probably already knows our plan. We are screwed before we ever have a chance to begin.
“Roan, this is bad, man. If they do know…”
“I know.” I place a hand on his arm as he doubles over and begins to suck in shallow breaths. “We’ll figure it out.”
Releasing my hold on him I turn on Ember. “Did you see them make the call?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t.”
I nod. “Alright, everyone. This shit just got real. Chances are we are going to be walking into a trap. Thanks to Ember’s rash actions she may have bought us a few extra minutes. Now I’m not condoning her actions but if she’s managed to save our bacon I’ll consider forgiving her later.”
Like it or not, Ember just moved into the top spot as my biggest asset and she knows it.
“From here on out you are to stay on your partner's ass at all times. You move together as one. Watch out for each other's backs. One sights the other shoots. Choose wisely because we are limited on ammo. And above all else...don’t shoot each other!”
Each guy around me nods in agreement but I can feel the buzz of fear in the air. I’m not exactly winning any awards for best pre-battle speech here but it got the job done.
“Once we clear the foyer and gather the guns, you need to get to your floors and clear them as fast as you can. We’ll hold the entrance until you finish. If anyone gets into trouble, shoot first and ask questions later, got it?”
“I’ve never shot a gun before,” a voice says from somewhere behind Vaughn and I recognize him as one of the unknown students that joined on at Flynn’s pleading.
He looks almost too young to be part of the higher school. He’s got a spread of pimples across his T-zone and a high pitch voice that tells me he’s stuck in puberty.
“Learn quick, kid.” I turn my back on him and lift my head to look at the door at the top of the stairwell. “Now let's go take back Zombie High.”
The basement door squeaks loudly in the silence of the first floor when I push on it. I wait for the echo to trail off, listening for any sounds of footsteps or shouts. There is nothing. Not even the sound of the guards who are supposed to be manning the front doors. As we emerge near the entrance to the gym, I hold up my hand for the group to hang back inside the safety of the stairwell.
That sensation of something being off returns as I sneak down the hall, keeping the wall pressed to my back. Halfway down the hall I stop to peer into an empty classroom. The windows are still clouded by night’s darkness but brilliant floodlights spill over the grounds.
“What do you see?”
I nearly scream at the sound of Ember’s voice right behind me. “Are you incapable of following orders?”
“Sure. Aren’t you?”
Looking back down the hall I realize that no one has stayed put and I swear under my breath. “I’m working with idiots.”
Ember snickers at my back and pushes me on. I don’t want to move forward, not with a string of potential victims on my rear, but what choice do I have. We need to move before first light when the shift change will happen and I can already see the first few pinpricks of light on the eastern horizon.
“Stay on my ass and don’t move,” I growl back at her and fight against a rebellious grin when I see her look down to check out my ass. Oh, this girl is going to be the death of me.
As we work our way slowly down the hall at a low crouch, I have to admit that considering none of my teams have any practical experience in being sneaky ninjas, they actually manage to remain relatively quiet. Well, that is until Vaughn trips over his shoe lace and face plants, knocking that pimple-faced kid into the wall. It creates a three-person domino effect sprawling out into the middle of the hall.
“Shut your trap,” I hiss just as the first zing of a bullet narrowly misses my ear. Diving to the floor, I pull Ember down with me. “Move!”
Each of the team members dive for cover in doorways, broom closets and two end up wedged behind a metal trash can.
“Not there!” I barely have a chance to yell out to the pimple-faced kid before a bullet pierces through the thin metal of the can and straight through his throat. Blood sprays his partner in the face. He screams and wipes at his face.
“Flynn, grab that kid. I’ll cover you!” I thumb the safety and lean out from my doorway to lay down cover fire as Flynn dashes across the aisle, hooks his arm around the kid’s throat and yanks him into the open bathroom door. Coated in the dying kid’s blood they slide on their knees to safety.
“We have to move,” I shout back over my shoulder to Ember.
“What about Simon?”
“Who?” It’s hard to hear as another round of ammo hurtles toward us, sending shards of debris raining down in the hall.
“The kid who just had his throat torn out.”
I glance over at him. Blood bubbles from his mouth as his lips open and close like a fish out of water. His body seizes and his eyes roll up into his head. “It’s too late for him.”
“You can’t just leave him.”
I duck my head back into the doorway, narrowly missing a bullet. “Where’s the cold-blooded soldier I just saw moments ago?”
“She’s waiting for you to give her the order to start shooting back,” she yells.
“Really? You haven’t taken the hint yet?” I lean out and shoot down the hall. It is too dark to see beyond the streaks of light where the floodlights spill over, putting us at a grave disadvantage.
“Just trying to follow orders, sir,” she snaps then leans out and takes a shot.
I hear a cry of pain from down the hall and grin. She may be a royal pain in my ass but she’s good. Almost too good.
“Cover me!” I don’t wait to hear her snarky retort before I dive across the hall in an attempt to draw the fire away from our scattered group. We are penned down and the only way we can make up some ground is to take it by force.
“Why are they shooting
at us?” someone yells. It sounds a bit like Vaughn sucking on helium.
“Because they know that’s what we’re about to do to them!” I yell back and take aim. I fire off five rounds without hitting anyone.
“How many are there?” Austin yells. I grunt as he slams into my side, nearly taking me out from where I crouch in the doorway across from Ember and am forced to roll with him. Grappling for control over my gun, and ignoring the new wave of aches that he’s just inflicted, I returned to my knees.
“Enough.” I stretch out a hand to help him up. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to remain with your partner!”
He holds up his hands and dangling from his fingers I spy the gun locker keys. Reaching into my pocket I realize that he has slipped them from me. “We’re sitting ducks unless we get some firepower, right? I figure we can’t be too far and my partner wasn’t going to risk his life for me. I’m fast, Roan. I just need you to cover me and I can make it.”
I stick my head out into the hallway. “No way. That’s easily a fifteen-foot gap and a hell of a lot of bullets whizzing past.”
He rapidly nods his head. “Yep. I’m aware of that.”
“You got a death warrant or something?”
“I had a whole case back home in my dad’s office filled with first place sprinting trophies. I can do this, Roan.”
I return fire down the hall, sending off three more rounds without a single scream of pain. Dammit! Where are they hiding at? And how did Ember manage to snag one with her first shot?
Checking my magazine, I shake my head. “I’ve got maybe fifteen rounds left before I’m out and I’ve yet to located the bastards. We can’t risk it.”
“And we can’t stay here either.”
I look over at him and see a grim look etched into his face. “Let’s face it, if it were just you, you’d make the run. All of us are blinding you, Roan. Stop caring for one second and think. We are out of options.”
He’s right and I know it. I’ve never had to think about anyone else’s well-being before and it sucks. I already lost Simon. I don’t want to lose another one.
“We’ve got one chance at this.”
He nods. “We’ll have a better chance if you hand Ember that gun of yours.”
My fingers twitch against the gun. I should have seen that one coming. Like it or not, she’s pegged them already. I’ve got my pride but I like living a bit more.
“Ember, I need you,” I shout down the hall. “Flynn give her some cover!”
Austin moves further into the bathroom to make space as Ember ducks down and prepares to make the dash across the hall.
“Go now!”
The instant I see a head pop up halfway down the hall, I aim and fire. A satisfying scream tells me that I’ve finally hit someone. Flynn pops off two shots and a second later Ember hurls herself into my arms. I drag her back just a split second before the tile behind her explodes when a bullet buries into the porcelain.
“It’s about damn time you groped me,” she rasps and shoves her hair back out of her face.
Austin lowers his gaze as I try to say something in response but the moment is lost as she crawls back out of my lap. “Fourteen left,” she mutters and tosses me her gun as she commandeers mine.
“You sure about this?” I ask Austin, finally coming back to my senses.
“No.” He glances out into the hall once more. “But I figure I gotta go out somehow and it’s a heck of a lot better than being chewed on by a zombie.”
“What would you say something like that at a time like this? It’s just evil,” Ember snaps and pulls the scope up to her eye.
He clears his throat. “Sorry. I use humor when I’m nervous.”
“Yeah, well you’re not funny.”
“No,” I look him over and he swallows hard when he sees me staring. “He’s not. What do you know?”
“Nothing!”
I grab onto his arm. “Tell me.”
“Honesty, I don’t really know anything. Just stuff that I’ve overheard the teachers talking about last night when they thought we were all asleep. I finally broke down and took a piss in that bucket but I kinda had stage fright, you know. I’m not so good at peeing in front of people.”
“Get to the point,” I growl.
“Alright! Well, Mr. Tanner and Philbeck were talking about the lab. I assume it was the one that burned down. Anyways, they were talking about how the most recent trials were a failure, but not in the normal sense. I guess they sort of...created something.”
Ember turns to look back at us. “What sort of something?”
“A stiff who isn’t so stiff anymore, if you know what I mean.”
My grip on his arm tightens. “What did they say?”
Austin swallows again. It’s hard to tell in the dim light but I would swear that he’s gone ghostly white. “Look, my sister is out there. She skipped school today because she wasn’t feeling so hot. I gotta get to her, man.”
“Why?” Ember says.
He lowers his head to look at the floor. “Those Stiffs out there aren’t right. Not anymore. Something is changing them. You noticed it with that lady at the fence. That’s why I came over to listen, but I think it's more than that. Not just an awareness but something worse…I think they are getting hungry now.”
If I’d had anything substantial in my stomach I’m sure I would have thrown up by now. As it stands, I feel numb.
“You’re joking right?” Ember turns to look at me. “He is joking, isn’t he?”
I stare Austin in the eye for a moment, sizing him up. Now it makes sense why he’s willing to risk his life to make it to the armory. He’s fighting for someone he loves.
“No. I don’t think that he is. Ember, don’t miss and Austin...run like the wind, man. We’ll cover you from here.”
Ember looks shaken as Austin moves to replace her in the doorway. “Do you think it’s true? Have the Dead Heads finally gone apocalyptic on us?”
“Seems that way.” Ember shudders as I look around Austin’s shoulder and realize that there’s no good line of sight for me to help cover him once Ember starts shooting. I’m going to have to follow behind him.
Checking the magazine I realize that I am down to a single bullet.
“One three, Austin.” I mouth the countdown and then dive out into the hallway behind him, sliding on my shoulder as he races full out down the right side of the hall. To his credit, he really is fast. He has nearly made it to the gun room door when a bullet pierces through his calf and sends him crashing to the ground.
“Shoot, Ember!” I scream and fire off my one round.
10
I JUST KILLED A DEAD MAN!
I hear a thud and know that I’ve hit something as I barrel into Austin and slam us into the metal cage. A line of pain grazes my shoulder and I curl around him. “Give me the keys!”
I flinch as a bullet zings past my hand as I reach up and fumble with the keys in the lock. Several responding bullets fly erratically over me from somewhere behind and I find myself more alarmed by my own men than by the soldiers.
With a loud click, the lock turns and I shove Austin inside.
“Well, that sucked,” he hisses as he draws his left up, cupping his hand over his wound. Blood seeps from between his fingers. I yank my belt off and hand it to him.
“Tie that around your leg until we can clean it.” I hear Ember shout for someone to stay put and then her scream as that person drops hard somewhere behind us.
Pushing up to my feet I am invited into a gun lovers heaven. Handguns, sniper rifles, AK’s, ammo cans filled with bullets, a collection of grenades, flares, a stash of smoke bombs and something that I really hoped us tear gas lines shelves above me. Grabbing two gas masks, I shove one over my face and the other toward Austin.
“I’d put this on if I were you.” Grabbing the tear gas, I rush to the door. “Ember, get everyone inside.”
“What?” she shouts back.
�
��Get inside a room and cover your face.”
“I can’t hear what you’re saying,” she yells as another round of gunfire spits plaster and tile into the air.
“You’re my witness that I tried to warn them, right?”
“Totally,” Austin grunts as he tightens the belt around his calf.
“Here goes nothing.” I pull the pin and chuck the canister as far down the hallway as I can then duck for cover.
I wait until I hear grunts of pain and a lull in gunfire before grabbing a loaded gun and doing a kamikaze run down the hall. I take out two soldiers less than fifteen feet from where we were stationed in the bathroom with Ember. They had been sneaking up on us. If Austin hadn’t gone all super track star for us, we’d have been goners within a few minutes, picked off one by one.
I work quickly to clear the foyer, downing one soldier near the door. When I arrive at the front doors, I see the newly unlocked chain in one hand and a radio in the other. The transmission is nothing more than static but I know for sure now that we were in trouble.
“Austin, get out here!”
“Where are you?” I see him emerge from the smoke and gas that hangs in the air.
“Head back the way we came and make sure the others are ok. That stuff packs quite a punch so get them in the bathroom and flush their eyes. Take the spare masks with you and give them to the ones that you know you can trust. The others can tie shirts around their eyes for now.”
I stare down at the man convulsing at my feet with wracking coughs and tears streaming from his reddened eyes. I put a bullet between his eyes and grab the chain, locking it back into place. Just as I am about to turn and grab his radio I see the first red laser beam of light pierce through the gas cloud.
“Everyone get down!”
The bullet slams through the glass just over my head as I dive to the floor. I land hard, gasping at the shock of pain inflicted to my already bruised ribs. I belly crawl back to the hallway. “Austin?”