* * *
Chaz continued to make steady progress, but was tiring quickly. His wounds were beginning to take their toll, and he could barely lift his pistol. Loading a new clip would be out of the question. No point in dragging this out any longer, he thought. Chaz opted to empty his clip at the freaks standing between him and the rear loading doors. There were none pursuing him, so he stood his ground, and took out a dozen or more freaks. It took less than a minute to empty his weapon, and when it was, the silence was palpable. Chaz could hear the blood pumping in his ears. There were still a few freaks standing between him and the doors. He took a deep breath, and charged full speed ahead. His knife felled the first freak without breaking his stride. The doors were within fifty feet. The next freak got a hold of his bad arm for just a second before Chaz knifed it through the nose. He shook off the freak and kept moving. His arm throbbed in pain. Only two of them left, and forty feet to the doors. They attacked him at the same time. He straight-armed the weaker one, grabbing it by the throat. It slobbered over his arm and twisted its neck in every conceivable direction to sink its teeth into Chaz's arm. The other he stabbed at unsuccessfully. His first blow swung well wide as his fist glanced off the freak's side. It almost sunk its teeth into Chaz's neck before he swung again, plunging his blade through the freak's left eye. Still catching his breath, Chaz tightened his grip on the last one's throat, and threw it to the ground. It crawled back to Chaz through the dirt. Chaz went for the easy kill, and brought his foot down on the freak's skull. It died with the first impact, but Chaz stomped it a few more times to be sure. The path was clear to the doors. He heard a mechanical sound, and looked up to see the security camera moving and focusing. The camera continued following Chaz all the way to the loading doors.
* * *
Something had to be done about the tank. If those freaks got inside the fort, everything they had fought for would be for nothing. Alex had a plan, but it wasn't one he particularly liked.
"Christa, I need you to do something for me."
"OK, what is it?"
"I want you to distract that tank."
"Are you crazy? How am I supposed to do that? Have you seen that thing? It's huge! It has big guns!"
"Yes, I know, it's scary, but don't forget who's driving it."
"Alex, I know who's driving it. That doesn't make me feel much better."
"They won't hurt you. I know you don't like it when I bring it up, but there's really something different about you. You have an effect on those zombies, for whatever reason."
Christa looked down, and when she looked up, she was fighting back tears. "I know, I know. What do you need me to do?"
"You don't have to ..."
"Alex, just tell me what you want me to do."
"OK, look. I think I can get into the tank and stop it, but I need you to distract them for just a few minutes."
"How?"
"I want you to run out in front of the tank till they see you."
"You want me to run in front of a tank?" Fear replaced the tears in Christa's eyes.
"Just for a second. Just long enough for them to get a good look at you. That's all I need."
"Well, yeah, I guess I can do that. But then what? Some of these freaks will still try to kill me."
"I know, but not the more intelligent ones. The ones driving the tank have to be more intelligent."
"You’re sure? You're really sure?"
"Yeah, pretty sure. Well ... I'm sorry, Christa, but no, I can't really be sure. There's been so many crazy things going on lately, I can't be totally sure of anything. But just trust me, alright? I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe."
* * *
Chaz ran the remaining way as best he could. He hobbled up the few steps, holding on to the railing to the door. He pulled on the door handle, and when it didn't budge, he pounded on the door, yelling, "Let me in. I have valuable information."
The camera followed him the entire time, but the door never opened. Chaz continued pounding and yelling, drawing attention to himself. He looked up and spoke directly to the camera. "I don't know if you can hear me, but you need to let me in. I've got information and supplies your scientists need. I know about your research. I have medicine and research notes from the CDC in Atlanta."
Still, the door remained closed. Chaz stopped pounding when he heard a voice come from the speaker. "You need to turn around and defend yourself. They're coming for you."
Chaz turned, and saw a half dozen zombies making their way to his position. All his pounding and yelling had drawn the wrong attention. He pressed the speaker intercom button.
"Let me in! I can barely stand up. You need what I have."
The speaker crackled again. "We can't risk the security of this facility for one man. Eliminate the insurgents, and we'll open the door."
Chaz looked back one time over his shoulder. "Fucking son of a bitch. Just open the door."
The freaks started up the steps.
* * *
"I sure hope you're right, Alex. These things are scary as hell."
"You'll be OK, Christa. I won't let them hurt you. I promise."
They moved up close behind the tank as it continued to shell the fort. Their last shot opened a man-sized hole in the side of the building. The hole opened into a storage room. Alex could make out crates and pallets through the opening in the wall. The tank surged forward, fueled by their success breaching the wall.
"OK, Christa. Time to go. Make your move up the left side of the tank. You'll be protected from the soldiers’ weapons fire. Just get far enough in front to be noticed."
Christa moved hesitantly at first, but with encouragement from Alex, she made her way to the tank’s line of sight. At first, the tank made no acknowledgement of her. She did draw the attention of a nearby freak that grabbed her by the arm and gnashed its remaining teeth. Another human-looking freak grabbed the attacking freak’s arm, and separated it from its shoulder socket. Christa reeled backwards as the first freak was clubbed to a pulp with its own arm. The tank continued moving forward.
Alex tried climbing up the back of the moving tank several times, but slipped back into the dirt. The sound of the tank engine and squeaking treads was too loud to speak over, so Alex motioned to Christa to try again.
Christa ran a bit further up, then cut directly in front of the tank. It kept advancing towards her. A few zombies attempted to take her, but the protective one fended them off, and pushed one of them under the tank treads. Eventually, Christa got far enough in front to stop, plant her feet and scream at the top of her lungs with everything she had in her. Her hands were clenched in fists and she thought she was going to pass out from screaming so long. Then, the tank came to a stop, and the hatch popped open. The main gunner popped out of the hatch, and shot the zombies approaching Christa. Their heads shattered, and brain bits splattered Christa, but she never stopped screaming. The gunner motioned for Christa to come to him. He indicated he wanted her in the tank.
With the tank stopped and the gunner preoccupied, Alex scaled the back of the tank. The soldiers at the fort also stopped firing, and watched. Quietly, Alex came up behind the gunner, and plunged his blade through the gunner’s right ear. The gunner slumped forward. Alex pulled the gunner completely out of the tank and threw him over the side and into the dirt. He then dropped two handheld C4 explosives into the open hatch, closed it, and dove off the back of the tank.
Seconds later, two muffled thuds came from within the tank, and a wisp of smoke wafted out the tank’s view ports. Alex pulled himself up, and ran to Christa’s side. She had stopped screaming, but was sobbing on her knees in front of the tank. There were dead freaks all around her.
"Christa, are you OK? Can you hear me?"
Christa was slow moving, but eventually she looked up.
"Yes, I’m OK. I'm fine. Don't ever ask me to do something like that again!"
"Thank goodness. You had me worried there." Alex placed his hands on either side o
f her face, and looked into her eyes. "You did great, you did really great."
* * *
Chaz had a slight height advantage over the zombies from the top step. He sliced his blade at the first freak up the stairs, but his aim was low and only managed to slit its throat. It kept coming towards him. He tried stabbing again, but missed. He tried another swing as the freak reached the top step, but it blocked, then knocked Chaz’s knife down the steps. The blade bounced between the feet of more advancing zombies. Then, Chaz heard the door behind him bang open against the railing. A strong voice commanded, “Colonel Sheperd, get down! Get down! Colonel Sheperd, get down!"
It didn’t take much convincing for Chaz to drop to his knees. As soon as he did, the soldiers behind him opened fire into the crowd of zombies advancing up the stairs. Blood, guts and brains showered the steps. The last thing Chaz remembered was being dragged by the shoulders of his jacket, and a door slamming shut behind him.
Down And Out
Alex took stock of the situation. They were still in a heap of trouble, and in hostile territory. Fort Knox soldiers had them in their sights, and the fort itself was still under attack from a zombie horde. A zombie horde that had been laying siege for God knew how long, and was made up of some that were counting on the tank to get them into the fort. The tank which Alex and Christa had managed to disable. No one was firing, but they were still surrounded by freaks. The explosions drew a crowd, but the smell of rotten bodies and burning steel covered their scent for the moment.
Christa and Alex hunkered down beside the tank, shielding them from the soldiers on top of the fort. Alex surveyed the ground for signs of Chaz. "I don't see Chaz anywhere; here's to hoping that he made it into the fort."
"He's a tough old bastard, he'll be OK."
"I certainly hope so, he wasn't exactly operating at peak efficiency."
"He'll be fine, I'm sure." Christa glanced down at her feet, still visibly shaken.
"How about you, Christa, you still doing OK?"
"Yeah, sure, I'm fine, I'm tough too. Those things were really coming after me. I don't know what would have happened if that guy hadn't popped out of the tank to save me. The guy you killed saved me from the others."
"No need to feel guilty, Christa." Alex put an arm around her shoulder. "You have no idea what the one in the tank had in mind. He could have been just as cruel and twisted. I mean, those guys ... or things, had to be pretty desperate to attack Fort Knox with a tank. Who knows what would have happened if they were successful?"
"We really don't know what's inside, do we? Are you sure we should be going inside? This was a bad plan from the beginning." She looked up at Alex, waiting for an answer.
"It's our only option at the moment. It's better than staying out in the open with these things. I know you don't want that. So, speaking of what's inside, I do think it's time we found that out for ourselves. You ready to get moving?"
"Sure." Christa let out a big sigh "Let's go find the old bastard."
While they talked, skirmishes broke out between friendly freaks and ugly freaks.
"There's quite a lot of them coming around the other side of this tank, Christa; I think we'll have to go the long way around."
"Can't we just go in the front door?"
"That way was swarmed with piles of zombies when we drove by. Remember? We're going to have to make our way to the back door somehow. I'd like to go around the other side of this tank and make a dash for the loading doors, but there's way too many of those freaks waiting. We're gonna have to go the long way around, and hope they're too slow to catch us."
"I suppose, if that's what you think, but I don't have a good feeling about this."
"I know what you mean; I haven't had a good feeling about any of this for a long time."
"OK, on my mark, we're gonna make a dash for the corner of the building. Use the tank for cover to give us a head start. Hopefully by the time they see is, they won't be able to catch up."
"But they will come after us then, won't they?"
"Some will. Maybe there's enough of your friendly freaks to slow them down some."
Alex and Christa kept down low as they moved away from the tank. The rooftop soldiers kept them in their sights. Some of the freaks had already moved past the tank, and spotted them sooner than Alex had wanted. Those freaks gave chase, and were soon followed by others.
They took the shortest route possible to get around the front corner of the fort. As they turned the corner, they saw that things hadn't improved since their drive-by. There were more freaks than before coming down the main entrance road. Apparently, the snipers on the roof had been too preoccupied with the tank to keep up with the freaks coming up the main road.
Christa and Alex slowed when they realized they were going to have to go through the stream of freaks moving towards the front door.
"Alex, I don't think we can make it across."
The parade of freaks wasn't slowing, and there were a substantial group of them congregating at the front door.
"We're not going to get through here unnoticed, that's for sure. Here's to hoping they'll leave you ... and me alone. We have to be prepared to fight, so here, take this knife. I know you don't like using it, but you may have to. I'll do my best to keep them at bay. Just try to focus on getting inside. We're so close now, we just have to push a little further."
"OK, I can do it. We gotta get to that old bastard." She forced a smile and took the knife from Alex.
"That's great, let's keep moving." Out of the corner of his eye, Alex could see the mob coming around the building. It wasn't like they had much of a choice at this point. They weren't cornered yet, and as long as they could keep moving they still had a chance.
* * *
Chaz could hear voices around him from where he sat propped up in a comfortable chair. His arm still hurt like hell, but he lifted it to rub his eyes open and look around at his surroundings. There were people milling around the room. Some wore white lab coats, but most were in military uniforms. They were watching a bank of monitors, displaying the grounds outside the fort. Chaz couldn't focus on what they were saying, but the tone of the discussions suggested they were in disagreement. The lab coats seemed to have one perspective, while the military suits had another. Chaz tried harder to focus on the conversation.
Chaz shook his head, and tried getting up. He wasn't restrained, and no one paid much attention to him, but his fatigue pulled him back into the chair. He steadied himself, placing both hands on the chair arms, and slowly stood. He walked closer to the monitors, supporting himself with one hand on the conference table that took up much of the room. Still no one seemed to notice or care that he was up and moving about. As he got closer, the video screens became clearer. A large group of freaks were whipped into a frenzy over something. He could see the disabled tank in one of the monitors. There were a few freaks circling around it as smoke poured out of it. The other monitors showed two mobs of freaks. One mob was marching towards the front doors of the fort, while the other mob appeared to be moving in a random pattern across the grounds.
Chaz then noticed two individuals who were having a debate off to the side of the room. Neither one of the two was paying much attention to the monitors; they were more involved in their debate.
The one was a military officer, a general, it looked like to Chaz. "I don't care who they are, or why they're here. My priority, my number one priority, is to ensure the safety and the integrity of this facility. It has to be protected from all invaders, no matter who they are. Human or otherwise."
"Don't be a damn fool, and use your brain for more than just following orders." The lab coat replied. "There's more at stake here than just the security of this building. Our entire country is in turmoil, and things aren't getting any better. Those people out there represent a huge opportunity. The hell with the risks, they're minuscule in comparison."
Pointing his index finger at the lab coat, the general wasn't happy. "I don't take orders fr
om you, and I sure as hell don't need you telling me when and how to deal with the orders I've been given. Those orders come from a much higher authority than you."
"Right, and when was the last time we heard from that authority? It's been weeks since the explosions in Washington. We have no idea what's going on there. There's been no official communication. You can't even get a hold of your own military command in Atlanta."
"Damn it, Doc, there may be anarchy reigning supreme out there, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let it poison this facility. As long as these walls are secure and I'm in charge, we're going to do what's best for everyone inside."
"Right, and how secure are those walls now, General? That tank blew a hole big enough to march a parade of deviants through two by two. We barely had the resources to keep them at bay when the walls were intact. How long do you suppose you can keep them out once they've lost interest in that little girl?"
The general had no reply. He just uncrossed his arms, turned, and walked away from the doctor.
Chaz's head started to clear. What little girl, he thought. That little girl-that would be Christa. Wait, and Alex. Chaz pushed himself over to the doctor now, almost falling over one of the chairs. The doctor was pursuing the general, trying to further her argument, but Chaz intercepted her, grabbing her arm.
"The little girl, Christa. Where is she? Is she inside, with Alex? You have to get them inside. They're with me. I was supposed to get inside and convince you to let them in."
Revealed: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction Page 10