“Six to base.”
“Go ahead six.”
“Highway Twelve and Vollendorf Lane. Engaging eight Zekes.”
“Copy.”
“Zeke is down. Count twelve more visible in the next klick. Proceeding.”
“Copy that. Dozen Zekes over the next kilometer.”
I wasn’t going to get anything done. At this point I started doodling boxes in three point perspective and coloring in their sides.
“Christmas Tree this is Six. Big rig blocking Chuck Lane east bound. Going around. We’re switching to play by play.”
“Copy Six. Play by play.”
I looked at Brandt and asked what “play by play” was.
“They are close to the warehouse and will be talking to each other now.”
“We will be able to hear them?”
“Yes. That’s what the Lieutenant means by play by play.”
We listened in.
“Fences look good from here. Chuck, go north to the truck entrance. Take a look. We’ll stay here to cover you.”
A mike clicked.
A moment later, “LT, the truck entrance doesn’t have a rigid gate. Just barriers. Zeke can walk in and out if they want.”
“Copy. Come on back. Let’s take a look at the rest of the fencing. The plywood we want is further to the east.”
A moment passed.
“Movement in the office windows,” came Bill Mancheski’s voice.
“Walkers near the fences, LT.”
“Copy that. They have eyes on us. Take them out. We don’t need them following us into the campus.”
“Hooah.”
A moment passed.
“Barry, we’re turning left into this entrance. Swing ahead of us to raise the barriers. We have your back.”
“Copy LT.”
“And go through the guard’s hut. See if they have a directory of the warehouses. I know where the plywood is but we need adhesive too. No idea where we will find that.”
Ruth Ann told me later that one of Bill’s men, Specialist John Rentmiesters, clipped chains on both barriers and left them raised. They wouldn’t keep out walkers but they would impede a hasty exit by our vehicles.
“Gates up. I can see stacks of plywood ahead to the right,” said John’s voice.
“Is there a directory in the guard shack?”
“Looking now.”
“Barry, two Zekes approaching. You have eyes on them?”
Specialist Barry Clark was standing watch next to the Volvo. Two zombies were staggering towards him.
“I got them, boss… two Zekes down. I don’t see any others.”
“There’s one coming out from behind the wall at the parking lot to the west. We’ll take it.”
“Six,” John’s voice, “good news, we scored a directory. Warehouse three has construction adhesives and caulk. Bad news, that warehouse is at the west end of the compound.”
The group had made their entrance at the far eastern end of the complex.
“Copy. Load up on plywood. We’ll provide cover.”
Later Ruth Ann filled in some of the details that didn’t go out over the radio.
“Bill is a smart young man. A planner and a worrier in his own way just like you. Even though the plywood was right there he had us pull around the stacks so that we were as hidden as we could be from the gates and still pointed towards them. If we had to bug out, we didn’t need to turn around.”
She continued, “Then he told everyone under no circumstances should we engage any dead at or near the gates. We had to keep the path through the gates clear of bodies. At each step he was thinking about the next and also how to keep escape routes open. It was neat watching him command knowing a few weeks ago he was an insurance salesman.”
“The men loaded twelve sheets of plywood into the Volvo. Bill called a huddle with Bob, our driver and Barry who was driving the Volvo,” she said.
“We are here,” said Bill pointing to the east end of map in the campus directory. “Warehouse three is here,” pointing to the west end of the campus. “As you can see there is no straight path between here and there. Plus, all the routes between here and there are narrow. Perfect for getting surrounded.”
As Bill pointed out, an enormous warehouse stretched north south all but blocking passage east west. To get around the building to the south would mean a thousand feet of narrow passage with one side bounded by loading bays hiding who knew what. To get around the building to the north would mean an even longer path with three blind turns and loading bays on both two sides.
He continued, “We’re going to exit the way we came in, turn west and head to the next set of gates. We’ll make our entry there and the warehouse will be straight ahead.
On my laptop, I could see the road along the southern wall of the warehouse campus was changing color. There were dead on the move.
“Brandt tell them the dead are moving in behind them. Look at my laptop.”
“Six this is Christmas Tree. Six this is Christmas Tree.”
“Six, go ahead.”
“Satellite shows dead are walking on the main road. We can’t tell which direction based on our latest picture and we can’t tell exactly how many, sir.”
“When is your next picture Christmas Tree?”
“Almost a minute from now sir. A lot can change in a minute.”
“Understood Christmas Tree, keep us advised. Six out.”
Back on the radio I heard, “Everybody set? We have to boogey.”
A mike click came back.
“OK. We’re turning west folks. Move out.”
The gates they were passing through were set two hundred feet in from the main road. Their view of the main road would be blocked to the west by a wall until they reached the road itself.
“LT the way is blocked. I say again, the way is blocked.”
A moment later, “I see them Barry. I make about two hundred hostiles heading towards us. Barry?”
“Affirmative LT. More coming behind them from the office buildings down the street.”
True enough. Had our people stayed inside much longer the gates they had entered would have choked with the dead.
“Six, this is Christmas Tree. Confirm estimate of two hundred on the road in your direction. Estimate two hundred more converging on your area.”
Bill had to make a split second decision.
“Lim, hop out and get in our car. We are going back into the complex. Barry, you back up due east to the intersection with Kane Road. Make sure you draw them with you. Don’t let any go in the gates after us. Once you get to Kane Road hold their interest as long as you can and then escape either north or south. It doesn’t matter, you know the way back to Christmas Tree after that. Understood?”
“Hooah.”
Specialist Lim Zsu ran between the cars. In my nervousness I asked Brandt, “How come everyone is a Specialist? Who washes dishes?”
Brandt shrugged. “The guys who wash dishes are Specialists too. It’s like clerks being Customer Service Consultants, it’s good for our self-esteem.”
Then it hit me. Bill’s car was going back inside the compound. As the dead headed east outside the wall towards Barry’s diversion, Bill was going to head west on the other side of the wall. Bill’s team would be entering warehouse three by themselves.
Ruth Ann was in Bill’s team.
Bill’s voice, “We are clear of the gates Barry. Make them chase you. Good luck and see you back at camp.”
“Copy LT. The dead are almost to the street leading to your gates. We are engaging and falling back slowly. We have their full attention.”
The sound of automatic weapons wire almost drowned out Barry Clark’s voice.
About a minute passed.
“LT we kept them under fire as long as we could. There are still more coming. We haven’t seen any break off to follow you through the gates. Who knows what they will do after we bug out. We are heading south to Highway 12 and back to the Tree. Go
od luck sir.”
Bill clicked his mike in acknowledgment.
“Six this is Christmas Tree.”
“Go ahead.”
“Our latest picture shows you have passed the main body. They are pooling at Kane and the main road. We see no movement into the compound. I say again, no movement into the compound.”
“Understood.”
Ruth Ann continued the story from here:
“As we passed west along the wall we didn’t see any zombies ahead of us. But Lim saw some coming out from behind tractor trailers behind us. Apparently we were going fast enough to be past them before they noticed.”
She continued, “As we got closer to the turn we saw three statues in the far corner. They noticed us and perked up. Bill said we would have to drop them because being so close to the road, their noises might be heard on the other side.”
“Bill stood on the passenger seat and I stood in the rear. We took out all three as we approached. It was so cool Doug you should have been there.”
I gave my wife a fake half smile.
“When we made the turn slowly towards warehouse three there was another small group coming towards the commotion. Lim, Bill and I dropped them immediately.”
“These definitely weren’t workers from nearby. The ghouls had been all sorts of people. These were leftovers from the Twin Cities horde that passed through here. A lot of them were really far gone. Maybe that is why they were still in the compound. That, and there were so many twisty little turns and places to get lost in. By then I was convinced going inside a building was a bad idea.”
“Bob made the sharp left slowly. As soon as we saw the full area we saw just how big warehouse three was, plus a few more walkers.”
“Bill ordered Bob to stop at the gates first. While we, Bill and I, shot the ghouls we could see, Lim hopped out a shot the locks off the gates and raised them for our escape route. We could see a dribble of ghouls walking on the main road still headed east to Kane where the crowd was milling.”
“I was looking at the few walkers passing by and Lim must have been too because a ghoul crashed through the glass of the guard hut. Just shattered it. I saw it an instant before it came through the glass and was already yelling to Lim. The zombie fell out of the guard hut. Lim had a chance to swing his weapon around to nail the gate crasher through the back of its head.”
“That was close,” Lim said.
“Bill told Bob to head over to the warehouse and to turn around facing the exit like we did before. Bob did that. When we stopped, Bill said we had come a long way to give up without a look inside. He said,”
“Lim, you’re with me. It isn’t ideal to go in there with just you but Bob, you have to stay here with Mrs. Handsman. One person can’t stay out here alone. Lim, we’re looking for anything that will hold the plywood in place. Liquid Nails preferably. Failing that look for masonry bits and screws. Ruth Ann, do you have a drill? Something heavy duty? Not cordless. Extension cords?”
“Yeah, we have plenty of cords and a drill.”
“OK. Stay in touch by radio. Bob, you’ve got Mrs. Handsman. Lim you’re on me. Let’s go.”
Lieutenant Mancheski and Specialist Zsu disappeared into the dimness of a series of covered loading bays. Inside they saw one bay whose giant door was rolled up, easy access for them into the warehouse and of course, the undead as well. Once inside the sunlight streamed in from translucent panels making up the warehouse roof. Seeing the cavernous interior well lit, the two soldiers felt a lift in their spirits.
That lift was immediately countered when they saw how many aisles there were.
“There must be thousands of different products in here. It wouldn’t be the first time I left one of this company’s stores without finding what I needed,” Bill whispered.
“I’m not from around here LT. We don’t have these where I’m from.”
The two stopped, back to back against the wall near the door they entered. Silently they scanned for threats while listening for any noise. There were irregular scraping noises and moaning come from inside the warehouse. There were a number of forklifts and pallet trucks nearby.
Quietly Lim said, “LT, on the forklifts. Clipboards. Maybe they’re pick lists that tell the operators what to get and where to get it.”
Lt. Mancheski signaled his approval at Lim’s observation and motioned to the closest forklift. They crept quickly to the machine. They knelt back to back for a moment, listening. One of the moans was a bit louder. Lim grabbed the clipboard. It was a pick list but contained nothing useful.
They had many more forklifts to look at. This area closest to the loading bays contained twenty-two aisles and was the narrowest part of the building. The next forklift turned up nothing useful and neither did the next. One moan kept getting louder.
Looking at the fourth forklift they could see it was slightly off kilter. It seemed to sit with its far corner raised slightly. The moaning was definitely coming from that machine. Bill touched Lim to get his attention. He removed his fixed blade combat knife from its sheath and motioned to himself. Lim readied to cover his Lieutenant.
As they got closer to the forklift, they readily saw why it was canted. One wheel rested squarely on a zombie’s low back. It clawed at the ground with its outstretched left arm. Its right arm was motionless, squashed nearly flat by the forklift. It looked as though the heavy back end had ridden up the length of the ghoul’s right arm, over its spine coming to rest near its buttocks. The thing became aware of Bill as he got close. Its head snapped from looking right towards the forklift to left to howl at Bill. Bill’s combat knife entered the creature’s skull just behind its ear and sliced downward towards its brain stem. It went silent and limp.
As Bill rose, withdrawing his knife, he saw a clipboard on the floor of the cockpit. Looking through it, he found nothing of help. “Oh for four,” he thought to himself. As he turned to signal Lim something caught his eye. A thick dog-eared flipbook was attached to the machine’s safety cage in reach of the missing driver’s right hand. Bill cut the zip tie that held the flipbook to the cage. Thumbing through it, it was immediately clear it was a complete catalog of the warehouse. He handed the flipbook to Lim and used disinfectant swabs to clean his knife.
Lim said, “Concrete fasteners, aisle 71.”
“This is Six. We have located a warehouse manifest. We’ll be heading deeper into the building. Bob, say your state.”
Bob’s voice returned, “We are in light but steady contact, over.”
“And our guest?”
“Our guest is doing fine. She would make an excellent sniper LT. Can we keep her?”
I breathed in deeply for the first time since Ruth Ann’s vehicle went back into the compound alone.
“That’s a discussion for another day, Bob. Christmas Tree, say updates.”
“Six this is Christmas Tree. Last pictures show the crowd spreading out. There are walkers at the east entrance heading inside. Over.”
“Understood. Say update on Mike Alpha?”
“Milwaukee A is deep into the minefield sir. Mr. Christmas Tree says he can’t tell yet how effective it has been. Over.”
Off radio, Bill whispered “Ready? Aisle 71. Down this aisle, we’ll see where it leaves us.”
As the two walked, Bill covering ahead of them, Lim covering behind them, scraping sounds, and more moaning became louder. They reached the next intersection to find themselves across from aisle 40, construction shoes. They stopped to listen. Lim sipped water from his camel back. They heard a soft tapping from the west. Bill peered around the corner in that direction. A zombie stood five aisles down slowly rocking from foot to foot but was otherwise quiescent.
Bill motioned to Lim one threat. Bill knelt by the corner and readied his sound suppressed rifle. Leaning forward he took aim and fired. As he did so, the zombie saw the movement and bellowed. Bill’s shot took the ghoul out cleanly. But not without cost. From behind both sides of the aisle five rows down came sounds of
movement and moaning. With Lim at Bill’s back covering their flank and rear Bill readied for more contacts.
A walker missing the left side of its face and burns down its left side appeared followed by another Zeke.
“Puh. Puh,” spoke Bill. He tapped behind for Lim’s attention and motioned to move out. They made their way down aisle 40 quickly. Noise in the building was picking up.
In their earpieces they heard Bob Wisnewski, “LT, contact is ticking up. We’re still good. Hope you’re back soon.” Bill clicked his mike in acknowledgment.
Arriving at the next intersection, they found themselves looking at aisle 81. Now they needed to go west, still further away from the door they had entered.
“Bob, Six. When we get to what we need we will be at the northwest part of the building. Can you relocate there?”
“Affirmative. On the move.”
Bob turned to Ruth Ann and said, “Hold on, we’re moving closer to the LT for pickup. Hold on and keep firing. Take my weapon. It’s lighter.”
Ruth Ann put her longer-range rifle down to take Bob’s assault rifle. Bob withdrew is sidearm and placed it in his lap as he began to drive the car west. Ruth Ann engaged the walkers in their path.
Bill and Lim finally arrived at the promised aisle with no further contact but noises were still getting closer. Each taking a side of the aisle, they scanned for what they needed.
Lim found a pallet of long masonry screws. The two paused while Lim used his combat knife to slice open the shrink-wrap surrounding the pallet. He grabbed on case and looked to his Lieutenant. Bill whispered, “I doubt they have masonry bits for their drill. Let’s keep looking for the glue.”
Fifteen feet further down the aisle, they found a pallet of Liquid Nails. Bill repeated the steps Lim had taken to extract two cases of the product. He handed one case to Lim who put down the case of masonry screws and reloaded his weapon. Each holding a case, zombies appeared at both ends of aisle 71.
“LT. In position. Be advised it is a tight space and we are in contact.”
On their way out now, Bill was less concerned with stealth. Without whispering, “Lim, fire at will. Head north then turn left.”
Get Off My L@wn - A Zombie Novel Page 17