by J. W. Vohs
In less than an hour Jack and his soldiers had all of the non-combatants locked down safely inside The Castle’s walls and were busily showing the defensive works to the new people from Utah and Auburn. With the reinforcements, Jack had close to three hundred fighters to face off against thousands of hunters, but considering the odds he’d overcome before it sounded like a fair fight. Select soldiers from The Castle would operate the weapons-systems under Carter’s leadership, while Tina and a small group of fighters would implement the plan to lure the enemy into the kill-zone. The new arrivals, along with small groups of The Castle’s veterans, would hold the palisades stretching between the lakes under Jack’s overall command. The biggest concern was timing; if the army of infected arrived during darkness a lot of things could go wrong with the plan.
As the troops moved into place in the forest, Jack and Carter stood talking quietly near an old gatehouse by the lakes that surrounded the hook-shaped potential kill-zone. “You get enough rest, old man?” Jack asked.
“No,” Carter answered, “I’d need a week to catch up.”
“Hey, if you need to pull out of this fight . . .”
Even in the darkness Jack could feel Carter straighten-up as he turned to face his would-be tormenter, “If ya weren’t such a helpless pinhead I’d show ya how much fight I still got in me. I guess I’ll just have to hang around to save yer sorry butt once again.”
Jack couldn’t stifle a chuckle, “And I thought I was here to save you. This morning when you got off the train you looked like the Grim Reaper with a cucumber shoved where the sun don’t shine. Glad to know you’re recovered.”
After a few seconds of silence Carter replied, “I’m tired, and I’m sore, and I’m hurtin’ a lot inside, but ya couldn’t keep me outta this scrape with our old squad and a straightjacket. I’m gonna kill a ton of these bastards tonight.”
Jack sighed, “You’ve already killed hundreds of them, maybe over a thousand, and they just keep coming. At least we know how to fight those sons-of-bitches—up to this point anyway. I’m afraid things are changing fast. What do you really think about the helicopters?”
Carter didn’t hesitate, “Somebody’s herdin’ the hunters and leadin’ ‘em to attack groups of humans. Wouldn’t be surprised if they have somethin’ to do with the virus breakin’ out in the first place. We should try to shoot ‘em down, maybe catch one of the pilots alive and find out what they’re up to.”
Jack’s head was shaking in the dark before he realized Carter couldn’t see him. “If there’s the smallest chance that we could be wrong, and we go and shoot down an agent of whatever part of the government survived this, you and I both know a couple of Hellfire missiles could turn The Castle into a furnace.”
“Well, I know that’s the truth; but I’m tellin’ ya, I know in my gut that the folks flyin’ them choppers ain’t on our side.”
“You know I trust your gut feelings on everything, and my gut tells me the same thing, but for now we’ve got our hands full just fighting off the infected they’re throwing at us. We’ll have to deal with whoever is behind those choppers at some point; right now I’m just not sure how. Of course, as soon as they figure out they can’t kill us off or control us through their zombie armies they might just pull out the old-school stuff, if they still can.”
Carter released a frustrated breath, “I ain’t sayin’ they can’t light us up like a Christmas tree, but we both know the government shot their wad tryin’ to stop the spread of the virus. Hell, ya know how much stuff we had overseas; how much of that ya think made it back? How many troops ya think survived the outbreaks over there? The factories are closed, probably forever, and I think ammo is mighty scarce these days. Whoever’s flyin’ them birds must have fuel, but if they had the ordnance to kill their enemies they’d damn sure be doin’ it.”
“Yeah, I know the military gave everything it had to the fight when the infected started overrunning the cities, but I’m sure there’s a few caches of ordnance hidden out there. But have you considered the possibility that the people in the choppers don’t represent what’s left of the government, if anything is left? I mean, they could just be working for some mad-scientist type of dude who’s trying to take over what’s left of the world. These zombie armies are attacking hard targets, our military forces, here and out west. Why aren’t the Utah settlements being marched on by some million-footed beast out of California, or the Vegas areas?”
“What ya tryin’ to get at, professor?”
“Back in the old times, the ones we’re copying weapons from, invaders usually left the peasants alive; somebody had to grow food for the ruling class. Maybe these helicopters have been sent out to locate and destroy any forces that could stand in the way of their takeover.”
Carter considered the theory before replying, “Maybe yer right about that, Jack, but it don’t make us any better off.” He chuckled bitterly and declared, “Let’s pray they just keep sickin’ their monsters on us ‘cause we’re gonna kill ‘em all.”
Chapter 16
Jack wanted to be out on the eastern edge of the park, where one of the few lakes that didn’t stretch east to west presented a barrier over a thousand feet long. His people would have to convince the infected to detour to the north. Once they had the bulk of the enemy on the north side of the park, luring them into the kill zone a few miles to the west should be accomplished easily enough. As with Carter on the trip to connect with the Utah force, Jack was going to learn what it meant to command from behind the main lines, and he wasn’t happy about the situation. He was standing on a three hundred-foot long platform situated between two lakes at the far end of the fishhook-shaped kill-zone, staring through NVG-binoculars as he waited for bonfires to light up the darkness to the east.
Occasionally the night would be disrupted by the muted sounds of explosions in the distance, where several of the RRTs were blowing small bridges over creeks and drainage ditches directly in the path of the advancing horde. No rivers ran between Auburn and The Castle, so forcing the infected to cross small waterways was the best they could do to delay their arrival. They wouldn’t stop the army headed their way with this tactic, but any action that might gain them time as they prayed for daylight was worth trying as long as the soldiers involved kept their distance from the hunters leading the march.
The first fire on the edge of the easternmost lake shot into the night air at four in the morning. Seconds later Tina called Jack and explained, “Hunters are here, a lot of them. The RRTs report that the infected are strung out for three or four miles on a front of several thousand feet, and so far those in the rear are following the path the leaders are leaving for them. We just sent out orders to light the other north-side fires, so we’ll know in a few minutes if the bastards are gonna come to our little welcome party.”
“Thanks, Tina. Keep me posted. Jack out.”
One by one the bonfires situated along the northern edge of the lakes came to life in the distance, a new one appearing through the forest every few minutes as the fighters waiting on the palisaded platforms fidgeted with their weapons and peered into the darkness trying to glimpse their first sight of the monsters headed their way. Finally, a huge fire roared to life a quarter-mile to the east, immediately followed by a loud shout from the warriors guarding the first of the gaps between the lakes making up the long eye of the fishhook.
A hundred fighters were manning just four hundred feet of defensive works in that location, so Jack wasn’t worried about them holding for a while. Hyrum Anderson was in charge there, and he kept Jack informed of developments in front of his position. Carter was leading the crews operating the catapults and cannons set up there, each of them sighted to hit the hunters less than fifty yards to the front of where the soldiers were now engaging the lead elements of the infected horde. Every few moments an explosion would blast out over the park from that direction, echoing through the hollows and across the lakes and usually followed by a ragged cheer from the defenders. Jack
didn’t need the radio to let him know that hundreds of infected were being cut down by his troops.
Twenty minutes after the fighting began at Anderson’s position, Jack heard the doughty Utah leader call out over the radio, “Okay, Jack, there’s at least a few thousand infected out in front of us. We’re holding our own, but you might want to give them something to think about because a lot more are visible on the ridges along the north side of the park.”
Jack turned and gave a thumbs up to Andi, who shouted for the soldier waiting to light the bonfire behind them to go ahead with his assigned task. “All right, we’re firing up over here!” He shouted into the radio, happy and excited that he’d soon be able to join the fighting. “My aide will be monitoring the radio for us, but unless it’s an emergency just keep fighting and I’ll talk to you after we’ve killed ‘em all.”
Several hundred yards to the southwest of Jack’s position another gap between the lakes of about two hundred feet was garrisoned by Utah troops led by Stanley Rickers and his veteran squad of fighters. They were monitoring the radio chatter and lit their bonfire at the same time Jack did. At no place along the palisades protecting the platforms above the swampy ground and channels connecting the lakes did Jack have less than one soldier for every four foot of the line, a ratio he would have given almost anything to have during the Battle of the Castle three months earlier, when his eighty-five warriors had struggled to defend nearly five-hundred yards of wall. Now, the enraged infected found nothing but water or a hedge of razor-sharp steel as they rushed howling and snarling toward the humans they could hear, sometimes see, but never actually reach.
The hills continued to echo with the frightening sounds of the infected signaling the presence of prey to their pack-mates, and the ghostly shapes of the creatures pouring over the tops of the ridges to the north and east as they were back-lit by the numerous fires was an eerie sight nobody who survived this battle would ever forget. Still, Jack’s soldiers were veterans of numerous engagements and trained at their new craft of killing every day. They weren’t going to lose this contest as long as they stayed behind the palisades.
The few members of David’s team available for action were stationed with Jack, but after several minutes of witnessing the incredible calm efficiency with which they dispatched the infected, he almost wished he’d placed them with the Utah troops. Eventually he’d learn that he needn’t have worried; Anderson’s soldiers had learned plenty of lessons the hard way in Cheyenne and the Battle of The Train, which Jack thought sounded rather lame, but the name was now part of the lore surrounding the war of resistance. The veterans of that horrific fight had a right to call the contest whatever they wanted to call it.
The only worry Jack really had concerning the western edge of the battlefield he was currently fighting upon was the growing mound of corpses beneath their palisade. This time however, his troops were prepared for the problem. Teens that were currently in training but not yet allowed into combat were present with the soldiers tonight. They were wearing full armor and carrying their weapons, but their main tasks during the battle were to carry water to the fighting line and use long poles with hooks attached to push and pull the infected corpses that were piling up below. They had to stick the poles through holes in the platform created for that purpose, which kept them away from any creatures that might somehow reach the top of the defense works. For the most part, the kids were doing a great job of preventing the development of any mounds that would allow the average hunter to leap up onto the palisade, though in a few places the creatures were able to jump high enough to grip the wooden stakes before being cut down.
The only real threat to the people in the park were the hunters who’d somehow become separated from the main group and were now wandering amongst the trees and swamps looking for a way to reach the sounds and sights of the humans fighting in the distance. Tina knew they were out there by the hundreds since there was simply no way to ensure that thousands of monsters all went the same way over heavily wooded terrain interspersed with swamps, creeks, and lakes, and shrouded in darkness. The platforms Jack’s forces occupied were palisaded on both sides, with their flanks hanging out over deep water the hunters were terrified of. Standing at least eight feet above the muddy ground from which the infected launched their clumsy, frantic attacks, all of the fighters manning the defensive works found themselves spearing untold numbers of monsters charging headlong onto the halberds and pikes the soldiers used to keep the creatures at bay. Unfortunately, for a group of warriors at the east end of the park, the battle had suddenly and terrifyingly become a desperate struggle against overwhelming odds.
Tina and John were leading their respective RRTs, and they were joined by six other veterans assigned to them for the operation. Once they had the fires blazing they couldn’t rely on NVGs to navigate the woods and trails around them, and as a group they had underestimated the speed and sheer numbers with which the hunters could attack in spite of the think brush of the forest. They all ended up trapped on the roof of a small building near the main beach where they were immediately surrounded by hundreds of hunters intent on obtaining a meal of human flesh. The roof the harried fighters climbed upon wasn’t large, but a dozen soldiers couldn’t possibly defend the entire perimeter. After a few seconds of trying, during which they lost a man whose screams only drew more attention to their position, Tina ordered everyone back into a circle in the center of the roof.
They’d all emerged victorious from this type of formation against terrible odds before, so nobody panicked as the hunters began scaling the walls and throwing themselves against the steel of the defenders. Bill Haines had a radio and was following Tina’s order to let Jack know their situation while kneeling in the middle of the circle, but if anyone heard his calls they didn’t respond. After a few minutes of transmitting and getting nothing in return, he left the radio lying on the shingles and stepped into the line next to Tina and shouted, “Nobody’s answering! They might have their own troubles or maybe something’s wrong with our radio.”
Tina drove the tip of her halberd’s blade deep into the eye of a naked female hunter and yelled back, “Did you call out our position anyway?”
Busy killing another crazed attacker Bill needed a moment before responding, “Yeah, I called it out four or five times before I gave up.”
Tina grunted as she pulled the axe edge of her weapon from a skull she’d just crushed and cried out, “Just kill as many of these bastards as we can and hope the cavalry makes it in time.”
Tyler Matlin had fought and killed the infected before, but at sixteen and a youngster Jack had promised a dying grandfather to protect, Jack had stuck him on the radio for what could turn out to be a dangerous struggle in the darkness. The teen had been monitoring the receiver but had orders not to transmit, so he just copied the message from Tina’s team and took it to Jack, who was busy cutting down hunters who continued their suicidal assault as a rosy dawn grew in the east. Jack was totally in his element and reluctantly turned from the fighting to hear Tyler’s report. Finally he lifted his blood-flecked visor and asked, “Think you can handle my place on the line?”
Tyler looked frightened but gamely shouted, “Hell yeah!”
“Okay,” Jack replied as he slapped the youngster on the shoulder. “Just remember, one of those critters gets a good grip on your weapon you have to let go of it. You understand?”
Tyler nodded as he closed his visor, lifting his halberd while stepping around Jack to take his place behind the palisade. Jack had been fighting between Andi and Blake Alberts, and an almost-healed Lori was using her .22 pistol to deadly effect next to her husband. In short, Jack knew that the hunters would have to kill three of his best fighters to get to Tyler, so he wasn’t worried about the boy in a battle that was proving to be akin to shooting fish in a barrel. Carey, Tom, and the others who’d built these defensive positions and set the trap had really done a fantastic job.
Quickly moving over to where Tyler ha
d left the radio, Jack tried to raise Tina for several minutes before accepting that she was incapable of replying. Assuming the worst, he fought down the urge to immediately charge off after his endangered troops, forcing himself to calm down and think through the problem he was facing. Leaving his former commanding officer and his wife to their fate wasn’t an option, but trying to fight through thousands of infected was nothing but a suicide mission. He raised Carter on the radio, who told him that the number of hunters was thinning in front of their position, with hundreds of the creatures killed and no deaths among troops. When told of Tina and John’s situation, Carter thought for a few seconds before asking, “Ya see the boats I left down there?”
“A couple of johnboats with trolling motors on them?”
“Yep, I left those in case ya needed to move along the line without leavin’ the water. Just follow the channel to your south, cross the two lakes to Hyrum’s position, and I’ll meet you there. My weapons crews are all up here now, and I’ll pick a team to join yer search for John and Tina.”
Jack had no idea how they were going to rescue the missing soldiers, but he trusted that somebody would figure something out along the way. “All right, I’m heading out.”
After telling Tyler to transmit a radio message telling the other commanders what he was about to do, and placing Andi in charge of the position, Jack moved down to the boats and tied the trailing craft to the leader with a short towing strap. Then he began winding along the channel below and slightly behind the fighting platform, grimly watching several hunters try to reach him by jumping and sinking into the water as he quietly glided along the placid surface. A few minutes later he reached the first of the two lakes between him and Carter, now easily seen even though the sun had yet to peek over the horizon. The boat seemed to struggle through the still water but in reality he made good time as he quickly crossed the lakes and entered the channel beneath the fighting platform where Carter and his crews had taken refuge with Hyrum Anderson’s soldiers.