by Sam Sisavath
He crawled back down behind the wall, sticking low to the floor, listening to the very distinctive rattle of the AK-74. The door offered no resistance against the fusillade. The wall around him exploded, bullets ripping effortlessly through the Sheetrock. The man was strafing from left to right, but hadn’t bothered to move the barrel up or down, which meant he expected Will to be crouched and not flat on the floor the way he currently was.
Will listened, waiting for the man to stop shooting, when a single shot from a handgun rang out inside the auditorium. He spun to his left, toward the sound of the gunshot.
Lara was at the doors, the Glock in her hand, shooting across the auditorium. He looked at where she was aiming and saw that the farthest door at the other side of the gym was open. He caught a glimpse of a masked head hidden behind the door. For a moment his instinct was to tell Lara to stop shooting, that she couldn’t possibly hit anything from that distance with a Glock, but he realized that hitting the man wasn’t the point—pinning him down and keeping him from shooting him in the back was.
Meanwhile, behind him, the AK-74 had stopped firing.
The realization hit him like lightning. They were using a specific tactic on him. One man fired from the window to pin him down while the other one entered from the door across the auditorium.
Not so amateurish after all.
Will sprung up, moving left at the same time, and squeezed off a short burst on full-auto into the window even before he saw anything. He caught a glimpse of a black and green blur lunging out of his line of vision, disappearing behind the cover of the wall.
He kept moving until he was now on the other side of the interior window, where he quickly turned his attention to the opened door across the auditorium. He switched the fire selector on the M4A1 to semi-automatic and lowered himself into a crouching position.
The man in the hazmat suit hiding behind the door leaned back in and took aim with an AR-15 across the auditorium at Lara. Before he could get off a shot, Will fired two shots in the man’s direction. His first shot hit the door, but his second shot was true and hit the man in the left calf. The man stumbled backward through the doorframe, the door slamming shut behind him.
Keeping as low as possible, Will ran back toward Lara.
She watched him coming, one eye focused on the doors across the auditorium. He slid the last meter along the smooth floor and came to a stop next to her. She flashed him a brief satisfied smile.
He laughed. “My hero.”
“You make it look so easy, I thought I’d give it a shot.”
“Give it a shot?”
“Oh right,” she said and laughed.
“I’ll be right back.”
He pushed himself up and jogged to the corner, looked up the hallway. Danny had moved back three meters from his last position, but still had his attention focused down the other side of the school, where another body in a hazmat suit was slumped on the floor. From his angle, Danny could see both the front doors and the hallway, allowing him to defend both points of entry without any extra movements.
Five down, five to go.
Davies had also backed away from the door and was now crouched on the floor against the wall about two meters behind Danny. He was reloading his G36 and fumbling with the magazine.
Will clicked his radio. “We good?”
“Hunky dory,” Danny said. “You?”
“I might have grazed a third one.”
“You mean after your girlfriend saved your butt?”
Will looked back and saw Lara smiling at him.
“Yeah,” he said into the radio. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“So what’s the plan, boss man?”
He walked back to Lara, crouched next to her. He glanced down at his watch. 10:41 a.m.
“They took their shot,” he said. “Now they’re down to half their original number. Unless they’re getting reinforcements, I’m guessing they’ll probably decide to wait us out. It’s the smart thing to do.”
“You’re assuming they’re smart,” Danny said.
“They’d have to be dumb as rocks to keep attacking with only five men left, possibly only four able-bodied.”
“So what’s the play?”
“Give me a sec.”
“Sure, not like I got some place to be. Like with Carly, on top of Carly, possibly even inside Carly…”
Will held his M4A1 out to Lara. She shook her head. “Will, I don’t know how to use that.”
“It’s easy. See the trigger? Squeeze it. One shot at a time. Just like the Glock, except this one’s got a longer barrel. But the same rules apply.”
She hesitantly took the rifle from him.
Will pulled out his spare magazines and stacked them on the floor next to her. “Make sure you see them first before you fire. The sound alone should make them scramble. And keep the barrel high so you don’t hit the people on the floor.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“We can’t let them wait us out. That’s their game plan, but it’s not ours.”
“I don’t like the sound of that…”
“Trust me.”
“I do trust you. I thought I made that obvious.”
He acted on impulse, leaned forward and kissed her. She moaned against his mouth, and it made him kiss her harder, until he remembered where they were, what was happening, and he forced himself to pull away.
“I need my shotgun back,” he said.
“Wow, that wasn’t quite what I was expecting to hear after that kiss.”
He grinned and kissed her again, just as intense, but pulled away faster this time. He picked up the Remington 870 from the floor. “I’ll be right back.”
He passed Elise and Megan, still sitting on the floor with their knees pulled up against their chests. They both looked stunned and confused by what was happening around them.
He passed Davies, who glanced up and gave him a relieved look. “Man, I’m glad to see you still among the living.”
“Stay frosty.”
He stopped behind Danny and tapped him on the shoulder.
“What’s up, Kemosabe?” Danny didn’t take his eyes off the hallway or the front.
“I think it’s time to see if we can even the odds a little bit.”
“Looks pretty even to me.”
“Even-er.”
“That’s not a word.”
“Of course it is.”
“Whatever.”
“Do me a favor and keep an eye on Lara for me.”
“Sure, I got nothing better to do than keep an eye on your new girlfriend.”
“I really like her.”
“Yeah, I figured. Try not to get dead. Better yet, try not to get me dead.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Ready?”
“Go for it,” Danny said.
Will stood up and leaned against the wall next to the tattered, bullet-ridden doors that somehow remained partially closed, even though they were barely hanging from two battered hinges. Behind him, Danny got up and moved toward the window, then a second later Danny’s M4A1 fired into the parking lot.
As soon as Danny started shooting, Will darted across the doors, making it to the other side without taking fire. He slid down to the floor as soon as he was clear of the wide opening and sprung back up, shotgun aiming down the hallway. It was empty, except for the still hazmat suit lying on the floor at the end.
He didn’t know if anyone had seen him make the move across the opened doors. Not that it mattered, as long as they didn’t anticipate what he was going to do next.
Yeah, that’s the ticket…
Will moved down the hallway just as Danny stopped shooting behind him. He heard return fire from the parking lot smashing into the brick wall outside and punching at jagged pieces of glass still clinging to the destroyed window frame next to the doors. With five fewer shooters, the barrage sounded more subdued, almost lackluster.
He slipped the shotgun up to chest leve
l in case someone turned the corner suddenly in front of him. The man in the hazmat suit lay perfectly still on the floor, having fallen forward on his stomach, head turned sideways. There was a little hole in his gas mask’s right lens, and a thin trickle of red blood had gathered on the tiles underneath his head. Unlike his friend, no one had pulled this man back behind cover.
Will found out why when he turned the corner.
He only had to follow the trail of blood to the first man Danny had shot. The man lay crumpled up nearby, where he had been dragged by the other dead man, then left behind.
Will scanned the short hallway. There was a door at the end, leading into the cafeteria, the other big room in the school. Just before that, a half-opened window. It looked big enough to crawl through.
He moved toward the window, looking out through the glass. He couldn’t see or hear anyone on the other side, but picked up a slight breeze in the air. He moved as silently as possible, glad he didn’t have any spare magazines to weigh him down. He flattened his back against the wall, almost a foot from the window. He stood very still, then held his breath and tried to cut out every other noise, even the distant ringing of the flag pole’s latch. He heard the wind, chirping birds, and what might have been a dog barking far away.
But nothing that sounded human.
He ducked underneath the windowsill to the other side, took another deep breath before appearing directly in the window frame, shotgun aiming out, finger on the trigger.
No one on the other side.
He slid the rest of the window open and climbed out. He slipped down into the tall grass outside the building and scanned the immediate area. There was nothing back here, just the football field and track to his right, behind the cafeteria. To his left, the street and the parking lot.
He moved left, keeping low, eyes forward, shotgun in firing position. Tall blades of grass tickled his waist. He listened for sounds of gunfire and wasn’t terribly surprised when none came. The double attack in the auditorium seemed to have been the full extent of their tactical abilities.
Or at least he hoped so.
He peeked out briefly, taking in as much of the parking lot as he could in the brief second or two of exposure.
The parking lot was forty meters away, and there was a man in a hazmat suit behind the red sedan. He sat with his back against the rear bumper of the car, his gas mask resting on the concrete floor next to his AR-15 rifle. He was eating what looked like a can of Pringles, shaking out the pieces and flicking them into his mouth, and he seemed to be enjoying the sun.
Will looked farther up the parking lot and saw three more men gathered behind the Tacoma and the Ram, facing the school’s all-but-obliterated front doors. One of the men sat on the ground, one leg resting in front of him. He had white bandages around his calf. And there, all the way on the other side of the lot, was the fifth man, standing inside the bed of the beat-up black pick-up truck, a hunting rifle resting on the roof of the vehicle. Sunlight glinted off the smooth lines of a scope on top of the rifle that was scanning back and forth between the auditorium’s back doors, the office window in the gym, and the front doors.
Will slipped back behind the wall and clicked his radio. “Miss me?”
“Like a dog misses ticks,” Danny said. “What’d you see?”
“Five left. Three behind the trucks, one behind the sedan, and the fifth in the pick-up with a hunting rifle and scope. I wouldn’t poke my head out if I were you.”
“Well, there goes my evening plans.”
“Are you okay?” Lara asked.
“Better now that I hear your voice.”
“Barf. Get a fucking room,” Danny said.
Will grinned. “It looks like they’re content to wait us out until nightfall.”
“So that confirms it,” she said. “They’re working with the ghouls.”
“It looks that way.”
Danny said, “Personally, I have a policy. Never collaborate with anyone or anything uglier than shit in the sun.”
“Oh, that’s lovely, Danny,” Lara said.
“I know, right? I use that line on the girls, and they just about melt.”
“I’m sure they do.”
“But enough about me,” Danny said. “What’s the plan? We just gonna sit here with our thumbs up our asses and wait for nightfall, or what?”
“I need you to take the one behind the pick-up truck,” Will said.
“I’m listening…”
“He’s focused on the back doors of the auditorium, the office window, and the two front doors. I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother with the auditorium doors. You get ready when you hear it.”
“I was born ready,” Danny said. “Then my mom changed my name to Danny.”
“Davies,” Will continued, ignoring Danny.
“Yeah,” Davies said.
“When I give the word, I want you to empty your magazine toward the trucks. Fire in bursts, and don’t poke your head out. Keep to the right of the doors, stick your rifle out, and make sure to get their attention. You don’t have to hit anything, understand? Don’t stop shooting until you’re empty. Then reload and do it again.”
“I only have one magazine left.”
“Don’t worry, that’ll be enough.”
“Okay,” Davies said, though Will thought he sounded unconvinced.
“Lara…”
“Yes,” she answered.
“When the shooting starts, run to the interior office window in the auditorium. Your job is to get the attention of the sniper in the truck.”
“How do I do that?”
“I’ll draw his attention first. When you see that happen, I want you to squeeze off a couple of shots in his direction. Use the Glock. It’s lighter, and you’ll be able to move more easily back and forth behind cover. You don’t have to hit him or the truck. You just have to get his attention long enough so he doesn’t catch Danny coming out of the back doors. Lara,” he added, “whatever you do, do not expose yourself. Understand?”
“Yes. I understand.”
Will went down into an almost crouching position, his left leg in front of him, his back ready to propel him up and forward. “Davies. You ready?”
“Yeah,” Davies said, his voice trembling slightly.
“On the count of three. One, two…three.”
Will counted down a full two seconds before he heard the first volley from the G36. He peeked out around the corner and saw the men in hazmat suits suddenly come out of their positions in response. Across the parking lot, the man in the truck swiveled his rifle toward the school doors, but from his angle, he would only be able to see the very end of the G36’s barrel, firing straight out at the trucks. The man behind the red sedan grabbed his gas mask and slipped it back on while scrambling for his AR-15, turning his body in the direction of the school’s front doors.
Exactly five seconds after Davies began firing, Will slipped out from behind the school and, keeping as low as possible, began moving toward the sedan. The man’s attention was fixed on the action across the parking lot.
Will counted the distance in front of him. He took the first ten meters in five seconds…
Fifteen meters…
The man behind the sedan didn’t hear him over the roar of the G36, and the three men behind the trucks were too busy staying hidden behind the vehicles to shoot back. They looked confused by what Davies was doing, and looked content to wait it out.
Twenty meters…
Will risked a quick look in the direction of the truck at the other end of the parking lot. He spotted the shooter behind the rifle, peering through the scope, entirely focused on the school doors. The only way he could see Will now was if he pulled his eye away from the scope. That was the problem with staying behind a scope for too long. Your vision became limited and the field became a small circular bottle instead of a massive football field. That was why snipers stayed far from the main action, in a position where they could pick out targets without worryin
g about incoming fire. And why they had spotters.
Twenty-five meters…
As soon as Will hit the thirty-meter mark, the man behind the sedan started to turn around in his direction. But Will was well within shotgun range, and as the man swiveled his AR-15, Will lifted the Remington and saw his own moving form reflected in the clear lens of the man’s gas mask. Will fired from five meters away and the man’s chest exploded in a red splash and the lower half of his gas mask evaporated under the onslaught of buckshot.
He was still running toward the sedan when he shifted his perspective to the men behind the trucks, more than fifty meters away across the parking lot, and fired three quick shots in their direction. His buckshot fell well short, as he had expected. Hitting them wasn’t the point anyway. He just needed to make sure Danny could hear the shotgun blasts over the roar of the G36. Three shots would just about do it.
Immediately, all three men turned around and began firing at him. He reached the sedan just in time and lunged for cover, making sure to slide up to one of the back tires for additional protection. Bullets slammed into the sedan and kicked up thick chunks of concrete around him. Will slung the shotgun and reached for the dead man’s fallen AR-15, a slightly heavier weapon than the more mobile M4A1.
Will felt the heft of the weapon in his hands while bullets peppered the car behind him. He ignored them. The distance was too great, and unless all three decided to swarm him at once, he was fine where he was. He didn’t think they would do a full-frontal attack, not with Davies firing away with his G36. Coming out from behind the trucks meant exposing themselves, and even amateurs knew better than to do that.
Then there was a loud clang! as a heavy round pierced the other side of the sedan and traveled all the way through the body of the vehicle and exited out the door to his right, three inches from his head.
Holy…
It had to be the guy behind the hunting rifle, in the back of the pick-up truck all the way across the parking lot. The guy was using armor-piercing rounds.