by TW Gallier
"There's a supermarket in a strip mall over the next hill," I said. "If I remember right, there are gas stations on all four corners. We can stop to refill our tanks and get those city maps Jake wants."
She hit the brakes as we topped a low hill. "We have a problem!"
Before us a barricade stretched out across the street. That was not a traffic accident, even though the vehicles were all smashed. Someone moved them into place to block passage. And those someones were standing behind the barricade and pointing weapons at us.
Chapter 10
"Turn right!" I cried. The barricade was just past an intersection. "Go! Go!"
Olivia turned so fast the right wheels almost came off the road. I glanced down the side road just long enough to notice it was a residential street, lined with brick homes.
Both Ralph and I opened up on the men behind the barricade, while we led the others past it. Jake's vehicle followed us, and the others followed him. Everyone fired at the barricade as they moved past it.
"Shit," Olivia said.
I faced forward to find another barricade just before the next intersection.
"Ambush! Ambush!" Jake screamed over the radio. "Turn around! Turn around."
Armed men started firing at us from between the houses, and some from windows in the houses. The convoy opened up on them. Windows shattered, men screamed, but all I saw was dark shapes and the flashing of weapon fire.
I stood up and faced left, the windshield held between my body and arm, while I fired over Olivia's head at the ambushers.
"Pickups!" Mike called on the radio. "Turn into the attack and charge!"
We weren't in a pickup, but Olivia obeyed and turned left. The jeep was jolted as we jumped the curb, almost tossing me out. She drove into the gap between two houses. One house had a wooden privacy fence, but the other didn't. It was the rear-entry driveway side of the open side. The jeep barely squeezed through.
There were running men in the alley, and we fired them up. More pickups appeared down the alley. Mike ordered us to all turn left, and sweep down the alley towards the barricade. We followed, shooting at anyone we spotted on the ground.
"We're being overrun!" Jake said. "Return to – "
And nothing. Olivia and I shared a wide-eyed look.
"Did they just kill Jake?" she asked.
"Hit the barricade, and swing back down that street!" Mike called over the radio. "Hurry!"
We were last in line. While driving past two houses without fences, I was able to look all the way to the convoy. Men were swarming over the trucks. In that brief glance it looked like the fight was pretty much over.
And shit started blowing up in front of us.
Boom! Boom!
"Those grenades are not from us," Olivia screamed. One exploded between us and the pickup in front of us. Boom! "The others are shooting them at us!"
"Yeah, I figured that out," I said. "Zigzag."
"We're in an alley, dork," she said. "Where the hell am I supposed to zig or zag?"
I was still standing, so was able to spot an out. "Turn right into that driveway!"
Olivia screamed, but obeyed. The open gap between the houses appeared, and she shot the gap at high speed. Okay, it was probably 15 to 20 MPH, but it felt super fast. We ripped through that house's front yard, barely missing a tree, and bounced over the curb and onto the road.
We were the only ones on that road.
"Which way?" she asked.
"Right," I said. Seemed logical to go the opposite direction expected. "Turn left at the next intersection after that."
I started stuffing more full magazines into my pockets. Olivia took us around the intersection, and I saw the road ended at the strip mall. There was no entry into the shopping center, which was surrounded by a six foot high concrete wall. But I saw a very dark, overgrown spot between the wall and the house next to it.
"Ralph, this is a good time to reload with a full ammo can," I said. "Olivia, back us into that dark spot."
"Why?"
"We're hiding," I said. "Dork."
I guess the spot was actually an unpaved, overgrown alley of sorts. The houses that lined the back of the strip mall fence had front entry garages, and their fenced yards ended about ten feet from the strip mall wall. That strip of land was overgrown. Olivia quickly backed into it, moving far enough into it for the shadows to hide us. I hoped.
"Now what?" Ralph said.
"Good question," I replied. "Wow. I thought I was ready for anything, but…"
As much as I wanted to get away from those people, and get back on the road home, I was worried sick about what happened to Jake and the others in the cargo trucks. I heard trucks moving, and was pretty sure it was our trucks. The ambushers were taking them.
"Do you think they took prisoners, or just killed everyone?" Ralph asked.
That made my heart race. I couldn't breathe for a second. The guys from Emory were godless bastards for how they treated us, but they weren't cold-blooded murderers. To be just slaughtered for a few guns and not much ammo seemed so senseless.
"One way to find out," I said. "Sneak back over there."
"Yeah, I really don't want to know that badly," Olivia said. "That's a full time ambush site, so we'd definitely get caught and probably murdered."
I nodded. I wanted to know so badly. Morbid curiosity? But she was right. And since it was a full-time ambush site, that meant they'd drag the bodies away and hide them. Still, I needed to know for closure.
"Shhh," Ralph hissed. "Look!"
The Trailblazer and all of the cargo trucks slowly turned the corner about three blocks up the street before us. We froze, watching breathlessly, as they came straight towards us. They turned one block before reaching our location, going left. None of the men driving were our friends.
"Headcount," Mike's voice came over the radio. I picked up the walkie-talkie, mostly to turn the volume down. It was on all the way to be heard in the open jeep while at highway speed. Different guys indentified themselves, saying they were okay. "Zombie Patrol, are you out there?"
I looked at the others. Ralph shrugged and Olivia nodded.
"Zombie Patrol alive and well."
"Don't give locations, because the enemy has some of our walkie-talkies," Mike said. "Hold tight and await orders."
Damn, I was so glad he said something. I was about to tell him our location.
"We're shit out of luck," Ralph said. "Time to hit the road on our own."
"I agree," I said. "Nothing to keep us here now. This mission is over."
The sounds of our lost trucks returned, moving closer. And from a different direction. They were on the other side of the wall. I turned the walkie-talkie off, afraid Mike would give away our location.
We rushed to the wall and peeked over the top. All of the trucks were coming straight at us, going around behind the strip mall. We watched them round the corner and drive down about halfway. When they stopped, they opened the back of one of the cargo trucks.
"They took prisoners," Olivia whispered, sounding excited. "They’re alive."
Such a sense of relief swept through me. I saw Jake pulled out, not cooperating at all. He looked pissed. Most of the others looked scared out of their wits.
The prisoners were all bound, hands behind their backs. They were led through a door, while armed men took up guard positions. It looked like some of them had automatic weapons, like Uzis and other makes and models I'd never seen. I wasn't a big gun person, after all.
"We have to tell Mike, but how?" I asked.
"Go find him?" Ralph replied.
"They'll know where we are as soon as we start the engine," Olivia said.
She was right. Those guards would be coming over that wall in a heartbeat when we started the engine. Could Olivia get us out of there before they could shoot? I wasn't so sure. She could drive a standard, but wasn't really that fast. Of course, it could be the jeep wasn't that fast.
"Push it," she said.
"What?" I asked.
"You and Ralph get out and push the jeep. Once we're far enough away, I can start it without them hearing," she said.
"Why aren't you helping to push?" Ralph asked.
"Driver. Duh," she said.
I stopped his retort with a raised hand. After motioning them back behind the jeep, I had her put it in neutral. Ralph and I were able to push the jeep halfway to the road easily enough. It wasn't that easy, but the jeep wasn't as heavy as a regular car. So I had Olivia get in and steer.
"Turn left and we'll go up a street or two before we start up," I whispered. "Go, Ralph."
I pushed as hard as I could. Together, we got the jeep moving forward. It was slow and rough going until we reached the pavement. Olivia turned left, and we quickly got it moving to a nice trotting speed. She went two blocks up before turning down another tree-lined street.
"Let's get the hell out of here," I said, jumping into the passenger seat.
In no time we were racing down that dark street. We took it as far as we could before we were forced to turn east. Within a few minutes we reached a street that passed under the Loop. I had Olivia take the ramp up onto the Loop and stop.
There was no sign of any activity in any direction. A sense of relief again flowed through me again. I was halfway expecting to run straight into the Deathdealers.
"We did it. Now what?" Ralph asked. "Head home?"
"We can't leave them like that," Olivia said. "I'm pretty sure those guys will kill them. I'm not even sure why they took them prisoner."
I had my suspicions. "I think they want to question them. Find out where they are going. Then they'll kill them." I picked up the walkie-talkie, turning it on, and keyed it. "Mike, Zombie Patrol is located…back the way we came. If everyone backtracks, we can meet up."
"You heard him," Mike said. "It's not specific, but everyone head back the way we came."
It wasn't long before we heard vehicles heading our way. Some of them came up on the Loop further east than us. Mike came up our ramp. He drove past us, waving for us to follow. A few minutes later we met up with three more pickups.
"This is all that's left," Mike said, sounded dejected.
"Jake and the others are still alive," I said. I couldn't tell them that over the radio. The bad guys would overhear and start preparing for a counterattack. If we counterattacked to rescue the others. That was up to Mike now. "We saw them."
"You're shitting me!" he said, gawking at us.
I quickly explained where we went to hide, and what we saw. The decision to rescue them was not unanimous. Mike asked lots of questions about numbers. How many armed men did we see guarding the back of the building? Did we see inside? How many were inside?
We didn't have answers.
"Okay, we can scout them out and then decide what to do," Mike said.
"We'll just get ourselves killed, too," Billy said. He was one of the pickup gunners. "I say we just go home."
"I won't leave anyone behind," Mike said, eyes narrowing. "I won't leave any of you behind, either. And Jake wouldn't leave you behind, Billy, and you all know that."
Chapter 11
We led the pickups through the night-shrouded residential neighborhood. I hadn't paid much attention to the houses when we passed through before, being intent on just escaping. Now I found them supremely creepy. No barking. No lights. Abandoned cars lined the streets. The front doors of some homes were open, with a lot of windows smashed out.
We drove slowly, never over 10 MPH per Mike's orders. We were under strict sound discipline. Revving an engine could betray us to our enemies. I had Olivia stop two blocks from the back of the shopping center, with the remaining four pickups stopping in line behind us.
"How are we going to rescue them with just five trucks and thirteen men?" Ralph asked.
"Fourteen," Olivia said.
"You're a girl," Ralph said. He grinned at her outrage. "You don't count."
I shook my head. It was hard to keep the grin off my face. She knew Ralph as well as anyone, so should've seen that coming. Olivia walked right into his joke.
"You're not as funny as you look," she said.
"Glad to see you guys are in such good spirits," Mike said, stepping up beside me.
He didn't look amused at all. Kinda of pissed, actually. Two other men followed him. All carried AR15s. Only one of them wore camo, and that looked like hunting camo as opposed to the surplus Army camo Ralph, Olivia, and I wore.
"Just another day in the life of Zombie Patrol," I quipped, despite his hostility. It's a sickness. "You deal with stress your way and we'll do it our way."
Mike paused, cocked his head, and looked us over. We returned his gaze defiantly.
"You guys might've made pretty good soldiers," he said.
Totally floored me. A real war veteran thought we'd make good soldiers? That very well may have been the proudest moment of the zombie apocalypse for me. Thank god it was so dark, so he couldn't see how flushed red I became.
"High praise," I managed to say without my voice cracking. "What's up?"
"Gunners and drivers stay behind on guard," he said. "The rest of us are going in on foot to scout where our friends are being held. That means you're coming with me, Kyle."
"Oh," I said, looking between Olivia and Ralph. Olivia's eyes were huge. None of us wanted to be separated. Yet… "Okay. I guess I have to go to guide you to the right place."
Truth be told, I was more than a little thrilled that Mike wanted me to go with him. Everyone on the mission was a big tough farmer or construction worker. Tough men. Hunters and sportsmen. Me and my friends were just computer geeks to them. Outsiders, and probably not trusted that much.
Olivia grabbed my arm. Her nails dug in painfully. I'd never seen her look at me so intently. Fear and dread filled her face, and kind of scared me.
"Be careful," Olivia whispered. I saw tears in her eyes. "Try not to be such a dork, and come back alive. Promise me."
It occurred to me I could probably get away with kissing her. As soon as that thought manifested, panic set in. What if I was wrong? I didn't want to be humiliated in front of everyone.
"Don't worry," I said, patting her on the hand. "I'll be okay. Remember, I have the highest score on Zombie Hunter that any of us ever hit."
"Only because I had your back," she said. "If you get yourself hurt, I'll kill you."
"Thanks. Love you, too," I said, the words out before I could stop them.
I saw something in her eyes. Amusement? "I know, but I love you more."
Kind of stunned me. She did wag her brows, looking so self-satisfied. Ralph barked a laugh. I had the feeling I was missing something. Mike killed the moment with an impatient sigh.
"Are you two lovebirds done?" he asked.
"I'll never be done with her," I said, giving her a Ha! look. Olivia looked suitably surprised. "I'm ready."
I'd already put a full magazine in my AR15 and pistol. I thought about grabbing Ralph's helmet, since he rarely wore it, but none of the other guys wore helmets. So I just slipped out of the jeep and headed towards the shopping center.
"Follow me," I whispered loudly.
We stayed to the shadows, moved cautiously. I could hear them even before we reached the wall. Mostly they were quiet, but there was a little banging. Doors opening and closing. It sounded like they were doing something with the trucks. I led Mike and the team to the corner of the wall.
"They are about halfway down," I said, before taking a quick peek over the wall. "All of the trucks are still there."
Mike and the others all looked. We discussed the weapons the guards were carrying. Mike knew a lot about them, but I was clueless. It was all a lot of letters and numbers strung together. Kind of embarrassing. Did most normal men know that kind of information?
Mike led us down the wall, towards Cartwright and the front of the strip mall. I never checked that area, so realized I'd made a tactical mistake. Yeah, embarrassing.
We found they were setup in a sporting goods store. Smart. There was a six foot high barrier constructed in a semi-circle on front of the store. I guess they had to have that to defend the glass front entry doors. I counted ten men with what looked like AR15s guarding the front.
Then we moved into the overgrown alley. Mike led the way, with me right behind him, and then the other two. It wasn't like moving with my friends. I knew my area of responsibility with them, and knew the area Olivia would guard and the area Ralph was watching. Even though they were bigger, stronger, and more numerous, I felt less safe with them. I didn't like being unsure what was expected of me, and what I could expect of them.
Once we were directly behind the store the others were staying inside, Mike took a quick look. Only one person at a time was allowed to look. I only took a peek once, to ensure it was all the same as the last time I'd been there. The others each took several looks, before we continued down the alley to see what was on the other end.
That alley ended at a major thoroughfare. I couldn't see a road sign, but seemed to remember it was 18th Street. I lived on the other side of the city, after all, but had been in that area a few times. The wall ended there. Looking around the end of the wall, we saw the trucks waiting in line.
"There's a lot of damn men back there," Billy said. "How are we going to fight that many?"
"We need a distraction," Mike said.
In my mind, distraction meant dangerous. I just knew they'd want the jeep to provide that distraction. It would be the most dangerous job. There had to be a way to get out of it. Besides, what did we know about something like that?
Then I spotted them down 18th street. Zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. They were turning onto 18th Street from the north, but turning away from us.
"I have an idea," I said, dropping to one knee and picking up a stick. I swept a patch of ground clear and drew a square. "This is the shopping center." I put an X in the middle of the square. "That is where our friends are being held, along with the trucks."
"So?" Mike asked.
"We have the perfect distraction," I said, pointing down the street. "Zombies."