by TW Gallier
"So nothing has changed," I said, shaking my head.
We were feeling good. The water was still running in the armory, and there was a communal shower room. Two, actually, one for men and one for women. So during our down time, if we wanted, Jake said we could take showers. He suggested we sleep, but it was our time to do what we wanted as long as we didn't leave the armory.
We were in a pretty good position. There was both gasoline and diesel fuel in the motor pool, so we filled up all of the tanks. Then Jake filled some water tank trailers, that Mike called "water buffalos," with gas for the return trip. Though, honestly, I was glad I didn't have to pull a gas filled trailer. All I could see was it being shot and blowing up.
Didn't want any part of that.
Once Jake had the cargo trucks filled with what he came for the rest of us were set loose to loot. We filled the jeep with more ammo cans for the M60, M1911 pistols, and the new M16A2s we all had. Ralph also acquired what Mike called a M203, which was a M16 with a 40mm grenade launcher on it. Ralph snuck it and a bunch of grenades for it into the jeep, without Jake knowing about it. You know Jake wouldn't let us have those.
We strapped and tied stuff across the hood, and to both sides and the back. You could barely see the jeep under all our new gear. Everything was secured and out of sight inside military green packs and other kinds of canvas carriers. If it would hold food or ammo, we took it and strapped it to the jeep. The guys in the pickups were doing the same thing. Mike even found a big ice chest, but I wasn't sure what he put in that. There was no ice.
Jake assigned a few men to go around and straighten out the makeshift cowcatchers. Our jeep's cowcatcher was the most mangled. I really didn't think they could fix it, but they did a pretty good job.
Mike came around during that time installing Army radios and antennas on every vehicle. He showed us how to use it, and then gave us the manual. We had manuals for the weapons, the jeep's maintenance, and the radio. Ralph might've even gotten some others he found interesting. He could really geek out on military stuff sometimes.
"Since it's so late, we're dividing the guard shifts into three shifts," Jake said. "Everyone will pull just one shift."
We groaned. He split us up. Drivers took the first guard shift, gunners the second, and vehicle commanders the last. Jake wanted the drivers to have uninterrupted sleep.
Earlier, each of us had been given a new set of BDUs to replace our bloody, filthy clothes. We'd already eaten, but hadn't put on the new uniforms since we hadn't had our showers yet.
So Olivia immediately had to leave for guard, before her shower. She was not a happy camper. Mike gathered everyone else and put us to work cleaning the weapons we used on the trip down. He and Jake were adamant about it. And we weren't finished until one of them said our guns were clean enough. Jake wouldn't abandon them, and wasn't going to take dirty weapons back to Emory for someone else to clean.
The two ex-military men moved around showing us how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the weapons. I even got Mike to show us how to do the same with the M16A2 we were given. It looked similar to the AR15, but there were some differences.
"Make sure we get some cleaning solution and at least one cleaning kit in the jeep," I whispered to Ralph.
"Already done," he said. "I got five extra M60 barrels, too. But I'll get some more cleaning solution."
As we got our weapons approved, Jake let us go upstairs. Cots from the supply room were setup in the hallway on the ground floor. Everyone in the same room, so to speak. Guards were in some of the rooms, setup in windows. Ralph and I commandeered two cots at the very end. I wanted a third for Olivia, but was told she'd get Ralph's when he replaced her on guard. Ralph would take mine when I replaced him.
"Get a shower and some sleep," Mike said. That was the command I was waiting for. "Don't waste time. I'm turning the lights off in fifteen."
Earlier, I'd stealthily stolen two clean pair of underwear from Ralph's stash in the jeep. He was going to be so pissed when he found out. I couldn't wait. I stuffed a pair in my pocket and got in line for the shower. Ralph and I were at the end of the line, since our bunks were the furthest away from the shower room. But the water was cold, so the showers all went pretty quick. Still, I felt amazing after my shower.
I was out cold ten seconds before my head hit the pillow. Okay, it wasn't a real pillow, just my rolled up camo shirt. Still, if felt good to get real sleep for the first time in weeks. Yeah, I actually felt safe enough for the first time since the apocalypse came crashing down.
I woke up when the guards changed. Before Z Day, I was a heavy sleeper. No more.
Ralph bitched and grumbled, while Olivia waited impatiently for the cot. She sat heavily upon the cot, sighed wearily, and untied her boots. Then she laid down.
"Don't you want a shower?" I asked.
There was a line of guys from the first watch heading for the shower room. She glanced at them and shook her head.
"I'd get raped if I took a shower."
I started to object, but what was to stop them? There was no real law anymore. Kind of made me sick to my stomach. So I sat up, picked up my pistol, and racked it. That got a lot of wary looks.
"Come on," I said, while pulling on my pants. "There's a women's shower. I'd stand guard."
Olivia had never given me such a look of gratitude before. Kind of made me feel good.
I went in and made sure there wasn't anyone else in there. We had a Coleman lantern that I sat on the vanity opposite the shower stalls.
"The men's room is a communal shower," I said. "Women are so lucky."
"Yeah, I feel lucky being the only person who needs a bodyguard to shower," she said, looking inside a shower stall without any curtains. She'd still be exposed if there was anyone else in there. "Thanks. I owe you."
"It gets better," I said, and pulled out a pair of clean underwear. It was a pair of men's tighty whities, but it was clean. Her face lit up. "I stole it from Ralph's stash. Promise not to tell him until he discovers two pair missing."
"Haha! You are so bad," she said, grabbing them from me. "This is the nicest present you ever gave me."
Heat flushed through me. Yeah, I was beaming. Olivia hadn't looked that happy since well before Z Day.
"I'll be right outside the door," I said. "Don't take too long, or Mike will be yelling at us to turn the light off."
"Stay inside with me. Please," she asked, grabbing my arm. "Just face away. I don't want to be left alone in here."
"Okay," I whispered, turning my back to her. "Just don't take advantage of me while I'm not looking."
She laughed. I heard her undressing. A tingle started down between my legs. My face heated up. If she saw that, well I didn't want to think about it. I breathed a sigh of relief when she turned on the water.
"Jesus," she gasped. "I hate cold showers."
"You'll feel better afterwards," I assured her. "I hated the cold water, but felt reborn afterwards."
She gasped and grunted for a few. I remember how long it took me to acclimate to the cold water. After a few minutes, I realized if I shifted my position just a foot to the left that I could see her reflection in the mirror. You know that was so tempting, but with my luck I'd get caught.
The thought gave me a full-blown boner. I felt so ashamed.
"No shampoo?" Olivia called.
"Bar soap."
After another moment, more teasingly, "No conditioner?"
"Hey, the zombie apocalypse sucks big time."
She was silent a long time. I started getting worried that Mike would come pounding on the door. Did he really care? I think it was more about the light than anything. But there weren't any windows in the women's bathroom.
"Kyle," Olivia whispered. Her voice had a strange tenor I hadn't heard before. "Y-You…"
I half turned, but stopped myself. "What? I didn't hear."
Her bra was on the floor. The bra was stained with the blood and gore of our countless battles with
zombies. She'd been wearing it nonstop since the day of the apocalypse.
It reminded me of how much we'd been through together in a very short time.
"Do… Do you want to join me?"
Heat and cold washed through me. Hell yes, but should I? How could I not?
"Seriously?" I asked, turning to face her.
My breath caught. Olivia stood just outside the shower, in all of her pride and glory. Completely naked, skin shiny wet. Her hair was wet, pushed back and plastered to her body. She had the most perfect breasts, perky and with dark pink, perfectly defined nipples. It wasn't the first time I'd seen her naked, or even naked and wet, but this time it was different.
"Very serious," she whispered, biting her lip.
She looked amazing, yet frightened. I couldn't believe she was afraid I'd say no. I wasn't that great of a catch. Yeah, I was feeling out of my league.
"I do," I said, setting the pistol on the vanity.
And all hell broke loose outside. Both of us dropped flat on the floor as explosions and intense automatic fire erupted. Men shouted inside and out.
"We're under attack!" I cried needlessly.
Chapter 16
Olivia quickly pulled on clean pants and t-shirt, and then we raced towards our bunks. It was pure chaos in that long, dark corridor. Most of the men were grabbing weapons and running towards the fight in their underwear. Others were taking the time to dress. Olivia and I just grabbed our M16A2s and headed for the back door.
Most of the fighting was out back. They were attacking from behind the armory. All I saw were muzzle flashes over the concrete fence separating us from the residential area behind the armory. Nothing automatic. Our group was mostly armed with M16A2s, which had a switch to select between single shots and 3-round bursts.
I think we were all using the 3-round burst option, and wishing we could go full-automatic. I silently cursed the idiot who thought taking away full-auto was a good idea.
"Where's Ralph?" Olivia asked.
"I don't know." I was worried about him, too. His guard post could've been anywhere around the perimeter. "Follow me."
Our M60 was mounted on the jeep, covered with a tarp. Nothing we had could lay down fire like that thing, and I wanted it badly. We used the trucks lined up as cover as we worked our way towards the jeep at the front of the line.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Olivia said. "We'll be exposed up there."
"We're always exposed," I countered. There was little doubt in my mind that machinegun would send all of the men attacking us running. Those guys had to at least suspect we had automatic weapons. We were looting an armory, after all. "It won't be any different."
"Except now we have a choice," she said. "I don't want to needlessly expose myself."
We were crouched down behind the jeep. I opened my mouth to object when half a dozen bullets ripped through the canvas draped over the M60. That sent both of us flat on the ground.
"Maybe you have a point," I said. "But we need that – "
A familiar, and frightening sound, reached us – the sound of small engines. Specifically, motorcycle and RTV engines. They were coming towards us at high speed.
"Deathdealers?" she asked.
"I thought we lost them," I replied, looking over at the drive looping around to the front of the armory. A second later two motorcycles and a RTV sped into view. Two per, with the passengers firing weapons. "Down!"
I lay atop Olivia to shield her from gunfire.
One motorcycle sped past us, going down the line of trucks while the passenger on back shot at the men in the building. The other motorcycle and RTV raced down the other side of the trucks. Then I spotted another RTV coming around back and towards us, with a woman driving and man shooting an Uzi. Anger erupted within.
"Aaaggh!" I screamed as I surged to my feet.
The riders looked at me, eyes wide. They must not have noticed me prior. I took hold of my M16A2 handguard and swung it at them like a club. The woman ducked under my swing, so the rifle struck the guy in the upper chest, pistol grip and stock first.
You know that had to hurt like a motherfucker.
He went flying off the back, but hung onto the driver. She screamed. The RTV was a four-wheeler, and rose up in a wheelie. It went careening into the back of the armory after the woman was dragged off by her companion.
"No!" Olivia screamed when the gunner rolled to his feet and pointed the Uzi at me. She fired five times, making his body jerk with the impacts. "Kyle, watch out!"
The woman plowed into me. I was kneed in the balls, which sent the most incredible pain spiraling through my body. I doubled up and spewed my dinner all over her belly and legs. That crazy woman screamed and drove me to the ground with a series of kicks and punches, before tackling me. She was on top when I hit the concrete, and thrust a pistol in my face. I slapped at the pistol, striking it just before she pulled the trigger. That shot left my ear ringing and residue stung my face and ear. Yeah, it hurt.
Olivia was there in a heartbeat, butt-stroking the back of the woman's head. She grunted, stood up, and slapped her pistol across Olivia's face.
"Bitch, I'm going to – Ugh!"
Someone else pumped about a dozen rounds into her back. She looked incredulous a second, and then collapsed. I crawled over to Olivia, who was writhing on the ground and holding her cheek.
"Are you alright?"
"Hell no," she gasped.
I pried her hands away to look at the damage. It was too dark. Her cheek felt a little puffy. Hopefully she'd only have a black eye. Broken bones were beyond our ability to deal with.
"We're still alive," I said. "That's something, right?"
"I'm not feeling blessed at the moment."
More motorcycles and RTVs came around the building. There was still a pretty intense firefight going on out front, so those were just the ones that got past our defenses. We pressed back against the jeep and opened fire.
Deathdealers were dying in droves. Or so it seemed, yet they still kept coming. I couldn't tell how many men we were losing. And then someone ripped away the tarp over the M60 and barked a laugh.
"Winning!" a man shouted, and the M60 started spouting fire at our friends.
I looked up in shock and horror. He pulled the cotter pin holding the weapon in place, stood up tall, proud, and looking like Rambo with that M60 tucked her one arm, the other hand holding the ammo belt. He laughed and pulled the trigger.
"Shit," I cried when the weapon's kick knocked him straight back and off the jeep.
We jumped out and ran around the ends, coming at that bastard from both directions. He pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger.
"Stop!" I cried, dropping to one knee and shooting him.
To my shock and horror, he didn't die. He grunted and growled, and then rolled back to his feet. That crazy man bellowed in rage as he sprayed gunfire all about.
I dove behind the jeep. Olivia rolled away in the other direction. He didn't hesitate, and came after me. We both stood straight up and fired 3-round bursts into him, over and over, making him jerk and grunt for a few seconds. I then lunged forward, grabbed him, and slammed the dazed man into the side of the jeep. He collapsed and died.
"Damn, he bled all over our stuff," Olivia said.
Noticing men coming over the fence, I jumped back into the jeep, had Olivia hand me the M60, and got it mounted again. Then I opened up on the fence. Men were running through the motor pool. I shot at them, until more motorcycles came screaming around the corner. And then I was out of ammo.
I grabbed another box of ammo, but it was lose rounds. How was I supposed to know which ammo cans had the cartridges already in belts? Olivia came up to help. After four tries, we found a belt of ammo and loaded it. After racking it, I aimed and pulled the trigger.
Nothing.
"How do you load this damn thing?" I cried.
"You've done it before."
"I forgot!"
After trying to load
it again, it still didn't work. I knew it was a simple mistake, but my brain wasn't cooperating. So I abandoned it.
"Ralph will never let you forget that," Olivia said.
I spotted her steel pot helmet on the driver's seat. I plopped it on her head.
"Only if you tell him."
One of the cargo trucks started, then another and another.
"They're trying to steal our trucks!" Jake shouted. "Stop them!"
The first truck behind the lead pickups started to move, turning sharply to get by the pickups. It was a duce and a half. I could see the man driving clearly. He wasn't one of us. Olivia reacted faster than me, lifted her weapon, and shot a 3-round burst through the windshield. Killed him instantly, and the truck stalled.
Two more trucks pulled out of the column. One was an old mid-60s Chevy 5-ton panel truck, and the other an early 70s Ford flat bed just a little smaller. They quickly picked up speed as we all shot at them. They kept going, driving right past us. I jumped back into the jeep, reloaded, racked, and pulled the trigger as the last of three stolen trucks approached. It was one of the Army M939 5-tons. The M60 barked a dozen rounds straight into the cab. The truck veered away and smashed into the building.
"Fuck me!" Jake screamed. "They got the truck with the M16s and the truck with most of the ammo."
That was the whole reason for the mission in the first place. He didn't have to say it. We had to get those two trucks back. That also meant the Deathdealers now had the same weapons as us, with a lot more ammo. I tried to remember if any M60s or .50 Cals were loaded onto either truck, but couldn't recall.
All of the shooting ended. The remaining Deathdealers were hoofing it out of there. None of the motorcycles or RTVs that reached the back survived our return fire. Still, it felt like a defeat.
Mike ran up to Jake. I grabbed Olivia's hand and moved closer to listen. Mike looked like a man on a mission.
"Jake, we can't let them take our trucks, but we can't chase them with the other cargo trucks," Mike said. "I think we have to split up now. I'll take a couple of the pickups and go after them."