by Tom Germann
Steven looked relieved. “Okay, I understand.”
Tracy sat up and looked around. “Did you hear yelling?”
Everyone looked at her for a second and Sam said, “Nope, I haven’t heard anything except for them talking.”
Jimmy shushed him and everyone strained to hear, everyone could just hear voices calling from inside the building. Everyone started slowly moving toward the door with the four that had been standing in the lead. When the screaming started, it was much louder and the three soldiers and Steven were sprinting for the door.
As they ran down the narrow hallway and headed for the stairs, the screaming continued. It was a penetrating shriek that rose and fell in volume.
The four men were at the bottom of the stairs when they heard other yelling and more screaming, followed by a volley of shots.
Caisson was first up the stairs and he stopped when he ran into the small officers’ room that they had been sitting in earlier.
Sarah was lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood in front of the couch she had been lying on. She was face up, which was obvious even though half her head was missing. The one milky white eye that was left stared at the men at the door.
Neil was backed up against the wall, sitting on the floor and holding his neck. He was bleeding from several places where he had been bitten. His screaming was weaker now and he looked like he was in shock, staring at Sarah. Tears were running down his face.
Tocker and Andries were the last two in the room. Both had their weapons at their shoulders, pointing at Sarah. Andries’ bolt was back and he was breathing rapidly. Tocker looked over his shoulder at the four who had entered. He carefully brought his rifle down from his shoulder and placed the weapon on safe.
Caisson nodded. “I thought I counted nine shots.”
More footsteps were in the hall outside, but the four stood blocking the door.
Tocker’s face twisted and his mouth opened and closed, then it snapped shut and he took a deep breath. “Sergeant, we were calling when the screaming started. We ran in and Sarah was biting Neil and then when she turned toward us, we started firing and then…”
Caisson walked in and took the rifle from Tocker’s unresisting hands. He quickly checked the rifle over and then handed it back. “Good job, Tocker. You did the head shot?”
From the door, Steven had room now and stepped in. He saw Sarah lying on the floor in a pool of blood and Neil sprawled against the wall crying. He turned and stepped into the hall, falling against the wall before he spewed his lunch..
Coming down the hall toward them were the rest of the people, with Jimmy and Susie in the lead. Both stopped when they saw Steven throwing up. Then Susie ran forward and darted into the room.
She walked toward Sarah and then stopped. “Shit. I didn’t think it would happen that fast.”
Tocker looked at her. “Miss? Is Neil going to turn soon?”
Neil just sat there, slumped against the wall, crying and looking at everyone else in the room. “Oh god, Sarah… Why?” With his uninjured arm, he reached down and pulled out a small revolver. Before anyone could move, he had put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger. There was a muffled blast, a spray of blood and other matter, and Neil fell over.
Everyone just stood there.
Sergeant Caisson moved first, going to the body and taking the revolver from Neil’s hand. “We never even knew he had this.”
Tocker gave himself a shake. “Sergeant? There are zombies coming down the highway from where we came from. There were just a few, but that’s why we started yelling. I was going to send Andries down to tell everyone, but then…” His voice trailed off as he pointed at the two bodies.
Wagner stepped out into the hallway and started yelling. “Everyone downstairs! Finish loading those vehicles NOW! The zombies are in sight! We do NOT have long! MOVE!”
Everyone froze and then the soldiers were moving, as were Jimmy and Sam. Susie stayed behind a moment to throw blankets they had found over the bodies and then went after everyone else. In the hallway, Tracy just stood staring at the bodies and mumbling to herself. “They shouldn’t have let this happen.”
When Susie came out after covering the bodies, she grabbed Tracy’s hand. “Come on! We have to get downstairs and get out of here!” Tracy slowly started shuffling after her, picking up speed.
When the two arrived downstairs, everyone was grabbing items in any order and throwing them onto the back of the two trucks. There was no organization, just fuel jerry cans being stacked next to cases of food and canvas bags full of equipment that maybe had a use.
The vehicle gates at the front of the compound were fully open so that the vehicles could get out easily.
On the road, Sergeant Caisson stood with a rifle in his hand and a bandolier of ammunition on his chest. Next to him stood the warrant officer, who was looking around.
As Susie came out, Vajjer yelled to her, “Close the door and make sure it clicks shut! We’re going to leave it unlocked in case someone else comes along.”
In the time it had taken the women to come downstairs, the trucks were almost finished being loaded and people started running towards the cars.
Wagner walked over to the vehicles and bellowed, “STOP!”
Vajjer and the privates stopped moving and looked at him. Steven, Jimmy, and Susie stopped as well. Sam and Tracy were both yanking on car doors. Sam stopped after a second and looked around, white-faced and trembling. Tracy didn’t stop until she was able to open a door and leap into a vehicle.
Tracy slammed the door shut and locked it, wrapping her arms around herself and shaking while crying.
Wagner just stood there in the centre of the parked vehicles and looked around. He started speaking loudly so that everyone could hear him. “The infected are almost seven hundred metres away and coming toward us. They are not moving as fast as we can, so we have a very little time. Sergeant Caisson, Private Tocker, Corporal Vajjer, and myself will engage the infected at three hundred metres with the rifles.” He gestured at the open gate. “Everyone else will move the vehicles out into the front parking lot. That is Steven, Jimmy, Sam, and Susie. The rest will wait in the vehicles. Please park the vehicles so there is twenty feet between them and in the same order that we came in with the army truck at the back. When they get within seventy-five metres of us, we will move to the vehicles and slowly start driving off.”
Wagner took a deep breath. “We have lots of time if we move quickly and calmly. Everyone here has a firearm. Do NOT shoot through any closed windows or shoot anyone else that is NOT infected.” He turned and started back toward the gate, unslinging his rifle as he walked. He called back over his shoulder, “Let’s go, troops, and the rest get those vehicles out one at a time.”
Tocker grabbed his rifle and a bandolier of ammunition and ran for the gate with Corporal Vajjer unslinging his rifle right behind him.
Steven climbed into the car that Caisson had been in and started it up, slowly driving out of the compound. Right behind him was Sam in his car, Susie driving the station wagon, and then Jimmy in the pickup truck. They carefully pulled the vehicles ahead and then stopped them with the requested space in between.
Leaving the vehicles running and doors open, everyone stepped out and the others ran up to the vehicles and stood by them, almost hopping up and down with frustration.
Jimmy and Susie headed back for the big army truck.
Weibe came up to Caisson’s vehicle. He saw Tracy in the backseat, staring at the steering wheel and hesitantly reaching forward as if to grab it, he quickly walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat. He placed his rifle on the passenger seat and kept looking out the windows for other activity.
As everyone moved toward the vehicles and prepared to pull out, Sergeant Caisson was standing just to the side of the centre line markings on the road. He unslung his rifle and
went down to the prone position. Vajjer took the centre and moved forward a few feet with Private Tocker to his left.
As Tocker went prone, Vajjer called out to him. “Hey, Tocker, move forward. I don’t want to be eating your brass.”
While the three soldiers were settling themselves into comfortable firing positions, Wagner was walking back and forth behind the firers with his weapon up. he looked around constantly. He stopped for a second and watched everyone else move the vehicles into position and nodded to himself. “Good. They got their shit together and aren’t losing it. Except for Tracy.” He shrugged and kept walking.
He stopped again and looked at the infected coming toward them. Calling them ‘infected’ was easier than zombie, but with several people walking toward them missing hands and even arms, with several having large holes in their chests, the whole zombie thing was more accurate.
The dead were not moving as fast as a living human at a walk, but they were moving faster than the slow shuffle horror movies always seemed to show them doing.
There were only a few at the front, but there were more behind them. So the six that were about to hit the mark that the shooters had agreed to use as the three hundred metre mark were followed by dozens more, with a horde just cresting the ridge at a sign they had passed about two miles out. That horde covered the road and looked like it had hundreds of walking, infected zombies in it.
Wagner knew they needed information. Those infected really did seem like zombies, but were they? If only headshots worked, that could be a real problem. Maybe if they did enough damage at one time it would stop them? There were no zombies where they came from, so how could there be zombies here in this primitive place with cheap 1950s junk everywhere. America was supposed to be a country that had made a good solid product in the old days.
His thoughts had wandered. A bellowed. “FIRE!” broke him out of it. The slow crack of the rifles firing also made him jump and he cursed quietly. He had better not have an accidental discharge or he would never live it down. Thankfully, he hadn’t loaded his rifle yet as he wasn’t firing on the line. He had put the bayonet on though, just in case.
As the shooting started, he resumed looking around. After all, in every horror movie out there, the good guys get overrun when they have to focus on just one side. But the Warrant liked horror movies and was always trying to correct the character’s failures.
He heard the ‘PING’ of a clip being ejected and the sound of rounds being slammed home.
He noticed that everyone was getting into vehicles and staring at them. At least the doors were closed and windows rolled up. Thankfully, the vehicles were all running and no one was panicking.
Wagner noticed that Steven was leaning out the driver’s door on the pickup and gesturing for his attention, then pointing down the road. He turned to look up the road and frowned. There was another ‘PING’ and then another. More rounds were being slammed home and he could see that the first few zombies were down. But the next batch was right behind them, and it looked like they were moving faster now. Much faster.
Down in the prone firing position with one arm loosely holding the rifle and the other wrapped up in the canvas sling that he had grabbed before coming out, he carefully breathed in and out, letting the rear sight slowly slide down until the target’s head was just above his aim point. Gently, he squeezed the trigger and the ‘CRACK’ and recoil was a surprise. The thirty caliber round rocketed down the road, hitting the target in the mouth and blowing the head almost completely off. Vajjer then noticed that the target had been a girl in a skirt and some sort of school jacket with. her hair had been in a ponytail. She had several bites around her face and neck.
Vajjer moved the rifle just a bit to the side, careful to only target what was in front of him, and he targeted what had probably been a young teenage boy. He was shorter than the girl and was wearing coveralls and a bloody t-shirt. He was missing his right arm. The ‘CRACK’ of the rifle came as a surprise and this time, the top of the boy’s head blew off. Damn it! He had almost missed that one. He aimed at a woman that was a bit further back and fired again. The ‘PING’ of the empty clip being ejected was like music. The round hit her left shoulder and threw her back. At this distance, he could see the spray of flesh and blood as she fell. He started reaching for another one and then realized that the warrant officer was yelling to fall back.
Vajjer gave his head a shake and realized that Tocker was already up. He had fallen back and was firing from a standing position. Same with the sergeant. He was still lying prone and the zombies were getting closer. He pushed himself to his feet and started walking backwards.
The infected were coming in faster than they had been. They had been limping and shuffling along, and now it was like they were trying to run.
The few zombies that were still standing were getting closer fast, and further back, the entire horde had picked up speed.
Wagner bellowed, “FALL BACK! Get to the vehicles and let’s roll!”
They turned and jogged back to the vehicles, which idled in the parking lot.
They quickly boarded their vehicles again with Sergeant Caisson cursing as he saw Tracy in his, wringing her hands. Tocker stopped heading for the car then, instead jumping into the station wagon with Vajjer. Wagner climbed into the pickup truck, carefully placing his rifle down and then closing and locking his door.
The warrant officer had noticed that the vehicle gate had been closed and then chained up again as he had passed it at a jog. Anything that kept the infected out was good.
From behind, the army truck honked, then the pickup, the station wagon honked, and Sam in the car ahead honked as well. Weibe pressed on the horn and then slowly started driving away. Behind him, all the vehicles slowly pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, keeping the speed nice and slow.
As the army truck started rolling, the first of the infected were just coming up to the parking lot. They never even deviated from their path. Arms outstretched, they kept advancing down the road, chasing after the vehicles that, while slow, were quickly pulling away.
The horde kept coming, making almost no noise and never looking left or right. They simply followed the path ahead of them as the vehicles pulled away. The milky white eyes never left the vehicles and the dead shuffled along, reaching out.
On The Road Again
As the vehicles drove away, everyone breathed a sigh of relief that nothing had gone wrong and then they started discussing the plan of, what next?
“Caisson. Sir, what’s the plan for the next bit? Over.”
“Wagner. We are heading for the city and we know there are survivors there that may be in rough shape, but at least other people are around. What do we know so far? Over.”
“Vajjer. We know that the zombies or infected or whatever we call them move slower than we do normally. At least until they get riled up. Then those rotting ones can move faster than a walking man. Over.”
“Susie here. Hi. Can we all agree to just call them zombies? I’m going to feel way better shooting a zombie than I am an infected person. Over”
“Vajjer. I fully agree with the hot babe. Over.”
“Sam. I agree with them. Zombies aren’t people. Umm, over?”
“Caisson. I would rather off zombies than other people. Over.”
“Wagner. Okay, zombies it is. Now we know they move slower than a man walking, at least until they get more active, at which point they can get faster. I guess they get excited. Is it because they see or hear though? What’s the trigger? Anyone have any thoughts? Over.”
“Caisson here. They could see us but they didn’t get faster until we opened fire on them. I think the trigger was sound. Over”
“Vajjer. I agree with the sarge. Noise. I don’t think those things can even really see. Over”
“Sam. I hate to say this, but when I went with the others to the town centre, we were
n’t making a lot of noise. The only way that those things could have known to come out and…” Sam’s voice broke for a second and everyone could hear him breathing heavily. “Attack us was if they saw us. Over.”
“Vajjer. I think they can only see for shorter distances. Like they’re dead. They don’t have the same senses like we do, after all their rotting apart. Over.”
“Steven speaking. I was watching them move and they may be dead, but they didn’t look like they were really rotting away. I used the binoculars and saw mold on one of them. If they were really rotting, then a lot more of them would have been in pieces, especially after walking miles from the town and that village. Over.”
“Vajjer. Well, the dead shouldn’t be walking in the first place, so maybe they aren’t rotting cause they’re moving? Over.”
“Caisson. Could be magic. I don’t care. Head shots put them down. We can finish them.”
“Wagner. A bigger problem, I think, is that they got to that reserve building so fast. They had to start walking and just keep going. They don’t need to be fast. They just need to keep walking at that pace of theirs. If they don’t need to eat and won’t fall asleep, then we may have a bigger problem as they can cover a lot of distance in a day. Over.”
“Susie. Can’t we just hide some place at the side of the road then while they pass us? There must be large buildings like warehouses in or near the city, right? Over.”
“Steven. But, Susie, we need to get far enough off the path that they can’t see us. Then we have to let them all get past us and they could be spread out over miles of highway behind us. Then when they pass us, they are actually ahead of us. Then how do we get to the city? What if we’re wrong and they find us as well? We sit in some large barn or warehouse surrounded by hundreds of zombies for how long? Till our drinks are gone and we end up dying? Over.”
“Vajjer. That’s kind of negative. I mean, we could always break out, right? Over.”