“Yeah,” Walker responded.
“There’s an ammunition plant here,” Blue Hybrid called back. Walker looked at Jamison.
“Do you know where?” Walker called back.
“Yeah, it’s an army plant. It’s on the 104.” Walker got out his maps.
“That’s not too far, man; we could see what’s up?” he said to Jamison.
“I’m game,” Jamison picked up the mic and spoke into it.
“Hey, Blue, you wouldn’t know how many people live here, do you?” The radio came back with an “Uh. No.”
“Why’d you ask that?” Walker asked.
“Because we need to know what we’re up against if we’re going into town. Couldn’t hurt to have a general idea of how many things are going to be out there,” Devin said.
They pulled off to a gas station. The shelves had been picked through. Each vehicle took a pump as Devin went inside. He hoped this gas station was like the same one Erica blew up. While he was inside, Razor tapped Ferret on the shoulder. “At least we don’t have to pay for gas anymore.” Ferret wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were focused on two men on the rooftop of a building. One stood tall looking through binoculars, while the other one was lying prone with rifle. “We’ve got company,” Ferret said aloud. Everyone standing at the gas pumps came to where he was standing. They were armed to the teeth, expecting the undead. Ferret motioned to the two men. Jamison got on his walkie-talkie. “Jamison, United States Marine Corps. Please respond.” The two men were motionless. Jamison waved his hands overhead. The standing man simply lifted up his hand and waved politely. He nudged the prone man with his foot. The prone man took the rifle off the gas station and picked off a shambling corpse farther down the road. “At least they’re polite,” Tara said.
“Fill the jugs too,” Devin said as he came out of the gas station.
The caravan drove past a sign that said “Caution! You are entering restricted area!” followed by “Milan Army Ammunition Plant.” Jamison paid no attention to it. What he did pay attention to was the mass of reanimated creatures pounding against the door. Jamison slowed the truck to a stop. His actions didn’t alert the mass at the bay doors. “All right everybody. We’ve got some action up here. They don’t know we’re here, so I’m thinking there are humans inside.” The radio filled with static as there was a new voice on the radio.
“Are you the ones in the truck?” a shrieking voice called out. Jamison looked at Walker, who shrugged.
“Yes, we are. Are you inside the plant?”
“Yes!” the voice shrieked again. “There are only a few of us with weapons! They’re right outside the door!”
“Hold tight!” Jamison said. “Vikings, can you assist?”
“ROOYAH!” was all Jamison and Walker heard as they exited the truck.
The Vikings killed their cycles and dismounted like cavalry. Each was armed with a hand weapon and shield. They met Jamison and Devin at the back of the truck. Some of the others came up as well. “What are you thinking?” asked Tara.
“I say we just stay back here and pick them off,” Walker stated.
“Aye, but we might hit the people inside,” Redbeard answered. “I say we go along the side of the building and flank them from the left. No humans injured, we rescue the people inside, and hopefully, we’ll get something out of the deal.” Everyone nodded. Devin picked up the radio. “Hey, lady.”
“Yeah!” she shouted into the radio.
Devin took offense to that. “We’re coming to save you! Don’t shoot us. We’ll knock three times.” Devin holstered the radio and grabbed a rifle. “Fuck yeah! Let’s go kick some ass!”
BREACH
CHAPTER 62
THURSDAY 0245 CST
FORT KNOX
“Breach!” was all that Ethan heard from his crackling earpiece. He found himself on the ground. There was smoke, and bodies began moving around him. He grabbed Josh by the collar and began to pull him in the direction that felt right. “Fall back! Plug the hole!” Ethan shouted to whoever was alive and listening. Creatures pushed the remnants of the eighteen-wheeler aside and began flowing into the newly acquired territory.
Josh came to consciousness when he saw red eyes through the smoke and dust. Those that were pouring through the hole began feasting on anything that moved. The ground turned a fresh tint of red as blood was beginning to cover the earth. He grabbed a weapon from Ethan’s belt and tried to pick his target. He began firing wildly in the crowd. Human or infected, he didn’t care. He started to wiggle his toes. He stood up, noticing the piece of metal sticking out of his leg. He leaned over as the pain shot up his spine and registered in his mind. He saw a man being ripped apart at the abdomen.
He raised his rifle and shot both the attacker and the meal dead. “Flamethrowers!” Reynolds said as he stepped in front of Ethan and Josh. Reynolds had the same two men who previously fired the Javelin missiles with him; one of them was wearing a beret. The three of them fed a constant wave of fire. They sprayed the hole in the concrete with fire. There was a rumble of tank tracks through the smoke. Runt was heard over the radio. “Yee-haw!” Reynolds motioned for his flamethrowers to stop. Runt moved the armored personnel carrier blocking the hole in the wall. “Let’s see them move that,” Runt said as he jumped out of the hatch and into Reynolds’ group.
“Reload! Positions! Kill something that isn’t you!” Ethan shouted as he checked his weapons. They took this time to eliminate any undead that was inside the wall.
The APC began to rock back and forth. There were grunt noises from behind it as it sounded like a disoriented “Heave.” The men watched as the APC started to pick up speed and rammed against the already crumbing wall. “It’s not going to hold,” said Reynolds.
“Thanks Captain Obvious. Got any ideas?”
“Get the fuck out of here!” Josh said. There came talks of nowhere to go. Josh and Ethan both agreed that they should head for Phoenix’s. Josh informed the others that they knew a safe place to go. “We can’t leave with all of them at our door like this,” Ethan said. “Henry, you still with me?” Henry clicked on his mic from inside the building. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“I need you to start loading people into the choppers. Tell them this place is compromised. I’m going to give you the coordinates.”
“You know, that’s all fine and dandy, but we have a problem,” Henry said.
“What’s the problem?” Ethan asked, giving Reynolds a look.
“It’s Michaels; he’s loaded the helicopters with some stuff and left.”
Ethan looked to the airfield and realized there weren’t any working helicopters left. “What the fuck, man?” He looked at Reynolds and grabbed him by the collar. “What the fuck is going on?” Ethan said as he pushed Reynolds against a building. Josh pointed his rifle at the other flamethrowers, and Runt just stood there watching his APC being rocked back and forth.
“I don’t know” was the only phrase that came from Reynolds.
“Looks like he took a bunch of paper and all the gold,” Henry said over the radio.
“You mean, he cleared out the bank and skipped town?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, took a couple of military guys with him. Bet he’s taking it somewhere else.” Ethan looked at Reynolds who stood strong.
“Sorry, man,” Ethan said nodding to Reynolds. “Thank you, Henry,” he said calmingly. “Turns out Michaels was a bureaucrat after all.” Ethan’s voice lowered.
“Listen up,” Ethan spoke to those around him and over the microphone. Everyone heard him as his spoke. “These monsters want to come in here and eat us for breakfast. I don’t plan to die today. Do you?” He was met with cheers and jeers. “I want everyone mounted on the vehicles that are left. Take what you can. We know where to go! Josh, write it down.”
Josh began scribbling coordinates on whatever he could find and handing them out to people. “I want everyone loaded up and ready to leave. I want to give the vehicles enough time to leave. I need one vehicle to be
left for us so we can escape. Until the end!” Ethan shouted.
Reynolds took him aside and quietly whispered “They can’t all make it. There has to be two thousand people here. ”
Ethan nodded. “I know, but we have to try. Sacrifices have to be made.”
THE DEPOT
CHAPTER 63
WEDNESDAY 1615 CST
MILAN
“Hey, fuckface!” Redbeard shouted from behind his shield. The line of creatures pressed against the door fanned out and turned ninety degrees looking at Redbeard who stood with his shield and mace. Razor, Tank, Malik, and Jericho were alongside him. The shuffling bodies came closer. The shields clanged as the Vikings placed them alongside each other. Tara stood behind them with her bow. Tara released an arrow at the oncoming group. The arrow stuck in the collarbone of the nearest creature. “Fuck ’em up!” Razor said over the radio. Jamison, Walker, and Devin were a few feet right of the Vikings. They opened semiautomatic fire and the group of about thirty creatures.
Suddenly, there was a woman walking from the front of the truck toward the group of motionless bodies. She carried a shotgun. “Hey, get back here!” Devin shouted at her. There was a smaller human behind her quickening his pace. “Momma!” the boy said. She made it to the pile of bodies to look at them. She began firing her shotgun into the heads of the fallen. Everyone watched as the white and crimson mess flew against the building with every blast of the shotgun. “She’s just blowing off steam,” Walker said as he reached for a new magazine. There was a high-pitched scream. Walker looked up to find the small boy on the ground with most of a creature on top of him. The woman turned to find the creature feeding on her small son. She pumped the shotgun again and fired it into the back of creature’s head. She kicked the body off her son. She knelt down and picked up the boy. He was motionless in her arms. She let out a sobbing cry. “Luke! I’m sorry, Luke.”
Devin came forward. He approached the woman with his ax in hand. “Put the boy down!” He commanded. The woman paid him no attention. Redbeard came forward and placed a hand on his shoulder and held him back. Devin shook off the big hand. “Put him down! He’s infected!” Again the woman was on her knees sobbing as she cradled her child. The child’s hands began to move. The hands found clumps of hair from the back of the woman’s head and pulled at the hair. The woman lifted up the face of the child to see its eyes had turned red and the skin pale. The child opened its mouth, and the woman watched as the little face came toward her and bit her on the cheek. She screamed in pain as she released her hold on the child. Devin came forward and swung the ax at the child’s head. Devin’s ax cleaved the head clean off. The woman continued to cradle the headless body. Devin raised his ax again and struck the woman on the top of the head. Red blood was followed by milky white ooze, and it ran down her eyes. Devin placed a boot on the woman’s bare shoulders as pulled the ax free. He swung sideways this time, and the woman’s body fell to the ground with the blow of the ax.
“She’s done!” Redbeard said as he grabbed the handle of the ax from Devin’s hands overhead. “Finish up here; I’ll keep watch,” Devin said as he picked up his rifle again. The Vikings had taken the time to remove the heads from the bodies with their weapons. Jamison walked forward. He politely knocked three times.
A young woman came to the door. She displayed her pregnant belly. “Hello!” Walker said with a smile. The woman’s face was somber as she opened the door wider to reveal more humans sitting around an open room. They all gasped as their eyesights focused on the Vikings. Those who had weapons began pointing them at the new comers who came through the door. “Easy folks,” said a man in a police uniform. “Lieutenant Gary Miwalski, Milan PD,” the man in the police uniform spoke as he eyed Jamison in the fatigues.
“Staff Sergeant Jamison. United States Marine Corps.” The two men shook hands. “Ya’ll doing OK?” Jamison asked.
“Keeping our own. How about you, fellas?” Miwalski asked.
“We’re making it. We hear you might have ammo here?”
“Enough to spare, but we don’t have enough weapons. We’re a small town. Not a whole lot of need for weapons that fire NATO rounds,” Miwalski said.
“We got plenty of weapons, but not a whole lot of ammunition,” Jamison responded.
“We also have a doctor,” Walker said as he looked at the young pregnant girl.
The sun danced on Devin’s face. He found himself lying in the back of the SWAT van. Erica was driving. He sat up. His body ached from the run in with the Minotaur-creature and the woman with the child. He grabbed something to eat and began munching on it as he threw his body in the passenger seat. “What’d I miss?” he asked. “Well, we found an ammo depot. You eliminated a woman and her child. We traded some guns and cigarettes for some ammo. We picked up a pregnant girl and a few others from the depot, and you still smell bad.” He looked at her. “I was there for most of that. That lady was stupid. She knew her kid was infected. She didn’t listen. What was her name?” Erica sat quietly.
“M’kay, maybe not. Why did a pregnant girl come with us?” Devin asked. “Some of the town had taken over the ammo depot, but since we had Isaac, the girl thought she should come with us in case she has the baby,” Erica explained.
“Fan-freaking-tastic! Where are we now?”
“We’re on 79, coming up on Clarksville.”
“How long was I asleep?” he asked rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Only about two hours.”
“How was the Big Sandy Bridge?”
“Surprisingly not bad. We had to stop and push some stuff out of the way,” she said. Devin looked at her. She had found a pair of aviator sunglasses, and her hair blew from the wind coming through the small window of the sliding door. He marveled at her. At the beginning of the week, she was still wearing flats and a dress, driving a Volkswagen. Now, she had become something different in his clothes driving a van full of weaponry, and then he smiled. He remembered when she lit the gas station on fire. He chuckled to himself as he munched on his snack food. “Where’s the phone?” he asked. She pointed at the dash. He picked up the phone and chicken pecked at the keys.
“You don’t text much, do you?” She watched him attempt to type.
“No, I never had a phone growing up.”
Devin’s message contained the simple greeting of “Hello.” Devin tapped the phone against his thigh.
“So a Minotaur, huh?” Erica asked.
“It was one of them. It had horns. It was pissed. Minotaur. Is that what Ferret called him?”
“Yeah, Walker was pissed you ditched the machine gun.”
“It was empty! What did he want me to do? Drag it back? Duct tape it to the roof of this van?” he said rhetorically.
“Beats me. I think Walker had some sort of attachment to it since Daniels died.”
“Touché.” He stared out the window at the signs pointing them toward Clarksville.
“What’s up with the armor? Are you a Viking now?” she asked hoveringly.
“Maybe…I don’t know. I listened to Ferret talk about what they believe in. It sounded pretty right. They have a system going, and it’s better to be part of a group than a bunch of rag-taggers. Otherwise, we’re no better than those fuckers we killed back there. We got to stick together. Why? Is it weird?”
“No, well, kind of,” she stammered. “It’s not what I expected. A motorcycle gang who thinks their ancient warriors, dressing for the part mind you—”
“Which, I think, we should work on. The armor saved my ass more than once so far. Besides, what happens when we run out of ammo? We’re going to do what they do, and use handheld weapons? Probably end up using shields and spears like the Spartans. I already have the helmet. Did you see Tara with that bow? Holy shit!”
“I saw it.”
“I know you’re not comfortable with violence, but now isn’t the time to smell flowers and take a nap by the river,” he said. The phone buzzed breaking the silence. “Still aliv
e?” It said. “Y-e-a-h. Y-o-u?” Devin spoke as he typed. “Still kicking. Lol. Where are you?” “Clarksville.” “Getting close. How many people?” “Shit, he wants to know how many people we have,” he said to Erica.
“What are you going to do? How do we know this guy isn’t going to fuck us on this one?”
“We don’t.” Devin picked up the radio. “Jamison, come back?”
“Jamison here. What’s up, buddy?”
“Talking to the guy. He wants to know what our head count is. What do you think?”
“Tell him; don’t tell him about the Vikings or the guns.”
“Why not?” Tara clicked in.
Because, we don’t want him to think we’re marauders or we’re going to steal their stuff.”
“Copy that,” Devin said. “17.” He typed.
“We’ll make room. Most of the roads should be clear by now. Not many zombies left. We have some fighters out there. They wave white flags. Be cautious.” Phoenix said.
“Can I call?” Devin texted.
“Not now. Going to check the gardens. Remember where you’re going?”
“Yeah.”
“Follow the address. It’s an old drive-in theater. Screen 4.”
“Looks like we’re going to see a movie.” Devin clicked on the radio.
Zombies. It never clicked in his head. Devin realized what they were up against. “Fucking zombies!” Devin said out loud.
“What?” asked Erica. “They’re fucking zombies! That’s what this guy is calling them, but he’s right. They’re fucking zombies!”
THE EXODUS
CHAPTER 64
THURSDAY 0350 CST
FORT KNOX
People threw themselves into vehicles. The fort had turned into a barren wasteland. Some people were able to climb on board the vehicles, both military and civilian. Others were left to defend themselves. Most of them hid within the fort. Henry took a group and hid within the recently vacated vault. Nurse Amy was stationed in a transport truck. Jenna, Ashley, Paul, and Harrison were in a vehicle with Phil behind the wheel. Ethan and Josh were handing out weapons to those who were staying. Junior was there sharpening his knife. Runt was pulling crates and other things to barricades that were being built by those already armed by Ethan or Josh. Reynolds was on the far wall. He was placing a satchel charge on the massive gate that the vehicles were going to make their grand departure. Ethan radioed in everyone’s ears. “If you believe in a God, now’s the time to start praying.”
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