by Ricky Sides
“He’ll probably end up joining them,” Jason stated, expressing his view with candor.
“If he does that, then we’ll be facing one more gun. Yet, if he can take out a few of them quietly, he’ll unnerve them all,” Hernando stated. “These people aren’t accustomed to people fighting back effectively. If it will make you feel better, I will accompany him. He’ll need a spotter who can watch his back. I would just do it myself, but my skills with a long gun are not great. I carried handguns during my experiences in Newport.”
“He may betray you,” Ed warned Hernando.
“If you do that, I will find you, and I will kill you,” Jesse warned in a calm and quiet tone of voice. “Hernando and I went through hell together. We may not be blood, but we are brothers all the same.”
“That’s fair enough, man,” Bernie said. He looked so comfortable when confronted by Jesse’s threat that Herb felt the man was unconcerned because he had no intention of betraying Hernando.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Hernando?” Herb asked. He pointed to Bernie and added, “He is trying to earn his freedom, although he knows he has been free to leave the refuge any time he chooses, but you have nothing to gain.”
Hernando shrugged and replied, “I have watched this man working to pay his debt for the wrongs he committed. He never cursed his lot. He worked without complaint. I have also watched him as he looked at you. There were unguarded moments, when he didn’t know I was observing him, and I saw the regret and shame in his eyes. He seems to have the potential to be a good man if he can find redemption.” Hernando gave another shrug and added, “I believe it to be an honor to assist another man in atoning for his past misdeeds and helping to bring him back to God.”
“Thank you,” Bernie said quietly. He lowered his gaze to stare down at the ground in front of him, but not before Herb noted the emotion in the man’s eyes.
“You’re welcome,” Hernando responded.
“Give him his rifle and the rest of his weapons,” Herb instructed Randy.
“What about ammo?” Randy asked.
“Give him what he wants, and make sure a suppressor is attached to it. They’ll need to operate as quietly as possible.”
“The enemy will still be able to hear it. It’s not a silent weapon with it attached,” Randy reminded Herb.
“I know, but it will reduce the volume enough that they might think it’s a lot further away.”
“Let’s go, guys,” Randy said. He led Bernie and Hernando toward the armory.
“I wish I was going with them,” Jesse said as he watched his friend walk away with Randy.
“Two men will work better as a sniper team. They’ll be able to move faster and quieter than three will. Besides, we’re going to need every man we can muster if they breach our defenses,” Herb pointed out.
“Yeah, and Ursula is pregnant,” Ed interjected. “If they breach our perimeter, we’ll need you to help defend the shelters.”
A look of fear flitted across Jesse’s face, but it was replaced by a determined expression almost at once. “Yeah, man, you’re right. I have to be here to defend her and the other women. It’s what he expects of me too,” Jessie said, referring to Hernando. “Back in Newport, he always made sure one of us stayed near the women to protect them.”
***
A convoy of two pickup trucks, a large van, and an old school bus raced along Interstate 40 heading southwest. The sixteen men inside the vehicles were en route to the refuge to participate in taking the compound for a share of the spoils. The former convicts had escaped from a minimum-security prison when the guards failed to show up at the height of the zombie outbreak. A charismatic felon who had been a gang leader inside the prison led them. The men were so ruthless that even Big John’s group was wary of them and left them alone rather than risk a confrontation.
The four vehicle convoy was making good time as they barreled down the highway. Many of the men in the backs of the trucks were drinking whiskey and shouting profanely at one another in a festive mood. They had been informed that they would be receiving three to five women. The exact number was dependent upon the number of women in the compound, along with a cure that would prevent them from turning into zombies if they were bitten. Thus, they were very happy to be included in the raid. They would have gone for the women without any other inducement. Their last captive females had been dead for weeks and it had been that long since they had enjoyed a woman.
The lead truck rounded a sharp left curve at the top of a hill and started down the grade. The driver was shocked to see that the road was swarming with zombies. He tried to stop his vehicle as he fought the wheel in an effort to keep it on the road. The men in the back of the truck were thrown toward the cab. The driver almost managed to stop short of the packed wall of zombies, but then the van that was traveling behind him rear ended his vehicle. Men in the back of the pickup were thrown from it into the eager arms of moaning zombies.
The driver of the other pickup truck, which had been following the van, tried to avoid the crash by executing an emergency U-turn at a high rate of speed. The driver was good at defensive driving, but he didn’t have enough room to complete the maneuver. The rear of his truck slammed into both vehicles. The human cargo in the rear went flying in all directions. The driver glanced up in time to see the front of the bus just yards away from him and closing the distance rapidly. He flung his arms up in a futile effort to shield his face. He was thrown through the windshield by the impact. He was groaning in pain as blood poured from the numerous cuts on his ruined face when a zombie grabbed his body and pulled it from the hood of his truck. The last thing he heard was a scream. The last thing he saw was a female zombie climbing onto the hood of the bus. He thought he saw a German Shepherd jump up beside her, but then he felt the agony of being eaten alive. Before he died, the avowed atheist prayed for forgiveness, and then he prayed for death.
It took the zombies almost an hour to force open the doors of the bus to get at the injured men trapped inside. Twice, one of the men shot Shaunna as they sought out the last two survivors who had made it into the ditch and slipped away, but none of the wounds proved lethal to her. The anizombie Shepherd fought by her side and was responsible for discovering that some of the prey had escaped. She led Shaunna to the two men.
By now, Shaunna’s little army had swelled to reach 323 zombies. Three of them were men she had chosen from among the members of the doomed convoy. She had forced the lesser zombies to stop feeding on them and then she waited until they awoke.
***
It had taken Hernando and Bernie an hour to get equipped and then slip out the back of the compound, using the cover provided by one of the buildings behind Herb’s cabin. They utilized the same exit Bernie had used the time he had slipped out of camp to take a shot at Herb. Working quietly, Bernie showed Ed the spot he had found where the army had backfilled a depression with sand to level it with the bottom of the fence. It was a simple matter to scoop away enough of the sand to snake their bodies under the wire. That got them under the first fence. The men were careful to reach through the wire and pull the sandy soil back into position and then they moved on to the second obstacle.
The second fence took them longer to penetrate. They had to remove a strand of wire that ran vertically and was centered between two of the posts. The wire was there to prevent people from attempting to do what they did next. Bernie grabbed the bottom two wires with his hands and pulled them up, removing the slack. Hernando was then able to worm his way under the fence. Then he held the wire for Bernie. Once they were both outside the enclosure, they took the time to repair the damage they had done, waved to the guards in the northern berms who had observed the process and knew what was happening, and then they moved on to the next phase of their escape.
Negotiating the ditch proved to be the biggest challenge, but Hernando knew a spot where numerous roots were that they could use as handholds to climb back up to the surface. He and Jesse had used th
at same method and location to exit the compound the night they had planted the tracking device under the marauder’s van. Now, the men were prepared to begin their real work.
The two-man team entered the woods on the north side of the refuge and then made their way through the forest back around to the southeast side of the compound. They were forced to move slowly as they sought out enemy personnel who might be observing the refuge. Finally, at around 150 yards out, Hernando spotted a man concealed beneath a tree, midway up a small hill.
Bernie got down on the ground beside a tree. He assumed the firing position and took his time lining up the shot. He was beginning to put pressure on the trigger to take up the slack when Hernando whispered a warning, “Hold your fire! I see another man higher up the hill and to the right.”
Bernie eased his finger off the trigger and tracked his eyes in the direction that Hernando had indicated. “Are you sure? I don’t see him,” he whispered.
“He’s about fifteen feet up the hill and ten feet to the right. The guy is buried under leaves, but I see his head and his rifle.”
Using the man he had been observing as a reference point, Bernie tracked his gaze up the hill and to the right. He soon saw the man that Hernando had spotted. “I see him, but I doubt I would’ve spotted him. That guy’s a camouflage expert,” Bernie said.
“I’d list him as the more dangerous of the two men,” Hernando said.
“Yeah, I think you’re right, so I’ll take him first.”
Moving slowly in order to minimize the risk of being spotted, Bernie shifted his rifle until he could target the man concealed in the leaves. He then shifted the muzzle of the weapon until it was once again centered on the first target they had located. He shifted between the targets several times, teaching his muscles the precise movements he needed to make for the second shot, and then he settled down and prepared to fire.
Hernando waited and observed Bernie as he went through his preparations. It soon became obvious to him that the man was a competent sniper. Hernando knew that, because Bernie was doing everything that Jason practiced when he trained.
Finally, Bernie said, “I’m ready.”
Hernando took that as his cue to observe the first target. He knew it was coming, but was still surprised when Bernie made the first shot and worked the bolt on his rifle as he settled the weapon on the second target. Hernando looked through his binoculars and noted that the first target had been terminated with a shot to the head. The rifle fired again as he was shifting his binoculars to the other man. Hernando thought it sounded like a loud firecracker detonating, which was much quieter than the unsuppressed weapon would have sounded.
“We’ve got to move,” Bernie whispered as he confirmed his kills through the scope of his rifle.
“I’m ready,” Hernando responded.
The two men moved left of their position for several hundred yards, and then they moved closer to the road. They hoped to circle around and come in behind anyone who came to investigate the shots. They took cover on a small hill overlooking the best trail that led to that area.
Hernando used the trick the marauder had utilized and spread leaves over Bernie. He then concealed himself near the sniper and settled down to wait. He didn’t have to wait long. They had only been in position a couple of minutes when three men came along the trail. One was arguing with the others when he said, “I don’t give a damn what you think. I’m telling you I heard two shots.”
The three men had emerged from behind some trees about forty yards from Bernie and Hernando’s positions. Bernie didn’t hesitate. He shot the man who was talking first because he was the closest. As that man fell, Bernie worked the bolt on his rifle and was ready to fire by the time his first victim hit the ground. He fired the second shot, which as luck would have it, punched through his intended target and struck the third man. Both men fell, but the third man’s injury wasn’t enough to keep him down. He got to his knees and tried to bring his rifle to bear on Bernie.
Bernie’s luck had taken a turn for the worse. His rifle jammed as he tried to chamber the next round. As he tried to clear the malfunction, he saw the wounded man raising his rifle and aiming at him. He heard the crack of a weapon and saw the wounded man fall to the forest floor. He turned to see Hernando with his pistol in his hand.
“We’d better move. I had to use my pistol, and that sound will travel further,” the Hispanic man stated.
“Thank you,” Bernie said as he got to his feet. He cleared the jammed projectile with ease, now that the emergency had passed. He placed the damaged round in his jacket pocket and reloaded his rifle as the two men moved back toward the northern end of the compound. At first, they heard the voices of men talking in the woods, but they soon left those behind.
Bernie led the way as they circled the refuge to come at the marauders from the southwest side, which was opposite of the section they had been hunting. They soon came to a spot in the woods where they could hear the voices of numerous men talking. The two men from the refuge crept closer, taking their time in order to move as quietly as possible. They came to a spot where they could see a small section of the road. There were several vehicles parked on the shoulder and men milled around them with their weapons in hand as they talked about the siege they were beginning.
Bernie motioned for Hernando to follow him. He retreated deeper into the woods so that they could discuss what they should do in view of their current situation. “I wish we had a few grenades,” Bernie whispered after they discussed and discarded a couple of plans as being foolhardy.
“We have one, but only one,” Hernando responded in a quiet voice, and then he pulled the high explosive grenade from the pocket of his coat. He shrugged and added, “I don’t like carrying explosives, so I only brought one for an emergency.”
“That will help a lot,” Bernie said. “Do you think you could throw it to the cars we saw back there?”
“I think so,” Hernando replied.
“Good, then this is what I think we should do,” Bernie responded, and then he outlined his plan.
***
Big John was standing outside his RV, talking to one of his men who was reporting that they had found five bodies on the east side. He added that their men had been shot.
The messenger was just finishing his report when an explosion rocked the area. John saw one of the trucks burning in the aftermath of the blast. Bodies lay here and there around it. Then he heard what sounded like suppressed gunfire being directed at his men. He saw four men fall in the space of thirty seconds, followed by a brief pause and then another man fell.
John’s marauders returned fire, spraying the woods indiscriminately. A full minute passed before there was a lull in the firing. John took advantage of the comparative silence and called for his men to cease fire. “There’s a sniper in the woods. Get in there and root him out!” John ordered.
Sixteen men who were within earshot of John entered the woods to do his bidding.
***
Bernie and Hernando pulled off their ambush as planned. When Bernie needed to reload his rifle, the two men moved away from the area. They didn’t run for the refuge. They knew the enemy would expect them to do that and might be in a position to have them cut off, and then with their superior numbers, it would be a simple matter for the marauders to surround them. So instead of making the desperate run for the compound, the two men moved to the west on a course that paralleled the road. The trees thinned a lot as they moved west, which worried both men. They knew that it would be easier to spot them as they moved through such terrain, but they needed to go a little further before it would be safe for them to cross the road.
The next time they attacked, they planned to come at the marauders from behind, but they were finished attacking for the moment. For now, they needed to let the enemy believe that they had been driven away. They planned to find a safe spot to hide nearby and rest. They would eat a cold meal and try to formulate a plan to take the fight to the enemy. The
y had bloodied the nose of the marauder group, but neither man was under any illusions as to the will of the enemy to continue the fight.
Meanwhile, they would also have to be vigilant with regard to zombies. Both men knew that the undead always turned up when there was a significant amount of weapons fire in the area. As far as they were concerned, it was a matter of when, and not if the zombies would begin to drift into their vicinity. They had even discussed the possibility of providing covering fire for them to attack the enemy, if the opportunity presented itself. They didn’t come to an agreement about that prospect, but they did discuss it. Since both men were reluctant to help zombies kill the living, even if they were the enemy, they decided to drop the matter.
The two men were resting beside the road an hour after the battle. They had eaten their cold meal and were considering their options. At one point, Hernando looked Bernie in the eye and said, “I believe you are a good man at heart. You have done well. You kept your promise to the others and you have fought bravely. I think you have found redemption. That is no small thing. Some men seek it all their lives and never find it.”
Bernie was moved by the compassion in Hernando’s voice and the sentiments that he was expressing. He responded, “It has weighed on my mind a lot since the shooting. I deserved punishment for shooting Herb, but as God is my witness, I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
“I’ve seen you shooting today. You are skilled with your rifle. I think if you had intended to kill Herb, you would have succeeded, so I believe you,” Hernando said.
“Thank you,” Bernie replied. “That means a lot to me. I know some of the others may never forgive me, and I can accept that, but it’s good to know that someone does believe me.”
Chapter 13
Counterattack.
“I want that breacher ready to go in ten minutes!” Big John instructed the men who were preparing the vehicle they intended to use for their counterattack. The old Ford truck had been fitted with armor plating in strategic areas to protect the driver and to shield the engine compartment. It had been used before to breach defenses, which usually consisted of wire fences, but had once been used on a wooden barrier. The armor had been improved after each use, and now the truck presented a formidable weapon that could be used to break through strong defenses with a minimum of risk to the occupants.