“He took the cowardly way out,” said one of the sergeants standing next to him.
“We’ll burn him with the others. Let’s get a move on it; our orders are to burn down the building.”
The soldiers loaded onto the trucks and left the parking lot of the school as it burst into flames. They were now going to make a final sweep of the neighborhoods, eradicating anything or anybody they came across–zombie or human.
Chapter Twenty-Three
President Thomas Andrews sat behind his desk inside the Oval Office reading through the zombie preparedness plan. He wanted to make sure he understood it fully. The American public’s safety was now in jeopardy, and he had to make sure they all were unaware of the immediate threat. He was concerned about how the plan ended. It called for the dropping of a nuclear bomb on the infected area. He knew it would affect the surrounding communities around the area.
He heard a knock on the closed door to his office and watched as Gerald Thorton, Secretary of Defense, entered and approached the desk.
“You wanted to see me, Mr. President?”
“Have a seat, Gerald. I have some concerns to discuss with you.”
Gerald saw the president was looking through the manual concerning the zombie outbreak. “I know what you’re thinking. You have some reservations about dropping a nuclear bomb on the city of Valparaiso. You’ve already addressed your concerns, and I assure you we’re making the right decision.”
“Making the right decision for whom? Innocent people are going to get murdered because of this plan. They’re American citizens, Gerald. Our people deserve more from us. We have to find another way.”
Gerald snatched the manual from the desk and held it firmly in his hand. This plan protects the rest of the nation from being infected. And another thing if you’ve already forgotten. You signed off on the plan to make smart zombies with General Poe. If any of those survivors get out of the city and tell the public what happened there…it could cost you your reelection, sir. I can’t let that happen. You’re too important to this country.”
President Andrews leaned back in his chair and thought about what was just said. He had several things he had to consider before rendering his final decision. “What do we know so far?”
“I’ve been in contact with both General Poe and General Athens. General Poe is en route to Nevada to train the smart zombies with Doctor Krage. The smart zombies will arrive there in a few hours.”
“What about the situation in Valparaiso?” asked President Andrews. “Have we got containment yet?”
“General Athens informs me the situation is well in hand. He advises me the less you know, the better for the country. To answer your question, yes, I believe everything is in hand. He’s going to inform me when his troops are out of range. Then the rest will fall into your lap. You have to decide whether you are going to go through with it or not.”
President Andrews stood up and walked across the room. “My father once told me not to make hasty decisions without considering the consequences. He was a smart man; but unfortunately, cancer stole him from me. Over the years, I’ve learned to trust his advice. These are the times that turn my hair gray. I have to decide the fate of over a hundred thousand people versus millions. I don’t need to ask you what you would do; I already know what you would do. The question is what will I do.” He went back to his chair and sat back down. “Give the order to go on standby, but make sure it’s perfectly clear that nobody is too engage until I give the order.”
Gerald stood up and put the plan back on the desk. “I will make the call.”
He waited until Gerald had left his office before opening his desk and bringing out a Bible. He placed it on the desk in front of him and stared at it, hoping it would say something to him to aid him in the decision he had to eventually make.
I’m not God. This shouldn’t be a decision I should have to make. I know this wrong. Please God, tell me what the right decision is here. Either I let a small number of people die, or I let a large number of people die, or eventually the whole world dies.
He was interrupted by another knock on the door. Gerald reentered the office and approached the desk. “The fighter is on standby. They won’t engage until they receive their orders.” He waited for the president to respond, but he continued staring at the Bible. “Did you find the answer, Mr. President?”
President Andrews looked at him. “I’m afraid I’m going to make a decision that will condemn me forever.”
“You won’t be alone in your decision. I’ll be here by your side. I understand how you’re feeling. I wouldn’t want to be wearing your shoes right now.”
“Yes you would, Gerald. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you eye my chair. It’s not an easy chair to sit in. Sometimes you wish you didn’t have to sit in it at all.”
Gerald stood up. “I will let you know when General Athens is ready. I’m sorry I bothered you.” He left the office and closed the door. He was met by General Clausen in the hall.
“Is he going to be on board with us, Gerald?”
Gerald looked at the closed door. “He’s having second thoughts. He could be a threat to our plan. I wouldn’t count on him to do the right thing when it comes time.”
“That’s unfortunate, but don’t worry. I do have a backup plan if he doesn’t authorize the plan. We still have people on the payroll here. When it comes down to it, the job will get done.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
On the edge of Valparaiso, Captain Strain stood with Lieutenant Morris behind the wall of razor wire. Captain Strain was trying hard to keep his composure. He never thought he would live to see a day when the military would murder its own people in cold blood.
He heard several shots being fired in the distance and the sound of men shouting. He looked toward the direction the shots came from, but he couldn’t see anything from his position. He guessed some of his men located some zombies on their patrol. For now, he didn’t think it was a situation he needed to worry about.
He tried to call his men over the radio, but they must have been either too busy firing at the zombies to answer or they hadn’t heard their radios. He looked at Morris.
“Something is going on. Nobody is answering their radios.”
Morris looked through his binoculars and scanned the area. “I don’t see anything. Should I go check on them and find out what’s going on?”
“Not just yet. Let’s give it a few minutes to see if we hear from any of them. I’m sure they’re perfectly fine.”
Captain Strain felt trapped guarding the road. “This is useless,” he moaned. “I could be over there doing some good, but instead, General Athens has me here on guard duty. Do you know who gets assigned to guard duty? The inept officer who nobody has faith in.”
“I don’t think he believes you’re inept. Look on the bright side. Just be glad we’re not being overrun with zombies right now.”
“I’d rather be where the action is. I want to fight zombies, not babysit the road. I need to be back in the city protecting the survivors and getting them safely out of the area. Right now, none of them stand a chance if they’re caught.”
Morris glanced at him curiously. “What’s eating you, Lipton? You’re not sounding like your usual self.”
“General Athens is what’s wrong with me. Listen, Morris, do you have any idea what’s going on in the city?”
“Sweep and clean.”
“It’s more than just that, Morris. They’re rounding up the survivors and killing them. General Athens is covering his tracks.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not what the mission is. We’re supposed to eliminate the zombies and rescue the survivors.”
“That’s not what’s happening out there. It’s the damn holocaust. I’m telling you, we’re useless here. We haven’t seen a zombie for hours now. We need to be where the action is.”
The conversation suddenly cut off as a loud rustle and snap of a branch from the woods caught t
heir attention.
Captain Strain shifted nervously. He stared into the woods, eyes darting left to right as he tried to identify the source of the unexplained noise. He heard the rustling again. A man wearing camouflage came into view pointing an M16 at them. He waved his hand and several more men appeared from behind the trees, all armed with M16s.
Morris looked at Captain Strain. “Where did they get the M16s? Did they kill our men for them?”
Captain Strain ignored him and kept his focus on the men. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“I’m freakin’ Santa Claus and these are my elves.” He moved closer to Captain Strain, pointing the weapon at him. “Don’t try anything you’ll regret. Why don’t the both of you toss your weapons over to me?”
Captain Strain slowly obeyed the man and tossed his weapon toward him. “What’s this all about?”
The man secured the weapon and looked at Morris. “And yours, toss it over to me.” Once he had his weapon, he moved closer to the captain. “What this is about is simple. We’re going to pass through here and we’re taking the both of you hostage. Do you know how to drive one of those things?” he asked, pointing to a deuce and a half truck.
Captain Strain looked at the truck. “Of course I do, don’t you?”
The man looked at him angrily. “Don’t get smart with me! You’re going to drive us out of the infected zone.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” remarked Captain Strain. “It’s against my orders.”
“Screw your orders; I’m giving you new ones. What’s it going to be? Are you going to comply or do I have to shoot you and take your friend instead?”
“No, you don’t have to do that. I’ll take you and your men out of here. Where do you want to go?”
“Anywhere the damn zombies aren’t. It doesn’t matter. You can take us to Kansas to see Dorothy and Toto for all I care; just get us out of here.”
Several shots suddenly rang out and the man took one straight in the eye. The second shot shredded his trachea. His torn body crumpled sideways to the ground.
Gunfire immediately erupted from both sides. Military soldiers revealed themselves, popping up from the other side of the woods.
Bullets tore through the air. It continued until the last of the men were brought down by the soldiers. General Athens emerged from the woods and approached Captain Strain. “It’s a good thing I arrived when I did. You almost gave safe passage to those men.”
Captain Strain glared at General Athens. “How did you know?”
“Your men radioed me and informed me they were under attack. When it came down to it, your men trusted me more than they trusted you. What does that say about a commanding officer? But you don’t have to worry about it anymore; I’m relieving you of your duties.” He raised his weapon toward Captain Strain and fired. Like a ripe melon, his skull exploded. He turned his attention to Lieutenant Morris.
“You’re in charge now. I trust you will follow my orders.”
“What are your orders, sir?”
“You’ve made a wise decision. Your orders are to make sure no one gets through here. I don’t care if it’s a zombie or human. No one is to get through here. You are to shoot any violators on sight. I will leave some of my men here to help. If anything arises, contact me immediately.”
General Athens made it back to the roadblock leading to Wanatah. His men were anxious, because there were several figures coming down the highway toward them. From the distance, nobody could tell if they were zombies or humans. It didn’t matter, though; their orders were to kill anything that moved on sight. General Athens peered through his binoculars. He knew exactly what he was looking at. Dozens of hungry ghouls were shambling down the highway toward them.
“Where in hell did they come from? Get ready men; the fight against the undead isn’t over yet? These things are like damn cockroaches. The more of them you squish, the more that appear.”
General Athens barked orders as the horde came closer to the roadblock. He tapped one of the soldiers on the back. “Drop the one with the blue shirt!” He waited. “Yes, you got the bastard. Nice shot!” He peered through his binoculars and saw several of them were branching off from the main group. “They’re breaking off from the main group; shoot those ones. We don’t want them getting out of our sight. Keep firing on those shamblers! Keep it up!”
They kept firing, but the horde continued to creep closer to the roadblock. General Athens became furious. He couldn’t believe they were making it through the gunfire.
“Damn it! Put them down!” he screamed, watching as they came closer.
It didn’t take long for several of the zombies to reach the soldiers, and they began their assault on them. Hungry eyes and half-rotten faces leered at the soldiers.
The soldiers did the best they could to fend off the attackers, but they were too strong. Several of the soldiers ran out past General Athens in retreat. The general tried to hold them back.
“Get back in there! Soldiers run toward the battle, not away from it! Come on, cut them down, and don’t let them escape!”
The general fired several shots bringing down several of the horde. Running out of ammunition, he snatched the M16 away from one of the scared soldiers and mowed down the horde in quick fashion. He kept firing until every single one of them was sprawled out lifeless on the ground. He threw his weapon on the ground and turned to face the soldiers who had left their post.
“What the hell is wrong with you! Several of your comrades paid with their lives because you ran scared! You are all a disgrace to your country!” He glared at the four soldiers. “Drop your weapons and get out of my sight. Head down the highway to Wanatah. I will get your court martial papers ready when this is all over.”
He waited until they had their backs to him. He snatched an M16 off the ground and opened fire on them until all four of them were lying in a pool of their own blood.
Now he had to deal with his wounded. He turned to face them and was immediately attacked by one of his dead soldiers who had just turned into one of the nightmares. It grabbed at his face and forced him to the ground. He fought hard to keep the zombie from taking off his nose, but it was extremely strong, and it took every bit of strength he had to keep it from winning the battle. He was stubborn. He wasn’t going to let a zombie ruin his day. He fought hard against his attacker and used the side of his weapon to keep it from biting him. A shot rang out and the zombie went limp on top of him. He felt the zombie pulled off of him and two hands reached out to help him back to his feet. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was relieved that two of his surviving soldiers had come to his rescue. He looked at them and the remaining soldiers still alive. He was down to eight men out of nineteen.
“Did any of them manage to survive? Tell me none of the zombies got away,” said General Athens. “Did the roadblock hold?”
“It held,” said one of the soldiers. “None of them got through.”
“Good.” He heard a shot and saw one of his soldiers shooting one of the soldiers that had just turned. “Pile them up and burn them, men. Hurry before we have more company. I’ll radio for more men. We have to keep this line at all costs. And don’t forget about the deserters behind me. They don’t deserve a proper burial. Make sure you burn their dog tags with them. They don’t deserve to be remembered, either.”
He watched as the soldiers began piling the carcasses into one large pile. They lit the gasoline soaked pile. The flames swallowed hero and villain alike. The general stood silently next to the burning bodies. These soldiers sacrificed their lives for their country and he was thankful for it. These were the men he was proud to serve with, except for the four who ran scared.
He turned away from the raging fire and looked at the eight remaining soldiers. He knew he needed to say something to keep his soldiers strong. He couldn’t let any of them run scared. He couldn’t afford for it to happen again.
“Today is a great day. We have stood bravely, side by side, and p
rotected the world from evil. Evil for which the world has never seen before. But we didn’t falter; we didn’t run. We stood proudly together and helped America stand tall. May we continue to fight as brothers and keep our nation safe and free.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The deuce and a half roared through the middle of the neighborhood, and then abruptly stopped in the middle of the street.
“What’s the matter, sarge,” asked Private Ocho. “Why did you stop in the middle of the road?”
“Didn’t you hear those shots? Somebody is shooting at something close by.”
“Then why are we stopping. Whoever it is could be shooting at us.”
Sergeant Coy scanned the area. “I don’t think so. I think they’re firing at something else. Come on; we need to check it out. I’ll let the others in back know we’re going to start sweeping through this area. We need to find whoever fired the shots.”
They got out of the cab and stopped to listen. They heard the shots again. Sergeant Coy stared off in the direction of the gunfire.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Private Ocho. “I thought you were hearing things. It sounded like it came from behind some of those houses to the right of us.”
“Take a couple of men and go check it out. Remember our standing orders. Shoot first, ask questions later.”
“Understood, sarge.”
More shots rang out and Private Ocho ducked for cover. The shots were getting closer to their location.
Sergeant Coy ducked behind the truck. “Get up, Ocho, get behind the truck until we figure out who they’re shooting at.”
“What do we do?” asked Private Ocho, running for cover behind the truck. “We’re sitting ducks out here.”
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