Brent Acuff - Undead Nation 03

by Revenge

  “Too long, dammit! You’re about to roast my ass! Forty yards too long! Seventy yard spread!”

  Almost before Hubbard had finish his command, more explosions lit up the night sky. This time, the attackers took the near full brunt of the impact.

  The gunfire coming from the Stryker team paused only briefly as each of the men watched as the protective cover of the attackers was consumed by fire and shrapnel. As the assassins realized what was happening, they began to retreat. Alex and his team cut them down as they fled.

  “Cease fire! Cease fire!” Alex and Hubbard each yelled their command to their respective teams. Rifles were silenced and explosions ceased. For a moment after, only the sounds of the crackling fires were heard. That and the ringing in the men’s ears.

  “What the hell was that?!” Liam yelled from the back of of the humvee. Hubbard whooped once more.

  “That was my boys!” he said excitedly. “You never bothered to ask. I’m an artillery team commander.”

  The stunned look on Alex’s face was mirrored throughout the rest of the Stryker team. “You can’t be serious,” Liam said dumbfounded. “No one would ever believe this. Not even in a book!” His surprised expression soon turned to one of sheer joy. Liam started to laugh uncontrollably.

  The release from the fire fight that had just passed soon hit everyone, and Liam’s mad laughter did nothing to help the situation. Soon, soft giggles began to pass amongst the team members, working its way into full on laughter. It was the plaintive calls from Luke that finally brought everyone back to the here and now.

  “I don’t mean to be a buzz kill or anything,” he call, in obvious pain, “but would anyone mind picking me up out of the dirt! I’ve been shot!”

  Donovan and Liam together lifted the injured man up off the ground, gently setting him into the humvee. Theresa was next to him a moment later, first aid and suture kit ready. She ripped open the man’s pant leg, poured water over the wound, and looked carefully to see how bad it was.

  Theresa stood up suddenly and looked at Luke with barely controlled rage. “You whiny, sorry, no good baby! The damn thing is just a flesh wound!” She slapped the scrape across Luke’s leg, causing the man to holler in pain.

  “God-dammit!” he yelled and reached to grab his leg, mostly to keep Theresa from smacking it again.

  “Here,” Theresa said, flinging the first aid kit at Luke. “Put the band-aid on it yourself. I think there are some pink Hello Kitty ones in there somewhere.” Donovan and Liam fought to keep the laughter in. Their efforts were in vain as the two men couldn’t contain themselves anymore.

  “Shut up,” was all Luke could muster as he searched through the first aid kit. It was sirens coming close that finally stopped the hilarity.

  “You’d better get out of here,” Hubbard ordered Alex. “They’ll not like it too much when they find out you guys have popped off some more of their team.”

  “You’d be wise to do the same,” Alex suggested.

  Hubbard shook his head. “I’ll be alright. Most likely the MPs will be someone I know. I kinda get along with most people around here. That tire,” Hubbard said, indicating the blown front, “it’ll get you out of here a ways. Take the Sand Springs Expressway east until you get to the Keystone Air Park. Commander Travis has got someone there expecting you. Look for a Sergeant Mattheson. He’ll have been in contact with your man at Hill’s. He’ll be able to tell you where to are headed.”

  Alex shook Hubbard’s hand. “Once again we are thanking you for saving our lives. I’m not sure there is anything that we can do to ever repay you.” Hubbard pulled Alex close and whispered in his ear.

  “Gut the son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “If he really did everything you’ve said he did, make him hurt.” The two men parted and Alex nodded once. He barked out a command to the Stryker team who quickly loaded the humvee. They were out of the camp perimeter before security arrived.

  –—

  “And just how do you plan on getting there, huh? You just going to drive right up to the front gates, ask to be let in? I’m sure my husband will accommodate you. Actually I’m positive he will, right before he puts a bullet in your brain!” Theresa Hill was furious, but Alex seemed not to notice. He continued frantically packing his gear and double checking his weapons, ignoring the woman screaming in his ear.

  “Alex, she’s right.” Liam’s tactic was calmer, almost sympathetic. Neither seemed to be making much headway, though. “Alex? Alex!” Liam lost his patience with his long time friend. He grab him by the arm and spun Alex around to face him.

  Alex’s left hand connected with Liam’s jaw, sending the man sprawling on the ground. Alex stood over him, fists clenched, his eyes mad. Donovan and Hayden stepped between the two to stave off any further attack.

  Theresa helped the shaken Liam to his feet, offering him a shoulder to lean on until he could regain his balance. His eyes showed rage, but also a sadness.

  “Do you think you are the only one hurting here, Alex? Are you the only one of us in pain right now? We’ve all lost our families, Alex! Not just you. The only difference is, you have a chance to see you daughter again. You, out of all of us, have the chance to hold your loved one again.” Liam stood up and walked to stand in front of his friend. “And we will fight along side you to make sure she is safe. We will die for that, Alex. To make sure you see her again. To hold her. But you can’t just throw your life away, my friend. If you do this, what you are preparing to do now, you’ll never see Gemma again.”

  Alex’s lip quivered and his expression changed. The tears which had so recently flowed freely now returned and he collapsed into Liam’s arms, great sobs racking his body. Liam closed his arms around Alex, supporting his friend in this time of anguish.

  “We can’t get to her, Liam,” Alex said between sobs. “There’s no way. That compound is a fortress. There is no way.” Alex buried his head in Liam’s shoulder.

  “There is a way,” Donovan said, quietly. Everyone turned to looked at the man. “Hayden and I have been talking since the drive out of Tulsa.” He jabbed a thumb at the other. “Alex, there is a way. But it does have risks.”

  Alex raised his head, the tears coming slower now, and looked at Donovan. “I’m listening.”

  “Okay, but you have to wait until I’m finished.”

  “What do you have in mind,” Alex said, standing up straight, intrigued.

  “First,” and a big grin crossed Donovan’s face, “we rob a train.”

  –—

  “Are you serious?!” Luke shook his head in disbelief at the proposal from Donovan and Hayden. “I don’t think that I heard you right, so let me get all of this straight. We hijack a train, fill it with zombies, and drive it straight into the Des Moines compound? Does that about cover it?”

  Donovan mocked thinking for a moment, then looked at Hayden. The two men nodded briefly to one another before turning back to Luke. “Actually, that sums it up pretty good,” Donovan said. Luke threw up his hands and rolled his eyes.

  “Donovan, I’m not so sure about this,” Alex said.

  “I know the way it sounds, Alex, but look at it from all sides. We have five guns, we have thousands of miles to cross..”

  “Hundreds,” Hayden corrected. “About four hundred to be exact.”

  “Fine, HUNDREDS of miles, and they’ll pick us off before we even get close to the gates. There aren’t too many options out there for us.”

  “Not to mention, we had this same plan used against us before. Twice actually,” Hayden offered.

  Liam cocked his head to the side, confused. “Twice? I only remember the one a few days ago in Tulsa.”

  Hayden nodded. “That’s right. And that was the most effective use. Hit us with them after they’ve distracted us. The other…”

  “Was at New Hope,” Alex cut in.

  Hayden nodded. “Only that they did it the other way around. Use the zombies to distract us, then hit us with traditional weapons.”

 
; “So just how is this one different from either of those?” Theresa asked. She was the only member of the Stryker team to not have been present in New Hope at the time of that first attack.

  “This time, they are the distraction and the weapon,” Donovan said smiling. “They are the army. A mean fighting machine that doesn’t worry about bullets, enemies or dying. We get that train, loaded with deaders into that compound?”

  “The hell they will unleash will be devastating,” Alex finished. Now he too was smiling.

  Donovan agreed emphatically. “Set them loose, then we go hunting for Hill.”

  –—

  The train horn blared its warning to the obstruction sitting across the tracks in the distance. This was an military supply train, and as such, heavily armored. Whatever was in their way wouldn’t pose much of a problem, but the engineers tried to avoid any unnecessary damage to government property. The horn blared its warning a second time, but whatever was in their path either couldn’t, or wouldn’t, move.

  “Command Sergeant,” the junior engineer called back. “They don’t seem to be moving. What do we do?”

  The senior engineer ducked through the opening back into the cab of the train engine. He grabbed a pair of binoculars from their perch and raised them to have a look.

  The engineer leaned forward, almost as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing. He pulled the binoculars away from his eyes, blinked them a few times, then looked once more at the obstruction.

  “Corporal,” the sergeant sounded uneasy. “Talk a look and tell me what you see.” The senior engineer handed the binoculars over to the corporal, who took the glasses carefully, a look of confusion on his face. He peered through them. His lips began moving slowly.

  “If…you can read this…we’re already…on board?” The junior engineer pulled the binoculars down and looked at the sergeant. “I don’t understand. What does it mean?”

  “Sound the general alarm!” the command sergeant ordered, but stopped short of actually moving. The sight of a gun barrel aimed in their direction made him think twice about that choice.

  “We’d appreciate it if you could stop the train, please. We don’t want for anyone to get hurt.” Both of the engineers stood motionless. “If you wouldn’t mind,” Alex said, motioning to the control panel with the barrel of his rifle.

  The senior engineer stepped forward. “Everything on this train is property of the US military. They will never let you take…”

  “Oh, we don’t want the stuff,” Alex interrupted. He smiled. “We just need the train.”

  The senior engineer looked confused. “I’m sorry?” he asked.

  Alex nodded his head. “You heard right. We just want the train, nothing else. As a matter of fact, we kind of need you and your men to empty the train as much as you can.”

  The engineer now seemed annoyed. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but we can’t just stop and unload the train whenever we feel like it.” He threw up his hands in exasperation. “This stuff is headed for Des Moines to be unloaded…”

  “Yes, yes…I know,” Alex stopped the man again. “That’s kind of why we need this one.”

  “I’m…I’m sorry?”

  “Listen, the less you know, the better for everyone. Now, I can’t let you guys out just anywhere. You understand, I’m sure.”

  The engineer now smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “I see. You want us to stop everything because you asked, unload the train, and sit back quietly while you and whoever you’ve got with you just ride off?”

  Alex made a dramatic show with his face as if he were having to think over the engineer’s take on the situation. “Yeah…” he said, drawing out the word, “that pretty much sums it up.”

  The engineer chuckled. “And if we refuse?” The train lurched forward and the rails squealed under the train. Alex put a hand out to brace himself against the wall, but the two train engineers were thrown forward into the control panel. “What the…?” The senior engineer cursed, but quickly held his tongue when another gun barrel was pointed in his face. A grinning Liam stood behind them.

  “Then I guess we’ll just have to stop it ourselves,” Alex said. The train began to stop slowly, its brakes squealing with the effort of trying to stop the massive train.

  “What’s that?” the senior engineer said, pointing to the obstacle now dangerously close to the road. Alex laughed.

  “Just some plywood and poles to hold it up. We just needed something to distract you long enough.”

  “There are soldiers stationed all along this train. You’ll never get past them all.” The engineer was still trying to bolster his confidence, hoping that something he said to the hijackers would make them stop or leave all together.

  Alex looked around the engineers to Liam. “Mr. Beard?” Liam’s grin widened even farther.

  “It’s why I’m here. Taken care of. All of them. Mr. Murphy’s got them held up in the fifth train car.”

  “There,” Alex said with an air of playfulness in his voice. “Everybody is accounted for. Now if you wouldn’t mind joining your friends. You’ll need to keep your strength up so that we can get these cars unloaded.”

  “And just how do I know you haven’t already killed them?” the engineer said angrily. “How do I know you won’t just kill us as soon as our backs are turned?”

  Alex rolled his eyes at the older man. “Really? If I had wanted to kill you, wouldn’t I have just made my life easier and put a bullet in you already?” Alex paused to let his words sink in. “Besides, I don’t plan on unloading this train myself. We aren’t going to be using any of it, so we’ll let you all do the work. Sound fair?” The senior engineer’s face was turning a bright red. He was going to lose this fight, he just hadn’t given up yet.

  “And if we refuse?” the man said defiantly.

  “Then I guess we really would have no use for you. At that point, well…” Alex let the words hang in the air, allowing the two engineers to come to their own conclusions. “Mr. Beard?” Alex called to Liam. “I’ll be escorting these two gentlemen to car number five. Please see that the train stops at a location that is the most advantageous to our needs.”

  “Yes sir,” Liam said, saluting Alex sharply.

  Returning his attention back to the engineers, “Gentlemen? Let’s get you guys cozy.”

  –—

  “Gentlemen, is there anything else that we can do for you?” Alex was trying to be sincere, but he knew full well that the exhausted soldiers would think him condescending. The twenty men and women had just spent the last eight hours unloading every last case and box from the rail cars. They were angry, tired, and didn’t really want to be left in the middle of nowhere.

  Alex held out his hand to the senior engineer. The man didn’t take it. “I really am sorry for all of this,” Alex said, lower his hand. “You, or more importantly this train, are a means to an end. We have no problems with you.” The sweaty engineer just glared at Alex. “The nearest town is about a three day walk from here, due east. Most of this area has been cleared of the dead, but make sure that you keep a watch. There’s no telling what else is left out here.”

  “Obviously,” the engineer said sarcastically.

  “Touché,” Alex smiled. “Take care.” Alex turned back towards the train as the rest of the Stryker team kept watch over the abandoned soldiers from their perches on the rail cars. As soon as Alex was aboard, the train lurched forward towards its next stop.

  “So did you tell them that they were only about five miles from an army depot?” Liam asked. Alex made a face and shook his head slightly.

  “No, I figured I’d let them find out about that on their own.”

  “Your probably right, Alex. No need having the cavalry called on us before we get to where we’re going.”

  “Or before we pick up our cargo.”

  –—

  “Close the door! Close the door!” Alex and Donovan struggled to close the sliding door of the
rail car as Liam jumped through. Liam struggled to his feet and put his weight behind the two, helping them slide it shut just as the first zombie reached the opening.

  “‘We can’t just blow the horn’, he said. ‘Someone’s got to go out there and get them’, he said. Why the hell did it have to be me?!” Liam leaned against the side of the train trying to catch his breath.

  “I wouldn’t stay down there too long,” Luke said from up top. “There’s a few more of them coming, and I bet it won’t take them that long to figure out that they can probably walk under the train to the other side.” Liam gave out an exaggerated sigh and turned to pull himself up the ladder to the safety of the rail car.

  “So just how long are we going to sit here?” Donovan asked after helping Liam over the edge of the roof.

  “Until we think we’ve got enough, I guess. This is your plan, remember? I’m just here.” Alex and the others watched as hundreds of zombies wound their way towards the open doors of the train cars. “How many do you think it will take?”

  Donovan watch for a moment as the zombies shuffled in their direction, then looked down the line of rail cars. “How many do you think each one will hold?”

  Alex did a quick calculation in his head. “Not sure. But if they pack themselves in…”

  “Which they will,” Theresa said.

  “Close to a hundred? Mind you, I’m just guessing here. I honestly have zero clue.”

  Donovan thought for a minute. “So, on the high side, if we get every one of these cars filled, we’re looking at around three thousand zombies.”

  “Give or take,” Alex said. “And just how many do you think we’ll need to pull this off?”

  Donovan shrugged his shoulders. “About four times that?” Everyone on top of the car shook their heads at the though.

  “This is never going to work, is it?” Luke asked.

  “It’ll work,” Liam said, staring off in the distance at the stream of zombies heading in their direction. He turned to look at Alex. “It’s got to work. We don’t have any other option.”

  Alex nodded his head slowly. “You’re right. It’s got to work.”