Brent Acuff - Undead Nation 03

by Revenge

  Two soldiers stuck their heads up, just above the safety of the barricades. Theresa and Donovan let off a quick burst of gunfire, ripping through the tops of the heads from the two enemy fighters. From back down the hall, Captain Mitchell called out once more to the soldiers.

  “This can end here and now! We don’t want any more blood shed!” Slowly hands began to raise above the top of the barricades.

  “Don’t shoot,” the men called out and slowly began to stand. Six men total stood behind the concrete barriers.

  “Drop your weapons in front of the barricades and carefully step over,” Captain Mitchell ordered. The soldiers did as ordered, stepping over the barriers, and helping the injured across. Alex and his team moved aside to let the soldiers pass through, all the while keeping their sights on the soldiers. Donovan and Theresa kept watch for any other threats in front of them. A moment later, Captain Mitchell hurried around the corner followed closely by three of his fellow soldiers. They hurried past the front line, taking up positions along the front of the barricades and began policing the weapons dropped there while the remaining seven hurried to join them.

  “That worked out pretty well!” Alex said, the adrenaline of the fight making him seem excited. Captain Mitchell smiled at Alex then turned to clap Corporal Jensen on the shoulder.

  “Boy, we make it out of this alive, and you’re getting a promotion!”

  Gunfire erupted from the other side of the barricade. Bullets ricocheted off the top of the concrete barriers and walls around the invaders. The doors to the command center had opened slightly, allowing a hail of gunfire to fly through at approaching soldiers.

  “Dammit!” Alex cursed ducking low behind concrete walls. “Now what?!”

  Jensen had already prepared for this contingency. He and his grenade buddy were each pulling the pins on another set of grenades. Before Alex could object, the grenades were over the barricades, each finding their way between the open doors.

  “No!” Alex yelled, but the deafening blast of grenades drowned out his protests.

  Jensen and three of his comrades were over the concrete barriers before the echo had died, racing towards the opening in the command center. Five yards out, gunfire once more erupted through the opening. One of the men crumpled as the stream of bullets ripped his stomach apart. The remaining three reached the side of the doors, beyond the reach of the limited line of sight. Quickly removing their side arms, the men reached through the doors and opened fire.

  The gunfire was deafening. Alex flew over the top of the barricades, racing towards the command center. The three invading soldiers ceased fire. They holstered their weapons and grabbed the sides of the doors, straining to wrench them open.

  Slowly at first, the doors began to give way, then suddenly they slid open as the mechanisms holding them shut gave way. The three soldiers lost their balance and fell back against the walls. Alex ran blindly, fearing that the grenades had injured or killed his little girl.

  A single soldier stepped into view in the doorway, his rifle raised at Alex. A gun cracked just behind Alex and the enemy fighter fell, clutching at his chest. A hand clamped down on Alex’s shoulder and pulled him around to see Liam there.

  “Wait for us, old man. We do this together.” Alex nodded.

  The Stryker team entered the outer command center, sweeping through the room with a precision come from countless hours of drilling and fighting together. Each team member moved in a specific direction, their line of fire covering a designated area of the room. Pops and cracks from their rifles where quick and accurate, ending any threat before it became a danger to the team.

  Close behind the Stryker team came Captain Mitchell and his men, less graceful in their execution, but still a deadly attack force. Both teams of men spread through out the large outer room, quickly picking points of defense and attack, positioning themselves behind cover.

  General Hill’s men were in a state of disarray, not having prepared for the possibility of fighting living men and women who were highly trained and capable of fighting back. Their tactics had been practice against the dead, slow and shambling zombies that were not a threat unless close enough for hand-to-hand combat. When faced with soldiers attacking with precision rifles, they retreated quickly and chaotically. Alex and his men picked them off as they ran.

  “Move forward!” Alex commanded and began to step from around the protective column behind which he was hiding. Something moving unnaturally caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Briefly taking his eyes off of his line of sight, Alex looked left to see Hayden stumbling forward, blood falling from his mouth. There was a massive hole in his chest and another that had taken off the left side of his jaw.

  “Hayden!” Alex called and moved to catch his brother-in-law. “Man down! Man down!” he yelled frantically and reached out to catch the man just at he stumbled once more and fell forward.

  “Man down,” Alex continued to call as he attempted to put pressure on the chest wound. The hole in his chest was too large and Alex’s hands simply slipped inside the dying man. “Hayden! God-dammit!” Alex grabbed at anything he could find that might let him plug the hole in the man’s chest, to stop the rush of blood.

  A hand grad Alex’s arm and squeezed. He looked down at the distraction and realized that it was Hayden’s hand. Looking back into his brother-in-law’s eyes, he saw them clear for a moment and lock onto Alex. Hayden blinked and squeezed Alex’s arm once more. Alex saw the right corner of Hayden’s destroyed mouth raise in an attempt to smile. His eyes closed and Hayden lay motionless.

  “Come on!” someone yelled in Alex’s ear. “He’s dead. There’s nothing more that you can do for him.”

  Alex turned on the voice preparing to unleash a stream of rage at the person. Theresa stared back, eyes soft and pleading. “He’s in a better place than us right now, Alex. We’ve got to move.” She placed a gentle hand on Alex’s face. “We’ve got to get Gemma.”

  The mention of his daughter’s name brought Alex back to the present. His expression hardened and he nodded up at Theresa. He took up his rifle, and the two returned to the fight.

  –—

  Alex held his rifle steady, the iron sights locked on its target. General Hill stood tall, his Beretta 9-mm pressed against the little girl’s head…Alex’s little girl.

  “Let her go, Hill,” Alex ordered through clenched teeth. “Let her go and no one else gets hurt.”

  General Hill stood there, grinning like a mad man. “You’ll kill me as soon as I do that,” he said with an almost whimsical tone in his voice. “No, I’m afraid there really are very few options here. You put your weapons down, and I’ll leave.”

  Alex shook his head only slightly. “No deal. I’m not letting my daughter go again. I’m taking her…”

  “You let my daughter go,” General Hill cut in, ice lacing his voice. “You were supposed to bring my family back to me. You were supposed to bring my daughter back alive, and you failed to do that. So I punished you in the only way that you would understand, the only way to make you feel what I felt.”

  “You killed our families,” Alex said, and the rage he was feeling seeped into his voice. “Your daughter’s death was an accident, nothing more. I’m sorry for your loss, but we had nothing to do with it.”

  “You had everything to do with it,” Hill said, pressing the Beretta harder into the side of Gemma’s head. She winced and cried out slightly, then returned to being rigid and silent. Alex stepped forward, but stopped himself, not wishing to provoke the man into pulling the trigger.

  Thoughts and plans raced through Alex’s head as he desperately tried to figure a way out of this. Their assault on General Hill’s command center had not come off as well as everyone had hoped, and they had lost a number of men in the assault. Most notably Captain Mitchell, who now leaned heavily against the wall, a hand pressed against the wound in his stomach and his right arm hanging uselessly beside him. Theresa Hill had also been shot in the assault,
pushing fast into the final room as she tried to get to her husband before anyone else. She now lay still, only her legs visible from behind a low table. Once the assault was over, only Alex, Donovan, Liam and Jensen remained standing.

  Out of options, Alex slowly lowered his rifle and motioned for the others to do the same. “Okay,” he said, “you’re holding all the cards. What do you want?”

  General Hill’s smile faded and a single tear rolled down his cheek. “I want my daughter back.”

  Suddenly Gemma was gone, pulled down and away in a flash with only her scream echoing through the room. General Hill looked confused, and the same looks were mirrored on the faces of Alex and his team. Hill recovered faster and began to swing his Beretta in Alex’s direction. Alex was too disoriented by the disappearance of Gemma, that he fumbled to bring his rifle to bear. A single shot rang out and General Hill’s face exploded from the inside out. His body crumpled to the floor. Sergeant Major Matthew Cuzman stood behind the body, his pistol still raised and smoke trailing out the end.

  “Holy shit!” Liam exclaimed, jumping backwards in surprise. “What the hell just happened?!”

  Alex’s disorientation cleared as Gemma began crying and he quickly looked around the room. Theresa’s body was gone from behind the table.

  Moving quickly around the low table, Alex’s heart sang as he was greeted by the sight of Gemma held tightly in Theresa Hill’s arms. She was stroking the girl’s hair with a bloody hand and cooing quietly in her ear, trying to comfort the terrified girl.

  “We need some help over here!” Alex called and raced to the side of Theresa and his daughter. Theresa’s eyes opened and tears streamed down her face. When she recognized Alex, she release the girl and gently pushed her into her father’s arms. Father and daughter hugged one another after nearly a year separated. Both cried uncontrollably and neither released their grip on the other.

  Liam rushed to Theresa’s aid while Corporal Jensen did the same for Captain Mitchell. Donovan kept his rifle up and trained on Sergeant Major Cuzman. “Keep your hands still,” Donovan ordered, but the sergeant major did not listen. He deftly disarmed the weapon, pulling the magazine free, ejecting the chambered round and returning the weapon to its holster. “Keep your hands where I can see them,” Donovan ordered again, stepping closer to the man.

  “I’m not going to do anything,” the sergeant major said. “I’m on your side.” Donovan continued forward.

  “Hands up!” he yelled, and the sergeant major reluctantly put his hands on his head.

  “Ease off,” Alex said. His voice was muffled and tight. He had to fight through the lump in his throat to speak. “Ease off, Donovan. He’s Cuzman. He’s our informant.”

  This revelation took Donovan by surprise and he momentarily took his eyes off of his target to look at Alex. “How do you know?” he asked, returning his attention to the man in front of him.

  “Because,” Alex began, standing and picking his daughter up, “the informant said he couldn’t kill General Hill because he was trying to keep Gemma safe. Once she was out of danger…”

  “I could put a bullet in that monster’s head,” Cuzman said. “I couldn’t let what happened at New Hope stand, but I couldn’t take the chance either. Hill was watching me, watching EVERYONE so closely. I didn’t want to risk the safety of Gemma if I tried something. Once she was safe and in your hands…” Matthew Cuzman let the memories of what just happened finish his sentence.

  “Thank you,” Alex said, holding out a hand to the man. “I don’t think we could have made it without your help. I don’t think I would have seen Gemma again…” The mention of his daughter name choked Alex, and he was unable to finish.

  Sergeant Major Cuzman shook Alex’s hand. “I wish I could have done more.”

  A groan of pain from across the room drew everyone’s attention. Corporal Jensen was helping Captain Mitchell to his feet. “We’ve got to find out what’s going on out there,” the captain said through gritted teeth. “Wouldn’t do us any good to have the cavalry come storming in right now, would it?”

  At the sight of the injured man, Alex’s eyes widened. He turned quickly back to Theresa and Liam. Liam looked up at Alex and shook his head slowly. “She said her job’s done,” Liam nearly choked on the words, “that she was going to see Amy.” Tears flowed down Liam’s face and he tried to hide them. Alex knelt next to his friend and placed an arm around his shoulders.

  “This is Captain Mitchell. General Hill has been killed and I have assumed command. Report.” Corporal Jensen still supported the captain as he bent over a console. A voice soon blared over the speaker.

  “The main contingent of zombies have been contained and neutralized. Working to clear the rest out as we speak. We’ve lost ninety-eight, with twelve wounded. They are being quarantined right now. An assault team in sweeping the area for the infiltrators.”

  “Cancel the sweep,” Captain Mitchell ordered. “The infiltrators have been neutralized.” With an effort, Captain Mitchell turned to face Alex. He winked.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Epilogue

  The train rattled down the track, gently rocking the passengers back and forth in their seats. Everything was dark inside with only small lights to illuminate individuals. Alex looked up from watching his sleeping daughter to gaze around the compartment. Donovan slept contently across the aisle. Dr. Cahn’s sons, Markus and Perry, sat across from Donovan, both asleep as well.

  A nudge from his left brought Alex’s attention back. Liam had awaken.

  “Tell me again where we are going?” Liam said, stifling a yawn.

  “North to Seattle,” Alex said. “There’s a colony setting up there, starting over. General Mitchell said that the new U.S. Government has seeded the colony with enough food, supplies and troops to make it viable for the long haul.”

  Liam shook his head and grinned. “General,” he said, rolling his eyes. “As soon as President Darley promoted him, there was no standing the man.”

  Alex smiled back. “We owe a lot to him. Least of which the passes to get us into Seattle. They aren’t taking just anyone, and I doubt we could have gotten in, knowing our track record for causing trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Liam said, feigning shock. “We are goddamned heros!” Gemma stirred in her seat and Alex hushed Liam with a look. “Sorry,” Liam whispered sheepishly.

  The two men sat in silence for a long while, both lost in thought of the events that had been and the hopes that were to be. After a time, Liam turned to Alex, a puzzled look on his face.

  “I’m still confused about one thing.”

  “Only one thing?” Alex said, mockingly. Liam screwed up his face.

  “I don’t understand what Matthew meant about Gemma. What did he mean, ‘Keep her safe and protected. She’ll save us all one day’?”

  Alex shook his head and looked down at his sleeping little girl. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I’ll definitely do what he said, even if I don’t know why he said it.”

  The nighttime landscaped passed quickly outside the window as the train continued into the night.

  Table of Contents

  Book 3 - Revenge

  Chapter One - City Infiltration

  Chapter Two - Quarantine

  Chapter Three - New Recruits

  Chapter Four - Alpha Team

  Chapter Five - Conspiracy Revealed

  Chapter Six - Mutiny

  Chapter Seven - Taking the Fight to Gen. Hill

  Chapter Eight - Epilogue

 

 

 
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