“Fucking Hell!” Shouted Cowan. One of the brass that was ejected out of the fifty cal. fell on top of him landing between his neck and his armor. He tried to find the hot brass that was burning his skin but he could not quite reach it. “What’s wrong” said Hobbs noticing that Cowan was not firing. “A piece of brass just landed on me and I can’t reach it” “Well ignore that shit and keep firing,” said Hobbs as he was trying to maintain focus on the enemy at hand.
Meanwhile, Rogers was busy bringing crates of filled magazines for the 249 and the M4s the men had. He had brought two for each man by now. Pike fired holding down the trigger for three seconds and then pausing and then squeezing the trigger again. Small billows of dust arose as Pike walked his rounds onto his target. Getting closer with each squeeze of the trigger. “That’s it come on you fucking bastards!” said Hobbs. Hobbs weapon slowly raised and lowered mimicking his breathing cycle. Hobbs waited until the natural pause in his breathing and slowly squeezed the trigger. The infected shoulder went backwards and fell to the ground and awkwardly stood back up and kept coming. Then he let the next bullet go down range and again he missed. “Fuck me!” Maintain focus fast is slow, slow is smooth, smooth is fast he thought to himself as he regained his composure.
Each zombie that fell there was another that took its place. Shambling over the dead bodies and sometimes tripping over them as they went. The fifty cal. and the 240 were doing their job as the bodies started to pile up within seconds. It made it a little bit easier as heads were popping up over the mounds while others would shamble around. As the mounds got bigger they would tumble and fall as the zombies behind them pushed their way through. The zombies would crawl over the mounds and eventually up righted themselves and kept coming. Cowan had went through all of this magazines he had on him and started to grab them from the open crate and shoved them into the well of the rifle. The brass was starting to pool next to each of them. “De ja vu” whispered Hobbs. The zombie horde just kept coming relentlessly not minding their falling comrades around them.
Cowan heard a screaming roar coming their direction. Then all of a sudden he saw the orange flash as it rose up like a wall dividing the horde into two sections. “Burn mother fucker burn!” said Cowan. “Now that is what I am talking about!” Then he saw the next set of planes heading their direction. “They are getting too close! Too fucking close!” said Cowan. As the planes dropped their ordinance of fire and brimstone their intended target was missed and it landed on some of the men and the city. Cowan could hear screams of pain and agony as the soldier started to burn. The flames licking their skin. The heat from the flames caused some rounds to explode and fire in multiple directions.
Hobbs thinking on his feet grabbed Cowan and pulled him to the opposite side of the jersey barriers in hopes the concrete would stop some of the rounds. Pieces of concrete flew up in the air and the whizzing of the bullets could be heard as they zoomed past them. Men were scrambling around and others screamed in pain. Pike was one of them. Hobbs quickly jumped over his protection and grabbed Pike from the harness that was on top of his body armor casing. Pike’s pants were soaking through with the red sustenance of life. Cowan quickly undid the fastener on his IFAK opened the clear package and grabbed out the scissors. He started cutting away the cloth material. “Oh Hell! Oh God!” Pike was shouting and squirming around. “Hold still” demanded Hobbs. Cowan pulled out the combat gauze and applied pressure to the wound. “Is it all there? Please God tell me it is all there. Pike looked down at his pants and then slammed his head back down onto the ground. “Tell me it is all there!” “Damn it! It is too high up to put a tourniquet on!” said Cowan. Pike kept squirming and moving around. “Stay the fuck still!” Hobbs placed his hand on Pike’s chest to help keep him from trying to sit up and look. “Yes it is all there now would you calm down! Your dick and balls are still there now let us do our damn job!” Hobbs turned around to look to see how close the zombies were. They were practically on top of them! “We have got to move him and quickly!” said Hobbs. The two helped Pike to his feet. Cowan being the bigger of the two grabbed the arm of Pike. He slightly bent down and grabbed the good leg and lifted the man up. The scene was chaos and bloody with moans that filled the hot sticky air.
The fire did more harm than good. Not only were the zombies still heading their way but they were on fire as well. How the hell could they survive that Hobbs thought. This was unnatural there was no way they could keep coming. “Come on let’s go!” shouted Cowan, as he struggled under the new added weight on his shoulders each step becoming more laborious. “To the car” shouted Hobbs. The car seemed so far away for Cowan. His knee gave way from all the pressure and the two men tumbled downward unceremoniously. Hobbs turned around as if intuition had told him something happened. “Come on!” yelled Hobbs as he ran to aide his battle buddy. They both grabbed the handle on the back of the armor. They dragged him around twenty yards towards the car. Hobbs looked up the zombies were getting closer he could smell the death in the air mixed with rotting flesh of the horde.
Cowan and Hobbs picked up Pike and shoved him in the car the best they could. It was harder with the dead weight they had as Pike was coming in and out of consciousness from the loss of blood he had sustained. Cowan took the wheel and turned the car around fish tailing the back end as he went. He tried to gain control as he let go of the gas slightly. When that didn’t work he steered in the direction the back of the car was going. First to the left and then to the right. The car’s tires gained traction again and he slowly pressed the accelerator.
The town was in a panic and people were running around with no particular direction. They were like cattle that were being led to the slaughter as people ran from their nearest attacker just to fall victim and prey to another they did not see. “To the gun shop we can try to hold up there” said Hobbs from the back seat trying to maintain pressure on Pike’s wound. “Where the fuck is that!” “I think turn right here!” Cowan turned the steering wheel right shifting the weight of the car to the left and for a second Hobbs thought he could feel the car balancing on two wheels. Half way through the turn Cowan pressed the accelerator. “I wish I had a GPS!” “Well just wait a minute so I can just put it into my phone!” Hobbs said sarcastically. “Look be a part of the solution not the problem” said Cowan as he turned his head slightly and smirked. “Turn here!” “Are you sure?” “No I am not sure just do it!” “Alright.” Cowan made another sharp right turn sending the two men in the back seat against the door. “I see it!” said Cowan.
Cowan slammed on the breaks right in front of the gun store. “Help me with him!” “Roger,” came the automatic reply. The two men dragged Pike out of the car to the door of the gun store. Hobbs turned the handle it was locked. “Fuck me! Can anything go right today? This is like Murphy’s fucking wet dream.” “Go away,” came the shaky voice from behind the door. “We need help we have someone injured in here!” said Cowan. “Go away,” came the voice more sternly. “I swear if you don’t open this door I will bust it down and beat you to death!” said Cowan. “How do we know you guys weren’t bit” the voice responded. “Look I am going to give you one damn second or my foot is going to go up your ass and quench your thirst!” The door clicked and the door swung inwards. Thank God Cowan thought. He was prepared to do what he said he would do. Hobbs and Cowan dragged the man in as the old shop keeper looked at them. Once they were inside the door was quickly locked behind them separating them from the outside world.
“What is going on out there” the shopkeeper said. “The lines broke and the zombies are inside now,” said Hobbs. “Oh Jesus. What do we do now?” came the same shaky voice. “Well first we need to barricade the door. Do you have anything we can use?” asked Hobbs. “Yeah we can use that shelf over there” the shopkeeper pointed to a shelf that was filled with books. “You! Apply pressure here on the wound” commanded Cowan with authority as he pointed towards the shopkeeper. They turned the bookshelf around. “Damn
this is heavy!” said Cowan. “Well it is not made of the cheap stuff now-a-days those companies are making,” responded the shopkeeper. They pushed the bookshelf and laid it against the door at an angle. “There that should hold up for a while” said Hobbs. Cowan immediately went to Pike to assess his wounds. Cowan’s face grew dimly. The side of his lips curled down and his eyes narrowed as he tried to stop the bleeding. Pike’s face was starting to lose color and his eyes were glazed over and he just kept mumbling something that was incoherent. “He has lost too much blood. I am not sure if he will be able to make it much longer. Hey buddy,” said Cowan softly as if he was trying to soothe a cranky baby. “You just need to hold on a little bit longer. We will see about getting you to the hospital.” Cowan knew they would have to get to a hospital and quickly. He did not have the utensils to put in an IV line to give him some blood. Cowan grabbed the metallic line that was attached to the body armor and gently pulled on it. The body armor fell to the ground with a clunk in pieces. Pike had worn dragon body armor. The body armor was put together and held in place by wire encased in a plastic tubing for situations where they needed to get the armor off as quickly as possible. He searched around Pike’s neck for the dog tags that all soldiers wore. Finding the metal chain he followed it all the way down until he found the tags that dangled. The tags read O positive. “He’s O positive and that is a good sign” Cowan said. “I am O positive. Now if we could just get him to the hospital then we will be good.” Cowan looked up at the shopkeeper. “Where is the hospital at?” “It is on the other side of city.” Hobbs paused and contemplated the situation.
Hobbs went over the scenario in his head. The city was being overrun, people were panicking, and with the number of zombies out there getting to the hospital would not be feasible. There would be no way they would be able to get there. He was not even sure how long they would be able to hold up where they were. It would just be a matter of time before the zombies got in no matter how well they barricaded the door. “Hobbs,” said Cowan desperately. “We need to get him to a hospital he will not make it much longer!” “Cowan you know as well as I do that we will not be able to make it. The sheer number of zombies out there would overrun us. I am not sure how long we can last in here let alone make it to the hospital. We need to find a way to keep those things from coming in for as long as possible and then find a way out of this mess.” “We just can’t let him die here! I won’t let it happen.” Hobbs placed a friendly hand on Cowan’s shoulders. “I know buddy but there is nothing we can do. You know that. All that we can do is to make him feel as comfortable as possible and ease his suffering.” Hobbs turned to the shopkeeper. “Do you have any pain medication? Like Percocet?” “No I don’t have anything like that.” “Damn it! Can we get a break?” Cowan noticed Pike was no longer breathing. He placed his index and middle finger on the carotid artery checking for a pulse. There was nothing. No bump, no pressure that indicated he was still alive. “He’s gone.” Cowan closed Pike’s eyes as a matter of respect for the dead. Cowan took a moment and said a small quick prayer for Pike.
There was a small tap on the door. Which was quickly followed by more taping and groans of the zombies wanting to get in. For a moment Hobbs could have sworn he heard the same voice as before. “Hobbs.” It sent a cold chill down his spine as he looked at the door. “Hey man are you alright?” asked Cowan. “Yeah I am fine,” said Hobbs, as shook his head “I just thought I heard something.” “There is a lot of noises out there so what kind of sound do you think you heard?” “It’s nothing really probably all the stress that is going on and I am not really sure what I heard.” “I have a back door we can escape out of if there is none of those things in the back,” said the shopkeeper. “First we need to load up on ammo and weapons. Cowan you fill us up on water,” said Hobbs as he took off his camel back and threw it to Cowan. “You shopkeeper!” “My name is Bobbie. I think if you should take those two shot guns there,” said Bobbie, as he pointed to the case in the far right corner of the room. Bobbie unlatched the keys that were hanging on the side of his belt and threw them to Hobbs. “The shells are in the cabinet underneath the display.” “I will grab the 5.56 rounds that I have. I also have my car parked out back maybe we can make it there and somehow get the hell out of here. “
Hobbs looked at the case it was a Remington 870. A shot gun that had an extended tube to hold more rounds. Hobbs was not worried about the low amount of ammo and the slow reload time. However, he contemplated the usefulness of it. The rounds spread as they exited out of the barrel which could be useful if those things are surrounding them in a tight pack. He would use it until they were able to get through and make it to the car. Then he could throw it in the car and move to the far superior and less load time of the M4 for their situation. Hobbs grabbed the box of shells and started to load the shotgun as he opened the well and shoved the first round and cocked the weapon. He then continued to push in more rounds one right after the other until the shotgun could carry no more rounds.
Cowan came out of the bathroom and threw the camel back to Hobbs. Hobbs pulled the bag out of the air with his free hand. He swung the pack around putting one hand through the first strap switched the shot gun to his left hand and reached behind him for the other strap. The shopkeeper was busying himself grabbing rounds for the AR15 that he had and was loading the magazines as quickly as possible. His hands were shaky and every few founds did not find their home in the magazine. It was necessary to make sure he had enough magazines that would last him until they reached the outskirts of the city or their next destination. The door was starting to give way as they heard the sound of the wood creaking and cracking. There were now visible signs of the door giving way as the wood splintered upward.
“It’s going to give way we need to go now!” said Hobbs. The shopkeeper grabbed the loaded magazines and put them in his pocket spilling the rest of the rounds on the floor. He grabbed his rifle and started to head to the back door of the small shop. “Come on this way!” said Bobbie. He opened the door and there were five zombies that were shuffling their way through the breached door. Cowan and Hobbs ran to the back of the store. Cowan looked back and saw the first of the zombies that knelt down and started to dine on the flesh of Pike taking a big bite out of the pale neck and pulling away with a chunk of flesh. It looked at Cowan but was not interested as it went back to eating its prize.
Bobbie raised his rifle putting the first zombie’s head in his sights and squeezed the trigger. The zombie fell to the ground but there were more that were coming replacing their lost comrade. Bobbie fished into his pockets for the keys to the car. His hands were shaky and it was hard for him to do the simple task of placing the key into the slot. He dropped the keys. “Fuck me!” As he knelt down to pick up the keys he dropped them a second time. Hobbs took down the zombies in fast succession. Once he had cleared the area he looked to his right and there were a vast number of zombies that filled the area between the buildings and outer wall. We can’t go that way he thought to himself. He looked to his right and there were only a few zombies that he could tell. They were funneling through the narrow corridor and weaving in and out as they were going around the numerous dumpsters that sat near the outer wall. Bobbie was able to manage to get the car door open. As he swung open the door he hit the unlock button on the arm rest. The doors opened with a clicking sound. The car had seen its better days. The interior had numerous stains and holes where the cigarettes ashes burned their way through the cloth and smelled of mildew. Hobbs took the passenger’s side and Cowan got in the back seat. Bobbie’s hands were shaking still as he tried to place the key into the ignition. When he found it and turned the key he pressed on the accelerator. He ran into the first zombie as the body smashed against the front of the car splattering dark coagulated blood over the windshield. Bobbie pressed against the stick that started the windshield wipers. The dark blood mixed with wiper fluid further smeared the windshield. He held down the stick mixing more blood and wiper f
luid with each wipe clearing off just a little bit just enough for him to see through a small hole that quickly disappeared as the wipers moved back and forth. Bobbie’s head was bobbing around like a chicken trying to peer through new holes that presented themselves. With each zombie he hit the visibility lowered from the blood splashing against the windshield. The car stopped moving and the engine roared each time Bobbie pressed the accelerator but they did not move. “Fuck we are stuck!” said Bobbie. Bobbie turned the steering wheel to the left and the right trying to find traction. The car lurched forward and they were free. The infected were pilling in the narrow corridor. They only had a hundred feet or so from what Bobbie could tell and then they would be out in the open. Hobbs pressed the silver tab backwards to open the window. He positioned himself so half of his upper torso was out the window. He fired the Remington and the kick surprised him as he never fired a shotgun before and he was knocked back into the car and almost dropped the Remington.
Cowan grabbed a hold of Hobbs in order to keep him from falling out of the window. Hobbs pumped the shotgun and sent another spread down range. Hobbs this time maintained his position as he was ready for the kick from the Remington this time. A few fell but it had no effect on the number of zombies that were coming. Bobbie turned the steering wheel slightly to the right. The shotgun meet the face of an oncoming zombie and the butt of the shotgun slammed into Hobbs’ face. “Damn it!” said Hobbs. “We are almost to the end.” said Bobbie. He turned the steering wheel hard to the right and the back of the vehicle slide knocking zombies to the ground. They rounded the corner and there was a small opening as if God had parted the red sea just for them. Bobbie raced down the road hoping the wall of zombies would not collapse upon them like the Egyptians. “Where are we headed?” asked Cowan from the back seat. “The fuck out of here anywhere we can!” Hobbs interjected “We need to find some place we can hold up. It needs to be somewhere that is safe and we can barricade ourselves in while the hoard passes us by.”
Alpha of the Omega Page 11