First Wave Series Box Set (Books 1-3)

by JT Sawyer

  Nikki began sweeping the blade in swift arcs while Travis moved laterally. “What I really want to know is: why you?” she said.

  “Too bad you won’t live long enough to find out,” he said, flinging the machete at her face while reaching for the pistol.

  Nikki ducked and closed the distance with a deft jump, anticipating the move. Just before her boot was ready to land on his pistol, Travis spun and reached back instead for the baton, striking her on the calf with full force. Nikki’s legs buckled as she dropped her blade and grimaced; she let out a shriek and staggered back onto one knee, limping behind the food crates.

  Travis scurried on his elbows and grabbed the pistol, then darted over to the elevator. He slapped the buttons on the wall by the double doors and aimed the Glock in Nikki’s direction. As the metallic elevator doors spread apart, the computer operator stepped out. Travis swung his pistol and shot the man in the head, spraying bone and brain onto the wall. Nikki was up on one knee and began shooting. Travis lunged forward and grabbed her laptop off the table, yanking the power cord out of a portable charging unit on the floor. He dipped into the elevator as rounds ricocheted off the exterior walls. Looks like Plan A just turned into Plan B. No way of getting back in the way I came!

  Nikki was moving up on one knee, firing more rounds into the elevator as Travis clung to the interior. He returned fire and then loaded a fresh magazine. The only button to press in the elevator indicated up. Travis fired another volley and did a mag check. He only had a few magazines left and might still have to contend with zombies on his escape from the university grounds. The tunnel he had come in through, opposite his location, had three guards running down it, with MP-5s which they were unslinging. Travis looked at the elevator button. It’s either stay here and get shot or go up top and risk getting shredded by zombies.

  The three men began firing, taking cover behind stacks of equipment. Travis slammed himself back into the right wall and pressed the first-floor button while firing two rounds into the row of oxygen canisters next to the desk. Just as the doors closed, the room ignited into a wave of flame. The force rocked the elevator as the metal walls creaked from the explosion as he ascended.

  Travis emerged on the upper floor of the building. As the elevator doors opened, he swept his pistol around with one hand, clutching the laptop under his other arm. The room before him was empty, with discarded weapon crates littering the floor. He scanned the hallway in either direction and then headed to a window, peering out over the grounds below. He could see hundreds of zombies swarming the area.

  While tucking the laptop in his vest, he noticed a yellow biohazard symbol with a sword running through the center ingrained on top of the device. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at the familiar symbol, which he recognized from a biodefense lab he had once visited in Virginia. It seems like this little visit has been chock full of revelations—and I thought I had retired. He zipped up his vest, and then headed down the dimly lit hallway towards a fire exit door which led to the roof. He quickly climbed the stairs and came out on the east corner of the building. Travis walked to the edge and strode along the perimeter, searching for escape routes.

  “Bulldog One, do you copy?” Travis said into the sweat-covered microphone in his ear, but only heard static. “Bulldog One, do you copy, over? This is Young Pup. In need of immediate extract from roof of university sciences building, over?” He removed the earpiece and looked it over, gently tapping it on his arm. The device was slightly bent but appeared to be intact. I sure as shit hope they’re gettin’ this message on their end. He pressed it back into his left ear and listened, but the same static ensued. The sting in Travis’s shoulder and back from the knife wounds was piercing through his concentration. Staring over the edge of the two-story building, he could see a mass of decrepit zombies looking up at him, sniffing the air and trying to figure a way up to his location. He gripped his shirt sleeve and clamped down on it, trying to stem the flow of blood from his knife wound.

  The static in his ear was drowning out as more undead moved in around the building. They were clamoring along the sidewalks and overgrown lawn, searching for any living thing they could consume in their path. Travis ran to the edge of the asphalt roof to peer over and saw a rusty fire-escape stairwell filling with creatures, wrestling and climbing over each other in a feverish hunger to reach him. Within minutes the air filled with an acrid stench as a mad torrent of creatures began flooding the stairs.

  Chapter 12

  “Desert Dog, this is Bulldog One, do you copy?” said Crawford’s voice, coming into Katy’s earpiece as she skulked along a thick treeline one mile south of Flagstaff. She held up a fist, motioning to the rest of her team to come to a halt by a fallen ponderosa pine.

  “Go ahead, Bulldog One.”

  “Are you in position yet?”

  “Negative. We are about a half hour away. We got separated from the other teams after we left the trucks. I think we’re farther out then we’re supposed to be. We’re in a thick forest by a tri-forked canyon southwest of town.”

  “Copy that. You’re closer to us than the main fighting force, so rendezvous at our location instead. It’s on the map I gave you.”

  “Roger. Desert Dog out.”

  As she returned the radio to its belt pouch, she swung her head quickly to the right. She smelled a foul odor permeating the cool mountain air.

  “Over to my eleven o’clock,” LB whispered to her, pointing beyond his left shoulder to a dozen zombies staggering towards them.

  “I’ve got movement behind us as well,” Nora said. “Another twenty creatures, about fifty yards away.”

  “Dammit—like mounting for an attack against the bikers isn’t bad enough,” Katy said, sliding the safety down on her AK. “I say we sprint down the trail and keep moving towards the main location with Crawford. No way I want us to stay here and battle it out with these things.”

  The others nodded and, at Katy’s prompting, they all sprang up and bolted onto the leaf-littered trail. The undead saw their movement and immediately veered off in slow pursuit. After a quarter mile of running, the group stopped alongside a massive basalt slab jutting out of the forest floor. Katy took several deep breaths, recovering from the run but also sniffing the air for any signs of more creatures. A breeze was wafting up from the direction they had just come, and she couldn’t tell if the faint ammonia odor in the air was from the creatures behind them or another batch in the area.

  She inched up ahead and crept around the slab to get a better look. As she did, a large hand reached for her ponytail, yanking her forward and unbalancing her. Katy looked into the eyes of an immense zombie. She could hear the rest of her group skirmishing behind her as creatures moved in around the rock. The huge beast chattered its crusty brown teeth and pushed her against the slab, causing her to drop her AK. Katy tried to withdraw her pistol but the huge figure was already closing in to bite her face. As he pulled back, Katy saw the swift movement of a machete clip the creature behind its left hamstring, causing it to crumple backwards.

  She saw Becka strike another blow across the back of its shoulder and then pounce swiftly with her machete, cleaving the zombie across the neck and shoulder. Katy shook her head, her vision blurry, and retrieved her AK while staggering to her feet. Becka looked back at her and both women nodded in relief. Katy raised her rifle quickly and yelled at the girl, “Get down,” as she fired three rounds into an oncoming creature.

  She grabbed Becka’s hand and darted to the right by a rock pile, and saw the others, who had just dispatched two zombies, running up to their location. There were close to fifty more creatures circling their location, their low moans and stench flooding over the landscape. She grabbed her radio and turned it on, trying to calm her breathing. “Bulldog One, this is Desert Dog. We need help! We are being overrun by zombies,” she said, her cheeks flushed and her stomach tightening.

  “Desert Dog, the nearest team is thirty minutes out. I don’t have anyone else
in that immediate area. You’re gonna have to handle this one yourself, Katy. Fight or run—those are your options.”

  “Copy that,” she said, slamming the radio into its pouch. Her heart was racing and felt like it had moved up into her throat. Her vision was narrowing and her hands began shaking violently. She felt nauseas and her mind raced for a way out of this nightmare.

  “What should we do, Katy?” shouted Nora.

  The creatures were now moving like a wave over the forest floor. Katy looked up, scanning a distant meadow beyond the treeline, then flung her head back while tightening her grip on the AK. A tight crease ran across her cheek as she clenched her jaw and took a deep breath, and then another, while anger began racing through her veins. “There’s no way in hell I’ve made it this far all these months just to die here in the jaws of one of these fucking creatures.”

  She stood up, gasping in another deep breath and raising her weapon. “Let’s punch a hole down the middle of these RAMs and then get to that field in the distance. Get mean! And if we die, then we go down in a vicious fight,” she shouted, firing into the rotting heads of the two nearest creatures.

  The others stood and began firing, dropping zombies in a swath before them. LB turned and provided rear support, shooting at a few creatures moving in from behind. The entire group stayed in a tight cluster, shooting and moving, like a single-celled organism floating over the forest floor, clearing a path as obliterated zombies peeled off to the right and left. Katy could see other creatures from the periphery, moving in from the edge of the forest behind them. She quickened their pace, each person shooting, reloading as needed, and coming to a trot as they plowed through the remaining horde.

  The field was only a hundred yards away and the last zombie had just fallen to Katy’s rifle as she yelled behind her, “Let’s go. Run!” She held her smoking AK at a low-ready position as she sprinted into the parched meadow, the others following on her heels. “Keep moving,” she yelled as they sped across the field into another stretch of thick forest.

  They continued running for another mile, hopping over fallen logs and skirting around numerous boulders until they reached the base of another shallow canyon. They all turned and scanned the forest behind them for any movement or unusual odors. Once she was sure they were safe, Katy leaned against a small sapling, hunching over to catch her breath.

  LB plunked down on the ground next to her, panting. He looked up at her with a smirk. “Who says that walking all those stairs each day at the Grand Hotel wouldn’t pay off,” he said. A faint smile crept out from the corner of her mouth and turned into a chuckle. She kept inhaling the crisp mountain air and started cackling, which soon progressed into an uncontrollable laugh. Katy dropped down one knee and tried to muffle her nervous guffaw in the corner of her shirt sleeve.

  “Geez, Katy, it wasn’t that funny,” said Rachel. “Besides, we were almost served up for breakfast back there. How you can laugh right now?”

  Katy paused and let out a sigh. “Sweetie, when you’ve just pushed through the gates of hell, you either laugh at the devil or you cry, and I don’t have too many tears left to shed.” She stood up. Her legs felt rubbery and her hands were still trembling; she took another deep breath and then switched out the magazines in her AK.

  “Let’s push on and get to that link-up site. We should be there soon. I’ve had enough fun playing zombie tag for one day.”

  Chapter 13

  Crawford and his teams made bounding moves towards the two remaining Blackhawks until they were certain the LZ was secure. The smell of burnt metal, fuel, and splintered timber was billowing out from the nearby treeline where the other helicopter had gone down. Three other teams from the Winslow truck convoy were making their way into the meadow, having just arrived at the east end of town. Katy’s team was coming up from the rear, entering the meadow.

  “Let’s check out the fuel and weapon supplies on these birds,” Crawford yelled to two men behind him. “Then Dane is taking one of these up and is gonna redecorate the downtown area with those miniguns. The Sedona and Jerome battalions are pinned down at the south end of town. The east end is out of the question for attacking because of the thousands of RAMs concentrated there. If we can reduce the biker army in the main part of town, we can sweep in from the other directions and finish the job.” They slung their rifles on their backs and climbed inside, getting to work.

  As Katy came up alongside the helos, she froze in her tracks at the sight of Pete. “My God—what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Colorado by now with Travis?”

  “He and I intended to come here all along to scout the area. You know Travis—he wanted to keep things low profile so you and the others wouldn’t want to come along.”

  Katy swung her head around and then shot an excited glance over Pete’s shoulder. “Where is he? I don’t see him. Is he in the forest?”

  Before he could answer, they heard Travis’s garbled voice coming over Crawford’s radio. They both moved away from the commotion around the Blackhawks and strained to make out the words in between rumbles of static. Crawford responded but couldn’t get a reply from Travis. “His comms are down. I can hear him but he’s not receiving.”

  He yelled back to one of his men, who trotted over to his side. “I want all the unessential equipment removed from the Bell helo. We’re gonna have to use one for a rescue op.”

  Crawford looked over at Katy and then called out beyond her to LB, who was unloading gear from the Blackhawk. “LB, I hope your flying skills aren’t too rusty, because you’re all I can spare right now. You and your team are going on a hot extract. Grab some fresh mags off the dead bodies here and saddle up.”

  Chapter 14

  Travis could hear the clanking of footsteps dragging on metal as the putrid creatures began shuffling up the fire-escape steps on the outside of the structure. “Bulldog One, this is Young Pup, in need of immediate extract from atop science building, over.”

  He stole a glance back at the rooftop and sidewalls. Nowhere to run or hide, he thought, gritting his teeth. I sure hope my intel paid off for Crawford and his people. He sprinted to the other side of the building to survey the landscape below. The building was completely surrounded as pudding-faced zombies pushed their way beyond the charred windows and frames on the first floor or pawed at the brick walls, making feeble attempts to climb.

  He inserted a fresh magazine into the Glock and prepared for the incoming horde. As zombies began snaking their way over the top of the fire-escape staircase, his vision was reduced to a narrow bandwidth and his mind drifted back to his son. You’re going to grow up to be a fine man, Todd. Wish I could’ve been there for you, buddy.

  With the first zombies pouring over the lip of the roof, his mind was forced back to the present. He steadied his pistol and lowered his body into a fighting stance, the pain of his wounds fading as adrenaline once more pumped through his veins at the approach of the coming mass of creatures.

  As he prepared to shoot the first tangle of creatures flooding over the lip of the roof, he heard rifle fire coming from his rear, splitting open the first three zombies’ heads and torsos. Travis turned and saw an approaching helicopter with several people hanging out the sides, shooting into the mass of undead moving his way. A faint smile flared out from Travis’s dry lips as he began backing up towards the descending helo. He could see LB at the controls, while Rachel, Nora, and Katy were inside, unloading their rifles into the writhing mass of decomposing creatures behind him.

  He shoved the pistol into his belt and made a dash for the landing bars of the helo, which was now four feet off the deck. He jumped for the white landing skids as hot brass showered from above onto his shoulders from Nora and Rachel, who were now furiously shooting creatures within inches of him. Katy reached down and grabbed Travis’s bloody shirt sleeve as the helo lifted back up. She pulled him into the main cabin while he grabbed onto the leg of the rear seat. The ravenous zombies were still surging over the stair
case, stepping over the fallen creatures in their path while shrieking upward at the departing helicopter.

  Travis rolled over onto his back, his breath racing as his eyes darted around the cabin. Katy was leaning over him, glancing at his wounds then back up to his face. She ran a hand over the side of his head, looking down into his eyes and smiling. “You sure make a girl work hard for your attention, don’t you?”

  He took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Yeah, but ain’t I worth it?” he said.

  “I thought you were gone for good, Travis. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. Next time we’re in a hotel together, you’re not getting away from me in the middle of the night.”

  “Sounds alright by me, beautiful,” he said, putting his hand over hers.

  As he sat up, Nora and Rachel moved beside him, helping him up onto the back bench, the barrels of their AKs still smoking. While Katy got out the first-aid kit and began cleaning up his wounds, Travis glanced over at Becka, who was in front, beside LB. She leaned over and smiled at him. “Looks like nearly the whole group’s reunited, eh, Travis?”

  “You throw quite a party, amigo,” shouted LB over his shoulder.

  “Where are Pete and Evelyn?” Travis said.

  “Pete’s with Crawford and his team sweeping through the west end of the city,” said Nora. “With her hip as bad as it is, Evelyn remained in Winslow to assist at the field hospital.”

  “I just got orders to swing over to the downtown area,” said LB.

  “By God, this storm doesn’t ever let up, does it?” said Katy.

  Nora turned away from the window. “I would’ve thought with all the gunfire and fighting we’ve heard already that there would be some progress made by our side. It seems like there’s no end in sight to all this killing.”

  Travis smirked. “That’s how combat goes sometimes. You pack a lifetime of intensity and chaos into one 24-hour period, then spend the next ten years of your life trying to recall who you were before that day.”