Nightmare-Z

by S. A. Lowry

  “It’s going to smell like ours too if we don’t find a damn vehicle soon,” a scared Reagal responds. A concerned Reagal has no more jokes to counter with at this point as he yells back to Trevor and the rest of the men of what he just observed. As a result, the soldiers begin checking more vehicles for function with a sense of urgency. Hunter and Gilroy still remain in the rear of the formation.

  Christopher, who is up a ways ahead near Trevor’s point position, notices a white transport bus which is commonly used for American forces being transported from Kuwait City to the bases along the border. These buses are civilian in nature and can carry many passengers. As a last ditch effort, he attempts to board it and check it out.

  However, he can not see what may lie inside because there are curtains which conceals all the windows from the inside of the bus so American troops can not be seen in the open while being transported.

  He slowly approaches the front of the bus while trying to peak in. He can not see anything. As a result, Christopher walks around to the front entrance of the bus and boards it cautiously while looking down the sight of his rifle. Once he ascends the short staircase of the bus, with the aisle of the bus and the seats now in plain view, he discovers in horror what lies behind the curtains of the bus. Every two man seat from front to back of the bus lies a dead soldier. Some with their eyes wide open, others leaning forward into their bags which dwells on top of their laps in a sort of resting position. The smell which lingers inside the bus, is so intense he begins instantly puking onto the center aisle of the floor. The wet flopping and choking sounds of Christopher, apparently become loud enough to give away his presence.

  Once he is finished throwing up his snack from earlier, he spits out the remaining remnants of chunks which was stuck down his throat and in his mouth. Once he is able to gather himself, he looks up and wipes the tears away from his eyes. What he notices at that point, is every single supposed “dead” passenger on the bus now staring at him with widened, pupiless eyes glaring in his direction.

  The soldiers whom were leaned forward on their bags, are now erect in their seats staring at him. Now in sheer panic mode, Christopher slowly takes a few steps back as all of the passengers begin rising up from their seats to eagerly pursue Christopher. He quickly hops off the bus and closes the door behind him to hear instant banging and thumping noises from the windows. Screams soon follow. He doesn’t know how long that door will hold. As a result, he runs up to Trevor to inform him of the find as Trevor is desperately attempting to start up another vehicle without success as a half eaten corpse lies next to him on the passenger side propped up in the seat with his seatbelt on. Trevor orders him to get the rest of the boys past that bus with a quickness.

  Christopher instantly picks up sprinting up and down the line ordering his soldiers to move up quickly. The mob all the way in the back are now slowly gaining ground on them as well. The rest of the soldiers sprint up to Trevor’s position as he now moves on to the next vehicle. As they push up, the rest of the squad can hear the loud moans, screams and banging on the glass come from the lone white transport bus. None of them ask questions as to what is in it.

  A few minutes go by as the rest of the squad continue searching vehicles up ahead. Shattering glass can now be heard from the bus Christopher was on as Gilroy, whom is still taking up the rear of the formation with Hunter, noticing pale, sick like soldiers crawl through the shattered windows out of the bus and slamming onto the pavement in order to pursue them. Their loud moans and screams at the sight of Gilroy and Hunter attract more commotion and attention from afar.

  It now appears to Hunter, that the mob whom they escaped earlier down the way are now becoming attracted to the sounds which are being emitted by this new group of undead they encountered on the bus. As a result, the mob back the way begins picking up their pace in the direction of Trevor and his men.

  “Keep searching man! Hurry up!” Hunter yells back to Gilroy and everyone else. Now in a state of panic at their possible pending doom, the soldiers begin hopping into vehicles without even checking them for corpses. Reagal, makes this mistake inside one of the humvees he identified near his location. As he ran up to the driver’s seat, he didn’t even bother to look inside prior to opening the door. Once he does this, he quickly takes a seat on the driver’s side and begins turning the switch back to start the engine. As he does this, he tries to make room for his weapon by canting it off to the right side to place on the gunner’s platform when he rifle goes right into the mouth of a bloodied soldier whom is laying down face first on the gunner’s platform.

  Reagal instantly notices this when he feels teeth clamp down upon his receiver as he attempts to place it down. He quickly turns back in shock and backs away as he notices a half eaten soldier reaching for him and chopping away at the air in his direction. The soldier is missing his legs and only has one arm to grab. A reluctant Reagal reaches back inside the cab and grabs the sling of his weapon and pulls it back towards him escaping the jaw of the assailant. Reagal quickly closes the door and moves on to the next awaiting truck up ahead.

  As Hunter and Gilroy hop vehicle to vehicle from the rear, Hunter figures out how dangerous this can be. Especially after seeing Reagal up the way quickly escape the last vehicle he was just in. He decides to play it safe and pull security for Gilroy as he checks the engines of the vehicles they pass. As Gilroy does this, he notices the bus passengers starting to pursue him ever closer. A few of them stumble along and as they get closer to Hunter and Gilroy, their screams and moans grow louder. So loud in matter of fact, as they pass by a flat bed truck with a canvass erected in the back, the noises disturbs something lurking inside.

  Hunter bears witness to this as Gilroy continues to go about his dangerous job for the rest of the group. It appears, one of the tailgates were left down on one of the downed vehicles with the flatbad and canvass on it. As the noise around it grows louder, Hunter notices a pile of bodies begin rolling off the back and out of the darkness of the truck and onto the ground as if they were ducks in a row. Many of them, appeared to be in bloodied summer PT shorts and T shirts. An endless trail of bodies commence to smacking the pavement and then shortly rising up to look around and notice Hunter. They begin their pursuit.

  Many of the bodies which have fallen out of this vehicle, appears to be more energetic and can actually sprint much faster than the others. This was horrorifying to Hunter as he instinctively opens fire on them as they charge him. Gilroy quickly hops out of one of the driver’s seats to help Hunter fend off the flesh eating cannibals. The loud popping sounds of gunfire startle the rest of the men up ahead as they look back to make sense of the situation. They all figured that now the mob has caught up to them as Trevor orders them all to run.

  “Run as fast as you can!” he orders. Hunter and Gilroy notice this and begin picking up their pace as well to catch up with their squad as they constantly look back and drop the pursuers who are now matching them with their run time. Hunter and Gilroy have no choice but to turn around and shoot back more often because of the fierce running pace these newly met cannibals are performing. A few magazine changes later and more rounds sent, Hunter and Gilroy appear to be doing a good job of keeping the attackers at bay.

  A three hundred meter dash soon ensues as there is no end to the vehicle graveyard in sight. American military vehicles still continue to remain backed up along the road in an apparent traffic jam of death. As the squad frantically moves and narrowly continues to escape and open fire, assailants drawn by the noise begin coming out of the cabs of the vehicles all around them. Some opening up the passenger and driver’s side doors on a momen’t notice as the soldiers run by them in order to reach out and grab them. All of them narrowly miss. Gunners propped up lieing dead in their turrets can also be seen coming awake and reaching for them as they scream and hiss at the passing soldiers.

  Once the squad narrowly breaks three hundred meters, an anxious and worried Ringo, has a hunch. He notices a lone M1151
humvee, clean as a whistle with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted up top, sitting at a 45 degree angle alongside the middle of the road. He is drawn to it for some reason and decides to give it a shot.

  Before entering, he quickly looks through the glass to see if it is clear. Nothing, he tells himself as he quickly opens the door to start the truck. To his excitement and much needed joy, the moment he turns the engine switch clockwise the engine fires up in the loudest roaring sound he has ever heard come out of a military vehicle. He quickly pokes his head out and yells to everyone for the good news. Trevor quickly turns his head around and shys for relief.

  He sprints back to Ringo’s location and orders everyone to “hop the hell on now!” Christopher takes up a fighting position on the hood facing down the rear of the formation. Trevor follows suit. Ringo stays in the driver’s seat ready to take off on a moment’s notice. Price quickly sprints up to the backside passenger door and tosses his rifle and equipment into the cab and struggles to crawl in to the gunner’s platform and ultimately the turret in order to man the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun.

  Reagal comes sprinting up just behind Price and runs to the backside driver’s passenger seat. He throws his gear down and takes a seat trying to catch his breath as he appears winded.

  Gilroy and Hunter are still back a ways trying to catch up to the vehicle as Trevor and Christopher begin waving their arms in the air and shouting to inform them of their new ride.

  Hunter notices it with a quickness as he constantly turns back to engage threats as they get closer with his rifle. Price quickly wiggles up to the turret and engages the turret ring hand crank with his non firing hand in order to spin the barrell of the machine gun in the direction of Hunter and Gilroy’s attackers. Once Price does this, he gets a quick beat on the mob quickly advancing on Hunter and Gilroy from the rear. He places his thumbs on the butterfly trigger and attempts to fire.

  Nothing.

  He cocks the bolt back with his right hand in the palm up position and attempts to fire again.

  Nothing.

  “Awe, come on!” desperately yells Price in a frantic tone of voice.

  Not sure what to do at this point while time is running out, he makes a last ditch effort to call back to the rest of the group inside and near the truck.

  “By any chance, does anyone have a headspace and timing gauge?” Price yells urgently.

  “Hello no!”

  “Nope”

  “NO!” “I don’t work for TRADOC,” Reagal yells back up to Price, apparently having some sort of sense of humour now that they have found a working vehicle and aren’t completely doomed at this point.

  A now panic stricken Price decides to take matters into his own hands while yelling out in frustration and attempting to open the feed tray cover while his hands shake uncontrollably.

  “Damn POG’s can’t get a machine gun up to save their lives. It better be the fucking headspace and not the timing!” a frustrated Price angrily yells after closing the feed tray.

  He now attempts to lean forward out of the turret. He quickly places the charging handle slightly back with his left hand so he can line up the notch of the bolt into the visible hole of the receiver on the right side of the weapon. He then urgently begins unscrewing the barrell with his right hand. Once he has completely unscrewed the barrell of the .50 caliber machine gun off, he re-tightens it into the receiver while keeping the notch visible in the hole of the receiver which is the most important part when screwing on an M2 Browning machine gun barrell.

  He continues to turn frantically until he can turn no more. At this point, Trevor and Christopher are opening fire. Once the barell can not be turned anymore, he quickly backs off two clicks or turns the barrell back in the other direction an additional two clicks he feels with his hand. He then quickly proceeds to cock the bolt back once again.

  Once he does this, Price takes aim just over a sprinting Hunter and Gilroy’s head and begins opening fire into the crowd of cannibals which is just only around ten feet behind them. The sounds of ear bleeding automatic machine gun fire quickly dominates the strip of road. Trevor and Christopher realize Price now has control of the situation and quickly hop into the truck. Christopher takes the backside passenger seat as Trevor takes the front passenger or TC side seat.

  Price’s heavy volley of fire is so dominant, it begins tearing limbs and heads off the charging attackers. The ones whom are too close to Hunter and Gilroy, are met with.50 caliber fire to the torso center mass instantly ripping them in half and making them fall straight to the ground. Price’s heavy volley of fire quickly changes the game for the squad and bides Hunter and Gilroy some time.

  A delighted Hunter witnesses Price tearing up the crowd as cracks and super sonic sounds ring through his ear drums. Gilroy and Hunter quickly become disoriented, however, it does not stop Hunter from an early celeberation.

  As Hunter moves he begins cheering and swearing for Price’s awesome new toy. As he moves, he looks back to check on Gilroy and the devestation Price is leaving behind when he notices Gilroy falling behind once again. Instead of taking off, Hunter takes cover behind a downed vehicle and begins shooting into the crowd as he props his weapon up against the ledge of the driver’s side window door in order to cover Gilroy’s movement. Hunter experiences a comfortable and stable platform as he engages his targets with lethal accuracy.

  Once Hunter sends his fifth round as he looks down his EO tech sight, he wittnesses Gilroy lose his footwork and trip over himself. Gilroy falls face first into the ground. Hunter picks up his rate of fire on the sides of Gilroy as he quickly rises up and begins running toward Hunter’s position. That is when something comes over Hunter, something he can not explain.

  Without even thinking about it and as the loud roaring sounds of Price’s .50 caliber Machine Gun continue to chop down the crowd like they were tall pieces of grass, Hunter switches his circular EO tech sight from the head of one of the attackers in the mob just behind Gilroy to the center of Gilroy’s chest. He waits two or three seconds, then takes one last look at Gilroy’s face and fires two rounds into his stomach. Gilroy instantly falls face first into the ground once again and does not move for a moment.

  Hunter removes his eye from his sight in shock at what he just did. A few seconds pass by while Hunter stays there in his position still contemplating what he had just done, when Gilroy raises his head up off the pavement. He can not stand up, however, turns over on his back to look at the ever fast approaching crowd of flesh eating fellow soldiers. Gilroy moves his arms back and forth for his weapon only to find it no where near him. He realizes that he dropped it when he hit the ground after being shot in the stomach by his supposed comrade.

  It now lays about five feet away from him underneath a disabled military vehicle. He quickly holds his stomach and the wound to prevent further bleeding. Once he sees the mob just a foot away from him staring down upon him ready to consume him, he emits out a loud terrifying last scream. Hunter bears witness to this. His screams begin changing tone and sound as he is eaten alive by dozens of individuals.

  One of the cannibals grabbed ahold of his hand and began tearing each finger off with his mouth. Noticable muscle and tendons could be seen hanging out the assailant’s mouth as the rest torn into Gilroy like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Others gouged into his eyes with their thumbs with immense pressure as many of those ‘things’ appeared to do from time to time. Many more shared pieces of his thighs and lower calf muscles as one of the larger ones proceeded to mount a mortified Gilroy and clamp down into his pectoral muscles while tearing apart each fleshy chunk at a time. Gilroy’s blood sprinkled into the air as a result and peppered the hungry frantic mob.

  The boy did not deserve this, Hunter now realizes at this point.

  “What have I done,” Hunter whisphers below his breath as he appears to be in a hypnotic state while staring at Gilroy being eaten alive. Hunter can almost identify his name being called out by Gilroy as he is devoured. Then,
the sounds are no more. Hunter quickly picks up and makes his way back to the truck as Price now has stopped firing.

  Hunter is now excerting profanities out loud one after another in panic as he pushes out his last sprint to the awaiting truck where the rest of the members of his squad resides The dead, now seem to ignore Hunter and the rest of the group as they direct attention towards Gilroy, who is now their meal. Hunter dives into the back of the truck from a dead sprint right onto Reagal’s lap. Reagal grabs his ACU’s and assists thrusting him into the gunner’s platform as Hunter slides and wiggles himself in below Price’s feet. Trevor instantly looks back as Christopher stares on.

  They both ask Hunter where Gilroy is. Hunter stays silent for a second until Christopher begins shaking him demanding the where abouts of their soldier.

  “He is gone. The meat heads got him,” a tired and winded Hunter exclaims as he struggles to catch his breath. Trevor’s eyes grow glassy as Christopher’s jaw drops in shock. Reagal instantly looks back out the window in the direction of the mob gathering around one individual who is unseen. Ringo remains stoic and instantly drives off the road into the moondust without waiting for the order.

  Nobody says a word. Still in shock however, Ringo shakes it off and focuses on getting the rest of them out of harm’s way as he bypasses the traffic jam of disabled military vehicles and cuts across the sand paralleling the road.

  Hunter repositions his uncomfortable posture and opens up the duel slides in the back which leads to the trunk of the humvee. He places his feet in there along with the lower half of his body as he lays flat down on his back and has his shoulders exposed in between Christopher and Reagal’s seat. Hunter now stares up into the ceiling of the cab and observes Price as he spins the turret around pulling security.

  Hunter lies there continueing to stare up at Price while waiting for a response or reaction out of him. Hunter is now deeply concerned as to whether or not Price witnessed what really happened back there. If Price was to know and told the rest of the squad, the consequances would be dire.