I settled for keeping my eyes open and just hoping we would not run into any Zombies. About five minutes later, after passing some signs for the town of Sevierville, Reeves let off on the throttle and we slowed down to a sane speed. Looking over his shoulder, I saw the reason why and started scrambling for my pistol. About twenty Zombies were running towards us. I assumed that whoever had kidnapped Ann may have stirred them up since I couldn’t figure out why there would otherwise be a bunch of them out here on the outskirts of town.
Regardless of why they were here we needed to deal with them before we could keep going. Reeves brought the ATV to a complete stop, pulled up his AK and started rattling off shots in full auto. I gave up trying to unstrap my AK with just one hand while sitting down and started picking off targets with my nine millimeter. Loud booms behind me let me know Ginny and Thomas had got in the fight too.
None of those Zombies got close enough to us to be of much concern. Reeves drove through the pile of blue and bloodied corpses. Looking down at the ground around us, littered with the dead, I got an idea.
“Zombie Stampede!” I yelled at Reeves.
“What?” He yelled back.
“We get a bunch of Zombies to follow us and then we hide and let them run past us straight at the Koreans. Zombie stampede! We go in while they’re taking on the Zombies, free Ann, and head for the cabin.” I waited for Reeves to understand the brilliance of my plan.
“That’s a pretty lame plan. But, it’s better than the ‘go in shooting and come out dead’ plan we’re currently on.” Reeves slowed down so Thomas and Ginny could catch up.
“So. You don’t want us to kill Zombies as we go through town, just dodge around them and make noise to attract more Zombies? And these Zombies are going to follow us and help us rescue Ann without trying to eat her? Then, the ones that haven’t made it there yet are going to get out of our way so can get to eh cabin quickly?”
I hated it when Ginny shot holes in my plans.
“Got a better idea?” I asked her.
“Nope, operation suicidal pied piper is now launched. Let’s go get Ann back.”
“Ok, then. Let’s do this thing. Drive slow once we get into town. I’ll fire a couple of shots off to get all their attention. Then we ride and dodge. Don’t kill them unless you need to. When I raise my arm once speed up to catch us. The next time I raise it I’ll point to a spot for us to hide.”
Without waiting for any more questions or taking time to thoroughly hash out the plan we accelerated loudly into Sevierville. For once, I was hoping there were a ton of Zombies hanging out that would hear and chase us. I wasn’t disappointed. The Zombies in this town were buzzing around like a bunch of angry wasps after you spray their nest with a water hose. They started swarming around us and we were soon racing for our lives versus trying to lead a stampede. It seemed to be shaping into my plan pretty well. Of course, it would have worked out the exact same if I had not made the plan but at least now we had a reason to feel good about the hundreds of monsters chasing us who would eat us alive if we made the slightest mistake.
None of us needed to make any extra noise. The Zombies were doing that very well on their own. Reeves and Ginny were being forced to dodge increasing number of Zombies at full speed. They were coming at us from all directions. I started taking shots at the ones who were getting close enough to reach out and rip at our clothes and the ATV. I had my legs squeezed tight on the ATV. I looked over and saw Ginny and Thomas were in the same boat as we were. Single shots were ringing out from them as well.
Reeves dodged around one who had leaped for us and its hand went right under the AK and got stuck in between the rifle and the strap. I was yanked right out of my seat and onto the ground. Hard. I had the breath knocked out of me but the Zombie was ignoring its now dangling arm and trying to crawl up on me to get a bite of my skin. I fumbled around for my pistol but it was gone. I pulled out my knife instead and stabbed weakly at the Zombie. I scraped off his rib cage and my arm got thrown back with the Zombie pinning it to the ground and clawing at me.
A loud boom. The Zombies head exploded above me and brains and assorted other nastiness went all over my face. Reeves was pulling me back on the ATV. Ginny and Thomas were parked right beside me and were covering us as Reeves tried to get me seated and I tried to get my bearings back. Ginny was keeping a steady pace of fire laid down in all directions while Thomas was blasting away with single shots. I was dizzy and disoriented. I think this one was only a mild concussion though. I was becoming quite the concussion connoisseur.
Reeves used a couple of bungee cords to basically tie me to the back of the ATV then jumped on and aggressively ripped the throttle backwards. Sending us flying forward towards a lone Zombie sprinting at us. We hit it head on. The Zombie somersaulted over the ATV. I saw it trying to grab at us even as it was flipping through the air above us. An intense fixation on its target with no regard for its own life. Fear is one of the things that makes us human. The difference between civilians and warriors has always been the ability to set aside this fear. Cultures have used drugs, shame, chants, brainwashing and other techniques to get their soldiers on the field. From the Spartans refusing to surrender, to the men who charged the gunfire volleys at Gettysburg. Officers and sergeants had always had to be cheerleaders of massacre.
All of that hit me as the zombie flew over us. They had no fear. I could only assume that the developers of this virus had done this on purpose. What greater weapon than a man with no fear of death? The insane, cannibal part was probably a bit of an unintended side effect on the perfect soldier formula. You could almost see the late-night TV commercials.
“Want to be the perfect soldier! Have no fear in the face of the enemy! Eliminate the need for 90% of your bodily functions! Try Zombax!” Then would come the quick blurb about possible side effects and approval. “This medicine has not been approved by the FDA but the Koreans swear by it! This may cause bloating, diarrhea, red eyes, cannibalism, insanity, and the end of the world as we know it.”
Maybe my concussion was worse than I thought. I snapped back to reality. Reeves was pounding on a little kid head who was trying to bite his thigh through his jeans. For a little kid, he was evidently pretty strung out on the Zombie juice because he was not letting go for nothing. Reeves was driving with one hand and hitting the kid with the other. The kid was on the same side as the throttle so it was an awkward cross body punch Reeves was delivering and we were slowing down. Ginny and Thomas were ahead of us now. I caught a glimpse of panic in Reeves eye as the kid was moving up and a very vulnerable part of his body was becoming a viable target for the Zombie.
I fumbled around in my pocket until I found the backup knife I had secured there. I pulled out the switchblade, pressed the button on it and the blade shot out. I leaned forward and stabbed the Zombie in the back over and over again until the blade on the cheap little switch blade fell off. The Zombie slid off, dead or dying, with Reeves still punching at it. As the Zombie fell it looked up at me and for a second all I saw was the innocent eleven-year-old boy underneath all this crap. More fodder for my nightmares. I knew I’d be seeing his face over and over again.
We were through the mob. We were the proud marshals of a Zombie parade that we would hopefully be able to lead right down the throat of the enemy. Beaten and torn and tired, adrenaline running out, we kept moving. Careful to keep the Zombies in sight so they kept coming at full speed. We needed them to get to the end of this race in a big mass. Not strewn out along the course of the highway. If they were strewn out along the highway our getaway would be impeded and the main plan to have them stampede the Korean stronghold would not be very effective.
I was racking my brain to remember what the Bass Pro Shop looked like. I knew it was big. It was on the other side of I-40 from the direction we were coming. There was a big intersection right there. That was all I could remember. If we rode the four-wheelers over the overpass and straight at the Bass Pro shop, we would be spotted and p
robably shot long before we got close enough to do anything impactful. We needed a way to get the Zombies to cross the road first. We needed a drone that had speakers on it.
We did not have a drone with speakers with on it. We didn’t have a dog I could tie a fake human head to. We had nothing but ourselves. If we got off the four-wheelers and got the Zombies to chase us on foot that may work. Right up until the Zombies caught us and ate us or the Koreans realized the people leading the Zombies were not Zombies and shot us. We could wait until it got dark and go in then. At which point we’d only have a few hours before the whole place was bombed. Also, if we decided to wait for cover of darkness what exactly would we do with our blue-skinned entourage?
I saw a sign saying I-40 was only one mile ahead. I held up my arm for Ginny to know to speed up and told Reeves to gun it. We left the lead Zombies behind. I saw the sign saying to exit onto I-40 up ahead and pointed at the trees on the right side of the road. I told Reeves to pull over there and stop. We all met up on the side and started snagging our gear off the ATVs. I thought about it for another minute and we pushed the ATVs into the woods with us and hid them quickly so they could not be seen easily from the road.
We ran through the woods on the side facing the highway until we got to the trees on the edge of the interstate. Ginny scrambled up a tree and the rest of us hid in the underbrush, eyes focused on the other side of the road. We could see the Bass Pro shop from here but did not see anything going on. We were on radio silence but Ginny looked down and shook her head no. She did not see anything going on either.
Our Zombie parade started crossing the overpass. The lead Zombies were still running while the ones spread out behind them were either jogging or walking. It did look like we had managed to get a large group of them to keep on course. The Zombies continued over the overpass towards the turnoff to the Bass Pro Shop. I was betting on their uncanny ability to end up besieging places with normal humans in them to get them to turn and approach the shop. I wasn’t disappointed.
The lead Zombies seemed to hesitate, then moved into the plaza the Bass Pro shop was sitting in. We heard the sound of a high caliber machine gun starting up and saw the Zombies getting ripped apart. That could have been us, riding in on four-wheelers, getting torn apart in a hail storm of death.
I saw a chance to use this to our advantage. There was a copse of bushes and trees in the middle of the interstate. It wasn’t dark outside yet but it was starting to turn to dusk. Visibility would be limited and the defenders would be distracted by the big group of Zombies coming at them. I told Thomas to stay here with Ginny and guard our backs. Then I tapped Reeves on the shoulder and pointed at the trees. He understood immediately and we both broke out of the underbrush and sprinted across the road to get into the cover of the trees in the grassy median.
We moved forward as far as we could and still be under the cover of the trees. It occurred to me we could have just gone down or up the road about a mile and probably crossed over a lot easier and with a lot less danger. Oh, well maybe next time. The gunfire was intensifying up by the shop so I figured this was as good a chance as any to make a run for it. I looked at Reeves, he nodded, we both got up and sprinted for the other side. A couple of bullets whizzed by us. I assumed they were just taking pot shots at what they thought were a couple of Zombies coming for them.
We made it to the other side of the road and started crawling through trees and bushes again. Staying on our hands and knees to maintain as low a profile as possible. We were both carrying a ton of ammo and weapons. I had no idea how we were going to get close enough to do any damage with it though. The machine gun had gone silent up ahead, single shots rang out as the Koreans finished mopping up the Zombies we had managed to throw at them. On the plus side, it was starting to get dark. That should help us sneak a little closer. Glancing at my watch told me were running low on time to make this all happen.
We worked our way around as quickly as we could crawl. Finally, after running low and fast across a narrow service road we were in position in a bunch of bushes with a direct line of sight to the side to the massive Bass Pro Shops building. We could see the military vehicles pulled up tight to the buildings now. They had camouflage tarps covering them but the US satellites had found them anyway. A few sentries walked around the perimeter of the building and we could be sure there were other eyes watching that we could not see. This mission was looking like a bust.
We lay there for a while. There was no way for us to get any closer without risking being seen. We couldn’t lay here forever or bombs were going to start dropping on our heads. We couldn’t even be one hundred percent sure that Ann was in the building. She could have been kidnapped by homicidal hillbillies for all we knew. We were in god’s country after all.
The thought of them holding her and possibly torturing her or doing who knew what to her had my blood boiling though. Like unleashing Zombies on me wasn’t bad enough now they had to come along and take my girlfriend? This was really starting to get a lot more personal. I could now see the Koreans walking around. I decided I hated them. Not knowing what else to do I started prepping myself to get up and attack. When all else fails, try charging straight for the enemy with your weapon cycling on full auto is my motto. I indicated my plan to Reeves. He was down.
I made sure I had clips of ammo in easy reach. My arm was killing me from the crawling around we had done but I wasn’t too worried about that considering the amount of pain I figured I was fixing to be running straight towards. I jumped up and aimed my AK in the general direction of the enemy and stated to sprint forward.
Reeves grabbed my legs and jerked me back to the ground. I landed on my chin. My rifle did not go off. I thought that was a miracle at first, until I figured out I had forgotten to turn off the safety. That would have worked great on my fearless charge. I looked back at Reeves and made a WTF face at him. He flipped me off and then pointed at a small building next to the Bass Pro Shop. I saw a white van sitting beside the back door and a small knot of people standing there. Only some of them were Koreans.
Ann was standing there. She was handcuffed but there she was. One of the Koreans reached over and once the side door was open he shoved her into the back roughly. She tripped over the side of the van and fell to the ground. The Korean walked over to see if she was Ok and she kicked him between the legs. She kicked him hard enough to lift his body into the air. She kicked him hard enough Reeves and I both felt sorry for the guy. We’d gladly kill and not think twice about it but what she had just done had to be against the Geneva Conventions.
Another of the Korean soldiers hit her hard across the face with the butt of his rifle then picked her up and shoved her in the van. The soldier then helped the guy Ann had kicked into the van as well. I counted one guy going in the back of the van, one guy driving, and one guy in the passenger seat. The van moved out and looked like it was going to go right past us. I stood up and shot the driver in the head through his window.
Then I got up and moved in on the van. Reeves had shoved his gun through the driver’s side window and put his shots into the passenger’s body before he could do much more than try and get his pistol out of the holster. That left the guy in the back to deal with. The van slowed down and rolled past us. The gunshots had attracted the attention of the Koreans at the base and we heard them suiting up and getting ready to come down and see what was up. Not having time to wait on the guy in the back to come out, I motioned for Reeves to go to the side of the van and beat on the door. I opened up the driver’s side and dumped the drivers body on the ground.
Entry 35: Run Like Hell
The guy in the back was bound to pop out either the side, the back, or try to come up through the seats. I bounced into the driver’s seat, too amped up to even notice all the pieces of an exploded head I was getting all over myself. The passenger was still breathing, bleeding and obviously not a threat, but he was alive. I heard Reeves beating on the side of the van. I swung around to get my gun into
the back of the van.
The Korean guy in the back was struggling to hold Ann in front of him while trying to point his pistol at me. As soon as Ann saw me she reverse-head-butted the guy in the face and dropped to the floor. The guy got off a couple of shots as I put a round through his face. Ann started ripping through the guy’s pockets looking for keys to get loose. I turned around and put the van in drive while yelling for Reeves to get up here. The passenger door opened, the still breathing Korean got yanked out and dumped on the ground. Reeves jumped in and I started accelerating to get us down this road and onto the overpass.
Reeves shoved his rifle out the window and started shooting in the general direction of the machine gun nest. I’m not sure if he hit anything or not but it kept the Koreans from ripping into the van with that big ass gun. Shots did start dinging off the van. I ignored them and focused on driving. Reeves methodically slung lead from his AK-47 in the general direct of any of the enemies he saw poke up their heads. We’d only attacked the van maybe sixty seconds ago so probably had another thirty seconds before the Koreans got their act together and zeroed in on us. My goal was to be across the overpass and hauling ass for the cabin before that happened.
Ann popped her head out of the back. Her nose was bleeding and her eye was sporting a big shiner. She looked beautiful. She gave me a quick kiss and said thanks. Reeves asked what about him and she gave him a quick hug and kiss as well. His kiss was on the cheek though so mine was like a million times better. It’s the little things.
Zournal: Book 3: Scorched Earth Page 19