Our Last War - Day 19 - Blake
I had arrested the girl with the truck crew. Georgia, the same one that had been close to Hussain. The fact she was planning to use him to steal supplies for her gang disgusted me. She had been found up on the hills outside the first preliminary fence near a dirt road where their truck had approached. She had forty bags of food and three fuel canisters, near a dumpster containing more food and supplies and ammunition. Bravo squad had been tasked with pursuing their truck into the night. It was now six o'clock in the morning, six hours since they left. There had been no sign save for the few large explosions that had occurred overnight of their exploits. The explosions were not as large as the airport crash one, but large enough to make the ground shake, even here miles away. The fires were bright in the night. Thomas had been in a small room locked with the girl inside the HQ for about half an hour now, questioning her on the truck, who, what and why. I waited outside, for word from Bravo Squad and Thomas. The sky shone yellow and orange above me as I looked out on the world. It was dead, decaying, there was no hope left, the steady stream of survivors we had received had since my broadcast first aired had abated, and almost ceased entirely now. There was no one left in the city, none. What was the point? I thought. Tomorrow we would run out of food, no one can foresee the chaos that will erupt when its revealed. There was no help coming from anywhere, no one on the radio. Jake had given up months ago. Does God delight in the carnage of the world? James had asked Hussain that once, before all of this mess. Does he sit and watch atop a tower of gold this demonic massacre with a smile? Would God allow his children to befall such an awful fate? Is it a game to him? Has humanity finally grown stale or does he wish a grand crescendo to his once perfect creations? It seemed so prevalent now. Back then we spoke of manmade problems like genocide, global warming and war. We are so tiny, so tiny in the scope of things, Hussain would reply. God loves us, he will judge us, and he is forgiving. I didn't believe in him anymore. I questioned my sanity as I questioned my God, I’d lost faith in almost everything, but not myself. If she or he were real, I thought, then they would not allow such suffering in their creation. And if they truly created everything as it is, then they were evil I thought. Suddenly, the door to the HQ slammed open and Thomas emerged, looking rather annoyed.
“She won't speak, she won't live,” he informed me.
“What's to be done with her?” I asked.
“She’ll have to die,” he answered, walking out above the walkway to the camp from the train station. I followed him intently.
“That's not right,” I said before he turned to face me with a steely glare, something I had grown accustomed to in these past few days.
“We don't have the time, the food, the reserves and I don’t have the patience to explain to you why she is more useful to us dead than alive!” He exclaimed. I sighed, knowing he was probably right. It didn't feel right in my heart.
“Tomorrow, I will have a jeep ready for us to leave,” he added further.
“I understand,” I muttered quietly, in silent disagreement.
“What of Bravo Squad? Not back yet?” He asked.
“No,” I informed him.
“Then we will have to assume they caught up to this group and failed their mission. That’s four more men lost, we can't afford to lose anyone else if we are to make it north.”
“North?” I said in surprise.
“That is where the rumours say people are surviving,” Thomas spoke in hope.
“I did not think rumours would entice you. You seemed the sort to rely on facts,” I said.
“Times change,” he replied, while overlooking the ragged camp from atop the station.
“We will leave this place with the fences still up, it's up to them whether they want to stay here and keep safe,” he said, of the people in the camp. He gave me an uneasy look, then sped off scratching his head stressfully. He was in over his head, he thought someone had to take command and lead, but not in the way Richards had done. It was like he was trying to emulate him. I stepped down the broken escalators and out the glass doors to the camp, where a family was arguing with some soldiers. They were under Thomas, following his orders. They fought for a man who had a bite on his neck that one of the few remaining doctors shined a flashlight on. It was dirty, infected, the veins in his neck pulsing around the teeth inflicted wounds. They were going to kill him. Out of the corner of my eye I found Maddison, out of her army trousers wearing jeans. I went over to her, ignoring the scene infolding to my right. I supposed the uniform wasn't being enforced anymore.
“Blake,” she said.
“Thomas wants to move north,” I told her.
“Why?” She asked.
“We are running out of food, we lost more men last night. This situation cannot go on indefinitely. He wants to ride north with what's left of the platoon.”
“Up north will be just the same as here,” she said.
“I know, I think the same but he is my friend and I must follow him. But it's not like, I can't see how much of a monster he’s become,” I told her, sitting down on a plastic chair ripped from the arena inside the exhibition centre.
“You can't follow him forever, he's unhinged,” she said to me, confirming my thoughts.
“Well, he's not the only one!” I said with a deranged smile. She looked at me with a face that told me to stop being silly. “I won't abandon him,” I then said more seriously.
“Like you will abandon the camp, like you think you abandoned your family?” She said with a subtle laugh and a smile, not knowing the weight her words carried.
“I didn't do that,” I stated angrily, thinking of Hussain, another I had failed.
“But you did, where do you think they are? They’re not here. We lost contact with the other safe areas days ago. So where do you think they are Blake?” She asked, coming close. So close I could smell her perfume. She wanted me to realise how easily I would abandon everything aside from Thomas, she wanted me to reconsider my loyalty to him.
“If you can abandon your family then why not him? I’m sorry, but you need to think about what you want, who you want to be,” she almost whispered as she was so quiet.
“I want to be with you,” I told her honestly, changing the subject. I had to say it, this was the most intimate we had ever been. She shook her head immediately and smiled.
“No you don't, really? If that were true you would talk to me more,” she joked.
“Really,” I replied. “Yeah! You know I try so hard to talk to you,” I said, showing her my teeth with a lazy smile.
“Ok, if we’re doing this now… I think your quite sweet,” she spoke carefully. I smiled. This was the first time we had spoken about our feelings, in the three months I had known her.
“Well, that's nice to know,” I whispered.
“It is,” she spoke, sitting beside me.
“Did I ever tell you how pretty you are?” I asked her, taking the leap. I brushed her hair over her ear as she gazed into my eyes.
“No, you never,” she said, twirling her hair while giving me eyes that said a thousand words. The sound of someone pretending to throw up caught me unaware. Maddison frowned and looked behind me. It was Mason, gagging at our conversation making a fool out of himself. He quickly stopped and continued on as if he hadn't done it, as if he hadn't ruined our moment.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he went by. I turned my attention back to Maddison, who took a moment to smile again. A relief washed over us both, and I held her hand. We looked into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity and all I felt was bliss, before stealing a kiss from her luscious lips. We both wanted this, so we went back to the medical bay where it was private, hand in hand, away from the tent where we slept and away from anyone who could disturb us. Her touch was all I wanted…
“Shots. Shots fired!” A voice rang out in panic. It was one of our colleagues, running at full pelt past the medic post. I made myself decent and stepped out to the a
fternoon air. I heard a few bullets ring out in the distance, as a quiet panic washed over the camp and all inside. Thomas ordered it forbidden to fire live rounds at the infected, as it would draw more in.
“Why the hell are they shooting for? What the hell was that?” I asked Maddison, who emerged from the tent with her medical bag. I marched over to the western gate, overlooking the train station, arena, airport and past that, the silent city. Thomas was upon it, looking out to the road running down the colossal warehouses. A string of shots burst in the distance. I felt something was wrong.
“Thomas!” I shouted to him, jumping up the metal stairs.
“Blake, it's the first preliminary gate, I had Gillespie and Johansson on it,” he said while waiting atop. We watched the distance for signs of life.
“What are they shooting at?” I questioned, looking down at the railings and wondering. Then, all of a sudden, as the gunfire rattled and ceased, a man came running around the corner, onto the road, before collapsing in the middle of the street.
“What the hell?” Someone on my left muttered. A baby's crying echoed onto the steel walls of the exhibition arena, drawing something nearer. The silence was deafening, not even the birds chirped in the skies. I looked around at the soldiers on the fence. There was me, Thomas, Mason, Maddison and five others, while Jake was above in the watchtower. This was all our platoon had been whittled down to, a small group of survivors trying to protect a thousand people, the last of the safe zones for all we knew. Suddenly a black swarm swung up from the pavement past the warehouses, running to us, running so fast, with teeth as black as charcoal. Zooming towards us, lighting fast, bursting out across the distance, an army of death advancing in a blitzkrieg. It was the dead from the city. I turned back to Maddison and then to Mason, both of whom had their mouths agape as the undead engulfed the man crawling on the road. Thomas raised his rifle and fired, prompting us all to shoot our weapons. A line of bodies fell but hundreds more rushed to the forefront. Thousands all the way for a mile, there were too many to count, men, women, black, white, rich and poor.
“Mason, the cars, get to the cars!” Thomas shouted when he realised there was no use in fighting. Maddison struggled to steady her gun as the recoil blew her back.
“Maddy run!” I yelled to her. Thomas took me by the shoulder. We both knew this was it, the end of the camp.
“We need to fall back to the safety positions!” He screamed into my ear, before looking at the watchtower.
“Get back on the motorway. Jake! Call Gunner Toms unit!” He ordered.
“Get everyone here!” A soldier cried.
“Go. Harry! Take Charlie's squad, check the south gate. Get back to those light gun emplacements, we hold the gate long enough to get everyone out so we can head north,” he ordered to one of the other privates. I ran down past the my frantic fellow soldiers and into the camp with Maddison as the infected hurled themselves to the railings on the fence. Jake leapt down from the scaffolding and hurried to me as the screeches of the dead filled the air together with the screams of the civilians. They crashed against the fence, almost toppling it.
“It's not going to hold, there's so many,” I muttered, but no one could hear me over the deafening sounds of panic all around me. Jake held his rifle firm and burst a few rounds into the crowd of gnashers, knocking a few of them down. Fellow soldiers rushed to the gun emplacements hidden around the camp.
“Bring up the tank. Bring up the warrior!” A voice cheered from behind me. I looked behind and found the camp in total dismay. Thomas came running from the gate as the infected pushed against it. They leaned their weight against the gate, prompting people to flee. Pvt. Harry returned with around seven men from the south gate to add to the defence.
“Where's everyone else?” Thomas asked him.
“They’re gone sir, they deserted,” he answered.
“Tanks are all gone sir, we got a handful of patrol vans or vehicles. They're all gone,” another private informed Thomas.
“They deserted?” I said in surprise. Gunner Tom's small platoon would have been enough to defend the camp for enough time to evacuate the camp, but now? We were dead meat.
“Fucking cowards. Tell the other squads to defend the east side of the camp,” Thomas said to the soldier.
“Everybody defend the camp!” He announced as a tank came, as the mortar shells exploded the dead at the back of the army. It cleared a large portion of them, but more scaled the fence, climbing up and attacking civilians. The perimeter was already breached, it was too late.
“We go and we hold that west wall! We get to the motorway, every non-essential personnel help the civilians into the cars,” he said, to the workers and medical staff.
“Small fireteams on the north wall are to help here,” he gestured. “Shoot for the head. Use your tactical scope!”
I made for a defensive position as the fence gave way more, as more and more bodies piled onto the barbed wire, and mangled flesh dangled from the spikes.
“Reload!” Yelled Thomas. A hail of gunfire rattled against the fence and embedded into the reanimated corpses, passing through body to body. The heavy machine gun on the flank of the hill ripped through them, shredding them like paper, but suddenly the gun stopped firing.
“Fence aint gonna hold,” I muttered, as I continued firing, as the mortar shells blew a hole in the fence on the north west side.
“Fence aint gonna hold!” I shouted again louder, seeing the situation as futile. The fence fell down completely, and the dead could now climb over it with ease.
“Oh man,” Jake whimpered as the dead came ever closer, nothing could stop them now.
“There's too many,” spoke a private despaired on my left.
“Pull them back! Pull them back now!” Thomas ordered, as the soldiers close to the fence were swarmed and devoured.
“We need a full retreat. This is suicide!” I shouted to Thomas.
“I’m fucking out of here!” Jake screamed and turned, running away past the tents. All of a sudden, the tank came through as the fence fully gave way on our right flank to thousands of undead, crawling up the hill where the gun emplacement was. They were quickly overwhelmed as we retreated further.
“Clear the path,” called a soldier atop the tank, his body waist up above the hatch. They opened fire with the turret, blowing a hole in the crowd that quickly filled out and came forward again. They were running to us, with savage intent. One with purple shining eyes dragged its legless corpse along with a snarl and a snapping crack of its dislocated jaw.
“Shit!” I reacted in amazement, I had never seen such a red blur, as blood rain fell down colouring the abandoned gate half in crimson. The tank had blown them apart, scaring and waking gods small creatures from miles away.
“Bring up that armoured vehicle!” Thomas ordered for the tank to advance and drive over them.
“Woohoo!” Cheered the tank crew as they mowed down infected upon infected, now with the fifty-calibre machine gun. I turned back to the camp and the incoming herd of dead on the right flank. The gun emplacements were battering down on them, for every one they hit another three would run forth.
“Yeah!” Cheered the men beside me, oblivious to the danger to our right. I searched for Maddison; I couldn't find her. Where had she gone?
“Out of ammunition. We're out! Abandon the tank!” I heard the crew call, as I looked to Thomas, and in that split second, I knew we were lost.
“Thomas! Come on!” I yelled to him. He looked amiss, scared, as a tank crew member was pulled down and savagely eviscerated.
“Break off break off. Tanks out I repeat, tanks are out!” The crew announced, as a single man opened the hatch and jumped out, the undead chasing him. They had overwhelmed the camp defence entirely. The image of being surrounded instilled fear into me like no other, as I ran for the first time in my life where I felt truly helpless.
“Break it! Ahhh!” The turret operator was tackled like in rugby by the infected and fe
ll as the tents were set upon by the savage monsters, sifting through the camp looking for flesh to bite. Families were torn apart, people, taken in an instant, feasted on by decayed hands. Where the hell was Maddison?
“Run! Run!” I shouted to Thomas, as he kept up behind me and we ran through the camp, passing feeble old women and children. I should help them, I should fight to my dying breath to defend them.
“There's too many of them! Get back!” A soldier gave his life to defend a helpless family. But I ran even faster, I didn't want to end up like him. I ran and ran to Mason's car, the infected practically breathing down my neck. Their screeches unnatural, gross and loud, hissing in delight at the carnage unfolding, flooding the camp with their rotten, rancid faces. Killing everyone in sight.
“We're overrun, we're overrun, evac!” I shouted, scampering with the fear of all fears away to some sort of safety through cowardice. The gnashers chasing me were relentless, I was sure this was it. I was deafened by the explosion of a grenade behind me, falling down to the ground in the fetal position, I saw more undead gunned down. Squads from the east fence arrived. I took in a deep breath, as I looked back and saw half the camp in chaos. All the people I had saved were dying. Maddison took my hand, helping me up.
“There's more of em coming from the south side!! The camps flooded, we need to go,” said Jake.
“Radio transmission with Henry's squad is down,” one of the men said to Thomas. I reloaded my gun stepping back, further away from the massacre. When I looked up a moment later a group of the undead rushed to us.
“Fuck!” I screamed, turning to flee. I couldn't fight that!
“Keep spraying!!!” Thomas ordered.
“Oh my god!!” One of the squads yelled as he was tackled and thrown back with force, swarmed by the hungry dead. I stumbled away, tripping on an empty pram and falling. I cautiously gazed ahead and saw one of the soldiers who had saved me lying on the floor, his leg was being munched on by gnashers.
World Down: A Zombie Novel Page 25