by Gary Hickman
Lia witnessed the whole thing and now targeted the fuel tank. Meanwhile, the infected were crawling out of the bed of the truck. A bunch made it to the ground and stood up to run and attack when, WHOOM! The truck went up from a shot Lia put in the fuel tank. It blew the infected around the truck off their feet. The next second, dozens of figures were stumbling around and on fire. It looked like a bunch of match sticks dancing around. It also blew a dozen that had come upon the truck as it wrecked off their feet, but escaped the flames. The other two trucks were coming up the east and westbound lanes of Rt 421.
Webb surveyed the scene as it unfolded in front of him. The rest of the ordnance could take out the rest of the infected who were on foot, but it would do nothing to the two trucks coming up each side of the highway.
Webb turned to Shaw, “Guess we will have to take these things out, old school.”
Shaw chuckles, “That’s fine by me.” He rotated his M48 to send rounds toward the truck coming east. He immediately took out the driver and passenger, which sent the truck careening off the road and into the woods on the south side of the highway. The truck plowed into a couple large trees and stopped. You could hear the infected in the truck bed bouncing off the sides of the metal walls.
Shaw and Webb laughed as they looked at one another. The infected scrambled out of the truck and running for the two. Shaw opened up and Webb shouldered his M4, putting three-round bursts together. They dispatched the couple dozen infected in a couple minutes.
The truck coming west on the highway was coming in hot. Lia was taking shots at the windshield, trying to take out the driver, while Izzy and Allison were aiming at its tires to slow the truck down. The truck was getting close to Lia’s strategic firing point.
A couple well-placed shots exploded the front tires of the truck, sending it lurching to one side. The truck flipped, and it crashed into the north side of the woods. Izzy and Allison started celebrating until they realized the truck crashed right into the wood line where Lia and her tree stand were. Allison pushed on her comms, “Shaw, Captain Webb, that truck wrecked right where Lia is.”
“Shit!” voiced Webb.
“You finish the rest of these fuckers, I’m going to help Lia.”
Shaw nodded and went back to work. Webb jumped over the berm and ran toward the wrecked truck. Allison and Izzy were right behind him. The infected that were in the dump bed came pouring out from around the back end of the truck.
“Take them out!” Webb yelled.
Lia saw the truck flip over and head right for the tree she was in. She scrambled to jump out of the stand, but it was too late. The truck hit the tree and propelled her a distance into the woods. She hit a few branches with the back of her head as she tumbled in the air before it knocked out her.
Moments later Lia stirred and heard sounds in her darkness. They weren’t cheerful sounds either and developed clarity. There were screams, shouts and gunfire. She thought she heard her name but wasn’t sure with all the noise and her cloudy state. As she opened her eyes, she was looking up at the sky and lying on her back. She sat up, then felt the wave of dizziness wash over her. She eased back down for a second and tried to make out the sounds she was hearing. She shook the cobwebs from her mind and starting to get up. A searing pain radiated from her leg and she let out a cry.
Lia looked down to see a seedling tree, about an inch in diameter, protruding out of her thigh. Blood was pooling all around it and it had her impaled to the forest floor. She grabbed the small seeding tree to snap it off, but the pain was excruciating and it was too thick. The pain made her see little starbursts. She then looked around to make sense of where she was. In front of her to the right, she could see the wrecked truck wedged against some trees, lying on its side. The top of the truck was facing her and she could see that the dump bed was empty except for two infected that had gotten caught between the side of the truck bed and a couple of trees. One was wedged hanging in the air and was almost cut completely in half. Its upper body was smashed into the trees and just hanging there. Its bottom half was hanging close to the ground with a trail of intestines connecting the two halves. Blood and other fluid, Lia couldn’t make out, was trickling down onto the ground. The sight was disgusting, but the accompanying smell was even worse. The second infected had its hips and legs wedged in a “V” from a splitting tree trunk. The top half must have fallen to the ground after the crash.
Lia knew things would not get better unless she called out for help. She called for anyone of the team and then was quiet to hear a reply. She thought she heard someone repeat her name. Was that Webb?
“I’m here. I’m hurt and cannot move,” she yelled. She heard voices telling her they were coming for her. She allowed herself a slight release of anxiety, but couldn’t let everything go because of the pain she was in. She heard rustling to her right and looked over to see no one coming. She called out for Webb, for Allison and for Izzy, with no response. She heard rustling again, but still saw no one coming. She cocked her head to locate where the sounds were coming from. She heard it once again, and this time saw some ground brush move to her front left. She called out to whoever it was once again. The rustling was still 10 yards away.
A figure slid out from the brush. It was one of the infected, well half of one of the infected. It was crawling on the ground, using its arms at the elbows. The entire lower half of its body was gone. Only scraps of flesh were dragging behind it like some kind of macabre cape. Its intestines and spine were also trailing behind the creature. It locked eyes on Lia and then hurried its effort to reach her.
Lia screamed and panicked. She heard voices calling for her, but they still seemed too far away. She reached down to her other thigh to pull her pistol, but felt that her holster was empty. She looked down and could not locate it.
Fear gripped her, and she thrashed around in panic, which brought waves of pain and threatened to cause her to pass out. As the thing continued to crawl closer, Lia thrashed around harder which brought more pain. As pain racked her body, it took over her headspace, pushing the fear away. She embraced the pain, which manifested into anger.
The anger consumed her, and she felt extreme hate for this thing. Her mind cleared the panic and the need to fight took over. With her mind somewhat clear, she reached down to her boot and withdrew her back up knife. She was now egging the thing on to come closer.
She was screaming at the top of her lungs, “Come on fucker, come on!” The infected crawler had now come close enough for Lia to strike. She shot out her blade, which raked across the side of its head, skipping off the skull and toward the thing’s face. She didn’t just wait there to see what damage she caused. She continued to strike out again and again, growling like an animal. She eventually caught it in the side of the head by the ear and felt her blade sink in. She heard more rustling, but kept plunging the blade into its skull. With her last stab, she looked up to see Webb coming through the shrubs toward her. He looked surprised when he saw her plunge the blade into the infected’s skull for the last time.
“Holy shit, girl. You got it. Are you okay, Lia?” Webb asked and then looked down to see the stick protruding through her thigh.
“Shit! Izzy, we need you over here! Bring the med bag!” He bent down to assess the damage.
She looked at him, “I can move my toes and bend at the knee, so I’m good to go there.”
“We’ll get you out of here and back to the facility. Shaw, how are we looking out there?”
“We’re good, Cap. Cleaning up a few stragglers. We will need to regroup quickly and go get my boy!”
“Understood.” They extracted Lia and with Shaw’s help got her back to the facility. Izzy worked on her while Shaw and Webb resupplied and prepared to find Priest. They received a call on the two-way radio.
&
nbsp; “Go ahead, Doc.”
“Captain, they moved Priest to another location 4 cliques away from the original target.”
“Did you put eyes on him?” There was a long pause.
“Doc, did you put eyes on him?” A little more forcefully this time.
“Copy, we saw him.”
“Good, we will work with him to extract him out.”
“Sir, w-we saw him but it wasn’t good.”
“Explain. Cut to the chase, damnit!” Webb wasn’t mad at Doc, it was his anxiety surging from thinking Priest may be in serious trouble or worse.
“Captain, they carried him out. He was not under his own power and was unconscious. At least I think he was. He looked bad, covered in so much blood. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing or not.”
“Fuck!!!,” Shaw had come up behind Webb. “I am going to kill every one of these motherfuckers! I swear to God, I am killing every fuckin one of them! No, not just kill them, I’m going to make them pay!” Shaw was shouting and completely full of rage.
Webb didn’t even try to deal with him. “Tell us where you are. We are on our way.”
“Copy that.”
An hour later, the four team members regrouped just outside the new location of where they held Priest. Webb asked for a sitrep and Neville looked solemn as he briefed Shaw and Webb.
“They brought him in a couple hours ago. Six contacts were with him and we’ve seen four additional plus that fuck stick was at our fence.”
“That Brody guy?” Webb articulated.
“Yeah,” Neville responded. Neville filled them in on the layout of the building based on what he could see. They had Priest in a room at the mid north-west side.
“What’s the call, Captain?” Shaw inquired.
Webb thought for a moment, “Neville, you and Doc take the front but stay out of sight and find a strategic firing point. You guys will keep them busy and cause a distraction. Shaw and I will breach the rear door and search for Priest. We need to hit quick, so they don’t have a chance to execute him. Questions?”
“What if you have issues breaching the rear door?” Doc asked. “If so, have Neville shoot that lock out and you guys breach the front.”
“Copy that, Cap.”
“Ok Reapers, move out.”
CHAPTER 43
Priest’s entire body was screaming. He was lying on the floor of a space he didn’t recognize. He slowly looked around and knew this wasn’t the room they had him imprisoned in before. He was fighting to stay conscious so he could attempt to assess his surroundings and situation. The room was an empty bedroom from what he could determine. No furniture or carpet, just a hardwood floor covered in his blood. The blood was drying and was sticky now. His ribs hurt and were making it hard to breathe. He attempted to sit up, but the pain was agonizing. He worked through it and sat up against a wall. His breath was coming in rapid gasps. His mind was a muddled mess, and he was reaching out for a memory or a thought to grab hold of. Anything he could remember to center himself on.
Just at that moment, Lia flashed in his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut and visions of her came rushing in. The first time they met, the first time they made love, the first time they fought side-by-side. He opened his eyes and tears were running down his cheeks. His mind was in overdrive now, with memories and visions flashing like an old movie projector. Lia flashed in his mind, Webb, Shaw, Doc and Neville flashed, Izzy, Allison and the scientists flashed, Myles, Doug and Abarra flashed.
He was still taking stock of himself as the door opened and Brody, along with Thomas, came inside. They both had metal chairs that they unfolded and sat down looking at Priest. Priest was doing everything possible to not look as broken as he felt. It was hard for him to do when his body was betraying him. He was going into shock and his body was shaking. His lips were so swollen and split, he wasn’t able to keep his saliva in his mouth so he had drool running down his chin. His drool was dark crimson from all the cuts inside his mouth. All the adrenaline his body had been pumping out was stiffening his joints and making it painful to move. Thomas looked at him for a long moment.
“It didn’t have to be like this, Mr. Priest. We gave you many chances to make this right, and you refused. Now, all your friends must fight that massive horde and I guarantee you they will not survive. But just like you, they were stubborn, and they refused. So, that brings me to where we are now or will be soon. The horde will be whittled down some thanks to your friends. Unfortunately, the horde will ultimately kill all of your remaining team. We come in, mop everything up, and ultimately get what we started out to obtain. With your group and those infected crazies taking each other out, you have eventually eliminated both threats we would have had to deal with. So, I guess I should say thank you. So, thank you.” Thomas said in a condescending tone.
Priest said nothing. “What, nothing funny to say? No little quips or bouts of jocularity?” Thomas asked in a patronizing tone.
“I – I would, but I’m trying to hold everything in so I don’t shit all over myself. Leave me a little dignity, would you?” Priest whispered out.
Thomas let out a huge belly laugh. “Mr. Priest, you never disappoint. I sure wish you had joined our group. I know you would keep us in stitches”
“I was thinking about it, but then you guys kicked the shit out of me. That hurt my feelings.”
“I guess that’s true. Well, Mr. Brody enjoys his work. He may get overzealous sometimes.”
“Speaking of stitches, give me five minutes with Brody and I’ll think about joining you.” Priest said while trying to smile through his destroyed lips. Thomas looked over at Brody and smiled.
“Ok, forget about it. The shape I’m in, I doubt I could whoop a paper bag,” Priest joked.
“Well put, Mr. Priest. I guess....”
BABOOM! The building shook and debris rained down on them from the ceiling. Weapon’s fire followed immediately the explosion. The firing was repeating after each other, so it was definitely a fire fight. Priest’s ears knew exactly what that sound was.
Thomas’s eyes got wide, “What the fuck!” That was the first time Priest had heard Thomas curse. He and Brody exchanged looks before Thomas ran to the door and opened it. Men were running back and forth.
“What the hell is going on?” Thomas asked one man.
“We’re being attacked from the front, Brother Thomas,” the man said. Thomas let him go and looked back at Brody.
He caught Brody’s eyes, “Kill him and then meet me up at the mountain post.” Then Thomas took off running.
“I hope this works,” Doc said as he fired an 40mm high explosive grenade from his M203 into the front door. The blast took out the door and part of the frame and wall on the right side. Neville scoped out the remaining windows for faces. He saw two appear in the left window. Pop, the one man went down. Neville put the round through the wall about mid-ways down on the left. Doc sent another grenade through the door, BOOM!
Shaw heard the second explosion and kicked in the back-door. He rotated out and Webb entered the doorway. Two men were running for the back door before Shaw kicked it in. They stopped in surprise, but Webb didn’t give them any time to think. He fired at them on full auto and cut them down in seconds. They heard a couple of yells from farther down the hallway, then running footsteps approaching.
Shaw entered through the door, squatted and trained his rifle down the hallway. A man poked his head around the corner of the long hallway in front of them. Webb squeezed off a few rounds at the man, but he ducked back just in time. Shaw trailed some rounds through the wall and they heard a scream. A body fell out from the corner and hit the ground. More yelling could be heard from down the hall
way.
Webb pulled a grenade from his vest, pulled the pin and let the spoon fly. He waited a second, then threw it. It hit the left wall just before the corner and bounced to the right into whatever room or space was there. Yells and shuffling were heard, and then nothing but the explosion. The dust settled, but they heard no more voices.
Brody stood up from his chair and reached for his pistol. He took a couple steps toward the open door and raised his pistol. Voices yelled “grenade” and then there was an explosion. Brody was stunned and was stumbling around. The hand holding the gun dropped to his side and Priest decided it was now or never. With every ounce of strength he had left, Priest lunged for Brody, putting one of his hands on the wrist of the hand which held the pistol. With his other hand, he snatched the blade Brody stored in a sheath on his side. Priest let out a yell, swung the blade around and plunged it into Brody’s neck. He gave it a quick twist and then fell away in exhaustion.
Brody’s jugular vein spurted blood out like water from a garden hose. He dropped the gun and wrapped both hands around his neck. Priest watched Brody’s life literally drain from his face as the blood rushed out onto the floor. Priest was staggering from the effort of swinging the blade, but could lean close to Brody, who was trying to keep as much of his blood in his body as he could.
“Next time you take a prisoner, make sure they’re tied up or dead, before getting close to them, you fucking piece of shit!”
Brody was stumbling and slammed against the wall.
“Where is Thomas?” Priest yelled into Brody’s face. Brody tried to articulate something, but all he could manage was a gurgling sound. Brody then collapsed to the floor and Priest soon followed.