Dead in the Valley

by C M Rutherford

  Wade Marshall

  ◆◆◆

  Dante saw the scouts he had sent ahead returning. The sun was getting close to rising, forewarned by the halo on the horizon. The scouts informed Dante of the roadblock ahead. They were just over two miles from their destination.

  Dante looked behind and the massive undead army was making slow progress towards them. They were about a quarter mile behind. Dante could not risk being caught between the dead and the blockade. He gave his scouts instructions to pull as many of the vehicles blocking the road out of the way as possible so they could pass the obstruction. A horde this size would not be stopped by cars. The sheer numbers would eventually push through, but Dante and his men could not be trapped between the barrier and the dead. Luckily, they had acquired several vehicles outfitted with wenches.

  Having their instructions, the scout vehicles turned and tore off down the highway. Dante had ordered them to work fast as the horde would stop for nothing. They could not let themselves get caught in their own trap.

  The three scout vehicles pulled up to the blockade once again. This time, two of the trucks pulled up on the eastbound lane within ten feet of the cars blocking the road. The third vehicle stayed farther back, but everyone unloaded from three, except for the drivers of the closest trucks. Men quickly went to the wenches connected to the trucks, intent on pulling the cars out of the way.

  ◆◆◆

  Bull called the ground team.

  "Okay, Tommy. My guys will take out the two drivers, and make sure the vehicles are disabled. The combatants are all yours. When you hear the first shot, it's go time," Bull finished.

  Tommy Jackson, who was leading the ground team, gave instructions to the dozen men he had with him. Two of them would shoot the tires of the vehicles while everyone else picked targets on the men who were working to clear the barricade.

  Tommy reminded the men to take care with their shots. They did not want to inadvertently set off the trap before the horde came into range. The men all nodded in understanding and called out their targets. They waited for the shot to signal them to open fire.

  Bull waited for his snipers to signal they were locked on. When they both confirmed they had their targets, Bull gave the command to fire. The drivers of both trucks slumped over milliseconds apart as the snipers fired head shots. Dante’s men hadn't even hooked to any of the cars blocking the road yet. As one they all stopped and looked back to the trucks, not realizing those precious couple of seconds would cost them dearly. Shots from the elevated position to the north as well as the men to the south began hitting the tires, effectively disabling the gang’s transportation. By the time Dante’s thugs started running for cover, there were only two who actually got behind the truck. Thinking the shots had all come from the same place, they stood and began firing blindly into the woods on the south side of the road. The last things to go through their minds were the 50 caliber bullets from the two snipers Bull had with him on the knoll behind them.

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  Dante heard the two sniper shots, then a second round of gunfire. Two final shots rang out and only the sound of the engines and the hungry horde behind them filled the final minutes before dawn. They had intentionally slowed their pace to allow the scouts time to clear the barricade from the road. The dead were only a few hundred yards behind them now.

  There was only one route to change course, a side road about 300 yards back on the westbound lanes. Even so, making it there would require them to fight through part of their dead army. Plus, the chances of the horde changing direction and following them was high.

  Flip suddenly spoke up.

  "Have them bring the bus up. We unload the men and ammo and I will ram through the blockade," Flip proclaimed.

  "They have shooters in place up there," Dante replied.

  "I will stay low and have enough speed built up to get through or I won't make it, either way we don’t have a choice. I will not turn from this fight. Those bastards are going to pay for my eye and then some," Flip said vehemently.

  Dante called the bus to the front of the line. Everyone onboard rushed to unload the supplies and find new vehicles to ride in. Flip climbed aboard with a look of determination and hatred etched on his face. The mass of dead was only about one hundred yards from the rest of Dante's forces. It was now or never if their plan was to move forwards.

  Flip sucked in a deep breath and prayed he could build up enough speed to plow through the cars blocking the road. He matted the accelerator in the bus and ducked down as low as he could while still keeping an eye on the spot where the cars met rear bumper to front bumper. He gritted his teeth as the old bus slowly gained speed. With only 500 yards to the blockade, Flip hoped he could get enough speed to make it through the blockade. The motor struggled with the strain of the wide-open throttle. Halfway there, Flip guessed he would be around fifty miles an hour at impact. Bull watched the flurry of activity around the old yellow school bus. It was obvious they were going to try to ram through the cars blocking the road. The snipers were already taking aim on the windshield, trying to home in on the driver. If they stopped the bus, most of the gang’s forces would be too far away from the trap to be caught. He ordered the snipers to hold fire. They could only hope a spark didn't ignite the propane tanks when the bus crashed through. They needed more of the living forces to get closer. Even though there was a staggering amount of dead, the defenses at the farm would be able to hold them back. The living combatants were the real threat. They would be firing back where the dead would just be targets. The more of the living they could eliminate, the better.

  Even though Flip had prepared for the impact, he still took a nasty shot to the head when it slammed forwards into the steering wheel at impact. His vision swam and went dark as the bus pushed its way between the two cars, metal shrieking the whole way. He had let his foot off the accelerator after the contact and the bus slowly rolled to a stop about twenty yards on the other side of the barricade. Regaining his senses, Flip radioed back to Dante that he had made it through. He tried to start the bus again, but the engine would not fire. Flip didn't care. It had worked. He would get his revenge, at least.

  Bull held his breath when the bus hit the cars. Luckily the driver had picked the center point between two of the smallest cars. They both spun away from the bus one front end, one rear end as the bus muscled through. None of the tanks exploded on impact and all the barrels were piled next to the cars blocking the median so their trap could still be effective. Dante and the remaining vehicles of his force had begun following at a speed not much faster than a jog. When Flip came over the radio letting Dante know he made it through, they began picking up speed. Bull had the grenade launcher ready to fire on the barrels as soon as they got closer. Bull instructed everyone to go weapons free as soon as he fired the first round.

  Bull waited for the first few vehicles to move through the small opening. This allowed the dead to get a bit closer as the cars had to slow to go through the gap in the barrier. Soon they were lined up in a row, about thirty vehicles in all. Bull sent the grenade down range and it sailed true to hit the barrels filled with gasoline and an assortment of bolts, nails, and screws. The first barrel set off a chain reaction and a cascade of explosions went off in rapid succession. The barrels discharged their lethal shrapnel, pelting the cars waiting to go through the blockade along with the leading edge of the undead horde. Static began sweeping the vehicles below with the Ma Deuce, while Bull fired grenade after grenade into the approaching dead.

  ◆◆◆

  Dante was about to yell at one of the men in the back of the Jeep to move out of his line of view, when the explosions lit up the dark sky. Suddenly, the man was falling backwards right on top of Dante. Flip, who was running from the bus towards Dante’s vehicle, had no such luck as thousands of nails and other bits of metal tore through his body from his knees to his head. Dante yelled at the driver to go, but he too had taken multiple hits to the head and chest from the flying d
ebris. Dante threw the man who had fallen on him out of the Jeep and then yanked the driver from the vehicle. He got the Jeep moving, trying to get away from the deadly trap.

  A second round of devasting explosions lit the early morning as the propane tanks inside the cars that made up the barricade began igniting. The force of the detonations had lifted the vehicles like they were Matchbox cars. Car doors flew through the air, cutting swaths of destruction through the ranks of the infected. There were now large gaps throughout the barrier on both the east and westbound lanes. The gang members still able maneuvered their cars and trucks to continue ahead, looking for any avenue of escape.

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  Out of the thirty-plus vehicles, only fifteen made it to the other side of the barricade. Hundreds of the dead had been knocked to the ground between the force of the explosion and the shrapnel slicing through the air. The Ma Deuce and grenade launcher had worked to good effect as well. They had probably eliminated or disabled at least a thousand of the horde, but they continued to come like an endless stream. Many of the rotters caught fire as they walked through the conflagration. Between the gunfire from the elevated position to the south, the ground force to the north, and the undead horde, the gang members who were stuck on the west side of the trap were quickly dispatched. They had done what damage they could. Now it was time to bug out or else they would be trapped behind the horde and out of the fight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  The Last Stand

  I looked to my left and right as the explosions lit up the sky. Even though it was a cool November night, everyone had beads of perspiration running down their faces in nervous anticipation of the battle to come. Even from a couple of miles away and forest blocking part of the view, the flames from the massive explosions had been visible. As bad as it may sound, I hoped that a large number of the gang members had been caught in that conflagration. I was a bundle of nerves, so I knew that many of those standing on the walls and around the property were just as scared. Many never had to raise weapons against the dead, let alone living adversaries. I had taken plenty of reanimated dead down since the start of the apocalypse. I had even fired on other living people, but this night I knew I would be ending the lives of the living. I felt no remorse. I would do whatever it took to keep my family and friends safe. The Lords and Masters had made the choice to try to subjugate their fellow man. They had enslaved, killed, and robbed anyone unable to defend themselves. Whatever happened tonight, they had made their bed, and now they would have to lie in it.

  Wade Marshall

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  Shortly after the explosions, the sound of ATVs at full throttle reached Wade’s ears. Tommy and the group who had attacked the gang’s scout vehicles came charging out of the woods to the west. Several of the riders stopped periodically, cracking the valves on some of the propane tanks that had been buried on the approach to the farm. The gate was thrown wide, and Tommy and his crew charged through the opening to take positions on the perimeter defenses.

  Wade, along with Jerry, Taco, Z-Dog, Rico, Suave, and four of the National Guard troops hustled to the southern forest approach. They set up behind the fortifications they had built, as this was the likely direction from which the living gang members would attack. Rico and Suave both split off to tree stands they had placed with good sight lines to the tree barricades. They had buried another group of propane tanks twenty-five yards in front of the tree-fall obstacle. From the stands, they would have long but clear shots on those tanks.

  Wade checked his AR for the fifth time in the last ten minutes. The waiting was the hardest part. Once the fight began, you didn't have time to think about all the possible outcomes. You’d react and move forwards. Now, all he could do was think and second guess his choices and preparations. He took a deep cleansing breath and tried to put it out of his mind. The die was cast. They had prepared as well as possible. No point in dwelling on things, because there was no time left to prepare. The front wall had just radioed. There were vehicles and infected coming into view on the western approach.

  ◆◆◆

  Derek looked on as the army of dead began spreading across the entire expanse of the western approach off Route 7. There were several trucks leading the dead. The trucks began maneuvering towards the southern-most section of the pit, for the most part out of firing range for the bulk of the farm's shooters. Several of the soldiers on the container wall fired at the vehicles. Multiple gang members jumped from the beds of the trucks and pulled off sheets of plywood. They then used the sheets to bridge the gap across the pit. They took care to stay behind the truck as much as possible and kept the sheets of plywood between them and the defenders firing on them. The drivers of the trucks stayed about a foot from the edge of the pit and progressed slowly forwards.

  Derek instructed his shooters to aim for the drivers and tires in an attempt to disable the vehicles. Just then, one of the men laying plywood sheets delayed a bit too long. The shot caught him in the chest, and he fell backwards into the pit. Another man jumped out and took his spot, hardly delaying the process. More shots peppered the trucks as they crept closer to the defenses. The lead truck began belching steam as the radiator took massive damage from the incoming fire. The windshield was riddled with bullets, and the vehicle’s front tires were both hit. The truck came to a stop. The defenders couldn't tell if it was because of the damage or if the driver had been hit. Either way, they had stopped them.

  The second truck came around and was soon disabled. The final truck paused long enough for the remaining gang members to make a run for it. Several men fell as the rest piled on the back and fled through an expanding host of the infected.

  Derek looked over to one of the soldiers on the wall and ordered him to put the grenade launcher to work. With a brief nod, the young man dropped his rifle and grabbed the M320 at his feet. He took careful aim and sent a grenade hurtling 400 meters out on the frontal approach to the property. The incendiary round set off a chain reaction of explosions when the propane vapor in the air ignited. The tanks that had been buried went off like one of those mortar cakes from the Fourth of July. The force of the explosions knocked most of the dead to the ground. Many of them within the blast radius of the tanks lost multiple body parts. Those closest to the tanks simply disintegrated into bloody mist. While the explosions did not kill a huge number of the infected, it did make many immobile, or at the very least, slowed them greatly. The explosions did have better effect on the fleeing vehicle that was caught between multiple tanks when they ignited. Those gang members who survived the blast were quickly surrounded by their own undead army and torn to pieces.

  ◆◆◆

  Wade smiled grimly when he heard the explosions. He hoped the trap had been as effective as planned. Wade continued to scan around the tree barrier again. He expected to see attackers at any moment. The Lords and Masters had no idea of the meat grinder they were about to enter. Z-Dog stood ready on the Ma Deuce mounted to the GMV. The attackers would pay dearly for every step they took once they cleared the trees. It was difficult to discern, but Wade thought he saw movement at the far side of the barrier. He called out to his group to make ready.

  ◆◆◆

  Dante and the remaining gang members hauled ass away from the trap on Route 7. They had lost lots of the infected, but there was still an overwhelming number of undead remaining to throw at the survivors. What hurt more was the living casualties. Flip, especially, was a great loss. Dante, Guillermo, and Flip had spent the last twenty years together. They were the only men Dante could rely on implicitly. In Dante's eyes, Flip was worth ten of the other gang members.

  There were around 130 men gathered at the edge of the woods. They would assault the southern border of the property, along with another 100 who were sent to trail the dead army. Dante instructed Guillermo to take twenty men and search for a way to come in from the back of the property. He would divide the rest into ten-man teams to attack the fortifications. Each team was instructed to
radio when in position.

  Dante kept twenty men with him. He had the best shooters of the gang in his group. They would try to get in range to pick off the defenders while maintaining cover. Gloria was among Dante’s group, and she had warned of the tree barrier on this side of the farm. Dante expected to face more traps from the occupants of the settlement. He had underestimated them and that had cost him dearly. The trap they had set on Route 7 had cost him nearly one hundred of his living army. He could not make that mistake again. They could afford to move cautiously now. The dead would keep the defenders busy despite their preparations.

  It took nearly an hour for the teams to get in place. The sounds of explosions and an almost constant barrage of gunfire filled the air as Dante waited for his men to get in position. Finally, with all the teams in place, he gave the order to advance. The tree barrier was a maze with trees overlapped at all angles. In some places, they were as high as twenty feet off the ground. The tops looked like they were reaching for the sky. As they began working their way through the maze, having to climb in one place and slide under in others, they realized this was not going to be pleasant. The honey locust trees that had been felled to create the barrier had thorns covering almost the entire surface. The male trees had thorns similar to rose bush thorns only bigger. The female trees had thorns that were as long as four inches in some cases. The thorns could go right through the sole of a boot, as they soon found out. The tips of the long thorns also broke off under the skin and had a mild poison. Nothing life threatening, but they made the puncture wounds even more irksome, due to the stinging and pain around each wound.