“Maybe we should just kill those guys and get it over with for them,” Bruce said. “They look like they’re suffering. We’d be doing them a favor.”
“Since when do we do favors for Russians?” Cassie asked, right as Leo said, “They can’t know about the explosives. It’s the only way to hold out until the busses arrive.”
Bruce grumbled. Leo didn’t blame him for wanting to kill the Russians. They would be easy to pick off in their current state, especially from their vantage point.
“One truss down,” Cassie reported. “She attached a bomb in three different places to make sure the whole arm goes down. She and Spill are going to the second location now.”
There was a commotion below them among the soldiers. One of the men started shouting.
“I need to see.” Leo pulled the binoculars back from Cassie. Below them, two of the Russians were brawling. That was the only word for it. They grappled with one another, yelling and trading punches.
“What’s that sound?” Bruce hissed.
“I heard it, too,” Cassie said. “It sounded like growling.”
Leo had also heard it. There was only one thing that made a sound like that: a zombie.
He scanned the land on the far side of the road, searching for infected. If a pack had made its way to the bridge, that could be trouble for Jennifer and Spill. They were doubly fucked it if was mutants, which was most likely the case. Leo didn’t think there were many regular zombies left in this area.
He scoured the pale grass growing all along the highway. Nothing. Not a thing moved, except for the ripple of the wind through the grass.
The growl sounded again, followed by a shout from one of the Russians. He jerked the binoculars back to the soldiers.
The brawling soldiers were on the ground. The one on the bottom was yelling, wildly trying to fend off the one on top. The rest of the soldiers were too sick to get involved. Another one was throwing up again. Leo’s uneasiness ratcheted up several notches. What the hell was happening down there?
There was no denying it anymore. The growling was coming from one of the brawling soldiers. He was growling just like a zombie and, as far as Leo could tell, was hell-bent on killing his comrade.
But other than the growling, there was no other outward sign to signify the transformation into a zombie. There were no black veins like they saw on regular zombies. There weren’t distended muscles like they saw on mutant zombies, either.
He sucked in a breath as the attacking soldier seized the other man’s head between his hands and started to slam it repeatedly against the pavement. The other man wailed, begging for his friend to stop.
Then came the sound he’d heard before. He’d heard it first in Hillsberg when Jim had died. He’d heard it near the Airstream when he and Jennifer had rescued Spill. And he’d heard it most recently in the Bohemian Grove when the mutants attacked the Soviets.
It was the dull cracking sound of a head being split open. As Leo looked on in horror, the growling Soviet cracked open his friend’s head on the pavement. Blood gushed out. The attacking man let up a growl of triumph before digging his hands into the skull and pulling up a handful of brains. Leo almost gagged as the man shoved them into his mouth.
“What’s happening?” Bruce grabbed the binoculars. “Oh, shit, man. That guy is a zombie.”
“How can he be a zombie?” Cassie said. “He doesn’t look like a zombie.”
“But the guy is eating his friend’s brain. That’s a zombie thing. Oh, shit,” Bruce said. “Some of the other guys are heading over now, too.”
Leo couldn’t see details without the binoculars, but he saw several of the sick soldiers stagger to their feet. They converged on the dead man, all of them grunting and growling. Within seconds, four of them were feasting on brains.
“They’re something new,” Cassie whispered.
“Another kind of zombie?” Bruce said.
“The vaccine.” Cassie’s eyes were huge. “Leo, the vaccine. The one that makes them immune to zombies. Technically, a vaccine is made from a virus. That means …”
“That means those fuckers down there all want brains, just like the mutants,” Leo said. “We have a third type of zombie on our hands.” Fucking shit. Could they ever get a break?
“But what does that mean?” Bruce said. “Are they smart and strong like mutants? Or are they just mindless monsters who want to eat?”
“There’s nothing mindless about those things down there,” Cassie said. “One of them systematically stalked and killed his friend. That’s evidence of intelligence.”
Leo felt sick. There was a disaster happening right before their eyes.
And Jennifer and Spill were out there on the bridge, blind to the danger.
44
Change of Plan
Cassie could hardly believe what was happening. How could there be a third type of zombie? Not only did they have invaders, regular zombies, and mutant zombies, but now they had their hands full of another type of monster. Even worse, there was no way to know how smart or skilled they were. Already she saw evidence of intelligence, but how far did that extend?
Lights flashed from the opposite end of the bridge. The soldiers on the southern end must have heard the screaming. They were flashing the headlights of a jeep.
To Cassie’s horror, one of the soldiers rose from his brain feast. He licked his fingertips as he strolled to a vehicle. He leaned inside and flicked the headlights on and off a few times.
“Morse code,” Bruce said.
“I guess that answers our question about intelligence.” Cassie felt weak.
This was bad. Very, very bad. The infected Soviets appeared to have retained their human intelligence. What else could they do?
Jennifer and Spill were now making their way back to the north end of the bridge. They were two black lumps, only visible if you knew where to look.
They were going to walk right into the zombies. Granted, Jennifer and Spill wouldn’t actually walk into the Russians. They would climb back down to the ground and go the long way around. Would that be enough to keep them safe?
Two of the other Soviets rose from the jeep where they’d been passed out. They swayed a little on their feet, talking to one another. They glanced at their friends, not seeming at all disturbed by the fact that they were eating one of their comrades.
The two of them approached the last man, who was sprawled in the back of the second jeep. Cassie winced as they systematically dragged him and slammed his head against the ground. The sick guy cried out once before his head was also cracked open.
There were now six confirmed zombies down there, all of them currently feasting on brains. A few of the ones gathered around the first fallen solider abandoned the body and gathered around the fresh kill.
“Hurry up, Jen,” Cassie murmured. Maybe Spill and her sister could slip past while the zombies were enjoying their fresh meal.
“Bruce.” Leo had his eye pressed to the scope of his rifle. “We don’t know what these new zombies are capable of. Be prepared to shoot. Don’t fire unless I do. We need to give Jennifer and Spill a chance to make it. Cassie, you’re on binocular duty. Let me know where Jennifer and Spill are at all times.”
Cassie inched forward on the ground, pressing the binoculars to her eyes. “They’re two-thirds of the way back and moving fast.” She tracked their movements down the bridge. They were dark smudges blurring between the bridge railings. “They just reached the support pillar closest to the road. They’re climbing back over the side.”
It was no more than a ten foot drop to the ground. Cassie lost sight of them as they disappeared over the side. She shifted her sights, scanning the open grassland. A few seconds later, Jennifer’s head popped into view.
“I see them. They’re going around the soldiers and heading back to the road.”
Beside her, Leo swore and clicked the safety off his gun.
“What?” Cassie hissed. She kept her eyes locked on Spill and
her sister.
“The zombies,” Leo said. “They’re sniffing the air. I think they can smell Spill and Jen.”
Cassie bit her lip so hard it bled. Before she could stop herself, she jerked the binoculars back to the Russians. Three of them stood on the edge of the road, looking in the direction of Spill and Jennifer. They had their noses in the air, just like hunting dogs.
“Should I shoot them?” Bruce asked.
“Not yet. Cassie, where are they?”
Cassie jerked the binoculars back to the open grass. It took her a few seconds to pick out Jennifer and Spill. She couldn’t actually see them, but she could see the back of Spill’s backpack poking up from the grass.
“They’re twenty feet away from the road and still moving,” she reported. “They’re crawling and mostly out of sight, but—”
Something blurred in the binoculars. It took her a second to register that it was one of the Russians. He sprinted straight for Jennifer and Spill, moving faster than a regular human ever could.
Leo didn’t hesitate. He fired. Shots rang out on either side of her as the guys opened fire. Cassie dropped the binoculars and fumbled for her machine gun.
“Don’t lose sight of them,” Leo roared at her.
She fumbled the binoculars back into her hands. Just as she did, two of the Russian zombies sprinted toward the hillside overlook. It was steep and rocky, but that didn’t slow them down. They scrambled straight toward Cassie and the others, bounding up the side like circus acrobats.
Cassie decided this was an acceptable time to disobey orders. She dropped the binoculars altogether and seized her machine gun. She opened fire, spraying bullets at the two zombies flying up the side of the hill. She didn’t even realize she was screaming until her gun clicked empty.
The two zombies on the hillside slid back down, their blood slicking the rocks and foliage. All of the zombies were dead except for one.
The last one was in a wrestling match with Spill. Jennifer was yelling, aiming her gun but unable to shoot for fear of hitting Spill.
“We gotta go,” Leo said. “Grab your packs and move.”
He was over the ridge line in a flash, half scrambling, half falling to the road below with Bruce on his heels. Cassie paused only long enough to jam a new magazine into place before rushing after the guys. She hit a loose patch of gravel and slipped, bumping painfully over rocks before she finally managed to wedge the bottom of her shoe against a boulder. She grabbed weeds and used them for handholds as she went, scurrying down as quickly as she could.
Leo and Bruce beat her to the road. They charged through the carnage, hurrying toward Spill and the remaining Russian. Cassie tried not to look too hard at the bodies as she hustled after them.
“Spill, down!” Leo barked. Two shots rang out.
The zombie dropped. Spill jumped up, shouting, “My pack! The fucker tore my pack off.” He dove into the grasses, desperately searching. “Anyone have a flashlight? The detonator is in that pack!”
They joined the search, all of them spreading out and searching. In the distance, Cassie heard the rumble of an engine. She jerked, looking at the bridge.
“More Russians are coming,” she cried.
“Fuck.” Leo stood there, eyes flicking between the bridge and the frantically searching Spill.
“We have to split up,” Cassie said. “One group has to lead the Russians away. Another group has to stay here and blow the bridge.”
Leo gave her a tight-lipped nod. “Bruce, Spill, you’re with me. We’re taking one of the jeeps. We’ll lead the Russians away, kill them, then double back. Cassie, Jennifer, find that detonator and blow the bridge. We’ll be back to get you guys. Cas.” Leo paused long enough to plant a kiss on her lips. “Be safe. See you soon.”
“See you soon,” she replied.
Leo, Spill, and Bruce hauled ass to one of the Russian jeeps and jumped inside. Bruce took the driver’s seat under Leo’s direction, laying into the horn and flashing the headlights to get the attention of the oncoming vehicles. The two jeeps on the bridge accelerated.
“Drive, Bruce,” Leo ordered.
The former teenage football player threw the jeep into reverse, pulled a three-point turn, then raced away into the night. Cassie and Jennifer threw themselves flat on the earth, barely daring to breathe as the two jeeps raced across the bridge. Jennifer grabbed her hand and squeezed. Cassie squeezed back.
The two Soviet jeeps reached the end of the bridge. They slowed, flicking flashlight beams at the carnage on the road. Cassie wondered if any of them were on the verge of turning, but she wasn’t dumb enough to lift her head for a look. Heck, for all she knew, they already had turned. The other Russians zombies had retained high brain function; who was to say they couldn’t drive?
After less than a minute, they sped off down the road. Cassie and Jennifer were left in the darkness.
The only Russians in sight were the dead ones.
45
Zugzwang
“We have to find that detonator. We can’t blow the bridge without it.” Jennifer crawled on her hands and knees in the grass, searching.
Cassie joined in the search, retracing Spill’s route back toward the bridge. She was moving so quickly that, in her haste, she didn’t even see the pack until she tripped over it. She barely managed to keep herself from face-planting on top of it.
“Jen, I found it!” The pack rattled ominously in her hands as she picked it up. Her heart sank.
Jennifer bounded over to her side. They yanked open the backpack and looked inside.
“Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit!” Jennifer stared down in horror at the contents of the backpack.
Cassie wasn’t exactly sure what a remote detonator looked like, but she was pretty sure the smashed bits inside the backpack belonged to it. Jennifer reached in and pulled out some of the larger pieces.
“Someone must have stepped on it,” Cassie said.
“Shouldn’t the bridge have exploded when it got smashed?” Jennifer asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Cassie wasn’t the electrician. Where was Stephenson when she needed him? “Maybe the pieces that connect to send the signal were disconnected. Maybe we can still get it to work.”
The two girls fumbled with the various parts, trying to fit them back together. When that failed, they poked and prodded at the pieces, attempting to set off the detonation some other way.
Nothing worked. The bridge remained woefully intact.
“Dammit!” Jennifer threw her pieces to the ground in frustration. “Now what are we going to do?”
“Rocket launcher.” Cassie jumped back to her feet and ran to the remaining jeep. “Maybe we can blow it up that way.”
She reached the jeep. Nothing. Except for a few boxes of half-eaten food supplies and an extra duffel bag of ammo, the jeep was empty. The Russians had stationed soldiers here only as a precautionary measure, not because they really thought there was a threat.
“Anything?” Jennifer ran up, Spill’s bag gripped in one hand.
“Nothing.”
They stared at the bridge. Cassie’s mind worked overtime. No way had they come this far to leave the bridge standing. Griggs had died for this mission. Leo was counting on them. She didn’t intend to let either of them down.
An idea snapped into place.
“Jen, do you have the extra spool of fuse wire Nonna gave us?”
Her eyes brightened. “Yes!” Jennifer swung her backpack around and rummaged inside, producing the spool.
“We have to put Nonna’s bombs on top of the C-4,” Cassie said. “We run some long fuses so we can light them from the ground.” She chewed her bottom lip. “It’s going to be risky. I think the bombs will blow before we can get off the bridge.”
“Not if we take the jeep. Come on.” Jennifer led the way, jumping into the driver’s seat. Luckily, the keys were still in the ignition. She drove onto the bridge, taking them to the northern-most set of trusses with C-4 bombs.
/> “You’ll have to do the climbing,” Cassie said. “I’ll hold the spool and cut it.”
“Good idea. I didn’t think I’d have to plant bombs twice in the same night. At least there are no Russians around this time.”
“There are no Russians around right now,” Cassie corrected. “That could change any minute.”
The girls got out of the jeep. Jennifer didn’t waste any time. She tucked Nonna’s bombs into her shirt, tied one end of the fuse wire to the belt loop, and began to climb. Cassie stayed on the ground, holding the spool in one hand. In her other hand was her knife, ready to cut the wire when Jennifer had it in place.
Jennifer scaled up the truss with ease. Technically, Cassie supposed Luma Bridge could be reimagined as a giant jungle gym. The long metal truss beams were held together with dozens of tiny, criss-crossing metal supports, which provided plenty of hand and footholds.
But it was a long way up to where the various pieces of C-4 had been placed. Cassie was glad Jennifer was the one doing the climbing.
Jennifer reached the first lump of C-4. She slid her legs between the truss beams, locking her knees around the criss-crossing supports as she pulled out the first of Nonna’s bombs.
“The C-4 is pliable,” she called down to Cassie. “Makes it easy to stick Nonna’s bomb in place.” Jennifer pulled the edge of the fuse from her belt and attached it. “It’s secure. You can cut the wire.”
Cassie placed the edge of her knife against the fuse, silently thanking Leo for insisting she carry it. The blade nicked easily through the wire.
Jennifer continued up the side of the bridge, placing the second and third bombs. In less than five minutes, they had all three bombs in place.
“Cas, do you see that?” Jennifer landed lightly on her feet beside Cassie on the bridge, pointing south.
Cassie squinted into the dark. At first, all she saw was the dark hump of land on the left and the watery blackness of the ocean on the right.
“Right there.” Jennifer extended her index finger, pointing.
Zommunist Invasion Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 48