Project Zulu (8 page)

Azaka is back from his journey through Breaker’s
mind, and he is very satisfied with what he and Breaker now share as common
knowledge. He stands motionless and reaches out with his mind to his two hoards
again.

The first group is now more than a thousand times
its original size. Four suburban communities have already been decimated, and a
fifth is currently under attack. Azaka thinks about half of the hoard turning
around and returning to the bar. Half of the undead soldiers in Azaka’s army
turn and begin the journey back. He knows that it is dangerous to go back
through the same areas again; he knows that he will no longer have the element
of surprise and that his hoard will suffer some casualties. He also knows that
he would gain two new members for every one he loses, which is an acceptable
ratio. The other half of the hoard is ordered to continue forward.

The second group is still the original size, and has
actually encountered no one. Azaka allows his mind to enter one of his
creatures. He can smell something odd, he brings the smell all the way back and
lets it mingle through his new database of knowledge that he has obtained from
Breaker. Gun oil! He smells Gun oil, which means that there are human soldiers
somewhere very near. He scans the area beyond the road, and notices a broken
leaf hanging by the stem on a small weed growing on the side of the road. He
knows that is where they left the road, knows that they are bunkered down
thirty or forty feet away, off the road in the overgrowth of the swamp. He
orders the hoard to stop advancing, and to retreat approximately a quarter of a
mile. He will need to have the advantage of overwhelming manpower if he hopes
to have a chance against professional soldiers.

As he is projecting his mind back, he catches a
glimpse of an image. He re-focuses his thoughts, and finds the mind of a new
zombie. This zombie is looking up at a bank of lights mounted to the ceiling.
Azaka takes over the zombies mind, and immediately experiences a déjà vu. This
is the creature he was trapped inside all those long years. He manipulates the creature’s
right hand, and loosens the straps keeping it to the table. Once free, Azaka
implants a single thought inside the creatures head.
Roam the building,
freeing as many of your kind as you can, and kill every human you encounter.

He releases the creature and walks outside the bar.
He approaches Old Glory and climbs on. Before pulling out onto the blacktop he
studies a car in the lot. He somehow knows that the car belongs to Amy, and he
also knows that Amy is not a member of his hoard, yet. He reaches into the
saddlebag strapped to Old Glory and pulls out the HK45CT pistol, and slips it
into his waistband.

Major Jeb Chonk is sprinting down the hallway toward
the elevator. Two minutes earlier he had been fighting a losing battle against
sleep; eyes narrowing to mere slits while his head was slowly drifting down
toward his chest, and then snapping back in a whiplashing motion. He would be
damned if he would allow himself to be caught sleeping by one of the men. He
slapped himself across the face a few times, got up, stomped his feet and
switched on the video monitor.

He was still stomping his feet, trying to force the
fatigue from his body, when the video screen caught his attention.
Is this a
live feed
he thought to himself? He stared at the monitor a few more
seconds before his training took over. He grabbed a sidearm, a rifle and the
satellite phone and darted out of the room.

The images on the monitor screen, that sent Major
Chonk sprinting away, shows the one handed zombie from the lower level, opening
up the doors to the medical wing, releasing all of the recently turned zombies.

In the medical wing, three levels down, on the other
side of the cameras that were providing the images to the monitors in the
command room, all hell is breaking loose, figuratively and literally.

Four soldiers are following a standard ‘tap and
cover’ retreat formation; falling back one at a time, ‘tapping’ the point man
on the helmet once they have passed him, the point man providing cover fire to
support the retreat. Somehow, the creatures that had been secured inside the
examination room have managed to escape. The six soldiers posted outside the
wing managed to contain them initially, but the problem occurred when the four
former security team members made their way down the hall. They were still
wearing uniforms, protective gear and carrying their weapons. It momentarily
confused the soldiers, and lead to their demise. Two quickly fell to the
onslaught, and the remaining four opted to retreat when they realized that
their bullets were doing nothing to slow down the creatures.

The gunfire inside the narrow hallway was deafening.
As often happens, the four soldiers had panicked, forgotten the information
from the training briefing that only headshots could stop their attackers, and
were quickly expending all of the ammunition they had. The battle was playing
out in slow motion, the attackers moving slowly down the hallway and the
soldiers retreating one by one.

The soldier on point covering the retreat was
unaware that his weapon had stopped firing, his hearing had long since been
compromised because of the close quarters fighting, and he was no longer able
to distinguish the sound of his weapon from the rest of his team’s. He
continued to pull the trigger, dry firing while he counted the taps…
one, two
…he
didn’t make it to three, because the third tap never came. The third soldier
had been snagged, and was being wrestled to the ground. The point soldier,
unaware that his weapon was no longer firing was quickly overrun. The remaining
two sentries, both out of ammunition now too, broke from the retreat formation
and began running down the hallway toward the elevator. They stood, back to
back, tactical knives in hand praying that the elevator arrived before the
creatures did.

Inside the elevator car, Major Chonk is barking into
the satellite phone, “Listen to me Corporal, I don’t give a rat’s ass what he
is doing, you get the general on the phone right now or I am going to make you
wish that your Daddy and Mommy never met. I have a situation here and I need to
brief the General.”

While he is waiting for the General, the elevator
arrives at level three, and the doors open to reveal the carnage. The final two
soldiers have gone down and the zombies are still feasting on them, biting huge
chunks of flesh from their prone bodies.

The ‘ding’ of the elevator arriving arouses the
attention of the zombies outside the elevator and they begin to converge on the
open doors. Major Chonk is able to take down three of the zombies with precise
headshots, while desperately trying to get the doors to close, wildly pressing
buttons. He is unsuccessful keeping them out; the zombies move forward and crowd
into the elevator car. Clear of obstruction, the doors glide closed, and the elevator
begins its accent to every floor in the building. He fights as long as he can;
especially considering the circumstances of the close quarter combat he is
involved in, but Major Chonk never sees the second level. The zombie with one
hand delivers the fatal bite, severing the Major’s carotid artery.

With the Major gone, there is nothing stopping the
zombies from shuffling out at each floor the elevator stops at. Most leave the
car on the first stop, level two, the dorm floor, where the rest of the soldiers
are currently soundly asleep.

The sleeping soldiers don’t stand a chance. Most are
getting their first few hours of rest since arriving onsite; they are so deep
under that they would probably sleep through just about anything.

The zombies seem to be attacking strategically,
delivering a quick bite, and then moving to the next sleeping victim. The
awakening soldiers are just on that level on grogginess, unsure if what is
happening is real, or just a bad dream.

Once all of the sleeping soldiers have been ‘bitten’
awake, the one handed zombie pulls the fire alarm in the sleeping dorm,
engaging the strobe lights and overriding all of the security locks on the
doors within the facility.

“Are you kidding me Mike? Or should I say General?”
Jimmy asks sarcastically while issuing a mock salute.

“Knock it off Jimmy, I just lost contact with Major
Chonk back at Syscorp, and I have a bad feeling about what may have happened. I
do not plan on losing contact with you, or the Doctor. Just stay put and you
can help me interview the girl that Captain Hellatoni is bringing in.”

“What do you mean lost contact; did you try the
satellite phone?”

“He called on the satellite, before I could pick it
up, he was gone. I haven’t been able to get him back; I haven’t been able to
reach anyone on the normal transmitter either.”

Before Jimmy can continue the conversation, Captain
Hellatoni pulls up in the jeep. He helps Amy out, and escorts her toward Jimmy
and Mike. “General, Mr. Gaston, this is Amy Sunoon. She has told me an
interesting story that you might like to hear.”

“Hello Miss Sunoon, I am General Balchor, and this
is Jimmy Gaston. If you will excuse me for just a moment, Jimmy, please keep
our new guest company. Captain, if I can have a word with you please.” The
General and the Captain walk ten paces away.

“Captain, I need you to take ten men and go back to
the command post. I have lost contact with Major Chonk. I want you to assume
that the building has been compromised, take no chances. I am going to call
back the forward team, and we will be bringing up your flank in about forty
minutes.”

“No disrespect General, but are you sure you don’t
want me to wait until the forward team is back and we are at full strength?”

“No disrespect taken Captain, and I would very much
prefer to wait, but I do not believe that I have that luxury right now. I need
you to scout the command post, and let me know the status A.S.A.P. And Captain,
I would have been concerned had you not questioned my logic, well done son.”

The Captain is already barking out orders as the
General returns his attention to Jimmy and Amy. “Alright then Miss Sunoon, do
you feel up to telling your story again?”

“You can call me Amy, and like I told Captain
Hellatoni, I will tell you anything you want to know, in exchange for a
cigarette.”

“Somebody get me a pack of cigarettes and a
lighter!” Mike shouted at nobody in particular, and within a minute he had
three brands to choose from.

“Will one of these suffice?” He asks holding the
cigarettes out to Amy; she takes all three packs.

Mike and Jimmy listen to her story, stopping her
occasionally for some clarification. OhAy joins them mid story and listens intently.
Amy finishing the story, and her eighth cigarette, and lets out a sigh

OhAy speaks first. “General, if this woman is
telling the truth, we have a serious situation on our hands.”

“Every word is true, if you don’t believe me all you
have to do is get in that jeep and drive back down the road.” Amy said pointing
over her shoulder.

Mike answers her, “Amy, I have no doubt that your
story is mostly, if not all true. I am curious about one thing though. You
mentioned you had an on again, off again boyfriend.”

“Ya, Breaker, he is absolutely my ex-boyfriend now.”

“Breaker; that is a unique nickname, any chance his
real name is Francis?”

“Ya, Francis O’Leary, but I wouldn’t recommend
calling him that to his face. Can I go sit down for a while? I am beat.” She
walks back toward the jeep before Mike has a chance to answer her.

Jimmy steps up to Mike, “Francis O’Leary, why do I
recognize that name Mike?”

“You probably heard about him during an intelligence
briefing when we were picking security team members. He is a former SEAL,
highly decorated, he went rogue after the September eleven attacks. He, and a
couple of his team members, launched an unsanctioned wave of attacks and took
out quite a few Al Qaeda factions. He was allowed to retire, and avoid court
martial in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. I can tell you he is one
Bad Ass Mother, and certainly someone I would not want to piss off.”

“General, I can guarantee you that if what Amy is
telling us is true; you are going to want to piss him off even less.”

Mike and Jimmy both look at OhAy like she was crazy.

“During her story, she talked about how Breaker’s eyes
were glowing red. You both have seen zombies; they don’t have red glowing eyes.
I think that I now know what happened to the Loa that was inside Z. I think
that Breaker is now Azaka.”

Jimmy interrupts OhAy. “Can you do your ceremony
again, get Azaka out of Breaker?”

“No, it is too late. Azaka must have undergone
re-birthing. He is free to do as he pleases now.”

Before Mike or Jimmy can really even understand what
OhAy is saying, one of the soldiers approaches the group. ‘Excuse me General; I
have an urgent call for you on the satellite.”

“Finally, word from the command post, Major Chonk
you had me worried, is everything alright back there?”

“Hello, this is Cam, Cam Alk; sorry I mean Corporal
Alk.”

“Just calm down and relax Corporal Camalk, are you
at the command post?”

“No Sir, I am at the forward post. We have a
situation Sir I don’t think we can hold out, I respectfully request permission
to withdraw and retreat.”

“What kind of situation?” Mike asks hearing the
faintest sounds of gunfire in the background. “I was under the impression that
Captain Hellatoni left you with orders not to engage.”

“Sir, we did not engage. We are defending ourselves,
Sir. There must be hundreds, maybe thousands of those things, the zombies; they
are attacking us and I swear they are using strategy, almost like they know
where we are and what we are going to do.” Louder gunfire drowns out his voice
on the phone.

“Corporal, are you still there? Corporal, I want you
and the team to fall back to my position, fall back immediately, I will send
out a team to meet you.”

Mike has a panicked look on his face. “Get Captain
Hellatoni on the radio, tell him to abort and return to this location. Then
assemble a team and head out to meet the forward team and cover their retreat.”

“Sir, there is no answer from Captain Hellatoni.”

“Well keep trying him, damn it, keep trying.”