Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel (8 page)

Unbeknownst to Stephen, several other officers at the same time were trying to get on the radio, and they all cut one another out into a bunch of intelligible garble that no one could comprehend.

Not realizing his warning had gone unheard, Stephen reached down and hit the trunk release button to open his squad’s trunk and exited the vehicle.

“
I have never seen anything like this. Keep an eye on the fight, Roy,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

Outside of the squad, Stephen couldn’t believe the volume of noise coming from the fight that was in full swing at the bottom of the hill. The screams of pain, shouts of anger and desperation from the people mixed in with the sound of breaking glass. This was mixed together with more gun shots and the sounds of revving car engines, horns and alarms. The sum total was deafening from this short distance. It reminded Stephen of a mosh pit at one of the many heavy metal concerts that Mike went to.

But it didn’t sound like Metallica was playing down there.

Opening the trunk lid, he reached inside and pulled out his black tactical vest that contained a set of level IV ceramic plates designed to stop rifle rounds. Magazine pouches on the front of the vest held two rows of three 30-round magazines for his department issued AR-15 patrol rifle. A sturdy Benchmade knife was sheathed to the vest as well. The rifle itself was also in the trunk, on a mounted rifle rack. Retrieving the rifle, Stephen removed the chamber flag and racked a live round in the chamber as he prepared for battle.

* * * * * * * *

“
Holy shit, can you believe how crazy today has been so far?” Johnny asked his partner.

“
It’s been strange as hell out here,” Ryan replied. “Five fight calls already, and we haven‘t even had a chance to catch our breath.”

Johnny was about to say more when their dispatch radios crackled to life.

Listening to the dispatched call, they both heard it was for a huge brawl located in one of the city’s public housing projects in Zone One.

“
See what I mean?” Johnny said, shaking his head in amazement. “This is ridiculous!”

“
That’s why we get paid the big bucks, my friend,” Ryan stated. “Or at least a few bucks an hour over minimum wage.”

“
Let’s start to make our way up there in case those guys need a hand,” Johnny suggested.

“
I’m way ahead of you, brother,” Ryan replied, switching on the squad’s emergency lights.

Giving the engine some gas, Ryan cut across traffic as other drivers blasted their horns at them. Turning onto Young Street, the squad sped northbound towards the housing projects.

The neighborhood they were currently cutting through was widely known among the police force as the Vice Lords street gang territory, and they had been quite active as of late. Constantly engaged in physical and mental intimidation, the Vice Lords had been a handful for the police, local residents, and even opposing gang members. As Ryan and Johnny approached the next intersection, they were not really surprised to see a large group of gangbangers brawling in the street.

“
Heads up,” Johnny warned. “Looks like more trouble up ahead.”

The officers came to a stop and exited their squad, noticing that the bangers did not scatter as they usually did.

“
Hold up, Johnny. Something doesn’t look right,” Ryan said.

They stood cautiously just outside their open car doors. Taking a few seconds to more fully take in the whole scene, they saw people exiting from nearby homes and physically attacking the bangers. As more and more citizens joined the fray, it appeared that Ryan and Johnny were actually going to have to save the pathetic Vice Lords.

“
Maybe we should let the locals get a few shots in before we save the tough guys,” Johnny said with a chuckle.

Ryan was about to reply when their radios blared out the terrified voice of Roy, Stephen’s partner, screaming for more units up in the projects.

Knowing that the cry for help from a fellow officer took precedence over a simple street fight, both Ryan and Johnny immediately turned to get back into the squad to respond.

Sudden gunshots exploded in front of them.

Johnny drew his service pistol and began to scan the crowd for the origins of the gunshots.

“
Can you see who’s shooting?”

Ryan also had his pistol out and was calling out the shots fired location on his radio while scanning the chaos in front of him.

“
There he is!” Ryan shouted, “Male Hispanic, red shirt, black hat!”

“
Drop the gun!” Johnny yelled, and as the gangbanger cracked off more rounds into the crowd, both Johnny and Ryan engaged the gunman.

Several rounds hit the banger, who slumped to the ground motionless. Before they could congratulate themselves, another gang member turned and responded with a “spray and pray” salvo of return gunfire at the officers.

Several rounds peppered the squad car’s windshield. Ryan cried out in pain and cursed loudly.

“
I’m hit, goddamn it!”

Johnny adjusted his aim, preparing to engage the new threat, when a young Hispanic woman fled out from among the huge mob and ran towards the officers screaming for help. Johnny was forced to hold his fire as the woman unwittingly ran into his line of sight. Cursing, Johnny took a moment to glance over at Ryan, who was crouching near the driver’s seat using the open car door as cover. The woman reached the squad car and now cowered behind Johnny for safety while Ryan returned fire. The second gunman screamed as he was hit by Ryan’s shots and then was literally rolled over by the still fighting mob. The skinny banger was now on the ground crying as he disappeared under a mound of flailing arms and the sound of…eating.

“
What the fuck?” Johnny shrieked, staring unbelievingly at what he was witnessing. The mob appeared to be feeding on the fallen gangbangers like dogs at a food bowl.

Between the woman pleading for help behind him and Ryan shouting for him to get into the squad, Johnny was torn as to what to do.

Unfortunately for Johnny, the young woman made the decision for him.

In the confusion of what was happening, Johnny failed to notice the several bite marks along the woman’s arms. Nobody was more surprised than he when the lady who had begged for help savagely sank her teeth into his right arm. Shouting from the intense pain, Johnny reflexively shoved the woman down. Staring at the gaping wound where a chunk of his bicep was now missing, Johnny trained his pistol on the woman who was scrambling back to her feet, preparing to attack him again.

A roar from dozens of throats made him pause to look up at the large mob that was now descending towards the squad car with hatred in the eyes of all he could see. Knowing that it was a losing battle, Johnny jumped into the squad even as Ryan slammed the vehicle into gear. A very bloody Hispanic man in the front edge of the enraged group jumped onto the hood of the squad as Ryan stomped on the accelerator. Driving through a front yard to turn and head southbound, Ryan’s squad slammed through a fence and back down onto the street with the man still on the hood, hanging on by the windshield wipers.

Bleeding heavily from the bullet wound to his left shoulder, Ryan looked over at Johnny, who was now screaming in pain, more pain than a simple bite should have given him.

“
Johnny, are you alright?”

When he didn’t answer, Ryan continued, “Hold on bro, I’ll get us to the hospital.”

Johnny had his head pushed back into the headrest with his eyes closed, teeth bared and clenched, with large veins snaking across his forehead.

Ryan currently had a lot on his plate. He was shot, his partner was injured, a crazy man was on the hood of his squad car, and he could not seem to be able to reach anybody over the radio, which was filled with frantic radio traffic. Still trying to drive, Ryan was shocked when he was attacked by Johnny, who suddenly reached over and grabbed him by the arm. Caught off guard by this new threat and with his squad still moving, Ryan crossed an intersection at a high rate of speed and struck a large oak tree on the south side of the street. The fight with Johnny inside of the vehicle pushed Ryan out of the path of the airbag enough to make him strike his head on the windshield support post of the car frame. With a sickening crunch, Ryan’s neck was broken, killing him instantly. The massive impact also jarred open Ryan’s car door, and his upper body slid lifelessly out of the car. The man who had been riding on the hood of the squad and was thrown off during the crash, jerkily got to his feet and stumbled back to the smoking squad car to feed. Still inside, Johnny growled in hunger as he leaned over and began to tear into his now dead partner’s warm, bloody leg.

* * * * * * * *

Stephen slammed the trunk lid shut and glanced down the length of the squad at the melee that looked even more violent than just a few moments before.

“
Very strange, they usually scatter when somebody starts to crank off rounds,” Stephen mused while walking back up to the open driver’s door.

“
Oh my goodness!” Roy squeaked. “I think people are
eating
each other down there!”

Just as Stephen was about to tell Roy to shut up again, he heard the several responding squads pass his location from the next block over. He could tell from revving engines and wailing sirens that the responding units were not staging on his location and planned on entering the projects as soon as they arrived. Stephen tried to warn off the arriving squads over the radio when he saw the first squad drive into the projects from around a blind corner. Before the car could even come to a halt, it was literally swarmed over by the enraged residents, which forced it to a jerky, awkward stop. The sounds of gunfire and breaking glass came from the densely packed mob which visibly flinched but did not break. People were now up on the squad as the emergency lights were kicked out. The officer did not even have time to get on his radio to request help.

“
I think that was Wilson!” Stephen looked over at Roy, but he was no longer listening.

Almost on cue, several additional squads arrived around the same blind corner. Stephen was momentarily frozen in shock, watching in morbid fascination as what could only be described as a train wreck unfolded. The next squad crashed directly into the mob, pinning several brawlers between its push bumpers and a parked car. The squad tried to reverse and, in turn, backed into the third arriving squad, driven by Officer Langston. The last two squads veered off on both sides trying to avoid a similar fate. The first squad went left, smashing into a retaining wall at an angle and flipped over. The other veered right and crashed directly into a two-story housing unit, starting a fire.

Langston exited his squad, unsure whether to help the officer in the flipped squad or deal with the mob. He was forced to pull his service pistol, however, pointing it at a large shirtless man who he saw attacking a much smaller female, beating her savagely. Langston was shouting for the man to get on the ground from what Stephen could make out. Blood sprayed from the woman’s mouth, and at that moment Langston fired several shots, striking the man in his back and at the base of the neck, dropping him instantly. Langston must have had tunnel vision due to the shooting because he was staring straight ahead when several attackers came from his right side uncontested.

Stephen finally broke the paralysis and began to run toward his fellow officer. “Langston! Get the hell out of there!”

Due to the roar of the mob and the fact that Langston was focused solely on his use of deadly force, he could not hear the warning. Stephen fired several shots wildly with his AR-15 at the attackers, knocking two of them down. Langston turned his head to the right just in time to be tackled by several male attackers. His pistol discharged three or four more times while he was overwhelmed.

“
Langston!” Stephen grabbed his radio. “Zone one, officer down!”

He observed the next moments in slow motion. At the distance he was now, maybe what Roy said was right. It did look like they were eating one another. The screams from Langston were drowned out; the size of the mob on top of him was so large that he was no longer visible. Stephen carefully began to fire his rifle into the large pile of bodies with little effect. The bolt on his rifle locked back on the newly emptied magazine. It was precisely at that moment that the huge mob started to grind to a halt. Screams of pain and anger echoed off into the distance. His ears, ringing from the carbine’s report, adjusted to the now eerie silence. Stephen lowered his carbine, staring at the mob. His police radio crackled to life with dispatchers trying desperately to find out the status of the officers. The next sound was an empty magazine hitting the ground as Stephen pulled and seated a fresh one without looking down, just how he had trained the last three days.

The blood-soaked ground was now littered with bodies, some still moving. There appeared to be people fighting over corpses on the ground. Were the bodies being robbed or eaten? The woman that Officer Langston had given his life to protect now had his severed right arm in her hands. Backing up slowly to give himself some additional distance, Stephen heard his partner Roy scream.