Z-Risen (Book 1): Outbreak (13 page)

“Not good!” Joel Kelly said.

This guy was a frigging genius.

The Marines opened up on the first row and dropped a number of them. Some got tangled up on their fallen brethren and went down. We angled to the west and then made a run for it. It would actually be more appropriate to say the Marines ran and I tried to keep up. I huffed and puffed and regretted every cigarette I'd ever smoked in my life. I regretted the Thai whiskey I'd inhaled a few days ago.

There was now a mass behind us and another horde to the east. As soon as we hit one more, we’d be truly fucked.

“Movement front!”
one of the guys yelled.

We were fucked.

My gut burned and I tasted acid in the back of my throat. If we didn't rest soon, I was gonna puke. If we rested, we were dead.

Gunny yanked his gun and shot a Z between the eyes
, then blew another one’s head open. I wanted his gun. It had some serious stopping power. They were only ten or fifteen feet away, but he just stood there with his legs spread and dropped two of them. I took a shot as well, but it wasn’t as neat. I just wanted to be cool. I wasn’t. I was also shaking from being so winded.

The guy I hit flinched to the side
, so Gunny shot that asshole, too.

“Move!”
he yelled, and his men did just that.

We ran from both herds. A couple of burned out buildings ahead could provide protection but we moved past them.

“What about those?” I huffed.

“Get trapped?” Joel looked over his shoulder to drop the news on me.

That made sense.

We sprinted for a section of fence that still stretched a few hundred feet in both directions. It had a layer of razor wire running along the top and I didn’t think any one of us were going to risk getting hung up there, feet dangling while the Z’s pulled them back down.

“Get that clear, but just enough to let a man through. We don’t want them coming through,” Gunny shouted.

Cooper and Walowitz had been on point. They hit the fence and swung packs off their shoulders. Cooper came up with a pair of pliers while Walowitz covered him. A couple of Z’s got close so he blasted them. Cooper was one cool fucker. He worked at the fence with quick snips and never lost his concentration.

The pack closed in on us from every direction.

I shot until the gun ran empty, slipped a magazine out and jammed a new one in. Then it was back to blasting. I tried to conserve ammo and take well-aimed shots
, but there were just so many and they were so damn close, it was hard not to panic. When panic did set in I did my best to focus on my breathing.

"Good one
," Gunny called. He kept the pep talk coming and it helped me focus.

They pushed us toward the fence.

The Marines formed a semi-circle as they fell back.

“We’re in business!” Cooper called and slipped through the slit in the chain link fence.

The others crowded around. Panic might have hit one of the guys because he broke rank and dove through.

“Calmly
, gentlemen. Christ, Michaels.”

I got a push and slithered through the new doorway. Reynolds was next and then Joel Kelly followed him. The others covered us until the Z’s were right on them. Gunny shot one in the face, kicked another one in the leg so hard it snapped, then pushed back a pair and shot one in through the throat. Blood exploded and splattered Gunny but he didn’t even blink. Two of the men weren’t so smooth and got pulled, screaming, into the mess of hands and snarling teeth.

Gunny stood his ground and fought them until his men were through. Then they poked gun barrels through the fence and shot until he could dive under the fence.

He turned, took very careful aim and shot the two men that had been under his command. They both slumped.

“Fuck!” One of the men yelled and shot until his gun ran dry. He dropped the magazine and slapped another one home so fast it made my head spin. He advanced on the fence and fired until Gunny laid a hand on him.

“Move it
, people!” he ordered, and we followed toward a road filled with abandoned vehicles.

The outskirts of the base showed signs of battles. There were more bodies but most looked like civilians. We moved among them looking for supplies.

Reynolds moved to point and scouted. Joel stuck by me.

A pair of jets shot overhead. They moved toward the city at high speed and a few seconds later explosions rocked the morning air. We looked up as one and Kelly whistled.

“How bad is it?” Walowitz asked the same question that was on my mind.

“Only one way to find out
, and that’s to get in the fight.”

Men nodded.

“Gunny. My wife’s family was staying at a hotel near here. About a mile that way,” he said and pointed to the northeast. “I’m going to check on them.”

“Stay put
, Marine.”

“I’m not in your command. Appreciate the assist
, gentlemen, but I have to know.”

No one said a word as he walked away at a fast clip.

“Gunny?” Cooper asked.

“What am I supposed to do, shoot him in the back?” He looked between the men but they didn’t say a word.

Reynolds whistled from ahead and motioned. Gunny moved out and the others followed, but they strung out and kept their eyes everywhere at once.

It was less than five
minutes before we ran into a real shit storm.

We slid between buildings and empty cars. Streets covered in debris. Bodies that moved and others that lay still. We moved quickly and used shops or hotels as cover when we had to.

Gunny took us to a four lane cross street that still had a couple of moving cars; they ignored us and navigated between wrecks and abandoned vehicles.

“Let’s commandeer us a few cars
,” Gunny said.

That was the best idea I’d heard all day.

“Shit, Gunny. How are we gonna navigate around all these wrecks?”

“I guess we get out and push when we have to
,” Walowitz said.

“Are we Marines or
Triple A? We’ll find a vehicle of sufficient size and drive over anyone that gets in our way,” Cooper said.

Gunny chuckled and nodded.

The group spread out. Joel stuck by my side while I checked out a couple of trucks. There was a huge eighteen-wheeler partially on the road and partly on the shoulder. I approached and jumped up on the ladder to see if anyone was inside. A man in a faded green t-shirt threw himself at me. He clawed at the door while I tried to stuff my stomach back down my throat.

We moved away.

Cooper and Reynolds poked inside a pair of cars but shook their heads. Cooper checked three more before finding one to his liking. It was a huge SUV that could probably seat eight comfortably. He pulled a corpse out—an elderly woman with blue hair. She was clothed in a huge dress that was more of a nightgown. When he released the body she hit the ground, but her hand grabbed his arm and she pulled herself up. Teeth clamped onto skin.

Cooper turned, eyes filled with horror. He looked at the wound and then did something I thought I could never do. He dropped his assault rifle, ripped the handgun out of his holster, put it under his chin, and pulled the trigger.

I looked away, and it was a good thing I did. From the base, the mass that had tried to attack us had somehow made it through the fence. They moved toward us, arms extended in claws, mouths snarling, teeth covered in blood.

“Move!” Gunny
yelled.

We angled off the road and raced toward the city.

That’s when the second mass came upon us.

It was like we were stuck between two groups of angry football fans and we were the opposing team.

We ran.

The second horde was already on us. They got one of the guys who
se name I didn’t know. He went down with a scream and a few seconds later something exploded.

Bodies flew
, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide.

Gunny palmed a grenade and tossed one to Walowitz. They both pulled pins and threw at the same time.

The effect was devastating to the front lines that didn’t even know to lift their hands or drop to the ground to protect appendages. Joel and I took shelter behind a car but popped back up. I followed his lead and didn’t deviate from doing the exact same shit he was doing. If he dropped his pants and popped a squat right there, I would have been beside him doling out the toilet paper.

Gunny led the charge with Walowitz and the other two
Marines behind them. They fired, moved in, fired, and when they were close enough they drew side arms and shot until the entire front line had disintegrated.

Reynolds broke away first and dashed to our side. The others followed
, but they fired as they went.

Joel took aim and blasted anyone that fell under his sights. The dead dropped
like flies, but still the mass advanced. At least with the first rank down, we had created enough of a mess to hang them up.

That’s when I saw the first one.

The guy crept along the ground on all fours. He didn’t really speak, he just gibbered like he was talking to himself in a shrieking laugh. It was unnerving. The worst was when he leapt off the ground and hit one of the Marines. They both went down in a heap; the Marine got the best of the engagement, but not before having part of his throat ripped out.

“Retreat!” Gunny yelled and we hauled ass.

We hit a roadblock a hundred and fifty feet later. We came up along a side street, hung a hard left to avoid a fresh horde, and hit a location that held five or six military vehicles. No one manned them, but they made a hell of a choke point because they stretched between two buildings and blocked the entire street.

Joel leapt on top of a HUMVEE and fired while we stayed behind cover. He took out a few but they were gaining on our tired asses. I was so tired I seriously considered just becoming one of them so I wouldn’t have to be scared and exhausted any more.

I scrambled up the side of a transport and swung myself onto the roof. I’d fired my last round and hefted my wrench. The first shuffler that came after me got a face full of steel.

Walowitz and Gunny dove into a transport and shut the door. The vehicle was soon surrounded. Joel and I backed up as Gunny saluted us. A few seconds later the engine roared to life and they backed up. Gunny rolled down the window an inch and shouted at us
. “Try for the park in two days at eleven PM.”

His truck came to a halt as more and more of them piled on. He shrugged, saluted again, and roared into the crowd. Gunny rolled down his window a few
more inches, stuck out his arm, and pounded the side of the cab. "Come on you fuckers!" he yelled.

We didn’t wait around to see how far he got.

Reynolds and another Marine joined us as we crawled on top of trucks and then slid down the other sides. The Marine – whose name may have been Jonas – slipped and fell off the side of a truck. He cried out, but before we could get him he was covered in Z’s.

They were on all sides now as we stood in the flatbed of a truck that had been used as some kind
of transport. Joel tossed his gun and picked up another. I found a handgun but didn’t pay attention to the make. I just yanked it out of an unused holster, ignoring the corpse it was attached to, and shot the first dead fuck that fell under my sights.

Reynolds kicked one in the face but
she latched onto his leg and her mouth darted in to bite him. I thought the fabric of his camo gear may have protected him, but he kicked her again and backed up in horror.

“We are so
screwed!” Joel said.

The rest had reached the truck. A hundred clawing hands on every side.

I don’t know if it was the stress of the dying Marines, the loss of Gunny, or just the culmination of the entire day. More than likely, it was the bite. Reynolds got this wild look in his eye and told us to get ready.

I thought he meant that we should get ready to die. Reynolds grabbed a bandolier covered in green balls and slung it
around his waist. He took a couple off and handed them to Joel.

Joel Kelly took them and
flipped Reynolds a questioning look, then shot a Z in the face.

Reynolds ran to the end of the flat bed and
leapt like he was going to crowd-surf. His fingers worked at his belt as he went, and when he came off the truck he left behind a tinkling pile of clips.

“DOWN!” Joel yelled and pushed me to the floor.

It was the most incredible act of heroism I have ever seen. Reynolds threw himself into the maelstrom and saved us.

The blast was immense
. What was left wasn’t fit to bury. It would need to be scooped up and burned.

We used the explosion as cover and ran through the fresh passageway. When a pair of the dead came around a corner
, Joel blasted one in half and then threw the empty assault rifle at the other. I didn’t look, but I knew Joel was close to losing it.