Zombie Theorem (Book 1): The Culling (20 page)

“Sounds like you guys are more family then a team.” I commented.

“You have no idea Dan. We’ve fought side by side and rely on each other more then with our real family.” She never took her eyes off the team while she talked to me.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I turned, startled. Vic was standing there smirking. “Relax Dan, you’re going to have a heart attack.” He then clicked his radio on and announced over the channel. “Team, the ferries are ready to roll. Once they have been checked start sending them in. One thousand eight hundred for the first wave only. They will be back in one hour at the most to start this all over again. What do you say we hand this over to the NG troops and get out of here?”

“Not yet, we will help with the first set to evacuate then we will move out. The NG are calling in another platoon and won’t need us anymore soon.” Kuppers radioed back.  

“I want to see the front can we please move up?” I asked.

“Apache why don’t you take Dan to the front but be ready to get to the APC at a moment’s notice.” Vic looked in her direction.

She took my hand and we walked away to just behind the barricade. I could see faces now and just how big the crowd was becoming. The sea of humanity must’ve counted eight thousand and growing steadily. I became afraid because any minute now I knew this could all fall apart. Once the zombies appeared, this place would become one of panic and disorder. The NG had their medics on the front line checking temperatures and doing physical checks of the civilians. It was a slow process but at least something was happening and the crowd could feel that, they were calm for now.

“Do you have any binoculars Apache?” I asked her.

“They are called glasses and yes here you go.” She handed over a small but powerful pair of black ones.

I climbed up onto the truck in front of me and started looking around the edges of the crowd. “What the hell am I looking for?” I mumbled more to myself but Apache heard me. She didn’t miss much I noticed.

“When you find it let me know.” She answered.

I took the glasses and started scanning their faces. I kept at it for a long hour till I came upon a little blonde girl in a white summer dress standing on a car waving at me, trying very hard to get my attention. I was floored, I was shocked, I was sure I was seeing things. “The girl from my dream.” I whispered. I clicked my radio like an old pro. “Vic, I need you now.”

“What girl show me?” Apache held out her hands for the glasses. I handed them over and pointed in the direction of the little girl waving at us.

Vic came running over to me. “What’s up?”

“That little girl from my dreams. She’s out there.” I pointed in her direction.

Vic jumped up into the truck. “She knows we are here, how? I have no idea; her little eyes shouldn’t be able to see us.” Apache handed over the glasses to Vic.

He looked were I pointed and I could see the color drain from his face. “How can this be real?” He asked out loud.

“I don’t know but I promised her I would protect her and there she is. I have to go get her.” I was getting agitated. I had to calm down or Vic would never let me go out there.

Brian made his presence known speaking loudly enough to surprise everyone. For his size he was fucking ghostly, with how stealthily he was. “I’ll take him, have Apache set up over head protection. The faster you agree the faster we can be back.” He growled out.

Brian reached up took my hand and helped me down. Vic seemed to be chewing on the idea. Finally, he made a decision. “Apache grab your long gun and get visual on these two. Anyone impedes them or attacks them you take care of them.” He walked away toward Kuppers to explain the situation.

Brian and I slid between two vehicles into the crowd and made our way over to the left edge. I could feel the cross hairs from Apache’s gun on my back as we made our way through the crowd. Brian dealt with the people in our way, speaking with authority to get them to move or just down right manhandling them out of the way. We stepped onto the sidewalk and I would periodically jump into the air trying to get a peek at the little girl.  After what felt like an eternity we made it to the car. The little girl was still there. She looked down at me. “It’s you, you’re real and you kept your promise. What’s your name?” Her eyes were large, she ignored Brian and just stared at me.

“My name is Dan, and we need to get out of here. Remember the dream and what happens next?” She nodded her head and slid off the car into my arms. As we turned to head back I heard screams coming from behind us. I looked in that direction and saw something that did not make sense at first. The zombies had finally showed up, but they were moving way to fast. Not like their cousin, we dealt with, in the tower. Oh shit here it comes. “Brian we need to go now fast!” We took off running, the little girl was heavy in my arms but I wasn’t going to let her down. We passed a small side street and something went flying by the side of my head. “Engaging, we have things coming in off of Beale. Holy shit there are a lot of them.”

I reached down with my free hand and pulled one of my collapsible batons out of my belted holster. I flicked my wrist out and felt the baton lock into full size. “Hold onto my neck and wrap your legs around me kiddo. I need one of my hands free.” Angel wrapped her arms tight around my neck, snuggled her head against my left shoulder and squeezed her knees against my sides. I held the baton in my right hand and prepared to fight if need be. There was no spot free enough for us to run, so I tried Brian’s tactic and screamed at people in my best authorative voice.

Chapter 25

“Move the fuck out of my way! Official police business move!” I yelled until my voice started to feel hoarse. 

Brian looked over his shoulder and the look on his face almost scared me into freezing. “Keep going, do not stop Boss. I got your back.” He slowed so I could pass him. I could hear his gun going off sporadically but as I ran his tempo picked up. The crowd started screaming and moving in the same direction we were. We weren’t going to make it; I could feel it. Two men turned on me, I could tell by their faces they were scared and about to try something stupid. The big one pointed at my gun on my back. “Give me the guns and we will let you pass.”

I was done with this, and knew what I had to do. I gave him my best enraged look and swung my baton at his legs. His buddy stepped to the side and swung at Angel and I. Just as he was going to connect he spun away in one direction as his arm went in another direction. At that point my baton made contact with the big guys left knee, cracking it and knocking him to the ground. He screamed out loud and grabbed for his knee. His buddy was lying in a pool of blood, unconscious from trauma and blood loss. The best I figured was, Apache had seen what was happening and shot the guy in the shoulder. I looked around quickly trying to find a clear path.

Brian came up on my side and pointed to the barricade coming up. He called over his radio. “We are going to need help getting through this crowd and the barricade.”

“Roger that. The NG guys will make a path for you, near the big brown UPS van.” Kuppers called out.   

In front of us we could see NG troops concentrating fire on the rear of the crowd. A small team was moving forward making room for us near the UPS van Kuppers had described to us.

Brian came up on my side, with a smile on his face. “What the fuck are you smiling at?” I yelled at him.

“No swearing that’s bad.” Admonished the little girl.

“Just nice to finally have a little pay back. We are coming up on the barricade, head toward those three guard guys. They will get us behind the barricade, move it.” He yelled.

I doubled my efforts and the guard moved around us letting us through the small opening off the UPS van’s bumper. Vic came running over and pointed over my shoulder. I turned and saw the carnage. The zombies were slicing their way into the crowd attacking anyone and everyone. Then the zombies turned and started toward the barricade. I could see further back in the crowd and more zombies were coming up through the back of the crowd and off of other side streets. They were much faster than anything Brian and I had dealt with in the tower. God that seemed like ages ago. I watched as people were taken down, ripped asunder and torn apart. The zombies seemed so fast and much more viscous. The crowd started pushing harder at the barricade, ignoring orders being shouted by the guard. The guard kept pouring on the fire over the heads of the crowd taking out zombies left and right, but they were not head shots and the zombies started getting back up. “In the head! Shoot them in the head!” I screamed as loud as I could. The guards fire shifted and they started making more headshots. But I could tell that no matter what, we had lost this battle.

Apache with Doc at her side peeled away from their positions at the barricade and ran to our side. Brian joined them by the UPS van and covered the NG who had gone forward to protect us as they retreated. Vic got behind me and pushed me in the back toward the ferry building. “Head toward the ferry Cupcake has the Beast loaded get on the barge, don’t wait just go! Brian protect those two.”

Brian peeled away from the barricade and joined us as we ran in the direction Vic ordered us to. Just then I heard a noise above us. I sneaked a look and saw four airliners flying close over the city.

“Oh no.” the little girl said.

One of the planes, just like in my dream, tipped over and crashed into the Coit Tower. Other planes started falling from the sky. One hit the bay bridge breaking up into pieces taking away cars and parts of the deck into the bay below. Two others looked like they might make it to a higher elevation, but they both turned on their sides, then their backs and impacted into the city. I could feel the heat and pressure from their explosions. We kept running ignoring the horrific scenes around us.

We made it to the Ferry building, I stopped and turned, to find the rest of the team fighting as they ran our way. Apache caught my eye and yelled the word go. Brian grabbed my arm and yanked hard almost pulling me off my feet. We ran and ran, I could feel my legs turning to lead and my arms were on fire from holding the girl. Something inside me kept telling me to ignore the pain and just keep going.

We skidded around a corner and saw two of the ferries already backing out of their slip overloaded with people. I looked around frantically, and finally spotted Cupcake waiving us on to his position. We came up on him and he pointed to the barge. I didn’t wait and ran up the gang plank onto it. I slid the little girl into the Beast. “Sit down and buckle up. I’ll be right back honey.”

She smiled and rubbed my arm. “Thank you for keeping your promise.” I smiled back and turned to find Brian with his rifle up to his shoulder. He hadn’t fired yet but was scanning the area.

Cupcake came running around the corner with the rest of the team. “Get the barge going now!” I turned and ran to the front and found a pilot house. I scanned the instruments and saw the gauges showing power. I hoped this meant the engines were already running. I grabbed the throttle and advanced them, I felt the little barge start to move. I stepped out and looked around the Beast. I could see us starting to move then I saw the ropes were still securing us to the pier. I reached back in and advanced the throttle a little more then ran for the ropes.

I pulled the Kabar that Doc had loaned me and attacked the first rope. It disintegrated under the Kabar, popped and whipped back toward the dock. I saw the team jumping onto the barge. Kuppers and Little Jonny were still on the pier laying down fire so the others could board. Apache and Cupcake were now firing over Kuppers and Little Jonny as they hit zombies left and right. But they were only knocking them down. No head shots. I made it to the other rope and cut it quickly using the Kabar. I turned and yelled over the gun fire. “HEAD SHOTS!”

Apache nodded and slowed her firing while taking more accurate shots, Cupcake copied her shots and gave Kuppers time to get on the barge. As Little Jonny turned to jump on the barge he was hit from behind and then piled upon by five other bodies. They tore into him and he screamed. The stocky little Irishman, started punching the creatures in the heads and throwing them off the pier and into the water. Doc started taking measured shots at the creatures advancing on Jonny. From around the corner a large herd of zombies flooded out and ran at him. Doc tried but couldn’t get all of them as they piled back onto Jonny. He somehow got his side arm free and started shooting the zombies on him. He was barely on his feet now, blood flowing from too many bites to count. He looked over and caught Kuppers’ eye, he snapped off a salute, placed the gun under his chin and fired. I screamed till my voice was raw. “NO!!!”

Brian grabbed my arm and pushed me back toward the pilot house. “Get us out of here move it. He did the right thing; you know he did. We got this Boss.”

I turned my attention away from the Zombies and ran into the pilot house. I advanced the throttles to their stops and grabbed the wheel. I steered us around one of the ferries and looked back at the one still docked. It was a house of carnage. People being attacked everywhere. I could hear more firing and that’s when I saw the NG firing on a pier across the way. About 20 was all that was left. I pointed the barge in their direction and yelled into my radio. “The NG need help, come to the front.”

Like magic the team appeared and started taking measured head shots at the zombies converging on the NG. I reached up and grabbed the wire over my head pulling it hard hoping it was the horn. A mighty bellow let loose across the bay and the NG stopped and looked in our direction. The Master Sergeant was with them, I noticed. He started pushing men into the bay and pointing at us. The men started swimming and Apache stopped firing to help the NG’s climb aboard. The Master Sergeant locked eyes with me and nodded, then he started firing faster into the crowd. It was down to him and one other soldier.