“So they didn't tell you what they were doing either?” asked Ruben.
“No.”
“Spook job.” he replied, “Black operations that they send special forces guys out on. Sometimes they even come back.”
“I thought the special forces guys were good at getting the mission done?” asked Max.
“Oh sure, the mission gets done, they just don't always come back. So what are we going to do?”
“Wait.” said Stewart.
“See if we can get the train moving and go from there.” said Max. The others nodded after considering this for a moment. They climbed back into the cab and it only took them a few minutes to realize that they were not going to be able to operate the train.
“Why didn't we pay any attention after the first engineer got shot?” Max asked.
“Because we weren't planning on being left here.” Stewart answered, "I took notes while we were in the cab, but they aren't enough. I think they locked it down before they left."
Turning to Bill, Max asked, “I don't suppose any of your guys know how to operate a train?”
“I'll ask, some of them are pretty old, maybe they did it when they were younger.” Bill ducked out of the cab to call the question over to Larry, Larry passed it along and it soon came back that the only train experience the men had was with the Lionel toy variety. Those men, including Ruben, were willing to take a look, so they ushered them all into the cab, leaving a couple of others near each machine gun. Max was monitoring the zombies and noted that they had started moving a little to the north.
“Uh, guys?”
“Yeah?” Bill responded.
“They are moving, a whole lot of them are moving, heading north, what is north of here?”
“Send Javier to look real quick.” Bill said to Ruben, who yelled out the door for the younger man to go look north along the canal.
The Hispanic youth yelled, “A bridge, a lot of zombies on it!”
“We need to leave.” Max said.
Bill took a moment to look over the position of the train, it was just outside of the yawning mouth of an extra wide tunnel, they had a good field of fire to the east and south, but anyone approaching from the north or the west would be hidden by buildings almost until they were on top of the train. From where he was standing Bill could see another bridge to the south of them quite clearly and it was empty.
“How many are coming Max?”
“More than I can count. It looks like all of them.”
“Okay we need to leave. Now. Ruben tell the guys. We'll head west to get onto that street and take it down to that overpass and bridge to get across the canal. Take all the weapons and ammo we can, leave everything else.”
Ruben hesitated for a moment, then started bellowing out Bill's orders, before disappearing to check things over for himself.
The three of them were left alone on the engine for a moment while Max and Stewart gathered what few things they still had with them. “Is the really bad guy still to the north east of here?”
“Yeah.”
“Well brother I think we need to go finish our mission.”
“Bill…there are too many of them.”
“We'll manage. Did I ever tell you about the baseball fields when I went looking for John?”
“Did I ever tell you about getting out of Denver?”
Both men laughed, while Stewart looked on grimly. Together they climbed down from the train and led the retreat from the zombies coming towards them from the north.
Chapter 39
The radio shook in Draper's hands as he spoke into it. “From what Max said the main concentration of them is close to Grant Park, looking at the maps I can see several possible locations for your main objective. Get out there and take a look around, but pay close attention to the Archicenter, the Art Institute, the CNA Center, and the Metropolitan Tower. If I had to guess from the hazy picture Max gave me the target is in the Archicenter. I am dropping off a team now to assist you.”
Randy on the other end of the radio was writing notes down on a yellow pad of paper. “Okay, we will meet you at Lake and Canal in five.”
“We are arriving there now. The two men will take position in the rent a car place on the north east corner. Good luck.”
“You too.”
Turning down the radio Randy said, “We gotta go now, they are waiting for us. We need to avoid firing weapons or drawing attention to ourselves at all cost.”
“So we suit up. How far is it?”
“Three blocks, here, take mine.” Randy thrust his camo suit at Katie, she stared at it for a moment.
“Why?” she asked with incomprehension.
“Yours is more damaged from where I shot you. The bite out of mine is smaller, so it will give you better coverage.”
“I wasn't asking that.”
Randy sighed, “You have to get through Katie. You have to. Every edge we can give you might not be enough. I am bit, probably infected and more of a liability to the mission. How are you doing on ammunition?”
“Low, I have twelve rounds of high velocity left, but only eight or so subsonics. My pistol has two clips and some change.”
“I think one of Draper's guys has more, but no subs. So go light for now, tote the rifle and carry the pistol for this first leg of it.”
“Yessir!” Katie said, saluting him sharply. She technically outranked him.
“Hey.” Randy said, grabbing her hand, “Don't be like that.”
“You've as much said that you are going to die and most likely I am too, how do you want me to be?”
“I don't know. Stoic?”
“Fine.”
“I think I can see the logic of not having mixed sniper teams now. Or teams that are homo or lesbian.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I love you.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“I..” Randy began, only to be cut off by Katie.
“Love has no place here, not in this, not in the field, not now. You think you would love your partner any less if you were both men? I know I would love my sister in arms just as much. It comes from spending so much time training together, always being together, never being able to be apart. We are closer than most married couples. If I had to put a description on this I would say we are like twelve year old sisters on the longest road trip in history in the back of our parents car. We can't get away from each other so we make the best of it. I see you at your worst and at your best; I know you better than my real sisters or friends. So we fuck on the side, who really gives a shit? I won't have you saying I can't do the job because we partnered up in more ways than the one the Army wanted us to.”
Randy looked at her a moment, then said, “Couldn't we be brothers in the back seat.”
“Sure.”
“I mean sisters doesn't really fit my style. Then there is the whole incest connotation.”
“I always knew you were gay anyway.”
“Fine, how about cousins? Then we don't have any gender bending that puts me out of my comfort zone.”
“Whatever. But don't ruin my career by saying the old policies the Army had were right.”
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that.”
“You meant it exactly like that. You don't want to see me die, you don't want to abandon me and I can see you will, if you think it will let me get away or complete this insanity.”
“Can I be sorry for thinking that, but still think it?”
“Sure. C'mon we gotta go, you said those guys are waiting for us.” She threw Randy's camo suit back to him.
Reluctantly he nodded then they got dressed and headed out.
They made it two blocks through almost deserted streets when they heard the shots ringing out. Before they moved into a jog Randy had them power on their suits. The loose, poncho like garments were not as effective when the user was moving, it made them look like slightly reflective ghosts. When they paused a block away from the car rental place they all but disappeared.