“What?” One of the guys looked them over. He had steel grey eyes and looked like what an action hero should look like.
“We just got here, Gunny. We were on the McClusky before it rammed into the base.”
“I saw that. Damn shame.”
“What’s going on here?” Joel asked.
“It’d take days to tell you. Something’s been hitting cities and bases. The first we heard about it was up north around the Portland area. I guess some Black Water types brought back something besides crotch rot from the desert. At least, that’s the rumor.”
Joel stared at the man like he was looking at a ghost.
“What was it?” Reynolds asked.
“Don’t know. Rumors about some new weapon we were experimenting with.”
“Bullshit,” Joel stated. “I was over there and those guys don’t have the tech.”
“True, and don’t that make you wonder who does have the tech?”
“But what are we even talking about? This shit. All this fucking shit. It’s like a horror movie.” Joel gestured around.
“Yeah, it’s some shit. We’re getting off the base. Chain of command is stuck in limbo. Stay, fight, run, fight. We’re tired of taking orders from fifteen people so we’re getting gone. You guys want in?” Gunny looked us over. “Who’s he?”
They meant me. Did I really stick out that much?
“I’m Petty Officer First Class Creed. Jackson Creed.”
Reynolds and Kelly followed my lead and gave introductions.
“A squid? Shit.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean. I’d trade all my valuable knowledge of making a ship go fast for some combat training right about fucking now,” I said, and there was a lot of truth behind those words.
“Well, you’re big and you carry a big stick. Sometimes that’s all it takes.” Gunny nodded at the wrench in my hand. “How many rounds you got?”
“I don’t know. A pocketful and one extra clip.”
“Lesson number one, squid. It’s called a magazine. A clip is what a girl puts in her hair. You a girl?”
Jesus Christ. I’d been recruited into the Marines and this was boot.
“Right. Magazine. Sure, Gunny.”
“I’m just giving you shit.” He shot me a half grin. “Cooper. Hook this guy up with some ammunition.”
Cooper was older and even bigger than me. He wore enough gear to slow down a camel. Cooper reached into a one of the many pouches that adorned his vest and pulled out a magazine. He looked at my gun and then shrugged and handed it over.
I popped the mag and found the one he’d handed over was a match.
“Here’s the drill, gents.” Gunny looked between the three of us. “We are getting the fuck out of dodge. Coronado Base is now a death trap, so we’re going to leave it behind and take our chances closer to the city. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll make up the next part, but I will come up with a plan. Got it?”
The guys all Hoo’d and wouldn’t you know it? They didn’t do a full hoo-ah.
“The plan sounds like shit.” Gunny’s eyebrows went up at my words. “But it’s a hell of a lot better than what we’ve been doing, which is kind of a circle jerk.”
“Right. You’re welcome to come up with your own brilliant tactical plan,” Gunny said.
The others chuckled. Me and my mouth. If we got off the base, these guys would probably play “string up the squid” and leave me for the dead. That’s if they didn’t feed me to a horde first.
“I got nothing,” I said.
“Great. So, if the General is leaving us in his hands, I suggest we move. Cooper and Walowitz, check the street. Lets get this show on the road.”
The two men moved out and advanced up the street. They ran to an overturned car and crouched beside it. One motioned and another team of two went. They ran to an overturned pickup truck and dropped beside it. Two others from Gunny’s group took off toward them. When all four were in place, the first two dashed toward a street corner and stuck to the side of the building while the second pair kept watch.
Movement ahead. I snapped the handgun up at the same time as the soldiers by the overturned car. Sounds to the west. Reynolds slipped out and took up position on the corner of the building, then peeked. He slipped his head back, took a couple of deep breaths and peeked again.
Reynolds ran to our position.
“Fuck load of them coming our way.”
“Now ain’t that a bitch. ‘Bout how many?” Gunny squinted into the distance.
“Can’t say. Hundred. Maybe more.”
Gunny motioned and the others followed. All told, the men plus us made eight. Eight souls that wanted to get the hell out of this area. Seven men better trained than I’d ever been. My on-the-job training had consisted of pointing a gun and shooting. It was easy, the easiest thing in the world. You just had to ignore the fact that there were people on the other end of the barrel.
Cooper split off and went with Reynolds. They rounded the corner of the building and layed down fire. Gunny motioned and we moved toward the fallen car. The two that had been there moved to the end of the street and took up position.
Our routine became one of sending out scouts, shooting whatever dead came our way, and then trying to find an alternate path.
Hundreds had been drawn to the gunfire, but we were also within sight of the base perimeter. The city proper lay out there and it was freakishly quiet.
Eerie.
Dead.
No one trotted over sidewalks. No cars zipped along streets. The navy base was a hub of activity on a slow day. If a ship were returning from a tour, the base would be packed. Now, it was a different story. No one waited at the gate. No one was checking ID’s and no one, besides us, seemed to be alive.
“I hate this,” I muttered.
“You and me both, brother.” Gunny clapped me on the back.
Then they hit us.
It was like everyone I’d just pictured in my mind on a normal day had decided to say hi. They shambled. They crawled. They dragged broken limbs. They pulled themselves along the ground with guts and appendages hanging by scraps of skin. There were so many I couldn’t see an end to the mass.
“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.