“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 whose 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.