A cheer went up and everyone ran toward their assigned vehicles.
"You're with me, Princess," the Colonel ordered as he turned toward the first Stryker.
The power plant they meant to assault was right on the outskirts of town. Fed by both coal and gas, it was silent for the first time in many years. Surrounded by a hurricane fence that lay almost completely on the ground, the front of the plant was almost entirely parking lot, most of which was abandoned. The front of the main building was encased in red brick and the many windows made it clear that this was the office complex of the plant. Stacks behind this building betrayed the location of the power generators and many thick power cables were strung from high metal towers and heading away from the plant in three directions. There was little landscaping, and what there was had been neglected for some time.
Even two hours before sundown, this was an eerie looking place. As the Strykers pulled into the parking area, only a few zombies could be seen milling about inside. Many windows were broken out, the front door was gone and there was some movement inside, and this told them that most of the zombies were within the structure and would have to be flushed out. The first Stryker charged the front door, then turned hard to bring its side to bear on the doorway. A few rounds were fired into the building, through the doorway and some of the windows, and the zombies outside were also fired upon and felled. No more of the zombies emerged and it was clear that they would have to be flushed out the hard way. Both Strykers opened at the backs and ten soldiers ran toward the building, their weapons ready as they neared. The assault vehicles turned away from the building and then backed up toward it to give their soldiers the best chance of reaching them in a hurry.
Half of the soldiers charged in while the other five set up a perimeter, and one fired at movement he saw in a window. More fire could be heard from within and in a moment the five who had gone in ran back out, one of them shouting, "They're right behind us!" Those who had set up the perimeter backed away, toward the waiting vehicles as the first of the zombies ran out after the first soldiers, and these were cut down by weapons fire as soon as they got out. More charged up to the windows from within, some of those climbing out of them. The retreating soldiers fired at them until they were back aboard their vehicles. As scores of zombies emerged from the doorway and from almost every window, the last man boarded and the backs of the Strykers closed, and they took off in different directions and at a slow speed. The zombies they got to follow them were running after them and moans and yells were sent toward their departing quarry.
With most of the zombies now out of the building and chasing the Strykers, the Hummer charged in from the right side of the building somewhere and the big machine gun on top of it tore into those that were still making their way out. The gunner raked over the building with the heavy machine gun as the man in the passenger's seat also fired on them with his assault rifle. Those zombies not killed outright took off in pursuit of the fast moving Humvee and soon no more of them emerged.
A few moments went by.
Zoe, Zachary and four soldiers walked almost leisurely toward the front entrance of the power plant, and the men and one woman with her held their weapons ready. There was no movement around them, none at all, and they all seemed rather at ease as they approached. Zoe's weapon remained slung over her shoulder as she strode with purpose toward the plant's office complex.
Stepping over the bodies of the zombies that had been killed at the entrance, Zoe looked down and grimaced, and she spat, "Ew!" as she came across one whose head had virtually exploded. Black red blood had splattered everywhere, and some gray and yellow matter that had once been brains. She walked over the bodies carefully, and once clear of them she paused to look around.
The main hallway went on to another hall that crossed it about eighty feet away, and there was another doorway directly in front of them at the end of that hall. The sides of the hall had emergency lighting illuminating doorways that were evenly spaced, and a window was beside each door. The walls were painted a sterile white and seemed a bit dirty in places and the floor was some kind of industrial tile that could be found in office buildings and schools all over.
She took only scant notice of her surroundings, instead looking about for movement or anything that might resemble a zombie. Slowly, she lowered her arm and allowed the M-4's strap to slide from her shoulder, and she held it ready and directed in front of her as her gaze tried to bore into the darkness of the open doors beyond. When this thing had begun, she had learned that she could smell other zombies, could tell them apart from the living, and she inhaled deeply and slowly through her nose as she walked.
Reaching the door, she paused and peered in, her eyes sweeping the darkness inside.
One of the other soldiers reached around her, to the flashlight that was mounted on the bottom of her weapon, and turned it on. She looked back at him, and when he nodded to her, she smiled and nodded back.
They all went in slowly, and as quietly as they could manage. Lights on weapons lanced through the darkness to illuminate what needed to be seen.
Zoe proceeded slowly, her wide eyes panning back and forth in the darkness. They were crossing into the mechanical workings of the power plant, and in time they had negotiated a dark and horrifying labyrinth and arrived in a concrete structure where one of the turbines was, and the huge generator that it turned. Everything was quiet and the whole area smelled of char and sulfur, grease and some kind of natural gas. It was more spacious here and flashlight beams disappeared down the cavernous darkness beyond the generator.
Panning her light around, she focused it on the floor near the generator, then she barked a scream and backed away.
All weapons and lights focused on that point, revealing a cockroach that had paused on the floor nearby. All of those lights slowly moved and refocused on Zoe.
Looking around her, she shrugged and said, "I can't help it. They're icky!"
One of the men shook his head and slung his weapon, and he withdrew a handheld flashlight from his belt, shining it on a control panel on a back wall. He and one of the other men strode that way and the others watched them for a few seconds before following. As they reached the panel, Zoe quickly lost interest in what they were doing and turned the other way, toward and then beyond the huge generator.
Her foot bumped something and she stopped, shining her light down. Her eyes widened as her light illuminated a big combat boot, and as she shined her light up it, she saw torn trousers, blood, and white bone. Drawing a loud gasp, she backed away, her gaze fixed on the horror before her.
The other soldiers with her rushed forward, focusing their beams on what she stared at and illuminating it completely and this only compounded the horror she already felt.