A growl and some maniacal cry sounded from her left and she looked to see one of them wearing a white tee shirt and blue jeans charging her at a fast run. He was forty feet away and advancing on her like some beast from her nightmares, and she backed away, raising her weapon to her eye. Too focused and excited to be afraid, she let the mad-dog zombie close to within about ten feet before she pulled the trigger, and she fired three times, hitting it twice in the head before it reached her. Moving aside, she watched as it fell to the floor right where she had been standing.
This side of the room was suddenly clear and she glanced about to find any stragglers. Still hearing gunfire from the other side of the generator, she turned and ran that way, pausing as she came up on a group of zombies that was still on their slow, methodical advanced toward the people who fought desperately to defend themselves. Raising her weapon, Zoe picked them off one by one at close range, and when the last one fell, the gunfire from the other side ceased and only the loud hum of the generator could be heard.
Over the generator, Zoe yelled, "Hey guys. I'm coming around, okay? Nobody shoot me!"
"Come on, Princess," one of the soldiers yelled back. "You're clear."
Hesitantly, she strode around the generator, leaning forward to see that no one was aiming at her, and as she saw the first of the team, she strode faster toward them and reported, "I ran into one of those mad-dog ones over there and it tried to get me but I got it instead."
The woman soldier nodded to her and confirmed, "We shot three of them."
Alfred leaned his shotgun against the pipe rail that surrounded the generator and shook his head. "First time I seen them mad-dogs runnin' with the regulars."
The engineer informed, "It sounds like they're evolving, much faster than anyone thought they would." He looked to the control panel and added, "We also need to get more generators on line and we should see about shutting down grids. The draw's too much with the current level of consumption."
"Suddenly leave hundreds of survivors in the dark?" another soldier barked.
"They're in the dark now," the engineer pointed out. "Look. We have limited resources here. I don't know how long the natural gas reserves will hold out, we got no way to get coal here and we've got to cut back usage somehow or we'll blow this thing up, and then we'll have real problems."
"Bottom line is," the engineer started grimly, "someone's going to have to stay here and babysit this thing. We've been damn lucky the last month or so that it held out like it did. We're also going to have to go through the city and shut off everything in the hospital's grid that's running that we don't need running."
"Gonna be dark, soon," Alfred observed.
Silence gripped them, interrupted only by the hum of the generator.
One of the soldiers removed a radio from his belt and headed toward the exit. "I'd better inform the Colonel that we'll be staying tonight. We should also take stock of what ammo we have left and what food and water we can find in this place."
CHAPTER 10
The night went without incident. Sentries were posted at the only ways in and relieved every two hours, but nothing more was seen and no more zombies approached. Few of them slept for more than an hour or so.
A couple of hours before dawn, Zoe succumbed to fatigue and she found herself wandering toward the conference room that had been selected for their rally point. The room had a long, oval table in it, comfortable, deep cushioned leather chairs surrounding it, and two couches of the same leather on one wall. There was a refrigerator that still had food and cans of soda in it, a pantry on one end with a small sink and even a few bottles of liquor were found. It was a comfortable room and two members of the team were already there when Zoe arrived, her hat pulled down low over her eyes and her rifle slung clumsily over her shoulder.
She stopped inside and looked to one of the couches, seeing Zachary was already there, sitting on one end of the closest couch with a blanket over him. His head was down and resting in his palm, his elbow was propped on the arm of the couch and held his head up and he appeared to be dozing.
Drawing a deep breath, Zoe yawned and stretched, then she took her rifle and leaned it against the wall beside the couch, right beside Zachary's, and padded over to him. Lifting one side of the blanket, she slipped under it with him and snuggled up to him, drawing her legs up beside her as she laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She felt him settle the blanket over her shoulder, felt his other arm slip around her and he shifted, laying his cheek on top of her head.
Both of them drifted off to sleep in a couple of minutes.
"Zach," someone said in a low voice.
Zachary and Zoe both awakened to find his arm laying over her. She had settled into his lap at some point and had curled her arm under her head as she slept soundly across his thighs. They both drew deep breaths and Zoe pushed herself up, sitting somewhat upright beside him as she rubbed her eyes and tried to awaken. When they both looked ahead of them, they found three of the soldiers, including Private Higgins, standing in front of them with their weapons in their hands, and they were all staring down at the two.
One of them motioned toward the door with his head and said, "Okay, lovebirds. We need you out front. Sun's up and we have movement out there."
They both nodded and Zachary pulled the blanket from them. Neither spoke as they stood and looked for their weapons.
Once outside, they discovered everyone but the engineer was already out there and it was safe to reason that he was attending the generators. The door faced east, the sun was still low and seeing into the distance and what was going on out there against the early morning sunlight was difficult at best as everyone shielded their eyes against the sun to see what was moving.
"See how those in front are moving?" Alfred asked. "Those are mad-dogs. I count at least eight of 'em and a whole crew of others behind 'em."
One of the soldiers, a corporal who had been one of the survivors, shook his head and grimly informed, "We have thirty-two rounds of two two three apiece."
Higgins vented frustration in a hard breath and observed, "And there are a lot more of them out there than that."
"You guys should get back inside," Zoe insisted.
Alfred's eyes slid to the girl and he said, "Those mad-dogs'll be on you directly, sweet thing. It's best you come in with us."
Zoe looked down to her M-4, and she pulled the bolt back and allowed it to chamber the first round with a loud clack. "I'll shoot them first. When they're gone there won't be any left to bother me."
The Corporal took her shoulder and demanded, "What happens when you're out of ammo?"
Hesitantly, she shrugged, her gaze fixed on her weapon. "I still have my pistol. Maybe Colonel Halstead will come back by the time I'm completely out of bullets."
"I'll stay with you," Zachary assured.
Zoe shook her head. "Thanks, but they'll try to eat you. I'll be okay." She finally looked up from her weapon, toward the advancing zombie hoard that numbered in the hundreds, and the handful that charged ahead of them. "You guys have to keep the power going for the hospital and you have to keep them away from Edward while he works on it." She looked over her shoulder to the Corporal. "I have to do what I can to help. I don't want to see anyone else I like eaten by them."