Inside the generator room, the team was once again backed up against the generator safety rail and fighting for their lives. The zombies moved in relentlessly and every shot had to count. They were nearly out of ammunition.
The Corporal was the last one to fire, and when his weapon made an empty click, he dropped it and reached for his survival knife, shouting, "Hand to hand time, people."
Dan walked in and reached up to remove the cigarette from his mouth, then he shouted back, "You guys might want to get down." As they dropped to the floor, he smiled and put the cigarette back between his teeth, yelling, "Hey, zombies. Got something for ya!"
Half of them turned around.
Dan opened fire, aiming a little high as he slowly swept his weapon from one side to the other. Zombies fell as he moved his weapon and most of them turned to face him, only to be cut down as they did.
Zoe and the other three took up positions beside him and also began firing, and in short order the last zombie fell.
Slowly, the smoke began to clear. The mound of bodies was considerable.
Fearing for her friends, for her teammates, Zoe darted around the bodies of the zombies and found herself approaching Zachary first. She reached down to grab onto his arm and she helped him stand, looking into his face as she barked, "Are you okay?"
He nodded and met her eyes, then they both looked away from each other.
The rest of the team stood and faced the new zombie fighters who approached, and the Corporal extended his hand, greeting, "I'm Corporal Anderson, U. S. Army and Zombie Response Team."
Shaking his hand was one of the tall fellows who replied, "The name's Josh." He looked over his shoulder and introduced, "These nuts are Adrian, Donny, Dan and Morgan, our token chick."
Morgan stepped forward and punched Josh in the arm.
"The rest of the team's outside," Josh continued, "covering the entrance." He motioned with his head to the zombie girl. "Zoe here tells us you're looking to keep the power plant running. Doesn't look too defensible to me."
"We have reinforcements coming, "the Corporal assured.
"They seem a little late," Josh observed. "I have a few others outside watching the door. We're sure there are more zombies in the area."
"There are," Corporal Anderson confirmed grimly. "When the Strykers get back here I think we'll be able to hold them off a little better."
"Are they close by?" Dan asked.
The Corporal replied, "I'm hoping they're on their way." Looking to Dan's weapon, he asked, "Where did you get that?"
"Fort Hood," he replied, holding the weapon where it could be seen better. "When this thing started we were kind of hard up for weapons and ammo. Somebody suggested we hit up some of the local military bases to see if they'd help us out. When San Antonio got overrun, most of the non infected military people were on their way to Killeen where things were said to be a whole lot better, so we tagged along.
"When we got there we found Hummers and tanks and military guys all over the place. The zombies that got that far never had a chance. It kind of branched out from there, and we told the base commander who we were and that we wanted to help so he had someone take us to the armory and they hooked us up."
"Yeah," Adrian spat in a near angry tone. "But think of the damage we could have done with a tank. Why are they so stingy with those?"
Morgan sighed and turned her eyes down, shaking her head as she grumbled, "Would you just let it go?"
"Hey, Josh!" five radios called. "We have all kinds of company coming, and I'm not talking about company you'd want to spend the weekend with, I'm talking the brain eating unwanted kind."
Josh took his radio from his belt and asked, "How many?"
"Ass load," was the reply.
"Not good," Adrian mumbled.
"We're out of ammo," the Corporal informed.
"Don't worry," Morgan assured. "We can spare some."
Dan slapped the corporal's shoulder and said, "We'll set up at the door and mow 'em down as they come at us, that way your guys can work in here without somebody trying to eat them."
As the San Antonio ZRT turned and headed back out, Anderson pursued, protesting, "We need to funnel them in here, catch them in a group and—"
"And get eaten," Donny pointed out. "We like to catch them in the open and play lawn mower with the machine guns."
"Yeah," Dan urged. "Come on, guys. It'll be fun! Besides, my cigarettes are still in the jeep."
The corporal, two other soldiers, Zoe and Zachary caught up to them and followed in silence.
Dan's eyes slid to one side and focused on the woman soldier who had taken his side. "So," he began, "You seeing anybody?"
Slowly, she turned her attention to him, her brow tense and a disbelieving look on her face.
Outside, the jeeps had formed a semicircular perimeter around the door. Each one was about twenty feet away with one parked against each wall beside the door and one directly in front of the door with its flank turned toward the front. The other members of the San Antonio team were already in position in the jeeps.
Corporal Anderson stopped and looked around him, and with a nod he commended, "Nice!"
"Yeah," Adrian confirmed. "We got it going on."
Beyond the jeeps was a second wave of zombies, a sea of undead marauders moving in on them relentlessly at that horrifying slow, steady walk.
"Oy!" Matt barked, drawing everyone's attention. "Who wants some ammo and what flavor do you like?"
Zoe strode forward with slow, hesitant steps, her wide eyes fixed on the zombie hoard that slowly closed in on them. She could only wonder where they were coming from or how so many kept coming at them. It seemed like the whole city was zombies now. Seeing them all and remembering what she had just experienced put doubt into her, doubt that they could make any difference even if they killed a thousand of these things. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the people who meant to receive them, people who fought as relentlessly as the zombies came.
A distant sound caught her attention and she looked toward the approaching zombies again. This was a familiar sound, a powerful engine. Movement to the right drew her eyes that way and a little smile found her as she saw one of the Strykers charging ahead of the bus, over the fallen fence, into the parking area and right at the hoards of approaching zombies. Every window in the bus had the muzzle of a weapon pointing out of it. The Stryker was also bristling with firepower. Both turned their flanks toward the zombies and hundreds of sharp cracks belched forth with the flashes of firing muzzles. Louder cracks announced the fifty caliber machine guns had joined the fray and a hail of lead tore into the zombies from one side, dropping them in a wave from right to left.
"Let's get some!" Dan shouted as he strode forward with the SAW. Holding the weapon at waist level, he aimed from there at the hoard that was less than a hundred yards away and loosed a barrage of his own, sweeping from one side to the other and back.
"Quit wasting ammo!" Adrian shouted as he stepped in front of Zoe and aimed his own weapon.
This fight lasted only a few minutes. A few of the zombies that were not in the main group continued to advance, only to be confronted by the Stryker and cut down, and others were seen by those near the door and dealt with.
With the zombies no longer a threat, the Stryker and bus pulled up to the brick building and stopped about twenty feet from the jeeps, and both opened up to disgorge the men who had come to relieve those who had stayed overnight.
Among them was Colonel Halstead, who came out of the Stryker puffing on a cigar and looking around him, and the first one he approached was Zoe.
She just looked up at him with no discernible expression.