The zombie shook his head and turned to face the human who dared to stand against him. A low growl erupted into a furious roar as he lunged at his opponent again. This time Adrian wheeled around and swung both arms in a blur, and the zombie stumbled past him again.
Zoe watched anxiously as the big zombie stopped. Adrian was still facing away from him. The zombie stood fully, his eyes on the girl, but his expression seemed much calmer. A trickle of his black red blood oozed from a perfectly straight line in his forehead.
Adrian finally turned around and folded his arms.
As the girl watched, the big zombie fell straight forward, slamming into the floor face first. When he came to rest, Zoe finally noticed that Adrian's machete was sticking out of the back of his head, and the blade was buried almost halfway in and sticking up handle first at about a forty-five degree angle.
She looked to Adrian.
He returned her look and raised his brow.
Slowly, she approached turning her eyes down to the vanquished zombie as she neared.
Adrian met her at the zombie's body and planted his foot onto the back of his neck. He reached down and wrenched his machete from the zombie's head, then he wiped it off with two swipes on the zombie's back before turning his eyes to the girl. Raising his brow again, he observed, "I need to teach you some moves, don't I?"
She eagerly nodded and said, "Sure!"
"Let's get upstairs," he suggested. "We can worry about teaching you some Kung Fu later." He extended his hand to the door and allowed her to go through first, holding the door open for her.
She stopped just inside the stairwell as she found herself confronting a mob of about a dozen zombies. Reaching for her revolver, she realized quickly that it was not there, and she backed into Adrian as she barked, "My revolver's…" A tap on the shoulder stopped her and she looked to the right as he reached around her to hand her the weapon. "Oh," she declared. "Thanks."
Adrian moved her aside, and as the zombies began to charge forward he spun around and kicked the closest of them solidly in the chest, and they all went down like dominoes, tumbling down the stairs as they had before.
"After you," he offered.
They ran up the stairs and Zoe turned the handle and slammed into the door, pounding on it with the handle of her revolver as she tried in vain to open it.
"Try pulling," he suggested.
"Oh, yeah," she mumbled as she pulled the door open.
Right inside were two soldiers with a belt fed SAW set up right behind a makeshift barricade that was built of whatever furniture was handy and Zoe shrieked as she saw the muzzle aimed right at her, and in a panic, she froze and held her hands up. Adrian pushed her along and ordered, "Come on."
When the door closed behind them, nobody attempted to seal it, and Zoe stopped and turned around as she heard the zombies begin to pound on it to get in. "What if they learn how to open it?" she asked.
One of the soldiers manning the SAW looked to her and replied, "Then we shoot the one that does first and hope he didn't have time to teach the others."
With a nod, she conceded, "Oh."
Corporal Baker rushed to them and ordered, "This way. We're assembling a team on the roof. Princess, you're going to want to see this."
Up on the rooftop, Zoe found most of the San Antonio ZRT, both doctors and Colonel Halstead along with many others. Several were aiming over the roof, but not firing.
Zoe approached the Colonel as he was staring over the short wall, and she took his side, squeezing in slightly between him and Doctor Caswell. Both glanced at her, then looked over the side again, so she did as well.
In the street below, the sidewalks, the manicured lawns, were thousands of zombies, a sea of them, all moving in a dizzying, head bobbing current toward the hospital doors. Nothing could be seen but the mass of undead horror that meant to consume everyone in the building.
Morgan was standing on the colonel's other side, her hands resting on the edge of the wall as she mumbled, "This is so not good."
Corporal Anderson was about ten feet away and looked to the colonel as he informed, "It's only a matter of time before they breach the eastern stairwell again."
With a nod, Colonel Halstead added, "And only a matter of time before they push their way into the fifth floor. Let's make sure that all of the…"
A very loud bang from below preceded a swath of destruction being cut through the mass of zombies. Black red blood, entrails, heads and other body parts became a common, grisly spray in a V shaped wave that swept through their ranks almost all the way. Another thunderous bang had similar results, but closer to the building.
Anderson pointed to one side and shouted, "Tank!"
Everyone looked that way, and a cheer went up as they saw the dark green form of an M-1 Abrams main battle tank rolling relentlessly into the zombie hoard, and they cheered louder as its big gun pivoted slightly and it fired again.
"Canister rounds!" someone shouted. "That's now the biggest shotgun in the world!"
Another ear splitting bang and hundreds more zombies were torn apart by the half inch diameter pellets that the big gun belched. The machine gun beside the barrel spat fire and lead and in a subtle sweep of the turret more zombies were ripped apart and fell.
The tank stopped at the corner and fired again from its main gun.
Doctor Kavorski looked down the other way, pointing to the corner of the street as he shouted, "Look!"
Everyone turned their attention to the right as another tank rounded the corner and stopped, aiming its main gun into what remained of the zombies and firing right into the middle of them.
Someone, a civilian in hospital clothing, came running from the other side of the roof and yelled, "Do you see what's happening down there?"
Colonel Halstead smiled and nodded, confirming, "The Cavalry's finally showed up." He turned around and shouted, "Okay, everyone get to your assigned fire teams and stand by to assault the stairwells! Nobody is to go lower than the second floor. I don't want any friendly fire incidents down there. We're taking this hospital back!"
A cheer went up and everyone turned and raced toward the last secure stairwell.
As Zoe started that way, the Colonel grabbed her arm and stopped her, and he shook his head as he insisted, "Not this time, Princess."
"But I want to help!" she cried.
"You have," he assured. "I want you to stay with these doctors you rescued and make sure no moaners get by us. You're going to sit this firefight out." He cupped her cheek in his big hand and informed, "We almost lost you once, Kiddo, and I'm not ready to risk you again."
She watched him turn and stride with purpose toward the stairs, then, when she felt someone take her shoulders from behind, she half turned and looked into Doctor Caswell's eyes.
Rachel smiled and said, "We both want to thank you for what you did. You didn't have to put yourself at risk for us like that."
Zoe shrugged and countered, "I like you guys."
With a bigger smile, Rachel wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her as tightly as she could, and Doctor Kavorski joined them, embracing both of them.
As Zoe did her best to hug them back, cringing as one of the tanks fired its main gun again, she admitted, "I was kind of in a hurry and might have forgotten my bra again."
Both doctors laughed and Rachel assured, "I think we can overlook it this time."
Zoe nodded, then she pulled away and looked to Doctor Caswell, asking, "Is Snowflake still downstairs?"
CHAPTER 15
The next couple of hours was all about reclaiming the hospital. The promised reinforcements wiped out all of the zombies of every kind around the hospital, on the first floor and into the basement. Fire teams from those already there cleared the hospital floor by floor from top to bottom, and by the time the reinforcements arrived at the second floor, Colonel Halstead's Zombie Response Team had already cleared the top four and half of the second. From there, guards were posted and squads were sent down each hallway to ferret out the last of them.