Zombie Theorem (Book 2): The Siege, page 8
I looked over at Brian. “We can’t use our guns, so I guess we go back to our tried and true ways from the Tower?”
He dropped his gun onto its sling and reached over and took one of my batons from my belt. I stretched my back and arms and retrieved my other baton and the Kabar knife from my belt. I pointed to my left and at Brian. He picked up on what I suggested and went in that direction. Two of the zombies broke off from their group and shuffled after Brian, leaving three for me.
I took my time and waited for the fastest to get within reach. I hit it in the left knee breaking the bone and forcing it to fall in that direction. As it fell, I swung the baton again, this time catching it directly behind its right ear. A crack of bone could be heard, and the zombie fell lifeless to the ground. I moved backward and to my left and watched as the zombies fell over their dead friend to the ground. I moved in fast and bashed in the nearest head. I then dropped to my knee, brought the Kabar down and into the last Zombie’s head just where it met the neck, and twisted it. I put my foot on its shoulder and freed the knife, cleaning it on the zombie’s leftover remnants of clothing.
I also wiped off the baton and holstered it, along with the Kabar. I looked over to find Brian finishing off the last zombie by bashing its face in with the heel of his boot. He cleaned my other baton and his boot off on its clothing and brought the baton back to me.
Brian slid the baton into my empty holster. “We have gotten way too good at this.”
“Don’t say that, you are going to jinx our next fight with these things.”
He flipped me off, brought his gun back to his shoulder, and stalked away. I took off the safety from the MP5, chambered a round, brought it to my shoulder, and followed Brian. We encountered no more zombies and went up a small rise to hide behind some trees just across the street from the building and truck sitting in the parking lot. Brian clicked on his radio, “Dan and Brian in position. Over.”
“Roger, we are all in position now. We will wait on Senshi to take out the guards and clear us to move. Over,” Kuppers answered over the radio.
We hunkered down, and I swept to the right of the truck with my gun as Brian swept to the left. A shot ran out, and the front windshield of the truck exploded in. Quickly, two more shots rang out. Then Senshi’s voice came over the radio, “All clear, I will cover the front door as you all move in. Over.”
Brian tapped me on the shoulder and then got to his feet and rushed across the street with his barrel up, covering the left side of the building. I jumped to my feet and copied Brian’s movements, but covered to the right. We met at the corner of the building, and Brian pointed to the windows and motioned for me to cover them as he made entrance.
I swiveled my barrel over and watched as Brian opened the door and made entrance. I stayed behind him and followed inside. We cleared the large dining room. The tables sat with tablecloths and full settings. No one appeared. We made entry into the only room offered to us off the dining room. The area was small with a small sink rack of cups and a soda fountain. We cleared it quickly, since it was barely big enough for both us to stand in at the same time. The next set of doors ended up being swivel doors that could open in or out. Brian motioned for me to stand back. He got on his knees and pulled one of the doors slowly toward him just enough so he could see into the room. Two rounds punched into the door above his head. Brian reacted quickly, pulled the door all the way open, and rolled through them. I dropped to my knees and waited for Brian to call me in. I heard three quick shots, and then something fell to the door. I waited another second, and was about to move inside, when Brian appeared at the door and waved me in.
I walked in and covered the Kitchen while Brian made his way through, clearing behind countertops and stoves. He motioned me forward, and I moved up and followed him to the end of the kitchen to a large stainless door. He reached out and grabbed the door. I moved to the side and raised my rifle to be able to fire inside once he opened it. Brian pulled the door quickly, and I stepped forward ready to fire. A man, dressed in dirty jeans and a red flannel shirt, stood inside shaking badly. I looked at his hands, and he raised them quickly to signal that they were empty. Brian reached in, pulled the man out, and threw him onto the ground. Brian zip tied the man’s hands behind his back tightly and sat on his legs. I stood there covering the man. Brian took a handgun from the man’s waistband and a knife from a scabbard on his belt. He put them into one of his many cargo pockets on his pants. He then zip tied the man’s ankles together and looked around the kitchen. I spied a kitchen towel, took it off a counter, and tossed it at Brian. He used it as a gag and shoved it into the man’s mouth. Using a roll of duct tape, he wound it around the man’s mouth, keeping the towel secured.
We left the man and worked our way into another dining room. Once we walked out, a burst of automatic fire punched holes in the wall to our left. We reacted without thinking and dove to the right behind an eating counter. The gunfire shifted and punched into the counter top. I kept my head down and watched as Brian crawled further down the open space. A lull came in the fire and he popped up and fired a short burst into the dining room. When he ducked down, I then popped up and watched as a gunman sighted on the area Brian had just dropped down from. I fired and stitched the man across the chest just as someone nearby him fired in my direction.
I dropped back down and covered my hands over my head and neck, protecting it from the chips of countertop being blasted into the air. Another gun went off from somewhere else in the room, and all became silent. I looked over at Brian, and he gave me the wait sign by holding a hand up. We waited another minute and then heard Kuppers’ voice, “Alright, boys, room is clear. You can get up now.”
We gained our feet and looked across the room to Vic zip tying a woman and holding a towel to her shoulder. Brian jumped over the counter. I was not going to even try doing that, since I would probably fall straight on face, so I walked around the corner and into the room.
“Building clear?”
Kuppers leaned against a table and dropped his gun onto its sling and smiled at us. “Yup. We found the hostages and freed them when we heard your little fire fight. We dealt with four other guards that were about to shoot the hostages. How many did you guys get?”
Brian scratched at his beard and answered, “One dead in the kitchen, and one prisoner hog tied on the floor near the fridge.”
“How are the hostages?” I asked.
“They’re fine. We freed one, and she is releasing the rest. Why don’t you two head up those stairs and deal with that floor while we go back and help out the hostages?” Vic ordered.
Brian and I nodded our agreement and started climbing the stairs. We kept hunched over, our guns trained at the door above waiting on us. “I’ll open the door. You do your action star roll inside and I’ll cover you,” I suggested.
“I’ll do my best Bruce Willis impersonation.”
“You have a long way to go to do that with how ugly you are.”
Before he could say anything, I grabbed the door and swung it open fully. Brian threw himself into the room and rolled into a couch onto his knees bringing his gun up. I entered into the room and moved to my right. Two men and woman hunched down at the end of the room with handguns raised at us. I fired and hit one of the men in the chest, knocking him back the wall. Brian fired simultaneously, hitting the other man in the legs, making him drop his gun and grab his new bullet holes. The woman started to raise her handgun when I yelled out, “Put it down, or we will kill you. You have no chance.”
I realized she was the woman I saw earlier in the truck. She thought for a couple of heartbeats and made the right decision. She dropped her gun and raised her hands. “I’ll cover you, Brian.” He stood and made his way cautiously toward her as I covered her and the two men. Brian knocked her down to the ground on her face and zip tied her quickly. Her frisked her and removed two knives and another gun hidden under her shirt. He then took the man he had shot in the legs and rolled him onto his stomach. He zip tied him up and went through his clothes, relieving him of knives, two full magazines of .9mm ammo, and 4 condoms.
Brian then rolled him over and tore the man’s pants legs open. He examined the wounds and removed a first aid kit from his pack. He poured two packs of some kind of power on the wounds and placed bandages on them. The man was unconscious from the rounds but had a strong heartbeat, Brian announced. He checked the last man and found him to still be alive. The man kept trying to speak, but blood welled from his mouth. There was nothing we could do. All I could think about was how he was going to suffer because of me. I raised my barrel and shot him in the head, putting him out of his misery.
Brian looked at me surprised, “That was the last thing I thought you would do.”
I looked into his eyes, then turned and started walking out of the room back to the stairs. I wasn’t trying to be an ass, but I was tired, hurt, and pissed at the whole shit going on since the world fell. “We couldn’t help him, and he was in misery. Come on, let’s go see what’s up downstairs.”
Brian followed me downstairs and to the back room where the hostages were being released by Vic and Kuppers. Kuppers looked up from releasing a mother and her young daughter from their binds and looked over to us. “What did you find upstairs?”
“Two hostages, one wounded. Also one dead gunman,” Brian answered.
“Where are Apache and Doc?” I inquired.
“They finished their sweep of the area and are bringing back a hostage. The guard should be here soon. Why don’t you two go out front and move that truck so they have a place to land?”
We turned and trotted back to the dining room, ignoring the prisoner that was still zip tied and lying on the floor. We opened the front doors and waved in the air toward where Senshi was watching us through a scope. We made our way over and opened the driver’s door to the sweet 4x4 Ford Raptor. I reached in and examined the interior. The back of the cab was painted in blood, and the dead guard was still sitting straight up in his seat. I stepped up on the running board and grabbed the man’s arm, pulling him out of the truck. Brian reached up and grabbed him, dragged him to the rear of the truck, and threw him in the bed. I looked at the seat and was happy to find it dry and clean. I slid in and turned the key and the truck roared to life. The engine in this thing was amazing and strong. I popped the brake and put the truck in reverse. I backed it out onto the street and parked it under the copse of trees Brian and I had hidden under earlier.
I turned off the engine and sat there thinking, I could probably fire this thing up and go to Fort Bragg on my own pretty quick. ‘What is wrong with me?’ I thought. This is my new family. I need to stay and help them. Then there’s Brian and little Angel. I can’t leave them behind. I sighed deeply and stretched my neck, trying to work the kinks out of it. I dropped the keys on the seat as I got out and made my way back to the parking lot. Brian watched me with concern in his eyes and stepped in my way. “Boss, what’s going on, man? You ok?”
I stopped and looked up at the sky, enjoying the rising sun from the East. “I don’t know, man. Maybe I am just trying to deal with all this shit. Just last week I was worried about data and reports. Now here I am using guns and shooting people. This is so hard for me to wrap my head around.”
Brian came closer and gathered me into his arms, giving me a gentle hug. “I understand, Dan. This is not very easy for me, also. I thought I was finally away from all the guns and death. I was falling into what it was like to be a civilian and enjoying the world and what lay before me. To be pulled back into chaos and waiting for my turn to be shot is not what I was expecting for my life, but here I am.” He looked up into the sun and closed his eyes. “I do feel blessed and happy, though, knowing I have a new brother in you and a new family in this team. That is enough for me to keep going, though.”
He thumped me on my helmet and then pointed in the sky. I followed his finger and saw two helicopters appear. Each one had something attached and swinging from them. “What the heck are they carrying?”
“Oh, sweet Jesus. Looks like two Humvees,” he clicked on his radio and called out. “Kuppers, Vic, looks like the cavalry is here. Looks like they brought some toys.”
I squinted at the helicopters. “What kind are they? They don’t look like the Blackhawks we saw at the base.”
“Those are CH-47 Chinooks. Military transport helicopters. They can carry some pretty heavy loads, as well as forty-four passengers. They need some room to land, though so let’s beat feet back to the truck until they can unhook those Humvees.” Kuppers appeared next to us.
The Chinooks came in lower. One hovered higher up while the lead set down its load. Vic detached from us and met the Humvee, climbing on top of it and detaching the hook from its sling. The Chinook climbed up higher and moved out of the way, while the other came down and placed the other Humvee next to the first. Brian ran over and performed the same maneuvers as Vic. They then climbed into each and fired them up, moving them out and away from the parking lot.
The first Chinook came down and, as its wheels touched the ground, a ramp lowered from the rear and forty soldiers disembarked. They carried and pulled supplies with them. Once done, the Chinook lifted into the air and swung out of the way, as the second one came in and landed. I looked up when I heard another sound and watched as two dangerous-looking black helicopters came into view and banked around the mountain and out over the river.
More men came off the second Chinook and again unloaded crates and supplies. One of the men looked around, spied Kuppers, and ran up to him. “Sir, I am First Sergeant Evans. Captain Philips sent us to help you out. Where are the hostages and prisoners?”
Kuppers clapped his back and pointed to me, “This is Dan, and he will show you and your men.” The soldier nodded his head and gestured for me to lead them.
I led them into the restaurant and showed him where the hostages and prisoners were located. He sent a medic and six men upstairs to deal with the prisoners there and three to the kitchen to deal with the one on the dining room floor. He and two medics, along with twelve soldiers, ducked into the supply room where the hostages were.
I watched from the dining room as the prisoner on the floor and the one from the kitchen were escorted outside to the awaiting Chinook. The medic and the six sent upstairs appeared, marching the woman and carrying the wounded man on a stretcher downstairs and outside. I popped into the back room and watched as First Sergeant looked over the hostages. He looked very pissed off. “First Sergeant, will you be taking these people back to Fort Stinson?”
“No, that base is packed to the gills. We have been able to secure another area and are setting up a new refugee camp, along with an air wing of Chinooks and Apaches. It’s near Petaluma, officially been named Fort Survival. For now, we are a mix of Air Force and Army National Guard who have been federalized under Brigadier General J.R. Richards. Now excuse us, sir, we need to load these people up so the next Chinook can land.”
I nodded my understanding and thanks. He and his men rounded up all the hostages and led them outside. I followed and watched as he loaded the Chinook up, then stepped back and watched as the ramp closed and the large helicopter leapt into the sky. I watched it bank out over the river and gain altitude. One of the scary looking helicopters broke off its formation and formed up on the Chinook leaving.
The lead Chinook then came back and landed in the spot from which the other Chinook had vacated. This time, though, the helicopter powered down, and its two sets of mighty rotors slowed to a stop. The rear hatch lowered to the ground and the aircrew, consisting of a pilot, co-pilot, and crew chief, disembarked. Next, the last sleek black helicopter landed on the crossroads in front of the restaurant and powered down. Its two canopies opened, and two pilots climbed out and looked over their craft before trotting over to us.
Kuppers came up and stood with us as the pilots arrived. Kuppers saluted the pilots and crew chief and they saluted back. “They sending out Apaches now for protection?”
The pilots from the Apache removed their helmets and tucked them under their arm. I was taken back to see they were both women. The taller of the two wore her red hair in a short bob ending at her neck answered, “You must be Kuppers. Captain Philips has ordered all craft be accompanied with protection. A couple of incidents down south near L.A. have required this.”
“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant. What incidents are you referring to?”
The shorter pilot spoke up at this. She had longer hair, brown and tied back and braided. “Fucking Ridder is deep down there. They somehow took control of a couple of air bases and have been able to order pilots of fighter jets and other Apaches to fire upon any aircraft that belong to the National Guard or are being used to help civilians. We’ve lost twenty Blackhawks and numerous civilian and state aircraft. So, nothing flies without protection anymore. By the way, can you point out a Dan Welko?”
I frowned, grinded my teeth at the story being told, but was surprised when I heard my name, “I’m Dan.”
The pilot opened a black case she was carrying and handed me a folder containing files and documents. “I was asked to give you that from General Richards.”
“Thank you.” I turned to the pilots from the Chinook, “How long are you guys staying for? We have four kids that need a ride to someone who will help them.” My brain was buzzing over what I had in my hands.
“We are going to be here for another couple of hours ‘till we are relieved with a Blackhawk bringing in a black team. We’d be happy to take the kids back to base.”
The pilot was about to walk away when I took his bicep and stopped him. “I’m sorry, what is a black team?”
“It’s a team of six men that are Spec Ops soldiers. Think Delta, Seals, and Green Berets.” He removed my hand and walked into the building.
