Zombie Dawn Apocalypse (30 page)

“Come on!” shouted Carlo, as he slung his shotgun and moved to use his mace and small shield.

A group of the creatures pushed him to the right but Talia pushed back, keeping him steady. He had already taken a few bites to his armour but it was holding. A quick swing of the shield created a little space and he followed it up with a heavy strike with the mace. One more step and he was at the barricade. He continued to swing his weapon whilst
Reinier
and Talia rushed in to protect his flanks. One of the zombies managed to reach the second line and dragged Ken to the ground. Though his armour saved him from the initial bites it couldn’t help him from being buried under the weight of yet more of them. Ian rushed in, swinging his machete and reaching down, trying to pull Ken to safety.

Talia moved close to Carlo, helping to protect each other with their weapons and shields. Carlo shouted whilst pushing forward.

“We have to keep moving forward, we need to reach the causeway!” he shouted as he stepped inside and struck down another of the creatures.

“We need to help clear this breach or they’ll retake it,” cried
Veya
as she tried to fight off the creatures closing in on them from their left side and rear.

The gunfire from the wave of follow-up marines was helping but even they couldn’t stop all of the creatures from making it to the breach. A gap had developed between the two groups as scores more of the undead arrived from the causeway and swarmed around the perimeter to their second breach.

Carlo turned around to see the danger of their situation. Until the causeway was cleared the horde would continue to pour around the flank and towards this breach. Though a good number were undoubtedly fighting along the barricades it was this secondary breach that could provide an easy way in for the creatures. Inside the base he could see a number of the civilians rushing towards them, obviously hoping to help push back the undead.

“Ok, thirty seconds, then we leave!” he shouted as he turned and locked himself down firmly in the middle of the breach and facing outwards.
Reinier
, Talia, Ian and
Veya
joined him in a small block of armour and weapons. The horde crashed into them and with mechanical efficiently they cut, smashed and hacked their way at the oncoming tide of creatures.

Veya
was thrown back to the ground but Talia stepped in her place, swinging her shield to smash back the creature that had reached their position. Another pair of hands reached out, grabbing her shield and ripped it away. A shotgun gun barrel appeared next to her face, held by the now standing
Veya
who pushed it forward and emptied both barrels. The sound at this distance was deafening but it cleared the area in front of them. Almost half of those approaching them were cut down by the second wave of marines but it wasn’t enough. Carlo tried to decide what to do, he needed to leave but if they turned their backs they would be overrun in seconds. The help from inside had arrived but even their modest numbers weren’t enough to give them the time they needed. Then the second hovercraft hit the perimeter. Ether by accident or design they ploughed through the creatures and smashed directly into the barrier, tearing down a chunk before coming to a stop.

“Get back!” shouted
Veya
as she pulled them back from the breach.

As they fell back inside the compound a mighty roar from the heavy machineguns on the second craft tore a swathe through the horde. The hovercraft had made its way inside the wall and arrived just metres from the breach. With the second wave of marines jumping out they rushed in to seal the breach from the inside and started to push back the creatures. As the smoke cleared an injured Ken dragged himself clear of the bodies and into the compound.

Talia knelt down, checking for wounds.

“Did they get you?” she asked, with a hint of both concern and dread.

“I’m ok, a couple of them landed on me, I think one of them broke my leg. I’ll take it from here, you keep going,” he said as he lifted himself up into a seated position.

Carlo patted him on the shoulder, relieved to have not suffered yet another pointless casualty. He turned to the other four.

“Okay, they’ve got this, we’re heading for the causeway, come on!” he shouted.

The small group, bloodied and exhausted didn’t hesitate as they staggered off along the inside of the barricades where the defenders were desperately trying to hold back the growing numbers of creatures attempting to break through. As they ran Carlo slid his mace into its holder and pulled out his 1911 automatic. It was a solid, reliable weapon that he had modified and improved over the years. It wasn’t as fancy as some of the gear the other marines had picked up but it had saved his life on more than one occasion. As they ran up to the barricade he took note of over a dozen civilians, all wearing improvised protective gear and a mixture of hand weapons and crossbows. It wasn’t much. At the barricade there were multiple gaps and scores of hands and heads could be seen trying to work their way inside. Without pausing he pulled back the slide and fired shot after shot into the heads of the closest creatures. Once he reached the wall itself he slammed in another magazine and fired literally less than a metre from the creatures’ heads and he knocked down one after another. The other four lifted themselves up onto the fighting steps and using their firearms and close quarter weapons did what they could to help.

Part of the barricade was already tearing open and from the breach poured in a more creatures. Two of the defenders were trampled down as the horde piled in. Part of the fighting platform collapsed as the section of wall gave way and
Reinier
fell down into the waiting hands. Talia and
Veya
jumped down, swinging their blades and pushing hard with their shields as they tried to hold back the tide.

A great blast like a demon’s howl came from the left and Talia pointed out towards a large grey shape rushing down the narrow waterway and towards the causeway.

“Holy shit, it’s the Captain!” shouted
Veya
, as the vessel rushed past at what must have been almost thirty knots. The waterway was only double the width of the vessel and the wake threw water along both sides as it rushed past. On the deck they could see the Captain and the small group of marines firing the heavy weapons at both sides of the water. The undead in the gap between the breached wall and the water were shredded by a long burst of machinegun fire as the vessel sped past.

“Get down!” shouted Carlo as he jumped away from the barricade.

There was a mighty crashing sound as the small ship slowed as it hit the shallower water and started to grind along the surface. Almost simultaneously the heavy weapons on the bow opened up on the causeway and the debris that blocked it. At first the heavy machine guns simply tore the undead apart and took chunks out of the earth but then the automatic cannon started. With just a few rounds of high explosive ammunition the debris was blown apart and the water started to flow more freely. As the water rushed through the newly cleared causeway the undead became trapped on both sides of the water. The vessel had now slowed to a halt and was grounded about fifty metres from the connecting land mass. With it halted the marines onboard opened fire with every weapon they had against targets on both sides of the water. In just seconds hundreds were shredded.

“Hell, yeah!” shouted one of the defenders as they rushed up to the breach and fought the remaining undead in one last push. Carlo and the rest of the marines waded in and within seconds they had cleared the last few that were trapped on their side of the water. The cutter slowed as it steamed off to the right but its work had been done. As the pitiful number of surviving undead lifted themselves up the jubilant defenders rushed amongst them, easily finishing them off on the ground. As the butchering continued the first wave of marines arrived from the second breach and joined in with the clearing.

Carlo stopped for a moment, regaining his breath before looking to the filthy but happy defender stood next to him. Carlo grinned back but was too tired and too surprised to have anything useful to say. Before he could come up with something another loud blast from the left signalled the arrival of the Harpers Ferry as she came closer to the shore. The man lifted out his hand, shaking Carlo’s.

“The name’s Dylan, welcome to Resolution Island. Man, could you have timed that any closer?!” he said before stepping up and grabbing Carlo around the shoulders.

“No problem,” said Carlo as he started to laugh.

The two stepped down as the rest of the marines and more of the civilian defenders arrived. More blasts came from the left though this time it sounded like a different vessel.
Veya
jumped down from the barricade with a beaming grin.

“It’s the Moreau, they must have hauled ass to get here this fast!” she cried.

One of the Island’s defenders stepped forward and towards Carlo who shook his hand.

“Sergeant
Parisi
of the United States Marine Corps and I’m damned glad to be here,” he said.

“You can call me Bruce, I’m the military leader of this place and you are all very, very welcome to be here.”

Another series of horns blared as more of the vessels appeared on the horizon and for the first time it looked like The Flotilla and Resolution Island might have a fighting chance.

THE END