Deadrise (56 page)

"Cover, Norris!" Mac warned, crouching down with a scream of pain, which was drowned out by the explosion of the grenade. In the confines of the stairwell the explosion made a bigger mess of the superzombie than it’s grenade had made of Pvt. Irving, and took out nearly a dozen zombies as well…

"I’VE GOT THE STAIRS!" Rick screamed in Susan’s ear, not waiting for her to answer before he left his position at the front balcony, moving through the bedroom into the hall to provide backup. Across the hall Mac stood in the doorway and Norris, stepped out into the hall, an M-16 in his hands.

"Fucking superzombie," Muttered Mac through teeth clenched in pain. "I took it out with a grenade."

Rick walked over and peered down the main stairwell, black smoke and the smell of cordite and burned flesh wafted up into the hallway. It was chocked half full with the blasted, broken body parts of several zombies, the charred, headless upper torso of the superzombie was visible in the wreckage of the stairwell, one arm still clenching and unclenching at the air. Behind the pile-up, Rick could see a mob of zombies crowded into the foyer, pressing in from the kitchen and living room, trying to get past the log jam of blasted body parts and splintered wood. With a snarl of hatred, he took aim and began shooting them in the head one at a time…

From atop the third floor landing, Scotty looked nauseously down the stairs at Pvt. Irving’s grisly, smoking remains. His face was wrinkled with terror and his M-16 hung almost uselessly in his hands. The sound of automatic gunfire came from the second floor below.

"What’s going on down there?" Jennifer called from the bedroom behind him.

He looked over to her, his face ghostly white, his eyes lost with fright. "I-I-I don't know."

"Can you see anything down there?" Jennifer was as frightened as Scotty but controlling it much better.

"Nothing." Scotty shook his head wildly. From down below, the methodical crack of an assault rifle became audible.

Behind them both, at the far end of the north hallway, the window shattered inward with a shrill crash that caused both to yelp with fright. Turning to look, they could see a pair of withered arms, a combat helmeted head and body armor clad upper torso wriggling its way through the opening.

"A SUPERZOMBIE!" Jennifer screamed, twisting her body in the bedroom doorway and coming up with an M-16 that she aimed at the creature.

Scotty spun and aimed his M-16 as well, pulling the trigger as fast as his finger could move. He was shaking like someone with Alzheimer’s disease, and combined with the recoil of the rifle it made his already wild shots go even wilder, most chewing into the wall and floor around the superzombie rather than hitting the target.

Jennifer’s aim was much more true, nearly every one of her shots hitting the mark as she unloaded on the superzombie. Many of her shots
clanged
off the creature’s helmet or were absorbed by the body armor but enough found their mark in the throat and face, blasting chunks of flesh away in viscous black sprays. But they seemed to have little effect on the superzombie as it finished squirming through the window and plopped to the floor.

As Jennifer’s bullets continued to impact with its upper torso and Scotty’s bullets tore up the hallway around it, the superzombie rolled to its knees and un-slung it’s M-16 from its shoulder. It raised the weapon and quickly targeted Scotty, letting loose with a 6-round burst that stitched across his chest with a spray of bone and blood. The impact of the bullets threw Scotty backwards and down the stairs like a rag doll. The superzombie swung the weapon towards Jennifer but she retreated into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Widening what was left of its withered and mutilated face into a smile, fresh black ichor leaking from its wounds, it unloaded the remainder of its clip into the bedroom door before climbing to its feet and advancing…

"UPSTAIRS!" Mac screamed as the barrage of gunfire erupted from the third floor above.

Rick was standing at the top of the main stairs, firing down at the zombies hopelessly trying to get past the clog of bodies in the foyer and didn’t hear him.

Scotty’s body tumbled down from the third floor and came to a halt near Pvt. Irving’s grisly remains, his chest a mess of ruptured flesh and flowing blood.

Rick’s clip ran dry and as he lowered his weapon to reload he could hear the superzombie unloading the last of its clip upstairs. He turned, his eyes went first to Mac standing in the doorway then to Scotty’s bloody body ten feet away, and finally to gaze in horror up the stairs.

"JENNIFER!" he screamed his wife’s name and charged for the stairs, reloading his M-16 as he ran. "MARY! TIFFANY!" His daughter’s names came out half hysterical as he bounded up the stairs three at a time, reloading as he went. He reached the top of the landing and saw a superzombie, wearing battle damaged body armor and a dinged and hammered helmet standing ten feet away in front of a bullet-ridden door; the bedroom in which his family was hiding!

Rick screamed incoherently, hosing the superzombie with his entire clip on full automatic. The superzombie staggered back as the 5.56mm rounds made minced meat out of the rest of its body armor, shredding its chest to splinters, blowing out its throat and taking off the left half of its rotted head. It fell to the ground just as Rick’s weapon clicked empty, but he could see its wrecked body was already starting to recover, flexing its fingers and reaching for its fallen weapon while trying to pull its legs beneath it to stand up, all the while a pool of thick, black liquid spread beneath it.

Rick dashed down the hallway to the bedroom door. "JENNIFER?" Tears of anger and fear were streaming down his face. He opened the door to see Jennifer standing in the far corner, her face masked by terror, her breath coming in wracking sobs, with her M-16 pointed directly at Rick’s chest. Huddled in the corner behind her was Samantha, with Tyler clutched to her breast and Sharon Young, who cradled his own Mary and Tiffany in her arms.

"We almost took you out there." David said from the sliding balcony door, lowering his M-16 from its bead on Rick’s head. Rick almost had to do a double take; he had been so focused on his wife and children that he hadn’t even spotted David standing there with his weapon trained on him.

Rick glanced back at the superzombie, which amazingly, with only half of a head and a bullet-shattered torso, had climbed to its knees and grasped its M-16. He quickly shut the door and turned the feeble lock, knowing it would do little to slow the superzombie.

"Why aren’t you up on the roof?" he asked, his relief at their safety tempered with anger at their foolishness.

"There wasn’t time." Jennifer said, trying to regain her composure. "It just busted through the window at the end of the hall and came up firing."

"Get moving!" Rick motioned them toward the balcony. "Out onto the balcony! Up onto the roof! That thing will bust into here any second!"

Samantha was the first to react, holding baby tight she sprang to her feet and hurried to the balcony. Sharon rose to her feet, handing Jennifer baby Tiffany while she scooped up Mary and followed her.

Jennifer made it to the balcony door when she realized her husband was not behind her. She turned to see him standing in the center of the room, reloading his M-16.

"What are you doing?" she asked frightfully.

"I’m going to finish that motherfucker off!" Rick had a wild-eyed, murderous look.

"Rick, come on!"

"Just get up on the roof!" Rick barked. "If I don’t stop this fucker now it will just follow us up." He locked eyes with his wife for several long, tense seconds. Never in their marriage, not even during the worst times of this zombie crisis, had she ever seen this cold blooded killer staring back at her.

"I love you." She said, bursting into tears, cuddling the crying baby closer to her chin.

"I love you too, baby" He said with a sad smile, his eyes softening for just a moment. She turned away and went to the balcony where the roof access ladder was located and at least the illusion of temporary safety awaited her...

Chapter 56

Tuesday, June 26 2001

Park City, UT

6:58 PM

At the Park City hospital, the soldiers sent to stop the rapidly multiplying superzombies were greeted outside the main entrance with a hail of gunfire, both from armed superzombies within the hospital and a white robed fanatic of the New Humanity outside. One of the soldiers managed to catch a glimpse of fiery red hair behind the hood and a distinctive feminine curvature beneath the folds of the white robe before she shot him through the heart.

Templar Mel watched the remainder of the soldiers be cut down by the Sentinels. She scanned the chaos around her, the light from burning fires reflecting in her emerald green eyes, a perfect backdrop to the fanatic fervor that coursed through her veins. A wicked, evil smile spread across her full lips and she raised her AK-47 and took aim on a small crowd of panicked civilians, their backs to her as they fled away from the hospital.

"Burn in Satan’s pits, dogs!" She said gleefully, thumbing the firing switch of her weapon to full automatic and squeezing the trigger. She sprayed the entire 40-round clip of 7.76mm bullets into their backs, laughing to herself as half a dozen people fell dead under her assault: three men, two little girls and an elderly woman. She moved from her position, reloading her weapon as she ran. She would seek out her target, the Heliport…

Park City was a town in the grip of madness. The explosion that had destroyed the center of downtown and left the rest burning had also eradicated any sense of order left throughout the city. The streets were filled with panicked civilians on foot, in vehicles, on horseback, all scrambling every which way in a desperate attempt to flee the carnage. Looting was also rampant as those fleeing the city grabbed whatever supplies they could without thought to ownership, often times with gunplay coming into action, causing even more panic and chaos.

To finally cap off the horror of the situation, the superzombies leading the advancing zombie army had rolled their two M1A1 Abrams tanks into the city and were unloading their weapons into neighborhoods and the hysterical crowds with impunity, causing massive casualties and property damage. The first wave of zombie’s, numbering in the thousands, followed them in, pouring among the already shocked and panicked civilians, attacking and devouring alive all that were unfortunate enough to fall into their grasp…

It’s over.
Jenkins thought to himself.

Despite his best efforts at coordinating Park City's defense, the city was still lost. The spacecraft had simply done too much damage to the perimeter defenses and the city infrastructure before it was destroyed. That coupled with massive desertions in the militia on top of widespread rioting and looting throughout the parts of the city that weren’t on fire and the hopelessness of the situation really became apparent.

"It’s over." Jenkins said aloud, grabbing the attention of every one in the War Room. "It’s over people. Park City is lost. I want the evacuation order sent to all remaining units. Tell them to escape by whatever means necessary and make north for Hill Air Force Base. Radio ahead to Hill and tell them of our situation, then all of you get out yourselves. May God have mercy on your souls, because that army of deadfucks out there will not."

Nobody moved; they simply stood there silently, looking at Jenkins.

"Sir," it was a Comtech who broke the silence, "the guards outside report they are under fire from multiple locations."

"Alphas?" Jenkins asked.

"Unknown Sir."

"Has the Command Center been breached?"

"Negative, sir. But one guard was killed and the other five took cover inside the lobby."

"Give the evacuation order and tell the men downstairs help is on the way. Everyone else, saddle up and follow me."

"Where are we going sir?" Lt. Gates asked spinelessly.

"Downstairs, to clear the way out of here, unless you want to be trapped in this building and eaten alive by deadfucks." Jenkins turned away from Gates, donned his jacket and took up his M-16, making sure there was a full clip of ammunition as well as a grenade in the tube of the M-203. Major Farrell stepped up beside him, his M-16 in hand, locked, loaded and ready to go.

There were twenty men in the War Room counting Jenkins and Farrell, and they all headed down the fire stairs in semi-orderly fashion with Jenkins and Farrell in the lead. They burst into the lobby to the sounds of gunfire and could see the five guards in various positions around the lobby, firing through the shattered main entrance at the east end of the building. Jenkins spotted his driver, Private Jimenez, among the five guards.

"Who is attacking us?" Jenkins called to Jimenez.

"I don’t know sir. We haven’t seen anybody…Just bullets." As if in answer a hail of bullets exploded through the entrance, chewing up the tiles of the lobby floor and tracking to a nearby desk, which spit forth a shower of wooden splinters.

"I think that rules out Alphas." Jenkins said. "If it were some of those bastards attacking they wouldn’t worry about getting shot. They would just charge the entrance."

"It’s probably looters hoping to score some weapons or explosives." Lt. Gates said.