POW! (Book 1): The Zombie Days (17 page)

It was time for us to attempt to find a way across the trench. It turned out to be much wider than I’d previously thought.

"Alright, guys, we've done a fantastic job so far. As a matter of fact, this all seems a bit too easy. But, I have hope that the reason behind that is just because zombies aren't the best at battle planning. I'm just glad we got zombie Marie Antoinette instead of zombie Sun Tzu," I said, smiling. "What we need now is a quick way across, but also sturdy enough to make a quick retreat should any more fucked up shit happen over there."

"How about a log?" asked Vincent.

"That's a good start,” I agreed. “How about we grab two logs and lash them together so we have something a little wider and more sturdy? I still have some rope left over to bind the logs together with. Let's go grab some logs, guys. But continue to keep an eye peeled! Andrew, you stay here and keep an eye on Bully and the ladies. Mac and I will grab one log, while Kyle and Vincent grab the other. We'll meet up right back here. Ready guys? Break."

The four of us took off back into the tree line. All of us began looking for sturdy logs long enough to serve as our bridge, which didn't take us too long. We lifted them up and hauled them over to the trench.

"So, how are we going to get the logs across this gap?" asked Vincent.

"I hadn't exactly thought of that just yet,” I said, trying to think of something. "I suppose if we all put our weight on one end and turn it all together, it'll keep the other end from dropping into the trench. After that, we can use the log already lying across as a bridge for the far end of the other log to roll along."

"Let's see how it goes," said Vincent with a shrug. He clearly didn't have a better idea.

The four of us got to work on the one end of the log, but it wouldn't budge.

"Kyle, how about you go to the other side and push from there to get some momentum going?" I suggested.

He skipped over to the other end and gave it a good shove. It was now spinning in the desired direction, so Kyle came back to keep the heavy thing from dropping down.

The far end reached the other side of the trench, effectively completing phase one of our bridge. Once we were satisfied with its placement, we rushed over to the other log and brought it over. We tossed one end up on the bridge and were able to easily roll it along until the far end landed on solid ground where we needed it to be.

"Perfect," I said, rather proud of this engineering feat. I ran back to my pack, which I’d dropped by the girls, and grabbed my rope. I brought it back to the bridge. Carefully, I straddled the bridge and shimmied my way about a quarter length of the bridge. This was where I began to lash the two logs together. After I felt they were secure, I scooted myself another few feet and repeated the same process.

Once I’d finished securing the final knot, I stood up and rocked back and forth, challenging the integrity of the bridge. Everything seemed to be holding in place.

I lightly jogged back across the bridge and grabbed my rifle. I opened up my bag and grabbed what I would need, leaving it open so that everyone else could do the same.

"Looks like it'll hold, but let’s keep it to one person on the bridge at a time, anyway. Andrew, I still need you to stay here and keep our non-combatants safe, k?" I said.

Andrew nodded, looking quite relieved that he didn't have to cross the River Styx into Hades.

The rest of my four-man team collected the grenades and full magazines which would be required for the mission. Once everyone felt prepared, we headed across our bridge. I was the first one to make it to the other side and, as soon as I did, I headed straight for the control booth where the doctor was being held captive by the dead woman. Once I could see her through the thick window, I could just barely make out the fact that she was laughing. A thick, raspy cackle came from between her black teeth.

I stopped in my tracks as I heard what sounded like a herd of elephants charging out of the forest about sixty yards away.

I decided it would likely be the best course of action for me to swap out my standard ball round magazine in exchange for something with a little more boom. I reached into my cargo pocket, grabbed what I was searching for, and stuffed the magazine into the open well of the rifle.

We all took aim in the direction of the sound. The first one of them came running out and went down nearly as soon as it made itself visible. Kyle took the shot which went strait through the creature’s left eye. Another one of them came hauling ass out from the trees at us. This time, Vincent pulled the trigger and caught him right between the eyes.

After those first two went down, a steady stream of them began came pouring out of the tree line. As more bodies piled up on the ground, the zombies began to leap over them rather than tripping over them as they had previously.

"Guys, start to back up over the bridge. There's no way they can keep coming at us over such a narrow path," I instructed them, shouting over my shoulder. Kyle was nearest the bridge, so he was the first one to slowly make his way towards the others while Vincent and Mac were picking off zombies.

Vincent was next to go back over as Kyle moved to a position where he could begin firing some rounds into the undead mass.

When the herd was about twenty yards away from me, I chose a target towards the front and fired a round into her stomach. The explosion was so great that it knocked me down. I guess the cluster was so compact that the flame was easily spread from creature to creature, creating a giant, bloody zombie bomb.

When the concussion hit me, it wasn't in the form of a mere a shock wave. I was met with a speckling of blood, and something that felt like a thumb hit me squarely in the left cheek just below my eye. I really hoped it was a thumb.

When I got to my feet, it looked like a majority of them were on the ground, but the forest was still violently vomiting out copious quantities of cadavers.

I headed back across the bridge to join my friends on the far, safer side of the trench. Evidently, while I was down from the blast Vincent and Mac found time to make it across our little bridge. Everyone’s face was filled with awe as I looked back.

"Pete, that was amazing! That POW shot is unbelievable!" exclaimed Vincent, looking over my blood-soaked face.

"But was it worth it? You almost got your eyeball taken out by a flying dead dude dong. There ain't no kind of glory that's worth sucking off a severed zombie dick, homie!" Kyle said, looking like I’d just come out of the closet and tried to propose to him.

"Shut the hell up, dude,” I gruffed. “I'm pretty sure it was a thumb. I’m covered in blood and it smells like the Grim Reaper had us over for a barbecue. But that was totally fucking badass."

The zombies kept running at us, but they were falling into the trench and were still mostly unable to reach us. The ones that were lucky enough to make it onto the bridge were shot down easily enough, and they fell into the trench with the rest of them.

"So, this shit ain't workin' out too well for us, fellas,” I informed my comrades. “We've got to get to the queen and take her out. I'm pretty sure that's the only way they'll stop coming at us so hard."

"Are you guys ready to accept retreat as a viable option yet?" Andrew said hopefully from the sidelines of battle.

"Andrew, this is not the time for your shit! If you're not going to be helpful, then just shut the fuck up!" I could tell that Vincent had built up quite a distaste for Andrew during his time spent working as a security guard with him.

"No, that actually might be a good idea. They sure as hell have us outnumbered, but they're still too stupid to actually work together as a team. Is there another way we can get around to that control booth?" I asked Vincent.

"Actually, yeah. There’s an underground tunnel that we can access from inside the trench. The access point is on the far end, and it runs out right behind the booth. But . . . I really don't know how useful that'll be right now. After all, that’s kind of ground zero of the zombie nest," he answered.

"No, that'll have to work. We only need one person to make it over there and take her out. The rest of us will have to serve as a distraction. But first, I think we're going to have to build another dead zombie wall to give the tunnel rat more of a fighting chance at making it down safely into the trench and getting to the queen. Where’s the door? Far left? Let's go put some bodies down."

I began to make my way down to the far end of the trench. It looked like a serpent straight from hell, made out of damned souls was dancing at my side. The first thing we'd need to do would be clearing out the door so it could be reached. At the moment it looked like someone from inside the hatch had poked an angry zombie hive with a stick and they were swarming outside, waiting for their chance to strike.

I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was in trouble or falling behind. I was alone. I don’t think they’d even noticed that I meant we all needed to go put up this wall. Teamwork was something that the living had that the dead did not. Unfortunately, this was no time for me to go back and teach them such a lesson.

It appeared as though the corpses down below didn't quite notice me. They were busy trying to find a way out of their grave by bumping into one another. I was now pretty sure that zombies could not look up. I pulled out a grenade and chucked it into the end of the trench from a few yards back.

***BOOM***

The beautiful blood geyser gave way to filthy, sticky zombie rain. I walked over to the edge of the trench, just above the hatch, and swapped out my magazine for the standard ball rounds. I began firing headshots at the line of them that was now expanding my way.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five headshots I got off before the bolt locked back. The magazine had run out of ammo.

I reached back to my left rear pocket for the full magazine that rested there while simultaneously hitting the magazine release button with my trigger finger. Before the empty had reached the ground, the fresh mag was already firmly inserted. I slapped the release with my palm, sending a fresh round into the chamber, and continued firing at them.

I heard an explosion over by the others, who were still holding off the ghouls’ parade that was approaching from the tree line. The back of the pack was beginning to thin out a little bit, which gave me hope that they may be running out of bodies to send our way.

I took down about fifteen more of them to form my barrier and the deadites could no longer get over the body dam.

No time to stop and tell everyone that I was going down the hole. No time to stop and ask for directions. It was time to end this.

I jumped down into the trench and grabbed hold of the handle on the hatch. I pulled with all of my might and it just barely began to budge. The hinges must have gotten warped in the explosion from the grenade. A body rolled from the top of the hill of corpses and hit me in the back of the legs, throwing me slightly off balance. These fuckers were determined to have me for a midnight snack. I pulled and pulled and the door was slowly giving way.

Another body rolled down and landed on its neck in a way that snapped its frail, dead neck. Its  rotted flesh tore free, and its head continued rolling after his body had stopped.

Just a few more inches and I'd be able to squeeze through. There was a live zombie at the top of the shortened mound of corpses now, snapping its jaws wildly as though it could already taste my delicious, warm blood.

Good enough. It was now or never. I stuffed my legs under the door and slithered through the opening. I was glad that I’d hardly had anything to eat lately or I'd be the one getting eaten now. I grabbed the handle on the inside and the hatch went slamming shut as I fell, sealing out all light.

I brought my rifle to my shoulder and activated the flashlight, searching for a target in my new environment. There was no movement and only one direction in which I could possibly travel. I proceeded down the tunnel, scanning for any possible threat. If I didn't make it, I wasn’t sure there would be another shot at this task for anyone else.

Because I kept my eyes and light focused ahead of me, I wasn't able to see the loose desk drawer in the middle of my walkway and I tripped over it, hitting my shin on the lip as I went crashing to the ground.

Before my mind could even process what the hell had just happened to me, there was a scrambling of feet and barking that was way too close for comfort. I tried to grab my rifle, but I had trouble finding it in the darkness. I finally got my hands on it, but it was too late. The dog was at my face, snarling with its hot, vicious breath blowing in my face.

It didn't attack me, so I froze. I didn't want to spook it into ripping a chunk of my face off. It took one step closer and sniffed my face, then began licking me on my cheek.

I flicked my light back on and petted the dog's head. The poor thing was far too skinny. It probably hadn't eaten in at least a few days.

I reached into my cargo pocket where I was holding a pound cake from an MRE. I tore into the package and split the cake in half. This was a good time to celebrate. I tossed one of the halves of my snack to the pooch and took a bite of the other for myself. If I wasn't going to make it, I might as well have myself a proper last meal. I took one more bite and fed the rest to the dog. I always had a soft spot in my heart for animals. The little dude licked my hand clean and I gave him a good scratch behind his ear before I stood back up.