Zombie Dawn (26 page)

“Dad.  How long do you think before we hit them all?  We’ve been practicing, you know.”

“I bet it will take you three minutes to hit all 200.”

The kids laughed.  “How about one minute?”

“Think so?  If you do that, I’ll be impressed.”

Using her best British accent, Bobbie issued the order to fire.  Now, I figured that they’d fire in ranks, like the Brits.  But Bobbie had outsmarted me.  They all started firing at once and the cans and pumpkins were dropping like flies.  The kids had practiced and they could each hit a target about every two seconds.  There were some misses, but the kids nailed them all in well under a minute.  I was impressed.

Bobbie told me just to wait until the spring when I saw her mounted cavalry.  I told her that I was looking forward to it.  She actually had about a dozen horses in a paddock and was working with the older kids to train them and learn how to ride.  Danny Lynch took a look and opined that we had some pretty good horses in our group.  He seemed to bring one or two whenever he showed up.

The older kids took the younger kids’ shooting as a challenge and began to practice on their own.  I had to remind them to use the bb guns for practice to save ammo.  Jonathon, Brandon, and Luke came along quickly and I figured they’d be ready for some missions by springtime.  Courtney and Brittany definitely were.

Danny and Dave came down with their groups for some training.  The Canadians had some military training, but it was Canadian military training and mostly water rescue.  Stan was able to whip their group into shape in terms of shooting and zombie theory and tactics.  Danny and Dave and their groups preferred hunting rifles over military stuff so we gave them most of the hunting rifles and ammo that we accumulated, plus some .223s and .45s and ammo to store up their way.

Kate and her team left on the second day and would be gone for three days.  I was busy working and training but I was pretty much freaked out the entire time.

They returned right on time.  Cleve thought they’d gotten a good start on sealing off Burlington, at least for three days’ worth of work.  It had been quiet down there, but Mike had picked off a few stray Wolves and a Brain with his sniper rifle.  They were out in the open and in the cold and moving just fine. 

Christina had bagged three Brains and three Wolves.  She and Mike were excellent snipers.  We started to work that into our defensive plans.  In the event of an attack, Christina and Mike would start picking off Brains, Wolves, and any other "upgrades" from as far out as possible. 

Courtney had kept rough count on the burned zombies in the cars.  "Four hundred and twenty nine give or take a few" was her final count.  Pretty good for a three day run, but we knew there were still thousands more in Burlington.  So much to do. 

Kate had actually enjoyed the road trip as an exciting change from day to day life at the Farm.  “I know why you go out all the time,” she laughed.  “Too much drama around here.”  She was right.  We had all kinds of relationships and personal issues developing at the Farm; not as much as the old days, probably, but still a pain in the ass.  I guess a thirteen year old girl is still a thirteen year old girl, even after the Zombie Apocalypse.

Chapter Thirty Two:  Big Boy Toys

We decided to really gear up for our trip to the armory.  Cleve had found a building supplies truck that had a forklift mounted on the rear.  We decided to bring that, since we wanted to grab as much as we could.  We loaded a large generator and a bunch of heavy duty lights on it.  Part of our plan was to work in a well lit space, and we knew we'd need to get that freight elevator going in order to load in bulk.  We also brought a Mack truck with an empty trailer and bunch of tie downs.  As always, Stan fixed the vehicles up with firing platforms and armor.

We rolled out at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at the armory at 6:15, just about daylight.  We pulled into the yard, sealed it behind us, and checked it carefully for Zs.  It was empty.

We had decided to enter the armory in stages and deploy lights so we could see what we were doing.   We pulled down as much of the dropped ceiling as we could so that we could see and shoot any upgrades.  

Stan was a genius with mechanical items and was able to get the freight elevator running after a couple of hours.  The building actually had its own backup electrical generators which had shorted out somehow.  Stan fixed the short and we were in business.  The emergency lights came up, too.  We felt much better moving around in the light.

This time Sumner stayed outside manning a .50 cal and Mike covered him from the same spot he had used during the last visit.  George, Cleve, Stan, Tom and I would work inside the building.  Cleve set the two trucks up at the loading dock and prepared our forklift.

The place was just as we left it.  I showed everyone the "CEO" that I'd killed.  We decided to burn the bodies after we'd gotten what we came for, if we had time.

Now that the lights were on, the place seemed even larger.  It was huge.  Cleve quickly got a forklift going and we started shopping.  The freight elevator was large enough to drive the loaded forklift so the process went quickly.

Although we were dedicated to "our" calibers, we had decided ahead of time to take whatever we could get in bulk from the armory. 

First, we found a crate of six M107 .50 cal Barrett sniper rifles mounted with scopes.  Tom found the service manuals and supplies for them and Stan located the ammunition.  They also found six M24 sniper rifles and crates of .308 ammo.  Cleve loaded the sniper guns and 10,000 rounds of ammo onto a pallet and loaded it onto the truck.  Mike could read the letters on the crates through his scope and let out a whoop!

Next, Tom located two full, unopened crates of M9 9 mm pistols, two crates of magazines, a box of holsters, cleaning and service kits, and 20,000 rounds of 9 mm.  That went onto the truck next.  This time, Mike let out a raspberry.   Apparently, he was sticking to his .45 (as was I).

Stan had located crates of M4s and the 5.56 ammo (.223).  We loaded 96 M4s, 120 scopes, 1000 magazines, and 100,000 rounds of .223, which was all they had.  Stan also found two crates of the M240 grenade launchers and an assortment of rounds for them so we loaded those up.  These would mount on the M4s and would launch 40 mm grenades; a lot of firepower in a small package.

Next, we found a crate of 6 M-249 SAW machine guns with 100 boxes of ammo (200 rounds each), and loaded those up.   We also grabbed 4 .50 cal heavy machine guns and all of the .50 cal belts we could find, which was a lot.  Cleve told us that the building supplies truck was full, and we started filling up the second trailer.

We also wanted some heavier stuff, so I asked Tom to find us some mortars and ammo and some handheld rockets.  He quickly located six M-224 mortars and an assortment of rounds for them plus a dozen Stinger missiles and two dozen AT-4 anti tank missiles.  Stan thought he could figure them out.  They also grabbed a dozen crates of hand grenades and six crates of Claymores.

George had located some crates of night vision goggles, military radios, tactical vests and uniforms so we loaded those up.  The truck was about one-third full, and we filled up the rest of it with cases of MREs until Cleve told us it couldn't take anymore.

We came out and prepared to leave, but Mike and Sumner wanted a chance to look around.  George and Tom took the watch while Cleve tied the loads down.  Stan began to secure the armory

We'd left the Hummer there last time and we figured that Sumner and Mike could put their goodies in that and drive it home.  I went in with them and enjoyed their reaction to the amazing bounty that we'd found in there.

Mike dug deep.  He found 2 M-19 grenade launchers and 10 cans of ammo for them, 60 rounds each.  He was a weapons freak and told us they could "shred" out to 1500 meters.  These were like rapid fire grenade machine guns.  He was psyched. He also found, way in the back, a dozen M1911 .45s and 2000 rounds of ammo, which he couldn't resist.  That was it for Mike; he'd used up his share of space in the Hummer.

Sumner wanted silenced submachine guns and scored some. He found six MP-5s of which 3 were silenced, and 60 30 round magazines.  They were in 9mm so he grabbed another 3,000 rounds of 9 mm.  Mike found a Marine sniper rifle with scope in a nice case and begged Sumner to give him some extra space.  Sumner gave in and we loaded up.

I knew something was missing so I went in one last time.  I broke open a smaller storeroom next to the main room and found that it was loaded with pallets of C4 plastic explosive.  I brought Stan and Tom in, and they took one pallet of the stuff plus a bunch of timers, detonators, wire and the like.

We'd brought a generator, some fuel, and a shortwave radio for the Bat Cave and drove over there to check things out.  Brick, Edith and the boys were fine.  Barry and Elliott had "shoveled" a few Wolves, but otherwise things were quiet.  

After sampling Edith's cooking, Sumner decided to stay at the Bat Cave for a while and get the shortwave up and running.  We agreed that he'd get the generator going and monitor the radio each night between 8 and 9 but would also keep the batteries charged up and call in the event of emergency.

We decided to drive back that night, and headed right out.  We were eager to share our finds with our friends and families back at the Farm.

Chapter Thirty Three:  Jim Returns

When we arrived, Kate was waiting for us with a stern and scared look on her face.  “We got a call from Jim. He’s under attack by a group of raiders.  He called for help.” 

I asked for all of the details.  Jim had allowed a group of guys into the camp about a month ago.  They were a pain in the ass and didn’t fit in, so he told them to leave.  They stole a bunch of weapons and snuck off.  Jim didn’t think it was a big deal, but it turned out they were scouts for a large group of raiders.  The next two groups that Jim sent out never returned.  Jim’s sentries started seeing movement and finally the attack happened.  Jim thought there were over a hundred guys.  They had cut Jim off and besieged him.  Jim was down to about thirty people, mostly women and children. 

I called Jim on the radio immediately.  “Hey Fuckface.  You want to come up to the Farm?” 

“Come down here and save my ass and I’ll consider it.”

“Okay, tell me where they are and how many and I’ll come for a visit.”

It wasn’t ideal, because it was over the radio, but he laid everything out for me.  There were two groups of raiders, one to the south of Jim’s embankment and one to the east.  They were able to cover Jim’s escape routes because the spies had stayed long enough to learn all of Jim’s exits.  They clearly intended to starve Jim out and take his setup.  He told me how to approach from the southeast and cut them off.

We calculated that it would take at least two days for me to get there.  I told him that I’d bring ten or so guys and that he should be ready to attack when we did, and also packed and ready to go.  I didn’t think we’d be able to kill them all, but I hoped to be able to ding them up enough that they’d decide not to follow.

We decided to send 12 fighters in two Hummers.  We brought one mortar, one of Mike’s M19 grenade launchers, and one M107 per vehicle.  Each vehicle also had two antitank rockets and a case of grenades, plus a mounted .50 cal.  Christina brought an M24 and Mike brought his Marine sniper rifle, which he had improbably named “Old Daisy.”  For personal weapons, we each had an M4 with the grenade launcher and our handgun of choice.

Danny and Dave asked to come along, as did Courtney and Jonathan.  We also brought Cameron and Mickey.  Other than that we had the “usual”—me, Stan, George and Sumner.  I asked Tom to stay and defend the Farm while we were gone.  I also asked Danny and Dave to move their families to the Farm for a bit, and they agreed.

We left at 3:00 a.m. the next morning.  The Hummers were heavily loaded and we moved slowly.  The satellites were still up so the GPS units worked well.  Not long after we crossed the south bridge, we were attacked by a decent sized group of Wolves and Brains.  Mike and Christina made short work of them with the sniper rifles and the few who got past them were blown up by George and Sumner’s grenade launchers and small arms fire.  I radioed back to Kate and Tom and told them to keep a sharp eye out.  They agreed.  Tom was setting up the M107s in the upstairs windows and he and Kate would keep first watch.

We had decided to drive straight through, eating MREs and stopping only for bathroom breaks.  We made good time but had to drive well to the south and east to approach from the rear, which took another six hours.  We decided to stop for a few hours of sleep and attack at first light.

The next morning, we split up into two teams, one to approach the group on the south and one for the east.  The raiders were already firing when we arrived at about five and Jim was responding.  I saw a couple of the raiders go down. 

My team was Mike, Dave, George, Cameron, and Courtney.  The others were led by Stan.  We had agreed to break up into three two person teams each.  One would be a mortar team, one would be a grenade launcher team, and the other would be a sniper team.  The mortar teams were a mile out, the grenade team was at 1000 yards, and the snipers were at 700 yards. 

George and Courtney were the mortar team.  George would aim it and Courtney would load.  Dave and Cameron would operate the M-19.  Mike and I would snipe and spot for their teams.