Zombie Theorem: The End Game (20 page)

I found Vic sitting on the ground, eating an MRE. He looked up and threw a protein bar at me. “I don’t want to poison you with anymore of this shit.” He closed his MRE with disgust and tossed it into a waste box that someone had put up for the occasion.

I nodded my thanks and ripped it open. It was dark chocolate and peanut butter and it tasted divine. I devoured the last of it and considered licking the wrapper. I tossed it in the box and Vic threw another at me. I gave a thankful look and ate that one a little slower, really enjoying the taste.

“Vic, can you call a leadership meeting? I think there are some things we need to discuss. Oh and can you make sure that the Chief and his son attend?” I asked.

“Of course, Dan. I’ll get right on it. Kuppers wanted a meeting too, but I will invite the Chief and his son as well.” He got to his feet and handed Brian a protein bar, then made his way off to call the meeting.

Brian and I found a spot away from the bustle near the rear of the APC and waited. We joked around and reflected on our journey, from our time at the tower to where we found ourselves now. If anyone had been listening, they would have had a hard time believing what we had gone through. The team started drifting in from whatever they had been doing from different directions. We made small talk until Doc appeared. I pulled him aside.

“Doc, do you have a list of ammo, weapons and supplies?” I enquired of him.

“Well, sir, I just so happen to have been doing that exact thing for Kuppers. Here’s what we have right now.” He handed a sheet of paper over and I examined it and made note of it in my notebook. Doc leaned against the side of a Humvee and watched my every move. “Who would’ve thought that the geek I had met so many months before, that couldn’t use a weapon and was wet behind the ears to all this, was now a leader of our little group. Proud of you, Dan. You’d make one hell of a Texas Ranger.”

I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him. “No man in the wrong can stand up to a man in the right who just keeps on a-comin”.

He looked surprised. “You just quoted the Texas Ranger’s creed. How did…?” He stopped talking and chewed on his drooping mustache. He shook his head as if dismissing something. “Never mind, nothing you do amazes me anymore.”

I handed him the list back and looked right into his eyes. “I read a book about the history of the Texas Rangers once. William “Bigfoot” Wallace was my favorite Ranger.”

Doc shook his head and we found our way back to the group which had finished forming up. I patted backs and hugged my friends. When I got to the Chief, I stopped and shook his and his son’s hands and thanked them for coming. Kuppers called me up to the front and we conferred for a second.

“What’s going on Dan?”

“I will explain all during the quick briefing. Trust me, Kuppers. You know me.”

He took a step back and gave me a hard look that only lasted for a moment before crumbling to a softer tone. He looked up to the sky and sighed, then gave me the go ahead sign. I patted his back and made my way to the center of the group. I noticed Brian kept his distance, but always kept one hand on his M4 battle rifle that was strapped to his body. His head and eyes moved in a rhythm, showing his attention to our surroundings. We locked eyes for a sec and he nodded his agreement for me to start. I took his strength and screwed it into place.

“Team, or should I say, family. For that is exactly who you have become to me. With our grumpy pain in the ass grandpa in Kuppers and mom figure from Vic.” Everyone broke into a chuckle but ceased when they saw Kuppers stern look. “We have been together for a long time now, we have fought by each other’s side, bled for one another, and mourned for the brothers and sister we’ve lost. Today, we are going to move on to our objective. I believe we are about to be tested again by Ridder and they are not going to go down as easily as before. We have no back up and no air support. But we have each other, and our belief in what we are doing is right.” I looked around and made eye contact with everyone. Most nodded, others stood there with their arms crossed, but I could see the agreement in their eyes. I continued “Chief, your people should not follow us into the fire. Is there a place we can take you till this is over?”

The Chief stood there expressionless as if carved in stone. His eyes locked on mine. I could see by the slow softening of his features that he had come to a decision. “Major, my people are proud people. Once, we were proud warriors. We will not run with our tails tucked between our legs. I will have one man take some of the women and children to a cave structure nearby. The rest of us will fight by your side, if you provide us with weapons.”

I looked over to Kuppers and he nodded his head in agreement. I then noticed Henry standing like his father, stone and expressionless.

“Henry? Do you have anything to say?” I asked him.

He took a moment, thinking of his words. “We all stand by our Chief. When he speaks, he speaks with all of our voices.”

I thought about this for a moment and came to a conclusion. “It will be great having your people fight alongside us. Could I ask for one man to be seconded to the men and woman standing here to act as guides?”

“Done.”

“How far are we from the objective?”

“Not far, two hours of travel. Over this ridge and down, and then across the small valley.” The Chief answered.

I pulled out my trusty map and looked around for a place to put it. Howser came to the rescue and dragged a crate of ammo over to me. I laid the map on it and made a mark on the map.

“I take it we are right about here. Am I close?”

The Chief looked over the map and grunted his agreement. I examined the objective and the surrounding area. I made some quick calculations and then made some circles in different areas. I waved over Doc, Hase and Kuppers. While they looked over the map, I told them my plan.

“I think we need to break up our forces. Is it possible to move Delta to this point? The rest of us will take a squad or whatever you call it and move to these positions. I also want to have a backup force led by Cupcake here in this dried-out creek. He can also move up and evacuate the wounded from the battle-field. Anything you guys want to add?” I put the pencil down and moved out of their way.

Brian came up and stood by my side while examining the map over the other men’s heads. He noted something and looked down at me. “And which one is us, Boss?”

“Why, we will take our men right up to the doors.”

All heads turned to me as one. I smiled slyly and looked up at Brian.

“They will never expect what I have planned.” I chuckled and fingered my MP5 strapped to my chest.

“What the hell, it’s been a fun time so far by your side, Boss.” He shrugged and accepted my madness.

Kuppers looked up and waved me over. He pointed to one of the circles. “Explain, please.”

So I did, I laid out my whole plan. There was a cacophony of whistles.

Kuppers tilted his head as he thought. “Ballsy. It might just work. Are you sure you were never in the military?”

I gave him a ‘are you kidding me look’
.
He shook his head and started issuing orders. Brian crossed his arms and watched the group take off to attend to their orders.

“Really think we can pull this off, Boss?”

“As long as we have faith and absolute surprise, I do not see why not.” I wavered my hand in front of me to show I thought we had a so, so, chance. “Just stay close to me. I’ll get you out alive.” I joked.

“Funny, I was going to say the same thing.”

We walked off to gather our handpicked men and meet our guide from the tribe. I was surprised to find Henry standing by the Humvee. We led the six soldiers who would be coming with us. I smiled as Joey was escorted over to us. My plan was starting to shape up.

Chapter 4

We left within the hour, loaded up in one of the canvas side trucks. I took the bed of the truck as Henry, now dressed in BDUs, drove with Brian, and Joey. We took our time going slow, making sure to drive a straight line to the small concrete building.

Brian looked back through his window. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Dan.”

“As long as our new friend Joey is convincing and stays our friend, we should be ok. I just hope the rest of the team have made it to their positions. Henry, when you get to the front of the building, come to a full stop a good twenty yards from the entrance. I want you to stay in the truck, keep it running. Bryan will escort Joey and I to the front. If any shooting happens go to point Bravo and link up with Doc.”

“You got it, Major. Give me ten minutes and we should be there. So far, no one has cracked the doors or come out to check on us.” Henry mused.

He slowed the truck and came to a careful stop. I climbed out the back and looked around trying to see if I could see the team in their positions. I walked around the truck and met up with Joey and Brian.

I took Joey’s arm lightly, and looked over his new BDUs and straightened them to make sure he didn’t look like a prisoner. I spoke to him quietly, so no one but him could hear me.

“Joseph” I made sure to use his proper name, since I wanted to play nice and keep him on our side. “Remember, we are part of Ridder and we rescued you. We need to bluff our way in, without a muss.”

“I will play along, Dan. These bastards tried to kill me and I want to try and find a cure for this monster I created and let off its chain.” He rolled his neck and ran his fingers through his hair to style it the best he could.

We walked together with Brian on the left and I on the right, and Joseph squarely in the middle. We got up to the door and I looked around for a speaker or camera and found none. I motioned for Brian to knock and he reached over and removed one of my steel collapsible batons from my belt and flicked it open with a flick from his wrist. Once at full extension, he pounded hard on the door three times. He waited a second and then pounded two more times.

Five minutes passed and I was about to suggest we go back to the truck when we heard the sound of locks being drawn back and the door opened slowly. It stopped at an inch gap, and a rifle barrel poked through.

A gruff voice followed a second later. “What the fuck do you guys want?”

“Open the door now. Do you not recognize who I am?” Joseph spat out arrogantly.

“I don’t care who the fuck you are! Get lost before I open a can of whoop ass on you three,” the gruff voice shot back.

Brian stood to the side of the door and was sure the man couldn’t see him, so he lifted his big boot and kicked the door as hard as he could. I shot forward and grabbed the barrel of the gun and yanked just as the door rebounded back outwards. I pushed the gun up and twisted sideways, loosening the man’s tenuous grip. I tried to pull forward, but he must have had his strap for the gun on tight.

But as it turned out not tight enough to stop Brian. He took the gun and yanked it forward along with the man outside. Once the man was free, Brian raised the baton he still held and brought it crashing down on the man’s shoulder. I heard a crack as the bones broke. I took this time to raise my borrowed M4 and entered the building. I looked left then right and when I saw a gun swinging in my direction I pulled the trigger and watched the shape and gun fall to the floor.

I swept around again and moved further into the room. It was small, but had a solid-looking double set of open doors. I moved forward quickly, using small steps like Apache had taught me to control my gun and aim better. If you take large steps, it causes the barrel to swing around and spoils your shot, smaller steps allowed you better control. I stepped just inside the double doors and went to my right, dropping to one knee. Trying to stop the doors from being closed and to make myself a smaller target.

A giant hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed. I knew Brian had entered with me and was telling me where he was. I snuck a look back and saw Joseph by Henry’s side, along with the rest of our group behind him. I pointed to one of the soldiers and motioned him forward.

“I want you to go outside and direct Kuppers’ and Doc’s teams in. Watch the door and stay vigilante.”

He nodded his understanding and moved away. Brian moved to my left and took point. I waited for him to look back at me and wave me forward. I did the same for the next man in line and he did the same, and so on. We moved on down the hallway slowly, making sure to stagger our positions so we could cover each other as we moved on. We came upon a section with more doors lining the hallway. I moved up to Brian’s side and motioned for the rest to hold position.

“How do you want to handle this?” I asked. He was the professional, so I let him take the lead.

He scratched his chin through his massive beard and thought about it. “I don’t think our guys know the rules on doing this kind of thing. We will hold this position. Why don’t you go back and bring in our SWAT team?”

I nodded my head and moved quickly back down the hallway to the entryway. As I passed, I motioned for the team to sit still and keep eyes forward. I came through the double doors and found Kuppers and his team standing by. Once he saw me, he moved up quickly and we took a knee.

“We came to a hallway with doors and rooms, but we do not want to enter them with the regular Army soldiers. We need your guys’ specialty.”