Apocalypse Aftermath (47 page)

The soldiers piled in as the roar of fire grew more audible.  Peter grabbed for full magazines out of the box on the front floorboard to refill his pouch.  Crawford took off rather faster than he expected, and he dropped a couple.  Swanson yelled in pain as the acceleration bent him back against the edge of the roof hatch.

“Ow, take it fucking easy.”

“Fuck easy.” Crawford retorted as she dug her cigarettes out and lipped one from the pack as she steered one handed for the right side of the school grounds.

“There.” Peter pointed, indicating a spot that gave a good line of fire across the front of the school, parallel with the building.
  He could smell gas on Crawford’s boots, but he didn’t have time to yell at her to not smoke  If she wanted to light her feet on fire, that was her lookout.  He could kick her out of the vehicle to keep from damaging it if things got that far.

“Got it.”

She braked hard where he wanted, hard enough that Peter was sure she’d done it on purpose to jostle Swanson again, but the Guardsman in the back had apparently expected it.  Peter heard the man’s weapon open up before the Marine could even get his door open.

“Swanson,
Roper, you’re still on perimeter security.  Don’t let anything sneak up close.  Oliver, cover me.” Peter yelled as he shot several zombies within twenty feet on his side of the vehicle so he could step clear of the door.  “If something takes a bite out of me while I’m busy I’m going to be beyond pissed.”

“Too old Gunny.” Swanson laughed, but he swiveled from his position above the Humvee to start directing his fire to that side.  “Zombies like it fresh.”

“I’ll show you fresh.” Peter muttered as he went back to one knee and got his scope aligned on the remnants of the horde still menacing the front of the school.  The fire in the parking lot was going strong, fueled by bodies and tires.  He saw hundreds of corpses down amid the flames, and some were no longer moving.  Others still thrashed, but few that were still on their feet weren’t burning.

Without the need to worry about putting bullets through the school – which would easily penetrate the walls and be dangerous to whoever was inside – the soldiers were able to sweep the pack at will.  With three rifles working, then four at the end when Crawford caught her breath and joined in, it only took a minute or two to
deal with everything still on its feet in immediate proximity to the front wall.  Then they cleared the stragglers still wandering around in the parking lot.

“Okay, Whitley, you’re with me.” Peter said loudly.  Even with the ear plugs, his hearing was starting to protest the aural abuse of the past few minutes.  “The rest of you, stay mobile in the
hummers and see if you can’t pull everything on the sides to the back.  Don’t get stuck in, and listen up for the radio.”

Peter moved forward as Whitley ran to join him, the woman falling into step a few feet behind him.  He left her to it, trusting her to keep an eye on the
ir rear while they jogged toward the front entrance.  The smell of crisped corpses was appalling and grew thicker with every step, but he ignored it as he did the heat coming from the blaze.  He didn’t think the asphalt itself had caught, but there was enough meat and other flammables to probably keep the flames going for a while.

As he cleared the worst of the smoke and flames he dropped from jogging to a tactical quick-step so he could shoot another dozen or so zombies on the far side of the trap.  He slowed almost to a crawl as he carefully studied the fallen zombies in his path, shooting any that he didn’t feel comfortable about getting near and picking his way forward among them cautiously.  Finally he was nearing the two sets of double doors of the school’s front entrance.  He saw a fairly impressive pile of desks and other furniture piled up behind them, but the barricade appeared unmanned.

“Hello the school!” he called loudly.  “Georgia National Guard calling the school!”

There was a long pause, then he heard an angry and shaken male voice respond.  “Jesus Christ, what the hell are you trying to do, kill us?”

“The building’s not on fire.” Peter called back, moving forward cautiously.  “And we think we’ve got the zombies handled for the moment.”

“What’d you put in those fucking trucks, a bomb?”

“Something like that.  It was the only way to take care of that many.  Is everyone okay?”

He was close enough that he had a better angle, and could see part of the hallway beyond the barricade.  Several people were visible now, staring at him with wide eyes and expressions mixed between shock and relief.  “A few scrapes and bruises from the explosion, but we’re holding out.”

“Thank God!” a woman yelled.  “Are you here to help?  Is it safe now?”

“Trick question.” Whitley murmured in a sotto voice.  “Of course it’s not safe.”

“Don’t you start too.” Peter told her before raising his voice again.  “The situation at the FEMA camp is being reevaluated.  We’re taking everyone over there if you’re ready to move.”

“How, walk?” one of the men said, pointing a hand that trembled a little at the parking lot.  “I don’t think we’ve got a lot of cars left to get us over there.”

“There’s an elementary school about two blocks south of here, a little way off the main road to the west.  There are six buses there that can hold at least fifty each.”

“There’s got to be at least twice that many of us in here.  I don’t know, we haven’t exactly had time to get any sort of count since the zombies found us last night.”

“We can make as many trips as necessary.” Peter said calmly in his command voice.  “But I think you’ll agree it’d be better at the FEMA camp than staying here.”

“They turned us away.” another man said.  “Told us to come here.”  Others in the hall voiced agreement with him.

“That’s changed.” Peter said again.  “The FEMA camp is open to all refugees now.  There’s shelter, food and water, arrangements will be made for medical care as available, and no one is going to be turned away.”

“Great, so get the buses over here.”

“I’ve only got six soldiers.  What we need from you are drivers for the buses so we can get started.  We can’t drive and escort at the same time.”

“Only six?  Are you serious?”

“Take it or leave it.” Peter said loudly, glancing around.  “And I know some of you are armed, so we need anyone who is to wait for the second trip while we escort the buses.  If you could hold out against the horde we just finished off, you should be okay against anything that wanders by before we can get back.”

Someone – a few someones – said something that Peter didn’t catch, but he certainly heard what followed.  “Shut up.” multiple voices said, along with some other comments that amounted to about the same thing.  Then a loud voice called out over some further muttering.

“You can stay if you want.  Hey, soldiers, we need a minute to pull the barricade apart a little so we can get some people out.  Just lead the way.”

“Let’s get to it then.” Peter nodded.

“Mom?  Sevens.”

Jessica shook herself slightly and brought her focus back to Candice, who was looking at her expectantly from across the low table.  “Uh, nope.  Go fish.”  She replied after glancing at her hand.

“Grrr.” Candice said as she reached for the cards spread out on the table between them.

As Candice dithered over which card she wanted to pick up, Jessica continued working on containing her urge to frown.  She was waiting in the lobby with just about everyone else who wasn’t on the roof.  Somehow she didn’t want to be up on the third floor, away from where she might hear what was going on.  So far it had been a lot of nothing
.  She wasn’t sure if that was good, or bad.

What bothered her was the air of tension that hung in the lobby.  And the ‘guards’, who had taken to leaving their MP5s stored when off duty, all had the stubby little – lethal – guns slung across their bodies.  Like they were expecting something to happen.

“Your turn.” Candice told her.

“Okay, any jacks for me?” she inquired in a credible attempt to sound engaged in the game.

“Hmmm, darn.” Candice pulled a jack out of her hand and gave it to her mother.

Jessica was desperate for information.  Austin had been closeted in one of the first floor classrooms with the Morrises – all of them save the still medicated Trudy – since Tyler had called for the ‘lock down’. 
Whatever was being discussed, none of it had leaked out to the others in the building.

She was torn with indecision.  If people were shooting up the town, that wasn’t something she could possibly take as a good sign.  But it didn’t necessarily mean the facility was threatened yet.  It could just be a trigger happy group of desperate people who were passing through.  Or that simply wanted to get at something in the town, like a grocery store
or something.  If that was the case, staying here was still a good idea.

But there was a maddening itch in the back of her head that told her it could be something more.  Tyler’s reaction was part of it, as was the disappearing act of him and his family since the incident.  His almost completely disinterest in the wounded men played a big part as well.  Part of her saw his point, but another part was appalled by his attitude.  If he could be that cold without even appearing to be bothered by it, where did that leave her?

If Tyler’s scale of measurement revolved solely around what someone could do for the group, then she couldn’t imagine she ranked very far from the bottom.  Trudy Morris or Kay Farring were probably at the bottom – and at least Trudy had her marriage to Dennis to shore up her position.  Kay was deaf career housewife whose only skills seemed to be in cooking, cleaning, and childcare.

Jessica was still limping and saddled with a child to boot.
  So was Kay; but Kay was married to the facility maintenance engineer.  Surely the need to keep Isaac happy would weigh in Kay’s favor.  Jessica wasn’t even sure if her connection to Dennis was enough to outweigh those disadvantages.  She wasn’t physically strong, so she wouldn’t be of any great help when it came to hauling supplies around or working on the building; even after her leg finished healing.

And she wasn’t an experienced fighter either, like Lori Reese.
  Somehow, she wasn’t sure a single shooting lesson made her terribly useful to Tyler.  Even the Eagle people were all either ex-security guards or mostly men.  That had to boost them above an injured widow with a pre-teen child in Tyler’s eyes.

“Mom, your turn still.”

“Oh, sorry.  Um, how about another jack?”

Candice shook her head.  “Go fish.”

Before Jessica could reach for a card, she heard a distant crack, followed immediately by an echoing boom.  It took her a moment, but then her eyes widened slightly as she identified it as a gunshot.  And not a little one either.  Something a lot more heavy and dangerous than a pistol.  A moment later, the radios worn by three of the Eagle guards who hadn’t turned them down spoke with Lori Reese’s voice.

“Carter, Reese.  We’re taking fire.”

Jessica’s eyes widened, and she abandoned any pretense of participating in the game.  Another shot sounded, the same splitting of air followed a moment later by the rolling boom of its firing.  Lori was still talking on the radio.  “East side, sniper.  Get down damnit!”

“Reese, Carter.” Austin’s voice came on the frequency.  “Casualties?”

“Jamal and Irving are down.”

“I’m coming up with a team.”

Jessica looked to her right as Austin appeared at the mouth of the hallway, talking into the radio as he gripped his MP5.

“Don’t bother.” Lori said.  “They’re both dead.
  You’ll just silhouette yourselves in the doorway.  Hang on.”

There was another gunshot.  Austin moved to the wall beside the glass front of the lobby, peering cautiously through the floor-to-ceiling window
while staying behind the actual wall as much as possible.  Most of the people in the lobby were on their feet, either readying weapons or standing uncertainly.  Jessica was reaching for her cane when yet another shot went off, but this time a second followed right on its heels.

“Carter.”

“Go.” Austin said without turning away from the window.

Lori’s voice was thicker than it had been a moment ago.  “Got him.  There was someone else with him though, and he faded back into the trees.”

Jessica pushed herself to her feet and felt for the pistols on her belt, making sure neither had been dislodged.  They were still in the holsters, but somehow that didn’t make her feel any better.

“Just the two?”

“Yeah.  He winged me while I was lining him up.  Guy was good.  Four shots, two and a half hits.  Bastard.”

“I’ll send the doc up.”

“Out of the question.” Tyler said from the hallway.  Austin turned and looked at him.  Dennis and Vanessa stood behind the executive, but it was Tyler who spoke.  “If the roof is taking fire, we’re not exposing our only doctor to it.”

“She’s wounded.”

Tyler lifted his own radio.  “Ms. Reese, come down to the first floor infirmary to have your wound looked at.”

“Might as well
. I can’t do much with my rifle one handed.”