Live (NOLA Zombie Book 3) (15 page)

“We also don’t want you to compromise our mission,” Tammi said, this time letting her true issue with our plan come to light. She was afraid we would go in, start some shit and leave her group to clean up the mess. She didn’t know me, she didn’t know Zach.
 

“What is your mission?” I asked.

“Reestablish control over Lakeview.”

“Will you be arresting this group?” I asked sarcastically.

“We don’t have any type of holding cells in place, or prison guards for that matter. If they surrender, we’ll figure out what to do with them, but at the moment the goal is eradication.”
 

“We have the same goal. My team is highly trained, skilled in eradication,” I smiled, but again there was no glee behind my smile.
 

“Don’t screw this up for us, Captain. Marine or not, you can’t take on this entire group,” Tammi said, a hard edge in her voice.
 

“You don’t know that many Marines, do you?”

“I know too many Marines, Captain.”
 

“Now you’re just being ugly, Trooper Ryan. I’m pretty sure you’ve never met a Marine Raider. We know how to get the job done.”

“You’re going to screw this up for us, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
 

“You’re a bad liar, Captain. Do what you want, but when you fuck it up, I’m not sending anyone to rescue you.”
 

“Don’t worry, officer…wouldn’t dream of asking for help.”

“Now, wait a minute, I want to do this with you, Captain,” the Major finally chimed in, backing me. “Ryan, I know you don’t want to risk your troopers, but I plan on establishing a surveillance station at the school.
 
It’ll help our mission. Maybe with this group going in it’ll show us their weaknesses, how they react.”

“It’ll put them on guard. They’ll draw back, reinforce their ranks. None of this sits well with me,” she said.

“We’re going in, we’re getting her out,” I said as plain as I could get it.
 

“I’m not going to risk any of my men, volunteers only, but I’m going with you.” The Major slapped me on the back and we both looked over at Tammi. She shook her head but looked resigned.
 

“I have a feeling this is going to blow up in our faces,” she sighed.
 

“For all our sakes, I hope you’re wrong,” I responded.

ZACH

Blake came down from the loft scowling, followed by a female State Trooper and the Major.
 

“The head statie doesn’t want us going in,” he said in greeting.

“That ain’t her choice to make.”
 

“That’s what I said. The Major said he’s coming and asking for volunteers.”

“I’m down,” Heather Murphey said as she walked up with Baby at her side. “It’s been boring as hell around here, this is the most action I’ve seen in weeks.”

“You ain’t right,” Baby coughed out a laugh.

“I got one more volunteer, and we can head out when you’re ready,” the Major said as he joined us.
 

“The sooner the better,” I replied. “I’m not comfortable here.” I looked around at all the troopers. They were eying us warily. We were all on the same team, but their goal was a lot different than ours. I couldn’t care less about Lakeview. Until I got Alexis back in my arms, she was the number one,
hell
, the only priority.

We left on foot an hour later. We suited up in our hillbilly armor, packs on our backs, quiet weapons at the ready. I felt like I was back in basic, all my shit on my back, running around in the dark like a pack of assholes.
 

We were joined by the Major, Heather Murphey and a guardsman, Alphonso Lopez. Our team consisted of me, Martinez, Baby, Romeo and Blake. We had five hours before dawn and plenty of time to make it to the school, which would be our FOB.
 

I set the pace at a fast jog, trying to stay alert and avoid potholes, zombies and the unidentified living. Zombies were a rare sight in the area. The bikers must be culling the herd in this area, but we did have a good tussle every now and again. They didn’t put up that much of a fight anymore. When a person first transitioned, they were faster, more aggressive and their bones were harder to break. A zombie’s decomposition was slower than a corpse, but it was still decomposing. They became slower, the older they were, and their bodies bloated and full of gas and liquids. It was easier to dispatch one with a knife and their bones broke easier. They even lost balance easier as their bodies broke down.

The ones that shambled to us were in a sorry state. Their legs were broken and they shambled over to us, dragging limbs, parts falling off. They were quickly taken out by blades and left in the street to rot.
 

We made it to the school with four hours to spare. The structure was impressive, three stories of brown brick, seemingly untouched by the chaos. The bushes were a bit overgrown, the weeds were taking over the parking lot, but overall it could have been just another old New Orleans structure, the gothic look impressive and imposing.
 

“My granddaughter went here,” the Major huffed into the com, he wasn’t used to the brutal pace we set. “We can gain access through the gym, which is the farthest structure from the camp. There should be a back door that we can access on the other side of those bushes.” He headed directly for the school, pushing through the overgrown bushes. I wanted to yell for him to slow down, but he was on a mission and his rank had him acting like he was in charge.
 

The gate was open and the place was a ghost town, which was great for us. We all pushed through and followed the Major. He seemed to know where to go. He went to a door in the back of the building and we filed into what seemed to be locker rooms, but it was hard to tell in the gloom. The rooms were odd, low-ceilings gave me the impression that it was built for much smaller humans and the old lockers that lined the walls were very outdated. The room was pitch black and we clicked on our flashlights to show the way.
 

The Major moved quickly through the room, making for doors on the other side of the room without slowing his pace.
 
I hissed for him to slow down, but he only paused for a second. This dark, dank room was claustrophobic and I had to shake the urge to run in the opposite direction. The smell of mold and musk was strong. I could almost taste it in the back of my throat. As we went deeper into the dark room, I splashed through puddles on the floor and the unmistakable sound of dripping water filtered through the noise we were making. A pipe must be leaking somewhere in here.
 

“This is the gym up ahead, the school is on the other side of the gym. We should probably go to the third floor for a bird’s eye view of the biker camp.” The Major spoke quickly as he was pushing through the double doors that separated the locker room from the gym. I knew he had made a mistake the moment the doors swung forward and the smell of the dead wafted back at us.
 

“Shit, there’s hundreds of them, hundreds!” he screamed and turned. He forced his way into the locker room, but the doors weren’t the type that locked shut, they swung back and forth, like the kind of doors you would find in a store. It was an all-girls school, they must not need high-security in the locker rooms.
 

The dead began pouring through the doors. He was right, there were hundreds. We were going to be trapped in a cramped, dark room with hundreds of dead teenage girls. They were all dressed alike in their brown and white checkered uniform skirts. Each one had thin, white, collared shirts, some pristine, others matted with blood or ripped open. They all wore black and white saddle shoes and most were coated in the blood of their classmates, chunks of viscera hanging from their laces. It was the most disturbing sight of my life.
 

Zombies with braces and big hair bows with their initials embroidered on them were going to haunt me for weeks. I would never again think the Catholic school girl kink was sexy…never again. They shuffled toward us, their skinny legs pushing them forward, desperate to eat us alive. They were in better condition than the ones outside, kept away from the elements…they were faster, more solid. If we made it out of this alive, I would be surprised.
 

The Major fell first, five of the girls were on him when he fell back through the doors. They pulled him to the ground as he screamed for our help. He tried to slash at them with his knife, but it was useless. I tried to reach for him, but the zombies were falling into the room, pushing past the scene on the ground. I would be eaten alive if I stayed to help. I began backing up quickly. I watched as one leaned down and ripped his cheek open. I drew my firearm, but I couldn’t shoot. The bikers would hear, they would know we were close. I couldn’t fire. But if I didn’t there would be no way out of this.

“Back outside,” Blake yelled into the com and we fell back. My eyes were locked on the Major as his flesh was being torn away from his face. His entire body was well covered in armor and clothes, except for his face. The zombies pushed and fought with each other to get to his face as they took bite after bite, ripping the flesh from him.
 

The tide of zombie teens kept coming. They surged forward within the tight quarters, completely blocking our escape route. There was nowhere to go but the showers, to the back of the building. We were all going to die.
 

I withdrew two of my knives, gripped them tightly in my hands and began to slice and stab. If I was going down, I was going down fighting.
 

“Here,” Baby called, yanking me back and pushing me toward a room I hadn’t noticed before. I was slicing at the oncoming zombies and I hated to turn my back on them but she held them off for me as we all made our way into what looked like the anteroom of a classroom. The door to this one could swing shut, and I slammed it closed just as the first zombie hit the thin wood and began to pound on it.
 

“I’m assuming this second door is going to lead out to the gym. Where more of those things are!” Martinez called. “No windows, what the fuck kind of classroom doesn’t have windows?”

“Health.” Baby shone her flashlight on the dry erase board and revealed a diagram on how to take care of your toenails. “Is that what they learn at an all-girls high school?” She laughed, it sounded manic.
 

Blake pushed a chair to the door. The big wooden door was built in the typical school fashion with a window on top of the door for ventilation.
 

He opened the window quietly with the crank and peered out into the gym. When he got down from the chair, he didn’t look hopeful.

“There’s a raised portion of the gym, I’m assuming those are the bleachers, but they appear permanent and start at about six feet up. On the north side of the gym, windows start behind the last row of seating. If we can make it to the other side of the gym, we can get out of here by way of the windows. It might be a twelve-foot drop, but we can do this.”

“You think we can make it across the gym in time, before they’re on us?” I asked.

“It’s that, or wait until they break that door down.” He motioned to the door we had just come through which was bowing under the pressure of the zombies. “Doesn’t look like we have much of a choice.”
 

“Hopefully most of those bitches will be in the locker room trying to get us from the other end.” Martinez looked put-out and disturbed.
 

“We’ve got to get the fuck out of here,” Alphonso said and headed toward the door. “Together in one rush, fast and quiet, we can do this.”
 

“Let’s go,” I hissed and we pushed through the door in a quiet dash for safety. The teen Z’s didn’t spot us until we were almost halfway across the gym and their slow shuffle wasn’t getting them to us anytime soon. We could make this.
 

Heather Murphey was the first one up the stairs, followed closely by Baby and then Romeo. I sighed in relief as I saw them taking the stairs two at a time until they were level with the windows.
 

Martinez and I were the last ones up the steps. We made it to the raised platform just as the first zombies were reaching us and easily began to climb the steps. They were hampered by their brethren as each jockeyed to be the first up the steps. They pushed and pulled on each other. Some just stayed on the floor of the gym and tried to reach for us through the railing. All we could see was the tops of their hands as they desperately tried to grab for anything.

In a few long strides I was up the stairs with Martinez by my side. I breathed a sigh of relief as I touched the glass of the windows, pushing my body through the small space. There was no drop, the others stood and waited for us outside. They were on the roof of a covered breezeway that ran about the height of the windows, so you only had to pull yourself onto it.
 

I pushed myself out, turning to pull Martinez through the small windows the moment I got free. I gripped his hand and tugged, right as he cried out. The sound went straight to my gut. He was hurt…I hoped to God it was a cut from the windows or something like that.

Blake shone the flashlight directly at us, revealing the horrific sight that would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.