Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) (18 page)

“How do you want to deploy?”

“Me, Wilder, Southard and Sanders will take the upper tier,” I said. “And we’ll send Mathews, Webber and the three Fair Grove guys in through the rec yard. Everyone gets an M-16, with a pistol back-up. Maybe we’ll put one person on the shotgun. We can ask Corporal Halsey if he minds going up on the roof and dropping the grenades.”

“I’ll round up everyone and meet you in the briefing room,” said the L.T.

“Alright,” I said. “Give me 15 minutes. I’ll need to grab my gear and maybe a quick bite to eat.”

Twelve minutes later, I walked into the briefing room to find everyone geared up and waiting for me.
I was still munching on the last of a cold-cut sandwich and washing it down with some iced tea. For the first time, I found myself at the front of the room. This was going to take some getting used to. I’d attended a lot of briefings in that room, but always from the back. Once everyone was seated, I took the podium.

“Ok folks, we’ve got a job to do.
We’re going to take back Bravo Pod. And if that goes well, Delta will be on the agenda for tomorrow morning.”

I quickly laid out the plan.
Everyone listened intently and when I had finished, Kris Newberry and Spec-4 handed out weapons and ammo to everyone who needed them. Spec-4 handed me an M-4 with a red dot sight and smiled at me.

“Thanks,” I said
, returning the smile. “But I already have an M-16.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “But that one has a grenade launcher on it.
You can’t use it indoors and it will only be extra weight in CQB
[11]
.”

I couldn’t argue with her, she was absolutely right.
I took the offered M-4. Besides that, if I had a grenade launcher I’d be tempted to use it. That probably wasn’t a good idea indoors. Once everyone was loaded up, we headed behind the sliders ready for battle. Corporal Halsey took a rucksack of grenades and the bolt-cutters and headed for the roof. The rest of us headed for our positions inside the chase-ways.

I led my team into the Alpha Pod Rec Yard and up the stairs.
Then we locked and loaded our weapons. I had a Beretta in a shoulder holster and the big Army Colt on my right hip. The Lieutenant had presented me with two boxes of ammo for the big Colt and I didn’t ask where he had gotten them. I also had my Mossberg slid into my pack where I could easily grab it. I had the M-4 in my hand.

My cargo pockets held extra rounds for the Mossberg on my right side and five extra magazines for the M-4 on the left.
My vest pouches held five magazines for the Berretta and the extra cartridges for the Colt. I was as ready as I was ever going to be. Once everyone was in position, I gave the “
Go”
command to Corporal Halsey. In less than a minute, he had cut through the wire mesh on the ventilator fan at the rear of the pod.

“Fire in the hole,” said Halsey over the radio.

Seconds later, we felt as much as heard the
CRUMP
of the grenade detonation. Master Control was monitoring the cameras and relayed information to the teams.

“Grant,” said the radio. “Numerous targets down.
Upper tier clear within fifty feet of the chase-way door.”

I nodded to Southard and keyed open the door.
Sanders pulled the door open as Spec-4 and I stepped through the door. We immediately went to one knee, giving Sanders and Southard room to fire over our heads. There were nine zombies on the upper tier. Spec-4 and I started taking them out first with well aimed, single shots. It was working just like we’d planned, so far. Sanders and Southard were nailing targets below us in the dayroom. Once the upper tier was clear, Spec-4 and I prepared to move.

“Upper tier, clear!” I shouted above the gunfire.
“Moving forward!”

Sanders and Southard pivoted to adjust their shooting as Spec-4 and I crouched and advanced to the top of the stairs.
Once we reached the stair landing, we took positions on one knee again.

“In position!” I called.

“Moving forward!” yelled Sanders.

With that, Sanders and Southard moved up to stand over us, once again.

“Changing mags!” yelled Spec-4.

“Team two, move in,” I said over the radio. “Changing mags!”

As I changed out my magazine, team two emerged from the chase-way into the rec yard. They made short work of the four zombies that were in there. Then they moved to the door and prepared to enter the dayroom. Spec-4 and I continued to fire as both Sanders and Southard changed mags. Team two opened the rec yard door and engaged targets in the dayroom. The crowd of zombies was rapidly dwindling. Matthews and Webber were through first and swept to their right, heading for the Officer’s desk. The three Fair Grove Officers covered the door and started taking out targets.

Behind me, I heard Sanders yell, “Son of a bitch!”

I glanced over my shoulder to see a zombie emerging from the showers, almost directly behind us. Sanders dropped his M-16 to hang around his neck by the strap. Then he grabbed the zombie by the throat with his left hand and by the left thigh with his right. With a grunt, Sanders pressed the zombie over his head and turned.

He took two steps and threw the zombie off of the upper tier.
It sailed through the air and landed almost halfway across the dayroom. I could swear I could hear the sound of its spine crunching above the gunfire as it slammed down onto a table. It didn’t get up and only flailed around as it struggled to crawl away from the overturned table. The force of the impact must have crushed it’s back.

Sanders grabbed his weapon and resumed shooting.
I turned my head around in time to see Webber kill the Group Release Switches on the control board so that the cell doors would lock. Instantly, I heard the door actuators cycling back into the locked position. Then he hit the Officer Duress button, giving Master Control complete control of the pod. This would keep any zombies that were still inside cells locked safely where they were until we went for them.

Four zombies rushed the bottom of the stairs together.
The lead two took the worst of the gunfire, but the two in back were mostly shielded by the bodies of the first. The two in front were dead again, but they couldn’t fall because of the two behind them. They were nearly on top of us before we were able to break their charge. If it hadn’t been such a serious situation, it would have been funny.

Spec-4 drove the butt of her M-16 into the face of the lead zombie in a perfect butt stroke maneuver.
The lead zombie fell and Sanders shot the one behind it right in the face. They both bounced back down the stairs in a tangled mess. I kicked out with my left foot and struck the other dead leader right in the chest. He fell away, but the zombie behind him grabbed my leg. It was the zombie that had once been Officer Mike Boyett. I was about to be bitten by a zombie that I knew and that really pissed me off.

As he closed in on my exposed calf muscle, I shoved the barrel of my M-4
directly into his mouth and squeezed the trigger. Boyett’s skull exploded in a fountain of gore, propelling him backwards down the stairs. Unfortunately, he took me with him. I tumbled ass over tea kettle down the stairs and felt my head impact the stairs on the way down.. By the way, metal stairs hurt when you bounce down them. They hurt a lot.

I landed at the bottom of the stairs on top of a pile of corpses.
I had lost my grip on my M-4 and had no idea where it was. To be honest, I was pretty damned disoriented. I’d taken a few heavy hits to the noggin on the way down. Fortunately for me, mine was pretty thick. Despite that, I was seeing stars and my ears were ringing from a combination of the gunfire and the blows to the head.

“Wylie!” shouted Spec-4, as she started down the stairs.

Southard and Sanders came with her, shooting all the way down. I’m not exactly sure when I moved, but the next thing I knew I was on my feet with the Mossberg in my hands. The echoing
KABOOM
of the big 12 gauge drowned out the sharp
PING PING PING
of the 5.56 mm rounds. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was all over. We all stopped firing and the silence was deafening. My ears were ringing like the bells of Notre Dame and my head was killing me.

“Clear!” I bellowed, my voice echoing off the back wall of the pod.

“Clear!” called a chorus of voices.

“Break up into tw
os and sweep the cells,” I said, motioning towards both tiers.

The mop-up was swift.
Only two cells had zombies in them and only one in the multi-purpose room. I looked around and had to smile. The smoke from the gunpowder hung heavily in the air. All of the zombies were down and we’d come through it without a single casualty. Bravo Pod was ours, again.

“700, Bravo Pod has been secured,” I said into my mic. “Can you please turn on the ventilator fans?”

Seconds later, the exhaust fans kicked on and began sucking out the cordite smoke. A few minutes later, crews with laundry carts came in to start hauling the bodies out. While they began the clean-up process, those of us on the assault team were heading out to get some rest. I, for one, felt like about twenty miles of bad road. My head hurt and I felt bruises all over my body from my trip down the stairs.

“Halsey to Grant,” said the voice from my radio.

“Go ahead,” I replied, flexing my shoulder.

“I’m still up on the roof,” he said.
“There’s something going on up here you might want to come see.”

“Copy that, I’m on my way,” I replied
, motioning for the others to follow.

I headed for the roof access stairwell with Spec-4, Southard and Sanders right on my heels.
Matthews and Webber met us at the door as Master Control buzzed us in. Seconds later, we were emerging onto the roof. I could see Halsey standing near the edge, about twenty yards away and I headed over to him at a quick trot. He was staring off to the southeast. I looked to see what he was looking at and froze in my tracks.

About a mile away from us stood the tallest building in town.
It was a small skyscraper of black glass and steel. It belonged to a rich businessman in town and bore his name. I could see the lights of six helicopters circling the roof. On the roof I could see flares burning bright red. One by one, the helicopters were touching down. In the landing lights, I could see that they were Army Blackhawk helicopters and they were picking up people.

Four different choppers landed and picked up people before I started seeing flashes of light and hearing gunfire.
The last chopper lifted off, leaving survivors on the roof still exchanging gunfire with what I assumed were zombies. Then the Blackhawks gathered in formation and headed off to the south. Behind them in the darkness, all hell broke loose.

The guns of at least three Apache Attack helicopters came to life.
I never saw their running lights, so they must have been blacked out. As they poured fire into the tower, the Blackhawks headed off into the night. For almost a full minute, the Apaches kept up the fusillade. Then their guns went silent and all we heard was the distant sound of the Blackhawks rotors. The Apaches slipped away in stealth mode, leaving us to wonder if they were leaving the area or just watching us in the darkness.

The upper floors of the dark tower were burning. I knew that there was a restaurant on the top floor and offices throughout the building. In the sputtering light of the dying flares on the roof, there was nothing moving. The Apaches had done their lethal work to both the living and the dead. The bright glow from the fires lit up the skyline as the building continued to blaze. Without firefighters and first responders, there would be nothing to halt the spread of the conflagration.

“What the hell was that all about?” asked Southard.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “It looked like they were rescuing survivors.”

“Then why didn’t they come for us?” asked Spec-4.

“Hell if I know,” I said
, sarcastically. “I doubt we were as important as the rich people in that building.”

“Were those Apaches
that opened fire?” asked Halsey, sounding shaken.

“
Fuck yeah,” answered Sanders, nodding. “I’ve seen them do that shit in the
‘ghan
. They have a stealth mode that makes them damned hard to see and hear at night. They used to scare the shit out of us when they’d buzz our camp looking for insurgents.”

The
fire in dark tower was spreading and we didn’t hear any more gunfire coming from the roof. I could only assume the Army was rescuing survivors, and then aborted when the zombies overran the building. At least, that was the only explanation I could come up with. Well, the only one that made any sense. It wouldn’t really surprise me to find out that they were giving priority to rescuing the wealthy.

I headed downstairs to the men’s locker room to clean up and take a shower.
I also kept a couple of fresh uniforms in my locker. The hot water eased the aches and pains from my bounce down the stairs. One nasty cut to the left eyebrow and a black eye were about the worst of it. Otherwise, I was bruised and had some minor cuts on my head and face, but nothing was broken. The only serious injury was to my pride. I sealed the cuts with some liquid band-aid that I kept in my locker. It burned like hell, but did the trick.