Apex Predator (23 page)

It worked.  The cell tower appeared to cross all four lanes.  Now, it looks like they were going to need to find a way around this.

“Mike, you know of a way around this?”

“Well, there was an exit a mile or so back.  I bet we could hit Highway 80. It should be south of the interstate.  Or, there’s some train tracks that runs parallel to the interstate somewhere north of the highway.”

“Ok, you and Jackson lead the way.  I’d rather hit the highway than the train tracks.  Hate to get a busted truck.”  Mike leaned back into the truck, and began issuing orders to Jackson.  He backed the LMTV up and executed a three-point-turn.  Kerry followed them.  They back tracked to the onramp that Mike had seen.  After exiting the highway, they turned south along a little two lane road.

South of I-20 15 miles East of Bossier City

Things were not going the way Lt Jason Allen Cruzan had planned.  In fact they had gone completely and utterly wrong.  He was a platoon leader in B Company 326
th
Engineer Battalion.  It was he and a squad from his unit that had destroyed the cell tower that SSgt Brown had found across the highway.

It was supposed to be an easy mission.  He would take one squad and his Platoon Sergeant took another squad to create road blocks along I-20 to slow the advance of the hoard of zombies pursuing the soldiers evacuating along I-20 to the east.

At first, things were going great.  His team had arrived at the cell tower, finding it relatively free of bad guys.  They set their charges, and blew the tower.  It fell exactly as he had calculated, crossing all four lanes of traffic.  That’s when things had started to go wrong.  His command humvee wouldn’t restart after the detonation.  Try as he might, Pvt. Adams couldn’t get the thing to turn over.

After cross loading all of their gear and crowding into the remaining humvee, they continued east for about half-a-mile.  Then things really got bad.  His Platoon Sergeant had already blown the next road block.  He could clearly see the column of smoke and hear the detonations to their east.

The roadblock was textbook perfect.  There were seven tall trees crisscrossing the road.  It was meant to stop foot traffic from using the road.  It was even more effective at hindering one overloaded humvee.  Worse, the driver of the humvee had failed to program his radio with the unit’s radio frequencies.  He tried several times to raise someone on the radio but it was to no avail.

After consulting the map, he realized they were in big trouble.  By now, the remainder of the column should be on the other side of Minden.  That meant that his unit would have to traverse what command called a high density population center on foot.  That was not good.

He dismounted the remainder of the squad and ordered them to move south and east, skirting the city and, he hoped, find some transportation.   That was exactly what they did not find.  They ran into another small hoard of zombies.

After a brief, but violent battle, his unit was able to break contact with the zombies.  But, not before losing two members of his squad.  Sgt Mendoza and Pvt Adams were separated from the group and killed.  He would never forget the screams.

The remaining five men continued on, searching for transportation.  As darkness began to fall he ordered his point man, Pvt Williams, to find a place to hole up for the night.  They found one of those private storage facilities, surrounded by a chain linked fence.  The squad hopped the fence and found an unlocked storage unit.

Lt Cruzan couldn’t believe his bad luck.  Not only did they have to stay the night in a metal building with a giant garage door on the front and no escape route but he found it occupied.

Apparently a middle school science club had been traveling through this area when they ran across several zombies.  One of the teachers and three of the children were killed before the group was able to find shelter in this storage unit.

Now, instead of five soldiers trekking across the state of Louisiana trying to catch up with their unit; he was the leader of five soldiers, three school teachers, and seven middle school kids.  To make matters worse, the civilians were hungry.  Damn, now he was the mayor of a refugee camp.

The group had spent a long and uncomfortable night sleeping on the concrete floor.  His soldiers had given away most of the food they carried to the children.  He knew that food and transport were his most immediate priorities.

He debated leaving the children in the storage unit and taking his soldiers out to forage.  That thought was quickly pushed aside as he walked out of the storage unit.  There, at the fence, were at least twenty zombies.  He didn’t believe that they knew his people were here, they weren’t moaning.  But, they seemed to be fascinated with the fence.  They just weren’t trying to go anywhere.

One of the zombies turned and faced the young Lieutenant.  Their eyes met.  It let out a loud moan.  The rest of the zombies began turning their heads, looking for prey.  Lt. Cruzan ducked back inside the storage unit.  But the damage had been done.  The entire group began moaning and slamming their fists on the fence.  He could see that it wouldn’t take long before the fence fell.

He yelled to Sgt Procell to get everyone ready to move.  He fired several shots into the mass of decaying flesh.  Several of his men also engaged the threat.  Suddenly the fence came down and the wave of monsters began advancing excitedly at their prey.

“Run!” he yelled.  They all ran directly away from the zombies.  His troopers helped the civilians over the fence before jumping over themselves.  SPC Pittman and one of the children were unable to make it over the fence before being engulfed by the mass of zombies.  The rest of the group ran.

They found an empty convenience store about two miles away.  He sent Sgt Procell and Pvt Jefferson in to grab what food and water they could carry.  They returned without incident.  The group took a few minutes to eat and drink before he ordered them to move out again.

They made it about another mile or so before they ran into another larger group of zombies.  Pvt Jefferson led the group into a red-brick church.  The zombies eventually got in, and the group had been forced to retreat upstairs to the choir loft.  They had shot several zombies as they tried to stumble up the stairs.  This effectively kept the rest of the zombies on the ground floor.

And that was the situation in which Lt Cruzan found himself.  Four soldiers, three teachers, and six kids stuck in the choir loft of a church.  They had four rifles, little food, less water.  Ammo was good for now, but wouldn’t last long.  They couldn’t go down, and the zombies couldn’t come up.  He thought he really knew how a rat in a trap felt.  BANG!  BANG!  BANG!

Sgt Procell was sitting in one of the pews in the choir loft, shooting down into the Nave.  Lt Cruzan placed his hand on the NCO’s shoulder, quietly telling him to knock it off.

“Why El-Tee?” the Sergeant asked in his thick North Carolina drawl.  “You think we’re getting outa this?  Were pinned up here, and we ain’t getting’ out”

“You ready to give up already?” the officer asked.

“Fuck El-Tee,” he replied.  “I’m getting sick of these fuckin’ things.”  Every time we turn around we run into them and people get killed.  Now we got kids to feed and protect?  We’re toast, sir.  You just don’t know it yet.”  He re-shouldered his rifle and began firing again.  BANG!  BANG!  BANG!

Lt Cruzan didn’t know what to say.  He didn’t want to give up.  He had to keep going.  But what the young Sergeant said made some sense.  They just might be in a pickle they can’t get out of.  No!  He decided he wasn’t ready to give up yet.  There had to be a way out.  He just needed to find it.

“Sgt Procell,” he whispered into the NCO’s ear.  “Let’s save some of that ammo.  I think we’re gonna need it later.”

“Yes sir,” he replied as he shouldered his rifle and fired several more rounds.

The convenience store South of I-20

SSgt Brown was sitting on top of his humvee, eating an MRE for dinner.  Mmmm, he thought, Spaghetti with meat sauce.  It sure wasn’t like mom made, but it beat the heck out of pork skins and cinnamon buns.  The rest of the group was eating dinner too.  Jackson was standing in the bed of the LMTV keeping watch.

The convenience store they stopped at a few minutes before had a rack with maps in it.  SSgt Brown couldn’t remember when he’d seen a paper road map at a gas station.  They were lucky.  Well, sort of.  The map showed them how screwed they were.  This part of the state only had two major thoroughfares running east to west.  I-20 was obviously blocked.  That left Highway 80, and it ran through the middle of every population center between Shreveport and Vicksburg.  Not good.

Bang, Bang, Bang.  All eyes turned to the south.  They could hear the sound of gunfire and it wasn’t very far away.  SSgt Brown put down his meal, hopped down from the humvee, and climbed into the LMTV with Jackson.  “Sounds like M-16’s boss,” Jackson reported.  “It sounds kinda close too.”

“Well looks like we’re done with dinner,” replied the NCO.  “Guess we got some more folks that need rescuing.  You guys up for it?”  They all shook their heads yes.  He knocked on the cab of the truck where Kerry and Theresa were eating.

“It’s time to move out girls.  Jen, you drive the humvee.  Jackson you’re driving this thing.  Theresa and Mike, you guys are in the back here.  Kerry, you’re riding shotgun for Jackson.  Everyone stay in your trucks.  We’re safer here than on the ground.”

Jen jumped in the driver’s seat of the humvee.  When SSgt Brown was in the passenger seat, she pulled the vehicle away from the curb.  A quick glance in the big side mirror, showed Mike and the rest of the group behind them in the big Tan colored truck.

“Keep it slow,” SSgt Brown ordered.  He slid his window down and stuck his head out.

Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  They were getting closer.  It sounded like it was just around the next curve in the road.   He told Jen to stop and he exited the vehicle.  He pointed at Jackson and held up a single closed fist and then pointed at the ground.  Stay here.

He climbed back in the humvee, and told Jen to ease around the corner.  As they rounded the corner, Jen’s heart skipped a beat.  There was a brick church with a huge hoard of zombies surrounding it.  Jen estimated at least 100 soulless monsters.

Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  It was obvious that the shooting was coming from inside.  They couldn’t see any windows, and none of the zombies outside seemed to be effected by the gunfire.  That could only mean one thing.  The survivors were inside, and they were trapped.

“Ok, you remember the story of the Pied Piper?”

“Sure,” Jen replied.  “The guy led the rats out of town, and then the kids when the town folks didn’t pay his fee.”

“You think you could lead that group of zombie away from that church?”

“Sure, but you’ve got to roll that window up.”

He chuckled at her attempt at humor.  “Good.  Now back us up to the truck so we can fill them in.”  She did.  SSgt Brown climbed out of the vehicle and climbed into the bed of the truck.  He told the others his plan.

“Jackson, just make sure we and the zombies are clear before you head in.  And remember, we don’t know who’s in there.  We don’t want another run in with the Bubba brothers do we?”  He looked at the young redheaded girl.  They all shook their heads no.

“Good.  If they are reluctant to come out at all, leave ‘em.  Good luck.”  He pulled a small two-way radio out of his vest, indicating Jackson to do the same.

“Hope we won’t stretch the range of these things.  Call us when you’re finished.  We’ll beat feet back to you.”  Jackson nodded.  SSgt Brown remounted his vehicle.

“Ok Jen, let’s do this.”  She pulled forward again.  This time she stopped about 30 meters past the entrance to the church parking lot.  She looked at the big NCO.  He nodded.  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  She hit the horn several times.  The zombies responded as expected.  The ones they could see turned to face the new stimulus.  She flashed the lights several times, and gunned the engine.  The group of zombies began shuffling towards her and SSgt Brown.

As they began to get close, Jen let off the break and let the vehicle coast forward.

“You watch the road,” ordered the Sergeant.  “I’ll watch Zed.”  The humvee continued to coast for a hundred meters or so.  “Ok, stop.  We’re outrunning them.”  After a minute or two, he ordered her to coast forward some more.  Jesus, he thought.  What the hell was he thinking?  He wasn’t sure if he felt more like the rabbit at the dog races or a piece of cheese in a mouse trap.

He could see the hoard had fallen for the bait.  It appeared that the church parking lot was empty of zombies.  He figured he’d lead this group another couple hundred meters down the road before trying to turn around.

“Ok, Jackson, you should be good.  Get in and get out fast.  Tell me when you’re done.  Rally point is where we stopped for dinner”

The Church

Father Geoff Albright heard a horn honking.  He’d been hiding in the confessional of his church for almost 24 hours now.  He’d been ministering to members of his congregation one-by-one throughout these trying times.

Yesterday, one of his families had brought in a victim of the violence who had apparently passed away.  They wanted him to receive last rights.  He rose from the dead during the ceremony and began attacking members of his own family.  Panicked, the priest had hidden in the confessional, hoping that the man and his family would soon leave.  They didn’t.

Then, last night, a group of people came in and began shooting.  He almost opened the door to his hiding spot.  But, at the last minute, he realized he could still hear the sounds of moans inside his church.  So he waited.

Now he could hear someone honking a horn.  They had to be coming to help.  It had to be a rescue party.  Panic set in.  What if they rescue everyone else but not me?  No one even knows I’m here.  I have to go.  I have to get out of here!

He burst through the door of his tiny sanctuary.  There were several bodies lying motionless on the ground.  He paid them no attention.  The doors, the front doors were open.  He had to get out!  He ran.  He ran as fast as he could, black robes flowing behind him as he did.

Then he fell.  He hadn’t tripped.  He’d fallen backwards.  What had happened?

He felt cold hands and arms grappling for his neck.  He knew what they were.  One of the monsters must have grabbed his robes.  He rolled to the left in an attempt to escape his attacker.  He did not.  His roll brought him face to face with the man on whom he’d had performed last rights only yesterday.

He screamed and tried to push away.  The man was strong.  He could not push the open mouth away from him.  He kicked and tried to roll again.  Again to no avail.  The monster’s mouth was now inches from his face.  He shoved his hand under its chin in a last ditch attempt to keep the gaping maw from closing on his flesh.

BANG!  The zombie’s head exploded, showering the priest with bits of blood, skull, and brains.  He screamed again, shoving the corpse off of him.  “Get him up!” shouted LT. Cruzan.

Privates Williams and Jefferson grabbed the priest under his arms, pulling him to his feet.  The priest was spitting pieces of gore out of his mouth as he got to his feet.

“C’mon Father,” shouted Pvt. Williams.  “We got to get the fuck outa here.”  He immediately mumbled an apology for his language.  They dragged the priest out the front doors, and helped load him into the back of the LMTV.  The kids were the next in, as the Engineers kept watch.  After the kids and teachers were safe the soldiers loaded up.

Mike slapped the top of the cab.  Jackson gunned the engine, and the truck lurched forward.  He keyed up his radio.

“Sergeant Brown, Jackson.”

“Go ahead.”

“We’re loaded, ten civilians and four Screaming Eagles.  Over.”

“Roger.  We’ll be at the rally point in ten Mikes.  Out.”  SSgt Brown told Jen it was time to lose their tail.  Jen tuned into a yard on the south side of the road.  It was large with a fence around the entire yard.  The gate was opened.  She gunned the engine and pulled the vehicle around the house.  Then they waited.

After all of the zombies were in the yard, she gunned the engine and circled around behind them.  The tires skidded as they hit the pavement of the road.  She floored it.  It only took a couple of minutes before the mass of zombies were out of sight.  Jen continued on to the convenience store.

SSgt Brown was surprised at the sight before him, when he arrived.  The LMTV was backed close to the door of the store.  Several soldiers were posted as guards at the corners of the building, and Jackson was standing in the bed of the truck, as if watching the street-side of the store.

Several children and adults were busy loading boxes into the bed of the truck, while Mike and the rest were organizing the supplies.  There was a soldier near the bed of the truck who appeared to be directing traffic.

The soldier waved his arms for Jen to pull up next to the truck.

“Hey Sergeant Brown,” Jackson greeted him with a smile.

“Jackson,” he replied with a scowl.  “We just gonna loot all the Ho-Ho’s and Ding Dongs outa here?”

“Just following orders Sergeant Brown,” the young trooper answered as he pointed towards Lt. Cruzan.

The young Engineer Lieutenant strode towards SSgt Brown and Jen.  SSgt Brown noticed the subdued rank on the Lieutenant’s ACU’s, snapped to attention, and rendered a parade ground salute.

“Sir, am I glad to see you.”

Lt. Cruzan returned his salute, and extended his hand to the NCO.  He introduced himself.  “Thanks for pulling our asses outa there.  What unit are you with?”

“We were with the 108
th
CAV Louisiana National Guard.  I’m not really sure who we belong to anymore.”

“Well, we’re from Bravo 326
th
Combat Engineers.  Looks like you and Private Jackson have been federalized,” replied the young Lt.

“I think we can handle that.  Did Jackson introduce you to the rest of the group?”

“Not yet.  I kinda put everyone to work as soon as we got here.”

“Well, this is Jen.  She’s local and an ER Nurse.”  He pointed up to the bed of the truck.  “That’s Mike.  He’s a rent-a-cop, and married to Jen or something.  Theresa was their neighbor.  We found Kerry holed up in a sporting goods store we raided a few days ago.”  They each waved a hand at the officer as they were introduced.

“It’s nice to meet you all.”  He turned his attention back to the NCO.  “How is your group set for supplies?”

“Not too bad.  Couple cases of MRE’s, about 800 rounds of five-five-six.  Not a hell of a lot for the rest of the guns.  Got a set of 2 way radios and there’s a SINGARS in the humvee.  We probably have 50 gallons of fuel.  Sir, what is the army’s plan?”

“Well, as you probably figured out we evacuated the Air Force Base.  The bombers and anything that could be air lifted went to North Dakota.  It sounds like the outbreak has been pretty well contained up there.”

“What about the grunts?  You guys weren’t heading north.  Where were you headed?”

“Atlanta.”

“Atlanta?  Really, I would think that place would be overrun by now.”

“Last we heard it was pretty hairy but we still had a foothold around the CDC.  They dug a giant ditch around the whole damned place.  I’m told they bulldozed a country club near there and are using it as an unimproved runway.  The rest of my division is there, as well as some local reserve and national guard units.”  He continued, “We were ordered to push to the CDC.”

“No shit, sir.  What are we gonna do now?”

“I don’t know.  I’m thinking we can’t try to drag these civilians through the streets of Atlanta with two trucks and six soldiers.”  He looked east, into the darkness.  “What was your plan?”

“Well, sir, we were going to try to make Vicksburg.  From there we would try to get some river transport and head north.”

“I sure like that better than driving through every major city in the deep-south.”  Without a word, he did an about-face and walked towards the store.

After they finished loading the LMTV Lt. Cruzan ordered SSgt Brown to set the guard watch and get the civilians bedded down.  They would not all fit in the vehicles, so SSgt Brown had the children and teachers sleep inside the convenience store for the night.  He had two soldiers on watch at all times.  The night was uneventful

Day 10

The Convenience Store

Jen woke up stiff in the back of the LMTV.  She thought about how she missed her mattress.  The soldiers were all awake.  Some were eating, while others seemed to be keeping vigil over the group.   SSgt Brown was talking to the new officer and another soldier.  They were huddled over a map.

She woke Mike up and went inside the store.  She smelled smoke.  She found the priest sitting next to one of the store shelves with a fire underneath it and a pot of water just beginning to boil.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” exclaimed Mike.  “Good thinking Father.”

“Someone has to ensure that God’s children receive their nutrition.  And if they get a little caffeine at the same time, more the better.  Right my son?”

“Oh, I totally agree Father.”  He finished filtering the hot water through the coffee grounds.  Mike took a Styrofoam cup full and added a few packets of sugar.  He took a long drink.  It was hot, but it tasted so good.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had a nice hot cup of coffee.

They were joined by two of the teachers.  Each poured a cup of coffee and introduced themselves.  Soon they told the trio about their experiences up to this point.

Mike and Jen were amazed at their story.  The group had left their small town in eastern Louisiana for Shreveport a week ago.  They had heard of some rioting going on in Shreveport, but nothing major.  The kids were all finalists in the regional science fair.

They’d had no idea there were any problems.  They had stopped at a fast food restaurant for lunch.  That’s when the trouble began.  Before anyone realized what was happening, several of the monsters stumbled through the automatic doors.

Two children a teacher and their bus driver were killed.  The remaining teachers had managed to herd the rest of the children out of the restaurant.  They ran on foot until they found the storage facility.   There they sat; cold, hungry, and afraid until Lt. Cruzan and his Engineers had found them.

“And you guys had no idea what was happening in Shreveport?” asked Mike.

“No,” the teacher with the glasses replied.  “The news was talking about local riots, mostly dealing with the oil fields.  When that first one of those things wandered in, I had no idea what to think.   At first I thought there had been an accident.  Then it attacked a woman.”

The taller man without glasses chimed in.  “Oh God, and do they smell?”  They all shook their heads.  These things stink.

After finishing another cup of coffee, Mike walked back outside.  He found SSgt Brown talking to the female teacher.

“’Morning Mike,” he said.

“Good morning Sergeant Brown.”

“You sleep well?”

“Not really.  That truck is a little crowded, and the bed sucks.”  The NCO chuckled.

“Yeah, we need to get at least one more vehicle.  El-Tee wants to get moving soon.”

“Where we heading now,” asked Jen.

“The river, then North, El-Tee says his unit is heading to Atlanta.  Not the place to take a group of kids these days.”