El Paso Under Attack - 01 (19 page)

“You are like Max.” He said. “That was too quick, too fluid…too easy.”

“Whatever.” I answered. “Here’s the deal. Four of your buddies are out there dropping some serious explosives. I’m going to stop them. Your job is to lead me to them. If you do that, you live. Fuck with me in any way…you die, any questions?”

Gerald shook his head no.

“Radio both teams and find out if they’ve set up any of the explosives yet.”

It took him only a short amount of time before he raised Martin on the radio. Martin had set three of his six sets of explosives. He was having trouble reaching the rest of the predetermined locations due to all the zombies.

“
He couldn’t place them in other locations?
”

I guess not. These bombs were huge. They also had a plan to lay waste to the entire Downtown area. I think they needed to be put in the proper locations for the maximum amount of damage. If the explosions didn’t cover the entire area, they’d be pretty useless.

Gamma team had only just recovered the explosives from the fallen Beta team and had just enough time to set one of their twelve charges (an extra six came from Beta). Needless to say, Martin wasn’t happy about how far behind schedule Gamma team had fallen and both teams were pissed at Gerald for his radio silence right when Gamma needed help pinpointing Betas location. Gerald made his excuses. Radio problems seemed to be acceptable and both teams went back to work.

“Alright Gerald,” I said. “Point out on the map where these four charges have been set.”

I scratched at the map with the tip of my knife to mark the spots. Kingsley then took a look at the locations. He really came into play here; both Dudley and I suck at reading maps. Kingsley didn’t know the area greatly, but he knew it a lot better than the both of us.

The first charge we went after was naturally the closest one to us. It also happened to be in a McDonalds, which in turn made me kinda hungry. The double cheeseburgers with no onions are to die for.

Anyway, we got as close as we could to the McDonalds, there was a group of about twenty or so zombies milling around the entrance. They were probably leftovers from when the team left the explosives. However, if we tried to shoot our way through, we’d end up attracting thousands.

“What’s that building behind our target area?” asked Dudley. He sounded so military.

“I’m guessing it’s an old hotel,” answered Kingsley.

“Well, the rear of its right next to the McDonalds and there aren’t any zombies around its entrance, which is around the corner.”

“I get what you’re saying.” I said. “Park the Jeep in front of the hotel, go through the hotel and out the back exit. From there, I should be able to sneak into the back of the McDonalds.”

“Sounds about right,” said Dudley.

“What separates the hotel from the McDonalds?” asked Kingsley.

“I can’t really tell,” I answered. “But it looks like a narrow alleyway.”

We quietly backed up the Jeep and went the long way around a couple of blocks until we were able to make our way to the front of the hotel.

“Let’s make this simple.” I said. “Dudley, you stay in the Jeep and keep a lookout for anything behind you. Kingsley, go to the corner of the street and make sure the zombies in front of the McDonalds stay in front of the McDonalds. Gerald, Merrick and I will go disarm the explosives.”

“You think that it’s a good idea being alone with him?” asked Kingsley.

“Yeah Jax,” said Dudley. “What if he gets away?”

I unlatched the handcuffs from the roll bar and locked them onto my left arm.

“He’s not going anywhere.” I said. “And you better know how to disarm those charges.” I added to Gerald.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I know how to disarm them. It’s pretty easy, I could show you and you wouldn’t have to take me with you.”

“Good luck with that idea.” I sneered at him. I wasn’t about to leave an ex Green Beret out of my sight.

The sky overhead grumbled what sounded like a warning as we left the Jeep. I hadn’t even noticed the rising humidity until just now. I was surprised to find that I along with everyone else was covered in sweat. It hadn’t rained since…hell, I couldn’t even remember, but it was about to make up for it. I could see the lighting streak across the nighttime sky with the next grumble. I was thankful for the rain; maybe it would mask our scent.

I waited for the next rumble and broke down the front door to the hotel when it sounded off. We were inside and moving at a quick trot. Gerald was keeping up with me just fine, yet having him handcuffed to my left arm was annoying.

I handed Gerald a flashlight and he shined the beam in the direction that we needed to go. He wasn’t armed, so he wasn’t about to lead us into any danger. It was in his best interest to keep us both safe. In my right hand, I held my tomahawk.

We were heading down a long carpeted hallway when the sky above us opened up and let the rain fall. It was a hard angry rain and once again I was happy about it. If I could hear it pattering off the walls of the hotel, then hopefully all the noise would cover any banging and crashing sounds made by me. After all, I may have a couple more doors that need breaking down.

We got a little lost in the maze of hallways. It was really a matter of guess work to find the alley exit. It took some time, I have no idea how long it took, but I was getting anxious. Some of the doors that we ran past were open. It’s never fun running past an open door in a dark hallway. Something could come jumping out at you.

“
I take it that you speak from experience?
”

Most certainly.

Finally, we found the exit. The rain was still making an obnoxious amount of noise. There was a fire alarm connected to the door. Not good.

“If you open that door, the alarm will go off,” warned Gerald as if I didn’t know that was a possibility.

“I don’t think there’s any power to this building.” I answered. “Look at all the dirt and dust. I think this place has been closed for awhile. Even the front door was boarded from the inside when I kicked it down.”

“All that could have happened before the first wave of zombies came through.”

“If that were true, where are the people that boarded the door?” I asked. “Never mind, I don’t want an answer.”

I really didn’t want to hear Gerald tell me that the place could have been crowded with zombies, with all of them just waiting to pounce on us. It was time to make a move and as I pushed open the door, I was secretly wishing that I’d paid more attention to the inside of the hotel so that I could be sure it had truly been an abandoned building.

We were lucky. No alarm had sounded. The rain outside was pouring. The alleyway was narrow, barely enough space to drive a vehicle through. I was trying to blink the rain out of my eyes and locate a way into the McDonalds when the first zombie tackled me to the floor.

Merrick was attacking immediately, but it paid her no attention. Gerald seemed to have stumbled with my fall and he was now trying to pull away. His efforts were wrenching my arm that was connected to the handcuffs and keeping me off balance. I could barely keep the zombie from my throat. I could hear the sound of splashing feet from farther down the alley. More of the dead were coming.

Idiot Gerald wasn’t even trying to help me. Finally, Merrick grabbed the back of the zombies head and began to shake. Her efforts rag dolled the dead guy and I was free. The zombie was fighting to get its head loose, but Merrick was shaking him so fiercely all over the alley, he couldn’t get a firm grip on her jaws.

My tomahawk had come away from my hand when I fell. I couldn’t find it in the dark pools of water formed by the rain. The zombies I heard earlier were almost upon us, I could count at least five. Gerald was grabbing at the pistol on my belt as I searched the shadow covered, wet ground for my tomahawk.

“No you idiot,” I said. “Others will hear the gunshots.”

Finally, I felt the wooden handle. It was safe in my hand and I stood against the pouring rain just as my undead attackers bore down upon me.

The first one was easy enough to take out. As it reached for me, I sent the blade of the tomahawk into its forehead, destroying the brain. After that I slammed the panicking Gerald against the brick wall of the motel and ducked under the swinging arms of another zombie. I gave it a push kick to get some distance and chopped it in the neck. It went down with a wet gurgling noise.

The remaining three were trying to surround us.

“Don’t get bit.” I snarled at Gerald.

They rushed at the same time. Two ran at Gerald and one ran for me.

My attacker ducked under my wild swing and I had to do a weird turn and crack it in the back of the head. It worked, barely, but it worked.

Gerald was on the ground. He was holding one zombie away from his throat, while the other zombie was savaging him at the knee. Suddenly, Merrick was on top of the zombie at his knee. Again, she had the corpse by the back of the head and began shaking. I was free to dispatch the one at Gerald’s throat. I then followed with another swing to the zombie being shaken by Merrick. The fight was over. I slammed the tomahawk into a fallen zombie that was still twitching just to be on the safe side.

I turned my head over to Gerald who was just now getting to his feet. I raised the tomahawk into the air.

“No, no…wait a minute.” Gerald screamed in a panic. “I’m not bit. Look and see, I haven’t been bitten.”

He was right of course. He had hard plastic knee pads under his green fatigues. The knee pads were now scratched up with teeth marks. I couldn’t see any blood, so I lowered my weapon.

“I thought you were Special Forces.” I growled at him.

“I was, back in Nam.”

“Then why the hell are you such a pussy?” I demanded.

“These are dead people that are trying to eat me.” He shouted back. “Excuse me if I’m a little freaked out.”

“You either defend yourself, or you are going to die out here.”

“Then give me a weapon.”

I’m not really sure I liked this idea. He could easily use any weapon I gave him on me the moment my back was turned.

“
So what did you do?
”

I took a large bowie knife from my backpack and handed it over to him.

“
So you decided to trust him?
”

I’m not sure that trust is the right word. I just knew that if I left him unarmed, he was a liability and I didn’t want him wrenching my arm out of socket again. I also believed that he had a pretty large desire to live and that would be greatly diminished without me.

We went over to the McDonalds. The back door was metal. If I broke it down, it would make one hell of a noise. Even with the rain pouring, it would be too loud. We opted to break a window instead.

We did it intelligently; we stood there in the soaking wet and waited for the next boom of thunder. When it cracked across the sky and the lightning arched, I swung my tomahawk. The window exploded.

“
Off subject…would you say that the tomahawk is your weapon of choice?
”

Ya know…I never really even thought about it. I guess it deals the most damage to the enemy and in my case, the enemy happens to be zombies that need a damaged brain to stay down. However, I’m probably more partial to knives; it’s just more difficult to deal the massive amounts of damage with them…especially against multiple attackers.

“
If you had to choose?
”

I’d choose both in a combination slash and hack. It would throw out a lot of damage, especially against more than one zombie…so both of them.

“
I only ask, because my nephew wanted to know. He and his friend were arguing about it. I think they each had pictures of you with both weapons.”

He laughs at this. I can’t tell if it’s because he’s comfortable being a superstar for young boys everywhere or because he’s uncomfortable with his status.

Where were we? Oh yeah, we climbed in the window. It wasn’t exactly easy; we had to be mindful of the large glass shards around the opening. We certainly didn’t want to put the smell of blood in the air, even with the rain.

I also left Merrick in the alley. I didn’t want her getting cut and it wasn’t like the zombies had any appetite for dogs.

The McDonalds was dark. I was wondering why Mr. green beret didn’t have any night vision goggles. It wasn’t like we could use the flashlight here. I’m sure everyone has been to a McDonalds. The restaurants are covered with large windows. If we used a flashlight, we’d have every zombie outside those windows licking their chops and looking for a way in.

Did I mention how eerie it was looking out those windows at the zombies that were milling around? They didn’t seem to mind the pouring rain at all and the street lights outside were casting them in a weird yellow glow that would have been right at home in a horror film. Every now and then one of them would moan that hungry sound of theirs and another would answer. It would chill the bones.

The explosives were in the restroom. They were in a large crate that would take at least two men to carry. There was some sort of receiver on the top of the crate. I was guessing that Martins team put the explosives in the restroom to keep away from the windows. They’d be able to use the flashlights that way, just like we were.

I shined the light and Gerald went to work on the receiver. He had it disarmed in just a few seconds.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just have to disconnect a couple wires.”

“I’m thinking of some way to threaten you,” I responded.

“I made it look too easy?” He asked.

“Sounds about right.”

“Too bad, it was easy. I helped set these things up.”

“Then you’re an asshole. You’d solve the problem with the lives of hundreds of innocent people. How’s that make you feel?”

It really bothered me that they were so willing to blow up all these people.

“I think it sucks, but this outbreak is huge. The government isn’t going to let these people out. The borders of this city will remain closed until every single zombie is destroyed. The risk in spreading the infection is too high.”