Escape from the Damned (APEX Predator Book 2) (9 page)

“That, I’m not sure of,” he replied.  I may have to get the engineers and the science club on that one.”

“Well, you better hurry.  I’m tired of hovering,” she smiled.

“Yes, ma’am.  I’ll get on it after breakfast.”

“Good,” she said, satisfied.  “I need to go check on the girl they just brought in.  I’ll talk to you later.”  With that, she turned around and marched off.

Later that afternoon, SSgt Brown and Sgt Procell were on the roof.  Williams was on watch.  It had been relatively quiet since this morning’s incident.  The only exception was the horde of zombies moaning and clawing at the walls.

SSgt Brown looked over the side.  The crowd had grown since this morning.  Shit!  This is beginning to get out of hand.  Walking to the rear, he pointed over the side.

“Here,” he said to Sgt Procell.  “Here is where I want the trash pile.”

“Roger,” the younger man replied.

“You give any thought to the human waste issue yet?”

“I have actually.  I was thinking about hanging the shitter right here over the side.”

“You want the crapper to be on the roof?”

“Think about it.  We can’t flush which means we can’t take the waste from inside to outside.  That means we need to start with it outside.”

“Ok,” the older NCO admitted.

“So, the only safe outside is on the roof.  I’m sure you don’t want us doing our business on the roof, so it has to go over.”

“I like the principle.  How are you going to do it?”

“Ah, it shouldn’t be too hard.  All I have to do is cut a hole in a chair and mount it to the ledge.  I’m an engineer; don’t ask how I’m going to get it done.  Just accept that I will get it done.”

“Ok, get to work on it.  Make sure the person on the toilet has some privacy.  Oh, and some toilet paper.  Don’t want to get caught on the roof without it.”

Later in the afternoon, the engineers had mounted the toilet.  SSgt Brown looked at it with a frown on his face.  The mounting bracket on the chair/toilet looked awfully flimsy.  Anyone hanging over the ledge on that thing would literally have his ass in the wind.  He looked at the assembled troops.  He was easily the largest by a good thirty pounds. 

“Are you sure that thing will hold?”

“Pretty sure,” answered Sgt Procell.

“Pretty sure?  I’m not sure I like pretty sure.”

“It’ll hold,” announced Pvt. Williams.

“I don’t know, it looks pretty flimsy here at the base.”

“I promise it will hold,” the young engineer boasted.  “Watch,” he said as he jumped up onto the toilet seat.  He bounced once.  “See, its fine.”

He bounced two more times.  On the third bounce the bracket holding the left leg broke.  The seat tipped to the left.  The young Private screamed as he toppled from the roof, reaching for the edge as he fell.

“Williams!” shouted Sgt Procell.  The soldiers ran to the ledge.  Williams had rolled to his left as he landed.  This area didn’t have many zombies.  He can make it.  The rest of the Engineers were frozen, watching Williams scramble to his feet.  He didn’t have his rifle.  They realized he was unarmed.

“Covering Fire!”  SSgt Brown yelled.  He managed to bring the rest of the soldiers out of their trance.

“Go left, Williams!  We’ll cover you,” he shouted to the trooper.

“Jefferson, follow me!”  He led the young engineer to the corner of the building.

“We need some help on the roof,” he yelled down the hole as they passed.  “Bring the rope!”

“Clear a path for him,” he ordered Jefferson.  He reached into his holster and drew out his pistol.  At that moment he regretted having an 8 shot M1911 and not a 15 shot Beretta.

“Williams!” he yelled.  The trooper looked up, terror in his eyes. Several of the zombies were within a few feet of the soldier.

“Here,” he dropped the pistol and an extra magazine.  Williams snatched them up as he continued skirting the building. Sgt Procell and Jefferson were firing as fast as they could acquire targets.  Zombies were falling, some only a foot or two from Williams.

Pvt John Williams had never been so scared. He didn’t have time to regret his stupidity.  He was too busy trying to find a way through the mass of dead flesh.  He could hear firing from the roof.  He didn’t worry about looking over his shoulder.  He knew someone was covering that quarter.  He concentrated on moving.

A zombie grabbed his shirt from the right.  He wheeled around to shoot it in the face.  As he did, the head exploded.  He was showered with black gore.  He kicked the zombie in the chest, causing the lifeless hand to release its grip.

He was nearing the next corner.  Several zombies were down in front of him.  The volume of fire from above was picking up.  He rounded the corner and came to a complete stop.  In front of him it was a solid mass of dead flesh.  There was no getting around it.  But he had to move, the mass of flesh was moving towards him.

“Guys!” he yelled.

“Back!” SSgt Brown ordered the trooper.

When he turned, he saw just how many zombies that had been behind him.  Too many, he thought.  There’s too many.  The closest ones were within a few feet away.  He raised the pistol and shot the closest one in the face.  Black mist exploded behind the zombie’s head.

The next zombie was almost within arm’s reach.  Williams couldn’t help but notice how she must have been a pretty girl when she was alive.  Her pale eyes still had a hint of green in them.  Her lips still showed signs of lipstick.  How odd, he thought, gray skin and ruby red lips.  Her hair was long with the slightest curl.

Suddenly her head exploded into a black, pink mist.

“Rope,” Sgt Procell yelled down.  “Grab the rope!”

He wrapped the rope around his left arm and grabbed it with his right.  The others pulled.  Williams was pulled several feet off of the ground.  Another tug and he was lifted several more feet up.

Suddenly something grabbed his left foot.  He looked down.  It was a huge zombie.  This guy must have been over six feet tall when he was alive.  And now, he had hold of Williams’ ankle.  It pulled hard, bringing Williams down a foot or so and closer to the creature’s open mouth.

Williams kicked at the creature with his free leg, connecting with its face several times.  The kicks had no effect.  He tried to raise his leg into a squatting position.  He couldn’t.  This thing was heavy.

“Hurry up!” he screamed.  “Hurry!”  He continued to kick and try to squirm away from the big zombie.

He felt himself move up the wall another foot or so.  The zombie held on.  Oh, his arm hurt!  It felt like his left shoulder was going to get pulled out of socket.  The gun was in his waist band.  He was too afraid to let go.  He tried to pull himself up.  No good.  This monster was too heavy.

There was another heave from above, another few feet up.  He glanced at the zombie.  Its feet were off the ground.  Then he felt it.  It sent a chill up his spine.  The zombie was slowly climbing him.  At first he felt a hand grab his other leg high up by the knee.  Then the first hand dug into his hip as it grasped his belt, the fingernails leaving large gashes in his hip.

He let out a scream.  The zombie’s hand clawed at his back as it tried to climb higher.  He could feel the blood running down his back and hip.  He planted his feet on the building and shoved off in an attempt to buck the unwanted rider.  When they hit the wall, it knocked the wind out of Williams.

Finally, he heard a gunshot.  The ghoul released its grip on the trooper.  He could feel himself being propelled up and over the edge.  He rolled over onto his back.  He couldn’t stop the tears.  No one blamed him.

Sgt Procell was walking the rooftop with Mike.  The mass of zombies had grown even more since Pvt Williams had fallen from the roof.  The moaning was beginning to get unbearable.  He looked at Mike.  The pudgier man had resorted to covering his ears with his hands as he patrolled the roof.

“Sick and tired of all this moaning,” the NCO said.

“Yeah me too,” Mike answered.  “Do you think they know how irritating that infernal moaning is?”

“Irritating?  Hell, it looks like a dang mating call.  I wish my duck call worked so well.”

“Hello boys,” Jen announced as she climbed onto the roof.  She was carrying a plastic bag in her hand.

“Hey sweetheart,” Mike answered with a smile.

“Yeah, hi honey,” Sgt Procell joked.  Jen and Mike laughed.

“Not with my husband around,” Jen said as she choked back her laughter.

“Oh, he wishes,” Mike chimed in.  He rubbed his belly.  “No skinny little GI Joe can steal woman from big fat man.”

The trio laughed.  Jen couldn’t help but think it’d been a while since she’d laughed.  Leave it to her husband to hit her funny bone.

“Here,” she said still giggling.  “Dinner is served.”  The two men looked at their meager fair:  A couple of beef jerky sticks, a sleeve of crackers, a couple of very ripe apples, and two bottles of water.

“While I absolutely love the service here, the food quality has been going downhill,” announced Sgt Procell.

“If you can find reservations at another establishment sir,” Jen quipped.  “You are more than welcome to cancel your reservation.”  She pointed to the mass of undead clawing at the walls.  “As you can tell we have people dying to get in here.”  The moaning got louder from the side of the building she’d just leaned over.

“No thank you ma’am,” replied the soldier.  “Despite my earlier statement, I believe this is the best joint in town.”

“Joint huh?”

“I mean fine dining establishment,” he corrected himself.

She chuckled as she kissed Mike on the cheek.  “See you in a bit,” she said as she descended the ladder.

Day 21

The Vet Clinic

“Well, I guess we can drain the hot water heater,” Sgt Procell said.  They could all hear the frustration in his voice.  “It should have a good bit of water.  I don’t know maybe 50 gallons or something like that.  It should be enough for us to flush the toilet for maybe another week if we use it sparingly.”

“We have to do something,” Jen said.  “The toilet on the roof was a bad idea.  We need to do something.”

“It’s a temporary fix at best,” the soldier said.  “There just isn’t any running water in here.”

SSgt Brown knew what the younger man was getting at.  They were going to have to leave sometime.  If they stayed here, they were going to die of dehydration soon.  He’d seen what was in the storeroom this morning.  He counted eight cases of water bottles.  It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.  18 people, less than 200 bottles of water.  Each person would use about 5 or 6 per day.  They had about two days worth of water left.

“Ok,” he interjected.  “We don’t have to leave today.  So, how about you guys see if you can get some water out of that heater?”

“Jen,” he looked to the nurse.  “Do you think we can drink the water in the hot water tank?”

“I would think it would be ok,” she answered.  “Let’s look at it and see if it’s clear first.  We can go from there.”

The group split up to take care of the morning chores.  SSgt Brown asked Sgt Procell to get someone working on the hot water heater and to meet him in the vet’s office.  A few minutes later the two Non-Commissioned Officers were conferring over a map of the area.

“I’m still thinking if we can get to the river, we can move north,” SSgt Brown said.

“What if we cross the river and then head north?  I-55 runs north.  We could have some nice big road, lots of gas stations where we can fuel up.”

“I don’t know.  If we get on I-55, we’re going to have to hit Memphis.  That’s a big city.  If this thing has made it there, we’re going to be walking into a hornet’s nest.”

“Na, 55 skirts the western side of the city.  We should be able to stay away from the most populated areas.”

“Then what,” he asked.  “You want to get anywhere, St. Louis?”

“We can always try to cut west again after we get through Memphis, maybe here at Sikeston.  This road looks like it might be pretty rural the entire way across Missouri.”

SSgt Brown sat back and thought about it for a second.  He wanted so badly to avoid population centers.  But, he knew that all roads lead through one city or another.  The big question is which cities would be safe and which ones would be death traps.

“Ok, we cross the river and head north around Memphis.  We cut across Missouri at Sikeston.  We can take that almost all the way to Wichita Kansas if we want, then north to the Dakotas.”

“That sounds good, now for the million dollar question.” He paused for effect.  “How do we get out of here?”

SSgt Brown sat back in his chair.  That really was the million dollar question.  The HMMWV was still blocking the door.  They could climb in through the turret ring.  But, only about five people can fit in the HMMWV.  That leaves 11 people without a ride.  The LMTV was about 20 yards past the HMMWV’s bumper.  There were a lot of zombies between that bumper and the truck.  There was also the panel van.  It was a good 50 yards from the front door.