Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel (38 page)

“
I always love a man in uniform,” she giggled while I shot crew chief Griffin a subtle but jealous smirk.

We loaded into the ambulance while Griffin was being bombarded with questions about the latest news from around the country. I fired up the ambulance and honked for the guys manning the front gate to open it. Dan was riding shotgun and relayed that he had just come off of the roof of the school.

“
That helicopter made a shit ton of noise coming in and I could already make out a zombie response to the south,” Dan said as we left the main gate. “Let’s swing around to the north and come in to the airport from that way, should make things a little easier.”

“
I like the way you think,” I replied.

Dan fired his large .45 pistol out the window at a lone zombie who had approached as we left. I gave him a questioning look when he leaned back into the ambulance.

He just shrugged and said, “Practice makes perfect.”

We made good time since I was able to evade large groups of the zombies, and Dan and Stephen took care of the smaller batches. At one point I noticed Griffin getting a little too chatty with Mattie in the back but a firm brake check of the ambulance solved that minor problem by abruptly rearranging the seating order. Before long, the runways for Joliet’s small airport came into view. It looked as if a few people had the idea to fly out from here. And apparently they did not know how to fly judging from the charred remains of a couple of single engine planes at the end of the runways.

Pulling into the parking lot, I maneuvered the ambulance out into the tarmac area and began scouting for the fueling station.

“
There it is,” Stephen said, pointing over to a set of fuel pumps that looked just like a set a gas station would have.

“
And there is how we’ll transport the fuel,” Dan said, reaching an arm over my shoulder to point at a small tanker truck parked nearby.

We exited the ambulance and took up perimeter guard while Dan and Griffin checked on the status of the fuel truck.

“
Not a single zombie in sight out here… kind of makes you think that it was all a dream without that damned moaning,” Stephen muttered.

“
It’s quiet but not vacant,” I said, and pointed at a figure stumbling towards us on the runway.

Stephen cursed loudly. “Fucking bastards are determined, aren’t they?”

And with that he whipped his rifle up and ventilated the infected creature’s skull.

“
Couldn’t you have at least waited until it got off the runway?” I asked. “Now we have to move it if we ever want to use this runway. I like the idea of having a plane ready to go in case we come across someone that can actually fly one of these fuckers.”

“
Now ya tell me,” Stephen griped as he went out to drag the corpse off the tarmac.

Before I could turn to check of the truck, I was happily greeted with the sound of the engine firing up.

“
Saddle up bitches!” Dan yelled. “Griffin says his war bird has 360 gallon tanks – there’s more than enough fuel here. Let’s get back to the safe zone. Griffin said he had a surprise for us when they leave.”

“
I wonder what that’s about,” I asked, but we hurried to climb in the ambulance and catch up to Dan, who was rapidly leaving the airport property.

“
I have no idea,” Stephen said. “And so much for getting a plane set up for flying. We’ll just have to come back later.”

It didn’t take long for the many zombies I had driven past on my trip to the airport to come into view. They had been following us all along and had gathered into a decent sized mob.

“
We might need to take a different route back,” I said, and chuckled when Dan slammed the fuel truck into the crowd like he was driving through a puddle of water.

“
Well I guess that’s another option,” I muttered, following in Dan’s wake.

The ambulance bounced up and down as it flattened whatever got under the wheels.

Stephen shouted over the roar of the ambulance engine, “What is for dinner today anyway? I’m getting hungry.”

I jerked the wheel left and then to the right to correct the direction of the truck. “Spaghetti was on today’s menu.”

Stephen was quiet for a few seconds. “I like spaghetti.”

I was quiet for a few seconds as well, “Me too.”

Pulling to a stop back inside the safe zone, I was prepared to face the anger and yelling from Lewis, but from the pouting look on his face I doubted that he would be a problem. Dan drove the truck right up to the helicopter and in a few minutes had the fuel transferring over to the huge machine. Pickens walked up to us and shook our hands.

“
I want to thank you men for a job well done,” he offered. “I ran some interference for you, and I literally had to pull my pistol on that jackoff Lewis while you were gone, for trying to commandeer the helicopter.”

I chuckled. “It was my pleasure sir, and Lewis is definitely a jackoff.”

“
Keep an eye on him,” Pickens added. “I don’t think he has everyone’s best interests in mind.”

“
I don’t either,” I concurred. “We consider this place a day-to-day operation. I’m not sure yet what our long terms plans are gonna entail.”

After the refueling was done, a few of the safe zone residents begged for rides, and one woman who wanted to get out of Joliet had to be pulled kicking and screaming from the helicopter. Others came up and gave the crewmen some food supplies for the trip as the helicopter slowly came to life. Dusk was rapidly approaching and I could tell the crew was anxious to get airborne.

Griffin and Pickens both said their farewells and Dan stopped Griffin short.

“
Don’t forget the surprise. Stephen will have an orgasm!” he yelled over the turbine engine.

Griffin smiled, gave the thumbs up sign, and climbed aboard. With a huge roar of the rotor blade cutting at the air, the massive Blackhawk helicopter climbed skyward, pushing us back in its wake. It rose to about 150 feet and began circling the perimeter of the safe zone for several minutes. The helicopter flew back and forth out over the western area of the wall that was especially heavy with the presence of zombies. Hundreds of the snarling, howling creatures had been drawn in by the noise created by the large machine.

“
Hey, pay attention!” Dan shouted over to Stephen. “You’re not going to want to miss this!”

We watched the Blackhawk pull up and begin to hover and spin slightly, and the familiar figure of Griffin waved at us from the open side door. Griffin turned back and stared at the howling masses in our killing field and slid behind the large mini-gun. I had been wondering what their remaining ammunition load consisted of and was soon given an answer. The deafening series of blasts that suddenly erupted from the Blackhawk’s twin mounted Hydra 70 rocket launchers caused dozens of our refugees to jump in shock and fright. A dozen of the small 2.75 inch rockets turned a small horde that had bunched together down the street into an inferno. Next, the buzzing sound of the mini-gun filled the air. The flames of muzzle flash extended many feet from the instrument of death as the helicopter made a slow, deliberate pass. I stood there with my mouth hanging open in awe. My gaze gradually turned towards the ground, and I was even more impressed at what was happening just beyond our perimeter walls. The sheer destructive power from one gun was enough to make me forget to breathe. Hundreds upon hundreds of rounds slammed into rotting yet still moving corpses and ripped them to shreds. The mini-gun was equipped with tracer rounds which lit up in a steady stream against the darkening sky. Cheers rose up from our gathered audience. The Blackhawk slowly completed an aerial drive-by and the entire time, Griffin raked the area with the powerful mini-gun. In the span of less than two minutes they had reduced several hundred zombies into a quivering mass of putrid ground up meat.

“
Fuck me!”

All too soon the bombardment stopped and Griffin waved again with a huge shit-eating grin we couldn’t help but see as everyone watching burst into cheers and whoops of joy. The entire populace of the safe zone was on their feet now, clapping and waving at the airmen as they turned south and sped off on their way towards Springfield, at what Stephen remarked would be their cruising speed of 170 miles an hour. As the Blackhawk shrank into the distance, I looked over at Stephen, who had the appearance of someone who’d just had a religious experience.

“
You should close your mouth, you might swallow a bug.”

Stephen blinked and shut his mouth with an audible click of his teeth.

“
I can die happy now,” he said. “Excuse me while I go change my boxers.”

I laughed long and hard and clapped him on his back. “Come on bro, we are due for perimeter duty anyway. Let’s go grab our gear.”

For the next four hours I had to listen to him replay the mini-gun incident over and over.

Not too long after the excitement of the helicopter visit, the monotony of daily life returned, along with the added stress of Councilman Lewis. First there was a rumor, spread by Sgt. Henderson, that the National Guard was going to make a sweep of the area and would be dropping off a fresh load of supplies, but they never showed up. This caused a major crash in safe zone morale. He also again began to flex his muscle and tighten his grip on power, playing favorites with rationing and luxury items. He was also increasingly stingy with the weapons. In a gesture of goodwill, Stephen and I did eventually agree to let some of our own reserve firearms be distributed to the guards. I observed that contact with the random infected increased by the day and that the guns were going to be needed to help secure the perimeter. Stephen even donated some of his food supplies to the safe zone to help balance out the meal selection. Included in this was his stash of multi-vitamins that he demanded be saved for the kids.

The new security measures my group suggested made the security portion of the safe zone run much smoother. The wall of crushed vehicles had been reinforced and several shooting platforms had been erected; however, much work still needed to be done. Councilman Lewis in his stubbornness continuously failed to implement supply runs on a daily basis, seeming convinced that somehow the Federal government would take care of things. Robert had gone out on a couple of unsanctioned runs with a few guards and had very good results, securing food, fuel, generators and weapons for the safe zone. We stayed out of it for political reasons and focused our energies on security instead. Lewis seemed annoyed at the group’s success and again harped on the fact that they needed to follow his instructions and wait on the government for help.

One of the other excuses Councilman Lewis publicly used for shying away from more supply runs was that he’d recently sent out a truck on a raid that went bad. There had been an outcry over a shortage of baby formula, and Lewis eventually relented. What he didn’t mention to the rest of the safe zone was that he’d armed the crew with only one bolt action rifle and a pair of .38 revolvers. The truck never made it back in the two-hour timeframe it was given. When a plume of smoke was spotted in the distance, we jumped into the ambulance and went to investigate. Once again we had to argue with the gate guard because we didn’t have clearance to leave. Only with the threat that I would ram it did he relent. When we arrived at the source of the smoke we found the still burning truck along with dozens of undead milling around. It appeared that their ranks had increased by three, as we could see the driver and two passengers stumbling after us, obviously infected. Dan did manage to scoop up several cans of formula which made him an instant hero to a certain segment of the safe zone’s population.

That morning Dan had an odd request that he needed help with. It had come to his attention that several young mothers were quickly running out of diapers for their babies.

“
I find it hard to believe that you are asking me to go on a raid with you for baby diapers with a straight face,” I chided my buddy, “all while you are wearing that stupid t-shirt with the outline of a stripper on the front and the words ‘I support single moms’ written on the back.”

“
I’ll admit I have a soft spot for hard-up women,” Dan admitted, “and that I’m ‘talking’ to three or four of them that don’t know about each other, but it’s a valid problem. And there are a couple of drug stores only blocks away. It will be a quick operation, in and out.”

“
Well,” I relented, “we will catch hell from that asshole Lewis, but I’m about sick of his shit anyways. Let’s do it!”

“
Chris and I are both in,” Stephen told me after hearing of our plans. “I’m tired of being cooped up in this old high school. It’s starting to feel like my freshman year all over again.”

“
What, still no action with the ladies, Stephen?” Dan joked. “Just like high school?”

Robert was manning the gate for the morning so it would be an easy in, easy out deal. Guards were reporting heavier than normal contact on the southern wall, and Robert told us to be safe and make it as quick as possible.