Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel (44 page)

Lewis was deciding what his course of action should be as Sgt. Henderson stood next to him gulping air from the short jog.

“
Say, Sergeant,” Lewis said as he opened the doors and stepped outside, “how fast do you think an F-16 could cover the 160 miles from here to Springfield?”

Sgt. Henderson followed Lewis with a bewildered look on his face.

“
Um, I’m not sure, Boss,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”

“
I would say pretty damn fast, and these infected are in our way. We need a distraction,” Lewis said as the infected began to converge on them.

Lewis put out his hand. “Give me your firearm,” he ordered.

Puzzled, Henderson drew his pistol and handed it to Lewis.

“
Okay, here is how we are going to distract the infected,” Lewis continued, and promptly shot Henderson in the right leg.

Henderson screamed and grabbed at the bloody wound as the 9mm hollow point tore through his flabby leg.

“
That a boy, scream as if my life depended on it, because it does,” Lewis sneered and fired a second shot into the other leg for effect.

“
We can’t have you hobbling back for help,” Lewis coldly joked as the service door closed and automatically locked behind them.

“
That’s much better. Now I don’t have to outrun all these infected bastards,” Lewis said with no remorse. “I just have to outrun you.”

Henderson fell to the ground now, still screaming, unable to walk as blood flowed heavily from the two bullet wounds. Lewis backed away, turning to shoot the two closest zombies and made his escape into a residential neighborhood. He chuckled when he saw that all the remaining nearby infected were now making a straight line for the doomed sergeant, who was fulfilling his role as a screaming zombie snack.

“
And the planes should take care of those cops.”

* * * * * * * *

Lieutenant Powell went through his preflight checklist while sitting in the cockpit of his F-16 preparing for his latest mission. The base was now running on a skeleton crew as more and more personnel deserted to check on their loved ones. This put additional strain on everyone left, but he was proud of the way they were all handling the added stress. New orders had come down granting an air strike at another fallen safe zone. This latest target was up in Joliet and was supposed to be a “target rich environment.” Finishing his list, he reminisced on how he did not plan on bombing American cities when he signed up for the Air National Guard. Sighing, Lt. Powell ran his hand through his hair and tried to wipe the sleepiness from his eyes. The last thirty-six hours had seen several such runs and he wondered how many safe zones in the state were still intact. It certainly could not be many. Looking over to the F-16 parked next to his he saw Captain Trevino, his wingman, going through his flight check as well. Only six of their aircraft were still airworthy at this point.

Capt. Trevino, feeling like he was being watched, glanced up and noticed Powell looking his way.

"Sounds like we lost another safe zone," Trevino said.

Lt. Powell, who was now watching the ordnance crew finish loading his payload, replied, "Yeah and there must be a shit ton of infected where we are headed, cause we are loaded for bear today.

Trevino nodded his head in agreement, and they both finished up their pre-flight duties. He noted that a storm had moved into the target area and visibility was low.

“
Let’s kick the tires and light the fires,” Lt. Powell told his wingman.

Within minutes both F-16 jets fired up their powerful GE F110-IPE engines and screamed into the night sky, afterburners lit, heading north towards their current intended target with a full payload.

As Lt. Powell’s metallic bird climbed into the sky, he observed a large number of infected in the area around the airbase.

"Looks like we’re soon going to have our hands full here as well," he reported to command, while quietly hoping he was back in time for a hot shower, powdered eggs and a nap before his next sortie.

* * * * * * * *

Kettle closed up his bedroom for the last time and rested his head on the door. It amazed him that he was back at his old church and no longer facing a life term in prison. The crimes he committed in the civilian world got him twenty-five years, but the convict that he killed behind bars gave him life without parole. Apparently the man he killed was the brother of one of the ladies he “saved” at his church, and the man had threatened revenge. Kettle was blessed with a very persuasive, conniving personality, however. His brother always said he would have made a great car salesman, and Kettle set about to making the best of his situation. Thinking back on his escape, he couldn’t help but grin at the way everything fell into place.

“
God’s will be done.”

After years of working on the female prison guards, he had a couple of them seduced and in love with him. He also built quite a following among the general prison population as a prison chaplain.

“
The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed!” Kettle told his cellmate when he saw the news video on television.

He knew it was a sign and set plans into motion. Panic soon spread throughout the prison as the reports of the infection grew, and shortly thereafter the prison went on lockdown. The administration refused to let any additional faculty leave, and Kettle knew it was just a matter of time before the guards themselves would revolt in order to leave and check on their families. Kettle just had to bide his time and plant doubts into the guards’ minds whenever possible.

Everything remained calm for a while as the remaining guards realized that they were in a safe location. However, after a couple of weeks the food supply got low, and the mood went from bad to worse. Everyone was on edge, and the prison became a powder keg ready to explode. When it did happen, it went down fast. Kettle moved quickly so as not to miss his one opportunity. Should it have been squandered, Kettle knew he would have simply starved to death in his cell or been shot by a rogue guard. The ugly correctional officer, Susan Jackson, who was fanatically in love with Kettle, was convinced to help him and several of his followers escape in all the confusion. She had been smuggling Kettle contraband for years and had even once given herself to him in a closet located near the prison chapel. She was so ugly that she repulsed Kettle, but the sex act had sealed their bond and now was the time for the dumb bitch to return the favor. With several guards now trying to leave, a fight broke out between them and guards trying to keep them inside. Of course, the thousands of screaming inmates just added to the confusion, and a full scale riot broke out. As hundreds of people swarmed the exits into the prison yard, Kettle and his followers were able to slip out to Susan’s full-sized van parked in the employee parking lot. Driving to safety, they heard rifle fire as guards turned on prisoners and each other. That was just this morning.

A short time later and a few miles down the road, Susan was brutally raped several times, first by Kettle and then by the rest of his men. Her throat was cut from ear to ear, with her body now dumped onto the side of the road as her vehicle continued south into Joliet. Kettle and his men had to abandon the van shortly thereafter and walk the last two miles due to stalled vehicles on the road. They were able to avoid the infected people that were seen wandering the streets and finally arrived at Kettle's old church.

Now walking back out into the main area, Kettle found his men were resting and talking in excited voices. They should be excited. Every one of them was never supposed to see freedom again, each serving multiple life terms for heinous crimes.

“
Gather together my children,” Kettle purred.

Now they belong to me body and soul
, he thought as his men drew around him.

He opened a box of provisions one of the men had been assigned to carry and handed out ham sandwiches and water. Susan had made the sandwiches just prior to their escape.

“
Let us eat and drink while I tell you the Lord’s plan for us all,” Kettle said after a short prayer.

Kettle stood in front of the altar and began preaching about the prophetic turn of events that led them to be here at this time. His honeyed words flowed over them, and they stared at him in hypnotic rapture as they ate.

Stephen, now soaked with rain, ran past several other guards and finally located Mattie at the far northwestern edge of the barrier wall fighting on top of a flatbed trailer. She was frantically firing into the seemingly endless mob of zombies in front of her. When she paused to reload, two other guards stepped in to fire at the closest creatures with their pump shotguns. Even combined they were just not keeping up with the damage that was being inflicted with just one AR-15 rifle. Mattie took a few precious moments to take a couple of deep breaths, but before she was able to get back into the fight, Stephen grabbed her pant leg. Mattie, already on edge and thinking a zombie had gotten behind her, spun her rifle around and nearly shot Stephen in the head.

“
Whoa, Mattie, it is me!” Stephen cried, throwing his hands up.

“
Stephen, w-what the hell are you doing scaring me l-like that!” she stammered. “Can’t you see I’m a little on edge here?”

Stephen waved her questions away and grabbed her again. “Have someone else take over here. I think we need to stay close together,” he replied. “This isn’t looking good. If we need to evacuate, I don’t want to be separated.”

“
Good point!” Mattie motioned at a fellow guard to take over and then hopped down, following Stephen to the center of the line where the fighting was just as bad, if not worse.

She could see that several guards were already out of ammunition and were fighting hand to hand with bats and makeshift clubs. Clutching her loaded rifle, she again was grateful for having run into Stephen and Mike with all their preps.

Right in front of her on top of the hood of a crumpled car, Mattie watched helplessly as a man was pulled down by his ankles into the grasping hands of the hungry horde. Screams for help turned to pain then tapered off as the man was pulled under like he was in quicksand. It appeared that this new weak spot would be overrun. Mike was fighting nearby and saw the man get pulled under, observing the now open breach in their defenses. He spun and kicked the climbing zombie back into the throng. Then he opened up a burst of full automatic gunfire into the teeth of the horde. His rifle quickly ran dry, and Mattie saw him sling his rifle and pull out his aluminum bat, and he began to swing for the fences at the many craniums that presented themselves to him.

Stephen and Mattie climbed aboard the wall and into the gore and spent shell casings that covered the makeshift barrier and assisted Mike. Stephen cut down several zombies that managed to climb onto the car next to them. Then, with his rifle running dry yet again, he managed to keep the truck roof clear with his pistol until two men could climb up and begin shooting with semi-automatic handguns. With their help, as well as from the remaining reservists, they were able to stabilize the line momentarily at least.

The three of us stood back to catch our breath and reload empty guns as others took over.

“
Not good; there’s no end in sight,” I said as I looked out over the battlefield.

It was true. As far as the portable light plants shined out, it was a solid mass of hungry, biting zombies. I looked at them both.

“
Good, I see that you both have your packs. We might have to think about getting the hell out of here; I think this place is doomed!”

Mattie stepped forward and slapped me in the face. “You should never underestimate the power of human determination! Where there’s life there’s hope!”

I stood and stared at her in the pouring rain. She was more upset at the horrible odds that we faced than at me and most likely needed to vent her frustrations. It probably wouldn’t make her happy if I reached out and brushed away the wet hair that had fallen in her face. Probably shouldn’t tell her either that wearing a white t-shirt in the chilly pouring rain was making it hard in more ways than one to keep my eyes on our current problem.

Right as I was about to agree with her, the barrier to the southwest tipped over inward from the enormous pressing combined weight of thousands of zombies. The guards that could run did so, even knocking one another over to get away. As they retreated, a few zombies managed to climb over the fallen wall and into the perimeter. The former grocery store worker zombie, from the looks of his uniform anyway, almost seemed to recognize the fact that they had reached victory as he momentarily stopped and let out a savage howl. The trickle of zombies then turned into a howling, clawing flood of death.

More screams from behind caused us to turn and look as zombies overran the position Mattie was just at. There it looked like the dead had piled up just like I was afraid would happen, and the zombies had a nice little ramp of fallen comrades to walk up to and then over the wall. Small rings of guards were forming and firing into both breach points, but from the looks of things it would not last long. At that moment, I realized that Robert Anderson was also standing next to me still holding his now empty shotgun.