Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Sanctuary (48 page)

“One
thing after another,” muttered Lizzy.

*
* *

Twenty
minutes later, we were trotting toward the edge of the wood. The animal trail
exited near the meadow where we’d built our settlement, nearly a quarter mile
from the castle. Lizzy, Briana, and I had donned our bullet proof vests. After
carting them about for months, it was somewhat reassuring, and disturbing, to
have finally found a use for the things. Lizzy tried to make Mary take hers,
but it was too big and awkward for the thirteen year old. Briana’s and mine
wouldn’t fit her any better. Mary was therefore assigned to watch our rear.

We had
all our pistols on hand, and the clips were loaded. Lizzy and Briana also had
twelve gauge shotguns while I carried the hunting rifle. The plan was to get
positioned in a safe, concealed spot from which I could kill the raiders at a
distance. Briana and Lizzy would provide close support if they approached.
Worst case, we would try to run back to the Jeeps and escape.

“Nothing?”
asked Lizzy, as Briana tried, yet again, to raise someone on the radio.

“Not a thing
since Larry left to give warning.”

“Well,
he seems to have done that,” she replied. “Lots and lots of gunfire. They’re
fighting back.”

We
reached the meadow a moment later and were finally able to see what was
happening. It was indeed a full scale firefight. The gang had left their bikes
and trucks in the back and were advancing on foot. Some of the animals had been
killed, and many of our vehicles were shot up. However, the majority had been
ignored. Their primary focus was on the castle itself.

Remember,
the castle was constructed on a slight rise, and even though it is near the far
end of the meadow, there’s still a good five hundred feet to the nearest tree
line. This provided the defenders with a clear, open view in all directions.
They also had plenty of long range rifles, like mine, designed for hunting and
equipped with powerful scopes. Shooting from a fixed position behind our
decorative battlements gave them an advantage over the more heavily armed
attackers.

“They
have machine guns!” exclaimed Mary.

“M-16’s
aren’t machine guns,” I corrected. “They’re assault rifles that shoot itty
bitty bullets, smaller than what we have. Those won’t get through our walls. No
gun will. They’re too thick.”

“Yeah,
well that didn’t help Patty,” observed Lizzy. She was watching through her
binoculars. “She just fell into the courtyard, and I don’t see her getting up
either. Maybe hurt, maybe dead. I don’t see Cherie anywhere, probably hiding.”
She sounded disgusted.

I took
off my jacket and set it atop the pine needles. Then I took up a prone firing
position. It was cold outside, but I cared more about freedom of movement than
staying warm.

“In the
back Mary. Keep an eye out all around. Lizzy, keep doing what you’re doing now
and let me know of any good targets. Briana, keep an eye out too, both
directions.”

I
really, really hoped they wouldn’t see us. Overall, we were outnumbered six to
one, at least, more if you excluded the children and younger teens. The raiders
could rush our position without ever slowing their primary attack on the
castle.

“Get
their sharpshooters Jacob,” ordered Lizzy. She plopped down nearby.

“Where?”

I
chambered a round, and Briana set several boxes of ammo beside me.

“By
their trucks. A few are next to the motorcycles too.”

I found
the first quickly enough. He was carrying a gun I’d never seen before. It was
huge, maybe a military sniper rifle. I didn’t know. We were a quarter mile from
the castle walls and a bit more than a third a mile from where they’d left
their vehicles. It was a long shot, but I’d hit deer at further. My bullet
struck him a couple of inches above the heart.

“Good
one,” said Lizzy, approvingly. “To the right and back.”

“See
him.”

Someone
else dropped the man before I had the chance to fire.

“That
was Dean, I think,” said Briana. “He has his rifle and is up on the townhouse
roofs.”

“Hope he
doesn’t fall,” commented Lizzy.

From
there the battle, and it was a battle in every sense of the word, continued
unabated. Between myself, Dean whom we thought was targeting the same group,
and possibly some others, their snipers died quickly. There’d only been twelve
of them, and I counted for seven. I’d just killed seven men, and it didn’t
bother me in the least. No, I hadn’t killed anyone. I’d never killed a human
being. These were… I’d have to come up with a derogatory name later. They had
ceased being part of humanity. Or not. I didn’t know, but I felt better
thinking of them as something other than people.

An
explosion filled the air, and dirt and stone flew up by the castle gate. There
didn’t appear to be much damage to the walls, but the steel horse trailer
resting immediately behind the ornate iron barricade was blasted back a few
feet. It rocked violently for a moment and then tipped over onto its side. The
way inside wasn’t exactly clear, but an opening had been made.

“Shoot
faster Jacob,” urged Briana.

Some of
the attackers charged forward. I ignored those and dropped the one who was
trying to reload his RPG. At least, I think it was rocket propelled grenade. It
might have been a bazooka of some sort. Damn it. I needed to find a book on
military arms. I hated not knowing what I was facing. More importantly, I hated
not knowing what these different weapons could do to me and the ones I cared
about.

“Yes!”
shouted Lizzy.

“What?”
Looking through the scope I had a limited view of the proceedings. I shot
another man. “What happened?”

“Someone
just dropped a Molotov cocktail into the opening, burned up two of the raiders.
Our guys are shooting down there too, big time. They can’t get in. Most aren’t
even close enough to really try. There was just the one group that managed to
get close.”

“Are we
winning?” called Mary. True to form, she was paying attention to her job and
making certain nothing came up behind us.

“No,”
replied Lizzy, after a pause. “Not losing either. There are people on the walls
who are injured, and some are dead. They have a lot more dead, a whole lot in
the meadow, but they don’t seem inclined to give up. Brave little shits.”

“Crazy,”
I corrected. “This is insanity. They did not have surprise. They didn’t even
try for it. They just saw the settlement and attacked right off, best as I can
tell. Most of them are running across the meadow, in the open. You’d think they
would try to get some trucks up for cover.”

“That
too,” conceded Lizzy. “Got one with a grenade in his hand. Nope, he tripped.
There he goes in little pieces.” She began to giggle.

“Keep it
together,” I cautioned.

“I am. I
am. This is just… not what I expected.”

I
agreed. I’ve watched hundreds of war movies over the years. In the films,
battles always seemed to involve people dying left and right. In reality, it
was a whole lot of shooting with most of it useless. Our guys were under cover.
The raiders were constantly running about. Almost every bullet missed. People
were falling, but the rate was far less than what I anticipated. With my
hunting rifle, I couldn’t fire effectively at speed. The ones standing still
were easy enough, but those moving, which was most of them, were hard to hit,
even with the scope. It was difficult just keeping them in view.

“Zombies,”
said Briana.

“Where?”
asked Mary and Lizzy in unison.

“Far end
of the meadow, coming up behind them, not too many.”

“Must be
the ones that were following along the highway,” I said. “Mary, that’s pretty
far from us, but with all this noise more may come from anywhere. You have to
be able to hear it for miles around.”

“I’ll
keep looking for them Jacob.”

I
ignored the shambling corpses, keeping my attention on the raiders in the
meadow. A small group was trying to get around the side of the castle, drawing
near to us in the process. They ducked down, attempting to present the
defenders with a difficult target, but I had a clear shot. The first was hit in
the chest. The second I wounded in the upper leg. Then my rifle jammed.

“What is
it?” asked Briana, as I slid behind a tree and tried to get the round out.

“Jammed
up. I almost have it.”

“That’s
good,” said Lizzy. “The one you didn’t shoot saw you and is running right for
us.”

“Can you
take care of him?” I asked. “I’m having some difficulties here.”

“On it.”

“Almost,”
I muttered to myself. “Finally.”

The
chamber was clear, and I turned to see what was happening just as Lizzy shot
the raider from ten feet away. The shotgun blast hit him in the belly, nearly
ripping the man in two.

“Lizzy,”
I began, “you okay?”

“I’m
fine. When you got up to fix the gun, I rolled over behind a tree and moved to
the side. He never saw me, wasn’t paying attention. Got him as he went by.
Easy, super easy.”

“True,”
agreed Briana, from her position a few yards distant. “I had him in my sights
too, but he was way closer to Lizzy.”

“Good
enough. Damn it Lizzy!” I noticed where the raider had been standing when he
was killed. “You got his insides all over my coat.” There was no way I was
lying down on that again.

“Well, a
fucking boo hoo for you Jacob.”

“Enough,
and get back in position.” It was vastly inappropriate to complain about
something so insignificant, considering everything that was happening. Even so,
surreal or not, there was something about the gore that was just... more than
simply horrific.

“Briana,”
called Mary, “zombie coming this way.”

I heard
a second shot, this time from Briana’s shotgun.

“More
down there as well,” said Lizzy, “a whole lot more of the dead. The gang is
starting to move, having to fight them…” She stood up. “Oh fucking Hell! Fuck!
Fuck! Fuck!”

I shot
another of the enemy. I’d lost count of how many I’d killed. Even so, there
were still plenty running about.

“What is
it?” asked Briana. She jogged over to us. “Whoa!”

I
couldn’t take it anymore. I put the rifle down and paused long enough to see
for myself. It wasn’t just a few dozen zombies approaching. It wasn’t a
hundred. There were thousands of them. Those in the front, largely spread out
or in small groupings, shambled for the raiders nearest. Further back, rounding
the bend in the meadow, came a wall of dead bodies. The people in the castle
couldn’t see them, not yet.

“Briana,
get on the radio and call Larry or anyone. Tell them to get out and run. They
can’t be inside when the zombies reach them.”

The gang
was splitting their attention between the shamblers and the castle. They gave
no indication that they were considering making a run for it. More insanity.
What was wrong with them?

“I can’t
get anyone!” cried Briana. “Nobody’s answering!”

“Mary,”
I asked, doing my best to remain calm, “is there anything coming our way?”

“Nothing
that I can see.”

“I’m not
shooting anymore. None of you either. Let’s move back out of sight.”

“We
can’t leave them Jacob,” protested Briana.

I looked
at her. Her pretty face was red and puffy. “What else can we do?”

“Not a
fucking thing,” said Lizzy, answering for her. “We can’t do anything. This
sucks on a totally fucking, shitty level.”

The
assault on our settlement suddenly lessened as the bulk of the raiders turned
to face the zombies, which were the more immediate threat. A few ran straight
for the castle however. Maybe they hoped the survivors would let them in.
Perhaps they thought to take it fast and defend from there. It didn’t matter.
None made it to the gate.

The gang
members formed up in what appeared to be a well rehearsed firing line and began
to shoot the zombies. A few missed – no way to avoid that – but the majority
appeared to be clean head shots. I now understood why they didn’t simply run.
They’d clearly dealt with hordes of the things before. The monsters were
falling fast, but the numbers were simply too great, and too many of the
raiders were dead or wounded. They didn’t have the numbers they were used to.
Then they began to run low on ammunition. Their supplies were back by their
bikes and trucks, and those had already been swarmed.

Eventually,
they began to break, but it was too late. Zombies on the fringes had pushed
forward and in. Our enemies were largely surrounded. The only direction open to
them led straight to the castle.

The
regular semi trailer, not the gas tanker, suddenly started up. It roared
forward, bouncing over the ground, plowing into the dead bodies that surrounded
it. The thing made it less than fifty feet before it stopped. Now that they
were aware of the occupant, the zombies climbed up, smashed the windows, and
pulled someone from the cab. Later, we found remains, some still moving, jammed
between tires and throughout the undercarriage.