The Undead. The First Seven Days (93 page)

He holds the pistol in the two-handed grip and sweeps the room rapidly; the gun rising and falling as he looks up and down, left to right.
  ‘Got it,’ Jamie says.
  ‘You do that one,’ Dave says, nodding towards the lounge door opposite them.

Jamie mimics Dave, pushing the door open with his foot and sweeping the room quickly, the weapon tracking his facial direction.
  ‘Good, now, if we both proceed to the ground floor rear, we leave the stairs behind us and we do not know if upstairs is clear. So, one holds at the point of risk, while the other advances. I’ll hold, while you clear the rest,’ Dave says.
  ‘Okay,’ Jamie replies, stepping down the narrow hallway and entering the kitchen. He disappears from view and is gone for several seconds. He walks back out with the weapon slightly lowered, but still held correctly.
  ‘Clear,’ he reports.
  ‘Good, stand behind me,’ Dave asks, as Jamie walks to stand behind him.

Dave raises one hand and makes a fist.
  ‘This means hold,’ Dave says, then extends one finger. ‘This means one target, two for two targets, three for three - all of the fingers extended means multiple targets.’
  ‘Got it.’
  ‘Good. If I point the finger like this, it means the target is that direction, if I point one way, then another, it means one target that way and one target the other.’
  ‘Okay.’
  ‘Good, we’ll stick with that for a minute. Going upstairs, we keep the weapon raised to strike the target at the top, taking into account the height difference. Place your feet to the sides of each step, there is less chance of creaks that way.’
  ‘Okay,’ Jamie says, as Dave lifts his weapon and advances up the stairs quickly and surely, reaching the top and pausing to sweep down the hallway.
  ‘Corridor ahead, loops back to the front bedroom, another room on the right, appears bathroom at the end, I’ll hold, you clear the front,’ Dave says, quietly stepping aside to allow Jamie to move along the few steps to the bedroom.

He walks inside and re-appears within seconds.
  ‘Clear,’ he reports quietly, and moves.

On the second floor, he repeats the action, then moves along to the bathroom: ‘Clear.’ He then returns back to Dave, weapon lowered.
  ‘Good,’ Dave replies.

They exit the house and move outside, to the next one, trying the door first, but finding it locked.
  ‘Aim your strike next to the lock, do not expect it to burst open on the first hit,’ Dave says, watching as Jamie steps back and powers his right foot into the door.

Jamie watches as the strike hits, then adjusts his stance and pauses for a second, appearing to draw power and drives his foot forward again, with lightning speed. The strike is perfect and the door pops open, causing the frame to splinter from the solid, brass lock being forced in.
  ‘Good, now we move faster. Go, I’ll hold,’ Dave orders, as Jamie walks forward, kicking doors open and sweeping the house, room by room, reporting ‘…clear’, after each one.

Jamie takes the lead on the stairs, leaving Dave to hold at the top. The house is cleared within minutes and they walk back out.
  ‘That was good, but we have a lot of houses and not much time, so do it faster,’ Dave says.
  ‘Okay,’ Jamie replies.

The next house is cleared within two minutes and they exit again, moving across the lawns to the next one.
  ‘My turn, you hold,’ Dave says, as he kicks the door in and enters swiftly, striding from room to room, with quick, jerky, but controlled movements. He clears each room - then moves straight up the stairs and clears the rest. He is back outside in under a minute.
  ‘Your movements are much faster than mine,’ Jamie says, as they walk to the next house.
  ‘Years of practise and drill, but you do not have that luxury - your turn,’ Dave says, as they reach the door.
  Jamie quickly checks the door handle, locked. He pressures the top and bottom, steps back and kicks the door hard; forcing it open on the first kick. He enters, as the door is still swinging open. Jamie strides into the first room, again mimicking Dave, as he quickly checks the four corners and moves back out, then moves on to the next room. They exit the house in just over a minute, again moving down to the next house.
  ‘Better - keep that pace, but stay alert,’ Dave says, testing the door handle and finding the door unlocked.
  ‘You go again,’ Dave says, as the door swings open.

Jamie strides into the lounge on the right, then back out and across the small hallway and into the dining room. He exits and clears the kitchen at the back, before moving back and climbing the stairs; pausing at the top, for a split second, to allow Dave to reach the top step.

Jamie advances towards the front bedroom, pausing at the door with his head cocked to one side. He raises a hand and makes a fist, then extends one finger and points to the door. Dave moves up close behind Jamie and listens, he taps Jamie on the shoulder once and waves his extended hand forward, then quickly about turns to watch the rear.

Jamie steps forward and pushes the door open with his foot. Walking into the room, he observes an undead standing on the other side of the double bed. The pistol already tracking with his eyes, he fires two rounds, very close together, into the forehead and is already moving to check the rest of the room as the zombie slumps to the ground, leaving a massive blood and brain spatter on the wall behind him.
  ‘Clear,’ Jamie says, exiting the room.

Dave enters the bedroom and moves across to look down at the body, then heads back out into the hallway.
  ‘Good shots, the second was slightly off, though,’ Dave says.
  ‘I know. I started to turn away, to continue the sweep, too quickly,’ Jamie replies.
  ‘If you are satisfied that the first shot is enough, then you can start the move,’ Dave says.
  ‘Okay, I will keep to the double-tap for now, to practise, if that’s okay,’
  ‘Okay,’ Dave replies.

Jamie clears the rest of the rooms and they work house by house, clearing each one in under a minute, then crossing the road to start on the other side and work back towards where they started.
  ‘Now, we work alone - you start with this one and I do the next, you leapfrog and do the next one and I leapfrog after you, got it? Dave asks.
  ‘Got it, same method?’ Jamie says.
  ‘Yes,’ Dave answers.
  ‘Okay.’
  Jamie walks to the front door and pauses, until Dave has reached the front door of the next house. They nod to each other and, in unison, they check the door handle, the top and the bottom, then step back and kick the door open. Entering, as the door swings open.
  They work from house to house, double-shots ringing out sporadically, as they find undead in rooms. The street is cleared within ten minutes and they each exit their last house; both changing clips and re-holstering their weapons as they walk back to the vehicle.
  ‘How many?’ Dave asks.
  ‘Three, you?’
  ‘You know how many I had.’
  ‘You had two.’
  ‘Good.’
  ‘What now?’ Jamie asks.
  ‘The next street behind this one,’ Dave answers.
  ‘Okay,’ Jamie replies.
  They move down the central road, until they reach the next junction; once again, two rows of houses on each side.
  ‘You take that side, I’ll do this side, meet back here,’ Dave says.
  ‘Okay.’
 

Ten minutes later, they meet back at the junction, Dave ahead of Jamie, but only having to wait for under a minute.
  ‘How many rounds did I use?’ Dave asks.
  ‘Eight,’ Jamie answers. ‘Four targets.’
  ‘Good.’
  ‘Two more streets and we can start on the explosives,’ Dave explains, as they walk further down the road.
 
‘Lead point to Dave,’
the radio crackles on Dave’s belt.
 
‘Dave to lead point, go ahead.’
  ‘Lead point to Dave, I am positioned approximately two miles away from your location, testing transmission strength.’
  ‘Dave to lead point, transmission strong, can you move further?’
  ‘Yes, will do so now, out.’
  ‘Dave to East point, are you in position?’
  ‘East point to Dave, Roger that, in position now. West point has retained the vehicle.’
  ‘Dave to East point, received. Dave to West point, confirm you have retained the vehicle and are you in position?’
  ‘West point to Dave, confirm I have retained the vehicle, confirm I am in position.’
  ‘Dave to West point, Roger that. Dave to lead point, you are now North point, received?’
  ‘North point to Dave, Roger that.’
  ‘Dave to North point, switch to channel one and check signal strength to the Fort, before you move any further.’
  ‘North point to Dave, Roger that, doing now.’
 
Dave switches the dial on the radio back to channel one and listens for the transmission.
  ‘
North point to Fort, radio check.’
  ‘Fort to North point, are you forward observation point? Your signal is weak, but readable.’
  ‘North point to Fort, answer yes I am forward obs point, likewise your signal weak but readable, I will hold this position. North point to Dave, did you receive the last?’
  ‘Dave to North point and Fort, Roger that, received the last. North, East and West points will hold those positions and maintain channel one. Dave out.’

Dave turns to Jamie: ‘Explosives,’ he says, simply.

‘Did you hear that last transmission,’ Chris asks, as Howie enters the planning room.
  ‘Yeah, Dave’s got the spotters in place?’
  ‘Yep, at least we’ve got eyes on now, so we’ll get an advance warning,’ Chris replies. ‘You okay, mate?’ he asks with concern at the expression on Howie’s face.
  ‘I’m fine mate, was just thinking it all through, as I walked back,’ Howie replies.
  ‘There’s a lot to think about,’ Chris concedes. ‘But all we can do is try, Howie.’
  ‘I know, mate, any news on the engineers?’
  ‘I spoke to Sergeant Hopewell and she’s sent runners out... did the digger drivers get away okay?’

Howie nods back, staring down at the plans on the table.
  ‘Where do we put the soil that they dig out?’ Howie says.
  ‘They seem experienced men, Howie - I’m sure they will figure it out and put it somewhere…out of sight,’ Chris replies.
  ‘Wouldn’t they need dumper trucks to carry it away?’
  ‘Hang on,’ Chris says, reaching for his radio.
  ‘
Fort to guards with the digger units…’
 
‘Fort to guards with the digger units,’
Chris repeats, several times.
 
‘Digger guard to Fort, sorry it’s noisy here, go ahead.’
A voice booms out, with the sound of loud engines in the background.
 
‘Fort to digger guards, make sure the soil taken out is disposed of, out of sight.’
  ‘Digger guard to Fort, repeat your last please.’
  ‘Fort to digger guard, MAKE SURE THE SOIL TAKEN OUT IS HIDDEN FROM SIGHT.’
  ‘Digger guard to Fort, you want us to work all night?’
  ‘Fort to digger guard, ANSWER NO - I WANT THE SOIL FROM THE HOLES HIDDEN.’
  ‘Digger unit to Fort, Roger will do.’
  ‘Bloody hell, they’re going to wake the dead,’ Chris says, shaking his head and putting the radio down on the table.
  ‘Bit late for that, mate,’ Howie jokes.

A knock and Terri enters, immediately smiling at Howie: ‘There are some engineers here for you,’ she says.
  ‘Ah great,’ Howie replies, stepping to the door and finding several men waiting outside. ‘Come in, chaps,’ Howie smiles at them, opening the door wide. They walk into the room, looking about with a keen interest at the interior and then head straight to the plans on the table.
  ‘I’m Howie, this is Chris, nice to meet you all,’ Howie says, politely shaking hands with the men, one by one.
  ‘Sorry, is this the room for the engineers?’ A middle-aged woman appears at the door leaning in.
  ‘Yeah, Hi, I’m Howie ,come in.’
  ‘Hello, I’m Kelly,’ the woman replies, shaking hands with Howie, then Chris.
  ‘So… are you all engineers?’ Chris asks, once the handshaking has stopped.

They all nod at him.

‘Good, forgive us for being blunt, but we need to get straight down to the point… we need some sharp spikes to be made that can be embedded into the ground,’ Chris says.
  ‘Also, we want some very small sharp objects that can be hidden in the long grass, out in the flatlands,’ Howie adds.
  ‘You mean caltrops?’ Kelly asks straight away, and leans forward to examine the plans on the table.
  ‘Yeah, those,’ Howie replies, surprised at her direct manner.
  ‘What about the spikes? How many and how deep are they going in?’
  ‘The spikes will be put into a hidden trench the width of the spit,’ Howie explains.
  ‘We can use sharpened wooden spikes for that, getting the material and fashioning them will be relatively easy. The hardest part will be getting them in, you’ll need a lot of people for that, if you want it done quickly,’ Kelly answers.
  ‘We can get more people, that’s not a problem. What about the caltrops?’
  ‘Right, the first problem is materials. We’ll need lots of metal, but then most metals can’t just be bent into shape. They might be brittle and snap. We might have to heat them and then, of course, make them sharp - that will need power tools and you’ll want them over a large area, so we need lots of them.’ She finishes speaking, then looks expectantly at Chris, then to Howie.
  ‘There’s a workshop here. I’m sure we can rig some of the generators up for you,’ Howie replies, impressed.
‘Can we take metal from the fittings and fixtures if we need to?’ One of the other engineers asks.