Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 3): Horde Ravaged (20 page)
"Did the horde sneak past Olivia?" her father asked. "Maybe they're trapped and shooting is the only way for them to warn us."
Gunfire erupted all around the hill. My heart leapt into my throat as I looked northward. We were surrounded, so cut off from Olivia who was clearly in trouble.
"Sir, we can clear out the zombies around the trucks, and go save Olivia," I said.
That was part of my argument for getting the pickups ready. Not to save Olivia, but in case we had to conduct a rescue mission through zombies. Four men, me included, were assigned to each pickup. I was given the gunner job on one of the trucks.
"Forrester could set off the fire at any moment," he said. "Jesus. Jesus."
The lookouts could be killed if he did. Did I lead Olivia there through all those hordes and other dangers just to be burned alive? Could Forrester do that to her and the other lookout. Then it hit me.
"Wait. Forrester's daughter is pulling the watch with Olivia. He'll let us go," I said. "Go talk to him. Hurry! The longer we wait, the worse it'll get."
Mr. Monday didn't argue. He climbed out of our sandbag guard post, and took off up the hill. I looked north, then up. The sky was starting to brighten. Sunrise wasn't too far away.
"Hold on, Olivia," I muttered. "How come you're not still shooting?"
I never felt so sick in my life. My hands started shaking. Soon my whole body was shaking. There was no way the zombies took them out so fast. They were twenty feet up in a tree. Unless they were caught trying to reach the ATV.
As more dim predawn light spread across the sky, I got a better look at our situation. It was bad. Like bile in the throat bad. Unable to stand it, I climbed out of the sandbag pillbox, found a ladder, and climbed up onto the gas station store.
"Oh. My. God."
The mega horde surrounded us. It was mostly coming around the east and west sides of the hills north of the village. There were thousands of walkers moving toward the moat. They had to be a hundred feet deep over on the eastern side of our hill. The western side wasn't as bad but off in the middle distance I could see the incoming horde and it was thick with those insane monsters.
Five men came rushing down the hill toward me. Mr. Monday was leading them. One of the men was carrying a M60; the rest had boxes of ammo. All had personal weapons, mostly hunting rifles and shotguns.
"He's going to let us go?" I asked, already heading toward the fence.
"No," Mr. Monday said. "Forrester said it's too dangerous. He said they are far enough away that lighting the gas won't hurt them."
"His daughter is out there!" I screamed. "I'm not worried about an explosion killing them, but it will probably start a forest fire."
The men looked grim. Mr. Monday looked on the verge of tears. I was crying. How could any man be so cold blooded?
"If I go, will you try to stop me?" I asked.
They all looked at me emotionlessly. My heart sank.
"We're here to help you," Frank Jepson said. "Fuck Forrester."
"Let's go," Mr. Monday said.
Frank cut a small hole in the fence. Mr. Monday and I slipped through and waded into the moat. The other men followed, including Jake Forrester with the M60. I stopped and gawked at him.
"My father's wrong," Jake said. "I'm not going to stand around and let my sister die."
I smiled and nodded. We both had good reason and determination.
"Okay, let's clear out those zombies!" I cried, and opened up with my M16A2.
I was the only one there with a military grade weapon, not counting the M60. Jake proved Rambo enough to fire the M60. He did more to clear away the closest zombies than anyone.
"I'll drive," Mr. Monday shouted.
I paused. So that's where Olivia got it.
"Try not hitting zombies at more than 30 MPH," I said. "Faster than that might damage the cowcatcher and rattle the truck apart."
I climbed into the bed and Jake handed the M60 to me. I mounted it while he climbed in back with me. The rest of the men placed two boxes of ammo each in the bed and then waded back across the moat. More zombies were rushing toward us.
"It's just us," Jake said when I looked back at the departing men.
The engine turned over, and then he put it in drive. Jake probably thought he'd get to fire the M60, but I swung it around and started shooting. He started getting another box of ammo ready.
The pickup lurched forward. Apparently Olivia learned to drive from him. I kept firing in short bursts, not wanting to waste ammo or burn up the barrel. Mr. Monday showed a real talent at driving through zombies to use the cowcatcher to best effect. He plowed through them up the service road, and then up the on-ramp. There weren't as many on the highway, since they were crossing it from the west, not following it from the north.
I only fired when a large number of them crossed our path.
"They're turning on the sprinklers!" Jake cried.
I was incredulous. Did they not see us? Also, it seemed early to me. Was someone panicking? I know I was starting to panic.
"Are they out of their fucking minds?" I called. I started pounding on the cab. "Faster! Faster!"
The pickup was a lot bigger, a lot heavier and sturdier. I couldn't tell how fast he was driving, but it was a helluva lot faster than 30 MPH. The cowcatcher started bending, getting twisted, but the pickup handled the harder strikes much better than the jeep ever did.
I fired and fired, doing my best to clear the road of zombies. The road wasn't being covered by the sprinkler system but I still worried one of my shots would ignite the gas.
"Fuck!" Jake screamed.
I glanced back to see a Molotov Cocktail arching out from a catapult emplacement.
"FLOOR IT!" I screamed.
The pickup lurched forward. Both Jake and I fell back against the tailgate. Thank god it had a tailgate. The other pickup didn't. I turned to see flames leaping into the air, spreading out at phenomenal speed. We dropped to the bed as it reached the road, and then swept over us.
The pickup continued racing up the road, plowing loudly and roughly through zombies. I spotted the treehouse and both women as we crested the hill. Zombies were gathered below the tree. Olivia had a long stick and was keeping climbers at bay.
I opened up with the M60. Jake picked up my rifle and picked off the climbers. Mr. Monday drove off the road, plowed into the mini-horde, and stopped under the treehouse.
"Jump down!" Jake called.
"I'll die!" Sophie Forrester said.
Olivia spoke to her, and Sophie backed over the edge to dangle above the truck, with Olivia holding on to her. I had to turn back to the advancing zombies, firing the closest ones up. Sophie pounded into the roof of the truck a moment later, bashing in it a few inches. Half a second later Olivia landed next to her.
"Let's go, Daddy!"
The women dropped down into the bed. Olivia looked wild-eyed when our eyes met. Then she smiled.
"I knew you'd come."
My throat was too knotted up to answer. Instead I reloaded the M60 as Mr. Monday turned us around to head back to the village.
"Dad's going to be so pissed," Jake said, grinning like an idiot.
"But happy," I said, looking at Sophie.
Heading south, the pickup slowed when we reached the open fields. Everywhere I looked were zombies running around on fire. Most of the unburned crops were also on fire, and just like I feared the fires were sweeping up into the surrounding forestland.
"That's going to really stink tomorrow," I said.
There was no way to gather up and dispose of so many thousands of bodies. Raw, burned bodies, too. I really didn't want to think about it.
"Wow," Olivia said. "I thought the other zombies would turn away, but they are walking right past all of the burning ones. Maybe fire doesn't scare them as much as we thought."
I was speechless. The horde was coming toward us down the highway from the north, too. No hesitation. I spotted zombies coming out of the woods, picking their way through the fires as best they could. Not all of them made it, but the wall of fire didn't deter them.
"Mr. Monday, hurry before they decide to light the zombies up again!"
Chapter 26
Pissed didn't come close to how enraged Mr. Forrester was at us. Yet, we saved his daughter. I almost felt bad for him, torn like that. Of course, he refused to admit she was in danger from the resultant fire. The fact the treehouse survived the fire didn't help our case.
The villagers impressed me again when they took less than a week to clean up all of the dead bodies. The dead were dumped about a mile to the east of the village, since the wind rarely came out of the east that time of year. Or so they said. Two days later it did.
The stench was horrific.
After a month, Olivia and I were settled into our own little cubby hole. I was getting a crash course in farming and vehicle maintenance. Olivia was pressed into service cooking and cleaning. She wasn't pleased at all. Still, we were together and with our families. There was some hope that the largest hordes were past us, too.
"Maybe we'll survive the zombie apocalypse after all," Olivia said.
She was snuggled up next to me. We sat looking at the dark fields, a bright moon above. A little alone time was hard to find in the over-populated village.
"Life goes on," I said. "But I miss the Internet."
She laughed. I knew she did, too.
Since we were all considered infected by other nations and our now former government, an agricultural life was our future. Mr. Forrester even said in a year or two they might start dividing up the surrounding
fields so everyone could have their own patch.
"We've gone from computer programmers to sustenance farmers in just two months," I said. We were silent a while, then I continued. "I don't know about you, but I kind of miss it."
"The old world?"
"No, I miss me, you, and Ralph in the jeep," I admitted, feeling my face heat up. "Thinking back, it was pretty exciting."
She smiled. "I miss Ralph."
"Me, too."
"Kyle?" she said. Olivia rubbed her belly and seemed nervous. "If I have a girl, can we call her Ralphie?"
"Sure. I don't see – what?"
I got all tingly inside. Was she saying what I thought? Could she? Would she?
"I'm late."
I didn't know if I wanted laugh or cry. What a terrible world to bring a child into. But, a baby. Our baby. Then she kissed me, and all my worries went away.
The zombie apocalypse destroyed my world. It destroyed our way of life. Yet, it gave me Olivia. And now we were going to have a baby. I've never felt happier in my life.
THE END
If you enjoyed Fighting the Hordes why not try the next in the trilogy: Horde Ravaged
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Check out these other stories by Rowdy Rooster Publishing:
TW Gallier
Horde Ravaged
Tom Gallier
Tales of the Bloody Sword Tavern
About the Author:
TW Gallier was born in Beaumont, Texas. He served 7 years in an Armored Cavalry Regiment (11
th
ACR Blackhorse Regiment), learning no useful skills. After the Army he went back to school to study electronics, figuring that would be a profession with job security. In 2008 he was laid off. It wasn’t the first time or last time he was wrong. But while in school, and holding down a full time job, he began writing in his spare time. In the mid-nineties he had his first short story sale and publication. He shares his life with his wife and their two dogs.
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