Jodi, Pierce, and Moore heard a noise further back in the building. They thought their job was finished, when they heard the noise, they knew they weren’t. They raised their guns and retraced their previous steps. Around the corner they went. The disgusting task of having to walk over their dead was before them. Body parts once belonging to brave guardsmen lay strewn in pieces on a cold, once-white floor. Now the floor smelled of death and held a crimson tinge to it. Jodi looked at an arm and a leg, they didn’t go together, one white the other black. They must have died side by side, fighting. Brave boys, she thought. She was last to move past the area and gave a last gesture of prayer before rejoining the others. Next, they went inside a conference room. In the back, they saw a closet with slits going halfway to the top on double doors. Two slits were damaged and blood was on one door.
“Come to momma, baby,” said a female voice with a deep metallic tone to it.
They saw no one. Then, one of the closet doors opened and out walked a little girl. The girl clutched a teddy bear and slowly moved toward the voice.
“Come to momma.”
Pierce moved toward the girl. Jodi held up her hand. “What?”
“She might be a zombie,” said Jodi. Her expression concerned Pierce, he halted.
“Hey,” shouted Sergeant Moore.
The girl stopped and looked, her face riddled with uneasiness as if mulling over a tough decision.
“Come,” said the voice.
Jodi looked ahead of the girl, but saw no one. Carefully she moved around the room, not toward the girl, but at an angle to see who spoke. Her first glimpse revealed a woman in shadow. The woman held her arms out toward the little girl, but did not move out of the shadows.
“Zombie!”
Jodi shouted and ran for the girl. Moore and Pierce ran for the girl. To make matters worse, the shadowy figure ran for the girl. Jodi ran and saw everything occur in slow motion. She was farthest from the girl and would be the last to reach her. The girl turned to see Jodi running at her. Fear flooded her face. She turned to see Moore and Pierce advancing on her as well. A howl forced her to turn back to the figure in shadow. The figure stepped forward into the light, it was her mother.
“Mommy!”
The girl made a motion to run to her mother. The mother moved with incredible speed, her mouth open, eyes red, and teeth crooked and sharp. She raced for the girl. If not for Moore, she would have had her.
Zombie Mom smashed into Moore, who smashed into the little girl and both went flying into the wall. With great effort, Jodi stopped before smashing into the zombie. The creature had Sergeant Moore on the floor and with an easy pull, she removed an arm and munched on it. Moore lay writhing on the floor, trying to stop the flow of blood at his missing arm, screaming in pain. Jodi used her gun to hit Zombie Mom in her head. The zombie fell back to a wall, her prize gripped firmly in her mouth. She lay on the floor, content to take a bite from her prize. She snarled at Jodi before devouring the flesh.
Jodi reached down to attend to Moore. Pierce scrambled for his rifle.
Moore held his hand up, “I’m okay, I’m not bit.” He winced and put his hand back over his wound, attempting to stem the crimson flow.
Zombie Mom finished her treat and stood to charge at Jodi’s back. Pierce fired twice, wounding her. She howled at him, turned, with drool hanging from her mouth, then ran. Her burst of speed was too much for Pierce, he fired wildly, but missed her with his spray.
Pierce went to Moore. The man screamed in pain, clutching his shoulder. Jodi applied pressure best she could and hoped it helped.
“Are you okay, sir?” asked Pierce.
“Hell no, you fool, do I look all right?”
“Sorry, sir.” Pierce knelt. “What can I do?”
“Where is she?” asked Moore, his breathing rapid. Pain gripped him and he yelled.
“She went past me so fast, I had to hold my fire to keep from hitting you two.”
“Where’s the girl?” asked Jodi.
“Hey,” said Pierce, “come here.”
The little girl was standing against the wall, tears streaming down her face. Unlike Moore, she made no sound. With hand waves of encouragement, she ventured in their direction at a cautious pace.
Jodi stood and held out anxious hands. The girl looked at the bloody hands and stopped in her tracks. She searched the woman’s face, as if determining whether she would be safe.
“It’s okay,” said Jodi. “I won’t hurt you. We need to go and we want you to come with us. I’m Jodi. What is your name?”
The girl searched her face. “Tammy. I want my momma.”
Jodi gave a warm smile. “That wasn’t your momma. She hurt your momma like she hurt my friend. Come with us so she won’t hurt you.”
Tammy searched again. “I want my momma.”
“I know,” said Jodi. “I want my momma, too.”
Tammy looked at the struggling man holding his shoulder.
“You dropped your Teddy,” said Jodi. “Go get it and we can leave. All right?”
Tammy turned and went to get her bear. She returned quickly and gave Jodi her free hand. Moore struggled to his feet, trying not to yell out and frightened the child. Pierce helped on one side and Jodi the other. Together, they walked to the front with Tammy in tow.
At the front of the building, they stopped and gaped at the broken door. Apparently, Zombie Mom crashed through the door and was somewhere outside the building, in the woods. Jodi and Pierce had their rifles slung over their shoulders. Each stopped and pulled their weapon before going further.
“Tammy, stay with me, baby,” said Jodi. “Put your hand around my waist.” She needed her free hand to aim and fire her rifle.
“Okay,” said Tammy. She kept a tight grip on her bear with her right hand and held on to Jodi’s shirt with the left, slightly behind Jodi. Her face showed worry and her eyes looked about in disbelief, searching for danger.
Jodi gave another smile for encouragement, Tammy returned her smile, but kept searching.
They exited the community building. Carefully, they looked for the zombie. Seeing no sign of her, they hurried with Moore across the road to an adjacent building, the North Carolina National Guard compound. They went inside.
“There,” said Moore. “Set me there, I have to call this in and we have to find that woman.”
“Zombie,” said Jodi, correcting him. She looked at Tammy. No need to get her hopes up, her mother was long dead. The thing they saw was not human, not even its voice. She was a zombie and had to be stopped.
“Get my radio, Pierce, before I pass out and bleed to death.”
“Sergeant!”
Jodi hinted with her eyes, reminding him of the underage girl in the room.
“Sorry. Pierce, radio, now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Pierce went to the cabinet to retrieve the radio. Jodi broke Tammy’s grip and set her near the man. It was necessary to take a look outside. What if Zombie Mom returned? Jodi mirrored Pierce at the row of weapons. She wanted an uzi, but settled for what looked to be a machine gun. Squeeze the trigger and spray, what a great weapon this will make. She grabbed the gun.
Jodi walked outside with her new toy and stood between the community building and the guard compound. An expression formed beneath her nose. It spread over her face. Her eyes grew big. She raced back inside the compound. Pierce had retrieved the radio and set it up in front of Moore.
“Pierce?” she called him to the door. She patiently waited until they made eye contact, then he came to her. She spoke near whisper level to keep Tammy from hearing. “How many people are normally here at this time?”
“What?”
“How many?” she asked softy.
“Um, I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Um, our squad has twelve. I would say maybe another three for park staff and half a dozen campers at most. Why?”
“Where are they? Do you see any of them? Where the hell has everyone gone?”
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Pierce moved past her to the outside, stopping in the road, looking in all directions. He widened his eyes in surprise. “Holy Hell!”
Before them stood five buildings, three similar sized buildings to their right, including the guard house in the center, and the largest building, the community center to their left with storage shed next door. Ahead of them, tall trees and a small trail leading into them, and behind that, more trees.
Pierce pointed his rifle at the storage shed. Jodi nodded her head in agreement. Weapons aimed at the shed as they crept toward it. Pierce kept his gaze forward. Jodi, swiveled her head from side to side, and then looked back, she hated for someone or something to sneak up on her. Her finger was on the trigger and her father taught her how to aim and shoot years ago. With her life at stake, she would mow down any assailant coming for her.
The door opened with a low groan. Pierce walked inside, Jodi followed. Light filtered in through curtain-less windows, one had two panes broken out. Enough light shone where they could see. Pierce swept right, Jodi left. Each turned for a sweep of the opposite side, not fully trusting their partner’s appraisal. When done, they faced each other, a look of relief on their faces. Horror flooded Jodi’s face, alarming Pierce. His face mirrored hers. Slowly, her eyes rolled upward without her head moving. Pierce followed.
A shrieking sound came.
Both aimed high and shot their weapons in rapid fire. Not one, but two zombies fell from beams in the ceiling. Gunfire hit the zombies. The first landed with a thud, bullet holes riddled its body. The second fell but did not charge them. Instead, it burst through a window and disappeared, gunfire trailing it as it went.
Yelling came from the room during the event, loud yelling. Jodi wanted it to stop, before realizing, the sound came from her. Not only her, but Pierce roared as he fired. She closed her mouth and the noise died. Pierce followed and all was quiet. They ran out the shed and saw the zombie fleeing through the shallow trees ahead of them.
The zombie ran to an opening as they stood watching. It stopped, standing in a clearing with two people. At first, Jodi feared for them and made a move to charge to their rescue. Pierce caught her arm. Shaking his head, words froze in his throat. Jodi watched. They weren’t human, they were zombies. Together, they moved off, deeper into the woods. Jodi let out a small gasp. Pierce’s gulp was loud enough for her to hear. Each looked at the other.
They returned to the shed. The dead zombie wore a uniform. Pierce rolled him over to read his name tag. Schuler.
“Damn.”
“What?”
“His wife is in the hospital. She gave birth to triplets. Mike was going to enlist in the army next week to get more money for them. This training session was his last.”
“Man.”
“He only had two more days. Damn!” Pierce reached down and yanked on the bit of metal around his former friend’s neck.
“Come on,” said Jodi.
Pierce put something in his pocket she couldn’t see. “We have to tell Sergeant Moore. He will know what to do.”
“We have to check the other buildings first,” said Jodi. “Then, we tell Moore.”
“Why would we do that?” Pierce’s voice contained a shaky element. It wasn’t there earlier. Was he losing his nerve? Jodi gauged the pulse in his forehead. Going into more buildings was the last thing she wanted to do. Staying out in the open seemed more life affirming, but it had to be done.
“Secure our perimeter,” she said.
“Yeah, right. Secure our perimeter.” Pierce said the words with a frown, as if he should know. His voice was strong and steady. Confidence came back to him.
With a nod, Jodi followed the soldier to the other side with the three buildings. To the far left they went. Jodi made a point of stopping at the guard house. She kicked in the door and found the remains of a dead man inside. She shot him in the head to be sure then reached on the wall for a clipboard. Snatching a list off the board, she shoved it in her pocket and quickly closed the door to keep from feeling sick. Afterward, they made a quick check of the others, before returning to the center building, National Guard Headquarters.
Jodi walked through the door relieved. She was still alive and no more zombies had been found.
“Sergeant!”
“Calm down, Pierce,” said Moore. Moore lay on a couch holding his shoulder, sweating. Tammy sat next to him, clutching her bear, eyes wide. A woman in uniform tended to Moore’s shoulder, bandaging it.
“Hey, Tammy,” said Jodi. She gave a warm smile, eliciting one from the child.
“Hey.”
“Are you hungry?”
Tammy gave it thought. Her eyes moved rapidly, then she nodded. Jodi took her hand and led her to a vending machine down the hall. Tammy clutched her bear and followed, eyes searching. Jodi’s eyes danced the same dance. They stopped in front of a soda machine and a snack machine. Jodi patted her pockets, looking for the telltale sign of coins. She remembered her back pocket and pulled out folded bills.
“My treat. What will it be, young lady?”
Tammy viewed her choices and pointed to a bag of Doritos. Her hand sidetracked to a Milky Way bar.
“Sounds good to me.” Jodi unfolded her money. She only had two dollars. A thought occurred to her. “Stand back, Tammy.” She wanted to kick, but glass would go everywhere, instead, she aimed and fired at the locking mechanism.
Tammy’s covering was unique. Her right hand covered the right ear and the left held on to her bear, which covered the left ear. No scream came from her.
Racing to their aid was Pierce. Fear danced across the face of a soldier ready for battle. “Where are they?”
Pierce looked at Jodi. Her gun aimed at the machine. Embarrassment flooded her face, anger his. “Sorry. I just . . . .”
“You could have asked for the damn key.” Anger overwhelmed him. He stood clutching his handgun, fingers turning cherry red because of the tight grip.
“Sorry.” Jodi knew sorry wasn’t good enough. She tried a new tactic. “Lunch is on me. Hungry? Sky’s the limit!”
Her smile warmed him. He relented and returned the smile. “I thought they came back.”
“No, sorry.”
Jodi opened the case and motioned Tammy forward. “Be careful, baby.”
Tammy held tight to her bear. She stood looking at her choices, mulling them over.
“Let me have the bear,” said Jodi.
“No,” said Tammy, clutching tighter. “Wilbur is mine!”
Pierce took a knee. His voice softened. “Ask Wilbur if I can hold him while you get something to eat. Tell him you will need both your hands and it will only take a minute.” His smile was warm and accented with a slight touch of pearly white teeth.
Tammy studied Pierce’s face. After satisfaction was met, she brought Wilbur to her face and looked intently at him, as if talking to Wilbur. She looked at Pierce and handed her security blanket to the man. Jodi thought she would gladly do the same. Pierce had one of those trusting faces.
While Tammy went for treats, Jodi grabbed Pierce and moved out of hearing range of the child. “What happened?”
Pierce stroked the bear as if not wanting to get into a deep conversation. Blue eyes looked at her, softening her for the bad news. “They didn’t believe him, thought he was crazy. Moore is going over their heads.”
“To who?”
“He has a couple buddies on the Bohman. They say the Vice President is on board. He is trying to get a message to him, but it will take time, something is going on that they won’t discuss with him. He is trying, and will get through sooner or later. I know he will.”
The last part brought comfort to Jodi. She took several breaths. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat. No use hollering about it.”
Tammy stuffed a candy bar in each of her front pockets and ate from her bag of potato chips. Her half-red, half-orange tongue flicked chocolate from around the edges of her mouth. A half-eaten bar of candy lay on the floor, her sta
rting place. Jodi moved to the machine and grabbed a bag of potato chips and a Twinkie. She felt thirsty. While Pierce made choices for him and the Sergeant, Jodi looked at the soda machine. She eyed a bottle of water. “Pierce?”
“Yeah?”
“You got the key to the soda machine?”
“I’ll go get it.” He had two bags of chips in one hand and two candy bars in the other. Wilbur was tucked firmly under an elbow against his side.
“Give me, Wilbur.”
Pierce turned sideways so Jodi could retrieve the bear. After that, he strolled off. Tammy was on the opposite wall. Sitting and eating. Jodi sat next to her. She put Wilbur between them and ate. Minutes later, Pierce returned with the key. He unlocked the machine and tossed them each a bottle of water to wash their meal down with. Pierce joined them on the floor and they ate in silence. What was there to say? They had fought zombies and sooner or later, would have to go into the woods to hunt the rest. Right now, eating and relaxing were enough.
“Well,” said Pierce, after finishing his meal. “Let’s check with Moore and then we have to get after them, before they get too far away.”
“We’ll leave Tammy with him and go. Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Jodi went back to the cabinet to look over the weapons. She needed to be armed to the nines. Only then, would she feel safe going after zombies. Her eyes scanned the weapons. Her father taught her how to shoot at seven. Last year, over the summer, her best friend and roommate, Connie, was attacked. They had both bragged how they would shoot a man between his eyes and not blink. No man would harm them. Unfortunately, Connie was jogging in the park without her weapon. A kind stranger spoiled the attack, but not before she received two souvenirs in the form of shiners. Jodi determined to learn from the lesson. She enrolled in a self-defense class to be able to protect herself if no weapon was available. She felt good about hand-to-hand combat, but preferred a gun if push came to shove.
She stared at the weapons, evaluating what she knew about each. Jodi chose a confiscated AK47 rifle. She grinned: AK-47, the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every motherfucker in the room; accept no substitutes. She smiled, then stuffed a nine millimeter in her right pocket and two extra clips in her left. She grabbed an eight-inch hunting knife and put on an accessory belt to hold her extra clips. She didn’t wear the uniform, but felt like a well-prepared soldier. She turned from side to side, evaluating her mobility. Satisfied, she nodded.
Pierce came alongside. He nodded his approval. He kept his government issued rifle, but gathered extra ammo. He clipped a hunting knife to his accessory belt to complete his look.
“You guys don’t happen to have bulletproof jackets, do you?”
“I wish,” said Pierce. “However, we do have pants.” He grinned.
Jodi left the cabinet. She changed and went to the door to wait for Pierce.
Pierce came into the room and took a step in her direction, then stopped. She looked out the window toward the deep woods. A sensation crept over her. It rose through her feet, wrapping itself around her as if it were the coils of a giant python.
Going in to the woods did not set well with Jodi. Her hands shook. She found it hard to breathe. She caressed her gun for comfort. Like many times in the past, she fought the sensation, forcing it down and out her body. The key: she kept telling herself she had no choice and it had to be done. With a last shudder, the feelings of dread left her. She walked to her partner to urge him into action.
“We have to go, Pierce.”
“I know.” He hesitated about getting started.
Jodi stood in front of him. She looked into his face. He was reverting to a helpless child. “Pierce, come on. If we don’t get in hot pursuit of the zombies, they will spread. You saw what they did here.”
“I know.”
“It didn’t take long for us to get knee deep in these things. We have to move.”
Her sternest effort didn’t deter him from the obvious. “These Zombies are capable of tearing a man limb from limb, literally.”
“I know,” said Jodi.
“I think we should wait for help.” He gulped. “Sergeant Moore will get through and we will get backup. We’ll be able to mow them down in seconds.”
His indecision didn’t faze her. She watched him, staring at him with an intimidating stare. She would make him move. Jodi stood her ground, directly in front of Pierce, rifle next to her chest, clutched tightly. A familiar itch hit her, letting her know she was winning. Her eye contact strengthened, reducing Pierce to a puddle of agreement.
“All right, damn it! Stop staring at me, for god’s sake!”
A smile crossed her lips. She held her rifle and wanted to jump for joy. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
Jodi took the lead and led her unwilling accomplice toward the door. She stopped, eyes wide.
Tammy sat on the couch in front of Moore. Her tiny legs dangled, not able to touch the floor. With Wilbur clutched in her arms, she was setting back as far as she could and maintaining eye contact with her rescuers. The little girl stared at Jodi and Pierce, following them with her head. A look on her face said she was afraid. Who wouldn’t be? She watched them while Moore fumbled with the radio, generating nothing but static noise. Frustration crossed his face. He let out a low growl as if he were a zombie.
Jodi saw Tammy. Her heart went out to the small child. The little girl had no idea what was going on or became of her mother and brothers. If she could, Jodi would put her mind at ease. She didn’t know how exactly, but would start with the basics, a smile. She went to Tammy. Her voice was soft, caring. “Hey, Tammy.” She knelt to meet Tammy at eye level.
“Hey,” the voice was more of a whisper, barely audible. She was afraid.
“Pierce and I are going out to find your mommy. You stay here with the Sergeant until we get back. Maybe you can go back and get him something to eat if he gets hungry.” She smiled brightly.
Tammy searched her face. The girl’s mouth was slightly open, ready to speak, yet, not wanting to utter a sound. She clutched Wilbur tighter. “Okay.”
“We locked all the doors and windows in the back. Nothing can get to you in here. You are safer than we will be.”
“You want to stay in here, with me?” Tammy’s little eyes grew wider, waiting for a response, begging with huge brown eyes.
“No, baby, I have to go.”
“We can stay together, in here, where it’s safe.”
If she wasn’t in love with that little face before, Jodi was now. She gave a warm smile to the innocent child. She touched her face, then patted her on her head. Jodi had a sister her age and hated disappointing her. She felt as if she were disappointing her baby sister. Still, she had to, for the greater good. “I wish I could, Tammy. I can’t. I have to help Pierce. When the others come, we will tell them everything we know. I have to be out there to do that. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Stay here. I will get back as soon as I can.”
“Okay.”
That tiny voice, it shook her. With great effort, she gave another smile for encouragement. Jodi rose. She winked at Sergeant Moore.
“Give ‘em hell, private,” said Moore. He strained to sit to look more professional. After wincing, he touched his shoulder and relaxed.
“Don’t worry,” said Jodi, “they’re going to love me.”
Moore chuckled. “They better.” His face grew serious. All traces of laughter vanished. Moore met Jodi’s eyes before glancing at Pierce. He went back to her. “Come back alive.”
Jodi nodded, appreciating him more. With a warm smile to both, she turned and walked out the door. Pierce waved good-bye, then followed.
They followed the direction of travel of the zombies. Carefully, they went into the trees, staying on a dirt trail that took them into the heart of the forest. Overhead, branches moved. They heard small animals playing high in the trees. Jodi looked up to confirm they were on
ly animals. She held her rifle in a tight grip, ready to fire on anything approaching. An image of her father came to her, ‘a gun is your lifeline, more than that, your best friend through thick and thin.’ She clutched her friend tightly for reassurance. Her heart pounded and she repeated to herself the promise she made Tammy. She determined to be safe and make it back to the youngster.
Pierce took the lead when they entered thicker underbrush. He knew the terrain, his backyard. His speed increased, creating a distance between him and Jodi. Every so often, he stopped, listening. Pierce heard something and took off running at a fast clip.
Jodi followed and stopped when he stopped. She crouched. She thought of the zombies in the shed and searched overhead for potential zombies. She watched Pierce move through the trees with a burst of speed. “Wait!” Jodi ran as fast as she could. Pierce raced past low limbs, throwing them out of his way. Each branch slapped Jodi hard across the face. She nearly fell twice, but kept pace. She began to sense their rhythm, catching each branch and knocking it out of her way as she advanced. Her face will look like a whipping post tomorrow, worse if she hadn’t found her running rhythm.
A sound grew louder. A loud scream followed by lower sounds. They were running toward the sounds. Ahead, in a clearing, Pierce dropped to a knee and opened fire. He was screaming, though the rapid fire drowned his voice.
Jodi caught a glimpse of a zombie covering a man. Blood poured across his chest as he fought. Suddenly, both were doing an electric dance.
Jodi ran beside Pierce, dropped, and fired. The zombie and the man danced more on the open ground. Both shooters held on to their machines of death, straining out of control. Each let out a bloodcurdling battle cry, gripping their guns tightly. When all firing ceased, the bodies stopped their dance.
Chapter Twenty-One: Reilly