Even Zombie Killers Get The Blues (Zombie Killer Blues) (6 page)

Chapter 13

“Nick, hold up. Wait a minute, let us think this
through before we, how do you say, do something rash. .” Ahmed had stopped in
front of me and was pulling out a Google map printout of the area.
“Let me show you a trick we pulled on you Americans time and again in my
country. We know where they are going, and they are carrying a prisoner. They may
have wounded with them. Judging by the shape those others were in they are likely
to be overfed and out of shape. They are also probably following the main road
back to the prison. We can get ahead of them here …” he pointed to a spot just
south of the prison, where a road crossed over the canal “…and ambush them. If
we continue to chase them down we may run into an ambush ourselves.”
“OK, Ahmed, you’re a better strategist than I am. Let’s go for it. If we haul
ass up through the woods on this azimuth we can get behind them. But we have to
run
.”
And run we did. Weapons at the low ready, we pounded along, maintaining a
steady pace that ate up the ground. The woods were free from undergrowth but we
still took a chance. Out here in the countryside, the Zombie presence shouldn’t
be that much. What I was worried about were others from this cannibal group who
heard the sound of gunfire, and who might be heading this way. Chance we had to
take. We rotated taking point, going by compass bearing in a straight line
across overgrown fields and stands of trees.

At one point off to our left, through a break in the
trees, we saw them moving up the road. We stopped to count and get a better
estimate of their numbers. There were seven left. Two were carrying Brit slung
up on a pole. One had fallen behind, obviously wounded. As we watched, the tail
man turned and shot the one lagging behind. Six left.

“Well, I guess they’re going to be moving faster
now.”
We got into position just a few minutes before they got there. We went to
ground on the north side of the road junction, just inside the tree line. Doc
scanned for Zombies in our back area, pulling security.
“Ahmed, this is going to be on you, mostly. Our Z guns aren’t going to have
much range and we can’t risk hitting Brit. It’s up to you with the sniper
rifle.  Let them get close so Jacob and I can get some too. Drop the two
carrying Brit, Jacob will work in from the left, me from the right.”
They came up in a gaggle. No security, just moving quickly down the road. I
figured they felt safe, being only a few miles from their home ground.  We
waited until they had turned toward the bridge and were strung out in a line in
front of us.

I heard Ahmed’s rifle utter a loud cough next to me,
and the lead guy carrying Brit fell to the pavement. The other one carrying her
dropped a second later, still staring at his partner. I fired two rounds into
the lead man. Jacob opened up on the rear. My target went down firing wildly
into the ground, emptying his rifle into the dirt. Jacob shifted aim to his
next target, but rounds started coming back at us, zipping overhead, firing
high in panic. Ahmed shot once more, The last man knelt and aimed a pistol at
Brit, who lay trussed on the ground.

“Let me go or the bitch gets it!” He cocked back the
hammer. It was quiet for a moment.

“Fuck it, I know you ain’t going to let me go! I’m
damned anyway!” he yelled and shot Brit from five feet away. All three of us
hit him just as he fired, spinning him around.

“BRIT!” I yelled. “DOC! GET UP HERE!” And before
anyone could stop me, I was up across the road and running to her. As I ran up
I put a three round burst into each of the figures lying on the ground. I
dropped onto the ground next to Brit and ripped open her armor, searching for a
wound.

Above her knee was a bloody hole where she had been
hit in our initial firefight. It had clotted over but blood was seeping from
under her shirt, just under the edge of her armor. She was breathing really
fast through her nose, Duct tape was slapped across her mouth. I ripped it off
so she could breathe better, but her face was white. She was going into shock.

Doc shoved me aside hard and got to work, ripping
open his aide bag and cutting away her shirt.

“Anything else?” he asked me as he rolled her onto
her side to look for an exit wound. Nothing. He stuck a tampon in the entry
wound and pressed my hand against it to hold it there. He punched an IV into
her arm and started forcing fluids into her. 

“I’m going to work on her, but she has some internal
bleeding. We gotta get her back to the CASH at Fort Orange. Hold this up in the
air.” He handed me the IV bag.  He meant the Combat Support Hospital at Task
Force Empires’ main base down by Albany.

“I got it, Doc. Just keep her stable while I get
them on the horn.”
“Valkyrie, Valkyrie, this is Lost Boys, Nine Line Follows, over.”
I called two more times before the RTO called back asking for the MEDEVAC info.
Behind me I heard Brit moaning and Doc trying to reassure her. “It fucking
hurts, Doc. Gimme some morphine. Oh my God, this fucking hurts so damn bad.”

Jacob handed me a piece of paper with the 9 line
info written out.

“Line One: Grid X-ray November 7834-9873”

“Line Two: Frequency 2200, Lost Boys 6”

“Line Three: One Bravo”  Urgent Surgical, this told
the surgery team to be standing by.

“Line Four: Alpha, none” meant no special medical
equipment

“Line Five: Alpha, one” One litter patient

“Line Six: Papa” - Possible enemy troops in area, approach
with caution

“Line Seven: Orange Smoke” marked the pickup area

“Line Eight: US Military”

“Line Nine: Open flat ground.”

The RTO repeated it back to me, confirming what I
sent. Then he asked me who it was. I knew the guy on the radio, a kid who was a
pretty good med surg nurse
.
We knew he had a
real name but we’d called him Quesadilla for so long we didn’t remember it
anymore.

“It’s Brit, and she’s pretty bad, Quesadilla.”

“Roger that, Nick. I’ll rush it. Out.”

I sat holding Brit’s hand while waiting for the call
back. It came almost two minutes later, but it seemed to be eternity. She was
mumbling something as Doc pushed the IV fluids into her.

“Lost Boys, this is Empire 6. Mission
denied, over.”
“WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT DO YOU MEAN MISSION DENIED, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE?”

“You heard me, Lost Boys. We don’t have
the air assets to pick up your soldier. Recommend you find alternative Evac.
Over.”

“WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE AND SHE IS DYING,
YOU PRICK!” I was screaming into the microphone now.

“I’m not risking a valuable air asset to
pick up your little whore, Agostine. Empire 6, out.”
I slammed the mike into the ground and screamed my frustration at the sky.

Chapter 14

I sat and held Brit’s head in my lap. She was
moaning softly. Doc had shot her with some morphine, but being gut shot, the
pain was intense. He couldn’t give her anymore or else her blood pressure would
drop.
“Nick, what are going to do? We can’t stay here. There’s going to be Zs and
those guys’ friends are going to come looking. ” Ahmed and Jacob stood guard,
watching the tree line and down the road. Doc stood over me.

I stared dully up at him. Brit was dying. I could
feel it. I had seen it far too many times. The only thing I was thinking now
was whether to make it quick for her, and if we would have time to bury her. I
wasn’t going to leave her for the animals, human or otherwise.
“Come on, Nick, we gotta move. Zs will be showing up here lickety-split.”
I took my pistol and put it over her heart. She was unconscious. I sat for a
second, completely undecided and denying what was happening. Pictures of our
times together over the last year flashed through my mind. Finding her at the
school, travelling back to the Finger Lakes, our scouts together down the
valley. Nights on watch, shooting the shit. Keeping each other warm on cold nights.
 
We had been together for a long time, and saved each
other’s lives over and over again.

“Doc, I can’t do it. Stick her.” Doc nodded and
reached into his bag for a needle.

Then the radio crackled into life.
“Lost Boys, Lost Boys, Valkyrie 6, over.”

I grabbed the hand mike from Jacob.
“Valkyrie 6, this is Lost Boys, over!” Valkyrie 6 was Major McHale, the Air
Ambulance Company Commander.
“Lost Boys, we are ten mikes from your position. Pop smoke when you have us
in sight.”
“DOC! MEDEVAC INBOUND, five mikes!”
“Nick, we have other problems. Coming down the road.” I looked up to see Ahmed
firing at a group coming down Route 4 on the other side of the canal. They
scattered and started returning fire.
“Valkyrie, be advised, we are under fire. Hostiles are on the other side of the
canal, across the bridge, about three hundred meters west of my position.”
Another voice came over the radio.
“Lost Boys, this is Foe Hammer 9. Keep
your heads down, boys.”
Then I heard that wonderful ripping sound of a 30mm
cannon, and the road across the bridge erupted in a cloud of dust and explosive
rounds going off. The firing stopped.
“Foe hammer, good effects. LZ cleared. Thanks, over!”

“Lost Boys, this is Foe Hammer, anytime.
Foe Hammer out.”
I heard the rotor blades of the MEDEVAC thumping their way up the valley, and
threw an
smoke
grenade.

“Valkerie, Orange smoke, over.”

“Roger, I copy Orange smoke.”

A battered UH-60 came thundering up the canal,
flared, and set down to the right of the smoke. I grabbed the IV bag. We helped
the Flight Medics set her on the  litter, and I squeezed her hand one more
time, and she gave me a weak grin. As they strapped her in, I ran over to the
pilot’s side. Major McHale slid open the window. I reached in my hand and
grabbed his, showing him how thankful we were for his disobeying orders. He
yelled to me over the rotor wash.

“Your team saved my life, Nick, when we went down
over in Pittsfield. I repay my debts.”

“What about Colonel MacDonald?”

“Screw that shithead. He needs me more than I need
him.” He looked down, listening over his headset, gave me a thumbs-up and shut
the window. I ducked down and ran away to the side as he powered up. The UH-60  thundered
up into the sky and I watched them tip over and head back down the canal, the
rotor wash throwing up spray, the Apache providing top cover leading the way. I
followed them with my eyes until they disappeared around a bend.

“Is she going to make it, Doc?”

“I don’t know, Nick. She has internal bleeding, so
she is going to have to go straight into surgery. Fortunately, it was a small
caliber bullet, .25 I think. I don’t think it hit any bone and shattered. I
give her a fighting chance.”

“That’s all she would ask for, Doc, a fighting
chance. It’s all any of us have ever got.”

We shouldered our packs and moved on out across the
bridge.

Chapter 15
I opened up my iPhone and downloaded all my messages. Nothing on Brit’s
condition yet, but I knew as soon as she was out of surgery they would call us
on the radio. At the top of the list, with a HIGH PRIORITY and REQUEST RECEIPT,
was the FRAGO that I had been expecting.
FROM: [email protected]

TO: [email protected] TFEMPIRE.MIDATLCOM.MIL
CC: [email protected] TFEMPIRE.MIDATLCOM.MIL; [email protected]; [email protected]

SUBJ: FRAGO 16 OPORDER 17-034 OPERATION HAWKEYE
REFERENCE: ENEMY ACTIVITY

TASK ORGANIZATION: IRREGULAR SCOUTS / TF
EMPIRE / U.S. ARMY / MIDATLANTIC COMMAND

1. SITUATION: Concentration of
Anti-American Forces vicinity Grid NF 4523-8734

2. MISSION: Determine Strength,
Activity, Location of suspected Anti- American Forces in and around NY State
Correctional Facility Great Meadows vicinity Grid NF 4523-8734

3.  EXECUTION: NLT 201707130300 unit
will provide information to higher command to facilitate neutralization of
Anti-American Forces at designated location.

4. SUSTAINMENT: None

5. COMMAND / SIGNAL: PER OPERATIONS
ORDER 17-034 APPENDIX B
Our original mission had been diverted, of course.  LTC Jackass saw a chance
for action and glory. For once, however, we agreed. I hate cannibals. I had to
laugh at his “Anti-American Forces”. Someone was still stuck in the desert
fighting hajis.

We were already sitting in a hide site across the
canal from the prison, waiting for daylight. Doc, Ahmed and Jonesy were
sleeping while Jacob and I kept watch. As the light slowly filtered into the
east, we all woke for stand-to, making sure no one had sneaked up on us in the
night, no Zs had stumbled into our area. We hadn’t seen one since the day
before; apparently our friends across the canal had been doing a pretty good
job of clearing them out.

Every half hour I called Valkyrie to check on Brit. Late in
the morning Major McHale came on the horn.

"Lost Boys 6, this is Valkyrie 6, your 5 element is out
of surgery. Doing OK, sedated. Will fill you in tomorrow, over."
I said a silent prayer of relief and tapped my head
with the hand mike while letting out my breath. Then I gave a thumbs-up to the
rest of team. They all grinned back at me.

Feeling like I had just gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson, I
went back to watching the prison.

"Are you crying, Nick?"

"Fuck you, Jonesy."

“You seem to be a little stressed, Nick. Why you
be cursing so much?”

“”I got your stress right here. I’ll be fine once
we get to shoot someone.”

As I watched through my binos, I saw a truck which had
been parked across the front gate of the prison rumble to life and roll back
across. An army LMTV, the cab chopped off and armor plate welded across the
front, pulled out and drove off down the road to the county prison. In the back
were a group of women, dressed in orange prison jumpsuits. They stopped midway
and the women, about a dozen, climbed off the back. One man with a shotgun
jumped down from the remains of the cab. They headed to a field that was
showing some corn sprouting up through the rows and started pulling weeds. The
truck continued down to the county prison and returned with two dozen more men
and women. They looked like concentration camp survivors, all skin and bones.
The original group of women looked almost healthy in comparison. I counted a
total of six guards, armed with shotguns, rifles, and M-16s. As I watched, one
of them occasionally whipped one of the workers. The truck returned to the county
jail and started making trips to the backside of the prison. I counted five
trips before the truck returned to the prison.

I handed the binos to Doc. He studied the scene for
several minutes.

“Tell me what you think, Doc.”

“OK, the first group of women you saw are the party
girls. Either voluntary or not. Fed better, not whipped so often. The others
are slaves and meat.”

“Agreed. I counted three dozen civilians in the
close field and 5 truckloads to the back fields. Make that a total of around a
hundred thirty or so. Figure they have a back entrance to let the guards out to
the back fields. Same number of guards per civilians, makes it around thirty
guards out back. No idea how many are in the prison itself but you have to
figure at least double that number. So, figure maybe a hundred cannibals.”

“Anti-American Forces.”

He snorted.
“Whatever. Time to settle in and watch for a few hours. Later today we can head
over and check out the county jail. Obviously being used as a slave pen. What I
can’t figure out is they should be all stirred up by the helicopters and the gun
fire yesterday, yet here they are, acting like nothing happened. ”

“I don’t know. Then again, tough as these guys might
be locally, the heavy-duty shit might be outside their experience and they
probably don’t know what to do other than go on about their business.”

“Well, either way, as long as they sit still and
don’t
unass
the place. I assume patrols go
missing on a regular basis.”

We took turns watching and noting routines. The only
break in the boredom was when a zombie stumbled from the tree line next to the
field. I watched it run at the workers, who kept right on working. I wondered
why they didn’t break and run, or why the guard didn’t shoot it. The Zombie
grabbed the nearest worker, who started to fight. I watched the guards gather
around the fight. The man finally went down under the zombie. I could faintly
hear him screaming. One of the guards finally clubbed the zombie on the back of
its head when it started to stand up from chewing on its victim.

As I watched this drama, I caught some movement at
the edge of the field. One of the healthier-looking women was running for the
woods. The guards turned at a yell from another prisoner and shot her down as
she ran. Then they started whipping the other prisoners.
“Nice people.” I commented to Doc. He grunted an affirmation, then took his
turn at the binos while I ate some lunch.
In the evening, we moved across the bridge and got as close as we could to the county
prison. Unlike the state prison, with thirty foot high concrete walls, the county
jail was surrounded by chain link and razor wire. Two guards sat in towers, and
around the fence were piles of skeletons. It looked like a Z swarm had broken
itself on the fence a while ago. I wondered who had won that one.
The state prison was surrounded by 20’ high concrete walls. Guards stood in
each of the towers. As I watched in the night vision scope, the guard in the
closest tower was joined by another figure, and the two of them started having
sex right there in the tower. I’ll give him credit for enthusiasm but it meant
their security was shit.

I wrote all this up and shot it back to TF Empire
with pictures. The return e-mail came back quickly.
FROM: [email protected]

TO: [email protected] TFEMPIRE.MIDATLCOM.MIL
RE: FRAGO 16 OPORDER 17-034 OPERATION HAWKEYE
Nick, move back and find a place to watch the fireworks. Stand by to provide
observed corrections to fire support if necessary. Hope you enjoy the show.

MAJOR JOHN FLYNN

S-3, TF EMPIRE