Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins (30 page)

"Keep an eye out," came James' voice. "I
swear I saw some infected heading this way."

Greg sighed in relief as he stood. "James, you're
here."

Greg smiled in satisfaction as he saw the men James had
brought with him. They now totaled eight including Jackson and himself, those
were much better odds. 

James nodded in response, "What are we dealing
with?"

"Two vehicles," Jackson said, "so maybe
around ten or so."

James nodded. "I'll take point. Stay in cover and don't
run off on your own. It's too easy to get ambushed in a set up like this."

Greg nodded. James had the expertise here given his time on
the force. He still wanted nothing more than to run in guns blazing but he
would defer to James here. He glanced at Jackson and saw the same desire
reflected in his eyes. "We'll get them back."

Jackson nodded, "I know we will."

***

Olson looked down in frustration as he saw additional men
spill from the newly arrived vehicles. This was not how this was supposed to go
down. He had been pleased when had seen that there were only two pursuing them.
He had planned to draw them in and ambush then in the twisting corridors of the
building. That wouldn't work now, outnumbered two to one. He hoped that enough
infected were on the way to put the odds back in his favor. Periodic howls told
him that his ploy had been successful. If the infected could keep a few of
those men busy down there, they should still be able to come out on top. Just
in case though. He pulled out his satellite phone and dialed headquarters.

"This is Lieutenant Olson, I'm requesting
immediate evac from my location." Olson sighed as he got the affirmative.
They had a ride on the way, all they had to do now was hold out for about a
half hour or so for the chopper to arrive.

He looked at two of his men. "Clear a path to the roof
and keep it open. Evac is on the way." Olson smiled. They'd still get out
this yet. 

"What did you do to her?" came Jeremy's whiny
voice from behind. Olson rolled his eyes as he turned to face him. Why did he
have to be stuck with this waste of space? Just because his daddy had some
connections? Stupid politics. 

"What?"

"What did you to her face? You weren't supposed to hurt
her!"

Her face? Ah, he must be referring to the first woman he had
grabbed. She had put up quite the fight. He shrugged, "She resisted and I
made her stop."

"Did you have to hit her so hard?"

Olson snorted, "That woman's no delicate flower. She
put up quite a fight."

"Nonetheless, I'll be talking to Dray about this. How
did I get saddled with some thug that can't follow simple directions?"

Olson narrowed his eyes, "You do that. I'm pretty sure
Dray doesn't care about some piece of tail that you can't control. Also, keep
in mind we're about to be fighting for our lives soon. You probably don't want
to piss me off right now."

A look of indignation flashed across Jeremy's eyes
although he managed to smother it a moment later. Olson was completely right.
He had no chance of getting out of here without Olson's help. He'd still report
the man but there was no need to antagonize the man beforehand. "I
apologize," Jeremy said. "I’ve just been under a lot of stress."

"Of course," Olson replied.

Jeremy headed over to where the women were seated on the
floor, their hands bound by zip-ties.  "Are you alright?"
he asked as he reached her. 

"It kinda hurts," Shirley admitted.

Jeremy sighed, "Let me take a look," he said as he
knelt down. He moved her away from her cheek and leaned in for a closer look.
"It's bruised pretty bad, Maybe - " Jeremy screamed as Shirley lunged
forward and head butted him in the nose.

"Get away from me! Don't you ever touch me again!"
she shouted.

Jeremy surged to his feet as blood poured between the
fingers he had over his nose. "Why would you? What's wrong with you?"
Jeremy left the area as he searched from something to stop the bleeding.

Olson laughed as he walked over. "Thanks, maybe I won't
have to listen to his whining for a few minutes."

Shirley looked at him with daggers in her eyes. Olson
chuckled, "I'd calm down. I have no problem knocking you out again. I'm a
real man unlike you're friend over there."

"My real man is on the way to put a bullet in your
head," she replied. She glanced at Carol who had sat silently this whole
time. "Hers is on the way too and you don't want to piss him off. But you
already did that when you grabbed her."

Olson's mood soured. There was a significant chance things
could go that way. "The game's not done yet. Your man will be busy playing
with infected soon while we wait for our ride to get here." He walked back
towards the window, no longer in the mood to talk.

He didn't see any sign of the men outside so they must
already be in the building. He did however see a good amount of infected in the
parking lot. "Let's get set up boys.  We're about to get
started." His remaining men nodded and took positions facing the stairwell
entrance. With the power out, the only way up was the stairs so that was the
only point of entry they had to worry about. That would help to reduce the
effect of their numbers. He took his sidearm and fired several shots out the
window and the infected howled in response. Good, infected below and they were
waiting at the only viable entry point. He was feeling pretty good about their
odds.

***

Greg cursed as he heard the sound of gunshots from above.
The infected howled and threw themselves against the door they'd just
barricaded. "That's not gonna hold for long," James said.

Greg pointed towards the stairway. "That's the only way
up with the power out. We can whole up there, they can only come a few at a
time."

James nodded and led the way towards the stairwell. In
another time, he might look around the building and take note of what he saw.
Maybe try to figure out what kind of business this place did before the
Collapse. That wasn't important right now though. Right now everything he saw
was evaluated on its usefulness as cover or a potential hiding spot. They
reached the elevator and James instructed four of their men to remain behind.

"You guys stay here and keep the infected off our
backs. Blades only unless you get overwhelmed. The more we're shooting the more
infected are gonna show up."

James led the way up the stairs. "We'll have to check
the second floor first, just in case. I'm assuming they’re on the third but we
don't want to be surprised."

Greg nodded as they reached the second floor landing. James
led the way inside and they spent the next few minutes checking every cubicle
and office for any sign of their targets. When that was done they headed back
towards the stairs, James had an apologetic look on his face. He could tell
that Greg wanted nothing more than to tear this place apart.

"It's fine," Greg said. "We had to be
sure." They headed back into the stairwell and took the remaining stairs
to the third floor. 

James paused at the landing and glanced behind him to make
sure everyone was ready. He leaned against the wall and pulled the door open
and flinched back as a a hail of bullets sailed past. He cursed
in frustration, they were in a bad spot here. They could lay down
suppressive fire and enter the room but there was no guarantee that there was
adequate cover close by. They were effectively pinned. The one bright side was
that the stairwell was constructed from brick which meant he
was relatively safe where he was, he didn't have to worry about them
shooting him through the wall.

Greg looked up the stairs in frustration. They were so close
but they might as well be miles away. His mood brightened as an idea struck
him. "James," he whispered.

"What?" James asked as he glanced towards him.

"I'm gonna head back down, look for another way
up."

"We were just there," he protested, "I didn't
see a second stairwell."

"Maybe we missed it," Greg countered. "I'm
gonna check." Greg headed back down the stairs and motioned for Jackson to
follow him.

"I don't think there's another stairwell," Jackson
said as they entered the second floor.

"I don't think there is either," Greg replied.

"What's your plan then?"

"This," Greg said as he stopped in front of the
elevator.

Jackson looked thoughtful for a moment, "That could
work as long as the car isn't on the third floor."

"Only one way to find out." Greg used his machete
to pry an opening between the elevator doors and then pulled them all the way
open. He placed his hand on the wall and leaned out as far as he could. To his
left he saw a ladder bolted to the wall. That was perfect, they could use that
to go up. He looked up and saw that the way was clear, that meant the elevator
was on the first floor.

"There's a ladder here just to the left," Greg
explained.

"What about the noise when we get up top?" Jackson
asked. "They'll probably here the door open."

Greg nodded and grabbed his walkie. "James," he
called into it.

"Yeah?" came the reply of few minutes later.

"I'm gonna contact you in a few minutes. I found a way
up. I"ll need you to lay down some fire to cover the noise I make."

"You're not doing something crazy are you?"

"Of course not, it's perfectly safe."

"Alright, let me know."

The men carefully made their way into the shaft and climbed
up, doing their best not to make any noise on the ladder. When they reached the
third floor, Greg contacted James and a moment later the sound of rifle fire
filled the air. Greg carefully stepped onto the ledge the doors rested on and
used Jackson's knife to pry and opening. He pulled the doors apart far enough
to slip through and stepped to the other side. The way was clear. They were in
area filled with cubicles. From the other side of the room Greg could hear
James exchanging fire with the kidnappers. He held the doors open for Jackson
who slipped through a few moments later. Kneeling down they made their way
towards the gunfight. Greg peeked around the corner of a cubicle and saw two
men kneeling behind cover occasionally firing into the stairwell.

To the left he saw the women sitting on the floor.
Fortunately, they looked unhurt for the most part. Standing over them was
another kidnapper. Greg wondered if he was the one that had grabbed Carol. Greg
leaned out and fired several shots at the men sitting in cover, he hit them
both in the chest but they didn't go down. Were they wearing some sort of
armor? James used the distraction to lead his men into the room. As he was
entering the third man took off running.

Greg glanced at the girls to make sure they were safe then
took off after the runner, Jackson hot on his heels. James had things under
control there. The two men in cover had put their hands up as soon as James had
entered the room. Greg followed the man to a door that had a sighed reading
Roof Access. Greg pushed through the door and saw a set of stairs heading up.
He took them two at a time and stepped through a door that led to the roof. Two
men popped up from behind an air conditioning unit and Greg quickly ducked back
inside the doorway.

"Give me some cover fire and I'll try to flank
them," Jackson said. "I don't want that guy getting away."

Greg nodded and leaned out to squeeze off several shots. As
the men ducked back behind their cover Jackson sprinted out and towards the
right. The men attempted to respond but more shots from Greg forced them back
into cover. The two men realized they were being flanked and decided to make a
run for it. Shots from Jackson put one of them down while the other managed to
find another piece of roof equipment to hide behind. "Go!" Jackson
yelled. "I'll deal with him!"

Greg nodded and took off across the roof. He saw his target
standing in an open area looking towards the south. What was he looking for?
Greg gave himself a mental shrug and he approached, it didn't matter what he
was doing because he was about to die. Greg fired off a round and struck the
man in the chest. The man spun around but stayed standing.

"You'll have to do better!" he called. "Top
of the line kevlar right here"

"It hurt though didn't it? Greg asked. He started
firing and emptied the remains of his clip into the man's chest. He then
sprinted forward, easily covering the distance as the man reeled in pain. He
unleashed a vicious overhead strike that the man barely managed to parry with a
combat knife. Greg didn't let up and rained down blow after blow until the man
fell to his knees. A kick to the man's hand sent the knife flying away and Greg
kicked him a second time in the chest which left him sprawling on his back.

He raised his machete for the finishing blow when a thump
thump thump sound reached his ears. Looking south he saw a helicopter heading
towards him. So that had been the man's plan. They had an escape planned when
they fled to this building. The helicopter quickly reached them and turned so
that's its side was facing them. The door slid open and Greg saw a long gun
poke out. He took off running and dove behind an a.c. unit just as a torrent of
bullets struck just where he had been standing. Greg peeked out and saw the man
grabbed hold of a rope ladder. He quickly reloaded his pistol and unloaded the
clip in his direction. He probably wouldn't hit him, the helicopter was already
making its way south but the final bullet struck home and the man was barely
able to hold onto the ladder. It wasn't a kill shot but it would give the man
something to remember him by.

He waited until the helicopter was some distance away before
he left cover, just in case they had decided to double back. James ran up then,
with everyone else in tow behind him. "You okay? I swear I heard a
helicopter."