Kyle whispered under his breath
,“
The
y’
re weaponizing the Zs
.
”
Just as the final nail was driven into the crate, a distant sound started to grow from behind the tree line. Louder and louder, it quickly became clear what it was. At least two helicopter engines were roaring to life, causing the grass to wave wildly in anticipation of the fight.
The man in the black rubber suit walked up to the box full of armored Zs, lifted the butt of his flamethrower and pulled the trigger. A burst of angry red flames shot out and lit the wooden crate on fire. Even over the roar of the helo engines, I could hear the moans as I saw two spotlights from the helicopters rising into the air.
“
Holy shit
!
”
I heard Kyle scream
.“
Everybody find cover!
Now
!
”
He had realized it before I did. Kyle knew what this was.
Revealed by the glow of the flames, a wire lifted up between the box and one of the helicopters just before the crate rose from the ground and floated up high into the sky. Far enough from the downdraft caused by the helicopte
r’
s rotors to stay lit, but close enough to burn wildly, the flames from the sealed cage of Zs illuminated the sky with flickers of blood red.
The peering clouds slowly floated by, almost in slow motion as the fire-lit box reached its peak. There was a moment where it seemed to stop in mid-air. It was almost a beautiful sight, before it reached just above our position.
A few gunshots rang out in the air as Richards shouted out orders to take it down. We might have destroyed that Chinook chopper if it was
n’
t for the second one that followed. In a hail of raining death, the same gunship from the tree fortress swooped in, letting out a terrifying series of cracks as it spit up the mud and earth inside the Yard with gunfire.
Looking up, Kyle and I could
n’
t do a thing to stop the fireball of Z-mail that was getting ready to drop. With a squelch and a snap, the rope came loose, shooting down below the box itself, like a rubber band being snipped, driving the flaming crate downward right toward us.
I watched in horror as it landed smack dab in the middle of the Yard, the box itself crashing on top of that same broken-down car. It burst into ash as glass and metal screamed into the darkness. For a moment, nothing moved aside from the taunting flames.
Until the armored dead started to rise.
Still burning, and many simply broken, the creatures burst out of the wreckage and started in on our forces. I watched as Mr. Trash, who was hiding behind a metal garbage dump right by the landing site, tried to escape. One of the creatures caught his leg and pulled its burning body over him. I could hear his cries for help, but it was already too late. The creature jammed its flaming razor teeth directly into his perfectly conditioned hair, slicing right through his skull. Even from my vantage point, I could see brain matter shoot out of the gash as the creature lifted to reposition itself before diving back in to finish the job.
Just as the gunship turned to head after the Chinook, I heard a distant cry.
“
Look
out
!”
That floating behemoth of weaponry let out a final barrage directly toward one of the walls, pumping large caliber bullets through the concrete crenellations, as well as the two men perched near them.
As the men dropped into the Yard, and slowly started to rise as the dead, I found myself understanding what this was.
They did
n’
t want to break down the walls. These maniacs did
n’
t need or want the people inside. They wanted to kill us from the inside out.
We were being exterminated.
Chapter 30
Leaping from the top of the cinderblock, Kyl
e’
s feet landed on the ground before he rolled forward to help break his fall. Spitting mud into the air as he spun, Kyle pulled his body upright only to find himself standing nearly eye-to-eye with one of the armored Zs, its orange-striped shirt blowing in the wind from the helicopter gunship as it soared away.
With its razor teeth fully extended, the creature dove in toward Kyle as he sidestepped, swinging the butt of his gun in one swift motion. He thrust the weapon into the soft part behind the creatur
e’
s knee, and the Z plummeted to the ground with a thud that I could hear from above. As it started to push itself up from the mud, the fire illuminated the stream of blackish-red bile that poured from its open chest wound, creating a beautifully lit fountain of gore.
Roaring to full speed, the creature flipped up to its feet and turned back to its adversary. As Kyle stood there, the Z let loose with a primordial scream as it charged forward. Without hesitation, Kyle pulled his gun into his muddy shoulder, leveled the sight on the creatur
e’
s head, and pulled the trigger.
I could see the bullet pass out the rear side of the
Z’
s helmet with a burst of black mist, taking a few of the razors with it. The creature flew backward, slamming into its own puddle of gore, splashing a mix of bile and water against the fire from the box that was blazing just feet away. Only this time, the Z did
n’
t get back up.
Hearing the helicopte
r’
s rotors twist back to life again, I glanced over my shoulder only to see some of Gordo
n’
s men running another metal line through hoops on the last four of the Z-filled wooden crates across the field. They were getting ready to throw the kitchen sink at us. Another burst of fire from the flamethrower engulfed the boxes just before the chopper lifted up into the sky.
Still pulling the trigger as the crates lifted into the air, the bastard wielding the flamethrower created just enough light for his form to be silhouetted. Just enough of a chance for God to wield his judgment.
The bullet did
n’
t hit Mr. Flamethrower exactly. Rather, it passed directly by him and into the corner of the fuel tank attached like a backpack to his rear. Through my scope, all I could see was a spark as the bullet chipped into the metal before a small stream of fire poured from the canister to the grass below.
Mr. Flamethrower raced around, pulling at his straps before screaming and running toward the camp, trying to get help. Each of Gordo
n’
s men backed away from the bastard as he came close.
They all knew how this was going to end.
Even from that distance, and over the noise from the helicopters flying toward us, I swear I could hear the final scream from Mr. Flamethrower as the canister exploded in a brilliant burst of light that showered flames across the base camp.
God had passed judgment. H
e’
d hit his mark.
Just moments later, all the lights went dark in the camp. Even through the sight on my weapon, I couldn't see a thing. Suddenly, a line of ten or fifteen truck headlights all turned on at the same time and started inching forward. They had made the decision to move in on Avalon.
A bloodcurdling scream pulled my attention back to the Yard. Looking down, I could see a fire-engulfed creature, fully covered with that death armor, running maniacally through the mud, taking a swipe at anything it came near.
Clearly blinded, probably from its eyes melting out of its sockets, the monste
r’
s accidental course spun it running toward the garage where we held our trucks, and the fuel that ran them. A number of people took shots at the moving target, but it did
n’
t seem to affect it as the bullets simply passed through every part of its mangled body - except its head.
Ignoring the flaming boxes now floating directly over me, I instinctively felt one foot move over the other as I took off into a sprint down the narrow top of the cinderblocks. In my gut, I knew that if the creature made it to the cars, the explosion would be catastrophic.
Once I arrived directly above the burning beast that continued to spin erratically as it headed toward the first car in the parking lot, I dove down onto the concrete, pulling the rifle up to my eye. For a moment, everything went still, as if time had stopped. No noise, just my breath as I slowly pulled the sight across the flaming skull of the death armor. Sliding my finger across the trigger, I thought to what Kyle had told me atop the schoo
l…
Yo
u’
re a terrible shot.
Letting a deep breath out as I heard the trigger click back, I felt the rifle push into my shoulder. In near amazement, I watched as the bullet passed directly through the creatur
e’
s skull, dropping it like a flaming sack of potatoes into a pile of burning flesh just yards away from our fuel tanks.
“
Holy shit
!”
I exclaimed. I was as surprised as anybody.
Pulling myself back on my feet, I glanced at Kyle and the rest of the group. They were standing with their backs against the cinderblock wall, just out of the line of sight from the gunship, as the second series of flaming boxes released from the chopper above. Leaning back against the topside of the wall myself, I watched as the gunship once again riddled the Yard with bullets, spitting up blood-soaked mud in all directions, dropping men and creatures alike.
Seconds later, the flaming wreckage from the boxes started to shift and move as the dead began to pull themselves up. Some crawling, others still able to walk, they all moved in different directions, branching out like a disease through the sludge-covered Yard.
Only this time, we were ready for them.
With the gunship turning around to follow the Chinook, Kyle stepped forward out of the shadows and screamed
,“
Fire
!”
as he and seven other heavily armed people laid waste to the creatures. From the distance, it must have looked like a small war inside our walls as the light from the muzzle flashes and fire refracted through the smoke and clouds up above.
Led by Kyle, the firing squad systematically created a half-circle around the twenty or so Zs, dropping each of them into that giant bonfire of death. Legs, arms, torsos all decimated as Kyl
e’
s line stoked the flame with each of the fallen monsters, shooting burning ash up into the sky.
Just as quickly as it had started, everything went silent as the final Z splashed down into the mud. Looking down, I found myself amazed at how Kyle had been able to pull everybody together without Jarvis.
With my back still against the wall, I watched the headlights slice between each of the crenellations. Illuminating the rising smoke, it gave the illusion of souls floating into the heavens. Thinking of the burnt flesh smoldering in the Yard,
I’
m not so sure it was
n’
t.
Gripping the rifle close to my chest, I turned toward the field, ducking down with my eyes just high enough to see the blinding lights still inching toward our walls. Unable to see past them, I couldn't help but wonder what madness Gordon would throw at us next.
Deciding to join the men below, I crawled over to the nearest wooden ladder and slid down until my boots hit the loose mud. Noticing every able-bodied person grabbing the creatures piled up in the now-smoldering fire and spreading them out around the Yard, I darted over to Kyle. Breathing heavily, I stopped at his feet and lifted the other side of one of the creatures he was carrying until we had it covering an open space in the field.
When I looked him with an eyebrow raised, he simply said
,“
They need to think w
e’
ve retreated to the bunker
.
”
Knowing exactly what he meant, I nodded my head before sprinting back to the fire. Bending down, I dragged what was left of another creature to an open piece of field. Trying to stay quiet, we all did our part. Now we had to hope that Gordon would take the bait.
Lying adjacent to the wall, covering myself in mud, I looked around to the rest of the people hiding in the corners of the Yard as we waited. The dampness had soaked to my bones, and I had to fight hard to keep my body armor from rattling as my body shivered.
A simple bluff. Sometimes they paid off big. Sometimes you get called and lose everything. On that day, all we could do was hope that Lady Luck was back on our side. There was no other choice.
As the engine from the gunship boomed back to life, we all held our breaths and listened while the sound rumbled closer and closer to the Yard. Feeling the water pooling up around my stomach, I looked up and saw Kyle crouched down behind one of the sets of ladders with his eyes glued to the clouds.
My hiding spot is absolute shit
, I thought to myself, just as the spotlight from the gunship entered the Yard, quickly followed by the chopper, which began circling around the inside of our walls. With my face sideways in the mud, I shielded my eyes as anything not bolted down spun up in the air from the downdraft while the spotlight moved from body to body.
With any luck, the chopper would make the assumption that w
e’
d retreated back to the bunker, signaling the troops to move in on the wall. While it may seem crazy to want Gordo
n’
s men to move in, we did
n’
t have much of a fighting chance with that gunship flying overhead and Gordo
n’
s men out of firing range. Our only hope would be if they came closer, moving in for the fight, maybe letting their guard down, thinking they had us. Maybe giving us that little wedge of a shot, w
e’
d need to turn this thing in the right direction.
Continuing to fly overhead, the gunship was lingering longer than I would have expected. I could
n’
t keep my mind at rest. Was it too easy for them? Had we played this card too early?
I froze, not moving a muscle as the spotlight moved in my direction. Holding my breath, I closed my eyes as the bright light passed directly over me, sliding along the entire interior of the Yard. Exhaling, I slid my face slightly up to see the damn thing hovering right in the middle of everything.
With a crack, a gunner with a large-caliber machine-gun pointing out from the right-hand side of the chopper started to take random shots down into the Yard. Cutting bodies in half, the bastards inside had decided to do what in business we calle
d“
spot checking
.”
They did
n’
t want to shoot everything, but the
y’
d started to randomly test by blowing holes through some of the bodies below. They were trying to call our bluff.
Sometimes running is easy. I
t’
s remaining still tha
t’
s really hard. I know I had the urge to get up and run, so I was sure others did as well. It took everything I had in me as one of the dead Zs less than three feet from my head burst into a bloody mess when the gunman set his sight on it.
I knew it as well as everybody else. Our plan hinged on nobody making a move, so I lay there trying to become one with the mud as the gore from the creature slid across my face, into my nose, and down my lips.
The gunfire moved over to the trucks near the fuel where there were a few men hidden under the trucks themselves. Glass and metal shards flew up into the air as the chopper chipped away at a black Jeep Wrangler. Moving to another vehicle, the gunman nailed a tire, dropping the vehicle down far enough to catch the leg of one man that was hidden beneath it. Cringing, I could nearly feel his leg being shattered. Still, he did
n’
t make a sound. He held his ground, probably saving us all.
Then, just like that, as quickly as it had flown in, the gunship lifted into the air and floated back across the field.
I’
m not sure if
I’
d actually taken a breath while the gunship hovered above the trucks, but I found myself nearly hyperventilating as it flew away. I wiped the dripping black gore from my face and stood up with the rest of the thirty or so people still left to fight. We all knew what we had to do.
Crawling back up the ladder, I peeked over the edge, careful not to be seen. Giving me a bit of a scare, Kyle slid in next to me, dropping to one knee while sticking his head up just enough to see the lights.
“
The
y’
re halfway here
,”
he whispered.
We both knew we had one equalizer when it came to the field. One way to ensure that anybody moving in on our walls would have a hell of a time doing it. Peeking my head over the wall, the door of the Dead Shed came into view.
It was our turn to spring a trap.