"Not good man. Not good." Washington shook his head. "Maybe we can get him to the lab, and Gonzo could do somethin'."
"Yeah, help me get him up."
"Right." Washington reached down to help him up just as several gunshots rang out from behind. The former MP knelt down in the grass next to Newman.
“Fuckin’ Russians,” Newman said, bringing his rifle up. “Get down!” he shouted.
***
Gibson and Winger were heading over to help Newman and Jayne when Gibson collapsed in a hail of AK fire. The Russian bullets tore across Gibson's shoulders and chest, making him dance like a rag doll before he fell into the saw grass. Winger dove to the ground next to him as more rounds from the Russians smashed all around him.
"Gibby?" Winger called as he tried to make himself one with the dirt. More bullets chewed the grass around them. “Gibby?” The former infantryman pulled himself close enough to his old partner to see he was quite dead. “Gibby, old boy.” He patted him on the back. “I’ll kill a few Russians for ya, mate. Bastards!”
***
"Got them!" Valentin said as both mercenaries moved slowly through the high saw grass. He looked through the sights of his AK-74 and focused on the area where the two Australians went down. Valentin had seen his rounds strike the first man, and he was sure he'd hit the other one too. Alexi was busy watching a handful of zombies that were headed their way.
"Maybe we should check out?"
"Nyet. Nyet!" Valentin shook his head. "I got them both."
"Okay, okay. We have zombie problem." Alexi pointed to the deader that had broken away from the group and started to run at them. "Runner!"
"I hate runners!" Alexi said, raising his AK and firing several rounds into the zombie's head. The undead woman's head exploded like a rotten watermelon, and the rest of its body ran a few feet then fell on its stomach several yards away from the Russians.
"We need to finish off the Americans," Valentin said, turning to where Newman's team was last seen. His head exploded just like the zombie as his body dropped hard to the ground.
"Fuck!" Alexi said, wide-eyed, as another shot just barely missed his head. The Russian dove to the ground next to Valentin's headless body. Americans. He crawled closer to his partner's corpse and dug through his pockets. He took Valentin's extra magazines and a fragmentation grenade the dead Russian had been saving for a special occasion. As bullets splattered around him, he figured this qualified.
Quickly looking up, Alexi got a glance at where the firing was coming from. He dropped onto his back as bullets whizzed over his head. The Russian was thankful that none of the zombies had stumbled onto him yet. Alexi pulled the pin on the grenade then tossed it towards where he thought the Americans were positioned. As soon as the grenade detonated, Alexi jumped up and ran for cover behind one of the empty buildings in the compound.
"Motherfucker!" Winger cursed as he grabbed his ears in pain. The grenade had exploded close to him, but Gibson's body took the brunt of the blast. Head ringing from the detonation, Winger staggered to his knees. He grabbed up his rifle and fired a few shots in Alexi's direction. Winger then sat down next to Gibson and grabbed his ID tags and injector. "Sorry, mate," he said, then got into a crouching position and moved back towards the lab building.
Arkady cursed under his breath as he watched Bogdan disappear under four or five of the zombies. The Navy commander watched the ex-Spetsnaz soldier flail hopelessly under their dead weight. Arkady thought about trying to help Bogdan but then realized that he just didn't care enough to risk himself. Besides, it would keep the damned zombie off of him while he worked. A young woman in a torn dress stumbled in his direction. Her head was twisted sideways, causing to her to side step. The commander shook his head. She looked like his second ex-wife. The head contorted at the odd angle even made her look more like Elena. He made sure to carefully place a round into the undead woman's head for good measure.
"Not often you get to shoot your ex-wife twice," he mumbled as he stared down at the zombie he'd just put down. Her hair was the same color. He'd loved her tremendously until he didn't.
"Commander?" Dimitry asked, coming up behind him. Nico and Kata followed as they fired on the confused mob of zombies.
"Nothing." He frowned. "Was trying to yell at Bogdan to watch out. He didn't listen." Arkady pulled his head out of his ass and returned to the mission at hand. They had almost made it to the rear door of the lab with just the loss of Bogdan. Not bad. He didn't know that Valentin had been killed by the Americans.
"Almost there!" Kata said, beheading what appeared to be a ten-year-old boy with her tactical machete. She carried both her AK-74 and her grenade launcher on her back. The machete was easier and more fun. "Come on, Yuri. Quit dragging your feet."
"Right behind you, Kata." Yuri bashed an elderly zombie in the face with the butt of his AK. He felt sick to his stomach and was scared shitless but he had to keep moving. To stop would be to die.
"Move your ass, little flower!" Nico shouted from behind. "I left our American friends a little surprise you don't want any part of."
Amante found Nico's little surprise. The Russian explosives expert had planted a trip wire with a fragmentation grenade in the tall grass. The former Navy Seal tripped the grenade while trying to shake a female deader off his back. The hidden explosive blew Amante in half and decimated the deader that still clung to him. Wickham had been near Amante when the grenade detonated. The blast peppered him with shrapnel and threw him to the ground. West and Hale were far enough back that the explosion just added to the ringing in their ears. Clearing his head, Hale could see bits of Amante splashed on the outer wall of the lab. Smoke and flames from the other side of the building were starting to move around to the front of the lab. The major shook his head in disgust. Amante had been a good man. Hale never got used to troop losses. He ran over to where Wickham lay and squatted down by the lieutenant. West followed and squatted down next to the two, providing cover.
"John," Hale shouted at Wickham. "John!"
"I'm okay." Wickham slowly sat up. "Blast got my pack!" He pulled off his rucksack, which was riddled with smoking holes. His gear inside was ruined.
"You are one lucky bastard!" West said, watching their position. The other five members of Wickham’s team arrived and crouched down around them. More deaders were moving in their direction, drawn by the explosion.
"Amante?" Wickham asked groggily.
"No." Hale shook his head slowly.
"Fuck me." Wickham got to a kneeling position. "He was just there!"
"Need me to check you out?" Gonzo, the medic, asked.
"Naw, mate, I'm alright. Let's finish this cock up!"
Hale nodded. "Watch your fucking steps now! Assholes have this mined too!"
"They better not let me get a hol' of 'em," Clarke growled. "Amante was a good guy for an American!"
"Clarke." West pointed down by his left leg. "Company!"
"Shit!" The big Aussie looked down to see a badly charred deader slowly crawling through the thick grass toward his feet. Shaking his head, he raised his left leg and brought his booted foot down hard on the flesh eater's head, smashing it in like a rotting tomato. "Fucker!"
"Save that anger for the Russians, Clarke," Hale said. "These things just want to eat you."
"Yeah." Clarke spat some chew on the freshly re-dead corpse. "Don't worry, Major. I got that part covered."
Rifle fire filled the darkening air. West unloaded on a group of deaders that were sprinting awkwardly for their position. The others turned their weapons in the direction the Australian was shooting. A couple deaders collapsed and entangled each other as they fell. The whole group of runners ended up in a rolling ball of undead arms, legs, and teeth. Another group of flaming deaders emerged from the collapsing front of the building. The entrance to the lab was now completely covered in flames.
"More cookers headed this way!" Mac said, slapping another magazine into his mini-14.
"Mac! Clarke! Put those fuckers down and meet us at the rear of the building," Hale shouted.
"Got it, Major." Clarke patted Mac heavily on the back and brought his rifle up to point shoulder. "See ya in a jiff!" Hale nodded back to him and waved the rest of the team forward.
CHAPTER 39: BACK DOOR SURPRISE
Half of the lab was engulfed in an inferno. Black smoke and boiling heat filled the interior of the building. A hundred or more of the undead had pushed and crawled their way inside the damaged structure. The surrounding compound buildings were also on fire in various degrees. Zagers, Klattenhoff and three other technicians worked their way to the back door. Several staggering shapes fumbled around in the hallway behind them.
"Okay!" Zagers slung his rifle and drew the .45 he carried. The six of them had stopped in front of the huge, steel door. "I’ll pull the door open. Klattenhoff, you open up with the big gun in case we have any zombies or bad guys out there."
Klattenhoff smiled and stepped forward, the big machine gun in his hands. "I’ll clear us a nice path, Wolf!"
"Doktor, I’ll go first after Klattenhoff. You and your people follow behind me. Stay close to Klattenhoff and cover our asses."
"I hope Meissner made it off the roof," Klattenhoff said.
"Me too." Wolf wiped some sweat off his forehead with his gun hand and coughed. "We head for the Jeeps once we are out. Jeep two is what we’re looking for." Zagers tucked the metal vaccine case under his arm.
"Can we all fit?" Orlac asked nervously.
"I hope." Zagers pulled open the door’s deadbolt with his free hand and grabbed the heavy doorknob. "Stay out of the way!" he told the scientist. "On three!" he said to Klattenhoff.
"Three," Klattenhoff said, readying the machine gun.
"One." Smoke started to fill the back room.
"Two …" The zombies could be heard moaning and crashing around behind them. Zagers glanced over at Orlac and his staff. They were all wide-eyed, sweating, and trembling.
"Three!" Zagers pulled the large, steel door open and moved out of the way. Stepping forward, Klattenhoff unleashed the power of the XM806 machine gun. Streaming .50 caliber rounds chewed up a dozen or so zombies that were right outside the door. Hot brass casings assaulted the scientists as they tried to find cover. Bloodless body parts were splattered all over. Finally, Klattenhoff emptied the big gun and tossed it to the floor. He deftly drew the Benelli shotgun he had strapped to his massive back. "Going to miss that gun," Klattenhoff said somberly as he chambered a round in the shotgun.
"I am sorry for your loss," Zagers said, carefully scouting out the open doorway. Besides the distant sounds of battle, nothing moved near the open doorway. Lumps of fleshy remains of the zombies littered the area by the back door. "Looks clear. Let’s go."
"I can’t go!" Doctor Henstridge stopped in his tracks and was almost bowled over by the giant named Klattenhoff.
"What?" Wolf was outside the building and busy glancing around for the zombies or attacking mercenaries. The two other technicians, Moreno and Fulci, pushed their way past Orlac and sprinted over to Zagers.
"Doctor Henstridge won’t leave the building!" Moreno, a female biologist, said breathlessly.
"Fuck!" Zagers yelled. "Come on." He squeezed the metal case tighter. "Get your asses out here."
"Trying!" Klattenhoff shouted. "The doctor won’t budge."
"Come on, Niles," Orlac pleaded to the frightened doctor.
"No … no!" Henstridge shook his head wildly.
"Grab him!" Zagers shouted, frustrated.
"Okay." Klattenhoff scooped up the wiry scientist in his huge arm and shoved Orlac forward with his shotgun. “We have to move, Doktor!” Henstridge struggled a little as Klattenhoff dragged him outside. Orlac stumbled over to Zagers, still clutching the other metal case to his chest.
Zagers had one of the Jeeps parked on the other side of the lab. If Meissner and Hoffman were dead, he would have to shove all six of them into one of the small vehicles, provided the Jeep was still intact. He prayed the explosion and following fire hadn't destroyed their means of escape. Zagers started to hurry over to the other side of the building when something slammed into his back and pushed him face down into the ground. He landed hard on top of the metal case. He tried to groan but found himself out of breath as a hot wetness spread over his upper back. The security chief realized he’d been shot. Wolf tried to move, but it was too hard. Darkness reached up and pulled him in.
"Wolf!" Klattenhoff saw Zagers go down hard. He shoved Henstridge to the ground and turned his shotgun on the group of Russians that had arrived at the rear of the building. The big German didn’t hesitate to fire on the mercenaries. Igor's head evaporated in a mist of bone, blood, and whatever brains he had left. Klattenhoff racked another round but was mowed down by Dimitry and Nico's AKs.
"Fuck you, commies!" Klattenhoff roared as he stumbled backwards and fired another round at the Russians. Some of the blast caught Nico in the shoulder, sending him backwards into Kata. The female mercenary grabbed his uninjured shoulder and kept him from falling. "Fucking assholes!" The big German gurgled defiantly as he collapsed back into the doorway, dead.
"Don’t shoot!" Doctor Orlac shouted as he raised his hands in the air as high as was humanly possible. "Don’t shoot! I’m the one you want!"
"Ah," Arkady signaled for the others to halt. "Doctor Orlac, I presume?" He chuckled mirthlessly.
"Yes … yes!" Orlac nodded his head like he was a bobble toy. The other scientists had their hands in the air too. The Russian commander saw the metal case in the grass next to Orlac's feet. He waved his rifle's barrel in the container's direction.
"What is that?" the commander asked.
"It’s the vaccine and the virus!" Orlac rattled the words out as fast as he could.
"Grab case, Nico!" Arkady shouted.
"My shoulder, Arkady." Nico grabbed at his bleeding wound. "I was shot by the big Hun."
"Pussy." Arkady sighed. "Dimitry, grab case!" The other mercenary stepped forward and snatched up the metal container. He looked over at Nico and shook his head in disgust. Arkady pointed. "Yuri, Ivan, cuff up the doctors. We take them all."
There was an explosion from behind. Nico smiled evilly as he clutched his injured shoulder. "Americans have found my little surprise!"
"Good." Arkady took the case from Dimitry. "Ivan, have a look and see if we have a transport. The rest of you, fan out and cover. "As the mercenaries set up a perimeter, Ivan quickly returned from his little scouting mission.
"Jeeps are all on fire," he told the Russian commander. "No sign of Alexi."
"Damn." Arkady glanced around. "We need to leave," he shouted to the others. There would be no Jeeps, and Alona and Iosif hadn’t returned either, so no boat ride home. Nothing came easy. Arkady spat. "To the airfield. We're going to take the Americans’ plane!"
"Move," Dimitry said, shoving the scientist away from the compound. "Move, or I will leave you for the zombies."
"We have our payday," Arkady said, thumping the case with his hand. "I really do not need you, Doctor, so do not give me a reason to kill you. Understand?"
"Yes, yes. I understand," Orlac mumbled, wishing Zagers and Klattenhoff were still alive.
"Very good," Arkady said, pushing the scientist forward. The group double timed it away from the burning lab and the mass of hungry zombies into the cover of the jungle.