Chapter 20
The sun was setting over the vacant city of Dallas. Tyrese and Malachi went back to the ground floor of the mall, while Jake stayed on the rooftop in silence. His head was resting on his clenched hands, as if he was praying. He then picked up the radio.
“Private Stone,” Jake started.
“Anything you need, Chief?” Stone responded.
“You don’t have to call me ‘Chief’ right now, bud.” Jake responded. “Just ‘Jake’ will do.”
“Yessir,” Stone responded. “So you need anything, Jake?”
“Does anyone over there have any records containing the remaining soldiers and survivors?”
“I have the records with me. Want me to look up someone?”
“Yes I do. Cassandra Carter Riley?”
“Yessir, I can do that.”
There was static on the other end of the line for a moment.
“Mrs. Riley is on this list, Jake. Is she your wife, Sir?”
“She is,” Jake answered. “Can you get someone to locate her? I just wanna talk to her; let her know that I’m ok.”
“I can arrange that. It will take about ten minutes.”
“Thanks, Private.”
Nick and Dylan checked up on Jake. Brandon followed them, using his sniper rifle as a crutch. Tyrese followed Brandon, bringing a few cooked MREs with him.
“Chief,” Brandon said as he proceeded to salute Jake.
Jake stopped Brandon from doing so. “You don’t have to salute me,” He replied. “Plenty of time for that when we make it to civilization.”
“You look like you could use a bite,” Tyrese said as he handed Jake a hot meal.
“Thanks,” Jake replied. “What’s the Sit-Rep on this area?”
“All is clear for the moment, but there is a chance of activity in the general area. You try to contact your wife yet?”
“Yeah, they’re looking for her right now. It won’t be long before I finally get to hear her voice.”
The group heard some gunshots in the distance.
“That’s a lot of bullets,” Tyrese replied.
“It’s Dallas,” Jake answered. “Bound to be some survivors. Hate to not be able to anything about it at the moment. I’m assuming Dallas was our first priority as soon as everything at Fort Worth was set up?”
“Yeah, that was the plan. Set up a boundary in Fort Worth and contain it, then branch out from there, increasing the borders and ridding the area of undead, burying or burning who or what we need to.”
“Until the U.S. becomes a safe haven,” Jake finished. “Then keep branching out throughout the Western hemisphere. Me and Cassandra were talking back in Benning about something like that. I told her that I would find a place for the two of us, or make one.”
“Good plan. At least with this strategy, you won’t have to worry about that place being small.”
“Yeah, I know right,” Jake laughed. “Might just build a house right by the beach. Probably the West Coast to watch the sun set.”
“Man, you can have that. I’m sticking with high altitudes. I’m going to find a small place in the Rockies. Maybe Colorado.”
“Never would’ve guessed that from you. Thought you liked the sand and sun.”
“I did until I done six tours in the Middle East.”
“Makes sense,” Jake agreed. “But first thing’s first, containment and cleanup, then we’ll worry about the house plans.”
“Guys,” Brandon interrupted. “Right now, we got something else to worry about. Take a look.”
Jake, Tyrese, Nick, and Dylan walked up to Brandon, who was pointing over the roof and out in the distance. Brandon handed Jake the pair of binoculars he was holding. In the distance, Jake saw a mob of moving figures running straight for them. It was the undead, and there were hundreds of them.
“We have to get out of here,” Jake asserted. “We only have enough firepower to slow that onslaught down, not eliminate it. Let’s head downstairs and do what we can to get everyone else out of here.”
Brandon limped downstairs as fast as he could, with the rest trailing him. Jake ran up to Malachi.
“Malachi!” Jake shouted. “We have to get out of here! We have bogey’s on their way here! Do you have a vehicle that everyone can fit in?”
“We have two small vehicles, but one won’t be able to fit in them.”
“Alright, you can ride with us, then.”
Zombies started busting through the mall and rushing at many survivors, slaughtering the ones they got their hands on. Five people got inside a small vehicle. The driver attempted to start the car while the passengers were screaming and firing their guns. They were overrun by at least twenty of the corpses, which were busting the glass windows and scratching everyone that helplessly struggled to escape their clutches.
After fighting to slow down the quick and large onslaught, it was only Jake’s group and Malachi. They started running to the Hummer as quick as they could. Brandon and Tyrese hopped inside the vehicle, with Tyrese in the driver seat turning the ignition and Brandon on the turret, giving cover fire for Jake and the rest to get to the vehicle.
“Put it in drive!” Jake shouted to Tyrese from a distance as he was running to the Hummer.
Tyrese put the Hummer in drive and started accelerating slowly, so that they could be away from the mall as quick as possible the second everyone entered the vehicle. Nick entered the front passengers seat, then Malachi entered the back seat, and Jake followed.
Dylan, who was being chased by the hoard, was running behind as the Hummer was slowly driving off. Jake reached his hand out to Dylan.
“Dylan!” Jake shouted. “I need you to run as fast as you can and grab my hand! I will pull you in!”
Dylan started sprinting to the moving vehicle. He then risked everything and jumped, grabbing Jake’s hand in the process. As Jake was pulling Dylan inside the Hummer, a zombie latched on to Dylan and sunk its teeth in his leg. Dylan started screaming as he was being dragged on the hard asphalt, struggling to hold on to Jake’s hand. More zombies jumped on Dylan, making it harder for Jake to hold on.
“You have to let him go!” Tyrese shouted as he was speeding up. “There’s nothing more we can do!”
“I’m not leaving him!” Jake replied as his grip was slipping.
“He’s already dead! If you don’t, then all of us are too!”
Jake took a look at the group, who were shooting at oncoming zombies, then turned his attention to his best friend, who was being tortured by the hungry flesh-eaters as his body was dragging on the ground.
“I’m sorry,” Jake whispered.
Jake released his grip on Dylan, who started rolling on the asphalt. As Tyrese was speeding away from the mall, Jake screamed in anger and watched as his best friend was being devoured by the hoard from the increasing distance.
Chapter 21
The remaining five took refuge in a small traditional home outside of the Fort Worth limits. Nobody wanted to risk being overrun at night. Jake, Tyrese, Brandon, Nick, and Malachi were already tired and stressed as it is.
Malachi pulled out a small C.B. radio and attempted to contact Fort Worth.
“Dallas to Zulu One, come in,” Malachi started.
There was no static on the other line.
“Zulu One, This is Dallas. We were overrun and had to relocate. Please come in.”
Malachi checked the radio and saw that it was badly damaged. Everyone decided to try and get some sleep throughout the remainder of the night.
It was hard for Jake to get some rest. The image of his best friend being mutilated kept playing over and over again in his head. He also kept thinking about how he never got to hear Cassandra’s voice, and wondered if she ever found out that he was still alive. He decided to sit beside a window and keep watch until he drifted off into sleep.
Morning came quick as the group packed their things and started driving on the interstate again.
“Guys, look,” Tyrese said as he pointed to a dark cloud of smoke.
“Distress signal?” Malachi asked.
“We don’t have the resources or the firepower to respond to it,” Jake answered. “I hate to say it, but our top priority right now is getting to base. We won’t be able to help them.”
As the group continued driving, the cloud of smoke grew larger and larger.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Jake replied. “Pull over. Brandon, I will need to see those binoculars.”
Tyrese pulled over to the side of the interstate, and Jake hopped out of the Hummer. Brandon handed Jake the binoculars, and he proceeded to look in them. After a few minutes of gazing at the cloud of smoke, a lump formed in Jake’s throat and his heart started pumping. He hurried back inside the Hummer and cocked his rifle.
“Drive, now!” Jake ordered.
Tyrese was confused. “Jake, what’s go-”
“Now!!”
Tyrese slammed on the gas and started driving off. Everyone was confused as to why Jake was suddenly white as a ghost.
“Chief,” Brandon started. “With all do respect, you need to tell me what the hell’s going on.”
“Everyone lock and load, now!”
“What is going on, Jake?!”
“Brandon, get ready to man the turret..”
“JAKE!!”
Jake stared at Brandon.
“What.. is going.. on.. Sir?!”
Jake started breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating.
“That smoke... in the distance....”
Jake’s voice was quivering.
“It’s the base.”
“Son of a...!”
Tyrese slammed his foot on the gas as hard as he could, and everyone armed themselves with the little ammo they had left. When they arrived, Tyrese rammed through the fence gate and Brandon started firing on zombies. Jake jumped out of the Hummer and started attacking like a wild animal. He was shooting zombies and furiously stabbing those that were nearby, frantically searching for any evidence as to where the survivors could be heading to, or if they were still alive. Brandon, Nick, Malachi, and Tyrese followed him, desperately trying to match his speed.
Pow! Pow Pow!
Pap! Pap! Pap!
Jake has been searching for five minutes for signs of life. As he aimed his pistol at another zombie, he paused. It was a standoff between him and the creature that stood twenty feet away from him. Jake slowly opened his mouth, gasping a huge gulp of air and started shaking when he saw the figure standing before him. It was a lifeless young woman, with curly black hair.
“Cassandra,” Jake stuttered.
Cassandra lightly growled and slowly staggered towards Jake. When the others arrived, they pointed their guns at the lifeless woman.
“Stop!” Jake shouted. “Stand down! Do not open fire! That is an order!”
Everyone stood in awe as Cassandra limped towards them. She began moaning lightly and stuck her arms out towards Jake, whose eyes began to water, dimming his vision.
“Jake,” Nick uttered. “We have to do it.”
“Then if anyone’s gonna do it, it’s gonna be me.”
As Cassandra inched closer, Jake dropped his weapon, pulled out his knife, and walked towards her. When the two were a few feet away from each other, Cassandra moaned and rushed to attack Jake. Jake ducked Cassandra’s swing and grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to the side. Cassandra struggled to break free, and moved her head all over the place in an attempt to bite him, but she was unable to. Jake placed the point of his knife behind Cassandra’s head, and started bawling up in tears.
“I love you,” Jake whispered.
Jake grunted as he drove the blade in the back of Cassandra’s head. He held her tightly as she slowly stopped moving. Jake turned her over and buried his head in her shoulder, sobbing warm tears on her cold skin. He then let out a blood-curling scream that could have been heard all over Fort Worth. He stayed kneeled in that spot, holding Cassandra for what seemed like hours.