I reached the end of the line, but five more were coming, trying to help their fallen friend. As sad as it was, there just wasn’t time and I rushed up and told them so. One began to argue, and I announced loud enough for all of them to hear that I had no problem leaving stragglers behind to save the greater number, then turned and ran back to the front of the line. That’s when gunfire erupted from the upper windows of the mansion. I could feel the ground around me being torn up. I also heard screams.
I yelled, trying to be heard above the sudden cacophony, and told any who could hear to follow me. I found the trail and grabbed the first woman to reach me. I told her to stay on this trail no matter what, and turn right when she reached the train tracks. “Go through the tunnel and into the zoo,” I said. I instructed them to avoid any zombies as best they could and grab anything they could find as a weapon if it presented itself. They needed to find the primate exhibit and hide in there, somebody would be along to find them as soon as possible. If not, there was a map to Sunset Fortress hidden in the empty orangutan exhibit inside the tire swing. If nobody showed up by morning, they should run for it. That was all I had time for, I could hear guns blazing back at the mansion. There was more work to do.
I ran back, passing more than a couple of bodies on my way. The shooting had shifted focus to the front of the mansion. That would be Kenny, Shandra, Rodney, and Darla. I’d just reached the fence when Jenifer and Jonathan arrived. “Move!” Jonathan said, pushing me through the gap. I remember hearing them. I’d been so focused on the firefight at the mansion, that it actually surprised me when those moans registered in my conscious. And then the smell hit. A moment later, the leading edge of a wall of undead poured out of the woods. I couldn’t really see any details, or, maybe my mind simply won’t let me bring that scrap of memory out.
The three of us ran, leading the horde through the fence. Of course they congested quickly, and it spread them out further, but that was okay. The plan was working; we’d brought a few hundred expendable soldiers to the fight. If the folks out front could keep things busy, we could bring these pieces into play.
We stayed close to the fence, avoiding the light. After feeling like we’d put enough space between us and the zombies, we stopped and unslung our small knapsacks. If Jeff did his job, phase two would happen any moment.
We each had a set of night-vision goggles. They were precious and had been saved for the attack because we’d needed to conserve their power. There was a small explosion, and then, darkness. It was all falling into a nice, neat, orderly series of events. I remember feeling almost giddy. So many much simpler plans had fallen apart in the last year. This was a major operation, and it was happening with all of our “Best-Case Scenario” pos-sibilities.
Staying low, we started forward again, each of us tasked with an area of the mansion to watch. Surely they wouldn’t just abandon the rear of the mansion just because all the action was now in front. I saw the first flash from the top left window. Something whistled past my face and I dropped. I should’ve returned fire, but reflex was to seek cover.
Jenifer was beside me, saying my name, then...she cried out and fell. Thinking I was shot and turning to help me earned her a bullet in the back. The memory is hazy here, but I remember getting to my knees, aiming into that black rectangle and firing off three or four rounds from my pistol, then rolling Jenifer onto her back. She cried out, and I could see a dark splotch at her left shoulder.
Jonathan and I pulled her to her feet and moved towards the mansion. I saw some flashes through the windows. There was a shootout happening inside. That wasn’t part of the plan. Nothing had been said about going into the main part of that huge place. My mission to the basement had been the only excursion inside, and that had been based on observation. We were confident that none of The Genesis Brotherhood stayed down there. Jenifer shrugged us off, insisting she could walk. She carried a Beretta in her right hand.
Twice, Jonathan broke off to double-back and take out a few of the closer zombies. We were leading them to the mansion. Only, we had to stay under cover as much as possible, using trees and bushes as we closed the distance to the back doors. Avoiding bullets, luring zombies. It was madness.
We were halfway there when two different doors burst open. One was up a small flight of stairs. Somebody stepped out and fired a flare up in the air. All of us pulled our goggles off, the backyard was now bathed in a blue-white light. Then a second flare was fired. Jenifer and I saw her at the same time. Dominique was on that small landing with three other women and two men. We barely got behind the base of a marble statue as the automatic weapons’ fire opened up. We saw several of the zombies dance and jerk as bullets tore into their bodies with no real effect. A few took head shots, toppling back into the horde, but not enough for it to matter.
We waited for a lull and came out firing a quick volley. I saw one person fall. Then they opened up on us again. A few of the zombies were closing in, and we had no choice but to reload and then take them out. Trying to stand and use a hand-to-hand weapon would earn us a bullet in the back.
I can’t believe we’d forgotten about the creepers. Jonathan was on the right, closest to the fence. His scream caught both me and Jenifer by surprise. One of those damned things had come
under
the fence. Who knows if it’d been in the cage or simply drawn by the noise. I remember the look on Jonathan’s face. The pain was there, but it was the sadness that broke my heart. He yanked his arm away, and even in the shadows, I could see dark liquid dripping from the tip of his elbow.
Two more flares lit up the sky and I could see the creeper lying beside Jonathan. He’d smashed its head with his handgun. Jenifer was babbling that he still might be okay. It wasn’t certain that he’d been infected.
“
But it’s likely,” was all he said. Then he got up. The group on the porch had ceased their barrage for a moment. Jonathan took the offensive. Before Jenifer or I could say a word, he stepped out and took off for the mansion, firing from both hands.
Jenifer jumped up, and before I knew it, I was on her heels chasing after Jonathan. It was stupid. They opened up on the big man. We saw a couple of them go down, and a couple more ducked back in that door they’d come out of. Still, an M-16 is death. Several are overkill. I’d never thought the term “cut in half” was real when referring to guns. But that’s exactly what they did to Jonathan.
I grabbed Jenifer, she’d stopped cold in her tracks, my survival instinct had re-awakened. The fence was several yards to our left, but there were a couple of trees close by to use as cover for a moment. Jenifer wanted to struggle, but I’d not really paid attention and grabbed her left arm...the side she’d been shot. That sorta prompted her to follow me.
We got behind cover, the ground erupting right where my feet’d been just seconds before. I don’t know who was holding who, both of us sobbing. Then I heard
her
voice. It was nails on the chalkboard.
“
Mer-e-dith!” she sing-songed. There was a twisted and maniacal glee in her voice. How could a twelve-year-old girl morph into this angry, evil child I was hearing?
“
Did I kill your latest lover?” she called. “Poor Meredith. Can’t keep a man alive, can you?”
“
What the hell is your problem?” Jenifer pulled away from me and screamed. “Meredith risked her life to save you, and
this
is how you act!”
“
Jenifer,” Dominique laughed. “Are you still mad at me because the boys liked me better?”
“
Liked
?” Jenifer yelled. “They raped us! Are you that crazy? Or that stupid?”
“
Only the first time,” Dominique giggled.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This delusional little girl had no idea. How off-center did somebody have to be to confuse love with rape? I struggled in my mind for a moment with the idea of killing Dominique. Jonathan’s death wiped the struggle away. Taking a deep breath, I ducked low—a trick Jeff and Rodney taught me—and came around, firing where I remembered seeing that group. I only got off four shots, one of which hit before I had to duck back to avoid a new burst of automatic weapons’ fire.
We were out of time at this location. The zombies were on us again and we had to move. I told Jenifer I would try to give her enough cover and join her in a moment. Dominique was still taunting and ranting. I ignored most of it, but one thing jumped out of one of her statements.
“
...and if the
undead
would’ve gotten the two of you in that building the day after you left me all by myself, then none of your new friends would be dying today—”
“
Bitch,
” I swore and came around firing. This time I had two pistols in my hands. It was enough to make them scatter good. Jenifer ran for it, and, when my weapons emptied, I followed. I knew I wasn’t in direct danger from the zombies yet, and as I neared the fence, I considered my choices: carefully go under or through the fence like Jenifer; or go over it. I had a good running start. Gauging my chances, I saw the post in the flicker of the latest round of flares that were being fired every minute it seemed. I would plant my hands and vault. Everything worked until I felt something punch me in the back—really hard.
The impact pushed me over and my hands lost their purchase. My controlled vault became an awkward, flying sprawl. The next explosion of pain was my left leg. I don’t remember hitting the ground. I don’t remember the other two bullets catching me in mid-air. One blew off my pinky on my left hand, the other went through the meat next to the base of my neck. Doctor Gene says that one would’ve been lethal a centimeter left and up.
I don’t know who saved me. I haven’t seen anybody from our team. Nobody will tell me a thing because Mean Doctor Gene doesn’t want me upset. Doesn’t he realize that the not knowing part is what will have me upset until I get answers. I know somebody saved me. Was it one of my group? Did Jenifer make it, too? They hit me, did she catch some of that lead, too?
I WANT ANSWERS!
Sunday, May 24
I saw Jeff this morning! It was so good to know for certain that somebody else made it out. He came in a wheelchair pushed by some girl I’ve never seen before who scurried out like she was afraid I’d attack her. I mean serious gun shy stuff.
Jeff rolled up beside me and his first words were, “Still got my watch?” I waved my wrist and told him he could have it back the day he could physically take it. Then we laughed until both of us had to stop because of the pain.
He said he’d been sworn to secrecy by Doctor Gene not to say anything, but that he’d been kept in the dark, too. He only knows of one other person in our group that made it and that supposedly we were both going to be told tonight. That’s what I’m waiting for now. I’m writing...stopping every time I hear footsteps at the door.
There was something else I could see in Jeff’s eyes. Something he’s not telling me. I have no idea what it is, but I can tell. Jeff has always been an eye-contact kinda guy. You know, the one who locks gazes and doesn’t blink or flinch. After a while, you start to feel like a bug under a microscope. Well...he looked at his lap a lot in the thirty or so minutes he was in my room.
I did find out a few things. After we split, Jeff made it into the mansion through a window on the ground floor. He found a room full of children and four women who were taking care of them. He rescued seven of the nineteen children. He’d had to kill each of the women. One of them doused her body with kerosene and lit herself on fire. Apparently she’d doused several children as well.
That’s something I’ve never understood about these so-called Christians. And trust me, I got nothing against people who go to church and do the whole “Praise Jesus!” thing. It’s these fringe types. The ones who don’t believe that they can exist without building a private compound away from society. The ones who would rather burn their world to the ground and give cyanide-laced beverages to children. That’s not Christian...that’s crazy. Contrary to some beliefs, the two are not one in the same.
Voices! Footsteps!
Monday, May 25
Jenifer, Rodney, and Shandra are here! Rodney is almost scratch-free. Shandra is worse than Rodney only in that she has a sprained ankle. Jenifer is in bad shape. We all were allowed in to see her, but through a tent of some sort. Basically she’s in a bubble. She’s burned badly. Doctor Gene says almost fifty-percent of her body.
Most of the power in the Mitchell house is being used to keep things running that help Jenifer. She is in a room (Doctor Gene had some fancy name for it) where the air is constantly being blown out. It’s as germ-free as they can manage, but she is at a huge risk for infection for a while.
Here’s what I know:
She pulled me into the woods after I was shot. Jeff showed up to find her trying to bandage me and plug all the holes. For no training he’d been surprised at how well she’d done. (I think Snoe taught her some tricks way back when.) He took over and let Jenifer tell him everything that had happened. The whole time they were talking and bandaging me up, the mansion was starting to really catch. Flames were visible on the upper levels.
They were ready to move me when a five-person team came running at them. Jenifer and Jeff opened fire. These people hadn’t been running at them as much as away from the mansion. They dropped three in a hurry. The other two split and ran. Jenifer screamed a name. (I asked Jeff if it was Dominique. He was pretty sure it was.) She took off, sliding under the fence and running after the girl. Jeff didn’t want to abandon me, but he didn’t want to just let Jenifer go alone. He decided he had to get me out of there. He saw her disappear into the burning house after who we are now pretty certain was Dominique.