Urban Zombie Invasion
Part 4
by
Jordan Screws
(Age: 22)
copyright 06-07-2007
Age Rating: 10 to 127
"What day was it?" I found myself wondering. It had been days since a zombie outbreak hit my city, turning normal citizens into flesh-eating terrors. Three of my friends died on the way to "safety"... wherever that was. I barely made it to the mall ahead of a horde of those things. Fortunately, I met some people that were still human and had the same goal as I did: survival.
Veronica and I were on the roof, watching the zombies slowly shamble towards the mall, which seemed to be the last bastion of humanity in the entire city. Bill, Dexter and Clint were busy lugging some supplies and establishing the beginnings of barricades. Bill had made it clear that should the zombies break in, we were to hold them for as long as possible before retreating to the rooftop. What we did from there was unknown to me, but it beat watching death shamble my way. Did Bill expect a helicopter to rescue us, were we supposed to fight to the end there, or was there another plan?
"Bill knows what he's doing. It may seem like we're preparing our burial grounds, but when the time comes he will have another plan." Veronica said to me.
"I certainly hope so. I didn't come all this way to snuff it at the mall." I added.
"Heh heh heh... me neither..." added Dexter.
"I wonder if anyone else is still alive in this place?" Bill asked to no one in particular.
"Good question... there's an Army Reserve center in town, but they're a good bit off from here. If anyone made it, they have to be there!" I answered.
Looking me in the face, Bill grabbed my shoulders and asked "Are you serious? There's an Army Reserve center here?"
"Yes there is. Unfortunately it's far from here and I don't know if the zombies have taken over that area or if it's clear." I replied without taking my eyes off of him.
"Great! But why do you say you don't know if it's clear?"
"The thing is... it's located near an elementary school and a housing project."
"That makes sense..." Dexter continued. "If there are people there zombies may be around too. Bill, should we try to go there anyway?"
"It may be risky. And I'm not risking only my life. I have you four to look after!" Bill answered with a frown.
"At any rate, it beats waiting to die here. Do they have a helipad there?" Clint asked.
"Not that I know of. But I did see some trucks and armored personnel carriers." I said.
"How do you know this?" Veronica inquired.
"I've been by there quite a few times. Mainly driving by on visits to my grandparents who live in another county. And the vehicles aren't exactly concealed either..." I replied with a sly grin.
"Speaking of vehicles... what's that?" Dexter asked as he pointed at a speck in the distance. He was pointing towards Wal-Mart, in particular the parking lot.
"Let me see..." Bill said as he pulled out a pair of binoculars from a box he had set down.
Scanning the horizon like the captain of a ship with his spyglass, Bill looked about hurriedly. By then we were all straining to see the speck. What could it be? And were there humans around?
As if to answer, there was an ear-piercing blast and a miniature orange mushroom cloud. It seemed like a gas tank had blown up, but who, or what, could have caused the blast?
"Bill, can you see anything?" Veronica asked anxiously.
"Nothing. Too much smoke." came the terse reply.
Suddenly Bill's voice rose in pitch as he shouted "Wait! I see six people running from the blast! And it looks like they're armed!"
Finally, there were more people! When Bill announced that, we were all chafing with impatience. We had to help them... but how?
"Do we have any sniper rifles to cover them with?" I asked.
"Not a one." Bill replied.
"...Do we have any scopes to attach to Dexter and Clint's assault rifles?" Veronica questioned.
"I have mine, but Clint lost his in the scramble to get in the mall." Dexter answered.
"Always the organized one..." Clint muttered.
"Good. But can you hit the zombies at this distance?" Bill asked apprehensively.
"I think I can manage. All I need to do is put my rifle on single shot mode... ready to go!" Dexter announced as he flipped the setting switch above the trigger guard.
"OK Dexter. Don't let us down. Clint, Veronica, Jordan and myself will go down and help them get in." Bill announced in a rapid manner.
"What do I do? I'm not the most athletic..." I spoke up.
"We can still use you. You and Veronica guard the door we unlock. Keep those zombies from getting in, even if you have to lock us out! Got that?" Bill asked in an authoritative voice.
"Yes sir..." I answered with a slight wavering in my voice.
"Alright. Veronica, give him something better than a shotgun. He needs something that can fire quickly and holds a lot of rounds. Do we have anything like that with us?" Bill asked.
"I think we do. Help me out Clint!" Veronica barked.
The two of them began frantically searching for the weapon Bill spoke of. Meanwhile Dexter began firing single shots at the distant zombies while Bill practically danced with impatience to get going. After two frantic minutes of digging about Veronica pulled out an odd-looking gun.
"Is this it Bill?" she asked as she held it aloft.
"That's the one! It's a... a... blast... FN-something..." He started.
"An FN-P90 submachine gun?" I finished.
"Yeah! Wait... how did you know?" He asked.
"Can that wait sir?" I asked respectfully.
"Of course... Clint and I had better get going pronto!" Bill spouted as he and Clint started a fast jog to the ground floor.
Veronica handed me the weapon, ten clips and said "These clips hold 50 rounds each, and you've got ten. If you need more, I'll carry about five more. Remember to shout for them before grabbing for them. Otherwise I'll assume anyone behind me is a zombie... and we don't need friendly fire now, do we?" she asked with a smile.
"Of course..." I replied while wiping sweat from my forehead.
"Good. Here you go! Now follow me!" she shouted as she dashed off.
Gripping my newly acquired weapon, I struggled to keep pace as Veronica ran towards one of the hallways leading to the outside. She was hot on the heels of Bill and Clint when she dashed through the open door and began firing her automatic shotgun. Picking up speed, I literally ran into the door and knocked it open, it smacking a zombie that was perilously close to Veronica. Dispatching it with a single shot from my pistol, I holstered it and brought the submachine gun up to my shoulder.
Aiming through the scope, I aimed for the head and began firing single shots. Some hit in the head, while others hit the shoulders of zombies stumbling towards us. Veronica's shotgun roared with a deafening BOOM behind me as I kept picking off shambling targets. Eight shots rang out from her weapon, then the click of an empty chamber.
"I'm out of ammo! Cover me!" Veronica shouted above my submachine gun bursts.
Stepping in front of her, I loosed a three-round burst that punctured a female zombie's skull and neck. My own weapon out of ammo, I took out the clip and pulled a new one from my pocket. I heard clanks as Veronica pushed each shotgun shell into the magazine, then a pump as Veronica said "Ready!"
Twirling around back behind her, I resumed carefully controlled fire, but sometimes I accidentally let off burst fire instead of single shots, spraying random areas in the crowd of zombies. A head here, a chest there... I had a natural motor skill problem, but the tension of being slowly surrounded by zombies only compounded it.
"C'mon Bill... hurry up!" Veronica shouted.
A burst and a zombie would fall down... we were taking zombies down, but there seemed to be no end to them. It was like a fairground shooting gallery, but it was no fun at all because the targets could eat us if they got close enough.
"Out of ammo!" Veronica screamed.
"On it!" I said as I twirled in front of her and fired a swift burst.
At that point, I was down to five reserve clips. I spent ammo faster than I would have liked to, but when fighting for one's life, doctrinal niceties like ammo conservation fall by the wayside. The thick mob kept coming and coming, and Veronica and I kept shooting them as they came. Finally, I heard a clattering sound as Veronica dropped her SPAS-12 and pulled her .45 pistol and began firing.
"Do we have any more shotgun ammo?" I asked her.
"Oh yeah, but we can't leave to get it now! Bill and Clint are relying on us to hold this area!" she shouted over the din of my weapon fire.
Pressing our backs together and sidestepping in a circle, the two of us dealt death all around us, but it seemed like we were dancing an endless waltz with flesh-eating creatures as our partners. I had a zombie head firmly in the scope and was pulling the trigger when I heard a muffled click . I pulled the trigger again and again but it refused to fire.
"I think it's jammed!" I shouted.
"Great... do you have another weapon?" She asked.
"A 9mm pistol!" I said as I pulled it out and began firing.
Deftly slinging the jammed weapon on my shoulder, I fired my pistol single-handed as I tightened the sling strap around my right shoulder. That being done, I resumed a double-handed firing stance just as I ran out of ammo. Pulling out another clip, I pushed the magazine release and slammed in the new magazine. Aiming carefully at the head, I let an approaching male zombie have it between the eyes. As it slumped over, it tripped the zombies behind it.
"Great... Bill, hurry up!" I shouted.
As if to answer me, the door behind me was kicked open with a resounding WHUMP and Dexter screeched "Bill and Clint are coming this way!"
Hearing him fire bursts from his rifle, I started firing on the tripped zombies crawling towards me. I hit two in the head and a third in the shoulder, then fired again into the head. I was firing on a fourth one when I felt a tug on my left foot. I looked down to find one trying to gnaw my leg!
"Get... OFF!" I shouted as I started firing into its back while simultaneously kicking my leg in an effort to dislodge it.
"Lemme get that..." Dexter said as he jammed the barrel to his rifle into the back of its head and fired. The ghoul slumped onto the bloodstained ground as it let go of my foot. Fortunately I had not been bitten, but it was close. My foot was covered in blood and rotten flesh, but that was not the problem: the greater danger was having my foot accidentally shot by Dexter!
"Thanks!" I gestured with a thumbs-up.
He returned with a salute and resumed fire. Something gripped my left shoulder, and fearing the worst, I spun around and came face to face... with Bill! He pointed towards the door and opened it, ushering the six people and Clint inside. Then Veronica and Dexter scrambled inside as Bill and I covered the door.
"Follow me!" Bill shouted as he ran in. Turning around to fire parting shots as I ran to the door, a zombie grabbed my pistol and tried to pull me towards him. Reflexively releasing it, I literally dove through the doorway as Bill rushed and locked it again, then a rush of people started to hurriedly make a barricade.
Trembling once again, I shuddered as I recalled my recent experience of being grabbed twice by those things. I had danced close to the fire and had no intention of doing that again if I could help it.
"Hey Jordan... nice job." Bill sighed with relief.
"Thanks, but I lost my pistol before I got in." I replied.
"Don't sweat it. We can afford to lose a gun before we can a life." he said warmly as he patted my right shoulder.
"Yeah... you saved my butt back there!" Veronica added.
"Thanks..." I said with an obvious quake in my voice.
"...Not exactly nerves of steel, eh?" I continued.
"It's not easy for anyone to keep calm in a disaster, especially someone without military training like you!" Dexter said as he wiped his glasses and cleaned his scope.
"Yeah... you're right. I guess I can do it when the situation calls for it." I sighed.
The six people we had rescued were standing about, not quite sure what to make of me. They all wore camouflage uniforms similar to Clint and Dexter and had a motley assortment of weapons. I counted one sniper rifle, two submachine guns, a shotgun, and two assault rifles.
A man holding a submachine gun appeared to be in charge because the others looked to him and awaited an order. He was a man about Bill's age with blond hair and green eyes and looked to be about 6'0". He stepped forward to speak with a methodical stroll that could come from the late George S. Patton himself.
"I am Colonel Walter B. Thompson. I was on a patrol with my unit when we were ambushed by those things."
A woman with an assault rifle said "I am Second Lieutenant Alexandra R. Kerry. We were in our armored personnel carrier and were in a parking lot when we were forced to abandon it."
She had long red hair, green eyes, and a ready smile. She looked to be 5'7" and wore what appeared to be night-vision goggles on her head.
A tall, burly man holding a sniper rifle stepped forward and bellowed "I'm Master Sergeant James Spencer but people call me Jimmy." he said as he extended his hand towards Bill, then went down the row until he shook my hand. When we shook hands, he almost broke it with his powerful grip.
"Hahahahaha! You seem like a good guy, but what are you doing with that submachine gun, sonny? You're a civilian!" Jimmy asked.
"He used it to watch my backside out there!" Veronica stepped forward and said.
"Really now? That's mighty brave of you, son." the giant said as he patted my shoulder.
Spencer had short black hair, a black mustache and blue eyes. He was 6'3" and had fairly large hands. Anyone would be intimidated by his appearance, but he had a disarming nature that would put anyone at ease. He seemed to be easygoing and relaxed as he dealt with others, unlike the uptight Colonel.
"Hey Jimmy, are you gonna jaw at the boy all day, or can I get a turn?" a slender man holding a shotgun said as he stepped forward.
"Hey there... my name's Corporal Anthony P. Carmichael.
Just call me Tony. Nice to meetcha!" he said as he thrust his hand forth. I took it and was met with the same vice grip that Jimmy had. He shook it like he was working an old-fashioned water pump, and I thought my arm was going to break.
Tony had brown hair, green eyes and stood about 5'8" tall. He also wore a black beret and had sunglasses in his front jacket pocket. He seemed to be a fellow much like Jimmy: laid-back and friendly towards everyone he dealt with. I was intrigued by this fellow, but another one stepped forth to introduce himself.
"Jack M. Kaiser, Private First Class." a tall, muscular man brandishing an assault rifle said. He had blond hair, piercing blue eyes and was about 6'0". He wore a maroon beret, and he also had a long, thin scar running down his left cheek. I noticed dried blood on it and some on the rest of his face.
He noticed my look and said "Got it in the accident. You may have seen the blast."
"What happened?" I asked.
Suddenly a woman with a Red Cross armband and submachine gun walked over to Jack and started treating his scar. As she did, she introduced herself.
"Private Cassandra W. Winchester, company medic. Our APC broke down and we had stored some explosives in it when those things started climbing on board. The six of us managed to escape, but three of the others inside didn't make it. It seems one of them triggered the grenades and plastic explosives and set off the vehicle. PFC Kaiser caught some shrapnel across the face, but the damage is superficial. Should heal in no time."
Second Lieutenant Kerry was quite a sight herself, but Private Winchester was an otherworldly beauty. She had long blond hair, blue eyes that seemed to glow, and was about 5'4" tall. She was slender and graceful, someone that would be more at home in a Raphael painting or a beauty pageant, anywhere but in the military. It seemed like she was so delicate and fragile, but she had the appearance that she not survived this long by genteel behavior.
"When that APC exploded, it went... maybe carrying those explosives was a bad idea." remarked PFC Kaiser.
"Speaking of munitions, how much ammo have we?" Colonel Thompson asked.
"With what we each have in our backpacks, we have enough for eight days, or about six firefights per man a day." replied Second Lieutenant Kerry.
"Good, good..." mused the Colonel.
"Hey Bill, what are we going to do now that reinforcements have arrived? Do you want to keep preparing the rooftop defenses?" Veronica asked.
"Even though we have six new people, all of them military, we still need to prepare an escape if need be." Bill mused.
"That's true, sir, but how will we get past those things?" Jimmy asked.
"We can't just ask them to step aside, now can we?" Tony said as he pumped his shotgun.
"Please, enough with the macho posturing Tony!" Kerry said with a grin.
"We will deal with that all in good time, people. Now let us inspect those rooftop defenses you spoke of, William." Colonel Thompson said dryly.
"The name's Bill." Bill remarked with a firm voice as he led the procession to the roof.
It was nightfall when the Colonel finished his inspection tour of our makeshift rooftop fortress of stacked crates and overturned tables. It was not an impenetrable bunker, but it was all we could do with five people. Now we had eleven... maybe now we could do a bit better. However, the advent of nightfall halted any fortification plans we had. Now was the time to sleep... or at least try to.
"It's 11:00 p.m. Second Lieutenant Kerry and Master Sergeant Spencer will take first watch. Then Private First Class Kaiser and Private Winchester will take over. Four-hour shifts, by the book. That is all." Colonel Thompson said.
"Yes sir." replied Kerry.
"Yessir." answered Spencer.
"You've got it." answered Kaiser.
"Affirmative, sir." replied Winchester.
"Dismissed!" barked the Colonel.
And with that, the day ended. A hair-raising fight against the undead gained our five-man crew six new members. They were all military, but whether that would be an asset or liability remained to be seen. As for me, I felt relieved that six new people that could help us defend our "home" were rescued. For once sleep came easily, and I fell asleep in one hour instead of three.
"I hope we can all get through this ordeal alive..." I thought as I drifted off to sleep.
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Excellent story! A little confusing in a few parts, but thats ok:) I really liked it! All the action kept me reading till the end, there is never a boring moment! I am heading off to read the 5th chapter;) Keep up the good work!!!
So, I admit, I didn't read parts 2 and 3 [Actually, I might have read 2... meh] but I remember what happens in the beginning, so I won't make any story-line based comments. I'll leave that for another day. I still need to read Darkness 3, so I can get to 4.
One thing that struck me in the beginning, was the ellipses in "Three of my friends died on the way to "safety"... wherever that was."
I've been taught, and seen in the books I've read that the punctuation that follows quotation marks are usually within the quotation marks. I'm not sure if it applies with ellipses, too... I'll look into that. It's going to bug me if I don't ^-^;;
Even if I didn't read the first part, the opening paragraph was perfect for summing up the theme of the story.
Ok, it's stickler time. Bear with me...
"...he will have another plan." Veronica said to me."
I mentioned this to Mike as well, with ending dialogue and then using ___ said, or he said and such. Whenever *I* see a period at the end of dialogue, I use a full stop. I suggest using a comma. Also, it's going to come up again very soon, to use a comma when you go right into dialogue from descrip. or whatever.
Example:
"Looking me in the face, Bill grabbed my shoulders and asked "Are you serious? There's an Army Reserve center here?""
Comma after 'asked.' If you read it out loud, you naturally put a pause there, to kinda shift the voice over, even though you blatantly tell there's going to be a shift.
Remember the commas in concern with dialogue.
""If there are people there, there might be zombies too"
I think you need to put a comma after zombies. It's the whole 'too' thing. I've always seen it following a comma, and in rare occasions where it hasn't. "...zombies, too"
""Let me see..." Bill said as he pulled out a pair of binoculars from a boxed he had set down."
Boxed = box, I believe.
I can't help but think if that movie I saw with my mom... Dawn of the Dead, or Living Dead, or whatever. I'm giggling a little XD
Ooooh, you were doing SO well with the exclamation marks! I found one rogue one that seemed out of place:
"As it slumped over, it tripped the zombies behind it!"
Here, too:
"I looked down to find one trying to gnaw my leg!"
Now with the zombie trying to eat his leg there, wouldn't he have gotten blood and such on his foot or leg, or at least spray from the shot?
Another exclamation mark thing:
"Turning around to fire parting shots as I ran to the door, a zombie grabbed my pistol!"
Usually when you take a break in dialogue to add some small descrip, like here: ""Thanks..." I said with an obvious quake in my voice.
"...Not exactly nerves of steel, eh?" I continued. "
It can all go on one line.
""Thanks..." I said with an obvious quake in my voice. "...Not exactly nerves of steel, eh?" I continued."
Comma thing here before dialogue and after as well:
"A tall, burly man holding a sniper rifle stepped forward and bellowed "I'm Master Sergeant James Spencer, but people call me Jimmy.""
Forgotten opening quotation mark here:
"Just call me Tony. Nice to meetcha!""
Comma thing:
"He noticed my look and said "Got in in the accident. You may have seen the blast.""
LOL! I laughed at the pimped shotgun.
That was a very good read! I enjoyed this part a lot. Maybe it's my slow, new found love for zombies and seeing their heads explode, or even reading about it. Great job, Jordan! You kept my attention! :p
Woo-hoo! First comment! You said you were half done around 10:30, so you were probably up until three finishing it. :p Well, one at least. Did the word count bite you in the ass? I'm still waiting for my ass to heal after how many times it has bitten me...it's 9:52 AM, and I couldn't think of a more original way to start my day. :D Hmmm...I'm the first comment too. (h) 8)
Your knowledge with guns is quite interesting. :p I still wonder what your friends would think about being killed off in the first chapter... Aww, already halfway though...hey! I see HTML! *pats on the head* You mastered it at twenty, and I mastered it at eleven. Can I pick on you now? :p Although with all the gun play in my book, Past Alive which I'm editing it wouldn't hurt to know a little more about the names. -.-
I'm up to the zombie attack, and you're overusing, "a --- here, a --- there", because you've used it in two paragraphs in a row. Listing different things, but it's a little awkward sounding. Although, you are using less exclamation points in normal paragraphs.
Random: Meh said she has never seen a person with green eyes, and my reply was, "...Yet you saw a demon clown with red eyes back in Pakistan...?" Random: I've lost count of how many people you're introducing...at least your descriptions are up to par. I also like how you're saying "shotguns" and "submachine guns" rather than their full name all the time, for like I mentioned in previous comments not many people have that deep a knowledge of the proper names.
Errr...how does a person "pimp" a shotgun? -.- I know what the word means, just not how it could be relevant to a shotgun.......................although if I read the next line before typing that I might of had a slightly better understanding of what you meant...
Alright! Now that I've finished this, I'll give an overview of my thoughts the entire thing:
Good work on less caps and more HTML, along with adding descriptions without going overboard. A few days ago I was noticing that half the authors of PnP write for PnP, and do spaces between paragraphs, don't indent, and others like myself simply write as you see in normal books, without open lines between the paragraphs and that sort.
I also like how you're making this feel more like a book in the sense the entries are set up as chapters rather than large chunks of a divided story, like you previously had it. However, that also means more updating on your part to keep the readers interested and...able to remember what's going on. I was re-reading your other U.Z.I.s after you said this was the one you're going to work on to get up to speed again, but not everybody will want to do that.
You know, you seem to procrastinate on things for months yet write your continuations in a few hours. :p Anyway, great work on this one! Let's try to get the next U.Z.I. up this year, okay? :p
Your friend,
Leigh AKA Sailor Saturn Plushie With a Butcher Knife of the Commenting Community
(that little picture I made with the plushie does look a little demented...XD)
Welcome !
