Shaun Harbinger - Lightning - Fighting the Living Dead

I went to the side window and looked out, pressing my forehead against the cold glass. Last night’s storm had passed. Through the mist and trees, I could just make out the road that led to Alpha Two. Trucks and personnel carriers were rolling along that road, all painted in drab olive green.

I grabbed the walkie-talkie and turned up the volume.

“Delta Two Five, this is Charlie Ten. We are setting up a perimeter around the location. What’s the situation there? Over.”

Sam sat up quickly. “What the fuck is that?’

“The army is here,” I said. “They must have seen the fire.”

“That’s all we need, man, the fucking army. What time is it?”

“Six thirty.”

He got up and stretched, moving over to the window to watch the trucks on the road. Tanya, Jax, and Colbert were also awake, and listening to the conversation coming from the walkie-talkie.

“Charlie Ten, we have a number of tangos around the building. We’re dealing with them now.” When Delta Two Five spoke, he had to shout to be heard over gunfire. A few seconds after his message had ended, the sound of that gunfire reached the camper van.

I heard a chopper overhead, then the message, “Delta Two Five, the bird is on its way to your location.”

“What are they doing here?” Colbert asked.

I shrugged. “The fire must have attracted their attention. They’d probably already known about site Alpha Two but left it alone. Last night, they must have seen the explosion. It lit up the sky for miles around. A fire at a government facility is something that interests them, I suppose.”

“Charlie Ten, copy that. We’ll wait for the breathing equipment before entering the building. We have a visual on the bird, and have marked a landing area within the compound. Tell the pilot to look for the flares located south of the building. Over.”

“Affirmative, Delta Two Five.”

“They’re going inside,” Jax said.

I nodded. “Big mistake. If Vess is still alive, they might as well ring a dinner bell before they go in.”

“He’s alive,” Sam said. “Alex’s stupid stunt might have wiped out most of the building, but Vess is still in there.”

“He was going to kill us,” I said. “I panicked.”

“We’re dead anyway, man.” He stared out of the window at the misty woods.

I cleared my throat. “That’s something we need to discuss. What’s going to happen tonight when we turn? I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t want to become a monster.” I looked at Doctor Colbert. “I’ll give you my gun later. When the time comes, will you do the right thing?”

She nodded grimly.

“Hart should be here tomorrow,” I told her. “Try and get the H1NZ1 to him.”

“Do you think he’s going to land here with the army crawling all over everything?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, “but we have to hope he will. He was willing to risk it when he thought the area might be full of zombies.”

“Zombies don’t have guns.”

“I don’t think the army will shoot at a helicopter from Site Alpha One,” Doctor Colbert said. “I’ll make sure he gets the H1NZ1.”

“Thanks,” I said. At least Lucy would be okay. Our mission to Alpha Two hadn’t been totally in vain.

The walkie-talkie crackled. “Charlie One, we’ve unloaded the breathing equipment from the bird. I’m sending a recon team of six men into the building now.”

“Affirmative, Delta Two Five.”

If Vess was still in there, those six soldiers were being sent to their deaths. I remembered how Vess had killed Johnny, tearing out his spine cruelly. I hoped the fire had destroyed Vess but, like Sam, I was sure that he was still alive.

A new voice came over the static. “This is Recon One. We are at the front entrance, standing by.”

Delta Two Five said, “Recon One, standby.” Then, a moment later, “Go.”

I heard a sound like a small explosion come over the airwaves, and then the recon team leader said, “Go, go, go.” It sounded like he had taped down the button on his walkie-talkie to give Delta Two Five a running commentary as they searched the building. I assumed the explosion I had heard was some sort of charge they had detonated to blow the main door.

A voice shouted, “Clear!”

“Reception area clear,” Recon One’s leader said. “Advancing to stairs.”

“Where are they going?” Colbert asked.

“Probably the second floor,” Tanya said. “They probably want to know what caused that explosion.”

“I can tell them that,” Sam said, pointing at me. “He’s right here.”

“Tangos on stairs. Engaging.” Bursts of gunfire and shouts of, “Tango down!” came over the static. The shouts sounded muffled by the breathing equipment the soldiers were wearing. It was about a minute before the firing stopped. A steady voice said, “Stairway clear. Proceeding.”

“It didn’t take them long to deal with those nasties on the stairs,” Sam said.

I nodded. “But now they’ve given away their location with all that noise. If Vess is still alive, he’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

“If he’s still alive,” Sam said, “blowing up the building was fucking pointless.”

“Entering level two,” Recon One’s leader said calmly. “Engaging tangos.” More gunfire erupted. We had seen a lot of zombies by the level two elevators, which was where the recon team would be standing now, but the zombies had probably moved when the fire started and the sprinklers kicked in.

It only took thirty seconds before we heard someone shout, “Clear!”

“Proceeding to east side of building,” the leader said. Then, “Holding position. What was that noise?”

A soldier said something I couldn’t hear.

“Check it out,” the leader said. Then into the walkie-talkie, he reported, “Investigating noise in air vent.”

Shouts and gunfire broke through the static. “Man down!” the leader shouted. “What the fuck was that?”

More shouts, more gunfire. “Fall back to stairs! It’s got Samuels! Oh, my God!” More shots were fired. I heard a man scream.

“It took his spine,” the leader said in disbelief. His breathing sounded loud and close, even over the poor reception of the walkie-talkie. “Fall back!”

Another scream was followed by more shots. “Fuck!” Recon One’s leader breathed.

“It’s too fast,” a soldier shouted before he began screaming.

“Falling back,” the leader whispered. “They’ve all gone. It took my men.” I could hear his labored breathing as he fled down the stairs, then a low growl coming from somewhere close to him.

The last thing the Recon One leader said was, “No! Please!”

Then there was nothing more but the hiss of static.

I looked at the others. Colbert’s face had gone pale, her eyes fixed on the walkie-talkie. Tanya’s eyes held their usual cold look, and I wondered if she was thinking that blowing up the servers had not only killed us, but also these soldiers. They probably wouldn’t be here if not for the explosion. Jax was sitting quietly, her eyes bloodshot. I wondered if she still felt ill.

Sam looked at me and raised his eyebrow. “Well done, dude, you just killed six soldiers without even leaving the comfort of the van.”

“Leave him alone,” Jax said. “Alex did what he thought was best at the time. He couldn’t have known the army was going to come here and go into the building.”

“Thanks, Jax,” I said to her.

“It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. I need some air.” Tanya went to the side door of the van and opened it. She stepped outside.

“I need to stretch my legs,” I said. At that moment, I needed to be as far away from the others as possible. I couldn’t take any more of their accusing glances, especially not today.