J. Knoll - Zoe, Undead

Looking to the Stryker, she could see Tex staring at her, and she glanced at the bus behind it and motioned for the armored vehicle to move forward.

Morris nodded, then he looked to his driver and ordered, "Move us up about fifty feet." As the driver started the engine, he wheeled around and looked to the men behind him, ordering, "Get ready to get some. Zoe's out there alone and if anything starts to happen I want every moaner out there dropped. Just watch your fire and don't hit our friendly!"

Men nodded and weapons were loudly readied for action.

A few minutes later the first bus was full and she pulled the nozzle out, turning toward the second one. The fuel cap was not to be found and she turned and looked over the other bus. Swallowing hard, she realized that the filler cap was on the other side. As the first bus moved forward and the box truck pulled in behind it, she turned the cap off of its exposed fuel tank and set the nozzle in to fill it, then she turned to the other bus, trotting around to the window of the door. The driver could see her and she said loudly to him, "You put the gas in from the other side!"

He nodded and started the engine, and slowly the big bus began to back up.

By now, zombies had surrounded the Stryker and the first bus, and they began to push against them, some beating on them with their palms as if trying to force their way in.

This only increased Zoe's anxiety and her chest heaved as she drew horrified breaths into her. With trembling hands, she removed the nozzle from the truck and struggled to get the cap back on. She backed away as it roared to life and watched it roll slowly forward. Turning her attention to the second bus, she waited anxiously as it moved into position, then she fought her trembling hands to get the cap screwed off and insert the nozzle. As fuel began to pump into the tank, she looked to the other trucks and bus as the zombies began to mob all around them. It was a horrifying scene and the bus and truck were actually rocking back and forth as the zombies pushed against them. Others were climbing up onto the Stryker. They knew people were in there and were relentless in their efforts to get to them. Hearing glass break, she looked to the bus she was filling up, and a breath shrieked into her as she saw a zombie had climbed up onto one of the bus's tires and was reaching in through a broken window.

The last bus seemed to take forever to fill, but finally the pump clicked off and she grabbed the nozzle, pulling it out and turning the cap back on, then she turned and carefully put the nozzle back into place. When she turned to the waiting vehicles, she drew another gasp as she saw them rolling away from her. Trotting after them, she waved her hand and shouted, "Wait! Wait for me!"

The Stryker unexpectedly turned hard to the right onto another road. All of the zombies were following, many of them at a rather quick pace, some running, all of them moaning and some seemed to be yelling as they pursued their fleeing quarry.

"William!" she screamed as she watched the Stryker disappear behind a building. She stopped where she was and watched as the buses and truck, now in a single file line, continued their slow retreat from the gas station. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she begged in a whimper, "Don't leave me." Broken breaths entered her as the last bus grew smaller and smaller, still rocked by the attacking zombies, and more were coming from the buildings and alleys to join them. She was so distressed, so distraught that she did not hear the engine that approached from behind until it roared from less than fifty feet away.

Spinning around as she finally heard it, her field of vision filled with the image of the Stryker as it sped around the gas pumps in a hard turn, knocking a parked truck out of its way as it rampaged over the curb and back onto the road. Frozen where she was, she could only watch it come right at her like some charging beast from her worst nightmares. It veered to one side and the engine suddenly slowed, and the passenger door flew open when it was right beside her.

Hanging out of the Stryker and holding onto a handle on the side with one hand, Sergeant Morris held his other hand to the girl and shouted, "Come on, Princess!"

She took his hand, but his grip found her forearm and wrist and she was pulled from where she was standing and into the vehicle by this big, powerful man. Before she realized, she had settled across his lap and was looking down at the floorboard between the seats and the weapon that lay ready on it.

Tex swept his hand under her shins and bent her legs back, then he closed the door and shouted, "Go! Go! Go!"

The engine roared again and the Stryker charged forward, and Zoe fought to remain where she was and not tumble to the floor.

Looking over to the girl who was draped over the Sergeant's lap, the driver glanced out the windshield before turning his attention to Tex and asking, "So, you never thought about it, huh?"

"Would you shut the hell up and drive?" Sergeant Morris shouted.

Zoe looked up at the driver to see his attention now fully ahead of him, and he had a smile on his face. With her hands on the floor for balance, she asked through the bumpy ride, "Thought about what?" The Sergeant's hand slid around her shoulder, turned her and pulled her upright, and she found herself sitting neatly in his lap. Sliding a hand around his neck, she looked into his eyes and breathed, "I knew you wouldn't just leave me there."

He nodded and assured, "No way, Princess. Okay, I need you to get down and hand me my weapon, and you might want to cover your ears. It's about to get all kinds of loud in here."

With a nod, Zoe swung her feet down to the floorboard and between his, then she climbed down between the seats, took his weapon and handed it to him.

Tex took his weapon and aimed it out the window, then he looked over his shoulder and shouted to the men in the back, "Show time! Evans, get up to the Ma Deuce and watch your fire. Do not fire into the bus or trucks!"

"On it, Sarge!" one of the men assured.

Grasping the backs of the seats, Zoe rose up on her knees and could see they were nearly on top of the bus in the rear. Zombies had climbed all over it and others still gave chase and pounded it with their palms. Still more were attacking the truck and the first bus and she feared the worst as the buses and trucks began to slow.

Sergeant Morris took careful aim, then shouted, "Let 'em have it!"

The crack of weapons split through the confined interior of the Stryker and Zoe dropped back down and covered her ears. The sharp cracks and pops of M-16s and M-4s were joined by hellish blasts from the big .50 caliber machine guns on top of the attack vehicle. The noise was horrific and she could feel her senses overloading. She bent forward over her legs, tensing up little by little as the firefight continued. Something had escaped her that morning, some part of her morning ritual that had been forgotten, and here in this nightmare of ear splitting sounds she finally realized she had forgotten her medication in her rush to join the soldiers.

Her senses and emotions were on overload and she trembled and screamed against the noise that overwhelmed her.

It seemed to go on forever.

At some point, she could only hear the sound of the engine, felt the beast tremble as it rumbled down the deserted road. Slowly, she raised her head, her eyes wide as she glanced about, and she hesitantly lowered her hands from her ears.

Tex looked down to her and asked over the drone of the engine in a loud voice, "You okay, Princess?"

She just turned her eyes down and nodded.

"We're almost there, Kiddo," he assured.

"Okay," she acknowledged in a shaky voice.

They approached the school slowly and the buses and box truck held back a block as planned.