J. Knoll - Zoe, Undead

"Where are we going?" Zoe asked innocently.

"Roof," was his reply. "We haven't found any gear your size, but the Colonel thought it might be a good idea to train you in firearms use. We've set up a range up there for target practice, since we know the adjacent building is empty and we won't hit anyone over there.

She glanced at him again. "Um, Daddy always told me I shouldn't be playing with guns."

A slight smile touched his mouth and he informed, "You won't be playing up there, Kiddo. We also found a weapon in that sporting goods store that will suit you perfectly."

What could Zoe do but giggle?

The weapon they found for her was a snub nose, nickel plated revolver with pink grips and a pink cylinder, pink sights and a pink hammer and trigger. She held it loosely and with an apprehensive grip as she turned it over and over, shaking her head the whole time."

"What do you think, Princess?" Sergeant Morris asked with a smile.

She squealed back, "It's so pink!"

"Thought you might like it," he assured. "Okay, noob, for safety's sake we've cleared everyone off of here so that you can get the feel of this thing without any danger of anyone else getting hit." He looked beyond them, beyond roof vents, solar panels and the like to the other end of the roof about fifty feet away where targets were hanging from a wire that was stretched between two poles, one an antenna, and he pointed to them and asked, "Do you think you can hit the one in the middle?"

With a shrug, Zoe admitted, "I don't know. I'll try."

As she held the weapon up and took aim, he reminded, "Just like I showed you when we first got here. Put the sights right under the bull's eye and squeeze the trigger."

Zoe leaned her head slightly, looking over the sights with one eye closed as she lined the weapon up on the target. Slowly, she squeezed her hand as she had been shown and the hammer of the revolver retreated back, then slammed home with an empty click. She flinched when it happened, then looked to the gun before observing, "I don't think there are any bullets in here."

"There aren't," he confirmed. "I just wanted you to get used to the feel of the weapon. Try it again."

He had her pull the trigger on the empty revolver a few more times before her stopped her and commended, "Good. How's it feel?" She responded with a nod and he gently took it from her, opened the cylinder and reached into his pocket. "We're going to start you with thirty-eights. In the field you'll use three fifty sevens, but for now let's see how you do with these." He had the weapon loaded in seconds, closed the cylinder and handed it back to her, grips first.

Zoe took it carefully. Knowing that it was now loaded seemed to change things and she handled it with an apprehensive touch.

Tex produced earmuffs and slipped them over her head, closing them gently around her ears as he loudly said, "This will keep your ears from ringing later. Take a couple of shots. The targets are twenty-five feet away, about the range you'll be shooting."

She nodded and looked to the first target, the one in the middle. Raising the weapon as she had before, she took careful aim. When she squeezed the trigger, the weapon made a horrible pop and there was a bright flash and billowing smoke, and she barked a scream as she backed up a step. Looking hesitantly up at the Sergeant, she waited for his judgment, and saw him staring at the target, and nodded.

"Not bad," he praised. "Looks like you scored a head shot. Try it again."

Just hearing his praise sent a surge of confidence into her and she raised the weapon again, aiming and squeezing the trigger as before, then again, and again. She hit the target every time, and each time was a small triumph that made her feel more and more confidence, and she giggled like a giddy little girl as soon as her sixth and last shot was fired. Looking up at the Sergeant, she squealed, "This is fun!"

He smiled and patted her shoulder. "That's good to hear, Princess." He took the weapon from her and opened the cylinder, dumping out the spent brass before he reached into another pocket. "Okay, let's try you with the big boys." He reloaded the weapon and handed it to her as he had before. As she took it, he pointed to the right of the targets where a cinder block was set up on its end. "There's your target. These rounds will kick a little more and they're going to be a lot louder, but they do a lot more damage, which comes in handy when you're in a firefight." He backed up a step and ordered, "Take it out."

As before, she took careful aim and fired the weapon, and this time the crack was much louder, the flash more intense and the kick rolled the weapon all the way over her shoulder. Wide eyed, she watched in amazement as the top right corner of the cinder block exploded and the whole thing rocked and almost tipped over. With her mouth hanging open, she looked up at Tex with awe beaming from her face.

He smiled at her and informed, "You need to finish it off."

When he motioned with his head to the block, she took aim again and fired a second shot, then a third. Her fourth shot destroyed what was left and she laughed as she lowered the weapon, her eyes on the rubble she had left.

Tex grasped her shoulder and pointed to the targets, shouting, "They're coming! Take 'em out! Quick!"

She raised the gun again and fired her last two shots quickly, one of which hit the center target.

"Nice," he commended with a nod. "Dump that brass. You'll reload yourself, then I'll show you the speed loader."

They fired off many more rounds, and each time she seemed to get better, more confident. Morris drew his own sidearm, a black, semi-automatic and the two of them seemed to enjoy a time of target shooting.

About twenty minutes later, as they were reloading, Sergeant Morris' radio beeped and Colonel Halstead's voice summoned, "Sergeant, come in."

Raising it to his mouth, Tex replied, "Sergeant Morris here. Go ahead, Colonel."

"I need you and Private Princess in the staff room five minutes ago," Halstead ordered.

"On our way, Sir," the Sergeant assured. Putting his radio back, he looked to the girl, then near the door where a table that had a variety of holsters, empty magazines and boxes of brass on it. He walked to the table with her on his heels and stopped there, selecting a holster for her revolver that he had put there for that purpose. "Okay, Princess. Let's get you fitted with this on the way down. Grab that belt."

They arrived in the conference room a few minutes later and Zoe was holding her head up as she proudly wore her pink revolver over her left hip. Her left hand rested on it and her right thumb was hooked in her belt, and she seemed to walk with a swagger that she had not before.

Colonel Halstead was already seated and looking over a couple of papers, and a map lay in front of him that looked like it had been quickly drawn by someone. The Captain and Lieutenant sat at his side, and all three looked up at what they were reading as the Sergeant and girl reached the table.

The Colonel raised his chin and announced, "We might actually have some good news for a change. We got a communication from the Pentagon. Turns out they're still in business over there. Also turns out that this war is going pretty well for a few other areas and we can expect reinforcements and resupply within a couple of weeks."

"From where?" the Sergeant asked apprehensively.

"You'll like this, Sergeant. It seems that Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Texas have all been declared secure."

"Hell, yeah," Tex said with a proud smile.

"Oo-rah," the Colonel added. "Texas is sending us three thousand regulars and about five thousand volunteers with armor, supplies and air power. We can also expect surgical air strikes from Nellis as well as four carriers that finally got home to help us out. Bad infested areas are likely to be naped or nuked, but for now our orders are to hold out here and secure as much of the city as possible." He glanced at Zoe and continued, "We need to remember that these aren't people anymore. The people they used to be are dead and gone, and what's left over is our enemy. We can't let a single one of these things get by us, and that means a building by building search and destroy program until we're done here. We are going to secure this city starting with a two mile radius from our main base of operations."