J. Knoll - Zoe, Undead

Zoe shook her head.

"Are you sure," the woman pressed. "We need to know."

"I'm sure," the girl replied in a meek voice.

"You're awfully pale," the woman observed.

A thin man in black ZRT commando gear and brandishing an AK-47 approached and crouched down beside the woman, his eyes on Zoe as he pointed out, "She was in the middle of a whole mob of Zombies. Of course she's a little pale! What's your name, Kiddo?"

The girl's eyes shifted to him and she replied, "Zoe Rebecca Templeton." Her gaze darted back and forth between the man and the woman and she assured, "We're with the Zombie Response Team just like you guys are."

"We see that on your hat," the bearded fellow confirmed.

Zoe's head whipped around, her attention drawn to the power plant office building as the crack of gunfire ripped from it. Many more faint shots could be heard and she realized that many zombies had clearly gotten in by now, and that only about half of them had been killed outside. "Oh, no," she breathed. Looking back to the people in front of her, she desperately cried, "The other guys are still in there! We have to go help them!"

All of them looked toward the building.

"I don't hear anything," one of the men behind them said.

The woman stood, looking toward the plant. "I do, Dan. Something's going on in there."

Zoe pushed herself up and turned fully toward the brick building. "They don't have many bullets left." Wheeling back to the two people who had approached her, she cried, "We have to help! They have to keep the power plant working and… Please! We have to help! We can't let those zombies get them!"

The bearded fellow behind them raised his chin and reminded, "Well, that's what we came here for." Looking over his shoulder, he shouted, "Let's get the jeeps closer!"

Engines gunned and the machines turned to drive in two directions around the mass of zombie corpses that lay all over the parking lot.

Excitement raced through Zoe and she turned and darted toward the building, dodging around the many bodies of the fallen zombies.

Back inside, she drew her revolver and stopped about ten feet from the door. Gunfire erupted again in front of her and she raised her head.

The woman and three others ran up behind her, and the woman took her shoulder and ordered, "Slow down. We need to hit them as a team."

As Zoe turned, she saw one of the other men enter with the SAW in his arms, held ready to shoot. He had a cigarette in his mouth and puffed away before saying, "I smell zombie poon-tang."

Raising her brow, the woman half turned and asked, "Dan, are you sure that thing isn't too big to use in here?"

He winked and strode forward, puffing on his cigarette as he replied, "Every chick asks me that sooner or later, Morgan."

As they watched him advanced down the hallway, Zoe drew her head back and asked, "What does that mean?"

Her eyes sliding to the girl, Morgan answered, "Uh, that means he thinks he has a really big gun. Come on. Let's back your friends up."

Inside the generator room, the team was once again backed up against the generator safety rail and fighting for their lives. The zombies moved in relentlessly and every shot had to count. They were nearly out of ammunition.

The Corporal was the last one to fire, and when his weapon made an empty click, he dropped it and reached for his survival knife, shouting, "Hand to hand time, people."

Dan walked in and reached up to remove the cigarette from his mouth, then he shouted back, "You guys might want to get down." As they dropped to the floor, he smiled and put the cigarette back between his teeth, yelling, "Hey, zombies. Got something for ya!"

Half of them turned around.

Dan opened fire, aiming a little high as he slowly swept his weapon from one side to the other. Zombies fell as he moved his weapon and most of them turned to face him, only to be cut down as they did.

Zoe and the other three took up positions beside him and also began firing, and in short order the last zombie fell.

Slowly, the smoke began to clear. The mound of bodies was considerable.

Fearing for her friends, for her teammates, Zoe darted around the bodies of the zombies and found herself approaching Zachary first. She reached down to grab onto his arm and she helped him stand, looking into his face as she barked, "Are you okay?"

He nodded and met her eyes, then they both looked away from each other.

The rest of the team stood and faced the new zombie fighters who approached, and the Corporal extended his hand, greeting, "I'm Corporal Anderson, U. S. Army and Zombie Response Team."

Shaking his hand was one of the tall fellows who replied, "The name's Josh." He looked over his shoulder and introduced, "These nuts are Adrian, Donny, Dan and Morgan, our token chick."

Morgan stepped forward and punched Josh in the arm.

"The rest of the team's outside," Josh continued, "covering the entrance." He motioned with his head to the zombie girl. "Zoe here tells us you're looking to keep the power plant running. Doesn't look too defensible to me."

"We have reinforcements coming, "the Corporal assured.

"They seem a little late," Josh observed. "I have a few others outside watching the door. We're sure there are more zombies in the area."

"There are," Corporal Anderson confirmed grimly. "When the Strykers get back here I think we'll be able to hold them off a little better."

"Are they close by?" Dan asked.

The Corporal replied, "I'm hoping they're on their way." Looking to Dan's weapon, he asked, "Where did you get that?"

"Fort Hood," he replied, holding the weapon where it could be seen better. "When this thing started we were kind of hard up for weapons and ammo. Somebody suggested we hit up some of the local military bases to see if they'd help us out. When San Antonio got overrun, most of the non infected military people were on their way to Killeen where things were said to be a whole lot better, so we tagged along.

"When we got there we found Hummers and tanks and military guys all over the place. The zombies that got that far never had a chance. It kind of branched out from there, and we told the base commander who we were and that we wanted to help so he had someone take us to the armory and they hooked us up."

"Yeah," Adrian spat in a near angry tone. "But think of the damage we could have done with a tank. Why are they so stingy with those?"

Morgan sighed and turned her eyes down, shaking her head as she grumbled, "Would you just let it go?"

"Hey, Josh!" five radios called. "We have all kinds of company coming, and I'm not talking about company you'd want to spend the weekend with, I'm talking the brain eating unwanted kind."

Josh took his radio from his belt and asked, "How many?"

"Ass load," was the reply.

"Not good," Adrian mumbled.

"We're out of ammo," the Corporal informed.

"Don't worry," Morgan assured. "We can spare some."

Dan slapped the corporal's shoulder and said, "We'll set up at the door and mow 'em down as they come at us, that way your guys can work in here without somebody trying to eat them."

As the San Antonio ZRT turned and headed back out, Anderson pursued, protesting, "We need to funnel them in here, catch them in a group and—"

"And get eaten," Donny pointed out. "We like to catch them in the open and play lawn mower with the machine guns."

"Yeah," Dan urged. "Come on, guys. It'll be fun! Besides, my cigarettes are still in the jeep."

The corporal, two other soldiers, Zoe and Zachary caught up to them and followed in silence.

Dan's eyes slid to one side and focused on the woman soldier who had taken his side. "So," he began, "You seeing anybody?"

Slowly, she turned her attention to him, her brow tense and a disbelieving look on her face.