Timothy Long - Beyond the Barriers

I went to work, using every memory of training I had acquired over the years. Ground fighting was tough; one had to keep his balance and work the big muscles in the thighs.

His arm came up as I moved close. I nearly hovered over him. Smashing aside his strike, I drove my straightened fingers into his shoulder, then took a blow on my arm. Turning just in time, I jabbed fingertips at his eyes, almost making contact. He looked away long enough for me to get another strike in, but it brushed his ear, and another knuckle struck close by his nose. He retaliated with a snap punch to my gut. Not much power, but it rocked me back on my heels.

I fell on him and batted aside his hands as he reached for my throat. I weighed about as much as he did, but my hope was that he was as weak as I was.

He bucked his hips up with a grunt and tried to turn to the side. I gathered what I had and smashed his nose with my fist. This time it was a full blow that knocked his head into the dirt.

I didn’t stop. I went for his eyes, his throat, then slashed toward his temples, grabbed his hair and smashed his head into the ground. Then I hit him a few more times, even getting a throat strike in that hit his Adam’s apple and made him gag. Smashing his already pulped nose, I hit him one more time.

He stopped moving.

A gun opened up, and I ducked in fear, but one glance told me that Scott had come to his senses and was mowing down the zombies with a purpose. Thank God for Scott! I was going to hug the man if we got out of this alive.

They were everywhere. I hit Lee again and decided to just leave him for the dead to finish off. After diving for the truck, I scrambled around until I found the big handgun and came up shooting. Zombies were all around us, but I dropped a pair, even though they weren’t badly wounded.

“Shit shit shit!” I yelled as I made for the truck. The AK was on the floor, and when I picked it up, I caught a glimpse of the ghoul laying still, his eyes ablaze, and I swear he was smiling.

“Just shoot them!” Scott gave the gun a break.

I opened up with the Soviet weapon and dropped several, then I moved into the driver’s seat and tried to turn over the engine, but it would have none of that.

“The other truck!” Scott yelled.

“I won’t leave you!”

“Just go start the fucking thing and stop acting like a bitch. I got this.”

I had to grin as I tried to jump out, nearly falling to the ground in my beaten condition. I limped the short distance to the rear door of the military transport. It was open, thankfully, so I walked up the short ramp and into the warm confines.

Some of the seats were gone. In their place sat a bunch of cardboard boxes filled with all sorts of gear. I maneuvered past them and toward the front. I didn’t know anything about this particular transport, so I just hoped for the best.

The driver’s seat was hard as I sat down. It might have been cushioned at one time, but someone had ripped out the material and covered it with a blanket that smelled like horseshit.

There was an ignition button with a big smiley face sticker on the top. When I hit it, the vehicle roared to life. I looked all over the inside for a way to release the back door. That would explain the shots from the end of the road. But where were his other men? I was sure he wouldn’t have come alone.

I didn’t know a hell of a lot about the army’s newest transport. While it was top of the line, this one had an awful lot of gear removed. The gunner station was open on top, but a large weapon of some sort was attached. Tubes led down the hole to blue barrels on the floor. I would have expected a big M2 browning .50 machine gun or even a grenade launcher. Who knew where Lee’s men got the damn thing to begin with? It was a pretty scary world where weapons like this were just left for the taking.

The command station was also gutted, and none of the electronics were in place. Some variations of this vehicle had pretty sophisticated gear. This one had next to nothing left. Someone had left a plastic drink holder duct taped to a space where electronic readout equipment should have sat.

Scott came hobbling out of the truck, firing as he limped. I hit the side door and kicked it open.

“Here!” I screamed.

He made a beeline for me and slammed into the seat so hard he gasped. He tossed the gun in the back and slammed his door shut. We were safe, for now, as there was no way for the things to get in.

I pulled forward a few feet, jammed the gear in reverse and, with a rending screech, tore free of the beat-up Humvee.

We roared out of the camp and made for the open road. The ride was bumpy, and I felt around for straps or something to hold me in the seat. Before long, we hit pavement and I stopped the Humvee. He leaned back and breathed deep. The air probably tasted like the best champagne in the world.

“What a cluster fuck,” I muttered.

“We had it, man, but that asshole had to spoil things.”

I stared out the window at the road ahead. Trees had grown here, long and lean, and branches hung over the road, creating a canopy. A power wire had been pushed down.

“What was I thinking? Dragging you guys into this. Now Jack is dead.”

“We signed on to help. We knew the risks. It could just as easily have been me back there, dead, with half my fool head gone. But I’m alive, and so are you.”

I sighed.

“Look, man. It’s done and nothing can undo it. You gonna live with guilt your whole life, or are you going to channel it and make Jack’s death count for something? All the deaths, for that matter. We started this thing, so let’s figure out a way to finish it.”

“Are you crazy? I can barely move. Do you think we can just roll back in there with machine guns and shoot them all? We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Was he thinking about a suicide mission? I felt so miserable it almost appealed to me. But that would be a selfish way out. I owed it to Katherine to let her know I had survived. She would wonder for a long time, otherwise.

Scott crawled out of the chair and went in the back of the vehicle, climbed the small ladder, and poked his head out. He was up there for a while, fiddling with the weird gun. Then he dropped back down with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

“I have an idea.”

I stared at my bloody hands on the wheel of the vehicle. The knuckles on my right hand were bruised and torn. My left hand shook, and the pinky was bent at an odd angle. Probably broken.

“Erik, we have to go back anyway. The food and water is in the truck. Not to mention the ammo.”

I shook my head. I felt like I was coming out of a bad nightmare. “Yeah.”

“And the people still in the cages … Are we going to just leave them?”

Scott put his hand on my shoulder, and I looked back at him. His face was a bloody mess, and his hair was caked with dirt. We made a fine pair. I patted his hand like an affectionate uncle. He grinned and looked at the ladder. Following his gaze, I wondered what he had up his sleeve, and then he told me.

We roared into the camp the way we had left—like the devil himself was on our heels. This time we were bringing hell. I had wanted to destroy the base before, but now I would do it for real. Scott maneuvered next to the smashed Humvee. It was surrounded by the dead, but he rolled down his window and went to work with the AK-47.

I turned my unique gun on anything that moved. Scott had worked out the device. He followed the tubes to the blue barrels then back to the weapon. After messing with it, he discovered there was a tiny propane tank on the end that provided the spark. The barrel was nothing less than a flamethrower.

I turned the dial and let a little gas leak out. There was a sparker next to it. I clicked it a few times, and a blue flame appeared. The weapon had a couple of gauges on the side, so I messed with them until I had a good stream, then I triggered the gun. Fire leapt out and consumed the first pair of zombies near the side of the truck. They staggered away, now walking torches. I was hoping to set Lee on fire, but he was gone. They probably dragged his body back to feast on.