A week had passed since the Marines had first arrived at St. Laurence and secured the school and all the civilian survivors inside. Seven days and still no airlift had arrived. Two supply drops had been made by Chinook helicopters, and Joel had wondered why the big, double rotor helicopters hadn't just taken out loads of civilians each time, but the moment they had dropped their cargo, the aircraft had taken off and whisked off into the sky on some other errand. The horde of zombies had since reached the school but was locked securely outside the building.
The police guards had since been removed from the entrances after the zombies had failed to breach the blockades and everyone had pretty much settled into a routine of eating, sleeping, playing games, and doing whatever else they could to occupy their time. Many of the civilians had since found their way to the roof of the gym and enough attractive females would spend time sunning themselves to make watch duty a pleasure for the Marines.
And in the first two days of the seige, Joel had met with no less than a dozen old friends, and at least four former lovers who all happened to be in town for the summer when the outbreak had occurred. The meetings with his friends had been all happy, good times, while the meetings with his lovers had been somewhat mixed in their results. Not because they hated him, but because they all experienced a renewed interest in him. Joel had been without a girlfriend for his entire career in the Corps so far, and was somewhat bewildered as to what he should do with all this attention. Not to mention the fact that most every female ages 13 to 40 found the Marines an incredibly attractive commodity and made every attempt to flirt with or bed one of them. Even the ones who were married or had boyfriends.
Several of his men had gotten lucky already he knew, but some of the others were holding strong because of already being in relationships. And he himself tried desperately to direct the attention away from himself and keep focussed on his mission, which was to ensure the safety off all the civilians.
Joel was sitting on the north battlement looking out over the parking lot and towards the road at all the zombies when a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey there hot stuff..."
Kristine, Joel's steady girlfriend throughout sophomore year, sauntered up behind him. Joel cringed on the inside but kept his demeanor level.
"Uh, hi."
She took a seat next to him and proceeded to start an endless stream of small talk that kept Joel occupied for the better part of fifteen minutes. Joel felt as if he were about to lose his mind when the radio crackled to life.
"Mayday Mayday, is anyone out there?"
Joel abruptly jumped up from the battlement and ran to the radio setup that Johnson was manning.
"Attention unit, this is Romeo 1, who are you?"
"Romeo 1, this is Romeo 4, we're Delta Force out of Bragg. We are on the run with eight civies. We've got several wounded and those things are hot on us. Can you help us out?"
"That's a go. Where are you?"
"We are coming down Main Street, heading towards... County Mark."
"That's it, we are in St. Laurence High School right down Main. Keep coming and we'll be on the left side of the street. Now we'll be outside waiting for you, and we'll have to take you up to the roof because we're pretty much surrounded by zombies out here. Do you copy?"
"That's a roger Romeo 1, I see the school now. But I don't see you."
"I see you Delta, we'll be coming to you in a minute."
Joel stood up from the radio strapping his vest shut.
"Hansen! Get your team up, I need you to distract this mob down here, we gotta rescue a Delta squad. They're coming down Main. Hansen your men rope down the side here and occupy the zombies, but don't hit the ground. Stay up while we go and get Delta. Copy?"
"Yes sir. Knox, give Sarge long range cover. Gregory and Baker, you're with me on the lines, lets move!"
Joel didn't wait for Hansen to finish giving his team orders and sprung into motion. He began setting his rappelling line above the lower section of the school roof that lead all the way to Main Street. The rest of his team followed suit and once they finished, they jumped over the edge of the roof and down the wall.
Simultaneously Hansen's team was slowly moving down the wall above the hoard of zombies yelling and screaming getting their attention. They all gradually began moving away from the street and towards the gym. Minutes later the entire zombie horde was concentrated outside of the gyms main doors trying to break in and vainly reaching up to the suspended Marines.
Joel and his team were running along the school roof towards Main Street and saw the approaching the Delta squad and civilians. Several were limping badly or clutching wounds.
"Double time it Marines."
The Delta squad saw the running Marines and headed towards the end of the building, leading their civilian charges along. Once they reached the school, they began boosting up the civilians to the roof one at a time. They made painstakingly slow progress because some of the people were injured, and others were in too bad shape to easily reach the roof. After a few painstaking minutes, the entire group was safely up on the roof. Joel extended his hand to the lead Delta operator.
"Gunnery Sergeant Joel Roscord, 1st squad Marine Force Recon."
The operator smiled warmly and shook the offered hand.
"First Sergeant Carlos Lobos, Army Delta Force. Thanks for the rescue. Do you have any sort of medical supplies here, because some of these people are hurt pretty bad."
Joel responded loudly at first, "We certainly do, we'll get your people squared away once we get back to the gym." Then he whispered so only the Sergeant would hear, "Are any of these people infected, because if they are, we can't let them stay here as horrible as it sounds, because there are a couple hundred other civies in there who I have to protect."
The Sergeant nodded grimly and said, "That young man over there, with the blonde hair," he then indicated a young blonde man wish a gash on his arm. "He was cut up by one of those things. Now as the briefings went, he'll only turn into one of those things when he dies, but they also said that the disease slowly kills the person, then turns them if their wounds aren't critical enough."
Joel nodded and began directing everyone towards the gym.
"What do you want to do with him? I can take him to a secluded room and put him down without anyone knowing."
Lobos shook his dead slowly.
"No, I'll do it. He was my charge, it's my responsibility."
"Ok, we'll I'll lead you to the room, just bring him over now."
Lobos whistled and got the young man's attention.
"Hey Charlie, come over here, the Gunny here would like to take a look at your wound, he has some medical supplies below that should be able to help you."
Joel nodded curtly at the young man and motioned them to follow him. They followed the rest of the people to the school roof entrance and all dropped in, but when Joel's Marines lead the survivors and Delta to the gym, Joel lead Carlos and Charlie into the school to the other side of the building. They went down some winding passages to an below ground locker room, farthest from the gym and other people. Then Carlos began to explain to Charlie.
"Charlie you were bitten by one of those things right?"
"Yes, it cut up my arm pretty bad."
"Now you know how this all happens?"
"No, what are those things."
"Well the best I can explain it to ya, they're zombies. They come back from the dead to feed on the living, and when they don't completely eat their prey, which almost always happens, that person comes back as a zombie too. You weren't eaten, and you aren't dead yet, but they spread some sort of disease, and it's going to kill you Charlie. Pretty damn soon you will get sick and die, and then come back as one of those zombies, and right now there isn't a damn thing we can do to stop it. Do you understand me?"
Charlie looked lost and confused, and far too young to be in this situation.
"Charlie do you understand me?"
He slowly nodded his head yes as tears began to form in his eyes.
"Now we can offer you two options. One we can put you down right here, or two we can let you take your chances outside. We cannot let you inside with these other people though. Now it's your choice, so decide Charlie."
Charlie thought quietly for a few minutes. Joel and Carlos did not wish to rush him, so they stood there silently, waiting for his answer. Then, Charlie wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Carlos.
"I want you to kill me. I don't want to come back as one of those things and hurt other people. So I want you to kill me now."
Carlos nodded his head.
"We'll shoot you in the head Charlie, so that you won't become a zombie. You won't come back and hurt people. This is what you want?"
Charlie nodded yes again, fresh tears welling up in his eyes.
"Ok Charlie. Go stand facing that wall. I won't count or anything, I'll just do it. Understand?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Charlie you are an incredibly brave man, and I'm sorry this had to happen to you."
Charlie nodded and went and stood next to the white tile wall.
Carlos clicked the safety off of his M-4 and sighted on the back of Charlie's head. He inhaled then exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger. A single round tore through Charlie's skull and blood and brain splattered all over the wall. Charlie's body hung there for a moment, as if not realizing it was dead, then crumpled to the floor. A pool of blood spread silently across the tiles and slipped into a drain.
Joel and Carlos stood silently for a few moments longer before Joel spoke up.
"We can burn the body outside. Do you want to tell the rest of those civies that Charlie is dead? I don't know if any of them knew him."
"No, it's ok. Charlie had already told me that his family was already dead. We had found him alone and brought him along. He was all alone."
They were still staring at the body when Joel's squad radio crackled.
"Gunny, you'd best get back here, the zombies are pounding against the gym doors even harder now, and it looks like they might give."
"Copy, get everyone up and into the inner gym. Secure those doors and strengthen that barricade. But if they break through pull back into the gym."
"Yes sir."
Joel and Carlos sprung into a run, leaving Charlie's body there for now and headed back towards the gym. As they ran through the halls and closer to the main gym entrance doors they could hear the pounding of the zombies as well as they're undead moans. They reached the doors and found Hansen and six other Marines along with the Delta squad and police there, all weapons trained on the doors.
"Sir, Baker and Knox are up top with the heavy weapons and explosives ready to take out the mob, but we're afraid to use them because we might destroy the barricades."
"We'll we might as well because it seems like they're going to be destroyed anyway. Everyone clear out of this hall, Sergeant McNimire! I need you and your officers to get everyone out of the gym and up on the roof. That's the safest place for them to be right now. If we can't hold this area, then they'll be safe up there."
"Right away sir."
The police left and began herding all the civilians left in the gym up to the roof to join those already up there. Then the Marines and Delta went into the gym and secured the inner doors and prepared to repel the zombies attack.
"Baker, Knox, you read me?"
The two Marines responded over the radio, "Loud and clear Sarge, what do you want us to do?"
"Use frags and clear this mob out. The inner doors are secure and you are clear to blow them to kingdom come. I don't want any of these zombies still standing."
"Copy loud and clear Sarge."
Moments later, the loud bangs of the antipersonnel grenades could be heard through the walls of the gym as they blew the zombies outside to pieces.
Baker and Knox watched from above as zombie body parts flew everywhere and blood and gore covered the sidewalk and parking lot in front of the gym. Thirty seconds and ten frag grenades later, the zombie horde no longer existed. Only blood stains and body parts remained as evidence that anything ever used to be there.
The Marines and Delta Force from the gym then joined everyone on the roof and surveyed the carnage. Buzzing conversation filled the rooftop and everyone seemed to settle down again after the near scare when a thought hit Joel.
"Say Sergeant, why are you guys in this Grid? This was our sector to clear, and we only found one person on our way to here."
"Well things aren't going so well Gunny. We were in Grid G and it had seemed clear, then this massive horde came out of nowhere and blocked off our exit. We couldn't get back to our Humvees and had to run. Then it seemed Grids J and C were completely overrun too, and hordes of zombies came from there and attack us as well. We could only go in this direction, and we were damn lucky to find you guys. If all those zombies keep going the way they were, they should be here sometime soon."
"Damn, well I don't know how much longer we can hold out here against and even bigger zombie crowd. We need evac and airlift ASAP but C&C doesn't seem to be able to route the choppers here. They always got something else to do."
"I believe it. We called in just for a small med-evac chopper and got denied. It seems the only things the choppers are doing is bringing troops in. Just the other day two more battalions of the 101st airborne were brought into the area. One to C&C and the other to that stadium safe point."
Just then, the sound of helicopter rotors filled they're ears. A Blackhawk appeared over the horizon and approached the school. It then hovered above the gym roof and the crewchiefs signaled from the side windows that they needed a clearing. The Marines and Delta then ushered the civilians out of the way and cleared a spot on the roof for the helicopter to land. Four army medics jumped out and were reporting to Joel when a commotion broke out.
Bunse had a knife to Julie's throat and was using her as a hostage to get to the chopper. Several police officers had pulled their pistols on him but he was using her as a shield and slowly backing up into the chopper.
"Stay back, stay away or I swear I'll kill her right here. I'll slit her throat!"
Joel and the others immediately drew their weapons and moved to intercept Bunse but he saw them and pressed the knife close to her neck.
"Stop right there hero! If you come one step closer, or if any of you Special Forces dingoes try any shit with me, I'll kill her!"
Bunse continued into the chopper with Julie still shielding him.
"I'm getting out of here and none of you can stop me."
Once he got on the chopper he motion for the pilots to take off. The pilot looked at Joel and shook his head. The chopper lifted off and swung into the air to the north. Inside, Bunse relieved a crew chief of his pistol and pressed that against Julie's head while telling the pilots to take him to a safe zone away from the outbreak.
During this time, Bunse let his grip on Julie ease somewhat, and she elbowed him in the gut and sprung away. The two crew chiefs jumped him and attempted to wrestle away the pistol, but Bunse struggled and the gun went off, once, twice, three times. One of the stray shots struck something vital in the roof of the helicopter and a high pitch whine issued from the engines. Master Warning lights lit up on the control panels as smoke began to plume from the exhausts.
The pilots struggled to regain control of the aircraft but it began losing altitude. It spiraled out of control, lower and lower before finally crash landing into the Walmart parking lot across Main Street. And right into the path of an approaching zombie horde.
The police guards had since been removed from the entrances after the zombies had failed to breach the blockades and everyone had pretty much settled into a routine of eating, sleeping, playing games, and doing whatever else they could to occupy their time. Many of the civilians had since found their way to the roof of the gym and enough attractive females would spend time sunning themselves to make watch duty a pleasure for the Marines.
And in the first two days of the seige, Joel had met with no less than a dozen old friends, and at least four former lovers who all happened to be in town for the summer when the outbreak had occurred. The meetings with his friends had been all happy, good times, while the meetings with his lovers had been somewhat mixed in their results. Not because they hated him, but because they all experienced a renewed interest in him. Joel had been without a girlfriend for his entire career in the Corps so far, and was somewhat bewildered as to what he should do with all this attention. Not to mention the fact that most every female ages 13 to 40 found the Marines an incredibly attractive commodity and made every attempt to flirt with or bed one of them. Even the ones who were married or had boyfriends.
Several of his men had gotten lucky already he knew, but some of the others were holding strong because of already being in relationships. And he himself tried desperately to direct the attention away from himself and keep focussed on his mission, which was to ensure the safety off all the civilians.
Joel was sitting on the north battlement looking out over the parking lot and towards the road at all the zombies when a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey there hot stuff..."
Kristine, Joel's steady girlfriend throughout sophomore year, sauntered up behind him. Joel cringed on the inside but kept his demeanor level.
"Uh, hi."
She took a seat next to him and proceeded to start an endless stream of small talk that kept Joel occupied for the better part of fifteen minutes. Joel felt as if he were about to lose his mind when the radio crackled to life.
"Mayday Mayday, is anyone out there?"
Joel abruptly jumped up from the battlement and ran to the radio setup that Johnson was manning.
"Attention unit, this is Romeo 1, who are you?"
"Romeo 1, this is Romeo 4, we're Delta Force out of Bragg. We are on the run with eight civies. We've got several wounded and those things are hot on us. Can you help us out?"
"That's a go. Where are you?"
"We are coming down Main Street, heading towards... County Mark."
"That's it, we are in St. Laurence High School right down Main. Keep coming and we'll be on the left side of the street. Now we'll be outside waiting for you, and we'll have to take you up to the roof because we're pretty much surrounded by zombies out here. Do you copy?"
"That's a roger Romeo 1, I see the school now. But I don't see you."
"I see you Delta, we'll be coming to you in a minute."
Joel stood up from the radio strapping his vest shut.
"Hansen! Get your team up, I need you to distract this mob down here, we gotta rescue a Delta squad. They're coming down Main. Hansen your men rope down the side here and occupy the zombies, but don't hit the ground. Stay up while we go and get Delta. Copy?"
"Yes sir. Knox, give Sarge long range cover. Gregory and Baker, you're with me on the lines, lets move!"
Joel didn't wait for Hansen to finish giving his team orders and sprung into motion. He began setting his rappelling line above the lower section of the school roof that lead all the way to Main Street. The rest of his team followed suit and once they finished, they jumped over the edge of the roof and down the wall.
Simultaneously Hansen's team was slowly moving down the wall above the hoard of zombies yelling and screaming getting their attention. They all gradually began moving away from the street and towards the gym. Minutes later the entire zombie horde was concentrated outside of the gyms main doors trying to break in and vainly reaching up to the suspended Marines.
Joel and his team were running along the school roof towards Main Street and saw the approaching the Delta squad and civilians. Several were limping badly or clutching wounds.
"Double time it Marines."
The Delta squad saw the running Marines and headed towards the end of the building, leading their civilian charges along. Once they reached the school, they began boosting up the civilians to the roof one at a time. They made painstakingly slow progress because some of the people were injured, and others were in too bad shape to easily reach the roof. After a few painstaking minutes, the entire group was safely up on the roof. Joel extended his hand to the lead Delta operator.
"Gunnery Sergeant Joel Roscord, 1st squad Marine Force Recon."
The operator smiled warmly and shook the offered hand.
"First Sergeant Carlos Lobos, Army Delta Force. Thanks for the rescue. Do you have any sort of medical supplies here, because some of these people are hurt pretty bad."
Joel responded loudly at first, "We certainly do, we'll get your people squared away once we get back to the gym." Then he whispered so only the Sergeant would hear, "Are any of these people infected, because if they are, we can't let them stay here as horrible as it sounds, because there are a couple hundred other civies in there who I have to protect."
The Sergeant nodded grimly and said, "That young man over there, with the blonde hair," he then indicated a young blonde man wish a gash on his arm. "He was cut up by one of those things. Now as the briefings went, he'll only turn into one of those things when he dies, but they also said that the disease slowly kills the person, then turns them if their wounds aren't critical enough."
Joel nodded and began directing everyone towards the gym.
"What do you want to do with him? I can take him to a secluded room and put him down without anyone knowing."
Lobos shook his dead slowly.
"No, I'll do it. He was my charge, it's my responsibility."
"Ok, we'll I'll lead you to the room, just bring him over now."
Lobos whistled and got the young man's attention.
"Hey Charlie, come over here, the Gunny here would like to take a look at your wound, he has some medical supplies below that should be able to help you."
Joel nodded curtly at the young man and motioned them to follow him. They followed the rest of the people to the school roof entrance and all dropped in, but when Joel's Marines lead the survivors and Delta to the gym, Joel lead Carlos and Charlie into the school to the other side of the building. They went down some winding passages to an below ground locker room, farthest from the gym and other people. Then Carlos began to explain to Charlie.
"Charlie you were bitten by one of those things right?"
"Yes, it cut up my arm pretty bad."
"Now you know how this all happens?"
"No, what are those things."
"Well the best I can explain it to ya, they're zombies. They come back from the dead to feed on the living, and when they don't completely eat their prey, which almost always happens, that person comes back as a zombie too. You weren't eaten, and you aren't dead yet, but they spread some sort of disease, and it's going to kill you Charlie. Pretty damn soon you will get sick and die, and then come back as one of those zombies, and right now there isn't a damn thing we can do to stop it. Do you understand me?"
Charlie looked lost and confused, and far too young to be in this situation.
"Charlie do you understand me?"
He slowly nodded his head yes as tears began to form in his eyes.
"Now we can offer you two options. One we can put you down right here, or two we can let you take your chances outside. We cannot let you inside with these other people though. Now it's your choice, so decide Charlie."
Charlie thought quietly for a few minutes. Joel and Carlos did not wish to rush him, so they stood there silently, waiting for his answer. Then, Charlie wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Carlos.
"I want you to kill me. I don't want to come back as one of those things and hurt other people. So I want you to kill me now."
Carlos nodded his head.
"We'll shoot you in the head Charlie, so that you won't become a zombie. You won't come back and hurt people. This is what you want?"
Charlie nodded yes again, fresh tears welling up in his eyes.
"Ok Charlie. Go stand facing that wall. I won't count or anything, I'll just do it. Understand?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Charlie you are an incredibly brave man, and I'm sorry this had to happen to you."
Charlie nodded and went and stood next to the white tile wall.
Carlos clicked the safety off of his M-4 and sighted on the back of Charlie's head. He inhaled then exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger. A single round tore through Charlie's skull and blood and brain splattered all over the wall. Charlie's body hung there for a moment, as if not realizing it was dead, then crumpled to the floor. A pool of blood spread silently across the tiles and slipped into a drain.
Joel and Carlos stood silently for a few moments longer before Joel spoke up.
"We can burn the body outside. Do you want to tell the rest of those civies that Charlie is dead? I don't know if any of them knew him."
"No, it's ok. Charlie had already told me that his family was already dead. We had found him alone and brought him along. He was all alone."
They were still staring at the body when Joel's squad radio crackled.
"Gunny, you'd best get back here, the zombies are pounding against the gym doors even harder now, and it looks like they might give."
"Copy, get everyone up and into the inner gym. Secure those doors and strengthen that barricade. But if they break through pull back into the gym."
"Yes sir."
Joel and Carlos sprung into a run, leaving Charlie's body there for now and headed back towards the gym. As they ran through the halls and closer to the main gym entrance doors they could hear the pounding of the zombies as well as they're undead moans. They reached the doors and found Hansen and six other Marines along with the Delta squad and police there, all weapons trained on the doors.
"Sir, Baker and Knox are up top with the heavy weapons and explosives ready to take out the mob, but we're afraid to use them because we might destroy the barricades."
"We'll we might as well because it seems like they're going to be destroyed anyway. Everyone clear out of this hall, Sergeant McNimire! I need you and your officers to get everyone out of the gym and up on the roof. That's the safest place for them to be right now. If we can't hold this area, then they'll be safe up there."
"Right away sir."
The police left and began herding all the civilians left in the gym up to the roof to join those already up there. Then the Marines and Delta went into the gym and secured the inner doors and prepared to repel the zombies attack.
"Baker, Knox, you read me?"
The two Marines responded over the radio, "Loud and clear Sarge, what do you want us to do?"
"Use frags and clear this mob out. The inner doors are secure and you are clear to blow them to kingdom come. I don't want any of these zombies still standing."
"Copy loud and clear Sarge."
Moments later, the loud bangs of the antipersonnel grenades could be heard through the walls of the gym as they blew the zombies outside to pieces.
Baker and Knox watched from above as zombie body parts flew everywhere and blood and gore covered the sidewalk and parking lot in front of the gym. Thirty seconds and ten frag grenades later, the zombie horde no longer existed. Only blood stains and body parts remained as evidence that anything ever used to be there.
The Marines and Delta Force from the gym then joined everyone on the roof and surveyed the carnage. Buzzing conversation filled the rooftop and everyone seemed to settle down again after the near scare when a thought hit Joel.
"Say Sergeant, why are you guys in this Grid? This was our sector to clear, and we only found one person on our way to here."
"Well things aren't going so well Gunny. We were in Grid G and it had seemed clear, then this massive horde came out of nowhere and blocked off our exit. We couldn't get back to our Humvees and had to run. Then it seemed Grids J and C were completely overrun too, and hordes of zombies came from there and attack us as well. We could only go in this direction, and we were damn lucky to find you guys. If all those zombies keep going the way they were, they should be here sometime soon."
"Damn, well I don't know how much longer we can hold out here against and even bigger zombie crowd. We need evac and airlift ASAP but C&C doesn't seem to be able to route the choppers here. They always got something else to do."
"I believe it. We called in just for a small med-evac chopper and got denied. It seems the only things the choppers are doing is bringing troops in. Just the other day two more battalions of the 101st airborne were brought into the area. One to C&C and the other to that stadium safe point."
Just then, the sound of helicopter rotors filled they're ears. A Blackhawk appeared over the horizon and approached the school. It then hovered above the gym roof and the crewchiefs signaled from the side windows that they needed a clearing. The Marines and Delta then ushered the civilians out of the way and cleared a spot on the roof for the helicopter to land. Four army medics jumped out and were reporting to Joel when a commotion broke out.
Bunse had a knife to Julie's throat and was using her as a hostage to get to the chopper. Several police officers had pulled their pistols on him but he was using her as a shield and slowly backing up into the chopper.
"Stay back, stay away or I swear I'll kill her right here. I'll slit her throat!"
Joel and the others immediately drew their weapons and moved to intercept Bunse but he saw them and pressed the knife close to her neck.
"Stop right there hero! If you come one step closer, or if any of you Special Forces dingoes try any shit with me, I'll kill her!"
Bunse continued into the chopper with Julie still shielding him.
"I'm getting out of here and none of you can stop me."
Once he got on the chopper he motion for the pilots to take off. The pilot looked at Joel and shook his head. The chopper lifted off and swung into the air to the north. Inside, Bunse relieved a crew chief of his pistol and pressed that against Julie's head while telling the pilots to take him to a safe zone away from the outbreak.
During this time, Bunse let his grip on Julie ease somewhat, and she elbowed him in the gut and sprung away. The two crew chiefs jumped him and attempted to wrestle away the pistol, but Bunse struggled and the gun went off, once, twice, three times. One of the stray shots struck something vital in the roof of the helicopter and a high pitch whine issued from the engines. Master Warning lights lit up on the control panels as smoke began to plume from the exhausts.
The pilots struggled to regain control of the aircraft but it began losing altitude. It spiraled out of control, lower and lower before finally crash landing into the Walmart parking lot across Main Street. And right into the path of an approaching zombie horde.