Chapter 10
In a nutshell
"We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we're going up against. By God, I do." -George S. Patton Jr.
"Ok, so in a nutshell we're all going to get trapped in here and starved out into the open if we don't make a move." Mason took a deep breath as he stared down the hall toward the LMV. "I don't know if you guys know this, but they're aiming to eat you and I'm pretty sure that having bites taken out of you when you're still alive isn't exactly "Super bowl Party fun." Are you getting that? If we don't break through this pack and do something about our situation, we're going to end up FUCKED!" Mason turned away from the group of men gathered at the Nurses Station and crossed his arms.
"We have to use your plan." Tyler shrugged; looking at the back of Mason's head. "Unless there's a bus-station closer." Tyler looked at Lance and Lance just shook his head.
"Basically all of the buses were being used as transports. I'd say most of them are parked out by the school since the Guard probably wasted them on sight. Otherwise, they're probably ditched randomly throughout the city. I can't say anything for certain. And the bus-station is farther down-town; pretty much cut-off. There are so many barricades in that area that I doubt you could even drive through without a dozer. The path to the school is littered with barricades too, but they aren't as clustered as the ones down-town. That's the best bet." Lance shrugged and shook his head depressingly. "That's my two-cents man."
"Okay," Mason huffed, "well that's that then. The shit-kicker is going to be driving through these fuckers. I don't know how much towing-power that LMV has, but running down a couple hundred of those assholes massed into a compact group can't be good for any vehicle."
"There's an emergency exit and the end of that hall." Lance pointed to the end of the hall with the opened door. "Its blocked by some stuff, but I don't think there's a lot of them trying to get in there. The wire-mesh-lined window was covered by a piece of card-board so they couldn't see in. You might be able to slip out that way and see if you can get them to move. I don't know."
"Nice." Mason nodded. "Lance, you're a God amongst men." Mason looked at Tyler. "We can pull what we pulled on the roof-top earlier; play them a little bit then let em' fuck off." Mason pointed at Tyler's tac-vest. "We don't have fucking time to talk about this. Give me your grenades." Tyler gave Mason his three grenades and Mason looked down the hall at the barricaded emergency-exit.
"All right," Mason took a deep breath, "Lance, you stay here and control the masses. Take the Mossberg and some ammo from Thompson." He pointed at Tyler. "Once they start moving, run them down man. It shouldn't take long if I start tossing grenades and shooting my gun off. Then spin by and pick me up. I'll stick close to that end of the building unless they chase me off and to be honest I'm not real worried about that."
"Right." Tyler said firmly with a nod. His balls were in his stomach.
"Ok." Mason huffed; looking at Aaron. "Wanna help me move that shit away from the door Aaron?"
Aaron and Mason darted down the equipment littered hall to the emergency exit and immediately they began pulling apart the haphazard barricade. It didn't sound like the door was being pounded on, but Mason wasn't going to be optimistic. He remembered the lessons learned so far. Look at the bright side, and the dark side would eat your liver.
They pushed away the last piece of Machinery and Mason took a deep breath. He looked at Aaron and shrugged. "Go hop in with Tyler, man. I got this." Aaron nodded and took off down the other end of the hall. This was going to be a shit-storm and a half. He lifted the piece of cardboard and grunted happily.
The area wasn't clear, but there were only nine or ten close enough to be trouble. Had he only had a pistol he'd be a slight more worried. That wasn't the case though. He clicked the Aimpoint scope to the "on" position and hastily put a Lucky-Strike into his mouth. He could feel his knees shaking and that weird sense of loss-of-control that adrenaline gives a person in the face of injury or death. He clenched his teeth and grabbed the knob. Time to go.
Mason shoved the door open and stepped into the court-yard. He barely took a step before firing a round through the side of a corpse's head. It was all reflex from there. The gun seemed to almost bounce from target to target. He squeezed the trigger quickly; making sure he was aware of his surroundings during each engagement as to not be surprised from the left and right. He emptied twelve rounds through the action of the rifle before running to the left; avoiding the many that were wandering toward him now. He had to get to the front of the building.
Mason sprinted toward the road and came to a halt when he jumped off of the sidewalk. It seemed his muzzle blasts and gotten the attention of some of them. A part of the group that had massed in front of the LMV was coming in his direction. He pulled a grenade out of his vest and pulled the pin with his teeth.
"Here goes nothing!" Mason yelled and tossed it with all of his might. The grenade flew through the air and landed about fifteen yards from the group that had splintered away. It sat there for a moment, then exploded; causing Mason to wince and his ears to ring. The results spoke for themselves. Several of the corpses had body parts missing. Arms and legs and been shattered. Those that had been closest were worse. They were lying further away then they had been; motionless as expected.
Mason was surprised when the rest of the group didn't move. He glanced around cautiously as he switched the fire-control lever to "full auto" and held the barrel in the air. He squeezed the trigger, letting ten or so rounds discharge, then let a roar escape his lungs. To his satisfaction, many more of the group turned away from the LMV and began walking in his direction. As much as it was going according to plan, Mason couldn't help but be a little bothered by the result. He'd just have to hope the guys inside would get to him before the masses did.
"Let's hit it!" Tyler shifted the LMV to "drive" and hit the accelerator. The corpses in front of him weren't expecting it. They were either crushed beneath the tires, or knocked out of the way as the vehicle's enormous weight tore-off through them. In a moment, they were clear and Aaron pointed at Mason excitedly.
"He's still in the open!" Aaron chirped. Tyler picked up the LMV's speed, running down a few more wandering bodies, and rolled to a stop as Mason ran up to the vehicle's side. He hopped into the back seat and let out a sigh and Tyler pulled off again.
"Not a bad result huh?" Mason said through a gasping breath. "That was a fucking rush." He grinned as he leaned back and Aaron snickered.
"Yeah, we should go to the bar and get whiskey-drunk now." Aaron said in a mock-Indian accent. "That would probably make everything go a little easier." He laughed loudly as Mason gave him the thumbs up.
"Ish." Tyler spat; shaking his head. "I'll stick with the Seagram's." He made an evil-grin and pounded his fist on the steering wheel. "Next thing you know I'll be drinking Black Velvet and Hamm's." His sarcastic tone made Mason sit up straight in his seat.
"Oh, fuck you!" Mason gave him the middle finger; knowing Tyler was talking about him. "They're cheap and they taste fine. Sorry for being budget-oriented."
"Too bad they don't have a brothel around here." Aaron said in a serious tone; breaking up Mason and Tyler's argument. "I could go for some strippers, even if they're the dead-kind."
"I don't know man." Tyler groaned. "I've been to the Northern in Fargo before and I like them too. I just think that by now they might be a little gamy." He let out a sick laugh as Aaron's face twisted slightly in disgust and he began to laugh too.
"That's gross guys." Mason said flatly. "I wouldn't want thick, mucus colored pussy-juice dripping onto my clothes. That's just me though." Tyler and Aaron both looked at him with perturbed faces and then Mason burst out laughing too. "Ugh, why is that funny now?" Mason shivered and Tyler shook his head.
"Yeah," Tyler grunted, "that's pretty fucked up dude."
The conversation died down as Tyler began to focus his attention on driving. He hadn't really realized the devastation in the city until now when even more businesses and intersections came into view. He couldn't believe the amounts of crashed or abandoned vehicles. The broken out windows of almost every business added flavor. Everything from second-hand stores to electronics stores seemed to have been raped in some way or another. Products and supplies were strewn all the way from the shattered doors to the middle of the streets. It didn't make sense. Why would anyone bother to steal a DVD-player in the middle of what was going on?
Street after street it was the same thing. On the Main Avenue it was the worst. There were long lines of abandoned cars left at the deserted police-barricade that was in place. It seemed so sad and desolate that Mason almost felt tears form in his eyes. Aaron and Tyler were feeling the same. Tyler ignored it and Aaron looked shyly away. Where all those people had gone was obvious. They'd been the ones chasing Mason and Tyler up and down the streets and keeping Aaron and the others trapped inside the Hospital. It was the horseshit result of trying to control the outbreak. As an exciting side-effect, all those dead bodies had been scattered throughout the city, making it a no-man's land. It was funny how that worked. Every time a Government tried to make a bad situation better, it ended up fucking it up worse. This time it had resulted in the deaths of millions of people.
Tyler's eyes scanned as he weaved the LMV in between vehicle after vehicle. A few times now he'd had to slowly push one out of the way with the nose of the truck. It was enough to trigger claustrophobia; with a vehicle every few feet. It was like a big, rainbow-colored wall.
"How far was the School from the Hospital?" Tyler asked curiously; looking at Mason in the rear-view.
"About four or five miles." Mason stared at Tyler's hand-drawn map. "It's in a housing-neighborhood, so I don't know how congested it will be, but we should expect it to be bad. We should have enough cover in case the Guard is on their toes though. Just move slow once we're close and we'll dispatch on foot so we can get a good look without the engine-noise. If it looks abandoned we'll just move in, do a sweep, then get the vehicles. If they have any munitions lying around, we should probably grab those too. I don't know about you, but a belt-fed sounds better than sex right now."
"Well I wouldn't go that far." Aaron interrupted. "If its sex with a girl that's anything, but white then I'll take that over the belt-fed." He shrugged, then began to laugh.
"Oh, I like them white." Mason smirked with a slow nod. "I like that butt flat like a pancake… like mom used to make." They both laughed even harder before Tyler broke in; irritated.
"Yeah, ok, just pay attention to the fucking-directions already!" Tyler shook his head and tightened his grip on the steering-wheel. "If I get shot I'm going to be so fucking pissed at you."
"Just drive man, just drive." Mason nodded to himself and the LMV rolled across the pavement.
After two more miles of weaving the LMV between scattered vehicles, the amount of apparent destruction seemed to die. If the men were to keep their eyes off of the abused houses, the road would have seemed peaceful, and ordinary. But the shattered windows and busted doors of suburban homes pulled their eyes from the gray pavement; reminding them with unwavering insistence that all was not well in Suburban Pembleton.
"About two more fucking blocks then bring the truck to a stop." Mason said flatly from the back seat; ashing his cigarette on the floor. Tyler kept the vehicle moving and after two blocks he did as Mason had instructed.
From his position, Mason scanned in every direction; noting the amount of corpses in sight. There weren't many. Apparently the hordes had been keeping themselves busy down-town.
"Ok," Mason grunted, "I'll go take a look at the school. It's only a few houses down. I'll make sure its not flooded with uniformed assholes then I'll pop back and let you know and we'll go from there. Ok?"
"Wait," Tyler stopped him and pointed at Aaron, "take him with you. I'll be fine in here. If they start turning into a fucking crust around me, I'll just pull a half a block away and keep running it like that."
Mason slapped Aaron on the shoulder excitedly and nodded. He really wouldn't mind having a little backup to watch his six. He waved his head in the direction of outside and looked at Tyler.
"Just keep it within this vicinity so we can find you if we have to bug out. Ok?" Mason stared at Tyler and Tyler nodded.
"Wait a minute," Aaron hesitated, "I was all excited about this at first, but now I'm about to shit my pants. I don't know if I can pull this off." He shrugged; and looked out the window. "I don't want to look like a pussy or anything, but I don't really feel like being a piece of pork-chop."
"Dude, just relax." Mason reassured him calmly. "It's you and me with plenty of ammo and a small number of these assholes. Just keep your adrenaline in check, stay close to me, and cover my six, and we'll be good to fucking go."
"Ok." Aaron nodded. "Just shoot me if I get bitten."
"That goes for all of us." Tyler said dryly. He was glad he got to stay in the LMV. At least he had a little cover.
"Yeah, just don't lose your head and take off running." Mason grinned. "We cool?"
"Yeah." Aaron tipped his head thoughtfully. "Cool with me."
"Ok then." Mason's hand went to the door-handle. "Let's do this El Capitan."
Both Aaron and Mason's feet hit the pavement at the same time and, as usual, they both took off in a dead run; moving to the right of the LMV and disappearing between two expensive-looking houses. As Mason felt the security of having cover around him, he slung his Commando over his chest and drew his USP. There weren't nearly enough corpses in the area to surround them in this environment. There was no need to waste ammo. Behind him, Aaron did the same. He drew his S&W 5906 and calmly moved forward; keeping an eye on both Mason and their surroundings.
A second later, They hopped a wooden fence and stopped. Mason looked at Aaron and motioned toward the visible street ahead of them.
"The school is across the street and to the right of us. You stay back here and keep on eye on our six. I'll creep up and take a look-see around." Aaron nodded and Mason moved toward the edge of the house.
Step by step, Mason imagined an M240B Medium Machinegun ripping him to shreds. He knew it was unlikely that anyone at the school could possibly know his position, but the images stuck. Machinegun fire was uncool when you were on the receiving.
Mason crept up to the edge of the Light-Green colored house and put his back against the siding. He took a deep breath, thanking the Lord for his time on Earth, and he peeked out.
Mason stared for a moment and sighed. There was nothing. Not a single moving thing on the School grounds or on the roof. But their guess had been right. Multiple buses and cars were parked outside with their windows shot out and countless bodies motionless inside of them. That wasn't the worst thing though. Hundreds of bodies were outside strewn across the courtyard and into the street. Men, women, and children lay lifeless; some in piles. Mason pulled his head back into cover and sank to the ground. He looked over at Aaron.
"Get back to the truck and tell Tyler to creep up and stop parallel to my position. I'll cover you boys as you roll up." As Mason turned back toward the school, Aaron nodded and took off in the direction they'd come from. He hopped over the fence and disappeared.
As Mason heard the LMV's engine approaching, he popped out from cover and brought the Commando's stock against his shoulder. He scanned patiently as the LMV rolled into his peripheral vision and eventually stopped directly across the street from him. As no fire came from the building, Mason sighed and sprinted across the lawn, across the street, and took cover behind the big, beautiful hunk of metal. He lit a cigarette as Aaron and Tyler both climbed out of Aaron's door. Mason nervously glanced around as his compatriots knelt beside him and he shrugged passively.
"We don't have a lot of choices here. We're going to move in hard and fast, but I don't want you guys just popping off at any old thing." Mason shifted uncomfortably and took a drag from his smoke. "I'll go in first with Aaron coming in right behind me." Aaron nodded, then Mason pointed at Tyler. "You open the door and let us roll in, then you come in behind. I want cover at eleven O'clock and one O'clock. I'll take point. We'll sweep one room at a time until we're clear. Once its done, we'll head over to the bus-shop, err, whatever and grab ourselves one of them big yellow ones. Ok?"
"Well," Tyler wrinkled an eye brow, "Why don't we just go to the bus-garage now? Apparently no one's looking."
"They might have guns in there." Aaron added quickly; his eyes shooting to a corpse that had wandered into the street a couple hundred yards away.
"Exactly." Mason nodded. "We have to check if there are any munitions lying around. We all know that we need anything and everything we can get our hands on. If we need to protect the farm for… forever then we'll need bullets." Mason sighed. "We're going to need a lot of shit actually, but we're going to have to deal with that later." He looked back at the School. "Let's do this shit so we can go back and get drunk."
"Alright…" Tyler sighed stressfully; eyeing the school nervously. "I hope you really know what you're doing Mason."
"Me too." Mason grunted. "Me, fucking, too."
They moved out in a fast, uniformed fashion. Mason and Aaron kept their guns shouldered as they moved, while Tyler kept his muzzle pointed at the ground; eyeing everything as if paranoid. He had a bad feeling. While every step felt like it might be his last, suddenly the side of the brick-building was right before him. The school was looking more-dead by the moment.
As agreed, Tyler put his hand on the door handle and looked at his Comrades. They both nodded, and it was fast-work from there. As the door swung open, Mason and Aaron charged in; weapons at the ready. Tyler followed quickly; his Benelli now aimed as well. He didn't want to get caught off guard.
To Mason's surprise, the room-clearing began smoothly. While Tyler and him entered rooms, Aaron stayed in the hall; keeping a bead on the areas where they hadn't been yet. Room by room they swept and minute by minute they came a step closer to both personal-assurance and doom.
"Clear." Mason stepped out of the last classroom before the School's hallway intersection and he hawked a loogie onto the floor. He put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it as Tyler and Aaron kept their sights on opposite parts of the very-open hall. Mason slowly scanned every direction and grunted.
"You guys cover the hall that goes right, then continue down the hall straight ahead." He looked to his right. There was an office area that ran alongside the short-hallway that branched off in the same direction. The lights were off, but sunlight was pouring in from the outside. "I'll clear the office, then come out and keep an eye on this staircase." He let out a drag of gray smoke. "I don't want anyone surprising us from the rear." He looked at his friends and they nodded in approval. Mason shrugged. "Stay frosty."
As Aaron and Tyler broke away, Mason turned his focus to the office. He hated schools. Back when he was in high school, he'd spent plenty of time in the office hearing about how poor his academic achievements were, and how poor his judgment-skills were in dealing with other students. He flicked his smoke onto the floor and spat a stream of spit. What a load of shit.
Mason stepped into the office and looked around. It was unreal. It almost seemed untouched. There weren't papers strewn around, or broken computers. There was no blood and no signs of struggle. He felt like he was back in ordinary-land just for a second. He let out a sigh and he walked around a few desks; eyeing everything casually. It was almost a surreal kind of trip down memory lane. He smiled to himself and looked straight ahead. There was a cramped hallway with an office on the left, then the hall split in two different directions. He sighed and moved forward. The whole "secure the area" thing was already getting a little old.
Mason had no intention of clearing every office inch by inch as he stepped passed the doorway on the left of the hall. All his plans went to shit though as he froze mid-step. A girl, maybe twenty-five was sitting in an office-chair taped and bound. She was naked and obviously battered. As Mason turned to her, a loud voice made him freeze in mind and body.
"Don't fucking move asshole!" The young voice shouted excitedly. Mason looked over his shoulder as he raised his hands into the air. A black man in an Army Combat Uniform had an M-4 with an Acog aimed at him. As Mason swore to himself, the soldier began speaking nervously into his radio.
"Twombly, get your guys down onto the main floor right the fuck now! We got a few inside!" The soldier swallowed hard and Mason rolled his eyes as another Soldier stepped up behind the first. The black soldier looked at his Team-Mate and nodded anxiously toward Mason. "Secure this mother- HOLD IT!" He screamed; looking passed Mason toward the main-doorway of the office. Mason looked over his other shoulder and let out a very nervous sigh. Aaron and Tyler were standing side-by-side aiming their weapons at the uniformed assholes.
"Drop it motherfuckers or he's fucking dead!" The black soldier screamed. He was trembling. Mason felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead.
"Fuck them guys!" Mason said loudly. "Just fucking shoot!"
"Shut the fuck up asshole!" The black soldier barked. "Just shut your fucking face!"
Mason looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with both Aaron and Tyler. He winked and they both swallowed hard.
Aaron felt his finger trembling on the trigger of his M-4. He'd shot guns thousands and thousands of times. He knew how they operated, and how to control them and he'd always done it with the mindset that he'd be able to deal with this kind of situation. Yet, he'd never known just how terrifying it would actually be. Having Mason wink at him in the middle of a hold up didn't help either. He wasn't anywhere near prepared for what happened next.
As Aaron's fingers trembled and his eyes bulged, Mason sprung himself forward into the office. As the black soldier fired a burst after him, Tyler and Aaron's guns roared. They emptied their magazines completely; hardly taking the time to re-aim. Tyler screamed as he discharged nine rounds of 00-Buck; not noticing the punishment his shoulder was taking from a combination of both the hard-hitting power of the shells and the light-weight of the gun and Aaron leaned forward as he fought to control the muzzle-rise of the M-4 as it spewed out thirty-rounds of hot 5.56 at his targets. After hardly three seconds, it was over faster than it had began. As the reality of the situation set in, Aaron and Tyler saw their work. The two soldiers were lying close to each other motionless.
"COVER THOSE FUCKING STAIRS!" Mason's voice yelled from the office. The firing began almost immediately from the stair-case as Tyler and Aaron spun around. As the two men dropped behind cover, Mason popped his head out and began firing over them; delivering a hail of covering fire toward the stairwell as his comrades reloaded. He'd only seen the legs of one of the responding soldiers and he hadn't seen a body fall. He'd missed.
As Mason's fire stopped, Aaron's began. Tyler was still crouched behind a desk; trembling as he slowly reloaded buckshot into his Benelli. He was cursing himself for leaving the UMP-40 in the LMV. He could have used the fast re-load time. Aaron let out a burst and paused. He had the terrible feeling that they were being flanked. He stuck his gun out again and fired until the bolt locked in the rearward position and his grip switched to the Master-Key shotgun attached to the barrel. He fired as fast as he could, ejecting 4 shells from the weapon before it was empty. Behind him, Mason opened up again with a burst. Tyler joined him; letting out a quick two shots before stopping to watch for movement. There was none; just misleading silence.
When Mason heard the pause in fire, he took off from the tiny office; darting down the remainder of the tiny hall and diving behind a steel-desk beside Tyler. He slapped Tyler on the shoulder, then looked at Aaron.
You guys, I'll give you covering fire and you go down that little hall and get back into the main hallway." He pointed to their right. "There's another stairwell that leads to this level over there and I don't want them getting a drop on us. Ready?"
"Fuck." Tyler grumbled with a hesitant nod. Mason looked at Aaron and Aaron gave him a shaky thumbs-up.
"On my mark." Mason stuck out his Commando and set his USP beside him. "NOW!" He let out a long burst and Aaron and Tyler took off to their rear down the little hall. By the time Mason's Commando ran dry, they were behind cover. Mason raised his USP. He had a bad feeling.
Tyler and Aaron hit the hallway hard; both of them covering the staircase shakily. It was quiet in an uncomfortable way. Knowing Mason was covering the stairs, they took a right at the hallway intersection and moved quickly down to the end of the hall. Their minds were bouncing everywhere; playing tricks on them. Ever step, they imagined they saw movement, but there was none. At least not until they'd calmed down.
As Tyler and Aaron closed in on the last few yards to the stairs, the right shoulder of a man popped out from the doorway. Out of a mixture of surprise and desperation, Aaron let his gun roar. The bullets sprayed everywhere and out of blind luck, one hit a fire-extinguisher on the wall next to the exit doors located right by the stairwell. It exploded into a fantastic cloud of white; immediately followed by screams of pain. The two-man team wasted no time. They closed in on the door and Tyler parried slowly to his left; ready to fire should anything make a wrong move. The screams of pain were still erupting from the corridor. Tyler leaned to his left and paused.
"I can't fuckin' see shit man!" A soldier was lying back with his hands desperately rubbing his eyes. His uniform was covered with chemicals from the busted fire-extinguisher. "Lynch! Lynch I can't fucking see!"
Tyler shot the wounded soldier in the face; shredding up his hands that were busy rubbing his burned eyes and sinking the BB's deep into the soldier's nasal-cavity, cheek-bones, and eye sockets. He let out a shaky breath and trained his Ghost-Ring sights on the top of the first landing. He swallowed uncomfortably. He knew there was someone else up there. Just waiting. Aaron stepped up beside him and Tyler motioned forward with his head. Aaron shook his head; no. He pointed at Tyler's shotgun. Aaron didn't want a shotgun covering him from behind in a tight space. It could shred him. They were in a stalemate; plain and simple.
Mason stared through his Aimpoint scope; keeping it about level with the center mass of the average human being. His mind was driven to kill these bastards. The girl in the office was dead. When the black soldier had fired a burst at him, the bullets had penetrated the thin wall; one connecting with her head. He was out for blood. He'd heard the burst of fire from Aaron's gun too , but he had no idea who'd gotten hit. All he'd heard was moans of pain and then a gunshot. He tried to ignore it. He needed to stay patient. There was no way that little burst killed both of his friends. It sounded like a 'spray and pray' to him. He let out a deep breath slowly; trying not to shake. His legs hurt like a motherfucker and he wasn't sure how much more of the waiting-game his high-strung mentality would let him play. As he shifted his weight to his other knee, a head popped out. BOOM! Mason's reflexes brought his gun right on target and a soldier fell out from cover with his face shattered.
"MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!" The remaining soldier at the top of the landing couldn't take seeing his friend get killed instantly before his eyes. His mind snapped and he came out with his gun blazing. It wasn't directly aimed at Mason. It was just in Mason's general direction. As the bullets began to walk their way toward him, Mason let out a burst of four rounds; causing the soldier to fall forward down the stairs and onto his face on the hallway floor.
Mason slipped out from behind cover and crept up to the soldier. He wasn't dead, but his breaths were weak and muffled. Mason turned him on his side and looked him in the eye.
"I really didn't want to do that." Mason said quietly; rechecking the stairs. "How many guys upstairs?"
"Fuck you." The soldier said weakly and Mason tipped his head thoughtfully.
"All right then." Mason put the muzzle of the Commando to the soldier's face and squeezed the trigger. The bullet caved a little hole into the man's head and the expression on his face mutated into the inhuman image of a body trying desperately to survive. Mason stomach churned as he watched. The soldier now looked like a mentally challenged person trying to eat. His mouth kept moving open and shut in this God-awful way that Mason couldn't stand, but couldn't help to watch. Slowly, it stopped and a weak exhale of air came from the man's lungs as his body died.
"Fuck." Mason croaked. He really wished he hadn't seen that. It was so horrid that he almost wished he'd just let the guy die quietly on his own rather than shoot him. Mason looked away from the body and down the hall. He saw Aaron and Tyler with their guns up and a large weight was removed from his shoulders. Level-two was on the menu.
Mason was about to take off up the stairs when he noticed the soldier's gun. It was an M4A1 with an M203 mounted under the barrel. He felt the hair on the back of his neck raise. If they'd fired that at him, he'd be a goner. They must not have wanted to risk it in such close quarters. He grabbed it; leaving his Commando on the floor, and stole a few of the dead soldier's magazines and the last two M203 Grenades he had for his grenade-launcher. Mason was down to three mags and he the soldier wouldn't be needing them. He reloaded the M4A1 and looked up the stairs again. He'd have to do this one alone.
Mason crept up the steps. He knew very well that there could be multiple soldiers on the second level and even if there were only two or three, he'd still be out-gunned and possibly out of cover. It didn't matter. Aaron and Tyler were sitting ducks at the bottom of the stairway and that's all he had to think about to justify what he was doing.
Mason came to the second-floor landing and stopped. There was no sound; just that awkward silence that instills the fact that nothing's ok. He crept up to the edge of the wall and looked down the hall that went to the right. It was clear. It was the left hall that he was worried about. That's where the second stairwell was located and where Aaron and Tyler were pinned. Mason took a deep breath and poked his head out.
A burst of rifle fire met Mason as he looked out from behind cover. He pulled his head back quickly and took a deep breath. He knew he was at a disadvantage. All the two soldiers had to do was wait for him to poke his head out again and that would be that. They could see everything-
Mason interrupted his own thought process. He felt his vest and bit his lower lip anxiously. He had two smoke grenades. He pulled one out of one of his vest pouches and pulled the pin. He wait a moment for the smoke to start pouring out, then threw it lightly around the corner. It landed about twenty feet from him, rolled a little ways, then stopped. The smoke quickly filled up the hall; creating a thick wall of powdery gray smoke. Perfect.
Mason tensely and clumsily opened the M203's chamber and slipped in a 40mm grenade. He'd never fired one before, and wasn't real sure about their ballistics. He took a deep breath. Now was the time to learn. Mason popped out from behind cover, and pulled the M203's trigger. It made a crisp sort of thumping sound and a moment later, a deafening boom ripped through his ear-drums. Before moving, Mason emptied the loaded magazine through the M-4, reloaded, then darted blindly forward.
Aaron winced as they heard a loud explosion from the upstairs. He'd seen Mason crouched over the dying soldier, but he hadn't been watching when Mason had gone up the stairs. He had no idea what was happening, or who had shot what. All he knew was that he hated this and he hated the National Guard.
"Fuck it, I give up!" A lone voice came from the corridor. It sounded young, maybe early twenties. A young man with very thin facial hair stepped onto the staircase with his hands in the air. Tyler lowered his shotgun and looked at Aaron. Aaron just shrugged. They didn't really want to shoot an unarmed guy.
"Well, keep your hands-"
BOOM! Tyler and Aaron jumped as the kid's head lurched to the right and blood spewed out of it; shooting all over the wall and pooling around the kid's face when he hit the floor. Mason stepped out from the stairs and gave the body a kick.
"Fuck, man." Tyler said dryly; shaking his head. He hadn't seen so much human-death before. At least not unfolding before his eyes. He looked at Mason. Mason had become something else. He wasn't a monster. He'd just lost most of his tenderness through the ordeal. Having Aya run off may have just flipped some switch inside the young man's head.
"Nice to see you dead today." Mason spat on the Guardsman and looked at Aaron. He was looked at Mason nervously. "You ok buddy?" Mason asked in a chipper tone.
"I don't know yet." Aaron said hesitantly. "This whole thing made me feel kind of fucked up."
"Yeah I hear ya." Mason nodded. "Let's talk about that after we check for ammo." Mason turned around and Tyler patted Aaron on the shoulder.
"Just don't think about it until we're out of the shit." Tyler whispered. "I'm not Doctor Phil but I know this shit can fuck you up pretty bad if you think about it too much." He shrugged. "Trust me."
"I believe you." Aaron nodded. It wasn't so much returning fire that bothered him. It was seeing Mason execute someone. It gave him a cold feeling in a place he couldn't pin-point. He shook it away and followed Tyler up the stairs. Mason was already in the upstairs hall, screaming at no one in particular.
"Come on out motherfuckers, we just killed all your friends! Don't make this harder than it has to be!" Mason's voice echoed down the hall.
Aaron and Tyler stepped into the hall and looked at Mason's mess. There'd obviously been a nice sized explosion and it had been very effective in the circumstances.
"Oofda." Tyler said quietly. Two soldiers were a few yards away from each other; staring into nothing. One's leg was twisted sideways and the front half of his foot was gone. It looked like the second one had taken the worst of it. His face seemed to have been singed, or blown off. The front of his body was smoking.
"Hey Mason!" Aaron shouted and when Mason turned around things took a harsh turn. Tyler noticed movement coming out of a classroom ahead of them. As he raised his pistol, he discharged it at the same time as a muzzle-blast came from the classroom. Tyler emptied his pistol at whoever had shot and Aaron joined him; spraying the remainder of his M4A1's magazine at the perpetrator; puncturing multiple holes in the soldier's upper body, and through his Kevlar helmet; the bullets punching through his skull and lodging themselves in his brain. He slumped down into a pile in the doorway he'd stepped out of. Tyler looked at Mason and his eyes bulged.
"Motherfucking bastard!" Mason groaned through his teeth as he slumped against the hallway wall. The bullet had gone right into his back and out the edge of his left pectoral muscle about an inch high and three inches left of his heart. The soldier had probably been aiming for it. Tyler's pistol fire had disrupted his aim. Tyler knelt down beside Mason and looked at his wound.
"Are you going to be ok man?" Tyler's voice was calm, but scared. He'd developed this weird belief that Mason and him couldn't get hurt. He knew that was silly, but through everything they hadn't gotten a scratch. Now he knew the terrible reality.
"Yeah," Mason spat; looking further down the hallway, "check these rooms out. If you find anything cool let me know." He gritted his teeth as he sat up and drew his pistol. "I'll cover your asses."
"Okay." Tyler nodded and looked at Aaron. Aaron nodded too and they were off; quickly clearing rooms. A few minutes later; they were clear and they'd discovered a wonderful surprise.
"Mason, Mason!" Mason looked over at Tyler and winced as he climbed to his feet.
"Holy shit, you have to check this out!" Aaron giggled as he stepped out of one of the rooms. "This is like- better than "Down the Hatch 22" except its guns instead of chicks eating the loads of fifteen guys in one sitting."
"Ish," Mason shook his head in disgust as he climbed painfully to his feet, "you are one strange individual man." He walked slowly down the hall and stopped outside the door. He looked at Tyler. Even he was grinning to no end. "Is it that good?"
"I'm stunned." Tyler ran his hand through his hair. "Go in. You need to see it more than I do."
Mason nodded and walked through the door. He stopped and his mouth fell open. He was silent as he stared. His breath was taken away. Before him, tubs and tubs of confiscated weapons sat untouched along with tubs and boxes of loose ammunition, boxed ammunition, and ammunition in magazines. It seemed the Guard had taken the guns from the people who'd come to the school. Apparently, there had been a lot of gun-guys who had decided they should go seek shelter from the Military, rather than their own might. It had been a sad, and bad call. The only up-side was that Mason, Tyler, and Aaron were reaping the benefits. Mason let out a deep, painful breath and looked at his buddies.
"We have to go through this shit fast… in fact." Mason looked at the guns again, gritted his teeth as he touched his wound, then back at Tyler and Aaron. "You two go check on the bus. I'll start sorting through this to see what we can use and what we can't. Does that sound good?" Tyler and Aaron nodded. "Ok then," Mason shrugged his good shoulder, "let's get this shit show rolling."
Wow, like four months for two chapters. Sorry guys, I've been very busy with re-loading and my uncle died, and a whole bunch of other shitty shit that's gotten in the way. I had to change the last chapter like three times too because I didn't like where it was going. Keep in touch, and keep checking back. I think I'll be able to work on this more now that the bad parts of my life are cleared up. Plus, its summertime. Take care now.