Chapter 21. Game time
Both Hunter Teams rolled out in our big SUV's. I was riding shotgun in the second vehicle, with Isabelle driving, Clare behind me, and James in the seat behind Isabelle. I clutched Gungnir in my hands tightly, as we passed by the emptied husks of several cars. My guess is that whoever was driving, either didn't want to get stuck in traffic, or the Zombies got way too close for comfort, and they bailed.
"Hope they got away in time." James said as he stared out his window, rolling a Frag 12 shell between his fingers.
"Nervous James?" Isabelle asked as she looked at him through the rearview mirror.
James nodded. "It's the Zombie Apocalypse Belle." He responded as he clutched the explosive shell in his right hand. "I'm scared shitless."
"Well that's good." The three of us looked at her like she was crazy, but she turned her head and smiled at us. "I didn't want to be the only one."
We broke into a small bout of laughter, before our convoy came to a halt, and my Grandpa's voice came over the com channel from the lead SUV. "Traffic's backed up too much. We'll go on foot from here."
The engines to our SUV's died, and James loaded the explosive Frag 12 shell into his Benelli, before we hopped out. We were right under the old railroad bridge in Solvay. Actions were cycled, charging handles were raked back, and safeties were snapped off. We formed two teams on either side of the road. From here it was a straight shot to Carousell.
The fireteam on the left side of the street consisted of a mix of my team meaning it was Clare, Dimitri, John, Thom, and several Northeast team members: Team leader Dominique Turner who had a custom G3KA4 assault rifle along with an HK45 sidearm, and a big ass combat knife. Her armor was stuffed with corresponding magazines for both weapons. Steeve, who mained his high customized FAL, with a 30 round drop magazine. A Mossberg Shotgun was slung along his back. He had two Sigs holstered on his armor, a full sized Sig on his hip, and a baby Sig in a Galco rig. A Katana and a Wakizashi was strapped on his armor. Hondo was right beside his owner, low to the ground. Their intel expert Shannon, who had a monster of a shotgun in her hands. A Milo Anderson special. It was a highly customized Warhammer shotgun she called Boudica, with an odd underbarrel contraption that she said was a surprise. She also had a big Kukiri like mine strapped to her left thigh.
The fireteam on the right side was Grandpa, Dad, Pat, Isabelle, and James. The Northeast team members with them were: Marksman Jon Callahan, who was rocking a DMR variant of a Crusader Broadsword (since I'm no gun nut, I couldn't tell what attachments he had on it), and a pair of 1911's (which along with the Sig Saur seemed to be the main sidearm of MHI. Demo expert Scotty who had a custom pair of Schofield revolvers (which were awesome and I was dying to shoot them and so was Pat). He had a Beneli shotgun that like James' was loaded with explosive Frag 12 rounds. His knives were as unusual as the rest of his loadout. which were replicas of the battle axes the Franks had used, and they were slung along his back. Then there was Chris, who like Connor had a big M60 in his hands, and like almost everyone else had a pair of 1911's. The final member of the Northeast team to take position on the right side of the street was Odette. The safety on her UMP was snapped off, and she was gripping it tightly in her hands. Her custom Galco rig had a full size Smith & Weston 4566 on her left side, and the smaller variant the 4516 on her right. To be honest, she seemed to be the most prepared out of all of us.
Both teams made their way down the street, past the empty husks of the abandoned cars. Some gave me this sharp pain in my stomach, when I noticed that they had splotches of blood on them. The Zombies had been through here, yet the one thing that was odd about this whole situation, and that was it was oddly and erily silent.
"Where is everybody?" I asked more to myself. I was expecting to see thousands of bodies, both human and undead.
"Everyone most likely ran to the mall, and the Zombies followed them." Northeast team leader Dominique replied, as both fireteams passed by two car dealerships on either side.
"Hold on." John said, his tone low. "Movement in the Subaru dealership."
Our group stopped as one, and slowly turned to the left. Sure enough there were people in the Subaru dealership. At least a dozen, and they were backed up against the glass windows of the showroom floor. What made my stomach drop was that a horde of Zombies were slowly making their way towards the civilians.
"Contact. Left side of the street. Subaru dealership." I said into the com line in a low voice.
"Copy." Pat responded. "We've got contact in the Ford dealership as well."
"There's no time to breach." Dominique said. "We're gonna have to shoot through the glass."
"Confirmed." My Grandpa's gruff Irish voice cracked over the line. "If you have the shot take it. but watch your fire. We don't need a civi gettn' clipped"
Dad, Dimitri, Scotty, Steve, and Thom raised their rifles. There was an assortment of loud cracks and booms as the rifles discharged. There was also an assortment of panicked screams as the glass windows the civilians were pressed against shattered as the bullets from our teams weapons sailed through the glass, entered the Zombies heads, splattering their black blood on the showroom cars. When the last undead husk dropped, we moved in to make sure the civilians hadn't been bitten. Fortunately, there was no major damage other than a few scrapes from hitting the pavement.
"Alex?" I recognised the voice, and turned to find a girl with light brown hair talking to me.
Aw fuck! It was Sarah Evans. We used to date one another … Well that's actually a subjective term. I treated her like a queen, and she … Well she cheated on me. A lot. And that's normally the prime motive in all those crime shows. Luckily before that thought even crossed my mind, I got attacked by a Vampire.
"Hey Sarah." I said, not bothering to keep the disdain out of my voice. However I almost burst out laughing, when some skinny little twig, came and put his arms around her, trying to act Alpha. The display was absolutely pathetic. Not to mention hilarious.
"Ohhhh damn this is funny. I mean this little toothpick is who you ended up with?" Despite the seriousness of the situation, I couldn't help myself. This girl put me through hell, and seeing the scrawny little nothing she ended up with just made me laugh.
"Oh keep talkin' bitch." The toothpick said trying to goad me. "Without all those guns, I'd fuck you up."
His goading to an extent worked. I flicked Gungnir's safety on, walked up to him, grabbed the front of his shirt with my left hand, and lifted him off his feet. "Do yourself a favor bitch. After you're done pissing your pants, run back to your mommy, lock yourself in your room, and stay there. Or better yet, I can rid Syracuse of one less poser, and feed you to the Zombies."
He ran away faster than Tom Brady does from people who accuse him of cheating (which he does all the time).
"Maybe you'll learn not to follow Tom Brady's example now." Clare said to my ex, earning a couple laughs from the team, and even from the shaken civilians. "But then again, if you didn't, I wouldn't have met Alex. So I guess I owe you for that."
Clare and I high-fived, before Domanique got the civilians into the dealerships maintenance garage, and sealed it tight telling them we would send someone once the mall was secured. Grandpa's team did the same with the rescued civilians at the Ford dealership, and we resumed our trek to the mall. All was quiet again, which really weirded me out. If this was some heavy duty Zombie outbreak, where were all the Zombies and the panicked people? I voiced this to the team, and Thom said that everyone ran to where it would be the safest, and the Zombies followed.
"Still though. There should be a lot more than the handful we put down… Shit.." My voice cut out as we were on the bridge over the river that fed into Onondaga Lake. From that viewpoint, we had a good look at the large shopping center. There were hundreds. Thousands of Zombies gathered in the large parking lot, all attempting to claw their way inside.
"Forget Resident Evil. This is more like Dead Rising." John said, his Irish accent having come out.
"Alex do all the men in your family play video games?" Clare asked.
"John got us hooked, so you can blame him." I replied not taking my eyes eyes off the parking lot, my own Irish accent coming out.
"Alex. Do. Not. Move." Dimitri said in a low voice. "There is a laser sight on your chest."
I froze. I felt my blood turn to ice. I glanced down at my chest, and sure enough, there was the little red dot. however, it was gone the next moment. Then back, then gone, then back and gone again. This couldn't have been a malfunctioning laser sight. This was something else. The dot appeared on my chest nine times … Nine times.
Dot, dot, dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot.
"SOS." Everyone said at the same time, before we looked to see where it had come from.
"There." Dimitri said pointing towards the glass bridge that connected the new parking lot to the mall, so the patrons wouldn't have to walk across the busy intersection. Sure enough we all saw the red dot in one of the windows flash nine times. John raised his M4, and flashed his side mounted tactical light at the glass bridge twice. Signalling we had gotten the SOS. The red dot flashed twice in response.
Our fireteam merged with the team on the right, and we made our way into the new parking lot which was surprisingly devoid of any Zombies. the glass door was not only chained shut, but someone had shoved a crowbar in between the handles of both doors. Someone really didn't want the Zombies getting in. I couldn't see who it was that took the crowbar out, and unwrapped the heavy duty chain from the door, as the lights were out, but I was in for a surprise when I heard him speak.
"About time you got here." Big surprise when I heard Agent Creed's voice.
"What are you doing here Agent Creed?" I asked in surprise.
"It's not 'Agent' anymore Mr. Morrison. My bosses weren't too happy I gave your company free reign over the Second Amendment."
"They gave you the boot." It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"They did. Fortunately for me." He pulled back his coat, revealing he still had his service issue Glock.
"Good. That means you can fight." My grandfather said as he made his way inside. "What's the situation here Agent?"
"Not 'Agent' anymore." Creed said, as he chained the door, and placed the crowbar back between the door handles. "Anyway, there are a few hundred civilians here, all scared out of their minds. It's been me and and a handful of County Sheriffs that have been trying to keep everyone calm in the hope that someone would come and get us out of here."
"Are all the doors bolted like this?" Pat asked.
"Yes. We lucked out as there are parts of the mall that are still under construction, so it was easy to find a couple crowbars. The chains we got from Dicks Sporting Goods."
"Nice, but why aren't there any Zombies by the bridge?" Pat asked the question we were all wondering ourselves.
"After the Chimera, all the windows were replaced with heavy duty bullet proof glass. It would take a train running at full speed to break this stuff." Creed explained, and I was impressed with what had been done, but that raised a red flag.
"How could you possibly know about the Chimera?" I asked incredulously.
"One of the Sheriffs here told me about it. A man named Sachus. He's a good guy." Creed said.
I gave one of those 'why do I even bother' shrugs. "Alright, but why are there no Zombies over here?"
"When they couldn't get in over here, they did what you normally see in those B-grade horror films." Creed said.
"Oh you mean surround the place, and pound on the doors until they get in?" Thom chimed in?
"Exactly."
We had crossed the now bulletproof glass bridge, and had entered the new expansion of the mall. There were hundreds of civilians packed in like sardines on the three floors of the expansion. Frightened, panicked, scared shitless sardines. There were a handful of cops, all in body armor armed with M4 rifles. It looked like they had gotten hold of a S.W.A.T truck. The cops did have a bit of a calming factor to the civilians, but it wasn't much as there were still thousands of undead husks trying to claw their way inside.
"We have to get these people out of here." Grandpa said as the panicked civilians eyed us. A few had heard him mention evac, and had started spreading that throughout the crowd.
Great. Just what we need.
"Marcus Morrison to anyone in the vicinity of Carousel mall." Grandpa spoke into his com. "We have several hundred civilians in need of immediate evac. If anyone can assist, please respond over."
Several seconds later, another voice broke out over the com line.
"Copy Mr. Morrison, there is an Army Ranger battalion in the area that can evac the civilians. They'll be there in five, and will swing in from the south entrance and escort the civilians to the air base over."
Grandpa nodded, and spoke back into his com. "Copy that. Have them form in the parking lot, by that fancy new glass bridge. Can you confirm?"
"Confirmed Morrison. Rangers will form up at that position. ETA three mikes. Out."
Grandpa nodded, before walking over to the balcony and began addressing the frightened civilians. "Everyone listen up! You are all getting out of here. There is a convoy of Rangers that are approaching, and will be here in three minutes. What I need from all of you is to very slowly make your way towards the bridge on my right."
Everyone paused for a moment, before there was a mad dash to the glass bridge. However everyone stopped in their tracks, when Grandpa discharged his sidearm.
"I SAID SLOWLY!" He yelled at the crowd, before turning to address the rest of the team, and former Agent Creed. "Now we don't have a lot of time. So Turner, I want your team covering the main street at the intersection, but watch your backgrounds. Dont need any civis gettn' clipped."
Dominique nodded and motioned for her team to follow. The Northeast team moved their way past the civilians, as they moved to their position.
"Now Alex, Clare, John, Patrick, Thomas. You're under the bridge by the river providing security to the Rangers. Connor, Dimitri. You two are on overwatch on top of the bridge. Connor you're covering Dimitri. Nothing gets close to him. Son. You, me, and James are watching the civis. Move out."
We moved past the civilians, over the glass bridge, through the parking lot, and took our positions under the bridge. Clare, Thom, and myself were taking up a position on the left side. On the concrete support beams John and Pat were on the right closer to the parking lot. It was only a few seconds until the Rangers Humvees came into sight. A full two dozen, with several Humvees having a man on a mounted .50 cal machinegun. An impressive piece of hardware if I've ever seen one. As the last Humvee passed us, two Rangers hopped out, and joined us.
"Sargent Morrison, mind telling me what the hell you're doing here?" The Ranger asked John.
"Assisting my little brother and his team Captain." John replied, as his commanding officer looked us over.
"MHI right?" the captain asked us.
"How would you know that?" I asked.
"I was there during the Cursed One incident. I was just a Staff Sargent back then, and that was a real nasty fight we got into. But it's good to work with MHI again."
Nobody said another word, as the horde of Zombies began to shuffle it's way towards us. There was the distinct sound of gunfire coming from where Dominque's team was. If they were opening up on the Zombies, we weren't going to be selfish with our ammo. I brought Gungnir to bear, zeroed the iron sights in on the head of one of the closest Zombie, and squeezed the trigger. The undead husks dropped like flies, as the 7.62 high velocity armor piercing rounds tore through their skulls, splattering the ground with their black blood. All of us were firing in short bursts, with Thom being the exception as he had a semi-automatic World War II era rifle in his hand.
Thom was the first who needed to stop and reload, as his M1 rifle ran out of ammo with an audible Ping! He ducked around the concrete pillar, and I stepped out firing and covering my baby brother as he reloaded. As the Zombies edged closer and closer to us, a large number of them were shredded from a gunman above the bridge. The thundering sound of Connor's large M60 was unmistakable, as he 'mowed the lawn' something he liked saying whenever he went up against a large number of undead. My 30 round mag clicked empty, as I was saving my large 50 and 100 round drums for when we pushed into downtown Syracuse. I ducked around the pillar, as Thom stepped out to cover me so I could reload. I hit the release, and the empty magazine dropped to the pavement. I dug another out of a pouch on my chest, and slammed it home. Racking the charging handle back, I came out to cover Clare who needed to reload.
"Humvees are away!" John's Captain yelled over the gunfire. "They'll be back in ten!"
"Well they better bring some air support!" Clare responded. "We might run out of ammo before that!"
"I have three Black Hawks on station! they're two mikes away!" The Captain yelled, as he reloaded, and got back into the fight.
Clare, Pat, and the second Ranger all clicked empty. I was just about out too, but I still had an ace up my sleeve. I tightened my left hand around the launcher under Gungnir's barrel, braced the weapon, and pulled the launcher's trigger. The 40mm explosive round discharged with an audible Thunk, sailed through the air, impacted on the closest Zombie and a sick smirk crossed my face as I watched ten of the husks disappear in a cloud of fire, blood, and silver shrapnel. With that, everyone who needed to reload their weapons, slammed fresh mags in, as the loud roar of the three Black Hawk's assaulted our ears. Even through my teams electric earplugs, the noise was deafening.
"This is Nighthawk one-one, Nighthawk one-two, and Nighthawk one-three on station providing cover fire." The pilot of one of the attack choppers said into our coms, before the gunmen of the choppers opened up on the undead horde. I couldn't help but laugh in sick pleasure, as I watched the Zombies drop like flies, as the gunmen cut them down.
The Humvees returned several minutes later, the gunners on the vehicles .50 cal machine guns adding to the collective fire of the choppers, and in a matter of seconds, any Zombie still in our field of view, was reduced to undead chunks.
"Nighthawk one-one to Hammer one-one. All hostiles are down. Repeat. All hostiles are down. Returning to base over." Nighthawk 1-1 said into our coms.
"Negative Nighthawk. Negative." The captain replied. I need your team to airlift two ground teams, and get them into the city. How copy?"
"Roger Hammer one-one. Nighthawk's one-one and one-two touching down over."
The The Blackhawk choppers flew over the bridge, and touched down in the two parking lots behind our position. All 7 of us reloaded our weapons, and I put one of Gungnir's 50 round drum mags in, as Dominique and her team loaded up on Nighthawk 1-1 and my team along with the other two Rangers loaded up on Nighthawk 1-2. The rotor blades of the Nighthawk spun up, and we lifted off in the attack chopper heading towards downtown Syracuse, and further into the fight.