The high pitched whine of the helicopter's engine was muffled by the sound suppressors that Sgt. Joel Roscord wore over his ears. He looked around the interior at the black camo painted faces of his squad. Nine other nervous men filled the hold of the Blackhawk, each one mentally preparing himself for the tasks ahead. Joel's own mind was filled with slight apprehension at the approaching op. He had been a combat Marine for more than four years but he was still getting the jitters. Perhaps it was because they were deploying on home soil, or maybe it was because he was returning to his home town.
"Sergeant, we're about three minutes out. Prep for drop!"
"Thanks for the heads up Lieutenant. Squad, by the numbers prep for drop. Man the port and starboard ropes. We're hot in three!"
Joel took the headset from his ears and strapped on his helmet. Then he dropped his goggles into place over his eyes and moved into his position on the drop line. His squad and he all made their last minute checks on their equipment and weapons. The helicopter slowed and pulled into a hover above a large community building. Spotlights were on around the building and the Marines could see the fortifications already in place and the soldiers manning them.
"GO GO GO!"
The first two Marines gripped the fast ropes and slid down them, with the next pair only seconds behind. One after another they debarked the helicopter until all ten Marines were on the small roof of the building. Once empty, the helicopter moved off and was replaced by another and ten more Marines landed on the roof.
Roscord's squad immediately began entering the building through the roof access door and moved down into the interior into the Command Center for Sector 32 Survivor Collection Point. Inside was a large, bustling room filled with soldiers and coordinators, communicators and specialists, all trying desperately to coordinate the efforts of multiple units of Marines and soldiers who were attempting to evacuate all uninfected civilians to the safe zone.
Joel looked around for a moment longer, then after spotting the Commander in charge of the op, walked purposefully toward him for his orders.
"Sir, Sgt. Roscord reporting for duty."
Joel saluted the Army officer, even though it was not a Marine custom to salute indoors. The Commander looked up from his desk and returned the salute.
"Sgt. I'm sorry I can't take more time to brief you any more than you already have been, but here is our general situation. This is our C&C here,"
He pointed to a large map on the nearest wall and indicated a large red dot. Then he indicated an even larger blue circle farther north on the map.
"and this is our safe zone. It is a college stadium about twelve miles north of here. This is where we are bringing all of the survivors. Right now a battalion from the 101st airborne is holding that position and they already have well over two thousand civilians housed there. We have Marine Force Recon and Army Delta Force search squads combing the city with a fine tooth comb right now, searching out survivors. Your assignment is Grid H, Sector 32. It's a suburban district, with a small high school and some business areas. Standing orders are if you locate small groups of survivors, escort them to the safe zone via your transport or on foot if necessary, and if you find a large group, secure them and protect them until an airlift can pull them out. Understand?"
"Yes sir. What are the enemy dispositions?"
Joel winced when he said enemy, because at this point, the enemy was infected humans, who had died and come back as the walking dead. This meant that people he knew might be walking the street, hungering for his blood.
The Commander did not notice his discomfort and once again indicated the map.
"Grids I, J, and E are completely overrun. Avoid these areas at all costs. Everywhere else have some instances of contamination and are being searched and quarantined. You're sector is not so close too the outbreak areas, so hopefully you wont have much contact. And do you know how to dispatch these, uh… targets?"
"Yes sir, we were briefed on that. We are prepared to move out now Sir, so if you have no further need of me, we'll head out."
"Fantastic, get your squad out on the street. Good luck son."
Joel saluted the Commander again and quickly wheeled about towards his squad once the officer had returned it. His men were waiting patiently near the heavily guarded front entrance.
"Are we goin boss?"
"Damn straight, head out. We're gonna find us some Humvees and boogie. We got a bit of a ride to our sector but luckily for you all, your Sergeant happens to have local knowledge of the area and knows how to get you all there faster, and safely to boot."
"Aww gee, thanks Sarge! That means a lot to us!"
The ten Marines headed to the heavily guarded parking lot of the municipal building and selected three Humvees near the entrance. They all piled in and Joel took the driver seat of the lead vehicle.
"Hansen and Gregory, you guys follow tight on me, we don't have time to waste dawdling around. We need to get to our grid ASAP and save some people."
"Yes sir, we're on it."
The three Humvees pulled out of the motor-pool and out onto the road. They drove down eerily deserted streets, and passed oddly vacant houses. Street lights flickered on and off, with many houses dark in the night. Joel wondered how many people were hiding in those dark houses, or whether this area had already been evacuated.
Baker, the Corporal manning the .50 cal Ma Deuce on the roof of the Humvee knocked on the roof of the speeding vehicle.
"Sarge! I see somebody! At our three o'clock! They're being chased by a bunch of those things."
"Knox, hit the spot light."
Joel slowed the Humvee to a stop and the side spot light sprung to life. It played across a vacant lot and suddenly a running woman was illuminated. Behind her lurched the drunken forms of a half dozen of the walking dead. She saw the stopped vehicles and changed direction towards them.
"Marines! Debark and cover her!"
Instantly, the Marines exited the Humvees and took up covering positions on both sides of the column. The woman saw the friendly human forms and ran faster towards them.
"Sir, what do you want us to do with the tangoes?"
"Take them down, but remember to conserve ammunition, and only head shots get us any points boys."
The Marines on the right side of the Humvees drew beads on the stumbling forms and put them all down easily with single shots to the heads. The farthest zombie was a mere hundred yards away and that distance was cake for the marksmanship of the Marines.
The woman finally reached the convoy and skidded to a stop at Joel's vehicle.
"Thank god you found me. I've been running from those things all night. Me and a group of my friends have been trying to get to St. Laurence, where everyone from town has been going, and we ran into a group of those things… We all got separated, and I haven't seen any of them since. That was at least an hour ago…"
Joel walked around the front of the Humvee and examined the woman more closely. As he rounded the hood and saw her face more clearly, the realization hit him.
"Julie! Is that you?"
Her eyes lit up as she struggled to see his face underneath the camouflage paint and combat gear.
"Joel! Joel yes it's me!"
She ran up to him and hugged him, deeply relieved that she had been saved, and deeply excited that she was seeing her old friend. They held each other in that embrace for a few moments too long, and a couple of the men began to whistle.
Joel immediately let her go and straightened out his gear that had been put astray by Julie's hug. He stepped back and looked her over again.
"It's good to see you again Julie, but right now we have to get you to safety. You said that people were congregating at St. Laurence? How many would you say are there?"
Julie's smile remained as bright as before as she responded.
"We'll before the television went off, there was an announcement that said there were police and medical personnel there and it was a safe point. My family and most others had already made it there. The town was pretty much deserted by the time my friends and I were heading there, then we were attacked. John I know is dead…"
Joel could tell that she was about to break into tears and would not have her be embarrassed before his Marines and so interrupted her.
"Ok mount up guys, we're heading to St. Laurence. Julie we'll have you back with your family in no time. You're in the best of company now, 1st squad of Marine Force Recon.
Julie's face brightened again as the Marines began getting back into the Humvees and Julie took shotgun in Joel's vehicle. Seconds later they were back underway towards St. Laurence in grid H, better known as Wheaton, Illinois. And minutes after that, they arrived at St. Laurence, pulling up before the school in crisp military style bound to impress anyone watching. Four police officers with shotguns stood behind two parked cruisers outside the main doors to the gymnasium, where Julie had said everyone was gathered.
The Marines parked their Humvees and strode up to the officers with Julie in tow. Joel was about to speak to them when an officer spoke first.
"Thank god, the Army is here!"
Joel stopped before them and smiled darkly, but with the white of his teeth contrasting brilliantly with the dark paint on his face.
"Yes sir, the Army is here, but we're not them. And be happier, we're Marines."
The officer looked slightly bewildered, not realizing his error. But Joel gave him no time to ponder and walked straight past him into the gymnasium.
"Everyone is inside already; we should all be inside too."
The Marines and Julie walked into the gym with the four officers close behind. Inside were more than a couple hundred people and at least a dozen more police officers. Joel quickly sized up the situation and remembered the layout of the school from his time there in the past.
"Julie have they made any major renovations or additions to this place since we graduated?"
"No, it's pretty much exactly how we left it."
"Ok, this is how I see it, we can't keep everyone in the gym, even though I would very much like to keep everyone in one place, so lets secure the entire gym, theatre, and hall/cafeteria areas. Officers, we'll start with securing those doors at the far side of this hall. My men will bring in what supplies we have from the Humvees and you get whatever you have in the patrol cars. Then we'll block off these doors here. Send some more of your men to secure all other entrances and exits to this school. I want it locked down tight. Do not miss a single thing, it may mean the lives of all these people here, including us. Do you all understand?"
The officers quickly agreed and complied with Joel's orders. Normally someone would contest authority but the national crisis had already been declared and martial law had been decreed across the land. Plus everyone in the gym was equally cowed and impressed by the fully combat dressed and armed Marines that stood before them.
"Hansen, take your team and unload the Humvees. Don't leave anything that might be of use. We don't know how long we might have to hold out here, so bring it all in. Then lock those things up tight and leave the keys in the gas doors. We don't know who might to use them, so everyone should be able to get to them."
Hansen and four other Marines moved quickly to carry out Joels orders and his team stood at attention behind him. He then turned to address the silent mob of civilians who stood, sat, and lay before him.
"Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, my name is Sergeant Joel Roscord, United States Marine Corps. We are here to protect you until an airlift can be facilitated to evacuate you all to a safe zone. Chances are we will be able to get supplies dropped into here immediately, but as to when Command will be able to get transport choppers in here to get you all out is anybody's guess. Hopefully within the next few days. But I assure you, until the transports arrive, my men and I, along with your local police force, will protect you and ensure your safety until you can be evacuated. And until then you will all be staying in here or in the theatre. I'm sorry but we're going to have to sacrifice privacy for safety. The locker rooms will be available to everyone for showers and daily hygiene needs and we will arrange for a system of means and rations from the cafeteria and supplies. Now at this point are there any questions?"
A large, overweight man in his forties spoke up.
"Yes, I've got a few. First of which, how exactly do you ten Marines and the twenty cops we have here expect to protect us against the armies of zombies outside?"
Joel sighed and placed his feet shoulder width apart while slinging his M-4 and crossing his arms across his chest.
"Well first of all sir, we are Marines. We are the best trained fighters in the world. Which is precisely why Marines guard American embassies across the world."
"Well I've heard of our embassies falling to unruly mobs, how is this any different?"
"Well secondly sir, this is my hometown, and these are my people. And I'll be damned if I let any more of them fall to these walking dead. And if you're quite done sir, I think everyone, including the young children, have heard and seen enough for tonight."
The large man, whom Joel later found out to be George Bunse, sat down on the bleachers with a snide look on his face.
"Now if I could ask for all of your assistance, my men and I have a lot of work to do and would appreciate any help you could give us, so if there are any of you who can manage rationing of supplies and things of a logistical nature, we would like to speak to you now."
Joel and his four Marines moved off into a corner of the gym to speak with the leader of the Police contingent, Sergeant John McNimire. They had been speaking for several minutes about the defense of the school when Mrs. Sue Lyzinski, Joel's former teacher and mother of one of his best friends came up to them.
"Joel! How are you? What are you doing here? And what's going on out there?"
Joel immediately recognized his former teacher as she hugged him in greeting.
"Hi Mrs. L. I'm doing fine. We'll we're here to protect you all and make sure you make it safely to the college stadium that's where we're to bring everyone, all survivors are going there. It's being held by the 101st airborne and it's about as safe as anywhere. But until there we're here and we'll need help with the supplies."
Mrs. L smiled warmly and said, "Don't you worry about those. We'll take care of that accordingly, you just worry about keeping the peace around here, especially with folks like Bunse. Such a nasty character he is."
"Thanks Mrs. L. I'll keep him in mind. But we've got to go secure the school right now, so I will talk to you after."
Finally after about 3 hours of hard work, the school was locked tight against all possible attacks from outside. Everyone was inside and guards had been posted at the entrances. Joel and his Marines had set up observation posts on top of the gym, high above the trees and street level. They also set up their communication gear there and were in the process of appraising C&C of their situation and location. Joel was speaking with Commander Harrison and asking for an ETA for airlift when Johnson called to him from the north side of the roof.
"Sir, you'd best come see this."
Joel gave the headset back to Larson and walked to the battlements of the roof next to Johnson. Out in the night, illuminated by streetlights and moonlight, was an ocean of walking dead. Zombies covered the road and parking lot across the street. All were making slow, but undeniably progress towards the school, as if they somehow knew there was fresh meat to be had.
"Mother of god…"
To be continued…