Chapter 36: Runnin' Riot!

Robles

Outside the radio station, a legion of undead horrors lumber down the ruined street, moaning and shrieking for living flesh. Most of the zombies were merely reanimated corpses, but Leo could see that more and more of the creatures began taking on more deformed and terrifying shapes that defied description, but looked like smaller more warped versions of Stitches. Several were even holding weapons, crude everyday objects like pipes, axes, and wooden planks and more than few had grisly, gore covered meat cleavers.

"There's no way we can fight that." Leo said. "Not from here."

"What do we do then?" Kumi asked.

"This area is already compromised." Paccone said grimly, clearly trying to think of what to do next. "We take the Warthogs in the garage and we fall back. Either out of the town or to a more fortified position. We can't stay."

"I agree." Sam coughed, trying to stand, "those things are only here because they're after us. If we leave, so do they, and the survivors will be left alone."

Collette silently whispered to Sam, so nobody else would hear,"Don't you mean that they're after you?"

Sam ignored the question and continued, "We can backtrack back to the landing pad. There's plenty of space there to let us maneuver our Warthogs, and there's a chance we can catch a Pelican's attention."

Paccone nodded, but was still unsure of the plan. "Leo?"

Leo shrugged and said, "If you can think of a better plan."

Several minutes later, the Marines were gathered in the station's subterranean garage. The access gate was closed and chained shut to prevent the zombies from getting in. Two Warthogs both sat in front of the gate, engines warmed up and ready to go. Unfortunately, there was one problem…

"Who's going to close the gate once we drive out? I mean, it won't be right to leave the door open for any zombies to pour in. Maybe we should get one of the survivors down here."

"There's no time!" Mann shouted. "They're almost right on top of us!"

"Collette." Sam sat up from the bed of her Warthog. "You'll have to stay here and close the gate."

"But-"

Sam cut her off. "Collette, its far too dangerous for you to come with us." And stay with me, she silently added, "Stay here and close the gate. The survivors upstairs will take care of you."

The girl reluctantly nodded and ran up the chains holding the gate closed. Siler tossed her a ring of keys, adding that the gate key was the rusty silver one.

"Alright, lets get this show started." Paccone said, loading his battle rifle. "Go!"

With that, both Warthogs roared out of the garage, knocking the gate open and disappearing into the Aeolan mist.

En route to Robles

"How much longer?" Karla asked, impatience dripping from her voice.

"How about you stop asking questions every five minutes and let me fly this damn thing!" the pilot answered, obviously irritated. "We're not going to get anywhere if you distract me long enough to plow our Pelican straight into the ground."

Karla sighed and retreated back to the rear of the dropship, anxious for the craft to reach its final destination.

Robles

Meanwhile, on the ground, two Warthogs shot down the street, trying to outrun the moving wall of rotting flesh. Leo led the way in the lead Warthog with Mann and Paccone while Siler took the rear with Sam and Kumi. Most of the slower, normal zombies quickly fell behind, but the faster ghouls were catching up, while Stitches', despite his size, was easily keeping pace with his deceptive speed. Also, the road they were driving one could prove to be as deadly as the zombies that were chasing them. The road was narrow and cluttered with trash and derelict vehicles, and visibility was almost zero due to the mist. Leo had to constantly make last minute swerves and turns, nearly tossing Paccone and Mann off the side of the vehicle. He was also pretty sure that the only way Siler was navigating through this mess was by following his taillights.

Suddenly, he heard the distinct shrieking sound that could be attributed to the ghouls. He quickly hazarded a glance upwards and saw dozens of them leaping across the roofs and crawling along the walls of the surrounding buildings. He quickly pointed up and yelled, "They're trying to flank us!"

Paccone nodded and raised a heavy .30 caliber machine gun he had gotten from the drop pod. He pulled the trigger and let the lead fly. The sound, muzzle flash, and recoil of the weapon was incredible, and without a tripod or mount, was inaccurate as hell, but that wasn't much of an issue, since the walls were literally covered with ghouls. The freakish, skeletal ghouls weren't tough enough to take a heavy .30 caliber round, and just one would knock them off from whatever they were standing on. It was literally raining bodies, debris, and shattered glass as the spray of rounds hit everything and anything wherever the machine gun was pointing.

Kumi, in the meantime, was busy trying to hold off attacking ghouls and making sure that Sam didn't go into shock at the same time. Unlike the small arsenal Paccone had packing, all she had was a bandolier of grenades, a battle rifle, a shotgun, and enough ammo for both guns. Right now, the battle rifle seemed to be adequate for the situation. She took aim and fired at a group of three ghouls, shredding two of them apart and forcing the third to back off.

Suddenly, Stitches burst out from the intersection in front of them. Leo brought the Warthog to a screeching halt, wondering how in the world something so large could've outrun them.

"How the hell did he get there?" Leo screamed.

"He must have cut us off!" Paccone yelled back.

"How could he be that smart?"

Before Paccone could answer, Stitches roared and charged forward, swinging his massive meat cleaver. Paccone, who was standing in the bed of the Warthog, ducked as the massive cleaver passed over him by a margin of inches. Cursing, Paccone got back up and yelled, "Tell Siler to stop and find another route out! We've gotta get out of here and lead Stitches away!"

"We're splitting up?" Leo asked.

Paccone nodded. "Better he chases us than them."

"Here, sir!" Mann tossed the Jackhammer to Paccone. "I think we're going to need this."

Several meters back, Siler received the frantic command and made a sharp left into a side street. Unknown to him or Kumi however, something began to tail them, keeping its distance and using the advancing ghouls as cover…

Stitches roared as the 102mm shaped charge slammed into his chest, driving him back several meters. Paccone ejected the spent rocket tube and threw it onto the street.

"How many more rockets do we have?"

"We've only got two mags left!" Mann said, digging through the ammo crates.

Four rockets. Paccone grimaced. This wasn't going to be enough. He yelled, "Carter! Back up and take that right turn! We've got to lead him to where we have the advantage!"

Leo nodded and hit the gas. The Warthog sputtered to life and drove. Paccone looked up to see an ominous water tower in the distance. He had a plan, and if they could just reach that tower, maybe they could pull it off.