Ch 6 pushing ahead
That morning, we climbed out from the trench, and saw it was clear of zombies. That surprised me. There were dozens of zombies last night. How come it was empty?
Not wanting to push our luck, we left the trenches and headed back to Zaofu.
The other group, however, ran into the same group of zombies we hid from.
"Here they come!" Lasky shouted, firing his rifle at the horde.
"Where'd they come from?" Tenzin asked, pushing them back with an air blast.
"They just came out of the blue." Lasky replied.
The zombies continued their surge, and were stopped only because Su erected a large wall of earth.
"We need to get back to Zaofu." Su said.
"Why?" Lasky asked.
"That horde will get thru the wall, and they'll head towards the city. The sooner we get back, the sooner we'll have a chance of survival." Su answered.
"Good enough for me." Kya said.
Back at Zaofu, a force of metalbending police officers arrived, about a quarter of the full police force. Immediately, they were put to work in fortifying the city and helping to build the J7W Shinden fighters.
"What are you working on, Asami?" Korra asked, seeing her girlfriend staring at a series of blueprints.
"A new fighter jet. We can't mass produce the BI-1, but I'm thinking of this design. Swept wing, with two engines slung under the wings. 4 30mm cannons in the nose, with an addition of rockets and bombs." Asami said.
"Let me guess. Ezra will fly it." Korra said.
"Him, or Lasky. I wonder where they are now." Asami pondered.
Where we were, in the recess of hell. We ran into a large horde of zombies, and sought cover in the swamp.
"Ezra, why'd you lead us to the swamp?" Wing asked.
"Only safe spot from the zombies. Once they pass, we'll head to Zaofu." Lin answered.
As we set up camp in the swamp, the other scouting party ran into the impenetrable line of zombies that were now encircling the swamp.
"I saw dozens of zombies heading towards the swamp. Why would they go there?" Kya asked.
"Chances are Ezra and his team is in there." Tenzin said.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Of course they're there. Zombies only go where the food is." Lasky said.
In the swamp, we saw the first zombies head inside.
"Here they come!" I shouted, killing the first with a single shot from my AK rifle.
"I thought this place was safe!" Wing said.
"Guess not." Wei replied.
The zombies slowly piled in, pushing us back into the swamp. We needed to break out, and fast. But we couldn't fight them ourselves. Help would have to come from the outside.
Night came, and we slept for the night, Lin taking the first watch. Outside the swamp, Lasky and his group were walking thru the zombie line in the dark, killing their enemies by bending or silent knife kills.
"Stay together, and eyes open." Lasky said, aiming his shotgun.
Walking in the swamp, they failed to notice that Lin was keeping an eye on them. She saw the group, and pulled out binoculars.
"How'd they get in?" She muttered.
Lin ran towards us and woke us up.
"Honey, get up." She said, shaking me awake.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I saw Lasky and his group." Lin said.
"Where?" I asked, grabbing my AK rifle.
"I'll show you." Lin said.
We moved thru the swamp, and came head to head with Lasky's group, weapons drawn.
"Ezra, good to see you again." Lasky said.
"You too, Lasky. Any idea on how to leave?" I asked.
"Yeah. The zombies don't move as fast in the forest. We can outmaneuver them. It's how we got in here." Su said.
"Then we leave right now." Lin said.
Heading thru the heavily forested boarders of the swamp was nerve racking. We had to resist the urge to open fire on the zombies, lest we attract their attention. I regretted not bringing a sharpshooting rifle, like a Dragunov, or the Gewehr 98. I decided to bring them next time.
That morning, we were free from the zombies, but we had no time to celebrate. Once the zombies picked out scent, we were dead meat. So we ran as fast as our feet could carry us. It took us a week to get back to Zaofu. And we killed a few zombies in the process.
But I knew they were behind us. We needed weapons to stop the zombies, and fast.
"And I got a few weapons to help stop them." Asami said, leading us to a hanger. In the hanger, was a tarp covering a large project.
"What do you got?" Lin asked.
"A new fighter jet. I don't know what to call it yet, but here it is." Asami said, and pulled the tarp off.
I recognized it immediately. Slightly swept wings, two engines, and 4 guns in the nose. It was the ME-262 jet fighter.
I walked towards the jet and climbed into the cockpit. Looking at the instruments, a smile appeared on my face.
"I'm flying this thing." I said, and closed the cockpit, starting up the engines.
"Guys, get the hell out of the way!" Asami yells, running out of the direction of the now mobile jet.
In the cockpit I worked the controls of the jet, taxing to the runway. Pointed downrange, I pushed the throttle forward and was pushed into the back of the seat as I accelerated downrange. With enough airspeed, I pulled the control stick back and soared into the air. I did barrel rolls, split S's, Immelmann's, etc.
I approached the ground in a strafing run, and pulled the trigger. 30mm rounds spewed from the jet and impacted into the ground. The jet lightly shook as the guns fired their deadly ammo.
"Asami, it's a charm. I'll take the 262 along with the Shinden. Produce as many as possible." I said.
Two weeks later, the first combat mission of the new planes had arrived. A large force of zombies approached the fortress city of Zaofu.
Me, Lasky, Asami, and a few others who were trained in the new planes scrambled to fend off the attack. 10 Me-262s and 50 Shinden's were ready for combat, but we only had 20 pilots.
"Remember, not a single zombie is to be alive. Win this battle, and live another day." I said, in the cockpit of a Me-262.
We dove down on the zombie hoard, firing our guns in unison. The effect was devastating. 30mm slugs tore into the zombies, killing a good amount in the first run.
"Look at that." Asami said, admiring our work.
In the city, they watched as the makeshift air-force quickly destroyed the zombies, leaving no survivors.
"Maybe we have a chance." Kya said.
Lin looked at Kya, then turned her head up as the planes flew overhead in formation, victorious for the moment. Lin smiled, proud of her husband's iron will to survive.
"Yeah. We do have a chance."
Tenzin headed back to republic city, hearing that Katara was visiting. Boy, did he have something to say to her.
"Tenzin, it's good to see you." Katara said, hugging her son.
"It's good to see you too, mother." Tenzin said.
"Sit down. I want to hear everything." Katara said.
"Okay. Kya is dating a younger man." Tenzin said.
"Good for her." Katara responded.
"Good for her!? Your daughter is dating a man young enough to be her son!" Tenzin said.
"You forget, that when your father and I met, he was 12, and I was 14." Katara pointed out.
"That's different." Tenzin said.
"Your wife is younger than you. Lin is old enough to be Ezra's mom. And both those marriages are doing well. Let it go. They're happy together." Katara said.
"I guess you're right." Tenzin said, slouching in his chair.
"Kya's dating someone?" Bumi asked.
"Yeah. And he's young enough to be her son. They're at Zaofu, if you want to see them." Tenzin said.
"Oh, I'm going to see them." Bumi said, and started to pack.
"Bumi!" Tenzin said, approaching his brother.
"Yeah?" Bumi asked.
"You'll need this." Tenzin said, handing Bumi an MP-40 submachine gun.
"What's this for?" Bumi asked, grabbing the weapon.
"Trust me. You're heading to the frontlines." Tenzin said.