Episode 19: Move-Crash
"Joe!" Sally cried, running up the ramp.
"Zach!" Todd cried simultaneously, keeping pace next to her.
"I’m fine," Joe groaned, pushing himself to his feet as the two of them turned the corner.
"Thank God!"
"Where’s Zach?"
"The one with the sword? He followed the psycho through…" He turned to point at the nearly invisible door, but had his attention called away by a creaking above him. Slowly he looked up, and quickly he screamed "MOVE!"
One of the remaining catwalks had just snapped off, and was now plunging towards them.
The three managed to move out of the way before it connected with a loud "CRASH!" A small amount of water splashed up at them.
A slow creaking began to emanate from the bottom of the ramp.
"MOVE!" Jennifer’s voice boomed. Everyone still below came running up. The moment they were up, a loud "CRASH!" burst from below. Jennifer spun and began firing; Sylvie and Waldo followed suit. Mina began to scream.
Todd and Sally ran to the line, Joe directly behind them. The three pulled out their choice weapons the moment that they saw what had sparked the flight and fight.
They had all known what they would see, but none of them would have admitted it to themselves without seeing it. The zombies had broken through.
"Fall back!" Joe commanded over the noise of six guns. "Evacuate the room! We can’t last here any longer! We have to… We have to sacrifice HQ!"
"You heard him!" Sally called. "Follow me!" She stopped firing, and started moving towards the truck, not turning. Jack was the first to follow; he went right to sally’s side, and kept his gun trained in the same direction as she did. Marty followed soon, as did Dawn.
"We’ll cover you!" Todd cried out over the blaze of sound.
"I’ll cover them," Jennifer hissed, just loud enough for him to hear, "and you."
"Not leaving you behind," Todd grunted as he felled a zombie.
Jennifer pulled her trigger tighter.
"I’ll protect you," Waldo intoned to Sylvie, deftly reloading his gun.
She gave him a nasty look, which he missed (though, he would have interpreted it as a pleasant look had he caught it,) but didn’t say a word to him. She reached behind her and shoved the sobbing Mina without looking. "MOVE!" she screamed.
Mina nodded through her tears and joined the retreating group.
"Mom," Dawn said meekly. "Todd… He’s the one who sent Zach to save us."
"Got it, dear," Sally said, the mother back in her voice for a moment. It was gone instantly. "Sir! If you let those kids get hurt, I will be forced into committing a number of crimes that would make a court marshal worthless!"
"Understood, Soldier! We’ll be right behind you, once you clear the way! MOVE!" Joe was firing at random. Something in the back of his head kept saying "I’ve got more discipline than this, dammit!" But he kept firing. He had fired at least four hundred rounds by then; he had only personally felled twelve zombies.
He was angry.
That boy had taken Nataliya from him. She had been the best soldier he had ever had. She did what she was told… she responded… She did everything. And that boy had made him shoot her in… Now he had to fire. Just shoot. He had to shoot. It wasn’t the time to think of these things. He had the rest of them left to save. The Chinese kid would take care of the murderer. The rest of them would be safe if he could just…
"You three!" Jennifer barked. "Retreat with the others!" Joe was glad to see that she wasn’t pointing at him.
"Jack, I need you to protect the girls. I’m going to take point and make sure that we get through; I can’t protect all of you fully while I do it." Sally had somehow managed to attain a voice in perfect balance between soldier and mother now. Somehow, Jack was reassured.
"Alright, dear. We’ll be alright. You just get us out of here, okay?"
She smiled at him. "Stay a couple yards behind me, just in case." She turned, and began running towards the truck. She spun past it, heading for the door just past the weapon’s closet.
Jack followed her, a few yards behind, just as she said, motioning for the others to follow. Mina and Marty followed him quickly; Dawn took a quick glance back at her friends, and followed in a hurry.
Waldo grunted in response to Jennifer’s words; he kept firing, but was watching Sylvie intently. Sylvie knew this. She snarled her teeth at no one in particular, and took particular care in killing the next two zombies she saw.
Todd glanced over, and shook his head. "Sylvie!" He yelled, just louder than the roar of gunfire. "Take Waldo and get out of here!"
Sylvie glanced forward at him. "I’m not leaving you!" she roared back.
"I’ll be right behind you! Just get out of here!"
Sylvie looked at him worriedly. She knew that he was one of the good ones. He was one of the smart ones, too. He knew, and he was trying to tell her, that the more of them who ran now, the more of them who would survive. She hesitated, fired another headshot, and turned and ran.
Todd relaxed just a little bit when he heard her footsteps dashing away, and a small amount more when he knew Waldo had left. He hefted his gun and fired with a brighter passion.
Sally spun to look into the weapons alcove when she reached it, gun at the ready. Behind her, fallen and bleeding bodies were strewn on the ground. She ignored them, though he companions were openly disconcerted by them.
Inside the alcove, one of the soldiers was lying propped up against the wall. A large piece of metal was pinned through his ankle, blood oozing from the wound. His breathing was shallow, but a smile fluttered across his face when he saw Sally.
"Hey, boss-lady. I guess the game’s over, isn’t it?" His voice was weak, and when he finished, he coughed. There was a small amount of blood in his cough.
She smiled weakly at him. "Phil. Can you move?"
"Not at all, boss-lady. When the truck came down, it knocked me over. When I tried to stand up, a big chuck of the ceiling fell right through my leg. Jammed itself into the ground real good, and into my leg. It’s a pisser."
"Let me get it out for you… We can get you out of here."
"No, boss-lady. You know as well as I do that I’ll just bleed to death on the way out. I’ve seen zombie movies. I’ll die on the way out, and kill someone you’re with. Leave me here, Boss-lady. I’ll hold ‘em off ‘til I die. Hopefully I can distract ‘em long enough for you."
She gave him a stern look of approval. "You’re a good soldier, Phil. I’ll miss you."
"Shove it, boss-lady. Grab any guns you need and get out of here."
Waldo suddenly stopped, half way between the truck and Sally’s group. Sylvie stopped and spun to watch him, as he slowly turned, and then quickly dashed to one of the fallen bodies. He pressed two fingers against its neck, and then lifted it up, carrying the body in his arms.
"He’s still breathing, and I don’t think he’s bleeding! We’ve got to take him with us!"
"Who is he?" Sylvie screamed, frustrated instantly with his efforts.
"Elli!"
"Oh! Well, come on!" She began pursuit of Sally’s group again, with her sprightly, graceful, and quick step. Waldo pursued, at an only slightly reduced speed from his usual gait.
"Jennifer, I still hear guns besides mine! You and the other, get out of here!" Joe was screaming; tears were flooding out of his eyes, but they didn’t show in his voice.
"I won’t!" Jennifer screamed back. "I need to make… I won’t leave you!"
"Everything’s forgiven Jennifer!" He screamed. "Now get out of here! Take care of your friends! Take care of Sally!"
"Joe!"
"GO!" He turned to her for a moment; took in the fact that Todd was the one still left. "This whole place is coming down in a minute. And you don’t want to be here when it happens." He stopped firing and opened up his overshirt.
"Jesus Christ…" Jennifer stopped firing. "You…"
"Shit," Todd yelled, the only one still firing, "You’re wrapped in C4!"
Joe nodded solemnly. "I need all of you out of here before I set it off. I’m going to… to seal it off. I don’t know how long it will last. Communications are down-I don’t know how the rest of the complex is doing. This entrance, though, is… It’s going to blow up. It will collapse. And I’ll be here."
"Joe…"
"I don’t have anything left. I… They killed Nataliya. I’m going to take out as many of the bastards as I can, and you are going to survive and kill as many more as you can."
Jennifer looked at him sternly, and then nodded. She shot four more zombies through the cranium (they had been advancing quite quickly up the ramp with only Todd firing,) backed off, grabbed Todd by the arm, and ran after the others.
Joe now faced the zombie hoard alone. He pointed his gun out into them.
"Stay back… Just give them one minute…" He whispered, as he fired. "Just one minute… And it’ll all be over… Sixty… fifty-nine…"
"Move! Get out of the room!" Jennifer called; she and Todd rounded the truck just as Waldo, Sylvie, and Elli reached the others. Sally glanced out of the weapons room, having just finished lowering a fair assortment of automatic weapons to Phil.
"You think we don’t know that we need to hurry?" Marty yelled back, the most action she had taken in nearly an hour.
"Joe’s strapped to C4 Explosives!" Todd yelled.
"Shit!" Phil whispered. "I guess I won’t be any help at all, will I boss-lady?"
Sally looked at him sadly and whispered. "Goodbye, Phil." A shot sounded out. Phil was silent.
"Forty-two… Forty-one…" He began to notice the patter of the rain in the center of the room behind him.
Sylvie ran into the armory and grabbed two more guns; she managed to ignore Phil’s body, though it did register in her brain.
"We’ve got to get out of here now!" Todd yelled.
"Help me carry Elli!"
"I can’t get the door open!"
"Where’d Zach go?"
"Shit!"
Zzzznk!
"Twenty-nine… Twenty-eight… Twent… Oh, fuck it." Joe ran forward. "The copper bosses couldn’t do it! LET ME TRY!"
"MOVE!"
Boom!
CRASH!
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"Zach!" Todd cried simultaneously, keeping pace next to her.
"I’m fine," Joe groaned, pushing himself to his feet as the two of them turned the corner.
"Thank God!"
"Where’s Zach?"
"The one with the sword? He followed the psycho through…" He turned to point at the nearly invisible door, but had his attention called away by a creaking above him. Slowly he looked up, and quickly he screamed "MOVE!"
One of the remaining catwalks had just snapped off, and was now plunging towards them.
The three managed to move out of the way before it connected with a loud "CRASH!" A small amount of water splashed up at them.
A slow creaking began to emanate from the bottom of the ramp.
"MOVE!" Jennifer’s voice boomed. Everyone still below came running up. The moment they were up, a loud "CRASH!" burst from below. Jennifer spun and began firing; Sylvie and Waldo followed suit. Mina began to scream.
Todd and Sally ran to the line, Joe directly behind them. The three pulled out their choice weapons the moment that they saw what had sparked the flight and fight.
They had all known what they would see, but none of them would have admitted it to themselves without seeing it. The zombies had broken through.
"Fall back!" Joe commanded over the noise of six guns. "Evacuate the room! We can’t last here any longer! We have to… We have to sacrifice HQ!"
"You heard him!" Sally called. "Follow me!" She stopped firing, and started moving towards the truck, not turning. Jack was the first to follow; he went right to sally’s side, and kept his gun trained in the same direction as she did. Marty followed soon, as did Dawn.
"We’ll cover you!" Todd cried out over the blaze of sound.
"I’ll cover them," Jennifer hissed, just loud enough for him to hear, "and you."
"Not leaving you behind," Todd grunted as he felled a zombie.
Jennifer pulled her trigger tighter.
"I’ll protect you," Waldo intoned to Sylvie, deftly reloading his gun.
She gave him a nasty look, which he missed (though, he would have interpreted it as a pleasant look had he caught it,) but didn’t say a word to him. She reached behind her and shoved the sobbing Mina without looking. "MOVE!" she screamed.
Mina nodded through her tears and joined the retreating group.
"Mom," Dawn said meekly. "Todd… He’s the one who sent Zach to save us."
"Got it, dear," Sally said, the mother back in her voice for a moment. It was gone instantly. "Sir! If you let those kids get hurt, I will be forced into committing a number of crimes that would make a court marshal worthless!"
"Understood, Soldier! We’ll be right behind you, once you clear the way! MOVE!" Joe was firing at random. Something in the back of his head kept saying "I’ve got more discipline than this, dammit!" But he kept firing. He had fired at least four hundred rounds by then; he had only personally felled twelve zombies.
He was angry.
That boy had taken Nataliya from him. She had been the best soldier he had ever had. She did what she was told… she responded… She did everything. And that boy had made him shoot her in… Now he had to fire. Just shoot. He had to shoot. It wasn’t the time to think of these things. He had the rest of them left to save. The Chinese kid would take care of the murderer. The rest of them would be safe if he could just…
"You three!" Jennifer barked. "Retreat with the others!" Joe was glad to see that she wasn’t pointing at him.
"Jack, I need you to protect the girls. I’m going to take point and make sure that we get through; I can’t protect all of you fully while I do it." Sally had somehow managed to attain a voice in perfect balance between soldier and mother now. Somehow, Jack was reassured.
"Alright, dear. We’ll be alright. You just get us out of here, okay?"
She smiled at him. "Stay a couple yards behind me, just in case." She turned, and began running towards the truck. She spun past it, heading for the door just past the weapon’s closet.
Jack followed her, a few yards behind, just as she said, motioning for the others to follow. Mina and Marty followed him quickly; Dawn took a quick glance back at her friends, and followed in a hurry.
Waldo grunted in response to Jennifer’s words; he kept firing, but was watching Sylvie intently. Sylvie knew this. She snarled her teeth at no one in particular, and took particular care in killing the next two zombies she saw.
Todd glanced over, and shook his head. "Sylvie!" He yelled, just louder than the roar of gunfire. "Take Waldo and get out of here!"
Sylvie glanced forward at him. "I’m not leaving you!" she roared back.
"I’ll be right behind you! Just get out of here!"
Sylvie looked at him worriedly. She knew that he was one of the good ones. He was one of the smart ones, too. He knew, and he was trying to tell her, that the more of them who ran now, the more of them who would survive. She hesitated, fired another headshot, and turned and ran.
Todd relaxed just a little bit when he heard her footsteps dashing away, and a small amount more when he knew Waldo had left. He hefted his gun and fired with a brighter passion.
Sally spun to look into the weapons alcove when she reached it, gun at the ready. Behind her, fallen and bleeding bodies were strewn on the ground. She ignored them, though he companions were openly disconcerted by them.
Inside the alcove, one of the soldiers was lying propped up against the wall. A large piece of metal was pinned through his ankle, blood oozing from the wound. His breathing was shallow, but a smile fluttered across his face when he saw Sally.
"Hey, boss-lady. I guess the game’s over, isn’t it?" His voice was weak, and when he finished, he coughed. There was a small amount of blood in his cough.
She smiled weakly at him. "Phil. Can you move?"
"Not at all, boss-lady. When the truck came down, it knocked me over. When I tried to stand up, a big chuck of the ceiling fell right through my leg. Jammed itself into the ground real good, and into my leg. It’s a pisser."
"Let me get it out for you… We can get you out of here."
"No, boss-lady. You know as well as I do that I’ll just bleed to death on the way out. I’ve seen zombie movies. I’ll die on the way out, and kill someone you’re with. Leave me here, Boss-lady. I’ll hold ‘em off ‘til I die. Hopefully I can distract ‘em long enough for you."
She gave him a stern look of approval. "You’re a good soldier, Phil. I’ll miss you."
"Shove it, boss-lady. Grab any guns you need and get out of here."
Waldo suddenly stopped, half way between the truck and Sally’s group. Sylvie stopped and spun to watch him, as he slowly turned, and then quickly dashed to one of the fallen bodies. He pressed two fingers against its neck, and then lifted it up, carrying the body in his arms.
"He’s still breathing, and I don’t think he’s bleeding! We’ve got to take him with us!"
"Who is he?" Sylvie screamed, frustrated instantly with his efforts.
"Elli!"
"Oh! Well, come on!" She began pursuit of Sally’s group again, with her sprightly, graceful, and quick step. Waldo pursued, at an only slightly reduced speed from his usual gait.
"Jennifer, I still hear guns besides mine! You and the other, get out of here!" Joe was screaming; tears were flooding out of his eyes, but they didn’t show in his voice.
"I won’t!" Jennifer screamed back. "I need to make… I won’t leave you!"
"Everything’s forgiven Jennifer!" He screamed. "Now get out of here! Take care of your friends! Take care of Sally!"
"Joe!"
"GO!" He turned to her for a moment; took in the fact that Todd was the one still left. "This whole place is coming down in a minute. And you don’t want to be here when it happens." He stopped firing and opened up his overshirt.
"Jesus Christ…" Jennifer stopped firing. "You…"
"Shit," Todd yelled, the only one still firing, "You’re wrapped in C4!"
Joe nodded solemnly. "I need all of you out of here before I set it off. I’m going to… to seal it off. I don’t know how long it will last. Communications are down-I don’t know how the rest of the complex is doing. This entrance, though, is… It’s going to blow up. It will collapse. And I’ll be here."
"Joe…"
"I don’t have anything left. I… They killed Nataliya. I’m going to take out as many of the bastards as I can, and you are going to survive and kill as many more as you can."
Jennifer looked at him sternly, and then nodded. She shot four more zombies through the cranium (they had been advancing quite quickly up the ramp with only Todd firing,) backed off, grabbed Todd by the arm, and ran after the others.
Joe now faced the zombie hoard alone. He pointed his gun out into them.
"Stay back… Just give them one minute…" He whispered, as he fired. "Just one minute… And it’ll all be over… Sixty… fifty-nine…"
"Move! Get out of the room!" Jennifer called; she and Todd rounded the truck just as Waldo, Sylvie, and Elli reached the others. Sally glanced out of the weapons room, having just finished lowering a fair assortment of automatic weapons to Phil.
"You think we don’t know that we need to hurry?" Marty yelled back, the most action she had taken in nearly an hour.
"Joe’s strapped to C4 Explosives!" Todd yelled.
"Shit!" Phil whispered. "I guess I won’t be any help at all, will I boss-lady?"
Sally looked at him sadly and whispered. "Goodbye, Phil." A shot sounded out. Phil was silent.
"Forty-two… Forty-one…" He began to notice the patter of the rain in the center of the room behind him.
Sylvie ran into the armory and grabbed two more guns; she managed to ignore Phil’s body, though it did register in her brain.
"We’ve got to get out of here now!" Todd yelled.
"Help me carry Elli!"
"I can’t get the door open!"
"Where’d Zach go?"
"Shit!"
Zzzznk!
"Twenty-nine… Twenty-eight… Twent… Oh, fuck it." Joe ran forward. "The copper bosses couldn’t do it! LET ME TRY!"
"MOVE!"
Boom!
CRASH!
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posted by Pope Richard Corey at 11:06 PM
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