blade in the back of his
neck, severing his spinal column. He dropped without a sound and I motioned
the girl, an Air Force Airman, to stay put. Exiting the office I closed the
door behind me to keep her safe and was pleasantly surprised to see Roach
standing in the hall with his pistol in hand at low ready, scanning back and
forth for any threats. He was still a prick.
Moving on down the hall I cleared two more rooms, both
empty, and started up the stairs to the second floor where the large flight
operations center was located. The firing had stopped and that was either a
good thing – all of the infected had been put down, or a bad thing – the
infected had won the battle. The stairs were two half flights with a landing
in the middle that forced a 180 degree turn to continue up. Rifle raised to
engage any targets on the stairs above I stepped onto the landing and swiveled
to cover the upper flight of stairs. An infected female screamed and launched
herself down the stairs when she saw me. I pulled the trigger and the rifle
spat out a three round burst that stitched across her chest and head. All
animation left the body and its momentum carried it down the stairs to crash
into the wall next to me.
Stepping over the body I slowly climbed the upper flight and
paused at the top. Hundreds of spent shell casings lay on the shiny floor, the
walls and ceiling ripped apart presumably by the inaccurate full auto firing I
had heard. Three dead infected lay in the hall, pools of blood looking even
redder against the polished linoleum. The double doors that led into the
operations center were closed and also showed damage from multiple bullet
strikes. Moving to the left side of the double doors I motioned Roach to take
up position on the right. I listened for a moment and could hear movement from
inside the ops center, but couldn’t tell if it was survivors or infected.
Meeting Roach’s eyes with mine I gave hand signals to
indicate I heard movement and was going to open the door. He pushed his
shoulder into the wall, adjusted his grip on his pistol and nodded. Using the
barrel of my rifle I gently pushed on the door and it started to swing in.
Immediately full auto fire blasted through the wood, showering the hall as well
as Roach and me with splinters.
“Cease fire! Friendlies coming in,” I shouted. Roach
started to step in front of the door but I stopped him. Just because I had
yelled out didn’t mean whoever was firing that rifle wasn’t still so freaked
out they wouldn’t open up on anything that moved. After a moment a female
voice I recognized as Major Masuka called out for us to come ahead. Stepping
in front of the door I pushed it open with my left elbow as I kept my rifle up
and ready. The rifle’s muzzle was the first thing to enter the room then I
pushed the door all the way open and stepped fully into the opening.
Bodies were everywhere in the room and it stunk of blood,
bowels and gun powder. Most of the flat panel displays that were mounted on
the walls were shattered and the entire bank of windows that faced the flight
line had been blown out by gunfire. I just had time to take this all in before
my legs were nearly taken out from under me. Dog, frantically happy to see me,
forgot that he weighed over 100 pounds and wouldn’t stop jumping against me
until I leaned over, hugged him with one arm and scratched his belly with my
free hand. Straightening up I came face to face with Rachel who wrapped her
arms around me for a quick hug then stepped back and punched my chest. Hard.
“That’s for going off without us,” she said and went back
across the room where she had been giving first aid to the injured. I heard a
snort from Roach behind me and I thought about turning around and breaking his
nose for him. Fortunately for him Masuka walked over to me just then.
“Your heads up saved a lot of people,” she said, holding a
compress to her
neck, severing his spinal column. He dropped without a sound and I motioned
the girl, an Air Force Airman, to stay put. Exiting the office I closed the
door behind me to keep her safe and was pleasantly surprised to see Roach
standing in the hall with his pistol in hand at low ready, scanning back and
forth for any threats. He was still a prick.
Moving on down the hall I cleared two more rooms, both
empty, and started up the stairs to the second floor where the large flight
operations center was located. The firing had stopped and that was either a
good thing – all of the infected had been put down, or a bad thing – the
infected had won the battle. The stairs were two half flights with a landing
in the middle that forced a 180 degree turn to continue up. Rifle raised to
engage any targets on the stairs above I stepped onto the landing and swiveled
to cover the upper flight of stairs. An infected female screamed and launched
herself down the stairs when she saw me. I pulled the trigger and the rifle
spat out a three round burst that stitched across her chest and head. All
animation left the body and its momentum carried it down the stairs to crash
into the wall next to me.
Stepping over the body I slowly climbed the upper flight and
paused at the top. Hundreds of spent shell casings lay on the shiny floor, the
walls and ceiling ripped apart presumably by the inaccurate full auto firing I
had heard. Three dead infected lay in the hall, pools of blood looking even
redder against the polished linoleum. The double doors that led into the
operations center were closed and also showed damage from multiple bullet
strikes. Moving to the left side of the double doors I motioned Roach to take
up position on the right. I listened for a moment and could hear movement from
inside the ops center, but couldn’t tell if it was survivors or infected.
Meeting Roach’s eyes with mine I gave hand signals to
indicate I heard movement and was going to open the door. He pushed his
shoulder into the wall, adjusted his grip on his pistol and nodded. Using the
barrel of my rifle I gently pushed on the door and it started to swing in.
Immediately full auto fire blasted through the wood, showering the hall as well
as Roach and me with splinters.
“Cease fire! Friendlies coming in,” I shouted. Roach
started to step in front of the door but I stopped him. Just because I had
yelled out didn’t mean whoever was firing that rifle wasn’t still so freaked
out they wouldn’t open up on anything that moved. After a moment a female
voice I recognized as Major Masuka called out for us to come ahead. Stepping
in front of the door I pushed it open with my left elbow as I kept my rifle up
and ready. The rifle’s muzzle was the first thing to enter the room then I
pushed the door all the way open and stepped fully into the opening.
Bodies were everywhere in the room and it stunk of blood,
bowels and gun powder. Most of the flat panel displays that were mounted on
the walls were shattered and the entire bank of windows that faced the flight
line had been blown out by gunfire. I just had time to take this all in before
my legs were nearly taken out from under me. Dog, frantically happy to see me,
forgot that he weighed over 100 pounds and wouldn’t stop jumping against me
until I leaned over, hugged him with one arm and scratched his belly with my
free hand. Straightening up I came face to face with Rachel who wrapped her
arms around me for a quick hug then stepped back and punched my chest. Hard.
“That’s for going off without us,” she said and went back
across the room where she had been giving first aid to the injured. I heard a
snort from Roach behind me and I thought about turning around and breaking his
nose for him. Fortunately for him Masuka walked over to me just then.
“Your heads up saved a lot of people,” she said, holding a
compress to her
Similar Books
