heading towards South Ferry-Whitehall Street Subway Station. I brought down the night-vision binoculars to my eyes and scanned the way ahead for Z’s. Tanner was convinced we wouldn’t see any until we hit the subway. They had done these trips into the city many times. On the way in I had asked Tanner how he managed to convince people to come with him. He said that he didn’t need to convince them. Desperation was a good motivator. Most of the people that returned were stragglers. Barely surviving in a city overrun by the dead. Others need a little more persuasion.
About forty feet away from us was the first entrance point to the subway.
“Now listen up,” Tanner said, pulling the group into a tight circle. “We are going to break into two teams once we’re down there. Each of you has the location of where the meeting is taking place. Be advised, you are to take necessary force, however, that doesn’t always mean using the AR-15’s for any of you who are a little trigger-happy. Remember, we are here to bring them in alive.”
At the bottom of a steep flight of steps we checked areas to the left and right of us. Echoing throughout the subway was the sound of Z’s.
“Stay alert. Stay alive,” Tanner said, leading the way. I was about ready to dump this guy but until we knew the location of the Coalition we were going to use their intel to our advantage.
It was eerie being below the streets of New York not knowing when or if Z’s would attack. We heard the other group’s gunfire before we had even unloaded one round. I twisted around instinctively, thinking we should go back and help but Tanner was calling the shots.
“They all know the risk.”
“Why split up?” Jess asked.
Tanner didn’t need to answer that. Ben did. It’s a common tactical strategy. If one of your group gets fired upon, you still have the element of surprise. We jumped down onto the tracks and broke into a jog.
“How far is it?” Ben asked Tanner.
“About ten minutes from here.”
He was an oddball. I was curious to know more about him. How had he ended up here working for the Warden? Did he know what the Warden was doing with the people he had taken? It seemed that morals only mattered when survival wasn’t at stake. Beyond that people did whatever the hell they wanted. As we jogged down the dark tunnel, the smell of death lingered in the air like rotten meat covered in flies. We had grown used to living in a world that smelled bad.
“So how did you come to work for the Warden?” I asked, coming up beside him.
He glanced at me skeptically. But like most people who loved to talk about themselves he opened up.
“I was in the military. Eight years. Special ops. When everything went bad, our platoon was brought into New York to extract some of the key officials.”
“Did you get them out?”
“Of course. That’s what we’re trained for.”
“Where’s your platoon now?”
“Dead.”
He didn’t bat an eye. It was like he’d already dealt with the grief.
“So why Rikers? I mean, the Hive?”
“It’s the most secure place on the east coast. The road in and out is barricaded. The structure is fortified by concrete and barbwire. No sucker is getting in or out of there unless we say so.”
I was tempted to ask him about the bodies. But I got the feeling that he was just another cog in a wheel among many who performed a job. That’s how they kept the machine running and the blood flowing.
As we rounded a corner each of us came to a grinding halt. Before us were six Z’s feasting on the remains of some unlucky guy. They cocked their heads at us. Our lights fell on their milky white eyes. Right then they did something we had never seen before. They didn’t shuffle, or begin running at us. Like spiders that could climb walls, these monsters went up the sides of the arched walls. The lights on the ends of our assault rifles lit them up as they scrambled towards us. It was beyond terrifying, it was seriously
About forty feet away from us was the first entrance point to the subway.
“Now listen up,” Tanner said, pulling the group into a tight circle. “We are going to break into two teams once we’re down there. Each of you has the location of where the meeting is taking place. Be advised, you are to take necessary force, however, that doesn’t always mean using the AR-15’s for any of you who are a little trigger-happy. Remember, we are here to bring them in alive.”
At the bottom of a steep flight of steps we checked areas to the left and right of us. Echoing throughout the subway was the sound of Z’s.
“Stay alert. Stay alive,” Tanner said, leading the way. I was about ready to dump this guy but until we knew the location of the Coalition we were going to use their intel to our advantage.
It was eerie being below the streets of New York not knowing when or if Z’s would attack. We heard the other group’s gunfire before we had even unloaded one round. I twisted around instinctively, thinking we should go back and help but Tanner was calling the shots.
“They all know the risk.”
“Why split up?” Jess asked.
Tanner didn’t need to answer that. Ben did. It’s a common tactical strategy. If one of your group gets fired upon, you still have the element of surprise. We jumped down onto the tracks and broke into a jog.
“How far is it?” Ben asked Tanner.
“About ten minutes from here.”
He was an oddball. I was curious to know more about him. How had he ended up here working for the Warden? Did he know what the Warden was doing with the people he had taken? It seemed that morals only mattered when survival wasn’t at stake. Beyond that people did whatever the hell they wanted. As we jogged down the dark tunnel, the smell of death lingered in the air like rotten meat covered in flies. We had grown used to living in a world that smelled bad.
“So how did you come to work for the Warden?” I asked, coming up beside him.
He glanced at me skeptically. But like most people who loved to talk about themselves he opened up.
“I was in the military. Eight years. Special ops. When everything went bad, our platoon was brought into New York to extract some of the key officials.”
“Did you get them out?”
“Of course. That’s what we’re trained for.”
“Where’s your platoon now?”
“Dead.”
He didn’t bat an eye. It was like he’d already dealt with the grief.
“So why Rikers? I mean, the Hive?”
“It’s the most secure place on the east coast. The road in and out is barricaded. The structure is fortified by concrete and barbwire. No sucker is getting in or out of there unless we say so.”
I was tempted to ask him about the bodies. But I got the feeling that he was just another cog in a wheel among many who performed a job. That’s how they kept the machine running and the blood flowing.
As we rounded a corner each of us came to a grinding halt. Before us were six Z’s feasting on the remains of some unlucky guy. They cocked their heads at us. Our lights fell on their milky white eyes. Right then they did something we had never seen before. They didn’t shuffle, or begin running at us. Like spiders that could climb walls, these monsters went up the sides of the arched walls. The lights on the ends of our assault rifles lit them up as they scrambled towards us. It was beyond terrifying, it was seriously
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