CHAPTER FOUR
Bretz’ bus was the last one to arrive at the town, stopping on the outskirts. They parked behind three other buses unloading men onto the grass. The sun lit up the roadway with golden hues as it peeked over the horizon.
As they departed, sporadic gunfire echoed in the distance, coming from multiple directions. Bretz and Baker took a few steps away from the bus, the latter doing some stretches on the side of the road.
As the rest of the soldiers filed out, several squad leaders barked out orders, moving them all into groups. As this happened, the gunfire in the distance intensified.
“Man, the sun is barely up and already shit is going down,” Baker groaned as he pulled his elbow back over his head.
Bretz shook his head. “And that’s just a small suburb,” he replied. “Can you imagine what it’s going to be like when we get to downtown?”
“Since there’s only six of us going in first, I’m going to assume we are going to have our choice of targets,” the Private said.
The other men from their team headed over, setting down their gear and joining Baker in some stretches.
“Whole world at our fingertips, and the find the least comfortable bus to throw us on,” Kent said, bending his leg and gripping his ankle.
Short shook his head as he leaned over to touch his toes. “Could be worse,” he said, “at least it wasn’t a school bus.”
“Man, what does your country ass know about school buses?” Kent teased. “Did you even go to school?”
Short raised his chin as he straightened up. “I finished top of my class, thank you very much.”
Hess snorted as he tilted his torso to each side. “Congratulations on beating the other four people in your grade.”
“Hey now, it was more than that,” Short shot back, and then hesitated as the others gave him a knowing look. “I mean, not much more than that. We did hit double digits.”
Laughter rippled through the group, and then promptly ceased as a giant man stalked towards them. Despite his white hair, he didn’t look frail, his six-foot frame broad and towering over most of the other soldiers.
“Are you boys my VIPs?” the beastly soldier asked.
Bretz nodded, stepping forward and saluting. “Yes sir, I’m Corporal Bretz.”
“All right,” the man replied, nodding at him. “I’m Sergeant Murphy, and I’m going to be leading you in. Hope you boys are ready to fight, because we’re going in short-handed.”
Baker raised an eyebrow, motioning to the pack of soldiers surrounding them. “There’s like two hundred people standing here,” he said. “Not sure that qualifies as short-handed.”
“Good to know they’re still teaching counting in basic,” Murphy said, sarcasm evident as he stared down at the Private.
The group chuckled at Baker’s expense, save for Bretz.
“What’s going on, Sergeant?” the Corporal asked, brow furrowing.
“Our teams to the north are, for lack of a better word, getting their asses handed to them,” Murphy explained. “They had to fall back to the high school, and they’re kind of trapped. So we have orders to send three-quarters of our men up there to break ‘em out.”
Bretz nodded. “So we’re going in with fifty?” he asked.
“Not including you six, that’s right,” Murphy replied, and pulled out a piece of paper printed from the satellite imagery. “According to the sat image, our shopping center target is looking relatively bare, at least in the parking lot. We should have more than enough firepower to get you to the target so you can secure your trucks.”
The Corporal nodded again. “If you’re confident, Sergeant,” he said, “then I’m confident.”
“Truth be told, it’s more hopeful optimism than confidence,” Murphy admitted.
Bretz shrugged. “It’s more than I had in Spokane, so I’ll take it,” he said.
“All right, if you boys want to just hang out here by the bus, I’ll send a runner when we’re ready to move,” the Sergeant instructed. “Shouldn’t be more than ten minutes.”
“We’ll be ready,” the Corporal replied.
Murphy nodded firmly and headed off, barking out orders at the top of his lungs as he went. Bretz turned to his team, noting their concerned faces.
“Six minutes into the assault and we’re already getting our asses kicked?” Kent asked, shaking his head. “That doesn’t bode well for things.”
Baker took a deep breath. “Based on that, I think we should pick up some extra food before getting in those trucks,” he suggested. “Might be weeks before they get to us at this rate.”
“We stick to the plan as is,” Bretz countered. “A lot of these soldiers haven’t seen much combat, if any at all int he last month. And certainly not at the scale of this operation. Going to take them a minute to get their footing.”
Baker jutted out his chin. “You don’t actually believe that bullshit, do you?” he demanded.
Bretz cocked his head and gave a little shrug, not wanting to confirm or deny the Private’s accusation. “All right,” he finally conceded, “if you pass something while we’re going through the store, grab it. But don’t be going out of your way for stuff.”
“That’s a compromise I can get behind,” Mason agreed, and the group fell into a tense silence as they readied their gear.
CHAPTER FIVE
Bretz and his team followed the group of fifty led by Sergeant Murphy towards the shopping center. They stopped a block away, taking a knee by the side of the road. The center was the first bit of civilization they’d encountered, nothing but woods and fields up until that point.
Murphy pulled out binoculars and scanned ahead, focusing on the shopping center. It was a large complex, with two main anchors running along a five hundred yard long building, the back of which faced the group. Along the side to the left was a shorter building, about three hundred yards, with another major anchor.
While the driveway was only about thirty yards wide, he could see about eighty zombies or so in the
