As the zombies closed the gap, Wade jumped up onto the bin, making sure to put the bulk of his weight onto the frame rather than the dumpster lid. With all the extra ammo and food weighing him down, he didn’t want to risk crashing through the doors.
He stood up on the edge and watched the horde of creatures headed his way in both directions. He worked his way carefully around the outer edge of the bin before leaping up and grabbing on to the first exposed rung. He strained as he pulled himself up, using his upper body exclusively until he was able to swing his feet up onto the ladder.
Wade paused for a moment to catch his breath, locking his knee and looking below. Dozens of zombies clustered below, reaching up and moaning. He shook his head and took a deep breath, getting back to his task and climbing the rest of the way up to the roof.
As he hopped over the side, he dropped his heavy bag as he walked to the front of the building, carrying only his rifle. The sight below took his breath away.
“There’s something you don’t see every day,” Wade muttered, and shook his head in disbelief as he gazed at hundreds of zombies. They were easily into the thousands on the interstate, just a sea of rotting flesh, none the wiser to his presence. He took in the sight for a few tense moments before remembering to breathe and readying his rifle.
He picked out his first target, looking through the night vision scope, seeing muted tones instead of bright and vibrant color. The first head that exploded could have been a watermelon, and nobody would have been able to tell due to the lack of color.
The gunshot echoed across the area, and within seconds the moaning increased exponentially. It was so loud that Wade paused, blinking into the darkness.
“Damn, looks like that got their attention,” he muttered, and stared out at the death ocean for another moment before taking aim and firing again, hitting another monster in the head.
The zombies in the parking lot all began to move towards the anchor store he stood atop, and a small trickle of creatures began to filter in from the interstate.
He checked his watch, seeing it had been seven minutes since the other snipers had given him the ten minute timeline.
“Okay boys,” he said under his breath, “you got three minutes to start firing. I know I can pull mine off.”
CHAPTER THREE
On the ground, Kowalski led his squad of five into position to take advantage of the hole on the interstate. There was a fast food place just across from the field and directly in front of the crossing spot.
A trio of zombies roamed around the back, uninterested in the noise a block over that Wade was causing. Kowalski pulled out his knife, prompting Doyle and Martin to do the same. He inclined his head towards the ghouls, and they broke off in unison, each soldier jamming a blade into a zombie skull.
The group of five pressed up against the wall of the restaurant, keeping watch on their flanks as Kowalski crept up to the corner. He looked towards the interstate, seeing the path was still thick even though a few groups were working their way towards Wade.
“How’s it looking?” Doyle murmured from behind him.
Kowalski shook his head and whispered, “Still too thick to pass.”
“Why isn’t Wade shooting?” Doyle asked.
Kowalski looked at his watch. “Probably still waiting on the northern group,” he replied quietly. “Still got two minutes.”
Martin stayed on the other flank, keeping watch. Three zombies came towards them, mouths opening with hungry moans. He clucked his tongue to get the attention of his team.
Doyle and Private Carver turned to deal with the threat, taking out the zombies as more moans erupted from the side of the restaurant. The former peeked around and saw a dozen creatures near the front of the store, looking around for the source of the noise that had dissipated.
He crept back to Kowalski. “We can’t stay here much longer,” he murmured.
His superior nodded and checked his watch again, seeing it tick down to one minute. “Come on, come on,” he urged quietly.
A few tense seconds later, gunfire erupted to the north. Martin looked around the corner and saw the zombies near the front had lost interest in their skirmish and shambled off towards the new noises.
Wade opened fire right after, giving the zombies two different sounds to hone in on. Kowalski looked around his corner and watched the creatures breaking up, heading in one direction or the other.
After a minute of sustained fire in both directions, a pathway across the interstate began to open up, however several dozen zombies remained in the way, ping-ponging back and forth with every gunshot that went off.
“Okay, we gotta move,” he hissed.
Doyle peeked past him at the zombies still in the way. “What about them?” he asked.
“Plow through them and get across,” Kowalski replied. “Our target is the giant hardware store at the south end of the center. We’re going around the back for roof access.”
Doyle nodded and moved to the back of the line, letting the others know they were ready to go. Kowalski gave one more look to get his bearings and then broke from cover, the rest of his team hot on his heels.
He moved away from the wall and into the center of the drive-thru aisle to prevent any surprises around the corner. They broke out into the open, running across the parking lot as hard as they could. By the time they reached the frontage road, their footsteps had gained the attention of several indecisive zombies.
Rather than attack, Kowalski dodged the first few before lowering his shoulder into the next
