because you’re not willing to
“You mean Dylan Thomas?” Todd said, disdainfully. “‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’?”
“Do not go gentle into this good night,” Sophia snarled, waving at the darkness all around. “Old age should burn and
“That is what you
“You knew the poem,” Todd said, wonderingly.
“I got an A plus in a really
“You want to tell us what’s been going on here, miss?” the sergeant of the three man team asked. They weren’t up and pointed but you could tell they were here for a fire-fight.
“We’re having a poetry and philosophy discussion,” Sophia said, holstering her pistol. “I’m glad you could join us…”
* * *
“Contractors,” Copley said, disgustedly. “Never thought I’d have to deal with you guys in New York City. I had enough of you in the Stan.”
“Hey,” Durante said, shrugging his shoulders. “Be glad we were here. Otherwise half this crowd would be going zombie.”
“From what I got from Sophia, that’s happened before,” Steve Smith, “President of Blue Water Security, LLC” said. He hadn’t even known he was a “president” until Tom handed him the certifications. “When’s NYPD getting here?”
“They’re not,” Copley said, shaking his head. “We’re not even getting coroner’s office. I’m told to take down the information, then await graves registration.”
“It’s gotten that bad, huh?” Tom said. “And your ROE probably still says ‘do not fire until fired upon.’”
“It’s better than that,” Copley said. “But not much.”
* * *
“So… You guys get to shoot ’em?” Randall asked.
“Not usually,” Faith said. “Usually we have to taser ’em. There were too many this time. You guys gotta wear that rig all the time?”
The National Guardsmen were in masks, hoods and ponchoes.
“Keeps the blood off,” Randall said.
“Makes sense,” Faith said. “I got in a scuffle with one the other day and it bled all over me. Ended up very nearly going zombie myself. You do
“Damn,” Randall said. “So… You’re not going to zombie, right?”
“Certified immune,” Faith said. “My immune system got it. Low dosage of the virus I guess. Don’t even have any antibodies anymore, which is medicalese for ‘you’re not going to be a zombie.’ Shook it off completely. Not that it was much fun. Horrible sick.”
“I’ll keep my poncho on, then,” Randall said. “Let me tell you, this shit is hot, though.”
“Better or worse than the Sandbox?” Faith asked.
“Oh, better,” Randall said. “But not much.”
“Nice rig,” Astroga said. “What is that rifle?”
“Shotgun,” Faith said. “Saiga. It’s an AK variant that fires twelve gauge.” She dropped the magazine and cleared and handed it over to the private. “Ten round magazine. Which beats a pump all to hell.”
“Is it reliable?” Randall asked. “May I?”
“Sure,” Faith said. “As long as I get it back. Especially if we get any more visitors.”
“Nice,” Randall said.
“Love the kukri,” Faith said, gesturing at the combat knife on his belt.
“Carried it in Iraq and the Stan,” Randall said. He hesitated for a second, then handed it over. “Thought it might come in handy.”
“Sweet,” Faith said, examining it. It had the word “Boosh” carved on the handle. “I’ve got one on the boat. They said it was overkill for tonight. Famous last words.”
“There is no overkill,” Randall intoned. “There is only open fire and reload.”
“Schlock fan, huh?” Faith said. “I knew the world was coming to an end when Schlock didn’t update.”
“It’s heavy,” Astroga said. “The Saiga.”
“I’ll take the firepower any day,” Faith said, gesturing with her chin at the M4. “The U.S. started to go downhill when it changed from a round designed to kill our enemies to one designed to piss them off.”
“Nice quote,” Randall said. “That one I don’t recognize.”
“Read it on some blog,” she said, then looked up. The entire skyline had gone black as had all the lights in the park. “Oh, that is not good. Getting home is going to be a bitch and a half.”
“I wonder if the subways are out, too,” Astroga said nervously. “I’d hate to be in a subway in the dark in this.”
“We’ve got…” Faith then paused. She reached for her Saiga. “Wasn’t what I was going to say but what we’ve
A woman was running through the park pursued by a zombie. Before she could get to the relative safety of the group of concert-goers, another came at her from the side and knocked her down. She started screaming.
“Move it!” Copley said, waving.
The threesome ran to the woman, stopping just short to fire tasers into the zombies attacking her. One of them seemed to be trying to sexually assault her.
“Okay,” Faith said. “That’s just gross.”
She looked away and then turned back at another scream. Astroga had been attacked from behind by another infected. She was struggling to throw it off. Randall tasered it but there were more. Suddenly, the threesome was surrounded by zombies and there were now screams from the concert goers.
Looking around, Faith realized that there were more and more of the zombies closing on the concert.
“The lights!” Tom shouted. “They’re zeroing in on the lights!”
Suddenly, an M4 went to full auto and Faith heard rounds zipping by her head. Copley pushed his way through the crowd of zombies, dragging Astroga by the harness. She could see Randall, clearly out of rounds and with no time to reload, wielding his kukri and chopping zombies left and right.
“Rock and roll!” Copley screamed. “Just
“Authorized,” Tom said, taking a two handed stance. “Try not to hit the good guys.”
“Uncle Tom!” Faith said, backing towards her group and firing to the side. “We’ve got more coming!”
“This way, too,” Stacey called. “They’re in the concert.”
Faith glanced over her shoulder and saw something she never expected to see. Ever. With the defenses around the actual stage, where the lights were, the zombies couldn’t climb up. Zombies coming down Fifth Avenue had bent around the stage until they hit the dancers in the mosh pit. A naked, writhing zombie was being crowd- surfed over the group. So far, the moshers seemed to consider the zombies to be a feature not a bug. Just more
