Alice’s target is also down so I again check on Josh. He had better be on his way. Josh is just exiting the room and I now see what he was doing. Josh approaches with the arm of another badly limping soldier over his shoulder, supporting him. Josh’s comrade is grimacing badly from pain. His left leg is limp and blood has soaked through the material of his trousers, and the soldier is struggling.
Checking the stairs again, I can’t see any Rabids at the moment, but I can hear them in there, the screeching is reaching fever pitch. They are going to be breaking through to us at any minute; Josh is moving too slowly.
“Lift him, Josh!” I shout.
With that, Josh pulls his mate’s arm with his left hand and, with his right arm around his waist, Josh lifts him off the ground and staggers as fast as he can across the room, having to weave around Rabids. I can’t risk going to help even with Alice covering the stairs, in case they break through.
Josh is, at last, moving past my back and closer to Alice, the sound of screeching now horrendously loud; how many of those fuckers are down there?
The three grenades I have left are in my hand. I pull the pins on all three and then swiftly throw them one after the other down into the stairwell. Immediately, I turn, not waiting for the fireworks. Grabbing my radio as I go, within seconds I am level with Josh and move under the soldier’s other arm to help carry him out, with Alice covering us the whole time.
Lifting the soldier with Josh, I virtually drag the two at speed out of the room past Alice as the explosions hit one after the other. Alice remains in place until we are past her, her rifle not moving from its aim at the stairs.
“Anything, Alice?” I shout still moving forward.
“Clear, for now,” She replies.
“Okay, move!”
Lifting my radio, I now shout into that, “Evac, evac, A-SAP Dan. Over!”
We reach the same stairs that we came down as my radio sounds.
“Received, ETA three minutes, over,” Dan’s voice comes back with great relief.
“Received, coming it hot, over.” Dan needs to know we are under attack.
“Copy that, over and out.”
Dan will be there when he says, I’m sure of it, and I move to cover our rear with Alice.
“Josh, fireman’s lift. Up, then left, straight to next stairs, then up to the roof. Dan will be coming in on the east wall. It’s clear up there, now move,” I bark at him.
Josh is lifting the man into position almost before I finish and then starts to climb up the stairs in almost a run.
“Give me your grenades, then up you go, Alice.”
“I’ll wait for you,” Alice replies.
“I’ll be right behind you, Josh may need help, now move.”
Alice pulls off the three grenades she has and hands them to me, then she starts up the stairs.
“See you up there,” she says as she goes.
“You can count on it,” I reply.
The screeching is again at full volume and loud even from here. I will give them a minute head start. Not taking my eyes off the openings to the other room, I unclip the strap from my M4.
Then it happens; even though I can’t see it from here, I know that they are coming through out of the stairwell and into that next room. I wait a couple of seconds, then pull all the pins and roll the grenades across the floor in a spread towards the entrances. But before the grenades go off, a Rabid flies into this room, landing in the middle of it.
Just as I see more Rabids coming, the explosions hit, taking at least some of them out. I flick the M4 to auto, then aim and shoot the Rabid that is looking slightly confused in the middle of the room, cutting it down to pieces. Even if I didn’t get a head shot, it won’t be following.
As I turn to start up the stairs, I see more Rabids, many of them, and coming this way. They must have seen me shooting the other. I don’t wait to greet them.
Just up around the corner of the stairs is the gate. As I go through it, I spin and push the gates closed. The Rabids are at the bottom of the stairs, their depraved noise tells me that, and they will be on me at any second. The strap from my M4 is already fed through the bars on the gates and the first part of the knot is tied when I see the first Rabid coming at me. His evil twisted face sees me, its eyes locking onto mine and it lets out a bloodcurdling, deafening scream as it comes. My hands tremble but I pull the end of the knot tight just as the Rabid hits the gate.
Jumping back away from the gate and onto the next steps, I raise my M4. The first Rabid hits the gate hard and the gates open slightly with the force but then the strap takes the strain and, thank God, it holds. For now.
More Rabids smash into the gates and into the first Rabid. The strap strains, it can’t possibly hold this tide of Zombies back. I’m mesmerised for a moment though and don’t turn and run. The first Rabid is still locked onto my eyes and whilst its mouth gnashes through the gate at me snarling and dribbling, its eyes full of rage, I see something else behind the venom. I see pain, a deep pain, a human pain.
My finger squeezes the trigger and I shoot the Rabid in the forehead, releasing it from its torment and it slumps held up against the gate by the Rabids pushing behind, as dark blood pumps out from the hole left by the bullet.
Now I do turn and flee, racing up the remaining stairs as rapidly as my legs will
