Apparently, somebody answered this time.
“Ok, we are on route to pick up: Family of four, two males, two females. Name Collins. ... Huh!” He looked up at Collins with a raised eyebrow.
Before Collins could respond, Garcia turned back to Emily. “Two more blocks then take a right, followed by the first right onto Meadow Lane. The house is the second one in on the right-hand side.”
Ninety seconds later the bus pulled up in front of the Collins’ house.
“Nice shack.” One of the guys commented. This was definitely one of the more affluent parts of town.
“Ok, we are in front now. ... Yes, that’s us. ... Ok, listen up. We need you folks to move to the front door, but do not open the door until we knock on it. We will be at your door in the next couple of minutes.”
The extraction team had moved to the front of the bus in preparation of the extraction. Heads were on swivels as the area was being scanned for targets. Each team member had their own quadrant to scan.
Garcia spoke up first. “Three tangoes closing in 11 o’clock, 35 yards.”
Collins was next “One tango 5 o’clock 20 yards.”
“All clear 6 o’clock to 9 o’clock” Moyers stated.
Brown was last. “All clear 12 o’clock to 3 o’clock.”
Peters motioned as he quickly instructed his men. “Collins and Moyers file out first, stage and engage target at 5 o’clock. Garcia and Durant with me, form staggered line to left and engage targets at 11 o’clock. Hill, I want you at the door, scanning for more tangoes. Brown get up top after the tangoes are down and provide overwatch. Remember, go for head shots.”
The mixed unit of regular army, national guard and reserve knew how to execute. The only sound was the rustling of the soldiers as they filed out of the bus and took position, with the low and soothing sound of the idling bus providing background. Within seconds the men had formed up into their positions and waiting for the signal from Peters. The relative silence was about to be shattered.
Emily watched all this as she continued to look around for more zombies. She observed the group of three closing in from straight ahead. Only one of the undead displayed any physical damage. It had lacerations to his torso and legs. Emily imagined that it had fallen or was pushed through a window. A couple of them were wearing pyjamas.
Which only adds to the mindfuck. The undead looked ... well, kind of normal. Except for those freaky expressions. They also moved somewhat woodenly, and these ones seemed to only be capable of a fast walk. They were unarmed, but Emily knew that they were very dangerous.
She’d seen first-hand what these things were capable of. They practically ignored any damage to their bodies other than their heads and would keep coming at you. Just yesterday she saw a civilian get seriously hurt. The bus had stopped in front of the pickup house, but the woman had not waited to be extracted and came running. She was tackled to the ground before the bus had come to a complete stop. Peters had acted fast and between him and a couple of the other guys, they had taken down the attackers. But the lady had some severe lacerations to her head and neck. Once they got her on the bus to do an assessment, they also found that she had several busted ribs, a dislocated elbow, two broken fingers, and a nasty bite wound on her thigh.
She made it though. Or at least she made it back to the safe zone. Emily wondered how she was doing now.
Just then the first sharp reports of gunshots brought her back to the present. Emily flinched involuntarily at the loud sounds.
The soldiers had learned to go for headshots. Emily saw a zombie’s head snap violently backwards as a pink spray shot out of the back of its head. About half a dozen shots later, and the all clear was given. Peters sent orders to his team both verbally and with a hand signal, and in short order Collins stacked up with Peters, with Durant following a few yards behind, and the trio made it to the front door. Garcia and Moyers continued to watch the flanks.
After a knock, the door opened, and the Collins family exited their house. Emily could see the relief on Peters’ face as each family member moved rapidly, carrying only one bag each. He’d had some hairy moments with folks that insisted on taking more than their maximum allotment of personal effects.
Halfway to the bus the whole family shrieked and crouched down when another shot rang out. It was Brown on the roof, eliminating a new target.
Peters quickly jostled them back upright and into the right direction, and within moments they were filing past Emily onto the bus. Peters signalled for Brown to come down, Durant and Collins stepped into the bus, followed by Brown and Garcia. Peters stepped aboard last. The team had been doing this for several days and everybody knew their job. Emily couldn’t help but be impressed with the way the team operated. It was disciplined, organized and well practiced by now.
“Well how about that!?” Durant stated as he watched the family walk towards the back of the bus.
“Collins. ... Hmmm. These folks any relation to you, Collins? The resemblance is uncanny!” Durant rhetorically asked, to his own great amusement.
Collins was a sharp featured, pale, skinny blonde kid, while the Collins family were African American. Collins mumbled something in return under his breath. Emily smirked as she clearly heard the term ‘Shitbird’.
Americans and their sayings. She thought to herself with amusement as she watched the young soldier.
Emily smirk turned into a frown as she saw his sharp features briefly pinched in pain, his hand shooting to his gut. He caught Emily watching him and shrugged it off quickly.
Emily shifted the bus into first gear on
