Taking charge of the situation, Emily watched Joe out of the corner of her eye. No complaint, no bristling. Good on you, mate, she silently commended the big man.
“We’ll split into three teams. Nat and Ern — you guys swing left and clear the zombies from the far corner of the fence. Work your way towards the gate, but be aware that more zombies are arriving from that direction. You might have to set up shop out there.”
Nat and Ern agreed. Ern even got in a, “You got it, miss.” Emily had already turned to Joe.
“Joe, you take Keith with you and go right. Head straight to the far corner of the fence — in the parking lot, yeah?”
“OK.”
“Watch out for any returning zombies from where Ben was leading them,” she added. “Also watch out for John and his team. They might be coming back from that direction.”
She turned to the last two fighters.
“Romy and Jack, you’re with me. We go straight to the gate. Watch out for that landmine!” she warned them quickly. “Once we’ve got the gate secured, we can see about helping the other teams. Remember, you lot: headshots.”
She looked up as someone came down the stairs. It was Q.
“Tammy says that she can barely hear Ben anymore,” he said when he got close enough. “Hey, can I get a gun too?”
“You ever shoot a gun before?” Joe asked.
“Nah, but it can’t be too hard. Just point and pull the trigger, right?” Q replied, making a gun with his fingers, and pretending to shoot sideways.
Joe huffed and shook his head. Emily jumped in before the big man could say something.
“No, mate, what we really need is somebody to watch our backs and man this door. Think you can do that?”
Q’s look of disappointment only lasted for a second. “Yeah. Sure, I can do that.” He stepped past Emily and got ready to open the door.
“Remember,” she told the others, “watch out for that landmine. Take a wide berth around the thing.”
A sharp nod told Q to open the door, and the teams stepped out into the late afternoon sunshine.
THE BRIGHTNESS TEMPORARILY blinded Emily, and she had to shield her eyes. The second thing she noticed was that it was quiet again. The only sounds she heard were those of her own teams moving. She watched Joe and Keith jogging towards the parking lot to her right and Nat jogging ahead of a considerably slower Ern to her left.
“Stay with your teammates!” she called out and started moving down the steps with Romy and Jack.
Nat stopped and turned. She waited for Ern to catch up with a clear look of annoyance on her face.
Emily and her team performed an extra wide detour around the claymore. They didn’t want to take any chances. The noise they made was now joined by the sounds of hands and bodies slamming into the fences. She saw several undead, in various stages of decay, throw themselves at the gate to get at her and her team. The smell of rotting meat hit her like a physical blow. It stopped her in her tracks, and she retched. She saw Romy take it one step further, bending over and puking all over the pavement.
Emily shook her head to clear it and breathed through her mouth. She wanted nothing more than to run away. Instead, she ran towards her would-be assaulters.
The undead doubled their efforts as she got closer, slamming their hands into the gate in apparent frustration. Emily watched in distaste as hands were torn up and chunks of skin and meat flew. Their assault on the barrier between them was so violent that Emily was momentarily entranced by it.
Then she saw something that made the hair on her neck rise in alarm. A female zombie was unraveling the chain. It was a clumsy effort, but Emily could see the clear intent. One of her hands had several broken fingers, which made the task all the harder, but she was pulling the chain with one hand while twisting it with the other.
“Take them out!” Emily commanded and raised her rifle. She knew exactly which one of the undead she wanted to destroy first.
FURTHER ALONG, NEAR the corner of the fence, Nat and Ern had finally made it to their position. What they saw was as shocking as Emily’s experience a hundred or so yards to their right. Two of the undead were climbing the fence! One of them already had its arm hooked over the top of the eight-foot chain link fence.
“Fuck!” Nat exclaimed in shock.
For once, Ern had no words of chastisement for her outburst. The old man grunted in surprise and rushed his first shot, catching the lead zombie in the chest. It lost its foothold but clung on to the fence.
Nat also rushed her first shot and caught the zombie in the arm. The zombie did lose its grip this time and crashed to the ground, shards of bone sticking through the meat of its forearm near the elbow. Ern and Nat shot the other climbing zombie, dislodging that one from the fence by the sheer impact of their bullets.
“Slow down,” Ern suggested through gritted teeth. Nat nodded. She took a deep breath in through the nose, instantly regretting it, as the stench of rot was nearly overwhelming. She gagged.
“Breathe through your mouth, girl.” Ern was there beside her, a steadying hand on her back. “Come on, now. We’ve got a job to do.” He took a step forward and carefully aimed down his sights before shooting a zombie. Its skull exploded, scattering brain matter and bits of bone in a visually impressive yet disgusting splash pattern.
Come on, Nat. If the old man can do it then you can too. Nat saw him cast a concerned glance in her direction and it made her angry.
Concentrate on something, Nat. Just like dad taught you!
Now, how did that song go?
She thought of the song. Slowly, the words came
