As Jack got dressed, all the other members of the group were already awake and getting ready like he was. The group met in the hallway just outside of the bedroom. Everybody but Bill and BB were present.
“We’ve got visitors.” John said. “Check your weapons. We’re going to have to shoot our way out of here.”
He looked at the group as they quietly checked their weapons.
“I will lead, with Bill and BB. You guys follow on my signal. I want you in twos. Nat and Abi, Michelle, and Tammy, Mike, and Jack. The first two with eyes forward, the second pair eyes out, the third group eyes to the back.” He thought for a moment. “Mike, Jack, Michelle, and Tammy — you guys go with your sidearms. Long guns might be more of a hindrance if they get close at those angles.”
He nodded, as if agreeing with his own decision.
“Right, let’s head downstairs. Quietly. Then stack up on the door behind me.”
The group executed as instructed. Jack was halfway down the stairs when he heard a metallic bang. A memory came back to him, clear as day. He stood on the driveway at their house, and he was taking shots with his soccer ball at the garage door.
He snapped back to reality a moment later when he felt Mike’s touch on his shoulder. He quickly caught up to the rest of the group, and thirty seconds later they were in formation. John was flanked by Bill and BB at the door.
John turned back to the group with one last instruction: “Pick your shots carefully. Call them out. Do not shoot towards the vehicles. We’ll take care of those tangoes.” He waited a second for signs of acknowledgement, then turned back to the door.
With a nod at Bill and BB, he smoothly and quietly pulled the door open and led the way out. Two seconds later, the first shots shattered the unnatural silence. The sound startled Tammy, who stood directly in front of Jack. She looked around at her companions, eyes bulging. The fear was plain on her countenance.
“We’ll be fine,” Mike said. “We don’t have far to go. You can do this.”
The calmness in his voice had its effect on all of them, including Jack, who loosened the white-knuckled grip on his pistol.
Then the signal came, and they were out of the door.
It felt to Jack like they were walking into a warzone. The sound of weapon discharges and sight of movement all around them was almost overwhelming, and it was all he could do to focus on Tammy’s back and follow her out past the veranda and down the steps.
Nat and Abi started shooting just after they got down the steps. The rest of the group was stuck on them. Jack was able to get a good look at the battlefield from his elevated position.
He could see John up ahead. The solid man was not afraid to get up close and personal with the undead. Jack watched in amazement as he swept the legs of one of the zombies from under it before putting it down for good with a bullet. Bill and BB watched his back and carefully placed their shots. They had made it to the vehicles. A trail of corpses lay behind them. Jack scanned the area and was dismayed to see many more figures moving towards them at various speed. He shuddered as he saw the shapes crossing the same grove of trees that had been so empty yesterday.
There were dozens of them.
Where did they all come from?
“Keep moving forward!” Mike encouraged from his position beside Jack. After a short moment of hesitation, the group started moving again.
Jack remembered his role just as he stepped onto the dirt. He looked over his shoulder to the right and held his pistol out at an angle, ready for action. The coast was clear for now. But several steps later, his fears were realized as not one but two zombies stepped around the side of the farmhouse. Jack’s weapon jerked up and he quickly loosed several shots. Both zombies jerked at least once with the impact of bullets, but to Jack’s dismay they kept coming.
“Hold your fire, Jack!” Mike called behind him. “Wait until they’re in range and place your shots.”
Jack took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and raised the pistol.
He aimed down the sights. He did not see the middle-aged, rotund Hispanic lady. He did not see her eyes or hear her jaw snapping shut in anticipation of sinking her teeth into his throat. He saw the head as a shape only. A target.
BLAM. The zombie spun away and dropped to the ground.
The second zombie was closer now. Only ten feet away. Once again, he did not notice the leathered, wrinkled face of the elderly man. He did not see the shirtless upper body, the distended belly, or the hand with several broken fingers that reached for him.
BLAM. The zombie collapsed forward, landing with that same mangled hand mere inches from Jack’s boot.
Jack looked up and saw that another zombie had stepped around the side of the house. Then he felt a tug at his shoulder.
“Let’s go Jack, keep moving!” Mike pulled the young man around to face the right way. It was then that Jack noticed that the rest of his team had moved most of the way to the vehicles already. Mike and Jack jogged over to the rest of the team.
The Humvees stood facing away from the farmhouse. John walked around the front of one of them and signalled the team.
“Get in! In you go,” He urgently motioned as he spoke.
BB had already opened one of the doors and ushered Michelle and Tammy in as Bill stepped around to the other side. Nat was the last one in and slammed the door shut behind her.
Mike ran to the driver’s side and slipped in, closing the door as several zombies approached from that side. Jack was physically shoved into the
