“Come on!” Short yelled. “You’re almost there!”
The front wheels crossed the bridge threshold, and as soon as it did, Bretz began to angle the truck. The tires whined as the truck inched along, taking nearly a minute of constant flooring it to make it to the edge of the bridge.
Bretz checked his side mirror, seeing that the trailer portion stretched across two lanes of traffic, with only a single lane left empty. He took a deep breath and cut the engine, patting the steering wheel.
“You did good, girl,” he cooed.
Short shook his head in disbelief. “Hell, if I knew that was going to work, I would have been praising every vehicle I’ve ever been in,” he said.
“What do you say we go check out the view?” the Corporal asked.
The two soldiers rolled down their windows, carefully crawling out to the hood before hopping up on top of the trailer. They looked down the bridge at the ocean of death. It was packed so densely that not a single inch of pavement was visible.
Bretz stood at the front of the truck, staring at the other side of the interstate that was just as packed. A decently sized crowd had stopped moving and staring up at him, arms outstretched.
Well, maybe everything isn’t lost, he thought.
“Hey, Corporal, come check this out,” Short said from the rear.
Bretz headed back to where his partner stood and cocked his head. Short pointed to the water in the distance, where there were a couple dozen small boats on the water, all headed towards Mercer Island.
“Looks like that island landing went well,” Bretz said. “Hopefully they were able to secure it.”
Short nodded. “Maybe there’s some hope for this after all.”
“Could be,” Bretz replied distantly. “Could be.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the satellite phone, dialing it up. After a few moments, David answered.
“Captain Kersey’s line,” he greeted.
The Corporal cleared his throat. “It’s Bretz, let me speak to the Captain.”
“Hang on, Corporal,” David replied, and there was a moment of silence before the line clicked back on.
“Your team at the bridge?” Kersey asked.
Bretz nodded. “The five-twenty bridge protecting the eastern force is secure,” he reported. “God two trucks there with three men to pick off stragglers.”
“And the main target?” Kersey prompted.
Bretz took a deep breath. “One truck,” he replied. “Two men.”
There was a moment of silence before the Captain asked, “Resistance a bit more than originally anticipated?”
The Corporal couldn’t help but chuckle. “You could say that, bud,” he said. “To be perfectly honest, we were lucky to get the one truck we did here. If it had conked out five yards earlier, we would have fallen just short.”
“How’s it looking up there?” Kersey asked.
Bretz turned and stared down at the undead ocean. “Like a shitshow and a half,” he said. “Can’t see any pavement at all.”
“Hopefully the ones across the way will be more interested in you than our teams to the north,” the Captain replied.
Bretz shrugged. “Well, if they aren’t, we did manage to secure a few dozen molotovs,” he said. “So we’ll be able to stem the tide a bit.”
“Hopefully that will be enough,” Kersey replied. There was another tense moment of silence, and he quickly added, “And Bretz, I know you did everything you could to complete this mission. I have no doubt in my mind that nobody could have done it better.”
The Corporal swallowed hard. “Appreciate that, Kersey.”
“Sure thing,” the Captain replied. “Well, you boys get comfortable, and we’ll get to you as quick as we can.”
Bretz nodded. “No rush,” he assured him. “The young Private here managed to sneak us a bottle of bourbon while we were securing the molotovs. So we’ll be good for a while.”
“Did he get good stuff?” Kersey asked, sounding amused.
Bretz glanced at his partner. “Captain wants to know if you got the good bourbon,” he said.
“Aww, hell yeah, Corporal,” Short replied with a lopsided grin. “Top shelf all the way, none of that well bullshit.”
Bretz chuckled. “He says top shelf,” he said into the phone.
“Remind me to give him a promotion once you guys are back safe,” Kersey replied.
Bretz laughed and gave Short a thumbs up. “He’ll be pleased to hear that.”
“Well, you two stay safe,” Kersey continued, “I need to report to General Stephens and let him know what the situation is.”
The Corporal nodded, tilting his head back to let the sun fall on his face. “If you need us, you know where we’ll be.”
“You got it,” Kersey replied. “And again, great job today, Bretz.”
“Thanks, Cap,” he replied, and the line went dead. He pocketed the phone and scratched the back of his head, suddenly realizing the stench wafting off of the carpet of the dead was rather ripe.
“So what now, Corporal?” Short asked.
Bretz shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “You want to try out one of those molotovs to make sure they work? You know. For science?”
“Hell yeah!” Short replied, laughing. “I’ll grab a bottle.”
As the kid darted to the front of the truck, Bretz pursed his lips, struggling to keep his composure. The fight was over for the time being, which was a relief, but the future was uncertain. All he could do now was drink some bourbon with a country kid and toss some molotovs onto a horde of undead.
END
Up Next: The action shifts to the southwest as a single ship makes a desperate beach landing in an attempt to create a southern front in the war in “Seattle - Part 4”.
Seattle - Pt. 4 can be found at this link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HY4QY7P
