“There’s probably a thousand of those things in the parking lot,” the soldier replied, “and there’s another couple hundred up the road about half a mile.”
The Sergeant lowered the radio, shaking his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He finally lifted it and held it to his mouth. “Standby,” he said firmly.
“Yes sir,” the soldier replied.
Murphy turned to his VIPs. “Well, if the other squad wasn’t shitting the bed, we could clear this out no problem.”
“We can still clear it out,” Bretz assured him. “You got the six of us in addition to your crew. If we’re smart, we can do it.”
The Sergeant shook his head. “My orders are to get you to the trucks, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“With all due respect Sergeant,” the Corporal declared, “as soon as we fire up those trucks, we’re going to be sitting ducks. And those back alleys are narrow. If we don’t get a handle on the situation before we start those up, this mission is over before it begins.”
Murphy pulled out his map. “You’re right,” he conceded as he spread it open. “So, we have a thousand zombies in the lot, and more up the road there.”
“As soon as we start shooting, everything is going to converge on us,” Bretz pointed out.
The Sergeant nodded. “The shamblers are slow,” he said, “so we got what, ten minutes before the ones on the road join the battle?”
“About that,” the Corporal agreed.
“So we need to clear the lot and get men over to the other side to fend them off,” Murphy mused.
Bretz nodded thoughtfully. “I think if we send a few more men to the smaller building, they can provide enough of a distraction to buy us a little more time,” he suggested.
“Agreed,” the Sergeant replied.
“And if I’m overstepping my bounds, Sergeant, just say so,” Bretz said firmly. “This is your operation, we’re just along for the ride.”
Murphy shook his head emphatically. “Your input is Welcome, Corporal,” he replied. “Especially after your actions in Spokane.”
Bretz nodded. “So how do you want to play it?”
“We get a few more men on top of each building, and pull as many of those things to the far end as we can,” Murphy explained. “Put the bulk of our force straight ahead in the driveway, using the buildings as buffers.”
Bretz handed back the binoculars. “I would also leave a few men on either side covering the back of the buildings,” he suggested. “These things are sneaky, and the last thing we need is to be ambushed.”
“Agreed,” the Sergeant said, putting the binoculars back into his pack.
“I think once we set up the perimeter at the entrance, our focus should be clearing out the front of the main building,” Bretz added. “That will give us more real estate to deal with the reinforcements.”
Murphy cocked his head. “But if there’s only a couple hundred coming up, wouldn’t it make more sense to clear them out, first?” he asked.
“There are only a couple hundred that they can see,” Bretz warned.
The Sergeant nodded thoughtfully. “Valid point.” He whistled and pointed to six soldiers nearby. “Get up to the line, three on each building,” he instructed. “Set up at the far end and start drawing them to you. Go.”
They tore off across the parking lot, and then Murphy crossed his arms, turning back to Bretz.
“Okay Corporal,” he said firmly, “here’s the deal. You stay in the center of the action with me.” He pointed a finger at him. “Understood?”
Bretz nodded. “Understood, Sergeant.”
“Let’s move out, then,” Murphy said, raising a hand and whirling it above his head. “Those things aren’t gonna kill themselves.”
CHAPTER SIX
The gunshots from the rooftops went off at a steady clip. As Murphy led his team towards the shopping center entrance, they stared at the effects of it.
Most of the zombies that had been visible from their vantage point had since wandered in either direction, headed towards the far end of the buildings. This bought the group some significant space, fifty yards at a minimum, to set up their firing line.
They set up in a semicircle, no more than a yard apart from one another, one group kneels with the back row standing. They used the walls of the building for protection, fanning out to cover the entirety of the road.
“Okay men, listen up,” Murphy said. “We’re about to unleash hell on these things, and they’re going to try to do the same to us. When you feel comfortable taking the shot, do so, but not before. The last thing we need today is to run out of ammo. Everybody ready?”
The soldiers murmured in the affirmative, and the Sergeant gave a sharp nod.
“Let’s get it started, then,” he said, and aimed towards a zombie fifty yards away, shambling towards the crowd at the far end of the smaller building. As he zeroed in on it, he squeezed the trigger, the head exploding in a spectacular fashion.
Soon after, several more soldiers joined in, firing off well-placed shots that dropped an entire line of zombies in both directions. The noise drew the attention of a lot of creatures on the fringes of the main horde, who began working their way back towards them.
The firing stretched out over the next few minutes, more soldiers joining in as the zombies got closer to their range. At twenty-five yards, the ghouls were thick, hundreds of them piled together shoulder to shoulder, swarming over their fallen, all headed towards a fresh soldier buffet.
The fire on the line became more erratic as some of the men began to panic at the closeness of the undead.
“Three-round bursts!” Murphy yelled, and the soldiers switched to a barrage of bullets, unleashing bursts of shots that ripped through the ghouls. While the fire rate increased, the additional zombies falling weren’t enough to stem the tide.
Bretz glanced back as he heard gunfire coming from the teams guarding the back alleys. “Baker, on me!” he cried, and
