“You two, clear the room,” Herrera instructed. “I’ll handle the kitchen.”
They nodded as he breached the door. Greer and Eason immediately headed for the zombies, and the Corporal hopped up onto one of the long tables and ran down it, avoiding the tangled mass of chairs on the ground. As he hopped down, he bolted through the double doors into the kitchen, quickly sweeping it for threats and seeing none.
Herrera removed the candles from his bag, setting them on the front counter and lighting them up. Once they were blazing, he rushed over to the stoves, flipping on every single gas burner but not using the igniter. The hiss of propane filled the air, and he quickly caught a whiff of it.
“This isn’t going to take long,” he muttered, and tore out of the kitchen. “Fuse is lit, we gotta move!” he yelled, and the two soldiers broke away from their battle to run to the door.
As the trio burst out of the lunchroom, Herrera hollered, “We’re lit! Weapons hot!”
Gilbert and Choi immediately drew their assault rifles and fired a few rounds downrange, striking a few zombies that ambled up the hallway towards them. As soon as the other three joined them, the team sprinted towards the fire exit door at the end of the hall.
Herrera reached it first, slamming into it, but finding resistance. A few rotted hands pushed their way in, grasping at him.
“Get down!” Gilbert cried.
The Corporal dropped to one knee as Gilbert shoved his assault rifle into the door above his head. He fired off a few three-round bursts, shredding the faces of a few ghouls and easing the pressure on the door.
Herrera pushed hard, and Choi joined him, the two of them staying low so that Gilbert had a firing window. As the door opened far enough, the trigger-happy Private pushed his way through, turning quickly and firing behind the door.
“We gotta move!” he barked.
The rest of the men rushed out from the school, and the door slammed shut behind them. The field zombies had reached the building, and were closing in.
Eason and Choi began to fire, clearing out the ones that were closest. Herrera glanced at Gilbert, who was shooting into dozens of creatures from the front yard horde, closing in.
“Back to the church!” the Corporal yelled, and the group fired a few more rounds before sprinting away from the school.
When they hit the neighborhood across from it, several zombies emerged from around houses to investigate what the nose was. The group ignored them and kept running, even though their boot falls were gaining attention.
When they approached the church, there were a dozen or so zombies standing between them and the building. Herrera stopped short about ten yards away and readied his weapon. The other soldiers joined him to create a devastating firing line. As quickly as they began shooting, the zombies dropped, and the battle was over, with well-placed shots to the head.
Herrera opened the front door they’d left unlocked and ushered the soldiers inside before entering last and slamming it. He peered out the window, seeing zombies coming towards them in every direction.
“Sure hope this works,” he uttered, and locked the door before retreating to the chapel.
The soldiers collapsed in the pews, chests heaving, and Herrera joined them, setting down his rifle and cracking his neck.
“That was fun,” Greer said brightly. “Having PTSD flashbacks to my worst P.E. class.”
Gilbert shook his head. “Only thing missing were the cheerleaders laughing at you,” he quipped.
“That never happened to me,” Greer replied, puffing out his chest a bit.
“Look at me,” Gilbert replied, patting his belly, “might have happened a few times in my day.”
A chuckle rippled through the men in a much-needed moment of levity.
Finally, Choi asked, “So, how long until that thing blows?”
“No idea,” Herrera replied, shaking his head. “I put the candles on the far side of the room, so it might take a while for the room to fill up with gas.”
“Wait, how big was the room?” Eason asked, straightening up.
The Corporal shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied, “about the size of this one? Only with lower ceilings.”
Eason looked around, the wheels turning in his head. “Yeah…” he said, swallowing hard. “We may want to get away from the windows.”
The soldiers shared concerned glances and then slowly moved to the center of the room.
“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Choi asked as he took a seat on the floor.
Eason scratched the back of his head. “Look at the bright side,” he drawled, “we’re going to get attention.”
The group hunkered down, and then as if on cue, a loud BOOM rattled the building. The windows tittered, a few of them cracking, and the soldiers held their breath, hoping that they wouldn’t shatter.
Luckily, the windows held, and they let out deep sighs collectively.
“Damn, they probably heard that at the docks,” Greer said.
Herrera shook his head. “Let’s hope not,” he said, “we’re going to have enough to deal with without more coming up.” He headed for the window, staying out of sight as he peeked out.
The zombies that had been in pursuit of them had turned around and headed towards the school, a bright light in the distance. The Corporal nodded and smiled approvingly.
“Gilbert, set a timer,” he declared, “for the next thirty minutes, we’re on break.”
The Private let out a deep sigh of relief and hit his watch before laying across a pew on this back. The troops spread out, stretching their tired limbs, and Herrera stayed at the window, keeping watch on the outside.
He watched the flood of zombies moving towards the explosion. “Come on, you know you bastards want to go to the bonfire.”
CHAPTER NINE
Dixon led Ayers and Hurst toward the docks, stepping over charred
