CHAPTER TWELVE
Bretz drove the two of them to the bridge, seeing zombies shoulder-to-shoulder as they approached. They were within a couple hundred yards, only a left at the top of the street, but there were dozens of zombies standing in their way.
“You ready for one last push?” he asked.
Short leaned forward. “Bigger question is, if this big beauty of a truck is ready for it,” he said, and stroked the dashboard. “Okay girl, you almost home, just need you to push a little harder. Can you do that for me?”
Bretz raised an eyebrow.
Short shrugged. “I mean, trucks need encouragement too.”
“Did you do that to your last truck?” the Corporal asked.
His passenger chuckled. “Well no,” he replied, “probably why she didn’t make it.”
“Okay then,” Bretz replied, and gave the steering wheel a tender pat. “Come on, you can do it.”
Short laughed, and the Corporal joined in, the two of them a little loopy from the absurdity of the situation and what they were about to do.
“Regardless of what happens,” Bretz said when he finally calmed down, “it’s been a pleasure.”
Short nodded solemnly. “Likewise, Corporal.”
Bretz hit the gas, and the truck rumbled forward. He rolled over several zombies, and the noise gained the attention of the ghouls on the bridge. He floored it, gaining as much speed as he could, approaching the turn for the bridge. The sea of undead was dense, covering almost the entirety of the road on both sides.
The big rig chugged along, slowing with every impact. When Bretz reached the top of the road, he moved far to the right before making a hard left, hoping to keep up the momentum. The truck leaned to one side, several wheels coming off of the ground, crashing back down and crushing several bodies beneath. The impact sent bones jutting out of bodies, and a loud pop sounded as one of the tires blew.
The sudden loss caused the truck to jar to the right, but Bretz was able to correct it. The zombies on the bridge pressed up against the vehicle, covering it on all sides. The remaining tires squealed, struggling to gain traction between the blood coating them and the dense force of the dead in front of it.
“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
