pair of binoculars, in the other was a shirt.
“This means the squad is split in two, maybe more. Let me think a minute here.”
“There are too many of them. We can't kill all of them.” Javier said.
“We aren't leaving them.”
“I didn't say that. But we can't kill them all either. We gotta draw some of them off, they are stupid, like dogs, they come to you if you make a lot of noise.”
“Yeah, true, but we can't lead them here. We need to go around to the other side and lead them away from here. Let's see…” Bill took a small pair of binoculars out of his chest pocket. He scanned the surrounding playing fields and focused in on a building out on the other side of the baseball fields. “See that building way over there?” The younger men nodded, “If we can work our way around to that we could throw a couple of grenades into the crowd from that side, then run back to those other baseball fields, we can climb those little four foot fences, but it will give the zombies a helluva time. If they follow us over there the rest of them could get out. Maybe.”
“We don't need five guys to throw a couple of grenades.” Javier pointed out, “I can go, me and Matt can go. Do like you said, then, after we lead those zombies on a chase we can head straight south and get to the railroad tracks again, and head back to Ruben.”
“Good enough, can you work your way over there without being seen?”
Javier looked at the terrain, then nodded and said, “We will just go up the river bank and come around over at that parking lot there, then keep by the trees until we make it to the building. What will you guys do?”
“We will come with you to the parking lot, we'll have a better position there, but still be well north of where you will be at. If everything works out we'll be able to head straight to the baseball field, then to the concession stand, gathering up all the men and getting to Ruben before you do. Refill all your ammo, take a couple spare clips and the grenades, then give us your packs.”
The men transferred the backpacks to the others and then all five of them made their way back down to the river out of sight from the playing fields. They kept close to the river until Javier felt they were in the right spot and crept up to confirm that they had headed far enough north to be near the edge of the parking lot they had scoped out from the other side of the fields. Bill, Vic and Jerome squatted down in the grass and brush beside the parking lot while Javier and Matt ran along the road in an oblique approach to the building, which looked like some sort of grounds keeping shed. Bill watched while the two men looked into a back window of the large shed, then broke it and crawled into the building.
“What the hell are they doing? They will be trapped in the building!” said Jerome.
“Trust Javier, he has a plan, I think. Give them a few minutes. Get ready though, watch for any smart zombies, you know the kind, the ones that move fast, if any come out of that mob we should try and ambush them, they won't be expecting us to be here.”
Bill's patience was rewarded when inside the shed an engine roared to life, the front door of the shed slid up and a large, industrial sized mower pulled out of the building. It was loud and sped out of the open door at a quick pace, heading straight towards the mob of zombies surrounding the building among the baseball fields. The zombies had already turned towards the sound and when they saw the mower's rider even more went after it.
“Where is Matt?”
Bill answered, “There!” A golf cart came rolling out of the building with Matt driving, he had his rifle braced on the small windscreen and shot towards the mob a few times to draw their attention. Javier stopped the mower about fifteen feet away from the first of the zombie, then stood and tossed hand grenades into the crowd. As the explosions blew violent holes in the mob Bill said, “Jerome, Vic, check that zombie on the bleachers, get a bead on him, I think it is a super. Fire when I say so, if we all fire together we have a better chance at taking him out.”
The zombie Bill was pointing towards was a ragged haired, thin man dressed in a red and black flannel shirt. It was watching Javier on the lawn mower, but not moving towards him. “Alright, fire on three. One, two, three!” Bill and Jerome both fired a single shot out of their rifles, but Vic let loose with a barrage of automatic fire. The zombie stood up and jerked around as the shots hit him, one of Vic's slammed him in the head and toppled him over the top of the stands to the asphalt path that ran behind it.
“Fuck, fuck! Sorry sarge! I didn't mean to!”
“Damn it Vic! Duck down, don't let them see us! You got him so I can't be too mad at you.” The three of them slid down further into the ditch out of sight of the zombies.
“I did it, I blew that motherfuckers head off! Did you see how far that is? I am like a sniper.”
“Yeah our fully automatic sniper. You two stay down here.” Bill slowly crawled up to the top of the ditch to see what was happening. No zombies seemed to be coming their way and he pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look as the undead followed behind the lawn mower and golf cart. “Okay you two we got another one. It is staying on the side of the building away from Javier and Matt, but I can see her from here. Creep up slow, she isn't looking our way, but I would rather kill her without ever being seen. And for God's sake Vic, put your rifle on single shot!”
The three men got into firing position again and counted down, this time two of the three shots hit the woman, however neither was a killing blow. The zombie looked over at them and then was shot again from behind at close range, the top of her pony tailed head flew off, with the blond tail trailing in the wind like a kite string as it rose fifteen feet above the baseball fence.
Jerome laughed, “Did you see that? They got her! Her hair, it just flew off!” Two more gunshots rang out from behind the building unseen from their position.
“Now what?” Vic asked.
“You two hunker down again, we will wait for another five minutes for most of these ones to clear out, then make a try for it. I will keep an eye out for any supers running around. Oh and you guys watch our backs and sides.”
The five minutes dragged by for the men, Javier and Matt were out of sight now, having driven along the road towards the town further west of Bill's position.
A hand tugged on Bill's pant leg, “Sarge!” whispered Vic, “Sarge!”
Bill slid down a little and looked at where the younger man was pointing. He saw three small zombies, children really, darting among the trees and low scrub bushes, working their way towards the three men from behind. Two boys and one girl, the boys were wearing summer clothing, both in shorts and one bare-chested. One was wearing a flip flop on his left foot, the other had a red plastic shoe on his right. The girl was dressed in a heavy winter coat, she had the hood pulled up and tied down, leaving her the barest of holes to see through. She had on a short white dress that lifted up as she ran, underneath she was wearing tighter black shorts. Of the three only she had a complete set of footwear, converse sneakers. The girl was dark skinned and the boys had deeply tanned skin, but were Caucasian with sandy blond hair. All of them were moving fast.
“Get ready for them! Try for the girl first, she looks to me the most together of all of them.” Vic aimed his rifle and fired at the group, hitting the bare-chested boy in the top of his right shoulder, a spray of blood and bone chips radiated out behind him to coat the other boy's shirt and face. The boy with the bloody face licked his lips as they both ducked further back into the brush.
“Damnit Vic! You fired too soon, they were too far. And I said aim for the girl!”
“I was aiming for the girl!”
“Some sniper.” Jerome said.
“Fuck you! At least I've actually killed one of them so far!”
“Stop it you two, we need to move, no sense making things easier for them by staying in one spot. Grab your packs and follow me.”
Bill grabbed the two packs he was carrying and headed up over the road, making for the shed Javier and Matt had left open. The other two kept pace with him easily and they made it to the shed without any problems. Most of the zombies were gone, but three were wandering aimlessly in front of the shed and there were many stuck inside the baseball fields, unable to get over the low chain linked fences that defined the play areas.
Bill shot two of the zombies as they came around to the front of the shed, Vic shot the other one. There was another mower, another golf cart and various tools in the shed. Bill checked the mower and saw that the key was in the ignition, the same with the golf cart. There was a large wagon in one corner of the shed as well, with a hitch designed to attached to the mower. Bill dropped his packs into the wagon and pulled it out so it the trailer
