merged with the earth as the giant tires smashed them into various fat content ground meat. When the trucks were within two hundred yards I began to hunt for my prize. I placed the gun up on the windowsill and adjusted the scope to allow any and all ambient light into the aperture.
Travis had pulled out a pair of pocket binoculars and was scouring the cabs of the two trucks. 'Got her!' He said triumphantly.
'Are you shitting me?'
'Far truck, she's sitting next to some ass…I mean guy that just broke the cardinal rule.'
'Cardinal rule?' I asked aiming my rifle over.
'He just lit a cigarette.'
'He's probably nervous sitting that close to the bitch…I mean lady.'
'Where in relation to the steering wheel?' Which was the only thing I could see due to the illumination of the dashboard.
'About two or three feet over.'
I took my eye up off the scope and looked at him.
'Okay closer to three feet.' He said adjusting his guess.
I could faintly pick up the smoker as he inhaled. The cherry of the butt silhouetted him perfectly and if that was my target he was a dead man. The small amount of light did nothing however to reveal the rest of that giant cab. I had one shot. I waited patiently, wishing fervently that I had gone to sniper school when I had the opportunity. I had proved an accurate enough shot to be considered but all those hours of waiting without moving while you lined up your target was a concept I could not grasp as a hot-blooded youth.
'Please be a chain smoker.' I repeated over and over as my personal mantra.
Travis and I were fixated on a spot in space roughly the size of a basketball. The room was quiet. No lights were on. Even Henry and Buddha's gas wars had subsided, that more than anything gave me hope.
True to his word, the Marlboro man lit up another cigarette, and the cruel ethereal face of Eliza lit up. The warm colors of the small fire did nothing to sway the evil that she exuded; her white skin shone brilliantly. Sweat poured down my face as I squeezed the trigger ever so gently so that when the gun did go off it was a surprise to me. The smoke and the recoil of the discharge knocked me off target and screened me from the knowledge if I had made an impact on my desired target.
Tommy screamed.
'Holy shit.' Travis murmured still looking at the truck. I had turned to see what was wrong with Tommy. 'Dad, I can't be completely sure but I think you got her.'
My heart soared, only to come crashing down with his next words.
'But I don't think she's dead. She's so fast I think she pulled the smoking guy in front of her. I saw him take the impact but the bullet went through and I think got her. By then though she had pushed his body away and had moved.' The Terex veered off at an alarming angle. Any chance of getting another shot off was impossible as I was now viewing the dump portion of the truck.
The air went out of the room. Whatever small hope we had harbored was now extinguished.
'Dammit. Tommy, you alright?' I asked him.
'She's really mad,' was all he could manage to say.
'Isn't she always?' BT asked seriously.
'True.' I said shrugging my shoulders. 'How does one know if a rabid wolf is mad or not?'
'Mike, will you get serious!' Doc fairly shouted.
'I'm deadly serious Doc, it's just that my thoughts tend to trend to the juvenile; doesn't mean I don't care.'
'Wonderful.' he said sarcastically.
'Alright, whoever wants to get in on the shooting start getting your stuff ready.' I told the room.
BT came over. 'Plan yet?'
'Still blank slating buddy. But I figure we can still exact some measure of revenge.'
'Do tell,' he said as he started loading magazines.
'Well I figure that she really wants Tommy…alive.' I clarified. 'The rest of us are just the wrapping paper on the gift.'
'Sounds grand.' BT said never looking up from his task.
'You giving me shit?'
'Whaddaya you think, you basically just said she couldn't care less if the rest of us were alive or dead.'
'Oh I think she'd prefer us dead.'
'Perfect.'
'Well, yes and no. I mean I have no desire to die tonight, but on the flip side Eliza won't do anything yet to endanger the kid.'
'I get it.' BT said now slamming rounds into his magazines. 'She's going to let us have our last hurrah so that she can get the kid intact, so what's your thought?'
'I'm thinking we wait for the piece of shit traitors to come in closer. I'd almost feel like I was wasting rounds at this point if I shot zombies.'
Travis was standing at the window and looking straight down. 'Dad, the zombies are coming in the building.'
'I thought you said she wanted us alive?' BT asked filling his spare magazines quicker.
'What am I, the vampire whisperer?' I said, mimicking his faster reloading speed.
Doc looked like he was ready to gather his family and bolt. 'Bad thought pattern Doc.' I told him without looking up.
'How can you know what I'm thinking? With these pendants we can stroll right out of here!' he shouted.
'That may be true, but she's forming ranks of humans past the perimeter of zombies. I don't think that pendant will work so well then.' I replied.
Doc looked out the window to verify if what I was telling him was the truth. Why I'd lie was a mystery to me. Within moments zombies began shuffling outside of our doorway; each time they bumped up against it everyone in the room jolted. There was screaming from various parts of the building but none relatively close.
'She must be pulling on that leash pretty hard.' I said to BT referring to the fact that the zombies weren't trying to get in, only keeping us contained.
'Yeah but for how long?' He asked as he eyed the door nervously.
The first Terex had pulled up to within a hundred yards, basically a chip shot for a former Marine with an expert class shooting badge. I peppered the shit out of that cab. Men started spilling out of the doors trying to get away from my hell fire. The ones I didn't shoot immediately upon their escape from the cab usually injured themselves as they fell a good thirty feet onto the frozen ground. Someone, however, had managed to survive in the death cage as the Terex started to back up in a hasty retreat.
Travis had started shooting at the ranks of soldiers as they began to form their encapsulating circle around our perimeter. Within moments BT had joined the turkey shoot along with Jesse and Blake. It was somewhat unfair because they weren't shooting back, Eliza must have expressly forbade it. I just saw it as my unfair advantage. They finally saw the wisdom of pulling back out of effective rifle range but the thousands of zombies still had us locked up tight.
'Any chance they'll give up?' BT asked, drawing away from the window.
Travis and Jesse were actively still seeking targets and occasionally taking a shot. I had also withdrawn from the shooting gallery to sit next to Tracy. Eliza wasn't known for her patience. Something was going to happen and I was pretty much assured it wasn't going to be beneficial to anyone in this room. Tommy and Justin were pale as sheets and were actually together trying to prop themselves up against a common enemy.
After another fifteen minutes or so, Travis and Jesse pulled back when it became entirely to dark to see anything past 50 feet or so. I had dozed off, it might have been an hour or so later when the rumble of an approaching Terex informed me that Round 2 was about to begin. The Terex was close and I could tell from which direction it was coming but the 'new' darkness that had descended on the base was preventing me from seeing it. There was no ambient light coming from anyplace on the base. So when the Terex turned on all her headlights, running lights, flood lights and searchlights I was blinded. I was thankful I hadn't been looking through a night vision scope. The image would have burnt through the back of my head to be displayed on the blank wall behind me. It
