Last Stand of the Dead - 06 Read Free Page A

“You realize that this means the little Z’s split their group up to make the crossing at two places.”
    “Yeah, I thought about that, ” I said. “We’ve got to tell Colonel Freeman as soon as we can , that his men down here are dead.”
    “Think the group to the north is dead, too?”
    “No way of knowing yet, but if they are, we have some serious trouble on our hands.” I said.
    “How so?”
    “This group probably won’t come right at us, looking for a fight.  We’ll have to hunt them down and it’s going to cost us a lot.”  I said.
    “You worried, John?” Charlie asked, looking over at me.
    “Hell, no, ” I said.  “I’m scared shitless.”
    Charlie nodded.  “Me, too.”

Chapter 4
     
     
    We stopped talking as we reached the middle of the river.  The road narrowed a bit, and we could hear the gentle voice of the water below us as it moved around the pylons and artificial islands that held up the bridge.  Apart from the threat of vicious attack by zombie children, and the fact that we could possibly be walking into as nasty an ambush as we had ever faced, the day was fairly pleasant.
    “ Movement, ” Charlie said, bringing up his rifle.
    “How many?” I asked.  My carbine didn’t have a scope, so I was limited to my own eyes, and I didn’t feel like pulling my binoculars out of my pack.
    “Four , I can see, and it looks like there’s another on the ground, moving, but not up, ” Charlie replied.
    “Distance?” I flicked the safety off on my rifle and moved it to a more comfortable position.
    “Three hundred, maybe three fifty.”  Charlie signaled to the truck and van that he had spotted movement, and I could see Duncan and Tommy settle in and find some kind of base on which to brace their rifles.
    “I’ll take the right side, ” I said, moving over to the side of the road.  I had to be careful.  These country bridges weren’t built for pedestrians, and there was a lot of open space for a person to fall through.  Come to think of it, there was a lot of space for a car to fall through.  I shook my head and concentrated on the zombies that were shuffling around at the far end of the bridge.
    There were four of them moving, and they were in their gear, which told me they had either been attacked last night before they had set up watches, or it had happened this morning, once they had gotten their day moving.  I was hoping for this morning, so we could be only an hour or two behind the horde, but it probably wasn’t going to happen.
    We walked slowly over to the other side, and about halfway there , the zombies saw us and began to head in our direction.  The one on the ground looked over to see where his friends went and started rolling our way as well.  His legs were torn to pieces, which explained his vertical challenges.
    When they were about fifty yards away, Charlie opened up on his side, shooting one in the face and the other in the knees.  The second one had some problem where its head was rolling forward, so it was pretty well protected by the helmet.
    I shot one on my side, then the other, not having the problem Charlie had.  I went over to inspect my two , while Charlie finished off the second one, which was dragging itself across the pavement, and leaving dark streaks in its wake.
    Mine had been bitten o n the neck and arms, with additional bites o n the face.  The hands were torn up pretty bad as well.  From where I sat, it looked like these guys had engaged the enemy and been overwhelmed.  The big question was how come they left the safety of their trucks?  By my reckoning, they could have taken a good chunk out of the enemy with little danger to themselves.
    I stood up and walked over to where Charlie was finishing off the crawler.  He didn’t bother with his tomahawk, he just shot it at close range.
    We kept walking and reached the edge of the bridge where it reached the other side of the river. There was a small grove of trees on the left of the