Part 18 (1/2)
”Roger that. Rico, kill that guard and swipe those badges.”
Rico nodded his head and kicked the door jam with a loud thud. It didn't budge, but the creature stirred, striking the door. The smacking sound of putrid flesh slapping the door caused Commie to double over, dry heaving inside his suit.
”Master key?” Rico asked.
”Not yet. Commie, how do we get the cave doors open?”
”Hold on a sec,” Commie said between dry heaves. ”There's a manual access there near the doors that requires a hand crank. It's secured with a padlock. The key and crank handle are inside the shack.”
”Are you f.u.c.king sure?” Rex said, his voice filled with tension.
”Yes, sir, I'm sure. I stood this watch when I was the new guy. It's under the desk on the floor. Had to check it for power-failure drills.”
”Rico, master key!” Rex exclaimed.
”Everyone back, get ready to move!” Rico pulled his sawed-off Remington shotgun from the leather holster on his back, flipping off the safety. He always kept a round in the hole. He pulled the trigger and shredded the wooden guard-shack door around the lock. Only a hole remained where the doork.n.o.b once was. Rico kicked the s.h.i.+t out of the door again.
The door flew inward and knocked the creature to the floor, onto its face. It attempted to get back up, but Rico pulled the knife from his belt, stabbing it in the back of its soft, half-rotted skull. He was careful not to thrust too hard as he didn't want to damage the tip of his blade by going too far through the head into the concrete floor. With the bottom of his boot, he yanked the knife from the skull and wiped it on the guard-shack seat. The smell would have been overwhelming if it were not for the suits.
”Okay, five badges in here, no hand crank!” Rico yelled out the door. He knew there was no point in being quiet after the shotgun blast.
Huck glanced away from his sector of cover and risked a look down the steps. ”Rex, they're on us, man, bottom of steps,” he said calmly.
Rex ran into the guard shack to help Rico look for the hand crank. ”Rico, grab 'em. We gotta move. They're coming up the steps.”
Both Rico and Rex ran out of the shack and looked at Commie, flas.h.i.+ng anger in their eyes. ”Commie, what the f.u.c.k?”
”I don't know; that's where it was!” Commie said nervously, adjusting his NODs, looking around the area.
Griff was at the top of the steps, weapon ready and pointed down at the creatures stumbling up the stairs. Griff watched while the others dashed to the door, attempting to gain access using their fingers-the steel door was fifteen feet tall.
Commie moved to the other end of the huge door, hitting his s.h.i.+n hard on something. ”f.u.c.k! That hurt,” he shouted, looking down. ”Found it!”
The hand crank was already inserted into the hydraulic panel. Commie quickly turned it as fast as he could; the door creaked and strained. It opened one quarter of a centimeter per full turn-a slow undertaking. Bits of rust flaked from the hinges of the ma.s.sive doors as they slowly creaked outward.
Griff yelled back to the group from the top of the stairs a few meters away. ”I'm engaging, there's too many! Thirty seconds!”
That was all they had left before all h.e.l.l broke loose and undead would start their advance up the steps to rip them all apart. It was only fifteen meters from the top of the stairs to the doors that Commie was feverishly working to open. The door was a few inches wide now. Griff kept shooting, stacking them up on the stairs below. Surgical with his shots, he neutralized creatures he felt might fall a certain way to block the flow behind, buying a little time.
Commie turned the crank to the point of muscle failure. ”My arms are toast-someone else jump in.”
Huck jumped in on the hand crank and started spinning for his life. The door was now open nearly a foot wide.
Griff yelled back, ”Commie, get your a.s.s over here and start shooting!”
”Moving!” Commie replied, mimicking brevity he'd heard along the way to the cave.
”Be d.a.m.n careful, Commie, fall back if they get closer than ten feet!” Rex reminded him, covering Huck.
Commie and Griff blasted away with their suppressed carbines. Some of the rounds pa.s.sed through the creatures and ricocheted off the concrete steps, hitting the metal roof and parked cars. The creatures continued their relentless march up the steps at them.
The undead got so close that Rex witnessed Griff brand them with the end of his gun, pus.h.i.+ng them back. His suppressor was so hot from expelled gas that the creature's skin would sizzle just before Griff pulled the trigger, scattering brain all over the steps below, toppling corpses back down the stairway to h.e.l.l. If not for the darkness, all of them would already be dead. The creatures were that fast.
”Commie, take two steps back. They're advancing.”
Commie complied and kept gunning.
”It's open enough,” Rex said from nearby the doors. ”Get your a.s.ses in here!”
Both Commie and Griff walked backward, shooting the whole way to the door. One by one they dropped their packs and threw them through the opening. Rex had just cleared the immediate area inside the cave doors but had no idea what lurked farther back in the tunnel. Relying on moonlight and NVGs, it was pitch-green beyond fifteen meters. He didn't have time to turn on his IR weapon light to sweep it further, revealing the blackness.
Commie squeezed through the door into the cave. It smelled of death and mildew inside. He thought creatures might be close. ”How are we going to close the door behind us?”
The dead were screaming now.
All five were in the tunnel now, the door frozen at eighteen inches open. Rex looked outside, seeing those things throng about. They already filled the guard shack and Rex knew that they would soon be flowing to the cave entrance.
”Any ideas?” Rex solicited.
The radio crackled. ”Hourgla.s.s, Scan Eagle is indicating a swarm event developing in your area. Looks like the creatures are beginning to rally on your posit,” an unfamiliar voice said over the net.
”Roger,” Rex answered rolling his eyes. ”No s.h.i.+t.”
Rico began firing his carbine out the door at the creatures-they were getting curious. Because the door was open at an unfortunate angle, he had to hang his torso completely out to control his carbine shots.
Looking around the tunnel with his IR light, Huck found a pillow-top mattress sitting against the wall on top of a box spring. ”Rex, give me a hand with this.”
They slid the mattress vertically into the eighteen-inch gap of the open door just before a creature was about to poke its head in. It was a snug fit, but only a temporary fix.
”We need to stack a load of s.h.i.+t here to keep the mattress in,” Rex said to the others.
Everyone fanned out in the immediate area, looking for debris or anything that might be used to barricade the door. Commie began to walk deeper into the tunnel.
”Not too far, Commie-the old man ordered me not to let you out of my sight,” Rex said.
”Yes, sir, you got it. I see something up ahead.”
A golf cart. Rex followed Commie for a closer look. The small battery-powered cart was used as a shuttle to transport VIPs back and forth to each end of the long underground tunnel. It was marked with a removable sign that displayed a blue background and four white stars.
”Looks like a four star was the last to ride on this. Let's push it to the door,” Rex suggested as he stomped on the pedal, releasing the brake.
They both moved quickly, pus.h.i.+ng the cart to the opening. All five men grunted, lifting the cart, placing it parallel to the door. It was tight against the mattress that plugged the undead leak. Rex reengaged the braking mechanism, holding the car in place. The sounds of bony fists were loud against the steel while the men stood in a circle to gather their thoughts.
”Virginia, this is Hourgla.s.s. We're inside-keep an eye on the door. If you see them getting in, give us a shout. One of us will stay near the entrance to keep comms up with your station,” Rex transmitted.
The reply came in a bit weak, but readable. ”Roger that, Hourgla.s.s. I'm on it.” It was Kil's voice this time; Rex's eyes did not roll.