Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (23 page)

“
Going to take them a few minutes to make it up here,” she remarked. She lifted her face toward the sun. “Wish Darrell was here,” she said so softly Mick barely heard her. Mick reached over and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and she rewarded him with a small, sad smile.

They both stiffened when they heard banging followed by crashing noises below. This is it, Mick thought with a deep feeling of fear and helplessness. He tightened his grip on the revolver. As he braced himself for what was coming, the sounds below suddenly stopped. He looked over at Megan and she responded by shrugging her shoulders. Faintly, they heard someone shouting. To his surprise, he heard then felt a tremendous explosion.

“
What in the world is going on below?” Megan shouted.

“
No idea!” Mick shouted back. Crouching down, he raced over to the edge and slowly peered over. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He backed up, spun around and as he raced past Megan, grabbed her by the arm, dragging her along toward the shed.

“
What are you doing?” she asked in surprise.

“
We’re going to tell them!” Mick yelled.

“
Tell them what!” Megan yelled back.

Mick flashed a huge smile. “The cavalry is here!”

****

Sean and Scott watched as the first grenade launcher found its mark, totally engulfing the target in a fiery explosion. Immediately, more explosions followed, taking out a second then a third humvee parked next to Hudson Place. The twins watched men scurry to find positions to return fire. They had been allowed to be part of the attack on one condition; they had a baby sitter in the form of Corporal Ricky Riley. Dexter, Charlie, and their other friends had to stay behind until the area was secure. Both of them were beyond worried about their parents, sister, and friends, but knew they had a job to do first.

“
Let’s go,” Riley whispered. The trio hunched over and ran behind a nearby building which was situated at an angle to Hudson Place.

Sean leaned around the corner and quickly ducked back as gunfire erupted. “They’ve kinda figured out where some of us are,” he whispered. Movement caught his attention. He looked up in time to see two figures disappear on the roof of Hudson Place. Behind them were two more men hanging halfway up, from Sean’s perspective it looked like they were working on going through a window. He gave Scott a nudge. “Look.”

Scott followed his gaze and nodded. “Good deal, now we have guys on the inside, this won’t take too much longer - I hope.”

As Scott nodded in agreement, they heard a muffled explosion emanate from inside the building.

“
Flash bang?” Scott asked Sean.

“
Think so, pretty sure a grenade is louder,” Sean replied. They listened for a few seconds; the sound of gunfire could be heard inside the building. There was another loud explosion. “
That
was a grenade,” Sean said grimly. “Sounds like they’ve already made it down to the first floor.”

Suddenly, gunfire picked up around the entrance, Scott elbowed Sean and they watched the growing firefight around them. As the platoon advanced with precision, the brothers joined the fight with Riley in the lead. They used anything and everything for cover. For several seconds the fight was fierce, and then there was a sudden and complete silence. Everyone froze in position, listening intently.

A Private who looked like he was 12 years old ran up to them. “Captain Sears says they retreated inside so we kinda have a standoff situation. Now it’s a waiting game until they show their hand.”

“
Do we know where they’re at exactly; did our guys make it all the way down?” Sean asked the young Private.

“
Not sure exactly, but looks like they took out two of our guys and we don’t have an exact idea of where they’re at.”

Scott groaned. “Great, that means going in after them and fighting it out inside. This couldn’t get any worse.”

“
Oh yeah it can,” Sean retorted as they watched the Private scamper back to his group. “They could have taken everyone as hostages or worse.”

“
Let’s hope not, that will make everything so much harder,” Scott said with a sigh. “I hate this waiting; at least we kinda know what’s goin on.”

They both watched in wry amusement as the Private once again hurried over. “You two are supposed to come with me,” he said rapidly. “Capt’n needs ya.”

Without another word, both of them slung their weapons over their shoulders and followed the young soldier.

****

As Megan and Mick sprinted toward the shed, Cindy opened the door to let them in and closed it quickly behind them.

“
What in the world is going on?” she asked excitedly.

“
Military is down there, they’re fighting Bill’s guys,” Mick said in a rush. Brooke ran over and he gave her a quick hug. “I think its best we stay out of sight until this thing plays out, we don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Mick put his arm around Brooke’s shoulders and guided her over to the back wall where they sat down together. As Cindy walked over, Mick looked up and held out a hand to her, she took it and sat down on the other side of him.

The younger children were sitting on small pallets along the side wall closest to the greenhouse, except for Sally who sat on Lilly‘s lap. They were all quiet because they were busy eating graham crackers. Heather gave Mick a big smile then coughed, spewing cracker crumbs out of her mouth and causing the other children to giggle. Mick smiled at her then turned his attention to Megan, who was on her knees peering out the front window.

“
Anything?” Mick said in a loud whisper.

“
No - uh, wait I see something,” Megan said as she held up a hand. “Wow, two guys in black uniforms just came over the wall. They’re headed for the door.” She watched for a minute. “They tore off our boards and are headed down. That’s not good, now anyone can get up here.”

“
Hmmm,” Mick said thoughtfully. “Well at least we have a chance now.”

As Megan was about to reply, they heard another explosion then gunfire. They sat quietly and a few of the children began to whimper when there was another, louder explosion. Diane, Denise, and Sarah quickly comforted the children by talking to them and handing them foil pouches of apple juice to take their minds off what was going on below. The gunfire began to pick up in intensity, causing even Mick to wince. Brooke pressed up against his side. As they sat huddled together, the sudden silence was almost as deafening as the noise that preceded it. After waiting for a moment, Megan stood.

“
Think I’m going to take a look outside,” she said quietly. “Mick, would you keep an eye out the window and let me know if you see anything after I leave? I won’t be able to look over the edge and watch the door too.”

Mick jumped up. “Sure thing,” he replied.

Brooke scooted over next to her mother, who put an arm around her. Megan checked her gun, making sure there was a round in the chamber before nodding at Mick and stepping out. He watched her trot to the edge where she dropped down and slowly peered over. He quickly scanned the roof then glanced her way again. He looked over toward the door; he thought he saw something moving. He watched for a second, but could see nothing stirring in the darkness beyond the open door.

Megan continued to watch whatever was happening below for a few minutes, and then she slid backward, got to her feet, and began trotting back. When she reached the open door, she almost collided with several soldiers. They all halted at the same time, the soldiers raising their weapons while Megan dropped hers and put her hands up. Mick saw her speaking with them and they all turned their heads toward the shed. One of the men nodded and they all began to move toward them.

We’re alive and we’re ok, Mick thought shakily as he watched Megan and the soldiers. We’re not going to die today. He began to shake and felt tears of relief sting his eyes. He took several deep breaths and looked up to see Cindy smiling down at him. No words were needed as he stood and wrapped his arms around his wife.

Chapter 27

When Mick and Cindy exited the building with Brooke in tow, the first thing Mick saw was Sean and Scott peering over the crowd of people in the street. When they spotted their parents and sister, their faces lit up with huge smiles. Mick chuckled as they whooped and began to fight their way through the group. Mick saw Charlie standing next to a large flat bed truck talking to a young woman, when Charlie glanced his way Mick gave him a quick wave. Charlie waved back, said something to the young woman who also turned and waved. Must be his daughter, Mick thought before he was almost knocked off his feet by Scott giving him an enormous hug.

“
Dad!” Scott yelled above all the noise of several people talking all at once. “Are we glad to see you guys!”

Mick grinned. “Trust me; we are very glad to see you. How did you know we needed help?”

Sean walked up, one arm around his mother and the other around Brooke. “Why, Brooke here told us, we called on the radio and she told us what was going on. Guess you could say she's a hero,” Sean said with a grin at his sister.

“
Well, I told them what I knew, which wasn’t much,” Brooke said, clearly flustered by Sean’s remark.

Mick grinned, but it quickly faded when he glimpsed the wan figure of Lilly. Someone had found her a chair and she was sitting under a tree, Reggie was handing her something to drink.

Turning to his children, Mick was about to explain what happened to Dave when he saw something flash on the roof. Glancing up, he tilted his head; it was difficult to see, but someone was standing on the roof gazing down on them. They seemed to be looking over at Charlie’s group. Mick turned his head and studied them, nothing looked remarkable to him. Just as he started to turn away, he jerked his head back around and glared at the flat bed truck. The truck was loaded with boxes of ammunition, wires, cable, and what looked like a grenade launcher. No telling what else was inside.

He quickly looked up at the figure on the roof again and squinted. To his horror, he realized the person he was looking at was Bill! He looked around wildly, hadn’t they searched? How did they miss the guy? Looking up again, he saw Bill aiming something at them. No, not at them - at the truck! Realizing what Bill intended Mick reacted automatically. He pulled his revolver out of his waistband, pointed it, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

Almost immediately following his shot, he heard another shot go off. He staggered back in surprise; it felt like he’d been slapped in the face with a red hot poker. As he squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden fierce pain, he heard shouts and yelling all around him. Someone caught him and he opened his eyes to a red haze. He was pretty sure it was Cindy above him, but he felt weird and couldn’t be sure. He closed his eyes again and as he felt strong arms lift him, blackness descended.

****

“
Mick? Mick? Come on, time to wake up!”

He heard Cindy, but he couldn’t - didn’t want to respond. His head throbbed with the worst headache ever know to man, so he groaned instead.

“
If you will open your eyes and talk to me, you can have some pain medicine,” Cindy said softly in his ear.

Mick groaned again, louder this time, and slowly opened his eyes. To his surprise the pain didn’t worsen. He looked up at Cindy who was sitting next to him on their bed.

“
What happened?” he asked. His voice was raspy - he cleared his throat. “Did my gun misfire? Did I shoot myself?”

Cindy shook her head. “No, your gun didn’t misfire, but you were shot. You’re lucky; he only grazed your cheek.”

“
Yeah Dad,” Brooke interjected, peering around her mother. “You’re gonna have what looks like a horizontal racing stripe on your right cheek.”

Mick looked at Cindy, who only nodded. “Ok, so did I get him?”

Cindy reached down and gently stroked his hair off his forehead. “Yeah, you got him and one of his men grazed you before he was taken out. Captain Sears said if you hadn’t and he hit that truck, we all would be dead for sure.”

“
Wow,” he said softly. “I never saw the other guy.”

“
You’re a hero too!” Brooke said with a big grin. “Maybe we’ll get medals,” she said with a laugh.