FALLEN PART TWO

PART TWO


We arrived at the station and stopped about 300 feet away on top of a hill. The power was still on. The diesel generator must have kicked in. The sally port gate was shut and there was no activity inside the courtyard. There were a few creatures shambling around the building. We determined that we could make it in with little problem. I switched the radio channel and keyed up the mike. The gate opened slowly. Kelly shifted to drive and stomped the gas pedal. The van started in right behind us. BANG, BANG…….BANG, BANG. The noise from the gate opening had attracted a group of about six zombies. They started toward the opening gate. One of the CRT Ops was dealing with them from the open folding door as his partners held on to his vest straps. The gate was all the way open before we crossed the threshold. I keyed up and it began to close. Kelly was standing on the gas now. I belted up and the others followed suit. I told her to slow down a bit. She eased off but not by much. She started to step on the brake about 30 feet before crossing into the courtyard. The anti-lock brakes began pulsing. Everyone braced themselves as we plowed into a tin storage building. Orange cones flew everywhere. Airbags deployed and my lungs were filled with whatever they put in those things. I unlocked my seat belt and tried my door. It was jammed shut. I turned and watched the raid van cross into the courtyard. They had an easier stop but our door gunner was thrown clear when they had to turn to avoid ramming us. The gate was still open and taking forever to close. Two zombies walked into the courtyard. I yelled for Kelly to get out. She was having a problem with her seat belt. The rear van door was still closed and I saw no movement from inside. Jesse was out cold. She had banged her head on the door window. There was a starburst crack where she hit. I saw some blood trickle from her cheekbone. Marty was unlocking his seatbelt and Mike was already heading back into the hatch with axe in hand. I crawled over the console into the back seat. I hoped Jesse didn’t bruise too easy because I wasn’t too careful about going over her and out the door. Spence was climbing out of the van as I got out. He looked disoriented. I reached to draw my .45 but it was gone. The zombies were drawing closer to the fallen operator. Barnes had smashed out the window but was still climbing out. I started running at the zombies as they closed on the operator. I only had one shot at this and had to do it right. I crouched into my run and slammed my right shoulder into the creature closest to me. Coach would have been proud. I lifted it off its feet and slammed into the second one. I lost my footing and fell to the ground in a mass of zombie arms and legs. I tried to use my momentum to roll out of their reach. I had no such luck. I came up on top of one of them. Its jaws immediately started snapping at me. I jammed my hand into its throat with enough force to crush the larynx. I glanced over my shoulder and was relieved to see that the second zombie was redirected away from the downed Operator. The problem was that it was headed toward me. I started hitting the zombie underneath me as hard as I could trying to crack its skull. I knew my hand would break first but I kept hitting. I turned to see the second zombie above me. CRACK! Blood and brains covered me as Mike’s axe split its head in two. “Roll away!” he yelled. As soon as I cleared the axe was free and in the air. It crashed onto the next creature’s head and split it open like a watermelon. “Thanks dude, that was too close.” I told Mike. “Anytime brother, anytime.” He answered. He reached out his hand and helped me up. The CRT guys were stumbling out of the van. They all got tossed around when the driver swerved to avoid us. Kelly was checking on the down Operator and Marty had helped Jesse out of the vehicle. She was sitting on the ground holding her head. He handed me my .45. It dropped into Jesse’s lap as I climbed out of the SUV.

“Everyone sit down and get your bearings. We aren’t finished yet.” I warned. “Check your partner and make sure no one is bit. Start first aid where needed.” Spence pulled out a cooler. Cold water and sports drinks. Next was a bag of power bars. “Get some of this down.” He said. “We have to clear this building before we can rest up. We’ll need every bit of energy we can muster.” The downed operator, Kevin Morse, was the worse of the group. He probably had a couple broken ribs. Everyone was scratched, bruised and cut. Jesse could barely stand. We pulled the first aid kits from the vehicles and dressed what wounds we could. No one had been bit. That was a relief. We checked the patrol cars in the courtyard. We pulled three shotguns and nine boxes of 12 gauge ammo. The “Go” bags in the trunks were gone. Spence checked the entry doors. They were closed and secured. The noise from the earlier gunfire had attracted some zombies. We could see more coming our way as the sun came up. The fence would hold for a while but we needed to get inside.

We couldn’t chance taking the injured in yet. Who knew what was inside? Morse, Barnes and Jesse would stay outside. We gave them the shotguns and ammo from the cars. The building was big. The Police Offices were secure from the rest of the building. We would clear that and worry about the rest of the building later. Kelly punched in the combination and the lock disconnected. We were in and moving down the hallway. The booking room door was on the left and office door on the right. We stopped short of the doors. Marty chocked the office door. “4 man entry, on 3.” “1” “2” “3”. The door opened and the men flowed through. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. “All Clear!” The rest of us entered and moved to back up the 4 entry men. Five shots were fired and five corpses were on the floor. Three were cops at one time. “Hello! Don’t shoot we’re in here.” said a female voice. I set up on the door. Kelly prepared to open it. “Unlock the door and get on the floor!” I ordered. “Anyone not on the floor when we open the door gets shot!” I heard the lock latch and then some shuffling. The team finished clearing the rest of the booking room. Behind the door was a restroom. It was barely bigger then a closet. Kelly set up to pull the door open. “Open on now Kelly.” “3, 2, 1, now!” She pulled the door and I flooded the room with light. No one was standing. Four people were huddled on the floor. Two were women and 2 men. I ordered them to come out and keep their hands over their heads. I didn’t know the one female. She was dressed in jeans and a brown shirt. The shirt had stained blood on it. The other female was one of the municipal administrative employees, Karen. The women looked okay. One of the men was a Road Crew employee. He wasn’t moving. He sat on the floor with his head between his legs. I could see and number of bites on his arms and shoulder. It didn’t take a medical doctor to diagnose his problem. The second male was Sergeant Chad Spears. He was using one crutch to help himself up and to move around. I asked Chad and the ladies if they’d been bit. They said that they had a number of run-ins with the undead but only Albert from the road crew had been bit. Spears twisted his knee while fighting with the five corpses on the floor. We moved Albert to one of the cells so he could lie down. He didn’t complain when we locked the door. Spence and Baer had been on the hall way watching the door to the offices. Spears told us that there were at least 2 officers locked in the armory. He didn’t know if they were injured or worse. There were about a half dozen zombies roaming throughout the building. They were at one time cops and administrative staff. The other entry door to the booking room was secure. It was a heavy-duty door that leads to the accounting offices. We gave Spears a magazine for his .45 and told him to lock the hall door and hang tight. We cleared the rest of this level easily. The elevator to the basement level was stuck on this floor. The door was jarred open. We moved into the stairwell. The stairs leading up went to the door to the roof. Marley and Dean checked it and found it to be secure. We descended into the lower level. Baer had point. Two flashes exploded from Baer’s H&K and a body hit the ground. Baer and Powers cleared the closet under the stairs where that creature had come from. Marty, Spence, Kelly and I made entry into the lower level hallway. We were on the short end of the hall. To our right the hall extended about 60 feet and had a few rooms. To the left the hall went about 20 feet with three doorways. Kelly and Spence stayed on the stairwell door to monitor the hall and keep the stairs clear. The rest of us moved to the left to clear the short end of the hallway first. Dean and I entered the first door to our left. We cleared our sector and call for two hands men to follow. Powers backed me and Baer followed Dean. This was the lunch room. The refrigerator and the tables and chairs were knocked over. Two couches were upside-down against the far wall. To the left was a closet with a folding door that was ¾ open. Powers and I cleared right behind the furniture. Baer and Dean moved to the closet. I climbed over the last couch and saw Lt. Bazemore chewing on what looked like a foot inside a boot. Bang! One shot to the head ended that. I heard a smash. I looked left and saw Ofc. Denner break from the closet knocking the folding door aside. Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang! Baer unloaded into his chest. Denner was a big man and just consumed Baer as they dropped to the floor. Dean shot twice but body shots didn’t stop these things in the beginning and weren’t going to do it now. Baer was struggling beneath Denner. He jammed the barrel of his MP5 into Denner’s mouth but wasn’t able to squeeze one off. Dean walked over, put his barrel to the top of Denner’s head and ended the struggling. We cleared the room and pulled Denner off of Baer. Shots were ringing out before we got back to the hallway. Another zombie was heading out the doorway across the hall from us as we came out of the lunchroom. Baer put one shot in its head and it fell back through the door. Kelly and Spence had dropped 2 zombies in the hallway that had been attracted to the sound of the shooting. We finished the rooms on the short end of the hallway with no more drama. All of us began moving to the long end. There were seven doors to include the Armory. Kelly, Marty and I stopped at the Armory. The rest continued to clear down the hallway. Spence dropped another one as it came out of one of the rooms at the team. We heard three shots ring out from another room when they reached the end of the hallway. Spence hollered “All clear.” I punched the six digit code into the digital pad. The door unlocked and I pushed the handle down and pulled. The door came open and we yelled “Get down.” The room was dark but our lights brightened things up. Jerry Freeman, one of our lab techs, was on the floor with his skull split open. He looked as though he had turned. A halogen tool was on the floor next to him. Bang! A shot came from around the corner. We came around the corner and found Chief Morgan on the floor. The blood trace on the wall told the story. He had taken his own life. I looked closer and saw a couple good bites on his arms. I don’t know if I could do it but I don’t blame him. Someone flipped on the lights. Most of the weapons were on the street. There was plenty of ammo left. We pulled the last two AR-15 carbines from the rack. There were 3 12 gauge Benelli M-4 Tactical shotguns left. I picked up Morgan’s pistol and mags. They’d be useful.

I walked out of the Armory and the Lab door down the hall started to open. I drew down on the door and got behind some cover. “Hello!” said the female voice. “Come on out.” I said as the others came to see. Patricia Freeman walked out. Pat’s husband, Jerry, was lying on the floor in the armory. I asked her if anyone else was inside. She shook her head, no. She asked if her husband was dead. I told her yes and she passed out. Three team members cleared the lab. We carried Pat to the conference room on the main floor. Kelly went and brought the folks in from the courtyard and the booking room. Albert stayed in the cell. He was sleeping for now. Jesse was getting around better. She checked Pat and found no bites. She looked at Spears’ knee. She wrapped it with gauze and gave him a couple ibuprofens. Spears was able to move around without the crutch but he was still sore and stiff. Spence and Dean helped Morse into the building. Powers, Baer and Marty went up and cleared the roof. They told us that a few more zombies had gathered at the gate but it was in no danger of being knocked down. We all lay around on the conference room floor. We had been fighting and running for untold hours. I got up, closed and locked the conference room door and sat on the floor with my back against it. I was out in seconds.