The Darkest Part of the Night Read online

  “No problem. It’s been a rough day for all of us,” he said getting back to his feet. “Why didn’t you guys shoot those two zombies? They would have eventually smashed out those windows.”

  “Our chief told us not to. He said he’s not really sure on the use of deadly force on zombies.”

  “Is he an idiot? If any of you guys get bitten, the best you can hope for is a quick death. Worst case scenario, you’ll get bit, turn into a zombie, and then attack your friends.”

  One of the officers motioned at the blood on McCain. “Are you ok, sir? That’s a lot of blood.”

  Chuck looked at his hands and arms and sighed, closing his eyes. “It’s my boss’ blood. She was killed a little while ago near Sanford Stadium. We got caught in the middle of this thing when it broke out. It seems to have started at the student center across from Sanford.”

  “I’m sorry about the other officer. You were there? We’re hearing terrible reports over the radio. There are supposedly zombies walking all over the campus and attacking people. We heard that there was an outbreak inside the stadium. Some of the officers inside radioed that people were turning into zombies and infecting other people in the stadium.”

  “It’s bad, real bad,” said McCain. “The area around the student center and the stadium are covered with them. It’s already an epidemic. I probably shot close to thirty Zs trying to get away and I didn’t even make a dent. What about here? I heard you guys got hit really hard.”

  “Yeah, we’ve lost a lot of guys in the mall.”

  Other officers got out of their police cars and were staring at McCain. A short, pear-shaped man got out of an unmarked police car and walked over to them. He was built like a Weeble, Chuck thought. ‘Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down,’ the jingle went but this guy looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. As he walked over, he used a hand towel to wipe his balding head. His face was pale and his eyes were glancing around nervously.

  “This is our Chief. He can brief you,” one of the officers said.

  “I’m Chief Tom Morgan,” he said, sticking out his hand.

  McCain did not shake his hand. “I haven’t had time to clean up, Chief. I’m Chuck McCain with the CDC. I have more men on the way. What’s your plan?”

  Morgan looked up at the big man. He saw the dried blood on both of his hands and arms. He even had a little on his face. He had watched the newcomer pull up and shoot the two infected people without challenging them or trying to arrest them. Was that even legal? Those two people may have been infected but they were not presenting any threat when the CDC officer shot them in the head. He realized McCain was waiting on an answer.

  “I don’t really have any good information. We think we’ve lost twelve officers. They went in…”

  Chuck interrupted him. “What do you mean, ‘we think we’ve lost twelve officers.’ You have or you haven’t.”

  “Well, they went into the mall and haven’t come out. One witness said she saw the initial responding officer get jumped by a woman and a mall security guard. Another witness saw the next two officers come in and get tackled. He saw one of our guys get a round off but then the witness fled.

  “Then we had two teams of four go in through a different entrance. Pitts, here,” the chief nodded at another officer even shorter than him, “said he heard maybe a hundred shots when those two teams went in, and then nothing. One of our lieutenants arrived and he and Pitts tried to peek inside the front entrance. Some of the zombies dove out the door onto the LT and killed him. Pitts managed to shoot one of them and barely managed to get away. The lieutenant’s body is blocking the door open, though, and let a lot of them escape.”

  “That’s right,” said Pitts, obviously trying to sound tough. “The LT managed to shoot a couple but it didn’t stop them. I hit one in the head and he went right down. I tried to get them to come after me and draw them away from him so that he could escape but it was too late. They killed him really fast and started chasing me.”

  Chuck stared at the two men. He noticed the way that the other officers stood away from their chief, off to the side, not even looking at him. It was also clear to him that they held Pitts in contempt. No one had to say anything. He understood. Every police department has an Officer Pitts.

  “So, what’s your plan, Mr. McCain?” the chief asked. “It would be good if you and your men could secure the mall and retrieve our men’s bodies. Now that you’re here, I’m more than happy to release the scene to you. Of course, we’ll provide perimeter security for you while you’re inside.”

  I’m sure you are, Chuck thought. He looked around the parking lot. He saw a group of probable zombies on the edge of the mall property, several hundred yards away. His phone vibrated. He hit the talk app and saw that Eddie was calling him on the walkie-talkie setting. He pushed transmit.

  “Team One Alpha to Team Two Alpha.”

  “Team Two Alpha. Hey, we’re five minutes out. Where do you want us to put down?”

  “Team Two Alpha, there’s a group of police cars in the mall parking lot on the east side. There’s plenty of clearance to land.”

  “!0-4, I’ll let the pilot know.”

  McCain turned back to Chief Morgan. “I think you guys are going to be on your own here. They’re going to pick me up and we’re going to see if there is anything we can do at the university. It may be too late but we have to try.”

  “But, you can’t expect me to send any more of my men in there,” Morgan stammered. “It’s too dangerous.”

  One of the officers standing off to the side said, “I told you before, Chief, I’m willing to go into the mall. There may be people in there that need to be rescued. Plus, we can’t let this infection keep spreading. If there are any zombies still in the mall, we need to put them down.”

  The Chief glared at his officer. “No! I told you, this is the fed’s scene now. This is a national security issue and I’m not sending any more of our people in there,” Morgan snapped. He motioned towards McCain. “This is their jurisdiction and they’re more equipped to deal with it.”

  The Department of Homeland Security Blackhawk flew over the mall and circled the officers, probably making sure they weren’t zombies. The pilot landed fifty yards away. The door slid open and the heavily armed men climbed out and walked over to Chuck. They all crowded around him.

  The Athens-Clarke County officers watched as the CDC officers walked over to the big man with dried blood on him and told him how sorry they were. Several of them appeared to be struggling to keep their emotions under control. Morgan noticed a giant of a man with a bushy beard, wiping tears from his eyes as he walked over to McCain and hugged him. They held each other for a couple of minutes. This continued until each of the federal police officers had said something to Chuck.

  Two other men in black BDUs, the crewman and the co-pilot, exited the helicopter and walked over to the group. One of them spoke quietly to McCain. He nodded and walked with the two of them to his truck. The rest of the CDC officers followed at a respectful distance. The local police officers weren’t sure what was going on but they saw that Chuck had become emotional with the arrival of his team.

  One of the men with Chuck unfolded something and laid it on the ground. McCain took off his rifle and handed it to a muscular black man with a shaved head. Chuck opened the back door of his truck and reached inside, gently lifting something out. Chief Morgan’s mouth fell open when he realized it was the body of woman. The big man laid her in the body bag and knelt beside it. All of the other response team members came around and put their hands on Chuck’s shoulder.

  “Who is that?” asked the Chief. “Why does he have a body in his truck?”

  “That must be who he was talking about,” one of his officers answered quietly. “He told us when he got here that his boss was killed earlier when everything started on campus. He said they were near the stadium when the outbreak happened. He said the blood on him belonged to her.”

  After a f
ew minutes, Chuck allowed the men in black BDUs to zip the bag up and carry Rebecca to the Blackhawk. They very gently laid her in the back. The local officers watched the CDC officers huddle up and could see that McCain was speaking to them.

  Georgia Square Mall, Athens, 1510 hours

  “I don’t know what to say, guys,” McCain started. His men were grouped around him next to his truck. They were far enough away that none of the Athens-Clarke County officers could hear what was being said.

  “Rebecca and I were hanging out with my daughter and her boyfriend. Melanie surprised me with tickets for the game and just as we were about to go into the stadium, everything went crazy. We heard shots coming from inside the student center, right across the street from where we were. The door flew open and Amir al-Razi came running out.

  “I wanted to take him alive. We started chasing him and I yelled for him to stop. He swung around with a gun and Rebecca and I both made good shots. Somehow, he managed to fire as he was going down and hit her. She was gone within a minute.”

  Chuck paused to wipe the tears from his eyes. A couple of the other men did, as well.

  “Al-Razi was infected and turned within seconds and I finished him off. It looks like he or another of his associates spread the virus at this mall and then the student center across from the stadium. I don’t know if he has any other helpers on campus or not. From what the local cops are saying, there may have been another terrorist inside the stadium. What I saw, though, was the virus spreading faster than anything we’ve seen yet. People were getting bit and turning within a minute or two.

  “These were also the first zombies that I’ve seen running at a full sprint. I was carrying Rebecca and had stop and engage them. I killed around thirty but there’s no telling how far into the city and the rest of the campus this has spread.

  “I called our contact at the Department of Homeland Security,” he lied. None of the other men knew that the CDC Response Teams were supported and funded by the CIA. They were legitimate federal police officers and their agency was created by a Presidential Executive Order. Chuck had put the puzzle together and shared with Rebecca his suspicions. She confirmed what he thought and told him the truth but had sworn him to secrecy.

  The CIA, of course, was forbidden to operate inside the United States. At the same time, no other federal agency had taken the zombie virus seriously until unified attacks had taken place in several other major cities. The CDC Enforcement Unit was a front that allowed the CIA to combat this serious terror threat.

  “For the moment, he has placed me in charge until they decide who will take over for Rebecca. Andy, you’re now ‘Team One Alpha.’ My new call sign will be ‘CDC One.’”

  Andy Fleming nodded grimly. “No problem, Chuck.”

  “Next, we need to figure out what we’re going to do. The short, weeble looking guy over there is the police Chief. He told me that this mall is now our jurisdiction and we need to get in there and retrieve his officer’s bodies and rescue any survivors.”

  McCain saw a flash of anger in the eyes of his men. They were professionals, however, and kept their thoughts to themselves. Except Scotty. “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down,” he said quietly, eliciting a laugh from the federal officers.

  “My plan is for you guys to talk to the local officers here and give them a few tips on killing zombies. Then, we’re going to get on the helicopter and fly over to the university and see how we can help there. I’m not sure what we can do but I think we need to try. We have orders to try and get a positive ID on al-Razi’s body. I’ll take some pics and get a DNA swab from him.

  “We’ll fly over the campus, especially the area around the stadium, and see how it looks. I’ll have the pilot try and find a place to put down in that area and we’ll deal with identifying the body. Of course, we’ll kill as many zombies as we can. We’ll have a better idea from the air of how bad the situation on the ground is.”

  Everybody nodded. Now that they had a plan, they all felt the familiar rush of adrenaline. It was time to go to work.

  McCain looked at Smith. “Scotty, did you do much sniping out of a helicopter?”

  As an Army Ranger, Smith had been trained as a sniper. He didn’t talk about it much but he had evidently been pretty good and had a number of confirmed kills in Iraq. His sniper skills had not been utilized since he had come to work for the CDC Enforcement Unit.

  Smith nodded, picking up on what McCain was thinking. “I did some. There were some environments where I didn’t have time to get in and set up ahead of the team. The chopper provided a mobile overwatch platform. It would be better if I had a sniper rifle but I can cover you guys with the M4 if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “I know it’s not perfect but if it’s bad as I think it is on campus, we’re going to need all the help we can get. I’ll go talk to the Chief and tell him he’s going to have to man up and deal with the mall. Scotty, why don’t you go talk to the Blackhawk crew and figure out the best way to set up as a sniper?

  “Can the rest of you guys talk to his officers and tell them our rules of engagement and give them some advice? When I got here, those two infected that are lying over there were standing next to that police car slapping the windows. The guys told me that the Chief told them they couldn’t use deadly force so they were huddling in their cars.”

  The CDC officers were a hard bunch to shock but this was the kind of terrible leadership that would get police officers killed.

  “Got it, Chuck,” said Eddie. “We’ll go talk to the officers.”

  “Hey, boss,” said Scotty, “let me clean you off first.” He pulled a bottle of water and some gauze out of his pack and cleaned the blood off of McCain. When he was as clean as he was going to be, he walked back over to the police chief.

  “Chief Morgan, my men are giving your officers some tips on killing the infected people they will encounter, both in and outside of the mall. If the door was left open, most of them probably escaped and your guys will need to try and find them before they infect anyone else. They’ll also share with them our rules of engagement. After they finish, we’re going to fly to UGA and see if we can rescue some students.”

  “McCain, I’ve asked you to help us. I need you and your men to secure this mall,” the Chief said angrily. “My men aren’t equipped to deal with this. I’ve already lost twelve officers. Isn’t this what your department was created for?”

  “There’s a university with around thirty-five thousand students six miles away,” McCain answered him. “I was there. That woman we just loaded onto the helicopter was killed by one of the terrorists who was spreading this virus. I’m sorry for your losses but these are all the men I have and we’re going to try and save as many university students as we can. Good luck.”

  Chuck turned and walked away. He went to his truck and put the rest of his equipment on. He slipped his kevlar lined jacket on over his black polo shirt and then put his heavy body armor over it. He secured his web gear and slung his rifle over that. He grabbed his kevlar helmet and carried it to the helicopter.

  Fifteen other officers were now on the scene and were listening attentively as the CDC officers told them what they needed to know to combat and to kill the infected. Many others were on their way to the mall or to the university. The latter were having trouble finding someone who had a clue about what was happening and who could give them some direction. McCain tried to telephone the campus police department to find out if there was a command post set up. His calls kept getting the recorded message, ‘All of our operators are busy at this time. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly.’ Unless I get eaten by a zombie first, he thought.

  He looked over to where his men were finishing their briefing with the Athens-Clarke County officers. The Chief had retreated back to his car. Chuck made a circling motion with his hand above his head and within minutes, he and the other CDC officers were airborne.

  University of
Georgia, near Sanford Stadium, 1545 hours

  The helicopter was over the stadium within minutes and the men gazed out on the destruction below. The CDC officers had had so much contact with infected people that they could recognize them, even at a five hundred feet. There appeared to be thousands of them milling around the streets, parking lots, and other areas near Sanford Stadium.

  Inside the stadium itself, however, they could see small battles going on throughout. From the field to the different levels, they could see people fighting for their lives as zombies attempted to get to them. Bodies were scattered on the playing field, sidelines, over seats, and in the aisles. People saw the hovering helicopter as a sign of hope and were waving frantically at them.

  Chuck, Eddie, and Andy had headsets that allowed them to communicate with the crew of the Blackhawk. Each of the men also had their personal headsets that connected them to each other. McCain pointed out the area next to the Tate Student Center where he had killed Amir and where Rebecca had been murdered. There were bodies carpeting the entire area and he couldn’t pick out al-Razi’s from the air. Infected were feeding on corpses lying on the sidewalks and in the roadway.

  “There are so many of them,” came Eddie’s voice over the headset. He said what everybody else was thinking.

  “Can you move to the northwest?” Chuck asked the pilot. “Not too far. If I remember correctly, there’s a place we can put down right over there,” pointing off to their left.

  The helicopter swung towards where McCain was pointing. There it was, just in front of them now, a large, oval-shaped area in front of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. This open space was one of the things that made the University of Georgia such a beautiful campus. These areas were spread across the university. This one was easily large enough for the Blackhawk to set down.

  They could see some infected people in the area, but not the mass that were just half a kilometer away. Of course, the noise of the big machine would draw more in. The officers would need to dismount and get out of the immediate vicinity quickly.