The Darkest Part of the Night Read online

  The UGA officer came to a door that was marked, “Private.” She pulled out a key and unlocked it, disappearing inside. Two hundred or more zombies were closing on them. The CDC officers followed her and as soon as they were all inside, she slammed the door and made sure that it was locked.

  They were in a stairwell. A quiet, empty stairwell. They all took a moment to catch their breath, reload their weapons, and grab a drink of water. A moment later, there was a bump at the door the door they had just come through. The growling and snarling outside their door continued to increase, and bodies began to slam against it. It was a heavy, solid metal door that was anchored in the concrete walls. It would not give way anytime soon.

  Grace pulled her phone out and dialed a number. “Jennifer, are you still ok?” they heard her ask. “We’re inside the stadium and in the stairwell right above you.”

  She listened for a minute. “Have everybody get against the far wall and down on the floor. I don’t want anyone to get hit by a stray bullet. See you in a few.”

  The CDC officers gathered around her. “We go down two flights of stairs. When we open the door, they’re in the first room on the right, maybe twenty feet from the stairwell. It’s a physical therapy room for the players. She said it sounds like a really big group is outside of where they’re at. They’re growling and banging on the door.”

  “A big group behind us and a big group in front of us. It sounds like we’re surrounded,” said Estrada with a smile. “At least we aren’t lacking for targets.”

  “Sounds like a party to me,” said Scotty.

  Eddie looked at Chuck. “What do you think?”

  “That doesn’t give us much room to maneuver. As soon as we open that door down there, they’re going to be right on top of us.”

  “What about a flash bang?” asked Andy. “We could open the door a little and toss one down the hall. That should get their attention and then we engage them from behind.”

  McCain shrugged. “Why not? Anybody got a better idea?”

  No one said anything. “I’ll throw mine down the hall and we’ll see how they react. Eddie can throw another one if we need to. The grenade should get them away from that doorway where the survivors are at for a little while so we can thin them out. Lead on, Grace.”

  She nodded and led them down the stairs. Chuck liked the fact that she was willing to lead and didn’t expect the federal officers to go first. They moved cautiously down the two flights of stairs and stopped at the door. They could all hear what sounded like a large number of infected people growling just on the other side of the door.

  The men all knew what lay on the other side of that opening. They knew that their odds were not very good and that they were in a poor tactical situation. Yet, none of them questioned their orders or gave a second thought to obeying them.

  McCain pulled his flash bang grenade out of his cargo pocket. He was left-handed but with the way the door opened, he would have to toss it with his right hand. He let his rifle hang across his chest and pulled the pin, keeping the lever depressed. Andy and Scotty stepped up to cover him while he threw the grenade.

  He whispered to Cunningham, “Open it about a foot. Shut it after I throw. After the grenade goes off, open the door about a foot again and you two,” nodding at Andy and Scotty, “shoot as many as you can.”

  She opened the door and he arced it over the heads of the infected, down the hall in the opposite direction of the room that the survivors were in. Grace quickly pushed it closed. There was a two second delay and then the grenade went off, shaking the door.

  Grace pulled on the door handle again, opening it enough for the two officers to start shooting into the mass of zombies that were moving towards where the grenade had exploded. They dropped around fifteen before the rest started towards the door. She slammed it quickly.

  “There are still a few them out there,” Chuck said. He had been behind Fleming and Smith, watching them shoot.

  The thud of bodies against the other side of the door confirmed his words.

  “How many you think?” Eddie asked.

  “Maybe sixty or so. Not too many.”

  The other men laughed quietly. Cunningham stared at them incredulously. Instant or near-instant death was on the other side of the door and these guys seemed to be having a good time. Andy and Scotty reloaded their rifles.

  “What now?” asked Scotty.

  “Grace, call your friend and get her to bang on their door to draw them away from us. Eddie, toss your flash bang and let Andy and Scotty shoot some more of them. Then, I think we’re going to need to let them in.”

  “What?” the UGA officer asked quietly, but with disbelief in her voice. “What are you talking about?

  “We’ll wait for them on the next landing up and shoot them as they come in. Most zombies aren’t coordinated enough to climb stairs so we should be able to kill them all as they trip over each other. If any manage to start climbing, we can retreat up to the next level.”

  “That sounds like a big risk, sir,” she said.

  “Do you have a better idea?” the edge in his voice was evident.

  She was silent for a moment. “No, sir.”

  “We don’t have a lot of choices,” he said, softening his tone. “This big group isn’t going away. They know we’re here and they know the survivors are next door. If we don’t kill all of these zombies, we aren’t going to be able to rescue anybody.”

  Grace pulled out her phone and called Officer Fletcher. She spoke quietly telling her what was going on and what she needed to do. She disconnected and said, “They should be banging on the door right now.”

  The sound of a loud knocking reverberated in the stairwell. The sound of bodies against their own door stopped and they could hear movement in the hallway. Chuck nodded at Eddie who was holding his flash bang. McCain opened the door about a foot and Marshall tossed it down the hall. His throw carried further than Chuck’s and the explosion sounded further away.

  Chuck waited a moment and then opened the door slightly again so that Fleming and Smith could shoot. This time they managed to shoot twelve before the zombies turned towards the partially open door. McCain tried to shut it as a bloody arm reached in. He couldn’t close it with the arm wedged inside. Other bodies slammed against the door and other arms reached in. Chuck knew, even as strong as he was, he couldn’t hold this horde back much longer. Smith and Fleming both moved to help him hold the door closed.

  He made an instant decision. “Everybody up to the next landing,” he ordered, “and get ready to start shooting. And don’t shoot me!”

  Everyone leapt into motion as Chuck strained against the surge of bodies. Grace ran up the stairs with the other officers. She looked back down and saw the big man straining to keep the zombies out. She could see that he was starting to get pushed backwards and the door was slowly coming open. He’s dead, she thought. He’s not going to make it.

  McCain waited as long as he could and then leapt backwards and up the stairs. The door flew open and zombies fell into the stairwell and charging after the man in front of them. Bullets began tearing into them, stacking them up on the floor, and the first couple of stairs.

  Chuck crouched low and got to where everyone else was and started shooting, too. At least fifty infected UGA football players, coaches, trainers, and fans shoved their way into the stairwell, intent on getting to where their next victims were. High velocity rifle bullets and Grace’s pistol bullets slammed into their heads and faces, putting them down for good. Some of the players even had their helmets on but the 5.56mm and 9mm bullets punched right through the plastic and into their skulls.

  It was a brutal slaughter. The concentrated firepower stopped the mass of zombies. As Chuck had predicted, most of them tripped over the stairs and over the bodies that fell around them. Only a few managed to get up to where the officers were and they were shot in the face at point-blank range.

  In less than five minutes, it was over. The adrenaline was
pumping through everyone’s bodies. Grace noticed that the slide on her pistol was locked back. She had fired both of her magazines and was empty again. Without saying a word, Jimmy handed her another full one.

  Everyone reloaded and waited for any others to come through the door. It was quiet again except for their heavy breathing.

  After a couple of minutes, Chuck said, “Let’s drag some of these bodies out of the way so we can get back out of here.”

  Jimmy and Andy stepped cautiously into the hallway to provide security. Everyone else grabbed zombies by the legs and pulled them out of the way, creating a walkway for the survivors.

  They followed Cunningham to the next room down where she knocked lightly and said, “Jennifer, open up, it’s safe now.”

  A minute later, the two happy, crying officers were embracing and everyone was in the room discussing how they were going to make their escape.

  “We need a better way out of here. I don’t want to run through that gauntlet upstairs again,” said Eddie.

  “Yeah,” said Chuck. “There are probably two or three hundred waiting for us right outside the door we came in. Is there another way out of here, ladies?” he asked the two UGA officers.

  “Let’s try the lower parking lot,” said Jennifer. “It’s down another flight of stairs. This is the parking area where the staff park and the visiting team drops its people off. It’ll take us out the east side of the stadium. But then what?” she asked.

  “There’s a helicopter that’ll pick us up. They dropped us off in that field next to Reed Hall,” said Grace.

  “The problem is that the Blackhawk can only carry twelve at a time,” Chuck told them. “So, it’s going to take two trips. Maybe we could wait in that dorm until the helicopter comes back?”

  Among this group of fourteen survivors was a couple that appeared to be in their mid-seventies. Bob and Martha were alumni from the class of 1964. They had not missed a home opener in over forty years. They seemed to be in good shape but they wouldn’t be able to move as fast as everyone else.

  Alejandro and Chris were providing security at the door, making sure nothing snuck up on them. Andy made eye contact with Chuck and motioned with his head for him to step aside from the group. They walked to the opposite side of the room.

  “Luis is hurt,” Andy said.

  “What happened?”

  “He twisted his ankle at some point on that run into the stadium. He’s not even sure how he did it. He can walk but he’s in a lot of pain. I’m not sure how he’s going to walk or run all the way back to the extraction point. That’s a long way to go on a bum foot.”

  “Maybe we could find some transportation in the parking area? I wonder if the other team’s buses are down there? Bob and Martha over there aren’t going to be able to move very fast, either. How would you feel about taking somebody with you and scouting that exfiltration route downstairs?”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll take Smith and we’ll see what we can see.”

  Grace watched Chuck take his helmet off and drink some water. Then it hit her. He was the guy that she had seen earlier chasing the Middle Eastern man who had run out of the Tate Center. Him and that blonde woman. She remembered seeing her down on the sidewalk. I wonder if she made it? And who was that man that they were chasing?

  They were waiting on Andy and Scotty to come back from checking the parking area below. The officers were drinking some water, checking their weapons, talking quietly, and getting ready for the next phase of this rescue mission. Cunningham wanted to ask Chuck what had happened earlier but she sensed that this wasn’t the time. She was good at reading people and he was a man who was feeling a lot of pain.

  Grace stepped over to Jimmy, who was checking his magazines to see how much ammo he had left. He smiled when she approached.

  “I wanted to thank you,” she said. “Thanks for the ammo and thanks for helping convince them to come and rescue these guys.”

  “No problem. That’s what we do. I’m just glad we were able to get here in time.”

  “I have a crazy question for you. Earlier today, I think I saw Chuck across from the stadium. He was with a woman and they were chasing a guy with a gun. I was responding to a fight call at the student center when everything broke loose with the zombies.”

  Jimmy nodded. “You probably did see him. That woman he was with, was she blonde?”

  “Yeah, she was.”

  “That was Rebecca, our boss. She was shot and killed by the guy they were chasing. He was one of the key Iranian terrorists responsible for the zombie virus, at least in the Atlanta area. We’ve been after him for a long time. Chuck killed him but he managed to get a shot off that hit Rebecca.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I saw her lying on the pavement and heard Chuck asking someone to call an ambulance and then I got attacked and had to start shooting zombies. I wasn’t able to help him. The last I saw, that guy he had shot was back on his feet and looked like he’d been infected, too. Chuck was fighting him and I saw him kick the guy in the chest and knock him down. A big group of zombies were coming after me so I ran back to the stadium to see if I could do anything there.”

  “Yeah, Chuck was able to finish him off but it’s been a bad day for all of us. I heard you guys lost a lot of officers in the stadium and at the student center?”

  Grace’s eyes filled with tears. “So many of my friends. That’s why I’m grateful you guys were willing to come and rescue Jennifer and these other survivors.”

  Sanford Stadium, University of Georgia, Saturday, 1810 hours

  Andy and Scotty led everyone down the final flight of stairs. García was limping and clearly hurting but trying not to let it show. Chuck had Luis towards the middle of the group so he could help him if he needed it.

  Georgia’s opponent for the day was to have been Appalachian State University. Fleming had found one of their buses with the keys in it, already pointing towards the exit. The big bus would provide transportation to the extraction point and, more importantly, protection from the hungry hordes of zombies.

  On their reconnaissance, Fleming and Smith screwed the suppressors onto their pistols and killed eight zombies that were lingering in the parking area. The suppressed 9mm pistols did not have the range or the power of their rifles but they were also not as loud. Now, the two warriors were leading the group out through the zombie free parking area.

  As a Special Operations Marine, Andy had learned to drive a variety of vehicles, including busses, because you never knew when that skill might come in handy. Like today. Grace and Jennifer sat right behind him to tell him how to get back around to the landing zone. The shooters all set up in open windows of the bus to eliminate any threats they might encounter.

  The big vehicle turned left out of the parking lot onto East Campus Road. They would have to make another left onto Hooper Street but the intersection looked like it was completely blocked by an accident. Several cars had smashed into each other and infected people were walking around the vehicles.

  Mangled bodies littered the roadway. A dead woman, wearing a bright tie-dye t-shirt, was lying half in and half out of the driver’s door of a Toyota Corolla on the far side of the intersection. Two zombies were bent over her, chewing on her corpse. Fleming slowed down, observing the scene in front of him.

  McCain walked up and stood next to him. “We don’t have to go far on Hooper Street. Can you shove that smaller car out of the way?”

  Andy nodded. A Toyota Prius was blocking one lane of the intersection. A Ford Expedition and several other passenger cars were blocking the other lanes.

  He turned the steering wheel and applied the gas, easily shoving the Prius out of the way. They also bumped into the Expedition, pushing it back enough so that they could get through. The officers on the right side of the bus shot five zombies that came shuffling their way.

  Chuck had already called the helicopter and let them know where they were. Air One was hovering and covering their approach. The LZ was clear f
or the moment and Jennifer showed Andy where to stop on Hooper Street. There was a walkway that would take them the fifty yards to where the Blackhawk could set down.

  Andy stayed on the bus with Jimmy, Luis, and the two UGA officers to protect it and the two male students who would be going on the next trip. They were both journalism majors and were taking photos and video of their ordeal. Joel and Trent were scared but they also realized that they had their senior project on their phones now, thanks to this adventure. They just had to keep from becoming victims themselves and these big men in black seemed pretty capable of protecting them.

  After getting the first twelve on board the chopper, the CDC officers retreated to the bus to wait for their own extraction. They could see infected walking around the area but none were close and they did not want to attract anymore by shooting. Their goal now was to just get everyone on the helicopter and get out of there. They were all running low on ammo so they would have to make every shot count.

  As they waited, Andy said, “So, Chris, what do you think? Are you still glad you made that career change?”

  He smiled. “I am,” he answered. “This is intense, but I know I made the right decision. I still have a lot to learn but you guys are great teachers.”

  Fleming grunted, still looking out his window. Chris was only twenty-eight but he carried himself like a seasoned warrior. Andy didn’t give out compliments quickly so when he said, “We’re glad you’re part of the team,” Rogers knew it was high praise.

  Less than fifteen minutes later, Chuck’s walkie-talkie let him know that the chopper was five minutes away.

  “ETA five on the Blackhawk,” he told the group. “Let’s get over to the field and let’s get out of here.”

  “We have some company,” said Alejandro, looking behind them. A group of infected was walking down Hooper Street towards them. They were less than a hundred yards away and shuffling towards the bus.

  “Air One to CDC One.”

  “CDC One,” Chuck answered.