Siege (As the World Dies #3)(75)

She smiled slightly at him. He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. The minutes slid by slowly as the helicopter flew over the dead world. They saw the hotel almost immediately when they crested a hill. It stood tall and imposing over the ranch and farm land. The little town around it wasn’t immediately visible, but the red-bricked building was. As the helicopter drew nearer, the town slowly emerged from the trees. They could see the slim farm roads cutting through the countryside.



“Make a pass,” Kevin said into his headset. “I want to see it.” The helicopter did a slow turn as they looked down at the now abandoned town. There were dead in the streets, slow and lumbering, moving toward the fort. He hated how the dead seemed to sense where the living were once they were within a certain range. The town’s trees were bare of foliage, so it was easy to see the small, old fashioned homes that were nestled in weed ridden yards. The downtown area was not very vast, but most of it seemed to have been reclaimed. A high wall encircled a few blocks of the town and most of the buildings immediately around the wall were now rubble. As they flew over the enclave, Kevin was startled to see what looked like a pasture of cows munching on hay. Some children were running around in the streets, a few were on bikes. As the helicopter roared overhead, the kids looked up and waved.

“We’ve been instructed to land in front of the hotel,” the pilot’s voice said in his ear.

As the helicopter flew over the hotel, Valerie whispered in awe, “A pool.”



The wall extended in front of the hotel. The block in front of the wall had been cleared and was nothing more than an empty lot now. Slowly, they began to descend just outside of the fort. “Watch out for zombies,” Kevin ordered, even though he knew it wasn’t necessary to do so.



Valerie, Kevin and Thomas were the only ones on this expedition. The pilot, Greta, was their fourth. She wasn’t too pleased about having to leave the helicopter, but he had promised the leaders of the fort they would all go inside.

Valerie zipped up her jacket and shoved her helmet on her head. Thomas did the same before taking the time to double check his weapons. As expected, the helicopter drew the dead out and toward them. Some staggered, some crawled, and a few did a weird little skip, but none ran. The older they got, the slower they were.



“I hate this,” Greta hissed.

As the rotors slowed, Kevin thought briefly of that zombie movie where a zombie had the top of his head whacked off by the blades.

“I got four on this side,” Thomas said.

“I got nine,” Valerie responded.

“They should be out here with a vehicle in a few,” Kevin assured his people.

Then the zombies began to fall. One by one, a plume of bone and brain exploded out of their heads and they slumped to the ground. “Snipers?” Valerie looked shocked.



The zombies kept falling and Kevin said, “Shit. Dead on aim.” Greta watched through the window and looked toward Kevin. “Think they got military here?”



“They didn’t say anything,” Kevin answered. Another zombie tumbled to the ground as more appeared from the side streets.

“We’re drawing a crowd,” Valerie said, her voice growing tense.

Suddenly jets of flame exploded up out of the street and sent the zombies into retreat, some of them on fire.



“Fire traps,” Thomas said with a grin. “Bad ass.”

A civilian version of the Hummer came racing around the corner at top speed. It ran over a few of the crawling zombies then roared up to the helicopter.

“Out,” Kevin ordered. They slid the doors open and leaped to the ground. Racing toward the Hummer, they saw more zombies falling near the edge of the lot. Piling into the Hummer, they sat in amazement as country music flooded their ears.



“Hi,” a woman with bright red hair said. “Hold on.”

She floored the vehicle and the Hummer flew over the ground, smashing into a few zombies, before the woman whipped the wheel around and headed back toward the hotel. “My name is Katarina,” she said.

The Hummer hit an old man zombie and sent the creature’s broken body careening off into a tree.

“First Lieutenant Kevin Reynolds,” Kevin said as he held onto the dashboard.

The Hummer turned sharply and slid through an opening in the wall. Kevin briefly glimpsed heavy metal gates beginning to slide closed as they breached the perimeter. A few zombies tried to enter, but jets of flame erupting from the ground sent them fleeing. The Hummer was in a lock of some kind with another set of gates closed in front of them. Once the gates behind them closed, he watched as a man and woman on the wall extended long poles with mirrors on the ends and examined under the Hummer. Satisfied, they signaled and the second gate opened.

“You are all civilians?” Valerie finally asked.

“Except for Nerit,” Katarina answered. “She was a sniper for the Israeli army.”

Kevin blinked as the gate opened to reveal a large courtyard. A block down, garage doors were open into the bottom half of a building.



A tall handsome man stood with a pregnant blond and an older woman.

Thomas was busy looking around, his mouth slightly open. Greta was still pissed over leaving the helicopter, but was looking a bit more impressed than mad now. Valerie craned her head to look up at the top of the wall.