Zombie Exodus: Aftermath, scene 30

Continued from scene 29 

Knowing Cooper will kill Megan, you raise the M-16 and point it at him. You haven’t fired many rifles, especially one as powerful as an M-16, but you know how to shoot one. You release the safety and switch the selector to single shot, not wanting to waste too many cartridges.

“5…4…” Cooper says with a slow, even count.

“You asshole!” Megan shouts and rises to her feet. 

You aim for his back, slip your finger around the trigger, and squeeze it—the weapon jolts in your hands, the kickback harder than you expected. The shot hits the side of his head, and blood sprays onto his uniform. You see most of his ear hanging from a thread of attached skin. He howls and reaches up to touch the wound. As he turns, you fire once more, striking him in the hip. He falls to his side, and as he drops, a shot from his rifle whizzes past your head. You ducked behind a metal water drum and keep low as he fires several more shots.

Megan runs over and slides onto the ground next to you. “There’s a pocketknife in my back pocket. Cut me loose.” She turns and wiggles her hands, bound by a zip tie.

You reach into her pocket, pull out the knife, and saw the hard plastic tie off her wrists. Another gunshot hits the metal drum.

“You son of a bitch! You shot me!” Cooper shouts.

“We don’t have much time. Let me have that gun,” Megan says and reaches for the M-16. You hand it to her; she turns it in her hands, pops over the top of the drum, and shoots Cooper. You peek around the side and see him lying dead with a gunshot wound on his forehead. “I’m the second best shot in this camp. Now I’m the best.”

You stand and look around the camp. You can see soldiers lined up and fighting off the zombies from the south. Smoke rises from the north, and you can hear more gunshots as soldiers fire at the former prisoners now fleeing towards the forest.

“We should get out of here,” Megan says, rushing over to Cooper. She takes his M-16 and tosses it to you. “We can head west from here and take one of the jeeps. That will be the fastest way out of here. Once we are safe, we can find your friends.”

As you decide on your next move, you hear screams from the south. Though most of the soldiers have killed the small mob of zombies advancing, one of the strays made it past the line of gunfire and attacked one of the West Pointers. He lies on his back with the zombie straddling his chest and biting into his neck. The two remaining soldiers break formation and run back to camp.

Continue to scene 31