The Mississippi Zombie Chronicals

Chapter 38: Cavalry

The sound of tracks on the asphalt beside the water tower were the only thing I could hear after explosion.

My vision blurred by the pure concussive pressure of the blast, I see what looks like an M1 Abrams shelling rounds into the horde.

More explosions rattle the complex as little bits of zombie and concrete fly through the air.

Two minutes of ducking and covering later and the shelling stops.

I pull a green bandana I had found in the supply room out of my pocket and tie it to the barrel of my rifle.

I wave it around to signal the tank crew that we're human.

Wade and I walk down stairs, moving the barricades and walking over to the tank.

Two men and two women get out of the cockpit and walk over to our little ragtag group.

"Who the hell are you and where the hell is Wilkerson?" Asked the dark haired female soldier.

"Dead. Zombies got him, and the others. Apparently, the largest member of their team got infected, mutated, and became a berserker. I'm Jake, by the way. And your name is?" I said, sticking out my hand.

"How do you know who Wilkerson is? And I'm Major Grimm." She said, shaking my hand.

I pulled the dog tags from my pockets and dangled them.

"Ah, so, you a soldier? Most civies wouldn't even bother with them." She replied.

"No, no. I was in JROTC in high school. Still have my beret and my uniform. What branch are you all with? Last I checked, only the Army and the Marines operated in Abrams." I asked.

"Army. We were supposed to be meeting the unit here to get to Tupelo to transport the Hardy Family and a potential cure for this virus back to a CDC lab in Jackson. Underground and secure." Said Grimm.

"Well, we have the cure. Sarah Hardy was my former girlfriend but she was killed in Madison after an assault on our house. Alexander Hardy is dead, killed himself right in front of me. I was given instructions to give the cure to James Hardy in Tupelo. I guess they thought you were dead." I replied.

"Given instructions how? This is a classified op." Asked one of the other tank crew members. His name tag read White.

I pulled my satellite phone out of my backpack and said "With this. I helped two Delta Force boys, Captain Williams and Sergeant McLaughlin, rescue two Air Force men at the ANG base in Flowood."

"Oh wow! You were the group responsible for taking down that merc group at Camp Shelby?!" Said the shapelier of the two women in front of me. Her name tag read Jameson, she had blonde hair, and her face wasn't as hardened as the Major's.

"Yep. That'd be us. Well, two of our original group didn't survive. But yeah. We're responsible for that, as well as the Delta boys." I replied.

"Well, looks like the Hardy family isn't our top priority anymore. It's that cure. Now, if you'd just hand it ove-" I cut her off.

"Not so fast. We're not giving anything over until the Hardy family is safe. My first objective is to get them to Jackson. My second objective is to give them this cure to synthesize more. My final, and most important objective is to keep me and my family safe. Now, the way I see it, we need you and you need us. Even if you did get there and get the Hardy family to leave, how would you handle transport? You can barely fit all four of you inside the cockpit of your tank, let alone anyone else." I stated.

"Well, what about you? You got some trucks and shit we don't know about?" Asked the African American man. His name tag read Neely.

"Two humvees, an armored technical, and an APC. And enough ammo to make it to California and back." Replied Bob smugley, walking over from the tower. "Twice."

"Well then, I don't guess we thought you were as well equipped as you look. You look like rookies." Said the last member of the crew, a very large man with a large facial scar named Johns. He had a cigar in his mouth.

"Let's do this, then. We'll get out gear and the cure and move out. I'm trusting you guys. But know I will not hesitate to kill you." I said, turning as the group and I walk down the road.