| Empty Graves Part Four: Death Takes A Stronghold The day before Chip and Ed has spotted a few dozen of the undead lumbering over the hills in the distance from their watchtower. Since then, at least a hundred more of the walking corpses had staggered over the mountainous terrain ahead and proceeded to stumble their way towards the small town of Fort Severn. All the way through the day before and the night that had just passed by, the ground squads had been frantically re-enforcing their defenses against the undead who walked closer and closer to the town's boundaries, never stopping for rest, always desperately trying to reach for their prey who lay ahead. The blockades of trucks, vans and family vehicles, not to mention anything else large and heavy was brought in. Large containers from the docks were used to block off large areas and small vans were the method of sealing off alleyways and tiny back streets amongst the buildings on the outskirts of town. In a matter of a couple of days the ground squads had managed to seal off the town from the undead. It was reaching midday when Chip looked at his watch as he also reached out for his cup of coffee that sat by his feet on the roof of watchtower alpha. "Nearly noon. It should be around two this afternoon when the first hundred of those zombies reach our defenses," muttered Chip as Ed glanced the surrounding landscape using the binoculars the pair was sharing. "Yep, at the latest I'd say. They could be here sooner. I think I can see the first one at the blockade on the west road now." "Give me them binoculars," said Chip as he placed his hot coffee down on the ground again. He took the binoculars from Ed who then reached for the flask of coffee to pour himself a cup. Chip scanned the area around the west road and followed it up to the blockade where sure enough one zombie was standing, clawing at the doors to the truck and car doors, moaning at the prospect that food was only just inside, but the fact that he couldn't get in was proving to be of some annoyance. "Damn thing looks like your ex-wife, Ed!" "What?" "Well look, the damn thing's clawing and moaning to get in here. And what does it want to do? Suck up everything like a fucking Hoover!" laughed Chip. Ed outstretched his left hand and extended his middle finger to Chip. "Screw you buddy, at least I had a wife. What did you have?" "Multiple sex partners arriving at my doorstep asking for more." "More? More money you mean? They were all ripping you off you dumb shit." "Kiss my ass buddy! Watch the fucking road, I'm going to drain my lizard," mumbled Chip as he stood, handing his binoculars over to a smirking Ed. "Don't forget to wash your hands!" "I'll wash you in a minute!" "What? Wash me? What the fuck are you talking about? Talk sense man! Just don't take too damn long, I need to go as well!" shouted Ed. "Just dangle it over the edge, I'm sure your just out of reach of any zombies, but you never know, maybe they can jump," replied Chip as he disappeared off down a set of stairs that connected with the roof of watchtower alpha via a small housing that led directly down into the operations room where all the efforts of the town were being controlled and organised. As the noise of the door slamming behind him sounded out into the cold air, Ed lifted the binoculars to his eyes again and glanced over to the west road blockade. Two zombies were now wrestling with the prime of Japanese family motorcar engineering. But their efforts weren't in vain as the original zombie managed to claim a wing mirror to grip in his cold dead hands. "Fine American products, where did they all go?" Chip bounded his way down the stairs and eventually found himself amidst a scene of chaos as his commanding chief stood in his confusion as several men and women ran around the small room shouting down walkie-talkies and pointing to maps. "Fine day ain't it, Sarge?" smirked Chip. "Cram it up your ass smart guy! What the hell are you doing down here?" inquired Sarge. "I need a piss, I won't be long." "A piss? Why don't you just piss off the roof? What's the matter? Afraid some mindless zombie will see ya?" "Yeah, cram it up your ass Sarge." Chip wondered off into the darkness of the corridor across the way from the stairwell and disappeared into the men's room. It was now midnight and all day Chip and Ed had been watching the dead gather at the blockades all around town, but it was the west road which was mostly populated by the vile, stinking carcasses of life once lived. "Shit. How many do you think are out there now?" asked Chip. "God damn, I don't know, but there sure are a hell of a lot of them bastards. Should we tell the Sarge to order the ground squads to pick off some of them? We don't want them getting in." "Good idea, hand me that radio." The streets were deserted except for a few groups of men and women hiding in doorways sipping on coffee and huddled around gas heaters to keep themselves warm. Suddenly, all the radios began to buzz in each group on the ground. The voice of Sarge came buzzing into reception. "Move your asses boys and girls! We need to pick off them sons a bitches before they get smarter ideas about getting in here. Thin them out and we'll see where we are tomorrow." The voice buzzed out again as the groups began to mobilise and head off towards their blockades they should have been guarding. The team for the west road came into view from watchtower alpha and Chip and Ed watched as the team on the ground ran up to the blockage of cars, trucks and heavy lumps of junk, hoisting their rifles into the air to pick off a few of the more unruly zombies at the perimeter. The sound of gunshots rang out into the night, as did the sharp stabs of light that buffeted around the buildings closest. Chip lifted the binoculars up to his eyes once more and focussed his sights on the battle ensuing at the west road. As the gunshots blasted into the cold, dead air, more and more undead beast fell as others were wounded and kept on clawing to try and reach the more foolish ground troops who clambered onto the roofs of the vehicles that lay between them and the growing masses of the undead who were still swarming from over the hills in the distance. Slowly, the gunshots lessened until one last shot rang out. "God damn it, Ed," said Chip. "What?" "That was your ex-wife!" |