The roof of the Depot was flat, gravel over tar paper, your general lowest bidder construction. But it was home now. A small foot tall lip was all that stood between you and a ten foot drop. The Major was to my right with three people, looking out over the grassy plane that was once a running track. John was to my left watching the scrub woods, and the hole where the Humvee sat parked blocking it. His son and a woman would take turns sighting and firing on any movement. I stuffed the ear plugs in, and could immediately hear my own heart beat. The gun fire was more tolerable and I could hear people talking back and forth. Jake and his rifle crew were scanning the ridge line in front of us. Jake was using one of the night vision scopes to pick his targets. A gentle cough and his rifle would jump. I could not see if he hit or not, but as he was not hurrying his shots, I doubt it. The moon, nearly full, came out of a cloud bank and did wonders for us to see what was going on around us. The downside was they could see us too. I dove to John’s side as a hail of bullets rained down on the roof. I landed next to the woman, Daisy, her name was. All blond hair, blue eyes, and you would have thought dumb as a stump after talking to her. She liked it that way she confided in me the day I met her, kept people from expecting too much. She was a good shot too.
I looked over the edge and looked down; somebody was trying to get the Humvees’ door open. I fired three quick rounds down at them, not doing much but making a crack in the truck’s windshield. I gritted my teeth when they dove under the truck. They would crawl through under it to get inside. Well at least they weren’t zombies. A piece of exploding brick near my face got me to get down. Daisy laughed at me (hopefully just at my expression) and I smiled gritting my teeth.
‘John, one got under the Humvee. Sorry I missed.’ I yelled to him over the gunfire.
His boy gave me the thumbs up and leaned over the wall to look down. I did the same but instantly saw something reflecting in the moonlight just beyond the fence. It was a man with a scoped rifle taking aim up at us. I fired off a quick few rounds, the third one struck him and he spun around and fell. Daisy was firing over the wall and into the parking lot apparently locating the one I missed earlier.
I had just leaned down to look into the lot when I heard a ripping sound and something akin to a jack-hammer hit me in the chest to knock me completely over backward. The world spun as I tried to breathe but couldn’t, my chest tightening from the impact. I clutched at my chest as the world went completely dark.
I woke to see Daisy staring at me, and I tried to smile but then noticed the neat little hole in her forehead. A small trickle of blood ran from the hole down her nose and off her chin. She would never blink or bat her eyelashes at anyone again. I realized with that we were both laying on the roof and my head was turned towards her and she me. I listened and could hear gunfire still happening though my ear plugs and I moved my head up slightly. I then noticed the pool of blood I was lying in and it motivated me to feel around myself. Three holes were torn into my Kevlar vest, from my lower right rib cage up to the edge of the vest at my left shoulder. I pushed my fingers in the holes and got burnt by the still hot bullets lodged in the vests materials. Which in a way is a good thing. Apparently the blood I was lying in was poor Daisy’s , as I quickly surmised her injuries were at her throat and her head. Whoever fired on us got us both, I was lucky, she was not. My shoulder hurt like Hell and my left arm was nerve-numb, but I was alive. I grabbed my fallen rifle and crawled over to the wall, next to John and set up with my head below the wall.
‘Damn, I thought you was dead!’ he said as he smiled down at me and crouched down near me. He looked at Daisy and then me. I shook my head.
‘The rumor of my demise has been greatly exaggerated!’ I yelled back and had him help me get the charging handle on my AR pulled back. Once it slammed home, I was ready to work again.
‘Dad! They have full auto guns and 2 snipers hidden in the trees about 200 feet away. I can’t get a good shot at them.’ The former Marine yelled from his position of hiding behind the wall which was slowly chipping away from gun fire. Sliding stones announced Jake’s presence next to us.
‘What’s up guys? Damn, you alright?’ I nodded back, still not feeling much like talking. A fresh burst of gunfire tore at our wall just then. We all ducked even lower and gritted our teeth.
‘The ridge seems to be clear of bandits for now, but we can see some of the dead moving around up there, probably getting a free meal. I see you could use some help here.’ Jake asked as he put a fresh magazine in his sniper rifle. I had an idea, one that may work out to our advantage.
‘Stay here and don’t fire on them until you get the signal.’ I yelled over another fusillade of bullets tearing at the wall.
‘What’s the signal?’
‘You’ll know. Give me five minutes.’ I grabbed two spare magazines from my bag then crawled to the ladder and went down inside. Odessa was waiting with another woman also armed with a shotgun.
‘My God are you all right?’ She saw the blood and the holes in the vest and started to pat me down.
‘Fine, fine, not my blood. We need to get going. Come with me.’ I lead them out of the room and turned left, going deeper in the building where John’s wife and a few others shepherded the children when anything happened. Downstairs, most all the windows were shattered out and a few people braved the windows to fire back into the night, mostly wasting precious ammo. We stopped at a breaker panel box in the main hall. You could still see the large room the National Guard used for mustering out the guardsmen when they were being deployed.
‘ I’m going up to the front of the room and turn off the interior lights, when you see that, give me two minutes then throw this switch.’ I pointed to the perimeter light breakers. She nodded and looked at me with a fierce expression. I hugged her and hobbled down the hallway. I made a running slide to get to the front doors, and had to crawl a good ten feet to get there. The night guard was still at the door, but lying down. I noticed quite a few holes in the door. I got to his side and then with my back to the concrete wall, I tapped him on the shoulder.
‘I’m’ cutting the lights, when I do, push open the door for me and hold it. Okay?’ I must have been yelling as I noticed everyone looking around.
‘When the lights are off, everybody stays down, okay?’ This time I did yell, so the ones in the room could hear me. Some of them gave me a thumbs up, thinking I was deaf, other nodded. The guard, which I found out later was Kenny, watched as I used my still numb left arm to snap the interior lights off. (They should have been from the beginning but we didn’t think about that) As soon as that was done I fell over on my side, (making stars in my eyes and pain in my chest blossom) and rolled over upside down next to Kenny. He pushed the door open and as soon as he did bullets came screaming in over us. I pulled my rifle up and shot the light out that hung over the entrance. The light illuminated the National Guard sign and illuminated this entrance. It went pitch black inside which was what I wanted.
‘Follow me.’ I called to Kenny. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I may need to check my priorities in life soon.
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