Chapter 1 - Infiltration (part 2)

Chapter 1-2 of Undead Nation: Revenge.

Smoke drifted across the battlefield from the bonfires that were blazing everywhere. Bulldozers growled all around as they worked to push the decomposing corpses into the flames. The smell of diesel and burning, rotting flesh filled the air and permeated the make shift masks worn by the soldiers. Behind Alex, one of the new recruits retched on his boots.

“One would think you would never get used to the smell,” Liam said to Alex as he looked over his shoulder at the sick recruit. “It gets better,” he called to the recruit, giving a little smirk at the young soldier. Liam looked around the battlefield at the piles of dead and flames licking the skies.

“Have you ever seen so many?” Liam asked Alex quietly. Alex shook his head slowly.

“It took a long time getting here,” he said. “The longer it takes, the more dead we can expect to see.” He looked to Liam with concern. “This trip is going to be rough.”

Alex and Liam led their platoon of nineteen soldiers in between the burning pyres, following carefully the narrow paths cut through the battlefield by the bulldozers. The grounds on either sides of the path were stained red with the infected blood and body parts of the dead. Once the rescue teams had returned and evacuated the area, these grounds would be completely cleansed with fire. Until then, straying from the path meant almost certain death.

Retching sounds from behind Alex made him stop and turn. The same recruit continued to vomit his lunch on the ground at his feet, this time trying hard to avoid his boots. Dr. Cahn stood next to the young man speaking quietly to him.

“Doc,” Alex called back. “Is he okay?”

“He will be,” Dr. Cahn answered without looking up.

“I need to know if he is okay now,” Alex demanded, “not in the future. If he can’t go on, send him back. He’ll just get in the way.”

“He will be fine,” Dr. Cahn said, shooting a look at Alex. “Just give him a minute.”

“We don’t have a minute, Doc. Send him back.”

“Lieutenant,” Cahn started to protest, but was cut short.

“We can’t afford to have anyone in this platoon that can’t perform at one hundred percent,” Alex said. “You know this, Doc. If he can’t get it together right now, he’s only going to get himself or someone else killed. Send him back.”

Cahn’s face began to turn red when a feminine hand gripped his shoulder. Theresa Hill stood next to the doctor in full combat gear, looking gentle and terrifying all at once.

“Send him back, Doc,” Theresa said quietly. “Send him back and let him live until tomorrow. We’ll be fine without him.”

Dr. Cahn’s face color returned to normal and he nodded his head slightly. “Fine,” he conceded and turned towards the sick man. “Congratulations,” he said. “You get to go back, young man. Unfortunately, you are not going to like the reception you receive when you get back, but we can not afford to have you jeopardize the rest of the platoon.” The Doc patted the recruit on the back and the young man looked up. He looked a bit confused and conflicted.

“I can go on, sir,” the young recruit said.

“You are going back,” Alex said quickly. “That’s an order. You are a liability to this operation, and I won’t have you with us.” A look passed across the recruit’s face that Alex could not read as pain or relief. Either way, this young man was not going to continue.

“Yes, sir,” the recruit said finally and looked around at the rest of the platoon standing there. “Sorry,” he said quietly, lowering his head.

“Don’t be,” Dr. Cahn said. “No one can blame you.” The doctor shook the young recruit’s hand before sending him back down the path towards the train alone.

The platoon continued forward towards the city leaving the lone recruit to make his own way back. Liam looked across at Alex. "That's two men down already and we haven't even seen a deader up close. Things aren't looking so great right now."

"We've done this with fewer already. And over half of the men in this platoon have done this many times." Alex looked over at his friend and smiled. "We been up against worse. We can handle this too."

"I guess you're right, Alex." Liam gave his friend a concerned look. "But one of these days, our luck is going to run out."

Author's Note

All comments are welcome. This section is approximately 800 words.