Laws of Abel: Chapter Two

A novel about what remains of the US Armed Forces months after a zombie pandemic, as they return to Manhattan to create a large safe zone for survivors. A story with a large cast of protagonists

Major Gallagher watched the Ellis Island bridge explode, the sounds of shrieking metal and concrete tons crashing into the frigid waters of the river. As the island’s only artery to the mainland, the risks of holding the bridge far outweighed the immediate value of isolating it. Already Gallagher could see the horde growing as the bridge collapsed further still. The tactical explosion ripped away the bridge’s midsection a good fifty feet, enough distance to keep the most tenacious of hostiles at bay, but not so severe as to prevent them from rigging some kind of winched drawbridge at a later stage, for vehicular support.

Gallagher steeled himself against the pitiful cries of the civilians running towards them. With the mid-bridge gone and the west end now blocked off by dozens of hostiles, the civilians only had 2 options, holding their ground or risking the Hudson’s swift current. A few chose to risk the water, Gallagher watched them plunge in, some resurfacing metres away caught in the current’s frantic grip. More still stood at the edge of that oblivion screaming, pleading with his team to save them. But it was the last group that chilled Gallagher’s blood, they looked at him with the eyes of the truly dead. He’d seen those eyes before, they haunted him every god-damn night, the eyes of the damned.

“Major, three o’clock, the beachhead.”

Gallagher turned in time to see a flesh tower forming below a nearby building, their V-22 Osprey perched on its flat spread roof, the rotors still spinning in standby for emergency evac. Bravo held the high ground with a six man team, but the north front was only moments away from being lost. Beneath the wall a tangled mass of bodies each desperate to reach its prey, writhed and churned as they climbed upon one another. From the chaos a terrifying tower of flesh began to form, a frankenstein human-pyramid of sorts. If it reached the roof, the evac point would be overrun.

“Corporal Lance, I need you to secure the north wall.”

A young woman in her early twenties pulled back from the frontline and headed towards the hellish tangle of bodies.

“Grenade” her warning boomed over the chaos, her arm throwing one at the mangled fray.

The concussive force echoed in Gallagher’s ears but he shook it off and glanced at the aftermath. Half the north wall lay ruined but the roof’s integrity held, burnt bone and smouldering piles of flesh confetti. Moments later the heavy winter clouds broke, thick freezing rain, drenching through their fatigues, drastically reducing visibility.

“Major Sir, we have General Hunt inbound.”

The forward command operator waved to him from the rooftop command position, pointing south as his words carried over the radio. Gallagher squinted until he spotted the General’s chopper through the downpour, circling the scene below. Gallagher scowled.

“Negative, I want a preliminary sweep of the island first.”

Gallagher heard his Lt. stutter in response, but his eyes returned to the combat at hand, firing his M4 at their left flank.

“Sir, he’s the General. I can’t...”

“You have your orders Lieutenant, deny them permission for landing.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

The constant gunfire reverberated across the island, the endless noise drawing screams and roars from the other side of the bridge. The last of the survivors were being feasted upon whilst more ZEDs rushed without regard into the water, lemmings to the slaughter; that was until he realised not all of them were. The bridge already thronged with hundreds of them, dozens upon dozens flinging themselves into the waters below. But he noticed some on the edge holding back, watching the fray as their brethren sacrificed in vain, their faces too far away to see clearly. The momentary sight sent an involuntary shudder down his spine, overwhelming the vibrations of his M4 firing off round upon round.

“Major-” the Lt’s voice cleaved his thoughts away.

“General Hunt is proceeding with landing.”

“Damn it” Gallagher whispered to himself.

“Cortez, take command. I want a five man squad securing forward command’s interior for expansion into an operational zone, then shore the eastern line and prep for a push into the west zone.”

Captain Cortez acknowledged the orders, barking out names for the five man squad to break off into the landing site’s interior. Meanwhile Gallagher climbed up the ladder lowered down to him.

Moments later General Hunt landed next to their evac chopper, Gallagher pushing through the turbulence to open Hunt’s door.

“General, sir. With all due respect I can’t let you stay here. The situation is proving more volatile than expected. We think the island might have been used as an evacuation centre when the outbreak began, there’s no other reason there’d be this many hostiles in the area otherwise.”

Hunt removed his headset, the dark skin of his forehead frowning at the report.

“Do you need more feet on the ground?” Hunt’s deep baritone, strained with concern.

Gallagher paused for a moment to consider, his red hair dampened to a russet hue in the rain.

“No sir, I think we have the numbers. We’ve still got two squads in reserve offshore in case the operation turns on us, but I think we’re safe to proceed to the second objective. My only concern is the weather. If this rain gets worse, we’re going to have a problem with visibility.”

“Just make sure to minimise the structural damage as you proceed. I want the island ready for phase two in the next forty-eight hours.”

“We’ll need more manpower for that once we have the exterior of both zones cleared. We’ve got a lot of property to cover.”

“Agreed, once you have the west zone’s exterior cleared, use the open ground as a landing pad, I want logistics to hit the ground running. We’ve got a lot of work to do before the weather turns on us.”

“Sorry sir, but I think that ship’s sailed.”

"We'll see, Major."

An ominous roar filled the sky, drums of thunder marching to war.

Reviews

[Michael L]

Nicely done with Chapter 2 - I like how you introduced the new characters and gave us more of a taste of what they are up against. Already I can sense the growing conflict between the characters based on their given orders (Gallagher and Hunt). I feel like the threat is still building - but at the same time the pace remains urgent and furious.

The "frankenstein human-pyramid" line is awesome haha. I like your gritty writing style, well done!

[Wolf Beaumont]

Cheers Michael, I'm thrilled you liked it. I'll be uploading chapter 3 asap. It's been a tough 6 months hence my delay posting this chapter. Many many thanks!