Free Trudge: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse by Shawn Chesser

“Shoot to kill any undead on site no matter who they may be. POTUS and all VIPs must be rescued at all costs. If there are any casualties amongst them, then documentation is necessary. Take any credentials from the bodies and obtain DNA swabs and digital video to confirm their identity and condition.”
    “Protect you and your men at all costs” the Colonel said while patting the operator on the shoulder.
    “I’ll take two teams of six. Have the Night Stalkers been briefed?”
    “Yes. They will be ready in thirty mikes. Two 160th SOAR Pave Hawks with Apache support” the Major paused and adjusted his black beret before saying “It’s bad out there…worse than any of our war gaming scenarios suggested. Watch your six Cowboy.”
    The two men exchanged salutes.
    The red phone on the commander’s desk chirped.
    An MP made it very clear that the perimeter needed fortification and he wanted to call McCord AFB to request that a Spectre gunship be brought on station. The Spectre was a close air support modified AC-130 with multiple weapons that was proven to be devastating against enemy forces on the ground.
    "I’ll make it happen, in the meantime keep me updated" the base commander Major Phillip Link said as he hung up.
    The moment President Odero called for nationwide martial law; secure smart phones rang and vibrated across the country as operators were mobilized to return to post. The Tier-1 operators all had secure encrypted phones utilizing government satellites to keep everyone in constant contact.
    *****
    At SOCOM headquarters, Fort Bragg North Carolina, MPs were checking identifications at the double gate in front of the compound. Cars and SUVs full of soldiers and family that usually lived off of base were lined up for blocks. The first priority of the guards would be to quarantine the injured and ensure that none of the infected got inside.
    Overnight several hundred walkers had amassed around the perimeter having been attracted by the commotion and halide lights. The snipers in the guard towers had orders to confirm with thermal imaging if their targets were in fact walking dead before engaging them. The undead didn't have the same heat signature as the living. The newly turned did show up as almost normal for the first few minutes, therefore any questionable targets also required a visual identification.
    Dawn broke and the day wore on as hundreds more of the infected streamed across the highway from the hospital and the surrounding businesses. Bodies of the infected were bulldozed into mass graves as fast as the snipers and tower guards could put them down.
    Mike had checked his phone for personal messages. One was from his wife Annie, saying she was en route with their three girls. Annie was pregnant with Mike’s first boy. Mike thought, only two more months of being the only male of the household . Message number two was Cade; Mike listened intently, hung up and called the three gate houses one at a time. He left orders to look out for anyone fitting Brook’s description as well as anyone that was with her. They were to let them in and contact Mike immediately. Cade’s family was his family, as far as Mike was concerned.
    *****
    Private First Class Chillcut had his hands full checking identities and making sure that the infected were kept outside of the wire. Things at the south entrance were getting hairy.
    Back to back, staccato reports of automatic gunfire came from his left, the third vehicle in line failed to move forward. Inside the car, one of his soldiers had turned undead and attacked the other occupants of the Ford Taurus wagon. The driver shrieked as her head was pulled towards the backseat, her undead husband’s teeth sank into the soft part of her neck ripping free a mouth full of flesh, he then turned his attention to the crying baby in the car seat. The babies wailing intensified as the monster tried to wrest it from the car seat.
    Seeing this happening through his thermal scope, the