“Same here,” I added.
“Okay. Give them the signal,” Tyler said while lying on the ground several feet from me.
Eddy came to his feet and clicked his flashlight on and off three times.
A light flashed three times in response from the Dogs’ truck.
“That’s our cue.” Tyler looked at the three of us. “These guys may be on the level, but play it safe. If anything smells funny, we cut and run.”
“Yes, sir,” the boys said, and I tacked on a “got it.”
Jase and Eddy had become hardened soldiers seemingly overnight, though I guess that’s what this world did to a person. They were young, and they clearly looked to Tyler as their hero, even though he couldn’t have been more than ten years their elder. When not with Tyler, they were often with Eddy’s mother, who had quickly adopted Jase as one of her own.
“Hold up. We’ve got incoming,” Jase said.
“Dogs?” Tyler asked.
“No. Zeds. Ten o’clock.”
“Cash, if you’ve got a shot, take it,” Tyler ordered.
I adjusted my scope. It was dark, but the night scope lit up the zeds just fine. I focused first on the hunched-over zed. Pop. Then on the hunched over petite zed. Pop. Then on the large lumbering male. Fire engulfed it before I pulled the trigger.
I squinted at the sudden flames. “That wasn’t me.”
“It looks like someone from the truck threw a Molotov cocktail,” Tyler said. “Jesus, just what we need. A flaming zed setting the countryside on fire” He pressed his headset. “Bravo, this is Alpha. Hold off. The Dogs are attacking the zeds only. Over.”
“This is Bravo. Copy that,” Clutch replied in my headset.
Tyler turned back to me. “Finish this before Sarge gets trigger happy.”
It was easy to find my target, since it was on fire and wobbling from side to side. “Swiggity swire, guess what’s on fire,” I murmured and pulled the trigger. Then smiled. “Swiggity swed, guess what’s dead.”
“All clear,” Jase said.
“Then let’s pick up our guests,” Tyler said, coming to his feet. “Let’s do this just like we planned. Jase, you’re with me. Cash, you cover us and wait for pickup from Bravo. Eddy will have your six.”
I gave Tyler a thumbs up.
“If these guys fuck with us, try to avoid kill shots. We need the information they have.”
I gave him another thumbs up.
I heard the Humvee start up and pull away, but I never took my eyes off the Dogs, waiting for them to make a wrong move. But the two men stood in front of their truck with its lights on. They stood without rifles and arms held out.
A gunshot behind me startled me, and I yanked around to see Eddy standing, facing away from me “Eddy?” I asked.
“Just one zed,” he replied. “All clear.”
I refocused. The Humvee headed down the gravel hill and stopped in front of them. Tyler and Jase got out and walked toward the Dogs.
Clutch’s voice came through my headset. “This is Bravo. Get your asses out of there, Alpha. You’ve got a world of hungry trouble heading your way.”
I looked up from my scope but couldn’t make out anything in the dark fields. I narrowed my eyes and realized that the darkness itself was moving. My eyes widened. There went the assumption that zeds moved less at night. I looked through my scope to target the nearest risks.
“Be ready, Eddy,” I said. “Because a shitload of zeds are headed this way.”
Chapter XXVII
I took my time targeting the zeds nearest to Tyler’s Humvee.
Get ’em where I want ’em.
Only when I knew I had kill shots, I fired. After four zeds fell, I clicked my headset. “This is Sweeper,” I said, using the call sign Tyler had given me after seeing me take out a zed over a hundred meters out. “Clear out, and I’ll lay cover as long as possible.”
Eddy fired more shots behind me, and it took everything to not turn around.
“Talk to me, Eddy,” I said.
“We need to get out of here soon. Very, very soon!”