Zombies Vs Aliens: Respawn

Chapter 7.1

Chapter 7

             "Unexpectedly sturdy, guess we can add that to the list of super powers." Fred quipped, trying to fill the silence. It backfired when Jeremy turned around, jacking him up the wall.

            "I don't see what's funny." His voice rumbled, the warning thunder of a violent storm. Fred grabbed the arm holding him up, his face twisted in anger.

            "Put me the fuck down, Lt. Dan," he said, matching Jeremy for menace. I could see these two were going to get on famously.

            I eased myself next to them. "How about we take this down a notch before someone gets hurt? We got a bigger problem we need to deal with."

            Jeremy set Fred down by shoving him into the wall. I rolled my eyes, pulling Fred away before he decided to retaliate. I hoped J.D. would join our ragtag group but if they kept up with the pissing contest, I would leave one or both of them behind.

            "Now, we need to get out of the city. Do you know how long the spaceship has been over Rochester, J.D.? Or why they're here?" The chuckleheads were too busy glaring at each other to answer. "Hey! Measure your dicks later!" I yanked hard on J.D.'s arm, forcing his attention on me.

            "You might want to end this existence, but I'm happy to be alive again, sort of. If you don't want to help us, fine, at least help us help her." I nodded to Wolf Girl perched on the chair, her pale face highlighted by the sputtering fluorescent light overhead. She'd observed us this whole time. I wondered if she understood any of it. Bringing her into the conversation took all the venom out of J.D. He sank to his haunches, cradling his head in those massive hands. I could easily picture him overpowering two aliens at once. Seeing how silent the zombies were, I'd begun to understand how we got the drop on our alien victims. They never heard us coming.

            "Three days, that's how long I've been conscious. The ship's hovered over the city the whole time, no idea how long they were here before I came to. I think they're looking for something." J.D. sighed, slumping back against the wall.

            I frowned. I didn't remember my alien buddy from before mention they were looking for anything except humans, but there wasn't much time for Q & A once the axe was in his skull. "Any idea what they're looking for?"

            He lifted his face. "It sounds like a person, the pieces of conversation I picked up didn't make a lot of sense." He squinted at me. "Can you understand their language too?"

            "Yeah, comes with the upgrade." Fred muttered, keeping his arms folded over his chest.

            "Person? A live person or a dead one? We haven't found many live ones."

            "You wouldn't. When the infection started to spread, they abandoned the cities and pulled the population inland. Most of the coastal survivors attempted to flee on the sea. There was a plan to create a refuge by the Great Lakes, but I died before anything was finalized."

            "Do I want to know about the rest of the world?" I asked, distracted by the thought of so much death. I wondered if any other cities got the same treatment as New York.

            "It hit them too. They were doing about as good as we were."

            Fred's hand dropped on my shoulder. "Hey, focus, we need to find a way past the aliens, then we head for the Great Lakes. If humans are around, that's where we will find them."

            If humans were around. The thought wasn't any more comforting, but now we had a destination. Now it was figuring out how to escape. "Do you think you can get that Humvee working?"

            That earned a sidelong look from Fred. "We put a lot of effort into sneaking around, now you want to go guns ablazin'?"

            "Considering zombies swarm like ants at a picnic with a whiff of our lone human, I think subtlety is off the table."

            "Yes, there is that problem. Least one of us can use guns now, so we have the advantage of range. Hey, how much artillery you packing in here?" He nudged J.D.'s boot.

            Rather than snap at him, J.D. looked thoughtful. "A few rifles and semi's were still in working order. There's a rocket launcher back there, but it may or may not puss out on us. The grenades should work though."

            Fred's eyes lit up. "We have grenades?"

            "A few smoke bombs, flares, and tear gas canisters were in storage. What are you thinking Li?" He asked, ignoring Fred.

            "Grab everything, especially the smoke and gas stuff, anything to blind the aliens. They have those nasty sonic weapons, but they wear these masks to breathe. I have a hunch they don't see too well either."

            J.D. rocked up to his feet. "What makes you say that?"

            "The undead are pretty quiet, but how do you miss a zombie crawling towards you? Okay, my lads, here's the plan."