Read Online The North: A Zombie Novel by Sean Cummings - Free Book Online
Authors: Sean Cummings
Tags: Zombies
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the turret guns, and the inside of the carrier quickly filled up with the smell of cordite and burning gun oil.
I grabbed the radio switch dangling from my helmet and pressed the push-to-talk button.
“Go! Go! Go!”
I roared into the mouthpiece.
I felt the vibrations of the engine revving up behind the engine panel beside me and then our APC lurched into gear. I grabbed hold of my periscope handle and pushed my face into the rubber-coated visor as the ten-thousand-pound armored fighting machine barreled through the door, smashing through the monsters like a wrecking ball. We bounced heavily as the eight twenty-two-inch tires bounded over rotting bodies and debris. My carrier was clear of the building.
“Hard left!” I shouted, spotting a clearing between a pile-up of smashed cars. The carrier swung sharply and our bodies tilted to the right as Doug made the turn.
My radio hissed and squawked in my ears. “Ark One, this is Ark Two – we’re clear of the building and right on your tail, over!”
I pressed the push-to-talk button. “Ark One, roger. Keep a distance of twenty meters behind me. You’re weapons free in controlled bursts but only if we become surrounded. Stay within your prescribed arcs of fire left and right of my position. Over!”
“Ark Two, roger that!” the radio hissed.
Smashing out of the armory was the easy part. We still had to navigate through streets filled with monsters and the burned husks of automobiles as far as the eye could see. The carrier pushed on and I swung my periscope left and right to survey the war zone that had once been the very heart of the city. The office buildings stood like towering sentinels, lonely reminders of wealth and power from a time and place that was still fresh in our minds.
The explosion was attracting the attention of hundreds of creatures, shambling menacingly through the twisted metal. Their mouths hung open, dripping gore and offal onto the pavement. They could surround our fighting vehicle ten deep for all I cared. We were safe inside and there was nothing they could do to get at us. The powerful engine would push us through the sea of creatures as easily as a plow pushes through the snow after a blizzard.
I glanced at my map of the downtown core. We’d decided on a route that looked reasonably clear of obstacles back at the armory, but that was from my vantage point on the northwest tower. I hailed Sid Toomey on the intercom. “Sid! We gotta get to Third Avenue and it’ll be smooth sailing onto the bike paths. There’s a wall of creeps blocking our route out of here – at least a hundred of them. Can you spot another way out? I don’t want to burn out your gun barrels.”
“Roger – clogged up, Ark One. I’ll swing the turret around and see if we can … HOLY SHIT!”
I spun my periscope around to take a look at what Sid was seeing. Dozens of the monsters were hurling themselves from the office building in front of us. The carrier backed up a few feet as I watched monster after monster plummeting to earth from smashed windows more than ten storeys above us.
“Hard right
now,
Doug!” I shouted into the microphone. “Get us the hell away from this building – I don’t want one of those things landing on us!”
“Roger that!” Doug replied in my earpiece as my body pitched sharply to the left and I grabbed onto the engine panel for support. Within seconds we were barreling across a green space littered with decomposing bodies. Some moved but most didn’t, and the ones that did move – well, Doug Manybears took great pleasure in grinding them to pulp underneath the wheels of our APC. I caught a glimpse of Cruze’s carrier to my left. She was keeping the prescribed twenty meter distance from me, so I swung my periscope to the twelve o’clock position and gazed out in hopes of finding a clear path to the river. I was just about to swing the periscope right when everything went black. Doug hammered down on the brakes as a monster
I grabbed the radio switch dangling from my helmet and pressed the push-to-talk button.
“Go! Go! Go!”
I roared into the mouthpiece.
I felt the vibrations of the engine revving up behind the engine panel beside me and then our APC lurched into gear. I grabbed hold of my periscope handle and pushed my face into the rubber-coated visor as the ten-thousand-pound armored fighting machine barreled through the door, smashing through the monsters like a wrecking ball. We bounced heavily as the eight twenty-two-inch tires bounded over rotting bodies and debris. My carrier was clear of the building.
“Hard left!” I shouted, spotting a clearing between a pile-up of smashed cars. The carrier swung sharply and our bodies tilted to the right as Doug made the turn.
My radio hissed and squawked in my ears. “Ark One, this is Ark Two – we’re clear of the building and right on your tail, over!”
I pressed the push-to-talk button. “Ark One, roger. Keep a distance of twenty meters behind me. You’re weapons free in controlled bursts but only if we become surrounded. Stay within your prescribed arcs of fire left and right of my position. Over!”
“Ark Two, roger that!” the radio hissed.
Smashing out of the armory was the easy part. We still had to navigate through streets filled with monsters and the burned husks of automobiles as far as the eye could see. The carrier pushed on and I swung my periscope left and right to survey the war zone that had once been the very heart of the city. The office buildings stood like towering sentinels, lonely reminders of wealth and power from a time and place that was still fresh in our minds.
The explosion was attracting the attention of hundreds of creatures, shambling menacingly through the twisted metal. Their mouths hung open, dripping gore and offal onto the pavement. They could surround our fighting vehicle ten deep for all I cared. We were safe inside and there was nothing they could do to get at us. The powerful engine would push us through the sea of creatures as easily as a plow pushes through the snow after a blizzard.
I glanced at my map of the downtown core. We’d decided on a route that looked reasonably clear of obstacles back at the armory, but that was from my vantage point on the northwest tower. I hailed Sid Toomey on the intercom. “Sid! We gotta get to Third Avenue and it’ll be smooth sailing onto the bike paths. There’s a wall of creeps blocking our route out of here – at least a hundred of them. Can you spot another way out? I don’t want to burn out your gun barrels.”
“Roger – clogged up, Ark One. I’ll swing the turret around and see if we can … HOLY SHIT!”
I spun my periscope around to take a look at what Sid was seeing. Dozens of the monsters were hurling themselves from the office building in front of us. The carrier backed up a few feet as I watched monster after monster plummeting to earth from smashed windows more than ten storeys above us.
“Hard right
now,
Doug!” I shouted into the microphone. “Get us the hell away from this building – I don’t want one of those things landing on us!”
“Roger that!” Doug replied in my earpiece as my body pitched sharply to the left and I grabbed onto the engine panel for support. Within seconds we were barreling across a green space littered with decomposing bodies. Some moved but most didn’t, and the ones that did move – well, Doug Manybears took great pleasure in grinding them to pulp underneath the wheels of our APC. I caught a glimpse of Cruze’s carrier to my left. She was keeping the prescribed twenty meter distance from me, so I swung my periscope to the twelve o’clock position and gazed out in hopes of finding a clear path to the river. I was just about to swing the periscope right when everything went black. Doug hammered down on the brakes as a monster
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