Dead Life (Book 3) by D. Harrison Schleicher Page A

charge. In case you hadn't noticed I've been bitten.”
                  “I was afraid of that.”
                  “I can feel it already. I don't have much time left. The bombers are gone.  They've been diverted. The General wouldn't tell me where they were going. I do know they won't be back. You have two Chinooks left. The pilots are good men. If the airfield gets overrun, have them get as many men out of here as possible. The rest will have to go by truck. I have no idea where you should go. We lost communication with the outside around ten o'clock last night. You should be able to raise someone on the radios aboard the helicopters though. Last reconnaissance says you have somewhere around ten thousand zombies headed this way from the north. You have two, maybe three hours before they get here. From the south there is over thirty thousand coming. They won't be here for at least six hours.”
                  “I think you'll be able to hold off the first group. The second I'm not sure of. You might want to try taking on the first horde from the north. Then evacuate the base and head that way to avoid the horde from the south. After that I wouldn't know what to tell you. You'll figure it out. I really wouldn't stay here though.”
                  “You're probably right sir. We'll see how it goes with the first horde. Then I'll decide what to do from there.”
                  “Sounds like a plan,” the Colonel said. “I'd like to ask a favor from you Captain.”
                  “Yes sir.” I knew what he wanted.
                  “I don't want to turn into one of those things and I don't think I can kill myself.”
                  “I understand sir.”
                  I took my service revolver from the holster and pointed it at the Colonel. He stood looking me in the eye, a bold look of determination on his face. I couldn't do it.
                  “Would you please turn around sir?”
                  “Of course.” The Colonel said as he turned to face away from me. “You know I have a wife. She was in Atlanta when all this happened. I lost contact with her the first day. I'm assuming...”
                  I pulled the trigger. The Colonel slumped to his knees and fell forward onto his face. I walked back to my unit. The men were all staring at me with shocked looks on their faces.
                  “He asked me to do that. The Colonel was infected. He'd been bitten. I would expect any one of you to do the same for me. I promise you I wouldn't hesitate to do the same for any of you that might become infected.”
                  “We're going up to the barracks. First, we'll clear out the infected. Then we're going to bring back supplies. Adams, send someone to get a truck. Have them bring it up to the barracks. We'll need something to bring supplies back in. We don't have much time. Let's move out.”
                  I left the guards at the gate with orders not to let anyone pass until checking them for bites and scratches. The men and I started our jog up to the barracks. When we got to the gate for the barracks, the guards normally on the inside of the gate where on the outside. On the other side of the fence were dozens of zombies trying to get at them. Most were civilians but some were military. They all needed to die.
                  “I want you men to spread out along the fence. We need to draw the zombies away from the gate. On my command begin firing. Choose your targets and remember single shots to the head. We don't want a bunch of holes in this fence. The idea is to keep them in there.”
                  “Sir are we going to kill those people?” One of the guards was addressing me.
                  “Yes we are. Then we're going in.”
                  “Sir, the