Zombie D.O.A. by Jj Zep

ankle and instantly sunk his teeth in. I heard the crunch of too th on bone but to Joe’s credit, he didn’t scream nor even make a sound . 
    I could feel the handgun, heavy in my waistband where I’d stashed it, but clinging to the ladder by one hand, flashlight in the other, it was useless. Instead I climbed down a few rungs to where Joe was, lifted my foot and brought it down hard on the top of the creature ’ s skull.  There was a sickening crack as my boot made contact, and the creature lost its grip and crashed to the concrete below.
    “Climb ! ” Joe screamed, slidin g the R5 from his shoulder and he did. Below me I heard the sharp report of the rifle as Joe got to work.
    I had almost reached the surface w h en the manhole c over above me started to shift. Daylight flooded into the tunnel and a face appeared .  Momentarily b linded by the brightness I was unable to make out any of its features.
    Then the man lifted a finger to his lips and motioned me to keep climbing, and I realized he was wearing a military helmet.  I climbed the last few rungs and poked my head through the hole. There were six or seven soldiers encircli ng the manhole, crouched in shoo ting positions , rifles aimed at my head.
    In the next moment I was lifted bodily from the hole , disarmed and frog-marched some twenty feet across the pavement. A young soldier holding a sidearm indicated for me to lie on my stomach. Lying there flat on my belly, with Ruby still strapped to my back I heard him cock his weapon and thought for a moment he was going to execute us, right there in the street. I braced myself for a shot that never came.
    Joe had stopped firing and I now heard the clunk-clunk of the metal rungs as he ascended the ladder . The next thing I heard was the clutter of rifles and one of the soldiers shouting, “Don’t move. We got you covered.” Then I heard Joe laughing as though he’d just been told the world’s funniest joke.
    After a while, Joe’s voice, still with a serious case of the giggles, “This what they teach you chuckleheads in the US Army these days. You got me covered? Fucking priceless, you’re in a nice neat circle, yo u dumb-asses. You open fire now, you’ll end up cutting each other to pieces. Stupid fuckers.”
    One of the soldiers sounding very unsure of himself said, “Lieutenant?” and the guy holding the gun on me spoke.
    “We got your friend back here,” he said, “so don’t give us any trouble, you hear.” He spoke with a Southern drawl and his voice sounded as though it had just broken.
    “Great,” I heard Joe say, “So now the US Army is taking civilian hostages. What th e fuck’s this country coming to? ”
    “Marines, sir,” one of the soldiers corrected him, “we’re US Marines.”
    “Woop-de-fucking-doo,” Joe said.
    I heard him hustled a cross the tarmac and made to lie next to me. The young lieutenant was on the radio, obviously reporting back about our capture.
    “Joe,” I whispered, “You okay? You were bitten.”
    “ Nah”, he said, “Stupid son-of-a-bitch chomped down on my ankle holster. Probably broke his teeth on my .38. “
    On the radio the young lieutenant was still getting his orders. “Hold ‘em here sir, no problem sir, yes sir, thank you sir.”
    “Peckerwood,” Joe muttered.
    The lieutenant finished his conversation and I heard his boots crunching on the tarmac. “Er , gent l eme n,” he said, speaking to the back of our heads. “ I got instructions to keep you here for now till Major Ba…till the major get’s here.
    “ We can fix you up some chow, make you comfortable, but we need to keep you handcuffed. So I’d be obliged if you’d place your hands behind your backs.”
    “My daughter needs to be fed.” I said.
    “Yes, sir, we’ll get to that after a while ” the lieutenant said, then to someone else, “O’Neal, handcuffs.
    “Now I’m just gonna take the little lady so as we can apply the handcuffs. ”
    I felt Ruby being lifted from