The alpha restarted the march and gave a single step, when he placed his paw on the ground I said:

- Fire. –

I fired off three rounds from my M1 Garand and got him right in the head, the beast plummeted and some of the other bloodhounds met the same fate by Harry’s fire, in the back Liam was shooting short bursts from his SMG.

- Husband your rounds, sure shots only!!! – I yelled over the radio.

After 7 minutes of intense fire the bloodhounds were getting dispersed but still charging at us, the muzzle of my rifle was getting hot and there were 6 empty clips already in the ground, for each Bloodhound that bit the dust another one spawned from the darkness of the forest.

- Marcus, I´m about to be overrun, a little help? – Liam Yelled.

- Helena forget the radio and help Liam from the back. – Harry Ordered.

- Right away. – She replied.

I kept shooting until the clip popped out with that distinctive ping, I looked at the bandolier to search for a fresh clip, I loaded the rifle, but when I was about to take aim again a bloodhound pounced out of nowhere and came in through the window, knocking me down in the process, I fell hard and dropped the rifle causing it to slide a couple of inches out of reach.

I kept the beast from biting my face off by placing my left arm in his throat but it kept pushing and biting, it was growling loudly and I could see the anger and the hunger for flesh in his eyes, it was really strong and heavy and my arm was starting to give in, I was trying to reach my rifle but I couldn’t.

- Liam! – I cried in a desperate and terrified way but received no answer.

- Liam I fucking need help! – I yelled again but I could only hear shots coming from the back of the house.

I reached my hand gun with my other arm and emptied the magazine on his ribcage, the beast flinched with each shot but it didn’t falter, he kept pushing and it was now a couple of inches away from my face, I started hitting him with the grip of my pistol but it didn´t care, he was staring at me right in the eye while opening it´s mouth for the final blow, he was ready to bite my head off.

This was it, this was where I was going to die, killed and ripped to pieces by an unholy beast, I kept saying to myself, ¨not like this, not like this¨ but it was happening.

I closed my eyes and felt the humid and putrid breath of the creature that was about to become my end in a couple of seconds, everything went silent and the world around me slowed to a crawl when my arm finally gave up, but it was then that I heard a loud ¨boom¨ followed by the bloodhound losing all it´s strength and might, it´s body went limp and just fell on top of me, I looked to the right and saw Harry at the end of the staircase with his hand cannon gripped tightly with both hands, the barrel was smoking a bit, my senses were slowly coming back to me.

- Hey kid are you alright? – Harry asked with a tone of concern, I wanted to respond but I was still in shock, my body was trembling lightly.

-Miller? – He insisted and I was able to reply this time, barely.

- Yeah I´m fine, I owe one old man. – I whiffed out in relief.

- On your feet soldier, we are not out of the frying pan yet. – He said extending his hand to help me up, he had a light smile on his face.

I stood up quickly, moved over to grab the rifle and ran back to the window I had been covering but to my surprise the bloodhounds had stopped coming and were in turn retreating.

- That´s it you motherfucks! Get yer´ sorry, ugly asses the fuck outta here! Run! Im´ma fuckin´kill ye´all! – Liam yelled when he noticed they were beginning to retreat.

- Hey Liam? – I said.

- Run, you pieces of shit! – He kept on shouting.

- Liam! – I yelled.

- Imma find ye´all and kill ye´ and ye´ mothers and ye´grandmothers! –

- Liam enough, shut the fuck up! – I barked at him, He just jolted a bit surprised that I yelled at him, he quickly snapped back to reality.

- Oh, yeah, I… Sorry, I got a bit carried over. – He said.

Harry, Liam and I went back upstairs, Helena was back at the radio trying to establish a line but nothing but static came in though the speaker, seems like long range transmissions weren´t working, only local comms between us.

- Guys we should leave now before they come back. – Helena said in a concerned tone.

- Come back? We just kicked their arses, them bloody fucks. – Liam cheered.

- They are re-grouping Liam, you know it, we´ve been there before. – I scolded him.

-I know she is right, just let me savor this moment. – He whined.

- All right, let´s go downstairs and haul ass out of here. – Harry said.

Liam and I went down first making sure the coast was clear and picking up the trip mines that were left, Helena and Harry came down when we signaled them.

As we were heading back into the forest Helena said:

- I can´t believe that neither HQ nor Dom answer. –

- Something´s wrong, it may be the distance but that is unlikely, I´m guessing the radio pack just crapped out again. – Harry said.

- I thought Dominique fixed it a couple of days ago. – Liam remarked.

- Well whatever she did left us in the dark today, let’s get back to the truck, at least we know THAT radio works. Hustle up I´m sure the bloodhounds will follow our tracks. – I said.

We went back through where we came, the forest was still dark but there was almost no fog and the clouds had cleared up a bit allowing the moon to shine and light the path ahead, I looked at my watch and saw that it was two am sharp, we had about half a mile left when I heard some howling behind us not far from our position.

- We have to move quicker, these things are closing in and if they catch up we won’t stand a chance out in the open. – Harry said.

We picked up the pace, the truck was like 150 meters away when I heard something closing in from behind, I turned around and saw a bloodhound sprinting straight towards me.

- Helena! You and Liam make a run for it and start the truck, Miller and I will keep them busy. – Harry shouted.

Harry and I stood our ground and opened fire on the bloodhounds that were the closest, we were running for a couple of meters, stopping and shooting, repeating the process every thirty to fifty meters.

- Harry, transport ready, get your asses over here. – Helena said over the radio just as I ran out of ammo for the M1 Garand.

I threw the rifle to the ground and we made a mad dash to the truck with the bloodhounds following close behind, as we reached the truck we saw Liam opening the roof hatch and cocking the machine gun.

- Hit the deck! – He yelled and we jumped to the ground.

Liam opened fire and ripped the bloodhounds to shreds with the heavy rounds, hot shells rained down as we opened the door and got inside, Harry at the wheel.

- Get us out of here ye´ old fart, gun it! – Liam said without stopping the machine gun.

- Don´t ask me twice! – Harry replied as he stepped on the gas and lifted the clutch.

The wheels spinned for a moment and got grip launching us forward full speed ahead leaving the creatures behind, we drove for 30 minutes approximately without any enemy contact, we finally got off the edge and relaxed a bit.

- Helena, use the radio and try to get a hold of anyone. – I said.

- Oh, right. – She said and grabbed the mic.

- Liam! Get your ass down here! – I said while punching the roof to call his attention, he heard me and got down closing the hatch, some static was heard and then we heard Dominique speaking to HQ, it sounded like they were in trouble.

- Command, this is control thirteen we are under attack, a horde of infected is approaching our position from the south-east, their main force is approximately 2 miles away coming from the same direction and closing up fast, we are understaffed at the moment, I have visual confirmation of a mass of walkers, crazies and several packs of bloodhounds, I request artillery fire in sector Alpha, Zulu, Romeo, Mike, Four, Five, Eight, Two, over. –

- Control thirteen command here, negative on the fire mission requested, artillery batteries are currently busy covering posts eight, eleven, seven and five which are at danger of being overrun as well, we´ll let you know as soon as it´s available, hang tight, over. –

Helena broke in the conversation.

- Control thirteen this is rescue one we are on our way back, E.T.A. ten minutes, over. – General Stone came on the line shortly after.

- Did you found any survivors? – He asked.

- No general, KIA all of them, we got their tags. –

- Perfect, good, get back here A.S.A.P, Dominique you may take over the rest of the op, over and out. – He said in a bleak tone, we all looked at each other quite confused with the general´s reaction.

- Good? Men die because of his imprudence and all he says is ¨good¨? – I ranted angrily, Dominique then came over the radio.

- Team, switch to the designated channel, over. –

- 10-4 switching back. – Helena said and turned the knob.

- Rescue one Dom here, it is good to hear you guys, you all in one piece? Over. – Dom asked.

- Barely but yes, all souls aboard and accounted for, we´ll debrief you when we get there, how much time do we have until the horde you talk about reaches the gates? – Helena replied.

- Ten minutes at the most before the first wave, it´s a shitload of them but the gate should hold, haul ass if you don´t want to be left outside, without the artillery there isn´t much we can do aside from the .50 cal machine guns at the walls and the mortars. Over. –

- We´ll hurry just be ready at the door, the most likely thing is that you´ll have company already by the time we get there but we´ll try to clear a path, keep us posted, over and out.

- Harry you heard the lady, we have ten minutes tops, maybe even less. – I said and he smiled.

- This is the captain speaking, due to a change in our plans we are forced to increase the speed, and due to that we kindly ask you to remain seated unless instructed otherwise, buckle up, secure any moving object inside the cabin and pray that we make it in time, thanks for flying with British airways. – Harry yelled with a huge grin in his face, I´ve never seen the old man like this, with such an expression in his face, he looked stressed but we was having a lot of fun, no doubt about it, for a man like him this was just a playground.

The sheer weight of the truck made it lean side to side in each curve, harry was making his best effort to keep the speed up without spinning us out of the road, fifteen minutes later Dom came over the radio again.

- Rescue one control thirteen here, where are you guys? Over. – Dominique asked.

- We can see the wall already, we´re like three miles away. Over. – Helena replied.

- Team, you´re running out of time, the first wave is here so you might have to make your way shooting, we´ll try to keep the entrance clear but you need to get here now, I can´t ask for artillery fire until you guys are inside. Over. –

- Shit Harry, what now? – I asked.

- Tell her to request the Artillery. – Harry said in a calm decisive tone without taking his eyes off the road.

- What? – Helena said.

- You fucking what mate? – Liam yelled.

- It´s either that or we spend the night out… and we already saw how that goes. – He said.

- A damn shell might hit us. – I said.

- I´d rather die by artillery fire than being eaten alive. – He replied.

We all looked at each other and nodded in agreement to that last sentence.

- Control thirteen rescue one here, call in the artillery, over. – Helena said.

- Rescue one come again, you want me to call in the artillery? Are you guys insane? – Dominique asked bewildered by what she heard.

- Affirmative to both Dom, we´re coming in hot, over. – Helena said.

- Understood rescue one, over and out. –

Helena switched over to the HQ frequency and we heard Domino call in the shots.

- Command this is control thirteen, what´s the status of the third artillery bastion? Over. –

- Control thirteen, the third is currently reloading but available, over. –

- Requesting artillery fire in my sector, grid markings are Alpha, Zulu, Romeo, two, seven, four, niner, be advised, danger close. Over. –

- Control thirteen, ummmm… we have reports that you have a fire team outside the walls and on it´s way back, please confirm, over. –

- Affirmative, a fire team of four is on the outside under an assignment from general Stone, they requested the artillery fire. Over. –

- Solid copy, control thirteen you have green light for that artillery, standby and tell your boys to find cover, over and out. –