7th Chapter

Part 13 We’re being Surrounded

On the command from General Renna, a private started to crank the red alert siren. The low frequency growl getting louder, warning all those around, and then echoes thru the surrounding community of Garwood. The residents, whoever were left, are already in their basements, cowering from the Peril of the LHS when it initially went through the north end of the boro, destroying Onion County College in it's wake. Major Bury still positioned atop Franklin school for the last 24 hours radios down in urgency: General, those dimwitted zombie hordes are now on the outside of town. Swinging around, Major Bury also declares: And the LHS is near the Girl Scout offices on Grove Street and coming this way. We're being surrounded.

General Renna taking the handset from the radioman says to Major Bury: Stay put on the roof. Send whoever else is up there down to help. We are demobilizing the compound as fast as possible and moving into the school buildings. The situation is dire. Will make contact with you once we set up again. Signing off!

The General turns toward Captain Monarch: Go. Help our men on the west side of the school. If need be, abandon the tents and just move the critical equipment inside the nearby Lincoln school and re-set up there. I'll take the east side of our compound and move it into the Franklin school. We'll regroup in the 2 schools and reestablish contact.

To the two professors, the General yells: You two move first and go inside now, we need your expertise if and when these blithering hordes hit.

Both Greevy and Dotcom, nod in unison and scurry under the tent flaps toward Franklin, Greevy pushing Dotcom away to proceed first. The radioman finishes packing the communication gear and follows fast. The bustle of the men throughout the HQ compound as they break camp show definite urgency. The late October morning sun adds to the sweat. The tension from the imminent Peril is tangible. Moments pass.

Private Bean at the north east corner of the compound was the first to look up and see the front fringe of the hordes come around 3rd avenue onto Walnut. My God, General Renna, they've arrived!

General Renna leans toward his shoulder microphone and commands through all the walkie-talkies on the men's belts. Men, drop whatever you have and get inside the school, fast. And bar the doors.

The men abandon their positions and retreat through the doors of Franklin and the adjacent Lincoln school on 2nd avenue. The hordes spill into the courtyard and towards the school doors now slammed shut, wedges of broken wood chairs jammed in the inside handles by the men. The zombie mass covers the door windows of both schools, banging their bodies and heads against them, again and again. The duhs fill the courtyard in ominous echos.

In Franklin School, the radioman finishes setting up the communication gear in a first floor classroom and the General contacts Major Bury on the roof. Major, what do you see?

They’re all around us, General. They have ringed the 2 schools. Looks like Lincoln is definitely taking the brunt of the hordes. Franklin is surrounded on 3 sides, but with minimal resistance toward the east side, front of the school. Worse, the LHS has now crossed the railroad tracks and is 2 blocks away. It just flattened Shop-Rite. We're really in for it bad, General.

Major, keep us posted on the progress as long as you can.

The crackle of the intercom interrupted. It was Captain Monarch over in the Lincoln school location to the west.

General, we don't know how long we can hold this position. Zombies are at the doors and windows. The mesh security wire is giving way.

The General heard the crash of glass through the intercom. Lincoln School is being breeched.

Captain, fire at will, you must hold them back.

Captain Monarch gives the command order to fire.

The crackle of gunfire can easily be heard by ear from the General's location in Franklin school.

Captain Monarch has 20 men with him at Lincoln school. The zombie mass presses through the broken doors and crawls through the nearby windows. Monarch and his men are forced to fall back into the hallway, blasting away with their weapons with little affect. The men backing down the hallway, the zombies pressing forward; more zombies joining the mass by coming through the classroom windows, through the doors into the hallway.

Monarch and his men retreat up a ramp and encounter an auditorium. There they climb to the stage and fire down at the pressing mass of zombies. With nowhere else to go, Captain Monarch had to think fast but could come up with nothing. He radio’s the General over at Franklin school.

General, my men are trapped. We are in an auditorium, running low on ammo, can't hold the hordes back. What should we do?

The General went to speak, but Professor Dotcom, grabbed the mike off the General's shoulder clip. Sorry, but allow me, General.

Professor, if you have an idea, go right ahead.

The Professor, yelling into the mike: Captain, I have been slowly determining a solution and the same idea may fit here in your situation. If you remember in my lab you held a textbook near me, and i suddenly revived. This may be the clue.

Over the heavy noise of duhs and the rapid fire of weapons, Captain Monarch responds: I remembered during my encounter at Schering Plough's warehouse, myself and private Bean threw text books at the zombies to hold them back. Could textbooks help us from this predicament?

Yes, Captain, this is the direction I was thinking.

Monarch turned to Corporal Buettner next to him. He is firing furiously down at the zombies trying to climb on the stage: Corporal, take someone with you, go through that stage door, hopefully the zombies haven’t made it to that hallway yet. Go into a classroom and grab all the books you can carry, bring them back to the stage.

Yes, sir. Buettner grabs Private Bramnick. The 2 men holster their guns and run thru the stage door left.

Professor Dotcom continues: Captain Monarch, years ago, I lectured in that auditorium to 8th graders on the importance of science. As I recall, there is a marked entrance to a steam utility tunnel to the right across the hall. This connects the two schools. You must try to make it to the tunnel over to Franklin where we are.

Yes, Professor.

Corporal Buettner and the private just then return with their hands filled with books.

Captain we found 41 books, all we could get.

Captain Monarch, remembering the Schering Plough escape, almost said to start throwing them, but held back for a better idea. Over, the horrid noises, he yells. Corporal Buettner, hand out 2 books to each man. 20 men are 40 books; I'll take the last one. Have the men hold a book in each hand and swing it back and forth around themselves. We might be able to get thru the hordes that way. Head towards the back of the auditorium, There is a steam tunnel door. We must get our men into that tunnel and toward safety with the main group in the other school.

But Captain, the books make no sense. How are they supposed to stop these blithering zombie hordes? And you will end up with only one book, how can you swing only one?

Corporal, they may be afraid of paper, just do it, that’s an order.

The books were handed out. The men one by one holster their weapons and start swinging the books. The hordes suddenly stop their relentless pressing. The din of hideous duhs, are quieting down.

Captain, its working! The books are working! They are afraid of the paper.

Head off the stage, form a line, keep swinging those books. Lead the men toward the steam tunnel to Franklin school. I'll follow.

Corporal Buettner, leading the men, went down the stairs onto the main floor, swinging the books. The blithering hordes part like the Red Sea before Moses. The men walking slowly, swinging the books, make their way in single file toward the back. Captain Monarch then goes to follow but with one book couldn't cover all his sides and the zombies press back around him. He retreats and becomes stuck on the stage.

From the back of the auditorium, yells Buettner. Captain, watch out, what are you going to do, you can't get out.

The captain yells back. Keep leading your men toward that tunnel. I'll be alright.

With that, Captain Monarch, looks around, pulls out his pocket knife and retreats to the back of the stage. He grabs on to sand bag ropes behind him and cuts the balancing rope. The zombies lurch toward him, climbing on the stage, filling the stairways, the doors. The rope yanks Monarch up out of the closing grasp of the zombies, and he, still clutching his book hopefully heads up to some platform hidden high behind the curtains. But is there one? He suddenly is drawn from sight of the men he saved.

Corporal Buettner, leads his book-swinging men to the tunnel, and throws open the door. One by one the men drop their books and climb into the tunnel. When Buettner saw to the last man in the tunnel, he piles the books at the tunnel entrance and climbs in. The hordes can not get close, the piled books with their dreaded paper holding them back.

At the other end of the tunnel is Franklin school, and some safety. The Franklin tunnel door is drawn open and the General and his men help Buettner and his contingent of 20 out of the tunnel, one by one.

When the last one was out, the General turns to Corporal Buettner and inquires. Where's Captain Monarch?

General, when we last saw him, he was on the stage wrapped in curtains, surrounded by zombies. That's all we saw.

The General held his head low and murmured. Curtains, indeed. Captain Monarch was a brave man.

The banging of the zombies against the walls, doors and windows of Franklin school, bring the reality of the situation back home. There is no true safety at Franklin. The Peril still remains.

Major Bury’s voice comes across the radio in a short concise message with a sense of dread they could all feel: General, the LHS is here.

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