When There's No More room In Hell: A Zombie Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

positions.
    Marcus keyed his radio and asked again, “Stu, any of you lot got smoke?” He had to shout to be heard in his own head. By now, the whole team was throwing a hideous amount of fire power down on the insurgents, as they covered the retreat of the men from the third vehicle.  The loud growl of the machine guns and the rhythmic crack of the rifles filled the air.
    Stu looked in his direction and gave the thumbs up then, pulling a smoke grenade from his own belt kit, placed his finger into the ring attached to the pin. At the same time, Stu and Marcus stepped back and threw their smoke grenades over the vehicles as far as they could. A few seconds later, plumes of orange and purple were billowing in the waste ground, creating a smoke screen for them to retreat behind.
    They had to act fast. Marcus knew that once they began to move and their suppressive fire stopped, the insurgents would release a hailstorm into the smoke, knowing that the team was covering their retreat.
    “M ove, move back to the others!”
    A final long burst from the two machine guns and both Stu and Marcus’ crews were sprinting across the road, running between vehicles and jumping high curbs as they headed to the rally point with Ian.
    Rounds were zipping all over as the insurgents recovered and began firing into the smoke in the hope of hitting something. Some rounds smashed into vehicles as the men ran past them, others streaked and ricocheted off the road, while others flew overhead. The very air seemed alive with deadly flying pieces of metal.
    Sini and Jim stopped ahead and, using a civilian car as cover, fired long shuddering bursts from their machine guns into the smoke, covering the rest of the team as they moved back. Marcus was bringing up the rear, screaming for his men to move faster, to get to cover. Once they were in position with Ian, Marcus and Stu returned fire in order to give Sini and Jim support as they moved to safety. Sini and Jim stopped firing as Marcus and Stu released a hail of rounds in the enemy direction and sprinted, bent double, towards the rest of the team.
    They reached the area where Ian had mustered his crew and the two clients. Nick was sat leaning against the wall that separated the main road from the houses and flats beyond, holding a bloodied field dressing to his face and still carrying his weapon. Just from that split second of eye contact, Marcus knew that there was still plenty of fight left in him.
    Everyone jumped down and quickly took stock of their weapons and ammunition , ejecting magazines and slapping in fresh ones, ensuring that they had the means to carry on the fight. Marcus eyed the two clients; they were crouched, huddled together with eyes like saucers.
    “Other than Nick, anyone else hurt?”
    All sounded off that they were okay and good to go. Marcus looked back toward the road at the burning hulk of what was left of the fourth SUV. He couldn’t see any movement around it, and with a heavy heart, he had to assume that all were dead.
    “Right, we can’ t stay here. We need to move into better cover before the ragheads grow some balls and do a follow-up.” He looked further along the wall and saw what he needed, “There’s a gap there. We can push through that and hole up in one of the buildings behind us until help arrives. Shit, did anyone hit their panic button? I forgot.”
    “I hit mine as soon as the rounds started coming in ,” Stu said.
    Marcus felt a wave of relief, knowing that Stu had sent the distress signal through the vehicles transponder. It would th en ping in the Operations Room back at HQ, informing the monitors that they have come into trouble and their exact location would show up on the map screen.
    “Nice one. As soon as we go firm, I’ll try and get mobile comms with the head shed and see what’s being done. Me and Sini will take the lead and find a way through. Stu, you and your crew bring up the rear while Ian takes care of the clients in the middle.