TYBEE ISLAND
By By Paul Paul Cales Cales & Becca
Continued from the Jan. 2020 Beachcomber.
Catch up @ http://tybeebeachcomber.com/magazine
CHAPTER 32
TRACK GREASE
DAY 10
“Let’s go Joey!” Tony shouts. “Run those bastards over.”
Joey cranks back on the T-handle and the engine whines.
As the tank lurches forward, Rudy yells over the sounds of the tank,
“They’re crawling all over the van. It’s surrounded and it’s going to be
impossible for them to get out of the parking lot.”
“Move it Joey!” Tony shouts again.
Joey maneuvers the tank through the parking lot, running over at least
fifteen zombies. He drives past the van clearing the left side of the van. A
few of the undead break away from the main pack and follow the tank.
“Some of them are chasing us,” Rudy says.
“Driver stop,” Tony commands. “Put it in neutral and wind the engine
up!”
Joey places the transmission selector to neutral and revs the engine.
The infected that are directly behind the tank are hit with a blast from the
exhaust and their skin begins to melt off of their faces.
“Holy shit, do you see this?!” Rudy exclaims.
“That’s 1500 degrees coming out of the back of the tank. It’ll take care
of a few of them,” Tony says, before noticing a few infected making
their way around to the sides of the tank, clawing and scratching at the
ballistic skirts as they move.
“Joey, pivot the tank to the left as hard as you can.”
Joey pulls on the T-bar hard and the tank spins in place to the left,
crushing the zombies that were there.
“You’re going to have a mess to clean up when we’re done here, Joey,”
Tony laughs.
“At least he doesn’t need to grease the track. The dead are taking care
of that,” Rudy says.
“Oh gross!” Sara shouts.
“Joey, stop!” Tony commands.
Joey stops the tank. After two and a half rotations, they are facing the
van again.
“Shit,” Rudy sighs. “They’re still all over the van.”
“Where the hell are they coming from?” Joey asks. “It’s like they’re
multiplying.”
“I think it’s the noise of the tank. All this commotion must be drawing
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | FEB 2020
ISLAN
them in,” Tony answers.
“I can’t see anything from down here,” Sara says.
“Hang tight, Sara,” Tony says. “We’ll get them.”
“They’re climbing onto the front slope of the tank!” Joey shouts to the
group.
“Rudy, button up,” Tony says. “Let’s get these hatches closed!”
Rudy and Tony get the hatches closed on the top of the tank.
“This whole situation is messed up,” Tony sighs. “Tanks aren’t good for
combat like this.”
“We can’t just leave them!” Sara shouts.
“Everyone hold on!” Tony says, and grabs the tank commander’s
control. He spins the turret of the tank, using the gun tube to swipe the
undead off the front slope of the tank.
“That worked!” Joey yells. “You got them off the tank!”
Tony swings the gun toward the van so he can see what’s happening
inside it. “They’re still stuck. Oh god! They broke through the driver’s
window!” Just as the words leave his mouth he and Sara, looking through
the tank’s sights, can see JT fighting off the zombies. As he’s punching
one of the undead, another zombie grabs his arm and latches onto it with
its teeth. Blood covers the side door and JT retreats back inside the van.
“JT GOT BIT!” Sara screams.
Tony opens the tank commander’s hatch, grabs the charging handle
for the M2 machine gun, yanks the handle to the rear to load it, and
slides back inside the tank to grab the controls with one smooth motion.
“Caliber 50!” he announces. With his eye pressed firmly to the .50
cal sight, he depresses the fire button and the M2 roars to life. Being
careful not to hit the van he decimates the crowd of zombies that have
congregated on the right side of the van.
“Damn, that thing is loud,” Rudy says.
“What?” Tony sneers with a grin on his face. “Alright Joey. Slowly drive
past the van. I’m going to try and pick off the last of them.” Tony pops the
tank commander’s hatch, grabs the M4, and as Joey passes the van he
shoots the remaining five zombies in the head.
“Good shooting, Tex.” Rudy says.
“It’s not over yet. JT’s been bitten,” Tony sighs. “Joey stop.”
As Joey halts the tank, Tony swings the gun tube back toward the van.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god…” Sara chants, as she and Tony watch
through the gun sights. Chaos erupts inside the van. The glass on the
inside of the van turns crimson red.
“They’re gone, Rudy,” Tony says. “Load a heat round.”
Rudy shoves his knee into the ammo door switch and the ammo door
slams open. He grabs a 120mm heat round and loads it into the breach
block. He grabs the arming handle and throws it up into the armed
position as the ammo door slams back shut. “UP!” Rudy announces.
Tony reaches past Sara in the gunner’s seat and switches the gun
select switch to HEAT. He leans back into his seat and takes aim with the
main gun. Knowing that he has an untrained crew, he glances around the
turret. “Rudy, back against the wall. Sara, watch your arm”
Rudy presses his body as far away from the main gun breach block as
he can. Sara, whose arm was resting against the breach, puts her hands
in her lap and plasters her face into the gunner’s sight.
“This is gonna be loud,” Tony informs the group. “ON THE WAY!” Tony
pulls the trigger and the main gun fires. The breach block slams to the
rear of the turret and ejects the spent aft cap of the HEAT round. The van
explodes into a fireball, spewing the van’s contents in all directions.
“JESUS CHRIST!” Joey yells.
/magazine