Zombie Theorem (Book 2): The Siege by James Wallace Page A

ducked down, I then popped up and watched as a gunman sighted on the area Brian had just dropped down from. I fired and stitched the man across the chest just as someone nearby him fired in my direction.
    I dropped back down and covered my hands over my head and neck, protecting it from the chips of countertop being blasted into the air. Another gun went off from somewhere else in the room, and all became silent. I looked over at Brian, and he gave me the wait sign by holding a hand up. We waited another minute and then heard Kuppers’ voice, “Alright, boys, room is clear. You can get up now.”
    We gained our feet and looked across the room to Vic zip tying a woman and holding a towel to her shoulder. Brian jumped over the counter. I was not going to even try doing that, since I would probably fall straight on face, so I walked around the corner and into the room.      
    “Building clear?”
    Kuppers leaned against a table and dropped his gun onto its sling and smiled at us. “Yup. We found the hostages and freed them when we heard your little fire fight. We dealt with four other guards that were about to shoot the hostages. How many did you guys get?”
    Brian scratched at his beard and answered, “One dead in the kitchen, and one prisoner hog tied on the floor near the fridge.”
    “How are the hostages?” I asked.
    “They’re fine. We freed one, and she is releasing the rest. Why don’t you two head up those stairs and deal with that floor while we go back and help out the hostages?” Vic ordered.
    Brian and I nodded our agreement and started climbing the stairs. We kept hunched over, our guns trained at the door above waiting on us. “I’ll open the door. You do your action star roll inside and I’ll cover you,” I suggested.
    “I’ll do my best Bruce Willis impersonation.”
    “You have a long way to go to do that with how ugly you are.”
    Before he could say anything, I grabbed the door and swung it open fully. Brian threw himself into the room and rolled into a couch onto his knees bringing his gun up. I entered into the room and moved to my right. Two men and woman hunched down at the end of the room with handguns raised at us. I fired and hit one of the men in the chest, knocking him back the wall. Brian fired simultaneously, hitting the other man in the legs, making him drop his gun and grab his new bullet holes. The woman started to raise her handgun when I yelled out, “Put it down, or we will kill you. You have no chance.”
    I realized she was the woman I saw earlier in the truck. She thought for a couple of heartbeats and made the right decision. She dropped her gun and raised her hands. “I’ll cover you, Brian.” He stood and made his way cautiously toward her as I covered her and the two men. Brian knocked her down to the ground on her face and zip tied her quickly. Her frisked her and removed two knives and another gun hidden under her shirt. He then took the man he had shot in the legs and rolled him onto his stomach. He zip tied him up and went through his clothes, relieving him of knives, two full magazines of .9mm ammo, and 4 condoms.
    Brian then rolled him over and tore the man’s pants legs open. He examined the wounds and removed a first aid kit from his pack. He poured two packs of some kind of power on the wounds and placed bandages on them. The man was unconscious from the rounds but had a strong heartbeat, Brian announced.  He checked the last man and found him to still be alive. The man kept trying to speak, but blood welled from his mouth. There was nothing we could do. All I could think about was how he was going to suffer because of me. I raised my barrel and shot him in the head, putting him out of his misery.
    Brian looked at me surprised, “That was the last thing I thought you would do.”
    I looked into his eyes, then turned and started walking out of the room back to the stairs. I wasn’t trying to be an ass, but I was tired, hurt, and pissed at the whole