Radio Silence

"Yo, what the hell is going on?" Darius called out while marching up to the gate and giving it a few hard bangs with his fist, "Open the fucking door!" Marcus immediately grabbed the southern thug and yanked him back.

"You trying to get us in deep shit, dumbass? Keep your fucking voice down and don't touch anything, get me?" Marcus growled as Barker grabbed his radio and called into the base a second time.

Darius shrugged off Marcus's hold and stormed away while Marcus shook his head, "Come on, guys...open the door,"

A murmuring of concern began to spread throughout the group, "Everyone remain calm, we'll handle this," Barker announced as he took a few steps to the side and picked up his radio once more, "Base camp, I say again, this is echo team. We are outside the gate with VIP's." Barker waited for a few minutes, hearing on the soft static buzz of silence in response. "Sonofabitch..."

Barker hooked his radio back to his belt and glanced to Marcus, shaking his head, "Alright, more than likely, communications went down again, they probably just aren't getting our signal. I'd say we wait it out but with a group this big, and them already getting jumpy, think you can just get it open? I'll take the heat from the CO after,"

"I'll give it a shot," Marcus agreed while Barker turned to speak to the group directly,

"Alright, everyone please just relax. We're having a little trouble contacting them but Marcus has the override to get us inside. So please, just remain calm," Barker easily told the others, seeing a few relax, but not nearly enough to quell this growing problem,

"It's standard not to have someone on watch? Especially now?" Mac asked back as Marcus walked over to a steel panel on the side of the gate. Taking out a set of keys he unlocked the hatch, pulled it open, and began to mess with a set of wires inside, "That's doesn't look like you putting in an emergency code or something. We're locked out, and you're trying to break in! You brought me and my family to some **** trap?!"

"Hey man, keep your voice down," Ivey snapped, "Do you want whatever is out here to hear us?"

"Uhhh, yeah, listen to the reporter. I'm not looking to get chewed up because you idiots can't keep your voices down," Holly tacked on with a roll over her eyes,

"Oh yes, because being rude and insulting is going to make this all much better," Mirabelle chastised the younger teenager.

"That wasn't an insult, but if you want me to start getting rude I can --" Holly sarcastically began to retort, only for her to be cut off.

"Okay, enough, everyone stop." Barker sharply interrupted, "The door will be open in a minute and then you'll all be safe. Until then, keep quiet and keep it together. I know you're scared, but turning on each other is going to make this harder." The group of survivors lamented, each quieting down and keeping their eyes off one another as the tension slowly dissipated. Barker let out a soft exhale of relief, moving over to Marcus, "How's it looking?"

"I think...I almost got it...never had to to short out a security system on our side before," Marcus grunted in response, "Not that I really did much more than work on radios in the field..."

"Uh, hey, Barker?!" Barker and Marcus both snapped to attention as Josh called out to them. Looking over they found the black man in the back lifting a hammer and slowly backing away, "We've got a problem over here!"

Lumbering up the road, in a mass shambling group, was a group of the dead too plentiful to count. Barker's eyes grew wide and he immediately ran forward pushing his way through the group, "Everyone back up! Stay clear of them!"

"Oh fucking hell! Mira, get Henry, and stay back!" Mac growled as he pulled his rifle off his shoulder while Mike calmly made his way forward, preparing to defend himself as well as the other with his grisly flathead shovel.

"Doctor Stevens, stay back! I'll protect you!" Alice swiftly took a protective stance in front of the doctor while at the same time Amy pulled out her sidearm,

"Man you need to get that door open, now!" Darius shouted out at Marcus who let out a growl, yanking wires out and tying them off,

"Working on it, working on it! Do something useful and buy me some fucking time!" Marcus snapped back,

"Focus on the door, we got this!" Barker raised his rifle and began to fire at the herd of dead coming their way.

The group follows Barker's lead, using their few guns and weapons to hold back the dead. The few without weapons, Mitchell, Mirabelle, Holly, and the doctors Alice and Stevens backed away towards the door. Ivey, however, wasn't content with merely doing nothing and without a word ran to Barker, pulling out his sidearm from his holster.

The soldier looked over at the woman who steadied herself, taking a few effective shots, dropping a couple dead, "We don't have enough ammo! We won't make a dent in this!"

"We have ****, just keep shooting!" Barker retorted.

The survivors continued to slowly back up as the herd gets closer, Josh, Darius, and Mike doing their damnedest to take out as many as they can with their melee weapons. The homeless vet was swinging through them clean, even taking off a few heads. Darius cracked some skulls with a lead pipe; and Josh was grabbing hold of them by the neck, smashing a mallet over their head, one at a time. Even so, the sea of them was never ending, and fatigue was starting to set in.

Suddenly, Amy caught something from the corner of her eye. She turned, and saw another group of dead closing in from the side, about to get the better of the unaware group pressed against the door, "Over there!" She put up her pistol and started firing swiftly at the closer pack of undead.

Her sidearm then clicked, and she hisseed out a breath, ejecting the magazine and loading in a fresh one. "Shit, shit, shit!" She panicked, watching as the first of the infected reached the group.

Holly suddenly let out a scream as one of the dead grabbed onto her arm. The blonde fought against its hold, doing everything to keep its snapping jaw away. She yanked back hard, falling to the ground, "Help me!"

Before the young blonde could be ripped into, she suddenly heard the bark of gunfire, and a shot caught the infected in the head. It collapsed into a heap at her feet and she kicked it away with scurrying feet. Looking over her shoulder she sees Mitchell, shakily holding Marcus's **** rifle in his hands.

"You okay?" Holly gave a rapid nod. The young student swallowed down the fear he had and stepped forward, squeezing the trigger. Another burst of bullets fired again at the horde, dropping a few more.

"Marcus!" Barker called out, "It's now or never man!"

"I'm fucking trying, Ryan! The damn thing won't budge!" Marcus screamed back yanking out his sidearm and taking a few shots as well.

Then finally, the group heard the door crack open. They turn their heads and saw a few sets of hands using all their strength to pry it open, "C'mon, in here!" One voice shouts through gritted teeth. "Come on, we cant hold it for long!"

Marcus jumped up and rushed over, helping pull the rolling door open and one by one the group rushed their way inside. The kids, Barker, Darius, Ivey, each making their way to safety until finally the doctors went to squeeze in. The elderly surgeon Stevens put a hand on Alice forcing her to rush in first but, the old doctor missed the infected so close behind him.

Rotten teeth sunk into his shoulder, and he let out a gasping shocked exhale. Marcus gritted his teeth looking back, watching as the doctor was grabbed and slowly pulled into the horde, "No!" Marcus took on hand off the door, grabbing his pistol and took a few shots, but it's to no avail, Stevens was pulled to the ground.

"Marcus! Get in here!" Barker reached out, grabbing the marine by his collar and yanking him through the rolling doors. The survivors finally let go of them and the thick steel doors abruptly slam shut, sealing out the dead who lazily pound their hands against it.