World War Z_ An Oral History of the Zombie War ( PDFDrive )

whatever they contact. It enters through the pores, the eyes, the lungs. Depending on the dosage,
the effects can be instantaneous. I could see the evacuees’ limbs begin to tremble, arms falling to
their sides as the agent worked its way through their central nervous system. They rubbed their
eyes, fought to speak, move, breathe. I was glad I couldn’t smell the contents of their
undergarments, the sudden discharge of bladder and bowels.
Why would they do it? I couldn’t understand. Didn’t the high command know that chemical
weapons had no effect on the undead? Didn’t they learn anything from Zhitomir?
The first corpse to move was a woman, just a second or more before the others, a twitching hand
groping across the back of a man who looked like he’d been trying to shield her. He slipped off as
she rose on uncertain knees. Her face was mottled and webbed with blackened veins. I think she
saw me, or our tank. Her jaw dropped, her arms rose. I could see the others coming to life, every
fortieth or fiftieth person, everyone who had been bitten and had previously tried to conceal it.
And then I understood. Yes, they’d learned from Zhitomir, and now they found a better use for
their cold war stockpiles. How do you effectively separate the infected from the others? How do
you keep evacuees from spreading the infection behind the lines? That’s one way.
They were starting to fully reanimate, regaining their footing, shuffling slowly across the bridge
toward us. I called for the gunner. He could barely stutter a response. I kicked him in the back,
barked the order to sight his targets! It took a few seconds but he settled his crosshairs on the
first woman and squeezed the trigger. I held my ears as the Coax belched. The other tanks
followed suit.
Twenty minutes later, it was over. I know I should have waited for orders, at least reported our
status or the effects of the strike. I could see six more flights of Rooks streaking over, five heading
for the other bridges, the last for the city center. I ordered our company to withdraw, to head
southwest and just keep going. There were a lot of bodies around us, the ones who’d just made it
over the bridge before the gas hit. They popped as we ran over them.
Have you been to the Great Patriotic War Museum Complex? It was one of the most impressive
buildings in Kiev. The courtyard was filled with machines: tanks, guns, every class and size, from
the Revolution to the modern day. Two tanks faced each other at the museum’s entrance. They
were decorated with colorful drawings now, and children were allowed to climb and play on them.
There was an Iron Cross, a full meter in size, made from the hundreds of real Iron Crosses taken
from dead Hitlerites. There was a mural, from floor to ceiling, showing a grand battle. Our soldiers
were all connected, in a seething wave of strength and courage that crashed upon the Germans,
that drove them from our homeland. So many symbols of our national defense and none more
spectacular than the statue of the Rodina Mat (Motherland). She was the tallest building in the
city, a more than sixty-meter masterpiece of pure stainless steel. She was the last thing I saw in
Kiev, her shield and sword held high in everlasting triumph, her cold, bright eyes looking down at
us as we ran.
SAND LAKES PROVINCIAL WILDERNESS PARK, MANITOBA,
CANADA