Jubilee Beach- The Briefing. Phase 4.

After 27 organised battles with the undead I thought (or at least I hoped) that I knew enough about them for the final phase to work.

It relies on perfect timing from the boys and the rank stupidity of the zeds. Tricky...

"Phase 4" I told them, "is when it all happens."
"When I'm happy that Gobby has got every zed in the area all rounded up into a well behaved herd, I'll give the word, Rampage will bring his lot out of the aquarium and make their way towards you, Gobby."
I spoke to Rampage "I don't want anyone running, okay? Your fitness might be up to scratch but I'm not convinced about some of the older members of the group and we don't want to save the zeds a job by having half our lot collapsing from a communal heart attack...so a gentle jog is all that's needed."
"No problem Cool." agreed Rampage.
"Gobby, as soon as you clock Rampage coming your way I want you two to ride in opposite directions around your herd. You'll have the space to do it and it'll stop any zeds breaking away from the group before everybody is in position."

I hoped I wasn't giving him too much to do, but the way he was focusing on me the whole time made me relax a little as I could tell he that he understood the importance of what was required of him and was taking it all in.

"Spook, when I tell you, you'll come out of the toilet block with your lot and make your way towards Gobby and the pack."
He nodded. "Okay" he said quietly.

"And this, fellas, is where it gets tight." Again, I looked at each one of them, even Gobby's buddy, mainly to emphasise the fact that this is where it could all go tits-up if the timing was off or my instructions weren't understood 100 percent.

I spoke to them all in sequence- "Rampage, when you draw up to the herd you'll start killing from the front. Gobby, when Rampage's group start laying into the front of the pack both of you will break away and re-group 20 yards behind Rampage. Keep your engines running and rev the shit out of them. Your job is to keep the attention of the zeds, eyes front at all fucking times,masking the noise and distracting them from what's happening at the rear, which is you, Spook. You'll attack from the rear, taking them out from behind."
"Here's what we want to happen... Rampage will be doing the majority of the damge with his machete crew. Gobby will be keeping the attention of the herd, so keeping them moving forward onto Rampages blades. Spook's lot will be at the rear with Paddles, taking them out from behind and finishing off any crawlers that either survived the machetes or lost their footing due to the uneven ground and/or tripping over their dead buddies. While this is happening, Wanker and Mr Full-Bore will be shooting into the pack, not into the middle though but slightly to the rear."
"Why's that, Bolo?" asked Wanker. And it suddenly occured to me that this was the first time he'd spoken since we sat down. In fact, he'd been unusually quiet and I reckoned that he'd noticed how angry I'd been recently. Or to put it correctly, the simmering vehemence that I'd been feeling every morning upon waking. I'd tried to hide it but Wanker knows me too well.
Something was going to happen, something I hadn't mentioned yet (and wasn't going to), but he knew. He just didn't know what it was.

Collecting myself I explained- "The reason I want you to shoot into the rear of the pack is because if you shoot to the middle the machetes could potentially have too many crawlers to deal with, whereas the Paddles are better applied to crawlers so it's best that there's more to the rear than the front."
"Righto" he said.
"Obviously Shotgun Trevor doesn't have the range to offer you any cover so he'll be with me, up top, covering Wanker and Mr Full-Bore and taking care of anything that takes an unhealthy interest in us."
I took a breath, "And that is how it will be until every undead resident of Jubilee Beach has stopped wriggling."
"Any questions?" I asked.
"Numbers?" asked Spook.
("Numbers!" How the Hell didI forget fucking "numbers"!)
I collected myself, "As always, numbers will be dictated by the Squads. If it was our "good friend" Commander Blackstock's Squad then numbers will be low- maybe no more than fifty. Any other Commander and the numbers will invariably be higher but I'll give a top of one-fifty and I pray to God I'm not wrong."

"Any more questions?"

Silence. Just how I liked it.

"Okay," I said, "I know you hate this bit but I've written out the running order lists for you all. Study them, get them in your head, discuss them with each other but be in your bunks before ten. High tide is 12:37pm, we'll be there and ready to kick off at 6:00am so we'll be moving out from here at 5:00am."

I looked around the room. Everybody was studying their list, the atmosphere was serious but without being tense. I knew this was the most ambitious clearance we'd ever undertaken, not least because I'd never put Gobby in such a position of responsibility, but despite the almost overwhelming rage I felt towards the world recently, I felt confident that we'd pull this off with out any major upsets.

"Thankyou Gentleman" I said. "I'll see you at daybreak."

And with that, the briefing was over.

I didn't bother going to my bunk as I knew I wouldn't sleep tonigh. The plan would be going over and over in my head even though I knew I'd not missed anything. After all, that's why I am "in charge".
Maybe that was why I'd been waking up so fucking arsey every morning.

Then again, maybe it was for another reason.