Backing up slowly, I made my way back to Alex and Richard.
“They still in there?” Alex asked in a whisper.
“Yep,” I said, “and there are a lot more of them.”
“Are they making that creepy noise?” Richard asked.
“Indeed, they are,” I said.
Alex raised an eyebrow and said, “Indeed? You are such a nerd.”
I pointed toward the opening to the stairwell. They got the message. As a group, we approached the opening, and, thankfully, it was just as clear as it had been before.Still, we mounted the stairs cautiously and headed upward.
Chapter 38
FUBAR
The wide-open atrium was as frigid as it was the first time. Maybe colder as a stiff west wind whipped between the buildings and into the front of the building.
“This fucker is getting heavy,” Richard grunted as he changed the battery from one hand to the other.
“You’ll be free of that soon enough,” I said.
“That is if it will start the bulldozer,” Alex interjected.
“It’ll work,” I said, “because it has to.”
“That’s not how things work, you know,” Alex said.
“Zip it,” I said.
I took a moment to map out our next moves, although they were really quite predictable.
We’d do our cautious thing and slowly approach the front of the building, looking for any deaders in the area. Once we saw an opening, Alex and I would take the battery out to the bulldozer. If all went well, then we’d drive that bulldozer down to the river, then we’d find the canoes we'd left there when we came ashore. We’d climb aboard those canoes and sail south. Or paddle that way, at least.
Sure, this plan was as thin as the hair on my grandpa’s head. The damn bulldozer probably wouldn’t start. The zombies would swarm and devour us before we got on it. If we made it to the bulldozer at all, the zombies would follow us to the river because bulldozers have never set any land-speed records. Then the zombies would take us down once we jumped off the bulldozer and went for the canoes. That is if the canoes hadn’t drifted away.
What idiot came up with this plan? It was so full of flimsiness, a house of cards looked more structurally sound.
But it was the only plan I had to save Kara, so it was all or nothing.
“I don’t see many zombies out there,” Richard said as he spied across the area in front of the building.
“Yep,” Alex said. “There’s a few, but if we do this right, they won’t notice us until we’re firing the bulldozer up.”
I enjoyed her enthusiasm, and I hated what she was about to say.
“You know, we don’t have Brother Ed with us, right?” I asked. “He’s the only one of us who really knew how to drive one of those things. Sure, he told me how, but that was all theoretical. There was no hands-on portion of the training, you know.”
Alex looked at me and said, “You think I don’t know your plan sucks? Our chance of survival is next to nothing. But on the upside, I did listen when Brother Ed took you through the driving lesson for the bulldozer, for whatever that’s worth, which is probably not much.”
“Then why did you volunteer to go?” I asked.
She closed her eyes and said, “Because I couldn’t stand one more minute of you whining about Kara. That’s why.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Boy, you are one dumb son of a bitch,” she said. “I did it because I love you. And I think Kara deserves the chance to be made whole again. Plus, if there was a chance to save Rebecca, no matter how dangerous the situation was, I know you’d help me.”
Once again, I felt the sting of tears behind my eyes.
“You cry, and I’ll knock your fucking lights out,” she said, actually showing me her fist. “By the way, when I say I love you, it’s like a brother. Nothing else.”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to maintain control. “I get that.”
“You guys want to stop this touching moment on your own after school special episode, or get to the bulldozer?” Richard asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, “but let me check in with Lori to see if she’s tracked down Naveen.”
Big mistake. Big.
I pulled the walkie-talkie off my belt and clicked on the switch. No sooner had I done that than did Lori’s voice explode out of the speaker.
“Joel, come in,” she said in a frantic voice. “Joel, please come in. Please!.”
I pressed the talk button and said, “What is it?”
She came back instantly, “I’m in the tunnels.”
“What the hell are you doing there?!” I asked.
“Naveen is down here,” she shot back.
I know my mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water for a few seconds. I was finally able to talk. “What?!”
“I think she has one of Richard’s hand-drawn maps of the tunnels, and she’s trying to find you guys,” she said.
“She can’t do that,” I said. “There are zombies down in those tunnels.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?!” Lori said, and I could feel the heat in her tone even over the walkie. “I’m down here looking for her.”
“Shit, shit, shit,” I said.
“We have to get down there,” Alex said. “Now.”
I looked out at the bulldozer and saw my chance to save Kara slipping away, but it was Naveen. She needed me.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said and turned toward the stairwell. I pressed the talk button again and asked, “How far into the tunnels have you made it?”
Lori came back quickly, “I’m not sure. I just went by a bunch of dead zombies. Naveen is ahead of me, but I’m not sure how far.”
I looked to Alex and Richard and said, “They’re further in than I expected. We must have cleared the path for them when we took down those zombies.”
Without another word, we turned around and headed for the stairwell down. It felt both literally and figuratively like we were taking a huge step backward.
Not wanting to make unnecessary noise, we took the stairs down carefully, but with each step, I felt a gnawing anxiety growing inside me. Between Kara and Naveen, I was sure I was going to lose my mind.
We hit the bottom of the stairs, but I slowed up as we approached the opening to the tunnel. We wouldn’t do anyone any good if we ran headlong into a wandering group of the undead. I put out a hand to signal Alex and Richard to stop as I edged toward the corner.
I heard something coming towards us. It sounded like footsteps, rather than shuffling, but the way the sound echoed off the walls, I couldn’t tell for sure.
I pushed forward toward the opening. My head broke around the corner, and I saw a dark figure standing outside the door where the nest was. The figure was small and held a flashlight. It also had its other hand on the door handle.
That’s when I froze. I don’t know what happened. It was as if my flesh and my bones had been replaced by ice.
I knew the figure was Naveen, and I knew she was about to open that door, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
And that’s what she did. The door swung fully open and she slowly raised her flashlight, shining it into the room.
The noise she made next wasn’t really a scream. More like a yelp, but combined with the beam of the flashlight, the sound was enough. I just knew it.
Knowing what was going to happen next, I broke from my trance and placed the beam of my flashlight onto Naveen, and said, “Naveen, close the door. Do it now and run toward me.”
She brought her hand to her mouth and took a stumbling step away from the open door. Moaning sounds wafted out of the room, and then I heard the sounds of feet in motion.
I started toward her and shouted, “Naveen. Shut the door!”
That snapped her out of it, and she shot out a hand and slapped the door closed. It slammed shut, sending a cracking echo down the tunnel in both directions.
By then, the damage was done, and I was runn
ing full out toward Naveen. She jerked her head toward me, and I could see her eyes were as wide as saucers. I was so focused on Naveen that I didn’t even see the person further down the tunnel.
As I skidded to a stop in front of her, I wrapped an arm around her.
“We gotta go,” I said.
“There are so many of them,” she said in a breathy voice.
That’s when the first wave of zombies hit the door, and they hit it hard. The door rattled in its frame, causing both me and Naveen to jump. The zombie’s excited moans filtered through the door, and that’s when I realized how flimsy the door was.
Alex and Richard fell in next to me, and Alex said, “They just might come through that door.”
Richard asked, “Who is that?”Astonished, I said, “It’s Naveen.”
“No, you idiot,” he said as he pointed past me and down the tunnel. “There.”
When I turned that way, I saw a dark form headed our way, shining a flashlight in our direction.
“Joel, is that you?” A voice asked from down the tunnel. I could tell it was Lori.
The zombies hit the door, only this time it sounded like they were driving a truck. Their hands pawed and pounded on it as the door visibly shook.
“That thing’s not going to hold,” Alex said.
“Lori, run to us!” I yelled. I figured there was no use being quiet.
“Joel?” Lori asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Now, run!”
She started toward us, picking up speed. I gave Naveen a huge hug and said, “You shouldn’t have come looking for us.”
In a muffled voice, she said, “Brother Ed died.” She let out a stifled sob. “I had to make sure you were okay.”
“I’d be more okay if you were still safe and sound five floors up in the research building,” I said.
Lori was panting by the time she got to us and asked, “Naveen, what are you doing?”
I could tell she was pissed, but we had bigger fish to fry. The zombies slammed into the door, and I saw it bow out some. It was only a matter of time before they broke through, and that time was measured in seconds.
Lori took a step away from the door and asked, “What’s behind that door?”
“Oh, you don’t want to know,” I said.
Richard said, “This isn’t going to work.”
“What?!” I asked.
“We’ve got to go back to the research building,” he said.
“No, we’ve got to get back upstairs,” I said.
“They’ll be through that door, and they’ll follow you up,” he said. “We need to get the hell out of here.”
I leaned in toward him and said, “We are getting to the bulldozer.”
“Joel,” Alex said, “I don’t like this. Richard’s right. They’ll probably follow us up.”
“I’m not giving up,” I said. “With all the noise we just made, going back through the tunnels is a crapshoot.”Lori said, “But we made it.”
Several bodies hit the door hard, and a hand broke through the bottom of the door. It tore at the hole, then clutched at the air, trying to get a piece of us.
“Oh, shit!” Richard said, close to screaming.
“You got lucky,” Alex said to Lori. “Shit, you make one wrong turn, and you could run into a dozen of them.”
“We could try going back at street level,” Lori said.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Alex said, throwing a hand in the air. “We are so fucked!”
“We’ve gotta get up to the bulldozer,” I said.
Another hand broke through the door, and a gap appeared at one side. Fingers scrabbled along the crack. I kicked out at the door, snapping off the fingers, but the other deaders pressed on the door from the inside, pushing the gap even wider this time.
“We won’t make it!” Alex said.
“Yes, you will,” Richard said.
“What?!” Alex and I said in unison as we spun on him.
“Change of plans,” he said. “You guys are going to head upstairs. I’m going to draw them to the west.”
“But you don’t know what is down that way,” Alex said.
“I just know you’ll all be dead if I don’t,” Richard said.
“You’re not a hero,” I said in a soft voice.
“I sure as shit am not,” he said, “but I don’t want to see all of you get munched down on, and unless you have a better idea, this is the new plan.” He accentuated his point by crossing his arms across his chest.
The zombies put an exclamation on it when they hit the door so hard one of the pins in the door hinge popped out and clanked onto the floor.
“You gotta go,” Richard said.
“Lori, Naveen, another big change of plans,” I said. “You’re coming with us.”
Chapter 39
Dozer or Bust
Lori looked a little stunned, but I could swear Naveen might have smiled.
A zombie hooked its forearm out of an even bigger crack in the door. Its hand looked like a crab as it scrambled up the side of the door. This was just more evidence that the door had only moments left.
I turned to Richard and said, “Thank you.”He said, “One more thing. Take this heavy son of a bitch.” He held out the battery.
“Okay,” I said, and I took it off his hands.
“That is one thing I won’t miss,” Richard said. “My hand was about to fall off.”
“So, you’re really doing this?” I asked, not quite believing what was about to go down.
“Yeah, it’s the only way any of us will make it out of this mess alive,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, “but take Lori’s walkie-talkie. We may need to communicate with you.”
“That is if I don’t run into a shitload of zombies,” he said.
I nodded to Lori, and she handed her walkie-talkie over to Richard.
Alex grabbed my arm and gave it a tug, then said, “If we’re going, let’s do it now.” She looked to Richard and said, “Don’t you fucking die.”
“I have a lot invested in avoiding death,” Richard said.
“Let’s go,” I said, and we started in motion toward the opening. Once we made it there, I turned back to Richard and asked, “What are you going to do?”
“They like big noises,” Richard said. “I’m a loudmouth. I’ll call them bad names. That’ll get them really pissed.”
“I think yelling is all you need to do,” Lori said.
Richard closed his eyes, and his shoulders fell as he shook his head back and forth. “I know that.”
“Time to go up,” Alex said as she started up the stairs. Naveen quickly fell in behind her, but I could see Lori hesitate.
I placed a hand on her back and said, “It’s the only way any of us will make it out of here alive.”
“I know you’re right,” she said. “But I’ve never faced down a zombie. At least, not in the wild.”
That thought had never crossed my mind. In all my travels, I had rarely come in contact with someone who hadn’t had a face-to-face encounter with a zombie.
I patted her back and said, “Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.”
She started up the stairs, but I turned back to Richard, who stood just outside the opening that led to the stairs. He looked as if he might just hit escape velocity with the way he was nervously jumping around. I felt like I should have said something, but what do you say to a man who is just about to die?
A crashing noise sounded in the tunnel as the door gave way. Richard nearly launched himself into orbit, but to his credit, he held his position. Footsteps echoed off the walls, and it was easy to tell that they were closing on Richard.
Richard grabbed his crotch and yelled, “Come and get it, you undead bastards. Grade A prime tube steak.”
I’ll be honest. I let out a little laugh and had to give it to him. He had a sense of humor, even in the face of death.
That only lasted two more seconds as he said, “Oh shit,” and then he flipped a
round and ran out of view while letting out a long war-whoop. I knew it was time to get out of sight, so I headed up the stairs.
Richard’s taunts echoed down the tunnel and up the stairwell. “Who hit you with the ugly stick? Yeah, I’m talking to you.”
Just as I was about to make the final turn on the landing, I glanced down the stairs and saw the leading edge of the zombie mob stream by the opening. There was nothing I could do to help Richard, so I continued upward. It took everything in me to do it, though. I told myself that the mission was more important than the man. Yeah, that was working for me.
Alex and the others had stopped at the top of the stairs. Alex was facing me when I made it to the top.
“You think he’s going to make it?” She asked.
“Yeah,” I said, not truly knowing whether he would make it or not, but I figured admitting that wouldn’t help any of us. So, I kept my mouth shut, taking that as proof that I must be growing up.
Lori’s face appeared over Alex’s shoulder, and she asked, “Are the zombies coming up after us?”
“No,” I said, “Richard’s leading them away.”
“But is it safe here?” Lori asked, her face locked in a frown.
I felt like I had hit my limit on lying, but I reached down deep. “Sure, we’re right as rain.”
“Can’t we go back down and go back to the research building?” Lori pleaded.
I shook my head and said, “You guys were lucky to make it here. We have no idea how many of those deaders are going to chase Richard and how many might wander the tunnels down there after all the noise that we just made. And we have no idea if they might just come up after us.”
“But I’m not ready for this,” she said.
Alex stepped into the conversation and said, “Time to get ready because we are going.”
Naveen appeared next to Lori and said, “I’m ready.”
The moans and groans of the zombies below drifted up the stairs, and I knew it was time to move. While Richard was doing his best to distract them from us, that didn’t mean an intrepid zombie or two might not venture up the stairs.
Books of the Dead | Book 9 | Dead of Winter Page 18
