The Undead Survivor Series (Book 2): Undead and the City

by Radke, K. E.

  His scorched flesh stretched in agony as the corner of his mouth lifted from genuine happiness.

  

  They all crawled slowly along the sticky linoleum to the front of the store in pairs, one in front of the other. Tables were the only obstacles to hide behind if anyone spotted them from the floor to ceiling windows up front. The bottom half of the windows were the only clear views into the store because the security gate had been lifted halfway like the looters were interrupted.

  Lincoln attached the crutches to his pack so they wouldn’t be dragged along the floor, but he still had the AK to contend with. Noah and Gloria were matching his pace and kept an eye on the cannibals milling around outside. Wyatt scooted along the best he could, ready to be pulled forward like a toddler on a slip and slide if need be.

  Noah suddenly stopped and held out his arm to keep Lincoln from moving.

  A set of legs appeared in dirty, torn jeans, with expensive tennis shoes on its feet. It didn’t move for five minutes and Lincoln looked at Noah gesturing they should go back. Noah splayed his hand silently asking for five more minutes.

  Hisses erupted from its mouth and Lincoln was sure they were made and would be surrounded in a matter of minutes. He started moving backward until he saw the tennis shoes scamper forward in tune with a lot of other shuffling feet along the road. The ghouls’ chant grew, a sign that something down the street caught their attention.

  It was pitch black outside and the building across the street was barely visible. They reached the window and Lincoln whispered, “We’re not going to get a better chance, after this group of three.”

  Lincoln tried his best not to glance back at his mother. She’d been quiet since they came face to face in the alley, scrutinizing his face with an angry scowl. He had no idea how Noah placated her, but he was grateful for her cooperation. They’d filled the magazines with the last of their ammo and decided to head straight for the Land Cruiser if they got separated. It was better for two people to survive than none.

  Noah pulled on the door and Lincoln shoved his foot through the crack to keep it open when a bell jingled above them.

  “Fuck me!” Noah whispered harshly and ripped the door open. He got to his feet and helped Gloria up. The chompers in the vicinity had already changed direction. Noah stepped outside and unsheathed the machete to dispatch the closet three. He signaled Gloria to run and glanced back at Lincoln and Wyatt hobbling forward.

  Lincoln leaned Wyatt against a lamppost to stab two cannibals on their left. He spun out of its reach and stabbed it between the eyes. The second one grabbed a fistful of clothes near his shoulder before he skewered the side of its head. He swiveled around and reached for Wyatt, they followed Noah in the dark as he made a path for them to the next building.

  Noah swung in the dark and felt the warm, red liquid spray him every time he hit his mark. Heads rolled, and limbs brushed against him. He swung the machete erratically determined to make it to the other side unharmed. Obstacles on the ground were automatically kicked just in case it was a reaching hand.

  With the night vision it was like being a kid again only the monsters were real and appearing out of nowhere. There was no end in sight, Noah had no idea how many were coming because of the range limit. In the moonlight he jumped on the curb and came face to face with the building across the street. It also had giant floor to ceiling windows covering the entire front of the office. He carefully hopped inside the only broken panel of glass and chanced a glimpse back.

  Wyatt collided with him and they both stumbled backward. The man used Noah as a crutch until Lincoln hurdled through the broken window. Without pausing to rest, the group swiveled to head to the back but immediately halted.

  Cubicles lined both sides of the walls and Gloria whispered, “It’s a fucking nightmare.”

  Lincoln wasn’t sure if she was talking about working in one or passing each booth because of what could be hiding inside.

  “There’s enough noise to lure anything hiding in here out in the open,” Noah tried to reassure everyone. “Just in case someone take the right.”

  Wyatt pulled the crutches from Lincoln’s pack and whispered, “I’m right behind you.”

  The first inhuman growl echoed in the building as bodies competed to enter the broken windowpane. Ghouls slammed against the glass windows, unable to understand the invisible barrier in front of them. Between the hissing grunts and vibrating storefront, it sounded like the building would collapse at any moment.

  Desperate arms and legs filtered through the only jagged glass gap. They competed ferociously to follow the scent of a late-night snack. Skin curled back from the sharp, broken edged glass, peeling away to reveal black, rotted tissue and bones. The piercing shards sliced the decayed flesh and the pressure of the crowd swarming the small entrance sheared off limbs.

  Blood spilled in waves making the ground slick. Ghouls on the edge of the hoard pushed forward causing the ones in front to slip over the jagged glass. The sharp points slid through torsos with reaching arms and trapped the corpses beneath trampling feet.

  Groans thundered against the intact windowpanes as teeth scraped along the glass and tongues swung out of their mouths. One by one chompers infiltrated the building and followed the smell of fresh meat.

  TWENTY THREE

  S ounds of the dead ricocheted off the walls and Noah stopped at the entrance to the hallway allowing Gloria to go first. They’d made it past the cubicles without any trouble, but they needed to stall the herd behind them. Lincoln and Wyatt followed Gloria, only stopping when Noah loudly said, “We need to slow them down.”

  Noah glanced around the office. The chompers were inside the building and every second he stood there wasted precious time to escape. He swiveled around to run before it was too late and bumped into a cubicle wall. It slightly budged, squeaking against the floor. Throwing the machete into the corridor, he grabbed the movable wall and dragged it to cover the entrance of the hallway. Lincoln helped slide it across the floor.

  They tugged at the wall until the first rotting body plowed into it and almost knocked it down. Lincoln pushed back to keep it upright and the chomper’s neck craned to snap its teeth centimeters from his nose. He leaned back at the last second, but reaching hands wrapped around his shoulders to keep him close.

  More bodies slammed into the cubicle wall, and Lincoln stumbled backward from the velocity. The hands clamped on his shoulders refused to let go and the ghoul flipped over the wall on top of him. Putrid breath blew over his face and he shoved his forearm under its neck.

  Fingers stretched to reach for his knife when warm liquid drizzled over his face.

  Suddenly, he was struggling with dead weight and when he glanced at the cannibal’s face a knifepoint stared back at him. Noah kicked the body off Lincoln and pushed him against the back wall.

  Arms reached over the cubicle wall that kept them trapped on the other side. Carefully sliding away, they followed the corridor to find Wyatt and Gloria.

  Closed office doors lined the left side of the hall and the right had a small employee lounge. An emergency exit sign glared at them from the other end. Gloria and Wyatt were nowhere to be found.

  Noah popped his head in the lounge and whispered, “How the fuck did we lose two full grown adults.”

  “It’s easier than you think.”

  A door creaked, and both men spun around at the noise. Noah held up the machete wondering if the herd broke through their makeshift barrier. In the doorway to an office Gloria’s face appeared and she was waving her hands in front of her to make sure she didn’t bump into anything.

  She whispered, “A little help. Not all of us can see in the dark.”

  Out the emergency exit, they entered another back alley, and raced down the narrow path. Without light it was the safest way to travel and they all agreed whoever was tracking them would be searching the next street over, waiting for them to appear from another building.

  So they decided to travel
among the massive lot of abandoned vehicles on the main road they parked on. Noah sliced through the few ghouls they came across. Near the end of the alley Wyatt stopped and leaned against the wall breathing so hard he couldn’t catch his breath.

  “My arm pits hurt, I just need a minute,” Wyatt managed to wheeze out.

  Pulling Noah aside, Lincoln handed him the Land Cruiser’s keys. Before Noah said a word, Lincoln whispered, “You keep moving no matter what happens.” He made sure they were safely in Noah’s pocket before he sat next to Wyatt on the ground, “You have five minutes. Then it’s time to go see Melanie.”

  Lincoln held out his hand for Wyatt gesturing his five minutes were up. Wyatt took a deep breath and stood with his crutches in place. Noah and Gloria were in front and Lincoln kept pace with Wyatt.

  They weaved in between the cars silently listening to the hissing and groans surrounding them. Ducking behind vehicles, they managed to avoid most of them. Noah took out the cannibals in their direct path. The only sounds were metal slicing through flesh and bone and bodies hitting the pavement.

  Wyatt’s pace was slow, and he constantly leaned against vehicles trying to catch his breath. Lincoln stood next to him and whispered, “We can take a five minute breather. We’re close, I can make out the giant beaver head in the moonlight.”

  He watched Wyatt sink to the ground and sat down next to him with his Glock 17 out of its holster. Two minutes went by before a spray of bullets broke the silence. Lincoln saw the muzzle flash on a rooftop nearby before he crouched and tried to locate Noah and his mother.

  Bullets rained down over the abandoned cars ahead of Lincoln and his fingers swiftly spun the suppressor off his gun. There’s only one reason the enemy was shooting so far ahead—Noah and his mother were the targets.

  Lincoln stood up without hesitation and watched the muzzle flash until he lined up his shot. He started shooting, using the sound of gunfire to catch the enemy’s attention. It would give Noah and Gloria time to find a safe place to hide—as long as they weren’t already dead.

  As soon as he emptied his magazine regret bombarded him. His trigger finger faltered. A piercing pain struck his chest and he wheezed and sputtered landing on one knee. His hands cradled his head and he couldn’t breathe. Oxygen refused to inflate his lungs. He was slowly suffocating.

  We should have stayed together.

  Now he had no idea if they were dead—or worse—alive, and in need of help.

  

  Gloria huddled next to a tire with a racing heart and hoped no one spotted her from above. On the ground, Noah was motionless, the machete glinting in the moonlight several feet ahead of him. She had no idea if he was still alive and no way to find the other two men behind her.

  Another gunman started shooting. It was single shots, and not aimed at them. Noah took advantage of the distraction and bounced to his feet grabbing the machete on his way up. Gloria surged after him and pushed him forward, not giving him a chance to turn around.

  They did not sprint down the road. Instead, Noah weaved them through the vehicles on a random path toward the downtown buildings. He stopped under an awning and saw the crowd of cannibals he’d attracted.

  “Those fucking assholes are going to give us away,” he whispered harshly.

  Another round of bullets broke the silence and Noah winced. Whoever was out there had found Lincoln and Wyatt. He grabbed Gloria’s sleeve and pulled her across the street hoping to dodge the hungry creepers following them while mumbling a pray under his breath.

  Every window was broken in the next building. On closer inspection, Noah realized it was a bank and the outside elements had taken over. Papers were scattered across the carpet and all the furniture was torn apart. Even the plastic shields that protected the tellers were obliterated. They raced toward the counter and Noah’s hands nimbly unlatched his pack straps. He threw it over the counter and repeated the process for Gloria. They both hopped over the barrier at the same time.

  Most of the ghouls pursuing them became distracted with a grating noise. It sounded like a gate opening. The crowd of chompers suddenly turned down the street to find an easier snack they could sink their teeth into.

  

  Murray gazed at his monsters behind the secure, heavy-duty, chain-link gate. It’d been a joke to trap them in a bookstore. Give them books to read to make them smarter. No one had bothered to loot the place. He removed the front door and broke the front windows himself to set up their little cage.

  They all reminded him of rabid dogs. If only the people of the rebuilt city knew what their leaders were collecting under their noses. No one ever told him their purpose, even though he did all the dirty work and captured them.

  They stood away from the gate following his every step, waiting like predators for him to stick his arm in between the holes so they could rip it off just for fun. The first thing he learned about them—they don’t try to eat every bit of flesh they can get their hands on.

  Uncooperative people were brought here, and Murray watched how these monsters tore open their victim’s head. Smashing the skull against the ground like savage beasts until it cracked. Clawing open the tender flesh that surrounded the skull to get to the cracked bone that protects the pink muscle underneath it. The fleshy brain would be scooped out and shoved in their mouth. A new delicacy.

  Not even the munchers wanted them for company. The area was unnervingly quiet, not a body in sight.

  Silence interrupted his thoughts. He scowled at Owen, and immediately regretted stretching the smoldered flesh on his face. He tried to enunciate each word, “How long has it been quiet?”

  “What?”

  “The guns, when did they stop shooting?” Murray tried again.

  “Shoot them?” Owen asked pointing at the monsters in the cage.

  Murray shook his head in frustration. Owen never understood anything he said, which is why he’d brought him to release the monsters. He gestured for the man to stay while he climbed up the fire escape to the roof of the building.

  “Let them out,” Murray called from above and gave the signal to lift the gate. Owen didn’t question the command. Out of the three men, he was the stupidest of the bunch. He never thought to ask all the right questions.

  The security gate squealed in the dark. Owen yanked on the pulley system lifting it a foot off the floor. Arms lined in black veins lashed out through the tiny opening, all of them hungry and ready to hunt. Heads and torsos squeezed through the bottom and they croaked loudly in excitement.

  Owen ran for the fire escape, he climbed up the ladder and pulled it up out of reach. He joined Murray on the roof and watched the abominations lock on a scent.

  All of them sprinting in the same direction.

  

  Safely behind the teller counter, Noah rummaged on the floor through his pack for a penlight. The night vision goggles weren’t working, probably because he slammed them against the concrete when he ducked for cover. He tossed them to the side and crawled forward pushing his pack in front of him.

  Gloria gasped for air and gazed up at the reaching hands above her. The groans and hisses filled the building as she slunk to the ground escaping their grasp.

  Noah illuminated the first room near him. The door creaked open and made the ghouls shriek with excitement. It had been torn apart, unlike the hospital or nursing home, it was obvious people had done the damage. All the cabinets and drawers were left open, and there wasn’t a drop of blood in sight. There also wasn’t an exit.

  Behind the counter they crept against the wall to stay out of reach of the growing mass of flesh eaters. Noah reached another door and shined the light on a plaque: offices. He let the door swing open and hid on the side with the machete raised, ready for anything that sauntered out.

  He counted to ten, and then shined the pen light down a dark corridor. Relieved to find a sanctuary he pushed his bag inside and waved Gloria through shutting the door behind them. There were only three offices and two
doors were wide open. They tiptoed and shut them as they passed each one to make sure nothing could surprise them.

  The only noise between them was the sounds of their shallow breathing.

  A loud croak sounded behind them followed by boots landing heavily on the ground—or counter. The walls vibrated as furniture was thrown around in the room next door and Noah shoved Gloria to the end of the hall shining the light on every door until he found the emergency exit.

  “You keep going, the Land Cruiser is by a light pole across from the beaver gas station on the road we were ambushed on. Remember what I told you?” Noah whispered, the words running together. He sheathed the machete.

  “Yes,” she rolled her eyes in the dark.

  “Promise me you won’t kill him Gloria,” Noah said with an edge of desperation. His attention was split between protecting her and listening to the other room being torn apart, not that it wasn’t a mess already. “You will not find Lincoln without him. And don’t piss him off, he’s our ride out of here.”

  Something slammed against the door they entered from. The walls shook, and Noah hastily shoved his 1911 in her hands. He stared straight at her and said in a strong, determined voice with a hint of apprehension, “Don’t make me regret that.”

  He nodded his head at the emergency exit and didn’t let her hesitate. His hands shoved her outside and she swiveled just in time to get a glimpse of him before he locked her out of the building.

  It was second nature to pull the Desert Eagle from his other holster. Rage and desperation pummeled the door down the hall and Noah felt like he was in the middle of a tornado. The doorframe cracked, and splintered wood fell on the ground. What was left of the door slowly swung open.

  Red eyes glowed in the dark.

  Noah fired at the same time the ghoul ducked and sprinted down the short corridor. Realigning his shot, he fired twice missing in the dark. It charged at him like a raging bull and plowed him into the floor. He landed on his pack and slid a little to the right. Luck was in his favor today.