Her first night on the job was not turning out to be what she had envisioned.
Handling all the calls was a surprise, but even with all the calls, she had been enjoying her new job.
But zombies, that definitely wasn’t something that she would have ever imagined being a problem on her first night at work. Now there was a very real possibility she could end up being killed and eaten like she had seen happen to Carrie from the window of the dispatch center.
Michelle was torn between wanting to run or wanting to curl up in the corner, close her eyes and hope everything went away.
That was until they heard something slide across the door.
A few seconds later, a thump sounded at the door, it sounded like something had walked into the door.
Michelle looked at Dave.
“I think we should go now,” Michelle whispered.
Dave got up and pulled Michelle to her feet then led her over to the back window and quickly looked out back.
More sounds began to come from the door, another thump and another scrape, then a loud groan.
Dave twisted the lever to unlock the window then looked at Michelle.
“The window is about three feet off the ground,” Dave whispered. “I’ll go out first, you follow me and I’ll help you down. When I start to open this window, it will probably make a loud screech. When that happens, all hell could break loose. Are you ready?”
Michelle nodded nervously as another loud thump sounded at the door again.
Dave turned and grabbed the handles on the bottom of the window frame and pulled.
The old window groaned and creaked loudly as it slowly began to rise.
Dave placed his knees on the bottom of the frame to get more leverage and strained with all his strength to get the window open.
The widow was finally open, but the noise from the window being pulled open had given away their location.
The glass in the door shattered as a pair of bony arms shot through the blinds on the door, ripping them from the door.
As the blinds fell to the floor, a dozen gruesome faces in the hallway rushed the door, slamming into the wooden door and into the shards of glass remaining in the window frame, knocking them to the floor.
The door shook violently on its hinges as bodies collided with the door as the first bloody body began to crawl through the window.
The hallway erupted into a massive groan.
“Hurry Dave,” Michelle shrieked as the first zombie fell through the door’s window and crashed to the floor.
Dave slid through the window feet first and landed on the ground.
When he hit the ground, he heard the first groaning creature coming in behind him.
He pulled his club as he turned and swung the club without looking to see what or how many were behind him.
His club struck the approaching zombie on the arm, breaking its arm and knocking it to the ground.
Dave quickly crushed its skull and turned back to the window to find Michelle standing behind him.
Two zombies were already climbing out the window and he could see more of the ugly creatures struggling to get out the window behind those first two.
“This way,” Dave said as he ran along the back of the building.
Two more zombies met them as they neared the corner of the building.
Dave quickly clubbed the two zombies over the head with his club then slowly approached the corner to survey the parking lot.
Michelle held on to the back of his uniform.
“Dave there are six of them behind us now and there are more of them falling out of the window,” Michelle said nervously. “Go! Go!”
Dave started to run past the end of the building but came to a quick stop with Michelle, who was watching the zombies coming up behind them, running into his back.
“Why aren’t we running?” Michelle asked urgently.
“Shit!” Dave yelled as he looked under the dim light where his car was parked. “There are at least thirty of them around my patrol car. We would never make it.”
Michelle turned and looked at the growing mob coming up behind them, then saw the zombies surrounding Dave’s car.
There was also a loud chorus of groans coming from the side of the building where the zombies that had been inside the building were now flooding out through the side door that was hanging wide open. They poured out onto the edge of the parking lot.
“Dave, this way!” Michelle yelled as she grabbed the back of his uniform and pulled him with her as she began to run into the center of the parking lot.
Not knowing what else to do, Dave followed Michelle, hoping that she saw an escape route that had so far eluded him.
When they were half way to the back of the parking lot, Michelle stopped in front of a rusted and dented, dirty pink Toyota Corola and began to frantically search for something under the driver’s side front fender.
Then she mumbled something and hurried over and began to feel under the passenger’s side front fender.
“Finally,” she yelled, “Thank God,” and pulled a little dirty square box from under the fender, slid it open and grabbed a shiny set of keys.
She stuck the key into the passenger’s door, turned the key then handed the keys to Dave,” Here you drive.”
Dave grabbed the keys and ran around the car and got into the driver’s seat as Michelle was shutting her door.
Dave turned the key, but nothing happened.
“Leave the key on and push that big button on the dashboard,” Michelle said nervously.
Dave pushed the button and the little engine roared to life.
He threw the gear shift into drive and quickly pulled out of the parking spot, out the back of the parking lot, through the grass and onto the small access road that would take them out to Spyglass Road.
Dave sped down Spyglass Road with the intention to get onto the Laurel Island Parkway after he could get out of sight from the mob on the road between the Public Safety Building and the police station.
As the mob of zombies behind them began to fade from sight, they both began to breathe a little easier.
“I’m glad your car was in the parking lot,” Dave said then paused. “This is your car isn’t it?”
“Of course it’s mine,” Michelle replied.
“I’m glad you had an extra set of keys under the fender,” Dave added. “Did you forget which fender you had hidden them?”
“I have six extra sets of keys,” Michelle replied. “I put one set under each fender and I have two more sets at home. I keep losing my keys so I made extra keys so I wouldn’t get stranded somewhere.”
“I wonder what happened to the keys you had under the left front fender?” Dave asked.
“The car runs great, but the body is falling apart,” Michelle replied. “I think the part of the left front fender where I put the keys fell off. That’s why I have a set under each fender. I never know what part of the car is going to fall off next. I have that button on the dashboard to start the car because I hit a big pothole and something important fell off. My boyfriend had to make some changes to the wiring so I could start the car. I can’t afford a new car yet, so I’ve been trying to keep this one running for another year.”
Michelle sat quietly for a few seconds then added, “I would also suggest that we don’t hit any zombies with this car if you get my drift.”
“OK,” Dave chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Where are we going to go now?” Michelle asked.
“I plan on trying to go out to the Naval Base if we don’t run into any obstacles,” Dave replied.
“What if they won’t let us in?” Michelle asked.
“I can’t worry about that now,” Dave replied. “We have to go somewhere and right now the base seems like the safest place we could go.”
Dave paused for a moment then continued.
“If they won’t let us in, maybe they will at least get us some help, we’ll just have to wait an
d see what happens,” Dave said. “Besides, with a ride like this, how can they refuse to let us in.”
Michelle chuckled, the first time tonight that she had actually felt comfortable enough to laugh.
Chapter 10
Dave drove down Spyglass Road, occasionally turning onto a side road to avoid the staggering bodies that kept walking out in front of him on the road.
He drove at a slow but steady pace and eyed the road carefully, but it just wasn’t possible to miss them all.
Some staggering figures that appeared out of nowhere and dove out of the night’s shadows and into the path of the car’s headlights happened too quickly to be able to avoid.
Michelle looked down the side streets as they drove.
“I can’t believe there are so many zombies out on the street,” Michelle said. “They seem to be everywhere. Were there this many on the roads before when you came to the Public Safety Building to look for Betty?”
There weren’t any on the streets before,” Dave replied. “Whatever is causing this, it’s happening fast.”
“I didn’t know this many people lived in Kingsland,” Michelle added.
Dave swerved to avoid two more bloody figures as they staggered into the beam of the car’s headlights, missing one completely but knocking the second body off to the side of the road with the right front fender.
“Sorry,” Dave said.
“That’s OK,” Michelle replied. “I didn’t hear anything fall off the car this time. When you hit those other three as we were driving out of the parking lot, it sounded like the engine fell out.”
“We’ve been lucky so far that we haven’t run into a big mob like the one in front of the police station,” Dave said.
“Your poor car has taken a beaten in the few blocks we’ve driven,” Dave said. “Trying to push through a mob that size might be too much for this little car.”
“You never saw what my car looked like in the day time, except for all the blood smeared over the car it looks just about the same as it did before,” Michelle laughed nervously. “But I never had to run through a maze of zombies before.”
Dave finally was able to get off the side streets and turned onto the Laurel Island Parkway and increased his speed.
“If our luck holds out, we should be at the Naval Base in a few minutes,” Dave said.
But no sooner than he spoke, a body lunged at the car, bounced off the hood, smashed into the windshield and disappeared as it bounced over the roof of the car.
The windshield was now a web of bloody cracked glass that partially obstructing Dave’s field of vision.
“I guess I spoke to soon,” Dave swore.
Michelle sat silent but tightened her grip on the arm rest of her door as if expecting another zombie to bounce off the car at any second.
Dave turned on to Route 40 and quickly made a sharp right on to USS Harry Stimson Drive.
This should take us to the main area of the base,” Dave said. “Hopefully we won’t run into any zombies out this way as we get closer to the base. If there would be any place that can handle zombies, this should be the place.”
Suddenly, another figure walked out into the middle of the road up ahead of the car and into the center of the area lit up by the Toyota’s headlights.
“Damn it,” Dave said as he slowed down, preparing himself to try and avoid hitting another zombie. “I spoke too soon, again.”
“This one looks different,” Michelle said. “Look, he’s waving his arms like he is trying to flag us down. I haven’t seen any of the other zombies trying to flag us down.”
“I don’t think he’s a zombie,” Dave replied as they moved closer. “I’ll be damned, I think that’s Bill.”
Dave brought the car to a stop about twenty feet in front of the man waving his arms.
Dave wound down his window as the man ran over to the side of the car.
“Thanks for stopping,” the man started to say.
“Bill, what the hell are you doing out here?” Dave asked.
“Dave, is that you?” Bill asked. “What the hell are you driving, where is your patrol car?”
“I couldn’t get back to my patrol car, so Michelle and I took her car,” Dave replied then asked again, “What are you doing out here, I thought you were at the hospital? Where is your ambulance?”
“It’s down over the hillside on our right,” Bill replied.
“Did you have an accident? How did it get down there?” Dave asked.
“You wouldn’t believe the night I’ve had,” Bill replied. “After I left you over at Sunnyside Drive, I was coming up Route 40 on the way to the hospital. Joe fell asleep, so I figured it was going to be a quiet boring drive to the hospital. The next thing I knew, that guy we tied up and put in the back of the ambulance started moaning and banging and thrashing against the sides in the back of the ambulance.
As I tried to sneak a look in the back to make sure the guy didn’t manage to get himself loose, I saw Joe staring at me. When he started to growl and move towards my side of the cab, remembering what we had just seen back at that old woman’s house, I just knew he had turned into a zombie and he was going to bite me.
There was no way I wanted to get bitten by a zombie, so I jerked the steering wheel sharply to the left, hoping to throw him back against his door on the other side of the cab.
When I did that, the ambulance started rocking, the tires began screaming and I knew I was losing control of the ambulance. I decided to bail so I wouldn’t get trapped inside a wreck with two zombies.
When I came to, I found myself lying alongside the road, I could hear those two moaning and thrashing around inside the ambulance down over the hill.
I was just hoping that they wouldn’t get loose before I was able to get away from here.
God, I can’t believe it, Joe turned into a zombie.”
“That’s what I was afraid had happened,” Dave said.
“What do you mean you were afraid that would happen?” Bill asked. “Since when did you start believing in zombies? You said I was crazy when I said those guys back at the old lady’s house were zombies.”
“At lot has changed since we were over on Sunnyside Drive. When I got back to the center, we called the hospital to find out what had turned that guy into a crazed animal,” Dave said. “The hospital told us that they didn’t have any ambulances on record coming in from Medic One tonight.”
“Ted never made it in to the hospital either?” Bill asked.
“No, he had that kid from 81 Sunnyside Drive,” Dave replied. “I think that’s what happened on Ted’s run, the kid probably turned into a zombie and attacked Ted before they reached the hospital.”
“By the sound of things this night just keeps getting worse. Can you call and get me some help to get those two over to the hospital? Maybe we can still find out what the hell turned them into zombies?” Bill asked. “Damn, this night is turning out to be a nightmare.”
“You have no idea,” Michelle said.
“So, you’re Michelle, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Bill,” Bill said. “I was planning to come over to meet you when I got back. Say, what are you two doing out here? Were you out looking for me? Did someone from Medic One call you to say they hadn’t been able to contact me? How did you convince Betty to let you come out looking for me?”
“Betty’s dead,” Michelle replied. “You’re not the only one that has had a bad night.”
“What happened to Betty?” Bill asked.
“And it’s just not Betty,” Dave added. “Carrie, Pete and Jim are also dead. Michelle and I would have been dead too, but we managed to crawl through half a dozen vents, jump out a window and make it to Michelle’s car before the mob of zombies surrounding the Public Safety Building could get to us.”
“What?” Bill asked. “How many days have I been lying here unconscious?”
“About two hours,” Dave replied.
“All that just happened in the last two hours?” Bill excla
imed.
“Yes, whatever the hell started this, it is spreading out of control fast,” Dave replied.
“Did you call the State Police?” Bill asked.
“I got a call into the State Police and a call into the hospital,” Dave replied. “Both places had more problems than they could deal with and basically told us we were on our own. I was trying to contact the Naval Base, but the phones are out now too.
So, when the Public Safety Building was overrun, after we finally got out of the building, we decided to go down to the base to see if we could find help or at least a place secure enough to keep out all the damn zombies.”
Bill was silent for a moment.
“Are you saying that Medic One and the police station were overrun too?” Bill asked.
“From what I can tell, all of Kingsland has been overrun,” Dave replied. “From my brief talk with the State Police, this has already spread to most of the areas around Kingsland. Who knows where the hell this is going to end.”
“In only two hours?” Bill asked again. “This sounds bad, Dave.”
“No Shit,” Dave replied. “Get in the back of the car. You better go with us, there isn’t a damn thing you can do out here on your own. Since there isn’t anywhere else to go, maybe we can get some answers over at the base.”
“What about Joe and that other zombie?” Bill asked.
“I’m not going down there to do anything,” Dave said as he turned on his flashlight and shined it down over his uniform. “Look at me! I’ve been battling those things all night, I’m a bloody mess. I’m done looking for trouble. There is enough trouble out there looking for me so I don’t need to be running around looking for more zombies to wrangle. I need to save my energy.
Besides, what more can possibly happen to those two?”
“I guess you’re right,” Bill replied as he pulled open the back door of the Toyota and got inside. “I’m just not used to leaving injured people behind, it’s my job to take them to get help.”
Apocalypse- the Plan Page 46
