Whitaker quickly slammed her forehead into the man’s nose, collapsing it with a sickening crunch. They both dropped their weapons after the impact, giving her a chance to dart forward, spinning around him. She wrapped her arm around his neck, tightening it into a choke hold.
He thrashed on the ground violently as she cut off his air supply, trying to break free from her iron grip. After his body stopped twitching, she finally released him, and then snapped his neck quickly, making sure he wasn’t going to wake up again.
She glanced over at Sparks, standing over the bleeding-out body of the giant Cartel member she’d shanked with glass, and their gazes met at the sound of gunfire still coming from the neighboring store.
They crept towards the blown-out hole, each pressing their backs up against it on either side as the gunfire became sporadic as it moved.
Sparks peeked in, seeing four gunmen run towards the back while firing. One of them spotted her and opened fire, and she ducked by at the last second.
“They’re heading for the alley!” Sparks cried, and Whitaker leapt through the hole immediately, rushing after them. Sparks grabbed one of the fallen men’s AK-47’s before tearing after her, joining the pursuit.
Whitaker reached the back of the store, and threw open the emergency door. It struck one of the gunmen in the back, knocking him over. She aimed towards the other three fleeing men, but one turned and fired at her, forcing her back inside.
Sparks rushed past her and popped out into the alley, firing with the AK, but missed as they rounded the corner. “They’re getting away!” she screamed, and tore off down the alleyway towards them, unaware of the knocked-down man behind the door.
He sat up and tried to aim at her, but Whitaker kicked the gun, causing it to fire harmlessly into the concrete building next to them. This startled Sparks, who glanced back to see the soldier emerging to handle the man. She made sure the gun was pointed away from her, slamming the door shut and delivering a vicious elbow strike to his face.
As he fell back onto the ground, she whipped out her rifle and popped two rounds into his chest and one into his face. She turned back the other way just to see Sparks rounding the corner in pursuit of the other men.
The redhead tore down the road, with the trio of gunmen ignoring her from a full block up. She stopped in the intersection and unloaded a stream of bullets as they turned the corner, missing and striking the wall of the corner building.
“What are you doin’, girl?!” Rufus yelled from the gun store.
“They turned right at the next road!” Sparks yelled back, and then took off running.
Rufus secured his backpack of ammunition. “That girl is something else,” he muttered, and followed Landry out of the gun store. They looked back to see the front edge of a horde of zombies coming around the corner.
“Let’s move,” Landry declared.
As they reached the intersection, Whitaker ran up and joined them. “Where did Sparks go?” she demanded.
“She’s chasing after something,” Rufus said, and pointed in the direction the redhead had gone.
Whitaker clenched a fist. “Three Cartel assholes making a break for it!”
“Let’s go, then,” Landry said, and tossed her an ammo bag.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sparks reached the intersection, carefully looking around the corner to make sure she wasn’t rushing into an ambush. She saw the targets, running down the street already clearing the next block.
She dove out of hiding, staying glued to the building so she had some semblance of cover. She watched the fleeing men closely as they ran up the road, slowing her pursuit in order to do it safely. As she got halfway up the block, she saw them running by the next intersection, with one of the gunmen pausing and panic firing.
Sparks instinctively stopped, taking a knee to aim, but held off on firing when she saw he was firing down a side street. After a moment one of the other men yelled at him, so he stopped firing, rushing back to rejoin his team.
“Fucking zombies,” the redhead muttered, and broke into a dead sprint. She ran as hard as she could towards the intersection a block and a half up. If he was firing, it meant zombies were close, and if she got cut off it would be game over for Fabens.
As she cleared the next intersection, there were dozens of creatures coming off of the side street. She immediately broke off from the buildings and went into the street so she could keep the fleeing gunmen in her sights. The sound of her running gained the attention of several creatures, who immediately turned to her instead of the fleeing Cartel members. She broke across the street, running diagonally to attempt to beat the flood of ghouls.
Sparks got to the intersection, leaping up onto the sidewalk to avoid rotted outstretched hands. When she cleared them, she looked to the next turnoff and then dove behind a metal trash can as all three Cartel members aimed at her.
Bullets peppered her hiding spot, as well as the building behind her, all three unloading a steady stream.
She looked over her shoulder and saw that the zombies were getting closer, and as soon as the firing stopped, she popped off a few rounds at the ghouls closest to her, hitting them in the head and dropping them about five yards from her hiding spot. She peeked out from behind the garbage can, seeing that the men had disappeared.
She took off running again, straining and pumping her legs hard to put distance between herself and the coming horde. As Sparks approached the next cross street, she slid past the building just in time to see the men duck off into an alley. She checked the ammo in her gun, finding the mag about half full. She readied it as she moved at a brisk pace towards the alley.
She got halfway there when a black SUV came screaming out of it, tire squealing as it rounded the corner, driving away from her. She immediately raised her rifle and opened fire, hitting the back of it but not doing any significant damage.
“Fuck!” she screamed, standing there frustrated and helpless as the vehicle moved several blocks to the south in a straight line before turning on what appeared to be the main road.
She put a hand to her forehead, clenching her jaw, and then whipped around at the sound of a loud deep horn from behind her. She ran back to the intersection where there was a giant wrecker truck coming up the road. She waved her arms and fired a shot in the air, letting them know where she was.
The truck picked up steam, rushing towards the horde in the road. It plowed through them, sending bodies flying every which way, smacking into others and careening into nearby buildings with satisfying accuracy. It screeched to a stop beside her.
Rufus opened the door, Landry and Whitaker hanging on to the cab on the back.
“Well come on, girl,” the older man urged, “we got a chase to get to.” He held out his hand and pulled her up, slamming the door behind her.
Hammond was behind the wheel, and he hit the gas, turning down the road she’d just been on. “Where did they go?” he asked.
“Several blocks up, turning to the west,” she said.
He nodded. “Was it the main road?” he asked.
She scratched the back of her head. “Had to be,” she replied.
“Let’s hope you’re right,” he replied, and hit the gas, driving at higher than safe speeds down the road.
Sparks looked out the passenger window as they went past side streets, seeing zombies packed into them, shoulder-to-shoulder.
“Which road?” Hammond demanded.
She pursed her lips and then replied, “Not a hundred precent, but try the next one.”
He veered to the left to make a wide right turn, and cut the wheel early, to the point where the front right tire bounced over the sidewalk as they turned.
Landry pounded on the roof. “Take it easy Sarge, there aren’t any seat belts out here!” he cried.
“My bad,” Hammond called back, and then punched the gas as he straightened out on the main road through town.
Up a few blocks were several groups of zombies, no more than te
n or so, scattered about. In the center of the road were several on their asses, struggling to get back to their feet.
“This has gotta be it,” Sparks said, motioning to the fallen zombies.
The Sergeant hit the gas, and the lumbering vehicle slowly picked up speed. Zombies reached out to grab it, but their hands were easily knocked away. Everybody kept their eyes trained on the horizon, hopping to see the fleeing SUV.
Finally, after a few blocks, they spotted it, trying to weave around packs of walking corpses.
“Got ‘em!” Rufus declared.
Hammond punched the roof to let Landry and Whitaker know they were on standby. They secured their footing as best they could, aiming over the roof with their rifles as they pressed themselves up against the cab.
A gunman popped up out of the passenger side window of the SUV, and started shooting. Landry and Whitaker opened fire without hesitation, though with the distance and constant movement it was difficult to get a clear shot. They were able to break out the back window and pepper the trunk with bullets. After a few moments of sustained fire, the gunman retreated back inside.
“Did we get him?” Landry asked.
Whitaker shrugged. “He stopped shooting, so I could care less if we did or not,” she replied.
The pursuit continued for several blocks, the SUV continuing to weave in and around groups of zombies while Hammond used the might of the wrecker to plow right through them, a necessity to gain on them.
The gunman popped out the window again, only this time he was firing forward. He unloaded an entire magazine in a single trigger pull, spraying all over the place.
“What is he doing?” Sparks asked, eyes wide.
Hammond let off the gas.
The redhead gaped at him. “What are you doing?!”
“They’re about to hit the horde,” the Sergeant explained, pointing through the windshield. “We don’t want any part of that.”
The SUV plowed into a thick mass of bodies, and was soon enveloped by the giant wall of rotted flesh. Within seconds, the vehicle was completely surrounded in its futile attempt to plow forward.
The driver hit the gas as hard as he could, but the tires just spun in place, unable to gain any traction against the compressed mass of corpses.
Hammond stopped about twenty yards away, the engine idling. The noise attracted some creatures away from the SUV, and the Sergeant rolled down his window to talk to Landry.
“Keep your sights on them,” he called. “If they have a sunroof, I don’t want to get surprised.”
Sparks leaned forward. “So now what?”
“They look pretty dead in the water there,” Rufus cut in.
“Yeah, but do you want to risk it?” she asked, turning to him. “If they somehow find a way out of that, all of us are in trouble.”
Landry got back on the firing line, waiting for something to happen. After a few moments, they listened as the engine of the SUV popped, eventually whining down to nothing, smoking billowing out from the hood as the zombies smacked at the glass.
As the engine died down, the rumble of the wrecker engine was the only constant noise, which began to attract even more of the creatures in their direction.
“Sarge, I don’t mean to rush you or anything,” Landry said shrilly, “but we’re a little exposed out here.”
Sparks nodded. “Not to mention it would be a good idea to get their attention off of us,” she added.
“Open to ideas,” Hammond said wryly.
Rufus dug around into his small pack and pulled out another redneck rattler. He held it out the window towards Whitaker.
“Hey there,” he said, stretching his arm as far as it would go. “Would you mind giving this a light and a toss?”
Hammond leaned over to try to see what was being passed off. “What’s that?”
“As soon as she throws it,” Sparks replied, “you’re gonna want to back up quick and far.”
The Sergeant glanced at Rufus, who just gave him a thumbs up and a big smile. Hammond shook his head, not bothering to question it, and put the wrecker into reverse.
Whitaker lit the rattler, reared back, and threw it as hard as she could. Everyone watched with bated breath as it soared through the air, landing just to the right of the SUV. Hammond slowly began to back up.
“Might wanna hit the gas there, Chief,” Rufus urged, and the Sergeant hit it harder, backing over stragglers to get away from the blast radius. Zombies swarmed towards them, ignoring the hissing bomb in their midst.
A few seconds later, the rattler went off under the wheel well, sending the SUV up into the air. It flew back and flipped over, landing on its roof on top of several flaming zombies.
Hammond did a quick three-point turn before speeding down the highway. Landry and Whitaker looked back and watched as the zombies converged on the flaming vehicle in the middle of the road.
“If somebody did survive that blast, they won’t be surviving much longer,” Whitaker said, and Landry held out his fist for her to bump. She did so, and they shared a smile of pride at the damage they’d caused for the day.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The group unloaded the booze and ammunition from the vehicles they’d liberated from the wrecker yard, the tequila piling up into Trenton and Clara’s vehicle.
“You got enough fuel to make it back?” Sparks asked as she emerged from their apartment building, swiping her hands off of each other.
Trenton nodded. “Yeah, we should be okay,” he replied. “I made sure to load up on an extra ten gallons that’s in the back.”
“I’m glad you said that,” the redhead replied with a smile, “because I’m not sure we have a whole lot to spare at the moment.”
The duo let out a chuckle together at her honesty, happy for their foresight. Clara loaded the last crate of tequila in the back, and shut the hatch.
“I think we’re good to go,” she declared.
The others wandered off to say goodbye.
“It was good seeing you two again,” Hammond said, shaking Trenton’s hand.
Landry grinned. “Yep, always a fun time when we get together,” he added. “Death, destruction, mayhem.”
“What can I say, I know how to party,” Clara replied with a wink.
Whitaker held up a finger. “You be sure to tell Leon and Rogers that we’re raring to go whenever they got a plan,” she said.
“I know they’re working hard on one,” Clara replied. “As soon as they get something together, we’ll be right back up here.”
Sparks crossed her arms and cocked her head. “You know, I think it’s about time we came down and checked out your town for ourselves.”
“It is?” Rufus asked, blinking at her.
The redhead turned to him. “Don’t you think?” she asked. “If the Cartel came this far out, we’re going to be in danger whether we want to be or not. Figure we might as well get in the game.”
“Well you know me girl,” he replied, shaking his head. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”
Trenton held out his arms. “We’d love to have you,” he said sincerely. “Frankly, we’re beyond short-handed at the moment. I know that Leon and Rogers would be ecstatic.”
“We have plenty of room if you want to come with us now,” Clara said, motioning to the backseat.
Sparks shook her head. “I think we’ve had enough adventure for one day,” she replied. “Tell Leon and Rogers that they can expect us in a few days.”
“We’ll make sure to have something special planned for you,” Trenton replied with a grin.
Rufus held up his hands, palms out. “After today’s festivities, I think we’ll be fine with something quiet.”
“In that case,” Clara said with a smirk, “we’ll have to get something super special set up.”
A chuckle rippled around the group and Hammond patted the roof as they got into the SUV.
“Drive safe,” he said.
Landry cracked his knuckles. “And save some Cartel
fuckers for us to kill!” They all stepped back as Trenton drove away, and the soldier let out a deep grunt. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starvin’ like a motherfucker.”
“Pretty sure Jeff is going to start some food after checking in on Ricky and Mary,” Sparks replied.
Hammond nodded. “Good, we have some time to go over the stockpile you pulled from the gun store.”
“Come on, those bullets aren’t going to count themselves!” Landry said brightly, and they headed into the garage to go over their haul.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Leon and Rogers went through the kitchen of a small one-bedroom house. They were discouraged as they opened the pantry, finding only one pack of ramen noodles.
“This is the third house like this we’ve found today.” Rogers sighed.
Leon shook his head and cracked a smile. “You’d almost think that this was a college town,” he said, and checked his watch. “Man, time flies when you’re having fun.”
“About time to call it a day?” the Detective asked, peering outside at the late afternoon sun.
“Might as well,” Leon replied with a shrug. “Either they had luck in Fort Stockton, in which case we have plenty of time to clear these houses. Or, they didn’t have luck and we have two days to mount a defense against a small army.”
Rogers raised an eyebrow as they stepped out the front door, stretching before heading down the porch steps. “So you’ve spent some time wandering around town, do you have some thoughts on defending this place?”
“Well, in an idea world we’d be setting up shooters in every single house,” Leon replied as they wandered the few blocks back towards the command center, “making them pay for every inch of town they took.”
The Detective rolled his eyes. “And in the non-fantasy world where that scenario has a less than zero percent chance of working?”
“The only realistic answer is the high school,” Leon replied. “It’s big, strong, and we can turn it into a fortress. I mean sure, they probably have an abundance of high explosives at their disposal, but we can make ‘em pay dearly to take us out.”
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