Dead Life (Book 5)

by D. Harrison Schleicher

  “General you didn’t send me on any mission. I just tagged along with the pilot. In all honesty my plan was to kill Parks when we got there. As it was we were lucky to get out of there alive.”

  “Captain the team I sent to find out what was going on with the jeep that’s been following your group didn’t return to base. The chopper is still on the ground. The area is swarming with the undead. The Special Forces unit I sent to check on them couldn’t land. I want you and your people to see if you can find Parks. I want him back here. Now more than ever.”

  “Why would you want him? I’m telling you General the son of a bitch is worse than the regular zombies. That’s why we left him there.” Lily was signaling me trying to get my attention. The chopper that General Simmons had sent after us was now right over our location. “General can you hang on just one second?” I could hear him screaming at me as I took the phone away from my ear.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We’ve got company.”

  “I can hear the chopper.”

  “I’m sure you can,” Lily said, pointing out the window. “That’s not the problem.”

  Hundreds of zombies were in the street outside of the house we were holed up in. Most of them were looking up at the chopper that was circling overhead.

  “Where’s John?”

  “I’m right here,” he said. “I was checking out back. We’re surrounded.”

  Chapter 3

  I woke with a start. Something was banging on the door of the truck. I grabbed my pistol and looked out the window. Al and Cindy were standing outside the door. I rolled down the window and shook Gina to wake her.

  “I’m not ready,” she said.

  “I know you didn’t sleep good last night but Al and Cindy are up. We need to get an early start this morning.”

  “I slept fine last night.”

  “You don’t remember waking up in the middle of the night screaming?”

  “You must have been dreaming. I slept through the night.”

  “He’s right little girl,” Al said. “You woke Cindy and me up around two o’clock. I thought for sure you guys were being swarmed over here.”

  “I’m sorry. I must have been out of it. I don’t remember a thing.”

  “You woke up twice. You talked to me both times. You don’t remember any of that?”

  “No. I guess that explains why I feel like shit this morning. What did we talk about?”

  “Nothing really. You were having bad dreams.”

  “Did I tell you about them?”

  I decided it was best not to go into too much detail. “Just your basic zombie attack bullshit.”

  “Isn’t it bad enough we have to live with them while we’re awake,” Cindy said. “I have nightmares every night about them. I’m getting chased most of the time. You know, the fast ones. They’re behind me in an open field most of the time, it seems like I’m running forever and I can’t seem to get away from them.”

  “As long as they don’t catch you baby, that’s all that matters,” Al said, turning around and grabbing Cindy around the waist.

  “I don’t think they’re trying to grab my ass.”

  “Well I am!”

  “How about you guys get breakfast going? Gina and I will clean up.”

  “You got a deal,” Al said. “Powdered eggs it is.”

  I could hear Cindy complaining as they walked away. Not about making breakfast but about the powdered eggs. They were filling but tasted like shit. Gina and I climbed into the back of the truck and put our sleeping gear away. After breakfast we stowed the mess in the back of the U-Haul and drove down to the creek to clean the dishes. There was no reason to waste our large but limited supply of bottled water on cleaning dishes if we didn’t have to. Even though it was starting to get cold out we also took the opportunity to wash our dirty clothes in the creek. Due to our group decision for a fair distribution of all duties Al and I were saddle with laundry detail while the girls took guard duty. Al bitched the entire time; it was all for show. One thing you could always count on from Al, lots of complaints about doing ‘women’s work’, even though ‘fair distribution of labor’ had been his idea in the first place.

  The first shot rang out when we were about halfway done washing the clothes. Al and I dropped what we were doing and ran to our rifles. We both knew it had to be bad if the girls were using their rifles instead of their swords. Gina and Cindy were in front of the trucks firing up the road. Coming at them were dozens of zombies.

  “Get in the truck,” Al shouted.

  Cindy listened but kept firing up the road as she made her way to the passenger door of the Ford. Gina held her ground and continued firing into the horde. What originally appeared to be dozens of zombies quickly turned into hundreds. Al climbed back out of the truck and ran forward in an effort to help Gina. I worked my way toward Cindy on the passenger side of the Ford. She now had the door open but was still firing into the horde.

  I placed a hand on Cindy’s back and shouted. “Get in and slide across. Get it started. There are too many of them. We need to get the hell out of here.”

  Cindy didn’t hesitate. She threw her rifle in and slid across the seat. Al glanced back as the engine roared to life. I stood at the open door firing to the front. Cindy rolled down her window and started yelling for Al to get in the truck. He was trying to get Gina to break off but she was having none of it. I worked my way to the front of the truck and pushed the barrel of Gina’s rifle down.

  “Get to the U-Haul. Al go with her,” I shouted. “They’re going to overrun us. I’ll hold them off.” Al kept firing ahead while looking over at me. “I’ll go with Cindy.”

  Al grabbed Gina by the arm and drug her along with him. “Don’t wait too long,” he shouted back over his shoulder.

  I continued firing into the horde. There was so many of them what little damage I was doing didn’t slow their progress at all. Runners were breaking away from the main group and would be on me any second. I stopped firing and turned to run back to the truck. The U-Haul was gone. At least Gina and Al had gotten away. I jumped in the truck and slammed the door just as the first of the runners jumped onto the hood.

  Cindy threw the truck in reverse and started backing up. “Al backed across the creek and up the hill,” Cindy said.

  The runners stayed close but we were able to out distance them. By the time we crossed the creek we were free of them. I grabbed the radio, “What’s your plan?”

  “Al says we need the downhill momentum if we’re going to be able to break through,” Gina replied.

  “Alright baby. I’ll see you on the other side.”

  Cindy was having trouble keeping the Ford on the road backing up the hill and had to slow down. I couldn’t see the horde any longer but I knew they were getting closer. Still I couldn’t fault her. The road was tight and I probably wouldn’t have been able to do any better. How in the hell had Al been able to back that big ass U-Haul up the road so fast? By the time I had gotten in the truck he was already out of sight. Was there anything that old man couldn’t do better than the rest of us?

  There was no telling how big this horde was. I knew the Ford could get back the way we’d come. The ground clearance was higher and we had four wheel drive. The U-Haul was a different story. It sat too low and would probably get hung up on the dead bodies that littered the gravel road back where we had first tried to stop the horde.

  I got back on the radio, “Gina I want you and Al to get in with us when we catch up to you.”

  “Will do,” she replied. “We’re sitting here waiting for you. Just a minute.”

  “I’m not leaving all this equipment behind,” I heard Al shouting. “We’ll make it.”

  “All that shit in the back of the truck doesn’t mean anything if you get hung up and don’t make it through,” I said. “Just listen to me for once.”

  “When you get here I’ll send Gina up.”

  “No you won’t,” I heard her yell at him. �
��Either we both go or we both stay.”

  “Both of you come with us. I see you in my mirror. We’re almost there.”

  The argument between Al and Gina raged on. I heard bits and pieces of it over the radio as we drew closer. Then I saw movement off to my side. I looked into the trees and saw that the woods were full of zombies. We were surrounded on both sides. Looking out the front window I could see the road in front of us filling with the undead. Then I felt the first of them hit the back of the truck. Cindy slammed on the brakes. I could still hear the two of them arguing over the radio. One of them had the call button pressed down and it would do me no good to try and get through using the radio. I reached over and pushed on the horn. It took a few seconds but they finally both looked up. The sounds of their arguing stopped coming over the radio.

  “You win again Al. Try to stay close,” I said, hoping that whoever had been holding the button of the radio down had finally let it go.

  Hands hit the side of the truck. Something crashed into the window beside me and a face drew back from the window. Black blood and gore smeared across the window as the face crashed back down into the window over and over. The creature’s teeth broke when its face hit and more of its gore spread out in front of my face.

  “What do I do?” Cindy screamed, pulling my attention away from what was going on inches from my face.

  I checked to make sure the truck was in four wheel drive. “Run them down!” I shouted. “Go as fast as you have to. We don’t want to get stuck but we don’t get too far ahead of Al.”

  “Can’t you drive?”

  “It’s too late for that. We’ll be trapped if we don’t go now.”

  The truck lurched forward over the zombies that were in front of us. I watched the U-Haul in my mirror as it too started forward. Al had been right to back up the hill. The only way the U-Haul was going to make it through this many bodies on the gravel road was going downhill. I could see right away Al was having trouble getting the truck over the bodies that we had already run over. Most just bounced off of our wooden bumper and were cast to the side but too many were being thrown out in front of us only to be crushed under the wheels of the high riding four wheeler as we passed over them.

  “How are they doing back there?” Cindy asked.

  “Not too good. They’re making it but just barely.”

  I got on the radio. “Are you okay?”

  The first thing I heard was Al shouting in the background. “Hell no.”

  “That fucking truck sits up too high,” Gina said. “Is there any way you could try and swerve around a few of them?”

  “Is she serious?” Cindy asked.

  “I don’t think so.” I answered. “Do you have any other ideas?” I said into the radio.

  “Al says just keep going. We’ll be fine.”

  If things were this bad for them now when we got to the main horde it was only going to get worse. Just then a runner leaped at the truck, slid across the hood, and crashed into the windshield. His head splattered right in front of Cindy putting a crack all the way across the top of the window. A few more of those and they would be in the cab with us. I was worried about Cindy. She had driven through zombies before but never this many, none of us had. The only other time we had faced this many at once we had been able to lure them away from the U-Haul. Now we had no choice but to keep going.

  “I can’t see!” Cindy shouted.

  I reached over and turned on the windshield washer for her. After a few seconds most of the blood cleared off enough that she could see. Once the windshield cleared enough for her to see I turned the wipers off. I couldn’t believe how many zombies there were out here in this backwoods hell-hole. The road in front of us was packed solid. With no letup in sight.

  “Can you do this?”

  “I don’t think I have a choice.” she snapped back.

  Gina’s voice came over the radio. “What’s going on up there?”

  “Not much,” I replied. “Same old shit. Why do you ask?”

  “We saw that one bounce off the windshield,” Gina said. “Hang on, Al wants to talk to Cindy.”

  “He needs to keep both hands on the wheel,” I said.

  “I’m holding the radio for him. You do the same for Cindy.”

  “You’re doing great baby,” Al said. “When we cross the creek you’re going to come to all those bodies we shot up before. You’re going to need to speed up a little. I’m going to need to pick up a little steam when we get there. Otherwise I won’t be able to get over them. Can you do that for me?”

  “I’ll try,” she said. “Hey Al, you know how I was complaining before about not getting to drive enough?”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Well you can forget that shit. After today I don’t think I’ll be wanting to be driving for a while.”

  “That may be a problem. Because after today I don’t think I’ll be wanting to drive either.”

  “Al, we’re coming to the creek,” Cindy said.

  “Steve, I need to talk to you,” Al said.

  “What is it?”

  “If we get bogged down you two have to keep going.”

  “We’re not leaving you!” Cindy and I shouted at the same time.

  “Hell no you’re not leaving us. You need to break through and get turned around. Then you come back down and help us shoot our way out of here.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said. “We’re crossing the creek now.”

  “I can see the goddamn creek,” Al said.

  I didn’t think it was possible but there were even more zombies than before in front of us. Cindy hit the creek and for a second I didn’t think we were going to make it through. Our tires lost traction, blood from the bodies that were caught beneath our wheels flew twenty feet into the air. Then our tires caught and we burst through to the other side. Cindy pushed down on the accelerator. The crushed bodies of the undead flew away from us in all directions. Some ended up in front of us only to be crushed under our tires. Most were thrown to the sides of the truck. We should have been going this fast the whole time. Even though we would have out distanced Gina and Al at least we might have done a better job of clearing a path for them.

  In front of us lay the undead that we had gunned down earlier. Most were dead. Some drug themselves along, their bodies too damaged to walk. Behind them the horde came at us. A few went around but most stumbled into the pile, falling down, then trying to regain their footing, only to fall again. Cindy hit the pile and the front of the Ford bounced into the air. It reminded me of a Monster Truck Rally I had gone to years ago. Only we weren’t driving over cars. We were driving over the top of dead and undead bodies. Black blood and body parts flew everywhere. There was no way Gina and Al were going to make it through this.

  I looked in the rearview mirror. Al was still sitting on the other side of the creek still. “When you get past this pile back-up. Then go back through them.”

  “What about Al? He’s right behind us.”

  “He’s still on the other side of the creek. I’ll radio them.”

  “Gina, don’t start across yet.”

  “Al’s getting ready to go now. We were waiting to see if you made it.”

  “You’ll never make it. We’re going to back up and go through again.”

  “Make it fast buddy,” Al said. “We can’t sit here much longer.”

  Cindy slammed on the brakes and I shot forward in my seat. My seatbelt snapped tight across my chest stopping me inches from the dashboard but the radio flew out of my hand and smashed against the windshield shattering into a million pieces.

  Cindy and I looked at each other.

  “We have more. Don’t we?” she asked.

  “Yeah, in the back of the U-Haul.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Back over that pile of zombies, drive back through them, then head out to the road. All we can do is stick with the plan. Hopefully they’ll make it through.”

&nbs
p; “What about the radio?”

  “Cindy, put the truck in reverse and back-up. The longer we sit here the harder it’s going to be for Al to get through.”

  Zombies pounded on the sides of the truck as Cindy finally put it in reverse and backed through the pile of dead bodies. As she pulled forward I could see the U-Haul drive across the creek and start up the hill. As soon as we got far enough up the hill that I could see the huge pile of bodies we had just driven through I could tell that Al and Gina weren’t going to make it past them. All we had done by driving back through was make our tire tracks that much deeper. Where our tires had passed through it was fairly clear but between them and to the sides the bodies were two and three feet deep in places.

  I watched as Al built up his speed and hit the pile. The U-Haul made it four or five feet into the pile then slowed. The rear end started coming around as blood and body parts flew out the back. The back end of the U-Haul hit one of the trees beside the road. Al and Gina were stuck. They couldn’t go forward and with the rear of the truck facing into the woods they couldn’t go back. Cindy stopped and put the truck in reverse.

  “What are you doing?” I shouted.

  Cindy stared straight ahead. “I’m not leaving him.”

  “If we go back there we all die.”

  “Then we all die. I can’t believe you can just leave Gina like this.”

  She was right. There was no way we could leave them like this. The horde was too large. They would be in the truck in a matter of minutes.

  “I’m going to get in the bed of the truck. When I get there back down to the U-Haul but go slow. No sudden movements.”

  I climbed into the backseat and opened the window leading to the bed. I pushed my rucksack through the window, one of Al’s bags of grenades, and then my rifle. By now we were completely surrounded by zombies. I drew a lot of attention as I crawled through the window and had to start shooting at the undead bastards that were trying to climb over the sides of the truck to get at me. I looked up and could see Gina frantically shouting into her radio, unaware that our radio was broken. I knew she was trying to get through to Cindy to tell her to drive away.