The radio crackled and Walt’s voice came back.
“How is your Dad going to feel about you disclosing it to us, man?”
Nicole smiled. “He’ll probably rip me a new one. I’ll have to listen to a lecture, but he’ll let us in,” Nicole said.
“That’s cool, man,” Walt said, then the radio fell silent as Nicole and Walt continued to inch their way through the carnage.
As Nicole cleared a burned out eighteen wheeler, a stretch of road opened up in front of her for maybe a mile. Behind her, Walt had lagged back, trying to maneuver through a tangle of wrecked cars.
“Looks like we got a clear stretch, for maybe a mile or so,” Nicole said into the radio.
“Roger that, man,” Walt replied.
Next to her in the GTO, Sam craned his neck looking through the windshield.
“What is that up ahead?” he said.
Nicole squinted her eyes and tried to focus on what it was.
“Probably just more wreckage,” she said.
She keyed the mic on the radio and called to Walt.
“Hey Walt, be advised. I don’t know if you can see it yet, but this clear stretch doesn’t last long. It looks like we are going to have a real tangle in a mile or so,” she said.
She dropped the radio in the seat next to her as Sam continued to peer at the mass ahead. Not satisfied with the view through the windshield, he stuck his head out the window to get a better look. As he gazed ahead, Nicole hit the gas as she emerged from the tangled carnage onto the straightaway. From outside the window, Sam’s face went ashen.
“Stop the car!” he yelled.
Nicole did not hear him immediately, and she kept going.
“Stop the car, Nicole!” he yelled again, this time pulling himself back into the car.
At about the same time as Sam got his head back in and was about to yell at Nicole again, Nicole saw what Sam already knew was out there. Her face lost all color and her foot came off the gas as the GTO rolled to a stop.
“Sam…” she said.
“I know, I see them,” Sam said.
Nicole looked behind her. Walt was about a quarter mile back and just emerging from the last of the tangle of wrecked cars. She turned forward and grasped at the radio.
“Walt! Walt! Stop the bus! We’ve got walkers!” she screamed.
It was several seconds before Walt responded.
“How many, man?” He asked.
Nicole looked out her windshield.
“All of them! Five hundred, a thousand! I don’t know! We thought it was a mass of wreckage up ahead, but…” Nicole’s words trailed off.
She looked behind her, knowing that any retreat meant inching their way down the highway through the mass of debris. Sam kept his focus on the horde ahead of them. She looked to the left and right, but saw only more carnage. Where there wasn’t smashed and destroyed vehicles, there was torn up earth. The crackling of the radio startled her.
“What do you want us to do, Nicole? We can’t make a run for it back the way we came, not with all those wrecked cars everywhere,” Walt said.
Sam was all action. He jumped in the back seat and started checking the rifles and pistols. Nicole looked ahead, then at her rear-view mirror at Walt’s bus stopped just beyond the last of the wreckage. She threw the car in reverse and hit the gas. Sam flew forward, almost smashing his face into the front seats. Nicole keyed the radio as she raced back to Walt’s bus.
“Park the bus across the road, Walt! Get everyone ready, we’re coming aboard!”
Forty
Walt’s face revealed his anxiety as he struggled with the big steering wheel. He did a three point turn and got the bus in position across the highway, just as Nicole came screeching to a stop along side of it. At the last moment she whipped the wheel and got the GTO parallel to the bus.
Inside the bus, everyone was nervous. They all crowded their faces to the windows and stared down the stretch of highway. The long line of shuffling death wavered in a heat mirage as it advanced toward them.
“Dad! Why have we stopped?! There are zombies out there!” Jordan screamed as she looked at Paul and pointed out her window. She continued to shout at him and pulled at his arm. “Come on, Dad! Make us turn around!” She cried.
Outside the bus, Nicole and Sam jumped from the GTO. In their arms were boxes of the high velocity .22 rounds. Walt slid open the door and they bounded in, spilling the boxes in one of the front seats. Jordan saw Nicole and started screaming at her.
“Nicole! Make Walt turn the bus around! We have to run away!” she cried.
Nicole looked at her and was about to answer, but Billy answered for her.
“We can’t run, Jordan. There is too much wreckage. They would overtake us before we could get away,” he said.
Jordan looked at Billy and took it in before she burst out crying, tears streaming down her face. Billy and Paul simultaneously reached out and hugged her. They looked at each other for a moment then tried to console her. From the seat behind Walt, Ruby looked up at Nicole.
“Nicole’s got a plan and I think we would do best to listen to it,” she said.
All eyes turned to Nicole. She wilted a bit under their attention, but gathered herself.
“Billy’s right. The way back is too jammed. We would be overrun before we could get away. With that hoard at our back we couldn’t defend ourselves. We need to get the rest of the ammunition from the trunk of my car and… get ready. Ruby, can you load magazines?” Nicole asked.
Ruby smiled. “I am better with shotguns, but show me and I’ll do it,” she said.
Nicole nodded. “Sam, show Ruby what she needs to do. Walt, help me get the rest of those boxes in here. Paul and Billy, I need you to take up position in case we have any runners come at us before we get back in here.”
Everyone nodded and set about their tasks. Jordan almost went into a panic when Paul and Billy left her. Ruby saw it and reached for her.
“Jordan, honey. You know what would be a great help to an old lady? If you could help me learn all about how to load those fancy guns. Can you do that, Sweetie?” Ruby asked.
Through her sniffles, Jordan nodded and went and stood by Ruby as Sam pulled out a magazine and a box of ammunition. Paul smiled at Ruby as he grabbed a rifle and took up position next to Billy. They each opened a window and sighted down the highway at the advancing horde.
Outside the bus, Nicole and Walt rushed to the GTO and started grabbing the rest of the ammunition. When the horde was seventy-five yards out, Nicole grabbed the last of the boxes and headed for the bus. Walt jumped in and she followed close behind.
“Space out! The length of the bus! The rifles are good to about forty yards but we start shooting at fifty!” Nicole shouted.
The others followed her directions, spacing themselves a couple of seats apart down the length of the bus. Windows went down and rifle barrels went out. Everyone gripped their guns tight. There was silence except for the sound of their breathing which came in short quick breaths. Within seconds the sound of the Dead came to them on the wind. A low moan reached them, soft and distant, it gradually grew louder as the massive horde shuffled towards them. Nicole focused on them, counting off the yards. As she kept vigil, she looked at her GTO parked alongside the bus in front of them. She tore her eyes away and looked behind her. There was a maze of wreckage just beyond the bus, but a good space between it and them. Quickly she set down her rifle and ran to the front of the bus and opened the doors. She was halfway out when Billy looked over at her.
“Nicole, where are you going?!” he shouted.
Nicole stopped. “I’ve got to move the car around to the other side of the bus. When that horde hits us, the weight might tip us over! Walt, close this door behind me… just in case,” she said, before ducking out the door.
Before Billy could process what she said, she was gone.
“What did she mean, when the horde hits us?” Billy asked no one in particular.
P
aul tightened the grip on his rifle and stared ahead.
“It means we are not going to be able to stop them before they are on us,” he said.
Billy’s face blanched as he jammed rounds into an empty magazine with increased vigor.
Outside the bus, Nicole squealed the tires in a three point turn and fishtailed off the road, bringing the big car to the other side of the bus as close as she could. She parked so close she had to slide across the seat and climb out the passenger side window. She ran around to the other side of the bus and froze in her tracks. The smell of the Dead hit her like a tidal wave.
“Fire!” she screamed.
No sooner had she said the words than a torrent of gunfire exploded from the side of the bus. High velocity rounds slammed into the front line of the advancing horde. A few took head shots and dropped, most were shot through the body, the bullets causing them to twitch but not slow down. Nicole ran up to the sliding doors and pushed on them but everyone was too busy shooting to open them for her. She banged on the doors.
“Open the damn door!” she screamed.
Inside the bus, Ruby looked up from jamming fresh rounds into a magazine.
“Hippie!” she screamed.
Walt looked up sharply at her. “Open the door for Nicole!” Ruby shouted.
Walt looked over at the door and saw Nicole frantically banging on them. Walt leaned over across the seat and worked the lever. The doors slid open and Nicole spilled in. She stumble-ran to her position and grabbed her rifle as Walt closed the doors behind her.
Two round burst exploded from her gun and six of the Dead fell.
“I’m out!” shouted Sam.
“Here Jordan, honey. Run that to Sam over there,” Ruby said.
Jordan seized the magazine and ran to Sam. Sam handed Jordan the empty and grabbed the fresh one. Jordan ran back to Ruby and Billy who grabbed shells and started filling the empty.
“Empty!” shouted Paul just as Jordan got the last round in the magazine.
Jordan turned and tossed the magazine to her father at the same time as he tossed the empty to her. They crossed in the air and each caught theirs at the same time.
“Nice work, honey,” Paul said as he jammed home the magazine and took up firing position.
“Billy, run down the aisle there and fetch me my wheel chair will you? I have an idea how we may make our job a little easier,” she said.
Walt dry fired. He pulled in his rifle and pulled out the magazine.
“Empty!” he shouted.
Billy ran by and grabbed the spent magazine from Walt and handed him the new one. He reached the wheel chair and pulled, rolling it down the aisle to Ruby.
“Help me into my chair now, children,” Ruby said. Billy and Jordan hauled Ruby from the bus seat to her chair.
“You in front, Jordan, Billy, you get behind me, now. There you go,” she said.
No sooner was she situated than Nicole shouted.
“Ammo!”
Ruby grabbed a full magazine from her lap.
“Billy you pull and Jordan you push! To Nicole now!” She said.
Billy and Jordan did their part and Ruby sped down the aisle to Nicole. Ruby thrust the full magazine at her and received the empty. The boxes of ammo were spaced in the seats and Ruby, Billy, and Jordan seized a fresh box and started filling the empty magazine.
“Empty!” Paul shouted in unison with Sam.
Jordan and Billy rolled Ruby down the aisle first to Paul, then to Sam, hardly stopping at either. Fresh magazines were passed, empties received. Hands flew in a blur as fresh boxes of rounds were grabbed and bullets transferred to magazines.
Outside the bus, the Dead advanced. Fifty or more of them had been dropped from the onslaught of the groups’ fire. Those that still came, tripped and stumbled over the fallen. Some were crushed under those advancing, still others managed to rise and continue towards the bus.
A cacophony of moans reached a crescendo as inside the bus the shouts of “Empty!” grew more rapid. Ruby was rolled up and down the aisle as she changed out magazines with the shooters. Jordan and Billy’s hands were a blur as they received the empties from Ruby and filled them with fresh rounds. They were too busy to pay attention to the progress of the Dead until Nicole’s voice cut above the noise.
“They’re on us! Get back!” she shouted.
Walt, Sam, Paul, and Nicole pulled in their rifles and jumped across the aisle to the opposite side. Their guns fell silent as everyone waited. Ruby, Jordan, and Billy stopped their loading and looked to the front side of the bus. There was a pregnant pause, a calm before the storm, then the impact. The bus shuddered at the mass of the Dead as they slammed into it.
“How are we supposed to shoot them, now!?” Paul screamed.
Nicole stared out the windows of the bus.
“Just give them a second,” she said.
The bus groaned and creaked as the wave of the Dead washed up to them. Their moans were at peak volume as they sensed what lay just beyond their reach. Those pressed against the bus fell and new ones took their place. As the Dead piled up, those coming, climbed on top of them. Within seconds, hands appeared the length of the windows, then heads. Faces and arms filled every space along the length of the bus.
“Fire!” Nicole shouted.
Everyone let loose with a barrage of gunfire. Being so close, each round found its lethal mark and the Dead fell, only to be replaced by new. Ruby, Jordan, and Billy resumed exchanging magazines. Their progress slowed, being unable to cross the field of fire down the aisle.
“Switch to pistols when your rifles are empty! Give them more time to reload!” Nicole shouted.
“Empty!” shouted Paul as he handed a magazine to Billy, letting his rifle hang by his side.
He pulled his pistol and began to fire. At the windows the Dead reached in. They stretched their arms and necks through the busted glass, their reach coming within mere feet of the group. Still Nicole and the others fired upon them. Bodies clogged the windows, their motionless forms creating a decaying barrier for precious seconds before falling or being ripped away by the ravenous Dead behind them. No one rested. Shooting, calling, exchanging empty magazines for full, inside the bus there was only panicked frenetic activity. The creaking of the bus took on a new tone as the Dead continued to come. The creaking grew louder and the bus began to tip.
“Here we go!” shouted Sam.
“We’re tipping, man!” Walt cried.
The bus began to tip, the wheels on the front side leaving the ground. It was only the space of a second but it seemed like an eternity.
“Hold on!” Paul shouted as everyone grabbed a seat with their free hand. The wheels went up, then the back side of the bus touched the roof of the GTO and stopped.
“We stopped! Resume fire!” Nicole shouted.
They all let loose with a fresh barrage, rounds tearing through the flesh of the crushing Dead.
Forty-One
Their guns fell silent. No one spoke. The angle of the bus, and the press of the Dead at the windows had pushed them back against the opposite side. They all stared at the wall of decay that had washed over them. The Dead filled the windows, blocking out the sun. Their mass created a realm of shadow that the light from behind them seemed to barely penetrate. Nicole gripped her pistol and moved it erratically back and forth, looking for any sign of the Dead’s advance. Next to her the others breathed heavy, matching her breath for breath. Sweat poured off their brows. Their labored, anxious breathing was the only sound, save for the wet plopping of dismembered offal that dropped from the Dead, landing in the seats and sliding to the floor in front of them. Apart from gravity doing its work, the Dead did not move. There was no sound of their ravenous groans. Nicole took a long minute to assess before lowering her weapon.
Suddenly Paul jumped up, gripping his rifle, he sprayed the dead with a fusillade of bullets. A scream erupted from his throat as he held down the trigger and shredded what was left of the Dead with his ons
laught. Finally, the rifle clicked empty and Paul stood staring at the horror before him. His screams faded and he collapsed back into his seat. Jordan hugged her father. As she held him tight, Paul seemed to regain his composure.
Nicole looked at Paul, then her gaze fell on the others. Realization began to dawn on them all. They had fought for their lives, had literally stared Death in the face countless times and emerged. Nicole plopped down into one of the seats and wiped her brow. The others began to take stock of themselves, their breathing, and composure returning to baseline. Nicole took a breath and looked over at Walt.
“Sorry about your bus, Walt,” she said.
Walt looked around the mess that was his bus. The side where the Dead had pressed was caved in. The glass in all the windows was shattered and bullet holes riddled the metal. Viscera covered almost everything. Walt began to laugh.
“Oh, man. I’m gonna need a new bus now, I think. But, hey, anything you live to regret is something you survived, right?” he said.
Sam looked up at Walt.
“Who said that one, Walt?” Sam asked.
Walt turned to Sam. “I don’t know, man. That one may be all me,” Walt said.
Everyone smiled. Paul chuckled.
“That’s a good one, Walt,” he said.
Ruby leaned over and rubbed Walt’s back.
“Words to live by, hippie,” she said. Walt smiled.
“Thanks, momma,” he said.
Billy looked around the bus. “So… how do we get out of here,” he asked.
Everyone looked afresh at the wall of guts that hung and spilled through the windows in front of them. Nicole pursed her lips and let out a sigh.
“Does anybody have any gloves?” she asked.
“Haz-mat suit, more like,” Sam said.
Nicole smiled. “Do you think we can all fit through these windows?” Nicole asked.
They all looked at the windows behind them.
Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 1): Nicole's Odyssey Page 20
