Deadlocked 6

by A. R. Wise

  One of the zombies gasped as I passed by it. The woman's face was at waist level and I put my pistol into her mouth as she tried to snap at me. I pulled the trigger and her brains splattered out ahead of us.

  "How much further?" I asked as I waded forward.

  "Not far," said William.

  I took another shot at a creature nearby, and then another when a face appeared in the pool below. "Why is it getting deeper? I thought we were headed for the surface."

  "The rear entrance goes out into a mine shaft. It's all underground," said William as he clutched the bag of bombs.

  The cloud of pheromones surrounded us, and it had a metallic odor to it. If a robot got body odor, this is what it would've smelled like. The yellow mist was sticky, and thick. It made it hard to breath and I tried to cover my mouth with my gown.

  "There," said William as he pointed ahead. "We made it!"

  There was a massive, circular door ahead of us that was nearly the same size as the hallway itself. "Thank fucking God," I said and moved as fast as I could. "Please tell me that opens outward."

  William chuckled and said, "Yes it does, don't worry."

  I felt something brush past my leg and I jumped to the side. The pile of blood and bodies was too high to see anything, but there was something moving down there.

  "What's wrong?" asked William just before he started to scream. "Something's got me! There's something down there!"

  Hero grabbed the lithe man's waist and lifted him into the air. A hand was pulling at William's leg and was revealed above the muck for a second before dropping back down again. Hero held William aloft as I dropped down to try and find the zombie.

  "It's got my leg," said Hero as he tried to move.

  I grabbed at the corpse and got my arm around its neck. Its arms were wrapped tightly around Hero's leg, and it was trying to bite him when I got my pistol pressed up against its temple. I fired the last bullet in the gun, and the creature went limp.

  "Holy fuck," I said as I got back up. "That was too damn close. Let's get out of here. I'm sick of this place."

  "Agreed," said Hero as he set William back down.

  We climbed over the final mound of corpses and got to the rear exit. William slid ahead of me, over the back of a face down zombie, and flipped open a keypad. He punched in a long code and a green light on the door started to flash. The mechanism crunched and a wheel started to spin as the metal whined. It jammed, and my heart leapt into my throat as I thought we'd be trapped here forever. Then the wheel spun harder, cracking through something that had been resisting the movement and the door hissed open.

  Blood poured out with enough force that I had to steady myself to keep from being pulled out with it. Body parts slid out of the door and William was the first to leave.

  "Holy shit," I said in relief. "We did it. We're going to make it out of here after all."

  William was standing in the mineshaft, and he looked terrified. He raised his hands and set them on the back of his head.

  "What are you doing?" I asked, but understood before he had the chance to answer.

  One of Jerald's men was waiting for us on the other side of the door.

  PART FOUR

  NADIR

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Laura Conrad

  I was in the second vehicle of the caravan when Arthur fell off the side of Zack's truck. He'd been in the field of zombies, running at us as we made our escape, and failed to grab onto his uncle's truck as the caravan passed.

  Zack should've kept driving, but I knew he wouldn't. Arthur was his nephew, and he wouldn't leave him behind. Zack hit the brakes and put his arm out of his window to wave us on. I did the same, motioning for the trucks behind me to leave without us, but the entire caravan came to a halt. Bodies started to bang against my truck as the horde reached us. I put the truck in park as I slid across the vinyl seat. Arthur was closer to my cab than Zack's, so I opened the passenger door and screamed out to him, "Hurry up and get in!"

  Annie ran to the rear of Zack's truck. She was deftly maneuvering over the roof of the trailer, wielding a pistol with her hunting rifle bouncing on her back by its strap. She made me nervous as she glided along the edge of the trailer, seemingly oblivious to the danger as she fired again and again. When she ran out of bullets, she put the gun into a pouch on the front of her sweater and then pulled out a new one, never missing a single shot. Every bullet found its target, but there were more zombies than she could contend with. The horde was approaching, and Arthur would never make it to me in time.

  A zombie slammed into the driver's side door and I saw his fingers clawing at the glass. "Come on!" I shouted down to Arthur again as he struggled to stand. "You've got to move."

  I took a pistol out of the glove compartment and kicked the passenger side door open wider. As I did, I heard gunfire to my right, near the back of the caravan. The other trucks had stopped as well, and were now being forced to fight back. Stopping had put us all in danger, but I couldn't be angry with Zack. I understood why he did it.

  Zack leaned out of his passenger side door, and tried his best to kill any creatures that threatened his nephew. Arthur crawled towards me, but the fall had wounded him. He struggled to move as the undead horde closed in.

  "Think of your son, Arthur." I shot at the zombies that were getting close to him. "Think of David and get your ass in this fucking truck!"

  He pushed himself off the ground and screamed in agony as his knee bent to the side. The lower half of his leg jerked to the left as his body leaned right. I heard the horrific pop of his lower femur separating from the joint. He collapsed again, and I jumped out of the truck to save him.

  "Mom, no!" said Annie from above. "God damn it! God damn it, Mom!"

  The horde was everywhere. They overwhelmed me before I got to my son-in-law. My back hit the ground as one of the creatures surged over me. I got my arm against the man's neck when we landed, and was able to push him up high enough to take a shot. I put the gun in his right eye and pulled the trigger. He went limp immediately as the fountain of black blood spewed into the air above us.

  The trucks behind us started to move, and I was happy they did. I could hear the rumble of their engines as they pulled off to the side and I expected them to move to safety. Instead, Billy led the caravan to our right, and cut off the advance of the horde. He smashed through a group of the creatures and their bodies crackled beneath his tires.

  I pushed the creature off of me and saw Billy leaning out of the window of his truck, firing a pistol at any creature he could see. The caravan boxed us in, and proceeded to murder any of the zombies that were caught inside with us.

  "Move it, darling," said Billy when I waved to him. "We're not out of this yet."

  "Go to the town," yelled Arthur. "Dusty and I cleared it. We killed the guys that were trying to trap you."

  Billy gave us a thumbs up and started shooting again.

  I crawled to Arthur and put my arm around his neck. "How is it? How do you feel?"

  "Peachy," he said through clenched teeth. "You shouldn't have stopped for me."

  "Yeah, I know. Now let's get you into the truck."

  I hauled him up and he was able to hop on his left leg while his right dangled uselessly behind. We got to the side of the truck and he braced himself as I climbed in first. Then I grabbed onto one of his hands with both of mine and together we were able to get him up into the seat. He gasped in agony as he pulled his right leg in and I watched as it flopped awkwardly over the edge of the seat.

  The caravan started moving again, with Billy leading the charge. Zack started advancing slowly, and I followed behind him, until the caravan passed us and we took up our spots at the end of the line. The entire time we could hear the crunch of zombies under the chain wrapped tires of our trucks.

  Arthur gasped as he forced his leg into a natural position. I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed him back into the seat. "Sit back and relax. Try not to think about it."

>   "Oh sure, that's what I'll do."

  I chuckled and then whistled as I shook my head. "You sure lucked out this time, kid."

  "Obviously." He gripped his right thigh as if that might stem the pain.

  I glanced at the rearview mirror on the side of my truck and saw the massive orange flames that roared beneath the growing black cloud. The fire quickly consumed the grassland, and the inferno was growing worse by the second. Luckily, Arthur had cleared a path for us to escape, otherwise we would've been caught between a field of fire and zombies and a town full of soldiers that wanted us dead.

  "How many soldiers did you take out?" I asked.

  He grit his teeth and tried to ignore the pain. "Six. They had two guys on an ATV that set the fire and four sharp shooters in town."

  "Only six?" I asked, surprised.

  "Yeah."

  "Are you sure you got them all?" I asked.

  "Pretty sure. Why?"

  "They only had six guys?"

  I watched as the trucks ahead of ours bounced over something in our path. They jerked upward and the rattle of their frames set me on edge as I looked at Arthur's oddly bent leg. "Brace yourself. I think we're about to go over a big bump."

  We hit the raised earth and the cab jostled up, then down, sending us smashing into the ceiling. Arthur cried out in pain, but we'd finally made it to the road, which I hoped meant smooth sailing from here on out.

  Billy led the caravan into the center of town and then everyone with a weapon got out to set up a defense against the horde. We'd driven well past them by that point, but it wouldn't take them long to reach us. I saw Billy as I drove down the main thoroughfare and he waved at me to stop. He was limping badly. I knew that his back was hurting him and that he was ignoring the pain.

  I rolled down the window as the truck stopped. "What's the plan?"

  He smirked and shrugged. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

  The Rollers were already setting up a defensive barrier on the road with the partitions that we usually kept on the side of the trucks. Each of the metal sheets could be dislodged to use as an emergency barrier, and this was certainly an emergency.

  "Looks like you've got things in order already," I said and smiled.

  "Sorry, darling," he said. "Just doing what I had to."

  The two of us had grown old together, and I loved him like a brother. Despite our differences, he was family. I winked at him and said, "I trust you, kid. I'll get down there to help in a minute."

  He nodded and saluted as I started driving again. I passed by Dustin, who was standing near a beautiful red car parked on the side of the road. He was getting guns out of the trunk and handing them to nearby Rollers. The thoroughfare split in front of a church in the center of town, and the trucks were lining up on either side of it. An idea occurred to me and I stopped in front of the building.

  "We need to hole up here," I said as I got excited at the prospect. I flung my door open and stood on my seat so that I was high in the air. "Everyone listen up." The Rollers looked up at me, waiting for instructions. "Pull the trucks through the back lot of the church and make a circle. Let's set this up as a camp, with the church in the middle. We can put up the partitions just like this is a normal campsite. Hurry. There's no time to talk about it."

  Clyde ran to the front of my truck, and waved his arms to get my attention. "Billy had us pull some of the partitions down to block the road back there."

  "Do we need them?" I asked as I tried to gauge how large of a circle we would need to make around the church.

  "I don't know, but we'd be in trouble if we were short even one wall."

  "Okay," I said. "I'll go talk to him." Then I turned to Arthur. "I've got to talk to Billy. Can you use your left leg to drive this rig and get it in place?"

  "Yeah," said Arthur as he slid across the seat. "Go on. I've got this."

  The sky behind me was bright blue, and the white clouds were underlined with a gorgeous orange hue. The mountains loomed, blue in the late day horizon, with the setting sun behind them, touching down somewhere past California. Ahead of me, in the vast plains of eastern Colorado, the fire had grown to frightening proportions. The only thing that scared me more was the massive horde that was descending upon us, incensed by the fire as well as by the desire to eat us alive.

  Billy was busy ordering people to set up a barrier that ran from one side of the street to the other. Two of the Rollers were now stretching razor wire across the top of the wall.

  "We're almost done, Captain," said Billy when I got to him.

  "I need you to take it down." I spoke quietly as to not let the others hear.

  "What?" He was shocked at first, and then angry. "Are you fucking serious?" He pointed out to the plains in the distance where hundreds of approaching corpses were silhouetted by flames.

  "We're going to set up camp around the church. We need to make sure we've got all the walls in case we need them. Please don't fight me on this, Billy."

  He glared at me, and then at the church. The setting sun's light made him look gorgeous. The side of his hair had streaks of grey in them, and his stubble was speckled with white hairs. His jaw was rigid, and his eyes were dark as he stared at the church behind me. I waited anxiously for a response as he assessed the situation.

  "You're right," he said and nodded. "That's a better plan."

  I sighed with relief. "Oh thank fucking God, Billy." I put my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a hug. Then I kissed his cheek. "Thanks for not fighting me on this."

  "No worries. You get back there and make sure they're putting the wall up right. I'll get this one taken down and brought back there."

  I kissed him one more time and then ran back towards the church. The Rollers were doing as I asked and had positioned several of the trucks already. It was a difficult process to get the circle to work properly, but I had faith in them. I saw Clyde driving a truck along the outside of the circle and was confused by what he was doing.

  He was in the small military transport that we'd been using to carry Harrison and his friend. I waved at Clyde to stop and then climbed up onto the footrest as he rolled down the window. "What are you doing?"

  "We don't have room for this truck anywhere," he said. "We're going to have to leave it outside."

  "What about Harry and the other one?"

  Clyde shrugged. "I don’t know, Laura. We've got to worry about our own first."

  I grimaced at him. "I don't believe that for a second, Clyde. I've never known you to leave a person behind."

  "I didn't say I was going to leave them," he said. "I just can't get the truck into the circle without making it harder for us to build the wall."

  "Then what are you planning?"

  "I'm either going to get them into the camp or I'll stay out here with them."

  I sighed and opened his door, then hopped off so he could get down as well. "Come on then. Let's get them inside. I'm not going to let my best medic stay out here acting like a damn hero."

  Clyde got out and went to the back of the truck. When we opened the back door, Harrison's friend was already sitting up. He waved and said, "Get me a gun. I'll help."

  "Settle down, gunslinger," I said as I got into the back of the truck. "We've got plenty of guys with guns already. We just need to get you to safety."

  "Take Harrison first," he said and motioned to his unconscious friend.

  "You sure?" asked Clyde. "He's pretty far gone already. I'm not even sure he's going to…"

  "Take him first." The man was insistent.

  We did as he asked. I took Harrison's legs, and Clyde carried him by the arms. We walked between two of the trucks, making it through before the Rollers had attached the partitions, and up the stairs to the church's entrance. The Rollers had already gotten the elderly and children into the building and they were gathered in the nave, just past the quaint vestibule. We set Harrison on one of the pews and then rushed out to get his friend.

  "
Ben," said Clyde as we approached the truck. The man had gotten out of the truck and was favoring his bandaged side. "What the hell are you doing? You shouldn't be walking."

  "Shouldn't be alive," said Ben. "But I'm not too good at dying."

  "Stop with the action hero shit," I said and put my arm around his shoulder as Clyde went to the other side. "Let's get you inside."

  "You should give me a gun," he said as he limped along. "I can help."

  "Maybe next time, tough guy," I said.

  We passed between two trucks just as a Roller was about to set down the partition. Clyde and I helped Ben up the stairs and into the church to wait with his friend. As we entered, a dog's bark startled me. It was the little pug that Ben kept as a pet. The dog had been staying with the children while his master was healing, and was overjoyed to see him. The little dog jumped up at Ben over and over until I bent down and scooped him up.

  I gave the pug to Ben who laughed as the dog licked at his face. "I'm happy to see you too, little guy."

  Ben sat beside Harrison and I took a moment to look at the others gathered in the church. David was at the altar, and he was praying.

  I glanced back down at Ben and saw that Harrison's head was now in his lap. The old man was staring at the altar, and he was crying. Ben pulled the hair away from the old man's face and said, "Don't worry, buddy. I'm here."

  I saw Bonnie and Rachel nearby, gathering the children to keep them happy. There were a lot of refugees from Vineyard here as well, and I looked out over the families that were depending on us to protect them. There were so many innocent people gathered in this old church, filling the pews and holding one another. Mothers held their crying babies in their arms. All of their lives were in my hands, and I was suddenly having trouble breathing as I stared at them.

  Jill and another medic passed me, carrying the body of the pilot that we'd captured. If he was still alive, he didn't have much time left, but Clyde was determined to do everything he could to save him. The Rollers were the good guys, and I'd never been more certain of it.