Zombies On The Block | Book 8 | Better Off Dead

by Evans, Mike

  Steven knew exactly what this meant and that it was not good. His shoulders sank as a few tears not from the pain, well possibly from the pain, but mostly from the thoughts that he was contemplating and how the fact that within less than a minute he was probably going to already be one of these things hit home.

  Steven wished he had the time to call his parents and tell the two of them to be safe and that he loved them both immensely. But there would be no calls, no goodbyes and unfortunately for him there was no more time. Steven could not have been more of a stand-up guy screaming with his last clear thoughts, “Go, get out of the tunnel and be safe. If you can lock it then do it.”

  Chad not thinking reasonably yelled, “Yeah, but you might still have a chance!”

  Holly retorted, “What the fuck are you talking about he might have a chance, he might have a chance at what, eating you? Is that what you want?”

  “Do you ever shut up?” Chad screamed back at her, beyond frustrated by the circumstances at hand.

  Tony knew this wasn't time to stand around measuring manhood, not that she had a lot to offer in that way. Tony yelled, “No she doesn't, but unfortunately she is right. We need to get out of here, and we're going to do it now, with or without you, Chad.”

  Holly grunted as she pushed off the two dead, wiggling from beneath, scowling at both of them for neither seeming to realize it'd be nice to get a little help up. If Tony hadn't been trying to process so many things as well as defending her, he would have already gotten her up first thing.

  Holly rolled the zombie over putting her foot on its head and pulling the blade out from both corpses. Holly yelled, “He can come, or he can stay. If you want to waste this opportunity until there are three of them then that's going to be an entirely new issue. You’re wasting the biggest gift he could give you.”

  Tony didn't want to admit it, but he was a strong fan, currently, of power in numbers. He knew that they weren't all going to make it. As little as he wanted to be considered a piece of shit, he was okay with the idea of the possibility that Chad might end up needing to be a meal so that he could keep Holly alive.

  Steven screamed yet again. This time both zombies were tearing away at his chest and what they could only guess was his Achilles tendon as he went down hard to the ground. His already pale skin was growing more and more transparent looking by the second. Tony said, “Good luck, Chad, but I don't think he's going to make it.”

  Tony started running, keeping in step with Holly and the two made it the last eight markers with no further issues. A single set of footsteps started echoing from the hall behind them and they realized it would seem that Chad had made up his mind.

  Holly was going to say something potentially inappropriate, but Tony slapped her on the ass screaming, “Would you just get up the fucking ladder! We need to go. I'm not sure what magic trick you think we have that gives us some sort of advantage. This is a shit show, at best.”

  Holly bit her tongue, keeping a slew of colorful words to herself. She also got moving up the ladder as quickly as her legs could take her. When she got to the top, she looked at the hatch trying to figure out what in the hell she needed to do so that opening it was an option. She twisted the handle slowly until fresh air rolled into the tunnel. The cool morning was blowing across her face. She wasn’t quite sure if she was excited or not to get out of the tunnel but having somewhere to go besides straight or back didn’t break her heart.

  Holly thought that she was going to give it a chance. There would be some great options, she hoped, if she didn’t get her face ripped open in the first few minutes that she was out there. Tony said, “How does it look?”

  “Like we are coming up out of a damn submarine. I don’t know what is going on just yet. I can’t see anything.”

  Holly pushed up trying to keep it quiet. That didn’t last long when the hinges that saw as much daylight as the tunnel did started to move; they let out a horrible squeak that she hoped wouldn’t be heard by every single one of those things. The squeal from them was trumped quickly when it got at an angle that she could no longer keep hold of it with. The lid which for the first few seconds felt light, immediately changed when it got past ninety degrees. The echo that it made would bring every one of the dead if any of them were around.

  Chapter 21

  Nick was pulling with everything he could, but Dean, who would have been stronger than him as a human, was even worse as a zombie. There was no getting tired, being fatigued, or running out of energy. There was just pure unbridled anger infused with power. Travis was trying to get up as well, but with Dean halfway on top of him, there really wasn't anywhere for him to go at the moment.

  Nick yelled, “Zombies, fucking great. So, have you figured out how to kill one yet?”

  “The only thing we figured out was throwing a table at one will slow them down for a while.”

  “Well, that's really great news and all considering there's so many tables in the bathroom. So, no one has tried to kill them any other way than throwing a table?”

  Harry was doing his best to remain calm. He wasn't sure how Nick wasn't completely losing his shit, given a purple Dean was very much trying to get up. Nick's occasional kicks, and the fact that he wouldn't stop pulling, as Dean was trying to either pull himself up or pull Nick closer to him.

  Dean used enough force to pull Nick almost off balance. Luckily, Nick had an impeccable center of gravity. He put up his hard-heeled shoe and brought it down on Dean's wrist with enough power to knock it free. Nick looked at his wrist thinking it was an Indian burn from hell if one he had ever seen.

  Harry was going to yell at him to do something but watched, thinking there was a good chance Nick already had a plan. Nick leaned down, taking hold of the broken countertop sink. He got as good a grip as he could on it, but wasn’t the best given the sink was still smooth as a baby's butt and the other was jagged from breaking off from the force used on Travis's head. Nick was hoping, no, Nick was praying that he would be lucky enough that this would work if he had enough swings with which to inflict the damage needed.

  Nick lifted the broken piece up over his head, gripping it as tight as he could. Knowing if he lost it, he would have no weapon that he could think of to replace it. Dean, who was still trying to get up, didn't understand weapons, or what it was that he needed to worry about. Nick hoped that Zombieland would not steer him wrong and held nothing back when he brought down the piece of the sink.

  Dean's head flew back, bouncing off the cheap linoleum flooring of the bathroom. Dean wasted no time trying to rise back up, trying to get a bite out of Nick wherever he could reach for it. As if Nick needed someone to say it, Harry stated the obvious, yelling, “Swing it again! Hit the son of a bitch, crack his fucking head open.”

  “Because that isn't what my intention is already?”

  “Just hurry up and do it Lambert! Do it, do it now!”

  Nick was feeling an unbridled rage racing through his body. He'd had plenty of adrenaline rushes in taekwondo tournaments, and more that he could count in times of war when he was on tour doing a deployment in Iraq. This, he thought, probably was able to beat it all. Nick brought it down two, three, four, and a fifth time. By the last swing he looked down, seeing Dean’s grip no longer holding tight, but his weight thank god was keeping Travis at bay. Nick looked down at his shirt; it looked like a crime scene. His hands were shaking from adrenaline but there wasn’t anything or better yet, any time with which he could waste to get his composure.

  Travis started scooting free from under Dean, and Nick leaned over, swinging and missing. The sink snapped in two. Something he wasn’t hoping for. Travis’s eyes looked insane and Nick looked around trying his damndest to try and figure out what he was going to do next. Harry was still trying his best to keep the door shut, but with each thud coming up against it he was bouncing further and further away. Nick looked over for an answer, for a suggestion...unfortunately he wasn’t going to be able to make any...because he needed so
me advice of his own.

  Chapter 22

  Evans Trio

  Denny had never been so happy in all his life to get to solid pavement as now. One thing he hadn’t really put a lot of thought into was the fact that he had to find an alternate route yet again. When he saw that the gas station was still very much on fire, and there had to be what looked like an endless supply of the dead running for it, he could only hope that every one of them burned to death.

  He thought about going back through the golf course, remembering quickly what Mike had said about his first trip through. The last thing he wanted to do was try and pick up any gunfire that he didn’t need if he could avoid it.

  Diane said, “So, what are you thinking, Denny?”

  “I think us going out of town is going to take too much time. If we stick to the outskirts of town, it’ll take too much time.”

  “Dad, just go down Delaware, and drive it like you stole it.”

  Denny probably couldn’t have taken those words much more literally. The full power of that V8 came to life beneath his foot. He raced around the wreckage in the street, half the time going over the median. His back was screaming in protest, but the idea of losing Jake and Emily would not be possible. He knew that Diane and Mike would be heartbroken, and he couldn't bear to lose anything else.

  There were going to be a lot of changes after today. He just wished that his loved ones weren’t going to have to live through it for the next hundred years. Denny took the truck down into the ditch more than once and brought it back up and over onto the sidewalk. Diane was pretty sure that the truck that weighed over a ton had at one point became a vehicle of flight. She slapped him in the arm yelling, “You aren’t going to be able to save anyone if you kill us all first. Would you quit driving like that, please?”

  Denny could see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was going to be a few rough patches before things got better. Denny couldn't be watching more directions than he was right now. When he wasn’t sure how things could get worse, he realized they could.

  Mike said, “Agreed, don’t kill us, please. However, don’t slow down, Luther.”

  Denny didn’t and when they had to turn on one of the busiest streets in town, he never let off for a second. The tires could be smelled instantly as a black trail of smoke seemed to do its best to try and catch up to the sliding truck. Mike did his best to make it to the passenger window before letting out a string of vomit that was mostly saliva. It was less than ideal for the situation at hand. Mike hated puking, hated the cramping in his gut and the burning in his throat.

  Diane said, “Hey, how can you have anything left to puke?”

  “It is amazing how much the body can hold. I’m happy that I am almost done. It has to almost be done...right?”

  Denny had the truck swerving between cars. He was very happy to see that he had four lanes. They also had room to accelerate. Denny made a drive that was going to take fifteen minutes in less than three. Mike realized as they drove, no shortage of the dead were attempting in anyway, none at all to stay incognito. Mike didn’t waste bullets on the ones that weren’t close. Unless they were in the path, he just let his dad pass them. He was going too fast, way too fast for any of them to try and get a grip on his pickup. He’d been pretty damn content as the truck bounced up every so often. Knowing that he was crushing one of them was worth the jolt of pain in his back.

  He’d just made a record time going through town; that included when the town only had a few paved roads. Diane was looking around for the college. She didn’t venture to this part of town too often. It wasn’t really something that she was down with as far as expensive sushi, fancy fusion pizza, and shops that had the same thing she could find somewhere else much more reasonably. Denny never came here and didn’t even know what he was avoiding and didn’t care.

  Mike loved sushi, or American sushi as he called it because raw fish wasn’t his thing. He pointed straight ahead and said, “Just go that direction. Whatever place you can get through, go there.”

  Denny had a better view of what was in front of them and as he watched what direction Mike was pointing in, he could see the college’s roof in the distance. He was pretty god damned sure that the package they’d come to get was standing on top of it. He was questioning how many people they could cram inside of the truck. Regardless, he’d make it work, no one would be left behind.

  Denny was glad that he’d already made some distance. He was well aware there’d be some shit losing to be had as soon as she realized it was her grandson up on top of the roof. Mike and Diane saw it at the same time and Diane...normally could be mistaken for a nun with as little as she cursed screamed, “Would you quit driving this thing like a pussy, and fucking get up there. Jesus Christ, would you move it, Evans!”

  Anything left in the truck’s power which was available was not wasted. Denny had a hint of evil in his smile as he headed straight for the roof, not wanting to slow down for anything. He almost lost the truck twice and could feel the embers from his wife’s eyes. If he crashed the truck, she wasn’t going to be sympathetic and he knew this. Mike was doing his best to hold himself still while making sure that he was on full mags for his and Denny’s guns.

  One thing Mike wasn’t a fan of was being on the lower end of the spectrum here. Not having a shot at anyone but who he was trying to save wasn’t doing anything for his heart. If he could just get one lucky break that would be fine by him. When he saw Jake climbing down the side of the building he pointed to his dad as if there was some way, he wouldn’t notice his blond-haired grandson climbing down the side of a brick wall. He watched Emily coming down after him, much less gracefully.

  Mike had been confident that paying for his son to do Parkour lessons would never pay for itself. He’d been very confident when his wife had suggested the class that all this was going to lead to were very large co-pays from broken bones. But he had proven them wrong as well as became an even more apt monkey when he wanted to be.

  Mike could just barely see the tops of Michael and Trevor’s heads even craning his neck trying to look all the way up. Denny finally made it up to the building. Lucky for them, all the dead were on the roof or on their way to it. They had the lobby steps to themselves or at least hoped they did. Denny thought if they could get in the right spot at least they’d be able to knock a few feet off the jump for them.

  Chapter 23

  Mabel didn’t hesitate for even a second. Under all that hair and fat was an endless supply of muscle. The only thing the dog had more of was absolute and unconditional love for her momma. Rebecca got up on the seat, swaying side to side slowly, creepily, and ready to enjoy her first meal. She lunged into the front seat, but Mabel pulled free effortlessly of Abigail’s grip. She screamed, “What the hell are you doing, Mabel?”

  To no one’s surprise, she didn’t answer. She did pin Rebecca momentarily to the seat. She tried clawing at the dog, but Mabel only reached forward, gripping onto her neck and ripping a chunk off that was quite impressive. She didn’t slow down and was growling and barking in between bites, not letting up for anything.

  Noah slammed on the brakes. The truck came to a screeching halt. The smell of tires was not difficult to distinguish. Something he had not thought about before putting the brake down to the floor was the fact that neither of them had taken nor had the time to buckle since getting into the vehicle. Additionally, to make matters worse he stopped with a 150 lb. plus dog in the back seat going insane, with no notice to it that he would be stopping. The momentum from Mabel turned her into a pile of inertia, full-on force coming into both of their seats.

  They did not for one moment think about this fact when stopping so hard. Mabel never unclenched her teeth for even a millisecond. Of course, a body could only take so much damage. The force of her flying even just a few feet before stopping into the rear of their seats was enough to tear free the flesh and in doing so freeing Rebecca who was still very much entertained by the idea that she needed to
feed and needed to be done as soon as physically possible.

  Abigail did not have the benefit of the steering wheel to keep her from flying too far forward. Noah saw the aftermath of his wife's face smashing into the windshield creating spider webs racing up and down her side of the truck. Noah was going to ask if she was all right but knew immediately that she wasn't. He could feel broken bones. Noah tried to ask if she was okay but all she said was, “Rebecca, where is Rebecca?”

  To be honest, Noah thought this was somewhat of a rhetorical question. She had to be in the back. Where else would she be? That answer was put to rest immediately. Once Rebecca had righted herself and did it before Mabel could get back to her feet, she leapt forward, landing on Abigail's back. Rebecca screamed in rage and frustration as she tore at the rear of Abigail's head. Abigail screamed like Noah had never heard before, it was gut-wrenching and heartbreaking all at the same time. Noah knew if she was anything like John, she would not be easy to put down. To boot he didn't have a large space to wrestle her down and break her piece by piece until there was nothing left for her to fight with.