They skidded into the heart of the camp, four square blocks of utter chaos. Debris was everywhere, a house on fire in the corner, several people trying to escape from the second floor. Bodies littered the ground, indiscernible between zombies or civilians who’d been near the blast.
Then, a terrifying sight sprinted towards them. A runner.
The freshly minted zombie tore across the street, heading towards the burning house. Without hesitating, Calvin unbuckled himself and dove from the car, slinging his rifle into position in a fluid motion. He raised it and looked through the scope, tracking the sprinting monster as it grew closer to its roasting dinner.
A split second later, he squeezed the trigger and the ghoul’s head exploded. The creature flopped to the ground, sliding to a stop a few feet away from two people escaping the house. The gunshot startled them, and they whirled around to see Calvin, who waved at them.
“Get in!” Zion barked. “We gotta find Monique!”
Calvin jumped into the back, getting situated and standing against the back of the cab, smacking the roof to let him know he was ready to go.
“Please, can we go to my family?” Mateo pleaded.
Zion nodded. “They’ll probably be in the same place,” he replied, and hit the gas. They tore off down the road towards the family house, one block up and over. As they came to the first intersection, they saw that the chaos wasn’t just relegated to the front entrance.
There were several runners roaming the area, chasing down people and responding to any noise. Gunshots rattled in the distance at a panicked pace. Zion sat for a moment, letting Calvin pop off a shot, taking out a runner. After the sniper smacked the roof again, Zion sped off towards the house.
When they got there, several zombies were clustered out front, slapping and clawing at the door. Calvin aimed, but Zion honked the horn to get him to stop. The two men jumped out of the cab, Zion turned to the sniper.
“Cover our six, we got this,” he barked, and Calvin nodded, turning to survey the area, waiting for zombies to emerge from any direction.
The honking had alerted the four ghouls from the porch, and they turned, shambling down the stairs.
Zion’s brow furrowed. “They’re not runners,” he said.
“Which means there’s another breach somewhere,” Mateo added, eyes wide.
Zion clutched his weapon tightly, readying himself to strike. “One problem at a time.” He rushed forward, swinging his blunt weapon over his head, crumpling a teenage zombie into a heap.
Mateo stepped past him with his dual blades, delivering a series of precise strikes that incapacitated two creatures. Zion gave another vicious swing, sending the final ghoul to the ground.
Mateo rushed the door, banging on it and yelling in Spanish. After several tense moments, the deadbolt clicked open and a middle-aged heavyset woman appeared. They embraced tightly, exchanging rapid dialogue in Spanish.
“Ask her where Monique and Wendy are,” Zion demanded.
After a quick exchange, Mateo turned to him. “She says they ran off to the main gate.”
“Come on, we gotta get over there,” Zion replied.
Mateo tried to break away from his mother’s grip, but she held on tight. He leaned back in, saying something urgently, and she began to cry, but let go of him. She disappeared back inside and bolted the door shut.
“We have to hurry,” Mateo gushed as they trotted down the steps.
Zion threw himself back into the truck. “What did you say to her?” he asked.
“That I’m not her little boy anymore and I’ll be okay,” his passenger replied as he slammed the door. “People need my help.”
“Hate to break it to you,” Zion said, “but no matter how old or big you get, you’ll always be some lady’s little boy or brother.”
Mateo smiled thinly, and Calvin squeezed off another round before ducking and looking in the back window.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“Main gate,” Zion replied as the gunfire continued to increase in the distance.
Calvin went pale and took a knee. “Shit, that can’t be good.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Zion made the turn onto the outer road of the camp, speeding towards the main gate. As they approached, they witnessed a frantic scene.
Eight guards perched up on makeshift platforms made of cars and dumpsters, frantically shooting, aiming at targets perilously close to the gate. Several people on the ground stood directly in front of the gate, swaying under the pressure from the zombies on the other side of it.
Others used whatever they could to reinforce the fence, some holding tree branches, one holding a twisted car bumper. A few others used knives and machetes to strike the creatures reaching through.
Dozens of arms stretched out, grasping at the people who darted forward to deliver strikes before jumping back to relative safety. As Zion pulled the truck up just short of the gate, one of the stabbers, a young woman in her twenties, managed to take out a ghoul, but another grasped her wrist in a death grip.
She screamed for help, but it was drowned out in the noises of the fray. Mateo spotted her and lunged forward, bringing his cleaver down hard on the ghoul’s forearm, severing it completely.
The woman staggered backwards, shaking the severed limb from her wrist and falling to the ground. Mateo quickly helped her up, and she stared at him with wide, panicked eyes.
“You’re okay now, you’re okay,” he assured her, and she finally took a deep breath, nodding jerkily.
“Thank you,” she replied, and then headed off to find another weapon.
The top right hinge on the gate cracked open, breaking away from the frame.
“Right side, sight side!” Wendy barked from her position at the fence.
The top began to lean and buckle, and the man holding the car bumper shifted to the side, trying to hold it up. As he struggled with it, Zion darted up, taking the makeshift support and jamming it up into position, putting his weight into it to briefly stabilize the barrier.
As he held it in place, he stared through the fence, swallowing hard at the couple hundred ghouls pressed up against it.
“Zion, thank god you’re here,” Wendy gushed as she joined him.
“Where’s Monique?” he demanded.
The redhead jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “She’s with a couple others checking the perimeter,” she said.
Calvin approached, his face white as a sheet as he surveyed the sea of zombies on the other side of the gate. “Where the hell did they come from?” he breathed.
“When that bomb went off next door,” Wendy explained, “it alerted every fucking thing in a ten mile radius.”
“Are they from the bridge?” Zion asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she replied, and took a deep breath. “We gotta send somebody down there. We have to know what we’re up against.”
Zion and Calvin shared a look, and the former said, “There’s hundreds more coming up from the south, too.”
Wendy’s expression changed from determined to defeated, and she stared at the sky for a moment before clenching her jaw and snapping back into alpha mode. “Jackie, Stevie,” she barked at a few of the shooters on the wall, “get to the south wall and start patching it up. Grab whoever and whatever you need to make it happen. And hurry up, because we’re on the clock!”
The men leapt down and hurried off, and the redhead turned to Zion and Calvin.
“We still need to know what’s coming on the bridge,” she said.
The sniper glanced over at Mateo, stabbing wildly through the gate. “Mateo, you’re with me!” he called.
The butcher downed one more creature before stepping away from the line and heading over.
“Go out, see what you can see and report back,” Wendy said.
“No,” Zion said firmly.
She jutted out her chin, glaring at him. “No?”
“If there are zombies on the bridge, we need
to find a way to slow them down,” he replied.
Calvin scratched the back of his head. “How do you propose we do that?”
“Burn ‘em,” Zion replied.
Wendy shook her head furiously. “No, no, no,” she insisted. “We need the gas that’s in those cars if we’re going to be able to-”
“Wendy,” Zion cut in, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but we need to get people out of this camp, and now.”
Her eyes went wild, and she pointed a finger at him. “No!” she yelled. “This is our home and I’m not going to abandon it!”
“Look around!” Zion yelled back, waving his free arm. “We can barely hold this group back and we have a fucking gate. What do you think is going to happen if zombies from the bridge join them? Or the hundreds that are about to come through the hole in the wall on the other side of town?”
She screwed her fists into her eyes for a moment. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she snapped, but she knew that he was right. She pulled out her walkie-talkie. “Monique, come in,” she said, defeat in her voice.
“What’s up?” came the reply.
Wendy took a deep breath. “What’s your status?”
“Two blocks up on the western wall,” Monique reported. “Found a hole caused by some debris so we’re patching it up.”
“Keep it open,” the redhead instructed. “I’m sending some people your way.”
“My brother get back?” Monique asked.
Wendy nodded. “Yep.”
“Feel safer already,” the other woman came back. “We’ll be waiting.”
The redhead pocketed her radio and raised her chin. “What do you need?”
Calvin and Mateo shared a glance, and then the latter spoke up. “I need a lighter and a shirt or rag or something.”
“And we need to know how far down to go before we find a car with gas left in the tank,” Calvin added.
Wendy turned and shoved two fingers in her mouth, letting out a sharp, loud whistle. One of the gunmen jumped down from the wall and trotted up to her like a trained dog.
“Yes, ma’am?” he asked.
She motioned to him. “Give Mateo here your lighter,” she instructed. “And your shirt.”
The man didn’t miss a beat, peeling off his stained t-shirt, and handing it over to Mateo with his lighter. “Anything else?” he asked.
“Do you recall how far you have made it on the bridge getting gas?” she asked.
The man nodded. “Yes ma’am,” he replied. “We left a pizza delivery sign on top of the last car we drained.”
“So we need to go one past it?” Mateo asked.
The gunman nodded again. “Yep, the next one up should be full,” he said.
“Thank you,” Wendy cut in, “now get back to the fire line.”
He turned quickly and rushed back up to his post to resume shooting, now shirtless.
“If you boys are good, get going,” the redhead urged.
The duo glanced at each other and then tore off in a sprint towards the hole in the wall.
Wendy turned to Zion. “We have to figure out how to get these people out of here,” she said firmly. “I only have enough vehicles to get a little more than half of them out.”
He motioned for one of the nearby stabbers to come take his spot holding the gate up. Once he was sure it was secure, he stepped away and faced her. “Then we need more vehicles,” he said. “How many more do we need?”
“Five, maybe six if they’re big,” she replied.
He pursed his lips for a moment. “What if we get the shuttle buses from the park and ride a few blocks over?”
She sighed. “Assuming that bomb didn’t destroy it,” she muttered.
“That’s a chance we’re gonna have to take,” Zion replied.
Wendy turned and whistled at the fence crew. “Joan, I need you to start getting people from the houses to the center of town,” she barked. “Use my house as the base. Then get every vehicle you can over there.”
The young woman that Mateo had saved nodded from the fence and turned to head off.
“And watch yourself!” Zion called. “We’ve seen some runners.”
Joan swallowed hard, face terrified, but nodded firmly and rushed off.
“It’s close enough that we can get to the park and ride on foot, right?” he asked, turning back to Wendy.
The redhead nodded. “Just a few blocks.”
“Yo, shirtless dude,” Zion called to the half-naked gunman, “get my truck in front of the gate. That should hold them off!”
The man nodded and hopped down, getting to work as Zion and Wendy broke away from the gate.
She waved for him to follow her. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Calvin and Mateo tore down the street, looking to the west for the hole in the fence. The latter was the first to skid to stop as he spotted Monique and two others standing guard.
“Hey guys,” Monique greeted as they jogged over, “how bad is it up there?”
Calvin shook his head. “Real bad,” he admitted. “How’s it looking on the street?”
“Looks clear at the moment,” she replied. “Everything that’s coming up joins up with the horde at the gate.”
He nodded. “Watch yourself on the south,” he advised, “we have another horde coming up. Maybe twenty minutes away if we’re lucky.”
She wrung her hands. “This isn’t looking good, is it?” she asked.
“It’s not,” he admitted. “Zion and Wendy are getting transportation to evacuate.”
Monique blinked at him, stunned. She knew that if Wendy was giving up the camp, it showed how serious the situation was. The redhead was not so easily swayed.
“You two better get going then,” she said, snapping back into action. She pointed out the hole. “Cut through the yard across the street, go up a couple of blocks, and then go over to the main road of the bridge. Should keep you out of trouble.”
Calvin rubbed his forehead and offered her a reassuring smile. “Might be the first time I’ve ever avoided trouble in my life,” he said.
“Explains why you and my little brother get along so well,” she quipped, and they shared a quick chuckle. She squeezed his shoulder and then the duo hopped through the hole.
They darted across the street, reaching the first house and moving slowly along the wall to the corner. Calvin peered around it, seeing a few creatures about forty yards up near the road, wandering towards the noise at the gate.
The sniper tapped his companion on the arm, motioning for him to follow across the street to the next house. As they reached the corner, Calvin looked to the left, seeing a couple of creatures lumbering towards them.
“Mateo,” he murmured.
His partner stepped up, cleaving the side of one ghoul’s skull before quickly stabbing the other one in the face. As quickly as it had begun, the fight was over and they were both down, without a single peep or snarl.
Calvin blinked with appreciation. “We live through this,” he said, “and you’re gonna have to teach me how to do that.”
“With pleasure,” Mateo replied with a grin. “Just don’t ask for my grandmother’s tamale recipe.”
Calvin scoffed. “Shit man, I’d be like a teenage boy with a porn star,” he said. “Wouldn’t know what to do with it even if I had it!”
They reached the next corner and peered down the road, seeing several zombies coming up from the bridge.
“Hope we’re not too late,” Calvin murmured. He crept across to the next street and into the yard, coming up to the next house. They did a quick sweep, not seeing any zombies in the immediate area. Across the street was a dead end, thick woods that would eventually lead to the river.
The two took a deep breath in tandem, simultaneously hoping that the coast would be clear to the bridge. They broke out from cover and ran up the road, staying just off of it on the grass, hoping to muffle their footsteps.
As they approached the main road, they ducked d
own behind a tree as another group of a dozen or so zombies lumbered past towards the camp. They stayed silent, hoping and praying that nothing else followed them up. Luckily, once the lumbering throng moved out of their line of sight, nothing else appeared to be following them.
They rushed out onto the main road, pausing at the corner to scan the area. To the right towards the camp were several groups of zombies, moving up, attracted by the noise. To the left it was mostly clear to the bridge, where a makeshift blockade of cars kept a lot of creatures at bay. It was about four blocks away, and easily fifteen creatures stood between them at the front edge of the cars.
Wendy’s camp had tried their best to barricade the bridge using the cars at one point, but it was only minimally successful. There were still some gaps that were filled with sheet metal, but those had been broken through, presumably by some of the horde at the gate. From their vantage point, they couldn’t see how many were waiting for them on the bridge.
“Let’s blow past these fuckers, knock them down if you have to, and we’ll deal with them on the way back,” Calvin whispered.
Mateo nodded in agreement, and the sniper looked through his scope towards the bridge. About forty yards past a bread delivery truck in the center of the road, he spotted the target vehicle with the pizza delivery sign on top. He moved over to let his companion have a look.
“That’s your target,” he said quietly. “I’m going to get up on that delivery truck and provide you cover. You get in there, light it up, and get the fuck out. You with me?”
Mateo gave him a thumbs up, and they readied themselves to spring. The duo darted out into the road, running full speed ahead towards the bridge and the zombies standing in their way.
They split up, each taking one side of the road, ducking and running past the creatures that clumsily reached out for them. Calvin approached two of the ghouls near the delivery truck, and lowered his shoulder, plowing into one of them, sending it to the ground.
He used the butt of his rifle to smash the second one in the face, and when it fell he leapt onto the trunk of a sedan next to his target. He clambered up onto the roof and threw his rifle over his shoulder, jumping and grabbing the top of the delivery truck. He struggled to pull himself up, but with a heaving groan, managed to haul his body on top of the truck.
Dead America-The Northwest Invasion Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 4
