Bryan clamped his mouth shut and lowered his gaze.
“Good,” Fingers said, and leaned on his palms. “Now, as I was saying. We have multiple problems and not a lot of time or resources to deal with them.” He picked up one of the large bombs from the table, a pipe bomb that had been wrapped with a generous amount of nuts and bolts. “Now, I got six of these bad boys, which is how we’re going to clear out street level. Which one of you boys is the fastest runner?”
Bryan and Michael both immediately pointed at Mateo, the only athletic-looking one of the bunch.
He shook his head. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Okay, what do you need?”
“We got two streets where the bulk of them are,” Fingers explained. “You get to run down, distract them, and bring them up to me.”
Mateo nodded. “And where are you going to be?”
“On top of the building at the end of the street,” Fingers said. “When they get close, I’m gonna detonate the bombs right over their heads. The blast should go a long way towards luring them out.”
Mateo pursed his lips. “And what about the rest?”
Fingers glanced at the holsters on either side of the man’s torso. “Here’s hoping you’re good with those,” he said, inclining his head to the blades.
Bryan and Michael snickered and exchanged a fist bump, and Fingers eyed them with a calculating gaze.
“Not sure why you chuckle nuts are laughing,” he drawled, “because it’s going to be your job to start getting those things out of the hotel.”
The duo sobered immediately.
“How do you suggest we do that?” Bryan asked.
Michael threw his hands up. “Yeah, and what are we supposed to do with that many of them?”
Fingers pointed to the ceiling in the center of the room. Four bombs dangled above them with a long fuse running out the front door.
“As far as what you’re supposed to do with them,” he began, “you lure them inside here and get out through the front before locking them in, and I’ll handle the rest. As far as how, I really don’t give a fuck.” He spread his hands. “Yell, shoot, do an acappella version of Baby Got Back, whatever floats your boat.”
The two men stared at each other, wide-eyed with terror.
Fingers laughed. “Amazing how quickly you tough guys fold,” he scoffed. “Hope it’s just you shitting your pants, and not you realizing it’s hopeless.”
They tried to respond, opening and closing their mouths, but no sound came out. Fingers grabbed the bombs from the table and another bag from the ground. He checked his watch and shook his head.
“Let’s get a move on,” he said shortly, “we’re gonna have guests showing up in an hour or so. Probably best for everybody if we’re alone in this town.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Zion and Calvin sat out of sight of the zombies at the gate, listening as they moaned and shook the metallic barrier. After a few moments with no conversation, Zion checked his watch.
“Two forty-eight,” he reported. “Break time is over, brother. You ready to start causing a ruckus?”
Calvin stood, readying his rifle. “Let’s do it,” he declared. “You figure out the plan yet?” he asked.
Zion shook his head. “Out that door at the end of the hallway, you open fire, and we haul ass down the other side of the upstairs hall,” he replied. “Just gotta hope that there aren’t too many of them standing in our way.”
“And if there are?” Calvin cocked his head.
Zion shrugged playfully. “Then it’s been a fun ride.”
The sniper chuckled and smirked at his friend. “You know, you might just have a future in motivational speeches.”
Zion clapped him on the back. “Come on, let’s roll,” he said, and they headed into the back room. They crept to the back door and cracked it open, peeking out into the hallway. It was clear, so they stepped out, walking briskly to the end.
“Okay, when we get out to the main hall, you start picking those things off on the far side,” Zion said quietly. “I’ll cover you while you do.”
Calvin nodded firmly. “How many shots you want?”
“You just focus on firing until I tell you to move,” Zion said. “The more shots, the more of those things that are gonna head out of the store.”
Calvin checked his ammo, making sure his rifle had been topped off. When he was ready, Zion peeked out the door, spotting a lone zombie about five yards away, with nothing else in his immediate view. He held up one finger to signal to his companion there was only one enemy.
He threw open the door and rushed out, swinging his bludgeon fiercely, striking down the ghoul as Calvin slammed the door behind him and did a quick sweep of their rear, finding several zombies far down the hallway towards the other anchor store.
“Forget ‘em,” Zion said, smacking his arm, “let’s move.”
They ran out to the main portion of the mall, straight towards a walkway over the large center area.
“Set up in the center,” Zion barked, “let’s do this!”
Calvin ran straight across, hopping up onto a bench and taking aim at the left side of the building. He quickly scanned, finding a zombie about twenty yards down. The first shot boomed, blowing the back out of the creature’s head and alerting every zombie to where they were.
As he found his next target, Zion went into sentry mode, looking in every direction for something to bash. His first one came up from the rear, a teenager in blood-tattered pajamas, about fifteen yards away from Calvin. He rushed it and swung hard, sending the lightweight monster tumbling to the ground.
He turned and saw the group they had hidden from in the store was working its way up towards them. It was easily a thirty-strong horde at this point, too much to manage with just a bat.
Another booming shot rang out, prompting Zion to glance to the other side. Zombies began to pour out of the stores, with twenty to thirty stretching all the way down to the second floor entrance to the garden center.
“Gotta buy him more time,” he muttered to himself, and frantically looked around, spotting a large metal trash can on the corner. He did a quick scan, seeing that nothing was close to them. He rushed over, set his weapon down, and picked up the can. It was heavy and cumbersome, so it took him a moment to get a handle on it.
Zion strained as he lifted it over his head. Once he had it secure, he started jogging towards the mini-horde as the shots from Calvin continued to echo. The zombies in front of him grew excited, seeing fresh meat coming their way. He stopped five yards short and threw the trash can as hard as he could.
The first three zombies in the center of the mass were crushed under the weight of it. The force of the impact knocked several more down, creating two columns of undead. Zion raced back to grab his weapon.
“Reloading!” Calvin called as the firing stopped momentarily.
Zion scanned the rear, seeing a handful of zombies coming up the other side of the aisle, still about thirty yards from the crossover. He looked at the aisle they had to run through, finding still about forty creatures out along the entire route of the run. There were a few really thick packs in their way.
“Thin out the big packs!” Zion cried. “Then get ready to go!”
Calvin nodded as he finished reloading and then took aim, firing some more. Zion turned to see the two columns of zombies were within ten yards of the crossover. He darted forward, swinging hard at the group closest to the railing. Instead of going for a headshot on the closest one, he swung deep and at an upward angle.
The thick wood caught three zombies under the arm, the force sending them lifting off of their feet and tumbling over the side railing. Zion didn’t look, but he heard the thud below as they hit the floor. He quickly turned to the other column, which had broken rank and headed his way. He swung low and hard, taking out the legs from a few creatures, sending them to the ground.
He ran back to Calvin, who fired off another shot. He looked down the aisle they were going to have t
o run through, seeing dozens of zombies, but a lot more spread out.
“We gotta move,” Zion said.
The sniper hopped down from the bench, both of them looking at the first floor. It was a sea of zombies, a lot of them pouring out of the garden center.
“You follow me and run as hard as you can,” Zion instructed. “Just push ‘em out of the way and keep moving. Escalator is at the center of the store. If we get separated, meet at the top.”
Calvin nodded firmly. “Lead on.”
They began their spring, launching from the spot. The hallway was about fifteen feet wide, and a hundred and fifty yards to the store entrance, with corpses both standing and laying dead along the path. Zion was five yards in front of Calvin as he approached the first pack. Three creatures shambled towards him.
He lowered his shoulder and barreled through them, clearing the path like a fullback for a running back. Calvin deftly hopped over the fallen corpses as they continued their run.
The next thirty yards were relatively easy, as the creatures were spread out pretty thin. Both men ducked around them, the outstretched claws never coming close to touching them. As they reached the next crowded section, there were two batches of four, staggered, leaving only a small section in the middle to break through.
“Go right!” Zion yelled. He broke towards the pack on the right, stopping just in front of them and swinging his weapon. The impact sent the lead two ghouls back into the others, all four slamming into the railing.
Calvin didn’t wait for him to get moving again, just run right by him and the fallen zombies. As he approached the next group, trouble arose. He ducked underneath the arm of an older monster missing a limb. As he came about, there was a corpse on the floor with a massive bullet wound to the head. He saw it, but not quite in time, his foot clipping the lifeless leg and sending him stumbling forward onto the ground.
The zombie that had been reaching for him moaned in delight and moved in quickly for its meal. Calvin scrabbled to get up, knowing he was in a bad spot.
The creature’s good arm reached out and grazed the fabric of the sniper’s shirt, but Zion grabbed it from behind by the collar and belt. He let out an animalistic yell as he tossed the thing over the railing.
“Ain’t no time to be lounging!” Zion cried, grabbing his companion by the arm and dragging him to a standing. The two men took off once again, despite the route ahead becoming more crowded, with about twenty zombies in the immediate vicinity.
Zion stared ahead, looking for a path through the mass of corpses that were standing nearly shoulder to shoulder and two deep. Calvin glanced to the rear, seeing the zombies they’d passed heading back in their direction.
“Whatever we’re doing, we gotta do it now!” he cried.
Zion held his weapon horizontally across his body. “Stay close,” he instructed, and took off running like a shot.
Calvin stayed hot on his heels as best he could, as Zion extended his arms at the line of zombies. He hit three at chest level with the wood, and pumped his legs hard, driving right through the corpses, knocking them back into the second row.
Both men leapt over the fallen creatures, as their friends reached out to grab them. By a hair’s breadth, they made it through the line and continued sprinting hard.
The store entrance was just ahead, with only a smattering of zombies standing in their way. They navigated through them and rushed into the store.
“Escalators in the center!” Zion screamed.
They dashed through the store, going straight down the main aisle in the center towards the frozen escalator, which was on the other side of a massive wall. As they rounded the corner, a dozen creatures greeted them, congregating around the entrance. The duo skidded to a stop and blinked in disbelief for a moment at the sight.
“Just once today it would be nice to catch a break,” Calvin groaned.
Zion looked around, spotting a shovel display just across from them. He grabbed one and held it out to his companion, who took it.
“Gotta stay silent,” Zion said, putting a finger to his lips.
They stepped up, melee weapons in hand, and began their assault. Zion swung wildly, cracking skulls, as Calvin went for a more gory assault. He stepped up to a younger zombie, a young redhead wearing a bloodied Super Garden Center shirt. He stabbed the shovel forward, driving the tip of the makeshift weapon into the bridge of her nose.
The impact drove straight through into her brain, causing the zombie to convulse for a moment before slumping down. He kicked it in the chest, freeing the shovel from the corpse and allowing him to repeat the process on the next enemy.
After several moments of smacking and stabbing, the immediate threat in front of them had been put down, although the moans and footsteps coming from behind them grew louder and louder. Zion led them around the wall to the escalator, seeing one more creature near the top of the stairs, stumbling about trying to navigate to a fresh meal.
Rather than deliver a vicious blow, Zion gently shoved the monster with his weapon, sending it falling straight back off of the stairs. There was a loud crack as the back of its head impacted on the edge of one of the stairs.
With the path to the first floor clear, the two men headed down, treading as lightly as they could to minimize the noise. As they reached the bottom, they could see into the mall where hundreds of zombies lumbered around just outside of the store. They made the turn towards the truck, stopping at the sight of a handful of creatures still in the store.
“Run through them to the truck,” Zion whispered. “I’ll load up the mowers and you handle anything that comes our way.”
Calvin nodded and held up his bloody shovel, approving of the plan. They darted out from cover, running as hard as they could down the aisle to the truck, passing half a dozen creatures browsing the various garden departments looking for brains. The footsteps alerted them to fresh meat, causing them to turn and head towards the duo.
Zion reached the truck and quickly dropped the back gate to the trailer, giving him a ramp. The first mower was a beast, forcing him to use every ounce of his strength to get it moving. Calvin glanced over with concern as he heard his friend grunt with the strain.
“Keep watch, I got this!” Zion hissed as he heaved the machine onto the trailer.
Calvin nodded and went back to sentry duty, watching the zombies they’d passed coming their way. He quickly checked side to side, to make sure there was no other threat, and then moved up to attack the first ghoul. With a quick swing of the shove, the first attacker was down. Rather than continue moving forward, the sniper retreated to the truck.
Zion got the first mower up, hopping off and immediately pushing the second one. Calvin watched the half-dozen zombies swell to about twenty in the main aisle. With the lead creature about twenty yards away, he swallowed hard, knowing this was getting out of hand quickly.
Before he could move up to attack, he heard movement from his right. A trio of zombies moved through the potted plants, knocking over long-dead plants with smashes and clangs. He frantically looked back and forth at the two front threats before dropping his shovel and retrieving his rifle.
“They’re on to us, I’m going hot!” he barked.
Zion paused with the second mower and surveyed the situation, nodding. “Do it!” he cried, and continued to push.
Calvin aimed at the main aisle zombies, quickly squeezing off two shots, hoping that the fallen would trip up a few. He turned his attention to the plant section, the trio having grown to half a dozen and getting closer, within fifteen yards.
He quickly fired, taking out the closest two before frantically shifting back to the main horde, which had swallowed up the fallen easily. He fired two more times, but heard Zion struggling with a gigantic mower, far bigger than the previous two. It looked like an industrial sized one for mowing football fields.
Calvin glanced back at the oncoming threat, knowing that no matter what he did the enemy would be on them no matter what he ch
ose to do. He broke from his defensive position and rushed back, throwing what little weight he had behind the mower. Despite his lean frame, it was just enough to get it moving up the incline. As soon as it was in place, Zion slammed the gate shut.
“You’re driving!” he said, and they bolted for the cab.
They slammed the doors shut, breathing heavily as rotting flesh pawed at the windows. Calvin turned the key in the ignition, and both men let out a sigh of relief as the engine roared to life.
“Buckle up,” he said. “This is going to be a bumpy ride.”
He popped it into gear and they started moving, a little slower with all the weight they were pulling. The corpse hands slid against the windows as they pulled away, leaving trails of goop and slime in their wake.
The duo drove down the back aisle before making the turn on the opposite side of the store to head back to the mall. As they approached the entrance, they saw a horde of creatures in the hundreds standing in front of them.
“That is some densely packed trouble right there,” Calvin said, swallowing hard.
Zion licked his lips. “All you can do is floor it and hope, brother,” he said, extending his fist.
Calvin bumped it and then revved the engine a few times before punching the gas.
The truck gained speed, hitting thirty as they crashed into the front edge of the mass. Bodies flew about, a few embedding themselves into the front hood, brethren smacking off of their backs as the truck plowed through.
Zion looked back, seeing a couple of creatures reaching out, their hands shattered as the mowers slapped them on the way by.
“Come on baby, come on baby,” Calvin muttered to himself, “you can do it.”
The engine whined loudly under the strain, the constant mass of rotted flesh keeping their speed low. The truck bumped about as they ran over creatures, the sound of broken bones and moans coming from an undead carpet below.
As they plowed through, they could see light at the end of the tunnel, but the truck began to slow down. Calvin dropped the truck into four-wheel drive, giving them a little extra boost of power. Just before the edge, the truck groaned mightily, and the duo held their breath.
Dead America-The Northwest Invasion Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 10
