The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  “Pull up the ladder,” Julie said.

  Hank reached down and grabbed the top rung of the ladder and pulled it into the truck. He folded it and placed it on top of the cab.

  “They’re going to get through that door,” Lucas said. “If they see us, we’re dead. We’ll have to lie down, out of sight.”

  “Shouldn’t even talk or move, if we can help it,” Julie added.

  They clambered for positions in the truck bed for a minute. “We won’t all fit back here, I’m going into the cab.” Julie slid the back window open, climbed into the cab and laid down.

  With the extra room, Hank lay on his side with his back against the wheel well, Lucas lay in the middle on his back and Poly scrunched up against the other side, facing Lucas.

  The door creaked and the sound of moans became louder. Soon they would be busting down that door and occupying every space below them. Did the truck just move down? She felt the panic building. The grinners clawed and scratched the steel door and it crunched under their pushes. She pictured every grinner out there, pushing against the door. She breathed rapidly and brought out her dagger. Lucas turned his head to face her.

  “Suck it up, Poly, we may be here a long time,” Lucas said.

  She took a deep breath and her eyes narrowed, as Lucas faced the ceiling, ignoring her glare. Just like Lucas to make light of a situation where they could all die. She wanted to punch him, just to make sure he knew she was angry.

  Giving up, she attached to the anger and tried to build on it. She thought of Max striking down Compry, Joey being wrapped like a present and taken away from her, Paul lying face down in the sand, the face of the MM officer that hit her. She let the rage build and pounded out the fears with it.

  The door finally gave in and collapsed into the mechanic’s bay with a loud noise, as it crashed to the floor. Feet stomped over it. So many feet, like a never ending marching band. As they filled the space below, the sound of falling cans and tools echoed throughout the room. The anger felt good for a minute, but it was fleeting. They were directly under them, knocking into the undercarriage of the truck. She needed something else to keep her from screaming.

  She closed her eyes, covered her mouth with her hand and thought of the scene generator with Joey. The oak tree, the fireflies floating around and turning into shapes, the cold air in her lungs, the warm body pressed against her, and the feeling of Joey’s rapid heartbeat against her skin.

  Her breathing slowed and she kept the smell of death from waving over her. She felt a hand touch hers and she opened her eyes to see Lucas staring at her. He held Hank’s as well. He was right, they might be there for a long time and she needed to suck it up. But if she didn’t have her friends there, she’d already be losing it.

  She looked to the cab and the open window. She had envied Julie as she climbed into the truck, but now she would do anything to have her there next to her. In that cab, she was dealing with it on her own. Julie was already losing it before the door crashed in, and now she had to face it alone. She tried to project positive thoughts to Julie.

  Lucas squeezed her hand and she looked at his face as he gave a soft nod.

  She winced and closed her eyes hard, as she heard grinners climbing onto the car next to them. They couldn’t move at all now, if the grinners spotted one live hand they’d never leave the shop. Glass shattered from the car next to them and Poly jerked in reaction to it. They seemed so close, like any second she’d feel one of those grimy hands reaching over the truck bed and grab her shoulder.

  Did the truck just lower again? She swore she felt it inch down. Poly looked to the cab window and thought she heard a whimper. She should have climbed in the cab with her.

  The truck shook and one of the wheels spun on the truck. She heard a squeak from the cab. She eyed Lucas and he gazed at the window as well. He looked at her and shook his head. He might have been thinking she would make her way into the cab, but Poly didn’t think she could move at the moment, even if she had too. Her whole body felt numb.

  The truck shook again and she gripped her dagger, waiting for a dead head to appear over the edge of the truck. The truck edged down again. Why was it moving down? Their weight must be too much for the old jack to handle. No, she had to be imagining it. She studied a can on the far wall, it displayed half the label. If they moved down anymore, more of the label would appear. She calmed her breathing and reminded herself they would be laying there for a long time. At some point, the grinners would leave. She repeated it in her head over and over. As long as more of that label didn’t appear.

  “Testies,” Lucas faintly whispered.

  Poly focused on Lucas’s face. Her face crunched in a question. What the hell was Lucas saying?

  “Areolas.”

  Poly stared at his face as he smirked.

  “Scrotum.”

  She was lip reading as much as hearing the absurd, faint words spilling from his mouth. She glanced at Hank, but he returned a confused look. She didn’t think he could hear Lucas.

  “Badonkadonk.”

  Okay, he was just getting ridiculous.

  “Donkey punch,” Poly whispered. She had no idea what it meant, but heard it a few times and knew it meant something funny.

  Lucas’s eyes went wide and he covered his mouth to hold back a laugh. His reaction made her smile and she felt better. Another grinner spun a truck wheel and Poly raised her eyebrow. The truck felt like it moved lower again and she searched for her can, more of the label appeared. They were lowering. She stared at that label, trying to stay still and calm.

  The truck edged lower and lower, and a new sound hit the truck. Julie whimpered, and it killed Poly to not be able to go and comfort her.

  Hang in there, Julie.

  Poly, Julie, and Samantha were sisters with different parents. She loved them, she loved all of the Preston Six. It didn’t feel right not to have Samantha around and with Joey in the hands of MM, it was taking her to a dark place when alone. She tried to take it in and be tough, but how much could she take before choking to death? The truck inched lower again. Was it picking up speed? Her reference can was far above the sidewall of the truck now.

  Many heads and arms began to hit the sidewalls of the descending truck. Poly winced at each sound and slowly pulled the sword out of it sheath. Lucas pulled two arrows from his quiver and held them like daggers in each hand. They didn’t stand a chance against the hundred grinners below, but they would try. It’s good Julie got into the cab. She had almost no grinner killing experience. Maybe they’d never see her in the cab. It was a comforting thought. Maybe Julie could get to the stone and she and Samantha could carry on without them.

  A hand moved above her; its grimy fingers searching. She moved her sword, but Lucas put a hand on her and shook his head. If not then, when? Any second, the grinners would be pulling them out of the back of the truck.

  A sudden shift in noise came from below. The stomping and dragging noise moved in a direction away from them. The door they’d knocked down rattled on the floor under the grinner’s feet. Then the sound of breaking glass reverberated in the office, and finally . . . silence.

  She lay motionless, listening for sounds below. She could feel the steady descent now. The garage door stopped rattling, the awful moans disappeared. Her breathing sounded loud in the silence.

  Lucas turned his head to the cab window. She wanted to check on Julie as well. She adjusted herself on the steel bed of the truck and Lucas shook his head and held a finger to his mouth.

  Then Poly heard it, a dragging sound like somebody dragging a sack of concrete across the floor. It rattled the door and then the glass of the office.

  Lucas pointed at her and then his eyes. She nodded and rolled around to face the wheel well of the truck. She rose up on her elbow with her face sideways. She crept up until her right eye peered over the truck, she saw the car next to them, the walls of parts and tools, emptied onto the floor, but nothing moved. She moved higher, inching up, until
she saw below the truck. She gawked at the sight, they were only five feet off the floor but nothing moved, it looked clear.

  “I don’t see anything,” she whispered.

  Lucas sat up and moved to the cab window, Poly did the same. Julie lay on the floor holding her Panavice in her hands. A soft glow from the screen lit up her face and hand that moved around the screen.

  “Julie,” Lucas said through the open window.

  Julie jerked away from the screen, smiled, and climbed onto the bench seat. “They gone?”

  “You okay?” Lucas asked.

  “Yeah, there’re some fantastic games on this,” Julie said showing them the screen.

  Lucas and Poly both let out a long breath. She had been stressing for a day on the floor of the truck over Julie, while she played games.

  “I thought I heard you crying,” Lucas said.

  “Oh, I just couldn’t get past this one level, drove me crazy.”

  Lucas helped Julie through the window.

  “Why do you think they left like that?” Hank asked.

  “Probably a stray cat or something, who cares,” Lucas said. “Let’s get the gas and get out of here.”

  Hank took the ladder from the top of the cab and lowered it to the ground. Poly went first, holding her sword in hand. She shot looks around the room as she stepped down the ladder, a grinner could be hiding anywhere, but nothing moved.

  Lucas climbed down the ladder, carrying his backpack in one hand, with his bow slung over his shoulder. “Grab me that gas can.” He pointed behind Hank.

  Hank handed the gas can to Lucas and they filled it up with gas.

  Poly stepped on the fallen door and peeked into the office room. Desks overturned, papers scattered across the floor and a black smear on the window streaked down to the broken door, but there were no grinners.

  Stepping on the papers, she crouched low and walked to the glass door, looking down the road in both directions as far as the darkness would allow, nothing moved. She let out a breath and slid the dagger into its sheath.

  “Outside looks clear,” she said, standing at the mechanic’s doorway.

  “Poly, you saved our lives coming up with that idea to get in the truck. Thanks,” Hank said.

  She nodded to Hank.

  “I don’t know. I had a sinking feeling the whole time back there.” Lucas laughed at his stupid joke.

  Poly smiled, it was kind of funny.

  “How was the truck bed?” Julie asked.

  “Not too bad, until Hank and Lucas started holding hands,” Poly said with a smirk. She left out her own hand holding from the word games.

  Hank held the gas can. “Poly, what happens in the truck bed, stays in the truck bed.”

  Lucas laughed and looked at Julie. She rolled her eyes and looked at her Panavice.

  They filled the Trail Dog with gas and strapped all the gas cans, and whatever else could hold a liquid, to the top of the SUV and pushed it back into position.

  “Go,” Lucas said and she pushed against the bumper.

  It roared to life and they silently jumped and air-high-fived each other as they climbed in. Lucas took shotgun with Julie driving. Poly and Hank took the backseat. Hank tossed his huge bags into the far back of the car and she pushed her backpack next to her feet.

  Lucas banged on the dash like he was playing drums. “Road trip!”

  “I can’t get far enough away from that garage.” Julie pressed on the gas pedal.

  Poly cheered and fist-pumped the air as they turned down the road, Hank raised an eyebrow at her and smiled.

  “Come on, Hank, you can cheer once,” Poly said.

  “Woo-hoo,” Hank said in a weak sarcastic tone.

  Poly punched him in the shoulder.

  “Ouch,” he said and rubbed his fake wound, sticking out his bottom lip.

  “Oh no, did my fist hurt you?” Poly asked in her baby voice.

  “I have sensitive shoulders,” Hank said. “Maybe if you carried more than that two pound pillow you’d understand.” She saw him trying to hold back a smile.

  “So, that’s how it’s going to be.” Poly pulled out her dagger.

  “Whoa,” Hank said raising his arms. “I was just messing around, how about I carry your bag next?”

  “Deal,” Poly smiled and put her dagger away.

  “You know where to go, Julie?” Lucas asked.

  “South. It’s more A to B directions. But if we keep going south, we’re going in the right direction.”

  Poly felt the clean fabric of the seats and rested the back of her head on the soft head rest. She looked to Hank who was staring out his window.

  “You know if we take shifts driving and our gas holds out, we could be in Florida in a day and half,” Julie said.

  Lucas turned to look at the back seat. “You two should sleep now and in six hours we will switch.”

  It was the best idea she had heard all week. Even at the mention of the word sleep, she felt her body slipping into a dream world.

  HARRIS PUSHED OPEN THE GLASS door of the bank, hitting a body on the sidewalk. He pushed the door harder, sliding the body on the concrete. He looked back at the bank vault door and used his Panavice to close it. The thing on the ground had a hole in its head and he knew the kids had been through there.

  He sighed, looking at the abandoned stores and buildings that lined the street. He had been here long ago and seen it vibrant with life. Now, windows were broken, buildings burned, abandoned cars littered the street, weeds slowly took back the road as they climbed through the cracks, expanding them a little every year. It wouldn’t be long before nature took it all back.

  Sliding his fingers over the Panavice, he searched for Julie. Almadon put a tracker on her Panavice, and if she was with in a thousand miles, he would find her.

  His pinged, a circle appeared on the screen. He looked to the south, they were eight hundred miles away. He grimaced and took in a deep breath—he needed a vehicle to catch them. Cars lined the street, but most were burned, turned upside down, or stripped down.

  Jogging down the street he looked into each store, until he came to a large parking lot of a Cost Plus. He slowed down, walking along the sidewalk on the street. He saw garbage behind the building, and a green branch, peeking over the edge of the roof.

  Someone lived or had lived there. He picked up his pace to a jog. He didn’t want to deal with people, he didn’t have the time.

  He ran past the store and into a suburb. The same houses lined both sides of the street, with weeds and bushes growing into the front porches. Some of the doors had red X’s painted on them; those were the houses that had been cleared. He ran down the middle, working his way around fallen trees and stalled cars.

  Then he found it, a motorcycle. A police bike lay on its side, the front windshield cracked, deep claw marks on the seat. He pulled it upright and pushed it forward. The wheels rolled on the asphalt, creaking from sitting for a long time. Gaining momentum he pushed it harder, jogging to keep up.

  He jogged the bike onto Main Street, turning left toward the gas station. Max’s Gas, proclaimed a giant sign above the gas station. Some of the prices had fallen off the sign, making gas ninety-nine cents. The bike wasn’t ready for gas, he pushed it past the cob-webbed, dirty pumps and into the mechanic’s bay.

  A zombie stumbled out of the bay in a gray jumpsuit. Harris dropped the motorcycle and picked up a wrench from the counter. Yes, a wrench would do the job, nice and quiet. The zombie fell to the ground with a solid hit to the head.

  Harris pushed the motorcycle into the bay, securing it to a lift. Vanar didn’t have gas driven vehicles, except for rich collectors. Harris’s dad had a fascination with the antiques and made him work on them, rebuilding them when he was young—which seemed like five lifetime’s ago.

  Placing his tools on the floor next to the motorcycle, he knelt down, pulling the fuel hose out, letting it drain on the floor. Next, the oil. It poured thick, black ooze onto the floor, spread
ing out. He didn’t have time to be clean or environmentally correct.

  He pulled a new can of oil off the wall and tossed it next to the box. Then, a fuel filter, a spark plug, and other parts piled up next to the motorcycle.

  He spent the next hour taking apart the top end of the motor, and cleaning it out. Hoping it worked, he put it back together and filled it with oil. Taking it off the lift, he pushed it to the gas station’s supply lid.

  He figured gas would be in the tanks, the disease spread so quickly through Ryjack, most of the resources still existed. He took a hose and the manual gas hand-pump from the shop and walked over to the metal lid, covering the tanks below ground. He slid the hose into the hole and heard a swish of liquid as it hit. Putting the other end of the hose into the gas tank, he pumped and filled the tank.

  He looked at his Panavice, they had traveled another thirty miles. Urgency hit him. He needed the motorcycle to run, if he had any chance of cutting them off before they reached the trap.

  He strapped three filled gas cans to the back of the motorcycle and pushed it down the road, picking up speed. He pushed hard and when he neared a running speed he jumped on the bike and pushed his toes down on the shifter. It jerked and the tires skidded. He jumped on the seat, putting weight on the back tire, making it roll. It fired to life, spitting out smoke and sounding bad, but running.

  There must have been a crack in the pipe somewhere; it roared way louder than it should. Anyone in a quarter mile would know he was coming. He focused on the road in front of him, if he kept moving, it wouldn’t matter.

  Weaving in and out of the mangled cars slowed his pace, but once he got out of the town, the road cleared and he sped along. He wished he had goggles, as the wind drew tears out from his eyes.

  A zombie in the field next to him ran in his direction; to his right, another climbed out of a car. He looked back and saw a horde of zombies running down the road. He faced forward, because he couldn’t worry about what was behind him. The exhaust sputtered and he felt the bike misfire, but it kept moving forward. He petted the gas tank on the motorcycle.