“What do you want to do, Beck?” Tom asked and walked closer to her. “We aren’t that far. Do you have something else in mind?”
She was silent for a little longer as she looked around then said, “We could cut through here. It should just take us out half way down the road on the other side and that should be it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it looks empty, so unless those things are hiding underground, well then we are shit out of luck.”
“So, cutting across here?” Jill asked.
“We should,” Becky said and nodded. “We pass through here and that should be it.”
“Well, whatever saves us time at this point,” Jack said and wiped sweat from his pale forehead. His eyeliner was starting to fade, parts of it completely washed away by the sweat. “It’s been a shit day so whatever gets us as far away from here as possible, I’m all for it. It’s starting to stink here.”
“It is,” Jill added. “Like a graveyard. “It’s all these rotting corpses, I bet.”
“And this heat isn’t helping much,” Jack said.
“That settles it then,” Becky said and saw how the three of them were looking at her. It was as though she was a de facto leader. Not sure how that all came about, could have been her bossy demeanor, but she was supposedly it.
“Let’s go,” Tom said. “We’re like sitting ducks out here.”
“We’re sitting ducks everywhere,” Becky said. “It doesn’t matter where we go, they’re there.”
“I can’t believe any of this,” Jill said and rubbed Jack’s elbow. “One moment you’ve got everything going for you, the next you’re fighting off the living dead. What’s up with that?”
“I’m sure there’s gonna be something on the news. There’s gotta be,” Becky said as she started to walk across the gravel, her dirty sneakers crunching the stone beneath.
“I’m sure the government will cover it up soon enough,” Jack said and checked his gun. “I’m sure they’re working on it as we speak.”
“Why haven’t we seen anyone yet?” Tom asked. “I mean, if this was being taken care of, there’d be helicopters flying over, Humvees rollin’ in, assholes in hazmat suits flooding the area. I haven’t seen any of that happening. Have you?”
They all walked in silence as they thought about this. Tom was right, Becky mulled over what he had said about this just getting out of hand and the government not coming in on time. She didn’t find it odd before, well, she didn’t even think about it until he said it. It was rather strange that this would just go unchecked and they were here fending for themselves.
“I’m sure we’ll know what’s going on soon enough,” Becky said as the sound of an ambulance slowly faded in and got closer and louder. Then the tires screeched as the driver probably hit the brakes too late.
Then the sound of cars crashing into one another came, a little distant, since they were on the other side of Love Canal and the LaSalle Expressway was a mile and a half in the opposite direction. But it was all loud enough they could hear it.
“What in the name of…” Becky said and trailed off as she turned in the direction of the highway. The other three did as well, their faces overcome in confusion.
An explosion came seconds later and a cloud of smoke began to rise above the area. A fire truck sounded off in the distance as another explosion came and another one after that. Then there was an entire brigade of fire trucks driving to the spot, followed by several police cars and another ambulance.
“It sounds to me like shit’s really going down over there,” Jill said and shook her head.
“Man, I can’t believe this is all happening. I mean, it doesn’t seem real, you know? Like we’re in a dream or something. It’s crazy.”
“It sure is,” Tom agreed and fixed his weapon higher up to his chest, readying it for combat. Becky glanced at him briefly and noticed how he’s grown into a warrior in a matter of hours. She smiled.
They stood there and watched into the distance as smoke rose above the scene of the accident. There were several sirens going on at once in the cacophony of confusion and terror. It seemed though as the world was just coming to an end and this was the beginning of it; an intro, a symphony of death to prelude the terrible bloodshed.
The clouds were now thicker, Becky noticed, growing darker, and it would rain at any moment.
“This is pure insanity,” Jill said. Becky watched her squeeze Jack’s hand tighter.
“I don’t think we should stand here any longer,” Tom said and started walking in the direction of the car. “We need to go now.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed and followed.
Becky stood there for a moment longer, staring out into the distance and at the rising smoke. How could things get this bad, and so fast? Faint screams slowly carried on the now cooler breeze. She wondered what the body count was in what seemed to be a grotesque, terrible pile up? It had to be at least a few dozen people.
Those explosions weren’t small either.
Then the gunshots came and she almost flinched. It wasn’t the blasts themselves that startled her, but the fact that they had actually happened.
Was it happening out there as well? Were there corpses invading the world outside of this wretched enclosure? She could only speculate and dreaded actually finding out for herself once they made it out.
“Beck, you coming?” Tom’s voice came from behind.
“Yeah,” she said absently. She watched and listened for another second, then ran to her brother’s side.
“They’re shooting now too,” she said. “It’s gotta be happening even outside.”
“By the looks of it, it’s not just here. It has to have spread beyond Love Canal.” Jack offered the only explanation that was somewhat viable, if not the only rational one. Sure, it could have been a freak accident, a pile up, but when did the police shoot their guns at the scene of a car accident? They could comfort themselves by saying that this outbreak of walking dead was contained to this little formidable enclosure, but Becky knew that was just false hope, wishful thinking that would get them killed in the end. The best course of action was to accept the fact that the world now, and not just this armpit of Western New York, was indeed fucked.
They walked.
“Here, take this,” Jill told Jack as she handed him the gun. “I don’t want it anymore.”
“You sure?” Jack said rather surprised.
“Yeah, I just don’t want it in my hands anymore. This is insane. I need a hot shower to wash all this filth off me. I think two of them would have to do, scrub myself with pesticide or something. I feel shit growing all over me.” Her voice was almost trembling, but she did her damn best to keep it cool. Becky wouldn’t have held it against her if she broke down and cried.
Even killers cry at times, right?
Becky was close to breaking down herself, but managed to stay calm and focus on the task at hand.
A thought of her parents came to her and she felt her heart sink. All she could do was to hope that they were alright. They had to be. Chuck, her and Tom’s dad, was one of the hardest working men she ever had the privilege of knowing, and he was the go to pension in a situation like this. Always level-headed, there was very little that could stay in his way from protecting his family. He was most likely making sure that their mother Janet wasn’t losing her mind at that moment. Becky was grateful that she had inherited her father’s calm demeanor and not her mother’s neuroticism, as in a situation as like as the one she was in, it could mean life or death.
“We’re almost there,” Becky finally said in an effort to ease the tension and to put Jill at ease, if that was at all possible.
“We keep saying that, ‘almost here, almost there,’” Jill said and let out a long sigh. “It seems there’s no end to it, like we’re permanently trapped in this shithole. How big is this place anyways? Seems like a world of its own, I mean c’mon, why the hell aren’t we out yet?”
Although distant,
more gunshots sounded off the highway. She glanced over her shoulder and said, “You gotta be kidding me…” It sounded there was something else she wanted to add to that, but she swallowed her words and shut her mouth.
Becky walked on ahead a few feet, turned as she walked so she can face the group, especially Jill and gave another attempt at comforting them.
And just why the hell was she the one doing this?
“It’s been a shitty day, I get it,” she began and caught herself sounding like her track coach from high school. So what? Maybe this is what was needed. A little campy cheer never hurt anyone.
“But let’s just keep focused and keep going. Once we’re out of here, we’ll figure everything out. Let’s not keep inventing our own scenarios and assuming things. That there.” She pointed to the highway and the cloud of smoke, “That can be anything. We can’t just assume it’s this shit from here.”
“She’s right,” Tom added agreeing. “We’ve gotta stick together and not give into fear and exhaustion. Shit, I’m tired as all hell and sure could use some water, but I’d rather focus on not ending up in one of those thing’s mouths. I don’t wanna be anyone’s lunch.” He then nodded at her.
He had her back, she thought. She smiled at him and he winked back.
“That’s right,” Becky continued. “We’ve got water at our car. Our cellphones are there too. So, let’s just focus on that for the time being. Take it one step at a time.”
“Right,” Jill said and rubbed her eyes. “Sorry, just … emotions, you know. Just had too much today.”
“We’ve all have, babe,” Jack said and squeezed her tight around shoulders.
“That’s right, but we got this,” Becky said and finally turned back around as she joined Tom by his side.
They walked over the gravel of the construction site as thunder ripped through the sky and the first drops of rain started to fall. It was a nice change from the heat they had had to endure but the rain would only make everything worse, Becky thought as she wiped a few droplets from her forehead. As their footsteps crunched over the lot, it began to come down harder and, by the looks of the clouds above, it was most certainly not a passing phase. Darkness stretched every way and there was nothing in the horizon that would push the doom and gloom away.
“At least it cooled off a bit,” Tom said and stopped to survey the rest of the lot.
“We are on the other side,” Becky pointed to the mound of gravel and sand that stood next to giant slabs of concrete.
“Yeah, we just need to get through here, past that hill of shit. We’re parked on that street right there.”
“Seems like we’ve trekked over an entire state,” Becky added.
“It sure does,” Jack said. “I can’t believe we’ve been here since this morning. It’s insane.”
“Why are we waiting? If we’re that close, let’s just go then,” Jill said nervously.
“Just want to make sure there are no more of those dead fucks waiting to jump out. Seriously, they’re like a damn swarm of flies. You alert one, you alert them all.”
“Yeah, we have to be careful now,” Becky said in agreement with her brother. “We’re getting closer to the outer streets. If this … whatever this is, is already happening in the outside, then you bet your ass they’re roaming all over the place.”
“Yeah,” Tom said and took a few steps further into the lot. “But it looks like we should be good. I don’t see any more of them.”
“In that case, we should just run for it,” Jill urged.
It was quiet, Becky noticed. Too quiet. The only other noise beside the distant sirens was the rain hitting the ground and, given everything, it was to some strange degree rather tranquil. Becky loved the sound and smell of rainy days, but those were of easy going weekends when there was nothing really to do other than read a good book and watch television. These circumstances were drastically different with cannibalistic rotting corpses lurking around every corner waiting to rip your throat out.
“Alright,” Tom said and waved them on ahead.
Becky was happy to see him somewhat take control of the situation. His dirty blonde hair was soaked and his clothes were covered in blood stains from numerous close encounters. He looked like he had just crawled out of the trenches.
She watched him take the first steps and then, as she began to follow, a gunshot – one that sounded very close – blasted through the air. She ducked a little, felt Jill’s hand on her elbow and before she even decided to try and see where that had come from, she saw Tom drop his M4 rifle and grab his stomach. His knees buckled and he collapsed, still holding onto his midsection.
“Tom!” Becky screamed and lunged to where had fallen.
Another shot came but it flew over their heads.
“Holy shit! Holy shit!” Jill joined in.
“This isn’t happening! Tom! Tom!” Becky called as she first haphazardly inspected the gushing gunshot wound in her brother’s stomach, then quickly put her hands under his armpits and did her best to pull him up. She saw Jill out of the corner of her eye come to her side and grab Tom’s shoulder. They worked together to pull him out of the clearing and behind another mound of gravel that was to their left.
Another shot came and this time the bullet hit the dirt a few feet away from them.
Jack reached and grabbed Tom’s legs and the three of them carried him behind the cover.
“Tom, stay with me! You gotta stay with me, I know it hurts,” Becky said as they set him down on the muddy ground. Her voice was trembling, tears welling up in her eyes. “Stay with me.”
She grabbed his hand and held onto it.
She saw Jack go toward the rifle Tom had dropped, but as soon as he stepped from the cover, whoever was shooting at them fired their gun again and hit Jack in the knee. She saw the bullet rip right through it, like it was nothing, saw it blow out the back, bone shattering and spreading like shrapnel.
“Jack! Honey!”
“Ah! Fucking shit! He got me!” Jack yelled as he fell down and immediately started to crawl toward the cover.
“Listen Tom,” Becky now turned her attention to her brother. “You gotta be strong, alright? We’re almost there. We got this. Just hang on a little longer. We’re all getting out of here.”
The wound was pretty bad. Deep. It gushed out heavy streams of blood that Tom’s weak hands were now letting through the fingers. He couldn’t hold onto it anymore. He coughed and spit some blood from his mouth.
“I-it hurts so bad…”
“I know it does, I know,” Becky said and fought tears with every ounce of strength she had left. She glanced at Jill helping Jack get back from the line of fire. Blood trailed as he dragged his wounded leg across the ground.
“I’ll be right back,” she told Tom and let go of his bloody hand.
She ran to the rifle, dodging the gunfire like some supernatural being from one of Tom’s comic books. One bullet hit the ground right in front of her, and a second one hissed right above her head. Another one came, and she felt it cut air right next to her ear.
She snatched the wet, muddy weapon and ran back as fast she could.
She dropped it next to where Tom was bleeding out and glanced at Jack and Jill. They were both holding his knee, but their attention was fixed on Tom who was spewing blood from his mouth now.
“I’m back,” she said as she hovered over him and cleaned the blood dripping down his left cheek. “Just hold on, please!”
“B-Beck…” Tom tried to say but just gagged some more until his voice was nothing but painful wet gurgles.
“Save your strength,” she begged him as she pressed on the stomach. “We have to do something.” She turned to Jack and Jill who were all out of answers, just looks of desperation and helplessness on their faces. “He’s going to die!” she said clenching her teeth.
Jill only stammered, trying to say just about anything as Jack held onto his mangled knee. Blood was oozing through his fingers and falling down ont
o the gravel.
“Tom! Tom! Tom!” Becky continued as she held onto her brother’s now weakening grip. “You can’t leave, not yet. Listen to me.” She let go of his hand and slapped him softly across his face in an effort to bring him back from the black abyss he was going into. His normally rosy cheeks were now drained of all color, and were pale like a freshly white painted wall.
“I’m s-so s-sorry…” she heard Jill say. Her voice was distant. Everything was drowned out. All she could hear was Tom’s disappearing faint heartbeat. She could hear it pulsating in her ears: the tremors, stretching far and more irregular, shooting up her arms as she moved her hands toward the gushing wound on his stomach.
Finally, his arms collapsed to his side and hit the ground.
The life that was there in his eyes a moment of ago was gone.
“This can’t be happening. It can’t.” Tears finally ran down her face as everything slowly came into focus. She could now hear the man who shot at them babble on and on, something about sin or whatever.
She wiped her tears, closed Tom’s eyes, and reluctantly shifted over to Jack and Jill.
Jack was pretty badly hurt himself.
Jill wrapped her hand around her shoulder and expressed her condolences. “So sorry, love. I don’t even know what to say,” she said sullenly, then turned her attention to Jack’s knee. “How are you, honey?” She placed her hand on his chest and rubbed it.
“Well,” he began, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to take long strolls in the park anymore. Hurts like a motherfucker. But we can’t let this lunatic finish us off. Or whoever it is.” He reached for the gun and checked the clip. “Shit, only four bullets. And this is our last clip.”
They all looked at each other as the shouting from their attacker intensified.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
He had them where he wanted them. And now one of them was down and out, most certainly dead. One down, three to go. He watched one of them, a girl, run toward the weapon the man he’d shot had dropped earlier. Bob fired at her, but managed to only hit the ground.
Rise of the Dead Page 12
