LZR-1143: Infection

by Bryan James

  As I turned to Kate, horrified but impotent in the face of events, a bright yellow ball of flame and smoke erupted from the crest of the hill that it had just topped. I ducked involuntarily, even as a secondary explosion lit the sky almost immediately after.

  From behind us, Sam’s voice drew us out of our trance. “We need to move, now!”

  Anaru grabbed my arm, “Come on. We can grieve later. We need to get across the street and out of this fishbowl.”

  Sam sprinted past us, rifle in hand, held professionally at her hip. I slipped mine off my shoulder, checking the clip and following Kate. Anaru took the rear, as six more slouching forms shuffled slowly behind.

  We passed underneath a metal archway that was topped by more bleachers and bore another banner of support. Motivational posters adorned the walls on either side, a solid wooden gate in front of us, chained shut from the inside. Sam fired a round into the lock, releasing the chain from the handles as we poured through. We were in a parking lot, which was half full of various vehicles, most likely belonging to those in the school that had shown up in the morning merely one week ago, and were dead by the time the afternoon bell rang.

  From behind the various rows of cars, more forms were evident, the early morning light revealing only the shadowy outline of their slow-moving forms. We turned to our right, toward the dealership, as several more appeared from behind the field, much too close for comfort. They moved slowly toward us, too many and too close to allow a pursuit.

  I dropped to a crouch, carefully sighting the first of the bunch. I squeezed the trigger, expecting to be rocked back by the kick. Instead, I was rewarded with an empty metallic click.

  Shit!

  I looked at the weapon stupidly, checking the magazine to confirm it was loaded. The first creature was ten feet away now, eyes wide-open, mouth yawning in hunger. It was an old man, cowboy shirt open at the front. He wore no pants, and the pale flesh of his thin legs was tinged with gray. His sun-browned face, in sharp contrast to his pale bottom half, revealed only the lifeless gaze of the undead.

  The safety! I flicked the safety off as he reached five feet from my position. With no time to sight the weapon, I fired from the hip. The first round hit him in the chest, tearing a hole through the pocket of his outdated shirt and spitting cloth and dry flesh into the air behind him. I squeezed the trigger again as he fell toward me, angling the gun sharply upward. The second round found home, taking him under the jaw and removing the top of his skull from the inside. He collapsed lifelessly to my side as I sighted the next in line carefully.

  This time, unprepared for the recoil of the weapon, I was rocked back by the force of the discharge, pushed back out of my crouch onto my ass. Reflexively, I threw out my hand, scraping several fingers severely against the concrete. I cursed at the blood now dripped from my hand as I looked up. The shot had flown wide, striking the cement wall of the stadium, and the creatures behind the cowboy were nearly on me. They were too close to line up a good shot.

  I scrambled up, even as the head of the closest creature-a large black woman in the uniform of a postal worker-whipped back sharply, and collapsed on the pavement.

  From beside me, Anaru spoke quietly as he next downed a woman in an expensive looking business suit with a carefully placed shot. “I won’t tell Sam,” he said with a grin, not taking his eyes off the last creature in the pack. His shot took it in the sternum and it stumbled back. It craned its head to the side and stared at Anaru before moving forward again.

  I raised my rifle, prepared this time for the recoil, and squeezed the trigger. The zed’s eye exploded as the round passed through the brain and out the back of the skull.

  I turned to him, grinning like an idiot.

  He patted me on the back with a massive paw-like hand as we turned to follow Sam and Kate toward the street. “Not bad. Like one of your movies, yeah?”

  In front, Sam fired another single shot, hitting a slow-moving form that had materialized before her from the shelter of a large SUV. The shot took the man in the arm, pushing him back a step before he continued forward, unaffected. He was dressed in khakis and a polo, blood on his leg and neck indicating his wounds. Probably a teacher, I thought as a pistol shot sounded loudly in my left ear and he fell to the ground, bullet hole above this temple a dark hole. These things didn’t bleed much, I noticed as I more surprisingly realized that Kate had fired the killing shot.

  “Not Rambo, huh?” I asked, remembering her comment from seemingly years back in Target, “Where’d you learn to shoot like that?” I asked as we moved past her victim, reaching the last car in the row.

  “Military brat, remember? Learned to shoot almost before I learned to walk.” I noticed she was carrying the pistol in hand, with the rifle over her shoulder.

  We were on a sidewalk along a four-lane highway. To our right, the edge of the football field and, further along, the entrance to the school. To our left, a shoe store and a gaudy, brightly colored Mexican restaurant that advertised one-dollar drafts and a three-dollar burrito. I was hungry again, and despite the carnage, my stomach growled unabashedly.

  And I would kill for a beer.

  Zombies shuffled and shambled toward us from both directions, converging on us as we crossed the street toward the car lot. We reached the property, and threaded ourselves carefully through the parked cars and trucks, the moans and hungry cries of our pursuers echoing in the early morning silence.

  Chapter 20

  As in any well-run car dealership, the salesmen greeted us as soon as we were in sight of the showroom. Shambling through open doors out of the glass-walled structure, they wasted no time in accosting our small group as we made our way through the parked cars and toward the building.

  “Find a truck, we’ll take care of the salesmen,” Anaru said to me shortly, breaking off with Sam toward the shuffling pack. At least fifty more were now moving toward us from various directions, including those that had spied us on the street.

  Kate and I ran toward the back of the lot. To our left, the large doors of the service department were open, and the movement of at least six creatures was visible from inside as hunching and slow-moving figures moved toward the sounds of our footfalls and gunshots.

  We reached the back row of the lot, locating a crew cab pickup and quickly finding the VIN number etched on the windshield. I committed the last six numbers of the VIN to memory as Kate raised her gun toward the service section. One creature was visible behind a parked SUV, it’s gray wizened face peering at us from behind the glass of the rear window of the vehicle.

  It simply stared, unmoving.

  Kate kept her gun raised and looked at me in confusion. I returned the look, also uncertain as to why it had paused instead of coming right for us. I gestured to her in the direction of Sam and Anaru, and I moved into the open space between rows, bringing the creature into plain view, unobstructed by the glass of the window. It turned toward me immediately, feet dragging, mouth open. The skin of its bald head hung down from a massive gouge, the hanging flap almost covering one ear. It moaned, and the cohort of creatures in the service dock moved faster, goaded on by their friend’s invitation.

  My rifle spat in response, taking him in the chest. I cursed and sighted more carefully. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kate raise her pistol and glanced over, wondering if she was going to take the shot. But her gun wasn’t pointed at the zombie; it was aimed at me. I was suddenly staring down the barrel of her pistol, unsure and petrified. I froze in terror and confusion, but before I could say a word, the muzzle flashed and my ears rang with the sound of the discharge.

  Behind me, a dull thud and the body of a badly mauled teen boy in boxer shorts and a tank top fell heavily against my legs as I skirted to the side. I smiled at her in thanks, shaking my head. Suddenly, remembering the creature in front of me, I again raised my rifle, sighting carefully. This time, the shot took him in the cheek and passed through the back of the head, shattering the window behind his collapsing bo
dy and spraying dark gray and crimson matter on the waxed exterior of the SUV.

  We jogged back to Sam and Anaru, eyes alert for incoming creatures and carefully watching those already on their way in. They moved slowly, shambling forward awkwardly. Some had arms raised in mute supplication. Others simply shuffled forward, arms at the sides and feet dragging like dead weight.

  Anaru was reloading as Sam walked toward the downed creatures. Those from the street had reached the line of cars along the roadway and were clumsily shambling through the intervening spaces. There were more behind them; too many now to take down with single shots. We needed the keys to the truck, and we needed them fast. As confirmation, the creatures from the service bay came into view, moving around the corner of the building.

  “Last one in is a crazy murdering bastard!” shouted Sam, as she sprinted to the doors recently vacated by the now motionless sales crew.

  First one in is a self-righteous bitch, I thought, as I ran after Kate and Anaru, stepping carefully over the uniformed corpses lying prone on the ground.

  A sports car and a large SUV stood in the showroom; wax glaring brightly as the rising sun streamed into the room from the east. I closed the glass door behind me, grabbing a chair from the waiting area next to the soda machine and jamming the back under the handle. Remembering the ax handle at the school and the barricade at Target, I moved back, unconvinced that this would suffice. Kate and Sam disappeared into the back, searching for the keys.

  I looked around, checking for company in the break room and the bathrooms as Anaru watched the doors. Returning to the showroom, I shook my head and he nodded in understanding. From the manager’s office, Kate yelled in triumph and I heard a shot ring out, sounding as if it the bullet had hit metal. They must have found the key box. “64873R!” I shouted over my shoulder, relieved to spit the numbers out so I could promptly forget them.

  Several creatures had reached the glass doors, more of them close behind. Some clustered and pressed against the doorway, but an equal number pressed against the glass windows, soon creating a wall of living corpses.

  Each one pawed and clambered against the glass like patrons at a mall pet store. I swore to myself that I’d never tap on the fish tank glass again as more of them arrived, soon blanketing the windows with the muted gray of their flesh, blood from recent meals still bathing the faces of several creatures.

  As they moved against the glass, their greasy, bloody hands left smears of body fluids and dirt on the clear glass and their moans reverberated through the hollow acoustics of the polished floor and high ceilings. Sundry bloodless wounds gaped darkly from ragged tears in clothing and various stumps wiggled in vain where limbs had been rent from their hips and torsos. The rubbing of cold flesh on the windows made a high-pitched squeak that could be faintly heard under the din of their language. If hell had a brochure, this picture was certainly on the cover page.

  To the left of the front door, a popping sound split the din of their clambering. A large, jagged crack had suddenly formed in the plate glass, running from floor to ceiling. Bodies pressed against the glass and pounded against one another, eager to intrude and frustrated by the meal that was so close but yet so far. The glass popped again as another crack appeared, forming instantly in the size and shape of a lighting bolt, stretching half the width of the glass section.

  It was quickly becoming apparent that we needed to move. Much faster, in fact. Kate and Sam came out, skidding to a halt as they realized the enormity of the mass already outside the doors.

  “You wanna go out and tell them we’re closed?” I asked Sam, grinning like an asshole.

  “What about the service section? We could see it from the truck when we were out there,” said Kate, ignoring me. “If they followed us in the front, they probably don’t know about the back, right?”

  We all exchanged looks. We didn’t really know what they could figure out. We were always running away in one direction, no real choice to be had in the matter. The doctor’s comments on the Liverpool came to mind, and I wondered for the first time about the complexity of thought they were capable of. Given their numbers, if they ever learned to reason or-god forbid-to communicate, we were in some serious shit. Not that we weren’t already, mind you, but it’s all relative.

  The glass popped again, and five more cracks split the overstressed panes. “One way to find out,” Sam said, and moved back toward the office and the door to the service department. We followed, Anaru bringing up the rear. Their moaning followed us down the short corridor past the finance office and to the large, windowless metal door in the back.

  Sam grabbed the handle, but Anaru moved up, gently pulling her back and grabbing the handle himself. “If they eat me, they’ll be too full to eat you,” he said jovially, pushing the door out and stepping through before any could protest.

  Sam quickly lodged her foot in the opening and moved to follow. Before she could get through, Anaru fired three fast rounds before his gun went silent. A loud crash could be heard from the garage and a heavy weight fell against the door, pushing it shut again. We heard the sound of breaking glass, which was soon followed by the sound of another body falling. Sam cursed and slammed her shoulder against the metal door, but it wouldn’t budge. Kate and I moved up, the three of us putting our shoulders against it as I counted quickly “One, two…”

  Suddenly, the door flew open and the three of us collapsed through, sprawling on the ground. I looked up to find Anaru standing before us, looking confused as he held the body of a zombie in mechanics’ overalls in each of his huge hands.

  “You guys could have waited until I moved these guys out of the way first.” He smiled. “But I’m touched. Really, I am.”

  He tossed the now twice-dead corpses, one to each side, and picked up his weapon. He had shouldered his rifle, and now carried an ax in his enormous arms, which he had clearly liberated from a shattered glass enclosure next to the door.

  “Figured we’d be in for some close quarters stuff,” he said, shrugging dismissively at his choice. Looking at his giant form, I couldn’t second-guess the decision. Stepping in front of an ax wielded by this monster would be like diving into a wood chipper headfirst.

  From the showroom, the sound of shattering glass announced the expiration of our time inside. We bolted for the large blue truck I had identified earlier. A creature stepped in front of Anaru as we emerged into the daylight. He swung his ax almost dismissively with one hand-a single lateral swipe that passed through the neck of the oncoming zed without pause.

  The detached head, eyes still moving, bounced once against the shoulder of its body and fell to the ground, where the severed neck hit wetly against the pavement, leaving a bloody spot when it rolled to the side. Anaru dispassionately kicked it under a dumpster full of used oilcans and moved forward, closely followed by Sam and Kate.

  As the other three moved forward, disappearing momentarily between a couple of large sedans, two ambling forms appeared from either side of the narrow passage between two small SUV’s to my right. With no time to draw my gun, I held my breath and simply barreled forward, lowering my shoulder into the first creature at a dead sprint. It was lifted off its feet as it fell backwards, hands grasping for me ineffectually as it dropped to the ground. The smell of carrion and rotting flesh nearly knocked me over as I righted myself, reeling from the impact.

  The second creature hadn’t been knocked down. Kate shouted from in front of me, but I was too close to afford her a clean shot, and the creature was too close for me to be able to step back and give her one. I swung my rifle up and around, catching it on the jaw. The jarring, muted feel of metal impacting bone and soft flesh traveled up the barrel and to my hands as the head jerked to the side. Behind me, I could hear the other creature moving, trying to get up.

  I slipped between the two, creating distance enough for the killing shots that came from Kate’s pistol. Sam hadn’t stopped, but was in the driver’s seat of the truck, slamming the door even as she
turned the key. The engine roared to life as I got in the back seat behind Sam. Kate crowded in next to me as Anaru took the passenger side front seat.

  “What say we get the fuck out of Dodge?” Sam asked, shifting to drive and pulling forward. She stopped abruptly as we turned toward the street. At least a hundred creatures stood between the four-lane road and us. They shambled slowly forward, moans filling the air. I turned my head, looking behind us to the low, solid wooden fence and the alley behind.

  “You gotta go backwards. We can’t go through that many,” I urged. “This thing will make it through the fencing.”

  “The fuck it will, man. It’ll hang up on the poles. We go forward through the soft targets, nice and fast.”

  “Look, we saw this before. Those things go down easy enough, but they jam up the undercarriage. There’s too many-it’s backwards or we’re toast.” The first zombie had reached the headlights. She revved the engine.

  “Sam, he’s right; they get caught up under the wheels. You have to go back. Now!” Kate was screaming as she finished the sentence.

  Sam cursed loudly, whipping her head around and throwing the gearshift into reverse. Tires squealed as we moved backwards, distancing ourselves quickly from the first row of undead. The tailgate of the truck met the fence, and our heads jerked forward. Flattened by the impact of the truck, it slammed to the ground and we pulled out over the now horizontal wooden debris. Sam pulled the wheel sharply, straightening the vehicle and trying to pull forward. The engine whined and the truck jerked forward, moving a foot before stopping.