I reached the door to the Ooh La La Coffee Haven, tried to slam it open, and ran face first into the glass. The board they kept catchy daily sayings on had fallen to the side. I stepped on it, and my feet almost went out from under me. I kicked the sign aside and hit the door again.
“Not this shit again!” I exclaimed.
I spun, put my back to the glass, and pounded with the heel of my foot, in the hope that someone was still in there.
“What are you doing?” Roger asked as he gave up his post and walked backward toward me, firing as he took step after step.
“Door’s locked,” I stammered and banged on it again.
“Jess, we’re here!” Roger finally reached my side and pounded on the door.
I had so many questions, but the problem was that I probably already knew the answers. Now I just wanted to be a dick. Any other day and I would have been, but we were facing a painful end at the hands of these goddamn rage zombies.
“Hang on,” a voice called from inside of the store.
I aimed, and dropped a rager as they closed to within a dozen feet of us.
I assumed it was Jessica in there, and she had turned off the lights. The door clicked, and then there was movement against my back. I had a rager in my sights, but my shot went over the woman’s head as she closed in on me, because I fell into the store as the door opened. Roger barreled past me, fired at the woman I had missed, didn’t hit her, and then tripped as he tried to avoid my legs. Another rager came around the corner at about fifty fucking miles an hour.
Roger got one shot off, then the door slammed shut and we scrambled back. Several more ragers arrived and all of a sudden it was a repeat of the lab incident just an hour or two ago. How could we get this unlucky?
“In the back, come on.” Jessica urged us to follow.
I struggled back on my feet first. Roger, clearly winded, rolled onto his side, and then up onto his feet as I fell back. Hands clawed at the window. One of the ragers picked up the big wooden sign, twisted it to the side, and the swung it around with a scream of, you guessed it, rage.
The glass rebounded her efforts, but not the second blow. That time the door exploded inward, but we had already escaped into a back room. The three of us stood in darkness, while Roger and I panted as we tried to catch our breaths.
“Oh my god. I can’t believe you’re here,” Jessica said.
“Which one of us?” I asked.
Luckily, our chance at an awkward conversation ended as ragers flooded the little shop.
25
“Trish, and Danny, and Sun Lee, all left. I told them to stay but they wouldn’t listen to a word I said. I told them help was on the way,” Jessica said. “Later, I tried to leave, but there were so many of those angry people out there. I waited too long. I think Sun Lee got it, because she screamed a few seconds after she made a run for it. Maybe Danny, too. He tried to act tough, but you know he’s not. He’s just a scared kid. Or was. Oh my god,” Jessica said in stream.
I backed into the corner of the room, fumbled for my phone, and then found the light button. The LED illumination created a dome that barely brightened the room. There was a shelving unit covered in bags of coffee, cups, cup holders, napkins, a shit load of straws, and all kinds of other stuff you would see in a coffee shop. A box of baked goods caught my eye. I ripped the top off, took out a muffin that was the size of my hand, and took a bite.
“I’m so hungry,” I muttered between bites as I chewed.
“How can you think about eating at a time like this?” Jessica asked.
I shined the light in her face. “Because I’m hungry. We’ve been going at this all day, and I haven’t had a bite to eat. All I’ve had is energy drinks. Plus we’ve been fighting raging zombies, the ones I warned you about, but you blew me off, and…” I trailed off because I found I was so mad I was about to say something stupid.
“And? There’s an and?” Jessica demanded.
They hit the door hard enough to shake the room. The shelving unit shuddered, and a bunch of Styrofoam cups fell on my head. I grabbed them, and then beat on the box until the mass was nothing but plastic wrap and little bits of white. Then I stomped on them for good measure.
“Here, let’s move this in front of the door,” I said calmly, despite the fact that I had just had a temper tantrum, and nodded at the shelves.
I moved to the side, grabbed the thin metal rails, and shoved. Roger and Jessica each took a corner and we pushed until the unit covered the entryway. A rager struck hard enough to rattle the room, but the shelving unit held. I shoved against the front until it was butted right up against the door.
“You said and?” Jessica said.
“And it’s just been a shit day, okay?” I replied. “And now I see what’s been right in front of my eyes. I’m an idiot.”
It didn’t help that Jess nodded at my words.
“I know tensions are high right now,” Roger said. “But we need to focus on getting out of here first, then we can all talk this out.”
“Seems to me there isn’t that much to talk about. Jessica likes you, she clearly doesn’t like me, even though I put in a lot of time with her.”
“Put in time? See, this is exactly why I’ve been trying to break it off for months. You wouldn’t take a hint. You couldn’t see the signs. So I told you I wanted to see other people.” Jessica held out her hands and pointed at Roger. “Meet other people.”
Another rager hit the door and this time it actually cracked the wood around the lock.
“I don’t suppose there is another way out of here?” Roger asked.
“Nope,” Jessica said.
“What about that?” I pointed up.
The outline of a small door on the ceiling had caught my attention while I was studying the shelving system instead of looking at either Jessica or Roger.
“Um,” Jessica said.
“It’s something,” Roger said.
I shoved stuff off of the shelves as ragers tried to crash our party. Placing one foot on the second shelf, I grabbed the side bar and pulled myself up. The unit tried to tip over, forcing me to jump off.
“Little help would be great,” I said.
Roger and Jessica grabbed a side, while Roger pulled a tactical light out of his pocket with his free hand and shone the light upward. His rifle hung over his shoulder and trailed down his back.
I climbed to the third shelf until I could touch the ceiling, and then put my hand on the door. There was a latch, so I unfastened it, and then pushed. I don’t know why this was here and I didn’t care. We could wait it out, maybe build up the barricade in front of the door with cups and prayers, but in a short amount of time, those ragers were going to be in here and there was nothing we could do about it. The door was flimsy, to say the least, but it popped open and then swung all of the way over. I took to the next shelf and shoved my head into the little space.
“What’s up there?” Roger yelled.
“My naive mind,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “It’s too dark.”
“Here.” Roger handed up his flashlight.
I leaned over, grasped the light, and then stood up, whacked my head against the side of the opening, and then shone the illumination around the space.
“Huh,” I said.
The door banged into the shelving unit again and I had to grasp the sides of the portal in the ceiling or else I would have been on my ass. Roger shoved the shelf back into place and I got my footing under me. The space was less than six by six feet, and the only other features were a set of two stairs leading to a small door that someone would be able to access if they hunched over.
“Can we get out from there?” Roger yelled.
“I think so. There’s room to crawl and it looks like there’s a door further in just like this one,” I yelled back.
“Sweet. Haul your ass up there and then help us up.”
Or I could go up there, sit on th
e door, and never let them in. Then the rage zombies could take care of my so-called friends. But honestly, I couldn’t be butt-hurt about all of this right now. If we were really in the throes of a full on zombie event, we would need each other to survive. Besides, Roger had his gun, and he would probably shoot me, and then I really would be butt-hurt.
I did as Roger suggested and used what little upper body strength I had left to pull myself up. It helped that I could treat the shelves like stairs. I lay down in the space and ignored the dust and crap on the floor. Jessica was next. She climbed, and I grabbed her hands and helped her up.
Roger came last. He handed his rifle up to me, and I had to wonder what kind of trust that took. As he moved up the first shelf the ragers attacked the door with a new fervor. The shelving unit shook as Roger clambered up. I laid down in the little space, stretched my arms down, and then held onto the top to steady it. The pounding came fast and furious until a fist broke through. Then an arm reached out and grabbed at Roger.
He shimmied up the last few feet, got his feet on the top shelf, and then kicked upward as he entered the room. He spun on his butt and together we closed the door in the floor just as the shelf crashed to the ground, the entry way opened up, and ragers filled the room.
Roger crawled to the short stairway and then stopped to shine a light on the door knob.
“Sweet luck!” he exclaimed. “This is an access panel that goes to the roof, probably so someone can go up there and maintain the air conditioning units.”
“Can you open the door?” I asked.
He grabbed the knob and twisted, then pushed, but the door didn’t budge.
In the room below, the ragers went crazy as they tore the place apart. At least that’s what it sounded like. Either that or they were having a banging rager orgy judging by the grunts, cries, and howls.
“Dammit,” Roger said as he grabbed a padlock secured to a latch, and pulled.
“Shoot it off,” Jessica suggested.
“The round would more than likely ricochet and hit one of us,” Roger said.
I pointed at a piece of duct tape on the wall right next to the door. “What’s that?”
As I leaned closer I made out tight handwriting.
ROOF ACCESS.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY!
Roger leaned over, shone the light on it, and then let out a gasp. He ripped the tape off, pulled a key off the silver backing, and then opened the lock.
“Fucking genius, bro,” Roger said.
The door swung upward, but it locked open as soon as it was wide enough for us to get out. We crawled up to the roof, which was a damn miracle in and of itself. I couldn’t believe that after our ordeal today, this had gone off so easily.
Out in the night air I could make out the moon. Then my gaze followed a couple of lights as they moved toward the city. Seconds later I recognized the sounds of helicopters. A long line of bright lights lit up a street a mile or more from us. A cool breeze whispered by and I shivered, thankful to be somewhere cool for a change.
“We did it,” Roger said and clapped my shoulder.
“Well. We still have to get down and make it to the cars,” I said. “Then what? What’s the big plan after that?”
“As far as I’m concerned, you all can spend the night at my bunker, and then we’ll reevaluate the situation in the morning. For all we know the military,” Roger pointed at the line of lighted vehicles, “will have this under control by then.”
“Yeah. Name one movie where the Army gets all of this shit under control, and everyone goes home happy.”
My phone buzzed against my leg. I took out my phone, and noticed I had missed a number of calls from both Elizabeth and Mitch. In the excitement of scrambling out of the storage closet, I hadn’t even noticed.
“We’re on the way,” I answered.
“Good lord. We saw a number of those things going into the building,” Elizabeth said.
“We’re kind of on the roof now.” I replied. “But we’re coming back now.”
“Hurry. I suspect there are more of them around the other side of the building,” Elizabeth said. “So don’t dally.”
“Wouldn’t think of dallying,” I said and then rolled my eyes.
Jessica crossed her arms across her chest and moved toward the edge of the roof to get a look down. The strip mall couldn’t have been more than twelve or fifteen feet off the ground. We would be able to shimmy over the edge and drop.
“There’s a lot of people on this side,” Jessica called out to me and Roger.
“You and me are going to have to have a talk,” I lowered my voice, but still growled.
“Fine. But let’s get out of here first, and then we can talk. Better yet, let’s make it to my place, and then we can talk in the morning after everyone’s had a good night’s rest.”
“Um. You guys?” Jessica said.
“Are you still there? What’s happening?” Elizabeth asked.
“Hold on,” I replied.
“Shit. I think I dropped an extra magazine below,” Roger said as he patted himself down. “Only one extra left.”
“Guys!” Jessica yelled.
“What?” I snapped at her.
She pointed down.
I went to the other side of the roof and peered over the side.
One of the ragers looked up at that precise second, and let out a howl. Other heads raised as what looked like dozens of ragers caught sight of us. I backed up a step, but was relieved that we were at least up here, and they were down there.
“Other side. That’s where the cars are,” I reassured Jessica. “We just have to hustle.”
“Did you hear that?” I asked Elizabeth. “Be ready to move out as soon as we’re back.”
Then a rager leapt up and caught the edge of the roof. His mucus-covered eyes settled on us, and he howled for blood.
I took a quick step and then kicked him in the face, but a second rager leapt up a few feet away. Then a small bastard grabbed that guy’s clothes, and tried to crawl over him as he grunted. I was about to kick that guy off, when three more of them took the leap and then acted as ladders for the waiting ragers below.
“Oh fuck me sideways,” Roger said.
“Call you back in a second,” I said into the phone, hung up, and put the device back in my pocket.
He whipped his gun off his back, dropped to a crouch, and then fired on one of the ragers. I shot at another, but fresh faces took those as quickly as we could fire.
26
The mass surged onto the roof as we backed toward the other side. I frantically waved my hand in the air in the hopes that Elizabeth, Mitch, or Mindy would see us calling for help. They must have backed farther away from the masses of ragers because they weren’t in sight now.
Two, then four, then seven, they clambered onto the roof as we fell back all the way to the edge. It wasn’t a massive drop to the ground, but it was the kind of fall that would easily break bones. Even if we managed to hang off the edge and drop we would be falling right into the waiting maws of the ragers below. They had followed us into Ooh La La, and now, with nothing to there to attack, the ragers had begun to wander back outside as they sought fresh prey.
If I was going to die up here, I was going to die smoking. I took out my pack of cigarettes, lit one with a very shaky hand, then sucked in smoke for all I was worth. Maybe the cigarette tip would let them know where to come pick us up.
“Get Elizabeth back on the phone and tell her we’re fucked!” Roger bellowed.
He shot another rager in the chest, but there were two more to take that guy’s place. I fired again and the slide slammed into the lock position, but I didn’t have a spare magazine to feed the gun.
“I’m out!”
I took out my cell phone and quickly dialed Elizabeth; she answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?” she asked without preamble. “We had to move, but we’re still close to your location.”
“About to
be eaten. They’re climbing up here, and our plan to drop from the building just went to hell.” I squinted as I stared along the expanse of the roofing.
“We can get close, and you can jump on,” Elizabeth suggested.
“It’s a good idea,” I said as I looked along the other side of the building and found they were now three or four deep. “But not from where we’re located because there are about a dozen of them right below us. We’re going to have to run to the end of the building. Stay on the phone with me, please.”
“I’m here, Jake. I’m not going anywhere.”
Roger and Jessica drew closer as the ragers advanced.
“Come on,” I said and then made a break for it. They didn’t ask questions, instead opting to follow my lead. The three of us pounded over the rooftop as we sought an area that would allow us easier access to the ground below, but the ragers didn’t like us trying to get away and pursued us like demons.
Over the last twenty four hours I had been in a lot of scary situations, but this one took the cake. It was a sharp drop to the ground and even if we made the leap, we’d probably be overwhelmed before we were back on our feet, assuming we didn’t end up with multiple fractures.
I gasped for breath but refused to spit out the cigarette, and puffed on it again, enjoying the acrid smoke for what may be my last time.
“Can you see us?” I asked Elizabeth.
“Yes. Keep going. The end of the building isn’t much farther. We’re heading there now,” she replied. “Be careful. There’s quite a large number of them up there. This is so wrong. So very wrong.”
Now she realizes it?
Of course I tripped. Hands out, I took the brunt of the fall on my palms, elbows, and chest. The breath left my body, and it was all I could do to roll onto my side, and then get back on my feet. A glowing tip caught my eye, so I snatched my cigarette off the ground and shoved the butt back in my mouth.
Roger paused, spun around, and dropped a rager with a shot to the throat just before it leapt on top of me. Jessica grabbed my hand and helped haul me back to my feet.
Dawn of the Rage Apocalypse Page 18
