“You need to watch your words, cocksucker, because I’ll close that mouth for you permanently if you don’t,” Ronnie spat as his face turned red with a deep-seated and bubbling rage.
“Yeah, I’d like to see you try,” Jared said, garnering a stern look from both Julie and Sam.
“Just cut it out,” Julie said, walking up to Jared in an attempt to lead him away from the confrontation.
“This way,” Dwayne called up to them. He had broken away from the group, making his way down the slope to the edge of the cannery compound. “We can shimmy over this.”
As if a demonstration was needed, he hurried up the chain-link fence, flipping over the top to land gently on the other side.
“I’ll never be able to do that.” Jack panted as he reached the bottom of the slope.
“Well, it was your idea, genius, so you’d better learn.” Ronnie was in a foul mood, and ready to react to anybody that spoke.
Sam and Jared were over the wall before anybody really even heard them go. The rattle of the fence drew the attention of the dead inside the compound, but they had enough time to get everybody over and into the factory … if everybody moved fast.
Julie and Leah went next. Both ladies struggled but made it up and over the fence in decent time. Ronnie stood back, being oddly courteous in making sure the two remaining women of the group made it to safety.
Ian surprised everybody with how quick he made it up and over, while Abby and Kate made easy work of the climb up, although both seemed somewhat timid on the descent.
“See you on the other side, man,” Ronnie spoke to Jack, clapping him on the shoulder. “You can do this.”
Ronnie was over the fence and down the other side like a cat. He hardly made a sound at all as he completed his climb.
“Come on, Jack,” Abby urged, her eyes pleading with her best friend to make the move.
Grabbing the fence, Jack tried to heave himself from the ground four times before finally succeeding. The fence rattled and reverberated across its length, like a deathly round of applause.
Jack clung on for dear life as he reached the top. Swinging one leg over he stopped, straddling the fence as if it were three hundred feet in the air and there was nothing below him but a long drop down to a rocky demise.
“You’re almost there,” Abby offered her encouragement. “Just let go.”
The drop was more than ten feet, and so while letting go was the only option, it was one that made Jack pause for thought. The landing would hurt, but it would get Jack down from the fence. He couldn’t do it, however. His leg was stuck and he could not bring it up and over without losing his balance.
A sound from the other side startled them. The first group of zeds had arrived and were sliding down the embankment toward the compound. Unable to control their descent, the sudden change in pitch sent them all toppling down, not stopping until they impacted against the fence.
One came to rest with a jarring snap of breaking bones. One look at the way its shoulder rose with such prominence under its checkered work shirt was enough to confirm the injury.
“Hurry up, we don’t have much time,” Sam spoke up, as she eyed the group of zeds coming their way from around the trucks.
“I’m trying,” Jack said, as his death grip on the fence intensified.
“Oh, for fuck sake!” Jared growled.
Jumping up, he grabbed hold of Jack’s leg and hauled him over and down. Jack let out an agonized howl as he fell, his leg catching on the sharpened points that lined the fence. Blood stained his trousers a much darker shade as he lay whimpering on the floor.
“Can we go now?” Jared eyeballed the group, challenging them to say something against him.
When nobody said anything, he turned and walked away.
“What the hell has crawled into his butt?” Sam asked Julie once Jared had moved out of immediate earshot.
“It’s this place,” Julie answered. “This world now. He thinks he has to be a hard ass to survive … I think.”
Whatever it was, everybody was starting to get an understanding for Jared, and while he was useful to have around, he was not working his way into their graces as being a core confidant.
The main compound around the factory was made up of three areas. A carpark for the staff and a separate section for any visitors who felt a day excursion to a canning factory was a fun way to pass the time. There were also the truck bays, which were occupied by trucks and rigs without their rear compartments.
“This place carried on working right until the end,” Samantha said in a tone of near awe as the group headed toward the building.
The five zeds that had appeared around the trucks were gaining on them. Their snarls close enough to make the hairs on Julie’s arms stand erect.
“Come on, we can get in here,” Dwayne said, pointing ahead to an open cargo door. “Quickly, we can’t hold them off.”
The group hurried over, with Jack limping behind them, Abby by his side the entire time.
The cargo bay was about five feet in the air, and so Dwayne dropped down and turned to face the group.
“I’ll give you a boost,” he said, looking at Samantha, who had rapidly become his cohort in the world. “Any sign of trouble and you bail. We will find something else.”
Samantha nodded at him as she stepped into his cupped hands. With a slight push, Dwayne hoisted her up and onto the platform.
Sam disappeared inside, coming back a few moments later with the all clear.
“Hurry,” Dwayne said, holding his hands for Julie and Kate to head up next. Ronnie was straight behind them, still clutching his blood-encrusted crowbar. It clanged when he dropped it on the metal grating as he hauled himself up and into the loading bay.
“Way to go,” Jared said as he walked up to Dwayne.
“Dude, just give him a break. He’s a cool guy, and we are in this together,” Dwayne whispered as Jared stepped into him.
“I know. That’s the fucking problem. Too many people will slow us down,” Jared answered.
His eyes were cold and his words even colder. To the point it made Dwayne shiver, and the lingering presence of Jared’s boot in his hands made him feel as if a ghost had passed through him.
Dwayne had never had any reason to fear a living person before, but being around Jared, he was starting to get the feeling there were a lot worse things out there than the zeds wandering around.
The dead had closed the gap, their snarls echoing around the trucks like a howling wind.
“Hurry,” Dwayne urged.
Ian stepped in, up, and over, disappearing into the factory. He moved with the skill of someone who knew what they were doing. Dwayne saw this and made a note to try to get chatting with the man away from the others.
Abby looked back at Jack, and for a moment froze, but Dwayne grabbed her foot and hauled her up. She scrambled and disappeared, only for her face to reappear over the ledge.
“Listen, you’ve got this, dude. You saved us by bringing us here. Now, come on, let’s carry on being safe,” Dwayne whispered to Jack, before offering him a fist bump. Jack smiled and then a look of grim determination hit his face. “Atta boy!”
Pushing hard, Dwayne heaved Jack up to the bay, holding him as he swung himself up in a cumbersome fashion. Both his extra weight and crippling fear working to slow him down.
The dead were close. Dwayne turned to jump up to the others. Crouching, he launched himself, caught the edge, and pulled himself up. He swung his legs up onto the loading dock and stood, off balance but secure, on the edge of the bay.
Stepping away he looked back and stared into the black eyes of the dead. The group of seven zeds pushed and shoved against the edge of the bay, but none showed the level of thought needed to climb up to get to their prey.
Turning, Dwayne moved inside to the others.
The factory looked deserted, although none of them allowed themselves the luxury of entertaining the idea that they were lucky enough for that to h
appen.
The machinery was powered down, but the echoing growls of the undead made it feel as if it was still a hub of activity. It was a comfort they found solace in. A little background noise to their otherwise silent world. For a few moments they felt as if they were safe. Nothing more than a group of students on a field trip.
Then the first of the dead began to emerge. Two zeds appeared from behind a triple-stacked pallet of canned goods. Both wore the same company uniform. One was missing a good portion of his throat, which caused its head to sit on an inquisitive angle upon its shoulders. The other walked with a pronounced limp; a bloody tear in the flank of his overalls showed the bite marks that had sealed his fate.
“We need to move,” Dwayne said, turning to lead them away. “Jack, which way?”
Jack looked at Dwayne for a second before responding, speaking just as it felt he would not offer anything of use.
“The main work floor is through here. I don’t know it well enough, but we can move this way,” Jack said, his voice sounding stronger now that he was back on the ground.
Dwayne moved beside him, leading the way. “You’ve got this. Bring us someplace safe.”
Jack led the way hoping he didn’t lead them into trouble. The others followed, huddled together, with Ronnie holding his crowbar at the ready. Abby and Kate both had kitchen knives, but they had tucked them into their trousers like pirates.
Dwayne was armed with a long metal pipe, while Samantha had a baseball bat. The aluminum weapon was dented and smeared with the blood of her enemies; scarred with the lives it had claimed like any great weapon should be.
The main factory floor was a cramped affair, with plenty of fresh dead waiting for a meal to walk their way. The majority were trapped behind their stations at the various points of the conveyer-belt line, and like their simple-minded brethren outside, lacked the mental fortitude to climb over or under the objects in question.
One man, a tall, black-skinned fellow with bloodshot eyes, leaned over and made a grab at Abby, but Ronnie responded by caving in the side of the dead man’s skull with his crowbar. The sound of shattering bone was weak, cushioned by the squishing sound of scrambled brain matter.
The creature fell forward onto the belt, fluids leaking from the gaping hole in its skull.
“Thanks,” Abby said, breathless.
“We need to keep moving.” The word came from the front, hurrying them along.
The factory floor was not the easiest to navigate. With its myriad of conveyor belts, it looked like an industrial themed queue for a Disneyland ride. They snaked their way through, ducking under the belts and rigging, while above their heads a maze of metal piping and valves watched on. Each one brought a specific ingredient to a specific vat or section of the process.
“The canteen is this way; the offices are at the back and upstairs. The reception is through there, after the locker rooms and storage units. It’s a long corridor, and probably full of people,” Jack said.
“Why do you think that?” Sam asked, looking around trying to decide which direction she preferred.
“I was here with Dad once when the fire alarm went off. Everybody left and gathered through there. Now, they were laying the ground crew off, but the offices were still manned, and anybody here would either go out the back where we came in, or through those doors there.” Jack pointed straight away at a set of double doors hidden by strips of plastic that dangled from the roof like curtains.
“We can head upstairs, find a place to lay low, buy us some time to plan our next move,” Dwayne offered, looking around to give people the chance to object.
“Or we head for some food in the canteen,” Samantha said.
“Food sounds good,” Ronnie agreed.
“I’m thirsty,” Abby said.
“What if it is full of … them?” Leah said, holding Ronnie’s hand as she spoke, squeezing it at the mere mention of the undead.
“She’s got a point. The canteen was pretty much always open,” Jack offered, looking around, his sweat-sheened face beginning to pale as the adrenaline wore off.
“I think the office idea sounds good to me,” Ian said, speaking for the first time since they hopped the fence.
“We should keep moving,” Jared said, once again economical with his words but managing to convey volumes with his tone alone.
“Where are we going to go? We need a plan,” Sam asked.
“We have a plan. Keep moving. If we stop, we die,” Jared said, eyeballing Sam, who would not allow herself to be intimidated.
“Really, you think stopping to rest is going to get us killed, even if we find a secure place upstairs.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“We need to make a decision guys, like yesterday,” Ronnie said as he walked away from the group to put down an approaching zed. The hairnet covering the top of their skull turned a rusty brown by the time the creature hit the floor.
“What’s the quickest way out?” Dwayne asked, looking to Jack.
“Uh … through those doors.” He pointed. “Straight down the corridor, then there are several side hallways that lead to emergency exits. I used them for smoking.”
Everybody in the group looked at him.
“Fine. I used to work here during the summer, also, to get enough to help pay for school,” he admitted, explaining his knowledge of the factory layout.
Dwayne eyeballed the doors and moved forward slowly. Pulling back the plastic curtains, he froze. “Looks like we are going upstairs,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“Why, what is it?” Kate asked, fear overpowering her.
“Well, these guys took precautions to keep whatever was on the other side of this door away from them.” Dwayne stepped to one side and showed everybody the thick chain linking tied around the door handles, effectively locking them in.
“Shit. What if we can’t get out?” Abby asked, her voice panicked.
Behind them, death snarled as several sets of gnashing teeth snapped at them.
“Shit,” Leah cried out, jumping out of the way of a killer hug aimed in her direction.
Samantha stepped forward, swinging her bat as if she were intending to knock the stitches out of the ball. She connected with the side of a dead woman’s face, caving in her cheekbones and knocking her to the floor. The next swipe was a vertical one that came crashing down on the bald head of an older man with a pronounced chin. The result of the strike left his head looking oddly heart shaped and dropped him to the floor. Both were still alive, although the man was more spasms than any real purposeful forward motion.
“Come on, hurry,” Dwayne called, ushering the group toward the wrought iron staircase leading to the second floor. Their footsteps echoed as they made their way up, their new lofty position seeming to agitate the gathered crowd below. Somewhere, something crashed, sending a long rolling rumble through the building.
“What was that?” Leah cried out.
“No idea, but let’s keep moving,” Dwayne spoke from the front.
“It sounds like a rumbling stomach,” Abby said
“The factory wants to eat us,” Kate said, her voice cold and serious.
They followed Jack through the factory. While the ground floor was divided into different segments, the upper floor, with its offices and meeting rooms, formed more of a perimeter. The single corridor ran the entire length, with rooms spawning from it at regular intervals. Each one was labeled, and most were empty if the view afforded in the many different windows were any indication.
“Why don’t we just stop here?” Julie asked as they walk alongside a boardroom. The long table had seats for a dozen or so people, and a giant television screen hung on the far wall, consuming almost the entire area.
“We should head to the main office,” Jack said, his focus on the destination.
“You heard the man,” Dwayne offered his support before anybody had the chance to voice a different opinion.
The main management office was an open and luxur
ious space. A small area had been created for a receptionist in a hallway office before the real space began. The floor was carpeted a deep red color, while floor to ceiling windows ran along the far wall. There were no drapes on the inside, but electronic blinds were positioned on the outside. Two of the five windows were shaded, while the others were open. The daylight streamed in, making the office seem that much more spacious. A messy desk stood to the left at the far end of the room, and filing cabinets lined the wall. A table with three chairs stood on the other side with plenty of empty space in between.
“Someone had delusions of grandeur,” Samantha said as she peered around the office.
“Tacky and cheap,” Jack said. “Just like the guy who worked here.”
The words brought a snigger from Abby and Kate, who seemed to be more in tune with Jack than any of the others.
“Where to now?” Dwayne asked, just as another crash boomed through the building.
There was an unmistakable quality to the rumble none of them failed to understand. The building shook, as if it too were terrified of what was happening, as the din reverberated through the factory, drowned out by the next crash before it had the chance to finish its journey.
“We’re not alone here,” Ronnie said.
“Wow, I’ll take stating the fucking obvious for five hundred, Alex,” Jared snapped.
He had moved to the window behind the manager’s desk. It afforded him a view of the front entrance of the factory. Two four-by-fours and a truck were parked outside. A group of around a dozen heavily armed people stood milling around, watching something. Another loud crash came, although this one had a higher pitch and a less hollow ring to it; it was a more permanent sound.
“They are in,” Dwayne said, not needing to look out of the window to confirm his statement.
“They mean business too,” Jared said, watching as half the waiting group disappeared from view.
A few moments later, the rattle of automatic gunfire roared through the factory.
“What do they want?”
ZPOC: The Beginning Page 10
