by Tom Germann
The worst of it should be past now. They had snuck out in the dark and were well on the way to the mall, or whatever the large buildings were. With the sun coming out, the chances of wolves coming out of the tree line should be less.
They were really close to the building now. Just a few more streets over. The empty streets hadn’t been so bad as they started out, it was dark and still very early, but now there was some light and it was obvious that vehicles and houses were not always as they should have been. It was spooky and they were all a bit on edge.
They came to an intersection and could see right into the parking lot, slowly walking forward toward the main building. It looked like a large, open plaza with some big box stores and a gas station to the side. Opposite of that was what looked like the town hall, as it was all concrete and looked like every other cheap institutional government building ever built. Grey and drab. Just to the side of it they could see some police cars and tents.
They started hurrying toward it. It looked like there was a fire truck on the far side and some sort of large army truck parked behind the tent with a big metal box on the back of it and a series of antennas sticking up.
The truck was big but didn’t look like anything everyone had seen on the news or in the movies before,. but right over the tent was a great big American flag just hanging there in the still air.
Richard stopped and Janice came up next to him. “You see, Richard? I told you there would be some sort of organization in charge of this. We should have come here immediately and found out what was going on.”
Sam was the only one looking around and he noticed something wrong. “Does any of you see anybody around? Shouldn’t there be police and paramedics? Maybe even some soldiers around the truck?”
Janice looked at Sam pityingly. “Sam, whatever happened here did happen a little while ago. Or as Richard suggested, maybe this is all some sort of elaborate reality show. Either way, the people are probably asleep with just a few manning the radios. Let’s go wake them up and find out what is going on. Maybe have some real food.”
Janice took off for the tent with renewed purpose. Richard and Sal trailed after her. Sam brought up the rear. He saw some people over by the large box store. It looked like a grocery store and someone had likely converted it to hold the refugees.
Sam shrugged and walked faster to catch up to Janice and the rest.
Behind them, the people at the grocery store started staggering after them. One of them moaned and there was an answering moan from inside the store. More shapes started moving in the dark, heading for the parking lot.
They were not far from the tents when they saw the first people on the far side. It looked like a soldier and a fireman standing there.
Janice sped up and yelled, “Excuse me! Hello! We could use some help. There’s been sort of an accident…”
She stopped suddenly and the others almost ran over her. The soldier and fireman had both heard and turned, starting to walk toward them. They were staggering and the fireman was missing one of his arms, while the soldier looked like most of his stomach was gone.
Janice started talking loudly, “Um, we were at a service centre and then we were here and the soldiers took some cars, but we didn’t do that, and I want to go home…” She finally seemed to wind down as it became obvious in the increasing light that both men were hideously wounded.
The tent flap was pushed aside and a woman in a set of rough overalls came staggering out. She was less than twenty feet away and missing most of her face and the fingers of one hand. Her shirt was shredded and bites had been taken from all over.
There was a loud crunching noise off to the right, and Richard and Sam looked over to see a flow of ‘people’ coming out of the government building. They saw the large board leaning against the wall and there was now just enough light to see that someone had painted “infected here” on it.
Sam pulled the revolver out of his bag.
What was coming out of the building was a horror. Most were covered in blood and bites. A few were missing limbs.
Halfway between them and the building was a large man with no legs pulling himself across the ground. His mouth was open and a groan came out, growing in volume.
Sal grabbed Janice’s arm and yelled, “We have to leave now, Mrs. Lagrange!” He started pulling her back and everyone followed suit, backing away from the horrors that were moving faster toward them.
Sal backed up a few feet, releasing Janice as she was too slow, and bumped into someone. He thudded to a stop and heard someone fall and hit the pavement. He turned, starting to instinctively say, “Excuse me, please, can I help you?”
He never got it out. He had turned and saw one of the torn apart people rolling around on the ground. There were two more standing inches from him. A man in a fishing outfit, with huge chunks of flesh missing from his face and neck, groaned and the stench of death came out. There appeared to be maggots in his mouth. Next to him was a woman in a knee-length dress that had put a lot of makeup on, but it was running as her face rotted. Her tremendous hairdo was strewn to the side. She looked like a soaked bride of Frankenstein with dirt and filth matting her dark hair.
They both grabbed Sal. He could barely feel them touching him,. like he wasn’t in his own body. He could hear Richard and Sam shouting and Mrs. Lagrange screaming. There was the sound of a baseball bat hitting someone and shots being fired. There was another person coming toward him, a teenage girl. She would have been good looking, but her tight white sweater was covered in blood and she was reaching for him.
When Sal hit the ground, pushed over by the two people, the impact woke him up. He started struggling to get away, pushing at the man. From the ground, he could see dozens of legs coming toward him. There was screaming, and then a stabbing pain!
The Frankenstein bride had bitten his hand and was licking it, trying to suck on it. There was another stab of pain as she bit again and he could feel his blood splatter across his hand and her cold face. He hit her in the head with his tool and pulled away.
He could see Mrs. Lagrange wrestling with the soldier and Richard hitting the firefighter with the baseball bat. He couldn’t see Sam. He was struggling to get to his feet while screaming, and then he saw the man with no legs reaching for his face.
He screamed louder.
Game Over
Sergeant Caisson had point. They were moving quickly and staying to the streets for ease of movement. They had been walking and running for a few minutes, and could already see the buildings in the distance. It was getting light out and they were well into dawn.
They hadn’t seen any sign of life or habitation as they walked. No signs that people had fortified their homes and stood off against a zombie horde. But as they walked deeper into the massive subdivision, they saw more and more evidence of rioting.
There were several car crashes. Emergency services vehicles were also crashed, or just abandoned, usually with a dry stain in the vehicle. They found a police car with an officer’s cap crushed and almost falling apart inside on the seat. There was also a shotgun on the ground, but it had been smashed up past use and had what looked like hair in the splintered stock.
They weren’t stopping for rest or to look around. They had to catch up to the idiots before it was too late. They had made excellent time until Caisson stopped and brought the shotgun from a carry position to the ready. The other two stopped and checked the area.
Ahead of them, coming out from behind a car, was a woman. She was clearly a zombie. Her pink shorts and gardening smock were covered in gore and she still held a trowel. She started slowly walking toward them.
Wagner pulled his crowbar out as he called to the others, “No firing if we can manage it. Just beat its skull in and we move on.”
At the sound of his voice, the woman started walking faster and her face worked like she was chewing. She headed straight for h
im. He moved to the side, and. she followed him. Her arms were stretching out and she was making barely audible whimpering sounds.
The warrant officer carefully backed away, letting the shotgun rest on its sling. As soon as he was far enough from the others, he started walking quickly around her. She was turning on the spot but was slow, so he was soon just behind her. He moved in a little closer and swung hard. The rounded metal of the crow bar hit her hard in the back of the head. The crack of her skull breaking could be heard across the street by the others. The impact knocked her to her face, and he stepped in and struck again and again. He stepped back, watching.
She was motionless with a small puddle of gore spreading out around her head.
He nodded. “So we have to do more than just crack the skull. Three good hits should do the trick with a metal rod.”
Caisson nodded. “Sure, how hard is it going to be to get three good hits on a target when there are dozens of them around you?”
They continued on and then Tocker piped up. “Maybe he’s right and there are no zombies left except for one or two. Then it should be easy to get three good hits in.”
The sergeant held up his hand. “Shut up!” He stood there, listening. “Do you hear that?’ Faintly, they could hear shots fired and what sounded like screaming.
They started moving forward again and then stopped, straining to hear anything.
There was nothing.
Wagner and Caisson looked at each other. The sergeant spoke first, “They’re done. Do we go forward and join them or head back and get the hell out of here?”
“We slowly pull back and wait at that big crossroads we passed just over there.” Wagner pointed. “Then we see who comes and joins us. If we see zombies first, we leave. But if anyone survived then that would be a route they would have to follow back to the service centre, especially if they are running away from the zombies. Unless they aren’t thinking and go further into the subdivision and away from us.”
Caisson nodded. “How long do we wait?”
Wagner started walking and the other two joined him. “Five minutes. Anyone running should be along by then. If no one shows up then we take off and get out of here. Back to the service centre and leave.”
“But shouldn’t we go in and see if we can save them? We have firearms and they’re only zombies.” Tocker sounded upset. “We can just shoot them in the head and we move faster than them.”
Warrant Officer Wagner stopped and looked at him. “IF every round fired is a kill shot for a zombie, we still only have enough ammo for less than forty. I think most of the remaining zombies are in the centre of town. That could be hundreds. How many are maybe between us and the service centre now?”
He shook his head. “Every shot won’t take one down. It may take us multiple rounds to get the head shots. That thing about us being faster? I don’t know about that either. They start real slow, but if they hear noise or see you, then they start moving faster. Maybe half the speed we would normally walk. What happens if someone twists an ankle? Or if one gets close enough and scratches us and infects us?”
Tocker looked at his feet, then looked up and continued walking.
No one said anything. At the intersection, Wagner stayed in the centre of the road for the best view.
The sergeant stood with him. “Think anyone is coming?”
“I dunno, Gus. That was a lot of panic immediately and then silence. I don’t like it. But we need to wait, at least to have a clear conscience.”
After five minutes, they got ready to move out again, but then Tocker called out, “I saw something! It’s running up the back of the houses closer to the tree line!”
All three started walking down the road toward the spot that he had indicated. They saw a man running across the road ahead of them with his arms pumping.
“SAM!” Wagner yelled as all three took off to try to catch up to him. He must have heard because he slowed down and as they chased him, he only went past two of the houses before he stopped and collapsed to his knees.
The three caught up to him and Wagner knelt and leaned in close. “Sam, are you okay?” Sam nodded and then threw up. “Sam, did anyone else get away?”
Sam finished throwing up and then shook his head. He couldn’t talk as he was gasping for air.
“Okay, Sam, this is important. Were you bitten or scratched?”
Sam stopped and slowly started shaking his head.
“We need to get up and start walking slowly, okay? No need to run or you’ll likely collapse.” Putting a hand under Sam’s arm, Wagner helped him to his feet. “Okay, now we start walking. Tell us what happened while we walk and at your speed. We’ll ask questions if it’s relevant.”
Sam nodded and then started walking. After a few paces, he started talking hoarsely. He explained how they found the command centre and the people all over. Of backing away and bumping into people that looked dead and clawed and bit. Sal had been the first to go down and then Richard, as he hit arms and chests with his baseball bat. At that point, Sam had stuck the pistol to the head of one of the people attacking him and shot him twice with the weapon almost touching his ear. That one had gone down, then he had fired the other four rounds at others, including two into one of the men attacking Janice. The one shot in the head had fallen. The others it had no effect on. He had hammered another person with the gun but it didn’t do anything. So he ran. He had lost the revolver and the ammunition, which had been in his bag. Something had grabbed the bag and he had just twisted away and left it with whoever was clawing at him.
Wagner stopped. “What about the others? Could they have gotten away?”
Sam never stopped walking. “No. Sal was chewed apart by maybe six or seven of them? I saw the blood. Richard tried running but had been bitten and he fell down, then was swarmed. Mrs. Lagrange… Janice was bitten in the throat a bunch and fell over. I only got away because I ran away from them and kept running away.”
He paused. “I really think we should run a bit. They may look like they’re dead, but they can move fast. They started slow. I thought zombies, you know? Then when they saw us and we made noise and the screaming started… They were moving a lot faster.”
The three soldiers looked at each other. Sergeant Caisson spoke, “Okay, we jog a bit and then walk. Try not to talk, just breath.”
The four men took off. They kept it up for a while until they were on the dirt track leading back to the service centre.
Sam spoke, “I don’t get it. What sort of infection is this?”
Wagner looked at the other two then shrugged. “Sam, have you ever seen a zombie movie?”
“Yes, of course I have. My girl loves them and screams constantly.”
“Yeah, well, guess what? We have real zombies and we need to leave.”
Sam looked at him with a blank, distant look in his eye that Wagner recognized as shock. “Wow, I can’t wait to get home to my girl and tell her I actually met zombies. She’s going to be so freaked out.”
Wagner looked at Tocker and Caisson. The sergeant nodded and then stuck his tongue out while circling his finger around his brow and pointed at Sam. Wagner nodded and then tried again to reach Sam.
“Sam, how many zombies did you see?”
Sam waved his hands around vaguely. “Not that many, maybe a hundred?”
Caisson winced.
Sam harrumphed. “But there were three large box type stores and they were stuffed full of them. There was a sign up that said ‘infected here.’. I think that there were several hundred. Maybe a thousand?”
The soldiers froze while Sam walked on.
Tocker whispered, “A thousand?”
Caisson shrugged. “He’s in shock, likely mistaken. At least I hope so.”
Sam walked around the building ahead of them and the three ran to catch up.
All four vehicles w
ere parked in a row with some space between them from front to back. The truck had a tarp on the back and from where they were standing, it looked like every spare inch was filled with stuff. The vehicles had their doors closed and everyone was inside except for Jimmy and Steve, who were outside with the two remaining firearms, talking by the vehicles.
As soon as they saw Sam, they started walking toward the doors. Susie opened it for Sam, who went straight in without talking to her. Everyone else piled in and then Susie locked it.
Sam was at the back, pulling a bottle of water out of a fridge that was off. He stripped his shirt off and disappeared into the garage.
Everyone started asking questions at once.
The sergeant yelled, “Shut it! Sir?”
Wagner nodded. “Tocker and Susie, up on the rooftop on lookout. If you see anything, let us know how many and where they are coming from. Remember screaming it down is bad so watch the noise. MOVE! Tracy, stand at the bottom of the ladder and let us know details.”
He stopped and looked around. “Water for everyone who went and we all drink up until we are full. It’s damn hot out there.”
Weibe and Andries ran back and brought up sports drinks. Everyone popped the tops and started drinking. The party drained theirs in seconds.
Wagner continued, “You have questions. Great. They have to wait for a minute. Jimmy and Steven, is everything packed and loaded, ready to go?”
Jimmy stood. “Yes, sir, it is. We even grabbed extra stuff at the end.”
Vajjer waved from close to the back where he was having a smoke. “We were able to fit in all the batteries, both normal and rechargeable, including the chargers. We grabbed the solar stuff, all the camping gear, and more food and water than we anticipated. There were only three CB radios but we can’t hook them up in this time so every vehicle has a couple of those short range walkie talkies. Every pack of smokes and matches or lighters I grabbed too. We can actually leave now.”
