“Break his concentration? I’ve seen that guy surrounded by Zs, fighting for his life, and still have the ability to spout off a one liner,” I said. What did Erik know about Joel anyway? What, they went out hunting together one time and suddenly they were having a bromance?
“I’m sure he’s great under pressure. But don’t make him take his eyes off the target to answer you. Cool?”
“Thought you were going up on the roof?” I said defensively.
“I am. Keep your eyes peeled,” Erik said.
He backed up and jumped in the air. His hands caught the top of overhang. He dangled for a second before looking down. “Little help?”
“Shit, sorry,” I said.
I offered my hands and gave him a boost. He pulled himself up, and then rolled around to look down. I picked up his M4 and passed it to him. When he had the rifle in hand, Erik disappeared from view.
That left me to stand around with my dick in my hands. I pulled the Glock and thumbed the slide, only then remembering it didn’t have a safety. I pulled the slide and verified it was locked.
The store was called Le Fashion Sense. The front two windows had been smashed in. A mannequin stood in the front but was covered in grime. Whatever she had been wearing was in tatters near her feet. I poked my head inside the display, but no rotters came at me. The front door had been smashed open. I stepped inside and crunched over broken glass. The store had circular clothing hangers, but no clothes hung from them. It was like someone had come through and gutted all of the goods. I took a cautions step inside and looked for the cash register. Maybe there were a few bucks to add to my collection.
A pile of empty soda cans sat in one corner. I backed out of the store.
I looked up and down both sides of the street. Anna and Christy stayed near the bus keeping an eye out for potential targets. Staying next to the building also provided them with cover from the shooters. A Z wandered around a hundred feet away, but he hadn’t noticed the girls.
I wished Erik would have left me the binoculars. The horde to the east wasn’t wasting any time as it closed on us. Something leaped around on their perimeter. Fucking shuffler.
A shot ran out and Erik cursed as something plinked from the rooftop.
“Lose your concentration?” I asked.
Erik grunted in reply.
A Z wandered around the corner and set his eyes on me. I waited until he was a few feet away and put him down quickly with the pipe.
Maybe I should have stayed with Anna.
“Will it be easier if I go help the ladies?” I called up to Erik.
“It would help if you’d go out there and be a target again,” Erik called back down.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” I said.
I dragged the Z up to his feet. He was only about five-foot five and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds, but he was dead and his body was like trying to maneuver a tall skinny sack of potatoes.
I walked him to the edge of the wall, and then slowly pushed him out. Lifting one arm to make it look like he was waving, a shot didn’t take long. Not just one shot but three or four in rapid succession. My zombie pal took them like a champ. I let his body drop, and another blast took most off most of his head.
Erik and Joel fired at about the same time.
“He’s down,” Joel yelled.
I spun and took in the approaching horde. They were a football field’s length away and closing at a snail’s pace.
Another Z rolled up on me. I danced out of his way, spun him so he faced toward the bus, and then pushed. He stumbled out into the open and turned to look me in the eye. This guy was a little bigger than the last son of a bitch, but he was all kinds of rotted. Flaps of skin hung from his skull and bounced off his nose.
“I guess it’s—”
The Zs head disappeared. Joel fired again with Erik right behind him.
“Down,” Erik yelled.
“Are we done here?” I yelled up at Erik.
“Not sure. Sit tight,” Erik called back.
A pair of cars raced ahead of the Z horde cut toward the river. What was everyone up to today? We had, of course, come across other survivors, but they were few and far between.
“We. Need. To. Go.”
“Sit tight.”
Jesus Christ.
Should I go make myself another target? The guys with the long range rifles might get lucky this time. That reminded me, how in the hell was Joel so well hidden?
“Hey, how come they aren’t shooting back at Joel. He can’t be invisible. That gun lights up like a torch each time it fires,” I said.
“He’s using a suppressor,” Erik said.
“Oh. Cool. So, it’s like a spark hider thing. Right,” I said.
“It was in a kit we brought along. Screws onto the barrel and keeps the flash down. Thus the name,” Erik said.
"I learn some new military shit every day. I just wish it was in Call of Duty,” I said.
I walked to the other side of the building and peeked around the corner. No one shot at me. Thank God.
The first Zs from the approaching horde would be on us in a couple of minutes. A shuffler bounced into view, and I aimed with the Glock. Before I could get a bead, and most likely miss, he disappeared into the bunch of rotters.
“You have OCD?” Erik scared the shit out of me.
“Yeah. No. Probably.” I looked up and found him staring down at me from the overhang.
“We’re bugging out. But we need you to run out there and do a quick spin. Need to make sure the shooters are done with us,” Erik said.
“Are you kidding me? Go out there, and do a spin like I’m a fashion model or some shit?”
Erik choked back a laugh.
“Oh, so you’re fucking with me. Great,” I said.
“Just blowing off steam,” Erik said.
He grabbed the edge of the overhang and dropped to the ground, making it look easy. If I tried that move, I’d land on my ass.
Joel stood across from us. I waved, and he motioned for us. Erik ran first and ducked behind the Chevy. I followed a few seconds later and slammed my back against the side of the car.
“Get `em, Timmy?” I asked Joel.
“Not sure, Lassie. I saw one guy go down, but there might have been as many as three,” Joel said.
“I think I got one. He sure got out of the way after I fired,” Erik said.
“I thought you did. Saw him go down through the scope.”
“So we make a run for it now? I’m confused,” I said.
“They might start shooting again,” Joel said. “That’s all I know.”
“I don’t think so. They moved on. I caught one of the men moving toward another building. He took a few pot shots but he was behind some heavy cover. I couldn’t zero in,” Erik said.
“Shooting at us?” Joel asked.
“No, man, That’s the weird thing. They started shooting at another group of people,” Erik said.
“Fuck me,” Joel said. He looked between us before he said. “So we’re not the only human cattle getting herded here.”
“What? Why?” I said.
“The same fucking reason they’ve been moving in on us for the last day. The same damn reason Erik and his crew ended up almost getting killed. They want the bodies.”
“But they were trying to kill us,” I argued. “Doesn’t make any sense.”
“They weren’t trying that hard. A decent shooter probably could have found me under the car.”
“So we need to get the hell out of here,” Erik said.
Christy screamed from across the street.
I was back on my feet in a second. Frosty tore ass out of the bus and went after a shape.
Anna fell back as a Z closed on her. She lifted the .357 and blew it’s head off. Another Z pushed Katherine. She spun to the side and tripped him. The rotter fell on his face, and she stomped the back of his head.
I ran to their side and shot the Z. Frosty
had her jaws around another guy’s throat. She worried at him and growled. Christy grabbed the mutt and tried to drag her back.
Joel appeared at my side and helped me get Frosty off. He dug out his knife and planted it in the rotter’s eye, then gave it a twist.
“You okay?” I asked Christy.
“Yeah. He just surprised me. Frosty saved me.”
“Good dog,” I said and rubbed our girl’s head, then tousled her ears.
She didn’t take her eyes off the twice dead corpse.
“We seriously need to clear out of here,” I said.
The group gathered around, but Anna didn’t look at me. Her eyes were fixed on something behind us.
I turned and found out why. A group of people who’d fled the horde were headed right for us.
Dressed in an assortment of street clothes, and bearing an impressive amount of fire arms, one of them, a guy in his fifties, pointed in our direction. Erik turned and squinted.
“I know some of them,” Erik said, and then smiled
“Yeah?” Anna said. “Are they going to be a problem?”
“I don’t think so. But if they’re on the run, then things have gone real bad,” Erik said.
Great. Just what we needed. More bad news.
I Hate Meeting New People
Joel was on edge. He didn’t exactly lower his gun and, instead, kept it at the ready, left hand on the rail under the barrel, right hand around the grip. Hopefully he wouldn’t start shooting before we could at least hear them out. With Erik going out to meet them, I was somewhat reassured.
But my trepidation stood. I hated meeting new people.
They were an assortment of men and women in the group and a kid about Christy’s age. He had long dark brown hair the flopped over in front of his face. He carried a handgun and had a rifle slung over his shoulder. The others looked harried, and their eyes were hollow and lined with black.
Erik met with a woman, and they spoke closely together for a few minutes.
“What are you thinking?” I whispered to Joel.
“I’m thinking we need to be very careful,” Joel said. “But more bodies mean more guns. More guns means we might escape this alive.”
Erik and the strangers joined us. We didn’t have a lot of time for introductions and when we started spitting names out at each other, most of them flew over my head. I’d have to catch up on them later. There was one guy with hazel eyes named Tim Feely. He carried a huge machinegun with a magazine that must have held at least a hundred rounds.
“Damn that’s a big weapon,” I said.
“M249 SAW. Erik used this gun about a month ago. When he disappeared, I started carrying it. Haven’t had a chance to test it out much,” Feely said.
“So that’s where my gun disappeared to,” Erik said. “I remember you. You were one of the guards at Lisa’s old camp.”
“Yeah, man. We didn’t get to meet before thanks to that horde that nearly overran us. What, you want it back?” Tim Feely said.
“Nah, you hang onto it, kid.”
“Guys, I’d love to stand around, drink wine, and talk about the weather, but we have a problem,” I said and nodded at the massive horde.
“More than a problem. There’s about a hundred green-eyed ghouls directing them. We’re going to have to move it,” the older guy said.
“Dan, it’s been a long time,” Erik said. “Do you have a suggestion?”
“We were going to head for the bridge and try to cross it,” Dan said.
“It might be our only option. We spotted a bunch of Zs up there, but not as many as what’s behind us,” Joel interjected.
“Shit,” Tim Feely said.
“I hate to breakup this reunion, folks, but we need to pick a direction,” Anna said.
“A billion fucking Zs that way.” Joel pointed in the direction we had come from. “Or a hundred on the bridge. The bridge gets us into the city. Anything else puts us farther away from our goal.”
“So it’s the bridge,” I said.
“Let’s do this,” Anna said.
Katherine and Christy got on the bus and dragged our bags of gear and tossed them on the ground. I pulled one open and extracted a couple of magazines. Stuffing them in my pockets, I slid the bag toward Joel.
Our crew snatched up every full magazine they could carry. Christy took out a Beretta and put it in her waistband.
A shuffler appeared fifty feet away. He walked out from behind a building and gave us a green-eyed gaze. One of the men in the group spun and fired a shotgun, but the creeper was gone. I tightened my grip on the heavy pipe and hoped the shuffler made another appearance close to us. I’d like to talk to him about my love of heavy metal. Right upside his head.
“Let’s move out,” Joel stated.
He stuffed another pair of magazines in his tactical vest and turned away. I followed him, but kept my eyes on our six.
The group followed without arguing. The fact was we didn’t know where in the hell we could find safety. If we holed up in one of the buildings, it would only be a matter of time before the location was completely overrun. Even if it had heavy doors and reinforced windows, we didn’t have any food to feed the now fifteen plus members of our new team for more than a few days. No one could carry that much food, and more importantly, water.
“How do we get into that base?” I asked Joel.
“Don’t know, man. Voodoo North might as well be across the country. Once we’re across the bridge, we’ll need to find the base. We have enough people now so we might have a fighting chance,” Joel said.
Erik moved up beside us as Joel set a quick pace. “I don’t see that we have a choice.”
The horde trailed us as they poured onto streets and out of alleyways. I couldn’t even begin to count their numbers.
“If we had a couple of vehicles…” I said.
“Yeah but do we have time to find one?” Joel said.
“Maybe if a few of us scout ahead,” Erik suggested.
“It’s worth a try, but we’re already moving fast.” I panted next to Joel.
“Gonna have to double time it, Squid. You up for the challenge?” Joel asked.
“Sure. Why the hell not. Who’s with me?”
“Me. Let’s go,” Anna said and stretched out her legs as she broke into a run.
“The fastest runner here, great.” I muttered, and then followed.
Anna had always been in a lot better shape than me. All the yoga. Or walks. Or runs. Maybe it was just a girl thing. Maybe for me it was just a I don’t want to get in shape guy thing. Whatever it was, Anna could always outrun me. She dashed across a sidewalk and stopped at a dilapidated, 70’s Buick Century. It was covered in dirt and grime, and the passenger side window had been smashed in. A rotted body lay on the back seat. She reached in, unlocked the door, and opened it.
I knew this scene from horror movies all too well. The body in back would sit up, snarl at her, and then try to eat her face. I tried the driver’s side door but it was locked. She leaned inside and hit the release.
The body still hadn’t moved. I prodded it with the pipe just to be sure. I was met with only desiccated bone and a smell that sickened me to my stomach. Rotted meat. Gross.
No keys to be found. I even lowered the visor but nothing fell. I felt under the seat. Anna didn’t even bat an eye. She dug through the dead dude’s pants and came up with nothing. The group was almost on us so she and I raced ahead.
We were getting closer to the bridge and, at this rate, we would reach it in fifteen or twenty minutes. To the west, a sound rose that chilled me. More Zs flowed onto roads and funneled between buildings.
Coming at us from two directions? This day just kept getting better and better.
A pair of trucks thundered over a road a few hundred yards away and disappeared from view.
Three cars had been in a minor accident ahead of us. A small SUV had rammed into a coupe and driven it into the back of a tiny little car that looked like it
would work with a remote control. A body stretched across the hood of the lead car. Anna went to the SUV and smashed in a window.
The little white vehicle was a smart car. I chuckled at the name. Fucking Portland, man. The rear end had been damaged but nothing seemed to be obstructing the wheels.
I opened the door and leaned inside. It was literally the smallest vehicle I had ever seen up close, with the exception of the ATVs. I nearly laughed when I found a set of keys dangling in the ignition. The passenger side seat had blood on the head rest, but it was otherwise in perfect condition. The problem was that it would only sit two people. There wasn’t even enough room in the back for someone to lay down. The seats met a small deck. On second thought, Christy or Frosty might be able to squeeze back there.
I turned the key and the car choked. I turned it again and the engine sputtered.
On the third try it actually started. Well, holy shit. We had found a way to escape in the smallest car known to man. I hopped out and let it run, but not before checking the gas gauge to find there was a quarter tank.
“Let’s keep moving. We can’t fit many in that little thing,” Anna said.
She had already checked the SUV and smaller car without luck.
We raced ahead and stopped at another pair of cars. Both had been pushed off the side of the road. Both had also been looted, and there were no keys to be found. I located a screwdriver on the floor in the back and jammed it into the ignition. I turned it as hard as I could but it didn’t even budge.
“Works in the movies,” I muttered.
Anna found a Toyota truck that was serviceable and whooped when she got the engine to start.
I pounded up the road until I got to her side, then leaned over to catch my breath.
“This thing will run but the fuel light is on,” she said.
The radio came on but there was just static. I leaned in and looked under the seats, but there was nothing but a map of the local area. The kind of thing they make for tourists with large colorful sections of the city laid out.
“It’s something,” I said.
Joel and crew had arrived at the smart car. They pushed the coupe out of the way, and then he crawled inside and put her in gear. Joel drove it onto the opposite side of the road, and then motioned for us to join him.
Z-Risen (Book 5): Barriers Page 13
