by James Gurley
“Just so you’re not tempted to warn him.”
At the bottom of the stairs, Levi moved the second barricade into place. Zombies couldn’t climb over or go around the barricades, but they could gather around her. Enough of them could smash or topple the barricade. It wouldn’t keep them at bay for very long. She was trapped, silenced and trapped.
She watched Levi until he disappeared into the darkness, and then began frantically tugging on her bonds, trying to free her wrists, but the ropes were too tight. She only succeeded in burning her wrists. Next, she attempted to remove the gag, but the cloth securing it prevented her. Exhausted by her efforts, she sat down on a step to think. She noticed that she already had an audience. Two zombies on the upper level were clawing at the barricade. She cringed at each rattle and shudder of the makeshift obstacle Levi had cobbled together from wooden freight pallets and window shutters from a home accessory store. More zombies gathered on the lower level, drawn by the noise. They stared up at her with dead-set eyes, keening their hunger. Most of them were Shamblers, too weak to pose a serious threat if she hadn’t been bound, but she feared Runners would be strong enough to wreck the flimsy obstruction.
After an hour, she was surrounded by zombies. She wondered why so many of the creatures would be in the mall since most of the stores had closed at the height of the infection. Then she remembered Levi’s words. He was herding the creatures into the mall in preparation for Jake’s arrival. He was setting his trap, a deadly gauntlet of flesh-eating creatures through which Jake must first pass to reach her, and then negotiate to escape. She suspected there would be more than just zombies in Jake’s path. Somewhere in the vast labyrinth of darkened corridors and stores, Levi would be waiting, deadly eager for revenge.
24
June 30, 2016 Split Rock Canyon Galiuro Mountains, AZ –
Under the ministrations of his three nurses, Reed was mending, Jake’s surgical skills notwithstanding. Some of the color had returned to the schoolteacher/spy’s cheeks, and he was up and walking, if gingerly, about the house. It would be days longer before he would be fit to travel, but Jake was eager for his friend to heal. Reed could then contact his friends in Phoenix and begin the process of reintroducing civilization to Tucson. Jake had another destiny, one which might leave Reed alone to do the job. He had to find Jessica. Every day she was with Levi kept her in danger.
Jake had relented in his refusal to bury the dead and leaving them as vulture food, but it was to reduce the stench of death rather than any remorse on his part. He had dragged them to the same gulley he had disposed of the zombies. Their corpses were gone, of course, washed away by the rains, but he thought it a fitting final resting place. The smoke of their funeral pyre rose high into the air. He hoped Levi was watching and could guess at the smoke’s source.
He methodically cleaned every weapon in the house. That included the machinegun for which he had no more ammunition. It helped to pass the time. By some quirk of the raging flood, or grace from God, the well wasn’t damaged. The pump was missing, but the steel cap over the opening remained in place, protecting the well from filling with sand. With a new replacement pump, he would be back in business. Only the foundation of his grandfather’s house remained to show where it had stood for seventy-three years. His smokehouse, his chicken coop, his fences, even his fruit trees were gone. All that remained was a lone ironwood tree standing at the edge of the wash, its roots so deeply imbedded in the earth that the flood couldn’t uproot it.
Jake was beginning to worry that Levi might not contact him after all. His worst fear was that Jessica might already be dead and that Levi fled the area. Such maudlin thoughts nagged at him, played with his guilty conscience, as he watched the sunset over the mountains. Its passing left an icy cold stain in the center of his soul. Mea culpa, his mind whispered. It’s your fault she’s gone. He sat on the balcony all afternoon, ignoring the heat, humidity, and the biting insects. If any of them carried the Staggers’ parasite, he no longer cared if he was immune. He was tired of waiting. His coffee had grown cold. He poured it over the balcony railing and, in a fit of rage, sent the cup sailing after it.
Three quick gunshots in the distance drew his attention. He knew without hesitation that it was Levi. He smiled. Reed had heard the shots too. He hobbled out onto the balcony.
“Did I hear gunshots?”
Jake nodded toward the foot of the canyon. “Levi.” He turned to leave.
“You’re not going out there?” Reed said. “He might be waiting with a rifle.”
Jake’s face was grim, as he said, “No, he wants to see me face-to-face before he kills me. He wants to make it up close and personal. I’ll be safe.”
He drove the ATV down the canyon, keeping his eyes on the rim of the canyon and the shadows around the base in spite of his assurances to Reed. He could be wrong about Levi. The newly erected waist-high cairn of rocks was visible enough without the glittering jeweled lawn ornament sitting on top reflecting the dying rays of the sun. As expected, Levi was nowhere to be seen. A piece of paper sat beneath the ornament. He picked it up and read it.
“Your lady friend is about to be become zombie food in the Tucson Mall. Come and get her. Come alone or she dies. Come tonight. If she’s still alive in the morning, I’ll kill her.”
Jake wadded the note and squeezed, imagining Levi’s neck in his grasp. He checked the sun. He had less than half an hour before nightfall. By the time he reached the mall, it would be full dark. It was the night of a waning crescent moon, but the sky was cloudy. He couldn’t depend on moonlight and a flashlight would make him an easy target. He would have to trust his night vision. He lifted his head and cupped his hands around his mouth.
“I’m coming, Levi,” he yelled to the surrounding desert. “I’m coming for you!”
He didn’t know if Levi heard him, but announcing his attentions to the world made him feel better.
Back at the ranch, he explained his intentions to Reed as he prepared for his confrontation. Reed cautioned against a headlong assault. “Don’t go after him like a bulldog. Sneak in like a mouse. That mano a mano shit will get both you and Jessica killed.”
Jake stripped, donned black pants and shirt and smeared black paint across his forehead and cheeks with a camo stick. “Levi won’t make it that easy,” he said, as he slipped his Remington Model 1911 pistol into his belt beside his hunting knife. He loaded the AA-12 shotgun. It was large and clumsy and the noise would attract zombies, but its massive firepower might come in handy. He fitted four bolts into the quick-detach quiver of the Parker Concorde crossbow, and then added a second quiver beneath it. He would use the crossbow for silent work. The pistol and shotgun were for zombies or any other surprises Levi might have in store. The knife was for driving into Levi’s heart.
“Let me go with you,” Reed asked.
“You’re in no shape to come,” he answered, as he slung the crossbow over his shoulder by its strap. “Besides, if Levi is watching, he might kill her. He warned me to come alone.” He glanced at the young girl who had claimed Reed as her patient. “You have to keep these ladies safe.” She beamed at him.
“How do you know he won’t simply shoot you down as soon as you walk in?”
He paused. “I don’t, but there’s no sport in that. Levi wants to gloat before he kills me. Call it professional bastard courtesy.”
Reed grabbed a notebook and pen and began sketching on a page. He drew a rough diagram of the Tucson Mall and labeled the anchor stores. He hesitated, chewing on the tip of the pen as he thought, before filling in a few more names in a hurried scribble. “I don’t know all the stores, but here’s a few I do remember from visits there.” He thrust the paper at Jake. “It might help you orient yourself.”
Jake took the paper, glanced at it, and shoved it in his shirt pocket. “Thanks.”
Reed grabbed Jake’s shoulder. “For God’s sake be careful, Jake. Get Jessica out safely before you start another war with Levi.”
&nb
sp; The pointed reminder of his last failed encounter with Levi wasn’t lost on him. “I will.” He glanced around the room, hoping he would see it again. “If I don’t make it back …” He left the rest of the sentence unfinished. If he didn’t make it back, nothing he said would matter.
Reed’s smile, as he said, “You will” was meant to comfort him. Instead, it looked more like a last goodbye.
As he started to leave, he saw his great grandfather’s badge on the floor where Levi had discarded it. He picked it up, ran his fingers over it, allowing the history that had soaked into the tarnished metal through the years bleed into his soul. He had worn it as a reminder of his family’s past. Now, as he pinned it to his chest, he wore it to remind him that there was no law but the law that came from the barrel of a gun – Jake’s Law. In Levi’s case, death was the only sentence that mattered, and he intended to carry it out post haste.
The road to San Manuel was now a series of washes still running deep from mountain runoff, though less raging than at the height of the storm. Parts of the road were washed away completely. Other sections were buried beneath feet of sand, mud, and gravel. He chose the most direct course, splashing through washes at full speed. In places, he left the road completely, dodging teddy bear cholla and saguaros with a blatant disregard for life and limb. Night fell as he passed through San Manuel, paying no attention to the zombies that came out to greet him. He had no time to linger.
The trip to Tucson, normally an hour’s drive, took almost three. Traffic snarls of abandoned vehicles, trees blown over by the wind, and areas washed out by the rain plagued his journey. At the edge of the ridge sloping gently down into the Rillito River valley, he stopped. The twin beams of the headlights revealed a dead city. Abandoned and burned vehicles, piles of trash, smashed barricades, and skeletal corpses marked the scene of a past battle, some last stand along the banks of the river. Some of the dead wore military uniforms. It had been a last ditch attempt to save the city. It had failed.
After crossing the Rillito River, he parked the ATV beside the road and continued on foot along the river bank. He hoped the sound of rushing water had masked the noise of the ATV. He had no idea where inside the massive darkened mall Jessica might be, but he was certain Levi wouldn’t make her rescue easy. Searching the mall from end to end would be the logical approach to finding her. He hoped Levi expected him to do exactly that, barging in through the main entrance, guns blazing. Part of him wanted to go in all gangbuster, but caution was safer. He chose to start in the middle and trust to luck.
A few lumbering shapes in the darkness betrayed the presence of zombies in the parking lot. Most he bypassed easily. One creature stood between him and the fire escape he wished to use to reach the upper level of Dillard’s on the north side of the mall. The creature was just a dim shape in the faint moonlight. He aimed the crossbow carefully from the cover of an overgrown Palo Blanco tree, following the zombie’s erratic movement. He braced his back against the tree’s peeling white bark, held his breath, and fired. The bolt buried halfway into the creature’s skull. Its hand reached upward for the offending feathered bolt, but dropped as the zombie collapsed on the pavement. None of the other creatures noticed its demise.
Jake sprinted across the parking lot and up the fire escape. He forced the lock at the top of the fire escape and entered Dillard’s through the personnel only section. Navigating the near pitch black interior was difficult. Clothing, housewares, and handbags littered the floor from overturned shelves. Almost stepping into the decaying chest of a corpse, he lost his balance. He caught himself before falling on top of it, but brushed his right side against the corpse, releasing a nauseating stink. His leg and side of his shirt came away sticky from blood and rotting body fluids. The cloying stench of death and decay smell made him gag. He fought down the urge to vomit.
As he recovered, a figure loomed suddenly out of the gloom in his peripheral vision. He turned and had his finger pressed to the trigger of the shotgun ready to fire, and then chuckled silently when he realized that he had almost shot a Styrofoam store mannequin wearing a short summer skirt and long blonde wig. As he neared the store entrance onto the mall, the damage to the store became more severe and more recent. The glass sliding doors were smashed. Displays were overturned. Jewelry from a broken case carpeted the floor. He picked his way carefully through the rings, pendants, and broken glass to the edge of the door and peered out. He could barely make out the barrel vault ceiling overhead. The white columns supporting it stood like pale ghosts rising from the shadows. The tiled floor glistened with rainwater seeping through holes in the roof damaged by recent windstorms. The steady dripping became a background for the wails and high-pitched keening of the scores of zombies moving in the shadows on both levels of the mall. Levi had used his zombie army trick against him. Things had just gotten hairy.
He ducked back inside the doorway as a zombie stumbled down the walkway toward him. When it drew even with the doorway, it paused to sniff the air. Jake raised the crossbow and waited. If he cocked it, the hiss of CO2 from the automatic cocking mechanism would alert the zombie. The zombie turned in a half circle, sniffing the air, and then continued down the walkway. Jake caught a whiff of the sickly odor rising from his clothing. The stench of decay on his pants and shirt had confused it.
The mall was a vast cavern of walkways, courtyards, stores, kiosks, and corridors. Searching the entire mall in the dark could take hours, and he knew he didn’t have that long. He chose a direction at random, and moved southeast along the walkway past a telecommunications store, a looted jewelry store, and a restaurant reeking of rotten food. As he turned the corner at Forever 21, he heard the wailing and groaning of many zombies further down the mall and knew that his destination lay in that direction. The creatures were gathering there for a reason – Jessica. He stopped to consult Reed’s crude map. The shot came unexpectedly, striking the glass behind him, shattering it, followed by a peal of raucous laughter. Levi. He ducked behind the railing. The shot had been close but not too close. Levi had intended his first shot to miss as the initial salvo of their game of nerves.
“Your lady friend is at the east end of the mall, Blakely,” Levi yelled. “Better find her fast.”
At least I chose the right direction. Jake searched the darkness across the mall for Levi but could see nothing. He was too well hidden in the shadows. For the bullet to strike where it had, the shot would have had to originate from the upper level. The gift card store or the coffee shop offered the best angle. Jake chose the coffee shop and fired two quick rounds from the shotgun, and then raced down the walkway toward Jessica. The discharge of the shotgun thundered in the cavernous space, rattling storefront windows and echoing back and forth down the twisting corridors until it finally rumbled silent. Glass exploded from the front of the coffee shop as Levi returned fire. Jake dove to the ground and slid on the rain-slicked tile floor headfirst through the open doorway of a tuxedo shop, sending a rack of ties and belts tumbling in all directions. He slammed into the corner of a wooden counter with his shoulder, dropping the shotgun. It skidded deeper into the store, disappearing into the yawning darkness within. Before he could recover it, a zombie rounded the corner and grabbed his right foot. He kicked the creature in the head with the other foot until it released him, but it lunged again. He pulled his knife from his belt and drove the blade into the top of the creature’s head, twisting the handle until it went limp when the blade severed its hindbrain. It fell across his legs. He kicked it away with disgust.
As he got to his feet, another zombie, this time a more agile Runner, appeared from the store next door. Jake cocked the crossbow and fired. At 300 feet per second, the twenty-inch bolt passed straight through the creature’s head and imbedded in the wall behind it. The Runner took one more step forward before crashing into and over the railing. It landed with a sickening thud on the tiled courtyard below, its blood mixing with the puddles of water. Jake leaned over the railing to see the crowd of zombies r
ushing to investigate the sound. A second shot from Levi struck the railing inches from his hand. Levi was through playing games. Now, he meant business.
The battle had become a game of hide-and-seek. Keeping low, he continued east along the walkway. Twice, he stopped to kill zombies that came at him, using his crossbow. He now had three bolts remaining. Simple math told him that three didn’t go into dozens of zombies enough times to matter. It was time to change his tactics.
Knowing Levi could place a bullet in his back at any moment from the shadows, Jake stood to expose himself, reversed directions, and ran at full speed back the way he had come. Shots followed him, shattering windows and chipping brick behind him. He reached a crosswalk over the lower courtyard, raced across it, and hurdled down the stairs opposite three at a time. He didn’t stop until he was safely ensconced behind a kiosk selling cell phones. His bold move had taken Levi by surprise. Levi was now on the upper level where he would have to expose himself to shoot down at him, and he didn’t think Levi was that stupid. He had bought a few more precious minutes in which to search for Jessica.
Using benches, planters, and other kiosks as cover, he crossed the courtyard until he was beneath the upper walkway. As he crossed in front of a perfume shop, the overpowering sickly-sweet miasma of comingled perfumes rose from broken bottles beneath his feet and brought tears to his eyes. In the silence, he could hear the faint ticking of numerous watches from a nearby watch repair kiosk, their batteries still functioning and beyond that, the soft scuffling of zombie feet. A sharper sound above him caused him to freeze. The sound was not repeated, ruling out a zombie crashing around. Levi was above him waiting for him to expose himself again. If he still had his shotgun, he would have been tempted to race out and empty it at the walkway in hopes of killing his adversary, but this was not simply about two men trying to kill one another. Another life was at stake, Jessica, and her life was more important than revenge.
