by TW Brown
Brandon took off at a run, coming our way. He was almost to Johnson Creek Boulevard and I still saw no sign of Carl. I glanced back over at the two individuals I’d spotted just moments before, and it was clear that the female had also spotted Brandon. She was waving to her comrade and pointing.
Bringing my glasses up to see Brandon again, it was plain that he now saw the two strangers. He’d stopped running and was looking back and forth between my position and theirs. He looked back over his shoulder towards where Carl still had not appeared and then again back to me.
He was close enough that I could see his face with the glasses when he flipped his HAZMAT suit hood back. There was a look on his face that I didn’t really care for.
I was still trying to make sense of everything when I heard a scream. It was more of a yell, but there was definitely concern, a bit of fear, and perhaps even some rage mixed in to this vocal. If I hadn’t been focused on Brandon’s face, I would’ve missed it.
He smiled.
There was an evil to his expression in that moment that confirmed every single thing that I’d thought about him almost since first meeting the guy. He looked right at me and then made a very pointed effort to look over his shoulder and then to the two individuals over by the zombie racetrack. Then…he started towards the woman and the filthy individual of indeterminate gender.
As he walked, he kept his gaze on me, knowing very well that I was watching him. He made a shrugging gesture and started down the slope at an angle that would bring him to the racetrack.
“Betty, grab the rifle. Meet me at my room,” I called as I made my way down the ladder to the balcony outside my bedroom.
I ducked in, looking around frantically for what I could get away with as a bare minimum and decided that I didn’t have time for anything. I was certain that I knew the source of that scream. If I wasn’t already too late, this would be perhaps the only opportunity to save Carl.
I threw a holster with a Glock 21 and a three-magazine pouch over one shoulder and headed for the stairs. I met Betty on my way down.
“Brandon has done something,” I started.
“Evan, we’ve been over—” she started to protest, her expression quickly changing from concern to exasperation.
“Shut up and get your ass on the roof!” I snapped. “I have to go after Carl.” I started down the stairs.
“But your arm,” Betty called after me.
“I don’t have time to worry about that now,” I shouted over my shoulder as I reached the bottom of the stairs and bolted for the door.
I exited the house and was making my way to the wall when Betty reached my balcony and once again, despite it being one of our biggest no-no rules, called after me. “Evan, what are you doing? You are going to get yourself killed.”
I started up the ladder that Brandon and Carl had used to climb over when they’d left. I had one leg slung over and was already wincing at the fact that I would have to jump down from here. It was only about eight feet, but the slope on the other side was pretty steep. If I fell, it would not be pretty.
“Keep your eyes open. My glasses are on the dresser. Sweep over by the racetrack. I don’t have time to explain.” With that, I sucked in my breath and jumped.
I landed better than I’d hoped, and the jarring was only enough to cause a dull thrum of pain in my arm. I was not able to call myself ambidextrous, but I could shoot as well with either hand. Granted, that was at a fixed target on a range at a distance of around twenty-five yards, but still, if the need arose, I could shoot.
The bigger problem was going to be dealing with any zombie that got close. I might be able to hold a knife in my left hand, but that did not mean I was comfortable. Any sort of close confrontation with one of them would be ugly and dangerous.
I scolded myself as I started down the hill towards Johnson Creek Boulevard. I was doing exactly what I’d deemed as foolish just a few days ago. I was risking my ass to save another person who might already be dead for all I know.
In that instant, I understood. In a situation like this, you simply did not think—you acted. The option was to do nothing and allow some person that you have a link to, no matter how tenuous or forced. I was not close to Betty or Carl, but I was about to risk my life to save one of them.
When I broke free of the tall grass and could see better, I glanced back and saw that Betty’s eyes were not on me at all. She was looking over in the direction I’d seen those strangers. That was also the direction that Brandon was headed.
I reached the stone pyramid-looking structure by where Carl had first rescued me, Betty, and Selina. This was another tricky spot, and I opted to follow it as it eventually gave way to just a steep grass hill before making my way down to the street below. Now that I was down, I had to cross on the run.
The good news here was that this particular part of the road was a large bend. At the moment, there were no zombies from either direction that I could see. I crossed on the run and started up the hill on the other side. Going up was so much more difficult than coming down. It was made worse by the fact that I could only use my left arm to catch myself when I tilted or started to stumble forward.
As I hurried, I heard that shout of frustration twice more. Each time sounded more urgent than the previous. Considering the conversations we’d had about this sort of situation, I wondered if maybe Carl was feeling beyond hopeless at this point. After all, I’d told him directly that there was no choice if it came to any of them or Chewie. That was still the case, but I now knew I could not simply sit by and allow somebody to be killed and not at least do something if it were in my power.
I reached the wall to the gated community and felt my stomach twist. Not only could I hear the moans of the undead coming from the other side of this stone wall, but I could smell them rather strongly. They were close. That was also when I started hearing some odd metallic slaps. It was almost like cheesy, B-movie thunder, but the sound wasn’t ending. It just kept going.
I turned for just a moment and located Betty. She hadn’t moved from her post, but she was obviously not watching me at all. Whatever Brandon was doing, it was enough to keep her attention riveted to him. For all intents and purposes, I was on my own. I looked over towards the racetrack, but I’d moved up and along the wall enough that I couldn’t really see anything. I’d had to move this direction so that I could get inside the development. There was no way that I could climb over, so I’d had to make my way to one of the gates that we knew existed. I decided that the screams and the metal thunder noise had come from the same general direction I was headed.
When I reached the gate’s location, I had to climb over the cars that we’d parked up against it. Now I was faced with a new problem. The gate was chained and padlocked. Carl had wanted to at least make anybody who chose to loot this place work for their goods if somebody got to it before we did. I would still have to climb over.
Getting up was a chore, but I managed. I was swinging my leg over when I saw the first of them. There had to be fifty of them surrounding a small metal shed. From the looks of things, that shed was not going to last much longer. One side showed signs of buckling already.
“Carl,” I shouted.
There was a single moment where nothing happened; then, one at a time, zombies began to turn my direction. A handful of them even started towards me.
“What are you doing out here, friend?” a voice called from inside the shed.
Just that quick, all of the zombies that had turned toward me did a shambling about-face and returned to the mob gathered around the shed. Those closest resumed their incessant pounding and slapping against the metal sides of the shed, sending a roll of thunder my way. Looking up the street, I could see another ten or so coming from my right. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I would be committed. There would be no way I could make it back over this gate without help or finding a ladder.
I looked back again and saw that Betty was now looking my general direction. I wasn�
��t sure if she actually saw me or not so I raised an arm and waved it. There was a moment’s pause and then she returned the gesture.
Taking a deep breath, I let myself drop to the street. The pavement crunched underfoot and I noticed a lot of broken glass that had been ground into dust. Hurrying, I ran out into the road and looked first to my left towards the shed and then to my right. The ones to the right were definitely closer, so I moved away from them. The street I was on went for a long way until there was an intersection where you could turn right as I faced it. That intersection was a good thirty or forty feet past the shed.
“This is gonna suck,” I breathed as I took off at a jog.
I had no idea exactly what I was going to do, but at least I had a good idea that Carl was still alive. Now, I simply needed to free him and then haul ass back to our little compound where Betty and the kids waited.
“I really hate being right,” I huffed as I picked up speed. That wasn’t exactly true. I loved being right; didn’t everybody? It was just that being right in this instance was a scary proposition.
I finally reached a spot that was pretty close to midpoint between the zombies on my heels and the ones gathered at the shed. Now I would put my plan into action and just hope that it worked.
“Carl, stay quiet in there,” I shouted. “I am going to try and lead all these bastards away from you. I will fire my gun twice when I think you have a pretty clear path. Meet me back over at that rear gate to this place.”
That had been the gate I’d climbed over to enter. That was the one I wanted to leave from since it would allow us the best way to return to our place without being seen by any zombies as it provided the best cover between this community’s walls and Johnson Creek Boulevard. That same cover would hopefully keep Brandon from spotting us from whatever rock he had crawled back under.
Already, the zombies around the shed were turning my direction. Looking around, I spotted a duplex that had an immaculately landscaped front yard. Everything was brick walls and rock features. I snatched up a few golf ball-sized stones and made my way towards the opening between another set of what I was now realizing were upscale townhouse apartments.
As soon as I was close enough, I lined up and hurled one of the rocks at the closest window on the side of one of those houses. I was glad that nobody was around to witness my feeble left-handed throw, but it accomplished what I set out to do as the window shattered. The sound was magnified by the relative silence of this dead world. A few zombies answered with their low moans, but a majority simply oriented themselves on this most recent stimulus and kept plodding along as they reached for me across that several feet of open space I maintained.
I decided to just start talking a lot of nonsense and taunts directed at my undead pursuers. It would’ve seemed childish and stupid to anybody who just happened to stumble upon me at that moment, but I didn’t care. I just needed the horde to keep following me and moving away from Carl.
At last, I saw the trailing end of them filing in between the two buildings and into this somewhat narrow alley. I was almost at the end when a terrible realization struck. It coincided with the sound that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I’d been so focused on the zombies that I was leading away that I hadn’t really been paying attention to what was behind me. Whether it was overconfidence that the majority of the undead denizens of this place had been clustered around that shed, or just not thinking of the big picture, I’d committed a potentially fatal flaw.
I shot a look over my shoulder and saw no less than five zombies filing in from what was supposed to be my exit from this little alleyway. Looking around, I realized I had little choice. I could absolutely bring my pistol into play, but I would need five perfect headshots in a row to prevent all of the zombies coming from behind me to get their hands on my person. That was not the sort of luck you could count on in the real world. This was where I bemoaned being useless as far as hand-to-hand combat was concerned.
Hoping that I was not altering my course from certain doom to one of likely doom, I charged forward and threw myself onto the windowsill that I’d just shattered. I felt glass grinding into my skin and sucked in a breath as sharp stabs of pain came from my stomach, my uninjured—at least up to this point—left arm, and my left shoulder.
I had to flail around to get myself through, and did my best to protect my right arm against my body as I flipped up and in. I was barely on the floor when I rolled fast and came up to my knees. I almost gave myself whiplash as I tried to look everywhere at once. Thankfully, the bedroom I’d entered was empty.
I rose to my feet and crept to the door and simultaneously gave a sniff as I listened for anything that might be waiting on the other side. The coast seemed clear and I cracked the door open to discover a dark hallway. Once more I was rewarded with an empty space. I moved out and hugged one wall, my nose on overdrive as I sought out even the slightest hint that a zombie may be near.
I moved to what turned out to be the living room. All I could smell was rotten garbage and dust. While unpleasant, it was a good sign. I could see out the large living room window to the empty street beyond. This was actually a good thing.
I winced and glanced down to see blood soaking through from the three areas I’d stabbed or sliced myself up when I’d dove through the busted window. I heard the sounds behind me at the same instant the first waft of undead stench reached my nose. The pack was outside the window that I’d come through.
I could not help it, I hustled back and peeked around the corner to see them. Only some of them were trying to get in, and they were not having an easy go of it. I was struck with an idea and strode into the room.
“Hello, beasties,” I sing-songed.
I watched most of the heads I could see outside make jerking bird-like movements as they oriented on me. That had done the trick as the undead surged forward with a renewed effort. I waited until it looked like the first few were about to tumble into the room. I debated on leaving the door open and decided it shouldn’t be a problem. It wasn’t like I planned on staying around long.
I hurried to the front door and threw it open. At almost that exact moment, Carl was shoving away what looked to be the last mobile zombie in the area. His arm yanked back to reveal the knife that he’d just sheathed in the top of that zombie’s head.
“Brandon.” That single word from Carl confirmed what I’d suspected.
“I hate to say I told you so,” I started as we met in the street and took off for the gate.
“No you don’t,” Carl shot back.
A distant scream caused us to break into a sprint.
15
Bad Man
We reached the wall and Carl boosted me up. Once I had a leg slung over, he was right behind me. I had a hundred questions rattling around in my head, but now was not the time. As soon as we emerged from the trees and were standing on the hill looking down at Johnson Creek Boulevard, I knew just one thing for certain: Betty and the kids were safe.
I knew this at the expense of the one person I’d seen who had been so filthy that I could not determine gender. At the top of the hill across the divide created by the road below sat the housing community with the zombie racetrack. That had been the direction I’d seen Brandon headed. Apparently, he’d arrived.
Dangling from one of the powerlines was a figure that swung on the breeze. It looked like that person had a few knotted together power cords wrapped around his or her neck. Another scream came and then ended abruptly. A moment later I saw a second figure being hoisted into the air beside the first one.
I was so fixated on that woman being strung up that I had forgotten about Betty. The sound of a rifle being fired made me snap around to our home. Betty was on the roof still, but she now had a rifle in her hands. I saw her looking in the direction of the woman being strung up. She brought the weapon to her shoulder again and fired.
I looked just in time to see the woman plummet out of sight. There was
another shriek from that direction followed by another shot from Betty.
“You head back to our place,” Carl said as he took off down the hill.
I started to argue, but then realized that he was probably right. Like it or not, I was more of a liability. My arm was throbbing despite all the adrenaline pumping through me. I watched Carl take off at a pace I could not begin to match. Add in the fact that he was going down a rather steep hill and a fall might damage my arm beyond repair and there was no way I could follow him.
I headed away from Carl and down the hill in the direction of our place. As I neared Johnson Creek Boulevard, I spotted a few of the undead rounding the corner from the direction of Interstate 205. If I went straight home, I would be leading them to our walls. While a couple would not be a problem, a large swarm would become a concern over time. If we ever ended being surrounded by thousands of those things, we could very well starve or die of thirst. We’d been making it a point not to lead the undead to our doorstep if we could help it.
I was considering my choices when another gunshot rang out and the closest of the undead heading up the road towards me fell over. I glanced up and I saw Betty still sighting in Carl’s direction. If she hadn’t just fired, then who had?
I didn’t have time to wonder when another shot rang out and the second zombie fell. This time I was paying attention. I turned back up the hill towards the place I’d just left. It was in that general direction, but not quite.
My eyes shifted towards movement and I saw a figure in hunter’s camo step out of the woods just south of where Carl and I had exited. By this person’s position, it was possible that we’d just run directly past the individual that was now waving at me.
I waved back and the person ducked into the trees. As curious as I was at the moment, I did not want to waste the gift I’d been given. I headed across the road and started up the hill towards home.
