El Paso Under Attack - 01

by Michael Clary

“Now, what do we do if they are indeed an incredibly huge mass and are headed this way?” I asked.

  “Let’s reinforce the fences,” volunteered Georgie.

  “With the kind of mass those people were talking about, the fences will fall or they will eventually be able to climb right over them.” I answered. “A mass of thousands is just too much; the first time one of them sees our group and blurts out with one of those fucked up screams…we’ll be overrun. We just don’t have the forces or ammo.”

  “Are you serious…then we’re all dead,” shouted Lucy. She seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I pretty much just ignored her. It wasn’t something I could deal with anyway. Let her husband handle it.

  Nobody else said anything after her outburst. Great!

  “Nobody has any ideas?” I asked. “I only have one and you guys aren’t gonna like it.”

  “What’s your idea?” asked Georgie in the same very calm voice that he often used when his wife was freaking out.

  “If they are headed this way, we can’t be here when they arrive.” I stated. “We need to move.”

  “Where the hell are we going to go?” asked Kingsley. He seemed drunk. “Are we just going to bounce around the city? Every time they find us, we run somewhere else? That’s not a permanent solution. They said a mass of thousands. That’s thousands of zombies?”

  “Yes,” said Tito. “There are thousands of zombies, what’s your point?”

  I knew exactly what Kingsley was getting at before he even had a chance to answer. I just didn’t like it much.

  “That just a small piece of the zombies running around this city,” said Kingsley. “El Paso has a population of about five hundred thousand. Georgie estimated that only around seventy thousand are not infected.”

  “And?”

  “Eventually, we’re going to attract a mass of zombies so large that thousands will pale by comparison.” I answered for Kingsley. “He’s right, if there are only thousands coming this way, we are seriously lucky. Sooner or later, probably when they run out of survivors outside the safe zone, every zombie in the city will be heading straight for us.”

  There was a pause as everyone absorbed what I had just said. My mind meanwhile had kicked into overdrive. Eventually, we’d get caught. Eventually, we’d run out of places to hide. The odds were way too stacked against us. We needed to get out of El Paso as soon as possible.

  “I’m taking my Jeep and I’m going to see how far away the mass of zombies really are, or if there actually is a mass. I’ll have a plan by the time I get back.”

  Outside of Georgie’s house, the people were waiting for us. The survivors, the lost souls I was trying to help. All of them were looking to me for an answer. If worse came to worse, I could probably survive in this city for years. They couldn’t, but I’d never abandon them. Our fates were intertwined.

  I needed a plan. I needed a way to open the barriers that blocked our way out of the city.

  Their anxious faces watched me as I climbed onto the back of the nearest truck. I hated giving speeches, but this needed to come from me.

  “I think everyone knows the score. The dead are coming. I’m going out to see how far away they are and how many are coming. I want all of you to make yourselves ready.”

  I let it sink in. They already knew it, but hearing it from someone like me gave it a more menacing tone. They were murmuring amongst themselves. They were afraid. Some of them had just gotten here. They thought this place was safe. It wasn’t. In the long run, no place in the entire city was going to be safe.

  “Where are we going?” Asked a man whose name I believe was Chewie.

  “I don’t know yet.” I answered them honestly. I wasn’t going to lie to these people.

  “Why can’t we stay and fight?” asked another man. I won’t even guess his name.

  “Maybe we can.” I answered. “I haven’t seen this mass for myself yet. That’s why I’m going out there. I need to see how bad things are.”

  “But there’s a chance that we may be able to stay here and fight them off?” Chewie asked.

  “I don’t think so.” I answered. “There’s just too many of them out there. Eventually, this safe zone, or any place like it will become a death trap. It’s just a matter of time before we’re overrun by zombies.”

  “Then why bother running?” Someone shouted out. The crowd surrounding the truck was quite large and still growing.

  “I think it’s time to leave the city.” I answered.

  The crowd was silenced. It’s what everyone wanted. It was also impossible. The last messages we heard about the barricades blocking the city also entertained the idea of soldiers shooting anybody trying to cross those barricades.

  “I don’t want everybody getting too excited about this.” I added before the questions could begin. “I don’t have a way out yet. I’m just not prepared to let that stop me.”

  They began to laugh. Then someone began to cheer and someone else joined them. Before I knew it, they were all cheering. Good, they were with me.

  As I jumped down from the truck, a cowboy that I’d never met before grabbed my hand and pumped it furiously.

  “We’re with you.” He said. “Wherever the General leads, we are going to follow.”

  I dressed in black fatigues and a black t-shirt. I had on my utility belt and all my weapons. My backpack was slung over my shoulder. Dudley wanted to go, but he just looked too tired. He needed his rest. Tito was the same way and Kingsley needed to sober up.

  “You’re the shooter.” I told Georgie. “I may need you.”

  “I can’t go.” He answered. “My wife needs me.”

  “You’re useless.” I said and shouldered by him. “While I’m gone, I want you to find out about the barricades around this city. If I have a question, I’m asking you and you’d better have an answer.”

  I didn’t wait for his reply.

  Dudley and Kingsley were having a fit over my going alone. They were waiting for me by my Jeep.

  “Jax, I can go,” said Dudley. “If you think I’m too tired, I can always wait in the Jeep.”

  “I can go with him,” said Kingsley. “It worked the first time we all went out together. He can drive and I can shoot.”

  They didn’t look right. They looked too tired and drunk. Yet, the worry on their faces was difficult to weather. In the end, they were right. They could stay in the Jeep and watch each other’s backs. It might be better to have them watching my Jeep anyway.

  Shortly after sunset, Dudley drove the three of us out of the safe zone and down the road. I brought Merrick with me this time. She’d be a big help making sure no zombies climb in the Jeep. She was happy to be going with me for once, or maybe she was just glad to get away from that pussy Georgie.

  “So, you went back into the fire?”

  It certainly felt that way. This time we were just supposed to have a look. There was no need to fight anything. It made things a little bit easier on the nerves, but we were still going into hostile territory.

  “Did you know where you were going, or were you just going to drive around?”

  We knew exactly where we were headed. We were headed Downtown.

  “This is the business district of the city right?”

  Yeah, it’s small, but the buildings are close together and they rise up kinda tall. Most of El Paso is wide open and spread out. It’s easiest to think of Downtown as a very small version of New York complete with its own offices, restaurants and clubs. There were lots of places to hide and hundreds of alleys to jump out of.

  “So it’s the actual city section of the city of El Paso?”

  That sounds kinda funny, but it’s accurate. The ride over there was relatively boring in comparison to what we’d been dealing with. We expected hordes of the undead to come chasing after us at any moment.

  It never happened. I mean, sure we had some runners come after us, but they weren’t fast enough to even bother shooting. The street lamps were c
oming on as we drove by the abandoned and sometimes bloody vehicles.

  “Where the hell are they?” Dudley asked.

  “Oh they’re out there,” answered Kingsley. “We’re just lucky enough not to have run into them yet.”

  “This area was pretty active when we went out for supplies that one time.” I added. “So, it does make you wonder where they went.”

  “I bet they’re on the East side,” added Dudley. He didn’t much like the East side. “Better eating over there.”

  Kingsley was looking at him like he was the biggest ass in the world.

  “What?” Dudley asked. “I’m talking about the restaurants.”

  “Well if that’s the case,” I joined in. “I’m going to have to agree with you.”

  We were laughing quietly as we drove along. It’s a bone of contention between people living on the east and West side of town. Who has the better restaurants? I’m going to have to go with the East side.

  “So, while driving through hostile terrain, you are arguing about who has the better restaurants?”

  I’m not sure how big of an argument it was, I think we were all in agreement. It was about then, that we heard the moans. There was movement down a street to our right. Dudley was slowing down and looking at me. I nodded to him and he nosed the front of the Jeep over towards the commotion.

  The zombies had somehow overrun a van. It must have happened recently, the blood was still very fresh. I could smell it in the air. I could smell it over the stench of the undead and decaying bodies.

  The dead were feasting on what looked to be the remains of a large family. They must have been trying to make it to the safe zone. It was bound to happen, as our numbers were swelling, not everyone was going to make it. I could almost say that death lurked around every corner, but that isn’t accurate. Some corners were safe, while others led to a feeding frenzy.

  The zombies and there were many of them, didn’t pay us any attention. Their prey was still plenty and fresh. More of them were coming from down the street. They wanted the fresh kill; I’m guessing they smelled the blood.

  I nodded to Dudley. It was time we left. This place was about to become very dangerous.

  “Make sure we take a new route on our way back.”

  “You got that right.” answered Dudley.

  As we left the neighborhood, we were encountering more and more of the undead. They were swarming in on the fresh kill. I’m not sure where they wander off to, but they sure as hell can regroup pretty fast when there’s something to eat.

  In another ten minutes, we had reached the buildings of Downtown. I don’t remember the street; I guess it’s not that important.

  Dudley kept driving inwards, I wasn’t stopping him. I was waiting for something, I just didn’t know what.

  “I’ve got an idea,” said Kingsley. “Let’s drive through that above ground parking garage that’s by the courthouse.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because it’s only a few streets over and it has around six or so levels. We’ll be able to see a lot of the city and not have to leave the Jeep.”

  “Good idea.” I answered. “Dudley, follow Kingsley’s directions.”

  We entered the parking garage very slowly. Our lights were blazing and our guns were ready. Merrick noticed the tension and began a slow and steady growl.

  We took the concrete path at a steady pace and circled our way upwards.

  “The parking garage, kind of loops around in circles until you reach the top correct?”

  I see you’ve been there.

  “No, it’s just common for parking garages to wind up and down.”

  Well, I’d been there more than a few times.

  “Really?”

  Nothing like that, don’t get too excited. I used to receive a summons for jury duty every year. It’s a real pain in the ass if you ask me. Working the way I do now, I don’t get summoned anymore. One of the perks of the job I guess.

  For some reason, this made me laugh. Here was a man that risked his life on a constant basis and he was still finding perks in his job.

  On about the fourth floor, we ran into a traffic jam. Cars were piled up bumper to bumper. There was no way to go around them; it was a one way kinda direction. About five parking spaces ahead, was the left turn that led down to the exit.

  I don’t know why the exit route was clear and the route that led to the top floor was jam packed with vehicles.

  “Maybe they ran into the garage for shelter and got cornered,” said Kingsley.

  “Why would they do that?” Dudley asked.

  “There are elevators here that lead to entrances in the courthouse. Maybe they thought that they’d find help there.”

  “Lots of cops at least,” I added. “It sounds feasible, maybe something happened and they had to leave their cars?”

  “Yeah, we’ve seen that before,” said Dudley. “The zombies come from behind while the people are trapped in a traffic jam.”

  “If that’s a possibility, we should get out of here,” said Kingsley. “Whatever made them leave their cars may still be up there somewhere.”

  “To be honest, I think the entire area over here is dangerous. I can feel it in my bones. The minute we entered Downtown…there’s been a stillness in the air that isn’t natural.”

  “I agree,” said Dudley. “This place is fucking creepy.”

  I thought it over for a moment and made my decision.

  “Alright boys, this is where we part company for the time being. Aim the Jeep towards the exit route. I’m going up to get a view of the city. If anything happens, try not to use your guns. We don’t want to attract every zombie in the area.”

  I was off. I jumped out of the back seat of the Jeep and took off at a quick jog. Merrick was right behind me. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight. It wasn’t that difficult weaving in and out of the bumper to bumper traffic. The dim lights of the parking garage made things overly easy.

  I was hoping for more darkness, but I was still pretty sure that I could blend into the shadows if the need arose.

  Occasionally, I had to hop onto the hoods of the vehicles to make my way. It was a lot like running an obstacle course.

  Nearing around the fifth level, I pulled out my small flashlight. It was the smell of blood in the air that made me do it, I was curious. I started to look inside the cars. No problems there, the doors were still open on a lot of them, yet they were all empty.

  The flashlight filled in the missing details. What I thought were oil stains on the floor were actually pools of blood. Yep, people had been coming here for help. The zombies followed them and they had to leave their cars behind because of the traffic jam. Dudley was right.

  Now I was wondering, what had caused the traffic jam?

  Since I was sure that I was in zombie infested territory, or at least territory that had been zombie infested, I was extra careful. I took my time. I kept Merrick quiet.

  I heard noise coming from the streets below, but it wasn’t constant.

  The silence in the parking garage was near absolute. It gave me time to think as I worked my way to the top floor and what I realized was actually pretty messed up.

  “What was that?”

  The survivors back at the safe zone were accepting me as their leader and I was barely there. This was the second time I had left them, and when we first arrived at Georgie’s house; I also left the folks in his house in a search of food.

  I was wondering how good of a leader I actually was.

  “Well you united all those people and made them safe. I think that has to count for something.”

  True, but who wants a leader that’s never around?

  “People that want to live.”

  Yeah, and to tell you the truth, I was kind of afraid to turn the leadership mantle over to someone else. What if they fucked up?

  Anyway, I guess I was just having some doubts.

  “That’s completely understandable.”

&
nbsp; He nods at this like he accepts that doubt is normal. In reality, I believe that he’s wishing he could be in two places at once. In the safe zone protecting survivors and outside the safe zone rescuing them, maybe Ivana was right, maybe it is too much pressure for only one man.

  So yeah, I was telling you about the silence inside of the parking garage. That was probably the only reason I heard the slight noise coming from behind two cars in a dark corner.

  It was a strange lapping sound.

  I pulled out my knife and motioned Merrick to stay while I quietly climbed over the cars to take a peak.

  It was repulsive. A zombie that was missing most of his limbs was face down in the bloody mess of what looked like the long ago devoured leftovers of a victim. The zombie could only move in an inchworm style, so he had resorted to lapping up the leftover blood with gut pieces.

  I was on him and my knife was embedded in his ear just as he was about to scream. I think I was doing him a favor.

  Farther up, we saw more evidence of the carnage, bloody remains consisting of mostly bone and ripped fabric. If they damage the brain, the victim won’t rise and join them. The dead that came through here must have been hungry.

  The elevator door that led to the courthouse entrance was open and blinking. When I looked inside, I saw large splatters of blood that literally covered the walls. I had no interest in taking that elevator.

  At the end of the sixth floor I saw what had created the traffic jam. A large truck that must have been hauling ass had hit a concrete support beam and spun around. It blocked the way and two other cars had then slammed into it. Oil and radiator fluid covered the ground.

  Merrick’s low growl was the only warning I received. The truck wasn’t empty. Its occupant came out in a rush. The beginning notes of a scream died in its throat when my tomahawk met it’s forehead in a sickening crunch.

  I carefully shined the light in every dark corner I saw. It seemed clear and Merrick seemed calm. I moved forward.

  Finally, I met open sky. I went immediately to the side of the building facing the courthouse. I looked down at the glass walkway that created a bridge above the street level traffic and connected the courthouse to the parking garage. It was filled with zombies that had been trapped by the metal doors on each side of the buildings. The street below the walkway was empty.