I went to the side of the roof that was directly above our escape route; thankfully it was empty as well.
The next side told an entirely different story. The street below was covered in zombies. It was the weirdest sight imaginable. Without the presence of humans, the zombies seemed quite calm. They just wandered around the street with apparently no destination in mind at all.
The smell was putrid. I just have to add that, but they didn’t seem to mind. There were hundreds upon hundreds of zombies…maybe even a thousand, just on one street alone.
Some were dressed in suites. Some of the females wore dresses. Others were in their everyday blue jeans. They walked around and looked in the shop windows; they went in and out of stores. It was almost like they were trying to live the barest possible hints of their past lives.
I even watched one female in a white pant suit walk all the way down to the end of the street, turn around and walk to the other end of the street, then turn around again and enter a clothing store. When she finally came back out, she was holding an empty shopping bag.
I went to the fourth side of the roof.
It was the same thing. I could see off into some side streets as well and they were also littered with the undead.
Downtown was overrun by zombies. The mass was even bigger than what we were told and we were told it was in the thousands. Yet, I wasn’t sure they were actually leaving. It seemed like they were quite content to stay here, which was great for us in the safe zone, but I had no idea what was so interesting about the area.
I heard the loud crack of a door being broken down before I saw it. I ran back to the side that had the female zombie with the empty shopping bag. I saw a living woman run out of the store and into the street. I reached back for my rifle, but before I could even get my hands on it, she was down. More and more zombies kept piling on top of her. Still, her screams lasted a couple of minutes as they tore her apart.
There were survivors in these buildings and there was nothing I could do to help them. I hated the zombies. In that moment, I wished that I could jump off this roof and land in the middle of all of them. I’d hack and stab and slash until they were all dead. It was just a wish; they’d rip me apart and devour me just as easily as that woman.
Still, in the immortal words of someone far smarter than me whose name I do not know…‘This is far from over’.
BOOM…crack…crack…BOOM…
I heard it loud and clear, so did just about every zombie in the Downtown area.
I ran over to the side of the building with the glass walkway. The roof and sides of the walkway were now cracked wide open from what was probably a couple shotgun blasts. Inside of the walkway, the zombies were rushing forward at the humans who were shooting at them.
It was a brave thing to do, I’m not sure why they left the security of the courthouse, but it was brave. Only, there were just way too many zombies in that walkway for the five living, breathing men and women to handle.
It was a long way down from the roof to the top of the walkway.
I landed with a thud and a roll, all the while cradling Merrick, so she wouldn’t get hurt. I was now inside the walkway through the broken glass roof, my back just a little bit stiff from the fall.
“Don’t shoot me,” I screamed for all I was worth. “I’m here to help!”
To their credit, they didn’t shoot me; unfortunately, the shock of seeing me drop down through the top of the walkway with a large black pit bull also seemed to stop them from shooting the zombies as well.
“Can you blame them? That’s not exactly something you see every day.”
I can’t blame them at all I guess.
Anyway, my pistol was out, along with my knife. I shot and stabbed my way through the reeking throng of zombies. Let me tell ya, in this enclosed area, it really stank something fierce. Merrick was right by my side, her teeth and jaws doing vast amounts of damage. Finally, and not a moment too soon, the others began shooting again. It wasn’t long before the hallway was cleared.
There were three women and two men. The walkway was filled with smoke and the scent of gunpowder. All six of us stood there for a moment eyeing one another and catching our breath.
“My names Jaxon,” I finally said.
“It’s the General himself,” said one of the women.
“Yeah.”
“My names Beth,” she said. “We heard you were headed Downtown. We kept a lookout and when we saw that Jeep going into the parking garage, we figured it was you.”
“How did you hear I was headed Downtown?” I asked.
“EPUA,” answered one of the men.
“Ah…well how many people you got down here?” I asked.
“There are twenty of us inside the building. There are hundreds in the neighboring buildings,” answered the other man.
I could hear screaming coming from the street below us. I put my head out of the crack in the side of the walkway in order to get a look and took in the situation.
It was bad.
It was real bad. The street was filled with zombies. All of them were looking at me. Most of them were screaming.
To make matters worse, the side of the street with the glass walkway was also the same side of the street with the entrance to the parking garage.
The zombies were heading into the parking garage. Not all of them some were banging on the doors to the courthouse, but way too many were flooding the entrance. Dudley and Kingsley were in that parking garage waiting for me.
Yep, this was real bad.
“Look,” I said. “Go barricade yourselves back inside. Those doors are thick enough to keep them out. I have friends in the parking garage.”
“You can’t just leave us,” shouted an outraged Beth.
“I don’t have a choice.” I replied. “I can’t fit twenty people in the Jeep. I’ll be back for you, I promise.”
With that I took off running back towards the parking garage. I heard her shouting curses behind me.
“Does that bother you?”
Yes.
“Why?”
They thought that my coming there would be their salvation. As I left, they were thinking that I abandoned them.
“But you had no choice.”
I know that and as I entered the parking garage through the opposite door, I realized that time was definitely of the essence.
“Why is that?”
I could already hear the zombie screams. I could hear their feet pounding on the slick cement. It was going to be a race to the Jeep.
“We’re never going to make it, what floor is the Jeep on?”
I turned to look behind me. One of the men was following.
“Around the fourth, keep running,” I shouted over my shoulder.
We ran and ran and ran. The man wasn’t in the greatest of shape. In fact, he was rather large, but I knew if he fell behind he’d never make it.
“MOVE YOUR FAT ASS!” I shouted. He grimaced at me, but he kept moving. These business and lawyer types, it’s like the minute they put on a suit, they stop taking care of themselves.
Finally, I saw the Jeep, but beyond the Jeep I also saw the many zombies rushing towards us. Dudley was in the driver’s seat. Kingsley was standing up in the back with a rifle. They both looked scared to death.
In a quick swoop I picked up Merrick. I tossed her in the back from about five feet away. It was going to be tough. Kingsley was shooting now. The man running behind me was crying.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him along behind me. His legs were giving out. I don’t know if it was from fatigue or fear.
I hopped in the back; I was pulling him in behind me. Dudley started to accelerate. The zombies were right behind us. The man still had the lower half of his body hanging out the back of the Jeep.
Hundreds of zombies chased us down the winding path of the exit. With the constant turning, Dudley just couldn’t pick up enough speed to shake them off. With all the jostling, Kingsley and I couldn’t pull
the man into the Jeep.
The zombies were reaching out for him.
We were almost out of the parking garage when a zombie managed to grab a hold of the man’s leg. The speed of the Jeep took the zombie off his feet and we were then dragging his dead weight behind us. It weighed the man down even more.
When we left the parking garage, we hit a bump and the man was torn from our grasp. I screamed for Dudley to stop the Jeep, but he wouldn’t listen. I frantically tried to reach out for Dudley. I had to make him stop, but Kingsley had wrapped me in a bear hug.
“It’s too late Jaxon.” He said. “They were on him the minute he fell.”
I looked back towards the parking garage as we sped off down the street and left our pursuers behind. I never even heard the man scream. I never even learned the man’s name.
That’s one of the ones that still really bother me. To have your hands on someone and still be unable to save them…it’s tough.
“I can see how it would be tough, but you did all that you could and if you had stopped the Jeep, they probably would have ended up killing all of you.”
He doesn’t answer me. He just seems to absorb my words as he pulls himself away from the disturbing memories.
So…yeah…Downtown was certainly a hotspot. If we left well enough alone, it would probably bide us some time. I’m just not very good at leaving well enough alone. Not when hundreds of people are about to be eaten by zombies.
It was really just a matter of time before the people ran out of food or the zombies broke in. It was an end for those survivors that I couldn’t accept.
All of Downtown was now pretty much in an uproar. You could literally hear the screams and moans of the dead echo in and around the city. It took us a while, but we finally found an alleyway that was movement free. We parked in between two dumpsters to hide us from the street and collected our breath. Dudley and Kingsley were talking about the easiest way to get back to the safe zone.
“We can’t leave just yet.” I said.
“What are you talking about,” asked Kingsley. “The zombies aren’t about to leave this area, so we don’t have the problem that we were hoping we wouldn’t have.”
“He’s right,” added Dudley. “We found out what we wanted to find out. It’s safe to leave now.”
“It’s not safe for the survivors that are stuck in those buildings.” I replied. “We can’t leave them to starve and get eaten. I just can’t do it. Already I’ve seen two people die.”
“Two people,” asked Dudley.
“Yeah, these buildings are filled with survivors.”
“Oh shit…how many are we talking about,” asked Kingsley.
“Hundreds,” I answered.
They took it in for a moment, heads down in thought until finally, sighing in resignation; they both raised their heads one after another and looked me in the eye.
“What’s your plan?” asked Kingsley.
“I’m not sure yet. We need the zombies to follow us out of the city.”
“And then what?” asked Dudley. “We have to be careful not to lead them to the safe zone.”
I thought it over for a moment.
“Why not lead them to the safe zone?” I asked. If we can get them all on the freeway and headed towards the West side, those survivors will have a chance.”
“What about all the survivors currently in the safe zone?” asked Kingsley. He either didn’t get my plan yet, or he just didn’t like it.
“The current occupants of the safe zone will be long gone…way before the zombies get anywhere close,” answered Dudley for me.
“There’s no way out of the city Jax. I know you told everyone that it’s time to leave and all, but I just don’t see how you’re gonna make that happen.”
“Have a little faith.” I told him. “As long as we don’t give up, we can make something happen.”
“I just don’t think we’ll be able to leave the safe zone.”
“We are leaving the safe zone.” I said roughly. “Anyone that wants to stay is more than welcome, but my guess is that most everyone will be coming with me.”
Kingsley was pissed, but he wasn’t going to argue anymore. I knew exactly what he thought. The safe zone was the only protection we had. He wanted to stay there and wait for help. So, he must have believed that help was coming.
“And you?”
I did not believe that help was coming. When the zombies were finished tearing down all the locked doors and eating all the survivors, they would be headed to the next largest concentration of humans…the safe zone.
“Here’s my idea.” I said proudly. “Let’s play pied piper, but instead of rats, we’ll use zombies.”
“That makes sense,” said an enthusiastic Dudley. “We lead them a little ways down the freeway, then take off and leave them in our dust.”
“And by the time we take off and leave them on the freeway, they will have smelled all the humans in the safe zone and continue heading towards the West side.”
“Yeah,” said Dudley. “It’ll take them another day or two to ever reach the safe zone. We’ll be long gone.”
“Are you sure you can get the survivors in the safe zone out of the city,”
asked Kingsley.
“No,” I answered. “But I’m positive that when the zombies are finished here, they will eventually head towards our safe zone and kill all of us if we’re still there.”
“Alright…fuck it. I’m in.” said Kingsley. “How are we going to get them to follow us to the freeway?”
“You boys aren’t going to do shit,” said a voice from above. The three of us looked up and saw a man in camouflage staring down at us from a nearby rooftop. Merrick began a low growl. “So you found another survivor in the city?”
Not really. We stumbled upon some mercenaries, who were paid to sneak into El Paso and end the zombie threat.
“Who paid them?”
They wouldn’t say. They came out of the building they were on top of and led us (at gunpoint) down the alley and into a two story abandoned leather store. We tried asking questions, but none of them would answer anything.
“How many were there?”
There were eight of them in total. Five of them led us into the leather shop and the other three were there waiting for us. In the back of the shop, was a large work room with a metal table in the center. The walls were filled with maps speckled with red circles. We were told to have a seat at the table and introduced to their leader whose name was Martin.
“Which one of you is the General?” asked Martin.
“I am.” I answered.
“Way too young.” He said as he sized me up and down. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
I was starting to believe that Martin was a dick. I’ve always had problems kissing people’s asses.
“To which incidence are you referring?” I asked in a low grumble. Merrick must have noticed my tone. She immediately put her head on my lap and gave a soft growl.
“Is that dog trained?” demanded Martin. “I don’t want bit.”
“She’s been doing okay.” I answered.
“Good I don’t like hurting dogs. I must have something in common with them.” Martin’s men thought this was pretty funny. I mentally placed my hand on top of my pocket knife, which was in the right leg, side pocket of my fatigues. They had removed all of our backpacks and weapons before leading us inside the building. Idiots just happened to overlook my pocket knife.
If they made a move towards any of my party, dog included, I’d try to kill them all.
“Well that’s lovely.” I said in a calm voice. “It was certainly nice meeting all of you, but I suppose it’s time we were off.”
“Look at this boys,” said Martin to his men. “The General thinks he’s calling the shots here. Well kid, I guess it’s my pleasure to inform you, that your time as the king is totally and completely…over.”
“So you wanna be the guy in charge. Is that right?” I
asked.
“That’s right. There’s a new sheriff in town and that’s me.”
“Fair enough,” I answered. “You’re the boss. Have fun with it. Can we leave now?”
Martin’s men were chuckling over this. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was funny or if it was because I was asking to leave.
“Can’t let ya leave Mr. General,” said Martin. “I’m gonna need you to lead me to this safe zone of yours after I’m finished up here.”
“Why do you need that,” I asked. This was getting scary.
Before Martin could answer, one of his men whispered something in his ear. They began mumbling back and forth in a heated discussion until Martin finally looked over at me once again and smiled.
“Gerald over there seems to think we’re holding a tiger by the tail.”
I looked over to the man who had been mumbling with Martin on the assumption that he was Gerald. The man looked worried.
“I’ve seen one of your types before,” said Gerald. “Back in Nam.”
“My types?” I asked.
“Guardians.” He answered.
“Whatever,” interrupted Martin. “I don’t believe any of it. The General here is just some nobody that got in way over his head. Isn’t that right Mr. General?”
“Whatever you say Martin,” I smiled.
“That’s right Mr. General. Whatever I say and I say it’s time to annihilate all these zombies.”
“You got a plan for that?” I asked.
“First we blow up Downtown…all of Downtown. Then we spend a few hours cleaning up whatever we missed. After that, we take charge of the safe zone, imprison all the survivors and rig that to blow. When the leftover hordes of zombies that weren’t in the Downtown area arrive in enough numbers, we blow the safe zone.”
“What about all the survivors here in the city and in the safe zone?” I asked. “What happens to them when you set off the explosions?”
“Unfortunately, they won’t be survivors much longer.” He answered. “It’s not ideal, in fact it’s unfortunate…but it is necessary.”
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