by R. J. Spears
We stopped to catch our breath, and Greg said, “Nice move, Joel. That won’t work inside, but it was slick.”
“Thanks,” I said, “I’m nothing, if not creative.”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Kara said.
“There’s an open door over there,” Travis said while pointing to an open emergency exit.
“Let’s move, folks, before we’re spotted by any more zombies,” Greg said, and we jogged across the parking lot to the door. Greg held us up just outside the door.
“We have no idea what we’re walking into,” Greg said. “Let’s stay tight at first until we get the lay of the land. We’ll try to do this without gunfire but don’t take any risks. If you have to shoot to stay alive, then do it. If we get separated for any reason, and this goes totally south, get out and get back to the truck; wait no more than twenty minutes. We good with this?” He stopped and took us in. Each one of us nodded in assent. “Okay, let’s go.”
With that, he turned, opened the door, and we went inside.
Chapter 38
Test Drive
Things are coming together nicely, Anthony thought. The new recruits clearly understood what they had to do, even Felix, whom Rex still relentlessly rode each day. His new design on the control panels allowed for finer control of the zombie soldiers. Now, it was time for a test drive, so they say.
Two days prior, a small group of nomads had come to town. They were camping out in an abandoned store downtown, using it as a base camp as they foraged around the area for anything they could use. They had no idea that they had encroached upon his town, but they were going to learn a lesson. A valuable and, unfortunately, final one.
With the expanded army, Anthony had to add a semi-trailer to the two school buses just to move the entire operation efficiently and effectively. He was grateful that Rex had driven an 18-wheeler prior to the Outbreak. He could stack his soldiers deep in the trailer, and they never complained about the cramped quarters or stuffiness. The conditioning had worked like magic on them. Press a button, and they jumped, but they never asked how high. He knew he couldn’t have everything, but this still caused him to sigh.
Wendy had been sent ahead to monitor the nomads’ movements. Her last report on the nomads said they were still bedded down and she didn’t expect they would resume their foraging activities.
Nothing like a dawn surprise attack to wake them up, Anthony thought.
He drove a bus full of soldiers, and one of the new recruits was with him. She was a pretty little thing named Layla. They had found her wandering in the park, half-starved and in shock. For some unknown reason, instead of using her for training exercises, he decided to take her into the fold.
Over the time she had been with them he had taken a liking to her. She was a petite and fiery brunette with vibrant blue eyes that he found himself looking at more and more lately. He thought maybe it was time to make a move, but he wasn’t sure how that would go. He knew he could always force the issue if she weren’t willing, use a little of his persuasive electricity to convince her that she should return his attention, but something deep inside would have preferred a willing reciprocation. If not, he would do what he had to do.
The walkie-talkie attached to his belt squawked, and Rex started talking, “Teams 2 and 3 are unloaded and in position.”
Anthony pressed the talk button and said, “Good. Wait for my go signal. Team 4, report in.”
“We are ready and in position, but the soldiers are restless and wandering some.” This was another new recruit. Roy was his name.
Anthony keyed his talk button again, “Roy, please keep your soldiers under control, or I will be forced to come take control of them for you.”
“Yes, sir,” Roy said, “Yes, sir. I’ll get them wrapped up. No problems here.”
“Good,” Anthony said, “Rex, do you have the tear gas ready?”
“Yes,” Rex responded.
“Well then,” Anthony said in a bored tone that belied the excitement he felt inside, ”let’s begin.”
The nomads were in an old department store that had been bought by the city government prior to the Outbreak and turned into office space. A few windows were broken, and there was a pile of bones in one of the display windows. Obviously from someone who didn’t make it.
It was spacious and offered some challenges for Anthony’s crews because it had many exits. But that wasn’t a huge problem because Anthony’s crew was exponentially larger than the eight nomads inside the building. Far larger.
Rex and his two teams had the front on the east while Roy had the north side on the street. Anthony had the back parking lot on the west.
Anthony lowered his walkie-talkie and listened. He heard a whomping sound followed by breaking glass. This was repeated twice. It took a few seconds, and then a yellowish-gray cloud wafted down the street.
Rex put down his tear gas gun and waited. The smoke filled the front windows and started filtering into the store. He turned to Felix and said, “You have the north side entrance. Don’t fuck this up and let anyone out, you hear me.” It was more a demand than a question.
“Yes,” Felix said, his voice small. Then he added, “Yes, sir.” Sweat rolled down his forehead because he knew he was about to do something truly awful, but he knew if he didn’t, Rex would bring down the lightning, and he couldn’t take that again.
Rex saw something move in the smoke, and a figure came out of it, stumbling and choking, a man of about six feet with a rifle. Rex ran his fingers across the keys, and a set of zombies started in motion toward the man.
The man could barely see because his eyes were watering so badly, but he stumbled forward out of the thickest of the gas. Once he broke free of the smoke, he found himself face-to-face with three zombies. He barely had time to bring up his rifle before they were on him. His first shot tore through the abdomen of a tall male zombie, but it continued forward, unfazed. The man’s second shot blasted through the zombie’s head, taking it out, but before he could re-aim, the other two descended on him. He tried to get free but stumbled over the downed zombie.
The two zombies followed him down to the ground. He started screaming a second later as they tore into him with their teeth and hands.
“That’ll teach you to fuck with our zombies,” Rex said as he spotted another figure coming out of the gas cloud at the northwest entrance. “Felix, you got one.”
Felix stood frozen in place unable to move as he watched the zombies tear the man apart.
“Felix, wake the fuck up,” Rex said, “that one’s going to get away.” He’d send his own soldiers up, but he had his group targeting the southeast doors. He cursed, brought out his second panel, and gave Felix a wake-up shock.
Felix’s body jerked for three seconds, searing electric pain encircling his neck, spreading up to his head and own his upper torso, and he nearly went down.
“Felix, do your damn job and send your soldiers up there,” Rex said, pointing to what looked like a woman stumbling out of the gas cloud.
Felix looked to Rex, then the woman and returned his attention to his own control panel. What choice did he have, he thought? His fingers pressed the buttons that guided his zombie soldiers on, and they started toward the woman who was now doubled over just outside the gas cloud, vomiting. “May God have mercy on my soul,” Felix said.
Instead of using his lightning this time, Rex backhanded Felix in the face and Felix stumbled backward, going down to one knee. His nose felt broken and with his head down, all he saw were Rex’s massive feet right in front of him. Blood seeped from his nose onto the street. Felix readied himself for electricity or one of the boots, but neither came.
“You look up here, boy,” Rex said.
Reluctantly, Felix looked up, as blood dripped down his chin.
“Don’t you say nothing like that again,” Rex said. “There ain’t no God anymore. Just us and them and we got control of them, so we’re the gods, you hear me?”
F
elix nodded.
“Now, get to your damned feet and let’s finish thing before the man gets pissed at us.”
Chapter 39
The Hospital
Travis pulled open the door, and Greg stepped into the hallway, ready for action, but instead, he stood stock still. I couldn’t tell whether this was a good or a bad thing?
Greg looked back to us and said, “The hallway is mostly clear. There’s a couple in here, but they look manageable. Get something to block the door open; we’ll need some light.”
I found a rock just a few steps outside the door and used it to keep the door propped. The others were inside, and I stepped in behind them. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. The hallway extended for fifty feet and T’ed into another corridor. This wing looked to be administrative. Instead of patient rooms, offices lined the hallway on both sides. Most looked ransacked with furniture overturned and paper strewn like overlarge confetti streaming into the hall.
Three zombies entered the other end of the hall, turned our way, and started toward us. Without hesitation, we met them and dispatched them quickly. Not that it was easy or without risk, but we were ready. Practice makes perfect, and we were getting better with each encounter.
“Kara, where should we head?” Greg asked.
“It’s been awhile since I did my summer internship here, but we need to get into the main building. I didn’t work in the labs, but I knew they were in the basement between the main entrance and the E.R.,” Kara said.
“Didn’t we think that the E.R. and the main entrance was where the most zombies were hanging out?” Travis asked.
“Yes,” Greg answered and sighed.
“Oh boy, I can’t wait,” I said.
It turned out that the administrative wing was a cake walk. Once we entered the main hospital was where the festivities really began. Time to party with the dead.
The place was a real house of horrors. In places, dried blood covered the floors, and the walls were splashed with so much blood it looked like someone had thrown a bucket of red paint on them. To add to the ambiance of a fright ride, partially devoured corpses laid in pieces on the ground - an arm here, a leg there, and gnawed on section rib cage thrown in for good measure. It’s funny what you can get used to. At least for Greg, Kara, and me. Travis had seen some action, but missed the intense stuff by being out in the country. He was looking a little green around the gills.
To add to our experience, we had more zombies, of course.
As we made the transition from one corridor to another, we saw four of them standing motionless at the end of the hall. They hadn’t noticed us. Greg motioned for us to back into the corridor we had just left.
In a soft whisper, he asked Kara about our current route, “Is this the only way?”
“We need to get through here to get to the stairwell to the basement,” Kara whispered. “It’s that or go outside and find another entrance.”
“That won’t work,” Greg said. “Joel, check on our friends at the end of the hall.”
I peeked around the corner, and they were still standing at the end of the hall, seemingly unaware that we were there.
“No, movement,” I said when I returned my attention to our group. “They’re acting like the nesters we’ve seen.”
“Nesters?” Travis said. “Is that even a word?”
“Whatever they are, we need to get past them,” Greg said. “And we need to move quickly. Hub needs this stuff now.”
I poked my head around the corner again and whistled.
“What are you doing?” Greg asked.
“You said we needed to get things moving,” I said.
And things were moving. The zombies took a few seconds to get into motion, but they shambled our way with what I could only describe as curious looks, but, in truth, they probably looked the same as they always did, which was hungry.
I ducked back out of the way and readied myself. The first one stepped into our corridor, and I gave it a face-full of bat and it sprawled back onto the floor, the top of its skull smashed in. Travis moved in the second one and made quick work of it. Greg did likewise with the last two.
We stood quietly in the corridor for a few seconds listening intently for any additional movement, but there was none.
“See,” I said. “That worked.”
“Not very subtle,” Greg said.
“Wasn’t my intention,” I said.
“Kara, where should we head next?” Greg said.
“We’ll head through those doors, and there’s another door,” she said. “We’ll need to take those to the basement.”
That’s what we did. The transition through the door and then down the stairs went without a hitch. The basement brought on some challenges though, because it was pitch black. Fortunately, we had our flashlights which were a part of Greg’s Must-Have Zombie Survival Field Kits. Flashlights were essential along with twenty pounds of other junk we carried with us in our backpacks. I’m surprised he didn’t have each one of us pulling a small cart of items. It was that or have us take a burro loaded down with packs.
There seemed to be less carnage down here, but I saw more than a few bloody handprints on the walls. Kara led the way, which made me more than a little nervous, but I couldn’t say anything. Because it was so dark, our progress was painstakingly slow even with the flashlights. Each intersection required checking every direction before we could proceed.
We made steady progress and came to another intersection when Kara cried out. In the dim light, it was hard to make out what was happening, but Kara’s flashlight fell to the ground and winked out. In the light of the other flashlights, I saw Kara struggling with someone, and they didn’t look alive. My pulse shot up so violently that I was sure blood would start bursting out of my pores as I lunged forward, my bat at the ready. The zombie clutched at her while she struggled to keep it at bay with her pipe. Because of the tight quarters, there was no swinging, so she was jabbing at it furiously, each time knocking it back, but only a few inches. I saw that it was wearing a white lab coat, so it had to have been a doctor or a lab technician.
Greg was poised to take a whack at it with his ax when I surged by him holding my bat like a battering ram. It was reckless, but I couldn’t let Kara take this thing on alone.
I bumped her shoulder knocking her off balance as I brushed by her, bringing my bat forward and battering the thing in the chest, knocking it down the hall several feet. It recovered quickly and now targeted me which was just fine. The blood rushed in my ears sounding like waves as I brought the bat back in a short arc and then forward like I was trying to catch-up to a high and tight fastball. I connected with the thing’s jaw. There was a sickening cracking noise as it spun around and stumbled backwards and fell to one knee. Undaunted it rose and turned toward me, its jaw hanging loosely from its mouth and came back for more because that’s what they do. I was ready to oblige.
I swung again in a tight arc and this time aiming higher. My bat pinged off the zombie’s temple with another terrible crunching of bone, and it went down this time and did not get back up.
“What’s wrong with you, Joel?” Greg said with no small amount of annoyance. “I had the thing in my sights, and my ax would have been better in this tight space.”
It took me a moment to dial back from going 120 miles per hour and catch my breath.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said, but I wasn’t sorry in the least. “I guess I overreacted a little.”
“Well, keep your head on straight from now on,” Greg said.
“Will do,” I said.
“Make sure you do,” he said as Kara found her flashlight and switched it back on.
“The lab is just down this corridor,” she said.
“Lead on then,” Greg said still eyeing me, but then he said, “Shhhh.” We stopped and went stock still.
“What is it?” Greg asked.
“Did you hear that?”
“What?” Kara a
sked
“I thought I heard footsteps,” Greg said. We all concentrated on listening intently for nearly thirty seconds, but I didn’t hear any noises.
“I don’t hear anything,” Travis said.
“Me, neither,” Kara added.
“Okay, it could have been anything,” Greg said.
“Isn’t that what they always say in horror movies?” I asked. “And that’s when the monster jumps out and bites off someone’s head.”
“Your penchant for saying weird things when you’re nervous is popping up again,” Kara said.
Greg looked to her and then to me and back to her. “Ditto on what Kara just said. Let’s get to the lab,” he said shaking his head.
We made it to the lab without further incident and entered. It looked to be more of a storage room than a lab, but it did have a couple lab tables. The room was thirty by sixty with cabinets and shelves filled with medical supplies like oxygen tanks, crutches, and all sorts of medical testing apparatus. Overlarge medicine bottles filled several of the cabinets along with beakers and bottles.
Light streamed in through sets of barred windows positioned at ceiling level which gave us enough light to allow us to turn off our flashlights. Best of all, there were no zombies.
“Does it look like it has what we need?” Greg asked Kara.
“I’m not entirely sure. This is way past my training level,” she said as she looked over the contents of the room, “but I think I can figure out what we need from the Doc’s list.”
“Just tell us what you need?” Travis said.
Kara took over and directed us to grab different items. We filled our bags and even collected a few boxes to carry things in. Travis got smart and grabbed a gurney for us to transport things on. The collection process took about twenty minutes as we moved from shelf-to-shelf grabbing what we needed.
“How are we doing, Kara?” Greg asked.
