Before they went out the side door, Q made sure it was unlocked so they could get back in later. He wasn’t sure why he did it other than paranoia, because it had been unlocked when they’d gotten there less than an hour ago. Then they crossed the small lot filled with other vans awaiting conversion and headed to a small compact pickup parked facing out the side gate. Jane hopped in the driver’s seat and started it while Q pulled the gate open. As soon as the screeching of the gate started, a hundred heads turned to look at them. When the opening was wide enough to get the small truck though, Jane gunned it and chirped the tires as she turned onto the street. Q was closing the gate back when he noticed that she hadn’t stopped right away. He thought she was going to leave him, but then she finally stopped. He latched the gate with the first thrillers only four feet from him, and he ran the half a block up to where she was waiting. He jumped in the bed and told her to wait a second. He reached up, unscrewed the suppressor from the end of his barrel, and shot the first seven thrillers in the face. Once he had their undivided attention, he told her to drive slowly.
Going northwest up Warren Street, they were met by another horde at the corner of Park Drive. Jane slammed on the brakes, and the back of Q’s head hit the rear window since he had slid his back up against the cab of the truck.
“What the fuck?”
“There’s more in front of us. If you’ll kindly move that big noggin of yours, I will back up a block.”
“Jane, there’s no time for that. Those ones are already past that intersection. Turn right into this parking lot.”
She did, and they cut across the two adjoined parking lots. She stopped just before the parking curbs at the end of the second one. In front of them was a small grassy area, a sidewalk, and then Guilford Street. They waited for the merged hordes to follow while Q shot a few occasionally to keep their attention. The back half of the Park Drive horde heard the gunfire and turned down Guilford Street towards them.
“Holy shit, there are so many. What the hell? Was everyone in town outside on Saturday morning?”
“I don’t know, but let’s jump this curb and head up that alleyway over there before were blocked in.”
As soon as the rear tires landed on the road, Q started shooting at the newest horde to give them some space to get up the alleyway. They were so close that the first few of the Guilford Street horde managed to grab the side of the truck bed. When the ally ended on Wilkerson Street, they went left up First Street, left on Division Street, and left again on Jefferson. Finally, they were headed south, back towards the Sportsmobile shop for the third time that day.
Along Jefferson Street, there was a four-block section where there were no adjoining streets. It was just a long section of town that was home to an old historic Catholic church on the left side, as well as a section of the local Catholic school system. On the right side of the long street were houses, and they had all been burned to the ground sometime in the last week. Q could still smell the fresh ash in the air. In front of the church were hundreds of re-dead lying everywhere. He also noticed that each of them had a significant hole through their cranium and all were lying with their feet towards the church. It reminded him of old footage of a volcano or bomb blast, with everything laid in perfect lines away from the epicenter. Q instantly got a sick feeling in his stomach, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He knew they were being watched. As he was analyzing the scene beyond the truck, random thrillers seemed to materialize from nowhere. Suddenly Jane stopped, and Q turned to look through the cab to see why. In front of the small pickup was a blockade of cars; they were trapped by vehicles.
“Looks like we get out and hoof it back to your van.”
“All right, this should be fun.”
They grabbed their guns, and Jane left the truck running, hoping to distract the thrillers from following them. Q hopped out on the passenger side because he didn’t feel right about the church. Jane was by the front quarter panel of the truck when two things happened at the same time: the church bells began to ring, and the driver’s side window of the truck shattered into a million little pieces.
“Get down and get over here!” Q hollered to Jane, and he screwed his suppressor back on while he waited. She scampered around to the passenger side and looked at him for further directions. He looked around, trying to come up with a plan.
“I-I don’t understand what’s going on,” she stammered.
“Someone shot out the window. From the direction the glass went, someone is in the church tower shooting at us. And apparently, the church bells still ring on the hour. That’s why all the thrillers came back to town.”
“Fuck.”
“OK, here’s what I got for now. We run up between those burned out piles of—”
The passenger window exploded onto them.
“WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!” Jane screamed at the church, and another bullet zipped past her head, and they could hear it ricochet off the sidewalk behind them.
“Watch your back!” Q warned. A thriller had come up on them from around the blockade that had put them in this predicament. Q pulled out his pistol and rearranged its face, sending bone and brain matter flying all over the hood of the truck.
“Thanks.”
“Yup. Ok, we need to go now. Those over there will be here shortly.”
“Ok, I’m ready.”
Q took off in an all-out sprint for the nearest opening between burned-out husks of houses. When he got around the rear corner of the first house, he paused, looking back to make sure Jane followed. He saw a puff of dirt fly up a few feet in front of and to the right of Jane as she was running as fast as she could. She rounded the corner behind Q and didn’t stop.
As Jane ran, she dodged an old garage to the right and a thriller to the left. Running in the space between back yards, her lungs burned, and she greedily sucked in as much air as they would allow. She had not run in many years because of other health issues. I wish I had done more low-impact cardio. Or swimming. Swimming would have been good, she thought.
Approaching the fourth house to their left, they heard a shot ring out from the right. Q glanced over and saw another church with a tall steeple close to Cherry Street. A second shot rang out, and a thriller’s head exploded twenty yards ahead of them. He was thankful that whoever it was this time was helping and not hindering them. It was too little too late; another large horde was coming across the parking lot on their side of Cherry street.
“Jane, turn to your left!” Q hollered to her back as he veered in that direction. They ran between a historic home and its detached garage, across the back porch. He passed Jane just before entering the breezeway. Within seconds, they were on the other side of that yard, and they paused to catch their breath. Jane’s face was red, and her breath ragged.
“Ok, good. We can cut through here between the next two houses and see what’s on the next street.”
They emerged in the middle of the block along John Street. Q peered around the corner of the house, pointing his AR where his eyes landed. He could see the horde on Cherry Street to his right, headed towards the sound of the church bells and gunshots. Towards Jefferson, on the left, he didn’t see anything, but he didn’t want to go that way yet because of the shooter at the first church. They crossed the street and slipped between the houses to the south. Creeping cautiously along, they stopped just short of the next street. They crouched behind an evergreen tree that grew on the property line between two houses. From their vantage point, he could see that across Tipton Street was the start of the business district.
“I figure we’re about five to six blocks away, and with everything being drawn to the churches, we should be fine,” Q whispered.
“Yea, ok. I’ll be fine when we are away from this shitty little town.”
“You’re only saying that ’cause we almost died. It’s actually a really nice place. If it weren’t for snipers in the towers.”
“Ok, I’ll give you that.”
“Drink som
e water while were relatively safe for the minute, and then we’ll head out again.”
She did, and as soon as she nodded, they ran again, down the center of the block. It was pretty open, mostly parking lots in the middle with businesses that lined the streets to either side. The next street was Park Drive again, and across that was a traditional alleyway lined by brick buildings on both sides. They never stopped running, and as they made it across Park Drive, they saw a bunch of thrillers still heading up Cherry Street. Many of them had heard the footsteps of the runners and turned to investigate. Halfway down the alleyway, a large group of thrillers spotted them from Washington Street.
“Shit, go back.”
Making an about-face, they headed back towards Park Drive. By the time Jane and Q had made it back to Park Drive, there were two hordes from two directions, about twenty-five yards apart, and they were making a beeline for the alleyway. Q looked to his right and saw a low roof over a roll-up door they could easily climb up. He trotted over to it, put his back against the door, and laced his fingers together in front of his waist.
“Here, I’ll boost you up.”
She looked at him, looked above him, and then back to him. He could tell she was putting the pieces together.
“What do we do when we get up there?”
“Fuck if I know, but we stay here, we’re dead! Now, hurry the fuck up!”
As soon as her foot was firmly placed in his hand, he practically threw her onto the roof. He turned and jumped with everything he had left. He pulled himself the rest of the way up as the first thrillers reached the spot he’d just vacated.
The roof they were standing on was sloped up towards the middle of the block, and up they went. From there, it was a short climb up to the main roof level. As they walked south, a bullet struck the roof a few feet from them, and then they heard the boom from a large-caliber hunting rifle. They sprinted across the roof onto the next building and crouched down behind an air-conditioning unit.
“Fucking shit! That guy doesn’t quit, does he? He can obviously tell we’re heading away from him,” Jane said frantically.
“At least he has terrible aim. I think. Maybe he just wants us to leave and not kill us.”
“I don’t know, but damn, he is really getting on my nerves at this point.”
A round hit the AC unit and punctured a Freon line. Fog billowed out with an evil hiss, and Q didn’t waste the opportunity. He ran further along the roof. When he got to the edge, there was a six-foot gap between buildings. He backed up a few feet and went for it, easily making it across, because the far side was lower than the building he’d started on.
“Are you fucking nuts? I can’t make that.”
“No, I like to fuck my wife every chance I get, and yes, you can. It’s not that far, only six feet. It would be like jumping over me if I were lying down. Come on, I’ll catch you.”
She shook her head in disbelief that she was actually doing it, and then she backed up and took off as fast as she could go. Her leap was amazing; all that energy the fear had pent up inside her propelled her though the air. As she landed, true to his word, Q grabbed her and stabilized her to make sure she stayed on her feet.
“Holy shit, that was awesome!” Jane exclaimed.
“See, you need to be more confident in your abilities. Indecision is one thing that will get you killed these days. Right or wrong, you need to make a decision and go with it.”
“Thanks for that, but we need to get off this roof before snipey sniperson gets lucky.”
As she said that, another AC unit burst into a white cloud of ozone-eating Freon. They pressed on further and jumped down three feet to the next level and crouched behind it for a small break.
“Q, Jane, you guys got a copy?”
“Mike?”
“Yea, where are you guys? It’s been over an hour, so we came back to see if you needed our help or if you were trapped in the shop still.”
“We’re four blocks away, on the corner of Jefferson and Washington, up on the roof.”
“The fuck are y’all doin up there?”
“Sunbathing, genius,” Jane chided him.
“Oh man, I’d like to see you in a bathing suit.”
“I’m telling Shannon you said that when we get back,” she said with a hint of teasing in her voice.
“She’d just laugh. Besides, I was talking to Q.”
“Good to know. So, anyway, where are you guys, and how clear is it?”
“Mike, you’re going to fit in just fine with this crowd,” Q said happily, considering his current circumstances.
“Thanks, Q. Were back by Sportsmobile, and it’s clear as can be right now.”
“Ok, stay there and keep it that way. If shit goes sideways, let us know. We will be there as soon as we figure out how to get off this roof.”
They walked towards the edge of the building and found Washington Street to be clear. On the back side of the building in a small parking lot was a scaffolding erected next to the building. Someone had been refacing the building when shit had hit the fan. Back on ground level, they jogged south and then crossed Market Street and made a left. At the corner of Jefferson, they paused to catch their breath again and sprinted across to the next block. They continued to jog down that block and hung a right on Warren Street. When they were a block away, they told Mike and his crew to get that roll-up door open.
As soon as they rounded the Chamber of Commerce for the last time, Andre spotted Q, ran up to him, and rolled him up in a bear hug.
“It’s ok, son. I’m here now.”
“Dad, I might be eighteen years old now, but I’m not ready to lose you,” Andre said with hitched breath.
“I’m not going anywhere. I love you, son.”
“I love you too, dad.”
“Ok, let’s get the fuck out of Dodge and turn on the nightlights for Memaw and Papaw.”
Q and Andre rode back with Jane while Mike led, and Shane brought up the rear. The trip back was almost silent except for the normal sounds of tires on a road, the soft hum of the Mercedes diesel engine, and the wind blowing over the roof rack. Team Wabash arrived back at Charity’s childhood home in time for lunch. After eating, Mike, Shane, Q, and Andre set to work on getting the solar power installed on Behemoth. Once dinner was complete, Q went to bed early because he was on watch duty in the wee hours of the morning.
“Convoy night watch, this is Bill. Do you copy?”
“Repeat. Identify yourself.” Q couldn’t believe what he was hearing, because Bill and the others weren’t due back for at least another ten hours.
Recognizing Q’s voice, Bill tried a different approach, one he knew Q would not mistake for anybody else.
“Load, Chief. We’re arriving at the LZ early, approaching from the east. We have five souls on board, negative download, and we’re driving an armored truck. How copy?”
“Good copy, Chief. Did I hear you right when you said five souls on board?”
“Yea, we will talk about that in person,” Bill said sadly.
“Behemoth watch also copies,” Jane said.
Bill slowly drove the armored truck around Behemoth’s trailer and up the street to the rest of the convoy. He parked it in the neighbor’s driveway so as to not block their exit in the morning. Brandy and Bill unloaded everyone and took them inside. The three remaining members of Cootch’s family all slept together in Charity’s old room for the night.
Brandy gave Bill a hug before she headed off to Mike and Shannon’s newish trailer at Q’s direction. She relayed the story of all that had happened to Mike and Shannon, and they spent the rest of the night mourning the loss of Steve.
Bill went straight to his trailer, grabbed a bottle of Scotch, and accidentally woke up Charity.
“Hey, you’re back,” she said as she sat up in bed. She got up and walked over to him and gave him a big hug.
“Hey, kiddo. Sorry to wake you.”
“It’s all right. I would much rather be woken l
ike this. You ok?”
As the sleepiness wore off, she could tell something was terribly wrong by his demeanor. She said as much to him by the expression on her face.
“Come outside, because I’m about to tell the others, and I only want to say this once.”
He took another big swig directly from the bottle and grimaced slightly as it burned down his throat and warmed his stomach. While Charity changed from PJs to jeans and a t-shirt, Bill went over to get Kathrin, Sam, and Sally because he needed to tell them as well. Jane also joined them to find out how the trip had gone since Sasha had relieved her on watch. Once all of them were gathered around, Bill relayed the long and terrible events of the day. He didn’t hold back, but he didn’t tell the gruesome details. He told them exactly how things had gone. Kathrin broke down and wept violently as Jane held all three girls tightly. Starting to feel the buzz from the Scotch, Bill turned to Q and asked how things had gone around there while he’d been gone. He needed to change the subject for a while. It helped to raise his spirits a bit to hear of Mike’s knowledge and the things they’d acquired. He was also pleased to learn they’d hooked up Behemoth with solar.
An hour later, everyone dispersed with little hopes of getting much sleep. But they needed to try, because they were hitting the road again in a few hours.
Chapter 5. Road to Red Wing.
Bill lay in bed next to Charity, and in an unusual show of affection, she laid her head on his chest.
“I know there is nothing that can make things better, but know that I’m here if you ever need to talk or just need a friend. I’ve grown quite fond of you in the short time we’ve known each other, and I don’t know how to survive the apocalypse without you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that. But I’m not going anywhere. I know I’m needed, and I always knew this would be a possibility. Yea, sure, I’m going to be Debbie Downer for a little while, but I’ll pull out of it.”
“Well, that’s good to hear, but you, mister, need to get some sleep.”
Charity propped herself up on one elbow and, for the first time ever, gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Before he could react, she rolled over and went to sleep. With the help of the alcohol and sheer exhaustion, Bill quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Beginning of the New Beginning, Vol. 2 Page 6
