It occurred to Kyler at this point that there would also be a lot of stragglers for them to dodge. Not all of the Zombies would’ve been able to keep up with the main mob. Just like there’d be some of the supercharged freaks who ran ahead of the pack there was also going to be a whole section of laggards they’d have to dodge. This would consist of mostly the wounded and slow Zombies so that was a plus in being able to avoid them but if there were enough of them spread out across the road it could seriously interfere with their plan. It was one thing to dodge one Zombie with a missing leg. An entire road full of them crawling along would be a different story.
The roaring subsided so gradually that Kyler couldn’t have pinpointed the time it went from deafening to distant. From the constant roar of Niagara Falls to the muted rumble of a distant thunderstorm passing. Tom made a little circle gesture with his finger and drove the rest of the way up the road into the area Kyler recognized as having the dilapidated gas station and the other small businesses. The place had probably looked bad before the apocalypse but now it had completely fallen apart. With the support vehicle following closely behind them they turned and headed towards the I-95 on-ramp.
Tom rolled to a stop at the top of the ramp. Looking down they could see a steady stream of Zombies trudging their way southwards. Looking northwards the line of stragglers continued until the road curved and Kyler couldn’t see any farther. This plan was already FUBAR. No one had anticipated the line of Zombies to be this long. It had to be at least a few miles long between the leading elements rushing forward and the slower Zombies trudging and limping along in their wake. For this to be successful they needed to lead the Zombies on a chase in a northerly direction and right now that didn’t look like a possibility. If they went down there now, they’d just be overwhelmed by the stragglers after they made some noise trying to get the bulk of the Zombies to move the other direction. A new plan occurred to Kyler. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was way better than the drive onto the interstate and toss some grenades around until overwhelmed and eaten alive plan.
Ignoring the no talking rule Tom had laid down Kyler stuck his head in the cab of the truck through the slider. “Hey. Instead of leading the Zombies out of here via the interstate which isn’t going to work why don’t we lead them down this road instead? Does it go somewhere it’s safe for us to get the Zombies going to?”
“Good thinking Kyler. Yeah. I’m not sure where the hell this road goes. I don’t think we have any people this way though. Then again, this’ll pretty much end this exit as a camp for us. At least for right now. Let me see what the commander wants us to do.” Kyler bit back a remark about how everyone seemed to like using the word commander. That would’ve been a dead giveaway that his cover story had some major holes in it. Kyler slid back into the truck bed listening to Tom talk on the radio.
“Good thinking.” Pete said. He was staring in awe at the long line of Zombie shambling around. He was trying to be calm, but Kyler saw that his fingers were shaking as he loaded more bullets into a stack of magazines. Kyler didn’t blame him. That long line of death snaking up the highway could easily snap on them.
“Let’s do it.” The command came from Tom in the cab. “Load up and get ready to cause some havoc. We’re going to curve out of here then take some backroads northerly. None of these routes have been checked out so fingers crossed.”
“So, a slightly higher chance of dying today than we had about twenty minutes ago. Sounds about right. You want to take the million on the left or the million on the right?” Pete asked sarcastically. He already had the pin pulled out of a grenade he was gripping tightly in his hand.
“I’ll shoot. You throw.” Kyler said. The idea being Pete would make the big booms that would attract the whole column of Zombies while Kyler would keep the faster Zombies from jumping in the back of the truck and killing them. They both really hoped the plan worked. Especially the not getting killed by the leaping Zombies part.
Tom turned the truck around to point it back eastwards and drove in reverse down the on ramp. Everyone in the truck fixated on the undulating river of diseased flesh flowing down the road in front of them. The Zombies at this end weren’t screeching and roaring as much as the leaders were but they still gave off a loud moaning sound. They were still completely terrifying. A parade of soulless people covered in filth and gore moving mindlessly in pursuit of their prey. They followed the group in front of them in the hopes that the group in front of them had caught site of a normal. Grey haired grandmothers walked alongside gore covered toddlers. All of them missing chunks of skin. Their faces covered in huge black boils. Pete tossed a grenade.
They watched as the grenade sailed through the air. Kyler made a mental note to ask Pete if he’d ever played ball professionally or maybe just in college. The grenade went over the bulk of the Zombies on this side of the interstate and disappeared into the median. Kyler was wondering if it was dud when it finally blew up.
Instant insanity. The Zombies on the road below erupted into piercing shrieks. The whole area in front of them erupted into an insane swirl of bodies. It was a massively morbid mosh pit set to the music of their own screams. The Zombies still hadn’t noticed them sitting fifty feet up the on-ramp staring at the chaos they’d created. Pete started tossing grenades like he was playing some kind of carnival game. The Zombies who weren’t ripped to pieces by the shrapnel finally noticed them and surged forward with a collective screech.
That screech echoed up and down the interstate as far as they could hear. That was the signal Tom had been waiting for to be sure they had the Zombies attention. He began driving back up the on-ramp. Pete kept tossing grenades at the clumps of Zombies following them. Kyler was shooting every second now at the Zombies who seemed to be edging too close to them. On top of the ones coming up the road for them others started running through the underbrush right up the side of the hills towards them. The men sitting on the passenger side of the cab both had barrels stuck out their windows and were shooting away at the Zombies who’d gone off-road to get at them.
Accuracy sucked in the back of a bouncing truck with a zillion Zombies screeching towards them. Accuracy wasn’t the point though. They just needed to make noise and keep any of the Zombies following them from getting in the truck. As closely packed together as the Zombies were in the confined space between the trees it was almost impossible to take a shot and not hit one of them. They made it to the road at the top of the on-ramp without being swamped by their pursuers. The truck bed was full of hot brass and Pete was running out of grenades to throw. They were burning through bullets at a pretty alarming rate. Kyler breathed deeply and stopped pulling the trigger every time he had a target. He knew he had to conserve some ammunition to keep the adrenalized Zombies off of them once they started coming.
Tom slowed them down as they followed the lead truck onto the road leading west away from the interstate. The Zombies surged forward in a mass through the wide-open area of stores and gas stations off the exit. Kyler and Pete shot at any Zombies who seemed to be getting too close. They tried to get a shot off at least once every thirty seconds to keep the Zombies at the back of the pack interested. They were almost all the way through town to the point where the road narrowed to a blacktop two lane when a group of the adrenalized Zombies came bounding towards them through the parking lot of the last gas station on the road.
Pete and Kyler spotted the Zombies at the same time and opened fire. There looked to be about seven of the adrenaline Zombies headed their way. Two of them had jumped off the roof of the gas station towards them. The other five were running through the mass of Zombies already moving their way. Occasionally the five running through the other Zombies would jump over the heads of the Zombies in front of them and keep sprinting for the pickup trucks. Tom had seen the issue as well and sped up. The lead truck had accelerated quickly to give Tom plenty of room to maneuver.
With deadly intensity Pete and Kyler lined up their shots on the fast-moving predat
ors headed their way. They both sighed a little bit in relief when they realized they were surrounded on both side by tall trees and not out in the middle of the plaza any more. The Zombies were still barreling towards them with the fast ones in the lead but now they were confined to a straight approach. The Zombies confined on the road between the trees were much easier for them to shoot down. Kyler ejected a magazine and slammed in a new one. He lined up a sight picture on a large skinny male Zombie who was only about thirty feet behind them and coming up fast.
Kyler pulled the trigger at the same time as the truck hit something that made it bounce hard. Kyler and Pete’s shots both went wild as they were tossed around. Kyler slammed his head painfully into the side of the truck bed after unleashing a few rounds in the general direction of the tailgate. He realized his ass was wet and everything smelled funny. Pete was yelling something at him over the roar of the pursuing Zombies, but he couldn’t quite make it out. He came out of the fugue state cracking his head on the side of the truck had put him in and placed the smell as that of gasoline. He realized belatedly that he was sitting in a truck bed full of hot brass and gas.
He raised his rifle and shot at a Zombie that’d just jumped into the truck bed right beside Pete. The Zombies head snapped backwards, and it flipped out of the truck. Pete gave Kyler an appreciative nod before sighting in on another Zombie that was danger close. The truck skidded sideways with a loud bang. Pete’s shot went wild and the danger close Zombie jumped for them. It landed on Kyler who began kicking the Zombie and trying to keep it from getting close enough to bite him. The stained teeth flashed at him from the black sore covered face.
Then the truck bed caught on fire. They’d had the big red jug of spare gasoline back there with them. All Kyler could think of while he struggled to keep the Zombie off him long enough for the fire to burn him to death was that either him or Pete must’ve put a bullet through the gas container in all the crazy shooting. He had no idea why Tom would’ve stopped the truck when he did or what’d actually set off the puddle of gasoline.
“Let’s go!” Someone was yelling loudly now. It sounded like a great idea to Kyler if this Zombie he was holding would just go away. All of a sudden, the Zombies head exploded. Pete had placed the barrel of his rifle on the things forehead and pulled the trigger. Now he was reaching down to grab Kyler’s hand and help him out of the burning truck bed. Kyler grabbed the offered hand and jumped to his feet. Pete and him both jumped over the side of the truck away from the crowd of Zombies that were moving quickly up the road towards them.
“Get to the other truck!” Tom was shooting and yelling. The other guys in the truck were shooting at the incoming Zombies while trying to work their way out of the cab. Two of the fast Zombies landed on the roof of the burning truck. Kyler raised his rifle to take a shot at them before realizing he was in quite a good bit of pain. Pete tossed him down on the ground.
“Roll around! You’re on fire!” Pete yelled at him. He was busy shooting at the adrenalized Zombies coming at them from every direction.
Kyler rolled around on the ground a few times. Weary of wasting too much time rolling around on the ground he popped to his feet hoping he was no longer on fire. The two guys in the cab were out of luck. The cab was filled with squirming Zombies trying to push their way in to get at the man flesh being ripped off the bones by the other Zombies. There were piles of dead and wounded Zombies all around them. The lead truck pulled into view and Pete, Tom and Kyler ran for it. Everyone else from the main truck was dead now. It was a miracle they weren’t all dead already. The driver of the lead truck was screaming for them to hurry up. He had his window down.
Kyler watched in horror as the man was jerked out of the truck through the driver side window and down to the ground out of sight. Tom jumped in through the passenger side and stuck his head out the driver’s window looking to help the unfortunate driver. Whatever he saw on the ground below evidently told him it was too late for the former truck’s driver. Tom slid into the driver’s seat himself while pressing down desperately hard on the button to roll up the window. Kyler and Pete wedged themselves into the passenger seat and slammed that door shut. Kyler worked his way over the console into the back-bench seat in the extended cab truck. Tom already accelerating quickly down the road away from the Zombies who were busy ripping apart the bodies of their teammates.
The Zombies who couldn’t easily get at the flesh were running flat out in pursuit of their truck. Kyler started sifting through the piles of supplies he was sitting on to try and find more grenades and ammunition. The first wave of the Zombies pursuit looked vicious behind them. Tom accelerated gaining them fifty feet of room then a hundred feet of room. They roared around a tight turn and almost collided with a school bus that was pulled over to the side of the road. A bunch of kids and a few adults were running out of a dilapidated looking dollar store towards the bus.
Tom slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel to bring them to a smoking stop in front of the bus. He looked over and caught the attention of an older man with a head full of grey hair who was carrying two kids and pushing a couple of others along.
“Get them in the bus and get the hell out of here. We’ll hold them off!”
Chapter 18: Hide and Seek
“The herd was headed towards Donna’s house. I think we need to check all the local places before we storm off towards Disney or the beach or any of those other places. Maybe we save Donnas for last and hope the herd has moved on by then.” Randy said. They’d been reading the letters and the writing on the walls and trying to figure out what to do with the breadcrumbs their kids and Kelly’s mom had left behind.
“Disney was only mentioned in the earlier letters as the main place they were headed. It’s just an option in the later ones. I’m pretty sure my mom would’ve stayed around here as long as it was safe to wait for us to show up.” Kelly said. She still had a big grin plastered to her face. Now that they had proof the kids had survived and her mom was with them Kelly felt like they were so close to finding them. She knew they just had to work the clues they’d been given. She was wracking her brain trying to figure out the best places to search first.
Her mom’s house was only a few miles away. That was the most obvious one for them to be at if they were still local and hoping Kelly and Randy would eventually show up. There were a few friends around the area and of course the kids had spent a good deal of time at Kelly’s friend Donnas house. Caitlyn had spent plenty of time over there dog sitting and housesitting as well. Comparing the letters to the intent of the letters and thinking of all the places the kids could be started to overwhelm Kelly. All this time she’d really just thought it would all resolve itself once they made it here to the house. Now they were standing here in the house and they still had a lot of work left to do to find them. Kelly vacillated between feeling like they were only seconds away from finding the kids and being overwhelmed at having to figure out where to go next.
Tony had kept quiet during the whole exchange. He’d mostly been walking the perimeter of the house and performing sentry type duty. The next time he walked by close enough to hear them Randy asked if he had any opinions.
“I don’t know. You guys know your kids and your mom the best. Where do you think they’d have gone? I don’t really have any idea where we’d go after here. I’m still in shock that we found all these envelopes and everything.”
“If you didn’t think they were going to be here then why’d you come with us all this way?” Kelly asked him. The wording was aggressive, but the tone of the question was more curious than agitated.
“I may not have the same level of faith and belief you two have in your kids and your mom, but I do have faith in both of you. Once I got on that train it wasn’t like it would’ve been easy to get off. Besides, what the hell else was I going to do? Join up with one of these moronic militias cruising around?”
Kelly got up off the couch and walked over to give an embarrassed looking Tony a h
ug. She told him thanks and then Randy came over and echoed the sentiment.
“The herd!” Kelly said out of nowhere. Right in the middle of their kumbaya moment. Randy and Tony stared at her.
“The herd was going up the road past the pharmacy.” Kelly continued after neither Randy nor Tony said anything in response to her outburst. She looked at them both with exasperation. “The herd was moving towards my mom’s and Donnas houses. If the kids are hiding in one of their houses, then the herd may be onto them. We need to move now and check both houses.”
Kelly had that look in her eyes that Randy knew meant she wasn’t about to stay here another second. He hoisted himself up to his feet and made sure he had all his gear strapped on. He heard Tony doing the same and was silently impressed that Tony didn’t even bother complaining. He evidently understood Kelly a little better at this point as well.
“Well. We’ve got a few hours of darkness left so if we’re going to go poke around a huge number of killer Zombies in the dark let’s get moving.” Randy said. He was being droll about it, but he felt a bit of the energy Kelly was putting off. His need to find and protect his daughters was driving him as well. Being in their house and seeing their writing on the walls and in the letters had reinvigorated him. Now he was twenty times more fearful for them than he’d been before. Being this close to where they’d been and seeing the evidence that they were still alive was almost unbearable.
Zombies! (Book 3): Violence Solves Everything Page 17
