A zombie howl echoed from upstairs, and an answering howl came from the downstairs hallway just before a thirty-something woman with a missing ear and yellow eyes darted from the hallway and sprang at Jen. In an awkward reaction, Jen swung the axe early and the zombie slammed into her chest, driving her to the floor and knocking the wind out of her. She pushed on the zombie's chest, staving it off for a moment, but her arms collapsed. A flash of steel and the zombie's head cracked. The damn thing fell limp on Jen, bleeding onto her clothes.
Grant pulled the zombie off her and threw it to the side. He reached out a hand. "You OK?"
Jen grabbed his hand, coughing, and he pulled her into a sitting position. She stayed bent over, pulling in lungfuls of air until the dizziness went away.
Grant stood over her. "That piece of shit hit you pretty hard."
Jen pushed herself to her feet and wiped her sticky red hands on her pants. "Thanks. It would've had me if you hadn't been there."
Mark appeared at the top of the stairs. "Everything OK down here? We took out a couple on this floor."
"Thanks to Grant, I'm fine," Jen said. "He saved my ass."
Grant grinned at Jen. "I've been told I'm good at rear guard."
Another smart-ass. Great.
She plodded up the stairs and followed Mark to the last room on the right. An exam room, it had a desk and chair in one corner and an exam table in the middle of the room. Zeke stood at the window, peeking through the blinds.
"How's the view?" she asked.
"Perfect." Zeke glanced at her, then did a double take. "What happened to you?"
"Just a normal day in zombie world."
Zeke laughed.
Grant entered the room and closed the door behind him. He handed the cell phone to Doc.
"Zeke, can you keep watch on that trail while we check in?" Doc asked.
"Sure enough. I can stand like a statue for hours. I even once had a dog pee on my—"
"Just watch the damn trail," Grant snapped.
Zeke frowned and turned back to the window.
Doc pressed the buttons on the phone and it picked up immediately. "Where are you?" the colonel's haggard voice came over the phone speaker.
Everyone looked at Jen. "Midtown," she said.
"Not fast enough," the colonel snapped.
"How much time do we have left?" Jen asked.
"Nine hours and seventeen minutes," Doc said.
The cell phone cut out, then back in. "...is all you have."
Mark leaned toward the phone. "You'll have to repeat that, Colonel. You cut out."
"Can you hear me now?" the colonel asked.
"Yes," Jen said.
"The situation's getting worse on base. We've lost a few men already, and the only reason we haven't lost more is we've erected higher barriers around the flight line. But even that is just stalling the inevitable."
Doc rubbed his eyes. "How much time do we have?"
"Three hours. Four at the outside."
The air went out of Jen. They'd been busting their asses to get across the god-forsaken city and they were still behind the curve.
"If we're in danger of being overrun," the colonel said, "we'll have to leave."
Grant's face darkened and he crossed his arms. "We'll get there in time, Colonel."
"Yes," Doc said. "We'll tend to it."
"Roger," the colonel said. "Out."
Jen kicked the wall. "Are you shitting me? Three hours? How do we make that kind of time?"
"We'll have to drive," Grant said.
"Right." Jen pointed at him. "You remember what happened the last time we did that, don't you?"
Grant gritted his teeth, his jaw muscles flexing.
There I go again. He lost his friends and I just dug into that wound. "Look, I didn't mean that."
"You're both right," Doc said. "We'll need a vehicle, but we don't want a repeat of the convoy. A big extended cab pickup would be better. It's solid enough to run through a small horde and nimble enough to avoid the big ones."
"And what happens when we get to the base gate?" Jen said. "Don't you think there'll be a big horde there? And we can't just go around it."
Mark smiled. "We don't drive to the base gate."
"And where do we go?" Doc asked.
"I recall there's a small airport somewhere in north Anchorage," Mark said.
Jen nodded. "Merrill Field. So what?"
Mark shrugged. "We drive to Merrill Field and fly a plane to the base."
"Who's going to fly it?" Grant asked.
Jen snapped her fingers. "Mark can! He's rated for small planes."
Mark smiled at her. "That's a fact."
Zeke turned from the window. "They're coming."
"What?" Jen said.
"Trip and his gang. They're headed this way."
21
Jen peeked between the blinds. "There are only nine of them. Maybe the zombies took one out."
"Still too many," Mark said. "Let's put some distance between them and us."
"These guys are a pain in the ass." Jen followed Mark out of the building and joined everyone in front.
"We'll continue on the trail, but we're not far from the highway," she said. "We should have a good view of what's around us when we get there."
Zeke walked toward the trail. "I'll sneak back and slow them up."
"Hold your horses," Doc said. "There's no need for that."
"I'll hide in the brush and take out one or two in the rear," Zeke said. "If I can't do that, at least I'll get their attention and duck on out. It'll slow them down and give you a better head start."
Jen put her hands on her hips. "You'll just get yourself killed."
Zeke smiled. "I'm a ninja. We don't get killed." He ran into the trees and disappeared.
Stupid kid. Jen went to go after him but Mark grabbed her arm. "Our mission is to get Doc to the base."
"And since you're the one who's supposed to lead us," Grant said, "You can't chase after a crazy kid in a ninja costume."
Jen shot Grant a nasty look, but dropped her gaze when he looked back at her with concern in his eyes and not the scorn she expected. She sighed and led them onto the path, heading north.
It took only a few minutes to arrive at International Airport Road. After scanning the area and seeing no immediate danger, they jogged toward the highway. Multiple muffled gunshots came from behind them, stopping Jen in her tracks. Zeke.
Mark put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he's all right, but we can't waste the extra time he's giving us."
She nodded and continued on. Nothing she could do for him.
When they reached the Seward Highway frontage road, she stopped at the edge of the slope up to the highway and crawled up to the guardrail. Keeping low, she peered over it and watched for movement. At least thirty cars were stranded on both sides of the highway, but there looked to be plenty of room to maneuver around them. Jen grinned. "Kind of like rush hour in the winter, but without the ice and snow."
Mark sidled up next to her. "Doesn't look too bad." He pointed to the right. "Two zombies by that tourist bus, but that's it."
Jen's gaze swept to the bus and the two zombies stumbling alongside it. One, a middle-aged man, tilted to one side and shuffled along. The other, a young teen girl with blue and red hair, shambled back and forth in front of the bus.
"That's south," Jen said. "We're heading the other way."
Grant joined them. "Problem is, you don't know if there are others hidden behind any of the vehicles."
Doc stood and shaded his eyes as he watched the two zombies. "Man's got a good point."
Mark grabbed Doc's arm and pulled him down. "How about we don't let them see us just yet."
Jen pointed at a Hummer. "There. That'll be the most heavy-duty vehicle we'll find here."
"Not a damn chance," Grant said. "Too close to the Humvees. There's no way I'll step foot in anything like that again."
Jen swallowed. For all Grant's bluster, h
e had still witnessed his friends' deaths and deserved a lot of credit for keeping himself focused on the mission. She looked past the Hummer, and her gaze landed on a Tundra truck. "That." She pointed. "Sturdy, and a lot faster than a Hummer. We need its speed to avoid and outrun the zombies, but it's solid enough for us to run through a decent-sized crowd of them."
Grant smiled. "Looks like a winner. How do we get to it without setting off zombie alarms?"
Mark unslung his rifle. "Follow me."
He crept up the frontage road, the others following him. Stopping parallel to the Tundra, he waited for the others to catch up, then snuck onto the road and hid behind a red minivan lying on its side against the guardrail. Jen stayed with him and signaled the others to wait.
Mark scoped out the zombies, then gestured for her to follow him. He darted across ten feet of open asphalt and knelt behind a police car. Jen followed his lead and peeked inside the squad car, looking for a shotgun. The rack was empty.
She waved Doc and Grant over, and they ducked and ran to the cop car. The two zombies still wandered aimlessly. They turned their backs to the group, and Mark dashed the twenty feet to the Tundra. Jen ran after him and made it to the truck just as the girl zombie turned back their way.
Doc and Grant froze halfway to the truck, looking like big kids playing red light, green light. Were the zombies far enough away to ignore them?
The zombie girl tilted her head and shuffled a few steps closer. She turned back as the zombie man lumbered toward the Tundra. He, too, stopped and sniffed the air. There goes that sniffing shit again.
Doc took that moment to swat at something on his face. The zombies shrieked and took off for him.
"Run," Jen yelled. She yanked the driver's door open and checked the ignition. No keys. Dammit.
Grant and Doc sprinted for the truck. More zombie howls rose up around them.
Mark jumped into the passenger side. "Start it up."
"No keys." Jen checked the sun visor, and Mark rummaged through the glove box.
Grant pushed Doc into the back and jumped in behind him. "Let's get the hell out of here. What are you waiting for?"
"No keys." Jen held her empty hands up.
A series of shrieks rang out from the east side of the highway. "Here they come," Doc said. "We'd best be getting a move on."
Mark pulled Jen's leg to the side. What the hell?
"There." He pointed to the floorboard. A set of keys lay there. Her damn foot had been covering them.
She ducked to grab the keys. A gunshot went off and a hole appeared in her window. She glanced to her side, and several of the gang stood at the edge of the highway, their guns aimed at her.
Jen stuck a key in the ignition, but it didn't turn. "Fuck!"
22
Two keys left.
A shot blew out the back windshield. Grant and Doc scrambled to the floor. "Get us out of here," Grant roared.
Jen tried the square key, but the damn thing wouldn't go into the slot. She pulled it back. Upside down. Flipping it over, she jammed it into the ignition and turned it. The engine jumped to life.
The two zombies climbed into the truck bed. A wave of twenty or more streaked to them from their right. Bullets peppered the outside of the truck.
"They're trying to shoot out the tires," Mark yelled.
Jen threw the truck into gear and slammed her foot on the gas. The truck screeched and jumped forward, its back end fishtailing. One of the zombies did a backward flip off the back. The other grasped the back window frame just behind Doc.
Jen swerved around an overturned bus, then crossed the road and passed a pile of burnt bodies before spinning the wheel to turn north.
The zombie hanging on to the window frame made a grab for Doc. Grant stabbed at it with his sword, knocking it to the truck bed.
"Keep this truck steady." Grant climbed through the broken window as the zombie scrambled to get to its feet.
Jen slowed and took wider turns to thread her way through the abandoned vehicles.
The zombie pulled itself to its feet just as Grant swung his sword. The dulled blade slammed into the zombie's temple. It stumbled, still alive, but disoriented. Grant kicked it in the stomach, knocking it out of the bed. He let out a whoop.
"Get back in," Mark said.
The wave of zombies in pursuit were closing in. Jen had to get their speed back up.
Grant jumped headfirst back into the cab, and Jen slammed the gas pedal to the floor. She passed several vehicles and zoomed onto the Tudor Road off-ramp.
Jen continued speeding down Tudor Road, but slowed as she approached the intersection with Lake Otis Boulevard. A semi lay on its side, partially blocking the intersection.
"Looks like you can get around it on the right," Mark said.
Jen frowned. "I don't like this. Can't see what's on the other side of the damn thing."
Grant whistled. "That must've been one hell of a crash."
Jen steered the truck to the right and slowed down, creeping forward. The other side of the truck came into view slowly.
A zombie in a mail carrier's uniform stumbled toward them, bloodstains on his chin and shirt.
Jen sped up. "This'll be easy." She swung the truck around the semi, making everyone lean to the right. The left side of the bumper knocked the mail carrier into the overturned trailer.
They cleared the pile, and the way forward opened up. Twenty yards ahead more than forty zombies milled about in the road.
"Back up," Grant said.
"No," Doc said. "Take a deep breath and get us going as fast as you can."
Jen tried to see past the horde in case there were stalled cars or debris behind them, but the zombies were too thick to see anything.
Fuck it. She slammed on the accelerator. "Hang on."
The zombies in front turned toward them, no doubt alerted by the shriekers behind the truck. Jen leaned forward and gripped the steering wheel with both hands, her knuckles turning white.
She aimed for the right side of the horde. If they got stuck and had to bail out, she didn't want it to be right in the middle of them.
The horde ran directly at them. She veered to the right, and they angled toward the truck. They weren't giving her a choice—she had to go right through the middle.
She squinted as they hit the first three zombies. Two of them bounced to the side, but the other went under. The truck shuddered and Jen struggled to keep it straight.
Running into the first wave slowed them down. Jen pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The front wheels spun, creating black smoke and the smell of burnt rubber. "What the hell are we stuck on?"
A zombie slammed into Mark's door. Mark shoved the door outward, sending the damn thing flying. Mark peeked out and under the truck before he leaned back in and slammed the door shut. "We're lodged on a couple of their bodies."
Grant leaned forward and twisted a knob on the dashboard. "We weren't in four-wheel drive. Try it now."
Jen pressed the gas pedal and the truck jumped forward, just as the zombies from behind reached it. Two of them managed to grab the tailgate and were dragged behind while the truck ran into the middle of the rest of the horde. Mangled hands grasped at the windows and doors, and rotted faces pressed against the glass, their yellow eyes filled with hunger.
The truck bounced and twisted, rumbling over undead bodies. They passed the last of them and Jen steered to the middle of the road. It looked as if it had been cleared at some point, with broken-down vehicles pushed to the side.
Grant aimed his pistol at the one remaining zombie holding on to the tailgate. A round in the head and their last hitchhiker was gone.
Doc ran his hands through his hair and smiled. "Now that was intense."
The zombies faded away in the rearview mirror, but Jen wasn't slowing down. She got them to Boniface Parkway in minutes and took the turn on two wheels.
Mark put a hand on her arm. "Do you want me to take it?"
Her heart hammered. "Sor
ry. Didn't mean to take it so sharp. Just want to get to the plane."
Boniface was clear enough that Jen could increase speed, and she only had to make small adjustments to avoid abandoned vehicles.
A chorus of shrieks rose to their right, and a tidal wave of zombies spilled onto the road behind them.
"Shit!" Jen pressed the accelerator to the floor. They were almost to Northern Lights Boulevard.
Another horde ran onto the road ahead of them, about a hundred feet past Northern Lights. There had to be a couple hundred. Too damn many to run through.
The tires squealed as Jen braked and turned left onto Northern Lights. The zombies still chased them from behind, with the horde they'd just avoided joining them.
The road curved right. "We can take Bragaw Street north just after the high school," Jen said. "A little further up from there we take a left and it takes us to the airport."
She came out of the curve, barely missing a huge dump truck that lay on its side. Ahead of them, just past Bragaw, there had to be a hundred more of the undead. Three zombie dogs in their group turned toward the truck and howled. The other zombies answered the call, and the horde streaked toward them.
Jen glanced in the rearview mirror. The zombies already chasing them filled the back window of the truck. Thousands of them.
Can't go back. Can't make it to Bragaw. A replay of the zombies washing over the Humvees flashed through her mind.
We're so screwed.
23
The zombies behind the truck fell back as the truck raced down Northern Lights Boulevard, but that meant the horde running at them from the front was closing in fast.
A high school came up on their right and dense woods on their left. The horde ahead crossed the intersection. No chance making that road. Jen jerked the steering wheel to the right.
"Head for that set of double doors," Mark said. "We just have to hope they're not locked."
Screw that. Jen had learned her lesson about locked doors at the mall. The truck jumped the curb and bounced across the grass. She aimed it right at the seam between the two school doors.
Glancing to her left, she did a double take. Like the two zombies at the mall, a group of about thirty zombies no longer chased them. They'd changed direction and raced straight for the door. What the hell?
The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five Page 23
