I’d kept her out there, now I needed to get her moving. “Maria, I think we’ve seen all that we need to. Why don’t you head back to the truck?”
Maria turned to look at the camera. “I think that is a good idea, Martin. This is Maria Venezuela signing off from downtown Phoenix.”
Dan was getting ready to send it back to me as Maria looked at the camera trying to stay calm. I watched in silent horror as she was grabbed from behind and taken to the ground. She reached up trying to fend off her attacker, and he bit her hand. Blood started pouring from the wound were her finger used to be, and Maria screamed in agony. The attacker bit her again before the cameraman ran into the scene and tried to pull him off.
He wrestled the man off of Maria but was quickly overpowered. Dan started frantically pointing at me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen as the man who attacked them sunk his fingers into the cameraman’s belly and started ripping his insides out. The screen went blank, and I turned back to the camera, and maybe for the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to say.
Dan was starting to jump up and down as I tried to pull myself together. All traces of this being some kind of joke were washed away. I stared into the camera, a somber mask descending across my face. “Stay inside, stay safe, don’t get bitten. If for any reason, you are attacked, remember to aim for the head. We’ll bring you more information as we have it.”
Dan made the cut signal, and the cameras tilted away from us. I stood up feeling like this couldn’t have gone worse. “Jesus, what in the fuck was that?”
“That was national, that’s what that was.” Jessica beamed like she had done something more than nod and smile.
Dan looked like he was about to panic. “We can’t get either of them back on the line. I think they might be dead.”
I sat back down. “Then we owe it to them to do our jobs. Get me back on, and I’ll sell that damn list to everyone like it’s going out of style.” Jessica was right; this was our shot at the big leagues.
Dan didn’t look impressed, but he motioned to the guys in the studio behind us to get us back on the air. I looked into the camera and tried to keep a smile off my face. This was somber, this was disturbing, and my face and the way I read the news next could possibly affect lives. Staring into the camera I frowned and let my voice drop.
“This is a grim day for our city, and one we soon won’t forget.” With the first line spilling from my mouth, I forgot all about the cameras and the lights and lost myself in the role of a lifetime.
Chapter Four
Max Meridious
I turned away from the TV and found Bob glaring at the TV over our shoulders. “What in the hell is this shit? You’re just going to leave me tied up here while you watch your damn psycho movies? You know I’ve got employees showing up soon.”
“Not today you don’t.” I walked over and pulled Bob to his feet and gently nudged him toward the TV. I wanted him to get a better look at what was on the screen. He had to understand this wasn’t a movie. “Holly, change the channel.”
“Not real smart using your real names,” Bob chided.
“It’s not like you didn’t know who I was already. You don’t have to play dumb with me, Bob.” I was sure by now the curmudgeon had figured it out.
“Ok, so maybe you’re not as dumb as you look, but you have to know I’m never going to let this go.” Bob’s eyes were hard as granite, and I knew he’d try and take us out the first chance he got.
Thankfully Holly spared me from having to respond as she changed the channel. The same story was playing out on all the local networks and was being mentioned on CNN as they tried to verify the details. Most of the media seemed to think it was an elaborate hoax, but FOX News had a chopper following the National Guard as they were deploying from Tucson. With the amount of artillery they had on the road you couldn’t just dismiss it as hoax anymore.
“Could still be bullshit, let me see my phone,” Bob grumbled.
“Yeah, about as bullshit as the dead cop you’ve got outside,” Holly said with a snort.
“What in the hell are you going on about?” Bob looked at her, a new level of anger creeping into his voice.
I pointed at Bob. “I know you’ve got enough cameras on this place to film your very own reality show. Let’s see if they caught our little interaction.” If Bob didn’t believe us, he had to trust his own eyes.
Bob held out his hands. “I’m going to need these to pull it up.”
I shook my head. “I think it’d be better if you just told us how to activate the system.”
“What do you have to worry about? Your lady friend already proved she can take me. You’re not afraid of an old man are you?”
I pulled a knife from inside of my vest and flicked it open. “Just make sure we don’t have a problem.” I locked eyes with Bob letting him know exactly what would happen if he screwed up. Killing him wasn’t something I wanted to do, but just like the cop downstairs he was expendable if it came down to it.
Without saying another word I cut the zip-ties on his hands and took a step back. Calmly folding the knife closed, I tucked it away before pulling the Desert Eagle on my hip out. I didn’t point it at Bob or make any threatening gestures. I hoped that removing the gun from my holster was warning enough.
Bob looked at my gun as he rubbed his wrists. “That won’t be necessary, young man. I just need to get the control box from under the counter.”
“Just make sure you pull it out nice and slow.” I followed Bob around the counter and was thankful to see that Holly had also pulled out one of her guns and was moving to cover Bob from the other side. He wouldn’t be able to take out both of us before he was gunned down. It made going for a weapon now a risk not worth taking.
Bob opened a wooden drawer under the glass display case and pulled out a large black box with a joystick on one side. He lifted it out nice and slow so I could see it before he looked at me. I motioned for him to set it on the counter and nudged the drawer closed with my foot. I hadn’t noticed him looking for another weapon, and Holly didn’t raise a fuss so it was probably fine, but it was better not to take chances.
Turning toward the TV, Bob started working the controls on his little device. Eight cameras from around the exterior of the building popped onto the TV screen. Bob quickly isolated the image with the dead bodies on it, and now it filled the entire TV. He frowned as he looked at the dead officer, and I could tell he was getting himself worked into a tizzy.
Bob turned so he could glare at me. “Maybe you’re not that smart after all. Killing a cop isn’t going to earn you any favors when you get caught.”
“Oh, I didn’t kill him.” Maybe it wasn’t the time to be glib, but I’d had enough of Bob’s self-righteousness.
Bob looked over at Holly, and she shook her head. Her look wasn’t enough to sway his decision so he turned back to the control. I was fine with him not believing us, that was the whole damn point of this. Bob had to see it himself. Deciding that he wasn’t going to get much more from either of us, he started rewinding the footage. It didn’t take long to get back to where the attack happened. Bob watched the footage five or six times before he just let it play out.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Bob grunted as he stepped away. “I’d never thought I’d see anything like this. Frankly, most of the people who come in here are a little fanatical for my taste, but it’s the crazy ones that spend the most money. Looking back on all the conversations I’ve had, I wonder how I didn’t see this day coming.”
Holly placed a hand on his shoulder. “No one could have seen this coming.”
“So what the hell are you two, some kind of cleanup crew?” Bob looked between us trying to figure it out.
“Not exactly,” Holly replied as she turned the TV back to the news.
I met Bob’s eyes and tried to fit a smile on my face. “But we are trying to stop it, just needed a few supplies first.”
Bob flicked his eyes over to the TV. �
�I can see that, but shouldn’t you two be moving on.” And there it was, a not so subtle reminder that he wanted us out of his store as soon as possible.
I got it. If someone tied me up in a place I felt safe, I wouldn’t want them around any longer than possible. “You going to be ok if we take your car?”
“Take my car?” Bob sputtered. “By the dead, boy, what aren’t you going to take from me?”
There wasn’t much to say about that. We’d already robbed the man and now we were rubbing salt in the injury. I just shrugged my shoulders as I looked at him. If he was expecting an apology he’d be waiting for a long time. “I think we left you quite a bit.” I motioned around the store and at all the items still inside. “You can hardly tell we helped ourselves.”
Holly smirked over at me before turning back to watch the news. Everything on the screens now was being shot from helicopters. It seemed after Maria Venezuela met her fate, the studios weren’t going to take any more chances. That didn’t make what was happening in the streets any easier to watch. Phoenix had spiraled out of control. It was like a bad version of the purge out there.
Bob watched the screen for a second. “Yeah, I think I’m just going to hunker down here. Once I disable the elevator no one should be able to get in. I’ve got a generator and enough food to last a good long while.”
“Then I guess it’s time to for us to go.” I motioned for Holly to join me. “You want to come up and lock the doors behind us?” Bob didn’t respond, he just walked toward the elevator with a slight scowl on his face.
We made it upstairs and to the front door. The small TV over the door didn’t show anyone waiting outside to ambush us, but that didn’t mean much. Holly pulled out her guns, and I grabbed the bags. Bob unlocked the door and held it closed.
“Go on three.” Bob started counting down, and when he hit three the door was yanked open.
When the door crashed against the wall, Holly moved out of the store in a flash. Her guns were up as she scanned the area around Bob’s Bronco. Nothing rushed at her, and I followed her out as fast as I could carrying all the bags. As soon as I was outside, the door slammed closed behind us. I could almost imagine that I heard Bob grumble, “Good riddance,” but my heart was beating so fast that there was no way to be sure if he said anything at all.
Holly made it to the Bronco, opened the back for me before sliding into the driver’s side of the vehicle. I dumped the bags in the back, closed up the hatch, and ran for the passenger door. As soon as my ass hit the seat Holly gunned the engine.
“What in the hell?” My door slammed closed, and I was thrown back against my seat. Holly’s face held one hell of a grimace, so I didn’t ask again. I just looked in the rearview mirror. There were four or five of the fast ones trying to close the distance as Holly slammed the Bronco into first gear and floored the pedal. Damn, they were faster than I thought. Still it didn’t take long before we were pulling away on the mostly deserted streets.
Holly smiled as she barreled through a red light. “Let’s blow this pop stand.” Holly seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit now that we weren’t committing crimes. “What’s the fastest way to Flagstaff?”
“I-17 north and don’t stop until tomorrow.” Holly looked at me, wondering if I was being serious. “Actually, if our luck holds out we’ll be there in a few hours.”
“That’s more like it.”
“It’s all going to depend on if we get out of the city before they have everything locked down.” I had my doubts about our chances, but I wasn’t ready to rip the smile from her face.
“If we don’t?” Holly asked as she checked the mirrors.
“Then it’s a hell of a long walk.” After I said it we both dropped into a sullen silence. The last thing I wanted to do was hike over a hundred miles through the forest with dipping temperatures. That kind of trek would take us at least a week, and by then the world might have moved on. Just think, in less than twelve hours Phoenix had been overrun. All it would take is one of those things to make it into any major city, and the same thing would happen again.
Holly pulled onto the I-17, and it was crazy to see it with almost no cars. Only time I’d ever seen it this empty was coming back from Vegas at three in the morning. Otherwise, you could expect the five lanes on each side to be full to capacity. I wondered how long it would be before we ran into our first roadblock.
Chapter Five
Max Meridious
We weren’t too far away from Bob’s when we switched places so Holly could start organizing our gear. We continued down the I-17 uninterrupted and when we passed Highway 101 I started to think we might actually have a chance to make it out of the city without being stopped. I looked up again after checking the mirrors and could see the hint of flashing lights on the horizon. The sun continued to rise on our right, not that it needed to get any higher to do its job. The night had fled while we were at Bob’s and now there was nowhere to hide.
A few minutes longer and it was easy to see that the police had enough cars in place that ramming through them wasn’t an option. I also didn’t fancy our chances of gunning them down. My foot drifted off the gas, and I tried to think of another way out of this mess. At this point we couldn’t turn around, and the divider was going to keep us on this side of the highway. That only left one option, but I wasn’t sure that was going to work.
“I don’t think turning ourselves in is the best plan,” Holly said as she gazed out the window. Her hands were down by her sides, but Holly’s knuckles had turned white.
“Maybe they could help us?” It sounded ridiculously stupid even as I said it. As far as the officers would know we were just a couple of crazy people. The Hilltop Initiative thrived on secrecy, so name dropping them wouldn’t open any doors for us. Not to mention Director Chen had probably disavowed both of us by now, so unless we were standing on the doorstep no one would be coming to help.
Holy snorted. “Excuse me officer, we’re part of a secret organization that might be responsible for letting a zombie virus out into the world, can you help us?”
When you said it like that you couldn’t fault her logic. “Yeah, that doesn’t exactly sound too good, does it?”
The Bronco was still moving forward, but now I was pumping the breaks. It was decision time. If we were going to make a run for it, we had to go soon. Our biggest problem was the lack of traffic, there was nowhere to hide. I’d be damned if I was going to let a bunch of cops stop us, but I also didn’t see a clear way out of this.
Fuck it, the time for thinking was over. “Hang on.” I yanked the wheel to the right and floored it.
“What in the…” Holly’s voice cut off as we hit the edge of the freeway and jumped over the curb into the desert.
It still shocked me how many people lived this far north, but if there were jobs to be had and a lower cost of living, people would move just about anywhere. Thankfully the area hadn’t spread across the entirety of the desert, and I was going to use that to my advantage now. Even this close to the freeway there were still a few wide chunks of open land. In another ten years they’d all be gone, but for now this wide track of undeveloped land gave us a chance.
Holly grabbed onto the handle above the door and turned to look back at the freeway. “We’ve got company.”
I spared a quick glance to the left just to confirm the cops were coming. Thankfully it didn’t look like they sent everyone. I’d be able to handle a couple cars, but if they were really taking this seriously then a chopper wouldn’t be that far behind. I pushed the pedal down as far as it would go and started a gentle angle towards the buildings coming up on our left.
The cops probably wouldn’t be too keen on driving their cars into the scrub brush, but then again this was probably the most fun any of them had in years. It didn’t take long before I had the buildings between us and the approaching officers, and that might buy us all the time we needed to find a place to hide. The cops on the freeway would eventually lose interest in u
s if this took too long. They’d probably try and shove it on the Deer Valley Police Department to try and avoid looking like they dropped the ball themselves.
My luck hadn’t exactly been the greatest in the last twenty-four hours, but I’d let that slide if we could just pull this off. In our favor all the businesses were closed, so breaking into another place wasn’t going to draw too much attention. It was a good thing the governor ordered everyone to stay at home. Too bad that same rule didn’t apply to the police chasing us now.
Slamming on the breaks, I jerked the Bronco to the left and then punched the gas again. Now we were headed up the back end of a row of businesses. This is where the big stores took their deliveries so the massive trucks didn’t clog up the parking lot or the street. I waited until we passed a large door with a ramp. Skidding to a stop, I put the Bronco in reverse and backed right up to the warehouse door.
Hopping out of the Bronco, I grabbed the AR-15 and blew off the locks at the bottom of the rolling door. Despite the lack of locks the door only moved up about two feet before it screeched to a halt. Holly jumped out of the Bronco and slid under the door in one graceful motion. Once she was inside I ran back to Bob’s ride and slipped behind the wheel. A few seconds later the door started rolling up to the ceiling. As soon as the Bronco could clear the gap, I had it in reverse, and once I was inside, Holly had the door rolling back into place.
Climbing out of the Bronco I watched Holly latch the safety lock closed. A few seconds later she took a bar from the ground and slipped it through the chains, just to make sure the door wouldn’t budge an inch. Hopefully, we’d been quick enough to avoid notice, if not we were about to have a real big problem on our hands.
“What do we do now?” Holly asked looking past me at the large open space.
Rise of the Necrotics (Book 5): Bob's Bargain Basement Page 3