Rob wondered if the spiders were real. If so, where were they and why couldn’t he see them? Denise had said all the infected things had claimed they had seen spiders before they had been transformed. Where were they? He wasn’t seeing any, and he didn’t see any coming after him.
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Travis was getting closer to him again. He kicked out at the man, slamming his shoe against his head, sending him back again. The chair slipped more out of his grip and he was holding onto it towards the top, not able to swing it anymore.
Bruce appeared next to him with another chair and slammed it into the thing that had been holding his chair. It fell to the ground, as did the other one that Rob had been trying to hit.
Three of them had fallen, and Rob and Bruce could see five more fighting to climb up and take their place. Twenty more were coming up behind them. The more the two men fought with them, the more excited the things seemed to be getting. They were making some weird groan-like sounds, fighting to push their way up.
Bruce looked at Rob, a look of sheer terror replacing that coolness the man had exerted for most of the morning. They both slammed chairs against the fourth thing, knocking it away, before they tossed their chairs to the side. They turned and saw Travis quickly trying to worm his way towards them.
“Quick!” Rob yelled.
They both hurried over to the thing on the floor and grabbed him by his ankles. Then they dragged him to the open window, working to fling the creature out and into the dumpster. He collided with the next wave of them that had been climbing up, and they all fell backwards.
“Get the board up!”
“It isn’t going to last long.”
“I know. Let’s just get it up. We gotta get out of here.”
“Where to?”
“Your truck. It has a sleeper. Think you can fit all of us in there?”
“It’ll be a tight fight.”
“Better than a beetle.”
Bruce stopped as they had been lifting the board, giving him an odd look. Rob shrugged, knowing it was a bad time to make a joke, but he always had found humor his best defense in the worst of situations. Though his jokes were never funny, he enjoyed them.
“You know, a clown car.”
Bruce nodded, though it showed either he still didn’t get it, or just felt it wasn’t funny. Then again, it could be he was questioning just how optimistic it was to think they were all going to get out of there.
* * * *
Jason watched as the two men hurried in from the back alcove, then turned to look at Tina. She was watching them wearily, holding the baby, unconsciously rocking to keep her asleep. It was amazing how the little one could stay asleep through so much yelling and racket. Every baby he had ever known had been a noise machine. This one seemed content to stay quiet and sleep.
Jason found himself smiling as he turned away, coming face-to-face with Rob. “We need to get out of here. That isn’t going to hold them.” He was talking to all of them, and Jason realized it was something the two of them had already talked about. They were now just letting everyone else know what their plan was. Jason nodded, though he wasn’t too sure he wanted to go out there.
He looked over to see that Tina had also backed away from the cop and was holding the child protectively, her hand coming up to hold up the back of its head. Something was happening in her. She was standing up a little straighter. He wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with the baby, but it might have. No one else was around to take care of the little one now, and Tina seemed to have taken it on. It had somehow transformed her. He couldn’t help but look at her a little differently. She looked like she was…older.
“I’m not going out there, not with the baby. She could wake up, then they would be on us. I’m not leaving her here, either,” Tina was saying as she backed away.
Jason hadn’t realized she had been backing towards the front door. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and something told him that wasn’t the best idea. They should be staying away from the front door. If they were breaking through the barricade in the back, the front door wasn’t going to hold. He didn’t care if it did have the large rail across it. It was still fastened to bolts on either side of the frame. Those screws, as big as they were, didn’t seem to be the most secure.
He twisted around and eyed the table next to the front door. Most days, it was just an empty table in the corner. It was really only there for Sunday’s when they did the “Make your own Bloody Mary” day. It was the condiment table where they put out all the fixings. He looked at it and wondered how well it would wedge under the handle of the door, and if it would actually keep out the horde that was growing outside.
He just had time to think about it before there was a loud crash against the front door. While the locks held, a large crack formed down the wall along the side of the door. It was quickly followed by another pounding, then smaller slams.
Jason sprang into action and slammed the table under the handle, wedging it in as tight as he could. He didn’t think it would hold long, but doubted it would matter. If the wall around the door gave way, the last thing they had to worry about was the lock. They needed something more to secure it.
He looked around, and saw that Rob and Bruce had already been thinking the same thing. Both of them were bringing over barstools and slamming them against the door.
“One of these won’t do much good, but we pile a shit ton up, that should work,” Bruce said. Sullivan had quickly joined them, and the four of them were rushing back and forth, grabbing and piling stools by the door until it was a large mound.
Now they had the zombies pounding at the front door, against the back window, and by the loading dock. He knew they had to stay put now, but where could they hide? Where was the one place they would be safe?
He looked over at Tina behind the bar. She must have scurried back there while they were fighting with the door. Good. Probably the best place for her. The only place left to get in or out was the large front window. He didn’t think it would take them too long before they were trying to get in there, too.
“We have to get out of here before they completely get us penned in,” Rob said.
Jason turned to look at him. “We need to get in the cooler. They can’t get us in there.” Rob looked at him. He was tired of this guy telling them what they needed to do. If they listened to him, he was going to get them all killed. Before Rob could stop him, he continued, “We can wait until help comes in there. We’ll have food and water, and they won’t be able to get in there. We can lock it from the inside. No one will be able to get us.”
“Kid, think about it. Wait for how long?” Bruce asked.
“Dude, we can’t stay here,” Sullivan said.
“Sullivan, you’re the one that always said when the zombie apocalypse happens, we get somewhere safe and wait it out. We talked about this shit,” Jason reminded him.
“Yeah, and your mom’s bar was not even in the top fifty places we considered a safe place to wait it out. We got to get out of here.”
The two glared at each other. Neither was giving in.
“I’m not going out there,” Tina said again. Jason could see she was already making her way towards the cooler. The pounding was getting louder back there. She was eyeing it hesitantly, but was still easing her way back.
“So how do we get out of here?” Sullivan asked.
He was standing in the center of the bar, looking around. They had blocked up nearly all the exits. There was only the front window, which they would have to break to get out. When they did that, this place was done. If they didn’t go with the ones that left, they wouldn’t be able to stay in there. They would have to get to the cooler.
Jason looked over at Sullivan. His expression was grim and his face pale. He didn’t like it, either. As excited as they both had been about the zombie apocalypse finally happening and being in the center of it all, the reality was also starting to slip in. They just might not li
ve through all of this. No matter what they had talked about and how much Sullivan had actually planned for it, they were still caught by surprise.
The best laid plans were for nothing, and they might be next on the menu because of it.
Sullivan was looking past Jason, studying the front window, as Denise was coming up behind him. She was becoming more distant and quiet.
He remembered when he had first picked her up at the strip mall. She had been so persistent and eager for them to get out of there. He was sure once the ones who were going would escape, she would be one of them. She was trapped in there with the rest of them. It was because of him that she was there. There had been a chance she could have gotten out, but now she was just another mouse in a cage.
They all were. They were all going to die in there. How long would it be before help came? They could hold out in the cooler for probably a week, maybe more. It would be a long week, and they would have to survive off of beer, peanuts, and whatever else his mother had been weird enough to store in there. She had always been the “Everything gets stored in the cooler” type of person, and he never understood it. Now he was thankful for it.
Denise was reaching out for Sullivan’s shoulder. Did they know each other? Jason couldn’t recall Sullivan ever saying anything about her, and he had always referred to the town’s doctor as that “Not illegal foreigner”, as though it was just a good thing the man wasn’t from Mexico. He couldn’t recall a time he had ever talked about the nurse as though he knew her, and they hadn’t really said too much to each other since she had been there.
Then Jason noticed the long, deep gashes on her arms. He recalled seeing her scratching, but hadn’t thought anything about it. However, now he could see just how deep they were. They dug down into the muscle fibers and there were strands of loose muscle hanging free, but there was no blood.
“Sully! Loo—” he had just started to say when she had him by the arm, biting down. Sullivan let out a loud scream, cutting through the bar, and turned, slamming his fist into the woman’s pale face.
Rob and Bruce had been looking out the window, but turned. It took them a minute to register what was happening.
Rob was first to respond, grabbing the fire extinguisher that he had put on the counter and bringing it down on Denise’s head. It hit home with a dull thud, and Sullivan screamed louder, his scream turning to that of a higher pitch because instead of Denise releasing him, she seemed to bite down harder.
The pain must have been unbearable, and Sullivan was trying to fight to get her off. Rob continued to pound at her head as Sully was trying to pull his arm away, screaming at each hit of the extinguisher.
It didn’t take long. Sullivan’s knees just seemed to give away, and he dropped hard on them. Denise came down with him and pushed forward, covering more of him with her body.
Rob kept slamming the extinguisher down on her, and Jason was grabbing one of the bar stools to use as a weapon when Bruce yelled for him to stop. Jason looked over at him. “There’s nothing you can do for him. We need to get out of here.”
Jason looked up and around. His gaze settled on Tina, who was down the hallway. She had the baby and was looking back at him. “I’m not going.”
“We need to go,” Bruce pleaded.
Jason looked at Tina again, the back at Bruce. “You guys go. We’re staying.”
“You realize once the…”
“Go!” Jason said as he brushed past Bruce and brought the stool down on the back of Denise.
Rob backed away, letting Jason through. The two of them stared at each other briefly, then Rob turned towards the window.
Jason heard glass crash, but didn’t turn to look. He slammed the stool down on the corpse one, two, three more times before he was out of breath and backing away.
“Go. Get out of here,” Sullivan was saying through gagging breaths.
Jason wasn’t ready to go yet. He bent over Denise, grabbed her by the shoulders, and started to pull. He had to get her away from him. His friend was going to be okay. It was only a light bite on the arm. They could amputate it. There was still time. He would be okay. Everything would be fine.
Jason gave one more pull, putting all his strength into it, more strength than he thought he had. He felt his stomach muscles pull, his back started to ache. Now he wished all those hours he had spent playing video games that he had spent maybe a little of that time in the gym. Why couldn’t he have worked out just a little bit? Would that really have been too much to ask? The thing never let go. She continued to bite into Sullivan. The little frame of a woman was stronger than him.
Jason’s grip gave away and he was stumbling back. He hadn’t realized he had stopped breathing until he felt faint. What was he going to do? His friend…
“Dude,” came the labored breath blow him, “what the fuck?”
Jason looked down. He heard the gasping, gurgling breath and saw she had moved from just biting into his arm to biting into his neck.
There was no hope for Sullivan. His eyes were already losing their focus as they just stared up at the ceiling.
Jason had to get out of there. He knew that Tina and he had to get to back to the cooler. He could feel the breeze from the open window and didn’t have to look to know that it was completely busted out. They were exposed now, and it wouldn’t be long before the things started coming in.
He glanced in that direction and saw the first of the zombies crunching against the glass and trying to pull their way in. It was an old man wearing a plain pastel blue shirt and some kind of tan khaki shorts. Jason had a brief moment to wonder if the guy had been on the golf course this morning
Tina and the baby were in front of him, already moving down the hall. He made sure they had a clear path, then turned to look back. Sullivan and Denise were now out of view, but the one that had been coming in the window was now crawling its way onto the bar with two more behind it, pulling their way into the window.
Jason didn’t know if Rob and Bruce were okay and if they had made it out. He couldn’t see them. The three zombies were already inside, and more were on their way. He couldn’t believe how many of them there already were. How had this spread so fast? The front window was quickly filling with them, and one was on the bar, working his way over it and falling to the floor.
Jason quickly woke up from his daze and stepped back. They had to go.
He turned to see that Tina was all the way in the back room already, holding open the cooler. The soft light from inside gave her a glow that seemed to halo around her, and the cool gushing air created a surreal fog. She had that heavenly look, and maybe it was because he felt like once they were in there, it was their first step towards salvation. He didn’t know, but knew it was where they needed to go. They just had to lock themselves in and they were safe.
He rushed down the hallway.
He crossed over the threshold, realizing his mistake. How many times had he gone into that back room, tripped over that little step down, then hit his head on the low ceiling? No matter how many times it had been, he still always did it. Now, he did it again. However, he was running towards it this time, and when he hit the drop in the ceiling, he felt the white flash of pain shoot through his head.
He didn’t have time to try and force it down. His teeth clenched together, and he tried to reach out to keep himself from collapsing. He could hear the things behind him. They were pounding louder and louder against the walls. His head was pounding. The world around him was spinning. The ground seemed like it was getting closer, then falling away.
He felt arms reach around him, and he spun away, quickly grabbing at the tentacles that tried to ensnare him. He could feel a bite on his neck, then another tearing into the top of his head.
“Jason!”
He opened his eyes with sudden realization, and saw that Tina had him. She was trying to pull him into the cooler. The baby was inside, lying on her blanket in a box that Tina had found. The pain in his head was subsiding a little, the
pounding relaxing to a dull thud.
No, there was still pounding. He turned to see that the loading door was still getting pounded into. The door was pushed in about a foot, well off its hinges. There were now large gaps along each side and hands were reaching in, but when he had fallen forward, he had stayed just out of reach. The gap was growing wider, and it wouldn’t be long before they would be inside.
“Jason, we have to get in the cooler. Come on.”
He looked at her and nodded.
A hand reached out through the door and just caught his sleeve. For a moment, he thought they were actually about to get him. He could feel himself losing his balance and falling backwards. He could see down the hall. An old guy had gotten up and was stumbling down the hall towards them.
Tina quickly came around and pulled on Jason’s arm. The hand felt like it had him in an iron grip, but they pulled, and it finally slipped free.
The hand tried to grab at Jason again, but they were already backing into the open door of the cooler.
CHAPTER 20
“Sergeant, General Mayfever is on the line, demanding an update.”
Wade turned to look at McCormick, who had come up behind him. He hadn’t even heard the young corporal walk up. He had been standing there, thinking, and wasn’t really aware of his surroundings.
He was dead inside, he knew that now, and he really didn’t even care. He didn’t think he had long to worry about it anyway. None of them were going to get out of this. If he was honest with himself, he realized that fact once he had heard they were setting up the outer perimeter, but he had still done his job and he would continue to do his job.
He could no longer stand there and think about his sister, his family. They were already lost. If he had gone for them like his brain had been nagging him to do, they would probably still be lost. Even if he had been able to get them back out, they would never have gotten past the outer perimeter.
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