by Radke, K. E.
Noah turned around in his seat and distracted her by shouting, “Gloria, how’s the pain today?”
Rattled by the shouting, she winced and vehemently stared at Noah, “I’m not deaf. And I’m not in any pain.” She paused for a few seconds and reached for her head. The wraps were rough under her fingertips. “Now that you mention it, my head throbs a little.”
While she continued with her aches and pains Noah whispered to Lincoln, “Maybe you shouldn’t talk unless it’s important.”
Lincoln drove a different route to get out of the city. It was eerie being the only SUV on the road. He weaved through abandoned cars left in the streets and used the sidewalks to his advantage. The walking corpses growled and hissed and joined the growing herd behind them, loyal to the moving vehicle.
If any survivors were out there watching, they never came out of hiding. Probably due to the giant gang they massed behind them. No one wanted to risk contact with the hungry snapping jaws.
The acrid scent of burnt materials suddenly overwhelmed the putrid stench in the Jeep.
Giant buildings suddenly disappeared, and Lincoln slowed down passing the ashes and rubble left behind by the explosions and fires. Bricks and warped metal were the only materials left of the broken structures. The little oasis was burned to the ground. Turned into a giant wasteland. There wasn’t a soul in sight, not even a chomper moseying around. They passed a line of black car carcasses that stood out like an awful art project the city paid for.
Noah murmured, “This looks like an apocalyptic scene out of a movie that people would pay to walk through.”
“We’re close. So we need a clear street to leave those dead assholes behind,” Lincoln said distracted by the scenery. He sped past the rubble until he reached the downtown buildings untouched by the fire that could offer protection if needed. Every block he passed he watched as the road parallel to him started piling cars. The same gridlocked mess he’d camouflaged his Land Cruiser in.
It was the main road he took in and out of the Dallas and his Land Cruiser was a straight shot from there. Gaining a huge lead from the herd of parasites, Lincoln finally turned down a road and maneuvered around the leftover cars.
Two loud gunshots echoed outside, and the Jeep suddenly jerked to the left and swerved violently. Metal struck the pavement sending an arc of sparks in the air. Everyone jolted side to side in the vehicle while Lincoln tried to keep it from rolling on its side. Obscenities shattered the silence as the car made a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn on two wheels.
They squealed to a stop after jumping the curb and brushing against a light pole. The car halted on the sidewalk. Lincoln placed his head against the headrest. He took a deep breath and tried to slow down his pounding heart. He refused to let go of the steering wheel with Noah right next to him, terrified his hands would shake.
“I know a gunshot when I hear one,” Gloria said quietly.
“They definitely took out the tires,” Noah said cracking his door open to peek out. Bullets rang out across the sidewalk, each one a few feet from him. Settling in his seat again, he said calmly, “Someone wants me to stay where I am.”
“Wyatt?” Lincoln said the man’s name hoping he was still alive.
“Somehow I’m still alive,” he answered trying to hide the tremble in his voice.
Continuous rounds from an AK echoed in the silent street for about five seconds. Noah whistled a low sound and completely turned around in his seat trying to locate the shooter.
“That was nearby,” Gloria said in a hushed tone.
“And very loud,” Wyatt agreed.
“And a waste of bullets,” Noah said disgustedly.
“It’s a trap,” Lincoln said focused on the road ahead of him. His hands twisted around the steering wheel with agitation.
“Should we make a run for it?” Noah questioned. “They don’t want us dead yet.”
“Because they want the cannibals to do their job for them. They want to watch us suffer,” Lincoln said angrily. “If we run, they only need to take out a limb to incapacitate us. Then the flesh eaters will finish us off.”
Wyatt burst out laughing. He laughed so hard tears pooled in the corners of his eyes, “I should have just stayed in the nursing home. All this to get my fucking foot fixed and I’m going to die anyway. Eaten alive,” Wyatt’s voice became bitter and hostile. “I’d rather go down fighting than sit here.”
“Eaten alive?” Gloria questioned confused. “What do you mean?”
“I hope everyone is wearing a seatbelt,” Lincoln announced. His foot slammed against the accelerator and the car jerked forward. Metal screeched along the pavement and sparks blazed alongside them. More shots were taken until the SUV came to a halt near a raided souvenir shop.
“Move straight into the shop. Everyone out on Noah’s side. They’re shooting from above so keep your eyes peeled,” Lincoln warned turning in his seat.
Gloria’s eye twitched the minute she saw Lincoln’s face. Her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed when they made eye contact.
“Gloria!” Noah yelled making her eyes snap to him. “Are you going to let these assholes push you around?”
She glanced back to Lincoln, but he’d already turned to face forward. The man’s name was on the tip of her tongue. Hatred and animosity filled her with rage. She gritted her teeth, and growled, “Not a fucking chance.”
The machete, and the strap to the AK swung over Noah’s head. “Then get inside that shop and wait for us there,” Noah said ripping his door open and shooting two rounds. He yanked Gloria out and she jumped over the broken glass in the window. After firing several more rounds, he lunged into the backseat and pulled a pack from the back. He strapped it to him and nodded at Lincoln signaling he was ready. Lincoln leaped into the front seat and started shooting to his right to cover Noah as he made a break for the shop.
“You’re up,” Lincoln tried not to sound so grim when he nodded at Wyatt.
“Together. If I’m right, there’s only one shooter. Which means they’ll go for who they can pick off first,” Wyatt said. Lincoln felt his stomach drop with anxious energy.
“This is not the time to play hero,” Lincoln replied grimly.
“It’s also not the time to run out of ammo. We’re all low,” Wyatt pointed out while grabbing the crutches from the trunk. “So let’s get this over with.”
Noah was in the shadows giving them a thumbs up. Lincoln lowered the front seat to crawl into the back and pulled a pack from the trunk. He threw it out into the open and watched bullets pulverize the right side, but Wyatt was right—there’s only one shooter. Noah watched the skyline and found the muzzle flash, ready to show the asshole who he was dealing with.
Lincoln pulled his pack out next and strapped it on. Only one pack was left, and a hospital blanket was spread over it. He decided to leave it behind because it was Phoebe’s and had the least amount of supplies in it. And no one would be able to carry it.
Every holster was checked, and the AK strap was looped over his head. Wyatt did his weapon check and nodded at Lincoln to give Noah the signal he was ready to move.
Seconds after the first shot Lincoln lunged out of the SUV. Wyatt scrambled out of the vehicle fumbling with the crutches. Lincoln yanked him forward taking one crutch out of his hands. He threw it like a spear and helped Wyatt get inside the shop. Then he went back for the pack dragging it inside behind him.
Noah cursed under his breath. The ghouls were in the distance attracted by the gun battle. He took his last shot and disappeared inside the little shop. “That stalking mob isn’t far off and we need to move.”
He pulled Gloria out of her hiding place and they strapped the third pack to her after she insisted on carrying it.
“One shooter, which means we got lucky or the rest are on their way,” Noah exclaimed lowly trekking to the back of the store. The back door opened easily into an alley and he glanced in both directions. Dumpsters and trash occupied the s
pace and to keep Lincoln out of Gloria’s sight, Noah made him lead the group and he took the rear.
“We’re not far, but we can’t exactly rush,” Lincoln said out of breath listening to Wyatt’s crutches.
“We find somewhere to hide till nightfall,” Wyatt gasped out. “It’s the only way we’re all going to survive.”
TWENTY TWO
G rowls, hisses and snapping jaws haunted the building. Lincoln had crept to the front surveying the broken windows listening to Wyatt’s ragged breathing behind him. If he could hear it, they might hear it. Small tables were overturned, and coffee beans littered the ground. He tiptoed back beyond the barista area and helped Wyatt into the little office in the back closing the door behind them.
Everything in the tidy office sat untouched except for the small empty safe in the corner of the room. A desk took up on side of the wall with cabinets above it. Lincoln sat beneath the desk leaning against his pack. Wyatt collapsed on the other side and sounded like he just finished a marathon he never trained for. Usually Lincoln would raid the office for anything useful, but Wyatt was being loud enough, and the man was only breathing.
Across the alley Noah and Gloria were hiding in a clothing store. They decided to split up. If one group was found, whoever was following them might believe the tale they came up with and only take one set of hostages.
Lincoln sat diagonal from the door with his gun trained on it. He was sure they’d be discovered first. After an hour his eye twitched and the paranoia infected every thought that crossed his mind. Did the enemy pass them by? Did they find Noah and his mother?
He’d picked the coffee shop because the windows were broken. It had no illusion of safety, not a place people would stop to rest in. But as long as the ghouls couldn’t see or hear them, he figured they’d pass right by.
Lincoln’s hand cramped from the tension in his grip around the Glock 17. Wyatt sat rigidly next to him and started to fidget enough to get Lincoln to whisper, “Stop. Moving.”
“My foot is throbbing.”
He pulled the pills out of his pocket and took one out, “Only one. According to the time in the Jeep, we have about five hours till sunset so sleep if you need to.” Wyatt swallowed it without water.
The doorknob never twisted, and bullets never pierced the door. Lincoln hoped anything loitering was already dead and scared off the enemy. Without a watch he had no idea how long they’d been hiding. Wyatt dozed off on the floor and Lincoln stiffly stood up carefully stretching his legs. With his ear to the door he heard muffled footsteps and faraway grunts.
His hand rested softly on the doorknob and it twisted slowly. He peeked through the crack with his Glock 17 aimed into the dark hall. A strip of sunlight appeared on the ceiling and he silently shut the door. It wasn’t time to go yet, and he wasn’t taking any chances. Without disturbing Wyatt, he took his spot on the floor and aimed the barrel at the door again.
His ears picked up the noise. A small creak. Wyatt was fast asleep, and he didn’t want to wake the man abruptly. Lining up his shot, Lincoln sat ramrod straight and waited quietly for the intruder to come to him.
Light, cautious footsteps proved it was human and not a cannibal. Lincoln kept his trigger finger ready. The tread came closer and then started to fade again. Whoever was out there had passed by the closed door and gone straight to the front.
“Lincoln?” Noah whispered barely audible.
Lincoln didn’t budge. The voice could be his imagination playing tricks on him. Someone had stopped on the other side of the door and he watched the handle twist. He kept his arm steady, lifting it a little higher to match the average height of a man.
The door cracked open just enough for someone to peek into the office. Lincoln and Wyatt were still hidden toward the back of the office. The door was pushed open a little more and Noah whispered, “Lincoln? I swear to God if you shoot me, I will kill you before I die.”
“I’m aiming too high,” Lincoln whispered lowering his arm. “Shut the door. I have to wake up Wyatt and I have no idea if it’ll be noisy.”
“There’s chompers roaming around outside.”
“No one came,” Lincoln stated as a fact and not a question.
Noah shook his head and stepped inside the office shutting the door behind him, “We had a clear view of the alley and watched to make sure you weren’t ambushed.”
Lincoln nudged Wyatt’s leg several times before he had to shake the man awake. Groggily, Wyatt turned on his back and defensively covered his head. Noah stared at him from above and said lowly, “Rise and shine.”
Wyatt sat up and rubbed his face, “Do I have time to pee and get some water?”
“Gloria’s keeping watch. You can pee, I’ll get out some water,” Noah said searching though his pack and found a water bottle. Next to it was his night vision goggles and he placed them on his head. Pointing to it he said to Lincoln, “You should find yours.”
Wyatt fumbled around for the crutches and all the noise made Lincoln wince.
“Maybe it’s better if you pee in here,” Lincoln whispered rummaging through his pack quietly. He placed the night vision on his head and turned them on.
“You’re making a lot of noise and then you’re gonna whip it out—somewhere out there—you’ll be lucky if you can stick it back in before they come after you,” Noah hinted at the danger.
“I can’t pee in the office, or with you guys watching,” Wyatt whispered.
“Safest place is the alley. All this talk about pee and I have to go now,” Lincoln stood up and stretched. Between the three of them they emptied the water bottle. Noah held it up and snickered, “Here you go.”
“I can pee in the alley,” Wyatt answered a little annoyed.
Sneaking out the back, Noah gave Gloria the signal to come down from the apartment above the clothing shop. Clothes were scattered everywhere in the shop and there were chompers trapped in a closet. In the apartment, someone left a rotting body behind—there wasn’t enough left to be a threat.
The three men took a space by the building and then glanced at each other. Noah and Lincoln were on the end and took five steps away from Wyatt before they all blessed the wall.
Watching from a rooftop with night vision binoculars, Murray didn’t dare grin. The flesh on his face still throbbed and burned every second of the day. Only three of his men reappeared after the explosions. Not the best and brightest of the bunch, but he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Even though they were urinating on the wall and the polite thing to do would be look the other way, he couldn’t let them out of his sight. With his luck they’d disappear, and he’d never find them again.
All the trouble he went through paid off. He separated his team of three and isolated them on different rooftops to watch the streets until the little crew that ruined his safe haven showed up.
And then he could kill them all.
His men had little faith the group would come back, but it was obvious that the troublemakers had come for something specific and were not just passing through.
From the rooftop he spied the old lady finally joining the group. Murray grabbed his little bag of gear and signaled it was time to move.
“Boss, we have to wait for the girl,” Justin reminded him.
“I forgot about her.” Murray said with a slur. He’d been truly intrigued when the girl with black hair escaped from the trunk with the last pack. She’d taken her chances and waited till the last second to run from Satan’s dead army. Hiding underneath the rolling dumpster, she was in the perfect spot to make sure she wasn’t left behind.
Murray watched the group disappear into another building further down the alley. The girl quickly crawled out of her hiding spot and followed. Justin signaled Frederick and Owen with a low beam flashlight. It couldn’t catch anyone’s attention unless they were specifically looking for it.
They made it to the ground floor and peeked around the bend int
o the alley. The girl had tried to flatten herself against the brick wall, but her silhouette was clearly visible in the moonlight because of the bulging pack. After a few minutes, she slipped inside the building the group had just disappeared into like a snake.
Murray used the demon’s groans to cover his light tread and trailed after her until he reached the entrance she used. Justin copied his every step, unless signaled to stay put.
Slight whispers rose and fell, but Murray didn’t hear a single word. He retreated down the alley in the opposite direction of his enemies with Justin on his heels. Three buildings down, he finally entered an Indian restaurant and tried to breathe silently through the agony all the movement caused his face. His hand hovered over the burns trying to shield it from the air.
The skin pulsated on his burnt face and he leaned against the wall drowning in pain. Before Justin could ask if he was okay, Murray clenched his teeth and without moving his jaw, slurred, “Go up front. We wait here until they cross.” He was getting really good at communicating without a single twitch to his mouth.
Justin scampered as close as he could get to the broken front windows without disturbing the munchers. They were everywhere. Scattered up and down the street waiting for the slightest noise to call them to dinner.
A few minutes later Murray squatted next to Justin with his breathing under control.
“How do you know they haven’t crossed yet?” Justin whispered anxiously.
He held up a hand and gestured for Justin to be quiet. The last thing he wanted to do was waste his breath explaining the obvious. It’d only cause more agony and frustration. Justin wouldn’t be able to understand every word with his fucked up mouth and he’d end up repeating himself.
All they needed was time. And Justin would see what the munchers had in store for the group of four once they crossed the street. The devil’s army would be an unmistakable alarm. Whether they were stupid enough to cross separately or together—it didn’t matter. The munchers would attack, piling on top of one another for fresh meat. Leaving Murray an easy route to cross the street—should they make safely to the other side—he’ll be waiting for them. Where the real fun begins.