by Joe Kelly
Jared cocked his head listening, he had thought he had heard distant gunfire but wasn’t sure with all the firing going on around him. Suddenly in a lull of gunfire he heard a motor somewhere just north of their position, a diesel by the sound of it and heading away from the firefight.
His lips thinned as he considered the fact the sniper might be escaping. But no it was off to his right. The sniper would have had to run from the courthouse and thru a mess of zombies to get over there. Besides Jared was a bit busy at the moment dealing with the same crowd of dead people. So he wasn’t about to go after the vehicle.
Suddenly Pappy was at his side carrying Chris’s AR. Jared looked back and felt a bit of relief as he saw Chris leaning against the only truck that could still run. “ “I am starting to feel like a bug whose ass is about to meet a windshield.” Pappy said.
“Shut up and shoot” Jared said with a tight grin totally lacking in humor. “We either kill them all or we die here” Pappy nodded and pulled the trigger, the AR chattered as he fired full auto.
He cursed as he realized he had bumped the fire selector. Damn these fancy modern things, he thought as he turned the weapon in his hands trying to spot the selector. Wait I thought full auto was illegal, what the hell do you know these boys do have some balls. Wait, I bet they have licenses to own full auto weapons, would be just like the asshats to spend a fortune to get permission from the Govment to modify their weapons
Jared stopped firing long enough to point out the fire selector. Pappy hated feeling stupid, but nodded his thanks, and kicked it down to single shot. All this new fangled shit was just too much.
The crowd was thinning, Rob was certain of it, but not fast enough. He glanced at the fuel gauge and felt his stomach knot. One truck for however many people survived and it wouldn’t be enough, he might have enough to fuel to make it back to the by pass, but that would pretty much be it. a few could ride on the cab of the dozer and maybe once they got away from the courthouse and the zombie numbers were much lower. They might find a vehicle to take.
Sharon dumped the last bag in the Truck, and then retrieved her own rifle and got ready to fight. She knew there wasn’t enough room for everybody. she wasn’t going to leave Marks body laying here to rot. No way in hell would he be left behind.
There were to many zombies she realized, way too many even now. Jared and Pappy were finishing the largest group closest to the truck but there were still more behind those. Rob had made two passes up Clinton and still more of the dead had appeared and were maybe a hundred feet from the intersection of Clinton and Baker, and the fuel depot, the remnants of the first horde were almost gone, just knots of dead flesh that died as they approached the truck, but that horde behind them was only growing and Rob couldn’t have enough fuel to keep this up for much longer.
She knelt by Marks body and touched his shoulder trying very hard not to look at the exit hole in his back or the bullet hole in his head. Tearing her eyes away she rose to her feet and turned towards the courthouse and began to shoot at the zombies that were getting past Rob and his dozer on that side.
“Van” Chris shouted as he saw a huge black Van come over the hill from the direction of the hospital, running over any zombies in its way. The heavy brush guard with its massive winch shrugged the undead aside contemptuously “ There’s a van!”
Jared turned and saw a monster of a Black Van tear past the burning Train station. Spraying gravel as it turned and cut across the train stations parking lot to cross Clinton and come to a stop near Marks body. The door flew open, and Jared who had been about to fire, let off the trigger a huge smile of relief growing as Steve got out of the van.
Steve looked shocked as he saw the bloody and battered group and Marks body. Then “where the hell is Bridget?” he yelled.
“She’s in the back of Marks truck, she’s hurt, we don’t know how badly” Jason replied firing into a couple of zombies that had gotten close.
Jared wanted to protest, tell them there was no time for this, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t stop Steve from climbing into the bed of the truck and checking on Bridget. “Rob pull back” Jared said over the radio. “Jason, get out the control box. And set those damn things off. All of them.”
“You folks load up and get out of here, get the wounded and those medical supplies back to camp.” Jared said with a ring of authority in his voice.
“Fuck off.” Steve said as he climbed into the truck. “That was no accident.” he said pointing to Mark.
“neither was that explosion. Someone in that courthouse was shooting tracer rounds at the cafeteria before it blew. And there were acetylene bottles flying around too. Those aren’t usually found in a cafeteria” Jared snapped
“hate to break it to you guys, there are zombies listening in” Chris stated pointed to the newest and much closer horde coming down Clinton.
“Fire in the hole” Jason shouted as he started pushing buttons.
Rob slowed as he saw the flash of light and heard the explosion up the street, quickly he turned and drove up onto the old sidewalk and into the parking lot of the strip center were the first still burned in the ruins and amongst many of the tumbled vehicles. A he turned the dozer to face the burning buildings to keep from looking at the nearest propane bottle he saw, Kyle stagger out from between two vehicles, a body in his arms. Blood streamed down his face and soaked his clothing. Rob swung open the plywood door, yelling to be heard over the engine, get up here, I’ll take you over to Jared.”
Kyle passed up Deacons body, then climbed up to the cab of the tractor. “He got thrown and broke his neck. I had to put him down.” Kyle said heavily as he squeezed into to cab.
Seth had just reached the clock tower again, when he heard the first explosion across town. Near the wal mart, then another, and then another. the explosions ripped down 52, then suddenly explosions and fire erupted around the courthouse.
Damn them, he had forgotten about the propane bottles they had set out. he could hear glass shattering all across the square. If any of the windows in the court house shattered, his neighbors might come in and he wasn’t ready for company not today. He dropped the bag he was carrying and ran back down the stairs. He had to check before he did anything else.
“let’s go” Jared shouted, “mount up!” even as the windows of the tire shop were still rattling from the explosions. Jared helped Pappy over to the van and inside. Jill climbed into the passenger seat. Jared went and knelt next to Marks body placing a hand on Sharon’s shoulder. “Get in the Truck Sharon, I’m taking him back” Jared said. She nodded, and watched as he lifted Marks body and carried it to the van.
Rob turned back to the square as soon as the Propane bottles had exploded and began to plow over the surviving zombies. It was an uncomfortable fit with Kyle, and Deacons body squeezed in beside him. Behind him, two vehicles followed. But as he passed the courthouse the van pulled into the courthouse parking lot plowing over any undead in its way.
Seth ran from office to office on the ground floor and found three windows shattered. He quickly closed those office doors and piled any furniture he could find in front of each door. This wasn’t happening. He was going to get married tonight. His bachelor party hadn’t turned out the way it was supposed to. No sir it hadn’t. Finished he breathed a sigh of relief. Then froze as he heard motors outside. They started past the courthouse, and then stopped just outside.
“No, no no,” he said rushing down the stairs. “ You, guard the door and don’t start in on me” he said almost screaming at the deputy. “baby, you need to hide” he yelled as he looked around frantically. “There it is,” he said scooping up the heavy leather gun belt. He buckled it on smiling; it was just like the kind the cowboys had worn. He pulled the .44 ruger blackhawk and smiled enjoying the weight and the feel of the weapon in his hand.
A real gunslingers weapon he liked to think. Wearing it he could picture himself standing beside John Wayne, gunning down the bad guys at the OK corral. His thoughts s
tumbled to a stop, was that right OK Corral.
Didn’t matter anyway. He was the new Sheriff in town. He told himself as he rushed up the stairs once more heading back to the entrance only to stop as he heard metal tearing and glass shattering upstairs. Panicked he backed away from the door to the main floor hallway, then turned and ran back to the shelter.
He ran past the rows of neatly stacked boxes of Emergency supplies to the back of the shelter where he had stacked a row of boxes to conceal an old door. The door opened into a tunnel that led to the Sheriffs office behind the courthouse. Back in the day it had been used to transfer prisoners to the courthouse to stand trail. Later in the sixties the sheriffs’ office had been expanded and a hallway had been built connecting it to the courthouse making the tunnel pointless so it had been unused ever since.
He was quite proud of his box wall it gave him a place to hide and the gaps he had left between boxes allowed him to watch the main door to the old bunker with out being seen and the tunnel gave him an escape route if needed.
“I won’t be needing it, no sir. I can deal with these uninvited guests and then I will have to clear the courthouse again and fix the damn doors. He sighed heavily, life could be such a bitch he thought as he hunkered down waiting.
The argument had been short, when Jared had stopped the van and announced he was going to clear the courthouse, he wanted the bastards who had done this and he wasn’t leaving till he had their blood on his hands. “I want you people to wait here, till I get back” Jared told them. Pappy had promptly flipped him the bird and said he was coming with Jared. The entire crew refused to leave.
“We are a team Jared, you can’t do this without the group and the group can’t lose you.” Jason had said in the end Jared had folded. .
Sharon and Steve would stay with the vehicles, someone had to get the supplies, Bridget and Marks body back to camp. Rob would keep the parking lot clear till he was out of fuel. The rest of the team accompanied him.
Shooting out the glass of the locked door, he had hooked the winch cable up and stepped aside as Chris used the three ton winch on the Van to pull the doorframe out of the wall. take that 911 security upgrade, he thought.
Glass crunched under Jared’s boots as he entered the old wide hallway of the courthouse, shock and disgust on his face as he saw the interior. Rotting dead bodies had been placed on benches and then posed. One looked as if he were reading a paper. Another held a cell phone to his head, duct tape holding both the phone and the hand in place. Inside one of the offices, two female corpses, stripped to their bras and panties sat behind desks, both had been posed to look as if they were typing. “Mother of God” Jason said from behind Jared, his bile rising. The stench was incredible in here. Worse than anywhere, Jared had been yet.
They moved down the hallway, finding several more bodies. There was even a Corpse sitting on the pot in the back bathroom. Every one of the corpse had two or more gunshot wounds. But all of them had of course been shot in the head. “What the hell happened in here?” Chris asked as he leaned against a wall holding his ribs. Jared really should have knocked him out and locked him in the van.
“Some one killed them, then some one killed them again. Then the sick bastard posed them” Jared replied.
“Thank you captain obvious,” Chris said, his sense of humor as dead as his friend. Outside there were scattered shots as Steve and Sharon dealt with zombies that got to close and the steady roar of the dozer as it circled the courthouse. Jared headed for the stairs; the second and third floors were easy to clear. There were only the two Courtrooms and the judge’s chambers. Only in one of them had some one placed corpses. Sick bastard Jared thought. as he spotted a half open door at the end of the short hall way and nudged it open with the barrel of his rifle, daylight filtered down the steps beyond. “Roof” he said. “ Wait here Ill be right back”
It didn’t take him long to search the narrow strip of roof below the clock tower, and only a minute to check and clear the Clock tower itself. He scooped up the bag and the rifle he found on the floor then returned to the group.
Seth sat hidden from sight, and scared. More scared than the day his neighbors arrived. He had realized to late he had should have just shut the shelter door. But it was too late and he didn’t dare run over and close it now. Afraid that his guests would appear, and shoot him down while he was standing in the open shutting the door. He regretted the fact that he hadn’t dragged his fiancé over to hide with him. But a man can only remember so much when things are going into the crapper around him.
He heard boots on the stairs to the shelter and drew his pistol. Fear coursed thru him. “son of a bitch” the speaker had a deep voice, the kind Seth had always wished he had. Peering thru a crack he watched as a red headed man entered the room, carrying some kind of nasty looking military rifle, and wearing some kind of military vest with bulging pouches and pockets.
Seth continued to watch, as an old man hobbled into the main chamber, and then blond muscled bound man who looked nervous but the hands holding the rifle were steady. Seth lifted his pistol and aimed thru the crack. Mr. Commando’s time had just run out. He squeezed the trigger, the recoil almost ripped the pistol from his hand. The bullet went high and to the right.
Jared was just about to move into the stacks of Emergency supplies against one wall when a pistol roared and a bullet smacked the wall behind him. He shifted the commando and fired into the stack of crates at the far end of the room. Pappy let loose, firing fast and heavy.
Jared moved forward in a crouch, gliding with the predatory grace of a hunting tiger. Another shot went over his head and punched thru a box, the smell of spam filled the air. “ I’m coming for you, you son of a bitch,” Jared called out. He ducked as three more shots were fired. Jason flanked to the right sliding around stacks of crates and boxes trying to get a angle on the shooter.
Jared ducked bend a pillar and then looked around it quickly before ducking his head back. The bullet struck the pillar he was behind, drawing sparks. But in that quick glimpse he saw a greasy haired, fish white man with a narrow face and pug nose. His eyes looked wild holding a revolver. “ You have one bullet left asshole, you’re holding a Ruger blackhawk, it’s a six shooter. If you don’t get me with that last bullet, I’m going to pull your balls off your body then feed them to you!” Jared called out
Jason across the room shivered at the cold matter of fact tone in Jared’s voice. He could almost see the nut job, just a flash of shirt, behind a row of boxes just ahead of him, if he could just get a bit closer he could put the bastard down.
Seth patted his pockets and cursed, he was down to just that one bullet. He didn’t want to leave his fiancé, or his home. But the invaders were at the door. What the hell should he do now?
Jason cocked his head, for a moment he thought he heard someone speaking back there behind that stack of boxes. “What, are you sure?” the thin reedy voice said suddenly. Again, Jason thought he heard someone say something, low and barely audible. “All right then I trust you”
Jason looked around the boxes, and saw the idiot, alone, running for a metal door at the end of a narrow hall. He lifted his rifle and then froze for a heartbeat, he thought he had seen another man down there in the shadows. The proportions had been odd but it had been a person wearing some kind of domed hat.
He blinked and there were only shadows now, but that moment’s hesitation was all the fleeing man needed to get thru the door and slam it with a clang. He heard something like gears turning and then a thunk.
Jared burst around the line of boxes and ran to the door, finding it locked from the other side. “ son of a bitch “ he muttered angrily.
I think you need to come over here” Jill called out from between stacks of boxes. Jared slung his rifle, but kept his hand near the butt of his pistol as he walked over to stand by Jill. “ I thought I heard something. From over there,” she said pointing down the passage between the two stacks of boxes. At the end was a door se
t in a cement wall. Jared raised his rifle and listened for a moment.
“Sounds like grunting and moaning. It’s not a zombie whatever it is” Jared said as he walked slowly and carefully to the door. He knocked and immediately heard a noise like someone trying to speak.
“need Help?” Pappy asked from behind Jared.
Jared nodded as he moved back and to the side then motioned to Pappy to open the door. “I get fucking bombed, thrown through the air, saved a pussy and what do I get asked to do, open a damn Door.” Pappy mumbled as he moved to the left side of the door before reaching over and grasping the knob. Pappy glanced at Jared, who nodded, Pappy shrugged and threw open the door.
♦ ♦ ♦
Seth dropped into a chair in the sheriff’s office, and glared at the deputy sitting behind the desk. The man just stared back at him silently. “You hate me too, don’t you? Just like the asshole that was supposed to guard my door. Well I don’t care. I have friends in high places” He shouted then lowered his voice. He didn’t want his neighbors to hear him.