Navarro knew that the man’s scream would echo in his head for the rest of his life, but he gunned the engine. They continued their panicked retreat down the street as the gas cloud enveloped the mob clustered around Eli.
Navarro hoped that the gas took the man before the zombies did.
They shot backwards down the street with no clear direction other than to get away from the gas cloud. Their escape ended when the MAV plowed into a parked truck with the collision causing Gardner to flip into the front seat of the MAV with a loud grunt.
“What the hell?” Navarro said, partially stunned.
Gardner groaned, but sat up and said, “You hit something, Dom.” He rubbed the back of his head for a moment, but knew there was no time to waste. “Can this thing still get us out of here?”
Navarro’s good eye blinked his good eye for a few seconds, his vision still looking partially hazy. He knew they had to move, so he went to work on the controls. The MAV shot forward a few feet, but he slammed on the brakes because the gas cloud was still drifting in from that direction.
“Gards, I can’t see shit,” Navarro said. “You need to be my navigator.”
Gardner stood up, wobbled a little, but firmed up by putting a steadying hand on the bulkhead. He reached up and shut the door Eli had exited through, then fell into the seat Eli had vacated.
“Sure,” he said, “turn this thing to the right and get us the hell out of here.”
The last thing Gardner saw was the gas cloud floating over the zombies, causing them to spasm from its effect. It made him think of Michael Jackson’s thriller video and almost made him laugh. Almost.
Navarro did as Gardner said and turned the MAV to the right and hit the gas. They made it fifty feet when Gardner told him to make another right. While his vision was terrible, it was good enough to see the walls of the Sanctum ahead. It was also good enough for him to see a swarm of the undead mobbing the area around the front gate and heading inside.
“Fuck me,” Navarro said. “Where should I drive, Gards?”
“Anywhere but here,” Gardner replied. “That gas is still behind us.”
Navarro cut the wheels to the left and headed in that direction, following the curve of the wall, hoping for any inspiration. All he wanted to do was to get back inside.
Chapter 94
Knocking on Hell’s Door
Jo hit the gas, and the Humvee shot forward. The big metal door slammed against the ground on its end. After it hit, the door immediately started to fall inwards. The men dropped what they were carrying and jumped forward to catch it. The door’s weight nearly took down the first two of them, but the other men stepped in and braced it up. But their troubles were just beginning.
The mob of zombies outside the wall surged forward, trying to take advantage of the opening. Their combined pressure nearly took the door down again, but four of the men put their backs against the door, holding it in place. The zombies pressed against the door, pushing it so hard that the men had to dig their feet into the ground to stand up against it.
Henry saw their plight and sprung forward, yelling back to Molly, “Come with me!”
Molly hesitated initially but ran after Henry along the narrow catwalk at the top of the wall. Normally, she wouldn’t have attempted it. At least not at this speed, but this was her chance with Henry.
Once they got to the section of the wall where the men were struggling to keep the door in place, Henry leaned out and over the wall. He aimed down with his rifle and let loose with a barrage of shots onto the heads of the zombies. Molly glided in next to him and followed his lead. She aimed down onto the zombies and blasted away, her bullets slamming into the zombie’s skulls. They collapsed into the line of zombies behind them, toppling the group like dominos.
Henry wheeled around and shouted down to the men at the door, “Get that door braced -- now!”
The men went to work, jamming the ends of the boards into the ground and placing the other end against the door. Two of the men went to work, pounding long spikes into the ground at the edge of the boards. It was a crude way to lock them in place, and no one expected them to last that long. That wasn’t the intent, but it had to hold up for a while. If one part of this crazy plan went awry, then they all could end up dead.
Once the door looked reinforced enough, Henry shouted down to them, “Get to the south wall. Run!”
They didn’t need to be told twice and took off running south. The men disappeared around the corner of the building, moving as fast as their legs could carry them.
Henry turned to Molly and said, “Let’s get back to the gate.”
They made their way quickly back to their earlier position, standing atop the wall just on the left side of the gate. Kent worked frantically to move the blade on the bulldozer, back and forth and up and down to prevent the zombies from getting over or under the blade.
They all knew it was ultimately a losing battle. Once the other gate fell, the zombies would stream inside. But that was the point. They just needed enough time for the people to get ready to flee outside the north and south walls.
Henry pressed the talk button on the walkie-talkie and said, “Bonds, come in.” He released the button and waited.
Bonds answered ten seconds later, “What?”
“Are you in position?” Henry asked.
“Yes, we’re ready,” Bonds said.
The plan involved getting everyone inside the dorm on the south side and then to wait for the signal from Henry. Once that came, the people would head outside and make a run for the closest buildings. The one thing they couldn’t do was leave too early. If they did and the zombies on the east or west sides saw them and came after them, then all was lost.
“Hold until I contact you again,” Henry said.
Jo skidded the Humvee to a stop beside the bulldozer. Kent was still frantically working to keep the zombies from getting around the blade with limited success. They squeezed under it and around it, but the four shooters on the ground shot each one of them. The bodies were starting to build up, though.
Jo craned her head out the window and yelled toward the men, “You guys can go now.”
One of them, a broad-shouldered man with a bushy beard, asked, “You sure?”
“Yeah,” Jo said, “They’re going to need you with the exit.”
“Well, okay,” the man said, but he still hesitated.
His three companions did not wait and were off and running. When he saw that he was on his own with no back-up, his feet decided for him, and he quickly followed after them.
A zombie squirmed under the blade, but Clayton drew a bead on him with the .50 caliber. It only took one shot, but it obliterated the zombie’s face and head.
“Clayton, don’t waste your ammo,” Jo shouted. “We’re going to need that for what’s ahead.”
“It was only one shell,” Clayton said.
“It could come down to a single shot,” Jo said. She turned her attention to Kent and yelled to be heard over the roar of the bulldozer’s engine. “Kent, are you ready?”
Kent looked over to her, and nothing in his face said he was ready. Still, he raised his hand and gave her a shaky thumbs-up from inside the cab of the bulldozer. Sure, he had tempered glass surrounding him, but it didn’t seem all that safe. Not safe at all.
Up on the wall, Henry said to Molly, “You know what you have to do.”
Henry knelt while raising his rifle and aimed into the mob of zombies outside the wall. Molly slowly lowered herself beside him but didn’t look nearly as resolved as he was. Still, she aimed her rifle at the zombies, then said, “I’ll take the ones on the right.”
Henry didn’t respond or even look her way. That stung her, but she knew she had bigger problems and locked her sights on a zombie trundling toward the wall. That ugly son of a bitch would be the first one she shot.
Down on the ground, Jo shouted over to Kent, “Let’s get going.”
Chapter 95
Out Front
“What the hell are they doing?” Lassiter asked as he watched the MAV come into view and stop well away from the horde of zombies collecting in front of the gate.
“There’s no way they’re getting in this gate,” Mason said. “I mean, look at them? They’re eight or ten rows deep.” He waved a hand over the dead swarming below. Each one of their eyes looked up at the three humans standing at the top of the wall. There was nothing but hunger in those eyes. Hunger and wanting.
“Yeah, it’d be better if they went around to the back,” Donovan said.
“Do you think it’s better back there?” Mason asked.
Donovan looked down at his feet and just shook his head. “No, probably not.”
The MAV took a hard right and headed off in that direction, disappearing from view when it passed behind a long two-story building.
“Looks like they’re going somewhere,” Mason said.
“Yep,” Lassiter said.
The three men didn’t speak for nearly a minute. The zombies moaned in expectation, with some of them clawing at the wall and the gate. Their fingernails made eerie scratching noises on the gate, making Lassiter wince. To him, it was like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“Don’t want to surprise either of you, but to keep them grouped up on the gate, I’m going to shoot one of them,” Lassiter said.
“Makes sense,” Donovan said.
Lassiter looked down into the undead faces, his handgun held out. His aim drifted from face to face, but he didn’t pull the trigger.
“This is harder than I thought,” Lassiter said.
“You mean shooting them?” Mason asked, looking askance at Lassiter.
“No, picking one,” Lassiter said. “I mean, there’s so many. How do I choose?”
“Just pick one,” Donovan said.
Lassiter still refrained from pulling the trigger.
“Do eenie meenie,” Mason said.
Lassiter let out a chuckle and said, “Why not?”
He worked through eenie meenie miney mo and said, “You are it,” he shot a tall zombie with bushy hair and bloody teeth in the face. The zombie collapsed into the scrum of undead. Just as quickly as they fell, other zombies moved into the space, ignoring the fact that they were standing on top of one of their undead brethren. They did seem to get more excited for a few seconds but calmed down into grunts and groans a few moments later.
“You should head to the north wall,” Lassiter said. “I can handle this.”
“We’ll stay,” Donovan said.
“This is my job,” Lassiter said. “These are my people.”
“We’re all in this together,” Donovan said.
“So, we all go down together,” Lassiter asked.
“Or survive,” Donovan said.
“You’re an optimist, aren’t you?” Lassiter asked.
Donovan mulled the question over as they listened to the moaning zombies below.
“Yeah, or else I wouldn’t have tried to survive the world going down the drain,” Donovan said. “I know a lot of people checked out when it got bad. They just couldn’t cope.”
“I saw that, too,” Lassiter said, slowly shaking his head.
The three men stood in silence for almost a minute, looking out over the sea of undead below them. Lassiter’s shot worked like a charm, drawing the undead toward the gate. The plan called for keeping the undead focused on the west side. For the grand scheme to be effective, they couldn’t let any zombies waltz off to the north or south where the people were waiting to escape.
“Should we call out back?” Mason said.
“They said they’d call us,” Lassiter replied.
“Still…” Mason said.
“They probably have their hands full,” Donovan said.
“Or they’re already dead,” Lassiter said.
Donovan tilted his head and looked sideways at Lassiter. “Geez, you are a pessimist.”
“Or a realist,” Lassiter replied.
Donovan shook his head, and as if on cue, Henry’s voice blared out of the tiny speaker on the walkie-talkie clipped onto Lassiter’s waist.
“We’re getting ready to start back here,” Henry said.
With no apparent sense of urgency, Lassiter raised the walkie-talkie and pressed the talk button. “We hear you.”
“Are you ready?” Henry asked.
“Affirmative,” Lassiter replied and clicked off the talk button.
There was a long pause, and Henry came on, but he sounded a little awkward, “Good luck.”
“You, too,” Lassiter replied, and that was it from Henry.
“Aren’t you a talker,” Mason said.
Lassiter re-clipped the walkie-talkie to his belt and shrugged. “You think this plan is going to work?” He asked.
“It has to,” Donovan replied.
Lassiter sucked in a long breath of air then said, “It has been my experience that there is an extra-wide gulf between ‘it has to,’ and it will.”
Donovan closed his eyes, and it was easy to see that he was getting close to the end of his rope, but he must have gotten himself under control.
“Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Donovan said.
“You two go down to the gate,” Lassiter said. “I take the two hand grenades I have and drop them down into the crowd outside the gate. You swing the gate wide open and run like hell for the north wall.”
“And you follow us,” Donovan said.
“Yeah, if this whole thing doesn’t go FUBAR,” Lassiter said.
“You know, you’re starting to get on my last nerve,” Donovan said.
Lassiter was quiet for a moment, then Mason said, “Maybe it’s better if we don’t talk.”
Lassiter said, “Affirmative,” and they went quiet, watching and waiting.
Chapter 96
All Ahead Full
Kent stared in front of the bulldozer, taking an assessment of what was ahead. There was no doubting that there was no way he was going to keep the zombies out with the blade of the bulldozer forever. Worse than that was the remaining gate was about to give way. This was the stepping off point, and he felt like the first step was off a cliff.
He knew it was do or die time. He’d much rather have it be ‘do and live,’ so he pressed down the gas pedal. The bulldozer jerked forward, knocking the gate off its hinges and smashing it down onto a half dozen zombies. The gate flapped open, sending a small cluster of zombies onto the ground where they rolled along like rag dolls thrown by a child.
The bulldozer moved ponderously slow, but so did the zombies. And they weren’t very smart and failed to get out of the way. He crushed the one’s right straight ahead to pulp and kept plowing along.
The ones on each side of the bulldozer were a completely different story. They took immediate notice of the tasty human inside the machine, making so much noise. Getting up onto the machine at the human became the first order of business for the zombies. Their problem was they didn’t understand how the treads worked on the dozer, but that lack of understanding didn’t stop them from trying to climb up. Each time they did, the treads grabbed them and pulled them back and under, dumping them on the ground where they were either crushed or tossed aside.
The zombies nearest the gate had one of two decisions to make. They could follow the big machine to get at the man inside or head inside the gate to get at the humans there. As it turned out, it was a split decision, with half following the bulldozer and the other half starting to make their way inside.
That’s where Jo and Clayton came into play. Because of their plan, they needed a clear path to the back of the bulldozer. To keep that path open, Clayton used the .50 caliber machine gun. Once a mob of zombies collected outside the gate, he opened up on them, spraying bullets into their midst. The assault shredded the zombie’s bodies, sending explosions of blood, tissue, and shattered bones spraying into the air.
Up on the wall, Henry and Molly remained poised for Kent’s next move. Each of
them held their fingers on their triggers, ready to play their role when the time came.
Kent pushed the bulldozer to about fifty feet off the gate and brought the giant mechanical beast to a stop. In precise moves, he pivoted the bulldozer in a circle. Unsuspecting zombies, not ready for the action, were knocked to the ground and pulverized into mush as the bulldozer rolled over them.
“You ready?” Jo yelled back to Clayton.
“I was born ready,” Clayton yelled back.
On the wall, Henry said, “Wait until Kent gets out of the cab.”
As if on cue, Kent finished the spin of the bulldozer with it facing back toward the gate. Smoke belched out of its metal stack on the back of the machine, then he shut it down.
“Time to roll,” Jo said, and she pushed the accelerator down.
Clayton targeted the zombies that had flowed into the path made by the bulldozer and let go with the machine gun. As always, the bullets worked their horrible dark magic, ripping zombies apart. Some of the zombies looked as if they were dancing a ferocious jitterbug as the bullets tore through their bodies.
Jo pushed the Humvee forward at a steady pace, not too fast or slow. The wheels of the vehicle rolled over the bloody bodies of the zombies. Any that survived the onslaught of Clayton’s attack were ended as the wheels of the Humvee squished them flat.
“Get ready,” Henry told Molly.
She didn’t say anything but leaned in over her rifle and focused intently on the zombies just to the right of the bulldozer.
Clayton swiveled his machine gun left and right, churning out bullets at a dizzying pace. Zombies were ruined by his shooting, falling to the ground, bloody messes.
Jo slow-braked as she was about on the bulldozer and then hit the brakes hard, skidding in the soft dirt. The front grill bar of the Humvee kissed the front of the bulldozer, and that’s when Kent opened the glass door of the cab.
This was the most dangerous moment of their whole maneuver. Getting Kent out and across the front of the bulldozer left him open and exposed to any zombie attacks, but that’s where Henry and Molly came in. Because the Humvee was so close to the bulldozer, Clayton didn’t have the angle of fire he needed.
The Deadland Chronicles | Book 4 | Siege of the Dead: Page 40