“No need to remain quiet any longer.”
He slid his FAL off his shoulder, switched the weapon to single shot mode, aimed, and fired a single round into the face of the closest deader, a man wearing a blue jacket with FEMA embroidered above the chest pocket. Its head exploded. Alissa unslung her Mossberg and blasted away at the living dead. Every shot that tore into a body disturbed a cluster of flies and wasps that took to the air and buzzed around their heads. It took less than a minute to clear the nineteen deaders from the room.
Alissa grabbed the cooler and headed for the opposite side of the morgue when Nathan reached out and held her arm. He ejected the empty magazine from his FAL, slipped it in his pocket, and inserted a full one.
“I’d do the same. Never move into a potential battle zone without being fully loaded.”
Alissa loaded her shotgun then followed Nathan deeper into the building.
Kiera stared out the passenger window, focusing on the corner of the orthopedics center. The first few deaders rounded the building and, upon seeing the pick-up and hearing its idling engine, increased their pace.
“We have two minutes at most.”
Chris leaned forward and followed her gaze, “Come on, guys. Hurry up.”
Nathan passed a metal door with an attached sign reading:
TO LOADING DOCK
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
“This way.”
Nathan opened the door and stepped through, stopping so suddenly Alissa bumped into his back.
“Why’d you—?”
Alissa let the question drop. The loading dock area had been used to quarter National Guard troops. She knew that because torn and bloody cots were strewn around the area and twenty deaders in tattered and bloodied camouflage uniforms stared back at them. The closest stood a few feet away and lunged. Nathan shoved Alissa back into the building, knocking her off balance and into the wall. He slammed the door, but the deader had already reached its arms through the opening, preventing it from being closed. Nathan tried pushing it away. The deader grabbed his sleeve. No matter how many times he closed the door, it would not let go.
“I need help.”
Alissa rushed over. She spun her Mossberg around and used to stock to smash the deader’s fingers, pummeling the hand two or three times before it released its grip. The deader fell away, only to be replaced by two more that pushed through the gap. She spun the weapon back around and aimed.
“Get out of the way.”
Nathan released the knob and jumped back. Alissa fired at the door, blasting away their hands. Several rounds of buckshot ricocheted off the metal, one slicing her across the left cheek. She ignored the sting and continued firing until she ran out ammunition. As she loaded more rounds into the Mossberg, Nathan rushed forward to close the door. Three more deaders pushed their way through and stumbled down the corridor after them. Alissa and Nathan gave up and ran.
Nathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the radio.
“Chris, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Change of plans. There are too many deaders between us and the rear exit. We’ll have to go out the front.”
“That isn’t going to work. The deaders have the front blocked and are already swarming along the sides of the building.”
Chris watched the horde spread out across the front lawn and move along the side of the building.
“What about the windows?” asked Kiera.
“I don’t follow.”
She pointed to the front of the building. “The windows are high up like in a house. Can they get out that way?”
“You’re brilliant, kid.” Chris keyed the radio. “Nathan, can you make it to the very front of the building, the side that faces the street?”
“We should be able to.”
“Then do it. We’ll pick you up there.”
“What are—”
“Trust me.” Chris placed the radio on the seat beside him and shifted the pick-up into drive. “Make sure your door is locked, kid. We’re about to get close and personal with those things.”
Kiera fingered the button that locked the door. “It’s about time.”
Nathan pocketed his radio and continued down the corridor. “Chris told us to meet him at the front of the building.”
“There’s no exit there.”
“He told me to trust him.” Nathan gave her a stern look.
To their rear, the deaders from the loading dock merged with those from the main building. Alissa kept checking on the pack. After a few minutes, sunlight filtered through ahead of them, coming from the doctors’ offices along the front façade. Nathan tried the first four doors he came to. All were locked.
“Screw this.”
Nathan kicked the door, breaking the lock and busting it open. Alissa closed it behind them as Nathan pushed the heavy desk across the floor, creating a barricade. Alissa rushed over to the windows, raised the pane, and punched out the screen. When she peered out, her heart dropped. Chris drove the pick-up toward the road.
Nathan joined her and cursed under his breath. “I told you we couldn’t trust that son of a bitch.”
Chris made a U-turn and proceeded down the driveway leading to the main road. Rather than turn right and head for safety, he turned left and backtracked to the front of the hospital, then pulled into the main parking lot. After a hundred feet, he veered left over the curb and crossed the grass in front of the orthopedics center. A group of deaders broke off from the main horde and swarmed around the Ram, enclosing it on all sides. Chris maintained a speed of ten miles per hour, pushing through the sea of living dead.
“Will they trap us?” Kiera asked, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.
“They shouldn’t as long as we keep moving.” Chris patted the dashboard. “There’s a lot of horsepower under the hood.”
Chris carefully maneuvered the pick-up against the building, scraping the right front fender along the wall to plow the deaders away until he pulled parallel with the front of the building. Hundreds closed in around them, those closest clawing at the glass, leaving streaks of congealed blood along the surface.
Kiera spotted the open window with the screen knocked onto the grass. A moment later, Alissa leaned out and waved. “There they are.”
Chris increased speed.
Alissa felt relief wash over her as she watched Chris re-enter the hospital from the front entrance and make his way toward the front of the building.
“You owe him an apology.”
“I’ll give it to him if he gets us out of here.” Nathan focused his attention on the growing mass of deaders around the pick-up. “I’m not sure he’s going to get through that.”
Alissa leaned out the window and waved to get their attention. Kiera waved back. For a brief second, Alissa allowed herself to think they might get out of this alive.
Then a pounding on the door snapped her back to reality. The first of the National Guard deaders had reached the office. The pounding changed to shoving as the mass of living dead grew. Enough weight gathered that they shoved aside the desk. Three deaders pushed their way into the office.
Chris drove the pick-up up to them. As Kiera lowered the passenger window, Alissa quickly handed her the cooler.
“We have deaders breaking through. Pull up a little so we can get into the bed.”
“But it’s covered.”
“We’ll have to make do. Move it.”
Nathan had already used his FAL to take down the first deaders that had entered, creating a log jam at the doorway. As more and more fought to get in, they tripped over those eliminated or shoved the desk even farther across the room, allowing more inside. Nathan ran out of ammunition and reloaded.
“I got this,” yelled Alissa. “Get in the truck.”
Nathan crawled through the window onto the bed. Dozens of dead hands reached out, trying to get a grip and drag him into the horde.
Alissa did not waste time with lining up each shot. Instead
, she fired into the heads of the closest threats, not caring if she took them down as long as she slowed the surge. When she heard Nathan call out, she emptied the rest of the shotgun into the pack and headed for the window. Nathan took the Mossberg from her and offered his hand, helping her onto the bed.
She had almost cleared the window when a decayed hand reached out and clutched her pants leg. Nathan tried to yank her free, but it gripped her too tight. Removing his hunting knife, he stabbed its arm, hoping to break its hold, but with no effect. More hands stretched through the window. Nathan crouched behind Alissa, wrapped his arms under her shoulders, and yelled, “Pull up five feet!”
Chris pressed the accelerator, but the Ram would not move because of the deaders packing it in. He tried a second time with the same results. By now, clutching dead hands filled the window. Alissa kicked at them, preventing them from getting a hold, it being only a matter of time before she would be pulled back into the office.
Chris rolled down the window and called to the back. “Hang on. This is going to be messy.”
Chris shifted into reverse and accelerated. There were fewer deaders to his rear, so the pick-up went back five feet. Nathan did not expect the pick-up to go in that direction and lost his balance. He fell onto the plastic cover and, in the process, yanked Alissa free from the deaders’ grip. However, being close to the edge of the bed, dozens of dead hands clawed at his face and shoulders. Alissa rolled onto her knees. Seeing the danger that threatened Nathan, she grabbed his ankles and pulled him away.
At that moment, Chris shifted into drive and accelerated again, using the space he had created to make headway through the horde. Rather than push the deaders aside, the Ram knocked them over and under the wheels. The already sickening stench intensified to nauseating levels as the bodies burst, releasing months of pent up gases. Angry flies and wasps attacked the windshield, blocking Chris’ vision so bad he switched on the wipers. He pushed on. The pick-up had the power and ability to drive over the dead and shove aside those around them, but the jostling proved a nightmare for Alissa and Nathan sitting on top of the plastic bed cover with nothing to hold on to. The first mound of living dead lifted the left side of the pick-up, throwing Alissa and Nathan to the right. Alissa dropped and rolled left to the center of the bed. Nathan bounced off the wall of the building, allowing him to kick himself back onto the pick-up.
Kiera crawled in back and opened the rear windows. “Give me your hands.”
Alissa crawled to the front of the bed and clutched Kiera’s left hand. Kiera wrapped both hands tight around Alissa’s wrists. Alissa stretched out her left leg. Nathan clutched her ankles with both hands and pulled himself away from the end of the pick-up.
Chris eventually made it past the horde onto the driveway leading from the Emergency Room and pulled out onto Route 302, putting several hundred feet between him and the deaders. He jumped out and opened the rear passenger door, then helped the others off the bed. Kiera crawled back in front.
“Anybody hurt?” he asked.
Nathan crawled into the back. “A lot of bumps and bruises, but we weren’t bitten.”
“Smooth ride,” teased Alissa as she got in.
“At least you’re alive.” Chris closed the door, climbed back into the driver’s seat, and sped north along Route 302. He kept his focus on the rearview mirror, checking on the horde. Sure enough, they were filtering onto the road and following, not that—
“Watch out!” yelled Kiera.
Several hundred deaders blocked the road. Woods lined both shoulders, making it impossible to pass. And the road behind them filled in with the living dead from the hospital. They would be surrounded in minutes.
Kiera glanced to the others in the cab. “We’re trapped.”
“Only if we stay here.” Alissa opened her door. “Kiera, follow me. And bring the cooler.”
As Alissa led Kiera into the tree line to the left, Chris and Nathan lifted the plastic cover to the bed. They each grabbed one of the four bug-out bags in back. Nathan grabbed an axe while Chris threw a two-hundred-foot length of rope over his shoulder. The closest deaders were only a few yards away. Nathan followed the women into the woods. Chris gave the horde the middle finger and joined his friend.
They caught up with Alissa and Kiera on the other side of the copse of trees. Alissa stood in the center of a sandbank one hundred feet wide and stretching for several hundred feet in either direction. The Saco River lay directly in front of them, the surface covered with ice.
Nathan stepped up to Alissa. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. We’re waiting for you.”
Moaning came from the woods behind them. The first of the deaders broke through onto the sandbank.
“Follow me.” Chris sprinted down to the edge of the river and crossed. He made it only a few feet when the scariest sound imaginable broke the silence.
The ice beneath his feet cracked.
Chapter Seventeen
“Don’t move,” warned Alissa.
“We have no choice.” Chris unslung the rope from his shoulder.
“We’ll drown if we try to cross,” said Nathan.
“It’s better than being eaten alive.” Chris uncoiled the rope.
Alissa checked on the deaders. The closest was seventy-five feet away.
Chris tied one end of the rope around his waist. “I’ll try to make it across and tie this rope to one of the trees so you can follow. If I fall through, pull me back.”
“You’ll never make.” Kiera undid the knot around Chris’ waist and tied it around her instead. “You’re too heavy. I weigh half as much. I have the best chance of getting across.”
No.” Alissa tried to take the rope away from her. “Your mother will kill me if anything happens to you.”
Kiera held her hands. “You know I’m right.”
Alissa still hesitated until Nathan said, “It’s the only way.”
Alissa hugged Kiera. “Good luck.”
Kiera set off across the ice. Chris wrapped the rope around him and played it out, ready to pull her back if necessary. Alissa and Nathan stood on either side of him, taking down deaders that got close.
Kiera made it halfway across the river when she heard the ice beneath her crack. She paused. A few feet ahead of her, the ice appeared translucent and water flowed beneath it. The dangerous patch spread ten feet in width. She knew she could never cross it, so she moved to the right until the ice became thicker, then darted across to the opposite side. Only as she reached the opposite bank and ran up to the trees did she realize she had been holding her breath. Rather than waste time trying to loosen the rope and tie it around a tree, she circled the closest tree three times then yelled out, “Ready.”
Chris didn’t need the acknowledgement. The moment he saw Kiera reach the other side of the river he passed the rope to Alissa.
“Go. Now!”
A pile of deader corpses littered the sandbank around Alissa and Nathan, but the horde emerging from the woods had grown too large to hold back. Slinging her shotgun over her shoulder and grabbing the cooler in her right hand, she wrapped her left arm around the rope and took off across the river.
“You’re next.” Chris handed Nathan the rope.
“Playing the hero?”
“If they follow you across here, their weight will take down the ice around you two. I’m going to lead them away and cross farther down.”
Before Nathan could say anything, Chris ran north along the sandbank, screaming at the deaders and firing wildly into the mass. Half the horde veered to the right and followed. The remainder bore in on Nathan. Loosely clutching the rope between the fingers of his left hand, he set off across the ice.
Alissa followed the path Kiera took, hoping the ice would hold under her weight. She heard a few minor cracks and felt the ice buckle under her feet, but it held. It took less than a minute to cross and she never felt so glad to be on dry land.
As Nathan passed the melted section of the rive
r on his left, he got an idea. He circled back, placing the weakened portion between himself and the deaders, then faced the horde and wrapped the rope around his waist several times.
“Come on, you rotting bastards. Time for a hot meal.”
As expected, the deaders closed in on him. The weakened portion around the melted section gave way first with a loud crack, dropping close to a hundred deaders into the river where the current washed them away. The horde surged forward, those in the lead also falling into the water and being swept downriver. The ice around the break weakened under the weight and collapsed, several hundred square feet at once, dropping even more deaders into the river. Those still on shore waded in, oblivious to the fate that waited them. One by one, the current dragged them away. A few reached out and grabbed onto the ice, clutching for safety, only to join the others when more ice broke free. An intrepid deader off to the far right, wearing a Florida Gators sweatshirt, attempted to go around the break but remained too close to the edge. Every few feet, the ice under its left foot gave way. The deader leaned to one side and moved forward. When twenty feet from Nathan, the ice beneath it broke. As it plunged into the water, it still managed to grip its fingers onto the sheet, trying to pull itself back up. Its efforts succeeded only in breaking away a chunk of the ice sheet it held on to. Nathan watched it flow down the river, still trying to climb out, until the chunk flipped and the Gator deader disappeared beneath the surface.
The deaders coming after Nathan had been swept away; however, several hundred still pursued Chris. He had sprinted fifty yards down the sandbank and paused, waiting for them to catch up. When he saw his friends had safely made it across and the pursuing deaders had fallen through the ice, he headed to shore. Cutting across the river, Chris stopped after twenty feet and emptied a full magazine into the ice a yard in front of him. He replaced the empty magazine as he walked backwards thirty feet, emptied the rounds into the ice in front of him, and repeated the process. The deaders closed in, passing over the shot-up ice. Halfway across, massive cracks formed, spreading rapidly in all directions. Chris spun around and ran for shore.
Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies (Book 2): Escape Page 13