Myriah stepped forward and brought her baseball bat down hard connecting with the concrete floor of the parking garage. She stepped forward again stifling the urge to scream out for her mom. A flailing foot from the Zombie kicked her in the shin. She didn’t lose her balance, but it did alert the Zombie something was standing there. It twisted around on the ground and launched itself in Myriah’s direction. Sensing the Zombie coming for her Myriah tried to jump to the side and collided headfirst with the mirror on the passenger side of the SUV. She gasped in pain and reached up to feel her head. She had a second to figure out the wet stuff leaking down her forehead was probably blood before the Zombie plowed into her. The impact slamming her body hard against the side of the SUV.
Kelly pulled a flashlight out of her pocket and fumbled around with it for a second or two trying to find the button that turned it on. When she finally figured it out, she aimed the tight beam of light at the side of the SUV. She saw the Zombie standing over Myriah. Myriah was rolling herself under the SUV to try and get away from the big brute of a Zombie they’d managed to get tangled up with. That big brute of a Zombie spun around to stare at the source of the beam of light that’d just revealed it. With murder in its eyes it charged Kelly.
Caitlyn stepped in from out of the darkness and swung the crowbar into the oversized monsters forehead. The crowbar bounced off the thick skull leaving a dent. The Zombie faltered for a second then turned to attack this new prey that’d just revealed itself. Kelly rolled her body over and swung her hatchet into its shin as hard as she could from the awkward angle that she’d ended up in. It was enough to make the Zombie trip as it lunged for Caitlyn. It landed on the ground and immediately started to spring back up. Kelly hit it in the leg again with her hatchet and just kept chopping away. Caitlyn swooped in and did the same on the Zombies head with the crowbar. At some point the Zombie stopped trying to stand up.
Kelly realized Caitlyn was screaming as she slammed the crowbar into the Zombies battered and broken skull. Then she realized she was screaming too. Myriah came out from under the Escalade and hustled both of them back towards the SUV. In the distance they heard Zombie screams starting to build up. The screams were distant for now, but the Zombies would be there all too soon. Caitlyn was sobbing from what’d just happened. Kelly thought they should go around back and start pushing. She was on the verge of grabbing Caitlyn to go do that when she heard Randy yelling for them to hurry up and get in.
Realizing that the low rumble she’d heard had been Randy starting the engine the three of them piled into the SUV. Kelly carefully moved the goggles to the far seat in the back and looked up to see what Randy was doing. As soon as Caitlyn had shut the door Randy had flicked on the lights and backed the big vehicle out of the parking spot it was in. He spun it around and aimed them towards the exit ramp. Kelly asked what he thought he was doing.
“I don’t feel like spending another day sitting here. Do you?” Randy asked.
“I don’t know. Wouldn’t it be safer to wait another day and try again? Maybe get these goggles charged up and figured out how to use them?” Kelly asked. Randy was already driving them towards the exit. The big SUV angled downwards on the ramp. In the light of the headlamps there was already at least one Zombie lurching towards them.
“That’d be a great idea if I didn’t think the Brotherhood was probably going to show up at some point tomorrow night. They’re probably already on the way here. It’d be hard to hide from them in this big ass black SUV surrounded by a pile of dead people.”
“Good point. Let’s get the hell out of here. What do you need me to do?” Kelly asked. She was worried about Randy driving since he didn’t look super sober. In addition to looking a little wild eyed he was also pale and, in enough pain, to make him wince when he had to turn the steering wheel to get around the tight corners.
“All good under the hood baby doll. If you want to take the copilots seat up here, I’ll let you know if I need to switch drivers or anything. May need you to ride literal shotgun if the Brotherhood show up or the Zombies get too deep.”
Kelly climbed up in the passenger seat and stared out the window. Randy had left the headlights on sacrificing stealth for visibility. In the tiny parking garage with the large concrete barricades and poles everywhere it just wasn’t going to work trying to maneuver in the dark. If they could get at least one pair of the night vision goggles to work they’d have a slightly higher chance of surviving the night.
“Caitlyn can you check the goggles and see if any of them work?” Kelly asked. Caitlyn and Myriah had been busy checking on the little kids and getting them in seat belts. At this new request Caitlyn immediately left that chore to Myriah and slid herself over to check on the goggles.
Randy ran over the first Zombie. It’d come straight at them. There was hardly any room to maneuver between the concrete pylons in the parking garage, so Randy just kept going straight. The Zombie tried to scramble up on the hood but lost its footing and ended up disappearing under the big black beast of an SUV. The Escalade handled that first Zombie without anyone in the vehicle even feeling the bump when the Zombie was smashed beneath the big tires.
“I think they work!” An excited Caitlyn announced from the seat behind Randy.
Randy immediately stopped the SUV and flipped off the headlights. Caitlyn handed him the pair she’d been testing. Everything had looked green out the back window, but she’d been able to make out the general shape of the garage. It should be good enough to allow them to drive without needing the headlights. A solid wall of screeching coming from the lower levels let them know they didn’t have a whole lot of time. Randy screwed around with the straps that held the contraption on his head until he thought he had it figured out. He tried to put it on his head and realized he didn’t have it figured out. The straps were too tight for him to pull the mask down.
A Zombie started slapping the window beside him. Kelly was yelling at him to hurry up. Caitlyn was handing another pair to Kelly to try on. Before Randy knew what was happening, he was being levered out of his seat to make room for Kelly to drive. He reflected that was probably a good idea since in the process of trying to put the mask on he’d realized that something in his shoulder just wasn’t working right. He’d almost blacked out from the pain when he’d moved his arm a certain way to try and put the goggles on. He settled into the passenger seat as Kelly took off driving entirely too fast. At least as far as Randy was concerned.
Randy still couldn’t get his goggles to strap on, so he moved the straps out of the way and just put the whole rig up to his face. He wasn’t able to hold it as still as he’d like with just the one good arm. It didn’t help that Kelly was driving like a drunk monkey on a snowmobile chasing a giant banana across a frozen lake. It was a weird analogy and yet another reason Randy realized he shouldn’t be driving. At this point they weren’t super sure which of the expired pain pills in the Ziploc baggies were which dosage, so it was a crap shoot if you were going to have your pain level reduced with or without hallucinating.
The Brotherhood may be a bunch of fascist pigs, but they had really good taste in automobiles. The pricey SUV handled like it was a sports car. Kelly zoomed around the tiny garage at a speed that she knew was going to freak everyone out, but it wasn’t like they had much choice. Given enough time this whole garage was going to be full of Zombies screaming for blood.
They normally tried to avoid running over Zombies for fear of what they may do to the tires and the engine components underneath whatever they were driving. Kelly made an exception this time. She ran down anything that got in their way. The Escalade hadn’t had any issues with it so far. The shiny chrome grill was going to be a mess by the time they got to the bottom but as long as they were still mobile, she could care less. Despite her challenged visibility she was able to tell when they reached the exit to the garage. She’d been worried the gate would be closed and there’d be a massive horde of Zombies on the other side screaming for fresh meat. It turne
d out pretty anticlimactic. She drove quickly down the exit ramp without seeing a single Zombie.
At the bottom of the ramp she slowed down to turn out of the valet area and onto the street. Randy and Caitlyn both found themselves gasping for air. Neither had realized it but they’d been holding their breaths during the horrifying drive down to the bottom. Randy had almost put his goggles in his lap as riding in the dark would’ve been less terrifying. Kelly was stopped and adjusting the straps on her goggles when a motion caught all of their eyes. A group of men were running in single file across the street towards them. The men were all loaded up for going to war. They approached the SUV forming a semicircle around it. Randy wondered why the men charging them hadn’t started pointing their guns at them yet. Instead they seemed to be approaching almost casually. Then Randy understood.
“Ram through them. They think we’re the team they had upstairs. As soon as they figure out who we actually are this whole situation changes.” Kelly nodded. She’d already worked it out herself and come to the same conclusion. She cast a quick look back over her shoulder.
“Kids. Get down on the ground right now and hang on.”
Then she floored it.
Chapter 23: Baiting the Trap
“Muster time man. Wake up. You’ve got five minutes to get your toes on the line.”
Kyler looked down at the man who’d just poked him. He was going to ask him what he was talking about but before he could get the words out the guy disappeared out the door. Below him he could hear noises as the guy on the bottom rack started getting dressed. Not seeing any way out of it Kyler sat up and tied his boots. It was pretty much all the undressing he did for bed now a days. About the tenth time you go hauling ass out of a window through the woods with Zombies trying to eat you ensuring you’re wearing pants and shoes at all times becomes a solid habit. If there’s anything worse than being chased by Zombies through the woods, it’s being chased by Zombies through the woods while you’re half naked.
“You ready man?” The guy in the bottom bunk asked Kyler.
“Good to go.” Kyler said as he lowered his aching body down the side of the bunkbed. The guy on the floor got a good look at his scars.
“You look like you’ve been there and done that. I’m Rodriguez.” The man held out his hand for Kyler to shake.
“Cool. I’m Kyler. What’s the deal here?” Kyler asked as he shook the proffered hand.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Time to earn our enormous perks and fat paychecks.” Rodriguez spun on his heel and led the way out of the trailer. A few more men joined them in the narrow hallway leading to the exit. Most of them looked at Kyler distrustfully not relaxing until Rodriguez nodded at them to signal that he knew him.
Krantz was standing outside waiting for the men to assemble. All told there ended up being about fifteen of them including Kyler and Krantz. Kyler fell in behind the first line of people and stood in the same pose the others were maintaining. Krantz may be a raging alcoholic but he demanded a certain level of discipline in his men. There were much worse things than having to stand quietly while you waited for some officer prick to decide you’d been standing there long enough. Krantz waited until everything had gotten into position before addressing them.
“Good morning men. We’ve got a noob for those of you who don’t smell the fresh meat. Rodriguez, I’m pairing him up with you to learn the ropes. Try not to get him get killed. It’s getting harder to get replacements. He’s more like an eagle scout than an army scout.” Krantz waited for Rodriguez to bark out a yes sir then continued talking. “We’ll be baiting the place up tonight when everyone rolls out. We’ve got to collect the bait and verify everything’s locked down then we can all get some shut eye. It’s going to be a long night. We’ll meet back here at twenty-one hundred. Any questions?”
No one had any questions so Krantz peeled off a few of them to go check on the bait then told Rodriguez to take the eagle scout and verify all the locks. Once his orders were given Krantz disappeared back into his trailer to drink himself into a nice long nap.
“Ok. We get to grab a cart and make sure everything’s locked up tight. You need to take a piss or anything before we leave?” Rodriguez asked him. Kyler shook his head no and followed Rodriguez over to a shed that had a green golf cart with giant wheels sitting in it. They climbed into the cart and Rodriguez started digging in the console to find the key.
“What are we doing?” Kyler asked.
“We’re going to fire up this contraption and drive around to make sure all the buildings are locked up tight. This is where all the supplies go that the looters load onto the trucks. It’s all been counted so the leaders know how much is here and can plan out the best way to use it. Our job’s to protect it.”
“So, we’re going to fight off the Zombies?” Kyler asked. This whole plan wasn’t making a ton of sense to him.
“Nope. The opposite. We know a herd’s on the way. You can’t have this many people and machines doing stuff in the same place for this long and not have ‘em show up. So, we lock the doors, lure the Zombies in then leave them behind to guard the warehouse for us. It’s dangerous work. We’re still trying to figure out the best way to get it done but it seems like it’s pretty effective. We can’t exactly hire a security company to monitor our junk for us.”
Kyler nodded his head as Rodriguez wrapped up the explanation. It made sense. It was genius really. Instead of letting the Zombies showing up ruin the idea for the warehouses someone had figured out a way to turn it into a positive. They began driving and wrapping big chains and locks around doors after checking out the insides of the warehouses. The warehouses were packed with supplies. Enough to keep hundreds of people stocked up for years. Weapons, food, water, building supplies, medicine, and a ton of other stuff was sorted in bins inside the giant buildings.
“How do we get the Zombies to hang out here?” Kyler asked as they were driving between buildings.
“That’s the messed-up part. We leave the people who’ve been sentenced chained up inside as bait. We have pens built for them. That’s what those plastic boxes are for.”
Kyler had seen the plastic boxes with the supplies in them but hadn’t really put a lot of thought into what they were for. They drove past one a minute later and he noticed the chain bolted to the floor for the first time. The plastic box was about a hundred square feet of living. Assuming the walls held from the Zombies pouring in and the person in the box didn’t go crazy and figure out a way to kill themselves. There were cases of water and food in some of them. Kyler began to see why Krantz was an alcoholic. It was probably the crutch Krantz needed to be able to stay sane being involved in something like this.
“So, they just get stuck in these houses and the Zombie’s stay here trying to get at them until they run out of water and die?” Kyler asked. He was feeling a little nauseous thinking about it.
“Yeah. Sucks for them but they only pick people who deserve it. Most of them are traitors or rapists or murderers or some other kind of criminal scumbag. Leadership here is all about using the whole buffalo you know. So instead of just hanging these assholes off the closest power pole as an example for everybody they use them to get the Zombies to settle in around these warehouses. A big part of our job is to make sure the fences get sealed up good and tight.”
“Seems kind of messed up.” Kyler responded.
“Yeah it is. But they never send us women or kids if that’s what you’re worried about. I don’t know if I could leave a kid or a woman in box like that. A rapist though? Not a problem. A traitor? The dudes trying to get me killed. Screw him. Hand me that chain.” Rodriguez grabbed the chain Kyler offered him and wrapped it around the last door they were responsible for checking. He seemed to think the conversation around locking up people in plastic boxes as Zombie bait was over.
“When do they put them in the boxes?” Kyler asked.
“They’ve probably already started. They normally get them to do some Oxy and giv
e them some liquor to sedate them. It works good except for the ones who get violent on that combo. Also, the ones who die if we let them get too much of it. We learned that one the hard way. Once they start mellowing out, we move them into the pens and get them secured. Hope you’re still not having too many problems with it cause that’s where we’re heading now that we’re done with the doors.”
Kyler leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. He felt the tattoo on his back burning into his soul. He caught himself trying to justify shoving people into plastic boxes. He couldn’t really think of a way to justify it. Who was the one deciding who was going to end up as bait? Who was the one deciding if someone was a murderer or not? Pretty much most the people alive today had killed infected or other people to get to where they were today. It just seemed like it’d be too easy for whoever was in charge to toss people into the bait box to get rid of them.
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