They drove around the warehouses and out towards a smaller building on the edge of the parking lot. It looked like it may have housed cleaning supplies or something at some point in the past. It’d been converted to a makeshift prison. About fifty men dressed in rags were milling around in the shade of the building inside a fenced in area. A guard sat on top of the building with a cross bow and a rifle. Kyler assumed if someone was trying to break out the guard would take a shot with the crossbow. Shooting guns would bring too many Zombies too quickly. The guard had his real weapon on his side. A walkie talkie he could use to have the rest of the guards show up to put a stop to anything the prisoners may try.
A red pickup truck was pulling away from the building. The truck had a couple of guards in it with four prisoners sitting in the back. The prisoners had their hands and legs secured so were sitting pretty awkwardly. Their faces showing the effects of the Jack Daniels and Oxy they’d been given. Kyler wondered if they had any idea where they were being taken. If they did, they might have tried harder to get a lot higher. If you had to pick a way to go out, then a drugged-out overdose seemed a lot better than sitting in a plastic box until Zombies broke in to eat you alive. Depending on how solid those plastic houses were Kyler guessed they also had the option of slowly starving to death.
Rodriguez parked the golf cart and got out. Kyler hopped out as well and followed Rodriguez over to another pickup truck sitting beside the building. Kyler noticed the truck had some people tied up in the back so that was great. A guard standing there told them what warehouse to take the four prisoners to they had in the back. Rodriguez got in the driver’s seat while Kyler hopped in the back to keep an eye on the prisoners. When they were settled in Rodriguez started driving towards the area they’d been assigned.
Kyler looked down at the drugged-out group he was watching over. He noticed one of the men was staring at him and seemed familiar. After looking at him a little longer he recognized him as one of the guys from the back of the tractor trailer that he’d ridden to the base in. No way that guy was a murderer or a rapist. He was just one of the looters who’d been caught up in the escape. The man was trying to tell him something, but his mouth was too relaxed from the drugs. Kyler forced himself to make eye contact. He wanted to feel something for this guy. He wanted to do the right thing.
“Help me get this one secured.” Rodriguez said breaking the trance Kyler was in.
Kyler jumped over the side of the pickup truck and helped Rodriguez drag off one of the prisoners. Kyler fireman carried the dead weight of the bound prisoner over to the entrance to the plastic pen and shoved him in. Once he was all the way in Rodriguez went around to the other side to handcuff the guy to the chain that came up out of the floor. It was long enough to give the prisoner room to move all around the small plastic prison but if he managed to break free, he wouldn’t be able to actually go anywhere.
The doors were crude but effective. They used a wooden frame with big pieces of thick clear plastic screwed to them. Rodriguez told Kyler the holding pens always looked different at the different facilities because they’d use whatever materials were on hand to build them. The pens were started as soon as the warehouse area was cleared of Zombies. They were started even before the first truck rolled in from the looters. One of the warehouses here had happened to have a ton translucent plastic sheeting so they’d come up with the idea of building these little see through greenhouse looking things. The whole idea was to drive the Zombies crazy trying to get at the human happy meal inside.
When enough Zombies tried to tear something apart it normally ended up getting torn apart. These structures were built pretty solid as far as Kyler could tell but they wouldn’t hold up forever. Kyler watched as Rodriguez finished shackling the guy to the floor and locking up the pen. They walked back to the truck to drive to the next site. Kyler hopped into the back again. This time he did his best not to look at the guy he’d recognized. He felt like if he was going to have said something, he would’ve done it when they chained the previous guy up. For all he knew that guy was just as innocent as the guy he recognized from the tractor trailer ride.
Kyler grabbed the other two guys out of the back of the truck for the next two stops. He was putting off the inevitable. He knew the right thing to do was pull out his gun and make a run for the border with the man he’d recognized. If he didn’t do that, he was complicit in getting an innocent man killed. A man whose only crime had been trying to survive. His punishment for knowing this base existed was to be made part of the permanent force left behind. If he chained this guy up, he was a murderer.
Kyler tried to hold off the rationalization. His mind desperately searching for a way to justify what he knew he’d be faced with doing in a few minutes. Maybe this guy really was a criminal? If he tried to rescue the guy, then they’d both just end up dead. He could fight the Brotherhood better if he stayed alive and kept their trust. By the time the truck rolled to a stop by a metal spike in the ground he’d convinced himself to go with the flow. His conscience tried to rear back up for another try, but he’d already let himself slide down the rationalization slope.
The guy Kyler had saved from the greenhouse pens was to be shackled to a stake in the ground and left to be ripped apart by the first wave of Zombies. Kyler helped chain the man up then walked back to the truck. He could feel the man’s eyes boring into his back. Kyler had been very purposeful in not making eye contact with the prisoner while he shackled him up. He’d completely screwed the guy by saving him for last. He didn’t even get a pen to hang out in or any snacks.
“Hey. Any idea what that guy did?” Kyler asked Rodriguez who’d leaned against the side of the truck for a smoke break.
“No clue. I know we got a lot more people to use bait than usual. I think some refugees may have showed up here looking for shelter. Once they see the place they’re not allowed to live. We use a higher level of citizen here to sort everything. They all get special treatment so they’re pretty loyal overall. We don’t have to worry as much about them running off and telling the world where we’ve hidden all our supplies.”
Kyler stopped walking and watched as Rodriguez continued moving towards the truck. Rodriguez was intent on getting in the truck and getting back to the trailer to rest up before the Zombies started to show. Kyler thought about how easy it’d be to just shoot Rodriguez in the back and leave. He could walk back and unshackle the innocent he’d just handcuffed to a steel pike to be served up for the Zombies. It could’ve been him that was being left there. Kyler had actually started reaching for his gun when Rodriguez reached the truck and opened the driver’s side door. Rodriguez looked back and noticed the weird expression on Kyler’s face.
“Hey man. This messed me up to the first couple of times too. Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. The world’s different now. You just got to roll with it man. Remember it’s better to be the guy handcuffing people than the guy getting handcuffed. Right?”
Kyler’s hand fell back to this side. He felt his face stretching out in a big fake smile. He heard himself agreeing with what Rodriguez had said. It was like someone else was saying the words. He walked over and sat down in the truck next to Rodriguez. They talked about inconsequential things as they drove back to the trailer. Kyler had done nothing to save an innocent life. He was wracked with guilt lying in the top bunk of the room on top of the rumpled Toy Story sheets. They had the alarm in the room set to give them a solid four hours of sleep before muster. He stared at the ceiling waiting for the alarm to ring. Below him he heard Rodriguez snoring.
Four hours later the alarm went off. Kyler was shocked that he’d actually been able to fall asleep. He wiped his eyes to remove the marks of the tears he’d shed at his own cowardice. It sucked to let yourself down. You always told yourself that if you were in a situation where it mattered, you’d do the right thing no matter what. It was a massive let down when you finally got tested and you failed. Kyler assumed everyone he’d ever known in his life would
be ashamed of him for what he’d done. He was disgusted at his own actions.
On the muster line they were given assignments again that didn’t make a ton of sense to Kyler. Krantz ordered him to stick with Rodriguez again to see how it was done. Wondering what ‘it’ was and how much more of his soul doing ‘it’ was going to cost him Kyler walked with Rodriguez over to where the golf cart was parked.
“The patrols will start letting the Zombies through now. Once a few of them get close enough they’ll start seeing the people we have as bait and go into their screeching routine. We’ll have some men shoot off some fireworks right before dawn. The fireworks should attract a ton of them. A lot have been homing in on this depot already anyway. That’d be why we’re leaving now.” Rodriguez steered the golf cart for the fence on the other side of the base from where they’d come in at.
“What do we do?” Kyler asked.
“We wait until a ton of Zombies have gotten inside the fence then we get to shut the gate and lock them in.” Rodriguez said flashing a big grin at the look on Kyler’s face. “Yeah, it’s dangerous as hell.”
Chapter 24: Careless and Reckless
The Escalade accelerated fast enough to have Kelly struggling to get the steering wheel turned quickly enough to avoid the massive concrete divider in the valet area. She was entirely focused on not crashing. She barely even noticed the soldier she ran over as she was turning out onto the main street. Some part of her mind noted the sound of gunfire and breaking glass all around her, but she didn’t let it distract her. Everyone in the world that she loved was in the big metal box on wheels she was trying to drive through a mob of Zombies while being shot at. She wasn’t going to let any of them get killed because of her.
Randy pushed himself back into his seat. He’d considered putting the window down and sticking his gun out to take potshots at the men shooting at them. With the wildly erratic driving Kelly was doing though he didn’t think he’d have any chance of hitting anything. He decided he’d save his ammunition and just work hard on praying none of the bullets slamming into the Escalade actually found a target. He was also hoping none of those bullets managed to pop a tire or hit anything important in the engine.
They were approaching a T intersection at a speed that didn’t seem survivable. The back window was getting peppered with bullets that were ripping up the fancy leather seats. The kids in the back were screaming in fear. Randy glanced back and saw that Tony had managed to drag himself over to the seat the kids were on. He was lying with his body protecting Zoey, Doreen and Ali from any bullets that may come straight in from the back.
The gunfire cut off suddenly. Kelly felt like they’d been getting shot at for hours but in reality, it couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds. The brief gun battle having been brought on by the surprised reaction of the men who’d been sent there to capture them. Those men had expected to walk in and find the earlier team had already taken care of the fugitives. When they’d seen the black Escalade cruising down the ramp, they’d basically thought it was mission over. Now they realized the heavy price they were going to have to pay for reacting the way they had. The gunfire stopped as the inhuman screeches from the Zombies echoed loudly throughout the whole city.
At the intersection Kelly cut the wheel hard to the left. The SUV fishtailed and bounced off the remains of a FedEx truck that’d caught on fire at some point. Bouncing crazily away from the FedEx truck they slammed into a couple of small cars that the big SUV sent flying into the glass windows of a bar. Zombies started appearing in the street in force. Nests of Zombies huddled together in the dilapidated skyscrapers heard the gunfire and the sounds of the SUV coming down the street. Thousands of Zombies from all over the city desperate for human flesh began to converge on the area of town the noise was coming from.
Kelly kept the accelerator glued to the floorboard. They were in a race with time now. Would they make it out before the streets were too flooded with Zombies for them to be able to make it? They weren’t in a secure gigantic tank with blacked out windows anymore. The back window was gone except for some jagged shards around the edges. Most of the other windows were barely holding on. They couldn’t just stop and let the Zombies wander around them this time while they hid and waited for them to go away. Behind them the soldiers who’d been hunting them now became the hunted. Hundreds of Zombies mobbed the street they were in forcing the men to run up the valet entrance into the garage. They didn’t figure out the gate closing trick like Kelly had. They ended up being chased for two levels by screaming monsters before the last man running was eventually jumped on by an adrenalized Zombie who took a big chunk out of the screaming man’s neck.
Across the street two men sat in a heavily tinted SUV watching as the rest of their patrol disappeared into the garage.
“They won’t be coming out of there anytime soon.” The one whispered to the other as they peeked out the windows. The SUV was rocking as hundreds of Zombies rushed past trying to locate the source of the noises they’d heard. The noises that signaled a normal human victim waiting for them.
“Yeah they’re pretty much screwed. Now shut up and get low or we’re going to be the next ones ripped apart.” Taking his own advice to heart the man made himself more comfortable on the carpeted floor. It was going to be a long night. Judging by the sounds coming from outside the truck they’d be hanging out on the floor of the SUV for a pretty long time. He still thought it was a massive waste of the Brotherhood’s limited resources to keep sending people after the idiots who’d killed the Senator’s sister. His was not to question why though.
A phalanx of Zombies was coming down the street towards them. Kelly was going way too fast to stop. Even if she could stop it wasn’t like there was anything they could do besides sit there and die in agonizing pain when the Zombies swarmed the Escalade. If stopping wasn’t an option Kelly did the only other thing that she could think of to do. Screaming like a banshee she coaxed even more speed out of the SUV. They’d moved past driving too fast to just straight suicidal stupid speed.
“Ludicrous speed!” Randy chimed in with a nervous grin showing he was on the same wavelength as his wife.
Remembering the scene from Spaceballs Randy had just brought up Kelly just hoped they’d end up better than those guys had. She didn’t have very long to wonder if it was going to work or not. The Escalade slammed hard into the tight group of Zombies. It cut some of the Zombies in half sending arms and heads spinning up into the air to coat the SUV with blood, guts and body parts. A few of the Zombies were thrown right over the roof of the Escalade with enough force to ensure they wouldn’t be getting back up again any time soon. One Zombie ended up with its head buried in their windshield.
Kelly kept driving. She couldn’t see since the parts of the windshield not webbed with cracks were coated with the wet parts of the Zombies they’d just snapped in half. She felt the Escalade slowing. She pressed harder on the pedal and heard the engine start to scream as the RPM gauge shot into the red. She let up on the pedal and they started slowing down way too quickly. Zombies started beating on the SUV from all sides. Her night vision goggles were useless at this point. Completely blind and crying in fear and frustration she kept the pedal stomped down. She felt the SUV getting pushed to the right by the press of Zombies attacking them. It felt like they were going to roll until the Zombies on the other side began pushing just as hard.
Randy’s window shattered. Zombie hands were thrust through it. He leaned back and pointed his rifled into the faces of the demons trying to get in and started pulling the trigger. Other windows were cracking. Caitlyn was waving around her gun and sitting tall in the back ready to start shooting at the first Zombies she saw reaching in. Tony had forced himself up into a seat and was sitting there with his pistol drawn. He’d been afraid to pull it out as he was in so much pain and still so drugged up, he didn’t know if he’d do more damage than good. He knew if he accidentally shot one of these kids, he’d have to put the next bullet throu
gh his own head because he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
The tires on the SUV finally got a good grip on the road and they blasted forward through dozens of Zombies. Leaving a trail of broken and twisted bodies on the ground they lurched forward down the street. Ahead of them more Zombies were pouring out of buildings onto the road. The sounds of the SUV and the pistol shots from Randy adding to their bloodlust. Kelly aimed for the gap in the street that was still relatively clear and just kept her foot pinned to the floor.
They roared down the middle of the street. Smashing the Zombies out of the way who leapt for their vehicle as it zoomed past them. Kelly screamed while she drove. Randy was trying to reload. He was covered in gunk from the head of the Zombie that was still stuck in the windshield. Bits of glass flew back on him and Kelly from the broken windshield. Bigger and bigger pieces falling out as they bounced over Zombies and other junk strewn about the road. Randy realized he was getting soaked from the windshield wiper fluid Kelly was spraying as they drove. He couldn’t tell her over the noise from the screaming Zombies, but he didn’t think the windshield wiper fluid was going to help a lot in this situation.
Kelly stared though a big hole in the windshield in front of her. She’d considered shooting holes through the windshield or trying to kick out part of it. Even as she’d been thinking about that some toddler Zombie had bounced it’s head off the windshield leaving her a nice toddler head shaped viewport to the nightmare surrounding them. Completely ignorant of the now dead three-year-old who’d given her the gift of being able to see where she was driving, she kept going. She was slowly starting to think they may even make it out of the city if their luck held. She pushed that optimistic thought out of her head. She didn’t want to do anything to jinx them. She knew it’d been a hundred percent luck they’d managed to make it this far.
Zombies! (Book 4): Nowhere To Hide Page 22