The SUV was covered in bullet holes. It was a miracle nothing important had been hit. Smashing through Zombies and anything else that got in her way Kelly kept them moving. On every street they went down the Zombies were coming out to see what the fuss was. She turned the SUV towards the huge sports complex on the edge of town. It was like she was playing a cheap virtual reality game staring out the little hole with the night vision goggles on. Everything was green. and tunnel vision didn’t even begin to describe the issues she was having. Up ahead she saw what looked like a couple of cars blocking their path, so she yanked the steering wheel to put them up on the sidewalk. They smashed through a few more Zombies and another chunk of the windshield fell out. The glass smashed painfully into her face but at least now she could see better. The big bug faced goggles had protected her pretty well from the glass flying off so far. She hoped Randy was doing ok over in his seat.
“It’s bright enough to see out! You can take the goggles off if you want!” Kelly heard Caitlyn yelling from behind her. She knew it’d make life easier to rip the damned things off her head but right now she couldn’t spare the time. She had both hands clamped to the steering wheel as she desperately tried to navigate them through a seemingly endless parade of cars and Zombies.
She shot out of a side street and saw the interstate was now running above them. She turned left and drove hard for where she knew the on ramp should be. Zombies were rushing for the SUV from every conceivable angle. She hit a curb slamming everyone hard against their belts. Caitlyn bounced off the ceiling.
“Get your seat belt on!” Randy yelled at her. Caitlyn dazedly looked around for a belt to slap on. Randy went back to being in serious pain. He had a pocket full of pills but was afraid to take any of them until they got out of this mess. If nothing else the pain was helping him stay alert. He looked in the back and saw Tony with his arms protectively around the girls. Tony saw him looking and shot him a quick thumbs up.
Kelly bounced them over more curbs. She hit a parking meter cutting under the interstate trying to get to the onramp before they were buried by the massive numbers of Zombies converging on them. She turned the wheel hard leaving a lot of the expensive Escalade paint job on the side of a concrete barrier. Coming around that she finally had a clear shot at the on-ramp. There was a police car that’d been parked in front of it to keep people from getting on the interstate. Or, maybe it was to keep people from getting off the interstate. She’d given up on trying to decipher what people had done to try and stop the spread of the disease back in the days everyone thought it could still be stopped.
There were Zombies converging on them from all sides. She started to ask Randy what she should do then realized she already knew what he’d say.
“Hold onto something! Brace yourselves!” Randy yelled. He’d seen what she was planning to do. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t think of anything better.
They hit the cop car going about eighty mile per hour. At the last second Kelly almost hit the brake but seeing the Zombies all around them she pressed down harder on the accelerator instead. They hit the cop car. It spun out of their way.
Kelly felt her seatbelt lock up to keep her in place from the collision. Then airbags deployed knocking her senseless. She felt herself losing control of the SUV. It skidded sideways as she applied the brake while trying not to puke or pass out. The SUV finally skidded to a stop on the interstate. Kelly was out of it.
“Wake up! Wake up! We have to go now!” Caitlyn was yelling at her from the back seat. Caitlyn was struggling with her own locked up seat belt trying to get it off so she could get her mom or dad moving again. They both looked like the air bags had messed them up pretty bad. She got her seatbelt off and looked behind her where Myriah was checking on the kids. Tony looked like he’d passed out again. Looking over Tony to see out the back window she saw a solid wave of death surging up the on-ramp.
Caitlyn grabbed a bottle of water off the floor and dumped it on her mom’s head. Kelly struggled for a second before finally seeming to realize where she was.
“Drive mom! We have to go! Zombies are right behind us! Drive now please!” Caitlyn was yelling. She didn’t think she had enough time to try and get Kelly out of her seatbelt and switch places with her. The hard part of the drive was done. All her mom had to do now was drive them down the interstate faster than the Zombies could run.
“Hurry up!” Myriah yelled from the back. She was staring out the broken back window at the Zombies coming for them. Caitlyn didn’t think they’d be very far behind. They had seconds at most to get moving.
Kelly ripped the night vision goggles off her head. Panting like a dog running on a hot day she pressed down on the accelerator. They ran into a car. She let go of the accelerator and hit the brakes. She was in so much pain she couldn’t figure out where they were. Her neck was killing her. The air bag had burnt her everywhere she had exposed skin. The front windshield had completely shattered. A dead Zombie was spread across the console between her and Randy. Randy was completely out. Kelly hoped he was ok.
Deciding that being stealthy at this point was pretty much out the window she flipped the headlights on and started driving. She’d moved pretty fast for someone who probably had a concussion. She hadn’t move fast enough though. The first wave of Zombies caught up with them. Hands were shoved through broken windows groping for the cowering people inside. Caitlyn opened fire out the window she was sitting beside. Kelly sped the SUV up, but the Zombies were all over it. Tony was sitting up trying to get his gun into play. Randy was still out cold.
One of the adrenalized Zombies shot right through what was left of the back window and started clambering across the back seat to get at the girls. Zoey tried to pull Doreen off the seat but they both still had seat belts on. Ali was screaming while Myriah was poking at the Zombie with a wooden baseball bat trying to shove it back out the window. The Zombie struck down impossibly fast towards Zoey. Leading with its mouth wide open to rip at the young flesh on the seat below it.
Tony hooked his hand right into the Zombies mouth and pulled like he was trying to start a lawn mower that’d been sitting in the shed all winter. Tony and the Zombie disappeared down onto the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. Another Zombie was standing on the back bumper with its torso visible through the shattered back window. It was bending down trying to figure out how to get in without falling off the back of the moving SUV. Caitlyn shot it repeatedly in the stomach until it fell off the back of the SUV and disappeared into the darkness.
Tony stood up covered in blood. He had his knife clenched in his left hand and a crazy look in his eyes. He scanned the backseat to make sure everyone was ok then collapsed back down onto the floor. Myriah and Caitlyn checked the rest of the SUV over but didn’t see any more Zombies hanging on or anything. Kelly kept them moving at a decent clip away from all the excitement. As she was driving, she turned to look over her shoulder into the back and see what was going on. She wished she’d kept the night vision goggles on since the wind was making her tear up. Missing the rear-view mirror was killing her. She was able to hear all the commotion in the back but couldn’t see what was going on. She prayed no one was hurt.
At the same time that she turned her head to look into the back seat the front right tire decided to blow out. To be fair to the tire it’d sustained a lot of damage over the course of the night and still managed to perform very well. When the tire blew out Kelly slammed on the brakes and overcompensated for the spin they were thrown into. The big black Escalade smashed through a series of road cones and warning signs before slamming into the concrete barrier on the far side of the road. For a sickening couple of heartbeats, the tires on the passenger side lifted up off the ground.
Sliding backwards with the brakes fully engaged Kelly tasted blood in her mouth and wondered at what point in the night she’d managed to bite her tongue. The SUV slid around until the front was aligned correctly with the road again before slamming into yet another concrete barri
er. Kelly’s head slammed against the steering wheel hard enough to make her miss the air bags. The coppery taste of blood in her mouth tripled as she spit a big glob of it onto the floor. She tried pressing on the accelerator, but nothing happened. The gear shifter wouldn’t move into reverse. There was steam billowing out from under the hood.
Randy was still out cold. Smashing the SUV into yet another barrier probably hadn’t helped him any. Kelly took her seatbelt off and went to check on everyone. All the kids were doing ok. They were covered in blood and needed some gummy bear Prozac’s but physically they all appeared ok. It struck her that she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d heard Doreen say anything. They’d been beating it into the girls heads to keep quiet for so long that it’d become more of a natural state for them than the giggly talkative way they should be at that age. Yet another thing the rise of the Zombies had stolen from them.
“Get the girls out of the car!” Kelly barked at Caitlyn and Myriah.
Kelly let herself out of the SUV and went around to the passenger side. She opened it so Randy could get out. He just lay there with his eyes closed. His face was bloody, and he obviously just needed to be resting. Kelly slapped him until he finally woke up.
“What the hell?” A pissed off and hurting Randy asked as he dazedly brought his hand up to shield his face from yet another open-handed blow from his loving wife.
“Get up! We’ve got to get out of here. I need your help!” Kelly screamed at him. Randy responded by undoing his seatbelt and falling face first out of his seat onto the hard surface of the road. He rolled around on the ground for a second with a stunned Kelly staring at him before struggling to his feet. He had some new marks on his face but otherwise seemed upright. Upright being the only way Kelly could think of to describe his current appearance optimistically.
“Mom! We’re ready. We’ve got to go!” Myriah yelled out behind her. The loudness of her shout made Kelly realize there was still a lot of noise in the air. They’d gone far enough down the road she’d hoped that the Zombies would’ve lost interest. Based on the rising pitch of the screeches coming up the road it’d been an extremely vain hope. There was no time now for them to do anything but run.
“Myriah, grab Zoey’s hand and go. Caitlyn, can you pick up Doreen and run? I’ll get Ali. Tony can you help Randy?” Kelly asked. She went over to pick up Ali as she was asking the question. Caitlyn was shifting her pack and weapons around to accommodate Doreen. Myriah and Zoey had already started running down the road in the opposite direction from the Zombie screams. Not that there wouldn’t be Zombies coming from that direction as well soon enough. They probably needed to get off the road sometime in the next few minutes if they wanted to live.
Kelly looked over at Tony who was staring down at his hand. Her heart sank at the way he was standing there.
“What’s the matter?” She asked him.
“I got bit. Probably because I shoved my hand in the dammed things mouth. It burns. My whole arm already burns.” Tony looked up at her. He had tears in his eyes. His eyes were set and resolute though. “I can still do some good though. Get going.”
Kelly stood there staring at him. They’d been through so much together. The guy had taken so much abuse. To lose him now sucked. Losing him to one stupid bite. A bite he’d taken to protect her child from the monsters. She moved forward to hug him and say goodbye. She couldn’t come up with any words that wouldn’t sound stupid.
“We love you man. So glad we didn’t kill you back on the island.” Randy spoke up from behind her. He’d evidently caught the gist of the conversation.
“Same back to you and the kids. Now get the hell out of here so I can do this. I only have a couple mags left and I need to save a bullet for me. Go! Now!” Tony yelled at them.
Kelly grabbed Ali by the hand and put her other arm around Randy to help him stay balanced. They started limping down the road after the girls. Kelly cast one final glance back over her shoulder as they hurried away. Tony was calmly leaning against the smashed-up SUV with his rifle dangling casually from his hand. He looked like he was eating a candy bar with his other hand while he waited. She hoped he had some whiskey to wash it down with.
Chapter 25: Springing the Trap
Rodriguez and Kyler sat on the roof of a nondescript little office building. They’d picked that particular vantage point since it gave them an unobstructed view of the back of the warehouses the supplies were secured in. Rodriguez had brought along a pair of night vision goggles he and Kyler passed back and forth as the Zombies trickled in. Through the goggles Kyler could clearly see two of the pens that’d been setup with prisoners in them to lure in the Zombies. He couldn’t make out where the man he’d handcuffed to the steel pole was. His guilt was driving him to try and pick that man out.
They had a golf cart and a truck parked below. When the time seemed right, the winch on the truck would be used to close the gate. Once the gate was closed, they’d take golf cart to zip over to the gate and secure it. On the other side of the massive compound another couple of guys were waiting to do the same thing to the other gate that’d been left open. Once they had the gate secured, they’d haul ass back to the truck and take off for the rendezvous point. Kyler and Rodriguez had both memorized how to get to the rendezvous point. There was always the chance one of them might not make it.
Kyler winced as the Zombies who’d trickled in got excited and started screeching. The piercing noise almost drowned out the meatier screaming of the poor bastard they’d left chained to a spike in the ground. As if the screams of the man being eaten alive was the signal for it fireworks began exploding in the night air above the warehouses. The firework display kept up for a solid five minutes before tapering off. Kyler figured whoever had that task assigned to them was now driving as fast as they could away from the warehouses.
Following the firework display the screeching reached a whole new level. It sounded like hell had broken open and all the demons were pouring out through the warehouses. The trickle of Zombies into the base became a stream. The stream eventually became a flood by the time the sun had started to rise into the sky. Kyler and Rodriguez sat on the roof of the small building watching as the parking lots around the warehouses were slowly transformed into massive mosh pits straight out of a demonic speed metal show. The Zombies circled and thrashed around the pens setup all around the buildings. Here and there one of the pens gave in as the rush of Zombies found some fault in the workmanship. The bulk of the pens seemed like they were going to survive the onslaught for a little while at least. Nothing would keep out a mob of Zombies for forever.
Kyler imagined what it’d be like to be stuck in one of those pens. Zombies crawling all over the outside of it. All of them screaming bloody murder and banging on the enclosure with their fists and feet. The volume of the hatred pouring into the tiny space from the insane cannibals desperately trying to rip apart the tiny shelter you were imprisoned in to eat you alive. The fear of knowing that you were chained inside the shelter like a dog, so you didn’t even have trying to run away as a last resort. It was like being trapped on a sinking rowboat surrounded by sharks and someone had chained an anchor to your leg. Kyler wondered how long it took the people in the pens before most of them were driven just as insane as the Zombies. He bet most of them were able to figure out a way to take their own lives before the Zombies got to them.
He was interrupted from his macabre musings by Rodriguez poking him in the arm a few times and pointing towards where the gate was that they needed to shut. The gate rolled on wheels into a metal pole set on the other side of the back entrance to the warehouses. The entrance was big enough to allow for a couple of tractor trailers to go in and out side by side. The gate was normally operated by an electric motor driven pulley system to open and shut it. There hadn’t been the time nor the expertise available to figure out how to utilize that system to remotely shut the gate.
Considering they hadn’t been able to solve the remote control
of the existing gate issue Kyler thought what they had rigged up was some pretty solid apocalyptic engineering. The truck they’d been driving around had a winch on the back of it. They’d already hooked the cable on the winch into the cable that’d been run across the ground to the building they were in. That cable went through a pulley system that’d been rigged up to let them shut the gate from where they were at. They could pull the gate shut while staying safely hidden but to secure it they still had to drive over. He hoped it’d be a smooth process to secure the gate with a chain and padlock. That was the part that could get dicey.
If they were seen by too many Zombies, it’d lead to a massive surge towards the gate and the fence. The fence may or may not hold the Zombies back. If the Zombies tore the fence down and got out, then they’d have to start the whole securing of the base process all over again. Assuming they didn’t get eaten by the aforementioned escaped mob of Zombies. In the best-case scenario, a few Zombies saw them. They’d take out those few Zombies with hand weapons or ignore them if they weren’t an immediate threat. They’d get the gate secured and zip back to the truck to get out of there.
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