by Eric Baker
“Lord, please don’t let me fail again. Lorelei, Matt, forgive me. And Lord, forgive me for what I’m about to do. Amen.”
Eli pulled the trigger.
____
Standing on the rooftop across from the hotel, Mayor Jackson Grieger had allowed the two dozen people around him to catch their breath. They didn’t have a plan in place once they got on the rooftop, but at least, for now, they were safe.
It had almost been humorous, watching the zombies climb through the window after them. They would fall to the ground, get up and wander off. He could swear he’d seen a few come through the window at least a few times. Jackson knew they couldn’t just stand there. The morning sun was almost up.
A few men had gone out scouting, and one of them reported an open window. It looked to be the bedrooms over a feed and seed store. Everyone was more than willing to try it, including Deputy Rickborn. A few men made sure the rooms were clear, and as soon as people started climbing through the window, Josh turned to Jackson.
“Mr. Mayor, once we get everyone inside and safe, I’d like to take as many men as possible and head to ground level. The sheriff will need us to be ready.”
Jackson knew he couldn’t refuse. And for some reason, he was feeling a little guilty about not giving all the details of the Sheriff’s plan to them. But that didn’t mean he’d change anything.
“Well, Deputy, I think that might work, assuming you get enough men, weapons, and ammo to do any good. But don’t forget all these ladies and children that need protection.”
“I didn’t forget, Mayor.” Josh’s exasperation was evident. “I assumed you would stay behind and could handle the guarding.”
Jackson felt his face turning red at the implied insult.
“Now, see here…”
Josh didn’t wait for anything further. The window was clear, so he headed inside.
“But I think you’re right about making sure everyone’s safe. The first thing we need to do is clear this building.”
Josh made his way into the front room past all the people, pulling a few men along with him. It took a moment to get everyone in the room to quiet down. Once there was silence, Josh opened the front door, peering out onto a landing that led to a stairway. He could see a little light coming up the stairs and confirmed the landing was clear. Shutting the door, he turned back to the group.
“We’re going to have to be quiet about this. No guns unless we absolutely have to use them. Everyone have a knife?”
Two of the men he had gathered pulled out standard hunting knives, blades about nine inches long. The last man grinned sheepishly and held up something that was more of a paring knife.
“You can’t be serious.” The man just shrugged, and Josh shook his head.
“Alright, we’re going to work our way down the stairs, silently, and make sure we don’t have any zombies inside. If you encounter one of them, just remember that you need to stab them in the head. Anything else and they may go down, but they’ll get right back up. Questions?”
There were no questions, but the anxious faces told the tale. None of them were excited about doing this. Especially Josh. But he couldn’t see a way around it. The Sheriff would need them downstairs. So, they had to go.
Looking over the crowd, Josh could see Jackson in the back, a hard look on his face. So be it. He’d deal with that later. If there was a later.
Opening the door, Josh and the three men slipped out onto the landing. The door shut behind them, and then they were alone.
They could just make out each other’s faces in the dim light. There were more windows downstairs, and with the sun coming up, it would be much easier to see. They moved to the stairs and paused, looking down into the store. Josh couldn’t be sure, but a few shadows looked suspicious.
Stepping down onto the top step, Josh paused as a light creak came from the board. Lifting his foot, he stepped down again, this time all the way to the left, as close to the wall as he could get. There was noise, but nothing like the previous creak. He continued down the stairs, the men following behind him.
Halfway down the flight of stairs, Josh stepped on a plank that let out a horrendous squeak. All four men stopped. Josh felt a trickle of cold sweat run down his back. The knife in his hand felt wholly inadequate, and he wished it were his pistol. As they paused, a slight shuffling sound came from somewhere in the darkness of the store.
Josh lifted his foot, causing another, quieter squeak. Then he stepped over the plank and continued down. The men behind used the rail and also stepped over it. Josh reached the bottom and looked around.
The store was becoming brighter with every passing minute, but there were still plenty of shadows. Josh edged an eye around the stairwell wall. At first, he thought he was looking at a dark area in the store, but as his eye focused, he stopped breathing.
Standing in front of him, separated by the width of the wall, was a man. Josh was looking at his left ear. The man must have heard the squeak through the wall and thought it came from the other side. Josh could see the matted hair on the man’s head, but other than that he couldn’t be sure if it was a man or zombie. Then someone on the stairwell shifted, causing a board to groan.
The man turned his head toward Josh. His left eye was normal, but his right eye was missing. Josh was still holding his breath, unsure of what to do. Holding as still as possible, Josh prepared himself to take the zombie down. Then, miraculously, the man turned his head back around and looked toward the front of the store.
Without waiting for him to look back, Josh brought his knife up in a wide arc. The knife impacted the back of the zombie’s head, pulling him toward Josh and the wall. Josh pulled as hard as he could, and the knife blade slid through, digging deep into the wall, pinning the zombie in place.
Josh held the knife in place as he took a breath, scanning the store for more movement. Then he gagged at the stench. He let go of the knife and turned his head back toward the men behind him, speaking in a whisper.
“Spread out. Knives only and try to keep your sound and movements minimal. We’ll meet at the cash register.”
With that, Josh moved away from the men and around the wall.
____
The first and closest zombie went down in the street with a bullet to the head. Eli had intentionally waited until he knew he could make the shot. Any other spot on them would just be a waste of bullets. Although his intention was to create as much noise as possible and get them to follow him, he still wanted to “thin the herd,” as the saying went. Plus, the fastest of the group would be the first to get close. He needed them out of the way.
As he scanned the road, he realized the sheet on the hotel was no longer hanging from the front window. He thought he saw it laying on the road out front where it had come loose. It didn’t matter now. Once he got the zombies headed his way, he trusted the townsfolk to back him up.
Keeping his breathing as even as possible, Eli concentrated on the task at hand. Slow trigger pulls meant a more accurate shot. Even then, he still missed more than he hit. The lurching, chaotic movements of the zombies were unpredictable. It didn’t help that they were fearless, moving toward him with reckless abandon.
He was down to his last three rounds in the rifle and about to rapid fire into the closest zombie when gunfire from behind him rang out. He had chosen his position on the road for multiple reasons, not the least of which was that it would give his deputies a clear line of sight to those further up the road.
Risking a glance back, Eli saw the two deputies on the front porch taking careful aim with their own rifles. He had wondered when they would show up. The plan had been for them to come out and help him create enough racket that all the zombies in town would come out for a look see. The pile of weapons on the small porch of the Sheriff’s Office told him the rest of the story.
One of the deputies stopped shooting, waving and pointing behind him. Looking back at the street, Eli was surprised to see a zombie, a short older man, only
five feet away and closing fast. He brought up the rifle and risked a snapshot from the hip. The bullet blew a hole through the chest cavity, pushing the man back with the force of the impact. Eli brought up the rifle, sighted, and put a bullet through the head.
When the man fell, Eli then saw a taller zombie standing behind his previous shorter target that he had not seen. This zombie, obviously from the mine, was just standing there, looking at Eli with that crazed, teeth-baring grin. Eli shifted his aim, intending to use his last bullet from the rifle when he saw the hole in the man’s head. Then the man crumpled to the ground.
“Huh. Two for one.”
Eli wasted no more time on the two men as the others approached. Looking up, he got ready to shoot again when he realized just how many zombies were in the street, with more still coming out of the dwindling shadows. The foreman at the mine had said there were over a hundred men working there. To Eli’s estimation, over half of them were in town. And they were headed straight for him.
Taking aim at the closest zombie, Eli put a bullet through his head before dropping the rifle on the ground. Grabbing up the shotgun, he turned and ran away from the zombies.
The deputies were still firing, but at their distance, they were lucky to take out a zombie every four or five shots. If that. But Eli wasn’t expecting them to do much else. It was all about making noise. He needed the zombies to head his way.
Angling toward the Sheriff’s office, Eli shouted at the two deputies.
“I’ve got it from here. Get back inside!”
“But Sheriff…”
“Follow the… behind you!”
The two men were oblivious to the zombie that had just stepped around the corner of the office and was headed their way. And they were between Eli and the zombie.
The two deputies turned around and unleashed a hail of bullets. A bullet must have hit the head because the zombie went down in a heap. The two deputies looked back at Eli with large, scared eyes.
“Follow the plan! Get inside now!”
Eli didn’t waste any more breath or time. He headed back to the middle of the street, angling away from the zombies. The end of the street made an L toward the corral and out of town, and that’s where he was headed.
As he passed the saloon, Eli risked a glance toward it. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a face at the front door. He gave a small smile that direction, just in case, then turned his attention back to the road behind.
His plan had worked so far. What could only be described as a horde of zombies had gathered in the road behind him. Before he went around the bend in the road and out of sight, he turned and lifted the shotgun toward the oncoming zombies.
He fired one barrel, then the other. Popping open the chambers and ignoring the two shells that hit him in the chest, he reloaded. Firing once again in rapid succession, he could tell he had the attention of most, if not all, of the zombies.
He reloaded once more, then turned to gain more distance from the group. And ran into the chest of a very large, very muscular man in mining clothing.
Both men bounced back from the impact. Eli let out a startled grunt. The man before him let out a growl. Looking up, Eli realized the man was a zombie.
He must have been behind the buildings when the shooting started and just followed the buildings to the nearest opening. Eli’s blood turned cold as he realized there might be more between him and the corral. He couldn’t waste any more time.
He brought up the shotgun, but the zombie had other ideas. It grabbed the barrel and twisted it to the side. Eli didn’t let go, but the wrenching of the weapon nearly pulled him off his feet. Eli pulled on the weapon, but it didn’t budge in the man’s hand. The man just snarled and pulled harder.
Eli went with the pull, praying it would give him some maneuvering room. The zombie assumed it was about to have Eli in his grasp when Eli pushed down on the stock and pulled the trigger.
Hitting the zombie in its underarm, the blast sliced the arm clean off. The zombie stopped fighting and looked at his arm as if trying to make it work. Eli stepped back, bringing up the now free shotgun, and pulled the trigger again. The zombie fell over backward, flat on its back.
Eli glanced up the street toward the bend in the road and gasped at the number of zombies coming around the corner. And they were only the first wave. There were lots more behind them.
Turning, he ran as fast as he could toward the corral. He was slower than normal since his pockets were full of ammo for the shotgun and pistols, but even that speed kept him ahead of the horde. But he needed to put more distance between them. That didn’t seem like it would happen.
Reaching the corral and its huge double gate, Eli dropped the shotgun to the ground. He clawed at the rope holding the gates closed. It was a simple knot, but his hands still ached from having the shotgun wrenched around in his hands.
Checking behind him, he realized he only had a few seconds before he would need to defend himself. Grabbing out his knife, he slashed at the ropes, parting them on the second hack. He sheathed the knife, grabbed the gates, and heaved them open as hard as he could.
Some cows, horses and one massive bull were still inside the gate. Eli felt a pang of guilt over what would be the fate of the animals. But there was nothing he could do.
A groan from behind caused Eli to spin around. One zombie had outpaced the others and was almost upon him. He dropped the empty shotgun and reached for his pistol as the zombie lunged.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Josh and the three men in the feed store considered themselves lucky, considering that the front door was standing wide open. Only the one zombie had been inside the store. The men met near the front of the store and discussed how to proceed.
“We have to get that door shut. Any ideas?”
Josh knew what they had to do, but he was hoping one of the men would have a better idea. When his suspicions were confirmed, he sighed.
He reached his hand up and ran it through his hair like he had seen Eli do so many times when he was thinking. Still nothing. Oh, well, he thought. Worth the try. Looking at the man farthest from him, he gave out instructions.
“Head back upstairs, quietly, and get them ready. Anybody that’s willing to fight. As soon as I get the door closed, have them come down and get ready.”
The man nodded and headed away. Josh watched him for a second, then turned to another of the men.
“You go with him. Wait at the stairs and let him know when to head down. Stay alert. Just in case we missed one.”
The man raised his eyebrows at that comment. Then he, too, headed toward the stairs.
The last man looked at Josh, waiting for instructions. Josh looked at him and shook his head.
“Well, I guess now all I have to do is get to the door and shut it. Simple, right?”
“Long as you don’t get eaten, then it’ll be simple.” The man smiled at Josh as he spoke.
“Yeah. Thanks for reminding me. Watch my back.”
Staying low, Josh peered around some stacks of feed bags toward the front. There was motion through a nearby window, but the doorway seemed clear.
Easing around the stacks, he made his way to the door. Since it opened in, he could slide around behind it. He peeked through the lowest pane of glass in the door, and he could see a zombie on the boardwalk outside a few feet from the door.
Putting his hand on the handle, Josh put pressure on the door and started it moving. It made a scrape on the floor, and he paused. The zombie outside raised its head and looked around, letting out a low growl that made Josh’s stomach tighten.
After a minute, Josh pushed the door again. It made a slight swooshing sound as it moved over the floor, but nothing more. Turning the handle as slow as possible, Josh pushed the door to close it the last inch. But it wouldn’t go past the door frame. He pushed a little harder. It moved a little, but then stopped. Sweat trickled down his face, heat and desperation causing his heart to beat faster.
Taking a d
eep breath, Josh used his left hand on the door itself. Pushing with his left hand, he pulled with his right hand on the knob. The opposite forces gave him more control, allowing the door to get past the stuck part with a slight bump. Letting up on the handle, he heard it latch, and he took a deep breath in relief.
The window pane of the door darkened, and Josh looked up with only his eyes. The zombie from the boardwalk was staring into the store through the top pane. Josh didn’t move or breathe. After about thirty seconds, Josh was struggling to hold his position any longer when the zombie turned around and limped back to where it had been standing.
Letting out his breath, Josh eased his way back around the feed sacks and out of sight of the door. The man he had left there was putting his pistol away as Josh approached.
“Thought for a second there we’d have another shootout. Good job.”
Josh grunted his appreciation but couldn’t muster anything more. He sat down on the floor and leaned his back against some bags, closing his eyes and resting his shaking muscles. After a minute, they heard noises from the stairs and stood up to look that way.
As quietly as possible, everyone was coming downstairs. As they reached the bottom, they fanned out across the store to make way for those behind them. At the top of the stairs was Mayor Grieger, looking less than thrilled about the willingness of the townsfolk to, as he had put it, “take all the risk.”
Josh felt that the Mayor was holding something back about what the Sheriff had planned. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had time to confront him or figure it out. And no matter what the Mayor said, it sounded like the Sheriff was taking all the risk.
Once all the people were down in the store, the Mayor walked over to Josh. His demeanor was that of a man who knew he was losing control. And he didn’t like it.