She peeked out from cover, trying to get a read on where the sound was coming from. It took a moment, but she spotted a few creatures emerging from a darkened area of the woods across the way, directly in the path she needed to take.
She tried to plot her course around them, but her stomach sank at the sight of more zombies coming into view, some out of the shadows, and others from around trees. Her heart began to race as dozens of ghouls appeared, blocking her way.
What do I do? Her mouth went dry as she thought. Do I fight? Do I run?
She looked up at some low-hanging branches and thought about climbing up. After a beat, she shook her head. She knew if one of them spotted her, she’d be stuck up there, and being treed by a horde of zombies would be significantly harder to navigate than being on the ground, spread out.
She turned back to the growing threat in front of her and gripped the handle of her knife tightly. Okay Janey, you gotta suck it up girl; she thought firmly.
She scanned the area, honing in on what had once been a teenage female, with a slight build and matted blonde hair drenched in blood. It was twenty yards away, and clear by several yards of any other zombies.
You can take her, she tried to convince herself. Just hit her and run. That clearing can’t be too much further ahead, and then you’re nearly home free.
She psyched herself up, bouncing a little, and then finally darted out from cover, pumping her legs as hard as she could. The noise attracted the attention of dozens of zombies nearby, all turning towards her with arms outstretched.
Watts ignored them, focused solely on the teenage corpse in front of her. When she came within a few yards, she raised her knife, jamming it straight into the eye socket. As it fell backwards, one of its flailing arms caught her ankle, and she stumbled forward.
She hit the ground hard, sliding in the dirt into a tree. She leapt to her feet, the moans and shuffling getting closer every second. She slid on the dirt floor of the woods, struggling for traction. Finally she was able to find her footing, dashing away and barely escaping the outstretched claws of the dead.
She darted around trees, moving nimbly and hoping to hell that there was nothing else ahead of her. After several minutes of running, she slowed, panting heavily. The sounds of moaning behind her were lower and farther away, but it seemed like the hum was growing in strength.
Watts braced herself against a tree, catching her breath before looking up. There was a clearing up ahead, no more than a hundred yards away. She forced herself to keep moving, although slower than her earlier sprint. She knew she’d have to pace herself, otherwise she’d burn out.
It took a minute, but she finally made it to the clearing, stopping just before stepping into it. Her mouth fell open at the sight of the entire hundred yard radius full of carnage.
My god… she thought as she blinked in horror. Did people try to escape the city by coming here to camp?
Dozens of tents and various campsites spread out, all of which were torn and bloody, showing signs of struggles. Several were knocked right over, many laying in fire pits half melted and burnt. Blood splashed everywhere, mostly eaten corpses rotting in the sunlight.
There were a few zombies still standing, milling about, but most of the former campers had long since wandered off, it seemed.
The moans at her rear continued to get stronger, so Watts forced herself out into the open. She moved lightly and cautiously through the makeshift campground, making sure to steer clear of tents and other debris, in case something was waiting to pop out and catch her by surprise.
She looked over the landscape, coming to the conclusion that straight through the center was the best way to go. She moved quickly and quietly, stepping over debris and pools of coagulated blood. A quarter of the way through, some of the zombies on the edge spotted her movement and groaned hungrily, heading her way.
The zombies were less careful in their pursuit, stumbling over tents, falling, and making a general racket. As this happened, more ghouls in the woods up ahead moaned and emerged from the trees.
Watts glanced over her shoulder, seeing the first wave of creatures in pursuit of her were coming out as well.
Your cover is blown, she thought bitterly. Might as well go for broke. She sheathed her knife and drew her handgun, readying it before picking up the pace to the other side of the clearing. Just before she reached it, a small army of ghouls poured out of the woods, forcing her to adjust course.
She ran to the right, down an alley between tents, straight at a pair of creatures. She stopped just short of them, aiming, and taking both of their heads off with clean shots.
She glanced to either side, seeing that the walls were closing in on her, and sped up even more, leaping over the fallen corpses and darting past them.
Luckily, the number of zombies in her path by the woods were less substantial than the other direction, with only half a dozen blocking her path. She stopped several yards short, took careful aim and fired twice, hitting two on the left in the head. She took aim at the next one, but decided to save her ammo and take her window.
She broke out running, aiming for the area to the right of the still-standing creatures, ducking to avoid an outstretched arm. She hopped over the limp corpses, reaching the edge of the woods and disappearing into it.
A few trees deep, an arm shot out from behind a tree, latching onto her right bicep. The sudden force caused her to whirl around, sliding on the dirt floor and slipping down to one knee.
The ghoul lunged forward, still with a death grip on her arm, trying to take a bite out of her. Watts instinctively threw the handgun forward, putting it to the zombie’s chest and pulling the trigger. The bullet ripped through the decrepit flesh, and the ghoul didn’t react, snapping its teeth closer and closer to her face.
The weight forced her to fall back, twisting her knee as they fell. She let out a scream and rolled to the side to prevent more pain, the two of them crashing onto the ground on their sides. The impact sent the ghoul sliding a few feet away from her, allowing her to raise her weapon.
Watts aimed directly for the nose and fired, taking the back of the corpse’s skull out. She let out a sigh before hauling herself to her feet, hissing as soon as she put weight on her twisted right knee.
She fell against a tree trunk, using it to brace herself. She gingerly put some pressure on her leg, grimacing at the sting. Moans and shuffles grew in volume behind her, and she grunted, pushing herself away from the support to keep moving.
She hobbled along at a much reduced pace, not much faster than the ambling zombies behind her.
“Come on Janey, play through the pain,” she huffed as she moved. “You’re almost home.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Watts pushed through the rest of the woods, approaching the edge of it into the developed portion of town. She continued to rub her injured knee, hoping that would help the pain. It had gone down a bit, but still smarted.
Finally, she thought, hope soaring in her chest at the sight of the treeline. The moans and footsteps behind her had subsided for the most part, at least falling behind her and becoming faint, so she took a moment to recoup.
When she reached the edge of the woods, she leaned up against a tree and looked out, taking in her surroundings. About fifty yards from where she stood was an apartment complex, and across from that a warehouse. She pulled out her map and studied it, trying to get her bearings.
She traced her finger around, and finally deduced that she was about half a mile to the west of the command center. She looked out over the complex, noting about a hundred zombies spread out, but beyond that it was difficult to see. She pulled out the hunting rifle, aiming it south and scanning the area.
The scope allowed her to see more of the warehouse complex, and the throng of zombies there as well. Pasts that, she could just make out the highway. It was too far away to really see it clearly, but close enough that she could tell it was jam packed with the dead.
So now what? She shook
her head as she thought. Definitely not hitting the highway, that’s for sure.
She continued to stare out, mentally plotting different courses around the immediate threat, noting smaller buildings and other obstacles as cover. As they did this, something began to niggle at the back of her mind, and her blood ran cold.
I’m less than half a mile from the command center, she thought, heart rate picking up in a panic. Why isn’t there gunfire? Why are there so many zombies out in the open if I’m this close? My god, is the command center even still there?
The realization turned her stomach into a rock hard knot. If the command center wasn’t there, then she was well and truly screwed. She had no radio to contact anyone, and no idea where a safe place would even be. The last safe place she’d been in was Redmond, but that was fifteen miles or so away.
Watts gave her head a vigorous shake, as if to forcefully remove the negative thoughts from it. Even if the command center had fallen, it didn’t change what she had to do. She pulled herself together, pocketing the map and slinging the rifle back over her shoulder, and took a deep breath before pushing off of the tree.
She rushed forward a couple hundred yards to a small building to the east of the apartment complex. When she reached the back of the building, she turned and peeked out towards the horde. Relief flooded her than none of them had paid her any attention, giving her another moment to catch her breath and give her knee a chance to recoup.
She walked to the other side of the building, glancing down the alley between the structures that ran fifty yards or so. There was a lone zombie staggering around a dumpster, seemingly fascinated by it.
Watts watched as the ghoul smacked against it, then moaning at the resonating echo it made. She waited for it to smack again before moving across to the next building, hoping the noise would keep it from noticing her.
To her disdain, the creature moaned and began shambling her way. She contemplated for a moment, knowing that she could outrun it—or out-hobble it with her knee—but decided on taking it out instead.
If there’s trouble up ahead, I’ll have enough to deal with, she thought, and readied her knife. She waited patiently for the creature to get within striking distance. As it reached the corner of the building, she lunged forward, jamming the blade into the top of its skull and dropping it.
Now free of zombies, she worked her way to the east, along the back side of a long building. About halfway up was a window, which she peered into. It was dark inside, but there was plenty of movement in the warehouse-type structure. She shook her head and kept moving.
As long as they’re inside, it’s not my business, she thought to herself.
As she reached the edge of the building, she noticed that the next stretch of cover was a mini-mall across the street. The problem was that there were a few dozen zombies in the road, near the front of the building.
Gonna have to push through the pain to get across, she thought, chewing her bottom lip. They’re going to see me, not much I can do about that. Just going to have to hope I get enough distance between us to make it through.
Before she moved, she pulled out her rifle and looked down towards the other end of the mini-mall. There were a few zombies at the far end, but not much past that before it got to a small residential street.
Okay, run across, take those three out and then get to the neighborhood, she thought, taking a deep breath. She pulled out the satellite image printout and took a quick glance before stuffing it back into her pocket. Three more blocks after that, then I’ll be at the command center.
She grabbed her knife in her off-hand, and drew her handgun in the other, prepared for whatever was to come. She did a silent countdown and then broke from cover, moving as quickly as her knee would allow across the street.
When she got halfway across, her hobbled footsteps attracted the attention of some of the ghouls on the road.
Immediately they moaned and shuffled towards her, gnashing their teeth in excitement. Watts picked up the pace to make sure she beat them to the corner of the building, making it about ten seconds before they did.
She pushed hard, trying her best to put distance between herself and the horde. Halfway down the building, she glanced back, the wall of rotted flesh no more than fifteen yards away. Her knee screamed, but she kept pushing. It was pain or death.
A trio of zombies ahead moved towards her, and five more came into view from the corner of the building. Her heart pounded in her ears.
Please don’t let there be any more! She didn’t know who she was praying to, but it worked, as the eight zombies ahead were all that stood in her way to reach the neighborhood.
Watts moved away from the rear of the mini-mall, stepping out into an overgrown field, but not too much as the grass was too thick to allow for speedy movement. She took aim, firing several times at the ghouls ahead of her, hitting a few in the head and dropping them to the ground.
She walked another few steps before stopping to aim again, firing rapidly at the five remaining zombies. She finished off her magazine, eight shots, but only killed three of the corpses. She aimed at the next one, ten yards away, and pulled the trigger, only hearing a sick metallic click.
“Damn,” she muttered, holstering her gun and moving her knife to her dominant hand before moving forward. She reached out, grabbed the nearest creature by the shirt collar and stabbed, jamming the blade into the bridge of the zombie's nose.
The final ghoul, a young and frail looking thing, continued to shamble towards her. Watts lowered her shoulder and bowled right into her, moving quickly past without looking back. She pushed herself, building up some speed, the adrenaline spiking and overpowering the throbbing in her knee.
The residential area was small and run down, with single story homes that would have looked frightening even during non-apocalyptic times. Watts reached the first street, looking ahead and only seeing a smattering of zombies.
Her knee protested as she put weight on her leg, reminding her she was still injured, and she winced hard.
Gotta find some way to distract these things, she thought, and inched forward, moving about as quickly as the zombies behind her, which were twenty yards away at most. A few houses up, she spotted a newer looking sedan in the driveway of a rundown house. She rushed up to it as fast as she could, seeing a small blinking red light on the dash.
“Alarm system, thank god,” she huffed, and checked the side of the house, peering into the backyard and finding it empty. She limped back to the car and pounded on the hood, smacking it as hard as she could. “Come on, go off!”
Finally, after a couple more shoves, the alarm blared. She moved as quickly as she could to the side of the house, reaching the backyard. She rushed over to the house on the next block, going up to the back door and smashing out the small window with the hilt of her knife, reaching in to unlock it.
When she got inside, she locked it behind her and did a quick sweep of the small house. In the living room there was a lone recliner and a large flatscreen with a video game system surrounded by empty beer cans.
“Gotta love bachelors,” she muttered, and then jumped at the sound of a thump on the back bedroom door.
Watts moved to the top of the hallway and aimed her gun down, but saw the door closed tight. She steadied herself and moved to the front of the house, looking through the window to the street.
A few dozen zombies emerged from between houses, attracted to the car alarm noise in the distance. They got to the street, all moving in one direction, and then the alarm cut out. Without the noise drawing them in, their interest waned, some of them stopping dead in their tracks.
“Son of a…” Watts grumbled. “Just want one thing to go right today.”
She knew she couldn’t stay put, so she reloaded her gun with her last mag and drew her knife in her off-hand again.
“Here goes nothing,” she whispered, and then threw open the front door and darted out into the yard. She moved as quickly as she could, despite her
knee, and two zombies lunged for her. Rather than attack, she shoved the closest one back, knocking it into its partner and sending them both to the ground.
Several other ghouls in the vicinity came her way, but she pushed on, hobbling to the next row of houses, relieved to find a fenced-in yard.
“Finally,” she huffed, and threw herself over the waist-high chain-link fence. She struggled with her injury, but managed to land on her good leg without falling on her ass. She darted out of sight from the pursuing zombies, hoping that once they hit the fence they’d give up.
At the back of the yard was a small line of trees, with the command center on the other side. She couldn’t help the creeping doubt in the back of her mind that it had been abandoned, especially with the lack of any noise. But she had to push on.
She reached the trees, darting through the fifteen yards or so to the other side, hoping to see an army of troops waiting to greet her.
Watts stopped short at the edge of the trees and her heart sank, her worst fears realized. The command center was a war zone.
The makeshift sandbag barricades at the outer rim of the warehouse still mostly stood, but there were several breach points. Just beyond them was a collection of blood, limbs, and a few mostly eaten corpses. The mangled bodies twitched and struggled to move, but at least there wasn’t enough left of them to get up and run around.
In the parking lot, within the perimeter, were a few dozen slow-moving zombies. Once that had found their way in, but couldn’t find their way out again, it seemed. Several of them pushed up against the sandbags, unable to figure out how to break free.
Now what? Watts’ mind reeled, and she put away her weapons, grabbing her rifle and looking towards the building. Through the scope, she could see that the front of it was closed up. The door was coated in blood, evidence of zombies banging away on it for quite some time.
If they were able to get the door shut, she thought, hope blooming in her chest, maybe there are still some survivors inside! She tried not to talk herself down, rolling with the situation so she couldn’t talk herself out of doing what she needed to do.
Dead America The Northwest Invasion | Book 7 | Dead America: Seattle [Part 5] Page 3