I heave. Copious amounts of air escape my mouth. My vision is congested with fury. The additional adrenaline surging through my body has me seeing red. I’m swept up in the heated confrontation and find it difficult to turn off the fight response. It takes me a moment to calm down some and reel in my thoughts.
Off to Cassie’s left, I spy more chasers. Their heads poke out from the corners of buildings and storefront entrances. One turns into three. Three into seven. Our odds are quickly tipping into the infecteds’ favor.
Mack backs up toward us with his machete ready to strike. “Move, now!” he forcefully demands.
We back peddle as the small horde of chasers sprint out onto the highway. Gaunt bodies materialize from what seems every turned car and nook and cranny within the abandoned buildings.
I turn and run. I keep the machete gripped tightly in my palm. I have no clue where I’m going. I just know I need to keep straight, and eventually we’ll come across the auto parts store.
The combined mass of the chasers plagues my ears. I can hear their pleas for flesh as the ground quakes slightly from their gait.
Caution has been tossed out of the window. It’s a matter of survive or die. There is no stopping for any threats that might be lurking within the alleyways we pass by, or the cars that sit abandoned on the road.
Duke sets the pace for the rest of us, sprinting fast and hard. He expertly maneuvers around the newspaper stands and other obstacles that get in his way.
Another block down, in what seems like record time. My legs hurt, lungs burn as my heart pounds. Mack continues yelling for us to keep moving and not to look back.
Up ahead, I spot more chasers heading our way down the sidewalks and street. I can’t gauge their numbers, but it doesn’t really matter. At this point, adding any more is just another nail in our coffin.
Mack calls out in a winded tone, “Take that alleyway to the right!”
I veer off to the right, and into the middle of the street. A chaser leaps out from behind an overturned car in front of me. I maintain my course, and swing the machete at the man’s tanned, bald head.
The blade strikes just under his chin. A blur of skin and blood taints the air.
We enter the narrow opening between the two large, brick buildings, trampling newspapers that are stuck to the cement. I knock the trash cans in our way off to the side as we make a mad dash for our lives.
The silhouettes of a few chasers in the field beyond the buildings ahead of me brings me to a grinding halt. My head twists from side to side as I try to plot what we should do next.
“Here,” Mack yells. He shoves his large boot into the door of the building to our left. It bursts open. He motions to us to scramble inside the barely lit interior.
Duke growls and barks at the incoming horde rushing this way. I nab him by the collar, and forcefully direct him in behind Cassie. I dart inside and Mack quickly follows.
He slams the door shut just as the chasers make the door’s edge. He hops back with his machete raised in the air.
Our gazes are fixed at the wooden obstacle that stands between us and the chasers gaining access. It vibrates with every violent blow. The infecteds’ wails are muffled but only slightly.
I’m spent. The heels of both palms rest on the top portions of my knees. My body begs for a break that I can’t afford to give at the moment. “How many do you think are out there?” I pose.
Both Mack and Cassie are winded as well. Cassie is bent over with her hands on her knees while Mack has his arms up and behind his head.
“Too many,” Mack pants.
Cassie glances around the space we are in as Mack slowly lowers his arm down to his side. I imagine moving his bulk like that zapped a good amount of energy.
Duke trots over to Cassie who is walking around in the large, empty space. The light gray carpet is filthy and worn in numerous places. Small piles of debris lay scattered around the space.
Beams of light filter in through the openings between the plywood that is fixed to the windows. It isn’t much but enough to get a sense of the layout.
Placed in the back of the structure are cans of paint and a handful of large wooden boards that are maybe sixteen feet in length.
Cassie approaches the front of the building.
“What are you doing? Get away from the windows,” Mack demands.
“I’m just looking out to see what’s going on is all.” She carefully peers out through the dingy glass. Something slams against the window. She hops back as Duke barks and growls.
“Duke, come here, now,” I sternly order.
He barks once more before coming back to me.
Cassie throws her hands up in the air. “This is great. What do we do now?”
“Working on it,” Mack flatly responds. He paces the open space. The machete rests on his right shoulder as he taps it softly against his muscle.
I remove the rifle from my shoulder, then slide the pack free from my back. I retrieve a water from the interior as Duke pants hard in front of me.
“Here, boy, get a drink of water.” I remove the cap, and tilt the bottle to the side. A steady stream of water pours from the opening. Duke laps at the refreshing liquid as I rub his head.
The chasers continue their crusade to find a way in. Fists pound the door’s exterior. Grunts and wails fill our rattled nerves. I’m reluctant to think that we are going to make it out alive. For all intents and purposes, we’re trapped like rats. Circling the drain of giving up, and feeling the hopelessness sink its teeth in, I battle the urge and trash that notion. This is just one more bump in the road to me getting to Mom and Cindy. Come hell or high water, we will survive this.
The bottle’s opening presses firmly to my lips. I tilt my head back, and gulp down a mouthful of water. Beads race down each side of my chin. Hard swallows force the liquid down into the pit of my stomach.
“You weren’t kidding about the chasers being spread all over the place,” I say to Cassie. “They were coming out from every nook and crack in this town.”
She snickers, then folds her arms over her chest as she paces the room. “The sign didn’t lie. After all, I’m the one who spray painted that warning on it.”
I take another gulp before giving the rest to Duke. “Makes me wonder why we didn’t see any when we first entered the town.”
Cassie holds up a single finger in my direction. “That’s an easy one.” She lowers it down as she speaks. “You’re extremely lucky.”
I can’t disagree with her statement. We were fortunate to only cross paths with the two in the road. But still, something about the entire situation gives me pause. Especially the anorexic chaser from the alleyway.
“What was up with that one Mack dispatched in the alleyway shortly after leaving your place?” I ask?
Cassie raises her left brow. “What do you mean?”
“Did you not notice how skinny he was, and the way he moved? Nothing but skin and bones. Looked as though his legs would’ve snapped from an additional ounce of weight.”
Cassie shrugs. “Who knows. Perhaps he hadn’t eaten in some time. I imagine they still need food to keep going.” She points to the horde that is just beyond the brick wall. “You’ve seen how they act. Always moving in some way. Hands fiddling with God knows what. And that creepy heavy breathing. I bet their bodies burn calories like crazy.”
I nod, soaking in her words as I struggle to hear her over the chasers’ clamoring.
Mack approaches us from the back of the building. He points toward the ceiling. “I think I found us a way out of here.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“You must be kidding.” Cassie rubs her hand up and down her face. She glances at the ladder that leads up to an opening in the ceiling. It’s a ways up there. Maybe twelve feet or so.
Daylight floods into the building’s drab interior. The noise from the chasers amplify tenfold. I dare not think of how many are surrounding the building or heading this way in general.
She cuts her eyes over to me. “What do you think, James?”
I glance back to the door that the chasers are beating on. Then to the front of the building where manic fists hammer the panes of the windows.
“We can’t stay here. They’re going to get in sooner rather than later. If that happens, we’re done.” I shift my attention to the windows up front. “If they continue ramming into the glass, it’ll eventually shatter.”
The door vibrates. As if we could forget the chasers are there.
Cassie huffs, then tosses her hands in the air. “Screw it. Let’s go balance beam across the buildings.”
I glance at Duke, and think about how he is going to get up through the opening in the roof. “How are we going to get Duke up there?”
Cassie glances to Mack and shrugs.
“I can’t haul him up the ladder, and I am not leaving him behind. So, if you even hint at suggesting I do that, you can go on without me right now,” I say.
Mack places his hand on my shoulder. “No one is getting left behind.” He peers down at Duke, then back to me. “I’ll carry him up.”
The door bows.
The horde of chasers are not giving up. That’s for certain. Their empty bellies won’t let them. Much like us, it’s survive or die, and they aren’t going down without a fight.
Mack grabs one of the boards and feeds it up through the opening in the ceiling. The dense board clatters on the roof, making a dull thud that is drowned out by the chasers’ wailing.
He reaches for Cassie. “Get your butt up there. James, you go after her. I’ll grab Duke, and bring him up.”
Cassie wedges the machete between her pack and her back. She grabs one of the white spray-painted metal bars and climbs up the ladder. She pauses and glances down to Mack. “Don’t take your sweet ole time, old man. This was your idea, after all.”
Mack winks, then motions for her to move.
She quickly scales the rest of the ladder and disappears onto the roof.
“All right, James. Your turn.”
I take a knee next to Duke and rub his head. The noise is getting on his nerves. He groans, then growls. He’s antsy. He can’t stop shuffling his paws or swaying his body. At home, when the doorbell rang or someone knocked on the door, he went ballistic. This is infinitely worse.
I wrap my arms around his neck, and hold him tight. I kiss his head.
Mack’s voice dials up a notch or two, imploring me to move. “He’ll be fine, but if you don’t get up there now, we won’t be.”
“I’m trusting you with my family.”
“Just as I have trusted you with mine. Now move.” Mack responds without missing a beat.
I release Duke from my embrace. He continues his barking and growling as I make for the ladder.
The door splinters.
Light from around the jamb of the door grows brighter as gnawed fingers slip through the narrow slits.
I secure the machete, and zip up the ladder in a frenzy of panic. My head twists back over my shoulder and down briefly at them. “I’m trusting you, Mack. Don’t let anything happen to him.”
Cassie stands to the right of the opening, pacing back and forth as her gaze sneaks down into the interior of the building.
“Hurry up, James!” she pleads. “There are so many crammed into the alleyway now.”
I heft my bulk up and out onto the warm asphalt roof. I roll over to my back. Cassie drops to her knees directly in front of the opening in the roof.
“Where’s Mack?” she inquires. Her voice is thick with fear. Her head darts every which way. “James, I don’t see him.”
I roll over onto my knees. I kneel next to her with my hands gripping the side of the metal covering.
“Mack!” she calls out in a strained, high-pitch squeal. “Where the heck are you?”
We both look on, trying to locate him and Duke. Our heads drop low as we search the interior of the building. He finally appears with Duke cradled in his arms.
Duke squirms. His head thrashes back and forth. He hates being handled in such a manner, especially by people he isn’t familiar with.
“It’s ok, boy. Just calm down,” I call down to Duke, which is pointless. Between the chasers and Mack, he’s a nervous wreck. That much is certain.
Mack adjusts Duke and tosses him over his right shoulder. He continues to thrash about, bearing his teeth and growling. His back claws dig into Mack’s chest and stomach.
Cassie disappears from my side. My eyes remain fixed on Duke and Mack. I reach toward Duke as Mack starts up the ladder.
The crackle of gunfire startles me. My body jolts, and my head snaps to the left. Cassie’s near the edge of the building, firing her Berretta at the mass of infected in the alleyway. She mumbles something, but I can’t make out the words.
“James, take him.” Mack places his hand under Duke’s belly, and bench-presses him upward toward me. I grab around both sides of his body, and pull him through the opening.
“They’re inside!” Cassie dashes back over to me as I drop Duke to the rooftop. I come back to the opening to find Mack’s large frame coming into view.
“Just in the nick of time.” Both arms come up and out. They fall to either side. He lifts the rest of his mass up the ladder. “Thank God they don’t know how to climb a ladder.”
The tidal wave of chasers has engulfed the interior of the building. Bodies are pressed together as they huddle at the foot of the ladder.
Rapacious hands reach toward us. Their sunken in eyes and gaunt, ghastly faces plead for our flesh. For now, they will still go hungry.
Mack drops to the asphalt with a thud. He expels a breath of relief as Cassie wraps her arms around his neck.
She pulls away, then slaps his arm. “Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you?”
Mack nods. Sweat beads on his face and forehead. His mouth opens and sucks in air as he glances over at me. “I think we bonded in the hectic moment.”
Duke saunters over to me and rests on his hind legs. He nudges his head to my right arm and licks my face.
“Yeah. I’d say that’s about as much bonding as he’s had with a person he didn’t know too well.” I hug Duke’s neck.
Cassie storms over to the opening, and presents the gathering mass of infected the finger. She slams the metal covering hard in their faces. “Sorry, but that noise is getting on my last good nerve.”
“No complaints from me.” I rub Duke’s head, and glance up at her.
Mack pulls himself off the roof’s coarse surface. He grabs the wooden board, and hauls it over to the opposite side of the building. He stops just shy of the structure’s edge and crane’s his neck.
Cassie and I venture over. His head carefully twists from left to right. We quickly sneak a peak, to see if any chasers are roaming the alley. For now, it’s clear.
I take in the board’s length, then eye the distance between the two buildings. It looks like it’s going to be close. I don’t want to be the negative one at this moment, but feel I should speak my concerns.
“You’re sure this will reach to the other side without any problems? If you underestimate, and lose your grip on the board, we’re going to lose our only way off this building.”
Mack has the board resting on its end, with its full length standing straight up in the air. His eyes skim over the maple colored wood from top to bottom. He then glances out over the alleyway to the building across from us.
“We should be good. I think. We won’t know unless we try.”
Cassie and I are hesitant as we stare at each other. Doubt swirls in our eyes, but we decide to proceed and trust in Mack.
The wailing from the chasers inside the building, and those out in front, add ample incentive for us to proceed with caution. We want to minimize any additional noise that might grab their attention, and bring them over to investigate further.
Mack takes in the length of board one more time. He maneuvers it as close to the edge of the building as possible, ju
st to make sure we’re not cutting it too close. There will be no slow going. It’ll be all or nothing. Once it starts to fall, that’ll be it.
“Here we go,” Mack says.
He leans it forward, and tries to control its descent. The muscles in his arms flex and tighten as the board starts to gain speed. Mack grunts as he struggles to keep it from dropping too fast.
Cassie keeps a vigilant eye out for any chasers. I watch our only way off this building plummet like a rock in a pond. I draw a sharp breath as the other end quickly races toward the outer edge of the other building. I remain hopeful, though, that it will be long enough, but doubt tries to force its way in.
“I think it’s going to make it,” I advise.
From my vantage point, it appears as though we are in the clear, but life has a funny way of showing up when you least want it to.
The end of the hefty board slams onto the edge of the other building. Mack grits his teeth and fights to keep it from slipping free. Through sheer will, he holds the board in place to where it rests flush and even on both rooftops.
"That was too close,” I say relieved.
Mack stands up. He steps to the left, and looks to the other side with a calculated gaze.
“I’ll go first, just to make sure it’s safe. Then, you three follow.”
It’s hard to concentrate on the task set out before us. The background noise is relentless. The infected clamor below. I struggle to block it out, and focus on what needs to be done.
Mack places his right foot on the plank. Then his left. His boots take up much of the surface of the wood with only an inch or two to spare.
He pauses, but only briefly. With his arms positioned to stable his balance, he begins his journey across.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Slow and steady. Not that we have time for such things but this isn’t a race to the finish line. For now, time is on our side for a change, or at least it seems like it is.
It’s difficult to watch Mack cross the plank. Each cautious step he makes heightens my anxiety. I tug at my clothes and chew at my lip. Instinctively, I want to reach out as if I might be able to catch him if he slips.
Dead State Box Set [0-5] Page 38