Four men stood at the entrance to the maze. A fifth man was maneuvering a shipping crate to the main gate.
“You two go around and engage those men. I’ll take these two. Maybe the driver will see and radio for back up,” I said.
“We can’t take on so many,” Caroline said.
“We won’t have to. Once you’ve finished, make your way down the maze, kill only the guards you catch by surprise. I’ll stay here and wait for any that make it. If I have to, I’ll let out the zombies.”
They looked dubious, and in their defense, it was a crazy-ass plan, but it was all we had.
I slid up behind my first target and slit his throat. The women managed to get a few shots off at the men on the other side, which distracted my second one long enough for me to stab him through the back of the throat.
“One’s still alive,” Sonia said as the two women rushed to my side of the truck, “but he’s hurt bad.”
“Also, something is happening at the entrance to the bridge with the people from the other side. I heard someone shouting that the zombies had overrun the quarantine shack,” Caroline informed me.
“Okay. Good—well, probably not good for those survivors—but good for us as that means there are more distractions for us to take advantage of right now. Don’t worry about the other man. I’ll take care of him. Go on. We’ve made enough noise. Someone will be coming soon. I’m going to let these zombies out to help those who are causing trouble at the bridge. I’ll be right behind you. Go.”
The two women didn’t look convinced of my sanity, but they nodded and took off down the maze but out of sight of any incoming guards.
The driver leaped from the vehicle, shouting at me and into a handheld radio. He’d been too busy backing his truck up, I guessed, to notice what we were doing.
I wiped my knife clean and started toward him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, you crazy bitch?” he asked, not drawing a weapon despite seeing what I’d done to the men helping him.
“Assholes like you are what’s wrong with me,” I said, drawing my gun and shooting the radio out of his hand. I’d been aiming for his head, but that shot was nearly as effective.
“I told Dominic not to let any of you live,” the man spat between grimaces of pain. He held the hand I shot at, but still didn’t go for a weapon. He did not deem me a threat, especially considering I was alone.
I didn’t ask what he meant.
I knew.
He was referring to letting strong and capable women, like me, though I’d never thought of myself in that way before, live. I merely shook my head at his ramblings, took aim, and shot him in the head.
In all my travels, the only humans I’d had to kill were those on the verge of turning, yet in a matter of days of being in Edge Burrow, I’d killed four. I couldn’t let myself stop to think about that, though.
Quickly, I gathered all the weapons the four people had—The second of Sonia and Caroline’s opponents had died of his wounds before I was able to get to him.—and strapped them to my body the best I could.
From what I could tell, the men were maneuvering the crates to the maze entrance, and herding the zombies through the gates. I found keys to the lock and the containers on one of the men, so I opened the gate just wide enough to back the truck through. I hated letting the creatures loose on the unsuspecting souls inside the maze, but the more that followed it to the bridge, the fewer there were attacking innocent town’s people.
I used cattle prods that the men had to force the zombies down the maze. The commotion at the other end also helped pull them away. Once the entrance was clear, I closed it, moved the truck, and detached the empty crate.
I dragged the bodies of the four men we’d killed to the side of the cliff that had once been the shoreline and rolled them down it.
12.
No sooner than the last man I pushed over the cliff hit the water, two more men arrived to find out what was taking so long in letting loose the zombies. I hid behind some empty crates and watched them for a bit.
“The men are gone, Sir,” a man said into his radio presumably to Dominic.
“What do you mean, gone?” Dominic asked.
“I mean, they’re gone. There’s fresh blood on the ground, the truck is still here, but the men are gone.”
“Cowards must have run. Forget about them. Just empty another crate. I want that island overrun by nightfall, do you understand me?”
“Yes, Sir.”
When I heard the truck crank to life, I realized that I’d left the keys in it.
“Shit,” I said, but not loud enough for anyone to hear me.
I could keep killing the men Dominic sent to let the zombie’s loose inside the maze, but eventually, he’d grow wise that something more was going on back here. If he came to investigate himself, that would be great, but I doubted he would do that. I wanted him dead. And sooner not later.
I needed another plan. I had one, but it was dangerous. It was deadly for all of us, especially if Charlotte and Jasmine couldn’t get the rest of the women out, but if Dominic had them and was using them as bait, it was too late for them.
From behind my crate, I watched as the men unloaded zombies into the maze. I listened to the radio for any news on the women. I heard nothing.
After the men had released more than a few crates’ full of zombies, and I’d gotten my energy back, I killed the two men. I disposed of their bodies just as I had the others.
I was weaving my way back toward town when I heard more chatter, confirming that the zombies had overrun the makeshift holding-area where the people from Liberty stayed. Some of the creatures had even made their way into Edge Burrow.
“Fuck,” Dominic screamed into the radio before calling for the two men I’d killed. Realizing he couldn’t get them, I heard him order another group to the stock-yard with instructions to let all of the zombies loose into the maze.
“You’re still alive,” Jasmine said, running up to me from out of nowhere.
“I am. We have to find a place to hide.”
“Why?”
“Dominic has just ordered men to release the zombies...all of them. We need to be out of sight before they get here. If we can, we need to try to kill them before they release thousands of zombies down on us.
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
We hid inside the bed of an unlocked semi and watched as a convoy of vehicles flooded our way.
“That’s a lot of men. We can’t kill them all,” Jasmine said.
“We’ll have to if we want to save even one person in town.”
“There isn’t anyone to save.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we got a few people out, but Dominic knew what we were planning or he had an idea. The women from the school and a bunch of people we aimed to save, including Charlotte, were down there with the people from Liberty when the zombies overtook the makeshift quarantine station. Dominic’s men caught them trying to escape and put them there. I think that’s one of the reasons the zombies swarmed it the way they did. Too much live flesh even with the smell of blood on the bridge.”
“So, there’s no one left to save?”
“Not really. It’s just the two of us—that I know. We should run. We should get out of here.”
“You go. For once, I’m going to help Dominic.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to let those creatures loose.”
“That’s suicide. Dominic’s barrier isn’t going to hold for long. Edge Burrow is about to fall.”
“Yep. And I’m going to help. I need to make sure that son of a bitch is dead. You should run now. Hide.”
“Where am I going to go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly. I might as well stay and help you. What should I do?”
“Go back to town. Warn as many people as will listen that the barricades are not holding and that the zombies will be overrunning
this place soon.”
“There aren’t many people left to tell. Besides, they aren’t going to listen to me.”
“You can’t help that. None of us should’ve let that man force us into doing what we did in that arena. All of us should’ve fought back the second we knew what kind of place we were getting ourselves into even if it meant our death, and we didn’t, and because of that, people weaker than us suffered. Those men raped women. They killed people.”
“Are you saying we deserve this?”
“No…and yes. Now we need to atone for our sins and destroy a monster. If we die doing so, then so be it.”
With a long sigh, Jasmine nodded her head before exiting the truck and starting toward town. I, on the other hand, made my way toward the very back of the row of containers holding zombies. Once there, I began to unlock each crate and release its contents. Some doors rolled up on their own, which meant I barely had time to hide before the creatures came pouring out. Others, I had to force open.
A few zombies stayed behind, looking for me, but most rushed toward town and the smell of blood, and the sound of screams and gunshots. Most often, the zombies that stayed to search for me would get bored after a bit and wander off, but occasionally, I’d have to come out of hiding to kill one so that I could release the next batch.
I worked on releasing the zombies well into the night before forcing myself to crawl into the bed of one of the semis to sleep. I tossed my dirty clothes onto the truck’s hood, knowing I’d most likely have to wear them again the next day, but knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep in them. I washed off with a pack of wet wipes I’d found in the sleeping quarters and passed out almost instantly.
When I woke the next morning, I was starving, and my clothes were gone. None of that mattered because the entire stockyard was full of zombies. Where they’d come from, I had no idea. They must have heard the cries of their fellow-creatures who’d found more food than any of them had had in weeks and come to investigate.
I sat behind the wheel of the semi for a long time watching them. Finally, my bladder screamed for release, and my stomach begged for food. I hung my butt out the window over the creatures and released myself on the heads of the zombies under me, using what I hoped was a clean bandana to wipe myself.
I found flat soda in a mini-fridge to drink and protein bars to eat. The man who’d driven the truck was many sizes larger than me, so his jeans didn’t come close to fitting, but I was able to make a pair of sweat pants and a black and white plaid shirt work with socks and a belt.
I waited in that truck for an entire day for the horde to pass with no end in their numbers in view. I slept on and off for most of the day. I needed the rest because the previous day had been more than a bit taxing.
Before I knew it, I was waking to the dawn of a second day. Still, the dead surrounded my truck. There was no way I’d be able to spend another day and night where I was. Inside of the cab was stifling, even with the windows cracked. If I rationed, I had sodas to last me another day or so, but I only had two more protein bars.
Using what I could of the previous owner’s items, I covered myself and strapped my weapons to my body. I crawled through the window that I hadn’t been using as a toilet and scrambled onto the cab’s roof.
What lay before me was a sea of zombies. Thankfully, none of them sensed me. I’m sure as nasty as I smelled, they probably mistook me as one of them.
13.
I looked in every direction I could from the top of that cab, but there was no end in sight to the zombies.
“Fuck,” I said, growing more than a little terrified that I was going to die.
I was pacing in circles and panicking, something that would surely get the zombies’ attention if I didn’t stop when it dawned on me that the trucks were lined up almost side-by-side. I wasn’t an athlete, but I could surely jump the short distance between one roof to the next.
Even if I was sure I couldn’t, I had to try. I couldn’t stay where I was any longer. If enough of those creatures converged on the cab, they would tilt it over. There wasn’t enough room between trucks to lay one on its side, but they could tip the one I was on enough for the creatures to grab me.
For all I knew, Dominic was dead, but still, I had to know. I had to make sure, and I could do neither from where I was.
After nearly a five-minute pep talk, I jumped. I crashed onto the roof of the next cab, most definitely getting the zombies’ attention. My hands and knees screamed in pain from the jarring they took when I landed on them, but I hadn’t broken anything. I allowed myself to lay flat in the center of the roof until the creatures decided I wasn’t anything that needed their attention. The rest gave the pain time to reside and my brain to forget about it.
After another mental pep-talk, I rose and jumped to the next truck. Gunshots and smoke came from town, keeping the zombies moving in that direction. By my third leap, my movements barely piqued their interest. The sounds in town meant humans, meant food, possibly food that they wouldn’t have a hard time getting. I was proving difficult, and that wasn’t something that would hold their attention.
Leaping from truck-to-truck to get to the far end of the line took me nearly two hours. The number of zombies was thin there since Edge Burrow was in the opposite direction. I’d almost talked myself into waiting the rest of the day in the last truck to see if their numbers around it would dissipate even more when I noticed a familiar vehicle. It was a grey, four-door sedan that I was sure belonged to one of the women in our group. If it were, it would have clothes, food, and weapons inside, I told myself. I needed to get to it.
Praying I was right about the car, I crawled off the cab to the truck’s bed, and a zombie immediately lunged for me. I used one of my knives to brain him. I wanted to use my firearms as a last resort.
Getting to the car took some time, and once I was there, I was bloody and covered in gore. I didn’t want to get behind the wheel looking the way I did, but I didn’t have a choice. Just as I was reaching for the handle, a thought froze me. What if whoever had owned the car had taken the keys? They usually didn’t. Most people in Edge Burrow were in the habit of leaving keys in the vehicle they used, so the person knew where they were if he or she were in a hurry or so that those who were with them could make a run for safety.
Shaking my head, I grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. I barely made it inside before a zombie threw itself at the door. I had to dig the keys out from under my ass. The previous owner had left them in the seat and not above the visor. Minutes later, I drove away from the horde and around the outskirts of town to enter from the north end.
I stopped at the first house I came to when I was sure I was clear of the horde for the time being. I didn’t know if it was a home that any of the town’s people occupied, but it didn’t appear looted, and I merely needed a place to clean up. I just hoped whoever owned the car had supplies.
“Oh, thank God,” I said when I popped the trunk. Inside was a duffle full of clothes and a cache of weapons. I grabbed what I could carry and rushed to the house. The sounds of the massive horde flooding toward my side of town were getting closer, as was random gunfire.
The house was empty. Someone had picked it clean of its essentials, but it would do for what I needed. Cleaning up the best I could, relieving myself, filling my stomach with the last of the protein bars and water from the truck, dressing, and donning as many weapons as possible, took me roughly half an hour. In that time, Edge Burrow had become a sea of the undead. The sight of them dashed my hopes that the creatures had stuck to the bridge and the cattle-yard.
Everyone I’d come to care for in my short time in Edge Burrow was most likely dead. All I wanted to do, as I stared out the house’s front windows, was cry, curl into a ball, and give up. I’d never fought through a horde that large. I didn’t think I could make myself, even though a large part of my brain screamed at me that I had to do it.
Surely, Dominic was dead as well. I told my brain. It didn�
�t believe me.
The sporadic sounds of gunfire coming from the edge of the bluff told me people were still alive. I had to help who I could, and I had to find and kill Dominic, though I prayed one of those things got to him first.
Taking in a large breath to calm myself, I slipped from the house and back to the car. I checked it over one last time to see if there was anything else useful in it. I managed to strap a few more small weapons onto my body. I also found one of the radios the town’s people sometimes used to communicate with each other.
I wasted a good ten minutes in the car trying to reach someone, anyone, but not a soul answered. I even tried one of the bands that Dominic’s people used but got nothing.
I was alone. I was most likely about to die, but I had to move. I had to do what needed doing.
For the first few blocks, I managed to dodge the zombies, but the closer I got to the bridge, the less lucky I was. Most creatures I encountered were stragglers and simple enough to take down with a knife, but I had one of the firearms at the ready.
Once I got to an area where I knew the wall of the maze should’ve been, I ran into one of Dominic’s men. I figured since the town was under attack, he would seek my help in fighting the zombies or at least ignore my presence. Instead, he tried to capture me, saying Dominic had sent out orders to find me.
Me? Why me? I wondered but wasn’t able to ask, as I was too busy defending myself from the man.
Dominic must have decided that since I worked in the stockyards that I’d lured the zombies into Edge Burrow. The idiot couldn’t consider the possibility that he’d orchestrated his demise.
As with most of my human kills, I knifed the man by sheer dumb luck and the help of one of the undead.
By that time, I was close enough to Dominic that I could hear the man barking orders into the radio for people to hold their ground, to fight, and to herd the zombies across the bridge, I was exhausted. His people widely ignored him, as there weren’t that many people left to follow his orders.
Shore Haven (Short Story 4): Welcome To Edge Burrow Page 6