by David Rogers
“Milo, let’s go.” came from just behind her, but she didn’t turn. The Houseboater was either coming or he was on his own. She moved forward several steps to clear away from the window, and covered the single open doorway that revealed a small hallway to the rest of the building’s rooms.
There was a crunch of glass, a grunt, then she heard Milo climb through the window. Jessica kept her attention on the hallway, and a moment later she heard Austin coming in. “Ready?” she asked without turning.
“Ready.” Austin said.
“What—” Milo asked.
Jessica moved closer to the hallway opening, and swung first to one side, then the other, to get a look at as much of it as she could. She didn’t hear anything inside the building. There were noises, zombie feet on the pavement, coming from outside; but ahead of her she heard just a dead building. An empty silence that was always oppressive, made moreso by the weight of stale air and disuse.
Easing forward further still, she peered into the hallway and saw three doors, one standing open, but nothing moved. She moved into the doorway and took a good look at the door on her right, waiting to feel anything that alarmed her; but it was just a closed door. Even if there were a zombie behind it, her group only needed to be in the house for the next half minute or so. Minute, tops.
Satisfied, she leveled the shotgun and moved to the open doorway. It revealed a fairly pedestrian looking small single person office, the only real oddity being a coffee mug on its side on the desk calendar with an old and fading blotch of long since spilled coffee spread out from the open end. There was a window, and nothing else.
“Austin?” she said without turning.
“Coming past you.” he said, and she automatically elevated the shotgun’s barrel as he went into the office. The sound of zombies arriving at the front of the building made her flinch, but she controlled the reaction beyond a brief judder and didn’t turn. Zombies didn’t climb. Some of them would inevitably manage, through no fault of their own, to probably tumble and bumble their way into the open window; but it would take time. And more for them to rise and continue the pursuit. Longer still, even if the front door was the cheapest construction imaginable, for them to break the door down and stumble in that way. Quicker than most unfamiliar with packs, like Milo, might guess; but still slow enough to not be a problem for now.
With Austin established in the office, Jessica glanced at the third door, also closed, looked behind her for a moment to ensure the first one was still closed and the short corridor zombie free, then aimed her gun at the third door and watched it. She heard Austin break the window and scrape it clean, but didn’t move until he spoke again.
“Okay.”
Turning, she saw he was through the window. His head turned as hers came around and he saw she was with him. Then he left the window and she caught a flash of him swinging the axe he had in his hand. When she got to the opening, he was taking a second zombie down with his standard sideways swing. Worst case, even if he didn’t land a lethal blow, he’d almost invariably knock the zombie off its feet. There were two more in the little stretch of “back yard” of overgrown grass that separated this building from an identical one behind it, but she ignored them and climbed through.
Austin dropped one of them as she was getting her feet down in the grass, and the other by the time Milo had clambered through to join them. Jessica walked past the freshly killed zombies, and Austin as he slid the axe back into its loops on his belt, to check the next street over.
“Why did we just do that?” Milo said.
“Hear the zombies beating on the front of the building?” Austin asked.
“Well, yeah—”
“Now they’re not chasing us anymore. Go on, follow her.”
Jessica shook her head mentally at the exchange, but kept her attention on the new stretch of pavement. The go-through-a-building trick was a good one, but she didn’t necessarily consider it anything other than basic common sense. People, even if it were a pack of cripples on crutches and canes with bad legs, couldn’t be fooled simply by ducking through a house from one side to the other. Zombies though, were dumb. Dangerous, seemingly ever present, but single minded to an easily abusable fault.
The street was about as cluttered as the last one had been getting, but passable. She headed right across it, choosing to stick to the alley on the far side, but heard Austin say something that made her stop cold.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” she said, turning in place.
“Over there.” he said, looking north along the street.
Jessica looked, and saw a pretty thick pack of zombies there. In fact, it was basically what she thought of as a horde. They were coming right down the street, maybe a little more than a block and a half distant. And right in front of them was a group of people, armed and with dogs, that she stared at before she kicked herself and got moving again. The pack leaders, the people, were batting at zombies ahead of them with long sticks that looked suspiciously like tool handles; knocking them aside so they could continue leading the horde forward.
“Are those—” she asked as she reached the alley between the buildings.
“Yeah.”
“There’s something very wrong here.”
“Are they crazy or something?” Milo asked.
“Whatever they are, they’re coming this way.” Austin said. “And were making the turn to come after us when you cut between the buildings.”
Jessica felt a very real jet of fear spike through her. “We need to get out of town.”
“I think you’re right.”
“But we’re here—” Milo began.
“All bets are off if we’ve got people coming after us with zombies.” Jessica said as she headed for the next street. She paused at the corner to have a look around, intended to be just a moment to pick a direction, but cursed when she saw what lay south. “God no.”
Austin came past her, right out into the street, and saw the second zombie horde, led by another group of not zombies, coming north that she had. They were closer, maybe a block distant. He stood watching for one second, then glanced at Jessica.
“You take the lead.” she said. “Out.”
“I’ll take the lead.” he said at the same time.
“Safeties off.” Jessica said with a nod, clicking the shotgun’s into the fire position.
“Yell loud and early if you have the slightest problem.” he said, reslinging his M4 into patrol carry. Then he gripped the gun with his finger extended alongside the trigger, and lifted it up against his shoulder at the ready.
“What the hell is going on here?” Milo asked, peering past Jessica at the new horde coming at them from the south.
“Keep up.” Jessica said as Austin turned and started moving. She followed, jogging to catch up until she was only three steps behind. He slid a little north to the closest corner of the building on their east side, until he reached the corner and could make the turn. As he went around, she heard his carbine fire; a sharp echoing crack, followed by another one.
A moment later, as she reached the corner, she saw a zombie down on its side against the wall with a hole maybe a little bigger than her thumb in its face. A much bigger one was in the back of its skull, the high velocity rounds the carbine used having exploded through the desiccated tissue and bone as they transferred their energy from weight and momentum to the zombie.
Austin shot several more times as he neared the street ahead, clearing away two more zombies that were only just starting to react to the noise of the shots. He took a quick look in either direction, and turned north and wove around a loose handful of zombies that weren’t in the way enough to require killing.
Even before Jessica reached the intersection to the north, she’d seen the mass of zombies starting to spill out of … everywhere. From behind cars, buildings, some emerging from the street to the east and west. It wasn’t quick, but the number in view kept growing. Jessica clamped down hard on a surge of fea
r and looked behind them. The street, starting past the intersection in that direction, was similarly starting to fill with zombies who were reacting and triggering their nearly mindless but laser-focused attention.
“Double back west?” she asked loudly.
“That pack we left behind will have spread out a good bit now that the house is quiet.” Austin said. “Come on. We might be able to outpace them this way and cut north.”
She followed as he turned east again, again going between buildings. A handful of shots rang out, dropping a few more zombies, as he cleared the alley and the opening at the far side. Austin was moving fast now, almost trotting; except that he was in his tactical quick-step that moved mostly from the knees down and left his upper body fairly stationary to allow him to keep shooting.
He was so tall and practiced at the maneuver that even though it slowed him from a faster pace he could otherwise manage if he even walked very fast, Jessica had to start trotting to keep up. She said nothing, just stayed with him, feeling her breath and pulse quickening from more than just the exertion. Listening to the jounce and shift of the gear she was wearing and carrying. Holding the shotgun in both hands and pulled tight against the sling to keep it under control, as she hurried after him.
The carbine spat more rounds out, cleaving several zombies down with brutal efficiency as Austin crossed the next street, angled south a little for the next space between buildings, and went around the corner. She fired the shotgun twice as she followed, dropping one zombie and staggering two more as pellets ripped through targets that were closer than she’d like.
She made the corner just as he killed two more zombies in that alley, and went for the street. Just as she reached him again, he had turned north. “Faster.” he said before he started shooting again. His speed increased further still, and now Jessica had to break into jogging to keep pace with him. Several more shots rang out, then the weapon fell silent and she saw him start changing magazines with smooth precision.
Turning, she put a blast from the shotgun into a zombie that was too close to her on that side. Then she swung out to have a clear line of sight past Austin down the street and fired twice, working the shotgun’s slide between shots to load, to clear away a handful of other zombies that were approaching him from the front.
Austin got the empty magazine tucked into his harness, and brought his hand back up with a fresh one that slid into the well and clicked into place. Before he even got his hand back on the carbine’s foregrip, he’d resumed shooting. Jessica fumbled in the pocket on her own harness where she kept shells, taking them out two at a time to thumb them into the tube magazine beneath the barrel as she kept pace with Austin. It was difficult; he was effectively a whole foot taller than her.
As she ran and reloaded, she was trying to picture the map in her head, and how far they might be from Canal Street. They’d come south a bit, but also shifted east some too; and that street dipped toward them as it came east. It might be close enough to reach. “If we can make the canal, the water will—” she called over his shots.
“I know.” Austin said. “I’m trying.”
“I’m with you.”
“This is getting crazy.” Milo panted from behind her.
“Motherfu—” Austin started before biting the curse off. “Turning.”
Jessica had seen it; more zombies, directly north. Too many, too many to shoot quickly enough to get through. And, when she glanced behind them, to the west as she followed Austin back around to the east on the pavement, the numbers were thickening even more there. On her right, the way they’d just come from the south, still more were appearing as the second group of zombie shepherds came into view with their own pursuing horde.
And all of them were closing in.
She brought her head around at more shots, not a surprise, but she stumbled a step when she saw the nearly solid mass of zombies milling about ahead. The buildings all around them had settled into a pretty solid example of small town American downtown, Florida style with lots of glass. And the buildings were getting bigger, filling most of the frontage along each block as the street went by.
Between these buildings, almost shoulder to shoulder, was line after line of zombies. Dozens and dozens of ranks, and hundreds and hundreds of the hungry monsters.
“Goddamnit!” Jessica cursed, unable to help herself. She was going to die, and so was Austin. She had agreed to this knowing it was a fool’s errand, and now Candice was going to be—
Movement above caught her eye, and she lifted her gaze from the horrifying anvil of death ahead. On the roofs to either side of the zombie horde, she saw people appear. They were leaning out, heaving at something down at their feet, and then things began tumbling over the edge of the roofs to plummet to the sidewalks below. Jessica tracked one with her eyes all the way down until it smacked into the concrete with a liquid splat that told her it wasn’t inert.
“Bodies.” she realized sickly. But not human. Or, at least, she didn’t think so; the falling … things … were too small. Unless they were people who’d been butchered. Whatever they were, the sound drew the zombies, and then abruptly the mass of horrors surged for the sidewalks. More of whatever was being thrown tumbled down, knocking a few zombies to the ground, but drawing more still. In seconds an opening was clearing through the middle of the street. But the opening wasn’t very deep; maybe a block past she saw even more zombies milling about, some of them already beginning to react and reorient toward the commotion to their west.
“Jessica, come on.” Austin said, turning his head to look at her.
“Where?” she just managed not to scream at him.
“I’ve got the rope. We can get through into that clear spot while they’re distracted. Climb up on one of the buildings.”
“How?”
“Knife, use it like a grapnel.”
Jessica shook her head half-hysterically. “Seriously?”
“Best idea I’ve got.”
She was still moving forward, but she’d dropped to a sort of automatic fast walk as she stared aghast at the scene ahead. Austin slowed, reached out and took her hand, and pulled her into motion again as he sped up. Unable to think of anything else, she let herself be propelled alongside him, running right into hundreds of zombies.
“On the left, that alley.” Austin was saying. “We’ll duck in there, you cover the street, and I’ll get the rope together.”
“You’ll never get a rope up there.”
“Yes I will.”
“I can’t climb a rope up a full story.” she protested, though maybe she could; she’d never been in better shape in her entire life. Being reduced to apocalyptic survival had done wonders for her fitness. But the building was a full sized commercial one, not just a little house-like structure with a few offices. Tall, and big, like she expected to see in a downtown location. Too tall, she was afraid. She’d never been able to climb the rope in gym class, and that had been when she was a teenager.
“I’ll damn well carry you over my shoulder if necessary, but I’ll get you up on that roof.” Austin said. He released her hand and brought the carbine up. Not all of the zombies in the horde just ahead of them had been quick enough to fixate on whatever was being thrown from the roofs. Or if they had, the approaching humans looked more tasty. Whatever the reason, several were in the otherwise cleared out corridor through the horde as the rest of their hungry monstrous brethren parted.
Austin fired steadily, landing his shots with his customary precision. Bringing her own weapon up, Jessica added the buckshot to his bullets. Zombies tumbled and staggered, flesh and bone ripped and sprayed out and up in all directions, and suddenly the way was as clear as it could be. Lined on both sides with zombies, but none of them facing toward or looking at the running trio of humans. It would only take a couple of seconds for the three of them to get past.
“Not even you can climb that and carry me too.” Jessica said.
“Watch me.” Austin said with a lot of hea
t.
That was when Jessica saw a figure emerge from the building Austin wanted to run past. Not on the roof, but from the front door. A man. Jessica blinked as he waved urgently, beckoning. Then she heard him yell over the rustle and stomp of the zombies as they pushed towards the meat being dropped from the roofs.
“Come on! Inside! Before they finish eating!”
“That’s—” Austin started to say, but Milo shouted from behind her. She didn’t even realize he’d kept up with them, and further realized, faintly, that she honestly didn’t care if he had or hadn’t.
“Byron!”
Jessica blinked and abruptly recognized him. The brown hair, the face, it was him. A second man came out of the building behind him, this one holding a rifle, and she recognized Nate as well. Then both of them flinched violently and skittered sideways as several shots rang out. She saw a spray of concrete chips bounce from the sidewalk at their feet, then a few more. Byron ran back into the building, closely followed by Nate. The shots stopped.
Austin’s carbine went off right next to her, and she looked to see he had it to his shoulder again. But not pointed at the street ahead, but angled up and at the roof of the building next to them. He shot three times without ceasing his forward progress, firing on the move. When she looked up at where he had the gun pointed, she saw nothing but empty roof. Whether he’d hit them or simply driven them back with his fire, she didn’t know.
“Inside.” Austin said, stopping abruptly and seizing her by her upper arm. Together they ran toward the open doorway. She tripped and almost went down when her feet caught on a fallen zombie, and only Austin’s grip kept her up and moving. Then he nearly tripped too, and they both staggered for several steps. Gunfire split the scene again, bullets smacking into the ground — and zombies — around them, and she ran faster still. Hands clenched on either side of them in anticipation as the zombies reached, but panic and sheer determined desperation kept her on her feet.
Reaching the doorway, Jessica started to slow and bring her shotgun up, but Austin physically shoved her around the corner and into the building Byron and Nate had vanished into. Not just with his hands and arms, but with his whole body; gripping her by both arms and rushing her through with himself pressed in close behind her so she could feel his looming presence.