Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series)

by Vanucci, Gary F.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Selina said, crawling up beside him. They were not far from the fence now and Alex could see a gate with a chain wrapped around it. The chain link was pretty solid and the top had a few strands of barbed wire to keep the public from thinking twice before trying to cross the boundary.

  “You have bolt-cutters?” Selina asked.

  “I’ve got tin snips. I found them, as a matter of fact, when I was trying to save your ass!” Alex said with a chuckle. “No bolt-cutters yet. We’re gonna pick up a pair on our next trip to SuperMart though. You can bet on that.”

  “You gonna cut our way in?” Selina asked him doubtfully.

  “”Yep. That’s the plan. Unless there’s no lock on that chain,” he added, staring over there through the binoculars and not seeing anything. “Must have been fastened from the inside.”

  “Or, they never locked it. The jokers ain’t smart, so they can’t open doors or use mechanical things,” Selina said with hope.

  “Well, that’s true. We’ll find out soon enough, huh?”

  Selina nodded and gestured for him to hand her the binoculars. As if on cue, they heard the sound of a vehicle heading their way. Alex chanced a look and lifted his head to see. It was the Explorer heading their way and right toward the fence.

  The zombies that were inside the gates became immediately incensed at the activity and sound, rushing toward the gates to investigate.

  Bryan waved to them from the passenger window, Alexis in the driver’s seat—both literally and figuratively where Bryan was concerned, Alex suddenly thought—and then he began whistling for the zombies on the back side of the property. They drove right up to the locked gate and began blaring the horn.

  As the vehicular game of ‘pied piper’ ensued—the term the group had been using to describe the luring of zombies away from others—the vehicle slowly crept along the fencing heading toward the front of the lot. As they continued along, the noise brought a heavy portion of the undead horde with it, leaving behind almost no stragglers.

  Alex could not help but notice the chain link begin to buckle under the sheer mass of undead flesh that pushed against it. The SUV picked up speed and decoyed the horde further away from where Alex and Selina patiently waited.

  The two of them raced toward the entrance and, sure enough, it was locked from the inside. Without a word, Alex began working the tin snips along a straight line, cutting as quickly as he could.

  As he was cutting, he felt a presence behind him and immediately after, heard a gurgling noise and then felt he fence bulge right in front him. He rolled backward as his heart thundered in his chest, thinking something was about to kill him. He glanced up from where he lay on the ground and realized that Selina must have jammed her sword through a zombie that had come toward them, and it had fallen over dead right where he was cutting.

  A few seconds later, he caught his breath and resumed his task. When the cutting was finished, Alex tossed the snips in his pack and removed the bow, shouldered his quiver, and then removed an arrow. He nocked one as they rounded the corner.

  He felt more than saw the movement and jumped out from around the corner of the ambulance and saw another of the undead sniffing the air as if acknowledging their presence. He loosed the arrow and it pierced the zombie’s skull.

  Racing to the body, Alex yanked free the arrow and inspected it. The shaft was cracked.

  Dammit. I'm running low on good ones.

  He unscrewed the broad head from the cracked shaft, tossed it onto the quiver, and scolded himself for not replacing the damaged arrows he’d been carrying for weeks now in his quiver.

  “Alex,” Selina said, trying to get his attention. “Alex!” Dammit, look!”

  He looked up to see a half-dozen more zombies racing their way and immediately ran toward Selina, who was about to crack the driver side window with the butt of her sword.

  “Wait!” he said, grabbing her arms to stop her momentum. She looked at him with a frantic look on her face..

  He kissed her before she could utter a word, not wanting to have to explain himself in the little time they had, then dropped to his knees and started feeling around the frame of the vehicle. He felt a button, pushed it, and then they heard the locks on the doors pop.

  “Let’s go!” he yelped, as Selina, who was still staring at him wide-eyed, climbed in through the driver side all the way to the passenger’s seat.

  Alex placed his hand over the key in the ignition, his heart thundering in his chest with anticipation. “If you do pray at all, now would be a good time.”

  The zombies grew nearer—only ten paces now.

  He turned the key and it started.

  He threw the ambulance in reverse and jammed his foot on the gas. He looked to Selina and held her hand, “hold on!”

  The vehicle was substantial and, as it backed into the charging undead, did some heavy damage to them. He felt the impact of the ambulance hitting the fleshy bodies and smiled victoriously, backing the vehicle all the way over the bodies. He’d gotten four of them.

  Two were left, one at either side of the ambulance. Alex calmly retrieved his pistol, chambered the weapon and waited a second, rolling his window down. One rushed right up to him and he shot it right between the eyes.

  One left.

  He spun the vehicle around to see the last one, a withered old man in a hospital gown and not much else. Alex drove the vehicle around to face him and repeated his action. Then he drove the vehicle over to the gate.

  “In the back, see if there are bolt-cutters. There has to be,” he said, looking out the passenger side window to see a huge mob heading their way now.

  “And sweetie…please hurry.”

  She was back in seconds, holding up a pair of poorly kept bolt-cutters and smiling. He grabbed them from her, shouldered the door open and precisely cut the base of the lock. As he did, however, the bolt-cutters snapped in unison with the lock. He quickly unwound the chain and threw open the gates, waving her through and tossing aside the broken tool.

  “So much for that,” Alex mentioned, annoyed at that turn of events.

  Selina, now in the driver seat, drove the vehicle forward through the gates and stopped. “Close ’em!”

  Alex quickly closed the gate and latched it, wrapping the chain around and around again and then placing what remained of the lock through the chains.

  “That might slow ‘em down at least,” Alex said as he jumped right back inside the vehicle and jammed on the pedal.

  “I don’t know if it’s gonna matter,” Selina said dejectedly as she pointed to a breach in the fencing all the way near the front of the hospital.

  “Holy shit,” Alex heard himself mutter.

  They could see zombies filtering out into the fields now and Alex shook his head in disbelief. He grabbed the binoculars and saw that the Explorer was almost completely surrounded by zombies, though it still moved forward.

  He handed her the binoculars and jammed on the gas again, racing toward them.

  “This is gonna sound crazy, but I need you to get me that stick of dynamite. I think this counts as an emergency!”

  Selina nodded and began rooting through the bag. “And there’s a plastic bag with books of matches in there, too.” She retrieved them both. “Now, I'm gonna drive right up behind the SUV and I want you to light it and toss it into the horde at the back. I'm hoping that will clear enough of them away that maybe they can get to us.” He looked at her intensely, not wanting her to voice the doubt he saw in her eyes. He was thankful that she said nothing and instead did what he asked of her.

  Alex drove the ambulance closer to the Explorer and the zombie horde and as they got to within fifty paces, nodded to her. “Light it and toss it into the crowd. Don’t aim for the vehicle, got it?”

  Alex grabbed the binoculars and peered through them. He saw Bryan looking back, having noticed them there, and his eyes filled with hope for a split second.

  Seli
na tossed the stick of dynamite and Alex stopped the ambulance, jamming on the brakes.

  The dynamite exploded.

  Zombie guts and body parts flew everywhere.

  Alex smiled at the death of so many of them. He couldn’t help it.

  Then they waited for what seemed an eternity, but it may have only been a few seconds.

  They saw Bryan emerge through the smoke.

  “Get in back and pop the doors! Hurry!” Alex called to Selina. She climbed in the back as Alex spun the rig around. Selina had her own pistol out and began firing it at the zombies who chased after Bryan.

  One overtook him and tore a hunk of flesh from him. Selina exited the vehicle to Alex’s cries against that action, and shot the thing in the head. Nothing else was coming toward them through the smoke. Selina helped Bryan to his feet, they got to the back of the ambulance and she shoved him inside, then climbed in after him. she shut the doors just as three more zombies slammed into the now-sealed doors.

  Alex, saying nothing, jammed on the gas and pulled the vehicle away, heading toward the road.

  As he got onto the highway, he saw smoke and broken fencing, and hundreds of zombies racing after them.

  They became smaller in the rearview mirror as he sped away. When they were finally gone, he risked a look at the gas gauge and saw it still had three quarters of a tank. Then he looked up and adjusted the rearview to stare into it. Selina was firmly pressing a towel against the wound on Bryan’s neck, watching it turn red with blood the longer she held it there.

  Bryan was dead and he knew it.

  “Hey, in my pocket, can you hand me a smoke?” he asked coarsely. Bryan crabbed the towel and held it, freeing up her hands. Selina looked to Alex and he nodded ever so slightly.

  She reached into his pocket and pulled out the cigarette pack, removed the last partially crumpled cigarette and placed it in his mouth, then lit it with a match for him.

  “She died trying to help at least,” Bryan mentioned, taking a drag on his cigarette. “Everyone thought she was a flake, but I saw her potential.” The others simply nodded their agreement. “She knew she was gonna die. She told me to go. And I did.”

  “That was extraordinarily brave,” Selina said sympathetically, trying to comfort her friend.

  “You guys did great,” Alex said meekly.

  “Coulda’ gone a little better,” he said, laughing and then coughing.

  They waited for him to finish his cigarette in silence. Then he grabbed Selina by the hand and nodded. “I’m ready.” She sobbed and looked away from him, whispering ‘no’ over and over again until she finally climbed into the passenger seat.

  “I can’t do it,” she said to Alex. “I'm sorry.”

  He nodded, pulled the ambulance off to the side of the road, and removed his gun. He got out, calmly opened the back doors and Bryan crawled out of the back, Alex helping him get to his feet when they got outside.

  Can’t believe I have to do this again. It never fuckin’ ends.

  He laid Bryan down gently against a tree several paces into the woods and stared into the man’s blue eyes. He was surprisingly calm.

  “Here,” Bryan said, handing Alex his pack. “There’s a gun, some ammo, and a few other things. Might come in handy.”

  “And your mace?” Alex asked, knowing he was rather fond of the weapon.

  “I gave it to her,” he said, saying nothing more about it.

  He took the pack, chambered a round and held it up to Bryan’s head. But, try as he might, Alex could not pull the trigger. Moments passed and he looked down at Bryan who pleaded with his eyes for Alex to do it.

  Tears formed in Alex’s eyes as he suddenly recollected that very same look of hopelessness that was once on Olivia’s face. He looked away, unable to look at the man. Bryan’s face was replaced with Olivia’s over and over again as he stared at the man, moisture escaping his eyes, streaming down Alex’s cheeks.

  Suddenly, he felt a hand on his and then heard the gun go off. Bryan himself had put enough pressure on the trigger to take it the rest of the way. Alex walked slowly back to the vehicle and climbed in silently. Selina held him tightly as soon as he got in and the two of them cried for a long time.

  They had lost two more.

  Chapter 7

  The trip back to the boat was made in silence. Selina was in the back fishing through all the drawers and eventually found a set that were locked. Alex had to pull over and give her the keys, and they soon found the right one. Inside there, they found plenty of high end narcotics. The rest of the ambulance was chock full of other meds, IV’s a defibrillator, as well as oxygen tanks, and heavy blankets.

  As they arrived to where they stored the boat, Alex began to tug it out of its hiding place toward the river. As he yanked on the side, however, one of the sides came loose.

  “Dammit!” he yelled, knowing that the thing wasn’t exactly rugged in its design. “All that for nothin’” he said with utter frustration.

  “Not for nothin’,” Selina said, trying to comfort him.

  “We lost two more of us on this trip! And now the damn boat is—“

  He stopped mid-sentence and shook his head. He did not want to give in to the pessimism of this terrible turn of events and Selina didn’t need the negativity either. She sensed his frustration and hugged him tight.

  “Listen, we can head to SuperMart now, find us a boat, and maybe even replace those broken bolt-cutters?” she asked rhetorically. Alex smiled at her optimism.

  “Let’s do it,” he said. Besides, what choice do we have?

  As Alex climbed back into the ambulance, under the seat he found an almost-full pack of cigarettes. “Ironic,” he said, holding up the cigarette pack to Selina. She smiled a wry grin as she took her seat and buckled up.

  “It’s a shame, ya know?” Selina said, Alex nodding to her absently, his mind wandering from Sara to this latest group of deaths and it had him down for sure.

  “What is?” Alex finally asked after she went out of her way to stare at him.

  “I'm talking about the fact that we have to stay here. I mean, winter is coming again and I’ll be honest…I’m not thrilled with the prospect of sleeping in that half-ass chapel in that kind of cold.”

  “I can talk to Nick and see if he’ll let us sleep inside—“

  “And what ya gonna do with Shadow then? You love that animal. I see it in your eyes when you guys are playing.”

  “Oh, yeah?!”

  “Yeah, I watch you guys sometimes when you play, and you think I’m sleeping. You two have a real bond.”

  “Yeah, that’s something all right,” he said with a smile. “So, what else you see me doin’ when I think you’re sleeping?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know!?” she asked with a hearty laugh.

  “Well, Nick said that their food supply was possibly an issue, so…lemme think about it, okay?”

  Selina nodded, letting Alex do just that as they continued on toward the SuperMart. The roads were somewhat barren until they approached a gas station, where Alex pulled into, stopping and looking around for signs of movement.

  “We don’t have gas cans,” she said as they pulled in.

  “Yeah, true. I was thinking that we could kill two birds here. We can see if they have empty containers, milk cartons or whatever, and fill up a few with gas. Just in case. Plus, I’m gonna fill the rig. They got diesel.”

  Alex got out and filled the ambulance up with diesel fuel while Selina found three plastic milk containers and filled them with gas, storing them in the back before they pulled away.

  Sometime later, they arrived at the SuperMart parking lot and Alex pulled around back like they had the first time they were here. As Alex maneuvered around the abandoned vehicles, slowly turning a corner, Selina slapped his shoulder.

  “Stop!”

  “What?!” he exclaimed, jamming on the brakes and putting the vehicle in park.

  “There. That muscle car there! It’s from the tw
o assholes that tried to rob us last time we were here!”

  “Oh, shit! Right,” Alex said, recalling the two men that had tried to rob them or worse—two men that Alex had to kill in self-defense. He felt that same terrible feeling about having to do that as he climbed out of the driver seat, staring into the car. It was a ninety-something charger, Alex believed. All the doors were locked and so he grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the back of the rig and used it to break the passenger-side window.

  “Subtle,” Selina said, her eyes darting around, expecting to see zombies coming toward them any second. Alex rummaged through the car and found a few backpacks of supplies, including a pack full of ammo, guns and the case for the .45 caliber Smith & Wesson that Selina currently had tucked in her belt.

  The other pack was filled with first aid supplies, another flashlight, and batteries of all kinds, some protein bars and more canned food. He found a set of keys inside, but they weren’t for this car. He also found a crowbar and a tiny pair of binoculars, which he handed to Selina, and then forced open the trunk.

  “Jackpot,” he said. Inside were two cases of water, a case of canned tuna and another full gas can, along with a very nice set of mechanic’s tools.

  He quickly threw all of the supplies in the back of the rig and hugged Selina. “All we really need now is a goddamn boat!”

  “Yeah, that’ll be easy to find, rig—“ Selina stopped talking mid-sentence. “Alex, maybe our luck really is changing,” she mentioned, handing him the binoculars from around her neck. In the back of the parking lot was a truck with a boat trailer already hitched, the boat was small, twelve-footer or so, by Alex’s estimation, but it was big enough to do the job. And it had a decent sized outboard motor on the back.

  “Well, we don’t have to even go inside really then, right?”

  “Unless you wanna get me a bow and arrow set for me? Well, let’s just get this thing hitched and get the IV back to Hannah. This stuff can wait, right?”

  “You got it, hon,” Alex said. He ran over to the boat trailer and inspected it thoroughly. It looked like it was in good shape, along with the boat. Then he inspected the pickup truck, a Chevy Silverado, and it looked to be in good enough shape. He popped the door and was happy to see the keys still in the ignition. These days that usually meant there was a problem with the vehicle, but maybe not, he thought, as he turned the key. It started up, but he immediately noted a light on the dashboard indicating that something was wrong with the cooling or heating system.