The Infected (Book 3): Nightfall

by Joseph Zuko

  Sara cranked the steering wheel all the way to the right, whipped the car around and headed for the street. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  Jim spun around in his seat. Cliff’s van was right behind them.

  “Holy shit!” Jim spun back around in his seat. He extended his hand for Frank to give it a fiver.

  “By the skin of our teeth!” Frank grunted as his palm met Jim’s. It was one of the best high fives of Jim’s life.

  “Keep heading east. I’ll let you know when to turn.” Jim popped the magazine out of his rifle. Frank had the same thought. He handed Jim a box of ammo.

  “Jim, what are we going to do after we get there?” Devon’s question was on everyone’s mind. He was just the first to say it. Jim pondered the question as he loaded a few rounds.

  “Dude, I don’t know,” was the answer Jim finally settled on. It brought a short smile to Devon’s face, but no real comfort.

  A zombie stepped out into the street. Sara swerved to miss the collision, but it was too late. The zombie’s torso was chopped by the lip of the cow catcher. Its shoulder and neck split wide open and gore spilled out across the windshield. Its head and left arm rolled up the glass and over the top of the car as its body slid down and off to the side of the cow catcher. It was a disgusting device that worked beautifully.

  “That was nasty.” Sara attempted to clean the human remains off the window but the fence would not let the wipers do their job. The washers sprayed soapy water and it turned the crimson fluid to pink, but she could see again.

  Jim clicked his full mag into the bottom of the gun, “Guys, I really have no idea what to expect when we get there. The house could be empty. If so, we need to keep rolling.”

  “Hey partner, no one’s holding you responsible for anything. We are all flying by the seat of our pants and I’m not keeping score.” Frank did not look up from his gun. He just continued to load ammo into his magazine.

  Cliff kept his distance from the back of Jim’s ride. He was afraid if they came to a sudden stop, he would crash into them and this whole convoy would come to an end. Rich stared out the window. Vancouver was a violent blur. Dead bodies littered the streets. Whole families had been slaughtered by this infection. Wrecked and burnt out vehicle shells were scattered everywhere. Hordes of all sizes were growing in numbers.

  “How is this shit even humanly possible?” Rich said in disgust. “I see it, but I don’t believe it. Where is the army? Where are the cops? How are we the only two cars on this street? Jesus Christ is this how we go down as a species?”

  “The human race was a brittle house of cards.” Morgan wiped the excess saliva from the corners of her mouth. Her statement left everyone speechless. Jim’s car made a right turn and Cliff turned on his signal to indicate his turn.

  “Baby, who are you signaling?” Tina asked her husband with a teasing tone.

  “I don’t know. Habit I guess.” He turned off the signal. “I hope Jim’s mother-in-law has food for breakfast. I’m starving.”

  “Me too. The kids got full on popcorn, but I’m running on empty.” Tina rubbed at her growling stomach.

  “I hope she’s got a bed I can have dibs on. Old Richie boy is tired as hell.” Rich let out a loud yawn.

  “I hope the bed’s queen sized,” Morgan’s wrinkled hand found its way onto Rich’s thigh.

  “Yeah, me too darling,” Rich gave her a wink.

  Cliff looked into the rearview mirror at his mother. Morgan’s eyes met his and she gave him a set of double eyebrow raises followed by a wink.

  Cliff was not surprised at all. Rich was a man with a beating heart and that was just the kind of guy Morgan was looking for. Cliff crossed his fingers that the house had thick walls and doors. Morgan and Rich going at it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

  The PT’s brake lights flashed red, Sara was slowing down quickly. She stepped on the gas and pulled away from them.

  Cliff could finally see what the problem was. They were about to pass a Costco and it looked like everyone had the same idea. “Let’s go to the place with a ton of supplies, no windows and a heavy metal door.” The parking lot and street adjacent to the super store was packed with zombies. The big metal door was shut and everyone that made it there too late had been gobbled up.

  Cliff and Tina watched as Sara plunged the PT Cruiser into the wall of running zombies. A cloud of red blasted into the air around Jim’s car. Cliff stepped on the gas to catch up with them. She carved a path through the horde and to Cliff it looked like she was laying down a red carpet for him to follow her on.

  As the van entered into the horde and traveled over the busted up body parts it was like they had taken the van off-road. It was bumpy and jarring as hell. It also felt like driving on ice. The tires slid across the viscous surface. Swarms of infected closed in on the path Sara was making. When they hit the cow catcher on the front of the van the zombies met the same fate as their fallen comrades. The lip’s edge that Rich had installed was like a Ginsu knife. It sliced, diced and chopped up the bodies like they were sacks of tomatoes.

  Cliff was gaining on the PT Cruiser. His van was rocking a more powerful V6 engine and Sara was taking a lot more direct hits than he was. They were only half way through the horde and Jim’s ride was slowing way down. If they came to a stop that would be it. The infected might not be able to get into the newly fortified cars, but the humans would also be stuck inside. Trapped until they starved to death.

  Cliff was less than three feet from the back of the Cruiser and he was letting off the gas.

  “What are you doing?!” Tina yelled at him.

  “What?” He said in a panic.

  “Push them! Get us out of here!”

  “Do it Clifford!” Morgan seconded Tina.

  “The catcher will hold!” Rich yelled over the sound of infected bones breaking by the hundreds.

  Cliff put his foot into it and they crashed into the back of Jim’s car. The cow catcher grinded into the back bumper of the cruiser.

  “What the hell is he doing?!” Sara squealed at the top of her lungs.

  “Getting us through this shit!” Frank yelled it over the noise. Sara noticed the speedometer rising. They were getting back over thirty miles per hour, but she was driving blind. The windshield was covered in sludge and had started to spider web from impact of all of the chunks of flesh and thick skulls crashing into it.

  “Keep going and hold the wheel straight. The road doesn’t turn!” Jim commanded. They chugged like a locomotive. It became dark inside the car. The windows were blacked out and suddenly the noise stopped. The road became clear. Sara let off the gas and flicked on the window washers. She held down the lever and let a gallon of water spray out. The window washer stopped shooting water. It had run dry, but the window was still impossible to see through.

  “Hold up,” Jim called out. Sara came to a stop. Jim opened his door and stepped out. “Hand me that Burgerville cup.” Sara grabbed the extra-large cup in the front cup holder. It was still half full as she handed it to Jim.

  The exterior of the Cruiser looked like the kill floor of a slaughterhouse. The horde was a quarter mile down the street and heading this way. Cliff was already out of his van and trying the same thing Jim was about to do. He was pulling the cyclone fence up off of the window as Tina ran the blades back and forth to get it clear enough to see. Jim dumped out the water onto the window and stuck his fingers into the fence. The goo squished under his fingers as he lifted the fence just far enough away from the glass that the wipers took off at full power and cleared enough of the gore to let Sara see the road. The horde was a hundred feet away and Cliff was already back in his van.

  “That should do it,” Sara called to Jim from inside the car.

  Jim let go of the fence and it snapped back onto the glass. He raced around the backdoor and hopped into the car. Sara was already rolling when the door slammed shut.

  The convoy ripped down the road. A single biter would appear
every now and then, but Sara was able to maneuver around them. With the light, almost nonexistent traffic on the streets and the rest of the way being horde free, they made excellent time.

  Jim’s stomach turned when they pulled into Penny’s neighborhood and he saw the monster pile of dead bodies that lined the street around the police cruiser. He was so close now. He could already feel the warm arms of his loving family around him. He could not wait to hold his little girls. He was not going to put them down for hours. Just carry them around and hold them like he did when they were infants.

  “Who the hell are they?” Sara pointed to the pickup that sat in the driveway. Five heavily armed men were jumping out of the truck and running for Penny’s front door. Jim did not recognize them or their truck. Ice ran through his veins. He knew they were driving toward a gunfight.

  CHAPTER 21

  Piping hot liquid poured down Eric’s spine. A shard of glass jutted from the side of his skull. Karen raced for the front door, shouldered it closed and locked it.

  Eric’s body slammed into hers and they crashed into the sheetrock next to the front door. Pain exploded across Karen’s back. Eric threw punches into her ribs and stomach. She couldn’t breathe. He moved so fast she couldn’t think. She tried to block his strikes but his fist crashed into her wrapped wrist and she saw stars.

  Karen was in full blown panic. Eric’s face was right in front of hers. The primal parts of her brain activated and she saw an opening. She reared her head back and brought her forehead down onto the bridge of Eric’s nose.

  Blood jetted from his nostrils and down his black shirt. His eyes squinted and he was blinded by her counter attack. Karen rung her own bell. She could hear her children crying in the living room. They had learned the lesson from their Mama’s previous fight and stayed away.

  Eric stepped back and held both hands to his face. Karen stepped forward and hooked her leg around the back of his and pushed through him. He fell backwards onto the hardwood floor as Karen raced over his body and back into the kitchen.

  She frantically searched for her gun. She spotted it and reached for the pistol. She could hear the men outside yelling for Eric to answer them. One of them had an itchy trigger finger and opened fire on the front door. Bullets ripped through the thick wood. Karen dropped to the kitchen floor and covered her head. She hadn’t reached the gun yet.

  A stray round zapped Eric in the calf and the bullet grazed his skin “STOP SHOOTING YOU IDIOTS!” Eric rolled to his stomach and the blood on his shirt allowed him to slide faster across the floor after Karen. His outstretched hand gripped tightly around Karen’s ankle. He pulled himself up her body and began to mount her.

  “You are going to pay for this!” He yelled in her face.

  Leon and Troy were about to step through the threshold of a promising looking home about three blocks away from Penny’s when they heard the sound of gunfire.

  “That was close to Mama’s,” Troy squinted his eyes as he turned to face the popping noise in the distance.

  “Let’s go!” Leon stopped on a dime and sprinted back to the car. Troy was right on his heels.

  Sara stomped on the brakes and screeched to a halt at the end of Penny’s driveway. Jim was the first to step from the car. His rifle was pulled tight to his shoulder and desperation spread across his face.

  “KAREN!” Jim strained.

  Who were these guys?

  Why are they shooting into the house?

  Had Karen or Penny turned?

  What the FUCK is going on?

  The five men turned and drew their weapons on Jim and the approaching van.

  Frank stepped out of the Cruiser, “Jim?”

  “Stay close to the car,” Jim said without looking back. Frank kept the SKS aimed at what looked like the leader’s head.

  Karen heard Jim’s voice outside. Eric’s powerful hands crept up Karen’s body and found her neck.

  “Ji-!” Karen’s windpipe was pinched off as Eric’s thumb pressed into the center of her neck. Karen turned her hand into a claw and raked Eric’s face, catching one of his eyes with her nails. Karen’s free hand opened a floor cabinet. She clamored for the first solid object her hand could find.

  A heavy ceramic bowl sat on the lower shelf. She launched it into the side of Eric’s face. The force of the blow knocked him off of her body and he released his grip on her throat.

  Karen gagged out a cough and almost puked. She hit him a few more times with the bowl until it shattered into a hundred pieces.

  Jim raised one hand in the air and pointed the rifle at the ground. He wanted to show that he was friendly and not wanting a fight, “What’s going on?!” he called to the men.

  Brother Paul’s words were ringing in Jim’s head. ‘I do not want people running around Vancouver murdering every person they meet.’ It was just yesterday when the Preacher had Jim and his crew with black bags on their heads making them promise to be good Christians. ‘I will only give you this one warning.’ Brother Paul said, ‘If you cross me, I will make you and your families suffer.’

  Jim did not want a blood bath on his hands. He had to get them to leave without firing a shot. He could sense something had the five men juiced up and even more on edge. It wasn’t just the zombie hordes in the area. The look on their faces told Jim they were guilty of something.

  Karen cried for help and it sounded supersonic when she yelled, “Jim! I’m in here! HURRY!”

  He recognized his panicked wife’s voice. Jim stepped up the driveway and was a few feet from the truck when he heard a second voice throw out the command, “Kill him!”

  The five men opened fire! Jim ducked down behind the truck’s back tire. Rounds tore into the back end of their own truck, the PT Cruiser and Cliff’s van.

  Karen reached to pull herself up off the floor. She grabbed the handle of a drawer and got to one knee when Eric caught her by the waistband. Karen could feel his fingertips grind at the top of her ass. He yanked her back to the floor and the drawer came out of the cabinet with her. Cutlery and other kitchen utensils hit the hardwood. They spread out with a loud crash and slid to every corner of the kitchen. Karen fell to her back and Eric hovered over her torso. He snatched a fork and stabbed it into Karen’s chest close to where her shoulder connected. She howled. The fork stuck deep in the meat of her chest and Eric wiggled its handle back and forth digging it deeper into her.

  Frank turned and retreated. He ducked down and hid behind the back of the PT Cruiser as rounds passed over his head. He wasn’t mentally prepared to take a human’s life. In the flash of a second that he had the headshot lined up, he panicked and couldn’t fire. Frank had never been fired at before. His hands shook uncontrollably. He just wanted it to be over. He pressed his body up against the back bumper of the car. Every shot fired seemed like it was coming straight for him. Every bullet had his name on it. The fear of death had never gripped him so strongly.

  How the hell do we get out of this?!

  Sara ducked under the steering wheel. Shards of glass rained down on her as the bullets ripped the windshield and interior apart.

  Devon started to speak, “I got-!” his words were cut short. Devon was not quick enough and he couldn’t get his injured leg to bend for him to scoot under the dash. Blood splashed over every inch of Sara’s face. She ran her shirt sleeve along her brow and wiped the blood out of her eyes. Devon’s body and face had been peppered by the incoming rounds. His body slumped across the center console. She reached for his hand as if she could shake him back alive.

  “Devon!” she couldn’t hear her own voice over the pounding noise inside the car.

  Where is Jim and Frank?!

  Maybe Tina can fix this? She was slipping further into shock and the gravity of his wounds were not registering fully with her yet.

  A flurry of gunfire hit the front of Cliff’s van. The windows exploded. Cliff cranked the wheel and hit the gas. He panicked and was blinded by glass hitting him in the face. He sped down the street be
hind the PT Cruiser. The shots kept coming and they punctured the side of the van. The instant his sight returned it was too late he was barreling down on a parked car. The van crashed and spun out! The engine cut off. They were stuck with the broadside of the van facing the gunmen. Out of sheer desperation Cliff popped open his door and fell to the asphalt, away from the incoming rounds. His own blood was cascading down the front of his face. A jagged gash zigged through his eyebrow and down to his cheekbone. His saw landed on the ground next to him. The van filled with the screams of his children.

  Karen’s eyes rolled back into her skull. The searing sting in her shoulder was unimaginable. She raised her knee and it landed square on Eric’s balls. He let go of the fork. Karen hooked her hands behind his head and pulled him down closer to her face. She dug her teeth into the top of his skull! The taste of metal filled her mouth as she peeled off a three inch chunk of scalp. Eric reared back and Karen spit the bloody mouthful of skin into his face. His hand pressed against the ragged wound.

  As Leon swerved the Subaru around the block, the warzone came into full view. The muzzle flash made it look like fireworks were going off in the front yard.

  “What the hell is this?!” Leon slowed down. Bullets were flying all over the street. A man laid on the street next to a van that was getting perforated by gunfire. An older man clung for life at the back of Karen’s PT Cruiser.

  Troy noticed Jim on the ground hiding behind the truck’s back tire, “That’s Jim.” Troy pointed him out. Leon punched the gas and cranked the wheel. He pulled the emergency brake and the Subaru slid sideways into the next door neighbor’s driveway. Gunfire was coming their way. Bullets stamped holes into the hood of the Subaru. A short stone wall separated Penny’s property from the neighbor’s. As Troy opened the door to get out, the hailstorm of lead drifting his way and the bullets stabbed dime sized holes up the front quarter panel of the Subaru. Troy fell forward to hide behind the stone wall. He got off a single shot before completely disappearing behind the wall. The buckshot shredded a gunman’s leg. He stumbled to the ground cursing. The others stopped firing and went to help their buddy.