“Let’s just keep going,” Shondra pleaded. There’s nothing we can do for them now.”
Vincent picked up speed and avoided looking into the rear-view mirror. He tried to keep his mind off of the reanimated officers by looking down at the instrument cluster. He didn’t see that he had drifted into the oncoming lane, and it was Shondra’s screams that brought his eyes back up to the road. Coming directly at him was a large pickup truck with big, off road tires.
Vincent jerked the wheel hard to the right and was able to dodge the truck. He then saw that it was being followed by a small compact car. Fortunately for Don, he had been following Vincent with enough distance between the two of them and he was able to avoid crashing into his rear. Vincent braked to a stop and Don pulled up on Nick’s side.
The two drivers exchanged relieved expression and Vincent looked into his rear view mirror. The truck and the small two door hatchback that was following it were turning around. The behemoth Ford, with its diesel banging away, pulled up next to Vincent. A young man was driving it and a frightened looking young woman was sitting right next to him, clinging onto him.
“Thank God,” the man said, relieved. “We haven’t seen a cop all day. We thought we were all alone.” He had to look down at Vincent because the truck had a high lift kit on it.
“Where are you coming from?” Vincent asked.
“We barricaded ourselves in our apartment when this crap started. We figured we could hold out there, but the place got turned into a damned disaster zone. We heard the radio say that there was a rescue station at the Robinson Sports Complex, so we figured that we’d try for there. But now the radio has stopped broadcasting and we can’t get no other stations, so we don’t know if the rescue center is still there. So it’s me and my girl, and my buddy Reese and his girl in the car behind us…and we don’t know what to do.”
Vincent looked over at Nick and then looked back at the young man. “Well, you don’t want to go to Robinson Stadium. We just came from there. The fences didn’t hold. It was a massacre. We barely made it out of there ourselves.”
“Shit, then where do we go?” asked the young man. Vincent could see fear gripping him, and as he spoke his nostrils flared.
“We’re going to try to make it to the police station on Culebra.”
“Please, babe, not back into the city,” pleaded the young woman who was sitting next to the frightened truck driver. She yanked on his arm as she tried to make her point. “Maybe we can try Bandera or Helotes, but don’t take us back into the city.”
The young man looked over at his girlfriend and then looked back down at Vincent. “We really don’t want to go back into the city…at all. And that police station is a long way from here, way back towards the city. Everything is fucked up in there. There are thousands of those things all over the streets. We’ve had to go through all kinds of crazy stuff in just trying to get out of there. On the way over here, another car tried to hook up with us, and as we were passing by the mall at Culebra and Four-Ten, a swarm of those things came at us…” The driver paused for a moment as he replayed in his mind what had happened.
“What happened to the third car?” Vincent asked.
“Those fucking things—the ones that run—they flipped it over and pulled out those poor people. All four of them. Look officer, if that rescue station isn’t open anymore, then we just want to get away from the city completely. We got enough food and water to last us a few days.”
“Shit, what if West is gone?” Nick asked Vincent. “What will we do then?”
“We’ll just have to find out. I know I need to check on my parents, and if there’s fuel there at the station, I’m going to gas this bitch up and haul ass over to my mom and dad’s and see if they’re…well, you know what I mean. Anyway, I’m sure we all have family we want to check on.”
“My wife…I haven’t heard from her since I put her on the bus that took her to the rescue station at Port San Antonio,” Nick said.
“My boyfriend is in the army, and he got called up for this shit, so I don’t know where he’s at.” Shondra said. “But I’m with you on seeing what’s going on at West.”
Vincent looked up at the truck driver and said, “Well, we wish you the best of luck. You’re more than welcome to fall in with us, but I understand you wanting to leave the city. Good luck.”
“Good luck to you too, officer.” The driver nodded at Vincent and the truck pulled away. Vincent looked at his rear-view mirror as the two vehicles disappeared around a curve in the road.
“Well, let’s see what awaits us,” Vincent said. “Hopefully somebody is still there.” He put the car in drive and resumed his course for the station.
“I can’t raise them,” Nick said in frustration. “I can’t seem to get anyone on the radio.”
“Looks like there are a lot of fires burning out there,” Shondra commented as she noticed a growing number of smoke plumes on the horizon.
“There’s no one left to fight them,” Nick said.
“I’m starting to think it’s all fallen apart,” Vincent added. “Just look and see how all the businesses we pass by seem to be looted. Total chaos and anarchy.”
As Shondra continued to scan the horizon she noticed two helicopters off in the distance. “Look, over there!” she exclaimed. “Off to the left.”
Vincent strained his neck forward to look through the windshield. “Yep, it’s the military alright. Blackhawks.”
“About fucking time,” Nick said. “Where do you think they’re going?”
“Not sure, but at least it’s a sign that they’re working this area,” Vincent said with a twinge of excitement. “Maybe they have patrols out?”
“Well, they’re definitely headed towards town,” Shondra said. “Maybe they’re from Fort Sam? Or the Air Force base?”
“Maybe,” Nick posed. The three watched in silence as the helicopters faded into the horizon.
“Hey, were those choppers?” Don asked over the radio.
“Yep, they were,” Nick answered back.
“Thank God,” Don said. “At least we’re not alone.”
***
As the cars slowly approached the West Side Substation, they could tell that it had been abandoned. The single story building looked like it had been at the center of a battle. Shattered glass and smoke-streaked windows made Vincent think he was looking at a scene right out of a war movie. The front parking lot was crammed with abandoned vehicles, including several patrol cars and an EMS unit. Shattered and bloodied windshields told of some kind of violent incident, and from the sight of several ragged, torn and dismembered bodies scattered across the lot, it looked like another massacre had taken place.
As the police officers surveyed the scene, Shondra noticed that one of the dismembered bodies was dragging itself across the pavement. “Fuck, look at that!” she exclaimed.
“Shit, looks like the place is gone,” Nick said in a dejected tone. “Think we should chance it by going in there?”
“Well, if we don’t go in there, we can at least get over to the city maintenance facility next door and get some fuel,” Shondra suggested. “The gates are open, but we can close them and block off the access point from the substation.”
“Let me pull over across the street in the field house parking lot,” Vincent said. He was referring to another high school sports complex that sat across the street from the police station. As he pulled into the lot, Don followed and parked next to him. Both he and Vincent rolled down their windows.
“Shit man, this doesn’t look good,” Don said. The scene at the station had him on edge and he was clutching his pistol in his right hand.
“Tell me about it,” Vince replied. “I don’t know if we should go in there. I guess now we know why we haven’t been able to get anyone to answer the radio from there. Know what I mean?”
“I know.” Don looked over at the officer sitting next to him and asked, “What do you think, Felix?”
“Dude,
I don’t think we should go anywhere near there. We don’t know what the fuck is up with that place. Shit, there could be a hundred of those things just sitting inside, waiting on us.”
“Uh, mister police officer, if I could make a suggestion, it looks like something bad has already happened here,” said one of the civilians who had escaped with Don and Felix. “I don’t think we should push our luck. Maybe we should go somewhere else.”
Don turned to look at the frightened man. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was best that they move on to somewhere else. Somewhere less dangerous.
“I think Andy is right, Officer,” said the female in the back seat. “I believe my boyfriend is right in not wanting to go in there.”
“Yeah, me and Graciella don’t think we should go in there,” Andy said. The couple’s faces were contorted with fear.
Don turned back and looked down at the fuel gauge. The needle was sitting on empty and the low fuel warning light was glowing yellow. He found himself agreeing with his passengers, but he knew that if they didn’t get fuel soon, they wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“Man, I really don’t know about going into the station, but I’m about to run out of gas. From here, the city tool yard looks okay. We should check it out and see if the fuel pumps are still running.”
“Alright, let’s see if we can get in there and maybe close up the gates to make sure nothing gets in there with us,” Vincent said. He studied the station and the adjacent maintenance facility. Several city dump trucks sat silent outside of a large garage complex.
“What’s up?’ Nick asked as he tried to see what Vincent was looking at. “See something?”
“No, just want to make sure no one is in the garage.” Vincent’s eyes darted back and forth between the garage and the police station.
“Let’s do it,” Don said nervously.
“Alright, let’s go. I’ll take lead and well head straight for—”
A loud slap on the trunk of Vincent’s car caught them by surprise and Vincent’s eyes jumped to his rear view mirror. A swarm of runners had come up from behind him and were now attacking the patrol cars.
“Drive in circles!” Vincent yelled. “See if we can run these fuckers down so they can’t follow us into the tool yard!”
Don threw his car into drive and peeled out. He started mowing down several of the runners and before long, the front grill and push bumpers were soaked in blood and strands of ragged, bloody flesh. Vincent threw his car into reverse and crushed several runners. He then slipped the transmission into drive and began to maneuver around in the parking lot. He found himself thinking back to his days at the police academy and the driving course he was forced to master before graduating. But this time he wasn’t avoiding traffic cones. Now he was intentionally running down people.
“These damn things move so fast!” Shondra yelled. She ducked down in the rear seat. Although there was glass between her and the attackers, she felt that at any moment a pair of bloody hands was going to somehow reach into the car and drag her out.
Vincent spun his steering wheel to the right and mowed down two charging runners. As they went bouncing off of the car, their contorted faces and snarling expressions gave Vincent the impression that they were possessed demonic beings.
“We can’t do this too much longer,” Nick warned. “The car won’t take it. We’ll fuck up the radiator or something.”
Vincent knew that Nick was telling the truth. Their hood was already dented and he realized that the car could only take so much damage before breaking down. He looked in his rear-view mirror and saw that he was still being chased by at least 20 or so runners. It was getting harder and harder to avoid rolling over smashed and splattered bodies and he was afraid that his tires would get punctured by jagged, exposed bones.
Don was aware that hitting one of the runners in just the right way could have dealt a death blow to the car, so he was making sure to clip them with his front quarter panels. As he maneuvered through the lot, he was having a hard time concentrating because Andy and Graciella were screaming in terror at the top of their lungs. He wanted to turn and tell them to shut up, but he knew that they were frightened. Before long, he was fighting to keep from breaking down and screaming too.
Don’s vehicle went into a brief fishtail as his rear tires lost their traction on the blood covered pavement. He released his brakes and steered out of it. After regaining control, he lined up three charging runners. “Fuck you, you motherfuckers,” he mumbled to himself as he grinned and slammed down the accelerator. The car sputtered and died. He was out of gas.
“What happened?” Felix yelled.
“Oh my God, we’re out of gas!” screamed Don. “We ran out of fucking gas!”
Andy and Graciella began to yank at the door handles. They didn’t realize that the handles to the back doors of police cars were disabled in order to keep prisoners from escaping.
“Let us out!” Andy screamed.
“I can’t!” Don yelled back as he tried to restart the car. He desperately cranked the ignition over and over again, but with no fuel, the cruiser refused to start. Within a matter of seconds, a horde of runners and several reanimated were upon them. One runner jumped up onto the hood and began to smash in the front windshield.
“Shit, Don’s in trouble!” Vincent yelled. His first instinct was to get out of the car and start shooting at Don’s attackers, but he himself was surrounded and he knew that it would have been suicide to stop.
“What do we do?” Shondra asked.
“Roll the windows down and maybe we can shoot at them!” Nick yelled. “We have to do something.”
“Shit, we don’t have enough bullets for all of them,” Vincent said as he continued to swerve his car in the parking lot. “Wait, maybe this will work.” Vincent reached over and flipped on his police siren. “Maybe they’ll come after us…maybe draw them away from Don.”
Vincent sped past by Don’s car as he attempted to catch the attention of the crazed mob. Several runners took notice of Vincent’s siren and began to give chase, but the majority of them stayed fixated on their target. The reanimated didn’t seem to notice the sirens at all.
As Vincent continued in his attempt to save Don and the others, Shondra saw that a new group of runners and reanimated were pouring from out of the police station. “Look!” she yelled as she pointed at the station.
Vincent looked to where Shondra was pointing at. “Fuck!” he yelled in anger. “This isn’t working out! The siren must have drawn the others out!”
“We can’t stay here man!” Nick shouted. “It’s all fucked!”
Vincent looked back at Don’s car and then over at the maintenance yard. He knew that he had to make a decision and he had to make it fast. His heart was beating rapidly and he could hear it in his head and he could feel it in his chest, but it wasn’t fear that was driving his elevated pulse rate. The thought having to leave the side of his brother officers who were in trouble was driving him mad.
As Vincent made another circle around Don’s car, he saw one runner reaching through the shattered rear windshield and grabbing onto a frightened woman. As the runner pulled the screaming woman through the broken windshield, he heard several gunshots being fired from within Don’s car. They were making a last stand.
Vincent felt everything slow down around him as he made one last pass by the besieged cruiser. He then saw Felix being dragged from the car as he fought in vain against his attackers. It wasn’t long before he was on the ground with a crowd huddled over him. As Don was dragged out, Vincent saw the bloodied man looking over at him. “Go!” Don yelled at him. He struggled to stay on his feet, and with gnashing teeth biting down into his shoulders and arms, he was able to bring his pistol up to the side of his head. With the pull of the trigger, Don quickly ended his own misery.
Without another thought, Vincent punched the accelerator and headed for the main entrance to the maintenance facility. “Okay, when we get there, we gotta secure the Culebra
Road gate and the gate that connects to the station,” Vincent said as he tried to calm himself. “Nick, I’ll jump out at the gate and you take the car over to the station gate. You and Shondra can take care of that.”
“Alright, we can do that.” Nick’s hands were shaking and his need to use the bathroom had tuned into a sensation of diarrhea. “You ready?” he asked as he looked back at Shondra.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She flipped the safety hood forward on her holster and she tapped the pistol grip with her finger.
Vincent sped across the sports complex parking lot and then crossed over Culebra Road. He slammed on the brakes as he neared the main gate to the maintenance lot and he jumped out of the car, shotgun in hand. Nick jumped out of his seat and ran around the front of the car, jumping back into the driver’s seat. He pulled the door shut and sped through the main gate, heading towards the gate that connected the maintenance lot with the rear employee parking lot of the police station.
Vincent placed the shotgun on the ground and he grabbed onto the gate, trying to roll it shut. As he struggled with the weight of the fencing, he caught a glimpse of something moving behind him. A reanimated person had emerged from the garage and was slowly rambling in his direction. “Fuck!” Vincent yelled. He turned back to the gate and screamed “God help me!”
With all the strength he could muster, he began to move the gate. The wheels slowly began to roll on the rail that was recessed in the asphalt below. The runners from the sports complex parking lot were rushing across the street as they homed in on him. They were screaming and shrieking and Vincent saw that one of them—a young woman who would have been considered attractive save for the huge piece of flesh missing from the left side of her face—was carrying what appeared to be Felix’s head.
Vincent’s throat began to burn as revulsion overcame him. In one final heave, he pulled the gate shut and as he was securing it with his handcuffs, the runners began to hurl themselves against it. Vincent expected them to climb over the eight foot high gate, but instead, they continued to yank and claw at the chain-link. None of the runners seemed interested in actually trying to scale the fence. He then backed away from the gate and puked uncontrollably.
A Glimpse of Decay (Book 3): Lost in Twilight Page 3