Chronicles of the Undead | Book 1 | Urban Gridlock

by Hernandez, Jaime

  Two cars held people that were truly dead. Their front ends were smashed into their dashboards, the cars only two-thirds of their original size. It appeared the people inside had died on impact.

  The last car sat empty with its doors open. From what they’d seen so far, zombies couldn’t open doors. The lack of blood and gore suggested that the passengers had survived the wreck and left on foot. Whether or not they got very far was anyone’s guess.

  “It’s crazy how some people turn instantly, and some seem to make it for a while,” Max said in reference to the zombies with the bandages on their arms.

  “Yeah,” Vince agreed, thinking back to the carnage inside his bar. “I think minor bites might take some time. Major bites or getting killed from, say someone ripping your guts out, those turn instantly.”

  “We should keep moving,” Jesse said. “We have no idea what we’re walking into here, so everyone needs to shut it and pay attention.” His mood was souring quickly.

  There was more dead activity here than they had realized when they left the highway. From the north and east of the intersection, there were at least a few dozen zombies slowly shuffling in their direction. From the south there were groups of threes and fours. All of them would eventually converge on the intersection and most likely follow the guys back up to the highway.

  Three of the four corners held gas station and mini mart combos. From what they could see, they all looked mostly deserted except that there were cars in all three parking lots. There were scattered zombies here and there but not enough to indicate that anyone was alive in any of the buildings.

  They headed for the closest because it looked most promising. The store was the largest of the three and most likely to have a higher volume of food and water on hand. There were two groups of windows on the front of the store on either side of the door. As they got closer they saw that the windows had been broken but the door was intact and slightly ajar. The rear door was an emergency exit which presumably sat off of the storage room in back. Once inside, they would have two possible exits if the dead got too close.

  The broken windows and open door gave them pause. The lights were on inside. Posters covered what little of the windows remained, but they had good visibility. From outside, the store looked empty. There weren’t any blood smears on the windows which led them to think it most likely that looters had hit the gas station. They decided it was worth checking out. They had a limited amount of time before the zombies would arrive and they didn’t want to hike back up to the highway without finding water first.

  “We’d better take care of the dead before we go in,” Max said. “Otherwise they’re probably going to be crowded at the door when we try to come back out.” He was met with sighs and nods of agreement from the others. “Once we’re inside, Vince, you watch the door. Those groups coming down the road are heading this way. I want to be out of here before they get close enough to be a threat.”

  “On it,” Vince said as he started swinging his hammer at the dead in the parking lot, taking out two in quick succession. He took off his backpack and passed it to Max.

  Frank had a real advantage over the zombies due to his size. Nearly six foot five, well-muscled, and built like an ox, he was easily able to swing his hammer down on top of the skulls of the dead. With the weight he threw behind each swing, skulls literally shattered.

  Junior was small and wiry, but he was strong. He had been one of the hose men for the crew on the fire truck. He was able to twist and turn through the dead, thrusting his screwdriver through their eyes and ears.

  In no time, the five of them had cleared the parking lot. “I’m going to check on that truck over there,” Jesse said.

  “No one goes alone, someone has to cover your back,” Max said.

  “Vince is covering the door, he’s close enough,” Jesse replied. “You guys need to hurry and get all the water you can carry.” He handed his pack to Max so he could fill it with supplies inside the store.

  The large groups of zombies were still more than a hundred yards away. They had time, but not enough unless the truck had gas and was ready to go. If they had to go again on foot, the zombies would be on them before they could stock up.

  Max, Frank and Junior quietly entered the store. It had already been ransacked as they had suspected from the broken windows out front. They passed through all eight mini aisles quickly to make sure there were no surprises lying in wait. A scratching and thumping sound came from the direction of the restrooms. A quick peek told Max that the noise was coming from inside one of the restrooms, so he left it alone. The doors pushed open from the outside, which meant the zombie inside couldn’t get out. They weren’t able to reason and wouldn’t figure out that all they had to do was pull the door open.

  Since the power was still on the refrigerated drinks were still chilled in the coolers. Most of the soda and energy drinks were gone, but the water was mostly untouched. Scattered empty beer bottles were strewn across the floor and the beer coolers were almost empty, which made Max think that it had been teenagers who’d raided the place before them. He and Frank quickly loaded all of the water into their backpacks while Junior went in search of food. As an afterthought, he grabbed a twelve pack of beer. Who knew when they might wish they’d had some? If they had to go on foot, he’d leave it behind.

  The candy and chips had been picked nearly clean and there were empty bags and wrappers scattered around the floor. There was however a large supply of beef jerky in a variety of flavors as well as various trail mixes. They had pretty much hit the jackpot as far as gas station food went. One shelf held a small number of canned foods and soups. Junior dumped all of the cans into his backpack then topped it off with all of the beef jerky and trail mixes, his backpack nearly bursting at the seams.

  After Max and Frank had filled their backpacks with water, Max hopped behind the counter that held the cash registers. The cigarettes had been picked through, but a lot still remained. He grabbed a few packs of smokes, a package of lighters, a flashlight from beneath the counter and some batteries. Frank went over to the single shelf holding a few paper products and grabbed a four pack of toilet paper. In a rush and not seeing much else of value, they headed for the door.

  In the parking lot, Jesse approached the large truck. There was a blood smear on the driver’s side door, but the door was closed, and the vehicle stood empty. He checked inside for keys but no luck. He looked on the ground around the truck but didn’t find them. “Fucking A,” he swore. “Vince, I’m going to check around back.”

  Vince shook his head, but Jesse had already darted around the side of the building. He heard Jesse’s hammer hit the head of one of the dead. He double checked the parking lot for threats then jogged around the corner of the building. There was an oversized SUV parked within sight and he saw Jesse checking it out. Vince went back to the front of the building but stayed at the corner so he could watch the front and keep an eye out for Jesse at the same time.

  Jesse hurried back toward Vince. “I’m going to check inside for keys. I’m pretty sure that belongs to an employee,” He said as he rushed to the front door.

  Max, Frank and Junior were just coming out, lugging the five heavy packs between them. Vince took his, grabbed a bottle of water then threw the pack over his back.

  “What’s up?” Max asked Jesse. “Is the truck good to go?”

  “No keys and no bodies to check,” Jesse replied. “There’s a huge SUV around the corner, probably belonged to the owner given where it’s parked. I was going to check inside for keys.” He looked at the huge number of zombies closing in on them only about a hundred and fifty feet away.

  “Shit. There’s someone in one of the bathrooms. Could be the owner,” Max said. “I’ll go in with you.”

  “We’re good out here,” Frank said. “We’ll cover the parking lot.” Vince and Junior moved off to the sides so they could cover the blind spots. Some of the dead were starting to trickle in by ones and twos so they went to w
ork.

  Jesse and Max hurried inside the store back toward the restrooms and the office. They had about two minutes before the crowds of zombies would be upon them. They had to find the keys, or they were fucked. Jesse pushed the restroom door open and found that the man inside was wearing a store shirt. He shoved the dead man back, grabbed it by its throat and thrust a screwdriver through its eye. It dropped instantly, leaving Jesse free to search the dead man’s pockets. Nothing. No keys.

  As he rushed out of the restroom, Max hurried out of the office, a set of keys in hand. He grinned at Jesse and they ran back out the front door. Max waved the keys for everyone to see and they all rounded the corner to the SUV, dropping a couple of zombies on their way. He pressed the key fob and the alarm chirped. They all piled in quickly, jostling around their backpacks as Max started the SUV.

  The dead were closing in and the streets were mostly blocked but they were only a block from the onramp to the highway. Max hit the gas and drove to the far end of the parking lot, turned and straddled the sidewalk for a moment, then passed around the outer edges of the accident. “Home free, boys!” he yelled as he turned onto the onramp. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the front of the crowd of zombies had reached the gas station parking lot. They’d made it out of there with less than a minute to spare.

  After accelerating up the onramp back onto the highway, they saw that the way in front of them was still mostly clear as it had been before their supply run. In the distance behind them they saw the semi-truck that blocked the road with only an occasional zombie managing to maneuver itself through and past the wreck. In front of them sat mostly open road with few vehicles to dodge and even less zombies.

  They all relaxed, downed bottles of water, and tore into the beef jerky and trail mixes.

  Chapter 23

  Day 2

  Max drove for several miles before the road began to get congested again. With the cars came more of the dead. Keeping his speed down, he was able to drive around the deserted cars with relative ease. An SUV stopped ahead on the right shoulder caught his attention. There were bags and suitcases strapped to the roof and the inside looked to be bulging with someone’s entire worldly belongings. As he came even with the driver’s side door, he saw that the car was empty of people. It was hard to know what to make of all of the empty vehicles. The traffic jams he understood, but the random vehicles abandoned in the middle of the road or parked on the side confused him. He didn’t understand why anyone would leave the safety of their vehicle when the road was passable. He and the guys had discussed it a bit but couldn’t make sense of it. He shook his head and figured he’d never have the answer to that question.

  It was getting late and the sky was growing dark. The guys debated whether they should stop somewhere or keep driving.

  “Look, under normal circumstances, it’s only another fifteen or twenty minute drive,” Max said. “Unless we run into a horde of those things, I think we should keep going.”

  “The streetlights are still on. I say we keep moving, just keep the speed down so we can stop quickly if we need to,” Vince added.

  “As much as I want to get to safety, I’m a little worried about traveling in the dark. There could be a whole bunch of zombies ready to box us in a mile up the road, but we might not see them until we’re on top of them,” Frank offered his thoughts on the matter. “We can pull over, climb up on top of a semi and spend the night relatively safe. Even get some sleep. I know you guys haven’t slept in two days,” he finished.

  “I need to get to my family,” Jesse was adamant. “I still don’t know if my wife got them to safety. They might need me.”

  “How about we go really slow,” Junior suggested. “Like school zone speed. That should give us plenty of warning if there’s anything to worry about up ahead.”

  “Yeah, but what if there is? Then we’ll be on the run in the dark,” Frank said. “We’ve got no idea what we could be driving into. And our headlights are going to make us a bullseye in the dark.”

  “I can drive with the lights off and we put duct tape over the brake lights,” Max said. “School zone speeds.” He said with a laugh, looking at Junior.

  “If we see any sign of trouble, we’ll stop or backtrack,” Jesse said.

  Frank acquiesced and they agreed to keep going. He volunteered to be lookout while Junior taped up the brake lights. Max lowered the windows and lit a cigarette then offered them to the others. Vince and Jesse both lit one gratefully. All of them were former smokers and hadn’t had a cigarette in years. But given that the apocalypse had started, none of them gave a shit and the smokes helped their frazzled nerves.

  There were zombies scattered about but nothing that Frank couldn’t handle. All of the dead turned toward them from whatever direction they had been wandering but none of them were grouped together and they were slow as fuck. Frank watched Junior’s back and by the time Junior was done, he had killed four that gotten a little too close to the SUV.

  They hopped back in and joined the others in a smoke. Daylight was fading fast. Max kept to his word and drove so slowly that he felt like the car was barely moving. He was still able to weave in and around the static vehicles scattered about. Squeezing into a tight space between a van and an SUV, he didn’t see the zombie stepping from around the front of the van in time to avoid it. He barely clipped it on the driver’s side front corner of the SUV, but the dead man flew into the air weightlessly and the bottom half of his body landed on the roof of the SUV while the top half landed on the windshield face down, its forehead causing a crack straight down the middle of the glass. Its bloodied lips opened and closed against the glass leaving a slimy trail of fluids in their wake. They could almost hear its teeth snapping.

  “Mother fucker,” Jesse said. “Stop and I’ll get him off the car.” Max had no room to swerve or to speed up and brake to try to throw the dead man from the car. Jesse was barely able to open his door wide enough to get out but forced himself through the small opening. He reached for the guy’s arm to pull him closer, when the bottom half of the man’s body suddenly fell from the roof and flipped onto the hood, causing the entire body to slide toward the passenger side face up. Jesse, not anticipating the sudden movement, wasn’t prepared for the zombie to grab his arm and use it to pull himself closer to him. It clutched Jesse’s left arm in both its hands and brought its jaw down. Jesse swung his hammer, but the angle was all wrong and his own arm was in his way.

  On the rear passenger side, Frank tried to get out but couldn’t open his door far enough. Junior climbed into the front seat and was out Jesse’s open door within seconds. They watched in horror as Jesse winced with pain as the dead man’s strong jaw clenched down on his arm. Junior, being small and wiry, nearly jumped over Jesse in his bid to get on top of the hood and to the dead man. Its jaws opened and closed again on Jesse’s arm. Junior grabbed the dead man by his hair and stabbed a screwdriver viciously through his ear. The dead man’s jaw slackened but his hands didn’t. They were locked in a death grip. Junior used every bit of muscle he had to rip the dead man’s hands from Jesse’s arm then pushed the body to the ground.

  Max and Vince had gotten out on the driver’s side and hurried around the front of the SUV to Jesse. Frank was such a big man that he was still struggling to get out of the car. They were caught between a van on one side and an SUV on the other. Finally he just pushed himself up and out through the open window. He looked in every direction for possible threats while Max, Vince and Junior helped Jesse.

  Swearing steadily under his breath, Jesse tore his gloves off then pulled off his heavy construction shirt as quickly as he could and tossed it aside. To everyone’s horror, several of the zombie’s teeth were embedded in the sleeve. Underneath the construction shirt he wore a light button down flannel. He pushed up the sleeve to examine his arm. Deep purple bruises showing the indentations of a perfect set of teeth ringed his arm.

  With his heavily tattooed skin, he couldn’t tell whether
or not the skin was broken. Max turned back to the SUV and pulled out the flashlight he had taken from the gas station. Shining the light on Jesse’s arm, he carefully examined every bit of the bruised purple skin, literally praying to a god he didn’t believe in, that the skin wouldn’t be broken. Then he saw it. What looked to be a tiny, barely visible dot of blood. He ran his bare thumb over the spot then checked his thumb and saw a trace of blood smeared on it. Jesse was infected.

  Chapter 24

  Day 2

  Max leaned back against his pack on top of the semi-truck with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. A few feet down, Frank was in a restless sleep, his head propped up on a backpack, using it as a pillow. Vince sat nearby, beer in hand, watching the ground below. Sleep evaded him. The sky was black but streetlamps along the highway shed enough light to enable visibility in the immediate area. Junior sat at the far end of the semi keeping watch. Zombies slowly shuffled about on the ground below in pairs of twos and threes. Whenever the pairs ran into one another, they would join to become bigger groups and continue their slow walk. None of the dead were aware of the guys on top of the truck.

  Just a few feet from Max at the front end of the semi lay Jesse’s body. His head was covered and wrapped with his construction shirt. A few splotches of bright red blood had seeped through the fabric on the right side of his head. Max had been the one to plunge the screwdriver through his ear. He looked down at his hand and saw a few droplets of his best friend’s dried blood.

  His mind raced with thoughts of what had happened, and he mentally beat himself up for not preventing it. He thought back to grade school days, teenaged years and early construction days. When they’d both managed to knock up their wives at the same time. The years of brotherhood they’d shared; most of their lives they’d been best friends. How they’d grown up together. Raising their families and seeing their kids become best friends. His mind just wouldn’t allow him to imagine a life that didn’t include Jesse in it.