He reached out and touched the end wall. It was rough, dusty, and full of cobwebs. He ran his hand over it to the far right and looked along that wall – nothing. He went back and repeated that along the left. Finally, he found an exit door. It was stuck, but with a lot of prodding, pulling, and hitting, it eventually loosened enough to be pulled wide open. With it open, a faint light seeped through, just enough to cast a glow across his left shoulder. The space was tight. Some of the bricks were loose and had crumbled to the floor.
Bellamy made his way through, the group tightly following. He pulled the goggles off and let them hang loosely around his neck. With enough light now, he was able to see without them. The path he had exited onto was leading them to the street. They were now on 7th Avenue, Midtown.
CHAPTER 32
BAD CHOICES
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Ryker asked Liza, seeing her curled up in a ball and crying. He didn’t know what to make of it.
“I think I made a mistake,” she said through a stream of fresh teardrops.
“Mistake?”
“Yeah, I think I should have gone with the others. The island idea is starting to sound better. I don’t feel safe here,” Liza said as she puffed on her inhaler.
“I’m not sure I could get you there and get myself back safely,” Ryker said as he downed his third cup of coffee in a half-hour.
“I kind of feel the same as Liza,” Sam said as he sat in the corner with his head down.
“Okay, anyone else feel this way?” Ryker said in a pissed-off tone. He didn’t just go through hell trying to find them new quarters to be suddenly abandoned. He got up and poured another coffee, his face blotching red again and his eyes narrowing as he looked around the room.
Three more hands shot up in the air. Ryker did everything he could to remain civil. He didn’t know them well enough to try to talk them out of it. He gave them weapons, water, and directions for where to go, on the fastest route.
“You’ve already seen how gut-wrenchingly gruesome it is out there. I don’t have any more lanterns or flashlights to give you, so taking the tunnel is not something I’d suggest. Hell, I wouldn’t suggest anything, except if y’all are determined to make your own way, just be quiet, super-quiet, and stick to the walls of buildings.”
He took a good look at the five of them, and waved his hands in the air. He turned even brighter red and then sat down, only to get back up again. After seeing them out, he had Marvin barricade the door back up while he retreated to the recreation room and had another coffee. He stood with his coffee and realized the five had not armored themselves. He rushed off to the door, pushed the items out of the way, and had a look outside, but they were long gone. He slammed the door shut, shoved everything back in place, and returned to the recreation room. He couldn’t recall a time when he was angered as much as he was right at that moment.
***
“Liza, you sure we’re doing the right thing?” Triston asked while he stood hugging the side of the building, looking down the street and listening to every sound before making tracks.
“I think so, for me personally. What made you all want to come?”
“I miss Bellamy, felt a lot safer around him,” Ashley said as she shifted pants that were beginning to slide from her narrow hips.
“Larger group, safety in numbers,” Triston said, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder three times before finding a comfortable spot where the straps weren’t digging into the soft tissue near his collarbone.
“For me, it’s being on the island, away from all this shit,” Sam said. He pulled out his water bottle, sipped it, and then put it back.
“I was feeling too constricted. The idea of staying in that hostel for the remainder of this war, outbreak, apocalypse, or whatever you want to call it-just pushed me into wanting to go, to get out of there,” Nate said. Being the youngest of the group, it didn’t come as a surprise that he wanted out. Being nineteen was not easy in the mess they were living in.
They made it to East 116th Street and decided to take a quick break. They slipped into a Pizza Hut, and the room filled their lungs with a miasma of stale, rotten food. Each of them held their breath for as long as they could, taking turns looking out the filthy, grimy windows. Fifteen minutes is all they allowed themselves. They didn’t want to get all the way to Battery Park and find out the group had left already.
“No time to waste,” Triston said as he started out the door. With one foot out, he held the door open for the others. Suddenly, he was sideswept off his feet. A huge zombie dog had lurched at him from the side. It bowled him over, biting at the same time, as they tumbled together sideways. Triston let out a Tarzan-like cry, and the others started shooting.
The noise drew more zombie dogs. Liza ran back into the Pizza Hut, found the bathroom, and locked herself in. Puffing heavily on her inhaler, she listened to the screams outside. Her legs shook violently, and her heart felt as though it had moved into her throat.
Ashley got off a shot into the dog that had Triston. It went flying backward, spray-painting the tarmac and Triston in dark vile liquid. Triston tried scampering backwards.
“Behind you!” Nate screamed at Triston.
Triston wasn’t able to turn his head around fast enough. Suddenly, his head was inside the mouth of another zombie dog. It bit down so hard, it shattered Triston’s cheekbones, blackening his eyes simultaneously.
Sam shot two more dogs that were narrowing in on them. They backed up to the doorway of the Pizza Hut, surrounded by five zombie dogs and two human zombies.
“Where the God-All-Mighty did they come from?” Nate hissed. He shot, getting one of the human ones in the head. The other one had a grip on his arm, pulling him from the doorframe and right to its open mouth. He tried to swing his arm around to point the Ruger at the zombie, but in a panic, he shot prematurely. The bullet went downward and right into Sam’s head. At that close range, he was smothered in Sam’s gray matter, blood, and skull fragments. Sam tumbled over, knocking Ashley down. His dead body lay atop her, and she was unable to push him off.
The zombie that had grabbed Nate’s arm now tore at his face, ripping a large flap of skin from under his eye down to his mouth. One of the dogs was gnawing viciously on his leg, eating away at flesh until it was down to bone. Another was hacking at Sam’s dead body. Ashley silenced her screams. She remained still, praying they wouldn’t find her under Sam.
Another zombie dog had latched onto Nate’s calf, biting powerfully and splintering his leg bone. The snapping and crunching became too much for Nate. With his face degloved and his leg pulverized, he passed out and then died moments later. The zombies feasted on him, devouring him in seconds. His brain popped out of the top of his head like spoors out of a mushroom and was quickly demolished.
Ashley was soaked in Sam’s blood. She could feel them pulling at his body as they stripped him of his flesh. His body grew lighter as they pulled every morsel of muscle off. She could feel his tendons being pulled out before a horrific splintering sound echoed around her.
More fluid drenched her, and now she was swimming in Sam’s blood. His guts were dragged out and shared between the human zombie and the two of the zombie dogs. His feet were next.
They ate them as a shark eats a seal, tearing, biting deeply, and crushing the bones into tiny shards. Ashley couldn’t hold the vomit down any longer. Her mouth opened and she spewed out everything she had in her.
Sam’s blood dripped into her wide-open mouth, causing her to be sick again. When nothing was left, her body heaved repeatedly, causing a stinging pain to erupt deep inside the back of her throat. Her shoulders ached. Her mind couldn’t escape the horror as she still lay there, saturated in Sam’s bloodied remains.
Ashley remained under Sam’s mutilated leftovers, a fragment of skeleton with some tissue left in sporadic areas. The zombie dogs and human zombie wandered away. Where did they go? Ashley wondered as she slowly pushed Sam’s waste from her.
Getting
to her feet, she walked down the middle of the street. A few hundred feet in, she came across another couple of zombie dogs. The hairs on her arms tried to prickle up, but they were glued down from all of Sam’s blood. She moved to the other side, quietly stepping over debris, and made her way past them.
Suddenly, from the left side, one of them advanced toward her. Her heart thudded harder. Her legs felt like jelly and she crumpled to the concrete in a blubbering heap.
“I’m dead, this is it,” she said in a whisper.
Her hand touched something furry and she flinched backward, her eyes fixed on the thing she’d touched. It wasn’t a mouse, a rat or even a dead bird, or a zombie dog. It was a small brown teddy bear that some child must have dropped.
She picked it up, brought it to her chest, and hugged it tightly. Her eyes lifted from the bear to the opaque, glossed-over eyes of a zombie dog. She noticed the burned-out scarred tissue, the sores filled with pus balls ready to explode, and its jagged knife-like canines ready to chow down.
Her eyes drifted down to the teddy. Holding it tighter, she bent her head down and kissed the top of its head. “I love you, Mom,” was the last thing she said as the zombie lunged at her, knocking her backward and starting to feast on her hip. Moving up, it ripped away her skin effortlessly.
Three more joined in. She was completely void of skin and muscle within seconds. The very last thing they ate was her innards, and once they were done, they wandered off.
The teddy she’d picked up now lay in a pool of her blood, its eyes looking up to the sky as if to say goodbye.
***
Liza couldn’t stand the screams. Terrified of being eaten, she climbed out the bathroom window and landed wrong, twisting her ankle while knocking into a dumpster. The noise boomed loudly, so she played dead, lying as still as she could in a tight ball and holding feverously onto her twisted ankle.
When nothing came for her, she got up, hobbled to the corner, and started up the street to head back to the hostel. Unable to run, she limped two blocks, then entered a Chinese restaurant and stayed there for twenty-four hours. When she thought she could walk, she took off again, only to collapse in a heap on the concrete. She reached for her inhaler and took several long puffs. Once her breathing was regulated, she started to move, when out of absolutely nowhere an arm grabbed her around the neck and forced her back.
She looked up and saw a tall man in camo clothing, his long dreadlocks sticking out from the bottom of his hat. He clocked her hard across the side of her head. Instantly, she passed out. Dreadlocks handed her body to another guard, who shoved her into a Humvee, tied her up, and gagged her. Then he rejoined the group as they scattered around in search of the others.
CHAPTER 33
SECURITY
Once everyone was out of the tunnel and back up on the street, Bellamy did a headcount. Twenty-one had gone into the tunnel, and seventeen had come out. Bellamy couldn’t help but feel weathered and upset over losing more people. They dusted their clothing off and breathed in the outside air. Though it reeked of smoke and charred offal, it was a far sight better than the air inside the tunnel.
“Ian, why are you laughing? What’s so funny?” Bellamy asked, confused by the man’s hysteria.
“I was just having a waking dream. You know, a daydream, when you’re wide awake but it feels like a dream.”
“Okay, and what was funny about it?”
“I was just thinking of luring a bunch of zombie dogs up the Empire State Building, throwing them off, and watching them splatter at the bottom, like throwing a watermelon off,” Ian said as he barreled out more laughter.
He was the only one who was laughing, the only one who saw humor in his joke. The rest of the group grew panicky over his loudness.
“Ian! Stop!” Ethan ordered as he glared at him with the coldness of steel.
Ian pursed his lips as if he was puckering up for a kiss. He sucked his cheeks in, making his face even more gaunt-looking than it already was. He gave Ethan a queer look, then turned and blew out a loud raspberry, allowing spittle to bubble and burst forward into the air.
Ethan grabbed Ian’s shoulder roughly. “Shut up, man. If you want to be eaten, go be loud elsewhere!” Ethan’s cold, hard voice reached Ian and he finally became quieter.
“I’m sorry. I think being in the tunnel made me go a little stir-crazy. I was just letting off some steam,” Ian said as he continued walking with his lips puckered out.
“Just try to remain quiet, please,” Bellamy requested as he started out. They stayed on 7th Avenue and kept to the building’s wall, off the street and hidden as best they could. A car seemed to be moving around, as though people were inside it jumping. The closer Bellamy got, the more he understood. Inside was a woman. Her eyes were glazed foggy white, sores ruptured her once tanned skin, and she was lashing violently around. Strapped in her seat belt, hungrily biting into the air, she moaned a deep-throated groan.
Bellamy passed without a second look, but the others looked as they passed. Some felt squeamish and some wanted to laugh, while others just ignored her. A few feet in front of them, Bellamy watched a couple of zombie dogs feasting on a man. One of the dogs looked right at Bellamy, turned away and bit a huge chunk of meat from the dead man’s leg. The dog shook his head back and forth to get the piece of flesh to tear away. Bellamy cautiously slowed and held up his hand, motioning everyone to move across the road.
On the other side, somewhat obscured from the zombie dogs, were a few cars and some rubble. Not much in the way of concealment, and the thought of their sounds attracting them had him on edge. Would his group remain quiet enough? He spied several buildings, but he couldn’t know if any of them were safe to enter without inspecting first. He looked over his shoulder. His eyes caught Lily first. Then he looked behind her to make sure that the group had followed suit. All of them had moved diagonally across the road and were huddled up against the walls in line with the buildings.
Bellamy thought fast on his feet. He had his Glock at the ready. Lily took out a .44 Special. Ethan handed the tiger to Timothy. Calloway, Harry, and a few others got their guns ready. Ethan covered the middle area while Harry headed toward the back of the group. Bellamy and Calloway took the front. The few others roamed between the back and front with purpose and a determination to keep themselves and the group alive.
Taking one step at a time, they avoided areas of congested trash and debris. It wasn’t as easy as just sidestepping objects because the road, pathway, and curbs were littered with all types of debris, like pebbles covering a shoreline. Hazel made a low yelp. Bellamy swung around fast, panicked that someone was being attacked.
Hazel stood with her legs semi-parted, as a torrent of liquid ran down them like a waterfall. Her eyes were wide like a fearful child’s. She clasped her hands over her swollen belly. Sweat trickled from her temples and her lips quivered as her legs began to give way, and she lowered herself to the ground. Her water had broken. She was going into early labor. Liam stood as close to her as he humanly could, his Beretta outstretched and waving around as if he was suddenly blind. Each noise seemed amplified to him and he would aim the Beretta in that direction. Each time that Hazel screamed in agony with another wave of contractions, Liam’s eyes would dart around like a pinwheel.
Doctor Leo had quickly taken up residency by her side, his right hand rubbing her lower back, his left held firmly upon her shoulder. His eyes met with Bellamy’s in a raw plea that beckoned him to do something.
Bellamy scanned the area. He tried the nearest door, but it was barricaded from the inside. Each time he moved forward to the next door, Hazel would let out a horrific yelp. She was growing louder each time as her contractions gripped her, mixed with the panic of having the baby in the street.
“Get me off the street!” she screamed out as another contraction ripped through her.
“Get me out of here now!” Hazel doubled over in agonizing pain. It radiated into her lower back, traveling in circles to he
r lower abdomen. “Somethings wrong!” she screamed, her face suddenly white as snow.
The group spread out, scattering themselves in different directions.
“Stay together!” Lily barked as she looked back over her shoulder. Her heart skipping a beat, she momentarily didn’t know which way to go herself.
Bellamy tried another door, but the building wasn’t suitable, with every window blown out. He kept going. Finding nothing, he grew angry from frustration.
He looked across the street, eyes on the zombie dogs that were making their way toward them. He opened fire, signaling for the group to run past him.
“Go, find a place, and get her off the street,” he ordered as he continued shooting at the decaying beasts. Ethan, Harry, Calloway, and others started shooting as the remaining group took off. Doc Leo and Jasper held Hazel under her armpits, lifting her off the ground and rushing her forward, out of the way. With no real place to go, all they could do was move forward.
She was panting and crying out in pain. With each contraction, her body stiffened and became the weight of an anchor in Leo’s and Jasper’s hands. She howled a high-pitched scream and breathed fast and hard as the time between contractions shortened. Liam dashed forward, desperately seeking out a safe place for all of them to get off the street. His main concern was Hazel. He didn’t want his baby being born this way, and he didn’t want them to be eaten. He weaved around crashed cars, darting in and out of debris, yelling out loudly.
“Nothing, I can’t find anything. Oh God!” he said as he ran back to the group. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the others shooting and backing up. They were starting to be cornered by too many zombie dogs.
Lily raced toward them and stood under a torn canopy covering the doorway of an Italian shoe shop. She opened fire as a hail of bullets rained down on the dogs. Some were hit in the head, others were hit in the shoulders, chest, and legs. The amount of gunfire wasn’t enough, they still kept coming. Bellamy, Ethan, and Harry fell back, bumping into one another as they squeezed themselves into the tight space where Lily stood.
Hounded | Book 3 | Hounded 3 Page 23