by Mark Clodi
Chapter 23
Max, Stewart, Steve and Tom made their way back to the main lobby of Mac Co. Nothing, no open doors, only a very dead, very eaten Walt tucked behind the doors to the loading dock. The other doors were all closed, everything was locked up as it should be.
“How did they get in? Everything is still locked up!”said Steve
“Tell ya in a second”said Tom. He went over behind the desk to the computers where the camera screens were still running and started playing back the video from the last half hour. “There”he pointed at a nondescript door that opened discretely into the lobby.
“The supply center, yeah, the logs say Nancy came in through the door next to the loading ramp twenty four minutes ago. Why didn’t we block that door off?”
“It was secured, very heavy anyway, we didn’t think of it? It escaped our notice? I don’t know, we just were focused on the stairwells and side doors, not the loading dock. Damn.” said Max.
“Yeah. Damn. Good thing we have the cars lined up and ready to go. Where are we going anyway?” said Stewart.
“Home to get my wife and kids.” said Max.
“Over to check on my sister and her family.” said Steve.
“Back to my apartment to get my laptop.” added Tom after a moment.
Everyone turned to look at Tom, “Your laptop? Seriously?” asked Stewart.
“Er, well it is brand new! I only live, like a mile away, I am sure it is along the way to Max’s house or Steve’s sisters. Plus maybe my roommates are there and I can get a bag with clothes and stuff.”
“Hm a mile away, only if it is really along the way, you can get new stuff now.” said Stewart, “Okay then I think we should still stick together, who lives closer? Max’s family or Steve’s sister?”
Max had a sinking feeling, he knew his house, way out west in Arvada would likely be further away than anywhere else Steve’s sister might have chosen to live. He was right, after comparing notes though it was not as bad as he had thought, Steve’s sister lived off Pearl street not too far from the highway. Tom’s place was only about a two block detour to the highway, so they would stop there too, maybe even crash for an hour or two if it was secure enough.
“Okay people who rides with who and lets divvy up the guns. Max, I think you should be with me in the cruiser, Tom you keep the shotgun and go with Steve, we will make do with my nine millimeter and the billy club. Is this okay with everyone?” asked Stewart.
“Oh yes sir ma’am, sir!” joked Steve, “It sounds good, you guys follow us right? Tom give her your address just in case we get separated. In fact lets write all three addresses down and give each of us a copy, we meet at Tom’s place, then my sisters place, then Max’s house in that order. If any of us get there first we leave a note in the...the freezer for anyone who follows? Okay?”
“Good idea! Steve, very simple, yet elegant.” said Stewart.
Steve blushed, and Max could not help but say, “Ooh love is born and we witnessed it, eh Tom?” This earned Max a glare from both Steve and Stewart, but brought a laugh from Tom.
“On second thought the new arrangements are: Tom and Steve in Steve’s car, me in the cruiser and Max out front trolling for trouble as we creep the cars along behind him.”
“Sounds good to me.” Quipped Steve.
They all stopped when they heard a sound from somewhere up the stairwell above them.
Stewart grabbed a pad of paper and shoved it into Max’s hands, “Write the addresses.” Then took up a position covering the stairwell door.
Max got busy writing, getting Tom’s address first, then Steve’s and finally putting his own at the bottom. He then went over to the copier behind the desk and fired it up, placing the pad on it for copying, hit the number four and printed out four copies of the sheet, which he handed out to everyone. The noises from the stairwell were louder, a gasping kind of heavy breathing.
“Lets roll.” Whispered Stewart. They checked the front doors, saw they were zombie free and burst outside into the night and ran towards the cars. They were loaded and ready to go in seconds and both vehicles started without hardly a sputter. Getting out of the parking lot was no problem at all and as they turned onto the street Max could swear he saw the zombie 'Jimbo' leading another zombie up the street by his tie.
Chapter 24
Amelia and Diane rushed out of the bathroom, bum rushing the zombie girl who reacted faster than they would have thought possible as she had suffered from a shotgun blast to the upper torso. Amelia shoved her rubber plunger into the zombies face and pushed her backwards, while Diane rushed headlong for the stairwell, the continuing screaming from Kirkpatrick’s office covered the noise of their encounter with the zombie girl. As Diane rushed past the prone zombie it reached out with it's good arm and grabbed her ankle. Amelia could tell that Diane was beyond the normal ‘fight or flight’ mode and could also hear that her breathing was becoming irregular and sharp. Amelia beat on the girl with the plunger. However a plunger was just not the sort of weapon needed to kill this zombie, and probably not any zombie. Amelia jumped into a nearby cubical and grabbed the computer monitor off the desk, pulling an assortment of wire and cables loose as she rushed out to smash it down on the girl’s head, the resulting crash was loud, loud enough to alert the queen in the office? Amelia did not wait to find out. Diane was on her hands and knees gasping for breath trying to reach the stairwell, one hand fumbling in her pocket, Amelia reached her and lifted her up, half dragging her into the relative safety of the stairs. They leaned on the doors and Diane’s hand came up with a small tube of asthma medication, which she inhaled immediately. Amelia guided her down the stairs trying not to fall as they both stumbled downward to the ground floor.
The lobby was cast in an eerie red light, tail lights! The sound of a car leaving was too much for Amelia to bear, she ran towards the door, leaving Diane behind, and screamed, “Wait! Wait God dammit! Wait!” to no avail, the cars were gone. Diane came up to her, a shocked look on her face, “They left us?” she wheezed. “Oh fuck.”
Amelia turned back to Diane and said, “Yeah, my dumb fucking luck, sorry Diane, I have a way with dumb fucking luck. Nothing ultimately bad happens, just enough to make my life a living fucking hell. And now you are caught up….” Here Amelia trailed off and looked beyond Diane.
“What?” asked Diane turning around to look, “What is it?”
“The copy machine light is green, it isn't in 'sleep mode' anymore, so they photo copied something.” said Amelia as she pushed past Diane to the machine, she looked at the codes and then pressed a few buttons on the machine, saying, “I am going to get a copy of it from memory and print it off.” The machine clicked on and spat out a copy with three addresses on it, with names for “Tom”, “Steve’s Sister” and “Max’s House” written above the corresponding address.
“Clever trick” said Diane, “But did they leave the original?” Diane lifted the cover and sure enough the paper pad was still lying on the top of the printer face down. “See?
She grabbed the pad, tore off the first sheet and stuffed it into her pocket, “Now we each have a copy. Oh and lets not advertise that we used the machine, okay?” With that she reached over and held down the power button until the machine clicked off.
“Good” said Amelia, “That clears the memory too. Lets get to my car.” With that they left the lobby of Mac, Co., a pad of paper on the lobby counter softly rustled as the wind from opening the door blew through.
Outside Amelia said, “Lets just go nice and slow, maybe we won’t be noticed so quickly. My car is just over there.” The two women could not have chosen a better time to leave the building, just moments before two automobiles had left attracting and distracting all the nearby zombies and they made it to Amelia’s car wedged between two others before they attracted the attention of a zombie near the edge of the parking lot. Diane leaned up against the car next to Amelia's and tried to regain her breath. Amelia reached into her pocket and then le
t out a whimper, “Oh no. Oh-no. Oh-No-oh-no-no!”
“What? What?” demanded Diane
“My keys are in my purse, in my desk in Kirkpatrick’s office!” sobbed Amelia.
Diane smiled and said, “Don’t worry honey, we can take my car.” she held out a key chain and clicked a remote unlock button, the lights flashed and doors made a ‘snick’ sound as they unlocked, “You drive, I am not so sure I can.”
Diane hopped in the passenger door and Amelia wasted no time scooting around to the driver’s side and climbing in before the zombie reached the vehicle. “Wow” she said, “I never drove a 'Caddy' before!”
“No time like the present, it is an automatic, you won’t have any problems. Where are we heading?”
Amelia looked at her as she sped out of the Mac Co. parking lot, “Well the list has three addresses, I would have to guess they are in some order, probably from the first place to the last place they plan to end up. I say we head for Max’s house instead of trying to chase them around the city. Besides, I grew up in Arvada, I know right were this is.”
“Why go after them at all? Why not go somewhere else?”
“I, I don’t know exactly. Max and Stewart have stayed alive so far, they might have a plan and I just can’t think of one right now. So”, she shrugged, “I want them to do the work of figuring out where to go. They owe us that for leaving us behind.”
Diane gave Amelia a sideways look and responded, “Amelia, dear, we are still alive so far too. Don’t underestimate us.”
Chapter 25
“You dumb little bitch!” Nancy spat, looking down at Veronica, who sat cowering on the floor, “I give you one little task, one simple thing to do, ‘keep the meat from escaping’ and you cannot handle bringing them to the bathroom?” Nancy turned towards the window in Kirkpatrick’s office and watched as a Cadillac sped out onto the street, making towards the highway in the pre-dawn light.
“Well V I am not in such a forgiving mood right now, anyway you can see Julie got the lions share of the meat, there ain’t much energy left unless I miss my guess. Trish you might as well eat what is left, it looks like Veronica let her supper get away.” Turning back to Veronica she said, “V you are the hunter returned home without any protein, your job today is going to be to find us more. And by ‘us’ I mean me and you, I could use a bite. If you don’t find anything suitable I may give cannibalism a try.”
“W-what? Cannibalism?” whispered Veronica.
“I mean you, V. You. C’mon lets evaluate our options here and decide what to do. Trish, check the guys pockets, look for car keys dear. It seems everyone is driving these days, maybe we should jump on the bandwagon too?”
A quick search revealed the man was carrying keys for a Chevy, scanning the lot Nancy could make out several cars remaining and a van, but she was not a car person before becoming a member of the undead and the change had not imparted her with any of that mystic knowledge either.
“V? You know cars? No? Trish? Julie? Oh for Christ sake the minute we need Jimbo, he is not around. Well we do it the hard way, check each Chevy until the key fits, there can't be that many of them in the lot. Julie you ready to roll yet?”
Nancy had been amazed at the progress of Julie since she fed her most of the man they had slain in Kirkpatrick’s office, her torso had fully re-attached, she could stand up and she seemed more mentally alert than before the shotgun blasts. She still needed more meat, the healing process had slowed down dramatically after the first five minutes and she was barely mobile. The point was, she was not a loss, a four girl gang, that was a modest power in this new world.
“Alright girls, lets go.”
Nancy led the way down to the lobby from the internal stairwell next to the main elevator shaft. When she got there she looked around, noticing a few changes and spying a notepad that had not been there when they passed through just an hour before. “What’s this girls? Someone has been doing some writing.” She picked it up, but it was blank. “Hm, I did this once when I was a kid, hand me that pencil V, it is time to play 'spy'. I saw this once on the Kid’s Club on PBS.” Nancy scribbled the pencil lightly in a sideways motion across the page, revealing the three addresses Max had scribbled down fifteen minutes before. “Hah! A clue Scooby! Now we probably know where they are going, this will be plan ‘B’, we still have to find Fred, if we don’t find him we may head over to…” she scanned the paper briefly, resting her eyes on the last address, “Max’s house and see if we can pick up a quick meal and let V make amends to me for letting the meat get away. Plus I am sure Julie would like a word with that computer geek who shot her, right Julie?”
Julie nodded, “More meat first. This is way west of here, a long walk. Maybe we drive?”
“Yeah, lets go take care of getting us some wheels girls, no need to stick together just find a Chevy and stand next to it so we can see if the key fits. Oh, V? Go grab Walt’s keys too, then we can choose the ride we like best.” Nancy dearly wished she would have hung onto her keys, which, as far as she knew were still sitting in the Gap where she had changed clothing. Shrugging she thought if the cars here were worse than hers they could always drive the couple of blocks to pick up her keys.
There were not many cars left in the lot and finding a Chevy was made easier by the fact that there were only two parked out there and by the fact that Walt’s keys were also for a Chevy. His was a rusted out piece of shit Impala, the other was a white Chevy Van with a sticker Nancy recognized from visits to her sister’s house. Her nieces were infatuated with dvds of the cartoon that this character starred in and obviously who ever the guy was in Kirkpatrick’s office he had younger kids in his life too.
“We take the van girls, hop in and I will drive. We are going to circle this block then start circling block by block until we find that fucker Fred. And keep an eye out for Jimbo too, we didn’t see his body anywhere and the guys that left didn’t seem like they had enough time to hide any bodies to me.”
The girls climbed in and, ironically, buckled up. Nancy followed suit, soon they were driving out of the parking lot with Mojo-jojo the genius monkey, one of many villains from the now aged “Power Puff Girls” cartoon, staring evilly at the empty lot behind them as they left.
Chapter 26
While everyone had been quick to go for the cars, not many were actually driving. Max and company rapidly discovered an accident about halfway to Tom’s house. A bad accident that came with three lingering zombies feeding on the carcasses of the victims. Stewart backed up, Steve already too close to the pileup, veered onto the sidewalk, taking out a zombie who was turning towards the sound of the cars. He almost got hung up on a mountain bike but when he came down off the curb on the other side of the wreck the bike tore free.
Seeing that Steve had cleared the way, Stewart stopped and started forward again. The two remaining zombies watched the car with rapt attention, but made no moves toward them. Stewart cleared the wreck and started following Steve’s car, which was leaking what looked like fuel out the back. Stewart honked and pulled up alongside Steve on the four lane street. Max rolled down his window and they motioned Steve to stop.
When they stopped Stewart said, “Good driving, seriously I mean it, if you had not veered we could have been picking you out of a wreck. Max go check Steve’s car.”
Max hopped out and peered under the car, he clearly saw a large hole in the gas tank spilling fuel onto the pavement.
“Not good, gas is leaking everywhere and it looks like your muffler is hanging on by a thread.”
“Fuck. Damn it. This is my car, my car! Now what?” ranted Steve.
Stewart looked around and said, “Hop into the cruiser, no choice, I hope you don’t have anything in there you can live without.”
“Worth my life? Not hardly! I just…you know, it is my car! You never want to see something happened to your car. Or be forced to give it up, not like this.”
Max, between both vehicles, saw the zombies from the wreck peering
their way, both were making tentative steps towards working their way up the block towards them, using cover as they came.
“Ah, the zombies are coming; I see two behind us, about half a block away, so quite chit-chatting and move please.”
“Fine.” Steve patted the dash of his car while Tom opened the door on the passenger side, both moved into the cruiser and they were soon underway, at a steady, slow, twelve to fifteen miles per hour. Tom gave directions to Stewart from the back seat and they soon arrived at his apartment complex, they had to go up onto the sidewalk twice more to skirt accidents before they arrived. The place was quiet, no sign of violence or undead, just another normal day in south Denver, quiet and chilly as the sun began to lighten the sky on the plains behind the buildings.
The apartments were set up with outside entrances, almost like a massive cancerous duplex gone wrong. Tom climbed out of the cruiser and Max joined him. Stewart said, “Good you two go and get what Tom needs, Steve and I will hold the fort in the parking lot, we will move the car around the building so any zombies come after us and leave the way clear here. If we honk it means ‘get your asses down here’, if we hear gunfire, we will come up and assist. Everyone clear?” There were grim nods all around. “Good I won’t get worried for ten minutes, anything more than that and I probably will leave Steve with the car and come after you.”
Max followed Tom up the stairs, “What level is your apartment on?”
“Third floor, the top. It has great views though, worth it.”
“You mentioned roommates? How many? Any girlfriends that stay over or pets or anything else that might be moving in there?” asked Max.
“No, nothing. Here you take the shotgun, if my roommates are, are undead I might hesitate, you won’t ‘cause you don’t know them.”
“Makes sense. Safety off? Yeah? Okay, lets go in.” in a stage whisper, he continued, “It had to be the third floor.”
Tom stage whispered back, “I love you too.”
They got to the doorway on the third floor and it was cracked open, there was blood on the landing and some footprints had been tracked through the blood, going both into and out of the apartment. Max took the lead and softly pushed against the door with the barrel of the shotgun. The place was dark, very dark and the twilight from the rising sun was not good enough to shed any light into the house. A soft blue glow turned on behind him and as he looked back at Tom he saw that he was holding a small key chain light and trying to use it to push back the darkness in the apartment. It helped, but only a little. Cautiously Max stepped into the apartment, whispering to Tom, “Turn on a light, not a bright one if you can help it, or maybe open the fridge. I don’t know where I am going here, whoa!” as he said the last part Max stumbled into something on the floor, it felt like a long pillow weighed down with a lead weight. As he caught himself on the couch Tom brushed by him and shined his light on the floor.