Cahz turned and looked out of the office window.
Ryan was rocking the baby. Even with the bark of the shot impairing Cahz’s hearing, it was obvious by the way the baby’s face was contorted that she was crying.
Cahz looked down at the gun in his hand. It was a black lump of hard cold metal in his grasp.
He opened the office door, his gaze firmly locked on the crying child.
Gulping back the anguish, Cahz marched up to the others.
Cannon was saying something as he walked up, but Cahz couldn’t hear what above the ringing in his ears.
“Put her on the ground.” Cahz wasn’t sure if the words had come out but from Ryan’s shocked reaction he knew he’d made his intent clear.
Ryan shook his head and backed up.
Cahz levelled the gun at the screaming child. Her pink skin was flushed red with howling. He couldn’t hear him say it, but Cahz knew Ryan was pleading.
“Put her on the ground and step back!” Cahz shouted. Tears were streaming down both his and Ryan’s face.
With the child shielded by his own body, Ryan pushed out at Cahz.
The distraught father was mouthing the words, “Fuck you!” through Cahz’s deafness.
Cahz grabbed Ryan’s wrist with his free hand and twisted the arm into a lock. Ryan screamed as he fought against the pain, but he couldn’t stop from buckling. On his knees on the ground the crying baby was an easy target.
Cahz placed his finger over the trigger.
“Ahhggghh!” Cahz bellowed in pain as his arm was snapped into a lock.
Cannon pushed his commander to the ground, ripping the gun from his grip.
“Look at her!” Cannon shouted. “Look at her!”
The room was full of shouts and cries becoming more audible, less distorted all the time as Cahz’s hearing cleared.
“Look at her!” Cannon offered a hand to help Cahz to his feet.
Cahz was hauled to his feet and took a step closer to the baby.
“Look at her skin,” Cannon demanded.
He looked back at the office where Elspeth’s corpse lay, then back at the child. The baby girl was still gulping in lungs full of air and belching them out as great shrieks. Her soft skin was flushed red from the distress.
“She’s not infected?” Cahz said in amazement.
“She should have died hours ago, a kid that young.” Cannon put a hand on Cahz’s shoulder. “I realised it when I saw you with Elspeth.”
Cahz reached out his hands in a silent request to see the child.
“Is she immune?” Ryan asked as he passed her over.
“No one’s immune,” Cannon countered, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Cahz took the child in his arms and rocked her gently to soothe her. As the girl started to calm down he walked over to the window to get the best light.
The scratch down the child’s face wasn’t as puffy or red as he remembered it. He peered closer at the wound. It had obviously started at her temple and been dragged down to the cheek just above the jaw line. All the way down were flakes of dead skin and small wells of congealed blood. The deepest part of the wound was where it stopped. There was a deep gouge that ended in an ugly lump of scabbed black blood.
Cahz continued looking at the injury—looking long and hard.
“Cannon,” he finally said, “pass me the tweezers from one of the first aid kits.”
“Here,” Cannon said, passing them over.
Cahz took the tweezers and gripped the terminal scab. With a quick pluck he pulled the lump of scab away. The baby started howling again.
Looking out of the window, Cahz examined the tip of the tweezers. He gently turned his wrist to get the best angle of light.
“Well, fuck me!” Cahz exclaimed. “Look at this.”
“That’s what caused the mark?” Cannon asked, peering at the bloodied lump on the end of the tweezers.
“Let me see,” Ryan said, barging past. “What is it? For fuck’s sake lemme see.”
“It’s a shard of glass,” Cahz declared, a tone of triumph in his voice.
“She’s not infected,” Cannon whispered.
Ryan gasped. “When Elspeth fell… It wasn’t a claw mark—it was some broken glass on the ground.” A huge smile erupted on Ryan’s face. “She’s not infected!”
He stretched his arms out and Cahz passed the child over.
Ryan hugged the baby close. “Oh my gorgeous baby girl.” He planted a wet kiss on the obviously bemused child’s forehead. The girl started whimpering at the unexpected attention. Ryan rocked her in his arms, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.
“Stick your pinkie in her mouth,” Cannon suggested.
“What?” Ryan asked.
“Stick your pinkie in her mouth. It’ll help to calm her down.”
Ryan gave a huff. “Why didn’t you suggest that earlier when she was bawling?”
“Because,” Cannon said, “I didn’t want you to get bit and infected.”
Ryan turned to the manager’s office. “It would have meant a lot to her if she’d known. She wouldn’t have died thinking she failed Sam and the baby.” He placed a hand over his mouth and shuddered. He stood staring at the execution. “Poor Elspeth.” His voice quivered. “She doesn’t even look peaceful.”
Cahz looked back at the dead woman. Her mouth was agape and the trickle of blood from the bullet wound in her forehead had run down into an eye before pooling and dripping off onto the floor.
Ryan wiped away a string of mucus from his nose and snorted back the grief.
“Cannon,” Cahz said, “pull a sheet over her or something.”
Cannon gave a nod. He picked up a discarded sleeping bag and proceeded into the office.
Cahz stepped in to snap Ryan out of his distress. “Okay, let’s gather what stuff we need, then we’ll plan how to get out of here.”
He looked around for something to busy Ryan with. His eyes settled on the large plastic water containers.
Standing in front of him, Cahz placed his hands on Ryan’s shoulders. “We’re going to need water. I lost my canteen, so if we can find some more—”
Ryan broke in, “I spotted camel packs.”
“Good. Fill a couple for each of us.”
From behind, Cannon closed the office door and rejoined his commander. Elspeth’s corpse was now hidden under a puffy green sleeping bag.
“We’ll need mêlée weapons in case we run short on ammo,” Cahz said as he watched Ryan rummage one-handed through a crate.
Cannon nodded. “I’m on it.”
“Oh, and guys,” Cahz added loud enough to get Ryan’s attention, “see what else you can find and we’ll pool it all together. Ten minutes.”
* * *
The three men stood around a fan of assorted objects on the floor in front of them. There was nothing extraordinary among the kit; some water packs, rucksack, crowbar, wind up torch and a few other bits and pieces of civilian camping equipment.
“No point getting a rucksack. There’s not enough stuff here to merit sticking in a bag,” Cahz said, disappointed at the haul.
“The rucksack ain’t for the kit,” Cannon said. “It’s for the little one.”
“You’re not stuffing my daughter in a bag!” Ryan said defensively.
“Think about it,” Cannon said.
“What? No!” Ryan protested, looking at Cahz for support.
“She’ll be comfortable and warm and safe,” Cannon countered. “What’s more, you can keep both hands free.”
“It’s a good call,” Cahz said.
Cannon grinned. “Think of it like one of those expensive designer papooses.”
“Yeah that fuckin’ helps,” Ryan said stubbornly.
“I made up a few diapers from the first aid bandages and stuffed them in the side pouches,” Cannon said, smiling, obviously pleased at his foresight.
“Okay, now the hard part.” Cahz stepped up to the window overlooking the rear parking lot. “
How do we get out of here?”
“You thinking the car park?” Cannon asked.
“Could we hotwire one of the cars down there?” Cahz thought out loud.
“I doubt it,” Ryan said. “We sucked the tanks dry to run our genny years ago. Anyway, they’ll have rusted solid sitting out there.”
“Yeah, guess you’re right,” Cahz agreed. “I think the car park is our best option though. The alleyway is packed with W.D.s, but they’re only five or six deep.”
“No point going out onto the main road,” Cannon added. “There must be thousands of them there by now.”
“Hey, we can still use the cars!” Cahz said excitedly.
“How do you mean?” Ryan asked.
“Listen: the chain fence between the lot and the building on the other side of the alley. We roll two cars through the fence either side of that doorway.” Cahz pointed at the back entrance of the building on the opposite side.
“Yeah, the cars will block the path of the of pus bags,” Ryan said, grasping the plan.
“We’ll still have to take out the ones trapped between the cars before we force the door open,” Cahz elaborated.
“I don’t think it’s going to work as well as you think,” Cannon put in.
“Why not?”
“Well, as soon as the cars break the fence they can walk round them into the parking lot, then come at us from there.”
“I know, but we don’t need much time. Just enough to clear a path and get through that door.”
“Ryan, what’s in there?” Cannon asked.
Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Um… I think the bottom floor’s a shop and the ones above are offices and apartments.”
“Will the door be open?” Cahz asked.
“I doubt it. We usually went in the front. Better light.”
“What about the fire?” Cannon asked, looking out at the stream of smoke.
“It’s the building next door that’s on fire, but it’s likely to spread.” Cahz lent on the windowsill. “It doesn’t look like there’s any smoke coming from the building opposite the car park and it might even work to our advantage.”
“How do you figure?”
“The W.Ds coming down the alleyway from the street have to get past the fire. Now it might not be hot enough to incinerate them, but the smoke and noise is going to disorientate them.” Cahz stood up straight and looked at his two comrades. “The ones further back on the left might not even spot us.”
“Fair point,” Ryan said. “But once we’re in the shop, where then?”
“Show me the map,” Cahz said.
Ryan pulled the map from his back pocket and unfolded it.
“There’s a railway marked on here running through town.” Cahz scanned the features trying to spot the black-hashed line.
Cannon placed a thick fingertip on the page. “There.”
“How far is that from here?” Cahz asked Ryan.
“Not far.” He moved his finger back from the line to the plaza. “What, five streets over? But why the railway? It’s not like we can catch the five fifteen out of here.”
“Think about rail lines running though urban areas.” Cahz didn’t see any recollection on Ryan’s face, so he went on, “They’ve always got high fences to stop kids from wandering onto the lines.”
“How’s that help us?” Ryan asked.
“The dumb pus fucks can’t get in either,” Cannon answered.
“They’ll still get in at the stations and the like, but we’ll only have to worry about the path ahead. And because it’s flat it’ll be much quicker to move along.”
“Okay.” Ryan didn’t sound convinced, but he didn’t offer anything better.
“The rail line leaves the city and follows the coast north. We can come off it somewhere about here.” Cahz pointed at a square on the map. “And find a good pickup point in that area.”
“One thing, boss,” Cannon pointed out, “that’s about fifty klicks over unfamiliar terrain in infested country. We’re going to have to move some.”
Cahz nodded.
“And I hate to piss on the parade,” Cannon added, “but if we’re still on the move after dark we’re screwed. Even with night vision it’s a tall order to go wandering around infected territory at night, and we don’t have night vision.”
Cahz sighed. “I hear what you’re saying, buddy. We’ll just have to find somewhere suitable to hold up.”
“Look, if we’re just marching off to find somewhere in the suburbs to hold out, why walk all that way?” Ryan asked. “We could just find another building like this to barricade and wait out.”
“I’ve thought of that. But what if the fire spreads? What if the smoke’s too thick for a pickup? No, we’re best to get as far from the city centre as possible. Even if the fire wasn’t an issue I’d still want to put some distance between us. There’s thousands of W.D.s out there. The more space we can put between them, the safer I’ll feel.” Cahz looked at Cannon. “I also figure that by getting closer to the coast, we’ll double our chances of a pickup.”
“How do you figure?”
Cahz explained, “If we stay in the city and the rescue turns up, Idris’ll look for a while then bug out. We miss that, we miss our ride home. If we can get out of the city we can signal him on the way in. If we miss him we can catch him on the way out.”
“I don’t know if I follow your logic on that,” Ryan said, “but I can see the point to getting out of Dodge. The streets here are swarming with the dead. It’ll be quieter in the country.”
“We ready to go then?” Cahz asked.
“We got five minutes?” Ryan said.
“What for?” Cahz asked.
“I want to take a dump in one of those chemical toilets before we go running through a city full of dead fucks trying to eat me.”
Cannon laughed. “He’s got a point, boss. I’d rather take a crap where I didn’t have to worry about getting bit on the ass.”
“Fine,” Cahz said with a smirk on his face. “Anyone got a newspaper?”
* * *
“Shit! You’ve got to look at this!” Ryan waddled into the office hoisting his jeans up.
“No one wants to look at your shit, Ryan,” Cahz chastised as he adjusted his body armour.
“No, outside.” Ryan fastened his belt and ran back out of the office.
Cahz and Cannon found Ryan in the side office that had being used as the latrine. Ryan had already opened the window and was waving frantically.
“What is it?” Cahz asked, unable to see past Ryan’s broad shoulders.
“Ali!” Ryan bellowed at the top of his lungs. “Ali!”
Cahz pushed past to see a bizarre sight. Across the street a zombie was dangling from a line halfway up a building. At the top of the line a man with a thick black beard was hoisting the creature up to an open window.
“What the fuck’s he doing?” Cannon asked.
“Ali!” Ryan waved furiously.
The man across the street continued pulling the zombie up. The creature had its arms outstretched, trying to grab at the man is it spun round on the line.
“What is he doing?” Cahz echoed Cannon’s query.
“Looks like he’s tying it off,” Ryan said. “He’s bashing that pus bags head in!”
With a few short thwacks the zombie slumped.
“Ali! Ali!” Ryan cried.
The man across the street stood at the window and waved back in wide over-exaggerated sweeps.
“Ali!” Ryan called joyously. “It’s Ali,” Ryan beamed as he told the two soldiers.
“We gathered that much,” Cannon quipped.
Below, the crowd of undead were feverishly moaning, exhilarated by the prospect of living flesh. The man across the street yelled something unintelligible back.
“I can’t hear him,” Ryan complained. “Shut the fuck up you pus bags!”
In frustration Ryan pointed to his ears and shrugged.
Chapter Fourteen
&nb
sp; Avenue
The sweat dripped off Ali’s thick eyebrows as he pulled on the electrical cable. The soul ripping frustration had evaporated to the elation of finally hooking his quarry. Now all Ali could feel was the burn in his muscles and the pain in his fingers as he hoisted the zombie up. The undead were usually lighter than when they’d been alive. Ali assumed some level of desiccation or wastage set in.
When everything kicked off all those years ago, Ali had delivered a vanload of stray dogs to a research centre. He didn’t like to think of the poor animals’ fate. Intellectually he knew they were dead already; with no family to adopt them they were only days away from being put down. But he could guess their end wasn’t going to be peaceful in the gloved hands of the lab technicians.
He’d stood there in the bustling lab shocked and stunned by the frantic going-ons. Soldiers and doctors in blood-smeared HAZMAT suits. State of emergency broadcasts being repeated through the public address system.
It was here he had encountered his first zombie, a naked and emaciated looking waif of a woman, her skin brown and wrinkled, her eyes a frosted white. She was wheeled past him strapped to a gurney. Her chest was sawn open and there was just an empty cavity where her organs should have been. The scrawny creature still snapped and thrashed against her bindings.
Ali had been frozen by her gaze; that bleached-out stare that somehow expressed a malignant jealousy. Ali listed and watched in a stupor. Occasionally he was pushed out of the way by an anxious orderly or commanded to stand clear by a soldier, but no one questioned why he was there or told him to leave. Mingling among the chaos and raised voices were the moans of the captive zombies. Back then Ali had found the cry more pitiful than terrifying, an imprisoned soul pleading for help, begging for release. Like the sirens’ call it drew in Ali’s compassion.
Remains of the Dead Page 14