Rotting to the Core (Keep Your Crowbar Handy Book 2)
Page 13
“You say the nicest things. Remind me to buy you a drink once we get back to the Mimi,” Kat said from where she was hurriedly working on the lock.
“The what?” Penny slipped into her hiking boots and belted her holster back in place.
“Later,” Jake shot Kat a look that said Ix-nay On The Alking-Tay. “We'll have time to explain once we get out of here.”
Kat coaxed the final tumbler within the lock into place. “Uh, Jake? There's, um, something I didn't tell you. Getting out of this building could be... interesting.”
“Okay. Why?” O'Connor felt his stomach begin to drop.
“Let me say that it's not my fault,” Kat told him defensively. She quickly made her lock picks disappear, moved her sword to its normal home across her back, and pulled the blade from its scabbard in a smooth draw. “If these jerks hadn't taken you prisoner none of this would be happening. We'd be safely out of the area, we wouldn't have to tromp down seventeen flights of stairs, I wouldn't have had to sacrifice my favorite tank top 'cause it got all nasty while I was—”
“Kat? I'll loot you another shirt the first chance I get. Can you focus for a minute please?” The sinking feeling in Jake's gut was getting more pronounced.
“What? Oh. Sorry.” Cho shook her head briefly. “What were you saying?”
Jake managed to keep the exasperation out of his voice. “Why is getting out of here going to be 'interesting'?”
Cho mumbled something they couldn't hear.
“What was that again?” Penny hadn't been able to make it out either.
Kat looked at Jake guiltily. “The horde that had us trapped in Bainbridge? The one we got away from? Well, um... They're kind of coming here.”
“What?” Deputy Carson turned white as a sheet.
“I thought I lost them a few streets back, but some must have seen me. Even with the added camouflage,” Kat admitted and fidgeted with her sword. “They were pretty much right behind me when I picked the lock on the gate and came inside to find you. There's going to be a few thousand zombies knocking at the door of this place really, really soon.”
“How soon?” Jake reached over his right shoulder and took hold of his crowbar.
A flurry of small arms fire broke out from the front of the building below them.
Kat wrinkled her nose. “Oh... About right now.”
-Chapter Six-
“Didn't it hurt, getting your nipples pierced like that?” Kat asked.
Deputy Carson shook her head. “It wasn't so bad at the time, what with the whole Endorphin rush and all. I'll admit it though: They were pretty tender for a week or two afterwards.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Does it add anything to…you know?”
“Oh, hell yes,” Penny told her with a smile. “Your nipples are pretty sensitive anyway, so it's easy—at least if you know what you're doing—to give a whole lot of pleasure through them. Now, add a way to manipulate more of the nerve endings from the inside, and you've got yourself a whole new experience. It doesn't have to be anything gigantic either. People make that mistake a lot. All you really need is a five/sixteen inch hoop, maybe even just a quarter inch for somebody with smaller areolas, and you wouldn't believe—”
“Ladies, if you wouldn't mind?” Jake growled. “Let's shelve the topic of body modifications for a bit and move right along, shall we? It's damn distracting, and I need to watch out for zombies.”
Kat and Penny shared a look, then followed Jake as he moved deeper into the tunnel.
After Cho's timely appearance, which saved O'Connor from a truly awkward (possibly sweaty) discussion with Deputy Carson about whether or not they were going to 'bump ugly', zombies had breached the grainery's perimeter. That was because for some reason Jake couldn't fathom, rather than simply scaling the fence at some inconspicuous spot, Kat had chosen to enter the refuge of Rebecca's little group-o'-crazy through the facility’s front gate. She'd been in a bit of a hurry, since there had been several thousand hungry corpses in the immediate area (many of which witnessed her entry, unlike Rebecca's people on fence duty), and had neglected to secure it once inside. This had allowed the rotting crowd to simply stagger onto the grounds unimpeded. En masse.
It hadn't been long before Rebecca's people finally opened their eyes and noticed the oncoming horde flowing up their driveway.
Penny had recognized the sound of Will's BN36 (an AR-10 chambered for .30-06 rounds, basically) when the man started cracking away when they'd begun moving speedily down through the gallery tower. Jake could tell, even though Rebecca's 'top-shot' had squashed Penny's belief they'd actually been involved earlier, the good Deputy still experienced an instant of regret when they passed the ground floor. She stopped for a moment to gaze at the door leading from the gallery into the common room, stared at it for a few seconds and then... flipped it off.
Okay, maybe not, Jake amended.
As the three trotted down into the lower level, they passed through the facilities guts: past large machines of unknown operation, now-immobile conveyer belts, and... Rats. An impressive number of large, well-fed, not particularly aggressive, somewhat frightening rats. Luckily, neither of the women showed the slightest concern over all the raccoon-sized rodents, nor did either lady flinch at the curious gazes the animals gave them as the humans hurried past their hidey-holes. Jake was thankful of that fact because, while he wasn't really fearful of the things himself, all those beady, little, glowing red eyes did kind of creep him out a bit as he crept along with the ladies. “How much farther?” he asked.
“The tunnel runs for another fifty yards, then terminates beyond the tracks.” Penny moved up behind him, just inside the dim circle of light Jake's flashlight provided in the blackness. “It's locked, so we shouldn't have any problems with zombies getting inside. At least, not right away. If they find us, they could beat their way in through the walls, I guess. It's just corrugated steel, not cement like the rest of this place.”
Jake pushed on into the dark, attempting to hold the flashlight steady despite the pronounced shaking of his hand. “Hopefully we'll be long gone before they finish with Rebecca's people.”
“That's pretty hard-core. At least for you.” Kat's frown was invisible in the gloom. “They were human, even if they did go all 'Jim Jones' because of Penny's friend.”
Deputy Carson stumbled briefly on a protruding support for one of the conveyer belts and corrected her. “Rebecca wasn't my friend. She wasn't anybody's 'friend'. She didn't get close to people, at least not since the zombies came along. She spent all her time organizing her little fiefdom within an inch of its life. And my sanity. She was totally focused on 'birthing a new society', as she put it.”
“From what you and Jake have told me about her matchmaking, I can believe the whole 'birthing' part,” Kat snickered.
“Maybe she was different before everything went to hell. Who knows?” Penny told her without interest. “After pairing me off with your genius here, I don't owe her jack.”
“Nice to be appreciated,” Jake grumbled, and searched the echoing expanse for any sign of movement that wasn't rodent-based as they continued onward.
The tunnel cut sharply to the right and ended abruptly at a sheer cinder block wall. A series of rungs painted in bright 'Safety Regulation Approved' yellow were set into its face, which provided access from the building above. Jake stuck their flashlight between his teeth and pulled the Hammer from its holster on his hip, before setting one foot on the first rung to climb up.
“Want me to go first?” Kat had her sword in a Zatochi grip, blade stretched back along the length her forearm.
Jake shook his head and pointed upwards with his repeater. “I'll do it. You wouldn't have enough wriggle room to free the hatch holding it, and if there are any maggot-heads up there I can put them down quickly with this monster.”
Kat stared at the monstrous weapon pointedly. “At least your toy there won't be thunderclap-loud, like normally. Not with that suppressor.”
O'Connor scaled the rungs and put his shoulder against the heavy plate above. There was quite a bit of noise from the battle between Rebecca’s' sheeple and the encroaching zombies, so he couldn't tell if there was anyone, or anything in the outbuilding. Echoes of moans, punctuated with the sharp cracks of panicked gunfire, permeated from behind Kat and Penny below, so he was extra-cautious (if there was such a thing during the apocalypse) when he raised the access cover just a few inches. Only more darkness greeted him and Jake pushed up further, just enough to get the flashlight held in his mouth over the lip of the hole. When nothing reacted to the encroaching beam, he pushed the hatch over and back until it stopped just past 110 degrees, and passed the LED torch about swiftly. The tunnel came out in the rear of what appeared to be a large, forty by sixty maintenance bay and currently, he was the only thing moving within. A vehicle door was on the far south wall and an access door sat in the western wall, but without Jake's flashlight the darkness was oppressive.
“It looks clear. You guys can come on,” Jake called into the tunnel, making sure to track the muzzle of his Hammer along with his flashlight's beam as the women made their way up the well-used rungs behind him.
“This is where they use to repair the eighteen-wheelers that hauled what trains offloaded all over the county,” Penny told Jake, as Kat hopped nimbly through the opening after her and pulled the hatch shut once more. “If there'd been any of them here that ran, we could've used one to just bust past the horde out there. Rolled right on through them, like a locomotive through a herd of goats.”
Jake began striding for the far side of the garage. “Don't bet on it. We managed to avoid this group back in town, but there's a crap-load of them. All those body parts would be more than enough to bust tires, tear engine belts, hole the radiator, and gum up the undercarriage on a big-rig. Once we were trapped they'd have climbed over one-another trying to get inside, busted out the windows, and we'd have been dinner.”
“He's right. Better to do it our way.” Kat agreed.
Penny gave them an expectant look. “And how's that?”
“I'm glad you asked. Today's episode of the 'Kat and Jake Show' is brought to you by the letter 'S'. As in sneaky, silent, sly, and stealthy like a shadow.” Kat padded past the writer to the solid looking door, then went into 'ninja sensory mode'.
Penny checked her Beretta and shot the pretty Asian a skeptical glance. “What the hell is she doing?” she asked.
“You wouldn't believe me. Just give her a bit.” Jake shut his mouth and motioned to Carson for silence.
Kat didn't move. She barely breathed. After a minute, she came back to the present and shook her head. “I can't get much. There's a ton of them around the grainery already, so we need to move. Like, right freakin' now.”
The three checked their weapons once more and prepared to exit the garage as Jake told Penny the plan. “Alright, once we're outside head for the east side of the fence line. It's the one closest to us and, since those things are coming from the west, farthest from the horde. Kat will go over the top first because she can climb way better than either one of us. You'll go next, and I'll follow once you're on the other side so the two of you can cover me. I've got more mass, so it will take me a little longer. When we get out there, don't fire off any rounds unless you absolutely have to. Loud noise will draw zombies away from the main building towards us, so use this if they get too close.” Jake passed Deputy Carson his crowbar.
“What am I supposed to do with this? Lever a zombie to death?” she demanded, but holstered her Beretta again.
He chuckled. “Hey, the thing's saved my life a few times now. Stick with bashing them with the hook end if you can, but you can use the chisel tip to stab with too. Just try not to get in close. That tends to be rather messy.”
“To say the least.” Kat told her. “Let me tell you, zombie goop? Yuck. With a side of 'gross'. And a big ol' helping of 'ew!'. It's a royal pain to get out of your hair too. This one time, there was—”
“Kat.” Jake's voice was tight.
“Hmm?” She nodded. “Oh. Gotcha. I'm good. Focusing now.”
“You know what? I'm reasonably certain Obi-wan Kenobi never heard things like that from his companions,” Jake grumbled under his breath.
Kat giggled. “Uh-huh. Two words: Jar Jar.”
Jake gave her a hard look. “We don't talk about him. Ever.”
“I can't believe you people have managed to survive this long.” Penny looked back and forth between them with an unbelieving expression.
“Never mind.” Kat was still grinning. “Let's get a move on 'kay?”
“Fine. But I'm telling you: Jedi didn't have to put up with this shit.” O'Connor took hold of the door handle, twisted, and pulled it open.
“Fuck.” He quickly shut the door again and latched the deadbolt. “Uh, yeah. Run.”
Kat and Jake took off at a sprint for the western side of the building.
Good Deputy Carson was caught flat-footed, still staring at their 'assholes and elbows' when zombies began pounding on the door only five feet away. She jumped in surprise, backpedaled, and hurried back through the garage in their wake, away from the sound of dozens of hands pounding against the wall outside. By the time she caught up with the others, dozens had become a hundred. Then two.
“Kat, get that thing open!” Jake turned beside her next to the vehicle door and put the sights of his Hammer squarely on the western entrance. The far door—hell, the whole wall— was vibrating under the impact of hunger-maddened fists.
Cho was already way ahead of him. “It's not locked, but there's no power! We have to pull it up!” She began yanking on the chain dangling down from the pulley system on the door's upper edge, but her trim frame didn't have enough weight to move the mechanism.
“Deputy, watch the far end!” Jake holstered his pistol, ran at the wall, and jumped. He put one foot against the steel and—in a clumsy impression of Kat's own abilities in the alley behind Foster's safe-house— managed a decent leap into the air. Whether it was skill, adrenaline, or just pure unbridled fear that allowed the writer to generate such incredible force with his legs didn't matter. Jake's hands clamped around the chain as his boots dangled a good four feet from the cement surface of the floor. Evidently, Kat thought his idea was so good she made a vertical leap of her own to lock her arms around his waist. They hung there, suspended by the main strength in Jake's arms as Penny stared at the thundering against the far wall.
“It's not moving!” Jake called down.
“Yeah, I get that!” Kat yelled. “Pull harder!”
“How?” he demanded.
“Gee, I don't know. Use your arms!” Kat began kicking her legs up and down, yanking on his hips.
Jake began shaking the chain, even though the links bit into his palms.
“Guys? You need to hurry!” Penny pointed Jake’s crowbar at the far entrance. The wall was dented inward in several places around the doorframe, and the door itself was beginning to cave.
“Jake, we're dead if we don't work that free, right now!” Kat yelled up at him. “Either get this thing moving or get your clothes off, because I'm going out screaming one way or another!”
“Move! Move-move-move-move-move!” With every bellow, Jake yanked the both of them skyward then dropped their weight against the chain. His arms were starting to burn. “Goddammit, MOVE!”
With a final jerk, their combined weight pulled the jammed chain free. T
he bay door rose two feet as Jake and Kat dropped back to the floor. Jake lost his grip on the chain, but managed not to crush her when he landed flat on his ass. Kat's landing was far more agile, even with the leather pants and biker boots. She'd come down in a three-point stance, like a linebacker waiting for the word 'Hike'.
A blue-haired, pixie-like linebacker with a great rack, he thought. Damn, my tailbone hurts.
“Well?” Penny demanded, still understandably focused on the weakening far door.
Kat went horizontal three inches off the floor on all fours like she was at the bottom of a push-up and quickly scanned the outside. “It's clear. They haven't made it around yet.”
“Go, go!” Jake made for the opening, motioning the women out before him. Kat dropped and rolled out under the door in a blur, with Carson not far behind. When Jake had a moment to think about it that didn't involve fleeing for his life, it seemed as if Penny was actually checking out Kat's behind as she scrambled after the ninja-girl. The far door of the garage impacted against the concrete floor with an ear bruising clang, just as he was about to scurry beneath the steel edge. Jake glanced towards the noise and froze. It was a stupid move, he knew, but he couldn't help it. The zombies were inside.
They were legion. Prior to a few months back, O'Connor hadn't appreciated the concept of the word. There, within the ambiguous safety of too-thin, steel walls, he was shown the true meaning. The dead were nearly rabid with hunger. They pushed through the doorway like maggots squirming from a bloated corpse, heedless of the sharp edges on the now-battered frame and walls that tore at their cold flesh. Some few fell beneath the initial push, and were trod upon by yet more as the dead piled into the garage. Jake realized he was staring at them, nearly hypnotized by the awful spectacle of mindless dead flowing clumsily into the room, and he tried to shake it off. They were hideous in the extreme. Some were missing arms, or entire chest cavities. Others resembled emaciated stick-figures, only held together by what little muscle fiber and sinew was left upon their long-consumed torsos. Not a few were missing parts of their faces, ears, jaws, throats. Many were missing eyes, either one or both. Jake shuddered at the thought of forever roaming around, hungry and blind, after dying. A fate worse than death, that.