By the door, they paused.
Jason laid his hand on his chest catching his breath. “Oh, man.”
“I know.”
They stood in the center of a long hall.
“The exit is this way,” Brady pointed to the end he faced.
“There’s one this way, too.” Jason indicated to the other end.
“Which one?”
“We’ll go this way. Because we’re walking back to back, and I can’t walk backwards.”
“Neither can I.”
“I called it first.” Jason said.
“Fine.” Brady placed his back to Jason as they inched their way down the hall.
A couple of steps later, Jason stopped. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Sheriff.”
At the other end, near the destination exit door, the Sheriff emerged into the hall.
“Is he okay?” Brady asked.
“I think.” Jason squinted. Then he got a good look at the law official.
His shirt was saturated with blood, part of his right arm was missing and his face was dead white.
“Shit. He’s not.” Jason announced.
The sheriff moved quickly their way.
After a hard spin around, Jason grabbed hold of Brady’s arm and ran toward the other stairwell. “Run, run.”
Brady looked over his shoulder. “I thought he had a limp.”
“He doesn’t now.”
“Please,” Brady begged quickly as he ran. “Please. Please. Please, don’t let anything be in that stairwell.” He arrived first, yanked open the door and raced through.
Jason was right on his heels.
The door closed.
Brady didn’t hesitate, he headed up the steps.
“Wait.” Jason said. “Should we block this door or something?”
“How? How are we gonna do that? No, we’re good. Zombies can’t open doors.”
“What do you mean? Of course they can.”
“No, dude, every movie, they can’t open doors. Come on,” Brady urged.
Jason ran to catch up to him, as soon as he did, the door flew open. “Fuck. So much for that theory,”
“It’s a push bar door, it doesn’t count.”
“On the inside. From the hall you pull it,” Jason argued.
They made it to the next floor. Brady quickly peeked out the tiny window. Seeing it was clear, he pushed open the door and both he and Jason ran out. They emerged into another hall.
“Hold the door,” Brady instructed.
“Hold the door? Are you nuts?”
“Just use your body, I’m gonna find something to block it.” Brady headed across the hall to a room.
Jason pressed his back to the door, feet planted firmly with his head just below the window. He could hear the stomping of hard shoes against the steps. It echoed in the stairwell
“He’s coming,” Jason whispered to Brady.
Stomp. Stomp.
“Help hold this. He’s coming.”
Stomp. Stomp.
“He’s coming. He’s ….” Jason paused and gave an odd look.
“He’s what?” Brady asked, peeking out his head.
“He kept going. He’s still walking up.”
“Okay, good.” Brady held up his hand. “Another fact we learned. They aren’t smart.”
“Anything in that room?”
Brady shook his head. “Nothing. There was a small rifle case, but it was empty.”
“They probably only had like three cops in this town.”
“Probably.” Brady raised his wooden weapon and side by side with Jason they moved down the hall.
A few feet from the end, they paused.
A crunching sound carried to them, almost as if someone was eating a bowl of cereal.
“What is that?” Jason spoke so softly, Brady could barely hear him.
Moving only his lips, Brady replied. “I don’t know.”
Cautiously and slowly, they peeked around the bend.
A police officer sat in a chair, legs extended, back arched, head slumped. Hovering over him was one of those things, who slurped and devoured what he could of the officer’s torso.
Instantly Jason’s mouth opened in shock, he jumped back and started to gag.
Brady brought his hand to his own mouth as he darted back, “Oh my God, oh my God.” He whispered hysterically.
“Are we really seeing that?”
“Shit is real. Oh my God.” Regaining his composure, Brady peeked again. “Okay, the cop has a gun.”
“Okay.”
“We need that gun.”
“Uh, Brady, did you notice that thing…whatever it is eating the cop?”
“Yes. There’s only one though.”
“That’s all there needs to be.”
“Yeah, but there’s two of us.”
“And your point?” Jason asked.
“We can take him.” Brady encouraged.
“So you assume.” Jason shook his head. “I say if anything, we run for it.”
“We can take him. Think of the game ...”
“No. No.” Jason shook his head. “Absolutely not. No games. No movies. They aren’t study guides. They open doors. Seriously, we could have been out of here already.”
“With only wooden table legs? We need that gun. We need to find a car. I’ll bet any money, not only does that cop have a gun, but he has keys to a squad car as well. He’s not smart. We’ve been standing here talking. He hasn’t come over.”
Jason exhaled in frustration and looked out into the main room. “He is pretty occupied.”
“Yes. Yes he is.”
“I say we sneak out there and bash him.”
“Bash him?”
Brady held up the wooden leg. “Hit him with all we got. Just keep hitting him.”
“In the head?”
“Of course.”
“Then what?” Jason asked.
“We look for keys, we look outside, hopefully find the car and get out.”
Jason leaned with his back against the wall. “This is insane.”
“I want out of this town, this is the only way to get back to our families.”
“You’re right. You’re right.”
“Ok, so, he’s busy. We get down, crawl in quietly, then coordinate our attack.”
“This isn’t a game.”
“I know this. But that is the only training we have. Ready.”
“I guess.”
“And you say we don’t have excitement.”
“Dude, this is not what I meant.”
Brady lowered to the floor and got on his hands and knees. He double checked that the feasting individual was engrossed as he quietly inched and crawled his way into the main room of the precinct.
Jason stayed close, his head near Brady’s shoes. They moved slowly, barely making any noise until they were close.
Brady mouthed the question, “Ready?” When he received acknowledgement from Jason, he held up his fingers, counted to three and both men jumped up, brandishing their table legs.
The moment they did, the infected saw them, turned and stood up from his meal.
Jason careened down first, hitting him in the side of the face. Brady followed with a pummel to the head.
The thing didn’t go down, he extended his arms, swinging and trying to grab them.
Repeatedly, and one right after the other, Brady and Jason bashed it, each taking a swing as it fought to get them. The blows landed in a steady, rhythmic way
Finally, it went down. They kept hitting until there was nothing left of his head.
Jason dropped his table leg. “Are you kidding me? We cannot fight them all like this. We aren’t strong enough. He didn’t want to die. Or … re-die.”
“I know,” Brady said out of breath. “I felt like I was in a bad remake of ‘Shaun of the Dead’.”
“You mean like that one bar scene, where they were all hitting the bar owner while Queen played in the backg
round?”
“Yeah, that scene.”
“Wow, yeah, you’re right.”
“Check the cop’s pockets for keys and get the gun.”
“No.” Jason squealed. “You do it. It was your idea. I’m gonna check the phones.”
“Fine.” Brady stepped over the body of the infected and walked to the police officer. He unsnapped the pistol from the holster. “Got the gun.”
Jason walked to a nearby desk.
“Get his taser, too.”
“Yeah, we’ll just taser the zombies.” Jason lifted a phone on a nearby desk. “Nothing.” He slammed it down. “Dead.”
“No keys?” Brady asked.
“Check the drawers. I’ll check this one.”
“What if he walked to work?”
“Then we have to run out of town.” Jason opened the top drawer, searched, then searched the bottom drawer.
“Keys,” Brady announced and jingled them. “It has a beepy thing, too”
Jason turned and looked.
Brady held the key, dangling the remote. “It can’t be far.”
They both walked over to the main window near the door. The streets appeared vacant and quiet. One streetlight was on and it cast an almost yellow tint to everything.
“You know,” Jason said. “As soon as you press the blip blip, the ones by our window are gonna come running.”
“Do they run?” Brady asked.
“They have to. If an old sheriff with a limp can move quick, average people will run.”
“Then we wait until we’re outside.’ Brady handed him the taser.
“Wait. Why do I have to have the taser?”
“Because you wouldn’t check his body.”
“Fair.”
“Let’s go.” Brady reached for the double glass doors and paused. ‘Just know. You’re the friend I’m glad to have in this situation.”
“Just know … I’m you’re only friend, dude.”
“True.” Brady pushed open the door.
Even though they had been inside for days, the smell of the air wasn’t welcoming because it was far from fresh. The stench of rotten mixed with sewer filled the crisp night air.
Jason covered his mouth with a gasping, “Oh.” He eyed the automobiles in the small lot and on the street. ‘Please,” he thought. “Let the car be close.”
Brady aimed the remote of the keys outward and pressed ‘unlock’. The still night caused the chirp sound to magnify as it echoed out.
Jason shifted his view and pointed to the right. A couple of cars down.
They ran that way. It was a good thing it was close, because as soon as they got to the car, groups of infected raced their way. Some walked, some ran, and some barely moved.
Brady jumped in the driver’s seat. Jason took shotgun. Both of them closed their door and the engine was started before the first infected arrived to the car.
Engine started, Brady threw it in gear and hit the gas, clipping an infected as he pulled from the spot.
Neither of them were familiar with Wakeman, they had no idea how to get out of town, or which street to take. They knew they had to go west to get home, so they turned down streets, left and right, until the compass indictor on the rearview mirror showed a ‘W’.
Wakeman wasn’t big, not at all, and the streets probably weren’t as much of a maze as they seemed to Brady and Jason in their rush to get out.
Eventually they made it to Route Twenty, the road they needed to be on.
They passed the original roadblock, it was still there, but no one manned it.
Not even two miles out of town Brady pointed. “Look, my car. Thank God. We’ll grab that. Last thing we need is to get in trouble for stealing a car.”
Jason saw it in the darkness, parked off to the side of the road right where they left it. “A lot of good it’s gonna do you. They took your keys.”
“Yeah, but when I was sixteen my mom got me one of those ‘Hide-a-Key’ magnets. Goes under the wheel well.” Brady pulled over behind his car.
“You think it’s still there?”
“I’ve had four cars since then, kept it on every car. It’s never fallen off.” Brady checked around outside before opening his door.
Jason was hesitant, but followed when Brady stepped out. He walked directly to his car, crouched down and felt under the wheel well.
Holding up his hand, Brady stood. “Got it. Ready?”
Jason nodded, raced back to the car they borrowed, grabbed the taser gun and shut off the ignition. He left the keys there in case someone else needed it, then trotted to Brady’s car.
As soon as he got in, Brady stared the engine.
“Still works. Let’s go.” Brady said and pulled out onto the road. “Soon as we get to Townsend we’ll go in there and let them know about Wakeman.”
“They probably know.”
“If not, they will.” His arm extended in front of Jason as he pointed toward the window.
Jason turned his head to see several infected moving quickly in the grassy area next to the road.
“Look at that one, leading them.” Brady said.
Jason turned his head from the side window to the windshield. A man moved slowly on the edge of the road.
“Dude, does he have one of those walkers with wheels?’
“A rollator, yeah,” Jason said.
“A zombie with a walker?” Brady asked.
“Don’t hit him, he’s already at a disadvantage.” Jason watched him as they drove closely by. That was when Jason got a good look. “Shit. Stop the car.”
“Why?”
“He’s not one of them.”
“Are you sure?” Brady asked.
“Positive,” Jason spoke in a rushed voice. “Dude, it’s an old man with a walker and those things are closing in.”
With a jerk of the wheel and a squeal of the tires, Brady turned the car around and sped back the short distance. They stopped the car right next to the man.
Jason jumped out, taser in hand.
“Hurry,” Brady said. “They’re coming.”
The older man exhaled in relief when he saw Jason. “Am I glad to see you. I’ve been walking forever.”
“Sir, get in the car,” Jason opened up the back door.
“Thank you.” The man inched his rolling walker toward the car.
“Hurry.”
“Really?” he asked sarcastically. “Hurry?”
Jason felt a sense of urgency mixed with anxiousness. His eyes shifted from the man slowly getting into the car to the infected that picked up their pace.
The man put his left foot in, then his right, and then finally after a turn of his body, he plopped inside. He reached out for his walker.
“I got it,” Jason said and reached for it.
“It folds if you just push that …”
“I got it,’ Jason repeated. He fiddled with it, the taser dropped to the ground. Finally he figured it out. As soon as he folded up the seat, getting the unit compact enough to put in the car, he heard the warning.
“Jason, watch out,” Brady hollered.
Jason turned and saw the infected rush from the high grass on the side of the road. He thought about using the walker as a weapon, then remembered the taser. He bent down, lifted it and aimed. The tiny dot of light hit the infect and Jason pulled the trigger.
It only made a pop sound, like a plastic bag being popped. The two electric probes hit center mass on the creature, creating dancing lights The infected jerked and fell back.
Hurriedly, Jason grabbed the folded walker, ran around the back of the car, tossed it into the back seat and jumped up front, just as five more infected emerged onto the road.
“Go. Go.”
Brady was already backing up before Jason finished giving the order to leave.
“That was close,” Brady said.
“I know.”
“I can’t believe you tasered him.” Brady said with excitement.
“How cool was that
?” Jason looked back as Brady swung the car around to go in the other direction. The infected that he had hit was now standing.
Once they were free and clear, and on a steady path, Jason turned toward the back seat. “Sir, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. You could have left the walker, you know. Kind of dumb to be messing with it with those things coming,” he said. “Thank you boys, again. I probably would have been a goner had you not shown up.”
“For sure,” Brady said, looking in the rearview mirror.
Jason nudged. “Hey, not cool.”
“It’s the truth,” the man said, as he stared out the window. “Then again, if they did get me, hour or so later, I’d be back. I wouldn’t need that walker. Saw Mary Lou Westerbrook sprinting across the front lawn. Had Parkinson’s, been in a wheelchair, not walking or talking for years. Yet, there she was chasing down, Perry the janitor at a pretty impressive speed for an eighty-five year old woman. All of them were running. I waited until I didn’t see any, then I left.” He shook his head. “Oh, gees, I’m sorry. I’m Bert. Bert Daniels.”
“Jason.” He reached back and shook Bert’s hand. “And this is Brady.”
“Are you from Wakeman?” Brady asked.
“You can say that,” Bert replied. “I lived at Country Meadows Assisted Living.”
“Can we take you somewhere, sir?” Jason asked.
“I really have nowhere to go. Guess you boys are stuck with me,” he said with a flash of a smile.
“Well, we’re going to the next town,” Jason explained. “Townsend. Try to get some help for Wakeman.”
“Good luck with that,” Bert said. “Not gonna be easy. That town, or the next.”
Brady peered at him through the mirror. “Why do you say that?”
“Haven’t you boys heard the news?”
Both Jason and Brady shook their heads.
“I have. I was watching it the whole time. There was nothing on there. Nothing. Then suddenly … Bam. It went from Wakeman being shut down to the whole goddamn state.”
“The whole state?” Jason asked shocked.
“The whole state. I think it’s everywhere. If not, this thing is so crazy it won’t be long,” Bert said, “before it will be.”
TWELVE – VITAL STATISTICS
It was like stereo, two different sounds flowed to Major Brian James, one from the Colonel’s office, the other from his laptop.
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