The Clock Runs Down_The Servant

by Joe Kelly

  Shelley sat stiffly in the passenger seat holding her rifle and looking out into the rain. Today was the first time in a long time she had been involved in a run. Her nerves were wound tight as she saw dark shapes behind the curtain of rain, dark shapes that moved slowly around the street. She knew the undead were trying to locate the sound of motors they could barely hear over the thunder and pounding rain.

  Jeff started humming then after a moment he began to sing softly.

  Shelley turned and stared at him. She had never expected, could not have expected a Self-proclaimed Hick like Jeff to even know that song. It had been awhile since she had seen Rocky Horror picture show, but she was one of those who knew the movie and its songs by heart.

  Jeff glanced over as Shelley started singing with him, and grinned. Fighting the urge to pull out a lighter and hold it up.

  Ori looked towards the cab of the Deuce puzzled, then shook his head and checked his rifle again. Seeing the questioning look Jared tossed him Ori shrugged. “ I thought I heard Jeff and shelly singing one of the songs from Rocky Horror.” As a peel of thunder faded away they all heard distinctly

  “The darkness must go down the river of nights dreaming

  Flow morphia slow, let the sun and light come streaming

  Into my life, into my life.”

  Jared started laughing, Steve was grinning and Ronny just shook his head.

  “if he starts singing I’m just a sweet transvestite, I will not let him live it down” Ronny vowed.

  Zombies blinded by the storms stopped and looked around the driving rain in confusion as the sounds of loud laughter came to them before being lost in the fury of the storm once more.

  Jeff spotted the sign for the RV yard thru the rain and slowed, turning into the driveway he braked and grabbed the Key for the padlock off the dash. “be right back,” he said throwing open the door and leaping into the storm.

  Shelley watched closely, determined not to let a single zombie sneak up on Jeff as he unlocked the padlock and pulled the gate open.

  A moment later he was back in the deuce, dripping wet and grinning. The Package truck the last thru the gate stopped and Ryan, more scared now than when he had been on the plane, leaped out and ran back through the rain and slid the gate shut and relocked it.

  Ryan turned and darted back to the truck only to slip and land on his ass skidding across the wet ground till he hit the truck. He struggled to his feet, shaking off the helping hand. Suddenly realization struck, Ryan threw himself towards the front of the truck drawing the pistol that Jared had insisted he carry along with the rifle. Helping hand his ass, he was the only one outside the truck.

  The zombie had emerged from behind a Rv and staggered thru the rain while Ryan was occupied with the gate.

  He couldn’t tell what had killed it, and it didn’t fucking matter his mind insisted. The realization that he had been inches away from being bitten caused him to piss his pants.

  He pulled the trigger once, twice, then a third time the pistol bucking in his hands. The zombie rocked, and reeled as the first two shots slammed into it, one hitting it in the lung, another blew out its heart. The third how ever took off the top of its head. It toppled over silently to lay unmoving in the water.

  “Hell yeah. Take that you asshat.” he shouted leaping to his feet, and saw two more undead coming at him thru the rain. Ryan didn’t hesitate he turned ran for the passenger door, throwing it open, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun, from his vantage point it looked like the size of his fist, a hand grabbed his head and forced it down as a rifle fired on top of his head setting his ears to ringing.

  “Get in” Henry shouted, as he grabbed Ryan’s collar trying to haul the boy inside. Ryan scrambled to get in and between his rapidly pumping legs and Henry pulling, he found himself on the floor board his face between Henrys legs.

  “Oh hell!” Ryan cried out as a hand clamp down on his ankle. Rob seeing what was going on threw the truck into gear and slammed the petal down even as Henry fired twice more.

  Ryan screamed as fired flowed up his leg, “ I got bit, I got Bit” he screamed as he felt a hand on his leg dragging it inside the Truck. He was crying now, waiting for death.

  “Calm down, I shot you. I shot the zombie too before he could bite you.” Henry said calmly.

  Ryan looked up from Henrys crotch disbelief written on his face. “you fucking shot me. I can’t believe you shot me” he said, and then repeated it. Rob started laughing.

  “You might want to get out from between His legs before we stop and everyone sees you down there” Rob suggested.

  “great, I got shot and look gay” Ryan said struggling to get up from the floorboard.

  “to look gay, you need to be wearing color coordinated clothing, have highlights in your hair, and wear a lot of hair gel” Rob said. “or have your face between..”

  “don’t even say it” Ryan warned as Henry helped him into the seat. “this was humiliating enough” he added.

  “Figures, I’m the only gay man in the truck and the straight guys get all the action” Rob said with a grin.

  “Don’t worry Rob I can shoot you in leg too” Ryan offered.

  Jeff swung thru the RV lot twice, running over the few zombies he saw.

  Angling to catch one with the knee cappers, and winced as the spinning blades ripped the zombies lower legs off. “That’s got to hurt” he muttered.

  Finally satisfied he had run down all that he was going to get, he sent two clicks over the radio and the other deuce met him at the Large Metal Building where RV’s had been repaired and customized in. Each truck parked parallel to the building, one truck to each side of the doors, with a Ten feet space between the trucks and the building.

  Team one Leaped out, taking positions between the trucks and the building while Jared and Logan checked the door to see if it was locked.

  Team Two piled out and assumed guard positions to cover the trucks and the building entrance.

  Jared tugged on the door handle and felt it move; with a heave, he pulled the door open and flashed a light inside. There were two garage bays, one bay still held a RV. In the back right corner was a two story cinderblock office area.

  Jared stepped back and waited for a moment giving any undead that might be inside a chance to show themselves.

  After a moment he flashed the go signal, the team entered hard and fast. Jared and Logan going right, Steve and Ronny to the left. Ori and Chris hitting the center and kneeling. Jason and Jill being the most inexperienced on Team One remained at the doors covering their exit.

  Lights flashed spearing into the gloom seeking threats, “contact one, right, twenty feet” Logan called out, then fired a single shot. Ori peered forward looking under the parked RV and saw a pair of feet moving slowly on the far side of the vehicle.

  “Contact one and Got him” Ori said laying his sights on the target, his breathing slowed as he centered and then stroked the trigger.

  The zombie, its ankle suddenly destroyed fell to the floor. And then its head blew apart with Ori’s second shot. “clear” he called out.

  “I think I got wood from that first shot” Steve said grinning, his eyes never stopped scanning his zone. Jared pushed back the soaked Boonie hat he wore and looked slowly around. “let’s move, do it like we drilled” Jared said as the team began its sweep of the building.

  Five minutes later, they had cleared the place of all threats and had the package truck pull inside so that they could begin loading.

  “what the hell happened to Him?” Jared asked Rob as he saw Ryan hobble around to the back of the truck carrying a box of parts, his leg heavily bandaged. “ he didn’t get bit did he?”

  Rob shook his head. “close thing actually. There were three of the pus bags by the gate that we didn’t see. Ryan there, slipped and fell down and almost got his butt bit off by the first one. He had to shoot it three times before he killed it. Then two more came at him so he ran for the cab...” Rob t
old him the rest of the story and Jared had to fight not to laugh.

  “at least he is alive” Rob said finishing up the story.

  “Damn straight” Jared said then “Ryan go rest in the Truck, you aren’t going to be much good out here with a busted up leg.” There were some curious looks but no one asked what had happened. But once back at Camp the kid would get grilled, Jared thought with a smile, and then the whole story would come out.

  “Jason, you help them load this shit, and I’ll have Chad send someone from Team two in here to help. And while you folks are working your asses off, we are going to sweep the yard.” Jared said leading his team to the doors. Jason looked about to argue but slung his weapon and moved to the shelves to start collecting parts.

  Jared stopped just long enough to pass the word to Chad, then led team one out into the yard. They trudged through the rain and gloom, as alert as they could be, far to often a place might seem to be cleared only to find that one of the Undead had somehow been missed in a sweep.

  About half way thru the back half of the yard Steve signaled a stop and looked up at the RV parked in front of him. Someone had taken a Peterbilt with an Extended sleeper, extended the frame and added a full RV. 52 feet, with three slide outs.

  “We could use this” Steve said as Jared walked up, the rest of the team spread out around them in a circle keeping watch while they talked.

  “For what” Jared asked eyeing the monster vehicle.

  “Well for starters it runs off Diesel, which means we can use Biofuel in it too. Secondly imagine a cattle catcher on the front of it. and if we have Rob weld on an extension we could even pull a fifth wheel camper or trailer with it. Not to mention I could pull my truck behind it.” Steve said excited by the prospect as he studied the massive yet sleek looking RV. “And it would be nice to have a place where it’s just me, Bridget, Sharon and the babies.” He added.

  Jared shook his head slowly not sure that he wanted this behemoth, but then he saw the look on Steve’s face and relented. “All right lets check it out, if there’s fuel, and it starts we will take it with us.” He had noticed the inclusion of Sharon, but said nothing refusing to job to conclusions.

  They walked to the door Steve went up first, the knob turned so he threw it open and shined a light into the dark interior. The flashlights revealed gleaming sections of stained and waxed Oak hard wood floors, and deep carpeting.

  A couch that folded down into a bed and the two captain’s chairs with a table between them were placed where the extended sleeper had been. Just past that was a large living room section, with am attached modern kitchen then a Narrow hallway that ran into the back of the massive RV

  They moved through the front and down the hall into the back and looked into the large master bedroom with its private bath then checked the bathroom just off the living room section before heading back to the front.

  The doorway into the driver’s section was covered by a curtain, hiding the full sized cab from any one that might be relaxing in the back.

  Steve yanked back the curtain and then sighed in relief to see nothing in the Cab then noticed there were no keys in the ignition.

  “We are not going to look for keys in the office.” Jared said flatly seeing the empty ignition switch.

  “No problem” Steve said pulling out his multi tool, three minutes later he had wires exposed, traced out and was stripping the appropriate leads.

  “Here goes.” he said touching them together. The motor growled as it cranked, on the fourth try it roared to life. “I’ll just install a push button for an ignition” Steve said as lights flickered on in the camper.

  “Look at that.” Jared said as they walked back into the living room area and pointed to the alcove desk and entertainment center. Below the flat screen tv, a PS3 sat on a shelf next to a compact computer case, no bigger than a loaf of bread. The keyboard for the computer was in a flip down drawer front on a roller shelf.

  “I am in High tech Heaven” Steve said grinning happily. Not that there was much use or need for computers these days, what with the net down and the power off. Except to keep logs, spreadsheets and maybe a few other things, Jared decided after a moment of thinking about it.

  “I don’t know I’m in charge here, and what kind of image would it be if I let you stay in here.” Jared said then grinned. “Don’t worry about it Brother, I’ll come visit a lot. Now let’s finish up” Jared added as he headed for the door.

  They finished sweeping the lot making sure there were no more undead then approached the Business office. Jared cupped hand and peered through a plate glass window then stepped back quickly happy that they didn’t need to go inside. the place was crawling with undead.

  The storm was starting to slack off, visibility increasing by the minute. Jared checked his watch and frowned slightly. It was close to noon already there was no way they could hit the distribution center today. the undead were going to be stirred up and thicker than fleas here in town.

  Heading back to the Repair barn they found the package van pretty much full, with Rob working in the last of the parts. Wedging the last box into place, Rob slammed the door shut and leaned against it. “As long as we don’t open it before we get back its good to go” he told Jared who nodded slightly.

  “Lets mount up people” Jared called out.

  They loaded back up into the deuce and half’s, Beast one making a detour to drop Steve off at his new ride. He would hand off the RV he already had, which was essentially like his new one only smaller and used unleaded fuel. They stopped only long enough to fill up the tank of Steve’s new RV at the pumps beside the repair barn, Jared made a mental note to find another tanker truck or trailer and recover the remaining fuel.

  They formed up at the gate, with Beast one in the lead, and Steve at the rear. Undead had already started to gather, hearing the sound of motors clearly now that the storm had dropped in intensity. There were already fifty or so undead at the gate and more were spreading along the fence line.

  “I take it we are not going to lock this place back up when we leave” Jeff asked over the radio.

  “to risky” Jared replied lifting a section of the rain cover and looking at the undead through the gap then said “hopefully most, if not all of them will follow us out, so we can come back to get the fuel in there, otherwise we are going to need to find another place to get diesel.”

  “No problem” Jeff replied, grinning at Shelley. “feel like the time warp” He asked and then started to sing as he put the deuce into gear and rolled forward. Shelley laughed and joined him in the second verse, half dancing in the seat as the Deuce tore the gate loose and swept zombies to either side or under the truck.

  The growing crowd of Zombies rushed the trucks, those that hit Beast one were smashed to the ground by the cattle catcher or fell heavily missing legs as the Knee cappers tore into them.

  The rest of the undead managed a few swipes at the other vehicles before the Group got clear of the crowd and left the stumbling crowd of zombies behind.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The gray clouds seemed low enough to actually reach up and touch, as they hovered over the camp. People emerged from buildings and RV’s as the Deuces, entered the camp followed by a package truck, and Huge Semi Truck RV. The package truck headed straight for the Equestrian center where Rob had set up his Shop. Tomorrow he would start an inventory of the new parts before loading it all back up in the package van again since Jared had suddenly developed rush to hit the Wally World Distribution center and get the hell out dodge.

  The large Semi truck based RV came a stop and the engine shut down. A moment later Steve hopped out with a smile as he headed over to Bridget and hugged her tightly then hooked Sharon into the embrace. Jared watched them for a moment, as he stood by Beast one. He was torn on how he felt about what he was seeing.

  “That’s just not fair.” Ronny said suddenly watching the three way hug.

  “It may not be what it looks like.” Jared said,
as he slung his rifle. “and if it is, More power to them.” He said then headed towards Jill, who was actually wearing jeans and a t-shirt that showed her midriff. Instead of the neck to ankle leathers she normally wore.

  She still wore her motorcycle boots, sword and pistols, like most ever one else she wasn’t going to be caught unarmed for more than a couple of minutes these days.

  It was close to dinner time, when Jared finally got to sit down in front of the RV he called home. Hoping that they could find another RV like Steve’s, this time he would snatch it up. He was just opening one of the Rare beers. When Seth walked up, grease and Dirt striped his bare chest. “Been helping Rob?” Jared asked.

  “Yes, I used to to do a lot of engine work, so I thought Id help you folks out, especially since your Buddy Steve gave me and my family his old RV. The only vehicle we had that ran was Keith’s Honda Civic.” Seth said sitting on a log. “Feels odd being outside like this”