Even as I watched, the ones further back were beginning to turn around, their moans trailing. I drew my Sig and fired a single round into the air, jumping up and down on the roof of the truck.
“Come on, you ugly sons of bitches! Tasty man-meat just waiting for you to come and get some!” Okay, my phrasing could have been better, but it worked nonetheless. The zombies immediately began shambling closer, even the ones in the back, their collective moans increasing in volume.
Off to the left, I could see Dave and Jessica, a confused look on her squinting face. I shrugged and she shook her head before following Dave up the ramp to the highway. They still had a few zombies to work around, but the vast majority of them were down by me. Of course, now if I tried to follow the plan, they would end up back down by the ramp anyway.
This left only one real option, which I hated, that I had learned back in Cincinnati. I made sure I had a good path picked out before yelling for Jessica and Dave to keep going. At least a hundred zombies were gathered around my position, their hands clawing at the metal sheeting to get at me, and I could feel the truck actually tilt slightly before I jumped down, landing in the bed of a Ford.
Taking no time to move, I vaulted over the roof, onto the hood, and hopped to the next car in line. I could feel a hand slap the heel of my back foot as I jumped the gap, causing me to smack into the back window and land on the trunk with a groan.
I kicked away several clawing hands as I pulled myself up into a crouch and jumped onto the roof, barely escaping the horde redirecting their movements. It was a game of timing now, and losing meant being pulled into a hundred zombies and ripped apart piece by piece.
Cursing with each leap, I zig-zagged my way through traffic like I had always daydreamed of doing. Of course, back then I hadn’t been on the run for days before and I always came back to reality when the light turned green. No matter how many times I closed my eyes, this time, I’d still be living this nightmare, the horrors of the world replaying on the back of my eyelids.
Eventually, the main horde was behind me and I could see Jessica and Dave coming onto the highway via the exit ramp. I could also see what was ahead of them, though, and tried to find the air in my lungs to yell.
“Get on the cars!” I rasped, my throat feeling like sandpaper. With all the running and jumping, I was out of breath, and Jessica was entangled with dispatching one of the undead stragglers. I forced air into my chest and tried again, this time louder, causing both of my companions to turn. “Get on the cars!” I pointed past them to drive my message home, but Jessica cocked her head, following my finger in confusion. Despite not knowing the reason, they trusted me enough to climb on the nearest vehicle to them. I knew they saw it when their bodies stiffened, realizing what their fates would have been had they not heard me.
I caught up and stopped after jumping onto a Dodge Ram next to them, collapsing to my knees as I did. My chest burned, as did my legs, but it would be a long time before I could afford to actually rest.
“Thanks for the heads-up.” Mills smiled, her eyes wide. Further down the highway was another horde heading in our direction, but they were still too far out for their moans to be heard. I had barely seen the tops of their heads when I climbed on top of another semi, my eyes catching the glimpse of movement in a brief pause.
“If we stay on top of the cars, time our jumps, we should make it into the city without being torn apart,” I breathed, sucking in air between words. Dave nodded, rubbing his knees, and they let me collect myself some more before we resumed leap-frogging our way through the zombies.
It was time-consuming, and, at times, rough on the knees, but we eventually made it through the worst of them and reached an on-ramp descending into the city. Skyscrapers loomed over us as the night sky grew dark, the lack of lights painting the numerous buildings of the Austin skyline in an ominous backdrop. Still in search of transportation, though, we climbed down from the cars and ventured down the ramp, hoping the light would last long enough to locate a set of working wheels.
I couldn’t help but think of Captain Murray’s warning as we did so.
Chapter 93
I’m sure Austin had been a beautiful city before all of this, but, as a major population, it had been bombed to hell. Some buildings had only suffered decimation, with massive holes in the exterior walls, or shattered glass windows on several floors, but others were completely destroyed, gutted from top to bottom until only dust and rebar remained.
Of course, as we made our way deeper into the downtown area, darkness had descended and shrouded the horrors of the bombing in eerie calm, which only increased my paranoia. Unable to see anything, save for the minimal streaks of moonlight between buildings, I relied on my ears to alert me to any threats nearby.
“Not to be that guy, but I’ve got a really bad feeling about this,” Dave muttered. I appreciated the joke, but shared the knot of tension in my gut. Something was definitely off, because we had crossed two intersections without incident, or even a single contact. Either we were alone in the city and the bombs had really done their jobs, leaving only the zombies on the highways to roam free, or someone was doing a good job of cleaning house. I had seen behind door number two before, though, and Schafer didn’t leave the best impression.
Cautiously making our way through the streets of Austin, we passed signs for the university campus. Curiosity and paranoia can be a dangerous combination, because something told me I needed to check the campus grounds. If all was quiet, I would know something was wrong and maybe find a clue toward the reason Austin was a ghost town. If zombies were wandering the land, I would know they had probably just been drawn there by some college students and be able to relax.
Relaying my idea to the group, we decided to swing by and check out the situation, so we followed the signs toward the University of Texas. We turned onto a street filled with vehicles and flurries of trash, passing a car garage that had lines of abandoned cars out to the street. I was reminded of Cincinnati, which felt so distant, despite only being a matter of weeks past.
An internal alarm screamed that our route was leading us into danger, so I waved for Jessica to hold up and observed the street ahead. The hair on my neck was at full attention, but I couldn’t identify the problem. Office buildings lined both sides of the street, most having glass exteriors with few exceptions. Several taller buildings jutted out along the skyline, giving me a moment of claustrophobia. One such building had a direct line of sight over the street we currently stood on, but I couldn’t see anything—
There. My eyes caught the glint of moonlight reflecting off of a scope on one of the middle floors and I threw myself against the rear bumper of a car, just as a bullet impacted the spot I had been in. The sound of the shot followed, an echo that bounced between buildings.
“Get down!” I called out, unsure of the sniper’s intention. I mean, obviously he tried to shoot me, but I didn’t know why.
I was about to move up when I heard multiple doors open down the street, loud footfalls running across pavement. Poking my head up, I was able to spot at least a dozen people before another round pinged off the roof of the car I was using for cover.
Needing to move, I motioned for Dave and Jessica to give suppressive fire. Watching my fingers count down, they opened fire in short bursts and I stayed low before diving behind a supply truck. As soon as they stopped shooting, though, bullets erupted from the other side and let us know how many guns we were up against.
“Move up!” I heard someone shout, before they covered their own movements with more gunfire to keep us pinned. Not wanting to expose myself yet, I patiently waited for an opening. Jessica and Dave were both trained for combat, so I didn’t have to worry about them becoming anxious.
I heard footsteps to the left of the truck, someone trying to flank around, so I shifted to my right and felt a sense of calm come over me as I holstered my Sig. As soon as the barrel of a rifle appeared in my vision, I reached out and grabbed for the weapon, je
rking it forward and elbowing the threat in the jaw.
The person grunted in pain, but I quickly swung them around to the back of the truck and slammed them against the steel, pinning my forearm against their throat. Taking a second to assess the situation, though, I paused.
“Marcus?” I felt my eyes narrow at the man locked beneath my arm, easing off a little. He coughed and his eyes went wide, clearly surprised. I was covered in mud and an unkempt beard, so I could understand being hard to recognize.
“Eric? You’re alive?” He patted my shoulder and I relaxed, letting my arm down, keeping an eye on the sides of the truck in case he had a buddy.
“Yeah, for now at least. What the hell is going on? Did you join the army?”
“What?” He raised his head in understanding and shook his head. “No, this is—” More gunfire, this time much closer, cut him off.
“Fill me in later. Right now, I need that rifle.” Marcus hesitated, but removed the sling from his neck and handed me the weapon, an AR-15. Staying low, I swung around the end of the truck and fired three rounds at the nearest movement. Given my latest goal, though, I let my shots go just to the right of my target, who jerked back into cover and yelled something incoherent.
“Contact rear!” someone called out further down, accompanied by a staccato of fire. I glanced around the truck and, while my target was still waging war with me, looked past him. A small horde of zombies had stumbled into the fray, undoubtedly drawn by the noise.
“Dammit!” an accented voice cursed. “Fall back! Two-by-two cover formation! Get everyone back inside!”
My target peeked over the trunk of his car at me and, when I didn’t pull the trigger, ran back toward the buildings. I tracked his movement, trying to identify the source of the man giving the orders, but stopped when I saw something. Crouched near a car, rifle resting calmly on the hood, a slim figure fired at the incoming zombies.
“Kat?” I muttered, slipping out from behind my truck. Faintly, I could hear Jessica and Dave calling my name, but I had to know it wasn’t another hallucination. “Kat!” I called out, trying to get the person to turn around, but she couldn’t hear me over the firefight.
Gunfire sounded behind me and I ducked instinctively, only to find Jessica three feet back.
“Eric, what the hell are you doing? We have to leave!” Part of me knew she was right, but I needed this. I shrugged her hand off and ran forward, almost reaching Katherine before something blind-sided me.
I slammed into the ground with a thud, but I was too close to let anything come between me and her now. The man landed on top of me, but I brought up my left knee and kicked out to create some space. He dodged to the side and caught my leg with his left arm, catching his fall on his right.
He quickly spun around, maintaining the hold on my leg and keeping out of my reach, but I grabbed the bumper of a car near my head and pulled. While it didn’t free me from his tight grip, the shift in momentum did pull him close enough to lash out with a kick to his stomach.
He dropped my leg at the last minute and brought his elbow down to block, letting me hit the ground and roll to my feet. We locked eyes and I was met with a steely gaze of death, anger and vengeance just beneath the surface of icy-blue eyes.
Circling each other for a moment, we both moved in at the same time, his right jab to gauge the distance and my right foot to get in close. I pressed my attack, slapping his extended hand aside and going for an uppercut. He wasn’t deterred, though, as he caught his weight on his left heel and dodged back. My follow-up hook was already in the air, which he narrowly jerked his head out of the path of before pushing my elbow further out and sending a fist into my exposed ribcage.
That shit hurt, but I shifted with the blow to bring my left heel around. The back-kick landed against his side, just below the ribs, and he took a step back. I came around in a defensive stance, my hands up and welcoming a second round as I looked my opponent in the eyes. I had knocked the wind out of him, but he seemed as determined as I was. In fact, he was smiling, which gave me pause.
Either way, though, we were interrupted by the sound of gunfire in close proximity, followed by a grenade blast. One of the cars down the street flipped over vertically, its trunk crashing down on the hood of another and sending glass in every direction. The “soldiers,” whether they were military or not, had come back outside to hold back the zombie tide while their leader fought with me.
Two of them ran in weaving lines across the street, then back, pouring out bottles of alcohol on the ground. My opponent lowered his arms and took a step back, allowing the two to come between us, but kept his eyes stayed locked with mine. After creating a half-circle around the doors, the men used a lighter to set the alcohol ablaze. The fire spread rapidly, creating a barrier between us as it burned through the street.
I thought about bringing up the rifle and shooting my opponent on the spot, as dishonorable as that would have been, but decided we would meet again. While I was having an internal debate on the merits of removing future problems, the first of the zombies walked into the flame, its clothes quickly catching on fire. No cries of pain, no screams erupted, the zombie didn’t even drop and roll. It just kept walking until it dropped, enveloped in a flame that would burn it to nothingness.
“Until we meet again,” my opponent said from across the flame, a slight bow as he stepped back toward the building. The woman I had seen stepped closer and pulled at his arm, urging him to hurry.
“Gabriel, we need to get off the street. All the gunfire has attracted some uninvited guests, and we don’t need any more trouble.”
I recognized the voice immediately, stepping dangerously close to the flames.
“Katherine!” I called out, and she turned. The fire shimmered in her eyes, illuminating a darkness that hadn’t been there before. Her expression was grim, but her face softened when she saw me.
“Eric?” Confused thoughts played across her face as she decided what to say, settling on, “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re alive, but now isn’t a good time. More zombies are on their way.” With that, her and…Gabriel, she had called him, went back inside with the rest of their group.
Jessica’s hand landed on my shoulder and pulled me out of my reverie, shocked at Kat’s all-business statement. Marcus was close behind, having not made it back inside before the flames spread.
“Eric! Let’s go! We’ll come back for her, I promise, but dying won’t get us any closer to accomplishing our goal.” When she sensed I wasn’t going to budge, she stepped in front of me and placed her hands on my face. “We’ll get her back, Eric. We didn’t come all this way for nothing, but right now we need to go to San Antonio and keep our promise to Dave.”
I stared at the fire, the scent of burning flesh permeating the air, and thought about jumping across the circle. Then I looked over at Dave, who wore an expression of frustration and sadness. I had my answer that Kat was alive, which would have to do for now, but he still had to suffer the agony of waiting. It took me a moment to accept, but eventually I nodded and we retreated back down the street.
Glancing over my shoulder, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be coming back for Katherine.
Chapter 94
Day 242
“What the hell was that back there?” I snapped at Marcus, who sat in the passenger seat beside me as we sped down a poorly lit access road. I had done a great job of staying quiet on our way out of Austin, collecting my thoughts as we searched for a vehicle to hotwire. After settling on a white pickup, mostly because I discovered a gas tank hidden in the truck bed, we weaved through the streets until making our way onto the south highway.
The traffic situation entering Austin was just as bad trying to leave, though, so I took the nearest off-ramp and weaved our truck on and off the highway. With a relatively uneventful drive ahead of us, hopefully, I decided to get some damn answers from the man next to me, while Jessica and Dave listened.
“You tell me, man! L
ast time I saw you, I thought it was for the last time. In fact, last time I saw you,” he glanced over his shoulder at Jessica, “you were going on a suicide mission to find him.”
“Well, since he’s not dead and neither am I, maybe it wasn’t such a ridiculous plan after all.” She was clearly ready to argue, but I cut it short.
“Look, I’m all for a good ass-whooping with words, but right now, I want some answers. So,” I waved my hand between them, “what happened after Jessica left the group?”
“We all assumed she would come back after she came to her senses, so we waited in a farmhouse. At first, only a handful of stragglers wandered past, but after a few days, it was like the zombies could sense us, because they started coming by in packs. Anyway, we took a vote and decided Jessica was either dead by then or she’d go straight to San Antonio, so we moved out.” He glanced over his shoulder and added, “No offense.”
“Who took lead without Jessica there? You?” Without Mills, Marcus made the most sense to lead the group.
“Actually, no. Katherine stepped up and made the decision to move. She made a lot of tough decisions, Eric, ones no one else wanted to make. I don’t know what you were expecting when you found her, but she had to be a lot harder without you around and it changed her.” I wanted to argue, but I knew who I’d really be trying to convince. The truth was, I didn’t know what had happened or what she’d been through. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
“Moving on, how did you end up as a commando for Captain Badass?” A thought hit me as I remembered something. “And why aren’t you more worried about leaving your wife and daughter behind?”
“I’m not worried, because Antoinette and Teresa are safe. Gabriel isn’t a bad guy, Eric. He sure as hell isn’t like Schafer.” Dave looked over at Marcus with a confused expression, but I didn’t have time to remind him. “I know it may seem that way from your short introduction, but put yourself in his shoes. Austin had been prey to waves of raiders when Gabriel was setting up his stronghold. For all he knew, you were just another group looking to steal supplies” He let me consider that for a moment before continuing. “As for how we met him, though? The shortest version is that we were on our way to San Antonio when we ran into some trouble. A group of people had claimed a city near Dallas, Rock-something—”
A Broken World (Book 2): Shattered Paradise Page 19