“Come on—you can’t save him!” Noah shouted to Christy as he held out his right hand toward her.
“I’m not leaving him!” She shouted tears running down her face as she continued the assault on the monster.
That’s when I saw Brian pull the pin from a grenade and clasp it to his chest.
“We’ve got to go!” I shouted grabbing Noah and pulling him into the elevator as the doors closed.
The elevator started its ascent upward leaving all of us silent and lost for words as we stood blank and motionless; down below, Brian took hold of Christy’s hand with his free one and she held their infant daughter close—the monster had now devoured most of Brian’s left leg. The grenade exploded and destroyed the couple together, we all felt the shock from the explosion in the elevator as it sent several of us to the floor; I was a little worried that the explosion had snapped the cables and that we would plummet back down to join Brian and Christy but the elevator continued up.
“This is bad…now we’ve lost Brian and Christy…” Noah stated as he lightly banged his head against the wall of the elevator.
“There’s absolutely nothing that could have been done…” I answered in deep thought.
All we could do was wait until the elevator stopped and finally it did and we dreadfully waited as the doors opened, we found that we were outside now in a construction site a little ways away from the hospital.
“What are we going to do now?” Angie asked as I led the way out of the elevator.
“I don’t know baby…we should get back to our cars and get the hell out of here.” I answered as I took out a large Bowie Knife holding it out and ready hoping I wouldn’t have to use it.
“Our vehicles could be cut off and those zombies are everywhere!” Noah shouted as he took Christina’s hand and held her tightly to his chest.
“Look over there!” Jason shouted pointing off to the left straight across from where we were.
He pointed to a wrecked transcontinental bus that was up on the sidewalk across from the construction site crashed into a fire hydrant.
“That’s better than nothing—let’s check it out!” I shouted taking the lead as we all ran toward it.
The sounds of the undead were getting closer as we arrived outside of the door to the bus, I pried the door open and we all stepped up inside of the vehicle getting our first look at it—there were bodies of the dead inside—some sprawled out in the isles, the driver’s head was smashed into the windshield and the smell of decay was thick. I grabbed the driver’s body and with Noah’s help we tossed it out the door; everyone else worked on dragging the other dead bodies out—luckily none of them were zombies because we didn’t have any ammo among us at all. By the time the bus was all cleaned out the zombies could be seen coming for us in masses in all directions, I climbed into the driver’s seat and started trying to get it started; Angie sat down behind me with Remy and Mace in her arms while the others were in various places but none of them were too close to the windows or back of the bus. The zombies swarmed over sprinting and were trying to get in by pounding on the doors—I tried and tried but still the engine would not start.
“Come on you piece of shit!” I shouted pumping the gas pedal and pounding my fists against the steering wheel.
All of a sudden the engine started and everyone cheered, I put it into gear and sped out of there running down zombies as I went—the last one I hit before leaving the area made a large splotch of blood on the windshield that I had to use the windshield wipers to get off; by the time we finally made it out of Oklahoma City it was dark and starting to rain.
“Where are we going to go?” Noah asked as he came up beside me and knelt down.
“Well…maybe we should go someplace where those zombies haven’t been to yet…” I answered in deep thought as I focused on the dark highway ahead of us.
“Are you talking about Maine?” Angie asked as she put her left hand on my left shoulder.
“Yes. If we went there we could have a chance to restock our supplies and then head back to Oklahoma City.” I answered as I looked up into the cracked mirror to gaze at my comrades behind me.
“You mean that we are coming back here after all?” Jason asked in a disappointed tone of voice that plainly showed he didn’t like the idea at all.
“Yes, like it or not—but we still have a job to do when it comes to finding out where those damn things came from, we still have the mystery to uncover.” I answered in a stern voice as I glanced back at him for only a second in the mirror.
“Quick question—why the hell is this all of a sudden our responsibility?”
“Surely to goodness there’s still military, air force or someone out there that can deal with this situation!” Doug stated in a tone of denial.
“Wake up dude…look around you—the government is shot to shit—haven’t you learned anything at all since we’ve been traveling?” Noah answered with an angry expression.
“Yeah…but there’s got to be someone somewhere that can better assess this mess then us!” Doug retorted as he turned to Noah.
“Let it go Noah—I agree with you completely, but there’s just some people that are too fucking naïve and stupid to grasp the situation right in front of their faces.” I answered as I glanced back at them in the mirror.
“Are you calling me stupid, boy?” Doug asked turning toward my direction stepping a few paces toward the front.
“You better sit your fat-ass down before I have to stop this bus and make you!” I answered glaring at him in the mirror.
“Yeah—we might also decide to throw you out and make you fend for yourself since you’re so fucking arrogant!” Noah shouted as he got up and stood in Doug’s face.
“Both of you sit—there’s not going to be any mutiny here!” I shouted as I slowed the bus almost to a stop and glanced back at the two of them.
“He’s right—just settle down both of you—stay away from each other for a while until you feel like you can converse without the hostility!” My dad stated as he glanced at both Doug and Noah.
Finally the both of them settled down and sat at different ends of the bus away from each other; we traveled on through the night and by the next morning we were in the western part of Kentucky, I had driven for twelve straight hours and I was worn out so Noah took over driving while I snuggled up with Angie in the third seat back—she was holding Remy and Mace while we slept. Around noon that day it started raining hard and heavy, we were nearing the town of Mayfield and the undead could be seen everywhere; Angie and I were awake now and we were looking for a gun store where everyone could restock their ammo supply. We spotted a gun store on the corner of the street and Noah drove over and parked the bus beside of it, the zombies were starting to come our way now and a loud clap of thunder startled us. My dad, Doug and James grabbed some police barricades that were lying on the street and put them up on both ends of the bus to slow down the zombies while everyone got ammo from inside.
With Angie at my side, I led the way into the store—there were bodies here and there of cops as well as citizens who had been eaten, others who were missing their heads and the room was a mess; the windows on one side of the room had been shattered and there were maggots crawling on the floor.
“This air is making me sick…” Christina said coughing and choking.
Most of the ammunition had been picked over, but there were several cases of shotgun shells and .9mm handgun clips; I wasn’t finding anything for my M16 until I stumbled upon the corpse of a soldier that looked like they had been part of the National Guard—he was sprawled out on the floor face down and many parts of his body had been eaten away. I checked his pouches and gear and found an abundance of ammo for my assault rifle, I grabbed all the ammo I could and then I found some magnum bullets and gave them to Angie and reloaded my magnum as well. By the time everyone had reloaded their guns a
nd gotten backup rounds, the sounds coming from outside suggested that we should be going. That was when the windows on the north side of the room shattered and about thirty five zombies crawled inside into the room and started running toward us, Noah and the others opened fire as we all fled back to the bus; we were barely able to get everyone back into the bus before the zombies started pounding on the doors. I went to start the engine but nothing happened, I tried and tried to start the bus but then I saw that the fuel gauge pointed to empty.
“Shit!” I yelled as I slammed my fist into the steering wheel.
One of the windows shattered and a zombie’s arm reached in at Jason and Rachel—they cried out in terror and fled to another seat, Noah stuck his shotgun barrel out the busted window and fired blowing off several of the zombies’ heads.
“What the hell are we going to do now?” I asked in an aggravated tone.
“Someone is going to have to go out there and look for another vehicle that we can use!” James suggested as he and Alex stood gazing out the side windows not far from the back of the bus.
“Those zombies are everywhere out there!”
“Who’s going to be that bold?” Angie asked in a frantic tone.
“I’ll go.” Noah stated as he held his shotgun in one hand cocking it with a single gesture.
“So will I.” I answered as I checked my weapons and my knives at my waist.
“Baby…no!” Angie cried putting her arms around me.
“Sweetheart, I’ll be fine—I’m not going to let any of those bastards get near me; I promise I’ll be okay and I’ll return to you guys!” I said kissing her and stroking her hair gently.
Christina was also worried about Noah, but he assured her that he wasn’t going down either; I got my guns ready and my dad and Doug assisted Noah and I in climbing through the roof hatch to the bus and once we were up there, we walked along the top of the bus and climbed off onto the roof of the gun store. From there we ran across till we were on the other side, there was a ladder going down into the ally below, from what we could tell there weren’t any zombies down there—or so we thought; we had just about gotten down to the last rung when a mass of zombies appeared from out of the shadows and grabbed Noah’s boot—he struggled to shake them off and climb back up but one of them bit into the sole of his boot, lucky for him he was wearing leather combat boots and the zombie’s teeth were having trouble penetrating the thick material.
“Chaz!”
“Help me!” Noah shouted as he reached up to me with his free hand.
I put one leg through the rung I was holding onto for balance as I raised down and aimed my M16 at the zombies below and opened fire, my bullets tore through their heads and a good number of them dropped to the ground dead including the one that had Noah; afterward he was able to climb back up and we were back on the roof again.
“D-Damn…that was too close!” Noah stated breathing ragged breathes as he brushed the sides of his ears like they were hurting him.
“You okay?”
“That thing didn’t bite you did it?” I asked looking his leg over.
“No, luckily my boots are made of thick material or else that asshole would have sank its’ teeth into my foot—my ears are ringing from that gunfire being so close to me.” Noah answered as he took off his boot and checked his foot just to make sure he wasn’t lying to me as well as himself.
“Now what are we going to do?” I asked aloud as I gazed around at the entire area of the roof.
“Hey Chaz, do you think that we could jump to that building across the alley?” Noah asked as he put his boot back on and laced it up before he walked over to the edge of the roof and gazed across the stretch of empty space.
“I doubt it…that’s at least ten feet and to do that we’d have to have at least grappling hooks in case we slipped…I don’t think it’s possible.” I answered grimly.
“Well, we can’t just sit here waiting for something to happen, we have to find another car so we can get the hell out of here!” Noah stated as he glanced back at the opposite building.
“I know—I know, let’s give it a shot; but if we fall—we’re screwed.” I answered in a skeptical tone.
I carefully scaled the jump and went back about ten feet then gave it the best speed I had, I ran and leapt from the edge of the building and just about fell but I managed to grab hold of the edge of the next building and pull myself up to safety; Noah went next and after a running jump he just about made it completely across but missed and fell a short distance down but he managed to grab a metal rod that was sticking out of the edge of the building. With all of my strength I was able to pull him up and we both caught our breath, we were suddenly alerted by Angie’s voice—looking over we seen that she along with everyone else were up on the roof of the building we had just jumped from.
“Baby—what are you doing?” I called out to her as I ran to the edge of the roof of the building we were now on.
“The bus isn’t safe anymore—several zombies broke into the back and we all climbed up here to get away from them!” She called back at the top of her lungs.
“Is everyone alright?” Noah yelled with concern in his voice.
“Yeah, we were all able to climb up before the zombies got to us.” Angie answered as she gave me a secret look that told me she was glad she could see me again.
“Baby…I’m glad you’re alright, but how are we going to get you guys across this gap?” I called as I cupped my hands to the sides of my mouth.
“Wait a second…I believe I can help you.” A voice answered from somewhere behind Noah and I.
Turning we seen a lone figure in the shadows, whoever it was came into view and I recognized them as my attractive female friend I had known for a while over the internet—her name was Jennifer Anderson; she was covered with scratches and part of her shirt was torn—her long red hair was dirty and disheveled and she held what looked like a AK-74 Assault Rifle in her small arms.
“Who’s that?” Noah asked raising his right eyebrow.
“My name is Jennifer Anderson…Chaz and I know each other, we’re Internet friends.” She answered glancing at me briefly with a warm smile.
“Yeah…but what are you doing here?” I asked looking at her cuts and scratches with concern.
“I fled from Lockhart, Texas, my family members were…killed by those zombie things…and I thought I’d travel east, but I never imagined that I’d find anyone else around—let alone you, Chaz.” Jennifer answered as she took the curved ammo clip out of her AK-74 and turned it around reinserting it into her weapon.
“Nice gun—where’d you find that?” Noah asked as he stared at her weapon.
“It was my brothers…funny thing is that he had just bought this through a mail order a few days before everything went to shit and he was killed.” Jennifer answered with a melancholy look as she gently patted her rifle.
“I’m sorry to hear that—those are some bad cuts and scratches…you didn’t get bitten or scratched by those things…did you?” I asked with concern and worry.
“No—these cuts are from the razor wire fence that I had to climb over back near Fort Worth; I had a pack of zombies on my ass and the only way to get away from them was to get cut up by the fence.” Jennifer answered as she wiped away the blood from the worst wound that was on her chest just about on the nipple of her right breast.
I could tell that she was looking me over and I myself had a hard time not roaming her slender form with my eyes and she could obviously tell because she was blushing.
“Well…how can you help us?”
“We’re in the middle of trying to find another vehicle so we can all get the hell out of here; we just finished gathering ammo from the store below but the zombies infiltrated our bus and now we’re going to all have to stick together until we can find a way to get the hell away from here.” I explain
ed as I glanced over at Angie and the others who were still waiting for us to get them across.
“I see, I can see of how the others would have a problem getting across—especially the women with babies…”
“I have this rope and I was thinking, you guys see that flag pole up there that’s kind of tilting that way?” Jennifer asked pointing up.
“Yeah, we see it—what about it?” Noah said in a skeptical tone.
“I should be able to use this rope’s grappling hook and hook onto that pole and then your friends can swing across to safety.” Jennifer finished as she explained in a technical fashion.
“The rope has a grappling hook?” Noah asked with a shocked tone.
“Umm…yeah.” Jennifer answered as she showed it to him.
“Oh—well, no problems then.” He answered afterward.
She threw the rope up and after a few tries and almost losing the rope altogether, she managed to latch onto the top of the pole that was sticking out of the upper levels of the roof of the building we were on—Angie with our daughters managed to swing across first and we hugged and kissed when she arrived; next came Christina with baby Jude, then my family members came across along with what was left of the Carroll family and after everyone else had finally crossed Jennifer retrieved her rope and everyone was introduced to each other. Luckily the building we were on had a stairwell going down into the building and we used that to get back down, it appeared to be some sort of bank because there were dead bank tellers here and there as well as customers who had money in their hands and scattered all around them; Noah and Doug started grabbing money and I joined in as well as Angie and Jennifer getting money out of the cash drawers.
“Shouldn’t we just go?” My dad asked with sort of a mortified look on his face.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 9