Eventually, sleep did come for me, but when I woke the next morning, my mind was fuzzy with the remnants of a dream. Every time I reached to remember the details, it slipped away. The weight of it dragged me down, almost pinning me to the bed. Even turning over was an effort. I wanted nothing more than to lie there and let the world fall apart without me.
I waited in bed until Alex came to wake me. When he hammered on the door, I feigned bleariness and told him I’d be down shortly.
Ten minutes later, I walked downstairs. Mike and Alex were already outside, checking the quad bikes. Lucy was in the kitchen. Four small piles of supplies, food and water for the trip, lay on the table. I wondered if she’d been the one to prepare the meals and, if so, whether I should check mine for poison. The thought she might be plotting to kill me brought Charles to mind again. What if he’d been right?
Lucy barely acknowledged me. She loaded three of the piles into backpacks. Mine she left on the table.
As she walked out of the room, I said, “Lucy, I really am sorry about Charles.”
She stopped in the doorway, her back to me. “I know.” For a moment I thought I’d found a crack, an opening I could use to repair at least some of the damage. Then she said, “I just don’t care.” She walked out, not waiting for my reply.
I grabbed my backpack and dropped the supplies into it. Truth be told, I didn’t care what Lucy thought of me. Not on a personal level. My interest in building bridges between us came from a desire to ease her suspicion. Her anger would make her alert. She’d be looking for me to make another mistake. I couldn’t afford to let my mask slip again.
I ate a breakfast of protein bars then hung around in the kitchen, fiddling with my pack until I heard the quad bikes start up.
Outside, Mike and Lucy were checking the bikes’ storage racks. They’d tied rope around them and were strapping the backpacks in place. I handed mine to Mike. Lucy slipped the green medical kit inside hers and lifted it onto the rack. Alex was leaning against the lodge, looking pensive.
Mike had two pistols. He gave one to Lucy and kept the other for himself. I averted my eyes, pretending I hadn’t noticed he didn’t offer me a weapon.
Lucy checked her pack was secure one last time and climbed onto the bike. “Come on, Alex, you’re riding with me.”
I waited for Mike to finish checking his bike and climb on before I joined him. The topic of who should drive never came up. My only concern was that he’d want to pick up our conversation on the way to the store, but as we rolled out of the camp along the rutted track that would take us to the highway, it was obvious the engines would drown out any attempt at conversation.
Mike led the way, keeping our speed high. The trees flew by as the bike bumped and bounced over the dips and ruts in the trail. More than once, I almost lost my grip. It wasn’t a great leap of the imagination to picture me falling off the seat and Lucy accelerating her bike over my head, splitting it like a zombie’s skull and solving the problem of what to do with the killer in their midst once and for all. It only took half an hour to get to the highway, but by the time we did, my hands ached from gripping on so tight.
We passed a dozen or so zombies on the highway—just pockets of one or two, no swarms. As Mike had predicted, we were past them before they’d had a chance to register our existence. A couple did try to chase us. They were quicker and more coordinated than the others, but even then, there was no way they could catch us.
An hour or so later we reached Sally’s Home Comforts. As we crested a hill and the remains of the gas station came into sight, Mike held up his hand and pulled over to the side of the road. Lucy stopped beside him, and they turned off their engines.
Mike pointed down toward the store. “I see two.”
He was right. There was a pair of zombies standing stock still a few feet away from the entrance. I wondered if it might be the couple I’d found hanging inside, but they were both businessmen by the look of their suits. They seemed to be the only zombies in the vicinity, and they hadn’t seen us.
“Now what?” Lucy said.
“You three stay here. I’ll go ahead on foot and take care of them. When I give the all clear, bring the quad bikes down. Park them outside the store, close to the door.”
Lucy nodded.
“Marcus,” Mike said. “You’ll need to drive this bike.”
Alex tutted, but Lucy’s elbow shut him up.
“No problem,” I said.
Mike got off the bike and checked his gun and knife. When Lucy saw him keep the knife out and put the gun away, she frowned. He crouched low and ran across the road, staying close to the trees as he made his way down the hill. My heart quickened as he approached the gas station. I clenched my fists, and the palms were slick with sweat, although I couldn’t tell you whose safety I was most concerned for—his or the zombies’.
We watched the zombies standing outside the store, searching for a sign that they’d seen Mike. They were almost motionless, just rocking slightly as though they were trees swaying in a breeze.
When Mike reached the gas station, he slowed down. After pausing for a couple of minutes at the edge of the blackened forecourt, he ran to the side of the building, glancing left and right as he crossed the open space. The zombies still hadn’t seen him, and nothing had come lumbering out of the shadows.
They were standing next to each other, about ten feet from the entrance to the store, looking out across the road. Mike would need to go around the back of the building if he wanted to get to them without being seen. Still crouched, he crept along the side of the gas station and out of sight.
A couple of minutes later, he came sprinting out from behind the station. The knife flashed in his hand as he ran. He made it to within twenty feet of the zombies before they heard him. As one, they turned around and lurched forward. I caught sight of movement from the corner of the store, and another zombie appeared, heading straight toward Mike.
“Crap,” Lucy said and flicked the ignition on her bike. The engine whined and spat then died.
Mike collided with the first zombie, driving him backward into the second. The three of them hit the ground in a tangle of limbs. Mike rolled sideways, slashing the knife upward as he moved. It flashed through the air, slicing through one of the business-zombie’s arms. He ignored the wound and caught hold of Mike’s leg.
Lucy’s engine stuttered again, quieter this time, and she let out a groan of frustration.
Mike kicked, slamming the heel of his boot into the zombie’s face. His head snapped back, but he kept hold of Mike’s ankle. The second zombie had recovered enough to stagger back to his feet, and he took a handful of steps toward Mike.
I didn’t react immediately. Part of me, the part the shadow had the most influence over, wanted to wait and watch.
I heard a faint voice. It took me a few seconds to realize it was Lucy shouting at me. “Marcus! Help him!”
Her words broke the shadow’s grip. I slid forward on the quad bike and turned the ignition. The engine roared to life. Without thinking, I pressed the accelerator with my thumb. The engine growled, and the bike leaped forward, threatening to leave me behind. It veered dangerously toward the side of the road, kicking dirt and dust into the air.
I yanked on the handlebars. The bike skewed sideways and almost pitched me onto the asphalt before I realized I should ease up on the accelerator. The bike slowed quickly, even without me applying the brake. It was enough for me to get it straightened up and pointing roughly down the road. This time, I pressed the accelerator lever more slowly, and the quad bike steadily increased its speed.
Mike was still wrestling with the zombie businessmen. He kicked one again. His boot jarred the zombie’s head sideways, snapping his neck. It hung at an unnatural angle, but the zombie still had his hand firmly clasped around Mike.
The second zombie was a couple of feet away. Mike changed his approach. He slammed the heel of his boot down onto the wrist of the creature holding him then twisted h
is foot sideways. The zombie loosened his grip.
Mike scrambled away from the first zombie as the second pitched forward, his hands grasping for Mike’s throat. He missed but caught the back of his jacket. Mike twisted, yanking himself free of the zombie’s grip.
Lucy’s bike finally burst into life and accelerated down the road. Mine skipped over a bump and slid sideways. Instinctively, I eased off the accelerator until it straightened up.
Mike was on his feet, and the zombies were advancing toward him. Behind him, the third zombie was closing in. My quad bike bounced off the road and onto the concrete apron around the gas station.
I shouted at Mike, but the zombies were keeping him busy. Lucy had left Alex at the top of the hill and was racing toward the store, but she was still at least twenty seconds away.
I considered my options. I could still let Mike die and claim I was just too late. Lucy would blame me anyway. She’d see through me no matter what I said, and she’d be angry. Probably angry enough to try to kill me. And if Mike somehow managed to fight off the zombies, I’d be making my situation worse by holding back. I needed to stick to the plan and help them so that they could leave. I accelerated toward the third zombie, scattering gravel as I went.
Both of the businessmen were back on their feet and advancing toward Mike. He swung his knife, slashing at the nearest one. The blade caught the zombie’s neck. It opened up a deep gash but did little to slow him down. With his head lolling to one side on his broken neck, the other zombie lunged. Mike sidestepped the attack then charged.
The third zombie loomed up in front of me. I ducked, jerking left just as I reached him. The front right corner of the quad bike hit him. The impact tore his leg apart. He was spun around, scattering flecks of blood and bone across the ground as he fell.
I pulled on the brakes, and the bike slid to a halt in a cloud of gray dust and gravel. The engine coughed and died. I half climbed, half fell off the bike. As I scrambled back to my feet, I grabbed the knife from my belt. I took four long paces and slammed the blade into the zombie’s skull before he could recover from the collision.
Mike had killed the businessman with the broken neck. He lay on the ground, Mike’s knife sticking out of his skull. A pool of thick black blood lay congealing around his head. But the other zombie was still upright. He had fresh slashes across his face and neck and a puncture wound in his shoulder, but he was still advancing toward Mike.
I called to Mike and, as he turned, lobbed my knife toward him. It fell short, bouncing across the gravel and stopping a couple of feet away from him. He waited until the zombie lunged then, in one fluid movement, ducked and scooped up the knife.
He turned on the zombie, leaping toward him and driving the knife into the back of his skull. The zombie pitched forward, landing face-first on the gravel.
Mike staggered backward. He was breathing heavily, and his face was spattered with black blood, but otherwise, he seemed unharmed.
Lucy leaped off her quad bike as it slid to a stop and ran to Mike. She grabbed his shoulders, her eyes sweeping over him, searching for bites.
“I’m fine,” Mike said. He’d tried to force some lightness into his voice, but the words came out uneven, afraid.
Lucy turned Mike around and inspected the rest of him then wrapped her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug. She buried her face into his neck and made a strangled sobbing sound.
Alex was almost down the hill. I waved at him to show we were okay then realized I wasn’t sure we were. I moved away from the store, circling around until I could see the far side of the building, where the third zombie had come from.
The car I’d seen on my first visit was still there, and I could see shapes moving around inside, but the doors were closed. There was no sign of any other zombies.
When I rejoined Lucy and Mike, they’d untangled themselves from each other and were moving among the corpses, driving their knives into their skulls to make sure they were dead.
“Any more?” Lucy said.
“No. It looks clear.”
Alex trotted the last few feet across the forecourt. He was supporting his injured hand. “Everyone okay?”
“We’re all fine,” Lucy said, but her eyes were full of anger. She’d seen me hesitate when Mike was attacked.
Mike put a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks.”
“Just doing my part.”
He nodded, but his eyes lingered on me for a moment as though he was trying to get a handle on my behavior. Then he brushed some dust off his jeans. “Okay, let’s be as quick as we can. Alex, see if you can find some more gas for the bikes. The three of us will go inside the store.”
Lucy gave us each a pack. “Be careful. We don’t know how many more of those things there are.”
“Marcus,” Mike said. “Where are the supplies?”
“In the left-hand side of the building. The right is just a restaurant. All the food in the kitchen is rotten.”
“Any other rooms?”
“Yes, there’s a living room, bathroom, and bedroom at the back.”
“Anyone in there?” Lucy said.
“An old couple. Suicides. I didn’t see anything worth taking.”
“Okay, we’ll hit the left side and leave the rest. There’s no point spending more time here than we have to. Alex, meet us back here in ten minutes. Any problems, you run. Okay?”
Alex nodded and set off toward the remains of the gas station.
Mike led Lucy and me to the building, motioning for us to wait outside while he checked the entrance. As soon as he was through the door, Lucy followed him inside. I hovered outside for a few seconds, unsure of what to do, then went after them.
Inside, Mike was glaring at Lucy. When he saw me, he raised his eyebrows. I shrugged. Shaking his head, he pointed toward the left-hand side of the building. “Slowly.”
We moved into the store, spreading out along the window so that, between us, we were covering the whole room. Everything seemed as I’d left it. Mike checked behind the counter. “All clear. Okay, stick to packets wherever possible then move on to cans. Try to get food with lots of protein. It’ll keep us feeling satisfied for longer. If it tastes okay cold, even better.”
We opened our backpacks and began moving through the store. My aisle had a lot of laundry detergent, magazines and tourist knickknacks, but there were half a dozen boxes of soup, some dried pasta, and a small stack of canned potatoes. I threw them into my backpack, forgetting to check the protein levels first. Even with the cans, my pack was only about a third full, so I moved on to the next aisle, the one Lucy was looting.
This one was more lucrative, and Lucy was only halfway down it. I grabbed anything that looked reasonably nutritious and put it into my pack. Lucy was being more methodical, checking ingredients as she went.
I met her at the halfway point. My pack was almost full, so I added a couple of cans of chili and went to put my haul by the bike.
I’d barely stepped outside when I heard Alex shouting. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and it took me a couple of seconds to spot him. He was running across the apron of the gas station, arms waving. He pointed down the road, farther past the store. I turned and immediately wished he’d stop screaming.
A swarm of zombies was making their way up the hill toward us.
Chapter 31
The Swarm
The zombies had seen us. They’d veered in the direction of the store—dozens of them lumbering up the slope. Three of them were out front. They were moving quickly, almost running up the hill and leaving the bulk of the swarm behind.
I leaned back inside the store and called out. “Mike, Lucy, you’d better get out here! Quick!”
A few seconds later, Lucy appeared at my shoulder. “Crap. Mike, there’s dozens of them.”
Mike took in the swarm then waved at Alex, directing him toward the quad bikes.
“Come on,” he said, “we need to get out of here.”
Mike reached the bikes fi
rst. He dropped his backpack onto the rack and leaped onto the seat. I added my pack to his and wrapped the rope around them. He twisted the ignition key, and the engine kicked into life. Shouting at me to get on, he revved the engine twice.
There were at least fifty zombies in the swarm, and it was still growing as even more shambled into view. The air was filled with a persistent drone—the voices of the dead. The cluster of fast-moving zombies had grown to six now. They were less than forty feet away from Lucy’s bike, and she was still strapping her backpack into place.
Alex grabbed her arm and pointed at the swarm. “Lucy, we have to go.”
Lucy looked up, saw how close the zombies were, and swore. She wound the rope around the metal rack one more time then climbed onto the bike and twisted the ignition.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, turning the key so hard I thought it might snap. The engine gave a halfhearted whine then fell silent.
Alex climbed on the back of the bike, running his hands through his hair. “Come on, Lucy, they’re getting close.”
“I know!”
She tried the key again.
When the engine didn’t respond, she looked up at Mike. “You go. Come back for us when they’ve gone.”
Mike looked past me to the oncoming crowd of zombies. He shook his head. “No, we all go, or we all stay.” He killed the engine and climbed off the bike. “Come on! Get inside.”
He ushered us into the building as the first zombies reached the bikes. I could smell them—a wave of rancid air that swept before them and caught in my throat.
Mike swung the door shut. “Find something to block it.”
Alex and I dragged a couple of chairs from the restaurant and wedged them under the door handle. The zombies lurched toward the building, ignoring the bikes and our supplies.
“I hope you’ve got a plan,” I said, “because this door won’t hold them for long.”
“Alex, secure the restaurant. There’s probably other entrances; make sure they’re closed. Lucy, check the store. Marcus, stay here in case they start breaking through. I’ll take the back room.”
Serial Killer Z: Volume One Page 22