Broken World (18 page)
“Take a knife, Blondie.” Angus hands me
a six-inch hunting knife in a sheath.
“Thanks.” I remove my belt and loop it
through the holes in the sheath, so I don’t have to carry it. “So what’s the
plan?”
“Goin’ down the street to a parkin’
garage Winston knows of. We’ll locate us a vehicle, break in, siphon some gas,
and get the hell outta there.”
“How are we going to drive it with no
keys?”
“Don’t worry your sweet ‘lil ass. I know
how to hotwire me a car. Did some time in juvie back in the day for stealin’
cars,” Angus says.
“Are you serious?”
He gives me that monkey grin of his and
raises his chin. “Hell yeah I’m serious. My friends and me used to go for
joyrides in their parent’s cars on the weekends.”
Of course. I’m not sure why that would
surprise me, because it seems like something Angus would have done. “Are we
breaking a window to get in?”
“Yeah, only way. We’ll break the window
and then tape it back up, so’s the zombies can’t get in.”
I give him a smile of admiration. I was
right to stick with these guys. Angus isn’t stupid. “Damn, Angus.”
“Everybody ready?” Axl calls out.
“Ready,” I say.
The others nod or call out that they’re
ready too, and Axl opens the hotel door. “Keep the deadbolt on and don’t let
nobody in. Doc, if somebody fishy comes up you shoot first, ask questions
later. Got it?”
Joshua gives him a tense nod, then looks
at me. “Be careful.”
I take a deep breath and look around. My
gaze stops on Emily and that protective feeling from the bedroom comes back,
full-force. “I’ll be careful.” I give her a quick smile that doesn’t feel the
least bit real, then head out the door.
THE
REALITY OF THE SITUATION HITS ME when we reach the lobby. The stench of death
is so strong I have pull my shirt up over my nose. The maid’s rotting corpse
lays in the middle of the room. The stink is only going to get worse. The
sooner we get away from this hotel, the better.
I look toward the front door and freeze.
Bodies stumble around outside. Dozens of them. Some so close I could reach out
and touch them if I opened the door. Men, women, children. It’s unnerving.
“Shit,” Angus says. “There’s more of ‘em
than yesterday.”
“How are we getting to the parking
garage?” My voice is muffled from the fabric of my shirt. “We can’t go through
all these…things.” I still can’t bring myself to say the word, like saying it
will make it more real somehow.
“We’re going out the back.” Winston
turns away from the front door and leads us through the hotel. “Axl and I
checked it out this morning. The parking garage is just a block over and there
weren’t as many dead out this way.”
We go past a banquet hall and through an
employee area to get to the exit. My heart beats faster with each step. Are the
others as freaked out as I am? Everyone looks pretty anxious: weapons held
tight, bodies stiff and jaws tense. No one is taking this lightly.
We pause at the exit and Winston looks
us all over. “Try not to fire your guns. We don’t want to draw unnecessary
attention to ourselves.”
“What the hell are we supposed to use?”
I ask. “Harsh language?”
“That’s why I gave ya the knife,
Blondie,” Angus says, elbowing me.
I curse and stick the gun back in my
waistband, then pull out the knife. This means I’m going to have to get close
to these things. Someone should have mentioned that upstairs.
“Ready?” Winston asks.
I’m not, but I nod anyway. My neck is so
tight that my head barely moves. Winston slowly opens the door and steps out
into the alley, and I take a deep breath.
“You okay?” Axl asks.
“I’m fine,” I snap. I refuse to look at
him.
Don’t focus on Axl, stay alert.
Easier said than done.
I step out behind Angus with Axl and
Mike, who carries the empty gas can, taking the rear. It’s chilly, which is
pretty common for San Francisco, and the sky is overcast and gray. I glance
nervously up and down the alley as I follow the others. No bodies are in sight
at the moment, but I stay alert. I don’t want to let my guard down.
Winston stops at the end of the alley
and puts his hand up, signaling for us to halt. He peers around the corner,
then steps back. “They’re spread out, all over the street. Yesterday when we
were out they didn’t charge unless we made a noise to draw their attention, so
if we stay quiet we should be able to make it to the parking garage without
much trouble. Everyone good?”
I nod and the others must too, because
Winston dashes into the street. Angus follows him and I stay right on his
heels, holding the knife so tight my hand throbs. My eyes don’t rest for a
second as we move down the street. I glance from the road in front of me to the
bodies we run past, constantly on the lookout for trouble.
My throat convulses and the scent of
decay threatens to choke me. The dead are everywhere. Their gray skin hangs
loose, and they walk around aimlessly, staring at the ground. They don’t look
up when we run by. Even our heavy breathing and pounding footsteps don’t draw
their attention. It’s eerie and it makes me more jumpy than it would if they
were racing us, because I have no idea what to expect.
We go over a hill and the parking
garages comes into view. My heart races. Almost there. It’s only about twenty
feet away now, and so far the bodies have barely been an issue. We’re going to
make it.
Winston dodges a woman on the sidewalk
and jumps out into the street so he can step around her. Angus does the same,
but he steps off the sidewalk wrong and twists his ankle in the process.
“Shit,” he mutters.
It isn’t loud, but it’s loud enough for
the body of the woman they dodged to hear him. Her head snaps up just as I’m
passing her, and her milky eyes look right at me. Before I even have a chance
to react, she reaches out and grabs my arm. She moans. I bite down on my lip to
keep from screaming as I swing my knife at her. She yanks my arm. It pulls me
off balance and I stumble. The blade misses her head and my knife slices
through her throat instead.
Black goo oozes from the gash and slides
down the blade of my knife as I rip it from her throat. The stink makes my eyes
water. She moans louder, but I’m not sure if it’s because she’s in pain or if
she’s hungry for my blood. Whatever it is, it’s loud enough to get the
attention of a few of the other bodies around us. Two heads snap up, then three
more. It’s like a domino effect, and before I know it more of the dead have
turned my way. Too many to count while struggling for my life.
My pulse kicks up a few notches and I
scream as I struggle with the woman. The bodies are everywhere and we need to
get moving. But her grip is strong and her fingers dig into my skin. She
desperately tries to pull my arm toward her mouth. I’m trying to free myself
from her grasp when Axl runs up and jams his knife right into her eye socket.
Her hands go slack and she drops to the ground.
“You ‘kay?” Axl asks, grabbing my arm.
His eyes dart around, surveying the
area, and I do the same. Angus is limping, but he stabs an elderly man wearing
a hospital gown in the head. Winston has a similar battle going on, only his is
with a woman who had to weigh over three hundred pounds when she was alive. He
has to slam her in the head with a club several times before she goes down.
I nod at Axl and glance over my
shoulder. Mike is behind us. He stabs another body in the head, then runs
forward.
“Let’s get to the garage,” he says.
I run between Axl and Mike, with Angus
limping down the sidewalk in front of us. More bodies have noticed the
commotion and are coming to life around us. Moaning, walking or running toward
us with arms extended. Winston is in the lead. He bludgeons body after body in
the head with his club. He’s not holding back.
“Stairs!” he calls, charging into the
dark parking garage.
I pull my flashlight out of my back
pocket and flip it on as we run, following Angus and Winston up the stairs.
Angus hobbles as fast as he can, but he starts to fall behind.
“Help your brother.” I shove Axl away
from me and toward Angus, then turn to Mike. “Can they climb up stairs?”
“Yup, but we’re faster,” he says. “We’ll
get up a few floors and block the stairs.”
I nod and pick up the pace. I pass Axl,
who is now helping Angus, and charge ahead.
“Here!” Winston yells when we reach the
fourth floor.
Rounding the corner, I find him
struggling with a Coke machine. I jam my knife back in the sheath and help
Winston push the machine toward the stairs. The muscles in my arms ache as I
struggle to push it forward. I grit my teeth and shove as hard as I can,
screaming in exertion. I’m not sure how much help I’m being, but it slowly
begins to move. Then Mike comes over to help and it really gets going. We’re
almost to the top of the stairs when Angus and Axl make it up.
“The other one!” Winston calls.
I let the other two men struggle with
the machine that’s almost to the stairs and turn toward the other. Angus leans
against the wall to rest, while Axl rushes to help. We reach the second machine
at the same time. Axl’s face is red and sweaty before we start pushing. We work
together, but it’s slow moving. We’re only halfway there when Winston and Mike
come to help. Footsteps echo through the stairwell, getting closer by the
second.
“Got one!” Angus calls from behind.
I’m not sure if he’s talking about a car
or a body, but I don’t look. I focus on getting the machine to the stairs. It
only takes a few seconds once all four of us are pushing it, and before the
dead even get close we have the stairwell blocked.
“Little help,” Angus calls.
I’m out of breath and exhausted, but I
spin around anyway. Two bodies lurch toward him. Before I can even move, Winston
steps forward and slams them in the head with his club, one right after the
other. Black ooze sprays everywhere and the foul smell fills the parking
garage.
“Damn they stink.” Angus waves his hand
in front of his face. He nudges the nearest one with the toe of his boot. “Why
no blood?”
“Because their hearts aren’t beating
anymore.” Winston wipes his club on the dead man’s shirt. “You stop bleeding
when your heart stops pumping blood through your body.”
“Damn, Hollywood sure got it wrong,” Axl
says, shaking his head.
“Big surprise,” Mike mutters.
I step over the bodies and head toward
the cars, pulling my flashlight back out. “Let’s get on with this.”
It only takes us a couple minutes to
locate a few vehicles big enough. The parking garage is full.
“We got us a couple minivans and an
Explorer. What’d you think?” Angus asks Winston.
“Think we should take two, just in
case?” Winston looks through the window of the Explorer.
“Not a bad idea,” Axl says. “Be nice to
already have the space if there’s car trouble.”
“Okay then. We’ll take that there
minivan and this here Explorer.” Angus takes the club out of Winston’s hand and
slams it against the window of the van. It shatters with one blow. “Take care
of the Explorer while I get this one started,” he says, tossing the club back
to Winston.
Winston looks over toward Mike and me.
“Keep your eyes open, we’re making a lot of noise.”
I nod and pull out my knife, scanning
the garage. Moans come from the stairwell where the dead pound against the
vending machines. They’re shaking and rattling so hard that I start to really
worry they’ll get pushed over.
The glass shatters on the Explorer and I
let out a little yelp of surprise. Angus rolls his eyes, but I ignore it and go
back to scanning the garage. My heart pounds so hard in my ears that I can
hardly hear anything else.
Angus works fast. Within minutes the
engine roars to life. “This one’s almost full,” he says, hopping down. He
winces when he puts weight on the ankle and limps over to the Explorer.
“We got company,” Mike says to me.
Moans of the dead, much closer than the ones
coming from the stairs, make me spin around. Two bodies lumber toward us. I
inhale sharply, but the stink of death hits me so hard I regret it immediately.
My hand tightens on my knife and I follow Mike toward them. He takes the bigger
one, a man in a suit, and I take what used to be a teenage boy. The boy charges
more aggressively than most of the others we’ve come across, and I swing my
knife, catching him in the side of the head. The blade cuts through the bone
with a crack and slides deep into his brain. His body collapses, taking my
knife with him. When I yank it out I hold my breath so I don’t have to breathe
in the stink floating off the body.
“Nice shot.” Mike gives me a big grin.
“You’re pretty tough. What’d you do for a living before all this?”
“I was stripper.”
He throws back his head and laughs. “I
would’ve guessed Pilates instructor or something. Them chicks always seemed
tough and fit.”
I smile just as the second car roars to
life behind us. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Mike nods and we turn back to the cars.
“Explorer needs some gas,” Angus says.
Axl swears and runs his hand through his
hair. “Can it wait until we’re out of the city?”
“Doubt it. Got less than a quarter of a
tank.”
“Shit,” Axl mutters. “Well, let’s break
open a few more cars and see what we can siphon.” He turns to me and Mike. “You
okay taking watch?”
We nod and he takes off with Angus and
Winston to break into a few more cars. Mike and I follow the others, constantly
scanning the garage. Every sound makes me jump, and I have to wipe my palms on
my pants. They’re moist with sweat. The dead pound on the vending machines.
Their banging and moans echo through the garage. Otherwise, we don’t see a
thing.
“Doubt too many people died in a parking
garage,” Mike says.
“Probably not.” We keep our eyes open,
anyway. I’m on edge. Everything is still so surreal. My brain is having a
difficult time registering what’s happening. Bodies trying to eat us. It’s
nuts.
I need a distraction. Mike scratches his
beard. He’s a burly guy with an arm full of tattoos, a Harley Davidson shirt
and a leather jacket. “What about you? What’d you do before this virus hit?”
“Physical therapist.”
“For real?”
He grins and nods.
“I was going to guess tattoo artist or
truck driver.”
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,
girlie,” he says with a wink.
