Dead & Alive (Book 2): Sacrifice (9 page)

BURN

The street was spilt by zombies reaching up at the hanging victims; the flesh was being torn from victims. A hanging body had most of its head eaten, the skull was clearly visible as the zombie below munched on a chunk of flesh still covered in blood soaked blond hair. The group of zombies turned their attention to a noise rumbling past them, they groaned and began to move towards the noise.

A white truck covered in pictures of ice cream and lollypops drove along the street, attracting the attention of the dead on both sides.

“So this is the brilliant plan,” Alice observed, while Jack sat in the back getting things ready.

Hearing her question, he simply laughed, “OK, now let’s get this moving,” he spoke to himself.

Moving to the front, he switched on the music that was once used to attract the kids, and now it was being used to attract the decaying corpses of the walking dead to follow them. The music was like a bad recording of ringing bells, the crackling from the speakers on any normal occasion would be embarrassing, but for this, it was perfect. The jingle echoed through the packed zombie streets, Alive drove slowly resisting the urge to put her foot down and drive away from them.

The color from her face drained as she looked into the side mirror and seeing they were now being followed. Looking ahead, she could see the entrance of the Multi Story car park, the burning oil barrels lit it up. Taking a big gulp, she spoke out, “This is either Brilliant or insane.”

“Amazing how often they go hand in hand,” Jack simply replied.

“Keep the headlights off, and stay slow until I tell you,” he also told her.

The fear in her face was now apparent, looking at her, he knew he needed to calm her down, “So your husband, what is his name?” he asked.

She gave him a puzzled glance, “What, you really think this is the time,” she snapped.

“Why not,” he joked in reply.

Before she could respond shouting could be heard ahead of them, the men guarding the entrance had noticed the truck and the zombies following them.

“OK, NOW!” Jack shouted, indicating for her to put her foot down and speed through the entrance, stopping for nothing. Hitting a burning barrel on the way through, it was sent flying through the air, gunshot suddenly could be heard. Several pierced the windscreen, Jack pulled Alice down to the floor. They were not inside and placed his hand on the accelerator, while with his spare arm covering Alice. Speeding through the ground level car park, they crashed hard into parked vehicles. Jack smashed his head against the dashboard, reopening the cut on his head; Alice looked to him as blood dripped down the side of his face.

Quickly moving to the back of the truck, “Stay in here until I say otherwise, OK,” he told her.

He took out the matches from his pocket and set light to two of the glass bottles filled with the fuel; he kicked the back doors open and jumped out. Shouting surrounded him, Zombies started to roam in from the outside, a large man with a long sharpened blade ran for him. Jack stepped forward throwing the glass bottle at the man, hitting him in the chest flames engulfed the man. His screams were a harrowing noise; Jack pulled his rifle around from his back and wasted no time. Dropping to a knee, he started shooting at the approaching people.

With his ammo, low Jack always knew this would end up being a fight by hand, with the ammo clip emptying. As shots were fired in his direction, he rolled to the ground, making him a hard target to hit, several men ran at him. Jack got to his feet, turning his gun and using it as a bat, hitting the man with a long beard directly it the jaw so hard, several broken teeth hit the ground.

A baseball bat swung at him, Jack allowed it to hit his thigh, locking his arm over it, he kicked out at the enemy, gaining control of the bat, Jack smashed against the man’s knee, a cracking noise could be heard followed by a scream. Someone grabbed him from behind, a female voice spoke as she held a knife to his neck, “Time to die fucker,” she told him. Jack launched his head back, grabbed her hand that gripped the knife. He turned and shoved the blade into her throat, he watched as the fat woman choked on her own blood and fell to her knees. Jack wiped away the blood that sprayed him.

Alice still lay on the floor of the truck covering her head. Jack looked around and most of the people were now concentrating on the swarm of zombies entering. “Alice, come on,” Jack shouted to her.

Nervous to move, she froze until Jack grabbed her hand, “We have to move,” he told her again.

Getting out of the truck, they were confronted by the dead, “Round there, go,” Jack pointed to the side of the truck. Alice rushed past, as Jack pulled his machete and started swinging; looking back Alice watched Jack fight the dead.

She could not help but be impressed by him, he was like a machine. She knew he was exhausted, hungry and hurt, but he just kept going. She watched as he took the head of a zombie with one swing, Alice could not believe his strength. He wasted no time in taking down the dead, he rushed to Alice, “OK, where are your husband and the others being kept?” he asked in a rush. She hesitated for a moment, while she looked around. “They are in large trucks, but no here, they must be on the next level,” She told him.

“Shit,” Jack uttered as he looked around the dead were now overpowering and many of them now obstructed their path. He looked towards the entrance of the stairs, getting passed the zombies were one thing, but how many more living enemies were up there. He sighed, “OK, no matter what you stay with me, I move you move,” he instructed her. Not giving her chance to respond, Jack rushed towards the door. Weaving in and out of the zombies, he tried to resist getting involved in a fight that would slow him down. Suddenly a man appeared in front of him, Alice gave out a shocked scream, as she looked at his half eaten face. He was still alive, it would have been easy for Jack to end his suffering, but the evil these people had committed he refused to give it. He punched the man in the chest, making him fall back into the path of the dead who quickly sank their teeth into him, tearing the flesh from his still living body.

Showing no emotion, Jack gripped her hand and carried on rushing for the closed door. A zombie grabbed at Alice, pulling her back, with the knife Jack gave her; she quickly launched the blade up through the zombie’s jaw and pushed hard into its brain. The Zombie fell back.

She quickly rushed to Jack’s side again and they made it to the door. It was locked, “Shit,” Alice spoke out.  Jack simply kicked the door through, the hinges snapped off the wall. As they walked in, they were met by repeated gunfire down the stair towards them. They stood against the elevator doors, as it was the only place of cover from the flying bullets.

Bullets smashed into the concrete wall, sending small bits of stone flying around, a small bit of debris hit Alice in the face. A small cut appeared, wiping her face; she asked Jack, “What now?”

“Stay here,” he told her.

She looked in shock as Jack pulled his sidearm and dashed for the stairs, quickly shooting and hitting a man in the neck, he fell forward towards Jack. Grabbing him, he used him as a shield against the other shooter, as bullets tore into the man’s back, Jack threw the body against the shooter. The man fell back hitting his head against the stars, before he could move Jack appeared and instead of wasting a bullet stamped on the man’s neck, snapping his head from his body like a piece of wood being broken.

Keeping his gun held high, he called out to Alice, “Come on, quickly.”

She stepped carefully to join him, the bodies of the two men lay on the ground, Jack was grabbing their guns, but threw them down when he realized there was barely a few bullets left.  Jack slowly walked to the next level, the door was shut, the groaning of the zombie below echoed throughout the car park. He knew they would be making their way up, “Do you know where the prisoners are being held?” he asked her.

Nodding her head, “On this level,” she quickly replied.

“Stay behind me,” he told her as he opened the door.

Moving slowly, he was surprised by how quiet it was, the burning oil drums made the only noise of wood cracking in the heat. The place was deserted; he could hear gunfire coming from the driveway, which led down below. He knew everyone down there would be too busy fighting the dead, this gave time to find the prisoners. Alice started to tap Jack on the shoulder in a panic, he turned to see a big tattooed woman standing there, she held a long blade in her hands. Jack pushed Alice behind him to protect her, nothing was said, the woman tapped the blade against her hand trying to intimidate him. Jack gave out a sarcastic laugh; he held his gun up and shook it at her. Her expression changed, her eyes looked side to side and without warning, she dropped the blade and ran away.

Shaking his head in disbelief, “They don’t make them like they used to,” he joked.

“THERE!” Alice shouted out, as she ran towards a large truck.

Quickly following, he grabbed her arm, “Wait,” he told her sternly.

She was in a hurry to open the doors, but Jack was more cautious. He looked around the truck, nothing stood out as a trap, “OK,” he uttered.

Opening the lock, he pushed the door up, scuffling noises could be heard in the back. The back of the truck was pitch black; he knew there was people inside but understood how scared they must be. He turned to Alice, “Call out for your husband,” he told her.

She moved towards the rear of the truck, “Zack, it’s me Alice,” she spoke out gently.

From the darkness a male figure appeared, he was dirty, bruised and bloodied. He held his hand in front of his eye, the small amount of light shining through the door hurt his eyes. He stumbled forward looking for the female voice he recognized, “Alice, please god be you,” he spoke out.

A tearful and emotional Alice, screamed out, “It’s me, I’m here,” as she cried.

Zack rushed out of the truck and into her arms, he held her so tight she could barely breathe but she did not care. They stood holding each other as Jack coughed to get their attention, “We need to get you all out of here,” he told them.

Zack looked strangely at Jack, “It’s OK, he is a friend,” she told him.

Shouting back into the truck, “It’s OK come on,” Zack attracted the others.

As they disembarked the truck, Jack was shocked and appalled at seeing there was over twenty people inside, men, women and children. He looked around the group looking for Frank, but there was no sign of him, he turned his attention back to Zack.

“Hey, I’m looking for a man called Frank, dressed in similar clothes to me. Have you seen him?” he asked, concerned he was already dead.

Jack showed is anger as he punched the truck, he looked around again, hoping to find another truck sitting amongst the rubbish those evil bastards had accumulated.

“Wait!” Zack shouted to Jack, “They took a Zarina from here earlier and I overheard her being told she was needed for something important. If your guy is important to them, they wouldn’t put him in here with us,” he finished telling him.

“So he could be here,” he quickly responded to himself.

Looking around Jack spoke out, “OK, grab whatever you can use for weapons and get the hell out of here, Alice will show you the way.”

“We’re not leaving you,” Alice replied.

“Yeah, we can help you,” Zack added.

“Look around, you need to get these people out of here,” Jack replied, indicating the other prisoners who all looked scared and beaten down.

Alice approached Jack, “You saved me, you have helped them. Now you need help,” she told him.

He took her hand in his, “You got to go, you have to get these people out. Wait for me outside and then we can all put this nightmare behind us,” he told her gently.

“You can’t do this alone,” she responded with a little emotion in her voice.

He smiled, “Come on, you’ve seen me, do you really think I am going to let this lot win,” he replied.

Before she could say anything else he called to Zack, “Get them out,” he told him.

Zack took her hand, he gave a smile of gratitude to Jack and he pulled her away. Jack watched as they all disappeared from sight. He stood quiet for a moment, closing his eyes taking deep breaths knowing things were about to get crazy. Opening his eyes, he muttered, “Let’s do this.”

He walked around the truck, passing a large metal container. He suddenly stopped and looked back at the container; he took notice of a sign on the side indicating flammable liquid. Jack gave a half smile as he approached it; he tried to lift the container and was happy to find it was full. He carried it over to the truck, he crouched underneath to puncture the fuel tank, fuel spilled all over the ground. He opened the lid of the metal container and started pouring fuel all around the ground, as he was finished someone crept up on him.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg; he fell to the ground in pain. Blood gushed from an open wound; a slice had been taken from his leg. He looked up to see a woman with a broken nose looking at him with a cheesy smile.

“Bet that hurts like a bitch,” Alina smugly told him.

He attempted to stand back up and ignore the pain, Alina rushed at him, kicking him directly in the face; Jack slumped down another cut opened up across the top of his eye. His vision blurred, then she kicked him again, this time against the large gash on his leg.