Dead Life (Book 4) (5 page)

              “What should we do?”

              “I guess we wait. I'll watch for Rick. You watch the horde and keep an eye on your dad's motel. Keep me posted. I'm not taking my eye off of where Rick was.”

              “Is that a dig?”

              “No, I'm just worried about him. All the zombies are headed that way. Hopefully they stay up by the highway.”

              We watched and waited. I didn't see any movement from Rick and Gina didn't see anything from the motel. The only thing that was happening was that the zombies were moving in mass. The only zombies left were the ones that were closest to the motel. Once Al and Cindy got back with Rick we would have to find a way to deal with the few hundred that were left. Finally I saw the Hummer pull up to the car dealership Rick was at.

              “Do you see him?”

              “Yeah, he's on the ground behind the car. Give me a minute to check on him,” Al said.

              Cindy and Al got out of the Hummer and went to the back of the Challenger. They both disappeared from view then Cindy stood and gave me a thumbs up. I saw Al help Rick to his feet and lead him to the Hummer. Then Rick struggled with Al and tried to get back to the car. I could tell they were arguing about something but Rick finally relented and got into the Hummer. Cindy went to the back of the Challenger, picked up my fathers rifle, and then joined Rick. Al went to the car, tossed something in the window, and ran to the Hummer. He jumped in the door and drove away quickly. I knew what was coming next; the Challenger exploded.

              “Why'd you do that?” I asked.

              I could hear Rick and Cindy, over the radio,  yelling at Al in the background. “If I left it there Rick would probably go back and try to get the damn thing.”

              While we waited for the rest of our group to join us Gina watched the motel and I watched the horde as it moved off. The fires on and around the highway continued to rage, building in intensity. The zombies continued walking headlong into the fires. Once they caught fire they would continue stumbling around until, I assumed, the intensity of the flames consumed their brains. Unfortunately the prevailing winds were still blowing our way and the smell of rotting flesh was being replaced by the smell of rotten burnt flesh. I tried pulling my shirt up to cover my nose and mouth in the hope of filtering out some of the stench to no avail. Nothing short of a gas mask was going to be of any help.

              “I just saw one of the drapes pull back,” Gina said. “Dad's still down there.”

              “Let's hope so,” I said. “Now all we have to do is figure out a way through the few hundred that are left milling around down there.”

              “I know. We can't shoot our way through. That would just draw the rest of the horde back down on us. Do you think there are too many to try getting through with swords?”

              “After what happened back in the park with Cindy I wouldn't want to try. It comes down to how many of us do we risk losing trying to get to your dad.”

              “You're right. What about drawing them off in the Hummer? One of us leads the main body away, then the rest go in with swords.”

              “That might work,” I said. “The problem with that is Cindy isn't ready to face that big a group and Al's not going to let her drive off in the Hummer by herself.”

              “Send Rick with her. Al, you, and I can handle the zombies.”

              “Well they're back. We'll run it by Al.”

              “We'll run it by Al,” Gina said in a sing song voice. “Who died and made him king?”

              “He might have a better plan, I don't know.” I honestly didn't like the idea of any of us getting out in the middle of that mess with only swords to rely on. If we had to use our guns that entire horde would be on us in a matter of minutes. On top of that I knew Al didn't want either of the girls going in there.

              Cindy got out of the Hummer and helped Rick down. He was still visibly shaken from being knocked unconscious when the tanker blew. Al went around and tried to help but Rick pushed him away.

              “There was no reason for that. You didn't need to blow that car up,” Rick said as he stumbled away.

              “Did you really think you were going to keep it?”

              “No, somebody else might have found it though,” Rick said. “That car was a classic.”

              Cindy came over and handed me the 30-06. “I want you to talk to Al about those fucking grenades of his. He could have killed us all, throwing one in that car like that.”

              “You're still shook up from your close call down on the highway. Al knows what he's doing,” I said.

              Cindy glared at me. I could swear I saw smoke coming from her flaring nostrils.

              “I'll talk to him.”

              “So, are you guys mad at me too?” Al said as he walked over.

              “No, even though I agree with Rick,” Gina said. “There was no reason for blowing up that car.”

              “See, I told you,” Rick said, as he walked over.

              “Let's forget about the damn car for a minute. Gina and I have a plan for getting through the rest of those zombies. Do you have any ideas Al?” I wanted to give him a chance to come up with something that didn't involve taking the girls down there before telling him about Gina's plan.

              “At first I was hoping to have the girls hold back and the three of us go down there and clear out the rest of the zombies. Rick's hurt and if we wait for him to get better what's left of that horde is just going to make their way back to the motel. Do you feel up to going down there Gina?”

              “The sooner the better.”

              “I thought you'd like that. Cindy will you take Rick in the Hummer and try to draw some of them away from there. No gunfire, no horn honking, no squealing tires, if you're too loud you'll bring the rest of them back down on us. Just get their attention and lead some of them away from the motel. Then Gina, Steve, and I will take care of the rest of them. After that we'll see if her dad is still in the motel.”

              “Somebody's down there. I saw the drapes moving earlier.”

              “Good then this won't all be for nothing. Do you mind driving the Hummer down there babe?”

              “I'll do it, if Rick goes with me.”

              “I'll go.”

              “If anything goes wrong and you have to use your guns to get out of trouble don't hesitate, use them. We don't even know if Gina's dad is still alive. I don't want anybody dying down there. Steve let me see those binoculars.”

              I took the binoculars from around my neck and handed them to Al. He scanned the area around the motel and laid out our plan. Cindy and Rick were going to drive straight to the motel parking lot. The lot was a large one so they were going to circle around a few times, get the remaining zombies to follow them, then head out in the opposite direction of the tanker truck. There was a tire company two streets across from the motel. We were going to take the U-Haul down to that parking lot and after they left the area in the Hummer head over on foot. After that it was a crap shoot. The idea was to kill the remaining zombies, get to the motel, find Gina's dad and whatever other survivors there were, get back to the truck, and meet Cindy and Rick back here. Nothing to it.

              Al and Cindy said their good-byes and we started down to the motel. I parked the truck and we watched for the Hummer. Al stayed in communication with Rick while we waited. Finally they pulled onto the lot and started their first lap. Cindy reminded me of Al as she drove the Hummer around the motel. Every chance she got to run over a zombie she took. Moving at a crawl she was able to slowly swerve side to side and smash the even slower zombies. It wasn't like they actually tried to get out of the way anyway. As usual they just stood in front of the Hummer waiting to be run over. After doing three laps around the parking lot Al told Cindy to go ahead and move out.

              “That ought to do it hon. Drive away slowly for about a half a mile or so then turn around and head back. Make a big loop, don't drive back through them.”

              “She says she's not stupid,” Rick said.

              “Sorry, meet us at the rally point. Good luck.”

              “Thanks Al, good luck to you guys too. Be careful.”

              We got our gear together and got ready to head over. Each of us carried a pistol, Uzi machine gun, and a sword. I watched them pull away. Most of the zombies followed them down the road. From what I could see there were about thirty of the undead left. We waited about five minutes and started over.

              “We're going to need to make this quick,” Al said.

              I looked at him and he directed my attention towards the tanker. Some of the horde had lost interest in the fires and were headed back to the motel. A few sprinters were running in our direction.

              “Did you see that?” I asked Gina.

              “Fuck 'em. Let's do this,” she said.

              “Spread out. Give each other plenty of room. Use the guns as a last resort.”

              We left about twenty feet between each other and went to work. I took the center, Gina went left, and Al went to my right. I think there was a reason this group of zombies didn't go to the explosion or follow the Hummer. They were in pretty bad shape, not a sprinter in the bunch. They just shambled at us and we chopped them down. We didn't have one close call and in less than five minutes they were finished.

              The glass doors to the office were shattered. There was no chance that anyone could be alive in there. Gina and I went in anyway. If her dad and Chong were in there our quest would be over. The office proved to be clear, no zombies, no dead bodies. Every door on the first floor stood open or was broken down so there was no reason to bother with any of those rooms. If her dad had been in any of the rooms he was long gone. Besides we didn't have time for a room to room search. We were pushing our luck as it was. The horde was moving back this way and time was running out.

              The office was next to a breezeway leading to the back of the motel and the stairway was next to that. The stairs had been clogged with furniture and mattresses to keep the zombies from coming up. Someone had secured everything with rope and then somehow climbed to the second floor. Al began hacking at the ropes.

              “Check the back, hurry,” Al said.

              Gina and I ran down the breezeway. This was a big mistake. As I rounded the corner I ran headlong into three zombies that were in much better shape than the ones we had just finished off out front. I actually only ran into the first one. My momentum knocked the two of us back into the other two zombies, knocking the four of us to the ground. It wrapped it's arms around me and pulled my face to it's mouth. I got my arm up under the zombies chin and push the bastards head back. I was able to keep it's gnashing teeth from my face. The smell coming from it's mouth was horrible. Chunks of flesh were stuck between the broken teeth of the creature and some sort of black goo was drooling from it's mouth on to me. The only thing stopping me from vomiting in it's face was the on going battle I was fighting for my life. I held it's head back with one arm and pulled my pistol from my holster and started hitting the zombie in the face with it. Then Gina stepped up and gave it a good kick in the head knocking it off of me. She already had her sword out and she finished the three of them off before I could get to my feet.

              “I should have stayed with Al and helped him clear the steps. I sure wasn't of any use back here.”

              “Don't sell yourself short. You did a hell of a job knocking them down.”

              “Thanks,” I said, then I slapped her on the ass. “Looks like it's clear back here. Let's go help Al.”

              “Dad keeps a ladder back by the shed. We may need it.”

              There was a steel shed just across the back parking lot so we ran over and got the ladder that was hanging on the side of the building. I carried it back through the breezeway. Al was still in the process of cutting the ropes and cussing up a storm while he was at it. He heard us coming but never turned around to look at Gina and me. He just got madder and hacked harder at the ropes.

              “Who ever tied this shit up did a hell of a job. We aren't getting up there any time soon. I can tell you that,” Al said, hacking at the ropes. “That horde is going to be back here soon. We don't have time to get back to the truck and get the ladder. Does your dad have one?”

              “Yeah Al, I've got it right here.”

              “God dammit. Give me that.”

              Al yanked the ladder out of my hands and placed it against the railing for the walkway to the second floor. The ladder was one of those extendable painters ladders so Al extended it up past the rail and started up. With all of the activity that had been going on in the past hour you would have thought someone would have come out of at least one of the rooms by now. The walkway remained empty. Al went up the ladder, went over the rail and drew his pistol. He held the top wrung and motioned for us to follow. Gina went next and as soon as she cleared the top rail I followed.