El Paso Under Attack - 01 (16 page)

Shortly after sunset, Dudley drove the three of us out of the safe zone and down the road. I brought Merrick with me this time. She’d be a big help making sure no zombies climb in the Jeep. She was happy to be going with me for once, or maybe she was just glad to get away from that pussy Georgie.

“
So, you went back into the fire?
”

It certainly felt that way. This time we were just supposed to have a look. There was no need to fight anything. It made things a little bit easier on the nerves, but we were still going into hostile territory.

“
Did you know where you were going, or were you just going to drive around?
”

We knew exactly where we were headed. We were headed Downtown.

“
This is the business district of the city right?
”

Yeah, it’s small, but the buildings are close together and they rise up kinda tall. Most of El Paso is wide open and spread out. It’s easiest to think of Downtown as a very small version of New York complete with its own offices, restaurants and clubs. There were lots of places to hide and hundreds of alleys to jump out of.

“So it’s the actual city section of the city of El Paso?”

That sounds kinda funny, but it’s accurate. The ride over there was relatively boring in comparison to what we’d been dealing with. We expected hordes of the undead to come chasing after us at any moment.

It never happened. I mean, sure we had some runners come after us, but they weren’t fast enough to even bother shooting. The street lamps were coming on as we drove by the abandoned and sometimes bloody vehicles.

“Where the hell are they?” Dudley asked.

“Oh they’re out there,” answered Kingsley. “We’re just lucky enough not to have run into them yet.”

“This area was pretty active when we went out for supplies that one time.” I added. “So, it does make you wonder where they went.”

“I bet they’re on the East side,” added Dudley. He didn’t much like the East side. “Better eating over there.”

Kingsley was looking at him like he was the biggest ass in the world.

“What?” Dudley asked. “I’m talking about the restaurants.”

“Well if that’s the case,” I joined in. “I’m going to have to agree with you.”

We were laughing quietly as we drove along. It’s a bone of contention between people living on the east and West side of town. Who has the better restaurants? I’m going to have to go with the East side.

“
So, while driving through hostile terrain, you are arguing about who has the better restaurants?
”

I’m not sure how big of an argument it was, I think we were all in agreement. It was about then, that we heard the moans. There was movement down a street to our right. Dudley was slowing down and looking at me. I nodded to him and he nosed the front of the Jeep over towards the commotion.

The zombies had somehow overrun a van. It must have happened recently, the blood was still very fresh. I could smell it in the air. I could smell it over the stench of the undead and decaying bodies.

The dead were feasting on what looked to be the remains of a large family. They must have been trying to make it to the safe zone. It was bound to happen, as our numbers were swelling, not everyone was going to make it. I could almost say that death lurked around every corner, but that isn’t accurate. Some corners were safe, while others led to a feeding frenzy.

The zombies and there were many of them, didn’t pay us any attention. Their prey was still plenty and fresh. More of them were coming from down the street. They wanted the fresh kill; I’m guessing they smelled the blood.

I nodded to Dudley. It was time we left. This place was about to become very dangerous.

“Make sure we take a new route on our way back.”

“You got that right.” answered Dudley.

As we left the neighborhood, we were encountering more and more of the undead. They were swarming in on the fresh kill. I’m not sure where they wander off to, but they sure as hell can regroup pretty fast when there’s something to eat.

In another ten minutes, we had reached the buildings of Downtown. I don’t remember the street; I guess it’s not that important.

Dudley kept driving inwards, I wasn’t stopping him. I was waiting for something, I just didn’t know what.

“I’ve got an idea,” said Kingsley. “Let’s drive through that above ground parking garage that’s by the courthouse.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s only a few streets over and it has around six or so levels. We’ll be able to see a lot of the city and not have to leave the Jeep.”

“Good idea.” I answered. “Dudley, follow Kingsley’s directions.”

We entered the parking garage very slowly. Our lights were blazing and our guns were ready. Merrick noticed the tension and began a slow and steady growl.

We took the concrete path at a steady pace and circled our way upwards.

“
The parking garage, kind of loops around in circles until you reach the top correct?
”

I see you’ve been there.

“
No, it’s just common for parking garages to wind up and down.
”

Well, I’d been there more than a few times.

“
Really?
”

Nothing like that, don’t get too excited. I used to receive a summons for jury duty every year. It’s a real pain in the ass if you ask me. Working the way I do now, I don’t get summoned anymore. One of the perks of the job I guess.

For some reason, this made me laugh. Here was a man that risked his life on a constant basis and he was still finding perks in his job.

On about the fourth floor, we ran into a traffic jam. Cars were piled up bumper to bumper. There was no way to go around them; it was a one way kinda direction. About five parking spaces ahead, was the left turn that led down to the exit.

I don’t know why the exit route was clear and the route that led to the top floor was jam packed with vehicles.

“Maybe they ran into the garage for shelter and got cornered,” said Kingsley.

“Why would they do that?” Dudley asked.

“There are elevators here that lead to entrances in the courthouse. Maybe they thought that they’d find help there.”

“Lots of cops at least,” I added. “It sounds feasible, maybe something happened and they had to leave their cars?”

“Yeah, we’ve seen that before,” said Dudley. “The zombies come from behind while the people are trapped in a traffic jam.”

“If that’s a possibility, we should get out of here,” said Kingsley. “Whatever made them leave their cars may still be up there somewhere.”

“To be honest, I think the entire area over here is dangerous. I can feel it in my bones. The minute we entered Downtown…there’s been a stillness in the air that isn’t natural.”

“I agree,” said Dudley. “This place is fucking creepy.”

I thought it over for a moment and made my decision.

“Alright boys, this is where we part company for the time being. Aim the Jeep towards the exit route. I’m going up to get a view of the city. If anything happens, try not to use your guns. We don’t want to attract every zombie in the area.”

I was off. I jumped out of the back seat of the Jeep and took off at a quick jog. Merrick was right behind me. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight. It wasn’t that difficult weaving in and out of the bumper to bumper traffic. The dim lights of the parking garage made things overly easy.

I was hoping for more darkness, but I was still pretty sure that I could blend into the shadows if the need arose.

Occasionally, I had to hop onto the hoods of the vehicles to make my way. It was a lot like running an obstacle course.

Nearing around the fifth level, I pulled out my small flashlight. It was the smell of blood in the air that made me do it, I was curious. I started to look inside the cars. No problems there, the doors were still open on a lot of them, yet they were all empty.

The flashlight filled in the missing details. What I thought were oil stains on the floor were actually pools of blood. Yep, people had been coming here for help. The zombies followed them and they had to leave their cars behind because of the traffic jam. Dudley was right.

Now I was wondering, what had caused the traffic jam?

Since I was sure that I was in zombie infested territory, or at least territory that had been zombie infested, I was extra careful. I took my time. I kept Merrick quiet.

I heard noise coming from the streets below, but it wasn’t constant.

The silence in the parking garage was near absolute. It gave me time to think as I worked my way to the top floor and what I realized was actually pretty messed up.

“
What was that?
”

The survivors back at the safe zone were accepting me as their leader and I was barely there. This was the second time I had left them, and when we first arrived at Georgie’s house; I also left the folks in his house in a search of food.

I was wondering how good of a leader I actually was.

“
Well you united all those people and made them safe. I think that has to count for something.
”

True, but who wants a leader that’s never around?

“
People that want to live.
”

Yeah, and to tell you the truth, I was kind of afraid to turn the leadership mantle over to someone else. What if they fucked up?

Anyway, I guess I was just having some doubts.

“
That’s completely understandable.”

He nods at this like he accepts that doubt is normal. In reality, I believe that he’s wishing he could be in two places at once. In the safe zone protecting survivors and outside the safe zone rescuing them, maybe Ivana was right, maybe it is too much pressure for only one man.

So yeah, I was telling you about the silence inside of the parking garage. That was probably the only reason I heard the slight noise coming from behind two cars in a dark corner.

It was a strange lapping sound.

I pulled out my knife and motioned Merrick to stay while I quietly climbed over the cars to take a peak.

It was repulsive. A zombie that was missing most of his limbs was face down in the bloody mess of what looked like the long ago devoured leftovers of a victim. The zombie could only move in an inchworm style, so he had resorted to lapping up the leftover blood with gut pieces.

I was on him and my knife was embedded in his ear just as he was about to scream. I think I was doing him a favor.

Farther up, we saw more evidence of the carnage, bloody remains consisting of mostly bone and ripped fabric. If they damage the brain, the victim won’t rise and join them. The dead that came through here must have been hungry.

The elevator door that led to the courthouse entrance was open and blinking. When I looked inside, I saw large splatters of blood that literally covered the walls. I had no interest in taking that elevator.

At the end of the sixth floor I saw what had created the traffic jam. A large truck that must have been hauling ass had hit a concrete support beam and spun around. It blocked the way and two other cars had then slammed into it. Oil and radiator fluid covered the ground.

Merrick’s low growl was the only warning I received. The truck wasn’t empty. Its occupant came out in a rush. The beginning notes of a scream died in its throat when my tomahawk met it’s forehead in a sickening crunch.

I carefully shined the light in every dark corner I saw. It seemed clear and Merrick seemed calm. I moved forward.

Finally, I met open sky. I went immediately to the side of the building facing the courthouse. I looked down at the glass walkway that created a bridge above the street level traffic and connected the courthouse to the parking garage. It was filled with zombies that had been trapped by the metal doors on each side of the buildings. The street below the walkway was empty.

I went to the side of the roof that was directly above our escape route; thankfully it was empty as well.

The next side told an entirely different story. The street below was covered in zombies. It was the weirdest sight imaginable. Without the presence of humans, the zombies seemed quite calm. They just wandered around the street with apparently no destination in mind at all.

The smell was putrid. I just have to add that, but they didn’t seem to mind. There were hundreds upon hundreds of zombies…maybe even a thousand, just on one street alone.

Some were dressed in suites. Some of the females wore dresses. Others were in their everyday blue jeans. They walked around and looked in the shop windows; they went in and out of stores. It was almost like they were trying to live the barest possible hints of their past lives.

I even watched one female in a white pant suit walk all the way down to the end of the street, turn around and walk to the other end of the street, then turn around again and enter a clothing store. When she finally came back out, she was holding an empty shopping bag.

I went to the fourth side of the roof.

It was the same thing. I could see off into some side streets as well and they were also littered with the undead.

Downtown was overrun by zombies. The mass was even bigger than what we were told and we were told it was in the thousands. Yet, I wasn’t sure they were actually leaving. It seemed like they were quite content to stay here, which was great for us in the safe zone, but I had no idea what was so interesting about the area.

I heard the loud crack of a door being broken down before I saw it. I ran back to the side that had the female zombie with the empty shopping bag. I saw a living woman run out of the store and into the street. I reached back for my rifle, but before I could even get my hands on it, she was down. More and more zombies kept piling on top of her. Still, her screams lasted a couple of minutes as they tore her apart.

There were survivors in these buildings and there was nothing I could do to help them. I hated the zombies. In that moment, I wished that I could jump off this roof and land in the middle of all of them. I’d hack and stab and slash until they were all dead. It was just a wish; they’d rip me apart and devour me just as easily as that woman.