LZR-1143: Infection (22 page)

We reached the back row of the lot, locating a crew cab pickup and quickly finding the VIN number etched on the windshield. I committed the last six numbers of the VIN to memory as Kate raised her gun toward the service section. One creature was visible behind a parked SUV, it’s gray wizened face peering at us from behind the glass of the rear window of the vehicle.

It simply stared, unmoving.

Kate kept her gun raised and looked at me in confusion. I returned the look, also uncertain as to why it had paused instead of coming right for us. I gestured to her in the direction of Sam and Anaru, and I moved into the open space between rows, bringing the creature into plain view, unobstructed by the glass of the window. It turned toward me immediately, feet dragging, mouth open. The skin of its bald head hung down from a massive gouge, the hanging flap almost covering one ear. It moaned, and the cohort of creatures in the service dock moved faster, goaded on by their friend’s invitation.

My rifle spat in response, taking him in the chest. I cursed and sighted more carefully. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kate raise her pistol and glanced over, wondering if she was going to take the shot. But her gun wasn’t pointed at the zombie; it was aimed at me. I was suddenly staring down the barrel of her pistol, unsure and petrified. I froze in terror and confusion, but before I could say a word, the muzzle flashed and my ears rang with the sound of the discharge.

Behind me, a dull thud and the body of a badly mauled teen boy in boxer shorts and a tank top fell heavily against my legs as I skirted to the side. I smiled at her in thanks, shaking my head. Suddenly, remembering the creature in front of me, I again raised my rifle, sighting carefully. This time, the shot took him in the cheek and passed through the back of the head, shattering the window behind his collapsing body and spraying dark gray and crimson matter on the waxed exterior of the SUV.

We jogged back to Sam and Anaru, eyes alert for incoming creatures and carefully watching those already on their way in. They moved slowly, shambling forward awkwardly. Some had arms raised in mute supplication. Others simply shuffled forward, arms at the sides and feet dragging like dead weight.

Anaru was reloading as Sam walked toward the downed creatures. Those from the street had reached the line of cars along the roadway and were clumsily shambling through the intervening spaces. There were more behind them; too many now to take down with single shots. We needed the keys to the truck, and we needed them fast. As confirmation, the creatures from the service bay came into view, moving around the corner of the building.

“Last one in is a crazy murdering bastard!” shouted Sam, as she sprinted to the doors recently vacated by the now motionless sales crew.

First one in is a self-righteous bitch, I thought, as I ran after Kate and Anaru, stepping carefully over the uniformed corpses lying prone on the ground.

A sports car and a large SUV stood in the showroom; wax glaring brightly as the rising sun streamed into the room from the east. I closed the glass door behind me, grabbing a chair from the waiting area next to the soda machine and jamming the back under the handle. Remembering the ax handle at the school and the barricade at Target, I moved back, unconvinced that this would suffice. Kate and Sam disappeared into the back, searching for the keys.

I looked around, checking for company in the break room and the bathrooms as Anaru watched the doors. Returning to the showroom, I shook my head and he nodded in understanding. From the manager’s office, Kate yelled in triumph and I heard a shot ring out, sounding as if it the bullet had hit metal. They must have found the key box. “64873R!” I shouted over my shoulder, relieved to spit the numbers out so I could promptly forget them.

Several creatures had reached the glass doors, more of them close behind. Some clustered and pressed against the doorway, but an equal number pressed against the glass windows, soon creating a wall of living corpses.

Each one pawed and clambered against the glass like patrons at a mall pet store. I swore to myself that I’d never tap on the fish tank glass again as more of them arrived, soon blanketing the windows with the muted gray of their flesh, blood from recent meals still bathing the faces of several creatures.

As they moved against the glass, their greasy, bloody hands left smears of body fluids and dirt on the clear glass and their moans reverberated through the hollow acoustics of the polished floor and high ceilings. Sundry bloodless wounds gaped darkly from ragged tears in clothing and various stumps wiggled in vain where limbs had been rent from their hips and torsos. The rubbing of cold flesh on the windows made a high-pitched squeak that could be faintly heard under the din of their language. If hell had a brochure, this picture was certainly on the cover page.

To the left of the front door, a popping sound split the din of their clambering. A large, jagged crack had suddenly formed in the plate glass, running from floor to ceiling. Bodies pressed against the glass and pounded against one another, eager to intrude and frustrated by the meal that was so close but yet so far. The glass popped again as another crack appeared, forming instantly in the size and shape of a lighting bolt, stretching half the width of the glass section.

It was quickly becoming apparent that we needed to move. Much faster, in fact. Kate and Sam came out, skidding to a halt as they realized the enormity of the mass already outside the doors.

“You wanna go out and tell them we’re closed?” I asked Sam, grinning like an asshole.

“What about the service section? We could see it from the truck when we were out there,” said Kate, ignoring me. “If they followed us in the front, they probably don’t know about the back, right?”

We all exchanged looks. We didn’t really know what they could figure out. We were always running away in one direction, no real choice to be had in the matter. The doctor’s comments on the Liverpool came to mind, and I wondered for the first time about the complexity of thought they were capable of. Given their numbers, if they ever learned to reason or-god forbid-to communicate, we were in some serious shit. Not that we weren’t already, mind you, but it’s all relative.

The glass popped again, and five more cracks split the overstressed panes. “One way to find out,” Sam said, and moved back toward the office and the door to the service department. We followed, Anaru bringing up the rear. Their moaning followed us down the short corridor past the finance office and to the large, windowless metal door in the back.

Sam grabbed the handle, but Anaru moved up, gently pulling her back and grabbing the handle himself. “If they eat me, they’ll be too full to eat you,” he said jovially, pushing the door out and stepping through before any could protest.

Sam quickly lodged her foot in the opening and moved to follow. Before she could get through, Anaru fired three fast rounds before his gun went silent. A loud crash could be heard from the garage and a heavy weight fell against the door, pushing it shut again. We heard the sound of breaking glass, which was soon followed by the sound of another body falling. Sam cursed and slammed her shoulder against the metal door, but it wouldn’t budge. Kate and I moved up, the three of us putting our shoulders against it as I counted quickly “One, two…”

Suddenly, the door flew open and the three of us collapsed through, sprawling on the ground. I looked up to find Anaru standing before us, looking confused as he held the body of a zombie in mechanics’ overalls in each of his huge hands.

“You guys could have waited until I moved these guys out of the way first.” He smiled. “But I’m touched. Really, I am.”

He tossed the now twice-dead corpses, one to each side, and picked up his weapon. He had shouldered his rifle, and now carried an ax in his enormous arms, which he had clearly liberated from a shattered glass enclosure next to the door.

“Figured we’d be in for some close quarters stuff,” he said, shrugging dismissively at his choice. Looking at his giant form, I couldn’t second-guess the decision. Stepping in front of an ax wielded by this monster would be like diving into a wood chipper headfirst.

From the showroom, the sound of shattering glass announced the expiration of our time inside. We bolted for the large blue truck I had identified earlier. A creature stepped in front of Anaru as we emerged into the daylight. He swung his ax almost dismissively with one hand-a single lateral swipe that passed through the neck of the oncoming zed without pause.

The detached head, eyes still moving, bounced once against the shoulder of its body and fell to the ground, where the severed neck hit wetly against the pavement, leaving a bloody spot when it rolled to the side. Anaru dispassionately kicked it under a dumpster full of used oilcans and moved forward, closely followed by Sam and Kate.

As the other three moved forward, disappearing momentarily between a couple of large sedans, two ambling forms appeared from either side of the narrow passage between two small SUV’s to my right. With no time to draw my gun, I held my breath and simply barreled forward, lowering my shoulder into the first creature at a dead sprint. It was lifted off its feet as it fell backwards, hands grasping for me ineffectually as it dropped to the ground. The smell of carrion and rotting flesh nearly knocked me over as I righted myself, reeling from the impact.

The second creature hadn’t been knocked down. Kate shouted from in front of me, but I was too close to afford her a clean shot, and the creature was too close for me to be able to step back and give her one. I swung my rifle up and around, catching it on the jaw. The jarring, muted feel of metal impacting bone and soft flesh traveled up the barrel and to my hands as the head jerked to the side. Behind me, I could hear the other creature moving, trying to get up.

I slipped between the two, creating distance enough for the killing shots that came from Kate’s pistol. Sam hadn’t stopped, but was in the driver’s seat of the truck, slamming the door even as she turned the key. The engine roared to life as I got in the back seat behind Sam. Kate crowded in next to me as Anaru took the passenger side front seat.

“What say we get the fuck out of Dodge?” Sam asked, shifting to drive and pulling forward. She stopped abruptly as we turned toward the street. At least a hundred creatures stood between the four-lane road and us. They shambled slowly forward, moans filling the air. I turned my head, looking behind us to the low, solid wooden fence and the alley behind.

“You gotta go backwards. We can’t go through that many,” I urged. “This thing will make it through the fencing.”

“The fuck it will, man. It’ll hang up on the poles. We go forward through the soft targets, nice and fast.”

“Look, we saw this before. Those things go down easy enough, but they jam up the undercarriage. There’s too many-it’s backwards or we’re toast.” The first zombie had reached the headlights. She revved the engine.

“Sam, he’s right; they get caught up under the wheels. You have to go back. Now!” Kate was screaming as she finished the sentence.

Sam cursed loudly, whipping her head around and throwing the gearshift into reverse. Tires squealed as we moved backwards, distancing ourselves quickly from the first row of undead. The tailgate of the truck met the fence, and our heads jerked forward. Flattened by the impact of the truck, it slammed to the ground and we pulled out over the now horizontal wooden debris. Sam pulled the wheel sharply, straightening the vehicle and trying to pull forward. The engine whined and the truck jerked forward, moving a foot before stopping.

“Fuck! It’s caught up! I god damned told you so!” We had gained a hundred feet, but they were still advancing, an implacable army of ugly, hungry motherfuckers.

Sam jumped out of the driver’s seat, falling to the ground and out of sight to inspect the problem. Anaru opened his door, stepping onto the running board and setting the barrel of his rifle on the lower edge of his open window to steady his aim. He started firing carefully aimed shots at the approaching group. I jumped out, crouching and peering under the truck. A four by four support post had lodged itself in a gap in the engine shield next to the front axle; Sam was working on dislodging it manually, rocking it back and forth. I tried to help, but we didn’t have the strength.

“Anaru, switch up with me,” Sam yelled, rolling out and running to the passenger side of the truck. He stopped firing and came to the driver’s side around the back of the truck, as she took up his position, standing on the outside of the door and shooting carefully into the crowd. I got up, hearing Kate’s voice as I did so.

“Mike, watch out!” Even as I turned, I knew it was too late. Four zombies, their vacant staring eyes and drawn faces staring hungrily at Sam, had turned the corner ten feet away, shuffling toward her as she fired into the approaching horde. She couldn’t hear their approach, focused as she was on the numbers advancing toward us and deafened by the sound of her consistently fired shots. I yelled at her and she turned to me; but she turned the wrong way, giving them the last few feet of distance they needed.

My hand shot out, pointing to them as the first creature, an ordinary woman of average height and build, left hand still clutching the remnants of her last wet meal, grabbed Sam’s arm, bringing it toward her mouth. Caught off guard, Sam jerked her arm back, but the creature had leaned forward too far and it bit down hard on Sam’s wrist, drawing a scream as blood rose from the wound and trickled out of the corners of the ghoul’s mouth. Clutching the hand in its teeth, the creature shook the member from side to side like a dog with a chew toy, trying to detach it from her arm.

Amid her cries of pain, Sam’s weapon discharged, splattering the head of the creature against the side of the truck. I reached her side, raising my weapon and firing at the remaining three as she moved back, cradling her wounded arm. She leaned against the truck, sliding to the ground slowly, face stricken and pale. The approaching crowd from the lot was forty feet away, shuffling steadily forward, moans louder as they approached.

I grabbed Anaru’s ax from his seat and put my foot on Sam’s shoulder, pushing her to the ground. This had to happen fast. Off balance from the unexpected contact, she fell down flat, back on the ground, arms splayed out to each side. I gave myself no time to consider or rethink; I simply acted on impulse, bringing the ax down with as much force as I could muster.