Respect for the Dead (Surviving the Dead Book 1) (36 page)

Devin slowed as they approached the tunnels.  Hector checked the breach of the shotgun he was holding and looked over at Devin.  Gillian leaned forward on the dash, looking between the tunnels on either side of the highway.  “What do you think?”  She asked. 

Devin leaned forward on the wheel, “Looks like there was a nasty fire.”  He replied pointing at the top of the mouth of a tunnel that was black with soot.

“Well we can hope they all burned up.  There doesn’t seem to be any around.” Hector suggested hopefully from between the seats. 

“Do you think it safe to discuss this outside?”  Trevor asked.

“Looks relatively safe.”  Devin replied. 

“Thank god, I really have to pee.”  Beth whimpered from the back of the truck.  She smiled at the look on Matt’s face.  “Girls pee too ya know.”  She clicked off the safety on her gun, checked out the rear window, and opened the door.

Matt watched her jump down, “Yeah but I never heard one say that…except my sister.”   

Gillian was out at the front, stretching her legs and walking stiffly.  “Ladies room on this side of the car.”  She hissed at to Matt who had just bounded out of the door.  He nodded and pointed to the far side of the armored car noting the Men’s room was over there. 

Beth was already taking care of business when Gillian pulled her weapon and stood guard.  “We need to find someplace with plumbing soon.”  Beth grumbled adjusting her jeans and pulling her own gun.  She cocked her head to the side and listened intently.  “Need to go?”  Beth asked trying to convince herself she hadn’t heard anything. 

Gillian shook her head, “Not right now but wait until we get back on the road then I’ll need…” 

“Shhhh.”  Beth hissed, she had heard it again.  She turned toward the tunnel. 

Matt was backing slowly toward them.  “You guys done?”  He whispered. 

“Yeah, Devin figured out a plan yet?”  Gillian asked. 

“Nah, wants to know what you think.”

  Gillian swatted Beth’s arm.  “They can never make a decision without a woman’s input.”  Beth smiled halfheartedly.  She was still listening to a soft tinkling noise.

Matt just rolled his eyes. “Come on MOM.”    She ran at him.  He sprinted back to Devin, laughing as he ran.  Beth started to follow but the sound caught her attention more clearly.   

“There are two options here, left and right.”  Hector stated. 

Devin thought for a second.  “If we cross back over to the inbound lanes we might not run into as much.  I don’t see the same soot over that tunnel and I doubt people would be heading toward town.” 

“Yeah maybe but since there isn’t any smoke there might be intact zombies down that tunnel.”  Hector responded.

“What do you think Gill?”  Devin asked. 

Beth was sure she heard the tinkling sound, what she wasn’t sure she heard was the other sound.  It sounded almost like a dog whimpering.  She slowly made her way to the mouth of the tunnel.  She heard it again. 

“What if we took that semi over there through first?  That should have enough power to smash through most blockages, right?”  Gillian suggested pointing to a large truck a few feet behind them in the other lane.

“That assumes it runs, we can figure out how to drive it, and we can get it out of that mess.”  Hector grunted. 

  Beth heard the conversation behind her but her attention was on the tunnel.  It was definitely a dog whimpering.  She couldn’t see too far into the darkness.  She could make out the shapes of several cars in it.  Looking further down she could barely see light at the other end.  The tunnel looked to be blocked. 

“Could just be we have to weave through.”  She thought.  “Better check it out.”  She was about to get a flashlight out of the truck when a small dog stepped out of the darkness.  Beth stared at the dog and it stared back at her, neither moved for a second.  The tone of the conversation behind her was starting to take on that of an argument as the group tried to make a decision. 

Beth crouched down to try to coax the dog out of the tunnel.  It moved forward slowly straining on the leash that Beth hadn’t noticed.  She stood up slowly as a young girl stumbled forward.  The end of the leash was twisted around her left wrist most of her left hand was missing.  Her white dress was covered in dried blood, her jaw was hanging on by a few strips of flesh, her tongue was hanging out of her cheek and it looked like it had been half bitten off.  Her eyes rolled in her head then fixed on Beth. 

Beth backed away and began to raise her gun, as she did several more dead shuffled into the light.  She could hear the group behind her. 

“Guys!”  She yelled no one responded to her.  “Guys!”  She yelled again. 

“We should stay on this path!  I bet the accident happened further into the tunnel and if the fire was that intense we should have a clear path through.”

“Guys!  This is not the road to stay on!”  Beth yelled as she back toward them. 

“Why?”  Was the angry question back to her.  Beth replied by shooting the dead girl in the head.

  “Oh hell!  Beth get back here!!!”  Hector yelled and fired into the oncoming group.  Beth ran up to him and pulled his knife from its sheath on his shoulder.  She turned and ran to the dog.  It whimpered and jumped at her.  She cut through the leash and swept up the little dog.  A dead hand grabbed at her shoulder another had her hair.  Two cracks from behind her sounded, the bullets whizzing right over her head.  The hands let go. 

She ran toward to the truck, Trevor was already inside, Matt at his heels.  Hector was at the passenger side door rifle aimed.  He fired and motioned for Beth to go around back.  She ran to the rear where Matt had the door open.  She handed the dog to Matt as Trevor pulled her in and slammed the door. 

“Dude!  What the hell?”  Matt looked at Beth astonished.

“I couldn’t leave him.”  The dog jumped up on Beth’s lap and yipped at her trying to lick her face.  She reached into her jacket and pulled out a little beef jerky.  The dog greedily ate the food. 

“At least we know he wasn’t eating them.”  Matt stated. 

Devin crossed the yellow lines to the other tunnel as more and more undead crept out of the darkness.  “Must have been full of tour busses or something.”  Matt speculated.  The headlights broke through the blackness as they entered the tunnel.

Hector punched the wall, Gillian glanced at him.  “What the hell was she thinking?”  He shouted. 

Gillian took a deep breath.  “She is the only one of us that paid attention to the tunnel.”

“Lot of good that will do us if she gets herself killed over a dog.”  He shouted as he hit the wall again. 

“I’m fine and I’m in the truck.”  Beth replied calmly holding the dog as they swerved to clip a small SUV that was half blocking their lane. 

“Only because we are good shots and took out the zombies that had you.”  He responded angrily.  

“How’s it looking up ahead?”  Matt asked over Hector’s yelling. 

“What the hell were you thinking?”  Hector demanded of Beth.

Silence filled the back of the truck for a moment, then Beth looked directly at the soldier and replied as if it was obvious.  “Well you were too busy trying to figure out which tunnel to take, so I had to find out which one was full of zombies.”  

This was not the response Hector wanted.  He looked at Gillian exasperated.  She glanced back at him.  “She is right.”  Gillian shrugged.  Hector glared at Gillian.  She hastily added.  “We weren’t paying attention.” 

“Still!”  He turned back to Beth.  “You, you can’t go off on your own, we all need to stick together.”  Hector stated in what he felt was an authoritative voice.  Gillian flinched as a zombie bounced off the front of the truck. 

“Right,  thanks, I’ll keep that in mind and let them eat us next time.”  Beth grumbled.

Hector glared, bracing himself as the truck slammed through several crashed cars and out of the tunnel and into the sunlight.  Beth began to pet the dog that was now curled up next to Matt.

Devin spoke from the driver’s seat. “He’s right, we need to stick together.” 

Beth looked at the dog.  “I know, but I just couldn’t leave him to die.” 

Devin was silent for a moment.  “No, but we don’t want to lose you either.” 

“I appreciate that, but I can take care of myself pretty well.”  Beth muttered. 

“Not if you keep running after strays.”  Matt laughed “but I’m sure Romero here is happy you rescued him.”  

Beth questioned “Romero?” 

Yeah Matt smirked, “As in George Romero.”  Beth was still confused. 

Trevor spoke up  “Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead.”  Beth looked from Matt to Trevor.  “He was a director.”  They both stared at her.

“Potter fan.”  Matt snorted.

“Yeah and?”  She demanded. 

“Nothing nothing at all.”  Matt laughed throwing up his hands.  Then his face fell,   “Ya know those movies were much cooler before we were living them.”  He reached over and rubbed a very happy Romero’s belly. 

              Wes braced himself and marveled at Kate’s driving.  She swerved in and out of abandon vehicles to the bridge across the lanes.  Several zombies wandered close but didn’t get close to the car as Kate stormed through the area crossing the bridge in a blur. 

The road opened up and Kate urged more speed from the powerful V8 engine.   Wes stared out the side window watching the countryside getting lighter and flying by.  Steve was looking but not seeing out the front window.  He threw his hands against the dash as Wes was thrown into the back of Kate’s seat. 

“What?”  Steve cried as Kate slowed the car drastically. 

On the side of the road was a State trooper’s car. 

“I seriously don’t think you’re getting a ticket.”  Steve laughed. 

“Sorry, habit.”  Kate sheepishly replied.

“Habit?”   

“Wait pull over!”  Wes cried, “There might be something useful.”   

Kate eased the car to the shoulder and backed up.  She watched as the patrol car grew in the rearview mirror.   “I don’t know about this, guys.  Why would that be sitting there?”  Kate eyed the cruiser apprehensively. 

“You think this might be some kind of a trap?”  Steve asked.  He surveyed the area searching for hiding places.  He opened the door to the car and stepped out cautiously.   

“Ok, Kate stay here, and keep he engine running.  Steve cover me.  I’ll check it out.”  Wes crawled out of the backseat, “I mean it, pay attention to me!  Keep your hands to yourselves.” 

“Just hurry up.”  Steve reached forward to smack Wes on the back of the head.  Laughing Wes ducked out of the car.   The smile slid from his face as the feeling of dread grew in the pit of his stomach.  Slowly Wes approached the police cruiser, glancing over his shoulder he was reassured by Kate’s watchful eyes in the rearview mirror and Steve turned around with his arm over the back of the seat.  Steve gave Wes an encouraging wave forward. 

Easing closer with his weapon ready, he watched for any movement from vehicle.  Looking up he scanned the area behind the car.  A few feet from the side of the car, Wes dropped down to check under it.  The space was clear.  Steve sighted the rifle, on the back seat of the cruiser.  Wes turned and signaled Steve that everything was clear.   

              “Come on, what is taking so long?”  Kate anxiously asked, “I really don’t like this.” 

“He’s at the car.”  Steve reassured, never taking his eyes off Wes.

Wes crept up to the driver’s door.  He peered through the dirty window at the front seat.  It was empty, he checked the back.  There were several boxes on the back seat.  Cautiously he tried the back door handle.  It was locked.  Moving back to the front door he pulled at the handle.  The door clicked open.  The front seat was stained with dried blood.  A brownish red trail lead to the passenger side door that was open slightly. 

The keys hung in the ignition.  Wes leaned in and tried them, nothing happened.  It looked like the car might be out of gas, but aside from that, the battery was completely dead.  Reaching over to the door he tried the automatic lock to open the back door.  “Duh, the battery is dead.”  He mumbled to himself.

“What’s the deal?”  Steve shouted.

“Cars dead, the cop must have died here with the engine running and crawled off somewhere.  The front seat is all bloody.  There is something in the back I want to check out.”  Wes called out pointing to the back of the cruiser.

He turned back to the car and circled around the front to check the passenger side back door.  Clearing the front bumper he froze then stumbled back a step.  Leaning against the car was the corpse of a state trooper.  His gun was in his hand.  The splatter against the door told Wes all he needed to know.  The officer had shot himself in the head.

“Must have known you were done for and didn’t want to keep walking around.”  Wes sighed. “Sorry dude”  He moved past the dead trooper and tried the door, it was also locked.

“Come on Wes.”  Kate shouted out the window. 

Moving back around to the driver’s side again, Wes smashed the rear window with the butt of his gun.  Carefully reaching through the broken glass he pulled the door lock.  The door swung open, Wes hastily stuffed his gun in the waist of his jeans and reached in the car to open the box. 

“Jackpot!”  He yelled.  “Back up!”  He excitedly waved.

Steve turned around and closed his door while Kate reversed to the back of the cruiser.  Her eyes darted all over the landscape. “Hurry up, I still don’t like this.”  She told Steve as he jumped out and hurried to help Wes.  They unloaded three boxes from the back of the cruiser.  The first contained canned foods, the second bottled water, the third smaller box was full of Nine millimeter bullets. 

“This is great except we don’t have a nine mil.” Steve shrugged at the box of ammo in his hand. 

“Hold on.”  Wes held up a hand then ran around the car and dropped out of view.  When he popped back up he held a nine millimeter semi automatic.  Looking down he smiled sadly, “Thanks officer…Miller” he said, reading the name below the badge.

Kate reluctantly handed Steve the keys so he could open the trunk.  She had the car running as soon as the keys were returned.  Steve and Wes hurriedly transferred the boxes to the trunk then jumped in the front.  With everyone back in the car, Kate quickly eased back onto the highway and gained speed.