The Dead Don't Bleed: Part 2, The Aftermath (17 page)

Garrett looked
back towards Emily who was starting to look a little recovered but still far from perfect. They just didn’t have the luxury of giving her any more time to get herself together. She was either going to make it or she wasn't, those were the dirty facts they faced.

"
Let’s go." Garrett said as he stood up and led the way to the back door. Doug and Cameron followed right on his heels with Miranda grudgingly helping Emily to her feet and prodding her along while Calvin took up the rear.

Stepping out into the backyard Garrett kept himself pressed up against the back of the house as much as possible and indic
ated for everyone following along behind him to do the same. His hope was that if they stayed close to the house as long as possible they would not be a little more difficult to spot as long as they didn't start running until they had to. When Garrett reached the corner of the house he knew that they were coming up on a tricky spot. With the garage and driveway full of zombies as soon as they broke cover they would have a lot of company hot on their tail. He had originally considered darting out into the back yard at an angle and crossing the row of hedges further into the yard and then taking another angled approach through Cameron's backyard. As he now laid eyes on the actual distance they would have to cover he knew that it was just not a good option with Emily and Doug. The shorter he could keep the distance they needed to move the better chance they all had of making it. Garrett signaled for Calvin to slink up to the front of the column where the conferred for a moment. Calvin agreed to Garrett's plan and moved back to the shattered kitchen door and disappeared into the house.

"Get ready to run your asses off on my signal." Garrett whispered. "Calvin is go
ing to draw them into the house. As soon as the driveway is as clear the fun starts."

Less than a minute after Calvin disappeared back into the house
a static burst of gunfire began echoing from the kitchen. Garrett had instructed Calvin to draw the zombies attention so they would all start rushing into the house enabling them to dart out behind them and hopefully past an empty driveway but he had not told him just how to go about causing the diversion. He should have figured that when it came it would be nothing short of spectacular. Calvin was firing single shot but rapidly and it didn't sound like he was about to stop anytime soon. He must have been taking advantage of the natural choke point inside the confined space of the laundry room to whittle down their numbers as much as possible. Garrett knew that Calvin would stand his ground inside the house as long as he could to give them the best chance of escape. He had asked only for a quick diversion to get the zombies moving out of their way and instead his friend was going to give them close to a suicidal one man attack. Glancing around the side of the house into the driveway he saw that Calvin's fireworks display was paying off, the last five or six zombies were just disappearing from sight as they rushed into the garage. But he also saw that even with that crowd clearing out there were still more of them that had been hanging out near the street and in the yard just across from the driveway. Close to twenty more were now rushing towards the open garage and would surely spot them as soon as they broke from cover.

"Garrett!" Miranda whispered from behind him.

Turning back towards her he saw that the three zombies at the far edge of Doug's backyard had also been attracted to the sounds of gunfire and were now heading straight towards them. There was no time to wait for Calvin to finish his business and join back up with them, with those three coming at them from one side and the group already moving up the driveway they would be cut off on two sides in the next few moments if they continued to wait any longer.

"
Let’s go." Garrett said as he broke from cover and started moving towards the hedges between the two houses.

Keeping to a moderate pace to try and keep everyone together in as tight a group as possible
, Garrett set off on a straight line for the thinnest section of hedges were he thought they would have the least trouble crossing. He hadn't made it five steps into the open when the zombies in Cameron's back yard spotted them and started racing towards him. He had anticipated he would have to deal with that group at some point but until they set foot into the next yard they were not his biggest concern. The three zombies in Doug's back yard were closing on the back of their little group fast. Seeing them racing towards her gave Emily an extra shot of motivation to dig down deep and summon up a little extra speed, but Garrett could see it wasn't going to be enough. Miranda had her pistol and had already demonstrated that she was more than capable of using it but Garrett didn't want to leave it to chance. Pushing Doug ahead of him, Garrett pointed out the section along the hedges where he wanted them to cross and stepped off to the side where he could get a clear shot at the three zombies coming up behind them.

Dropping to
one knee Garrett took up a comfortable firing position and drew a bead on a black zombie who appeared to be wearing the ragged remains of a postal worker uniform, the US flag just over his breast pocket was still bright and colorful but without any meaning to its owner anymore. His first shot sailed off wide to the right as his target bobbed and weaved running over the uneven ground. His second shot nailed the side of the man's head and removed a large chunk of flesh from the right side of his brow but the round must have deflected off the bone because the zombie didn't even pause. The third squeeze of the trigger did the trick, resulting in a hit directly through the open mouth of the zombie as he continued to screech and moan with excitement, agitation and anticipation of a nearby meal. The postal workers next steps drove him face first into the dirt never to move again. Garrett knocked the remaining two zombies down with his next three shots. He scolded himself for the amount of ammo he had used in that engagement, if he didn't step up his accuracy and make every round count they were not going to be walking away from this situation. Even with all of them now armed with one form of edged weapon or another, if it came down to hand to hand combat with more than one or two zombies at a time, someone was going to get bit, there was just no way to avoid it. From what he could hear of Calvin's ongoing little diversion, he was also blowing through his remaining rounds at an alarming rate. Even though his job was done and the zombies in the driveway had been successfully drawn away, Garrett could hear Calvin continuing to blast away at them inside the house. With another batch of zombies now reaching the halfway point on the driveway it was looking like Calvin was going to be cut off when he finally broke contact and tried to follow along behind them. Garrett also knew that there was nothing any of them could do about it, they didn't have the firepower, ammunition or manpower to stage any kind of holding action for just one man.

Rushing back to take his place in front of Doug, Garrett resumed leading them to the edge of the hedges and it looked like they would reach their crossing point just a few steps ahead of the zombies on the other side. He took one quick look in all directions around Doug's yard and other than the zombies still making their way up the driveway it looked like they were clear on that side for the moment.
Stepping up his pace he quickly outdistanced Doug and the others with the intent of reaching the hedges just ahead of everyone else. Taking his time he lined up each shot perfectly and cleared their path on the far side. With their path now clear for the moment, they could concentrate on getting everyone into Cameron's yard. Once they were past the hedges they would act as a barrier to keep the horde coming up the driveway at bay long enough for them to reach the house and lock some doors between them and their pursuers. Garrett turned back to check on everyone’s progress and was surprised to find that they were just coming up behind him and making much better time that he would have thought. Emily was giving it her all, but he could see that she didn't have much left in her, her face was scrunched into a pained grimace, her breathing was extremely strained and labored and she was gripping the front of her chest tightly with her hand. Garrett was sure that she was on the verge of a heart attack and whether it was fatal or not it would not be a situation she would recover from out there in the yard. They couldn't carry her and they could not spend time trying to revive her, they would have to leave her behind or risk others dying along with her. He didn't think the loss of Emily would weigh heavy on any of the others, including her own husband, but Garrett would see it as a failure and would take it hard. While he couldn't stand the woman at a personal level she was still a human being who he felt responsible for as soon as she left that basement with them. Doug was making it, but the strain was also starting to show on his face as well. Having been through it the night before Garrett was pretty sure the man would dig down inside of himself and pull up the fortitude to go the distance without falling out, but would likely blow chunks as soon as they were safely behind a locked door on the other side. Cameron was a different story all together, young and spry, the kid was hardly breaking a sweat and it almost seemed that the slower pace was actually harder for him. Garrett could tell that the tension and fear of the moment had him chomping at the bit to break out into a full on sprint, hurdle the hedges and leave the rest of them in the dust. If Garrett knew for sure that his house was still clear of any threats he would have actually considered sending him ahead to grab the keys for the Range Rover and start the loading process while the rest of them picked their way along slowly behind him. As it was, he was learning quickly to take nothing for granted, an empty house the day before could very likely have become a den of zombies overnight, there was no telling what may be lying in wait for them inside. They had left the garage sealed shut when they had left the day before so he was confident that if they could all get inside the garage with the door shut and locked behind them they would be safe for a time. They only needed a few minutes to get the truck loaded, open the outer doors and be on their way. It was the eighty or so yards of open back yard and the unknowns in the rest of the house that were still the biggest problems, for these reasons and more he would not allow Cameron or any of the others to separate from the group, at the moment there was safety in numbers.

The second that Emily reached the hedges she dropped to her knees dry heaving and gasping for breath, he
r hand still pressed against her chest as she looked up towards Garrett with tears streaming down her face trying to form words that she did not have the breath for.

"Doug, can you do anything for her before she has a heart attack?" Garrett asked and added, "something quickly."

Looking back towards Doug's house he saw that they had maybe thirty more seconds at best to get over the hedges before the zombies coming up the driveway would be within striking distance. Doug knelt down in front of Emily and encouraged her to hold her arms up over her head to help open her lungs and allow her breathing to catch up with her.

"She
can’t make it like this. There is a history of heart disease in her family and she is to out of shape for the exertion and stress." Despite his misgivings about his wife it was clear that the man was in pain seeing the woman in that condition.

"We don't have time for this shit, here, take these." Miranda exclaimed as she dug her hand into the pack of supplies they had recovered from Cameron's house the night before and produce
d a bottle of baby aspirin. She popped off the top and spilled five of the small pills into her hand. Without waiting for a reply she shoved the small pile of pills into Emily's open mouth and pushed up on her chin to force her mouth closed to give the pills a chance to dissolve. "Get up and let’s move Emily. It’s either push through the pain or stay here and be someone’s lunch."

Doug and Garrett both watched as Emily gritted her teeth and forced herself first back to her knees and then accepting a hand from Miranda back onto her feet. Garrett once again had to hand it to the little firecracker for coming through in a pinch, those aspirin would instantly help serve as a blood thinner and give her a fighting chance against a pending heart attack. At the same time the inflamed voice she used in talking to the stricken
woman pushed the right buttons. Emily made the choice that she was either going to make it the rest of the way with them or die trying. Garrett knew that if Miranda hadn't been there at that moment they would probably have lost Emily right there in the grass halfway between the two houses, as it was she had given the large woman a fighting chance to decide for herself to make it.

Looking back down the driveway Garrett saw they were running out of t
ime, "Everyone, over the hedges. Let’s get moving."

Dropping back behind the group, he began
methodically blasting away at the approaching herd of zombies. He didn't need to look behind him to know that Miranda was already guiding everyone over and threw the length of shrubbery. What he did know was that he didn't have enough ammo to handle all of the zombies rushing towards him, he would drop two more and then turn and make his own run for Cameron's back yard. Before he could squeeze off his next shot there was a flash of movement along the back of Doug's house and he saw Calvin running backwards out from the kitchen door, his rifle held to his shoulder as he repeatedly pulled the trigger time and time again at targets still inside the house.

"CALVIN!" Garrett shouted over the din of gunfire and the rising volume of groans from the oncoming wall of decaying flesh.