The Demented Z (Book 2): Desolation (Book 2) (21 page)

Her last sentence was cut short when Hank reached out and
touched her on the arm. “I’m here.”
   He felt Sam’s little hand grasp his pant
leg. Kelly’s hand found Hank’s arm.
   All of them were relieved to feel the touch
of another human.

A loud
clang
of a
metal object falling to the floor echoed through the large space.
  It came from somewhere further back into the
building.

Sam’s grasp tightened on Hank’s leg.
  “What was that?”
  He whispered in a trembling voice.

Before anyone could respond gunfire erupted.
  The sharp
pops
sounded like Philip’s pistol. The bright
flashes emanated from a set of office windows just beyond the last row of
machinery. Just as fast as they came,
they disappeared, the rattle of the alley door the only sound that remained.

“We have to get out of here.”
  Hank said.  
“Hang on to me, let’s get out together.”

With both Kelly and Sam grabbing onto his clothes, Hank
began shuffling to the side of the warehouse, avoiding both the alley door and
the back offices. He hoped there would
be an exit along the outer wall. Zeus
padded softly next to them, sniffing at the darkness.

It took several minutes to reach the far wall.
  Without the bright flashes from gunfire,
Hank’s eyes finally began to adjust to the darkness, allowing him to see vague
shapes. Steel siding was mounted to
large I-beams, marking the warehouse’s outer wall.
  Hank rested one hand on the slick metal and
began walking the wall, using touch as his guide.

They had moved a few dozen yards along the wall when the
pounding at the alley door suddenly stopped.  
It was immediately replaced by shrieks, growls, and the sound of
pounding feet. They were inside.

Working to quell his rising panic, Hank continued along the
wall. He resisted the urge to begin
sprinting away from the noise. Both
Kelly and Sam tugged at his clothes, panic surging through them as well.

“We’re okay.”   Hank
whispered. “Hang in there.”

The warehouse was filled with the sounds of the
demented. Their angry growls echoed
throughout the open space, making it sound as if they were everywhere.

Before finding an exit door, Hank’s outstretched hand felt a
textured interior wall that signified they had reached the back of the
warehouse. On the other side of the
sheetrock would be office spaces. He now
had a decision to make; they could head back the way they came and hope to find
a door or they could move along the interior wall in hopes of finding an exit
through the office rooms. It sounded
like dozens of demented had already streamed in from the alley, and surely more
were pouring in.   They would spread out
like a stream hitting flat land.

With his mind made up, Hank continued leading Kelly and Sam
along the interior wall, feeling for an opening.
  He thought about shouting for Philip, but
quickly dismissed the idea, knowing it would draw infected to them.
  The textured wall felt like orange peel, its
contact offering little comfort. There
was some relief when his hand felt the jagged edge of a door jam.
  The three of them rounded the corner.
  At the far end of a narrow hallway they could
see the meager light of the moon spilling in through a slim window mounted in
an exit door. With Zeus leading the way,
they made for the door. They were
partway down the hall when they heard the distinctive ring of gunfire.
  They were rapid, panicked shots.
  Hank counted maybe six or seven before the
screams came. Horrific screams.
  They had found Philip.

Hank could feel Sam’s hand squeeze his leg and the little
guy started to slow. “Keep moving, let’s
get out of here.”   Hank said while
reaching back and grabbing Sam’s arm.

After pounding into the crash bar and bursting out onto the
sidewalk in front of the building, they sucked in the cool night air.
  Moonlight cast a silver glow across the
street and car hoods. It was a welcome
sight after the inky blackness. The door
closed behind them, blocking out the sounds of the demented.
  They would have to keep moving, it wouldn’t
be long before infected were spilling out onto the sidewalk as well.

Hank angled them across the street away from the alley they
had crashed the SUV in. The sidewalk was
lined with small storefronts, their black interiors hiding whatever contents
remained.

“Should we hide out in one of those?”
  Kelly asked while looking at a clothing store
with one of its windows shattered out.

Hank had wondered this himself.
  Should they hunker down in the back of some
random building and wait for things to calm down?
  Once the immediate chase was over and there
were no prey in sight the demented would go into a much more subdued
state. On the other hand, Hank really
hated to get pinned inside a building with possibly no way out.
  “Let’s get a ways away and see what we can
find.”   With no disagreement from Kelly
he continued racing along the sidewalk.  
The street ahead was currently barren.  
Zeus followed a few paces back, sniffing at the air, and constantly
glancing back at the brick building’s door.

As they came up to the end of the block Hank slowed, easing
up to the corner. He leaned around the
corner peering down the street. There
was movement far down the street. Hank
continued to watch and decided whatever was moving was headed in the other
direction. After taking one last look
behind them, Hank made his way around the corner, staying tight to the
cinderblock wall.

The eerie silence was broken when the door they had exited
the warehouse through burst open, slamming up against the brick wall.
  Angered growls immediately followed.

Hank was relieved the three of them had turned the corner,
out of sight. He also knew the demented
would be fanning out in their hunt for prey.  
Still leading the way, Hank picked up the pace and whispered, “Hustle,
let’s get to the next corner.”

Zeus sensed their haste and rushed out ahead of them with
his head low to the ground, rapidly sniffing at the cement.

They were nearing the end of the block when Sam let out a
sharp gasp. Hank and Kelly both slowed
and looked down at him. Following his
gaze they saw several infected staggering a down the middle of the street
across from them. There were three of
them just moving out of the long shadow of a corner diner.
  One of them, a young girl wearing tight jeans
and a pink shirt, staggered along, staring absently at the ground.
  The other two wore shredded business suits
and both were looking directly at Hank.  
Zeus came to a stop, spinning toward the infected.
  He issued a low growl.

One of the suits looked skyward and screamed out a loud
huff
.   
Pink immediately perked up to the noise.  
Suit #2 was already in motion.  
Head lowered, he was sprinting directly at them.
  Pink followed in his wake, her movements
awkward and slow.

Hank quickly dropped to a knee and pulled his rifle up to
his shoulder, peering down the iron sights.  
Kelly and Sam stood next to him, frozen in place.
  Realizing gunfire would only draw more
infected, Hank abruptly stood back up and turned toward Kelly.
  “We have to run.”

Suit #2 was already in the middle of the intersection,
continuing his charge. Zeus let out a
loud bark, tensed, and then raced toward the man, issuing angry growls.
  Hank watched only briefly before deciding
this was their chance. He hated to leave
the dog, but knew this might be their only hope.
  He grabbed Kelly by the arm to get her moving
and then the three of them sprinted down the side road away from the
intersection. The vicious collision
between Zeus and Suit #2 could be heard as they raced away.
  It was a terrifying mix of grunts, growls,
and shrieks.

Before making it around the corner, Hank saw more demented
out of the corner of his eye. It was the
group that chased them through the warehouse.  
Suit #1’s loud huffs had tipped them off.
   His bark like noises would carry a long ways
in the quiet of a dead city at night.

The sharp yelp of a pained dog sounded from the
intersection.    Hank winced at the noise,
but kept moving. Kelly and Sam ran next
to him. Sam’s little legs churned as
fast as possible, but they didn’t cover much ground and he was beginning to
fade back. Kelly scooped him up,
throwing him on her hip. They would be
slow together, but faster than the little guy could do on his
own.

“I’ll cover us.”   Hank
said.

Kelly responded, “I can’t keep going like this.”
  Her words were strained between labored
breaths.

The street was lined with two story brick buildings.
  Most were storefronts, various mom and pop shops.
  Beyond these, at the far end of the street,
was another wide intersection. There was
a massive pileup of cars, taking up the entire street.
  Hank watched in horror as movement amongst
the cars turned into infected climbing over and around them in pursuit of the
huffing noise.

Sam let out a sharp scream.

Kelly shouted, “More!”

Hank eyed the building closest to them.
  “Over there.”  
Hank said while pointing to a dry cleaning shop with a dusty white sign
out front that read, “Drop and Clean.”  
It was one of the few stores that still had all of its windows
intact. The others appeared to have been
ransacked, likely looted or worse.

The infected had cleared the piled up cars and were just
entering the end of the street when Kelly flung open the dry cleaner’s door.
  Hank glanced behind them while Kelly and Sam
were shuffling through the opening. Pink
and one of the Business Suits were racing their way.
  Hank could see Zeus’s furry form behind them,
lying in the center of the intersection.  
More demented were just rounding the corner.

Hank raced through the open door.
  There was a large counter with clothes hung
along a rod behind it. They still had
tags with red numbers on them, left for customers that would never show.
  Kelly stood holding Sam in front of the
counter. She spun
around, panic on her face.

  “Now
where?”   She said.

Hank surveyed the room and noticed a narrow door on the
other side of the counter. It had an
“Employees Only” tag on the front.
Rushing across the small room, Hank flipped open a breakaway
portion of the counter to gain easy access to the door.
  “This way, let’s go.”

Hank flung open the flimsy door and charged through the
opening, oblivious to any potential dangers.  
The narrow hallway extended into the darkness.

“Close the door and lock it if you can.”
   Hank shouted.

Kelly slammed the door closed, blanketing them in inky
blackness. The handle rattled as she
searched blindly for a way to lock it.  
Hank tried to blink into the darkness, hoping to see something, but
there wasn’t a sliver of light coming from anywhere.
  He sniffed at the air.
  The air smelled stale and dusty, without a
trace of the decay, rot, and death smells he had learned to fear.

“It’s locked.”   Kelly
said.

Hank sighed. “Good
work. Let’s see if we can...”

Before he could finish, the sound of shattering glass broke
the silence. It came from the front of
the store and was quickly followed by the pounding of feet, and angered
growls. Several of them began
grunting. They were low, quick grunts,
almost rhythmic. Hank swore it sounded
like they were communicating with one another.  
The demented filled the front of the store, searching.

With a quivering voice Sam said, “I’m scared.”

He got the words out before anyone could stop him and the
reaction by the demented was instantaneous.  
Several loud shrieks sounded from the storefront.
  Kelly had barely backed away from the door
when an infected pounded into the other side.  
The sound of splintering wood made it clear that the door was not going
to hold up for long. Another loud bang
as the door continued to take a beating.  
Sam issued a terrified scream.

Hank could not see a thing, but instinctively reached out
toward Sam, using his scream to locate him.  
Finding his shoulder, Hank pulled him in close and lifted him up onto
his hip while continuing to hold his AR15 in the other hand.
  He turned and headed for the back of the
building.

There was another loud boom on the door and the sound of
cracking wood.

Hank rubbed his forearm against the wall to help guide
him. Several paces later the wall
disappeared, signaling that they had found a room.
  He came to a stop and Kelly slammed into his
back. Hank lowered Sam down to the
ground and said, “Take him and feel along the wall until you find an exit.
  I’m going to buy some time.”
  He stepped out of Kelly’s way.
  She brushed past him and scooped up Sam.

Another loud boom echoed down the hall, followed by an
excited growl as the door gave way.

Hank pulled his rifle up to his shoulder and began firing
blindly toward the front. The roar of
the AR was deafening in the enclosed space.  
With each shot there was a brief flash of light, revealing the angered
faces of multiple demented trying to squeeze through the narrow doorway.
  Showing no mercy, Hank continued to squeeze
the trigger, sending round after round into the infected.

Between shots Kelly yelled, “Found some
stairs...directly...room.”   Parts of the
sentence were drowned out by the gunfire.

“Go!”   Hank yelled
while continuing to fire into the swarming mass.
  A few shots later the weapon ran dry.
  He was ready for it and in one fluid motion
hit the mag release and turned to follow Kelly.  
While moving through the darkness he pulled a fresh magazine from his
chest pocket and slammed it into the rifle’s mag well.
  He never heard where Kelly found the stairs,
but new they must be across the room somewhere.  
Running blindly, he cursed in anger when he caught the corner of a table
with his thigh. The impact spun him
sideways, nearly causing him to fall to the floor.