The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (32 page)

My heart raced. I couldn’t bear to see those kids be devoured by zombies, but if we didn’t get out of there, it would be a massacre. Every second counted, and we had to leave right away. “Which way?”

She walked into the corridor and pointed. “Down the hall and to the right.”

I motioned for everyone to follow the blonde, and I grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall. “Take this,” I said, giving it to her.

“What for?” she asked.

“It makes a great weapon. The foam confuses zombies. If we run into any, spray the heck outta them.”

“Thanks,” she said, then handed it to a woman who had no other weapon in her hand. “You heard the kid,” she said. “If you see zombies, spray them like there’s no tomorrow. You got that, Lynn.”

“Yep,” the woman said, her voice shaky.

I turned to leave, but the blonde grabbed my arm. “Where’re you going?”

“To make sure the room’s clear.” I rushed back and scanned the huge room, and it was a relief to see that everyone was out, but then I heard a soft cry. “Who’s here?” I asked. “Where are you?”

“Dean!” a little boy called out.

I glanced around and saw Ben crouched under a bed, his big, brown eyes wide with fright. “Ben!” I held out my hand. “Come on, buddy. It’s okay. I’m gonna get you out of here.”

He crawled out and jumped into my arms, still holding on to his little blue ball.

Squeezing him tight, I rushed down the corridor and caught up with the others. I made my way to the front just as the blonde opened up the door to a stairwell. The boy continued to clutch me as I drew my gun. The women shined their flashlights around, allowing us to see that the stairwell was clear, and my shoulders shrugged in relief. We could hear gunfire and shouts echoing, and we had no idea what was happening down there, but we had no choice but to take the stairs.

When we got to the bottom, the leader opened the door, and we walked straight into the darkness. Ben nuzzled into me as flashlight beams swept over the dark room.

“I don’t see anything,” Lynn said, her voice trembling as she held on to the fire extinguisher for dear life.

“Good. C’mon,” I said.

The blonde led the way, and behind her was a brunette with a big, powerful flashlight and Lynn, armed with the fire extinguisher. Three other women pointed guns straight ahead of us as we walked down the corridor, all of them holding little kids’ hands.

“Okay,” the blonde said. “We’re across. We just have to open the stairwell and climb up, and we’ll be in the next building.”

“Do you think it’s safe?” the brunette asked, waving her flashlight around.

“It’s connected to the lab,” another answered. “Bob and Jake made sure it was clear of zombies so we’d be safe over here, and I’m sure zombies haven’t broken in.”

The blonde slowly opened the door.

My heart pounded as fast as little Ben’s, and my fingers rested on the trigger of my gun.

When the door was opened, the stench of death wafted into our nostrils, and I knew that could only mean one thing. I handed the boy off to the woman closest to me.

“No, Dean!” he said, reaching for me.

“Gimme that flashlight,” I said to the brunette, my voice cracking with tension. After she handed it to me, I headed up the stairs with my gun drawn. When the beam landed on white, milky eyes. I fired. It dropped sideways as a little girl screamed, then headed up the stairs to the door labeled “Floor One.” I glanced up the stairwell, shining my light, but I didn’t see any other zombies; it was a relief to know that that one was just a straggler. I slowly opened the door to the first floor, only to find at least ten zombies stumbled around. I slammed the door shut, took a deep breath, then glanced back at the women and children who were counting on me to save them. “It’s dark. I’m gonna need a lotta light…and some backup.”

A few of the women bravely volunteered to come with me, and after a few deep breaths to ease our nerves, I led them into battle. A blonde set a flashlight into a nook in the wall that held antiques. Zombies shifted in the shadows, and one immediately lumbered over. I aimed my gun directly at the bald zombie’s head and squeezed the trigger, sending it crashing to the ground, its head hanging at an awkward angle. To the right, I emptied the rest of my clip into the second one, a zombie with shaggy black hair and deep bite marks running down its face and neck.

A loud succession of gunfire echoed all around me as the women fired into the approaching zombies. Those only armed with flashlights beamed light around, trying to help the battlers focus so we could make out our targets and shoot or bash them. The undead had set their sights on us, and they continued letting out excited moans, as if their dinner was near. Four well-placed shots to the head took down the small group coming from the left.

A hissing zombie in a black business suit fixated on me, lifting his lip to expose a row of sharp, jagged, bone-crunching teeth. I aimed carefully, then let out a shot that sent him hurtling to the floor with a hard crash, on top of some of his dead buddies. I shifted my aim and fired again. The women were shooting like champs, taking freaks down one by one. I admired their bravery, especially since most of them had never had to fight before, and I knew I never could have taken all those zombies out by myself.
These chicks are kicking some serious zombie butt!

Cries and shouts of victory, mixed with the moans of the undead, echoed throughout the room. Somebody fired near my head, and while my ears rang, it didn’t slow me down. When a shot of pure adrenaline shot through me, I leapt onto a table. With perfect aim and a steady hand, I continued to fire off several rounds, showering empty shell casings down onto the table until my gun clicked empty. With snapping jaws, three zombies clumsily bumped into the table. I pulled out the empty clip and frantically slammed in a new one, then fired three shots as dead, rotting arms reached out for me. They fell, sprawled beside one another on the cold, hard ground.

A woman’s scream pierced my ears from the left, and I looked to see that a zombie had her pinned to the ground as she struggled fiercely. She was only armed with a flashlight, violently beating the zombie in the head, to no avail. As it lunged for her face, I squeezed the trigger, and the beast fell to the side, motionless.

“I see how they’re getting in!” another lady shouted from the other side of the room. “The lock’s been shot out.”

At that moment, I looked down at the dead bodies on the ground, half-eaten, and it all made sense. The gang members had shot the locks out so they could break in, and the zombies had come in behind them and made a meal out of them.

“Block it with furniture!” I yelled.

“But you said we shouldn’t trap ourselves,” the woman from earlier argued.

I rushed over and helped a few women push a heavy oak desk toward the door to act as a blockade. “We’re not trapped this time. This won’t hold long, but it’ll buy us enough time to get outta here,” I explained. I glanced out the window and huffed out air. The street was littered with zombies, so we’d have to go out the aptly named emergency exit, the back door; I hoped we’d have better luck taking the back way. I rushed over to the stairwell we’d come from and motioned the rest of the women and children to follow. “We’ll have to try the back door,” I said.

Pointing my gun, I shined the flashlight into the darkness. A crashing noise and a low hiss distracted me. A towering zombie stumbled into my path, and his gaze fell on me, but I swiftly shot it in the temple. It fell forward, and two little boys jumped back, startled.

I peeked through the back window and was glad to see that there wasn’t much activity back here.

“We can cut through the yards to Lilly’s house,” a woman said. “We’ll be safe there.”

Another woman nodded. “Right! It’s all boarded up, and people guard the place in shifts.”

“Okay,” I said. “No guns from this point on if you can help it. The gunfire will only get their attention, and we don’t need company.”

“What do we use then?” a woman said in a harsh whisper.

I walked over to a wooden chair and turned it over, then broke the legs off. “These,” I said, handing a leg to four women.

“Wooden stakes?” Ben said. “These aren’t Draculas, Dean. They’re zombies.”

I glanced down at him and smiled. “These weapons will work on all kinds of monsters, Ben. You just keep your eyes closed and go with your mom. Can you do that?”

“Sure!” he said as his mother pulled him along.

I broke up more chairs, and then handed out weapons to anyone else who wanted one. Grabbing one for myself, I gripped the wood tightly in my hands.

“Let’s hurry, before more come,” the brunette said.

The door swung open, and I rushed out. A zombie reached out for me, and I reared back and swung as hard as I could. The zombie fell with a loud
thump
. I reared back again and swung at the next one and the one after that.

Once the path was clear, I motioned the group to run down the alley.

The blonde led us through a few yards but suddenly stopped when we got to a silver fence. “This is it,” she said.

That was my cue to leave, so I met her gaze. “I have to go back, to find Nick and Lucas and get my sister and friends out of jail. Can you take it from here?”

“I can and I will,” she said. “Thanks for your help, Dean. We would’ve never gotten out of there without you. You’re a real hero.”

“Are you guys gonna be okay?” I asked, looking down at Ben.

“We will now. Thanks.” Gasping, she said, “The guys will be here in no time. This is our emergency spot.” She reached into her pocket and handed me a set of keys. “The gold one will open the cells. Get your sister and friends, Dean. They deserve to be free. We all do.”

“Thank you,” I said.

She smiled at me and turned to go inside.

I waved to the brave women and shot them a final smile. “Good luck…and take care,” I said. As they waved, I rushed back to the lab.

***

Cutting back through the yards, I stopped at a tall wooden fence. Just as I was about to scale it, a hand reached through a long, vertical gap. I jumped back and barely escaped the grasp of the long, dead, black fingernails that were reaching for me. It sounded as though the thin barrier contained a herd of wild animals, like a dilapidated zoo. I stepped back as more hands burst through the missing board in the fence, at least six of them, belonging to at least three zombies. My breathing quickened. I might have been able to fight off the small group, but I didn’t have the time. I needed to get to Nick and Lucas as fast as I could, so I sucked in a deep breath and turned to cut through a different yard.

I heard gunfire and shouts coming from the lab as I ran. Guttural sounds and grunts echoed in the air behind me. I spun around and saw eight or nine zombies shuffling through the high grass, attracted to the sound of the battle and Jackie’s silent calls. I had told the women not to use guns, but I had no other option. I could never take out so many zombies with a wooden chair leg.

I took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, and focused on making clean shots to the head so I could fire as little as possible. I’d never taken on so many at once without backup.
Trust what you know,
I said to myself.
You’re a sharpshooter, remember?
I tried to imagine that I was just playing a videogame back home in my beanbag chair, but the graphics were all too real.

I shot the first one right between the eyes. Taking careful aim, I emptied clip after clip, making no misses, no mistakes. I’d been practicing my marksmanship on the island and destroyed several thousand pop cans. I was sure I’d never have to use those skills, but there I was, by myself, shooting for my life. Everything was a blur as I slammed the rest of my rounds into the undead group until every single one of them fell dead to the ground. My training had paid off, and I almost wished Nick could have seen it.
Not combat-ready? Bull!

I hiked through the shrubs and weeds and peeked out. The zombies had dissipated and moved on, but the gang’s vehicles still surrounded the lab, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before they caught a scientist and forced him to rat us out. I decided it was best to use the back door so I wouldn’t be spotted. I opened the door and raced through the corridors to the jail cells. “Val! Claire!” my voice echoed.

Val gripped the bars. “Dean!”

I opened both cell doors with the key the woman had given me. “We’ve gotta go. Sam’s gang is still in the lab.”

“They…Dean, they killed Jackie,” Claire blurted out, her eyes red and puffy.

Her words cut straight to my heart. “What!? But I thought—”

“They shot her,” she sobbed.

“Who?”

“The scientists,” she answered.

I refused to believe it and ran to Jackie’s cell, but it was empty. “Are you sure?” I said. “Maybe they just took her somewhere else.”

“They tried to sedate her again,” Claire said, “but I heard her growl at them. She sounded like a grizzly bear, Dean! They screamed when she lunged, and then I heard the gunshot.”

“No!” I yelled, in complete denial. “I’m sure they just moved her. They need her for their research, and—”

“Why would they take her somewhere else?” Claire screamed in grief. “They locked her up for a reason. This was the safest place to keep her from hurting anyone.”