Undead L.A. 2 (11 page)

“I know you won't,” Adam calmly replied as he brought his blade up and cut the man's throat. Ricky's face went pale white. His hands reached up, trying desperately to keep the blood in as it trickled in bright red spurts through his fingers, like a babbling, scarlet brook trickling over a bed of chalk white rocks. He coughed and a fine mist of blood escaped him with a wheeze, lingering for one terrible moment in the air in front of him like a genie before coating his clothes in a delicate spray of fine drops of fresh blood. Adam turned to the girl. She pointed her knife at him, her eyes wide with fresh fear.

“Did they hurt you?” Adam asked, ignoring her threatening gesture. “I mean, you know... down there?”

“No,” she answered, shaking her head back and forth for emphasis. “Just my face and neck.” Her right eye was swelling over now, turning a dark shade of purple.

“That's good,” he said feeling only slightly relieved. “What's your name?”

“Sarah,” she mouthed, still looking distrustful of him.

“That's good, Sarah. I'm Adam. We've got to go now. Take my hand.”

He reached out to her, but she stared defiantly back at him. There was a loud clanging sound as the first few zombies reached the metal door of the fast food bathroom and began beating their fists against it in anger. Soon there would be too many to fend off and they'd be trapped. He knew they had only seconds to make it out in one piece.

“We're running out of time, Sarah, if we want to survive this,” Adam insisted over the sound of the man in the corner choking to death on his own blood, and the hungry growls of the flesh eating former humans waiting for them in the parking lot. She relented, placing her tiny hand in his at last.

“Just know if you try to hurt me I'll kill you,” she warned, gripping her switchblade tighter in her other hand. Adam felt a burst of pride as he fought back a laugh.

“Good for you, kid,” he managed. “Always go down swinging. Now listen up. When I kick the door we're going to break left, away from the street and over to the hospital. You got that?”

She nodded in reply.

“Just keep moving and we should be okay,” he assured her. “Don't get bit, and no matter what happens, don't let go of my hand. You got that?”

She nodded again, the color draining from her face as she realized what they were about to do.
 

“One. Two. Three!” He kicked the door as hard as he could. It connected with several biters that had piled up against it and they were knocked back out into the parking lot, bowling down several more that had been drawn in by the ruckus. Adam had a clear path, but he knew it would soon vanish. He rushed out, dragging the little girl by the hand so hard that, for a moment, he thought her feet might come off the ground. He managed to break clear of the most immediate biters, racing along the left side of the building until they hit the concrete, then bolting left again, narrowly ducking under the flailing arms and gnashing teeth of a heavyset former construction worker missing half his face and one of his eyes.

Fuck, they stink when they turn
, Adam thought, holding his breath and trying not to throw up. The smell reminded him of a decomposing opossum he'd found in his backyard as a kid. It had rotted in the sun for three days before they discovered it.
These things smell like that times a hundred, and no matter how many times you encounter 'em, you never get used to it.

Adam and Sarah ran down Cadillac Boulevard towards the large emerald green hospital building. Sarah didn't question why they were running toward a small cluster of zombies ambling in their direction; not out loud, anyway. She did squeeze Adam's hand as hard as she could twice in a row, prompting him to shout out.

“Don't worry. I see 'em,” he grunted as they sharply turned and darted off to the left again, rounding the Del Taco as they circled into the parking lot. There was a low brick wall obscured by a row of hedges between the hospital and the fast food place that turned into a full wall where the drive through window was. Adam knew if they cut through the side gate and made another left over the waist-high wall they'd be able to double back and cross over La Cienega before most of the angry corpses following them even had a chance to figure out where they'd gone. In all likelihood, he knew they'd probably have to take on a few stragglers if they were going to make it back to the safety of his shelter, but the odds of them surviving a full on zombie horde would go up a thousand percent if his plan worked.

The small cluster of zombies was now swelling in size as the two groups of undead pooled into the hospital driveway forming a large parade of gruesome animated corpses, looking like a nightmarish version of a ghoulish Rose Parade, rapidly moving in their direction. Adam was able to pick out a couple from outside the bathroom who were working their way to the front of the buffet line; the agitated ones moving the quickest while the rest followed steadily along, a swarm of decaying bodies with garish open wounds, broken bones, and shredded, bloodstained clothing.

“What the fuck have I gotten myself into?” he asked out loud. He looked at the girl and she gave him a terrified nod in reply, her eyes wide with fear. “Here goes nothing.”

Adam cupped his hands to his mouth and began to shout.

“HEY! OVER HERE! DINNER IS SERVED! COME AND GET IT!”

The last thing Adam saw before turning and grabbing the girl's hand again was the zombies closest to him charging and the ones behind rushing into the walled off area. The pit of his stomach felt like it had fallen out as a sharp wave of fear and adrenaline shot through his system. He realized at once that he'd have a perilously narrow window to execute his plan, otherwise they'd both die an agonizing death as a mob of rotting corpses tore chucks out of their living bodies.

Just keep running
, he thought.
Don't stop until you're both safe—and don't let her go!

They bolted past the gate that cut off arriving visitors from the Emergency Room. Adam could see the angry corpses inside beating on the glass doors as he quickly glanced in their direction, making sure a fresh flood of rotters wasn't bearing down on them from the direction of the cluster of medical buildings. All the power had been off for weeks and the unfortunate ones that hadn't left before the generator burned out were now trapped permanently in there. Adam had sworn that one day he would find a way to release them from their undead sentence, but had never found the courage to try to scavenge past the now gutted on-site pharmacy. Everything about hospitals scared him, going back long before the end of the world. He'd always sworn he was not going to die at one, even in the parking lot. It was a promise he'd made to himself, and he didn't intend on breaking that promise anytime soon.

“Which way are we going?” the little girl asked with concern, tugging on his hand and looking back over her shoulder at the dozens of living corpses now locked onto them.

“Remember what I told you,” Adam recapped, pulling her back towards the fast food restaurant parking lot; the only thing separating them from the swarm was a flimsy brick wall. “I've got a secure place just across the street over there. We've just got to make one quick stop, and then we'll lock ourselves in for the night. Stay with me. Don't get bit and don't let go.”

If she doubted him she didn't let it show. They ran through the parking lot, their path unimpeded, the roar of a small mob of corpses echoing alongside them in the hollow underpass of the drive-thru lane. They didn't encounter any resistance whatsoever until they reached La Cienega, where they had to dart back and forth in a zigzag to cross, doing their best all the while to avoid being eaten by stragglers and crawlers strewn throughout the mess of tangled cars abandoned in the street. When they reached the sidewalk, Adam put both hands on Sarah's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

“Stay right here,” he spoke calmly. “Do not move. Got it?”

She nodded in reply and he bolted down the street towards the hulking remains of the burned down gas station and the thoroughly looted AM/PM. Sarah heard the sound of a car horn going off in a steady scream, like a tea kettle's whistle somewhere off in the distance. She turned to see the Mercedes sitting at the far end of the block, the front end slammed into a bent traffic pole. Tendrils of black smoke swam up from the hood and into the darkness at the cusp of dusk's last rays to become part of the crushing velvet night sky. The car doors were open now and zombies were gathered around it in a thick crush of bodies, some twisted at unnatural angles, others simply shoving themselves in as far as they could, all trying to get at the remains of Scott, who was presumably still trapped behind the wheel. Sarah turned back to look for Adam who had vanished around a corner. A few harrowing seconds went by before Adam reappeared, holding the wine and ham. He jogged back to her and when she turned around to look for the Mercedes again, she was relieved to see it hadn't moved.

“Can't leave this stuff behind,” Adam said with a smile. “Not if we plan on eating tonight. All I've got left are protein bars.”

He'd expected her to be more excited. When she wasn't, his mood seemed to drop.

“What is it?” he questioned. “What's wrong?”

Sarah didn't reply. She just turned and pointed up the street to where Scott was sitting in his Mercedes in the distance.

“Looks like the sorry prick got exactly what he deserved after all,” Adam said with a dry laugh. “Pardon my French.”

“Fuck him,” Sarah fired back, stopping afterwards to spit on the ground in disgust.

“Out of the mouths of babes,” Adam laughed. “Let's get inside and lock up quick before we end up joining him.”

There was a metal door on the side of the furniture shop, which was shuttered. Adam reached into his shirt and removed a key that was hanging from a thin piece of silver around his neck. He fitted it into the lock. The ruse of circling the fast food building and cutting through the strip mall across from the hospital had bought them time, but that didn't mean they had been completely forgotten by their pursuers. There were now almost a hundred zombies bearing down on them like rabid animals locked onto injured prey; all were flooding across the boulevard past cars and bodies, like a disgusting river of rotting flesh and biting teeth. Adam jiggled the key in the lock, trying to get it to turn while cursing it under his breath.

“Fucking...thing...gets stuck at the...oddest times,” he hissed in between attempts to force it open.

“Hurry,” the girl pleaded in a worried voice. “They're almost here!”

At last the key clicked into place and turned. Adam let out a sigh of relief as he swung the door open and pulled Sarah inside, slamming it behind him. There was a narrow alley between the two buildings that lead to a side door. Adam popped it open and motioned for her to go on in.

“Ladies first,” he offered with a flourish, and added, “after you, my dear.”

Sarah paused, looking as nervous as a plump rat in an owlery, then darted into the darkened office building. Adam followed her in and shut and locked the door. Sarah felt her thighs connect with the soft side of a cushy couch. She paused, waiting for her eyes to become accustomed to the dark before walking further. When they finally adjusted, she could clearly see that she was inside a furniture sales floor. To the right of her, alongside the showroom wall, there was a white staircase leading up to an open door. A wall of glass windows just beyond it suggested the upstairs was filled with offices.

“This place belonged to my folks,” Adam explained.

A hole in the ceiling allowed the last rays of sunlight to illuminate a path towards the staircase. Adam set off ahead of her and Sarah scurried behind him to keep up, not wanting to be trapped in the darkness of the warehouse space. Outside she could hear muffled cries of frustration as the small zombie horde pounded on the metal door in search of a fresh kill.

“I've never seen anything like it before,” Sarah gushed.

“Originally, they built this place to be some kind of assembly line,” Adam explained. “The people who owned it manufactured essential oils down on the floor, and management and sales worked upstairs. Then I guess they went out of business, or moved, or something. The realtor admitted it sat on the market for years. No one wanted it. In fact he had to beg my old man to see it, according to the way my mom tells it. I guess my father fell in love when he saw the upstairs. He kept the main office the same, but turned the others into rooms to entertain celebrity clients. It was the Seventies. Shag rugs, fondue parties, and who knows what else?”

Sarah nodded, not having much to add. They reached the top of the stairs and Adam led them through the main door, shutting and locking it behind him. He walked down the hallway and turned left towards a small kitchen area. He came back out with two flashlights, handing one to her.

“I spent most of my childhood here,” Adam revealed in a confessional tone. “Playing hide and seek down there and making microwave burritos in here. Naturally, with the power off you can't nuke a frozen meal anymore, but don't you worry. I grabbed a huge supply of canned heat from Home Depot when the shit hit the fan. I could cook us a full Thanksgiving meal and more with what I've got. Of course, I'd have to find a turkey first. It's not like you can just pop over to Whole Foods these days and pick up a Step 5 humanely raised antibiotic free turkey. Hell, you'd be lucky to find a plain old Butterball still frozen in someone's garage fridge at this point.”

“Is there some place I can clean up?” Sarah asked.

“You bet,” Adam said, feeling happy to have some company for the first time since the world ended. “Bathroom is the last door on the right. I've got over a month's supply of water up here, but no working plumbing so I've brought up a few buckets for flushing the toilet. I generally only use it as a last resort. I'm guessing one day it will back up on me, but for now it still works if you flush it manually.”

“You have over a month's supply of water inside?”

“And more downstairs,” Adam added. “We can even boil you some hot water for a bath after dinner if you’d like.”