A double slam and the doors were closed. Flex watched as Lisa engaged the door locks, and nodded at her.
She gave him a thumbs up from inside, her face pinched with worry.
The two men approached the scene. Blood
ran
from
a hole in the floorboard
of the camouflaged jeep
, pooling underneath
.
A man’s legs and feet hung out of the open door of the vehicle, and Flex could tell just from the amount of blood and the stillness of the body that its soul had abandoned it forever.
The boots looked familiar, but they were so blood-smeared it was impossible to tell if they were indeed whose he thought they were.
Flex stepped over body after body
of the many downed and dead zombies
, careful to watch for movement.
A round fired off
, startling him
and Flex jumped. “Jesus,” said Flex, looking at Dave.
“
It was just a head,” said Dave. “But it was gnashing. I hate that.”
Flex nodded.
As Flex approached the body in the Jeep, he
stepped over another dead zombie. All had been killed by gunshots to the head.
Three bodies
had fallen
closely to the vehicle, in front of the driver’s s
ide door.
One by one, F
lex leaned down, lifted and
pulled the legs of the dead creatures
, sliding
them
several feet
away from the truck
.
Even as he did this, he told himself he was stalling. There was no time for it, he knew. Take action. Find the others and get as many people home safely as possible. He already missed the hell out of Gem.
As he pulled the door of the Jeep open wider, he saw the dead occupant’s clothing for the first time.
The plaid shirt told him part of the story. The carved, leather belt told him the rest. A marijuana leaf right in the middle
of the back
, and Jacko
carved
on both sides.
He lay with his knees on the ground outside, and his torso and head on the driver’s side floorboard.
Flex looked up to see Dave staring at the body as well.
“Damn,” said Dave. “Poor son-of-a-bitch.”
“Yeah,” said Flex.
The shirt was shredded, and gouges and bite marks were evident on Jacko’s exposed skin. Despite his apprehension, Flex had to be sure. He slid his
K7
over his shoulder and leaned in to turn over Jacko’s body.
His face was gone. Pulp.
“But he was on WAT-6, Flex,” said Dave. “How?”
“Maybe he couldn’t get to it when he needed it.”
Flex felt his stomach churn as the gun on his truck clamored into action. Both men whirled to see what had instigated Lisa’s fire.
The gun was pointed back toward the building in which she had been trapped just minutes earlier. Six of the creatures were moving toward them from the corner of the building, and her fire had taken three of them out with clean head shots. Two had escaped completely, while one of them was riddled with chest shots and had been thrown down onto its back.
Dave raised his weapon and held it for a moment on the two younger female zombies who now walked toward them.
“What are you waiting for?” asked Flex, pulling his
K7
around to do what Dave had not yet done.
“Look,” said Dave, pointing.
As they watched, the two females separated, one moving left, the other coming right, on either side of them. One burst would no longer take both of them out.
“I swear they’re gauging our positions,” said Dave.
“I don’t know about that, but you take the one on the right,” said Flex, raising his weapon and firing, hitting the one on the left directly in the forehead, sending a blackish liquid jettisoning out of the back of her dead skull.
Dave fired
off two shots
as well, and the chest, followed by the head of the other one, became a horrible, sticky memory.
Dave fired again, and the one Lisa had wounded fell still in a pool of its own muck.
“Where the hell are Serena and Whit?” asked Dave.
“Somebody killed the fucks that were eating him,” said Flex. “Had to be them.”
“We need to find them now, Flex,” said Dave. “Toss me your radio.”
Flex unclipped it and flipped it to Dave, who turned it on and pressed the talk button.
“Come in. Whit? You there? We
’ve got Lisa. Where are you?”
Nothing came back.
“What the fuck was he driving?” asked Flex. “Do you know?”
“He usually drove the Suburban. The green one they had in the yard of the state house,” said Dave. “It was kind of Whit’s car.”
“Okay, let’s get back in and drive. Should be pretty easy to spot.”
The two men ran back to the truck and Lisa unlocked the door. They jumped in and Flex turned the key, firing the engine.
He punched the gas and accelerated out of the lot, heading straight toward three of the creatures they’d just taken down. The cow catcher caught two of them, sweeping them off
to
the side, and their wheels bounced over the third.
“
Runnin’ over that one was j
ust a precautionary measure,” said Flex
, a half smile on his lips
.
They arrived at the entry again, and Flex stopped the truck. “Which way? Jesus, if we leave and they’re still in here, we’ll have the whole town to search.”
“They could be back by now,” said Dave.
“We can’t know that. Besides, if they’d gotten out of here, wouldn’t they have let someone know Lisa was lost?”
“You got the binoculars?” asked Dave.
“In the glove box. Good idea.”
Dave popped the box open and pulled out the high-powered binoculars. He looked through them, scanning the area within the compound.
“Straight! Go straight. I think I see his truck!
They’re fucking surrounded!
”
Flex straightened out the steering wheel and accelerated, the tires breaking free and squealing as he took off.
“Where!”
“
Right here, make a right. Here!”
Flex turned at the corner, narrowly missing an overturned red car with all the doors closed.
Flex did not want to think of who or what might be inside, longing for release into the world where it could satisfy its craving for human flesh.
Flex
let
the
steering
wheel
slide between his hands
, straightening out the Chevy, and drove with reckless abandon toward the small crowd of dead walkers surrounding the green truck.
“I can’t shoot,” said Flex. “Fuckers are pressed up against it.”
Dave held up the binoculars. “I can’t tell if anyone’s inside, Flex,” he said. “But they’re not
packed
around
there
for nothing.”
“No,” said Flex. “There’s something in there they want, that’s for sure. I have an idea.”
Flex could drive. He knew that. But he had to be careful, or he could do more damage than good.
“Pull in that side mirror, Dave. Just pull it in flat to the truck.”
Dave unrolled the window and flipped the mirror back. “What are you thinking?”
“You’ll see,” said Flex. “Hang on.”
Dave rolled the window back up and put on his seat belt. Lisa did the same.
Flex floored the engine and drove toward the crowd of ten or so zombies. Some glanced up just before impact, and others were so intent on the interior of Whit’s truck that they paid him no attention whatsoever.
Flex’s truck
slammed into their bodies, piling two against
the
four, and ripping their smashed, deteriorated frames
into pieces as first the edge of the cow catcher caught
their
legs, and the side of the Chevy
mashed
them against the Suburban
as they rolled by
. Five of them flew off of their shuffling feet into the air, landing several feet away.
Flex
cranked
the wheel sharply left, hit the brake and threw it into park.
“Same thing, Lisa. If you shoot, don’t hit us!” shouted Flex.
The two men jumped out of the truck, guns at ready. Dave ran around to the side not cleared by the sideswipe, and fired alongside the truck, taking five more down who had been clawing at the window. He then pulled his urushiol bottle from his belt and ran forward, spraying for all he was worth.
“Save that shit for the ratz, Dave,” said Flex, firing his Glock into the heads of the downed zombies, all struggling to get back on their feet, but hindered by shattered hips, snapped legs and broken backs.
Flex took great pleasure in knowing they never stood a chance.
“They’re inside!” shouted Dave. “But they’re not moving!”
Flex watched as
Dave fired six more times, sending the creatures to either their final hell, or to salvation. Flex didn’t know which one, and he didn’t particularly care.
Flex and
Dave tried the door
s. All l
ocked.
Before Flex could act, Dave
used the butt of the Walther to smash the rear, passenger side window. Whit slumped
against the steering
wheel, and
Serena
lay equally limp in the front passenger seat
, her head against the side window
.
Dave reached in and hit the power
button, unlocking all the doors.
Simultaneously, Flex and Dave
eased
open the
front
doors and began examining Whit and Serena for injuries. They appeared to be asleep.
Flex turned to give
the watching Lisa a thumbs up sign.
He saw instant relief on her face.
Dave took Serena by the shoulders and shook her gently. Flex did the same with Whit. It took nearly thirty seconds for either to react, but eventually, they moaned, their voices groggy.
“Jesus,” said Dave. “Serena, are you okay? Whit?”
Both tried to focus on them. Serena said, “What happened? Dave?”
Dave leaned in and hugged her, and her arms moved around his neck.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “We were in trouble, weren’t we?”
“Damn,” said Whit. “We took the wafers. Thought we had time, but I guess we’d expired.”
“No, you didn’t expire, but you sure as hell must’ve exceeded your time limit. You gotta be more careful, Whit,” said Flex.
“Pardon my French, but we had other shit on our minds,” said Whit. “Like where Lisa is. Did you find her?”
“She’s in the truck,” said Dave.
“Thank God,’ said Serena
, relief washing over her face
. “I was so scared for her.”
“You and me both,” said Dave. “But I was pretty scared for you, too.”
Flex watched as her eyes met Dave’s and she gave him a grateful smile.
“Did you see what happened to Jacko?” asked Whit.
“We saw,” said Flex. “
It’s not good.
No time to chat right now. We haven’t seen any ratz yet, and I don’
t know where they all are, but first things first. We need to get you guys home.”
“State house isn’t safe,” said Dave. “I don’t know where Kev is right now, either. You come to our place.”
“No argument,” said Whit. “Thanks for saving our asses.”
“This thing drivable?” asked Flex.
“No problem,” said Whit. “Like I said, we stopped to replenish our WAT-6 and I guess we were too late. Went out like a light.”
“If there’s ever a doubt, you take it one at a time,” Flex said. “That way you wake each other up.”
“Let’s go,” said Whit.
“Want to ride with me?” asked Dave.
“You know I do,” said Serena. “But I don’t want to leave Whit alone. It’s been quite a day.”
“Then I’ll ride with you
guys
,” said Dave. “Flex, we’ll follow you back
to
the house.”
Serena smiled, and Dave
swiped as much of the shattered, tempered glass from the seat
as best he could
and
climbed into th
e back.
Whit started the engine. “I’m low on fuel, but I’ll
get
there.”
“Okay, you’re gonna have to back out, Whit,” Flex said. “There was quite a zombie party going on outside your truck when we got
to you
, so you’re only clear in the rear.”