I could hear Al hitting Jeb when he said that last part.
“Is he awake?”
“No, but he's still alive. For now.”
“What happened after he shot you?”
“I imagine he thought I was dead. I must have blacked out for a minute. When I came to he was driving down the road getting ready to light a cigarette. His gun was sitting on the dash. Before he realized I was still alive, I hit him in the face with my 45. He swerved and ran into a telephone pole. So here I sit.”
“Hang on Steve. We're coming up on a bunch of zombies.”
Rick slowed down to thirty miles an hour and plowed through. I had to stop talking to Al on the radio. I needed to hold on with both hands. I was shocked that we were able to make it through so many bodies without crashing. The look on Rick's face was one of pure determination. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to Al. The blood splatter was awful. Black goo covered the windshield. Even with the wipers going full blast and windshield washer fluid spraying constantly, visibility was near zero.
“Rick you need to slow down.”
“I can't. They'll get Al if we don't hurry.”
“They'll get Al if we don't make it there at all.”
Rick slowed the truck. With the wipers and washers going, we were soon able to see out the windshield again. The road in front of the truck was jammed with zombies. Rick swerved off the road and drove through some yards. He came to some trees that were blocking our path so he drove back across the street and up into the yards on the other side. Up ahead I could see a large group of zombies. There were a few hundred of them gathered around the truck that Al was trapped in. They were pushing and shoving each other in an attempt to get at the warm meal waiting for them inside the truck. The truck sat up high enough that they weren't able to get at the windows, otherwise they would have had Al by now.
“Shit, how are we going to get him out of there?”
“All we can do is try to draw them off. Drive past them.”
Rick drove past the zombies swarming the truck Al was trapped in. I opened the window and called out to them as we went by. Quite a few followed us away but there were still too many left to attempt a rescue.
“Get a little closer and stop so I have a clear line of fire.” I got on the radio to Al. “Can you roll down your window?”
“It's a crank window so I think I can. What have you got in mind?”
“When we pull up next to you, will you be able to crawl across?”
“Try and stop me.”
I leaned out my window and opened fire. I had my rifle on full auto. Rick covered me while I was clearing the zombies from Al's side of the truck. He kept the zombies we'd drawn off the truck from getting too close to me while I was otherwise occupied. When I thought we'd made as much headway getting the zombies from Al's side of the truck as we could, I leaned back in the window and got Rick's attention.
“Pull up as close as you can.”
Rick pulled up to the truck. As we got closer, I saw Al roll down his window. Rick did an excellent job of getting right up against the truck. The sound of metal screeching against metal as we drug down the side of the truck was music to my ears. I leaned back to give Al room to get in the window. I planned on dragging him through when he got far enough in. I should have known better. When we got even with the window Al started passing weapons in to me. He cleaned out all the guns and ammunition from the truck. Of course he handed his bag of grenades to me and then he made his way out the window. I grabbed his hands and yanked him into the truck.
“Wait Rick. Don't pull away yet.” Al said through gritted teeth. I could tell his ribs hurt like hell.
“Do you want to try and get Jeb?”
“Hell no.” Al reached into the rucksack full of grenades, came up with one in his hand, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the truck. “Better hurry Rick.”
Rick had a shocked look on his face as he stomped down on the gas. The back quarter panel of the truck ripped off as we pulled away. The explosion rocked our truck and shrapnel dinged off the back.
“Goddammit Al.”
“Settle down Steve. We made it in plenty of time. Thanks guys.” Al grimaced and looked back at the wreckage. “Should have left him for the zombies. I hate wasting grenades. Those things cost a fortune.”
Chapter 17
We backtracked to the road Rick and I had been on when we'd split up earlier. Driving through the zombies wasn't as difficult as it had been when Rick and I had made our way to Al's rescue. Most had lost interest in our pursuit and had simply wandered off. The ones that were left in our path we either ran down or just passed by. We'd had enough for the day. All we wanted to do was get back to the relative safety of Boonville. To get back to Highway 40, we would have to cross the river. The only way to do that was to take Highway 70 until we crossed the river. Then we could take surface roads the rest of the way back. Surprisingly, Highway 70 was clear the entire way. There were a few accidents, but nothing major. We made good time and were soon within radio range.
“Hello, anybody out there?”
“Steve, is that you?”
“Yeah baby. We're almost to the bridge. Al's hurt. Put Cindy on.”
“Steve let me talk to Al.” Cindy demanded. You could hear the anxiety in her voice.
“It's me honey. Did everything go okay there?”
“What happened to you? Did you get bit?”
“No bites. I think I have some broken ribs though. That fucker Jeb shot me.”
“You had your body armor on, I hope.”
“That's why I only have some broken ribs. Did they get the barricade extended?”
“They're clearing the buildings that were taken in now. Gina and I are on the bridge waiting for you guys. How far out are you?”
“We're here.”
Rick pulled up to the trailer blocking the bridge and we all got out of the truck. It felt good to be back. The girls ran out from behind the blockade and ran to meet us. I was never so glad to see anybody in my life. Even though they had stayed behind, I had still been worried about them. Any number of things could have gone wrong when Mike and his people had started expanding the walls surrounding their safe haven. All it took was one bite, one infected person, and they all could have died. My biggest fear had been coming back to find the whole compound swarming with zombies. That's why we had the girls wait on the bridge for us. Their instructions had been, at the first sign of trouble, get out. Even though Mike had assured us his people knew what they were doing, Al and I had insisted that Gina and Cindy have nothing to do with the expansion project. Once we were outside the walls, he had sent the girls to the bridge to wait for our return.
“Where is that son of a bitch?” Cindy said as she looked inside the truck.
“He didn't make it back.” Al said with a mock look of sadness on his face.
“I hope he suffered.”
“He was unconscious when he accidentally got blown up.” Rick was laughing when he said this.
“Sometimes those grenades go off at the strangest times.”
“Yeah Al, they do. Like when you pull the pin.” I said.
“You should have left him for the zombies.” Gina had a look of hatred on her face when she said this. Note to self. Do not cross this woman.
“Let's get on the other side of the bridge. We can talk more then.” I took Gina in my arms when I said this and held her tight.
The guards moved the trailer away from the bridge and the four of us walked across. Rick followed in the truck. I wanted to just leave it there but we needed to get our gear from the cab before heading out. Even though Al wanted to wait, Cindy insisted on taping his ribs right then. Cindy got in the back of the U-Haul and got her first aid kit out. She had Al take his shirt off and she wrapped him up real tight. There was a huge bruise on his side where the bullet had hit him and Al whined like a baby while Cindy taped him up. She told him how lucky he was that he had the vest on in the first place and that if he'd been hit two inches lower he'd be dead by now. His kidney would have been ruptured. The blunt force trauma would have been enough to kill him.
Mike's police cruiser pulled up. He got out and looked around. I knew he was looking for Jeb. This was the confrontation I was worried about.
“I heard you were back. Where's Jeb?”
“Before things get out of hand here Chief I want you to know, Jeb shot Al.”
“Dammit Al, I'm sorry. He promised me he wouldn't do anything stupid.”
“Well, he must have thought killing me wasn't a stupid thing to do.”
“I guess he didn't make it back then.”
“No, he shot me, we struggled, and he ended getting killed when the truck crashed.”
I was glad Al didn't tell him what really happened. The edited version of the story sounded better for us than what actually happened. Even though I felt that Jeb deserved to die, Mike might not agree with the way things went down.
“I take it you're okay then.”
“I had a vest on. You might have trusted Jeb, I didn't.”
“Well it's water under the bridge. Sorry it happened Al. I really didn't think he'd do anything like that.”
“Forget it. Is everything settled with the gas station?”
I was glad Al had changed the subject. Nothing good could come from any further discussion. Jeb was dead. End of story.
“Yep, all's good. Walls are up, all the buildings have been cleared, the reservoir tanks at the station are full, and nobody died. Except Jeb that is.”
This wasn't a good sign. The Chief wasn't going to let it go. We needed to get out of here as soon as possible. Problem was that it was almost dark and we wouldn't be going anywhere until morning. We could go back across the bridge and go back the way we came, come back down Highway 70. From what the Chief told us, getting to Gina's dad's motel from the highway was going to be near impossible. Our best bet was to spend the night here and get out of town at first light. After all, the way I saw it, these people owed us. We risked our lives to get them their gas. The least they could do was believe our story and let us go on our way.
“You keep bringing Jeb up. What's the problem Mike? We did your people a big favor.” I was trying to get this resolved.
“I know you did, and Jeb got what was coming to him I'm sure. He never was worth a shit if you ask me. But look, he's my wife's brother. There's going to be hell to pay when she finds out.”
“Should we go now?”
“No, that wouldn't be right. It's almost dark already. I can't send you out in this. There's already a crowd of zombies outside the wall. I'll just have to deal with her. She knows he isn't worth a shit anyway but he's her baby brother. Honestly, I didn't think he'd do that to you Al but he's been a thorn in my side ever since I married my wife. She's going to be upset but I won't miss having to deal with all the shit he causes in my life.”
“Steve, let's just go. I want to get to the motel anyway. I'm really worried about Dad.”
“Little girl, we can't go now. We'd never make it and if we did get to his motel what could we possibly do in the dark?”
“I know Al. You're right. I'm just getting antsy being this close. Chief, have you got a place we can spend the night? Preferably one where your wife won't be able to find us.”
“We got a house that we use for new arrivals. We have them spend the night there then get them settled in one of the empty houses in town. It's real nice. You can stay there tonight. Get your stuff out of Larry's truck and follow me.”
We grabbed our weapons out of the truck and loaded them back in the U-Haul. It was a short trip to the house we would be spending the night in. The house was small but comfortable. The gas was still working so we were all able to get warm showers. Better yet, we had a hot meal. Everyone pitched in and before long we were ready for bed. Rick, as usual, would take the first watch. Even though we believed Mike, Al thought it best that we not take any chances. The Chief's wife might decide to come over here and kill us all in our sleep. Rick sat out on the porch and the rest of us went to bed. I told him I'd relieve him in three hours. Al was getting the night off. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he was hurt pretty bad. I needed him to get better fast and tomorrow promised to be an eventful day.