Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series) (8 page)

Dammit. I'm running low on good ones.

He unscrewed the broad head from the cracked shaft, tossed it onto the quiver, and scolded himself for not replacing the damaged arrows he’d been carrying for weeks now in his quiver.

“Alex,” Selina said, trying to get his attention. “
Alex
!” Dammit, look!”

He looked up to see a half-dozen more zombies racing their way and immediately ran toward Selina, who was about to crack the driver side window with the butt of her sword.

“Wait!” he said, grabbing her arms to stop her momentum. She looked at him with a frantic look on her face..

He kissed her before she could utter a word, not wanting to have to explain himself in the little time they had, then dropped to his knees and started feeling around the frame of the vehicle. He felt a button, pushed it, and then they heard the locks on the doors pop.

“Let’s go!” he yelped, as Selina, who was still staring at him wide-eyed, climbed in through the driver side all the way to the passenger’s seat.

Alex placed his hand over the key in the ignition, his heart thundering in his chest with anticipation. “If you do pray at all, now would be a good time.”

The zombies grew nearer—only ten paces now.

He turned the key and it started.

He threw the ambulance in reverse and jammed his foot on the gas. He looked to Selina and held her hand, “hold on!”

The vehicle was substantial and, as it backed into the charging undead, did some heavy damage to them. He felt the impact of the ambulance hitting the fleshy bodies and smiled victoriously, backing the vehicle all the way over the bodies. He’d gotten four of them.

Two were left, one at either side of the ambulance. Alex calmly retrieved his pistol, chambered the weapon and waited a second, rolling his window down. One rushed right up to him and he shot it right between the eyes.

One left.

He spun the vehicle around to see the last one, a withered old man in a hospital gown and not much else. Alex drove the vehicle around to face him and repeated his action. Then he drove the vehicle over to the gate.

“In the back, see if there are bolt-cutters. There has to be,” he said, looking out the passenger side window to see a huge mob heading their way now.

“And sweetie…please hurry.”

She was back in seconds, holding up a pair of poorly kept bolt-cutters and smiling. He grabbed them from her, shouldered the door open and precisely cut the base of the lock. As he did, however, the bolt-cutters snapped in unison with the lock. He quickly unwound the chain and threw open the gates, waving her through and tossing aside the broken tool.

“So much for that,” Alex mentioned, annoyed at that turn of events.

Selina, now in the driver seat, drove the vehicle forward through the gates and stopped. “Close ’em!”

Alex quickly closed the gate and latched it, wrapping the chain around and around again and then placing what remained of the lock through the chains.

“That might slow ‘em down at least,” Alex said as he jumped right back inside the vehicle and jammed on the pedal.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna matter,” Selina said dejectedly as she pointed to a breach in the fencing all the way near the front of the hospital.

“Holy shit,” Alex heard himself mutter.

They could see zombies filtering out into the fields now and Alex shook his head in disbelief. He grabbed the binoculars and saw that the Explorer was almost completely surrounded by zombies, though it still moved forward.

He handed her the binoculars and jammed on the gas again, racing toward them.

“This is gonna sound crazy, but I need you to get me that stick of dynamite. I think this counts as an emergency!”

Selina nodded and began rooting through the bag. “And there’s a plastic bag with books of matches in there, too.” She retrieved them both. “Now, I'm gonna drive right up behind the SUV and I want you to light it and toss it into the horde at the back. I'm hoping that will clear enough of them away that maybe they can get to us.” He looked at her intensely, not wanting her to voice the doubt he saw in her eyes. He was thankful that she said nothing and instead did what he asked of her.

Alex drove the ambulance closer to the Explorer and the zombie horde and as they got to within fifty paces, nodded to her. “Light it and toss it into the crowd. Don’t aim for the vehicle, got it?”

Alex grabbed the binoculars and peered through them. He saw Bryan looking back, having noticed them there, and his eyes filled with hope for a split second.

Selina tossed the stick of dynamite and Alex stopped the ambulance, jamming on the brakes.

The dynamite exploded.

Zombie guts and body parts flew everywhere.

Alex smiled at the death of so many of them. He couldn’t help it.

Then they waited for what seemed an eternity, but it may have only been a few seconds.

They saw Bryan emerge through the smoke.

“Get in back and pop the doors! Hurry!” Alex called to Selina. She climbed in the back as Alex spun the rig around. Selina had her own pistol out and began firing it at the zombies who chased after Bryan.

One overtook him and tore a hunk of flesh from him. Selina exited the vehicle to Alex’s cries against that action, and shot the thing in the head. Nothing else was coming toward them through the smoke. Selina helped Bryan to his feet, they got to the back of the ambulance and she shoved him inside, then climbed in after him. she shut the doors just as three more zombies slammed into the now-sealed doors.

Alex, saying nothing, jammed on the gas and pulled the vehicle away, heading toward the road.

As he got onto the highway, he saw smoke and broken fencing, and hundreds of zombies racing after them.

They became smaller in the rearview mirror as he sped away. When they were finally gone, he risked a look at the gas gauge and saw it still had three quarters of a tank. Then he looked up and adjusted the rearview to stare into it. Selina was firmly pressing a towel against the wound on Bryan’s neck, watching it turn red with blood the longer she held it there.

Bryan was dead and he knew it.

“Hey, in my pocket, can you hand me a smoke?” he asked coarsely. Bryan crabbed the towel and held it, freeing up her hands. Selina looked to Alex and he nodded ever so slightly.

She reached into his pocket and pulled out the cigarette pack, removed the last partially crumpled cigarette and placed it in his mouth, then lit it with a match for him.

“She died trying to help at least,” Bryan mentioned, taking a drag on his cigarette. “Everyone thought she was a flake, but I saw her potential.” The others simply nodded their agreement. “She knew she was gonna die. She told me to go. And I did.”

“That was extraordinarily brave,” Selina said sympathetically, trying to comfort her friend.

“You guys did great,” Alex said meekly.

“Coulda’ gone a
little
better,” he said, laughing and then coughing.

They waited for him to finish his cigarette in silence. Then he grabbed Selina by the hand and nodded. “I’m ready.” She sobbed and looked away from him, whispering ‘no’ over and over again until she finally climbed into the passenger seat.

“I can’t do it,” she said to Alex. “I'm sorry.”

He nodded, pulled the ambulance off to the side of the road, and removed his gun. He got out, calmly opened the back doors and Bryan crawled out of the back, Alex helping him get to his feet when they got outside.

Can’t believe I have to do this again. It never fuckin’ ends.

He laid Bryan down gently against a tree several paces into the woods and stared into the man’s blue eyes. He was surprisingly calm.

“Here,” Bryan said, handing Alex his pack. “There’s a gun, some ammo, and a few other things. Might come in handy.”

“And your mace?” Alex asked, knowing he was rather fond of the weapon.

“I gave it to
her
,” he said, saying nothing more about it.

He took the pack, chambered a round and held it up to Bryan’s head. But, try as he might, Alex could not pull the trigger. Moments passed and he looked down at Bryan who pleaded with his eyes for Alex to do it.

Tears formed in Alex’s eyes as he suddenly recollected that very same look of hopelessness that was once on Olivia’s face. He looked away, unable to look at the man. Bryan’s face was replaced with Olivia’s over and over again as he stared at the man, moisture escaping his eyes, streaming down Alex’s cheeks.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his and then heard the gun go off. Bryan himself had put enough pressure on the trigger to take it the rest of the way. Alex walked slowly back to the vehicle and climbed in silently. Selina held him tightly as soon as he got in and the two of them cried for a long time.

They had lost two more.

Chapter 7

The trip back to the boat was made in silence. Selina was in the back fishing through all the drawers and eventually found a set that were locked. Alex had to pull over and give her the keys, and they soon found the right one. Inside there, they found plenty of high end narcotics. The rest of the ambulance was chock full of other meds, IV’s a defibrillator, as well as oxygen tanks, and heavy blankets.

As they arrived to where they stored the boat, Alex began to tug it out of its hiding place toward the river. As he yanked on the side, however, one of the sides came loose.

“Dammit!” he yelled, knowing that the thing wasn’t exactly rugged in its design. “All that for nothin’” he said with utter frustration.

“Not for nothin’,” Selina said, trying to comfort him.

“We lost two more of us on this trip! And now the damn boat is—“

He stopped mid-sentence and shook his head. He did not want to give in to the pessimism of this terrible turn of events and Selina didn’t need the negativity either. She sensed his frustration and hugged him tight.

“Listen, we can head to SuperMart now, find us a boat, and maybe even replace those broken bolt-cutters?” she asked rhetorically. Alex smiled at her optimism.

“Let’s do it,” he said.
Besides, what choice do we have?

As Alex climbed back into the ambulance, under the seat he found an almost-full pack of cigarettes. “Ironic,” he said, holding up the cigarette pack to Selina. She smiled a wry grin as she took her seat and buckled up.

“It’s a shame, ya know?” Selina said, Alex nodding to her absently, his mind wandering from Sara to this latest group of deaths and it had him down for sure.

“What is?” Alex finally asked after she went out of her way to stare at him.

“I'm talking about the fact that we have to stay here. I mean, winter is coming again and I’ll be honest…I’m not thrilled with the prospect of sleeping in that half-ass chapel in that kind of cold.”

“I can talk to Nick and see if he’ll let us sleep inside—“

“And what ya gonna do with Shadow then? You love that animal. I see it in your eyes when you guys are playing.”

“Oh, yeah?!”

“Yeah, I watch you guys sometimes when you play, and you think I’m sleeping. You two have a real bond.”

“Yeah, that’s something all right,” he said with a smile. “So, what else you see me doin’ when I think you’re sleeping?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know!?” she asked with a hearty laugh.

“Well, Nick said that their food supply was possibly an issue, so…lemme think about it, okay?”

Selina nodded, letting Alex do just that as they continued on toward the SuperMart. The roads were somewhat barren until they approached a gas station, where Alex pulled into, stopping and looking around for signs of movement.

“We don’t have gas cans,” she said as they pulled in.

“Yeah, true. I was thinking that we could kill two birds here. We can see if they have empty containers, milk cartons or whatever, and fill up a few with gas. Just in case. Plus, I’m gonna fill the rig. They got diesel.”

Alex got out and filled the ambulance up with diesel fuel while Selina found three plastic milk containers and filled them with gas, storing them in the back before they pulled away.

Sometime later, they arrived at the SuperMart parking lot and Alex pulled around back like they had the first time they were here. As Alex maneuvered around the abandoned vehicles, slowly turning a corner, Selina slapped his shoulder.

“Stop!”

 “What?!” he exclaimed, jamming on the brakes and putting the vehicle in park.

“There. That muscle car there! It’s from the two assholes that tried to rob us last time we were here!”

“Oh, shit! Right,” Alex said, recalling the two men that had tried to rob them or worse—two men that Alex had to kill in self-defense. He felt that same terrible feeling about having to do that as he climbed out of the driver seat, staring into the car. It was a ninety-something charger, Alex believed. All the doors were locked and so he grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the back of the rig and used it to break the passenger-side window.

“Subtle,” Selina said, her eyes darting around, expecting to see zombies coming toward them any second. Alex rummaged through the car and found a few backpacks of supplies, including a pack full of ammo, guns and the case for the .45 caliber Smith & Wesson that Selina currently had tucked in her belt.

The other pack was filled with first aid supplies, another flashlight, and batteries of all kinds, some protein bars and more canned food. He found a set of keys inside, but they weren’t for this car. He also found a crowbar and a tiny pair of binoculars, which he handed to Selina, and then forced open the trunk.

“Jackpot,” he said. Inside were two cases of water, a case of canned tuna and another full gas can, along with a very nice set of mechanic’s tools.

He quickly threw all of the supplies in the back of the rig and hugged Selina. “All we really need now is a goddamn boat!”

“Yeah, that’ll be easy to find, rig—“ Selina stopped talking mid-sentence. “Alex, maybe our luck really
is
changing,” she mentioned, handing him the binoculars from around her neck. In the back of the parking lot was a truck with a boat trailer already hitched, the boat was small, twelve-footer or so, by Alex’s estimation, but it was big enough to do the job. And it had a decent sized outboard motor on the back.

“Well, we don’t have to even go inside really then, right?”

“Unless you wanna get me a bow and arrow set for me? Well, let’s just get this thing hitched and get the IV back to Hannah. This stuff can wait, right?”

“You got it, hon,” Alex said. He ran over to the boat trailer and inspected it thoroughly. It looked like it was in good shape, along with the boat. Then he inspected the pickup truck, a Chevy Silverado, and it looked to be in good enough shape. He popped the door and was happy to see the keys still in the ignition. These days that usually meant there was a problem with the vehicle, but maybe not, he thought, as he turned the key. It started up, but he immediately noted a light on the dashboard indicating that something was wrong with the cooling or heating system.

Alex popped the hood, inspected the radiator and everything running to it, and noted, to his chagrin, that a hose was partially torn.

“Shit. I need to do some work here,” he said to Selina, who joined him beside the truck. “I gotta get a hose and some antifreeze inside. It’s not a big fix, but I need parts.”

“Can’t we patch the hose? I mean, we only need to get it to the river. It’s less than twenty miles, right? Hell, we can even put it in the river further out. All we gotta do is get it to the river.”

“Yeah, and then down the hill. It’s risky either way,” he said, glancing back at her. He did not like the look on her face. “Lemme take a look,” he said climbing under the vehicle.

Maybe she is right. Doesn’t look that bad.

“Well?” she asked, hands on hips as he peeked his head out from under the truck.

“I can fix it with some duct tape. Lots of it.”

“Well, I got a roll and I know you do too, so let’s have at it.” Selina raced to the ambulance, retrieved her pack and the duct tape inside, ran over to him and handed it to him.

Alex quickly performed some minor repairs to the damaged hose and dumped a few bottles of water into the radiator and overflow.

“Start it up.” She climbed in and turned the key and it started right up. “Well, let’s get goin’ then.”

 Alex jumped into the ambulance, started it up, and waited for Selina to take the lead. She pulled out onto the highway and he followed behind her, hoping that the repairs would hold up

***

The river was fast approaching and Selina was speeding toward it. It was getting harder for Alex to keep up with the ambulance and he was worried that if she kept pushing it, there would be an accident, a breakdown, or something worse.

As if on cue, the pick-up slowed down just as the river came into view in the distance. But it may not have been on purpose, as Alex saw a stream of smoke begin to emit from beneath the hood. Selina was waving and gesturing wildly, waving him on, as if she intended to keep going and for him to keep following.

He followed as closely as he could without risking an accident and saw the edge of the highway coming. Off to the side of where the road led on a roundabout was a path that led directly down a slight incline toward the river.

Good idea.

But, as the hill grew closer, the truck did not slow its course. Alex wondered if she were doing it on purpose or if perhaps the brakes had given out.

“Shit!”

He followed her, having to slow the ambulance down, because if he drove the rig down there, it wasn’t ever coming back up to the road.

He watched in a panic as Selina drove the truck right off the road and straight down the rocky hill. He pulled the ambulance up to the edge of the road in time to see the vehicle go wildly out of control and the trailer hitch unhitch from the truck and skid to a sideways stop.

Then he watched in horror as the truck went right into the river.

“Not again!”

Alex jumped out of the ambulance, raced down the hill and dove into the river. It was cold this day and fairly deep, he noted, as he swam under the water, barely able to see his own hands in front of his face. He swam toward where the truck was slowly sinking.

As he came up for air, he saw her in the seat, slumped against the dashboard, her seatbelt still on and blood trickling from her forehead. The airbag had not deployed either, which he wasn’t sure was good or bad. He made it to the truck as it began to slowly fill with water which was already level with the surface of the water. He reached for her through the window, which was rolled down halfway. He also didn’t want to open the door immediately as the water would rush in completely.

He placed his fingers firmly against her neck and felt a pulse. Then he reached for his knife, but it wasn’t there. He had no time to consider what had happened to it in that moment. He looked around and spotted a standard screwdriver on the dash, and reached through the partially open window, past Selina, trying to grab it. He stretched as far as he could reach, and finally got his fingers around the handle. Using that, he stabbed at the seatbelt webbing and began tearing a hole.

As he finally got it separated, he popped open the door, the water coming into the cab as he dragged her out.

As he swam to the bank of the river, he looked back to see that the truck was under the water. He got to the riverbank and shoved her up first and then climbed out of the water after her. His heart was thundering in his chest, thinking he’d lost her as she took on some water as they swam toward land. As he tried in vain to catch his breath, he heard something in the distance that sounded like footsteps.

 That was followed by moaning.

“Shit,” he whispered, looking to Selina and rolling her over onto her stomach. He craned his neck up the hill in time to see a zombie racing toward them from the street. It clumsily tripped over some loose stones and rolled down the hill. Alex heard the distinct sound of a bone snapping as the zombie rolled down the hill toward him.

Alex got to his knees just as the undead creature reached him. Its right arm was dangling at a sickening angle, the bone in its arm above the elbow poking through the skin. He parried its probing good arm with his right hand and realized he still held the screwdriver in his left. As the zombie landed on top of him, he jammed the business end of it through the zombie’s ear and held it there, watching its death thralls, until it stopped moving.

He rolled to the side, tossing the dead zombie off him. He quickly got to his knees, crawling to Selina and rolling her onto her back. He began pumping her heart and giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

He did this for a minute and then decided to get the paddles out of the rig. He would try anything to save her. As he got to the base of the hill in frustration and agony, he heard a coughing from behind him.

In that moment, he was never so relieved to hear that distinct sound.

He spun to see Selina on her hands and knees, coughing up water and he stumbled back down the hill to her, crushing her in an embrace.