Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde (14 page)

I took both my hands and wrapped them around the index and
middle fingers on his right hand. Using all the strength I had left, I bent
them back hard and fast. A loud roar erupted out of Tank and he dropped me. Air
flooded back into me but I didn't let go of his fingers. Tank reached back to
slap me away but I bent his fingers back even more and he yelped in pain,
falling to his knees. Tears flooded his eyes, washing out the shock and anger.
He rapidly panted in pain, unable to speak. I twisted his hand extra hard until
I felt the bones snap and Tank screamed at the top of his lungs unleashing a
torrent of obscenities in the aftermath. With my free hand, I knuckle punched
his windpipe and he went silent as he choked for air. My strength was coming
back to me now. I was angry and flooded with adrenaline. Tom and Benji came
rushing into the room but stopped and stared when they saw Tank on the ground
holding his throat. I quickly maneuvered behind Tank and put him in a sleeper
hold, using my forearm to choke him out. Despite his size, he gave me almost no
resistance. Eventually, he fell to the carpet floor like a heavy sack of flour
and remained there motionless.

“Did you kill him?” Benji asked in shock.

“I don't think so,” I said, my voice raspy from being choked
out so long.

“He's just unconscious,” Tom informed us, placing his
fingers on Tank's neck and checking for a pulse. I picked up the gun and handed
it to Tom.

“Cover him,” I managed to croak out through my swollen
throat, “while I go through his pockets. If he moves at all, go ahead and shoot
him.”

“”What happened?” Benji inquired as I fished out Tank's car
keys.

“It was a trap. The girl who was helping us is actually his
daughter. They planned on killing us all and telling John we were spies for the
other side.”

“That's crazy,” Tom argued. He seemed to be finding his grip
on reality again now that it looked like we were going to escape.

“It gets worse,” I went on. “The road out of town is
actually on the New Lompoc side. Which means John was trying to trick us into
staying and fighting in his war. We never needed to go to the border in the
first place.”

“So what happens now?” Tom stared at me.

“I guess we head south and leave town,” Benji suggested.
“And pray they don't have a trap waiting for us there too?”

“No,” I said shaking my head. “We promised Tom we'd find
Joel. I know we didn't exactly get along like best friends but we can't leave
without finding out what happened to him.”

“Thanks,” Tom said. “You're a good man.”

“How are we going to get out of the house without raising an
alarm?” Benji asked.

“We march right out the front door,” I said darkly, retrieving
my sword from Tank along with another pistol. I checked the blade to make sure
it was still in pristine condition. The small sliver of light coming in the
window danced across the steel. “God help anyone who tries to get in our way.”

“We'd better hurry before one of them comes around,” Tom
prodded.

We rushed down the hallway, taking the steps two at a time.
When we got to the front door Tom stopped and waited for my response. I drew my
blade and nodded. He held his pistol tight with one hand and opened the door
with the other. He yanked the door open but there was no one outside. The Jeep
was parked by the curb. Suddenly, a loud yell rang out upstairs and lights
flashed on in the kitchen.

“Let's go,” I cried out, rushing outside. Benji and Tom were
right behind me. We climbed over the side of the Jeep and I hopped in the
driver's seat. I had the keys in the ignition and the engine running in just a
heartbeat. Tom and Benji pointed their guns at the front door. The short man
we'd ambushed at the secret room came running out with his gun drawn. Benji and
Tom both let off several shots that seemed to explode over his head, forcing
him to run back into the house for cover. I peeled out, racing up the street
and turning onto Ocean toward the direction of the border. I wasn't exactly
clear on how we had gotten where we were. The last thing I wanted to do was go
by the gas station and ask for directions. They'd be after us now in no time.
The plan was getting more screwed up by the second.

“Turn left up here,” Tom advised, pointing at an
intersection with a strip mall. “I'm pretty sure John took us this way on our
personal tour the first morning before you arrived.”

“You got it,” I replied, glad to have a distraction.

We drove past armed patrols but they didn't even turn their
heads as we went by. No one had sounded the alarm yet.

Tank was obviously going rogue,
I thought as I rubbed
my sore throat. I could still feel his arm crushing my windpipe.

“Turn right up here,” Tom directed. We rounded the corner
and I could see the barricade in the distance coming up fast.

“What are we going to tell them?” Benji asked.

“We'll think of something,” I lied.

One of the armed guards held his hand up as we approached
and I slowed to meet him.

“Let me do the talking,” I insisted. Tom and Benji nodded. I
stopped to meet the guard.

“What are you doing out here this time of night?” He didn't
seem upset or alarmed by our presence, just curious.

“Tank sent us out,” I said calmly. “Said we'd have a better
chance of looking for his brother Joel at night since zoms slow down after
dark.”

“I wish that were true,” the man replied. “I'm Harvey. Park
over there.” He pointed to a line of vehicles. Benji shook his head no but I
pulled over and parked anyway.

“What are we doing?”

“We're finding Joel and getting the hell out of here,” I
whispered. “Just do what I do.”

“We're going to get caught,” Benji said.

“No,” Tom said in his normal, relaxed voice. “Everything is
going to be fine.”

“No one would suspect in a million years that we would come back
here,” I suggested. “They probably think we made it out of town already. Tank's
going to have a lot to explain to John.”

We got out of the car and walked over to Harvey.

“How's Peter?” I asked.

“He's had better days,” Harvey admitted wearily. “I didn't
see it but I hear it was like he was consumed by a giant fireball. Most of the
skin was burned off his body. He's still alive but he’s in serious shock.”

“Jesus,” Tom gasped.

“We got some medical supplies and they are doing what they
can for him,” Harvey said. “Bunch of animals those Unity Gang creeps are. It's
bad enough we have to fight off the zombies. The last thing we need is to fight
with each other.”

“Amen to that, brother,” I agreed slapping him on the back
and walking toward the line of cars. “What happened?”

“You should know,” Harvey said raising an eyebrow in
surprise. “I heard you were here but John rushed you away to keep you all
safe.”

Yeah,
I thought.
That's one version of what
happened.

“I meant after the attack,” I corrected myself, not skipping
a beat or contradicting his story. “When the zombies attacked.”

“I got called in about an hour later,” Harvey explained.
“The official report is that they pushed back the zombies and held the line,
but just barely.” He turned to Tom. “After the fighting was done, they looked
for your brother but didn't find him. There was no body. Either the Unity Gang
came back for him or the zombies turned him. Sorry kid.”

“Let's hope it's the first then,” Tom groaned.

“I hear you,” Harvey replied. “Zombie ate my wife right in
front of me. Nothing I could do but watch her scream in unfathomable pain as
they ripped her arms and stomach apart with their bare teeth. We were leaving
town, heading south, when some jerk in a truck broadsided us and left us for
dead. I was pinned in. She got out to look for help. I couldn't do a thing.”

“That's terrible,” I offered.

“It gets worse,” he cautioned us before plunging further
into his twisted tale of woe. “Hours went by and eventually the zombies were
drawn to a new kill zone by the smell of fresh meat. They left me there. I got
to see my dead wife reanimate before my eyes. Can you imagine?”

“No,” Tom practically shouted, shaking his head from side to
side.

“Later, when John's men found and freed me, I hunted her
down,” he said. “I was the one who killed her.”

“I'm so sorry,” I sympathized.

“Don't be,” Harvey explained. “It brought me a lot of
comfort to be the one who did it, to know that she is at peace now and not
walking the earth looking for people to eat. I would want her to do the same
for me if our roles had been reversed.”

“I never thought about it like that,” I admitted. It sounded
horrible no matter how you looked at it.

“I hear people tell stories all the time about how they lost
one of their friends or family members under similar circumstances,” he
continued. “The story goes that they couldn't bring themselves to kill their
loved ones, so they got eaten instead. I am proud to say I didn't hesitate when
I saw my Suzie. I put her out of her misery with a single shot to the head. I
did the Lord's work here on Earth during his last days. I know she is smiling
down on me, that I will see her again at the right hand of Christ when he
returns to rule over this world.”

“I appreciate your kind words” Tom told Harvey, “but I am going
to find my brother. I can feel it.”

“I wish you luck,” Harvey sincerely replied.

“There he is,” Benji shouted, pointing to the middle of the
road past the barricade. Sure enough Joel was limping slowly across the
intersection. His clothes were torn and his skin looked ashy and gray. There
were bite marks visible up and down his arms. He had been turned. He was
already gone.

Tom didn't hesitate. He turned and jogged toward Joel,
calling out to him.

“Son, don't!” Harvey yelled. Armed guards trained their
weapons on them but Harvey called for them to stand down.

“What is he doing?” Benji asked.

“I don't know,” I said, “but it doesn't look good.”

The walkie talkie on Harvey's hip began to chirp and I heard
Tank's voice coming over it. We were out of time. Soon it would be too late to
make a run for it and get out of town. We'd be stuck here forever as John's
slaves or worse—target practice for Tank's goon squad.

“Get back to the Jeep,” I ordered Benji.

“What about Tom?”

“I don't think he's coming with us,” I said, turning and
walking back as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself.

Harvey held up his walkie talkie to his mouth. He looked
confused by what he had just heard.

“Say that again?”

“Those kids are Unity Gang spies,” Tank screeched. “They've
already killed two guards and stolen top secret intel from John's house. Don't
let them get away.”

I didn't wait to hear Harvey's response. I fired up the Jeep
and started to pull away. Looking in my rearview mirror I saw Harvey pull his
gun out and point it in our direction. Behind him Tom screamed as Joel began to
bite his neck. Gunfire rang out as the armed patrol shot them both dead. Harvey
turned to see what had happened. Benji and I took off.

“Well,” Benji said, “at least you kept your word. Even if it
was totally crazy for you to do that.”

I drove along a series of side streets, down by where the
map showed the cemetery, hoping to avoid getting caught or running into that
dead end. I kept an eye out for any off road opportunities we might come across
to slip out of town. Having a Jeep meant we could easily make our own path but
the last thing we needed was to get stuck out in the middle of Unity Gang
territory or surrounded by zombies in a muddy field without even a tree to
climb up.

After fifteen minutes I found a small dirt road behind some
track houses that looked like it ran along the highway as a fire route. We
drove along, passing a cluster of wild cows, and eventually came up onto the
highway itself. There was not another car in sight. I drove around a corner
feeling elated that we'd managed to sneak out of town, until I saw the row of
cars blocking the highway ahead. In the center was John's truck. He was
standing in front of it with his arms folded. The expression on his face was
pure rage. Next to him was Tank with his right hand bandaged. I stopped the car
in the middle of the road.

“What do we do?” Benji said in a panicked voice.

I looked in the mirror and saw a row of lights heading our
way, blocking our escape. They had chosen this point in the highway for good
reason. There were hills on either side of us that prevented our escape even in
a Jeep. We were in the lowest point of the road. The only way out was forward.

“I don't know,” I conceded.

“Can we ram them?”

“I don't think so,” I said. “More than likely they’ll blow
holes through the Jeep if we try and we'll bleed to death.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Our only hope is to try to reason with them,” I concluded
at last. “Maybe we can convince John of our innocence, tell him Tank was trying
to kill us.”

Benji looked white with fear. He was trembling all over. I
had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach like I had just
swallowed poison. Slowly, I pulled the Jeep up.

“That's far enough,” John yelled through cupped hands. “Shut
off the engine and throw out the keys.”

I did what he told me to do.

“Step out of the vehicle with your hands up.”

Benji and I exited the Jeep and stood there. I still had the
handgun tucked into the front of my jeans and my katana on my back.

“Throw down your weapons,” he insisted.

“No,” I shouted back.

“Excuse me?” John looked genuinely puzzled.

“Tank tried to strangle me to death earlier,” I yelled. “He
told me he was going to kill me like he'd killed the last visitors you had,
then tell you we were spies.”