Tommy and I both craned our necks to see what Duncan was pointing at, and we saw a group of people slowly making their way down the lane towards the lake. There was about fifteen of them, and it was obvious they were not among the living. Their shambling, disjointed walk was the first clue, and the second was when one of them stumbled, his arm, which had been hanging by a tendon, snapped off, and he didn’t seem to notice.
Tommy and Duncan fingered their weapons and looked at me. I took the situation in and made a decision. “If we stay, we might get them all. But a battle will attract a lot of attention. I’m taking off back on the trail. I’ll fight on my terms.” I said, taking Jake back to the bike and strapping him in.
Tommy called to me, “What about us? Our car can’t take ramming any more of them, and we don’t have enough ammo to get them all.”
I looked at Tommy. “Your car can fit on the trail. Get moving and follow me.”
Tommy didn’t need to be told twice, especially when the zombies caught sight of us and started groaning, their pace increasing at the sight of food. Duncan was already in the car, looking anxiously over his shoulder and mentally calculating how long it will take for the zombies to get to us. Tommy ran to the car and started the engine. I pushed the bike and trailer back to the trail and guided Tommy and Duncan over to the path. Their car was just narrow enough to fit comfortably on the trail, but if we had to cross any bridges or go through any tunnels, we were going to be in trouble.
I rode quickly, putting as much distance between the zombies and myself as I could. I knew they were going to follow, but hopefully they would lose the trail after a little bit. The nice thing about the trail was it curved frequently, so the zombies were going to lose sight of us fast.
Their groaning faded into the distance as we headed back to the trail crossroads, and I took the south fork. I figured to stay on the trail as much as I could, and avoid population centers. Eventually, I figured to hit Interstate 57, and be able to head south with the hope that other towns had survived and would welcome other survivors. That was the plan, anyway.
After riding for a while, Tommy honked his horn and got my attention. I pulled up and he got out of the car. He was holding a length of rope and I eyed it curiously.
“Feel like taking it easy for a bit?” he asked, tying one end to the rear bumper of the car.
I got his meaning and grinned. “Sure, thanks. The trail just heads south for a while. It will cross two roads, then merge with a main highway for a bit. That will be Oak Lawn Ave. It might get a little snarcky there, so we’re going to have to be careful.” I took the other end of the rope and tied it to my bike, leaving about twenty feet of space.
“Try not to go too fast, hey?” I asked
“No worries.” said Tommy, as he got back into the car.
We started off with myself and Jake in tow, and it was a great relief not to have to pedal. We had a few moments where I nearly ran into the back of the car, but that was because I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Jakey loved it. We were going fast enough to get some wind in his face, and he laughed nearly the whole time.
Tommy managed to get to Oak Lawn Avenue without a problem, but I could see things were not going to go completely smooth. The road had quite few cars on it, and we could see several were occupied. I untied the rope and coiled it back up, tucking it into the bumper. I eased up to the car’s windows and Tommy poked his head out.
“Where to, chief?” he asked.
I looked at the road ahead. There were several cars in front of us, and it looked to be difficult for the car to get past. On the bike, I would have no trouble, but I really couldn’t leave Duncan and Tommy behind. I thought for a minute, then said “We can push some of the unoccupied cars out of the way on the left side, and that should let you through. Watch the occupied ones, though. They might not be fully dead.”
Tommy ducked back inside, and after a moments discussion and a game of Rock/Paper/Scissors, Duncan got out of the car and started moving vehicles. I left Jake with Tommy, who got out to talk to him, and helped Duncan shove several vehicles out of the way. We moved three of them, and headed for a fourth when Duncan suddenly yelled.
“Shit, its got me!” A zombie had reached out of the back window of a sedan and had managed to grab his belt. He tried to pull away but its grip was too strong. His struggles were starting to pull the zombie out of the car, and I knew we would have real problems if he dragged it out. “Get it off!” He was starting to sound hysterical, and I didn’t need to attract any more attention. Tommy looked up from his playing with Jake and started forward.
I waved him off and, unslinging my crowbar, went up behind the zombie. It was a hugely fat woman, and upon inspection, I realized there was no way she was going to fit through the window. But her very ugly head, topped with brilliant orange hair, had managed to get out of the window, and her mouth was snapping at Duncan’s waist.
“Help!” Duncan yelled, straining to break her grip.
I lined up behind the woman and took a two handed grip on my crowbar. I raised it and smashed it down on her head. She slumped down, then raised her head and looked at me, hissing in frustration at a meal about to get away. I swung again and cracked her skull, causing her to droop and slide back into the car. The motion caused Duncan to slide towards the window, and his shoes squealed in protest as they were dragged over the pavement “Shiiiitt!” he hollered.
Part of me wondered if he was going to be pulled into the car like a cartoon character. But he stopped and I used the hook on the crowbar to pry the fingers from his belt.
“Thanks, man.” Duncan said. “I thought that bitch had me for sure.”
“No problem.” I said. “Was your belt buckle stuck?” I asked.
Duncan stared at me for a second, then slapped himself on the forehead. “Don’t tell Tommy,” he said. “I get enough shit as it is.”
“Deal. Let’s get moving.” I headed back to Jake and mounted up.
Tommy was able to move around the cars and I could see other zombies trapped in vehicles, pawing at the glass and moaning. Some were stuck in their seatbelts, and the summer heat was not kind to those in cars. One looked to have very nearly liquefied. I shuddered at what that had to smell like.
We moved down Oak Lawn Avenue towards the office center, and didn’t see any more activity. Part of me wondered where everyone was, the other part was grateful it was quiet. I saw more evidence of hurried exits, and in a parking lot several cars looked like they had been broken into. We moved past a tanning spa and saw two police cars sitting in the parking lot. I waved Tommy to a halt and rode over to investigate. Checking the windows, I didn’t see anything in the vehicles. Trying the door on the first one, I found it unlocked. The car had nothing of value in it, so I decided to pop the trunk and see if there was anything in there.
My eyes widened at the sight of the trunk. There was an AR style rifle, extra magazines, extra ammunition for the rifle, plus 9mm ammo. There was shotgun ammunition, but no shotgun. I found some gloves, a balaclava, and some goggles. I guessed this was some kind of riot gear. What they needed it for in Turley Park, I could only guess. I grabbed what I could and brought it back to the car. Duncan’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head when I brought up the booty, and he jumped out to help me. Tommy jumped out to check the other car, but it was locked. He smashed the window and popped the trunk. He didn’t find another AR, but he did find some 40 S amp;W ammo, another set of gloves, and a bulletproof vest. He took it all and headed back to the car, stopping to give me the ammo for my gun.
We were grinning like idiots when the wall fell in. Literally. Tommy’s smashing of the window must have roused the local zombies, because they managed to cave in the section of fence of the yard they were stuck in. There had to be fifty of them, and they came boiling out of the yard like a fetid, pus-filled avalanche. Their groans chorused as they saw us and started to give chase. They were ten yards from us and closing fast. I ran to the bike and hopped on, throwing the gear and ammo on top of my carefully piled stuff.
Duncan froze for a second, then drew his weapon and fired at the mass. His bullet stuck a man squarely in the chest, knocking him down, but causing no real damage. Jake screamed at the noise, and the zombies groaned louder.
“Save it!” I yelled, pedaling away. “Get moving, there’s too many!”
Tommy gunned the engine and Duncan barely closed the door as zombies slammed into the car, clawing at the metal and glass. The car shook off the zombies and caught up to me, with the crowd in pursuit. Tommy leaned out the window. “Where now?”
I shook my head as I pedaled for all I was worth. Jake was crying, and I could hear groans all around me as the moans of our pursuers called forth the minions of hell. I was thinking furiously of where we could go, when the answer came literally around the corner.
I spotted a gas station down a crossroad and headed for it. It was one of those large stations with a big convenience store. It was out of the line of sight of the zombies chasing us, and I hoped like hell they wouldn’t see us going for it.
I sped into the station and zipped around to the back of the building. There was a wall behind separating it from a subdivision and little else. A dumpster was nearby, but it was empty. I jumped off the bike and tried the back door. It was locked. Naturally, I thought. I grabbed my crowbar and went to work on the door, trying to open it as quickly and quietly as I could without damaging it.
I managed to pry the frame just enough to get the door open and I pushed the bike and trailer inside. Just as I got the trailer in I was wondering where my new friends had gone off to. I got my answer as a now-quiet car coasted to the back of the station, and Tommy and Duncan both jumped out, grabbing weapons and ammo.
As they jumped inside, Tommy said breathlessly, “Would you believe we ran out of fucking gas?”
I just shook my head at the irony and closed the door, using the crowbar to bend the frame back and secure the door. Tommy had run to the front door to make sure it was locked, and came skidding back to the counter, unlimbering his rifle and spreading out the clips on the counter. Duncan set up a position by the soft drinks section, after being shown how to use the rifle by Tommy, and I stayed over by the drink machine. I still had a crying Jake with me, and pulled out a bottle for him to take for lunch. I prayed it would keep him quiet until the worst of the danger had passed, if it did. I laid my carbine on the floor in front of me and sat back against the machine. I pulled out a spare magazine and placed it nearby.
We were actually in a better position than I could have hoped for. The glass windows were mostly covered in advertising posters, and stacks of water softener salt reinforced the windows up to chest height. Shelving units further obstructed anything looking in, and the place was in sufficient disarray that we would be hard to spot if we held still. The only thing that might give us away was sound, and my big concern on that was Jake. He was generally a happy baby, and liked to hear himself. Unfortunately, in our current situation, that could prove fatal.
We waited in silence for the ghouls to show up, the only noise was Jake slurping on his bottle. He fussed a bit from time to time and my heart was in my throat. We didn’t have long to wait. The first one, a bald zombie with a hand missing, slowly walked through the gas station. His head turned slowly from side to side, and I could see his nostrils flaring. Right behind him was another man, this one a grayish color, and in an advanced state of decay. Skin was hanging off him, and in more than one place I could see bone showing through. A woman came next and she gave us the worst scare. She came around the corner, with a ripped up shoulder and bite marks down one bare arm. She was right up to the window, and we all froze in place. She slid along the front, leaving a greasy trail on the glass, and stopped right at the door. She faced the door, and looked right into the store. None of us dared to move, and we all wondered how to get her to move on. Her dead eyes just stared, and I could see her nose flatten a little as she pressed her face to the door.
I suddenly realized what she was doing. She was trying to sniff us out, and if we had passed through that door, she would have found us. We waited in silence, and I was afraid to even look in another direction. She stayed at the door, and one hand rose to scrape against the glass. Another zombie saw what she was doing and came to investigate. He wasn’t in as bad shape, and I couldn’t see any trauma on him. He must have turned from internal infection. He walked up to the door and put both hands on the glass. I was getting anxious. Jake was about to finish his bottle and was going to need to burp. If I didn’t move him, he was going to get fussy and loud.
The zombies stopped moving and slowly put their hands down at their sides. I was stunned when I saw them actually close their eyes. What the heck was up with that? I wasn’t about to question their motives, I just decided to use the opportunity. I slid down further towards the floor and sat behind a shelving unit. I couldn’t see the zombies, and hoped they couldn’t see me. I shifted Jake, and he let out a small but forceful belch. I couldn’t see the zombies, but I saw Tommy tense.
“Their eyes just opened again” he whispered in a barely audible voice, not daring to move even his lips.
“Christ, they have good hearing,” I whispered back, just as quietly. I was silently praying that Jake would not make any more noise. I had to assume the store was currently surrounded, and we would be in serious trouble if they found out we were in here. For right now, I had to assume they knew we were somewhere, they just didn’t know where.
“How many are out there?” I whispered to Tommy. I couldn’t see from my hiding place behind the shelves.
I could see Tommy’s eyes darting around the station, and he hissed, “At least fifty that I can see, God knows how many more.” I felt bad for him. Being at the counter, he was directly in the line of sight of the zombies at the door, and couldn’t move at all. I felt Jake shift, and looked down to see that he was starting to get sleepy eyes. The fresh air and the excitement, not to mention the recent bottle, had done a number to put the guy to sleep. I held him to my shoulder and rocked him gently, praying he would go to sleep. Knowing my luck, he’d probably snore for the first time in his life.
I heard a scratching at the glass again, and figured the two ghouls were still trying to figure out if food was available in the store. I just hoped they wouldn’t decide to smash the glass and find out.
Tommy suddenly let out a breath and whispered, “They’re leaving. Something distracted them and they’re heading away.”
Duncan slid away from his position and went back by Tommy. “Thought that woman zombie was going to find us for sure.” He said, shaking his head and placing his rifle on his shoulder.
“Same here.” I said. “I thought a burp was going to be our undoing.”
Tommy shrugged, “We’d have figured something out.”
We were still speaking in whispers, as we could see dozens of zombies in the streets. The risk of one coming to investigate was still high, so we decided to retreat to the back areas of the convenience store. Jake had fallen asleep, so I brought him back to the manager’s office and laid him on a Mexican blanket I found in the store. I closed the door most of the way, and went to exploring our new home. At least for a while.
I checked the back area, and found the storeroom mostly intact, save for a scattering of towels and such on the floor. I found a box of energy bars, and added it to the supplies I had in the bike trailer. Duncan found a supply of batteries that would be useful, and some cheap two-way radios. He unpacked them and put batteries in, giving me one of the radios when he finished. Tommy was checking out the bathrooms, making sure there weren’t any surprise visitors waiting for us.
Duncan and I were sitting in the employee’s break area, enjoying a lunch of Ho-Ho’s, peanuts, and stale Doritos’s, when Tommy came back and sat with us.
“Well, we’re alone, thank God, no surprises in the building. I was able to look out the window of the women’s bathroom and see our car. The zombies were crawling all over it like sniffing dogs, but they didn’t break in or anything.” Tommy said, picking up a Ho-Ho and having some lunch himself.
“Any idea what might have distracted them? Not that I’m not grateful, but if there’s someone else out there, we might be able to help them.” I said, opening another package of Doritos’s.
“Not a clue. Anybody willing to change the focus of so many Z’s has to be slightly crazy.” Said Tommy.
“ ‘Z’s’?” I asked.
Duncan piped up “Z for Zombie. Like calling them Zack or Zed.”
I shrugged. “Works for me.” I looked around our little haven. “Well, gents, what’s our next move? I personally would rather not spend the rest of my days in a gas station. Kind of lowers your ranking when you finally head to the Great Divide, you know?”
Tommy laughed. “I hear that. So what’s the plan?”
I pointed at the ceiling. “We should probably send someone up top to get a look at the situation, and see if there might be a break in the Z migration for us to make a run for it. We should also fortify the front windows, as they are our weakest point. If we can’t fortify them, we should at least find a way to keep from being seen from the outside.”
Duncan spoke up. “I can handle that. I saw some advertisement posters in the back area, I can tack them up without too much trouble.”
“Sounds good,” I said, “Just make sure our girlfriend doesn’t come back.”
“No joke. I swear she looked right at me.” Duncan stood up and headed to the back to get the posters. Tommy looked at me.
“You want to go climbing, or should I?” he asked.
“I’ll go.” I said. “Jake’s good for a while, and I am curious to see what kind of hole we managed to dig for ourselves.”
“What do you mean?” Tommy asked, his face scowling.
“We stopped here, but we could have kept going and put more distance between them and us.” I said.
Tommy shook his head. “You might have, but we would have been meat. We ran out of gas, remember?”
It was my turn to shake my head. “I forgot about that.” I said sheepishly.
“Yeah. When I saw you had just the bike, I thought you were nuts. But right now, you look like a freakin’ genius.”
“Got it. I’m going to head up. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
I headed to the back room, where the ladder was to get to the roof. I had already found the key to the padlock in the office where Jake was sleeping, and it was a simple matter to climb up, unlock the lock, and get on the roof.
Once up there, it was different. I had to stay low so as not to be accidentally seen by the zombies roaming around the area. The roof was covered in tar paper, so I was able to move quietly to the edge and peep over at the car. The zombies had abandoned it as uninteresting, and I could see them starting to shuffle down the street towards the east. Their walk was mesmerizing, the slow, steady gait, swaying from side to side as their virus infected brains worked at remembering basic motor functions. They had no direction, just wandering where they would until something attracted their attention.
I rolled to the center of the roof, then crawled up to the front. A four-foot false front afforded me a good bit of cover. I slowly raised my head over the top and looked about. There were still about twenty or so zombies wandering around, but none seemed interested in the store. They seemed to be heading in circles, and some were just standing still, waiting for stimuli to motivate them. I was curious enough to try a little experiment, and I looked around the roof to see if there was anything I could use. I spotted a tennis ball at the corner and belly crawled over to get it. Bringing it back to the front, I positioned myself and using a hook shot throw, lobbed the ball to the middle of the intersection.
The outcome was amazing. Even before the ball hit the ground, zombies had already zeroed in on it and were chasing it. Those that had not seen it, spun around at the sound of it hitting the pavement. The group as a whole converged on the bouncing ball and became a tangled mass of arms and legs. Several zombies fell to be stepped on by their comrades, and the group only lost interest when they realized there was nothing for them to eat. I did manage to move most of the zombies away from the gas station, and they were now focused primarily on the parking lot across the street. Useful bit of information, that, I thought. I didn’t figure a tennis ball would do any distracting if they were chasing live prey, but if they didn’t know you were there and got distracted enough to move, that could buy you some very precious seconds.
I turned around and as I made my way to the ladder I happened to look over the stone wall and into the backyards of the subdivision behind the gas station. I saw a lot of white flags on mailboxes and shook my head. I also saw a lot of zombies milling about and couldn’t figure out why they were there. That was until I looked at the second floor windows and saw what had to be thirty people looking at me. To say I was stunned stupid was an understatement.
The people had rigged together four homes by the upper floors. Ladders extended between the houses, and I shuddered to think what it must be like to crawl on an extension ladder suspended over a sea of hungry ghouls. I raised a hand in greeting, and got twenty in return. There was no way to communicate outside of hand signals, and I needed to get back inside. I went back down the ladder and met up with Tommy and Duncan.
Duncan had effectively managed to cover the front windows, so we were okay with anything looking in. We still needed to be as quiet as possible, since sound seemed to attract them in droves. We sat down at the employee section again and I had Jake in my lap. He was playing with some stuffed animals I had found in the store, and taking turns hitting them on the table, trying to eat them, and talking to them.
“So how was the roof? I saw the Z’s go running after a tennis ball. That your doing?” Tommy asked, sipping on a warm bottle of water.
“Yeah, that was me. Just running a little experiment.” I said.
“Well, it was exactly the right thing to do at the time. Duncan couldn’t put up the posters without attracting attention, so you gave him just the opening he needed.”
Duncan nodded. “I had everything taped and ready to go, but couldn’t move because three of them were too close. Thanks.”
I nodded back. “Speaking of close. Have either of you taken look out back, over the wall?”
Tommy shook his head. “Can’t see anything over the wall unless I stood on the dumpster, and I sure ain’t one to try that right now. Why?”
“Well, you’re not going to believe this, but behind the wall, there’s a subdivision of houses, and at least three of the houses are occupied with a number of people.”
Tommy and Duncan just stared at me. If I didn’t know better, I would swear Jake stared at me, too.
I continued. “They are living on their second floors, and have connected the houses with extension ladders on the roofs. It looks like several neighbors came together and have created a sort of refuge, but I can’t imagine they have enough food for all those people.’
Duncan halted in his eating of a granola bar. “What do you want to do?”
I thought for a second. “We need to communicate and see what their situation is. For all we know, they’re fine and just enjoying the show of three lunatics trying to make a run for it. Duncan, do you remember where you put those radios you found?”
Duncan nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Are you thinking on tossing one over?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have an arm like that. We need to think of some way to launch one over without attracting too much attention.”
It was Tommy’s turn to shake his head. “Why worry about attracting attention? Why not just throw it in the yard?”
“There’s about thirty zombies wandering around the yards, and likely as many in the houses on the ground floors. We’d be witnessing a slaughter if they tried to get it.” I said.
Tommy looked down. “Hadn’t figured on that.” he murmured. Then he brightened. “What if we tossed the radio into the yard, distracted the zombies from the roof here, and they could get to it.”
I thought about it. “What about the zombies on our side? Won’t they hear us?”
Tommy got more excited. “Yeah, but if we’re on the roof, near the false front, they’ll never know where the noise is coming from, and lose interest in a little while. All we need to do is get the ones in the yard to see us, and they’ll be wandering over to the fence in no time.”
“Works for me”.
Duncan got the radio ready by wrapping it in a towel and putting it in a coffee can. We didn’t need to throw it too far, but a good fifty yards. Tommy said he’d give it a throw. I had no problem with that. Jake was getting antsy, so I needed to spend some time with him before I gave him his dinner. Duncan and Tommy would let me know how it went.
They were gone for half an hour, then came scrambling back down the ladder. Duncan was slapping Tommy on the back and Tommy was grinning like a loon. I looked up from feeding Jake and asked, “So, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?”
Tommy slumped into the seat and took a swig of water. “I’ve never felt so wanted in my life. We climbed up on the roof and waved to the people in the houses, and then Duncan whistled. Holy shit. You would have thought he just farted in church. Every zombie in the yard came limping over and clawing at the wall. I saw several come out of the houses and join the group.” He took another drink. “After that, we just sat there and let the group see us. Duncan would occasionally wave at the zombies, but it gave me time to throw the can.” Another sip. “I had no idea I could throw that far.”
I glanced over. Jake was nearly done. “How far?”
Tommy grinned. “I bounced it off the porch and it landed near a smashed-in sliding glass door. I have no idea how they’re going to get it, but we did what we could.”
I couldn’t argue with that. We had no real obligation to those people in the houses, and they had no obligation to us, either. But since the dead seemed to be outnumbering the living these days, we kind of needed to try to stick together. Duncan clicked the radio on and we waited. I gave Jake a bath in the big sink in the back area, and he loved it. He played with the faucet and laughed when I used a bottle of water to wash his hair. I really envied his inability to understand the situation he was in. Yeah, we had a scary moment there, but we recovered and now just needed to plan our next step.