Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) (9 page)

Mark asked, “Where’s Sheryl?”

Lisa shrugged. “She said she had to take care of something and would meet us here.”

Mark checked by the elevators and down the main hallway. “I don’t see her anywhere; we need to get this thing on the road.”

A minute later, they heard the elevator ding and the door slid open. When Sheryl stepped out and walked over, Dedee and Jet gasped. Mark did a double take and Lisa’s eyes got huge. The front of her scrub shirt, face, and left arm was covered with blood spatter.

Stunned, Lisa asked, “Sheryl, what happened? Are you alright?”

She looked over and said, “I’m fine.” Then she pulled out the notebook and found the entry code for the pharmacy.

When the green light flashed, she opened the door. Everyone ran in, grabbed the bags, and started putting on their gear. Sheryl handed Jet an empty box and said, “Hold this and follow me.”

Jet followed along as she took medical supplies from the shelves and put them into the box. When it was full, she waved Dedee over with another box and did the same thing. When the boxes were full, they stepped back out. Lisa, Mark, and Jeff were already geared up and standing by the exit door. Sheryl took the keys from her pocket.

Holding up the ring with two keys separated, she said, “One of these is the shop key.”

Mark turned and brought his rifle up as two nurses came from around the corner. “Stop right there,” he ordered. They both stopped and raised their hands.

The man looked like he was in his late twenties and had short brown curly hair. He asked, “Are you guys leaving?”

Mark kept his rifle pointed at them as he said, “That’s the plan.”

The girl was in her early twenties and had shoulder-length, light brown hair. She asked, “Can we come with you? Please?”

Mark looked them over before responding. “Yeah, I guess so.” Then he lowered his rifle. “I want you to know it’s pretty dangerous out there. It’s not just zombies—there are nut jobs too.”

They nodded and ran over to the door. Mark looked across to the shop and guessed they had about fifty feet to cover, and then had to open the door once there. “I need one person to stay and hold this door just in case we have to run back in.”

The male nurse said he would do it. Mark and Jeff were the first ones to step out and raised their rifles to provide cover if needed. Sheryl ran across the way to the shop doors with the keys. She was followed by Dedee and Jet, then Amy, Todd, and the girl. Lisa brought up the rear, and the young man stood by the door.

The zombies smelled the blood on Sheryl’s clothes and started toward her as they hissed and moaned. In a panic, she dropped the key ring and had to search for the shop key again. She screamed as the zombies drew near, but managed to find it and opened the door. Everyone scrambled to get inside. Mark waved for the guy to run over. As he ran out the door, he yelled out that a guard was coming.

A second later, the door flew open and the guard fired two shots. The young man who had just warned them was shot in the back and fell as he ran. He bounced when he hit the ground face-first and slid a couple of feet on the sidewalk. The zombies wasted no time in swarming his body like a pack of starving wolves on a steak. Not realizing his mistake until it was too late, the guard let the door close behind him.

This was the same guard who Jeff and Jet had beaten and cuffed to the sink in the closet. The blood covering his face and shirt attracted the zombies. He leveled his pistol and took another shot, but missed. Before he could fire again, a zombie came up and began chewing on his wrist. Another came from behind him, and yet another from the side. Within a matter of seconds, they circled and swarmed him as he screamed. From the center of the circled zombies, his blood shot up into the air like a crimson fountain.

Jeff and Mark jumped back inside the shop and closed the door just as the zombies arrived. Their bags and the boxes of medical supplies had already been put into an old ambulance, sitting in a bay. Mark got in and looked around. “Hey, where are the keys?”

Lisa, Amy, and Dedee started to look around, but couldn’t find them. Lisa asked, “Did you check the visor?”

Mark flipped it down and they fell into his lap. He started it up and yelled, “Okay, everybody in. Jeff, you push the door up and let’s go.”

Jeff unlatched the door and pushed, but it didn’t open. He pushed harder, but still no luck. “I think it’s locked from the outside.”

Mark turned the engine off and went over to where Jeff was at. They both pushed and could tell there was another latch outside. They looked out through the window in the shop door and saw close to a hundred zombies outside.

Mark went over and sat down in a chair by a desk. Disgusted, he said, “Perfect! This is abso-fuckin-lutely perfect!”

Lisa asked, “How are we going to get out of here?”

Mark threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know. Someone has to go outside and throw the latch, but they will probably have to cut a lock first. Only thing is they have to sneak past the hundred zombies out in front of the shop.” Mark looked around and asked, “Any volunteers?”

Everyone was silent and looked at each other for some kind of hope. Sheryl stepped out of the ambulance and got a set of bolt cutters from the wall. She asked Mark, “Who’s faster? You or your brother?”

“Both of us are about the same, I guess.”

“I’m going to call over to the hospital and see if I can get them to yell out the door, from the roof, or bang on the windows. Anything they can do to draw the zombie’s attention their way. One of you run out, do what you need to do, and get your ass back in here.”

Mark sat up. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. It just might work.”

Sheryl went over to a phone on the desk. She called several extensions before she got an answer. Within three minutes, people were on the roof yelling at the zombies. One man held the door open and yelled until they started coming to close, then he retreated back in. Others banged on the second floor windows. Some were open and people yelled out through them. One person must have gotten into the blood bank, because a bag of blood was poured down the outside wall.

The blood worked fine and they swarmed around that area of the building. Mark ran out, and while he was busy cutting the lock, two zombies came back. When he threw the latch and turned around, one was practically on top of him. He swung the bolt cutters and connected with the zombie’s jaw, sending it flying off into some bushes and the zombie fell. He stood beside it and swung them like a golf club. Its head caved in like a raw egg sending dark, thick blood across the grass.

He stepped toward the second one and jabbed at it. The cutters went in the zombie’s chest and came out through its back. He stepped to the side and jerked the handle. There was a gushy, wet, tearing sound as he almost ripped the zombie in half.

Mark quickly ran back into the shop and Jet slammed the door behind him. Mark got in and started the engine while Jeff pushed the door up. He ran to the back and got in with Jet, who was waiting for him. Mark pulled out and started to leave. Just before he hit the parking lot, he stopped. He sat and looked in the side view mirror.

Lisa yelled, “Mark! What are you doing? Let’s go!”

He thought,
I really should return the favor,
as he watched the zombies start walking toward them.

Lisa slapped his arm and screamed at him. “Mark, I know what you’re thinking! Don’t do it!”

Mark smiled and glanced at Lisa. She slapped his arm again, “Shit! You’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you?”

Mark put the ambulance in reverse and accelerated backward into the horde of zombies. Lisa grabbed onto the dash and screamed, “Maarrrrk! Noooooo!”

The ambulance bounced and swayed as it plowed through them. Everyone in the back screamed as they were bounced around and off the sides. He stopped and went forward, mowing even more of them down. Thumps, rips, and squishes could be heard coming from under them. Once he was clear, he said, “Just one more pass.”

Lisa buried her face in her hands. “Shit, Mark, let’s just go now.”

He threw it in reverse and backed through them again, taking even more out and greatly reducing the number stalking the hospital. When he put the ambulance in drive, the back wheels lost traction and started to spin. Zombie hands, arms, and legs flew through the air and splattered against one of the walls.

Lisa screamed at him again. “Damn it, Mark! Now look what you did. You got us stuck in flippin’ zombie guts! You couldn’t just go like I said. Nooooo, you had to go off and do it!”

Slowly, the tires burned down through the black slime and grabbed traction in the dirt. They started to move forward while the wheels still spun, plastering chunks of zombie flesh and thick black goo down the sides of the ambulance. When they broke free, they heard a loud cheer and applause coming from the roof and windows of the hospital. In just a few passes, Mark had reduced the number of zombies from about one hundred to only nine.

When they left the parking lot, Todd said, “Shit, Mark, I thought you were going to break my other arm.”

VII

Mark pulled out onto the street heading north. They zigzagged through commercial and residential areas toward the I-5 freeway. Every time they came across a zombie walking in the street, Mark made it a point to hit them with the van. One zombie burst and pieces flew everywhere. The hand flew in through the open passenger window and nearly hit Lisa. She shrieked and almost jumped out of the seat when it landed on the floorboard at her feet.

Mark smirked and she gave him a stern gaze. “I swear, Mark; you laugh at shit that is so not funny.”

After driving for a little over an hour, they found the freeway. Even thought the lights on the van were bright, he kept it at forty just in case they came upon a collapsed overpass. The nurse who came with them from the hospital said her name was Tami. Dedee pointed around the van and introduced everyone else.

While they sat in the back and told Sheryl and Tami what they had already been through, Lisa talked to Mark. He told her he wanted to be over the Grapevine and down into the valley by sunrise. Mark glanced down at her legs and pointed to the floorboard. “Give me the hand.”

She looked him. “What?”

“C’mon, give me the hand.”

“I ain’t giving you that hand. I ain’t goanna touch that nasty thing.”

Mark looked at her. “Okay… please.”

Lisa sighed and took a tissue out of the box and reached down on the floorboard. She held it by two fingers with the tissue around it. After she set on the console, she quickly moved her hand away. “What do you want with that thing anyway?” Lisa noticed Mark kept looking into the back through the rearview mirror and knew what he had in mind. “No, don’t you even think about it!” She said giving him a hard stare.

He picked up the hand and looked at it, then held it out. “Hey, Lisa, high five.” And he waved it around.

She glared at him as he held it out. “I’m not touching that damn thing!” Turning away and looking out her window, she smirked.

Mark looked into the back. “How’s everybody doing back there?”

Jeff said, “It’s kinda crowded.” Jet and Amy agreed.

Mark smirked. “Well here, let me give you a hand.” And he tossed it into the back.

When it landed on the floor, the back was filled with shrieks and screams as everyone pushed themselves against the walls. Mark started to chuckle.

Dedee said, “That’s not funny, Mark.”

Jeff spoke up, “You are such an ass, bro.” And he started to laugh.

Lisa glared at him again. “See what I mean? So not funny.” And she shook her head as she sighed.

Jeff picked it up and held it in front of Jet as he wiggled it. She let out a little shriek and buried her face in his shirt. He looked around, and then tossed it under the gurney. They settled back down and after an hour, managed to fall sleep. Lisa reclined the seat back as far as she could, though it wasn’t much, and tried to get some rest too. It didn’t take long for her to drift off to sleep. She awoke when she felt Mark shaking her. Groggy, she looked over and asked, “Where are we?”

“We just passed Gorman,” he said as he looked between her and his mirror.

“What’s up?”

Mark nodded to the side view mirror. “We have company coming up on us fast.”

Lisa pulled the seat back up and looked. There was a set of bright headlights a couple of miles behind them, and she could tell they were closing fast. “Shit!” She looked over and asked, “Are you sure there coming after us?”

Watching between his side view mirror and the road, Mark said, “That or their ass is on fire… and I don’t see any flames.”

She leaned back in the seat and sighed. In a few short minutes, the car had caught up to them and started to pass on the passenger side. Lisa jumped and shrieked when shots were fired from the back seat of the car. She looked and recognized it; it was the goon squad. Mark tried to bump the side of it with the van, but the car fell back behind them. Everyone in the back tried to stay as low to the floor as they could to avoid being hit by the bullets as they punched through the side of the van.

Mark increased their speed to almost seventy, but on a downhill stretch that was risky. The car came around to the driver side and pulled next to them. Four more shots were fired and hit the van. Mark felt his muscles tighten and a cramp in his leg. He tried to swerve into the car, but he was going too fast. They saw him coming close and the car fell back behind them again.

He slowed a bit and when the car came up beside them, he managed to bump them. The driver side of the car hit the guardrail and sent sparks flying. Mark veered to the right, giving the car enough room to pull alongside again. When they did, he hit the brakes and turned the wheel slightly to the left and he was able to just barley clip the rear passenger quarter panel of the car.

He watched it swerve across three lanes. The driver of the car over corrected as it slid out of control and shot back across the three lanes and right into the guardrail. The impact caused it to go air born; it flipped end over end and disappeared as it fell into the ravine below. Mark checked his mirror and saw a bright flash followed by a large fireball rising into the air.