Respect for the Dead (Surviving the Dead Book 1) (24 page)

              As quietly as he could Steve sat down next to Wes.  He watched Wes in a fitful sleep.  Steve rubbed his eyes and over his stubble.  “What do you think?”  Wes asked making Steve stop and look over. 

“Huh?”  Steve replied

“What do you think about staying here?  I don’t know if I can handle too much more of this.”   

“What?”  Steve questioned.

“I appreciate the food and the shelter, don’t get me wrong.  I don’t really think I want to be their armed guard.”  Wes jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. 

“Listen, I know what we had to do today is shit but I…..” Steve tried to explain.  “I mean we probably freak them out a little.” 

“I don’t care what they think of us.  I don’t like what they expect us to do.”  Wes grumbled.   

Steve searched for a way to discuss things without bringing up shooting kids.  Several long seconds passed before Wes spoke up.

“It’s not that…entirely.  Yeah we had to do some seriously crappy stuff today.  I understand that.  That is the way it is for now but they don’t appreciate it.  We come back from keeping this place safe and they recoil like they’re next.” 

Steve sat for a moment.  “I know what you mean.  Mike is happy with us but the rest.  I don’t trust em.  I know they don’t trust us.”  

Neither of them spoke for a while.   “I noticed that guy we talked to, the one with that bad beard was missing.  When you talked to the Father him did he tell you what happened to him?”  Wes asked changing the subject. 

              “He decided to try to make it out of town.  His phone rang, it was his wife, she was safe somewhere close to Bradford.  He said they moved slower there.”  Steve explained.

              “Must be the cold.”  Wes noted.

              “What?”

              “The cold, makes it hard to move and well if they are dead I don’t think the heart is pumping so I guess they would maybe freeze or something.  Listen the body is mostly water right?  Well it stands to reason if regular water freezes then the water in the body would also freeze.” 

              Steve sat and thought this idea over.  “I hope he makes it.” He sighed reaching down to grab the unfinished sandwich Wes had left. 

              They sat in silence for awhile.  Wes watched Mike wandering through the pews.  “I don’t know man.”  Wes muttered.  “If he suggests we all go down to the shelter I think we might want to take that bearded dude’s lead.”

              “What do you mean?”

              “I don’t know.  I just don’t think hanging out in the shelter is a good idea.  There is something Heaven’s gate Jonestown about it.”

              “Well if Mike goes that route at least he has something those other guys didn’t?” 

              Wes just raised an eyebrow at this.

              “The world really does seem to have ended.  If ever there was a time for a doomsday cult.”  Steve shrugged.  “I think he wants to live as much as we do.”  He finished noting his joke fell flat. 

              “All the same.  I think I’d rather try to make it to Bradford.” 

              Steve laughed.  “You sure?  Not much difference if you ask me.  Still the end of the world there plus it is always ten degrees colder there than anywhere else in the state.” 

              “Yeah but the summers will be nicer.”  Wes suggested. 

              Steve smacked the back of Wes’ head.  Wes sat up throwing his arms over his head.  For a moment they smiled.  The moment faded Steve returned to eating as Wes began going through his pack.  He pulled out the stuffed bunny.  He looked it over and ran his hand over its ears.  “I always joked with Beth about moving to Bradford.  I asked her if she would go with me.  She always said no way.”

              “She might change her mind about it now.”  Steve shrugged.  “If it is true they freeze.  Then it would be a safer place.”  Wes merely replied with a grunt.  “We’ll just have to ask her when we find her.” 

  Beth was exhausted but she couldn’t find sleep.  Every creak, every thud screamed in her ears.  Shadows lumber toward her and every time she closed her eyes she was surrounded.    She was aware that Gillian was still awake but the others seemed to have drifted into uneasy sleep.   Soft snores and uncomfortable grunts told her as much.   Matt woke with a start at one point in a panic.  Gillian immediately reassured that he was ok, he looked around at the dark warehouse and his companions.  The realization of where he was sunk in.  It didn’t really help him relax. 

“Really hoped it was just a nightmare.”  He whispered glumly, before dozing back off.  Beth’s heart hurt for him.  She wondered if Wes was dealing with the same fears, waking from the same nightmare only to find it was still going on.  She watched Matt’s profile in the low fire light.  Her thoughts were soon consumed with her brother and best friend.  Silently she prayed they were ok and had found a way out of town.

An idea hit her and she quickly searched her pockets.  Her hand hit the hard lump in the inside pocket.  A brief smile flashed across her face.  She brought out the phone and hit a button.  The glow of its face made her smile again.  A picture filled the little screen.  It was of her and her brother smiling back at her.  She stared at the picture for a few seconds, shaking her head slightly, she tried to call him.  The phone merely beeped at her.   She pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it.  Above Steve’s smiling face read the words, “No Service”. 

“Damn it.”  She whispered.  Sitting up she looked toward the front of the building.  Thinking she might have better luck in the glassed front f the building she slowly getting to her feet.  Stepping lighty, she tried not to disturb the others.  Something caught her attention, she paused.  There was something, something not right.  That sound?  Holding very still she strained her ears.  There is was again, a thumbing from somewhere.  Lowering her head against her chest she closed her eyes listening hard.      

Beth’s head snapped up as she heard the breaking glass.  The motion around her told her the others were now awake and alert.  Everyone’s attention was pinned to the direction of the store front. 

Hector burst through the door.  His eyes clearly terrified even in the dim light of the fire. “They’re here, they’re getting in!”  He cried.

The chaos was instantaneous.  Everyone was on their feet but no one seemed to know where to go.  The room was cloaked in black.  The fire went out for a second as someone’s cardboard blanket fell on it.  Next moment the entire room was full of light as it burst into flames.  Their shadows danced on the walls causing more panic. 

“They’re everywhere!”

“No that is just us!” 

“Where’s the door?”

“Which way?  Devin where are the Keys!”

Voices called over each other.  Someone knocked painfully into Beth.  She staggered trying to regain balance.  Her right side ached from the contact.  Stuffing the phone back into her pocket Beth hastily grabbed the rest of her things and drew out her gun. 

“Everyone Stick together.”  Beth shouted.

“This way to the truck.”  Devin called.  Beth shoved someone toward the waving arm she hoped was Devin. 

“Let’s move people.”  Beth and Hector herded the others together.   The group moved as one toward a door.  It took only a second for Matt to realize the mistake.

“NO!  This is the way to sexy factory.  Turn around turn around!”  He was in front of everyone waving them back.   

“This way!”  Someone yelled. 

Beth felt the collar of her jacket being tugged.  Hector was now leading them.  The door they had been heading toward burst open sending several boards skidding toward them.

“Yeah that’ll hold em.”  Stancy sneered at Max. 

“Come on!” 

The group bumped and pushed each other toward the back door, Beth walking backward keeping the zombies in view.  The sound of more shattering glass told them the front was now open and full of the undead. 

Suddenly Beth was off balance again as the group came to a sudden stop.  Matt’s elbow jabbed at her already sore ribs.  They were only about fifteen feet from the door when they stopped.   Beth pushed Matt as she turned to see the issue.  Ten zombies advanced toward them, blocking their route. 

“We have to get out another way, come on!”  Beth called.  She pulled Matt along with her toward some windows near the exit.  They skidded to a halt as three more ghouls appeared around some crates.  “Other way!”  She called.

The group moved in the other direction.  The door to the daily garments side of the factory remained closed.  Hector took a step away from the group toward the closed door.  The door rattled in its frame as several fists pounded against it.

“No good…back up Back up!” 

“What the hell?  They’re everywhere.  How did they all get in?”  Beth asked as she frantically looked back toward the front of the warehouse.  The door to the store was open and the dead were streaming in one after the other.  Frantically she looked for anyway out.  Max and Hector began shooting the closest undead.  Finally she saw it.  She opened her mouth to call out when she was suddenly dazed. 

Her ears rang and her head throbbed from the explosion of Matt firing a shotgun.  His shot did little as he aimed too low.  The zombie that had been shuffling toward them now crawled.  He had blown off one of its legs.  He kept pulling the trigger with no effect having forgotten to use the pump to load another shell. 

Where was it, where? Beth shook her head to clear the ringing and the double vision.  She looked up again scanning the row of windows set high near the ceiling.  “There!”  She pointed to a window above the door to the truck.  “There There!  She shouted. 

Hector followed her hand and saw the walkway above them.  “We need to get up there!”  He yelled and pointed to a walkway running the length of the windows. 

Max searched the area frantically and saw a large elevator.  “Come on we’ll have to get to the second floor.  We know they have a hard time with stairs come on!”  Beth fired at a couple of zombies that were close to the elevator doors as the group ran for the lift.

“They have a hard time with stairs?”  Matt questioned as they ran.

“Why the hell didn’t we make our camp on the second floor to begin with?”  Trevor asked angrily. 

They reached the elevator.  It was an old cage type with a metal grate gate as a door.  The group crushed inside.  Hector slammed the gate shut and pressed the up button.  The group waited and waited.  All the guns were pointed at the approaching zombies.  Hector hit the button again.

  “Why aren’t we moving?”  Trevor screamed.

  “Because there is no power in an abandoned factory!”  Beth exclaimed slapping herself in the head.

“Aw come on man!”  Max responded.

Hector let off a burst of gun fire into the approaching ghouls to no avail.

“In the head man in the head!”  Max yelled.

Hector shook his head angrily and adjusted fire, several zombies fell.  The gate was thrown open and the group ran out.

“This way!”  Trevor yelled spotting the stairs at the far end of the dock. 

Beth ran for them, followed closely by Matt and Gillian.  A zombie lurched at Gillian.  She dodged its grip but slipped and fell.  Matt spun around, dropped the shotgun and began to pull her up. Beth slid up to them and heaved Gillian to her feet.  The others ran past and had already gained the stairs.

Devin turned and called, “Come on MOVE IT!”

Beth pushed Gillian ahead of her as the three tried to catch up with the others.  She felt her long hair pull through the ragged fingernails of a zombie as she mounted the second stair.  Turning on the fourth step she kicked it in the face as it tried to navigate the first step.  It fell knocking two others over with it. 

  Max was running full speed to the window above the door. His foot falls clanging on the metal grating as he ran.  Skidding to a halt at the window, he looked out. “It is only a couple feet to the truck’s roof we can jump.  There aren’t any of those things around!”

He backed up and ran at the window as fast as he could,
SLAM, Crunch
! Max lay on his back staring at the ceiling and unbroken window.  He was completely dazed.  Devin rushed up and began using the heavy flashlight from the truck as a club to smash the window. 

“Back up!”  Max called from the floor of the walkway. 

Devin moved aside, Max fired several shots into the thick glass.  It shattered.  Devin helped Max up, they cleared the jagged edges of glass with the flashlight.   He handed the flashlight to Max and jumped to the top of the truck. 

He was barely out when Stancy pushed her way through and jumped down.  Devin was on the stairs behind the truck unlocking the back doors when Martin hit the roof.  Devin clamored inside, Trevor was now out of the window.

Trevor jumped to the stairs and held out his arms to help Stancy.  She shook her head and with the grace of a gymnast she swung from the roof, through the back door into the truck.  Trevor looked back at the roof to Martin who wore the same look of surprise.   Max landed heavily next to Martin with a thud.  Hector called from the window, “Get ready.”

Matt came flying out, he hit the roof and rolled to the edge, his legs sliding off the end.  Martin and Max grabbed his arms and pulled him up.  Gillian was hanging out the window; she let herself drop down to the stairs with a clang. 

Hector jumped down next, Max steadied him as he slipped on the trucks roof.  Beth and Bill were the only ones left in the building.  Beth could hear the zombies falling over themselves on the stairs behind them.  They were relentless in their attempts to reach them.  She could see several had fallen on the stairs.  The other zombies used the fallen ones as a ramp to clear the stairs. 

“Come on Beth, time to go.”  Bill stated squeezing her arm.

Bill braced himself in the window frame. Beth could tell he was scared to jump.  He adjusted his grip to push himself as he jumped.  Hector and Max stood below encouraging him to hurry.  Beth behind him silently urging him to move as the zombie ramp continued to build getting ever closer to the top. 

Bill leaned forward, his knees bent, he pushed off.  His foot slipped on the broken glass and he fell out of the window hitting the side of the building and bouncing onto the roof of the truck where he crumpled.  Max and Hector pulled him up and began handing him down to Martin and Trevor. 

They were no longer alone in the lot now.  Three undead were starting to beat on the hood of the truck.  Beth heard the panic below.  She could make out Stancy starting to demand they get moving.  She heard Hector argue they all weren’t there.  She frowned at the response of “no great loss.” 

“Bitch.”  She muttered then looked back at the warehouse.  The dead were still streaming in.  She took a deep breath and jumped onto the truck.  Tucking and rolling to a stop.  She grabbed the side.  “I’m on.”  She yelled.

“Great get your ass in here!”  Max called from the back as Hector jumped down. 

Scurrying to the back of the truck Beth hung her legs over the edge ready to jump.  Hector was still on the stairs.  Something heavy fell past them, hitting the door.  A pair of legs barely missed Beth’s face as she flung herself backward against the roof of the truck. 

Looking up she saw several zombies crammed in the window frame.  One was working its way free.  She knew it would fall right on top of her.  Praying Hector was still there she flung herself forward off the roof.  

Thick arms caught her.  Beth kept her eye shut waiting to feel teeth rip into her.   Instead, without her feet hitting the ground, she was rushed into the back of the truck.  The doors slammed shut and her feet touched the floor. 

“You can let go now.”  Hector laughed hoarsely.

Quickly letting go she smiled at the soldier, “Thanks.”  She steadied herself against the back doors and looked out the window to the back door to the factory.  It burst open as they pulled away.  Beth jumped back a little then laughed as two zombies got stuck trying to make it through the door at the same time. “Too slow.”  She taunted as the truck drove away.