The Demented Z (Book 2): Desolation (Book 2) (20 page)

Tom slid on his back toward the passenger side.
  Using his boot, he reached out for the door
handle, his toe just catching the vinyl.  
The door didn’t budge as his boot slipped off the handle.
  Beyond the opening the demented continued to
sprint toward him. Tom’s leg trembled as
he stretched further, trying to get a better hold on the handle.
  He pushed upward with his leg, catching the
vinyl with as much friction as possible.  
The door’s hinges groaned in protest.

White T-shirt let out a loud shriek of anticipation.
  He saw food right in front of him, helpless
and exposed.

The demented was just a step away when Tom finally got the
door to budge. It let out a loud creak
but swung inwards. The door was partway
closed when T-shirt pounded into it, slamming it closed and jarring Tom’s leg.
  Blood and spit smeared the window as the
demented gnashed his teeth and scraped at the glass.
  The truck rocked as more demented pounded into
the side.

Tom slid away from the door, reeling from the infected.
  He turned onto his side and twisted his head
looking for the driver’s side door handle.  
The chrome handle was just above his head.
  He grabbed onto it, pulled the handle, and
then gave the door a shove. With the
door fully open he flipped to his belly and began sliding toward the opening.

With his head partway out of the driver side door he heard a
sudden pounding of feet on the pavement.  
Tom never had time to react. With
a loud
bang
someone slammed into the
driver door. The impact jammed the door
into Tom’s head, sending shooting pain down his spine.
  His vision blurred, tiny sparkles floating in
and out. There was a loud growl as at
least one demented continued to shove on the door from the outside.
  With each push the door cracked against the
top of Tom’s head. Worried he would pass
out Tom slid further back into the truck, getting his head out of the way and
allowing the door to close.

Tom struggled to sit up, his mind spinning.
  He lay there, staring at the old AM/FM
radio. Memories of going out to the cove
and parking with his high school girlfriend flashed through his mind.
 
What
was her name?
  If only he could think
of her name. The pounding and growling
at the doors made it so difficult to concentrate.
  He willed himself to a sitting position.
  The dash seemed to morph, changing shape,
growing darker. He tried to focus,
looking over at the driver side door, wondering who was making all the
noise. Someone was there, but it was
nobody he recognized. He looked down at
his arm and was both horrified and confused to see it covered in blood.
  His vision narrowed, like a dark shrinking
tunnel with his bloody hand in the center.  
His fingers multiplied, extra digits filling in the gaps that normally
existed between fingers. Inky blackness
swirled around his hand like an evil fog.  
His hand was slowly eaten by the dark, dissolving like sugar in
water...and then everything went black.

******

Hank was just starting to ease the SUV out of the nearly
empty parking lot when Jenny shouted, “There, what is that?”

Movement, they all saw it immediately.
  The narrow alleyway in front of them was
jammed with wrecked cars. Most of them
had their windows broken out, red blood dotting the glass.
  It was between these cars that something was
moving. If it held still it would be
impossible to see in the dark shadows, but the motion gave it away.

“Tom?”   Kelly asked.

Sam suddenly sat upright in her lap.
  “Daddy?”
  His eyes strained ahead, forehead nearly
touching the windshield.

Hank eased to a stop and sat staring with the others.
  “I think it’s moving away from us.”

“What if he doesn’t know which way he is going?
  Drive over there.”
  Kelly said.

“No.”   Philip shouted
from the back. “We don’t know that’s
him.”

Everyone watched in silence.  
Even Zeus sat quietly in the back.  
His snout was pointed right at the alley and his ears were at attention,
trying to pick up anything. He let out a
quick blast of air through his nostrils, not quite a bark, but enough to let
everyone know that he wasn’t too sure about things.

Hank turned back and looked at Zeus.
  “Is it Tom?”  
He asked the dog. Zeus tilted his
head to the side with a questioning look on his face.
  “Not sure boy?”
  Hank added.  
The German Shepherd let out a low whine.

“We have to see if it’s him?  
That’s why we’re not sitting back where we started.”
  Kelly said while pointing a thumb over her
shoulder. She was both panicked and
excited at the same time. She was
clearly hopeful that it was him, hope driving away fear.

The form was nearly out of sight, fading away into the
darkness at the far end of the alley.  
Hank sat watching the shadows, even after he could no longer see any
movement. He eased out of the parking
lot, turning the corner. “Let’s circle
around the block.”   After saying this he
stomped on the gas, accelerating down the street.
  At the first side street that came up, Hank
took a hard left. The tires let out a
high pitched
chirp
as the rubber slid
on the pavement.   With a roar the SUV
shot forward.

Philip shouted from the back, “You’re going to get us
killed. Slow down!”

Hank let out a low chuckle.  
“Come on, put on your big girl panties Philip.”

Just ahead Hank could see a turn to the left that would lead
to the alley. Easing off the
accelerator, he looked over at Kelly.  
“Tom’s gonna be alright...even if this is not
him, he’s a survivor, we will find him.”  
Kelly didn’t respond, just nodded her head while staring out the window
and running a hand through Sam’s blonde hair.

Before they reached the corner Hank saw movement out ahead
of them. An overturned car was partially
blocking a side street on the right hand of the road.
  Using the narrow gap that remained, multiple
people were rushing out onto the main road and then turning away from the
SUV. Each of them had an awkward gait,
marking them as infected. Even with the
strange movements they were surprisingly fast.  
None of them noticed Hank and the others, instead sprinting away at high
speed.

While making a left hand turn toward the alley Hank said, “They
smell something.”

“We gotta get out of here.”
  Philip said from the back.

The SUV sped down the side road, dodging between abandoned
cars. Car doors hung open, windows were
shattered, and blood stained the streets.  
There were no bodies to be seen and if not for the blood it would have looked
like everyone just left their cars and ran away.

Hank spotted the alley just ahead and said, “Here it is.”

The tires squeaked as Hank took the corner a little faster
than he intended. The rear end of the
SUV slid on the pavement and bumped up against the brick building with a
jarring crunch. Their headlights bobbed
wildly. Zeus let out a surprised yelp
from the back. The engine issued a
throaty roar as Hank stomped on the gas.

“Woohoo!”
  Sam said from his Mom’s lap.

Hank looked over at the little guy.
  “That’s right buddy, were gonna
catch up and find your Dad.”

The narrow alley was littered with debris.
  A green dumpster was tipped over, spilling
its contents across the pavement.  
Papers, cardboard boxes, and shredded black garbage bags were scattered
everywhere. Hank slowed the SUV and used
the narrow gap between the dumpster and the brick building to squeeze
through. They scraped up against the
dumpster hinges making a loud screech of metal on metal.
  Everyone cringed from the ear piercing noise,
but they were quickly through the gap and accelerating down the alley.

A dark form appeared at the edge of their headlights,
sprinting away from them. He never turned
or looked back, but instead continued to race in the other direction.

“It’s him. It’s the
man we saw earlier.”   Hank said.

“Daddy?”

“I don’t think so hun.”
  Kelly said.

Hank squinted ahead and added, “Your mom’s right.”

Zeus sensed something and began barking angrily.
  Hank glanced back to see what was getting him
so stirred up.

“Look out!”   Kelly
shouted from next to him.

Hank turned back just in time to see a bread delivery truck
tipped over on its side and wedged up against a smashed minivan.
  The two vehicles were blocking the entire alley.
  Hank stomped on the brakes.
  The tires squealed on the pavement.
  The SUV came skidding to a halt, smoke
rolling off the tires and up around the windows.
  Zeus continued to bark ferociously.

“Somebody shut this dog up.”  
Philip yelled.

Hank ignored him.  
“Where did the guy go?”   He asked.

In a voice barely audible over the dog Sam said, “Through
there.”   He was pointing toward the
narrow gap between the upper section of the van and the delivery truck.

Hank was relieved to hear that the man was well away from
them and the SUV. “We’re
gonna have to go around.”  
He threw the SUV in reverse and twisted around in his seat, looking over
his shoulder between the seats. Zeus was
there, barking out the rear window. Behind
them, in the gap between the dumpster and the brick building was movement.
  It was difficult to make out in the
darkness. As the SUV continued to back
up, their rear lights splashed on several staggering forms.
  They had the slow, awkward movements of the
undead. More and more of them continued
to appear out of the darkness.

“Hang on everyone.”  
Hank shouted while stomping on the accelerator.
  The SUV roared in response.

The first
thud
was
startling. Then they came faster, one
undead after another getting plowed down by the speeding SUV.
  Hank aimed for the narrow gap next to the
dumpster. Just before reaching the
opening one of the tires ran over an infected, jostling the SUV.
  It was just enough.
  The upper cab caught the metal dumpster.
  There was an angry crash.
  Glass shattered inward.
  The SUV jerked to the side, catching the
brick building with the driver side.  
With the sound of thunder the vehicle slammed to a halt.
  For a moment a strange quiet overtook the
interior and then the hungry moans of the infected spilled in.

“Go, go, go!
  Get us out of here.”
  Philip shouted from the back.

Zeus issued a vicious growl followed by angry barking.

Hank continued to hold down on the gas pedal, but the dumpster
was wedged between them and the cement building on the other side, jamming the
SUV in place.

Kelly let out a scream as one of the undead pressed his
hideous face up against the passenger window and began beating at the glass
with a fist and a bloody stump where his hand used to be.

Sam began crying.  
Unable to deal with the chaos he turned away from the window and buried
his face in his mom’s chest.

Hank grabbed the gear shift and jammed it into drive.
  He punched the gas.
  The SUV lurched forward a few inches, its
driver side fender scraping on the brick building.
  Hank cursed loudly while continuing to hammer
down on the accelerator, hoping he could will the vehicle forward.
  The tires billowed smoke as they spun on the
pavement, unable to get enough grip to overcome their predicament.

The already cracked back window suddenly exploded
inward. One of the undead’s
arms reached in, trying to get a hold of anyone inside.
  Zeus lunged forward, chomping down on the
exposed flesh. With an angry growl he
began tugging and shaking his head viciously trying to tear away the arm.

Hank threw the SUV back into reverse and hit the gas
again. The tires gripped the pavement,
shooting them back a few inches. With a
screech of metal on metal they caught on the dumpster.
  Back in drive, he hit the gas again.
  The tires spun, failing to make the SUV budge
at all.

“Ahhhh!
  Come on!”  
Hank said while slamming his hands down on the steering wheel.
  “We’re jammed up.”
  He turned and looked back at the others.
  Jenny and Philip sat wide eyed, staring into
space. Zeus was continuing to rip at the
arms of one of the undead. This was
going to get way worse the longer they sat.  
“Grab guns, we gotta roll.”
  He shouted.  
Nobody moved. “We’re
gonna die, grab guns everyone.”

This seemed to catch their attention.
  Both Philip and Jenny began looking around their
feet for the guns they had stored there.  
Kelly flipped open the glove box and grabbed the compact pistol she had
placed there earlier. With everyone
finally in motion, Hank reached between the seats and grabbed his
revolver. His rifles were in the back
with Zeus. He had to hope that Philip or
Jenny would grab whatever they could.

“Cover your ears.”  
Hank said while raising his pistol.  
Once both Kelly and Sam had their hands on their ears he pulled the
trigger, punching a hole through the passenger window.
  The round slammed into the
undead’s face, catching him right below the eye.
  The boom was deafening in the enclosed space,
making everything else sound muffled, distant.

Philip opened his door in the back and began climbing
out. He held a pistol by his side.
  Next to him, Jenny was turned toward the
back, either grabbing gear or trying to get the dog to come along.

Ears still ringing, Hank could barely hear the dog growling
as he continued to struggle with the undead.  
He turned to try his door, but immediately saw that it was much too
close to the brick building and would never open far enough to squeeze out.
  Turning back, he saw Kelly opening her door and
packing Sam out through the opening.  
There was movement in the darkness beyond.

Pop...Pop...Pop...

Philip’s gun flashed in the night with each shot.

Hank crawled across the seats, following Kelly out the
door. The air was filled with the groans
of the undead. Their moans of hunger
were coming from all directions, thankfully most of
them were trapped on the other side of the dumpster.
  Hank raised his pistol, scanning the darkness
for threats. Lying on the ground a few
feet away were a pair of bodies. Both
gunned down by Philip, neither of them moving.  
Several undead were shuffling out of the darkness ahead of the SUV.

Kelly lowered Sam down to his feet.
  “Stay by me.”  
He was a trooper, never crying or asking back up, instead just tucking
in close to her side. She began to raise
her pistol but Hank beat her to it.

Boom...boom
...his
revolver thundered, dropping the nearest two undead.
  More vague shapes could be seen farther back
in the darkness. They were not yet a
threat and Hank decided to save his ammo for now.
  From behind him he could hear Philip’s pistol
continue to fire away at whatever was behind them.

Hank jumped when Jenny touched him on the shoulder and
shouted, “Rifle, take a rifle.”

He spun to the side and saw she was holding one of the AR15s
out. He quickly stuffed the revolver in
his holster and took the rifle from her.  
The solid weight of the stout rifle felt good, comforting in the
chaos. Knowing it was already
charged, he flicked off the safety and clicked on the
red-dot scope.

Jenny held her AR15 up to her shoulder and fired several
rapid shots at the oncoming infected.  
Hank was impressed to see every shot make contact, dropping an infected
with each round.

“Good shooting!  
People, we gotta move.
  This noise is going to draw the whole city
down on top of us.”   Hank shouted.

“I told you guys...I told you guys this was stupid.”
  Philip shouted.
  “We’re going to die on these streets.”

Kelly shouted back, spit flying in anger, “Shut up
Philip. We don’t want to hear it.”

Hank held his rifle tight to his shoulder and began moving
forward, leading the group down the alley using the SUVs headlights to guide
them. Their bodies cast long, creepy
shadows that extended along the pavement and beyond the fading glow.
  Little Sam’s shadow was the only one that
looked human size.

Hank glanced back and said, “Keep an eye behind us
Philip.”   His voice was nearly drowned
out by the shrieks and howls of the infected in streets surrounding them.
  The noises were coming from everywhere and it
sounded like thousands of them. Hank
hoped it was just the way sound bounced off all the concrete and pavement.
  Deep down he knew that wasn’t the case.

From somewhere ahead, beyond the faint glow cast by the
headlights, rose the slap of feet on pavement...lots of feet.
  Philip began firing rapidly into the
darkness, panic taking over. The bullets
whizzed past Hank’s head, causing him to duck to the side.

“Stop firing.”   Hank
yelled.

Philip continued to send lead until his pistol ran dry.
  Even then, he stood there pulling the trigger
for several seconds, trying desperately to get it to keep shooting.

Hank looked to the buildings.
  The cement structure’s bare flat wall
continued on into the darkness out of sight.  
The brick building looked more promising with a dark recess just a dozen
feet ahead. “Quick,
over here.”   He said while racing
along the wall.

He found what he had hoped for.
  In the shadows stood a large, bare metal
door, the paint scratched in a variety of names and cuss words.
  A large stainless steel handle with a dark
keyhole above it stared back at him, daring him to test if it was locked or
not. Hank reached for it, knowing they
were doomed if they stayed in the alley.  
Luck was on his side, the door swung outward with a groan from the aged
hinges. The smell of dust and decay
washed over the group. The pitch black
opening stared back at them like a portal into the deepest reaches of space.

The sounds of the oncoming demented echoed loudly in the
narrow alley. Needing no further
incentive, Hank held the door open and said, “Get in.”
  This was plenty of encouragement for the
group and they quickly raced into the darkness without hesitation.
  Zeus’s furry form was the last to rush
through the doorway.

Hank raced in after them, pulling the door closed behind
him. He looked down for a way to secure
the door, but the interior of the building was pitch
black. Panic welled up inside of
him. Telling himself to focus on a
single task at a time, he began feeling along the door.
  He kept his eyes closed,
using his fingers and mind to map out the shape.
  His fingers felt the round tube of steel that
marked a crash bar. He continued along
it in both directions, but found no locking mechanism.
  He began feeling along the side opposite the
hinges, hoping there would be a deadbolt.  
Before he made it very far there was a loud scream from somewhere behind
him. He had been focusing so intently on
the door that he lost track of what happened to the others.
  “Where are...”  
He started to say while spinning away from the door.

Unable to finish his question, gunfire erupted from inside
the building, cutting him off. The loud
shots rang out, echoing in the large space.  
With each shot a brilliant flash of light lit up what appeared to be an
immense warehouse.   Giant machinery stood
on the cement in rows like sleeping industrial behemoths.

Zeus began barking wildly.

The gunfire revealed shadowed human forms a couple dozen
yards off. With each flash it was clear
there were more people in the warehouse than Hank’s group.
  It was like watching a horror film where you
only got to see one frame every second.

Another gun joined the fight, smaller, likely Philip’s
pistol.

The thought of returning to the alley flashed through Hank’s
mind. It was quickly wiped away when
something slammed into the outside of the door, causing it to bang and
shake. Between shots Hank could hear
angry growls from the other side of the door.  
It continued to rattle on its hinges and he knew it was only a matter of
time before they figured out how to get the handle released.

Knowing escape back through the alley was no longer an
option, Hank raised his rifle and raced toward the
others. The constant bright flashes
ahead were very disorienting. His eyes
were unable to adjust to the either the dark or the light.
  With each gun flash he tried to lock in on
who was who.

He was just about to the others when he either sensed or
heard something to his side. There was
only enough time to turn slightly, putting his rifle between himself and his
attacker. The demented
came rushing at him from the side.  
Whether he had waited patiently in the darkness or had finally got in on
the fight, the demented had perfectly ambushed Hank.
  The attacker slammed into Hank, ramming his
rifle up into his chin. Pain shot
through Hank’s jaw. The metallic taste
of blood filled his mouth.

The demented’s massive frame knocked Hank from his feet,
both of them crashing to the cement floor.  
The air was driven from Hank’s lungs.  
He tried to gasp for more, but couldn’t seem to get his lungs to work
correctly. The demented showed no mercy,
ripping at his neck and face. Using his
rifle as a makeshift shield, Hank tried to push the giant man away.
  The effort was useless; Hank lacked the
strength and leverage to even budge his attacker.

The gunfire had died off, replaced by angered grunts and
growls. Without their bright flashes the
entire warehouse was shrouded in inky blackness.
  Unable to see the others Hank hoped they had
survived the attack. Continued sounds of
a struggle indicated otherwise.

Something issued a low growl to Hank’s side.
  He stood little chance as it was and another
demented would surely mean his demise.  
The angry growl rapidly grew louder as the second demented rushed his
way. Using one last surge of energy,
Hank shoved and twisted as hard as he could.  
It was barely enough to get one shoulder off the cold cement.
  It was over.

The growl came in right next to his face.
  The thick fur of Zeus brushed up against his
exposed flesh. Blood splattered down on
top of Hank as Zeus ripped into the demented.  
If Hank could move he would hug the dog.  
The demented let out a gurgling gasp and went still.
  Zeus continued to rip at his neck, unwilling
to call the fight over. Hank twisted and
slid out from underneath the bloody mess.

He scooped up his bloody AR15 and looked around.
  It was like staring out the window on a
moonless night, only deep impenetrable black.  
There was no movement. There were
no vague shapes. There was nothing, just
pure black. He would do anything for a
flashlight about now. Resorting to his
sense of hearing, Hank narrowed out Zeus tearing at the demented at his feet.
  Across several paces of open space he could
hear shuffling noises, but nothing else.

Terrified to attract more demented, but knowing he had no
other choice, Hank timidly said, “Anyone there?”

Zeus heard his voice and immediately stopped devouring the
demented. The shuffling noise
continued. Hank could now hear the
continual banging at the alley door. It
was persistent, but he was relieved that they had not yet gained entry.

Hank whispered into the darkness again, a little louder this
time. “Guys?
  Anyone?”

“I’m here.”  
Whispered a soft voice.

“Kelly?”

“Yeah, Sam and I are here.”

“I’ll come to you.  
Keep talking.”

Her voice was quiet, scared, but she kept talking.
  “I don’t know what happened to the
others. They came out of nowhere.”
  After this she hesitated for a bit.
  “One of them hit Jenny first...I think it got
her.”   Her voice was getting more and
more shaky as she spoke.  
“Then they just kept coming, rushing at us from the darkness.
  I could only hear them.
  I started firing at the noise and my flash
gave them away. Philip started
shooting...not sure what happened to...”