The Plague Unto The End (19 page)

“There were a couple other cases before Jose showed up.  A guy tried to bring his daughter inside and she had a pretty obvious bite on her leg.  He said she got bit by a dog and not by one of the sick people.  Look, I’ve been doing this for a while and I know what a dog bite looks like and what a human bite looks like.  That was not a dog bite,” said Tracey.

“So what did you guys do?” I asked her.

Tracey let out a breath, “It was kinda sad, but we had to do it to keep the rest of us safe.  Rev didn’t want to send them away, even though she had the bite.  I tried to clean it, but I didn’t have my equipment and it already looked badly infected.  The little girl died that night, and...came back.  She attacked her dad while he was sleeping.  We heard him scream from down the hall and all came running.  Deandre was actually the one that reacted first.  He beat the girl in the head until she stopped moving.  Her dad freaked out and went after him, but Rev and I got him on the ground and tried to reason with him, but he couldn’t see things for what they were,” Tracey paused.

“So did he...you know? Did you guys kill him?” I asked.

“No, actually probably something worse.  We forced him out the front door and locked it behind him,” she said.

“Did he just run off and disappear?” I asked.

“No, he didn’t.  We could hear him pounding and screaming outside the door for us to let him in, but Rev and I both knew that we couldn’t do that.  We heard what sounded like a struggle outside the door, one last thump on the door, and I saw him running across the street.  There were about five of them after him.  He disappeared behind some houses and that was it,” she responded.

“Yeah, that would explain Rev’s opinion of new people.  That was pretty close for your group.  If he had turned along with his daughter and came after the rest of you while you were sleeping...that would have been bad,” I said.

Tracey just nodded her head, “Yep.”

“So, what made you want to join the fire department?” I asked, changing the subject.

Tracy looked at me and snickered, “Really, all this is going on and people are still asking me the same question.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize…I’m just trying to make things less awkward.  You are in a truck with three guys you’ve just met.”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure I could take all three of you,” Tracy said confidently.

I wasn’t sure if she was making a joke or if she was being serious.

Matt tapped on the window and started to point at the parking lot as we pulled up to it. 

“Let me out on the side where...his mom was,” said Matt quietly.

I sped through the parking lot to the van and quickly stopped next to the driver’s door.  Matt climbed out of the back of the truck and ran to the remains of Curtis’ mother.  Matt checked her pockets again and again, but couldn’t find the keys.

“What’s the problem?  Hurry up,” I said.

“She doesn’t have them,” responded Matt.

“Look in the ignition,” I said.

Matt jumped up and stuck his head inside of the vehicle. 

“Here they come,” Tracey said as she pointed to a handful of carriers stumbling toward us.

Matt was still looking inside the vehicle for the keys, but didn’t appear to be having any luck.

“C’mon, Matt, we don’t have time for this.  We’ll find another vehicle.  There are plenty out here,” I said, but Matt still continued searching inside.

Suddenly there was a thumping noise from the back of the truck.  Curtis got out of the back and ran over to Matt.  Because of what happened with Curtis last time we were here, I didn’t know what he was about to do.

“Move your leg,” said Curtis to Matt and Matt pulled his legs inside the vehicle.

Curtis reached under the driver’s side of the vehicle and pulled out a small black box.  He opened the box and pulled a key out.  Matt moved over to the passenger’s seat and Curtis got into the driver’s seat.  He started the engine and gave me the thumbs up.

“Well, alright then,” I said to Tracey.

The van started to move just as a carrier slammed into the front of the van.  Curtis powered right on through and the corpse was pulled down under the wheels. 

PFFFF
, “Let’s go get Beth, Fran, Sid and Jim,” said Matt over the radio.

CLICK
, “Yes, let’s,” I responded.

Curtis followed me to the parking lot of thee sporting goods store and we couldn’t believe what we saw.  The barricade had been completely trampled and the inside of the store was full of the infected.  I knew there was no way we were going to be able to get in and out without an impossible fight.

CLICK
, “Sid...Jim...Beth?  You guys still in there?” I called on the radio.

All of us outside held our breath waiting for an answer, but I never got one. 

PFFFF
, “Maybe we won’t need the van after all,” said Matt.

PFFFF
, “Frannie are you in there!” said Curtis over the radio in a panic.

Then I caught something out of the corner of my eye.  Some movement on the roof of the building.  I saw a hand waving.  It was Jim, but all I could see was his arm.

CLICK
, “Hey, why didn’t you guys answer on the radio,” I said into the radio, but still got no response.

PFFFF
, “I don’t know why they aren’t answering, but we need to get a move on, they’ve noticed us,” said Matt. 

The hoard inside was starting to squeeze its way back out of the store.  With the size of the crowd, there was no way that I was going to be able to go in on foot or drive right through, and the others couldn’t jump from the roof.

“We could try what I did at my house,” I said, looking at Tracey.

“What did you do there?” she asked.

CLICK
, “Matt, do you have any shells left?  I need you to shoot off a couple rounds in front of the store.”

PFFFF
, “What?  That will bring every one of them in the area on top of us,” Matt replied.

CLICK
, “Yeah, but it will get them out of the store for us to go in and get the others,” I said.

PFFFF
, “Okay, but this is going to be a matter of perfect timing and a whole lot of luck,” Matt responded.

Matt pulled the van up in front of the store and I saw the barrel stick out through the window.

BOOM, click click, BOOM
.  The steady flow of corpses coming through the cracks in the barricade turned into a frantic rush.  They began trampling each other to get out of the building.  Tracey and I slumped down into the seats of the truck and watched the crowd surge toward us.  The van started to move out of the parking lot slowly and Matt continued to fire off shots.  I could see Tracey becoming increasingly uncomfortable as the bodies overtook the truck.  Several of them bounced off of the truck as the force of the mass of rotting flesh shoved passed us.  Tracey tried to slide as far away from the broken-out passenger’s side window as possible without being noticed.  I kept my gun ready, just in case one of them noticed us in the truck.

I inched up gradually in the seat to look over the dashboard at the store.  There were only a couple of them hobbling out of the opening now, but the ground was littered with the carriers that had been crushed under the weight of the crowd.  Most of them were still trying to move, with broken legs and missing limbs.  The truck was still running and all I would have to do is let the clutch out and gun the gas to get inside the store.

“You ready to try this?” I asked Tracey.

“I think I should have stayed at the church, but I guess I’m in this now,” said Tracey.

The only weapon she was able to take from the church was the one she had brought with her from the ambulance.  It wasn’t the most easily used hand weapon, but I would hate to be in the way if she swung it.  She said it was called a “halligan.”  I had never seen anything like it.  It was a metal bar that had a pair of prying forks on one end and a pointed hook on the other end.  She said they used them for getting into houses in emergency situations.

I heard one last
BOOM
from Matt’s shotgun and he came over the radio,
PFFFF
, “I’m out.  I’ve got to reload.  Go now or we’re going to have to forget about them.”

CLICK
, “We’re moving now.  Get ready to help with pickup,” I replied.

I sat up in the driver’s seat and gunned the gas.  One unlucky carrier lumbered out of the opening just as I hit the barrier.  He was smashed between the front of the truck and the shelving.  As I started to push my way into the store, heard a loud
POP
. 

“What was that?” I said.

Tracey opened the door and stepped out into the store.  She looked around for carriers and glanced back at the truck.  “You blew the front tire.”

“Crap!” I said, jumping out on my side of the truck.

“Where are they?  How do we get up on the roof?” asked Tracey.

I stumbled over to the right side of the truck to see the tire.  “There is a spare under the bed.”

“Hey, watch your back!” yelled Tracey as one of them lunged at me from the rubble around the truck.  I fell backward and saw Tracey’s halligan crush the skull of the corpse reaching for me.

“We don’t have time for this.  This place is still full of them,” said Tracey.

“But my truck, I...it still works...there is a spare,” I stammered.

“You’ll be changing it by yourself then.  I’m not going to die to save a dumb truck.  Now how do we get up on the roof?” said Tracey very forcefully.

I looked back at the track and pounded my hand on the hood.

“The ladder is over there,” I said as I nodded toward the ladder.

I pulled out my sword and began to run for the ladder.  Tracey and I smashed and slashed our way there and climbed up to the roof.  I was first onto the roof and saw the others all seated against the small wall surrounding the roof.  Something didn’t seem right though.  The four of them were all on the roof, but Sid looked like he was sick.  His left arm was tied off above his elbow and his hand was almost gray.  Frannie looked like she was getting sicker too.  All of them looked like they had been through a disaster.

“What happened?  I thought you guys were held up in the office,” I asked.

Jim just stared at me and looked over at Sid.  Sid seemed to be having trouble staying awake.  Beth was sitting with Frannie’s head in her lap.

“Did you get what you wanted?” asked Beth very smugly.

“Yeah, and we found another place, but what happened to you?” I repeated.

“When you left, we did go to the manager’s office and locked the door, but the weight pressed up against the door from all of them was too much,” said Jim.

“Ahhh, we fought our way through...the best we could.  One of them things got ahold of my hand.  I can’t even feel my fingers anymore,” said Sid.

“I tied it off with a piece of his shirt as tight as I could, hoping that it wouldn’t spread if there was no blood flow, but he’s still getting sick,” said Beth.

“We’ve been sitting up here ever since, and I’m guessing that you guys realized that the walkies couldn’t get through.  That’s my fault, I was going to grab them, but with all the confusion I ran out without them,” said Jim.

“I went...back for ‘em, and that’s when they...got me,” said Sid.