'Til Death Do Us Part (62 page)

“
Shoot!
”
Azile begged.

“
I can
’
t see anything. Get us out of here!
”

Using the sparks as an indicator
,
whatever was coming had halved their distance and were not slowing. Without being able to see wh
at was coming I could not shoot
I was
ninety-nine percent
sure what it was
,
but not
a hundred
.

I heard the whir as the truck tried to catch.
“
Azile, n
ow would be a good time.
”

“
Won
’
t start,
”
s
he said as she pumped the gas and messed with the stick shift.

The cloud cover passed, my nightmare was revealed as hundreds of zombies raced toward the truck. Bullets and tracers lit up the night as I hammered them into the oblivion they so rightfully deserved.

***

“
Fuck,
”
D
ave said as he watched the hell
fire issue from the truck. He was glad he hadn
’
t taken a shot. H
e would have never got a second one off if he had missed, and he was no marksman.

“
He
’
s killing my pets!
”
Kirk shouted.
“
Kill him!
”
h
e shouted at Dave.

“
I don
’
t have a shot.
”

“
Make one
or you
’
ll be running out there.
”

Dave lined up a shot. His cross
hairs dancing wildly as he
made the attempt
. The shot went wide blasting through
the
windshield.

***

“
Fuck!
”
I shouted as the windshield blasted out away from me. I had caught the muzzle flash from my peripheral vision and swung the
M
240 in the general direction. Bullets slammed into and through the thin aluminum shell of the building.

***

Bullets danced over the heads of Dave and Kirk as they dropped for cover.

“
That might have been a bad idea.
”
Kirk was smiling again. Broken glass, debris and dust
were
still raining down on them long after the bullets had ceased their attempt at ending their lives. Kirk didn
’
t get back up to look out the windows until the gun started up again and thankfully not in their direction.

***

I was not egotistical enough to think that I had killed the threat from the third story window
,
but I imagine I had
put the fear of whatever deity
he believed in
into his heart
,
and as long as he embraced that fear
,
I
’
d be fine.
“
How
’
s it going
,
Azile? I
’
m running a little low on ammo.
”

“
I
’
m trying, stop yelling at me!
”
s
he screamed back.

***

“
Recall the zombies!
”
Kirk yelled as he raced down to the first floor.

Dave stayed where he was.
R
ecalling the zombies meant putting out some of their prisoners as bait and he didn
’
t want to be part of it.
“
I should have left with Bill,
”
h
e said softly.

“
You say something?
”
Greg asked.

“
What
’
d you hear?
”
Dave asked.

“
Something about you wishing you
’
d left. I
’
m going to have to tell Kirk.
”

“
Tell him th
is for me,
”
Dave said as he put a round in
Greg
’
s chest. Dave ran to the opposite end of the building and down the two flights.

“
What the fuck is going on out there?
”
Len asked as Dave nearly plowed into him.

Len had the unenviable task of guarding the door that was located the furthest from the action.

“
Armageddon
,
Len, I
’
m getting out of here.
”

“
You know the rules
, Dave, nobody in…
and especially nobody out.
”

“
Len
,
just let me go
.
Or,
better yet
,
come with me.
”

Len actually did think about it for a moment.
“
Shit
,
Dave
,
I
’
d like to
,
but you saw what he did to Bill.
I can
’
t go through that.
”

“
Just let me go
,
Len.
”

“
I can
’
t.
There’s
one way out from the back of this building
,
who do you think he
’
s going to blame?
”

“
Just say you didn
’
t see anything.
”

“
But I did and I
’
m a horrible liar.
”

“
Fuck
,
Len
,
I
’
m sorry
”
Dave said as he shot Len in the midsection.

Len fell back into the door as he placed his hands over the wound.
“
That fucking
hurt
s
, Dave,
”
Len said as he slid down the door
.

“
I
’
m sorry, man.
”
Dave grabbed Len
’
s legs to move him out of the way.

“
Not as sorry as you
’
re going to be,
”
Len said as he pulled his .38 Special from his holster.
He
drilled a hole in the top of Dave
’
s head.
The
smell of
expended rounds
and
burnt
brain
s
dominat
ed
the small enclave. Dave was dead before he could form the thought.

“
Asshole
. Who does that to their friend?
”
Len said
,
referring to Dave
’
s whipping of Bill.
He
lifted his shirt and his bulletproof vest; a fist-
sized bruise
was already
forming on his stomach.
“
That
’
s gonna hurt,
”
Len said as he slowly worked himself back up into a standing position. He opened the door quickly, making sure nothing was out there. His plan was to drag Dave out so that he wouldn
’
t bleed all over his guard station and then a new thought formed in his mind.

“
Fuck it.
”
He
ran for the tree line.

***

I had maybe fifteen rounds left
when the zombies stopped coming.
Fifteen
rounds to a machine
gun
is like eating one potato chip;
it
’
s not enough.

“
You stopped shooting
,
Mike
,
are you out of ammo
,
”
Azile said
,
checking under the dash for potential truck starting problems.

“
The zombies are heading back in,
”
I said, trying to figure out what was going on.

“
Why?
”
Azile asked, and that was immediately followed by the screams of the reasons
‘
why.
’

“
They
’
re using people to bring them back.
”
I put my head down on the butt stock of my gun.

“
What?
”
Azile asked in surprise
,
then she figured it out.
“
Shoot the zombies!
”

“
I would,
”
I told her sadly,
“
but I don
’
t have enough rounds
,
and I don
’
t know
exactly where the people are.
I
’
d just as likely kill them as save them.
”

“
This can
’
t be happening.
”
Azile frantically pumped the gas pedal and turned the ignition.

Oh, it most assuredly
is
,
I though
t
as I heard the screams of the eaten.

A few moments later
,
when the hordes had been retrieved and the cries of the lures had died down
,
we could hear the doors that housed the zombies being lowered.

“
What is this newest nightmare?
”
I asked in preparation for round two.

“
Hello
,
travelers!
”
a
voice shouted from the shadows.
“
My name is Kirk and I am the c
aptain of this facility.
”

“
Like Captain Kirk?
”
I asked Azile.

“
Who’s
Captain Kirk?
”
s
he asked as she shrugged her shoulders.

“
Where
’
s Spock! I want to talk to Spock!
”
I yelled.

There was some muttering
,
then Kirk spoke back up.
“There is no Spock here.
Perhaps
we can come to an agreement.
”

“
You mean since your first attack was unsuccessful in killing us
,
you want to go to a diplomatic approach?
”
I asked dripping in sarcasm.

“
The release of my pets was unfortunate.
”

“
Pets?
”
Azile and I asked each other.

“
Someo
ne here misunderstood my orders,
”
Kirk added.

“
Was he one of the ones you fed to your pets?
”
I asked.

“
No, no
,
they were prisoners of war.
”

I wanted to tell him that the war was against the zombie
s, killing each other off
wasn
’
t doing anybody any good;
he didn
’
t seem like the reasoning type. Spock would have been a much better negotiator.