When the Dead Rise (Book 1): The Beginning (14 page)

"What are you doing?" Veronica immediately reached for the boy.

Laughing, Amanda replied, "I'm just checking the tag to see if his name is on it. I know that when Robyn was a few years younger, I had to put her name on every scrap of clothing if I ever wanted to see it again. See? Right here." She pulled out the tag, showing it to Veronica.

"Timmy," She read, shaking her head. "I should have checked."

"What's your unit number?" Stu spoke to Cory for the first time.

Cory wasn't sure if he wanted to give these strangers the location of his stash. If they proved untrustworthy, giving them access to all his guns, ammo and food rations would be very bad for him and his friends. "Second floor." He pulled a necklace out from his shirt, showing them the locker key. The last thing he wanted was a fight with this new group - all he wanted was to get what belonged to him and get the hell out of dodge. A startling, protective urge made Cory realize that sometime during the night, he'd begun to look at Bill, Veronica and Timmy as his responsibility; if it came down to it, Cory would protect his group at any cost - even at the cost of the other survivor's lives.

Mike smiled, patting Cory on the back. "Well you're in luck. We haven't started clearing out the lockers on B; we've only gotten through the outside lockers on the main level and half of the lockers on C."

The tension in Cory eased slightly by the man's easy-going demeanor, but he wasn't ready to let his guard down just yet. "Before I retrieve my things, would it be okay if we," he motioned to Bill, Veronica, and Allegra, "rest for an hour or so? We've been on the move all night and I, for one, need to take a break."

"Of course," Mike motioned for the others to follow as he made his way through the dark hallway. "If you'd like, I can radio up to Zach and ask him to put on some water. We can have coffee and discuss what's brought you all here."

"You've just become my new best friend." Bill slapped Mike on the back.

"I grabbed a few boxes of grounds before I skipped out on my job," Stu said from the rear of the group.

Mike opened the stairwell door and began to climb the three flights of stairs. "This way," he said once they'd reached the top floor.

They walked along another hallway lined with open storage units. Some still had random items in them, while others looked like bedrooms, complete with a mattress, a dresser of some kind, and a table. "You'd almost think there wasn't a zombie plague outside," Veronica leaned in and whispered to Cory.

"They've done well for themselves here," he replied, as he stared into the passing rooms.

Stu spoke up from behind them. "We've worked hard to get this place somewhat liveable." Indignantly, he pushed past Cory and Veronica. "Mike, Zach and I worked two whole days on emptying out the outside units and lining the fence. Then we spent another two days setting up the roof and these rooms."

"Now Stu," Mike said, "They didn't mean any harm. We have done well for ourselves here. We have food and comfort; we've built ourselves a home and other than scavenging, we've never had to run for our lives. I bet these three could tell you stories that would make your balls shrivel." Bill chuckled, nodding to no one in particular. Stopping at a ladder, Mike pointed up. "Last set of stairs - I promise."

The newcomers could have never imagined what they found on the roof. The first thing they noticed was the construction fencing, which created a safe perimeter around the building's edge. Then they noticed the old faded rugs, obviously pulled from a storage unit, which led to a camping awning. As they rounded the corner of the awning, they found a dining area set up that included a large wood burning barbecue made from a metal barrel, an outdoor patio set and a self-contained fire pit.

"You've set this up from things you found in the units?" Veronica walked around the space with her mouth hanging open.

Mike beamed with pride, "You got it. It's amazing what people put into storage."

"Mike," a teenage boy jogged towards the group, his face flushed, "we have incoming - a lot of incoming."

"Zach," Mike put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "get the guns ready and meet us downstairs." Zach turned and ran past Cory, giving him a nod as he went. Mike turned to Cory. "You said you have some supplies? I hope they include firepower; we're about to have a long day ahead of us."

Assault...

The storage room door rattled up, revealing the stash it contained. Mike let out a long whistle, "I think you're my new best friend." He smiled at Cory as he entered the unit, walking straight to the back where a row of high caliber rifles hung.

Cory's unit was neatly organized; shelves lined the walls and a worktable with boxes of MRE's beneath, sat in the middle. "I believe in being prepared." Cory shrugged, "This unit made it easy for me to get ready for my hunting trips and kept all of my toys safe in between. My buddy had a unit just down from this one - he was big into survival training and his locker should prove full of useful items as well."

"We've been searching the wrong floor," Stu snorted, pointing an unloaded handgun into the hallway. He pulled the trigger and the click of the hammer echoed in the small space. "I like this one." He ejected the clip, holding it out to Cory. "Do you have ammo?"

Nodding, Cory pointed to the locked cabinet in the corner. "The key is hanging on the back - help yourself."

Mike's radio crackled. Pulling it from the back of his pants, he pressed down on the transmit button. "What is it Amanda?"

"We've got a group of them at the gate Mike." Amanda's voice shook as she spoke.

Stu, Mike and Zach began grabbing guns and ammo; Cory cringed at the mess they were making in of his organized locker. "We're arming ourselves and we're on our way down. Make sure Robyn and Timmy are secure up on the third floor. Bill is already outside with Veronica and Allegra to make sure they don't breach the fence," Mike spoke in a commanding and calm tone; there was a long pause from the radio.

When Amanda responded, she sounded surer of herself. "I have the kids and am taking them upstairs now. If something happens and there is a breach, I'll make sure to follow your plan."

"That won't be necessary," Mike responded. "We've got this sis. We're going to make sure everyone's safe. Don't forget to barricade the third floor door and I'll radio when it's clear to come back down."

Cory grabbed several handguns, extra clips and the ammo for his rifle, "We've got to go." Armed, they filed downstairs.

The stench hit them when they opened the outer door of the facility. While Cory couldn't see the gathering horde beyond the fence, their moans were deafening and their smell overpowering. Bill and Veronica stood on washing machines, guns pointed beyond the fence; Allegra stood on top of a vending machine with her camera in hand.

Cory jogged up to Bill and asked, "How many do you think?"

Bill gave Cory a grim smile, holding out his hand to help Cory onto the machine. "Too many to count, but with all of us working together, we may just stand a chance of surviving today."

Mike jumped up beside Cory and nodded towards Allegra. "What's her story?"

Veronica answered. "We just found her. She'd have died at the gas station if we didn't stop and we haven't had a chance to find out since then."

Mike turned to Allegra, who still stood with her camera in hand. "I know they aren't sharing this on the news," Mike motioned towards the crowd of zombies pressing up against the fence, "so how did you find out there was something going on in San Antonio?"

Allegra didn't take her eyes from the camera as she panned over the zombies. "I received word from a contact within Synergy Pharmaceuticals that something far worse than an oil spill was going on here. No one outside of the city knows what's truly going on and I intend to show the rest of America what's being covered up - they need to understand that this won't be contained. That this will spread and they need to prepare themselves for what's coming."

"How did you get into the city?" Mike asked, studying Allegra, "The military has fallen back and they've set up road blocks, not allowing anyone in or out." Cory turned to the crowd and began picking off the zombies while listening into Allegra and Mike's conversation; he hadn't realized the US army was keeping those already in San Antonio from escaping.

"How do you know that?" Bill asked, sighting down his rifle and taking another shot - the zombie's head snapped back and his decaying body disappeared beneath the mob.

"When I tried to get out of the city on the second day, they blew the tires out of my truck, and if I hadn't gotten out and into the brush beside the road, I'd have been killed when my truck exploded." Mike sighted and shot; his shot hit the shoulder of a zombie but it did little to stop the lumbering creature. The zombies moaned in chorus, reaching up with bloody, grasping hands. "I don't know what they used, but there wasn't much left after the fire died down." He looked at Allegra with an unspoken question.

"When I came up to the blockade, they told me a very plausible story about the contamination caused by the oil spill and how the city was uninhabitable for the time being. That anyone coming out needed to be tested for life-threatening toxins because the contamination had made its way into the water table." Cory realized that Allegra was recounting her experience for the camera as much as for them. "I drove west until I found a road with an unmanned barricade, and then I turned south."

"So you can show us a way out of this hellhole?" Mike seemed eager but Cory didn't think that getting out would be as easy as getting in.

Allegra shook her head. "I don't think I can remember all the turns I had to make to detour around car accidents and other military blockades. There are spike strips on some of the roads and when I tried to move them, I realized they couldn't be tampered with. The strips are wired to explosives and I wasn't about to blow myself up by messing with them. Besides, I have to get to Synergy. The answers I need are there." Allegra moved from the top of the vending machine to the concrete block wall, surrounding the garbage area.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cory shouted, waving for her to come back to the safety of the enclosure.

"I'm just looking for a better angle," she called back, walking further onto the wall. Fingers reached up and curled around the top, but it didn't appear that any of the zombies could reach Allegra.

Shaking his head, Cory turned back to the mass of zombies in front of him, and resumed shooting. They'd been out for over an hour and the group had made little difference in the horde pressing up against the fence. There had to be well over one hundred standing below him and still stragglers from the mall wandered across the parking lot.

He studied the zombies as he shot them. A woman with tangled blond hair had a chunk missing from her cheek; after a moment, she had a new hole in her head as she slumped, disappearing into the crowd. Another, this one a man, had multiple chunks of skin torn from the flesh on his arms - he too received a new, tidy little hole between the eyes. The zombies, while obviously dead, still looked like humans for the most part. Cory wondered what they'd look like after a month had passed - after a year had passed - and prayed that eventually, it wouldn't feel like killing human beings.

A shout pulled him from his concentration. He turned and saw Zach jumping up and down on his washing machine, pointing into the crowd. Cory made his way over to the boy. "What are you shouting about?"

Zach looked down with an excited gleam in his eyes. "His shirt says fifteen. It has to be him. He's so big!"

Cory didn't understand. He jumped up beside the boy and looked in the direction he was pointing. Standing in the crowd, a full head and shoulders taller than the mob, stood a man wearing a white basketball jersey with black detailing; the number fifteen clear between the heads of the other zombies. "Holy fuck! He can reach over the fence." Cory took aim.

"Wait!" Zach grabbed for Cory's arm. The shot went wide, hitting another zombie right in the side of the head; Zach stepped in front of him. "You can't shoot him!"

"He's a zombie Zach and one that could threaten our survival here." Cory tried to explain, but Zach wouldn't move from Cory's line of sight.

"You aren't shooting him!" Zach reached for Cory's gun.

Cory lifted it, leveling the gun at his chest. "Get out of the way."

"No!" Zach lifted his chin and stared at Cory, his look daring him to pull the trigger.

"What's going on over here?" Mike demanded, walking over to where Cory and Zach stood in a stalemate. Of course, he wasn't going to shoot the boy but something needed to be done about the six-foot-ten zombie wandering in the mob.

"He's going to shoot my favourite basketball player." Zach's voice had turned shrill as he argued.

"He's a fucking zombie Zach!" Cory argued back.

Mike hopped up beside them. "If he's a zombie then he's no longer a basketball player." He rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You need to understand that whoever they were in life is gone. The zombie that rises after the body dies isn't the same as they were in life. That one especially poses a threat to us." Catching Zach's eye, Mike gave him a sad look and squeezed his shoulder. "You understand, right?" Zach's head dropped and his shoulders slumped; after a long moment, he nodded. "Good, now you don't have to shoot him but you can't stop us from..."