A Plague on All Houses (24 page)

“Okay, people, stop gawking and get your asses over here.” He pointed to one of the modular storage containers, neatly labeled “M4.” There’s your ammo.” He pointed to another drawer. “Magazines.” Then he opened a locked metal cabinet holding half a dozen M4s. Extra rifles.”

Nathan pulled a couple of firearms out of another cabinet. I have no idea what type they were, but from the looks on Gabriel’s and Gentry’s faces, I guess they were a weapons lover’s wet dream. I swear, they were both nearly drooling. “How the hell did you get K11s?” Gentry’s tone was reverent.

Nathan gave a lopsided grin by way of an answer.

I noticed a second door at the far end of the room. “Does that go outside?” I asked.

Nathan nodded. “Up to the carport. Always have another exit.”

“He’s one of those survivalists,” Tony observed.

“Pretty smart there, Captain Obvious,” I said.

Tony blew a raspberry at me.

Nathan handed out M4s and let us replenish our ammo pouches with rounds from the drawer. I felt like a pirate running my fingers through treasure as I scooped out enough rounds to stuff my pouch like a chipmunk’s cheeks full of nuts. A very greedy chipmunk. I shoved a couple of magazines into my pockets. I was, as they say, loaded for zombies. Okay, maybe they don’t say that, but I do.

“We should leave this way,” Nathan gestured towards the back exit, addressing Gabriel. “If we can get to my truck without the zombies seeing us, we stand a better chance of making it out of here.”

Gabriel frowned. “How are we going to unlock and open the front gate without whoever does it being ripped to pieces?”

“There’s another gate,” said Nathan. “I told you. Always have two exits.” He grabbed the flamethrower. “And a little extra firepower.”

Tony gazed at Nathan with an expression just short of worship and Gabriel and Gentry grinned at one another. Why did I get the feeling they were high on testosterone?

“I’ll help Mack bring Kaitlyn down.” Kai stuffed a few more rounds in his pouch and headed back up the stairs.

Nathan shut and locked the gun lockers, then turned to me. “Ashley, can you grab the first-aid kit?”

“You mean that big honkin’ mini-fridge?”

He grinned. “Yeah, that’s the one. It’s lighter than it looks.” He held up the flamethrower. “Any of you know how to use this?”

Tony reluctantly shook his head. I could see he was itching to try it out.

Gentry stepped forward. “I’ll take it.” Nathan held the tanks while Gentry slipped it on over his shoulders and fastened the canvas buckle around his waist.

“You look like a Ghostbuster,” said Tony.

I grinned as I ran back upstairs. I’d been thinking the same thing myself.

I almost ran into Mack and Kai helping Kaitlyn down the hall. She was supporting a little of her own weight now, but there was something about the tone of her skin and the tight, fragile look around her eyes that still didn’t bode well.

“They’re all over the fence,” said Kai, jerking his head towards the front window. “We’d better get out of here fast or we’re not going anywhere.”

“I’ll be right down.” As soon as the men cleared the hall and started down the stairs with Kaitlyn, I dashed to the living room and grabbed the first-aid kit. Nathan hadn’t been fooling me; it really did weigh a lot less than you’d think.

Before I went back downstairs I couldn’t resist a peek out the living room window. When I saw what was out there, I wished I’d resisted.

Zombies lined the fence, two or three decomposing bodies deep, more pushing against those in front as they reached the top of the slope. I couldn’t see anything beyond the living dead on the other side of the fence, they were packed against it so thickly. The ones in back, however, kept slipping down the steep grade and knocking back approaching zombies as well. This worked to our advantage as the sheer numbers might have very well taken down the fence by now. How the hell Nathan would get the truck past them was anyone’s guess. I assumed he had a plan, hopefully one involving things that blew up.

Letting the curtain drop, I hurried back downstairs, the first-aid kit clutched to my chest. Everyone but Gabriel and Nathan had already headed out the back door. Gabriel came forward to meet me, relief in his eyes as he put a hand on my shoulder. “You okay with that thing?”

“I’m fine,” I assured him. For just a second I lost myself in the warmth of his gaze, the knowledge he worried about me wrapping itself around me like a fuzzy blanket. I don’t know if it was possible seeing how I was wearing body armor, but I swear I felt heat from his hand pouring into my body.

Nathan cleared his throat. “If you two kids are finished with the goo-goo eyes, we need to get out of here. Here. Take this.” He tossed a full duffel bag to Gabriel, who dropped his hand from my shoulder just in time to catch it. With a curt nod at Nathan, Gabriel strode out the door.

I gave Nathan a dirty look as he slung another duffel bag over his shoulder. “Goo-goo eyes? I prefer to think of it as a seductive smolder, thank you very much.”

One side of Nathan’s mouth quirked up. “I’m sure you do. Maybe when you’re my age you’ll know the difference.”

“Or maybe I’ll live by myself with a bunch of guns and books for company,” I muttered nastily.

A pause, then, “It could happen.”

Nathan shut the door and followed me down a short cement hall to another staircase leading upwards. It led straight to a metal door, which opened into the back of the canvas carport, the exit hidden from view.

I recognized the truck in the carport as the vehicle Nathan had driven the night he’d saved me and Lil: a big-ass off-roading monster truck of a truck. Somehow I didn’t think Nathan was driving it to compensate for a small penis.

Kaitlyn was already settled in the bed of the truck near the cab, which was lined with furniture pads. Mack settled in protectively next to her. Gentry climbed in too, the better to use the flamethrower. Lil started to join them, but I put a hand on her arm and said, “How about you go in the cab and I’ll help Mack with Kaitlyn, okay?”

“You sure?” Lil’s face was strained and tired. I could tell the thought of curling up in the back of the cab appealed to her, but she didn’t want to appear weak.

“Definitely.” I caught Nathan looking at us during this exchange, what looked like a small smile of approval.

Gabriel frowned. “Ashley, you ride in the cab too.”

“Hell, no,” I said. “I got carsick the last time I rode in that thing. You ride in the cab.”

“I’m the best shot here,” Gabriel insisted. “I’m in the truck bed.”

“Fine. So Tony and Kai can ride in the cab. I’m a better shot than either of them.”

“She has a point,” said Kai.

Weapons stowed and first-aid kit stowed, we finally got everyone in the truck, with Lil and Kai in the cab back, Tony in the passenger seat, Nathan driving and the rest of us in the truck bed. I hunkered down on other side of Kaitlyn, Mack and I like two protective bookends. Gentry and Gabriel perched at the foot of the bed, looking like action figures.

“Are we ready?” Nathan started the engine without waiting for an answer. The moans of the living dead (an album title if ever I’ve heard one) increased in volume at the sound of the engine revving up. Guess they knew the sound meant food.

“How is he going to get past the crowd?” Mack looked out at the zombies and shook his head. “They’ll just swarm the truck.”

I shared his concern, but hid it by saying, “This guy is smart. I’m sure he has something up his sleeve.”

“Whatever it is, I hope it explodes,” said Mack.

And it did.

Nathan pulled out of the carport and around to the far left side of the fence where there was indeed another gate, also thick with zombies. Stopping a few feet from the gate, he leaned out the driver's side window, shouted, “Fire in the hole!” and tossed something over the gate. We all ducked down, Mack sheltering Kaitlyn with his body as the something exploded, sending dirt, rocks, and zombie debris flying through the air. We stayed down until it stopped raining pieces. We poked our heads back up as the dust settled to see a lot fewer zombies blocking our path. Gotta love a man who carries his own grenades.

A low hum sounded as the gate slowly rumbled open on its tracks. Nathan pulled the truck up to the gate as it opened, blocking as much of the opening as possible. He stuck his head out again. “If you could take care of any stray dead assholes trying to get in through the gate, I'd take it as a favor.”

As soon as enough space had been cleared, Nathan edged the truck through the opening. Zombies out of the range of the explosion immediately closed in on us. Gabriel began taking out the ones on the left while I took aim at the ones to the ones encroaching on the right. For every one I hit, Gabriel took out three. I tried not to feel competitive.

The gate reversed on its tracks as Nathan cleared it. Most of the zombies slowly lurched after the truck, but a few headed into the compound. Gabriel took care of those with casual ease while Gentry turned up the heat on the ones following us with a blast of the flamethrower. I have to say that thing scared the shit out of me, more so than the ghouls. Guess it's all about what you're used to.

The truck headed down an incredibly narrow, bumpy stretch of dirt that didn't qualify as a road and barely made it as a wide path. Mack did his best to shield Kaitlyn from the worst of each bone-jarring jolt, but it had to hurt.

Even over the rumble of the truck's engine we could hear the moans of the living dead. The woods seemed to be full of them, a veritable infestation. They weren't as thick as they'd been up at Nathan's little compound, but there were enough to make the redwoods a foggy, dangerous Dante-esque landscape.

We hit the bottom of the trail, which thankfully opened up onto a respectable paved one-lane road with a couple of scattered private residences on either side. Nathan drove too fast to catch any signage.

“Anyone know where we are?” asked Gabriel.

“I think this hooks up with Redwood Highway,” said Mack. “We should be home clear once we reach that.”

The zombies thinned out, but their ululations followed us down the road and there were more up on either side of us. It was as if they were tracking us via a hive mind or something equally Stephen King-y.

“How are they all finding us?” I asked Gabriel, who'd taken a more relaxed perch against the truck gate as he reloaded clips for his gun. “I know when one moans, the ones nearby hear it and follow the dinner bell. But it's like they're all on the same frequency or something here.”

Gabriel slapped a new clip into the M4. “They're swarming,” he said. “It doesn't happen very often, but every now and then they'll fixate on one target, or targets, and the moans act like a series of signal beacons.”

Shit.

“That means they'll follow us to Big Red, doesn't it?”

Gabriel nodded. “Unless Nathan can shake them.”

I had a quick vision of a movie chase scene with a carload of zombies in hot pursuit.

“If he can't?”

Then we make a stand at Big Red. And if we can't hold out…”

He didn't have to finish his sentence. Nuke ‘em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

“Here's Redwood Highway,” said Mack, voice optimistic.

Gentry turned to look at him. “This goes right past Redwood Grove, doesn't it?”

Mack nodded. “Right on the outskirts, yeah. Then it heads straight up to the college.”

“If the zombies in town hook up with the ones on our tail now, that's asking for trouble,” said Gentry.

“I bet he's going take the logging trail.” I looked into the woods, trees, and dim figures passing by in a blur.

We neared Redwood Grove and Nathan took an unexpected hard left onto a road that ran long the west and north edges of town. Trees butted up to the road on our left and what residents jokingly referred to as Redwood Grove's ‘burbs lined the right.

The road was refreshingly clear of the walking dead, but their wails could still be heard behind us. The eerie sound seemed to fill the entire redwood forest. Nathan slowed the truck down a marginal amount, just enough to take the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride out of the experience, at least for the moment. I can't say I exactly relaxed, but a little bit of the tension left my body. Then the road curved around to the right and every bit of tension came right on back and brought some friends with it. The road heading east crawled with zombies, the thickest I'd seen them since we'd left Nathan's. They were slightly more spread out, but already turning towards us, their moans joining those of their brethren behind us. Nathan sped up again, fast enough to plow through those in our way and avoid the clutching hands of the ones closing in from the sides. Gabriel, Gentry and I held on as best we could while trying to keep our weapons at the ready. I so did not envy Gentry the flamethrower.

I also tried not to think of what happened in the remake of
Dawn of the Dead
when the one guy loses control of his chainsaw and cuts down the movie's obligatory sexy female. Gentry looked pretty steady with the thing, though, and kept his balance like a sailor during rough seas.

“This is bad,” muttered Gabriel. “I think we've got two separate swarms …and now they're both going to follow us back to Big Red. And that's if we can even get through.”

Nathan abruptly hit the brakes, the truck slamming to a sudden stop that nearly dislodged Gabriel and Gentry from the back of the truck bed. The back of my head banged against the back window of the cab before I went sprawling forward, almost on top of Gabriel. We quickly recovered our positions—no time to check for injuries— and saw why Nathan had hit the brakes. We'd reached Main Street and if it had been occupied by a steady stream of zombies before, the stream had now turned into a river. Or, more accurately, an ocean with waves of zombies rolling into shore, all trying to get to the little stone church nestled in the trees on the left.

“Shit,” muttered Gentry. “I sure as hell hope he has another grenade.”

Gabriel took careful aim and took out a pajama-clad zombie nearing the truck. “They might not follow us,” he said. “They really want whoever's in that church.”

Even as he said it, though, some of the zombies streaming towards the church turned towards the truck. “Shit. We need something to interest them more than the truck.”

Kaitlyn groaned. “I think I'm going to be sick,” she whispered at the same time Nathan hollered, “Fire in the hole, fore and aft!”

We hit the deck as Nathan lobbed two grenades this time, one into the crowd on Main Street and the other behind the truck as far as he could pitch it. Luckily the man had an arm worth of an All-Star pitcher.

I heard Mack cry Kaitlyn's name as the concussion from both blasts rattled the truck and our brains, and once again it rained zombie bits. I raised my head and some indefinable goo dripped off the front of my helmet. Grimacing, I wiped it off, and then noticed Kaitlyn was no longer in the truck bed. Mack lay stunned by the blast, his expression dazed.

“Over here!”

“Kaitlyn?” I sat up, looking over the edge of the truck towards the sound of Kaitlyn's voice. She staggered across the road as clumsily as any zombie, pausing at the edge of the tree line. Swaying unsteadily on her feet, she waved both arms above her head. “Over here!” she yelled again. “Free meal this way!”

“Kaitlyn, what the hell are you doing?”

She flashed me a brief smile and continued yelling. Not at us, I realized, but at the zombies.

I pounded on the back of the cab and yelled, “Nathan, don't go yet!”

“Are you crazy?” he yelled back. “Why the hell not?”

“It's Kaitlyn!” I pointed towards the trees where Kaitlyn continued to holler and wave. Zombies started to notice her, turning towards the sound like compass needles discovering true north.

Gabriel got to his feet. “Kaitlyn, get back here!” She ignored him. Cursing, he shouldered his M4 and began picking off zombies as they neared Kaitlyn. Some still honed in on the truck; Gentry took care of those.

“Get that woman back in the truck!” Nathan yelled. “We've got a very short window to get across the River Styx here before they close the gap.”

“Kaitlyn, get your ass back here!” Gabriel tried again.

Kaitlyn shook her head. “I'll lead them away.” With that, she slowly backed into the trees, waving and yelling, “Come and get me! This way!” More zombies followed.

Gabriel swore again, slamming his hand against the side of the truck. “I'm going to have to get her.”

None of us noticed that Mack, in the meantime, had struggled to a sitting position until he said, “Jesus, she'll be torn to pieces.” He looked in horror as Kaitlyn vanished into the trees. “She'll never be able to outrun them in her condition.”

Before any of us could stop him, he grabbed his gun and leapt out of the truck bed, dashing across the road and disappearing into the trees after Kaitlyn.

“Mack!” I screamed. Lil yelled his name too, her nose plastered to the side window.

More zoms headed towards the truck even as a steady number continued to trickle into the woods where I could still hear the sound of Kaitlyn's voice as she taunted the zombies and Mack's as he called for Kaitlyn.

Nathan stuck his head out the window. “We have to go, people!”

Gabriel hesitated briefly, and then said, “Let's go,” his voice totally flat.

Nathan gunned the engine and drove quickly across Main Street and out of the town. Soon enough we turned onto the logging trail. Nathan took the road as quickly as possible, but I didn't even notice the jolts this time. My mind still couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Why had Kaitlyn suddenly gone all kamikaze and noble on us? And why had Mack—well, I knew why Mack had done what he had done. To do anything else would have killed his soul.

We'd only seen a few zoms since we left Redwood Grove, but those were enough to start the zombie version of Telephone. Which meant eventually the swarm would find their way to Big Red.

Nathan pulled up alongside the razor wire and we quickly and silently unloaded the gear. Nathan stood on top of the cab and we did an assembly line, passing stuff up and Nathan handing it down to Gabriel and Tony on the other side. When we'd gotten everything over the fence, Gabriel and Tony held the wire apart for the rest of us to crawl through and we made our way across campus to DBP. No need for secrecy this time.

Nathan, however, kept darting suspicious glances whenever one of the soldiers appeared, his expression clearly stating he'd rather be somewhere else.

Gabriel had radioed ahead, so Colonel Paxton, Simone, and Dr. Albert were waiting for us in the foyer. They'd heard we'd lost Kaitlyn and Mack; so there was no surprise on their faces, just sorrow. For once Colonel Paxton's natural sad clown expression suited the occasion.

Then Nathan and Simone saw one another. The rest of us watched as recognition dawned on both sides, with varying degrees of other emotions I couldn't begin to pinpoint. They stared at each other for a full beat before Simone finally said, “Hello, Nathan,” in a voice cool enough to chill beer.

“Oh, Christ on a crutch.” Nathan shut his eyes and rubbed a hand on his forehead as if trying to massage away reality. “Simone Fraser. I should have known you'd be part of this whole zombie clusterfuck.”