The Dead Don't Bleed: Part 2, The Aftermath (34 page)

From further down the hall
Garrett spotted a dark shadow lurching towards him from inside the cloud of chemical smoke. Pressing himself flat against the wall he waited until the figure stepped into range and then he swung the axe hard at what he judged would be shoulder height. The minimal visibility inside the cloud of smoke caused him to misjudge his aim by almost a full foot and instead of hitting the zombie square in the head the axe dug deeply into its chest and buried itself all the way to the base of the wood handle. Before Garrett could start to pull back on the handle for a follow up strike two more shadows loomed in front of him coming fast. Pushing against the handle of the axe he sent the zombie spinning off into the hallway behind him as he snatched his pistol from its holster and fired off four rapid fire shots towards the shapes of each head just barely visible inside the blanket of smoke. Two satisfying sounding thumps told him that both creatures were down and out of the fight. That now left him with at least one more in front of him and the one behind him with the axe buried in its chest. Turning back the way he had come would put him at risk of being mistaken by Shellie as a zombie coming towards her out of the smoke. Pressing himself up against the wall he minimized his exposure to the corridor behind him for the enviable fusillade of bullets Shellie would be sending his way as soon as she spotted the zombie with an axe buried in its chest materializing before her.

"Shellie. One coming your way, keep your fire to the right of the hallway." Garrett called back over his shoulder.

Sliding down the hall with his back against the wall he moved his pistol left and then right as different shadows appeared and disappeared in front of him mixed in with the choking smoke cloud. He was finding it harder to breath with the entire hallway now completely filled with the fire extinguishing vapor. He wasn't sure what kind of chemical had been in the extinguisher but he recalled some information in the military where he had been reassured that the types of chemicals in those containers were not generally harmful to humans. He now remembered that it had been recommended that after their use, windows were supposed to be opened to vent the gas and prevent respiratory problems in an enclosed space. He rationalized that the discomfort he was starting to feel in his lungs was worth the advantage in concealment and confusion created by the gas. The zombie he was now stalking probably was aware of his presence but would be having as much trouble finding him in the cloud of smoke as he was in finding it. He was gambling that without being able to pick him out of the darkness the zombie would just dismiss him all together and continue trying to break through the door to get to the pilot. As dangerous as they were, without the ability to reason and think like a living human being it was not all together difficult to trick zombies and take advantage of their inability to think rationally.

Garrett flinched as a
round of rapid fire shots rang out behind him. He was sure that he actually felt one bullet pass within inches of his outstretched hands and he heard the impact as it struck the heavy metal exit door at the far end of the hallway. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and listen for any further signs of a struggle behind him telling him that Shellie had missed. When he was reasonably sure that Shellie must have succeeded in stopping the zombie, he continued moving forward one cautious step at a time. He could hear the zombie in front of him pounding relentlessly against the door and detected the familiar sound of splintering wood as even more of the door broke free. He estimated that he was only ten or twelve feet away from his target and he slipped across the hallway to the far wall to allow himself to come up behind the creature. If Shellie opened fire again there was a good chance she would hit him but he wouldn't allow himself to call out to her and alert this last zombie to how close he was to it. After taking three more steps he started to see a moving figure diagonally across the hall from him. The zombie already had half its body through the middle of the broken door and was just lifting its foot to step the rest of the way through. Garrett raised his pistol to a position where he estimated the things head would be on the other side of the splintered wooden door and was about to squeeze the trigger when another volley of rapid fire shots blasted into the hallway.

Holding his breath for a five count Garrett took inventory of his body and counted himself lucky that he had not been hit
. The echo created by gunfire in the hall made it difficult to determine the source of the shots and his first instinct was that Shellie had let loose against another unseen target. When he saw the zombie in front of him suddenly slump to the ground half in and half out of the shattered door he realized he had been wrong. It had to be the pilot in the other room who just fired off those rounds and had been successful in stopping that last zombie from getting the rest of the way inside. He hadn't counted off the number of shots fired but he knew it was probably close to half a clip in a single volley. This told him that whoever was on the other side of that door was either undisciplined in the use of firearms or had already been pushed so far beyond any rational limit of fear that they were on the verge of a meltdown. In either scenario he did not want to just charge blindly into the room until it was clearly established that he wouldn't be walking into another hail of frantic gunfire. To have made it this far only to be mowed down by someone on their own side was not what he had in mind for himself.

"Hold your fire! Friendlies in the hallway." He waited for several seconds with no reply. "
It’s all clear for the moment. But we have to move. This place is crawling with them and more will be coming soon after all the gunfire."

A tentative voice softly called back to him, "Who are you? Are you from the Lincoln?"

Garrett was surprised to discover he was talking to a woman. His impression from the start was that it would be a male pilot they would find. He told himself that he shouldn't be that surprised after all, females had been integrating into all branches of the armed services for many years now. Fighter pilot was one position that they had not reached in large numbers, but he had heard of a few. It actually made sense when he thought about it. Whatever remained of the armed forces in the wake of the apocalypse had probably been reduced to a small fraction of their former strength. Every able bodied member would be pressed into service to perform critical tasks. Her reference to the Lincoln must have been the aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. The possibility that her plane had come from an aircraft carrier positioned somewhere offshore had not occurred to him. A naval vessel out at sea when the outbreak started would have had the best chance of remaining infection free.

"No, we are civilians. My name is Garrett and I have one other person with me. We saw your chute and came to find you and get you back somewhere safe."
Garrett responded.

As he said this it occurred to him that just the fact that
they were not zombies might not be enough to sway her that she would be safe with them. It was possible that she could consider anyone who had been exposed to the virus to be a threat of some kind. The extended silence that followed his reply seemed to back up his reasoning. She was considering her options at that point and rushing out to greet the man who had just risked his life saving hers did not appear to be on the top of that list.

The smoke from the fire extinguisher was starting to diminish and settle as a fine while powder to the floor around his feet. Looking back up the hallway he saw Shellie hustling towards him while glancing back over her shoulder every few seconds. He was pretty sure they were running out of time and needed to quickly convince this pilot that unless she wanted to meet a pack of blood thirsty zombies face to face she needed to trust him.

Shellie stopped several feet away from Garrett and turned to face back down the hallway with her pistol raised. Garrett could feel the vibrations in the floor and see the approaching shadows near the end of the hall that told him what was coming their way. It was time to stop playing coy with this frightened pilot, she needed to realize that her only chance of getting out of there alive was to get her ass moving right now.

Raising his voice Garrett dropped any pretense of trying to be friendly, "Look lady, we have less than ten seconds before a whole lot of hurt comes down the hall behind me. You are either coming with us right now, or we are out of here and you are on your own. We have lost
too many people already to risk our lives for a stranger."

The vibrations in the floor under his feet were growing in intensity, he could now make out the moaning and growls of the herd of zombies rushing towards them. Whether it was the sounds of the gunfire or they finally picked up on the scent of hu
mans being nearby didn't matter. They were coming for them and there was nothing they could do to stem the tide this time.

"Garrett!" Shellie called in alarm as he continued to stand his ground without making a move for the exit. He knew that even as terrified as Shellie was she would not run off on her own without him.

"Ok, that’s it. We're out of here!" Garrett said, making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard in the next room as well.

Turning towards the exit door, he hadn't take his first step when the remnants of the smashed door flew open
. Garrett found himself staring into the scared eyes of a twenty something year old naval officer still wearing her flight suit and survival vest. Garrett recognized the rank insignia on the collar of her uniform and identified her as a junior grade Lieutenant. This told Garrett that she was very early in her flying career. Her relative youth and inexperience working together to increase the anxiety she was feeling as a result of her circumstances. Her hair was pinned back in a neat and regulation pony tail and her face was devoid of any makeup. Even under the poor lighting conditions and with a thin coating of grime concealing some of the details of her features, Garrett could tell that this woman was a knockout. She had probably clawed her way into the pilot’s seat of an advance fighter like the F-18 by fighting sexual harassment the whole way. Something in her eyes told him that it would not have been the alternative where she had used her looks to gain an advantage by sleeping her way through the ranks. Garrett also saw in her face the determination and drive of someone who was not ready to simply roll over and give up when faced with an impossible situation. She had clearly ran through her available options and decided that extending an olive branch of trust was a much better alternative than stubbornly dismissing the bravery of strangers coming to her aid. The pistol she held in her hand was raised in a defensive posture, not pointed directly at Garrett but not exactly pointed in a safe direction either.

"Garrett, Shellie." Garrett pointed to himself and to Shellie in a brief attempt at introductions, "if you're planning on shooting someone I suggest you wait here for another
few seconds and you will have more than enough opportunities." Garrett said as he nodded towards her pistol.

"Lieutenant Olivia Frostburg, US Navy" She replied as she tentatively swung her pistol off to the side.

"Great. Now that we are all the best of friends can we get the hell out of here?" Shellie quipped still standing in the middle of the hall with her pistol aimed and ready for the first sign of the army of decaying flesh closing in on them.

Leading the way, G
arrett took off down the hall and pressed against the handle of the exit door. Opening it just a couple inches he scanned the loading dock and surrounding parking lot. As soon as he was certain their path was clear he flung the door wide and allowed both ladies to step out onto the dock. Just as Garrett was about to swing the door closed behind them the leading edge of the horde of zombies rounded the far corner of the hallway. There were so many of them and they were moving so fast that when the first rank reached the corner, they were unable to turn fast enough and were simply mowed over by the ones coming up behind them. But even with that little stumble in their charge they continued on at full speed.

Garrett slammed the door shut and turned towards the parking lot. The door wouldn't stop them for a second. They would hit the door at a full sprint and their body weight would press the panic bar open in the first few seconds of impact sending them pouring out onto the loading dock. The locked metal chain hanging from the gate dissuaded Garrett from any attempt at trying to get out of the parking lot in that direction. As he ran his eyes over the rest of the fence he locked in on the side with the parachute still draped over the top of the fence. Tangled up in the barbed wire on top
, the cloth had become bunched up into a thick ball along the top of the fence with the largest portion hanging along the outside to a point just inches above the ground.

Grabbing both girls by the arm he pulled them along beside
him as he took the stairs of the loading dock two at a time and sprinted across the parking lot towards the parachute covered fence. Just as they left the pavement and stepped off into the grass near the fence they all heard the door behind them crash open as it was hit by a wall of zombies.

"Don't look back. Climb!" Garrett yelled as he pulled both girls forward urging them on towards the fence.

The three of them hit the chain link fence at the same time and began climbing side by side as fast as they could. Olivia quickly outpaced both Shellie and Garrett, reaching the top a full body length before them. Laying her body sideways across the parachute she was able to press it down firmly against the barbed wire underneath and lower the top by several inches giving Garrett and Shellie less distance to climb. As soon as they were all at the top they turned their bodies in unison and grabbed onto fistfuls of parachute materials using it to rappel rapidly down the other side. The first wave of zombies collided into the other side of the fence just as they reached the halfway point on their way down. The force of the impact bent the fence outward and knocked all three of them to the ground and sent them tumbling down a shallow incline.