The Great Wreck (37 page)

Zuri
and Tia Arnold, one of the few married couples I meet that survived together
had been out in the mountains for weeks camping. When they came back into town
the shit storm was in full force. No kids and no family in town. Most of their
relatives were up north in Arizona at the Navajo reservation. They hopped that
because the reservation was so isolated, their people may have been able to
avoid the outbreak.

Doc
was working at local hospital and saw the first signs of the outbreak. It’s a
miracle he survived having come in contact with so many dead.

Marti
had already told her story and was one of the few with most of her family safe
in Sandia.

Harriet
was a cop and was the first to start closing off the Green Zone with a few of the
others and gathering up survivors. She saw her husband eating the remains of
their teenage daughter. She put several bullets in his head, then two in her
daughter’s, buried them both in the backyard of their home, and made her way to
the Green Zone where she had helped the others survive, clear out the dead, and
seal up the walls.

After
we shared our stories, the conversation turned to the approaching walls of
dead, “These ones are moving really fast,” Birch said, “It’s like they are in a
big old hurry to get somewhere.”

“Doc
says two days or so, right?” Harriet asked.

“Yep.
If they don’t speed up, they shouldn’t get here until day after tomorrow and by
then we’ll be long gone,” Birch replied. People stopped talking after that and
all you could hear was the sound of knives and forks against their plates. The
thought of a few million dead heading our way wasn’t going to stop us from
eating.

“As
I came across the desert, I saw this starting outside of Phoenix,” I said into
the silence. People stopped eating and looked up at me, “In Tucson, all the
dead were standing completely still, looking north. Outside of Tucson they
walked out of the desert to the south heading north day in and day out. I spent
four days in a power line tower outside of Deming waiting for a break. I just
made it through a small one before they started up again.”

“Doc
said there are a finite amount of dead and that eventually this will peter
out,” Allen said, “Then we’ll come back, clean out the stragglers, and seal up
the Green Zone again. Maybe seal up that southern gate so it won’t come down no
matter how many dead push up against it.”

“And
then what?” I asked, “Are you going to stay down here for good?”

Allen
thought about it for a moment, “This is home. I grew up here, went to school here,
settled down here. I haven’t traveled more than a day in any direction from
here. But I think it’s time for me to move on. I’ll wait here for the winter
and leave with the Doc when the good folks from Sandia come and get us.”

“Get
you?” I asked.

“Yeah,
most of us were getting ready to head north when the folks up there heard we
had a doctor. A real doctor not a veterinarian or one of those fucking holistic
doctors. When they found out Doc was on the uh…aged side, they said if we wait
until winter, they’d send a whole convoy down here and pick us up. Save us a
whole shit-ton of walking through the burning dessert.”
 

I
imagined what it would be like to have drove across the southwest.
 
I could have made it out of Los Angeles and
to Sandia in two or three days. Sandia was only a six hour drive from here. To
get in a car, turn on the AC and just drive north…

“Yeah,
I know what you’re thinking,” Birch said reading the look on my face, “But it’s
not that easy. No gas stations so you have to carry your own fuel, lots of
wrecks in the road so every few miles or so you’re getting out and pushing some
burnt out husk off the highway, and the dead really like the sound of a engine
so they’d be following along just waiting for you to get stuck in a ditch or
for your car to break down. So, yeah, it sounds nice, but it’s just as risky as
walking. Maybe even more so.”

“Ah,
but air conditioning! I’ve been broiling in my own sweat for weeks!” I said and
everyone laughed. Each of us drifted off into our own thoughts as we finished
eating and helped clean up. When everything was put away and the dishes washed
and dried, I headed back up to my room and stripped down to my underwear. I
neatly folded my cloths and set them on my desk, then pulled the chair up to
the small window that overlooked the inside of the green zone.

It
was an eerie sensation to see the empty streets.
 
I was used to seeing the streets crammed with
the dead, dead bodies, and every manner of debris. Here they had cleaned out
the corpses, removed the burnt out wrecks, and picked up all the trash. All the
ground floor windows were sealed up and there were a few cars parked on the
sides the road. I wondered if they worked. It looked so calm, so peaceful
almost like a movie set. And yet a quarter mile away, the large concrete walls
rose on all sides and beyond that, the world of the dead.

I
sat there for a long time watching the sun go down and letting my mind wander.
Eventually I went over to my bed as the darkness descended. I didn’t like
looking out the window into the inky blackness that had enveloped the streets
below. My mind was too willing to fill the shadows with hidden dead waiting to
rush us when our guard was down.

At
nine o’clock sharp, the lights went out as Birch turned off the generator. I
still wasn’t sleepy so I just lay on my bunk staring up at the ceiling going
over and over in my mind what I would do if the dead breached the walls while I
slept. It was a habit I developed as I made my way across the dead world to
imagine what I would do if my hiding spot was ever breached.

I
heard a tap on the door. Marti! I had forgotten that she had said she might
stop by. My heart raced as I opened the door.

Marti
was standing there in a tee shirt and cut off shorts holding a small
flashlight, a large bottle of water, and a small box of something I couldn’t
quite identify.

“Want
to buy some girl scout cookies?” she said and held up a box of Samoa girl scout
cookies for me to inspect.

“Well,
yes, miss, I would, but I’ll have to take a closer look at your selection,” I
said and opened the door wide to let her in. Marti slipped into my room with a
giggle, “How much?”

“Ten
dollars,” she said and set the flashlight down with the cookies and water on
the desk.

“Ten
dollars?” I said with mock surprise, “My mom says I can only spend five.”

Marti
leaned back on the desk with her arms behind her “Do you see anything you might
like?”

“I
may have to sample a few to see what I like best,” I said as I moved in close to
her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She rocked back a bit and wrapped her
arms legs around me. I pushed up her shirt and ran my hands over her white
belly. I could feel a small, metal piercing their and looked down: it was a
small diamond set at the end of a finely linked chain. I bent down and kissed
it then ran my tongue over it and her belly button. Marti giggled then sighed
as I moved my hands further up, slipping under her bra and over her small
breasts.

I
gently squeezed and caressed them as I worked my lips up brushing them along
her sides, up over her ribs and the center of her chest until I found her
nipples. I ran my tongue over them, alternately squeezing and sucking while
Marti rocked her hips back and forth against me.

I undid the
front clasp of her bra and pushed the two halves aside as Marti pulled down my
shorts and began stroking me. I could feel the heat in my face and chest as I
moved up to Marti’s neck then found her lips.

I
brushed my lips across hers and for a brief moment we kissed softly. Then the
heat ignited in both of us and we didn’t so much kiss as attack each other with
our tongues fighting to get as deep into the other’s mouth as possible. I was
rock hard as Marti frantically stroked me.

She released me
just for a moment as I pulled her shirt up over her head and removed her bra. I
stepped back before she could grab me again and took my shorts off. Marti
leaned back on the desk, her legs spread, her chest heaving, her lips slightly
part, looking up at me, almost daring me to take her.

I
stepped forward and grabbed her by the waist of her shorts, pulled her to her
feet. I jerked open the button of her shorts, pulled down her zipper, and
yanked her shorts down to her knees.
 
Her
bikini brief panties were white with little pink flowers all over them. I
pulled her towards me and kissed her savagely. She kissed back with such force
I thought we might bruise each other’s lips. I ran my hands down her back and
under her panties grabber her ass and pulled her tightly to me. She
 
had spread her legs a bit, grabbed my cock,
and was rubbing it up and down the center of her panties.

I
moved my right hand around to the front and felt my fingers brush across her
tightly cut hair. Then I slipped my thumb into her. She was slick and the heat
poured out of her. I slid my thumb in and out of her increasing the force of my
thrusts. She had tried to keep stroking me but gave up and leaned back against
the desk jerking her hips against my hand.

She
bent her head down and bit her lips and I tried to make her come with just my
hand but I couldn’t wait an longer as the red crept into my vison and I began
to lose control. I pulled her up onto her feet, buried my tongue in her mouth,
bit and sucked on her neck. She was panting, moaning as I turned her around to
face away from me and bent her over the desk.

I stepped back
looking at Marti resting on her elbow, bent over the edge of the desk. Her long
legs lead up to her small buttocks and narrow hips and were spread apart with
her knees bent in slightly. Her panties, riding high up her cheeks were wet.
She was looking back at me over her shoulder, her face red and sweaty, her eyes
burning with passion and a hint of fear.

I
place one hand on the small of her back and with my other, jerked her panties
down to her thighs. I grabbed my dick and positioned the head just between the
lips of her vagina and put both of my hands on her hips.

“Do
it. As hard as you can,” she breathed then grabbed a pillow and buried her face
into it.

I
pulled her hips back against mine as hard as I could slapping her ass against
my hip bones. I slid in to her wet heat until I could go no further, then
pulled her hips up until she stood on her tip toes. Marti cried out into the
pillow as I rammed her over and over again trying to get deeper and deeper
inside of her with each stroke.

I
could feel Marti getting wetter and wetter until I felt her contract all around
my cock. She screamed so hard and loud I thought that the folks in the other
rooms had to have heard us as she slammed her fist done on the desk over and
over. Then reached back and grab my wrist, raising her head up off of the
pillow, “Stop, please, stop.”

I
stopped moving and slipped out as she stood up and turned around, “Your turn,”
she said and pushed me towards the bed. I lay down and she straddled me, then
slipped me inside of her and began to ride me like an animal. She grabbed my
shoulders and began jerking her hips back and forth violently until I felt my
orgasm rushing towards me. I grabbed her hips and rammed myself into her as
hard as I could until I blew everything up inside of her. She felt me coming
and arched her back against me pushing me deep inside her.

I
felt the orgasm pass but before I could lose my erection completely, I rolled
her over and we switched places. I began plowing into her as hard as I could
with my quickly diminishing erection. She wrapped her legs tightly around me
and I fucked her for all I was worth until I felt her nails claw deep rivulets
out of my back as she came again and I felt a short intense seconds orgasm and
blew into her. I collapsed on top of her sweaty body, panting and waiting for
the little black spots that had accompanied my last orgasm to pass.

“My
god, can we do that again?” Marti said and giggled after a few minutes of silence.

“I
don’t know, I think you just broke my dick off,” I said and rolled off of her
to the side.

She
reached for my dick, found it, and gave it a quick tug, “Nope. Still there,”
she said as she rolled onto her side and spooned with me.

It
was hot, we were soaked in sweat, and the single bed was narrow but the feel of
her body against mine was worth the discomfort. So we stayed like that enjoying
the quiet glow of each other until Marti said, “You could stay with us. At the
warehouse.”

I
had already thought about staying and about all the different ways I could
ditch James and make my way back, “I want to, but I can’t.”

“Why
not?”

“James.”

“We
could handle him. Either keep him locked up, or kick him out of he gave us
trouble.”

“You
don’t know James. He’s crazy, but he’s killer smart. He would wait until we’d
settled down into our routine, wait until our guards were dropped, then he’d…”

“He’d
what? Kill us?”

“Worse.”

“What
could be worse than killing us?” Marti asked shifting her naked butt against my
hips. I felt my cock harden just a bit.

“I
don’t know exactly, but James would find a way to make each and every person
here suffer to the fullest extent before killing them. If I leave with him, he won’t
care about you guys anymore. You will be able to seal your selves up in the
warehouse and he’ll never be able to get back in. He’ll eventually lose
interest and find whatever it is he’s looking for out in the dead world. You
will be safe and I will be in Sandia waiting for you.”

Marti
felt the beginnings of my erection and began to slowly move her rear against
me, “Or he might kill you.” she said taking my hand and moving it between her
legs. I slipped my middle finger in and began to move it in and out.

“I
don’t think so. James needs me. Something happened in Phoenix. He was heading
back towards Los Angeles and then he came after me. I don’t know why, but I
don’t think he wants to kill me, I think he wants me to watch his back while
he….uh…does whatever it is out there that he does,” I said. I was fully erect
now.

“Once
you ditch him, you’ll come back?” Marti said and lifted her leg up and reached
down between her legs to position the head of my dick.

“I
don’t know how far north we’ll be when I lose him. I might have to go to Sandia
first,” I said quickly losing my ability to talk and think as my head slipped
into her. She closed her legs tightly and arched her back driving me deep into
her,

She
moaned quietly and said, “This is spoon sex,” and started sliding her hips back
and forth. It was awkward and my ass kept hitting the wall next to the bed but
the sensation was incredible. I could feel another sharp orgasm coming on and
grabbed her hip with my free arm and slammed my hips against hers. Finally, I
rolled on top of her forcing her onto her stomach with me on top to get better
traction. She arched her hips up against me and I plowed into her, ravaged her,
and finally blew a tight, hard orgasm but kept going until she started to shake
and finally came herself.

I
rolled off of her again and said, “I think I just had a stroke.”

Marti
laughed and rolled towards me, “You may have
been
stroked, but I think you are too young to
have
a stroke,” she said running her finger down my chest, “I’m
going to be limping tomorrow and everyone is going to know why.”

“I
don’t think my penis has any skin left on it,” I said.

“You
haven’t been doing it right, if you have any skin left after fucking,” she
said.

We laughed
quietly and lay together for a bit longer, then Marti got up and got dressed.
She leaned over and kissed me softly and said, “If you can’t make it back to
us, go to Sandia. We’ll meet there after they come and get us.”

“I
will,” I said and kissed her back. She slipped out the door. I fell into a dead
sleep after Marti left only to be awaken two hours later by a frantic pounding
on the door.

“Thomas!
Thomas wake up!” Birch yelled. The door burst open as all the lights in the
building came on, “Get your gear and head down to the garage! We’ve got to go!”

“What
happened?” I said as I scrambled into my cloths knowing that the dead had
somehow breached the compound walls.

“Those
fucking dead from the south started hauling ass sometime after midnight. They
are already pushing up against the south wall.”

Holy
fuck! I finished pulling on my cloths, then grabbed my gear. I pulled on my two
pistols. Checked their rounds were chambers and the safety was on, and did the
same for my rifle, then made my way to the second floor conference room.
Everyone was there crammed around the monitors looking at the dead jammed up
against the south wall. I could see the wall moving back and forth as the dead
pushed against it and knew it wouldn’t last more than an hour at best.

Doc
was at the front of the group and said, “OK folks, grab what you need and head
to the garage and into the vans. Birch, head to the generator room and get
ready to flip the switch over to power the east gate when everyone is in. Let’s
move.”

Marti
had move up beside me as Doc was talking and took my hand, “You can follow me,”
she said as we made our way to her room. She ducked inside and came out with a
small pack and her weapons and we went back to the conference room where Doc
and Birch who were talking amongst themselves looked up at me.

“Thomas,”
Doc said looking at me, “Your friend is still locked up in the basement.”

I looked back
and forth between Birch and Doc, “Are you asking me if we should leave him?”

Birch
nodded, “The dead can’t get into the cells and he could hold out for a few
days, maybe longer until we get back.”

“If
we come back,” I said, “If we can’t get back, eventually he’ll run out of food,
maybe water.”

Doc
and Birch nodded then Doc spoke, “It’s your call, son.”

The
urge to leave James was so strong, to be free of him. But I didn’t know if I
could live with myself knowing I had left him there to slowly starve and likely
go completely insane,

“Keys?”
I asked.

Birch
nodded and handed me a set of keys, “We’ll be leaving in five minutes, so you
have to hurry, Thomas.”

“I
can go with you,” Marti said. I should have accepted her offer. She knew the
way better than I did but I figured I could follow the signs to the holding
cells and get back up to the garage without much problem.

I
was also worried that James might take advantage of the chaos to do to Marti
what he had done to Pix, so I said, “I can get him. He can either come with us
or take off on his own from here. I’ll leave it to him but as soon as we are
safe, be ready for him to…well…be ready for anything.”

I
headed to the stairwell and made my way to the basement. In the holding cell,
James was already up and standing at the door to the cell, “If it isn’t the A
#1 star student, Mr. Dudley Do Right, top of the class, teacher’s pet.”

I
grabbed his gear off
 
the wall and set it
down just out of reach of James, “The dead have been migrating north again are
breaking through the south wall,” I stated.

“Well,
well, well. Looks like it’s going to be a hot time in the old town tonight,” he
said doing a small jig.

“The
others want to leave you here in this cage.”

“I
see,” James said stopping in mid jig and freezing stock still, all the mad look
of joy and glee leaving his face. He studied me carefully, realizing that, for
the first time, I had the power over his life, “You gonna let me out then?”

“I
have three choices, James,” I said, “I can walk away after hawking a huge
fucking goober in your face and sleep well every night knowing you rotted away
in this very cell. I might even come down every few years to take a look at
your desiccated body just to see for myself that you were really and truly
dead. It would be like a date,” I said feeling the crazy sweep up out of
nowhere and take over my mouth.

“You
don’t want to do that partner,” James said with a shit eating grin, “Think of
all we’ve been through together!”

“Maybe
you don’t want me to think too hard about what we’ve been through together,” I
replied, “Second. I could leave the keys and your gear just out of your arm’s
reach. Eventually you’d figure out how to get the keys and you could let
yourself out. We’d be long gone but the dead would be packed wall to wall in
here so that’s just another way of letting you die,”

“No,
sir,” James said in his most respectful tone, “I don’t care for that option.”

“Third,
I let you out and give you your gear, and you come with us. You help us fight
off the dead until we get to the safe hose. There you behave until you and I
can head north to Sandia, right?”

“Yes,
sir! You and me! Sandia here we come!”

I
knew he was lying. James didn’t want to go to Sandia or any other place that
could lock him up or keep him from playing in the land of the dead, “Remember
this James. It all the fighting and chaos that is coming, a stray bullet might
find the back of my head,” I said stepping up to the bars and putting my face
between them. James could have grabbed me right there and took the keys from
me, but instead he stepped back away from the insanity radiating off of me, “It
would be a blessing. I’d welcome it, I’d almost beg for it. But the bullets
will be flying both ways, old friend, and I’d make sure you are only wounded
and the dead find you before you bled out. So what’s it going to be?”

“I
chose door number three!” jumping up and down while clapping his hands, “I’ll
be a good little catholic school boy with your little friends, hang out for a
day or two, then off to Sandia! Yippee! Let’s go! Right now!”

I
opened the door to his cell expecting him to spring on me but James just
slapped me on the back as he walked past and grabbed his guns. He geared up and
looked at me, “Which way Columbus?”

“This
way…” I started and the lights went out.

*
     
*
     
*

James
and I stood in complete darkness, “Well fuck me,” James said.

I
guess I had taken more than five minutes and the others had switched the
generator over to open the east gate.

Fuck.

We
stood there for a few seconds waiting for our eyes to adjust to the complete
and total darkness but it wasn’t happening. There was absolutely no light for
my eyes to pick up down here in the holding cell basement. I could hear the
muffled sounds of the dead moaning and yelling and the grinding of the south
wall as it slowly gave way.

“James,
give me your hand,” I said reaching out to him.

“What
are you, a homo?” he said but gave me his heavily calloused hand.

“Shut
up and follow me,” I said and tried to remember where the door was. I found it
and moved as quickly as I could running my free hand along the wall. This
hallway led to the stairwell where I hoped the emergency lights would be on.
The stairs should also lead us up to the parking garage.

I
bumped into a door and pulled it open. No lights shown through and I quickly
determined it was an office, “Fuck!”

“Where
to next Sacagawea?” James asked calmly from behind me.

“Back
the other way!” I said feeling the minutes slipping quickly by. We moved
quickly down the way we had come as I ran my hands along the opposite wall. I
thought we’d end up back in the holding area as panic began to swell up around
me when my hand touched a doorframe, “Turn right!” I said tugging James along
behind me. James followed along as docile as a lamb to the slaughter. I
actually heard him giggle. This hallway should lead to the stairs up and out of
the basement. Then it was a right hand turn to the parking garage. I opened
another door and…bump right into another desk.

We
were fucked.