The Wanderers (27 page)

They exited through the same place they’d entered, the small window of one of the ground floor offices, because the main entry, although it was the straightest way, was solidly closed off with strong locks.

They did not need to exchange words; each one knew their part to perfection. One remained behind, with one knee on the ground, covering the others with clean and precise shots while the rest moved a few meters forward. The shots were always in the head area, although for some reason, that would not always stop them. Afterwards, those two waited for the one left behind, shooting the closest zombies while they waited to be reunited. Above all, they made sure to move swiftly. They knew that the shots and the quick movement maddened the specters, and they knew perfectly well what that meant.

Out of nowhere, a living dead man of an imposing appearance and dressed as a police officer threw itself on Susana, but was instantly knocked back by a swift blow with the butt of her rifle, giving her enough time to point at its head and shoot. The distance was so short that Susana did not even stop long enough to see it falling to the ground; she was already concentrating on her next objective.

Dozer’s shots from the heliport arrived like a far-away and surprisingly rhythmic echo, but his aim was not as efficient as they would have desired. Small shreds of cloth and blood often flew from the shoulder area, the backs or the sides of the zombies’ heads, but none of that detained them.

The traffic circle, on the other hand, was packed with abandoned cars, which made their advance more difficult. Since the vehicles were completely clustered together, Uriguen climbed on one of them to offer covering fire while the others rolled on their backs on top of the car hoods.

At one point, Jose kneeled to shoot, leaning on one of the cars. He secured his rifle against his shoulder and aimed against the closest specter to cover the others’ advance. He was about to pull the trigger when, suddenly, the car windows exploded. A bloody claw passed before him at the speed of a lightning bolt and grabbed him, pulling him inside the vehicle. There a severely decomposed face awaited him: shreds of dead skin fell from its soft and uneven face; the teeth, which were black and prominent, had an almost lascivious appearance and it sought his flesh with lustful fascination. Jose wanted to free himself, but the embrace was too intense, it asphyxiated him, prevented him from seeing. He tried to scream to alert the others, but it was also in vain, now both hands were holding him and, God, how strong they were.

Imprisoned as he was, he thought of how long it would be until he felt its foul-smelling mouth sinking itself in his head. He fought with all of his strength to keep away, but for all he knew, it could happen at any moment. And then it would be goodbye for him, even if it was just a superficial wound. If his blood mixed with that of the monster’s, he knew all too well that he might as well turn the lights out.

Then the back of the car’s window exploded in a myriad of tiny fragments. At the same time, the mortal embrace that was asphyxiating him ceased completely, and both hands fell limp around him. Jose quickly separated himself from the car and looked at his attacker. Its head had literally burst open like a ripe melon, and the interior of the car was covered in blood and pieces of brains. He looked to Susana and Uriguen, but they were concentrating on detaining the zombies that were crowding around them; then he looked backwards, in the direction from where the shot seemed to have come, and he saw Dozer up there, on top of his little fortress, shooting at more specters. He heard the impact of the bullets hitting the flesh of the dead bodies that surrounded him.

“
I owe you one, you son of a bitch,” he said in a low voice, unable to avoid showing a hint of a smile.

However, the situation did not look good. Without Jose’s coverage, the dead had gotten too close to Susana and Uriguen. They fired shots relentlessly, back to back, but there seemed to be no end to the living dead. The clamor of their groans was beginning to reach distressing heights.

“
JOSE!” Uriguen shouted, while his shot halted the advance of one of the specters. The zombie traced a pirouette in the air before falling with its cranium split open, upon the cadavers of other zombies.

“
I’m here now, big guy,” Jose said, shooting at a woman who was naked from the waist up.

“
Last stage, you pansy, we’ve got to get out of here. NOW.”

They ran to the house’s entrance. Uriguen checked the lock while Susana and Jose continued shooting.

“
Locked.”

“
Fuck it,” said Uriguen turning around and giving the lock a phenomenal kick. The door shook violently and flew open with a cracking noise.

They ran inside the small entryway that barely had enough space for a row of mailboxes and a few steps that led upwards. Susana went up first, with her rifle in front of her, and Jose went behind. Uriguen remained at the foot of the stairway, shooting at all of the specters that looked into the entry.
They’re coming so fast
, he thought worriedly,
we’ve really enraged them
.

Susana and Jose quickly climbed up. The floor seemed to be empty, all of the doors of the several apartment were conveniently closed and there did not seem to be any traces of there being any surprises. In a matter of seconds, they reached the floor where the helicopter had destroyed the whole floor. There, the cockpit was in plain sight.

Susana lowered her rifle.
“Jaime!” she called.

There was no answer. “Jaime!”

The helicopter was still making a slight humming noise, although neither the blades nor the tail rotor were moving. She approached the cockpit, crossing over the debris that was scattered over the floor, and she feared encountering the worst. Jaime had fallen upon the instrument panel. The cockpit window was cracked and had a very visible bloodstain on it. The whole side of the aircraft was completely destroyed as a result of the tremendous impact against the building’s façade.

“
Jaime...” Susana extended her hand to lift his head, but Jose stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“
Susana...”

“
No,” Susana said, finally lifting the young pilot’s head. He had a gash on his forehead; he must have had a phenomenal blow against the window.

The shots resounded in the street. Susana continued calling Jaime, holding his head up and speaking to him to bring him back from the spectral world of unconsciousness in which he was immersed. Jose, however, had his own opinion; he was ready to put a bullet between Jaime’s eyes at the slightest guttural sound he made.

Finally, Jaime shook his head in attempt to come around. He lifted a hand and looked at it, and then he looked at Susana with wide eyes.

“
Jaime...”

Jose, located behind Susana, aimed at him with his rifle. His finger, on the trigger, moved a few millimeters.

“
I... I think I screwed up,” Jaime finally said.

Susana let out a mouthful of air and smiled at him. Jose lowered his rifle, happy to have the kid still among the select crowd of The Living.

On the helipad, Dozer was loading his rifle with another magazine. The distance was considerable, and his side hurt so much now that each breath was becoming a new challenge, but he did not give himself any rest: he continued firing lead upon the specters that were clustering around the entrance.

Inside the helicopter’s cockpit, Jaime was making an effort to stay awake, but his vision was becoming blurry. He heard thunder in the distance, resonating, rhythmic, and he wanted to say something about it, but Susana’s face was fading away. He murmured something incomprehensible while reality became diluted in a black veil and he finally lost consciousness again.

Chapter 29

The sky had turned yellow, such a pale color, that Jaime immediately thought of the garlic soup his grandmother used to eat. Then he noticed a metallic taste in his mouth, somewhat like copper. He ran his tongue over his teeth and gums, and then he identified it without a doubt: it was blood.

Where was he, exactly? He opened his eyes more and discovered that what he thought was a yellow sky was actually a ceiling. A bedroom ceiling, illuminated by a small table lamp. He recognized the place, the white cabinet that rested against a wall, full of bandages and medicines. It was the Carranque infirmary.

A familiar voice spoke to him from his right side.
“Hey! Hello kid. Welcome back!” It was a feminine voice, but he was not yet able to identify it.

Jaime wanted to turn, but his body hurt considerably. There was also something on his neck that prevented him from moving. He wanted to cough, but he discovered that just preparing for it brought a wave of pain to his chest.

“
Easy... stay calm. Do you want to cough? Wait, I’ll help you.”

The owner of the voice came into view. It was Carmen, one of the women who lived in the sports center. He had spoken several times with her, although he did not know her well.

She helped him sit up a little and held his hands so he could cough a little. It hurt as if he had glass shards inside his lungs, but when he finished, he felt better.

“
How do you feel?” Carmen asked.

Jaime, who did not feel able to speak yet, rolled his eyes.

“
Yes, I know,” Carmen said, laughing. “But don’t worry, you’ll recover soon, you’ll see. You got messed up inside that helicopter, and the way back to Carranque must have been even worse than the blow itself... but the guys did what they could. From what they tell me, getting you two out of there was a nightmare. Did you know that Dozer also has a couple of broken ribs? Imagine what it must have been like to carry that muscleman through the sewers, followed by a whole army of those things. Dear Jesus... you really had an angel on your back, with all of the running around the broken rib should have punctured an organ: the heart, or the lungs. But it didn’t, and here you are,” she ended with a smile.

While he listened, Jaime was trying to remember. In his mind, a few disconnected flashes of the helicopter swam around, of when it was uncontrollably plunging towards one of the buildings. Before the crash, he remember thinking that he did not even have the seatbelt on, but it was a serene thought, as if the whole scene was a sequence in a movie and he was no more than a mere spectator. But although he tried to concentrate on recovering more fragments in his memory, he was unable to invoke any more.

The unexpected surprise of finding a wet sponge on his forehead pulled him away from those thoughts.

“
Yes, it’s a bit warm in here, right? But Doctor Rodriguez said that the heat is very good for your bones. And the neck brace is just preventive, because they did not know if the injuries went any further than the ribs. But if you think you can move your head, tell me so and I’ll call the doctor,” Carmen stopped for a second and added: “But now I’m going to let someone in who has been very worried about you. It’ll be best if he takes a look at you. And he might decide that you’re ready for a certain surprise,” she said enigmatically, smiling with her gaze fixed on his eyes, as if she expected a response. Finally, she exited the room with a “see you later”.

Jaime closed his eyes, still drowsy. A hazy, vague memory overcame him. Suddenly he was capable of remembering some heavy repetitive sounds reverberating inside his head, like thunder although shorter. Susana’s face also appeared among the darkness of his memory. She was very close to him, and she was saying something. The sound was not there, and he could not understand her; his gaze incessantly danced from one eye to another, over and over again.

A familiar sound shook him out of his reverie: it was the infirmary door, which opened again.

“
Hello Jaime,” said an unmistakable voice.

Jaime opened his eyes, and he was happy to encounter Juan Aranda in person, looking at him with a serene expression on his smiling face. He felt, however, unworthy of Juan’s smile. He tried to speak, to tell him he was very sorry for having failed him, that he was sorry for having destroyed the helicopter, but his throat was closed up and he was unable to articulate a word.

“
Don’t try to speak if it’s difficult for you,” Carmen said, from an unseen spot in the room.

“
Jaime,” began Aranda “I want you to know that everyone sends you hugs and wishes for you to get well. And you don’t know how happy we are to have you back. We would also like to ask your pardon, most of all I would like to do so personally, for having sent you on that insane mission. We should have never done it. You can’t learn how to use a real helicopter with a computer simulator, it was a foolish thing to do and it was almost the end of you all. However, as in most cases, we can always find something good in a bad experience, and this is not an exception.”

“
Should I tell them to come in?” Carmen asked.

“
Yes please, Carmen, thank you.”

Jaime, who had been more comforted by Aranda’s words than a soothing tonic could have done, looked to the door, intrigued. A large, dark-skinned man sporting a discreet bandage on his forehead entered the room accompanied by a young girl with beautiful long black hair. Jaime did not know them, he thought happily, they were
new
people, from outside of the Community.

“
Jaime... meet Moses, and Isabel.”

“
I’m Moses,” the Moroccan joked, putting his hand on his chest.

Isabel smiled radiantly.

“
Surprised?” Aranda asked, still smiling. “They’re survivors, Jaime, like us. We found them thanks to the helicopter accident, thanks to you. Or rather... they found us.”

“
That’s true,” Moses said.

“
It was very lucky. I don’t know how the team would have been able to take you and Dozer out of there if it had not been for them. Well... all’s well that ends well. You’ll get to know them better, they have a few stories of their own to tell. But for now, rest and recover. Sleep a lot and let those bones get back into place,” he paused, as if waiting for a response, but Jaime just looked at him with grateful eyes. “See you later, Jaime.”