The Wanderers (36 page)

At the last moment, he allowed the zombie to lean over him, and the gunshot directly hit the upper part of its back, close to the back of its neck. But the living dead man did not seem to notice anything.

The priest took several steps in search of a better angle, without ceasing to aim at him. Peter fought with all his strength, pushing its head now with both hands; its skin was soft and rubbery to touch.

Then Father Isidro let out a high-pitched cry and fell to the floor, dropping the pistol. While he fought with the zombie, Peter was trying to look down to see what had happened; confusing noises were reaching his ears and he was unable to identify them.

“
I’ve got him!” a voice said from underneath the bed.

Then someone pulled the zombie from behind, moving it away from him. Peter blinked several times, panting, trying to understand. It was Dr. Rodriguez, who had taken the specter by the neck, and held it away from his body using both arms. The dead man struggled violently.

“
What... ?” Peter murmured, not understanding.

“
LET GO OF ME YOU DOG SON OF SATAN!” the priest bellowed from behind him. Peter turned around, looking over the edge of the bed. Dozer was there; he had the priest underneath his body and held his arms with his large, strong hands.

“
Help me with this one!” the doctor pleaded.

“
What the fuck... ?” Peter said, still not understanding. His mind was trying to fit together the pieces of all that had happened when Carmen looked out from underneath the other bed, and he finally understood.

“
Fuck!” he exclaimed. He took the rifle and stood in front of the doctor. “Alright... throw it over there!”

The doctor pushed the zombie toward the far end of the room, and Peter shot it before it could even turn around. The shot was dead on, and its head was instantly reduced to an angular stump, and the zombie fell to the flood, landing on its back.

In a few minutes they had the priest
’s hands and feet tied and they were all recovering from the experience. They had put Jaime upon the bed again, but Dozer had preferred to remain on his feet, leaning against the mattress, assuring them that he felt less pressure in his chest. In the meantime, Peter, who had been informed about the two specters that had disappeared down the corridor a good while ago, remained alert watching the doorway with his rifle in his hands.

“
Sorry we didn’t help you any sooner, Pi,” Dozer said. “It’s just that we didn’t know what was happening.”

“
It’s fine,” Peter answered, smiling. “If you hadn’t been down there, that bastard would’ve torn me a new one.”

“
Fuck yes he would have.”

The priest watched them, not saying a word. Carmen, who had been studying him the whole time, had gooseflesh. There was something in his serene countenance and perverse eyes that frankly smelled bad. Father Isidro looked at her, the fatuous fire of madness dancing in his pupils.

Chapter 40

The heroes of that fateful and rainy day turned out to be two young men that had lived their lives somewhat anonymously inside the Community. They did their tasks, but generally preferred to spend their time in isolation, walking through the grounds or secluded in their rooms.

While everyone fought in the lobby trying to expel the zombies out of the building, they asked themselves what could happen if the combat group were to fall. They would be trapped like mice in their nest; although they might lock themselves up behind one of the doors, it would only be a matter of time until they would end up being overcome by the onslaught of the living dead.

Searching for an alternative escape route, the boys managed to climb up the windowsill. From there, they used a thick pipe to climb up to the narrow, slanted roof. There was more than one moment of tension, because the rain was falling abundantly, making the surfaces slippery and dangerous, but they soon found themselves on top, facing some spectacular views of the compound that had sadly been invaded by the wanderers.

From there, they saw several actions to take. First they thought they could jump from one module to another until they reached the infirmary. They had gotten along pretty well, and of course, they knew that Dozer also was there, recovering from his broken rib; at least they could find out if he was safe. But then, the younger of the two, looking over the edge of the cornice, sighted the interminable line of specters that were entering through the Carranque doors, tracing a row up to the reception lobby like a relentless column of fire ants.

“
I have an idea,” said the boy to his friend, the spark of a brilliant idea shining in his eyes.

When he heard the plan, his friend nodded quickly and decisively. They retraced their steps, and they went back inside the building through the window; by then they were completely drenched. They went straight to the small office that was located at the beginning of the foyer hallway, where they had an accumulation of an ample variety of food such as bags of chips and nuts, but they also had a good amount of bottles of alcohol, mostly whisky. They did not drink much, primarily because each one of them had daily responsibilities to attend to and they had to stay sober and
useful
, but from time to time, they allowed themselves a small social reunion, and then the whisky was much appreciated.

The idea, of course, was to make a Molotov cocktail using the whisky as they had seen people do in countless movies. The tests they made using an old shirt as a fuse did not work at all. The whisky rapidly evaporated and the invention turned out to be more of a momentary nuisance than anything else. Disappointed, they let themselves drop to the floor.

“
It worked in
The Dark Half,
.” said the youngest one.

“
Well you can see it doesn’t work. There’s also the rain,” said the other one. We need something else.”

They searched around the room, excited by the constant sound of shots that reached them from below. Some of the women were still wandering through the hallways, embracing one another. They did not dare to go down, because the stairway was a savage carpet of fallen bodies, piled in horrifying mounds.

Finally, one of the boys found what he was looking for: there were several industrial-sized dissolvent cans, forgotten in some corner. An orange graphic with yellow borders adorned all of the cans with a sign written in large printed letters:

HIGHLY FLAMMABLE

They tried pouring a little in the same corner where they had made the test with the whisky, and the liquid, in spite of it being just a little, remained on fire for more than half a minute, bubbling like a lake of lava. Satisfied, they emptied the large whisky bottles and assembled their little bombs: ten of them were soon set out in a stiff cardboard box equipped with a top.

Taking them up to the roof, however, was an extraordinary test of skill and strength in itself. Each whisky bottle contained a gallon of liquid, so the total weight of the box
’s contents was nearly 100 pounds. But eventually, they found themselves up on the slanted roof again, panting, with tired arms and the raindrops sliding off their wet hair.

A very short time afterwards, they were less than thirty feet away from the main entrance, through which the wanderers were infiltrating the encampment in a never ending wave.

“
Hard, eh?” the younger one said, lighting the first fuse. He had left the box half-open to avoid letting the rain wet the pieces of fabric that were going to serve as fuses.

The boy took the bottle, tested its weight for a few brief seconds, and threw it against the door. The bottle flew through the air, tracing an elliptical path and struck exactly where they had wanted it to; it fell among the zombies that were crossing underneath the wrought-iron gate and lit up with an intense crackling sound. The specters that had been hit became human torches, fireballs that rapidly lost their sense of direction and remained immobile; preventing the passage of those who were behind them. Burning corpuscles fell from the incandescent masses that were their bodies. The ground was a fiery hell whose flames licked the clothes of the zombies that were passing around them.

The boys howled with joy, surprised by the unexpected success of their plan. They jumped to their feet and lifted their arms in victory. They took a couple more bottles and threw them at the door. Again, their expertly aimed volleys turned the sport center
’s entrance into a blazing, smoking furnace. The specters that had first caught fire began to fall to the ground, now incapable of standing on their feet. Their rotten, dried out flesh, wrapped in their filthy clothing, burned with astounding ease. In spite of the rain, it quickly spread to the ones who came from behind. It was either a specter that turned with an arm in flames, or a flame that made its way as the dissolvent spread and set fire to the hems of the zombies that had congregated at the entrance. In a matter of no more than one minute, a bonfire of considerable magnitude had broken out.

They threw three more bottles to ensure that the rain would not diminish the fire
’s effect. The dissolvent liquid propagated greedily. In the end, a total of three and a half additional gallons of dissolvent spread over the sidewalk in flames, lighting up everything it touched, effectively blocking the entrance to the premises, at least for a good while.

While the boys celebrated their own initiative on the roof, repeating memorable quotes taken directly taken from famous lines in American movies, the Lord of the Skies chose to give them an even bigger break: the rain suddenly ceased.

The fire redoubled its intensity.

Chapter 41

The two young men’s decisive actions had an immediate impact on the reception area. Holding their breath, they were all conscious that the number of assailants was decreasing in a matter of seconds. Four shots later, the marksmen watched in astonishment as just one zombie crossed the large broken window; its leg, which was completely blackened, smoked weakly.

Jose aimed between its eyes and shot.

After the ominous echo of the shot, bouncing off the lobby
’s tall ceiling, there was silence. There were still zombies wandering around outside scattered over the whole compound—many, in fact—but they seemed to walk erratically and had not noticed them. The interminable line had finished. They had made it.

In unison, all of the survivors threw themselves into a deeply jubilant ovation that tasted like victory: a clamorous roar in which everyone dedicated themselves to enthusiastic cries, and embracing one another with tear-filled eyes but with radiant smiles on their grateful faces.

Jose released his rifle, letting it dangle from the leather strap that kept it hanging from his neck. He threw his head back and let a smile blossom on his lips. He stretched his hands to the front; all of the bones in his hand, his forearm and his shoulders hurt; each little muscle whimpered, pleading for rest. Even keeping them slightly raised caused him vivid and persistent pain.

“
Are you alright, tough guy?” Uriguen asked, approaching him.

“
I can’t fire one more shot, man.”

“
It’s not a problem, I think we finally have it under control.”

Aranda came up to them then. Although the expression on his face had lost the gravity of just a few minutes before, there was still a shadow over his eyes.

“
We can’t relax yet. The infirmary, Dozer and the doctor...”

“
Oh God...” Uriguen exclaimed, remembering his friends.

“
The priest’s somewhere around here. He was the one who shot Susana.”

“
Alright!” Uriguen exclaimed, loading his rifle with ammunition while he spoke. “Alright, alright! Let’s go!”

“
Wait...” Aranda said, lifting his arms for the rest of the group’s attention. “Attention, please! This is not over, although we’re close. The worst is over, but I need two groups. One will immediately go to the infirmary to see how our friends are, and the other one with be in charge of taking down all of the wanderers that are on the premises. Every single one of them. We also have to identify where they go in and see if it’s under control. We don’t want a second wave like this one. I’ll go to the infirmary with Uriguen and Moses; I think that will be enough.”

“
We’ll clear the grounds, Juan,” said one of the men. He had discovered that he was not too bad with the rifle, and for the first time in many years, he felt so alive that he felt his heart in his throat.

“
Alright. Start from here, and keep the lobby in sight. Remember that there are still many people upstairs, and we have Susana here who can’t move for the time being.”

“
I’ll do it,” said one of the other shooters. For the love of God, he did not want to go outside, no matter how much they told him that the situation was under control.

“
Good.. Come on, let’s go, let’s go!”

But they had hardly gone outside when they discovered the reason that the specters had stopped flooding the premises. A phenomenal fire was burning in the main entrance, brilliant flames that rose above the wrought-iron gate and darkened the white cement roof. There were several bodies piled up; their black shapes could be seen among the fire’s embers.

“
Jesus,” someone said.

It did not take them long to concentrate again on taking down the specters that wandered around the grounds. They did not hurry, they did not separate, and they did not lose sight of their backs nor the reception entrance. After the exhausting experience on the stairs, they felt triumphant, invincible, and that special and new adrenaline that ran through their veins made them work better as a team and the shots were, mostly, perfect hits.