Charlie came over and inspected the boat, giving me an approving nod and the name of the boat an eye roll. We inspected the trailer and we were pretty sure we would be able to tow the boat, but as to the route back to Leport to put it in the water, we weren’t so sure.
We argued back and forth about possible routes and alternates, each one having its merits, although none easy, since there were still hundreds of cars blocking easy access.
I was about to make a remarkably poignant argument when a knock on the garage door stopped us cold.
I looked at Charlie. “Did you order take out?” Another knock.
“Not me. I hate Chinese food.” More knocking.
“Hmm.” I went over to the back door and put my ear against it. Sure enough, there sounded like a few people were walking around out there. The door didn’t have a window, so I couldn’t see what was happening. I didn’t worry about anyone on the outside getting in, since these warehouses generally had doors without handles on the outside, offering only a deadbolt for entry.
I started to leave the warehouse when something caught my eye and I ducked back into the darkness. Charlie was right behind me and we collided in the gloom. Shaking his head, he assessed the situation correctly. “How many?” he asked.
“At least four by the front windows and if they see us they’ll be on us in no time,” I said.
“Four isn’t too bad,” Charlie mused.
“That’s just what I could see. I’m pretty sure there’s more out back.” I said, trying to keep quiet.
“What’s the plan, then?”
“Hold on. I’m going to see if we can get to the roof.” I headed back to the storeroom and looked around. No luck. We checked the other storerooms, being very careful to avoid being seen. The last one in line had roof access, so we headed up and carefully looked around.
The roof was a simple affair, with a three foot false front around the front and sides of the buildings. There was nothing of note on the roof except for a couple of bodies in the corner. I approached them carefully and Charlie did the same, but we relaxed when we saw they were dead and staying that way. I looked closer and couldn’t see a cause of death, although they were both just skin and bones. They were lying with their arms around each other and judging by their clothes, they were just teenagers.
“What do you think?” Charlie asked, tilting his head towards the couple.
“If I had to guess, they got chased up here and died of dehydration. Not a pretty way to go. Wonder why they didn’t hole up in the storerooms until the zombies lost interest?” I mused.
“They were just scared kids. They weren’t thinking all tactical like you do,” Charlie jibed.
I ignored the barb. “Let’s take a look at our friends.” We walked over to the front side and carefully looked over. The four I had initially seen had been joined by four more, making the equation a little more untenable.
Moving over to the side of the building, I looked over and my shoulders slumped. There had to be twenty of the fetid things wandering around and bumping into each other, standing by the wall, and generally making a mess of things. I could smell the nasties all the way up on the roof, and ducked back before they could see me. Charlie looked over and shook his head.
“Where the hell did they come from?” Charlie asked. “They weren’t here twenty minutes ago when we pulled up.”
I shrugged. “My guess is they were over in the other building, saw us pull up, and located us by our conversation in the storeroom.”
“Are we shooting?”
“Don’t know as we have much choice, except we’ll attract every Z in the neighborhood and we still have to get the boat out of here, not to mention the truck.” I looked over the roof edge again. I checked my ammo supply. “I haven’t got enough ammo for a long fight,” I said.
Charlie felt himself and confirmed a lack of ammo. “We could get these guys, but if another swarm shows up, we’re screwed.”
I was beginning to understand how the dead couple wound up where they were.
Suddenly, Charlie brightened. “I’ll be right back.” He headed down the ladder, leaving me wondering what the heck he was up to. Two minutes later he reappeared with two large bricks from the paving business.
I immediately caught on to what he was going to do. “Oh, you magnificent genius,” I said, relieving him of a brick.
Charlie grinned like a kid who found his dad’s porn. “It just came to me. Let’s see if it works.”
We went over to the front of the building and looked over. Two of the zombies were in sight, the other two were nowhere to be seen. Charlie waited until one was within range, then hurtled the brick down at the corpse. The brick slammed into the Z’s head with a sickening thud and the body dropped heavily to the ground. We waited for a few seconds to see if it would get up again, but given the serious dent the brink had put into its skull, I doubted that Z was going anywhere soon.
The small commotion caused the second zombie to come over and investigate and I launched my brick. The zombie, a grayish, older specimen that might have been a black woman once, happened to look up at the last second and took the brick right between the eyes. The impact knocked her completely off her feet and drove her head to the ground. She lay there with a brick sticking out of her head and moved no more.
“Nice one,” Charlie said as we headed back down to grab some more bricks.
It took the better part of half an hour, but we managed to bring up a number of bricks and paving stones to deal with the zombies. We had a good pile by the side of the building and looking over the side, it seemed like our little swarm was starting to disperse. We needed them to get closer to the building as I had no illusions about my ability to hit a moving zombie at thirty yards with a rock.
“Any ideas?” Charlie asked as he hefted a brick.
“Just one,” I said. Leaning over the side, I waved my arms and yelled, “Oh boys! Lookee what I got here!”
Charlie smiled and leaned over. “Where the white women at?”That worked. Zombies came shuffling over, moaning and grasping at the air. Charlie and I both took aim and started throwing bricks. Meaty thuds and smacks reached our ears as assorted zombies fell to our missiles. Some took more than one hit, as our aim wasn’t perfect on every shot and we learned you had to actually throw the bricks, just dropping them didn’t do sufficient damage to permanently put them down. It stunned them and took them a moment to recover, but they got up again and clamored for our flesh.
After about ten minutes of playing Whack-a-Zombie, Charlie and I found ourselves without targets. We waited for another ten minutes to see if any of them moved, but they were still.
We moved quickly, pulling the truck around and moving the boat into position. I was glad to have Charlie with me, I had no idea how to hitch a boat and watched intently as he went through the process. I was paying such close attention to Charlie that I nearly got nailed by the two zombies we hadn’t accounted for earlier. They came shuffling around the garage door and I only noticed them when I saw a shadow moving that shouldn’t have been moving at all.
I turned around and lunged back as the first zombie reached for me. Its hands grasped empty air as I backpedaled. The second zombie turned and made for Charlie as I moved to place some insulation between the first zombie and myself. It was a gruesome sight. Fat maggots wiggled out of gaping holes in its flesh as its dead eyes fixed themselves on me. Yellowed teeth bared from blackened lips and it’s groaning was hampered by a large chunk out of its neck. Bluish dead veins spider-webbed its greenish-hued flesh, and lank hair swayed as it lurched forward.
I threw a bundle of insulation at the Z, knocking it over and giving me a second to unhook my crowbar. As it unbent I took a baseball swing and smashed it in the side of its head, spinning it around and dropping it on the floor. I stepped up quickly and delivered another blow to its head, finishing it for certain. I stepped back, ready to engage the second one, but on the other side of the boat, I saw a tomahawk rise and fall, then saw a dead zombie slump to the floor with a caved-in head.
I stepped over to the truck just as Charlie popped his head over the bed.
“That it?” he asked, wiping off his blade.
“God, I hope so,” I said, wiping of my crowbar and re-securing it in place. “Let’s get out of here.”
We started up the truck and pulled out just as another stray zombie wandered around the corner of the
