Duncan open up on the roof. It was gratifying to see several of the shuffling dead go down for good, head shots taking the unlife out of them. I shot another one that was close to the front, too close for Duncan to see. It was a young boy, likely no older than twelve, with a hideous neck wound. Black fluid leaked out of the big vein in his neck, and he dropped with a coughing moan.
Tommy was not sitting idle. He went out the back door and shot two zombies that had been around the side, out of sight of the roof and front. He dashed back inside for his and Duncan’s duffle bags and brought them outside.
Two minutes into the fight I heard a crashing fusillade of shots, and then another. I smiled grimly to myself. Looks like the squatters are rebelling against the landlords, I thought. I looked out into the street and saw that Duncan had done his job well. He had waited until the zombies had reached his ‘killing zone’, then proceeded to drop them systematically. Thirty corpses were stacked on each other in a wide semicircle like a grotesque fence. Damn fine shooting.
I heard Duncan jump off the roof onto the dumpster, then push it over to the fence for the wave of people we were sure to have. I pushed the bike and trailer out of the gas station, and checked on Jakey. He was fussing and his bottom lip was out, indicating he was about to cry, he started squirming a little and wanting to get rolling, but I needed to make sure we had everybody first. I pushed the bike out to the center of the station and looked around. Down the street towards the west was a lot of movement, and we were going to be in serious trouble in about ten minutes.
People were starting to stream over the fence. They had backpacks and duffle bags, some were even carrying garbage bags of stuff. I pointed at the gas station’s back door. “You have two minutes. Grab what you can then get out here.” I wasn’t going to let anything go to waste if these people needed it. Tommy and Duncan were helping people over the fence, and protecting their rear. Several zombies had come for the noise and more than once I heard the crack of their rifles.
I rolled to the street and scanned the road. God, there was a lot of zombies to the west. We had no choice but to run south and hope for the best. I checked the north road and saw several zombies coming out of the subdivisions. I shot one that was getting too close, and added to the fence Duncan had created. We needed to move.
I looked back and saw Tommy and Duncan running towards me, their duffle bags banging around their hips. They were followed by a crowd of people, ranging in age from one to fifty years old. I got on my bike and rode ahead, figuring with my mobility I would act as scout. We headed south on Oak Lawn Avenue, passing by several burnt-out homes and businesses. I made a brief stop at a small gun shop on the way, but found it to be looted of guns and ammo. I did find two crossbows and a bunch of bolts, so I passed those out to two men who did not have guns.
The group had organized themselves well, with those who had firearms on the outside, protecting those on the inside who were unarmed. There were about ten children on the inside, corralled by their mothers and older children. Tommy and Duncan led the way, and I rode point.
Behind us, the dead followed. We were able to keep ahead of them simply by walking, but if we got delayed, we were going to be in trouble. I hoped to hell we would be alright. I was trying to make it to the junior high school at the end of the road, figuring it would make a great place to make a stand and regroup.
It wasn’t until we had gone about a mile when we hit trouble. I was coming out of a side street and heading down the main road when three men stepped out of a building and blocked the road. I was so busy looking for zombies I didn’t notice them until I was on top of them.
The leader of the trio, a scruffy-looking specimen, held a shotgun casually in the crook of his arm. His wide face split into a grin as he looked over my gear and my son. His comrades, two smallish individuals with several pierced body parts, had each a rifle and two pistols shoved into their belts. Tommy and Duncan were too far behind to be of any help, so this was my mess to deal with. Perfect.
I stopped my bike about ten feet from the trio, and was immediately covered by the two riflemen. I dropped my hands to my lap and sat back. My SIG was holstered and my carbine was slung over my shoulder. This was going to take some negotiation. Jakey had recovered from his grouch and waved his arms at his new friends, not realizing they were actually enemies.
The leader walked towards me and straddled my front tire. He placed a hand on my handlebars and kept smiling that stupid grin of his. “How’s it going?” he asked, his eyes lingering on my sidearm and carbine.
“Just fine, thanks.” I moved my hand ever so slightly, unlocking the safety on my Enfield, which apparently, Smiley hadn’t seen.
“Good.” He said. “You realize you’re on my road, now.” His smile never reached his eyes, and I could see this was going to get ugly. I didn’t have time for diplomacy, but I also had Jake.
“That’s too bad.” I said, thinking to myself, Are you kidding me? “But I am in a hurry and didn’t know it was your road. Any chance of letting me and my son and the people behind me just heading on our way?”
Smiley laughed, and his two sidekicks laughed with him. “Oh, no, no, no. What kind of businessman would I be if I just let any asshole who wants to get away without paying?”
My eyes turned hard and Smiley stopped smiling. “What do you want?” I said, already knowing the answer.
“Your gear, your ride, your weapons, and…” looking over my shoulder at he approaching crowd. “Oh yes, your women.” Smiley was grinning again at the thought of the haul he was going to score.
I pretended to think about it and Smiley removed his hand from my handlebar. He grinned at his companions while jacking a round into his shotgun. He already had a round chambered, so a live round went spinning off over his shoulder. His friend, a short blond with a tattoo on his neck, snickered, and Smiley glared at him.
That was the opening I needed. I pulled the trigger on the Enfield, and the booming report echoed off the buildings. The bullet punched through Smiley’s crotch, blowing open his scrotum and severing his testicles in the process. The bullet entered his lower abdomen, exiting through his ass. Smiley screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching his ruined manhood and bleeding profusely through is fingers.
I didn’t wait for his companions to realize what had happened. Right after I pulled the trigger on the Enfield, I was drawing my SIG and punched two holes into Smiley’s companion to my left. I ducked down as the one on the right fired his rifle more in surprise than anything else, and the bullet passed harmlessly over my head. I swung the SIG around and fired twice more, the handgun’s crack sounding puny after the military gun. The second thug dropped to the ground, his life’s blood pouring out of the two holes in his chest.
Smiley kept on screaming. He tried crawling to his knees, but the pain knocked him down again. I had no pity. How many people had he robbed, possibly killed? He would have killed me and Jake without a thought had I not been able to get the drop on him. For his part, Jake was letting me know he was unhappy by screaming his head off.
By this time, Tommy and Duncan had caught up to me, their rifles at the ready.
“What’s up?” Tommy asked, looking at the now-whimpering Smiley and his two dead companions.
“Would you believe this moron wanted to charge a toll?” I ejected the spent round in the Enfield, chambering a new one. I turned to Jake and tried to comfort him.
Duncan snorted and gathered up the weapons and ammo from the dead and dying. He took it back to the group and distributed it. Some people looked curiously at the scene and then at me. I decided to make sure there was no misinterpretation.
“This piece of shit wanted to rob us of the ability to defend ourselves. By his confidence, I figure he and his friends had done it before. I changed his mind.” I was not in the mood to be judged. “Let’s keep going. The dead are catching up.”
And indeed they were. We could hear their moaning now as they got progressively closer. We moved away and heard Smiley’s screams cut off as the dead caught up to him and reduced him and his companions to bones.
We headed down the street and I was hopeful about holing up at the school, but when I got closer to check it out, I realized it was not going to be an option. The school had apparently caught fire at some point and large gaping holes were in the burned out roof. I waited for the rest of the group to catch up, and discussed options with Tommy and Duncan.
“Well, we need to keep moving, and I was hoping this place could provide us with a little respite.” I said,
