“Yeah, guess you’re right,” Cahz agreed. “I think the car park is our best option though. The alleyway is packed with W.D.s, but they’re only five or six deep.”
“No point going out onto the main road,” Cannon added. “There must be thousands of them there by now.”
“Hey, we can still use the cars!” Cahz said excitedly.
“How do you mean?” Ryan asked.
“Listen: the chain fence between the lot and the building on the other side of the alley. We roll two cars through the fence either side of that doorway.” Cahz pointed at the back entrance of the building on the opposite side.
“Yeah, the cars will block the path of the of pus bags,” Ryan said, grasping the plan.
“We’ll still have to take out the ones trapped between the cars before we force the door open,” Cahz elaborated.
“I don’t think it’s going to work as well as you think,” Cannon put in.
“Why not?”
“Well, as soon as the cars break the fence they can walk round them into the parking lot, then come at us from there.”
“I know, but we don’t need much time. Just enough to clear a path and get through that door.”
“Ryan, what’s in there?” Cannon asked.
Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Um… I think the bottom floor’s a shop and the ones above are offices and apartments.”
“Will the door be open?” Cahz asked.
“I doubt it. We usually went in the front. Better light.”
“What about the fire?” Cannon asked, looking out at the stream of smoke.
“It’s the building next door that’s on fire, but it’s likely to spread.” Cahz lent on the windowsill. “It doesn’t look like there’s any smoke coming from the building opposite the car park and it might even work to our advantage.”
“How do you figure?”
“The W.Ds coming down the alleyway from the street have to get past the fire. Now it might not be hot enough to incinerate them, but the smoke and noise is going to disorientate them.” Cahz stood up straight and looked at his two comrades. “The ones further back on the left might not even spot us.”
“Fair point,” Ryan said. “But once we’re in the shop, where then?”
“Show me the map,” Cahz said.
Ryan pulled the map from his back pocket and unfolded it.
“There’s a railway marked on here running through town.” Cahz scanned the features trying to spot the black- hashed line.
Cannon placed a thick fingertip on the page. “There.”
“How far is that from here?” Cahz asked Ryan.
“Not far.” He moved his finger back from the line to the plaza. “What, five streets over? But why the railway? It’s not like we can catch the five fifteen out of here.”
“Think about rail lines running though urban areas.” Cahz didn’t see any recollection on Ryan’s face, so he went on, “They’ve always got high fences to stop kids from wandering onto the lines.”
“How’s that help us?” Ryan asked.
“The dumb pus fucks can’t get in either,” Cannon answered.
“They’ll still get in at the stations and the like, but we’ll only have to worry about the path ahead. And because it’s flat it’ll be much quicker to move along.”
“Okay.” Ryan didn’t sound convinced, but he didn’t offer anything better.
“The rail line leaves the city and follows the coast north. We can come off it somewhere about here.” Cahz pointed at a square on the map. “And find a good pickup point in that area.”
“One thing, boss,” Cannon pointed out, “that’s about fifty klicks over unfamiliar terrain in infested country. We’re going to have to move some.”
Cahz nodded.
“And I hate to piss on the parade,” Cannon added, “but if we’re still on the move after dark we’re screwed. Even with night vision it’s a tall order to go wandering around infected territory at night, and we don’t have night vision.”
Cahz sighed. “I hear what you’re saying, buddy. We’ll just have to find somewhere suitable to hold up.”
“Look, if we’re just marching off to find somewhere in the suburbs to hold out, why walk all that way?” Ryan asked. “We could just find another building like this to barricade and wait out.”
“I’ve thought of that. But what if the fire spreads? What if the smoke’s too thick for a pickup? No, we’re best to get as far from the city centre as possible. Even if the fire wasn’t an issue I’d still want to put some distance between us. There’s thousands of W.D.s out there. The more space we can put between them, the safer I’ll feel.” Cahz looked at Cannon. “I also figure that by getting closer to the coast, we’ll double our chances of a pickup.”
“How do you figure?”
Cahz explained, “If we stay in the city and the rescue turns up, Idris’ll look for a while then bug out. We miss that, we miss our ride home. If we can get out of the city we can signal him on the way in. If we miss him we can catch him on the way out.”
“I don’t know if I follow your logic on that,” Ryan said, “but I can see the point to getting out of Dodge. The streets here are swarming with the dead. It’ll be quieter in the country.”
“We ready to go then?” Cahz asked.
“We got five minutes?” Ryan said.
“What for?” Cahz asked.
“I want to take a dump in one of those chemical toilets before we go running through a city full of dead fucks trying to eat me.”
Cannon laughed. “He’s got a point, boss. I’d rather take a crap where I didn’t have to worry about getting bit on the ass.”
“Fine,” Cahz said with a smirk on his face. “Anyone got a newspaper?”
“Shit! You’ve got to look at this!” Ryan waddled into the office hoisting his jeans up.
“No one wants to look at your shit, Ryan,” Cahz chastised as he adjusted his body armour.
“No, outside.” Ryan fastened his belt and ran back out of the office.
Cahz and Cannon found Ryan in the side office that had being used as the latrine. Ryan had already opened the window and was waving frantically.
“What is it?” Cahz asked, unable to see past Ryan’s broad shoulders.
“Ali!” Ryan bellowed at the top of his lungs. “Ali!”
Cahz pushed past to see a bizarre sight. Across the street a zombie was dangling from a line halfway up a building. At the top of the line a man with a thick black beard was hoisting the creature up to an open window.
“What the fuck’s he doing?” Cannon asked.
“Ali!” Ryan waved furiously.
The man across the street continued pulling the zombie up. The creature had its arms outstretched, trying to grab at the man is it spun round on the line.
“What is he doing?” Cahz echoed Cannon’s query.
“Looks like he’s tying it off,” Ryan said. “He’s bashing that pus bags head in!”
With a few short thwacks the zombie slumped.
“Ali! Ali!” Ryan cried.
The man across the street stood at the window and waved back in wide over-exaggerated sweeps.
“Ali!” Ryan called joyously. “It’s Ali,” Ryan beamed as he told the two soldiers.
“We gathered that much,” Cannon quipped.
Below, the crowd of undead were feverishly moaning, exhilarated by the prospect of living flesh. The man
