his voice.
“Sitting idle like this for years? The battery will be dead for a start. Hell, I was out of town for a week and had to dry the spark plugs on my old Nissan before she’d turn over,” Ryan said. “That’s even if they had fuel.” He nodded at the forced open flap to the tank. “What we haven’t siphoned will have evaporated dry by now.”
“Okay, I get the point,” Cannon snapped.
“You really know fuck all about cars,” Ryan said.
Cannon puffed up his quite considerable chest. “Yeah, well, we’ll see how smug you are next time you’ve got a diaper change. And besides, you’ve left your gun on the passenger seat.”
“Shit,” Ryan cursed, checking the small of his back as he looked at the discarded weapon.
“All right, you two,” Cahz said. “We need to focus on this.” He put a hand on each of his companion’s shoulders. “On my signal, you two whip off the handbrakes and roll the cars at the fence.
I’ll be by the fence thinning them out. By the time you guys catch up to me it should be clear enough to jimmy open that back door and get inside.” Cahz pointed at the back entrance to the shop they were aiming for. “Once we’re inside, Ryan leads the way out. We keep going until we pick up the railway line. It’s four blocks west of here.”
Ryan was slipping the gun into the back of his belt and nodded silently.
“Show me that gun,” Cahz said.
Ryan pulled the gun out, barrel aimed at Cahz.
“Fuckin’ hell!” Cahz battered the muzzle away. “Don’t point it at me.”
“You asked to see it,” Ryan said.
“See it-not get shot by it.” Cahz looked at the side of the weapon. “Just checking the safety’s on; don’t want you blowing your ass cheeks off.”
Ryan frowned and tucked the gun away.
“Once we’re on the line it should make our lives easier. It reduces the directions the W.D.s can come from.” Cahz picked up the crowbar and passed it to Cannon. “I guess you’ll be able to take that door off its hinges without this,” he joked, “but to save time you’d best have it.”
“Want me to carry anything?” Ryan asked.
“Just her.” Cahz pointed at the baby in the makeshift papoose.
Cahz took a sip on the tube from his camel pack. The warm water quenched his thirst but did nothing to shift the sour taste in his mouth. He took a reassuring glance round at the others. Both men were in position, ready to push the first car, Ryan by the handbrake, Cannon at the rear.
Cahz cleared his throat.
“Three, two, one, go!”
Cahz started firing.
Over the shots he could hear Cannon and Ryan grunting as they battled to get the car moving. Seconds later the first car careered into the fence and ploughed through. The fence screeched as the wires buckled and snapped down the fault line. A whole section of mesh popped off from its posts and wrapped around the front of the vehicle. Those zombies pressed in against the wire were hauled off their feet and thrown back, but the mass of dead bodies were too thick for the car to make much headway. The car ground to a halt only a few feet past the fence, leaving a gap twice as wide for the dithering zombies to shamble through.
Cahz kept firing, felling as many as he could and hoping he could stem the flow of zombies trickling past the stalled car.
With a loud crash the second car tore through the other section of fence.
Cahz reloaded, but before he could fire again he heard the bark of Cannon’s support weapon.
Looking round, he could see the second car had also failed to block the alleyway.
Cannon stood with the butt of his machine gun tight against his shoulder, taking well-aimed bursts at the encroaching zombies. With each burst, one, sometimes two, zombies would topple over, but Cahz knew the recoil made the weapon wildly inaccurate even at these short distances.
“Ryan!” he shouted. “Grab the crowbar! Get that door open!”
“What?!” Ryan shouted back, unable to hear Cahz over the gunshots and the screams of his backpack- swaddled daughter.
“The door!” Cahz screamed between shots.
Ryan ran as fast as he could with the child on his back. He skidded to a halt next to Cannon, one hand behind his back awkwardly trying to steady the load. The crowbar was sticking out of a sheath in Cannon’s body armour like a ninja sword. Ryan grabbed it and whipped the crowbar free.
With the last few rounds in his second clip, Cahz floored the zombies between Ryan and the door.
Vaulting over the carpet of dead, Ryan leapt to the door and wedged the end of the crowbar into the narrow crack at the doorjamb.
Cahz loaded his third clip, careful to secure the empty back in its pouch. Although he’d been able to reload from Cannon’s belt of ammunition back in the office, he knew there’d be no chance of a top up, exposed like this in the middle of a horde.
“Get that door!” Cahz ordered.
“I can’t! The wood’s rotten! It keeps splitting!” Ryan called back as he dug the crowbar in again.
“Move!” Cannon bellowed and he swung round, pointing his weapon at Ryan.
“Shit,” Ryan gasped as he dived out of the doorway.
Cannon bounded towards the door as if it wasn’t there. Just a couple of strides away a burst of fire erupted from his gun and he twisted to barge the door full force with his shoulder. Splinters of wood flew from the devastated door and Cannon disappeared through the freshly made opening.
“Go! Go! Go!” Cahz roared.
Ryan vanished into the building, the child on his back screaming.
Cahz bolted after him, making the doorway only seconds before the first zombie. In the dark corridor he could see Ryan’s light shirt through the murk. Cannon was on all fours, still working to get to his feet after the crash through the door.
“Ryan! Go! Lead us out!”
Ryan looked surprised.
“I’ll help Cannon. You take point.” And with that, Cahz found Cannon’s grab handle on the neck of his body armour, wrapped his fingers around it, and pulled. “Come on, soldier. On your feet.”
“Yes sir!” Cannon snapped back out of reflex.
The light streaming through the busted door faded and spluttered. Cahz turned to see the silhouette of a zombie snatching for him.
Cahz caught the creature’s hip with a swift side kick, sending it spinning to the floor. Right behind it came another cadaver, then another, and another, each soaking up more and more of the light.
Still on the ground, Cannon flipped round to sit on his butt. A staccato burst of light and the thunder of shots followed, hammering through the pursuing zombies.
Cahz grabbed his buddy by the bicep and dragged him up.
“Move!” he yelled as he stumbled into the darkness.
Within feet the last usable light from the narrow doorway was eaten up by the musty gloom. Cahz and Cannon lurched into the darkness. A myriad of squeaks echoed from the dispossessed rodents scurrying into the shadows.
Cahz called out, “Ryan?!”
The sound of Ryan’s daughter crying could be heard somewhere up ahead.
“Through here,” came Ryan’s voice.
Cannon flicked on his torch. The slender beam of white light cut only a thin wedge from the darkness. A rat with matted brown fur scampered from the glow back to its nest of tattered linen. The light dimmed and went out.
“Piece of shit!” Cannon griped as he wound the mechanism. As he did the yellow light flickered on and grew
