“Pull ya-self together, soldier!” Bill had somehow escaped the crash without any injuries. He slapped BB’s shoulder and pointed past his face. BB followed the pointing finger and saw the approaching horde of undead.
“Holy fuck!”
“Get her outta here,” Bill said as he swung his door open. He had to catch it so it wouldn’t slam back on him.
BB leaned over Breanne, who was just starting to stir. “Oh, thank god. You’re not dead.”
“Mwuh?” Breanne was out of it.
BB had a quick look out of the front window. What he saw was ominous. Some of the zombies were of the faster kind, coming at them with a loping run reminiscent of primates.
“We’ve got to get you out of here, missy.”
BB reached down, but try as he might, he couldn’t get her seatbelt to unlatch. Then he felt a sharp pain.
“What the hell?” He pulled his bleeding thumb out and noticed the sharp piece of metal sticking from the buckle mechanism.
The thing must have caught a ricochet!
Bill had started taking shots. Breanne was looking around with a bewildered look on her face. BB started to panic as well. He pulled and tugged at the seatbelt, but the thing wouldn’t give. Breanne must have felt his hands on her as she started to weakly resist.
“Get offff.” Or at least that’s what BB thought she said.
“Breanne, it’s me!” he yelled at her.
A confused look came over her face and she tried to focus her eyes. “BB?”
“No time, girl. We’ve got to get you out of this seat.” He continued to tug at the seatbelt, then reached around Breanne to see if he could pull the restraint away from her that way.
“Hey! Awn you bye me dinnah fis?” she mumbled.
BB wasn’t listening, though, as he got an idea. He reached into his belt for his KA-BAR while getting a grip on the seatbelt with the other hand.
In the meantime, Bill had managed to destroy the faster zombies, the last one dropping no more than five yards from their crashed vehicle. The rest of the crowd was coming. “Y’all better get a move on in there!” Bill warned.
BB lifted the knife over Breanne, watching her eyes suddenly focus on the seven-inch blade. He didn’t give her time to react and quickly cut the restraints away from her.
Huh. That’s the first time I ever got to use this knife. BB sheathed it and started the ordeal of dragging the stocky woman out of the Humvee.
Two minutes later, they were booking it down the side street.
“Well, booking it...” Bill interjected. “We wus barely going faster than a walk. You didn’t help with all yer flailing about,” he added, nodding at Breanne.
“Wasn’t I walking with you guys?” Breanne reached up to scratch her head in confusion, then winced in pain.
“Walked? Ah, that actually makes sense now!” BB said. “Breanne, I had you in a fireman’s carry. You know, over the shoulder? You kept moving your legs. You just about made me lose my balance. But what was worse, you kept kneeing me in the chest.” He rubbed his chest as he threw her a look of indignation. The look didn’t last, and he broke out in a grin.
“So anyway, that’s how we ended up at this building. You know the rest of the story,” BB finished.
“Yeah,” Breanne replied as she looked out at their unwanted fan club. “Let’s just hope that this story has a happy ending.”
“THERE’S ANOTHER ONE.” Mike pointed. A body lay half on the road and half on the sidewalk. Its pale, naked torso stood out against the dark pavement about twenty yards to their left as they idled in the intersection.
“Yep. Shows that we’re on the right trail,” Mike responded.
They had left the community gate a minute ago and were slowly following a trail of destroyed zombies. Tracking the undead to their hopefully alive-and-well comrades.
John looked behind him, casting one last glance at their handiwork. Mike caught the action. And grinned over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, John. That gate will stay shut for a while.”
John nodded and smiled back at the veteran. He had to admit that Mike’s idea was a good one. He had deliberately rammed the Humvee into the metal guard shack, pushing the building into the sliding rail, which in turn prevented the gate from sliding open more than a couple of inches. That gate would remain shut, all right.
Mike drove past the destroyed zombie and continued slowly down the road, looking for the next breadcrumb.
THE SUN HAD DROPPED below the buildings to the west, casting the entire area into the surreal half-darkness of dusk. The only sound was that of the zombies as they occasionally lunged at Breanne’s perch. Bill and BB sat back to back in the center of the small roof.
Breanne was bored.
Also, the pains of a million cuts and bruises were starting to make themselves known to the stocky woman.
A million. Heh.
It reminded Breanne of another funny line she had heard. She briefly considered telling her two companions. Then reminded herself of who her they were. She had tried to engage the two men in a battle of wits earlier, only to find out that these two were unarmed, as it were.
She watched the two men in the fading light. Then noticed both jerking their heads at the same time. They had heard something. Their uninvited company also reacted by shuffling around on the roof.
“What was that?” Breanne asked.
Bill turned to her. “Did you hear it?”
“Dude, I haven’t heard jack shit. But I’m guessing something is up from your reactions and those of our entourage.” She indicated the zombies, which were congregating to one side of the roof. All but two of them, which had become agitated by Breanne’s voice instead.
Bill and BB got to their feet and stood beside Breanne. They watched the zombies get close to the edge of the roof.
“Maybe they’ll walk right off,” BB suggested.
That didn’t happen. Instead, the zombies turned around and started for their position
