Fingers smirked. “You were saying?”
“Looks like that fire is gonna take care of our cleanup,” Mateo replied.
Fingers nodded. “You’re probably right, but just to be safe,” he said, turning to Bryan, “do you mind staying behind and keeping watch?”
The wounded man cocked his head. “Where are you off to?” he asked shakily.
“Go see if Michael got his job done,” Fingers replied, and waved for Mateo to follow him.
They headed across the street to the hotel parking lot. There were a few dead bodies on the ground as they approached the entrance, and five creatures banging on a car in the lobby.
“You think he’s in there?” Mateo asked, motioning to the sedan with his cleaver.
Fingers shrugged. “I think regardless, we gotta take those suckers out.” He drew his handgun and casually led the way into the lobby as Mateo clanged his blades together to draw the zombies’ attention.
A few of them immediately broke away, shambling towards an easier meal. Mateo leapt forward and made quick work of them with his flashing silver. Fingers took the easy approach, walking up to the two creatures left that were still fixated on the car door, and executing them at point blank range with a bullet to the back of the head.
Mateo finished off the last remaining zombie on the passenger side and then peered inside.
Fingers knocked on the driver’s side window. “Hey, anybody alive in there?” he asked.
Michael dropped the jacket, giving a smile and a thumbs up before opening the door. “Man, am I glad to see you guys,” he blurted. “How we looking?”
“Just a few stragglers,” Fingers said, “nothing more.”
Michael nodded as he got out of the car. “Fucking A,” he said with a sigh of relief. “I got the stairwell door secured, but I haven’t checked any of the back rooms in the lobby yet.”
“It’s all good,” Fingers assured him, “we’ll take care of it together.”
As they turned towards the back, honking echoed in the lot. They turned around just in time to see two shuttles arriving, stopping just short of the entrance. They stepped out to greet them, and a red-haired figure hopped out first.
“Are we good?” Wendy asked.
Fingers nodded. “Yeah, good enough to unload,” he replied. “We got a couple of stragglers to deal with, but we can manage.”
“Are you sure?” she demanded in her no-nonsense tone.
He nodded again. “Yeah, it’s safe in the corner of the lobby,” he assured her. “We’ll keep Michael on them as we wrap up. Besides, you still got two more loads to do.”
She turned away and threw her hand in the air, motioning for the buses to unload. “All right everybody, get a move on!” she barked as people began pouring out. “We’re on a tight timeline here, people!”
Vulnerable civilians began to unload as quickly as they could from the buses, and Michael and Mateo corralled them into a corner of the lobby. Fingers stepped aside and sidled up next to Wendy, who turned to him with a stern expression.
“Do you think you’re gonna make it?” he asked quietly.
She checked her watch. One hour and fifty-two minutes remaining. She pursed her lips. “Hopefully Zion is able to come through with a delay.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Zion sat on the ground just outside of the parking garage. There were a couple of emergency lights set up on either side of the entrance, shooting out into the distance to make sure there would be no unwanted visitors.
Hammering metal, yelling, welding, and grinding echoed from the garage as the students prepared the loppers to do their job. Zion looked down at his watch. One hour and eight minutes.
Come on Wendy, we need you here, he thought urgently. Ninety-minute round trip, you should be back here loading up by now.
He stared out into the distance, jaw clenched, and there was a rustle behind him as Cheryl approached.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked.
He motioned for her to sit down next to him, and she did so, the two of them leaning up against the wall. “So how we looking?” he asked.
“Just heard from Wendy, and they’re getting close,” she replied.
He checked his watch again, shaking his head as he did the math. “What about Jermaine?”
“He’s still keeping an eye on the horde,” Cheryl said. “Said he was able to break up a good number of them.”
Zion rubbed his forehead. “Did he define good number?”
“He did not,” she said shortly, shaking her head.
“Let’s hope that brother is being modest,” he said with a sigh. “We’re gonna need a hell of a stand if we’re gonna get everybody out of here.”
Cheryl nodded, curling her knees up to her chest. “I know,” she agreed. “Just to play it safe, I’ve been prioritizing the most vulnerable being evacuated first. The last bunch heading out are mostly healthy people, with a few of the trainees.”
“What about the hardcore experienced guys?” Zion asked.
She shook her head. “Most of them went with the first load,” she explained. “If Mateo and those guys weren’t successful, I wanted to make sure those people had a fighting chance.”
“Wendy say what the situation was down there?” he asked.
Cheryl drummed her fingers on her knees. “She didn’t, but it must have been secure enough for her to feel comfortable about leaving those people behind,” she mused.
“Good enough for me,” Zion replied with a nod.
Tori poked her head out from the open garage door. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “Just wanted to let you know that we need about ten minutes and then we’ll be ready to go.”
“Thanks,” Cheryl replied with a smile.
“They looking pretty good?” Zion asked, raising an eyebrow.
Tori pushed her glasses up her nose and shrugged. “At the very least, it’s going to be interesting to see them in action,” she admitted. “Never seen what a spinning blade can do to the human body. So silver lining, I suppose.”
Cheryl blinked at her in horror, but Zion simply smiled and chuckled.
“I can see why Calvin likes you,” he said.
Tori held
