"Come on, move your ass, Chief."
Inside the truck, the Chief found what he was lookingfor, and he fumbled with it in his lap. When he was finished, he raised hishand, and there was a flash of light as he blew out the glass of the driver'sside window. One of the dead dropped to the ground, but another stepped up totake its place, its arm clawing through the broken glass.
Murph saw the Chief swing his elbow, smashing out theback window of the truck's cab, and then he was crawling through the brokenglass. He stood up in the back of the truck, and waved around a revolver. Hetucked it into the back of his pants, and then bent down to pick up a crowbarthat was lying among the garbage and empty beer cans in the back. As the deadsurged around the truck, he lashed out with the crowbar, with little effect.
The Chief took a small, running start and then leapt outof the back of the truck, landing hard upon the ground. He was on his feet in aflash, his feet pounding the dust of the yard into the air as the dead movedafter him. Murph watched him run. His steps were slower, and he was tiring out.Murph pumped his fist as the chief ran past one of the dead, clocking it in theface with the tire iron. It fell to the ground, but stood back up again as theChief ran off the camera.
Murph switched to the conveyor belt camera, and pannedthe camera to the side, where the mini-dozer sat unmoving, like a child'sforgotten toy underneath a mountain of coal stacked higher than the cameracould see. The dozer was a company vehicle on a secure lot, so the key wasstill in the ignition as the Chief hopped into the black driver's seat andturned the key, stomping on the gas pedal.
Murph could see that there was trouble, so he grabbed hisradio and said, "What's wrong?"
The Chief ignored Murph's question, banging on thedashboard of the dozer, pounding on the gas pedal and angrily turning the key.The dead had begun to wander onto the screen, drawn by the noise of the chokingengine.
"You got company, Chief. They're gettingcloser."
The Chief set his handgun on the dashboard within easyreach and continued to try to start the vehicle. Around the front of the dozer,the dead spread out in a semi-circle, inching closer. A black cloud of exhausterupted from the dozer, and the Chief threw the dozer into reverse, spinning itin a wide circle. As he spun the dozer around, he brushed by one of the dead.It reached out to grab the Chief's arm, but he jerked the dozer to the side,throwing the creature to the ground and plowing into the mountain of coal.Angular chunks of coal cascaded down the side of the mountain, making walkingtreacherous for the dead, but still they came. At the impact, his handgun flewoff of the dashboard, and Murph cursed in the control room.
The Chief operated the dozer, pushing a pile of coalahead of it as it trundled towards the hoppers. In the process, he ran over thedead, people with familiar faces, if not names. The vehicle was slow, so itdidn't kill them, but as the dozer's tracks rolled over their broken bodies,they came out the other side worse for wear and less functional than they hadbeen before.
The Chief continued the process for four or five loads,and Murph watched as the dead's numbers dwindled, mown down by the heavy tracksof the dozer or pushed inadvertently into the hopper along with loads of coal.The dials rose slowly and the power plant began pumping out more energy.
Then disaster struck. One of the dead reaching out forthe Chief missed and grabbed hold of something vital to the dozer's operation.Its arm jerked for a second as the dozer pulled away, and it came away with arubber hose in its hand. The dozer left a dark stream of liquid as it trundledacross the dusty desert ground. Murph knew something was wrong when the dozercrawled to a halt. He pressed the button on his radio and asked, "Chief, Ithink you got a problem. You're leaking something."
There was no answer from the Chief. He hopped out of thecab of the dozer with the tire iron in hand. He ran around the front andlooked. Murph could tell right away it was bad because the Chief shook hishead, and his shoulders slumped down. The Chief held his radio to his mouth andsaid, "It got the damn oil line. It's fucked."
"What are we going to do?" Murph asked.
"We can't do shit." A dead woman approached theChief from behind.
"You got one behind you," he said.
"Thanks," the Chief said into the radio as hespun and delivered a one-handed blow to the woman's head with the tire iron, cavingin the side of her skull and knocking her to the ground. The creature's limbsstill reached for the Chief.
All the noise and excitement had brought most of the deadin the area to the Chief's position, but it didn't seem to faze him at all."Alright. I'm coming to get you."
Murph didn't know why he said it, but he knew it was trueas soon as he did. "Don't. You'll just get yourself killed."
The Chief scrambled up the side of the mountain of coalaway from the dead that were after him. He looked around and then located thecamera and looked straight at it as he held the radio up to his mouth."You sure, kid? I can come get you. I don't mind."
"Nah, I'm fine. I think I'm just going to sit here.Maybe listen to the radio."
"I'll get some help. I'll be back for you. Just hangin there."
They were nice words. Murph wanted to believe them, buthe knew they were just words. They had failed. "Good luck, Chief."
"Call me, Walt," the Chief sent back.
Murph laughed. What a weird
