"I'll stay," Murph said. It was as if theentire room had been a balloon filled to bursting with tension, but withMurph's words, it all seemed to leak out.
The Chief walked over to him, and patted him on theshoulder with his broad hand. "Thank you, Murph."
Murph didn't know why The Chief seemed so emotional. Itwasn't even the end of his shift, and he had nowhere to be anyway. Murph lookeddown and pulled open the Ziploc bag full of Doritos. He crunched away as themen and women around him argued over whether they should stay or not. In theend, they all decided to leave. It was only Murph and the Chief, and Murphwould have left too if he had any place else to be.
Skinny Tom and the others grabbed their coats and rushedout the door, promises on their lips to return once their families were safe.Murph watched as they disappeared, keys jingling in their hands, and wonderedif he would ever see them again.
Chapter 9: Rescue
Two blocks into their flight, Rudy knew he wasn't goingto be able to keep up the pace. His weight was too much; even walking exerted amassive strain on the frame of his body. Usually, when he moved about, hewalked at a leisurely pace, one that would keep him from wheezing and sweatingtoo much. He would always sweat. Three-hundred pound men sweat when they rolledover in bed.
Chloe set the pace while Amanda clung to his side. If itwasn't for the adrenaline coursing through his veins and the hungry eyes thatwere locked onto him, he would have sat down on the curb to cry. But he couldfeel the eyes and see the dead honing in on him. He didn't want to be eaten. Itwas a shocking thing to think. If he had told the idea casually to someone afew days ago, they would have looked at him like he was crazy. But that was hissituation, he either needed to move his bulk and carry it through the city, orhe could sit on the ground and be eaten. So he lengthened his stride andswallowed his pride, panting heavily to keep up with Chloe.
At least the view was nice. Chloe was dressed in a nicepair of form-fitting jeans, her platinum blonde hair catching the sunlightunderneath the trees. They walked through the Park Blocks, a strip of blockssituated between 9th and 8th Ave, or SW Park Ave as some clever planner haddecided to call the streets. Why that person couldn't figure out two differentnames to call the streets was a mystery for the ages. The Park Blocks were atwelve-block stretch through the city. So far they had traversed three of them.
The dead were everywhere, which was alarming. Rudy lookedlongingly at the buildings around them, any one of them perfect for hiding outin, but Chloe walked, as if driven, her rear end jiggling slightly with eachstep. Sweat dripped into Rudy's eye.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
Without even looking over her shoulder, "We need tofind help. We need to find others, and we're not going to find them here."
"Shouldn't we get a car or something?"
Chloe laughed, throwing her head back. "Didn't youguys listen to the radio?"
"I don't listen to the radio. It's just hipster crapand forgettable pop songs," Amanda said.
"Well, you should try it sometime. If you hadlistened to the radio, you would know that all of the roads out of here arefucked."
Rudy wheezed as he spoke, trying to alternate breathing withspeaking, "What do you mean?"
"While we were hiding in our apartments, people weretrying to get out of the city. They created a traffic jam that locked up thehighways... apparently the highways are worse than the actual city," Chloesaid.
Rudy took this knowledge in. No way out, no escape. Ahelicopter roared overhead. Rudy looked up and watched it fly through the air.The sound of a minigun firing hit his ears. "Yeah!" he yelled."Kick some ass!"
His voice echoed through the Park Blocks as the helicoptermoved out of sight behind some tall buildings. Rudy wheezed and pulled hisasthma inhaler from his pocket. He put it to his lips and pressed down on thecanister, but nothing happened. He pressed it down one more time, but again,nothing happened. Panic welled inside his chest.
"It's not working," he whined, his chesttightening with each breath.
The creatures around them seemed closer than ever. Amandasteadied him as his face turned red. Chloe looked at Rudy with annoyance on herface.
"Come on, there's a Walgreen's a few blocksdown," she said.
Rudy walked with Amanda supporting him as he struggledfor breath. Fear danced around the edge of his mind. He didn't want to beeaten. The thought ran through his head over and over. The blocks, which were halfthe size of your average city block thanks to the ingenious planning of thecity's founders, seemed to go on for miles. Rudy's throat was getting tighterand tighter, and he could barely walk.
His vision became spotty, and at one point Chloe walkedback to him and snatched the sword from his hand. The dead were gaining groundon them. Their pace was no longer quick enough to avoid them.
"Hurry up or I'm going to leave your ass,"Chloe spat.
Amanda whispered into his ear, her breath hot andcomforting, "I really hate that, bitch."
Rudy didn't have the breath to respond. He focused onChloe's backside, following it as the vision around the edge of his eyesdarkened and spots swam in front of him. He watched, gasping for air, as Chloeswung the blade at a limping man, his stomach torn apart and guts trailingbetween his legs. His head rolled off, and the body slumped to the ground.
Amanda and Rudy had to skirt around it, as Rudy no longerhad the strength to lift his legs more than an inch
