For each zombie that hit the ground, another one rushed in to take its place. Dante took his time, selecting his shots and hitting each one, all while the door stayed fast thanks to Francis and his strong arms.
This went on for several minutes, until finally the last ghoul dropped. Just to be sure, Dante smacked on the door a few times, listening to the sound echo in the gym. There were no returning moans or footsteps.
“I think we’re clear,” he said.
Francis cocked his head. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you,” Dante said, and the giant let go of the chain. The door didn’t move at all with the mountain of dead bodies clustered around it.
The group stepped over the corpses, filing into the gym.
“I’ll get us some light,” Dante said, and jogged over to the far end to the exterior doors. He peered through them to make sure there were no other surprises and then pushed them open.
The sun-drenched the dust-covered floor, revealing a few small tents and camping equipment, as well as several pools of blood.
“Guess they didn’t know about the bites,” Ace muttered.
Maddox shook his head. “That’s gotta suck, thinking you’ve survived and that you’re safe, only to have your friend or mother wake up and start ripping your throat out,” he said.
“Is this going to be big enough?” Dante asked as he walked back over.
Ace shrugged. “Damn well better be,” he said.
Tate nodded. “I think if we can find enough lights, we can branch out into the classrooms if we need to.”
“I tell you what,” Maddox said, “why don’t I go get our boy Henry and he can tell us what he thinks?”
“I could use a nap on a real bed, too,” Francis piped up.
Maddox grinned. “Don’t worry big man, I’ll hook you up.”
The giant approached Lily, Dante, and Ace, extending his massive hand to shake them all in turn. “Thank you for coming to rescue me,” he said sincerely. “You didn’t have to risk your life for me, yet you did. I will do my best to make sure I live long enough to repay you for your kindness.”
“You keep cracking skulls like you’re doing, and we’ll call it good,” Ace declared with a grin.
Lily rolled her eyes. “What my cousin here means, is that there’s no repayment necessary,” she said.
“Go get some rest,” Dante said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Francis smiled and nodded, before heading off with Maddox.
“Yo bro, you coming?” the latter called.
Tate glanced at Dante, who had a concerned look on his face. “Nah, you go ahead,” he replied. “We got some stuff to handle here.”
“Suit yourself,” Maddox said, waving him off. “I’ll bring you back something to eat.”
As the duo disappeared, Tate approached Dante, crossing his arms. “I can see if on your face,” he accused. “Spit it out.”
“If this many people came from the nearby neighborhoods,” Dante said slowly, “we could have a whole lot of trouble waiting in the wings for us.”
Tate nodded, taking a deep breath. “I was kind of thinking the same thing,” he said.
“You want to do a quick tour?” Dante asked.
Tate motioned to the door with a flourish. “After you,” he said.
“Ace, do you and Lily feel comfortable staying here?” Dante asked. “We need to make sure this place is locked down tight.”
Lily smiled at him. “We’ll take care of it.”
Ace took his keys out of his pocket and tossed them over to Dante. “Just don’t ding up my truck,” he warned.
Dante chuckled and led Tate outside.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dante drove with Tate in the passenger seat, and they drove around a small neighborhood half a mile from the school. So far there had only been a couple of zombies that had run up to them, and Tate put them down with a precise shot to the head.
The neighborhood was part tranquil, part war zone, just depending on which house they went by. From the looks of it, several families had been able to leave, but others weren’t so lucky.
“Three streets down,” Tate said, “one more to go.”
Dante turned onto the next street, stopping short when they spotted a pack of ten zombies in the road. They hadn’t noticed the vehicle yet, milling around each other.
“What do you think?” Tate asked.
Dante cocked his head. “You don’t happen to know a good auto body repair shop, do you?” he asked dryly.
Tate chuckled. “Maddox and I have been restoring a sixty-seven Impala,” he offered.
“Good enough for me,” Dante said, and then floored it, picking up speed. The roar of the engine attracted the ghouls, and they immediately sprinted for them.
The truck hit sixty when the first zombie impacted the front bumper, completely demolishing it. The ghouls behind it bounced away, flying in various directions.
A second later, Dante slammed on the brakes when they cleared the mini-horde, looking back and seeing a lot of devastation in his wake. Three zombies still stood, unscathed.
“Three coming up,” he said, and both men readied their handguns, waiting for the ghouls to reach them.
As soon as the corpses came up alongside the truck, each man popped off shots at near point blank range, dropping them.
“Should we inspect the damage?” Dante asked.
Tate nodded. “Just make sure you clear the truck when you get out,” he said.
They made sure to jump away from the vehicle, which ended up being a good plan, as there was movement beneath. One of the ghouls crawled out from underneath it towards Dante, squirming and writhing with busted legs.
Tate shook his head as he came around to look at it. “These things just keep coming, don’t they?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Dante replied, and fired, putting the zombie down. The duo walked around to the front of the truck.
The front end was beat up a bit, covered in blood. Tate let out a low whistle.
“Ace ain’t going to be happy with you,” he drawled.
Dante crossed his arms. “We totally got surrounded, right?” he asked.
“Oh, without a
