“You think they’re already down to the tracks?” She asked as she slipped up beside him and watched the unending mob shamble past.
“Hard to say.” Jessie said. “It’s a mile from here but I’ve been watching them for the last few minutes. It’s been nonstop.”
“There’s a traffic circle halfway there.” Wallace said. “It’s going to get confusing for them. They might come back this way.”
“If they do, they’ll stop and start standing around again. I’ve seen when two hordes merge like that, they don’t know which way to run they don’t do anything.”
“Do you think we can make it?” Wallace asked “We have to get on the tracks. The way north is blocked by the horde Natalie led out. The only other way is south and we have to go through three towns before there’s another bridge.”
“You get the trucks ready.” Jessie said. “I’ll lead them off.”
“You can’t. There’s too many and they’re everywhere. You’ll run right into another horde any direction you go. Can you call Natalie back? Maybe she can get them to go after her.”
“No.” Jessie said, still watching the never-ending parade of undead hurry by. “She can barely reach the pedals. She’s okay to drive to the pull off but nothing else.”
“Maybe we can hole up for a while. Give it a day, maybe they’ll wander off.”
“They won’t.” Jessie said and scanned the rooftops. “Get your trucks ready.”
“Jessie.” She said. “Look, I don’t know how you did that back there without getting torn apart. I saw it and still can’t believe it. I know you have good armor and you’re good with the knives but you can’t fight thousands of them. You just can’t.”
He turned to look at her, saw the concern in her face and softened his.
“It’ll be okay. I have a plan. Something my dad did, it’ll work here, too, but I need you to get out of here while you still can. It’s just as likely that horde circles back up two streets over and you’ll be trapped between them. You’ve got to go now.”
He gave her a gentle push and once she got moving, she ran the rest of the way back to the idling trucks. When she climbed in Jessie pulled his guns and ran for the horde. A block away they heard him start firing.
“That was his plan?” Ramirez asked.
“Go.” She said. “Hurry while they’re distracted.”
42
Sailing Up River
The horde turned at the sound of his guns and a collective roar went up. Their awkward run towards the river stopped and the stumble step running towards him started. Jessie fired with both hands, dropped a handful and smashed through the front door of a lock and key shop. He fired a few more rounds so they knew where he was and didn’t run past the shadowed entrance. They poured through the opening and he dropped a couple more before he ran up the stairs. They surged forward; hundreds already crowded into the shop. Shelves tumbled over and displays on the counter were knocked to the floor. They screamed their brittle hungry screams and staggered after him, after the warm blood flowing though his veins.
Jessie let them come, fired a round or two to keep them in a frenzy and led them to the fourth floor. He raced through the rooms, found the bedroom and grabbed a couple of leather belts hanging in the closet. He circled back to the sliding door in the living room and flung it wide open. The building was old, at least a hundred and fifty years, and even though the apartments had been updated the metal fire escape hadn’t seen a coat of paint in decades. He tossed the table and chairs over the edge then braced himself against the brick of the building. He started kicking the railing, tried to break it free. The snarling and screaming horde filled the key shop, crammed into it and flowed up the steps. Many fell and were trampled and many more fell stumbling over the pulpy bodies but they kept surging upward to the sound of clanging metal. He didn’t think the rail was going to break free before the horde caught up to him but once the rusted bolts on one side snapped the other twisted off easily. Below him the street was full of them as they pushed and shoved their way into the store. Jessie fired one more round at the first zombie through the door then sprinted up the final flight to the roof.
The mob shoved into the room, out onto the fire escape and scores of them tumbled right over the edge, pushed by the crowd behind. Bodies fell into the mob below and most of them didn’t move again. The surge kept pushing and more spun out into space before plummeting forty feet to the street.
Jessie jumped up and down on the metal stairs and yelled at the mob, urged them onward to their deaths. Some slipped past the
