reeling backward from where it was trying to get up.
Bill and Javier fired into the zombies that were closing in on the front of the building while Max took another shot at Harry. Moving fast Harry dodged and rolled to his feet while Max tracked him. Running to point blank range Max pulled the trigger again, Harry couldn't dodge completely out of the way, the shot caught him in the shoulder of his missing hand and twirled him around completely so that he was facing one of the zombies walking towards him. This female zombie was pushing a baby carriage, a bloody splattered light blue carriage trimmed with dark blue padding. The young mother was wearing a set of gray sweat pants and an oversized baseball shirt, her black hair rested on the fair skin of her face, making a perfect frame for her hazel eyes. In the carriage a small hand flailed out of the stroller, it too was bloody and missing the smallest two fingers. Harry ducked sideways and sent a command to the mother to throw her carriage at Max as a distraction. His command was too late; Max shot the woman full on in the face as Harry dodged to one side, exploding her head like a balloon and spraying red ocher chunks onto the zombies behind her.
Max was concerned with his ammunition too, he tracked Harry with the gun and struggled to reload the shotgun's magazine by sliding another shell into it. Harry took the opportunity and stepped into Max, knocking the shotgun sideways off target. The zombie then seized Max by the throat and lifted him up off of the ground.
“Max!” screamed Bill, who charged forward to his friend's aid.
“Jesus-christ!” Javier said softly trying to aim at everything at once.
“Stop!” yelled Harry, lifting Max off of his feet. The zombies obediently stopped, as did Bill.
Up above Katie heard the crunch of feet on the gravel roof behind her. '
“I know you are here. I can smell you, I can hear you breath, but I can't see you!” came a voice surprisingly close to behind her. “Is that a gun? Why, I do believe it is!”
Katie fired as the voice yelled, “Gotcha!” in triumph.
“Stop! Put down your guns or I'll..' Harry's threat came to a sudden, messy end. Max looked down the length of Harry's arm just in time to see the zombie's head explode like a firecracker, splattering him from the waist down with brain matter and blood. Max felt a sharp tug as something tore through his pants at the same time. For a few seconds everything seemed to stop, Max was held up high by a headless zombie, grasping for breath as Harry's hand convulsed. Slowly the strength in Harry's arm weakened, then finally went limp, dropping Max to the gore covered pavement.
Frantically Max pulled at Harry's hand, trying to get it off of his throat, the world went black and he heard Bill yelling his name. Max didn't quite lose consciousness, just his vision for a moment, then air, foul, smoky air reeking of blood poured into his lungs.
Bill supported Max, holding him steady while asking, “Max are you all right? Are you okay?”
“F-fine.” Max said through a bruised throat. Looking around he saw the zombies all standing around in the street, stock still. The zombies didn't move much, except for their eyes, which shown with a malevolent hatred. “What the fuck?”
“I know, we gotta go.” said Bill. Harry's last order was still holding the zombies in check, they continued to stare at the trio of men, but none of them took so much as a single step towards them.
Katie was grasped around the waist from behind, the arms that gripped her was like steel and she dropped her rifle as she was lifted up. “Got you! I got you! You tricksy little thing!”
Both of Katie's hands were free, the arms gripped her around the waist and started to squeeze the breath out of her. She struggled to reach the pistol she had tucked into her belt and kicked backwards at the zombie holding her to no effect. The camo suit was being torn into pieces as she struggled and finally she got her hand on the butt of her pistol. Then the building rocked sideways and she was suddenly thrown free.
“Fuck!” Max yelled as an explosion slammed into the building across the street about halfway up. Debris started to rain down on the zombie mob, sizable chunks of concrete that squashed zombies flat when they hit.
“We gotta go!” Bill said, grabbing Max and retreating up the stairs, Max managed to get one hand on his shotgun before being half carried up the stairs of the Art building. The two of them followed Javier across the lobby back towards the side exit to the courtyard they had originally entered the building through. Dust and chunks of masonry fell around them as the artillery barrage started to fall in earnest.
“Out! Out! Out!” Yelled Bill urging them through the courtyard and towards the raised street. Ruben and the other man, Chen, each had a shoulder under Stewart's arms and carried her through the explosions until they reached the marginal safety under the street. Javier shot the only zombie they saw along the way, a tall African American zombie dressed up in gold chains and a long basketball jersey. Once that weak opposition was taken care of the group made their way to the chain link fence separating them from the rail line.
“Can you stand Max?”
“Yeah. I am okay. Thanks.” said Max letting go of his friend. Bill turned to the fence and took out his combat knife, reversing it he caught the links on the back of the knife and pulled downward sharply, the wire of the fence parted easily. Ruben looked on dumbfounded, then over to Max, who shrugged his shoulders.
“Go, get down there and start heading east away from here, keep the wall next to your right arm and let's hope none of the bombs drop to the left of us.” Bill said once the hole in the fence was wide enough to pass through.
Max went down first, followed by Bill, the two of them then took Stewart from Chen and Ruben, it was a surprise to them when Stewart tried to stand up. She was unsteady on her feet and one of her eyes was glued shut with blood, but she managed a half smile as she saw Max was holding her. “Hi!” she said, “What is going on?”
“Shh…” Max started.
“You got her? She isn't the only one hurt.”
“Yeah I will start off you, catch up.”
“Keep your gun handy.”
Max shook his head, “No need. There isn't anything up ahead.”
“Good, go.” said Bill, turning to help Chen down from park to the level of the rail bed, a short distance of about three feet.
Max started stumbling forward while Stewart asked him how he was and what happened again. The others were still faster than he was and caught up with him after only fifteen or twenty seconds.
“This should be far enough.” said Bill as the bombs reached a crescendo behind them.
Turning they looked back as the street they had been hiding under disappeared under a heavy cloud of dust.
“Well maybe we should go a little farther…” Bill began.
“The boats sarge! We need to get to the boats. Like we planned.” said Javier.
Nodding Bill said, “Yeah, good idea, while they are all distracted.” He led the group across three sets of rail lines to the concrete embankment on the other side, where once again he quickly made a hole for them to pass through.
As he helped Stewart through the fence Max heard her ask, “Did we win? Did we win Max?”
“I think so Stewart. Yeah, I think we got him.”
“Good Max, that is real good.” She stood up, took a couple of steps with Bill's assistance then lurched sideways to the ground where she lay still.
“Stewart!” Max yelled, pulling himself through the fence. He rushed to Stewart's side and rolled her onto her back. She was still conscious, but just barely.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice slurring slightly.
“You fell over!” said Max as he checked the bandages on her head and looked her over. “Are you okay?”
“Sure. Fine…if I can…” and she slipped into unconsciousness.
Bill knelt down opposite of Max, with Stewart between them, “Well?”
