retreated down the hallway.
Paul waited for three more zombies to appear, dispatching them easily from this distance before hurrying to catch up with Mrs. Deneaux. They had just reached the far wall when the mountain of furniture avalanched down. Zombies streamed through, nothing short of two Gatlin Guns was going to keep them out now.
'Where you at Mike?' Paul asked aloud as he took one final glance back as the enemy poured in. ‘Although I don’t know what the hell even he's gonna be able to do,’ he thought glumly.
The nine of them sat on the rooftop as the rain began to splatter down, the fat droplets incredibly loud under the banner that read 'Sale .' Whether consciously or not, they were as far away from the access door as possible. Alex had set the lock from the inside and there was no access to the mechanism from the roof side. He then propped up some boards to add as a heavy set door stop. It would stop the zombies for now, but it was a temporary fix at best. They now had no egress to the ground. Zombies surrounded the store and a large number were also inside. Life would be measured in moments.
It came as no surprise but it still startled the hell out of each and every one of them when the first resounding thud came from the roof door.
'Our dinner guests have arrived,” Paul said sourly.
'That was horrible,” Joann answered, fairly close to crying.
Eddy was the only one that seemed somewhat immune from the depressing void that surrounded the rest of their band. He wasn't old enough to verbalize it, but it was the reason he left the relative dryness of the banner to stand by the wall facing the highway. The soaking from the depression weighed much more heavily than rain. Eddy watched the muzzle flashes as a series of gunshots went off not too far in the distance.
'Did you guys see that?' he asked enthusiastically. He should have known the answer just by the way they were all sitting in a huddled circle with their heads bowed. They would have missed a fireworks show like that.
'What did you see, little man?' Alex was able to ask with an almost decent rendition of a smile.
'Gunshots!' Eddy answered happily.
'You saw gunshots?' MJ asked analytically.
'Well, I didn’t SEE the bullets, I'm not Superman,” Eddy answered as if MJ were the biggest dolt on the planet. And who knows, the human population was so low at the moment it very well could be the case. “I saw the bright flashes!' he clarified.
'You saw the muzzle flashes of guns?' Paul asked, now perking up a bit.
'Yeah, over by the roadway there was like five of them and they were pointing up in the air.” 'Like a signal?' Alex asked Paul.
'It's gotta be Mike,” Paul said with a relieved grin.
'Oh, not that insufferable one,” Mrs. Deneaux said, but no one paid her much attention.
'Who else would signal their whereabouts with a legion of zombies around?' Paul asked rhetorically.
'Yes, that does sound like Mike,” Mrs. Deneaux said, but not in a complementary way.
'And you’re sure the guns were pointed in the air?' Paul asked Eddy.
Eddy looked at Paul the same way he had at MJ only seconds earlier.
'Alright, alright, I get it,” Paul said, a true smile now creasing his features.
Alex grabbed Paul's arm and pulled him out in to the burgeoning rain storm. “Listen, hope is a powerful thing and right now even mine is surging, but what is Mike going to be able to do if it really is him?” 'Don’t know,” Paul said still smiling, “but he isn’t going to let us rot up here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX – Talbot Journal Entry 12
We drove a few more miles away from the furniture store than we probably had to, can you blame me? We came across a few zombies that were still making their approach to the siege. Some were so completely damaged, the fight no matter which way it went would be long over before they ever made it. Jack and Brian shot a few of the Johnny and Susie come-latelies, I didn’t have the stomach for it. I've been over and over this. I know they're not humans and never will be again, but they were once. I f they aren't bothering me, then I'll return the favor. Although wouldn’t that be pretty crappy if I went out and got bit by an ankle biter? That's irony right? And why am I asking my journal? Which is basically like asking myself. Which actually is something I do regularly. But enough of this internal musing.
The old apartment building was a four floor, low-rent-looking tenement but it looked weather proof. Some bullet holes dotted the lower level, as if a small battle had been played out here, but maybe if we were lucky it involved something more mundane like a drive by shooting. No lights shone in the windows, either candle or lantern. We'd have to take our chances that any occupants still in the building would not feel the need to bother us in whichever hovel we borrowed for the evening.
Perla started heading right for the front door like she owned the place.
'Uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I told her.
'Why?' she asked, looking a little perturbed.
Screw this, I can get into trouble with my own woman quick enough, I didn't need to go looking for it. Jack was busy grabbing some gear out of the back of the truck when I walked up on him. “Jack,” I said. “I would consider this an urban combat environment, wouldn’t you?'
He nodded his head, “Yeah, so?'
'So would you send one of your team in alone and not even locked and loaded?'
'Perla? Again? The woman isn’t happy enough with our present threat level, she always feels the need to up it.” He hastened away from the truck to a defiant Perla who was now opening up the front door. “STOP!' he yelled.
'Oh stop Jack, you're always thinking the worst,” Perla shouted over her shoulder.
'Do not move! I can see the trip wire from here!' Jack yelled.
“Everyone away from the door!' I shouted.
'Jack, I heard a click,” Perla cried. “What do I do?'
I could see her shaking and I was fifteen feet away behind the truck. Tracy, the boys and BT were by my side.
'You ever do demolitions?' BT asked me.
'Hell no,” I told him, not taking my eyes from the doorway. “I like to blow things up, not the other way around.” 'What the hell is the other way around?' BT asked me. “Unblowing? Is that a word?'
'Perla, what exactly do you see?' Brian asked.
“There’s… there’s a silver wire leading to a little box and the… the box has a red light on it,” she stammered out.
“Claymore mine?” Cindy asked Brian.
“Not with a light on it,” he answered her.
“Did she say there’s a light on it?” I asked from the relative safety of the truck.
Brian was about mid-way from us to the door way. “Yeah, you know what it is?”
“No, but I’ve got an idea,” I told him.
“Talbot?” BT and Tracy said in startled unison.
“It’s all good,” I said, walking over to Brian and then past him.
“What are you doing?” Jack asked with alarm. And who could blame him? His girlfriend was a motion away from potentially becoming wet dust.
“I got this,” I said, putting up a hand.
“I hate when he does this,” Tracy said.
“I heard that,” I told her.
“You blow yourself up Talbot, and I’m never going to see if you can crap out gold pieces,” BT yelled, and then clarified that it was an ‘inside joke’ when Jack, Brian, Cindy and even Perla looked over at him.
I placed my hand on the door right above Perla’s, making sure to match her pressure before I spoke. “Run,” I said calmly.
“Are you sure?” she asked, so wanting to bolt but not willing to trade my life for hers.
“Do you see any reason why the two of us should make final arrangements tonight?”
She took off, and within two seconds was in the arms of her boyfriend. She was sobbing uncontrollably. “He… he sacrificed himself for me,” she cried.
