Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel (36 page)

“Okay.  I’ll check this floor.  You go check out the basement.”  Alec put down the pistol.  “Anything that looks like drugs or medical supplies, you bring up here.  If anything happens, scream at the top of your lungs and try to get back to me.”

“Okay,” Danny nodded.  At least the house was a bungalow, so there was no upstairs to check.

Danny found the stairs leading into the basement through the kitchen and flipped a light switch at the top of them.  When the lights illuminated the space below, Danny took a moment to stop and listen.  A minute or two passed without any sound or movement, so he made his way down.  The basement was finished, with a nice beige carpet and chocolate coloured walls. 
First, he looked around an open area that was set up as a home theatre.  There weren’t any medical supplies, but he did find more weapons and gas masks.  There were also more window-sized boards leaning against the walls.  Danny was thinking that maybe this person had some idea about what had happened.  Clearly, he or she didn’t know everything though or else the doctor would be here.  Then again, a lot of things happened that made some people think the world was going to end, and they went totally overboard.  The doctor was probably one of those people.  A crazy doctor: Danny shuddered at the thought.

He found a small bathroom next.  It was done up in whites and pale blues which made the red handled axe stand out.  Crazy.  The next room was a storage room.  It had guns of all kinds with bullets to match, full biohazard suits, lots of tools, what looked like explosives, blankets and camping gear, but mostly food.  There was a lot of canned and jarred food filling the shelves.  There was also a shelving unit of medical supplies.

A red, normal-sized backpack was mixed into a pile of camping packs.  Danny picked it up and started putting the medical stuff into it.  He didn’t know what would be needed, so he took at least one of everything and then doubled up on what looked most important: things like bandages, and painkillers, for instance.  Once the bag was filled, Danny walked toward the door again but stopped next to a rack of pistols.

He picked up one of the smaller pistols and looked it over.  Danny’s brother had taught him all about guns but had never let him hold a loaded one.  This one wasn’t loaded either, but the clearly labelled ammo clips sat right next to it.  Looking around like someone might see him, Danny stuck the pistol into the waistband of his shorts.  He then took two clips of ammo and put them in either pocket.  He wanted more, but his pockets would bulge, and Alec would ask questions.  If the Ranger
were going to let him have a gun, he would have given him one already.  Danny left the storage room and went to the last door.  It opened into a short hallway that had a huge, thick, metal door dominating one side.

“Alec!” Danny called in a
non-panicked voice.  “Alec, I found something!”

A moment later, Alec replied from the top of the stairs.  “What is it?”

“Looks like some sort of panic room!  The door’s open!”  It was practically a vault.

“Don’t go in it!” Alec warned him.  “I found some supplies up here we can use, so there’s no need to look!  That door could seal automatically and trap you inside!”

Danny hadn’t thought about that.  “Okay!  I found some things too!  I’m coming up!”  He crossed the basement quickly and climbed the stairs two at a time.  Alec was waiting at the top in his chair.  Behind him, his tires had left dirty tracks across the kitchen tile.  That was when Danny realized he had tracked dirt all around the basement.

“Come on.”  Alec headed back to the front door, and Danny tagged along after him.  “You said you found some stuff?”

“Yeah, there was a whole supply room down there.  I grabbed one of everything from what looked like the medical supplies.”  Danny held out the backpack.

“Good job.  I found a few things around the house too, so we should have enough to fix up your friend’s leg.”  Alec didn’t look like he had more
stuff, but then again, his duffel bag was pretty big.  “Stop,” Alec hissed and held up a clenched fist.

Danny stopped.  “What is it?” he whispered.

Alec pointed toward the bay window.  The watcher was there.  He looked just like he did from across the street, only now the window was much closer, and the curtains were between them.  The light coming in made the curtains more transparent from the inside than from the outside, providing some protection from his gaze.  His eyes were easier to see this closely.  They had thick, black veins, like marked rivers on a map, pulsing in the skin around them.  Danny stood perfectly still, but he knew the watcher had seen them.  He was staring right at them.

“What do we do?”  Danny reached behind him, gripping the pistol.  Even unloaded, feeling it in his hand was reassuring.

“We’re going out the back way,” Alec spoke very quietly and very calmly.  “Move very slowly, no sudden movements, okay?”

Danny nodded, even though Alec couldn’t see it.  He very carefully walked backwards, slow step by slow step.  Without being asked to, he grabbed the handles of Alec’s chair and pulled him backwards with him.  They backed into the kitchen where they could no longer see the watcher.  Alec had his pistol held out in both hands.  Danny hadn’t even seen him pick it up.  As Alec kept watch, Danny went to check out the back door.  He drew back the slats of the blinds and unlocked the sliding door.  Opening it wide, he stuck his head out.  The tiny backyard was clear of threats, but there was a whole other problem.  He turned back to Alec.

“Umm…”  Danny didn’t know how to word it.

“What is it?” Alec whispered without turning. “Are there more?”

“No, the backyard is clear, it’s something else.”  Danny grabbed Alec’s chair and pulled him to the back door.

Alec glanced over his shoulder.  “Great.”

The back door led out onto a wooden deck that was rather high, with several narrow wooden steps to the ground.

“Whatever, I’ll manage.”  Alec popped his wheels over the doorframe and rolled out onto the wood.  He took his duffel bag off his shoulders and dropped it over the side.  It hit the gravelled ground below with a thump and a clatter.  “Wait down there, kid.”

“You sure I can’t help?”

“Do it.”

Danny hurried down the steps.  He picked up the duffel bag, but he couldn’t hold it for too long.  It was heavy.  He managed to stand it up on one end and wrap his arms around it.  As he held the bag, he looked up and watched Alec.  Putting his gun back into his pocket, the Ranger grabbed the wooden railing with one hand and placed his other against the wall.  He rolled back on two wheels again, and rolled over the edge.  Very carefully, and very slowly, he thumped down one step at a time, straining his arms to keep from rolling down out of control.  The wheels were almost too large to fit on the steps and constantly threatened to push him down faster.  Alec was halfway down when they heard the explosive crash of the bay window shattering.

* * *

Alec looked over his shoulder toward the door.  “Fuck it.  Look out kid!”

Danny just managed to step out of the way, dragging the large bag with him, as Alec threw his body up out of his chair and over the railing.  He hit the gravel, his legs crumpling under him and causing him to roll.  As he rolled, he pulled out his gun again in one swift motion and came to a stop with it pointed at the deck.

“Get my chair.”

Danny dropped the bag and hurried over to where the chair lay battered at the bottom of the steps.  He righted it, giving it a quick inspection.  Nothing on it looked broken.  He turned around just in time to see the watcher standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at him.  Those black sludge veins stretching across his face, radiating out of his blood-shot eyes, and that wide stretched mouth opening to an abyss lined with teeth.  Danny couldn’t look away.  Before he could draw a breath, Alec fired his pistol.  The watcher’s head exploded sideways at the same moment his knees came unhinged and he collapsed.  Something in the next yard
over screamed and ran into the fence.

“Something didn’t like that.  Chair, quick.”  Alec held out his arm.

Danny wheeled the chair over to Alec, glancing up to the deck one more time.  One of the watcher’s hands hung over the side.  Alec grabbed the chair and pulled himself into it on his own.  Danny wanted to help, but didn’t know how.  Instead, he grabbed Alec’s bag and handed it to him once he was settled.  Something hit into the fence again, the boards rattling like dry bones.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”  Alec rolled across the gravel toward the side yard.  Danny hurried after him with a quick glance over his shoulder at the fence.  The boards were rattling ceaselessly now.  “Danny, I have a request for you that’s going to sound strange, and extremely uncomfortable.”

“What?”  Danny didn’t like the sound of that.

Alec was silent a moment as he rolled out into the street.  “Did you notice that the entire way here was uphill?”

“No, why?  What are you asking me to do?”

“This is going to make me sound like such a pervert,” Alec sighed.  “If you sit in my lap, we can get back to my place faster by rolling downhill.”

“Yeah, that makes you sound like a perv,” Danny nodded.

“Which is not how I intend it,” Alec quickly said.  “Believe me, I am way more interested in women my age.  I just don’t think you’ll be able to keep up on foot.  If it makes you feel better, I still don’t have much feeling down there.”

That actually both repulsed and amused Danny.  The sound of wood splintering decided for him.

“All right, let’s try this.”  Danny opted not to actually sit on Alec, but to stand on the bar that acted as his
footrest, lean forward, and grab his wide-set shoulders.

Alec used his considerable strength to get the chair rolling.  It was taking awhile to get speed though.  Since Danny was facing backwards, he could see the crazy person burst out from between the houses.  Further up the street, three more people were running at them as well.

“Umm, Alec,” his voice cracked with panic,  “we’re being followed.”

“Hold on tight.”  Alec wrapped an arm around Danny and quickly swung the chair around to face the other way.  “Kneel on me now, and get those wheels spinning as fast as you can,” Alec ordered.

Danny awkwardly rested his knees on Alec’s legs.  He had never been more uncomfortable in his life.  Still, he did his best to get the wheels spinning faster.  It was hard though.  He didn’t think he was doing a very good job, but at least they were gathering momentum from the slope of the hill.  Alec leaned to one side to see around Danny and held out his pistol behind him.

“Why don’t you just shoot them?” Danny wondered.

“I think the first gunshot is what drew them and I’m waiting for a good shot.  I don’t want to waste any ammo if I don’t have to.”  Alec’s voice had gone monotone as he focused.  “If I have to shoot, I’m going to warn you by saying ‘firing.’ The moment you hear me say that, let go of the wheels and lean away from the gun.”

“Okay.”
Although facing forward had its advantages, Danny didn’t like wondering how close the people behind them might be.  He also didn’t want to look over his shoulder to find out.  What if they were closer than he thought?

“Firing!” Alec suddenly shouted in his ear.

Danny shifted his body sideways, not because he remembered he was supposed to, but because the sudden shouting had frightened him into reacting that way.  The gun exploded behind him, sounding a lot louder than it had behind the house.  Of course, that was because he was much closer to it than he was before.  He almost didn’t hear the body hit and scrape along the pavement due to the minor ringing in his ears.  It had been very close.

“Keep trying to get us up to speed,” Alec commanded.

Danny shifted back over and started working the wheels again.  This seemed less awkward now that he had an idea about how close it had been.  They were gaining precious speed and the hill was getting steeper.  It got to the point where it was safer for Danny’s hands if he stopped trying to touch the wheels.

“Firing!”

This time he shifted over because he remembered to.  Even though he was now expecting it, the gunshot was still frightfully loud.  Another body scraped the pavement behind them.

“I can’t control us anymore,” Danny told Alec after the ringing faded.  He meant that he couldn’t do anything to help their speed, but after saying it, he realized that steering was also an issue.

“Doesn’t matter, I got us now.”  Alec tapped one wheel with his partially gloved hand and spun them around.  Danny was nearly thrown from the chair.  “Just tell me if they get too close.”

While Danny watched their rear, Alec controlled their speedy descent with a few taps to either wheel now and then.  There were even more people running after them now.  Danny counted five on the street behind them and at least three on either sidewalk.  Where were they all coming from?  Alec’s theory about the sound of the gunshots was probably true.  Although it took them down, it also brought more.  Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Danny turned his head.  A man ran out of a house, coming toward them.  Danny almost warned Alec, but then realized this man was different.  He was scared, terrified.  He wasn’t one of the attackers.

The man ran out into the street behind their speeding wheelchair, not paying any attention to his surroundings.  Danny watched as the mob that had been chasing them now converged upon this frightened man.  They knocked him to the ground where he started screaming.  Danny glimpsed blood before the mob completely surrounded him.