“That’s true,” Rick agreed, “There’s a dealership a quarter mile up that way.”
“Officer, you don’t mean to say you’re gonna
steal
a car do you?” Dallas asked pointedly.
Sam looked wide-eyed at her father.
“
Appropriate
, sir,” Rick shot back with a wide grin.
6
Hapscomb’s used car lot was surrounded by a six-foot chain link fence, complete with razor wire at the top. The lot had about sixty cars in various states of repair. The newer models were toward the front of the lot, while the clunkers were off to the side and back. There was a narrow, two-story building that housed offices at the back of the lot. Next to that was a beat-up four car garage, also with a second story. The lot looked like it hadn’t been open in a few days, and even better, it looked devoid of infected. Dallas drove the garbage truck up to the gate. There were no infected coming for them, but they would be here soon enough, as the big diesel truck made quite a racket. Rick jumped out of the truck, carefully looking around for infected. Dallas jumped out too, and looked at the thick chain locking the gate. He went to the side of the truck and opened a panel. He came back in a few seconds with some bolt cutters, and was through the lock in five seconds.
“Fifty dollar chain and a two dollar lock,” Dallas rolled his eyes, “Stupid.” The gate was a roll type, and they both rolled it to the left so the truck could get in. Chris drove the truck on to the lot, and Rick closed the gate. Dallas took the chain and wrapped it around the gate poles a few times, finishing it in a chain-knot. “Should keep ‘em out unless they go right for the chain.”
Dallas and Rick climbed back in the truck, Chris sliding to the middle seat again. “You’re gonna stay in the truck and watch Sam.” Rick said to Chris. “Call me on this,” Rick said as he
fished a small radio out of his duffle and handed it over, “if
you see any of them climbing the fence, or if there are any inside that we didn’t see.”
“Or if there’s more than fifty that show up,” added Dallas. “Don’t want them too thick at the gate when we try to leave.”
Dallas turned the truck around so that the front of it was facing the gate, and then he backed the vehicle as close to the office as he could. Rows of used vehicles were stretched out closer to the office, there was a ten foot walking path, but the truck could go no further back.
“I’m on channel six,” Rick told Chris, “Chris is gonna watch you for a minute, kiddo,” he said to Sam. “Be good and do what he says.”
Sam nodded and held her stuffed tiger tight, “CarefulDaddy.”
Rick handed Dallas the SPAS-12, and he grabbed the AR-15. They both hopped out of the truck, and Rick slung the rifle over his shoulder. He pulled out his Taurus, and they both walked the last 100 feet or so to the building, checking behind each row of crappy cars as they went. Rick looked right, and Dallas left. “I think that Durango will do nicely,” said Rick pointing to a blue Dodge. “I even like the color.” The SUV had a LIKE NEW sign on it, and it was priced at $8995.
“Might wanna grab the Hummer there, chief,” Dallas said pointing back toward the front of the lot. A shiny yellow Hummer was sitting in the early morning sun. It had tinted windows, and the sun gleamed off the chrome on the rear bumper and mirrors. The vehicle was on one of those display ramps, with the nose of the SUV pointing at a 45 degree angle.
“Didn’t see that pulling in, damn that’s nice.”
“Some cop there, Sherlock,” chided Dallas, “Biggest damn thing out here next to my trash truck.”
Rick smiled and they continued toward the office. “How old are they?” Dallas asked.
“Who?”
“Your kids, how old?”
“Kids?” asked Rick, confused. “Oh, Chris isn’t my son; I just met him last night. Sam is eight. Chris lives above me, he’s a computer tech guy or something.”
“Huh. Thought he was about seventeen, go figure.”
“Uh oh...” Dallas said as they neared the front doors. It was a double door set up, and there was a blood smear across the left glass door, the right door was smashed in. The first ten feet inside of the office was illuminated by the doors, and a few windows, but towards the back, it was nothing but inky blackness. “Cover,” Rick whispered.
Dallas moved to the broken door and pulled it open while Rick went on one knee in a firing stance. Dallas kept the door open and Rick stood and walked through. Dallas stepped in after, shotgun at the ready. There was a wooden rack full of keys, and at the very top was one marked “Display.” Dallas grabbed the keys, and they had “Hummer” engraved on a metal tag. “Looks like this is--” he started to say, and immediately three zombies lurched out of two different doors down the hall, shambling straight toward the living men. They began to moan, as they staggered toward the humans. Rick brought his rifle to his shoulder in a firing position, but Dallas put his hand on the rifle barrel and pushed down a little.
“Let’s take this outside, Bubba.”
Rick nodded and they backed out the door with the undead following from about fifteen feet. “Cover me, OK?” Dallas said. Rick nodded again. Dallas moved forward, quickly for someone so big, and used his shotgun butt to fell the first undead. The other two kept coming, and he did the same to both. They each started to get up again, so Dallas handed the shotty to Rick and brought out his rebar. It was over in less than thirty seconds, and Dallas wiped his dripping rebar on the shirt of one of the twice-dead creatures. They walked back to the garbage truck discussing their plan.
“Well, at least we’ll be more comfortable in that huge yellow tank,” Rick said, indicating the Hummer with a nod.
“Yeah, about that,” Dallas started, “I’m kinda partial to my garbage truck. It’s high off the ground, and I’m pretty sure I could plow through most crowds of them folks,” Dallas pointed to the gate, where eleven undead had congregated. “Think I might just keep her for a bit.”
“Ok, I’ll take Chris and Sam with me in the Hummer, and you can follow,” Rick said.
“Or, you could gimme that radio, and I could plow the way for you, with you givin’ me directions while we drive.”
“Good idea,” Rick agreed. “The final destination is Alcatraz, via the ship yard at the end of 3
rd
street. If we get separated, meet us there.”
“Now
that’s
a good idea,” Dallas told him, “you got a boat?
“Working on it.”
“Wow, stealin’ a Hummer and a boat in the same day? Gonna have to take this up with your superiors.”
“Hopefully we’ll be doing some time together on The Rock, you and me,” Rick laughed.
“And I always said Hell would freeze over before I did anything dumb enough to go to prison.”
Chris stuck his head out the window, “Anytime fellas, look at that,” he pointed toward a huge crowd coming toward them from the south. “Can we go now?”
“Chris, you and Sam are coming with me in the Hummer, help Sam out and grab the bags.”
Rick hopped up into the Hummer’s driver side and started the engine. The vehicle had a quarter of a tank of gas, plenty to get the three miles to his dad’s house and the few miles to the shipyard after that. He backed it off the display ramp, and pulled up alongside the garbage truck. “Let’s go,” he told Sam and Chris.
“What about Mr. Dallas?” asked Sam.
“He’s going to use the garbage truck to help us get through.”
Once everybody was in and buckled up, Rick called Dallas on the radio. “Let’s move, take a right and head north.”
Dallas didn’t respond, but the garbage truck moved forward. The gate was just starting to sag from the combined weight of sixteen undead. The larger crowd was lumbering toward them, two hundred feet away. Dallas hit the gate at about five miles per hour, and bent it outward, knocking the undead to the ground. He put it in second gear, and the truck jerked forward. He ran over six prone forms, their bodies breaking like twigs under the frame of the big truck. Rick followed closely behind. They sped down the road, with undead coming at them from every direction. Dallas started slowing down, and Rick told him to take the next right. Dallas stopped the truck and pointed out the window to the left. In the second story window of a consignment shop was a woman frantically waving her arms. The undead were thin in this area, so Rick stopped and got out of the vehicle with his AR-15. He dropped two infected with single shots to the head, moving toward the broken door of the shop.
“No, don’t!” the woman screamed. “There’s a bunch of them inside!” She threw a knapsack and two bags out the window.
Rick caught the first heavy bag, and the other two landed on the street.
“Come on lady, we’ve got to go,” Rick yelled, shouldering one of the bags. An undead staggered out of the broken shop door, and he shot it in the throat. It stumbled backward, but didn’t go down. His second shot hit it below the left eye, and it fell back into the shop. There were others behind it, and Rick walked forward, shooting single shots. The woman dangled out the window, and dropped fifteen feet to the street, rolling as she hit the ground. It was a moment before she got up, but she ran to Rick and they picked up a bag each and ran to the Hummer. A thunderous boom echoed through the street, and an undead near the garbage truck flew backwards. Dallas fired another shell from the SPAS-12, and the head of a former business man disappeared in splash of crimson. Chris stepped out of the Hummer and fired at another undead sneaking up on Dallas’ blind side. He missed, and shot again, grazing it in the back of the shoulder.
The woman got in the back seat of the Hummer, and Chris and Rick got in too. “Let’s move Dallas, we got her,” Rick said into the radio. Again there was no response, but the garbage truck once again lurched forward.
“Thank you so much! I thought I was dead for sure, they were breaking down my door. I had been hiding upstairs at my work for hours, but they found me! They killed my boss this morning, it was horrible.”
“It’s ok,” said Chris, “we weren’t going to leave you. What’s your name?”
“Anna,” she said, “Anna Hargis.”
“Hi Anna, my name’s Chris, and this is Rick and Sam. The guy in the garbage truck is Dallas, he’s the one who saw you.”
“Thank God for you all.”
“Don’t thank us yet, you might not like what we’re about to do,” said Rick. “When we stop, I’m going to get out, run in the house, and get my father. You’re going to stay and watch Sam. Chris, give her your gun. I just met you, Anna, but I have to trust you. Watch my little girl. I’m leaving the keys with you and Chris, and if we’re not out in three minutes, you guys take Sam and get to the ship yard at the end of 3
rd
street. Get to a boat and get to Alcatraz. Chris, you jump out too, but stay near the car, and cover it.”
Anna swallowed hard. “I’ve never shot anyone before.”
“Hopefully you won’t have to today,” Chris said to her.
“Anna,” Rick said with menace, “If I come out in less than three minutes, and the Hummer is gone, I will find you. There’s no place for you to hide.” Anna nodded quickly.
They continued, Dallas driving over any undead in his path, with Rick providing directions. They got to the end of Rick’s father’s street, and Rick called Dallas again. “Dallas, his house is the third from the end of the street, by the playground. You want to stir some trouble before we get there?”
The horn on the garbage truck blared for five seconds, and it moved forward quickly. The truck shot away from the Hummer, and ran over everything in its path, picking up speed as it flew down the street. Dallas had destroyed seventeen undead in the road before the Hummer pulled up to Rick’s dad’s house. The garbage truck turned a corner at the end of the road, and disappeared from view, the big diesel engine fading in the distance.
Rick and Chris hurried out of the Hummer, and Anna moved into the driver’s seat. She had never been so scared. There were eight undead within a hundred feet. Rick gave Chris the Taurus, and told Chris to wait outside and kill anything that got close. “If she tries to leave,” he thumbed at Anna, “stop her.”
The door to his father’s house was still intact, but the front picture window was broken in. Rick heard the Taurus bark as he ran toward the door, but he didn’t have time to look around. He yelled “DAD!” and ran up the font three steps, kicking at the door. The second kick splintered the frame, and the door opened to reveal an undead shambling toward Rick. He dispatched it, and went through the doorway. He could see six creatures crowding the broken door to the basement. “DAD,” he yelled, “DAD!” Two of the things turned to him and he fired twice, killing both. He kept firing on single shot, until no undead were left. He could hear the Taurus firing outside.
Rick ran across the room and entered the doorway, suddenly coming face to face with a dead paramedic. Rick quickly lashed out with the butt of his rifle, catching the thing under the chin. The creature’s head snapped back and it fell backwards down the stairs. Its fall was impeded by a few dead that were already crumpled on the steps. The creature tried to rise, but a large pipe wrench came crashing down on its forehead. Rick’s father was standing there winded, holding a twenty inch monkey wrench which was dripping with gore.
“Dad! Dad, let’s go!”
“Careful Rick, the backyard is full of them!” Rick’s dad yelled. Rick changed magazines, dropping the almost expended mag in his vest pocket, and slapping the new one home. He came two thirds of the way down the stairs, and held his hand out to his father. The older man grabbed his son’s hand and climbed over the four creatures he had dispatched with his wrench. They made it quickly up the stairs, and Paul paused at the top looking back down the flight. “C’mon Dad, we gotta go!” Rick barked.