“Rick, they’re coming!” Anna said, her voice barely audible.
Rick’s dad was saying something while pointing to the side yard, but Rick was focused on getting back to the car. Rick and his father flew out the front door, Rick taking quick stock of his surroundings. There were five bodies on the ground, evidently destroyed by Chris. More were coming. As Chris was reloading, Anna fired from her seat at one creature that got too close. She hit it in the throat and promptly leaned out the window and threw up. Rick brought his AR-15 to his shoulder and fired twice in rapid succession, killing the thing Anna had failed to bring down, and another undead. He ran to the driver’s side and told Anna to move over. “I’ll drive,” said Rick, “my wheels.” Chris helped Rick’s dad into the back seat, and got in himself.
“Grandpa!” yelled Sam.
“Oh Little One, it’s so good to see you, I thought I might not get the chance again.” Rick’s father hugged her tight.
“What are you talking about old man?” asked Rick. “I told you I would be over this morning with Sam.”
Rick accelerated down the street.
“Shut it, Sonny-boy,” his father said, “and Don Ho called, he wants his shirt back. Who are your friends?”
Chris and Anna introduced themselves. “You can call me Paul,” he said to them, “Now somebody gimme something to shoot with.”
Chris rummaged through a duffle and came out with a 9mm Sig Sauer P229.
“Thanks,” said Paul, “‘course I told him to get the .357 model, and not this little sissy-pistol.”
“I could always bring you back home and give you a rolled newspaper to defend yourself with,” Rick said smiling.
“Prolly do more damage than this thing. Looks like a damn toy. I miss my Colt,” moaned Paul.
Rick continued smiling as he drove north.
7
“Dallas? Dallas, do you read? Still nothing.” Rick weaved in and out of abandoned and wrecked cars.
The occasional undead staggered into the path of the Hummer only to be knocked back or go down underneath, but otherwise the streets were deserted.
Rick lowered the walkie-talkie and looked at Sam. She looked scared and was rubbing the head of her little stuffed tiger. He thought she was being very brave during an event that had probably crippled the minds of many. They crested another hill and the sight before them was one straight out of Hell. A city bus was jutting out from a building, the front of it three feet in. It must have crashed going fairly slowly. There was a crowd of seventy or so undead banging on the sides, with others milling about. Many of the crowd were kneeling over unmoving forms, ripping pieces away and stuffing the gory prizes into their faces.
“How do we help them?” asked Paul.
“We can’t, Dad, look in the windows.” There were numerous staggering forms in the bus, blood splashed across a few of the windows, and the bus was smoking from under the hood. “They’re gone,” added Rick.
The mob had apparently heard the Hummer’s engine because some of them turned around and began staggering toward the survivors. The creatures who noticed began their shrill cries and moans, alerting the whole group. In seconds, a huge mob of infected was shuffling their way to a late breakfast.
“Time to go,” Anna said.
Rick did a three point turn, and went back the way they had come. Several turns later, and they were again heading north. After less than two minutes of travel, they came upon a hastily assembled roadblock of police cars. There was no one in sight, dead or alive, but the place was a mess, with blood and bullet cartridges everywhere.
“Dammit,” Rick whispered. He took another left and handed the radio to Anna. “See if you can raise Dallas,” he asked her. She tried for several minutes to no avail. They rounded a corner and yet another crowd of undead surged in their direction. “This isn’t working,” admitted Rick. “The damn marina is a mile from here, but every direction is blocked.”
“We’re gonna have to hole up someplace,” Paul said.
“I don’t want to get trapped, Dad.”
“We’re already trapped,” Paul said, “We can’t get to where we got to go, so let’s find someplace and hide for a spell.”
Rick turned the car around yet again and floored it. He went about four blocks and stopped in front of an old movie theater. There were no dead in sight. The marquee read
Double Creature Feature: The Blob, Creature From the Black Lagoon.
“Let’s try this,” he said and got out. “Anna, slide over and get behind the wheel.” She did as she was told and Rick ran to the front doors. They were locked tight. There were no windows on the ground level. The left side of the theater butted against another building, and the right had a twelve foot wide alley between it and the next wall. The alley had a six foot chain link fence blocking access. It too was secured with a chain and padlock. The small area held some dumpsters and trash cans. There was a fire escape in the center of the building, which ran by some windows and all the way to the roof. Rick ran back to the car.
“I’m going to look for a way in. Take off if it gets crowded, and try to get back unnoticed.”
“I’m coming with you,” Chris said getting out of the Hummer. The pair ran to the fence and scaled it quickly, dropping soundlessly to the other side. Rick made a mental note that this kid might just be good to have around. They moved cautiously toward the dumpsters. Rick checked behind them both, discovering nothing. There was another chain link gate at the other end of the alley. “Give me a hand,” Rick asked Chris. Rick shouldered his AR-15, and Chris put the Taurus in the front pocket of his jeans. They pushed a blue dumpster a few feet until it was under the fire escape’s ladder. This type of dumpster had two plastic side panels, and two plastic covers on the top for easy access, but they wouldn’t hold either man when stood upon. Rick climbed on the dumpster and stood on the edge. His hand on the wall, he helped Chris up. As Chris balanced on the dumpster, with one hand on the fire escape ladder, one of the plastic flip-covers burst open, and an undead grabbed Rick’s leg. The creature bit down hard on the back of Rick’s boot, right over his Achilles tendon and Rick yelped, losing his balance, then tumbling to the asphalt of the alley. Chris, standing on the three inch steel balance beam, let go of the ladder, drew the Taurus and fired point blank into the thing’s face. The creature’s head jerked back and red chunks of skull erupted from the back of it. The kick of the gun threw Chris off the dumpster and he landed on his back. Rick fell next to him, landing hard on his knee. A cloud of flies blossomed from the dumpster.
“Ow,” said Chris.
Rick held his knee and rocked on the ground for a second. “You OK?” he asked Chris.
Chris rubbed the back of his head and sat up. “No. There are dead things trying to eat us. I am
not
OK.” He stood up and held a hand out to Rick. Rick accepted the hand and winced as he stood up.
“Shit, I messed my knee up but good.” There was blood oozing from his pant leg, and it trickled down his boot. “Plan hasn’t changed though, we got to get in there.” Rick flicked the LED light on his AR-15. He slid the side panel of the dumpster open and shined the light inside. The twice dead creature was the only occupant, save about a thousand happy flies. The flies shot out of the panel in another black cloud, zooming away like F14s on a sortie. Satisfied that the dumpster was clear of any more infected, Rick told Chris to go for the ladder. It was locked in the up position. Rick boosted Chris on to the dumpster and Chris gained access. Standing on the first flight of fire escape, he undid the slide lock at the top of the ladder. It came crashing down to the pavement, making a tremendous noise in the relative quiet of the alley. Rick slowly climbed with his wounded knee. When he reached the first landing, Chris pulled the ladder into the locked position. Two undead were at the far end of the alley now, looking at them with hungry eyes, and clawing at the chain link.
The bottom of four floors of windows was locked, so Rick broke it with the butt of his rifle, shining his light into the building. The light showed a short corridor that led to a stairway. The duo climbed in the window and cautiously moved to the stairs. The stairs went up and down, and opened up into a balcony overlooking the theater. It looked deserted, but they couldn’t see the back few rows. Both men moved quickly down the stairs, which ended in a blue double swinging door with a rectangular window. Rick looked through the window into a lobby. It looked clear. He eased the door open and panned the light around. There was a concession stand with a couple of doors behind it, a spiral staircase going up, the doors to the theater, and the exterior doors. The men crossed the lobby to the front doors. The doors were the push-bar type, and Rick listened carefully for a second, then opened one of them wide, leading with his rifle. The Hummer was there, gleaming shiny yellow in the morning sun. Rick told Chris to hold the door open, and he ran to the vehicle.
“C’mon, let’s get inside!” he told everyone. Anna and Paul got out of the car and shouldered some baggage. Rick grabbed Sam and she came along with her backpack. They all got inside before anything unsettling happened.
There were windows ten feet up in the high-ceiling lobby, but none on the ground level. The doors were heavy steel fire doors, but Rick still didn’t feel safe. “We need to make sure this place is secure,” Rick said, “Stay on this floor, and look for any doors that lead outside. Stick together, and don’t go anywhere alone, not even for a second.”
“Shouldn’t we split up?” asked Chris.
“How many horror movies have you seen?” Anna asked incredulously. “Splitting up is tantamount to checking the basement alone, or running upstairs instead of out the door. Or having sex,” she added. “You just don’t do it when you’re in a horror movie. Duh.”
Chris flushed red, and Rick chuckled. “We’re sticking together,” Rick said
.
“Safety in numbers.”
“Unless the bad guys have more numbers,” muttered Chris under his breath.
The gang of
five moved to the concession stand. Rick walked around the display and grabbed a package of gummy bears. He put it on the glass case, and Sam’s eyes bugged.
“Go ahead kid, it’s OK,” he said.
“But Daddy, it’s kinda early for sweets, isn’t it?”
“We’ll let it slide this time,” he answered.
Rick and Paul moved to the first door behind the concession stand. Paul got into a firing stance with the Sig Sauer, and Rick pushed the door open. It was a janitor’s closet, complete with mop and bucket. There were contractor’s trash bags, and smaller yellow plastic bags to store popped popcorn. They moved to the next door and repeated the action. Storage. Empty drink and popcorn cups wrapped in plastic sleeves, and candy on shelves. Both rooms were tiny rectangles, five by eight feet. Nobody hiding here. The only other interior doors were the one they came from, the doors to the theater, and the one at the top of the spiral stairs. Rick hobbled up the spiral stairs with Paul, but the door was locked. Anna opened the cash register and it made a very loud
Ding!
She looked horrified and mouthed
Sorry!
Inside the register was a key ring. The keys fit the lock on the door that Rick and Chris had used to access the lobby. She locked it and checked it. Rick hobbled over to her and she handed him the keys.
“We’ll check the upstairs later, let’s do the theater now,” Rick said.
Chris grabbed Rick by the arm. “Rick,” he said quietly, “that thing in the dumpster bit you; we need to check it out.”
“Soon,” Rick replied. “Let’s make sure we’re good first.”
Rick opened the double doors to the theater. There was a tall divider so that when the doors were opened during operating hours, the outside light wouldn’t disturb the patrons while they enjoyed their movie. There were also two more doors, one to the left and one to the right of the divider. Bathrooms. Men left, women right. The men’s room door was propped open with a wooden wedge, and a janitor’s mop and bucket could be seen three feet into the room. The ladies room door was closed. Rick and Paul moved in standard cover formation, with Rick in the lead and Paul covering. Guns pointed low, they cautiously entered the room. Nothing but two sinks, two stalls, a urinal, and a warm air hand dryer attached to the wall.
Huh, damn clean for an old theater bathroom
, Paul thought. Rick pushed the first door in with his boot and saw a spotless toilet. He pushed the second door in and discovered the same. Relieved, the father and son duo moved to the ladies room and repeated the process. This room was empty as well.
“Let’s do the theater,” Rick said.
He peered around the corner of the dividing wall and immediately saw a body sitting in an aisle seat two rows down, its head slumped forward, right arm hanging limply into the aisle. Rick put a finger to his lips, and the others followed him into the theater. Rick was walking toward the slumped figure when his boot connected with something glass in the aisle. The pint bottle went skittering down the concrete aisle, banging into three seats before it stopped. The figure in the chair immediately went into motion. It turned its head and its eyes grew wide at the sight of people. Chris fired the Taurus at the figure, missing the target, and the figure threw its hands up, and as an afterthought, dove to the floor.
“I got no money,” a man’s voice shouted. “Place is closed, and don’t open ‘til noon, I got no money!”
Rick looked at an ashen-faced Chris. Chris swallowed hard.
“We’re not here to rob you, chief,” Paul said. “We needed a place to hole up for a while is all.”
The man looked bewildered, “So ya broke in and shot at me?”
“We thought you were one of them,” Rick told him.
“One of who?” the man asked suspiciously.
“One of the infected,” Rick answered, incredulity on his face.
“Huh? What the hell are you talking about, infected? Infected with what?”