Hamsikker 2 (19 page)

“Kill him,” said Rose as they followed.

“What?” Javier looked at her, waiting for the punchline, but her face was set deadly serious.

“
Kill him
. Kill Hamsikker next. I want him gone.”

“Keep your voice down,
Mara
.” Javier glanced over his shoulder to make sure nothing was about to sneak up on them and take a bite out of them. “What’s got into you?”

“Kill them all. That stupid fucking old woman, that pig, those two boring soccer moms, and that black cunt who thinks she’s a fucking ninja. Leave me the girl, but please can we just get this over with. Most of all,
kill Hamsikker
.”

Javier wasn’t sure what to make of Rose’s outburst. They weren’t exactly in a position to do anything at that moment, and certainly not able to discuss anything with the others so close.

“Mara…”

Rose shoved Javier away. “Just kill him,” she hissed, and then she raced ahead to join the others.

Javier stood in the road watching Rose walk away. Talk about split personality. One minute she was all over him, the next she was acting insane. What was it about Hamsikker that had gotten her so worked up? Had something happened in the hotel that he didn’t know about? He had no problem killing the others. In fact, he was quite looking forward to it, especially the cop, but Hamsikker could still be useful. He was the only one that Javier wondered if he could be saved. He could still be converted, recruited to the cause. He wanted to get to Canada as much as Javier did, and if they worked together they could really achieve something. Did Rose know something he didn’t?

“Gabe, watch your back!” shouted Hamsikker. He could see a runner break ahead of the pack. The bony carcass was covered in tatters, and it looked like a ghost as it ran toward them.

Javier spun around. He wished he could pull his gun out, but that would give away he still had some ammo. Using the axe, he hit the runner as it reached him. At first he just clipped the zombie’s shoulder, sending it off balance. The next blow took off its head, and the runner fell to the ground.

“You okay?” asked Jonas.

“Of course,” said Javier. He was beginning to tire of these games, and wanted to get well away from Utica. “So where’s our ride?”

“She’ll be here. Quinn wouldn’t leave. She’ll have a good reason for not being here.” Jonas felt uncomfortable. Gabe was looking at him strangely, as if he had done something wrong. Gabe’s eyes were studying him, analyzing him, and Jonas wanted to say something to break the tension. “Look, she’ll be here. Quinn’s one of the most reliable…”

“Whatever,” said Javier, and he left Jonas standing on the street alone.

“Freak,” muttered Jonas. Every moment they spent together it felt like a tension was building. It was as if the group was on a knife-edge, and Gabe and Mara were not fitting in. Jonas wanted to get to Janey,
needed
to get to her, but perhaps Gabe wasn’t going to be able to help. He was seriously considering splitting away. It might be best for everyone if they broke up.

Jonas found the others crouched behind a bus shelter. Mrs. Danick, Erik, Freya and Mara were hidden behind an advertisement for a crunchy new cereal. The poster featured a smiling mother looking on as her fair-haired son tucked into a bowl of the new breakfast food, his teeth pearly white, and the father was standing behind them laughing. The picture was so ridiculous that Jonas wanted to rip it down. Families like that didn’t exist except in the movies and advertisements. The only family that you had now was the people you survived with, the people you ate with, slept with, and killed with.

“Hamsikker, we can’t wait any longer. We need to find a way out of here, or at least somewhere safer to hide than this damn bus shelter.” Mrs. Danick peered out from behind the hoarding, looking on worryingly. Hundreds of dead bodies were ambling down the main street of Utica, their groaning filling the air. They surged forward in waves, like football crowds leaving a stadium, drunk and giddy, euphoric with success. Success for the zombies, though, meant death for the living, and Mrs. Danick had seen enough death to last her a lifetime.

“We can’t stay here,” said Javier. “Utica is a ghost town; we stay, we die. We need to move. Find our own vehicle. The others are gone. Fuck ‘em. They’ve fucked us over, so we deal with this my way now.”

“Hold on a second, Gabe,” said Jonas as he sat down on the seat in the shelter. “We just need to give Quinn time. She’ll be here. Stop trying to take over. There’s no need for this macho bullshit. We’re all friends here, so let’s stick together. We have a far better chance of making it that way, don’t you think?”

Javier glared at Hamsikker. Rose was right. He fingered his gun, and thought about doing it here. He could shoot Hamsikker in the gut, and leave him screaming in pain on the road. That should give the zombies something to think about and give him time to get away with Rose.

“We can discuss this later,” said Erik. “They’re here. Let’s move it.”

Erik took off with Freya still in his arms, and he broke into a jog. The others swiftly followed, and Jonas knew they didn’t have much time. He could smell the dead behind them, hear their groans, and feel their eyes burning into his back as he ran. There was no fighting them. If he stopped, they would overwhelm him instantly. There were hundreds of them, far too many to take on. As much as he hated to admit it, Gabe did have a point: where was Quinn?

“This way.” Erik charged down a side road, trying to find a way off the main road, away from the dead. Sweat poured down his back. The day was heating up, and he already felt tired from running and carrying Freya. There was no way he was stopping though. He would die first before he gave up Freya again.

Jonas looked behind him and realized they had a moment. The dead hadn’t yet caught up with them, and this was their chance to hide. He looked at the buildings on either side of the road, but was reluctant to venture into any of them. Their closed doors and dark windows were forbidding, and he was reminded of the hotel. Though it was small, it had held many dangers, and so might these other buildings. He saw bookstores, a salon, a few offices, and a postal office. He didn’t see anything that looked particularly safe. Between them they had two axes, a hammer, and an empty gun. It wouldn’t be enough.

“Hamsikker, over here.” Erik had pulled open the door to a caravan that was parked up beside a dress shop. It had been adapted to sell food, and the outside was plastered with adverts for hot dogs and burgers, cold cans, iced tea, and hot coffee.

As Erik jumped inside, Jonas watched the others follow, and he joined them, hoping they hadn’t been seen.

Rose slammed the door shut, and they all fell silent. As Jonas looked around the grubby van, he began to think they had a chance. There were drapes pulled across the windows, and if they kept silent, they might just make it. The place smelt of rotten meat, and he noticed Mrs. Danick pull open a fridge door, only to shut it again quickly with a look of disgust on her face.

“Down! Everyone, get down,” whispered Jonas, as he heard the first footsteps outside.

They all crouched down on the sticky unwashed floor of the van. It smelt of food, too, and as they lay waiting a cockroach crawled across from underneath the stove in front of Jonas. He watched it dart across the floor, and back again, before it stopped. It paused before scuttling back from where it had come, obviously deciding the strangers in its home weren’t worth worrying about.

Outside the van, the moaning sound grew louder. They heard more and more bangs and knocks on the side of the van as the dead crashed into it, and it seemed like it would never end. The door began to rattle, and suddenly the handle turned. Jonas jumped up and grabbed it before it could be pulled open. The small latch that held it in place would soon break if a hundred zombies pulled on it, and he looked at Erik.

“Check it out,” he whispered. He wasn’t sure if one of the dead had got lucky and was playing with the door handle, or if they had been discovered.

Erik drew back one of the drapes carefully, just an inch, so he could see through it. His eyes were squinting, but when he looked outside he opened them wide. “Mother fuckers,” he exclaimed loudly. “Gabe, they know we’re here. Help Hamsikker secure that door, quickly!”

Javier wrapped his hands around Jonas’s over the door handle just as the door lurched violently and was wrenched from Jonas’s grasp. Startled, Jonas watched as the door was pulled open, and he looked out at a hundred dead faces all staring back at him. They moaned in unison, and he reached out to pull the door back in.

“Help me, God damn it!”

Javier pulled on the door, but one zombie had already got himself wedged in the frame.

“I can’t get it shut.” Jonas pulled desperately on the door, but the zombie at his feet was blocking it. If they got in, they were all dead.

“Kill it!” shouted Jonas as he danced from side to side, trying to avoid the snapping jaws of the dead man lying between his legs.

Rose grabbed the hammer from Erik, and bashed in the zombie’s head before dragging it into the van. She held the hammer over it as if afraid it might still move, and stepped back.

“Amen,” said Mrs. Danick.

As the body was cleared of the frame, Jonas and Javier got the door shut. They kept their hands wrapped tightly around the handle, but the effort to keep it closed was a drain on what little energy they had. With sweat pouring down his face, Javier looked at Jonas.

“What now, Hamsikker?” he growled. He should’ve killed him back at the bus stop. He should’ve killed them all and taken off with Rose. “I’d love to know how we’re getting out of this one. Thanks to you and your friends, we are now totally fucked.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jonas quickly cast his eyes around the van. He hoped he might see something for inspiration, but there was nothing. All he saw were dirty pots and pans, an old blue bucket full of greasy utensils, a table covered in menus, and five faces staring back at him looking for an answer.

“I don’t…I don’t know, just let me think, okay? Just…”

Jonas didn’t know what the answer was. The door threatened to explode open at any second, and as much as he and Gabe had it under control, it wouldn’t be long before it was opened. Next time they wouldn’t get it shut, and the prospect of being torn limb from limb was terrifying. He looked at Mrs. Danick, and saw for the first time how old and frail she was. She had the attitude and fight of a twenty year old, but her body was letting her down. He couldn’t keep putting her through this. He was supposed to be protecting her, protecting all of them, yet it was harder than he thought it might be. Mara was staring at the dead body that lay on the floor with its brains seeping out as if she had never seen a dead body before. Freya was curled up in her father’s arms, her eyes screwed shut, and her hand clutching the key chain Jonas had given her.

“Well?” asked Javier. His eyes bored into Hamsikker’s. He wanted him to crumble. He wanted to see Hamsikker suffer. There was a time he thought they could make it work, but it clearly wasn’t going to work out. If they could get through this, it would be time to end this fragile relationship once and for all.

“You wanted to be in charge, you think of something.” Jonas had had enough. “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Ever heard that one before, Gabe?”

“I once heard, Hamsikker, that all you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife. Right now, we don’t have any of those things. You know what I think?”

Javier let go of the door, and Hamsikker felt the pressure on it increase tenfold. “Jesus, what are you doing?”

Javier could let the door open, let them take Hamsikker, and get the door closed as they feasted on his body. It might just buy them enough time to think of a way out of this mess.

“Get your hands back on that door, Gabe.” Erik passed Freya to Mrs. Danick. “Now.”

Javier ignored Erik. “I think, Hamsikker, that what we need is a diversion. We need to give those folks outside something to play with while we come up with a way out of this dead end.”

“Gabe, so help me, you’d better cut this shit out, right now.” Erik stepped toward the door, unable to get past the others, and reluctant to leave Freya.

Javier put his hands back over Jonas’s on the handle. There was a glint in his eye as he began to squeeze.

“Stop being an ass, Gabe. Look, we can get out through there.” Mrs. Danick pointed up to a skylight in the roof. It was narrow, and would take some effort getting the top off, but it was the only feasible way out.

Javier relaxed his grip, and glanced at Rose. He couldn’t work out what she was thinking. Did she want him to do it now, to push Hamsikker out to a certain death, or did she want to carry on?

“Nice one, Mrs. D.” Erik clambered up onto the stovetop and began to unscrew the latch holding it in place. In less than a minute he had it open, and he poked his head through.

“The road is packed out there. No way through. I think we’re close enough to be able to get onto the roof of that store we’re parked up against though. We should get moving.”

“Go. I’ll hold this door as long as I can,” said Hamsikker. “When you get up there, don’t hang around. Get straight on over to the roof. If we mess around too long they’ll see what we’re up to, and if they surge toward the van I’m not going to be able to hold them back.”

He watched Erik give Mrs. Danick and Freya a lift up, followed by Mara.

“Erik, give Gabe a boost up next. I want you up last. Get ready to lift me up. The second I let go of this door they’re going to be in, and I don’t want to be here for that. Take my axe with you.” He didn’t trust Gabe would help him up and wanted Erik to be the last one through. Something inside Gabe had switched, and Jonas no longer trusted him. When they were back with Quinn, safely away from Utica, he would tell him it was time to split up.

“Got it, buddy.”

Javier said nothing and followed Rose up through the skylight. Erik disappeared next, and Jonas heard him call back to come up.

Now or never, he thought, and he let go of the door handle. The door whipped back, and he was greeted with a cacophony of sounds, the utterances of the undead, and a wave of sickening smells that made him recoil. He jumped up onto the stove quickly, just as the first zombie crashed inside the van. It looked wild, and focused on Jonas.

“Grab my hand!”

Jonas looked up at Erik and took his hands. He jumped from the stove and felt Erik lifting him through the air to safety. As his head disappeared up outside of the van, he felt the zombie below grab his feet.

“Erik, pull me up, quick!” Jonas felt frantic, and kicked out with both legs, trying to free himself of the zombie’s grasp, desperate to make sure he wasn’t bitten.

“Quit moving around like that,” said Erik as he struggled to lift Jonas up.

Jonas could imagine the teeth of the creature below sinking into his calves, ripping his legs open as he dangled there like a fish on a hook. He would probably die of blood loss before he became one of them. It would really fucking hurt, though, and he kicked again, sure he had connected with the thing’s head that time.

“Nrgh,” shouted Erik, and he heaved Jonas up onto the roof of the van. Mrs. Danick helped pull him up, and they collapsed into a pile together.

Jonas looked down at his legs. Nothing. He hadn’t been bitten. Erik had pulled him up just in time.

“You okay?” asked Mrs. Danick.

“Yeah,” said Jonas breathlessly. “Yeah, I am. Thanks, both of you.”

He looked across at the roof of the nearby store at Gabe. He was staring at the crowd of dead around them. From the way he had been behaving lately, he hadn’t really expected Gabe to help. Mara either. They were both acting oddly.

“We can chat later. Right now, we have to run.” Erik pulled Jonas to his feet, and they all jumped over to the roof. The gap between the store and the van was mere inches, and the transition was easy, even for Mrs. Danick.

“Freya, come here, honey,” said Erik.

“It’s okay, I’ve got her.” Rose smiled. “I’ll look after her for you.”

“Thanks. You be good, Freya. I just need to help Uncle Hamsikker, but I’m right here. You let me know if you want anything.” Erik ruffled his daughter’s curly hair, and felt bad about leaving her with Mara, but he knew he was going to be needed, and carrying Freya was going to slow him down. They weren’t out of the woods yet.

“I think I see Quinn,” said Javier pointing west.

“What the hell is she doing way over there?” asked Mrs. Danick.

“My guess is she got stuck. She must’ve drawn the zombies away enough to give us time to get out of the hotel but then not been able to swing around to pick us up. You can see how many there are.”

Jonas looked at the dead below them. Hundreds of them filled the immediate road, and it looked like a wild party was going on. They jostled and pushed each other, all trying to get to the van. None had worked out how to climb up, of course, so for the moment, Jonas knew they were safe. He peered at the van in the distance. It was Quinn all right.

“She’s probably had to drive halfway across town to find a way back to us.” Jonas tried to work out her route. There was a major artery running southwest along the edge of town that looked clear. From there, a smaller road would lead Quinn right to them. It would also lead her right into the masses of dead walking the streets.

“That way. Look, see where she’s heading? We need to get over the other side of the street where it’s clearer. If we can do it quietly without attracting their attention, we could make it.”

“Could,” said Javier. “
Could
.”

“I don’t see any other option.” Erik looked at Freya. He had to get her out of here. He looked at the roof they stood on. It was flat, but veered upward as it reached the center of the store. “Here’s what we do. We use the roofs to get around. If we stay quiet, they won’t be able to tell what we’re doing. I figure we’re only around the corner from the hotel, right? So over the other side of this building there’s what, another one or two buildings before we reach the hotel? We can do this. We’re not going to find any zombies up here.”

“Quinn will be here soon. We should go.” Jonas looked at Mrs. Danick who was nodding in agreement.

“I can do that,” she said. “Just promise me you’ll give me a foot rub later,” she said winking at Erik.

“We get out of this, I’ll rub whatever you want,” said Erik.

“Gabe? Mara? You with us?” Jonas had to ask. They had said little. Mara was cooing over Freya, whispering in her ear and stroking her cheeks. Gabe was just looking at the swarming dead below them.

“Yeah, we’re with you,” said Javier. For now, he thought. He needed that van Quinn was driving. There was no other way out of town, so they were going to have to stick together just a little longer.

“Right then. Follow my lead. Be quiet.” Jonas picked up his axe, and Erik took Freya back from Mara. They then set off up the roof carefully.

Jonas scrambled up the incline as fast as he dared. He didn’t want to slip, fall down, and break a leg. The flat aspect of the roof was asphalt, but the incline was tiled, and it was difficult to grip without the tiles coming loose. In places, they were covered with dry moss that crumbled away in his hands. Soon he was at the apex, and he held out a hand for Erik who was immediately behind him. He helped Erik over, and watched him slide down the other side with Freya hanging onto his back. The roof ended abruptly, but the building was buttressed up against the next one, and the alley that split the buildings was no more than three or four feet across.

Jonas helped the others over and noticed that Mara refused to make eye contact with him. Was she still annoyed that he had rejected her back at the hotel?

As Javier climbed over the summit of the roof, he sat astride the tiles and looked at Hamsikker. “You’d better be right about this. If Quinn abandons us…”

“She won’t.” Jonas was tired of defending her. He was tired of justifying everything to Gabe. “Back in the van - when you said we needed a diversion - what did you mean? You weren’t going to help me pull the door closed were you? You were going to push it open.”

Javier smiled, said nothing, and slid off the roof after Mara.

“Dick,” muttered Jonas, and he joined them at the edge of the building.

Erik and Freya were already across, and Mara jumped over next.

“This isn’t over,” Jonas said to Gabe as he looked at the alley below. “We need to talk.”

“Sure thing. You know me. I’m all sweetness and light.” Javier jumped across the void, leaving Jonas to bring up the rear.

The next roof was flat too, populated by an air conditioning unit and more skylights. Jonas couldn’t help but look down as they passed, and he realized they must be walking across the roof of a café. Inside were tables and chairs. A figure flitted across his vision, running somewhere inside, but he wasn’t interested in looking too closely. Their footsteps on the rooftop would probably make a lot of noise to any zombie still trapped inside.

As they neared the edge of the building, Jonas could see the hotel in front of them blocking out the sunlight like some monument to a false God. It was only four stories high, and they were coming out at the side of it near the car park. He could hear Quinn getting closer. The engine noise was faint but unmistakable. Erik was looking down at the yard beneath them.

“It’s a long drop, Hamsikker.” Erik could tell it was too far to jump. It had to be twenty feet up, and the concrete ground was far from welcoming.

“We could use that to get down,” said Rose.

Jonas saw what she was looking at. Around the corner of the café was a delivery truck. It was close enough that they could drop onto the hood and get down safely.

“Smart,” muttered Jonas. “Everyone follow Mara. Get moving.”

One by one they dropped silently onto the truck and then to the ground. Jonas helped Freya down into Erik’s waiting hands. As he passed the downstairs window, Jonas thought he sensed movement again from inside the café. There was a net curtain hanging over the small window, yellowing and stained from being exposed to the sun over the years, and it moved faintly.

“Leave it,” said Mrs. Danick. “I saw it too. Whoever’s in there is long gone.”

They ran to the front of the hotel and were relieved to find the street clear. The zombie horde had followed them right around the corner, and left the street in front of the hotel clear. Suddenly Quinn came around the corner, the tires screeching as she raced up to them.

“Finally,” said Javier. He fingered the gun that lay quietly waiting by his waist.

As he watched Quinn come to a halt in front of them, Jonas thought he heard a cry and turned back to the café. He couldn’t see anyone, but he swore it sounded like a voice. It almost sounded like someone asking for help, but he was sure he was mistaking it for something else, perhaps a door swinging shut or an animal cornered by the dead, whimpering for its life. The hotel loomed ominously over them, and he remembered that Terry was inside. There was no way they could help him now, and as much as Jonas wished he could afford to give him a decent burial, it was just too hard. It would only be a few seconds until the dead heard the engine noise and found them again.