Murphy's Law (Roads Less Traveled Book 2) (24 page)

* * *

Nancy listened to the gunfire from the cab of an old Ford pickup. Gus was next to her, quiet except for his intermittent whines. Kelly was standing next to the driver’s door talking to an older man. Several people Nancy didn’t know were gathered here and there, huddled together in groups, no doubt talking in panicked voices about what they were going to do next. All the children, a half-dozen in total, were tucked safely away in one of the four SUV’s that made up the rest of the caravan. The bed of the pickup was loaded with supplies (food, water, camping gear, weapons), and the five vehicles were parked facing the large garage door that opened to the service road at the back of the complex. At the end of that road was the south gate, and past that, Nancy didn’t know. Kelly hadn’t filled her in on the details of their escape.

Scratch that, their
evacuation
.

She didn’t pay much attention to the discussions going on outside of the truck. The only thing she was worried about was possibly leaving Jake and the others. She didn’t want to, every fiber of her being screamed for her to get out of that truck and get to the roof. She’d be safe with her family, she was sure of that. With these strangers, not so much. Gus snorted and whined again, his hair standing up slightly as he became more alert.

“It’s alright, boy. Everything is going to be fine,” Nancy said, stroking his head.

She stared out the windshield at the heavy door in front of the truck and listened to the gunfire; slow, steady, and persistent. She knew this could go on for hours. As long as the ammo held out, they’d be able to put down the swarm. She also understood the need for an evacuation plan, but didn’t agree with it. If there was no chance of a breach, why keep all these people cooped up in a stinking, dark garage for who knows how long? However she wasn’t in any position to argue.

Gus snorted again, then growled deep in his chest at the same time Nancy heard what she thought sounded like a scream. It was muffled and too far off for her to be sure. She glanced over to where Kelly was still talking with the older man. Neither of them seemed to had heard it. She twisted in her seat and looked through the back window of the pickup, but none of the others who were lingering about showed signs of hearing it either.

“Was probably nothing,” she said, trying to assure him as well as herself. She laid one trembling hand on Gus’s back. He jumped when she touched him, then turned his head and licked her hand, whining a bit louder.

“You don’t think it was nothing, do you, boy?”

Her face was knotted with concern and a trace of fear. If zombies had gotten inside, Kelly would have received the order to evacuate. So far the younger girl hadn’t shown any sign of hearing anything of the like over her radio.

“Let’s just sit tight for now. Everything will be okay,” she whispered to Gus, not sure which of them she was trying to convince. “Everything will be just fine.”

* * *

Move
! I yelled at myself, racing up the last flight of stairs.

After reaching the stairwell, I had calmed down enough to start thinking again, and realized I didn’t have a damn thing on me, no guns, no radio, nothing. I knew I had to tell someone, whoever was on the roof, that there was a runner in the infirmary. That only left one option: drag myself up three flights of steps. No easy feat after getting my ass kicked, twice, but I managed, just barely.

I hit the access door with both hands and flung it open, spilling myself out of the stairwell and onto the graveled roof. I rolled over a couple times before finally coming to a rest on my back. The gunfire didn’t cease, or even slow down, so I doubted any of them had noticed my graceful entrance. I took a moment to catch my breath and stared up at the stars. That was a strange moment. Surreal, I suppose. I even entertained the notion of just staying there, flat on my back, watching the night sky. If I hadn’t been surrounded by folks with rifles mowing down dead people, I might have done just that.

I took a deep breath, beat down the pain that was causing my vision to get all tunnel-ly, and dragged myself to my feet. With one arm wrapped around my middle, and the other bent around so I could put some pressure on my kidney, I limped over towards John. My vision was becoming so blurred he was the only one I could identify by shape and size.

“Shit!” he yelped in surprise when I stumbled up to his side. He dropped his rifle and jumped from his seat, then grabbed my shoulders as I was about to hit the rooftop like a sack of potatoes.

“Jesus, girl! What happened to you?”

The gunshots weren’t as steady as before, no doubt the other shooters had noticed my arrival. I blinked several times and started taking deep breaths. I had to stay conscious, had to tell him what was wrong. My hands were planted firmly on the big man’s forearms, and after several more breaths I met his big-eyed stare.

“Downstairs, in the infirmary…” Another deep breath. “Harvel’s man, he was in my room…” Another breath. “He was infected. Beat me…” Another breath and my knees buckled.

“Okay, okay, easy now, I got ya.” John eased me down onto the gravel. My eyes were squeezed shut but I heard boots running, then more hands on me.

“Goddamnit,” Jake said and kneeled next to me.

“You’re okay, Kase, drink this.” Mia pressed a bottle of water to my lips. “Easy, that’s it. Just calm down, breathe slow.”

The cold water felt good sliding down my throat. My mind slowly focused again, and the first thing I was acutely aware of was one rifle, shooting over and over, never slowing, constant and steady. Voices registered in my head again, so I knew Jake and Mia were with me. Who the hell was shooting? I was confused, but at least I was coming out of the fog.

“That’s enough,” I croaked and shoved the water bottle away. I sat up on my own, rubbed my face, instantly regretted doing
that
, then opened my eyes and forced myself to focus on the three faces staring at me. They looked like hell.

“You said Harvel’s man was in your room, and he was infected?” John asked.

“He was. Now he’s a runner. I have no idea how he got infected, but he did, and now he’s in that room down in the infirmary.” My eyes shifted back and forth between the three of them.

“Are you…did he…have you been infected?” Jake finally asked. It was the question they had all wanted to ask, it was all over their faces. I shook my head and fought the sudden urge to begin crying again.

“No, no. He didn’t bite me or anything. Kicked the shit out of me before he turned, but I got away.” I saw for the first time just how foolish I had been in that room. “I could have killed him, but I didn’t. I ran. I just ran.” I tried to cover my face, but I couldn’t even do that. Mia wrapped an arm around my shoulders, Jake squeezed my leg, and John patted my back.

“Hey, you think just cause you ran, that makes you a coward? Don’t be a dumbass, Kase. Hey, look at me. Look at me!” Jake shouted. “If you hadn’t run, if you’d tried to be a badass and take him out, you know damn well you’d be dead right now.”

I stared at him and tried to believe what he was saying. Maybe he was right, maybe not. I had screwed up so much, I couldn’t trust my own judgment anymore.

“That’s better. I would’ve done the same damn thing, so would Mia here. Shit, so would John,” he said and pointed at the other two. John made a face and looked like he was about to argue Jake’s last statement, but realized the younger man was right and simply shrugged.

“Yeah, he’s right. Put the bravest person in the world in a room with one of those fast fuckers, and they’d be pissin’ down their leg just as quick as anyone else.”

“Yeah.” Jake laughed, then took my hand and squeezed it. “Even your badassary has limits.”

Mia, who had been quiet through this entire exchange, finally spoke up.

“Did you shut the door behind you?”

She’d been visualizing the event in her mind as I had told it, and had narrowed the whole thing down to that one question. John and Jake became alert and tense, suddenly aware of the potential shit-storm surrounding them.

“Yes… why?”

“Because I think they can open doors.”

* * *

It was cold that night, and quiet. Well, except for all the gunfire. But other than that, it was the quietest night Nancy had endured since Z-day. Even during the winter, staying at Crousley’s, it hadn’t been this quiet. There was either Gus, snoring next to her head if he’d happened to sleep in her room, Mia’s shrieking laughter coming from downstairs during one of many endless poker nights with the other three, soft murmurs coming from different bedrooms once the lamps went out, or the nights the entire household was jerked awake by Kasey’s blood-curdling shrieks. Poor girl had suffered horrible nightmares since all this started. Ironically, those dreams had stopped once the group had hit the road. Ironic, or fortunate, it didn’t really matter to Nancy. She was just happy that Kasey finally had some relief from them.

Later, Nancy would look back on this night and remember it being the coldest, quietest night of her life. Right up until a scream cut through the air. Except this time, it wasn’t Kasey waking herself from a dream down the hall. It was an older man who had been woolgathering with another man, over next to the door which led to a corridor between this area and the rest of the south building.

The screams went on and on, so long that Nancy found herself wondering how anyone could hold that much air in their lungs. Gus was already having a fit, growling and snarling, backing his rear end right up against Nancy, his toothy snout pointed at the driver’s side door. In her heart Nancy knew what was happening, but the suddenness of it had her sitting there in blind stupidity. Another scream joined in with the first, then two hasty gunshots. Strangely enough, the gunshots were what finally made Nancy twist around and look out the back glass of the pickup.

More screams, another gunshot.

She couldn’t see what was happening. For one, it was dark in the garage. For another, the scuffle was happening at the opposite end, on the other side of the caravan. Darkness and vehicles blocked her view.

Five people, none of whom Nancy knew, came running around one of the vehicles. They were older folk, part of the caravan, and they were being driven by sheer terror. Nancy could tell that much by the way they ran. Unfortunately they didn’t get very far. Something cut the corner behind them, howling and shrieking, and jumped onto the backs of the last two people, knocking them to the floor. More screaming, and this time Nancy could see the blood fly. The other three people, all women, scrambled to open the doors of the SUV two vehicles back from Nancy’s pickup.

The one with the children inside.

Nancy started to open her mouth, to say what exactly, she wasn’t sure. Maybe to warn them not to, maybe to say anything to make them leave those doors shut. All that came out of her mouth was a squeak. The thing that had nabbed the others was already on top of the women.

She could hear the kids screaming inside the SUV, and that finally slapped her into action. As the thing tore at the women on the floor not two feet away from the children, Nancy glanced at the ignition of the pickup. No key. She was breathing heavily, Gus had gone from snarling to frozen silence, and Nancy finally realized everyone else in the garage who had been milling about earlier was running around blindly, gripped in a panic that trumped their common sense.

Why aren’t they going for their weapons?

Then she remembered her own pistol on her side. The thing was still ripping at the women, their screaming silenced, but the children were going crazy.

Save the children, save the children
.

She shoved Gus onto the floor, slid the back glass open, crawled halfway out, and aimed her pistol on the thing’s head. Easier said than done. It was dark, the zombie was thirty feet away, and it was moving. Fast, jerky movements.

“Shoot, Nancy!” someone shouted to her.

It came from her left side, close to the passenger’s side of the truck, but so focused was she on stopping that thing from getting inside the SUV that she didn’t look to see who the voice belonged to. She opened fire just as the zombie popped its head up, suddenly interested in the voice’s owner. She missed. One of the kids succeeded in grabbing the door handle and pulling it shut. Nancy didn’t breathe a sigh of relief. The kids might be safe for the next few seconds, but judging by the looks and sounds of things, this zombie had been ripping its way through the entire population of the garage. There were still people left alive, some had hoofed it right out of there, opening the large outside door and running, and some had just scattered, probably hiding or leaving the garage through the other exit, the one which led to the rest of the complex. Nancy cussed a blue streak when she saw the garage door standing open. The slower deadheads were right outside; she could see their bodies lying all over the grass and the road.

“Idiots!” Nancy yelled, and began firing again.

The zombie was coming at her, fresh meat, so she figured what the hell, might as well empty the clip into the sonofabitch. She hit it several times, just none where it counted the most. These faster ones ran with a rage, jerking back and forth, she didn’t know how the snipers had been able to take them down as easily as they had. Granted, they had been on top of a wall, with rifles, but still. She fired until her gun clicked empty, then shouted a curse at the zombie and slid back inside the truck. She slammed the glass shut just as the runner pulled itself into the bed. It crouched, mouth open and arms spread, cocking its head back and forth like a chicken. Blood dripped from its clothes, mouth, and hair.