The Infected (Book 3): Nightfall (18 page)

It had been two hours
since they had hit the garage and their projects were taking shape. Rich was a
fantastic mechanic and worked wonders as he fabricated a protective shield for
the PT Cruiser and Cliff’s van out of scraps of metal. Jim learned more about
welding and turning a wrench in those two hours than he had his whole life.

Rich’s first order of
business after he switched out the tire for a fresh one was to build a cow
catcher for both rides. They needed two large chunks of metal to attach to the
front of both cars. So they improvised and took the heavy metal doors from the
two public bathrooms stalls. Rich wanted to give the cow catchers an angle so
that the infected bodies would slide off and out of the way. They propped up
the bathroom doors against Rich’s work bench and Cliff swung a sledgehammer
into the center of them. It took three dozen swings of the hammer to get the
doors to bend slightly in the middle. When Cliff was finished, he laid them on
their side horizontally. The two solid hunks of metal had about a twenty-degree
bend down the middle that fit perfectly up against the front of the two cars.

Tina had bandaged the
wound of Devon’s leg and had gotten the bleeding to stop. Devon rested on the
couch in the waiting room of the office. Rich had an old fashioned popcorn
machine in the corner for his customers to eat as they waited and he had fired
it up to get the kids some food.
Nickelodeon
was still running its
normal programs, so Morgan, Devon and the three girls sat and watched
SpongeBob
SquarePants
as the others worked on the cars.

Rich had Sara and Tina
working to cover the side and back windows of Jim’s car. Rich told them to take
apart a rack that held air and oil filters. Then they used the metal shelves to
cover up the rear windows on the PT Cruiser. An air compressor chugged away in
the corner of the shop as the two ladies drilled out holes in the shelves with
a set of air powered impact drills and bolted them to the Cruiser.

Rich used angle iron to
attach support anchors to the frame and bumper. Cliff and Jim held up the makeshift
cow catcher as Rich bolted the stall door to the support anchors.

“There we go, baby! It’s
solid as a fucking rock and will still let the air flow into the engine
compartment to keep it cooled.” Rich pulled at the van’s new cow catcher and it
didn’t move. They continued to fortify it with more bolts and welding on
lengths of steel. Since they had worked out the system, they attached the other
cow catcher to the PT Cruiser much faster.

The ladies finished
covering the windows to the four doors with metal slats they were cutting off
of a rack that held spark plugs. Tina would measure out the length they needed
and Sara blowtorched off a section. Tina ran the impact drill as Sara helped
hold it in place.

Inside the shop Rich had
collected old gas station signs, traffic signs and other automotive industry
signs that hung on every wall in the shop. In order to block up the rear
windows of the van, but still allow the doors to slide they had to use the thin
aluminum signs. It looked like Rich was going to breakdown and shed tears when
the ladies bolted on a very old
Pennzoil
sign that must have cost a lot
or was difficult to find. He did not say anything, but the look on his face
spoke volumes. The sign was the perfect fit for the window so he got back to
work and let them destroy his precious memorabilia. It worked perfectly. The window
was fully blocked, no infected could get through it and the door still slid
open. The ladies were very proud of themselves once they completed covering all
the windows.

Cliff and Jim helped Rich
lay the last strip of metal support for the PT Cruiser’s cow catcher, but they
still needed something to cover the windshields.

“What about a cyclone
fence?” Sara suggested.

“You could see through it
to drive but the infected assholes couldn’t get in. I like it. Good thinking
Red,” Rich said as he rubbed his hands clean with a rag. “Next door are two
gates that would fit perfectly. You guys keep those fucking things off my back
and I can cut the gates down with the blowtorch. We’ll be back in five
minutes.”

“Sounds solid, but have
you looked outside?” Frank said as he handed a fully loaded assault rifle over
to Jim. They had not looked out a window since they entered the garage and had
spent hours making a ton of racket.

Jim stepped out of the
garage and into the waiting room.

“Of course,” Jim said
under his breath. The parking lot was full of biters.

“We’ve been through this
before,” Sara said as she snatched up her shotgun and cocked it.

“And now we’re better armed,”
Frank said as he handed a shotgun to Cliff.

“It feels like a waste of our
very limited ammo.” Jim stepped closer to the barred up front door so he could
get a better look and a quick headcount.

“Any shots fired to bring
down one of those infected people, is not a waste of ammo.” Sara stood shoulder
to shoulder with Jim.

“We’ll clear the lot.”
Frank nodded at Rich. “Then you can come out and we can make a run for the
gates,” Frank released the bolt on his SKS.

Rich nodded back. He did a
quick test with the blowtorch he was carrying to double check that it was
functioning correctly and full of gas. It worked like a charm.

“Stay with the girls,
okay?” Cliff grabbed his wife and planted a kiss on her lips before she could
answer.

Rich unlocked the front door
and Jim led the charge. The four of them came out guns blazing. A tidal wave of
lead came crashing down into the zombies. Brains and blood flooded out of their
infected skulls as the crew pumped round after round into their chewed up
bodies.

The cool early morning air
felt good on Jim’s sweaty face. He had worked up quite a lather putting the
rides together and the fresh air was nice. The smell of gun powder filled Jim’s
nose as the shots pounded his ear drums. He tried to keep calm and follow
Frank’s example. Aim and fire and not just spray shots in all directions. With
the four of them cycling through rounds they cleared the lot in no time. When
the last body dropped, Rich opened the front door and joined the crew outside.

“Alright, let’s get this
done. Any of you assholes let me get bit and I’ll kill you. Except you, Red.
I’m too sweet on you,” Rich joked as he raced in the direction of the gates and
his four security guards fanned out around him. Sara shook her head and rolled
her eyes.

Tina closed and locked the
door behind him. She watched as they sprinted across the street. It was a
towing company that had the gates they were after. Matching tow trucks lined
the back lot behind the company’s main building.

Rich got to the gate first
and he fired up the blowtorch. He worked top to bottom attacking the hinges
quickly. The blue flame cut through the metal fence like butter. The crew
formed a semicircle around him as he worked. A few monsters popped out from
around the corners of the surrounding buildings. Frank cut them down with a few
pulls of his trigger.

The first gate fell free
and Rich pulled it down to the sidewalk. A couple more cuts and they would be
ready to move. The street they were standing on was normally a busy
intersection. Jim was surprised that even at this early hour there were not
more travelers out. He thought that as soon as the sun was up, all the still living
humans in the area would be out trying to make a daring escape. But the streets
were empty. It was a stark contrast compared to the way it was yesterday. Jim
guessed that it meant either people were digging in like ticks or that most
people in this area did not make it through the night.

“How much longer?” Sara
asked.

“Almost got it, Red.” Rich
stood up from a squat position and kicked at the last hinge. The metal snapped
on impact and the gate fell. Rich pulled it down and laid it on the other
fallen gate on the sidewalk.

“Let’s go,” Rich turned
off and then tossed his blowtorch down onto the gate to free up his hands. Jim
slung his assault rifle back onto his shoulder and helped Rich lift the two
gates.

A large horde of zombies emerged
from an alley next to Rich’s shop. At the direction and speed the infected were
moving, they were going to block the crew’s route back to the garage.

Sara fired two shots and
her gun was empty, “I’m out!”

Cliff let off three and
then he was tapped out, “Me too!

Frank thinned the herd
with his SKS and then it clicked empty. Mid stride he flipped the magazines
around and reloaded his rifle.

“Take over!” Jim called to
the two with empty shotguns. Cliff tossed his gun onto the gate and took Jim’s
position. Jim passed his end of the gate over to Cliff and pulled the rifle off
his back.

The zombies were quite the
athletes and moved on the humans with incredible speed. Jim and Frank took out
the lead racers, but it was going to be close.

Sara tossed her shotgun
next to Cliff’s and pulled out her Glock. Jim’s rifle clicked empty and still
the pack of monsters closed in. They were thirty feet from the garage. Frank’s
normally steady hands were shaking and his aim was off. From a lack of sleep
and all of the running, he was missing half of his shots.

Fifty infected monsters stood
between them and the garage. The crew was running low on ammo. Another group of
zombies had overheard the action and were now chasing down the crew from
behind.

Frank’s SKS was tapped out
and Sara had hammered through all seventeen of her shots, but thirty infected
were closing in fast.

Jim wished he had stuck
with his spear. Frank switched to his two Berettas, but even if he was perfect
and nailed all of them with headshots it would barely be enough. Sara switched
out her magazine. She was still new to handguns and running at the same time
made it even more of a challenge. Jim pulled his sidearm and the three of them
let loose with their shells.

One of the garage doors
began to rise and Tina was there at the open bay. She had a spare pistol from one
of the duffle bags in one hand and the .38 special in the other. She surprise
attacked the infected stragglers and took down ten herself.

When the four of them
clicked empty there were only three remaining zombies. Jim held his rifle like
a club and kicked his legs into high gear. He raced out in front of his group.

“Jim!!” Sara called for
him to stop.

He nailed the first one in
the jaw with the butt of the gun and the infected slammed hard to the ground
like a wrestler getting clothes lined. Jim took two more steps and swung the
gun back in the other direction. It connected and the butt of the gun crushed
in its skull. The final zombie that stood between them and the garage was so
close that Jim didn’t have time to recoil his attack. The only thing Jim had
time to do was use the barrel of the gun like a spear and stab at it in the
face. The metal tip of the rifle scraped its way up the zombie’s cheek and tore
a jagged ravine. The barrel slid up its face and landed in its eye socket.  

Jim yelled out a guttural
war cry as the assault rifle crunched its way deep into the infected monster’s
brain. Its light switch was flipped off and the creep fell to its knees.

Jim did not slow down. He
stomped his boot onto its torso and leaped over its dead body. He ripped the
rifle out of its destroyed socket and kept moving. The path was clear and the
team headed for the open bay. The metal garage door shuttered and dropped when
the crew passed through its opening. It shut just in time to keep the second
hoard out. The zombies chasing them down from behind crashed into the side of
the building. The metal doors bowed, but they held up under the pressure.

Cliff and Rich dropped the
gates to the concrete floor. Cliff reached out and hugged his wife, “Thank god
you opened that bay door! We wouldn’t have made it otherwise!” He kissed at her
neck and cheek.

Tina kissed him back and
she whispered in his ear, “I love you baby.”

Rich laced his fingers
behind his head as he fought to catch his breath, “Fuck me! What the shit?!
That was intense. Is it always like that out there?” Rich puffed out a lungful of
air.

“Yep,” Sara answered as
she picked her shotgun up off the floor.

“I think I’m having a
heart attack,” Rich pressed his fingertips against his chest.

“How do we mount the gates
to the windshields?” Jim asked as he headed over to a wash sink in the corner
of the shop. Jim fired up the faucet and rinsed off the black gore that coated
the barrel of his gun.

Rich caught his breath and
picked up the blowtorch, “We gotta cut out the fence from the frame. Then we
can lay it over the glass and bolt it down.” He handed the blowtorch over to
Sara. “Here Red, cut them out. I gotta add a little something to the cow
catchers before we go.”

Sara fired up the
blowtorch and started in on the gates to clear the cyclone fence. Rich looked
over what they had left from the metal racks that they used to fortify the
windows. He found two lengths of steel that would work for his modification. He
set one of the lengths of metal across the top of the cow catcher. It became a
five inch lip that ran across the entire top of the old bathroom door. He welded
and bolted it down until it was solid and looked like a short brim of a
cycler’s cap.