The Sixth Level (28 page)

They had found us.

 

Chapter 35

 

A few of the infected had slipped through the barricade. They were squeezing through the tiny gap shoulder to shoulder, like they were racing each other and pushing each other out of the way, like it was some sick competition to get to us, to be the first one to eat us and infect us.

Kenji raised his rifle. "Go. Get to the hardware store," he said as he fired off some rounds.

He dropped two of the infected. And then a third one. But there were still more coming through. Although, it could've been worse, there could’ve been more but the barricade had created a bottleneck. Luckily only a few infected could fit through.

As Jack and I ran for the hardware store I looked over my shoulder and counted maybe a handful. But just then as more and more tried to push their way through the gap in the barricade, they brought the whole stack of tables and mattresses and bedding frames down.

This completely blocked the entry. And the collapse of the makeshift barricade crushed the ones caught beneath it.

There was only a few inside.

Kenji fired his rifle again, dropping one more infected. But then he ran out of bullets.

He slung his rifle and started running after us.

We made it into the hardware store and quickly closed the double glass doors behind us. But again we knew it wouldn’t be long before they came and smashed through.

We ran towards the back of the store. The back exit was right there. We would be out in the open golf course in no time. We came to the door. Kenji was out of bullets but I was confident I could kick this door down just like I’d done with the entrance door. I was really starting to get used to the NBC suit.

We heard the infected slam into the glass doors. They started banging their heads against it, using their skulls as battering rams.

We heard the glass begin to break and shatter.

I raised my foot to kick the door open. Not even checking to see if it was unlocked. I just assumed it was. But Kenji stopped me.

"Wait!" he shouted.

"What?"

"There’s only a few inside. Maybe four of them. We should take them out. If we don’t, they’ll just follow us. And they’ll bring their friends."

"How the hell are we gonna take them out?" Jack asked. "You’re out of bullets. And I really don’t feel like going toe to toe with these guys."

"We won’t have to. Check it out. There’s a whole range of ride on lawn mowers over there by the door."

"So?"

"So, if there’s fuel inside them we can turn them into homemade bombs and blow them up. Then we can make a run for it. It might not throw the rest of the horde off our trail for good. But it’ll give us a big head start."

He had a point. And I hated him for it. I wanted nothing more than to kick down that door and just run for it. But Kenji knew we’d have a better chance of getting away clean if we took care of these few.

We moved quickly, pushing three of the bigger ride on lawn mowers right up to the door. When the infected saw us move towards them, right up to the door, right in front of them, it sent them into a frenzy.

We could see four of them and they began to smash through in earnest. The glass had completely shattered, giving the appearance of an intricate spider web. Luckily for us, it must have been reinforced.

"Unscrew the fuel tanks," Kenji said. "We’ll have to make a trail so we can light it."

"Wait, how are we going to light it?" I asked as Jack ran off, down one of the aisles. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To the barbeque section!" he answered over his shoulder.

A few seconds later he was back with a bottle of lighter fluid and a box of extra long barbeque matches.

The infected had smashed open a hole in the glass door. The hole was just big enough for one of them to fit their head through. The glass had torn his skin to shreds. Thick, dark blood oozed down his face. He was snapping his jaws furiously.

"All right we’re good to go," Jack said like he was excited to blow something up.

We tipped one of the lawn mowers over on its side so that the fuel spilled out on to the floor, just for good measure.

Kenji and I made our way back to the door as Jack laid down a trail of lighter fluid.
When he finished he threw the bottle away and took out a match.

I kicked open the exit door and Kenji took a small tentative step outside to see if it was clear. He gave a nod to say it was. Outside was a small parking lot, probably for staff and customers. And on the other side of the parking lot was the beautiful, luscious golf course.

"Come on, Jack!" Kenji said. "Let’s go! Let’s do this!"

Jack struck the match. But it didn’t light.

The excited smile disappeared from his face and was replaced with a look of horror. He tried again, but the match broke and snapped in half.

He opened the box and took out another match. But his hands were shaking so much he dropped the rest of the matches on the floor.

The infected had broken almost all the way through. They’d be on top of us in a matter of seconds.

Jack seemed to steady himself. He took a deep breath and struck the match. And it ignited. He threw it on to the floor and the lighter fluid caught on fire. The fire seemed to mesmerize the infected. They focused on the trail as it burned quickly and quietly towards the ride on lawn mowers.

Jack turned and ran towards us. We all jumped out of the exit and kept running.

Behind us the entire hardware store erupted in a fiery explosion. The noise and the force was enough to knock us off our feet. I guess, maybe three full tanks of petrol and whole bottle of lighter fluid was overkill. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

Fire and smoke billowed up and out of the exit we’d just ran out of.

There was no way the infected had survived that explosion. On the downside, the rest of the horde definitely would’ve heard that, assuming they can hear. But at least we had a head start.

We picked ourselves up off the bitumen of the parking lot and started running for the golf course.

We were running down a fairway, when we suddenly realized we were out in the open. So we all moved over to the side, to the tree line that followed the fairway.

We were running pretty fast. I could hear the guy's frantic breaths as they struggled to take in as much oxygen as they possibly could. I was breathing hard as well but I was gliding along. I wasn’t really winded or tired. I felt like I could've run forever.

I kept looking over my shoulder to see if we were being followed but I think we were safe for the moment. The fire and the smoke from the explosion and the actual building itself provided good cover for our get away.

We ran down another fairway when we felt like we had put enough distance between us and the explosion and the infected. So we stopped behind a raised sand trap to catch our breath and collect our thoughts.

"What do we do about the others?" Jack asked as he was doubled over. "Where do we wait for them? Where do we even begin to look for them?"

I was about to offer a suggestion when Daniel jumped out of the sand trap appearing out of nowhere, completely covered in sand. He had his rifle raised, ready to take us out.

We all froze. I think I actually raised my hands above my head.

Was he going to shoot us? Were Jack’s paranoid fears about Daniel wanting Maria for himself actually not paranoia at all?

But then Daniel lowered his rifle and relaxed. "Thank God you guys made it."

We inched closer to the bunker, still a little unsure at that point.

"Where’s Maria," Jack demanded.

"I’m right here," she said.

She was buried in the sand. Completely hidden. She stood up and shook the sand out of her hair. Jack ran over to her and picked her up and hugged her.

"What the hell happened?" Maria asked. "What was that explosion?"

But before anyone could answer her there was another loud eruption from the hardware store. We all ducked instinctively. I guess some other fuel tanks or lawn mowers, or maybe gas bottles, had caught on fire. There would be no shortage of explosive materials in a hardware store.

Daniel looked through the scope on his rifle, back towards the giant wall of smoke rising into the air. "What caused the explosion?"

"We blew up some lawn mowers," Kenji answered. "To buy us some time."

"How long do we have?" Maria asked as she shook more sand out of her hair.

"Not long," Kenji said.

"Yeah, it was a close call." I added.

"Too close," Jack agreed.

The black smoke continued to billow up into the sky from the hardware store. It seemed to mix in with the red dust, turning it a darker color.

"We gotta get out of here." I said.

"Where? How?" Jack asked. "We’ve lost the Humvee."

"We don’t need the Humvee," Kenji said. "Let’s stick with the plan. We follow the connected golf courses and head for the airport."

We all nodded our heads in agreement.

And we all knew we couldn’t keep doing this. Even stopping for fuel was a dangerous, life threatening exercise.

Earlier, Daniel had said we needed to take calculated risks. He said we needed to be smart. But sooner or later we would risk too much. We would gamble our lives and we would lose.

We needed to get out before that happened. We needed to get Maria out before that happened.

 

Chapter 36

 

It wouldn't be long before the infected pouring out of the underground road found us. They would zero in on us like some sort of wicked, heat seeking, biological weapon of mass destruction.
So we all started running down the fairway of the golf course, sticking to the tree line. Just in case.

After a few minutes, Daniel and I were a fair distance in front of the others, so we had to slow down. And every now and then, Daniel would stop altogether to make sure Jack, Maria and Kenji were all right. He would hang back and make sure we weren't being followed and then he’d catch up.

I’m not sure how fast we could ‘jog’ in the NBC suits. I say jog because that’s what it felt like. It felt like a light and easy and enjoyable jog. But in reality, Daniel and I were probably running at least twenty miles an hour.

I was just getting into a rhythm when the golf course ended abruptly and suburbia started. I crouched at the edge of the course. I stared at the houses and the nice cars and the neat driveways. It looked so empty, so completely void of life.

Kenji, Jack and Maria caught up to me. They crouched down, breathing hard. They studied the suburban streets with worried expressions on their faces.

They knew what a place like this could be hiding. They knew better than anyone.

Daniel was still behind us somewhere. I looked back down the fairway but I couldn’t see him. He may have had his cloaking device activated.

I checked the GPS again. The little blue ball was sitting at the edge of the first golf course. In front of us was about four or five blocks of houses and then the next golf course started.

Daniel eventually caught up to us. "There’s nothing back there," he said. "We’re in the clear."

"Not, necessarily," I said pointing towards the houses.

Daniel checked his GPS device. "OK, we’ve got a few blocks of suburbia before the next golf course. No big deal."

"Do we go around?" I asked.

"I don't think there is an 'around'." Maria informed me.

I looked back at the map on the GPS. She was right. The golf course was surrounded by block after block of suburbia. The next golf course was the only difference in the landscape.

"Our best option is to take the most direct route," Daniel said. "We sprint down this road, sticking to the middle of the street. It’s only for a few blocks. And then we’re out on the other side, on to the next golf course."

We all knelt there for a second, catching our breath, trying not to imagine all the horrors that could be hiding out of sight.

"I thought you said all the golf courses were connected, one after the other?" Jack asked me.

"Well, they are," I said. "Except for this one. And it’s only separated by a few blocks. The next golf course is just down this road."

And on the map it didn't look that far at all. But in reality, down on ground level, it looked like a never ending sprawl of houses and side streets and picket fences and two car garages.

"But anything could be hiding in these streets," Maria said. "These houses could be full of infected people or spider monsters or whatever."

Kenji shook his head. "I’m not so sure. I think most of the people living in the suburbs closest to the city would’ve been evacuated or forced to leave their homes."

"By the military?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. So there’s a good chance they could be deserted."

"But there’s also a good chance these houses aren’t deserted," I said as I started to feel guilty for suggesting this route. "Just like the fuel station."