Into the Badlands (26 page)

They crossed an alley, Ed in the lead, followed by Zach and Jeremy. Dave crossed the alley behind them, but then a group of carriers came rushing in from the alley, separating Mitchell and Trish from the rest of the group. They stopped in their tracks, backing quickly away from the line of infected. Mitchell shot two of them, but more appeared in their place. Ed, Dave, and the boys continued to run, unaware their friends were no longer running with them.

“Ed!” Trish yelled. He stopped and turned to see Trish and Mitchell on the other side of a mob of carriers.

“Trish!” he yelled.

“Ed, look out!” Dave called. Ed turned to see three carriers coming toward him. He raised the pistol and fired twice, taking two of them down. He pulled the trigger again and heard the sickening click of the firing pin striking an empty chamber.

A gunshot sounded and the carrier dropped to the ground. Ed turned to see Dave holding Brenda's gun. The rest of the carriers began chasing Mitchell and Trish. He watched them as they ran from the mob, Mitchell firing more shots into the crowd as they ran. The bodies fell to the ground as other deadwalkers stepped on them to get at their prey.

“We can't leave Trish behind, Daddy,” Jeremy pleaded.

“We need to go get her and Mitchell,” Zach added.

Ed watched as Mitchell and Trish disappeared into an alley, followed by the mob of carriers. A few of the injured carriers gave up the chase, turning their attention back toward Ed, Dave, and the boys.

“If we get caught in that alley we're done for,” Dave said. Ed stood, lost in thought, watching the slow carriers approach them.

“I'm not sure we have any other choice,” Dave said somberly.

Ed thought about what Dave said. He had a commitment to the boys, an obligation to see them to safety at any cost. As this thought came to mind it was immediately followed by the sight of Trish's face as she looked at him in the warehouse and told him she loved him. How could he put his children in any more danger? How could he gamble their lives away?

“We have to leave them,” Ed heard himself say to the boys. The words tasted foul on his lips.

“No, Daddy!” Jeremy exclaimed, tears forming in his eyes.

“We don't have any choice,” Ed told him.
First their mother and now Trish
, Ed thought. They didn't deserve this; none of them did.

Dave glanced toward the slowly approaching carriers. They were gaining. “Ed, we seriously need to do something.”

Ed turned to his boys. “Mitchell will protect Trish, okay guys? Then they'll meet us back on the road again.” It was a lie, no matter how much Ed wanted it to be true.

Zach looked at his father, then shook his head. Tears were forming in his eyes. “No, Daddy.” He then turned away from his father and ran toward Mitchell, Trish, and the oncoming carriers.

Mitchell ran as fast as he could away from the carriers; Trish staying close to his side. He turned and fired two shots, then felt the click of the firing pin hitting an empty chamber. He reloaded as quickly as he could while running, something he always felt he was reasonably good at, then fired three more shots into the group of carriers in pursuit. Three bodies fell to the ground.

“Into the alley!” he yelled to Trish. He ducked into the alleyway, Trish falling in behind him. He scanned the alley as he ran, then found was he was looking for. “In there!” he cried, pointing to a large, green dumpster. They ran to it, stopping short in front of it. He gave Trish a boost as she lifted the lid and tossed Tammy's rifle inside. She then climbed in herself, falling onto bags of old trash.

The carriers rounded the corner and caught sight of Mitchell standing in front of the dumpster. More fell in behind them, drawn by the gunfire. Mitchell took two steps forward then opened fire with both pistols.

“Zach, no!” Ed yelled. Zach stopped, then looked at him. Ed felt his son's gaze fall upon him, and then pierce him. They stood this way for a few seconds, silently communicating with their eyes.

Suddenly it all made sense.

“Stay close to me,” he said to Zach. “We can't get split up again.” He turned to Dave. “You with us?”

Dave took a deep breath. “Let's do this.”

Trish's heart pounded in her chest, her lungs burned for more air. She waited for Mitchell to join her in the dumpster, but there was no sign of him. After a few seconds she heard a horrible racket as Mitchell began firing on the crowd of carriers. She had thought the plan had been for them to hide in the dumpster together; apparently Mitchell had a different idea.

She searched through the dimly-lit dumpster, eventually finding a box solid enough to stand on. She then she retrieved the rifle from amongst the trash bags and other petrified garbage. She pulled herself up onto the box, the dumpster lid just above her head.

She wasn't about to let Mitchell die for her.

Mitchell continued walking toward the crowd of the infected, firing bullets into as many of them as he could. He spent the cylinders of the revolvers, then placed them back into their holsters. He stooped down and retrieved two pistols with full clips from holsters strapped to his legs, hidden beneath his pants.

He raised both pistols, then continued firing into the crowd. Virtually every shot found its mark. As some carriers fell, more poured in behind them to take their place. Mitchell continued firing, taking them down as methodically as he could. Both pistols were spent quickly, leaving him no choice but to reload.

He placed the gun in his left hand into the leg holster, then removed a clip from his belt for the gun in his right hand. He dropped the empty clip onto the ground. He was about to place the loaded clip into the gun when a large carrier bolted through the pack from the rear, charging with alarming speed.

Mitchell struggled to get the clip into the pistol, but the thing was closing too fast. He began to back up, trying to buy himself time. Without warning a loud gunshot pierced the air. Mitchell watched as the carrier's body jerked then dropped to the ground with an unmercifully dull thud.

He slammed the clip into the gun, then turned back toward the dumpster to see Trish pointing the rifle toward the crowd of carriers. He smiled at her. He turned back and shot three more carriers. He temporarily placed the freshly loaded pistol into this holster, then repeated the reloading process on the second pistol. He heard another loud boom as Trish fired another bullet into an approaching carrier. He pushed the clip into place, then turned back toward the crowd of carriers, raising both pistols in the air. Mitchell watched as the carriers fell with each pull of the trigger.

Then he heard more gunshots from the end of the alley. He quickly spied Ed, Dave, and the boys as they fired into the crowd of carriers. The carriers in the rear turned toward the sound of new gunfire, then began dropping as the bullets pierced their filthy, emaciated bodies.

“Watch your aim!” Mitchell yelled to Trish. “Ed and the others are at the end of the alley!” Trish smiled amidst the acrid smell of gunpowder and the stench of dead carriers.

They'd come back after all.

Ed saw Mitchell through the crowd of deadwalkers. He fired a couple shots, then yelled behind himself. Ed looked to see Trish in the dumpster, near the end of the alley, rifle in hand.

“There's Mitchell!” Ed yelled to Dave. Dave fired another shot, then looked into crowd. Dave returned a thumbs up. The carriers were now split facing two directions. They shot the able-bodied carriers first, leaving the paralyzed and nearly immobile ones alone. They didn't have ammunition to waste, and they had already used up so much of it.

Ed, Dave, and the boys ran through the piles of dead carriers, dodging the cripples along the way. They quickly reached Mitchell. “You folks shoulda kept going,” he told them.

“No, we shouldn't have,” Ed told him, looking at Zach.

They all ran back to the dumpster. “Help me out of here,” Trish said as they approached. As Ed helped Trish down she kissed him, then hugged him close. He felt he didn't deserve it.

“We gotta get outta here, pronto,” Dave reminded the rest of them. “This place is fucking crawling with these things.”

“Where to?” Trish asked.

“Back to the highway,” Ed replied. “We're have to make a break for the city, before more of them show up.”

“What if the city's full of these things too?” Trish asked.

Ed didn't reply.

They reached the highway quickly, stepping around the dead and wounded carriers along the way. There were no doubt more lurking within the city limits, and it was only a matter of time before they made an appearance. They all wanted to be long gone before they did.

They were all running when they reached the highway, out of breath and nearly exhausted. The cut on Ed's leg had stopped bleeding, the pain somewhat numbed by endorphins. It hurt, but it was manageable. They slowed to a brisk walk, attempting to keep a quick pace while not completely depleting their energy stores.

Leaving the fresh carnage behind them they passed more cars and more decayed bodies as they walked. They opted for the westbound lanes since there were fewer abandoned cars; near the end people had been running
from
the cites, not
to
them. As the adrenaline stopped flowing into their systems their exhaustion became more severe, hindering their progress. Ed's limp didn't help things. They continued walking, but the pace seemed excruciatingly slow.

As they neared the city, the giant stainless steel Gateway Arch beckoned them. Filling in the skyline were other buildings, the top of the structures visible from their vantage point. The buildings stood like sentinels in the distance; silently looming over the city streets and the smaller buildings filling the gaps. The city streets themselves were out of view; if there was activity on them they'd have to be closer to see it.

They continued walking briskly along the highway. The carriers were gone for the moment. They fought the urge to constantly look behind them; it slowed their forward progress and that was a risk they couldn't take. If they had any hopes at all of reaching the city before nightfall they had to be quick.

They walked for some time along the road, the city growing larger in their view as they made their way further west. They remained keenly aware of their surroundings, yet saw no sign of carrier activity. They passed by more decrepit, crumbling buildings and disintegrating houses as they walked, but luckily they were empty.

Eventually the highway became an elevated overpass, rising into the sky and crossing over the local roads below it. They were getting very close to the city now, but the height of the bridges worried Ed. They were even more vulnerable while crossing them; there was nowhere to hide and very little option of retreat.

They stopped at the foot of the overpass, following it upward with their eyes, watching it as it rose more than three stories above the ground. Eventually the overpass turned into a bridge over over the Mississippi river. Just on the other side of the bridge was the city, nestled squarely up against the riverbank.

“I don't like this,” Dave remarked, his eyes following the outline of the bridge as it rose into the air and over the water. “We get stuck on that thing and we're done for.”

“We don't have much choice,” Mitchell observed, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun. “If we want in that city then this is our route. Unless you want to swim, of course, but with the load we got on our backs I'd say that'd be a bad idea.”

They were too heavy with all their gear, and the boys weren't strong swimmers. “No, this is our only option,” Ed stated, his eyes fixed on the road. “It's a risk we're going to have to take.” He looked toward the group for any objections. No one countered. With that they began their trek up the ramp and onto the overpass.

The grade was moderate, and the group made their way up the overpass ramp with some effort. They moved as quickly as they could, despite their fatigue. They put thirty yards, forty yards, fifty yards, and then a hundred yards behind them. They were committed to the overpass now, standing almost three frightening stories off the ground.

Behind them the roadway remained clear of predators, but before them they could only see to the summit of the overpass. What lay on the other side was a mystery, and quite possibly their biggest risk yet. They could only hope the road on the other side of that crest was clear. If it wasn't, their only escape was to double back, and hope the road behind them remained passable.

Then, just as they neared the crest of the road, Dave said something that made them all stop where they were. “They're behind us,” he said. “Lot of them.”

Ed turned, feeling as if he had been kicked in the stomach. They all turned to see dozens upon dozens of carriers walking up the overpass ramp. They clogged the roadway behind them, blocking their escape route. They walked, limped, and ran up the ramp.

“Daddy?” Jeremy said, frightened.

“Run,” Ed told him. “Toward the city.”

They ran. Ed ushered both boys along, ensuring they didn't fall behind. The others ran with them, toward the summit of the overpass and then onto the bridge over the river. They were literally running for their lives now, and what lay on the other side of that roadway would either save them or kill them. As they neared the top of the incline, the road began to level out.