The Beginning of the End (Book2): Road to Damnation (7 page)

“I see her at the
bottom of the next flight. You two stay here. I’ll go down and get
the rifle.”

Daniels crept to the
bottom of the stairs and reached for the M4. He froze when he heard a
single metallic click. He peeked down the next flight of stairs where
an Army National Guardsman shuffled around. The dead Guardsman was
looking away from Daniels. Frozen with fear, Daniels watched in
silence, as the zombified soldier inched forward until the stairway
exit stopped him. Unable to make forward progress, the guardsman
struggled backward bumping the metal handrail with the composite grip
of his 9mm Beretta making the metallic sound.

Minutes passed as
Daniels watched the repetitive forward, backward routine. After some
confidence building, Daniels mustered up the strength to move. He
figured his best move was not to disturb the soldier. If he took his
time and was quiet enough, he could unstrap the M4 from the dead
woman, grab her ammo pouch, and make it out of there unseen.

Bunker watched from the
top of the stairs. It was taking too long, and he was getting
nervous. He crept down the stairs.

Daniels was already
lifting the woman’s arm and pulling out the rifle strap. He
untangled it and rested it back on her side. He peered around the
corner to check on his Guardsman friend. The metallic click sounded
off again. He was in the middle of his routine.

Daniels was still
watching him when Destiny’s voiced echoed off the cement walls,
“Come on, baby, we ain’t got all day.”

Daniels snapped his
head up glaring at Destiny with his index finger over his lips.

The absence of the
metallic clink subconsciously told Daniels to look back down at the
soldier who was now halfway up the stairs charging toward him. He was
fast unlike the other zombies they had run into. Daniels grabbed the
M4 and tried to spin it toward the soldier. The strap was still
looped around the woman’s neck. Daniels gave the rifle another
yank, but couldn’t get the barrel of the rifle to come around. The
dead soldier knocked Daniels over backward. Bunker raced down the
rest of the stairs, connecting his right boot with the side of the
zombie’s head. The surprise attack had little effect on the zombie,
but it gave Daniels enough time to get back on his feet. The two men
raced up the stairs, but they weren’t fast enough. The zombie was
right on Daniels’ heels and got ahold of his ankle. Daniels crashed
down onto the stairs whacking his chin off the step. The soldier held
firm and yanked him back down. Daniels flipped onto his back and
kicked wildly with his free foot while the zombie fought off the
attack.

Bunker was still racing
up the stairs, unaware Daniels was no longer behind him.

Destiny ran past Bunker
as she headed down the flight of stairs.

For a brief second,
Bunker thought, “What the hell are you doing?” He turned back in
time to see Destiny pulling something from her bag. She raised her
arm, and a flash lit up the dim stairwell. The crack of the small
caliber gun was deafening as the sound bounced off the narrow walls.
The three them of flinched at the piercing noise. The soldier
collapsed forward, motionless. “Where the fuck did you get that?”
Daniels screamed.

Destiny dropped the
Kel-Tec P32 back into her purse next to an assortment of condoms,
“Honey, a girl needs protection, all kinds, these days. Besides you
should be thanking me. I just saved your life.”

“I guess you’re
right. Thank you,” Daniels mustered.

Bunker walked back down
the stairs with an apologetic look on his face, “Sorry, Corp. I
thought you were right behind me.”

Daniels used his boot
to push the corpse’s head off his leg. He stood up wiping the blood
off his face, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t even know how he
caught me. That thing was fast. Really fast,” Daniels said giving
the soldier a light kick to make sure he was dead.

It didn’t move.

He stepped over the
body and back down the stairs to the dead woman soldier. He finished
untangling the M4 strap from her head and held up the rifle to
examine it.

“Do you know how to
work that?” Bunker asked.

“Yeah, I’m kind of
a gun guy. I’ve got quite the collection locked away at home.”

Bunker smirked, “I
bet you wish you had all of them here now.”

“Not all of them. I’m
hoping my boys have already raided the room.”

Daniels pulled the
magazine from the rifle, saw it was full, and slammed it back in. He
pulled the bolt back and let it snap forward chambering a 5.56 round.
He slid the strap over his head and went for the side holster. He
pulled out the dead soldier’s sidearm. It was a piece of shit
Beretta 9mm. It wasn’t a hell of a lot of stopping power, but it
was better than nothing.

Daniels checked the
magazine and went to work removing the MOLLE vest, which contained
the soldiers extra ammo and the rest of the standard issued
accoutrement.

Daniels pulled the vest
half off the dead woman when he heard the sound of someone racking a
rifle behind him. He spun around raising the Beretta. When he
stopped, it was pointing at Bunker’s forehead.

Bunker put the rifle
down slowly and raised his hands, “I was checking to see if it was
loaded.”

Daniels lowered his
Beretta, “Sorry, Bunker, I forgot where I was for a minute.”

Bunker pointed at the
M4 with one of his raised fingers, “So it’s okay then?”

Daniels paused for a
moment, “Can I trust we’re done with the cops and robbers
bullshit, and we’re in this mess together…as friends?”

Bunker lowered his
massive hands, “I thought we had already decided we were brothers
to the end.”

He was right, Daniels
regretted his actions, and it was obvious to Bunker, “I’m sorry,
pal. I’m still a little edgy from having almost been eaten two
minutes ago.”

“Don’t worry about
it, Corp,” Bunker said, while giving Daniels a pat on the arm,
almost knocking him over.

“If you two start
making out, I’m going to shoot both of you.” Destiny said with a
smile.

Daniels chuckled and
looked at his watch, “We’ve been gone a while, we better get back
to the group before they start to worry. We can inventory all this
stuff when we get back to the office.”

By the time Cowboy and
I got back, Luther had all but one of the shopping carts loaded into
the jeep. The last one was filled with an assortment of blankets and
clothes, things that would come in handy with the cold weather
coming.

“Let’s get that
thing loaded,” Cowboy snapped.

Luther shook his head,
“Can’t. Jeep’s full.”

“What?” Cowboy
said, looking inside the jeep, “There’s still room on the back
seat, put it there.”

“I can’t put it
there,” Luther said, “that’s where I sit.”

We drove back in
silence. A few times a minute, I’d glance at Cowboy. He stared
straight ahead like he didn’t have a care in the world. With our
current situation, I couldn’t keep silent, “You know, we didn’t
need all that stuff?”

“I disagree, hoss.
Even if you’re right, it’s better to be safe than to be sorry. We
may need those extra blankets and clothes. Leaving them behind could
have turned out to be a bad idea.”

“I think Luther would
disagree with that,” I smirked.

Cowboy thought about it
for a moment, “Well, let me ask him what he thinks.”

Cowboy stuck his head
out of the Jeep window and twisted his body toward the roof, “Hey,
Luther, you think it was a good idea grabbing the extra supplies?”

I couldn’t hear what
Luther’s response was, but I knew he wasn’t very happy a few
minutes earlier when Cowboy told him he was riding on the roof.

We took our time
getting back to the highway where we were meeting back up with the
rest of the group. We had been gone less than an hour; well before
the two-hour mark I had given Chevy. Contrary to popular belief, I
didn’t want Luther flying off the roof at any speed. I was sure the
group would get a kick out of seeing Luther when we pulled in.

I gave Cowboy a smack
on his arm to get his attention, and pointed to the group, as we got
close, “Watch their faces when we pull in.”

To my surprise, nobody
even noticed Luther. They were all on the far side of the wrecked
Humvee.

Mom and Sidara were
yelling and pointing at something. We started to get nervous and
wondered what the hell was going on. I slammed on the brakes and
hopped out, forgetting about Luther until he slid down the windshield
face first. Cowboy sensed there was something wrong and jumped out
with his rifle out and up. It wasn’t until I came around the Humvee
I realized they were all laughing. When I saw the reason, I had to
smile too. Sage was throwing a ball to a silver haired dog. The thing
raced across the median, grabbed the ball, and ran back just as fast.
Everyone was cheering and clapping. It was the first time I’d seen
the entire group smile.

“What is that,
Cowboy? A lab?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,
hoss. I think it’s a Weimaraner.”

“Hey, glad you made
it,” Chevy called out when he saw us.

“Looks like you guys
found a new friend,” I said watching the dog sprint across the
grass.

“Yeah, we were
packing up the Humvee, and she came out of the woods. She even had
her own ball.”

“She?” I asked.

“Yeah, your mom says
it’s a girl. We’ve been calling her Charger.”

“Why would you name a
girl, Charger?”

“Your mom came up
with the idea. She said Charger was sleek and fast, and it reminded
her of your dad’s car.”

“Looks like everyone
likes her,” I said.

“She’s a hit with
the whole crew,” Chevy said as he tugged the ball out of her mouth.

I walked up to my mom
and gave her a hug.

“Any problems at the
mall?” she asked.

“None at all,” I
said, as I looked at the dog again.

I headed over to check
out our new addition. Charger was on her back, and Sage was rubbing
her belly. She looked like she’d been starving for attention. I
bent over and gave her a belly rub, “Do you like that, Charger?”

She thanked me by
rolling over onto her feet and giving me dog kisses on my face.

For a brief second,
everything felt normal again. I’d forgotten what happened to us,
and everything that was still happening around us. For now, I
couldn’t help but smile. Charger brought me back to a better time.
I grabbed her by the jowls and gave her a few kisses, and she obliged
by kissing me right back.

“Can we keep her,
Mom?” I called out.

My mom let out a little
laugh, “Only if you promise to feed her and walk her every day.”

The laughter passing
over the group was infectious.

Charger knocked me
over, kissing me with her sloppy tongue, “I promise, Mom. I
promise.”

Daniels led Bunker and
Destiny through the corridors of the office area. Before they turned
the last corner, there was a faint scream.

“That’s Ceci,”
Bunker said.

They quickened their
pace and Bunker lifted the barrel of his slung M4. He passed Daniels
as they turned the last corner.

An older dead man in a
business suit banging his head against the door provoked a second
scream. One of his arms reached through the hole in the door. Bunker
stopped a few doors away from the businessman and screamed, “Hey,
dead guy!”

The man’s bright red
tie with sea anchors and swirling blue eyes distracted Bunker for a
moment. He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger on his rifle. The
M4 fired, releasing an explosion of sound and flame. When he opened
his eyes, he saw a small plume of smoke rising from the barrel, and
the businessman lying dead on the floor.

“We’re back. Is
everyone okay in there?”

The door opened a few
inches and Cooper poked his head out, “What the hell took you guys
so long?”

“Destiny had to grab
her purse,” Bunker answered.

Daniels led the way
into the room and threw the MOLLE vest on the desk. He pulled the
Beretta out and gave it to Cooper, “Here take these too. They’re
extra mags.”

Daniels motioned for
Cecilia to come over. He lifted the MOLLE vest off the table, and
slid it over her head, “I know it’s heavy, but it’s
bulletproof, and bite proof. It will help keep you alive. Bunker
throw yours on Kaden.”

Bunker strapped the
vest on Kaden and snugged up the side straps.

“What about these?”
he asked, holding up his M4 and the 9mm Beretta.

“You keep the M4 and
give Ceci the Beretta,” Daniels answered.

“Do you know how to
use this?” Bunker asked handing the pistol to Ceci. She examined
the gun twisting it in her hand. It was heavy, black, and radiated a
smell of gun oil and metal.

“Don’t you just
pull the trigger?” she asked.

“Let me see it. I’ll
give you a quick lesson.”

Bunker spent the next
two minutes explaining how to rack the action, dump the mag, and
replace it with a new one. After a few tries, she was as proficient
as the rest of the crew.

“Okay, Destiny. Now,
how the hell do we get out of this place?”

Destiny thought of the
quickest route from their location, “Well, Sugarpie, you said the
main concourse was full of dead just roaming around, so we’ll try
the back door. Where we went left earlier, we’ll take a right
there. We’ll go down to the Station Master’s Office and head down
the stairs to the Biltmore Room. From there, we can cut over by
Central Watch and head out through the 45th Street Passage. I do it
all the time.”

Daniels paused, “That
route seems like it’s got a lot of potential for contact with
zombies.”

Destiny lifted her
eyebrows, a bit insulted, “Well, honey bunny, we’re on the
Vanderbilt side of the buildin’. If we’re goin’ the other
direction, we’d be comin’ out on Lexington Avenue. You don’t
want to be doin’ that. Keep in mind, baby, this buildin’ is as
big as yo momma’s ass, and there are twice as many people, as she
gots pimples. So you better be listenin’ when I tell you which way
to go.”