The Dead Don't Bleed: Part 1, The Outbreak (31 page)

Garrett spotted Calvin peeking out from the side of the length of privacy fence separating his small strip of backyard from the adjoining neighbors, seeing the truck round the side of the building into the back he disappeared out of sight as he grabbed up the bags of supplies and equipment ready to toss them into the truck the second Garrett slid it into position. Garrett lined the front of the truck up on the edge of the privacy fence and skidded to a stop so close to the fence that his rear view mirror smacked against the edge of the wood and swiveled out and over the hood of the truck. He was hoping that by putting the truck actually up against the fence he could form a tight enough seal to force any zombies that reached them before they were ready to have to run around the far side of the truck to come at them from a different angle and hopefully give them those extra few seconds that would make the difference between escape and something else that he was not willing to let himself consider as an actual option. He was gambling that none of them had the common sense to climb up on the back bumper and into the bed of the truck to reach either him or Calvin. He was pretty sure given their lack of ability to perform simple tasks like opening a door that they would continue running around the outside of the truck once they realized it was blocking their path. The truck had not fully come to rest when he felt the weight of the first bag landing in the open bed, a few seconds later this was followed by the second. Calvin had moved the limp form of Kimberly out and into po
sition against the fence where he had propped her up slightly to allow himself a chance to quickly reach his arms back underneath her and grab her in a single scoop. He was lucky that he picked a petite girl this time, Calvin's second ex-wife would have required both of their efforts to get her up off the ground and even then there would have been the risk of damaged back muscles trying to get the entire load into the back of the truck. As Calvin stooped to bend over Kimberly, Garrett saw the leading edge of the crowd of zombies reaching the privacy fence marking the outer boundary for his neighbor’s house. Garrett held his breath as the first of the zombies reached the back bumper of his truck and then let it out in a short sigh of victory that he had been correct in assuming they would continue to run to the front of the truck before cutting back and coming after Calvin on the other side.

"Come on! Move your ass!" Garrett shouted through the open window. Stepping out to provide covering fire for his friend would only slow him down in being able to take off again, it was do or die right now for Calvin to get Kimberly and himself into the truck in the next five seconds or they were going to be in trouble.

Calvin shot to his feet with Kimberly cradled in his arms and was already moving towards the truck before fully gaining his balance, he allowed the momentum of the coming stumble to carry him forward in a half dive as he none to gently heaved Kimberly up and over the side of the truck and into the open bed on top of the bags of supplies he had already loaded. Garrett could feel the truck dip slightly to the side in response to Calvin's weight as he clambered up the side of the truck following behind Kimberly.

"Go, Go, Go!" Calvin shouted as soon as his first foot touched down inside the bed. Two zombies had already rounded the front of the truck and were reaching out towards Calvin in the back end.

Garrett hit the gas and spun the wheel hard to the right, he felt Calvin's weight shifting in the back of the truck as the sudden acceleration and slide of the tires in the wet grass sent him sprawling against the metal wheel well towards the back of the open bed. The zombies who had been just rushing past the door on his side were caught off guard by the unexpected movement of the truck and fell head over heels on top of each other as they tried to make a last ditch effort to lunge forward and grab for Calvin. A third zombie had just started passing in front of the truck when Garrett hit the gas and two others had reached the front of the hood along the passenger side, Garrett plowed down the one in front and nailed the other two hard with the front quarter panel sending them flying off into the grass several feet away.

With so many zombies already in the parking lot and surrounding grounds in front of his building, Garrett decided to take the path less traveled and plow through the thin screen of brush leading into the small park between
his building and the one burning on the opposite side of the park. The truck bounced and bucked as it crashed through the cover and dipped into a small depression that had been partially hidden in the overgrowth.

"Shit, sorry!" He yelled out, with little real hope that Calvin actually heard him in the back.

He turned the wheel to the left and lined them up on the main jogging path that would connect back with a service road that he could follow out of the park and clear of the fires burning on his right. Garrett also slowed down to little more than walking speed as soon as he saw the path was clear of any threats. Looking into his rear view mirror he saw that Calvin was sitting up against the tailgate of the truck bed while kneading the back of his neck hard with his hand. It had to have been a rough escape for his friend as he was tossed around against the metal sides in the back of the truck, but a few scrapes and bumps were minor concessions giving the alternative they faced at the hands and mouths of the zombies they had left behind. Now that they had escaped imminent danger it was time to start considering their next move, getting clear of the apartment with all three of them alive had been his only plan up until this point. He decided he would drive them a little ways further into town, as soon as he was comfortable that a location looked safe, he would stop and give them all a minute or two to readjust in the truck and get Kimberly situated in a more comfortable position. His camping gear from his last outing was still occupying most of the space in the rear of the crew cab, so he would have to shift that into the back and also make sure they got their weapons set up for easy access. Feeling a little better that he now had at least the start of an idea on his next move he focused on keeping the rest of the drive down the jogging trail as smooth as possible for the benefit of his already well battered riders.

Kyle had driven them around for the better part of an hour looking for signs of other survivors and a possible safe place that they could hide out and rest for at least a little while. He was sure that there had to be others out there who were also immune to the illness or at least had been able to recover from it, but he was also reasonably sure that if they were out there the odds were they were hunkered down behind triple locked doors and drawn shades, itchy trigger fingers pointing guns at doors and windows just waiting for anything to even think of poking their head inside. The thought of those guns as well as the undead residents still occupying many dwellings or businesses, kept him from simply picking out a likely looking place and trying his luck on the inside. He thought about trying for his own home, but to get there he would have to travel down at least three miles worth of route 7 towards Sterling, and he had already seen what a complete mess the main roads were. It was certainly not worth the risk of getting them stuck somewhere out on the open road where they would be easy targets.

He was surprised with all that had happened that morning that he was actually hungry, he realized that he was more hungry and thirsty than he could remember feeling in a long time.

"Shellie, I think I could really go for something to eat and a drink, how about you?" Kyle asked his passenger.

Shellie
had spent most of the time during their drive around town silently peering out her window, on a couple of occasions Kyle had been sure he caught her trying to stifle a sniffle and wipe away tears from her face. He didn't really know much of anything about her beyond that she seemed to be confident and effective at her job and any time he came across her around the office she also had a warm and inviting smile. He had become aware that she wore a wedding ring and was also of the age where it was likely to assume that she may have one or more children. The fact that she had not insisted on trying to reach her home or attempted to call a loved one on her cell told Kyle that she had either already resigned herself to their fate or was too scared to try and reach them only to find that there was no answer. He had almost tried to start a conversation with her to learn a little about her but had dismissed that idea when he figured that if he asked about her family and it brought her to a breakdown of some type he just wasn't in a position to deal with it at the moment.

"Yeah, I guess I could use some water or even a Coke if that is possible." She replied softly without taking her eyes away from the window.

They were passing by the recreation and sports center at the intersection of Lewinsville and Spring Hill Roads. He had been in there on a couple occasions with some friends trying out there fitness equipment and had even participated in a department intramural softball team two years ago that played some of their games at the adjoining softball field. The complex was made up of two large central buildings, the front housed offices, a children's area, conference rooms and an impressive snack bar area while the larger building in the rear contained exercise rooms, locker areas, a small indoor pool and two indoor gym areas. Normally it would have opened a little after five in the morning to allow those diehards in the local area who could drag themselves out of bed at that hour a location to work up a sweat before fighting the morning rush hour traffic. It had been closed since the middle of the week before due a failed air conditioning system leaving the facility a sweltering hell hole beyond most people’s tolerance for their workouts. What this meant for them was that the entire facility would have been completely empty when the outbreak hit and there was a good chance they could get inside, find something to eat and spend a little time resting up while trying to figure out what to do next. He pulled the cruiser into the parking lot and then drove around to the back of the furthest building to get an overview and assure himself that no one was around. Satisfied that at least from the outside the grounds appeared deserted, he parked close the front door and left his car turned facing back out the main drive ready to go in an instant if they were forced to make another run for it.

Instead of leaving Shellie in the car while he went off on his own to check the buildings out, he let her take along the shotgun and a pocket full of shells, she had certainly proved her worth with the use of the gun and the more eyes and shooters he had with him, the safer he felt. The front door of the building was locked tight, another good sign that it had not been disturbed any time recently, using the butt of his M4 he smashed in a pain of class at chest height and then reached in and unlocked the door from inside.

Staying together, they conducted a quick check of every room inside the smaller building and ensured that every outer door they came across was locked tight. Satisfied that they were as secure as they could get for the moment, Kyle led the way back to the snack bar and doled out drinks and pre-wrapped sandwiches he found stacked high in an industrial size refrigerator. They sat together at the juice bar with their chairs turned facing the front door where they had a good view of the approaching driveway and open football field off to one side.

#

Miranda was sure that it was gunfire she had heard, several minutes earlier.
Under any other circumstance that sound would have caused her a great deal of anxiety and fear. She recalled waking up early that same morning by the same sounds near her own apartment and had spent a great deal of time crouched tight to the floor hiding in fear from it. Those same sounds that sent her whimpering onto her bedroom floor earlier that morning now had a totally different impact on her, the sounds of gunfire meant that someone, possibly police or military, was taking a stand against those things. She moved from the relative safety of the counter and took up station just inside the smashed double glass doors of the store where she could better see in the direction the shots came from. Her own apartment complex was separated by a patch of woods and a small park from another set of larger townhomes and she was pretty sure that the sounds had come from that general direction.

She had spent the better part of the last two hours futilely trying the store
’s phone to reach anyone, even calls to her friends back in Philly went to voice mail or rang on and on without any answer. Several times she had picked up the phone and received nothing but static. In between her unsuccessful attempts with the phone, she had ventured back out into the aisles of the store, careful to avoid the one with the dead migrant worker and the sections of goods splattered with his blood and brains. She had gathered up a couple handfuls of snacks and several drinks and lined them all up along the counter where she was keeping vigil on the street outside. She felt a little guilty about just taking the stuff, but reassured herself that once things were back to normal she would make every effort to return to this very store and offer to repay the management for everything she had taken.

The fire from her burning building had died down noticeably in the last hour, bu
t the drifting smoke had now combined with the smoke from further up the street where she had noticed a large crowd of sick people just before crossing the street to reach the gas station. Her view up towards that end of the street was now reduced to only the next block up and other than the soft orange glow of the still burning buildings in that direction, she was no longer able to see if the crowd of people had remained near the strip mall where she had first noticed them.

Keeping as far back in the doorway as possible
, Miranda scanned the distant buildings through the swirling smoke, a lump formed in her throat when she spotted movement in the small park just before it dumped back out onto the street crossing in front of the gas station. A momentary clearing in the smoke allowed her to see that a truck of some sort was moving slowly between the trees. She lost it again as the smoke once again billowed into an impenetrable cloud surrounding the park, but she kept her eyes focused on the spot where she thought it would reappear if it continued on the same course when she first noticed it. Bursting free of the smoke she picked it up again further down the street than she had anticipated, but she saw that the driver must have been trying to reach the opposite lane of traffic in order to travel back in her direction around all of the congestion in the other lane. She realized that the gas station she had taken refuge in must be their target, if they were going to stop somewhere it was the most obvious location for them to do so. Separated from any other buildings by at least half a block and situated on the corner of an open and wide intersection as it was, it offered a commanding view in most directions. Fear mixed with elation as she watched the truck slowly and cautiously pick its way around stalled and abandoned vehicles clogging the roadway. She didn't see any labels on the side of the truck that might identify it as some kind of service vehicle so she guessed it was privately owned, but even another civilian survivor like herself was much better than trying to make it on her own with all of those crazies running around outside. She couldn't make out a great deal of detail inside the passenger compartment but she could see that at least one person appeared to be sitting up in the rear bed of the truck, so she knew there was more than one person in the truck. Her survival instincts were pushing her to just jump out in the parking lot to flag them down, but after her experiences so far that morning, her common sense overrode that impulse and she pulled back on the reigns and kept herself out of sight just inside the door way watching to see what they did next.

#

Smoke from burning buildings had started to build into an almost impenetrable cloud as they neared the end of the trails and were about to turn out of the park and onto the main road running just beyond it. Garrett struggled to see more than a car length ahead of them and had to drop their speed to a crawl to avoid trees, benches and other obstacles. Through breaks in the smoke he could see that the right lane of the road was heavily congested with all manner of vehicles and completely impassable, the opposite lane of traffic looked much more navigable. As he felt the front wheels bounce up and over the curb at the edge of the road, he turned to the left where he saw their best chance at crossing over and carefully steered them through a gap in the traffic that had formed on the back side of a five car pileup. Garrett cringed as he heard the scrapping of metal on metal when he passed a little too close to the side of a UPS truck that looked as though it had started the pile up by trying to cut across lanes in the thick traffic. He had always taken great pride in keeping his truck pristine and looking good, now in the space of only a few minutes he had purposely rammed it into a parked car to push it out of the way and was now pushing it through a virtual cheese grater on one side trying to force his way through a traffic jam so he could drive against traffic on the wrong side of the road. Even facing a zombie apocalypse he found it ironic that he still worried about the little things in life like body damage to his truck, he was really needed to work on changing his priorities if he wanted them to survive for much longer.

Cros
sing the median he found a break in traffic and was able to turn back down the road towards the intersection where he knew a corner gas station with a wide open front lot that would serve as a good spot to stop for a minute or two and get everyone better situated inside the truck. So far he didn't see any signs of zombies in the street or surrounding area but he knew that this could change at any moment. He wasn't sure that the ones he had left behind around his own home were not still pressing their pursuit and worried they could be coming up behind them from out of the smoke. They needed to make this stop as brief as possible and put some distance between them and the more populated areas of town. It took him driving onto the sidewalk in a couple places to finally reach the intersection with the gas station and get pulled off the road into a position that he was comfortable he would be able to quickly get them moving again if they found themselves in a tight spot.

Garrett left the engine running and the
driver’s door hanging open as he jumped out and rushed to the truck bed to check on his two passengers. Calvin was leaning up against one corner of the tailgate while carefully cradling Kimberly's head in his lap as she lay across the two bags of gear he had thrown into the bed under her. Calvin looked like he had been pretty banged during their escape from the back of Garrett's home and then the short but bumpy ride through the park.

"You, my friend, are an asshole. And as an asshole, the next time we have to make a run for it like that
, you will be the bouncy ball in the back of the truck." Calvin groaned as he carefully placed Kimberly's head down on top of one of the bags and then started a prolonged process of stretching and rubbing at his battered and bruised muscles.

Garrett felt honest pity for his friend, he had been in the back of enough military vehicles driven hard over rough terrain to sympathize with the pain his body must be feeling
at that moment. He also thought that at least Kimberly had been in and out of consciousness and likely had felt nothing of their harrowing escape, although he imagined if she recovered from the illness that she would feel the results of being battered around in the back of the truck for the next several days.

"Sorry, really wish I could have given you an easier ride. If it helps you feel any better, look at the wreck I made of my damn truck trying to get the three of us out of there in one piece." Replied Garrett as he pointed at the deep scratches, twisted pieces of metal and missing trim from one end of his truck to the other.