Zombie Infestation Page 7

  “What’s up with you and these guys? Did you make a deal with them?”

  Ray was direct. “They are trying to rob this place, and will pay us to help them. Apparently, their chopper accident messed up their original plan.”

  Jacques looked away while he reflected on what he had just heard.

  Fuming, Rose tapped her boot as she responded. “How much are they paying you to betray us?”

  Ray replied, “Whoa, take a step back.

  They have a new plan, and just offered us $200K for each task we complete.”

  Rose glanced over at Jacques, then back at Ray. “I knew there was some type of hot mess happening here. What was their side deal offer to you?”

  Ray hesitated, then replied. “I should be offended, but I am not because I would ask the same thing. However, they didn’t offer me anything.”

  Not hiding her suspicion, Rose glanced over at Jacques again, who appeared even more annoyed.

  “Seriously, I would tell you if they did,” said Ray.

  Again, she locked eyes with Jacques as she said, “What do you think about that?”

  Jacques pondered a moment before he replied. “Frankly dude, you have made some pretty sketchy decisions so far. Your credibility is like zero man.”

  Ray reflected as he looked at the ground. Then he said, “I know I made a few bad plays. We are almost through this, but I need you, as much as you need me.”

  Rose said, “If I find out you made a side deal, your death with be legendary.”

  Ray nodded and said, “I know you don’t trust me, but let’s do this for Nate and Jefferson.”

  Rose glared at him. “How dare you say that.”

  Without hesitation Ray responded. “I mean, we could put away half of what we earn and then split it between the things Jefferson and Nate were going to buy with the gig money.”

  Jacques commented. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  Ray said, “They took our weapons, and could have shot us already.”

  Rose huffed, but Jacques responded. “$200K is pretty decent cash, and we could milk the shit out of it, but I don’t trust you anymore.”

  Ray exhaled, “I can see why you might say that, but these guys are bigger idiots than we thought, and I would be a fool to change sides. I will always dance with who I came to the dance with.”

  Across the rooftop, Winslow, Rice, and Chin stared over at them.

  Rose said, “I am in if you don’t get to make any of the calls.”

  Jacques crossed his thick forearms across his chest as he said, “Agreed.”

  Ray said, “If we agree to help them we can make some money, or escape. If not, I think they will just kill us.”

  Jacques commented. “We are all accountable for making the deposits for Nate and Jefferson, or for each other’s causes if we die.”

  Ray nodded, “Fair enough.”

  Chapter 26

  Rice stared down at the cave black SWAT van parked below. “Glad to see that you guys made the intelligent choice,” said Winslow.

  Only Rose responded.

  “Get to the point.”

  Winslow smirked.

  Then he said, “The set of tasks must be done in a specific order, and we will pay you $200K for each one.”

  “The first task should only take about 30 minutes,” said Chin.

  “$200K for 30 minutes is about $6K a minute.” Jacques held his hand up like he was attempting to stop traffic stop.

  “Technically, it’s $6,666.66 per minute. Kind of ironic how you would select that number.”

  Annoyed, Rice interrupted. “Enough with the math lessons. Let’s get started.”

  Noticing the portable satellite radio on the ground Chin booted it, which sent it flying toward the edge of the building.

  Angry, Jacques shouted. “What’s to stop us from not taking all of the money you are stealing?”

  “Us killing all of you now,” replied Chin.

  Rice held his hand up as if he was blocking a punch. “Chin is young, and can get a bit overeager at times.”

  He then threw down three stacks of money.

  “Best of luck with finding the money, said Chin.

  Rice glared over at him as he said, “Chill out, or get out.”

  Rose, locked eyes with Jacques and Ray. Then he stared at Rice while he scanned the group.

  “See that brewery at the end of the block? You will go there and clear it out for us.”

  Chin walked over and stood next to Rose.

  He drew his sidearm and smirked as Rice spoke. “We need some leverage, so she won’t be accompanying you.”

  “You can keep the machetes, but hand over your night vision, and any other weapons,” said Chin.

  When Rice gestured to Chin, Rose spun and grabbed his wrist, which made him drop his pistol. “Fuck no, we are not giving up shit.”

  Again, Rice was calm. “Winslow.”

  When she looked over, she saw Winslow aiming Chin’s scoped rifle at her face from a point blank range.

  “Winslow ain’t a sharpshooter, but a blind man can’t miss from that range,” said Rice.

  Annoyed, Rose unclipped her night vision and handed it over to Chin. “The rifle, and the side arm too,” said Rice.

  Reluctantly, she handed the weapons to Chin.

  Smug, he walked away inspecting those.

  From a safe distance, he aimed her own rifle at her.

  Rice stared at Jacques and Ray as he said, “We can’t have you two drawing any more attention to us, so you can’t bring any firearms. If you are quiet, the machetes on your belt will be all you need.”

  When they hesitated, Chin fired a shot, which landed a few inches from Ray’s foot.

  “So as I said, we really need to get moving,” said Rice.

  Chapter 27

  Outside, dozens of snarling packs of zombies inspected the interiors of the surrounding buildings. Internally, Jacques still had his doubts about Ray, and wasn’t excited to be doing this difficult task with someone whom he didn’t completely trust. Yet he had to, or he might not survive.

  As they made their way to the end of the block, Ray and Jacques moved as if the sidewalk was supported by eggshells or lined with sleeping alligators. A few doors down from the bank they noticed the “New Brew” sign. The barely audible buzz from its bright neon was only noticeable when they passed underneath it.

  The three-story brick factory had rows of giant silos next to it with a high wall that surrounded most of the complex. The perfect floor to ceiling windows with aqueduct like arches lining each floor made everything inside perfectly visible. Since nearly every light in the building was on, each of the clear windows appeared to glow.

  Posted on the entrance side of the bank’s rooftop, Chin looked through the night vision scope of Rose’s weapon and scanned the street below. Not far away, Rice and Winslow covered Rose who sat crossed legged near the edge of the roof, glowering at the darkness. With the aid of the enhanced scope, Chin watched Ray and Jacques halt behind the closed iron gate in the giant archway. Near the building were just a few stiff moving zombies barely moving. As Ray knelt to pick the lock on the gate, Jacques scanned the area for invaders.

  An expert locksmith, Ray popped the gate lock with ease then secured the gate behind them. Near the back of the building, two semi-trucks in nearly perfect condition awaited an order that wouldn’t ever happen. Quiet, they snuck past the nearly frozen zombies and entered the building. Inside, the large open area used to accommodate multiple large vehicles was empty.

  “Get ready,” said Jacques.

  In the docking area, a small horde of zombies in blue coveralls charged forward and jumped down to the loading area. When they could read the embroidered name tag on the coveralls of the first zombie, Jacques severed its head in one stroke. The next one went down just as easy, but the others took multiple strikes to eliminate which broke both of their machetes.

&
nbsp; Vulnerable, they searched the area like a gameshow with a hidden treasure and a time limit. Ray found a wide metal pipe with a thick flange and a sturdy fitting on the end. Near the large garage door, which served as the entrance to the main building, two zombies appeared from behind a truck and sprinted at them. With a single motion Ray swung, and missed, but connected with its skull on his next attempt.

  Knocking one zombie down, he struck the other, but didn’t stop it. On top of some crates, Jacques found a massive pipe wrench. Before he could respond, the stunned zombie grabbed at his collar and jerked him backwards. As Jacques stumbled backwards, Ray felled the zombie. Before he could swing again, Jacques recovered and audibly cracked one the zombies’ skulls.

  As Jacques repeatedly whacked on the dazed zombie, an oncoming zombie tackled Ray. As Ray wiggled to avoid being bit and to free himself, Jacques kicked the zombie in the face until it released its grip. With fury, they both hacked at the downed zombies until they ceased to move and blood streamed from their crushed eye sockets like waxy tears.

  When Ray pointed to the two massive metal doors, Jacques ensured the zombies were no longer a threat by crushing their cracked skulls with his boot. For a moment, Jacques watched out for Ray as he picked the lock, then went behind each of the stacks of crates to inspect for zombies or weapons. When the lock popped, they both strained to open the massive metal doors.

  “What are you doing over there? Let’s go,” said Ray.

  Inside, the office area smelled like rancid meat, but no zombies were within sight.

  Jacques said, “So far our invoice is, get to the brewery, pop the locks, eliminate the creatures inside, and secure the building. $200K per task. We will need to get our $800K in hundreds, or it will be too heavy to carry.”

  Ray didn’t respond.

  Chapter 28

  Down the street, Rose scanned the rooftop of the Citizen’s Bank. Her eyes stopped on a dark outline next to the chimney pipe. Holy shit, there is the radio. Not revealing her excitement, she continued to scan the area as if she had seen nothing important. What is their real plan?

  “If you weren’t such a hard ass, you would be hotter than a pepper patch, but I bet your girlfriends flee as fast as they come,” said Rice.

  Rose ignored him, but in her mind, she envisioned multiple ways she could break his nose. Instead of commenting, she grit her teeth. Then stared at the ground and thought of her grandma’s chocolate pecan pie. When she looked up she smiled, then stared at the tattoo on Rice’s hand.

  “What MC gave you that?”

  His brow wrinkled, but then relaxed as he replied. “It’s a Moto Guzzi Ambassador.”

  Her eyes went wide with obvious excitement as she said, “Cool. My boyfriend had the original V7 with the kick start, but I crashed it.”

  Rice shook his head as he said, “Did you kill it?”

  Impish, she giggled.

  Then she said, “Barely, but I still refurbished the entire bike, and did my best to keep his toes curled after that.”

  Rice’s posture relaxed, and he lowered his rifle.

  “Where are you from?”

  She hesitated, but responded. “Do you know where Dahlonega is?”

  He replied, “By Amicalola, and the Appalachian Trail right?”

  She turned and face him so she could look directly into his eyes as she spoke. “Yep it’s a sister to the Chattahoochee National Forest. After all of this is over, we should ride our bikes there sometime.”

  When she stood up, Chin raised his rifle and aimed it at her. “Take it easy cowboy. Just stretching my legs,” she said.

  To draw more attention to her femininity, Rose stretched her hamstring on the chimney pipe. Mesmerized, Rice lowered his rifle while he fixated on her fit curves as the back of her cargo pants tightened around her firm backside. Fully aware of his smothering gaze, she continued to stretch.

  When the dark shadow of the hand held radio bumped against the side of her boot, she glanced back at Rice and smiled. Transfixed with her athletic form, and her inviting gesture he smiled back. When she placed her hands on the flat concrete berm and pressed her backside out further, she reached down and grabbed the radio, which appeared like she was just itching her leg.

  When she spun to face him, she hid it behind her back. “Maybe we should go somewhere private to talk more about motorcycles?”

  Despite the darkness, she could see the wide grin on Rice’s face. Without warning, Chin fired and hit her in the leg.

  Then he said, “You dumb ass hick. How did you miss that trashy bitch picking up our radio?”

  Rose went down, and balanced on one knee.

  Rice glared over at him and said, “You seem to forget that I am the CO here. What the hell?”

  Chin ignored him and aimed at Rose.

  “You dumb bitch, I told you not to fuck around. What a shame.”

  Then he shot her in the chest.

  She grabbed at her chest as she stumbled backwards, then lost her balance on the flat concrete skirt that surrounded the rooftop. Unable to recover, she fell backwards off of the rooftop. When Rice and Chin looked over the side, she was on her back on the ground. Her eyes were closed and even in the dark they could see that the pool of blood formed around her upper body had soaked her black uniform.

  Rice raised his voice. “Do we have a problem?”

  Chin looked down at the street, then back at Rice. “Won’t happen again sir.”

  Winslow reached down and picked up the radio. “She’s fucking dead. If not, she will be soon.”

  Rice raised his voice, “Any more shenanigans, and you will be down there next.”

  Annoyed, Chin looked away.

  Chapter 29

  Down the street at the brewery, Ray and Jacques took their time. In the office area, they cleared the stiff stage 4 zombies in each room with minimal resistance or sweat. Visibly puzzled, Ray looked over at Jacques as he inspected yet another closet, or hiding space in vicinity.

  “Just being careful,” Jacques said as he exited from behind a stack of crates.

  At the end of the building, a stack of kegs fell. Then three sprinting zombies charged at Ray. Dodging one step to the right, he stiff armed one of the oncoming zombies. With is next movement, he swung his thick metal pipe, which embedded the thick flange and fitting on the end into the eye socket of another zombie. Then Jacques’ giant pipe wrench split its skull in one violent stroke.

  A lipstick maroon geyser of blood spurted until the zombie finally tilted over and slammed face first into the concrete. With rage, Jacques whacked the wrench into the next zombie, which sent it back a few steps. Weaponless, Ray tackled it. Then grabbed its hair and smashed its head into the concrete repeatedly.

  “Move,” said Jacques.

  Just as Ray did, he slammed the backside of the thick wrench into the zombies face a half dozen times until it ceased to move. The bashing sound of Jacques just to make sure crack of each zombies’ skull made Ray cringe as he searched for a new weapon. When a blind zombie with no eyes staggered out from behind a palette of kegs Ray tripped it. Then Jacques used his massive wrench to crush its skull. Locating a similar wrench, Ray nodded with satisfaction.

  Ray said, “Let’s be sure there aren’t any more upstairs.”

  Jacques responded, “Lead the way.”

  When they moved up the stairs to inspect the floor above, they were close enough to smell each other’s sweat. The second floor was an open area with almost nothing there. From there every zombie corpse they had created was visible on the floor below.

  Ray said, “This floor is definitely clear, now let’s clear the rest out.”

  Jacques nodded and followed him up the ornate black metal stairs. At the top, Ray stopped and held up his hands. In the next room, they could see at least a dozen zombies in blue coveralls. To avoid alerting the horde Jacques signaled. Plotting an ambush without any words, they went down the stairs without a sound. Then Jac
ques ducked behind a large crate filled with kegs, and Ray did the same directly across from him.

  “You are all fucking dead, you bastards,” yelled the mysterious voice, which emanated from behind the barricade in front of the open door at end of the room.

  The massive horde then charged toward the blockade and began scraping at it as they pressed each other forward. When Ray looked over at Jacques they moved toward the group of undead. As they got closer to the blockade, they could hear laughing, but focused on the single oncoming zombie.

  Working in tandem, Jacques swiped at its legs. When it hit the ground, Ray smashed his wrench into its rotted eye socket multiple times. Despite the noise, the undead horde remained focused on trying to break through the barricade. Ray gestured to the stack of sheet metal leaning on the wall nearby, and then moved his gloved index finger across his throat in a cutting motion.

  Carrying the sheet metal like a fragile wedding cake, they moved slow toward the zombie horde. Without any words or signals, they positioned it at neck height. When they pressed the edge of the sheet metal into the horde, the metal flexed and cut into their gloves, but created thick gashes on the backs of each zombies’ necks. When the zombies turned to lash out, new cuts were created on the front of their necks.

  Temporarily stunned two of the zombies fell back as showers of gushing blood pulsed from their windpipes. Ray and Jacques swung their melee wrenches at the remaining zombies connecting where ever they could. Backed into the corner, the remaining zombies were bashed down until each of their skulls were crushed.

  When the two damaged zombies recovered, one of their heads was partially sliced off at the neck and another through its face. With a home run swing, Jacques knocked one of their heads off leaving just the jaw and a flittering tongue. On the ground, it flailed as he crushed the rest of its skull into pieces. Then he and Ray pounded into the other one’s face until its head fell backwards and detached.

  “That was too close,” said Jacques.