“We’ll carry him over to the cemetery,” I said.
Dave looked where I pointed. “We could do that,” he said.
“Ah, Chase,” Allison said.
I stood up. I’d been right. The hotel had a zombie infestation. Or did. Looked like they were filing out of the hotel’s automated doors.
“Are you going to be okay to run?”
Allison nodded. “I will.”
“Dave, we need to get out of here. I’m going to put Josh back into the car.”
“We’ll drive to the cemetery,” Dave said.
No point arguing. I lifted Josh by under the arms. Grunting, I positioned him so that his head went into the car. “Got to help me, Dave,” I said.
Dave leaned over. Grabbed onto his brother and pulled as I worked to get his legs into the vehicle.
“Chase,” Allison said.
“Get back in the car,” I told her. It did not seem like a safe ride. If it still drove, it would get us away faster than running. Possibly.
“We need to go, again, Dave.”
He saw them then. “They are all coming out of there? The hotel.”
“Looks that way.”
Dave shifted the car into drive, and on two flats, we limped back onto Fetzner.
“Got to do me a favor, Dave, a huge favor.”
He didn’t look at me. He kept his eyes on the road. He kept his hands on the wheel.
“I need you to get me to my apartment. It’s less than a mile. It’s right past that plaza down there. Past the Toys R Us.”
“I know where Stone Road is,” he said, “and we’ll get there, after we bury my brother.”
Allison was on her knees. She stared out the back . . . could not say window. There was no glass left. She watched as the zombies that had been converging on our car, now aimlessly milled about since we’d left.
None of them had been fast zombies. Had they of been, I don’t think this badly disabled wreck would have gotten us far before getting overpowered.
Rubber was off one of the tires completely. The sound of metal on asphalt was dangerously loud. We weren’t going to make it further than the intersection. And Dave was not making a left on Ridge. He was headed straight to where Fetzner turned into Latona.
“Dave, please.”
“Help me bury my brother,” he said. “Don’t make me do this alone. Don’t make me drive around with his body in the car. I can’t do that, man. I want to help you. I want to see you get back together with your kids. We’re going to Mexico, right? I’m in. I want to be a part of that. But, please, don’t let me bury my brother all by myself.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
The car was done. Had it. Finished. The rims rolled on pavement. Didn’t matter. From where I stood on Latona, it was clear even an SUV would never make it traveling up and down Ridge Road. It was congested as fuck.
Dave threw Josh over his shoulder. Allison and I followed with the weapons. The cemetery gate was open. We walked on in.
I was anxious. Any spot of grass looked good to me. “What about here,” I said, pointing.
“I think under a tree would be better,” Dave said.
Allison touched my arm. It was meant to quiet me. I worked. Instead of talking, I ground my teeth. Felt muscles tighten in my jaw.
Dave walked to the center of the cemetery -- it was not a big burial ground at all. Less than a street block. Place was old. Full, mostly. But it was peaceful, too, despite the main road traffic on two of its four sides.
I dug the shovel blade into the ground. Stepped on the rim.
Dave put up a hand. “I’ll dig this one.”
I nodded, pushed the handle toward him, and walked to stand near Allison.
“What time you think it is?”
“No idea,” she said. “Eight? Nine o’clock? Midnight? Not a clue.”
I closed my eyes and pressed a fist to my forehead.
“What?”
“I had my phone charging in the Lexus.” My phone, the charger . . . gone.
“Chase, I’m sorry.”
I wanted to say we’re going back. That I need to get my phone. That would not go over well. Not after my speech to Dave. He’d never understand the difference. Maybe there wasn’t one. “I’m fucked, Allison. If my kids aren’t at my place, if they aren’t there waiting for me, I’m fucked.”
“Don’t say that. We’re going to get through this.”
She didn’t get it. I wasn’t going to argue with her. If my kids weren’t at my place, I give up. I’ll totally surrender. Because this life wasn’t worth a shit before. Without my kids though? It’s not even comprehensible why I’d consider staying. She did not need to know that. Not yet. I knew it. It was all that mattered.
There was nothing more to say. I had a plan. Find my kids and get us all to Mexico, or bust.
Dave was a beast. I leaned my back against the tree. I felt helpless watching. I wanted to help. Dave didn’t need it. He removed chunks of hard earth with determination, and precision. He’d outlined a rectangle and was now diligently scooping out the center.
It would not take him long.
Allison grabbed my arm, pointed.
The shoveling was a steady noise. The shovel striking earth, scraping rock, dirt landing in a pile.
With no cars. No horns. No anything -- Dave might as well have been a police siren screaming.
“Dave, hold up,” I said.
Three zombies were in the cemetery. They ambled over our way. I looked around the tree. There were more. Outside the fence, groups roaming aimlessly about. They bumped into things.
All of them seemed slow.
It was too dark to make out much. The streetlights were on. Must have been timer activated. “We’ve got to be quiet,” I said.
“Dave,” Allison said.
I turned around. Dave had stormed off. He held the shovel like a baseball bat. He went at all three zombies.
“Shit,” I said, “stay here.”
I snatched Allison’s hedge trimmers and followed after Dave.
Dave took a batting stance feet from all three of the zombies. He had earned their interest. They moved closer, one sluggish foot-dragging a step at a time.
He did not wait.
Before I reached him, his back-up, he’d swung. A head flew off the one zombie on his right. The body stood, arms outstretched for a long five-second count, before toppling over. In those five seconds, Dave had destroyed the remaining two creatures. He drove the shovel blade into the throat of the one standing in the center, and then spun to his right, full circle, and slammed the side of the shovel into the skull of the zombie on his left.
Once that last zombie fell, Dave used the shovel the way a shovel was intended to be used and dug off the creature’s head, stepping onto the shovel rim with all his weight until the zombie was fully decapitated.
I stopped a few feet behind him, bent over, hands on my knees. “We need to get out of here,” I said. I whispered. Dave handled these three fine, but the sheer numbers surrounding us was not on our side. The more I looked around, the more I was noticing -- like looking up at a night sky and not seeing a single star, but then all at once you realize the entire sky is starlit. Only, this was way different. “I mean now.”
“I have to finish burying my brother,” he said.
“I get that, Dave. We’ll come back. Nothing is going to disturb him where he is. He’s actually safer than we are. But us,” I pointed at him, at me, back at him, “we’re in some shit here. We have no car. Once those walkers realize we’re here -- once they smell us, we’re fucked. Okay? Fucked.”
Dave walked at me. His chest in my face. “Go if you want. I’m finishing the job.”
He’d kept his voice down, but the anger and disappointment were clear. Not hidden at all. “Dave,” I said.