Tommy smiled. “We got ‘em all. This place secure?” he asked.
I nodded. “Good to go. When the people get here, get the women and kids upstairs, with two men at the top of the stairs to make a stand if needed.”
Tommy looked at me. “You expecting trouble?”
I pointed over his shoulder. It looked like a thousand dead were coming down the lane after the group. A shuffling, shambling mass of moaning, wheezing dead.
“Here it comes now.”
13
We were out of time. Tommy, Duncan and I managed to get one hundred and thrity-two people to the relative safety of a school building, but right on our heels was a small army of undead. We had five minutes before they were on us, and we had no where else to go. So this is it, I thought. Here is where we stand. I made some quick decisions.
I looked at the group assembled before me. Most were tired from their long walk, and in no shape to fight. But we had no choice. We had to stand here, or we wouldn’t stand at all. I was not going to go out this way. I was not going to end here, not going to break my promise to my son or to my wife.
“Listen up! Listen people! I don’t have time for a long speech. The dead are coming, and they will be here shortly.” I saw some nervous looks towards the doors and windows. Thankfully, no one screamed. “We need to get the children upstairs to safety with their mothers and fathers. Each family gets one gun. If they get past us, you decide what you want to do.” I pointed to two men who held rifles. “You two will guard the stairs. Don’t waste ammo on anything other than head shots. If the dead get past us, you’ll need to choke the stairs with bodies to buy yourselves some time.” I threw some large zip ties at them. “Secure the doors at the ends of the hallways. If you need to get out, use the north stairwell. Get through the window at the bottom of the stairs. There’s a creek out there and it will slow down any Z’s coming after you.”
The men nodded and started herding the families and children to the main stairwell. I stopped a young woman heading away.
“What’s your name?” I asked, shifting my carbine to my other shoulder.
“Karen.” She said, her eyes wide with fear. She looked to be about 20, with thin blonde hair and summer clothing.
“Karen, I’m John and this is Jake.” I held up my fully awake, squirming son. “I need you to take care of him until I come for him.” I said, handing him over.
Karen held Jake but shook her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t. What if those things get through, what if they come up, I can’t…”
I gently held her face and looked into her eyes. “Karen. I know you can do this. Just play with him like there’s nothing going on, and I will be back for him in a little while. No matter what you hear, you keep it together. Keep him safe, and I will keep you safe. I promise.”
Karen nodded and took Jake away. I steeled myself that I would see him again and turned to the task at hand. A slow fire was starting in my gut and my jaw clenched at the coming fight. In a strange way, I welcomed it. I wanted the fight, I wanted to kill and kill and kill. I wanted revenge on these things that had taken away my wife, my life, and destroyed my world. I would fight today and not go quietly.
I ran to the garage and retrieved my Enfield and crowbar. If it came to close quarters, I wanted every tool I had. I grabbed my extra carbine magazines and ran back to the group, which numbered around 75.
I motioned Tommy and Duncan over. “Take five men each and cover the front entrance. That’s the weakest point. Take them down close to the building, make the rest slow up. Each shot has to count. Make sure everyone has a blunt weapon in case they get in. The stairwell at the north end of the building is your fallback point. Good luck.” They ran to the group, quickly selected ten men, and ran to the front door. I could see through the windows that the zombies were halfway through the parking lot.
I turned to the main group and assigned ten men to cover the back door, which was also glass. I told them to hold their fire and make every shot count. Create choke points and buy themselves time. I didn’t expect trouble from there, but who knew? I grabbed five men and took them to the small hallway near the gym. There was another door there that led outside. I gave them the same advice. Don’t let too many get through, make them work for it.
I took the remainder and spread them out in the hallways in groups of two. Any more together and they would likely hit each other. They didn’t have guns, and were nervously fingering their makeshift weapons. They were to act as backup if someone went down. They were also to guard against any zombies making it through a window. Not likely, given the nature of the windows, but it was possible. One of them, a big guy I had heard someone call Charlie, positioned himself in front of the main stairwell doors. He held a length of lead pipe that had a t-junction attached to one end. In the other hand he had a small hatchet. I mentally gave him a Good luck, brother. I stationed myself near the south door. It was another weak point, but I figured it was as good a place as any. I went to the door and looked out the window. I had a stairwell to the second floor nearby, but I knew the doors had been secured with a zip tie.
Holy shit. We were in serious trouble. More zombies had joined the original crew from the subdivision surrounding the building, and I figured there had to be at least eight hundred of the bastards out there. We didn’t have nearly enough ammo. That slow fire in my gut began to burn a little hotter and I had to restrain myself from throwing myself outside to do battle. Where did this come from? Why was I so eager to jump into the fray? I advised caution at every turn, but here at what could be my last act, I wanted to just engage my enemy, to rend and smash. My hand gripped my carbine tighter and I shifted my crowbar to be within easy reach.
I jumped back from the doors as a rotting face slammed against the glass. Broken teeth cracked against the upper window of the door. It was so torn and rotted I couldn’t tell what it used to be. It moaned loudly and began pounding on the door. Since the door opened outward, it would be a while before this was a serious threat. But the message was clear: The dead had arrived
I could hear pounding echoing throughout the building, and glass crashing. Shots were being fired, but I couldn’t tell where they were coming from. Shouts could be heard, and I could hear Tommy yelling “Kill them, kill them! They’re getting in! “Kill them! Aim for the head, damn you!” I desperately wanted to run down to see what was happening, but things were getting interesting on my end. The window of the door had been smashed in and two arms were reaching through the opening. They belonged to two zombies that looked relatively fresh, although they were cut up badly from putting their arms through the glass. The center of the door was about chest high, so they couldn’t quite climb in, but I hesitated at killing them. I didn’t want to give the ones behind them a step up to get in the door.
More shots and shouts. I couldn’t take my eyes off my door, since all it took was a second and you were done. I chanced a glance behind me to check on the other guys in my hallway and found myself alone. Fuck it, I thought. Oh well. At least I didn’t have to worry about getting shot by accident or clubbed by somebody. All I had to worry about was being torn to pieces by zombies and consumed, or infected by the virus and turning into a zombie myself. Spiffy.
With my back clear, I decided to slow things down at my door. I shot the two that were hanging in and they slumped to the ground. They were immediately trampled by the zombies behind them and because these were able to stand on the first ones, they were able to leverage more of themselves into the window. I was astonished at their tenacity, especially when they jagged glass tore open their abdomens and ropey intestines spilled out over the door. I didn’t waste any time on introspection, and shot them as they raised their dead faces and groaned at me. They slumped over the window and effectively blocked the next two, which were pushing forward. I shot them as well, trying to block the door as much as possible. But the crowd outside was surging, trying to get at the prey they knew was within, and the door started to bulge and strain. The first zombies to fall were pulped as others trod on them, and the windows of the doors were full of grasping, groping arms.