It felt like an eternity, though in reality it was only a couple of minutes before the high concentration of abandoned cars finally came to an end and they were able to increase their speed. Gabriel ’s small car roared after the leading vehicles, ripping down the streets as quickly as he dared push it.“It’s all back roads from here,” the man in the passenger seat said after a time. Gabriel shot him a glance, but quickly turned his focus back to the road ahead. “I’m Rico, by the way,” the man added, motioning to himself with his hand that wasn’t holding a shotgun. Then, waving into the backseat, he said “this here is my brother Lucas and my cousin Chuy.”Gabriel blinked, turning his head just enough to glance sideways into the back seat. “Chewy?” he echoed in disbelief ef.“Chewy” was playing with a switchblade, and at Gabriel ’s tone he snapped the blade into place and leaned forward. “What, you got a problem, ?”“Oh settle down, niño,” the woman to Chuy’s left said. “You gonna st
Gabriel caught the knife with both hands and as little flailing as he could manage. He had never been too good at catching unexpected items midair, and usually just ended up batting them around a bit with each hand as he flailed desperately and unsuccessfully to grab the item before knocking it out of his own reach. Not wanting to look like an idiot in front of this big group of strangers, he was quite thankful and rGabriel even when he managed to actually catch the item this time.He turned the pocket knife over in his hands, looking at it. It was the multi-tool variety, complete with a number of items that would probably never be useful again, like a cork screw and wire cutters. “Thanks, uh, I guess,” he muttered. He turned his head and looked down the highway. Down the line, at another empty car, someone was busy draining the unneeded gas from the tank into a container. Someone else was similarly busy going through the vehicle for useful items. “What kind of stuff would be conside
“I don’t know!” She snapped, turning away from them. “Just, anything but that,” she added quietly.“Maybe she’s right,” a woman Gabriel hadn’t met chimed in. “It’s a nasty name.”“Um, there’s kind of a precedent for this,” Gabriel argued. “All the lore about creatures like this calls them zombies. They look like zombies, they walk like zombies, they talk like zombies. Therefore, they are zombies.”“These things don’t talk,” the woman countered. “They don’t even seem to moan.”“I’ve heard one moan.”“Have you?”Gabriel opened his mouth to reply and then stopped short. Actually, everything from the past two days now seemed like a blur, and it felt like almost none of it could even be real. “Okay, maybe not. I guess I’m not sure. But no sounds might be even more creepy than weird moaning for people’s brains, and it still fits with zombie lore.”“What lore?” The woman continued, shaking her head in disbelief. “And why should it matter? Can’t you at least just respect someone’s wishes a
“Yeah,” Jay agreed. “Look at all those windows. It looks more like an office building than a military complex.”The caravan pulled off onto a side street, and followed a path to an entrance gate. They came to a stop, and Robert and someone in an army uniform climbed out of the lead car. They stood conversing for some time and looking around as if searching for something. “We’re locked out,” Gabriel exclaimed in annoyance. “We came all this way, and they didn’t even have a plan for getting into the place.”“I’ve been on a few military bases,” Stephen said from the back seat. “There will be another entrance, one easier to access. I’m sure Devin knows that.”As if on cue, the two outside turned around and headed back to their car. Robert made a gesture to the remaining vehicles to follow after him, then climbed back up into the driver’s seat. They followed along the gate, rounding a corner and heading further along the base. One of the buildings loomed up before them: a large, three sto
“Got it,” Jay said, nodding. Gabriel let him go and he hurried off to the car.Robert came up and patted him on the shoulder. “Best of luck, young man,” he said, then hurried off to his car. Gabriel watched as all the vehicles pulled off, the SUVs headed away around the side of the building and his own car pulled off into the field. For some reason, in this moment, he felt a lot more alone then he ever recalled feGabriel ng before. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he turned and made his way to the parking lot.Drawing two bats from his bag – one aluminum, one wood – he began calling to the creatures. “Hey, you zombies! Free meal! Come and get it!” He stepped right up to the closest one and swung his bat right into its face, knocking it flat to the ground. He looked around to get his bearings and stopped. Even still, none of the creatures took note of him. “Hey, come on! What’s the matter with you?” He shouted, banging his bats together for extra noise. He started to say somet
As one the group made their way across the room to a doorway presumably leading further into the building. Robert pressed his ear up to the door and listened. Seemingly satisfied he leaned back and reached for the knob. He held up his free hand and began counting down from three with his fingers.“Just open the door already,” Gabriel snapped.Everyone in the group cringed at the unexpected sound. Robert turned and glared at Gabriel . “What?” the young man asked, innocently. “What do you think is waiting on the other side of the door, a crack commando squad? It’ll be zombies if anything. Counting down in silence isn’t gonna keep them from hearing us. They’re dead. They don’t hear anything.”Robert sighed but didn’t argue. As if consenting defeat, he simply opened the door and stepped back, letting flashlights shine their way past him into the corridor beyond. It was empty as far as they could see.“All right,” Robert said, waving them on. “We’ll go in our groups. Stay sharp.”Rico, Lu
Jay caught up to Gabriel and followed his gaze around the corner. “The far door?” he asked after a moment, and Gabriel nodded his agreement. The door furthest from them was cracked open just slightly, almost even imperceptibly, but it was definitely open. All the other doors were closed.The two companions quickly stepped over to the door, and then pressed their backs to the wall on either side. They exchanged glances briefly, and then Gabriel reached out and pushed the door open. They quickly raised their flashlights into the room, flicking the beans about in the attempt to uncover something, anything, at all. Beyond the fact that this was another laboratory of some sort, however, there was nothing at all inside. Jay raised his gun in front of him, ready to fire, and stepped into the room, Gabriel hot on his heels.They moved cautiously, letting their flashlights dart about, covering as much ground as possible. Like the lab they’d been in a few minutes earlier, this one looked li
He was just in time to see a door click shut down the hallway. He lowered his arms again and let out a sigh of annoyance.“I said, what are you doing here?”Devin spun around back in the direction he had come from; back in the direction of the voice, weapon aimed and ready. No one was there, or at least no one aside from the group he had come with. For a long moment everybody froze, and then as if some signal had been sent they all realized where the voice had come from. Robert had left his radio on, and it was broadcasting. He unclipped the radio from his belt and raised it up for everyone to hear.“Take it easy, take it easy,” came the sound of Gabriel ’s voice. “It’s okay, we don’t mean any harm to you.”“Good Jay,” Robert said, realizing, correctly, that Jay was holding down the transmit button on his radio so everyone else could hear what was going on.“Boy, you break into a military base and you’re telling me to take it easy? Why did you come here? What do you know? Who sent you