Chapter 10: The Fight to New York
(Authors Note: I am very sorry for any of the terms I get wrong in this story. It is possible to see from my writing that I am English So I am sorry If I get the geography wrong and terms like torches flashlight. However I am glad that you have all taken a interest to the story thank you for your reviews. Plus any recommendations to the plot of the story will be considered)
They had been driving down the highway for at least two hours now. They truly had escaped the hospital now and were set of their course to New York.
Quinn couldn't help but smile. Soon he'd get back to Rachael soon he could tell her how much she meant to him.
Steven was in the back with Rebecca and Daniel and were currently engaging in a card game of poker he thought but he couldn't exactly tell.
He'd managed to dig out a copy of an old rock CD from the glove compartment and they were currently cruising along whilst listening to various rock tracks.
There was a cheer from the back as Daniel won another round of whatever it was they were playing.
Quinn felt quiet safe up there in the truck they'd only come across a few undead who made vein attempts to get at them, but nothing yet had managed to pose a threat to them.
"How's it going up there Quinn" Steven asked from the back
"It's going good" Quinn said cheerfully.
"Ah! You cheated" Rebecca exclaimed and started laughing
"Would I cheat?" Daniel asked sarcastically.
Rebecca pushed him in a flirty way.
"HEY!" Quinn exclaimed "You kids calm down otherwise I'm going to turn this car around" he laughed.
That sent the truck into laughter and Steven managed to squeeze up front to sit next to Quinn.
"I bet you can't wait to get back to your wife in New York"
"God yes"
"I stake money on it now she's wishing that you were safe and on your way back to her."
"You think."
"Sure she'd be lucky to have a guy like you."
"Thanks, even though I've been pretty much pining after her there was still the voice of doubt in my mind that she'd want nothing to do with me."
"No problem, If it's anything to you I've got an old sweet heart back in NY to, we parted ways a while ago"
"Really, Well when we get there look her up"
"I shall"
There was more laughter from behind them.
Quinn span to glance what was going on then suddenly Steven screamed.
"WATCH OUT"
Quinn span back to look and a zombie had charged at the truck and was right in front of them. Ben didn't have time to try and avoid it so the truck slammed into it and the zombie hit the truck and rolled up the bonnet. It then proceeded to roll up to the ceiling. However they didn't hear it roll any further it must have clung onto the roof.
"Shit he's on the roof." Quinn said and began to swerve the truck left and right to try and get it off.
"I'll get him where's your revolver?"
"Here," Quinn pulled the gun out of his waistband and handed it to Steven. Steven grasped it then sat on the side of the door. He leaned backwards and saw the zombie clinging on. Steven pulled the hammer back and fired shot. The zombie who was trying to hang on flinched as the bullet struck it's shoulder and it's grip was lost and it rolled of the top and hit the ground at a terrific force Steven and Quinn heard the crack as he shattered some bones in it's body.
Quinn laughed and so did Steven, even though the thing was once human they'd come to accept them as different creatures, things that didn't represent the old life in it.
"Stupid bloody thing"
The next few hours were uneventful they were driving for a good few hours and it was coming to sun set when Quinn saw Phillip's truck begin to pull into a petrol station/ Bar.
Quinn followed suit and was kind of relieved to stop driving for a bit.
They all clambered out of the trucks and stood on the petrol forecourt.
Phillip walked over and had a largish smile on his face.
"We did it, good work every one.," he said
"It was down to you really," Quinn said.
"Why've we stopped here" Daniel was quick to ask.
"I figured we could all do with a break now so I thought this would be as good as place as any." Phillip said
Quinn stopped to look at the abandoned gas station. It was relatively small and it look gritty and disgusting it didn't look like any one had used the place in years let alone a few days. The old bar didn't look to appealing either. It had an old neon sign that wasn't lit up proclaiming the place to be "Eddy's rest pit". There were a few motorbikes outside all pulled up, signaling that the place was once occupied. Perhaps even some of the undead still occupied its regions.
"Right." Phillip said making sure he got everyone's attention and then he continued.
"We're going to have to clear this place up encase there are some of the zombies around. So we're going to have to split into three groups. One to clear the petrol station, one the bar the other to guard the trucks. Rebecca and Daniel can take the trucks, Steven and Me will take the petrol station and Quinn, Marcus and Seth can take the bar."
The group all murmured their agreements then instantly set to their assigned tasks.
Marcus took the led with Quinn's group, followed by Seth then Quinn himself.
They walked up to the entrance all gripping their assorted weapons. Then they stood around the door as Seth began to check through the dark windows, trying to see any sign of movement from the inside.
"Get ready you two, who knows what'll run out of these doors." Marcus said.
The pair of them both raised their weapons at the door as Marcus laid his hand on the handle ready to fling it open. Then after a brief pause he swung it open.
The smell hit them almost instantaneously, it was a combination of blood, rotting flesh and vomit all rolled into one then thrown at them. It was so bad that Quinn heaved away and started gagging. Seth however did lose his lunch all over the car park. Marcus seemed to take the smell at a simple flick of the head and brought his hand up to cover the smell.
"Jesus!" Seth moaned as he spat out the last remains of the vomit. "What the fuck died in there?"
Marcus leaned round the corner of the door, trying to see something in the dimming light. He quickly pulled out a torch and shinned it around the dark bar. The light picking up the occasional bit of metal, the whole room was filled with the disgusting smell.
Quinn managed to keep his last meal tucked into his stomach and then moved over to stand next to Marcus and peer into the bar.
"We're going to have to go in." Marcus then uttered. "I'll go first and Quinn you follow behind, Seth take the rear."
Marcus then raised his gun and stormed in, Quinn quickly followed his gun also raised, Seth however had taken to spilling yet more old food onto the floor.
Marcus and Quinn both moved around the bar very quietly watching where they were treading to make sure they didn't trip or step on something that would make a noise.
The bar was fairly empty apart from a few tables and glasses; many of the tables had been over turned. There was defiantly enough evidence to suggest that there was some sort of fight or struggle in the bar.
What Quinn couldn't understand was where the smell was coming from. It didn't seem to get stronger anywhere. Then eventually Marcus let out a dull moan from by the bar, he was looking over it. He'd obviously found the source.
Quinn moved over quickly deciding to lower his gun. He also leaned over the bar to glance at what Marcus had discovered, it was a corpse unsurprisingly and it had various bite wounds all over it, it also had a huge gapping wound in it's head. It was obviously once a zombie. Some one had shot it, and judging by its wound it was at relative close range when it was done.
It was possible to tell from the decomposition of the body that the person who had killed it had moved on a long time ago, or they themselves were dead.
"Dam" Quinn uttered, he could feel his stomach rumbling from disgust.
"I'm going to check the back room," Marcus whispered, indicating the back room of the bar with his gun, "You stay here unless you hear gun shots okay?"
Quinn nodded.
Marcus then climbed over the bar then headed into the back room.
Quinn was then left alone with the silence and the smell.
He was there for a few minutes keeping his open as Marcus moved around in there, he could hear the odd bump and clang of cutlery.
Then suddenly there was a scream and a gunshot from outside. The back room door flew open and Marcus can running in. Quinn was quick out of the door to find out what had happened.
Seth, who had been to preoccupied with vomiting his guts up had failed to notice the zombie that must have run out from behind the bar and the two were now locked in wrestle on the floor. Daniel and Rebecca had noticed the zombie charging and Daniel had managed to fire a shot at it. However it had taken the shot at a glance and managed to jump at Seth.
Quinn glanced around, He could hear movement coming from behind the bar. As he managed to look at it, before he would go and help Seth. Three more zombies came running around.
"Shit" he cried out, alerting Marcus to the danger as well.
Quinn raised the rifle and fired a shot into the leading one. Hitting its shoulder and the force of the bullet caused it to fall backwards to the ground. Marcus unleashed his shotgun. The shells spraying forward and taking the other two zombies to the floor. He then cast the shotgun aside and drew the desert eagle. Quinn managed to fire a second shot catching one of the zombies who was standing up in the head.
Daniel, while Quinn and Marcus were engaging with the other zombies rushed to Seth's rescue. He rocketed forward and kicked with his heavy police boot into the undead's ribs casting off Seth. Daniel was sure he heard a crack as well.
Marcus cocked the desert eagle and then before either of the other zombies got chance to stand up he dispatched them quickly.
"Ahhhhh…bastard!" Seth cried out as he writhed around on the floor.
Daniel quickly finished off the zombie that had attacked Seth with a quick shot to the head.
Quinn moved over to Seth quickly after he'd slung the rifle over his shoulder.
"What's wrong Seth are you okay?" he asked as he approached the man.
He could see that Seth was far from okay though there was blood everywhere he'd been bitten. Judging by Seth's writhing and where he was gripping it was his neck that had been bitten. Quinn was quick to act kneeling down beside the injured man.
"Let me see the wound move your hands" He said. Seth did as he was asked reluctantly. Trying desperately not to clasp down on the wound. The moment his hands moved though a gush of blood came out.
"Shit," Quinn uttered, "Daniel quick put some pressure on this wound for me." He said, Daniel did as he was asked, Marcus also decided to help by stopping Seth from moving.
Quinn got up and ran to one of the ambulances. He crashed in and frantically searched for a shot of morphine, he found one relatively quickly and set it up drawing the morphine into the syringe. Then he was back out again making sure to bring plenty of bandages with him. He dived onto the ground next to Seth and quickly injected the morphine.
Seth's thrashing became subdued in a matter of seconds and Daniel managed to keep his hands over the wound.
Quinn moved up Seth's body to get a better look at the wound, being a doctor for a few years had taught him that Seth had a low chance of surviving the wound and even if he did he would surely turn into one the zombies but he wasn't going to give up on him.
"Move your hands a second Daniel" Quinn asked, when Daniel moved his hands out of the way more blood flowed out but Quinn was quick to apply a pad to stop it flowing out. If Seth had been concentrating he would've noticed that Seth had in fact died.
Quinn was wrapping a bandage around when he heard Marcus "Quinn, he's dead"
Quinn sighed and stepped back from the body, he looked down on the mess that was Seth's corpse.
"He was such a cocky bugger" Marcus said, "He didn't think he'd go like this, he always talked about getting killed in a shoot out saying he was stupid enough to get himself shot by some punk with a gun."
Rebecca was now in tears and Daniel was trying to stifle them back. Marcus was pointing a gun at the head of Seth's head waiting for a twitch of its re-animation.
Steven and Philip had both heard and seen to commotion and they were walking up behind the four still left alive. They had figured out what had happened judging by Marcus' gun pointing at the corpse.
"Daft bastard" Phillip uttered to himself.
"It was the morphine…" Quinn sighed, "I shouldn't have given him any he was too weak to deal with it with a wound like that."
"Don't talk like that Doc," Steven said, "With a wound like that he was dead any way, even if the morphine hadn't killed him the pain, or loss of blood would've"
Quinn glanced at Steven and managed a half smile in gratitude. His smile was cute short by a sudden twitch of Seth's body as Marcus noticed the twitch too and fired a round from the devastating gun into Seth's now vacant skull.
Quinn closed his eyes as though the gunshot pained him in some way. Rebecca was coiled up in the arms of Daniel. Steven and Phillip simply looked on at Marcus who had a single tear rolling down his cheek.