Sorry if the chapters are a little short, but I haven't had much time to write this week.
'The death of someone we know always reminds us that we are still alive - perhaps for some purpose which we ought to re-examine.'
The three of them watched as the truck came closer, the men still firing at the advancing crowds that were now massing together behind them as they drove up the road. Jimmy looked out across the street, there was little out there except wreckage and smouldered cars, he gripped the shotgun and made his decision.
"We have to go," he said," now,"
"I cant get the car started," Roland said," we-,"
"We're going on foot," Jimmy said," right now, go!"
Jimmy climbed through the window and looked around; an alleyway across the street would keep them out of view for now. He moved off, hearing the others close behind as he ran through the street.
Inside the alley he led the way, through the buildings and back towards the river. As they reached the other side, a lone zombie in the street turned to face him. He rose the shotgun at it and took careful aim, it lunged but didn't have the chance to raise it's arms before it's face exploded.
"Which way?" Roland asked, looking both ways down the road.
At one end was a mass pile up of cars and at the other, a thick cloud of smoke and fiery flashes from within it. Jimmy led the way towards the pile up, they would have to climb over if they wanted to get out of here. The gunfire from he vigilantes had upped a pace, it was a continuous stream of bangs now. Jimmy could hear the rumbling of feet on the ground and screams of the undead, surprisingly closer than he thought they were. He looked over his shoulder and was shocked for a moment.
Behind them, thousands of zombies were pouring from the smokescreen, more coming every second. At a sprint that would rival an Olympic runner, the zombies came at them in a horde of blood and rotting flesh.
"GO!" Jimmy shouted, aiming the shotgun at the advancing mob.
Cass screamed in despair as she saw the crowd coming and Roland had to drag her towards the pile up. Jimmy backed off slowly, keeping the gun aimed at them as they closed in a thick semi-circle around him. He felt his throat become dry as he backed into a car, he fired, hitting one of them in the chest and throwing it back into the mass, but they didn't slow and he scrambled onto front of the car. He fired again as two more, slightly ahead of the others, almost reached him.
"Jimmy!" Cass's voice said.
He turned to look at her just in time to see a zombie trying to break free of the car wrecks, he moved his leg away from the reaching hands and jumped onto another car as the zombies climbed up onto the first. He turned, knowing that they had to be slowed or they were all going to die. He shot one in the head as it leapt across the gap between cars and it did a backward flip, bouncing off a hard and landing with a squish on the road. Another fell to the shotgun and fell back onto two more, slowly a small group temporarily. He climbed onto the side of a tanker, up the ladder on the side and onto the giant fuel truck. He sat there, looking back at the zombies who were trying to find a way round to him.
"Help!" Cass cried and he jumped down the other side of the truck.
There were two zombies on them, one wearing a blue uniform and the other a suit. Roland was on the ground, the fire axe against them and trying to hold them back. Cass was hopelessly beating one of them over the head with a brick, but it wasn't letting go.
"Get out of the way!" Jimmy shouted and Cass fell to the ground.
He fired the shotgun and it hit the one in the suit, splattering it's brains across the road. The second one held on and Jimmy cocked the gun. He pulled the trigger and it made a horrible clunk, he tried cocking it but it was jammed. In the side of the shotgun, a shell was hanging out, half crushed by the loading mechanisiam.
Jimmy spun the shotgun around in his hands and smashed the butt into the back of the zombie's head. It let go and rolled off, twitching and trying to get up. He pulled hard on the shell and managed to pull it out, he cocked the gun again and aimed it at the zombie as it got up, looking around for them.
"Hey," Jimmy said.
The zombie turned around and Cass gasped, it was Eric.
"No," Cass breathed," not you too,"
Jimmy stood dazed, thoughts racing through his head. But he knew what he had to do.
"I'm sorry," Jimmy whispered, pulling the trigger.
Jimmy fell to his knees by Eric's side, but he was finally still. The zombies behind them were smashing their hands against the barricade of cars, but eventually they would get through.
"I cant believe this," Jimmy said," he was the only person who stuck his neck out for us,"
"Without him," Cass said," we would never have made it,"
"I hate to break up this," Roland said," but we have to move,"
Jimmy looked back, the zombies were climbing up the side of the truck and were almost over it.
"You guy's keep running," Jimmy said," I'll catch up, I've got a plan,"
He put the shotgun down and started turning the valve on the back of the fuel tanker, something grabbed his leg but he kept turning, kicking at it without looking. Suddenly the valve spewed gasoline and Jimmy pulled himself from the grasp of the zombie crawling under the truck and picked up the shotgun. He took a few steps back and aimed at the valve.
"This better work," he said, he pulled the trigger and the spark ignited.
……………………………………………………………………………………
Above him, Jimmy could see a blue sky, a cloud here and there. It was blurred, but he could make out buildings either side of him and the ground felt rough and hard. His ears were ringing and a sharp pain was getting worse on the side of his leg, at least he had the gun. It was laying across his chest, as though he had tried to use it as a shield.
A hand grabbed him and he tried to move, but the energy had been taken right out of him. The hands shook him and he looked at the dark figure, slowly beginning to hear a mumbling from it, the ringing in his ears was still present.
"Jimmy," Cass said," are you alright?"
"I'm alive," he said.
"Come on," she said," we have got to go,"
He rose his head and looked down at his leg, a thick piece of sharp metal was sticking out of it. There was little blood, but he didn't need to be a doctor to know why.
"Don't
touch it," Jimmy said to Roland who was trying to find a way to
remove it," if you take it out, I'll bleed to death,"
"We
cant stay here," Cass said," Roland, go and find a car to
hotwire,"
Roland moved off down the street, carrying the axe and Jimmy picked up the shotgun and started loading the shells that he had left back into it.
"……you copy?" a voice said, slightly muffled.
Cass looked at Jimmy, who took out the radio.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hello," a voice replied," your transmission is breaking up, do you copy?"
"We copy," Jimmy said.
"We are pulling back," a different voice said.
"Copy that," the first said," we will meet you at RV 3, do you copy?"
"…losing you….," the second voice said.
"……the south bridge is still secure," the first voice said, gunfire in the background contradicting that," we are pulling back in two hours, maybe before, meet us there unit 2, there's no point looking for more survivors, we haven't found anyone except vigilantes since yesterday……..,"
One of the zombies broke free from the cars and Jimmy fired, hitting it in the leg and blowing away everything beneath the kneecap.
"Are we going to go to those people on the radio?" Cass asked.
"The south bridge," Jimmy said," how far is that?"
"We can make it in two hours easy," Cass said," but the streets are wrecked, it could take longer, even if we don't run into those things,"
"What's taking him so long?"
As if that was his cue, an engine revved and a car pulled out of an alley and stopped a few metres away. Jimmy got up, leaning on Cass as she shouldered him to the car, the zombie with no leg desperately trying to reach them, but to no avail. Jimmy threw the shotgun in first and Cass got into the back with Jimmy.
"Where to then?" Roland asked.
"To the south bridge," Jimmy replied.
