Ch. 25

The silence was nervwracking. Especially when your waiting for a distraction that could lead to your doom.

"You ready for this?" I asked Kevin.

There was a bit of hesitation on his face. He swallowed and nodded his head shakily. "Yeah, I'm ready."

I could tell he wasn't. But I wasn't ready as well; however, it was good to know that we both weren't.

"Hey, was that your trick coin?" I asked.

Kevin bit his lip, then slowly nodded.

"I didn't want you to worry about her. This way, she'll be safe in the store." He glanced at me. "You're not mad, are you?

I shook my head. "No. Thanks." Kevin grinned a little bit.

"Hey, can I ask a favor?" he asked.

"Sure," I nodded.

His face was working on what to ask. He seemed to be terrified almost. "If I get bitten, will you....you know."

I looked at me feet, then back to him. "Yeah. If it comes down to that, I will do what is necessary."

He held out his hand. "Thanks."

I shook his hand. "Rather be dead than among them."

He smiled at my saying. "That would be a cool bumper sticker now."

We turned back to the front and waited. It wasn't a long wait. Through the metal and concrete, I could hear the far off shotgun blasts and the infuriated roars of the undead. There were a couple of more shots, then I heard Diane's voice on the radio say "Now!"

"Let's rumble," Kevin muttered as he pressed the open switch through his window. The door slowly slid up and we shot through just as soon as there was enough room. I stopped the car as soon as we cleared so Kevin could get out of the car and pull the shutter door back down. He ran back and got into the car as soon as it was locked.

"Go," he said impatiently.

I floored and we tore out into the parking lot. I think we should have waited a little longer for the distraction because not all of the zombies were on the other side of the store were Diane was still blasting away. The zombies suddenly saw a car speed out from the garage, then decided it would be easier to catch us instead.

"Oh, shit," Kevin cursed.

We were instantly surrounded by a small pack. I was still going pretty fast so we flattened a couple of them. But they slowed us to an almost complete stop. The others pounded on the glass with their bloody and broken hands, slightly cracking the glass.

I had the pedal to floor. I could hear the engine screaming and smell the smoke from the burning rubber of my tires. It seemed like eternity before there was spot where the zombies seemed to thin out. The tires caught on the pavement and we shot throught the last of the zombie mob.

"Yes!" Kevin yelled, punching his fist into the dashboard.

I turned the car out of the parking lot and west towards the direction of the gunshots. I could see the zombies falling behind in my rearview mirror.

"That was close," I sighed. I made a left on the highway and turned towards the suburbs. I could barely see through the darkness so I flipped on my headlights. I just began to relax when my vision was suddenly blocked.

"What the hell?" Kevin yelled.

There was a zombie on my windshield. Male. His breath was coming in rapid gasps as he tried to reach us through the windshield. I began to swerve wildly on the road. I tried to push the brakes, but nothing happened.

"Stop!" Kevin yelled at me.

"I'm trying. The brakes are out," I yelled back.

I reached for the emergency brake to my right when all of a sudden, we came to a crashing halt. The windshield shattered, sending glass everywhere. The airbags deployed in front of my face, whiplashing my neck into the back of the seat. I blacked out for a second. Then I slowly opened my eyes.

We somehow ended up in someone's front yard. Straight into a tree. I never saw it coming.

I turned to Kevin, who was trying to pull a piece of glass shrapnel out of his cheek.

"You okay?" my voice whispered. My head was pounding.

"Yeah," he said hoarsely. He finally got the piece out. "Nice driving."

"The brakes were gone," I explained. Why? I didn't know.

The zombie was nowhere to be seen and there were none in the area as well. Besides the abandoned cars and opened doors, the neighborhood looked like it wasn't attacked.

We stumbled out of what remained of my car. I went to the front to check it out the damage. The entire front end was bent inward from the force of the impact. The headlights were flickering and smoke was pouring from under the crumbled hood. However the tree wasn't affected at all. Lucky it.

"You're right," Kevin's voice came from under the car. "The brake line has been ripped out. Probably when we ran over a couple of them."

"Well, let's not stay here. The noise could attract more unwanted visitors." We unloaded the packs out of the backseat and continued down the road. We still had a couple of blocks until we reached the center of our search zone.

"So how are we going to this?" Kevin asked as he shifted the weight of his pack.

"We split up and search for any signs of recent activity. Bullet casings, fresh footprints, and lights," I explained, then pulled an extra radio from pocket. "Here. Use this only when you find something. This area looks deserted, but we can't the chance of making too much noise. So, use your backup when you really need it. We need to keep quiet."

"Right."

We spent another few minutes walking, scanning the area and checking for surivors. We also marked some trees with knife marks so we would know that we searched this area.

We stopped when we came to a cross road. I looked and read the sign. We were at the center of search area.

"Alright, this is were we break off." I turned to him and held out my hand. "Don't poke yourself in the eye."

He shook my hand. "Don't shoot yourself in the foot."

I smiled and released his hand. We each turned around and headed in opposite ways down the street.

Looking out for signs on both sides of the street, I didn't find anything except empty houses and abandoned cars. I even found a couple of bodies that were too disfigured to recognize. I search for nearly an hour, walking up and down different streets. I was beginning to think that Kevin was right about the gas leaks. Maybe three of them did blow up similtaneously.

I sat on the curb and took a drink from my water bottle. This rescue mission was beginning to look pointless. I've checked houses, the park, and a couple of convience stores. Nothing. I was about ready to give up. I took another drink and felt something brush against my back.

I jumped up, withdrew my guns, and pointed them at the disturbance.

It was a cat.

I groaned. "You scared the crap out of me." I holstered my guns and bent down to pet the cat. "Where did you come from?"

The cat immediately jumped away, avoiding my outstretched hand. The cat walked away a few feet and into the moonlight. I immediately recognized the black and white pattern on his back.

"Maddie?" It couldn't be. I thought he would be dead. But there was no coincidence of the that pattern on his back.

I reached forward again. "Maddie. It's me," I said.

Maddie raised his back and hissed at me. I withdrew my hand. There was something wrong with my cat. Maybe he turned wild with all the chaos around him.

I turned away. "If you're not going to let me pet you I'll just go on my way. I hope you can take care of yourself."

I walked away. After taking a few steps I turned around. Maddie was following me.

Smiling, I turned back to him. "So you do recognize me." I tried again to pet him, but he just hissed at me again.

Alright, this was really getting annoying.

I stood up. "Well if you're not going be my friend anymore, I'll just-"

THUMP

I was thrown violently to the street. I was dazed for a few moments before I realized what happened. Something really stunk. And I realized it was on top of me. A zombie tackled me and now was on top of my stomach. It's red eyes glowed with a determination to eat me. I couldn't tell if it was male or female.

I grabbed a hold of it's neck to stop it from biting me. It screeched and used it's hands to try and knock away my arm. My arm was getting tired very quickly so I had to hurry. I grabbed my Glock with my other hand and put it into the zombie's mouth.

"Bite this."

I pulled the trigger. The back of the zombie's skull blew out all over the street. The body went limp. I pushed it off me and got to my feet.

Well that was interesting.

Rubbing my sore arm, I looked around to see if the noise attracted any more unwanted visitors. I had to move just in case. I spotted Maddie underneath a tree in someone's front yard. Holstering my gun, I walked over to him.

"So what now?" I asked. It was stupid to talk to him, but comforting.

Maddie just tilted his head and looked at me. Then bounded into the street. It looked like he was about to run away. But then he stopped and looked at me.

I remember this trick. Whenever he wanted to be fed he would sit next to the door until I moved. When I got up, he would trot to the kitchen. He would even stop sometimes just to let me catch up.

I walked a couple of steps towards Maddie. He walked ahead a few steps, then stopped and looked at me again.

"Okay. I guess I can play along," I said. I followed him down the street.