Dead at Night – Chapter Two
Coach tried to remember his breathing exercises as he ran after his three other companions. He may have lost a few pounds as he, Nick, Ellis, and Rochelle had fought their way to New Orleans, but the time he spent on the military cruise ship and in Utopia seemed to have brought his original weight back.
Even a simple run back to their truck after a Charger had smashed its way into the safe room was leaving him winded.
"Coach, hurry!" Louis urged, who was already on the back of the truck. "You're nearly there!"
Nick was already inside the truck and had switched the engine on. Jenny was a few feet in front of Coach, but she turned around and fired at several Infected that were about to catch up to the former health teacher.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'!" Coach huffed as he ran past Jenny, who was in the midst of reloading her sniper rifle.
"Get in the god damn car!" Nick ordered, and at the sound of his voice Jenny turned and ran towards the truck. Once Coach and Jenny had jumped on the back of the truck, Nick floored it. The truck shot down the street, leaving the Infected horde behind.
"God dammit, I knew I shoulda lost some weight," Coach said, panting. Jenny reached over and handed him a water bottle, which he took gratefully. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Jenny smiled as she shifted slightly, pulling a crushed bag of corn chips from under her. "Ah shit. I hope you weren't too fond of corn chips."
"Naw, it's them cheese puffs I like," Coach replied.
"Hey guys? How the hell do we get out of this stinking town?" Nick called. "I don't have a GPS you know!"
Jenny sighed and told Nick to pull over. She jumped out of the back of the truck, wrenched the passenger door open, and slid in. Louis smiled and held the radio closer to him.
"Man, I even hadn't had breakfast," Coach lamented. He and Louis had spent most of their shift talking about the plan, and they knew how risky things could be. They had both counted on the military airlift on taking them straight to Sacramento, but they hadn't dreamed that they'd be stuck in Infected territory again.
"Got lots of food here Coach," Louis said, handing the older man a pack of cheese puffs. "I don't think we're going to run out of them anytime soon."
"Amen." Coach opened the pack and offered Louis some.
"Hey Coach? Got any of those spicy peanuts?" Jenny popped her head out of the window. "Nick's hungry."
"Oh sure, here." Louis found the food she was asking for and handed it to her, along with two bottles of water.
They sped past abandoned houses and ransacked stores, and every now and then Louis and Coach could see Infected shamble out of their hiding places in an attempt to reach the mobile Survivors. Soon enough they saw a sign that indicated the end of Georgetown.
"And we're out!" Louis smiled as Nick stopped the truck. A few Infected were standing on the roadside, which Coach and Nick took out with eerie efficiency as the latter stepped out of the vehicle.
"We're going to have to use the side road," Coach said, spotting a worn path that snaked beside the highway. "Probably used by people who weren't in a hurry."
"Now that's convenient," Nick commented dryly. "Hey Louis? Think you could take over from driving this thing?"
Louis nodded and slid inside the truck, while Nick climbed onto the back, his assault rifle slung over his shoulder. Coach studied the highway – which was littered with abandoned cars – before hoisting adjusting his belt. To his dismay, it was feeling a little tight around his waist.
"Gained weight, Coach?" Nick said, smirking. "I thought you were getting slimmer."
"Damn food at Utopia got me fat again," Coach replied, scowling at Nick's apparent jab at his weight. "You don't look so slim yourself, Nick."
Nick snorted. "I'm in great shape."
"Keep tellin' yourself that, Nicolas." Coach chewed on the last of the cheese puffs while Nick tossed an empty water bottle out.
They heard Louis shift gears and Jenny muttering about some possible landmarks. Louis maneuvered the truck onto the small road, ignoring several Infected that were rushing at them.
Nick raised his assault rifle and gunned them down, smiling with satisfaction as their heads exploded.
"Boy, you got serious problems," Coach muttered.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Hey Louis? Try not to jostle us around too much, okay? My ass is getting beat."
"The road's bumpy, Nick!" Louis shot back. "If you know another paved road we can drive on, I'm all ears!"
"Who gave him a wedgie?" Nick shook his head and picked up a pack of cookies, which he handed to Jenny.
"Stop picking on Louis," she told him. It was then when the truck bounced and she fell back, banging her head against the window. "Louis!"
"Hey I'm sorry!" Louis exclaimed as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. They continued on at this pace, passing by the long line of cars.
"Poor bastards," Nick murmured as they drove past a blue four-door vehicle, its occupants all inside, their guts hanging from their bodies.
"A bitch must have gotten to 'em," Coach said. "If I see one, I'm giving her something to cry about."
"Not if I snipe her first," Jenny called.
Coach raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Hey girl, you know you don't have to startle them at all, right?"
"Yeah, I just like shooting the shit out of them," Jenny replied, and Nick saw she was shrugging her shoulders. "Plus their crying is annoying."
"Fo'sure. Didya know Nick calls them his ex-wife?"
"I did not know that." Jenny turned around, grinning. "Really, Nick? You call those things your ex-wife?"
"They cry a lot," Nick said quickly. He didn't like talking about his ex-wives; Christ, he had moved on from them, hadn't he? Jenny must have sensed his discomfort, because she didn't ask anything else.
"Hey guys? It looks like we have a situation," Louis said. Jenny turned to see a small group of Infected running towards something, their howls audible even amidst the truck's engine.
"Possible Survivors?" Jenny suggested, resting her finger on the trigger.
"Out here? Man they must have been holed up at one of those buildings back in Georgetown," Coach said as Louis turned the engine off.
"What are you guys stopping for?" Nick cried. "We need to get a move on!"
"Someone needs our help, Nick!" Coach frowned at the conman who backed off.
"Fan-freaking-tastic." Nick hesitated for a split second before jumping off the truck. Jenny and Louis were already going up the ramp, and Nick and Coach had to walk fast to keep up. Jenny perched on the hood of an unalarmed car, checking the situation with her scope.
"I see someone," she reported, firing a few shots into the horde. "He's trapped inside the vehicle."
"What are we waiting for? That man needs help!" Coach spotted a baseball bat and picked it up, swinging it with much gusto.
Nick sighed loudly and followed the two other men, while Jenny systematically picked off the Infected that were about to break the vehicle's windows. Inside a man was staring at the creatures in horror, and Jenny was able to make out an empty Glock lying on the dashboard. Frowning in concentration, she followed the Infected and shot them down, the rifle jumping slightly in her hands.
Louis and Nick thinned the horde from the left and right flank, while Coach used the spray of his shotgun to tear through the Infected in the middle. Jenny slung the sniper rifle over her shoulder and snagged a bottle of pain pills that was lying on the backseat of a sedan.
As she raised her head, she heard the Spitter shoot a stream of acid at the three. "Spitter!"
"That long-neck bitch hit me!"
"Oh shit, did that thing just spit at us?"
"Ugh, what am I covered in?"
Jenny saw the Spitter lunge towards Nick, who turned and shot the Spitter in the head. Once the acid subsided, they were able to approach the vehicle. The man stumbled out, his eyes still wide with fright. He was gripping his empty Glock tightly, like he thought he could use it to fend them off.
"Hey, you okay?" Louis called to the man. Jenny moved closer, but Nick held her back.
"Careful." Nick studied the gaunt appearance of the guy, who was looked like he was strung up on drugs. He smelled awful, like he had been rolling in shit for weeks.
"Wh-wh-what? What were-?" the man spluttered. It was as if he had a hard time putting his thoughts to words. He took a few shaky steps towards Louis, who tried not to wrinkle his nose in disgust at the reek coming off from the man.
"You're okay son, let's get you to our truck. We don't want to be here when them zombies get back," Coach said reassuringly. The man nodded, but it was as if he didn't understand what the hell Coach was talking about.
Jenny and Nick followed Louis, Coach, and the man they had just rescued. Coach helped the man onto the back of the truck, while Louis and Jenny went back inside. Nick slowly climbed on, and Coach moved a few packs of snacks aside so that the man could lie down.
Louis started the engine again and the truck bounced forward.
"Here. Looks like you need this." Years of experience dealing with football players in high school taught Coach on how to recognize signs of exhaustion. This man looked like he had gone for some time without food and water, which gave him a wild look in his eyes.
Sure enough, the man finished the entire water bottle in seconds, closing his eyes with relish. He then tore open a package of cashew nuts.
"Slow down, or you're going to get hiccups," Coach said gently. The man didn't look much older than Ellis and Jenny, but he had dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. "What's your name, son?"
"Dex," he answered through mouthfuls of nuts. "Dex Watson."
"Well Dex, I'm Coach, and this here's Nick." Coach then gestured to the truck cab. "The girl's Jenny, and that's Louis."
"Nice to meet you all. Thanks for rescuing me; I really thought I was done for." Dex swallowed and poured the remaining nuts into his mouth. "Got separated from the group I was traveling with a few weeks ago."
"Where were you staying?" Jenny leaned through the window.
"Back in Georgetown. I was going through the highway on a motorcycle to catch up with my group when those things swarmed me. I didn't have much ammo on me, but I locked myself in that vehicle when you guys showed up." Dex smiled thinly at Jenny.
"You made your way through the highway?" Coach sounded incredulous. "How'd ya get through that?"
"He was on a motorbike, Coach," Nick repeated. "We should've gotten motorbikes. I'm sure we'd have been in Sacramento by now."
Coach ignored the conman.
"Wait, why are you going to Sacramento?" Dex's eyes grew wide. "Didn't you hear? The city's fallen!"
"My brother's there." Jenny pursed her lips. "We're going to rescue him."
"No offense, but he's probably dead by now," Dex said. "I know he's family, but-"
"He's my brother. I'm not leaving him," Jenny insisted.
"What even makes you think you'll get that far?"
"We traveled from Savannah to New Orleans, boy," Coach answered. "I'm sure we can make it to Sacramento."
"No shit?" Dex reached for a small pack of chocolate chip cookies and tore it open with his teeth.
Nick watched Dex with a sense of growing dislike. Dex's story sounded off. Coach and Jenny didn't seem to notice that Dex was practically pawing through their food, although the latter had cooled slightly after Dex had questioned her reasons for going to Sacramento.
They drove on for what seemed like miles; the worn road soon gave way to slightly tall grasses. The gas tank still had three-quarters' worth of gasoline, so they weren't worried.
"Peer Rock is coming up fast," Jenny said to Louis. "I hope there's a safe room in there somewhere."
"There will be," Louis replied. "Then we can get some rest. Dunno about you, but I could go for some sleep."
Jenny nodded; their little rescue mission had invigorated her, and she didn't feel like taking her usual afternoon nap. She knew she was probably going to doze off during her shift, but right now that was farthest from her mind.
The drive to Peer Rock took over half an hour. As they neared the toll booth for the small town, they all saw what had caused the heavy traffic jam.
A huge blockade had been set up, which the military had used as a makeshift checkpoint. The cars in front of the line were peppered with bullet holes, and the group suspected that some of the passengers had become Infected. There were bodies of soldiers as well, plus a corpse of a Hunter and a Jockey.
"They were overwhelmed," Louis said softly, looking at the carnage. Dried bloodstains were everywhere, and Jenny could smell the stench of rotting corpses. She resisted the urge to gag and gripped the edge of her seat tight.
"They might have gone on to Peer Rock, and then onto the rest of the state," Jenny added.
"Military fucked up big time," Coach added from the back. "Hey Louis. Get us on the interstate. Road's clear now."
Louis found a small gap between the metal barriers and eased the truck through it. The truck bounced slightly (Nick cursing about bumpy roads and sore asses) and they cruised the rest of the way to Peer Rock.
Peer Rock looked slightly more prosperous than Georgetown – the houses were larger, and there were more shops and even a textile factory and electronics company.
"At least they ain't got no sugar mill," Coach murmured as they passed the town's sign. He remembered the time when he, Rochelle, Ellis, and Nick had to pass by the Ducatel Sugar Mill to get to the gas station on the other side. He never told the others this, but he had been piss scared when he saw how many Witches there were inside the abandoned structure.
"A-fucking-men," Nick agreed, ignoring Dex's curious looks. "I can't stand being near that many Witches."
Jenny glanced at Nick briefly. They had encountered no less than fifty Witches a few weeks ago, and they had barely survived. It was Nick's hard head (literally) that had saved them all from a gruesome death.
"Safe room up ahead! Thank you Lord," Coach praised, spotting the sign the same time that Louis did.
Although the group knew that their trip would be much faster if they kept to the interstate, they had agreed to risk going into the small towns along the way as a rest stop. They didn't know how many gas stations were along the highway, and they hated the idea of being stranded.
Louis parked the truck close to the safe room sign, which was inside a small bakery. Coach gave a moan of longing as he saw the pastries that were listed on the bakery sign while he and Dex took as much snacks and water bottles as they could carry. Louis went on to the safe room, while Jenny and Nick watched the street for any Infected.
Jenny shot down a Boomer lurking near a video rental store, while Nick found a bile jar and a machete. The two then followed the others into the safe room, with Jenny sliding the bar into place.
"Can't thank you guys enough," Dex said, sitting down on one of the ratty cushions that was on the floor. "I'd be a goner for sure."
"Ain't nothing, boy," Coach assured him. "I'm sure you'd have done the same for us."
Dex remained silent for a while, and Nick could see Dex was thinking quickly.
"Oh yeah, yeah, definitely," Dex answered after a few seconds. "In a heartbeat."
You fucking liar, Nick thought. His dislike must have registered on his expression, because Jenny slid her arm around his waist and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he said shortly. He didn't really feel like saying what was on his mind right now – knowing Coach, he'd most likely have a stern talking to. Jenny didn't mind his grumpiness but rested her head on his shoulder and sighed softly.
Dex watched the two of them: the grumpy man in the white suit and the girl in the light pink tank top and jeans. He wondered if the guy was the girl's dad. They certainly had the same jet black hair and intense gaze.
"So uh, where's your mom?" Dex finally asked. The question was directed at Jenny, who frowned slightly.
"My mom died a few years ago. My dad…he's gone too," she replied after some time.
"Your dad? But – I thought he was your dad," Dex said, nodding towards Nick.
Nick scowled, while Coach dissolved into gales of laughter. "Boy you got that wrong!"
Louis chuckled. "Nick's her boyfriend, Dex."
"Oh." Dex tried to hide his embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It's just that you guys look a bit alike, I mean with the hair and-"
"Yeah you know what Dex? Just shut up," Nick snapped.
"Aw don't get mad, Nick," Coach said, grinning. "Dex can't help it if he makes mistakes sometimes."
"Well now he knows," Nick replied.
"Lighten up," Louis urged, but Nick clicked his tongue impatiently.
Dex had a feeling he would have a hard time with this one.
