"So that's what we know about our good buddy Richard," Sean said, relaying all the information that Matthew had learned during his interrogation to the rest of the group. "We talked it over and figure our best chance to make a clean break from here is to head for the rally point of those raiders. I don't think we can rely on a boat actually being there waiting for us at the docks, it's too much of a risk. We're gonna have to move fast down the fire escape, I'll be on point to lay down some cover fire. Allen, I wantyou to stickto me like white on rice. As soon as we hit the rooftop on the bus, I'll continue with the cover fire while you haul your fat ass into the bus and get that pig fired up. The rest of you will be moving as fast as you can down the steps and onto the bus. Emily, Aaron and Matthew, I'm relying on you to help with the fire support."
"What? You think that the rest of us can't shoot?" Barry asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer.
"We're kind of limited on with what weapons we have, not to mention kind of limited on the ammo, we're gonna need to make every shot count. Nothing against you personally Barry, I just gotta go with the people who've proven they can handle themselves with a sidearm."
"That's it? That's your grand fucking plan?" demanded Natalie from the other end of the room, still bound to a chair.
"You were expecting what? Helicopters? Submarines maybe? How about a whole fucking brigade of Bradleys to escort us to the goddamn docks?" Sean replied sarcastically.
"Actually I was kinda holding out for Wonder Woman's invisible jet," she shot back at him.
"Touché."
"Okay, so you're really serious that you think we'll just be able to hop on that bus and ride off into the sunset, all safe and happy like?" Tara asked, ignoring the raging sarcasm floating around the room.
"Maybe not quite ride off into the sunset kind of thing, but that's the general concept. I won't guarantee the happy thing."
"So what's gonna keep those things from swarming the bus and either picking us off one at a time or trapping us inside the damn thing like a bunch of sardines? At least until they figure out how to get inside it and eat us,I mean."
"The crowds have dissipated over the last couple of weeks, it's like they know we're in here, so they left some stragglers to keep watch, but they also know that we're not the only hot meal in the neighborhood. I wouldn't be surprisedif they've wandered in the direction of the city themselves. Besides that, if we move quick enough, we oughta be able to get underway before those slow sons of bitches can even think about moving our way," Sean explained confidently.
"That's a bit of wishful thinking," Natalie whined loudly.
"Not really, the way I see it, if they look like they're going to start swarming we'll just throw some bait out to distract them," Matthew retorted.
"What the hell do you mean bait?"
"Your partner Richard for starters, he's a disposable asset now….just like you."
"You're fucking insane! You keep the fuck away from me!" she shouted, struggling wildly against the ropes.
"No, I'm just being practical," he responded blithely. "Think of it as strategic use of our assets. I hope you're not too closely attached to your fingers, you may have to lose a few before the day's over. They do like the scent of warm, fresh blood," he grinned wickedly at her.
She continued to struggle against her bindings. "Don't you touch me!" she shouted as he moved closer.
"You know, the more you struggle, the more tired you'll be when the time comes to make that little run down to the bus."
"What the fuck do you care?"
"I don't. I was just going to say how much easier it'll be to throw you off the busif you're too tired to struggle. Kind of like your pal Richard, after I got through with him I don't think he'll be putting up much of a fight either. And he's definitely gonna bleed some more before we're through."
Natalie froze as his words penetrated her mind. If he was really telling her the truth about Richard, then she was on her own to survive, there was no way she'd find an allyamong the others now. Across the room therest of themhad quieted down considerably as they listened to the exchange. The question on most of their minds was 'What the fuck happened to Matthew?' He definitely wasn't the same helpful EMT he'dbeen just the day before.
"How soon are we moving out?" Barry asked, struggling to keep from staring at the far end of the room where Matthew still stood looming over Natalie.
"Half hour tops," came Sean's brusque reply. "We're going to clean out the security office of every last bit of ammo we can find. Matthew, that gonna be enough time to prep the bait?"
Matthew nodded. "I'll have Justin help me gather up what we need down in the sporting department."
"Wait, what do you mean 'prep the bait'?" Tara asked.
"We're gonna rig a rope and pulley system, that way we can lower him down to the street and draw some of those things away from the bus if we need to," Sean explained.
"Wait, I thought you said we'd be on the bus and moving before they'd even have enough time to stumble their way over to us," argued Tara.
"Theoretically it's possible."
"Yeah, and theoretically all the stuff that happened in that DaVinci book could really have happened too, but that doesn't mean they did."
"Well no, but then, 'The DaVinci Code' is a fiction novel, this is real life."
"Well excuse me if life is imitating art in the form of a low budget zombie movie."
"Don't most of those end up happily?"
"Nota big zombie movie fan are you Sean?"
"Half an hour people, then we're finally gonna be free of this place," Aaron said, trying to cut them off mid-argument. "Is this really the time to be arguing about all this?"
Sean looked relieved at the interruption. "I want you to keep the civilians contained here until I give you the all clear to proceed to the roof. Use Barry or your girlfriend to help. I also want you to prep the weapons and be ready to divide up the weapons between the four of us," he instructed Aaron.
"That's a big affirmative L.T." Aaron replied with a grin. "As soon as we're locked and loaded I'll get everyone up on the roof."
"Take your time, there's no reason to make those kids watch whatever Matthew's got planned for Richard, they've already been through enough."
"I don't see what difference it's going to make. They're going to be down on that bus driving through those streets again and seeing those things first hand. Seems to me it can't get too much worse than that."
"Just do what I ask Aaron." With those parting words, Sean disappeared.
"Tara, keep an eye on Natalie, Barry, you watch the kids," Emily instructed, climbing to her feet. "Here, take this," she said, handing her pistol to Tara. "If she tries anything, shoot her."
"What!" yelped Natalie.
"Girl, you are just on everyone's bad side today," chuckled Barry as he walked past her.
"This is so fucking cool," Tara said, grinning as she brandished the gun in Natalie's general direction.
"It's not a toy Tara, so, uh, try not to shoot anyone," Emily ordered heading for the door, Aaron trailing in her wake. Outside the office Aaron spoke.
"Do you really think that was wise, giving Tara a loaded gun?"
"Well, see, that's the thing. It's not."
"Why'd you say that crap about shooting Natalie then?"
"How much you willing to bet me that Natalie won't try to escape, probably won't even speak while we're not in there."
"Smart. Let her see you put the gun in the hands of a wild child and give her license to kill in the process. I like your style."
All too quickly, the half hour prep time was over. The survivors found themselves up on the roof together for the last time. They took one last look out over the city's quiet skyline. Matthew moved towards the edge of the roof, releasing a carefully knotted rope. Richard's scream of terror rose up over the side, followed by the snarls and moans of the dead. Matthew took a swift glance over the edge, feeling satisfied at the sight of the growing mob forming beneath Richard's struggling form, their outstretched hands just barely coming into contact with his hair, pulling handfuls out as they tried to reach him. Eventually, if they were really lucky, maybe they'd get lucky and have an NBA sized zombie come along to pull him down. Otherwise, it'd be a long slow death for the man, the thought made Matthew smile as he rejoined the group.
"Everyone ready for this?" Sean asked.
"Would it matter if any of us said we weren't?" Allen replied.
"Not really. I want the shooters to check their weapons, make sure you're locked and loaded. Everyone else, let's do this."
Just like he'd described, Sean lead the charge down the fire escape, firing as the dead starting moving their way, catching the scent of warm living flesh closer than it had been in longer than they could remember. If it was possible for the dead to remember something like that. Sean continued firing, Allen stumbling along heavily behind him. The others began shooting too, as soon as they came into range. So far everything was moving like clockwork, and it looked as though they were actually going to pull it off. So of course, that's when it all went to hell.
Sean had made it down to the top of the bus, pausing briefly to wrench open the access door on its roof. Allen followed heavily behind him, stumbling down the last steps of the ladder and before hitting the roof of the bus heavily. He lost his balance, falling perilously close to the edge of the bus. Sean tried to grab him, but it was too late, one of the dead got to him first.
"Sonuvabitch!" the soldier yelled as a few more of the dead managed to grab hold of Allen and the bus driver was slowl torn to pieces, pleading pitifully for help. "We're gonna have to abort," he called to the others who were rapidly landing on the bus' roof.
"Fuck that!" screamed Tara. "I'm not goin' back in that rat trap!" She hadn't even finished speaking before she dropped through the open hatch.
"Is she fucking crazy?" Justin asked, lowering Jesse and Jamie through the door.
"She's gotta be," Barry called, still descending the ladder. Moments later the bus started up.
"There's no way she can drive this thing," Natalie whined. She'd made her way down to the bus and was methodically trying to shove her way past the others and into the bus.
"Well if you want to stay, help yourself," uttered Emily, shoving the other woman back away from the door and watching as Justin climbed through. The dead were really starting to move in towards them now; enough of them pushing on the side of the bus in their desperation to reach them that the bus was beginning to shudder beneath them. Between that and the shoving match between Natalie and Emily the bus top was becoming a dangerous place to be.
"Emily! Just let her into the damn bus already!" Aaron ordered, crouching down to try and stabilize himself as he did.
"Fine," she gritted out, stepping back slightly to let the other woman through. She half turned away to take a shot or two or six down at the zombies and that's when Natalie made her move. Taking advantage of the other woman's turned back she shoved at her hard, hoping to push her right over the side of the bus.
"Emily!" Aaron screamed, too far away to be able to do anything to save her. His terrified shout drew Sean's attention just in time. He barreled over Natalie, knocking her through the hatch with a startled yelp and snaked an arm around Emily's waist, trying to tug her back onto the bus' roof. In the process, he managed to lose his weapon over the side. From his awkward position, and a mere split second window of time things weren't looking good for Emily. Matthew managed to get close enough to grab onto the back of her shirt, tugging hard while Sean pushed. Together, their combined effort managed to bring the shaken woman firmly back onto the roof. Sean wasn't so lucky, sliding half off the bus himself. He kicked desperately at the hands that pawed him, still clinging desperately to the side of the bus. Matthew gripped his hand, calling out to the others to keep shooting.
Gunfire echoed as they tried to pick off the dead one at a time as Matthew played tug-of-war with them over Sean's body. They new the instant one of them managed to penetrate through his clothing. The desperate look on his face was replaced with one of resignation as he looked up and met his friend's eyes. "Do it," he uttered harshly to Aaron. A split second before the bullet penetrated his forehead, he let go of his grip on Matthew.
Aaron continued to fire into the crowd, not even pausing as he commanded, "Emily, get your ass in the bus and tell them to get this pig moving."
Wit a last look where Sean had fallen, Emily dropped wordlessly through the hatch. Moments later, with a grinding of gears, the bus slowly lurched into motion, plowing over the dead in its path and causing the bus to jolt from side to side, almost as if it were traveling over an extra large series of speed bumps. At last Aaron and Matthew wearily dropped through the opening as the bus slowly continued to creep along.
"Any chance of picking up some speed with this thing?" Matthew asked, moving his way to the front where Tara sat at the wheel of the bus.
"Sure, just as soon as I learn how to walk on water, I'll get right on it," she complained, driving into another small herd of zombies.
"You're doing great, just work on getting the feel of it, see if you can't shift her up a gear or two, get some speed going."
"I'm just happy I got this thing moving! You don't really expect me to know how to drive it do you."
"You're doing good, I just need you to try a little bit more. If we don't pick up some speed we're never gonna make it out of here," he said, trying to be encouraging.
"I can tell you were never a cheerleader," Tara muttered, actually bringing the ghost of a smile to his face.
In the back of the bus, tensions were a little higher. It wasn't because of the corpses stumbling after the bus. As long as the bus was still in motion, its passengers were filled with relief. But Aaron had a pretty good choke hold going on Natalie, and was threatening all manner of ways to feed her to the zombies. He wasn't taking the loss of his friend very well. Emily's subtle encouragement wasn't helping the situation any either. Barry was trying to be the voice of reason, but so far he wasn't doing to well. Fortunately, the bus' sudden stop saved him from having to at all.
"Tara, talk to me, what's going on? We need to get this thing moving," Aaron called, swiftly moving towards the front of the bus.
"Sure, just as soon as you tell me how to get the fuck through that!" she said, pointing to a mangled wreck of abandoned cars stretching out in front of them.
"Here's a thought, turn."
"No shit, Einstein. Where?"
She was right, they were setting in the middle of the fucking block, buildings and parked cars along either side of them. The zombies seemed to be appearing out of nowhere now, moving closer with their staggering, steps.
"Put her in reverse," he said tightly, peering into the side mirrors.
"You're kidding right? Please tell me you're joking?" she pled. "I can't even see out the back, and those things are coming."
"Just keep it straight, I'll talk you through it. This is gonna be our only chance, I know you can do it."
"You better be right."
"Matthew, I need you up top, see if you can weed that crowd down some," Aaron commanded.
"I'm on it," he replied, using the seats to reach the still open hatch and pulling himself out of sight.
"I should be up there too," Emily said softly from where she'd moved to stand behind Aaron.
"No."
"Two shooters can do a lot more damage."
"No."
"I'm going, so you better make this work" she told him. Leaning forward she gave him a quick kiss and then quickly making her way to the hatch and climbing out after Matthew.
The snarling from outside the bus seemed to be growing steadily louder as the dead slowly began to close ranks outside the bus. Gunfire erupted in steady and rapid fashion from the rooftop.
"Whatever you're going to do I suggest you do it now," Barry said hoarsely as he watched the hand of one of dead slowly claw it's way across the bottom of one of the windows.
"Okay Tara, I want you to move this thing in reverse, real slow and steady like. I'll tell you when to turn the wheel and which way. Okay?"
"Just do it," she gritted out, wrestling the bus into reverse.
Slowly, the bus creeped back towards the last intersection, everyone on board silently praying the side street would be clear enough to squeeze the bus through. There was a steady, wet thudding sound from the back of the bus as it methodically plowed into the zombies that continued to move mindlessly towards the smell of warm flesh. On top, Matthew and Emily held on to whatever they could find with on hand, and continued to fire with the other, trying to thin the crowd down some. At last they made a crazy turn and were once again moving forward.
"Barry, get those two down from the roof, we're in the clear now," ordered Aaron. He wanted to see Emily with his own eyes to convince himself that she really was okay still.
"You got it," Barry said, happy to have something to do that didn't involve staring out the bus window at the wreckage the city had become. From the safety of the dating office, he didn't think any of them had fully appreciated the destruction to their city. Seeing it up close and personal like this boggled his mind.
"If you wouldn't mind taking a break from thinking about your piece of ass for a few minutes, I could really use a navigator up here," Tara said, drawing Aaron's attention back to the front of the bus. "You think you can tell me where exactly I'm driving this beast?"
He heard two pairs of feet touch down on the floor behind him as Emily and Matthew dropped through the roof hatch. He breathed a mental sigh of relief that she was back inside he relative safety the bus afforded them.
"Yea, here's where I want you to go," Aaron said. He got her moving in the direction of the industrial park that filled the outer edge of the city on this side of the river. There were warehouses and fences that could be used to help provide protection for this rally point, at least that had been Sean's estimation. As they moved through the city, the crowd of walking dead seemed to thin out considerably, but whatever they passed seemed to fall into line behind them, slowly trudging after the bus.
They were about midway through the industrial park when they hit their new problem.
"It's been boarded up and gated off. How the hell do you expect me to get through that?" Tara asked, easing her foot off the accelerator a bit.
"Floor it."
"What?"
"Floor it, I want you to ram this thing right through that fence," instructed Aaron.
"Wait! What if they've got the fences electrified? Isn't that what you said they've done in the city? Why wouldn't they do it here too?"
"They've redirected the power to the other side of the river, we shouldn't have anything to worry about," Aaron insisted, hoping like hell he was right.
The bus crashed through the fence without a problem and continued moving towards the other half of the industrial park. They were met with another barricade, plywood sheets blocking most of their view to the other side.
"Do we go through?" Tara asked nervously. She didn't like the idea that they had no idea what was waiting for them on the other side.
"Do it."
Tara accelerated a little more, building up speed for the impact. As the bus crashed through the wooded barricade, her last thought was that she wished she'd gone with her gut instinct. An empty flat-bed trailer lay directly in their path, and as she jerked the wheel in a desperate attempt to swerve around it, she lost control. The bus veered sharply to the left, clipping the front of the trailer with it's right front quarter-panel, the impact just enough to send the bus over onto its side. Screams of terror filled the bus and at the last second Tara hollered, "Everyone hold on to something."
As the dust settled around the crash, the passengers on bored slowly stirred. Tara was slumped over the wheel, a small cut sending blood in a steady stream down her face. Behind her, Barry moaned as he slowly came awake, a stab of pain shooting through is left arm that was bent at a rather odd angle. He could make out the sound of Jesse and Jamie whimpering, but it seemed like it was from a far off distance. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but all that happened was yet another stab of pain shooting through his arm.
Further back in the bus, Aaron was carefully crawling towards where Emily lay sprawled against one of the big side windows.
"Is everyone okay?" Matthew called out. He was the only one on his feet, peering cautiously out of the still open roof hatch.
"We're okay," Justin called out, he was crouched between a pair of seats, an arm around either of his young cousins. "Just a little shook up I think."
"Emily?" Aaron said, gently nudging her. She groaned slightly, her eyes slowly flickering open.
"What the fuck happened?" she asked hoarsely, grimacing slightly as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Aaron thought it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.
"We're good to," he called out as he started checking her over for any broken bones.
"I think my arm's busted, and Tara's out cold," reported Barry.
"Not that any of you give a damn, but I'm fine," Natalie said. "For now anyway, thanks to you assholes we're all as good as dead."
"Maybe not," Matthew said, turning to the others and smiling. "Listen carefully."
Off in the distance, but closing rapidly, you could hear the sounds of engines approaching. Definitely some motorcycles, maybe a car or two, and definitely something bigger.
"I think the cavalry's about to arrive. Let's get everyone off the bus, Emily, Aaron, if you're up to it, I want weapons ready."
Matthew lead the way, checking the immediate area around the bus for the undead, while the others except Tara made their way carefully off the bus.
"What about Tara?" Barry asked after gingerly climbing through the hatch, his broken arm cradled against his chest. "She's still out."
Matthew and Aaron's eyes met, and Aaron nodded. "Emily, let's take up some defensive positions, everyone else keep your backs to the bus and your eyes open," Aaron instructed. Matthew disappeared into the bus once more, reappearing a few minutes later with Tara in his arms.
"Justin! I need your help here," he called out.
The two of them had just managed to get her out of the bus when the first vehicles came into view, motorcycles, followed up by a jeep and something that looked like it had once been a station wagon with those cheesy wood panels on the sides.The top of the station wagon had been removed though, and what appeared to be a .50 caliber machine gun was mounted in its place. Behind those, was thebiggest, most bad ass armored truck most of them had ever seen. The motor cycles sped a fewcircles around the bus before coming to a stop in front of the survivors, the other vehicles joined them, forming a half circle around the top of the bus. A lone blonde man climbed from the jeep, just as a door opened in the side of thebig armored truck, which had been christened 'Dead Reckoning.' AHispanicman clad in a leather jacket and wearing a harpoon gun strapped to his leg alit first, followed close behind by a man with dark, greasy looking hair and a goatee. The one with the harpoon gun spoke first, calling out to the blonde.
"Hey Denbow, this is what you dragged us out here for?"
"They're people Cholo,seems to me like they could use some help," the man called Denbow replied.
"Yeah, and it seems to me that the assholes took out a big chunk of our fence. What's gonna keep all those stenches still on this side of the river from swarming the garage?"
"We'll handle it. In the meantime, let's get them loaded up."He pulled out a phone, much like the one Richard had been using back at the dating service. "Mulligan, once we get everyone loaded up, I want you to use the hook, pull the bus around and then push it over the hole."
A voice with adistinctive Irish accent came over the phone. "I think we can manage that for you Reilly."
Tara didn't wake up until she felt Dead Reckoning go into motion with a lurch. She slowly sat up, feeling her forehead gingerly, surprised to find a makeshift bandage over one eye. Looking around, she saw a couple of guys working on Barry's arm. Since no one really seemed to be paying attention to her, she slowly made her way to the front of the truck where she was met by an older man with a decidely Irish lilt to his voice.
"So you're finally awake," he said, smiling at her.
"What...what happened?" she asked, the last thing she remembered was trying to swerve around that trailer.
"Looks to me like you had a wee bit of an accident."
"No shit. So what is this thing?" she asked, looking around the cab.
"This? This is Reilly's little toy," he answered chuckling. "Have a seat," he told her, gesturing to the open seat beside him.
"No really."
"I'm telling you the God's honest truth girl."
His words brought a small smile to her face. "If you say so. How does this thing work?"
"Do you like video games?"
"Yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"You will. Stick with me and one day, you'll be in control of her."