Chapter Four

**

"It's quiet...too quiet."
"Really Alex? You think now is the best time for that?"

Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley were driving slowly down an abandoned street, without headlights in the predawn light. They had driven from the garage, breath held, both convinced something would be lying in wait. But they had gotten to the end of the street, and then to the main road, with no incident. It had been a few minutes of terrified silence before Shelley cracked. He couldn't take the quiet, so he had started spewing any corny line he could think of.

Sabin was used to this from his friend and tag team partner, but couldn't think of a worse time for him to be joking around. Silence fell between the two again, and Sabin was left with his thoughts. Looking for any obstacles in the path of the car, he couldn't help but think that even with everything that was happening, Shelley was right. It was too quiet.

For a city that, until recently, had a population of 900,000 people, had just a few days ago seen what was, in effect, a zombie uprising, there should've been action. People screaming, people running. The undead walking the streets, throwing themselves at anything with a pulse. Even those most morally reprehensible people (who Sabin fully intended to join the ranks of as soon as he could), looters, were nowhere to be seen. He considered pointing this out to Shelley, but Chris Sabin was a firm believer in Murphy's Law, and was convinced that if he voiced his opinion, hordes of the undead would come forth from every doorway, window and alley that they passed.

As they continued, it started to grow lighter. Both men leant forwards, trying to see if it was the sun coming up unusually early, but any natural light was being blocked by the buildings around them. When they turned the corner, they found the source of the light. A line of burning cars had been placed across the road.

"Oh, awesome, some flame happy fucker has decided that fire is a good idea." Shelley muttered.
"Can you see any way around them?" Sabin asked, craning his neck to try to find a gap in the burning vehicles.
"No, but they're not straight, so maybe there's a way... ah, fuck it. Get as close as you can." Sabin nodded, inching the car forward, trying to see another way. "Keep the car running, be ready to drive, and for the love of God, don't yell." Shelley said resolutely.

And with that, he unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door and got out of the car. Sabin opened his mouth to yell at Shelley, ask him what he was doing or to tell him to get back in the car, but bit his tongue as he remembered what had just been said. He watched as Shelley jogged up to the line of cars and proceeded to run along the edge, looking for a way through. Sabin held his breath as Shelley turned and started coming back toward the idling car. As he glanced over his shoulder, something came hurtling out of the alleyway from the other direction. The creature was moving so quickly that Sabin didn't have time to warn him. Before he had managed to even open his mouth, it had slammed into Shelley, knocking them both to the ground.

Fingers digging into Shelley's arms, teeth gnashing above him, he frantically glanced around for anything he could use as a weapon as he tried to hold the creature back. Any weapons that were in arms length would have meant a death sentence. In a split second, he weighed his options: He could try to hold the creature back and be shortly overpowered, or he could reach for a weapon and hope that he could somehow get a hit in before he was eaten alive. His internal commentary running wild, Alex Shelley reasoned that he'd rather neither of those be the outcome.

As the zombie inched closer, Shelley thought that he should maybe make peace with his maker, whoever that could be. It was Easter, after all, he realised with a start. Easter Sunday. In that moment of realisation, the teeth sunk lower, the grip tightened. Shelley closed his eyes, heard a dull, somewhat wet thunk sound, and suddenly felt like a weight had been lifted off him. Shelley opened his eyes.

Chris Sabin didn't have time to warn his friend before he was attacked, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Any thoughts of staying in the car forgotten, he undid his seatbelt, opened the door and nearly rolled out of the vehicle. He didn't have a plan at the time, and if a word had been going through his head, it would have simply been rescue, though the adrenalin prevented such a thought. As he fell out of the car, though, he heard a clanging noise. When he reached down, he felt cold, hard metal and the unmistakable shape of a crowbar. Springing to his feet, weapon in hand, he ran at the zombie and swung as hard as he could at the head. As soon as he felt it connect, he raised his leg and kicked at the now lifeless body.

Shelley opened his eyes and saw Sabin standing over him, crowbar in hand. He grasped the hand that was extended and sprang up, and together both men ran back to the car. They saw it at the same time. As they were pulling the doors shut, more bodies came out of the alley. There were dozens of them, and as one, they surged for the car.

"GO GO FUCKING GO!" Shelley screamed.

Sabin threw the car into reverse and back up the street, the spot he had just been now filled with bodies. He spun the car around and, any thought of obstacles in the street gone from his mind, drove as fast as he could.

**

"You're going to draw more attention to us if you keep that up." Shelley pointed out after a few minutes.

Sabin, who felt like he had been holding his breath for the last 3 minutes, exhaled, nodded, and took his foot off the accelerator.

"Thanks for that back there man, it was..." Shelley trailed off, unable to think of the appropriate word.

"Don't be a jackass, jackass." Sabin responded, relief flooding across his face. "But next time you decide to do something so fucking stupid, how about you let me in on your plan, huh?"

Alex nodded his agreement, rubbing his arms absentmindedly.

**

"Parking garage," Sabin announced as he pulled up to the entrance, putting the car in neutral. "What do you think; stairs or elevator?"

Shelley ran a hand through his hair, considering. "Shit, I don't know...elevator, I guess."

"Got something to bash heads with?"

Shelley held up the golf club he had found in the backseat. "Check."

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Sabin muttered, slowly making his way up the rant. "Here we go, then."

**

They waited as the elevator slowly made its way up. They had passed through the parking garage without incident, waiting nervously for the elevator to arrive when it was called. Once they had stepped in, they had breathed a combined sigh of relief. Both men continued to clutch their makeshift weapons, ready to defend themselves the moment the need arose.

"By the way," Shelley said, turning slightly to face Sabin. "Happy Easter."

Sabin smiled. "Happy Easter to you too, man."

**