Chapter 23: The Truck Depot: Part II
The inhuman howling echoed all around the survivors, chilling them to the bone. There was no telling how many Infected were coming, but it had to be a lot. The four gripped their weapons, peering out into the darkness, as the howling grew louder and louder.
"Guys, remember to keep and eye Francis and me," Bill said carefully.
"Hey, you both still seem human to me," Louis said encouragingly. "Maybe – OH SHIT!" Whatever he was about to say took a backseat as he opened fire; the courtyard lighting up with the flash of fire as he aimed at a fleeting shadow sprinting across the ground. It convulsed as bullets slammed into it.
"Over there!" Bill yelled, pointing a couple more figures out to Zoey. He and Francis' shotguns were useless at this range.
The college student raised her Uzi, exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger. The muzzle spat flame and bullets, sizzling through the air with a sharp whistling, followed by wet THWACKS as they threw up gouts of blood and dirt.
"More over there!" Bill yelled, pointing across to a different corner of the yard as more Common Infected spilled out of the darkness and into the glare of the lighting tower.
Louis immediately redirected his aim and opened fire on the intruders, who shrieked with anger as they fell under a hail of hot lead from above.
"You guys are doin' great!" Bill called encouragingly to Zoey and Louis.
"Yeah, a little too good," Francis moped. "Leave some for us!"
At that moment, a large crowd of people spilled into the yard below, screaming bloody murder. A number of them fell under gunfire, but many of them broke through the initial storm and began to claw their way up the walls in a bid to reach the survivors.
"Be careful what you wish for, asshole!" Louis yelled.
"Yeah! That's more like it!" the stocky biker hollered, blowing a woman away from the wall in a blast of blood and flying bone fragments.
Bill feverishly swung the butt of his shotgun down on pale hands that appeared over the edge of the balcony. He looked to his left to see two infected people climb up onto the balcony, eyeing him down ravenously.
"Sorry, the diner's closed!" he yelled, swinging the shotgun around squeezing the trigger. The blast annihilated the attackers' heads at point-blank range, sending their headless bodies flying back over the railing.
Zoey cursed with the stress of the situation. A large number of Infected were assaulting their position, and there were more still pouring out of the darkness. Just how many people in this damn city had been infected?
Suddenly, Bill noticed several people swarming into the workshop entrance below them. Shit...
"Bill, I thought you said you were covering the door!" Louis yelled over his shoulder.
"Just shut up and shoot!" he yelled back, swinging his shotgun toward the dark doorway behind them.
At that moment, the unthinkable happened. The light on the tower went out, plunging the area into darkness, save for the flashing of gunfire.
"Crap!" Zoey swore. "The generator's stalled!"
"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Francis yelled.
Bill brushed aside the temptation to curse out loud. There was no time for that. "I'm going down there!" he announced, making for the doorway into the workshop in a low crouch.
"I'll come with you – " Zoey began, but he waved her off.
"I need you to stay up here, kid. Cover me when I'm on the ground." He quickly moved off before she could argue.
Muzzle-flashes lit up the yard, continuously illuminating the writhing figures below. The bloodthirsty growls rending the air intensified. It was almost as if the Infected knew that they had their quarry trapped and cornered, with nowhere to go.
Bill moved quickly through the dark workshop toward the stairs that led off the upper catwalk and down to ground level. A sudden inhuman shriek caused him to swing the shotgun around to see a dark shape rushing toward him. One trigger-pull later and he was sprayed with a gratuitous amount of blood.
"Son of a bitch – "
He whirled to the sound of rushing footsteps to see a wild-looking woman emerging at the top of the stairs. Without hesitating, Bill smashed her in the face with the butt of his gun, sending her tumbling back down the stairs. She came to rest at the bottom with a sickening CRUNCH and did not move again. Bill leapt over her body several seconds later and rushed past the truck toward the main entrance. The hoist had lowered just over halfway to the floor.
Damn, that thing is slow...
"Where the hell's the old man?" Francis yelled over the roaring gunfire. "That truck ain't gonna lower itself!"
"There he is!" Louis shouted, pointing to a figure dashing across the yard toward the generator.
Several Common Infected immediately noticed Bill and turned to attack. However, a hail of withering gunfire from above sent them tumbling to the ground, clearing the way. He reached the generator and immediately started pounding on the controls.
"Come on, work, you Goddamn piece of shit..." he hissed through gritted teeth. He paused to swing his shotgun to the left and blow away an infected man bearing down on him, before turning back to his work.
Louis fired his Uzi with a firm two-handed grip, killing any Infected got too close to them or Bill. If that generator doesn't start working again...
Suddenly, with a triumphant roar, the lights flickered back on and the generator rumbled with renewed life. Bill sighed in satisfaction, but his celebrations were short-lived when he realised that he was completely cut off from the depot. He cursed and began to fire his shotgun at the large crowd of Infected coming straight for him. Several went down, but there were far too many, and the others screeched in delight as they rapidly closed the distance.
He was screwed.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! A hail of bullets slammed into the attackers above, clearing the way. Bill looked up to see that Zoey and Louis had abandoned the defence of their own perch and were solely concentrating their fire to protect him from the Infected on the ground. To his horror, he saw countless others scaling the walls, threatening to envelop the maintenance shed.
"Guys! Get inside and make for the truck!" he yelled. "Go now!"
The others nodded and quickly disappeared through the balcony doorway into the workshop, but not before carving a clear path to the door through the Infected with their submachine guns for Bill. He made straight for the ground entrance, firing only passing shots at anything that got too close.
The other three survivors charged along the upper-level catwalk, firing continuously as they ran. The muzzle-flashes lit up snarling figures approaching from the stairs, but the combined fire from two Uzis and a shotgun sent them tumbling head over heels.
"Almost out of ammo!"
"Keep moving!"
"The truck's almost lowered!"
Thirty furious seconds later, the four regrouped back at the truck, and Francis opened the door while the others covered him.
"Get in!" he motioned frantically.
As soon as everyone was inside, he slammed the door shut, seconds before the incessant pounding began on the outside of the truck. Bill shone the light on his shotgun around to find that they were in a large back compartment of the van. Pale, bloodied faces pushed up against the grill-reinforced windows of the cabin. Pushing his way roughly past Francis, he moved through a narrow doorway into the driver's cabin and threw himself into the seat.
"Uh, Bill?" Louis' voice sounded anxious. "Are we gettin' outta here or what?"
The pounding against the sides of the truck was getting louder, and it sounded as though several Infected had climbed up onto the roof as well. Bill looked up in alarm when he heard thumps from ahead, and saw several dark shapes climbing onto the front of the van. Quick as a flash, he raised his M1911 and fired several shots through the windshield at the attackers.
"Bill, we gotta go!" Zoey yelled from the back.
"Alright, alright, hold yer horses!" he muttered, jamming the keys into the ignition. "I'm gettin' too old for this goddamn apocalypse horseshit..."
With a loud roar, the truck blazed to life. He flicked on the powerful headlights to reveal a large crowd of people swarming in front of the truck, attracted by the bright lights and loud roar of the engine. With the tyres screeching in protest, Bill jetted the van forward, slamming into several Infected, who immediately disappeared under the vehicle with a loud rumbling.
"Buckle in!" he called over his shoulder. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"
He found himself thanking the unfortunate previous survivors who had done such a good job of armouring the camper van. It easily cut a swath through the Infected as he guided it out of the workshop and into the road. The rumbling of bodies under the hulking vehicle continued without reprieve. Bill grinned. This was the life.
The armoured van burst out of the truck depot and shot out toward the city limit of Fairfield. It disappeared into the night, safe and away, leaving the mournful wails and cries of the Infected in its wake.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Tomorrow I will be going overseas, and so there will not be any new chapters for a while. However, once I get back, Death Toll will begin. Rawr.