They Walk

Chapter Fifty One

We don’t have to wait long though, because soon Hunter is pulling up on College Street and we can see the disorder of the place from here. Bates is like its one little community with a ton of out buildings, and as we draw closer the amount of the dead rise. The night before Noah had told us that when people first came here for protection, they took up shop at Pettengill Hall, so Hunter has to drive us almost to the end of College Street toward the building. We pass the usual destruction I’m already familiar with, but it still makes my breath catch as every house we pass gets worse and worse. When the car comes to a stop we all pear out the windows where a side street is to the right.

Down that small stretch of road is the building we need.

But between us is over a hundred of the dead and they are already heading in our direction.

“Gabe un-hook the seat to the trunk, and get the big guns, hurry.” Noah says as he turns in his seat and faces us.

Quickly I turn in the back seat so that Gabe has more room to maneuver, and together we pull the back of the seat down so that the trunk is open and visible. The guns are also visible and still in the bags we packed them in, thank goodness. Gabe slides out the bigger of the two, and as I reach for the second one, I spy another bag that fills me with even more excitement that the submachine gun Gabe is taking out. The bag I pull out holds flares, knives and small grenades that Noah picked up at the armory.

I turn to Noah, as he is reaching for the machine from Gabe.

“Noah, I think we forgot something.” I say as I take out a grenade and hold it up for them all to see.

“Is that,” Gabe asks.

“…A grenade?” Noah interrupts. “How many do we have Maggie?”

Lifting the bag I lean over the seats and hand it to him, so he can see for himself. Gabe looks down at the machine gun that is forgotten by Noah, and he looks like he’s getting his favorite toy taken away. I smile though and pat his shoulder as we wait for a confirmation from Noah.

“Will those work here though?” Hunter asks, skeptically.

“They sure as hell will, and we only need the one. Just tossing it into the group, we’ll have the advantage with using the machine gun too.”

If it’s possible my smile gets wider, and I know I must look absolutely crazy, but I can’t help it. It makes the number of the dead outside the car less frightening, even as they are all making their way closer to us. It’s still creepy to me the fact that they all shuffle together as a group, until they sense the living among them.

If one of us were to open the car door, I know for a fact that they would all rush at us.

“Is there any way we can get closer to the building?” Gabe asks, as he loads rounds into the machine gun cartridge.

“Are you off your rocker Gabriel? You do see the crap load of the dead right? There is no way I’m driving into that.” Hunter spits out, as he too reloads his handguns.

“Of course I see them, thanks for that. I MEANT, for using the grenades. Noah?” Gabe asks again.

Noah ignoring the seething look from Hunter, and turns in his seat to face Gabe and I. He seems to look less worried than he was when we left, and that alone boosts my confidence.

“Just like before, I’m going to take the lead here. I’m going to toss a grenade into them, and while they get blown up you and Hunter are going to be using the machine guns on the rest. I’ll use you as a cover to shoot at the rest, while Maggie and I rush to the building with you too on our tail. Sound good?” Noah rushes out.

I should feel upset that he doesn’t seem to be using me much in the plan coordination, but I’m just glad to be here. I have no experience with regular guns, and those look pretty damn heavy. I have enough trouble as of late just lifting the ax; I don’t need to add to the weight. For some reason though, I am glad that I’ll be with Noah than Hunter, I just wish it was Gabe with me though.

“That works for me.” Gabe says as he glances at Hunter briefly, before turning back to Noah. “Just keep her safe for me.”

Noah nods, while shooting a glance to me, before turning back around in his seat. I let out a sigh, and place my hand on Gabe’s shoulder and he faces me fully now.

“You don’t have to worry about me, just concentrate on yourself, alright?” I say.

I move my hand onto his cheek and lightly caress him before starting to drop my hand, but he catches it in his. He raises it up to his lips and places a gentle kiss on my knuckles. He places my hand back into my lap and goes back to loading the gun in his lap, and I have to remember what I was doing. In the next couple of moments we all set out to reload our guns and get them positioned on our person, so that we are ready.

Noah has two handguns at his hips, and pulls the strap of the bag over his shoulder when he takes a grenade in his hands. Gabe sends off the submachine gun to Hunter, and goes to work loading the Uzi machine gun for him. I now have two knives strapped into holsters attached to my ankles, as well as the handgun at my hip and the ax in my hands. With the dead getting even closer now, we can’t wait anymore and with a swift nod from Noah.

We all get out of the car.

Like I imagined the moment we step out of the car, the dead around us go into frenzy and rush us at once. Without hesitation, Noah doesn’t wait for us to round the car, and just pulls the grenade clip free and tosses it into the mass of bodies. It lands in the midst of them, and sounding like fireworks on the fourth of July it goes off in a shocking boom. We’re far enough away that we don’t feel but a breath of air, but the dead around it go flying in a mass of separated body parts and cuts the number in half right away.

I paused at the front of the car gripping the ax when the grenade went off, and now Noah brandishing a gun urges me to follow him to the building we want that is a dozen feet away from us. Gabe and Hunter are firing the machine guns now, and they are so loud it makes my ears ring. They are out in front of Noah and I and are clearing a path all around as we run.

Now that the front of the building is clear, they both turn at the same time as if it was coordinated, and they start firing behind us. Noah rushes forward to the front of the building and I’m hot on his heels and trying to not look behind me as Gabe shoots the dead. There are a small set of steps leading up to the front entrance of the building, and as we near them a couple of the dead are coming around from the side of the building and straight for us. Noah just aims his gun and starts shooting toward the left, and I only have time to think I should take out my gun and fire into the right, before they are already upon me.

I am just raising my ax, when a girl my age in a ripped dress lunges at me with her broken and bloody arms wide. I manage to swing the ax before she touches me, and the hit to her side sends her falling to the ground with my ax lodged into her. She’s clawing at me while I struggle to pull it free, and I have to kick her in the head to make her stop.

Stepping on her abdomen, I pull the ax free.

As soon as I do I abruptly swing it back down into her neck before she gets up.

Her movements still when I hear more feet coming to me from behind, and I swing the ax as I turn to face them. There are two of the dead, and they look completely disfigured, as if they’d been dead for a while. I hit the one on the right on his side, but unlike the girls, my ax slides right through him cutting him in half. Still in mid-swing the ax comes out and slides right into the woman beside him, catching her shoulder.

She gets knocked to the ground from the hit.

I’m struggling to pull the ax from her flesh when she jerks and then stills.

Looking up as I pull the ax free, I find Noah on the steps lowering his gun and urging me to follow him. Gripping the ax tightly, I forget the dead at me feet and swiftly rush up the steps to join Noah. The sound of the machine guns still firing is echoing as I reach the top of the steps landing and hurry to Noah as he is opening the door to the inside.

I look over my shoulder to where Gabe and Hunter are almost to us, still firing into the dead and wish that I hadn’t. As the guys shoot into the dead, they’re numbers don’t seem to be getting smaller, it’s like they are pouring out of everywhere and not stopping. They seem to notice this too, because the concentrate on running to the building steps rather than trying to kill them all. Noah pulls me back inside the door as Gabe and Hunter get to the landing and are running to the door right after me. As soon as Gabe steps over the threshold, Noah slams the doors and slides the lock home, just as the dead crash into it with a bang.

We all stand there for a moment trying to catch our breath, and pray that the dead don’t breach the door. It’s quieter in here, and I wonder how it got broken into in the first place, but Noah doesn’t wait to find out as he heads off toward the welcome desk in the lobby we’re in. He ransacks it as the three of us watch not sure what to do, but he doesn’t need the help.

Grinning like a banshee, he holds up a stack of papers.

“What’d I tell you guys? They wrote where the backup shelters are.” Noah says in a rush.

I can’t believe it, as Gabe rushes over to him and scans the paper before grinning up at me too. I let out a small smile of my own, and Hunter just grunts something unrecognizable and turns back to the door full of tension.

“Both locations are close, the Ladd Library and Schaeffer Theatre. Who want what, because we have to split up now?” Noah says to us.

My breath catches and I can’t decide if this is a good move or bad one. It was bad enough when we worked together just getting inside, what will it be like apart now? All I do know is that I better be with Gabe and no one else. If the shit hits the fan, I want to be with him when it all ends.

I must not have been the only one thinking this, because Gabe speaks up first.

“Maggie and I can take the Library. You and Hunter take the theater.”

He addresses Noah, and studiously ignores Hunter, who just glares at him for some reason I can’t fathom. Men, right?

“That will work. Same as before, I’ll use another grenade and clear a path for us, and we can split up then. Sound good?” Noah says, as he looks between us all.