They Walk

Chapter Eighty Three

It’s almost dawn by the time the groups of us that are leaving are all gathered upstairs in the lobby of the City Hall. Luckily, Dan and I ran into the others while leaving my parents room and Gabe caught me in him arms before I freaked out. He’s a life saver that one. While Gabe held me in reassurance, Maria did the same for my brother. We didn’t have to suffer for long though, because Randy came to get us and to let us know it was time to go. The entire walk upstairs, I regretted my decision to leave and each step felt like lead. I have to believe I am doing the right thing, even though I know deep down that there is a chance no left here will survive. But I can’t start thinking like that, I have to believe that they will all survive and we’ll come back for them.

A quiet voice in the back of my mind keeps screaming ‘liar’ to me and it takes all that I am just to tell it to shut up.

Randy had managed to score quite the arsenal for us to take with us, and that means more than just ammo. Along with my trusty ax, I now have my very own back sheath for it to be strapped into. I almost kissed him when he gave it to me, but he didn’t want thanks, he just told me to stay alive. Now that I have two free hands, my odds just went up so I think I can keep that promise. Gabe has all new ammo for his two handguns and the shotgun. Dan, Maria, and Michael all have guns and knives too, though I notice that Dan has more than the latter. None of us were all that chatty while we loaded up, and it’s not that I minded by no means, this isn’t exactly a search and rescue mission.

Besides us, there are a few couples with children that are all going with us. One of them is a young couple with two small boys, and one of them stands out to me with his short spiky red hair. He must only be about five or six, and even with the tension on the room, he sits quietly by his anxiety ridden parents and brother, as calm as an adult. Another is an older couple maybe in their forties if I had to guess. Then there is a middle aged couple with two girls my age.

We should probably socialize or something, but I just don’t have it in me to do it. When we leave here soon, we’ll all work together, but once we are all in our own cars and heading out, it’s every man for him. Or that is what I keep telling myself. I can’t get attached any more than I have; it’s just going to hurt more when we lose another person.

I’ve had the ax strapped in and have been ready for the last couple of minutes and have been waiting on the others to finish up. I’m currently sitting on top of the big desk that is at the back of the room in the lobby, with Gabe standing in front of me. I wrapped my arms from behind him and linked my hands over his chest, the moment he put away the guns. Maria and Dan are on my right and Michael is on my left and we’re all just waiting, on Randy for now.

He’s been standing at the front door the whole time we all have been getting ready. Brady is beside him, but he too has been pretty stotic. I haven’t looked outside myself yet, and I can only imagine how many of the dead are out there. From the way he’s all tensed up, I have a feeling it’s a lot more than when we first got here. But is that always the case?

I know it’s time to go when Randy finally turns around and faces us with a look, which I can only describe as determination.

“Alright, here’s the deal. Brady and I are going to have to cover you as you head to your vehicles.”

The other people in the room look worriedly around one another while me and mine just sit there and know why he is doing this. There are too many of the dead, for us to handle alone. Marvelous, sounds like a grand old time. I’m about to have Gabe move aside so that I can get down, but then he moves on his own and steps over to Randy.

“How many are out there?”

Randy looks down at his feet, and then back up with a sigh. “There are too many for you all to face them alone; which is why we’re helping.”

He indicated himself and Brady, and then looks back to Gabe like he’s an idiot. Gabe just stands there though for a second, and then he glances at me with a smile. When he turns back to Randy, I have to be honest; I think he’s lost his mind. What is he getting at? When he spins the satchel he’s had since the military base, around to his front and reaches inside, I finally know. He means to use another grenade, but here’s hoping we have enough to use. We’ve gone through a lot of them already. But he pulls out one anyway, and I’m already grinning like a moron when he holds it up for Randy to see.

“Is this good for a head start?” Gabe says in a snarky tone to his voice.

Randy smirks though, and immediately starts to shake his head, like he didn’t really believe we all had a chance of getting out of here.

“Yeah, that’ll do it.”

“Alright then, let’s do this.” Gabe says.

Randy turns around then and while pulling out his gun, he walks over to the door and doesn’t wait for Gabe to follow him. I jump down from the desk while everyone gets their weapons ready and quickly head over to Gabe, who is now right beside randy at the door. I’m only just getting to them, when Randy pulls open the door and charges outside firing his gun with Brady right behind him doing the same. Gabe grabs my hand and pulls me after him out the door, and that is when I get a good luck at what we are running into. There are about a hundred of the dead in the street. They are all hungry and ravenously charging towards us. The bullets from the guy’s guns only stop so many of them.

There are more already coming.

My heart almost stops at the sight of them, and I would have turned around if Gabe didn’t have a hold on me. I can feel the others at my back and I can hear the rest shouting over what we are running into. We’re only halfway down the steps when I think it’s a good idea to get my ax in my hands, and then Randy and Brady are both at the bottom of the steps. They flank out to the right and the left and clear a path for Gabe. Or that’s what I’m guessing since he is the man with the grenade. He knows this too, because he pulls me faster and before I know it we are at the bottom with the dead moving fast for us.

It feels like time slows down again, when really I think it’s happening to fast and my brain registers it as mush. But Gabe releases my hand and pulls the clip free of the grenade then he is tossing it into the bodies and grabbing my hand again all in the span of a minute. He pulls me again and we’re running now in the direction of the car to the right with the others close behind when the explosion makes the ground shake. I can feel the head at my back and I swear I can even feel something wet hitting my back, but I don’t stop to think what it is. All around me there is running and the sound of gunfire, all the while the dead are still coming for us.

Gabe now to has his gun out and is firing out in front of us as we move.

Like a beacon of salvation, Gabe and I see Noah’s junker of a car up ahead and it makes us pick up our speed. We reach it at the same time as Dan, and Michael do, with a limping Maria being held between them. We don’t stop and check to make sure anyone else is safe, we just get right into the car with Gabe and I up front and the rest in the back. I’m just sliding in and closing the door, when a dead woman with red hair throws herself at the door. I scream and jump back across the seat, while she thrashes at the window and tries to get to me. Gabe hasn’t gotten completely in yet, so he just stands up and leans over the hood and fires his gun into her head, and knocks her back from the car.

And then he is just climbing into the car and slamming the door, while I and the others stare at him in shock. He starts the car and looks questioningly at us all.

“What? Maggie knows I’m a cowboy; this isn’t really anything new to me. It’s a cake walk.”

I snort out a cross between a laugh and a cough, while my brother and the others in the back think we’ve both lost our minds. Maybe we have, it certainly would make sense if we had now wouldn’t it?

Gabe is just pulling Noah’s car out onto the dead packed street, when I notice with excitement that there are three other cars on the road with us. This makes me turn in my seat and look back to the City Hall. On the stoop of the building are Randy and Brady still shooting into the dead, then just like with Noah and my parents, a double image of Randy rises in my mind.

This one is weaponless and dressed in a uniform that I can’t really see all that clearly.

He is reaching out to me, and before I can even say anything about him, the image evaporates, and then there is only the real one. He and Brady don’t stay outside after that, and while they head back inside, Randy looks up and waves in our direction. I don’t bother to wave back since he can’t really see us, but I hope one day I do get to thank him for all that he has done for us and my family; and wouldn’t it be nice to know why I’m seeing things like I am.

I do the only thing that helps.

This is to rub at my throbbing temples, but it only offers a slight relief.