Nick bristled and clenched his jaw. “Piss off, Dave.”
Dave fronted up to him. “Piss off? Who the hell do you think you are? You’d still be on the side of the road if it weren’t for me.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Pauline shouted. “We have to get that alarm off before any infected people hear us.”
“She’s right,” said Jan. “Back in one of the towns we passed through, I saw a whole bunch of infected people head right for a church when its bell started ringing. Attracted every one of them in the area. We need to cut the noise, right now, or they’ll be here.”
“Don’t worry. I got this,” said Dash, leaping up onto the ledge of the broken window and disappearing into the shadows inside. Everyone else stood around anxiously, eyeing the treeline. They were all dreading the sudden rush of infected people hammering over the concrete towards them.
The alarm was loud enough to travel for miles.
“This is not good,” said Cassie.
Carl put an arm around her. “It will be okay.”
Dave stomped back and forth furiously, clenching his fists and heaving his gut in and out. Jan and Renee were the calmest, standing beside the broken window and staring patiently inside.
Margaret, Eve, and Pauline stood beside Nick, huddled together, as if merely doing so was enough to keep them safe. He patted Margaret on her back and gave her a reassuring smile.
“What a racket,” she muttered.
The shrill call of the alarm set all of their nerves on edge – everyone was visibly close to panic. If what Jan had said was right, it could spell big trouble for them all.
We’re sitting ducks…
The alarm stopped suddenly.
There was total silence.
A moment later, Dash appeared at the broken window. He held what looked like a frying pan in his hand. He used the hard metal edge to knock loose the remaining shards of glass from the frame, making it safe to climb through. “Come on in, gangsters,” he said.
“Something tells me you’ve done this before,” Nick commented.
“I don’t know what you mean, blud. I’m just a man that knows a few things.”
“Well, you did good,” said Dave. “Is there any way you can get the doors open as well?”
Dash shook his head. “No can do. Any keys would be in the safe and my skills don’t go that far.”
“Okay,” said Dave. “Then pass us out one of those plastic chairs to help us climb over.
Dash disappeared back inside and then reappeared at the window with a chair. He passed it out to Dave who set it down on the pavement.
“Okay,” Dave said. “Ladies first.”
They sent in Margaret to start; Nick helping her up and then Dash helping her down onto his shoulder from the other side. Eve was next and hopped through relatively easily, followed by Pauline who stumbled and half-fell inside. Cassie went next and then the men followed. Nick went in after Carl, who went in after Renee. Dave and Jan came in last. Jan was so tall he could have stepped over without the chair.
Inside, the room was shadowy, but not completely dark. The chairs and tables were neatly stacked and the floors were mostly clear. The café was still operational by the looks of things.
“Wonder why there’s no one here,” said Pauline.
“Makes sense,” said Nick, “when you think about the time this all started. My wife and son were sick before dawn. I’d imagine some people probably took longer, but it’s safe to assume that the situation was pretty bad everywhere by 8AM. This café probably doesn’t open until nine or ten, so the staff wouldn’t have even started their commute by the time the shit hit the fan. I think most people were either getting up for work or already on their way when they got attacked. We all saw the roads this morning. It happened all at once. It caught everybody by surprise.”
“I think we can all count ourselves pretty lucky,” said Dave. “All of us managed to escape the situation before it got real bad.”