things.
Something
was not right.
Where
did all these things come from? I hadn’t seen more than twenty infected moving
as a single group in over a year. What motivated these rotten bastards to get
together all of a sudden and come after us? I looked down to the gate to see
how it was holding up. So far, it looked okay. A length of chain lying near the
gate caught my eye, and I remembered Tom saying he thought the lock had been
cut.
“What
do you think?” Gabe asked as I climbed down the ladder and turned to face him.
“You
want the bad news, or the really fucking bad news?” I replied.
“Just
tell me, we don’t have time for bullshit.” He snapped.
“The
bad news is that there are about a thousand of the things. As for the really
fucking bad news, I don’t think those infected came here on their own.”
Gabe’s
scowl deepened. “You think someone led them here?”
“I
don’t know. I think the chain on the gate was cut. It’s still there, let’s go
get it.”
I
walked over to the scrap pile and picked out a length of two-by-four. Gabe
covered me with his SCAR as I stood near the fence and worked the chain closer.
Once I had it out of reach of the infected, I picked it up and examined it.
Gabe and I took a few steps back to escape the stench of all those dead bodies,
it was enough to make my eyes water. I turned the chain over in my hands and
found where it was broken. My jaw clenched, and I could feel my temper heat up
as I handed it to Gabriel.
Someone
had cut one of the links clean through.
Gabriel
cursed in about six languages as he hurled the chain to the ground.
“Some
fucking coward doesn’t have the balls to take us on, so he sends a bunch of
undead after us to do his dirty work.” He growled, fuming. “I’m gonna find this
fucker, Eric, and I’m going rip him apart. I will kill every goddamn one of
those infected with my bare hands if I have to.”
Gabe
is a scary guy when he is in a good mood. Right then, his face was a
mask of fury and waves of anger boiled from him like a rising thunderhead. His
fierce grey eyes blazed with murder, and I swear I could hear the handle of his
rifle crack a little under his grip. The scars on his face stood out a livid
purple against his skin. This was not good, he needed to calm down. I laid a
conciliatory hand on his shoulder and gave him a little shake.
“Hey,
I’m with you old buddy. If we live through this today, I’ll help you find
whoever is responsible for this and I will personally hold the son of a bitch
down while you peel his skin off. In the meantime,” I said pointing a finger
toward the bunker, “we have to figure out a way to get ourselves, not to
mention the Glovers, out of this alive.”
Gabe
looked toward the bunker and nodded after a moment. He heaved a deep breath to
calm himself.
“Okay.
I vote we get some more rifles up here and get to work culling the herd.” He
said. “We got enough ammo to put them all down, it’ll just take a while.”
As
if on cue, a violent creeeeaaaak-SPANG screamed from the fence as a weld
on one of the lower support struts gave way. We spun around with weapons
raised, half expecting to see a wall of corpses bearing down on us. The undead
strained forward where the fence was starting to give, reaching and clutching
through the gap. It was not yet wide enough for them to get through, but it was
only a matter of time.
“We
don’t have that kind of time, Gabe. We need to go to plan B.” I said.
“We
have a plan B?”
“Um…yeah.
I think we do.” I turned and looked to the western fence, the one that led out
to the cliff. There was a section a little way northward from the fire pit
where the precipice narrowed down to about twelve feet.
If
only we could…yeah. That should work .
“Gabe,
go fire up your Tacoma and park it over there where the cliff narrows outside
the gate.” I turned him around by the shoulder and pointed. “Put the front
bumper as close to the cliff as you can,
Something
was not right.
Where
did all these things come from? I hadn’t seen more than twenty infected moving
as a single group in over a year. What motivated these rotten bastards to get
together all of a sudden and come after us? I looked down to the gate to see
how it was holding up. So far, it looked okay. A length of chain lying near the
gate caught my eye, and I remembered Tom saying he thought the lock had been
cut.
“What
do you think?” Gabe asked as I climbed down the ladder and turned to face him.
“You
want the bad news, or the really fucking bad news?” I replied.
“Just
tell me, we don’t have time for bullshit.” He snapped.
“The
bad news is that there are about a thousand of the things. As for the really
fucking bad news, I don’t think those infected came here on their own.”
Gabe’s
scowl deepened. “You think someone led them here?”
“I
don’t know. I think the chain on the gate was cut. It’s still there, let’s go
get it.”
I
walked over to the scrap pile and picked out a length of two-by-four. Gabe
covered me with his SCAR as I stood near the fence and worked the chain closer.
Once I had it out of reach of the infected, I picked it up and examined it.
Gabe and I took a few steps back to escape the stench of all those dead bodies,
it was enough to make my eyes water. I turned the chain over in my hands and
found where it was broken. My jaw clenched, and I could feel my temper heat up
as I handed it to Gabriel.
Someone
had cut one of the links clean through.
Gabriel
cursed in about six languages as he hurled the chain to the ground.
“Some
fucking coward doesn’t have the balls to take us on, so he sends a bunch of
undead after us to do his dirty work.” He growled, fuming. “I’m gonna find this
fucker, Eric, and I’m going rip him apart. I will kill every goddamn one of
those infected with my bare hands if I have to.”
Gabe
is a scary guy when he is in a good mood. Right then, his face was a
mask of fury and waves of anger boiled from him like a rising thunderhead. His
fierce grey eyes blazed with murder, and I swear I could hear the handle of his
rifle crack a little under his grip. The scars on his face stood out a livid
purple against his skin. This was not good, he needed to calm down. I laid a
conciliatory hand on his shoulder and gave him a little shake.
“Hey,
I’m with you old buddy. If we live through this today, I’ll help you find
whoever is responsible for this and I will personally hold the son of a bitch
down while you peel his skin off. In the meantime,” I said pointing a finger
toward the bunker, “we have to figure out a way to get ourselves, not to
mention the Glovers, out of this alive.”
Gabe
looked toward the bunker and nodded after a moment. He heaved a deep breath to
calm himself.
“Okay.
I vote we get some more rifles up here and get to work culling the herd.” He
said. “We got enough ammo to put them all down, it’ll just take a while.”
As
if on cue, a violent creeeeaaaak-SPANG screamed from the fence as a weld
on one of the lower support struts gave way. We spun around with weapons
raised, half expecting to see a wall of corpses bearing down on us. The undead
strained forward where the fence was starting to give, reaching and clutching
through the gap. It was not yet wide enough for them to get through, but it was
only a matter of time.
“We
don’t have that kind of time, Gabe. We need to go to plan B.” I said.
“We
have a plan B?”
“Um…yeah.
I think we do.” I turned and looked to the western fence, the one that led out
to the cliff. There was a section a little way northward from the fire pit
where the precipice narrowed down to about twelve feet.
If
only we could…yeah. That should work .
“Gabe,
go fire up your Tacoma and park it over there where the cliff narrows outside
the gate.” I turned him around by the shoulder and pointed. “Put the front
bumper as close to the cliff as you can,
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