So there we were. Surrounded by a horde of the undead in a CVS parking lot. Thankfully the military Humvee was one outfitted for Iraq or someplace, the windows were bullet resistant and it actually had some armor to it. The armor is not much but we were better off than say in a Dodge Minivan. The things clawed at the windows and pounded on the metal with their fists. Both of us were stunned enough to sit there but we did get a lot of data we subconsciously stored for use later. After the initial fright of these walking horror movie rejects having us penned inside the truck, we shook it off as we saw they were not smart enough to figure out the door latches; at least none of them near us had tried the doors yet.
‘Another fine mess you have gotten me into…’ John chuckled after a moment. I could not help but laugh. There must have been close to 30 or so circling us like vultures, scratching with their nails to get in with us. My eyes widened when I thought of something a bit displeasing. I rotated the key in the ignition switch and the engine roared to life. The dead heads were confused by the sound and moved a pace back from the truck. (I have noticed since then that really loud, deep sounds cause them confusion.) I dropped the vehicle into gear and we lurched forward with bone-crunching sound. We maybe went three feet before the press of creatures slowed our advance. John’s eyes widened when we rolled to a stop.
‘There’s a lot out there, seems maybe the crowd from the hospital picked up our scent. We need to get out of here, you know the back of this thing does not have a lock on it?’ I said as I jammed the truck in reverse and floored it. We stopped when we hit the front of the building, the remaining glass and some of bricks rained down on the roof of the Humvee. The stop was gut wrenching but it did what I needed, opened a space in front of us.
Slamming the heavy truck into its lowest gear I floored the accelerator and we shot forward with respectable if not NASCAR-like speed. The heavy truck plowed into the mob with sickening efficiency, tossing bodies to the side and crushing the ones directly in front of us. We pulled through the crowd and made our get away.
I slowed once we about a block away and stopped. John looked at me like I was crazy.
‘Are you crazy?’ he almost screamed. See I told you. I waved him off and looked out the side mirror. The group was slowly coming our way.
‘Let check something, just bear with me.’ I moved the truck down one block and turned right, and went over two blocks. I then cruised as quietly as the truck would allow and navigated the city blocks to come around ‘behind’ the mass of dead that was at CVS. We were a good 2 blocks away when I turned the engine off and stopped, having enough of a vantage point to watch.
‘What are you doing?’ John whispered to me also watching the dead heads milling around.
‘Observing. I hope I am wrong, but I think these things can smell us.’
John really thought I had lost it now. The trash on the street was blowing away from us toward them so this would be the perfect time. I looked out the door and saw no one and no ‘things’ around us, so I opened the door. I stepped out in the chilly wind and waited. The mob was slowing leaving the lot following our original path, but the closest few stopped in their tracks and started turning in small circles. After about a minute they turned in our direction and slowly trundled toward us. Damn.
I slid back behind the wheel and got us the Hell out of there.
Once back at the Depot we saw the car and mini-van we had met on the road parked outside the fences. We reported to the Major as the truck was being unloaded. He had another person there, a woman by the name of Jennifer, who recorded everything we said by hand. The disturbing thought is they can SMELL us. The Major told us to report back tomorrow to run escort for the 6X6’s as we were going to Lowes to stock up. He also told us we needed to run cover for some people who volunteered to go the equipment rental place at the edge of town and bring back a bob-cat, backhoe and a tractor. He told us to go get some rest as we leave at first light.
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