The pickup surged forward spitting muddy rainwater behind it. There was a horde of zombies in front of me, but there was also the Sisco gate, which was being held open by Murray and the schlepper.
The first few zombies that fell under my tires didn’t slow the truck at all. There was a congestion of the dead the closer I got to the opening in the gate. By the time I was halfway through, my tires were spinning in a deep puddle of mud and guts. I stomped the gas but it only made them spin faster. The engine screamed despite the fact that I wasn’t moving. Nothing was going to change that, until zombies started to help push.
The dead that approached from behind bumped up against the tailgate. They could see me through the window and reached for me. Because they’re so smart, they just keep walking forward even with half a vehicle in the way. When enough idiot zombies were at the rear of the truck, I started moving forward again.
My spinning wheels met the pavement of the overpass and the truck shot forward. I reached the apex and glanced up at the guard booth. A terrified face stared back at me. There still wasn’t a gun pointed at me. Good.
I coasted down to the second gate, honking the horn as I went. I stopped just outside of the gate and looked back up at the guard booth. The man had the work ethic of a statue. The gate wasn’t going to open.
Plan B time.
I scrambled out of the driver’s seat and into the truck bed. I took hold of the gate and began to climb.
The zombies weren’t much of a concern for me. It would take them forever to make their way across the overpass. The barbed wire at the top of the gate, however, concerned me quite a bit more.
After some delicate and careful positioning, I had one leg over the top of the fence and was working on the other one.
“Look who’s back from the dead.” A cruel voice was accompanied by a cruel laugh. I didn’t need to look to know it was Jansen. Dave was with him, but he stood a distance behind, and off to the side. He looked like a nervous teenager at a school dance.
“You gonna to shoot me?” I asked.
“Clark! I’m offended. I wouldn’t shoot you. We humans have to stick together, right?”
“Glad to hear that,” I said. “Cause when I get down I’m going to pound your face in.”
“I can’t believe you had to climb at all. I want to apologize for that. Not very friendly of us.” He brought a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “Open gate two, will ya?”
A crackle and a voice came from the other end, protesting.
“Just do it!”
The gate began to open and I gripped the bar beneath my crotch with both hands. I had never ridden a pissed off bull before, but this seemed close. My delicate balance shattered and I fell.
A simple fall from that height wouldn’t have been so bad. It would have hurt, but nothing I couldn’t walk off. This fall was different.
It started with barbed wire tearing at my skin and clothes as I fell from the top of the gate and landed in the bed of the pickup truck.
I didn’t pass out. At least not right away. I wanted to sleep, but knew I couldn’t. Or could I? Something told me it wasn’t a good idea, but that didn’t make sense. Sleep seemed the best idea I’d ever had.
“Get him,” a voice said. “And bring that other thing we found.”
I dipped in and out of consciousness. Hands grabbed me and dragged me out of the bed of the truck and I passed out. When I came to, either seconds or moments later, I was floating while the pavement of the overpass passed underneath me. I went to sleep again.
I woke up again when I was dropped onto pavement. Something solid was being dragged across the pavement behind me and everything faded to black again.
Shuffling noises brought me back. I tried to look around, but it was dark. Had it been moments? Or days?
“Hey sleeping beauty!” Jansen called. “You better get up unless you want to be food.”
Even with half of my brain working, I knew exactly what that meant. I popped into a standing position just in time to see a zombie right in front of me. It gave a bone-chilling growl that seemed deafening at close range.
My hand went to my hip and found that my machete handle wasn’t there. No hunting knife either.
I lashed out, shoving the zombie with all the strength I could gather, and prayed I didn’t get bit in the process. The zombie hit the ground and rolled toward gate one.
I turned to confront Jansen and Dave and found Jack’s funnel set up behind me. Jansen and Dave stood behind it, with the rest of the security goons. Standing among them were Jack and Dawn, their hands tied in front of them. When I looked closer I saw that Ferguson had his hands tied together too.
Jansen was smiling like an idiot with cotton candy in both hands. Dave scowled and watched his head of security with a cautious look. Jansen giggled and nodded toward gate one.
The zombie I had shoved away was still down, but it hadn’t rolled very far. Coming up the overpass were hundreds and hundreds of zombies, all looking at me.
