Chapter 8

The art of war is of vital importance to the undead

If Jake was more assertive, he might have asserted he’d had just about had enough of this. Three days of zombies, not the least of which being his partner. He was due for a break.

The lab security flanked Jake, Max,the Baron, and one of Dr. Iron’s assistants, leading them through the building to the stairs that would take them up to the roof. The doctor left his cold-eyed medical technician, Hinter, in charge of Max and the Baron while he was away, God only knew where. Heavy boots banged on the tile floor, echoing against the blank, concrete walls. There were horrific sounds of gunshots and screams coming from lower floors. Supposedly a helicopter waited above to take them… somewhere. That was in the future, though, on the other side of a wall of zombies that had overrun the cold, sterile lab in a matter of minutes.

No one but the security detail was allowed weapons, which was fine by Jake: he wouldn’t have known what to do with a gun if he had one. It was all okay up until the third undead horror lurched at him. It had been a woman once, busty with blue eyes and blonde hair, the picture of a perfect California girl. Now her blue eyes were streaked with red and her perfect teeth had some unlucky sap’s tendons between them. She grabbed Jake by the shoulders, her inhuman grip digging into his flesh, her snarling mouth looming close. Turning away from her fetid breath, he felt now he could have figured out the gun if he had one.
He forced the blonde zombie away, and as she stumbled backwards her foot partially detached, exposed tendons glistening in the florescent light of the lab hallway. Jake felt gorge rising in his throat as she tried to get back to her feet; the sickening sounds of her tendons snapping was the worst thing Jake had ever heard. He saw movement from the corner of his eye, and Max came forward, lifted a gun and fired once into the zombie’s head.

Suddenly Jake was standing in the middle of a ring of gunmen, pointing their weapons at Max.

“How the hell did she get a gun?” Hinter demanded.

A scream came from the perimeter the security detail had created, and then a loud gunshot. Jake craned his head around and saw one of the guards tugging another to his feet. The guard who’d been down glared at Max, rubbing his wrist.

“She twisted my wrist and took my sidearm,” he growled. “I think she broke it.”

Max scoffed at him. “I know how to use a gun, dummy, I didn’t break it.”

The guard snarled, “I meant my wrist.”

Max blinked. “Oh yeah, that I broke.” She flashed a smile and dropped the gun. The guards visibly relaxed.

Hinter put his hands up. “We have bigger issues. We have to get out of here. Captain, lead on.” The captain of the guard took point and led them out of the hallway. Jake didn’t even realize they’d cleared the room while he was grappling with the zombie.

“Thanks, Max,” Jake muttered.

“No problem,” she replied, not looking at him. Jake felt a burning at the back of his head and turned around. The Baron, who was still an utter mystery to him, was smiling at him.

The rest of the trip to the rooftop was a blur. The security guys seemed to keep as much an eye on Max as on their attackers and it was making it difficult for them to concentrate. At one point Max reached up to pick something out of her teeth and no less than three of the guards turned abruptly to train their weapons on her. Meanwhile, several zombies with intentions far worse than some dental excavation were too close for his liking. Even Hinter had to bark at the men to pay attention.

Jake’s heart was racing from the moment they’d gotten word of the undead overrunning the facility, but it raced double time when they finally reached the roof. The helicopter was there, but suddenly Jake felt certain that something was wrong. He held back the urge to make a beeline for the chopper. But he couldn’t help noticing one thing, even in his panic: that chopper was not nearly big enough for all of them. Before he could point this out, Hinter shooed them forward.

“Keep your heads down, don’t want to lose them to those blades,” he said. Jake ducked as low as he could without overbalancing himself. The chopper’s blades were indeed spinning, ready for takeoff, but it was kicking up a lot of detritus that was making it hard for Jake to see. Someone grasped his hand and pulled him forward though and next thing he knew he was seated in the chopper next to Max. The Baron climbed in behind them and Hinter behind him. Through the window of the chopper Jake could see that some of the zombies had found the roof and their security detail was attempting to fight them off.

“Hm. I didn’t plan it this way but it does certainly avoid that awkward confrontation I was dreading,” Hinter said, presumably to himself. “Pilot, please take off.”

The chopper started to lift from the rooftop. “You’re just going to leave your whole security detail here?” Jake asked. “This place is overrun, they’ll all die! They’re the only reason you even made it this far!”

The medical technician looked at him blankly. “Helicopters are expensive. I didn’t want to fork out the money for two of them.” He souned scandalized at the very notion.

The Baron clucked his tongue at him. “Bad form,” he admonished. “My heart no longer even has blood in it and it’s still warmer than yours.”