Day 28: Turn Out the Lights

“Can we run through this one more time?” Troy asked as they stood at the exit of the emergency room.

“Sure,” Matthew sighed, motioning for Natalie to hold her position. “Natalie’s going to remove the automatic timers so that the emergency doors open. You and I are going out there to clear any roamers who may be lurking out back, drive one of those ambulances closer, pile in all of the stuff we’ve collected and get the hell out of here.”

“See, this is where the plan hits a snag for me. Where exactly are we going?”

“I don’t know, Troy. Hopefully we can find a place that’s not…infested.”

“Here we go,” Troy said as Matthew gave Natalie the signal.

“Remember, don’t use your gun unless you absolutely have to. We don’t want to attract too many before we’re done loading up.”

“Right,” Troy nodded. Taking a deep breath, he watched as the sliding glass doors slowly opened, gripped the handle of his weapon and charged forward. Matthew was right behind him.

“I’ll take care of the ones near the ramp. Get that stuff loaded into the ambulance,” he said, rushing towards the first zombie near the gate. He wasted no time driving his knife through its skull before moving on to the next.

Troy hurried to the first ambulance parked in the waiting zone. Checking the back, he ensured it was free of zombies before stacking the first bags inside. Natalie met him at the door when he reached the top of the ramp. “There are two left,” she said handing him a couple more.

“Ok, we need to move fast. I don’t know how many are at the gate but I don’t want Matt staying down there for too long.”

“Right.” She handed off the bags and sprinted back inside. When they were finished, Natalie grabbed the keys from the check-in counter and ran down to meet Matthew.

“Is that everything?”

“Yeah, we’re good.”

“Alright. Take this,” he handed her his knife, opened the passenger door for her and quickly circled around front. “You ok back there, Troy?”

“Oh yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

Matthew started up the engine. As he did, another group of zombies rounded the corner of the hospital, heading right towards them. “Here they come!”

“Run through ‘em,” Troy encouraged. Buckling himself into a jump seat as Matthew sped forward. Using the ambulance as a battering ram, he mowed down the group of undead, plowed through the chain link fence and crushed the back end of a parked car as they made their way out of the lot.

“Whew! Here we go!” he bounced excitedly in his seat as he navigated the cluttered streets of Cabot Creek. A large collection of motor vehicles had already been left abandoned around town. Cars, trucks even motor homes lay barren in ditches and yards as people all over the city forsook traversing the roads for the likelihood of escaping by foot.

“Well we know where to go if we ever need parts,” Natalie joked as they passed an ambulance resting near a light pole. They continued on for several blocks, looking for something, anything that resembled hope or even a decent hideout until morning. But every building they passed was more run down than the next. 

“Geez, it’s like this city just died overnight. Everything is just…gone,” Troy sighed from the back.

“Yeah. It may be a while before we find any signs of life,” Matthew added.

“Well I really hope that’s not the case,” Natalie said. “It doesn’t seem we have the fuel for that.”

“I don’t know how your genius plan worked out in your head, but if we’re going to make it someplace we might want to stop for gas first,” Troy said, listening to the fuel gauge beeping.

“Shit!” Matthew cussed, glancing down at the blinking indicator. “I thought they kept these things always at full.”

“Usually,” Natalie replied with a sigh.

“You smell that?” Matthew asked, rolling down his window. “Dammit! I think we punctured the fuel tank back there. The gas is leaking onto the road.” 

“Perfect! That’s just great,” Troy hissed. “So now what are we going to do?”

“Now we can either pull over and walk or…”

“We can’t stop here,” Natalie said, looking out the window. “There are too many of them out there for us to pull over.”

“I have an idea.” Troy disappeared a moment in the back and when he returned, he was holding a set of road flares. “Those things seem to be attracted by sound. Flip on the siren and get them to follow us. There’s a tunnel coming up here soon. If you can get us to the end of it and position the ambulance so that it blocks the other side, I think we might have a chance on foot.”

“And what are the flares for?” Natalie asked.

“It’s dark outside. If we’re going into those creepy ass woods I’d like to have some sort of light.”

“Oh.”

“We’re approaching the tunnel,” Matthew said. Turning the sirens on, he stopped the truck and waited a moment. The others watched as several zombies scratched at the back door while even more poured from the surrounding underbrush and buildings. “I really hope this works. Looks to me like it’s just gathering an even bigger crowd of those things to us.”

“Well we’ll see in a sec,” Troy replied as Matthew started forward again. Gunning it, he got to the end of the tunnel in record time. “Natalie, take this.” Troy handed her one of the bags they’d packed from the hospital before climbing in back for the others.

“Alright, you two ready?” Matthew asked once he’d angled the ambulance within the tunnel. He locked the driver’s door and instructed Natalie to hop in back. “Follow behind us closely and everyone stick together. Let’s get moving.” Matthew jumped out first with Natalie following after Troy.

They walked for about a mile, being careful to watch each side of the road. It was quiet. And the stillness around them gave more cause for concern than the group of zombies they’d passed a few blocks back.

“This is hopeless,” Natalie sighed. “We’re never going to find a place to rest.”

“Just a few more blocks,” Matthew encouraged. “We’re coming up to a highway off ramp. There’s bound to be something there.”

“I’m with Natalie,” Troy stated. “We should have just stayed at the hospital and tried to make the best of it.”

“And how long before we ran out of food or ammo or any number of other things? There were too many unknown variables in that place. Too big for 3 people to defend alone. We need someplace smaller; more manageable.” Matthew paused. “Something like that. Take a look.” He pointed towards a gas station. “Shutters are drawn that means someone’s inside.”

“Yeah but…I don’t think they’re interested in entertaining company,” Troy replied.

“Only one way to find out.”

Continue---->

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