Outbreak Chapter 36

“Have these two help you carry the bags and hurry up to the crash, we’re going to have to continue on foot,” Brendon shouted to the others in the cab as they pulled up to Griffin’s vehicle. With the road blocked off they really didn’t have much of a choice. They could have tried to find another route but Brendon didn’t want to split up the group, plus the only other path to the dorms would have lead them directly through the center of the downtown area and from what Brendon was able to see as they had skirted the area, it was packed with hundreds of undead. He doubted they would survive if they tried to travel directly through the crowded downtown streets so they were going to have to continue on with just the truck that had made it beyond the blocked intersection.
Brendon jumped out of the moonroof and ran down the front of the vehicle as fast as he could wanting to see if anyone was seriously injured. James and Griffin were both obviously a little dazed but looked to be fine otherwise. He could hear screaming and looked over to see that the woman in the driver’s seat of the Pontiac was frantically trying to fend off whoever was in the passenger seat. He saw Griffin shift his aim to the vehicle and snap off a round from his AR-15 and the man went limp. Brendon ran over to the driver’s side door of the Pontiac and saw that the woman was try to force her door open but wasn’t having any luck. He was about to try to help her get the door open when she started pounding on the window with both fists and he saw the ugly bite mark on her arm. He couldn’t understand her screams but he was able to read the words “Help me,” on her mouth. He couldn’t help her though, she was already dead and had probably killed the rest of them as well when she crashed into one of their vehicles. Without really taking any time to think about it Brendon lifted up his rifle and put a round through the woman's forehead. It wasn't until after he had taken the shot that he realized he had just shot a living unarmed human. He knew he hadn't done it out of anger, he had always been a calm person, but he honestly didn't know what had made him kill her with such little thought. He did his best to rationalize his actions, telling himself that she would have become a threat soon and if he had left her alive somebody else from his group probably would have gone to help her potentially becoming infected themselves.
He pushed any thoughts on the woman from his mind as he realized that the others from his vehicle had caught up. Aidan had his ruck on and the pair they had picked up had put on Rebecca and Leslie's bags. They all had to join in on the firing to help keep the wrecked vehicles from getting swarmed. Brendon heard Griffin yelling something down into his vehicle and soon Megan came crawling out of the driver's side door and Tom stumbled came stumbling out of the rear door on the same side. Megan already had a large knot forming on her head and looked pretty dazed while Tom looked to have some form of leg injury, there was already blood soaking through his pant leg and Brendon hoped he wasn't injured bad enough that it would slow him down.
The people that had been tailing them in the car must have realized that they were going to be continuing on foot because the four of them had gotten out of the car and were huddled close to Griffin's vehicle. There was an older man that looked to be in his sixties that was standing in front of the others in a protective manner. He was tall with grey hair but even in his old age the man looked to be in good shape. His look also gave the impression that he may have served in the military at some point in his life, the Colt 1911 in his right hand only adding to the image. Behind the man was a middle aged couple that Brendon assumed were married from the way they held each other along with a teenage boy that couldn't have been any older than sixteen.
Before long Brendon's rifle ran dry. They were about to do a lot of shooting so he threw the empty mag in his drop pouch and grabbed the drum from his left thigh rolling it into the bottom of the rifle and chambering a fresh round. He heard Griffin yelling behind him and glanced back to see that his friend had gotten down from his vehicle and was yelling for everyone to head towards Wiggins truck. Brendon helped to make sure they had everyone and the group made their way up to the truck where Wiggins, Brian and Ethan were waiting.
"Get your bags and anyone that's injured into the back of the truck and let's get out of here," Wiggins yelled between gunshots as soon as everyone was within earshot.
Brendon ran up to the side of the truck and got his friend's attention as everyone else started throwing their bags into the box of the truck. "Why don't you cram as many people as you can into your truck and head to the dorms, I can take everyone else on foot and meet you there."
"No can do," Wiggins responded. "If we get there first and close ourselves in there'll be a hundred zombies pounding on the door by the time you guys make it there and you'll be screwed. It's only about four or five blocks from here, we can make it."
Brendon knew Wiggins was right, he would have preferred Wiggins save as many people as he could and let Brendon worry about the others who had to be left behind with him but he wasn't about to argue that he be left behind if the others were willing to wait for the people on foot. They were already on the northern edge of the downtown area and just had to follow the right lanes that curved away from the main street and looped around the Universities huge football stadium.
"Start rolling," Griffin yelled into the cab as more and more zombies poured out of the buildings in the area hungry for flesh. Ethan was still behind the wheel of the Tacoma and started the vehicle rolling down the street at about jogging pace. "Anyone who is hurt or doesn't have a weapon into the back of the truck, if you see a weapon you know how to use grab it and help out." Griffin commanded obviously wanting to get the vulnerable people to the center of the group where they would be safest.