markson721

Chapter 7:

Gym, Tan, Zombie

This is why I didnt want to stop in the first place, Kirks hands were up in frustration waving like a drowning victim. How many more of these types of stops do you think we are going to make between here and Ritzville?
We arent going to Ritzville. Sanchezs words were firm and made it clear that this was the end of that train of thought. Sanchez looked far into the distance like a war vet caught in a flashback. Eric didnt know that the senior officers plan was but Eric was going to stick with him. He had remained calm as the world crumbled around him. He was a man who could lead and make smart choices in impossible situations. Sanchez was the type of guy you wanted making the hard decisions, the type of guy to lead.
So whats the plan Sanchez? Kirk was obviously flustered. He had seen a lot of terrible things in the last hour or so and it was starting to wear him down. The things he had seen and had been forced to do were striping the layers away from Officer Kirk and it was becoming more evident by the minute that he was a loose cannon.
I need to make a call. If I can get through then Ill know where we are going and what we are going to do. Sanchez pulled the drivers door open and slipped into the car. Kirk sat there dazed for a minute waiting for Sanchez to make the call.
Eric was trying to figure out what to do when Sanchez popped back out of the squad car gripping the shotgun by the barrel near the breach. He came around the back of the squad car eyed Eric and then pushed past him. He threaded between the two gas pumps and walked up the Fred who was just topping off the gas tank. I hope you can shoot, Sanchez forced the shotgun into Freds nervous hands and then walked back to the squad car. You got ten minutes guys after that well assume youre dead and leave. Hey guy, whats your name? Sanchez had fixed Tommy with a firm finger pointed at his chest. You get in the back of the squad car and dont mess with the dog.
Tommy looked sideways at Fred in a meek request for approval. Fred reached out his left arm and patted the heavyset mechanic on the shoulder twice before withdrawing his arm and turning towards the gym. Eric started to follow Fred passing Tommy whose pathetic shuffling steps scraped the soles of his boots against the cement as he walked by.
Fred was a few steps ahead of Eric but his slow walked gave Eric the brief seconds he needed to catch up to the tall mechanic. Once they were side by side the two started a slow trot towards the gym where Tommy professed theyd find survivors.
Tommys not normally like this you know. Hes a tough guy but hes dealing with a lot right now. Fred looked sideways at Eric as they crossed the alley scanning the far end of the alley to make sure nothing was streaming down it towards them.
Weve all got a lot were dealing with here. This is one crazy world we woke up to. I hope he turns it around soon 'cause Kirk isnt going to go out of his way to save his ass. Eric was really starting to see Kirks true colors. Hed leave anyone and everyone he had to if it bettered his odds of surviving. If they got swarmed by zombies Eric was pretty confident that Kirk would ignore Tommy in order to save bullets and himself.
It might take awhile for that, Fred hesitated afraid that he was going to say something offensive. Social niceties were as dead as the zombies now.
Just spit it out Fred. Eric wanted the story over with so they could focus on getting the survivors out of the gym if there were any left. If not and the only meat heads infesting the gym were hungry for human flesh then Eric wanted to be ready to avoid tipping them off with loud conversation.
Screw it, Fred blurted, Tommy and his wife had to take their little boy to the hospital last night. Some damn meth head took a chunk out of Tommys boy Joe when he was taking out the trash last night.
Shit. Eric was stunned and though inadequate to task the word was the best way to describe the situation. So Tommys boy was probably a zombie, probably had killed Tommys wife and turned her too. No wonder the guy was in shock; his life had already been taken from him.
Yeah, hell come around but its going to be some time before then. Fred had been looking sideways at Eric as he told the story but now he turned his face away. Eric wondered if Fred was thinking about his own loved ones somewhere in the feral city as people fought and died separate from the people they loved or forced to fight the corpses of their loved ones as they came back to life.
Erics mind again touched on Lindsey somewhere on the northern edge of the city. Was she still alive? Had she been bitten and did she know what was coming? Had she taken matters into her own hands and ended it before she became a meal for one of those things. Eric and Fred came around the corner of the building that housed the gym and pressed their backs to the pale yellow siding.
Eric edged towards the one of the large bay windows that gave those running on treadmills a view of the neighborhood beyond the glass. Eric had briefly been a member of the gym but had let the membership lapse as his job made it increasingly difficult to get to the gym. As Erics shoulder reached the seam between the wall and the glass he stopped. He put a finger to his lips to silence Fred. It was just a precaution wherever Freds thoughts had taken him they were private thoughts that he didnt feel he needed to share.
Eric leaned out from his hiding spot and scanned the interior of the gym. He could see a lone zombie banging on a door at the back of the gym. It was wearing a black skin tight shirt and black shorts. It kept raising its fists and pounding on the door like a battering ram. A discordant cadence of drum beats against the wood door. The zombie could have trapped two people in there or ten depending on the size of the room behind the door but the zombie had effectively trapped all the survivors in there. There was only one way in and out of the room and the zombie hungrily guarded it.
Eric continued to survey the room. There were wide arcs of blood across the wall of mirrors set above the free weights to his left and some of the equipment looked like it had been overturned in a mad dash to the safety of the room in the back. A cardio bike was lying against a weight rack, a tower that use to hold a multitude of weight bars was overturned bars were scattered like spears across the floor.
Eric was just starting to develop a plan of attack to get the single zombie in the room when his eyes fell on a scene near the yoga mats and medicine balls in the back right corner. A squirming mass of bodies was dipping and heaving over something lying on the floor. Eric didnt want to see what was under that pile of zombies but he knew what was there nonetheless. It was a feast. Eric could see maybe three or four zombies as they rose up swallows and then darted then faces back into the mess of flesh under them feasting like vultures over carrion.
Eric pulled his eyes away from the mess on the gym floor and turned to his left and looked at Fred. It looks like five are in there. Ones at the back door trying to get at someone in the backroom. Three, maybe four more are eating. How many shots are in the shotgun there?
Fred hunched his shoulders towards his ears. He had no idea and Eric hadnt thought to ask. Eric had five shots left in his current magazine and another fully loaded magazine of eight bullets in his right pocket. If he didnt miss too many shots theyd be fine. The shotgun was going to be difficult to maneuver with inside the gym anyway. With all the weights and bars and superstructures of the weight machines a lot of the small lead pelts of the birdshot were going to go banging and pinging around the gym. Few would find their targets.
With his gun in both hands Eric adjusted the pistol in his hands and grabbed the barrel. The gym was available for use twenty-four hours a day but was only staffed for sixteen. The rest of the time gym patrons were required to use a magnetic proxy key to unlock the front doors and use the gym. Eric assumed the door was magnetically locked now. Eric turned to Fred and put three fingers out. He pulled down one finger; Fred pulled the shotgun up to his chest. Fred pulled down another finger and Fred nodded. As Eric pulled the last finger down into his fist he swung with his right arm and broke the glass of the bay window with the hard metal grip of the pistol.
As the glass shards fell like lethal hail Eric spun from his hiding spot and opened fire. The first shot caught one of the zombies in the cluster of feasters in the back and it teetered forward. The zombie across the body from it poked its head up and Erics second shot caught it square in the forehead. This zombie fell into the center of the meal and sent the other feeding zombies jerking and twitching away from their lunch. Eric dashed through the hole in the front wall and went left putting as much distance between himself and the cluster of zombies to his right. He turned around and fired but he hadnt taken enough time to aim and the shot went wide into the wall to the right of the three remaining zombies.
Just as the three zombies started moving towards Eric Fred swung into the open frame of the window and fired. He pulled the trigger of the shotgun and rocked the slide in quick succession and before he realized it the shotgun clicked empty and only one zombie was down. Eric had heard the telltale plinks and tinkles of birdshot striking more metal then meat as Fred had fired.
Things disintegrated quickly from there. The two remaining zombies fresh dark blood painting their mouths and cascading down their chests turned towards the no impotent Fred and his empty gun. Eric spread his legs and took a shooters stance and fired his last two bullets. The first one connected and the zombie closest to Fred went down. Her blond ponytail flying out behind her as the rush of air the bullet created whizzed into and then through her head.
The second zombie, also a woman in a pink halter top athletic shirt turned her grey cataract eyes on Eric and Fred took the chance and dashed out of sight. Eric chanced a quick glance to his left and spotted the zombie at the back wall still pounding away. Whatever was back there had drawn that zombie to it like a moth to the flame and nothing, not even gun shots could draw its attention away. Just as well Eric thought the odds were better one on one. He pushed the release and the empty magazine slid out of the grip. Eric stuffed it in his left pocket and reached for the full clip in his right pocket.
A guttural screech escaped the blood coated lips of the zombie in the pink halter top as she started staggering towards Eric. He started moving to his left again. He was just a few steps away from pressing against the free weight racks but with his attention divided between the zombie pursuing him, fitting the full clip in his gun, and the zombie pounding on the back door he didnt realize he was drive himself into a corner. The zombie was getting closer. Eric had slowed down to focus on getting the clip in the gun and the zombie had gained ground. Eric could see a huge chunk of flesh torn out of her neck and as she stretched out her hands trying to grab Eric he could see that she was missing three fingers from her right hand.
Erics left heel caught something stiff and he fell over backwards. The back of his head and shoulders hit the ground at the same time and the full clip went skittering to the left far out of reach of Erics hand. Eric blinked away the small exploding stars from his eyes but before he could get to his knees and scramble for the clip he heard the savage cry again. The zombie was maybe three feet away. If Eric made a move towards the clip his back would be exposed and within reach of the zombie. His eyes darted around to find anything to defend himself. His eyes fell on a set of small weights lying next to a bench press. Eric grabbed one, a five pound weight and tossed it like a discus at the zombie. The weight caught the zombie in the chest right below her neck and she staggered back two steps.
Eric reached behind himself, afraid to take his eyes off the zombie which was already recovering from the impact of the weight. His left hand wrapped around a thin bar and Eric jerked it around and set it in front of him even as the zombie collapsed on top of him. The force of her body pushed his shoulders and head back against the floor. Eric held the bar six inches above his chest keeping the zombie at bay. It lunged forwards snapping its teeth at Erics face with unquenchable hunger. Eric was holding her at bay but he wasnt going to have long. Gravity was on the zombies side and Eric wasnt in the best shape to begin with. He gave himself sixty seconds to live.
He thought about his parents and his brother. Would the Tri-cities be far enough away from the zombie outbreak in Spokane to save them? What about Moses Lake where the bulk of his extended family lived? What about Lindsey. Hopefully shed live, one of them should.
Erics arms were staking. His muscles were burning and twitching as they started to fail. The bar dipped lower and Eric could smell the putrid breath of the zombie as she pushed her attack more furiously. Eric didnt even have his gun to shot himself with. If that option was available hed take it. He didnt want to become one of these undead things lurching across the barren world in a constant need to satisfy an unquenchable hunger. He was about to let the bar drop when his arms shot up like they were propelled by rockets. Eric almost lost his grip as the bar shot up. A second later he heard a sickening crunch and squish like an egg breaking. He opened his eyes; he hadnt even realized he had closed them in those last desperate seconds. Erics gaze fell on the female zombies empty eyes. They stared at Eric her mouth hung open. Small bits of what Eric was sure were human flesh stuck in her teeth.
Eric heard the nauseating crunch and squish. Eric looked up to see Fred straddling the back of the zombie swinging a free weight like a club into the back of the zombies head. He kept pounding away even as it became increasingly evident that the zombie was well and truly dead. With the weight hanging like the blade of guillotine blade over the zombies head Fred began to shake from finger tips to toes. He dropped the weight which made a dull thud against the padded floor. He turned to look at Eric lying on the floor. His body was covered in long rivers of blood from waist to forehead. He looked vicious and feral but Eric could see intelligent life in those eyes. Not the eyes of a broken and wild man.
Thanks. It was all Eric could think to say in that moment. It was not enough to express his gratitude but they didnt have time for self exposing conversation at the moment.
I owed you. Freds intense stare returned to the zombie under him. His next words came out as a choked whisper that Eric was sure was meant only for Freds ears, Im going to kill them all.