GAMELAND Episodes 1-2: Deep Into the Game + Failsafe (S. W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND) Page 15

  “Just run,” I say, but he’s right. They are fast, and getting faster.

  We both turn into the alley and run. When we reach the other end, we turn again, angling perpendicular to the tower and the tunnel as best we can. Our footsteps slap against the road, echoing off the buildings, sounding like clapping.

  “This way!” I hiss, reaching out for Jake’s arm and turning to the right. His shirt slips from my fingers and he continues straight down the broad road. “Jake!”

  He spins around. His eyes are wild, but he follows me. This constant swinging of his between lucidity and panic is driving me crazy.

  “We need to get back,” I gasp. “We can’t worry about Micah. He’ll catch up to us.”

  He looks at the gun still in my hand. “How many bullets do you have left?”

  “I don’t know.” Then I remember the box and pull it from my wetsuit.

  “Paperclips?”

  “Shit!” I throw the box away. It breaks open and bullets spill out, scattering across the pavement. “Damn.”

  Jake hurries over and starts to pick them up.

  “No time!” I yell. “Leave them. Even if we can just grab the gear and get it into the water, that’s better than waiting. It’s our only chance!”

  New footsteps echo around us, someone running. We both look up in time to see Micah sprinting past us on the street ahead. He doesn’t see us.

  “Micah!”

  But he’s already disappeared.

  “Shit. Micah!”

  Micah’s head reappears around the corner. He looks up the road in the direction he just came from and makes a snap decision. He sprints toward us. “Get out of here!” he screams. “Go back!”

  The moaning is growing louder. The street behind us suddenly fills with walkers. “Run,” Micah shouts.

  Jake and I spin around. The zombies crowd into the street, lurching madly at us, moaning and shrieking and clacking their rotting teeth.

  “Shit! Aw, shit!”

  “Calm down, Jake,” I tell him. “You need to calm down.”

  “We’re trapped!”

  Yeah, whose fault is that? But I don’t say it. I push him toward one of the buildings.

  Lifting my arm, I bring the axe down on the display window of a bridal shop. The gowns inside are yellowed and dusty. When the glass shatters and falls on them, they tear easily and flake to the floor.

  “What the hell is it with you and breaking glass?” Jake screams.

  “Just get inside!”

  Micah reaches us. He doesn’t hesitate. He vaults over the high brick sill of the display window and into the store. Glass crunches under his feet. He stops, turns, and reaches down to help us in.

  Jake hesitates.

  “Get your goddamn ass in here,” Micah growls at him as he pulls me up.

  I don’t stop to help. I head for the back of the store, looking for the emergency exit or loading door or whatever the hell they’ve got. It’s our only chance to evade the zombie horde.

  I hear footsteps behind me.

  “I cut myself on the glass,” Jake wails, holding his arm. Blood seeps through his fingers. It looks like a nasty gash, but I can’t worry about that right now. “Why’d you pick this shop? The one next door had a bigger window.”

  I don’t have time to explain it to him. I kick down a door marked “Employees Only” and find what I’m looking for. There’s an emergency exit across the room, but I see that it’s secured with a chain and a padlock.

  I swing the axe behind me.

  “Give her some room, dummy!” Micah shouts, pulling Jake back. The axe barely misses Jake’s head as I bring it forward in a sidearm chop.

  The blade pings off the chain. I try again, but the chain still holds.

  Micah grabs my arm. “Give it to me. From the front of the store, the sounds of moaning and breaking glass come to us.

  Jake goes over and tries to barricade the inner door.

  Micah lifts the axe with both hands and brings it down on the latch that holds the chain to the jamb. It bends. He tries again, taking smaller, more precise swings. Finally it shatters and falls away. He hands the axe back, then reaches over and pushes the door open.

  The alley is narrow. It’s also open on both ends, but it’s empty and there aren’t any zombies in sight. We edge out of the shop. We could very well be trapped, but at the moment it’s our only option.

  Micah lifts a board from the ground and wedges it against what’s left of the doorknob, locking the zombies inside. Then he pulls out his Link.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Jake shrieks. “Calling for a pizza?”

  “Just keep an eye out!”

  I do a quick scan. There are no windows in this alley, no way to easily break into another building if we find ourselves trapped. And the fire escapes are well out of reach above our heads.

  “This way,” Micah whispers. He puts his Link in his pocket and leads us toward the street he was running down earlier. “We’ll probably have to take a few out,” he says. He glances at the gun in my hand. “But there shouldn’t be as many as you had chasing you. What the hell did you do? Wake the entire island up?”

  I give him a look of such frustration that he quickly turns away and starts running up the road.

  He’s light on his feet, almost as quiet as a cat. For someone who spends ninety percent of his free time in his basement getting drunk and hacking games, he’s surprisingly athletic.

  We reach the end of the alley and peek around the corner. A few zombies are milling about. Apparently these are the “slow” ones.

  “Felt like a hundred of them before,” he says. “Nowhere as near as many as were chasing you.” He smiles. “Must be that perfume you’re wearing.” He pauses, then adds, “Jake.”

  “I’m not—”

  I interrupt his protest. “Where the hell were they? That’s what I want to know. And what woke them all up? Was it noise?”

  Micah shakes his head. “Couldn’t be. I didn’t make any. But when I stepped out of the tower I was totally surrounded. Damn things were all over the place, like they knew I was there. Scared me so badly I just ran right through them. That’s when you pinged me, Jake.”

  “Did you get scratched or bitten?”

  He shakes his head.

  “Shouldn’t we be moving,” Jake hisses, “instead of just standing here making small talk?”

  Micah takes another look around the corner. “Wait another minute and see if the rest of them clear out.”

  He pulls his Link out again, reminding me that I’m still missing mine. I just hope there’s a chance to go back to the fueling station so I can get it.

  “The others should be there by now,” Jake says. “Did you let them know what’s happening? Is that what you’re doing?”

  Micah shakes his Link and frowns. He taps the screen. The frown turns into a scowl. “Has anyone pinged either of you?”

  I shake my head and quickly tell him about losing my Link. Jake checks his, then shakes his head, too. “Nothing.”

  Micah looks up in the sky, as if the answer to whatever is bothering him is written there. “I can’t reach them. I hope they’re okay.”

  I swallow my panic. “The road’s almost clear,” I tell them. “Wait just a couple more—”

  But then a horrible grating noise comes from behind us in the alleyway. The board Micah had wedged into place snaps and flies off, spinning into the air and hitting the opposite wall. The door swings open, vomiting zombies into the road.

  “Go!”

  ‡

  Chapter 22

  “They’re there!” Jake shouts. “I see them!”

  He’s outpaced us and is now sprinting along a good hundred feet ahead of me and Micah. I want to tell him not to get too far ahead, but I’m too out of breath. Even Micah’s beginning to gasp. But Jake’s still running like he could go on like this all day.

  “There’s Ash and Reg!”

  Alarm bells ring inside my head. Where’
s Kelly?

  “They’ve already got their suits on.”

  Now I’m glad I left mine on.

  Micah and I top a small rise and now I can see the others. They haven’t noticed us yet. But just as I’m about to warn Jake not to shout, he calls out.

  Kelly appears from around the back of the car. The trunk’s open and he’s already fully geared up, even though we hadn’t planned on leaving yet. Then I see the bodies of a dozen zombies scattered about them and can guess what happened.

  “Jessie!” He starts running toward us.

  I wave him back. “Get the gear!” I yell, but my voice sounds too small. My throat is dry. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. The slower zombies that had been tracking us earlier are now emerging from between the buildings where we first entered the row of shops. Directly behind us are the faster ones.

  “Get the gear!” Micah echoes, though a lot louder.

  The three at the car turn and gather the rest of the equipment. Jake is the first to reach them and he quickly grabs his wetsuit. Micah and I reach them moments later.

  Jake’s struggling to get his legs in. Reggie screams to let him help. Ashley runs over to Micah with his suit while Kelly comes to me with my mask.

  “Hurry up, Jessie!” Kelly shrieks. I want to slap him. What does he think I’m doing?

  I’d started pulling my arms into the suit even before I got there. They slip easily on.

  Jake’s yanking at the second leg, screaming in frustration. His suit doesn’t want to go on. I realize it’s because his suit is still wet but he’s not. He hasn’t even broken a sweat. “Get some water!” I scream at Reggie. “Wet down his skin.”

  The closest zombies are about a hundred feet away now.

  I zip my suit up, then shift the gun from my other hand. I aim at the closest zombie and squeeze the trigger. The gun clicks.

  “Shit! Where’s my mask?” I toss the gun away, but keep the axe.

  Kelly hands me my mask, along with his goggles. I push them away. “They’re not going to fit me!”

  Reggie scrambles back up from the water’s edge. He hurries over to Jake with his hands cupped, but the water spills out before he gets him. The two of them start fighting over how to get the suit on Jake. Reggie just starts shoving parts of Jake’s body into places inside the wetsuit where they don’t belong. Jake’s shaking with terror now, useless. Even from where I’m standing I can see that his suit is twisted. He’ll never get it zipped up. Reggie tries anyway. He gives the zipper a massive tug and it rips.

  “Never mind,” I scream. “Get into the water!”

  Kelly has taken my axe and run over to the first zombies. He takes two out and is working on a third. They seem to appear out of nowhere, swarming, their moans filling my ears.

  “Kelly!”

  He throws the axe at another and sprints back, snatching our backpacks from the ground and hurling them out and over the water. “Let’s go!” he yells, as they splash down.

  Ashley and Micah are already climbing down the fence. Ash reaches the water first and plunges in, pushing her gear and flippers ahead of her. I snatch my flippers and head for Jake and Reggie, who are still stupidly struggling with the suit.

  “No time! Into the goddamn water!”

  I grab two more pairs of flippers as Kelly gets their packs. Everything gets hurled over the railing. Reggie kicks at a zombie while pushing at Jake, who’s practically sobbing by now and babbling. The zombie gets back up and comes at them again, but it has to push past several of its comrades.

  Reggie swings the spare equipment bag at them, bowling them all down.

  I grab Jake and yank him away just as another zombie reaches for him. Its blackened fingers close over empty space. Its momentum trips it, but it doesn’t stop coming.

  “Wrong way!” Jake screams.

  “You’re going over!”

  I grunt and push him over the railing. He flips in mid-air, then splashes into the water.

  A hand rakes my back. Instinctively, I step away, even as I reach back, grab, and pull. I use the attacker’s own weight against itself. But I realize only too late what I’ve done as the zombie follows Jake over the railing. I try to pull it back, shouting, “Lookout!” But its arm rips from its socket with a dry popping sound.

  There’s a splash. Ashley screams. Or maybe it’s Jake.

  The next zombie lurches at me, but then Kelly launches himself at it and it flies off to one side.

  “Go!” he shouts.

  “Not without you!”

  “I’m coming.”

  And we vault the railing.

  The surface comes up fast. It’s a roiling, chaotic mass of water and air as Jake kicks himself away from the zombie. Micah is slashing at it with his knife. Reggie is swimming over, but without flippers he’s moving too slowly. Our gear bags slowly gather against the wall of the overpass, pushed there by the breeze and the waves that everyone’s thrashing is making.

  “I’ll help Jake,” Kelly yells. “Get your flippers.”

  I swim over and find them. I’ve just managed to get the second one on when there’s a splash right beside me. I look up and see a zombie tilting over the railing right over me.

  “Jessie!”

  I kick away from the wall just as it falls, narrowly missing me. Then it seems to be raining zombies as more and more of them tumble over the railing in their attempt to reach us. Some sink immediately, while others bob near the surface. They thrash. Their moans turn to gurgles as their throats fill with water.

  “The gear!”

  “Forget the gear,” Reggie says. He’s got his flippers on now and is swimming Jake’s over to him. “We need to go! Now! Look!”

  Dozens of the Infected Undead now line the overpass. The line presses forward. A dozen bodies fall and another line takes its place.

  “Shit!” Ash screams. “Oh, my fucking god where are they all coming from!”

  Jake has finally managed to get the rest of his gear on and has gathered with the others about thirty feet from the overpass. I’m still off to one side, separated from them by twenty or so feet of water and several floating zombies leering at us.

  “We need those spare canisters,” Reggie roars, holding up his mask, but he doesn’t move to get them. Nobody does. To do so would be suicide, since our bags are floating against the overpass. There’s no way any of us can reach them. “These still have the used ones!”

  “You didn’t switch out the canisters?” Jake screams. “What the hell were you doing?”

  “Never mind that,” Kelly says. “Which bag are they in?”

  “We can’t!” Micah shouts. He turns to Jake. “You said these last about three hours, right? Well it took us half that to get here. I hope for our sake you’re right.”

  He then shouts over at me to stay put. “We’ll meet underwater.” Then he instructs Kelly to swim over to me. A minute later, Kelly surfaces a few feet to my right. He grabs my hand.

  Micah checks his Link one last time and curses. “Where’d the time go?”

  “I don’t care,” Ashley says. “I’m going now!”

  We all nod in agreement. It’s now or never.

  “But this time,” Kelly shouts, “we all stay together.”

  ‡

  Chapter 23

  We meet underwater and join hands. The scene around us is surreal: A panoramic movie of zombies drifting down into the darkness below. They lurch and twist at us, looking like dying earthworms dropped into a child’s bucket. They remind me of autumn, of rotting leaves sinking into a lake.

  Then I remember the old video stream Reggie found one day while searching through some archived footage from the first part of the century: people falling from a burning building, plummeting to the ground, dropping, dropping, until the whole building collapses into a ball of dust that reaches to the clouds and turns the sun red.

  “Is this real?” I’d asked, horrified at the images. “This can’t be real.”

  Ashley asked h
er G-ma Junie about it and G-ma Junie told her to hush and never bring it up again. “Destroy the video. It’s illegal to speak of things that happened before.”

  We slip between the falling bodies. It’s easy to evade them. They can’t swim. They only drift down, and then they slip along the bottom as the current catches them.

  I remember the one that attacked me on our way in. It had acted differently. It seemed like it knew how to swim. But maybe that’s just how I’m remembering it.

  Is it still alive? Is it lying on the bottom of the tunnel somewhere, unable to move because of its severed spine? How long could it stay there like that? Forever? Would the fish eat it?

  The pile of zombies directly beneath the overpass is so large that they continue to rain down. The seething mass writhes and splashes, bodies disengaging themselves as the zombies struggle against one other. We don’t stick around to watch. We swim quickly past them and they ogle back at us, looking almost resentful, their mouths gaping and their tongues lolling out. Their eyes black with death, full of longing and hunger.

  Earthworms, I tell myself. That’s all they are.

  Except earthworms don’t want to eat you. At least not while you’re still alive.

  The current gently pushes us forward. Already it’s very weak, suggesting it’ll turn soon. We’ll end up fighting it again the closer we get to Manhattan.

  We enter the same tunnel we came through earlier. Between the six of us, only two flashlights remain. Reggie holds one as he leads the group into the darkness. The rest of us form a chain, each holding the hand of the person in front: Reggie, Ashley, me, Kelly, Jake, and finally Micah in back. He holds the other flashlight. We push ourselves to the limit, kicking hard with our flippers to get away from that terrifying place.

  I’m thirsty and tired, faint from hunger. My feet hurt and my knees burn from all the running we’ve done. My arms ache from swinging the axe. I can’t see very much, and what I can see is blurry.

  But I don’t want to see. I keep my eyes closed and concentrate on kicking and for once I’m glad that Reggie is the one leading us out. He’s always been the physically strongest among us.