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.“I was battling the zombies that got in the back.I dealt with them all until the last one.God damn it, what did we hit?”“Eazy had to drive through some big gates,” Batfish explained as though she was talking to a child.“We fell out the back and luckily for me, that last zombie landed on the road right on his head.”“You’re not bitten?” Julia whispered.“Tell me you’re not bitten.”“No, I don’t think so,” Rosenberg studied himself for injuries.“Just winded is all and a few grazes from the fall.”“Come on, we better go,” Batfish ushered.“We’re not safe out here with our asses hanging out in the dark.Let’s get back in the truck.”Batfish and Julia held Rosenberg by an arm each and stumbled back towards the transporter.“You better look at Smith, Denny,” Julia said.“He looks in a bad way.”“Yeah, I think he passed out in the back.He did so much to get us out of that hellhole back there,” Rosenberg nodded towards the airport.“Don’t let him die will you,” Julia whispered.“We need him.”“I’ll do my best,” Rosenberg said.“Hang on, what’s that noise?” Batfish asked.“Sounds like a vehicle,” Rosenberg said.“It’s coming our way.”The three of them turned and saw vehicle headlights fast approaching from the same route they had taken.Batfish shielded her eyes from the full beam headlights.“If that’s Podolski and his army, we’re fucked.”Chapter Forty-TwoThe driver dimmed the headlights and slowed the vehicle, coming to a stop in front of Batfish, Julia and Rosenberg.“Who the hell is it?” Rosenberg whispered.“I don’t know but it’s a nice set of wheels,” Batfish said, admiring the black Lexus CT 200h.The driver’s window lowered and a familiar face appeared from the interior.“Doctor Soames,” Rosenberg gasped.“What are you doing out here?”“Those cowards inside the complex wouldn’t let me back in,” Soames spat.“I had no option but to make my escape and it’s because of you people that I am in this predicament.So unfortunately I’ll have to tag along with you.You owe me that.”“Listen, asshole, we don’t owe you a God damn thing,” Batfish retorted.“You locked us up in there and wanted to kill us or turn us into living dead or whatever the hell it was you were going to do.If you don’t like it, you can go it alone.”“Hold on, Batfish.Just calm down for a second,” Rosenberg said.“He may be of some use.He’s a fully qualified scientific doctor after all.”Batfish screwed her eyes at Soames but kept silent.“And another thing,” Soames said.“We better not hang around here too long because some of the walking corpses began to chase me when I left the complex in my car.They’re slow but determined.They’ll follow us until they find us.”“Okay, you follow us in your car,” Julia reasoned.“We are heading back to the Interstate to collect our vehicle and you can decide what to do from there.”“Suits me,” Soames said and closed his window.Julia, Batfish and Rosenberg shuffled back towards the transporter.“We may need a lift if our truck doesn’t make it,” Julia said quietly.They clambered over the wrecked steel gates lying in the middle of the road and Rosenberg hopped up the ramp into the rear of the transporter.He knelt by Smith, checked his pulse and breathing rate.“Are you going to be okay in there, Denny?” Julia asked.“Yeah, I’ll be fine.Smith seems stable.I think he’s just exhausted and needs some rest.”They heard a low rumble like the sound of a herd of cattle over the noise of the idling vehicle engines.“What was that?” Batfish whispered.“Zombies,” Rosenberg hissed.“Sounds like lots of them coming our way.We better get out of here.Can you two lift the tail gate?”Batfish nodded and her and Julia struggled but lifted the ramp into the closed, vertical position and slotted home the security bolts.Soames slowly drove over the mangled gates and stopped close behind the transporter.Julia and Batfish ran to the cab and jumped inside.Eazy sat with Spot on his lap looking in the side mirrors.“Who the hell’s that behind?”“That is Doctor Soames,” Julia said.“What the fuck does he want?”“He wants to follow us back to the Interstate.Oh, and we better go because there are lots of zombies coming,” Julia said.“I can’t believe that motherfucker is looking to us for protection now,” Eazy rumbled, trying to see through the cracked windshield and plumes of steam from the engine.“He’s no threat without Podolski’s guards to back him up,” Batfish said, grabbing Spot from Eazy’s lap.Eazy pulled the vehicle forward.“I don’t think this piece of shit is going to get us very far.The radiator’s busted and it’s going to overheat soon.”“We can jump in with Soames if it comes to it,” Julia said.“I hope it don’t come to that,” Eazy sighed.“I may end up strangling the bastard if I have to get too close to him.”Julia giggled.Eazy kept the speed to 20 mph on the clock.He didn’t want the transporter to die on them so close to the Interstate.He couldn’t wait to get back inside the relative safety of the RV and get as far away from the airport as possible.Podolski’s unnecessary intervention had cost them time, their weapons, cell phones and personal possessions.Eazy felt the small window of opportunity for refuge on the ship in Battery Park Harbor closing with every second.He wondered briefly if his family was okay and still breathing God’s clean air.He hadn’t had much contact with his parents and two brothers over the past three years.The family had virtually disowned him after a breaking and entering charge brought shame on them.Eazy moved away from Harrisburg to start a new life somewhere.He didn’t know where he was going when he left, simply jumped in his car and drove, ending up in Brynston after unsuccessfully job hunting in New York and New Jersey.At least now he was free of the low-lifes, dropouts and ex-con’s that he reluctantly mixed with.Now he had some sole purpose in life, survival.The transporter engine spluttered as they crawled along the slip road towards the Interstate 78 entry junction [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]