Iain McKinnon - Remains of the Dead

He looked around for something to busy Ryan with. His eyes settled on the large plastic water containers.

Standing in front of him, Cahz placed his hands on Ryan’s shoulders. “We’re going to need water. I lost my canteen, so if we can find some more-”

Ryan broke in, “I spotted camel packs.”

“Good. Fill a couple for each of us.”

From behind, Cannon closed the office door and rejoined his commander. Elspeth’s corpse was now hidden under a puffy green sleeping bag.

“We’ll need mêlée weapons in case we run short on ammo,” Cahz said as he watched Ryan rummage one-handed through a crate.

Cannon nodded. “I’m on it.”

“Oh, and guys,” Cahz added loud enough to get Ryan’s attention, “see what else you can find and we’ll pool it all together. Ten minutes.”

The three men stood around a fan of assorted objects on the floor in front of them. There was nothing extraordinary among the kit; some water packs, rucksack, crowbar, wind up torch and a few other bits and pieces of civilian camping equipment.

“No point getting a rucksack. There’s not enough stuff here to merit sticking in a bag,” Cahz said, disappointed at the haul.

“The rucksack ain’t for the kit,” Cannon said. “It’s for the little one.”

“You’re not stuffing my daughter in a bag!” Ryan said defensively.

“Think about it,” Cannon said.

“What? No!” Ryan protested, looking at Cahz for support.

“She’ll be comfortable and warm and safe,” Cannon countered. “What’s more, you can keep both hands free.”

“It’s a good call,” Cahz said.

Cannon grinned. “Think of it like one of those expensive designer papooses.”

“Yeah that fuckin’ helps,” Ryan said stubbornly.

“I made up a few diapers from the first aid bandages and stuffed them in the side pouches,” Cannon said, smiling, obviously pleased at his foresight.

“Okay, now the hard part.” Cahz stepped up to the window overlooking the rear parking lot. “How do we get out of here?”

“You thinking the car park?” Cannon asked.

“Could we hotwire one of the cars down there?” Cahz thought out loud.

“I doubt it,” Ryan said. “We sucked the tanks dry to run our genny years ago. Anyway, they’ll have rusted solid sitting out there.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right,” Cahz agreed. “I think the car park is our best option though. The alleyway is packed with W.D.s, but they’re only five or six deep.”

“No point going out onto the main road,” Cannon added. “There must be thousands of them there by now.”

“Hey, we can still use the cars!” Cahz said excitedly.

“How do you mean?” Ryan asked.

“Listen: the chain fence between the lot and the building on the other side of the alley. We roll two cars through the fence either side of that doorway.” Cahz pointed at the back entrance of the building on the opposite side.

“Yeah, the cars will block the path of the of pus bags,” Ryan said, grasping the plan.

“We’ll still have to take out the ones trapped between the cars before we force the door open,” Cahz elaborated.

“I don’t think it’s going to work as well as you think,” Cannon put in.

“Why not?”

“Well, as soon as the cars break the fence they can walk round them into the parking lot, then come at us from there.”

“I know, but we don’t need much time. Just enough to clear a path and get through that door.”

“Ryan, what’s in there?” Cannon asked.

Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Um… I think the bottom floor’s a shop and the ones above are offices and apartments.”

“Will the door be open?” Cahz asked.

“I doubt it. We usually went in the front. Better light.”

“What about the fire?” Cannon asked, looking out at the stream of smoke.

“It’s the building next door that’s on fire, but it’s likely to spread.” Cahz lent on the windowsill. “It doesn’t look like there’s any smoke coming from the building opposite the car park and it might even work to our advantage.”

“How do you figure?”

“The W.Ds coming down the alleyway from the street have to get past the fire. Now it might not be hot enough to incinerate them, but the smoke and noise is going to disorientate them.” Cahz stood up straight and looked at his two comrades. “The ones further back on the left might not even spot us.”

“Fair point,” Ryan said. “But once we’re in the shop, where then?”

“Show me the map,” Cahz said.

Ryan pulled the map from his back pocket and unfolded it.

“There’s a railway marked on here running through town.” Cahz scanned the features trying to spot the black-hashed line.

Cannon placed a thick fingertip on the page. “There.”

“How far is that from here?” Cahz asked Ryan.

“Not far.” He moved his finger back from the line to the plaza. “What, five streets over? But why the railway? It’s not like we can catch the five fifteen out of here.”

“Think about rail lines running though urban areas.” Cahz didn’t see any recollection on Ryan’s face, so he went on, “They’ve always got high fences to stop kids from wandering onto the lines.”

“How’s that help us?” Ryan asked.

“The dumb pus fucks can’t get in either,” Cannon answered.

“They’ll still get in at the stations and the like, but we’ll only have to worry about the path ahead. And because it’s flat it’ll be much quicker to move along.”

“Okay.” Ryan didn’t sound convinced, but he didn’t offer anything better.

“The rail line leaves the city and follows the coast north. We can come off it somewhere about here.” Cahz pointed at a square on the map. “And find a good pickup point in that area.”

“One thing, boss,” Cannon pointed out, “that’s about fifty klicks over unfamiliar terrain in infested country. We’re going to have to move some.”

Cahz nodded.

“And I hate to piss on the parade,” Cannon added, “but if we’re still on the move after dark we’re screwed. Even with night vision it’s a tall order to go wandering around infected territory at night, and we don’t have night vision.”

Cahz sighed. “I hear what you’re saying, buddy. We’ll just have to find somewhere suitable to hold up.”

“Look, if we’re just marching off to find somewhere in the suburbs to hold out, why walk all that way?” Ryan asked. “We could just find another building like this to barricade and wait out.”

“I’ve thought of that. But what if the fire spreads? What if the smoke’s too thick for a pickup? No, we’re best to get as far from the city centre as possible. Even if the fire wasn’t an issue I’d still want to put some distance between us. There’s thousands of W.D.s out there. The more space we can put between them, the safer I’ll feel.” Cahz looked at Cannon. “I also figure that by getting closer to the coast, we’ll double our chances of a pickup.”

“How do you figure?”

Cahz explained, “If we stay in the city and the rescue turns up, Idris’ll look for a while then bug out. We miss that, we miss our ride home. If we can get out of the city we can signal him on the way in. If we miss him we can catch him on the way out.”

“I don’t know if I follow your logic on that,” Ryan said, “but I can see the point to getting out of Dodge. The streets here are swarming with the dead. It’ll be quieter in the country.”

“We ready to go then?” Cahz asked.

“We got five minutes?” Ryan said.

“What for?” Cahz asked.

“I want to take a dump in one of those chemical toilets before we go running through a city full of dead fucks trying to eat me.”