Part Four

Gordon was only four steps into the building when he considered the biggest flaw in his plan. He looked back at Frank to see the vigilante draw one of two handguns mounted on his shoulder harness. He had another pair of guns on hip holsters, and the front of his harness was covered with clips. Along the back of his belt, he carried with looked like slender cylinders of pepper spray, but Frank had corrected him to explain that they were  improvised pipe grenades.

Frank seemed to catch the worry in his expression and offered Gordon a thin smile. “Would you relax already? I may not be approving of the plan, but I’ve never been in the habit of shooting cops,” he whispered then looked back at John. “Before we go too far, maybe we should-”

“No, he’s right. If the leader is here, we need to find him.”

Frank sighed and turned to follow Gordon. “You know, I never thought I’d miss a jail cell, but right now, mine is seeming pretty cozy and safe.”

“I’ll happily put you back in it after we leave,” Gordon said. “Now please be quiet.”

“Why? I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but these things don’t moan, and they don’t make a whole lot of noise while they’re walking either. That’s why this is such a rotten idea. We are walking into an ambush, and the only reason you’re so gung ho now is because you want revenge.”

John nudged his back. “Zip it already.”

“Well excuse me for feeling pissy. How many people have you lost tonight? Yet I’m supposed to believe the three of us can somehow end this.” Frank ignored another nudge. “Let us review again. Nothing works on the zombies. Our enemy will likely be surrounded by them-”

Gordon turned on his heels. “The leader is huge, and he’s going to be towering over those zombies. If we all aim for his head, one of us ought to be able to put him down.”

“Uh huh.” Frank shook his head. “No, I’m still not feeling it.”

“I swear if you don’t shut up, I’m making you the point man,” Gordon waited, then nodded in the following silence. “So what kind of grenades are you carrying?”

“They’re incendiaries, but in here, they’ll probably just set off the sprinkler systems and get put out. We’d have to move outside for these to have any useful effect.”

Gordon cringed at a thought. “Fire might not work on them either, but we don’t know that yet.”

“Then let’s go hunt down a horde to test that instead of doing this.” Frank sighed at the dirty look he got and nodded. “Right, shutting up.”

They were walking up the stairs to search the second floor when Gordon’s cell phone began ringing. The loud chirping ring tone was like an explosion in the concrete stairwell. He flipped it open and grimaced at the static on the line. “Hello?” he whispered.

*skrth* “-is” *skrtch* “-overrun with” *squawk*

The line was so garbled with static that Gordon couldn’t be sure of who was calling. “Hold on,” he said and took the steps up to the door of the second floor, opening it cautiously he before looked around. The hallway beyond appeared empty, and he set the phone on his ear again as he walked out of the stairwell. “Try again.”

“The building has been overrun with zombies,” Janice whispered. “I’ve locked myself in my office with a few other people, but we aren’t going to last long. I was calling you to tell you not to come back. It won’t be safe here. It’s not safe anywhere now.”

Gordon wanted to say something, but he caught a flicker of movement on his left. He turned to look up at an empty hallway, but everything about the shape of several shadows felt wrong to him. “I’ve got to go. It just stopped being safe here too.”

“Uh, guys?” Frank pointed back toward the stairwell door as it opened.

No one bothered to see who came out. They took off to the right, moving down the hallway without looking back. Gordon hit the office door at the end of the hallway, sighing with relief when it opened. He stepped aside to let Frank and John in, and he spared only a second to glance at the crowd of zombies walking quickly toward the door. He had barely shut it and started to pull his fingers away from the door handle when Frank jammed a chair under it.

“Are there any kind of shrubs or hedges out of that window?” Gordon asked.

John shook his head. “I can’t tell.”

“Let’s find out,” Frank said and leaned over to grab the back of the other chair in front of the desk. He walked to the window, turning his head away as he slammed the back legs into the glass. Dropping the chair on the floor, he leaned over the sill. “Yeah, there is a big hedge, but it’s the kind with the sharp, pointy leaves.” He frowned at Gordon. “How good is your plan sounding now?”

Gordon glared back at him. “That was our captain on the phone. The investigative unit has been overrun with zombies.”

“Oh.”

“So how cozy is your cell looking now?”

Frank nodded. “Touché.”

“While you guys argue it out, can part of your debate be about where we go?” John asked, turning around when a loud thump sounded on the door. “Sometime soon would be good.” He looked back around to see both Frank and Gordon climbing up onto the windowsill. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.”

“Your options are jump or play with zombies.” Frank shook his head and jumped.

Gordon cringed as he watched Frank landing in the top of the bush. “It’s not really a difficult choice, is it?”

John moved to the window in time to see his partner land. “Yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark.” Behind him, the next thump shook the chair and caused it to fall. The door popped open halfway, and John saw arms slipping in to push the chair away before he dropped out of the window. He didn’t jump, and he landed behind the hedge, snapping his right ankle when the gravel shifted under his feet.

“John, you’re on the wrong side,” Gordon hissed.

“I can’t move,” John groaned. “I think I broke my ankle.”

“So crawl through the bottom to the hedge. Here, I’ll come to you.”

John looked up at the window to see several pale white faces poking over the window sill. “There’s no time. Those things can jump down here easily, so you’d better-” He stopped as a grenade landed next to his hand. “What the hell?”

“The pin is still in, so it’s up to you,” Frank said.

“John, I’m sorry,” Gordon said.

John shook his head, more for himself than for his partner. “Just go.” One of the zombies dropped down onto the gravel behind the hedge far more gracefully than he had. A second and third joined him before John took a breath and pulled the pin on the grenade. “Sorry folks, but I’m not joining your cult.”

***

Gordon grabbed Frank’s arm and pulled him to a stop. Frank half expected an argument for not trying to rescue John, but instead the detective was pointing at the intersection. “We’ve got to double back and find a place to hide near the building.”

“Why?”

Gordon panted for a moment. “Two reasons. One, we need to find out if that fire grenade killed the zombies or not.”

Frank nodded. “And the second reason is that you want to stake out the building to see where the big boss goes.”

“No, I think I know where he’s going next. He’s probably got units attacking the police all over the city. Now without anyone to keep him in check, the leader is going to move around to convert everyone. I just want to see what kind of security he’s working with now that he thinks he’s won.”

“Hey, I hate to be a spoilsport here, but I think he has won.”
 
Gordon shook his head. “No, he’s only won the first round.”

Frank followed after the detective as he started walking again. “All right, so what is your plan after we finish our stakeout?”

“That’s going to depend on whether the fire killed the zombies or not. If it didn’t, you and I are going to your house to make copies of that DVD. Then we’re going to get out of town and split up.”

“Right, we’ll try to warn other cities to get them set up for a real defense.”

“Yes.”

Frank was quiet for a few steps before he had a grim thought. “But if the fire did work, you’re going to try something stupid.”

“No.”

“Oh good, because-”

“We’re going to try something stupid.”

Frank’s shoulder fell. “At least you’re being honest about your planning capabilities.”

They walked around the block and moved out into the building’s auxiliary parking lot to crawl under a security truck which gave them a good view of the area of the burnt hedge.

Gordon rose up on his forearms as high as he could before his back was pressed against the engine block. “Here’s the news. It-”

“Is it good or bad?”

“That would depend on what you were wanting to do more. But there are multiple burnt bodies over there, and none of them are moving.” Gordon turned his head to look at Frank, and his eyes went wide with dismay.

Frank followed his gaze to a van on the street, which was slowing down to pull into the parking lot. As it turned, Frank saw the driver and understood instantly why Gordon looked so disturbed. “Maybe we should stop calling them zombies. I’m pretty damned sure zombies can’t drive.”

Gordon stared at the van as it parked in front of the side entrance of the building. “He’s going to move now. I was right, and there’s some kind of equipment that he moved in before we set up surveillance.”

“Great. I hope we live long enough for you to get promoted.” Frank pressed himself to the ground as the driver got out of the van and walked around to open the back. The side entrance door opened, and a pair of the zombies carried a bulky white machine out. The leader emerged between another pair of zombies, and for the first time, Frank was close enough to make out more than just the color of his skin.

He was bald, and his face and scalp were covered in crisscrossing scars. His eyes were nothing but whites, and seeing them made Frank think of witch doctors in any number of old black and white movies.

“Frank, do you know how to hot wire?” Gordon asked quietly.

“Yeah. You want to take this truck and follow them?”

Gordon nodded, his eyes still glued to the leader as he got into the van. “Keep us at a real discreet distance and leave-”

“The headlights off,” Frank interrupted him. “I have tailed people before, you know.”

***

The van stopped in front of the Stemmons freeway police department, and as soon as the team of undead workers had unloaded their cargo, the driver got back in and sped off. Frank parked the truck four blocks away, remaining in his seat until the van had left and the leader was inside the building.

Gordon was out of the truck a moment later, and though he knew it didn’t count for anything, he drew his gun. He looked over and felt a little relieved to see that Frank was carrying a grenade instead.

“We aren’t going inside, are we?” Frank asked.

Gordon froze, turning to look at Frank before he shook his head. “No, I just remembered what my captain told me, and I realized what overrun probably means.”

Frank gestured back at the truck. “Can I suggest we leave now before we’re spotted?”

Gordon turned around. “Yes, but take us to a sporting goods store, and then to a hardware store.” He turned to smirk at Frank before he got into the truck. “How do you feel about committing a few acts of breaking and entering?”

Frank shrugged and opened the driver side door to climb into the cab of the truck. “I’m already  working on my first auto theft, so why not go for the full Monty? What’s the plan?”

“Okay, we can use a  bare hiking frame and strap a tank of propane to it, along with a tank of kerosene. Then all we need is a few lengths of pipe, hoses, and a few valve sfrom the hardware store. We could have a pair of improvised flamethrowers with two stops.”

Frank frowned and got into the truck, waiting for Gordon to climb in. “Okay, but then you want to come after this guy again? We may lose his trail in the process.”

“We will, but we aren’t going after him. Instead, we’re going back to the investigative unit. We might have a chance to free some people before the leader arrives.”

Frank started the truck again, remaining quiet for several blocks. “I’m drafted either way,  but I do hope you’re taking this into account. I’m expecting you to show up as a character witness if I survive to make it to trial.”