One of the zombies in the second row stepped up with a bottle that looked like a miniature fire extinguisher. 'Surely that's not… Fuck!' The zombie unleashed a torrent of pepper spray onto the area. It was an aerosol type designed to disperse crowds, but it served to blanket a huge swath of ground in a smoke-like cloud that Stewart could not avoid. Instead she charged.
This caught the smaller of the two zombies in front of her by surprise and she lopped through his upraised arm and into his melon like she was chopping wood. Stewart pulled the blade free with a spray of black zombie blood and launched a quick attack on the army zombie. He was, as usual, quicker than he looked. He deflected her blade using the Billy club and punched her in the face with his free hand. The blow sent Stewart reeling back into the cloud of pepper behind her and immediately she felt her eyes swell up and she started coughing. Stewart didn't stop moving; she darted sideways and came through the cloud well out of range of her army nemesis. As soon as she emerged the itching and burning from the pepper spray stopped.
A loud ping sounded and Stewart swept the machete blade in front of her by instinct alone, the blade deflected the metal prongs from a Taser round and earned a respectful eyebrow raise from the army zombie who was coming at her again. Stewart had no interest in fighting him, not until she could clear out his helpers. She dodged towards Bill and tried to circle the big zombie, coming close to the one with the pepper spray. He raised it up to defend himself as Stewart brought her machete down towards him. A bullet struck the machete blade as it descended; Stewart tried to correct it and pull it back on track with the zombie's head, but was only able to sink it into the thing's shoulder, partially severing its arm.
Another gunshot rang out, followed by, "Stop, or I will kill him."
The other zombies halted in their tracks, except for pepper man, he dropped the spray can and stumbled backwards clutching his nearly severed arm. Stewart glanced over to the zombie in the police officer garb and saw that he was pointing his gun at Javier's chest.
"So shoot him, I know what happens if we give up. He's better off dead."
The officer put two bullets into Javier's chest, the young man convulsed upwards and a low moan escaped his gagged mouth. The gun shifted to aim at Bill, "I don't bluff. Drop it and let us take you in."
Stewart was rattled by the casual killing of Javier, the shock must have shown on her face, but she quickly regained her composure, "Nothing's changed except one of us isn't coming back."
"Maybe I'm aiming at the wrong target." The zombie shifted his pistol to aim at Max. The officer watched Stewart's expression and smiled, "I guess I was. Your boyfriend is next little lady, or you come with us and no one else dies."
The Taser caught Stewart in the upper thigh from behind and dropped her like a stone. She fought against the pain of the electricity coursing through her body, but lost control of her limbs and felt the machete being kicked from her hand even as her feet collapsed beneath her. One of the zombies sat on her head while another pulled her arms backward none too gently and locked handcuffs around them.
"Get off my head asshole!" Stewart shouted into the dirt. The zombie didn't move, except maybe to grind himself down harder. Stewart felt her legs being bound up in the rope that had tied Bill and Javier, and then she was turned over and sat up. She saw the police officer looking at her for a moment, then a bag went over her head and she lost even that small privilege.
She could still hear though and their conversation was short and concise.
"Tie him as well, leg shackles for all of them. Clayton get the cuffs and rope off the dead guy." She was pretty sure the officer was calling the shots.
"She about lopped off my arm." said a whiney voice.
"You're fault for letting her get that close. Sentry told you they would be fast." The officer replied.
"Did you even see her come out of the car? I know Matthew didn't, it's like she just fucking appeared." came the whiney voice again.
"Shut it, Jamie. We all knew the risks." said the officer.
"Jeezus Scott, cut us a little slack here, you don't have to play hard ass all the time." Came a deeper voice.
"I don't? Maybe I am not playing. Did you ever think of that? Now get them loaded up and let's go.
Stewart was lifted up and thrown into the back of what she assumed was one of the trucks she had seen. She felt two other bodies thrown in beside her, one on each side.
"Xavier, Johnny and Bobby, you ride in the back with our guests. Jamie you ride shotgun, I wouldn't want to stress your arm anymore." said the officer's voice, who Stewart now pegged as 'Scott'.
"Fuck you, Scott. Fuck you with a horse dick."
The gunshot came so rapidly that Stewart jumped. There was complete silence in the back of the truck, where the zombies had been getting in.
"If Sentry asks, the big guy shot Jamie too. Everyone agree on that?" asked Scott, the malice in his voice weighed heavy on the air.
"I never liked that little prick anyway." said the deep voice Stewart thought belonged to the army guy.
"Sure, no problem. The fat one shot him." said a new voice.
"No problems here." answered another.
"Good. Bobby, hop down you'll ride up front with me."
"Me? Why? I'm okay. Really. I…" Bobby stammered.
"Now, Bobby! Before the big one shoots another one of our team." Scott ordered, "Get on the radio and tell Russell to meet us with the van. We're heading in."
The truck bed lurched and shortly after that two doors shut and the truck started moving.
Chapter 38 — Katie
The place was swarming with undead. On one end of the massive building it looked like there was a business; "Lazarus Industries, Ltd", but all the action seemed to be taking place midway along the building, where there were two massive hanger style doors that opened to the street. There was a sign that read "Marine Restoration and Repair" and that section of the building looked like it could hold several yachts at the same time. There were no boats in sight now, just undead.
"What the fuck are they all doing?" Katie asked herself. She saw the van and the pickup truck, but there was no sign of anyone in or near them. Getting into the strip mall across the street was simplicity in itself. Katie was crouched behind the plate glass of a pizza parlor, hugging the floor and using her rifle's scope to check out what was going on across the street. With all the zombies around it was a miracle that they hadn't spotted her. She kept low to the ground to try and stay out of sight, but doing so kept her from getting a good view of what was going on. Katie needed to be on the roof, not hugging the floor.
"Katie." Randy's voice came as a whisper out of the darkness behind her.
Whirling she brought her rifle around, there was nothing there.
"Randy?" Katie called.
There was scuffled footstep in the kitchen, then the quiet sound of something sliding to the floor.
"Show yourself!"
"Don't shoot."
Katie didn't recognize the voice, it was male and it wasn't the same one that had whispered to her before. "Why shouldn't I?"
"`Cause if you do, all those zombies over there are going to come rushing over here to see what the noise is. And you and me are probably on the same side." called the voice.
"Katie…" came the whisper again, from the side, looking she again saw nothing.
"What are you…are you doing that?"
"Doing what? No. Are you gonna agree not to shoot me so we can talk face to face or am I going out the way I came in."
"I won't shoot you." Katie lied.
"Good enough for me, I am coming out."
Katie saw an old man in army fatigues step through the doorway. In his hand he held the map she had left in the kitchen at the yellow house. In a flash Katie recognized the man. She was in Chicago, sighting down her rifle into the park, through the vegetation by the Art Institute. He and a younger man were struggling to drag a wounded comrade towards the building and a zombie was firing at them blindly through the bushes. Katie had taken the zombies out with a single shot and then covered their retreat to a small open park next to the building.