The explosion also took out the power leaving the two without up-to-date information.
Donna reached out and petted the soft fur of the cat. Naomi opened her eyes and purred at the attention.
“It's going to be morning soon,” Jack said, “We should work on getting out of here soon.”
“Do you think there are still people at the airport?” Donna asked.
“One way or another, we’re going to have to find out,” Jack said. “I figure we throw what we can into my car and make it as far as we can. I have an old .22 caliber rifle you can use. It’s lightweight, and I have tons of ammo for it. You're going to have to let them get real close though if you want the ammo to punch through a skull.”
“I can handle that,” Donna said, “My dad used to let me shoot his all the time.”
“If you want, I can try and get you to your family,” Jack offered.
“Thanks but they are on vacation in Mexico at the moment. I sent then an e-mail on your computer before the explosion,” Donna said.
“Donna,” Jack said, “I don’t think what is happening is going to stop; it's going to spread like a virus around the world.”
Donna thought about the impact of that statement and how it would change her life forever. There is no going home ever again she thought.
“If that is the case,” Jack continued, “Then we need to think about where we can lay up and survive for years to come. The roads are going to be a mess, but I have a pilot’s license, and we’re headed to the airport. If we can make it there, then we can fly out of the region with anybody we can fit aboard. What do you think? Are you in?”
“If it means staying alive, I’d consider just about anything at this point,” Donna said.
Donna heard a muffled thump sound from two stories below them. It was followed a moment later by the sound of breaking glass.
“Hello,” someone called out from below. “We know you’re up there, let us in before those things get us.”
“Shit!” Jack said “Grab what you can it’s time to go before we have every zombie in the city trying to eat these idiots.”
Donna grabbed Naomi and zipped her safely inside a shoulder strapped cat carrier. Jack pulled the .22 and a shotgun out of the closet and filled up a bag full of ammo.
“Follow me,” Jack ordered as noise continued to sound from below.
He moved into the bathroom, in the back of the house on the third floor, and opened the window.
Donna looked down and saw that the window stood over the back porch roof.
“I’ll lower you and Naomi down, don’t fall,” Jack said.
Donna adjusted the cat bag to her back and eased out the window. Jack took her hands and lowered her an extra few feet until she found purchase on the roof.
Jack lowered both guns to her.
“If you won’t let us up, we are going to burn the place down,” a man screamed from inside the house.
Jack dropped down beside her on the roof and produced keys to his car from inside his pocket. He unlocked the car doors with the remote.
“Jack,” Donna whispered, “We have to go now.”
A number of zombies were shuffling up the alley in their direction.
Donna moved to the side of the roof to lower herself and slipped.
Jack fell to his stomach and grabbed Donna by the arm slowing her fall.
She landed on her feet and fell to the side, Naomi let out a disapproving hiss from inside her bag.
“Get in the car and start it,” Jack yelled from the roof as he lowered the guns to her.
Donna raced to the vehicle in full view of the zombies coming down the alley.
She opened the door and put the cat carrier in the back seat and threw herself into the driver’s seat.
Jack dropped to the ground at the same time a man came out the back door of Jack’s house.
The man was pointing a gun at Donna in the car. “You’re not goanna fucking leave me, girl,” the man said. “Get outta the car,” he shouted.
A bullet ripped through the man’s chest from behind. Jack lowered his shotgun and picked himself off the ground from behind the man. Stepping over the intruder, Jack put another round through the man’s head.
Jack ran to the passenger door and pulled it open. He paused there and fired a couple of shots at the approaching zombies. Two fell over when rounds hit them in the head; the rest moved forward. Jack got in the car, and Donna pushed the vehicle onto the road.
Donna saw a woman emerge from Jack's house with a zombie clawing at her from behind. The zombies in the alley rushed to join in on the kill.
"Head straight down the street to the blast area," Jack said. "Hansen Avenue might be blocked off, so we can cut through the shopping plaza behind the gas depot. The plaza should be clear enough to get us to the Pickle Gate Crossing Bridge."
Donna drove the car down the street; the tires sang and rumbled on the brick lined road. The smoke from burning houses cut across the path in front of her, and she was forced to slow down so that she could see.
A zombie stepped into her path from out of the smoke and she cut the wheel hard to the left to avoid it. The car smacked into the side of the creature and sent it spinning to the ground.
"Keep going, you’re doing fine," Jack encouraged beside her.
At the intersection where the depot had been, nothing of the former structure remained. Donna drove the vehicle around a downed power line and cleared the blast zone. The shopping plaza was in fact empty and provided safe passage to the bridge. They drove past the empty stores and then by a number of buildings intended to be an industrial park.
The whole plaza they were driving through used to be the site of Pullman Standard. The factory had built rail cars during its day. Many old timers remembered eating in the Pullman dining car on passenger trains. The city had pulled down the factory in stages with the shopping center being Phase One.
"I jog through here every day," Jack said. "There is a service road straight past that building that goes underneath the bridge. We should be able to drive up the ramp the wrong way and cross the bridge."
Donna moved the car up the road and onto the ramp. She could see that Hansen Avenue had been blocked and the detour was worth it. The bridge to her left had a number of stopped cars on it but seemed passable down the opposing traffic lane.
Donna turned the car on to the bridge and slammed straight into a ghoul as it came out from behind a car. It rolled up on to the hood and fell off the vehicle on Jack’s side. Donna kept driving while other zombies on the bridge tried to close in on the vehicle from ahead.
She pushed the vehicle into the left lane and hit the accelerator to get past the growing crowd. The car squeaked past the group, but one of them managed to reach out as they passed.
Its hand smacked into Jack’s window and smashed the glass out. Jack brushed glass from his shirt and pants on to the floor of the vehicle.
Donna swerved to the left and the car scraped against the concrete barrier of the bridge taking out the driver's side mirror. She pulled to the right and the sound of screeching metal abated.
At the end of the bridge, the intersection was partially blocked by an SUV that had wrecked into a compact car. The vehicles sat like burnt out corpses smoldering from the fire that had consumed them. A zombie standing to the side of the road turned to face the approaching car.
"Jack watch out, I have to slow down."
The zombie stepped on to the road only feet away from Jack's side of the car. Its hands reached out to claw its way into the glassless window and get to the passengers inside.
Jack raised his gun and fired a round at the creature nearly point blank. The round penetrated into the zombie's jaw and sent it flying over backwards.