Tommy stirred with the first grey hints of dawn, his back protesting from a night cramped in the van. He shifted Jimbo’s foot from his face and winced as sore muscles and chilled bones made themselves known.

The short hours of restless sleep hadn’t been nearly enough after the emotional and physical strains of recent days.

But daylight also brought harsh reality back—they were still trapped in this concrete tomb surrounded by the living dead. The parking garage hadn’t provided true sanctuary, just an uneasy reprieve.

He scrubbed a rough hand down his face and sat up. Most of the others appeared still asleep, though fitfully judging by the grimaces and muffled groans.

Only Zero was already up and alert, peering vigilantly out the driver’s side window.

“What’s the view look like out there?” Tommy asked, his voice croaky. He crawled forward between slumbering bodies towards the front.

Zero cast a glance back at Tommy. “Still overrun but movement has thinned overnight at least. I estimate a forty percent reduced threat since yesterday.”

Tommy settled into the passenger seat, wincing again as his spine realigned. He opened the door and stepped outside, his breath misting in the air. Hugging himself against the chill, he ventured towards the parapet and glanced down at the surrounding streets.

Dozens of zombies still shambled around. But the morning light was still too grey and diffuse to reveal the true scope of their predicament.

He turned at Zero’s approach. “Why are they still lingering down there? Thought zombies tended to lose interest without active prey. They should’ve wandered off by now.”

Zero gave a shrug. “Instinct perhaps still draws them to our location if they caught scent of living flesh nearby. Who knows how those things truly operate. Perhaps on some dim collective memory that food source is near…”

Tommy frowned. “Or maybe they just sensed a bunch of juicy punk rock snacks holed up in the van. We’re like babies in a shark tank.”

Zero slid a sidelong look over at Tommy, one eyebrow arched. “Your cynical metaphors illustrate nothing beyond fatalistic thinking, which is rarely productive.” He raised his chin and gazed across the city. “Mental resilience now is key if we have any hope of fighting free.”

Tommy bit back further remarks, conceding Zero’s point with a grunt.

Tommy let the quiet stretch while studying the undead’s movements more closely.

The passenger door creaking open made both men start.

Laila dropped from the van and gave a tired half-smile before joining them. “Morning.”

“Hey.” Tommy turned back to watching the zombies.

“What you doing?” Laila asked.

Tommy shrugged a shoulder. “Just trying to work out how we’ll get out of this place.”

Laila leaned over the side. “Maybe if we threw stuff to draw them away, created a distraction…” She trailed off. “I don’t know. There’s so damn many still.”

“Too many variables and uncertainty about how they would react anyway,” Zero said. His eyes remained locked on the milling hordes. “Miscalculation risks compromising our one secure stronghold here.”

“There’s got to be some way of thinning them out though,” she said. “Some tactic or trick we haven’t thought of yet.”

Tommy wracked his brain, but his mind was a fog.

A scuff and metallic crunch had all three twisting sharply. But it was Roxy kicking at a discarded soda can near the van’s rear bumper. “We’re screwed here.” She marched over to join them. “If we let much more time go by, they could swarm us completely. Then we’re just canned meals on wheels.” She glared at Zero. “We need a solid escape plan, because I’m not dying trapped cowering in this friggin parking garage, you feel me?”

Zero flinched then his face became hard. “It’s funny how the biggest critics never provide answers of their own.”

“Getting each other’s hackles up won’t solve this, guys,” Laila said. “Let’s keep the brainstorming productive, yeah?” She looked between Roxy and Zero, before gesturing for the rest of the crew to join them. “Maybe with all our brains combined, we can MacGuyver our way the hell out of Dodge.”

The others shuffled over, bleary eyed. Even Jimbo seemed subdued as he crossed his arms and glowered down at the oil-stained concrete.

Tommy dropped his hands from massaging his throbbing temples. “Alright. The simple fact is, we can’t stay here. The zombies are thinning out, so I say we get back to the vans as soon as possible.” He cast a glance at Jimbo. “Zero, I say you should drive us this time. Get back to where we’re parked and hit the road.”

Zero shook his head. “That doesn’t work for me.”

“Alright. Jimbo? You—”

“No,” Zero said.

Tommy glared. “Alright, what’s your brilliant plan then?”

“Factoring in current levels of undead, we cannot safely eliminate enough to carve passage for the vehicles yet.” He raised a hand to stifle Tommy’s protests. “However, on foot a small group could plausibly loop a few blocks around towards where we left the other vans.”

Tommy shook his head. “On foot? When we have a perfectly good van?”

“Which also happens to be our only van at the moment. Our only means of transport. Our only protection against those things.” Zero eyed each of the bandmates in turn.

Tommy ground his teeth. But as much as it galled him, Zero was right.

He sucked a sharp breath and met Laila’s eyes. Around them, the others shifted on feet or cracked knuckles.

“Right then.” Tommy clapped his hands. “Let’s do this thing.”

“We don’t all need to go,” Zero said. “I suggest no more than four.”

Tommy tossed his van keys in the air. “I’m going.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Me too,” Laila said.

Roxy shrugged. “I’d best go too. No one knows that van as well as I do.”

Tommy looked around at the others. “Anyone else?”

Dee stepped forward and raised a hand. “Yeah. Why the hell not?”

Tommy nodded. “Let’s go raise some hell.”

Tommy gripped his bat, his palm clammy on its worn handle. He met each crew member’s eyes as they stood tensed and listening.

Tommy ushered the others single file down towards the parking garage’s ground floor.

He strained every sense, tracking the faint raspy undertones of the dead outside while sweeping alert eyes through the vast concrete. “

The faintest scrape of dragging footsteps echoed from deeper in the structure.

Tommy whipped towards the sound, holding his breath, bat poised.

A lone zombie rounded a concrete support pillar ahead, seemingly oblivious to their presence.

Tommy used subtle hand motions to direct the crew into concealing alcoves behind the pillar rows.

He spotted a promising fire door off the main vehicle bay and risked a subtle shoulder tap to urge the crew onward again.

Slowly, warily, Tommy crept from cover, the others following close behind.

Each soft scuff of the concrete came like a slap to the face. But step by step, holding his breath, Tommy inched along, drawn by the beckoning side exit just ahead.

A sharp crack split the air.

Laila gestured down in dismay at the can lying crushed under her boot.

The noise grabbed the zombie’s attention. Shoulders hunching, it wavered unsteadily around to face the frozen group with milky eyes.

Laila bolted. In three quick strides, she snatched up a brick fragment and hurled it at a nearby car, cracking its windshield.

The zombie swivelled towards the new sound, limbs tangling in its abrupt change of course.

“Go, go!” Tommy signalled for them to move.

Keeping low, he led the others ahead.

They plunged through the fire door, slamming it shut behind them, and into gloomy concrete service halls.

Rounding a corner, he stopped at the sight of three zombies wandering vaguely up ahead.

Dee collided with his back. “Damn hombre, warn a guy next time.”

Tommy raised his hand and glared at Dee before gesturing to the zombies. “We can’t go back.”

Dee’s expression dropped. “Oh, crap.”

Tommy pressed himself against the concrete wall, not daring to breathe, his pulse roaring in his ears.

After waiting in frozen silence, the last wavering footsteps faded around the next hall bend.

Tommy gulped a steadying breath, gesturing for the group to follow again.

The outside door came into view past a short loading dock.

Tommy motioned the others ahead.

Safely through, he eased the door closed a metallic scrape then leapt down to the alley below.

His crew stood slump-shouldered along the alley’s opposite wall.

Groans and grasping hands grew nearer.

“Go, go, other way!”

Tommy’s feet pounded on the asphalt as he sprinted forward, his bat swatting away the encroaching dead.

Skidding around another blind corner, the group pulled up, their escape cut off again by a couple more zombies blocking the alley mouth ahead.

Tommy spun back, but the original zombie mob stumbled into view.

“We’re surrounded!”

Roxy darted forward, frantically flashing a broken bit of mirror out in front of the new zombies.

The bright waggling reflection through the alley shadows seized both dead-heads’ attention. Lurching towards its bobbing light, they shuffled after it.

“Brilliant,” Laila said.

“This way, hurry.” Roxy gestured the crew through the gap and tossed her flashing lure down a side passage, diverting the small mob further.

Tommy waved the others forward, his lungs heaving.

New shapes peeled from the shadows ahead - staggering corpses blocking their way.

“No!” Tommy skidded to a halt.

He pressed back against the brick wall, clutching his bat with nowhere left to run.

The fresh wave slouched closer, trapping them.

Tommy snarled in desperate fury.

A small scuffed sound next to him made Tommy glance over to Dee. A silent exchange passed between them as Dee gave a resolute nod.

Before Tommy could ask what he meant, Dee broke from the defensive huddle towards the mob ahead.

Snatching up a nearby bottle, he began banging it hard against a metal dumpster. “Hey! Yeah, over here, you ugly skin sacks!”

Tommy stared. “Dee? What are you doing?”

“Go!”

“But—”

“Just go. I’ve got this, Tommy.” Dee turned back to the zombies. “That’s it, come get a taste!”

The zombies wavered and moved towards Dee.

Still smashing his noisy distraction, Dee backed away from Tommy and the others, clearing an escape route.

“Dee, no!” Tommy lunged forward, but Laila grabbed his arm, holding him back.

“Don’t,” she said. “You can’t help him now.”

Sick understanding crushed Tommy’s chest. Dee was buying life for his friends with his own.

Bile rose in Tommy’s throat as he stood frozen.

“Tommy, we gotta go.” Roxy yanked his numb body back towards their cleared escape route.

Tommy tore his eyes away from Dee as the undead tide closed in on him alone.

Staggering into movement, Tommy fled with the others away from both the encroaching swarm and Dee’s screams fading behind them.

Tommy stumbled into the dingy sunlight outside, his vision blurred by tears.

He turned back once more as Dee disappear beneath the churning mass of zombies.

The screaming stopped.

“We need to go,” Laila said.

Tommy forced himself to keep moving.

The group ran on a few more blocks in silence before slumping against an abandoned storefront to regroup.

No words existed.

Dee was gone.

Tommy roused himself enough to lean over and place his arms around Laila and Roxy, tears streaking their faces.

“Come on,” he managed. “We’ve got to keep moving.”

Laila nodded.

Wordlessly, Roxy threaded her fingers through Tommy’s own for several moments as they walked before loosening her grip again.

“We’re still a way off from the casino,” Tommy said. “But I think I spotted a route to slip closer.”

Roxy and Laila moved in silence, dipping between park cars and doorways.

“Alleys seem clearer for now. And we can maybe climb over that low roof ahead too, stay off the street for a block or so.”

Laila and Roxy both nodded.

“We should maybe find ways to distract and pull more zombies off the main drag too if we get desperate. Noise traps in empty buildings to thin resistance ahead of time.” Urgency fuelled Tommy’s thinking despite the risks involved. “Let’s do this smart and fast.” He pointed towards the beckoning rooftop access ladder nearby.

“If our luck turns, we can barricade choke points behind us at least. Control the field where possible.”

“You sound like Zero,” Laila muttered.

“Just trying to keep us focused. It’s either that, or…”

He climbed the ladder with gritted teeth, the muscles in his arms burning.

Up on the low rooftop, Tommy made a cautious circuit, checking the roof was clear.

He spied the casinos just a few blocks over.

With a run up, Tommy leapt across a narrow alleyway to the next building.

A sudden scrabbling on the tar paper roof made Tommy spin, his bat raised and ready. But it was just pigeons startled from their nesting.

Laila smothered a choked laugh next to him.

Roxy grinned, giving Laila’s shoulder a little shove.

“Bunch of twitchy chickens we are,” Tommy said.

“Speak for yourself,” Roxy said.

Edging past skylights and sagging antenna lines, they drew closer to the casino block.

Tommy stopped at the roof’s edge and almost wept at the sight of his and Roxy’s vans parked half a block away

Opting for speed over stealth, Tommy slipped down a rusty drain pipe.

Eyes sweeping their immediate area, he signalled for Laila and Roxy to remain still.

Squinting towards the familiar vehicles, no zombies stood between them.

“How’s it looking?”

Tommy started at Roxy’s voice. “Clear as far as I can tell.”

“You sure there’s nothing hiding nearby?”

Tommy shook his head. “Nope.”

As they edged towards the vans Laila gasped and gestured to a trio of zombies shambling past the vehicles.

Using hand signals, Tommy directed Laila and Roxy in a wide arc around the zombies.

Crouched behind a car, Tommy tightened his grip on his bat.

As the zombies drew closer, Tommy gave the nod.

He lunged forward, striking hard at the nearest zombie, sending it sprawling.

Laila smashed her tyre-iron against a zombie’s face as Roxy darted in with her machete, taking them down by the knees.

Two corpses collapsed, hamstrung in a shrieking heap.

Channelling all the rage and fear of the last few days, Tommy swung wild blows with his bat, again and again until there was only wreckage left and his lungs burned.

Roxy and Laila stared at him, their mouths gaping.

“Come on.” He pointed his blood-smeared bat towards the vans. “Let’s not hang around, eh?”

He raced over to his van, keys shaking in his hand.

“Do you want me to do that?” Laila asked.

Tommy nodded and jogged around the passenger side and leapt onto the seat, slamming the door behind him.

Laila started the engine and waved at Roxy pulling away from the casino. She let out a shaky breath. “Let’s get back to the others.”

Tommy stared from the window, his jaw tight, images of Dee’s last moments etched in his mind.

“You alright, Tommy?”

Tommy’s nostrils flared. “Never been better.”