Day 3 4:52 PM
I was pinching both sides of my head with my free hand the moment all three of us were back at the 3rd-floor library. Bennie was cuffing his mouth, clearly thinking of ways to circumvent our problems. Abigail on the other hand, kept watch in the window. She's making sure someone watches down below for any kind of development.
"So let me get this straight." Bennie bellowed while sitting straight." You want us to what again exactly?" he baffled.
"Yeah, we need to get Ambers," I replied. "Uhhumm. So pray to tell please, bear with me. Are we gonna be stupid enough to get her? In B Block no less? That's already near the A block in the administrative district. Not to mention, people went to the center to find help. Never mind hundreds of unclean that nearly killed us yesterday. There might be thousands!" Bennie exclaimed.
Yeah, PFC Frost's full name was Amber Walters, a mercenary. Accepted the job offered to her after being kicked out of the military then a week, after she was signed up this, happened. Bennie stood up exasperated by what I was suggesting. "Rejected Richie. We have a few problems on our own to be bothered by other's problems." Bennie walked to the window watching the sunset.
"One, our time frame is limited. The sun is starting to set and it's going to be dark soon. It's suicide to rescue her during the night. Two, we are poorly equipped. Lastly, one life doesn't weigh as much as three." Bennie stated. he's referring to me, his and Abigail's lives. I don't want to gamble our lives because of some sense of heroism either. But I got to play hardball to drive our decision-making plans hard.
"That's a no then?" I asked. "Yeah. Abigail? Thoughts on this?" Bennie faced Abigail. "I'm looking at this from a neutral viewpoint. We don't want to risk the car. Even if we get to her would getting out be feasible? It's not like I'm only thinking of myself here but. I kind of do and it disgusts me." Abigail frowned and sulked beside the window.
She's right who would've blamed her? Even I want to get out of this shit hole already. A lot of factors would surely go wrong if ever we attempted to save her. Is she bit? Is she telling the truth? Is she friendly? The state of the A and B Blocks are way more chaotic than here in D block which is the edge of the border town. I find it distasteful to name streets and places with letters and numbers but hey. That's way above my pay grade. So half a yes and two nos. Even I know the stupidity of this endeavor if we ever do it.
"I propose a compromise," I said facing them. "I'm listening," Bennie answered and Abigail faced me. "We tell her to come to block D. It's utter foolishness to risk our only ticket out of here but I also guess there is a problem with securing it, Ben?" I clarified.
"That's acceptable and yeah. Don't get me wrong. Getting to the garage is easy. We can just sneak up to the garage. The problem is getting out with the vehicle." he explained. "Can you uhm, elaborate? Please?" Abigail asked.
"Easy princess I'm getting there," Bennie replied with a chuckle. "Remember the unclean following us through the parking lot yesterday? We would be lucky if they just streamed out of that particular place. But apparently, these things without any stimulus to interest them. Lay completely and utterly still." Bennie said sighing. "Until someone rang the dinner bell," I added.
"Yeah. that part." he chimed in. "M-mkay. So what if we lured them with something? An alarm or something." Abigail perked up and suggested. "The problem with that ma'am, is that we don't have that. We could try a gunshot but that would not be advisable but also dangerous. Remember the screaming girl yesterday? Who can say it's an exception? But I won't bank on that. If that kind of shit happened, it will happen again. You can be assured that we will have at least 6 blocks worth of uninvited visitors coming straight for that kind of scream." Bennie said while sitting down.
"Screamer doesn't have the certain umpf to it. How about a shrieker?" Bennie looked at me asking for approval. "Yeah. That sounds more intimidating and scary." I approve with a laugh. Got to hand it to Ben. We still find mundane things to discuss even if the world has gone to shit.
"That's not all," Bennie added. I perked at him and listened. "It's bad out there Richie. Here on D block is only the tip of the iceberg. The reason why we don't hear gunshots is because at least those who are still alive noticed that the unclean lay completely still if there isn't much as a peep. I saw people tried to sneak by them a while ago. It didn't end well. A family I think. They tried to sneak toward the C block but the amount of traffic is just too many. One of the unclean turned around and saw them and one thing led to another. Just like that, they were torn to shreds. Then a few minutes later, that said family stood back up. They got their limbs torn and chewed off Richie. Missing parts of their faces are visible. I don't want us in particular to end up that way." Bennie sighed while looking at us with contemplation in his eyes.
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"So based on our observation. A bite doesn't necessarily turn someone right away but if they die they are reanimated after a few moments. It's still a death sentence." I said with a sigh.
"Our main problem is still up for debate. I counted at least a few hundred strewn about the parking lot and the surrounding area, Like I said getting there isn't the problem. Getting the pick up out is. The moment we turn that engine on. You bet those dickheads will start to swarm the pick up and that is really bad for us." Bennie directed the discussion back to our main problem.
"I'm drawing a blank," I said. I could be bait and try to lure them but what next? Find a building and get swarmed there and be trapped? I saw a glimpse of the parking lot a while back. It's not crowded but not quite empty either. It was wishful thinking for them to be clumped together in one part of the parking lot but the other problem is the swarms of unclean on the other buildings. If this was a video game there would be a so-called boundary where the unclean would spawn. Like Left 2 Dead games. You know where they spawn, which ones will spawn, and where the stuff would be giving us an advantage. But that apparently won't work this time.
"I'll do it," Abigail said while raising her hand.
Bennie and I were dumbfounded. Do what exactly? Be the bait and lure them out?
" Woah there ma'am. You ain't thinking what I'm thinking right?" Bennie looked at Abigail with confusion. " I know the risk. But I want to pull my own weight." Abigail said with a trembling voice. "Being one of you to be the bait would lower the chance of the other securing the pick up right? So in increasing said chance, I volunteer to be the bait, and besides you both will work faster when you're together right? You won't just abandon me and drive away, won't you? Or are you gonna do just that?" Abigail said accusingly.
Yeah, you ain't fooling anyone with that bravado Abby. We looked at her. At her trembling knees and shaking hands. This isn't some woman playing the victim card right here. She wanted to live and not be stupid about it.
"What if we slowly kill every unclean at the parking lot?" Bennie rebutted. "Too long. Even if we will be as quiet as we can be. How do you think those around it would react? It would set up a chain reaction. They will be unto us like ants to honey. We can do it if they were at least a few meters apart, but at that close to each other. We might as well ring a dinner bell for an all-out buffet." I said rebutting Bennie's claim. "But if w.." Bennie was not going to back down easily and argue but I added. "We won't have enough strength or bullets for that matter." He was again gonna say something but he kept his mouth shut again. He knew this was the best chance we had.
"Tell me how to shoot that pistol and I will lure them. I know they are not fast. I just need to get ahead of them and keep my pace. I will avoid getting surrounded and once I'm a distance away from the road I'll sprint back towards you. Sounds good?" Abigail laid out her plan.
"We won't let you down. Heck, I'd spank Richie here to make sure he works like it's overtime in the mesa." Bennie is now sold. Not because of Abigail's plan but because of the sense of resolve she held. The will to live, and to stay alive at that. That's the kind of attitude that will get most people to stay alive. The resolve to live and stay that way. Even I was impressed.
"Good. Now you boys be a good dear and let me be well rested for tomorrow." Abigail said going back to her secretary demeanor again. Knowing she earned our respect. Damn. I want a woman like that.
" I got to radio into Ambers about the plan. I won't promise her anything but our time limit would be until noon tomorrow. We need all the sunlight we can get if we need to get out of this shit hole." I said.
"Right on. I'll make sure Abigail is well-rested and watch her back tonight. She needs the assurance that we won't abandon her I guess." Bennie added.
"Oh gonna do her tonight?" I asked with a smirk. "Shut up!" Bennie exclaimed.