She pulled out two bottles, both with rags stuffed in the top, and handed one to me.
The smell of fuel filled my nostrils. I ignited both rags with my torch as several corpses shuffled into view. I waited as long as I could and threw hard. My Molotov fell short but Kaatje found her mark moments later, her bottle exploded on the head of the nearest zombie, engulfing the group in a ball of flame.
With the tunnel burning behind us, we had no choice but to head out onto the bridge. I tried to steady my shaking legs as I took the first steps, being careful not to look down. Black was still fighting off the horde, which now had him completely surrounded. The sound of the fighting was joined by the steady pop of burning flesh from the walls behind me.
I stopped a second to look over my shoulder, checking Kaatje was with me. “Get down!” she shouted, her eyes wide.
I hit the floor just as her blade sunk into the face of a near-skeletal corpse. I swept my leg round, knocking it off balance and over the edge.
“Stragglers!” Kaatje’s voice came again. I sat up. A few of the dead engaged with Black had spotted us and were limping excitedly in our direction. I searched frantically for something to defend myself.
“Hand me your pack,” I said, a plan forming in my mind.
“What? You won’t have time to...”Kaatje stopped midsentence as realization dawned, and quickly handed over her pack.
It was bulky, stuffed to overflowing with supplies and other random salvage. I put one arm through the straps and held it out in front of me. The bridge was only wide enough to allow one corpse at a time.
I took a deep breath and advanced, using the pack as a shield. The first zombie came at me fast but careless and bounced harmlessly into the chasm. I took a second to smile before the next one attacked. He broke free of the melee and headed straight for me, moving in a wild spasm.
I braced myself as his rotten body fell against the pack, pushing me back slightly. His eyes were level with mine, blank and expressionless, yet cold and hate filled. Immediately he bit into the fabric, forcing his head forward. I twisted my arm hard and ripped the teeth from his mouth causing him to release a horrible gurgling shriek before I planted my foot into his knee and sent him tumbling into the darkness.
We were close to Black now, a few feet away, I could see him snarling and biting, huge gashes in his body and flaps of skin hanging loose from his bones. Suddenly the pack pulled to the right, and I lost balance. I felt Kaatje grab my shoulders as I looked down. The toothless corpse was hanging from the stone trying to pull itself to safety, one arm grasping the free strap. I stepped back, dragging him up. I pulled out my blade with my free hand.
Something crashed into me hard and I fell backward into the abyss. I expected to fall forever as I felt gravity’s pull, but came instead to a sudden painful stop, dangling in space, one arm still looped through the pack.
I hung there for a second, perhaps expecting to be hauled to safety. Something warm dripped onto my face and slid down my cheek. I looked up. Straight into the eyes of Toothless. There he was, so desperate in his pursuit of my flesh that he was still holding on to the free strap, lying flat on his belly and staring down at me, with his broken jaw hanging awkwardly to one side. It would have been funny, but the peril that awaited me should Toothless get bored quickly stifled the humor.
A corpse fell silent past me as Kaatje dispatched an attacker. I saw her look at me, then to Toothless, bringing her knife up to strike.
“No!” I screamed, swinging my free arm up and digging my knife into a groove in the stone, just as Kaatje’s blade pierced the ear of Toothless.
A black ooze leaked from his head and he snarled no more. Kaatje withdrew her blade with the sound of a plunger and Toothless’s lifeless body slid forward under the weight of the pack.
I quickly worked my arm free of the straps and watched as his boney form dropped past me, taking his prize into the darkness. I felt for a lip in the stone and pulled myself up with a hand from Kaatje, who threw her arms around me and pressed her face into my chest. I tried to break free, worried that more zombies would be upon us any minute, but her grip was powerful and I was exhausted. If I am to die, I thought to myself, this is how I want to go.
Eventually, she loosened her hold and I turned to see Black finishing off the remaining dead. The last corpse finally fell and Black sunk to his knees, arms hanging limply at his sides. I rushed to him, followed closely by Kaatje. When I arrived, I knelt beside him and looked him over.
He was naked save for a ring of blackened cloth hanging around his neck. His skin was torn and ragged, his nose had been smashed and more bones than I could count were cracked and broken. The whole time I looked at him he just stared into space with his one bright eye, the other having been ripped free in the battle. A while passed before anyone spoke, and it was Kaatje who broke the silence.
“Come on Black,” she said, trying to keep her voice positive, “We need to get out of here.”
Black’s eye focused on her and he raised his arm, pointing into the darkness ahead. I looked and saw a slither of light shining through a crack in the ceiling, a mountain of rubble leading to it. Black remained pointing.
“What? What is it?” Kaatje said, shaking slightly.
“I think he wants us to leave,” I said slowly, placing my hand on her shoulder.
She began to shake more, her body heaving with silent sobs. Black gave a slight nod and she stood up, walking slowly away. I stood to follow and felt a boney finger snag on my trousers.
Looking around I saw Black staring up at me, “Ghost” he rasped, and the hairs on my neck stood. “Survive.” He looked past me, again focusing his eye on Kaatje as she moved away. “Survive,” he said again, his voice barely a whisper.
His arm dropped and the light faded from his eye.
I awoke to the sound of rain, happy to see my hastily erected shelter had lasted the night. As I lay there, watching the sheet of canvas over my head flutter in the wind, my mind began to wander back over the events of the past few days.
After Black’s second-death, Kaatje and I had emerged from a wide crack in the road to find ourselves back in the quarantine zone. Fortunately, I recognized the area and set off in the direction of home, keeping a close eye on my friend. She had not spoken to me since the bridge and remained in silence for quite some time. I assumed she was grieving and left her to it, giving her a reassuring smile whenever I caught her eye.
“So that was the Undercity” she croaked, her voice barely breaking her lips.
“Say again?” I stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden end to the quiet.
“Back there, the Undercity. I thought it was a rumor but...” she trailed off and looked down.
“What rumor?” I asked, trying to keep her talking.
“There was a rumor, or rather a story, that I was told when I was young” she began. “They told me that after the outbreak most of the underground tunnel network was converted to make mass graves. Basically, they made a big hole and just tossed the dead in before covering them over.”
I listened and tried to imagine the scale of such a thing. It certainly explained the number of corpses we had seen in our brief time down there.
“I had no idea, Rick” she sobbed, stopping and turning to face me with tears in her eyes. “I would never have taken us down there if I had and maybe Black would still be...” she looked to the ground again.