Better off Undead

Chapter 45: Sentries

They drove through the gates and were quickly back out on the road again. Before long they had passed the high school, but this time continued on past it, returning to the highway. Less than an hour later, they were again pulling off the highway onto a side street leading into the woods, and from there it was only a few more side streets before Mac slowed the car to a stop.

"What's going on?" asked Eli, leaning up between the two front seats to peak out the front windshield.

"I think we're here," said Mac. He pushed open the car door and stepped outside. He opened the back and fished around for a minute until he had recovered a pair of binoculars. He stepped back to the front of the car and looked through the goggles to the far end of the road.

The others had also stepped out of the vehicle, and following Mac's gaze Eli could make out a chain-link fence and some structures in the distance.

"Is that it?" he asked.

"Yep," said Mac. "That's it. And look." He handed the binoculars to Eli.

Eli took them and brought them up to his eyes. In the distance, the trees gave way to a massive fortified structure. The road they were on came to an end at the entrance gate for this structure, or what would have been the gate, but the doors were broken open, each side hanging loose on their hinges. A small number of zombies roamed around just behind the broken doors in what looked like a small clearing. More zombies piled up into giant masses on either side of the clearing, as though held off by some invisible force.

"Well, shit," he said, as Amber stepped up with another pair of binoculars. He handed his off to Aliyah. "What do you think happened?"

"Looks like there were a bunch of zombies in there, and they busted their way out," said Mac.

Aliyah scoffed. "Were? There's like a million in there."

"Sweet emotion!" exclaimed Jay, accidentally interrupting as he took his turn at the binoculars. When he lowered them he realized everyone was staring at him, and his face grew red with embarrassment. "Sorry," he croaked, "just, what's with all the gargoyles?"

"Gargoyles?" Aliyah asked, looking again. "Hmm, he's right. There are a lot of gargoyles on the building."

Eli frowned. "So what?"

"I dunno," shrugged Jay. "It's just weird, is all. How many military installations have you seen covered in gargoyles?"

Eli considered the point. "Well, considering this is only the second military installation I've ever been to in my life... about half."

"Funny," Jay said, emotionlessly. "You're funny."

"Look at this," Gabriel said. Kneeling down, he began to draw in the dirt. His fingers traced the outline of a rectangle, and then from one of the short sides of the rectangle he drew little arches extending off in either direction. "Here," he said, wiping a hole in the rectangle on the line between the two arches, "is the front gate, busted open. Here," he added, motioning to the long sides of the rectangle, "it looks like there is another type of gate blocking off this section. There's only a few zombies in this rectangular area here, while most of the zombies seem to be in this outer area."

Amber frowned, then snatched up one of the pairs of binoculars and stepped forward a couple paces. She glanced through the lenses for a moment, and then turned back to the group. "He's right. The front entrance is like a corridor leading straight to the building."

"So all we really have to do," Eli added, thoughtfully, "is clear out this little strip, and we're home free. So to speak."

Daina crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable with the suggestion, and asked, "What about the rest of the zombies? Won't they try to break down those walls to get at us like they did the front gate?"