Chapter 3.20 B ‌ CAR CRASH SHOW

Tinley Park, IL

Sunday, July 13th

Collin woke up on his makeshift bed between two of the bus seats. He found most of the group already getting out of the bus. Looking outside, he grinned at the sight of Stephenson back safe and sound.

According to Stephenson, the pod system worked as intended. When he logged in to the game, the system gave him the option to spawn in either of the group’s available pods. As long as they kept daily casualties to two or fewer, they would not have to worry about waiting on teammates. Once everyone in the group logged in, Collin went over the day’s plans.

“Alright, listen up. The first thing we’re doing is heading over to Joliet to pick up Marcus. Once we retrieve our squadmate, we’re heading back this way to grab that weapon cache at the amphitheater. Then we’re heading north to grab the outbreak information cache. Any questions?”

With no one having any questions, he told the group they’d be rolling out in five minutes. . As they were getting ready to board the buses, the Goblin who upgraded Stephenson’s bus came running over to them.

“Hello again! I wanted to let you know if you come back to me, I’ll provide you with a ten percent discount on any future upgrades!”

“Sounds good, pal. What’s your name?” asked Collin.

“Names, Glozliacs,” said the Goblin.

“Well, if we’re in the area, we’ll be sure to look you up. Thank you, again.”

With that, the group split up and boarded their assigned buses. They headed north out of the fortress and took an immediate right onto the ramp leading to the expressway. The drive out to Joliet was a quiet one, with the exception of the few times Stephenson ran over a zombie in the road. Richard shook his head behind the man as he giggled each time he hit the undead.

The caravan slowed down upon coming to the bridge over the Des Plaines River, stopping just at its entryway. Travis climbed to the top of the bus to keep an eye out on the immediate area while waiting for Marcus to show. It took only a few minutes before their teammate popped out of a nearby bush and hopped over the guard rail.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d get here that fast. I was camped out in a garage down the hill,” said Marcus walking towards the buses.

“Good to have you back, man. While you were gone, we picked you up a shotgun. But no armor for you yet. The kids are Richard and Paige; make sure to say hello.” said Collin.

“Sounds good, cap. Let’s get the hell out of here. Joliet has been a damn nightmare.”

After a quick round of introductions to Paige and Richard, Marcus joined the group on Collin’s bus. With their fifth squadmate back, they drove over the bridge, made a u-turn using two ramps, and headed back towards Tinley Park.

Getting back off the highway and onto Harlem, they passed the Goblin Fortress and headed over to the amphitheater. The caravan slowly entered the theater’s massive parking lot, expecting it to be packed with zombies. So they were more than a little surprised to find no one around, either living or dead. Stephenson brought his bus to a stop fifty yards from the theater’s main entrance. Once parked, Collin circled around, so the doors on the bus kissed each bus’s sides.

“Alright, guys. Use the back doors of the bus to get out. This way, we can box ourselves in if we need to,” said Collin.

Everyone got out of the buses, with Stephenson’s group coming around to meet Collins.

“Stay in two groups. Find the steel door with the palm reader on it as fast as you can. Travis or I should have enough AP to open it, so if one of the groups finds it, open it and clean it out as fast as you can,” said Collin.

Travis went with Stephenson, and the two groups headed out. Collins' group took a left once inside, with the others going right.

There is nothing more creepy than an empty theater, thought Collin.

Even being cautious, Collin moved his team fairly quick, checking each door they found for their objective. At one such door, they found a stairwell going down. Descending to leave the rest of the first floor to team Stephenson, Collin’s group headed down.

Opening the door at the bottom, they quickly realized the location no longer had any power, so no light in the creepy basement. Collin waited in the dark as Burt ran back to the bus to retrieve a few flares. Coming back, he handed one to Collin, who lit it up and peered into the darkness of the basement.

That proved to be a mistake.

Inside the basement were zombies packed like sardines across the vast lounge area. The horde as one turned their heads towards the flare as soon as it was lit. The group could see the flare’s glare on the horde’s pale white eyes in the darkness.

“Run!”

Collin dropped the flare where he stood, the act saving the lives of the entire group. Getting to the top of the stairs, Collin looked back to see the horde diving onto the flare and fighting over it.

“Burt, light a flare and toss it down the stairs now!”

Burt took another out, lit it, and tossed it into the pile of zombies at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing the bright light, some turned and proceeded to attack it.

“Get to the buses fast! Burt, drop a flare every fifty feet or so behind us.”

Team Collin sprinted through the hallway, heading for the main entrance. As they came around a turn into the entrance area, Collin spotted Richard and Travis coming from the other direction, carrying a large pelican case.

“Drop it! Get to the buses now! Travis, get the others to the buses ASAP!”

Travis, not needing to be told an order twice, dropped his side of the container and began sprinting back the way he came. Not as disciplined as his teammate, Richard held onto his side of the box while he tried to process why Collin ordered him to drop it. Not expecting the sudden shift in weight, poor Richard fell forward, folding on top of the container. Looking behind him and not seeing the zombies yet, Collin ran over and grabbed the side Travis had. He picked it up and shouted at Richard.

“Let’s go!”

The young man quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed the other end. The two rushed out of the main entrance and onto the buses as fast as they could. . They were just sliding the box into the back of Collin’s bus when Stephenson, Paige, and Travis exited the theater. His two friends were each carrying a medium-sized case with them. The soldiers tossed those in the back of the bus as well, then climbed in.

Both teams secured their back doors before turning their attention to the theater entrance. Collin put two shooters on each rooftop with orders to shoot the zombies as soon as they reached the exits.

With any luck, we can create a choke point, thought Collin.

But the minutes passed, and no sign of the zombies. At the ten-minute mark, Collin was just about to call his guys in when he heard the distant whine of a car engine. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the theater.

A moment later, a Dodge Charger Hellcat came barrelling around the far corner. They watched as the car came to a screeching halt in front of the theater entrance, and two men jumped out and immediately headed inside, closing the doors behind them.

As the two men disappeared inside, the reason for their urgency showed up. A massive horde of zombies rushed around the same corner and all headed for the bright red sports car. Seeing the monsters, the driver sped forward along the wall. As it came to the end of the building, a group of zombies sprinted in front of the vehicle.

The car crashed straight through the small group, sending most of the undead flying in every direction. A single zombie bounced off of a comrade and slammed into the windshield of the Hellcat. The car began swerving violently as it started to pick up speed. A few moments later, the sedan slammed head-on into the concrete highway divider that lined the edge of the parking lot.

The entire horde followed the car across the parking lot and was now swarming the flaming wreckage. Collin watched as the massive group of undead closed ranks to the point where zombies upfront were being pushed into the flames.

Collin ordered the buses to get moving, but he was interrupted by a scream from the building. The group turned to see a single short, balding man, with mud chops, running from the door towards them. Not far behind him were a few zombies.

“Cover him!” shouted Collin.

Stephenson and Travis made short work of the few undead behind the man. As Mud Chops got closer, Collin called out to him.

“Did you get bitten or scratched?”

“No!” cried out the man.

“Jump up and grab my arm,” shouted Collin as he laid down and hung over the curve of the bus.

Travis dropped down and grabbed his captain’s legs. The man ran forward and jumped to grab the hand, but missed and face planted into the bus. To his credit, Mud Chops quickly got his wits about him and was up trying again. This time he jumped up to put a foot on the bus wheel first, then lept for the outstretched hand. He still missed, but fortunately for Mud Chops, Collin grabbed the man’s shirt and immediately began pulling him up. By this point, Stephenson had hopped over and helped Travis pull Collins’s back by his legs.

“Oh, god, thank you. The other guy was jumped by a group inside. What happened to the other two in the car?”

“I don’t think they made it,” said Travis pointing to the smoking ruin surrounded by zombies, some of whom were now making their way towards them.

“Shooters to the roof. Remember, headshots when possible!” shouted Collin.

As the group started gunning down the undead not occupied by the fiery pyre, the theater’s doors burst open, and the other horde of zombies came piling out.

“Cap. It looks like the basement bastards are joining in,” shouted Travis.

Within a minute, the two flat-nosed buses were swarmed from all sides.

“Don’t kill the ones next to the bus! Take out the ones in the back and work your way forward! We don’t want bodies to stack in front of us!” shouted Collin.

Collin couldn’t count, but there had to be hundreds now around them. He had no idea how they were going to get out of this.

“Damnit, I can’t die again. I got a group of people coming to meet me here today,” said the man.

“How many you got coming for you?” asked Richard.

“Three. Only one has a gun, though. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to help us out of this cluster fuck.”

The group kept killing the undead in the back for the next few minutes. Everyone was pretty glad that zombies can’t climb. They were about to try and drive both busses away when they heard the sound of a car engine. Collin looked over to see a nondescript four-door sedan speeding into the parking lot, heading straight towards them.

About twenty yards from the buses, the car swerved left, the commotion causing around twenty percent of the mass of undead bodies to follow the vehicle. The car sped away towards a field at the far end of the parking lot. The driver was occasionally slowing down enough so as not to lose his pursuers. Around five minutes later, the car returned, speeding away from the field, no zombies in pursuit. The group watched as the car would approach the buses, then pull clumps of zombies away to the fields. He repeated this process three more times.

When the car returned the fourth time, the group could see that the windshield was gone and the hood dented. During this time, Collin and the crew shot any zombies who were not interested in chasing the car. By the time the sedan exited the field, both buses were clear of zombies.

[Hey Collin, you’re not going to believe this, but the guy driving the car is Bob’s companion.]

“What? You’re joking?” Collin shouted.

Everyone atop of the buses gave the man looks.

[Nope. Bob says they need a group. their group all got killed back in Chicago, all two-hundred plus.]

“Damn! Yea, they can join us. They just saved our asses.”

The car came to a screeching halt twenty feet from the bus.

“Kimberly, Kerry get your ass out of the car now!” shouted the driver.

“Thanks for pulling them away. What are you doing here, bud?” asked Travis.

“I got scratched. I doubt I have long. We don’t have a group, can you take these two? One of them has a boyfriend that should be around here somewhere,” said the driver cutting the rope that held the ladder atop the car.

“Kimberly, Kyle, that you guys?” said the man they had just saved.

“Yep, got your girlfriend and a plus one.”

“They’re the group I told you guys about,” repeated the man.

Kyle finished untying the ladder from atop the car and tossed it toward the side of the nearest bus. He waved for the girls to get their asses moving. The driver ran back to the car and began removing bags, tossing them up to Collin’s group.

“Accept the invite, Kyle! Kinetic tells me he and Bob are eating popcorn and watching Stargate SG-1 while they also watch us play. What a damn crazy small world.”

Kyle accepted the invite to ‘The Mad Ghosts’ group.

“You’ve got to be joking! Look, I’m not really enjoying the game, but I’ll play now and then if you need me. I want to head back and play Fantasy full time. Invite the girls to the group as well, please. Kimberly, Paul, stop by my MicroWorld sometime,” said Kyle as he looked over his shoulder at a couple of speedy zombies closing in on them.

“Holy fuck! Collin, look at those. They’re getting faster! We need to get going!” shouted Marcus.

“Pull that ladder up, let’s go! Thank you again, Kyle!”

The group watched as the young man sped off towards the two fast-moving zombies. By this time, the horde had spilled out onto the field and made their way back through the parking lot. Collin watched as Kyle first maneuvered his car to catch the attention of the two faster movers, then a moment later, the entire horde. With all the undead now chasing him, the old clunker leaped onto the highway, bouncing heavily on a suspension that probably pre-dated Collin. A few moments later, Kyle’s car dropped out of view, then back into view as it sped up a long off-ramp. The sedan hit the guardrail, never slowing down, and shot like a dart through the air. However, its short-lived flight as a pine tree caught the car’s corner, sending it into a barrel roll. The old beater disappeared from sight, and moments later, they all heard a loud crash.

Some of the zombies at the end of the horde were beginning to turn their attention back to the buses, including the two speedy monsters. And then Kyle’s car exploded in a ball of fire that lit up the night’s sky. The bright flames, quickly growing larger as they set nearby trees ablaze, regained the attention of all the undead.

The group known as The Mad Ghosts stood by, shocked as they watched the zombies, like a herd of Dodos, scramble up the off-ramp and leap from the broken guardrail. Slowly, shock from Kyle’s actions turned to awe. To them, the Ghosts had just witnessed a most brilliant display of stunt driving followed by a well-planned execution to distract the zombies with his death.

“That has got to be the most metal way to go out!” shouted Marcus.

“Yeah. He makes it back. His nickname is Sandman,” quipped Stephenson.

“Hey. Can I get a nickname?” asked Richard.

“Your name’s Richard. You really want a nickname?” deadpanned Kimberly.

Collin couldn’t help but grin at the banter behind him. He stood at the edge of his bus, still looking off in the direction of Kyle’s big exit. He had to hand it to the kid. The boy had style.

The leader of The Mad Ghosts turned around and looked over his new team. They were growing more quickly than he had initially anticipated. He made a note to himself to try and get the fresh faces some team training. That was assuming they could find the time.

Worse came to worse. He was confident as ex-marines and champion gamers, the core five could handle just about anything Outbreak threw at them. A litany of scenarios played out in Collin’s mind, but he shook his head clear. Long-term plans were for a later time.

Miles to go before I sleep…

“Alright, listen up. First off, Kimberly, Kerry, and Paul. Welcome to The Mad Ghosts. More formal introductions are going to have to wait. For now, just hang out inside the bus.

“Marcus, Stephenson, I want you up here on overwatch till we’re ready to go.

“The rest of you make sure all the zombies around the buses are dead. I’ll gather up most of the Cores and AP, but it wouldn’t hurt for you all to get a few yourselves. I want this operation to take no more than ten minutes, less if zombies show up.

“When we’re done, I want to put some space between us and this area. That fire out there is going to be a major attraction to any zombie for miles around. Alright, any questions? No? Then let’s get going, people.”

As the group broke up, Collin looked back at the fire. It was now spreading in every direction. Stephenson eased up next to him and dropped to one knee. He slowly scanned the horizon with his scope.

“Gotta laugh. Son of bitch started a forest fire,” said Stephenson.

“Yeah. We’re going to have to thank Sandman for saving our asses today,” said Collin with a chuckle.

As his captain walked away, Stephenson was grinning from ear to ear while continuing his scan of the area.