This Would Be Paradise (Book 2)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 23

While I was licking my wounds, Ethan went back to looking out his hunter rifle's scope, oblivious to how hurtful his words had been. I heard a few more muffled pops from the snipers before Bryon shouted.

"Openin' da gate!"

It took him and two others to unlatch the massive iron gate and swing it open. John scrambled down from his perch to join the few with their guns at the ready. They were pointing their weapons towards the now open gate in case any infected snuck in. Orange light from the setting sun flooded in from the giant opening only to be blocked by the truck barreling in. I recognized the blond mop of hair at the wheel. It was Darren. Why was he by himself? You'd think that a supply run would have more than one person.

Once the vehicle was inside, Byron and his two helpers tried to close the gate but infected had already started to slither in. They backed up in a rush, not wanting their fingers bitten off as they tried to close the gate. I took a handful of giant steps backwards as everyone started to unload rounds into the invading infected. It was like a live execution; except the things they were shooting were already dead. I would have helped, but I wasn't ready to reveal the fact that I had a gun just yet and they seemed to have it covered.

Onlookers from the clubhouse poured outside to see what was going on. Some started to run back to their condos at the sight of the infected, while others started to scream. Because screaming always helped.

"You're clear to close the gate!" one of the guards yelled.

Byron and the others hurried to close it back up before another wave came at us.

"Wait!" Wyatt yelled. "What about the deceased's bodies'? We can't just leave them in here!"

All this time Wyatt had been barking orders, but I noticed he didn't shoot once or attempt to help the people at the gate. He was a very hands-off leader. They made the worst kind of managers.

Byron shared an exasperated look with the others currently closing the gate.

"You guys keep yer guns trained on that openin', yeah?" Byron said to the two holding the gate, then turned to the others by him, "da rest of ya, help me drag dese dead out!"

In a matter of minutes Byron and the crew had removed the fallen bodies and reclosed the gate with zero casualties. I suppose they should be used to the drill by now. With being located in the city, I can imagine the infected body count was far more than I'd dealt with so far.

Darren had since parked and gotten out of the truck, was now starting to walk over to me.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Darren whistled.

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?" I arched a brow.

Darren flashed me a grin, "Yeah, I missed you too." And he gave me a hug.

"So you're a delivery driver now?"

"Sometimes," he shrugged. "When did you get here? Is it just you?"

"Chloe and I," I emphasized Chloe's name, "got here after lunch time."

"Glad to hear the squirt is okay too. And I'm impressed." He gave me a light shuck on the arm.

"Yeah well, I picked up a few tricks along the way," I said.

I turned to see John approaching us, his eyes narrowed. As soon as he reached us, he used two of his fingers to poke at the back of my head.

"Ouch!" I swatted away his hand.

"What happened to your head? I didn't notice that before," John said as he tried to get a better look. "That stitches?"