26 Creeping Death (1/2)
As the sun was going down, both Alyssa and Pablo went to the mayor's office to break the news to Max. They told him that Gabriel bumped into the herd of the undead while he was savaging. That they were already heading in this direction and they never saw him and he hightailed it back to the town. Max should have asked more questions, but he smartly kept his attention on what mattered most, which was the horde of thousands of undead that were going to overrun their walls and breach the walls. He looked concerned as he was clearly tempted to drink out of the bottle of scotch in his desk rather than pour himself a glass. Earlier that day he was asking Gabriel for help getting one of the old ladies some heart medication, and half a day later he has to think of a way for all of them to avoid being overrun and eaten by the dead. He took a deep breath and looked back at the two people staring at him.
”And how many are there?” He asked again, praying he misheard them.
”At least ten thousand,” Alyssa replied, ”They're going to be here sooner rather than later. Especially if we leave the lights on.”
”She's right,” Pablo said, sternly. ”We need to go lights out and be as quiet and church mice... and I mean right now!”
”What good will that do?” Max asked.
”We have a plan.” Alyssa replied, ”And one that doesn't include wasting all our ammo on that herd.”
”Let's hear it then!” Max ordered, ”Time is not our friend here.”
”We're going to park one of the trucks out in front of the herd,” Pablo explained, ”Use bushes and fallen trees to build a small barricade.”
”What for??” Max asked, ”You said there was ten thousand!”
”This barricade will be to divert the herd,” Alyssa explained, ”Splitting them to walk in different directions. They'll walk right around and right past us as if we were never there and move off.”
”That sounds interesting,” Max said, ”But how will it work?”
”When they reach the split,” Pablo added, ”We'll set off charges in the distance, to make them walk faster away from us.
”What explosives?” Max asked, confused.
”The ones Gabriel disarmed the night of the fire.” Pablo answered, ”I meant to tell you about it, but we never had the chance. Now they might save our lives.”
”They'll walk around us as long as we stay quiet and keep the lights off.” Alyssa said, ”But we need to go lights out right now or we'll be their prime target.”
Max stood up from his seat. ”And what if one of them or a few happen to break towards us?”
”We'll have snipers on the roofs with silencers.” Pablo replied, ”Any undead bugger that breaks rank will be dropped. As long as they can't hear the shot, they'll keep walking towards our decoys.”
”Alright,” Max said, convinced. ”Tell Gabriel to get his shit ready.”
”He's already out there setting up,” Alyssa said, ”Trying to save time.”
”Fair enough,” Max said, ”I guess that leaves us. Let's shut off every light and get people to their shelters. I made sure every one of those shelters was sound proof so that the undead couldn't been discovered cause a baby was crying.”
”Good one,” Pablo said, cracking a smile. ”I'll have to remember that.”
”No time for ass kissing,” Max said, ”We have work to do.”
Max couldn't sound the alarm cause that noise would have been encounter productive, so he and his staff spend the next twenty minutes getting everyone to their emergency shelters. In less than an hour, ever light was turned off and everyone was underground, so the entire town was dark as night and quiet as a church mouse. All while that was going on, Gabriel was using his speed and flight to get out beyond the wall to set up the new charges and get ready for the coming herd while Pablo and his men from Denver all went outside and used the truck and brushes and trees to set up the divide about two hundred feet in front of the town's wall.
”Will this work?” Sean asked, as he was also helping out.