Free Revelations - 02 by T. W. Brown

now. A large ball of flame-accented black smoke roiled skyward from behind a row of four- and five-story offices. Had any of those windows still contained glass, they would’ve exploded. More dark, oily smoke poured through a swath of those empty window sockets. It looked sinister, the way the inky blackness sort of poured from the holes and cascaded down the façade of the buildings and pooled at the bottom before creeping forward and into the street that ran parallel to the front of the complex.
    “We should—” I started to rise, leaning the direction of the rising cloud.
    “We will be getting into the vehicle,” Dr. Zahn cut me off. “Randi is heading this way now.”
    “But Jamie and Barry,” I protested.
    “Have their assignment and instructions. They’ll do what they have to and reach their pick up spot.”
    “Something’s gone wrong.” I pointed. Didn’t she see the big black cloud rising over there? I know for a fact that neither of them were carrying explosives. Even worse, a huge slice of the mob that had been after Melissa and the truck had done an about-face and were now headed to investigate this new sound.
    “And they’ll deal with whatever that may be,” Dr. Zahn said as she grabbed my arm in that particularly tight grip again. I heard the part she didn’t say just as clearly, or they’ll die.
    Once again I was trying to figure out how I’d become the designated honcho. I’d laid out this plan and nobody had pointed out any of the flaws. Even the best plans have flaws. Why hadn’t anybody called out mine?
    “Here comes Randi,” Dr. Zahn announced with another tug on my arm, leading me out from behind our railcar.
    The Hummer pulled up with a crowd of unfamiliar, not to mention unhealthy looking, faces. Could it be that we really had been living that well? Looking at the scared, exhausted, or vacant faces packed into the vehicle reminded me of the day that we’d arrived at Serenity Base. Dr. Zahn had said something about how well our group seemed to have fared.
    Randi reached across and opened the front passenger’s side door. The smell that rolled out hit me. Before I could get a grip, I’d visibly and audibly gagged. None of them seemed to notice. Every single one of them looked—
    “Shock,” Dr. Zahn whispered and moved past me to climb in.
    “What blew up?” Randi asked. There was no masking the concern in her voice or on her face.
    “No idea.” I climbed in, pulling the door closed. A pack of twenty or thirty walking dead were closing in. Another slice of the main group had peeled off and followed Randi. Also, I could see more coming this way from the direction of what was now growing into a decent sized fire from the direction we’d last seen Jamie and Barry.
    Randi accelerated, sending dust and gravel flying at the approaching zombies. None of them seemed to notice. We raced down a mostly deserted street, and as we closed in on the first four-way intersection, I felt us slow.
    “The route is straight until we reach that water tower,” Dr. Zahn said. She glanced at me and I knew she was expecting support here.
    “Randi…” I paused. It was clear that she knew her husband was somehow tied to that explosion and growing fire. “There is a maze of industrial buildings over there. We have no way of being certain of the route they took. Barry knows the rally point. We need to be there waiting for him and Jamie when they show up.”
    We’d rolled to a stop in the intersection. Randi Jenkins turned to face me. I saw tears starting to roll down her cheeks. The survivors packed into the car sat silent. I glanced over my left shoulder into that big back seat area. None of them looked like they were even aware we were there. I hadn’t noticed at first, but they were all clinging to one another.
    A hand slapped the window directly behind my head instantly changing the atmosphere inside the vehicle. I jumped. The sudden surprise had startled me, but the people in the back went