Chapter 27
When Carlos heard the monster in the trenchcoat screaming out in the woods, he did something that would have sounded absolutely crazy to him just a few hours before. He jumped up and ran toward the sound.
If the monster was screaming, that meant it found Jill and was chasing after her. So Carlos chased after the monster, in the hopes that it would lead him back to Jill as well. He ran through more dark woods, but this time without fear, feeling as if he moved with a purpose. After his encounter with the huge underground worm, he felt like he could face anything that the city park could throw at him.
He burst out of the trees a few minutes later and was amazed to see that he had somehow caught up with the monster, which was now within sight. The creature ran across a field strewn with rocks and boulders and moved to what appeared to be a sheer rock wall at the very end of the park. Carlos saw it clearly because of the large lights at the top of the wall.
By the time Carlos made it to the rocky area, the creature was at the wall. He watched in disappointment as the creature barely slowed down, and bounded up the wall, grabbed the metal fence, and pulled itself over in one swift motion. Carlos knew immediately that there was no way he could follow it.
But there must be another way to get up there, since he doubted that Jill could have climbed up that way. Carlos wondered exactly why she went that way at all, and exactly what happened at the command post. He arrived there to find the place abandoned and completely blown to pieces. Once he found Jill, he would have to ask her.
If he got to her in time, that is. But Carlos hadn’t come all this way for nothing.
He ran swiftly through the boulders and large steep rocks until he reached the wall. Far to his left, he saw a huge shape sticking out of the wall, and discovered that it was a huge pipe. There was a metal door at the entrance but it was wide open, so Carlos went inside even though it was pitch black, with the exception of one tiny illuminated area far ahead. He convinced himself that Jill must have gone this way, since there was no other option.
He went to the lit up area to find a ladder that led up to the surface, but as soon as he climbed halfway up, he saw zombies standing around the top of the ladder. So he went back down and ran to the other ladder, the first one in the pipe. That one was not illuminated, but Carlos climbed in darkness and pushed up a heavy manhole cover at the top of the ladder shaft.
He found himself in the middle of a street, and pushed the manhole all the way off. It clanged loudly, and Carlos quickly climbed out as a couple of zombies nearby came to investigate.
To his right, there was a wide sidewalk that overlooked the city park. A couple of stray zombies congregated there, like tourists taking pictures, and they stumbled in his direction.
To his left, there was a tall wooden fence that stretched almost all the way down the block, decorated with posters and colorful graffiti. A few cars were parked along the street.
One section of the fence was smashed down, the sidewalk there littered with fragments of shattered wood. Carlos knew right away that the creature must have gone that way, and he ran after it, bringing up his rifle as he reached the broken section.
On the other side of the fence were more zombies, but they were just far enough away that Carlos was able to run past them and head toward the large gray building in front of him. As he approached it, he thought he heard gunshots from inside.