“How are you planning on getting out of here exactly? You know all the boats are guarded right? You’re going to end up getting yourself and that pretty wife of yours killed.” The guard was slowly sitting up and lowering his arms as he spoke.
“Shut up!” Randy jerked the pistol up and put it on the man’s forehead. “I will pull this fucking trigger! I will blow your fucking brain’s out!”
Breathing hard, spit shooting out of his mouth, Randy vented out his frustration. He knew he was pretty much screwed. He hadn’t planned any of this. By all rights, he never should have even gotten this far. The fact that he wasn’t lying dead in the dumpster behind the school with a couple of bullet holes in him from his interview with the commander was a miracle in itself. He couldn’t keep pushing his luck. His wife and his kids’ lives depended on him making the right decisions now. He just needed to figure out if he should paint the wall with this idiots’ brains or keep him around to help with their escape. At least the guy looked suitably freaked out now. The yelling and the gun pressed into his forehead had finally broken down the man’s cool façade.
“I’m trying to decide if I should kill you now or not. Can you be useful to me or are you going to continue to be an ass?” Randy kept the gun firmly pressed into the scared guard’s forehead as he asked. The man tried to nod but couldn’t since Randy was pressing the gun into his forehead, so he said yes instead. Randy liked the way his voice cracked when he said it.
“Good. Now what’s your name?”
“Griffin.” The guard answered.
“Alright Griffin. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to walk out of here and then go get Kelly from the gym. Then we’re going to walk out of the gym and get in the van outside and drive over to the Coast Guard base or wherever you think we can steal a boat. Once we have a boat, you’re going to give us a ride to the mainland. If at any point in any of this, you decide you want me to shoot you in the head then either try to escape or signal to someone what’s going on. If anything seems weird to me, I’m going to shoot you. Do you understand?”
Griffin nodded his head in the affirmative. Randy took a few steps back and had Griffin lay on the floor with his arms out in front of him again. While Griffin was doing that Randy figured out how to eject the magazine and check to see if a round was in the chamber on one of the pistols he’d been using. Once he was sure it wasn’t loaded, he slid it into the holster on the belt and laid the holster on the floor by Griffin. Then Randy made sure the other two pistols were ready to go and tucked them in his waistband where they were covered by his jacket. He made sure he could get to them and pull them out quickly without shooting himself in the crotch.
He told Griffin to stand up and put the webbed belt back on. Now it looked like Griffin still had his weapon and everything was normal. No one should even think twice about Griffin escorting him down to get Kelly. The key to this working now was going to be doing this fast while still looking casual. At some point, someone was going to come to check on the commander or to get something signed or to give a report and then the alarm was going to be sounded. Ideally, they’d already be on a boat at that point. If not, then there was a good chance they weren’t making it off the island alive. At least not Randy.
The first part of the plan went off like clockwork. Him and Griffin walked down to the gym. They walked right past the guard standing outside in the parking lot. They kept walking past the other guard on the inside of the gym who was busy trying to scrape all the beans out of a can of Kosher Bushed Baked Beans. Neither of the other two guards did more than glance up at Griffin. Randy got the impression no one really liked the prick. Most of these men were good people just doing what they felt they needed to do to survive. Griffin on the other hand was an obvious bully who was enjoying the way the world had spun. This new way of life had put him in a position to let him show his true colors. Randy was looking forward to shooting him in the back and leaving him for dead when they finally made it over to the mainland.
Kelly kept her cool as they walked outside and headed back up the stairs towards the admin offices. Randy hadn’t said anything to tip her off yet as to what was really going on as he didn’t want anyone to see her reaction when she found out. He was worried it may tip their hand. Even if just another of the refugees in the gym had seen her act weird, they may have said something which may have made its way back to one of the guards. In the short time they’d been stuck in the gym there was already a pecking order. There were already people willing to sell their souls for an extra can of creamed corn. If you want to measure the true worth of a man throw him into the middle of an apocalypse and see how he acts.
Once they were seated in the van Randy ordered Griffin to drive them over to the harbor or the base. Whichever the man thought would be the easiest for them to find a boat and get off the island. Kelly sat in the middle of the bench seat next to Randy. She was looking back and forth between Randy and Griffin with a baffled expression on her face. Once Randy and Griffin were done discussing where Griffin was going to drive them to Randy kissed Kelly and carefully pulled out one of the loaded pistols out of his waistband and handed it to her. He showed her how to load it and where the safety was.
“Did you kill the commander?” Kelly asked him softly after Randy had made sure she knew how to use the weapon.
“The commander and his guard. I almost killed Griffin but thought he may be useful in getting us off this island.” Randy answered her. Now that the immediate danger had passed, and his adrenaline had stopped flowing he felt immensely tired. He’d had a long day. His pants were still moist from swimming away from the Zombie covered pier on the mainland earlier. He let himself relax for a minute as he pulled Kelly in close and rested his head on her shoulder. He’d already let her know that Griffin was carrying an unloaded gun. He’d enjoyed saying it while casually aiming his own pistol at the back of his glowering prisoners head.
They drove in silence for about ten minutes before stopping on the edge of the large natural harbor Block Island boasted. They’d decided to stop on the opposite side of the harbor from the Coast Guard base and liberate a vessel to get them over to the mainland. There weren’t guards posted over on this side since anyone taking a boat was going to have to sail right past the Coast Guard base to get out to sea. The base had guards posted to make sure no one came in or out of the harbor without the commander’s approval. Griffin assured them the guards had automatic weapons of a high caliber which they’d use to sink any boat they thought was sneaking in or out.
They’d decided on trying to find a boat that was small enough to sneak out of the harbor but fast enough to make a run for it if they were caught. Griffin didn’t know if they’d bother pursuing them or not. If they did decide to pursue them then they were probably going to be caught by the powerful Coast Guard boats. Even if they could outrun the boats, they’d have a hard time outrunning the high caliber machine guns mounted on the bows of the vessels. Even though they were primarily engaged in Search and Rescue out of this boat station they still had all the capabilities here to carry out their law enforcement mission as well.
They parked the van and went to look for the right boat. Griffin walking several feet in front of them in the dark. They walked down the pier using a small flashlight Kelly kept on her keychain. Griffin was saying to look for a dark colored Bay Liner if they could find one. The storm had done some serious damage in the harbor and most if it had yet to be cleaned up. Floating docks had smashed into some of the boats causing them to sink. A few of the boats that were still tied up and floating were listing heavily to one side or the other. Some of the vessels had broken free and washed up on the shore or were floating around in the harbor.
“What if we put one of these boats on a trailer and drove it around to the other side of the island and launched from there?” Kelly asked.
“I was thinking the same thing.” Griffin said. He knew he was in deep at this point. If they took off in a boat and the bullets starte
d flying, he’d be just as dead as Kelly and Randy if they got caught. Unfortunately, most people who moored up on Block Island with smaller boats left their trailers on the mainland. Plus, trying to load a boat on a trailer in the dark with two people who’d never done it before was going to get noisy. Noise that could very possibly be heard on the other side of the harbor. So, even if they found a trailer it’d still probably be a bad idea. Still, it showed these two might actually be able to survive out in the world. That kind of out of the box thinking was going to be needed if this escape was going to have any chance at working.
Not seeing anything they could use by the time they got to the end of the dock they turned and began walking back. There was an adjacent dock they could go check out next. They were about halfway down the dock when a bright light flashed by them. They’d been fixated on looking over at the boats moored up to the next dock to try and see if it had any better options. That’s why none of them had noticed the white truck pulling into the parking lot. The truck with the bright search beam on the side of it. As the beam came back towards them, they ducked behind a pile of rope and wooden beams on a smashed in part of the dock.
The truck stopped. They heard a man yelling down the dock for them to come out with their hands up. Randy was getting ready to surge towards the white truck and see if he was able to shoot the men in the truck before they could get a bead on him. He switched his aim quickly over at Griffin when the man put his hand on Randy’s shoulder and shook his head.
“Just follow my lead and we might still get out of this.” Griffin said in a stage whisper.
“You screw us, I swear to god the first person I’m shooting is you. You look like you’re trying to get out of range or hidden and I’ll shoot you.” Randy said. He moved the barrel of the gun to Griffin’s face to emphasize what he was saying. Griffin nodded. Kelly put her hand on Randy’s other shoulder and looked over at Griffin curiously.
“What’s your plan?” She asked as the men at the end of the dock shouted once again for them to come out.
“I’m going to need you to take off your pants.” Griffin said to Kelly with an apologetic grin aimed at Randy.
Chapter 26: No Greater Love
Brenda was startled awake by the tinkling noise the alarm on her phone made. She rolled out of bed and padded quietly for the bedroom door after silencing her alarm. Getting out of bed had been relatively easy. The girls had the uncanny ability to leverage their thirty to forty-pound frames in such a way as to cause anyone sleeping with them to have to sleep with half their body hovering off the side of the bed. It was amazing how such small, adorable, beautiful human beings could be so freaking annoying. Brenda stretched and yawned silently as she padded down the creaky stairs.
Eric was standing in the living room staring out one of the windows. The other guys were all standing around looking out as well. Brenda noticed they were all strapped and looking like they were ready to roll if need be. Casting around the room she saw there was still one occupied couch with a sleeping body spread out on it. She assumed that must be the pastor. She walked a little heavier and coughed as she walked into the room to make a little noise. She had no desire to startle a bunch of jittery, armed men. The men spun towards her. A few of them reached for their weapons before they figured out it was just Brenda.
“Sorry. We’re a little jumpy. We’ve been hearing those screeches the Zombies make off and on for the last hour.” Eric said. He waved for Brenda to come closer to the group, so he could speak at a lower volume.
“Where are they coming from?” Brenda asked him. She was hoping they weren’t too close.
“It sounds like they’re out on the main road. We’re thinking a big pack of them may have gone running by chasing after us. Hopefully, they all stick together but there could be a few outliers who wander down this old dirt road to see what’s down here. Who the hell knows what those things think?”
A loud screech sounded causing all of them to jump and immediately move towards the windows to look out into the darkness. There was a mostly full moon out tonight. It was reflecting enough light to let them make out the shape of the field and the outline of the road they’d ridden in on. The screeches sounded like they were coming from a lot closer than the main road to Brenda. Brenda arched an eyebrow at Eric when he looked over at her.
“I’m going to go wake up the girls and get them dressed and ready to move out in case we need to get out of here in a hurry. Any ideas on another way out if the road gets clogged up?” Brenda asked Eric.
“We can head towards the lake and then run along the edge of it about fifty yards. The next house over used to have a couple of boats on their dock. I don’t know if they’ll be gassed up and ready to go or anything but it’s an option. Good idea on getting the girls dressed. You may still want to try and let them sleep a little longer once they’re dressed. This could turn out to be nothing. Even if it isn’t another hour’s worth of sleep may make all the difference.”
Brenda headed upstairs to get the girls dressed. She wanted them ready to go if Zombies decided to start tramping down the dirt road leading here. The age of the house and the giant windows along the big wraparound porch precluded any thoughts of turning this place into a stronghold. The house would be a death trap if the Zombies came and they didn’t immediately make a run for it. The other house Eric had mentioned sounded like a good option if everything went to hell. Especially if there really was a boat sitting there gassed up and ready to go.
The girls weren’t happy to be woken up. They’d gone to bed thinking they’d finally found a safe spot to spend the night. A safe spot with an actual bed in it. Now Brenda was waking them up to tell them they needed to find a bed room downstairs and be ready to get up and out immediately if they were told to. The older girls looked scared while the younger ones just looked sleepy. Working together they were able to gather all their stuff without making too much noise and head down the stairs. Once downstairs Brenda herded them all into a smaller bedroom on the first floor and told them to try to get some sleep but be ready to move if she came for them.
“Got it. Rest and relax but be ready in case you come to tell us monsters are ripping down the walls to get us. No problem.” Caitlyn said in a deadpan voice while Myriah just grimaced. The younger girls were already in the bed sleeping. Brenda gave each of them a quick kiss and then went back out to join Eric and the guys in the living room.
She walked into the hallway in time to see Eric and Jim disappear out the front door. Walking in to the living room she asked if anyone knew what was going on. They told her they thought they’d seen a Zombie come in off the main road and wander out into the field. Eric and Jim had gone to see if they could sneak around and take it out quietly. They were hoping they could kill it before it decided to let out a screech and bring more of its friends into the yard. They’d taken a baseball bat and machetes to try and kill it quietly.
Brenda was getting a bad feeling about all of this. At the first sign of the first Zombie they should have all been packing up and heading out. Instead they were sending people out to try and subdue a demonic killing machine. A demonic killing machine that just had to open its mouth and scream to be joined by a few dozen more demonic killing machines. If the Zombie out in the field was one of the slow Zombies, then this plan may work. if the Zombie slipping around in the shadows out there turned out to be one of the fast ones then this was going in the next Guinness book as the dumbest idea ever.
A few minutes later a Zombies cry split the night. Brenda almost laughed out loud at the giant bubble of stress popping open inside her brain. Must have been one of the fast ones she thought as nervous laughter seeped between her lips. The men in the room cast worried glances in her direction before moving into defensive positions. The ones who’d had combat experience understood exactly what her laughter was. They’d all heard it before. They’d crouched behind hummers while rockets exploded all around them. Knowing to survive you and your team had to rush out into that h
ell and kill the men shooting the rockets. That could elicit that same maniacal cackling. The human mind and body reacted to battlefield type stress in all kinds of interesting ways.
No one could see a thing out the windows. A cloud must’ve moved in to cover the light that’d been coming from the moon. The already dim light on the outside of the house had gotten a few shades darker. Brenda moved closer to the window to see if she was able to make out anything. The screech had come from off to the left side of the home in the brush covering what looked like an overgrown strawberry patch. Brenda was looking in that direction when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Forcing herself to look in the direction opposite of where she’d heard that last scream, she saw movement coming from the driveway leading out of the woods and up to the house. A lot of movement.
A Small World Page 19