Kyler was so focused on that Zombie he didn’t realize another Zombie had caught up and was punching the passenger window repetitively. Trying to break the window and get at the humans inside. Mike kept driving slower as he lost more and more visibility. The road was getting more winding. They kept hitting the grass and rocks on the sides. Loud screeches were coming from all around. The large group behind them was starting to catch up to them.
“Shoot the Zombie bitch on the windshield!” Mike yelled as he passed the M-16 over to Kyler. Kyler fumbled with the rifle and got it aimed at where he thought the Zombie’s head was. He was thinking making noise no longer really mattered at this point. He pulled the trigger twice. One of the shots must’ve connected as the Zombie stopped thrashing. Mike slammed on the brakes to try and get the thing off the windshield, but she was firmly stuck in the glass. Mike and Kyler stated trying to kick the body off while the Zombie on the passenger side tried to reach in and grab Kyler through the broken windshield.
Pulling his foot back into the truck Kyler shot the Zombie with its face smashed up to his window. Realizing only after the pulled the trigger that this would get rid of the minimal protection of the window on his side of the car. The Zombie staggered backwards then ran back towards the car and continued trying to get in through the window. Blood was streaming through a huge hole in the side of the Zombie’s face. The bullet had hit it in the mouth and then ricocheted out the other side of the Zombie’s face. Kyler pulled the trigger in a panic a few more times and got in a kill shot. This time the Zombie went stayed down.
Mike had the truck moving again. There were arms coming in through every window now. Screeching echoed through the cab. Kyler kept shooting until the firing pin clicked on an empty chamber. He kicked at the hands reaching into the cab as he struggled to eject the used magazine and get a new one slammed in. He knew the new one would only have the ten cartridges they’d just gotten loaded in but that was better than nothing. A hand ripped at his shin and took his shoe out the window with it.
Mike was spewing a steady stream of vulgarity as he roared down the road. Hoping to throw the Zombies off the truck by driving at an increasingly stupid speed on the twisting narrow road. It was a game of chicken they couldn’t win. They were already past the driveways they’d been thinking they’d hide out in. This had gone from a plan to try and distract the Zombies to them simply running for their lives and they were rapidly running out of road.
They reached the end of the main road. They were now at the cul de sac with two driveways veering off it. Mike randomly chose the driveway on the left and they went off the cul de sac onto the much narrower private road. A private road with a large iron gate that appeared at the first turn. Mike put the truck in reverse. They headed back for the cul de sac to try the other driveway. A Zombie jumped in the back of the truck and started slamming its head into the back window of the cab. Another one smashed into the side mirror and spun off into the bushes.
Reaching the cul de sac Mike spun the wheel hard to get them facing the other driveway. Zombies were filtering into the cul de sac and running straight for them. Kyler had the M-16 ready but they were driving too erratically for him to even consider trying to hit anything. He didn’t want to try taking shots since they were so limited on ammo. It wasn’t like the Zombies were going to dive out of the way if he started shooting either. It’d just attract even more of them to come straight at them. The back window broke as the Zombie in the back finally beat his way through the small opening.
Mike tried to drive them into the other driveway but missed by a few feet and got them stuck up on a mound of sand and brush. He had the truck in reverse and was trying to get them down as they were surrounded by more Zombies. Kyler put the M-16 up to the passenger window and shot Zombies trying to get in by putting the barrel right on their heads and pulling the trigger. He didn’t want to risk missing and the Zombies did nothing to protect themselves. They didn’t show any interest in taking the gun away from him either, so it was working out great. At least it was working great until he ran through the last cartridges in the magazine.
Out of ammunition he leaned back in the chair and the Zombie in the back grabbed him by the hair. Mike finally got them off the dirt mound and drove them down the other driveway. Kyler started screaming in pain as his head was yanked backwards into the broken glass of the rear slider. The Zombie trying to work its head through to bite him. Pulling him hard against the broken glass. In complete panic mode Kyler thrust his head forward with all his strength. He felt a handful of his hair get ripped out as he drove himself out of his seat and face first into the dash.
Mike sent them spinning into a large driveway. There was a very large estate with a big porch and a beautiful view of the bay. Not that they were going to have time to enjoy the view. There was a dock behind the home. It was a long dock that went over a good fifty yards of marshland before getting out into the open water. The end of the dock had a wooded boat house looking structure. With screeches erupting from the road behind them and a pissed off Zombie with a handful of Kyler’s hair in the bed of the truck Mike decided they might as well roll the dice and make a run for the end of the dock.
Grabbing the M-16 and yelling at Kyler to follow him Mike jumped out of the truck and immediately turned to attack the Zombie trying to get at him from the truck bed. Using the rifle like a club he beat the holy hell out of the Zombie. Once its head was leaking grey matter, he turned and began running for the dock with Kyler close behind. They ran as fast as they could across the wooden planks. Beating their feet and pushing their tortured bodies beyond what they would’ve thought was possible. Kyler tripped about halfway across and went sprawling face first into the dock. His face struck a metal spike sticking out of the dock. Blood spurted out of the big gash he got from his forehead down to the middle of his cheek.
He tried to stand but was too dizzy. Mike turned and looked down at him. Without wasting any time thinking about it he picked Kyler up in a fireman’s carry and continued to run. He was hearing the Zombies close in behind them. He was running low on any kind of energy. His adrenaline was the only thing keeping him going. His labored breathing sounded like a foghorn in his own ears. He could feel his pulse in his face. He made it to the covered end of the dock and wildly looked around for something they could escape on.
The main two docks were empty. There was some fishing equipment and lifejackets and tools hung on the pegged wall of the covered area. Mike set Kyler on the ground. He reached over and grabbed the large hammer he saw hanging with the other tools. He turned and got ready to fight the Zombies. When he turned, he saw the sunfish that was sitting out of the water on the corner of the covered area of the dock. The sunfish was a small sailboat that could be used to sail around inside harbors and around the bay. Kind of a day exploring the harbor fun type boat. Mike had used one every summer of his childhood when he’d visited his grandfather.
He knew how to sail it the question now was how to get it in the water before they were eaten alive. Kyler was sitting up and looking around. The boy’s face was covered in blood. There was a good chance he didn’t even know his own name right now. Mike didn’t think he’d be a ton of help in either fighting Zombies or getting them underway on the sunfish. Looking down the dock he saw two Zombies leading the pack to get at them. They’d be on him in a matter of seconds. He took a deep breath and ran at the Zombies with the hammer raised over his head. He was counting on the Zombies complete lack of self-preservation to help him win this fight.
Reaching the first Zombie, a hippie looking older man with dull, lifeless white eyes he swung the hammer full force caving the man’s head in. The hammer got stuck in the Zombie hippy’s skull, but it’d done the trick. Spinning with the momentum from that kill Mike put both hands on the next Zombie and simply shoved him off the dock. The Zombie went over into the water and started thrashing around. Mike took a second to look down at this arm. The Zombie he’d pushed off the dock hadn’t been interested i
n defending itself. It had been single mindedly focused on taking a bite out of Mike. It’d succeeded in ripping off a good portion of the skin on his forearm.
Blood was flowing like crazy from the massive gash in his arm. Mike hoped it was enough blood flow to clean the wound and keep him from becoming infected. They had no real idea if the disease worked like that or not. He guessed he was going to find out. The other Zombies from the pack were arriving at the dock and coming for them now. The one he’d pushed off the dock was only about ten feet from the shallows where he’d be able to get back on the dock. Assuming the Zombie had the brainpower to figure that out.
Mike ran back to the covered area. He’d seen some gas cans sitting there. The first one was empty but the second one he checked was about half full. He charged back out on the dock. At the edge of the shallows he dumped the contents of the can out. With the Zombies starting to get dangerously close he pulled out his lighter and got a flame going. He bent down and touched it to the gasoline-soaked dock. The gas covered section of the dock went up in a satisfying whoosh of flame.
A smallish Zombie leapt through the flame and jumped on Mike. Mike fell backwards and landed flat on his back. The breath knocked completely out of him. He looked up and saw the brilliant blue sky with small cotton balls of cloud skating by. Then that vision was replaced by the gaping mouth of a Zombie descending on him. The teeth sinking into the side of his face and latching onto his ear. He roared with pain as he felt his ear ripped off. He arched his back and flung the child Zombie off him. The Zombie stumbled off the dock and splashed into the water below.
Mike felt a flap of skin hanging down his neck where his ear used to be. His forearm burned like he’d poured lemon juice over a bad cut. Another Zombie danced through the flames on the dock and rushed at him. This one got one of Mikes fingers before he was able to throw the bastard into the water. The flame from the fire was higher now. Mike was forced back towards the covered area by the searing heat from the flames. He knew he didn’t have much time.
Rushing back to the covered end of the dock he saw Kyler had pulled himself into a sitting position and was trying to wipe enough blood off his face to see what was going on. Mike knew Kyler could sail a sunfish. He’d watched him do it plenty of times out on the islands. Kyler had even taught several of the younger scouts how to sail. Mike went over to the sunfish and started untying ropes. He made sure the mast was secure and pushed the boat over the side of the dock into the water. The heat from the burning dock beating on him.
“Get in the damn boat!” He yelled at Kyler. Kyler was still in a fog. Mike got up and went over to him. Picking him up by the shoulders he walked him over to the edge of the dock and lowered him into the sunfish. A flash of light split through Mikes vision. A splitting headache struck him out of nowhere. He had a sudden vision of himself sinking his teeth into the top of Kyler’s head and ripping away at the skin of the scalp.
With that vision in his head he put his foot on the edge of the sunfish and gave it a powerful shove. Then he jumped into the water and began kicking his feet to propel the small vessel out into the bay. He figured he’d get Kyler out of harm’s way before the cold water and loss of blood ended up killing him. He knew the one thing he couldn’t do was get into the boat with Kyler knowing that he may be turning into one of those things.
Mike finally lost his grip on the sunfish as the change consumed him. His head dipping below the waves of the cold water of the bay. His last conscious thought was that at least he’d done this right and maybe that made up for all the things he’d done wrong.
Chapter 34: Peg Toed Pirate
Tony’s foot hurt like a bitch. He was sitting in the captain’s chair of the boat they’d liberated from the island while Randy worked on taking his shoe off. Kelly was sitting nearby with the generic first aid kit she’d found on the boat. Blood was pooling up in the work boots he was wearing. The blood leaked all over Randy’s arm as he untied the boot and pulled it off.
“Good thing for me they let us wear black boots out here in the island instead of having to wear those steel toed boon dockers everywhere.” Tony joked before almost falling out of his seat when a wave of pain hit him. The shoe being removed made it feel like the end of his foot was falling off. A razor-sharp sensation of pain shot up his whole leg.
“I’m going to steer for a while. Kelly’s gonna cut off your sock and get you bandaged up. Ok?”
Neither Kelly nor Tony looked really excited about the plan but both nodded and set to carrying out their parts. Randy took over steering the boat. He stood and adjusted the wheel to keep them on the same heading Tony had put them on. The sea was rough enough so there was a good deal of adjustments that needed to be made. Tony had also told them they’d have to keep a careful watch on radar since there wasn’t the visual cue of lights from the mainland anymore to let them know if they were getting close.
Kelly was using the scissors on one of those little all in one Leatherman tools to cut Tony’s sock off. Blood was seeping steadily through the sock and getting all over Kelly’s arm. Randy wondered how long it’d be before she decided they needed to switch places, so she could drive the boat for a little while. Randy saw her working the end of the sock off as she cut a few more final pieces. Then he heard her breathe in and let out a little squeal as she moved backwards away from Tony.
Looking down Randy saw the sock dangling off the foot. Tony looked like he’d passed out so that was good at least. The seats had straps on them, so Randy stopped navigating long enough to make sure the belts and straps were tightened enough around Tony to keep him from falling onto the deck. He played around with the lights until he was able to see what Kelly was currently poking at with her finger.
Where his big toe should be there was a mess of blood and skin and bone. His big toe was dangling about two inches below all of that by a strip of skin. Kelly looked up at Randy with a completely lost look on her face. This one was beyond her.
“If there was a hospital to take him to, we could try and save the toe and they could surgically reattach it.” She said.
“I think that options out the window. So, what do we do now?” Randy asked. He had an idea, but he didn’t want to be the one to say it out loud. Mostly because if he was the one who said it out loud then Kelly would instantly consider it his idea and let him do the procedure. Kelly hesitated. She must be operating on the same wavelength of knowing what they needed to do but not really wanting to articulate it.
“I’m going to cut the skin holding his toe on and then just squirt peroxide all over the wound and then dry it and bandage it up as good as I can.” Kelly said with a look of resignation on her face. That sounded totally gross to Randy.
“That sounds about right. Need me to do anything?” He asked. He really hoped the answer was no.
“No. Just keep us on course and I’ll try to get this knocked out. Hand me something to put his toe in though. I feel bad just flinging it over the side for the fish to eat.”
Tony woke back up as Kelly was finishing. Randy saw his eyes open and handed him five of the Tylenol they’d found on board with half of a bottled water. Tony washed down the pills and told Kelly thanks as she finished up on his bandages. He didn’t bother mentioning that it’d been either her or her husband who’d been the ones who shot it off in the first place. Kelly stood up and handed him the ash tray his toe was in. Tony stared at the toe for a little while.
“Almost seems like this situation calls for something a little stronger than Tylenol.” He finally said. He was wincing while he said it. Randy and Kelly both tried to get him to rest some more but he insisted on staying awake since they’d be getting close to the mainland soon. He knew they’d need him to help them get the boat safely into the harbor and tied up for the night. They’d confirmed earlier that they had enough diesel to make it down the coast a hundred miles or so, but they’d decided to try and hit Point Judith as they knew there was more diesel to be had there. The idea was to anchor overnight and
take all the diesel they could for the long trip south. The less time they had to spend pulling into strange harbors the better.
“I couldn’t find anything stronger than Tylenol on the boat. The captain must have been born again or something. So, what you thinking about our plans so far? Any suggestions? You think the guys on the island might come after us?” Kyler asked. He was inwardly grateful when Tony put down the severed toe in the ash tray before he answered. Talking to someone who was holding their toe in an ash tray about the plans to survive a Zombie apocalypse was approaching a level of surreal that Randy wasn’t sure he was entirely comfortable with. He broke his gaze from the toe now sitting on the shelf by the radio to listen to Tony.
“I don’t think they’ll follow us, but I didn’t think any of this would happen. I would’ve never thought the commander would take over the island and treat civilians the way he did. It was like something out of Lord of the Flies, but those boys didn’t have automatic weapons. I’m assuming it was you who killed the commander.” Randy nodded in affirmation to Tony who didn’t seem at all surprised. “Well, we all followed the chain of command, but it wasn’t like he was some kind of cult leader or real inspirational or anything like that. I don’t think they’re going to try to hunt us to the ends of the earth to avenge him. They might send a boat over here to Pt Judith to keep us from taking the diesel but that’s about as far as I think they’d go.”
A Small World Page 26