Charley was at the truck with Jones. They had the hood up and were busy. “They were his family?” I said absently.
Brittany shook her head. “Yes, it’s what he was screaming. I got the kid while he was firing in the trees and when he came out to get me, Charley was right behind him. The guy came out hollering about his family. Can you believe it?”
I shrugged. The guy had lost it, that’s for sure. I didn’t linger on it. I looked at Charley working on the truck with newfound appreciation. I had forgotten about him, but he came through for my friend, and for me. Any awkwardness I felt about last night vanished. He was more than a hero. I daresay he was my champion and lover.
“Baker,” shouted Jones, “get our packs and throw them in the back of the truck.”
“You got it going?” asked Brittany. Neither of us heard it running. I stayed an extra second to hear his response.
“The battery is good and it has gas. The problem is the connection. Charley is taking a cable from the camper. Once done, we will be ready to go. I need the two of you on alert, I’m sure the zombies heard all the noise. Why don’t you two go scout at the edge of the perimeter?”
“All right.”
We turned to leave. I had a thought and turned back. I looked at the camper’s wheels, they were all flat. I turned back to carry out my task.
“Hey, don’t forget the bags.”
“We got it,” said Brittany.
She winked at him and we were off. It took a minute for us to throw all our bags in the back of the truck, even now, we could hear distant howling and zombie screams. Brittany and I traveled toward the screams. We went up a rise and to the top of a hill and lay flat on the ground watching them.
Zombies were coming our way and if Charley didn’t get that truck running in the next few minutes, we were all dead. I shouldn’t say dead, that’s an exaggeration on my part. More than likely, we could be turned to increase the numbers of their growing hordes. We could wage a successful battle and get away with modest scratches and bites, only to turn days later. Or if they were really hungry, they could eat us, I’m sure we would make a tasty treat.
I looked at the masses coming toward us like ants scurrying up a hill in large numbers. The faster zombies ran and screamed while the slower ones walked at a hurried pace, howling. I wondered if their howl was to tell the faster ones to slow down and wait for them.
I tightened my grip on my rifle, taking a moment to weigh my options. Charging into them would be a waste of time and our lives. I didn’t need to ask Brittany’s permission, she would gladly take the risk. No plan leading to our death would be worth following, I needed something that might work, if only we had artillery.
“Let’s get back,” said Brittany, “there is nothing we can do here.”
She must have read my mind. “All right.”
We hurried back in time to hear the roar of the truck’s engine. The joy that sprung up in me is indescribable. We were going to Camp Brandt, I was going to Simon. Brittany broke out in a run ahead of me. With a quick sprint, I caught her and the race was on. Side by side we ran, laughing, seeing a brighter future for us both.
The horn blew.
We gave a burst of speed and we were there. Winded and out of breath, I struggled to make sense. “Th-the-they’re coming, in mass numbers.”
Jones grim look echoed Charley’s. “Get in the back, you’re our six.”
“Right,” said Brittany. She hopped into the bed of the small pickup.
“I’m right behind you.” I hopped in and as the truck sped away, we rifled through all the packs, searching for weapons and ammo. Brittany and I loaded the guns, put spare clips next to us, and arranged our order for firing the weapons.
Charley drove fast and rough. We tossed from side to side and braced best we could. He tore across the area, away from the zombies and toward the road. As Jones had predicted, zombies were near the road, using it for marauding purposes. Brittany’s look was stern. She was something: her chin stood high, nose crinkled, lips in a sneer, and blond hair tied in a ponytail with stray curls from her sides blowing in the breeze. Brittany yelled and mowed down dozens of zombies chasing us as we made our getaway.
“Hey!” Jones stuck his head out from the passengers’ side window, raising his voice. “We need that ammo. Take out the ones that get close to us, screw the rest.”
Brittany didn’t look pleased, but she followed orders. Laying off would not be easy, we were going to have to work at it. I took aim and shot zombies close enough to get into the truck. The farther we went; it became clear Brittany had the rear covered. I got the bright idea of turning around and leaning against the cab, the wind was brutal, almost blinding me. How dogs did it, I haven’t a clue. I squinted best I could, I determined to make it work, it was a good idea. I put my rifle on the hood, waited to adjust to my new position, and picked off any zombies ahead of us.
It was working. We were dropping zombies all over the place. I looked back and saw Brittany picking off the fastest of the zombies. They came from the sides and tried leaping into the truck. She took aim with a steady hand, waited until the time was perfect, and fired. I shook my head, Brittany enjoyed herself.
I turned back around to scan ahead. I hit a zombie, then Charley drove over it. The bump sent me flying backward into the bed of the truck. I braced, but hit the bed hard. I groaned afterward and tried to get to my feet. A flying zombie stopped me and knocked me back down.
Like a mad woman, I screamed and started thrashing about. Not like a typical ditzy girl, like a veteran soldier: I screamed, punched, and kicked all at the same time. I hit the zombie with purpose and force. My training took over. If they could see me now, they’d give me a commendation medal for heroism.
Brittany stopped firing. She stood over me with this insane look of confusion, no it was bewilderment, or maybe disgust, I don’t know, perhaps a combination of all three. I broke off my attack. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Defending myself. Hell! What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re an idiot.”
The zombie didn’t put up a fight; most of it was off me. It wasn’t trying to bite me or eat me. Brittany kicked the rest of the zombie off me. I looked at it. It had a bullet hole between its beady, little, red eyes. Something I should have noticed, perhaps I was being a ditsy little girl after all. How was I going to live this one down? Crazy girl fights dead zombie.
The truck screeched to a halt. Brittany flew backward, almost falling from the back. I got to my feet to see what the matter was. I saw hordes of zombies ahead of us. They weren’t moving—they were blocking the road. They numbered in the hundreds. The zombies were in the road and on both sides for what looked to be one or more city blocks on each side.
I quickly turned to our rear and saw no zombies. Brittany had done an excellent job, the road filled with rotting carcasses.
Inside the cab, Charley gripped the steering will, unsure of how to proceed. His hands were sweaty and when he wiped his brow, I saw a slight quiver in the hand. Jones gulped. I looked to his chest to see if his heart beat as fast as mine. Jones breathed deeply, his chest heaved.
Jones got out of the truck. How insane was he? How insane was I? I made sure no zombies were sneaking up on us from the rear, then hopped out, landing next to him.
“What’s going on?”
Jones put his hand to his chin. “It’s a trap,” his voice low and edgy.
“Can you be sure?”
“They herded us this way on purpose,” said Jones.
“I thought they had no intelligence.” Brittany stood next to me, looking at the massive number of killers in front of us.
Charley saddled up next. “It doesn’t take much intelligence to want dinner. Well, boss. What do we do now?”
Jones pondered for a moment. “They’re not moving toward us. They know we have nowhere else to go, that takes intelligence.”
“I don’t care how smart they are, what do we do?”
; Panic set in. I did my best to resist and for a while, it worked.
“We go back,” said Jones.
“Back? Are you kidding me?”
Brittany aided me. “Why would we go back?”
Jones reddened. “We can’t go forward. Look at them! Go back is all we can do.”
I thought of Simon. My one last chance to see him, to be with him, was evaporating.
“No, I’m not going back. I’m fighting my way through or by god, I will die trying!”
“Baker!”
“Don’t Baker me! I’m not going back. We’re too close. I say we mow them down.”
“What?”
“You heard me, mow them down.”
Jones pointed to something on the side of the road, something I couldn’t see. “Stand on the back of the truck and look by that far-off tree.”
I did as he suggested and when I looked, I saw zombies around four scattered cars. The overturned cars had their doors ripped off. The windshields were all shattered and blood stains splattered the cars and nearby grass. Zombies were feasting on something or someone and my heart sank. It dawned on me what had happened. Others had tried running over the zombies and sheer numbers stopped them. The zombies overturned the cars, smashed the windshields, broke down the doors, whatever it took to get at the scrumptious meal inside.
I felt dejected.
Simon would have to go on without me. If we left now and had enough gas, we could possibly make it back to our safe house. Life there wasn’t so bad. I had Charley and Brittany had Jones. We could make it work. The local zombies didn’t bother us and if Thompson was right, and I know he was, we could wait out the virus and eventually all the zombies would die. Making the occasional raid on the store would keep us in supplies. It could work.
I could talk myself into a good life here, I could. I didn’t have to. I looked at the zombies and hope sprang in my soul. I saw a way to victory, I saw a way ahead. “Jones! Come here!”
Jones climbed into the back of the truck and stood next to me. “Yeah.”
“Look in the right center of the road. See how thin they are there? We can punch through, I know we can.”
“That’s what all those people thought too,” he pointed to the cars for emphases.
I would not be deterred and argued my point. “They didn’t have what we have. We are soldiers and we have a plan of attack. Brittany and I shoot a path through them and Charley drives over them. We drop them like flies and if we muzzle the sound, the others won’t move, just like at the camper. We make a road and ride over it.”
I sounded convincing, I would buy it. Anxiousness overtook me waiting for his response.
“Well?”
Jones ran his hand through his hair. “If they agree, so will I.”
My heart fluttered. “Brittany! Charley! Get back here!”
They climbed in and looked out at our enemy to make sure they weren’t advancing, they weren’t, and soon we would be advancing on them. “What?” they asked together.
“I have a plan.” I pointed to the weakness I saw and made sure they saw it as well. “We back up and get a running start toward that hole. We shoot the zombies with silencers and they fall, the rest will keep their place waiting for us to come to them. When we make it to them, we will have cleared a path and made a road we can drive on. It will be too late for them to get at us. And if you look past them, you don’t see anything but clear road. It can work.”
The skeptical look on Brittany’s face gave me pause, especially when she looked to Jones for confirmation. I can’t say whether she trusted him because she slept with him, or the fact that he was our leader, neither satisfied me.
“It’s up to you guys,” said Jones. “It may work, it may also get us stuck and killed.”
Why did he have to add that last part? “It will work,” my confidence soared.
Charley read it in my face. “What the hell, I’ll do it.”
Brittany’s eyes met mine. “Drop trou.”
The idea floored me. “What?”
“What?” echoed Charley.
“Huh?” Jones looked at her worse than I did.
“I think she’s infected and may be leading us to our deaths. A zombie attacked her at the camper.”
“Is that true?” asked Jones. The rage on his face sent my heart into panic mode.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Charley. He too, displayed that face of mistrust.
“It’s nothing. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. I am going to Camp Brandt to be with my brother and I am not letting a pile of zombies or you stop me. You want to go back, be my guest. I’m going forward, alone if necessary.”
My impassioned speech had no effect on Brittany. She quickly raised her rifle, centering the barrel between my eyes. Great, another standoff.
“Britt!”
“You want us to follow you? You prove you have no infection and will not lead us into a trap. They can communicate and they are organized. How do we know you are not in contact with them? Prove it and I will follow you.”
“No. I’m not doing anything. You don’t have to come with me. You can all go back and live safely in the safe house until hell freezes over. I’m going forward.”
“Jones,” said Brittany. “Did we or did we not make a pledge to strip after hand-to-hand combat?”
Jones turned his brown eyes on me. “We did.”
I huffed. “Fine, damn it!”
Don’t ask me why, but I checked to verify the zombies couldn’t see me. Then I began, this will teach me not to question others. I went fast and twirled once. They shook their heads in agreement and accepted my ambitious plan.
Our stockpile of ammo ran low. Charley drove and this time, Jones joined us, he stood in the middle and held pillows at an odd angle to both our barrels. Brittany and I took aim and fired silently into the pack of zombies. Two zombies fell, their brains gushing out onto the pavement. The rest stayed in place or walked around them, never advancing. Perfect. Jones readjusted the pillows and we took down two more. To our surprise, it worked flawlessly and then toward the end, our shots could be heard, the pillows were no more.
“Hang on to something,” said Charley.
Charley gunned the truck at the zombies. Jones joined us and we fired away. The zombies were breaking up, howling and coming our way. We kept firing and Charley kept driving. At the last instant, he jerked hard right and we were up on top of the zombies. Our new roadway was lumpy and we clung to the sides as the truck tilted left then right. The plan went better than I expected it would. We had cleared a path and the approaching zombies were tripping and falling over the ones we shot.
From time to time, we kicked a stray zombie that managed to get too close. Those that got a hand on the truck got it slammed for their trouble. Though we kept firing, each of us had a baton, except Brittany with her ever-loving Pipe of Death. Those closes, we whacked and those with beady eyes got a bullet between them—for good luck.
Near the end, our path was clear ahead. We had cleared out the immediate zombie threat and breathed a welcome sigh of relief. Then it happened, the truck spun and spun, smoke pluming from the rear left tire. Jones went to investigate.
Jones yelled back, “we’re stuck between two swished zombies. You’re making peanut butter man.”
“Hold up, Charley. Cover me, Britt.” I said.
“I got you.”
I went to have a look with Jones. He had gotten out of the truck and was trying to move a zombie from the tire. I helped. Occasionally I heard a shot, Brittany was on her job and I felt better. Together, we tried to move the mess made by the wheel with no success. Of all the things to happen, who would have thought this would do us in? I never counted on swished zombies, it was like road sludge or being in a mud hole. Zombie goo covered our hands as we worked with the mess.
“Send Charley back here and drive the truck.” Jones ordered.
“Okay.”
I ran to the front to relay the mess
age, wiping the disgusting stuff off my hands as I went. I waited until they said ready and then I stepped on the pedal. The truck’s wheel squealed and smoke shot in the air. Brittany’s rifle shot into the crowd and we were rocking. An instant later, we were moving. The truck sped over the remaining zombie roadway and then we were back on normal road surface. I drove a little farther, then screeched to a halt.
My outside mirror told the tale. My team battled zombies. They were surrounded and soon would be invisible to me. My stomach dropped, not from the sight, from my thoughts. My fingers wrapped around the steering wheel, it would be so easy to keep going. I won, I made it through and Simon was ahead, waiting for me.
I heard them, screaming zombies closing in. I hesitated. I didn’t want to go back. They needed me and I couldn’t abandon them. I put the truck in reverse and backed up, full speed. I don’t know how many I ran over, it was quite a few. I blew the horn and my team leaped in the back.
I put the truck in drive and floored it. I’ll be damn if I get stuck now. We tossed and turned as I went over the bodies, this time it wasn’t so bad, I had smashed them the first go round. As soon as we were back on solid ground, the ride smoothed out and we barreled down the road as fast as the little old truck would take us.
A few stray zombies wondered across the road, I hit as many as I could without putting us in danger. I erratically drove and can’t say for certain where I was or what state I was in. Had we crossed the border from Missouri to Arkansas? I couldn’t tell. I was jumbled up and zoned out, not reading signs or paying attention to landmarks. My tunnel vision allowed me to see the center of the road in front of me and any stray zombie that wondered in my field of vision.
I snapped out of it somewhere around Cherokee Village, to its west, that was the direction Jones said the camp was in. I went down the road and saw a huge building with a big gate. Overhead, our flag blew in a light breeze.
Chapter Twenty-One
Zombie Zora Page 20