Apocalypse- the Plan

by Gary M. Chesla

  I thought as I lowered myself down on the table, if I can block the doorway to the living room, close the bedroom door, I would have a secure area in the house to work with. If I could get the canoe and tie it to the roof of my car, I could safely bring my mother down into the hall where we could run to the car or wait for the right moment to make our move.

  I glanced into the living room to be sure there weren’t any zombies standing in the corner, then I slowly walked back to the bedrooms and closed the door to my mother’s room.

  If any more zombies came in through the broken window in my mother’s room, the closed door wouldn’t hold for long, but it would at least give me time to either go out through the kitchen door, or to get my mother back up in the attic.

  I then went into the kitchen and pushed the refrigerator in to the hallway until it was blocking the doorway to the living room.

  “Step one complete,” I said to myself as I walked back out to the kitchen.

  I looked out the kitchen window towards the garage, the coast was clear. This was the break I had been waiting for, with a little luck, I could have the canoe secured, my mother down out of the attic, and we could be heading for the river in five minutes.

  I grabbed my club and slowly stepped out back.

  I stood and listened before deciding to go out to the garage, I could hear all the noise coming from out front.

  I slowly crept to the back corner of the house to see what was going on over at the Kelley’s, to determine how much time I would have before the zombies would possibly turn their attention back to my house.

  As I looked around the house, I could see the Kelley’s huddled together in the center of the car. The nine zombies were moaning loudly as they pounded against the car windows. The Kelley’s had to be terrified as they watched these gruesome things growling and snarling as the pounded against the car, staring in at them with their cold white eyes. I’m sure the Kelley’s knew what came next, it had been all over the TV.

  The thought gave me the chills as I put myself in the Kelley’s place.

  I turned and looked at the garage for a minute, but then I stopped.

  “I can’t just ignore this,” I said. “If my mother and I were in that car, I would hope that if someone could help us, that they just wouldn’t turn their back on us, walk away and let us die.”

  But what could I do, I was only one person armed with only a Big Bertha driver?

  I moved back over to the corner of the house and looked back over at the Kelley’s car.

  I heard Wilson’s voice in my head, “Their only weaknesses are that they are slow and that they aren’t all that smart. They don’t think and can be easily distracted. Their biggest strength is that they aren’t afraid of anything, but their biggest advantage is that there are so many of them.”

  I looked at the zombies pounding against the car, then I saw a large crack spread across the back window.

  “There are only nine of them and they are slow,” I said to myself. “It’s now or never, Mike.”

  I had made my decision.

  “Shit!” I said. “Maybe I’ll have another chance to get out of here tomorrow.”

  I stepped out around the house and walked towards the zombies. I felt like I was in the army again, facing an unknown enemy……….. with a golf club.

  My legs trembled and chills ran down my spine, but I kept moving, I couldn’t let these people get slaughtered, I would have nightmares about that for years.

  The zombies were concentrating on the car and didn’t seem to notice me until I was standing right behind them.

  When the first zombie to notice me turned in my direction, with out thinking, I hit him in the head with the golf club. It fell to the ground, its head split open and a black slime oozed out on the ground.

  The zombie just laid there, I didn’t expect that, how was I able to kill a zombie with a damn golf club when I saw that guy yesterday unable to stop them with a gun?

  Encouraged by what I had just done, I stepped up and hit another zombie over the head, dropping him on the spot.

  Two other zombies had now noticed me and started coming at me. I hit the closest one over the head, then circled to my right. The other zombie slowing began to follow me, but I was much faster. I hit another one over the head and moved around to the front of the car.

  I now counted five zombies still standing. Three of them were still pounding against the car, the other two were coming for me. I found that I was able to quickly eliminate the two that were coming at me, then I turned my attention to the three zombies still attacking the car.

  I took care of the two on the passenger’s side of the car, but the third zombie had crawled halfway in through the back window which had since collapsed into the car.

  I started pounding the club against the zombie’s legs as I shouted at the Kelley’s, “Get out of the car! Get out of the car!”

  Mr. Kelley came out of the driver’s side and pulled his wife and son out after him.

  I caught my breath and asked, “Is everyone OK?”

  “Thank You,” Mr. and Mrs. Kelley said in unison, “We thought we were going to die.”

  “I can’t believe you did that,” Mr. Kelley said. “You saved our lives.”

  “I can’t believe I did that either,” I replied as I looked around at the bodies on the ground. “But I had to try.”

  “I didn’t know there was still anyone else left on our street,” Mr. Kelley said. “The TV advised everyone to get out of the city yesterday. When we saw the street wasn’t so crowed this morning, we decided to get out too. But my car wouldn’t start. I don’t know what we’re going to do now, I guess we’ll just go back in the house and hope for the best.”

  I looked around the neighborhood and saw that for the moment, it was unnaturally quiet. Maybe my opportunity to get out of the neighborhood hadn’t closed yet.

  “Mr. Kelley,” I began to say.

  “Call me John, my wife is Donna,” Mr. Kelley said.

  “OK, John, if you would be willing to help me, you and your family could come with me and my mother,” I said. “I was getting ready to make my move when I saw you in trouble.”

  “Where are you going?” John asked.

  “It doesn’t matter, John, we can’t stay here any longer,” Donna added, “any place is better than staying here.”

  “It won’t be easy, but have you ever heard of Brunot Island?” I asked.

  “No, never heard of it, but it sounds great,” John replied. “What do you need us to do?”

  “Follow me,” I said.

  I noticed John grab their two bags out of the car. I was going to tell him to leave them behind, but decided to wait and see what we could fit in the canoe.

  “Hurry,” I said and started walking quickly back towards my house. When we got to my house, I grabbed the garage door opener out of the Honda.

  “Donna, if you would keep an eye out and let me know if you see anything moving our way,” I said.

  Donna nodded, held her son close and started to look around the neighborhood.

  “John, come with me,” I said and started running towards the garage. When we reached the garage, I told John that I needed his help to get the canoe down from the loft.

  I climbed up into the loft and slid the canoe over to the edge of the loft. I held on to one end and slowly slid the other end off the loft. When John firmly had the other end of the canoe, I climbed down and helped him bring it down to the floor.

  “What’s the canoe for?” John asked.

  “It’s how we are going to get out to the island,” I replied.

  “How far away is the island?” John asked.

  “Not far, but we have to get down to the river, from there the rest of the trip will be by canoe,” I replied.

  “Let’s get this thing out to the car.”

  John looked concerned, but he grabbed one end of the canoe as I picked up the other end and we moved quickly out to the car.

  “Donna?�
�� I asked. “Have you seen anything?”

  “I’m not sure, I thought I saw something moving around down at the other end of the street, but I think it is OK now.”

  “Good,” I replied. “Keep watching. John help me put the canoe on the roof of my car.”

  When John and I had the canoe sitting on the roof of the Honda, I looked at John.

  “John, I need you to fasten these straps on the roof to the edges of the canoe. There are two straps on each side,” I said. “Can you do that?”

  “I think so,” John replied.

  “Good, I have to go inside and get my mother out of the attic,” I said. “If a crowd starts forming, bring your family inside the house.”

  I turned and ran to the kitchen door.

  “Ma,” I yelled.

  I saw my mother look down through the trap door.

  “Throw me our blankets and pillows,” I said.

  “I saw you help the Kelley’s,” Ma said. “Are they all OK?”

  “They’re fine, they are going to come with us,” I said. “Throw down our blankets and pillows and don’t forget your high blood pressure medicine.”

  “Did you have to hit all those people over the head like that?” Ma asked.

  “Ma, we have to go, I’ll explain later.”

  “Where are we going?” Ma asked.

  “I’ll explain later, we have to leave now,” I said. “Hurry Ma.”

  “OK,” she replied and disappeared back up into the attic.

  A few seconds later she appeared back at the trap door again.

  “Ready?” she said.

  “I’m ready, hurry,” I replied.

  First a blanket dropped from the attic, followed by another blanket, three pillows, a crossword puzzle book and a pen.

  I quickly piled the pillows and blanket on the kitchen counter then ran back to the trap door.

  “OK Ma,” I said. “Sit down by the trap door and dangle your feet down through the opening.”

  I climbed up on the table as her feet came down through the opening.

  “Mike,” a voice called in from the kitchen door, it was John.

  “I’m over here,” I replied.

  “There are a half dozen of those people coming down Overbrook Boulevard,” John said.

  “How soon will they be here?” I asked.

  “Two or three minutes,” John replied.

  “OK, take those pillows and blankets and get your family in the back seat, I’ll be there in a minute,” I said.

  I looked up at my mother, “OK Ma, time to go, just slide down through the opening and I’ll catch you.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “I’m sure, Jump,” I said.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” Ma said then added, “or me.”

  “Jump,” I said as I reached up and held her legs to guide her down through the opening.

  My mother came sliding down through the opening and I easily caught her by the waist and gently lowered her to a standing position next to me. I was surprised, I really didn’t think she would actually jump.

  “Nice catch,” Ma said and smiled.

  “You only had to slide down about two feet before I caught you,” I replied. “You would have been hard to miss. Now we have to go, just do as I say and follow my lead.”

  I quickly jumped down off the table and helped my mother step down on the chair and finally down to the floor.

  I grabbed her arm and gently led her out the back door.

  The Kelley’s were already in the car nervously looking out the rear window of the car.

  “Hurry,” John said as Ma and I reached the car, they’ll be coming around the house any minute now.

  I got Ma in the passenger’s seat and quickly ran around to the other side and jumped in the car.

  I started the car, put it in reverse and hit the gas.

  There were six zombies waiting for us at the end of the driveway. I didn’t bother to stop and just knocked them out of the way as I swung the back end of the car out onto the street. I threw the car into drive, hit the gas, and sped down Overbrook Boulevard.

  Chapter 25

  I made it to Brownsville Road and turned left towards the southside. We saw a few zombies on the road and sidewalks, but not enough to get too concerned about. I would have preferred to not have seen any zombies, but I would settle for seeing a few. As if I had a choice.

  “Where exactly is this island we’re going to?” Donna asked.

  “Have you ever been down at the point?” I asked.

  “A few times,” Donna replied.

  “From the point, if you look down the Ohio River, a little past Heinz Field, there is a small island that sits out in the middle of the Ohio River,” I replied. “When I was a kid, I used to sneak out to the island every now and then.”

  “I don’t remember seeing it,” Donna said. “I must not have been paying attention. What’s on the island? Couldn’t we drive there instead to paddling out on a canoe?”

  “I think I remember seeing it, but I thought no one was allowed to go out to the island,” John added. “Something about it being too hazardous.”

  “It isn’t anything like most people think, or at least it wasn’t,” I replied. “There was an old abandoned power plant there, but not much else. The owner, Duquesne Power Company had the island declared off limits, but as a kid, I was curious, so I had to go out and investigate. Most people didn’t pay much attention to the little island or didn’t even realize that it was there. There aren’t any roads or bridges to get out to the island, the only way to get to the island is by boat. I canoed out to the island to explore it in my canoe when I was about twelve years old.”

  “If there isn’t much there, why are we going?” John asked. “Not that I am complaining, without your help we would have been killed back there. I’m just happy at this point to be able to go anywhere, but I don’t understand with all the other options we have, why are we going to an island in the middle of the Ohio River?”

  “Because it is a place where we can go to regroup until we see where all this craziness is leading to,” I replied. “and it is the only place I know of where the zombies can’t get to.”

  “Zombies?” John asked. “You sound like my wife.”

  “I told you so,” Donna said looking at John, then at me, “That’s what I told John those people looked like, but he told me I was crazy because there is no such thing as zombies.”

  “John, I totally agreed with you until I saw a few things when I was in the Army,” I replied. “But it’s a long story and I’ll explain later after we get to the island. Right now, I have my hands full just trying to get us down to the river.”

  John smiled nervously.

  “Are you sure this island is the best place for us to go?” John asked. “Maybe if we could just get out of town, we would be better off than getting stuck on a deserted island out in the middle of the river.”

  We hadn’t driven more than a few blocks, but the further we drove, the more bodies we began to see staggering out onto the road. I kept my eyes on the road, but I was beginning to get nervous, the closer we got to the southside, the more people we seemed to encounter. It started me thinking, if I couldn’t get down to the southside, how else could I get to the river?

  “John, it is my intention to go out to that island. In my opinion, if we can get out to the island, it is the safest place we can go,” I replied. “However, if you don’t want to go to the island, after we get to the river, you are welcome to take my car and try to go anywhere you want to go. But, from what I’ve seen and heard, we are in between waves of those things swarming through Pittsburgh. I don’t know where the next wave begins, but the roads around here could become totally impassable in the next two minutes. We need to get somewhere safe and fast. The island is the only place that I can think of that meets both of those requirements.”

  “I didn’t mean to sound as if I was questioning your judgement,” John said.

 
“If you didn’t question my judgement, I’d be concerned,” I replied. “The world has gone to hell, nobody seems to be able to tell us why or how and instead of taking you to a comfortable cabin in the mountains to wait it out, I want to take you to a deserted island in the middle of the Ohio River. A cabin in the mountain does sound good, but I doubt we would stand a chance of surviving the trip at the moment, so I’m going to the safest place I know. But that’s just my opinion. Feel free to do what you want.”

  Before John could continue, I hit the brakes. Brownsville Road was completely blocked two streets down in front of us. From what I could see beyond the front of the mob blocking Brownsville, more bodies were pushing in behind them, others were coming out of the side streets.

  I did a quick “U” turn and started back the way we had just come.

  “I think the next wave is here,” I said. “We are going to try another route that I know, it will make our canoe trip a bit longer than I had hoped, but I don’t see that we have much choice at the moment.”

  “If the other route is also blocked?” Donna asked.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “I’m trying be optimistic and not think about that.”

  “Whatever you think is best,” Donna said. Then everyone in the car became very quiet.”

  I drove back on Brownsville Road, after two blocks I made a hard left onto Becks Run Road. The road appeared to be clear and I hit the gas to try to get to our destination as quickly as possible. Becks Run Road took us through a more rural section of town which looked to be deserted. Then we started down over the hillside where the road quickly became very steep. At the bottom of the hill would be the Page Dairy Mart, known for great ice cream and the filming location of one episode of the TV show, the Guardian. But all I cared about was that Carson Street, that intersected with Becks Run Road at the dairy mart would be clear, we needed to get across Carson Street.

  As I drove down the last part of the hill, the scene at the bottom of the hill told me that unfortunately Carson Street was completely blocked. Dozens of cars were pileup at the intersection. Most of the cars were facing away from Pittsburgh, apparently in an attempt to flee the devastation that had taken place closer to downtown, or to get away from whatever was coming this way. I quickly scanned the pile up, the cars were mostly empty, the occupants long gone, and from the blood-stained appearance of the cars, I decided that they had staggered off long before we got here.