* * *
After leaving the cove, Steve steered Ocean Escape along the Maine bank of the Piscataqua River, keeping the speed slow so there would be no wake or noise to attract unwanted attention. Where the river split at Bloody Point, he stayed right and continued for several miles. Soon the Piscataqua came to an end and divided into two smaller waterways, Salmon Falls River, which ran north, and Cocheco River, which ran west. Steve veered the cabin cruiser down the Cocheco River as the women emerged on deck.
Miriam ran over to Steve and hugged him from behind. “Are you okay, love?”
Steve patted her arm with his left hand. “I’m fine.”
“What about your hand?” Miriam clasped his right wrist and examined the wound. He winced. “Does it hurt?”
“When you yank on it, yes.”
“Sorry.”
While the two bantered, Alissa moved up alongside Nathan. She noticed the eastern horizon above the tree line appeared a reddish-orange and the undersides of the clouds glowed yellow from the rising sun.
“Where are we?”
“According to Steve, about two miles outside of Dover. There’s a marina there we’re going to dock at if there are spaces available.”
“Then what?”
“You, me, and Miriam will head into town, check out the situation, and see if we can find some transportation to get to your cabin.”
Alissa directed her attention down the river. “What do you think will be there?”
Nathan shrugged. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Chapter Five
Steve maneuvered Ocean Escape down the center of the river, passing through the narrows and past a small island. Nathan stood by him, with Miriam to starboard and Alissa to port, watching their flanks. Nathan had opened the bag of weapons he had commandeered from the Nahant Police armory and distributed them. He had already issued both women Mossberg shotguns. Nathan switched out the AR-15 for a Sig Sauer MPX K short-barreled submachine gun with a thirty-round magazine. Alissa kept her Glock as her secondary weapon while Nathan and Miriam each sported a Smith and Wesson M&P 40 sidearm. Nathan had given Steve a Model 870P pistol-grip pump-action shotgun, which would be easier to use with his wounded right hand.
Alissa did not know if they would need the weapons. As the cabin cruiser approached the outskirts of Dover, everything seemed peaceful. No, deserted would be more accurate. No traffic flowed along the roads adjoining the river. Nobody jogged or walked their dogs. No noises came from the city. Most important, no deaders prowled the streets hunting for food. As they drew closer to the marina, most of the mooring spaces were empty, though she couldn’t be certain if that resulted from everyone having drydocked their boats for the coming winter or having escaped while they could. She assumed the latter. The city seemed evacuated, as if the residents had headed north before deaders overran them.
“Where is everyone?” asked Miriam.
“Long gone is my guess,” said Nathan. “I don’t blame them. With that horde heading this way, I’d be on my way to Canada as well.”
“What does that mean for us?” asked Alissa.
“It means we find a couple of reliable vehicles, load up on supplies that we need, and head for North Conway.”
“How are we going to buy that stuff if no one is around?”
“We don’t buy it. We take it.” Nathan noticed the disapproval from Alissa. “Everything changed when the dead started coming back to life.”
“I know.” She sighed. “I’m still not used to it yet.”
“You better get used to it soon or you won’t last long.” Nathan did not say it to be cruel or demeaning, but as a matter of fact.
Steve decreased speed as he approached and maneuvered Ocean Escape closer to the dock. A sign nailed to one of the mooring posts read Welcome to George’s Marina while a smaller one beneath listed in small letters the rules that had to be followed. Steve reversed engines, slowing the cabin cruiser so it floated two feet away. Nathan slung his MPX K over his shoulder and jumped onto the dock. Miriam threw him the forward mooring line which he used to pull the cabin cruiser close. When she tossed him the aft line, he anchored the boat in place. Steve shut down the engines.
“Are you ladies ready?” asked Nathan.
“Let’s do this,” Alissa answered.
“Will you be all right on your own?” Miriam asked her husband.
“I’ll be fine. Worst case, I’ll head back into the middle of the river and wait for a signal from you guys.”
Miriam kissed Steve and whispered she loved him before joining the others on the rear of the cabin cruiser. Nathan helped them onto the dock and motioned for them to follow. He kept his eyes fixed on the riverbank to their right, scanning for any potential danger, living or otherwise. Only when they approached one of the few docked boats did he switch his attention, training his weapon on the vessel until they had passed. After a few minutes and several hundred feet, the three reached the end of the dock where it made land near Castaways Restaurant. Nathan raised his hand for the two women to stop. He faced them, started to speak, and instead rolled his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Miriam asked.
“The way you’re holding your weapons.”
Alissa had no idea what Nathan referred to. She held her Mossberg in her right hand, holding it by the trigger housing and resting the stock on her hip. Miriam had slung her Mossberg over her right shoulder and carried it across her back. The two women looked at each other and back to Nathan, not understanding what he referred to.
“If you’re attacked, you’ll be dead before you can train your weapon on the target. Hold it like me.” Nathan lifted his MPX K to show them. “Drape the sling around the back of neck and keep your hands on the trigger housing and the barrel, with the barrel pointing toward the ground. And don’t put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to fire.”
Alissa and Miriam copied how Nathan held his weapon. Miriam hefted her shotgun and smiled at Alissa. “Now we’re bad-ass.”
Nathan stifled a sigh. “Stay ten feet behind me, one of you on my right and the other on the left. Call out if you see anything.”
He removed a sheet of paper with a printed map of the city on it and headed out. They followed Cocheco Street until it merged with Portland Avenue and continued for a quarter of a mile to Central Avenue. Nathan paused at the intersection and studied the map.
“There we go.” Nathan folded the map and slid it into his pocket.
“What?”
He pointed north toward a large sign half a mile away towering above the other buildings for new and pre-owned vehicles.
“Follow me.”
Alissa kept a wary eye scanning her surroundings, expecting a deader attack at any moment. After a few minutes, however, she found herself surprised at the serenity of the city. After Boston, Nahant, and Portsmouth, she expected Dover to be a warzone. Instead, it seemed like a small New England town early on Sunday morning. No cars. No pedestrians. No sign of activity. She figured there would be some indications of a panicked retreat, like abandoned vehicles or looted stores. None of that existed here. It seemed as if the entire population closed shop, packed up, and left. For some reason, she found it more disturbing than those areas overrun by deaders.
When they arrived at the dealership, Nathan entered and made his way to the sales building.
“What are you looking for?” asked Alissa.
He smiled and pointed. “That.”
Opposite the main entrance to the sales building sat a black Ram 3500 four-door pick-up. Nathan rushed over to the truck and walked around the exterior, checking to make sure the tires were inflated. The two women stood a few yards away, examining his choice.
“You sure it’s not too small,” quipped Alissa.
“Laugh if you want.” Nathan stood on the running board and checked out the size of the rear bed. “We need to haul six people, one cat, and a shitload of supplies up to the mountains. And we might have to fight our way thr
ough deaders to get there.”
“Do you think that’s a possibility?” asked Miriam.
“Probably not. But we have no idea what’s between us and the cabin. I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“I agree.”
Nathan tried the driver’s door. It was locked.
Alissa motioned toward the sales office. “Do you want me to go inside and search for the key?”
“No need for that.” Nathan slid his M&P 40 from its holster and aimed at the side of a locked key box mounted on the driver’s window. “Cover your eyes.”
Miriam placed her forearm over her eyes while Alissa closed hers and bowed her head. Nathan fired, blowing the lid off the lock box. The cover and the keys dropped to the ground. He grabbed the latter, unlocked the door, and slid into the driver’s seat. The Cummins Turbo diesel engine roared to life. He let in run for a few seconds before shutting it off and climbing out.
“Now we have to find another means of transportation.”
Miriam seemed confused. “That won’t be enough?”
“Not to carry all of us and our supplies. Besides, it’s safer to have a back-up vehicle in case this one breaks down.”
Alissa started down the lot. “Do you want another pick-up?”
“I want something enclosed, like an SUV. Make sure it has four-wheel drive.”
The three searched for several minutes. Towards the rear of the building, Alissa came across a white Land Rover with a Previously Owned sign taped to the inner windshield.
“Nathan, would a Land Rover do?”
“Hell, yeah.”
Nathan and Miriam joined her. Alissa had already made the rounds of the vehicle, checking the tires. Nathan read the specs taped to the driver’s window.
“Good. It takes unleaded.”
“Why’s that good?” asked Alissa.
“The Ram only takes diesel. It gives us more options in case we have trouble finding one type of gas over the other. The more options we have, the better our chances of surviving.”
Miriam leaned over and examined the interior. “Does it have a DVD system?”
Nathan stared at her, incredulous. “You’ve never been in an emergency situation, have you?”
Miriam met his gaze. “You’ve never been on a road trip with two kids, have you?”
Alissa snickered. Nathan glared at her for a second, then broke into a smile. “You win that one.”
Miriam nodded. “I assume I’ll be driving this?”
“Yes.”
Miriam withdrew her M&P 40 and approached the lock box. Nathan stepped away as Alissa covered her eyes. A gunshot echoed across the dealership. A few seconds later, Miriam sat inside the Land Rover and started the engine.
Nathan leaned inside the cab. “Everything good?”
Miriam nodded. “It has less than a quarter of a tank.”
“So does the pick-up. Follow us. We passed a gas station on the way here.”
Less than five minutes later, they pulled up to the gas pumps at the local Quick 2 Go. Miriam and Alissa headed to fill up the tanks while Nathan approached the market area. He tried the door, but it had been locked.
“Damn.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t get in. I don’t know how we’re—”
The pinging of the pumps cut him off. He made his way around the pick-up to find Alissa and Miriam gassing up the two vehicles.
“How did you do that?”
Alissa held up a credit card. “We paid for the gas.”
Miriam scrunched her eyes. “Did you want us to steal the gas, too?”
“Whatever works.”
When both tanks were filled and Miriam had climbed back into the Land Rover, Nathan approached the driver’s window. “Head back to the docks. Gather up everything you can from the boat and load it up.”
“Where are you going?”
“The map says there’s a hospital a few miles up the road. Alissa and I are going to hit it up for extra supplies. We’ll join you in about an hour.”
“Don’t do anything foolish.” Miriam started the Land Rover. “We’ll be ready when you get back.”
Miriam exited the gas station, headed south on Central Street, and made her way back to the dock. Alissa waited for Nathan to climb into the passenger’s seat and drove north until they reached Wentworth-Douglas Hospital. She drove past the main entrance.
“Where are you going?”
She motioned with her head. “I’m heading for the ER.”
“Isn’t that risky? Wouldn’t it be safer to hit up the pharmacy?”
“Chances are good the pharmacy is locked down if it hasn’t already been cleaned out. Our best chance of getting meds is the ER. Besides, they’ll have the other medical supplies we need.”
Alissa turned off Central Avenue into the ER entrance. She stopped short as she approached the ambulance bays to the Emergency Room. Her hands began to shake and her voice quivered.
“Jesus Christ.”
Rows of corpses lined the parking area in front of the ER, each covered by a blood-soaked sheet. An ambulance sat in the parking lot perpendicular to the bays. Its rear doors were open and dried blood stained the floor, the rear fender, and the cement. A few feet away, a stretcher lay on its side, the side rails raised and the replacement pad covered in blood and claw marks. A New Hampshire State Police squad car sat across from the ambulance, riddled with bullet holes; blood tinted the fractured rear window Each bay contained two ambulances parked side by side with no room between them, sealing off the entry ways. A fire engine had been parked against the front façade of the ER, blocking the entrance.
Nathan reached out and placed his hand on Alissa’s. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she lied. “It brings back memories of Boston.”
“Let’s go.”
“No.” Alissa shut off the engine, slid the keys into her pocket, and got out.
Nathan followed. “We don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, we do. And I have to get used to this if I want to survive. Come on.”
They made their way to the covered corpses. Alissa slung the strap of her Mossberg around her neck and aimed the Glock at the first corpse. Nathan crouched and pulled back the cover. The body that lay beneath belonged to a State Trooper, the side of his neck ripped open, his shirt shredded with fingernail scratches raking deep into his chest, and a single bullet hole in the side of his head between the right ear and eye. Nathan replaced the sheet and moved down to the next body, with Alissa shifting her aim. Lifting the sheet revealed a young boy no more than ten, his left arm torn off, a chunk of flesh bitten out of his cheek, with a single bullet in the same location.
Nathan swallowed hard. “Oh, my God.”
“Get used to it.”
Nathan glanced up at Alissa, taken aback by her callousness until the realization dawned on him. “That bad?”
“You have no idea.” She used the Glock to point to the next body in line.
Nathan covered the child, moved over to the corpse, and pulled back the sheet. A nurse lay on the ground, barely in her early twenties. Alissa guessed she had probably graduated nursing school that summer. HEATHER had been printed across her name badge. The only wounds were the bullet through the side of the head and a bite mark on her left arm.
Alissa’s anger boiled over. “God damn those mother fucking bastards. She hadn’t reanimated yet. She had only been bitten and they still shot her.”
“There was no way to save her.”
“Bullshit.”
Nathan pulled the sheet back over Heather. “Whoever did this tried to keep the situation under control.”
“They could have waited until she became one of those things. They didn’t have to murder her in cold blood.”
Nathan said nothing. What could he say?
The muffled moaning of dozens of deaders broke the silence. Alissa scanned the parking area for danger while Nathan raised his MPX K and searched around the building.
>
“Over there,” he said. “In the ER.”
The windows at the far end of the Emergency Room were filled with several dozen deaders, each biting at the glass and clawing to get at them. At least those were the ones they could see. Alissa assumed dozens more pressed against the other windows and the sliding doors, blocked by the fire engine. That explained why all the passages were blocked. She assumed the rest of the hospital was infested as the ER.
Alissa lowered her weapon and headed back for the pick-up. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“There’s no way we’re going in and out of there alive. We passed one of those chain drugstores on the way here. They’ll have what we need.”
Chapter Six
Nathan pulled into the driveway of the drugstore and stopped near the entrance. Alissa checked the rest of the parking lot for any signs of deaders. She spotted nothing except a Nissan Pathfinder abandoned in one of the nearby handicapped spaces.
“The coast is clear.”
Nathan shut down the Ram. “Let’s go.”
They climbed out of the pick-up, slung their main weapons over their neck and held the weapons so they were ready to fire, if necessary. Alissa led the way toward the building.
They were ten feet from the entrance when the automatic doors opened. Nathan and Alissa raised their weapons, expecting to have to deal with a pack of deaders. Instead, a middle-aged woman exited the store pushing a shopping cart. On spotting Nathan and Alissa, the woman stepped behind the cart, crouched to present a smaller target, and pulled from under her coat a .357 Magnum which she aimed at Nathan.
“Drop your weapon.” Nathan sited his MPX K on the woman’s head.
She did not respond.
“I said, drop your weapon.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.” The woman placed her thumb on the hammer.
Nathan saw the threatening move and wrapped his finger around the trigger, applying pressure. “Drop your weapon now or I’ll shoot!”
Alissa noticed the contents of the shopping cart: diapers, baby food, plastic bottles, and formula. She checked the Pathfinder again. This time she noticed a baby seat in back with an infant wrapped in blankets and a terrified young girl in her late teens slouched down in the driver’s seat peering out from behind the steering wheel. Alissa released her hands from the Mossberg and held them to her sides, palms out.
Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies (Book 2): Escape Page 5