On the screen, I could see the main horde waiting for us. We reached them and although some of them jumped onto the Mastiff, others were rammed by the front grille. Their bodies thudded against the metal.
“Fuckers,” Sam muttered.
His earlier bravado seemed to have waned slightly now that we had infected passengers on the outside of the vehicle. I wondered how many were actually hanging on to the grilles as we plowed through the main mass of camouflage-clad monsters.
“They can’t get in here,” Sam said in a low voice as the pounding in the vehicle’s body increased in intensity. I was sure he was right but we had to shake the hybrids somehow.
“They’re following us,” Tanya said. She was looking at a second SDU screen set up in the back. I assumed she had switched it to the rear camera view.
“What are we going to do when we get to the village?” I asked nobody in particular. “We can’t just stop the vehicle and get out.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Sam said. The lack of confidence in his tone didn’t reassure me.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said sarcastically.
“If you have a better one, let’s hear it, man.”
I fell silent. I didn’t have a better plan. And I wasn’t trying to intentionally rile Sam. I was still feeling frustrated at our lack of progress in Camp Apollo, particularly the fact that I was no wiser about the location of Joe than I had been before we’d driven to the camp.
The only thing we’d achieved so far on this mission was to piss off thousands of hybrids.
“We can try to outrun the ones that are following us,” Lucy said. “We should get to the village before them, which will give us time to get to the harbor and get on the Zodiac before they arrive.
“But the ones on the vehicle are coming with us no matter how fast we go. We’ve got to get rid of them if we’re going to have a chance at the village. The zombies there will be enough for us to deal with. Throw in a half dozen hybrids and we’ll never make it to the Zodiac at all.”
Sam pointed at the two hybrids furiously pounding on the windscreen. “So how do we get rid of them, man?”
“We’re going to have to go out there and shoot them off,” Lucy said.
“Lucy, don’t be crazy,” I said. “This isn’t Mad Max. If you climb out there, you could be killed.”
She looked up at the ceiling where the hybrids were still trying to force their way inside. She looked scared but her blue eyes also held a flash of determination.
“Like Sam said,” she told me, “if you have a better plan, let’s hear it.”
12
Lucy and Tanya began loading fresh magazines into their M16s. I did the same for the Walther that I’d emptied earlier. I wasn’t happy with us risking our lives to get the hybrids off the Mastiff but, as both Sam and Lucy had pointed out to me, I didn’t have any better ideas.
“Okay, how are we going to do this?” I asked the girls.
“There are three ways we can get outside,” Tanya said. “The rear hatch, the top hatch, and your side door. Maybe you can open your door and lean out to take the two on the front of the truck.”
“What about the ones on the roof? As soon as I open my door, won’t they try to get me?”
“We’ll deal with them,” she said, stepping up onto the raised platform beneath the hatch in the ceiling. She had slung the M16 over her shoulder and was holding her Walther.
“We don’t know how many are out there,” I reminded her.
She looked at me with a determined expression on her face. “We will once I open this hatch.”
I tried desperately to think up a better way to shake the hybrids from the vehicle but my mind was coming up blank. I’d read many books and seen countless movies where I had rolled my eyes at the dumb actions of the characters. In most cases, I could see a better way for them to solve their problem.
But having been in real situations like this, I knew that sometimes the brain gets locked into a certain way of thinking and blocks out other ideas. It restricts the options available so that the mind isn’t overwhelmed into inactivity. Sometimes, you just have to act, and the survival instinct forces you into that action, even if another five minutes of thinking might have yielded a better plan of action.
My mind was now stuck on the idea of climbing out onto the exterior of the Mastiff and shooting the hybrids. It had locked onto that course of action as the best way to survive this situation and wouldn’t let me think about anything else.
I placed my fingers carefully around the handle of my door and unfastened my harness.
“Maybe you should slow down while we do this,” I told Sam.
He shook his head and gestured to the side mirror. “Can’t do that, man. They’re right behind us.”
I looked at the mirror. The horde was no more than a quarter mile behind us.
“On three,” Tanya said. “One, two…”
I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t ready yet but I would only be stalling. There was nothing else to do now but open the door and pray I was a good enough shot to take out the two hybrids before I was thrown from the vehicle -in which case the horde behind us would kill me- or ripped apart by a hybrid on the roof.
“…three.”
I pushed open the door. It was heavy, and the added wind resistance meant I had to put my shoulder behind the push. The door opened and I almost stumbled out onto the road. Bringing up the Walther, ignoring my hair blowing into my eyes, I squeezed the trigger. The hybrid closest to me staggered back, roaring in pain.
I hadn’t killed him. He bared his teeth and lunged at me. I ducked back inside the cab, pulling the door closed. The hybrid almost went over the side but he managed to get a hand on the grille attached to the door. He snarled at me.
I wound down my window, pointed the gun at his head through the grille and fired.
He fell out of sight. In the side mirror, I could see his lifeless body lying in the grass by the side of the road.
In the rear of the Mastiff, Tanya had opened the roof hatch. The rattle of machine-gun fire filled the air.
The other hybrid continued to pound on the windscreen as if unaware that his companion was dead.
I opened the door again and took a shot at him. The bullet missed entirely because he simply turned to face me and came scuttling across the front of the Mastiff like a human spider.
Before I had the chance to retreat into the cab, a pair of strong hands grabbed my jacket and pulled me toward the roof.
For a moment, I was suspended over the road, the wind beating at me mercilessly. Then I was yanked up and slammed onto the roof. My Walther went clattering across the metal roof panels and out of sight. Luckily, the Mastiff was more than ten feet wide and had a raised metal foot-high wall around the entire roof, so I knew the gun wouldn’t go over the edge.
Now on my back, I looked up to see a female hybrid with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail looking down at me with evil yellow eyes. The move she had just used on me would have made any WWE wrestler proud.
I raised my legs and kicked her away, using the soles of my boots against her chest. She stumbled back but soon regained her composure and came at me, teeth gnashing.
I tried to roll to the side, aware that if I rolled too far, I would end up on the road and as good as dead. My move wasn’t fast enough, though, and the hybrid landed on top of me, trying to bite my face. Her breath smelled meaty and I didn’t dare wonder what her last meal had consisted of.
I used both hands to hold her at bay but she was strong and heavy and driven by a virus-fueled rage. It wouldn’t be long before my strength failed and her teeth sank into my cheeks or neck.
Then a burst of M16 fire ripped into her and she fell on top of me, dead.
Pushing her away, I looked up to see Lucy crouched on the roof, M16 in her hands.
“Thanks,” I said breathlessly.
She nodded and aimed her gun over the side of the vehicle to shoot at a hybrid that was hanging on to the sid
e grille.
Tanya, who had also climbed up onto the roof through the top hatch, was at the rear of the Mastiff using the butt of her gun to knock another hybrid from the rear of the vehicle.
Before I had a chance to fully appreciate how well Lucy and Tanya were doing, my legs were grabbed from behind and I was pulled down over the windscreen and onto the hood of the Mastiff.
I had forgotten about the hybrid there.
The fall knocked the wind out of me as I landed painfully on my side. The sound of the engine was loud here and I could smell diesel fumes as I fought to suck air into my lungs.
The hybrid stood above me, looking down at his prey. Then he dropped toward me, snarling.
I rolled to the side. I knew I was at the edge of the hood but I had no choice. If I didn’t move, I was dead.
My body rolled over the side of the Mastiff and the next thing I knew, I was hitting the road. My momentum rolled me forward and past the edge of the road into the grass. The world tumbled in my vision and I was aware of pain shooting across my shoulders and hips. I heard the engine of the Mastiff, which had been so loud in my ear a moment ago, recede as the vehicle continued along the road, leaving me behind.
13
I scrambled to my feet, trying to ignore the pain I felt in every muscle. Ahead, the brake lights on the Mastiff shone red as Sam stopped the vehicle. He had seen me go overboard and was probably now watching me in the side mirror. He knew I was still alive and he wasn’t going to leave me here.
I looked back along the road. If I didn’t move fast, Sam wouldn’t have a choice, he would have to drive on. The hybrid horde was gaining on us.
Lucy and Tanya appeared on the roof, waving at me to move my ass. The Mastiff began reversing toward me.
I tried to run as best I could but my hips seemed to have seized up. Gasping, I made my way toward the vehicle, hearing the approaching boots of the hybrids behind me as they ran along the road.
The girls disappeared from the roof and then the rear hatch opened. “Come on, Alex,” Lucy shouted. I could hear panic in her voice, which made me wonder how close the horde was.
The lights glared red again as Sam applied the brakes. I reached the vehicle and Lucy and Tanya pulled me inside.
“Go, go, go!” Tanya shouted to Sam.
He hit the gas and the Mastiff lurched forward.
Through the open rear door, I could see the hybrids no more than twenty feet away.
Lucy closed the door. She was breathing heavily and her forehead was dotted with beads of sweat. “Are you okay, Alex?”
I nodded, unable to speak. Everything hurt, including my lungs and throat.
“I took out the guy on the hood for you,” Tanya said.
After a few moments of heavy breathing, I asked, “How many of them were there?”
“Including the two on the hood, there were eight,” Lucy said. “We shot five of them, knocked two onto the road by smashing their hands, and Tanya kicked one overboard.”
“You weren’t kidding,” I said.
They both looked at me with questioning expressions.
I said, “You really were discussing new ways to kill hybrids.”
They smiled and pulled down one of the seats, helping me to get into it and strapping me in with the harness.
“You okay back there, man?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said. I was sure that nothing was broken. I was going to be bruised and sore for a few days, but I’d live.
Tanya went up front to sit with Sam. “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC was coming out of the speakers now.
Lucy buckled herself into the seat next to me and reached across to take my hand. “I was worried about you,” she said.
I attempted a reassuring smile but I was sure it looked more like a grimace. “I fell off a moving truck. It was no big deal.”
“No big deal,” she said, laughing lightly. “Is this the same man who complained every step of the way up a mountain in Wales?”
I laughed. “Yeah, things change,” I said.
Her face grew more serious. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to look at the survivor database. Maybe at the next camp, you’ll find out where your family is.”
“Maybe,” I said. After being disappointed at Camp Apollo, I wasn’t going to get my hopes up anymore.
After a moment’s silence, she said, “I can’t wait to get back on the boat.”
“Me too. It’s the only place I feel safe.”
She nodded and then said, “After this is all over, do you think we’ll ever want to live on dry land again?”
“Probably not. I don’t think I’d be able to relax in case there was another outbreak.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“Besides,” I said, “do you think this will ever be over?”
Someday,” she said. “We have the vaccine now.”
“Sure, we have the vaccine but imagine how many hybrids there are out there. It doesn’t matter how many survivors are vaccinated against zombie bites, there are thousands of hybrids waiting to kill them.”
“The army will deal with them,” Lucy said. “They’ll find a way to wipe them out.”
“Their resources are limited. Every hybrid means one less soldier. The military has lost so many personnel already. And how are they going to fight the hybrids? With tanks and infantry? They’ll turn the country into a battle zone.”
“It’s already a battle zone,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said, looking toward the cockpit and out through the bloodied windscreen at the darkening sky. “I guess it is.”
14
The sky had turned a dark, deep blue by the time we reached the potholed road that led to the village. I hoped that by the time it was fully dark, we would all be sitting in the dining area of the Easy, eating a warm meal and laughing off the day’s events.
Then, after a good night’s sleep, we could sail south tomorrow morning in search of a vehicle to take us to Camp Prometheus.
But first, we had to get to the Zodiac.
“What’s the plan?” Sam asked from the driver’s seat when we could see the village in the distance. “Whatever it is, we need to move quickly. Those hybrid bastards aren’t far behind us, man.”
“How about we drive through the barricade and all the way down to the harbor?” Tanya suggested. “Then we make a run for the Zodiac. Sam and I will lay down covering fire while you two get the boat into the water and get it started.”
“You think the Mastiff will be able to get through those cars?” I asked Sam.
He patted the dashboard lovingly. “Hell yeah. Betty won’t even break a sweat.”
“Betty?” Tanya looked at Sam as if he had lost his mind.
“Big Betty, man. That’s what I’ve named her.”
He was taking his love for this vehicle way too far.
“Okay, let’s do it,” I said, checking that my harness was fastened tightly. I was hopeful that the Mastiff -I refused to think of the vehicle as “Betty”- could slam through the barricade. I just wanted to make sure that the impact didn’t slam me into the opposite wall.
“Cool,” Sam said.
I checked that all my weapons were fully loaded.
Lucy did the same. “This shouldn’t be too difficult,” she said. “All we have to do is run to the Zodiac.”
I hoped she was right.
“Hold on tight,” Sam said.
I braced myself. Lucy took my hand.
A sudden impact threw me forward against the harness. There was a screech of metal against metal. The Mastiff slowed down for a moment and then shot forward.
A second impact shook the vehicle.
Sam whooped and shouted, “We’re through.”
“Any sign of the zombies?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, they’re everywhere.”
Lucy tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the SDU screen in the corner. The image showed the road ahead through the roof-mounted camera. The residents of M
uldoon were on the road and coming out of the houses, shambling toward the Mastiff as it rolled through their village.
We drove past the Kingfisher pub and on toward the harbor. I could hear thumps on the front and side grilles as we collided with the zombies on the road.
“Nearly there,” Tanya said. “Sam, park this thing as close to the Zodiac as possible.”
“No problem, man.”
The harbor seemed to be free of zombies. As long as we got the Zodiac in the water before the hybrids arrived, we should be able to get out of here without too much of a problem.
Sam hit the brake and killed the engine. Looking back at Lucy and me, he said, “Okay, let’s do it.”
I unbuckled myself and went to the rear hatch, which Lucy was already opening. We jumped down onto the pebbles and began to sprint across the beach to the Zodiac.
I glanced back the way we had come. The road leading up to the village was crowded with zombies. Sam and Tanya started to shoot into the mass of bodies. Some of the zombies fell.
When I turned my head to look in the direction I was running, I noticed that Lucy had reached the Zodiac but, instead of untying it from the metal stake, she was standing beside it with her head cocked to one side, as if trying to listen to something.
“Lucy, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Do you hear that?” She frowned, listening.
I couldn’t hear anything above my heavy breathing. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here.”
Then Tanya shouted, “Get back to the vehicle!”
I halted, skidding on the pebbles. What the hell was going on? The zombies had reached the beach but there was no need to panic. We could get out of here if we…
Then I heard it too. A low buzzing sound.
“Run!” Sam shouted. He was already climbing back into the Mastiff.
Lucy started running back to the vehicle, abandoning the Zodiac.
I ran after her. “Lucy, what’s happening?”
“I don’t know. But it isn’t safe out here.”
We clambered back into the Mastiff. Sam had already started the engine and was reversing back up the road before we had a chance to close the rear door. I slammed it shut and turned to face the cockpit. “What the hell is happening?”
Wildfire- Destruction of the Dead Page 7