by Sikes, AJ
***
The convoy rolled through the city, still moving fast as they could. The driver had to slow down to navigate around a mess of tangled up cars at the first intersection after the rail yards. Finally they were into the next neighborhood and following the boulevard out to Queensbridge. They still had to get through a maze of girders and bridges and shit, but Jed knew they’d make it. The things weren’t crawling up top anymore. They got through. And that boy on the SAW, he knew how to do it.
At the ramp up to Queensbridge, the bus behind them roared forward and nearly crashed into their truck.
“The fuck?”
Jed waved the driver back. The man flipped him the finger and kept trying to get around the truck.
Abandoned cars up ahead gave them only one lane to use.
“Sergeant,” one of the other guys said. Kuhn looked over his shoulder. He slapped a palm on the truck cab and leaned down to shout in the passenger window. They sped up and got through the single lane path. The SAW gunner kept his eyes on the road and Jed tried to do the same on his side of the truck.
But the damn bus kept revving up and coming closer like it was going to ram them.
Sergeant Kuhn leaned down to holler at the LT again. The bus driver picked up a walkie talkie. Whatever he said, it didn’t have much effect. Jed’s truck stayed at the same speed and would swerve to block the bus when the driver tried to get around them.
“What’s that about, Sergeant?” Jed finally asked.
“It’s about an asshole who doesn’t know when to shut up and do his fucking job. He a friend of yours?”
Mother—
Whatever Jed did to get these guys pissed at him, he was through with it. Fuck ’em. He’d keep an eye out and do his job, sure. And once this truck stopped, he’d move out with a purpose.
Just like before. It’s the Jed show now, twenty-four seven and three sixty-five.
The truck passed a bunch of industrial places coming up to the river. That’s what Jed got to look at anyway. He turned his head to see what was coming up for the guys on the other side of the truck. Nice high rise apartments and some parks and shit. And probably all of it crawling with them things.
A second later, they were on the bridge, on the bottom deck, and it got dark as night around them.
“We got any lights, Sergeant?” one of the other guys asked. Jed was glad he didn’t have to open his mouth.
“Just the ones on the front. Eyes out and mouths shut unless you see something.”
They crossed over a park right at the river’s edge and Jed was looking at some kind of power plant. Two smoke stacks sat quiet and cold next to a yard full of pylons with power lines. Then he spotted the barge in the river hugged up against the edge of the yard like it had run into the shore. Bodies littered the area down there, hanging off the edge of the barge and lying around the yard. Spatters of blood and other shit were everywhere.
He should say something. That’s what they’d want him to do, right? Report signs of enemy movement. He had his mouth open, but the bus driver was at it again, and Jed couldn’t resist the urge to put the guy in his place. First he threw him the finger with a smile and then he aimed his rifle in the dude’s direction.
That got the guy’s attention, but not the way Jed wanted to. The bus roared up and came alongside them before their driver could push over and block the lane.
People inside the bus were screaming like crazy and banging on the windows. Every face was wet with tears, but Jed didn’t see any blood.
Sergeant Kuhn shouted something at him, and Jed turned to see the SAW gunner aiming at the bus.
“Get back, Welch. If they’re infected, we have to take ’em out.”
As the bus passed them, Jed knew the people inside were going to die. Nobody looked infected, at least not that he could tell. They all still looked human anyway. But at the back of the bus, the emergency exit was open, and a spray of blood coated the inside of the door.
“Shit,” Kuhn said.
The SAW gunner followed with a question. “Where’s their marshal?”
“Marshall?” Jed asked.
“The guy with the LAW rocket. He’s supposed to be at the back of the bus in case anyone inside is infected.”
“In case?”
“He takes the infected person down,” Sergeant Kuhn said. “Or takes them all down if he has to.”
Jed couldn’t believe it. They’d had a guy in there with a fucking LAW rocket to put the whole bus down just in case—
A spray of blood coated the windows inside the bus, and then another. A guy in a Yankees hat was leaning up against the glass coughing out blood. He tried holding his ball cap on as he started shaking and spitting all over the place. A lady a few seats back was doing it, and then another guy. They were all sitting near the back of the bus.
The SAW gunner went to work and Jed felt his world fall apart.
Those are people. They’re not all infected.
The bullets kept flying into the bus. The gunner aimed for the ones that were going all crazy first. A couple of people ran for the back of the bus. Sergeant Kuhn dropped them before they got to the door. Everyone else was up at the front. The driver tried to get them away, but the SAW gunner shifted his aim and then the bus went off to the side, grinding against the concrete divider and sending sparks all over the place until it screeched to a stop up against a wrecked pick up truck.
— 23 —
Upper East Side, Manhattan
Meg had her axe in her hand as soon as the barricade fell away from the wall. One of them sat crouched in the doorway staring at her. It was much bigger than any of them she’d seen so far. This one looked like it might have been a boxer or a wrestler when it was human. Thick veins crossed its pale white skin. And blood stained its sucker lips and clawed hands.
Rachel shoved the boards up so she could roll out from under them just as another creature came in behind the first. They seemed to trade looks. Meg couldn’t believe it.
They’re communicating?
Jason rolled under Meg’s guard and came up beside her. He helped Rachel to her feet and they both lifted their axes from where they’d set them down. For a tense moment, Meg and the others faced off with the monsters through the doorway.
The big one leaped straight for Meg. She swung as it flew toward her, but her aim was off. The axe head slid off the thing’s shoulder, barely slicing into its flesh. It rolled away from the blow and came up in a crouch against the shutters.
Meg heard Jason and Rachel shouting behind her.
The one in front of her made a hesitant step forward. Meg held her axe across her body, ready to swing or shove the thing if it came for her.
It tilted its head and let out a hiss, then a fast shriek.
Jason shouted from Meg’s right, but she didn’t dare turn to look. She heard axes impacting on bodies and sometimes the wall or floor. Rachel yelled, and Meg finally caught what they were saying.
“Rex! Help!”
The one in front of Meg tilted its head upward and sniffed. That’s when she recognized it. This was the one from outside, the one she’d seen when she was nailing the barricade together upstairs.
Is it the leader? My god, do they have leaders?
She stepped forward, passing by Eric’s still and silent body. He was dead. They’d been too late and he lost too much blood.
She’d be damned if she’d go down without getting some revenge.
Meg readied herself for the leader to charge her. But it seemed to be waiting for her to make a move, like it wanted to give her a chance before it killed her.
“Well fuck you, too, then,” Meg said. She gritted her teeth and raised her axe for a swing right as she heard the sound of shattering glass from upstairs.
Shit!
The leader jerked its head up and shrieked again. Meg swung as it was lowering its head. She thought she saw a hint of recognition it its yellow slit eyes just as her axe came down into its skull.
M
eg wrenched her axe out of the monster’s shattered head and spun to take in the floor behind her. Rachel and Jason had the doorway covered, taking turns swinging axes at the monsters as they tried to get in. They held them off pretty well, but eventually one would get up onto the wall and crawl along the ceiling, out of reach of the axes.
If they could get another hose connected…
Rex shifted from one foot to the other at the back of the bay, in front of the survivors. He had an axe in his hands and looked at the staircase. One of the monsters had come down, and sat crouched on the bottom step. It turned its head around halfway, looking at the dead one Jason had thrown there. As the new one turned its head and rolled its shoulders, a sickening echo of cracks and pops came into the bay. Then the monster leaped out and raced along the floor to the far wall. Meg watched Rex track its movement, turning to face it as it hung on the wall and approached him and the survivors.
“Rex!” Meg shouted just as another one launched from the stairs and landed in the middle of the survivors.
Screams and shrieks echoed around the room. Meg raced for the end of the app floor. If Rex could hold them off—Meg cringed inside as she watched Rex swing his axe half-heartedly. The one that jumped into the survivors was tearing people apart and all Rex could do was back up against the wall beside the stairs.
Another one came down the steps just as Meg got there. She missed with the first swing and had to swing upward quickly. Her second blow landed, and caught the thing in its throat. Blood sprayed out, covering Meg’s face shield.
Screams and cries of pain surrounded her. Meg swiped at her shield with her jacket sleeve. That only smeared the blood. She could see better, but still not good enough to fight.
“Rex! Help them!” she screamed. Somewhere nearby she heard someone grunting, like they were fighting. She had to hope it was Rex and that he’d finally grown a spine.
Jason roared from somewhere behind Meg. She spun in time to see him swinging his axe into another big creature, like the leader Meg had killed before. It fell to the ground with the axe in its chest. Blood poured from the wound as Jason yanked on the axe handle to dislodge his weapon. Rachel had her back to him and swung her axe back and forth to fend off two of the things that crawled from the doorway along the walls.
Meg wiped at her face shield as she ran to help Rachel. She could see enough to swing now and brought her axe down on a monster’s head. Rachel bashed the other one with the flat of her axe, knocking it from the wall. It reared up to strike when Rachel swung back to sink the blade into its face.
Meg wiped a glove down her face shield over and over until her vision was clear. She had a good view now. The app floor was a bloody mess. She heard people behind her cowering, whimpering, and sobbing. Rex was still near the remaining survivors. The one that leaped into them had taken down Abeer and her child. They lay on the floor in a heap next to the pink sweater lady and at least five others. Dayone and the punk girl were alive, though, and hid in the corner with the remaining survivors. Dayone’s little girl cowered behind them all.
“Where’s Mrs. Cannady?”
Rex to a step to his left, revealing the woman lying on her back with her blouse covered in blood.
“It moved too fast,” he said. “I couldn’t—”
“Meg!” Rachel yelled.
Meg turned in time to see Eric staggering across the floor toward the other two firefighters.
He launched himself at Rachel and tackled her. Jason moved fast, knocking Eric aside, but he rolled with the blow and got his legs under him just as Rachel jumped to her feet. She and Jason held their axes ready and circled around so they had Eric from both sides. His face was already changing. His lips pushed out and he made a sucking motion with his mouth.
Eric reared back and lifted his face to the ceiling to scream. Then he doubled over and began gnawing on his own arm.
“Eric!” Meg called to him. He lifted his head and looked at her. She watched as his eyes narrowed and yellowed, with blood leaking from them. Jason and Rachel approached him, ready to strike. But Eric flicked his head to the side, eyeing them. He dropped to all fours and scrambled away from their swinging axes.
More shrieks and howls came from the doorway as another group of the creatures raced into the chief’s office. Jason filled the doorway and swung like a man possessed. His axe moved in a blur, left and right, and blood spattered into the app floor with every strike.
Rachel went after Eric, tracking him along the far wall. Meg wanted to join her, to help.
They both need me. But Eric—What the hell is happening?
Eric had gotten around Meg on the wall while she stared at him, tears dripping from her nose and chin.
“Meg,” Rachel said, prodding her in the shoulder with her fist. “You need to kill it. That’s not Eric anymore. That’s not your friend up there.”
He was getting closer to the back of the floor now. Meg and Rachel moved with him, axes up. They had to kick the cots aside to reach the area where the survivors were hiding. When they were only feet away from the survivors, a scream to Meg’s left startled her and she had to move her attention from Eric.
Some of the people who had been attacked were standing up as monsters. Three of them were up on their knees with blood streaming from their eyes. Their fingers curled into claws as they pulled and then tore at their own skin.
Mrs. Cannady was hunched over like a grotesque football player hell bent on killing anything that got in her way.
Rex finally got his axe over his head and managed to swing down into Mrs. Cannady’s back before she could step toward Dayone and the others. The punk girl pressed herself back against the people behind her. Dayone’s little girl grabbed her mother’s hand. Their screams were agony in Meg’s ears.
The moment stretched out for Meg. She couldn’t move even as she heard Rachel yelling at her. In that instant, Eric leaped from the wall, tackling the punk girl.
He brought her down in a tangle and Meg’s knees buckled as she watched Eric tear into the girl. The others who had changed rushed into the mass of survivors, clawing and ripping their way through them. Rex used his axe to swat at some, but he’d landed his only effective blow of the day. All he managed to do was redirect the monsters’ attacks onto other people.
Rachel screamed as she raced into the crowd, smashing two of the monsters in the head with a single swing. Jason gave a monstrous roar behind them and Meg turned in time to see him finish off the last ones in the chief’s office. He stepped back, arms shaking and his axe hanging down to scrape the floor. Jason staggered back a step and Meg worried he’d been infected. But he’d only slid his foot through the blood and water on the floor.
“Jason!” Rachel yelled. Meg snapped her attention back to see Rachel was surrounded by three of them.
And the people…
Dayone?
They were all dead. All of them. Cut down by Eric and the others who had turned. It had taken only seconds.
Rex had backed himself into the opposite corner and faced off against one of them. Rachel swung at one and caught it in the head, but that left her open for the others. Eric and three more were crawling on the walls above them, flicking their tongues out of their horrific mouths.
They move so fast. I can’t—I can’t.
You’re good, Meg. You’re good.
Lurching to her feet, Meg stepped up to stand beside Rachel. Jason tore through the cots to join them. They stood with their backs together, axes out and ready. Meg kept her eyes on Eric. He kept looking at the people on the ground at Meg’s feet. She risked a glance at Dayone and her little girl. They’d both been bitten, and blood welled from Dayone’s throat. She held a hand over the wound, but Meg knew it was hopeless. The girl was only bleeding from a bite on her shoulder, but already showed symptoms of the infection.
Meg’s heart broke over and over again. A hiss from the wall above her tore her attention away just in time. Eric leaped down to land in front of her, blocking her vi
ew of Dayone and her girl.
“I’m sorry, Eric.”
She swung and put the blade of her axe into his skull, dropping him to the floor. Beside her Rachel did the same to another one that had leaped down beside Eric.
Jason’s shouts filled the bay and she turned to see him taking out the last two that were mobile, including the one that had Rex pinned in the corner.
Dayone died as Meg got to her. She went down on her knee and put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. Dayone’s face shook as blood began leaking from her eyes.
“My gir—”
And then she was gone, shuddering as the virus consumed her.
Meg felt a hand on her back. It was Rachel.
“Let me. You help Jason get the barricade fixed.”
Meg fell backwards onto her hip. Her axe slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor beside her. She closed her eyes, but she couldn’t block the sound of Rachel’s axe as the woman ensured no more monsters would rise from the bodies in the corner.
— 24 —
Long Island City, Queens
Jed kept his weapon up and stared at the ruined bus as they came up beside it. The truck slowed down and the SAW gunner had his weapon up and ready. Jed copied the guy, keeping his rifle aimed at the bus. But his finger refused to touch the trigger. Jed saw some movement, a man crawling out of a busted window with his hands up. He screamed that he was all right, that he wasn’t infected.
But Jed saw the blood leaking out of the man’s eyes.
“Take him out, Welch!” Sergeant Kuhn ordered.
Jed couldn’t do it. Couldn’t even shoot to put someone out of his misery. The guy wasn’t a monster yet.
All them people. They weren’t infected. They weren’t—