SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD: FROM THE ASHES

by Tony Baker

  Harry had lowered his head and was leaning against the door with one foot on the side running board. “Okay Chief, copy that. At least some sort of good news I guess. I’ll do what I can, for now, but I am not guaranteeing anything past some sort of resolution to this mess or until someone else can take over out here.”

  Although Harry would not simply abandon the City or his friends, he had already decided that he was going to head east once he had the chance. His family was in Indiana and he was determined to reunite with them. His fifteen-year-old nephew, Eric, had been able to get an email out several days after the outbreak, letting Harry know that they were being relocated to a safe zone. Eric had not given many details other than they were scared but safe and that he wanted Harry to come home. Eric had closed that email with, “Mom is being cool but dad is a bit freaked out. I’m really scared but I’m remembering all the things we have talked about. Please stay safe and find us soon. I love you!”

  Harry and Eric were very close. Along with the many other things they had shared together over the years they had spent many hours talking about what to do in the event of an emergency. That included everything from dealing with bullies to people coming into school with guns. Harry tried to impart as much of his experience as a fifteen-year-old could absorb. Eric always asked relevant questions considering each answer before repeating it back to his uncle, demonstrating his understanding.

  With everything that was happening, Harry had been forced to remain focused on staying alive. But as the days had passed his growing concern for his family was making it extremely difficult to maintain that focus and remain in San Francisco. He had no idea how he would make the nearly twenty-three-hundred-mile trek across country, but he was determined to do just that. If humanity was to fall then he would be with the people that mattered most in his life when it did. With this new ‘promotion’, and the overwhelming responsibility that was sure to come with it, he had the growing fear he would not reach them in time.

  “That’s fair enough,” Ekers said, interrupting Harry’s thoughts.

  Harry quickly shook off the depression that was threatening to creep into his soul. He had no choice right now. If he was to reunite with his family he had to continue to keep his head in the game. If he did not, he was going to get himself killed or the two men sitting in the truck that now looked to him for direction. Pushing back the thoughts of his family for the time being, he looked up and realized his longtime friend was looking back fixedly.

  Derrick could read people well and Harry was no exception. Derrick had met Harry’s family many times, and Eric was quite enamored with this large black man. Although Eric had no desire to become a cop, much to Harry’s immense relief, he was still a kid who was easily impressed with authority figures.

  As Derrick was a very easy person to like, it came as no surprise that he and Eric had hit it off so well. Both huge sports fans which quickly gave them common ground. A good-natured debate was often heard between the two in regard to Derrick’s San Francisco Giants and Eric’s New York Yankees. Having no family of his own, Derrick had adopted Eric as a surrogate nephew and would do anything for that kid. Including laying down his life to protect him or the rest of Harry’s family without a moment’s hesitation.

  “You’ll see them again, Harry,” Derrick said to him. “Just remember that when you go, I go with you.”

  Harry was taken by surprise at this statement, but what caught him off guard the most was the intensity with which Derrick made those two simple statements. All Harry could do was to nod once to Derrick in reply.

  “Go where?” Frank asked, looking to Derrick, then Harry.

  “Not now, Frank,” Derrick replied. “We’ve got work to get done here and we need to concentrate on that for the time being.”

  Frank didn’t offer any further comments but it was clear by the expression on his face he had questions. Harry had to take things down a notch as his emotions were threatening to overcome him. In his usual fashion he quickly formulated a plan to do just that in the manner he fell back on in situation like this.

  “I do have one request, Chief,” he finally said into the radio mic, looking squarely at Derrick with a slight grin playing around the corners of his mouth.

  The look on Derrick Washington’s face was as if someone had walked over his grave.

  “Now wait just a minute, Harry! I know what you doing and I suggest you don’t go there damn it! I’m serious here, brother!”

  Ignoring Derrick, Harry continued, “Chief, I need a sergeant and I would like to recommend Derrick Washington for immediate promotion.” Harry knew that Derrick’s aversion to promotion was as strongly felt as his own. Derrick was using the experience in law enforcement as part of his career goals, and those goals did not include rank.

  Looking over to Frank, Harry said with all sincerity, “No offense kid, you understand?”

  “Absolutely none taken! I have no problem with any of this. I’m just happy to be with you guys!” Frank replied enthusiastically.

  “Harry, you are such a prick, you know that, right!” Derrick said in a flustered tone. Harry just stood by the door smiling with what could only be described as a Cheshire cat grin.

  “Oh, and by the way, even though you may feel the need at some point very soon, I would strongly urge that you not to punch the Bear, Derry. It’s rather unyielding I recently discovered,” Harry offered with quiet laughter and to further pick at Derrick’s crestfallen demeanor.

  “I have no problem with that at all, Harry. Consider it done as of right now. Congratulations, Sergeant Washington,” Ekers said, responding to Harry’s request.

  “Thanks Chief. I’m sure I speak for Sergeant Washington when I say it is an honor to serve the City.” Derrick threw double-digit finger salutes in Harry’s face with that.

  “Okay guys, get to it. Although I really can’t offer you more information at the moment, I have the utmost confidence in your abilities. I’ll update Captain Overton on your status and that you will be in contact with him at some point. Here’s the radio frequency the Tern is operating on …” While Ekers relayed the frequency, Frank quickly jotted it down to program into the radio. “Contact me when you can but keep on task, gentlemen, and God speed. One Adam clear.” With that, Chief Greg Ekers signed off.

  “Three Edward Six,” Harry acknowledged, then leaned up and across Derrick, placing the mic back in the dash clip. As he did so he caught his image reflected in the window glass of the door. Without a moment’s consideration, he reached up to his jumpsuit’s collar and removed the set of silver chevrons, handing them toward Derrick. “Put them on, Sergeant Washington.”

  “Blow me, Lieutenant Lancaster.” Derrick dejectedly attempted to sink his large frame as far into the seat as possible, crossing his arms like a pouting child.

  “Now Sergeant Washington, this is quite unbecoming a person of your rank, especially in front of Officer Lewis here,” Harry said, mustering all the self-control he could to maintain a straight face.

  “You love this shit, don’t you,” Derrick retorted.

  “Well, since you asked, more than you could possibly imagine right about now,” Harry said, no longer being able to hide his grin while still holding out his hand, palm up, with the two silver chevron pins lying in the center.

  “Okay, so I put them on, payback’s done, right?” Derrick asked suspiciously.

  “Yep, we’d be good; for the most part,” Harry replied, laughing.

  “Fine, give me the damn things,” Derrick said in a defeated manner, pinning the chevrons on collar. “Satisfied?”

  During this exchange, Frank had buried his face in the Bearcat’s operations manual, closing both sides of the thick book against his cheeks in an attempt to avert the fits of laughter that threatened to overtake him.

  “Oh quite, thank you, Sergeant,” Harry said, mischievously adding a very sloppy salute. Sobering, he looked past Derrick and said to Frank, “Okay kid, time to roll, and paraphrasing somebody way
smarter than me, we have promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.”

  “I really like Frost. He’s one of my favorite poets,” Frank responded absently while finishing his ‘preflight check’.

  Harry chuckled while glancing at his wristwatch. He was a bit surprised to realize that less than forty minutes had elapsed since they’d first entered the garage. It felt like several hours had passed.

  23

  While Derrick moved into the rear compartment of the Bearcat, Harry stepped up and pulled himself into the passenger seat, closing the heavy door with a thud. Frank turned the ignition key and the big truck started instantly, emitting a soft rumble from the powerful diesel engine. Harry was again astonished at how quiet the Bearcat was considering that engine’s size.

  The dash of the Bearcat illuminated with an array of various lights in a subdued orange glow obviously designed to assist those in the front compartment with maintaining night vision when necessary. Reaching to a lever which looked somewhat like a gearshift arm, just to the left of the steering column, Frank pushed down slightly which raised the V-ram on the front of the truck.

  Harry could see this action transpire on a monitor in the center of the dash, the image obviously being sent from a camera built into the front section of the vehicle. It made sense to him to have a forward-facing camera; otherwise, because of the limited view from inside, it would be impossible to know what position the ram was in at any particular time. The monitor screen was actually split into two views, with the lower image from a camera positioned above the rear double doors of the Bearcat.

  Once Frank had the ram up he then moved the gearshift selector lever, located to the right of the steering column, putting it into the drive position and engaging the automatic transmission. With his left foot slightly on the brake, he applied a slight pressure on the accelerator with his right, giving the big truck torque and moving it slowly forward. The garage area was flooded with light so Frank did not bother turning on the headlights.

  The ramp leading up from the lower garage into the next level was sizeable, but because of the width of the Bearcat it was still a tight fit. Especially with the curve of the up ramp. Unfortunately Frank misjudged the clearance between the side of the truck and the wall. He slightly scraped the right rear bumper as he drove up the ramp. It wasn’t a hard hit but enough to be heard inside the vehicle.

  “Hey! Watch it there Frank!” Derrick cried out from his position between the front and rear compartments. He was leaning slightly forward, enabling him to see through the windshield. “This thing is brand new! You better not wreck it!”

  “Shit, sorry guys!” Frank exclaimed in response.

  Harry knew ‘wrecking’ the heavy behemoth would be almost impossible, but replied over his shoulder with a laugh, “Don’t worry Derry, a few scraps and dings will give it some character.”

  “Yeah, well just be careful,” Derrick replied.

  The men had no idea what was in store for the Bearcat before they reached the marina, as there would certainly be some ‘character’ added along the way.

  Frank continued ascending to the upper garage, then drove to the bottom of the final ramp that would take them out of the building and stopped. Harry opened the passenger side door, stepping down, then jogging over to the roll up door control. Looking back toward Frank, who gave him the thumbs up through the front windshield confirming that he was ready, Harry pressed the upper green button labeled ‘open’. While the roll up door began to rise, he rushed back to the Bearcat, resuming his position in the passenger seat and slamming the door closed. He watched as the roll up door opened painfully slowly.

  “Go … go … go!” Harry urged when he saw the door almost fully up.

  By the time Frank drove up the ramp the door was fully open. He made an immediate left on Vallejo Street toward Columbus which was only half block down. Frank also instantly collided with at least a dozen of the infected that still milled around on the street in front of the station. They had obviously been attracted to the sound of the roll up door, not to mention the siren that could still be plainly heard in the background. Frank kept the vehicle’s momentum powering forward and had no difficulty plowing through the mass of bodies. That did nothing to ease the revulsion each man felt seeing the destruction the heavy Bearcat delivered to the soft bodies in its path.

  The infected were being flung from both sides of the big truck like rag dolls as the ram served its intended purpose of wedging a path. Because the ram was raised to its highest position, many of the bodies were being caught under the front wheels, creating a noticeable thumping sensation felt through the flooring, quickly followed by one set of the double rear tires finishing the job of grinding what was left into the street surface. Harry was very much aware of the blood and gore that erupted outward each time one of the heavy front tires rolled over and crushed a body.

  “Lower the ram a bit, Frank. We don’t want to get anything caught in the undercarriage,” Harry said, not taking his eyes from the horrific scene unfolding in front of them and being displayed in all-too-living-color on the cab monitor. The Bearcat was powerful, but he still had concerns that if enough bodies got caught under the vehicle at once it might high center them and they could lose traction. He did not want to take any chances being stranded in what he was observing.

  As Frank operated the lever, Harry continued to watch the monitor with the front camera view; he saw the ram slowly lower to about ten inches off the street surface. Just enough room to keep it from gouging the surface if they happened to hit a depression or rise in the street.

  “That’s good,” Harry said, satisfied with the new position.

  The Bearcat continued to clear the infected that flung themselves in its path while they travelled the short distance to the intersection. Frank made the left turn onto Columbus, then stepped hard on the brakes, bringing the big truck to an immediate halt. Looking down Columbus, all three men could only stare in total disbelief at what they saw.

  Trash and litter was slung everywhere, with dead and mutilated bodies lying amongst the debris. The men could see many of the infected still kneeling by the bodies, tearing them apart. In some cases as many as six of them on one body. For some reason the scene brought to mind the movie I Am Legend. Harry fervently wished the infected currently roaming San Francisco shunned the light of day like those in the movie. But the scene before him told of an entirely different plot as he watched a rather large group of infected quickly moving in their direction.

  “Back it up and go to Powell. We’ll try to get onto Columbus further up,” Harry said urgently.

  Frank quickly put the Bearcat in reverse, backing up a few feet, then steered onto Vallejo again. There were more of the infected on the block between Vallejo and Powell in front of the station. It was obvious that the noise from the Bearcat had attracted a few more to the area, but not as many as Harry had feared. A few were too many but more tolerable to the psyche than the dozens that were making their way toward the men on Columbus.

  Harry glanced over at Frank, pleased to see that although he was white-knuckling the steering wheel and sweating bullets from the adrenalin that was assuredly coursing through his system, he seemed to be in control.

  “We’ve doing just fine, kid,” Harry said calmly in an attempt to reassure Frank, who simply nodded his reply.

  “Yeah, but we’re going to need a car wash real soon,” Derrick added disgustedly.

  “Frank, I want to you to drive to the next intersection and stop if possible. We need to see what it looks like before we get in the middle of more of those things,” Harry directed.

  Frank closed the distance very quickly, once again knocking aside anything that was in the truck’s path, bringing the Bearcat to a halt about halfway into the intersection of Powell. Harry looked out his side door window and down the street to the north. Although he still saw the infected milling about, he noted that there were not as many compared to what they had just seen on Columbus. Also, t
here weren’t as many vehicles blocking the street in this direction. Harry took that all in within sixty seconds.

  “Okay, looks like we’ve got some cars down there but we should be able to either go around or push through them. Of course some of our infected friends are milling about, but we should be able to clear them. Frank, you do whatever you have to but get us through and back onto Columbus. Take that to Bay Street and hang a left. Go to Fillmore which should give us a clear shot right into the marina. You know how to get there as well as I do. Stay flexible though, and detour if you feel it necessary. Copy that?” Harry asked, knowing his directions were redundant. Frank would know the easiest route to take but Harry felt better voicing the directions.

  Frank glanced over and replied, “Copy that, LT.”

  Over his shoulder Harry then said, “Derry, we need to ride cover in the hatch. We’ll try to thin out those things as much as possible. I know this truck is badass but I don’t want to take the chance of getting bogged down somewhere.”

  “I’m on it,” Derrick replied as he turned to open the roof hatch and raise the platform under it.

  Harry gave Frank a quick pat on the shoulder as he climbed over the center console and into the rear compartment to join Derrick. As soon as Harry cleared the console, Frank put the truck in reverse and backed up just enough to make room for the right turn onto Powell. Just as he put the truck into drive, a throng of infected caught up with them and started hammering on the rear of the truck. It was obvious to the men that it was part of the horde from Columbus Street.

  Moving the short distance to the platform, Harry saw that Derrick had already stepped up and was in position through the open roof hatch. He also noticed that there were two small field bags attached to the hatch edge. Derrick glanced down, seeing Harry looking at the bags, and said, “Magazines.”

  Harry nodded while stepping up on the platform. He unslung his AR, bringing it up and out of the hatch opening first so it was in position. At only about four feet in diameter, the roof opening was going to be tight with both men filling it, but they would manage. Disengaging the safety on his AR, Harry was ready to rock.