by Tony Baker
“We were at McKinleyville,” Wanda continued. “That’s right on the coast and about a hundred miles north of here. I know because Nevaeh and I had never been to San Francisco, so we flew into San Francisco International Airport and stayed in the City for three days before renting a car and driving up to my friend’s. We took Highway One almost the entire way and we both had a great time.” She paused to gather her thoughts. Harry took that opportunity to glance through the front windshield and saw they had slowed a bit to navigate around several stalled cars in the street. He didn’t see any of the infected just yet, but knew the sound of the truck was certain to attract their attention soon enough.
Harry turned back to face Wanda and noticed she was also looking through the windshield. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the marina. We have some boats waiting to take us out to one of the islands,” he replied. “But please continue.”
“Oh, yes, where was I …” Wanda said, still looking beyond Harry and into the street. Turning her gaze back to Harry, she continued.
“Anyway, longer story short, we arrived in McKinleyville. Hard to see my friend under those circumstances, but we got through the funeral okay. Very simple service. Her mother had been ill for some time, so there was not a great shock at her death but it was still hard.
“There was a mountain of stuff to go through in the house but it was mostly junk. Ended up deciding to call a service to clean it out. I don’t think the woman classified as a hoarder but near enough.” At that Wanda laughed. “Although my friend grew up in that house, she lives in Oregon now, or did, and she’d decided to sell the property. She already had a few people interested by the time I arrived but still had some open houses she wanted to do.
“She needed to meet with a banker or insurance person, don’t remember which now, and she asked me if I would do the last open house scheduled. I said I would, of course, and met with two couples. Both seemed really interested, too.” Wanda paused again for a moment, looking down at the floor of the truck. “I was just closing the door to the house after showing it to a nice young couple who had just been married. I was watching them walk to their car when five or six people ran up to them out of nowhere! They started tearing into them like wild animals! I’ve never seen anything like it except in the movies. For a couple of seconds that’s even what I thought was going on! I was on some movie set that had been set up, or this was some sort of prank! I really had no idea what to do. I should have done something but all I ended up doing was locking that door!” Tears threatened to fall from Wanda’s eyes but she took a deep breath, wiping at them with her fingertips.
“Believe me, Wanda, there would have been absolutely nothing you could have done,” Harry said in an attempt to comfort her a bit. “These things are nearly unstoppable even with guns. Being by yourself and unarmed, there just wasn’t anything you could have done.”
Wanda looked back up to Harry and said, “I suppose not. What I’ve seen since has been much worse, but they were looking right at me as I closed that door.” She didn’t elaborate on what she had seen, but Harry was fairly clear about what it had been like. Harry understood all too well the turmoil she must be experiencing. How many people had he watched die through his apartment window in the early days of the outbreak, never attempting to help a single one of them. He knew intimately what haunted her, but a hundredfold.
“Anyway,” Wanda began again, interrupting Harry’s thoughts, “I waited until things quieted down outside. I was sure those things had seen me but I guess not. After an hour or so they seemed to disappear as quickly as they had arrived. The house was completely empty except for a hand stapler. Not sure why there was a stapler but there it was. I didn’t think that would have proven to be much of a weapon.” She sighed “I was worried sick about Nevaeh and had decided that I was going to get to her one way or the other. That’s when I realized those things had finally left.
“I ran out to my car, which was thankfully parked on the side of the house. I didn’t have to look at what was around the couple’s car out front. I must have dropped my keys at least half a dozen times before I could get the damn door unlocked. Finally did though.” Wanda paused to look back at her sleeping granddaughter.
“I must have gone sixty miles an hour down those narrow streets,” Wanda began again, looking back up and out of the windshield at the passing scenery. “There was nobody around at all, which was really creepy. It was as if the whole town’s population had suddenly disappeared. I didn’t think much about it at the time. I could only think about the mile or so back to the hotel where Nevaeh and I were staying.
“It didn’t take long to get there, and thankfully those things were nowhere to be seen when I pulled into the parking lot. I grabbed Nevaeh and we got out of there quick. I really didn’t have a plan so we just headed out of town. Almost made it, but ran into a pileup of cars a few blocks before an onramp to the highway. Looked like a lot of people were trying to leave town as well, from the size of that mess.” Wanda took a deep breath.
“Harry, we’re only a block away,” Frank interjected.
Harry glanced over to Frank and said, “Copy that Frank. Wanda, maybe you should take a few minutes to rest. We have a lot to do in a very short amount of time.” With that, Harry quickly outlined what they had planned.
“That sounds like an interesting idea and I think it will work,” Wanda said with a level of conviction that surprised Harry.
Harry snickered. “I would say I appreciate the vote of confidence, but the way you said that seems as if you are more assured than I feel about this right now.”
“I am, actually,” Wanda replied. “I know those things don’t like water.”
“How so?” Derrick asked from behind Wanda. He was still sitting on the wall bench with his eyes closed, but obviously had been listening to the conversation.
“I saw the effect it has on them up close and personal,” Wanda said, glancing toward Derrick, then back to Harry. “When we stopped at that pileup I saw a sign indicating that there was a small marina not too far from where we were. Not sure why I thought it a good idea, but decided we needed to go there. I guess I figured people had to be somewhere and if they weren’t in town that was as a good a place to look as any. Unless anyone left had managed to get out before that wreck at the onramp.
“Nevaeh wasn’t thrilled about leaving the car, and neither was I, but we had to get someplace safe. We sat there for a few minutes just to make certain nothing was going to pop up. I rolled down my window a bit to listen. The only thing I heard were birds. Seagulls, I think. I knew we were close to the ocean so figured we only had only a couple of blocks to walk to get to the marina. I remembered that in all the zombie movies I have seen over the years it was a good idea to have some sort of weapon. Not sure what I would actually do with one, but thought it might be a good idea to have something. I popped the trunk on the car and found a tire iron. Figured it was better than nothing.
“We struck out and were okay until we neared the end of the last street where we saw the marina entrance sign. We found where all the people had gone. There was what looked like a large warehouse of some sort at the far end of the marina. The place was surrounded by fifty to sixty of those things! At least that was what it looked like from what I could see. There were no windows in the building, but they were pounding on the walls and doors. It didn’t make any sense, but since they weren’t looking in our direction we headed for the docks. Thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure there must have been people in that warehouse. People those things were trying to get at.” Wanda paused for a moment to shake her head before resuming.
“Made it as far the dock entrance and the ramp where all the boats are pulled up to. Unfortunately there was a fence that surrounded the entrance, and a gate that was locked. With a fairly hefty-looking padlock.”
“Excuse me ma’am,” Frank interrupted. “Harry, we need a go or no go here. We’re ready to cross Bay Street.”
&nbs
p; Harry quickly glanced through the windshield to see where they were, knowing that once they crossed Bay they would be committed. Frank had gotten them to Baker and Marina Boulevard. Once they crossed Marina they would be on Yacht Road and only minutes to the main gate of the harbor.
“Okay Frank, shut us down right here for a few. I want to hear the rest of Wanda’s story, and contact the fireboat to make certain they’re ready,” Harry directed.
Frank brought the truck to a stop and turned the engine off. Both Harry and Frank scanned the immediate area for any company they might have attracted. It seemed clear of any infected for the time being. But they now also had a very clear view of the dozens that milled around the harbor area right across the street. Marina Boulevard was one of the widest streets in the City, with two lanes running in each traffic flow direction. This allowed for a fairly decent separation between the truck’s location and the horde. For the time being, at least.
Looking back to Wanda, Harry said, “Please continue.”
“Well, we needed to get through that gate,” Wanda began. “Not sure what else to do, I started whacking the hell out of the padlock with the tire iron. Seemed to work in the movies so thought that was the best course to take. Not so much, it turned out. The noise immediately brought us to the attention of some of those Zs. Yeah, good name since these things seem more like zombies than just people with some sort of crazy infection. The noise brought us to the attention of the Zs. Not all of them seemed interested, but enough.”
Harry had not really thought about what to call those things other than ‘infected’ but Wanda was right. They were more like zombies, Zs, than people.
“That was really scary, too, Gran,” Nevaeh, now awake, said as she slid from the wall bench to sit at Wanda’s feet, wrapping an arm around a leg.
“”It sure was, honey,” Wanda said quietly to her granddaughter. “But we made it.”
“So there I was, banging away on that padlock like I knew what I was doing, with Nevaeh telling me to hurry. I was proud of her though. She really kept her cool,” Wanda said while caressing the girl’s head. “I knew we either had to get through that gate or we had to run. I gave that padlock one final good blow and it popped open! I stood there for a second or two just staring at it! I think I’d just said something stupid like ‘it worked’ when Nevaeh reached for the gate and removed the broken padlock. She grabbed my hand and we went through, closing it behind. Several of those things were nearly at the gate by then, so not really thinking I jammed the tire iron between the gate latch and the side post, wedging it closed. I didn’t think it would hold for long, but was most sincerely hoping long enough.
“We ran down the dock ramp until we reached the end. I wasn’t certain where we were going, just trying to put some distance between us and the increasing group of Zs at the gate. They were really pushing on it by then and I knew we didn’t have much time. We reached the end of the ramp and just jumped on this boat that was sitting there. The other boats we’d passed seemed difficult to get on, or they were covered. The boat we found at the end was tied to a pole with a single rope, had what appeared to be a covered area where it could be steered from, and, like I said, it was the last boat. Not much choice left other than swimming at that point.
“I did a quick search of the boat to make sure it didn’t have any of those things on it, then jumped back onto the ramp to untie the rope that secured it in place. Just as I got the rope off the post they broke through! I heard what sounded like a loud metal crash and looked toward the gate. They had broken the entire gate down and were pouring through the opening like a swarm of bees! I use that comparison because the sound of so many together was almost like a buzzing.” Wanda stopped and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “The ramp was fairly narrow and although many of those people, those things, were falling off as they clamored to get at us, enough of them were quickly making their way down the ramp!
“I pushed at the front of the boat to try to get it away from the dock and out into the open water. I’ve seen that done in movies, too. I really think I’ve watched way too many of those action movies!” Wanda laughed for a moment, with Derrick and Harry joining in.
“I suppose there won’t be many of those movies being made now,” Wanda said quickly sobering to that reality. “Anyway, the boat moved a little but not as much as I’d thought it would. I jumped back on the front part of the boat, the deck I guess you call it, and headed up to where the steering wheel was located.”
“By the time Gram was back on the boat I’d found the key near the steering wheel,” Nevaeh interjected. “I even put it in the slot where it’s supposed to go!”
“That’s right honey, you sure did,” Wanda said, smiling proudly at her granddaughter’s quick thinking. “That saved us a bunch of time, too.” At the praise from her grandmother, Nevaeh returned a smile with an obvious look of satisfaction on her young face.
27
“I take it you were able to get the boat started and out of the slip?” Harry asked Wanda.
“Yes we did,” Wanda replied with a smile. “Thank God there was a small diagram next to the ignition that showed how to start the boat. Flip a switch, put a lever in neutral, and turn the key. Worked like a charm, too! The engine started right up except we were still facing the ramp.
“At about the time I was wondering how to put the boat in reverse, a couple of those things jumped on the front of it! I had been so focused on getting the boat started I wasn’t paying attention. Hadn’t realized the front portion of that group had made it to the boat so quickly. We felt the weight of them hit the boat causing it to dip a bit in the front! I figured we were done for. But something happened that I still don’t understand. Somehow the few that had managed to get onto the front slipped off and fell into the water! It’s kind of hard to describe, but the front of the boat was enclosed. And there was nothing for them to hang onto or get caught up in.
“When they fell off, somehow it actually pushed the boat back enough away from the ramp that I was able to get the boat moving forward. As I said, we were at the end of the ramp with nothing blocking us in and were able to head out toward the opening of the marina. I thought for sure those things would jump in the water after us! A bunch were pushed because of the sheer amount of them crowding the ramp, but the reaction I saw was amazing. They knew we were still there and it was very clear they wanted to come after us. But they only stood on the ramp with their arms outstretched, uttering that god-awful moaning. They did not jump in the water after us! The ones that had fallen in the water were going crazy! Thrashing around like they had fallen into acid, then slowly sinking beneath the surface. That’s when I figured out they were afraid of water.” Wanda paused with a distant look on her face as she recounted those events.
“I nearly ran us into the rocks that surrounded the boat dock area while I was watching those things, too!” She took up the story again. “But I was able to somehow get us out into the open water and away from that marina. Not really knowing which way to go, I decided to head south, staying along the coast as closely as possible since I really had no idea how to navigate a boat in the ocean. Talk about a white-knuckle ride! I don’t know how long we were out there but it was at least a day and a night. There were no gauges of any kind by the steering wheel, so I really had no idea how much gas we had, but I figured we’d just keep going as far as we could.
“I was beginning to panic just a bit when we finally saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Just rounded a point and there it was! I figured we could find help around here so I steered us toward it. Let me tell you, that bridge is something when you’re driving over it, but to see it from beneath is incredible!” Wanda looked at Harry with a slight smile. “That thing is huge!”
Harry chuckled and said, “That it is.”
“Anyway”, Wanda resumed, “once we were past the bridge a good distance I decided it was time we got off that boat and onto dry land again. I saw what looked like a beach area to my right so I headed
directly for it. I told Nevaeh to hang on and I let the boat run right up on the sand. We were going fast enough that we hit pretty hard, but at least the boat was stuck in the sand afterward and I didn’t have to worry about it slipping back out from under us.”
“That must have been the Crissy Field Beach,” Frank said absently as he continued to scan the area outside for any threats.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Wanda replied, glancing toward Frank.
“I cracked my head on the side of the boat when we hit the sand, too!” Nevaeh said, looking up toward Harry and rubbing lightly at the spot. “Hurt just a little but I didn’t tell Gran.”
“You are very brave, Nevaeh,” Harry said smiling.
Wanda again stroked the girl’s hair and continued with the story. “I knew we had to move right away. I’d left the tire iron back at the boat ramp, so I took a minute to look for something else. Apparently the owners of that boat didn’t prep well for these sorts of situations. Couldn’t find a thing. Not really certain what I would have done with a weapon, but would have felt a lot better if I’d had something.
“It was beginning to get dark and really cold. Fog was coming in, too, but thought it might be better if we waited on the boat until full dark. I’d found a flashlight, so at least we could see. By the time it had gotten dark there was a heavy fog in the area. It almost felt like it was drizzling rain. We climbed off the boat and headed toward what I thought at the time was the main part of San Francisco. That was some scary shi…” Wanda began but caught herself, glancing to her granddaughter. “That was some scary stuff. We saw a lot of shapes in the fog but it seemed as if they weren’t paying much attention to anything. That’s because of the fog, isn’t it?” she asked, looking to Harry.
Harry nodded. “It appears that the Zs want nothing to do with water on any level. The fog seems to disorient them.”