by Morris, SJ
Jimmy drew his pistol, pointing it down the hall at the rotting arms now reaching through the boarded-up window. “What are we going to do with her?” he said, pointing at Tabitha.
“The only thing we can do,” I replied. “Tabitha, if I let you go, you aren’t going to fight us, are you?”
“No... I promise,” she responded through her tears.
I used the knife I had taken from Jimmy to cut the cord from her wrists, and I helped her to her feet. Tabitha immediately hugged me, sobbing into my chest.
“Thank you, Kamil. I’m so sorry you lost your girlfriend, but I’m thankful that you told me what happened. I needed to hear that. I’m just an old woman, and my mind isn’t what it used to be. I’m sorry... to all of you. I’ve hurt so many people hoping it would bring back my Harry. I’m sorry,” Tabitha whispered as she hugged me again. “I’m sorry I didn’t kill you all the second you showed up at my home!” she screamed, taking the knife from me and stabbing me with it.
Lynn screamed and reached out for me while Tabitha ran from the kitchen to the front door opening it and turning quickly away from the arms of the undead to run up the stairs.
I fell to my knees in pain as I clutched the blade sticking out of my side. Lynn was next to me before I could topple to the floor completely, pulling me up and under her shoulder.
“We have to get out of here, now!” Jimmy shouted. “She let the infected inside.”
“All of the other windows and doors are boarded up, there was an exit in the basement, I think,” I coughed out.
Jimmy led the way, Lynn partially dragged me along with her. We dodged the rotting infected hands reaching for us as we ran down the hallway. Lynn pulled me along down the wooden stairs as Jimmy closed the door behind us.
I certainly didn’t miss the smell of this awful place. I hated being down in this basement. I thought this is where I was going to die when I was tied up down here as Tabitha’s captive, but with my new injury, I feared I might still end up dying down here.
Just as we made it to the bottom of the stairs, the undead began to beat at the door, trying to get to us. By the sounds of the cracking of the wood, it seemed like we didn’t have much time to get out before the old door gave way.
I pointed towards the edge of the basement, where I saw a small sliver of light. There was a set of stairs leading up to heavy steel cellar doors that were locked from the inside. Thankfully, Jimmy still had the keys he took from Tabatha as he tried each key on the lock. One finally opened it, and he forced the heavy door open a crack to peek outside.
It appeared all of the infected outside were busy pouring through the front door on the other side of the house, so it was clear for us to exit. Jimmy went out first, making sure there were no undead in our path, and Lynn helped me up the stairs.
It was early afternoon, and the sun shone brightly through the trees momentarily blinding me as we exited the cellar doors. I listened as the wind carried the distant moaning of the infected still overwhelming Tabitha’s home and the shrieking cries of her cats fighting them. I didn’t know what had become of Tabitha and her felines, but after what she did to me... to all those other people... I guess she was getting what she deserved. I still couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit sorry for her. This plague had driven us all a little crazy, but that was still no excuse for cold-blooded murder.
I hobbled as Lynn dragged me through the thick overgrown grass towards the woods. We ran as fast as possible with my injury, and thankfully it appeared that we had gotten away from Tabatha’s house of horrors without any of the undead following us.
We made it to the embankment where our quads were still sitting, waiting for us. Lynn laid me on the ground, gently. She grabbed a first aid bag from the back of her ATV, and Lynn ripped my shirt open and pulled the knife from my side.
Thankfully Tabatha wasn’t as strong as she had hoped, and the blade didn’t go entirely inside my abdomen. The knife had somehow avoided puncturing any of my major organs. I had dodged a real bullet with this one. Lynn gave me a few stitches, bandaged me up, and we got my quad unstuck. Then we were finally on our way to the Wawayanda compound.
I hoped the rest of our trip was uneventful. Being drugged, held captive by a lunatic, stabbed, and then running for my life away from the infected and a horde of crazy kitties... I have most certainly had enough excitement for one day.
Chapter 12
Jimmy Smith
It felt good to be back on the ATV’s, like we were truly safe from the terror we had just escaped. I found myself turning around every few minutes to make sure all of us are still together and that we weren’t being chased by the horde of disease-riddled undead.
I had finally begun to relax when we came to an intersection littered with bodies covered in black blood and gore. They were definitely infected since most were missing vital body parts, and all were only lifeless thanks to the massive holes in their heads.
Lynn pulled up next to me. “This is where we were trapped in the ambulance. Chris took them all out, saving us,” she said, motioning to the bodies scattered around the broken pavement. “These were the ones Dr. Nasser and I were worried about,” Lynn pointed to a group about twenty feet away dressed in leather biker apparel. “These were the ones that turned within seconds.”
“Seconds?” I asked, confused.
“Yep. A group of men on motorcycles tried to ambush us, and some of the ghouls came out of the woods and attacked them. The big guy over there was bitten, and he turned before he could even hit the ground. I barely had time to register what happened before he turned and started attacking his fellow gang members.”
“Holy shit. That can’t be good if the virus is taking over that quickly now,” Kamil chimed in.
“Yeah, Dr. Nasser was quite on edge the entire time we were trapped in the ambulance before Chris and Merv rescued us. I’ve never seen her so worried. Typically, she’s all calm, cool, and collected. I knew it meant the virus was adapting and changing for the worse, but Dr. Nasser seemed to know something more. Something she wasn’t sharing with us. I just hope having Troy and Dr. Dodges from our camp working together is a good thing. I’m optimistic they can figure something out to stop this before it gets any worse,” Lynn said solemnly.
“Worse? How could this possibly get any worse?” I asked.
Lynn looked at me wearily. “It wouldn’t surprise me if this thing, this Perdition Virus, became airborne, so yes, it could get worse, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say things like that to jinx us.”
“That can’t happen... Can it?” I asked, looking to Kamil and then Lynn. “This thing can’t be airborne, right?”
Lynn shook her head. She looked exhausted. “Two years ago, I’d tell you zombies were a scientific impossibility, but now... I don’t think anything is improbable anymore.”
Screams burst from the trees lining the road we were on, and a group of ‘ghouls’ as Lynn liked to call them were running full speed directly at us. Their eyes, milky white, but still full of rage stared us down as they approached quicker than I had seen any of the infected move in the past.
“Holy shit! We gotta go!” I yelled, restarting my ATV flooring it as soon as the engine roared to life.
As we sped away, I threw glances over my shoulder every chance I got, making sure the infected were a safe enough distance away. The undead were still giving chase, shrieking madly as they pumped their decomposing legs faster. I turned my head again, watching as dozens more broke the tree line grouping together like a rioting mob of hostile marathon runners.
These infected were fast and seemed to be doing a damn good job of keeping up with us even though we were on quads. The debris in the road made it difficult and dangerous for us to drive too fast, but the alternative was getting swarmed by the pack of super-zombies. The headache I had from being belted with a frying pan turned into a full-on migraine. Sweat ran into my eyes as I sped as fast as I could through the downed branches and muck on the road. I quickly rubb
ed the salt from my eyes and turned again to see that Kamil and Lynn were having a similarly difficult time outrunning the monsters still giving chase.
I slowed just a little and took my handgun from my holster. I made sure that I kept the ATV on a steady straightforward course as I looked back, took aim and began firing into the crowd of monstrosities chasing us. My first two rounds found homes in the brains of our pursuers, but the next two only clipped a shoulder and an arm doing nothing to slow the angry mob of undead behind us.
I turned straight ahead just in time to watch Lynn ride the shoulder too close to the edge of the embankment hitting a patch of mud causing her front tires to cut quickly at an angle that tossed the back end of the vehicle up and over her head. Lynn went flying forward through the air skidding along the grassy median like someone skipping a stone on a lake.
Looking behind me, I saw that I only had moments to grab Lynn before the infected would be on top of us, so I only slowed enough to be able to take my right hand off the handlebar while keeping the quad steady. I was only going to get one shot at this, and if I missed, I’d be looking on as the undead tore Lynn to pieces.
The thought of witnessing her demise was enough to bolster my confidence and I told myself, ‘This is going to work. I’m going to grab her. This is going to work.’
“Lynn! Grab my hand!” I yelled as I approach her crumpled form in the grass. Thankfully, her arm slowly reached out, and just before I passed her, I slammed on the brakes, grabbed her forearm and pulled with every ounce of strength I could muster, tossing her wounded body behind me. She appeared dazed, but okay as she shouted into my ear, “Go! Go! Go!”
I hit the gas, and the sound of the ATV’s engine mixed with Lynn’s coughing and the cries of the necrotic abominations only feet from us roaring loudly. Lynn wrapped one of her arms around me tightly. I felt her other arm cradled up underneath her chest, pressing against my back. She must have injured her arm enough to not be able to use it without pain.
I felt her sweat-drenched forehead press against the back of my neck as her long dark hair blew in the wind around my face. My chest ached at the thought of losing this wonderful woman before I even got a chance to know her, but she clenched me tightly with at least one arm. I hoped we could make it to safety without being attacked again and get Lynn the medical attention she desperately needed.
My prayers seemed to be answered as I saw the road ahead of us was clear of any debris or stranded vehicles. We had to be getting closer to the Wawayanda compound. I remembered Dr. Nasser telling us previously that her group had cleared all of the roads near them so they could move around quickly in their ambulances.
I pushed the accelerator as hard as I could, and Kamil did the same. The noises from the pursuing ghouls faded as we sped away faster. We traveled as quickly as possible until we came to another bend in the road. We had to slow down, or we would all be having accidents.
The turn in the street led us to a bridge with a sign over it that read, Hales Hill Covered Bridge.
Lynn coughed as she lifted her head from my back. “This is it. Take this straight to the Wawayanda gates,” she wheezed.
I slowed to a stop, checked behind us, and when I saw nothing pursuing us, I gently held Lynn up as I jumped off the ATV. Lynn looked small and helpless, like a vagrant woman begging for help. Her face was swollen, and her hair was a mess, all tangled in her ponytail half pulled out and dried blood caked over her ear. Her left arm was dangling at an odd angle as she looked up at me with pain in her eyes.
“What can I do to help you right now?” I asked, not knowing what to do for her.
“Just get me to the camp. They’ll know what to do. My arm is dislocated, and I think I bruised a few ribs. I’ll be okay. Just get me there,” she managed to get out through labored breaths.
“I can pop your shoulder back in. I’ve done it before. I was a wrestler in high school, and one of my buddies used to pop his shoulder out all the time. Let me help you. This rickety bridge isn’t going to be fun to drive over with your shoulder like that. I’m surprised you lasted this long as bumpy as the ride’s been so far.”
“Fine but make it quick. There’s no telling how far behind the ghouls are, and I don’t think they’re the kind that just give up and wander away.”
“I second that,” Kamil said, anxiously looking behind us clutching his own wound tightly.
“I’m not going to lie, Lynn... this is going to hurt a lot before it feels better.”
“I know. Just get it over with, please, so we can get the hell out of here.”
Lynn winced as I grabbed her left wrist. “Shrug your shoulders up,” I instructed as I pulled her arm forward and straight out in front of her. Her eyes popped open wide and her teeth ground together in pain, but she refused to scream. I slowly and gently guided the ball of her arm bone back into the shoulder socket. It popped slightly, and Lynn let out the breath she had been holding as she flexed her arm tenderly.
“Thank you, Jimmy. Now let’s get going. We don’t need the ghouls chasing us all the way to the gates. Those are not guests I want coming with us,” Lynn joked.
It was good to see her smile, even if she did look like a homeless person that just fell off of a train.
Chapter 13
Jimmy Smith
The remaining sunlight bled from the darkening sky as we finally pulled up to the entrance of a giant fence with a sign above it welcoming us to the Wawayanda State Park of Sussex County. The darkness turned every tree around us into a nightmarish shape. My imagination was running wild as we waited for someone to come and open the gate. Lynn said there was always someone on patrol around the front entrance to open it, so we just had to wait for them to come down.
We sat there for what felt like forever when a single gunshot fragmented the seemingly calm evening.
Lynn jumped up. “What the hell was that?”
“That was definitely a gunshot, and it came from inside the fences,” Kamil replied, looking around frantically.
“We have to get inside now. Jimmy, shoot out the lock,” Lynn demanded.
Without question, I pulled my pistol from its holster at my hip, checked my magazine, aimed, and fired at the silver lock barring us from entering the park. Lynn quickly pulled the chain from the fence with her good arm and waved her hand at me to get back on the ATV and drive it through.
Kamil and I both jumped on our vehicles and started them up again. Kamil pulled through the open gate, and I followed slowly so I could hop off and help Lynn close the gate behind us.
As we were wrapping the chain around the large metal gate posts, a soft moan escaped the trees. I pulled my flashlight and gun from my holster, scanning the area. A group of dark silhouettes caught my eye as they stumbled through the thick underbrush. I lined my torch with the muzzle of my weapon and took aim as the figures lurched into the beam of light.
I walked right up to the chain-link, pointed the muzzle through the crisscrossing metal, aimed, and fired. I rotated my aim and fired again. Both were headshots.
The remaining creatures tripped over their fallen brethren and were slow to get up. It’s sad when seeing the leisurely, dumb, kind of zombies filled me with joy. I watched as the infected floundered like turtles flipped on the rounds of their shells. I again took aim carefully, and with four more shots, there were four more finally dead rotten bodies on the ground.
Lynn grabbed my shoulder gently, so she didn’t startle me. “Now that they’re taken care of, can we please head up to the Visitors Center and find out what the shooting was all about?” she said as she took a seat on the back of my ATV.
I changed the magazine in my weapon and jumped on with her, started the vehicle, and headed up the path toward where we had heard the shot.
We rode up the path slowly as the Visitors Center came into view. Floodlights illuminated the railing of the exterior decking that surrounded the center like a wrap-around porch. There were men armed with M16 rifles stationed at each of the two c
orners I could see from our vantage point.
We were far enough away that the men couldn’t see us through the trees yet, but I assumed they heard our vehicles or my gunshots as they appeared to be on high alert.
“Kam... shut the engine down,” I said as quietly as I could but loud enough for Kamil to hear me. “Lynn, are those guys up there people you know?” I asked, leaning forward so she could get a better look over my head.
Lynn grumbled, “I don’t know who those assholes are, but it looks like they’ve taken over the camp.”
“I think they heard us coming, so maybe we should hide the ATV’s as best we can and go in on foot from here. There might be more guys on the ground looking for us,” I whispered.
Kamil and I put the quads in neutral and pushed them as quietly as possible into some bushes. We tried to cover them with branches as much as we could without creating too much of a commotion.
I heard a thumping sound, and something cut the air between Kamil and I jutting into the dirt at our feet. The three of us instinctively dropped to the ground for cover.
Lynn’s face scrunched up in pain as she grabbed her shoulder. The jolt of hitting the ground to save herself from being shot must have tweaked her arm again.
“Keep your heads down and get behind these bushes,” I whispered. Both Kamil and Lynn stayed flat on the ground sliding their bodies against the grass and the dead leaves as they planted themselves practically inside the brush. “The shot came from up there on the deck. One of those guys has a silenced sniper rifle, so until we know where he is, don’t move from this position. I’m going to go around this way and try to distract them,” I said as I crawled slowly away.
The look in Lynn’s eyes told me she was worried, but I gave her a wink to let her know I’d be right back. At least I hoped I would.
I grabbed a handful of rocks from the base of a nearby tree and threw them in the direction we originally came from. I was rewarded by two more slugs hitting the trees where I threw the stones.