Zournal (Book 6): The Final Countdown

by R. S. Merritt

  The first Zombies started showing up. Reeves stayed on the big gun while Ann and I went out to meet them. Wilson, Walker and Davis were busy getting the boat going and loaded up. We’d have to keep the zombies off them for long enough for them to get those chores complete.

  It was eerie moving through the darkness towards the Zombies. We were careful not to speak. The more human we acted at night the more likely they easily identified us as humans from a distance and charged. I think the boat had sailed on us being able to sneak up on these guys though. We couldn’t risk guns yet since we had no idea how long it was going to take for the moving crew back there to get the boat going and get it completely loaded with all the stuff we were taking. We also had no idea if we were coming back here afterwards or not so we had to make sure to bring everything we’d need for afterwards as well.

  Needing to trust that Wilson would figure out the boat loading and fueling I focused on taking out as many Zombies as we could before we fell back on Reeves blowing them away with the cannon we had on the top of the Hummer. On top of my 9 mm pistols I had a .22 revolver shoved in my waistband and a .22 rifle on my shoulder opposite the M-16 I was carrying. I had various knives strapped to me in different places and also another small .22 pistol hidden in a pocket along with a switchblade. A few grenades in a fanny pack completed my arsenal. I had grabbed a crowbar out of the Hummer to use as my weapon against these Zombies. I had it in one hand and one of my machetes in the other.

  I also had my backpack and all the junk I owned in the world strapped to me or shoved in pockets of the camouflage work uniform I was wearing. I looked like a cross between a mad max character and a guy you’d see on the side of the road claiming to be a veteran and asking for money to buy his dog water. Not caring what I looked like was one of my best characteristics. It was going to be a useful one in a second as I anticipated we’d both be covered in blood within the next five minutes.

  I raised the crowbar and waited for the first contestant. It turned out to be a short, fat, bald man wearing a pair of jeans that were permanently around his shins. The pants were held on his body by the large combat boots he was wearing. He had on what looked to have been bright yellow boxers at one time but were now faded and nasty rags flapping around his beer belly covered crotch. Thanks to the dangling pants, he had very little in the way of balance so I stepped forward and kicked him in the chest. He tripped over his pants and went down hard on the ground. I stepped over him and avoided his grasping hands long enough to sink the crowbar into his forehead.

  I looked over and Ann was crying. She was backing away from a little girl. The girl looked to be around five and at some point, in this mess her leg had been broken. It had healed back up but she had a very pronounced limp that was making her walk super slow. She must have been very close to where we were to have been one of the first to get here. If it had not been for her limp she would have already taken Ann down.

  Ann was slowly backing away from the girl. Her bat was dangling down from her hand. In the moonlight, the little Zombie looked just like a cute little girl with messed up hair limping towards Ann. This must have just been one too many children for Ann. I stepped in and shoved my Kabar though the girls back into the general area of her heart and then I helped the body to the ground as she died. Ann stepped past me and swung her bat over where my head had been. I heard the bat passing through the air and then the solid thud as it connected with a human skull. Laying the little girl down I jumped up and turned around to engage the Zombie that Ann had just whacked in the head.

  We were able to keep up with the attackers for a solid twenty minutes before it started getting to be too many and we knew we were going to get overwhelmed. With no other choice, we pulled out the .22 rifles and used those to put Zombies on the ground. We followed the same concept as we did with baseball bats and crowbars to kill them it just took less effort with firearms. When I shot the last bullet in the last clip I had for my .22 I used it as a club on some close by Zombies and looked over to see how Ann was doing. She was covered in blood and breathing hard. Here face had tracks through the dirt where her tears had flowed over the little girl. There had been more children we’d put down this night already as well. It was easier from a distance with a rifle but with the scope you’re still looking into their eyes before you pull the trigger. It still breaks your heart.

  The .22 rifles may be quieter than regular guns but they were still attracting a lot of attention from the natives. A steady stream of them were headed towards us from hiding places all around the marina. Way too many for us to stand here and try to take out. Rather than get caught out like Custer we turned around and started running back towards Reeves. Him and Walker were busy trying to detach the fifty from the turret. I looked over at the boat we had chosen and it was just sitting there. The one next to it, with a giant flying bridge, was lit up and looked ready to go. I guess we were going in big after all.

  They really could have picked a better time to try and get the fifty down off the Hummer. I yelled and pointed behind us and Walker and Reeves looked up and their gazes drifted behind us. They began frantically reattaching the gun to the turret. Ann and I got to the Hummer and turned around to face the incoming Zombies. The closest one was about twenty yards away. The main group was still about seventy yards away.

  Lungs working overtime and sweat running into my eyes I started putting rounds from my M-16 down range. The Zombies were running balls out for us so getting clipped by high velocity rounds typically made them fall on their ass whether it did any major damage to them or not. Within about ten seconds the fifty was spun back up and sending a stream of much more deadly projectiles towards the enemy. The Zombies were starting to come from both directions and the screaming noise they make was getting louder all around us.

  Reeves blew though the belt he had loaded in the gun and we all started running for the boat. The screaming grew louder behind us. Up ahead, Davis and Wilson were yelling encouragement and waving at us in case being chased by a hundred blood thirsty Zombies wasn’t giving us enough motivation. We pounded down the dock and leapt into the back of the boat. Leaping in was not the best idea in the world as all the stuff from the back of the transport was pretty much just thrown in the back of the boat now. Including the nuke. I landed on some box of something and tripped making me fall backwards to the deck and strike my head on a cleat on the deck. Blood seeping out of the back of my head I stood up to see how Ann was doing.

  Ann, Reeves and Walker were all laying on the deck of the boat and motioning for me to lay back down. I just got up! I turned around and saw the Zombies were danger close. No clue where my M-16 had wound up so I pulled out the little .22 revolver and shot it eight times then dropped it into the pile of crap in the back of the boat. A few Zombies started jumping in the boat and Reeves and Ann were shooting at them from their prone positions. I was watching for more Zombies when the boat surged forward through the water and rammed into a boat on the other side of the slip. The boat surged forward but I went backwards.

  I hit the cold, dark water and struggled to swim to the surface. A Zombie landed on me and seized hold of my hair. I couldn’t tell if the Zombie was trying to eat me or just to claw his way out of the water. Either way, I wasn’t having it. I forced myself to relax and get calm as we sank. Once the panic had sort of subsided, I felt around for my Kabar and used it to stab the Zombie in the neck. Or, at least I stabbed it somewhere that made it die since it let go of my hair.

  I broke the surface and saw where our boat was on the other side of the slip so I started paddling over to it. I heard screams and splashes behind me but I ignored that and just focused on swimming for the boat and getting out of the water. I felt something large brush past and bump me. I chose to not try and imagine what all was in the water with me. Especially as the blood should be getting into the ocean really good by now. I made it to the platform uneaten and Reeves and Walker hauled me onto the boat fast enough to hurt both my arms. They stood up and th
ey pointed behind me. I looked in the water and saw three triangular fins cutting through the water where I had just been.

  I helped Ann up and kissed her as she found a spot to bandage the back of my head and give me my daily concussion test. Wilson was working with Davis to navigate us out of here before the Zombies figured out how to run down the other pier. They got us moving down the row of boats and out into the harbor. Once in the harbor, the strong breeze brought the smell of the mighty Pacific to our noses. We were under way.

  Entry 25: The Deep Blue

  I was soaking wet and freezing. The back of my head was pounding where I had hit the cleat. My adrenaline had tapered off from all the excitement and now I just felt lethargic. Ann was digging around in the pile of junk on the deck. She came up with a new set of clothes for me to change into. At least I’d be dry. I had underwear and all that in the bag that was still on my back but wasn’t sure if it was all soaked or not. I guessed I’d find out.

  Wilson was up in the glassed-in bridge area with Davis. Walker was lugging stuff into the boat and trying to get it organized. Reeves was looking around to try and figure out how to help Walker. There was a ton of crap in the back of the boat. They must have been sprinting back and forth between the transport and the boat and just flinging stuff in as fast as they could. How they had managed to get the bomb down here that fast was beyond me. I guess they did all those push-ups and jogged all the damn time for a reason.

  I took the dry uniform Ann had handed me and went up into the cabin. Not having the cold breeze hitting me felt great. I held the door open and Ann followed me in. Davis nodded to me and asked how I was doing. I smiled and told him great. These guys were all such adrenaline junkies he probably believed me. Wilson was leafing through a bunch of charts he had found somewhere on the boat. He asked me how we were doing.

  “I’m doing good enough to be able to outswim sharks with the back of my head spewing blood so not too shabby. Ann found me some dry clothes. I’m going to go change then come back up and talk planning?” I finished the sentence with my teeth chattering and Ann pushed me down into the cabin while Wilson was telling me to take my time since he had to get us out to sea. That was going to take all his focus for a little while. The lack of maintenance on the harbors and bays meant no dredging and the buoys might not necessarily be where they were needed.

  Rich people suck. The cabin was sick. Like the nice kind of sick. Everything was leather and if it wasn’t leather it was shiny. Wood or metal didn’t matter it was still shiny. There was a comfortable as hell looking big bed on one side then other ones you could pull down. There was a full galley with an oven and a microwave and what looked like multiple bottles of wine. If I’d witnessed more of this kind of lifestyle growing up maybe I would have tried harder in college. Why wouldn’t someone want to live like this?

  I stripped down and changed into the dry clothes Ann had handed me. It was heaven. I had two spare sets of underwear in my bag that were still in the store wrapper from fruit of the loom and they were dry. Ann was poking around in the kitchen and came up with a couple of cans of Chef Boyardee. These rich people had everything! She got some paper plates out of a cabinet and started making everyone a hot plate of processed spaghetti. We ran up some to Davis and Wilson and had Reeves and Walker come down in the hold so we could all sit around and eat together. It was the first time I’d felt normal in a long time.

  Inside the cabin, we couldn’t see the outside world. We were eating hot food and Ann had already shoved some of the wine into the fridge to get it to chill. We weren’t sure if we had time to get a bit of a drink on before the next fight to the death but if we did we were going to make sure we were prepared for it. Worse case, it could be our victory dance. The boat was rolling pretty good as the seas were choppy with the breeze coming in the way it was. Reeves and Walker started talking about what had gotten saved off the transport in the mad rush to get away from the dock before we got overrun.

  They had pulled the nuke out first. Put it on the big industrial lift thing we had brought with us and wheeled it down to the first boat. They had not been able to get that boat to start so Wilson made the call to use the one next to it which they were able to get started pretty easily with their boat stealing skills. It was a course all Seals went through to enable them to get out of countries they weren’t welcome in if they needed to improvise a quick escape. It helped that the keys had been sitting on the dash. It had started up easily and had a mostly full tank of gas in it. They wheeled the nuke over to it and then had to pick it up and walk it down the gangplank going to the floating dock the boat was tied off to. They’d almost dropped it a few times and they all felt like there vertebrae had fused together from the weight of it but they finally gotten it on the boat.

  After that, they had just started running back and forth as fast as they could to the transport and grabbing whatever looked useful or was easy to carry. Walker said he was running and grabbing so fast that half the time he didn’t look to see what he was carrying until he was halfway back to the boat. They had just thrown stuff in as fast as they could and then gone back for more. They’d tried to focus on ammo and explosives. They had grabbed multiple boxed of rockets for the rocket launcher. They had claymore mines and a couple of boxes of grenades. They had grabbed ammo cans, boxes of MREs, a mortar kit and rounds and tool kits as well.

  We had a bunch of crap but at the end of the day we were six people facing off against tens of thousands of armed soldiers. If we needed more ammo then we were probably already dead. The goal was to get in unnoticed. Leave the bomb there to blow up on a timer and watch from a distance as San Diego went boom. The nuke would probably only decimate an area about the size of a city block but it would spew radiation beyond that. The noise from the explosion should attract the hordes of Zombies from as far away as LA or Tijuana. There may even be enough Zombies still wandering around the San Diego area to finish off the soldiers who survived the blast.

  We hoped they’d decide that California wasn’t worth the hassle. They’d already nuked the East Coast and having lived in Northern Korea their whole lives they probably wanted somewhere with some sun. We hoped they’d march on down to Mexico or get on their little air craft carriers and go over to Europe or South America somewhere. We didn’t care as long as they left. Or, if the bomb idea worked well, they may all die anyway. All of them dying was the best-case scenario. Actually, best case scenario they died killing the remaining millions of Zombies wandering around the West Coast. We’d still have the minor issue of a Zombie Apocalypse to deal with once we’d successfully closed out this mission. Oh well, one train wreck at a time.

  Walker showed us how to load and shoot the rockets. It was pretty straightforward. Especially if we were just shooting them as a diversion and not really trying to hit anything. Wilson came down and joined us in the cabin. Leaving Davis up there to drive the boat. Wilson pulled up a chart and told us what he was thinking.

  “I say we go out about ten miles off the coast then come in straight during the day. We land down the road from the bay and put the bomb on a truck to drive it to the first boat we find that can hold it. We take that boat with the bomb in it up underneath a bridge and either leave the boat there with the bomb in it or put the bomb up underneath the bridge. Then we come back, get in this boat, and head north for the summer.”

  We were all looking at the charts. There just wasn’t an easy way to lug the heavy, awkward bomb into the Bay without going through some sort of natural chokepoint. Wilsons plan sounded ok on the surface but it fell apart when we started working out the details for it. Our problem was that a backpack nuke did not do the damage a real warhead would do. Especially not a backpack nuke that was built sometime in the 1950’s. We needed to get it up close to the targets we wanted to make go bye.

  “What if we just shot our way in? Go the opposite of our normal stealthy entrance and go in like a herd of elephants.” Everyone turned to look at Reeves. He’d gone ahead and made himsel
f a nice glass of something red to drink with his spaghetti. “We go straight into the harbor. The first boats that come to see who we are we blow them up. We get as close as we can while dropping mortars to get everyone on land all flipped out. Then the Seals roll out and swim the bomb close to the targets and set the countdown. Then we pick them up on the way out if we’re still alive. Best case, we’re worried about them having guards and they’ve decided they don’t need anyone at the harbor entrance and we just sail right in. We will not fire unless fired upon.”

  “If it works that will come out looking brilliant. If it doesn’t work we’ll be too dead to care. Reeves, I think you’re onto something. Us special forces types do get tired of all the sneaking around and just yearn for a straight up slugging match sometimes. Let’s run through your plan and try to poke holes in it.” Wilson finished talking and bent back over the map. Reeves bent over to look at it with him.