by Gary Chesla
He struggled trying to pull himself up and started kicking at the zombie that had attached itself to his foot.
“Pull,” Mike shouted as he kicked, “something has my foot.”
Linda pulled as hard as she could, finally Mike made it into the attic.
He quickly sat down and examined his foot to see three teeth stuck in the leather at the end of his shoe.
He quickly pulled off his shoe and checked his toes.
“Thank God, it didn’t bite through my shoe and break the skin,” Mike said as Linda and Jamie threw their arms around him and Linda gave him a kiss.
Mike kissed Linda and Jamie, then said, “We can finish this later. We have to go. Tony is outside in the car waiting to get us out of here.”
“Can we go eat now?” Jamie asked.
“Soon, I hope,” Mike replied.
“Where are we going to go?” Linda asked.
“Anywhere we can,” Mike replied as he started herding his family over to the hole in the roof. “It’s bad out there, but we can talk about that when we get to some place safe. We have to hurry.”
When they reached the opening, Mike climbed out on the roof.
Jamie pushed George up towards Mike.
“You first,” Mike smiled.
Jamie handed George to Linda and reached up to her dad.
Mike grabbed Jamie’s arms and pulled her up on the roof.
“You sit right here and don’t try to move anywhere,” Mike said. “Are you OK if I let go of you?”
Jamie nodded as she looked out over the neighborhood roof tops.
She was excited because she had never been on the roof before.
Mike took George from Linda and handed him to Jamie.
Linda came crawling out onto the roof next.
Nervously hanging on to Mike she said, “This is high. How are we going to get down? Does Tony have a ladder?”
“We’re going to climb down,” Mike replied. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
“Who is going to help you?” Linda asked as she looked around the yard.
“Where is Tony?” Linda asked.
Mike looked down at the road but he didn’t see Tony or the Buick.
“He is probably trying to lead the zombies away from the house so it will be easier for us to get to the car,” Mike replied. “We need to get down on the Garage roof and wait for him.”
Linda looked down over the roof and then at the Garage roof below, “OK?”
“Here, I’ll take George until we all get over to the Chimney,” Mike said. “I want everyone to scoot over to the chimney on their butt. Don’t try to stand up or crawl, scoot to the chimney nice and slow.”
Jamie scooted over to the chimney in a few seconds, turned and smiled.
“I don’t like heights,” Linda said looking at Mike, “don’t go too far away from me. OK?”
“I’ll be right here,” Mike said. “Just move next to me. We are going to stay near the top until we get above the chimney, then we’ll slide down to the chimney. Just hold on to my arm.”
Mike and Linda moved slowly across the roof, then slowly moved down next to Jamie.
“Now what?” Jamie asked.
“Now we are going to climb down the chimney,” Mike said.
Jamie looked down off the roof as Linda looked at Mike, “You’re kidding, right?”
“Can I go first?” Jamie asked as she slid closer to the edge of the roof.
Mike grabbed Jamie by the arm and pulled her back up to him and Linda.
“You and I are going to climb down together,” Mike said as he handed George to Linda. “I want you to climb on my back for a piggyback ride.”
Mike used both hands and lifted Jamie over his head and dropped her down on his back.
“I want you to hang on as tight as you can,” Mike said, “and maybe close your eyes.”
“I will,” Linda replied.
“You can close your eyes too if you want, right after you help me climb on to the chimney,” Mike replied. Now even Mike was getting nervous at this point.
“How am I going to do that?” Linda asked.
“Just hang onto my arm to balance me until I can get my feet planted on the chimney,” Mike answered.
Linda hung on to Mike’s arm as he slid closer to the edge of the roof and very slowly lowered his right leg and felt for the first step on the chimney.
Then very slowly, he lowered his other leg, finally getting both of his feet firmly on the four-inch ledge.
After the first step down, Mike began to feel more confident and quickly descended the side of the chimney to the garage roof.
After putting Jamie on the peak of the garage roof and convincing her to stay put, Mike climbed back up and brought George down.
Mike then went back up to get Linda.
“Is this where you tell me to climb on your back for a piggyback ride?” Linda asked when Mike’s head appeared above the edge of the roof.
“Not quite,” Mike replied as he watched Linda’s hands tremble. “I want you to get on your hands and knees with your back to me. Move back towards me and I’ll help you get down on the chimney. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you between me and the side of the house so you can’t fall.”
It was a slow process, but Mike finally was able to get Linda down to the garage roof.
Then they all sat down on the hot shingles and waited for Tony.
Linda sat on one side of Mike and Jamie on the other side.
Mike held them close to him.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it home,” Mike finally said. “It was unbelievable out there.”
“What happened to Ryan?” Linda asked. “It dawned on me while I was in the attic with nothing to do but stare at the rafters, that you didn’t mention Ryan any time we talked on the phone. Did something happen?”
Mike nodded and glanced down at Jamie, who was now sleeping against his side, before looking back at Linda.
“It happened Saturday,” Mike said quietly. “We saw this guy staggering into the clearing behind the outhouse. I had to use the outhouse. Ryan had a few beers and had to be Mr. Bigshot. He went out to see what the guy was doing on our property. When I came out of the outhouse, the thing and I do mean thing, was all over Ryan. I went and knocked the guy off Ryan, but it was too late. I almost lost my lunch when I saw what it had done to Ryan.
It had ripped out Ryan’s throat and half his face was gone.
The next thing Tony and I knew, they were coming at us from everywhere. We locked ourselves in the cabin. It was all we could do to keep them out. It took us two days to find a way out of the cabin.”
“That sounds like what I saw happen to Mr. Ramsey,” Linda said then asked. “How did you get out of the cabin?”
“We pulled up a few floor boards and crawled out under the cabin,” Mike replied. “We had to walk to the nearest town because Ryan had the car keys and we couldn’t find his body. At first, we thought the zombies had dragged his body away, but after we ran into a guy in Twin Rocks, we understood why we couldn’t find his body.”
Linda looked at him, “Why?” she finally asked.
“Because he got up and walked away,” Mike replied. “If you get bitten by one of those things, you die and then you become one of them.”
“Shit,” Linda said softly. “I can’t believe this is really happening here.”
“It’s more than here,” Mike said. “On our trip back we only saw a total of ten living people. Cherry Tree, Twin Rocks, East Conemaugh and Johnstown are gone. There isn’t anything left. This one old guy we talked to in Twin Rocks said he had listened to the news up until the time all the TV and radio stations went off the air. He said the whole country is gone.”
“That can’t be true,” Linda said.
“I don’t want to believe it either,” Mike replied. “But I haven’t seen anything to make me think otherwise. Those things are everywhere. Thank God for the new bypass they put over Johnstown. There is no way
anyone could get through the city. There were thousands of those zombies staring up at us as we drove over town.
If it wasn’t for you and Jamie, I wouldn’t have even tried to go over Johnstown on the overpass. It made my skin crawl to see all of them down on the streets, staggering around, dragging their rotting broken bodies down the streets. I was never so scared in all my life.”
“When Tony gets back, where do you plan of going?” Linda asked.
“The old guy we talked to said it is worse where there are, or were more people,” Mike replied. “I guess we should try to go out in the country and find a quiet place to regroup. I honestly don’t know what else to do. I am hoping that when we wake up tomorrow, we find out this has all been a damn nightmare.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes, until Mike spotted the old Buick coming up the street.
“Tony’s back,” Mike said.
Linda looked down the street at the old Buick, “What is he driving. It looks like an antique.”
“It is,” Mike smiled, “but it got us home.”
They watched as Tony drove closer to the house.
Linda shook Mike’s shoulder nervously and pointed down the street a few blocks behind the car as a large mob of the dead was staggering up the street behind the car.
Mike shook Jamie’s arm, “Time to go shorty.”
He looked at Linda, “When Tony gets to the house, he’ll pull right below us. We will have to jump down on top of the car.”
“That sounds a lot easier than what we just had to do,” Linda smiled and leaned over and kissed Mike’s cheek.
They watched Tony get closer.
When he was two streets away, two men jumped out in front of Tony, waving their arms.
Tony stopped the car as the two men ran over to the driver’s window.
Linda gasped when the two men yanked open the driver’s door and tried to pull Tony out of the car.
Mike sat up and stared down at the sight.
“Shit!” Mike said, torn between jumping off the roof and running to help Tony and staying here to take care of his family.
Mike finally relented and stayed with Linda and Jamie when he realized that he could never make it in time.
Whatever was going to happen, would happen before he could even get close to the Buick.
They all stared as Tony finally grabbed the car door and pushed it hard into one of the men, knocking him to the ground.
Tony punched the other man, jumped back into the car, threw it into reverse and backed up twenty feet.
The engine roared as Tony put the car in gear, popped the clutch, shot forward and ran over the two men when they ran in front of the car, trying to stop Tony a second time.
“My God,” Linda cried, “Tony ran over those two people. Why would he do that?”
“Because they were trying to steal the car and kill him,” Mike replied flatly. “The old man that I was telling you about told us not to trust anyone. He said that anyone still alive were getting desperate and are as bad as the dead. He warned us to watch our backs because anyone we might run into out here would probably kill us so they could take anything we had.”
Linda just stared, speechless.
The old black Buick swerved off the street and pulled up to the side of the garage.
Mike jumped down on the roof of the Buick, holding George in his right hand.
Linda lowered Jamie next, then Mike helped her get down next to him.
They all slid off the car.
Mike opened the door and held the seat up for Linda and Jamie to crawl in the back seat.
Linda looked warily at the blood smeared sides of the car, and the bloody cracked windshield.
Then Mike followed and hopped in the passenger’s seat and slammed the door.
“What took you so long?” Mike asked.
“A couple of assholes wanted to chat,” Tony replied. “Hi, Linda. I’m glad to see you and Jamie are OK. We were worried about you.”
“Thanks,” was all Linda could say.
“Where to?” Tony asked.
“Let’s try to get back out on Route 271 and head up over the mountain,” Mike replied. “We need to find someplace quiet to get some rest and decide what the hell we are going to do next.”
“We’re going to need to find some gas soon too,” Tony replied as he shifted into gear and drove around the block to work his way out of Mike’s neighborhood. “This thing is running on fumes.”
Linda stared out the window as the car left her block and drove onto 271 to skirt around Westmont.
She stared at the bloody streets, the abandoned bloody cars and houses, at the haunted ghost town that she had called home for the last five years.
It was her first look at the world outside her house since this nightmare had started.
It was her first look at the new world, but it was only the beginning.
The sights got worse as they drove away.
Chapter 30
May 11th, Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada
The Captain sat on the chair next to the doctor and stared at the screen.
“I don’t know Doc,” the Captain said. “It’s possible, but there could be nothing there. How they hell would we survive? It’s a long shot.”
“With all due respect, the long shot is us staying here,” Doc said. “We lost thirty-five more men today. None of them received injuries from battling the dead today, but from the infection that has been spreading through the base. They acquired the infection from just being here on the base. Captain, have you been out to Hanger Four? It is a fucking nightmare out there. Those were our men and we are putting more of our men out there every day.
I know the infected will be attacking the base again in the morning, but even if they decided to go somewhere else and left us alone, by tomorrow night, there may not be any of us left.”
The Captain turned and looked at the screen again.
“What guarantee can you give me that if we went to Granite Mountain, the infection wouldn’t follow us there?” the Captain asked.
“None,” Doc replied. “I can only guarantee you that if we stay here for another day, we will all die. At least there we may have a chance. Even if the survival vault isn’t there, it’s isolated. It’s a place the infected can’t go and if I’m right, we only need to survive there for a few weeks. With our limited options, I believe this location gives us our best chance to survive.”
The Captain sighed, “In your opinion, we have no choice?”
“That is my opinion, Sir,” Doc replied. “This virus is out of control. We can’t stop it, not here! Our only chance is to evacuate the base and start fresh someplace else, someplace clean. In all honesty, it might already be too late.”
The Captain sat back and rubbed at his forehead.
“OK, Doc, you’ve convinced me,” the Captain said. “I guess I always knew that this day would come. After the way the infection started spreading through our ranks, then watching our munitions begin to dwindle as the hordes of the infected invaded our base, I knew our time was quickly running out. Since I know we can’t win this one, the next best thing I can do is try to save as many of my men as I can.”
The Captain picked up the radio.
“Sanders!”
“Yes Sir, Sanders here,” came the reply.
“I want all our pilots to get their planes fueled up and be ready to take off in ten minutes,” the Captain said.
“Are we going to bomb the infected coming in from the south?” Sanders asked.
“No,” the Captain replied. “I want the planes fully armed and stocked with supplies. All of you but two planes will be flying over to the Granite Mountain Records facility. I want them to try to make contact with anyone at the facility. You should be able to land your planes on Canyon Road in front of the facility. If once you arrive on site, you don’t feel that you can land safely, bail out over the facility. At this point, the planes are expendable, it’s our men that are important. If you
cannot contact anyone, I want you to set up a secure perimeter at the north end of Canyon Road and wait for the rest of our men to arrive.”
“Are we evacuating the base?” Sanders asked.
“Yes, we are,” the Captain replied. “I believe it is no longer possible for us to hold the base and survive. We are going to regroup at Granite Mountain while we can.”
“May I request to be one of the two pilots that will remain here at the base?” Sanders asked.
“Negative, I want you in charge at Granite Mountain until I arrive,” the Captain replied. “Understood?”
“Yes, Sir,” Sanders replied.
“I would also like for your men to squeeze in as many supplies as they can into the cockpit with them,” the Captain said. “We will need everything you can carry and if possible, have your men contact me once they have landed.”
“Will do, Sir,” Sanders replied and the radio went silent.
The Captain looked at Doc as he picked up the radio again.
“Edwards?”
“Edwards here,” came the reply.
“Edwards, I want you to recall the engineers and have them fill the trenches with jet fuel. Place a tanker half full of fuel in the center of each trench, then get back to base,” the Captain said.
“Are the infected here already?” Edwards asked.
“Not yet,” the Captain replied. “I want you to take our two Seahawk helicopters, load each with fifteen men, enough fuel for the return flight and as many supplies as you can carry. I want you to be ready to leave in ten minutes. We are evacuating the base.”
“Where are we going, Sir?” Edwards asked.
“We’re evacuating to Granite Mountain,” the Captain replied.
“That’s just about the limit of the Seahawk’s range,” Edwards added.
“Just make sure you make it, the Seahawk is the largest helicopter we have that can do this job,” the Captain replied. “I want the first bird in the air in ten minutes and keep them running until everyone is out.”