Lucille cried she was scared. No other word to describe it, but scared She had faced the prospect of war, terrorist in her city, but nothing shook her like this.
They hurried up the stairs and Tabby slammed the door. Both women breathed heavily catching her breath.
“The door solid,” Tabby said. “They can’t break it down. We’ll wait here for help.”
Lucille nodded and her shoulders bounced as she sobbed.
“Are you okay?” Tabby asked.
After a sniffle, Lucille lifted her head. “Yes. Yes. I’m fine.” She sniffled again.
Tabby’s eyes widened. “You’re bleeding. Your arm.”
Slowly, Lucille peered down and exhaled in relief. “Thank God. It’s just a scratch. I’ll be okay.” She smiled at her daughter. “I'll be okay. It’s just a scratch.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chesapeake Bay
Two soldiers, an older woman, along with Lance and Don were in the boiler room located in the basement of the school. An old metal door was the only entrance. They were boxed in, but it was their only hope.
A triple knock on the door, and Don stood up. “Yes?”
“It’s Mellon,” A man said. “I got more.”
Don undid the lock and opened the door. A female solder along with a man entered in the room with a rush. The woman carried weapons, while the man lugged a duffle bag.
He set the duffle bag in the corner of the room with what looked like other supplies. “Shut it. Lock it. There’s no going back out, yet.” The man said.
Don did. He wiped the sweat from his brow. “We can’t stay here.”
“What choice do we have?” Lance asked. “We can’t go up there. At least not yet.” He stood and paced about the mid size room. “We have water, food, weapons and some medical supplies. All hell may be breaking loose up there, but we’re safe.”
“Right now,” Don argued.
“That’s what counts. We ration. We make it last,” Lance said.
“Yeah but for how long?” Mellon asked. “How long can we last?”
“Well,” Lane exhaled. “If Dr. Klein is right. We can last longer than they can. We have to outlive the dead.” He looked up to the ceiling. “Go willing … we can.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
London, England
It had been two hours, since Lucille and Tabby shut themselves in the bedroom. Only two hours. The young soldier that arrived at Lucille’s house was in the Army only four months. He arrived on Downy Street with six four trucks, facing off the growing number of walking dead.
He and another soldier were ordered to retrieve the Prime Minister, get her from the home, escort her to a truck and get her form the city.
A simple mission.
But when they arrived, at the door was s suited man, apparently reanimated. He was missing an arm and he moved toward the solder. A single shot removed him as a threat and the two soldiers entered the house with ease.
“Prime minister.” The young soldier called out.
No answer.
“I’ll take this floor, you go up.” The other said.
The younger one agreed, cautiously taking the steps. “Prime Minister. This is Private Adams of her Majesties Army.” He reached the top. “We are here to get you and your daughter and bring …” He stopped.
The noise. It was a weird wet noise that he couldn’t place. A few steps down the hall, he saw the slightly opened bedroom door, and his heart did a quick skip of fear when he saw the hand. It extended out, not moving and raising his weapon, the private walked to the door. “Prime Minister.”
Using his foot he pushed the door. At first it didn’t budge. He didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out it was the body. He pushed a little harder and the door opened enough to expose the face of a young woman. Her eyes wide, mouth open as if screaming for help. Her arm extended as is she had tried, but failed, to get out.
Another shove of the door and the young private was greeted with a snarl and the sight of the Prime Minister kneeling over the body of the younger woman. The stomach of the girl was complexly open. Internal organs dripped from the prime minister’s mouth to her bloody hands.
It looked like a stomach in her hands.
She snarled again as if to say, ‘Mine’.
Just as she brought that stomach to her mouth, the soldier ended it with a single shot. The Prime Minister fell backwards. Then just to be sure, and as instructed, he fired a shot into the head of the dead young girl.
Chapter Twenty-Three
North Carolina
The pilot’s name was Vetters. Jack called him ‘Captain’ or ‘Pilot’ never bothering to know his name, even after being flown all about with the man. But he did make it a point to ask his name when they arrived at the airbase.
Vetters was waiting and inside the chopper, which he flew alone, was a woman and a young girl. His wife and daughter.
He informed Jack that things were breaking down all over the place and he was in contact with a Red Cross ship just off the coast of North Carolina. The ship wasn’t registered and had plenty of room to take on survivors.
He suggested that fuel would fare better if that ship were their destination after retrieving his wife. Vetters also told him that several other pilots he knew were going AWOL, taking flight and heading to that ship.
Jack didn’t care; he just wanted to get his wife and the others to safety.
He plugged Baby Jack's ears, and held him close as they flew, waiting to hear from Garrick when they were in a position to be lifted. However, signal was in and out and they were out of contact.
Last contact they were in a town called Newton and headed toward the coast.
Jack and Saul were able to devise a plan. Get everyone to the ship, and use the pilots to drop the pellets on heavily infected areas.
Help clear a path so to speak waiting on the dead to ‘die out’
Vetters was in radio contact with others. Just as they entered North Carolina airspace, Vetters informed Jack that Lance had sent out a distress call. They had been over run.
“Ha!” Dodds exclaimed. “I told you, didn’t I? I knew it. Bad luck duo. Man, stay away from them. Did I make the good call or not?”
Jack shook his head in disbelief. “Vetters, the Red cross ship. Clear of infection?”
“Yes, Sarge. But you guys have a antidote so just in case; we should be able to control it.”
“Let’s just try to get a hold of them again.” Using his radio headpiece, Jack accessed is phone. It was loud and noisy, but he heard Garrick when he picked up.
“We’re about sixty miles from the coast. Just off Wright Brother’s island,” Garrick told him. “Moving free and clear on the highway. A few cars here and there. Not much.”
“Excellent. Perfect.” Jack looked at a map. “You must be on 64.”
“Just passed the exit for Williamston.”
“Stay the course, when you get to Plymouth, find a place wide enough for us to land and we’ll get you there. We’re close. About twenty minutes.”
“Should be arriving the same time as you …”
And then for as hard as it was for Jack to hear him before, Jack heard it loud and clear when Garrick blasted the word, ‘Fuck!’
<><><><>
`The free and clear Highway 64 came to an end. Not literally, but their passage on it did.
Like hitting a wall of fog, up ahead was a cluster fuck of congested traffic unlike Garrick had ever seen or even imagined. All four lanes the side of the road and the middle … cars and trucks.
“Garrick?” Jack called out.
“About a mile up ahead all I see are cars, Jack, cars that are stopped. They got both lanes. Looks like every car in North Carolina is on this road. No way are we even getting any further.”
“Then pull over. Stay put. We’ll find you.” Jack said. “We’re close. We are very close.”
Garrick set down the phone and looked at Lil. He pulled the SUV off to the bane
of the road and turned off the ignition.
“What now?” Lil asked.
“He’ll find us.” Garrick looked to his right and to the fields. They had growth, not much. Corn, mid stock height and green. He figured that was where Jack and they would probably land and they’d have to trek through the vegetation. “He’ll find us.” He looked down to the phone. “Can’t be many choppers flying overhead, right?”
Lil nodded. “Right.”
“We got about twenty minutes to a half hour.” Garrick looked to the back seat. “We need to unload, and get ready to walk.”
“Walk where?” Irma asked. “I have two children here, where are we going to walk?”
“Chances are Jack is gonna grab us out in that field.” Garrick pointed. “If we’re ready to go, it may stop people from trying to get to the chopper as well.” He opened the car door.
Lil opened her door as well and walked around the SUV with Garrick. She figured they’d decide what they were bringing. She hadn’t a clue where they were headed or going.
“We wait. We hang tight and wait.” Irma held Jerry, and kept Timmy close to her. She shifted her eyes around to the field. It worried her. But she was grateful that the grain wasn’t so high that it camouflaged a undead.
A car or two on the vacant highway passing by wasn’t much, but it added up. Within a few minutes, the mile distance shortened, and as it approached the twenty minute mark, they were no longer the lone vehicle on the side of the road.
Garrick worried.
The constipated highway backed up not only to them, but behind them.
Where was everyone coming from? It was an enormous exodus from the state.
“All these people.” Lil told him behind the SUV. “They’re gonna run for that chopper.”
“I know.” Garrick exhaled. “We have to call Jack.”
Lil agreed and walked to the front of the SUV.
“What’s going on?” Irma questioned. She hadn’t moved with the boys.
“Oh, he wants to call Jack. All these people.”
“Maybe we should start heading to the field?”
“We should see them soon.” Lil opened the car door, grabbed the phone, then looked to the sky. “We have to. I can’t hear them. I wish we could hear them.”
“The horns,” Irma said. “What in the world could they be beeping at? They’ve been beeping like that forever. And the seagulls. Why are we hearing seagulls so far away from the ocean? Do you hear them?”
“Is that seagulls?” Lil asked. “It sounds like …”
Irma’s eyes widened. “Screaming.”
Lil spun. “Garrick!”
Suddenly, Timmy reached up and tugged on Irma. “The smell.” He spoke with a quivering voice. “I smell them. I smell them bad.”
“Which way baby?” Irma asked.
Timmy turned left and right. “All over.”
“Garrick!” Lil screamed.
Irma wasted no time; she grabbed Timmy and threw him in the SUV. “Garrick, come on, we have to go.”
Lil grabbed the binoculars from the front seat, and quickly climbed up on the roof of the SUV. She brought them to her eyes, adjusted the focus, then adjusted again. “Oh my God.”
“What’s going on?” Garrick asked.
“Do you not hear that? The screaming. The horns. Look.” She handed him the binoculars.
Garrick took one look and shoved the binoculars her way. “Get in the truck. Now.”
Lil looked behind her, traffic was backed up. “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know, just … hurry.” As Garrick grabbed the door to get in, he no longer needed to use binoculars. It wasn’t just hoards of undead moving through the cars, grabbing people, but something else, something leaping, fast and focused. They jumped on cars, on people, swiping down, taking a bite and moving on.
He got in the car and started it.
“The smell,” Timmy said. “They’re here. They close.”
Irma pulled him tighter.
“Hang on to the kids. It’s gonna be bumpy.”
They grew closer and it was then Garrick saw what the fast moving objects were … kids. Children, hundreds of them. They moved viciously and pounced on anything in their path.
With a jerk of the wheel he ordered Lil to call Jack, took a look at the oncoming wall of racing deadly corpses, and slammed his foot to the gas,
Jerry screamed as he bounced violently in Irma’s arms when the SUV sailed off the side of the road, careening down hard into a ditch.
Garrick heard the crack of the tie rod and pop of the tire but knew he had to get going.
As the SUV sped into the wall of foliage, he spotted the chopper in the sky.
‘Jack. Jack. Oh, God, Jack.’
“South. Tell him south. In the field.”
“South we’re …”
Scream.
“What the hell?” Jack asked. “Lil!”
The phone went dead.
“Dear God.” Saul said looking out the chopper window. “Tell me they aren’t in that.”
Jack saw. It was mayhem below. So many undead moving about. So much blood that they could even see it from the sky. The closer to the coast, the less movement. But the closer to the end of the highway, things moved fast. Jack knew exactly what they were.
It was obvious that infected were near the coast and they just made their way through the long line of traffic and people waiting to get off the mainland.
“Got a visual,” Vetters announced. “Right there. Moving across the fields. “Gonna land just head of them.”
Jack smiled. They only needed to hold on a little bit more.
Two things Garrick watched for. The chopper and the rearview mirror.
Cars followed, people ran. They obviously saw the chopper.
He released an exuberant, “Yes!” when he saw the chopper staring to descend. “When we get close. Run low, Run fast. Don’t look back.”
“I can do that,” Timmy said.
“Someone has to carry Timmy,” Irma said. “I don’t want him running. Someone has to carry …”
“I got him,” Garrick said. He knew they didn’t have far. The SUV thumped and banged and was hard to maneuver, and they it stopped. The engine ran, but the car did not. The growth was thick and it intertwined beneath the wheels. “Now we book. Run for the chopper.”
He opened the door, then flung open the back, grabbing on to Timmy.
Jerry tucked in her arms; Irma stumbled out the open door.
Lil waited, grabbing her arms.
“No, go.” Irma urged. “Run. We’ll be fine. Go.”
“Not without you.” Lil grabbed her arm and ran with her. “We make it together or we don’t go.”
Garrick was far ahead of them with Timmy in his arms, heading right to the chopper. Lil and Irma weren’t that bad. Lil took a second to peer over her shoulder, she shouldn’t have. She grew even more frightened and felt as if she and Irma couldn’t run fast enough.
Jack opened the chopper door with his free hand. He wanted to be relieved when he saw Lil, but he couldn’t. Behind them in the field, people ran with desperation, but leaping undead tromped them and one by one they disappeared into the fields. The flowing wall of death moved closer to his wife.
Saul didn’t hesitate; he jumped from that helicopter and ran for Irma.
Jack turned to Dodds and handed him Baby Jack. “Watch my baby.”
“With my life.”
Weapon around his shoulder, Jack pulled it forward and jumped from the chopper as well.
Garrick only knew Saul from pictures. He had never met him, but knew it was him when he passed him in the field. An older man, curly gray hair running fast toward Irma.
The second Garrick got to the chopper, he placed Timmy inside. “Stay.” He said. “Don’t move. Inch back.”
“Where are you going?” Timmy asked.
“Have to help the others.”
He turned around. The wall of fast moving undead was
taking out the survivors and while still a distance, were closing in on Lil and Irma. The screams of those going down were paralyzing.
Irma swore she was going to have a heart attack. Her heart pounded in her chest, she was winded and Jerry grew heavier, but she filled with renewed excitement and rejuvenation the second she saw her husband. She felt Lil’s hand release her arm and Irma and Jerry charged to Saul.
It had been so long since she had seen him. The man she dedicated her life to, worried about and loved was right there. She growled out a chesty and relieved. “Saul!” As she plowed into him.
Saul’s arm greeted her with a fast embrace, but only for a split second. He pulled on her, bringing her to the chopper.
Jack.
Lil wheezed out and gave it her all, the last few steps of her run, slamming into Jack and finally, feeling the relief of safety in his strong arms. Ensuing danger behind her be damned. Jack had her. She was safe.
He nearly lifted her from the ground, when her body gave way from exhaustion. His hand held tight to her face, lips plastered in a strong hold to her head and Jack carried her the remaining twenty feet to Garrick and then to the chopper.
“Should we take them out?” Garrick asked.
“Don’t waste shots. Let’s go.” Jack lifted Lil inside. Waited on Garrick and then he too got inside the bird.
The second Lil sat down, she felt better. Then she saw the baby.
“You all right?” Jack asked her with a kiss.
“Yeah. I am now.”
He smiled then reached to Dodds, grabbed Baby Jack and handed him to Lil. “Hold him.” He kissed Lil. “A surprise for you. Ours now.”
Her eyes shifted to Garrick. “This is the little something he picked up?”
Irma chuckled an airy laugh. “I don’t think what we got at Rite Aid is gonna compare.”
Happy, fast reunion over. Vetters announced “We need to go now!”
“Get ready to lift.” Jack reached for the door. That’s when he saw her. A woman ran in the field, but she wasn’t alone. In her arms was a child. The child was small, probably a toddler.
Zombie Battle (Book 5): Survive Page 7