by Mark Clodi
“Max!” screamed Bill, who charged forward to his friend's aid.
“Jesus-christ!” Javier said softly trying to aim at everything at once.
“Stop!” yelled Harry, lifting Max off of his feet. The zombies obediently stopped, as did Bill.
Up above Katie heard the crunch of feet on the gravel roof behind her. 'I gotta take this shot'. The shot was a poor one, the zombie had one of the living soldiers lifted up in the air and was swaying slightly from side to side. From her angle Katie was afraid the bullet, whether it missed or hit would travel through the target and hit the soldier as well.
“I know you are here. I can smell you, I can hear you breath, but I can't see you!” came a voice surprisingly close to behind her. “Is that a gun? Why, I do believe it is!”
Katie fired as the voice yelled, “Gotcha!” in triumph.
“Stop! Put down your guns or I'll.." Harry's threat came to a sudden, messy end. Max looked down the length of Harry's arm just in time to see the zombie's head explode like a firecracker, splattering him from the waist down with brain matter and blood. Max felt a sharp tug as something tore through his pants at the same time. For a few seconds everything seemed to stop, Max was held up high by a headless zombie, grasping for breath as Harry's hand convulsed. Slowly the strength in Harry's arm weakened, then finally went limp, dropping Max to the gore covered pavement.
Frantically Max pulled at Harry's hand, trying to get it off of his throat, the world went black and he heard Bill yelling his name. Max didn't quite lose consciousness, just his vision for a moment, then air, foul, smoky air reeking of blood poured into his lungs.
Bill supported Max, holding him steady while asking, “Max are you all right? Are you okay?”
“F-fine.” Max said through a bruised throat. Looking around he saw the zombies all standing around in the street, stock still. The zombies didn't move much, except for their eyes, which shown with a malevolent hatred. “What the fuck?”
“I know, we gotta go.” said Bill. Harry's last order was still holding the zombies in check, they continued to stare at the trio of men, but none of them took so much as a single step towards them.
Katie was grasped around the waist from behind, the arms that gripped her was like steel and she dropped her rifle as she was lifted up. “Got you! I got you! You tricksy little thing!”
Both of Katie's hands were free, the arms gripped her around the waist and started to squeeze the breath out of her. She struggled to reach the pistol she had tucked into her belt and kicked backwards at the zombie holding her to no effect. The camo suit was being torn into pieces as she struggled and finally she got her hand on the butt of her pistol. Then the building rocked sideways and she was suddenly thrown free.
“Fuck!” Max yelled as an explosion slammed into the building across the street about halfway up. Debris started to rain down on the zombie mob, sizable chunks of concrete that squashed zombies flat when they hit.
“We gotta go!” Bill said, grabbing Max and retreating up the stairs, Max managed to get one hand on his shotgun before being half carried up the stairs of the Art building. The two of them followed Javier across the lobby back towards the side exit to the courtyard they had originally entered the building through. Dust and chunks of masonry fell around them as the artillery barrage started to fall in earnest.
“Out! Out! Out!” Yelled Bill urging them through the courtyard and towards the raised street. Ruben and the other man, Chen, each had a shoulder under Stewart's arms and carried her through the explosions until they reached the marginal safety under the street. Javier shot the only zombie they saw along the way, a tall African American zombie dressed up in gold chains and a long basketball jersey. Once that weak opposition was taken care of the group made their way to the chain link fence separating them from the rail line.
“Can you stand Max?”
“Yeah. I am okay. Thanks.” said Max letting go of his friend. Bill turned to the fence and took out his combat knife, reversing it he caught the links on the back of the knife and pulled downward sharply, the wire of the fence parted easily. Ruben looked on dumbfounded, then over to Max, who shrugged his shoulders.
“Go, get down there and start heading east away from here, keep the wall next to your right arm and let's hope none of the bombs drop to the left of us.” Bill said once the hole in the fence was wide enough to pass through.
Max went down first, followed by Bill, the two of them then took Stewart from Chen and Ruben, it was a surprise to them when Stewart tried to stand up. She was unsteady on her feet and one of her eyes was glued shut with blood, but she managed a half smile as she saw Max was holding her. “Hi!” she said, “What is going on?”
“Shh...” Max started.
“You got her? She isn't the only one hurt.”
“Yeah I will start off you, catch up.”
“Keep your gun handy.”
Max shook his head, “No need. There isn't anything up ahead.”
“Good, go.” said Bill, turning to help Chen down from park to the level of the rail bed, a short distance of about three feet.
Max started stumbling forward while Stewart asked him how he was and what happened again. The others were still faster than he was and caught up with him after only fifteen or twenty seconds.
“This should be far enough.” said Bill as the bombs reached a crescendo behind them.
Turning they looked back as the street they had been hiding under disappeared under a heavy cloud of dust.
“Well maybe we should go a little farther...” Bill began.
“The boats sarge! We need to get to the boats. Like we planned.” said Javier.
Nodding Bill said, “Yeah, good idea, while they are all distracted.” He led the group across three sets of rail lines to the concrete embankment on the other side, where once again he quickly made a hole for them to pass through.
As he helped Stewart through the fence Max heard her ask, “Did we win? Did we win Max?”
“I think so Stewart. Yeah, I think we got him.”
“Good Max, that is real good.” She stood up, took a couple of steps with Bill's assistance then lurched sideways to the ground where she lay still.
“Stewart!” Max yelled, pulling himself through the fence. He rushed to Stewart's side and rolled her onto her back. She was still conscious, but just barely.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice slurring slightly.
“You fell over!” said Max as he checked the bandages on her head and looked her over. “Are you okay?”
“Sure. Fine...if I can...” and she slipped into unconsciousness.
Bill knelt down opposite of Max, with Stewart between them, “Well?”
“I don't know. She is out.”
“It is the head injury. Her skull is busted in, she shouldn't be walking around.” said Ruben, “Not that I am a doctor or anything.”
“Can we move her?” asked Javier.
“Leave her.” put in Chen, the rest of them looked at him until he looked away, “Look we gotta get moving. Max, where are the zombies?”
Max paused for a moment then said, “Behind us, a lot of them seem to be staying still, maybe buried under the rubble of the buildings. There are a bunch that way too.” He waved his hands to the north of them.
“Great. Isn't that where the boats are?” asked Javier.
Bill nodded. “Well we will skirt around one edge. Chen can you manage on your own?”
“Not too well. If I had a crutch, I would do better.”
“We'll work on that. Max are there less zombies to the east or west?”
“West.”
“That is good the boats are kind of that direction too. Now that the bombs have stopped do we take our chances on the streets or duck back down and follow the rail road tracks?”
“Through the smoke? That would be crazy.” said Chen, eying the impenetrable cloud behind them warily.
“Maybe, but we would get clear of the dust in a couple
of blocks then head straight north to the harbor. Max, can you sense anything along the tracks?”
“Well, it isn't really a precise ability. I can only sense them, it isn't like I can see a map or anything overlaying where they are. But when I look where the tracks are going I don't sense anyone in the cloud.”
“It is a straight shot, so I suggest we go for it. It won't be clear for long, I bet those zombies will start wandering around again soon enough.”
Bill turned and passed through the break in the fence, dropping down onto the rail road tracks, where he turned and waited for the others to follow.
“Don't we even get to vote on it?” whined Chen.
Ruben chuckled, “A Sergeant's 'suggestion' is the same as an order private. Let's get going. Javier, help Max out with Stewart. Chen I will help you down. C'mon.”
Once they were back into the trench that held the rail road tracks they made good time getting into the dust. The men wrapped camouflaged bandannas around their faces to keep out the dust. Max got one wrapped around Stewart's face too, he pulled it up over her eyes, which made her look all too much like a corpse to him. He was sure they had traveled back to a point where the art center was once again beside them when a huge explosion went off to their right. All of the men dropped down between the rails, Javier and Max dumped Stewart between them and each held one arm over her neck and head while the bombs continued to rain down. This bombardment seemed to last forever to Max, every time he thought it was over another explosion would go off and more debris would fly over his head. Dirt and pieces of rock were pouring down on them like a heavy rain. In his gut Max started to worry about heavier debris, when he lifted his head to see if he could spot better cover he saw a semi-tractor crash down ten yards behind them. The windshield was strangely intact and it landed upright. One of the massive front tires broke off and flew through the metal wheel well and came bouncing their direction. Max ducked and screamed at the same time as the tire missed his head by inches then bounced up and out of his sight. After that he buried his face in the dirt and found himself praying, something Sarah would have been proud of. He could see her in his mind, arms crossed and an amused look on her face. “So this is all it took to get you to accept God? If I had known being in the middle of a field of explosions would do that I might have arranged for it to happen while I was still alive.”
“Oh yeah? I don't think that even you could have arranged that.” Max said to his dead wife.
“Don't rule out my determination buster. Father O'Maly said you would find something that would bring you around someday.”
“You spoke to Father O'Maly about my faith?”
“You didn't think we just talked about our brownie recipes at all those bake sales did you?” Sarah snorted in amusement, “It was always the women, and that one guy Bob, lamenting about how their spouses didn't seem to 'get' it. That their partners needed to do more than pay lip service to the Lord. Look at you now. You are about to swear to follow his laws if he will just get you out of this mess alive. Maybe if you had been more faithful to begin with this wouldn't have happened.”
“Geez. And this is coming from a dead woman who was killed by Satan's zombies?”
“I died faithful. I am in heaven awaiting you, don't knock the Lord's ways.”
“We can talk about it when I get there I guess.”
“If you get here.”
“Touché. Why can't I even win a fight with you now. I mean you are dead and all. This whole conversation is in my mind...”
“Am I? You better thank God for seeing you through this. And don't forget your promise.”
Max thought about the promise he had made his dying wife, that he would raise the kids in religion, sighing he said, “Yeah about that...”
“You promised!”
“I will follow through as best I can. I am just really sorry we left you there.”
“You left me there? Well I guess you couldn't take me with you...”
“Well....you sort of turned into a zombie and tried to kill me.”
“Did you...did you finish me off? I wouldn't want to be running around eating people.”
“Sorry...I didn't get the chance, you kind of pushed me out of the attic. We barely got the access closed before you got down.”
“I hope the kids didn't see.”
“No, they were all...you know I am having problems breathing..Not feeling so good.”
“Max! Max!” Sarah's voice called after him as he faded into blackness.
Chapter 49
“Max! Max! Are you watching them? Stay focused buddy!” came Bill's voice.
“Sorry.” Max mumbled. Looking towards Bill's pointing arm. A couple of zombies were wandering down the pier where he now stood, they were not yet close to the car the group had pulled across the dock as a barricade.
Once the bombardment had finally ended the remaining members of the group Max, Bill, Stewart, Javier, Ruben and Chen had managed to get to the marina, where they were hoping to sail a boat out of the harbor and into Lake Michigan. Their retreat was still hazy in Max's mind, he knew they had taken the train tracks behind the Art Institute up a few blocks to get away from the artillery shells that never seemed to end. The tracks were set lower than the surrounding streets and through luck or fate none of the shells had fallen on them. The ones that burst to the sides sprayed them with dust and debris and in one memorable instance had shaken all of them from their feet as well. After taking a set of concrete stairs back to street level they had found a white SUV with most of its windows shot out, just waiting for them with the keys in the ignition. A pack of zombies had gathered around the vehicle and getting through that with their two wounded, Chen and Stewart, had been harrowing. Stewart had finally seemed to snap out of her constant dazed state when one of the zombies had grabbed her legs and started to pull her under the waiting car. As soon as everyone was loaded up Bill had outdistanced the pack of mostly slow zombies and brought them to the marina. Now Max and a barely coherent Stewart were watching the car they had parked across the pier with Chen's assistance while Bill, Javier and Ruben went from boat to boat trying to find one with a motor they could start.
The city was engulfed in a huge dust cloud that was barely breaking up in the constant wind from the lake, the sound of a helicopter could be heard, but none of them could see it.
“Hey, I brought a first aid kit I found on the boat, let's get you guys cleaned up.” said Bill, “Everyone keep an eye peeled on the car, if anything gets around it we'll go deal with it. Try not to shoot, I don't want to draw more of them.”
Chen and Stewart were standing near a guardrail at the beginning of one of the docks, both were leaning heavily against it and there was blood splattered at their feet.
Pointing at the blood, Max said, “Chen I think you are bleeding.”
“Shit.”
Max pulled open the man's trousers where Ruben had ripped them open and looked at his wound. The bandage was bright red and dripping. “Shit. We need more bandages. I don't know if the first aid has any big enough for a gunshot wound.”
Stewart shook her head, “I left my first aid kit In my pack. I haven't seen my pack since before we went into the building.” She hesitated a moment, then called out, “Hey Ruben!”
“No luck yet, keep your britches on!” the old man yelled back.
“No, is there another first aid kit, I don't think the one Bill brought will be enough.”
“Oh, yeah, hold on a second.” Ruben disappeared into the boat and came back up with a larger bundle than Bill had, the orange duffel bag had a bright red cross circled in white printed on it
“Yeah that should help keep me and Chen from bleeding to death.”
“You too?” Max asked, he hadn't noticed any bleeding wounds on her when they approached. Stewart's head had long since stopped bleeding, it did need to be cleaned, like Max the woman looked like she was made of dirt instead of flesh and blood.
“Yeah, my legs are cut up.”
Fear seized Max's heart in an icy grip, “Stewart...did they bite you?”
Stewart looked away, “Hell if I know. I haven't had a chance to look yet.”
“Here. Catch!” Ruben said from the boat. Then threw the duffel bag to Bill, who caught it and opened it up.
“Calm down Max. Just stay steady here. We can't do anything yet, but look the cuts over and see.” said Bill, “At least there is plenty of stuff in this kit.”
“Hey Max, catch this.” Ruben said, then tossed Max a bright orange case about the size of a bundle of copier paper. Max almost fumbled it into the water, but managed to knock it to the dock with his last grab. The box spilled open to reveal a flare gun with six flares. “Good catch.” Ruben said with some sarcasm, “When you see the helicopter fire off a flare, maybe they will notice and come pick us up.”
“Oh, uh, sure Ruben. Stewart get your pants off.”
“I'll handle it Max. You watch for zombies sneaking around the SUV and the helicopter.” said Bill, pulling out his knife to cut down the legs of Stewart's pants.
“Geez Bill, you are a total cock blocker, I think Max had other plans.”
Bill laughed, “Boots too.”
Max turned away and scanned the sky for the helicopter, which they could still hear, but not yet see in the dust cloud. He kept stealing covert glances Stewart's way as Bill inspected her wounds.
“Looks like cuts to me, except this one. That could be a bite. I am no expert. It looks like you grazed your foot there too.”
“Yeah I felt that one too, but I thought I just got my boot. I was more worried about shooting the zombies and not shooting out our tires at the time.”
“It was a close call.”
“Does it look like a bite? I can't tell.” Stewart said.
“I just don't know. I think you will be okay, even if it were a bite it had to come through your fatigues and I doubt it got infected. I think you will be okay. Let's get you bandaged up.”