by S. Ganley
The dark shape of a tree loomed out of the storm right in front of him before he realized it was there. Garrett side stepped exactly four paces to the right and continued on intent on passing it by and then taking four paces back to the left. A burst of lightning lit up the space around him and he realized that what he had thought was a tree was actually a zombie standing directly in front of him. With its sense of hearing and smell hampered by the crushing storm, the creature took almost a full second longer than Garrett to realize what he was looking at. That single second delay was all that Garrett needed to give him an advantage. Charging forward like a linebacker he rammed his shoulders into the zombie’s chest and drove him backwards several feet before launching him onto the muddy ground. As Garrett and the zombie's bodies separated, Garrett grasped the butt of his rifle from over his shoulder and swung if forward on its sling until the foreword grip smacked perfectly into his outstretched hand. The zombie had hit the ground hard but was already reaching back with his hands attempting to propel himself upward towards Garrett. Not wanting to risk missing with a shot, Garrett drove himself once again towards the zombie while grasping his rifle tightly with both hands and thrusting it out in front of him like a spear. With his full body weight behind it, the barrel of the AK stabbed into the zombie’s cheek penetrating deep into its skull until it finally hit solid bone at the back of its head. Garrett was close enough to the zombie to feel its putrid breath against the side of his face. Their eyes were only inches apart and Garrett could see the exact moment that the barrel of the rifle found the sweet spot deep inside the diseased remains of its brain and extinguished forever the last glimmer of what passed for life within those barren and washed out eyes. Kneeling next to the limp body of the zombie, Garrett struggled to pull his rifle clear of its skull just as he spotted more movement in the woods nearby. The wind and driving rain were moving in a predictable direction at the moment so he knew that when he saw this particular motion going against that grain that it was not storm related.
With his rifle now free from the zombie’s skull, Garrett remained as still as possible close to the ground and kept his eyes focused on the spot he had noticed the movement. Several seconds went by and another burst of lightning revealed five or six figures grouped tightly together trying to push their way through a thick grove of underbrush. Garrett could see that they were hung up in the brush and working hard to push their way through. He could also see that the direction they were attempting to move was directly in line with where he believed the Ranger Station was. Whether they had been waiting for the storm or for their numbers to reach an overwhelming amount he would never know, but whatever cue they had been waiting for to move forward had finally arrived. Garrett still had the advantage of intelligence on his side. Where the zombies would crash mindlessly through the woods, he could move much more nimbly and hopefully reach Kimberly well ahead of them.
Garrett jumped back to his feet and turned back in the direction he had thought he needed to move. The encounter with the zombie had put him out of sync with his internal compass and he could only hope he was heading the right way. Throwing caution to the wind he drove hard against the driving rain, dodging and weaving back and forth as obstacles materialized in front of him. Rounding a thick tree he stopped short just before he ran up on the heels of two more zombies working their way through the brush. Their backs were to him and they hadn't detected his presence yet. Not wanting to give them the chance, he stepped up close to the first one and leveled the barrel of his rifle to within an inch of the back of its head. No sooner had he squeezed the trigger when he was already moving the barrel towards the second one. The storm had muffled his shot a great deal but standing only two feet apart it was impossible for this second zombie not to hear it. He was turning to face his companion and instead found himself looking right down the barrel of a still smoking AK. Garrett dotted a hole in his head directly between his eyes before it had the barest second to comprehend its pending doom. Before the second zombie hit the ground, Garrett was moving again, continuing on in the direction that he hoped would lead him to the front of the station. He was having trouble calculating the distance he had already traveled since leaving the trail but thought he should be getting very close. Visibility was coming and going as the storm penetrated the thick tree cover above. Sometimes he was able to see twenty or more feet in front of him and then seconds later he would be lucky to see his hand in front of his face. He was slowing down now and trying to get his bearings. With the woods all around him filling up quickly with zombies as they also moved towards the station it was becoming much more risky to just barrel headlong through the trees. One or even two at a time he could handle as long as he spotted them before they saw him. He was more concerned about finding himself suddenly in the midst of a crowd of them. Even hampered by the storm he was pretty sure that if he had to make a run for it in the storm there was a good chance they would overtake him or at least catch up to him when he inevitably tripped and fell over some unseen obstacle.
After he covered another fifty feet with no sign of the building he was starting to feel that he may have already passed it. Remaining still he waited for the next burst of lightning and then used the brief flash of light to scan the woods in front of him. He saw shadows flitting past and could make out at least two zombies just off to his right, but he was confident they were moving in the wrong direction and he ignored them. Turning slightly to his left he waited for the next round of lightning. This time he spotted a lingering reflection through the trees and brush that appeared to be a break in the woods. Backtracking slightly and adjusting his path more to the left he pushed forward through a tangle of dangling vines and low hanging evergreen branches. Two minutes later he burst free from the woods into the clearing at the side of the station. He had lost track of time while he had been fumbling through the woods and his best estimate was that he had already spent close to forty minutes just reaching that point. If Miranda followed his instructions she would be leaving him and Kimberly behind in another twenty minutes. His only consolation was that the way back should be a little easier. As long as they maintained a straight path through the woods they would hit the road at some point and should be able to easily locate the head of the trail and the rest of their group once they did.
The wind and rain were even more intense in the clearing around the building without the overhead cover of the trees to break it up. Garrett had to walk bent at the waist to push his body forward in order to gain traction against the driving winds. A branch as thick as his forearm was picked up by the wind and smashed across his chest knocking him to his knees as the air was forced from his lungs. As he struggled to catch his breath and stand back up he saw three zombies breaking from the cover of the woods off to his right heading towards the front porch of the station. He had some satisfaction in noting that at least they were having an equally difficult time in trying to make forward progress against the power of the storm. For every three feet they were able to move forward the wind drove them back another two. They didn't have the sense to adjust the profile of their body to make themselves as narrow as possible and minimize the amount of surface area presented to the force of the storm. Another flash of lightning gave him a better overview of the yard and woods around him. He could see dozens of zombies through the trees and brush heading towards the yard in front of the small building. Even with the storm helping to slow them down the first of them would only be a few moments behind him in reaching the front door.
Reaching the steps to the porch, Garrett had to grab tightly onto the wooden railings to pull himself up onto the porch against the intensifying winds. He glanced back over his shoulder to measure the progress of the zombies in the front yard and was relieved to see that all of them that had already cleared the tree line was now lying flat on their backs and struggling to regain their feet. He also saw that the edge of the yard was quickly filling up with more and more of them as they began to emerge from the woods at all points of the co
mpass. Only a thick tangle of low hanging evergreens seemed to offer a route clear of zombies for their escape. They would have to fight their way through the branches and brush, but it was a much better alternative than attempting to mix it up with zombies while also helping Kimberly along.
Garrett pulled the door open and stepped inside while almost toppling over as his body lurched through the doorway and suddenly found a lack of wind resistance. Without bothering to waste his energy trying to shut the door behind him, Garrett darted into the nearby bunkroom where Miranda had told him they had left Kimberly still asleep in her bunk. His heart skipped a beat when he found the small room deserted, the blankets of the bunk tossed haphazardly onto the floor at the foot of the bed. There were no signs of a struggle, it just looked as though Kimberly had thrown the blankets off and stepped out of the bed. Garrett checked around the desk in the lobby area and found no sign of her, leaving only the locker room left to search. If she wasn't there then he would have to leave without her, if she had left the building for some reason and was wondering around in the woods in the middle of this storm there was no way he would be able to find her. Halfway down the hall to the locker room he almost jumped out of his skin when there was a tremendous crash against the side of the building and the floor and walls shook as if an earthquake had just rattled the area. After the shaking passed, he continued to remain still for several seconds listening to the sounds of the storm lashing the outside of the wooden structure while he waited to see if the earth was going to move again. Through the din of the ongoing storm he detected a piercing scratching sound almost directly over his head that dropped off towards the back of the building and was followed by a dull thud which gently rocked the building once more. A tree must have blown onto the building and then slid off the roof into the woods behind it. He counted himself lucky that the building was solidly built or the tree may have crashed through and added even more of a challenge to his day if it didn't just kill him or Kimberly out right. He doubted they would get that lucky again, most of the trees surrounding the building were very big, tall and old, if one of the taller oaks was knocked over next it would cut right through the building and reduce it to a pile of kindling. Racing down the hallway, Garrett charged into the locker room and found a single stall door closed with a pair of feet visible underneath.
"Kimberly" he called out.
"Ahhh, Garrett. I'm not feeling well. Please give me a minute." Her voice sounded weak, but articulate. Garrett was relieved that at least she had her senses about her. His biggest worry was that she would be delirious with fever again, forcing him to either carry her all the way back or fight with her along the way.
"We have got to get the hell out of here. There are a lot of unwelcome guests about to join us." He cried out to her.
He could see her feet shuffling back and forth and the crinkling of paper as she hurriedly went about finishing her business. He suddenly felt very awkward standing there in the bathroom outside the stall door while she was using the toilet, but he also knew that privacy and modesty were a thing of the past. The toilet finally flushed and Kimberly staggered out of the stall adjusting her clothing as she did. He could see that she was still very weak and frail, but at least she was capable of standing and walking. Even limited mobility on her part would go a long ways to helping them make it out of the woods alive.
She blushed with a little embarrassment seeing him standing as she stepped from the toilet. "I'm sorry, my stomach is really upset all of a sudden." She said while turning away from him as she finished arranging her clothing.
"That’s the least of our worries right now. Can you run?" Garrett asked as he grabbed her by the arm and guided her out into the hallway leading back towards the front of the building.
"Not far, I am getting dizzy just walking right now and my legs are so weak." She groaned as Garrett felt her leaning her weight against him trying to keep herself upright.
Garrett turned back towards her and held her steady for a couple seconds before they tried for the door. "There are hundreds of them out there Kimberly, but the storm will work in our favor. We have to stick close together. If we get separated in the storm I will never find you again. Do you understand?" He was trying to be gentle with her after all she had been through in the last several days, but he also wanted to be firm to make sure she was clear about just how serious their situation was.
"I understand, I will do my best." She pulled away from him and whipped her hair around to tie it in a tight bun. "Let’s go."
Garrett was pleased to see the determination in her eyes and knew that she really wanted to live and would push as hard as she could to make it through. Turning back towards the door he waited for the next flash of lightning to show them the way.
#
The Range Rover was rocking back and forth from the force of the storm. The winds were coming on so strong and heavy that Miranda was sure they were close to being pushed over at any minute. She had been staring at the head of the trail for the last fifteen minutes as if by her will alone she could make Garrett and Kimberly suddenly appear, nothing else was on her mind until Emily screamed out from behind her. As Miranda was turning to see what the woman was worked up about she felt her seat shake and buckle as the Range Rover shuddered with a violent jolt. She whipped her head around to the side and saw an enormous tree that had toppled to the ground only a few feet away from the pair of vehicles. The tree fell from the opposite side of the road and crashed into the woods behind the Range Rover. Miranda counted themselves extremely lucky that it didn't smash into either vehicle but she knew that with the strength of this storm they couldn't count on that luck holding out forever. Even if they didn't end up pancaked by a giant tree there was a chance that the road could end up being blocked anywhere between them and the park entrance. Garrett still had several minutes until his deadline was up and Miranda intended on giving him every second and then some if necessary.
An especially long burst of lightning illuminated human shaped figures several yards back in the trees not far from the edge of the trail. Miranda shot up in her seat with excitement as she anticipated seeing Garrett and Kimberly breaking out onto the road at any second. From the brief glimpse she had into the trees it looked as though Garrett might be moving parallel to the road instead of directly towards it. Miranda thought that he may have become disoriented in the woods during and instinctively pressed down on the car horn while flashing the Range Rovers high beams on and off several times. She realized her mistake seconds later when two zombies stumbled out of the woods right in front of Kyle's patrol car and rushed towards it.
Miranda could see the outline of Shellie behind the wheel in the police cruiser shrinking down in her seat as one zombie began beating his hands against the door window only inches from her head. The second one crawled onto the hood and began smacking at the windshield in a desperate attempt to reach the passengers inside.
"Shit!" Miranda exclaimed as soon as she realized her blunder and saw what was happening around the patrol car. "Wait here." She announced to her passengers as she checked that a round was chambered in her pistol and released the safety.
She had to push hard against her door to force it open against the winds trying to keep it closed. As soon as she stepped out into the storm her small frame was knocked sideways into the side of the Range Rover. Miranda couldn't recall ever having experienced such a brutal storm before. The benefits in camouflage it was providing might very well be overcome by the damage it was capable of producing. Leaning forward as far as she could without toppling over she was able to propel herself forward at a painstakingly slow pace. Even over the roar of the storm she could hear the excited moans and growls of the pair of zombies as they continued to pound on the glass windows of the patrol car in anticipation of a delicious meal waiting for them inside. She knew that it would not take them long to beat their way through the glass and into the car. Even if they broke every bone in their hands in the process they would not stop until the
y were either dead or had their way with the people inside. Shellie was probably already waiting with her shotgun for either of them to break through the glass and would take their heads off as soon as they did. But once the windows in the car were shattered they would have no protection from either the storm or the next set of zombies that descended on them. Miranda was grateful that the storm hid the faces of everyone inside the car, she was sure that seeing their terrified expressions would through off her concentration when she needed it most. She didn't need to see them to know what they were feeling, all of them had been through something like this before. Her stomach sank a little as she thought of her own fear and terror when faced with those snarling teeth and dead eyes locked onto her.
When she was still several paces away from the car she steadied herself as best she could against the driving rain and wind and raised her pistol in both hands. Lining up a shot at the zombie sprawled across the hood she squeezed off a single shot. Before the round ever left the barrel she knew that her aim was wide. With the added resistance of such strong wind the pistol felt like it weighed as much as a bowling ball and she was finding it next to impossible to avoid a significant shake in her otherwise steady arms. In any other situation at that distance she had no doubt that she would have blown the zombies head off. With the intensity of the storm she was going to have to get uncomfortably close to ensure her next shot was a hit.