Undead Rising- Transcendendence Reborn

by Roberta Bliss

  “Go, Kat, I’ll get there, just go!” Mom urged.

  “I’m not leaving you here!” Kat cried and looked to Sam for an answer. “Get up the fence Kat!” Quinn held his hand over the top of the fence for her to grab on to. Sam made her way back down the fence and gave mom a shove up the fence. An angry enclave of undead began reaching for Sam and mom with bloody, mangled fingertips. Their skin was tearing away from their hands as they grabbed at mom and Sam. Sam pushed mom up the fence into the awaiting strong arms of Quinn and Bobbi. They managed the pull her to safety, but Sam was surrounded by growling, guttural zombies. The shouts of encouragement were masked by the grunting and screeching of the undead. Kat wanted to help Sam out of her predicament, but saw no way out for her. She drew back her arrow and fired off knocking an undead off their feet. One by one she managed to kick, punch and spear the closest zombies enough to allow her access to a foothold in the fence and pulled herself to the relative safety of the upper section. The undead were infuriated by her escape. They showed their displeasure by voraciously shaking the fence enough to make it rock back and forth. The group took no time to assess the strength of the fence and ran as far as they could from the horde.

  Kat didn’t think her feet could travel for another minute. Sam slowed the group to a stop near a shack inside the impound lot. The zombies were still trying to find a weak spot in the fence, but had not attempted to climb it. Kat fell to the ground when Sam stopped and had a hard time catching her breath.

  “We don’t have time for your drama.” Sam chastised Kat while helping mom to a seated position next to the shack. “I can’t help it Sam.” Kat pleaded. Kat literally ran out of steam and didn’t have the energy to defend herself to Sam’s biting remarks.

  “Sam, lay off, look at her, she lookstired.” Mom did the defending for Kat, even in her state of neediness. “Whatever.” Sam would not admit that Kat could be telling the truth. God forbid someone might hold up her plans. Did she really think she wanted to feel like this? Kat wanted to get out of there just as much as Sam did.

  Sam was sure that Kat was up to her dramatics again and Sam was going to make sure she didn’t do anything that jeopardized the group. Mom being impaired was enough to cause concern, Sam didn’t need Kat adding to the situation. The horde was temporarily held back by the fence around the impound lot, but she knew that at any moment they could breach the enclosure and they would be forced to run again. Sam planned on breaking into the guard shack in hopes of finding the keys to a drivable vehicle, if that didn’t work she would try her hand at hotwiring. Her stepdad had shown her how to hotwire the Blazer, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to remember all the steps and follow through without making a mistake. She wasn’t even sure that the vehicles in the lot had enough gas to make a proper getaway. Going to a gas station was out of the question, so their best bet would be to siphon enough gas out of a few cars before they made their getaway.

  “Olivia, let me have your hoodie.”

  “Okay.” Olivia hesitated slightly as she peeled it off. Sam wrapped it around her fist and punched through the window of the shack. She handed back the hoodie to Olivia, she shook the shards of glass out.

  As soon as the window was broken an ear piercing alarm resonated through the yard. This intensified the anger of the undead still shaking the fence. Sam climbed through the small opening she had created, but managed to acquire cuts from the broken perimeter of glass. She didn't have time to feel pain. The small shack had some useful supplies Sam chucked through the window. She found empty gas cans, bolt cutters, and tire inflator in a can. A key vault was securely closed, but she used the heavy bolt cutters to break the lock. Unfortunately the keys gave no indication of which car or truck they belonged to, they were only numbered. "We can't use the keys, they aren't labeled"

  "Well, we've got to figure something out fast, that fence isn't gonna hold them much longer!" Quinn assessed the fragile state of the deteriorating fence line. The rage of the undead had not diminished, but rather increased due to the high pitch alarm that was blasting.

  "I'll have to hotwire something! Look for a big enough truck that looks like it hasn't been here very long, all we can do is hope it has some gas left in it." Sam ordered while crawling back through the broken window.

  Bobbi already began scoping the yard and found a group of vehicles that had very little dust and dirt accumulation compared to most of the other vehicles on the lot. "This one looks good!" He assumed ownership of a late model black suburban. He didn't wait for Sam's approval, but instead used her hoodie technique to break the rear window out. "I figure this could be our assault hatch." He grinned for acceptance. He crawled in through the back and unlocked the doors.

  The suburban’s alarm sounded in rebuttal to Bobbi’s breaking and entering, that was a good sign, it meant the battery wasn't dead yet. That tidbit of luck was all they would get tonight, as the horde bent the fence down like a stick of melting butter and headed to the suburban. Sam would have to worry about the alarm drawing attention to the truck later. They had safely made it inside, but they had a gaping hole where the window was broken out. Bobbi and Quinn staked their defensive position at the rear with weapons and ammo on standby.

  "Should we shoot at them?" Quinn yelled, knowing that they had a finite supply of ammo and there were possibly hundreds of incoming targets.

  "Hold off as long as you can." Sam hesitated and broke the steering column of the suburban with the bolt cutters. She found the mass of colored wires in the compartment and pulled them out. The coloring system was pretty easy to remember. She took the red wires and bit off some of the insulation, enough so she could tie the copper wiring together. Then, she found the brown wire and did the same and attached it to the exposed red wires and, as if magically, the suburban roared to life. Sam revved the engine to ensure she didn’t stall.

  “Holy crap, Sam!” Mom was amazed, maybe not in a good way, but in their current situation she thought she was fairly thankful.

  The suburban wasn't much more of a challenge than the Blazer had been. The fuel gauge read at an eighth of a tank. Sam's immediate concern was the horde that had reached the suburban and began climbing on all sides. Quinn and Bobbi managed to shoot at any that attempted to enter the back window, but a couple had managed to grab on to the suburban as Sam gunned the engine toward the downed fence line. She swerved back and forth causing Kirsten to cry out in fear. Kat and Edie tried to calm her down, but the extra baggage wasn't helping the situation. The zombie closest to Sam's window broke it out with ease and made a grab for her with one free arm while the other held on to the luggage rack above. Sam had to lean toward the middle console to avoid his wrath. She prayed the fence wouldn’t puncture the tires as she gained speed to breach it. She tried to swerve into an oncoming zombie in order to knock her assailant off the roof, but all she managed to do was send the oblivious undead sailing through the air.

  "Way cool Sam!" Bobbi cheered, but her zombie held on. Sam traveled over the fence with a sway that she thought would send the suburban into a rollover, but it righted itself and they were off the fence and in the open field. Her attachments were not making plans to drop off any time soon so Sam recruited the boys to help. "Hey guys, can you get those things off here?" She yelled.

  Bobbi hesitated, but Quinn expertly took aim out the back window and plucked the zombie off the suburban. Bobbi felt confident after seeing that and copied the maneuver with success. They were zombieless and heading for the open road toward Corpus Christi.

  Chapter 11

  Olivia was amazed at the resilience of the worn and tattered group. They survived unimaginable odds and had the battle scars to prove it. Sam continued to swerve down the blackened highway averting cars, trucks, and SUV’s abandoned along the way. It became apparent that most of the residents of their small town had tried to make their way to the city, but for some reason or another their journeys came to an abrupt halt along the way. Many of their classmates weren’t even as lucky,
they were executed by the military back at school. The future didn’t hold much promise. Olivia had lost hope of ever finding her mother alive and she didn’t want to admit that baby James probably had the same fate as virtually everyone they knew.

  Everyone in the suburban had fallen into a fitful sleep, except Sam who insisted on driving and Olivia, whocouldn’t seem to shut her mind off. A few days ago, the biggest problem she had was what color to paint her toes so that she could show them off when she began walking without her walker. Although she was grateful for the ability to walk, she would give it all back if she could turn back time. Being able to walk and even flashing wasn’t as much fun as she would have imagined if someone had told her it was going to become a reality. She was sure if they were living back in boring town USA before the zombie apocalypse, these talents would be way cooler.

  Aunt Lizzie had begun to get some of her color back while Kat looked sicker and sicker. She fell into a deep sleep almost immediately after they had escaped the impound yard. Olivia worried the most about Kirsten. She was totally alone in this ugly world, at least the rest of the group knew each other before the end of the world. Kirsten had no one else in the world, but she managed to wrap her tiny pinkie around Sam’s heart. Olivia had the opportunity to see the softer side of Sam through the eyes of Kirsten. Sam rarely let Kirsten out of her sight and attended to her every need. She had even packed rolo’s in her backpack because those were Kirsten’s favorites.

  Sam slowed the SUV to a stop at a large pileup of vehicles along the route. “Kat, wake up.” She whispered.

  Kat grudgingly obliged her request. “Whhh…Huh? What’s wrong?” She jumped to conclusions. “Isn’t that Penelope’s SUV?” She exited our suburban and made her way to the compact silver SUV rolled onit’s side. Kat followed her lead shaking her head in agreement. Olivia followed the pair to the wreckage.

  “Sam, it is!” Kat pulled out a purse from the overturned wreck.

  “That witch! She was leaving dad behind to try to escape with her brats.” “I know S am, just let it go, we need to keep moving on. Something got to them before they made it to Corpus, we don’t want the same thing to happen to us.” Kat coerced.

  “I guess.” Sam scoffed and returned to the suburban. Kat returned to her sleeping position and Olivia watched the increasingly tired Sam get behind the wheel. “Sam, you look like you need a break, do you want me to wake up Quinn to drive for a little bit?” Olivia offered. “I’m OK Olive, besides, we’re almost there.”

  Olivia resigned to defeat, arguing with Sam was almost always a lost cause. Olivia reached into her backpack to find a small bag of almonds that she had packed and happily shared them with Sam. They had been on the road for about an hour, but the familiar skyline of Corpus was obscured by the especially dark night. They could usually see the lights of downtown, but as with their town, the electricity was out. The piles of unoccupied vehicles grew larger and increasingly impassible as they neared the outskirts of the city. Sam used the back roads around the south side of the city to try to gain access, but every known entrance route was completely blocked. It was becoming apparent that driving to the marina was not going to be a viable option with the wasteland that surrounded the city. Thier best bet was going to be to get as close to downtown as they could and then travel on foot the rest of the way.

  The auxiliary airport that the Navy used was as close as they were going to get. The airport showed no signs of military or anyone else. Olivia figured they would have used all the available airports to get people in and out of the city, but from what she could see the airport looked abandoned. Sam drove as close to the pile of cars blocking the roadway and had no option but to stop the suburban. They probably would have drawn too much attention to our group anyway with the constant blaring of the alarm that refused to shut off.

  “Rise and shine!” Sam woke up the group of weary travelers.

  “Where are we, Sam?” Aunt Lizzie questioned. “We got as far as the Cabiness airfield.” Sam explained. “I tried a couple of other routes but they were blocked too. We’re gonna have to walk from here.”

  Robotically, the group gathered all the supplies they had managed to bring this far and set off on a walking expedition as the sun peaked over the horizon. Kat didn’t look like she had enough energy to complete any kind of journey, but she managed to move one foot in front of the other.

  “Kat, are you OK?” Olivia whispered to her with concern. “I’m just so tired Olive.” She complained. Olivia looked at her sunken eyes that appeared to take on a grayish hue. She looked as if she had lost 10 pounds since they left her dad’s house if that was possible.

  Olivia had t o stick up for her before she collapsed. “Sam, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think Kat needs to rest.”

  Sam took the news from me better than Olivia had anticipated. She assumed she would argue the point immediately, but when she assessed the image of her little sister, it was not easy to ignore that there was something wrong with her. “Ok, let’s find somewhere to settle in for a while and we’ll try to wait it out till dark. It’s probably not a good idea to be traveling during the day anyway with the military looking for us.”

  This was nothing like Kat had imagined an apocalypse to be. She watched all the reality shows on Discovery channel and TLC about people who had spent their fortunes preparing for an event like this. She always figured she would be fine because she knew what to do. Boy, was she ever wrong. There is no way to prepare for this. Even with all the supplies they had at her dad’s, they ended up having to leave them behind anyway. She wondered how many of those people from the shows she watched have actually survived this far? From where they were standing, it looked like Corpus Christi was a wasteland. The sun breaching the horizon gave them clues as to the severe nature of the epidemic. Buildings smoldered in the distance, cars and trucks littered the roadways making them impassable. A gas station at the edge of the city had been completely ransacked with most of its contents spilled onto the parking lot and street. Spray-painted signs warned infected persons to stay away and that the station did not have gas. It was eerily silent on their trek to a safe haven, it was as if life had completely halted.

  No one in the group had to say anything about the scenery that slowly came into view as they walked closer into the city. It was obvious to them that their mission may not end well. They still had miles to cover in order to reach the boats. Kat didn’t even want to think about what they would do if the boats were already gone when they got there. Where could they possibly go? The city isn’t safe, even their tiny town wasn’t safe.

  Kat was hungry and tired. She wasn’t sure if it was the combination that was making her so tired, or just the fact that she lost her will to continue. It would do no use to mention this fact because Sam would go ballistic on her. How dare I complain about something so selfish at a time like this? Who died and made her boss. She knew that they couldn’t afford to be fancy free, but a little compassion and even some humor might help their sagging moods. Mom looked to be feeling a lot better, her ability to keep up with the group improved as the sun rose higher in the morning sky. The rest of them, even almighty Sam, looked like they had been through the ringer and seriously could use some food and rest.

  “What about where James worked mom? Do you think it will be safe there?” Kat knew they were close to the Animal Care Center where James worked. Kat figured a building full of animals has got to be safer than somewhere packed with people.

  “I was thinking about that too, I know where they hide the emergency key for the weekend Officers, it’s worth a shot. We might even get lucky and it might still have running water.” A smile lit up her face as their pace grew lighter and swifter.

  Kat expected undead hordes to be riddling the streets, but it appeared as if the damage had been committed days ago and left behind for greener pastures. Maybe they cleared out this area and moved on for fresh meat. Maybe they would smell the group and come back. Pretty much all the opt
ions were disagreeable. Kat just wanted to go somewhere and stretch out and eat a candy bar or two. That’s all Kat managed to stuff in her backpack that was edible and she would have to find a way to hide it from everyone else so she didn’t have to share. She knew, it sounded so horrifically selfish, but all bets are off in this apocalyptic hell. Kat loved her mom and Olivia and even Sam, but if the shoes were on the other feet she thought they would hide their stash of Milky Way bars too. Besides, Kat saw an empty Rollo wrapper in the suburban. Someone didn’t share that one with her.

  They tried to cut through parking lots and open field on their way to the shelter, but most pathways were as hard to get through as the highway had been. They had to climb over trash and parts of buildings that had been broken into. When the shelter was finally in view Kat felt a small burst of energy that she had not had in the last couple of days. She thought it was just the anticipation of eating and sleeping that spurred her on. The kennels had been opened and the fence was toppled over. Evidence of animals was still apparent, but like any living being with half a brain, the animals had fled the scene. Mom found the hidden key and they made their way into the main building. It had been ransacked like all the other buildings except the doors and windows were still intact. The walls were painted with blood, the floor was covered with vomit and urine. It looked as if a group of survivors attempted to hide out there, but obviously their plan did not last long.