His Name Was Zach

by Peter Martuneac

  Abby and Zach talked happily about going back to the neighborhood where they had found each other and living there. They talked about Zach becoming a cop again and about Abby preparing for high school and what she would want to do for college. They wondered if old TV shows that had been going on when the Crisis began would play again. Zach wondered how long it would be before professional sports came back. Abby started thinking about how she might become a real ballet dancer. Their hopes for the future were bright.

  My dear reader, I wish that I could follow that paragraph with ‘The End’ and be done with it. Nothing would please me more than to leave you here and pretend that nothing further of note happened in the lives of our protagonists. But this is not the end of this tale, and very soon Zach and Abby must awaken from their dreams of a wonderful life together and open their eyes to dark reality.

  Chapter Sixteen

  If there is such a thing as Hell on earth, then Little America, during the predawn hours of October 16th, 2020, was it. Gunfire of all kinds of calibers was chattering incessantly, broken up by occasional explosions. Screams pierced the chilly night air as children wept over the bullet-riddled corpses of their parents, and women of all ages who were not already dead wailed in despair as armed thugs did unspeakable things to them. Homes and businesses were being ransacked and looted, and the Town Hall itself was overrun. Mayor John Calvin was already dead. As soon as the shooting had started, he took up his rifle and his father’s pistol and ran to the battle. As he helped marshal his Guard and set up defensive perimeters, he was shot in the head, making him one of the first casualties of the night.

  Zach had woken up at the first gunshot, a habit of his from his days in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He listened as the gunfire rapidly picked up, and then the explosions started. He ran to the living room window and looked outside into the night. Fires burned in the north, illuminating much of the city. Guardsmen ran up and down the streets, setting up blocking positions on the roads. Each lamppost in Little America had a long, waist-high sheet of metal that would swing outward from the sidewalk to reach halfway across the road, meeting with the metal sheet that came from the lamppost across the street. Both of them could then be secured in place by sliding bolts into slots in the road and then locking them together with a similar bolt.

  Zach strained his eyes against the light of the bright, wild fire, and he could see hundreds of men wearing red clothes. They were on both sides of the perimeter fence, pouring into the city on foot or in vehicles with mounted machine-guns. The town was already lost before the battle had even fully begun. The Guard was vastly outnumbered and outgunned, and their several isolated defensive positions would serve only to delay the marauders long enough to allow some people to escape.

  As Zach watched this hellish scene unfold before him, a chilling realization dawned on him. He wrestled with the thought and tried to find a way to puncture it, to prove that it was not necessary. But the harder he tried to dispel it, the more he saw the undeniable truth of his thoughts. Little America was doomed, and he and Abby would have to flee.

  Abby had come up behind him in her pajamas and asked what was wrong. Zach turned around and, with a heavy heart, said, “We have to leave, Abby.”

  “Wh-what?” Abby stammered, not sure that she had heard Zach correctly. Was he really saying that they had to leave Little America? As in, forever? These were the same words that Zach had spoken back at their cabin, and this filled Abby with a sense of foreboding.

  “Get dressed in your traveling clothes and get your gun and your pack. Hurry now, sweetie,” Zach said as he walked quickly back to his room to change.

  Abby followed him and said, “But Zach, we can’t leave! Where will we go?”

  “I don’t know, but the town is being overrun as we speak,” Zach answered, already pulling his shirt off.

  Abby sniffed to hold back her tears but did as she was told. She quickly got out of her pajamas and put on a pair of brown cargo pants and a dark green long-sleeved shirt. She hastily grabbed two mementos from her room that she could never leave without and added them to her bug-out bag: the slingshot Zach had given her and her picture of her and Zach.

  Her knife was already on her belt, so all she had to do was stuff her pistol into the back of her trousers. She also grabbed her boot knife, but instead of clipping it to her waistband, she clipped it to her underwear so that it would be more discreet and less likely to be found if she were to be searched.

  She threw her pack on her shoulders, put her hat on her head, and quickly left her room. She appeared in the living room with all of her stuff, finding Zach already there and ready to go. A loud knock came at the door and Zach answered it immediately. It was Ross.

  “Zach! Diane is out there!” Ross said hysterically, and when he saw what Abby and Zach were wearing, he added, “You’re leaving?”

  “There’s no other choice. Go get your stuff and you can come with us, but hurry,” Zach answered.

  “I-I can’t! I have to find Diane! She spent the night at a sick friend’s house to help her look after her baby! She’s over by the houses they’re building!”

  “Well, we can look for Diane on our way out of the town. She can’t be far away,” Zach said. Ross ran down the hallway, and just as he did the door to Al and Amber’s apartment opened up across the hall.

  “Zach, we’re under attack!” Al declared loudly.

  “I know, get your stuff and you can leave with Abby and I.”

  “Leave? But-” Amber started to say, but Zach interrupted her.

  “Now! It’s the only way we’ll survive. Get your stuff!”

  Already the hallway was filling up with panicking people trying to get out of the building. Al and Amber knew that Zach was right, so they quickly ran back inside to their apartment to prepare for another exodus.

  Zach turned around and saw Abby staring out the living room window. He let out an exasperated sigh. He could not believe this was happening again. The sounds of battle were getting closer, as were the cries for help coming from the defenseless and the innocent.

  Abby turned back around. She was trying to keep her composure, but Zach could see how pale her face was and how badly her hands trembled when she fidgeted with her hat. Zach wanted to offer her some kind of encouragement, but nothing that could actually help came to mind.

  In just one minute, Ross, Al, and Amber had reappeared at Zach’s door with packs and weapons, as well as looks of fright on their faces. “Alright,” said Zach loudly, “everyone stick close, we’re going to be moving fast. I’m on point, then Al, then Amber and Abby, and Ross will hold the rear. Let’s move out!”

  Zach led the way down the hall, down the staircase, and into the street. The fires were spreading rapidly, keeping pace with the invaders. People screamed in fear as they ran in all directions but north, where the attack came from. “Stay close!” Zach shouted as he led the group into the frenzied crowd, and they were instantly swept along like the current of a river. They ran in a mostly southern direction, trying to break free from the oppressive crowd but unable to do so. Eventually they reached some guardsmen that were waving people around the sides or over the top of the barricade they defended.

  Suddenly, a seven-ton sped around the corner behind Zach and the others and screeched to a halt. Several men in red jumped out of the back and began to mow down the crowd with what sounded like Kalashnikov-type weapons. Zach turned around with Ross and began to return fire, but with little effect. Too many innocents were in the way still. They kept running towards the guardsmen ahead of them, who were also beginning to return fire, though with no better effect than Zach and Ross.

  Once Zach reached the barriers, he and Al stopped and turned around to ensure that the two girls and Ross got through safely. Their rifles were raised and Zach once again fired at the men in red, but he suddenly heard a loud snap to his side. He looked over in time to see Al drop his weapon and fall back against the steel barrier as blood seeped from a large bullet w
ound in his chest.

  “Dad!” Amber shrieked as she and one of the guardsmen ran to drag Al back behind cover. Zach dropped to a knee and began to return fire at the rapid rate with his rifle, now angered by the wounding of Al. While he and Amber’s father had never been great friends, they had both been Marines. Their time of service may have been separated by over thirty years, but that does not void that special type of brotherhood between Marines, especially between those who have been to war.

  “We gotta go!” Zach shouted as he came around to Amber, still shooting his rifle.

  “We can’t leave Dad!” she cried. Al was leaning against the barrier, his face a twisted mask of pain.

  Zach did a quick mag change and then resumed shooting. “He’s done! We gotta go!”

  “Amber…go…” Al groaned through a mouthful of blood.

  “Daddy, no,” Amber whispered as tears poured from her eyes.

  “Don’t…die with me,” Al muttered, he grimaced suddenly and then he stopped breathing. He was gone. Amber wept uncontrollably as she wrapped her arms around her father.

  Zach stopped shooting for just a moment and looked down at Amber and Al, his heart full of pity. Suddenly a bullet from a man on top of the seven-ton slammed into his rifle, knocking it out of his hands. Zach took a knee and glanced at the rifle. The round had smashed into the chamber and bolt, destroying his gun.

  “Fucking hell!” Zach yelled as he drew his pistol and began to shoot again, though with greater attention paid to his aim, as he did not have very much ammo.

  Suddenly, a new type of screaming was heard. All heads turned to face it as the shooting on the street Zach was on momentarily ceased, and even the men wearing red backed up and took cover. Everyone knew what was coming: zombies.

  Several zombies tore around the corner that the seven-ton had come from like an undead flood. But remarkably, they did not attack the men in red, even though they were mere feet away from them! They ran right by them and attacked the few civilians that were still in the road, taking cover from the shooting. The others came towards the barricade, but the few guardsmen who were there bravely held their ground and shot back at the zombies, killing many of them.

  “Ross, get Abby and…Ross!” Zach shouted, doing a double-take over his shoulder. Ross was gone! Abby was across the road from Zach and had been taking cover, so she had not seen where Ross had gone. She and Zach both scanned the crowds behind them, looking for Ross.

  “I see him!” Abby cried. Ross was racing through the crowd, heading west and then turning north down an alley. Abby ran off to get him before Zach could stop her, almost becoming lost in the crowd herself.

  “Abby, no!” he said as he got up and took off in pursuit of her. He moved swiftly to the side of the road she was on and began to run in the direction she had gone but he stopped after only taking a few steps. Up ahead, more men in red were shooting people or throwing them into the back of trucks. This was getting out of hand!

  He turned to shout to Amber that they had to leave right now, but two horrible things suddenly happened at exactly the same time, and Zach heard the two most important people in his life call his name.

  To his left, about thirty feet away, Abby was being tossed into the back of a pick-up truck that had been rigged with make-shift armor. Two men had grabbed her and the bigger one pinned her arms to her side while the other grabbed her legs and lifted her up into the bed of the truck. “Zach!” Abby screamed as the two men jumped in back with her and held her down.

  About the same distance away but on Zach’s right was Amber. As she cradled her dead father in her arms, a zombie suddenly burst through the large front window of the store behind her. Before Amber even realized the danger she was in, the zombie had tackled her to the ground, knocking her pistol out of her hand. “Zach!” Amber screamed as she lay helpless on her back, trying to keep the zombie from biting her.

  Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Zach looked from Abby to Amber then back to Abby. The roar of the blazing fires, the crackling of gunfire, and the echoing thunder of explosions all became a muted, distant din. Both Abby and Amber were in immediate danger, and both of them were far away and on opposite sides of each other. Neither one knew of the danger the other was in, but both had called to the one man they trusted most. Abby could not escape the two men in the truck with her, and Amber could not get the zombie off of her, and more had just come around the corner, heading straight for the barricade she was behind.

  To save Amber, Zach would have to cross back over to other side of the street. The zombie was far away for a pistol shot, was facing away from Zach so that he could not even see its head from where he was, and was right on top of Amber, making it an almost impossible shot unless he got very close to it. But by then, the truck with Abby in it would be long gone.

  To save Abby, Zach would have to rush forward and take out the two guys in the truck bed. That would be hard enough, especially while Zach was running and trying not to get shot himself, and then he would have to take an expert shot at the driver, whose head he could see through the rear window of the truck. He could do this, Zach knew, but by the time he had done it, Amber would be overwhelmed by zombies.

  Zach was caught in a dreadful, soul-tearing conflict. He loved Amber, almost enough to completely erase the pain of losing his wife so long ago. And she loved him. She was an amazing woman who made Zach happy, and she was destined to be his wife, Zach had thought. How could he abandon her?

  But he also loved Abby dearly, as much as any father ever loved a daughter. Abby was the light of his life, and if not for her influence, Zach may have just killed himself long ago. She was a wonderful daughter and one of the best people Zach had ever known. She had the heart of a lion, made of the purest gold, and she was kind, compassionate, and merciful to everybody she met. She, and the other people like her, were humanity’s best hope for the future. How could he abandon her?

  How was he supposed to make a decision? How could he leave either Amber or Abby with their last memory of the man they loved being an image of him running away when they needed him most? How could he leave Amber to be devoured by zombies, and then become one of those creatures herself? How could he allow Abby’s beautiful, delicate light to be snuffed out by these savage men?

  “Am I not supposed to be happy?” Zach thought. Abby had always said that everyone in the world was born for a purpose. Was Zach’s purpose to protect Abby, no matter the cost to him? Was he born to live in miserable loneliness so that Abby could live in peace and happiness? Time was speeding up now, and the noises around him were growing in intensity. Zach had to make a decision now.

  “Zach!” both Abby and Amber screamed in unison. What felt like several minutes to Zach had been but a moment. Zach made his choice. He lifted his pistol and ran towards Abby just as the truck began to move away from him. Amber cried for Zach again, but he forced himself to block it out.

  The truck was weighed down by its make-shift armor, so it was slow to accelerate. One of the men in the back fired at Zach with a 9mm Uzi, but Zach dropped him with a single shot to the head and he fell out of the truck. The other man reached for the dead man’s dropped gun, but Zach hit him twice in the chest, and he died slumped against the side of the truck bed.

  “Abby, stay down!” Zach yelled. The truck was slowly picking up speed and leaving Zach behind. He stopped for an instant, aimed at the driver’s head, took a quick breath and squeezed the trigger. The round shattered the back window and lodged itself in the back of the driver’s skull. The truck veered left suddenly and slammed into a building.

  Zach dared a glance over his shoulder but looked away immediately. Amber had indeed been overwhelmed by three zombies and they were literally tearing her to pieces as a fourth one chewed on her face. Her screams were terrible and would echo in Zach’s ears for as long as he lived. But more zombies raced past her and headed for the truck.

  Abby had not seen what had happened to Amber as she sat up and looked at Zach,
who was running towards the driver’s door.

  “Where’s Amber?” she said.

  “No time, just shoot!” he shouted as he opened the door. The dead man fell down to the ground as Zach threw his ruck into the passenger seat and then got behind the wheel.

  “But-”

  “Just do it!” Zach roared as he backed the truck up and then put it back in drive, flooring it as he headed for the closest exit out of the town.

  Abby followed Zach’s orders and began to shoot at the pursuing zombies with the Uzi. She had never shot an automatic weapon before, but she controlled her fire well and kept the zombies at bay. They finally lost interest in the fleeing truck and hunted down other targets.

  Zach drove as fast as he could, flying down the road and tearing around corners. The west exit was closest and was fortunately not obstructed by any barricades along the way. In less than a minute, they reached the exit but it was blocked by dozens of men in red.

  “Get down, Abby!” Zach shouted. Bullets pinged off of the steel plates around the truck as the men in red realized that the truck was trying to escape. Zach got down as low as he could while still being able to see out the front, and Abby lay down in the back of the truck.

  The men started to run out of the way of the renegade truck as it got closer, except for one. One man stood his ground and hoisted an RPG tube onto his shoulder, aiming at the truck.

  “Hold on!” Zach yelled. He jerked the steering wheel right and then immediately back left, and just in time. The man with the RPG had been ready to fire, but had to quickly adjust his aim when Zach swerved. He fired just as Zach cut back to his original course, and the rocket-propelled grenade barely missed, practically skipping off the hood and detonating into a building behind them. Zach bore down on the man who had fired it. He tried to leap out of the way but was too late and was crushed underneath the truck.