She disappeared with a loud screech as soon as her feet hit the snow-covered road. One second, she was crouching in the snow recovering from the hop down from the trailer. The next she was a blur disappearing underneath the trailer. LeBron had been about to follow her off the ledge, so he just flipped himself around as he jumped. The second he hit the ground he immediately dropped to his knees to follow her underneath the trailer.
LeBron muscled his way through the deep snow. Once underneath the trailer the snow got much shallower. It was dark under there. He could just make out the silhouettes of Yue and her assailant struggling in front of him. Her harsh breathing mixed with the grunts of the crawler. He slid forward with his pistol in front of him trying to get a good shot. He glimpsed something slithering at an inhumanly fast pace towards the struggling pair from the front of the truck. Knowing no regular person could move that fast LeBron rolled sideways and lined up a shot. His only coherent thought was to kill it before it got to Yue. He kept pulling the trigger until the thing stopped moving.
Drew was the next one under the truck. He’d jumped from his post as soon as he saw Yue disappear. He felt a spike of pride at seeing LeBron fearlessly charge in to help their sister. He was proud of LeBron, but he poured on the speed to get around his little brother regardless. The next few life or death seconds were going to revolve around pure physicality. When it came to the kind of close combat likely to be needed Drew was hands down the right one to be in the lead.
Drew couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather be stuck under a truck facing blood thirsty monsters with than his brother. Except maybe for the current damsel in distress. He got to her just as she was pulling her serrated combat knife out of the throat of the crawler who’d grabbed her. She smiled at him with her face covered in blood. Looking down at the ground Drew saw that she’d sawed her attacker’s head half off. Attempting to take out one of the super deadly crawlerz in hand-to-hand combat was not a feat many people walked away from. Or at least they didn’t walk away without having gained a newfound fear of the light and an unnatural craving for human flesh.
“Is she ok?” Jeff asked in a panic. Somehow the tall lanky man had managed to get under the truck and slide up to where they were in record time. Drew would’ve cared more if Yue hadn’t just collapsed face first into the snow. She must’ve been banged around pretty bad in her fight.
“We’ve got her.” Mikey said. Drew looked towards the side of the trailer. Mikey and Gus had dug into the drift there and were dragging Yue out by her feet. She was leaving a scarlet path in the snow as the blood from the crawler was rubbed off of her. Drew was ecstatic to see that the blood was coming off. If the blood had kept coming, they’d have had to consider she’d been bitten. That would have been an entirely different conversation. One where Drew was pretty sure him and LeBron may have had to draw weapons on the others. Especially if any of the others thought they should put Yue down for their own safety.
Gus suddenly disappeared as a crawler tunneled over and pulled him backwards through the snow. The crawler popped up out of the snow in the light of day trying to get a better grip on Gus to take a bite out of him. The light instantly discombobulated the fearsome maneater. Gus leapt in front of the monster ready to fight. A short slightly overweight man stood where a fearsome predator had been seconds prior. The man’s eyes glossy and wild as he stared at the light hitting the snow without blinking. He was wearing a sweater like the one Freddy Krueger wore in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Otherwise, he was completely naked.
Jeff came out from under the truck shooting. Gus yelped and went tumbling backwards into the snow. The crawler silently absorbed bullets until one hit it somewhere critical. The sad looking crawler crumpled loosely back into the snow. A scarlet circle forming around the corpse of the Freddy sweater wearing killing machine. The irony being that he very likely would have a featured place in their nightmares.
“What the hell man!” Gus yelled out from the snow. He staggered to his feet clutching at his stomach and trying to breathe.
“Yeah, that one was tripping like crazy. We could’ve killed it with a spork.” Mikey said through his own ragged breathing. This was a lot of action for so early in the morning.
“It was behind you. I knew you were wearing the vest. I needed you to get down fast so I could kill it before it bit you.” Jeff explained. In the half second that he’d spent considering the plan it’d made sense. He hadn’t bothered wondering why Mikey had just been sitting there. There hadn’t been time.
“Everybody needs to stop shooting me! Ok! It hurts!” Gus complained loudly. Drew thought the Marine was joking at first. Looking closer he saw that Gus looked sincerely pissed off about the whole thing. Were those tears in his eyes?
“Suck it up man. You’re alive right?” Drew said pulling himself out from under the trailer and turning to help LeBron out. Gus started to say something when the snow towards the front of the other trailer suddenly swelled up like a wave.
Everyone with a gun in hand poured lead into the bulbous pile of white until it died down. A cracked pile of snow with red stains in parts of it. They all quickly reloaded. Jeff picked Yue up and cradled her in his arms like a child. He carefully skirted around the bloody section of the drift as he took her to the cab of the truck. Gus came over and between LeBron, Gus and Jeff they got Yue up into the truck and back into the sleeper where they could take care of her.
Mikey and Drew carefully crunched their way up to the access hatch in their own cage. Drew climbed up first then hung out where the windshield used to be. He covered Mikey as he climbed up after him. It may have just been a trick of the sun, but he thought he saw the snow shift around for a second right after Mikey squeezed in through the access hole.
Grabbing the walkie talkie, they checked in with the other truck to see how Yue was doing. She had a huge lump on the side of her head, but she hadn’t been bitten anywhere. Finding out she was only unconscious was a huge relief. He couldn’t believe that she’d avoided being bitten. She’d been fighting for her life against a monstrous opponent in the tight confines under the truck with no time to prepare. She’d done it though. Pride for his family once again swelled in his breast. That crawler had picked the wrong person to pull under the truck. She may be the smallest member of the group physically, but she was absolutely the biggest badass.
Mikey got the truck in gear and they resumed their trek to the graveyard to pick up the crypt dwelling refugees. Drew hoped the rest of the day went a little smoother. It’d been a pretty rough morning so far.
Chapter 12: Can’t Fix Stupid
The trailer of the truck in front of them slid sideways towards the guard rail. Right before it smashed into the metal barrier the whole truck jerked forward and the trailer went back to where it was supposed to be. At least it went back to where they thought it should be. It was hard to tell considering the ground was just one big expanse of the cold white stuff. Gus tightened his grip on the wheel knowing they were about to hit the same ice patch. Either he didn’t have Mikey’s touch, or the ice had gotten slicker. They slammed up against the guard rail feeling like they were going to go flying right over it. There were a few seconds of sphincter tightening terror before Gus finally regained control.
“That was fun. Can we not do it again?” LeBron commented from the sleeper section behind the driver’s seat. He was sitting up Indian style cradling Yue’s head in his lap. They’d stopped and filled up a couple of Ziploc bags with snow. He was keeping those pressed firmly against the big lump on the side of her head. He dutifully replaced them one at a time as they melted. Currently on his last one he was pretty sure this wasn’t the right time to ask Gus to pull over so he could get some more snow.
“Mikey drove a truck for a few years before he joined the corps. I had a thirty-minute lesson like two weeks ago. We’re lucky to be alive. This has got to be some high-level advanced truck driving here. My ass cheeks haven’t unclenched since it started snowing.” Gus answered without
taking his eyes off the road.
“You’re doing a great job. Hopefully we get out of this snow as we come down from the mountains. Once we make the next turn, we’ll be headed close to due east.” Jeff said. He was studying the map spread out on his lap like finals were coming up. He’d been tracking their progress and figuring out the best route back to the crypt. There weren’t a ton of options.
The radio crackled to life with Drew asking for a status on Yue. He must be timing himself since it’d been exactly fifteen minutes since the last time he asked for a status. Jeff reminded him about the road they’d be turning on soon. Then after taking a quick look into the sleeper section he told Drew his sister was still about the same. Jeff put the walkie down in his lap and stared out at the road ahead. The only good thing about the snow was that it slowed down the crawlerz. Other than that, unless he could be transported in time and space to a ski lodge bar with a roaring fire, he had no desire to ever see snow again.
He was scared out of his mind about Yue and trying hard not to let it show. Getting knocked unconscious was a big deal. There could be all kinds of things wrong with her. It was most likely a concussion from that gigantic crawler flinging her around like a rag doll in the tight confines under the trailer. The weird thing was that she hadn’t passed out until after the fight was over. For the millionth time Jeff wished he had access to the internet. He’d love to be able to read up on what they should be doing to treat her. Instead, they were relying on their own training and knowledge. Almost all of which came from personal experience with being knocked out or vague memories of some television show.
Mikey, Gus and Drew had all been knocked unconscious at one time or another. Either in traffic accidents, sports or fights. None of them could remember what’d helped them come out of it. They each insisted there was no long-term neurological damage. Mikey saying that out loud had almost started a fight when LeBron and Jeff cracked up. Drew sobered them both up by pointing out Yue had been out for well over an hour.
“How long do you think she can be out for and still be ok?” Gus asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if it’s the same as sleeping. I’m worried there’s some kind of internal bleeding in her head or something.” Jeff said quietly. He wasn’t sure how openly they should talk about things like that in front of LeBron.
“Do you love her?” LeBron asked from the sleeper section.
“I do.” Jeff said without hesitation. He wondered where that question had come from.
“I’m going to assume you were asking Jeff that, but I’d do anything for you or your sister man. We just got to figure out what else we can do to help her.” Gus said.
“Is she the prettiest girl you’ve ever dated?” LeBron asked.
“Uh yeah.” Jeff answered unsure where this was all coming from.
“What do you like most about her?” LeBron asked. He was trying hard to suppress a big grin and keep the joy out of his voice.
“She’s awake, isn’t she?” Jeff said. He tried to sound pissed off, but he was way too relieved to pull it off. He spun around in his seat to see that Yue was laughing at him. Every time she laughed it was causing her physical pain. Getting Jeff to answer those questions had been totally worth it.
“Hey babe.” Yue said sweetly.
Jeff reached back into the sleeper to hold her hand. Yue puked all over him, the truck, Gus and the blankets in the back. LeBron slid back quickly against the wall to escape the onslaught of piping hot messiness. He slid right back over as soon as Yue was in the dry heaving stages to try and help her. Jeff completely ignored the chunky puke clinging to his hair and clothes to work on getting Yue cleaned up. Gus was busy rolling down windows to keep himself from puking. A massively miserable Yue looked up at her puke soaked boyfriend.
“Ah. You really do love me.” She said in a sing song voice before putting her head down on the pillow and trying to slip back into a coma. She wanted to sleep for a few more days. She felt like if she could just do that, she’d wake up good to go. Her head was pounding, and she’d never felt more nauseous in her life. She was praying for sleep to take her away.
“Is she supposed to sleep with a concussion?” Gus asked. He vaguely remembered something about that from crashing his car in high school. The paramedics had been intent on keeping him awake on the trip to the hospital.
“That sounds like a thing.” Jeff said. He was feverishly googling his own memory bank trying to come up with something.
“It’s not a thing anymore. Sleeping it off helps.” Yue said miserably. She was lying on her side with her face hidden in the pillow. LeBron was pulling out the puke covered sheets from around her. Gus stopped the truck and let Drew and Mikey know that Yue was awake. Drew had a million questions which he fired off one after the other without waiting for an answer. A minute later LeBron watched in amusement as Drew hopped his way through the snow to come check on Yue himself.
“Is that true? Is it ok if she sleeps?” Jeff asked LeBron and Gus.
Neither of them had a clue. Yue had downloaded every bit of medical advice she could get off the internet before the world went dark. She’d spent their downtime reading up on anything she thought may help them survive. Absent any actual medical professionals, she was the best source of information they had. If only their phones had survived being on the road. The expensive otter boxes had turned out to not be Zombie Apocalypse proof. He’d have to leave them a negative review on Amazon if he ever got back online.
Drew climbed up on Jeff’s side of the truck and stuck his head in the window. A look of disgust warred with the relief he felt at seeing Yue looking alive. He turned his head to the side so he could breathe in some fresh air.
“I guess I’m not going to be able to complain about our windows being all shot up anymore. How’s she doing?” Drew asked.
“I’m fine.” Yue said out of the corner of her mouth. She’d be doing even better if everyone would shut up and let her sleep. Hopefully when she woke up the puke would be all cleaned up and her head wouldn’t be pounding anymore.
Drew told them to wait while he went and opened up the the trailer in front of them. He climbed in and found a bunch of sanitizing wipes and towels plus blankets and sleeping bags. He snagged a can of water while he was at it and delivered the supplies back to Jeff. With nothing else to add Drew jogged back to his truck and they got moving again. The goal was to make it to the crypt with an hour to two to spare before dusk.
Somehow, they actually made it. The snow was still everywhere but not to the insane degree it’d been up in the mountains. Slightly worrying was the fact that some of the roads looked like other vehicles had recently been through. It was easy in the desolation to think it was just them and the crawlerz wandering around. Jeff was quick to remind them there were hundreds of bases with military personnel and high-level government officials spread out across the country. Not to mention all the random groups of survivors still holding on.
It was a different kind of feeling driving up the snow coated road to the crypt this time. Harley had a charisma about him that made people feel like they were doing the right thing. He’d brought them here to save these people. They’d rewarded his trust by killing the woman he loved and leaving him imprisoned back at the dam. Now they needed to convince these people to come with them. Not because they needed these people for any particular reason. It was more to atone for the death of Harley’s wife. It would help them wipe away the memory of those blood-soaked children crawling around on their dead mom.
The best person to act as spokesperson for the group was recovering from a concussion. They were trying to give her as much time as she needed to rest and recover. None of them thought it’d be a great idea to try and drag her out to talk to these people in her condition. By process of elimination the job ended up with Jeff.
The trucks rolled to a stop in the same place they’d parked a little less than a week prior. With all that’d happened in the interim it felt more like a month had gone
by. They’d told the group of refugees sheltering in the graveyard that they’d be back in a few days. They’d just have to understand that travel plans got screwed up when you mixed crawlerz and snow together. Keeping the trucks running they waited for someone to come out to greet them. When no one did Jeff asked Drew to walk with him to go see what was up.
They’d only walked a few feet off the road when a small group of men stepped out from behind trees and crypts aiming rifles at them. Jeff recognized them as the men who’d met with them and Harley last time they were here. He tried but couldn’t remember any of their names. Looking over at them he could see they were unsure how to address him as well. He needed to think of something to say before Drew did. He’d already warned him not to say anything stupid.
“You guys still hanging out in the graveyard? Last place I ever want to call home.” Drew joked. The men gave him some odd looks before focusing on Jeff.
Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling Page 10