by Elle Klass
A couple hours passed and darkness fell. We exited the van, creeping back to our spot under the cover of night, the moon in the sky only a sliver, so it was especially dark.
The helicopters were back and a skeleton crew of two guys on the flight deck, guns in their hands. The lower deck, where the amphibious vehicles exited, was closed. After about thirty minutes of no action we decided to go down and check it out.
Climbing down the mountain was easier when we thought about it than it actually was. The rocks helped us keep our footing and from slipping, but we should have chosen the road which was longer. My hands, arms, and legs wouldn’t be so full of scratches.
Once we got into the city, we noticed the piles of dead bodies. They were neatly tossed every couple blocks. The number of dead far outweighed the living. It was more than creepy walking in the dark amongst dead zombies.
“That’s so gross,” Sarah cringed as she walked the long way around a pile of dead zombies.
“I like them better dead this way than trying to eat me,” chuckled Bryce.
I had to agree. They were far more pliant lying in piles. “And they stunk just as bad before.”
“Yeah, well, I thought the military cleaned up its messes?”
“There’s a lot more of them than military, Sarah.”
She shrugged. “Guess so.”
Vehicles were all pushed aside, so we walked in the middle of the road staying away from the zombie piles. I glanced inside the stores and buildings, trying to envision the city filled with life instead of death. A communication store of some kind caught my eye. The soldiers used walkie-talkies. “Look,” I pointed.
Sarah squinted her eyes, then it clicked. “Gear.”
I smiled and Bryce suggested, “On the way back. Good catch, Zombie Girl.” He lifted his hand for a bump.
We moved closer to the docks but away from the USS America. The soldiers had big guns and plenty of lights. There were several yachts docked nearby so we padded quietly as if we were sneaking out the window for a rendezvous and tried a fifty to sixty-footer docked between the mass of boats. It wasn’t the biggest or the smallest.
The door wasn’t locked, more it was kicked in. As a group we checked each room. We had one flashlight between us and kept it low. As we cleared each room we also closed the window coverings. Once the boat was cleared, we sat down in the spacious living room. It was an open plan and merged with the kitchen which was much larger than the kitchen nook in Earnest Earl and the refrigerator was still cold and packed with food and the cabinets were stocked.
There was a total of four bedrooms, two baths, and even a washer/dryer unit. The yacht had two floors and the steering and navigation had its own room inside. Relaxing on the large comfy sectional, we each opened a soda and a bag of chips.
The cabin door creaked and we froze, then it was silent. We glanced to each other and the next thing a creak groaned from the floor and the barrel of a gun was staring us down.
Chapter Twenty
Holding the gun was a boy with short dark hair, almond shaped chocolate eyes that shifted towards the sniper rifle Bryce had laid on the coffee table in front of us. He didn’t look more than fourteen. The gun shook in his hands and my body shook in fear, but not at having a gun pointed in my face. I was Zombie Girl and had faced one treacherous event after the next. His shaking hand against the trigger was the cause of my fear.
On the other hand, it was comical and I forced my chuckle down when I realized the safety was still on. He looked ridiculous in blue and orange striped pants that stopped a clear two inches above his ankles and, to make it worse, he wore sliders and had the oddest-shaped large toe. It resembled the state of Texas on a map and the rest of his toes were long and skinny like twigs. He was better off wearing shoes to cover his hideous feet but, then again, would his large toe fit?
“What are you doing here?!” he demanded in a loud whisper and an English accent that was mixed with something I didn’t recognize, North African maybe.
I spoke up, trying to appeal to his humanity and keep my laughter under wraps. At this point, I didn’t know how long he’d been on his own. “We’re like you, survivors. We aren’t here to hurt you or take you.”
“How do I know this?” he said, waving the gun in my face.
I lost it then and burst into laughter, followed by Sarah. Bryce cleared his throat and kept a straight face. “Because we’re the same age. We found this place and thought maybe we could get some rest,” he answered. The boy was more scared than ready to shoot us.
“You’re Americans. What are you doing here? Did you come with the ship?”
“Do we look…like…military,” I said between giggles.
“You have a gun pointed in your face and you mock and laugh. What is so funny?” he asked, his face crunched in anger and rage.
“You can’t shoot with the safety on,” I spat, controlling my giggles.
“You need some better pants too and sliders don’t go with that outfit, nothing goes with that outfit,” Sarah said, sniffling from laughter.
He looked down. “What’s wrong with these pants?”
At that moment Bryce could no longer stifle his amusement and it came forth in an almost belly chuckle.
The boy stared at us as waves of laughter erupted from us until our sides hurt and tears poured from our eyes.
The boy’s eyes softened and his chest shook then his whole body as he joined our laughter, the gun still in his hand. After several minutes our laughter subsided and he cleared his throat. “I like these pants. They aren’t in style in America?” His expression serious, we all busted up again, finally stopping when we couldn’t anymore due to pain in our sides.
I wiped my eyes. “We came by boat but it was washed ashore after the tsunami. We only learned about the military ship, same as you.”
He laid the gun beside the rifle on the table. “Where have you been staying and how come they didn’t find you?”
I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak but Bryce beat me to it. “In a cabin in the mountains. We saw the ship and wanted to know more about it so we left and hid in an abandoned vehicle. They almost found us.”
“Is your country. Why not go with them?”
I sighed. “Because we don’t know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and we’ve survived on our own. We come from ground zero, where this strange illness began.”
After that he opened up and we learned his name was Bennet and his mom was Moroccan and his father British. They flew in from the UK and were visiting family. He’d been on his own, hiding out, slashing zombies and scavenging when and where he could, hence his horrible attire. His family turned several days ago. He was lucky to get away. He’d found others and they watched each other’s backs until today when they were taken. He’d hidden by staying one step ahead of the soldiers and, running in here after they cleared it, he figured it would be safe.
We told him about our group and offered to bring him with us. I remembered the soldiers’ words and hoped our group was still there. He declined but said to meet him here after the soldiers left. He didn’t know how to power or drive the boat and offered it to us. The ignition key dangled in his hand.
“How do we know that’s the key?” asked Bryce.
“Follow me, I’ll show you,” he answered, shuffling past us.
Leary that it was a trick, but without much other option, we followed him. There were more of us so it was gutsy on his behalf and he posed little threat to us.
When we got to the bridge, he put in the key and turned it far enough to display a navigation panel that lit up. “Convinced now?” he asked with a cocky smile.
We nodded and Bryce answered, “It’s time for us to get back, we have a long ways to go. We’ll be back when the soldiers leave.”
He nodded and followed us to the cabin’s exit. By the time we got back to the van the sun was starting to rise so we piled in and headed back.
Glad to be back, my heart did a little h
appy dance until we entered the cabin only to find that it was empty. My heart quit dancing and dropped to the floor. The mats on the homemade wood floor were gone and the guns on the shelves were missing, otherwise it looked undisturbed.
“Mom, Dad,” I called in a panic.
“Why is my phone on the table?” asked Sarah.
I turned. “What?” Her question was more than out of place. The expression on Bryce’s face said he thought the same thing as we both walked towards her.
“My phone, it’s even on. I know I didn’t leave it out and I turned it off. I can’t charge it and want the battery to last.”
Bryce grabbed her by the shoulders. “Everyone is gone, our families, friends, even Cat, and you’re worried about your phone?”
Her eyes shifted, not looking at either of us. “I’m not worried about the phone but why is it out? And everyone is gone – vanished.”
Behind us, the bench creaked open. We spun on our heels and stared as a hand pushed the lid open then my father’s head poked out.
“Dad,” I ran towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re here, you’re alive.”
His face was soft as he embraced me. “We’re all here.”
One by one, we assisted everyone out. The chest doubled as a trap door to a basement they found by accident while searching for places to hide from the soldiers.
After everyone was out, my father’s face hardened. “Where were you?”
All the adults wore the same stern expression. It was five to three. We stammered for a bit before Sarah finally burst out, “We explored and found out a whole bunch of stuff and a new boat, the zombies are all dead in piles all over the streets and we found a boy. Everyone gets all the excitement except for me so I wanted to go and my phone, it’s laying on the table.” She took a large breath after spitting out everything without one.
“Slow down. I didn’t understand a word you said except the mention of your phone,” said Katrina, hands folded across her chest as she eyeballed us.
“Your phone, where is it?” asked my father, suddenly more concerned about it than us.
She shoved it at him. He turned on the screen and gasped then went into a phone rant. “That’s it. They used the GPS. That’s how they target living people. Our phones haven’t had reception or Wi-Fi but they have it. I guarantee they have it, they’ve blocked us but the GPS still sends a signal.”
Yup, my father the smart-phone salesman. I thought the only benefit was getting the next best phone but I guess I was mistaken.
My mom cocked her head and glared at him then us. “How many of you have your phones?”
I felt as if it was something bad to have kept my phone and answered, “I do.” I was ready to put out my wrists and let them cuff me and haul me to cell phone addiction jail.
“So do I,” answered Bryce. I felt a bit better; at least I wouldn’t be alone.
It turns out Sarah was the worst addict as she kept hers charged on the boat. Bryce and I stopped charging ours once we lost 4G and a connection.
My father narrowed his eyes and shook his head in dismay. “They’re tracking GPS and are blocking all reception and Wi-Fi. Don’t turn it off, let the battery run out.”
My guilt disappeared, then I remembered the compass around my neck and the GPS inside it that tracked my whereabouts. “My compass,” I said, nudging Bryce.
The corners of his mouth turned upward in a sly smile. “I turned the GPS off from my app after I found you. I figured if you’re ever in trouble or lost I can turn it back on, but without phone capabilities that’s impossible.” Which made perfect sense since its battery hadn’t died, yet when they found the van they didn’t find us, even though the van belonged to a group they’d found in the woods.
My dad gave us a quizzical look. “What do you mean, ‘compass’?”
“Well,” I started, but wasn’t going to tell him about how I brought it out of the dream. That was too weird, so I continued with a tiny white lie. “Bryce gave it to me. It isn’t just a cool looking compass but has built in GPS.”
“You have a compass?” Jack inquired.
“Yeah,” then it hit me. It wasn’t using GPS so could be used to help navigate home without using the boat’s navigation and taking the chance of being found. “We can use it and it can’t be tracked!”
Jack and my father nodded in agreement.
After a good reaming from our parents, Jack filled us in on what knowledge he had. The USS America was a new type of ship – a carrier that was smaller in size but made far more efficient use of its space. The lower deck carried amphibious vehicles manned by Marines. The boat was designed for landing planes, F-358s, and missions such as what we observed them doing in Morocco.
The ladder-thing we watched the soldiers use to enter and exit the flight deck was called a brow. I thought that was an odd name for it. The code 10-19 meant get back to base and the lower deck that carried the amphibious vehicles was called the well dock and the guns they carried were M-16s. The reason they used short bursts was because, as a semi-automatic, that’s how the gun fired. I’d learned all types of military trivia from Jack. He was a wealth of knowledge.
Jack twisted a toothpick -- he’d found some in the cabin’s kitchen -- in his mouth. “They’re probably taking the uninfected back to a quarantine zone.”
Katrina jumped into the conversation. “I think he’s right and we should get onboard that carrier before it leaves.” She smoothed her daughter’s thick chestnut hair into a ponytail and wrapped a band around it.
“We don’t know that,” said Heather, her brows lowered in caution. “They may be using them for testing.” As a doctor I saw her logic in that, after all she wanted to run tests and get blood samples on all of us, but I’d have thought she’d have wanted the sophisticated equipment of the US military to run those tests and the larger population sample.
“We’ve come this far on our own. I plan on keeping it that way, but no one is stopping anyone else from leaving,” said my father, his eyes shifting from one person to the next.
“I’ll go with her,” said Jack, moving the toothpick to the other side of his mouth.
It was settled. My father would drive Jack, Katrina, Melissa, and Bryce to Casablanca and drop them within walking distance of the carrier then come back here and, once the ship left, we’d find Bennet and head back to the US.
When Katrina, as his mother, decided Bryce was going with her, my heart sank to the ground when he gave me sad I’m-sorry eyes, but didn’t argue the decision. It was the equivalent of smashing my dropped heart and crunching it into the dirt with a heel. More than anything, I wanted to run to Bryce and beg him to stay then plead with Katrina Don’t make him go, tell him to stay.
Regardless of the ways of my heart, I understood that was his family and he wanted to see them safe and protect them further if needed, but that didn’t make it hurt less.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bryce…
As the van moved along the mountain road, Bryce saw the carrier was clearly still there. He wasn’t sure about his mother’s decision but had to go with his family. They were all he had left and he didn’t want to lose them. As for the military, he trusted them. Growing up in a military town, he’d admired soldiers and had the most respect, but the world now was very different than it had been a few short weeks ago. He didn’t know who to trust except the group he traveled with and he’d miss his zombie killing partner, Maddie. He didn’t trust Bennet either, as he knew he lied. When they’d cleared the boat he’d noticed a picture in the master suite of a boy who looked a lot like Bennet with a black woman of light complexion and a white man. That matched Bennett’s description of his parents. What didn’t match was he said the boat wasn’t his and they’d got there by plane. Bryce had no idea why he’d lie and brushed it off the night before, but now it seemed really important.
Bryce already missed his premonition sharing partner, Maddie. Her cute, dimpled smile, tilt of her head, and thi
ck sun-bleached hair tied back in a ponytail that bobbed with each step were all his mind saw the further from her they got. They were going to explore the world together and find their way, now that wouldn’t happen. His mother squeezed his hand.
The carrier was no longer in sight as they drove through the city. The bodies of the dead smelled even worse, like a combination of rotten egg farts and trash left sitting in the sun for too long. Some of the bodies were beginning to bloat. The sight was disgusting, he thought, and was glad his sister was too small to see out the windows.
His mother’s face cringed as she looked away from the window. A few streets from the dock, Bill Whyte pulled the van over. “If I get any closer they’ll see the van.”
“It’s been a journey,” Jack said as he offered him his hand then slid the van door open.
Katrina smiled softly. “Thank you, and Maddie, for rescuing us. I’ll never forget your kindness.” Tears pooled in her eyes.
Holding his sister and telling her to bury her head, Bryce stepped out of the van. He took a few steps away from the van, then turned and walked back to the driver’s seat and looked Bill square in the eye. “Let Maddie know I’ll find her when it’s safe.”
Bill nodded confirmation and watched the small group walk toward the docks. He couldn’t afford waiting and turned the van around and headed back.
“You miss him?” asked Heather.
“What?” I answered, my mind a million miles away as I remembered the premonition and Bryce’s soft lips on mine. It had felt so real. The entire dream was real.
“Bryce, you miss him,” she placed a hand on mine, resting in my lap.
I nodded. “Yeah, he’s a friend, a good friend, and now I can’t even contact him. No cell phones, radios, nothing,” I answered, my eyes focused on a circular indent in the wooden floor.