The Great Wreck

by Stewart, Jack

  “The dead might be able to get over the fence if there are enough of them, but they aren’t going to be able to push this gate over,” he said as he and Harriet climbed back into the shuttles and drove us around to the back of the largest warehouse.

  We all piled out of the shuttles and quietly made our way inside the heavily fortified structure. Attached to the side of the warehouse was a set of offices and barracks. Marti led me to the showers where she helped me strip off my cloths. She turned on the shower, then took off her own cloths and pulled me under the hot stream of water. She washed all the dust and bits of debris off of me, sudsing me up from head to toe then rising me off. Then she did the same for herself. Had I not just been through a marathon race with the dead followed by getting blown up, I’m sure I would have been hugely aroused. As it was I just wanted to lie down in a soft bed.

  Marti finished up and dried the both of us off, then went to get us both some cloths. She returned later with a pair of shorts and tee shirt for each of us, then led me to the officers dormitory. We took a room on the second floor, locked the door up tight, and crawled in between the cool sheets. Later, when the heat began to beat down, someone would switch on the air conditioning and I’d sleep the whole day away in our cool, secure refuge.

  Far to the west, the dead forgot about us and resumed their trek north. Doc, Birch, and a few of the others went up on the roof of the warehouse watching through binoculars as the dead completely overran the entire city. The Green Zone was swamped with dead cramming into the walled off area. It didn’t look like they’d be able to go back even after the waves of dead had passed. They watched nervously as the dead spread out and edged closer to the warehouse but only a few ever came over to the east side of I-25. Everyone else claimed a room like Marti and I and slept for most of the day hoping that sleep would wash away some of the horrors of the previous hours.

  * * *

  I awoke later with the sun headed towards the western horizon. I noticed how cool it was and heard the air conditioning running. I lay back with Marti in the crook of my arm marveling at the cool, dry air pouring from the vent above my head. They must have a generator to run the AC, I thought. What a luxury! I also thought it might be a huge waste of fuel to use just for cooling down the dormitory, but I wasn’t going to complain.

  Marti stirred next to me then raised her head up off of my arm, “Did I crush your arm?” she asked smiling up at me with those blue gray eyes.

  “Completely dead,” I replied as the pins and needles rushed along my arm.

  She sat up and reached for her gear, pulling out a watch, “Geez! Six o’clock!”

  We got out of bed and got dressed. I followed Marti down the hallway and could smell that somewhere, Harriet was cooking and my stomach growled. My body ached all over. It felt as though every square inch was bruised. I’d find out later when I showered again, the most of it was.

  We went down stairs and I saw that the first floor had no windows and the entrances all had thick metal doors that bolted shut. Nothing was getting in through those. We walked down the different hallways until we found the entrance to the connected warehouse. We passed through another set of metal doors bolting them closed behind us. The warehouse was similar to the one I had found in Phoenix. It was crammed full of weapons, explosives, ammunition, armor, uniforms, food, and other supplies.

  “The other warehouses have armored vehicles, motorcycles, cars, and trucks. One even has three helicopters but none of us here know how to fly,” Marti said as we walked to the far wall to a set of stairs and landings that lead to the roof.

  We climbed the stairs slowly until we reached the top. At the head of the stairs was another door. We passed through it and onto the roof of the warehouse. Doc and Birch were sitting in two folding chairs on the roof each one with a huge set of binoculars sitting on a tripod looking west. The sun was low and cast everything in a golden light. Far away, I could see a thin line of figures stretching from the south to the north.

  “We got away scott free,” Birch said looking up at me and Marti.

  “Except Allen,” Doc said.

  “Yeah, except Allen,” Birch replied softly,” I hope to god it was quick,” he said, “We might not have gotten away at all if it hadn’t been for demolition man here,” Birch said, “What hell happened?”

  “I connected the blue wire and the whole world went up,” I said sitting on a ledge next to Birch. Marti sat next to me and snuggled close, “No delay at all.”

  “Timer must have failed,” Birch said simply and went back to watching through his binoculars.

  “How’s James?” I asked looking around and expecting him to jump out at me at any moment.

  “Behaving like a perfect gentleman,” Doc said, “Told Birch and I here ‘Thank you very much for letting me out of the cell’ and we said ‘Thanks for helping us out of that mess back there’ and he said ‘It was my pleasure.’ Creepy dude but good with a gun. He’s asleep in the dorms. We have one of the boys keeping an eye on him.”

  “You’d better have someone keep an eye on him every second of every day. He’s shit house rat crazy and it’s only a matter of time before he loses it and hurts somebody,” I said.

  Doc and Birch nodded, “We thought as much,” Birch said, “You gonna ditch him?”

  I nodded, “We’ll stay here as long as we can but when James starts to act up, we’ll need to be on our way. Somewhere north, I’ll lose him and either maker my way back here or meet you all at Sandia.”

  I felt Marti squeeze my arm with hers and whisper, “Come back here if you can. Then we’ll go to Sandi together when they come and get us. We’ll get to drive there!”

  Turns out James lasted almost five days before being cooped up got to him. Each day I’d watch him and each day he got a bit more twitchy, a bit more moody, and a lot more crazy. He and I were sitting up on top of the warehouse watching the tail end of the dead moving through the city. After three days the wall of dead had finally broken up. By day four most of the city was empty and on day five there were only a few stragglers moving through the town.

  “Meat diddler,” he said by way of addressing me, “I do believe it’s time to go.”

  I nodded and looked at him. His legs were bouncing up and down and he had that vacant, dead look in his eyes, his face drawn and cracked, pale and dirty covered with a scrim of whiskers. He looked exactly like a junkie needing a fix.

  “In the morning?” I asked.

  “Fuck yeah! Right as rain! In the morning! On the road again and heading north!” he said as he got up and headed downstairs.

  Marti and Birch came up a few minutes later and sat next to me, “James the Crazy Turd sure looked happy,” Birch said as he adjusted the binoculars, Did he just fuck and/or kill someone’s cat?”

  “We’re leaving tomorrow,” I said. I heard Marti draw in a sharp breath and saw her look away.

  We sat there in silence for a few minutes and then Birch said, “You sure about that Thomas? We can handle James, you know.”

  “No one can handle James, Birch. It’s best we move on before he loses it,” I said. Marti leaned against me and put her head on my shoulder. I could feel her shaking against me and put my arm around her, “As soon as I leave him, he’ll come back here, you know. So be on the lookout.”

  Birch nodded, “We’ll seal up tight. He might get over the fence but all the buildings are completely sealed. There’s no way he can get into any of them and if we see him without you, we’ll put him down.”

  “Birch, can you do me a favor?” I asked

  “Anything kid. Except sleep with you that is. I know I’m a good looking dude, but I think Marti has her claim on you,” Birch replied.

  “Ha, ha. I’m out of your league,” I said and handed him a folded sheet of paper and a small map. I’d been busy that last few days pouring over maps of Las Cruces and Hatch. I had found what I was looking for and had marked it on a map for Birch, “Can you get these things for me and drop them here
? If I figure right, I’ll be needing them in a day, two at the outside.”

  Birch nodded as he looked over the list, “And I imagine you’ll need this one hear before you head out?” he said pointing to the last item on my list circled in red.

  “That’d be correct,” I replied, “Well, I’d better get my gear together and get some rest. See you folks in the morning.”

  Doc and Birch nodded and I made my way down to the warehouse floor and gather up the bare minimum of gear I would need for the next day or two. When the time came to leave James, I’d want to be as light as possible.

  When I was done, I made my way back to Marti’s and my room where she was waiting for me. We spent the rest of the evening together talking about nothing and saying the things that young lovers say to each other. Sometime late in the night we both fell asleep and when we woke in the morning, it was time to go.

  Marti walked me out to the main gate where Birch was already lowering the vehicle barriers. Parked in front of the gate was a police armored vehicle, “I figured I’d give you all a lift down to the I-25 and I-40 interchange. Froom there you can head out on foot,” he said as he climbed into the front seat, “James up front with me.”

  I gave Marti a long, last kiss and then shook Doc’s hand.

  “Good luck son,” Doc said, “And we’ll see you in Sandia.”

  I grabbed my pack and tossed it in the back of the police truck and climbed in. I had brought the minimum of gear I would need wanting to travel light and move as fast as I could when the time came. On the back bench of the truck was a package wrapped in a towel. I quickly grabbed it up and place it in the bottom of my pack just as James walked up to the back door.

  James had on a massive backpack with a good seventy pounds of gear stuffed into it, a huge duffle bag stuffed with God knows what strapped to his body, and was dressed out in a complete SWAT uniform, helmet and all, “You going to war, James?” I asked as he tossed his gear in, “You look like a freshly minted cop.”

  “Hardy, har, har, har!” he said as he set down his fancy, fully automatic rifles, body armor, and other high techy gear in the back of the truck, “And you look like a shit heel convict so there’s that and shut on up.” Apparently he had forgotten the lesson of Phoenix, “I got what I need there, skinny britches.”

  Later I’d find out what he had in there was enough explosives to get back into the warehouse complex but I wouldn’t know this until a few days later.

  He slammed the door shut and climbed into the passenger’s seat. I watched out the back window as we rolled forward and waved at the Doc and Marti as we passed through the gate and out onto the open road. It hurt to leave them. Had I been by myself, I would have stayed with them secure behind the concrete and steel fences waiting for Sandia to come and get us. Instead I was stuck with a lunatic out in the open facing dead that came and went in great waves. Would the fun never stop?

  Birch drove us back into Las Cruces and north along the frontage road until he found a clear onramp, then took us all the way to the I-25 and I-40 interchange. We got out of the truck then I pulled my rain parka. The thunderheads were building up in the west and I knew that we’d be hit by heavy rains within the hour.

  James climbed out and grabbed his immense backpack and strapped on the other duffle bag on top of that. I didn’t say a word. If James wanted to kill himself lugging all the stuff all over the desert, all the more power to him.

  Birch came over and shook my hand, “Good luck, Thomas,” he said then turned towards James. He took James by the arm and pulled him out of my earshot. They talked for a good minute or two their eyes locked together like to pit bulls about to fight. I undid the strap that held my pistol in place ready to draw if James decided to take after Birch. But a second later James smiled his best “you may go and fuck yourself, sir” smile and said, “That sound like a pretty good fucking deal, friend. Maybe I’ll get to take you up on it,” and turned away from Birch.

  “Ready?” I said.

  “Oh, fuck yes!” James replied and started walking north.

  I waved to Birch who tipped his head at me, then fell in step beside James.

  * * *

  The rain caught us an hour later. James spit and cursed like the devil and was soon soaked, “No parka?”

  “Well how the fuck was I supposed to know that it rains in the fucking desert?” he yelled and kicked at the asphalt a few times. He must have thought God was intentionally fucking with him.

  “We’ll get you one in Radium Springs,” I replied, “We’ll stop there for the night, right?

  James looked at me through the rain and thought about it for a minute, “Yeah, Radium Springs. How far is that?”

  “About seventeen miles. You up for it?”

  “Fuck yeah! Radium Springs or bust! Fuck the rain!”

  It rained all day.

  We finally reached Radium Springs and quickly found a hotel with a third floor. We made our way up to the top floor, checked all the rooms and chose one that was all the way at the end of the hallway.

  Inside we dropped our gear and nailed the door shut then piled up the room’s furniture in front of it until we felt safe enough. James undid the smaller duffle bag and set in inside the closet. Before he could shut the door, the bag tipped over and something that looked like a brick fell out of it. I caught a quick glimpse of the yellow green block and saw a large ‘C’ on the side of it before James shut the door.

  He looked at me for a minute but I just shrugged and started getting ready for bed. If James wanted to carry around a bunch of explosives, all the more power to him, I thought thinking of the claymores I had stashed in the outer pocket of my pack. Might come in handy.

  As I crawled into bed, I figured with the door shut tight, James planned on staying with me at least another day so I fell quickly asleep.

  In the morning, we were up with the sun and quickly found a sporting goods shop that had a nice rain parka for James. He pulled it on over all his gear and looked like some sort of deranged Eskimo but I kept quiet. When we finally hit the road there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun had begun to deep fry us in our own sweat, James ripped off the parka and tossed it to the ground, “Fuck you, you bitch!” he said to no one.

  “It might rain later,” I said helpfully and James glared at me. I shrugged and James started walking north. I noticed then that he didn’t have the smaller duffle back strapped to his back pack. Must have figured the extra weight wasn’t worth the effort.

  It rained later.

  And by “rained” I mean it fucking poured down out of the sky in long, continuous sheets that felt more like someone had turned a firehose on us instead of a thunderstorm.

  James was not pleased but kept on walking none the less.

  The road between Radium Springs and Hatch was almost completely empty as far ahead and behind us as we could see. The monsoon finally tapered off around noon and we were back in the frying pan sweating our balls off but at least the dead were nowhere to be seen.

  I’d check behind us every half hour or so to see if another wave of dead was sneaking up the highway but for the last two days James and I were together, there was nothing.

  We reached Hatch late in the afternoon and found a Holiday Inn Express where we could stay for the night. On the fifth floor we closed up the room. I was about to nail the door shut when James said, “I think we OK for the night. This place is empty.”

  I knew James would be gone in the morning so I just nodded and bolted the door shut. I wouldn’t be sleeping that night anyway. We both sat at the room’s big window facing west and watched the sun go down eating our dinner. This was the last can of food I had in my pack and with only my pistols, a rifle, and a few boxes of ammunition for each, I was as light as I could get without risking starvation, dying of thirst, or running out of ammunition if I needed it. Tomorrow the race would begin.

  James sat there at the edge of the window sill looking out of the wreck of Hatch, his legs bouncing up a
nd down, up and down and I heard him whisper to no one, “I think I’ve waited long enough.”

  I knew he wasn’t talking to me, so I just got up and filled my water pack up, then dropped onto the bed. I lay there in the darkness pretending to sleep thinking about the series of things I needed to do to pull this off, going over each step in my head again and again so that I would not miss anything.

  Finally around five o’clock in the morning, I heard James shift in his bed and get up. He moved as quietly as he could but he still made enough noise to wake the dead. He grabbed his gear, unbolted the door, and made his way out. True to form, he left the damn door wide open. I wondered if he wanted the dead to catch me. It didn’t matter to me. I was done with James.

  I waited until I thought he had reached the ground floor, then jumped out of bed, threw on my cloths, and opened my pack to retrieved the package Birch had given me. I unrolled the towel and out dropped an infrared night vision scope. I was also surprised to find the Birch had given me a heavy duty radio. I put the radio back in the pack, stuffed the rest of my gear in it, and headed towards the roof.

  I found the roof access and quickly opened the door then got down on my hands and knees so that I was below the short wall that circled the roof. I scrambled over to the south edge, turned on the night scope, and slowly, so slowly peeked over the edge of the wall and looked back towards the freeway.

  I figured James would have been walking for a total of fifteen minutes after he hit the street so was maybe a mile or so away by now and approaching the freeway onramp. Sure enough, I spotted him, a bright red figure walking quickly down the road glowing with all his body head pouring off of him in the infrared spectrum.

  I watched as he hit the freeway and froze as he looked back. But I knew he couldn’t see me in the darkness but I made sure I didn’t move when I saw his little head turn my way, just in case.