“I need eyes up front!” Teddy stood straight on his tiptoes behind the helm and tried to peer at the water. “I can’t see shit from back here!”
Ein went back to the bow and crouched down as he stared at the path ahead. “No steel or rocks ahead—just bodies.”
The knocking and scraping against the underside of the hull intensified, and the propeller occasionally jettisoned blood into the air, but Teddy managed to keep the boat moving steadily ahead.
A hand shot up and latched onto the portside next to the helm and caused the craft to tilt.
Teddy looked over and watched as a shirtless man attempted to pull himself on board. Most of the man’s upper torso and face appeared to have been injured in some recent explosion and resembled brunt hamburger meat.
The man plopped himself hallway onto the deck and reached a hand up towards Teddy. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a pitiful guttural cry.
Teddy stepped over and shoved the man back with his boot. “Get off!”
The man grunted as the boot heel struck him in the face. He slid back down into the water and left a crimson streak on the deck.
“Teddy—over here!” Ein looked warily at the bow as a woman’s boney hand latched onto the chrome gunwale.
“Don’t let them climb on!” Teddy shouted. “They’ll capsize us!”
Ein climbed over and kicked at the woman’s hand until she lost her grip and went splashing back down.
There was a THUMP, and blood spurted out at the stern once more.
Teddy turned the boat around the barge and headed down the narrow stretch of water that passed downtown.
It was far worse than he had imagined.
Multiple fires burned inside the Memphis Safe Zone, and large craters from mortar rounds had pocketed the shoreline. Buildings had been reduced to rubble. Bodies filled the streets and went flailing out of burning apartment high-rises. All of the modular concrete wall partitions leaned askew and jaunted out in every direction.
On the opposite side of the river, a row of burning tanks had their cannons pointed towards the safe zone. Tattered battlement flags flapped in the breeze, adorned with the image of a falcon holding a rifle in its talons. Hundreds of dying militiamen lay along the shoreline and cried out in agony while others gave up and went tumbling off into the mighty river.
Teddy and Ein ignored the bodies that knocked against the bow and the bottom of the hull—they were transfixed by the harrowing wails of the dying.
As they passed a walled-off section of the safe zone, Teddy looked up and saw an officer dangling off of the edge of the wall where the iron catwalk have broken away. Other officers crouched nearby and tried extending their hands to help him back up, but the distance was too great, and their effort seemed to be in vain.
“Can they see us?” Ein asked as he stared up at the officers.
“Kid, we’re the last things on their minds right now,” Teddy said in a grave voice. “Let’s just keep—”
Hands shot up from both sides of the boat and grasped desperately for any support. People cried out for help as they clambered their way on board.
“Get them off!” Teddy shouted as the boat started rocking violently side-to-side.
Ein ran along the portside kicking and shoving people back while Teddy kicked them off of the starboard side.
A man who was wearing army fatigues from the nineties with a homemade falcon patch sewn on the shoulder managed to get to his feet and started staggering towards the helm to take control.
Teddy spun towards the man and drove a fist into his face, full-force.
Blood and a few teeth shot out of the man’s mouth as his head snapped to the side.
Teddy shoved him backward and sent the dazed militiaman splashing back in the water.
Ein circled the boat and continued knocking off hands, while Teddy hurried back to the helm.
He pushed the throttle forward full-speed—obstacles be damned.
The boat shook as bodies went tumbling and rolling underneath it.
Steady spurts of gore spewed up from the engine as the propeller ripped through flesh and bone.
As the boat picked up speed, the people that were trying to grasp onto it was hurled off the sides and left behind.
Near the edge of downtown, the number of floating corpses lessened, and the river grew wider. The tail-end of a Buick sedan bobbed up from the water, and a piece of steel scaffolding stuck up, but the obstacles were easily avoidable.
“We’re in the homestretch!” Teddy announced.
Suddenly, four streaks of light came up from the militia’s side of the river and headed towards the safe zone’s wall.
The projectiles made an ominous whistling noise as they arched over the river and headed towards their intended target.
Both Teddy and Ein looked over their shoulder just in time to see the mortars striking the wall, and blossoming into four bright orange fireballs.
The ground rumbled as the wall partitions crumbled away and toppled into the river. The impact caused the water to swell, and sent a massive wave rolling downriver towards the boat.
“Kid! Brace yourself!” Teddy wrapped his arms around the controls, squeezed his eyes shut, and ducked.
Water gushed over the boat and carried it away for over a mile before flinging it aside like a plastic toy.
The boat came crashing to a hard stop halfway on the shoreline.
Teddy tumbled over the control console. He landed on his back on the deck and coughed up water. He retched and gasped as he attempted to catch his breath.
After a few moments, the water subsided, and the boat lay with its battered bow half-buried in the sand. Black smoke rose up from the engine, and the propeller was completely torn off.
“Kid…” Teddy’s voice had a raspy, croaky quality. He groaned and forced himself to sit up despite the excruciating pain that radiated throughout his body. “Are you alright?”
He looked around but didn’t see Ein anywhere on the boat.
Teddy started to panic. “Kid?!”
He labored up onto his feet and searched the area.
The wave had carried him considerably far from downtown, but the water was full of washed-out debris and mangled corpses.
In the water, a few yards away, he spotted Ein flailing around madly and hopelessly grabbing at everything that floated past him to keep from sinking.
The rushing river was carrying him away.
“Ein!” Teddy watched in horror as the kid started going under, and the current kept pulling him further downriver.
He jumped into the frigid water and swam towards Ein as fast as his tired, aching muscles would allow.
Teddy’s lungs burned, and vertigo threatened to rob him of his sense of direction, but he refused to slow down—he refused to quit.
Ein’s body seemed to give up. His head went under, and all that remained was an arm stretched up into the air.
Teddy snatched the kid’s boney wrist just as it was about to go completely under. He turned and fought against the current as he dragged the kid’s limp body towards the shore.
Teddy panted as he brought Ein out of the water. He laid the kid down on his side and then plopped down on his back with his arms sprawled overhead—exhaustion overtook him.
Ein convulsed and coughed up water. He started gasping and coughing as he curled up into a fetal position and sucked in air.
“Are you…. Okay?” Teddy managed in-between breaths as he looked over at Ein.
Ein rolled onto his back, still coughing, nodding. He stared up at the nighttime sky and waited for his heart to settle.
They were soaked.
They were cold.
Most of all, they were still alive.
CHAPTER 17
Just after the break of dawn, Teddy and Ein finally managed to get their battered boat back into the water. Soaked and freezing, it was a miserable affair.
They wrung out as much water as they could from their clothes and
laid them on the deck as they waited for the sun to dry them out completely.
They were naked down to their boxers and freezing, but it still felt better than wearing a bunch of damp rags.
Teddy couldn’t stop shivering and thought that it’d be one hell of a thing to come so far just to end up catching the flu again.
By the time the sun rose, Memphis had been reduced to smoldering heaps, and whatever remained of the safe zone’s security forces had fallen back.
Militiamen swooped in to pick through the bones by the time Teddy and Ein shoved off.
Teddy was surprised that the boat was still seaworthy. The engine was entirely shot, however. They were at the mercy of the river’s current.
Ein proposed using some of the driftwood as makeshift oars.
The idea was a good one, Teddy admitted, and it managed to get them a considerable distance away from Memphis.
During the day, they finally caught some relief from the cold as the sun beat down on their backs and dried out their clothes.
Unfortunately, rowing took its toll on them—they were exhausted and unable to continue by the time sunset came.
Teddy wasn’t sure how much progress they had made, but it sure wasn’t nearly as much they would’ve made if they still had an actual motor.
They tied-off and set up camp next to a small bait and tackle shop just off the shore somewhere in Northern Mississippi.
The nondescript shop had been locked up tight and mothballed for the season, but inside they found some potted meat that was probably once sold as catfish bait as well as some jugs of distilled water.
Between the canned goods, clean water, insulated sleeping bags, and the foam coolers, it was a good find.
Teddy was especially happy at finding some black “Uncle Crawdad’s Bait & Tackle” branded t-shirts and some waterproof swamp boots.
They didn’t have any luck finding a new engine or a replacement boat, but Teddy was confident that they’d come across something if they kept going.
“There’s a boat out there somewhere,” he assured Ein. “We’re getting deep in coonass country after all.”
They ate a hearty, salty meal of canned macerals and crackers around a campfire that they built just off the shore.
There was a brief flurry of light snow as the night waned on, but it didn’t stick, and neither of them felt the biting chill as they basked in the fire’s glow.
It was a rare moment of peace and tranquility as they listened to the crickets and katydids serenading each other.
Once the fire started to die, they rolled up their sleeping bags and headed inside the bait shop to ride out the rest of the night.
High above, an MQ-1 Predator flew overhead. It focused its thermographic camera lens down at the earth below and sent the high-res images of Teddy and Ein back to base.
CHAPTER 18
JANUARY 2nd
11:47 AM
The early morning chill gave way to a humid, muggy midday haze as Teddy and Ein continued further south. Cypress trees stuck out of the water along algae-covered banks, and their limbs hung heavy with moss.
Judging by some old signage, and from what Teddy could gather from the map that he picked up at the bait store, they were fifty miles or so north of Greenville, Mississippi.
It was slow going as they paddled their makeshift canoe, but the current had picked up—which helped things considerably.
Ein strung up a plastic tarp over their boat to keep the sun off of them.
It was a good idea too since both of them turned bright red with sunburn.
Teddy didn’t mind the sun nearly as much as the bugs. He swatted irritably at a mosquito that landed on his neck. “Goddamn things… I thought they were supposed to die off by this time of year.”
“Maybe it didn’t freeze yet down here.” Ein slapped a particularly fat little bugger that landed on his forearm. He glanced around the weedy shoreline. “Never been in a swamp before.”
“This isn’t nothing compared to what we’ll see closer to New Orleans.”
“Do you think there are alligators here?” Ein gave the murky water a worried glance.
“By this time of year, they’re probably all hibernating in their dens,” Teddy said. “Even so, I wouldn’t risk going for a swim. They’re mean motherfuckers.”
“Too cold to swim.”
“Not cold enough to kill these bloodsuckers, apparently.” Teddy squashed another mosquito that landed on his chest. “I really hate the south.”
“You’re from the south, though, right?”
“Kid, I’m from Texas,” he said proudly.
“There’s a difference?”
“Of course there is—we have better food, better music, and our women have all of their teeth!”
“That’s a matter of debate, I guess.” Ein looked at him and grinned as he continued rowing. “All of you have that same stupid accent, and country music is just as bad as bluegrass.”
“Careful, kid. You’re treading on mighty thin ice… If you badmouth our barbeque, I’d be justified throwing you overboard.”
“Now that you mention it, I do have a few things to say about that…”
“Keep it up and see what happens,” Teddy warned with a mischievous smile.
They both laughed.
The river curved and widened as the swampy shoreline turned to flat grassland. The clearing stretched out in both directions and had a few derelict farmhouses far off in the distance.
On one side of the shore, a large tent city had been erected. Recreational vehicles and a variety of tents, all in varying degrees of quality of size, formed a circle in the field. American flags flapped lazily in the breeze along with the state flags of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and even a flag from Colorado. A banner hung across one of the RVs read “Camp Freedom, USA—All Are Welcome” in bold, colorful lettering. Sunlight reflected off of a crudely constructed windmill’s tin vane.
There wasn’t a single living soul in sight.
Probably worth checking for supplies, Teddy thought.
One thing that caught Teddy’s eye was the row of boats that sat anchored along the shoreline.
“Well, well, well… Look at that over there.” Teddy nodded towards the boats and stopped rowing.
Ein looked over his shoulder and stared in wonder at the encampment. “Do you think anybody is there?”
“Nah.” Teddy shook his head. “No different than the other piss-ant tent settlements we came across on our way from Topeka.”
“What do you propose?”
“Let’s see what they left behind,” Teddy said. “We’ll load up one of their boats and then—” He stopped and watched in horror as a man emerged out from one of the tents.
Soon there were ten and then twenty people coming out of the tents and staring at the boat.
A bell started ringing, and there was ecstatic shouting.
Before Teddy could even fathom what was happening, over a hundred refugees were cheering and waving at them, beckoning them to come over.
Ein’s eyes widened with excitement. “There are people there! Lots of them!”
Teddy looked out at their hapless faces—there were so many of them. He wondered morbidly just how long it would take for them to fall ill. Would it be a week or only a few days? Did they even realize that there were welcoming the reaper’s harbinger?
“You see them, right?” Ein asked. “There have to be hundreds of them in that camp!”
“Yeah,” he said quietly and cautiously. “I think you’re right.”
So many faces, so many deaths.
Ein grabbed the oars. “Then quit sitting there, all stupefied, and help me steer this thing to shore.”
“No!” Teddy shouted urgently. He grabbed his own set of oars and started paddling ahead.
The boat started to spin in circles as the two men worked against one another.
“What’s the matter with you!?” There was a disquieting sound of desperation in Ein�
�s voice. “They’re friendly!”
“You don’t know that!” Teddy growled furiously as he rowed harder. “It could be a trap just like that one town!”
The boat spun around faster as neither of them gave up.
“They’re not bandits, Teddy!” Ein cried out. “They have kids with them! I can—”
“It’s a fucking set-up, plain and simple!” Teddy bellowed over Ein’s cries of protest. “You don’t know shit, kid, and I’m not going to let you get us killed!”
Teddy let go of the oars and shoved Ein forcefully off of the bench.
Ein was flung backward, and gasped for breath as he landed on his back—the wind knocked out of him.
Teddy grabbed the two pieces of driftwood that Ein was using as oars and hurled them angrily overboard. He grabbed his own set of paddles and started rowing like a madman.
The crowd’s enthusiasm died down as they watched the boat hurry away down the river past their camp. They broke off and slunk back into their tents and alleyways without any fanfare.
Teddy stared over his shoulder at the encampment and heaved for breath as he continued rowing.
Soon the boat left the clearing and was surrounded by mossy cypress trees once more.
Ein slowly sat back up—holding a hand against his chest, coughing, and wheezing. He glared up at Teddy with eyes full of anger, sadness, and betrayal. “Why?” he asked in a raspy voice.
Teddy turned his attention back towards him and glared back bitterly. “They were armed, you stupid shit! Didn’t you see it?! You were taking us right into an ambush!”
Ein gave him a black look and didn’t say a word. There was no need for it—Teddy could tell that the kid knew that he was lying.
“Taking us right into an ambush…” Teddy repeated in a defeated tone that sounded more defensive than angry. He shifted his gaze away from Ein and stared at the water ahead.
Ein sat on the deck and wrapped his arms around his chest. He leaned his back against the gunwale and fixed his gaze down towards his feet.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as neither of them spoke.
Teddy rowed while Ein sulked.
H7N9: The Complete Series [Books 1-3] Page 68