It wouldn’t last long though. This wasn’t a high or steep climb for them. Only the unevenness caused by the rocks was slowing them down in any appreciable way.
We began to pop off rounds, taking out the ones closest and working our way back. After only a few shots, Smitty turned to me.
“I’m out,” He said.
“Then fucking reload,” I replied as if this were the most obvious thing in the world… which it was. Although I missed the slightly less obvious fact to which he clued me in a moment later.
“No, I’m fucking out!” he said, holding up his M16.
I cursed and drew one of the fresh magazines I’d taken from Willy, “Here, merry Christmas!”
He popped the mag in and took aim. He got off two shots and then stopped again.
I was out now, and twenty or so of the things were about to start climbing. I was in the middle of swapping in a fresh magazine when I asked, “What now?”
“Fucking stove pipe!” he griped, showing me the open port and the round jammed in it.
“Goddamned M16’s…” I cranked.
By now, though, the engine was getting close and coming on at about ten miles per hour. It would overtake us even if Tony started to break at that very moment.
“Fuck it!” I said, firing off a couple of rounds and taking out the four closest ghouls.
“What?” Smitty asked as he was trying to remove the jammed rounds.
I shouldered my M4 and reached down for Frank, “come on, let’s head down the tracks.”
Smitty made a face but did as I did and we started heading east. I could hear the brakes being applied to the engine from behind us. I knew the further we went, the better chance we’d have of meeting the engine precisely when it stopped so we could get aboard.
As it turned out, of course, it wasn’t a precise rendezvous. The engine rolled past and came to a stop a hundred feet ahead of us.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Smitty gasped.
“Oh yeah…” I huffed, “Freakin’ perfect, just like a horror movie… all we need now is for one of us to break a high heel!”
Smitty groaned.
“G.I. grits and G.I. gravy…” I sang in cadence, “come on, soldier…”
“G.I. grits… and G.I. gravy…” Smitty sputtered.
“Gee I’m glad I joined the Navy…” I finished.
He gasped it out and even managed a chuckle.
The locomotive had plowed over a couple of G’s when it went past, but there were still more than a dozen on both sides of the tracks following us. That included six less than twenty feet behind us. Thankfully, though, we weren’t on our own.
As I looked forward through sweat blurred eyes, I saw Tara and Andrea standing on both walkways of the train. They began firing and taking down the zombies rather quickly. And rather closely, too.
“Hey!” Smitty barked as several bullets sizzled past us a little too close for comfort, “you see us down here, right?”
“Relax,” Andrea called out casually from the right side of the train, “I’ve got a good angle, you’re fine… probably won’t hit you.”
“Crazy fucking… squids,” Smitty grumped.
I grinned at him, “She’s a marine.”
“Even worse,” He said with a grin of his own.
We made it to the engine and clumsily got up onto the tracks. We stopped at the port ladder and Smitty shook his friend.
“Franky, come on man,” He said, “Stay with me.”
“Huh?” Frank muttered drunkenly.
“Go up,” I said to Smitty, “I’ll push him up and you pull.”
Smitty let go and climbed up the ladder to the platform. It looked like an effort for him.
“Yeah…” I muttered, placing Frank’s hands on the ladder, “Imagine how I feel.”
Frank was a little more lucid and he understood what I wanted. He just wasn’t very able. I got his right foot, the uninjured leg, onto the first rung and then bent low and got my right shoulder under his ass.
“Heave away!” I said, lifting the man as I strained, “Come on, Frank, help me out, buddy!”
Frank pushed with his good leg as I pushed. Smitty had hold of Frank’s armpits and was heaving upward as well.
“At least you’re not being chased by zombies anymore,” Tara offered from above.
“That might help,” I groaned, “Incentive…”
It took a minute, but we got Frank up on the platform. Smitty and I then helped him into the control compartment which seemed to be turning into an ICU.
“More wounded?” Andy asked with a grin, “What is this, the four oh seven seven?”
“That’s right, Hawkeye,” I said, easing Frank down next to Rivers against the back wall, “Better scrub up!”
Andy scoffed, “I’ve done my surgery for tonight.”
“You’re a kid,” Smitty said with tired surprise.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Andy quipped and shrugged.
Chapter 36
Andrea’s diary – 12/8/2019
It was pretty crowded in that train cabin.
There were the seven of us and those two guys that attacked us. Sam had the Gunny sitting against the back wall between the doors and set the new wounded guy down next to her. The other man, Smitty he called himself, stood off to the side looking on with worry on his face.
“Should we keep going?” Tony asked.
Sam frowned as he began digging through the packs for more medical supplies, “I don’t think so. I think we’re safe from the G’s in here. This way I can get Franky fixed up, then we can go down the line a bit and let these two off in a zombie-free zone. How far away do you live, Smitty?”
The man frowned for a moment and then said, “If you let us off a mile or so to the east, we’ll be able to get back okay. I can call for assistance.”
Sam nodded and then waved Andy over to him, “Let’s see what we’ve got here, L T. It looks like you did a pretty good job on the Gunny… but she’s gonna need an IV. Frank will too.”
I watched as Andy hung two IV bags above the wounded by tying them to a hand rail that was attached to the wall beneath the monitoring board. He then placed bags of normal saline in each and got the tools ready.
It was still amazing to me to watch any kind of surgery. The stuff Sam knew was impressive but watching my son go about it next to him was amazing. It made me proud.
Andy cinched off Rivers’ arm just above the elbow and then swabbed around her elbow with alcohol. He then poked the needle right into one of her veins, got the catheter in place and slid the needle out and then taped the tube down.
“I think about halfway should be okay for her right now,” Sam said, “I may want to take a look at that wound more closely. But for this guy… I’ve got to go full bore.”
The wounded attacker, Franky, had lost a lot of blood. I could tell because his left jeans leg was soaked through. Sam got the IV going and then used scissors to cut away the pants above the wound. He then threw the bloody fabric in front of the left side door.
“Okay, Andy,” Sam said, “Give him a full dose of ketamine and give Rivers half that.”
“It was a through and through,” Rivers said.
“Yeah,” Sam replied, opening a sealed bag of surgical instruments, “But I want to check anyway, just to make sure there are no bleeders. Once you give them the anesthetic, Andy, take the tourniquet off her arm and let’s see what happens. Okay, Frank, you’re going to be out soon and I think you’ll be okay.”
The man had already passed out. He wasn’t that lucid to begin with. I could see Rivers’ eyes getting heavy as she watched Andy remove the tourniquet and begin to carefully unwrap her bandage.
He set the bloody wrappings down on the floor next to her and looked carefully at the wound. It was bleeding, but not badly… at least I didn’t think so.
“Some bleeding,” Andy said, “But not fast. Her veins were still pretty good. Wasn’t hard to get the needle in.”
“
Good,” Sam said, “Not so much for this guy… had to squeeze one like an earth worm.”
“What’s that mean?” Smitty asked.
“Means he’s lost a lot of blood,” Tony said from the controls, “Blood vessels are somewhat collapsed and his pulse is probably up, too.”
Sam nodded, “Pulse is a bit rapid, but his breathing is over ten per minute and the IV should help fill him back up and bring his heart rate down… but I’m going to have to open this wound. The bullet did exit but I don’t like the looks of it. I think his iliac vein is compromised. Andy, come around here and give me a hand.”
Andy moved to the other side and knelt on the floor next to Frank. Sam handed him a set of retractors, “I’m going to widen this wound a bit…”
Sam took a scalpel and inserted it into the bullet hole. He then began to cut a line about two inches long down the man’s leg. Andy inserted the retractors and pulled the wound open. It was like a dark red mouth and I felt my stomach twitch.
“Wound track looks straight…” Sam muttered, “And there’s the bleeder…”
Sam clamped off the vein, which was about the size of a pencil, or at least I thought so. He then took out a small curved needle and began to sew. The vein hadn’t been severed, but nearly so. He put three sutures in and then released the clamp.
“How’s that look to you?” He asked Andy.
My son looked for a moment or two and then said, “Seems to be holding.”
“Would you say it’s okay to leave alone now?” Sam asked.
Even in this situation, he was teaching and my son was learning. Andy nodded, “I think so.”
“Okay, then release the tourniquet,” Sam said, “Let’s see how it goes.”
Andy did and they looked into the wound for a moment. Andy pointed with his chin, “I still see some bleeding.”
Sam nodded, “yes, the vein is okay, but I think there are some bone fragments. I’m going to have to go deeper.”
Sam cut some more and Andy open the wound a bit more. It was getting hard to watch. I’m not usually squeamish… but seeing the inside of a leg and seeing how it looked like hamburger was getting to me.
“Yeah…” Sam said, “The bullet hit the femur. Not bad, though. I’ll get these bone fragments and put a stich in that small bleeder there…”
Sam worked quickly, removing several slivers of bone that he deposited on a paper towel beside him. He then stitched another blood vessel, changed to a bigger needle and sewed the muscle together and then closed the skin on both the exit and entry wounds. Andy helped him bandage the leg and they checked the IV.
“Almost empty already,” Sam said, “Let’s give him one more while we take a look at Rivers.”
Andy swapped out the bag and then moved over to Sam’s side again. Sam examined the wound closely and frowned, “Boy, I wish I had an x-ray machine… I’d like to know if there are bone fragments in this arm.”
Andy was looking as well, “The bleeding is pretty light… if I had to guess, I’d say the bullet passed inside the humorous. Her description of the pain seemed like it would’ve been higher if the bone was hit.”
Sam nodded and held up a thin metal probe, “I’m going to try and check the wound track with this, see if I can feel anything…”
I saw him insert the probe into the bullet hole on her arm and had to look away. After a moment, I heard it clink against the other tools. I looked back and saw Andy swabbing the wound with a cotton ball.
“I didn’t feel anything,” Sam said, “So let’s close her up and see how it goes for the next day or so.”
He had Andy do the sewing, which he seemed to do pretty well. Then they bandaged her up and Sam gave both her and Frank two shots in the IV ports.
“Well done,” Sam said as he and Andy collected the surgical waste into a plastic bag. They then used cleansing wipes to clean their hands, even though they’d both worn gloves through the whole thing, “I’ve given them both some morphine and a big dose of broad spectrum anti-biotics. That should hold them for a while. Do you guys have any med supplies, Smitty?”
“Some,” Smitty said, “No surgical gear, but pain meds and ampicillin.”
“Good,” Sam said, “Keep him comfortable and run a full course of anti-biotics for the next week or so. Keep him full of fluids and I’d suggest a lot of protein, especially beef if you’ve got it. Now let’s check on our guests…”
Sam stepped out of the left side door with the bag in his hand, which included Frank’s pant leg. I went with him and sure enough, a bunch of ghouls were crowded around the train, looking up at us. Their moans and snarls were disconcerting, but it was clear they couldn’t get to us.
“Here you go, fellas,” Sam said as he tossed the bag to a group of zombies, “Have at it.”
The reaction was astonishing. They went crazy over the bag of bloody fabric and bandages, tearing at it and each other in a frenzy to get at the human gore.
“Like sharks,” I muttered.
“Yeah,” Sam said with a sigh, “But dumber.”
We went back inside. Tara was hugging Andy, Smitty was sitting next to his friend and Vicky was sitting next to Tony at the control console.
“How nice,” I said, “Everybody’s all cozy.”
“Yeah,” Smitty grumbled, “A real fuckin’ social event here.”
“Tony, take us down the tracks a mile or so,” Sam said, “Smitty, you might want to call for help. It’s gonna be a bitch getting him down from here.”
“There’s a crossing like a mile and a half or so ahead,” Smitty said, “If we can stop on it, I can get one of our trucks next to the train and we can lower Franky down easier.”
“You can keep the IV,” Sam said, “and I’ll give you another bag of normal saline. Once you get him home, set him up and run the bag, but just on a slow drip. I think he’ll be good to go after that.”
Tony worked the board and the low rumble of the engines behind us increased slightly as the massive locomotive began to roll forward. Tony wasn’t using the train’s lights so as not to alert any more living or dead. Instead, he kept his NVG’s on and peered through the big forward windows. I don’t know what there was to see, really. I could see out of them and even at night the tracks were clearly visible.
“Okay,” Smitty said, coming to stand next to Sam and I who were standing behind the two chairs, “They’ll meet us at the crossing.”
“I’m sorry about all of this,” Sam said, “Sorry that we couldn’t have met under better circumstances… and sorry about your people.”
Smitty blew out his breath, “It’s my fault. Just goes to show you what shoot first and ask questions later does for you.”
“So how many of you are there?” Sam asked, “Do you have trouble with other survivors in the area?”
Smitty’s face took on a neutral appearance. It seemed like he was hiding something to me.
“A decent sized group,” Smitty admitted without being specific.
Sam cocked an eyebrow but only nodded, “I get it.”
“As for trouble…” Smitty continued, “Once in a while. We’re pretty secluded and have set ourselves up pretty good. With the supplies on the train… where are the cars, by the way?”
“I saw them when we went outside,” I said, “I couldn’t tell if they were still moving… but I think they’ll be more or less in the same place.”
“Within a few hundred yards,” Tony offered, “This system has some nice features, including statistics on the train and its weight. I let the cars go at about eight miles per hour, and it should take them nearly a mile to come to a stop.”
“Cool,” Smitty said, sounding relieved, “That train gives us an edge. We’re starting to farm, but with what’s on it, we can trade and the fuel is a blessing for sure. So far we’ve been lucky, though. Maybe you guys should think about hooking up with us. We can certainly use some folks with your skills.”
Sam frowned, “Thanks. Maybe we’ll come visit sometime. At the momen
t, we’re on a mission. We’re actually hooked up with some folks down in Key West. An Admiral I know brought his carrier squadron there when the shit first started. They’ve got power, water and safety.”
“Sounds nice,” Smitty said with a faraway look in his eyes.
“It’s… interesting,” I added, “Life seems okay, but you can buy and sell people and they have pretty strict discipline.”
Smitty nodded, “Some world we live in now, huh?”
“You might consider getting in touch with him,” Sam suggested. He pulled a small notebook from his backpack and jotted down the ham radio frequency that Banks’ people monitored, “Call on this. Conventional radio won’t reach from here unless you’ve got a sat phone.”
Smitty pocketed the paper and nodded, “Thanks.”
Tony began breaking and I could see a cross street up ahead. The locomotive rolled to a stop and within a few minutes, a dark shape appeared on the road. It turned around and backed up to the tracks.
“Okay, here we go,” Sam said, “Andy, Andrea, Vicky, I want you on guard. No offense, Smitty, but…”
“I get it,” Smitty said.
There were two men in the bed of the truck, which was about two feet lower than the engine’s walkway. I stood next to Sam and Smitty and looked down, my M4 at the ready. Andy and Vicky were on the back end of the train.
“We got a stretcher, Smitty,” one of the men said, “I’ll pass it up and you can lay Franky on it.”
“Good thinking, Joe,” Smitty said as he and Sam took hold of the two eight foot poles wrapped in fabric.
They laid the stretcher out on the platform and then Sam and Smitty carefully carried Frank out and laid him on the cloth. They strapped him in and set the IV bag and another saline bag on the cloth as well.
“Okay,” Sam said, “We’ll ease the stretcher out and you two guys take a handle each. When we get him mostly over the bed, I’ll rest the handles on the railing. Smitty will jump down and take them and you guys can ease him down. Try to keep him level if you can.”
World of Corpses (Book 1): World of Corpses Page 48