Zombies! (Book 7): Still Standing

by Merritt, R. S.

  “Is the city cleared out?” Kyler asked. The huge drifts of bodies and the way they were able to drive around in daylight seemed to imply this city may actually be fairly safe.

  “It’s not cleared out completely. We did a lot of clearing operations early on trying to make it habitable. We fenced off incoming roads and led herds out of here with fireworks. We actually did even more over in Norfolk. You can’t keep these things out though. They’re like roaches. Now that we’ve stopped sending out clearing crews every day, they’re starting to creep back in.” The officer in the front seat answered.

  They drove over some high roads and rolled up to a fenced off area with a guard shack beside it. The guard came out of the shack and walked over to check the identification card the officer in the front passenger seat was holding out. Without saying another word, the guard rolled the gate manually out of their way. They took the road into a tunnel to go under the bay. Behind them the guard hurriedly closed the gate back up. He was intently listening for the broadcast that’d tell him to lock the gate and fall back to the carrier.

  “All the bridges blown up?” Kyler asked nervously. Being in a tunnel he knew was wired to be blown up at the press of a button was freaking him out. He didn’t really like tunnels on the best of days. This one didn’t even have lights on inside it.

  “We didn’t bother yet. They’re all wired. The enemy knows they’re all wired. It seemed like a waste to blow them up before we had to you know. We’ve got fences across them to keep the infected out. Kind of like the gate we just came through. The tunnel is the fastest way across though. Once your name percolated up, we got a call to bring you in right away. I probably shouldn’t have taken the time to lay out the mines, but I really don’t like driving around with those things in the trunk.” The officer answered.

  “Agreed. I’m not a fan of being blown up either. Been there done that.” Kyler said. He ignored the weird looks he got from saying he’d been blown up.

  “You do look like you’ve been through the wringer a few times.” One of the men said. He was only half joking. Kyler’s history with violence was clearly visible in the topographical map of scar tissue covering his body.

  They emerged from the tunnel and headed up the incline to the top where another gate was closed against them. This one had more guards surrounding it. These guards spent a few more minutes staring at their identification guards and validating who they were before wheeling open the gate and letting them through. Kyler noted the motorcycles standing in a neat row behind the guards. He also noticed how nervous they looked. He made sure to lean back in his seat so there was no way they could see his back.

  After the tunnel they drove down another long road to yet another bridge. This one had guards stationed at it as well. These guards had concrete barriers and machine guns. They also had a laptop that clearly showed them how many people had left in the patrol this morning. Not seeing anything in the computer about an extra person the marines standing guard had Kyler get out of the jeep and stand with his hands against the wall. The officer from Kyler’s group was telling them who to contact to get the authorization to let Kyler in when the marine patting Kyler down saw the Brotherhood brand.

  It went from a bureaucratic mix-up to a whole other level of tense in a matter of seconds. Kyler found himself face down on the concrete with a boot firmly placed on his back. He could sense the rifle aimed at the back of his head. The other members of the patrol had been pulled out of the jeep and thrown on the ground as well. None of them had tried to resist. If they had then all of them would probably have been shot. The officer was still yelling out who to contact for authorization. Kyler felt his hands being pulled back behind him to be put into a set of cuffs. This would be a golden moment to be able to tell them he had a set of fuzzy cuffs they could use on him instead.

  Kyler lay on the ground wondering if he was going to be shot in the back of the head while the situation was cleared up. The marine in charge of the guard station walked away from the group when Captain Hartfield actually came across the radio waves ripping him a new one. A few minutes later they were on their way again.

  “So, how many more checkpoints?” Kyler asked from the back. He was still picking pieces of dirt out of his hair. His lip was puffed up and bleeding too. Marines didn’t get the same kind of politically correct prisoner taking training that the police force got. They had more of the mentality they could treat you as roughly as they wanted since the only other alternative was for them to shoot you. Therefore, you should be happy to have your face bounced off the concrete a few times when they put you on the ground.

  “I think three more until we get you to HQ. We were supposed to be cleared all the way through but obviously those last guys didn’t get the memo. Hopefully the rest of them did. I don’t feel like getting stomped on by any more freakin’ marines today.”

  They drove down a long road with tall buildings blocking their view of the bay. Here and there they’d pass an alley and see the sparkling blue of the Atlantic. The next checkpoint they got to the guards let them through almost as soon as they saw the officers identification card. It was another heavily armed checkpoint with tall concrete barriers all around it. Massive fences had been installed everywhere as well. Kyler could see the drifts of burnt corpses heaped up on the other side of the fence.

  The next checkpoint was in front of the HQ building. This time the officer who’d escorted him this far didn’t get to go in. He was told to go back to his post. The officer wished Kyler good luck and left. Kyler found himself with a new escort who walked him down the hall to a nicely appointed waiting room where he was told to wait. He’d only been sitting there for a few minutes when a soldier walked in balancing a tray with some pancakes, coffee and what seemed a lot like real scrambled eggs with butter.

  “Breakfast all day around here lately. Not that I’m complaining.” The man said as he sat the tray down on the small table in front of Kyler. Without another word other than to tell Kyler to enjoy the man left.

  Never one to ignore a plate full of pancakes Kyler didn’t need a written invitation to dig in. By the time Hartfield showed up ten minutes later Kyler was already wondering how to request seconds. His first thought on seeing Hartfield was actually that if anybody could authorize seconds…

  “I see you still have a good appetite.” Hartfield said by way of greeting. Kyler belatedly realized the man who could authorize a free breakfast was about as officer on deck as you could possibly get. He hopped to his feet quickly to stand at attention.

  “Yes sir.” He said enthusiastically. He wasn’t sure if this was a situation where he should shout out there was an officer on the deck. The men walking in behind Hartfield looked at him in amusement at his butchery of military tradition.

  “At ease Kyler. I heard you came back alone. Were you separated or have we lost the others?” Hartfield asked.

  “They’re lost sir. We completed the mission but at the end it all just went to hell sir.” Kyler answered. All thoughts of food or anything else washed away by the memories of that desperate firefight. Seeing the bullet riddled body of the chief after he’d charged that machine gun nest. Waking up afterwards with Ritz underneath the trees that’d been blasted down. The infected everywhere. Spending the day hiding underneath the corpses to survive. Seeing the sadness in Kyler’s eyes Hartfield sat down in one of the big chairs in the room.

  “I want to hear it all. Tell me what happened.” One of his aides moved forward to remind him he had a tight schedule. The captain waved him away and told him to move everything around.

  Kyler told them everything. One of the men behind the commander coughed into his hand and clearly called ‘bullshit’ when Kyler told them about the horse patrol finding them. With fire in his eyes Kyler stood up to address the man, but the commander beat him to it.

  “The man giving us this intel is about thirty times the man you’ll ever be. I just decided to promote him to lieutenant which coincides with the exact same
time I decided to demote you to whatever the lowest enlisted rank is that we end up coming up with. Get out of my sight.” The captain said without ever breaking eye contact with Kyler. “I’m sorry, please continue.”

  Kyler watched the newly demoted man slink out of the room. He fought back the urge to give him the finger. Once the man had left, he continued his story all the way up to the point where he’d killed the Brotherhood soldiers and let himself be captured by the city guard at the checkpoint.

  “That looks fresh.” The commander said pointing at Kyler’s puffed up lip. Not wanting to get anyone else in trouble Kyler let that one slide.

  “It’s nothing sir. This doesn’t even count as an injury in my book. Just gives me an excuse not to floss.” Even as Kyler joked a thought did occur to him though. If it’d been that hard for him to get here how were settlers able to make it now?

  “Ok. I’m going to have more work for you Kyler. You’re too good a resource to let sit idle. However, I’m going to give you some time to do just that. The intel about the train answers a lot of questions. It also raises a ton of concerns. We don’t have the missiles left to take them all out. I’d honestly been hoping to just leave before they got here. We’re still stuck dredging our way out though. I want to save as much as we can for defending ourselves where we’re going. If they get too close with that ordinance though I guess we won’t have a choice. This room is yours until you get setup with one on the ship. Somebody will be by soon to get that taken care of. Congratulations on your promotion lieutenant.” The captain said standing up.

  Kyler quickly stood up and took the hand that was extended to him to shake. He’d finally got up the courage to ask the question that was burning in his mind.

  “Sir, I spent a lot of time with a group of people who’ve become registered settlers. Where can I check to see if they’ve made it here or not? If they’re not here yet are you still letting settlers through?” Kyler asked.

  “I assume you’re talking about the family that shot the Senator’s wife. If they’re not here already we’ll get them put in the computers to allow them in if they show up. Write down their information and I’ll have someone check on them and let you know whatever we know immediately. I’ll have them upgraded in the system so they’re a priority group.” The captain promised.

  Kyler scribbled down every bit of information he could think of and gave the paper to the man Hartfield pointed out. Less than half an hour later there was a knock on his door. Heart pounding in his chest Kyler rushed to the door and pulled it open. His smile faded as the man at the door let him know that the family had been checked in at a processing center in North Carolina but that was the last records they had of them. The processing center itself had been lost in the first wave of the Brotherhood crossing the North Carolina border.

  The man patted Kyler awkwardly on the shoulder and left. A stone-faced Kyler sat back down in the large chair and considered what to do. He knew they couldn’t be dead. That was a family of survivors. If there was any way possible to make it then they’d show up. If they didn’t show up, then he wouldn’t get on the boat either. He wasn’t leaving without her.

  He wasn’t going to do them any good sitting in his room. He left and found the man who’d told him the family hadn’t checked in yet. Using his new officer status Kyler got himself walked down to the operations center. In the center they had banks of monitors showing views from drones and CCTV from all over the city. Kyler set down in the back of the room and busied himself studying each of the monitors looking for any sign of Caitlyn and her family.

  Chapter 35: When You’re Going Through Hell

  “Turn down a side street. We need to lose that truck we’re behind before it stops and spews out a platoons worth of men or something.” Bryan ordered Phil.

  Phil turned off the highway at the next off ramp leading into the city proper. Driving past piles of the dead Bryan began to regret his decision. The windows in the RV had taken a lot of abuse. Most of them were cracked if they were even still there. The smell of the rotting flesh coming from the piles of the dead was overwhelming. Phil sped up to try and get past it.

  A Zombie that’d been eating the leathery flesh off one of the cadavers saw the RV coming and immediately sprinted straight for them. Phil slowed down in the hopes that the sprinter would choose to go around the RV and attack from one of the sides. This one turned out to be one of the adrenalized ones who had more of a dive right in approach to hunting. The sprinter put on a burst of speed and leapt headfirst into the windshield directly in front of Phil. The weakened windshield gave way and the Zombie tumbled into Phil’s lap.

  Phil wasn’t having any of that. He jumped to the side and out of the driver’s seat. Bryan had already pulled out a knife and was standing up to strike the Zombie. The Zombie tried to jump for Phil but was stuck on the steering wheel. The Zombies foot pressed down hard on the accelerator. The RV sped up before crashing into the corpse covered wall of a CVS. They all felt the way the RV tried to climb the drift of the dead before losing the battle with momentum and gravity. The RV fell over settling on its side.

  Randy and Kelly weren’t impacted too badly by the fall. They were sitting at a table on the side of the RV that fell to the ground. They smashed into the ground but didn’t get knocked out or anything. Up in front of them they heard screeching followed by a death rattle. Bryan had stayed focused through the accident and taken care of the infected that’d caused it. Randy followed Kelly towards the back to check on the girls. They’d stayed hidden in the back bedroom to avoid anyone wondering why kids were running around in the RV.

  Kelly and Randy kicked the crawling into high gear when they heard some quickly stifled screaming coming from the back. Climbing through the door into the sideways back bedroom they instantly saw what the screaming was about. The kids had all ended up on the side of the RV that the windows had been shot out of. The side lying in the big pile of dead people the RV had rolled over on. The girls were wading in a putrid pool of partially decomposed body parts. The smell in the room was enough to make Randy dry heave a few times. He could only imagine what it was like for Zoey and the rest of the girls to be wading in that muck.

  Without hesitation he dove straight down to join them. Completely grossed out he started handing the terrified girls up one at a time to Kelly who was handing them back to Bryan and Phil. They were using the towels from the bathroom to wipe the most disgusting bits and pieces off of the girls. All the noise would of course attract more Zombies. They knew they had to hurry, or they risked the RV becoming their tomb. Randy boosted Caitlyn and Myriah out then stretched to pull himself up into the hallway. In the main area of the RV Kelly had taken over cleaning off the girls.

  Phil waved for Randy and Bryan to come up to the front where he was looking out the busted windshield at a small group of the infected sniffing around. For them to take the infected out they’d need to hop over the seat and crawl through all the broken safety glass to even get in the fight. By the time they made all that noise the infected would be all over them. They could just shoot them but that’d only attract more which would ensure they never got out of there. Stumped over the logistics of trying to get to the enemy it was Randy who came up with the solution.

  He pulled Phil and Bryan down behind the seat to tell them his plan. With them staring at him he quickly mimed dropping something in the front seat to make some noise then killing the infected from behind the safety of the seat when they came to investigate. Each of them pulled out the longest bladed weapon they had and waited for Randy to start tossing junk in the front seat. Bryan was still stuck in a daydream of just shooting the infected from a safe distance with a crossbow when Randy tossed a throw pillow up front.

  The pillow bounced off the remaining glass in the windshield and fell to the ground. The remaining glass in the window vibrated momentarily then crashed to the ground. The resulting cacophony of breaking glass sounded like an avalanche tearing through a cymbal factory to the men
used to moving in absolute silence. Randy had pantomimed the infected walking over curiously until close enough for them to strike. He’d pictured striking them as the infected were looking the other way after curiously staring at the throw pillow for a moment.

  In reality the five Zombies outside reacted to the glass breaking by instantly throwing themselves through the missing windshield and trying to claw their way deeper into the RV. Randy grabbed the tall lithe infected woman whose hand had grabbed his face and threw her on the ground. She began wriggling her way backwards towards where the children were. He jumped on her back riding her like a tourist in Jamaica on the back of a reluctant dolphin. She squirmed this way and that trying to get at him while he tried his best to beat her to death with his elbow since he’d dropped his machete when she touched his face.

  Caitlyn appeared out of nowhere with a hatchet. Randy locked the dolphin like infected woman into a tight headlock and leaned back to give Caitlyn a target. Caitlyn swung the hatchet resolutely striking the woman in the head. She swung a few times and the woman stopped her squirming. Randy grabbed the hatchet from Caitlyn and turned to help on the front line.