Quarantine: A Pandora Novel

by McCrohan, Richard

  The rifle reports increased as the undead were now entering their field of fire. Both Austin and Leslie fired unceasingly, shifting their aim from one undead head to another, changing magazines as they ran dry.

  “Where are we?” Austin yelled not taking his eyes from his sights.

  “Almost done,” shouted Jermaine. “Tightening the lug nuts now.”

  “Step on it,” Austin returned, “there’s too many of them.”

  A minute later, Jeff kicked the released jack from under the Humvee. “Done!” he yelled.

  Jermaine ran around and jumped into the driver seat. Austin and Leslie, still shooting, backed up and then jumped into the back where Austin climbed up into the gunner’s position on the roof. As Jeff climbed up the side, zombie in a police uniform grabbed his ankle and yanked him from the vehicle. Jeff fell off and landed on his back. The jarring fall knocked the breath from him. At the same time the zombie, still holding his ankle, sunk his teeth into his calf right above his boot top.

  Seeing the top of his friend’s head disappear, Austin bellowed down to Jermaine, “Wait!”

  Jumping up, Austin clambered over the top and slid down the side onto the street. As the zombie saw him land in front of him, he snarled at Austin. Jeff used the momentary opportunity to cock back his other leg and thrust it out. He kicked the undead cop in the side of the head. As he stumbled back, Austin shot him in the head.

  Leslie was in the back of the Humvee with the door open still continuing to fire her weapon at the surrounding zombies. Because of this, Jermaine didn’t hear Austin shout down to him to wait. Starting the armored personnel vehicle, he threw it in gear and stepped on the gas. Immediately, the heavy vehicle shot forward. The Humvee rammed a taxi, knocking it aside. As Leslie was tossed to the side, she looked and saw that Austin wasn’t in the turret. She also realized that Jeff wasn’t inside either.

  “Jermaine wait! Wait!” she shrieked. “Austin and Jeff aren’t inside.”

  Jermaine slammed on the brakes and the vehicle skidded to an abrupt halt.

  Meanwhile, Austin reached down and pulled Jeff up to a standing position. The minute he put his weight on his bitten leg, it collapsed under him. Spinning around, Austin shot four more zombies that had almost reached them. As they fell, he bent down and picked the wounded man up and threw him over his shoulder. Taking one more shot, Austin then turned and ran after the Humvee.

  By now Leslie was up manning the .50 Cal on top of the roof. The undead were flooding the street in both directions. Seconds later Austin reached the now idling vehicle. Opening the door, he dumped Jeff inside and then dove in himself. The door slammed close as the undead threw themselves against the armored sides and clawed at the metal. Austin crawled out of the hatch and also began firing at the undead. The street in front was teeming with undead and had two large trucks blocking the street. Jermaine turned the wheel to mount the curb. Plowing through a mob of zombies the wheels of the Humvee rolled over a trash receptacle. This became wedged underneath the undercarriage. Coupled with a heap of undead now fallen beneath the tires, Jermaine found himself half on the sidewalk and half in the street. They had very little traction. The massing undead continue to push and claw against all sides of the vehicle. Some of the zombies were even trying to climb the large carrier. They had only just begun and were in deep trouble already.

  Rick and Eileen stood in the vestibule. For once the street seemed relatively clear. He was holding an AR-15 that he had found in the missing transit officer’s closet. There was also a shotgun that PJ now had. The next-door apartment opened and Amy and Nemeeka walked out. They both had knapsacks on their backs. Amy had her handgun stuffed into her waistband. Both Nemeeka and Rick had baseball bats strapped onto their belongings. Eileen had a big wrench that Israel had among his tools.

  Amy said, “Ready for our nature walk?” Nemeeka smiled sadly. They all turned as PJ and Mora came tramping down the stairs.

  “Hey guys,” PJ said grinning, “is everyone ready?”

  “I guess as ready as we’ll ever be,” spoke Rick.

  PJ was carrying the shotgun over his shoulder very casually. Noticing, Rick said, “You will be careful with that thing, won’t you?”

  Picking it up off his shoulder, PJ looked at the heavy shotgun and hefted it a few times. “I’ve been practicing with this last night. You know, bring it up, aim and stuff like that,” PJ said, demonstrating and smiling smugly. “It’s like an extension of my own arm now. I’m one with my weapon.”

  Bringing it down, he accidentally knocked it into the wooden banister and it fell on the stairs. Everyone jumped aside, fearful of being accidentally shot, as PJ sheepishly picked it back up. His face was bright red.

  Amy looked at Rick questioningly, “Are you sure Davy Crockett here is the right one to carry that? I’m afraid he may kill us all before we even get out the door.”

  As all eyes turned to him, PJ looked at the floor, holding his shotgun close. Humiliated, he mumbled, “Sorry guys. I’m okay. I was just a…uhm…just a--”

  “Promise me, you’ll be careful,” Rick pleaded.

  Mora, looking mortified, held up a crowbar. “Don’t worry Rick,” she said, looking daggers at her squirming boyfriend, “if he gets any more stupid, I’ll brain him myself.”

  As everyone chuckled, Kelvin came down the stairs. “I came to say goodbye,” he said mournfully. He gave each of them a big hug, saving the longest for Amy and Nemeeka. “I’ll miss the both of you,” he whispered.

  Breaking the embrace and holding the distraught man by the shoulders, and she said to him, “Kelvin, I want you to take good care of our home. When this is done, Meek and I will be back. Understand? This is temporary. We’ll be back. Think of it as us on vacation.”

  Kelvin tearfully chuckled and said with a disdainful grimace, “No one vacations in Jersey.”

  “Hey,” Rick said feigning insult.

  Kelvin looked at him to drolly, “Really?”

  Rick couldn’t help himself and started laughing aloud. “New Jersey and you… perfect together,” he recited humorously.

  In dissent, Kelvin started singing, “I love New York!”

  As yet unseen by everyone during this lighthearted moment, Tomiko appeared at the top of the stairs. Nemeeka was the first to notice.

  “Tomiko” she said.

  “Damn,” Rick muttered as she descended the staircase. Tomiko looked like an outdoorsy Ralph Lauren advertisement. She was completely decked out in his casual woodsy look. Right down to the Polo boots and knapsack. She was layered in denim, suede and plaid.

  “Wow,” Amy remarked, “you give the refugee look a whole different vibe. I didn’t think that anybody running for the hills could look so goddamn good.”

  Blushing, Tomiko said humbly, “I’m sorry. This is all I had.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Kelvin said admiringly. “You just added some well needed class to this motley collection of tackiness.”

  As everyone laughed, Rick looked back out the door. “Uh, maybe we should all go while there’s nobody out there.”

  Saying their last goodbyes, Rick opened the front door. They all tentatively stepped outside, and then hustled down the front steps afraid of being seen. They turned right and began to edge their way down the street toward the west and the Hudson River. Their idea was to move along Riverside Park traveling uptown; and from there, to try and find a boat in the marina to commandeer.

  Watching them scurry down the street, Kelvin reluctantly turned the locks on the front door sealing it again. He was not at all religious, but his childhood Baptist upbringing surfaced anew and he found himself praying for his friends’ good fortune and safe return. He also prayed that he’d still be here and alive to see it.

  A single helicopter flew overhead.

  Jermaine kept shifting between forward and reverse on the gearbox while gunning the engine. He was trying to free the vehicle from the tangled mess underneath. A light pole was hindering them from backing up too
far. The sheer mass of zombies pushing and slamming themselves into the Humvee was frightening. Suddenly, they could hear the spinning rotors of a helicopter above them. Looking up, Austin saw the pilot give him a thumbs up.

  Turning the nose of the warbird to face up the street, the pilot brought the heavy guns of the aircraft into play. At once, the deafening, ripping sound of the chain gun tore through the air. The massing undead were torn to pieces. Blood, body parts, pavement and pieces of automobiles flew in the air as the bird rained death and destruction on the street below. Turning around, the aircraft repeated its devastation on the other side of the street. The zombies were in confusion. With all of the noise and the movement above them, they were completely discombobulated. Adding to this hellish scene were the explosions and fires from the abandoned vehicles as their punctured gas tanks ruptured and caught fire. In all of this thunderous carnage, Jermaine finally succeeded in freeing their vehicle from its entrapment. The Humvee bounced a couple of times, mounted the curb and tore through the surging crowd of undead.

  Seeing them now able to escape, the Apache pilot, seriously low on fuel, stopped firing and turned to head back to Governors Island. He was hoping to quickly fill up, and then return and see if he could rescue the surviving soldiers in the Humvee.

  Jermaine didn’t want to lead the undead that was sure to follow toward the river, so he swung a right turn at the end of the block. Zigzagging through the vehicles, he reached the next corner and made a left. Now he headed toward the river. With any luck, Jermaine thought, we should be at the marina within the hour.

  While Jermaine was veering through the vehicular obstacles, Austin and Leslie were attending to Jeff. Austin ripped his pants leg open and looked at the wound. The zombie had torn a piece of muscle out of the lower portion of Jeff’s calf. Leslie poured some water over the bite to wash away blood. The ragged wound was still bleeding rather severely. Pouring on antibiotic and then taping it up tightly, they succeeded in stanching the flow of blood. Jeff was clenching his jaws and breathing through his tightly clamped teeth. He had his eyes screwed shut and was hissing the word “Shit” repeatedly.

  Austin patted his shoulder and said, “Okay pal, we’ve got the wound closed. You’ll be okay now.”

  Opening his eyes and staring at Austin defiantly, Jeff hissed, “Bullshit.”

  “Hey, man,” Austin started, “if--”

  “Don’t bullshit me!” Jeff spat out. “I’m fucking dead and you know it.” Closing his eyes again, he continued a bit softer, “You don’t have to blow smoke up my ass. I’m no idiot. I know what’s in store for me.” Looking again at his friend, Jeff said, “Listen, as much as I can, I’d like to do my share and be another gun. Just let me help you guys. Please. And… and when I can’t, I’ll take care of that, too.”

  Looking down at the anguished man, Austin said gamely, “Hey, where we go, you go.” They clasped hands and squeezed.

  As the Humvee continued up 12th Avenue, a rough sound started to come from the engine. Looking at the gauges in consternation, Jermaine said unbelievably, “Oh, Jeez, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

  As Leslie said, “What?”, Jermaine turned toward them and barked, “That crap we ran over must’ve cut the fuel line. We’re out of gas.”

  Shaking his head, Austin muttered, “Boy, somebody really has it in for us, I swear.”

  Rick, Eileen, PJ, Mora, Amy, Nemeeka and Tomiko slowly and surely made their way down the street. As they slid from hiding to hiding place, they could hear the sound of gunfire erupting several streets to the south of them. Reaching the first intersection, they noticed that the undead in the streets were moving toward the ruckus coming from the south of them. Rick couldn’t believe their luck in maintaining their anonymity in their travel. Whatever zombies they had seen, seemed intent on reaching the gunfight occurring on the lower street. The helicopter they had heard earlier had just returned. They couldn’t see it but they could certainly hear the rotors.

  Suddenly, like a movie soundtrack being abruptly turned to high-volume, the din of rattling, explosive gunfire enveloped the area in a wave of world war cacophony.

  “What the hell is going on over there?” wondered PJ aloud.

  “It sounds like a war movie,” remarked Eileen.

  “Hey,” said Rick, “as long as it attracts all of the zombies in that direction, I’m all for.”

  The group finally made their way to 12th Avenue. The explosive gunfire had subsided. As they started across the wide road, a screeching vehicle appeared, turning in toward them. Rick and the group froze in uncertainty as they watched the military Humvee come roaring up the street. The driver, a black soldier, glanced at them in surprise as the heavily armored personnel carrier sped past.

  “Hey, that’s Army,” Rick stammered as he watched them zip by.

  Tomiko stepped out in the street and waved her hands over her head. Opening her mouth to call to the retreating truck, Rick ran up and cupped his hand over her mouth. “No, no, no,” he quickly said, “they can’t hear you. You’ll just call attention to us.”

  Rick turned to the rest of the group. “Come on, let’s get across the road.”

  Making it to the other side, the group ran along the Hudson River Greenway. This was a narrow roadway fronting the collection of piers and parking along the Hudson River. The big ocean liners used to dock there when in town. They made their way up and tried to look for transportation on the upper deck of the parking lot out on the piers.

  There were three or four zombies still wondering among the automobiles parked up there. Rick and PJ took the baseball bats and made their way to the undead creatures milling about. Getting behind the first zombie he came to, Rick lifted the bat over his head and took two steps closer. As the zombie started to turn, Rick swung it over his head as hard as he could. The swiftly arcing bat connected with the top of the creature’s head and he collapsed in a heap at his feet. Still unnoticed, he edged around two more parked cars and came up to the second zombie. This one was a woman who was dressed in a business suit. She didn’t have a mark on her. Except for her sunken, white features and a thin trickle of black blood from the side of her mouth, she looked normal. A taupe scarf was tied elegantly around her neck. As Rick moved up to her, she turned toward him. Her milky eyes widened and her dark lips curled in recognition of an uninfected human. Rick swung as if he were hitting a home run. The baseball bat came whistling around and hit her in the temple. He saw her head cave in as if in slow motion. The zombie careened into the side of a parked Chevy, bounced off and collapsed on the pavement. As Rick looked up, he saw PJ swing at a man across from the aisle. The bat struck him and the zombie stumbled off to the side where, arms pin wheeling, he fell off the pier and down into the water. That left one more zombie left. This one was a man who looked as though he worked there. He was standing down past the parking area. Seeing the two interlopers, he started his fast walk toward them.

  “I got this,” Rick said.

  Rick walked to the center of the lot area and got ready. The zombie had actually picked up a little more speed. After ten tense seconds of the creature growling and reaching hungrily, he approached Rick standing in front of him. Right before the ghoul reached him, Rick swung the bat at his reaching arms. As the bat swept in front, Rick could hear the bones snapping in his forearms. All that did was to cause the zombie to stumble a bit. Turning again toward his intended target, the zombie snarled in frustration. As the bat reached the end of its arc, Rick swiftly swung the weapon back again. It hit the zombie with a blow to his jaw, spinning it around. Rick was puffing with exertion. Righting himself again, the zombie turned once more toward Rick. Its jaw hung askew, off to the side of its face. Dark blood and teeth covered its chin and shirt front. Making a strange, gurgling sound the disfigured ghoul took another step toward Rick. Panting, tired and starting to panic, Rick raised the bat over his head, swung it down on top of the zombie’s head and he fell to his knees. Running on adrenaline, Rick raised the bas
eball bat up. Again and again, he brought it back down on the zombie’s compressing head.

  Finally, unable to physically raise the weapon again, Rick stood there panting. Beads of sweat rolled down his flushed face. His eyes glanced down at the results of his handiwork. He quickly looked back up, unable and unwilling to attest to what he had done.

  Rolling to a stop on the West Side Highway, Jermaine pulled over opposite W. 57th Street. Reluctantly putting the vehicle in park, the dejected soldier said, “End of the ride. Tour’s over.”

  The four soldiers collected their things and put as much as they could carry into their pockets. They opened the doors and exited the Humvee. Running over and down a ramp they came to a small parklike area at the water’s edge. This small strip of the Greenway seemed to be zombie free. There was a small wall and a tall fence separating the area from the rest of the city. The four soldiers sat in the grass and took a little time to catch their breaths.

  The seven companions went along the entire lot trying car doors. Only three were unlocked. None had the keys inside.

  Scratching his head in frustration, Rick asked, “Does anybody know how to hotwire a car?” They all look back and forth at each other, shrugging their shoulders.

  PJ said, “I think you have to go underneath the dashboard and connect two wires. Or maybe, its pry open the cover on the steering column and do that. I don’t know. It’s one of the two.”

  “Great,” Rick sighed.

  He walked over to a large SUV and stood looking at it. Trying the doors again unsuccessfully, he looked around and then drove the head of the bat through the driver side window. Reaching in, he opened the door. Fortunately the alarm wasn’t on. Sitting down after carefully sweeping the glass particles off the seat, Rick started to fiddle with the steering column and try to pry things off. PJ was leaning through the door watching.