by David Rogers
Strange as it seemed, she liked the idea of heading off through the forest better. They very well might end up in amid the trees anyway. Actually, she was pretty certain of it. The odds of no zombies being on the street ahead of them as they traveled were certainly non existent. The damned zombies were everywhere. So why not just go straight through the trees, and maybe have to deal with fewer of them in the first place?
Decided, Jessica turned north and headed up the cross street. She eyed the houses they passed half hopefully and half afraid, but they all looked quiet. No lights, which didn’t surprise her; the power seemed to be out here. But she didn’t see flashlights or the flicker of candles either. She wondered idly how many of the occupants were now out wandering around, and how many of them weren’t picky anymore about what they ate when they were hungry.
It didn’t occur to her to stop. Maybe she might have thought about it if she noticed something in one of the residences that made her certain someone, someone human, was home. But nothing caught her eye. And stopping to knock on doors would require her to . . . she didn’t know, lose the zombies some how. Maybe circling around the houses or something. It would be a risk.
It was easier to just keep going. Painful, but easier. Safer.
“How are we doing Candy Bear?” Jessica asked quietly as they neared the cul-de-sac at the end of the street.
“Fourteen are following us.” Candice answered, sounding scared but like she was handling her anxiety well enough.
“Okay, and are we pulling away or are they catching up?”
“What – oh. We’re a little faster than they are.”
“Good. Okay, we’re going to cut through the trees here in a minute.” Jessica said.
“I know.” Candice said. Then, a moment later. “Maybe the zombies will be slower there?”
“What makes you think that?” Jessica asked, almost absently, as she studied the houses along the cul-de-sac.
“Well, they don’t seem to walk very good on the road. I bet they’ll fall down a lot more than we do, trip over things and stuff.”
Jessica smiled. “I hope so.” She also hoped she would fare better than the zombies. To her surprise, when they left the asphalt behind and entered the trees, it wasn’t as bad as she’d feared it might be. The bat actually got better traction when she leaned on it on grass or dirt than it did on the unyielding pavement. And the uneven ground seemed to trip the zombies up far more than it did her.
Still, Jessica had to pay close attention to her footing, more so than she would have liked to. The night seemed dangerous and alive, and she feared what she couldn’t see through the trees. She tried to move quickly but quietly, so she could hear if anything was approaching, but it wasn’t working as well as she’d like.
Eventually Candice’s voice broke her concentration with a question. “What’s that?”
Jessica frowned but didn’t look up from watching where she was putting her feet and cane. Or, rather, foot and bat. She listened, but she couldn’t hear anything beyond the rustle of Candice’s and her own footsteps.
“Mom, what is that?”
“What’s what?”
“That noise.”
Jessica listened, but she still couldn’t hear much of anything past the rustle of pine needles and sticks beneath her feet. “I don’t hear anything.”
“It sounds like . . . I don’t know. Water I think.”
Jessica’s head snapped up straight, and she almost fell over. Wobbling precariously, she lurched sideways and would have fallen over if there hadn’t been a tree about two steps to her right that she was able to reach just in time. Leaning against it, Jessica bit her lip as her knee throbbed and protested the sudden motions.
Her injured knee seemed to have settled into a sort of sulk over being forced to walk with a limp and a pseudo cane; but it was apparently prepared to make its dislike of such unstructured activity like staggering sideways without warning abundantly clear. It didn’t like it.
“Mom, are you okay?” Candice’s voice was afraid.
“Fine.” Jessica panted. “Fine.” She pushed off the tree, took a very fast look behind at the three zombies still tracking with them, and started limping again. As she walked, limped, she was able to distract herself from the pain in her knee with silent recriminations. How could she have forgotten? She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten something like that.
Shortly she heard it too, her loud-music abused ears finally catching what Candice’s younger, fresher ones already had. And a minute or so later, she saw it through the final screen of trees.
“Damnit.” Jessica groaned as she looked at the river. Of all the things to forget about, the fucking Chattahoochee River wasn’t one she would’ve put high up on the list. In fact, it was pretty damned important to have remembered it. Especially when she was on one side and where she needed to be was on the other. Jessica looked up and down the banks, but no bridge, makeshift or otherwise, appeared. “Damnit!”
“Mom, how are we getting across?”
Jessica looked back at the zombies following them. The closest was maybe twenty or twenty-five feet away. She didn’t have but seconds to decide. She knew there was a bridge to the left, the one Highway-120 used to cross it. It would mean detouring all the way over to it though, which might be as much as a mile. If she went right, she didn’t know how long until they came across a bridge. And her knee was killing her.
A stick breaking beneath a zombie’s foot caused her to make up her mind. It was just one river. There was a current, but not a heavy one. This was no white water river, and it wasn’t that wide. Wide enough, but not prohibitively so. Maybe two hundred feet, probably a bit less. And the night was warm, so they wouldn’t freeze to death by getting wet. All they had to do was swim across.
“Candice, we’re going to swim across the river.” Jessica said quickly.
“Do we have to?”
“Yes. Come on, let’s go.”
“I’m not sure.” Candice said, sounding slightly more panicked than she had since leaving the office buildings.
“There’s no time.” Jessica said anxiously, looking at the zombies. “Come on.” Jessica splashed out into the water. It was colder than she’d expected. Well, not exactly cold, but cool enough that under happier circumstances she would’ve found it pleasant to swim on a summer night. Some other summer night. Some night that wasn’t so damned scary.
She could also feel the current pushing against her. It wasn’t fast, but it was enough that if they lingered in the water too long without compensating for it they could be drawn downstream quite a ways.
Jessica paused just at the point where she was about to loose contact with the river bed and picked up the bat. Jamming the fat end into her purse, she got the bag’s strap wound twice around the bat’s handle, then looked back. Candice was closer to the river bank, being shorter than Jessica. The first zombie was only moments from passing the last tree before the water started.
“Let’s go.”
“I-”
“Candice!” Jessica said sharply. “Remember the rules.”
The girl’s face cleared abruptly, going almost blank. She nodded once, and kicked off from the river bed. Jessica shifted and pushed Candice further out, then followed. She wasn’t sure how well this was going to work, but she found the extra weight she was carrying, and her wet clothes, didn’t hinder her as much as she’d feared. Her main concern was Candice.
“Candice, you need to stay close to me.” Jessica said, using a breaststroke and kicking with only her good leg. Candice was still in a dog paddle, which wasn’t good. That was a very inefficient stroke, one that would likely leave her tired out before too long. “And we need to swim that way. Look at me, look where I’m pointing.”
Candice’s head turned, and Jessica pointed at a forty-five degree angle, halfway between up river and straight across. “Swim in that direction, okay?”
“I don’t think I can swim that far.” Candice said, then gave a li
ttle scream.
Jessica was already turning her head, having heard the splashing from behind. The first zombie was entering the water. It occurred to her she was making an assumption, but she thought it was a safe one to make. Even so, she held her breath as she watched the zombie come closer. It was close enough that she’d been seriously panicking if this were level ground. As it was she was still afraid, but she stroked backwards, further from the shore, as she watched.
Sure enough, as the zombie’s feet left the ground beneath the water, the current began moving it. It floated, but made no effort to swim; instead thrashing and splashing as it reached out for the two humans that were so tantalizingly close to it. As it began slipping downstream, Jessica turned back around and saw Candice was frantically splashing up a storm of her own, trying to propel herself away from the thing. Almost all of her effort was wasted, doing little to move her and a lot to make noise.
“Candice! Candice!” Jessica said loudly, trying to make herself heard over the water. The girl was drifting in the same direction as the zombie, though a bit slower since she was making an effort to avoid going that way. Jessica closed the distance quickly and reached out. “Candice!”
Her daughter uttered another scream as Jessica’s hand closed on her shoulder, but she cut it off almost immediately when her head came around. Almost immediately Jessica found herself pushing with the hand she had out, to prevent Candice from trying to hug her. “Calm down. Shhhh, shhhh, it’s fine. Everything’s fine. Calm down.”
It took several seconds, but Candice stopped splashing around so much, and Jessica managed to keep her from pulling them both under. “Okay, listen. Are you listening?”
“Yes.” her voice was small and afraid.
Jessica smiled, trying to be as reassuring as she could. “Okay, you remember how to float?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I want you to float, on your back.” Jessica said. “And hold onto my shirt, up near the collar, alright? You just do that, float and hang on, and I’ll get us across. Can you do that for me?” Jessica heard more splashing behind her, and didn’t bother to turn. That would be another zombie going into the river. After having seen the first one flounder, she wasn’t concerned.
“I think so.”
“Good. So roll on over and start floating.”
Candice twisted in the water, bringing her legs up and spreading all her limbs out. She bobbed a little as she settled into the position, but Jessica didn’t see anything that looked like a problem. If Candice could hold that position, that would be enough. Just as Jessica started to move around to in front of her daughter, something grabbed onto her foot and pulled. With a surprised yelp that turned quickly into a gurgle, Jessica went under.
While the night was fairly well lit due to the bright and full moon, below the surface of the water that light scattered and diffused quickly, leaving everything much more murky. Jessica twisted around and saw only a dark humanoid shape, but it was tugging on her bad leg and angling its head towards her as she came down.
She instinctively wiggled and flexed her leg, trying to pull free, but only made the pain in her injured knee that much worse. The torque and strain it was under as she thrashed and the shape pulled on her hurt enormously, and she stopped herself from gasping just in time. She didn’t have that much air as it was.
Maybe on land it might have been different, but in the water she had no leverage, no purchase with which to avoid being reeled in. Whatever was pulling on her, and Jessica was pretty damn sure it was a zombie, it was strong enough to haul on her one handed with great success. Jessica kicked with her left leg just as the zombie got her foot down in front of its head. The zombie’s head rocked back, and her knee screamed, but the zombie didn’t let her go either.
Clamping her lips together tightly, Jessica used her right leg and kicked down like she was stomping on a bug. The zombie’s head rocked back again and again and again, but still the fingers wouldn’t release her. Her lungs were starting to burn, and her left knee felt like it was engulfed in red hot fire, but the zombie still clutched at her.
Desperate now, Jessica kept kicking down as she fumbled for the holster on her right side. Her kicks grew weaker as she divided her attention, and she felt fingers scrabbling at her right leg, trying to get a hold. If that happened it was all over but the first bite. She got her thumb into the strap that secured the weapon against falling out and popped it off. She didn’t have the faintest idea of whether or not the gun would work underwater, but she was out of options.
The pistol was heavy in her hand as she drew it, its stainless steel construction glinting even in the odd lighting. It seemed to take her far too long to bring the gun around, like she was stuck in orbit or perhaps mired in mud. Jessica got her left hand onto the gun, wrapping it around her right hand just like the manual had indicated she should. The safety clicked as she felt for it, and she had to hope she’d done it correctly. There was no way to see the markings next to the little lever.
She gave one final kick, then held her right leg cocked as if winding up for another one, out of the way. She could see the zombie’s head clearly now, at least as far as its outline. Jessica took one brief moment to try and refine her aim, but there was no time. She squeezed the trigger. The gun bucked heavily in her hands, badly startling her. Worse was the noise, incredibly loud and seeming to buffet her physically.
The bullet had taken the zombie in the back of the head, right along the back curve of its skull. A cloud of red was swirling around it, misting the water crimson. But its fingers weren’t releasing her, and its right hand was still reaching up to grab at her ankle. Jessica pointed the gun down and fired a second time, better prepared this time for the recoil and aural impacts.
Nothing. She’d missed. Jessica wanted to scream, but she was down to the last bits of air in her panicked lungs. She made herself aim properly, taking an agonizingly long second to line up the pistol properly on the zombie’s face. That face was upturned, brighter than the hair on its head, a patch of pale reflection below the hair and above its shirt. There was a circle of blackness in the bottom middle of that pale patch, as it opened its mouth in preparation for a meal.
Jessica pointed the gun at that black circle and fired.
This time the effect was immediate. As the gun pushed against her and her ears and knee protested, the fingers on her leg abruptly went slack. Jessica kicked down with her right leg, felt her shoe come down in the middle of something that was a lot squishier than a head was supposed to be, and suddenly she was breaking the river’s surface.
Jessica drew a huge breath of air instinctively, then sputtered and started coughing as she inhaled water along with the necessary oxygen. She heard Candice crying and saying something, but whatever it was Jessica couldn’t make it out. Retching, Jessica coughed and spit several times, gurgling as she aspirated most of the water back out, and struggled to stay up. Finally she caught her breath, and the panic started to recede in time with the steady flow of air.
“Mom. Oh God, Mom!” Candice was calling. Jessica blinked water out of her eyes, reaching to wipe at them with her left hand as she looked around. Candice was about fifteen feet away, still dog paddling. Her eyes were wide, her expression frightened, as she stared at Jessica.
“I’m here.” Jessica said, trying to act calm. Her heart was hammering away inside her chest, and her knee felt like it was like to throb right off her leg, but she tried to focus past those things. She twisted in the water, looking at the river bank. No other zombies were in view there. Two were visible mostly as thrashes just below the surface a bit downstream, while the third floated face down. The back of its head was missing, and its skull was full of red water.
“Oh God.” Jessica said, turning away quickly. She felt her stomach lurch, and just as she thought about trying to keep from doing it, she threw up. The vomit was mostly bile that splattered out across the river and her face, as she tipped her head back to avoid swallowing more water when she
opened her mouth. Jessica heaved several times, then managed to stifle any further ones even though her stomach was still churning.
“What’s wrong? Mom? Mom, I’m scared.”
Jessica stroked away from the floating pool of bile, then took a mouthful of water that she rinsed with. Spitting, she realized she still had the pistol in her hand. She put the safety on and held the gun up out of the water so she could verify the lever was in the correct position, then put it back in the holster. It took her several tries to get the strap refastened, but she made sure it was in place correctly. After what had just happened she had no intention of losing the gun in the river.
With her hands free, Jessica swam over to Candice using arms alone. Her knee was a solid wash of pain, and she wasn’t sure if she could kick with it even if she needed to. She got near Candice and offered a smile she knew was weak.
“No problem.”
“Are you okay?” Candice demanded, her voice still high and afraid.
“I think so.” Jessica said, trying to keep from wincing as her knee continued to throb. “Come on, the quicker we get across, the quicker we can get out and be that much closer to getting to Doctor Morris’ house.”
“I’m still scared.” Candice said.
“So am I.” Jessica told her as she moved around in front of her daughter. “But what did I tell you about that?”
Candice swallowed hard. With her daughter’s head tipped back out of the water, Jessica could see her throat gulp down the fear. “That being brave means doing what you don’t want to, even if you’re scared.”
“That’s right.” Jessica nodded. “So, come on. Roll over, start floating. Hold onto my shirt like I told you. No, better, hold onto my purse strap. See, right here.”
She felt Candice’s fingers close around the strap where it crossed over Jessica’s right shoulder blade. “Hold on good and tight.” she said again, then started pulling with a breaststroke at the forty-five degree angle she’d indicated a minute ago. Candice’s weight wasn’t bad, and Jessica found a stable rhythm pretty quickly.