“How many can fit in the tank?” Jessie asked.
“Four or five adults.” Patrick said.
“How about four adults and three kids?” Jessie asked.
“It’ll be tight, but I think so.” Charlie said.
“Alright.” Jessie said and felt a measure of relief.
They went back to Target to resupply for the additional people and the added cargo capacity. Charlie and Patrick drove the tank with Jessie, Mauri and the three kids as passengers. Kenny drove the Jeep, Abby rode shotgun and Dana and Jessica sprawled out on the built in benches. By four PM they were packed, fueled and ready to pull onto Route 20.
They had taken two GPS devices from Target and mapped their route. In two hours they would be at the Cape Cod Canal and on their way to what Jessie was sure was a safe haven.
Chapter 18 – The Canal
Like any four year old in a tank Michael was itching to push every button and play with every lever. He asked what each and every button, blinking light, and warning sound meant, and then he wanted to know why. His brother Shawn was fast asleep in Mauri’s arms and Rebecca was content to watch the two men go through the constant motions of operating the tank. After the three hundredth question, Jessie called to his boy.
“Hey bud, why don’t you come sit with me and let Patrick drive the tank.” Jessie said patting his lap.
“Why doesn’t it have a steering wheel?” the boy asked.
“It does, it just doesn’t look like a normal one.” Jessie answered as the boy plopped down in his father’s lap.
“Where are we going, Daddy?”
“To Cape Cod.”
“To the beach house?” Michael asked getting very excited.
“No pal, we have to go somewhere else.” Jessie said as he tried to flatten the boy’s wild cowlick.
“Where?”
“Well, we have to go on a big boat.” Jessie answered.
“To see the whales?” Michael asked with even more excitement.
“Not exactly bud, we might see some whales on the way, but that’s not why we are going.”
“So where are we going?” Michael asked persistently.
“We are going to an island, it’s called Martha’s Vineyard.”
“Who is Martha?” Michael asked staring up into his father’s face.
Michael asked about three million questions a day and his parents didn’t always know the answers. Mauri has the practical approach of saying she didn’t know and would find out. Jessie on the other hand had a habit of making things up. Sometimes he embellished wildly and Mauri didn’t like it. As Jessie opened his mouth to talk Mauri gave him a look because she knew Jessie didn’t know the answer and was about to lay one on thick. Jessie smirked and ignored the look.
“Martha was the queen of the island a long time ago.” He said as Mauri shook her head.
“How did she become queen?” Michael asked.
“Well, she helped the island by making friends with all the sharks in the water. She told them not to eat any of the people, only the dolphins and seals.”
“Jessie!” Mauri said with a frown line in her brow.
“And then they made her queen?” Michael asked.
“Yep, and she stayed queen until the late 70’s when a man named Stephen Spielberg showed up.” Jessie said quickly before Mauri could interrupt.
“Jessie Brewster!” Mauri said ending the story.
“Are we going to live at Martha’s house?” Michael asked.
“No buddy.” Jessie said laughing. “If it’s safe we are going to find a hotel, or a house that no one is living in.”
“What if it’s not safe?” Michael asked.
“If it’s not safe we are going to go to a smaller island.” Jessie said hoping that would not be necessary.
“What’s that one called?”
“No man’s land.” Jessie said and glanced at Mauri.
“Nantucket?” Mauri asked thinking Jessie was fooling around.
“No, it’s actually called ‘No man’s land.’ It’s a protected state preserve three miles south of the Vineyard.” Jessie said.
“Really?” Mauri said.
“Yeah, when I was a kid, me and a couple friends got busted by the coast guard for being on it. They had a shit fit.” Jessie said.
“Shit fit.” Michael repeated and giggled.
“There is a research facility the size of a large duplex, a lighthouse and a boat house. That’s it.”
“Is there electricity?” Mauri asked.
“I’d say so. There are people from the wild life federation there pretty regularly. If not I’ve got it covered.” Jessie said and winked at his wife.
“I figured you were bringing us to the island, but why are we going all the way to The Cape to get there?” Mauri asked. “Why don’t we just go down to Newport, or Dartmouth? They are both closer.”
“I know, but the tank changes things. I was going to go to Newport originally, but I don’t want to give up the tank.” Jessie said.
“We are bringing the tank?” Mauri asked.
“Hell yes. That’s why we are going to Falmouth. The Steamship Authority is the only boat I can think of that takes the tractor trailers over. They may do it in Rhode Island or the South Shore, but I don’t know for sure. I was going to look it up on my phone, but there is no more service or battery for that matter. I know for a fact they do it on the Cape, and we don’t have time to backtrack if I’m wrong.” Jessie said.
“Why don’t you look it up on Jessica’s laptop?” Mauri asked.
“I was going to but her battery died, she can’t find the charger.” Jessie said.
“Unreal.” Mauri said.
“I know, dumb smart person syndrome.” Jessie said smiling.
“The tank is a game changer if things have already gone bad over there. We should have no problem crossing the bridge, or getting on the boat.”
“Who is going to drive the boat?” Mauri asked.
“Hooper.” Jessie said and smiled.
“Who is Hooper?” Michael asked.
“Never mind big guy, I can drive the boat.” Jessie said.
“You can drive a boat? A boat big enough to hold a trailer truck?” Mauri asked.
“Sure, I drove a lobster boat for a year, this will be a little bigger, but the same idea.” Jessie said.
“Who are you?” Mauri asked not knowing if Jessie was full of shit.
“Charlie, does this thing have any live rounds?” Jessie yelled to be heard over the engine.
“Yes sir, we got four shots with the big daddy, two thousand rounds for the machine gun, six M-16s with a shit load of clips, six automatic pistols and eleven frag grenades. Everything we need to occupy a small New England town.” Charlie said.
“How many people live on the island?” Mauri asked.
“Ten thousand give or take this time of year.” Jessie said. “I wouldn’t have even attempted this if it was July.”
“How many in July?”
“Fifty thousand easy. Granted, ten thousand is nothing to sneeze at, let’s hope there is no infection and most of the people stayed spread out in their homes.” Jessie said.
“What’s the plan once we get there?” Mauri asked.
“You aren’t going to like it.” Jessie said and held his eye contact with Mauri.
“Dad, I’m sleepy. Can I fall asleep?” Michael asked.
“Sure buddy, you can sleep.” Jessie said still looking at Mauri.
Michael got up from his father’s lap and went to his mother. He sat on the floor beside her, snuggled into her side and promptly fell asleep. They rode in silence for half an hour. When Mauri spoke it made Jessie jump.
“You are leaving again.” She said as a statement, not a question.
“Just one more time, then never again.” Jessie said.
Mauri nodded and said nothing.
An hour later Jessie and Mauri woke up as the tank came to a stop. All three children sleeping, sprawled out
on the dirty floor of the tank using sweatshirts, back packs, and each other’s legs as pillows.
“What?” Jessie asked.
“Nothing boss, we just need a refill. Anyone gotta piss?” Patrick said.
“Where are we?” Jessie asked clearing the sleep from his eyes.
“The rest stop five miles from the bridge according to your GPS.”
“What kind of activity have you been seeing” Mauri asked.
“Not a lot going this way. The other side of the highway has been pretty bad, and we spent some time on the grass a while back, but no one seems to be going this way.” Patrick said.
“That’s probably not good.” Jessie said. “Fill it right to the top, and fill any gas cans we can find and get them in the back of the truck. If everyone is leaving Cape Cod it will probably be a mess.”
They popped the hatch and Patrick climbed the ladder to take a look. He had a pistol in his hand and another in his belt loop. He slowly peeked his head out, and climbed to the top of the tank. He did a slow three hundred sixty degree turn to survey the area. There were a dozen zombies in the rest stop lot, another dozen on their side of the highway and hundreds of them clogging the westbound lane. As luck would have it, the concrete barriers that separated the lanes were chest high and the creatures were not climbers.
Patrick and Charlie filled the vehicles as Kenny and Jessie covered them with the M-16s. They only shot three times. They didn’t want to draw too much attention to themselves. Once the vehicles were refueled, and everybody did their improvised version of a bathroom break, they were ready to roll. Before they departed, Jessie had Kenny pull the truck up alongside the tank so they could discuss their options.
“We make a running start at the bridge, if it’s FUBAR and the truck can’t make it, we transfer into the tank. I don’t think we will all fit, but some of us can ride on top. We can tie ourselves down and take it slow and safe. Those things don’t climb. If there is a human factor it’s a different story. If we have to backtrack and make a couple trips with the tank so be it. I want us to all be safe together on the other side.” Jessie said.
As he finished he caught Mauri giving him an odd look. Everyone said their goodbyes for now and got ready to roll. Once they were moving Jessie saw Mauri was still giving him the same look.
“What?” He asked.
“You are just full of surprises.” She said smiling.
“You have no idea.” He said and made his eyebrows bounce up and down.
Jessie stood next to Patrick as he drove looking out the slot at the road ahead. He knew this road like the back of his hand. His family had come to Cape Cod every year since he was born, and he had continued the tradition, bringing his own family here every chance he got. As the tank rounded the last bend before the bridge, horror filled Jessie’s heart.
“Stop.” Jessie demanded.
”What?” Charlie asked.
“Stop the tank.” Jessie bellowed.
As the tank crept to a stop Jessie popped the hatch and climbed up.
“Jessie, what is it?” Mauri asked.
“Wait here.” Jessie said and was gone into the sunlight.
He stood there not able to comprehend what he was seeing. A quarter mile ahead of him the road usually inclined past the old mill and turned into the Canal Bridge with its giant metal supports arching over the water like a gateway to Jessie’s best memories. He had after all kissed a girl for the first time on Cape Cod, got fall down drunk for the first time on one of its beautiful beaches, and even later lost his virginity on a boat floating just off the Cape Cod shoreline. It seemed to Jessie every great childhood memory and every rite of passage he could recall started with crossing that bridge. He had even brought Mauri here one weekend and proposed marriage to her on one knee on the beach in the dead of winter. He had so many great memories of the place that he wanted the start of his life with her to be one of them. Now the road inclined like it always had, but instead of the bridge there was empty sky and smoke rising up from the edges of the remaining road. The bridge was gone. Cape Cod may as well have been a thousand miles away.
Jessie got into the tank and told Patrick to get to the other bridge already knowing what they were going to find.
“Now what?” Patrick asked as he looked at the smoldering remains of the second bridge.
“We have to lose the tank and find small boats on this side of the canal.” Jessie said.
“No we don’t.” Mauri said as she climbed to her feet.
“What?” Patrick said.
“Look.” Mauri said pointing to the horizon. “The train bridge isn’t blown up.”
“Is it wide enough for the tank?” Patrick Asked.
“How are we going to get it down?” Jessie asked.
“Fucking really?” Mauri said getting irritated. “You know how to drive tanks, and boats and track people and know how to shoot machine guns and you are worried that we won’t be able to drop a fucking draw bridge? What. Ever.”
Jessie and Charlie looked at each other and laughed.
“Yeah, laugh. You guys go find your row boat and I’ll read the instructions and figure out how to get that bridge down and this thing across it.”
“You go with your bad self!” Charlie exclaimed and the three of them laughed.
Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to the train bridge and stopped the tank. Charlie, Patrick and Jessie watched out all the various peek holes to assess the situation. There were plenty of walkers, but they didn’t see any people. They wouldn’t be able to tell if the bridge was passable until it was down.
“Now what?” Charlie asked.
”Now we go into the control shack and drop the bridge.” Mauri said. “I would have added some adjectives to that sentence if the children were still asleep.”
Jessica and Dana volunteered to go into the bridge house while Jessie and Kenny covered them. They were in there twenty minutes before the bridge began its slow descent. The elevated tracks locked into place on the ground and everyone was relieved when it looked wide enough to support the bulky vehicles. Jessie gave them the all clear and they ran back to the tank.
“We have a problem.” Dana said as she jumped off the tank and into the back of the Jeep.
“What’s that?” Patrick asked.
“The controls are only on this side of the bridge. How do we get it back up?”
“Who gives a fuck, leave it down.” Patrick said.
Dana looked at Jessie
“She is right, we can’t leave it down. They blew those other bridges for a reason, What if the cape isn’t infected and we left them a way over?” Jessie said more than asked.
“I’ll put it down when you are across.” Dana said. “Then I’ll find a boat.”
“I don’t like that idea!” Jessica said.
“Well, me neither, but what else are we going to do?” Dana asked.
“We could blow it.” Charlie said.
“No, we are not going to blow up the bridge.” Jessie said. “Too much attention.”
“Why don’t you kids go ahead, and I’ll lift it back up when you’re gone.”
Jessie spun and whipped the pistol from his belt loop before the last word was spoken. A little surprised the man jumped back and put his hands out in front of him. Jessie saw he was unarmed and quite obviously a local, most likely a fishermen in a long line of fishermen. He lowered the gun but did not put it away.
“Sorry about that, you scared me.” Jessie said.
“So I did.” The man replied. “Mind if I hop on up as we chat, some of these things are getting closer.”
Jessie looked around and four zombies had made their way toward the miniature convoy. They were still fifty yards up, but heading in the tank’s direction.
“You bit?” Jessie asked.
“Afraid so.” The man said frankly. “Half an hour ago. I made it all the way home from down in Ogunquit. I walked in my front door and called for my wife. She came out of the parlor and bit me
. Don’t know how she got sick, she never leaves the house. Goddamn breaks I tell you.” The man said.
“I’m sorry mister.” Kenny said.
“Shaw.” The man said.
“I’m sorry Mister Shaw.” Kenny corrected.
“No, it’s just Shaw, and don’t worry yourself. If I wasn’t a damn fool I would have had my gun out.” Shaw said.
Jessie looked the man up and down. He was at least seventy wearing a red flannel shirt, mechanics pants and boots that looked as old as the man wearing them. He had an absolutely destroyed Narragansett baseball cap on his white haired head. He couldn’t tell where the man was bit.
“I’m sorry Shaw, but I can’t let you up. I hope you understand.” Jessie said.
Shaw nodded and checked over each of his shoulders.
“Suppose you are right, no need for both of us to be damn fools.”
“Do you need anything? We have food.” Jessie said.
“Funny thing. I got some strange cravings, but they ain’t for food. You kids should get going.” Shaw said and started walking to the bridge house.
“What are you going to do?” Kenny asked.
“Well son, after I raise this bridge back up I’m going to go bury my wife and make some chowder. If I’m still with it after that I’m going to come down here to the water and fish.” Shaw said.
Jessica began to cry.
“It’s a tough old world missy, and it’s looking to get a lot tougher. Remember that.” Shaw said and turned for the bridge house. He got to the door and looked back at the tank.
“Well, I got shit to do, can we get this show on the road?” he said and smiled.
Jessie nodded and put his palms together in a “thank you” gesture and got back into the tank.
Once they were across, the bridge began its slow ride skyward.
Chapter 19 – Cape Cod
Cape Cod was a giant ghost town. From the train bridge all the way to Falmouth they didn’t see a car on the road or a single zombie roaming the streets. There were no lights on in the houses and all the cars seemed to be gone. How many of them got across the bridges before they were blown up? Was there an all-time traffic jam at the bridges? Had they missed it by following the train track for miles until it crossed a major road? Jessie didn’t know but it didn’t feel right.
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