"Ed, you and your boys climb out of there. My radiator’s crushed trying to slam you through them. It's your only chance. We have about two minutes to get out of here before the engine overheats and locks up, so climb onto mine and we'll run for it.”
"We'll try Jeff, coming now."
But it was already too late as zombies swarmed over Jeff's snowplow like a tidal wave, obscuring his vision of the truck he was pushed up against just as he saw people climbing from their truck onto the snowplow he was driving. He glimpsed and heard gunfire going on all around him, and the battle sounds of living humans shooting and shoving the zombies out of their way as they sought the safety of Jeff's vehicle. He cursed again as his side window cracked from the zombies’ weight, then Ed's voice came through over the radio again, sounding tired yet calm.
"Alright, Jeff. Get a move on. Back up now and get moving. You'll need to get some separation from the other truck so we can shoot the critters off your hood. Bet you can't see shit, can you?"
"No, I'm fucking blind in here and covered up like an old dog with fleas." Jeff kept his rising panic down as he slammed the gears in reverse and prayed he didn't hit any Sirens on their smaller Trikes, then floored it, moving backward quickly with a grinding clang as the huge snowplow blade fell off the front of his vehicle along with most of the grill work. While great at moving zombies out of the way, snowplow blades were not meant to slam another twelve-ton vehicle at twenty miles per hour. However, he still could not see through the writhing mass of undead covering his windshield. "I'm still fucking blind!" he hoarsely shouted.
"Calm down, Jeff, and lean over your steering wheel and keep your arms in close to your body. We're going to have to put a few holes through your windshield in order to clear them off. Ready?"
"Yeah I'm ready, hurry the hell up Ed." Jeff felt himself calm down at the sound of Ed's steady voice, then a thought struck him. If Ed was behind him in the bed with the others, then why would bullets come through the windshield from the opposite direction? There was no time for further thought as holes suddenly started appearing to his right, then traversed in an arc over his head to his left. Scared, he quickly hunkered lower down over the steering wheel and Ed's voice came to him again.
"OK, they're all dead on your windshield. Now, you'll have to kick the windshield out, and quickly. Keep moving backward slowly as you are, but lean back and put both your feet against your windshield, and kick it outward. That should do it!”
Jeff did as he was told, and by God it worked! The windshield parted like flimsy cardboard, and with a heave of his thigh muscles, he was able to shove it out onto the hood. A quick twist of the steering wheel made it slide off, and that's when he saw Ed and the three others with him still standing in the back of the other stalled vehicle, their guns blazing away at the horde of zombies rising up all around them and climbing into the back of their dump truck. Ed waved and Jeff freaked.
"Ed, you son-of-a-bitch. Get your ass down and run for it. We'll cover you!" he screamed.
"No use, Jeff. They're too thick. We would never make it. You boys get out of there and tell my wife Emily and my daughters Christine and Joanne that I love them with all my heart and will be watching over them from the other side. You hear me, brother?"
"Ed." Jeff couldn't speak. A hard lump had formed in his throat, shutting down speech, and through his sudden tears he nodded, even though he knew Ed couldn't see him.
"Jeff, keep moving backwards. I saved a satchel charge from those the Sirens gave us. I've primed her for immediate detonation. Goodbye, my friend, and keep up the good fight. Now duck because she's going off ... now!" and Jeff's last glimpse of his best friend was of the three men and one woman standing in the back of the other vehicle turning and holding onto each other as a bright flash of yellow and reddish light flared outward. Jeff visibly saw the shockwave rolling towards him and ducked his head as the truck he was driving lurched backward even faster for a moment before stopping.
"They died honorably, Jeff. Now get your ass in gear and clear us a lane out of here. We've lost two more of our own and you’re blowing steam like an old smokestack," the unknown Siren’s voice came over the radio. Jeff was glad he had it set for voice activation because he was not sure he would be able to operate it in his current condition and drive at the same time. He threw the snowplow into forward and gunned it while turning in a tight circle, heading back the way they'd come. It was their only chance and they needed to get to relative safety before his truck stalled. As he drove he snarled at the endless undead, then spoke to the radio. "What's your name? You know mine."
"Irena, at your service. A lieutenant in the Sirens."
"Russian?"
"American, asshole! I was born and raised in this great country. Who cares where my parents were originally from?"
Jeff choked for a second as he tried not to laugh, then sobered quickly. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up. It almost worked."
"You’re welcome, now save all our asses or we're about to become dinner for the horde. Big sisterly hugs if we make it out alive."
Then Jeff drove like his life depended on it, which it did, and cleared a broad path, heading to the safety of the others. God must have been smiling down on them, or perhaps it was Ed helping from above because they made it, and Irena gave him his big sisterly hugs.
*****
"Come on Bitches!" Alethea screamed as she rode through the front wall of zombies, feeling her Trike shudder with each impact. The shield held but she knew it would not last long if she kept that up. Besides, even with the larger tires it was hard going, driving over endless bodies on a Trike no matter how large. Both of her guns were blazing, making mincemeat of the zombies before her, as behind her, Mouse was blasting away with her Uzi.
They were making progress in thinning out the zombies but it was time-consuming and only temporary. They had four snowplows and a massive pair of dump trucks helping them from the Sparta group and it still wasn't enough. Damn zombies were carrying shit. What was that all about? It wasn't fair.
As she sprayed gunfire, she witnessed a wave of zombies curl around their outer edge, trapping Geraldine and her back seat gunner Nancy. Within mere seconds they were engulfed as the undead moved rapidly to consolidate their meal. Mercifully, the screams that started were abruptly cut off, and Alethea shrieked her hate again at these evil creatures. There were simply too many of them. It was impossible to make much headway, and even then you knew the zombies were circling around to get behind you.
"Mother fuckers!" she screamed again as she turned in an even tighter circle and both M240s locked on empty. "Fuck! Mouse, pass up two cans!" she howled, and coasted while she unclipped each, tossing it to the side as Mouse passed her a fresh ammo can over her shoulder. With deft fingers she hit the top latch of the right side M240 after fastening the new can against it, and fed the linked belt of rounds across the top. With a hard slam, she closed it while re-cocking the powerful automatic weapon, then repeated the process for the left side. But that thirty seconds was too long as she saw Cinda and Tammy go down under another wave of the beasts.
She was crying almost uncontrollably now as she was forced to watch her close friends and occasional one-time lovers removed from her life forever, but that did not paralyze her. Instead, it made her harder, more focused, as she gunned the Trike forward, weaving in and out of tight clumps of undead while she held down the triggers of both guns.
"Retreat, damn it! Get the hell out of here. There are too many!" A chorus of shouts greeted her words and an exodus of three wheeled vehicles broke free, fleeing the ravaging hordes of almost mindless killing machines. They had made it to within a block of the center with no way to go forward. All they could do now was try to save their own lives. Through her tears she watched as another of her close friends swerved sideways to crash head first into a building beside them, as somehow the zombies had managed to climb on top of the moving vehicle, attacking the riders. Two more dead, and no closer to their goal. She s
pat in fury and continued firing as she and Mouse tried to protect those of her sisters that were left as they rode back the way they had come.
*****
DAY 12: 1645 ET TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15TH
Merlin pounded the steering wheel of the excavator in frustration. It was impossible to get close and still be able to get out again. They simply did not have enough people to make a difference against this number of zombies. His door jerked open, and he saw a man he barely recognized as being from Sparta. Jeff, he thought his name was, and quickly Merlin wiped away his tears of frustration.
"Dude, you can get us there. We need you!"
"What in hell are you talking about Sparta? There are too many," Merlin replied.
"You have the biggest machine here. We can't get close enough with our snowplows or dump trucks, but you can."
"It's a one way trip, man!"
"Exactly. Newaygo should be here any minute. But those people are dying in there. I saw two incursions. If we can't get people inside to help they're all dead, including those babies."
"Look man, we’re dying. We're losing. It's no use!"
And the man from Sparta reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his coat and shook him hard.
"Listen asshole. I just lost one of my best friends. He left behind a wife and two small daughters who will never see their damn daddy again. Don't fuck with me or I'll throw you out of here and take your place. We need to hold them off for a little longer. Newaygo has the juice. We need your machine to get close. I'm going to pile my guys and girls on top and hold on. You need to get us to the damn wall. Can you do it, brother?"
Merlin paused for a second and considered. He was tired, so tired of all the dying. All of their groups had lost people. Some quite a few, but he also knew that Newaygo had said they were on the way, and Newaygo so far in twelve days hadn't let anyone down.
"You married? Have kids?" he asked softly as he stared at this man from Sparta.
" Yes, and a son. One year old. I intend to raise him to be a good man, Coopersville. Have faith, brother."
"Then get your people on, brother. I'm going in!"
"Good man. See you on the other side if it doesn't work out." Then this man from Sparta, this Jeff, was gone, and he heard shouting outside. Like a wave, the rescuers piled on top of his huge excavator and Merlin started the engine again. As he looked over his shoulder, he lost count of the numbers as they almost tripped over each other climbing on. Both men and women were pulling themselves on top of the giant machine, loaded down with guns and equipment, some wearing leather biker colors and others in jeans and camouflage coats.They held on as one of the women below him on the ground gave him the go ahead to do it! The top of the rig was packed as he gunned the engines and threw it in gear. Somehow the phrase "See you on the other side" had taken on new meaning in this new world. He could only hope Newaygo would get here in time as he floored it, building up speed. As he drove forward, a woman climbed the side of his cab with an American flag held tightly in her teeth and what looked like a roll of duct tape in one of her hands. He leaned forward to look upward and saw her taping it to the CB antenna they had hastily installed when they took over this machine. As he watched, the flag started flapping in the wind created by his passage and he grinned. Do or die time!
*****
The guppies were lighter for a moment. Things had eased off temporarily, but the horde was still out there ... and surging forward again. To his left on top of the apartment building two blocks down and then some, he saw two figures shooting over its edge. They were shooting fast, and above the guns going off below and around him, he could faintly hear the deeper booms of their rifles. Where in the hell were they twelve days ago? Johnny wondered then gave up, and thanked Loki for a whim of good fortune as he saw others on both sides trying to get to them through the crush of guppies. Also to his left but lower, he saw an excavator plowing through the outskirts of the horde headed their way with an American flag flying high overhead. On it were what looked like dozens, if not a hundred men and women strapped in place while firing non-stop. He was never good at numbers, but estimated at least fifty thousand guppies were arrayed against them on the front side alone, maybe more. He couldn't count that high. The excavator continued to head their way as it plowed a line straight through the undead. Johnny gave up counting the number of people on it as he saw them headed for the front gate, and grabbed Celeste.
"We need to get down there BabeOmine. Some friends showed up." Her smile was beautiful.
"Reinforcements? I told you we wouldn't die, baby."
"Don't name our son yet. They're only a few, and the guppies are way many."
"It's OK. It will happen. Besides, it's your job to name our son. If our next is a daughter, I'll name her." Johnny smiled at her words. Help was coming, and fast, it appeared. They were saved!
Celeste, distracted by the good news, had neglected the wall before her. Too late! She heard the undead climbing over its top and turned with a snarl, her sword swinging, but it was too late. The guppies had latched onto her and dragged her over its concrete top almost instantly.
"Noooo!” screamed Johnny, as he tried to spear all of them at once and succeeded in eliminating none of them. As she fell, he saw their fingers clawing great rents in the skin of her body and then he heard her scream!
Chester was suddenly beside him, his face worried and scared. He had Puppy fastened in a baby sling across his chest, and he swung a broken-off metal table leg sideways, clearing off the guppies trying to climb over.
*****
"Back, Johnny. I will save Celeste and your baby!" Chester shouted as he literally jumped over the wall. As Johnny's vision slowed he saw Chester land, his great shoulders bowed from the force of his fall, then he straightened and swung his club left, then right, then left again as he cleared the undead off Celeste's prone form.
"Stay away from my friend!" Chester roared as he kept swinging. Puppy was crying and Chester wanted him to stop. It was very distracting, and they were hurting him. He pulled his left hand from his club to grab one of the bad people and shoved it to the side. Too many. This was not good.
"Off, off off!" he shouted as he kept swinging. His best friend’s lady was beneath him, between his legs, as he stood over her. He bent over and nudged her face. The undead were leaping on his back but he ignored them. Then he saw her eyes. He had seen eyes like that before with other friends who were in the ground now. Open, and staring, with no life illuminating their orbs. He sighed and raised his head to God.
"Why?" Chester murmured as his fingers unfastened the straps holding Puppy to his chest in its baby sling and with a heave, he threw back those trying to climb on top of him while biting. Puppy was crying in his hands, his puppy voice shrill, but Chester understood. Time for Puppy and Chester to go bye bye. Chester needed to join Mommy and Daddy and he was ready.
"Johnny, catch Puppy!" he shouted as he threw Puppy up and overhead towards the wall behind him. He hoped Johnny would catch his new furry friend as he punched two of the bad people in the face, then lifted his club again.
"I will lay me down to sleep, for the Lord is my Shepherd," he quoted, even knowing he got it wrong. It didn't matter. For the first time in his life his mind was clear. He saw everything going on around him and the dead body of his best friend's lady under him, and he was mad. Very mad!
"You are very bad people and you will pay!" he growled and, with a scream of primordial rage, he attacked the undead savagely.
Chester had no idea how many he had crushed in those brief moments but it was many, and for that, he was satisfied. His strength was gone as he lay down after finishing the last few. His vision blurred but he now knew that was from loss of blood. They were biting and tearing him apart. It was okay, because Mommy and Daddy waited for him. Then darkness descended as his eyes dimmed and ... yes ... Mommy and Daddy were there, and their little boy held his arms out towards them as he rushed into their arms ...
*****
Then Chester went berserk! With a scream of rage that echoed from one end of the street to the other, Chester attacked the guppies. Johnny and Samson watched, as within seconds the guppies were no longer trying to climb the wall near them but instead were moving against Chester in a wave of teeth and claws as Chester kept up a continuous roar rampaging through their midst. Then it was over, and at the last moment as Chester was falling to the ground, through the roar of guns and others screaming their defiance as they died, Johnny faintly heard, "Mommy, Daddy …" as Chester was overcome.
"Wow," murmured Samson as he hugged Johnny. "I loved that big guy."
"Celeste ..." groaned Johnny.
"Celeste? Where is she anyways? Come on Johnny, wake up man! Chester gave us a chance on this side. Christ, look how many he killed! Get it together."
"Down there. She's under Chester. It's why Chester is down there. They grabbed her and pulled her over the edge, then Chester followed." He pointed down below to Chester's still form and the massive pile of bodies he lay over. "I couldn't follow in time."
Legacy of the Living Page 43