by J. W. Vohs
The hunter that had gone after the children had managed to grab Addison by the ankle and begin pulling her out to where he could rip her apart, but Chewy bit and tore into his wrist so fiercely that the creature lost all control of the hand and had to start over with the other. Perhaps remembering her SCA training, Jenny slashed open the hunter’s forearm with her short sword the next time he reached for them, and once again, little Chewy fiercely defended the kids by latching onto the monster’s wrist and shaking it with all of his strength. Finally, the now-crippled hunter stood up and looked around to see if he could join in on the eating of a pack-mate’s kill just in time to see the flash of David’s pistol as a bullet smashed through his face and sent him to the ground.
David stepped past the falling monster to find that he had no remaining targets, this fight was over. Luke had killed the hunter that attacked him by shoving the tip of his dagger under the beast’s chin on the way to the ground, and thrusting the blade home as they hit the hard earth and all of the air had momentarily rushed from his lungs. As he lay gasping, Lori ran by and shot the hunter on top of Gracie, after she’d killed the flesh-eater that had tackled Blake.
The two NVG-wearers met in the middle, Lori grabbing David’s arm and pointing off in the distance to where dozens of hunters were loping across the parking lot of the Memorial Coliseum, drawn by the noise of the attack they had just thwarted. Lori hissed, “Gotta assume more are coming up behind us along the river; we gotta get the hell outta here!”
“Get back up to the front and get everyone moving!” David ordered. “Don’t stop until you’re in the river!”
He ran back to find Vickie crouched over Trudy. She looked up as David approached and said, “She has a broken arm and possibly a concussion.”
David just reached down and picked up his mother-in-law in a fireman’s carry, quietly but firmly commanding, “Vickie, you’re on the front of the last canoe! Christy, take the NVGs and pistol and guard the rear while you help Vickie. Sal, pick up your boat and stay with me and the kids, and nobody stops till we’re in the river!”
The group now ran for their lives. Luke tripped over a fallen branch and he and Gracie went down hard, but the two youngsters were climbing back to their feet and lifting their canoe as Sal and the others passed them, following orders and continuing to head toward the water as fast as they could. Christy and Vickie did hesitate for a few seconds until the teens were moving again, using the time to look behind to see that the leading hunters were less than fifty yards away. Christy turned and whispered to Vickie, “Hurry!”
Lori and Blake struggled to carry the eighty-pound canoe and run at the same time, but they finally reached the calm, deep water behind the dam and tossed the boat into the river. Then they turned to help David place Trudy in the front of the craft, Jenny and Addison in the middle, while he climbed in the back and paddled twenty feet away from the shore. Sal had his canoe in the water by the time David was pulling away from the shore, and he told his boys to climb in the middle while Blake took the front.
As they paddled out to join David, Luke and Gracie made it into the water and immediately flopped over the gunwales as Lori gave their boat a huge shove that sent them floating out toward the others. Finally, Vickie and Christy reached the shore as the fastest hunters were reaching for them. Vickie stumbled and fell as she tried to continue running after hitting the water, but she avoided injury by tossing the canoe to the left and allowing herself to fall forward into the safety of the river. As soon as she popped back up above the surface she grabbed the edge of the boat and began swimming one-armed out toward the others.
Lori had calmly shot two of the hunters behind Christy, who’d let go of the canoe as she felt Vickie pulling the craft while falling into the river. She’d then turned and added her fire to Lori’s as three more hunters fell into the growing pile of corpses at their feet. Two more were rapidly closing as Christy grabbed the shoulder of Lori’s jacket and threw her off-balance into the river. She immediately leaped after Lori, both of them turning and firing into the faces of the monsters grabbing for their feet as they frantically kicked their way into deeper water.
Suddenly they were free of the creatures, and they swam out to the boats as quickly as they could while holding the firearms up and out of the water. When they reached the group, David asked if they were all right; both women nodded vigorously, not yet able to speak. They all just floated for a few minutes while everyone caught their breath and inspected injuries. The kids were terrified and still quietly crying, while Trudy bore her pain in silence at the front of her canoe, clutching her broken arm against her chest. The remaining members of the group were bruised, but nobody had been infected, and after everyone was accounted for in the dark David and Blake strapped on the NVG’s so they could guide the tiny flotilla upstream.
As they passed the Coliseum Boulevard Bridge a few minutes later, they were able to balance the canoes against the foundation and help Lori and Christy climb into the unstable craft. Then David paddled his boat over to a pillar and somehow managed to pull Vickie into the middle of his vessel without tipping over. Once all were safely aboard, Blake led them upstream from the middle of the river, as howls on the bank they’d just escaped from left no doubt as to whether or not they were being followed.
The current in the water above the dam was not strong, and even without the motors they were still able to cover about three miles an hour in spite of their weariness. When the sun rose two hours later they realized that they hadn’t heard any howls in a while and saw that they were on a stretch of river with farm fields to the east and housing additions separated by small wood lots on their left. They needed to rest and discuss their options, so David paddled to the front of the column and soon found a downed tree with limbs stretching nearly to the center of the river. Both banks were thick with brush and trees, so he felt reasonably safe from observation here. After a quick look around he tied a line to a stout branch and motioned for the others to join him.
A few minutes later the group had their canoes pulled up next to one another, and they quietly talked about what they should do from this point on.
David suggested, “We need to find a house on the east side, which is definitely less populated than the west, and hole up for a while. Everyone’s exhausted and hungry, and we need to get Trudy out of this boat so Vickie can treat her properly.”
Nobody argued with the idea, but Luke had an additional suggestion, “Why don’t you guys stay here while me and Gracie scout ahead a little bit.”
Clearly, David didn’t like the idea of the two teens going out alone so Christy proposed, “Me and Lori will go with them. If we find a good spot we’ll clear the place and come back for you.”
David nodded wearily, “All right, but if you don’t find something within a mile or two get back here.”
Christy led the team north for about a half hour before they found a pier sticking fifteen feet out into the river on the west side. David wanted something on the east, but they’d seen nothing but farmland and woods on that side, and to the west the houses were quickly thinning out. They decided to take a chance with the pier, and quickly docked there and climbed out as quietly as possible. Their muscles were stiff from being stuck in the boats for so long after their strenuous portage, but after a few minutes of stretching as they double-checked their armor and weapons they were ready to move.
Lori led with her pistol as they followed a path leading from the river to the back of an old farm house. The back door was open, swinging slowly back and forth in the gentle morning breeze. They silently slipped in through the doorway and began clearing the place room by room. A faint, putrid odor was coming from the basement, but rather than go down into the dark cellar Christy just locked the stout, oak-paneled door and then wedged a chair under the knob. They eventually found two starving child-zombies locked in an upstairs bedroom that Lori killed without much effort, and they decided that the barn would be left alone once the home was secured
.
Christy sent Luke and Gracie back for the others while she and Lori made sure the house stayed clear until they returned. An hour later the entire group arrived safely at the back door, and before long Trudy was asleep on a bed under the influence of two pain-killers washed down with a warm soda pop as Vickie had set her arm. The young doctor decided that Trudy hadn’t suffered a concussion during the attack, and announced that with plenty of rest she should be physically able to move in a day or two.
Everyone had filled their water bottles before leaving the river, and they actually found a half-dozen cans of soup in the cupboard along with other foods such as stale crackers, chips, and breakfast cereal. After all that they’d been through in the last twenty-four hours, it was a feast. As soon as they’d eaten David set up a guard schedule and everyone found places where they could comfortably stretch out. They slept until nightfall, at which point they used the NVGs to make trips back and forth to the river to bring up buckets of water which they used to wash themselves and their clothes. When morning came, they spent the day resting once again, deciding to wait until dinner to decide how to approach the rest of their journey.
Trudy was feeling well enough to join the group for dinner that evening, and even smiled as David razzed her about wrestling with hunters at her age. After everyone consumed a generous meal from the supplies found in the house, they lit some candles and pulled out their solar lights. Since a good part of the afternoon had been spent covering all of the first floor windows with comforters and other blankets, they felt safe having a bit of light in the house as they discussed their options.
Since they didn’t have a map, they basically had to rely on David’s memories of the area as they considered their next course of action. He explained, “There’s another big dam a few miles north of here, with a lake about five miles long behind it. It would be our longest portage yet, and we would be moving further from Jack with every step we take. I think Cedar Creek is a better option.”
Christy cocked her head and asked, “Why is this the first we’ve heard of this Cedar Creek?”
“Well,” David explained, “I really just found myself thinking about it yesterday on the river. When I was in Boy Scouts we canoed Cedar Creek a few times, and it led into the Saint Joe somewhere north of where we are now. I can’t say exactly where it is, but I know it can’t be far.”
“Why do I hear some doubt in your voice?’ Luke asked.
“Because we can’t canoe up Cedar Creek.”
Christy was a bit exasperated now. “What can we do with it?”
David shrugged before he continued, “Cedar Creek would point us straight at Jack’s place, more or less. I’m working off a map in my head here, but I’m pretty sure Cedar Creek will take us right up to Highway 3, and that will take us to Baseline Road.”
“That’s Jack’s road,” Christy interjected.
“That’s right, and the entire route would basically avoid any towns or cities.”
Luke frowned and asked, “So what’s the downside?”
David looked doubtful and explained, “We’d have to wade that creek for about ten miles. Now, we could do that during daylight because we’d be low, and hidden from view unless a hunter was actually standing on the bank. The problem is that wading would be really hard on all of us, and we have kids and Trudy with a broken arm.”
Christy asked, “You said you canoed down this creek in the Boy Scouts?”
“Yeah, but there were portages and a lot of tight spots. It’s definitely a creek.”
“Well,” Christy mused, “Why don’t we pull two canoes behind us like we did when we hit shallows on the Maumee. We can take turns pulling Trudy and the kids.”
David smiled, “That’s a good idea; don’t know why I didn’t think of it.”
She patted his leg and smirked, “Honey, there’s a reason I’m called your better half.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” David mocked as the group chuckled. “Now that we’ve established that my wife is a genius, we should get back to the pressing matters at hand.” He cleared his throat and continued, “Once we take to the highway we travel at night. We’ll hit Baseline after about ten miles. After we hit that road it’s about eight or nine miles to Jack’s compound.”
Gracie whispered wondrously as she sat close to Luke and held his hand, “We’re only thirty miles away.”
David nodded, “If we can walk that creek in one day, then we can find a house to rest up in on the highway. The next night we should be able to get mighty close to the compound. If Jack’s plans worked out, he’ll have his neighbors’ homes wired up with phones or radios.”
Everyone in the group knew that they weren’t safe yet, and they wouldn’t let their guard down until they walked through the gates of Jack’s Castle, but they couldn’t help smiling at one another as they realized how close they finally were to a place that had only been a distant hope for so long.
At dawn the next morning the group marched down to the pier and climbed into their canoes as quietly as possible, and none of them looked back when they disembarked. They all felt so close to their goal that a new energy fueled their bodies and hope filled their hearts. Then they reached Cedar Creek and the reality of what they were facing sunk in. Moving quietly through the mud and muck, the crunchy gravel and brush growing over the narrow stream, was more difficult than even David had thought it would be. The depth varied from inches to some holes more than five feet deep, and some of those places could be separated by less than a foot. Every step they took in the creek required vigilance, and towing Trudy and the kids against the current slowed them even more. And through it all, they had to be on the lookout for hunters.
Walking in the late July heat while wearing their motorcycle gear was literally baking every one of them, and they were stopping to soak their heads and refill their water bottles three times an hour. Every time they stopped guards had to be set and even more time was lost. Twice David stopped the group for an hour, forcing everyone to lower their body temperatures by soaking in the creek and guzzling water. Nobody was hungry but he forced them to eat, especially the salty chips and jerky.
Finally, mercifully, David called them together about an hour before sunset and told them that the bridge they’d just passed under was Coldwater Road, and the highway was only about a mile away. They’d needed thirteen hours to cover eight miles of creek bottom, and if there was a day on their journey when they’d been more exhausted nobody could remember it. That was the good news. The bad news was that the creek seemed to have basically ended just past the bridge, and they we’re going to have to take to the roads earlier than they thought.
David moved them back under the bridge and again demanded that everyone eat and drink. They cached the canoes and anything else they didn’t consider absolutely necessary in the nearby brush and prepared for night travel by making sure the children and everyone else understood order of march and what to do in the event of an attack. Basically, they just needed to avoid attack.
At full dark they moved up onto the road with David in the lead and Lori in the rear, both wearing the NVGs. They soon came upon several houses that were dark and quiet, and their brutal day ended when they found that the first home was unlocked and empty. The water heater still had forty gallons of potable water in it, and everyone in the group drank until they were well-hydrated and urinating every ten minutes. While they were eating David pulled Lori aside and asked if she had noticed a loss of power in her NVGs, and she admitted that hers were failing fast. They both agreed that they would wait till morning to tell the group the latest bad news. Finally, David set up a guard rotation, and the group slept until the sun was high in the sky the following day.
David looked over the house before he allowed himself to sleep, and in the garage he made a discovery that led him to consider a roll of the dice. He found a Lincoln Navigator and Jeep Grand Cherokee, both with nearly full tanks of gas. He and Christy had taken turns driving through the suburbs of post-apocalyptic Cle
veland; couldn’t they do the same in rural Indiana?
Luke was on guard duty so David bounced the idea off of him before deciding to take it to the group in the morning. The teen considered the suggestion for a few minutes before asking, “Can we all pile into one vehicle if the other breaks down? I mean, they haven’t moved in over two months.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it would be uncomfortable in the extreme, but somehow we’d manage.”
“Okay, have you thought about the fact that the hunters are better now than when we were driving around Cleveland a few weeks ago?”
David hadn’t, but answered, “Except for the fact that the heal from what would be mortal wounds to us they don’t have super-human powers or anything. More like a normal person hopped up on PCP or something.”
“Yeah, that’s a good analogy. Of course, since they went on their protein diet and exercise regimen too many of them are nothing but bone and muscle now. Most of them are faster and stronger than most of us, but they still can’t outrun a vehicle.”
“That’s right,” David agreed. “Basically I’m just talking about a sprint here . . . twenty miles to Jack, probably less to neighbors under his protection.”
Luke nodded and finally said, “Especially considering Trudy and the kids . . .”
“And the NVGs losing power . . .”
“Your idea is much less risky than trying to cover the ground on foot.”
“So you approve?” David asked.
“Definitely,” Luke smiled. “Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER 24