Dead of Knight: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale

by Beard, Stephen J.

  “That’s exactly what it will be Mr. Knight. And, I’ll be the strongest.”

  “I’ll make this very clear, Preston. I’ll even use small words so even you and Frankie here can understand. I will kill every person you send against me. I’ll use bombs and booby traps and things you’ve never even thought of. Then I’ll kill Frankie here. Then I’ll kill you. Then I’ll go to your house and I’ll kill anyone you left behind. Because I will do anything, Preston, anything to keep my family safe. And that includes killing every useless piece of shit pond scum like you.”

  “Fuck you, Mr. Knight. Fuck…” I threw the radio to the pavement and smashed it with my heel. Then I walked to Frankie and kicked him hard enough to get his attention.

  “How long till he gets here?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I told you already, Frankie. We’re past that. How long?”

  “You want to know how long you have to live? How long till my daddy gets here and kills your family?” The Glock was in my hand before I knew it and I shot Frankie in his good leg. He screamed and tried to move but couldn’t.

  “Tell me Frankie, or so help me God, I will shoot you in the other leg and leave you for the zombies.” That seemed to scare him more than death.

  “Fuck you.” I grabbed Frankie’s duct tape wrapped hands and held them up.

  “You’re right handed aren’t you Frankie? Tell me what I want to know or you will never jerk off again.”

  “Mother Fuck…”

  Bang!

  I shot Frankie right through the palm of his right hand. The exit hole was bigger than I thought it would be for such a thin piece of the body. Frankie screamed and pulled his hands back towards his body.

  “You fucker. He’s 20 minutes away. Okay. 20 minutes. Fuck.”

  I grabbed a walkie-talkie and keyed the mic.

  “Attention everyone. We are leaving in ten minutes. If you want it grab it now. If there’s someone who doesn’t have a radio, go get them and tell them what’s going on. We take all the weapons and ammo. Karen, please grab Thor for me.”

  “Ryan, I don’t want to go,” said Sam.

  “They are coming Sam. There will be no place to hide. I bluffed and it didn’t work. Their rounds will go right through those walls. If we stay here, we die here. You now have 9 minutes. Tom, make sure you get everything that the lookouts need. They have to stay in place until the last minute.”

  “10-4,” Tom replied.

  “Beth and Lois make sure we have all our medical supplies. Mike you’re in charge of the weapons. Go. Everybody, go.” I looked down at Frankie again. He was smiling.

  “Running?” he asked smirking.

  “I don’t have the people to fight your father, Frankie. And three of my group are children. So, yeah, I want to stay alive. So, where’s your house, Frankie?” I asked.

  “Fuck you.” I kicked his gunshot wound on his leg. He started screaming and crying at once.

  “C’mon Frankie. I keep telling you that we’re past the ‘fuck you’ stage. Now, where’s your father coming from?”

  “Ravenel, asshole.”

  “Thanks Frankie. You stay here, okay?”

  I went back inside the house to grab anything that I thought needed grabbing. Sam and the kids were crying but they were moving. I needed them moving. The vehicles were going to be packed pretty tightly. Tom came up alongside me.

  “Did you get everything for your lookouts?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “We didn’t escape with much.”

  “I got Frankie to give up the direction that they’re coming from. But we still need the lookouts out till the last minute. We’ll be gone in five anyway.”

  “It kills me, ya know,” he said. “That they’re gonna win anyway. They’re gonna get a lot of supplies.”

  I was quiet for a moment then I looked over at Tom.

  “Will you help me with something?”

  “Sure.” I keyed my mic.

  “We’re leaving in 3 minutes. Make sure you’ve got what you need. Somebody get all our batteries.”

  Tom and I went out into the garage and grabbed one of the propane tanks and both gas cans.

  “You start upstairs,” I said. Make sure you douse whatever we are leaving. I’m gonna leave the propane tank in the craft room.” It only took a minute. I saved a little gas and took it with me out front.

  “Let’s load up,” I said into the radio. “Tom you’ve got the Land Cruiser. Mike, can you drive the RV?”

  “10-4, boss,” he replied.

  “Okay, when it’s time we’ll put 2 lookouts in the bus and 2 in the RV.”

  I watched as people climbed into the vehicles. The sound three engines starting was loud in the quiet of the zombie apocalypse. I pulled the bus out into the street and turned right. Behind me was the RV and the Land Cruiser in the rear. As I pulled over so we could collect the lookouts I looked back and found Sam and the kids huddled together, crying. Stepping back, I joined in the hug and kissed every one of them.

  “We are together. We are alive. We look forward, not back.” Sam nodded and the kids sort of nodded. I knew they would come around it would just take time.

  I ran back to the house after jumping out of the bus. It took just moments to light the fuel that Tom and I had spread. I headed back out to the garage and grabbed the gas can I had left there. Then, I stopped myself and walked back in the garage to grab a half empty can of spray paint we used to paint some lawn furniture last fall.

  “Lookouts, report,” I said leaving the garage.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.”

  “Okay, pull it in.” I walked over to where Frankie was still taped up, sitting against the wheel of the SUV and knelt down next him.

  “Frankie I have just one more question for you before we leave.”

  “I thought you’d run, you fucker.”

  “Well, Frankie, I care about my family unlike your Father who doesn’t seem to give a shit about you.”

  “He’s coming,” said Frankie.

  “Nah,” I said. “If he left when you first called, he’d be here by now. Bedside’s he’s not going to get a damn thing from us. It’s gonna be lose, lose for him.” Frankie wasn’t getting it. I looked up as the lookouts from that direction ran by. I stood and painted the word ‘looters’ on the pavement in front of the SUV. I continued talking to Frankie as I did. “Here’s my question Frankie. Think real hard now. Did you lose 4 guys in a white pickup truck about a week ago?”

  “Mother fucker, was that you?” said Frankie. “Two of those guys were my uncles. Oh, shit. The bus.”

  “That’s right, the bus. I figured they called us in.” I knelt back down next to the taped up young man.

  “My dad is gonna kill you deader than dead for that,” Frankie spat out.

  “Oh, were they you’re favorite uncles Frankie?” I was really pissed now that I was sure. “Are they the ones that sat you on their knee when you were little and fondled you? Do you miss them, Frankie? Do you miss their big, strong hands on your little pecker?”

  “Fuck you, fuck you.” I scooted forward and put my right knee on Frankie’s gunshot thigh and shifted my weight onto that side. He screamed.

  “Please, Frankie. I told you; we’re past the ‘fuck you’s’ aren’t we?” I leaned in and that got his attention. “Your pecker fondling uncles? They killed one of my people. A good person. Not some piece of shit like you and your father and your pedophile uncles. His name was Michael.” I stood and reached for the gas can. Opening the top, I poured the little bit of gas I saved on Frankie. He struggled as best he could. The fuel had to burn like shit. “I just wanted you to know his name, Frankie. I wanted you to know why I’m not gonna spare you, even though I’m a good person.” I lit a match. “Say hello to your uncles.” I tossed the match onto Frankie’s lap and he lit right away. As I walked back to the bus, I was so angry with the world, the zombies and myself that I didn’t even hear Frankie screaming.

 
I climbed into the bus and put on my seatbelt. As the convoy slowly pulled away I could see flames coming from the windows of our house. In my mind’s eye I could see flames coming from Frankie. I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror. Sam was doing a good job of distracting the kids so they wouldn’t see that fire. She looked like she wanted to ask me a question then saw the look on my face. I couldn’t help but think that even after all we’d been through; the hardest part of this day was just starting.

  “I need everyone to check their weapons,” I said over the radio. “Load mags if you need to. Make sure your crossbows are ready to go. And, keep an eye out for any trouble.”

  I drove the bus taking the back way out of the neighborhood. It was the least direct route to where we were going. But, Preston’s group, coming from Ravenel, blocked the other two better routes. This was going to be the long way since I already knew what the routes into downtown looked like from our trip to get the bus. The day Michael was killed. Well, justice had been served on that. But, if Preston was really coming from Ravenel, this was the only other way off the island.

  “Ryan, copy. Ryan.” I sighed because I really wasn’t in the mood to talk.

  “Go for Ryan.”

  “Hey it’s Mike. I had a question. Maybe a stupid question,” he said. I sighed again. “But where are we going?”

  “We’re going to Ft. Sumter,” I replied.

  “Ryan, this is Tom. I thought you said that the connector was blocked and the Ashley River bridges were stuck open?”

  “Right on both accounts.”

  “Then why are we going this way? Shouldn’t we be going in the other direction?”

  “I got Frankie to tell me where his father was coming from. Frankie said they live down in Ravenel. So, this is the only safe way off the island.”

  “Do you think that Frankie told the truth?” asked Tom.

  “Yep,” was all the reply Tom got. Why all the questions suddenly?

  “What’d you do with Frankie, boss man?” Mike asked. “Did you give him a message for his father?” I lowered my head before keying the mic.

  “Yes, Mike. I did. Mike, I confirmed that it was this group that attacked us at the Costco. Two of the guys in the pickup were Frankie’s uncles.” I released the mic and paused for a minute. Mike said nothing. “They are the ones that killed Michael, the ones that killed your father.”

  “What message did you give Frankie’s father?” Mike asked quietly.

  I paused again and let my finger off the button. Looking up in the mirror I could see my kids still huddled up against Sam. All of them crying. After all this work, all this effort to shield them from the zombies and what was going on, turns out I can’t shield them from the true evil in the world; other humans. Or, what I’ve had to do, had to become to protect them and their mother. I keyed the mic.

  “I wrote ‘looters’ on the pavement in front of the SUV.” I said. “And then I set Frankie on fire.”

  Mike didn’t respond. No one did. And no one called on the radio about anything for 45 minutes.

  By the time we got to interstate 26 and turned east to head downtown, the kids had stopped crying. Samantha came over and sat on the floor next to me. I had noticed her moving around but was still startled when she touched my leg.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “No problem. I’m just trying to stay focused on what I’m doing next and not looking back to what I’ve done.” I paused to give her time to respond and when she didn’t I continued. “I’m sorry about what happened back there.”

  “About that,” she said. “I know. And I’m still mad. But not really mad at you, just mad. But we’re alive and we’re…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Sam? What?” I turned to see what she was doing and saw that she was looking down off the highway to the road below. I got a glimpse of what she saw before a bend in the road blocked it from view. Zombies. Lots of zombies. The radio crackled to life. It was Mike.

  “Hey, did anybody see that?” Two others answered in the affirmative before I could.

  “Yeah, Mike,” I said. “We see it from the bus.”

  “We’re not going down there are we?” Mike asked.

  “This road doesn’t stay elevated forever. Remember, we came this way to get the bus?”

  “Dammit Ryan, that was like a week ago. And a bad day.”

  “Ryan this is Tom. You know downtown better than I do. Are we gonna to reach Aquarium Wharf before dark?”

  “Not a chance,” I replied. “We’re gonna have to make an interesting decision coming up here.”

  “What are the options, you think?” asked Tony.

  “We could stay in the vehicles, but I hate that idea as I say the words. We could continue with the destination. We’d just have to clear the dock and the boat in the dark. Or, we could stop and clear the next reasonable building we can find.”

  “Boss man, those options suck,” said Mike.

  “No argument from me, Mike. But that’s where we are.”

  “Let’s be smart,” said Tony. “Let’s stop and find a place to spend the night.”

  “I agree,” said Tom. I could see Sam nodding as well.

  “Okay people; make sure you have everything you need for the night in your back pack. That includes a first aid kit just in case. We are not unloading these vehicles tonight.”

  I led us off the highway at the next exit, Rutledge Ave. There were zombies just walking down the street like they owned the place. I guess, at this point, they did. The first large house I saw was a two story colonial on a corner just up ahead. There were only a few zombies in the yard.

  “Mike, Tom and John, why don’t you meet us on the porch of this two story house coming up on the right. Everybody else stay in the vehicles until we clear the house,” I said over the radio then turned to Sam. “Close this door when we get out.” She nodded.

  I brought the bus up into the front yard of the house and toggled the passenger door open. Two of Tom’s nephews ran out and I went out the driver’s side. I could see Sam moving to close the passenger door. Immediately we fired our crossbows and scored hits but then the zombies were too close. We went right to the tomahawks. Four more zombies down as Tom’s nephew’s and I fought our way to the porch. Tom, Mike and John were already there.

  “Crap,” I said. “How’d you get up here so fast?”

  “We didn’t stop to kill so many,” said Mike as he fired a bolt over my shoulder.

  “Fine,” I said. “Try the door.” John walked over and tried the handle.

  “It’s open,” he said.

  “Okay, we clear right to left. On three. One, two, three.”

  The house was mercifully empty of the living or the dead. The front yard, however, was not. The noise and commotion of us pulling up and getting in had attracted zombies from all around.

  ”We can’t fight that many,” said Tom.

  “We can’t keep that many out of the house,” I said. “Mike, do you have any more flares?”

  Mike reached into his back pack and produced a road flare. I grabbed it and ran upstairs. Throwing open a window facing the cross street on the side of the house, I lit the flare and threw it as far as I could. Which, it turns out, is not very far. But, it did attract the attention of many of the zombies and they began to move off the porch towards the glowing light.

  “I’m starting to think this was a bad idea.” I said.

  “Anyone have anything better?” Tom asked. Everyone shook their heads.

  “Shit. Let’s get everybody in then,” I said.

  We moved back out on the porch and killed the few zombies who were still there. This was our window of opportunity to get everyone in before the zombies decided that the group was tastier that the flare. I headed for the bus and Sam opened the door from inside. We quickly got the kids together and headed off the bus. Karen and Thor were right behind us. As I went around to close the passenger door from inside, I chanced a look to see how everyone else was faring. B
eth and Barb were on either side of Tony headed up the stairs to the porch. Lois was weighted down a little carrying a couple of back packs in addition to her own. Tom’s two nephews provided security. The zombies were already realizing their mistake. Tom and John were helping Pat and her son William to safety.

  Suddenly, Barb slipped and fell backwards off the porch. She screamed and time seemed to stop. Tom and John ran towards the most important woman in their lives, leaving Pat and William still not on the porch. Lois dropped her packs and went to help them. Mike ran down the stairs from the porch where he had been providing some cover and grabbed Tony and Beth who were in danger of falling back down the stairs on top of Barb. Mike practically pulled Tony up to the porch and safety singlehandedly. I was pushing Sam and the kids up and inside.

  Barb rolled once when she hit the bottom of the steps and ended up at the feet of two zombies who had briefly been distracted by the flare. Tom’s nephews fired but one missed and that zombie bit into Barb just as Tom and John arrived. Mike, Tom’s nephews and I reloaded our crossbows but there was nothing we could do for Barb. All we could do was give John and Tom a moment but it was a brief one. I ran to the bottom of the steps and grabbed Tom.

  “We gotta go, Tom. You and John have to live. C’mon.”

  Tom sent John up the steps and took out his knife. He looked over at me and I nodded and headed up the stairs. When I got to the top, Tom was right behind me and blood could be seen oozing out of Barb’s right eye.

  “Everybody in, now. Go,” I yelled. With the zombies curious about Barb, we managed to get everyone else inside safely. Her death saved the rest of us in a way. It gave us the time to get a large china cabinet in front of the doors to the porch and block the way. Other furniture was placed in front of the windows and still more was placed behind to shore up the makeshift barricade. A quick search of the kitchen netted a few things then I ordered everyone upstairs. We moved all the furniture on the second floor over to the top of the stairs except for the beds. In the event of an emergency maybe we could block the stairs with it and keep the zombies from getting to us. As it turned out, the furniture wasn’t necessary. When the zombies outside finished with Barb, they wandered off. Either they were distracted by some other noise or just forgot about our group.