Total Apoc 2 Trilogy (Book 1): Day of the Zombies

by TW Gallier

  Just past that was the granddaddy of all pile ups blocking the highway, with zombies crawling all over it. We came to a stop and just gawked.

  "Well that sucks greasy donkey balls."

  Chapter 31

  "What are we going to do, Jenny?" Kate asked.

  I was on one knee beside her, staring at the massive car wreck ahead of us. Zombies were converging on us from all directions. The gunners atop the two cargo trucks were firing at any that got too close, but soon there would be too many to fight off. We had to start moving forward, backward. It didn't matter – north, south, east, or west – pick a direction and drive before we were overrun.

  "Don't let them get too close," I called to the women and teens with weapons.

  The windows are high enough we didn't have to worry too much about zombies climbing in them. The two doors were more of a concern, especially the back door.

  "Do something, Roger," I muttered. "What is he waiting for?"

  "He's probably trying to find a path out of here," Kate said, sounding way too reasonable for my stressed out brain. "There, he's moving now."

  "All vehicles close up bumper to bumper," Roger called over the radio. "We're going to try and force our way around the left side."

  The pile-up was the worst I could imagine. I'd never seen more than a few cars in a wreck before the shit hit the fan a month back. Even since then, that was the biggest pile-up I'd seen. The highway passed between two steep hills, with cars, trucks, and big commercial trucks and trailers scattered and stacked on top of each other from hillside to hillside. It looked like Roger was going to try and make a path through the middle, in the median. At least there were only cars and pickups in the median.

  I saw zombies inside cars ripping the flesh off corpses. The others were coming straight at us. Rage filled their eyes. I got on the radio.

  "Why are there still corpses in those cars?"

  "Good question," Sean said. "Maybe they are another group trying to reach Canada and wrecked here."

  The bus's window gunners all started shooting. The zombies were getting too close for comfort. There were too many to kill them all, so some would reach us.

  "No. They were ambushed, over," Roger said. "Look more closely. Some of those vehicles are riddled with large caliber holes."

  "Military?" Mike asked.

  "That's might guess," Roger replied. "The 30mm chain guns on an Apache punches holes about that size, over."

  "Oh shit," Kate muttered. "An Apache is a helicopter, right?"

  "Yeah," I said. "A two-man gunship, actually. They might look smaller, but pack a bigger wallop than the other helicopters."

  The radio went silent as everyone turned their attention to fighting off zombies. I moved to the window behind Kate to shoot at zombies. I missed a pair who got between us and the Humvee. Kate hesitated, lifting her foot off the gas for a split second, and then she gunned it. They went under the bus.

  "Whatever you do, do not stop," Roger called.

  "Roger that, rubber duck," Mike replied.

  I couldn't help but smile. Charlie had to put Mike up to that. Roger told me about Charlie's convoy comments from back at the Marine Corps Reserve station. Sean immediately chastised him, telling everyone to get serious.

  Kate eased up closer to the Humvee, which was just feet behind the lead truck. Charlie eased up to the first wrecked car, and aimed for the path of least resistance. I wasn't sure he'd be able to plow through that mess, but the car started to move, and then it flipped over and rolled to the side. He gave it the gas and bulled his way through. Terrel followed in the Humvee, and Kate hugged his tail. Brett hung back about a dozen feet from the bus. His gunners were firing up the zombies big time.

  As we reached the narrow path through the wreckage, massive numbers of zombies finally reached us. They slammed bodily against the bus, jumping up and trying to grab open windows. Children began to scream and cry as zombies pounded on the side of the bus. I didn't know if the bus was rocking due to the terrain or due to the zombies, but it was scary as hell.

  "Jenny!" Kate screamed.

  Before I could figure out what the problem was, it landed on top of us. Zombies were leaping off the wrecks as we passed through the opening. I spotted them on the lead truck, and atop the Humvee, too. Sean quickly shot them off his vehicle with a pistol, and then turned around to shoot at them atop the bus.

  "What do we do?" Sara asked.

  She wasn't armed. Sara couldn't bring herself to shoot anyone, not even a zombie. We didn't force anyone to fight, so gave her child care duties most of the time. She was in the middle of the bus holding a wailing baby, one year old Isobel Mixon. Six year old Elsa Mixon was hanging onto Sara, too, her face a mask of horror.

  More thumps came from the roof, and then I noticed the roof was pushed in where the zombies landed. I turned my SAW up and fired into the roof, sweeping it from front to back five times. Zombies fell off the side, and blood dripped in through the numerous holes. But the zombies were off the bus.

  "Momma!" Harlan cried.

  "Stay down, baby," I shouted. "We're almost through. Everything will be fine in just a bit."

  "Hang on!" Kate shouted, and turned the wheel sharply. The bus bounced and groaned, and I swear even twisted a little, but then we were back on pavement. The trucks in front of us accelerated, as did Kate. "We made it!"

  A cheer went up inside the bus. Relief washed through me. Suddenly, I felt exhausted, but was shaking with built up adrenaline. The horde thinned out quickly, and soon we were on open road clear of any obstacles.

  "Well that was fun," Mike said over the radio. "Let's not have any more fun like that."

  We continued up the highway for a good forty-five minutes or more, moving faster than ever before. We passed by one ghost town after another: Corinth, Williamstown, Dry Ridge, Crittenden. It was relatively easy going until I-75 merged with I-71 south of Richwood. The road signs showed Cincinnati was close. I was sitting behind Kate with my boys and Spooky and starting to nod off when I heard a familiar sound.

  "Where is the helicopter?" I asked.

  "We got choppers coming up behind us," Mike called over the radio.

  And then the helicopters opened fire.

  Chapter 32

  "What the fuck?" I cried.

  I heard the gunfire before the thump-thump-thump of the helicopter blades. Mike's radio call was still ringing in my ears. A line of bullet strikes kicked up the mud to our left as the helicopters veered off to the west as they passed over.

  "I count three," Charlie said. "A Blackhawk and two Hueys."

  "The Blackhawk is from the 101st Airborne." Mike's voice never sounded so stressed before. None of us wanted to be attacked by aircraft. "We have to get off this road!"

  "God damned dopes on a rope," Charlie muttered.

  The 101st Airborne was actually an air assault force. Soldiers didn't parachute, but repelled out of helicopters. Those three helicopters could have heavily armed combat vets ready to repel down to engage us, with the helicopters providing air support.

  "All gunners engage the helicopters if they come back," I radioed. "Don't wait for them to fire first."

  I waited for Sean to shoot down my order, but he remained silent. I glanced in the side mirror and saw him up behind the .50 cal and scanning the skies. The radio remained silent as everyone processed that in their own way. None of us wanted to kill US troops, but by my reckoning they'd stopped being US soldiers when they turned to survivor savagery.

  Charlie was driving faster and faster. We were approaching the outskirts of Cincinnati. Richwood, a suburb, was spread out before us on either side of the highway. Everyone was keeping up well, but our convoy was getting a little stretched out. I didn't like being that far from my family in the bus. Before I could tell him to slow down so the others could tighten the line, the helicopters returned for another strafing run.

  Our truck was hit by at least two rounds in the bed. I checked my gunners, who both surviv
ed but looked spooked. Couldn't blame them on that. I was pretty damned freaked, too.

  "Is everyone okay, over?" Sean asked. "Report front to back."

  It took my frazzled mind a second to realize what he meant by "front to back."

  "We took a couple hits, but no injuries," I reported.

  Jenny responded next. "Same here. At least four bullet holes in the roof and floor, but they didn't hit anyone."

  Mike didn't respond. I stood up in my seat to check him out. I could see Mike in the passenger seat speaking to Brett, but only one of his M60 gunners was visible. The truck's antenna was broken off. Or shot off.

  "Get back down!" Charlie shouted. "Copter at twelve o'clock."

  It was the Blackhawk. I slipped back inside as ropes dropped to the ground. They really were going to deploy combat troops against us. To our right were huge warehouses and to the left were residential neighborhoods. But no exit ramps. The soldiers were between us and the next off ramp, and the ground to either side of the road was too rough for the bus.

  Almost without thinking, I grabbed the rifle with the M203, leaned out the window, took aim, and fired. And hit the side of the Blackhawk.

  Honestly, I thought they were out of range, so I was more surprised by the hit than the people in the helicopter. The helicopter rocked, tilted, and flew away. I watched it go to the west of us and turn south trailing smoke. I loaded another round as I shouted up to my gunners, "Try to shoot into the helicopter's open door if it comes back!"

  "It's coming back," Larry shouted.

  "Shit, shit, shit," Charlie said under his breath.

  I watched its approach in the side mirror, with the two Huey's following in line. I suspected they were all full of air assault troops and wanted to drop them near the road ahead of us. First, though, they were in for another strafing run.

  "Take the first turn off," I said. "I don't care which direction it's going. We have to find a place to hide."

  Mike's rear gunners opened up. I could see the tracers for both the .50 cal and the M60. The first Huey veered away first, and then both gunners turned their full attention to the Blackhawk in the lead. To my astonishment, the windshields shattered, the helicopter flipped upside down in midair, and crashed into the highway.

  The last Huey continued toward us, and then I saw it launch an air-to-ground missile. My heart sank as I watched it streak straight into the last truck in our convoy. Mike's 5-ton exploded as the Huey veered off and vanished.

  Chapter 33

  Women and children were screaming bloody murder. I stared in shock at the burning truck behind us. It was off in the ditch, leaning precariously to the right. Were they all dead? There were husbands and fathers on that truck.

  "What do we do, Jenny?" Kate asked.

  That's when I realized she had stopped. The Humvee and Roger's truck were stopped as well. I opened the door and headed out.

  "Sonja, make sure everyone is all right," I shouted. "Kate, come with me."

  We ran back to Mike's truck. I could see Mike and Brett slumped over and unmoving in the cab, but the back of the truck was fully engulfed in flames.

  "Get away, Jenny!" Sean shouted. "It's going to blow up!"

  That didn't sound right. The truck already blew up. And then ammo started going off in back as the flames overheated the brass shells. There were grenades back there, too. So I stopped, before I saw Brett's head move slightly.

  "They're alive!" I shouted back at him. I saw Roger and Charlie running toward us, but I didn't think Mike and Brett had enough time to wait for the men to save them. I rushed forward. "Kate, check on Brett. I'll get Mike."

  The heat was indescribable. I thought the super-heated air would burn me. Ducking my head, closing my eyes as I reached the door, I found the handle and opened it. Mike tumbled out, so I grabbed his collar and started dragging him. Roger arrived a second later and we dragged him away quickly.

  Charlie helped Kate get Brett out, and they joined us a moment before another big explosion sent the heavy 5-ton a dozen feet in the air, and then landed upside down in the ditch.

  "They're still alive," Roger said. He looked up at the burning truck. "But…"

  Dan, Oscar, Brian, and Greg were dead. I started crying.

  "You're too close," Sean shouted. "Move that damn bus!"

  Kate ran over to the bus, while Roger, Charlie, and I dragged Mike and Brett up beside the Humvee. Sixteen year old Haley Carr came out with her rifle to protect us. I thought she looked grim and determined, and felt sadness that she'd lost her childhood. Then I spotted Jake Franklin behind the bus, watching the other side. He was a year younger than Haley, and looked just as grim and determined. Even twelve year old Terrel, Jr. was carrying a rifle now. How much longer before Timmy and Spooky would be bearing arms?

  Thank God Canada is just a day or two away, she thought.

  "They might have concussions," Leslie said. The nurse was looking in Mike's eyes, over and over. Her husband Vince was checking Brett. I thanked God again for sending us two ER nurses. "I'm not finding any broken bones or wounds."

  Both men were conscious, which had to be a good sign, but not coherent. Willa and Nicole were out staring at the burning truck, faces soak in tears. Their husbands were dead and gone, burning up inside that truck. Jake lost his father, but was trying to be a man and acting stoic. Greg was gone, too, but he was a single man. I would mourn and pray for him later, once we were safe. Brian Hooker died as well, so now he was with his wife Cindy. He'd not fared well since losing her.

  "Let's get them onto the bus," Roger said. "You can tend to them while we get the hell out of here. Those soldiers will be back, and a whole lot angrier."

  Roger went with Sean and Terrel to find us a place to hide, while Fred joined Charlie in the plow truck. The last 5-ton and the bus stuck together while the Humvee went off ahead. I was never so frightened in my life. Really, I thought I'd seen and experienced so much terror and inhumanity that I was numb to it. I was proven wrong yet again.

  I huddled with my kids, trying to act calm so they wouldn't be frightened. It wasn't working. There was a lot of radio chatter, and thank God Kate was able to keep her head. She followed Charlie up the highway a short ways, before we turned off to the east, passing through some commercial and residential areas. Finally we passed out of the built up areas and entered farmland.

  Sean's voice came over the radio, "We found a place. Keep on the road. You'll see us on a side road. Follow us in."

  Charlie hit the gas ahead of us, and Kate struggled to keep up. It only took a few minutes to find them. We were led off to the north, down a one-lane asphalt road. We passed through some trees, and then came upon a farm. They led us into a big white barn and closed the door behind us, plunging the bus into darkness.

  "Roger, post the guards," Sean called. "Jenny, ask Vince and Leslie if we can bring Brett and Mike out."

  I helped Mike out of the bus. He refused to be carried, so Leslie and I helped him walk to some bales of hay. That's when the thump-thump-thump of helicopters filled the air.

  Chapter 34

  "Roger!" Jenny cried.

  "I hear it," I replied, rushing to the north door.

  The barn doors rolled together and closed, leaving just enough gap for me to peek out. I spotted the military helicopters immediately. There was a line of five Blackhawks flying nap of the earth. They were coming straight at us. My heart dropped into my stomach.

  A moment later the helicopters flew over us and were gone.

  "We're good," Sean said. "At least for now."

  We setup the stoves and bedding. It looked like we might be there a few days, or at least until the rogue Army unit gave up the search. I brought out my map and spread it atop the Humvee's hood. Sean, Charlie, and Mike joined me, along with Terrel, Larry, Vince, and Kate.

  Jenny organized the women to tend to the children. Sara began boiling some water and opened up a few bags of pasta for lunch. Leslie was taking care of Brett, who was still feeling d
izzy and weak.

  "Go rest, Mike," I said. "You were just blown up."

  "I'm fine," he said. "My ears are ringing like crazy, but otherwise I feel a hundred and ten percent."

  "Liar," I replied, but turned back to the map. "We're right about here, south of Ryland Heights."

  "Where are the helicopters coming from?" Sean asked. He ran a finger across the map. Then he barked a laugh and jabbed the map. "There. Just north of where they hit us. The Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport."

  "I agree," Mike said. "It's the perfect place for an Air Cavalry Regiment to hole up. There are large, sturdy buildings, including hangars, and lots of fuel stored there."

  "Yeah, and they'd have plenty of room to park tanks, Bradleys, and other vehicles," Charlie added. "I couldn't think of a better place in the civilian sector to make a base camp."

  "The airport is right next to I-75, so we need to find a path around Cincinnati and to Canada," I said. "Does the Ohio River flow north into the Great Lakes?"

  Mike shook his head woefully. "I can't believe you asked that question. Did you get blown up, too? If you remember, I believe it was you who pointed out where the Ohio flowed into the Mississippi when we passed it only about two weeks ago."

  Embarrassing. I remembered that it flowed into the Mississippi. Shrugging it off, I studied the road map some more.

  "I'd give my left nut for a proper military topographic map," Sean said.

  Once you were accustomed to military maps, a civilian road map was a major disappointment. It was harder to judge distances, and it didn't show terrain features. Honestly, it wasn't even a good representation of how the roads twisted and turned. All we could do was guesstimate.

  "I think we're about twenty miles from Cincinnati," Charlie said. "Toward the eastern side, so I suggest we scout out that bridge over the river on I-275. It appears to loop around the city and back up to I-75 north of town."

  We argued that idea. I thought it a good idea, but Sean was worried the soldiers understood we were taking I-75 to Detroit, so they would be patrolling that highway. He had a good point, but our next best option was heading northeast to Buffalo and crossing over at Niagara Falls. That looked twice as far, and would probably take much longer than that. There were quite a few major cities between us and Buffalo, depending on which major roads we took.