by Tim Moon
This was an awful place to be stuck. She didn’t know anyone here, or directions, or potential safe locations, nothing. She was on her own and the sense of being alone really sank in for the first time.
She heard a car. It was difficult to pick out and something she’d overlook any other day, but the eerie silence of the town made it stick out. Her senses were on full alert. She moved around to the front of the car, away from the road and crouched down. She could just see over the hood.
It was the two men. They were in a mid-size sedan, which was very common and non-descript. No wonder they hadn’t noticed it before they’d tried leaving the house earlier.
Her heart pounded like the bass line at a dance club. She gripped the pitchfork tight and thought what a ridiculous weapon it was against two men armed with guns. Still, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
The car moved slowly through the intersection and turned down the street. She could see them scanning the houses looking for her. She wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction of finding her. Hugging the pavement, she laid down in front of the car in the driveway. She watched underneath the car as their car roll by slowly, quietly.
A twinge of fear made her pull out the phone that had likely brought the two assassins down on them. If they caught her, she’d lose her chance to share the video. That wasn’t going to happen. She’d get the video of them shooting Steve to go viral if it was the last thing she did. Exposing Black Tide’s evil deeds was critical to getting everything under control. Vanessa pulled out her phone and started uploading it to YouTube. It was the Eyes of Truth account, which had huge following. She would leave a request in the video notes requesting that viewers download the video and share it, so even if the YouTube or Black Tide took it down, viewers could still spread it.
It loaded slowly, each percentage point clicking by like a timer counting down to her victory. Watching it was excruciating so, she turned away from the screen. The car with the two men had driven past but it was still on this block. All four of the infected, took off after the car with all the speed of residents from an old folk’s home.
While the video uploaded, she looked at the map on her phone. God, GPS was a glorious thing. Keeping the phone was risky, but until she figured out where to go and published the video on YouTube, she needed it.
“Turn you bastards,” she whispered. If they turned, then she could make a dash across the street without being seen. She figured out a route on her phone. She’d go over one more block, turn left and head east to the highway. Once she was along the highway, she could try to catch a ride.
The car didn’t turn. The two men kept driving straight, continuing down the next block, which meant that they could see this street in their mirrors. She couldn’t risk trying to run with the possibility of them spotting her. Glancing down at her phone, she exited the map, went back to the video app, and saw that the video was done uploading. Success!
It was a small win, but it felt so satisfying that she had to fight the urge to shout with joy. Vanessa just hoped people were still paying attention online. With so much shit happening in real life, the video might spread much slower than usual.
Then an idea struck her, why the hell hadn’t she called 9-1-1? Even if she didn’t wait around to meet the cops their presence in this area could help deter the hitmen.
She dialed the three-digit number, but no one answered. All she received was a voice recording that the lines were overwhelmed and she could leave a message. There was no time for that.
She locked the phone’s screen and slipped it back into her pocket, time to go. She duck walked around the car keeping it between her and the car down the block. The street looked much wider when the risk of…
“Shit!”
One infected, probably following the car down the street, was right there. It was a young man, only twenty feet away and closing. Several more infected were close behind him: two women and a small boy.
Without hesitation, Vanessa sprinted across the road. The pitchfork was slightly awkward to run with, but with the infected closing in, she was going to keep it with her. It was too important to drop.
Tires screeched and she cursed her luck. The driver gunned the engine and she heard several thuds as they slammed into bodies. Vanessa kept running even as she cleared the edge of the house. Just before she turned to go across the backyard, a gunshot went off and another round flew past her. Luck must be on her side.
She came around the back of the house and a large dog launched itself at her, barking up a storm. A scream escaped her lips and she dodged sideways. Thankfully, a thick chain held it firmly to a post on the back of the house.
The hesitation cost her precious time though. The car had sped into the driveway following her. She ran through the yard, using the garage as cover and hopped the fence in the back. She found herself in a tacky-looking backyard. Pink flamingos with spinning legs assaulted her eyes.
She continued running and realized that heavy breathing behind her belonged to the short man. He’d resumed the chase.
The man didn’t say a word, but she could hear his footsteps behind her. He wasn’t as winded as she was. Vanessa worried that he might catch her.
Emerging onto the next street, she nearly collided with an infected man. She hadn’t seen him step out from the corner of the house. His hands brushed her arm. Cringing back out of his reach, she stumbled on the ground. The short man was almost on her.
She stood and ran behind the infected guy, shoving him at the short man chasing her. The infected man latched on to the man in the suit.
“Fucking bitch,” he screamed at her. His sunglasses slipped off his face as he struggled with the infected man.
She couldn’t help watching. He fumbled for his gun but dropped it when the infected man bit him on the shoulder.
The gun slid on the pavement toward her. Without hesitating, she ran over and grabbed it.
“Help me,” he begged. “Shoot him.”
“Fuck you,” she said. She aimed the gun at him. Her finger twitched, wanting so badly to pull the trigger, but this bastard didn’t deserve an easy death. She lowered the gun, stuck it in her pocket and stabbed his thigh with the pitchfork. He howled in pain and collapsed to the ground with the infected guy on him.
“That,” she said, pointing to his leg. “…is for Steve.”
The car sped around the street corner. She pulled out the pistol, turned and fired two shots at the car.
Vanessa learned how to shoot from her father, an old U.S. Marine, but her experience shooting moving targets with a pistol was nonexistent. Her shots missed the driver. Regardless the guy swerved and slammed into a telephone pole.
Vanessa had the break she needed. She spun the other way and ran, gripping the gun in one hand and the pitchfork in the other.
She came to a main road, or what should have been a main road. It was practically barren; only a few abandoned cars sat in the street creating a maze. A few doors were open and no one was around. She ran to the closest car and looked inside. No keys. She sprinted to the next car. This one had blood smeared on the window and some cracks in the windshield, but Vanessa wasn’t feeling too picky. In any case, she still had no keys.
“C’mon, c’mon,” she said.
A sound caught her ear. It was faint. What she heard sounded like radio news broadcasting. She turned her head trying to locate the origin of the sound. It came from her left somewhere on the far side of the road around the corner. Closing in on the sound, she realized it came from a new Mustang. She couldn’t help smiling like she’d won the lottery.
She came around the car - no infected, open door, and…yes, keys! The keys were in the ignition and whoever had left it, turned the engine off, but failed to turn the power off. Hence, the reason the radio continued playing news. She wasn’t listening though her only thought was getting the fuck away from the men chasing her.
With a quick turn of the keys, the car rumbled to life. She let out a breath, grateful
that it had enough power to start without hesitation. The Mustang purred like a happy cat getting its back scratched. She shifted into reverse and maneuvered so she could turn down a side street. There were a few infected, but she swerved around them. In a sweet ride like the Mustang it’d take more than a few stumbling idiots to stop her.
She whooped with glee and stomped on the gas.
Chapter Forty
Ben carried a couple boxes of MREs along the pier. A small walkway connected the pier with the ship. Chadwick stood on the walkway. She took the boxes from Ben then walked them across to Ty who set them on the ship’s deck.
Oliver stood on the deck of the Kiska, eying the ship in amazement. They made him wear an orange life vest just in case; it would be too easy for him to fall overboard.
Ben understood the boy’s feelings. The idea of sailing across the ocean, even if it involved no sails, was a boyhood dream come true. After reading books such as Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island, he had always had an interest in an ocean-faring adventure.
Not exactly the circumstances I imagined though, he thought.
Chadwick carried a case of water and a bag of groceries. Anuhea carried ammo from the truck, while Charlotte had her hands full with bags of groceries they pilfered from the store.
Kaholo was on the bridge and Keanu was below deck in the engine room, preparing the ship for departure. Ben had no idea what that entailed and was glad he didn’t have to worry about it.
All he knew was that when unloaded the vehicles they were supposed to let Kaholo know. He would help them with ammo for the ship’s weapons, which included two .50 caliber machine guns and a single, large 25mm chain gun.
Ben hoped they could fire it at least once. He’d never seen such a large gun fire in-person. A chain gun was probably the closest thing to a pirate’s cannon he’d ever have a chance to see fire. He imagined how much it damage it could do to a crowd of infected.
Enough to have turned the tide at Kona airport? he wondered.
“Stop gawking at the ship, we’re almost done packing. You can stare at it when we’re out of here,” Anuhea said behind him.
Ben was startled, but he played it off.
“You’re right,” he said.
They walked together back to the vehicles. She went for the truck, while he grabbed the last two boxes of MREs. A few bags of chips, a jug of pineapple juice and a case of juice bottles had exploded when the truck was hit by the SUV, but other than that, the rest of their supplies survived. A few cans were dented and some boxes were torn, not a big deal though.
“What do you think it will be like?” Ben asked.
Anuhea looked over the bed of the truck at him. “What do you mean?” she asked as she fished out a few bags to carry.
“When we get to the mainland, what do you think it’ll be like?”
“It’s been years since I visited, so your guess is better than mine.” She shrugged her rifle back in place behind her shoulder.
“I hope the military has a better hold on things there than they did here,” Ben said.
They walked back toward the ship. Kaholo was back on the dock, striding toward them, with the shotgun slung across his broad back.
“Is everything okay?” Anuhea asked.
“Yeah, we’re basically all set. I’m just going to help move supplies,” Kaholo said.
His face looked strained and Ben couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t happy about what was essentially stealing the ship.
“Thanks for the help,” Ben said.
Kaholo nodded and continued toward the truck.
“All that’s left is the stuff in the truck,” Anuhea said as she walked toward the Kiska. She put the stuff on the deck and walked back.
“If we all make one more trip, we’ll be ready to shove off,” Kaholo said.
Keanu continued whatever he was doing in the engine room, while the rest of them followed Kaholo back to the truck to get the last bits of food, water, and equipment.
The dock was long and dark. Their specific pier was fenced off from the rest of the docks. A tall chain link fence topped by concertina wire barred entry to a wide area that could be used to stage vehicles or equipment. That was where they had parked their truck and the Humvee. Roughly one hundred yards away was the main fence separating the docks from the public road.
Ben nearly choked on the saliva in his mouth when he saw vehicles parked outside the main gate. They sat one hundred yards away, but he immediately knew they belonged to their pursuers.
“Look,” he croaked, pointing toward the gate.
Kaholo slowed as he followed the direction of Ben’s finger.
“Take cover,” he hissed at them.
“Behind the vehicles,” Anuhea said.
They rushed forward to take cover, quickly closing the twenty-yard gap.
Headlights snapped on, flooding the entire area with light. Ben squinted against the brightness. It looked like they’d used their high beams. He bumped into Anuhea and fell to his knees.
“You muthafuckas have a lot to answer for,” a voice shouted. His words boomed off the surrounding buildings and structures made of metal sheeting. “You can’t run from us now.”
The gate began to clatter and grind. People began to walk in around the gate. An engine revved noisily and the light beams began to bounce around.
How many people did they have? Ben wondered. He heard Kaholo urge them to get to cover again.
“Why can’t they leave us alone?” Chadwick asked. He crawled up behind the truck on his hands and knees. “Piss off already.”
Kaholo opened the rear door of the Humvee and slid inside. Ben figured he must have been going for the machine gun. Unless a belt of ammo was left loaded in the machine gun, he wouldn’t have any ammunition, since they already moved all the spare ammo. Spare guns and ammo had been the first things put on board the ship.
The cars stopped and doors clicked open.
“One of you fucks killed my brother,” the same voice shouted at them.
“And our friends, you animals,” a woman’s voice shouted.
The first voice, a man’s voice, called out to them again. “Before we kill you all, I want to see the tall white boy that killed my brother. Step out where I can see you,” he said.
Anuhea looked at Ben. “You?”
Ben shrugged. He wasn’t even sure he’d shot anyone at the roadblock and he hadn’t done much shooting during the chase, although it was possible he killed several people at Kaholo’s house. In any case, Ben was tired of running and he was sick to shit of these assholes chasing them around. He unslung his rifle, took it off safety and began to stand up.
“What? Stay down,” Anuhea hissed at him. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down.
“He wants to see me? Fine. It’ll be the last thing he does,” Ben said, grateful none of his friends could sense the swarm of unease fluttering around his chest cavity as he contemplated what he was about to do. Taking a deep breath, he stood up.
“Are you talking about me?” Ben asked with more attitude than the felt as he emerged from behind the truck with his rifle held at the ready. He scowled hard in the direction of the voice although he couldn’t see shit. The people were merely silhouettes.
“You the one,” the man said, sucking air through his teeth in disgust. “My brother and I survived years in prison, break out, and survived days of attacks from these assholes runnin’ around eating people, and then he bites it because of you… Ain’t that some shit?”
Ben shrugged. “Guess you should have left us alone.”
“Naw, man. This is our island now. Kulani Krew runs this shit now, and I’m here to avenge my brother.” The silhouette moved suddenly and all hell broke loose.
Ben saw a flash at the same time as he heard a loud crack as the man fired at him. In response, Ben fired three quick shots in the direction of the voice. It was impossible to tell if he hit the man before Ben sprinted across the gap between vehicles to take cover behind
the Humvee, following the direction the silhouette went. Shots cracked and buzzed all around him.
Kaholo popped up, spun the turret and lit up the night with a loud burst of 5.56mm rounds from the machine gun. Glass shattered, metal tore, and screams filled the air.
After emptying his magazine, Ben ducked down to reload. He leaned against the wheel well, fumbling with the clasp on the ammo pouch. Chadwick lay down on the ground and fired from underneath the truck, its impressive ground clearance giving him plenty of space to fire while still providing some cover.
Anuhea stood behind the rear wheels, firing over the bed of the truck. Her shots were slow and methodical. If anyone was dropping bodies on the other side, Ben figured it was her.
They shot out almost all of the headlights by the time Ben loaded his rifle and turned back around to shoot. Bright spots still floated in his vision when he blinked. He squeezed his eyes shut and then blinked quickly trying to clear the annoying glow. The spots began to fade.
To his left, Ben thought he saw movement. He squinted, but didn’t see anything for several long seconds. Chalking it up to the spots in his vision, he was about to turn away when he saw the distinct shape of a person move. Someone from the other side was creeping around the edge of the firefight, along the wall of the nearest building. It looked like they were trying to sneak around the back of their truck. That would give the person a clear shot on Anuhea and the others.
Anuhea was so focused on her targets that she didn’t see the person coming. From where he was, Ben couldn’t do anything. He’d be as likely to shoot his friends as he would the enemy.
Without a second thought, Ben sprinted across the pavement, the rifle swinging back and forth like a pendulum as he ran. As he neared the truck, the person stepped away from the wall to cross the gap and close in for the kill. Closing the distance between them, he caught a glimpse of the man’s face in the light from the headlights, before the last one burst into hundreds of pieces. He wore a bandana and had a tattoo under his eye.