His legs aching and tired, he shuffled across the snow making a fresh path through the snow to the lounge’s main entrance. Carter walked into the bar and up the stairs to the main floor. The limited light through the opaque and curtained windows cast long shadows across the bar and its smashed furniture. Carter hoped that the same could not be said about the booze behind the bar. If all the bottles had already been emptied or, God forbid, smashed, he was going to be exceptionally disappointed.
He crossed the floor quietly, careful not to further disrupt the delicate balance the furniture stacked in the middle of the establishment had achieved. It looked like a piece of modern art perhaps. Carter skirted around the edge of the room and reached the bar, sitting on the lone stool still in front of it.
Trying to draw the attention of a phantom bartender, Carter coughed and said, “How ‘bout a shot bartender?”
Imagine Carter’s surprise when a woman with long blonde hair stood up behind the bar, her back to him. He thought that the hair looked awfully familiar. He was still thinking that when she turned around and leaped over the bar, latching her teeth onto his throat.
As he fell backward, Carter uttered “Kit...?” in surprise.
She had already crushed his trachea, clogging his airways. His body started to quake as it fought for air, which made the meal all the more pleasant. That was what the infection craved. It thrived on living tissue.
The commotion had attracted another group from the basement. These specimens had been undead for a much longer stretch and moved accordingly. They slunk across the floor and fell upon the still warm body. Their mouths were adorned with much more jagged, yellowed teeth. Like grinding saws, their teeth sank into the inviting flesh and easily separated chewable morsels, enabling them to go back again and again. In very little time, the body had been picked clean of soft tissue and many of the bones had been pulled away from the skeletal remains in order that the marrow inside could also be ingested.
Chapter 87
Arriving at the cabin safely and without any incident was a pleasant surprise to all of them. The weather continued to smile on them, staying dry and fairly calm. They offloaded some of the supplies and all the fuel except the barrels that they would use to fill the boats’ tanks.
When the work was done, Neil sat down next to the wood stove to enjoy the simple creature comfort of warmth. He looked around at the oversized but still overstuffed cabin. Danny and Jules were sitting out of the way, watching the chaos with interest, despite the fact that they had seen similar activity every time they were forced to move to yet another refuge. Neil was thankful for the cabin and what it might provide to these two kids. He didn’t want them to live their every day in fear for their lives. Neil didn’t know if they would always be safe here or even if they would choose to remain here long term, but for the time being they could be safe and take time to be kids again. Neil was not a fool, however. He understood that the world had changed and that these two unfortunate kids would have to grow and live in a much crueler and desperate era.
Jerry was sitting atop a sturdy stack of boxes with Danielle, Mia, and Mason around him. They were all sharing stories and laughs, which was profoundly good to see. Jerry was a good man and a natural leader. Neil wasn’t at all surprised to see Jerry at the center of the others’ attention. Neil was nothing short of lucky to have had Jerry at his side through the last several months. Jerry was, despite his own opinion of himself, one of the most sturdy, reliable people Neil had ever encountered. How many times had Jerry saved Neil’s or others’ lives? Neil couldn’t begin to count the numbers of times that Jerry had made the difference.
Abdul and Jess were outside smoking cigarettes they had found and laughing about something. Both Abdul and Jess were separated from loved ones but still connected through hope if nothing else. Neil wished that both could be reunited; Jess with her daughter Syd, and Abdul with his wife and children back in Africa. He didn’t know if any of that was possible anymore, but, like Abdul and Jess, he fervently hoped.
William was outside chopping wood, which was what Neil had just finished doing. William had done for them what Neil had failed to do time and time again. William had gotten them to safety. Without his knowledge of the area and his little two-boat flotilla, none of them would have made it out of Whittier or Shotgun Cove. Neil decided he was going to start calling him Commodore William, commander of their navy. Well, maybe not to his face. Neil hoped that William would be around for a long time. William, Neil hoped, would be good at all the things he wasn’t: hunting, fishing, and surviving in the wild. The list could go on. Neil might have been able to get them alive through the zombie apocalypse but he was ill equipped to feed or house them afterward.
Emma plopped herself down next to and on Neil. With a smile on her lips and something a little more than a smile in her eyes, she said to him, “Sittin’ over here being a Gloomy Gus?”
“No,” Neil said, shaking his head. “Quite the opposite. I don’t think I could be happier.”
Scanning the room, Emma said, “I’d be happier with a large screen TV and cable.”
“Well there is that.”
“No. I think you’re right,” said Emma, more serious this time. “This is a good place for a while. We can wait the winter out here, stay warm. We can eat our food we brought over and find what we need later. I think we made it.” Emma leaned over and kissed Neil’s cheek softly. “Thank you.”
1Epilogue
The waters of the Prince William Sound were still choppy but had settled quite a bit with the coming of spring. Going back into Whittier was becoming easier with each trip. It was Danny’s third outing to the city and he had yet to fire his rifle, leaving him both relieved and frustrated.
Most of the zekes, especially the many which had been left outside during the winter, hadn’t fared very well in the elements. The harsh weather had exacted a toll on the handful of undead still lurking around the seaside city. Danny remembered that first one he, Jules, and poor Martin encountered all those months ago and wondered why it had remained as intact. Maybe it was the glacier that had encased which had preserved it for all those centuries. Danny didn’t know for sure and figured it didn’t really matter.
As it was, the only zombies Danny had encountered were little more than immobile skeletons without the strength to lift their bare bones, let alone pose a threat. The filthy, bony wraiths lay in quivering piles, their muscle and other soft tissue decomposing quickly. Dispatching the creatures had become a hassle more than anything else.
Winter had also been hard on Danny and the others. Despite their planning and their rationing, the food they had brought with them did not last nearly as long as any of them had hoped. The threat of hunger stoked fear and desperation almost as much as did the undead. It wasn’t long into winter before the forays began.
The first trip was made by Neil, William, Emma, and Jerry. As they entered the harbor, the four of them were taken by the apparent tranquility that had laid itself over the diminutive city. William revved Serenity’s engines, letting her clear her throat to get someone’s…anyone’s attention. Waiting for several minutes, they were all excited and a little doubtful by the results. Nothing had happened. They were not greeted by a mob of growling, hissing predators along the shore.
The group of survivors suspected that Colonel Bear’s militia, presenting itself as a tasty buffet of sorts, had inadvertently attracted most of the walking dead into Shotgun Cove, leaving Whittier a bountiful, low hanging fruit to be picked when needed. Food, fuel, medicine, clothing, hunting and fishing supplies, ammunition, and anything else they could want or need was available for the taking.
Their supply runs were sparse and only conducted when absolutely necessary through winter, but as the weather improved and the seas became more predictable, the excursions occurred more regularly. Neil recognized that the trips were needed distractions and did serve a good purpose. On a fairly recent trip Neil was satisfied to see seagulls fluttering overh
ead. Gulls had always been special to Neil in that they signified the true return of spring. When the gulls were back, winter was decidedly over, and the pace and frequency of the trips increased. They sometimes went into Whittier twice a day if a particularly good stash of supplies was found.
It was sometime shortly thereafter that Neil approached Danny about accompanying him into Whittier on an upcoming excursion. Danny couldn’t have been happier to finally be included in what was increasingly becoming an adult adventure. Danny’s smile nearly eclipsed the sun and his jubilant nodding came close to rocking the Earth off of its axis.
When William and Jerry returned with a Honda four-wheeled ATV, the sport of the Whittier hunt was truly born. Good spirited competitions helped with morale and led to some very exciting finds. Soon, their remote cabin was well furnished and equipped, making life in the apocalypse much more bearable.
The gathering warmth reawakened in all of them a renewed sense of hope. They had survived and were now ready to live again. Spring was truly in the air. They all knew that the supplies in Whittier were a finite resource and eventually they would have to decide on a more permanent solution to meet their needs. For the time being, having full stomachs and a safe haven was enough to help them to concentrate on their good fortune.
Accompanying Spring’s promising arrival was a clutch of questions that could be boiled down to one sobering query which, if allowed, often wandered into the philosophical and its dour compatriot, the metaphysical realm.
Were they all that were left?
Walking down Whittier’s deserted streets and through its empty buildings, sitting near the fire pit staring at the forest surrounding their cabin, or riding the lonely currents of the Sound aboard either Serenity or Nostromo, it was easy to believe that there were no people other than themselves. There was no comfort in any of those thoughts, and yet all of them had made peace with that reality. If this was as good as it got...well, it could be much worse.
That was all to change on this, Danny’s third visit to Whittier. On previous runs, groups had swept through specific buildings room by room, clearing every dark corner of any and all undead. The fights were quick and brutal and always with the same result. The creatures moved too slowly.
Those early trips had yielded necessities and other odds and ends, but the cornucopia wasn’t truly picked until later visits when most of the threats had been removed from the city. Necessities as well as luxuries became the standard haul in no time at all.
The search for new movies had become one of those contests and Danny wanted to be a part of it. He had a pretty good idea where to look too. He and Abdul were first supposed to search one of the food shacks near the Inn at Whittier. It was a single room building with no partitions. Danny and Abdul would be in and out of it in five minutes. They could stack what they found and then go check out Danny’s idea.
He wanted to go look in the vehicles, especially the RVs, parked near the tunnel entrance in the ad hoc lot created all those months ago. It was a veritable treasure trove of potential creature comforts ready to be picked over, and Danny was sure he would find some new DVD titles in the tourists’ vehicles.
From the lot, Danny and Abdul chose the biggest of the recreational vehicles to search. The side door was unlocked but Abdul and Danny both stalled. They were pretty certain no one had been down to the lot to clear the vehicles of zekes, so their senses were very alert. Gritting his teeth, Abdul threw open the door. Danny leaned back on his heels, his rifle at the ready. Nothing. Not a thing happened.
Abdul peeked in cautiously but didn’t see anything. The vehicle’s passengers had long since departed, never looking back. Hanging like a mystical veil, dust motes clung to the rays of light finding their way in through the rig’s windows. He panned his yellowish eyes from front to rear and back again.
He looked over at Danny and nodded. “I t’ink we okay.”
Abdul grabbed several shopping bags sitting on a bench seat. Little flies buzzed around one of the bags, but the others looked unmolested. Danny, meanwhile, was emptying an entire shelf of DVDS into his own backpack, giggling with satisfaction. In the cabinet below the movies, he stumbled upon an odd looking phone.
Spying the item, Abdul asked, “What’ya find ‘dere?”
“A phone, I think,” Danny said.
“Dat look like a sat phone.” Abdul’s eyes glossed over and he repeated, “A sat phone.”
“What’s that?”
“A satellite phone, boy. Do it work?”
Danny turned the phone over in his hands and shook his head doubtfully.
Encouraging Danny with an excited nod of his head, Abdul suggested, “Try it man. Does she still have juice?”
The satellite phone’s battery was completely depleted. Disappointed and feeling like he might have let Abdul down, Danny felt like his bag full of movies held no merit whatsoever.
“Dat’s okay, boy,” Abdul said. “She just need a wee boost is all. We got just da’ t’ing back at da’ cabin.”
Hours later and after some nervous moments, the phone’s face flashed alive. Momentarily silenced with a hushed awe, no one made a move at first, but everyone looked at Neil.
Returning their questioning stares, Neil asked, “Who should we call?”
Looking through the phone’s case, they found a manual containing a worldwide emergency number.
Neil dialed slowly, deliberately, careful that each number was entered correctly. When he pressed the Send button, it was as if all the oxygen around them had suddenly vanished.
Ringing.
Neil shook his head doubtfully, anticipating the disappointment before its unwelcome introduction.
More ringing.
Neil knew the rest of the world had suffered the same fate as Alaska. Humanity had been hunted to extinction. The best they could hope for was to remain hidden and live out their days peacefully.
Then the most amazing thing happened. Neil heard a voice, a woman’s voice, on the other end of the line. He was too stunned to speak, but then was afraid if he didn’t say something he would lose the connection.
“Are you real?” he asked.
There was a long pause. Had he lost contact? Had he imagined the voice in the first place?
“Yes. I’m real. Where are you?”
Neil’s tightening chest made it difficult to answer. Emma placed her hand on his shoulder, massaging his neck and shoulder gently.
Sounding worried, the woman on the phone asked, “Are you still there?”
“Yes. Yes, sorry. It’s just... we’re in Alaska. I...we didn’t think there was anyone left but us. We’re... I’m just so...”
Neil could hear the woman’s smile when she said, “You’re not alone... What’s your name?”
“Neil. My name is Neil.”
“Good. You’re not alone, Neil. We even have operations going on Kodiak Island. How far is that from you?”
“I’ve got no idea. I can’t even concentrate right now. I can’t begin to tell you what a relief it is to hear your voice on the phone.” Neil’s words started to get muddled with emotion again as he attempted to carry on the conversation.
“It may take us some time,” the lady said, “but we’ll get you out. Just be patient and stay out of harm’s way. Okay?”
“No wait. Hold on,” Neil insisted. “Where are you?”
He looked at the others and nodded as he listened silently for several long moments. Eventually, wide-eyed and emotionally spent, he handed the phone to Emma, who pressed it to her ear. She gave everyone else the thumbs up sign while Neil retreated to the doorway to gather himself. Hearing buzzing in his ear, Neil tensed for a second and then swatted in front of him, opening his hand to reveal a mosquito carcass.
Geez, snow hasn’t even completely melted and the little blood suckers are already out.
Emma listened for quite some time, on occasion asking for clarification or answering questions, until she decided to give the pone to the next in line.
>
In this manner, the story of the infection’s spread and the war that ensued was shared. Cities along the West Coast, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and everything in between, were the first to face the undead plague and the first to fall. Starting at the airports and metastasizing like aggressive cancers, the mayhem devoured the cities with lightning speed, the hordes in each respective city growing with each new victim. No one knew what to do and nothing they did worked.
Terrified refugees fleeing the cities led the pursuing masses to each new population center. The long parade, sometimes stretching for miles, was an undulating, throbbing mix of both hunter and prey.
The military intervened, but its efforts were hampered by uncertainty and political interference. Indiscriminate bombing and strafing was avoided, in the beginning; so it fell to the ground troops to sort predator from prey, a process that had cost time they could scarcely afford. While the military units were deployed to hold strong points and maintain escape routes for civilians, zombies merely moved from feeding to feeding. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the undeads’ approach was quickly overwhelming the early strategy of the soldiers; the undead’s ranks swelling by the thousands with new members in military fatigues was telling.
Geography became humanity’s best hope. At the Rockies, the festering advance was slowed. Roads through the mountains were blocked, sometimes permanently, by the desperate efforts of military and civilian engineers and demolitions experts. Like quicksilver spreading on an uneven table, the army of dead eventually found passes and other ways around obstacles both natural and manmade. The efforts bought much needed time for the beleaguered and diminished forces defending the North American continent.
Canadian and American armed forces ceded most of the northwestern portion of the Western Hemisphere as they fell back. They were forced to sacrifice land and lives while they determined how to counter the seemingly unstoppable menace.
Alaskan Undead Apocalypse (Book 4): Resolution Page 44