When he stopped for the umpteenth time to kill a zombie while trying to change the tire, Logan realized he’d never get it right. There were too many of them and not enough of him to go around.
He looked over his shoulder and spotted Michael. Grabbing the man by the elbow, he quickly explained his plan. “Are you in?”
Michael hesitated, then he nodded. “I’m in. For Mpho’s sake.”
Logan didn’t care two shits about Michael’s motivations, as long as the man agreed. He turned toward Josh and Jed that fought by their sides, and said, “We’ll draw the fuckers away, and you change the wheel. Deal?”
When the two nodded, he rushed toward his truck, followed by Michael who clung to his heels. He dodged his way through the crowd until he reached the Landie, jumping in with seconds to spare. Michael clambered onto the roof like a monkey, and they were off, driving piss slow and making a lot of noise.
He edged out of the lot, heading for the thickest part of the wave headed their way. As the horde swarmed the Landie, he clenched the wheel and kept going, drawing them further and further away.
Or so he hoped. It was difficult seeing anything through the horde of rotting bodies that covered the windows. After a time, he cracked open the window and cried, “Is it working?”
“Yes, keep going,” was the faint reply.
Logan kept pushing onward, one bit at a time. He hoped the rest could get away and was cheered when the convoy passed him by, horns blaring. “Thank, God, they did it.”
As long as Nadia and the rest were okay, he was okay. He couldn’t bear it if something happened to them.
Logan leaned sideways and shouted. “Michael, hold on. I’m speeding up and shaking them off.”
“Go!”
As he straightened up, a zombie in front of his nosed slipped below the wheel and got stuck between the tire and the mudguard. Its flesh was ground to minced meat within an instant and wrenched the steering sideways.
“No!” Logan yelled as the Landie slewed to the side before crashing into a lamp pole with thunderous force.
“What the fuck?” Michael cried, crawling to the middle of the roof to get away from the grasping hands that were now far too close for comfort.
To no avail.
Even as Logan watched, zombies crawled onto the bonnet and slithered their way across to Michael. The man screamed as they latched on, cursing while he fought. “Come on, you undead fuckers. I won’t let you have me.”
A single gunshot signaled Michael’s end, and Logan slumped when he realized he’d soon follow. Being rescued was out of the question. So was escaping. There were too many zombies crowded around his truck. He rubbed the steering wheel with a loving hand. “Guess this is it, old girl. The end of the road for us.”
He sighed and leaned back in his seat. “I’m sorry, Nadia. This is gonna be hard for you, but you’re a tough girl. You’ll make it. I know it.”
For a moment, he allowed himself to be filled with regrets. Regrets for everything he’d always wanted to do but never did. Regret for not getting to see Nadia cured, maybe even married with children of her own. But the moment passed. He was never one to dwell on that which he couldn’t have. “Goodbye, Nadia. You were a good friend. You were there when I needed you, and now, it’s time for me to go.”
Hands beat on the windows, fists smashed into the glass, and the material cracked. It wouldn’t be long now. Logan closed his eyes and reached for his gun, placing the barrel against his temple. His hand shook, but after a time, the sensation passed, and he steadied.
What was death anyway? It came to everyone in time. Life was just temporary. A fleeting moment in time filled with memories, thoughts, and feelings. He remembered Morgan then, and the times they’d spent together before she was so cruelly snatched from him. Their unborn child. Would it have been a boy or a girl?
His mind filled with visions of her face, her smile, her sparkling eyes. He heard once more her husky voice, whispering that she loved him. He felt the warmth of her silky smooth skin against his. “I’ve missed you, Morgan. No matter how I pretend. It’s just not the same.”
He heard the Landie’s windows groan underneath the pressure, but refused to open his eyes. Once more, he relived the moment he first met her, when merely shaking her hand felt like a blow to the gut. The first time they’d kissed on the wall, their whispered promises of forever.
“I meant every word, Morgan,” Logan said. “For me, there could never be another.”
The glass webbed, chunks of it breaking free. Logan ignored the sound, focusing on his last memory of her.
“Don’t leave me. Please.”
“I won’t. I promise.” Logan slid his arms beneath Morgan and stood. He set off at a run, heading for the infirmary. She lay against his breast like a broken bird, her blood soaking the front of his shirt.
“I’m here. I’ll never leave you. I promise.”
“Stay with me.”
“Stay.”
He murmured the words over and over, hoping to keep her awake. The distance seemed to stretch forever. Her rasping breaths were terrible to hear, but even worse was the sudden silence.
Logan stumbled to a stop and looked down. Her eyes were closed, her skin paper white. Laying her down on the ground, he pressed his ear to her chest and felt for a pulse. Nothing. No heartbeat.
“No. Don’t die.” He grabbed her face with both hands, tapping her cheeks. “You can’t die.”
No response.
He leaned forward, breathing into her mouth. Her chest rose and fell. He repeated the procedure, punctuating it with chest compresses. “Come on, baby. Fight!”
Morgan lay lifeless, her blood soaking into the ground. After a few minutes, he was forced to acknowledge the truth. She was dead.
“I’m coming for you, baby, and this time, it’ll be forever.” The window shattered, and Logan pulled the trigger.
Chapter 23 - Martin
Once they’d left the dead behind and were safely out of town, Martin slowed his truck and pulled over to the side of the road. One by one, the rest of the convoy followed. He got out, facing the gathering crowd with reluctance. This wasn’t a task he relished, but someone needed to do it, and with Max out of commission, he had to take it on his own shoulders.
“All right. I know you’re all scared and hurt, but we’ve got a long way to go still, and I need to know you’re clean.”
“Clean?” Elise asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.
“Yes, each and every one of us has to be checked for bites, and thoroughly too.”
“What?” Elise cried. “We have to check for bite marks?”
Martin nodded. “It has to be done, I’m sorry. I can’t take you to St. Francis if you might be infected. I cannot risk an entire town for the sake of a few survivors.”
“But we wouldn’t hide something like that,” she protested. “None of us would.”
“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “What about Ruby? Did you know her as well as you thought you did?”
Elise faltered. “No, I guess not.”
Mumbled conversation did the rounds.
“Look. It’s just a precaution. Once everyone has been cleared, and we’ve taken a few moments to gather ourselves, we can be on our way again. Understand?”
Rumbles of assent followed, and he turned to Elise again. “Please, can you check the women and children for me? Our lives may depend on it.”
She nodded, her shoulders slumped. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
While Elise went around inspecting for bites, Martin did likewise with the men. Along the way, he stopped in at the ambulance to check on Max. “Hey, buddy. You okay?”
Max gave him a faint grin, and a thumbs up from his spot on a mattress. “I’m great.”
“You sure? You cracked your head open pretty hard.”
“He will be alright. Thank you, Martin,” Kirstin replied. “I will look after him.”
“I’m sure you will, but please, will you let Jonathan and Hannah check
you for infection? It’s just a precaution.”
“Yes, no problem. Just get my people to safety, Martin. That’s all I ask,” Max replied.
“Will do, buddy. You can trust me on that. Get well.”
“How many did we lose?” Max asked.
Martin hesitated, his heart twisting with sorrow. “Too many.”
“Logan?”
Martin shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
Max nodded and closed his eyes, turning his head away. With a brief nod toward Kirstin, Martin continued his inspection. Once he was sure all the men were clean, he checked the vehicles for damage and made sure they were all fully loaded and ready for trouble should it arise.
Julianne and Michelle meanwhile passed out food and drink, and he accepted a fruit juice and a handful of biscuits with grateful thanks. After eating, he pulled aside Breytenbach, Elise, and Julianne. “So where do we stand?”
“The women and children are clean, I swear it,” Elise said. “I checked them all, and I did a proper job.”
He sighed with relief. “So are the men. That’s one less thing to worry about, at least.”
“We’ve lost quite a few loved ones,” Breytenbach said, his craggy face filled with the sorrow they were all feeling.
“I know. It’s…it’s a tragedy. Caleb and Donya. They were mine. My people, and I failed them,” Martin said.
“You didn’t fail them. If anything, this is my fault. We should’ve left Hiran alone and taken a detour,” Breytenbach said.
“Nobody failed anyone. It’s a fact of life, the way things go sometimes,” Julianne said. “We all knew the risks, and who says a detour would’ve been any safer?”
“Yeah, come on, guys. Let’s not play the blame game again. We’ve all made mistakes, choices that have lead to loss, and it never takes us anywhere good. Look at me and Kabelo, Ben and Angie…” Elise said. “What’s done is done. Let’s move on.”
“She’s right, Breytenbach,” Martin said. “No matter how clever you are, none of us could have foreseen this. We still don’t know where the dead came from, who let them loose, and I guess we never will.”
Julianne nodded. “At least, the children and babies are safe. The dead didn’t get into the bus, despite Ruby’s best efforts.”
“I still can’t believe it,” Elise muttered. “Ruby!”
“It’s thanks to Nadia that she didn’t get to finish what she started,” Julianne continued. “We owe her our children’s lives.”
“What about Lonny?” Martin asked.
“He seems heartbroken. He acts like he didn’t know, but we’ll have to keep an eye on him, though. Just in case.”
Elise nodded, her lips pressed together. “I’ll make sure of that.”
“We lost Nikki too. One of the new teens. Liz is pretty shaken up over it, and so are the rest,” Julianne said.
“I can imagine,” Martin replied. A brief image of the girl’s last moments flashed before his eyes, and it was not pretty. “Don’t forget Abe.”
“But, if it weren’t for Logan and Michael’s sacrifice, we would all be dead,” Breytenbach said, voicing the one thing they’d all been reluctant to face so far.
“We owe them a debt of gratitude,” Martin acknowledged.
“Yes, we’ll miss them,” Julianne said.
“How’s Nadia holding up?” Martin asked. “Of us all, she’s lost the most people today.”
“She’s in terrible shock. I had Jonathan give her a sedative,” Julianne said. “To be honest, I don’t know how she’ll cope with this, but I’ll do my best to see her through. I owe her that much.”
“So will I,” Elise affirmed.
“I think we all will,” Martin said. “She’s a strong girl.”
“We don’t have many injuries, at least,” Breytenbach said. “A few cuts and bruises. Max got it the worst, I think, but he’ll be all right.”
“That’s a relief,” Martin said, thinking their position over. He blew out a breath. “All right, I see no point in hanging around. I say we do one straight push to reach St. Francis with only brief stops out in the open to refuel and take bathroom breaks. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” the rest chorused.
“I think we’re all eager to get somewhere safe,” Julianne said.
“Then let’s go. The sooner, the better,” Martin said, breaking up the meeting.
Within minutes, the convoy was back on the road. They drove throughout the day, stopping only when absolutely necessary, and by late afternoon, they were close to their destination.
The nearer they got, the lighter Martin’s spirits grew, and he prayed that nothing would go wrong before they hit the gates of St. Francis. But their luck held, and within the hour, they were parked in front of the solid walls of their new home.
Martin got out and waved at the guards at their posts. “Hello, it’s me. Martin.”
A short figure detached itself from the rest, and an incredulous Thys called, “Martin? Is that really you?”
“In the flesh, my friend.”
“We’ve about given you up for dead, you know?”
“Well, sorry to disappoint. Now could you let us in? We’ve had bad luck on the road, and these people need attention.”
“No infection?” Thys asked.
“No, we checked,” Martin said.
“I’ll let you in, but Ada might want Dr. Barnard to examine them again,” Thys replied. “You know how she is.”
“That’s fine. Just let us in before something else happens, please,” Martin said, holding thumbs as he did so.
After a moment, the vast gates swung open with a ponderous creak and the convoy was allowed inside the town. As the gates clanked shut again, Martin let go of the tension he’d held onto the entire trip. Finally. They were safe.
Thys greeted him in person, slightly more corpulent than Martin remembered. He was followed by a succession of familiar faces, and it wasn’t long before exhaustion set in.
Luckily, Ada took over at that point, recognizing how close to collapse he was. She organized for Dr. Barnard to clear the convoy of infection and escort all injured to the clinic. The rest were shown to clean, comfortable quarters and fed with promises to do more in the morning.
At last, Martin was released and allowed to go home where his daughter Kim waited, ecstatic to see him once more. She threw herself into his arms and clung to him, sobbing the entire time. “Daddy, don’t ever leave me again.”
As he held her close, he made a promise he intended to keep. “I won’t, sweetheart. Never again. I promise.”
In the days following their arrival, Martin eased back into his former role as leader of the community. Thys was only too happy to relinquish the reins while Ada resumed her former position as head of security.
After Dr. Lange reported his findings regarding the infected to the council, an extended plan was drawn up to improve their defenses. The walls would be improved, more watchtowers and gun turrets built, and banks of medieval type weapons would serve as backup should their ammo run out. The minefields would be decommissioned and replaced with a series of barricades instead. Anything to slow a horde.
“Everyone who is old enough should be trained in combat as well. This training will be mandatory, and citizens will go about armed at all times,” Martin decreed. “Our houses must be fortified too, and raiding parties beefed up. It’s not safe to go out in twos and threes anymore.”
Ada nodded. “Excellent. I will see to it.”
“How are the newcomers settling in?” Thys asked.
“They are well enough. Some still need to be housed, and they’re suffering from their losses. As are we,” Martin replied, thinking once more of Caleb and Donya.
“Could we do something nice for them? Something to take their minds of their grief?” Ada asked.
Martin thought it over. “That might be a good idea to boost morale, and I can think of a certain couple dying to tie the knot. Two couples, actually.”
“A wedd
ing. That’d be perfect,” Thys said. “It will help the newcomers bond with the rest of the community as well.”
Ada nodded. “There’s nothing like a wedding to pull people together.”
“And we’ll need that in the days to come,”Max said, thinking of all the challenges that lay ahead of him.
“I’ll pass the wedding arrangements over to someone suitable,” Ada said. “Just send along the lucky couple when you get a chance, Martin.”
“Or couples,” Thys added with a grin.
“Will do. Thank you for doing this,” Martin said.
“We should be thanking you,” Ada said. “For bringing in fresh blood. We need the hands, the skills, the knowledge these people can provide.”
Martin nodded. “I’m glad you see it that way. Speaking of knowledge, though, how is Dr. Lange doing under Dr. Barnard’s wing?”
“He’s settling in by all reports, and his research is doing well with the help of the boy, Aiden. It seems Dr. Lange might even train the boy to become a scientist,” Thys said. “Plus, Barnard’s ecstatic, of course. How can she not be with the sudden influx of a doctor, scientist, nurse, and a pharmacist? No more double shifts for her.”
“Good. As long as they have all they need, though I doubt Dave will work much as a pharmacist. His newfound passion is gardening,” Martin said with a laugh.
“Gardening?” Thys said. “Who’d have thought?”
“Who’d have thought any of this would happen?” Ada said with a shrug. “Maybe it took an apocalypse to open our eyes to what’s really important in life.”
“Deep. Real deep,” Thys replied with a crooked smile.
“Fuck off,” she mumbled, but in a good-natured tone of voice.
As his two second-in-commands duked it out, Martin reflected on something he’d almost forgotten. It’s good to be home.
Epilogue I - Julianne
Julianne sucked in a deep breath as Elise buttoned up the back of her dress, the bodice tightening over her breasts and shoulders. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she smoothed her hands over the material, and she opened her eyes to look at herself for the first time.
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