by Diane Butler
Lucky grabbed Richard’s arm and stopped him. “What is happening!” he yelled back.
“They’re turning! They’re turning within seconds and they don’t stay over the body to consume it! They take you down and then go on to the next human. Never seen anything like it and hand-to-hand combat is out of the question. I’ve got to get to my boat!” He tried to pull his arm out of Lucky’s grip without success and when he saw another human running toward him he tried a different tactic. “You see! I need to get my boat ready for more survivors. There’s no staying to fight. This is a run situation. They’re too fast, too strong. I’ve seen them knock down doors when they saw a human run inside. Knocked it down as if it was a toy.”
Lucky released Richard’s arm but he did not have intentions of going back to the sailboat just yet. They had not stocked supplies on the boat and all his equipment was still at his house. He ran up the street, glancing down the first lane where he saw houses on fire and six to eight zombies smashing into houses that weren’t. They didn’t see him so he kept running for the next street where he lived. But at the end of that lane he stopped as he witnessed the carnage that was taking place. He saw what Richard meant about the speed and strength of the newly turned. And that awful screaming. Where did that come from? It was the same whether it was a zombie child, woman or man, that horrible scream when they spotted a human.
Two neighbors ran toward him in an attempt to get to the dock but Lucky could tell that the zombies would outrun them. He raised his rifle, no longer sure if a headshot would work on this new breed of zombies. And they were so fast that it was hard to keep them in focus. He managed to kill each one as the zombie was reaching out to grab the humans from behind. He decided that his house was a loss and joined the other neighbors to run back to the dock. He saw a few other humans come out from behind some of the buildings and race toward Richard’s cruiser but no one had a duffle bag or supplies with them. They were all running for their lives down the dock. Both Richard and Karen had the motors idling on their boats. Lucky looked behind him and when he did not see any more humans following he told both of then to shove off.
“Stay off shore in case someone jumps in and we can pick them up,” Lucky instructed the two captains. “But we don’t know how far these zombies can jump so don’t stay close to the dock. We also don’t know if they can swim. We’ve always been safe on the water before but if the zombies jump in and start to swim out to us, I suggest that we keep moving.”
“I don’t know how far we will get,” Karen said. “The boat still needs a lot of repair.”
“Go out of the channel and into the river,” Lucky said. “Our only hope is to reach Brandon and join him on Jenny. Did you see how many people made it to Richard’s boat?”
“Including Richard, I saw six. One of them was Smokey but I didn’t see Toby with him.”
“Six. And we had thirty people here at least. We may be following those who declined to come to Mamou when we left the paper mill and sailed for Florida instead.” Lucky sighed and looked away. “I think I need to sit down. I don’t understand what is happening. I thought it was the beginning of the end as the zombies became weaker.” Then another thought occurred to him. “I wonder if Brandon is running into the same problem.”
***
But Brandon hadn’t seen any zombies except those that gathered on the levee in New Orleans and those were of the same origin as before. The people on Jenny were unaware of any change other than Roxanne stating that she smelled smoke and they knew to trust her senses. They were anxious to get back to Mamou but Lance felt that the whole trip had been a waste. They had not gathered supplies along the way. The original plan was to explore further south and the flooding had prevented that. He had not been off the boat during the three days before they decided to turn back with Brandon dropping anchor offshore and no one venturing out at night. Coming back it was the same pattern. He tried to avoid Roxanne as much as possible and it had been easier than he thought with her staying on the bridge. But on the way back he walked into the lounge to see her sitting on a padded bench against the wall with one leg across the seat. It was too late to stop and back out and Roxanne had seen him come in so he proceeded toward the kitchen.
She watched him cross the room and asked,” How do you like this new group, Lance?” He nodded and opened the cooler to get out a bottle of water. “It’s a good group and I like being among people again. I was sorry to see the Mill go though. It was a solid place against zombies except for the fencing.”
“How do you like being back in Mamou? I notice that you did not take up your old residence, but that is understandable. There is more protection among people and everyone settled on two streets within walking distance of the dock where Jenny pulls in. Do you feel better about Mamou now?”
Lance thought a minute and walked over to her while opening the bottle. “Actually, I don’t. On first appearances the town looks quaint and inviting, but after a while you get the feeling that you are being watched. When I heard about Andy, that guy who was still in the mansion, I thought perhaps he was the one watching. That he could see me on my supply runs but I couldn’t see him. But I still get that feeling sometimes. There’s something wrong in that town, something evil.”
Roxanne studied him. “Then trust your instincts, Lance. I have never felt that way about the town although I have about certain streets. I like my place, I’m comfortable there but that doesn’t mean that I don’t believe you.”
At that moment Caleb came rushing into the lounge. “Heads up! It looks like Karen’s sailboat and Richard’s cabin cruiser are up ahead!” They all bolted for the door and rushed to the bow. The occupants on the two boats must have seen them too for Karen began to take her sails down and they heard Richard shut off his engine. Both waited for Jenny to approach with everyone on board anxious as to why they had ventured so far away from the town. Lance threw the ladder down so Karen and Lucky could come on board but only Richard and Smokey boarded from his cruiser, the rest staying on his boat waiting to hear the consensus from him.
“The town is gone,” Lucky said after climbing on deck. “Totally gone, and without a chance of rebuilding.” The group sat in stunned silence as Lucky explained what had happened, with Smokey and Richard filling in what they had seen before Lucky had walked in on the scene. Brandon looked over at Roxanne when they mentioned the fires, homes being torched randomly in the hopes that the fire would distract the zombies; or to prevent people inside from turning. Upon hearing that the zombies were faster, stronger and impossible to fight Mary started to whimper and put her hands over her mouth. Caleb was standing next to her and put his arm around her shoulders in an attempt to calm her.
“We passed New Orleans and the zombies at the levee were still the same as the last time we left, “Brandon said. “Deteriorating, moaning some growling but none with that scream you spoke of.”
“I have four people on my boat plus Smokey and me,” Richard said. “We waited offshore but no one else showed up on the dock. No families. Anyone we knew had already turned. It was the damnedest thing running away from a neighbor hell-bent on biting me. And the thing is, these Z’s didn’t stay to consume their catch. It was like once bitten they had accomplished what they wanted and went on to find another catch. I thought that Melissa was just hurt. I started to help her and then she let out that awful scream. At least I was able to put her out of her misery but the rest of the people that we knew….they’re all standing on the dock as zombies.”
“Lucky and I were discussing it on the way here,” Karen said. “The only place to go where it will be safe is to find that bunker in Florida. Jimmy gave me the coordinates. If the zombies are changing then people may need to start living underground. We need time to study their weaknesses; to get a handle on what is happening.”
While Lucky and Richard were working out the details of transferring gas and people to Jenny Brandon turned to Roxanne. “Do you want me to get you to within the canal so you can take your pirogue
and go back to the bayou?” he asked. Roxanne shook her head but looked saddened. ”No, I would need to go by the dock and if the zombies are still there I could lead them back to Shoes.” Brandon frowned and Roxanne realized that she had never revealed that her ‘protectors’ in the bayou consisted of just one old woman. She smiled at Brandon. “My healer goes by the name of ‘Shoes’. I would not want to put her in danger and we don’t know what these zombies are capable of. I also would not go back to my house since they would eventually find me.” She shook her head, “I hate leaving my homeland, territory that I am familiar with but it appears to be infested with this new breed of Z’s.” She looked up from her seat where she had sat the whole time quietly listening to the stories that Lucky and Smokey had told them. She had one arm across the back of the bench and her legs were crossed. She had not shown the emotion that the others had while Lucky filled them in on Mamou. She had been very stoned-faced but now she looked up at Brandon. “I will go with you to Florida if that is what you have decided to do.”
Brandon smiled, “That would make me very happy.” He wondered if Lucky would have had the same result with his method of dealing with Roxanne. Lucky would have ordered her to come with them, calling her a fool if she did not. And, being as hard-headed as he, Roxanne probably would have gone back to her cottage.
It was arranged that they would dock at the plantation to leave Richard’s cabin cruiser since it ran solely on gas but Karen and Brandon’s boats had other methods that could be used. Richard would transfer the gas in his cruiser to Jenny. He and Smokey would sail with Lucky and Karen. The other four men on Richard’s boat would board Jenny and travel with them.
That night as they sat in the lounge working out more details with Karen in the lead since she knew of their destination in Florida, Caleb and Mary walked out to the deck and stood looking over the river. They were silent with their own thoughts but Caleb put his arm around Mary’s shoulder knowing that she was frightened.
“I hope the zombies in Florida are not like the ones that they told us about in Mamou,” Mary said not looking at Caleb.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
“Because Florida is no longer there.”
THE END