The Zombie Principle

by David R Vosburgh

  A flurry of, “Yes sirs,” came over the airwaves as one by one each of the men sounded off. For the next several miles, as the convoy sped along, Major Bradley studied the road maps of D.C. and the surrounding area. He made several notations along their path to Frederick, Maryland just in case they needed to find an alternative route.

  Engrossed in his maps Major Bradley felt the Humvee begin to slow and looked up. He let out a groan as up ahead the road was blocked. It looked like there had been an accident. Unfortunately it was on an overpass so there was no way around. He could back up the convoy and take the previous exit and come back up the on ramp but that would take time and it looked like the cars could be moved easily. As the Humvee came to a full stop Major Bradley pressed the button on his comm link.

  “Sanchez, Kowalski, and Stevens get out and see if you can move these cars out of our way. We’ll use my Humvee to help push through. The rest of you stay on alert for any of those things.”

  “Private, once they make some progress see if you can use our bumper to push through. We don’t want to be sitting still for too long. We need to make it to Fredrick as quickly as possible,” Major Bradley said to his driver.

  As the three soldiers passed the Humvee at a jog, Major Bradley stood up in the gunner’s copula and survey the area around them. From his map he could tell that Route 214 ran under I-95 here with some residential and commercial areas around them. Taking out his binoculars he scanned the area for any signs of civilians. In the distance he could make out figures but from the way they were moving they were most certainly infected. As his soldiers finally moved the wreaked cars to the side his Humvee slowly rolled forward scraping the cars on either side as it pushed a path through them. After they were clear of the wreck Major Bradley turned to make sure the other vehicles in the convoy made it through. As the last Humvee cleared the cars the radio crackled to life.

  “Major we’ve got a bunch of those things coming up the road behind us. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Thanks for the heads up. Try to hold your fire unless absolutely necessary,” Major Bradley replied.

  Looking down into the Humvee Major Bradley said, “Alright private, let’s get this convoy moving.”

  Private Sinclair accelerated towards the point where the on-ramp merged with I-95 but then began slowing down again.

  “No need to be overly cautious son, just drive,” Major Bradley yelled down into the Humvee.

  “Um … sir, look over there,” he said pointing toward the on ramp, “coming out of the woods.”

  Major Bradley looked towards the woods on the edge of the on-ramp just in time to see a group of people emerging from the trees at a full run. There appeared a man at the front of the group frantically waving his hands.

  “Heads up men we have incoming. Not sure if they are friendly or not. Prepare to engage if necessary,” Major Bradley said into his comm link.

  As the Humvee closed in, and slowed to a stop, Major Bradley swung the 50 caliber machine gun around and leveled it at the people coming out of the woods.

  Chapter 7

  The Cowardly Lion

  Stephen had his foot on the accelerator well before Dave and Emma screamed in unison, “Let’s get out of here!” He turned the wheel hard to the right as the Hyundai’s wheels screamed and smoke billowed behind them. With their focus on the group that attacked the young woman, they had not noticed the three other people coming up from behind. Stephen saw them as he straightened out the wheel and the car began to accelerate. Two were close, but off to his left, and were easily avoided. The third was directly in front of them.

  Stephen expected her to move out of the way of the oncoming car, but she made no attempt to do so. This forced him to pull the wheel sharply to the right to avoid her. The car reacted quickly but she was knocked down by a glancing blow off the left front quarter panel. Stephen straightened the wheel again and hit the gas pedal while trying to avoid the disapproving look Nick was surely giving him.

  There was now no one between the car and the exit. Stephen glanced in the rear view mirror in time to see the woman he knocked over getting back up as if nothing had happened. Trying to shake off the events of the last ten minutes, he focused his concentration on getting them safely away from whatever had just transpired.

  They arrived at the end of the road that led out of the park and were faced with a decision; turn left or right on Central Avenue.

  “Head toward I-95,” Nick offered.

  Stephen waited for an objection from anyone, none came.

  “My dad may be able to fill us in with what the hell is going on,” Nick added.

  He pulled out his Uni-phone and attempted to call his old man but it was useless, still no reception.

  “These things have turned into expensive paper weights,” Nick said as he threw the phone into the center console.

  As Stephen turned right heading towards I-95, the car was filled with a binging noise; the one all car owners hate. Stephen looked at the dashboard and saw the red gas pump illuminated.

  “We need gas,” Stephen said.

  “She’ll still go for a while,” Nick said, “but we should probably find a gas station before we hit the highway.”

  In the back seat, Emma looked over at Lucy who had barely moved during the whole experience at the park.

  “Are you ok,” she asked. She got no response. She asked again. This time, Lucy slowly turned her head and looked at Emma. Her eyes were wet and her jaw slack.

  After a few seconds she asked, “What were those things? They looked human but they couldn’t have been. Could they?”

  She was looking directly at Emma but then moved her head and looked at Dave, then Nick in the front seat, and finally Stephen through the rear view mirror. No one had an answer for her.

  “This obviously has something to do with what your mother saw on the news before we left,” Nick said looking in Stephen’s direction.

  “What did your mother see?” Lucy asked.

  Stephen thought for a moment and then relayed to the rest of the group what he had told Nick in the car before they picked everyone else up.

  “That’s it?” Dave asked.

  “Yea, that was it. Reports were vague and they didn’t know very much at the time.”

  “Well, I’d say things have just gotten a whole lot less vague,” Dave countered.

  They all had to agree with that.

  As they neared another intersection Nick pointed and said, “Over there.”

  On the corner Stephen saw a Hess station. He slowed down and hung a sharp left and pulled into the gas station. Stephen and Nick got out and looked around. Nick put his head back into the car and asked if anyone had any cash left in case they needed it. They were able to scrape up thirty-six dollars.

  Stephen went to the pumps and tried his debit card. No luck. He tried lifting the pump and hitting start. No luck. He turned to Nick who had returned with the thirty-six dollars.

  “You ever work at a gas station or convenience store before?” he asked Nick.

  “No, but how hard could it be to start the pumps, have you seen some of the geniuses that work at convenience stores.”

  Nick headed off to the shop as Stephen stayed by the pump. He had a second to look around. The station was deserted. There was no traffic heading in either direction. There were what appeared to be several abandoned cars in the parking lot in a nearby shopping center. Looking further on up the road, it seemed like there was lots of shopping that could be done in the area.

  The sun had fully risen by now and what would normally be a busy beginning to a Friday workday near the nation’s capital, was nothing of the sort. For the first time Stephen began to worry about his parents.

  The car doors opened and Dave, Emma, and Lucy got out. They began to stretch.

  “There doesn’t appear to be any of those things around here so I think we’re safe for the moment,” Stephen said.

  As he was finishing that statement, Nick had eme
rged from the Hess store, but he was not alone. There were five men accompanying Nick out of the shop, followed shortly by a sixth man. They were young, probably about the same age as Stephen, maybe a little older. They were dressed in jeans and tee shirts. Two of them wore headbands, one a Washington Nationals baseball cap, two just had their greasy hair exposed and the last one wore a straw cowboy hat, the kind with the sides rolled up. It was the man in the cowboy hat who was immediately recognizable as the leader of the band of misfits.

  Stephen looked at Nick who returned a look that was not easily interpreted; a combination of confusion, anger, and fear. The one in the red headband and one of the greasy haired guys each carried large canvas bags that were filled. Baseball Cap carried a lead pipe; the other two did not appear to have any weapons. Cowboy won the prize because he had a gun, and it was pointed in Stephen’s general direction.

  “What have we here?” Cowboy asked no one in particular.

  Stephen moved from behind the pump to the other side so he was between the gang and the car as Nick joined him and turned to face his captors. Emma and Lucy were only a few steps from the car near of the rear passenger’s door. Dave was directly in front of the open passenger’s side door and he began to slowly move toward it.

  “Hey! Where do you think you’re goin’ Habib?” Cowboy said waving his gun at Dave. “Everyone move over here … slowly.” He motioned for the group to move to the right, away from the car.

  After they had appropriately complied with Cowboy’s request, Stephen asked, “What do you want?”

  “What do I want?” Cowboy repeated turning to his posse and laughing as they dutifully followed in kind. “It’s Christmas out here man, didn’t anyone tell you? Everything is for the taking. We just loaded up at the plaza next door. Now we’re heading to Target to finish our shopping.”

  “So,” he continued, “to answer your question, what we want is something to put our loot in,” gesturing to the two bags being carried by his associates. “And your car there will do just fine.”

  Nick was about to voice his displeasure with that arrangement when Cowboy asked, “Who gots the keys?”

  Stephen reactively reached for his pocket and then stopped; but it was too late, Cowboy saw it. He motioned for the second greasy haired guy to get the keys. He moved toward Stephen but slowed as he got near, suddenly realizing how big Stephen really was.

  He pulled out a knife from behind his back and shoved it in Stephen’s face and said, “The keys.” Stephen hesitated. Cowboy moved closer raising the gun to eye level.

  “Is there a problem big boy?” he asked.

  Stephen reached into his pocket and removed the keys to the Hyundai. “No, no problem.”

  Greasy Hair snatched the keys out of his hand and delivered them to Cowboy, who motioned for the rest of his posse to get into the car. As he moved toward the car he stopped and grabbed Baseball Cap and Blue Headband.

  He looked in Emma’s direction and said, “What our little shopping trip needs is a woman’s touch.”

  Cowboy moved toward Emma and told his buddies to bring her with them. She screamed and struggled against their grip but could not break free. Dave made a move to help her but Baseball Cap used his lead pipe to keep him at bay hitting him in the shoulder and causing him to fall to one knee.

  Stephen saw an opening to get the gun away from Cowboy. He stepped to the left behind Nick and moved toward him. He charged him like he was a quarterback. Cowboy, however, was ready for the move as he turned around and clipped Stephen in the side of the head with the butt of the gun. It was not enough to knock him down but it slowed him and knocked him to the side.

  “You get that one for free,” Cowboy said, “next time you get the bullet.”

  They hustled Emma into the car sitting between Greasy Hair One and Two. Cowboy got into the driver’s seat. Baseball Cap opened the hatch and emptied all its contents onto the pavement and loaded their ill-gotten goods and himself into the back of the car. Red Headband got in the hatch with Baseball Cap and Blue Headband got in the backseat. Cowboy started the car, put it in drive and took off down the street.

  Lucy ran over to Stephen to see if he was okay while Nick did the same with Dave. Stephen had a small gash above his right eye, it was bleeding but he would live. Dave had a welt already developing just below his shoulder. Nick helped him up off his knee.

  “Did anyone pack Band-Aids?” Lucy asked looking at the luggage strewn about the pavement.

  “No,” Stephen said thinking that his mother would have wanted him to, just in case. Nick and Dave each shook their head no.

  Lucy stood up, looked around, and headed into the Hess store. “I’ll be right back,” she said.

  Stephen looked over at Nick and asked angrily, “Where did those assholes come from?”

  “I was behind the counter attempting to figure how to get the pump started when I heard a noise coming from the back room. At first I thought it might actually be an employee, so I moved from behind the counter so I would not be caught trying to steal gas. Then I thought it might be one of those things from the park and thought about heading out the door when the idiot in the cowboy hat came from out of the back room. He looked out of the window and saw the car and asked if it was ours. I said it was and he sent me back out with his goons while he cracked open the register to grab some cash.”

  Lucy had emerged from the store carrying Band-Aids, disinfectant, and baby wipes. She approached Stephen and told him to bend over while she wiped the wound with the baby wipes, applied disinfectant, and put two Band-Aids above the eye.

  “Thanks,” he said. He was finally regaining his senses. He was still a little groggy but had begun to refocus.

  “Are you ok?” he asked Dave.

  “Yea, I’m all right,” Dave replied.

  Stephen spun around and looked down Campus Way heading south, the direction Cowboy took off with Emma.

  “They aren’t going to get too far, they’re almost out of gas,” Nick said reading Stephen’s thoughts.

  “Good thing for us we know where they’re going,” Stephen replied.

  “Where’s that?” Lucy asked.

  “Target,” Stephen answered.

  “We don’t even know where that is,” Dave said.

  “Yes we do,” Stephen said pointing south. They all looked in the direction Stephen was pointing and could barely make out the forty foot beige pylon with the two red circles visible intermittently between the trees. It was probably half a mile away.

  “We need weapons of some kind,” Nick suggested.

  They all turned and looked toward the Hess store. “There’s nothing in there,” Nick said; Lucy concurred.

  There was a plaza behind the gas station. Stephen suggested that they could go there and maybe find something useful. They all agreed.

  They were about to head out when Lucy said, “What about our stuff?”

  Stephen looked around and asked, “Anybody really need anything out of their bags?”

  No one did.

  “Let’s go get Emma,” Stephen said.

  “Yeah, and my car too,” Nick added.

  There was an Ace Hardware in the center of the Plaza. As they approached they discovered there was no need to try the door as the glass window was shattered. Perhaps compliments of their new friends.

  “Grab the first thing that looks useful,” Stephen instructed.

  When they all met five minutes later back at the front of the store, Stephen had grabbed a chopping axe, Nick had a hatchet, Dave found a utility hook knife, and Lucy grabbed a locking knife. Having armed themselves the best they could, they headed back out.

  “Be on the lookout for those things,” Nick said.

  They started heading in the direction of Target at a slow jog. Dave grunted with each step as pain shot down his arm forcing him to carry the hook knife with his good arm.

  Ten minutes later they arrived at the edge of the expansive Target parking lot. To their immediate right there
was a Giant supermarket which only served to remind them how hungry they were. As they stepped into the parking lot they had to carefully avoid several infected coming out of the supermarket as they made their way toward the Target located at the other end of the property.

  Moving slowly across the lot, they hugged a tree line leading to the store. As they approached, they spotted Nick’s Hyundai parked at an angle directly in front of the entrance doors. The driver’s side door was open. The car appeared to be empty. No sign of Emma.

  They crouched down and leaving the cover of the trees headed toward the car. When they reached it, they noticed the car was off. Nick went to the open driver’s side door and looked inside; no keys. Cowboy must still have had them.

  Trying to be quiet, they spoke barely above a whisper.

  “What’s the plan?” Nick asked.

  “I got us this far,” Stephen said attempting a smile. Looking at Dave he said, “You’re the brains here mister pre-med.”

  Dave said nothing, having said very little since Emma had been kidnapped.

  “Emma’s in there,” Stephen said. “She needs you.”

  Dave was about to say something when there was a gunshot from inside the store. They all instinctively ducked down behind the Hyundai and gripped their weapons a little tighter. As they slowly got back up to look over the car into the store, a second shot rang out followed by a woman’s scream; Emma.

  They split in two groups with Dave and Lucy heading around the car to the right, Nick and Stephen to the left. They entered the store and stopped immediately to look around. The shopping carts were off to the right, the registers straight ahead, and the bathrooms to the left. They listened and immediately heard the commotion coming from the back of the store.