by Jay Morris
I yawned a second time and shivered as I got out of the SUV, I reached back in and picked up my rifle and slung it over my shoulder. Billy climbed into the back of his SUV so he could stretch out; Mom got into her driver’s seat and leaned it as far back as she could without hitting Lucy or Old Man Tucker. Elaine was sitting up but her eyes were closed, somehow I didn’t think she was truly asleep; there was just something in her posture that made me feel like she was coiled like a snake, ready to strike.
I walked over to Mrs. Driscol and she handed me a Dr. Pepper;
“Here Johnny, drink this, it’s a little warm but it will help.”
I thanked her and took the can, it was warm but it tasted good. It was not even September yet but the night was damp and chilly here. We took turns walking from one end of our camp to the other; we were listening for sounds of any kind, human or mechanical. The Sun couldn’t come too quickly for me but even as it began to rise in the East it did little to take the chill off. I was grateful for the hand warmers in the pockets of my rain jacket. They were nice and toasty and somehow made me feel a whole lot more comfortable than you might have thought; I remembered Mom telling me about how we should always wear hats and gloves on cold days because we lose heat from there. I whispered to Mrs. Driscol
“We should get heavier coats and things; you know hats and gloves.”
She nodded “I agree Johnny, lets you and me keep an eye out okay?”
She smiled. I realized for the first time just how much I liked her; I mean she was my best friends Mom but she had been strong and steady through this whole event. I figured she had cried at some point but I hadn’t seen it; I mean her husband was missing too. And I suddenly worried about Billy; we hadn’t discussed his father at all.
Mrs. Driscol leaned against her SUV her old French rifle balanced on one hip, the barrel pointing at the sky; she looked into the distance and without looking at me she said
“Elaine saved Billy last night.”
I let her continue and after a few moments she did.
“They were going to shoot him Johnny, those men; they were going to kill my son.”
There were no tears, her voice didn’t quaver, and she sounded strong, determined.
“Elaine is right, we have to be strong Johnny; we need to do what needs to be done.”
I said nothing, but while I agreed with her, I was still worried about Elaine. She had changed so much so quickly, too quickly; it didn’t seem real.
We both turned when we heard a twig snap; it was Elaine she was walking slowly towards us the new AK-47 cradled across her chest.
“Hey Johnny, Mrs. Driscol.” she said.
“I think it is okay if you call me Amy from now on.”
Mrs. Driscol said and the two of them shared a private glance that was hard for me to figure out but Elaine nodded and then she turned to me.
“John, here is your revolver.”
She held it out to me. I took it and slipped it into my holster.
“Thanks for lending it to me” she added.
“No problem.”
I know I had a strange look on my face; Elaine had never called me John before. It was always Johnny, John-boy, or something less affectionate like “numb-nuts” so this was something special. I realized she was using a grown up name for me because we were all going to have to be grown up from now on.
“How is Mr. Tucker?” Mrs. Driscol asked.
“Not sure, he is still out of it but I think his fever is down a bit and some of the wounds look better but others are still angry red and weeping. I am going to switch all the open wounds to the sulfa. That seems to be best, but for now I think we should keep him on the Erythromycin, at least until he stops getting better, then we can switch if necessary.”
“Sounds like a plan” Mrs. Driscol said.
The three of us stood there together, waiting, watching, listening; I felt scared, we needed everyone, we had lost too much and far too many. I closed my eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer.
After a cold breakfast of sliced cheese and tomato sandwiches washed down with yet more Dr. Pepper; Mom and Mrs. Driscol took out the map and tried to check out our route while fending off Lucy’s claims of having a “STP” while she pranced around them. Despite Mom’s reassurance, Lucy was convinced her STP was very serious and could only be cured with a dramatic injection of a “Snickers Bar.” When Mom hesitated she held out Ronald Bear and said that he was her doctor and that he said that Snickers Bars were the only cure for STPs. Mrs. Driscol laughed and Mom finally gave in.
“Fine, fine, fine.”
The required medicine was in a cloth bag along with other snacks on the front seat of her SUV.
“Just one bar Lucy!” Mom called out.
Lucy stopped, turned and asked “What about Ronald?”
“He will have to share with you.”
Mom said it in that special Mom-voice that meant
“Discussion over, any further debate will result in negative re-negotiation of the terms.”
I guess Lucy got the message because she didn’t continue in her efforts to corner the snickers bar market.
Elaine gave her report on Old Man Tucker; he was still feverish but is having periods where he is making sense. The sulfa powders seem to be doing the trick as well but the dressings needed to be changed every hour or so and they were out of bandages so Elaine had cannibalized a white sheet. Mrs. Driscol disappeared for a bit then reappeared with a can of won-ton soup.
“Give him the broth Elaine, he needs fluids and at least this soup will have some nutrients” Mrs. Driscol said.
After one last look at the map we separated to our vehicles, we would follow today with the Driscols taking the lead. We were on the road by 7 A.M. Even though we were averaging only 35 miles per hour, everything seemed to go well enough for almost two hours when we approached a two lane bridge that crossed the Greenbriar River.
Our caravan pulled to a stop about 100 yards from the bridge and the barricade formed of U.S. Army vehicles stretched across it. There were hundreds of bodies between us and the tan colored Humvees; most were clumped together in the middle of the road but there were dozens that had been shot down coming out of the woods. Mom started to say that we should all stay in the car but I cut her off as I jumped out of the SUV. I unslung my GSG and started towards the bodies. I could hear Mom choke back a cry of protest. I looked over at Billy as he jumped out of his SUV to join me. His mother was poking her head out of the sunroof, her rifle in her hand.
I heard another car door and looked back to see Elaine standing by our car holding the AK-47. We walked through the bloated, stinking corpses and I tried to hold my breakfast down. We got within 15 yards of the barricade when a voice boomed out
“THAT’S FAR ENOUGH.”
We both froze and I looked back at Mrs. Driscol who had the rifle held to her cheek.
“LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN” commanded a man’s voice.
I finally found my voice and I answered him
“I can’t do that” I said “but I will lower it.”
I looked over at Billy who nodded and we both dropped the tips of our rifles to point towards the ground. I heard another voice I couldn’t quite place the location of, he said
“I think they are just kids.”
“Come on out we just wanna talk” Billy said and then added “come on, don’t be scared.”
That got a laugh and a minute later two U.S. Army soldiers walked out from between the Humvees. They were dressed in full combat gear, helmets, vests, the whole nine yards. One of them walked up to us and at the last moment he too lowered the tip of his rifle and I had to admit his looked a lot more intimidating than our 22s.
“I’m Corporal Tyrone Jones, 157th MP Company and this here is PFC Elwood Carmichael of the West Virginia Medical Command.”
The medic guy slung his rifle and held his hand out to both me and Billy and shook our hands
“Call me Blue, okay? Everyone does.” he sa
id.
“Blue?” Billy asked.
“You know, like Jake and Elwood? The Blues Brothers?”
He smiled as he answered but me and Billy just looked at each other having no idea what he was talking about. We then introduced ourselves as we were joined by Mom, Mrs. Driscol and Lucy, Elaine staying in the back of our SUV with Old Man Tucker. We talked to them about what had happened here at the bridge. What they described was a night of terror and death, they had been ordered to hold the bridge and not let anyone across. Several hundred people were gathered here, camping, waiting for clearance to cross the river and to tell the truth they probably felt safer near the soldiers who even patrolled the campsite.
The crazies, or as the soldiers named them ‘the Zs’, appeared out of the woods; at first a couple dozen then eventually more than a hundred. They were fast, very fast and merciless. We could fire at the tree line but couldn’t shoot at the hand to hand battle because of all the civilians. At least until it was obvious that there was no chance for them. The Captain finally order the gun crew to open up with the ‘Ma Deuce’, the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on one of the Humvees, they fired and bodies were blow apart some of the cars caught on fire. A crazy who loses an arm is just a one armed crazy but the crew fired until they ran out of ammo.
The battle continued through the night and Corporal Jones had only killed the last crazy just an hour before we arrived. Corporal Jones and PFC Carmichael were two of the three soldiers left. He said the third guy, Pvt. James was in a bad way and he wouldn’t speak or respond, in shock so severe he was nearly comatose. He said the PFC was sitting in the back of one of the Humvees.
We told them about our group and when we said that Old Man Tucker had been bitten they both looked upset, when we told them he was looking better and that he would pull through the PFC said that he had to have been bit by a Z. He explained that Z-2s were the new ones; the ones that they had found last night were Z-2s. He showed us how they were changing; he showed us that things that the z didn’t need were being absorbed, things like reproductive organs, body hair, eyelids, ears, the vocal chords, the little toes and pinky fingers. The Doctors who had been with PFC Blue had found that anything that was wrong with the Z that the Z needed was repaired, eyesight was corrected, arteries where unclogged, muscles were built, cartilage in the knees, shoulders, back or neck was strengthened and even regrown if necessary. Dirty lungs were cleaned, cancers were absorbed even bullet wounds were healed.
“Check this out” Cpl. Jones said and he pried open the mouth of one of the dead Z-2s; inside the mouth he showed us how there was a tiny row of needle like teeth erupting through the gums just below the existing teeth furthermore he said
“See anything unusual?”
The canines were longer than normal, very much so, in fact to me they looked like vampires.
“One of the Docs said that it looked like they were turning into fangs.”
“Like a wolf?” Mrs. Driscol asked.
“More like a rattlesnake” Blue answered.
The crazies were changing; things they didn’t need were going away, anything that wrong was being repaired, and things were being modified to make them a bad ass killer.
Cpl. Jones told us that while they called them Z’s, as in zombies, but they were in fact not dead. They were changing into something different. For the first time I think we all realized that the world would not be going back to what it was; not ever. Mom, Mrs. Driscol and Cpl. Jones went into the barricade of armored vehicles to see if the third soldier might respond to one of the ladies. Billy and I led Blue back to our SUV so he could check on Old Man Tucker.
Elaine made room in the back for Blue and Billy but I got in on the other side. Blue checked Old Man Tuckers eyes, his blood pressure, his throat, and then his fingertips which I thought was odd but I didn’t say anything. Blue changed the dressings and remarked about how well the infection had been controlled and Elaine explained her system of randomizing the antibiotics on various wounds and then switching to the one that seemed to be most effective. He seemed very interested that Elaine had been giving a 500mg base Erythromycin every four hours; they had stumbled upon almost the same thing, 4 grams ethyl succinate in an IV infusion. He saw that Elaine didn’t know what that meant so he explained that it was just a type of Erythromycin. Cpl. Jones and Mom joined us sticking their heads in from either side of the SUV,
“Sit rep Blue?” Jones asked.
“Just like they said and this young lady is one hell of a doctor.”
When he said that he looked at Elaine and gave her what I was sure was his very best, charming smile. If Elaine noticed she didn’t react but Billy rolled his eyes at me as if to say “pathetic.”
We all gathered around the SUV and had a meeting, at first Jones wanted to stay at his post but when Blue pointed out that they had been able to contact any other unit since the battle began and that if more than two or three Zs attacked they would be dead. Jones finally agreed that it was better if everyone stayed together, at least until they found another army detachment. Blue smiled a sad smile and nodded in a way that said that he didn’t think there were any units left. It was decided that Jones and Blue would take the pick of the Humvees, a M1114 that Tyrone said was “all up-armored and shit” with Jackson in the back, there were lots of big cans of gas for the army vehicles and they filled the tank of the one they chose and put several other cans in the back.
Jones explained that unfortunately our SUVs wouldn’t run on the diesel fuel that the Humvees used and since their Humvee came in at 6 tons they were going to need a lot anyway. They loaded extra guns and ammunition in the back of the Humvee and they did load all three vehicles with MREs. The infamous “Meals Ready to Eat” or “Meals Rejected by Ethiopians” as Blue described them. But he whispered to me that I should keep some hot sauce to help it go in and some prunes to help it come out. I guess I looked very confused and he just laughed and ruffled my hair, “don’t worry buddy, you’ll figure it out.”
The reloading and repacking of the vehicles took several hours and he had nearly finished when Billy’s rifle spat out a half dozen rounds. I looked towards where he was standing on the roof of one of the Humvees standing his guard duty. He had fired into the tree line and after a pause he fired off another six. I ran towards him but Cpl. Jones quickly outpaced me and arrived at the barricade and he too fired towards the trees. By the time Elaine and I arrived they had stopped firing.
“Do you still see him?” Billy asked.
“No joy” was Jones reply.
Elaine and I scanned the tree line but saw nothing, not even a body.
“Billy, did you get him?” I asked.
“Nope” he replied and after a moment he added “they are so much faster than they were Johnny, it was like he was dodging my bullets.”
The Corporal said “Not necessarily Billy, two even three rounds won’t stop them. It depends on where you hit them.”
I heard Elaine mutter “Great, just great.”
I heard Mom call out from where our three vehicles had been arranged behind the barricade and she said
“Come on, let’s go. We are out of time!”
“Roger that, come on you slackers you heard the lady”
Cpl. Jones called out more for our benefit than in response. He helped Billy down from the Humvee and as he did he said
“I think we are going to have to upgrade your rifles boys, little .22’s won’t do the trick anymore.”
I looked at my GSG and I was a little saddened. It had provided me with more than a small measure of comfort and it had been effective against both crazy and normal people so far but I knew he was right. We all jogged back to the vehicles when I heard the first shriek and looking back over my shoulder I could see numerous shapes emerging from the forest. Corporal Jones waved Mom and Mrs. Driscol on saying that Billy, Elaine and I would ride with them for a bit since their Humvee was the closest. As we scrambled inside the Humvee, Blue got behind the wheel and
the Corporal popped up through the roof to man a large, mounted weapon. We followed the SUVs only for a little bit when Blue stopped, I looked out the back window and through the scratched glass I could see several dozen crazies or Z-1s reaching the bridge.
“Ready to fire!” yelled the Corporal.
Blue looked at us and said
“Cover your ears kids and open your mouth’s like this!” and he showed us what to do.
We followed his example and Blue yelled out “CLEAR!” and just a moment later the Humvee was filled with a deafening roar and the cabin filled with acrid smoke. I actually felt the pressure on my hands from the explosion as wire traced its way through the air and in less than a second the missile hit the bridge under one of the Humvees. I had noticed the soldiers putting all the fuel and ammunition we were leaving behind in that one; now I knew why. The bridge twisted and groaned as it reacted to the missile and the exploding Humvees. While a huge cloud of dust rose into the sky the bridge buckled and fell into the river.
“What in the Hell was that?” Elaine screamed.
Blue smiled as he put the Humvee back in gear he answered
“That is a BGM-71, a TOW missile! Pretty cool huh?”
The Corporal dropped back down next to us and yelled
“Enough chit chat Blue, let’s catch up to the others.”
With a shuttering start the desert camouflaged Humvee raced down the highway, our SUVs far ahead but still in sight.
We didn’t make much better time than we had before, averaging only about 35 miles per hour but after about an hour we started to see a big black cloud off in the distance in front of us. Not long after that we came to a stop in front of the entrance to a tunnel. Flames and the billows of black clouds were belching from it. We got out and walked closer to the inferno.
“My God, there are cars in there.” Mrs. Driscol said in a low voice.
We could only see about twenty yards or so into the tunnel because of the smoke but we could see that there were many, many cars in the tunnel, their fuel having fed the flames. Suddenly there was a huge tremble in the earth and we all staggered a bit because of it. A giant gush of dust and smoke came bursting from the tunnel followed a moment later by an enormous crashing sound. Mom grabbed onto Lucy and held her close to her, she looked up at the rest of us and asked