LZR-1143: Evolution

by Bryan James

  Nearing the front car, I suddenly cursed and held my hand up. The creatures inside were relentlessly pounding on the windows and walls, and behind me, I heard George shout from his position.

  “What’s the hold up?”

  Crap.

  “Movement,” I said shortly.

  The pounding was incessant, and I struggled to make out the outline of the movement from behind the car. I switched off my light and called back for the goggles.

  Kate and Ky switched off their lights as I donned the night vision goggles. The light flashed green and slowly clarified as I looked forward. In front of us, a D.C. Metro tender car—a small truck modified to use the rails instead of tires and respond to broken trains—was parked, doors open. Behind the truck, at least ten creatures were moving toward the train.

  I turned to Kate.

  “Ten of them, up ahead. I think I can ...”

  My next words were cut off by a loud, deep scream and a screamed string of expletives.

  Ky screamed and I turned around, just as George’s shotgun exploded upwards, shattering the large window directly in front of him. Behind me, Kate fired her gun toward the ground, severing the head of a creature crawling out from under the train with the close-in shot.

  The head went still, a large gobbet of human flesh still clutched in its jaws.

  George’s flesh.

  He sank to the ground, clutching his leg, even as the first body from the car fell forward into the gap with us. Kate’s shotgun sounded again and I reached back, grabbing Ky and Kate and pulling them forward.

  “George, let’s go!”

  He looked up, shaking his head. Instead, he fired off two quick shots into the cabin of the train and turned around, looking back once. He limped as he stood, eyes serious. Over the din from the moaning inside the cabin, he shouted.

  “I’m done. Y’all move on. I got a surprise back at the bus for these undead pieces of shit.”

  I stared at him before nodding once. He turned, limping toward the rear of the train. Kate fired two more shots into the train, taking two more heads at close range as they tumbled forward.

  “George!” I yelled.

  He turned around, firing one more shot into the train and looking at me.

  I tossed the lighter that Ky had given me when we escaped from the freeway. He grabbed it from the air and smiled once.

  “I’m gonna enjoy this show, Mr. McKnight.” He turned away, then back one more time. “By the way, always loved your movies. But any fan woulda told you, you needed a good leading lady.” He gestured at Kate.

  “Glad you found one.” Then he shuffled into the night, back toward the bus.

  Behind me, Kate stifled a sob and Ky began to cry. I shook off the remorse and moved quickly to the front of the train.

  We emerged from the gap between the train and the wall in time for me to fire three quick blasts into the creatures that were converging on us. Romeo was barking loudly from a distance, drawing several of them toward him and away from us. Kate fired two more rounds quickly, taking the head from one and the arm from another. The concussion from the shotgun deafened me briefly and I fired two more shots into the approaching creatures, taking one in the head and one in the chest.

  Behind us, to the rear of the train, I heard two shotgun blasts and the shattering of more glass far to the rear. George was releasing and drawing more of them to him as he moved toward the bus.

  We needed to gain more distance.

  I drew my machete and flipped my gun back and out of the way, walking towards the closest creature, even as an arrow flew past my ear so close that I could hear the buzzing of the fletching as it passed. Taking the machete in two hands, I spared little finesse for my style, slicing the blade cleanly through a lunging neck and on to the next zombie. Kate’s shotgun spoke again, even as I heard more windows shatter in the rear of the train and George’s loud voice shouting obscenities to draw more of the creatures to him and his deadly device. Several of them turned toward us from the back of the train, but most followed the closest meal as he climbed the ladder to the roof of the bus. Several seconds later, the high-powered floods bathed the tunnel in fluorescence, pulling more creatures toward the irresistible draw of bright light and noise.

  Romeo jogged up, tail alert. Behind him, the last two creatures shambled forward, and I raised my gun to fire.

  Beneath me, the gravel stirred and I heard the whispered rasp of a moan.

  Ky screamed and I heard Kate shout, “Look out!”

  I stumbled on the creature’s upraised arm beneath me and then fell, gun firing once as my finger mistakenly squeezed the trigger. A deformed head lay in front of me, and as I stumbled forward to my knees, I brought the machete down defensively. Before the blow hit home, the mouth closed over my hand and rotten teeth bore into the flesh underneath the last finger on my left hand. I screamed in pain, even as the machete came down on the thing’s neck.

  George was shouting and cursing in earnest now, as he threw a large metal object from the roof of the bus into the waiting arms of what had turned from tens to hundreds of creatures as they poured out of the windows in the rear of the train.

  The last creature near us fell with an arrow in the eye as I stood up, taking the strip of fabric Kate handed me and wrapping it tightly around my bleeding hand. Ky looked at me warily, and I shook my head.

  “Don’t worry about it kid, it’s okay.”

  Kate’s voice was worried.

  “He already lit that thing. We need to get out of range, like now!”

  Romeo was already running ahead, staying silent in the oppressive dark. We sprinted forward, past the parked truck. When we were fifty yards away, we saw a small depression in the wall, where a metal door was recessed into the cement by several feet. I shouted to Kate and Ky and we dove toward the scant shelter.

  The shouts and moans had faded to the rear as we ran, and I wondered briefly if something had gone wrong. Leaning my head out to peer back, my ears suddenly exploded. Around us, the noise of the explosion was deafening, and it echoed in the tight space as the dust and debris settled.

  Not long before we entered the subway, George had revealed what he called “Little Abner:” three propane tanks taped together with massive rounds of duct tape and bailing wire, with several pounds of ball bearings, screws and other small projectiles taped to the contraption in small plastic baggies. It was an awkward, and really damn heavy, device, but one that he had designed on board the ferry to do maximum damage to the undead. He scavenged the propane tanks from a camper in a parking lot, a campground, and the front of a convenience store, and was incredibly proud of his creation. It was this that I had helped him offload as a contingency plan in case we had to retreat to the bus and gain some distance between an attacking horde and a fleeing vehicle.

  It was this device that he had just detonated, saving us from hundreds of those things and killing himself.

  Behind me, I heard Ky sniffle once and Kate’s whispered voice. Romeo squirmed away from Ky and trotted up to me as I flipped the goggles over my face and checked back from where we had come.

  No movement, no followers.

  I sighed in relief and turned back, following Kate and Ky as they began walking down the lonely tracks.

  Chapter 39

  We could tell when we were approaching the Capitol South station. A meager amount of light filtered down far in the distance, and when I turned off the goggles, I could make out the outlines of the platform, as well as the outline of two more parked trains. One was parked in the Eastbound lane, and the other parked in the Westbound. It was quiet and empty in the dark.

  We slowed as we reached the high platforms, creeping slowly up to the brick and concrete floors. There were dead bodies here, but only in pieces. No sign of human resistance, only of zombie dominance. Blood smeared the floors, and several small billboards, normally used to advertise banks and local companies, were broken and hanging loosely.

  The platform was large, a
nd a wide bank of escalators rose up to the city streets in front of us, a sign reading “1st St. SE Exit” barely legible from our point of view. Barely visible on the next floor up, a slim shaft of light cut through the dark from the lefthand side, indicating an open door. To our left, the Westbound train sat empty, bright orange carpeting stained with more blood and effluent, and I marveled at what must have been a feeding frenzy in these enclosed spaces.

  In front of me, Romeo stopped, tail rigid, a small growl escaping his normally friendly face. He backed up, away from the escalator banks, his nose upturned and his ears pricked. His eyes were glued to the street level, and I followed his gaze.

  Where there had been only silence moments before, I could see shadows moving on the second level, disrupting the shafts of light that were filtering in from the street.

  “Uh, Mike?” Ky said, pointing.

  “Yeah, got it,” I said. “Let’s move faster. If we can get into the tunnels on the other side before they get down here, maybe they won’t see us.”

  In front of me, Kate was paused, staring obliquely into the dark tunnel ahead.

  “Check this with the goggles,” she said softly as I approached, out of breath.

  “What? It was clear, I ...”

  She was calm, but interrupted me quickly.

  “Check it out, please.”

  I obliged and slipped the goggles over my face, squinting at the glare from the small amount of light filtering down into the tunnel from above.

  Jesus Christ, she was right.

  Another pack of hundreds was mindlessly moving down the tunnel toward the station. There was no sign they had seen or heard us, but it was only a matter of time.

  Ky was standing nervously near a broken sign next to a bench, staring up.

  “We’re gonna need to make a call here guys, those assholes are getting closer.”

  Above, I could hear the shuffling and soft moans, and I scanned the station, looking for an alternative. This was the worst-case scenario. We were going to have to leave the tunnels and try our luck topside.

  My eyes fell on the elevator doors that were recessed below the bank of escalators. The walls around the shaft were glass, and I could see a small access ladder rising behind the parked elevator car. It would take us to the next level, and we might be able to hide in the shaft until the herd passed.

  If we were fast enough.

  “The elevator,” I said, grabbing Ky and dragging her behind me.

  Kate beat us to the doors and had begun to pry at the closed stainless steel doors with her bayonet, managing a slim opening as I shot my hand in and pulled back. We opened a space large enough for all of us, and packed into the tight, enclosed shaft. As Kate began to push the doors shut again, I reached up, grabbing the recessed access handle and pulling down on the hatch, releasing a small inset ladder. I quickly lifted Ky up to the ladder, and pushed her up the rungs. I reached down, grabbing a reluctant Romeo, and pushing him to her until he had enough leverage to pull himself up. When I heard the satisfying click of dog claws on the metal roof, I turned to Kate, who was trying to close the last inch of space in the door, but having trouble as there was no purchase for her hands as she pressed against the smooth steel.

  “Let’s go, no time. If we get up and out of sight fast enough, we don’t have to worry about them pressing through.”

  She glanced at the doors one more time, then jumped on the small ladder and climbed. I turned my head behind us as I started to climb, and saw the first of the mindless creatures stumble up the short stairwell from the tunnel below. A shredded business suit covered a rotting body, and the dull, sunken eyes were locked mindlessly ahead.

  Softly, I reached the top of the elevator and slowly pulled the hatch back up, hearing it click into place again. Ky had begun climbing the ladder which, set as it was against the wall, was not as obvious in the glass enclosed space. We were counting on their lack of visual acuity.

  I reached down for Romeo and he gave me a short, withering stare, as if to complain about the indignity of it all, as I reached under him and looped my arm under his ribs, easily carrying him in one arm as I looped my opposite arm around the vertical pole and climbed with my legs.

  We climbed slowly, and as Kate’s foot was leaving the roof of the elevator below, the first of the pack from the street level was reaching the platform from the escalator, mindlessly wandering into the open space. At least fifty more had come up from the tunnel below, and were already present, bouncing aimlessly between trains and billboards and benches.

  I paused for a moment as more flooded down the escalators and into the small space, watching to make sure no eyes were moving toward us.

  The space below was now filled with creatures, where minutes before, it had been empty and devoid of movement. This is what made their evolution into herds so dangerous. This is what made them lethal. Not the power of the individual, but the overwhelming strength of numbers.

  Ky was nearly to the top as Kate tapped my shoe and widened her eyes in a signal to move on, and I started up the ladder quickly.

  At the top, there was another set of stainless steel doors, but recessed roughly one foot back from the ledge, giving Ky enough room to stand. The glass shaft had ended five feet below, and Ky and I were enclosed in cement as we waited. My arm was beginning to burn with the concerted effort of holding Romeo, and I wasn’t sure we could afford to wait too much longer.

  Below me, Kate called up, so softly that I barely heard her.

  “There don’t seem to be many more coming out,” she said, still able to see into the station below.

  I looked up at Ky and whispered softly.

  “Can you try to pry the doors open a little bit?” I asked. She nodded, and inserted a large hunting knife that had been a gift to her from George several days ago. The thin black line between the two doors slowly grew, and light began streaming through. When the line was half an inch thick, she put her face to the gap and looked out. She stared for several seconds then looked down at me, one thumb up.

  I nodded as she began to push the doors, making enough space for me to deposit Romeo on solid ground before widening the gap for myself and Kate.

  I crouched as we emerged, early morning daylight blinding me as I sought to gain distance from the escalator bank. Behind me, Kate stumbled into the light, also squinting and grimacing.

  Ky jogged forward, to the short stairs leading to street level, peering out cautiously into the street.

  “All clear,” she said as we approached. “Which way?”

  I paused for a moment, thinking. In truth, I was trying to remember the maps that were now lodged safely in my pack. We were on 1st Street and I strained to remember the maps of D.C., and to access my dim memories of this area of the city from my days here with Maria. More importantly, I strained to determine our best plan B. The worst case scenario was being forced topside in the middle of the city, and we were miles from the Pentagon now—more importantly, we were on the wrong side of the Potomac.

  I scanned both directions and made a decision. If we were going to the Pentagon, we needed to scout the pathway to the bridges. That meant visibility. That meant height.

  “Left,” I said, starting out along 1st Street, and continuing to avoid the bright sunlight. I was becoming increasingly sensitive to sunlight, and I didn’t like that one bit. I had nightmares of the discomfort being part of the vaccine, and I ignored it.

  For now.

  “Where are we going?” asked Kate, also shielding her eyes from the intense glare of early morning sun.

  “There,” I said, pointing up as we reached the intersection of Independence Avenue and 1st.

  “You gotta be kidding me,” she said, following my pointed finger and looking up.

  Chapter 40

  The United States Capitol was situated on a large piece of real estate at the East end of the Mall, looking directly West toward the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. We jogged up 1st Street and over Independ
ence Avenue, checking both directions on the street for evidence of movement as we crossed. The large avenue was strewn with cars parked and crashed haphazardly on the road, and several prone corpses laying on the street, all with large, impressive bullet wounds to the head, all permanently dead.

  As we cut through the manicured lawns and trees on the Southeast corner of the Capitol complex, we scanned the foliage for movement or danger. The wind kicked up briefly, sending several pieces of trash scurrying across our pathway, making Ky flinch in surprise.

  As we moved toward the Capitol, Kate asked quietly, so as to keep it from Ky’s ears.

  “How do you know we can get in?” she asked, as we started up the driveway to the wide marble stairway that led to the East entrance of the building. Massive sandbag fortifications sprawled across the top of the wide stairway, and wooden sawhorses were staggered along the stairways in intervals, as if to slow the approach of anyone walking up the stairs. Many of the wooden barricades had toppled, and blood covered the bags and steps at the top of the stairwell.

  “I don’t know,” I said, looking up the steps. “I just kinda assumed.”

  The massive, thick, reinforced glass doors to the building were wide open to the air and, as we approached, we could see the signs of disarray. Bullet holes peppered the marble, and pools of blood sat, dry and long crusted over, at irregular intervals. On the wide, marble floor outside the entrance, there were many discarded placards and protest signs, marks of either a hastily abandoned protest, or a hastily convened one.

  We ignored the body parts strewn across the landing as we warily picked our way over the sandbag barricades and over portions of human anatomy.

  Romeo ranged ahead, bolting through the doors of the building before returning to me as I whistled softly.

  “Anyone ever been here before?” I asked, looking up and around the massive rotunda. I wished I had made it here before the infection. It was a tribute to our enduring democracy—dysfunctional as all hell or not—and a feat of architecture and our continuing spirit of excellence. I frowned, wondering if we would ever recover from this, and drew in a deep breath.