by Geo Dell
They had hit it with the sledge hammer repeatedly. The steel had finally split, and it looked as though they had been trying to use sheer force to rip the rest of the bracket away from the wall where it was mounted. Billy stepped back.
“I think,” he began, and that was when a zombie came through the shattered aluminum door frame and slammed into the steel gate. Fingers shot through the gaps in the steel and clutched at Billy's arm. The Zombie missed the arm, but got his shirt sleeve and immediately snarled and began to pull back.
It lasted less than a full second before Beth’s pistol roared. The zombie's head blew apart in the narrow hallway, black zombie blood running down the walls.
“Got you? Got you?” Beth asked.
“No... No... No, I …” Billy couldn't find the words. Something moved outside the door, and he opened up on it. A second later there were four more Zombies flooding through the door. None of them made it to the gate, tripping over the other dead, and both Billy and Beth were firing immediately. One made it back out the door, a hole in its side that had blown away part of its spine as it had exited. Billy could not believe it was still able to move, but it was. Canted to one side, legs twitching as it ran, causing it to lurch from side to side. It disappeared into the darkness before either of them could get another shot in. The silence came back full.
“You have got to get your shit together,” Beth said quietly.
“I got my shit together,” Billy shot back.
“You never saw that one coming through the door. What if I hadn't shot it...”
“Well, fuck, if you hadn't... Never mind... Okay... I'll get my shit together.”
She said nothing.
“Okay... Okay... Does us no good to get on each other... None at all... We can fix this tomorrow.” He looked around the lobby.
“Help me for a moment?” he asked. He headed for a length of chain they had bought back to use for something. It was about to be re-purposed, he thought. As Beth held the light he wound the chain through the separated sections of the gate, pulled it tight and ran a short length of nylon rope through the eyes, tying it tightly.
He stepped back and looked it over. It would have to do until morning, her flashlight was already flickering, causing shadows to jump and fall on the walls. Batteries were getting tougher and tougher to find. He looked at his wrist and cursed low. Old habits died hard. Watches were worthless now. He hadn't worn one in a few days.
“I don't know either... I think a few hours until dawn,” Beth said. “That should hold for a few hours, at least slow them down enough to shoot them if they do try to get through it.”
“Well, I'll sit here and wait for it... All we can do,” Billy said. “Go on back up and get some sleep. I got this.” He settled back onto the step, sitting with his back to the upstairs.
Beth stayed silent for a moment and then came and sat next to him. “Got it with you,” she said. She sat next to him, and he immediately lost his words. Her arm pressed against his own. The flashlight snapped off, and the heat of her arm became everything.
“Billy?” His name whispered from the upstairs hallway: Jamie.
“I'm here until daybreak,” Billy whispered back.
Silence. And then... “It's safe?”
“They won't get past us,” Billy said.
She said nothing more. A few seconds later the door slammed upstairs. Billy sighed.
“Sorry,” Beth said. She was aware how Jamie felt about her. Jamie and Billy were not really together, but Jamie felt she owned him. Billy didn't help matters by staying with her, sleeping with her, yet not making it official, and Jamie knew Billy was hung up on her too, Beth knew. For that matter, so was Scotty. She wasn't interested in either of them. She didn't feel like she absolutely had to have a man to protect her, define her. Yet ironically, she reminded herself, she was doing the same thing with Scotty. Staying when she didn't feel the same, couldn't feel the same. “I better go up... keep the peace.” Beth said quietly.
“Yeah... I'm good here,” Billy said. He wasn't though. He wanted her to stay; he just didn't know what he could do to get her to stay. Nothing, he supposed. “I'll be good. Morning's not far away.” Her arm pulled away, and a moment later he heard her soft footfalls on the stairs as she ascended them. Billy sat quietly, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, his machine pistol in his hands.
The Fold
Jessie Stone's Journal
We have walked for days. The desert seemed never ending, plateaus, sand dunes, the bleached bones of cattle. The sun rose, the sun fell. On the fifth day we came upon the river. It was wide and deep and seems never ending. From then on we followed the river.
The place we chose is a long low valley with the river nestled between her walls. Verdant green fields poured away to both sides of the valley. I stood and looked down upon the land and although I said nothing, we were no longer searching for a home.
We set up a rough camp beside the river that first night. With those that we had picked up along the way, the Fold numbers just twenty-four souls. Within a week we will have rough shelters going up, we have already started. A long, low overhang, that can shelter us from the weather, and can become our home for the next several months as we build River Crossing. I, unfortunately, will not be one of the ones to build it. It will have to be done in my absence.
We had left word when we were in Snoqualmie, a quickly thrown together ramshackle settlement back in Washington State, that we would be pushing on toward the east coast. We have some of our own that stayed behind there, and so we will have to send word back, that we have stopped somewhere east of the old Texas border and will make this place our home: Things to be worked out.
We, myself, and a few others, will leave in the morning to push on to the east coast. I can't leave it like this. I have to know what is or isn't left. If we find nothing, we will make our way back here and collect those we find along the way, if we find others to the east, we will decide what to do then. I am only glad to write that there is a world outside of Washington.
About this world: It is in a very bad way. The governments are gone. There are dead rising, it defies everything I know as a doctor, but they are. We have come across the phenomenon several times. One of our own died under my care, turned and came back a few short hours later. I don't know what to think, except as we move through towns and the outskirts of cities that still stand the dead are there in ever increasing numbers. A note of interest, we have picked up a young doctor and added him to our group. Very fortunate I believe.
As we leave in the morning, another group will go back to Snoqualmie and get the ones who remained moving in our direction. I will keep this as we go. We hope to come back here before too long, and get River Crossing established before winter for The Fold.
L.A.
Billy and Beth: March 11th
Billy was up on the roof. Beth, Jamie, Winston and Scotty were standing at the edge of the building as he was, looking out over the city. Things were crazy, and they seemed to be getting worse as the days rolled by.
The police precinct was still burning. It had started sometime during the night two days before, and since there was no one to put the fire out, it had been raging for hours now. A few minutes ago, the roof of the building next door to the precinct burst into flames. Maybe the fire had started inside, or the extreme heat from the burning police precinct had caused it to burst into flame, spontaneous combustion, but it was a strange thing to watch. It appeared as though it had simply burst into flames all on its own.
The animated conversation about whether it had been spontaneous combustion or a fire source from inside the other building that had simply burned through, had kept up for a few moments, and then they had all lapsed back into silence. Beth spoke now.
“Where would we go?” she asked.
“I think southeast,” Scotty threw in.
“Why not north or northeast,” Jamie asked.
“Makes no difference, I suppose, but this winter
it might. That's why I think southeast.” Billy said.
Beth nodded. “What's the radio say?”
“It's bad everywhere. Different people, different days, all talking about the dead. Some talk about the living too, gangs, shit like that, but the big deal is the dead. Every major city... Boston, Hartford, Manhattan, San Fran, Providence, Scranton, Miami... there are more. Every day you hear more places, and that's bad. But then there are the ones that you don't hear from anymore, and that's even worse,” Billy said.
“So how is southeast better?” Beth asked.
“Might not be better, as far as the dead are concerned: It might not be, but it will be warmer. I mean, no problem now, but winter isn't really over up north, and it will come again, and we had better be somewhere with our supplies settled in for it,” Billy answered.
Beth nodded. “All of us?”
“A few others,” Winston said. “Emma, down street. She has a baby. Don and Ginny across the street. They got a few friends too.”
“Babies... I don't know about babies,” Billy said. “Adults, okay. Children are bad enough, but babies? How do we take care of them?”
“Billy, should we leave them here to die?” Scotty asked.
“Fuck, Scotty. I didn't say that. Do we invite them along to get killed? I mean we're leaving the safety... Talking about leaving the safety of this building and going on the road.”
Beth raised her hand. “Scotty misspoke, or you mistook what he said. Can we agree on that?” Scotty turned away and then turned back and nodded. Billy nodded too. “Tomorrow... Tomorrow we scout it out. We need trucks... not a car. Something that can get us over the bad spots. And we'll have to see how far we have to go before we can hope to drive. We sure as hell can't drive here.” She shrugged.
“Tomorrow,” Billy agreed.
“Yeah,” Scotty added.
Beth turned and looked back over the city, watching the building next to the precinct burn.
Watertown New York
Forty miles to the west of Watertown a small caravan of Jeeps moved slowly through the morning light down a cracked and tilted roadway. The caravan had been forced to detour around several breaks and washouts in the pavement of the road. They had constantly been forced to stop as well, and push stalled vehicles out of their way.
They had spent the night in an abandoned state park that fronted lake Ontario. The water that had once lapped at the beach had retreated several hundred yards back, and the weeded and muddied floor of the lake lay naked and exposed. They had spoken little, and had not slept well. Several of them had been awakened during the night by vivid nightmares. The events of the last several days weighed heavily on all of them, and most of them were unable to shut themselves down far enough to sleep, preferring to push until exhaustion took them, forcing what they could not do naturally. After a quick discussion, they had left even before the sun had begun to fully rise over the water, and resumed their journey. Heading toward Rochester. They had seen a glow in the west the last few nights, and so they were hopeful they would find help there.
~
To the west, in the city of Rochester, the sun had risen slowly, revealing her quiet streets.
As the sun had risen, the street lights that had held the darkness back, switched off.
Small groups of people walked her streets as if lost. Some had lived there, but most had made the short trek from the surrounding communities. Others were on their way. Already there was a battle for control of the western New York city. Her power was still on and that made it an ideal stronghold.
The groups were trying to wait each other out, but shortly after sunrise the gunfire began between a group from the south side and another from the west. Most had no idea who they were fighting or even why they were fighting, they were unsure. As the battle began in earnest some groups began to join forces, and by mid-morning the entire city was under siege, innocents caught in the crossfire or forced to flee.
~
Far above the Earth, satellites continued to orbit importantly.
The north American continent lay sleeping far below. A wide inland sea had formed in the middle, fed by a huge river that stretched from the former Hudson bay, to the Gulf of Mexico. The river, along with the inland sea, split the continent in two from ocean to ocean. Small in places and easily crossed as if it were no more than a river. Wide in other places as if it truly were an ocean.
The state of Alabama, which had lain directly in its path, was divided in two by the river where it made its way to the Gulf and into the ocean beyond. What resulted was the loss of the lower, southern half of the state. It now sat nearly forty miles out in a shallow bay that was quickly turning to sea: An island, the water surrounding it growing deeper as time moved on and the gulf reclaimed the land.
The smaller eastern section of the continent had already begun to drift. Although it was imperceptible, the two land masses were inching away from one another, and ultimately would be separated by a new ocean. And become separate, smaller continents.
The eastern end of the former United States, was also drifting away from the northern section of Canada. The massive earthquakes had also severed the state of Michigan, turning it into a virtual island.
Parts of Indiana had succumbed to the water too. And the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, had been split in two, along with the upper western edge of the state of Florida.
Toward what had been the north, the St. Lawrence river had widened, pushing the land masses further apart. The Thousand Islands bridge spans had toppled, and slipped into the cold waters. The other bridges that had once spanned the mighty river, had succumbed as well, as the river basin had split and pulled apart.
The new continent had also severed her ties from Nova Scotia, as she had been pulled south and slightly east, to begin her journey. Only the province of New Brunswick, and a small portion of Quebec remained with the continent. The rest of Canada was severed from them by the wide and deep river, more like a huge lake in places, that surged from ocean to ocean.
Most of the north American continent was now in a sub-tropical climate as well. The poles had been displaced by the huge force of the multiple earthquakes and volcanic blasts. The old polar caps were melting, and it would be thousands of years before they would once again re-form in their new locations.
The run-off, from the melting ice, would eventually reach the oceans, and even more land mass would be sacrificed to the waves, before the polar caps would be re-formed.
There were only thirteen full states left on the small continent. The two former provinces of Canada, one of which was only a small fragment. And parts of five former states, the largest being Florida.
Before the dawn, fires could be seen spreading in many major cities, unchecked, and burning quickly with the help of freak winds the flames continued in all directions, occasionally fueled by chemical, and oil facilities, as well as numerous other flammable sources they encountered, destroying the cities.
Protected by tons of rock above it, project Blue-chip survived the onslaught with very little damage.
CHAPTER THREE
Leaving
Billy and Beth: March 12th
To leave the city with nine people they were going to need a truck, and that was going to have to wait until they made their way out of the city and all the stalled and wrecked vehicles that clogged the main streets.
They had hoped to cross over the river on the Firestone Boulevard bridge, but after a three hour walk, most of which consisted of crawl-walking over the tops of stalled vehicles, they had been forced to turn back when they reached the beginning of the bridge. The bridge was gone, the pavement gone leaving a ragged drop into the water below, and the river seemed to be much deeper than usual, nearing the tops of the concrete side to side, and fast moving.
They had debated back tracking and crossing the river to the west instead. Billy had pretty much let Beth decide. She was, after all more familiar with the city, and he was not. In the end
they had decided to continue south toward the freeway where they could hope for a better crossing. That had caused an argument between Billy and Jamie that had only ended because Billy had walked away from her.
“You want her, not me. Her... Why don't you just say it, Billy... Just say it.” She screamed the last as Billy picked up his pace walking faster still. There was nothing he could say. It was true after all, and the truth couldn't be hidden in these circumstances.
The light was fading from the day as he found a small shop, the glass covered by steel panels. The panels were dented, even punctured in a few places by something he assumed had been heavy and sharp, possibly an ax, but they had held. He rolled a cigarette and stood, one boot heel resting against the brick wall behind him, the other holding his weight on the cracked concrete. He watched Beth as she walked toward him.
She smiled. “Roll one for me?”
Billy rolled one and handed it to her. She fished a lighter from her own pocket and lit it.
“We have to settle in for the night... Too dark to keep on. Who knows what sort of freaks are waiting for night to make a move on us.”
Billy nodded. “Dozens... No doubt...” He sighed. “We'll need a place for all of us.” He tapped his free hand against the brick. “Place looks untouched, it will take a little work to get in but we could spend the night here.”
Beth inhaled deeply and let the smoke roll slowly out of her mouth. She turned the cigarette around and looked at it. “Killing me, I know it, and I couldn't care less. Tastes so fucking good and calms down that itch in my brain.”
Billy laughed. “I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter what we do know. I think the life expectancy of the human race just dropped a whole shit load.”
Beth laughed along with him, took another hard pull on the cigarette, looked at it once more and dropped it to the pavement. She ground it out with her boot heel. She raised her eyes to Billy and the laughter was gone, ground out like the cigarette. He knew the next words she spoke would be serious, but he wasn’t prepared for them when they came a few moments later. “It's just you and me.” She frowned as she finished.