Nancy and Marie nodded.
“I’ll go first, get the ride ready,” said Nancy. “When I give the signal, you get their attention and bring them over.”
Vinnie nodded. “Got it.”
* * *
Lt. Becky Michaels ran for her life as the dead pursued her. The barricade was toast, and she had expended her ammo. She needed to find a place to hide. She tumbled over a low metal gate and onto the Nautilus Motel grounds, scraping her elbows on the cement path. She got to her feet just as the dead came barreling through after her.
She tried to run over to the motel office, but in her haste, she was tripping over her own feet. She stumbled to the right. The dead reached out for her, pushing her into the deep end of the hotel pool. They followed her like lemmings, dropping like stones into the cool water.
Chlorine burned her eyes and nostrils as Becky rolled around under water. She kicked her legs, struggling to reach the surface. When she breached, she gasped for air and swam over to the diving board at the end of the pool.
As she kicked her legs, she felt hands reaching out for her ankles under the water. She fought against their groping, doing her best to stay horizontal on the surface, reaching out for the diving board as murderous fingers sought to drag her down.
Her fingertips reached the tip of the board, and she grabbed on tight, pulling herself up as dead hands pulled her down. She cried out in fear as she struggled for her life, but her cries were only answered by the screeches of the dead.
The dead outside the pool converged on the diving board, clumsily stumbling onto it and falling into the water. Hands reached out for her on both sides as she lifted her legs and held herself parallel under the board, caught between the reaching fingers above and below, as she clung on for dear life.
Her arms and body were growing tired from the exertion, but she dared not let go. Her radio crackled over the moans of the dead.
* * *
“Becky, come in.” Holbrook attempted to raise his lieutenant, but with no success. He prayed that she was still alive.
He leaned into the police car and looked Mrs. Holly in the eye. “I’ll be right back out with Lena. Lock the doors. If you are in trouble, hit the siren.”
Mrs. Holly nodded, and Lenny cheered in the backseat at all of the excitement. Robbie’s eyes pleaded for him to hurry back.
Holbrook closed the car door and stalked his way up the cement path to the entrance. As he entered the station, he was approached by whoever was left bombarding him with status reports. But he already knew. He saw it with his own eyes on Mrs. Holly’s block.
Lena burst out of his office, her face looking hopeful but anxious. “Did you find him?”
Holbrook nodded. She embraced him, her body shuddering with sobs of relief. He gently pushed her away. “There’s no time.” He handed her the keys to this cruiser. “You have to go. Robbie, Mrs. Holly, and Lenny Krueger are all in the car.”
“What about you?”
“I have to stay. You know that.”
She nodded, resigned to the fact. She knew he had his job to do. She didn’t like it, but she had to come to terms with it.
“Chief!” called Pacelli. “They’re going to close the bridge. No one in or out.”
“What?! Who’s they?”
“The Army, Chief.”
“Lena, you have to go. Now!”
Lena nodded. She took the keys and left out the front door. Holbrook was right behind her, and Pacelli was right behind him. Holbrook saw the street was clear and watched Lena get into his squad car. She pulled away, heading for the bridge off the barrier island.
“They can’t do that!” continued Holbrook. “We have people who still need to be evacuated.”
Pacelli shrugged. He had no answer.
*
Lena Holbrook put her foot down on the accelerator, picking up speed. “Everyone okay?”
Mrs. Holly nodded, and Lenny gave the thumbs up.
“Mom, where’s Dad?”
Lena saw Robbie’s disappointment in the rearview mirror. “He has to stay, honey. He has to help everyone. But we’re getting out of here.”
Lenny leaned forward, speaking through the cage. “Can we t-t-turn on the lights, Mrs. Chief?” That was what he always called her. That was because he knew her husband as Chief, so that made her Mrs. Chief.
She smiled at the innocence of the request that was completely incongruent with their situation. “Sure, Lenny.” She flipped on the lights and siren. It couldn’t hurt, and if it kept Lenny and Robbie calm, all the better.
She made her way down the main boulevard in the direction of the Bay Bridge, turned right by old man McNally’s hardware store, and straight to the approach. Several cars that were also heading off the island made way, and she raced right by them. She felt guilty, using the lights and sirens to jump to the front of the evacuation line.
She saw the Bay and its docks. The approach was shockingly free of traffic. She had indeed jumped to the front of the line.
This made sense. Everything happened so quickly, very few likely got a chance to evacuate. Poor people at the bonfire. She wondered how many died at the hands and teeth of the dead.
As she made her away up the incline of the bridge, her heart sank when she heard the sound of the warning bells. As she crested the bridge, there were a few cars stopped. She saw the drawbridge slowly rising. “Dammit. No.”
She hit the siren, making it emit those short, funny tweets. Nothing.
“Oh, dear,” was all Mrs. Holly could say.
“Mom, how are we going to leave if the bridge is up?”
Lenny bounced up and down in his seat, momentarily forgetting their predicament, excited about seeing the drawbridge rise.
Lena looked out the windshield and saw people standing outside of their cars. She saw Tara Bigelow.
Lena turned around. “Wait here, guys. I see Tara. I’m going to find out what’s going on.”
“Mom, don’t leave,” pleaded Robbie.
“I’ll be right back. There are no zombies on the bridge, so you’ll be okay for a moment. Right, Mrs. Holly?”
Mrs. Holly sat there stunned. “Oh dear.”
Lenny gave Tara the thumbs up. “We’re g-g-going to be a-ok-k-kay.”
Tara couldn’t help but smile. Lenny’s reaction made Robbie smile, too. In that moment, she was glad her husband stopped to pick Lenny up. “See, Lenny’s not scared.”
“I’m a superhero,” announced Lenny. “I’ll p-p-protect all of you.”
Lena pointed at Tara’s car. “I’ll be right over there with Tara.” She closed the door, leaving the engine running just in case, and walked over to Tara.
Tara was looking at the other side of the drawbridge, where there were military stationed. There were three tanks on the other side, facing the other direction.
“Hey, Tara. What’s the hold up?”
Tara whirled around. When she saw it was Lena Holbrook, she smiled, but it was not a pleasant smile. It was more the nervous kind. “They won’t let us across.”
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t they let us across?”
“They’re not answering me,” said Tara.
Lena saw Tyrell look out the side window of their parked car, its engine also running. “They must not understand our situation.”
Through the metal grating of the raised bridge, they saw one soldier exit the control room to the drawbridge and return to the group.
“You’re welcome to try and talk to them,” said Tara.
Lena nodded, and she stepped forward, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice. “Excuse me! I’m the police chief’s wife! Sir!”
The soldier turned around to look at her. She couldn’t read his expression through the metal grating of the raised bridge. She swept a hand towards her husband’s squad car. It’s lights were still on, so she was certain he’d see it. “See, that’s Chief Jim Holbrook’s car! He wanted us to evacuate! We have to leave!”
The soldier cupped his hands around his mouth. “I cannot allow that, ma’am!”
Lena was incredulous. “Why not?!”
“It’s not safe, ma’am!”
“Not safe?” Lena muttered to herself.
Tara crossed her arms. “Does he understand that the island is being overrun with zombies? How is keeping us here keeping us safe?”
“I’ll tell him,” said Tara. She cupped her hands around her mouth again. “It’s not safe here! There are zombies all over the island!”
The soldier heard her, but he turned his back on her and walked back towards the group.
“Son of a bitch,” said Lena to Tara.
“I guess it’s not safe for them to let us over,” offered Tara. “I think we’re being involuntarily quarantined.”
“This won’t stand,” said Lena. “I’m going to radio Jim. He can talk to them.” She turned around and started to walk back to the squad car, but she stopped when they heard popping sounds off in the distance on the other side of the drawbridge. The side the soldiers were on.
She turned around.
Tara was craning her neck. “Come check this out.”
Lena rejoined Tara just in time to see the soldiers on the other side scrambling into some kind of position. There was a grinding sound as the tanks raised their guns.
“What’s happening?” called Tara through the grating.
Preoccupied, the soldiers didn’t answer.
“Something’s got them scrambling,” said Tara.
Before Lena could comment any further, there was a loud boom as one of the tanks fired its gun.
“What the fuck?” shouted Tara, but it was drowned out by the blast of one of the other tanks.
Lena turned to look at the squad car. Robbie was out of the back seat calling out to her.
“Get back in the car!” But her instruction was drowned out by more artillery fire.
Lena began to walk towards the car, waving Robbie back inside, but he didn’t listen. Lenny stepped out of the car, placing his fingers inside his ears. He didn’t like loud noises.
Lena shouted for them to get back inside the car. When she reached Robbie, she shoved him back into the back seat. Then she pushed Lenny back inside. He went, but he didn’t like being shoved.
“Mom, what’s that noise?”
Lena bent at her waist and stuck her head inside the car. “It’s the Army, honey.”
Mrs. Holly looked at Lena with astonishment. “Oh dear.”
Robbie crinkled his nose. “Who are they shooting at?”
“That’s a good question.” Then her face suddenly drained of all its color. It dawned on her that the army raised the bridge, not for their own safety but for their safety. Hers and Tara’s, and anyone else’s on the bridge.
The dead were attacking on the mainland.
Lena straightened up. She was going to run over to Tara to tell her what she thought was happening—what must be happening—but she froze when she saw a throng of the dead advancing up the bridge from town towards them. “Shit.”
She slammed the back door of the car and made her way around to the driver’s seat. She opened the door and got in. Her mind was racing. She had to warn Tara.
Lena reached down, grabbed the radio, and flipped on the intercom. “Tara!”
Tara, startled, whipped her head around.
“Tara, there are zombies on the bridge. We gotta go.”
From the look on Tara’s face, Lena was certain that she saw them. Tara ran back to her car and began to make a three-point U-turn.
Lena put down the radio and put the squad car in reverse. She cut the wheel and backed up until the back bumper hit the cement barrier. Then she threw it in drive, cut the wheel the other way, and drove forward, cutting across the second lane and straightening the car. She hit the brakes and looked ahead, weighing her options.
Tara pulled up in the other lane alongside the cruiser. She rolled down her passenger window.
Lena rolled down her driver side window.
“What’ll we do?” asked Tara.
Lena thought it was funny she was asking her what to do. Tara was the badass who lived through the first attack. Lena figured it must’ve been the squad car. It was a cue for authority, and now she was it.
Lena looked ahead at the steadily advancing band of dead. There were about a dozen of them. She squeezed the steering wheel and steeled herself. “I say we plow right through them.”
Tara looked ahead, and then she looked back at Lena, nodding her confirmation. “Let’s do it.”
Robbie leaned forward in the back seat. “Can you turn on the siren, Mom?”
Lena nodded. “Fuck it. Why not?”
Robbie cheered in the back seat. Lenny winced at the profanity, particularly coming from Mrs. Chief. Mrs. Holly opened her mouth, but she thought better of it and shut it without saying a word.
Lena was thankful for that. She didn’t know if she could stand another ‘Oh dear.’
Lena turned to Tara. “We go together. Side by side. Plow right through them.”
Tara nodded. There were the pops of gunfire closer behind them and the occasional boom of artillery fire.
As they each rolled up the windows, Lena flipped on the siren. She was now able to make out the pallid faces of the approaching dead closing the distance.
She hit the gas, and the car lurched forward. Tara’s car lurched forward next to her. The whole thing reminded her of a drag race, like one of those video games on the boardwalk that Robbie liked to play. Robbie and Lenny cheered in the backseat.
Lena and Tara closed the distance quickly and were running out of pavement. Lena braced herself for impact as the dead mindlessly reached out for them, oblivious to the four tons of Detroit steel barreling towards them.
* * *
Nancy left the dubious safety of the Buccaneer Adventure ride’s exit and began to march her way over to the swinging Pirate Ship ride. Most of the dead were focused on the Raging Rapids ride. The rest were feasting on their inert prey, hunched over their meat, eyes down. They didn’t notice her as she made her way to the back of the pier.
Seeing that she had a clear run to the ride, Nancy’s walk morphed into a jog. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the public address from the Raging Rapids switched on. Chris Washington must’ve been leaning on the switch. When Nancy turned to look over her shoulder, she saw the dead pushing into the DJ booth, caving in the Plexiglas with their collective weight.
The sounds were terrifying. Screams turned to gurgling, and gurgling gave way to wet sounds, and the switch went off.
Nancy turned back around to see if the noise garnered the attention of the feasting dead, and she tripped on something. She reached out in front with her free hand to break her fall as she landed hard onto the wooden planks of Blackbeard’s Pier. The impact of the fall caused the gun to pop out of her right hand and slide out in front of her.
Nancy felt pain all over her body. She was able to protect her face, but the side of her head had hit the wood, and she was dazed. Her back sent shockwaves of pain as she rolled over onto it. She craned her neck, which hurt even worse, and looked over her feet to see what she stumbled on.
It was a half-eaten body of a woman, her blouse and long skirt clinging wet to her bloody body, her flesh torn. Her face was half-eaten, exposing her cheekbone, her eye dangling from its socket. Her jaw bone and teeth were exposed on one side, making it look like a ghastly smirk.
Nancy recognized the body. It was Maddy Woods, and her one eye began to roll in its socket. It focused on her. The mangled jaw began to move.
“Poor soul.” Nancy rolled back onto her stomach and reached out for the gun that lay a few feet in front of her. She also saw that several of the dead, formerly preoccupied with their meal, now noticed her.
They must’ve looked up when they heard the screaming from the DJ booth. They slowly rose and began to amble towards her, snarling and screeching like howler monkeys.
“Shit,�
�� she mumbled under her breath, cursing her clumsiness.
She propped herself up on her elbow and raised her gun out in front of her, training it on the closest zombie. She closed her nondominant eye to help her focus.
Something grabbed her from behind. She rolled on her back and took aim.
“Nancy!”
It was Vinnie.
She took her finger off the trigger. “I almost blew your head off. Get me up.”
Vinnie hoisted her up quite easily. He was young and strong, and she was light. “We’ll go to the ride together.”
“Forget the ride.”
“We can make it,” he insisted.
“Well then let’s get a move on already,” she snapped.
He half-carried her to the Pirate Ship ride. He leaned her up against the metal fence surrounding the ride and opened the gate. They squeezed through and walked over to the control panel. He propped her up in front of it. She fished for her keys to activate the controls.
“You wait here,” said Vinnie. “Get it ready. I’m going to get those zombies away from the Raging Rapids.”
Nancy nodded and unlocked the control panel. “Hurry up.”
*
Vinnie darted back through the gate and to the right towards the Raging Rapids. The dead that were closing in on the Pirate Ship saw him and followed in pursuit, forgetting about Nancy.
Vinnie ran up to the raging rapids and started yelling at the dead climbing all over the torn down DJ booth. “Over here! Fresh meat! Come and get it!” He jumped up and down and waved his arms as he shouted.
Having slayed the prey inside the little booth, the dead closet to the booth feasted. Those in the back of the crowd, however, now turned their attention to Vinnie. Slowly, they began to turn around and make their way back down the ride and to the pier where he stood.
“That’s right, you dead, ugly motherfuckers! Come and get me!”
A few got too close to the spinning ride and were caught up and thrown off to the right of the ride. One had its right arm ripped off at the shoulder socket. It looked down where its arm should’ve been and grunted, unfazed. The rest filed through the gate, screeching and snarling, snapping their jaws.
The Creeping Dead: Book 2 Page 16