“You can’t drive this thing; you’re just a kid,” Benson said. Justin handed him a card from his wallet.
“Uh, guys, you might want to discuss this later,” Lisa said as she grabbed her sidearm while looking at the beach. With a loud crash, the dock they had come from collapsed, filling the shoreline with undead. Some could stand while others bobbed just under the surface, close enough to see that being underwater didn’t stop the zombies in their pursuit. It was obvious that they didn’t like water by the way some waited on shore for them to get closer. However, once they were wet, it didn’t stop them from pursuing their objective.
“Okay, have at it, bud,” Benson said and shook his head when he looked at Lisa. “The kid is actually licensed to drive boats. I thought they had to be sixteen for that.”
She set her guns and holsters on the bench away from the kid, who was focused on getting to drive. Her bandoleers went into the lake, too much of a risk after being in the lake. Having been in pouches, her brass should still be good but her guns would need a cleaning.
“Supervised, they can start at twelve,” Lisa said as she watched Justin throwing a bunch of switches. She knew it was a distraction as his right hand crept under the throttle box for what she assumed was a security switch that a lot of wealthy people put on their throttle box.
She kept an eye on the horde that waited on the beach as it continued to get closer. The submerged ones, meanwhile, steadily approached through the water. After switching to a new mag and hoping her pistol wouldn’t jam, she fired a couple rounds, sending a swath of red across the water’s surface. “Hurry guys… hurry!”
Benson also had his gun out and was drawing a bead on one in the water that was wading out to meet the boat. It had a mangled hand on the guardrail when Benson pulled the trigger, sending a hollow-point through its head and chunks of skull and gray matter out the back. The front of the pontoon hit the beach and more began crawling up onto the diving deck, forcing Benson to empty his mag as Lisa followed suit over the starboard side. The soft hum of two 250-horse, four-stroke motors flared to life and Justin instantly pulled the throttle into reverse, backing away from the horde, leaving Lisa and Benson to shoot the hangers on.
“Where to?” Justin asked innocently.
“Just pull out into the bay for a bit and we’ll figure that out,” Lisa said as she locked eyes with Benson.
“What?”
“I know you have to get to your family, Benson, but I don’t think we should be separated right now,” Lisa stressed as she broke down her weapons. She searched under a couple seats and found some motor oil but was happier still to discover a can of WD-40 as well. With all the shooting they had done already, a dip in the lake was not good for the tools she still needed.
“What are you suggesting?” he asked as he reloaded one of his empty mags.
“I’ll come with you to check on your family, and then we get off the island together; you know, we ride this thing out together. I know that I wasn’t very well liked at the station but that would have worn off; I’m actually a pretty cool person.”
“I never had a problem with you, Lisa. Others did, but it seemed to be for the wrong reasons. Of course, I’m a long way from being able to apply for lieutenant; I haven’t been a cop for even a year yet.”
“A year? But you...” she paused, not knowing how sensitive he might be about things.
“Are so old? Yeah, that’s a long story that involves much more than I want to go into at the moment. So, who’s in charge?” he asked right as he slammed his slide home with a fresh round in the pipe.
She realized instantly why his lack of years on the job surprised her; his mannerisms and calm proved he was a professional. “Army, Navy, Marines?”
“Not important; who’s going to be in charge? You outrank me in the department and you’ve done well so far, but…” His tone was a calm matter of fact and his eyes sincere. Lisa knew this situation couldn’t involve the station or rank—there was too much at stake. They had already violated so many procedures that to consider herself a cop anymore just made the job dirty. Their days of paid holidays and insurance were gone. The world’s greatest thrill and most magnificent horror had come to pass as the dead rose and began to feast upon the living. Who could possibly know how to lead through that? Yet she still could not give up total control. She didn’t really know him either, and putting her survival into someone else’s hands was just not something that she was able to do.
“Need.”
“Need?”
“Yeah; need will control our decisions. If we can’t agree, we’ll figure it out then or split up.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding like he was mulling it over. “That could work. I need to get to my family before we go to the station.”
“Well, I don’t even know if we need to go to the station at all unless it’s to stock up. So, your family is my family.”
“Awesome, you’re going to love my wife.”
“Let’s hope so. Now we need to figure out where to hide the boat.”
“It’s my boat,” Justin piped in.
“Justin, we’re not going to leave you alone, okay?”
“I would much rather be alone than be on land right now. The river is safe at least. I know the waters here pretty good,” he said as he looked out at the horizon, appearing much older than his age suggested. “I’ll wait for you though… for a price.”
“A price? We just saved your stinking life!” Lisa exclaimed
“Really? I could have sworn that I just saved yours. I told you where the keys were and then got the boat started, so you owe me something,” Justin finished. Lisa was about to fly into a rage when Benson stepped forward.
“I bought a bicycle from a kid like you once,” he said
“I’ve sold a lot of bicycles in my day,” Justin said. Lisa and Benson both couldn’t help but smile; they were being played by a kid, by a master. The negotiation was lost before it even started.
“When we found you, you were hiding in a room whimpering with your sister.”
“I would have taken care of that; I had my knife,” he replied with a show of hurt on his face. The one thing they couldn’t forget with this seemingly adult-like kid was that he was just a kid. A kid who had lost his grandparents and sister not an hour before.
“Look kid, I’m sorry, but it’s been a long day. What do you want in order to wait for us?” Lisa asked.
“A gun… and some bullets.”
“A gun… of course, you’re going to need a gun.” She walked over to her equipment and pulled out Nobles’s .357 that had been dropped on the seat.
Lisa hated what she was about to do. Giving a gun to a minor broke every law she could think of, but she had to weigh in on the side of morality on this one. She could not in good conscience leave him defenseless.
Noise from up ahead drew their attention. All three of them became silent and watched in awe as hundreds of the dead plunged into the river from the bridge above, landing right in their path.
****
Ally managed to get her bonds cut then got dressed as she stared at her mother’s mutilated body. Because of the zombies in the lobby, she locked the door before walking over and cutting her mother’s body down. She was a lot smaller than her mom and struggled to get her rolled up in a sheet. She knew that her mom deserved better and she would get better once Ally found her dad. She reasoned that they could come back and take care of her mom’s body.
She fell to her knees as her legs turned to jelly and stared breathlessly at the sheet that was starting to show the blood soaking through. She struggled to maintain her emotions, but a sob escaped followed closely by a gasp. The room suddenly didn’t have enough oxygen for her and she gasped again… and again. Soon, her shoulders were wracked with sobs as she realized that the woman who she loved, fought and argued with, and sometimes even hated… was… gone. She was right there on the floor, but Ally would never be able to look into those eyes or touch her or fight
with her ever again. Grief overwhelmed her and she threw herself onto the floor and bawled like a baby.
Ally spent several minutes crying until she realized that the noise had drawn some attention outside the door. She choked back her emotions and tried to stifle her breathing. The pounding on the door didn’t stop, but somehow, through the din, she heard her mother’s voice say, as it had said so many times, I wish we could have parked the car closer to the mall entrance. Then it struck her—the car… she had to get to the car.
She looked for something she could fight with, but the doctor’s office offered little in the way of melee weapons. After picking up her mom’s car keys again, she dug through her mom’s purse and found a can of mace and some cash. She decided to just take the whole bag since she might need to use her credit cards.
She searched for a hardwired phone but saw nothing but an intercom. She cursed herself for letting her mom talk her into leaving their phones in the car as she went to the intercom and pressed the button. Grunts, growls, and sounds like rubber stretching or flesh being torn echoed back at her. She put her hand on the cinderblock wall of the room, knowing that there was no way through that. She was trapped.
Chapter Four:
Hot Springs PD
Tommy had become attuned to the sounds of the police station from his holding cell. Left alone to his own devices other than mealtimes, Tommy taught himself how to listen. As an Ojibwa, he knew the basics of paying attention and gathering data, but the type of listening he learned went far beyond the everyday version. He now performed what the elders referred to as “true sound”—the voices beyond speech where the very nature of your surroundings speak to you. He heard the ring of hard-soled shoes echoing off the designer block walls instilling a peculiar unrest. It was just a little too quiet.
The hallways should have been full of people bustling here and there with fabricated workloads and deadlines. Tommy was confused by all that had happened. Locked in his cell for most of the day left him ignorant to most things, but even from his vantage point he could tell that something was wrong out on the street.
The Ojibwa man had already placed the heavy footsteps of Tanner to be by the main entry, and lighter foot sounds scattered around him so Tommy safely assumed that they were intent upon something outside. Maybe the occupy movement was picking up again or there was another brutality demonstration. He had heard that Officer Krupp tended to get a little rough and actually anticipated the day he tried on him, but he didn’t hear the telltale shouting that typically went along with that sort of thing.
He heard the distinct sound of a rifle being cocked; a sound slightly larger than the sidearm that also racked a bullet into its chamber. Tommy could visualize Tanner as he stood next to the door with his sidearm in a ready position searching the street beyond, Colleen behind him and maybe that whiny kid farther back. He closed his eyes and tried to get a clearer picture as the concrete block vibrated the building’s every nuance.
“Jesus, Ernie, you gotta let me know when you’re there or you might get shot,” he heard the muffled voice of Jen say from where he had heard the shotgun cock earlier—he assumed it was one of those fancy pistol grip ones. Cops always liked fancy guns. Wait… wasn’t Jen just the secretary?
“Ernie, go check the back door,” Tanner said in a hushed voice as several shuffling bodies stumbled past in front of the window.
“I just came from there. It’s clear. What’s going on, Tanner?” The block walls hummed and Tommy gently laid his fingers upon their surface for a clearer feel.
“The fucking zombies, man! Haven’t you been paying attention?” Colleen spat.
Zombies? No… Tommy wondered if he had heard the word correctly.
“I thought the military was coming in,” Ernie whined.
“Yeah, and they were shipped up north yesterday,” Tanner’s voice snarled. “We’re on our own, dude. Any squads back there?”
“The old van, my truck, and a few other personals, but all the off-roads are gone. Squads, too,” Ernie’s voice reported.
“Morning crew took the off-roads because the night crew never made it back. I was hoping at least one of them would have made it. This isn’t good.” Tanner paused and Tommy visualized the man thinking. “Jen, grab the keys for the van. Take Ernie to the armory and load up all the weapons and ammo you can carry and meet us by the back door. Use the coachman so you can carry more. Colleen, you try and find whatever food you can while I try to round up some other gear. Nobody goes into the lot alone so wait by the back door.” Tommy then heard feet running in several different directions.
Being chief gave Tanner, and Jen as his secretary, access to other news sources and data feeds that alerted them to a little more information than Colleen and Ernie received. They had heard about some of the goings on up north and how all of the nuclear plants and refineries were on lockdown until this passed. But most of what they knew told them it was time for basic run and hide shit.
It wasn’t known if the infected were dead or not, so technically they weren’t zombies. Tanner rationalized; he had seen the movies and read the books. They always said it would be a terrorist plot or a virus released by an elite organization bent on world domination, but nothing like this. This was less, and yet at the same time much, much more.
Tanner mentally mocked the head of the CDC who kept repeating himself in lieu of substantial information. He did say they can’t be killed by less than a head shot, so in a way he was giving people permission to defend themselves—or at least describing the means to do so. That’s one of the things that sucked about society, Tanner thought. Everybody’s afraid to be honest because they feared fabricated consequences.
He continued with his silent rant as he pulled the keys out to the holding cell door. He hadn’t been told that the things were actually dead nor did he care. He was going to kill anything that got in his way; no two ways about it.
The Ojibwa man heard Tanner’s footsteps as he approached his cell and was grateful to be remembered.
“Tommy!”
“What?” he snapped back, not wanting to let Tanner know that he had been listening the entire time.
“I’m going to let you out of there, but I need you to behave until we have a little talk, okay?”
“I’m cool, Chief, come on in,” the voice said a little too calmly.
“No, you’re coming out and my gun is drawn,” Tanner said as he backed down the hallway and leveled his gun center mass as the door slowly opened. He was wary of the tall Native American and remembered how many of them it took to bring him down after a drunken brawl where he almost killed two men. Tommy should have been let out days ago on his own recognizance since no charges were laid, but he keep glaring at everybody in a way that made Tanner think he was going to hurt someone—namely him.
“What are you doing, Chief?” Tommy said nervously. “Are you going to shoot me?”
“That depends upon how our conversation goes. Do you know what’s going on out there right now, Tommy?”
“No, my TV privileges were restricted when I… well, you know what happened; you were there.”
“Yeah, you spit on your public defender and told him you had AIDS. I mean how stupid was that? You can’t even get AIDS that way, idiot. He was there to get you out of here. But you can forget that because that’s not why I am here. The world has gone to shit, Tommy.”
“My world already is shit, Chief.”
“Just shut up and let me talk. A parasite, a bug, or some type of curse…”
“I’m Native. My entire nation knows what a parasite is, white man, and we know about curses too.”
“Sshh! Now just shut up or I will put you back in the cell and leave you there. This… whatever it is, has infected thousands of people. They’re zombies or… I don’t really know what to call them, but they eat people, see? They eat them while they are still alive. We gotta get away from them and I don’t want to leave you locked in a cage when they come.” Tanner slowed. Tommy’
s face had a faraway look.
“What is it, Tommy? What’s bothering you?”
“The time is nigh. The dead have returned and I know what I must do. I have a place in this and will do my part.” His tone was resolute and solemn as he appeared to speak an oath to the air.
“What the hell are you talking about, Tommy? I just want to know that if I let you go, you won’t kill us. That’s all,” Tanner said, exasperated with the conversation and hearing the thumps of pounding on the glass in the lobby getting more aggressive.
“Okay.”
“Okay? That’s it? Okay?”
“Alright?” Tommy said with a shrug as if he didn’t know what else the chief wanted him to say.
“Okay, now I’m taking you at your word, son,” Tanner said and in an act of trust, holstered his revolver and led the way out of the holding area. “If you help me find some gear, I’ll give you a lift out of here.”
“Sure, Chief. Is it that bad already?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty bad, Tommy. I get the impression you’re not surprised.”
“No, I’m not. How did it start?”
“As far as I can tell, a flash of light in the night sky and everything changed. Maybe it was a meteor or something like that.”
“No, it wasn’t a meteor; it is much bigger than a simple meteor,” Tommy replied cryptically.
“Really; if you know something about this, you should tell me, Tommy.”
“When I know for sure, I will,” Tommy replied just before they headed down to the equipment room. They emptied a laundry cart and filled it with the SWAT uniforms, tactical vests, clear riot shields, and steel boot covers. In seconds, they were heading toward the back door.
Tommy stared at the masses that now lined the windowed lobby, glass doors already starting to bow inward with the weight pressed against them. He knew it would happen; parasites had been infecting other species like the northern moose, deer, and ash bore. It was sooner to show up in humans than anticipated, but his people believed in the old ways and knew it was coming. They also knew this was not the result of a bug. This was spiritual.
Zombie Rush Page 5