“Then we’re really on our own, aren’t we?” Jake asked, seeing that they were nearing the ground inside a fence. It looked like a hastily constructed compound with tents and steel structures. Jake shook his head.
“Came apart in a hurry,” Duff acknowledged.
Jake merely nodded.
“All right, people!” a soldier standing in the big, open side doors of the chopper called. “Once we’re on the ground, you are to report to the command structures, and we’ll head back for more from the ships. Officers, building A-4, and enlisted, A-6 or A-7. You’ll get your orders there!”
Jake and Duff exchanged a glance.
It was still a few minutes later before the chopper had settled onto the pad, and the soldier at the door motioned for the others to depart. Quickly they did so, but there was immediate uncertainty and hesitation on the part of the men leaving it. While some drifted slowly toward the structures, Duff and Jake took up a position to watch as the chopper was refueled from an enormous bladder near the pad.
“So, headed for A-4?” Duff asked.
“I suppose, if there’s coffee,” Jake answered.
“Yeah, come on, I’ll buy you a cup,” Duff said, and the pair started for the steel building as enlisted men wandered about, some obviously headed for the exits.
Entering building A-4, Jake and Duff found only one man there, glaring into a pornographic magazine as he sat with his feet up on a table. There were tables and chairs about the inside of the room, and on one table there was indeed a setup for coffee and water. Another table had maps and papers on it, and the man with the magazine looked over the top of it to regard them.
“Coffee?” Duff asked.
“Help yourselves,” the man said. “I’m just here to tell you that everyone else has taken off. First chopper loads of them pretty much stole all the trucks and hummers we had here.”
“What’s left?” Jake asked.
“You got boots on?” the man asked, returning to his smut.
“Figured as much,” Duff grumbled.
“I’m not waiting, then,” Jake said. “Duff? Good flying with you one last time, man.”
“Likewise, ya’ dirty bastard,” Duff kidded. “I think I’m going to stay here for a bit and have some coffee. If we start to see too many more of those beasties out there, I’ll set out.”
“I got a lot of travel ahead of me, so I’d better find me a car,” Jake said. “Take care, Duff.”
“Oh, I will,” Duff assured him. Jake set the bag the marine had brought him on one of the tables and unzipped it. A moment later, Duff was surprised as Jake hefted the HK MP-5 submachine gun up.
“I told them I needed something to help me sleep better,” Jake said dryly. “I think this will fit the bill.”
“You always were a better planner than me,” Duff remarked, and thumped his right hip. “I only brought my little pop gun.”
Jake started to press the 9mm rounds into one of the magazines for the MP-5, and soon enough, had filled one to capacity. He slid the magazine into the weapon, and cocked it, then started to load another of the magazines. Duff had gone and gotten them each a cup of coffee, and returned to the table as Jake had begun to load the third magazine. The man behind the dirty magazine had not looked up at them again.
With the weapon and magazines loaded, Jake checked the rest of the bag to find a pair of smoke grenades, a combat knife, a flashlight, batteries, and several boxes of 9mm rounds. He held up one of the smoke grenades and gave a wry look.
“What the hell did they figure I was going to do with these?” he asked.
“Maybe they figured you’d save them for the fourth of July,” Duff suggested.
Jake tossed it back in the bag, and zipped it shut.
“Well, I guess this is it,” Jake said. “So long, Duff.”
“Good bye, Jake,” Duff said grimly.
Moments later, stepping into the waning daylight, Jake headed for one of the fences, looking for a place to exit, and where none of the ghoulish, moaning figures were milling about. Soon enough, he found that there was an exit, and the traffic around it was light. With one last look at the place, and hearing the return of at least one of the choppers, Jake departed, and started along a road that headed down a hill. He set out at a jog, and soon had left the place behind.
He had been jogging for a while before he slowed his pace, and noted that night had fallen, and he had turned east at a junction with another road. It was dark, but he could still see well enough to continue along the road, and it was not long before headlights appeared behind him, and he stepped to the side of the road. Soon enough, the headlights grew closer, and the vehicle slowed, its occupants having noted that he was not one of the staggering corpses.
“Hello there!” the driver called to Jake, who turned back.
“Evening…” Jake returned.
“Where you headed?” the driver, a blonde man in his mid-thirties, asked.
“East, maybe Memphis,” Jake said.
“It’s a long walk,” a woman said from a passenger window. “You want a ride, some of the way?”
“I think that sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all day,” Jake said, and headed toward the car. He could see that there was the man and woman in the front seat, neither of whom appeared threatening, and he could see only a dog in the back seat of the dark blue sedan with bags and camping gear strapped to the top of it.
Opening the back door, Jake found that he was regarded not only by the yellow Labrador, but also by a brown-haired, freckled little girl, who looked quite stunned to see the man with the big gun as he got in. The woman was looking over the front seat as Jake had gotten in behind her, and the little girl scooted toward the dog. Jake closed the door, and the man turned around as well.
“I’m Bill, and this is Tammy, my wife,” he introduced himself. “And that’s our daughter Casey, with old Nerf.”
“Jake,” he introduced himself.
“So what’s in Memphis, Jake?” Tammy asked as Bill started the car forward again.
“Family,” Jake answered. “Where are you all headed?”
“We spoke to some friends with a ranch in Texas,” Bill answered. “The way things are going, I’m hoping they’re still there by the time we get there.”
“Pretty bleak outlook,” Jake observed.
“Pretty bleak world right now,” Bill said, which brought a bit of a smile to Jake.
“Well I don’t want to be a problem,” Jake said. “If we can find somewhere I can get some wheels, I can keep on east.”
“Sounds good,” Bill said. “I imagine you want to get to your family as quick as you can.”
Jake nodded, only then noting that the little girl had reached over to touch the MP-5 beside Jake. He was quick to pull it away from her, but tried to remain as gentle as he could in doing so, and he smiled down at the little girl, whose eyes were wide, as though she’d been busted with her hand in the cookie jar.
“Oh, I wouldn’t play with that, it’s dangerous,” he said to the girl.
That drew the eyes of both parents momentarily, as a pair of cars raced by them from the oncoming side of the road.
“Are you a army man?” Casey asked him.
“Casey...” Tammy lightly scolded.
“No, it’s okay,” Jake said pleasantly. “Not the army, I’m in the navy.”
“Where’s your boat?” Casey pressed him.
“Pretty far away, now,” Jake told her.
“What did you do in the navy, Jake?” Bill asked from the front.
“I was a pilot,” Jake said. “Hornet pilot.”
“You fly planes?” Casey asked excitedly.
“I sure did,” Jake said to her. “But not now. I am going to meet my brother, now.”
“Well, it’s time for you to try to get some sleep, young lady,” Tammy said to Casey, who pouted, but curled up against the dog. Jake and Tammy locked eyes for a moment, and she looked, Jake thought, to be somewhat disapproving. Still,
he pulled his camouflaged hat down over his eyes and thought it was time for navy pilots to get some sleep as well.
Tammy exchanged a glance with Bill, who reached over and took her hand. Their car raced on along the highway, passing or being passed by other vehicles as they went toward the east. Jake fell asleep in a short while, not even noticing when the sleeping little girl, not awake herself, leaned away from the dog to curl up against him.
Elsewhere, Marty and Andy were making their way north toward David Anderson’s farm, where they could wait for the others, and perhaps even set up a safe place to hide from a very dark, very different version of the world. They had loaded heavy with supplies and ammo for the journey, meeting up near Cullman, Alabama before heading to the farm.
Jon’s ship was still not quite docked, and so he had called a few people he knew in Pensacola, where they were to dock. It took him three calls before he found someone who could set him up with a vehicle and some traveling provisions. Phone communication was growing less reliable, and power outages had begun to plague many cities and states, the longer the weather remained bad.
Leaving the stage, Ash had gone to the dressing room where she was sitting quietly when another dancer entered, and looked at her apologetically. The other dancer sat opposite Ash, and drew the eyes of the melancholy young woman of twenty three. Ash didn’t smile, though the other dancer- a blonde stunner named Missy- did, and then reached out to take Ash’s hands.
“Just want you to know, I don’t think it’s cool, what they’re doing,” Missy said.
“Yeah?” Ash asked softly.
“No,” Missy answered. “And with all this crap goin’ on, with the news saying that dead people are staying alive, and trying to eat us live people, it’s pretty fuckin’ scary.”
“Yeah, it is,” Ash said, still feeling the effects of the cocaine she’d snorted before taking the stage. “But if it wasn’t for my sister, I wouldn’t even care.”
Missy tried to look understanding.
“You and me, we been dancing here for a while, huh?” Missy asked, letting go of Ash’s hands. Ash shrugged.
“Yeah.”
“I’m only with those guys because they’ll keep us safe,” Missy uttered. “I mean, you know, if any of those… dead ones come around.”
“Yeah, safe,” Ash said absently.
“Just, stay cool, all right?” Missy said. “Hang with me, you know?”
Now, Ash looked at Missy more thoughtfully. Missy then got up, shedding her leather jacket to reveal that she had nothing on under it, and she turned toward the counter with the mirrors, and she sighed. She looked back at Ash with a smile, and then brought her face down to Ash’s, giving her a kiss which at first was merely their lips pressed together. Missy’s hands touched the sides of Ash’s face, and their lips pressed a bit harder against one another’s. Ash briefly felt a flash of Missy’s tongue on one of her lips, and the topless blonde stripper giggled, backing away.
“Reminds me of Birmingham,” she said, her face still close to Ash’s with the reference to the time that the pair of them had played around after a party and a lot of drinking and drugs. It was a wonder either of them remembered the encounter, but after a moment, even Ash smiled a little, her eyes still not fixed on anything in particular. Missy had returned to her feet.
“I gotta go on soon,” she said, turning her back to Ash, revealing that nearly her whole back was tattooed with a pair of angel wings. She started toward the counter, tossing the leather jacket onto one of the sofas. Ash leaned forward, her head still swimming a bit as she watched Missy take a seat at the counter, and turn on the makeup lights.
“Hey,” Ash said, which caused Missy to turn back.
“Yeah, baby?”
It was then that Ash’s cell phone began to play music, and she lifted it to see a familiar name and face in the display, which brought a sense of relief to her. It was Uncle Mike, her mother’s brother, and Ash looked at Missy with a smile. Missy was a bit concerned, but smiled back.
“Thanks,” Ash said. Missy smiled, and turned back to put makeup on. Ash pressed the button to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Ash, I’m comin’ down there,” came the voice.
It was a phrase Ash had never been so glad to have heard in all her life. Finally, after days, the first smile she’d worn that wasn’t plastered on for the audience in that hell spread across her lips.
CHAPTER SEVEN- THE BEST LAID PLANS
Jake awakened to find that Bill was asleep in the passenger seat while Tammy was at the wheel, and he glanced down to notice the little girl snuggled up into his left side. He smiled, and stretched, which drew the attention of Tammy from the front seat. She looked back over her shoulder, and Jake noticed that they were following another vehicle.
“How long has it been?” he asked quietly.
“Just about two hours,” she answered. “We’re making good time, though.”
“Looks like we’re part of a convoy,” Jake observed.
“Sort of,” Tammy said. “We came across them when we got through the last town, and they think it’s best if we are in larger numbers as people.”
“How many are there in that truck?” Jake asked.
“There were three of them,” Tammy answered him. Jake glanced over his shoulder to see that there were two vehicles behind them.
“And them?” Jake asked, which made Tammy look up into the rear view mirror.
She shrugged.
“I suppose just others on the road,” she said. Jake nodded, and eyed his MP-5.
“Well, let’s just hope it stays that way,” he said. “But if they have anything else in mind, you let me do the talking.”
“What else would they-?”
She had stopped herself, and suddenly felt a twinge of panic as she regarded that there were vehicles ahead of, and behind them. She looked over at Bill, and then back at Jake, who seemed confident as he placed the MP-5 across his lap. She looked back out at the road as rain had begun to fall, and lightning brightened the night sky.
“How much gas do you have in this thing?” Jake asked, and began to fumble around his pack.
“Just over half a tank, with some more gas cans in the trunk,” she said dryly.
“First thing,” Jake said. “I don’t want you to worry.”
He got out a small pair of binoculars, and looked through the back window at the vehicles behind them. With their headlights bright, he couldn’t see much, and so he turned to look through the windshield at the truck in front of them. It was a dark pickup, the back of which was loaded with things covered by a tarp. In the cab, he could make out the silhouettes of three men, one of whom kept turning to look back. Jake smiled.
“How’s your speed?” Jake asked.
“My speed?” Tammy asked him.
“Have they been slowing down?” Jake asked.
Now, she felt the twinge again.
“Oh my god, yes,” she said, sounding near tears, which awakened Bill.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
“I think someone’s about to try to squeeze you,” Jake said. “Bill, can you climb back here?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he said, his brow lowering. “What do you mean, ‘squeeze’?”
“See these cars behind you? And that one in front of you?” Jake said with a nod to the front. “I’m pretty sure they want to go shopping in your car.”
“They wouldn’t…” Bill said in disbelief.
“Oh yeah?” Jake said. “Tammy, try to pass them.”
She eased her foot down on the gas pedal, and moved the car to the left, only to find that the truck in front of her swerved slightly left, and Jake shook his head. Bill looked over at his wife, and then back at his sleeping daughter. His eyes found Jake’s.
“What do we do?” he asked.
Jake drew his Sig-Sauer M11A-1 from under his jacket, and looked at it, then at Bill, who looked horrified.
“You e
ver use one of these before?” he asked. Bill shook his head.
“No way, man,” he answered.
“Well, since your wife, and your little girl depend on it, you may think this is a pretty good time to start,” Jake said. “We’re going to have to do some pretty terrible things, can you both handle that?”
“To keep Casey safe?” Bill said. “You bet I can.”
“All right then,” Jake said, and leaned down to Casey. “Hey, kiddo. Can you do your Uncle Jake a favor?”
Sleepily, the little girl nodded.
“Great, I need you to hang onto your pup, there, and get down there on the floor, all right?” Jake told her. Immediately, the little girl looked fearful.
“Is it them?” she asked.
“Nope,” Jake said pleasantly. “You just get down there, and cover your ears. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She nodded, and quickly wedged herself behind the driver’s seat. Bill looked at the dog.
“Down,” he said, and the dog dropped on the seat. Jake gave a nod, and handed off the pistol to Bill.
“Now, just hang tight,” he said. “Bill, climb back here, and I’m going up there.”
The rain had gained in intensity, but the quartet of vehicles was heading for a small rest area, where many cars were jamming the road. Jake reasoned that the thugs would make their move at that point, and so as he climbed into the front seat, and readied his MP-5, and Bill settled in the back, he looked over at the ashen Tammy.
“I’m going to make this real easy for you,” Jake said. “You’re going to slide right over me, and get down on the floor here on the passenger side.”
She nodded, and still holding the wheel, was quick to switch places with Jake, who set the MP-5 on the seat next to him, and drew in a long breath as Tammy curled down as low as she could get. Jake studied the truck ahead of them as best he could through the rain, and Bill glanced back at the two vehicles behind them.
“The guys behind us are closer now,” Bill said, and then whipped his head around at Jake. “And now they put on their high beams!”
“Yep,” Jake said. “All right, I’m going to smash up your car a little, folks. Sorry about that, but I think we can scare these guys away if they know we mean business.”
Escape from the Dead Page 5