No, it might be easier to sneak around on foot and less likely to draw attention to myself, but I can’t risk abandoning the truck. There has to be people still in the campus and if they’re here, then they’ve heard me and they’re watching me. I need the truck to be nearby. I need to be able to make a run for it if I hear trouble coming. Putting the keys back in the ignition, I start the truck and leave the depot behind me, driving through the chain link barricade and pressing deeper into the campus, hunting for the old, familiar building.
I find Lexi’s dorm as easily as I did the first time, which isn’t easy at all. Everything has changed. All the trees are dead and gone, the ermine lawn is dead, parched dirt and all the windows are either smashed or stained with mud and dust. There are broken down, weathered boxes out on the lawn, along with furniture that someone has thrown out of the windows. Debris and clothing sits half submerged into the mud, left behind by those who fled the campus. The sad thing is that this looks about right to me, normal. This is the world I live in now.
Turning off the engine again, I step out of the truck and look around at the other dorm buildings, listening to the world around me. I don’t hear anything that stands out. All around me, the breeze is all that whispers. In the far off distance, I hear a loud crack, followed by a handful of other cracks, implying a firefight that someone didn’t walk away from. I look toward the direction of the noise and wonder how far exactly they are. Drumming my fingers along the handle of my last remaining machete, I turn my back to the sounds and head for the shattered doors of the lobby. I remember bringing the girls here what feels like ages ago.
“Keep your head in the books,” I had told Lexi as I carried the bulging box with her clothes.
“I will.” She was beaming ear to ear with a grin that made me worried.
“No parties,” I said to her.
“Daddy!” Lexi had looked around at all the other girls who been staring at us as we approached the doors of the dorm room. I had been so petrified of that moment. I never wanted to walk back to the car with Val, because I knew that the moment I turned the key in the ignition and drove off, Lexi was on her own. She was going to be her own watchman and caretaker. It felt so wrong, leaving her behind.
Reaching through the gaping hole, I twist the lock and push open the metal frame of the doors open, not wanting to bend and squat my way through the entrance. The glass crunches under my feet as I walk into the dark lobby, passing the mailboxes and the counter where the attendants had been sitting with gifts for Lexi when she arrived. I had been horrified at how low-cut their shirts had been and how short their shorts were. I had been so terrified, mortified of this place corrupting my daughter. God, my fears were so juvenile back then. Little did I know, there were greater horrors to come. I walk through the lobby and reach for the pocket in my pack where my flashlight is tucked away. It feels like a club in my hand as I click it on and send a cone of light burning through the darkness toward the elevators. I turn and shine the light behind me, illuminating the doors to the rec room.
My only option is the stairs. I throw open the doors and look at the dead body crumpled on the floor, bones shattered and neck twisted in the most horrid, morbid fashion that makes my skin crawl. I know just from looking at the young man that this was either a suicide or someone threw him down the stairwell. I look back at the doors where the truck is parked right in front of the dorm. No one has taken it yet. I suppose that’s a good sign. I enter the darkness of the stairwell and listen to the door close behind me.
I am naturally terrified of absolute darkness, as most normal humans should be, but I find it to be less terrifying these days. I have seen some things that I never imagined I would ever have to cope with and if darkness is the worst of this campus’s surprises and obstacles, then I’m in an excellent spot. I walk past the doors marked with a big orange 2 and keep going until I find the door that has the number 3 painted on it and pull open the door. I step out into the hallway and stand very, very still, listening for any sounds of movement. The door latching behind me makes a loud boom that echoes through the abandoned dormitory and I wait for sounds of shuffling or movement. There’s nothing, and I let out a sigh of relief. I don’t want to fight with anyone. I don’t want to have to talk my way out of a hairy situation today. I just want to find my daughter’s dorm and be done with this place.
Val’s dorm is on the other side of the campus and I don’t want to have to track my way all the way to the freshman dorms through this place. I pray that this will be enough. I don’t want to look at their things, I want to look at them. I want to hold them. I want to kiss their faces and to hug them like there’s no tomorrow, because honestly, there isn’t. I’m tired of wandering this world without them. I’m tired of all the suffering and the loss that I’ve had to deal with on my own. I want to be there with them. Even if they’re uncomfortable about my presence, I just want to be there. I don’t even care if they’ve set up a new life, if they’re a part of something. I don’t care if they’re important now and don’t need their father lingering around. I’ll carve out my own existence. I just want to know that they’re safe and that they’re well. I want to give them the map to Jason’s house and tell them that it’s a place they need to look out for.
The dorm rooms have all been torn through. The doors have all been kicked open or broken into with crowbars and tools that have left wooden splinters everywhere. I wonder who went through and did all of this. It’s fairly destructive work and that’s a way to let people know that you’re here. I walk through the hallways, feeling the breeze coming through the dorms with shattered windows, my feet crunching the abandoned papers and assignments that cover the floor. I walk across jackets and other clothes, avoiding desks and mattresses that have been hauled out and thrown into the hallway. I don’t know why they would do that, but I shove everything out of the way until I find exactly what I’m looking for.
Room 311. The door is slightly closed and I gently push it open, looking at the chaos within. Lexi’s roommate was named Chloe and she was from New York, I think it was Albany or something. Her closet has been thrown open and her clothes and other possessions are strewn across the floor and her bed. Her desk has been smashed to pieces and as I enter the room, I see that someone has done the exact same thing to Lexi’s things. I reach down and pick up her shirt and hold it up to my nose, taking a deep breath and trying to get her scent. It’s been too long and all it smells like is dust now. I drop the shirt and slowly sit down on her bed before laying down on it and looking up at the ceiling where a big water stain has spread out in a dark, coffee colored blob. Her bed is nowhere near as comfortable as a bed should be.
I lay there a moment, thinking about what to do next. I should look around, of course. I can’t just drive around the entire coast of Florida, like ninety percent of the damned state is coast. I need to find out where they are and make my way in that direction. Sitting up, I look at Lexi’s desk where there’s a map of Florida. My curiosity piqued, I get off her bed and approach her desk where there’s a leather-bound book that I gave her two years ago, her journal. I’d spent a hundred dollars on that journal because she wanted to ‘record life’ and I don’t think I ever saw her write in that book once. There’s a red X marked on the map of Florida and I immediately rip it off the wall. It’s on the east coast, not what I had anticipated, but that doesn’t matter. Brushing the papers piled onto her journal, I untie the leather thong and open the pages. As I expected, most of the pages are blank. Eventually I find the last page she wrote on. It’s addressed to me.
‘Dad’, it reads. ‘You stupid bastard, what the hell are you doing down here? If you’re reading this, then Val is right and I’m out another can of peaches. Thanks a lot. But seriously, I’m glad you came. Listen and pay attention. Look at the map above the desk. If it’s not there, then go to Val’s dorm. She has another map hidden in her closet. It’ll show you exactly where we’re going. Today is April 14th. I think we’re going to be staying the
re for a while. The military has pulled out and abandoned the campus perimeter. We hear that everything has fallen apart. I pray that you’re okay, Dad. There is twenty six of us going to Tommy’s beach house. He says it’s large enough and isolated enough that we’ll be safe. We’re going to try and stick it out there as long as we can. Some of the guys are talking about getting a boat and trying to make it to the Bahamas. Don’t worry, I’m not going with them. I hope you’re well, Daddy. Please hurry. We’re so worried about you. We heard about Detroit, hope you were long gone when all of that went down. I love you, come soon. Lexi’.
My tears patter against the pages and I quickly dry my eyes, closing the journal and stuffing it into my backpack with the map of Florida, tucking them away safely. Turning toward the door, I make my way back through the hallway to the stairs and enter the darkness without a thought or fear in the world. There’s a renewed sense of vigor in me. My aches and pains no longer seem to bother me and I’m trying to remember what the fastest way to the freshman girls’ dorms is. It has been a while since I drove them down here.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I step out into the foyer and suddenly, there’s a sound in the air that turns my blood cold and causes me to freeze exactly where I am. I suddenly feel my hand shake and all that confidence and motivation I had to go find the girls abandons me. It flees immediately and I’m standing alone, stuck in a situation that I’m not sure I’m going to be able to survive.
The horn blasts again and the exterior of the building explodes in a dozen plumes of dust and plaster as the bullets rip through the lobby and the sounds of gunshots fills the air. “Shit!” I shout and the barrage continues as I take cover behind the corner of the attendant’s office. I’m not sure how many guns they have, but they definitely have one heavy machine gun that is punching holes in the lockers and mailboxes the size of my thumbnail. I can hear voices outside over the gunshots and when the bullets stop filling the entrance of the building, I move. I run across the lobby to where the rec room is and throw open the doors.
“He’s on the move,” their spotter shouts, and the assault continues. Bullet holes punch through the wall like angry hornets and I immediately drop down into a crawl, squirming my way under tables and past foosball tables and pool tables. The windows all around the room are shattered, with the blinds hanging limp, providing me with a marginal amount of cover. “Bring up the truck, bring it up, damn it!” the spotter shouts before another horn blast ripples through the air.
They found me. How the hell did they find me? I immediately wonder if they found the woman and her kid. Did they track me that well? I make my way to the far side of the building and lean my back against the wall, listening to their vehicle rumble over the lawn and park right at the entrance to the lobby. I can hear them shouting orders and before I can think of a plan, they’re throwing open the doors and I can hear footsteps crunching glass as they flood into the building. There’s no time to see what’s waiting for me outside. I throw my full weight over the windowsill and land on my back in the dirt below the window.
In a crouch, I rush to the corner of the dormitory, peeking around the corner. I can see the truck, and between the truck and the building there is a white pickup truck with a large black cross painted on the hood, waiting with a very large machine gun mounted in the back of the truck. The driver is still in his seat and a man in the passenger seat has a shotgun pointed out the window, covering the men who entered the dormitory. I don’t know how they tracked me across the state, but I’m sick of these idiots.
I have no idea where the spotter is, but I might be able to make it to the truck. The gunner is in the back of the truck bed reloading the gun, and the moment he starts firing, I’m going to make a run for it. Dropping down in a crouch, readying myself to run as fast as I can, hopefully fast enough to avoid bullets, I hear a voice. “Circle around the building,” the spotter shouts. I follow the sound of the voice and see that he’s in the dormitory across the street, somewhere on the second floor. I still can’t see him.
The driver throws the truck in reverse and they back up, maneuvering the truck around the opposite side of the building, opening fire on windows, filling the building with bullets, completely ignoring the men that they dumped into the building. While the truck disappears around the corner of the other building, I make a run for it.
“I see him! He’s on the outside! Hurry! Get that fucker!” I hear the spotter shouting as I run as fast as I can. He clearly doesn’t have a gun or I would be dead right now. I run, pounding my feet against the ground, the keys in my hand and ready. I reach the driver side door and push the keys into the lock and unlock it, peering through the window and out the passenger window at the doors where I see five men throwing open the doors and charging the truck. Leaping up and through the door, I slam it shut, locking it and forcing the keys into the ignition. As the engine roars to life, I reach over for the gear shaft as one of the fanatics climbs the step and swings his axe, smashing the window in a single blow. As I slam my foot on the gas, the vehicle lurches forward, the fanatic reaching for the lock, trying to hold on as he tries to get the axe into the window. In the rearview mirror, I see another truck emerging from around the street corner. Two fucking trucks? My heart is pounding as I slam the side of the truck into the corner of the dormitory, smashing my tag-along against the building, relieving him of his arm. It falls into the passenger seat, covering my map with blood as it lays there motionlessly.
I floor the gas, heading for the road as I hear the thumping of bullets along the bed of the truck. They’re after me and I’ve got a long way to go. I round the corner, trying to take it as sharply as I can with just one arm turning. Heading south, there’s no way I’m going to make it to Val’s dorm to see if she left anything. I have to go with Lexi’s map. That will have to be my guide for now. But I have more pressing concerns. Particularly the two trucks behind me, hot on my ass.
Chapter Eleven
Lindsay, that’s how they found me. I know it like I know that they’re going to kill me if I slow down even the slightest. I smash through the military barricades and watch as the buckled, metal fences swing close, banging against the hood of the truck directly behind me. They’re relentless, unwilling to let me go. I can’t say that I blame them either. Their entire city has probably burned to the ground now because of me and I did end up killing the majority of them. But that was because they had fired the first shot. Killing a Zombie is not a sin, nor is it an abomination against the Almighty. They killed Lindsay. They stuck a knife through her and they expected me to nod silently as if this was justice. No. They got just what they deserved and they’re not going to get a single apology from me. In fact, if they want to kill me, then they’re going to have to really work for it. They’re going to have to take me down fighting.
I keep on the gas, roaring through Gainesville, smashing into cars and hurling barriers out of my way as I push this oversized piece of crap to its limits. It isn’t really fast, but the trucks behind me are keeping out of sight. I think they’re scared and they should be. They both have a bunch of guys in the bed of the truck, no doubt they’re worried about crashing and sending them flying. We’ll see about that. I fly past buildings, wondering if there’s anyone in this city watching this and wondering what the hell is happening. I shake my head, I’ve been so stupid, so reckless.
Of course, it was Lindsay. I had stuffed the maps into her pack in hopes that she would leave me behind, that she would escape and that she would find a way out of the city while I held back and kept the zealots at bay while she made it to the girls. I had put both of my maps in there. The first had Gainesville circled on it and the other had Jason’s house marked on it for my return journey. Jesus, if they find Jason’s house then everything is fucked. The future of the world cannot be held in the tyrannical hands of these psychopaths. No, it’s not enough just to escape these bastards. I have to kill them. I have to get my map back.
I weave past a truck and list
en as the bumper smacks into it, causing me to fishtail. I should have taken Lindsay’s pack. No, I should have made Lindsay run when she had the chance. I shouldn’t have let her linger with me. We weren’t that kind of a team. We were a ‘survival at all costs’ sort of duo. If she had just run, then these idiots would still be in Atlanta living in their freaky weird utopia, not threatening everything that I had worked so hard for. I have come too far for it to end like this. I have lost and suffered too much to let them kill me here and to take Jason’s house. I round a corner, high centering the truck for a moment before it slams back down on all four wheels and continues speeding. I’ve got to stop them, but how?
There are no divine signs, no indicators from God that I’ve got help from above. I’m on my own, just like I always have been. The key is to head south. I need to get to the A1A, and if I have to take these assholes with me for a while, then so be it. We reach the outskirts of the city and I see that they’re still behind me. The muzzle flash of the one machine gun that they have reminds me that they still have guns too. If only I could summon a ton of Zombies to knock over their cars and eat them. God, that would be helpful right about now. I slow down, narrowly avoiding a bus and a semi-truck that have choked the southbound lane of the highway pretty well. My last remaining side mirror is ripped off and I’m driving blind now. I don’t know if they’re still behind me or not. It doesn’t matter. I have to keep going.
I have to act. I have to stop them now or I’m going to never get a chance. I slow down as I see that I’m approaching a bridge. The bridge is choked with cars and it’s going to take a measure of finesse to navigate it. I slowly take my foot off the gas, prompting the bastards to catch up to me. I take a deep breath. This is suicide, but it’s my only viable offense. I can hear them approaching, both of them on each side of me. When I can see the white of their hoods on both sides of the truck, I swerve.
LEFT ALIVE (Zombie series Box Set): Books 1-6 of the Post-apocalyptic zombie action and adventure series Page 44