A World Apart (Part 1): 8,000 Miles

by Sean P. Thomas

  Once all of Joshua’s followers were dealt with, the man started methodically taking out the zombies. He killed them all after several more shots from the rifle. After the last monster fell, A large man entered the building, carefully stepping over the corpses, with a dumbstruck look on his face. He was followed closely by two additional men. The lone gunman took aim and was about to fire at Jerry, but suddenly lowered his rifle when he recognized the last man that came into the building.

  He placed the rifle on the ground next to him, turned around, and proceeded to kick Joshua’s corpse repeatedly. Angie and the others just looked on with grim satisfaction.

  CHAPTER 17

  “I think we should head to the fuel point before we leave.” John told the group the next morning. “I would feel better if we had a few five-gallon cans of fuel with us, just in case.”

  They were grouped together by the exit and were almost ready to go.

  “That’s probably a good idea John.” Ed told him. “George, can you go up to the roof and clean up any zombies that might have wandered close to the trucks last night?” Ed asked.

  “Sure, no problem.” George responded. “Be right back.”

  George left the rest waiting there and headed to the roof. A few moments later they all heard three shots, then nothing. Minutes later, George was back with the group. “Good to go.” He told them.

  “Alright, let’s get to it.” Ed instructed. “You guys lead the way to the fuel point and we’ll follow. Let’s go.”

  They exited the building and mounted up in their perspective trucks. Damien climbed into the gunner’s hatch of the first truck and George did the same in the second. Both trucks started up and John started moving, following Shelly’s directions to the fuel point. They circled around the headquarters building and turned on the road that would take them there. The fuel point was on the opposite side of the base from the gate. They were only driving a few miles per hour which gave them time to observe just how bad the rest of the base was, on their way over. It seemed as if they had killed a good majority of the zombies on the base during their past two excursions, but there were still enough of them walking around to be considered a threat. Their presence was sporadic though, they would see small groups of the monsters here and there, but nothing too serious.

  They pulled into the fuel point in short order. There were a few zombies walking around inside the fenced-in area. They stayed inside the vehicles while the gunners went to work on them. Damien took one down that was closest to them. George took out two more that were further away. Damien took aim at the last one. It was a soldier wearing a Kevlar helmet. He knew his rifle couldn’t penetrate the helmet, so he took aim at its face. His first round hit the zombie just below the neck. The monster rocked back, but resumed its approach immediately. He fired again. This time he nailed it square in the face. The zombie kept coming. Damien’s face screwed up in confusion. That shot had caved in its face, it couldn’t possibly see anymore. “I hit it right in the face.” He yelled back to George. “It won’t go down.”

  “The helmet must be protecting its brain.” George yelled back. “Hold on.” He said as he dropped inside his truck to talk to Ed who was driving. He popped back up in just a moment. “You guys stay put for a second.”

  With that Ed started moving around John’s truck in the direction of the monster. He lined up his left headlight with the thing’s body. He kept going towards it. He hit the zombie just hard enough to knock it over onto its back. George was peering over the top and Ed stuck his head out of the window as he slowly drove over the thing with his left front tire. He pulled the tire right up on top of the things body to about the midsection and then stopped. He put the truck in park and shut it off. They watched for a minute to ensure that the zombie was securely pinned. The thing laid there writhing, but could not get up. “Good thinking George.” Ed congratulated.

  “Good driving.” George said back smiling. George waved at the other truck to let them know it was safe to dismount.

  The fuel point was set up with three fuel trucks forming lanes where military vehicles could drive through to get fuel on the move. There were three more fuel trucks parked off to the side. Damien and George stayed in their hatches to provide over watch as the others dismounted and grabbed two empty fuel cans each. They followed Shelly to the closest fuel truck. She set down the cans she was carrying behind the truck, where the fuel nozzle protruded from the back, attached to a hose that was rolled up on a spool. She ran to the cab of the truck, jumped in and started it up. She manipulated some switches and climbed out. Shelly came to the back and turned a lever. She looked at the gauge. “This thing has over two thousand gallons in it.” She told the others. “Good to know if we have to come back here. The other trucks probably have at least as much.”

  Shelly began filling the fuel cans. As each of the two cans were filled, they were carried back and stored on the truck they came from. John waited as Shelly filled the last two cans. She reeled in the fuel hose, shut off the lever, and went to shut off the fuel truck as John closed the lids on the last two cans. She came back and they took the remaining four cans of fuel back to their truck. John pulled up next to the other truck and gave Ed a thumbs up. Damien looked down at the pinned zombie, smiled, looked over to George and said, “that’s one way to do it.”

  John turned his Humvee around and the two trucks pulled out of the fuel point and started towards the gate. Shelly took out their radio. “SUSAN, THIS IS SHELLY, HOW DO YOU READ ME?” She called the other team.

  “WE HEAR YOU JUST FINE SHELLY.” Susan replied.

  “ROGER THAT.” Shelly called back. “LET US KNOW OVER THE RADIO IF WE NEED TO STOP OR IF YOU GUYS SEE ANYTHING IMPORTANT THAT WE MIGHT HAVE MISSED. IF YOUR RADIO STOPS WORKING FOR ANY REASON AND YOU CAN’T REACH US, HONK THE HORN AND FLASH THE LIGHTS UNTIL WE STOP.” She instructed.

  “OK, GOT IT.” Susan acknowledged.

  They made their way back across the base and to the gate. The wheels crunched over more than a couple of corpses of the zombies they had killed the day before. John stopped at the gate, jumped out and raised the pole, then he got back in and drove out the gate and headed to the main highway that would lead them to Kandahar Airfield. He looked in the side mirror at the receding visage of the base that had been his home for the past few months and hoped that it would be the last time he would ever see it, but he suspected that they may be back. He turned onto the main road, watched for the second truck to turn as well, then picked up the speed.

  ***

  Several hours later they were approaching Kandahar City. It was about fifteen more miles after the city to the base at Kandahar Airfield. John and Shelly had both been on this route before, but were surprised by how much had changed. Usually the highway that brought them here was full of traffic, but today there was no traffic. They didn’t see another moving vehicle the entire way. What they did encounter along the route were hundreds of abandoned vehicles. This slowed their trip some, due to having to weave around the automobiles. They even saw an abandoned military convoy at one point. Strangely there were still weapons mounted on top of the security vehicles. They also saw many zombies throughout the trip. They weren’t in large groups, just randomly walking around some of the abandoned vehicles or off the highway. They were able to pass most of them without incident, though in one particular instance they had ran over a couple because there was no way to swerve around them. John observed that the victims of their hit and run were still moving through his side view mirror.

  They could see Kandahar City on the horizon, but were still a few miles out. It was early evening now. Because their pace was slowed so much, it had taken them most of the day to get this far. Kandahar City was one of the most populated cities in Afghanistan, it held about half a million people before everything went bad. John was nervous as they approached. Based on the fact that they saw no other living people along the way, he wondered what a largely populated city like the one ahead would look like. He had
a very bad feeling.

  They entered the outskirts of the city. John slowed the pace; the number of abandoned vehicles was denser here than it had been on the highway. There were more zombies moving around too, but not enough to threaten the armored vehicles. They passed an unmanned, Afghan military checkpoint and moved deeper into the city. John moved cautiously, his head turning in all directions to look for danger. All the occupants of both vehicles were doing the same. “I don’t like this.” John said aloud. He tapped on Damien’s leg. Damien dropped down and asked, “what’s up?”.

  “Signal to George to drop down and then come back inside. Button up the hatch in case we get too many of these things on top of us.” He told him. Damien went back up. He looked back to George and waved his hand in a downward motion then dropped down and pulled the hatch closed over him.

  John kept them moving slowly, but the deeper they got into the city, the larger the crowds of zombies became. John pushed through as they started to crowd around the vehicle. The more zombies that joined the fray, the more difficult it became to just drive through them. There were hundreds of the creatures all around both vehicles at this point. John was scared. His vision was becoming obstructed from the throng to his front. He kept pushing, though it was slow going, until he came upon an intersection that was completely blocked by vehicle wreckage. There was no way through. The truck rolled to a stop. The zombies were all over the truck now, banging on the windows and rocking the thing like a boat. “Good thing the glass is bullet proof.” He told the others. “Hand me the radio Shelly.”

  “ED, THIS IS JOHN.” He called.

  “GO AHEAD JOHN.” Ed replied.

  “WE CAN’T GO ANY FURTHER.” John explained. “THE ROAD IS BLOCKED, AND BESIDES, I DON’T THINK WE CAN PUSH THROUGH THESE THINGS IF THE CROWD GROWS ANYMORE. I CAN BARELY DRIVE THROUGH THEM ALREADY.”

  “YEAH, I’M HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM BACK HERE.” Ed responded. “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?” He asked.

  “WE NEED TO TURN AROUND AND LEAVE THE CITY.” John answered. “FIND A ROUNDABOUT ROUTE TO AVOID THESE LARGE CROWDS OF ZOMBIES.”

  “ROGER THAT.” Ed said. “I’LL FOLLOW YOUR LEAD.”

  John threw the truck into reverse and turned his steering wheel all the way to the right. He tried to back up, but too many monsters were crowded around the truck. He put the shifter into park and switched to four-wheel drive. He put it in reverse again and started to back up. The truck lurched backwards, pushing piles of zombies over and under it. The back of the truck angled up like he was backing up a hill as it continued to pile up the undead monsters. Once he felt he had enough space to turn around he shifted to low and turned to the left. He watched in horror, through the mirror, as the tires started spinning on the pile of zombie flesh, actually flinging pieces to the rear. It must have caught some traction on a bone or something at that moment, because the truck moved forward and rolled down the hill of zombies.

  As John pulled the truck around, he saw that Ed was struggling in the same fashion to get turned around.

  “JOHN, I’M STUCK.” Ed called over the radio. “THE WHEELS ARE JUST SPINNING IN THE MUSH.”

  “UNDERSTOOD.” John called back. “I WILL TRY TO BUMP YOU AND SHIFT YOUR POSITION SO YOU CAN MAYBE GET SOME TRACTION.”

  John lined his truck up with the front right bumper of the other truck and drove towards it. He drove into it and then accelerated until his truck came free and drove past. As soon as he was past the other truck, he came to a stop and watched as Ed tried to move forward again. The truck was still spinning its wheels in place. “Dammit.” John cursed.

  “THAT DIDN’T DO IT.” Ed radioed.

  “There is a towing strap back here.” Damien told John. “If you can back right up to his bumper, I can climb out of this hatch and hook it up, then we can try to pull him out.”

  “There are so many out there Damien.” John said to that. “They are already trying to climb on top.”

  “I can do it.” Damien assured him.

  “Okay.” John conceded. He called Ed on the radio. “WE ARE GOING TO BACK INTO YOU AND TRY TO HOOK UP A TOWING STRAP AND PULL YOU OUT. DAMIEN IS GOING THROUGH THE HATCH. CAN GEORGE POP UP INTO YOUR HATCH AND COVER HIM?” John asked.

  “ROGER, WE’LL TRY THAT.” Ed replied. “DAMIEN, YOU BE DAMN CAREFUL UP THERE.”

  John pulled backwards until the bumpers of the two vehicles touched. Damien took a deep breath with the strap in his hand. He popped open the hatch and started to climb out. At that moment, George was up and already firing shots into the crowd. There were so many zombies around them. He was focusing most of his fire around John’s truck to protect Damien from climbing monsters, but had to shift regularly to cover himself. Ed squeezed into the hatch next to him to cover the opposite side of the truck. The horde kept coming, but so did the shots. Damien climbed onto the hood of the second truck and kicked a zombie square in the chest that had made it halfway up. He squatted down and quickly secured the strap to both vehicles. He pulled himself back up onto the first truck. Just at that moment, a zombie latched onto his leg. It was pulling him down into the crowd. He was almost lost, then the zombie’s head exploded. George had taken it out, just before it pulled Damien down into the grasping hands of the horde below. Damien franticly pulled himself back to the top and climbed over into the hatch. He didn’t even have time to offer George a nod in appreciation.

  Once Damien was back inside, he closed the hatch. John could see that Ed and George were safely back inside too. He put the truck in low gear again and pulled forward slowly until the towing strap went taut. Ed started accelerating then too. John gunned it. Ed’s truck broke free. They plowed over zombies all the way back out of the city, not even concerned that the towing strap was still attached. Ed simply tried to match John’s speed, sometimes being jerked forward as the other truck pulled ahead, and sometimes bumping right into the back of it when he accelerated too fast. By the time they had left the city behind, both trucks were covered in gore. John looked for a clear area and then stopped in the middle of the road.

  The six companions dismounted their vehicles and met in the middle. It was almost dark. Damien went to the tow strap and pulled it free. “Everyone ok?” John asked.

  They all nodded. “What now?” Ed asked. “We can’t stay here; we need to get moving soon.”

  “Let’s look at that map and find a way around the city.” John answered him.

  They quickly planned an alternate route that would take them around the outskirts, south of the city. It would take them longer, but would certainly be less populated. They mounted up and took off. The alternate route proved to be better. There were still plenty of zombies, but not enough to overwhelm them like before. They sped up anytime they approached a crowd, to avoid being bogged down, and simply rolled over them or knocked them out of the way. It took them just short of an hour to bypass the city completely and then they were only a few miles from the large base.

  John kept them going at a pretty good pace. The highway from the city to the airfield was less littered with vehicles, so the going was easier. In a short while John could see the large base in the distance. It was dark now, but it was a clear night and there was enough illumination to see fairly well. He slowed down as they got closer. Unlike their own base, this one was surrounded by a double chain link fence. There was razor wire on top of each fence and triple strands of the wire on the ground in front of each fence. There were several zombies hung up in the wire in various spots around the fence, thrashing to get free. He could see the many guard towers that were spread out along the fence-line inside the base. Then he saw the entrance. He crept forward. It was like déjà vu. The gate had no guards. The exceptional difference between this gate and the one back at his base, when he first approached it a few days back, was that he did see movement. Tons of movement. It looked like a giant sea of bodies moving in and around the entrance to the base. They were zombies! This base was lost too.

  John came to a stop. They were s
till several hundred meters from the entrance, so he felt that it was safe to get out for a short moment to discuss their options with the group. They all met up again at the hood of Ed’s truck. “What is it?” Ed asked.

  “It’s overrun.” John reported to him. “there are dozens, if not hundreds, of those fucking monsters moving all around the entrance. This base had over five thousand people living on it. I don’t think we can get inside, nor do I think we want to. If the gate looks like this, imagine how many of those things are inside. There is no salvation inside that base, only death.”

  “Well fuck!” Ed cursed. “What the hell do we do now?”

  “Right now?” John asked rhetorically. “Our only option is to go back to Dwyer and plan our next move, but we are definitely not safe out here in the open.” He urged them.

  “I agree.” Shelly said nodding.

  “Should we sleep here in the trucks and go back in the morning?” Damien asked.

  “No!” John answered. “I don’t think that would be safe. Let’s drive through the night and get back. We can take turns driving and everyone else can sleep, though I think everyone should stay awake and alert until we bypass the city again.”