by J. W. Vohs
Roberto arrived shortly, and he was looking forward to joining the conversation, but he quickly fell asleep wrapped in blankets on the floor. Brittany emerged from her cabin and tried to rouse him to send him off to bed, but she finally gave up and climbed under the blankets with him.
“What surprised me,” Brittany offered after settling in, “was how it turned out that guns weren’t our best defense after all. Thank God that Jack Smith and Carter Wilson never forgot what they’d encountered in Afghanistan, and that they spent their time and money preparing for an outbreak that they probably never expected would really happen.”
“Good point,” Carolyn agreed. “It seems like common sense to consider guns the best line of defense. Our fighters have learned to use hockey gear to protect themselves.”
“Seriously?” Brittany sounded doubtful.
Robbie nodded and laughed. “I killed three of the infected on the mainland with a hockey stick the first time we saw them.”
“Pads, helmets, goalie-masks, gloves, all of those things have saved lives during the fighting,” Michael added.
“I thought you guys were safe on your island. What happened?” Brittany asked.
Michael shrugged. “There was a lot of fighting in the early days of the outbreak, before we managed to swing the bridge and secure the island. Even then, people were still sneaking off on small boats for weeks; once in a while we’d have an incident that had to be quietly dealt with.”
“Bottom line,” Robbie interrupted, “is that it didn’t take us long to realize that gunfire just attracted more of the creatures. Plus, nearly every male, and many of our women, know how to wield deadly weapons while wearing hockey gear. We’ve yet to have a single bite wound through the gloves, and the wrists and hands seem to be the most vulnerable body parts during a fight.”
O’Brien was about to agree when Bruce burst through the door, “You need to come see this; I don’t know what to think.”
Brittany gave Roberto a sharp jab to the ribs as she jumped up while the rest of the group hurried out to the deck. Bruce pointed to an unnatural glow that had appeared several miles downstream. “The NVGs don’t help at all, and my eyesight has seen better days.”
“Electric lighting?” Michael hypothesized.
“Maybe somebody’s managed to power up part of Sarnia,” Carolyn offered.
“Brittany,” Father O’Brien called, “please bring me the binoculars.” The young woman was quick to comply, with Roberto right behind her.
“I brought both pair,” she explained, handing Michael a set as well.
A minute later, both men were peering intently downriver. Michael was still confused, but Father O’Brien was sure about what he was seeing. “It’s that old ferry we passed just north of Marine City this afternoon.”
Michael lowered his glasses and frowned. “What ferry? I don’t remember you mentioning anything about a ferry.”
“When we passed it we thought we heard noises from the infected, but the ship was adrift, and we certainly had no reason to investigate. I don’t know what to make of it now.”
Roberto thought it was the perfect time to share his theory with the Canadians. “I think that a bunch of people on the Michigan side were trying to escape the virus any way they could. They all crowded into the that boat, but somebody was already infected, and eventually they turned everyone else into flesh-eaters too.”
Brittany added, “Unless we were all imagining the same thing, there were a lot of howls and moans coming from that ferry.”
Everyone was quiet as they considered the possibility that a ship with an unknown number of infected was making its way up the river. Michael finally broke the silence. “Were the lights on when you passed her?”
“No,” O’Brien replied, “and I’m fairly certain there was no engine activity at the time we passed.”
The glowing ship was now close enough to be easily identified without the aid of optics.
“That’s no small ferry,” Carolyn mumbled.
“Yeah,” Michael added, “and it’s going way too fast for this river, and too fast not to be using her engines.”
Given the vessel’s speed and course, O’Brien speculated that it would pass their position in less than five minutes. The small group huddled together on the pier between their yachts and waited to watch the ghostly-looking ship bull its way upstream toward Lake Huron. Then, before anyone on the pier realized the danger they were in, the bow of the huge ferry began turning directly toward the marina.
Father O’Brien urged everyone to remain calm. “That boat is too big for this part of the marina. They’re probably headed to one of the larger piers, closer to the fuel.”
Michael was skeptical, “Didn’t you say you thought it was adrift earlier, with infected aboard?”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought,” an obviously nervous Brittany replied, “but maybe there are still uninfected people aboard, and they’re looking for a place to dock and abandon that ship. There’s a big tug tied up down there by those larger piers, maybe they want another large boat for their survivors.”
Carolyn had remained uncharacteristically quiet, but finally shared her thoughts on the matter. “My ex-husband was crazy for anything that had to do with ships; when we were dating, we used travel to different marinas just to watch them dock and launch all the time. I can’t put my finger on it, but something isn’t right in there.”
O’Brien agreed, “It’s going too fast to stop before it reaches the end of this channel—“
“Maybe something’s wrong with the pilot, but it doesn’t matter: we need to get our boats out of here—NOW!” Michael declared as the ship sped toward the mouth of the channel leading to the marina.
The two crews wasted no time untethering their crafts and preparing to disembark. “Let’s rendezvous back on the lake, about ten minutes out from here . . .” Carolyn shouted over to O’Brien.
“Agreed!” he shouted back, but he knew it was too late before he had a chance to turn around. In his peripheral vision he saw that the ferry had continued to build speed, and would cross into the channel in less than a minute. He knew Carolyn saw it too when he heard her cry out.
“Oh my God,” Carolyn wailed as the ferry sped into the channel and immediately sliced through a pier before sideswiping the bow of a giant container ship that had been docked parallel to shore to accommodate its size. Having lost much of its momentum, the ferry ran aground before reaching the large tug boat moored midway down the channel.
The experienced priest anticipated each step of the unfolding disaster. He watched as the giant freighter, freed from its mooring and dragging part of a pier off one side, gracefully reoriented itself to float diagonally toward the crash site. He knew what was coming next; the marina was long enough to accept big lakers, but nowhere near wide enough to allow one to come in sideways. He shut his eyes and waited for the next inevitable crash. He didn’t have long to wait, and, just like that, the shocked humans were cut off from the river they needed to return home.
CHAPTER 8
Jack and Hiram arrived at the communications center in time to hear Carter signing off with Deb. He told his wife that she was the strongest person he knew, and that he loved her. Then he rested his forehead in his hands and sat unmoving, like a statue, until Jack cleared his throat.
“Hiram told me there’s a blizzard going on, and they’re evacuating. It’s definitely some sort of attack from Barnes. Did Deb say anything else?”
Carter lifted his head and looked at Jack. “Simmons says he can get the kids here by train, the rest are buggin’ out to Middle Bass if they can make it. I wasn’t just tryin’ to boost Deb’s confidence; she’s got what it takes to get ‘em outta there.”
Jack nodded. “Did she say anything about Andi?”
“She said Andi’s girls were headed to the train with my mom. She didn’t mention anythin’ specific ‘bout Andi.”
Hiram excused himself and stepped outside to talk with a small gro
up of soldiers who’d been waiting to speak with him before Carter continued, “We need to let David know ‘bout Christy—she’s in lockdown at the ranch.”
“Why didn’t they just go to the Castle?” Jack wondered.
Carter slapped himself in the head as he remembered the second piece of bad news. “Doc Redders and everyone else at the Castle’s trapped in the basement; a second force led by helicopters overran the walls at the same time Fort Wayne was attacked.” He slammed his fists down on his knees and growled, “We shoulda seen this comin—”
Jack grimaced. “I know.”
“We all missed it,” Carter said quietly. “I don’t think Barnes expected us to kick his ass down here, and I know he’s hurtin’ from it, but I’d bet my right arm that he was plannin’ on attackin’ Fort Wayne all along. And now he’s got even more of a score to settle.”
Jack sat down in a chair across from Carter. “I agree. I’m open to suggestions—what does Barnes expect us to do, and how can we use that against him? We need to divert his attention back to us.”
“If Deb got to the pilots, and if they could fly in the weather, they’ll be headin’ here soon—with any luck ‘bout three hours. As long as we can find some fuel ‘round here, we should be over the Maumee this afternoon with plenty of daylight left to find ‘em.”
Hiram poked his head in the door. “All the commanders are waiting over at the meeting house; we need to get over there and come up with a plan. I’m leaving two of my best soldiers here to man the radio and let us know immediately if we get any calls.”
Jack and Carter were on their feet and out the door in a heartbeat, and the men set a brisk pace as they hurried to the meeting house.
Everyone was talking when Carter opened the door to the large cabin that had become the headquarters building during the defense of Vicksburg, but when Jack entered the room an instant silence fell over the crowd. He figured that the gathered leaders would be looking to him for an immediate solution, but other than anxiously awaiting the arrival of some Blackhawks flying in from Indiana, he had no plan to offer. Thankfully, the Utah contingent again proved to be stalwart and insightful allies.
Stephen Carlson, commander of the 1st Utah Division and de facto leader of the defense of the entire state, quietly took charge of the situation. “Sit down, Jack, you too, Carter.”
The two men sat down at the front of the room as steaming cups of coffee were handed to them by one of the Utah stewards. As soon as they were settled, Carlson continued speaking. “Jack, we all know what you’re going through right now, and our hearts are with you; we all love that boy. Carter told us that you’d have your wits together, but we started working on some ideas while he was bringing you up to speed on what’s happened up north tonight. You have any questions about the general situation at Fort Wayne and the Castle?”
Jack finished a sip of coffee and shook his head. “Give me your ideas for addressing the problem, General.”
“All right,” Carlson replied before going on. “A blizzard pounded the western and plains states before hitting the Midwest. Our forecasters back in Utah are predicting that this storm is going to pull down a huge blast of arctic air that will slam into a warm front pushing up toward Missouri right now. I don’t know what the winds will be with this new system, but northern Indiana could get over another foot of snow tomorrow night. After that, we think the temperatures are going to drop below zero for days. The people on the Maumee are in grave danger, and that’s just from the weather. We have no way of knowing if Barnes’ forces will try to send packs of infected against them along the route to Toledo.
“As you know, Hiram left an understrength company back there to help guard Fort Wayne and the Castle. But we have to assume that most, if not all of our troops defending the breech in the wall are lost to the refugees for the time being. There’s just no way that more than a few of them could have extricated themselves from the fight once they were exhausted and out of ammo. Another platoon is trapped in the basement of the Castle. The bottom line is that very few experienced soldiers are with the civilians on the river right now.
“When your pilots get here, a hand-picked squad will board a chopper and hopefully find the fleet before nightfall. I assume that you and Carter will want to be on that bird.”
Both men nodded in agreement, and Carlson looked at his watch before continuing his briefing. “I’m sure you’ll have no shortage of volunteers to fill out the rest of your team. For our end, just under a thousand troops from the 2nd Utah Division are boarding the next train to Fort Wayne; Hiram will join them as soon as this meeting is over. The remaining Indiana soldiers will also be on the train, under the command of Stanley Rickers. Their force will secure Fort Wayne, at least the headquarters building and as much of the surrounding area as possible. If the hunters have moved out of the settlement, and without food there’s a good chance they’re already gone, that wall will be patched up within a few hours of our arrival.
“Simmons thinks it will take at least a full day to make it to Fort Wayne, maybe more if the tracks have to be cleared in places. But if all goes well, by some time tomorrow you should have the option of returning to the settlement if that seems to be a better choice than trying to make it all the way to Middle Bass. Also, as soon as Hiram can spare the troops, he’ll send as many downriver as possible to help protect the civilians. While all this is going on, I’ll keep the rest of the Utah troops here in case the Indiana attack is a feint and Barnes strikes here again. Plus, we can coordinate our counterattack more efficiently from here through our radio contact with Cairo and our control of the river.”
Carter turned to Jack, expecting him to respond to Carlson’s plan. He didn’t like the faraway look in his friend’s eyes, so he offered his own assessment. “I think an attack here is purty unlikely; Barnes just don’t have an army ‘round here anymore, but I like yer reasonin’. We gotta be prepared fer anythin’ from now on.”
Carlson looked at Jack and shrugged, “That’s the best we could come up with in such a hurry; do you want to go with it or figure out something else?”
Jack yielded a small smile of gratitude. “All I want to do is thank God again for the day Gabe Fox put us in touch with you.”
Carlson bowed his head with what Jack knew was true humility. “We have a blood covenant with you now, Jack. The people of Indiana, Vicksburg, and all the river-groups that fought with us here are family to us. You know I’m a wayward Mormon, but ties of blood, honor, and loyalty are absolutely sacred to those who follow our faith. We will always have your back.”
Jack choked up for a second, but his voice was flat when he responded, “And we have yours. We go with your plan.”
Jack left the meeting and headed back to Luke’s cabin. He needed to let David know what was happening in Indiana, and he had to say his final goodbye to his son. He knew he’d have to decide who to trust with the task of making sure that Luke wouldn’t come back as one of the monsters, but he had a few hours to figure that out.
Jack knocked lightly on the cabin door before letting himself in. Luke appeared to be sleeping peacefully as Gracie lightly pressed cold rags on his forehead and neck. David was in the kitchen, but as soon as he saw his older brother he practically leapt over the table.
“Where have you been? What’s going on? What did Hiram say?”
Jack didn’t know where to begin. “First of all, Christy’s fine. She’s out at the ranch with her mother.” He knew that he wasn’t being totally honest, but he really couldn’t offer David much information about his pregnant wife. He decided to focus on Fort Wayne. “Deb called, and the Fort Wayne settlement is under attack. Somebody blew a breach in the wall and sabotaged the detonator on the bridge. Choppers were leading the infected to the settlement, even in the middle of a blizzard. The settlement is evacuating now.”
Gracie gasped, and David was speechless for a moment. He looked Jack in the eye and recovered his voice. “How do you know Christy is fine? If Fort Wayne is
under attack, Noble County won’t be safe for long.”
“Deb talked to Christy—they were locked-down at the ranch, and they hadn’t seen or heard anything unusual. I think Barnes is focused on the main settlement for now, and the weather is slowing everyone down.”
David narrowed his eyes. “If I ask Carter, will he tell me the same thing?”
“Go ahead and ask him,” Jack snapped. “He’ll tell you that Barnes managed to put one over on us, and that we practically handed him the settlement. Deb’s there, and his mom, and Andi and her girls—”
Jack stopped when he saw Luke open his eyes. The young man motioned for water from Gracie, looked directly at Jack, then hoarsely asked, “What’s the plan?”
Jack sat down and took Luke’s hand. “Deb’s following the evacuation protocol. Simmons is getting the kids to a train and bringing them here to Vicksburg. We’re hoping at least one of our choppers will be able to make it here, so we can refuel and head north later today. Carlson is sending close to a thousand Utah troops to Fort Wayne by rail. They should be able to repair the wall and take back the fort.”
Luke nodded weakly. “You need to go.” Then he turned to David. “You need to go too.”
“He’s right,” Gracie agreed. “Luke and I have each other here; I won’t leave his side. We know what we have to do; and you know what you have to do.”
Jack wondered if Gracie was planning on trying to take Luke somewhere away from people after he turned. It didn’t really matter; he wouldn’t leave the responsibility of shooting Luke to the boy’s new wife. It was a horrific task, but Maddy and Zach would have to bear the burden. Gracie would trust them; they could get access when the time came, and she’d never see it coming.
“Jack—Jack, where’s your head at? I asked you if you think I should stay here or come with you to Indiana?” David was staring expectantly at Jack, and Jack was starting to feel nauseous.