by Sarra Cannon
He pointed to an area all the way on the other side of Manhattan. It was just about the worst place for David and Zoe to be. If they’d been in Brooklyn, this would have been a cake walk.
“And where’s the Queensboro Bridge you were talking about?” she asked.
He showed her where the bridge was, and she groaned.
“That’s so close to the Four Seasons,” she said. “We would have been right there.”
“Yeah, but Zoe would have been long gone by now if she’d stayed there,” Noah said. “We have to keep it in perspective.”
“You really think we’re going to be able to get around that mess on the Brooklyn Bridge?” Karmen asked, zooming in on some satellite images he’d shown her earlier. “I still think it’s iffy at best. It doesn’t look passable to me.”
“I think I can get us through that with the speedboat,” he said. He sounded more confident than he felt. “Anything bigger would be a challenge, but David’s supposed to be scouting it out for me this morning before we commit.”
Parrish sighed, and her anxiety was making everyone nervous.
Crash chose to stay focused on his explanation, though. David would be in touch soon. He was sure of it.
“From the looks of it, the Brooklyn Bridge must have been blasted by something big. A bomb, maybe? There were rumors on the underground forums that the military was planning to enforce a quarantine on the city by taking out the bridges. At first, I thought that was crazy, paranoid talk, but looking at the bridge now? I can’t imagine anything short of a military-grade bomb taking that much of the bridge out.”
There had been a full load of cars trying to cross it, too, but he didn’t mention that part.
The bridge closest to Manhattan still stood, and even though he couldn’t find any camera that could get a good look underneath it, he was pretty sure there was a small space where a boat could pass through.
“If not, we’ll have to get out there, but that’s going to add a lot of time and trouble to our trip.”
“And you don’t think we can get any closer to the Bronx than this Queensboro Bridge?” Parrish asked.
“Not a chance,” he said, shaking his head. “Look at this.”
He switched over to another satellite image and stepped back so they could see.
Parrish did a double-take and then brought a hand to her mouth.
“Is that a plane?” Noah asked.
“That is a plane,” Crash confirmed. “A C-130 transport, to be exact. And so is this.”
He pointed to a second one just a hundred yards away. The entire river was closed from that point on.
“Wait, what about coming all the way around the other side?” Parrish asked. “Here. Long Island Sound. That looks like a straight shot.”
He shook his head. “It won’t work,” he said. “Believe me, David and I have looked into every possible way to get to them. Long Island Sound is worse than the East River. There was such a huge breakout in New York, and despite the quarantine, so many people were trying to flee the city. To keep them locked down, the National Guard apparently blocked that entire entrance to the sound. The closest place to dock would be New London, and that’s over a hundred miles from Concourse Village.”
“A hundred miles?”
“What are we looking at in terms of miles from the Queensboro Bridge area?” Noah asked.
“Less than ten,” Crash told them. “But we can expect it to be the most difficult ten miles of our lives.”
“It’s going to be very important for us to stick together,” Noah said. “If any one of us gets separated, we’re toast.”
“And we need to be as quiet as possible.” Crash looked specifically at Karmen as he said this. “There were millions of people in New York City pre-virus, so we can assume there are millions of infected there now. Hopefully the sun will keep shining bright all day and most of them will be inside, but the slightest noise could draw them out. Besides, the Dark One knows we’re coming. She’ll have them out looking for us.”
“We can expect some super zombies along the way,” Parrish said. “We might even have to face Lily once we get there.”
Crash swallowed. Yeah, he was fairly certain they would be facing Lily, if his dreams could still predict the future.
“Maybe the hundred-mile route isn’t such a bad idea, after all,” Karmen said. “If that way is mostly clear, and the Dark One’s expecting us in Manhattan, it might be our only chance for surviving this.”
Crash shook his head. “I told you. I spent hours looking over this from every angle. The places north of New York are in terrible condition. The roads and fires and congestion up there makes our trip from Philly look like a walk in the park. It would take us a week to get through there. Manhattan’s the only way. When we talk to David, we’ll see if he can get closer to the bridge to meet us. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get in and out of there before the Dark One even realizes we’re there.”
Everyone knew that wasn’t going to happen, but they could hope, right?
He went over the route with them one more time, just in case. They set a rendezvous point near the Third Avenue Bridge. “If we get separated along the way and the Bluetooth isn’t working, make your way to this church here on the corner of Third Avenue and One Hundred Twenty-Seventh Street. Wait for the rest of the group there. We’ll all cross over the bridge together as soon as we can.”
“And what if we get pinned down somewhere and can’t get out?” Parrish asked.
“Keep in contact through your earbuds at all times,” he said. “If we can keep up communication, it will make things easier.”
“We’ll all stick together,” Karmen said. “But while we’re waiting to hear from David, I think—”
“Wait. What’s that?” Parrish asked, pointing to the iPad. Her voice sounded slightly strangled with panic. “Crash, what’s happening there? Is that where Zoe is?”
His mouth went dry as he reached for the iPad and stopped its rotation. He went back to the previous video feed and nearly dropped the device.
Where there had only been one or two rotters in the frame just minutes ago, now there were hundreds, pouring out from every building and side street, appearing in windows, swarming the rooftops.
And every single one was headed toward the building where David lived.
Thirty-Three
Parrish
“We have to move, now,” she shouted. “Grab the bags and pack up whatever you can in two minutes. We don’t have a second to waste.”
No one argued, which scared her more for some reason. They all knew what that horde meant.
Lily.
It had to be her, which meant there were super zombies everywhere, too. Parrish gripped the stone around her neck and tried to connect to her sister or David, but there was only silence.
She ran up the stairs, threw a few things into her backpack, double-checked her weapons and ran right back down and out into the driveway to meet the others.
Crash was the last one to come out, and by the time she saw him emerge from the house with all of his computers and tech strapped to his back, she was already on her way to the marina.
Thank God they’d taken the time to choose and load up the boat earlier this afternoon. Without that, it would have taken them at least another half hour or more to get going.
Instead, they sped toward the marina, jumped off their bikes, and ran toward the boat. They were on the water in seconds, heading north. The small speedboat bounced against the waves, and Parrish wondered if it might just toss them all off if Crash took it too fast.
Water sprayed into their faces, but she didn’t close her eyes. Instead, she kept them straight ahead, waiting. Praying.
Noah held her hand, but no one said a word. All they could do was hold this space, knowing the real fight had just begun.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the tall buildings of the Manhattan skyline came into view. Parrish’s stomach tightened into knots.
&nbs
p; It was surreal to see it this way. One of the most famous cities on earth. A place some people spent a lifetime dreaming to see with their own eyes, but all Parrish felt was dread.
Zoe’s alive in there. I know she is.
Parrish went over the plan again in her head. She knew the basic route they planned to take, but everything was up in the air now. If Zoe and David were trapped in that building, it wouldn’t take long for that swarm to break through and grab them.
She prayed they were on the move, searching for a place to hide.
But Lily would be on the move, too, tracking them.
She was definitely here. Parrish could feel it.
She tried to calm her mind by touching the stone, but once again, as she thought of Lily, a different image invaded her mind. The handsome man, holding her hand and falling to the ground as his life withered away.
Who was that?
Someone Lily had known?
Parrish couldn’t make sense of it. Why did she see that man sometimes when she touched the stone? How was he connected?
She released the stone and the man’s face went away. She didn’t have time to piece together that puzzle right now. She just needed to focus on her abilities and how they were going to survive that city.
She needed to be at her absolute best. So far, each battle they’d fought had brought out new abilities and powers. She had to believe there were still secrets locked inside them that could help them save David and her sister.
She needed to trust herself.
The only other option was surrender, and that was never going to happen.
She closed her eyes and felt the wind in her hair.
She breathed in the salty scent of the ocean.
She let her worries fall away and focused, instead, on the growing power inside her. She focused on her love for her sister. On her determination to save what was left of this dying world.
She focused on the warmth of Noah’s strong leg pressed against hers as they sat side by side.
He’d really been there for her these past few weeks. She grabbed his hand and laced her fingers through his, letting his strength become her strength, too. They could do this.
They could find a way to defeat the Dark One and restore this world.
They had to.
Or they would all die trying.
“This is it,” Crash said, slowing the boat as they approached Manhattan.
No one spoke. Instead, everyone’s eyes were glued to the scene. The horror of it all. From the looks of the smoke, most of Brooklyn had been on fire at some point. With no organized firefighters in the city, there was nothing to stop even a small kitchen fire from getting ridiculously out of hand. Curls of smoke rose up from a few spots in Manhattan as well, but nothing as serious as the fires across the bridge.
As they passed the Statue of Liberty and got close enough to see the city ahead, the destruction nearly took her breath away.
Massive container ships had crashed into each other, blocking off parts of the river. Some buildings had hundreds of windows blown out. Smoke rose from different areas all around them.
“Dear God,” Parrish whispered.
Seeing the smoke from afar or looking at the destruction through satellite images hadn’t really prepared her for the horrors of what really had happened here in New York City.
She held her breath as Crash slowly steered them around the wreckage in the water and under what was left of the Brooklyn Bridge.
It looked like a bomb had gone off, and from the presence of military vehicles and boats all around the island, maybe a few had. To control the rotter threat, desperate measures had been taken in the early days to try to quarantine and eliminate.
They’d never had a chance of controlling this, though. There were simply too many infected. Too many dead bodies in the city right from the start. And by the time the dead had started to awaken, it was too late to do anything about it.
All along the river, the city itself told the story.
Groups of survivors had tried to do what Tank had done in Philly. Structures had been erected out of everything imaginable. Fences, barbed wire, even stacks of cars in some places.
Nothing looked to have held for long.
Now, everything they could see from the water was either completely destroyed or packed with throngs of zombies. At the sound of the boat, many of them turned toward the river, their jaws snapping open hungrily as they threw themselves over the sides of the railing and into the water.
“Looks like some of these guys ran out of food a long time ago,” Karmen said, shuddering. She was right. Most of the rotters looked emaciated, their flesh hanging loosely from their bones. “I wonder what happens if they don’t eat for a long time. Do you think they eventually starve to death?”
“Maybe,” Crash said. “I hope so.”
The ride up the East River only took a few minutes before they hit a point where the water was too congested to continue. Crash steered them toward the Queensboro Bridge, pulling the boat in between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. “There,” he said, pointing. “Looks like we can dock there just after we cross under the bridge.”
It definitely wasn’t as close to Zoe as she wished they could have gotten, but for now, it was enough. She was just anxious to get on the ground and start moving toward her.
Parrish had to keep reminding herself to breathe as they pulled up to the docking area. Her heart felt like it was lodged in her throat, she was so nervous.
Crash pulled the boat up to the edge of a platform and Noah jumped out. Parrish tossed him the rope from the back, and as Noah tied them off, everyone gathered their weapons and supplies.
Luckily, the docking area was clear of any rotters, but from the looks of it, the second they stepped off the docks, they were going to have to start fighting. Their presence was already drawing some attention, and Parrish kept watch for red eyes. She could tell Karmen was doing the same.
“How are we going to get through these mobs of zombies?” Noah asked. “I don’t know that our original plan of slash and dash is going to work.”
“I wasn’t expecting there to be so many out in the open.” Crash tried to swallow, but it came out more of a croak. Parrish handed him a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” he said.
“We discussed this. Guns are too dangerous at this stage of the game. We’re just going to have to rely on our new abilities,” she said. “The main thing is we stick together at all times. No stepping away from the group to run after a straggler. We let them come to us, and we keep pushing forward no matter what. Otherwise, we could end up fighting waves of them and still be stuck in the same spot for hours. Karmen, your powers are going to be instrumental here. Do you feel up for this?”
Karmen shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked scared.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess so. I’m just afraid that if I miss one or two, we’re going to get overwhelmed. I don’t know for sure how many I can hold at once.”
“Just do your best,” Crash said, touching her arm. “You can do this. I’ll catch any that get through, okay?”
They had a pretty solid plan in theory, but Parrish had no idea how it would really work once it came down to it.
They would stay in a tight group. Karmen would use her mind control to create a circle of zombies around them, like a wall of protection. If possible, she’d make it two or three rotters deep.
“Put in your earbuds,” Crash reminded them. “If they get loud, it might be hard to hear each other without them.
Parrish and Noah would slice and bash the ones in the front row, while Crash would keep an eye out for any on the other side who broke through the barrier.
Slowly, they’d inch forward, continuing to stay inside the wall.
If too many broke through at once, Crash would use his chain lightning spell to stop them in their tracks, and Parrish would use the flash of blue light to cut as many down as possible, just like she’d done bac
k at the compound.
Of course, the issue with that was the fact that her light would most likely cut her own group’s legs off if she wasn’t careful. If it came to that, they’d have to climb onto something like a car or a bus or some steps.
It wasn’t going to be fast, but all they needed to do was survive.
Of course, if super zombies attacked in large groups, there was no plan for what they could do. Run and hide. Barricade themselves into a building somewhere and try to take them on one by one? She wasn’t sure, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Parrish pulled her sword from its leather strap on her back and poured her power into it. A bright blue flame engulfed the blade, and she’d barely had to even think of it. Her powers had definitely come a long way in a very short period of time.
“Do you feel that?” she asked as a new sense of power surged through her.
“What?” Karmen asked, turning around, as if to look for something.
“No, in here,” Parrish said, placing a hand over Karmen’s heart. “Do you feel the power there?”
Crash lifted his hands and smiled as bolts of lightning danced between his fingertips.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “There’s the juice.”
Karmen slowly nodded. “I do feel that. What is it?”
“David,” Noah said, lifting his bat into the air. A blue light similar to Parrish’s flame pulsed against the wood. “We’ve never been this close to him before, but I can feel it now. He’s alive, and he’s only a few miles away.”
“Hopefully that means we’ll all get stronger as we get closer to him,” Parrish said. “We need to get moving, though. We’re wasting daylight.”
“Oh, wait. Before we go.” Karmen grabbed a black duffel bag from the boat and pulled out four long knives. “We have these, too.”
“Dang, where did you get those?” Crash asked.
“Tank gave them to me,” she said, handing one to each of them.
They were hunting knives, long and sharp. Toward the hilt on one side, the edge was serrated. Parrish was pretty sure they could do some serious damage with those if things got too close for comfort.