Cheyenne glanced at me. “Yeah. Well. Sometimes that works.”
“I think that was a thank you,” Janessa added.
I gave Cheyenne a smug grin. She smirked and shoved my face back to look at the road. I couldn’t help but feel good.
“We’ve got trouble ahead! Oh, no! No! Everything! We’ve got everything headed toward us!” Patty screamed.
Cheyenne snatched the radio, “What do you mean? What’s everything?”
“A Tank! Runners! Roamers! Spitters! At least forty or fifty of them! Maybe more!”
“Can’t even give us one moment of peace, can you?” I cursed the Changed.
I switched gears and aimed to the left of the last car and increased speed.
Chapter 8
As we flew past the line of survivor vehicles, I looked to our left in the direction of Mantenao.
Mantenao was the county seat of Dare county. It didn’t have much of a population. Around a thousand to eleven hundred people at most. Not including vacationers. It was, had been, a beautiful town.
What I could see through burned trees, the downtown, the court house, a college, all were burned to the ground. In the distance behind those buildings, plumes of smoke indicated the town proper, the heart of Mantenao, continued to burn.
“Can Randy plow through? Tell him to plow through,” I told Cheyenne.
She relayed the message.
“I’m trying to get up to speed but there’s burned fallen trees and cars in the way!” There was a loud thump in the background.
“Do your best!” I yelled as Cheyenne pressed the transmit button.
“I see you coming up behind us, Taylor! I’m branching off to the right of Randy!” Julie yelled.
The big green monster moved out and took position on the right. Julie had to swerve in and out, avoiding cars and the trees Randy mentioned as we came up behind the plow.
Crap.
Patty wasn’t kidding.
The herd must have come from Mantenao. They were scattered in the middle of 64 but were converging on our group.
A lone Tank roared defiantly at the oncoming plow.
It was a female. Nearly as tall as the oncoming dump truck. Open sores oozed dark liquid down its arms and legs. Its arms were two different sizes and rippling with muscle. True to form for Tanks, its head was misshapen and contorted. One eye had moved to the side of its head, fangs sprouted haphazardly from its mouth and jaw, piercing through and tearing its gums and cheeks. The purple color of its skin was darker, cracked, peeling, along the length of its entire body.
It bellowed, swatting two slow moving Roamers out of its way, bursting their bodies apart in the process, and lowered its head to charge.
Runners headed directly for us, picking us and the following cars as their targets. Shots were already ringing out.
Cheyenne furiously tied herself to her seat as Janessa arranged ammo boxes, alternating pre-loaded rifles and Grandpa’s shotgun for use.
Cheyenne rolled down the window and climbed out.
“She scares me when she does that,” Janessa said as she began praying.
“Ditto. But I’m sure not going to argue the point with her.”
Cheyenne slammed her hand twice down on the roof of the Jeep, “Give me something to shoot!”
“Coming in!” Demetri yelled over the radio as Julie pulled back in to avoid a car.
“Take the lead, Taylor!” Julie screamed over the radio, dropping back behind us.
BANG klik-klack
A Runner leapt at the hood of the Jeep, its leap taking it too high and its knees collided with the roof and windshield, flipping it end over end into the green monster Dodge’s wheels behind us.
BANG klik-klack
BANG klik-klack
A Runner dropped as we-
The plow lurched in front of me and I slammed on the brakes as the right side of the dump truck tilted off the ground by a foot but kept moving.
I grabbed the radio. “We’re slowing down! We’re slowing down! Covering fire! Everyone! Covering fire! Hit anything moving!” I tossed the radio back to Janessa. “Relay messages if they come!”
“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” Janessa confirmed as she drew her Glock, rolled down the left side window and aimed at the monsters converging on us.
“Trouble eleven o’clock!” Julie yelled.
I looked where she mentioned.
Holy . . .
Twenty or more Runners were hauling ass toward us from
345 and Mantenao city. Another Tank trailed behind this new crowd in the distance.
Cheyenne fired continuously as I shouted at Janessa, “Ask Patty if they can increase their speed!”
The truck in front of me lurched again and rose off its right tires again.
“Skip it!” I screamed, “Never mind!”
BANG klik-klack
BANG klik-klack
BANG klik-klack
The green monster roared up beside me on my left. I glanced to see why Julie was passing me but when a much-too-close Runner that was trying to get to me, bounced off her grill and she ran it over, that was my answer.
Julie dropped back behind me as Cheyenne slid in the window.
Cheyenne began shoving shells into her Winchester. “Sorry! It kept zig zagging. I waved Julie to get it.”
“Switch?” Janessa yelled, offering another rifle, but Cheyenne shook her head and climbed back out.
BANG
Janessa fired behind me.
BANG klik-klack
BANG
BANG klik-klack
Unceasing gunfire resonated from behind us. Roaring from in front. Clicking and twittering from every other direction.
Blood rained down on us from ahead.
A deafening crash from behind startled us.
In the rearview mirror, I saw a horrible sight.
One of the cars had hit something, probably a parked car, and burst into flame. No one was exiting the vehicle. The cars behind it slowed minutely but drove quickly around it and closed the gap.
Janessa turned at the explosion and gasped.
“That was Teresa’s car!”
Teresa was one of the survivors from the hotel in Patterson. An older lady in her late fifties but a tough woman. She road with a teenaged boy, an elderly man, and a twenty-something woman.
“No one is getting out!” Janessa screamed, “No one is helping them!”
BANG klik-klack
“Janessa! Keep your mind on now! We’re going to be overrun! Keep firing!”
She was crying when she turned around, wiped her eyes, and bravely began firing again.
Additional blood splattered the windshield, making me duck and bob, trying to find a clear piece to see through to drive.
Cheyenne continued firing. Janessa slid back and forth across the seats rolling down side windows to fire in both directions. King was somewhere in the Jeep, but he remained quiet.
“Janessa! Look out!” Demetri yelled over the radio.
A Leaper playing dead ahead of us on the side of the road popped up and jumped directly for the open right-side window Janessa left open so she could shoot.
The Leaper collided with the window frame, found a handhold, and began crawling in the window.
Janessa screamed as she fired wildly inside the cab as I swerved to shake the thing off. Cheyenne was hitting it with the butt of her Winchester as Janessa fired. King leapt, barked, and latched onto the thing’s arm.
“Janessa stop shooting! You’ll kill Cheyenne!” I screamed.
“No ammo! I’ve got no ammo!” Cheyenne yelled, continuing to strike the hissing, screeching Leaper.
Janessa screamed.
Cheyenne cursed.
King growled and tossed his head back and forth, tearing at the Leaper’s arm.
The Winchester flew in the window, rebounding off the dashboard, as Cheyenne drew her hunting knife and tried to stab the monster. The Leaper fought both the dog and swatted at Cheyenne, nei
ther of them making contact but alternating defensive moves and attacks.
Janessa kicked out with both feet into the creature’s face, her powerful runner’s legs stunning the thing as it snapped at her thrashing feet.
Cheyenne continued cursing as she kept trying to stab her target.
Changed blood continued splattering the windshield in a fine mist while I weaved.
A Runner on my left put his sights on me and charged. I glanced over my shoulder and realized the window was still open behind me.
I rolled my window down and steadied the Jeep.
Janessa’s screams echoed in the interior as she stomped and kicked the creature.
The Runner on my left locked eyes with me in the side mirror.
I drew my Cattleman Colt .45 and aimed at the oncoming Runners chest.
BANG
The Runner flew backward, a gaping hole erupting from its back.
“Janessa! Get down! Move!” I aimed over the back of Cheyenne’s seat as Janessa shoved herself away from the creature.
The Leaper hissed at me, took a stab from Cheyenne in the arm and lurched halfway into the Jeep at me.
I put the barrel of the Colt between its eyes.
It roared.
I fired.
BANG
The rear of its skull disintegrated.
Its body flopped halfway in and out of the Jeep. Cheyenne stabbed it four times in the back as Janessa kicked its shoulders, its stinking blood showered her, me, and the interior of the Jeep, spraying from what remained of its head.
King let it go and snapped at the creature’s upper arm.
“Janessa! Kick it out!” Cheyenne yelled, shoving her blade back in its sheath.
I fired out my window at additional Runners coming toward us as Janessa struggled to push the thing out. Cheyenne crawled in, exchanged the Winchester for my tactical shotgun and climbed back out, resuming her firing.
BOOM
The limp Leaper tumbled out the window finally and Janessa rolled up the window moving back behind me, wiping her eyes free of the sticky, revolting, smelly Changed blood and commenced reloading the Winchester while praying under her breath.
Screams echoed over the radio from another vehicle then went dead, the transmission cut off. Cars in the mirror swerved around an out of control car with a Leaper and a Runner struggling with the passengers.
The survivors kept moving forward.
A choked-off roar ahead of us rose for a second and the plow’s rocking let us know the Tank had fallen and we braced for the body, or what was left of it, to tumble beneath us.
Cheyenne slid in just as we rolled over it, she and Janessa bumping their heads against the ceiling.
The green monster and every following vehicle bumped over it too, or swerved around it, one after the other.
We may have been firing for another hour, or ten minutes, or fifteen seconds, time lost its meaning as we fought through the Mantenao horde before we reached an open street of undeveloped swampland and the creatures fell behind.
We cracked the windows to get the stink out of the Jeep and wiped as much of the molasses-like blood off the interior and ourselves as we could, tossing the rags out the window. We poured rubbing alcohol onto the windshield as we drove; it cut through the Changed blood enough where I could run the windshield wipers. We slowed as it smeared, but more alcohol helped until it was clear enough to speed up.
Julie took a head count. Everyone was solemn as each driver called out the survivors and the names of the lost.
A marina on our left smoldered from an earlier fire as we left the dried-out land on either side of us. The docks were abandoned, bodies rotted on some of the decks of the remaining boats. Several Roamers and their small Skittlers watched us pass. One Porcupine raised on its hind legs to watch as we moved onto another bridge before coming to another tiny island, another abandoned marina, and another short bridge.
There was one final island and a final marina before I knew we’d reached Cape Hatteras National Park Road and could see the seashore and the Atlantic.
“How bad is it, Julie?” I asked, finally realizing I had a duty as leader to know.
Julie was slow in answering. “We lost two cars and nine people. Five people are wounded.” She didn’t say anything more.
Julie was never that succinct.
“You okay?”
Pause.
“Yeah.” There was no enthusiasm in her voice. “Going to just drive for a while.”
“Roger.” I’ll leave it at that. “Randy? How are you? How does it look ahead?”
Patty answered, “The plow isn’t responding. It won’t raise or lower again. We’ve . . . we need to get this thing’s head out of the scoop. It’s staring at us.”
Cheyenne and I exchanged surprised glances.
“Understood, we can stop in a moment and dump it out if its safe. Are you two okay?”
Pause.
“Got it. We’ll stop at the next island. Out,” Patty answered.
I’ll leave it at that.
I reached over and took Cheyenne’s hand and looked back in the mirror at Janessa. Her eyes were shut as she prayed.
“How about us? Are we okay?”
Janessa nodded, eyes still closed, and continued her prayer.
Cheyenne squeezed my hand as a wet nose pushed up under our palms and King rested his chin on Cheyenne’s thigh.
“I’m good,” she said, but her hair obscured her face as she stared out the side window. King put a paw up on her leg too.
I let her go as she stroked the setter’s head.
We were good. Yeah. We were good.
Janessa’s hand rested on my shoulder.
Cheyenne looked over and put her hand on my forearm.
Yeah, we were good.
Janessa leaned forward and hugged me around the neck.
Cheyenne’s hand slid down my arm and she leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder and Janessa’s arm.
Yeah, we’re good.
Yeah. We’re good. Almost home. Almost home.
Chapter 9
“Hey, um, Taylor, I don’t know what this is. You might want to come up here.” Randy asked as the plow slowed to a crawl soon after we stopped to clean off our windows and to remove the Tank’s head.
I drove the Jeep to the left of the plow, Julie drove to the right. Everyone behind us stopped and waited.
What in the world was this?
Tractor trailer rigs, random cars, large delivery trucks, even boat trailers stretched across the bridge all the way across the end of the bridge, blocking the shoreline. The vehicles formed a barrier, a wall, across the road. A construction crane sat on the other side of the barrier having placed cars on top of one another, sometimes three, forming the wall. Two delivery trucks formed a sort of gate, one end of each vehicle aimed toward the water. The westbound lane was completely obstructed, with no makeshift gate. Access available only one way, one road, in or out.
We exited our vehicles, having stopped fifty yards away from the barrier.
The stench reached us from there.
Body parts, human and otherwise, were scattered along the barrier and at its base. Flies buzzed in great clouds. A congregation of gators rested at the base too, having had their fill of meat. Each covered in sticky, Changed blood and more reddish, dried, human blood. Gore painted the metal vehicles, heat waves partially obscuring the upper regions of the vehicles where men, women, and all types of mutations other than Tanks, looked like they were what was left of a life or death struggle. Death had certainly collected its due on both sides.
Julie dry heaved by the front of the plow.
She held up a hand, “Sorry. That just really stinks.”
“What the hell happened here?” Randy asked.
I shrugged. “Looks like they were trying to keep the mainland monsters out.”
“Yeah, that didn’t work so well,” Cheyenne mumbled, King sat at her side as she looked through her Winchester�
��s scope.
“I hate to do this, but we need our eagle eye lookout and a better view of what’s past there.” I retrieved the radio from the Jeep.
Moments later, Lexi and Mia came running with their binoculars.
I knelt in front of the smallest sister. “Mia? I hate to ask this of you, but you see what’s behind me?” She leaned around me, glanced, and nodded. “I need you to climb on top of the plow and tell us what you see past that wall. Be careful, there could be people over there and they might think we’re mutants and might shoot at you.” I glanced at Lexi. ‘Lexi? You watch out for her as she scouts ahead, okay? Same as usual. Are both of you okay with this?”
They nodded. “We’ve seen stuff like this,” Lexi said, indicating the wall. “Not a wall like this, but the mess. We can do it.”
I stood, and they started to walk by me, but I stopped them. “If it’s too much, stop and climb down.”
Mia nodded at me. Lexi shrugged. “We’ll be okay, Taylor. We know what we have to do.”
We helped them to the side of the truck, Lexi taking the lead, pulling Mia up after her. They’re brave kids. They kept low until they inspected over the walls through the binoculars, then they came up on their knees. Mia began signing to her sister.
“Lots of alligators on both sides of the road. Nothing moving,” Lexi yelled down, “Lots of parked cars on that side of the road. Like, really parked. Not abandoned.” She paused, asked Mia for clarification, and continued, “There’s a bunch of dead people and dead monsters on the other side. More dead people lying on the ground by the wall. She says, by how the dead people are lying on the road, they were running from the wall. It looks like it’s recent too. There’s a gas station on the right past the wall with more dead and parked cars. Some of the people and monsters haven’t started swelling. Birds are . . .” She paused. “Ew. Birds are eating them, and a few alligators are tearing stuff apart.”
“No survivors hiding in cars?” I yelled up.
Lexi shook her head. “Nope. Nothing moving except the birds and alligators.”
I called them down. They were resilient. Seeing such horrors and adapting and accepting it. Or they pushed it mentally aside.
“So,” Demetri said, “how are we going to move those gators?”
The Unchanged (Book 3): Safe Harbor Page 6