Fun World

by Kirk Withrow

  Albeit bright, the flash of the launch was nothing compared to the explosion that erupted a split second later—a thundering boom, a white-hot flash, and intense heat that made the fires of hell seem tepid. The roiling inferno engulfed a ten-meter radius around the UTV. Eric would’ve loved nothing more than to bear witness to the retribution rained down from above, but the force and brightness of the detonation refused to allow it. The concussive blast sent shockwaves through the crowd, knocking many, including Lila and him, to the ground. Everything near the point of impact was obliterated instantly.

  Brain addled and ears ringing, Eric gaped at the scene of absolute pandemonium all around him. He called out to Lila who was seated on the ground next to him, but if the words came, he couldn’t hear them. As the intense light of the explosion faded, the aftermath came into greater focus. Rock and metal, bone and flesh—ruined fragments of everything that post-apocalyptic Fun World had to offer—filled the sky before raining down upon them.

  A large chunk of jagged metal slammed into the ground less than five feet from where Eric had fallen. The zombie lying in its path never saw it coming as the searing metal sliced through its flesh like a guillotine’s finely honed blade, decapitating it with ease. With vacant eyes still wide open, its head rolled toward him before coming to rest with an oddly accusatory stare. A few feet away, the smoldering metal sizzled against the zombie’s cold flesh.

  Although it could’ve been a flaming piece of tire or other debris, Eric thought he saw the Larry the Lion mask soaring through the air above the ball of flame. Despite the horror all around, he couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear at the karmic justice he’d just witnessed. Unsure of how Lila felt about seeing her favorite character vaporized right before her eyes, he did his best to hide his jubilant expression.

  “Aaaaeeee, uuu eeee...”

  Faintly at first, as if coming from a million miles away, Eric heard a frightened voice calling out. The words unclear, he glanced around in search of the voice’s owner but saw no one. Turning to Lila, he noticed her lips moving amidst the pained look on her face. She held up a bloody hand as she spoke.

  “Daddy, help me. I’m bleeding.”

  Even though Eric’s hearing had yet to return, the sight of her hand and the movement of her lips told him what she was saying. He poked his finger through a hole in his mud-stained shirt and tore a strip of fabric loose. With no way to clean the small laceration, the best he could do was quickly tie the cloth around her palm to staunch the bleeding. As his hearing slowly returned, it brought with it the sound of a hundred hungry moans. All around them, the zombies that had survived the explosion were getting back to their feet. Aching from head to toe, he, too, climbed haggardly to his feet before helping Lila to do the same.

  17

  Eric saw to his left and close by the entrance to the Tram to Tomorrow, a slow and rather boring ride that provided an elevated tour of Future Land. Considering the sea of zombies closing in around them, it was the elevated part that piqued his interest. Uncertain of how well Lila was hearing after the loud explosion, he grabbed her uninjured hand and pointed toward the entrance.

  Thirty seconds later, he and Lila slipped under the turnstile’s metal arms. He pushed a heavy podium in front of the entrance in hopes of slowing the pursuing monsters, and then they mounted the stairs two at a time. When they came to the metal railings at the beginning of the waiting line, they took the more direct route of climbing over them rather than weaving through the seemingly endless switchbacks. Once at the top, they found the Tram’s loading area completely abandoned. Had there been any zombies on the platform, they’d either wandered away or fallen off the elevated railway. Grouped in sets of five, the passenger cars, along with the moving sidewalk used to facilitate loading and unloading, sat motionless, as though awaiting visitors that would never come. It was the first time they weren’t completely surrounded by zombies since they’d left the mud pit, and Eric took a moment to consult the map he’d worked so hard to obtain. After a moment, he pointed toward a white, dome-shaped building in the distance and said, “Let’s head to the Deep Space Vortex.”

  The Vortex was a massive indoor roller coaster that operated primarily in the dark. He had wanted to ride it, but neither Lila nor Melanie could be convinced. Now he hoped they could avoid Future Land’s growing zombie horde by cutting through the building. As part of the tour, the Tram passed through a section of the Vortex, which meant they should be able to get there without having to go back to ground level. While he didn’t know how far the quarantine zone extended, he knew that the Deep Space Vortex was located on the periphery of Fun World, and very near to the service entrance.

  Lila offered no objection as they started moving carefully down the track. Although it was after dusk, there was still enough light to see the narrow catwalk. With very little to keep them from falling off of the narrow walkway running adjacent to the track, they tried to focus on their foot placement rather than the swirling death that awaited them should they take a bad step. As they walked, the monotonous snarls of the zombie mass were increasingly punctuated by sound of helicopters sweeping the area with spotlights blazing.

  When they came to a section of the track roughly halfway between the loading zone and the dome, Eric said, “Let’s hop in one of these cars and catch our breath.” The roof overhead meant that they would be safely out of view of the increasing number of spotlights lighting up the sky as the sun sank lower. As Lila’s entire body ached more than she thought possible, she couldn’t remember ever hearing an idea that sounded so good. Eric hoisted her into the tramcar before climbing in after her. He immediately collapsed onto the closest bench seat, while Lila turned and rested her chin on the edge of the car. In the dying light, she marveled at what had become of the world around her. No longer the quiet, peaceful ride it once was, the Tram to Tomorrow had been reduced to an aerial viewing platform for the carnage currently devouring Fun World and all of its magic.

  Before the light of day faded completely, Eric took out the map they’d worked so hard to get. He studied it intensely, working out the route he planned to take and committing as much as he could to memory. When he was satisfied with his plan, he sat up and peered in the direction of the Vortex. There were other groups of tramcars on the tracks, including one in which the two lead cars had somehow derailed. They hung precariously, suspended roughly three feet above the ground below. The dangling tramcars swayed occasionally as if caught by a strong breeze. Although countless zombies shambled past them, none seemed to possess the coordination to make such a climb. The combined weight of the derailed cars had pulled the third car off the tracks, but it had wedged against one of the heavy steel support beams. As the car spanned the catwalk, they would have to climb over it in order to reach the Vortex.

  Just beyond the partially derailed train, Eric thought he saw movement. From a distance, he couldn’t make out exactly what it was, though he had a fairly good idea of what he was likely to find. Not wanting to be caught off guard, he decided he needed to move closer in order to get a better read on the situation. When he turned to Lila, he found her snoring softly on the bench seat. Given that whatever was on the tracks ahead couldn’t make it to their current position, he decided not to wake her.

  Staying low, Eric crept along the walkway, keeping close to the tramcars as he approached the obstruction. With his dirt-encrusted clothes and nightfall steadily approaching, he felt fairly well camouflaged. When he reached the last car before the derailed train, he slipped inside. Peering over the rear seat, he scanned the area in hopes of identifying what he’d seen. Although he could still see something moving, it was actually what he heard that confirmed what he’d expected: the faint snarls and steady thuds meant there were zombies on the walkway. How they’d come to be there he didn’t know, but their presence would certainly make reaching the Vortex more complicated. Straining his eyes, he counted at least four of them. The support beam that prevented the entire train from crashing to the
ground also seemed to be keeping the zombies from taking the plunge.

  While climbing over the tramcar would be no problem, the thought of Lila and him fighting the zombies on what was little more than a tight rope with only a kitchen knife seemed like a death wish. Deflated, Eric sank back into the car and listened to the zombies as he tried to come up with a new plan. Just when he’d decided that he couldn’t bear to hear one more disgusting snarl, he heard a tinny noise that seemed wholly out of place.

  Intrigued, he eased out of the car and crawled toward the derailed train. As he got closer, he realized that the sound was the squawking of a two-way radio. Every time the radio chattered, the zombies nearby increased their volume in response. He felt as though he were in the midst of a game of zombie Marco Polo as he tried to zero in on where the sound was coming from. After a couple of minutes, he leaned out over the walkway’s edge and saw an undead soldier trapped inside the closest of the derailed cars. The webbing on its battle vest was wrapped around the door’s emergency release handle and could have easily been untangled by simply leaning back, but back wasn’t in the zombie’s nature. As such, it pressed forward, straining as though it might be able to tear itself free. It flailed its arms wildly, causing the cars swung to and fro like strange fruit hanging from a tree. Clipped to the vest’s shoulder was the source of the sound.

  Eric listened for a moment, only catching bits and pieces of what was being said. If he really wanted to know what the military was up to, he needed to get the radio. Moving as quietly as possible, he inched forward until his back pressed against the derailed car between him and the zombies on the track. Grasping the rail with one hand, he leaned over the side and stretched his other hand as far as he could. Fingers straining, he brushed against the radio several times before finally getting hold of it. The zombie soldier squirmed and thrashed as Eric wrestled the radio free. As he brought it up to the railway, it squawked loudly, sending the nearby zombies into a frenzy. Hoping not to get the natives too riled up, he switched the radio off. There’ll be time to listen to what the military is saying later… Although he couldn’t see it, he imagined the trapped soldier had a weapon strapped to his side. Leaning out even further, he stretched his arm down, carefully avoiding the zombie’s snapping maw as he felt for its sidearm. His heart leapt when his fingers brushed against the holster, but immediately came crashing down when he discovered that it was empty. Dammit! Just my luck…

  The sun had completely set, making the return trip down the narrow walkway even more nerve-racking. Eric hoped Lila would still be asleep when he made it back, as he didn’t want her to wake up alone. Spotlights continued tracing paths across the sky in every direction, presumably looking for anyone attempting to break the quarantine. If not for the whirring of the helicopters’ rotors, it would have seemed like a light show at a rock concert.

  Lila stirred as he climbed into the car. “Daddy, what’s going on?” she asked sleepily.

  He proceeded to fill her in on the details of the derailed train, the zombies, the helicopters, and the radio he’d acquired. When he finished, her expression told him she wasn’t too happy he’d left her alone and asleep in the abandoned tramcar.

  With zombies roaming the ground below and blocking the track ahead, and helicopters above shining enough lights to make it seem like daytime, Eric felt trapped in the unmoving tramcar. The zombies would do what zombies did if given the chance, and everyone they’d seen or heard trying to escape the quarantine zone had been summarily killed by the soldiers. Scenario after scenario he came up with ended with a high likelihood of being eaten by the undead or gunned down by the living, until a seemingly unrelated memory gave him an idea he thought might just get them to the Vortex safely.

  Several days before the outbreak began, Lila had convinced her parents to join her on a ride called The Final Frontier. Accessed from the same platform as the Tram to Tomorrow, it consisted of a bunch of four-seat rockets attached to a central shaft that rose high above Future Land. At approximately fifty feet above the ground, the rockets circled around and around for several nauseating minutes. Eric recalled looking down and wondering whom his puke would land on if the ride’s unrelenting rotations didn’t end soon. Additionally, he remembered thinking that the brilliant white roof over the Tram tracks looked like an ivory river snaking through Future Land.

  When Lila and he had raced through the loading zone and onto the tracks, he’d noticed out of the corner of his eye several pairs of snow-white coveralls hanging near the turnstiles. Employees of both the Tram and The Final Frontier wore the uniforms, which looked like those worn by scientists and researchers working in a sophisticated laboratory. The bleached white fabric called to mind a cleanliness and sterility that starkly contrasted the filth of Lila’s and his muddy clothes. Fortunately, it perfectly matched the gleaming white river he saw in his mind.

  “Lila, wait here. I have an idea about how we can get out of here,” Eric said excitedly. Remembering that he’d already left her alone once, she shot him a displeased look before reluctantly nodding her head in agreement. A short while later, he returned with a pair of bright white bunny suits and said, “Here. Slip this on over your clothes.”

  Confused as to why they would want to dress in what appeared to be anti-camouflage, she did as he asked. When he explained his plan in detail, a look of understanding spread across Lila’s face. Affixed to the side of one of the support beams was a ladder that accessed the roof. Like giant marshmallows, they crawled along the tracks, hoping the oversized suits wouldn’t cause them to tumble into the undead sea swirling below. Only after they were safely on the roof did they feel the least bit concealed.

  With no moon visible in the sky, the blackness of night was absolute. Aside from the dizzying array of crisscrossing searchlights, the only thing they could see was the outline of the Deep Space Vortex’s radiant white dome. Even the luminous path that was the roof seemed to disappear into the darkness a few feet in front of them. Staying as flat against the roof as possible, they began the long process of low crawling toward the Vortex. It was impossible to tell how far away the imposing building was, and it never seemed to get any closer no matter how far they traveled. On more than one occasion, they were forced to stop completely as the beam of a searchlight passed directly overhead. The disguises must have been sufficient, as none of the helicopters so much as circled back around for a closer look. After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached the Vortex’s steep roof. Much to Eric’s relief, there was a ladder that led down to the tracks bolted to the building’s side.

  Although it was still dark, the clouds shifted, allowing the moon to blanket the landscape with its meager light. The tracks below were free of zombies, though Eric knew they weren’t too far down the line. He had no idea if they were capable of moving this far back. Without making a sound, Lila and he descended the ladder, removing the white suits once they were back on the tracks.

  Just ahead, the Tram passed through the Deep Space Vortex before emerging on the far side and looping back around. He planned to follow the tracks into the Vortex and then use the building as cover while they looked for a way to exit on the backside. According to the map, this would put them as close to the service entrance and the park’s perimeter as possible.

  Even with them stepping lightly, their footsteps echoed inside the massive Vortex. As the roller coaster was intended to operate in the dark, very little natural light filtered in from outside the building. One exception to that were the skylights located above the Tram tracks, which let in just enough ambient light to allow them to see what lay directly in front of them. Cautiously, they followed the tracks deeper into the expansive building. Even with the faint light coming in through the skylights, it was still too dark to see a clear route into the rest of the building. They settled for a maintenance room to the right of the tracks just before they exited the Vortex. Inside the small room was a window that opened to the outside. Eric decided it would be prudent to stop inside a
nd wait for sunrise in the hopes that there would be enough light to allow them to safely move through the structure’s darkened interior.

  Eric and Lila slipped inside the maintenance room, closing the door behind them. Even though there were few comforts to be found within the small room, they settled in, and Lila was dozing almost immediately. He couldn’t blame her. The recent days had been mentally stressful and physically demanding, and hadn’t allowed for much sleep. He scoured the room for anything useful and found a length of one-inch steel pipe that would suffice as a melee weapon. With nothing else to do, he pulled out the two-way radio and switched it on.

  Much of what Eric heard was unintelligible static or undecipherable jargon. He found it hard to believe that the military’s radio technology apparently hadn’t improved since his time in the service many years ago. He wasn’t the least bit surprised to find that the content hadn’t changed much, however. There were random exchanges of bravado and chest thumping as well as messages regarding mundane, useless information such as the coffee being too weak or too cold. Once, he heard mention of a possible cure for the outbreak, but that was immediately followed by many calls of bullshit. Sadly, he believed the latter more likely to be true, particularly considering that he’d heard nothing about what was responsible for the dead reanimating in the first place. One thing the radio transmissions made abundantly clear was that the containment effort wasn’t going well. To Eric, it sounded like only a matter of time before the quarantine’s collapse, something he knew the powers that be couldn’t allow to happen.