“Chaz—you read?” Yuri’s voice boomed from the CB on the dashboard.
This woke Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and the kids and they yawned and stretched before looked at me and around at the scenery that we were passing.
“Where are we, baby?” Sheila asked as she reached forward and wrapped her arms around my shoulders giving me a morning kiss.
“We’re coming upon Varberg, Sweden.” I answered as I picked up the CB receiver.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” I asked into the receiver.
“We stop up here in clearing near roadway—group needs rest.” Yuri answered on the other end.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked glancing around with a worried expression.
“He’s right baby—you’ve been driving all night and I know that the others are tired.” Jennifer answered placing her hand on my thigh.
“We passed what looked like a camp about half a mile back that looked like it had tents and stuff—a few of us can go back and see if there’s any supplies that we can use.” Richard stated on his end.
“Very well—we do need to keep close watch though; the last thing we need to happen is to be overrun by an army of those dead-heads and other mutations.” I answered into the CB as I pulled our Mustang off the road into the clearing that the others had mentioned.
Everyone got out of their vehicles and we met up in the center of the roadway with our weapons in hand.
“This spot looks like it will be easy to defend if it comes down to it—once we check that campsite a ways back and find out if there’s anything that we can use we’ll know how long we’re staying.” Beau stated as he limped over and leaned against the side of the Eco-Roamer.
“I’ll go check and see what I can find at the campsite.” Yuri stated as he shouldered his AK-74M assault rifle.
“I’ll go too—he’ll need assistance with whatever he finds.” Billy stated as he and Kayla stepped up.
“I’ll help.” Kira answered as he gripped her weapons and glanced around at the others.
“Let’s go get it done before sun gets hot.” Yuri stated as he started out in the lead.
“Be careful you guys—don’t take any unnecessary risks; if you run into trouble get your asses back here.” I commanded as I watched after them as they were leaving.
“You got it.” Billy answered turning and waving.
We all settled down and waited and I leaned against our Mustang and sorted through my gear and ammo as Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe stood next to me with Remy, Mace, Ember, Xavier and Darc Aiden close—I couldn’t help but worry about the others as I knew that we had ran into to some particularly nasty creatures as of the past several months.
“I know that we have to have rest but I hope that this isn’t a bad mistake stopping out in the open like this.” Jennifer stated with a hint of worry in her tone.
“I hope not either babe—as soon as everyone has rested we’re leaving; hopefully they can find some things worth the time it’s going to take them to walk back to that campsite.” I answered as I brought the three of them into my arms.
It didn’t seem like it took too awful long for Yuri’s group to return and they brought several large bags with them that looked like they had been packed up in a rush—further examination of the bags once they had been sat down on the roadway before us revealed that they were tents.
“Least we have places to sleep for a while now—how was the campsite?” Richard asked as he glanced up at Billy and the others.
“It was empty but it looked like a group of survivors were there not but a day or so ago and there was blood everywhere—it looked like they were massacred.” Billy answered with a distant look as he brought Kayla into his arms.
“That goes to show that we don’t need to linger in this area longer than we have to—let’s rest up and then leave.” I answered folding my arms.
Everyone got the tents set up in the grassy areas next to the vehicles and several of the guys brought pieces of brush and other wood into the center of camp and started a fire, shortly afterward my mom and the other ladies cooked up dinner and everyone sat around the fire eating—it seemed good to be out of the car but I knew that we were critically exposed this way and I couldn’t help but worry; we all bedded down in the tents and slept for around four hours and by the time we woke up it was well into the evening. I got up waking Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe as well as Remy, Mace and Ember gathering our weapons and gear and unzipping the flap of the tent—the others were waking as well as the ones who had been awake on watch were getting their things back into the vehicles.
“Let’s get going—we have a long trip ahead of us.” I stated as the girls brought out their things behind me as well as our kids.
“Have there been any troubles?” I asked turning to Hugo and Amy who were gathering boxes of supplies and putting them into the Eco-Roamer.
“No—we’ve heard sounds of the undead on the wind from off in the distance but we haven’t seen any of them…yet.” Hugo answered as he pointed off to the north in the direction that we had come from earlier.
“Let’s move guys.” I answered as I turned and stashed my weapons and gear inside of our Mustang.
It didn’t take long for the others to put out what was left if the fire and gather up their gear as well as the tents which we had found and claimed and we pulled out of the area heading further southeast along the roadway. We passed through the moderate sized city of Varberg and continued through the night until around sometime in the early morning hours when I switched driving with Jennifer getting some rest in the passenger seat beside of her; I noticed that Billy and several of the others in the vehicles behind us stopped to switch drivers as well and once we were ready we continued on. I soon fell asleep and once again had the same dream as before where I saw the vast and unfamiliar landscape filled with the scourge of undead, except this time the dream took me into what looked like mountainous highlands and then to what looked like a massive facility that was heavily shielded and dug into the side of a mountain that it was barely visible—that was when the dream shifted and an image of Angie’s face appeared before me, except she wasn’t smiling the loving smile that I remembered; she had a look of sadness on her face and the image faded just as quickly as it had appeared and I found myself waking with a start.
“Are you okay baby?” Sheila asked as she noticed my reaction.
“Yeah…just that dream again…the one that has the vast countryside and the horde of undead—except this time it took me into the mountains and showed me this large facility of some sort that was so dug into the side of a mountain that it was almost camouflaged to where I couldn’t see it…and then an image of Angie appeared before me.” I answered in deep thought.
“That was your wife who died wasn’t it?” Chloe asked with sympathy as she massaged my shoulder muscles.
“Yes…but she wasn’t herself—it looked like she was sad or something and then she just vanished and I woke up.” I answered turning to glance at her.
“I wonder what that meant…” Jennifer stated with a distant look as she stared ahead at the roadway.
“The facility very well could have been where Bowman is hiding…but I don’t know what the rest of it could mean.” I answered in deep thought.
Shortly afterward I relieved Jennifer and took over driving and as the morning and day dragged on I watched as we passed through a number of moderate sized cities until we finally came to a city called Malmö, Sweden—a long extension of bridge that stretched across the bay could be seen beyond the city.
“That bridge will take us into Denmark—Copenhagen to be exact.” Sheila stated from the backseat as she looked over the map.
“How are you guys doing so far?” I asked into the CB.
“We’re alright so far, just anxious to get to the mainland of Europe.” Billy answered on his end with a c
huckle.
“Fine here, just a little tired.” Richard answered on his end.
“I know what you mean—maybe once we get to the main part of Europe we can see if we can’t find somewhere safe to hole up for a few days, just so we can regain our strength from all of this traveling.” I answered with a smile.
“That sounds good to me as long as it doesn’t end up like it did in the hotel in New York City.” Hugo answered as the sound of Latino music could be heard in the background.
“What is that sound?” Billy asked over the CB.
“That’s his jams—we found a CD player that we didn’t know about on the dashboard.” Beau answered with a chuckle.
“Damn—that makes me miss my portable CD player that I picked up from that store a few years ago.” I stated with a distant stare.
“Just as long as it doesn’t distract you guys.” My dad answered on his end as my sister and Ella’s chatter could be heard in the background.
I led the way through the last of the Swedish cities with haste as the dead-heads and other mutations took chase after us and it only took a few minutes to get to the span of bridge that would take us across the bay into Copenhagen, I sped up leading the convoy across the bridge with the knowledge that we had a surge of undead right behind us.
“I’ve got to do something to stop those things from following us—if we choose to stop somewhere in Copenhagen they’ll just overwhelm us there!” Beau shouted on his end of the CB.
Behind us Beau briefly opened the back door of the Eco-Roamer long enough to aim an RPG launcher back toward the undead who were a ways behind us but still coming—he fired and the rocket soared through the air and hit the roadway in front of the first wave of dead-heads creating a large explosion but once the fire and smoke had cleared they could still be seen coming.
“Are you trying to take out the bridge in that area?” Desiree asked as she glanced back at him.
“Yeah—it’s the only way to stop those fuckers from following us!” Beau answered as Hugo brought the Eco-Roamer to a complete stop.
By now I was aware that they had stopped and I slowed our Mustang down and stopped getting out glancing back as Yuri got out of the Van that my dad was driving carrying his black bag in his hand.
“Stay here babes—I’m going to see what the others are doing.” I stated as I glanced at Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe who looked like they were wondering what was going on.
Heading back to the rear of the convoy I met up with Beau and Hugo who were steadily shooting at the zombies and other mutations that came too close as Yuri knelt down nearby rigging what looked like a series of powerful explosives together.
“The only way we’re going to stop these fuckers from following us into Copenhagen and overrunning wherever it is we stop is by destroying this section of bridge.” Beau answered upon my questioning glance.
“That’s a good idea but we better hurry and get across if that’s the case!” I answered as I turned and started running back toward our Mustang.
“We’ll let you know once the bomb is planted and everyone is ready to move.” Beau shouted after me.
I arrived back at our Mustang and got into the driver’s seat strapping myself in as I revved the engine loudly.
“What’s going on baby?” Jennifer cried with a worried expression.
“They’re blowing the bridge behind us but we’ve got to move fast as soon as they give us the signal.” I answered glancing over at her and then back at Sheila and Chloe as well as Remy, Mace and Ember.
“Chaz—go, now!” Hugo shouted over the CB.
I released the brake and sped on ahead with the others close behind and I found myself wondering exactly how much time we actually had before the whole bridge underneath us could possibly plummet into the sea.
“If we can make it to the small strip of land in the center of the bay we’ll be okay—the bomb is on a thirty second count down.” Beau stated on his end.
“Shit!” I shouted as I put my foot almost all the way down onto the accelerator passing the 100 mph mark.
The others behind us took a few seconds to catch up to my speed and I was relieved when I saw that we had arrived on the small, but long sliver of land that marked itself as the center of the bay and I slowed down enough to stop as the others pulled in behind us; seconds later we covered our ears and briefly looked away as the flash from the explosion could be seen rising—the bridge section that we had just passed over cracked slightly and there was no doubt in our minds that the entire section of bridge were the undead horde had been was now destroyed.
“Well…that takes care of those dead fucks—let’s get to Copenhagen and off this damned bridge.” Hugo stated with a relieved tone.
I started up again in the lead with the others close behind us and eventually we arrived at the other side of the long bridge in Copenhagen, Denmark; it felt good to be entering a new country as it seemed like we had been in Sweden for a long while. We were passing by a large area that was no doubt the Copenhagen Airport—large 747 airliners and other aircraft sat around the area vacant and abandoned and it seemed a little strange to me knowing that Bowman’s plague had actually became a global pandemic back in early 2001 only months after we had fled to Hawaii; somehow I couldn’t help but feel bad for all of the people who had probably never even known what was happening until it was already too late. I had to snap my mind out of the past and back to the present because I knew that I needed my complete concentration in order to not only keep myself alive, but also those that I loved; that was when a distant noise got my attention and I glanced up through the armored slots in the windshield of our Mustang and seen a large helicopter flying away from us toward the direction of southwest—it was a massive looking thing that looked like some kind of gunship.
“Damn…that’s a Mi-24 Hind Gunship…must be more of those damned marauders—I hope they didn’t see us.” Hugo’s voice stated over the CB.
“Just in case we better not stick around this area for too long, we could come under attack if we’re spotted.” I answered as I briefly picked up the CB receiver speaking into it.
After several minutes the enemy aircraft had disappeared and I continued driving west past a massive sized park and eventually crossed another bridge over a moderately large channel of water coming back into the main part of the city on the other side. By that time our fuel levels had almost hit rock bottom so I was forced to stop at a station that was damaged somewhat on the north end and I pulled our Mustang up to what looked like the regular fuel pumps and turned off the engine as the others behind me done the same.
“Reading these road signs and such is going to be fun—I seem to have forgotten my ‘How to Read Danish’ handbook.” Billy joked as we looked over the pumps.
“We just keep heading in a southwestern direction toward the towns of Soro and Slagelse, then we cross another large stretch of water and then we’ll be on the center island called Funen.” Sheila read from the map that she placed on the hood of our Mustang.
“Yep—first we have to figure out these pumps; find out if there’s even any power here to make them work.” Jennifer stated as she held her AK-74 assault rifle in her arms.
I gripped my M16 and headed toward the glass doors of the station that were littered with pieces of paper that had some sort of Danish message written on them as well as the familiar red biohazard symbol—I pushed the doors open and glanced around the room shining my flashlight around the dark areas of the store; it seemed to be laid out a little different than stores back home in what had been the United States were and I finally found my way to the counter where I fumbled around in the dark until I found a switch. I flipped it into the up position and then went to the door and opened them calling out to the others.
“Anything yet?” I asked as I stepped a few paces toward the others.
“Nope—nothing, I’ll bet that this
place doesn’t have any power.” Richard answered as he squeezed the handle on the nozzle that he had stuck into the tank of the Gurkha.
“Let me go back inside and see if there’s a generator in the back.” I answered turning to head back toward the glass doors of the store.
I went back inside and looked around through the darkness until I found another door, I pried it open and found a hallway going into another set of rooms that looked to be used for maintenance and management and I went into the last room on my left which had a large machine that I recognized as being a generator; I checked the fuel supply for it and saw that it had a little less than a half of a tank and I pulled the cord on the top a few times until it finally sputtered and roared to life.
“Someone must be keeping gas in this thing from time to time…I wonder of it is survivors or more of our annoying friends who work for Bowman.” I said to myself as I picked up my M16 and headed back out to the others.
Once I had gotten back outside I met Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe with hugs and kisses and then I turned to the others.
“It seems to be working now—this shouldn’t take long.” Hugo answered upon my questioning glance as he pumped the diesel fuel into the Eco-Roamer.
I began pumping our fuel into our Mustang and it took about ten minutes to get all of our vehicles’ tanks filled up and then we pulled out of there not wanting to stay out in the open for longer than we had to.
“Where are we planning on stopping to rest?” Morgana asked over the CB.
“I’m thinking somewhere on the middle island—I was going to suggest that we find a place here in Copenhagen but I just get the feeling that it might not be a good idea.” I answered picking up the CB receiver and speaking into it.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 48