“Told you,” Emily said rather unnecessarily, and Chas shot her a nasty look.
The current grabbed her legs and dragged the rest of her body in as well until she was left clutching the mattress with desperate fingers. “Hurry, I’m slipping!”
Taking the plunge, Dean pushed the make-shift raft off the bank while the other two girls followed, clinging onto the sides. With a huge splash, they all landed in the water, their shocked cries attesting to the extreme cold.
The river took control, sucking the mattress with its four occupants deep into its maw. As they were swept downstream, Chas looked back for a brief moment, in time to catch a glimpse of the two guards as they returned to their stations, their lights bobbing up and down in the dark. Thankfully, they didn’t spot Chas or the group, and soon, they were out of sight as the water carried the four friends further and further away.
Chapter 6
Chas sucked in a deep breath as the cold leeched into her flesh, and she quickly wedged her hands into the cord binding their stuff to the raft. “Guys, you’d better get a good grip. In this cold, our fingers will go numb soon.”
“That’s right,” Emily agreed. “We can’t stay in the water too long, Chas. Or we’ll die of hypothermia.”
“I know, but it’s just until we’re clear of the zombies,” Chas replied, her teeth chattering like mad.
“Speaking of which, here they come. Quiet, everyone,” Vanessa said. “Not a sound.”
The four clung to the mattress as the river swept them past the barrier that stretched in a long line right up to the steep embankment. On the other side, horror awaited. Thousands upon thousands of the undead, their bodies undulating beneath the light of the moon like stalks of wheat waving in the breeze. A field of black, and gray, and silver.
A field of death.
In absolute silence, Chas stared at them, her gaze fixed on their hideous forms. Even in the poor light, certain aspects were revealed, their unnatural forms no longer human. She clenched her teeth together to keep them from making a noise. The last thing they needed was for the zombies to spot them.
Could they swim? Float? Would they even try to go into the river after food? Chas didn’t know, but she wasn’t planning on finding out either. Instead, she focussed on her breathing and keeping her head above water while not making a sound. Soon. It will be over soon.
The river kept up its breakneck pace, sweeping them past the infected until they began to thin out. As their ranks dwindled, Chas breathed easier. Now that the undead threat was fading, her attention fixed itself on their other problems. For one, she could no longer feel her fingers or much of her legs. Her entire body shook with the cold, and her jaws ached from the effort of keeping her teeth together.
“How…how m…much longer do we have, Emily?” she managed to whisper in a shaking voice.
“F…five, maybe ten minutes tops. T…too late, after that,” Emily replied.
“D…damn.”
Chas glanced back at the zombies. There was still too many. They could never land safely on that bank. That left the other side. She turned to look for a way out of the water at the same time that Emily sneezed, loud and clear. Not once, not twice, but three times in rapid succession.
Chas froze, horror flooding her brain. Her head turned of its own volition, and she saw the first infected walk into the water after them. It had heard Emily, and the dinner bell was struck.
The infected simply fell into the raging torrent, its hands reaching for them while it moaned. More followed, splashes ringing out up and down the embankment as the zombies swarmed the river. The water seized them, dragging them into its embrace and pushing them downriver toward Chas and her group.
For several seconds, Chas could do nothing but watch, her brain stuttering in terror even as the cold slowed down her faculties. What to do? What to do?
“C..Chas? They’re coming!” Emily cried. “I’m s...so sorry! I couldn’t help it.”
Chas shook her head, more to clear it than anything else. She looked behind her. The zombies were being swept into the middle of the current, same as they’d been. The stupid things weren’t hampered by a blow-up mattress loaded with supplies either so they were fast. Too fast.
“Move, guys. Kick!” Chas screamed as panic set in. “I know it’s cold, but we’ve gotta move quicker. Aim for the opposite bank!”
Three sets of wide eyes acknowledged her as the little group began to wiggle their frozen legs, swimming across the river. Their make-shift raft sped up, and soon they were moving faster than before as their muscles warmed up with the exercise.
Chas kept shouting encouragements, egging her friends on to move, move, move. They had to. Each look over her shoulders showed her an ugly picture. The zombies were getting closer, swept along like leaves on the wind. Now up, now down, rolling and twisting. It didn’t matter to them. They didn’t need to breathe.
She dared a look at the opposite bank and hope flared in her chest. They were almost there. A turn to the left was coming up. If they could make it before the bend, they’d be pushed ashore by the current.
And what then? What about the zombies that land with you? They won’t be cold…frozen. They’ll be only too eager to latch on.
Chas evaluated the group with lightning speed. Emily was too far gone, her petite frame no defense against the cold. Vanessa wasn’t doing much better with her slim build either. That left Chas, her stockier build a decided asset now, and Dean. He was the best off of them all. “Dean!”
He turned his head. “What?”
“Start working your fingers. When we land, we’ll have to fight,” Chas shouted above the chaos of the roaring water.
He glanced over his shoulder, and his mouth dropped open. “They’re almost on us.”
“I know. Get ready!”
Chas pulled her hands free from underneath the cords where she’d wedged them, gasping when pain shot through each digit. Taking turns, she held onto the raft with one hand while flexing the fingers on the other. All while kicking like a mad thing for the opposite bank and shouting, “Go, go, go!”
Dean copied her, working the life back into his limbs while keeping an eye on the zombies behind them. Chas didn’t look anymore. She was too afraid of what she’d see.
As they neared the bend in the river, the current changed, and the raft began to spin. Round and round it twisted while Chas and the others tried to keep it on course. Impossible. The zombies in the water were now mere feet away, and Emily screamed as the spinning mattress swept her right past the nearest one.
It gurgled its delight, reaching for her pale flesh with eager fingers. “Chas, help me!”
Chas felt for her knife, unclipping the flap and gripping the handle. When the spinning raft brought here within reach of the infected, she slashed it across the face, the blade biting deep.
Then she was plucked out of reach as the bobbing raft hit an air pocket, and it was Dean’s turn to fight. Her cut had blinded the zombie but little else, and it was still on the attack. Dean ended its struggles with a lucky stab through the eye socket, the metal grating on the bone with a nerve-wracking screech.
The corpse bobbed past them on the water, but the next infected was coming toward them with the speed of a freight train. Suddenly, Chas’ feet hit gravel, followed by her legs and bum as the river dumped her onto the shore. For a second, she couldn’t believe their luck. They’d made it to the other side.
There was no time to celebrate, though. They’d made it, but so had several other zombies. These were rapidly heading their way while the rest were swept past and around the bend. A small mercy that just might save their lives.
Chas scrambled to her feet and stumbled around the mattress on unsteady legs. Water dripped down her face, and the cold cut to the bone while her knees wobbled like jello. Dean was also up, holding his knife in front of him. Chas could hardly feel the handle of her weapon, and she flexed her fingers in a desperate attempt to get the blood flowing again.
/> The first zombie washed onshore with a guttural growl, its milky eyes fixed on her exposed legs with hungry determination. It lurched forward on its hand and knees in a crabwalk that was both awkward and scary.
Chas gripped her knife with both hands and half-fell, half-stabbed down at its head. Her knees gave way at the last moment, and she plunged to the ground. A lucky move for the weight and momentum drove the point of her blade into the infected’s skull and speared its brain. It twitched once before lying still.
Breathing hard, Chas got up, freeing her weapon with a hard pull. Dean was on the move, hacking at the next zombie with fierce intensity until its head flopped around on its mostly severed neck.
It stumbled into the third infected, and both went down with a loud splash. Like fish out of water, they thrashed around in a tangle of limbs until Dean killed them both with a large rock, smashing their heads to a pulp.
Exhausted, Chas looked for more enemies to fight. There was only one left, milling about in the murky darkness with rasping groans. She headed toward it, but Vanessa beat her to the punch, beating its skull in with a branch she’d picked up on the shore.
Chas shot her a grateful look and slumped forward with her hands on her knees. “Thanks.”
Vanessa gave a weary nod. “Sure thing.”
“Where’s Emily?”
Vanessa pointed with a shaking finger. “Over there.”
Chas turned in that direction and gasped. Emily lay in a heap, unmoving. Her lips were purple, and she didn’t respond even when Chas slapped her on the cheeks. “She’s freezing, guys. We need to get her warmed up now.”
“We all do,” Vanessa said. “We look like death, and I feel like it too.”
Chas glanced from Emily to her and Dean, noting the pallor of their skin, the bluish tints around their mouths and the involuntary shaking that had each of them looking like a victim of palsy. The only thing that had kept them going so far was adrenalin. Once that ran out, they were in real trouble.
“We’d better hurry before we’re so far gone it’s too late,” Chas said through chattering teeth.
“It’s not safe here,” Dean warned as he helped Vanessa back onto dry land, hauling the mattress up at the same time. “More zombies could come at any moment.”
“Let’s get out of sight,” Chas agreed, looking around until she spotted a clump of trees and bushes growing next to an outcropping of rocks. “How about that?”
“Could work,” Dean grunted. “I’ll move our stuff and check it out.”
“I’ll carry Emily. Vanessa, watch our backs, please,” Chas ordered.
With Vanessa standing guard, Chas heaved the semi-conscious Emily to her feet and carried the mumbling girl toward the shelter of the trees. Dean was already there, scoping the place out.
The trees and brush formed a circle around a tiny clearing with a jumble of rocks making a wall on one side. It was empty, well-lit by the moon, and there was plenty of firewood lying around.
“Is it safe?” Chas asked, pausing with Emily in her arms.
“Looks okay,” Dean said. “There’s an overhang here where we can take shelter. No snakes or zombies so far.”
“That’ll have to do, I guess,” Chas said, dragging Emily to where the rocks formed a little cave. “Right. Let’s get moving while we still can, guys.”
Chapter 7
The cave was barely more than a tiny hollow, but the floor was hard-packed and dry, plus it was free of any wildlife or insects. Working as fast as her freezing limbs would allow, Chas set Emily down on the ground with her back leaning against the rock.
Dean had put the mattress down, and together they untied the bundle and grabbed their dry clothes and backpacks. Chas pulled out the towel she’d packed and dried herself with vigorous movements before pulling on her clothes.
She immediately felt warmer and set about doing the same for Emily, rubbing her skin hard with the towel to get her blood flowing once more. Vanessa jumped in to help, and together, they got the poor girl dressed and bundled up in a spare blanket. She was starting to come around, and Chas was glad to see her lips were turning rosy once more. A good sign, she hoped.
Dean had started work on a fire, collecting twigs and kindling. With the cotton wool soaked in paraffin and the lighter they’d kept sealed in a bag, he was able to get a quick blaze going. The flickering flames cast a golden glow about the small clearing, its warmth both comforting and cheery.
“Let’s get the mattress into the hollow with the fire in front of us. We can keep each other warm that way,” Vanessa suggested.
“Good idea,” Chas said, wrestling the oversized airbed into the tiny space.
Vanessa crawled in first before dragging Emily after her and snuggling close to the shivering girl. “One of us needs to keep watch, though.”
“I’ll go first,” Dean said, shaking his arms and legs next to the fire. “I’m feeling okay now.”
“Are you sure?” Chas asked.
“Positive,” he replied, patting the knife at his side before pulling his secondary weapon from his backpack, a deadly-looking machete. “I won’t let anything hurt you guys, I promise.”
“You should set up an alarm system,” the shaky voice of Emily interrupted. Her eyes were open, though she still looked groggy.
“Alarm?” Chas asked.
Emily nodded slowly. “Yeah, put twigs and dried leaves around. We’ll hear anything coming first.”
“Smart,” Chas agreed as she put Emily’s plan into motion. It didn’t take long, and soon she was weaving branches into a screen for the cave as well. It would reflect the fire’s heat back at them and hide the yellow glow from prying eyes. “How’s that?”
“Cosy,” came Vanessa’s muffled reply. She and Emily were tucked away beneath a blanket with only their noses sticking out.
Before joining them, Chas pulled a bottle of water from her pack and passed it around. “We need to stay hydrated.”
“Thanks,” Dean said. “Now, get some rest. There’s not a lot of the night left as it is. I’ll wake you in a while to take my place.”
“Perfect,” Chas replied, crawling into the nook with Vanessa and Emily.
The mattress made for a comfy if somewhat unstable bed, and the other two girls had already warmed the space. Along with the fire, it was as comfortable as it was possible to be, and she soon drifted off into a deep sleep.
What felt like hours later, Dean woke her up. “Hey, sleepyhead. Your turn to take the watch.”
Chas yawned. “What time is it?”
“Around four. I’ll catch an hour or two, and then we can get going,” he said. “No use in hanging around here.”
Chas agreed. There was no point waking either Vanessa or Emily to stand guard. They were sleeping like babies and needed the rest. She eased out of her warm cocoon and watched with amusement as Dean squirmed into the tiny space. With most of his legs sticking out, he made for a funny sight. He soon fell asleep, though, faint snores fluttering from his lips.
After walking around the clearing three times, Chas decided to go through their supplies and sort everything out for the coming day. She grabbed her backpack first. She’d packed and hidden it two days before, and it contained everything she’d been able to scrounge up or steal from the stores: Spare underwear and socks, a towel, a bar of soap, toothbrush and paste, hairbrush and ties, gloves and scarf, a raincoat, a first-aid kit, protein bars, bottled water, a hatchet, a screwdriver, a 9mm handgun with a full magazine in a holster, and the night-vision goggles. Tied to the bottom of the pack was a thin blanket, now being used by the others while they slept.
In her jacket pocket, she also carried matches, gum, tissues, waterless hand cleaner, a torch, extra batteries, and a swiss army knife with all the gadgets. All of that along with her knife meant she was as prepared as she could possibly be. Or so she hoped.
She began by arming herself with the gun, sliding the holster onto her belt next to her knife. On the other side, she secured th
e hatchet and screwdriver, both as tools and back-up weapons.
The wire cutters, waterproof bag, and parachute cord all went into her pack. Who knew when they might need it in the future. She didn’t know about the mattress, however. They’d probably have to leave that behind.
The other three’s packs were much the same as hers with slight variations in food only. Dean carried a few cans and an opener as extras, Vanessa had managed to snag a few candy bars, while Emily had somehow gotten her hands on a few packets of dried fruit and nuts.
Even so, Chas hoped they could scavenge for more food soon, maybe even find decent shelter to sleep in. Their most pressing concern was a vehicle and fuel, however. If they hoped to find out what had happened to Alvarez and the convoy, they’d need transport.
She set out a row of water bottles and protein bars for breakfast. Once the others were awake, they’d need to move quickly. The sooner they found help, they sooner they could save the camp. She decided to lay out their weapons too where they could quickly grab them if need be. They should’ve done it earlier, but the threat of hypothermia had taken precedence. Even so, it was a mistake not to be fully armed at all times.
Once she was done sorting through their stuff, Chas made another round of the clearing. It was quiet, but that didn’t mean there was nothing out there. The undead had a tendency to sneak up on a person, and a few more might have reached their side of the river and be wandering around. She glanced over her shoulder. At least the fire wasn’t visible through the screen she’d erected, and the coals only emitted a faint glow.
Deciding it was safe enough for the moment, Chas sat down on a stump and stretched out her legs. It was peaceful. Far on the horizon, the sky began to lighten with the coming of dawn while pigeons cooed in a tree.
She sat like that for about half an hour when a rustle in the underbrush alerted her. She shot to her feet, unsheathing her knife while searching for the source of the noise. It sounded again, louder this time. Twisting from side to side, she spotted a set of glowing eyes low to the ground.
Gen X: The Undead Adventures of Chas (A Young Adult Zombie Apocalypse Thriller Book 3) Page 4