Day Zero

Day 60:

Strader held the canoe steady as Marian climbed in. He was ankle deep in the murky brown bayou water, feeling the algae wrap its slimy fingers around his ankles. He was jumpy to say the least; a bayou was not a terribly safe place, especially close to sunset.

Marian sat uncomfortably in bow-seat of the canoe. Since she had no idea what she was doing, Strader decided to take the stern seat, acting as the rudder as they would navigate through the bayou.

“You’ve never been canoeing?” Strader asked the Capitan.

“Do I look like I have ever been in a canoe?” she asked as she picked up the paddle from underneath the bench she sat on.

“I would just think that if you were in the navy and did basic that you would have done it.”

She turned and glared at him “Did you every do it in the navy?” she demanded

Strader had to admit that she had him there. He didn’t canoe in the navy, he had canoed when he was younger, and when he joined the navy he stopped. He always took Lance though, as the boy was growing up.

“It’s easier if you get on your knees, resting your knees on the pad and the edge of you bottom on the bench.” Strader explained changing the subject.

“Why?” she demanded.

“Because it gives you a lower center of gravity, meaning the boat will be more stable and less likely to flip over.

Marian gave him a skeptical look. “Seriously?”

Strader nodded, still holding the boat steady as she shifted to her knees. Her ankles beneath the bow seat while her bottom was on the very edge of the seat.

“Now hold on, I am going to push off” with that said he walked around to the back end of the canoe and shoved the vessel into the water before climbing in himself.

Marian gave let out a very un-Marian like sound as she felt the boat shake.

“Relax” he said as he allowed the boat to float for a moment.

“Now are you right handed or left handed?” he asked.

“Left” she said looking back at him.

“Okay, paddle on your left side and I’m going to paddle on the right”

“You mean you don’t paddle on both sides?”

“Not in an OC 2”

“A what?”

“A two person canoe” Strader answered.

“I want you to just put your paddle in the water and pull it back to your hip” Strader explained as he demonstrated for the wide eyed woman.

She tentatively placed her paddle in the water and yanked back, splashing water onto Strader.

“But you don’t violently pull the paddle out of the water. Do what I do,” Strader stated as he demonstrated the motion again. “Think about a clock, going from twelve to three”

Marian tried to copy him and managed to get the paddle out of the water without splashing him once again. Instead she sent a small splash out into the dark water.

“All I want you to do is paddle on your side. We are going to paddle slowly because of all the cypress trees”

She nodded.

“Turn on your head lamp”

The light of the headlamp surrounded them like a heaven. The light made them feel safe, giving them the false security of safety. How far that little light throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world Strader thought to himself.

The eyes of animals glowed as their lights landed on them. The eyes of alligators were visible for only a moment before they disappeared beneath the water leaving only a ripple in their wake. In the trees the eyes of raccoons and opossums gazed down at them.

Strader continued to steer the canoe, dodging between cypress trees with the cypress knees reaching like fingers out of the water. The green algae was woven between them, making the fingers look like the bodies rising out of the ground.

He shuddered at that thought.

“I need to tell you something. In case we don’t make it out of here” Marian stated suddenly.

“That’s a reassuring thought” Strader replied.

“The reason that the USS Salvation sank was because it was destroyed by an F-15.”

“That’s an American jet” Strader replied.

“I was ordered to seal the hatches and abandon ship. Only five lifeboats worth of sailors made it off the ship before the F-15 dropped the napalm on the ship” her voice was grim laced with hurt.

“You mean the government ordered you to do that?” Strader demanded.

“Yes. Highly classified information, as soon as the ship sank we were taken to the Department of Defense, we were ordered to keep this information classified”

Strader remained silent unable to think of something to say to the woman.

“I am so sorry” she whispered.

The canoe moved through the water slowly lacing around trees, fallen logs and cypress knees. When an alligator came too close, Marian almost flipped over the canoe as she jumped to the other side of the boat.

“Don’t flip the boat,” he begged. “That’s how we will be eaten by the gators” he explained, trying to keep his resentment towards the woman buried deep, he had to keep this professional.

Marian moved back to the center of the canoe, gripping the gunwhale tightly.

Strader sighed as he continued paddling, correcting his strokes to make up for Marian not paddling.

A splash rang out above the sound of the bugs and frogs singing in the bayou.

“What was that?” Marian demanded looking quickly from side to side trying to find the source of the noise.

“It was probably just a fish jump-” Strader explained.

“What a whale shark?” She interrupted.

“Or a gator that we just scared off the bank” Strader continued.

“That wasn’t a gator” she whispered.

Strader stopped paddling and looked around the bayou, trying to find a movement in the water.

The water was still.

“What’s that?” she demanded as she began to lean over the gunwhale trying to get a better look.

Strader looked over and saw a shadow rising towards the surface.

“Marian no!” he cried out but he was too late.

The face of what might have once been a woman leapt out of the water. Dark hair hung in strands with ribbons of pond scum tied into it. There were leeches on the water logged arms and bloodshot eyes. It released a guttural scream, wrapping pallid fingers around Marian’s head, as it started yanking her out of the boat.

Marian screamed and held on to the gunwhale of the boat, her ankles still caught under the bow seat.

The canoe rocked dangerously to the left.

Strader leaned all his weight to the other side of the boat trying to distribute the weight of the canoe. He attempted to do a high brace, reaching his paddle far over the gunwhale and attempting to draw the water towards him as he tried to keep the boat stable.

But the zombie was hanging onto Marian clawing at her hair, its black fingernails scratching her face as the creature continued to yank her into the water, baring its teeth.

Strader grunted with the effort of pulling against the water his shoulders burning with pain as he continued to brace against the creature.

Finally his shoulder gave way against the combined weight of Marian and the zombie as the creature pulled the gunwhale of the canoe under the water flipping the water craft over flinging Strader and Marian into the water.

He heard Marian let out one more scream before she was dragged down into the depths of the bayou.

Strader treaded the water, “Marian!” he screamed. His voice didn’t carry far lost amongst the cypress trees.

“Marian!” he screamed again looking around frantically trying to find the woman who had just been dragged down into the water.

Strader imagined the woman underneath the dark water being devoured alive by who knows how many of the creatures in a feeding frenzy below him.

Strader swam as fast as he could, racing towards the clearing in the bayou where he could see the moonlight.

Algae and water plants grabbed him as he swam by. He heard the splashing of all kinds of creature surrounding him as he pushed himself to swim faster and faster. Thoughts of Marian embedded in his memory as he struggled to keep the canoe from flipping over.

He hadn’t been strong enough.

After one minute of excruciating pain against his shoulders, he gave out and the zombie flipped the canoe into the water, pulling his companion beneath the water where nothing but a corpse remained.

He paused when he reached a clearing, the lake that fed into the bayou. He looked around frantically treading water. He couldn’t see anything beneath him or around him. His headlamp had fallen off when the canoe flipped.

He was swimming blind.

“Hello!” he cried out, his voice echoed this time as he looked around the bayou hoping that someone who lived along the shores heard him.

Knowing my luck they will be a Deliverance themed family. Either eaten by zombies or attacked by a crazy family playing the dueling banjos song. He thought to himself as he looked around.

They would never find Mama Oilida now, he was too lost. Everything looked the same, the dark water, the cypress knees, the Spanish moss hanging from the trees like curtains.

“Hello!” he screamed again.

Still no response.

He swam sightlessly towards the other side of the lake, praying that there would be something, someone who could help him. The water was deep; he couldn’t touch the bottom or feel the touch of plants against him. He wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse.

“Hello!” he screamed again.

Finally a light on a dock lit up. He swam quickly towards it. He was met by a woman holding a flashlight in her hand. She guided him towards the ladder that she had dropped off the side of the dock.

“Quickly, quickly…they will come if chu keep splashing like that” she urged in a thick Cajun accent.

Strader didn’t waste any time as he flapped himself onto the dock.

A hand reached out from the water as soon as he landed on the dock, reaching recklessly through the water, like the way Strader would fumble around to find a hold on a rock wall when he couldn’t see over the roof of a climb.

The woman grabbed Strader and yanked him back away from the edge of the dock before dragging him in a run towards the small home barely above the flood line of the bayou.

She slammed the door shut and looked over at him. In the dim light of the room he finally got a good view of her.

She could be anywhere between 26 and 40. She didn’t look like the stereotypical voodoo woman. Her skin was fair and her clothing consisted of a bohemian style skirt and a t-shirt. Auburn hair was beginning to dread but still had curls, he wondered if it was just from her being afraid to leave her home or because she was intentionally trying to make the dreadlocks.

“There’s…there are zombies in the bayou” Strader gasped out his heart still pounding.

She sighed. “There is always been zombies in the bayou…voodoo has been done here for many a year. But these zombies” she trailed off.

“These are dangerous. They are all over the world now… thousands of people have either been killed or infected with the disease. We are getting desperate; we need someone who knows the magic of voodoo. We are looking for someone by the name of Mama Oilida” Strader explained.

“What chu want with Mama Oilida?” she narrowed her eyes.

“She is the most famous voodoo woman in New Orleans. We would go to Haiti…but the island is on quarantine. There are no flights going in or out” Strader explained.

Strader felt her blue gaze on him, he suddenly felt self-conscious of his wet appearance.

“Let’s get you out of dem clothes and I’ll make some tea. Follow me” she said.

Strader followed after her, barely managing to duck beneath what looked like a glass orb hanging from the ceiling. He paused and looked up to see that the glass orbs were indeed small round vases, in each vase was a water plant and a beta fish. She went to an old trunk, pulling out a pair of pants and a shirt. “Dese were my husband’s you is about de same size…the bathroom to de right” she explained.

Strader nodded and took the clothes from her before wandering into the bathroom, having to go through some beads that were hanging over the door. He stripped out of his old clothes and yanked the pants on before buttoning up the olive green shirt. He washed his face in the sink trying to wash the terror and the sediment off of his face. I wonder what happened to her husband he thought.

The scream of the tea kettle made him jump. He exited the bathroom and walked back into the kitchen where a steaming cup of tea sat on a table. Strader never drank tea, to him it was just dirty water, just like the bayou water he swallowed during his frantic swim to the dock. But the idea of a warm drink made him forget his disgust with tea. He wrapped his cold and shaking hands around the mug, savoring the heat that was engulfing his hands.

“So chu is looking for Mama Oilida” the woman broke the silence after a moment.

“Do you know her?” Strader asked looking up from his fascination with the way the water was changing colors as the leaves from the teabag seeped into the water.

“I know her.”

“Can you take me to her?” he asked.

“Chu is looking at her” she said with a sly smile.

“You’re her?” he demanded finally meeting her eyes.

“Yes. Now what is it you want from me?” she asked.

Strader repeated the information that he gave her a few moments earlier. “You are the most famous voodoo user in the United States. Since you migrated here from Haiti, you are our best shot.”

Mama Oilida considered his statement.

“Dis be some powerful magic used. It’s some dark magic for sure. I haven’t performed voodoo in years. Let alone make a zombie. De last time I did it was when a man from de National Geographic visited Haiti”

“Please. We need you. At least then the scientists can watch you to see if there is some type of explanation behind the magic that you use” Strader begged.

Oilida took a sip of her tea. “Why should I be revealing my magic to dem people when dey don’t think it real?”

A magician never reveals his tricks Strader thought bitterly.

“There is no proof that it isn’t real, but there is no proof that it is. Please we are getting desperate. The population of Haiti has all but been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and thousands more will be if we cannot find this cure. You are another option; you are another possibility of a cure to this epidemic or whatever it is”

“These zombies ain’t the kind that we make in Haiti. All they do is follow the instructions of dem masters… pickin’ sugar cane and de likes. This ain’t a zombie like I raised before. If dis is voodoo dis is dark voodoo. They be de bad kind that de shadow people make” she explained.

“Regardless, I need you to come with me. We will have a helicopter meet us in Baton Rouge. We just have to get there”

“Dem zombies is already in Baton Rouge. I have seen dem” Oilida explained.

“What can you tell me about them?” Strader demanded.

“I ain’t able to tell chu much. De ones in the bayou is slowly eating or infecting the people who live on de water. Chu saw de hand that almost grabbed chu. They is coming down the bayou slowly eating all of us” she said as she stared past him at the beaded doorway that he only assumed lead to her bedroom.

“Is only a matter of time before dey get to me” she said.

“If you come with me, I can get you somewhere safe…well safer. I need you to come with me to Seattle, Washington, to the Infectious Disease Research Institute, there you can perform your magic” Strader explained.

She looked unsure of his offer. Strader took his first drink of tea and tried to hide the wince that he knew he made when the bitter taste touched his tongue. Luckily Mama Oilida didn’t notice the look of disgust. “Let me do a tarot reading and I will get back to chu”

You have got to be kidding me. Strader thought with exasperation. If there was one thing that he didn’t believe in it was the stupid reading of tarot cards. Expecting cards to answer your question or tell you about the past, present and future was just a load of crap. “De cards are a powerful thing” she stated as if reading his mind.

It’s a load of crap is what it is Strader stated.

She remained silent and gazed at him with narrowed eyes.

“Do your reading. We will go shortly after” Strader said

Mama Oilida gave him a triumphant smirk before she wandered into her living room where she pulled her tarot cards out of a drawer and sat down on the floor. Strader watched as she spread the cards in an arch before her and closed her eyes before slowly moving her hand over the arch. She stopped on occasion before continuing her journey.Finally her hand stopped above a single card and she picked it up from the deck. She looked up at him and said “I’ll be coming with chu”

Strader couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. “Just one card?” he asked.

She showed him the card, it was a man dressed in a dark ages fool’s costume juggling while carrying a bindle staff behind him with a white dog danced under his feet.

He looked at it puzzled, “Well what is it?”

“It be de fool card. It means I will be going on a journey but it ain’t gonna be a wise journey” she explained before scooping up the deck in one smooth motion and placing the fool back in the deck.

Strader sighed. At least the stupid cards told her to come with him.

Just a bit of luck on my part he thought.

“Let me get some things and I will be ready” she explained.

Strader nodded as he sat down on the couch. He watched as she wandered around her house, muttering to herself as she wandered back and forth, packing a small trunk with clothes and what looked like jars of strange objects as well as the stupid tarot cards. He sighed before leaning back against the couch and feeling his eyelids grow heavy as he watched the woman run about. He counted the amount of times that she ran past him like he would count sheep in his mind.

One…two…three…four…five…

He finally dozed off to the image of Mama Oilida as a sheep lulled him into an uneasy sleep.

∆∆∆

He awoke to Mama Oilida shaking his shoulder. “I is ready” she said to him pointing to an old trunk.

This woman didn’t have a suitcase…she honestly used a trunk? He thought to himself

“How far are we from Baton Rouge?” he asked.

“By boat it should take an hour” she replied.

“Boat?” he asked nervously.

“Dat be the only way in and out of dis bayou” she said as she walked through the small house and peeked out through the screen porch. It was still dark outside. Strader was hesitant of the dark. Then again he didn’t like the light much ever since this epidemic appeared.

The light on the dock was on and a flat bottom boat was tied to it, floating in the seemingly harmless water.

“Does it work?” he asked.

“Of course it work” she said insulted.

“Okay let’s get your trunk in there and get the hell out of here” he said feeling the shiver run up his spine at the prospect of having to get anywhere near the water, especially in another water vessel.

He grabbed Mama Oilida’s trunk for her as she grabbed the key to the boat. Mama Oilida grabbed a flashlight and held the door open. “You is ready?” she asked.

Strader took a deep breath “No. But on the count of three” he said.

Mama Oilida nodded. “One…two…three” she said as the two of them made a mad dash across the lawn towards the dock, the sound of the porch door slamming only made Strader run faster.

He threw the trunk unceremoniously into the boat as he ran to untie it. Mama Oilida jumped into the boat and revved the engine. The motor started turning reassuringly.

“Let’s get out of here” Strader said as he shoved the boat away from the dock and jumped in.

She handed him the high beam flashlight to give them a clear view.

“How bad is Baton Rough?” he asked.

“I ain’t seen anyone walking down de streets. De zombie was everywhere” she said.

“When was the last time that you were in Baton Rouge?” Strader asked.

“A couple of weeks ago, de military base shut down and dem zombies and de infected soldiers started attacking de people.”

“Which means it is either overrun or empty because they have moved on to somewhere with more food, right?” Strader asked.

Mama Oilida looked over at him as she steered the small boat. It was about twenty feet long all metal not much bigger than the canoe Strader thought.

“I do not know.” She replied.

Strader sighed and looked out at the bayou, was Marian wandering around underwater, changed into a monster or was she dead? Partially devoured by the zombies and then by the gators?

A silence fell between them as Mama Oilida steered the boat easily through the bayou. Strader jumped when he saw a zombie standing on a dock. “Holy shit!” he cried out as the creature screamed and jumped into the water as the boat drove past.

“Dey ain’t able to swim” Oilida explained as they continued to move through the water.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“I am not knowing. Dey just walk along de bottom” Oilida replied. She turned the boat sharply to the right as she took a turn out of the bayou and into a huge river that he could only assume to be the Mississippi River.

Out of the bayou and onto the river, it was lighter. The sky was just beginning to turn gray providing an outline of everything. He cringed when he saw the shrimp boat that was half submerged into the water. “I thought I could handle the infected until last night when they attacked Marian and me” he said to her.

“De daylight sometimes makes all de difference” Oilida explained.

Strader couldn’t help but nod. He stood a chance against the zombies when they attacked in the day time. But at night it was a whole different story, he couldn’t see them. When they were in the water he couldn’t hear them. Strader had always been more confident in the water- that was why he joined the Navy that was why when he retired he decided to work for Outward Bound teaching students how to kayak and sail. After last night, I am terrified of the water he thought.

∆∆∆

The bright and proud capital of Louisiana was a ghost town. As he and Mama Oilida climbed the ramp from the civilian dock close to the shipyard. Looking around he noticed something was jammed up against it. Upon reaching the top of the sea wall he realized that it was an oil tanker. The entire bottom was ripped open like an aluminum can, torn apart by the seawalls of the port. Oil was slowly leaking out into the water, like another Exxon Valdez forever dripping oil into the ocean.

The Capitan must have changed in the midst of the landing. That or the entire crew either changed or was eaten before the ship got to shore.

Mama Oilida stood next to him, her eyes wide as she took in the destruction. “Where is dis pick up?” she inquired not bothering to look at him, instead starting at the torn up oil tanker.

“On top of the JP Morgan Chase Tower, it is the second tallest building here and big enough for a helicopter to land on” Strader explained as he looked around.

“We is needing to go dis way” Mama Oilida said as she grabbed her trunk and led the way down the streets.

Strader was tense he had lost his cross bow when the canoe flipped over and all he had now was a gun, and he wasn’t even sure if that would still work after his little swim in the bayou. He had remembered to move his knife from his waterlogged pants into the ones that Mama Oilida had given him, not like it will help me that much he thought. She led them across a bridge that Strader noticed was Highway 10. Cars lined the roads, some were empty and some still had the remains of people in them, broken windows indicating that the creatures had broken the glass and attacked. Strader remembered the way that Drew had attacked Jimmy. They weaved in and out of the dead traffic jam as they crossed the bridge. A sound made them both stop and turn, behind them was one of the infected. The creature looked at them with a partially dislocated jaw and a missing eyeball. “Shit” Strader muttered as he shoved Mama Oilida behind him. The monster cocked its head to the side in an almost human way before growling and starting to run towards them.

“Run. Run!” Strader yelled as he grabbed Mama Oilida’s arm and pulled her along. She dropped the trunk and sprinted after him. They weaved in and out of cars trying to get away from the monster. A hoarse scream was heard behind them and Strader risked glancing back and saw that not one but now three zombies were chasing behind them.

They ran across the bridge weaving between cars trying to outrun or at least find somewhere to hid from the undead that were chasing after them. “Turn left!” Mama Oilida cried out as they approached the end of the bridge. Strader followed her instructions and quickly veered left, rolling over the hood of a car in the process. They were sprinting down the off ramp now and the footsteps of the zombies were beginning to die down. He turned and saw that they had slowed to a walk at this point.

“Don’t stop until we are out of sight for them” Strader gasped out to the woman.

“Yeah” Oilida replied.

When they turned right onto Government Street they slowed down as they gasped for breath, Mama Oilida stopped and rested her hands against her knees. Strader mimicked her motion as his heart continued to race. He turned and looked around them instinctively reaching for his knife. The streets were abandoned “Let’s keep going” he said.

Mama Oilida nodded and the two continued to walk down the road. Strader turned to the woman “Oilida, do you have some form of weapon on you?” he asked.

Mama Oilida nodded and from her shoulder bag pulled out an ancient looking revolver. Strader smirked slightly.

“Does that thing still work?” he asked.

“We will be finding out won’t we” she replied.

Strader looked at his watch “The helicopter should arrive at 9:00 this morning we have two hours. It will land on top of the building, wait for ten minutes and then leave” he said.

Mama Oilida nooded and looked around. Strader followed suit, he didn’t see much of anything, the streets seemed empty and quiet, all quiet on the Western Front Strader thought thinking about the ending of one of his favorite books growing up, not everything was as it seemed.

“So we can hide out here and see what happens or we can make our way up to the top of the tower and see what happens up there. Either way, we will be waiting to see what happens or either way those infected freaks might come and attack us again” Strader said.

Mama Oilida nodded and turned to him “De view from de roof is much better dan the view from down here” she said with a sarcastic smile. Strader nodded and followed the woman inside.

The Chase building door was broken and the lobby was abandoned. Strader looked around them and slowly signaled for Mama Oilida to follow him. They made their way to the stairs they had decided already that he would not be getting in an elevator. The stairwell as dark and Strader groaned. “Please tell me that you have a flashlight” Strader begged once again thinking about the gear that he had lost at the bottom of the bayou. The voodoo woman dug through her purse and produced the high powered flashlight that they had used on the boat. Strader released a sigh of relief and smiled at her. She turned it on and illuminated the stairwell. They slowly ascended to the second floor. They repeated this process until they reached the fifteenth floor where they heard a noise in the stairwell.

“Oh no.” Strader muttered as he looked up and down before seeing the zombie of a banker standing at the top of the stairs a nametag that read ‘Billy’ still had blood on it. Mama Oilida grabbed the ancient revolver from her purse and aimed it at the zombie, she fired a shot that echoed loudly in the hallways, hitting the zombie in the shoulder causing it to run down the stairs towards them. She shot again shooting it in the neck. The zombie fell to the ground.

“Come on” he said. He didn’t want to waste any more bullets, and he would be damned if there were not going to be more of the infected coming at the sound of gunshots. They continued the ascent slowly and cautiously until they reached the door to the roof. The sun greeted them warmly as they stood on the roof. Strader looked down at his watch, it was 8:45.

“What do we do now?” Mama Oilida asked.

Strader turned and slammed the door to the stairwell shut before looking back at her.

“We survive.”