The Broken and the Dead

I don’t know when I fell asleep but Mom and Billy woke be just before dawn.

“Johnny, wake up” she said as she shook me gently. “You need to keep watch with Amy” she added.

I yawned and nodded as I blinked several times and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

“We didn’t make a fire because of the light but here” Billy said as he handed me two foil packets.

“What are these?” I asked as I took them.

They were small and thin and very warm.

“They are hand warmers; Mr. Tucker has a bunch in one of the packs.” Billy answered.

I yawned a second time and shivered as I got out of the SUV, I reached back in and picked up my rifle and slung it over my shoulder. Billy climbed into the back of his SUV so he could stretch out; Mom got into her driver’s seat and leaned it as far back as she could without hitting Lucy or Old Man Tucker. Elaine was sitting up but her eyes were closed, somehow I didn’t think she was truly asleep; there was just something in her posture that made me feel like she was coiled like a snake, ready to strike.

I walked over to Mrs. Driscol and she handed me a Dr. Pepper;

“Here Johnny, drink this, it’s a little warm but it will help.”

I thanked her and took the can, it was warm but it tasted good. It was not even September yet but the night was damp and chilly here. We took turns walking from one end of our camp to the other; we were listening for sounds of any kind, human or mechanical. The Sun couldn’t come too quickly for me but even as it began to rise in the East it did little to take the chill off. I was grateful for the hand warmers in the pockets of my rain jacket. They were nice and toasty and somehow made me feel a whole lot more comfortable than you might have thought; I remembered Mom telling me about how we should always wear hats and gloves on cold days because we lose heat from there. I whispered to Mrs. Driscol

“We should get heavier coats and things; you know hats and gloves.”

She nodded “I agree Johnny, lets you and me keep an eye out okay?”

She smiled. I realized for the first time just how much I liked her; I mean she was my best friends Mom but she had been strong and steady through this whole event. I figured she had cried at some point but I hadn’t seen it; I mean her husband was missing too. And I suddenly worried about Billy; we hadn’t discussed his father at all.

Mrs. Driscol leaned against her SUV her old French rifle balanced on one hip, the barrel pointing at the sky; she looked into the distance and without looking at me she said

“Elaine saved Billy last night.”

I let her continue and after a few moments she did.

“They were going to shoot him Johnny, those men; they were going to kill my son.”

There were no tears, her voice didn’t quaver, and she sounded strong, determined.

“Elaine is right, we have to be strong Johnny; we need to do what needs to be done.”

I said nothing, but while I agreed with her, I was still worried about Elaine. She had changed so much so quickly, too quickly; it didn’t seem real.

We both turned when we heard a twig snap; it was Elaine she was walking slowly towards us the new AK-47 cradled across her chest.

“Hey Johnny, Mrs. Driscol.” she said.

“I think it is okay if you call me Amy from now on.”

Mrs. Driscol said and the two of them shared a private glance that was hard for me to figure out but Elaine nodded and then she turned to me.

“John, here is your revolver.”

She held it out to me. I took it and slipped it into my holster.

“Thanks for lending it to me” she added.

“No problem.”

I know I had a strange look on my face; Elaine had never called me John before. It was always Johnny, John-boy, or something less affectionate like “numb-nuts” so this was something special. I realized she was using a grown up name for me because we were all going to have to be grown up from now on.

“How is Mr. Tucker?” Mrs. Driscol asked.

“Not sure, he is still out of it but I think his fever is down a bit and some of the wounds look better but others are still angry red and weeping. I am going to switch all the open wounds to the sulfa. That seems to be best, but for now I think we should keep him on the Erythromycin, at least until he stops getting better, then we can switch if necessary.”

“Sounds like a plan” Mrs. Driscol said.

The three of us stood there together, waiting, watching, listening; I felt scared, we needed everyone, we had lost too much and far too many. I closed my eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer.

After a cold breakfast of sliced cheese and tomato sandwiches washed down with yet more Dr. Pepper; Mom and Mrs. Driscol took out the map and tried to check out our route while fending off Lucy’s claims of having a “STP” while she pranced around them. Despite Mom’s reassurance, Lucy was convinced her STP was very serious and could only be cured with a dramatic injection of a “Snickers Bar.” When Mom hesitated she held out Ronald Bear and said that he was her doctor and that he said that Snickers Bars were the only cure for STPs. Mrs. Driscol laughed and Mom finally gave in.

“Fine, fine, fine.”

The required medicine was in a cloth bag along with other snacks on the front seat of her SUV.

“Just one bar Lucy!” Mom called out.

Lucy stopped, turned and asked “What about Ronald?”

“He will have to share with you.”

Mom said it in that special Mom-voice that meant

“Discussion over, any further debate will result in negative re-negotiation of the terms.”

I guess Lucy got the message because she didn’t continue in her efforts to corner the snickers bar market.

Elaine gave her report on Old Man Tucker; he was still feverish but is having periods where he is making sense. The sulfa powders seem to be doing the trick as well but the dressings needed to be changed every hour or so and they were out of bandages so Elaine had cannibalized a white sheet. Mrs. Driscol disappeared for a bit then reappeared with a can of won-ton soup.

“Give him the broth Elaine, he needs fluids and at least this soup will have some nutrients” Mrs. Driscol said.

After one last look at the map we separated to our vehicles, we would follow today with the Driscols taking the lead. We were on the road by 7 A.M. Even though we were averaging only 35 miles per hour, everything seemed to go well enough for almost two hours when we approached a two lane bridge that crossed the Greenbriar River.

Our caravan pulled to a stop about 100 yards from the bridge and the barricade formed of U.S. Army vehicles stretched across it. There were hundreds of bodies between us and the tan colored Humvees; most were clumped together in the middle of the road but there were dozens that had been shot down coming out of the woods. Mom started to say that we should all stay in the car but I cut her off as I jumped out of the SUV. I unslung my GSG and started towards the bodies. I could hear Mom choke back a cry of protest. I looked over at Billy as he jumped out of his SUV to join me. His mother was poking her head out of the sunroof, her rifle in her hand.

I heard another car door and looked back to see Elaine standing by our car holding the AK-47. We walked through the bloated, stinking corpses and I tried to hold my breakfast down. We got within 15 yards of the barricade when a voice boomed out

“THAT’S FAR ENOUGH.”

We both froze and I looked back at Mrs. Driscol who had the rifle held to her cheek.

“LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN” commanded a man’s voice.

I finally found my voice and I answered him

“I can’t do that” I said “but I will lower it.”

I looked over at Billy who nodded and we both dropped the tips of our rifles to point towards the ground. I heard another voice I couldn’t quite place the location of, he said

“I think they are just kids.”

“Come on out we just wanna talk” Billy said and then added “come on, don’t be scared.”

That got a laugh and a minute later two U.S. Army soldiers walked out from between the Humvees. They were dressed in full combat gear, helmets, vests, the whole nine yards. One of them walked up to us and at the last moment he too lowered the tip of his rifle and I had to admit his looked a lot more intimidating than our 22s.

“I’m Corporal Tyrone Jones, 157th MP Company and this here is PFC Elwood Carmichael of the West Virginia Medical Command.”

The medic guy slung his rifle and held his hand out to both me and Billy and shook our hands

“Call me Blue, okay? Everyone does.” he said.

“Blue?” Billy asked.

“You know, like Jake and Elwood? The Blues Brothers?”

He smiled as he answered but me and Billy just looked at each other having no idea what he was talking about. We then introduced ourselves as we were joined by Mom, Mrs. Driscol and Lucy, Elaine staying in the back of our SUV with Old Man Tucker. We talked to them about what had happened here at the bridge. What they described was a night of terror and death, they had been ordered to hold the bridge and not let anyone across. Several hundred people were gathered here, camping, waiting for clearance to cross the river and to tell the truth they probably felt safer near the soldiers who even patrolled the campsite.

The crazies, or as the soldiers named them ’the Zs’, appeared out of the woods; at first a couple dozen then eventually more than a hundred. They were fast, very fast and merciless. We could fire at the tree line but couldn’t shoot at the hand to hand battle because of all the civilians. At least until it was obvious that there was no chance for them. The Captain finally order the gun crew to open up with the ’Ma Deuce’, the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on one of the Humvees, they fired and bodies were blow apart some of the cars caught on fire. A crazy who loses an arm is just a one armed crazy but the crew fired until they ran out of ammo.

The battle continued through the night and Corporal Jones had only killed the last crazy just an hour before we arrived. Corporal Jones and PFC Carmichael were two of the three soldiers left. He said the third guy, Pvt. James was in a bad way and he wouldn’t speak or respond, in shock so severe he was nearly comatose. He said the PFC was sitting in the back of one of the Humvees.

We told them about our group and when we said that Old Man Tucker had been bitten they both looked upset, when we told them he was looking better and that he would pull through the PFC said that he had to have been bit by a Z. He explained that Z-2s were the new ones; the ones that they had found last night were Z-2s. He showed us how they were changing; he showed us that things that the z didn’t need were being absorbed, things like reproductive organs, body hair, eyelids, ears, the vocal chords, the little toes and pinky fingers. The Doctors who had been with PFC Blue had found that anything that was wrong with the Z that the Z needed was repaired, eyesight was corrected, arteries where unclogged, muscles were built, cartilage in the knees, shoulders, back or neck was strengthened and even regrown if necessary. Dirty lungs were cleaned, cancers were absorbed even bullet wounds were healed.

“Check this out” Cpl. Jones said and he pried open the mouth of one of the dead Z-2s; inside the mouth he showed us how there was a tiny row of needle like teeth erupting through the gums just below the existing teeth furthermore he said

“See anything unusual?”

The canines were longer than normal, very much so, in fact to me they looked like vampires.

“One of the Docs said that it looked like they were turning into fangs.”

“Like a wolf?” Mrs. Driscol asked.

“More like a rattlesnake” Blue answered.

The crazies were changing; things they didn’t need were going away, anything that wrong was being repaired, and things were being modified to make them a bad ass killer.

Cpl. Jones told us that while they called them Z’s, as in zombies, but they were in fact not dead. They were changing into something different. For the first time I think we all realized that the world would not be going back to what it was; not ever. Mom, Mrs. Driscol and Cpl. Jones went into the barricade of armored vehicles to see if the third soldier might respond to one of the ladies. Billy and I led Blue back to our SUV so he could check on Old Man Tucker.

Elaine made room in the back for Blue and Billy but I got in on the other side. Blue checked Old Man Tuckers eyes, his blood pressure, his throat, and then his fingertips which I thought was odd but I didn’t say anything. Blue changed the dressings and remarked about how well the infection had been controlled and Elaine explained her system of randomizing the antibiotics on various wounds and then switching to the one that seemed to be most effective. He seemed very interested that Elaine had been giving a 500mg base Erythromycin every four hours; they had stumbled upon almost the same thing, 4 grams ethyl succinate in an IV infusion. He saw that Elaine didn’t know what that meant so he explained that it was just a type of Erythromycin. Cpl. Jones and Mom joined us sticking their heads in from either side of the SUV,

“Sit rep Blue?” Jones asked.

“Just like they said and this young lady is one hell of a doctor.”

When he said that he looked at Elaine and gave her what I was sure was his very best, charming smile. If Elaine noticed she didn’t react but Billy rolled his eyes at me as if to say “pathetic.”

We all gathered around the SUV and had a meeting, at first Jones wanted to stay at his post but when Blue pointed out that they had been able to contact any other unit since the battle began and that if more than two or three Zs attacked they would be dead. Jones finally agreed that it was better if everyone stayed together, at least until they found another army detachment. Blue smiled a sad smile and nodded in a way that said that he didn’t think there were any units left. It was decided that Jones and Blue would take the pick of the Humvees, a M1114 that Tyrone said was “all up-armored and shit” with Jackson in the back, there were lots of big cans of gas for the army vehicles and they filled the tank of the one they chose and put several other cans in the back.

Jones explained that unfortunately our SUVs wouldn’t run on the diesel fuel that the Humvees used and since their Humvee came in at 6 tons they were going to need a lot anyway. They loaded extra guns and ammunition in the back of the Humvee and they did load all three vehicles with MREs. The infamous “Meals Ready to Eat” or “Meals Rejected by Ethiopians” as Blue described them. But he whispered to me that I should keep some hot sauce to help it go in and some prunes to help it come out. I guess I looked very confused and he just laughed and ruffled my hair, “don’t worry buddy, you’ll figure it out.”

The reloading and repacking of the vehicles took several hours and he had nearly finished when Billy’s rifle spat out a half dozen rounds. I looked towards where he was standing on the roof of one of the Humvees standing his guard duty. He had fired into the tree line and after a pause he fired off another six. I ran towards him but Cpl. Jones quickly outpaced me and arrived at the barricade and he too fired towards the trees. By the time Elaine and I arrived they had stopped firing.

“Do you still see him?” Billy asked.

“No joy” was Jones reply.

Elaine and I scanned the tree line but saw nothing, not even a body.

“Billy, did you get him?” I asked.

“Nope” he replied and after a moment he added “they are so much faster than they were Johnny, it was like he was dodging my bullets.”

The Corporal said “Not necessarily Billy, two even three rounds won’t stop them. It depends on where you hit them.”

I heard Elaine mutter “Great, just great.”

I heard Mom call out from where our three vehicles had been arranged behind the barricade and she said

“Come on, let’s go. We are out of time!”

“Roger that, come on you slackers you heard the lady”

Cpl. Jones called out more for our benefit than in response. He helped Billy down from the Humvee and as he did he said

“I think we are going to have to upgrade your rifles boys, little .22’s won’t do the trick anymore.”

I looked at my GSG and I was a little saddened. It had provided me with more than a small measure of comfort and it had been effective against both crazy and normal people so far but I knew he was right. We all jogged back to the vehicles when I heard the first shriek and looking back over my shoulder I could see numerous shapes emerging from the forest. Corporal Jones waved Mom and Mrs. Driscol on saying that Billy, Elaine and I would ride with them for a bit since their Humvee was the closest. As we scrambled inside the Humvee, Blue got behind the wheel and the Corporal popped up through the roof to man a large, mounted weapon. We followed the SUVs only for a little bit when Blue stopped, I looked out the back window and through the scratched glass I could see several dozen crazies or Z-1s reaching the bridge.

“Ready to fire!” yelled the Corporal.

Blue looked at us and said

“Cover your ears kids and open your mouth’s like this!” and he showed us what to do.

We followed his example and Blue yelled out “CLEAR!” and just a moment later the Humvee was filled with a deafening roar and the cabin filled with acrid smoke. I actually felt the pressure on my hands from the explosion as wire traced its way through the air and in less than a second the missile hit the bridge under one of the Humvees. I had noticed the soldiers putting all the fuel and ammunition we were leaving behind in that one; now I knew why. The bridge twisted and groaned as it reacted to the missile and the exploding Humvees. While a huge cloud of dust rose into the sky the bridge buckled and fell into the river.

“What in the Hell was that?” Elaine screamed.

Blue smiled as he put the Humvee back in gear he answered

“That is a BGM-71, a TOW missile! Pretty cool huh?”

The Corporal dropped back down next to us and yelled

“Enough chit chat Blue, let’s catch up to the others.”

With a shuttering start the desert camouflaged Humvee raced down the highway, our SUVs far ahead but still in sight.

We didn’t make much better time than we had before, averaging only about 35 miles per hour but after about an hour we started to see a big black cloud off in the distance in front of us. Not long after that we came to a stop in front of the entrance to a tunnel. Flames and the billows of black clouds were belching from it. We got out and walked closer to the inferno.

“My God, there are cars in there.” Mrs. Driscol said in a low voice.

We could only see about twenty yards or so into the tunnel because of the smoke but we could see that there were many, many cars in the tunnel, their fuel having fed the flames. Suddenly there was a huge tremble in the earth and we all staggered a bit because of it. A giant gush of dust and smoke came bursting from the tunnel followed a moment later by an enormous crashing sound. Mom grabbed onto Lucy and held her close to her, she looked up at the rest of us and asked

“What on Earth was that?”

Corporal Jones said “I expect that the heat caused the structural steel in there to give way, I think it just collapsed.”

We all watched for another minute when Mrs. Driscol turned around and with tears in her eyes said

“I’ll get the map, we have to find a way to go around.”

I watched them go over the map, Corporal Jones was a tall, thin, and bald headed black man whose dark eyes seemed to burn into whatever was the focus of his attention. He was a no-nonsense soldier and approached things from that perspective. Blue was different, he was younger, had short, dirty blond hair. His blue eyes seemed gentle but he was always finding his way to stand next to Elaine and I found that irritating even though Elaine didn’t even seem to notice. PFC James, well, he looked healthy, he was over six feet tall and had huge arms but he would look right through you, as if you weren’t even there, like he was trying to see something far, far away. He muttered to himself but it was so quiet and he mumbled so badly it was impossible to understand. Blue finally came and gave him a shot of something and within minutes he was asleep.

Billy was walking the perimeter, he had insisted and in fact I realized that he had done the same thing back at the barricade. I didn’t know why he was doing it but as long as he didn’t start eating dirt or speaking gibberish I was cool with it. I walked back to our SUV, the doors were open on both sides and Lucy was inside talking to Old Man Tucker. I looked inside and saw that her patient was fast asleep and so her conversation remained pretty much one sided. I stood and listened for a bit, it seems that Lucy was reassuring Old Man Tucker that Ronald Bear and her were just friends. She said

“We love each other but only plastically” she explained.

She had set up three paper cups on the old man’s chest and they were apparently in the middle of a tea party.

“Now Mr. Tucker you should try and keep your strength up and drink this lovely camouflage tea, it’s good for your digression.”

She raised his cup and pretended to give him a drink even making the ‘glug glug’ sounds for him. Not long after that Mom and Elaine returned and I heard Mrs. Driscol call Billy over to her;

“Hours, this is going to take hours” Mom complained to our family group.

Elaine did not answer instead she just climbed into the back opposite Lucy so I walked around to the passenger side and climbed in next to Mom. We were just turning around when the Humvee stopped and Blue got out. He ran back to the Driscols SUV and then back to ours. I rolled the window down and he handed me a radio;

“Here ya go buddy, we can all keep in touch this way.”

He proceeded to show me how to press this thing on the side to talk, he said that Billy had one too and that all three were set to the same frequency. They had a bigger one in the Humvee and every once in a while would search through all the channels for any other units. I was thrilled and Billy and I started chatting right away. Neither Cpl. Jones nor Blue complained but I think we were getting on Mom’s nerves because she asked us to save it for a while.

I actually think she got tired of our “rogers” and “overs”. We did have time to come up with nifty nicknames, our SUV was “rock-3”, the Driscols’ was “sky-2” and the Humvee was “desert-1”. I was pretty proud of those and I loved every time we got to use them.

“rock-3 to sky-2, rock-3 to sky-2, over.”

“sky-2 to rock-3, sit-rep? over.”

“rock-3 to sky-2, 6 by 6, got any m&ms? over”

“sky-2 to rock-3, rodger that rock-3, will resupply you next opportunity. Over.”

“rock-3 to sky-2 thanks and rodger that. Out.”

Can two twelve olds have more important military conversations than that?

We traveled in a zig-zagging course using the less traveled roads and avoiding major highways, I was trying to keep our position on the map but I got confused and gave it up. As the sun was starting to get lower in the sky the convoy slowed and then came to a complete stop. Mom told us to stay where we were and she got out talking to Mrs. Driscol they headed toward the soldiers. As I sat and watched I saw that Cpl. Jones had a pair of binoculars held to his eyes. I couldn’t see what they were looking at, they were at the crest of the hill we were on but whatever it was it certainly seemed interesting and Cpl. Jones passed the binoculars to Mom and Mrs. Driscol. Mom turned and started walking back towards us; I saw Mrs. Driscol get into her car, their expressions made my insides start to cramp up like the time I ate too much watermelon. I muttered to myself “Oh goody.”

Cpl. Jones gathered all of us together except for Lucy and Old Man Tucker who was still out of it and Pvt. James who was moved into the same SUV as Lucy and Tucker.

“All right everyone, here is the situation.” he began. “About a 1000 yards down this road there are at least 50 Z-2s. They are swarming all over the outside of a gas station at the intersection. The doors look like they are boarded up and the security gate is down over the garage section. There has to be survivors in there or the Z’s would have moved on.”

He paused and let that sink in for a moment and then went on

“Now, we have to decide what, if anything we are going to do about it. Things are all changed now, I think we all have an equal say. So first things first, do we go around or do we intervene?”

He then went silent. After a minute or so Mom spoke first,

“I hate to say this but I am not sure we can do anything for them.” Blue agreed quickly enough and Mrs. Driscol said she would go along with the majority.

“Well then..” Cpl. Jones began but Elaine spoke up,

“If there are people down there then I am going to try and help them, the rest of you can do what you want.”

Mom couldn’t believe it, “Elaine, we are all going to stay together, and that is that, you are not going to do anything alone.”

It was then that Billy spoke, “Can I say something?”

When no one said otherwise in what Billy decided was a timely manner he went on.

“The way I see it we are at war with those things and if there are people down there who need help, if we can do anything at all we should.”

Elaine wrapped her arm around his shoulder and he blushed terribly. I figured it was my turn so I said (in the most eloquent manner possible as I pointed to Billy)

“What he said.”

Cpl. Jones looked at the ground and sighed deeply,

“Well that’s three to two with one abstain then.”

Mom said with a strange half smile

“Heavy wears the crown Cpl.”

He looked at her then over his shoulder down the road.

“It seems so Mrs. Williams.” He waited a moment more then said “I figure we should be able to come up with a plan, one that gives us a good shot at helping out but also a decent chance at getting out of dodge should things go to shit.”

He looked over at Elaine

“Would that meet your requirements Rambo?”

Elaine laughed quietly and said “I think that sounds fair.”

Mom spoke up “I guess we should go and come up with one Hell of a plan then.”

Billy and I took turns keeping an eye on the gas station with the binoculars while the plans were being figured out. Once Billy thought he saw movement in the garage but wasn’t sure. The plan was like this: Jones and Blue were going to work their way down through the trees along the side of the road and get as close as they could to the garage side of the building. They would wait until Mrs. Driscol drove the Humvee quick as a cat to the edge of the parking lot, turn the hummer ninety degrees to the road and then Billy, Elaine, and I would open up through the firing ports. We were to keep shooting, draw the Z’s to us, Jones would cover Blue while he was to try and get the survivors out. Blue was to lead them back through the trees to the SUVs with Jones picking up the rear. Once they were all loaded they would signal us on the radio and we were to

“Button up the hummer” he said. “Then we all hit the road as fast as we can.”

That was when we gathered at the rear of the Humvee with our weapons to trade for some of the extras Cpl. Jones had stored in the back of it.

“Oh my God, where did you get this stuff?” he said when he saw the WWI French Berthier and the Moisan-Nagant battle rifles.

“They belong to Mr. Tucker” Elaine said.

Cpl. Jones had the same reaction to the 7-shot Russian Revolver.

“Do they even fire?” he asked. Mrs. Driscol surprised everyone when she said quoting Tucker

“Half a million dead at Verdun thought they did.”

She picked up one of the army M16-A2 rifles. We each got one as well as a Beretta M9 pistol. Blue just shook his head as he watched the battle hardened soccer moms and their children as they went over the new weapons. Figuring out how to load, clear and fire them. Elaine kept her revolver though as did Billy and I, our third, back-up weapons. Besides Old Man Tucker had given them to us, they were ours and I wasn’t going to just toss them into a box somewhere. There were lots of extra magazines for both the M16s and the M9s so we stuffed them into our pockets and school backpacks. Mom didn’t even flinch as her children readied for battle. It was the 7th day for us and we all had changed so much I was having trouble remembering what life was like and that was a feeling that would only grow as the days quickly ticked by.

So we began, Cpl. Jones and Blue slipped into the woods and slowly made their way towards the gas station. I kissed Mom and told Lucy to keep an eye on things for me and that we would be back soon. We got into the Humvee and waited, Mrs. Driscol clutching the radio till her knuckles grew white. Billy and Elaine were quietly talking about nothing and I did my best to not have an accident in my pants. Finally there was a soft click and Cpl. Jones whispered

“Rescue ready, Humvee, Go.”

Mrs. Driscol fired the engine and the 7 ton vehicle lurched forward, the V8 whining as she shifted gears.

“HOLD ON!!” She yelled.

She swung the vehicle wide and we slid into position. The Crazies had already taken notice and were starting our way.

“LIGHT THEM UP!”

Elaine yelled and she stuck the barrel of the M16 through her firing port and started shooting. Billy and I did the same.

That was just about the time everything went down the toilet. The crazies were fast, way faster than before. The spent brass from our rifles was raining down around us, the sunlight glinting from them but we couldn’t hear their metallic song, it was drowned out by the blasts from the three rifles, we hadn’t hit a single one and Elaine turned and yelled at us

“SWITCH TO 3 ROUND!”

Billy complied with a flick of his thumb but it took me a minute longer. We started getting hits then but even if we knocked them down they soon got back up and didn’t seem the worse for the wear. The Humvee shook from side to side as they impacted it, they screeched as they clawed at the firing ports and tried to get inside with us. The front wind shield cracked and Mrs. Driscol screamed. We couldn’t see what was happening at the garage and I kept muttering under my breath, “Come on. Come on.” as if urging the radio would speed it up.

Once the Zs left to attack the Humvee Blue crouched and ran across the parking lot. He called out to those inside in that half whisper half yell that people on the verge of panic always seemed to use. He heard voices then a scrambling inside, the sound of large crates or boxes being moved and suddenly the door to the ladies room slowly opened. Blue ran to it and saw that there was a second, interior access door to the bathroom, providing a pass through from the outside. Five people came tumbling out. Two women, two children and a teenaged boy swarmed around Blue and he pushed them towards the forest. Cpl. Jones had his rifle raised but was not shooting, he was keeping watch on the Zs as they swarmed over the Humvee. Only two Zs lay motionless on the ground, slowly spreading pools of blood spread on the black asphalt. Only two in spite of the ferocious rate of fire coming from the Humvee, he watched in dismay as several rounds seemed to glance off the flesh of the Zs and somewhere in the back of his mind he associated the strange color of the Zs skin with the shiny exoskeleton of an insect. Once he was sure that Blue was leading the survivors into the woods, away from the firefight, hopefully far enough away that the Zs wouldn’t be able to track them, at least not right away Cpl. Jones raised the radio to his mouth but he froze in terror.

A second, smaller bunch of Zs had appeared out of nowhere and were attacking the SUVs. He barked into the radio.

“DRISCOL! THE SUVs ARE UNDER ATTACK!!”

He lay back down and sighted as carefully as he could on the back of the head of one of the Zs nearest him. He squeezed and the Z crashed forward and bounced off the armor plated Humvee. “Thank God we can still kill them.” He thought. The Humvee began to move, turn and circle back towards the SUVs.

“Oh Hell” Jones muttered as he took two grenades from his jacket, pulled the pins and one after the other tossed them towards the swarm. The explosions through them in all directions and several were severely injured. Bits of flesh and several severed limbs lay scattered about a thin wisp of smoke coming from one of them, the long claw like fingers flinching open and closed as if it were trying to grasp at something. He prayed that no one inside the Humvee had taken any shrapnel from the grenades. As the Humvee sped back towards the SUVs with several Zs keeping pace.

Jones kept up his own rifle fire, rising to one knee he dropped the empty mag and had just shoved a new one into the well when he suddenly heard crashing sounds in the woods behind him. He spun around but it was too late. A Z2 crashed into him, it easily tore the rifle from his grasp and threw it into the street, with the other hand it wrapped long, dagger like fingers around Jones’ neck. His scream was choked off as his throat filled with his own blood. The last thing he saw was his own entrails being pulled from his abdomen and the widening jaws of the Z, rows of needlelike teeth heading for his face.

The SUV was literally spinning in place as the crazies tore at the doors and windows to get at the screamers inside. Several more violent impacts and the SUV slid off the side of the road, both passenger side tires slipped into a deep gully and with a sickening lurch it half rolled onto that side. Inside the SUV Lucy was pulling frantically on Old Man Tucker, screaming at him to wake up, to do something, to save them and at long last the tired and sick old man began to waken. In the back Jackson was leaning against the jammed side door, his hands covering his face, rapidly rocking in place. My Mom was scrambling for her pistol which had slipped to the floor and became wedged under the driver’s seat.

It was then that the rear window exploded and a forest of taloned fingers grabbed Jackson and pulled him screaming out of the vehicle. A spray of arterial blood was ejected onto what remained of the glass and inside onto the padded ceiling of the SUV. Mr. Tucker drunkenly called for his revolvers and Lucy immediately began to get them from the pack on the floor next to them. Suddenly one of the crazies began to crawl into the back of the SUV and Lucy screamed as she shoved the antique into Old Man Tucker’s hand but it was going to be too little too late if not for my mother.

My mom, who never hurt anyone, my mom who did Halloween costumes by hand and baked Christmas cookies from scratch and volunteered at church and put nickels in expired parking meters for people she she didn’t even know , my mom who loved her family more than anything in the world became my mother the hero. Seeing the crazy crawling into the back of the SUV she gave up on the Beretta lost somewhere under the front seat, she screamed at the top of her lungs, cursing and clambered up and out of the driver’s side door. The crazy changed direction and hopped back out of the SUV to meet my mother’s challenge. They charged at each other like wild beasts, each determined to own the field. They crashed together the monster striving to kill, to maim, to disembowel and my mother who wanted nothing more than to just hold on to her opponent and give the sick old man some more time and her little girl a chance to live another day.

Lucy screamed as her mother’s blood flew in crimson fans that painted the sky, Old Man Tucker picked her up and set her behind him against the door, and climbed up and out of the SUV. Without a word he raised the revolver and fired twice then climbed the rest of the way out of the vehicle. I saw him kneel and he disappeared from view. When he rose again he pointed his gun at the ground and fired once more. He pointed in another direction and fired again, and again, and again. He paused knowing that he had only one bullet left but fate intervened as the Humvee came screeching to a halt next to him. Billy, Elaine and I joined Old Man Tucker and we set up a firing line between the SUV and the military vehicle.

The crazies now only had one way to reach us and we only had one direction to face. The Z’s were tough and fast but bullets are faster and our fury gave focus to our attack. Old Man Tucker stooped and reaching into the SUV he produced his bag and took out his second colt. Mrs. Driscol was firing from the driver’s side window and the gunfire was withering and the crazies began to fall, their injuries compounding one upon another until they just lay about them quivering and unable to function.

Blue and the survivors had circled wider than they had planned after they heard Cpl. Jones open fire and the subsequent grenade explosions. He settled the survivors down in a ravine a hundred yards from the road and got them to lay as quietly as possible. He crawled up and tried to see through the trees and watch what was going on but the forest was too thick. So instead he just kept his eyes open and listened for Cpl. Jones to join them. Instead he heard a tremendous amount of gun fire coming from where the SUVs were parked.

“This is not good, this is so not good” he whispered to himself.

Abruptly the gunfire ceased, the Zs were all dead or his people were, in either case he had to know, he really didn’t want to just wander off into the forest with a handful of shell shocked civilians and where the hell was Cpl. Jones? He slid back down the ravine and motioned for them to gather around him.

“Okay, our vehicles are just about a football field away.” he said as he motioned with his M16 in the proper direction. He looked around and asked

“Any of you know how to shoot?”

The boy tentatively raised his hand and Blue proceeded to hand the teenager his M9,

“Here take this” he said “the safety is off so be F-N careful okay?”

The boy nodded as he took Blue’s pistol then said

“My dad and I used to go to the gun range once in a while; I know how to use this.”

Blue nodded in response then said

“Good, but only use it if you have to. You get to go first then kid, ladies follow along single file about 3 or 4 paces between you, try to walk where he does, if he stops then you stop. Got it?” and the women nodded.

He then added “Kid, if all you see is a bunch of monsters up there you freeze and then start walking slowly backwards and we will all meet back here and find a new plan.”

All of them nodded this time and Blue wondered if any of these people actually knew anything at all except how to nod. He sighed,

“Okay-dokay, I’ll pull rear guard, I want to keep an eye out for my friend anyway.”

He paused and took three deep breaths,

“Right, let’s get going.”

There was a hand on his wrist, one of the women and she looked him in the eyes

“Thank you for coming for us.” she whispered.

This time it was Blue who could only nod in response and for the first time in a long time he was proud to be an American soldier.

They moved slowly, the kid must have done some hunting because he was doing a pretty good job at moving silently, the whole damn forest seemed to be silent. Blue didn’t like that one bit, no sir, not one tiny bit. Twenty yards from the road the boy slowed and seemed to be trying to make out what was up ahead but he didn’t stop, ten yards from the road he stood up straight and while he kept the pistol held ready his body language indicated that there were people ahead and not monsters.

The boy called softly ahead to tell whoever he could see that they were coming out. First the boy then the ladies and the kids stepped out onto the road and Blue finally joined them. He pointed his rifle to the sky and tried to not throw up. He was a medic damn it, but this was disgusting, and the quiet sobs of a little girl over the body of her mother was pretty hard to take.

Elaine was being held by Mrs. Driscol and the old guy was leaning unsteadily against one of the SUVs that somehow had ended up in the ditch. He was just about to start checking on everyone when a big Z jumped on his back, wrapping its legs around his waist and it’s arms around Blues head pulling it violently to one side to move the helmet Blue wore out of the way, it sank its teeth into Blues neck, severing muscle, arteries and veins and yet more blood was added to the horror of the day but misery seems to seek company and this was no exception. As Blue crashed to the ground his fingers spasmed and his M16 began to chatter.

Blue had his rifle set on full auto and rounds sprayed in a deadly arc until it skittered away from Blue’s dying grasp when it made contact with the asphalt. Several rounds traced their way across one of the new ladies as she ran. The first round hitting her in the left kidney, the second severed her spine, the third shattered her scapula which deflected its path and it lodged in her heart. The next two rounds went wild but the last one, horribly found a mark, it made a neat round hole between the bright blue eyes of my best friend Billy Driscol. Billy didn’t cry out or even fall right away, he just looked….shocked. And like a tree falling in the forest, he fell backwards and yet another piece of my heart was ripped violently away, I could not tear my eyes from my fallen friend.

Everyone else scattered trying to avoid the bullets and the monster that was getting to its feet. Old Man Tucker fired once and it spun the creature to the ground but it began to rise. It was Elaine who fired next hitting the creature at the base of its throat nearly decapitating it; she fired until the hammer was only clicking on the spent shells in the old Russian revolver. The creatures face and head was a bloody mess, not recognizable as anything really other than hamburger mixed with splinters of white bone and grey brain matter.

The losses we shared that day were devastating to us. Unimaginatively so, grief so painful it was palatable, everyone wept, everyone was in shock, we were all overcome by grief. I do not know who got us to move, perhaps Old Man Tucker, perhaps one of the new people but we started to gather what we could and move un-ruined items from the wrecked SUV to the Humvee. Old Man Tucker and the new guy moved the bodies of our slain into the woods where we laid them out side by side, except for Cpl. Jones because they could not find much of him. Elaine, Lucy and Mrs. Driscol held each other as if they would fly apart if they did not. I could not bear to watch much less join them.

I didn’t know what else to do so I stood guard over Mom, Billy and the others until we were ready to go. I don’t know why I did it but I put Mom’s arms around Billy I just didn’t want them to be alone. That was when I saw the bullet hole just where her heart was. What happened? I could not explain it. Was this another case of friendly fire? I felt sick and my heart was pounding. My face was hot and then an awful thought came to me as I relieved the battle. But it couldn’t be, it just couldn’t.

When the vehicles were ready Old Man Tucker brought everyone over to the bodies and we said goodbye in our own ways. It was heartbreaking and Mrs. Driscol said Lucy was too young to see them like this but Old Man Tucker said that he would die before he let her leave without the chance to say goodbye. Lucy was not energetic self, she was stiff, almost mechanical and she no longer wept. When Mrs. Driscol turned and started back to the vehicles the rest of us joined her almost in formation. I silently prayed that this nightmare would end; it was a prayer that would not be answered. It was dark when we left and we drove through the night, I don’t know when I fell asleep.