by Megan Berry
“They were faster than the big ones.” Ryan points out, and it’s something I noticed too.
“No more bringing us back presents.” I reprimand the dog, as he trots along beside us without a care in the world. I glance back at the bodies we left laying in the path and jump when I feel Ryan’s hand on my elbow.
“Try not to think about it.” He tells me, and I nod, pulling my eyes away from the two kids. I think about all the kids we saw back in Louisville and feel sick to my stomach. We need to try and help them.
Ryan and I make it down to the river and come to a screeching halt. Zombies line the bank, at least ten of them, staring out across the river at the gun shots from Louisville. They’re blocking the boat, so we don’t really have a choice, this is a stay and fight situation.
Mike lets out a huge bark, and almost as one the zombies turn towards us. “What the hell Mike.” I yell in frustration, no point being quiet now.
“I really hate your dog, Jane.” Ryan tells me, and at this exact moment, I might have to agree with him.
“Mike.” I cuss his name, and the dog has the good grace to whimper.
“We have to run.” Ryan says, “There’s too many of them.” I shake my head at his idea.
“We can’t run.” I tell him. “There’s no time.” I pull my gun from my hip, and it feels good to be able to hold it again, then I start aiming and squeezing the trigger.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ryan yells to be heard over the pop of my gun, and I shrug. “They’re already attracted to the noise across the river. A few more gun shots won’t really matter. We’ll be in the boat by then if we hurry.” Ryan doesn’t say anything, so I take his silence as consent.
Mike cowers against my leg at the gunshots, but I can’t stop to spare his feelings. I drop four of the zombies before Ryan pulls out his gun and starts picking them off with deadly accuracy. It looks like a massacre on the riverbank, but I don’t stop and dwell on it.
Instead I completely ignore the body count and start running for the boat with Mike and Ryan on my heels. “Careful Jane.” Ryan yells as I bend down and start pulling the boat out of the trees where we hid it. I hear the moan, and a feeling of ‘oh shit’ washes over me, followed shortly by a shot as Ryan puts down the zombie that was practically standing at my shoulder unbeknownst to me.
The zombie is so close that when it crumples, it lands inside the boat. I look over at Ryan and I can see the disapproval on his face. I just about bit the big one there. “I know.” I tell him before he can even open his mouth and thankfully, he nods, and lets it go. Silas would have still given me the lecture.
“Grab his other leg.” Ryan says instead and I wince as I grab the crusty jean clad leg of the zombie in the boat. Together Ryan and I yank him out, and he leaves a disgusting viscous fluid on the edge of the boat when his face slides over with a bump.
Ryan and I both ignore it as we tug the boat through the sand and push it into the water. A zombie moans as it staggers out of the trees and Ryan jogs forward to whack it with the oar, while I coax Mike into the boat. The dog is far less excited about it the second time around.
“Come on!” I yell to Ryan as another zombie staggers out onto the bank, and after a second of indecision, he chooses not to go after it and instead runs for the boat, giving it a shove further into the water as he hops in. The boat rocks as we hit the current and Ryan quickly sits down to prevent himself from falling out.
Ryan dips his gory oar into the water, and I do the same and together we find our rhythm again as I watch the zombie stagger closer to the edge of the water. We aren’t very far off from shore and the eager creature takes a couple steps out into the water, making me feel a tightening in my stomach. What if it reaches the boat?
“It won’t” Ryan tells me, in his uncanny way of reading my mind. The zombie takes another couple steps, the water swirling around its legs as it reaches out its hands in anticipation. Suddenly its gone, and I blink. I look closely and see its head bobbing along in the rushing water, and then it disappears into the under tow.
“Told ya.” Ryan says, and I finally let myself breath, and try to calm down. Rowing this boat across the river is going to be our one reprieve from all the craziness before it starts up again the second our boat touches the opposite shore.
Chapter Sixteen
It takes me a little while, but I finally realize that we aren’t going straight across like we did before, instead we’re heading up the river and it’s a strain on my arm to paddle against the current. “How come we’re going this way?” I ask Ryan and he points to the train car wall.
“Unless we find a ladder, we can’t get over those rail cars. I’ve scouted this area before, they don’t have the wall all the way across the entire river front, we’ll be able to get in.” I nod. It makes sense, after all, it’s better to travel by boat than on the shores with all the zombies.
“Hey Ryan.” I say after a minute of silence passes between us, I have questions and we didn’t have time to talk last night because I fell asleep- and who knows how long it will be before we’ll have another chance to sit down and talk. “How come you were sticking so close to Louisville?” It’s a question I’ve been wondering, all that walking Silas and I did look for them, we never once thought to look closer to the place that nearly killed us.
“I didn’t at first.” We weren’t sure where you guys landed, and it took me a while to get your Dad and Jack to safety. It was a few days before I could leave them. I think maybe we missed you. After a while your Dad forced me to leave them and go out and look for you, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I think he would have done it himself if I’d refused.”
Ryan’s words prick at my conscious. It’s not that I don’t want to see my Dad- I want that more than anything in the world, but if he’s truly safe like Ryan says, then Silas must come first. Silas is not safe at all right now. “He can be pretty stubborn.” I say in response and Ryan snorts.
“That would be an understatement.” He tells me, and for the first time I look closely at Ryan’s face. He looks like he’s been through hell. He has bags under his eyes, and he just looks… haunted- for lack of a better word. I know my Dad isn’t an easy person to take care of sometimes, especially not with me missing.
“Thank you.” I tell Ryan, pausing my rowing long enough to reach out and squeeze his hand. “I really appreciate you taking care of him for me.” Ryan smiles and looks down at our hands for a minute before shaking me off and going back to rowing.
“Of course.” He says after a minute, shrugging like it’s not big deal, but I know it is. He did an amazing thing for the small bit of family that I have left, and I’ll never forget it. Even now, he’s helping me save Silas against his better judgement, when I know he would rather see me safely to my Dad.
As we get closer to the center of town, the volume increases and so does my anxiety. I can hear the agonizing screams of people getting ripped apart, and I can’t believe that I’m about to knowingly run into that, after all, what’s so special about me that I think I can survive when so many people are obviously getting butchered. Even worse, I’m practically forcing Ryan to come with me.
I glance up and catch his eye and can see that he is visibly shaken by whats going on in Louisville. “Ryan. You don’t have to come with me. This isn’t your fight-” He’s already shaking his head before I finish saying what I want to say.
“Jane, forget it.” He tells me, and now it’s my turn to shake my head.
“No Ryan. I’m serious. I know you have some sort of honor code that you follow, and you treat me like I’m a damsel in distress and you’re my white knight that has to come to my rescue every time, but its not true. This could kill you, and I’m willing to die for this, for the chance I could save him, but you don’t have to.” I don’t know how to convey to him the seriousness of this and how much I do not want him dying trying to save me. I wipe a tear of sadness and frustration away.
“I know I don’t have
to do this Jane. Hell, I don’t even want to do this… risk both our lives trying to save the guy you left me for, when it might be already be too late. Silas is a good guy though and I would do anything for you. If you’re going in there, I can’t think of anywhere else I should be. We’re a team Jane, friends first, all that other stuff just don’t matter.”
I flash him a watery smile and this time the tears have nothing to do with fear or frustration. Ryan is an amazing guy, one of my best friends, and I really hope we both survive this nightmare.
A bang against the side of the boat has me nearly jumping out of my skin. I glance down at the source of the noise and see something bobbing in the river, and it’s hit the side of our boat.
“Is that a zombie?” I ask, trying to see any distinguishing characteristics that might tell me what just hit the boat. Ryan reaches out with the tip of his oar and carefully rolls the body over, face up, and I’m surprised to see that it isn’t a zombie at all.
The skin is not rotten or marred at all, but pale, nearly translucent and blue, and her eyes are wide open in a dead stare that I find horrible to look at. Ryan reaches out and places two fingers on her throat to feel for a pulse, but then shakes his head and pulls his arm back into the boat, using his oar to maneuver the body around the boat so it can continue on its way, and so can we.
“Where do you think she came from?” I ask, even though I already have a sneaking suspicion. Ryan looks past my shoulder and points grimly to the water. I see more bodies floating “Oh God.” I murmur. There are at least three more bodies in the water and two of them are rather small. One of the bodies is wearing a life jacket and has another person clinging to them. “Ryan!” I shout, excited about finding a survivor, and together Ryan and I row furiously.
“Grab my hand.” Ryan shouts as he gets closer to the pair in the water. I lean forward in anticipation and the woman, by the look of the long blond hair hanging down her back, turns towards Ryan’s voice. We both jump back.
Blood drips from the zombie’s mouth, her soulless milky eyes narrow on Ryan and she growls. I look past the zombie at the teenage boy in the life vest and wish I hadn’t. Zombies can’t swim, but she must have gotten a hold of him and held on while she ate away his face. The guy in the life vest suddenly gasps for air, a sob coming out of his throat and Ryan and I look at each other in horror. We had both mistakenly thought he was dead.
I pull my gun from my hip, my hands shaking as I hold it towards the young man’s head. This is horrible, but he’s suffering, one of us has to help him, and so far, Ryan hasn’t had to do this kind of stuff, and I don’t want him to. “Jane, don’t.” Ryan says, reaching towards my gun, as if to stop me. I squeeze the trigger and the force of the bullet makes his head dip back into the water, even though it pops up again quickly because of the floatation device he’s wearing.
“I’m sorry.” I whisper to the guy, or Ryan- I’m not really sure at this point. Then I tuck my gun away and pick up my oar and standing up in the boat, I smack the zombie as hard as I can, over and over again until she lets go of the kids jacket and sinks to the bottom of the river.
“You didn’t have to do that.” Ryan tells me, sounding pissed off.
“Yeah I did.” I tell him, sitting back down, and he surprises me, by not arguing further, but sliding in beside me and wrapping me in a hug.
“You always say I protect you, but you do your own fair share in return.” He whispers in my ear as he holds me and I want to break down, after all I just killed someone, but then I think about Silas, and I have to hold myself together.
I push myself away from Ryan and give him a watery smile, then reach out and pet Mike when he whines in concern. “I’m fine.” I tell them both, even though there are tears streaming down my face. I pick up the paddle again and get to work rowing, and Ryan has to do the same, when we start to spin in a circle.
We row in silence, passing a few more bodies as we go, and all I can think of is, these people ran into the water to get away from the zombies. It doesn’t bode well for a safe landing on the opposite shore.
We begin to see odd things the closer we get to the center of Louisville. People standing on the top of the train cars, men, women and children. They must have gotten a ladder and climbed up to get away from the zombies, but there aren’t nearly enough people to account for the population of Louisville- maybe only about fifty or so.
The wave at us for help with their hands up in the air, and I scan each person’s face looking for Silas, but he isn’t there. I didn’t honestly think it could be that easy.
“Hey.” A guy yells at us, and Ryan and I stop rowing in order to hear him better. “Don’t come this way.” He warns, “We were overrun.”
I nod my head emphatically to show that I understand what he’s saying. “We’re looking for our friend.” I yell back. “Do you know where they kept their prisoners?” I know asking a question like that could make cooperation difficult, so I hold my breath.
The guy on the rail car looks surprised by my question and for a minute I don’t think hes actually going to answer me, but after a minute he does. “They’ve got that guy locked up in the police station.” He says finally and now it’s my turn to look surprised. He seems to know exactly who I’m talking about- I guess they don’t keep a lot of prisoners.
“Thank you.” I yell back to him and he nods.
“Please try and help us if you can?” He asks and I nod in agreement.
“I’ll do my best.” I promise him, and then its his turn to nod. Ryan and I pick up our rowing again, and I double my efforts even though I’m starting to form blisters on my already sore palms. I can’t help but wonder how it works to get blisters on top of road rash. I cringe at the mental image.
We see a few more people on top of train cars who wave to us in desperation. Ryan clenches his jaw and stares straight ahead, focusing on our work, but I can’t bring myself to ignore them. I wave back in a way that I hope is reassuring, but I honestly have no idea.
“You shouldn’t give them hope Jane.” Ryan scolds me, and I look at him sharply.
“I don’t have anything else to give them.” I tell him. “I’ll help them if I can though.” I say honestly.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less of you.” Ryan says mysteriously, before going back to rowing. “The break in the train cars is just up ahead.” He says and I crane my neck in curiosity. I can’t see anything yet.
Another few minutes passes us by and then finally, I can see the end to the long line of train cars just up ahead. We pass a few more bodies in the water the closer we get to the beach, but none of them are moving, neither alive or reanimated.
When we get closer, I can see that the river bank is swarming with dead, both zombie and humans laying on the ground while the monsters feast on their flesh. “That isn’t good.” Ryan says echoing my own sentiment completely.
We are gonna to have to figure out a way to pick off the zombies before it comes down to hand to hand combat, or we aren’t going to make it very far ashore- about two feet, if I had to guess, there’s way too many of them.
“We’ll have to shoot them.” I say, wincing at the idea of using up all my ammo before we even get into the thick of things.
“Not necessarily.” Ryan says slowly, like hes still half forming a plan. “Remember that zombie back across the river when we left?” He asks me, and I nod, how could I forget the clumsy creature- oh.
“You want to try and lure the zombies into the water?” I ask him and he grins at me.
“Yeah. It might be super dangerous thought. If we don’t control the boat just right, we might be jumping in to swim away.” He warns me and I shiver thinking about being in the river with all those dead bodies, not to mention all the zombies that have sunk. I have no idea what happens to a zombie when it goes underwater, but I imagine it crawling around down at the bottom of the water, just waiting to bite the feet off an unsuspecting swimmer. That will probably be a good experiment for us to try when
we get back home. We’ve already seen what happens when you thaw one out- why not drown one and see what it does.
“Let’s get this right the first time then, because I don’t want to swim.” I tell Ryan and he nods his agreement. I pull my gun off my belt, just in case and set it in the bottom of the boat.
“What are you doing?” Ryan asks and I shrug.
“If we have to jump, my gun won’t do me any good if it gets wet.” I tell him. “If we have to jump in, hopefully the boat won’t sink, then we at least have half a chance of getting the guns back dry.”
“That’s actually a good idea.” Ryan tells me, taking his own gun from his hip and setting it down on the bottom of the boat with mine.
“Thanks.” I mumble, feeling uncomfortable with his praise. “When we first went into the river, we had all our guns on, and I remember Silas pulling everything apart so it wouldn’t get wrecked.” I shrug. Its no rocket science, just one of many things I’ve had to learn since this whole mess started.
We get as close as we dare to the river bank and then start trying to draw the attention of all the zombies. It isn’t difficult, because all their attention is already zoomed in on us, but that doesn’t stop me from hollering and carrying on to excite them. Hopefully it will make them forget that they can’t do water, and they’ll all charge in after us.
“Hey, you ugly bastards!” I yell, clapping my hands together and Ryan lets out an ear-piercing whistle.
“Come and get it.” He yells and I like his phrasing there.
“Yeah, come and get it.” I taunt and the zombies begin to get excited and mill around close to the waters edge. A few even take a few steps into the water and I feel excited, except for the fact that most of them are still keeping their distance.
