Dead Life (Book 5)

by D. Harrison Schleicher

  Just on the other side of Rolla we stopped at a gas station to refuel. Al hadn’t gotten any better overnight. I reached through the window and felt Al’s forehead. My first reaction was to pull my hand away before I got burned. When Tim was little I remembered him having some high fevers a few times when he got sick. They were nothing compared to this.

  “How’s his leg look?” I asked Cindy.

  “It looks bad. There are red lines headed up his calf,” she said. “I’ve never seen an infection take hold so fast.”

  “What have you been giving him?”

  “I gave him a tetanus shot and I’ve been pumping him full of penicillin.”

  “Have you tried anything else?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not questioning your abilities as a nurse. It’s just that, well I’m allergic to penicillin. Maybe Al is too.”

  “He’s not. A few years ago he had a bacterial infection and I remember the doctor he saw treating him with ampicillin. It cleared the infection up right away.”

  “I was just asking. Do we have anything else you could try?”

  “Yes, maybe mixing two different types of antibiotics would be a good idea. I’ll try adding a gram of Rocephen to the cocktail of drugs I’m giving him now. If this doesn’t work I don’t know what else to try.”

  Cindy rummaged through her first aid kit. Mixing some powder in a small amount of distilled water she prepared an injection and gave Al a shot in the hip.

  “Why don’t you get some rest? You and Gina take the other truck for a while and I’ll drive this one.”

  Cindy pulled Al closer to her. “So I don’t have to be here when you shoot him? You want to drive that’s fine. I’m staying right here.”

  Gina put her hand on my shoulder. “We can be to Ft. Leonard Wood in less than an hour. “We’ll be fine,” she said, glancing down at her pistol lying in the seat beside her. “Go ahead and get in the other truck. I’ll see you when we get there.”

  Cindy was partially right, I didn’t want either one of them anywhere near Al. It wasn’t that I was worried about them having to put Al down. I didn’t want to lose either one of them to the virus. If Al turned it would probably happen fast. Selfish as it sounded what scared me most was that the two of them would get bitten. I’d rather be dead than left alone in this fucked up world.

  Chapter 11

  He wasn’t used to being hung up on like that. Being the kind of person he was General Simmons expected an incoming call from him to be treated with top priority. Never mind that most of humanity was gone, what was left of it fighting for survival, he wanted to talk to Captain Downs. Not later now. He immediately pushed redial and waited. Fucking assholes. Once they had Parks and his ranger team had all of them contained things would be different. Then we’d see how bad Captain Downs wanted to talk.

  “Sir we’ve got the medical team assembled and ready for transport on your order.”

  “I’m having trouble getting through to our team in the field Major.”

  Major Dent had only been with the General for a few days and still wasn’t used to working for someone of his temperament. Most people in positions of authority could be headstrong and self-assured like General Simmons most certainly was. But the General took things to a level that Major Dent had never seen before. One thing was certain, the Major was plain old scared.

  “What seems to be the problem sir?”

  “He told me he’d call back and hung up.”

  “Ranger team?”

  “No. That asshole from the NSA.”

  This was the man he had helped General Simmons track down after they had first met. If he’d only known how bad things were going to get he would have never stuck his neck out so far. Once again he let ambition get the best of him. Admiral Hunt had been more than happy to have General Simmons take full control of all the Army personnel that had made their way onto the small fleet that sat anchored off the east coast. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. But no. When he heard the General was trying to track someone through a sat phone connection he’d gotten himself involved. Now he was part of the team. And this team had big plans. Drive back the zombie hordes, win back the nation, and along the way install General Simmons as President. Dictator was a better word for what the General had in mind. A crazy one at that. He could see him now, riding on a white horse at the front of his zombie Army. Was desertion possible while at sea?

  “He’s been highly unreliable sir. Can’t we proceed without them?”

  “We can’t do anything until they’ve acquired our rouge asset.”

  “General we don’t need him. Dr. Lowther is perfectly capable of performing a heart-lung bypass procedure. I really don’t think having a talking zombie there for the transformation will be of any consequence.”

  “Do you have any idea how many test subjects we wasted in Fort Leonard Wood? Not to mention the medical team we lost in the evacuation. It gets harder to find living people to experiment on every day. I’ve got a hanger full of zombies I can’t do a thing with Major. The time for half assing it is over.”

  “Sir we have a Battleship full of soldiers just waiting for transformation.”

  “And it’s going to stay that way. Those idiots at Leonard Wood took us down the wrong road. I’m done experimenting. I have it on good information that a bypass is the way to go. All we need Parks for is to fill in any missing steps in the transformation.”

  “Do you really think he’ll have anything of value to add given his current state?”

  “Probably not but at the very least I want his blood for the transformations. He was working on a new strain of the virus instead of a cure when we had him at the missile silo. I can’t be sure but that could have had something to do with what happened to him when he became infected. All we can do is try to duplicate everything just as it happened with Dr. Parks.”

  General Simmons sat phone rang. “Excuse me Major. The good Captain has found time for us.” He answered the phone, held it up to his ear, started to say something, then stopped and listened.

  “Have they found him?”

  General Simmons threw the sat phone against the wall, shattering it in the process. “Have a chopper readied. You and I are going with the medical team. We know where Parks is headed. If we have to we’ll wait for him in Leonard Wood. When he gets there we’ll have at least seven new test subjects for him. That insolent little bitch is going to pay for talking to me like that.”

  “Sir I don’t usually do field work.”

  “It’s a new world out there Major. Time for that to change.”

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to go along? You and I should stay behind to coordinate operations.”

  “Tell me you’re not that big a coward Major. We’ll be in the air the entire time there. Fort Leonard Wood is still a secure facility. We’ll be perfectly safe. Besides we’ll have a ten man security team with us.”

  “Very well sir. We’ll be ready to leave within the hour.”

  Major Dent was a fool and a coward but the sneaky little bastard did have a few talents the General was in need of. “Don’t worry so much Major Dent as soon as Dr. Lowther and Dr. Parks give me a talking zombie we’ll get back here, take control of the ship, and start preparing my army.”

  Major Dent saluted and left the room. That was exactly what he was afraid of.

  Chapter 12

  “Everybody stay where you are.” I jumped out of the car and resumed pushing. The road had leveled out but a few hundred feet ahead another downhill slope started. Maybe we could put a little more distance between us and the horde. My hope was to get enough time to try a different car or to siphon some gas for this one. Which was actually a bad plan considering we didn’t have a hose or a gas tank.

  Lily jumped out right after me. “Two pushing is better than one.”

  “You don’t listen very well.” I did have to admit she was right. We were to the crest of hill in less than a minute. “Break off. I
’ll be right behind you.”

  Lily stopped pushing and made for her door. As soon as she had it open and was on her way in I made a break for my side. I had the door open and was just about to jump in when I stumbled. Holding onto the door frame with one hand and the top of the door with the other. My feet splayed out behind me dragging down the road. Just as I was losing my grip Lily grabbed the front of my jacket and pulled me into the car. I ended up on top of her.

  Even though we were both winded from pushing the car Lily kissed me. Our breath mingled and Lily finally pulled back. “It’s a good thing you didn’t try to go for the front seat. I don’t think I could have reached you over the back of the seat.”

  “We don’t have many choices,” John said. “There’s only two cars in front of us.”

  Unfortunately he was right. One was only fifty or so feet away. The other was all the way at the bottom of the hill. From there it was all uphill. “Stop at the first one. We’ll try it. If it won’t turn over we’ll go for the next one.” The first car wasn’t very far away from the zombies that were right behind us but at least we had a chance of getting it started. If it was a manual transmission and if it had a little gas and if we got as lucky as hell. Life had too many ifs in it these days for my likes. Come to think of it if we could get away from these bastards I’d like to take a shit….if I could scare up a roll of toilet paper. This roll of paper towels I was carrying in my backpack just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I was on the verge of a raging case of chapped ass.

  John stopped beside the first car. I jumped out and immediately tried the door. Of course it was locked but I could see the locking knob on the passenger side of the car was up. I didn’t want to waste any time running around the car and instead busted out the window with the butt of my rifle. John and Lily were both on their way to the passenger side of the car. Firing into the horde as they ran. I jumped in and instinctively reached for the key. I had an old Impala just like this beast when I first started driving. Luck was with us this time. The key was hanging in the ignition. I turned it and the car roared to life. Good thing it had the key. The car was an automatic. We wouldn’t have been able to pop the clutch if the battery had been dead. Not too long from now all the batteries would be dead. Maybe we needed to find some bicycles.

  Something came over me when I put the car in drive and started pulling away. I was tired of running. Always running. “Hang on!” I saw Lily grab the dash in front of her and hoped John had the sense to grab hold of something in the back. I slammed on the brakes, threw the car into reverse, and stomped on the gas.

  Watching the driver’s side mirror I could see the distance between us and the horde rapidly decreasing. Lily was screaming something from the seat beside me but I couldn’t make out what she said. Her screams mixed with John’s and I couldn’t make out a thing either of them said. My head pounded with what I could only assume was a lust for blood. I looked over at Lily, she was shaking her head and still shouting at me. I smiled at her and braced for impact.

  This was an older model of the Chevy Impala. A heavy rear wheel drive American made car. From the way we plowed through the front line of the runners pursuing us you would have thought the car was made for just this scenario. The zombies flew over and away from the back of the car like so many bowling pins. Then we hit the main body of the horde. We were probably somewhere around the middle when we came to a stop. A few dozen were dead or lying crushed behind, under, or beside the car. The two or three hundred remaining closed in around us. Maybe this had been a bad idea. I grabbed both my hammers and fumbled with the door handle.

  “You open that door, I drive off without you.”

  I was a little hurt but Lily was right. Getting out and fighting wasn’t the best of ideas. I put the car in drive and pulled away. It was a good thing I hadn’t waited for them to close in around the front. Then we would have had no choice but to fight. If I would have waited a few seconds longer they would have had the car surrounded.

  “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t. If I would have been thinking I probably wouldn’t have done that. Honestly I’m getting tired of all the running.”

  “I know how you feel sir,” John said. “You may have been riding a desk the past few years but you’re still US Army. Retreat can get to be a way of life. I’m just not built that way and neither are you.”

  I had no idea what John was talking about. “You got that right.”

  “You’re both full of shit,” Lily said.

  “For your information young lady,” John said. “I took a nice healthy dump earlier this morning. Right about now I’d guess I’m not even half full.”

  “Same here,” I chimed in.

  “It’s getting pretty thick in here. Somebody roll down a window.”

  “If you look to your left you’ll notice my window is broken out. I already took care of the fresh air situation. Must be something else.”

  “Figure of speech assholes.”

  “Captain. Are you sure this girl’s Army?”

  “I thought she was. Now I’m thinking Navy.”

  “Probably right sir. She’s got the mouth of a sailor.”

  “Did you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Lily sat staring straight ahead. I kept glancing over at her looking for any hint of a smile. There was nothing. She looked about as angry as I’d ever seen anyone.

  “Only person that would kiss that mouth is you Captain.”

  “John I think that’s enough.”

  “No keep going. You two are a regular Laurel and Hardy. No better yet Abbot and Costello. John you’re the skinny one that’s not that funny and Tim you’re the fat little bastard that fucks up everything he touches, then yells for the skinny one to come save his ass. Tell you what. Why don’t you stop here and let me out? I don’t want to break up your nonstop laugh marathon.”

  “Lily we’re sorry. Aren’t we John?” I don’t think John was as sorry as I was. I could see him through the rearview mirror with a big grin on his face.

  “No don’t worry about it. Tim you just keep trying to get us killed. Then you two laugh like hell at each other. Then we’ll go on our merry way. That is until you really do get us killed.”

  So that was it. She was pissed that I’d driven back into that horde. “I told you already it was the wrong thing to do and it won’t happen again.”

  “I’m just as sick of living like this as you are. There’s no other options. As soon as we’re rid of General Fuckstick maybe things will be better. We can concentrate on finding a safe place to hold up for a while. Get some rest.”

  John leaned forward and stuck his head over the seat. “Just like I said Captain. Navy.”

  “For your information Sarge I tried them first, wouldn’t have me, too much cursing for their likes.”

  That was all it took. Sarge and I couldn’t stop laughing. Lily had gotten us good. She sat back in her seat with a satisfied grin on her face.

  “This one’s a keeper Captain. Unless you want me to push her out the door right now? Either way it’s up to you. Doesn’t make me a bit of difference.”

  “Let’s give her one more day. See if she can’t straighten up a bit. If not you decide what you want to do with her.”

  As we crested the hill the road in front of us became impassable. Thousands of zombies blocked us from going any further. We came on them so fast I had no time to bring the car to a stop before we plowed through the leading edge of the horde. It was just like our predicament with the previous horde, except instead of hitting them with the rear of the car we hit them head-on. I penetrated a good twenty or thirty feet into the horde before I was able to bring the car to a stop. John was yelling for me to back-up. Hands were reaching through my broken window clutching at me trying to pull me from the vehicle. I had to get the car into reverse and back out of here before they blocked us in and I was pulled out the window. I got the car in reverse and stomped down on the accelerator. We shot back about ten feet and came
to a stop. Lily screamed for me to get down. I flattened out as best I could as her and John fired through my broken out window. All I could do was stay down and try to get us unstuck by trying to move forward. The engine screamed in protest as we moved deeper into the horde. I only let the car move forward a few feet then threw it back into reverse and tried once again to break free. From where I was crouched beneath the steering wheel, Lily and John still firing out my open window, it seemed like we went further backwards than forwards. It was like we were rocking the car out of a ditch, backup then go forward, backup then go forward. Over and over until we were finally free.

  The constant gunfire stopped and I risked sitting up in my seat. We were in the clear.

  “What now?” Lily asked.

  “I haven’t the slightest idea.”

  We would have to move soon. The problem was we had thousands of zombies in front of us and hundreds behind us. The only choice I could see that made any sense at all was to go cross country. “Anybody up for a little off road adventure?” I put the car in drive and cut the wheel hard to the right. The median was fairly level but unfortunately a heavy guard rail ran down the middle on both sides of the road, separating the north and southbound lanes.

  All I could hear was John screaming from the backseat as we went over the shoulder, down a ten foot embankment, and into the underbrush that ran along the side of the highway. “Take it easy back there. I got us away from the horde.”

  “Are you sure about that?” John asked. “The weeds are over the top of the car. We could still be surrounded.”

  “I haven’t run anything over yet. When we hit a zombie I’ll be sure to let you know.”

  “Tim, be careful. If you hit a tree we’re dead. You know they’ll be right behind us.”

  Lily was right. “I’ll get away from the highway. Maybe we’ll hit an open field.”

  I started to work my way away from the highway. Which was fairly easy because the grade was on a downhill slope which ran away from the road. Off-roading wasn’t exactly what the Chevy Impala was made for but so far so good. At least the ground was fairly dry and we hadn’t come to anything the ground clearance of the car couldn’t handle. I was just beginning to think we were going to get out of this one unscathed when it became obvious things were about to go south in more ways than one.