Andy finally fell asleep around midnight.
The next morning, he heard a scratching at the front door. He sat up and realized he had been crying in his sleep.
"So much for being tough," he muttered. He climbed out of bed and quietly tiptoed past the guest bedroom where Bob was still sleeping. He crept past Isaiah's room where Royce lay sleeping on the floor. As Andy entered the living room, he saw Milo on the couch and Oscar curled up on the floor. He looked at the window; it was still boarded up. He snuck to the front door to see what was causing the soft racket. Was it a stray dog?
He gasped quietly when he looked through the peephole; a ghastly creeper stood at the door, scratching at it mindlessly.
He slowly stepped back from the door and walked back to his bedroom. He opened the closet and pulled his shotgun bag down from the top shelf. He unzipped it and assembled the shotgun. He heard footsteps approaching the room. He looked up and saw Milo.
"What's up man?" the cook asked. "Why do you have a shotgun?"
Andy motioned in the direction of the front door. "There is a creeper on the front porch," he said as he chambered a shell. He stood and walked back into the living room as Milo followed.
Milo looked out a gap in the plywood and gasped loudly. "Guys!" he exclaimed. "We've got a problem!"
The scratching at the door became fiendish.
Andy glared at Milo. "Thanks!"
"Sorry man!" he exclaimed. "That guy brought his buddies!"
Andy walked over to where Milo stood in the kitchen as Oscar stirred behind them. He looked through the gap and saw hundreds of creepers in the yard. He gasped.
"We do have a problem," he said, looking at Milo.
"What's all the commotion about?" Royce asked as he walked into the kitchen, yawning.
"Creepers," Andy said. "A lot of them."
"What?" Royce asked.
"See for yourself," Andy said, stepping away from the window.
Royce walked over and whistled as he peered out the gap in the wood. "Geez! They've got us surrounded!"
"What should we do about them?" Oscar asked.
"First we should wake Bob up," Andy said.
Milo walked out of the kitchen. "Hey Bob! Get up!" he yelled. "We've got creepers! Creepers by the dozens!"
"What?" Bob yelled back from the guest bedroom. "What are creepers?"
"Zombies!" Royce yelled.
Andy heard a growl from the front porch.
"Hey guys," he whispered. "Maybe we should keep it down in here."
"What's the plan?" Bob asked quietly as he walked into the room to join them. He was dressed only in his underwear.
"We don't have one yet," Oscar said.
"What kind of weapons do we have in addition to your shotgun Andy?" Bob asked.
"I've got a pistol too. It's in my bedroom closet on the top shelf. I also have a tire iron and fireman axe out in the garage, but obviously those won't do us any good right now."
"How much ammo you got?" Milo asked.
"Uh something like twenty shotgun shells and eighty bullets for the pistol. It's a semiautomatic pistol," Andy replied.
"Hmm," Royce said, peering out the window. "That's probably not enough to kill all those creepers."
"So what?" Oscar said. "Should we just go out there, guns blazing, and make a break for it?"
Andy shook his head. "I guess if we're reduced to that as our only option, but let's try to devise some other way."
"Andy's right," Milo said. "Running out there would be like running straight into a death trap. I'd like to not die."
"How sturdy is your front door?" Bob asked.
"Solid oak. I think it will stand the mad scrabbling of a creeper," Andy replied.
"Okay. I've got experience with pistols. What kind is it?" Bob asked.
"A nine millimeter Sig Sauer," Andy replied.
"Okay good. Would it be alright if I used it?" he asked.
"Sure.”
"We should try to conserve our ammo," Milo said. "It's a long walk to Bayou La Batre from here!"
Andy laughed. "Yeah, good point."
"And Bob, could you put some pants on man? You're making me kind of uncomfortable in your, uh, tighty whiteys," Royce said.
Bob laughed. "Sure, sorry."
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
"What was that?" Royce asked.
"Sounds like it's going to storm," Andy said. "Why don't I slip out on the back balcony?"
He walked down the hallway to the backdoor and slid it open. He walked out on the balcony and saw dozens of creepers twelve feet below. The balcony provided a good view of the east and south. He saw dark clouds moving in overhead. It looked like it would rain.
He looked out toward the bay. Waves were tipped with white out in the middle. He wondered how strong the storm would be.
He looked at his house. It had withstood a major hurricane. It would probably survive whatever this turned out to be.
It began raining shortly after he walked out on the balcony. The rain intensified as the day wore on. The wind did too.
At 3:00pm that afternoon Oscar spoke up. "This is another tropical cyclone, isn't it?"
"They're pretty unusual this late in the year," Royce replied.
"True, but they do happen," Milo said. "Think about it; it's been raining harder and harder all day now. It's also been getting windier and windier all day. I suppose the only thing left to see is a storm surge of some sort."
"He's right," Andy said. "This is probably a tropical depression or tropical storm. Don't worry. This house stood up to a Category Five hurricane about a month ago. It'll handle this."
"I hope so man, I don't swim that well," Oscar said nervously.
"We won't float away, don't worry," Bob said.
"Yeah, this house is securely bolted to the concrete pilings," Andy said. "We have enough water to last five days, but food's a little sparse so we'll have to ration."
The storm shook and rattled the house for the next two days as the street and yard were slowly submerged beneath the storm surge. Gradually the creepers disappeared from view beneath the rising tide.
The others passed the time playing poker and resting. Andy spent a lot of time in his bedroom, reflecting on the last few weeks' horrible events.
Nearly everybody on Bald Point had died. His lovely bride and beautiful son now laid in the soil beneath the stormy tide of an offseason tropical storm. He wondered if anyone in his family was still alive.
He planned to go first to Detroit to see if his dad was still alive. From there, he reasoned, he could determine whether it would be wiser to go east to Buffalo and Manhattan where his brothers and mother were or west to Chicago where his sister Vicki lived.
On the December 7th, the rain died down and the storm water began to recede. Andy looked out the window and cried out in shock.
"They're gone!" he yelled.
He ran to the living room, opened the door and looked around. The yard was deserted. Large puddles of water filled depressions on the lawn. Two-year old saplings the neighbor had planted had either drowned or been uprooted. The only audible sounds were the tide and seagulls.
"Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to leave," Royce said.
"Yeah, let's head out," Andy said.
They set out walking south on North Beach Boulevard after Andy recovered the axe and tire iron from the garage. He gave the iron to Milo and Oscar took the axe. As they neared the marina Andy saw two creepers stumbling up the road toward them.
"Hold on!" Milo exclaimed. He brandished a tire iron and ran up to one of the creepers and began striking it in the head repeatedly. After a few such strikes, the creeper lay still on the ground.
Bang!
The remaining creeper stumbled as it took a shot to the chest from Bob's pistol. It stood back up though, and continued advancing toward them.
"Head shots guys!" Milo exclaimed. "You've all seen zombie movies, right?"
Bang!
&
nbsp; The creeper dropped as Milo leapt backwards.
"You trying to kill me Bob?" he yelled angrily.
"Thought you trusted me!" Bob yelled back, laughing. "I told you I was a good shot!"
Everyone except Milo laughed.
"Alright wise guy, just remember, your pistol has a limited number of bullets; my tire iron doesn't," Milo said. "So when you run out of bullets and I save your life, we'll see who's laughing then."
"Yeah yeah," Bob said. “When your arm gets tired of swinging that thing, my trigger finger will still be fine.”
They continued on.
"I've noticed a few things guys," Oscar said as they passed ruined mansions. "Doctor Kulik became a creeper after Becker bit him, right?"
"Yeah," Andy said. "I guess he did."
"Okay, so it seems that whatever it is that causes someone to become a creeper is spread by biting. So don't get bitten. I've also noticed that only wounds to the head seem to wound them fatally. Remember that."
"I'm telling you, those things are just like zombies!" Milo exclaimed.
When they passed the fallen US-90 Bridge, Bob shook his head. "I came down here with my church after Katrina and helped with the rebuilding efforts. I'll never forget the devastation. I'll also never forget the resilience of most of the people here. They were determined to rise from the watery mess and rebuild."
"How far do you think the devastation extends from here?" Oscar asked.
"I don't know," Andy said. "Sterling tried reaching HQ, Ops, and the Coast Guard. No response came from any of those places. So it would seem that the entire Gulf Coast has been affected. I have a hard time believing it would still be this desolate more than a month later if there weren't bigger issues away from the coast. I don't know, we were all thinking the hurricane was the cause of the silence, but it looks like the creepers really were. It's not looking good."
They approached a ruined church on the right. Its windows had been broken out and one of its towers lay on the ground in the parking lot, shattered by the fall.
Suddenly noise came from within the darkened entrance. Everyone froze and crouched down, preparing for whatever would come staggering out of the desolate church. Andy raised his shotgun as Bob raised his pistol.
A large buck came leaping out of the entrance running toward them. It leapt over the driveway and through the lawn.
Bang! Bang!
Bob fired two shots at it and it collapsed immediately, sliding across the grass.
"Man! You’re a dead eye!" Royce exclaimed.
Bob shrugged. "I've gone deer hunting for years. Who wants venison?"
They carved some meat from the dead buck and carried it down to the beach. They laid the large cuts of meat on the concrete steps that led down to the beach and set about building a fire to roast the meat over. They cut the meat into more manageable sizes and speared it on some skewers Oscar found in a destroyed house across the street.
The deer turned out delicious and refreshing. After they had eaten, they continued south along the shore.
Suddenly Royce yelled something and took off running as they came around a bend in the road. As Andy came around the bend he saw why Royce had taken off running; a sailboat lay on its side up the beach.
They found that the boat was miraculously undamaged. It must have been pushed ashore during one of the storms. Bob found a functioning tractor inland and drove it to the beach. They managed to drag the boat toward the water during low tide. They boarded it and waited for the tide to come in.
At high tide, the boat began to float in the water and Bob steered it out into the bay. As it was late in the day at this point, they dropped anchor a few hundred feet out and spent the night there.
When Andy woke up the next day, they were sailing past the ruined casinos of Gulfport, Mississippi. He stretched and saw that Royce and Bob were the only other ones awake. He joined them.
"Hey Andy, I'm really sorry about your wife and baby boy," Bob said, hugging him. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything until now too."
"Thanks Bob," he replied.
"Hey Bob," Royce said. "You have family in Georgia?"
"Yes," Bob replied. "I've got an older daughter who lives in Sandy Springs, up north of Atlanta. I wonder if she's okay. She's a mechanical engineer.”
"I'm sure she is," Royce said. "Sounds like she probably has a level head."
As they passed Biloxi, Oscar and Milo woke up.
"Where we at?" Milo asked.
"We're passing Biloxi," Royce said.
"Awesome!" Milo exclaimed. "I hope my Momma's still alive! I ever tell you guys about my family?"
"Just that your mom can cook like no one's business," Andy said.
"Let me tell you a little about them. My Momma is married to a guy named Ray. Ray is my step dad and in many ways, he's a better dad than my own father was. He's a doctor in Mobile. I've also got a younger sister named Monica. She lives in Boston."
"Boston?" Andy asked. "What's she doing up there?"
"She's about halfway done with her undergrad work at Boston University."
"That's cool," Royce said.
"Yeah, I hope everyone's okay."
"I too hope my family is alright," Oscar said.
"Where do they stay?" Royce asked.
"Just east of Atlanta, in Decatur. I have a wife and two little boys.” He sighed. "I hope they're okay."
"I'm sure they are man," Milo said, patting his back.
They continued sailing east until 3:00pm. The navigational chart indicated they were nearing Bayou La Batre, so Bob steered the boat north toward the shore. At 3:30pm, he pulled it up to a dock and Royce tied it off.
They walked up the dock to Shell Belt Road. The level of devastation there was shocking. Trees had been stripped of their leaves and snapped off near the ground. Ruined houses lined the street, having been pushed off their stilts. The smell of the surf mingled with the stench of decay.
They started up the street toward town and Milo started murmuring under his breath.
"Where's your house Milo?" Andy asked.
"North of town, inland, a little way from the bayou," he replied nervously.
"Hey," Andy said, putting his hand on Milo’s shoulder, "I know you are anxious. You're worried about your family. Just remember, no matter what, we are here with you."
He nodded. "Yeah, I know that."
The ground was littered with dead fish that had been washed ashore. The men passed a dead dog and other skeletal remains.
The road cut through a saltwater marsh ahead. Heavy construction vehicles were half sunk in the mud; their deceased operators still strapped into their seats.
A gurgling sound came from a stand of tall reeds to the left of the road. A creeper staggered out of the vegetation and up the embankment toward them. It growled when it saw them.
Andy whacked it in the face with the butt of his shotgun and it staggered backwards. He followed it down into the weeds and bashed its head three more times with his shotgun. Its skull made a cracking sound the second time he struck it and caved in with the third hit.
Andy climbed back up to the street and saw four more creepers approaching. Oscar yelled and swung his axe down on one’s head. He hacked at it repeatedly as Milo engaged two creepers with his tire iron.
It was almost comical hearing the others cry out ninja-like noises as they bludgeoned the creepers. Royce simply knocked the final creeper down and stomped on its head.
The men continued on.
"I don't see how these things could have destroyed civilization," Milo said. "They're slow and weak."
They passed a ruined shipyard, where broken shrimp boats and toppled cranes lay twisted together. They continued on past ruined quays and collapsed seafood plants; the smell of rotting meat became stronger.
As they neared another mangled shipyard, Andy heard the growls of creepers. When they crossed Rabby Street, he saw the source; dozens of maimed creepers lay trapped beneath inverted cars.
"
Man, this doesn't look good," Milo said quietly as they passed the mangled wreckage. The frame of a lift bridge stood behind the ruined buildings on the left side of the street.
They turned on to South Wintzell Avenue and Royce spoke up as Andy noticed the deck of the bridge was partially raised.
"Guys, we've got a problem!"
Andy turned and saw hundreds of creepers behind them. They were moving toward the survivors, arms outstretched.
"Run!" he yelled.
They ran toward the bridge. The deck appeared to be raised about eight feet. Several cars were stopped at the precipice, leaning precariously over the side.
"How do we get up there?" Royce yelled.
"We'll have to hop on a car and jump!" Andy yelled.
He scrambled onto the trunk of a maroon Oldsmobile and climbed up o the bridge deck. He turned and helped Oscar and Milo up. Beside him, Royce had climbed up from the trunk of a blue Lincoln Towncar. He helped Bob climb up on the deck. Behind them the creepers surged forward. As the ghouls climbed atop the precariously balanced vehicles, Andy heard loud groaning noises as the cars began to tilt forward. With an awful noise, the cars splashed into the bayou below, taking dozens of creepers with them.
He turned and saw the bridge deck was choked with cars that had decaying arms reaching through windows toward them.
"Alright guys," Andy said. "Be careful. I doubt good would come from being grabbed by one of those greedy claws."
"Yeah, look! We could just climb up and over the cars," Milo said.
They walked forward and Andy hopped up on the trunk of a Mercedes. As he walked on the roof of the car, he heard angry scratching at the underside of the metal roof. He jumped to the next car, a newer Ford.
Carefully, the men picked their way across the jam and paused at the northern end of the deck. The road ahead was creeper free. Andy saw the others looking down at the street below. It appeared to be roughly an eight-foot drop.
"Alright guys," Royce said. "Be careful. We don't want any broken ankles."
They climbed down one at a time. First Royce lowered himself down, then Milo, then Bob, then Oscar. Finally, it was Andy’s turn.
He turned and started to lower himself off the deck when he suddenly lost his balance and fell. He landed on his feet and felt a searing pain shoot up his right leg.
Darkness and The Grave: A Zombie Novel Page 31
