by Morris, SJ
Jimmy turned to Chris, looking at him like he was crazy. “What? We don’t know what the hell these guys are up to. I count four on quads and three on motorcycles, and they all look armed. There are only four of us and seven of them. Hell, if they’re going to go after the infected like that, these guys have giant-sized balls and are armed to the teeth. What if we go up there and we’re all, ‘Hey guys, we’re here to help!’ and they’re like, ’Fuck off assholes and give us your stuff!’ Did you ever think of that, Chris? Not everyone out here is going to be looking to help like we are.”
“These guys don’t look like the marauding type,” Chris answered without looking away from his scope.
Lynn chimed in, “I’m with Jimmy on this one. What does the marauding type look like anyway, Chris?”
“I’ve got a feeling about these guys. If we help them, they’ll help us. I know it in my gut.”
“Your gut feeling better not get us killed,” Jimmy replied as he let his foot off the brake slowly, and we inched forward.
Jimmy wasn’t one to question Chris’s gut, I guess. Lynn didn’t look very happy though as she sat back in her seat, huffing and crossing her arms angrily. “If they turn out to be rapists, I hope you guys like anal sex because I’m not getting forced into the zombie sex trade. I’ll shoot myself in the brain before I let that happen.”
Jimmy laughed. “I hope for all of our sakes that you’re just being overdramatic.”
“I’ll bet your puckered little ass hole hopes so too.”
Chris shushed Jimmy and Lynn, “Shh, let’s all just be ready for anything, all right. Ammo in and guns up ladies. No offense, Lynn.”
Lynn looked at Chris sideways. “None taken, cockgobbler.”
All of us, including Chris, laughed at that one.
We pulled alongside the armed men on quads and motorcycles who were riding in circles, stabbing spears into the heads of the infected they had already cut in half. Chris hopped out of the back and began opening fire at the stragglers who weren’t cut in half. Jimmy, Lynn, and I followed suit. I took out my 9mm, letting the bullets fly.
The torrential deluge of bullets and the thunk of Chris’s silenced sniper rifle filled the chilly morning air mixing with the sounds of the ATVs and the motorcycles. The guys on their vehicles stopped their spear work and watched as we annihilated the remaining undead that were still standing.
When the noise from the vehicles and our shooting stopped, the group of five men and two women walked over to us with their hands up, showing that they meant us no harm.
The men were all on the tall side and burly. They wore tattered dark military gear and looked to have been through some rough shit. The guy leading the group over to us was the oldest of them, probably in his early fifties if I had to guess. He was dark skinned with a thick greying beard and a black bandana covering his long salt and pepper hair. The ladies were pretty, but they looked tough. Like the kind you would never approach at a bar because they would drink you under the table and kick your ass for looking at them wrong. One of the other men was a huge Irish gentleman. He was pasty white under a thick layer of dirt and build like a tree. His bright red hair was a huge contrast to his dark looking demeanor. The other guys were all built the same as Mr. Irish, but shorter even though they all looked formidable.
Chris whispered under his breath, “See Lynn, they have two ladies with them. Does that make you feel any better?”
Lynn let a squeak of a laughter slip out of her mouth before she whispered back, “Yeah, because women don’t do horrific shit to people, right? I hope you boys wore your pretty panties and shaved your legs today. You might just be in for some butt-knuckling.”
Jimmy couldn’t contain his laughter again. Where do you come up with this shit, Lynn?”
Before she could answer, one of the men from the group spoke up, “What the heck is so funny over here?”
Chris spoke, “Lynn, here was worried that you all were going to be rapists and had a colorful way of telling us how we should be prepared for some unwanted ass play.”
All seven of the group started laughing, and I relaxed, hoping this was a good sign.
“Well, we’re not rapists, but we do enjoy a good laugh every now and then, so thank you for that. And thanks for the help with the revenants too,” the man said with a heavy southern drawl.
Chris held out his hand for the man to shake. “That’s a perfect name for them, and it was no problem. We saw you cutting them down before. How’d you manage to do that? I’m Chris, by the way. This is Kamil, Jimmy, and Lynn.” We each gave the new group a wave as we put our guns away.
The man smiled and shook Chris’s hand. “Pleasure to meet ya’ll. The name’s Admiral. This is my second in command, Benning, our two razor wire artists, Arrow and Jet. Then we have our mechanic, Garrison, and these lovely ladies, who might just rape you because they’re tired of looking at our sorry ass mugs all day, are Bowie and Mace. We’re 0321, Special Operations Capable reconnaissance assets of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. We provided division-level ground and amphibious reconnaissance to the Ground Combat Element within the United States Marine Corps. Well, we did until the shit really hit the fan, and even the military fell apart. We’ve been on the move together since all of this started. And the razor wire, that was Arrow’s idea. He just thought it would be cool to try, and when I said it would never work, Jet was on board to prove me wrong. Amazingly enough, it worked, so we’ve been herding groups of the revenants together, cutting them down and then spearing the brain to reduce the number of threats. It gives us something to do. How about yourselves? What are ya’ll doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“We’re actually on our way to the city. One of our group, my wife, actually was kidnapped recently by soldiers in a Black Hawk helicopter. Private First-Class James Smith here said two others from our group who are scientists, were also taken by these same men and it looked like they might be heading southeast toward the city. Plus, Jimmy only knows of one other black site in this direction they could have been going to, and it’s in New York,” Chris replied.
“Private First Class, eh? We all gotta start somewhere, don’t we?” Admiral joked, hitting Jimmy in the right shoulder. Jimmy cringed in pain.
My own wound in my gut ached in response to seeing Jimmy in discomfort. We were all kind of beat up.
The Admiral reached out to Jimmy, trying to help steady him. “Shit, I’m sorry, son. You okay there?”
Jimmy talked through his teeth, “Yeah, I’m fine, sir. I took some shrapnel to the shoulder recently.”
The Admiral’s face lit up. “Shrapnel? It sounds like ya’ll have been having some fun out here in the shit. Care if we join you on your way into the city? I’m sure we could help one another out. We’d get to kill some revenants, and you’d get to find your wife and the scientists. Plus, we saw the Black Hawk helicopters recently, and we’ve been tracking them too. We’d like to see if maybe we can get our hands on one of ‘em. We spent the winter in Canada thinking it would be safer in the colder climate from these undead bastards, and we’ve been making our way south to warmer climates since the weather broke. It’s colder than a brass toilet seat in the Yukon up there. If there’s no hope for the human race, we ain’t spending what’s left of our days up there in that icebox. We were planning on finding a boat and sailing down to the islands. Somewhere warm, we could try and secure against the revenants and maybe live out the rest of our days in peace. A helicopter would prove mighty useful in getting us to the coast and helping us find a good boat. What’d ya’ll say?”
Chris looked at the three of us, and we all nodded in agreement. “Absolutely, happy to have you and your crew on board, Admiral.”
The woman who the Admiral said was named Mace looked me over like I was a piece of prime rib. I smiled back at her cautiously, and she blew me a kiss giggling and elbowing the other woman, Bowie.
Bowie looked at me, guardedly. “What’s the matter? Is the big tough black man a
fraid of some strong white pussy?”
I laughed cautiously at her crude comment, “Well, I did recently have a run-in with a crazy cat lady where I ended up stabbed. So, yeah. You could say I’m a little scared and traumatized by pussy.”
Benning heard the interaction and laughed, “Hey, Kamil. I’d be careful with those two. They’re like praying mantis’ when it comes to men.”
“Yeah, how so?” I asked him.
“They like to eat their mates after they screw em,” Benning laughed as he turned away back to stabbing the infected with his spear.
I was about to respond when a dozen shrill screams broke up our friendly conversation with our new friends.
I turned to Chris. “Shit, it didn’t take long for them to catch up, did it?” I asked pointing at the figures exiting the trees onto the roadway behind us.
“I guess not. Look at that one with the bright orange vest. He looks almost alive, doesn’t he? If it weren’t for the blood running down his clothes I might just stop and ask him if he needed help. This virus is adapting right in front of our eyes, and quickly. Admiral, you and your team should probably go ahead. If the super-infected catch you on those, you’ll be lunch meat in no time,” Chris said, motioning to the bikes and quads.
“Wait, what? What the hell are super-infected?”
“They’re revenants, but they are must faster, stronger, and they appear to retain fairly cunning intellectual skills. Basically, they are our worst nightmare out here. I’m surprised you haven’t faced any yet. I’ve lost count how many times these super-infected have ambushed us. You can tell they’re coming by the screams. I don’t know why they do it, but it’s our queue to get the hell out of here.”
“Why are we running? How about we lead them down this road, Jet and Arrow will pull their razor wire on ‘em, and we’re done with these so-called super-infected?” Admiral offered.
Chris thought about it for a second before responding. “I’d love to try it, but I’m not willing to risk everyone’s lives. I’d much rather run now and live to fight another day. These super-infected are more contagious than anything I’ve ever seen. One bite and you turn before your body even hits the ground. There’s no wiggle room for error with these things.”
“Well then, if that’s the case. Roll out 0321!” Admiral barked.
We jumped back into the Jeep, and the others ran to their vehicles. We hit the road as fast as the beaten asphalt would let us, and the high-pitched shrieks of the super-infected faded into the distance.
Chapter 19
Jimmy Smith
We had to stop to clear the road a few times, but it was much easier and quicker now that we had more hands to do the work. We were making good time considering the state of the roads, and before lunchtime, we were passing a sign welcoming us to Fort Lee, New Jersey.
As we drove through the streets of Fort Lee, the air seemed to change. You know the feeling you get when a massive storm is coming, and the air gets heavy? That was what I was feeling. The number of infected seemed to reduce the further into Fort Lee we traveled, which scared me more than it put me at ease. Yes, we were able to conserve ammo, but where were the infected. We were driving through a massively populated area. I would expect to see more of them.
Chris pulled the Jeep over, and the ATV’s and motorcycles of our new friends parked in front of us. Chris exited the Jeep, and Kamil, Lynn, and I followed him.
Once everyone was assembled around the hood of our truck, Chris began to speak in quiet tones. “We need to scout ahead to see what we’re walking into. I don’t think it’s a good idea to take the vehicles into the city, even if we can. They’re going to be too loud, especially inside the city. The noise of our engines is going to bounce off the buildings like a siren in the Grand Canyon. The infected or revenants are going to be heavily concentrated close to and inside Manhattan. So we have to constantly watch each other’s six. We need eyes in every direction, and we have to stay in a close group. Admiral, do you want to have a few of us check up ahead, and some of us stay back, or no?”
“Hell no. No one’s hangin’ back. That’d be as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe. We don’t wanna waste any more time because we’re burning daylight here. Son...”
Whatever the rest of Admiral’s comment was, was lost under the deafening sound of rotor blades thumping through the air. All of us ran to the shelter of a nearby entryway covered by an awning as a Black Hawk helicopter passed overhead.
Chris looked at me. “I guess you were right, Jimmy. They are heading into Manhattan. Now we just got to see if we can confirm where they’re going.”
“I know exactly where they’re going. Brigantine said one of the other bases she was using was located at the US Defense Logistics Agency building. It’s over on Varick Street. My best guess would be they were headed there,” I replied.
“Great, now we just have to figure out how the hell to get there without a damn helicopter,” Lynn commented.
Kamil smiled, “Well, there doesn’t seem to be that many infected around here. Maybe we caught a break, and we can just walk over the bridge and into the city.”
“Now while that would dill my pickle, I don’t think we’re gonna get that lucky, son. I was wondering where all the revenants were earlier. We should be swimming in them by now being this close to the city,” Admiral said as he looked around for any threats.
Lynn jumped into the conversation. “We’re hoping the George Washington Bridge that connects Fort Lee to upper Manhattan will be clear enough for us to pass into the city, right? How about instead of sitting here and chit-chatting like a bunch of high school drama queens, we actually get a move on and find out what we’re walking into?”
Bowie and Mace both patted Lynn on the back. Mace said, “I like this chick, I’m with her. Are you boys coming with, or do the girls get to have all the fun?”
With that comment, we headed back to the vehicles to get ready to set out into the city.
Garrison and Kamil got fitted with the water guns turned zombie killing devices to their backs since they were the least accurate shots of the group. It’s funny how the mechanic from each of our respective teams ended up not being the best with firearms. We loaded them with as much of the bright orange liquid as they could carry. The rest of us filled and brought a bottle with us as well, just in case.
Kamil and Garrison were the lucky ones who were going to be the front line of our little hodge-podge group of mostly ex-military. They had the honor because if we came into contact with any of the infected, we didn’t want to fire our weapons to dispatch them. The noise would bring every undead mook in the city down on us, so gunshots were forbidden.
Chris, Lynn, Kamil, and I each had a Ka-Bar with its seven-inch carbon steel clip point blade. Lynn had the added advantage of her Jian sword. The Jian is a double-edged straight sword, and it’s incredibly deadly. I knew this from watching Lynn use it firsthand. Lynn wielded the weapon like a pro. Admiral and his crew were carrying their spears as well as the Ontario MK 3 Navy Knife, which is a six-inch stainless-steel blade. It was going to suck using knives and spears as our only means of defense instead of our guns, but it was either that or get swarmed.
The streets were relatively quiet, which was genuinely bothering me. After leaving the vehicles, we had only killed four of the infected. Where were they?
My question was answered as we turned the corner of North Central Road onto Sylvan Street. We thought the George Washington Bridge was going to be clear enough to pass. I wasn’t sure we were even going to get the opportunity to find out.
“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, that’s a lot of undead assholes,” Admiral said quietly as we all crouched to stay out of sight.
Looking down the street, we could see the Palisades Interstate Parkway and the Fort Lee Park area surrounding it. The smell alone as we turned onto Sylvan Street should have told us everything we needed to know about the area. The unmistakable stench of rotting flesh hung heavily in the air
.
The undead were everywhere. There was no way we were going to be able to get through them. The second we were spotted by even one of the revenants, we were done for, I was sure of it. One sound and we’d be swarmed with no way out but back the way we came.
No wonder the soldiers who took Abby, Troy, and Stuart were using helicopters. There was no way in hell we were going to be able to get into the city on foot. The Fort Lee Historic park was a disaster. The infected covered every inch of ground and asphalt alike as far as the eye could see. The herd of infected was like a slow-moving tornado. They were a dark cloud covering the area, casting an ominous shadow over a massive swath of land and obliterating everything in its wake.
We needed another way into the city.
Reluctantly we all backtracked up North Central Road. Admiral had the idea to travel north toward the Ross Dock and try to find a boat. With the sheer number of infected, I didn’t think we stood a chance of getting anywhere near the water up here, and we needed to head south anyway. The US Defense Logistics Agency building was closer to the Holland Tunnel than up here.
“Hey guys, I think taking a boat on the water is the only way we’re going to be able to get into the city, but I don’t think going North is our best bet. Fort Lee Park is enormous, and the Ross Dock is still surrounded by the same area. If the infected are packed in this tight down here, I imagine they’ll be just as bad up at the dock. We have to go south to get to the Defense building anyway, so why don’t we get the hell away from this massive horde, get back in our vehicles and make our way to Newport? There are plenty of docs over by the Lincoln Tunnel, so I’m sure we’ll find a boat, and when we make it to shore, the building we need will be like six blocks away,” I whispered.
