Fortunes & Failures - 03

by T. W. Brown

  “Mister Long tells me that you folks were headed out to Yosemite,” Colonel Morris wheezed.

  “Well…,” Chad craned his neck to look at the man beside him. He looked grossly out of shape to be—at least what he envisioned—a military officer. “That was our plan, yes.”

  “What’s your reasoning?”

  “Just seemed like it was kinda remote while having facilities that we could utilize; plenty of fresh water, that sort of thing,” Chad explained

  “Hmmm,” The colonel made the sound through his nose more than anything else. He stroked the stubble growing on his multiple chins, nodding his head. To chad it looked more like a bobble in reaction to the movement of the bus. Finally, Colonel Morris leaned forward. “Mister Foster, think you can find Yosemite National Park?”

  “Yes, sir,” the man answered.

  “Very well then,” the colonel grabbed the aluminum railing that separated the front row of seats from the entry steps and pulled himself up to his feet, “let’s give your idea a try, Mister…?”

  “Meyers, Chad Meyers.”

  “Colonel Leonard Morris, United States Army…retired.” The big man offered an enormous hand with the fattest, stubbiest fingers Chad had ever seen. They shook, and the colonel made his way back down the aisle.

  A moment later, a young man came to Chad’s seat. “Excuse me?”

  “Yes?” Chad looked up at a boy who couldn’t be old enough to need to shave yet.

  “Nurse Gardener would like to see you back in the restroom…to check for…” the boy’s voice faded.

  “Oh yeah.” Chad clapped the kid on the shoulders and rose to his feet. He made it a point to do a headcount on his way back. He came up with an even fifty including himself, the driver and the nurse. Only fourteen were female and—including Gwen and Krystal and the kid who’d come to get him for the nurse—eight were children in their early teens or younger. Also, there were three toddlers. Twenty-five men rounded out the census. If they were unified…this would be quite a formidable group. As he began to strip for the nurse to be checked for bites, he allowed himself the luxury that he’d denied for quite some time…hope.

  

  Kim woke to terrible cramping in her stomach. Her body was drenched in sweat and she couldn’t stop shaking. Another sharp pain tore through her, causing her to curl up into an even tighter ball. She shoved the pillow into her mouth so that her cries would hopefully not carry outside to the surrounding neighborhoods and bring the undead swarming.

  The lake water, she thought as she gritted her teeth through another gut-rendering bold of pain. Great. She’d managed to escape and evade those damned things only to fall prey to foolishly drinking contaminated water. Now she would die in this strange house, frightened and alone. It wasn’t fair.

  She cried as quietly as possible; the pain feeding off her frustration. She felt things deep in her guts shift and tried to crawl out of bed and to the bathroom. Unfortunately, her fall to the floor proved to be too much of an impact. Her bowels let go again and she felt the disgusting smelling watery expulsion wash down her thighs as well as up her back.

  Rocking up onto her hands and knees, she crawled, but the room seemed to spin and sway causing her to fall over more than once. She made it to the hallway and collapsed. That is where she would remain.

  Unaware that dysentery had set in, Kim had no idea that she’d become the victim of severe dehydration. Every time her head rose above her heart, Kim’s blood pressure would skyrocket while her heart rate would plummet causing her to blackout. This was compounded further when her appendix burst. Kim slipped into a coma and died seventeen minutes later.

  * * * * *

  13

  Geek Tragedy

  The military truck rumbled through the intersection of the residential neighborhood. Kevin twitched the steering wheel a little to avoid the overturned Jeep emblazoned with the United States Postal Service logo. In doing so, he caught the two shambling corpses with the solid steel of the front bumper. The truck barely registered the impact as the pair of undead were tossed through the air, one of them crashing through the windshield of another of the numerous abandoned vehicles in and along the street.

  “Follow this road straight and it will get us to Highway Sixteen,” Peter said as he flipped through the binder. “The blockade was to the west. Once we reach the highway, the only problem we’ll have is that we’ll pass right behind The Basket.”

  “What about this?” Aleah leaned in and pointed. “Everett Avenue. It runs parallel, but gives us some distance.”

  “Looks promising,” Peter nodded, tracing the route and flipping through a half dozen pages. “It takes us through a few neighborhoods, but it is actually the shortest route.”

  “Hang on!” Kevin called. A cluster of zombies up ahead left him with no choice but to plow through. Even at just over thirty miles per hour, the impact of that many bodies caused a jolt.

  A yell of protest from the open cargo area could be heard above the mix of engine noise and zombies. Heather had insisted upon riding in back with Matt. Kevin winced at the thought of how that impact bounced them around back there. Having ridden in the back once, he knew how unpleasant things could be.

  “Sorry,” he called out his open window.

  “It should be just ahead,” Peter said, pointing. “Turn right just beyond that overpass.”

  “Heads up back there,” Kevin called. He hated going underneath a section of road where he could see several of those things walking. And it was obvious that those things were aware of their presence. Unable to help it, Kevin pressed down hard on the accelerator.

  “That does us no good if we wreck,” Aleah warned as they flew by a pair of cars that had crashed head on. Something was moving around in one, but she only saw a blur as the big truck continued to gain speed.

  They shot out the other side of the overpass and into the seemingly symbolic sunlight. Kevin glanced in the rearview as several bodies hit the concrete. He eased off the gas, slowing to take the turn east on Everett Avenue at a reasonable speed.

  “What’s that up ahead?” Shari had been holding her sister Erin tight as they’d driven first into the deserted city of Newark, then across the river and into the hellscape that had once been a rather drab looking neighborhood. They’d crossed through one area that not only looked severely trampled, but reeked of the undead in a way she’d never experienced. The closest she’d come to such an overwhelming stench was way back when Kevin had rescued her, her mother, and sisters from their grandfather’s office building in Wheeling. So many of those things had crowded around the U-haul that she’d feared they wouldn’t make it. Hundreds of those things had gathered around the building and they’d plowed through them.

  “The herd passed through here,” Aleah said and Kevin nodded. Shari didn’t know what they were talking about, but she never wanted to see a group of zombies large enough to cause so much damage simply by “passing through” and leaving behind such a gagging stench that lingered long after they moved on.

  Now, up ahead on the left, was some sort of open field. Strewn about were what looked like the ruins of a massive tent city. What might’ve been a fence stuck up in places, but for the most part had been ripped away.

  “There’s nothing on the map,” Peter said, flipping through the pages.

  “Are those trenches?” Aleah leaned across Erin who had her face buried in her sister’s side.

  “They must’ve killed hundreds,” Shari breathed.

  Kevin looked out his window as they passed. The trenches actually ran in a north-south direction, allowing him to see much more than he’d have liked. The leading edge of the trenches were dug close enough to the road that he could see the decaying, bloated remains of the bullet-riddled bodies. It took him a moment to notice that these people hadn’t been shot in the head. No, these men, women, and children had been executed.

  “Jesus,” he breathed. Glancing at the others in the cab with him, he saw the same realiz
ation dawning on their faces.

  “Why?” Shari managed through the tears that began rolling down both cheeks.

  “Who knows,” Peter said. “I haven’t been able to make sense of a damned thing since this whole ordeal began.”

  Kevin sped back up, wanting to leave that scene behind, hoping that it wouldn’t be the newest vision to haunt his already overcrowded nightmares. Then, he caught a glimpse of what would be the next big obstacle. This was where things had the greatest chance to go catastrophically bad.

  The Basket.

  It’d seemed larger when he was a kid. Now, it was an ominous symbol of his failures. Up ahead, they would pass behind a hill, but with the way sound carried, he knew there was no possible way that they could slip by undetected. His only hope was that Shaw and his band of lunatics would not be able to mount an effective pursuit in such short notice.

  When it appeared again through the trees that lined the road to their right, Kevin couldn’t help but let his foot off the gas. The big truck rolled to a stop allowing everybody to see.

  “No,” Shari sobbed, turning her face into Peter’s side and pulling Erin with her in the process.

  Unable to take his eyes off the scene of destruction, he put his arms around both Bergmans. He couldn’t fully come to grips with what he was seeing. The barricade erected around The Basket that encompassed not only the buildings, but the parking lots on both sides, had been toppled. Only one of the scaffold towers still stood, but it was clearly empty. Dozens of zombies wandered about the wreckage.

  Kevin grabbed the binoculars from the dashboard to get a better look. Scanning the windows, he saw shadowy figures moving about inside. The large amount of activity indicated that it was beyond unlikely that there could be any survivors. From his vantage point, he could also see some of the crosses in place on the road that ran along the front of the building. None of the ones that he could see held the zombie of Ruth Bergman, but he knew that she was there…somewhere. He made a silent vow to return and put a bullet in her brain.

  After a moment’s silence save for the quiet sobs of Shari and Erin, Kevin accelerated and resumed their trek to the Longaberger Golf Club. His mind tried to make sense of what they’d just seen. The same herd must’ve passed through here. Its numbers had simply been too great for Shaw and his men to defend against. It made him think a little harder about what they had planned. He would need to devise something that would divert any such groups like that of overwhelming them wherever they decided to set up. He also came to the chilling realization that, no matter where they chose to call home, those things would always be a danger. It seemed—

  “Oh crap,” Kevin gasped.

  “That’s not on my map,” Peter said, frantically flipping through the pages.

  Coming over a very slight ridge, they discovered a multi-car, military roadblock. Of course, none of the soldiers responsible were still manning their positions. At least not any soldiers still living. That was the biggest problem. There were no zombies roaming the area, but at least three of the vehicles that would have to be moved were occupied.

  Kevin slowed down, coming to a stop a just before the wall of sandbags. It was only a few feet high, but there was no way to get through without pulling the bags out of the way first.

  “We could be here a few hours,” Peter warned.

  “Do you see any way around this?” Kevin shrugged. “Besides, it’s obvious that, while this little notebook is helpful, the people who had it fell. Things continued to happen that didn’t make it in that blunder. So even if we backtrack and find another way, what’s to say we don’t find more unmarked obstacles?

  “So what do you want to do?”

  “Pair up,” Kevin announced. “Me, Aleah, and Heather will get to work on clearing the vehicles and getting them off the road. You and Shari start on the sandbags. As soon as we’re done, we’ll help.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aleah interjected. Everybody turned to look at her. “I think we all work on the sandbags, and move the trucks last. They aren’t gonna start easy, so we’re gonna make a lot of noise. All those things back at The Basket will hear. We’ll be fightin’ off a boatland of those bastards before we know it.”

  Everybody looked back at Kevin. Twice he opened his mouth as if to protest, but the look on his face said he was playing out the scenario and realizing that Aleah was correct.

  “Okay—” he began.

  “Hey!” Heather’s face appeared in the driver’s side window. “We might have a problem.

  “What’s that?” Kevin asked, wanting to say that they had more than just one.

  “A truck just tore out from the parking lot of The Basket.”

  “Which way was it headed?”

  “That way,” Heather pointed. “The same direction as us.”

  Peter began flipping frantically through the pages. He began tracing with his finger. “Okay, if this person knows the area, they could cut us off if they get through at least two roadblocks that I see on the map.”

  “So what do we do now?” Shari sniffled. She sounded absolutely defeated.

  “We keep to the plan,” Kevin said after a moment’s consideration. “We have no idea who or what left in that truck. It could be some lone survivor or small group that stumbled onto a working vehicle and took off. With what we saw, I think we can all agree that there weren’t any survivors…” He tried desperately to bite down on those last words, but before he fully realized what he was saying, the statement had already tumbled from his mouth setting off a more intense wave of crying from both Shari and Erin.

  “Smooth,” Aleah quipped, but she only gave the Bergman sisters a glance before opening the passenger door and jumping out onto the road.

  “We need to get going,” Kevin said, taking his cue from Aleah, popping his door, and putting some distance between himself and the two weeping females.

  He, Aleah, and Heather headed for the sandbag wall and began peeling off the top layer in the center.

  “How’s Matt?” Aleah asked Heather as the two took turns heaving the ten pound bags aside.

  “Frustrated,” Heather puffed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “He wants to help really bad.”

  “Well,” Aleah glanced back at the truck, “I bet that, even in his condition, he’s more useful than those two…and the doctor for that matter.”

  After about five minutes, Kevin glanced back at the truck. Shari and Erin looked to still be crying and Peter continued to sit there and apparently attempt to console them. He tossed the sandbag he held aside and stalked back to the open cab.

  “Here’s the deal,” Kevin barked. “Either the two of you get your asses out here and start helping, or...”

  “What?” Peter challenged. “Or what, Kevin?”

  “I’ll leave the three of you right here.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!” Shari’s head popped up.

  “Actually,” Kevin locked eyes with the former pop star, “I’d do it in a heartbeat. You haven’t lifted a finger since I’ve known you. And you act like you’re the only person who’s lost anybody. I lost three friends either directly or indirectly because of you, your mom, and sisters. It’s time you either start pulling your share of the load or so help me…I’ll leave the three of you right here beside the road.”

  “Who do you think you are?” Peter swung himself around and scrambled out of the truck. Kevin took a step back far enough to let him exit, but not so far that Peter had anyplace to stand except nose-to-nose with him. “And as for leaving us…this is our truck.”

  “Not anymore.” Kevin jingled the key, then stuffed it back in his pocket. “In case you haven’t been paying attention, there really isn’t anybody you can call to report a supposed stolen vehicle to. Now I’ve been trying my best to give you slack. You being a doctor and all has value. But you seem to think you can just sit back and do whatever you like…which is apparently nothing. You’ll start helping.”

  “Or?” Peter challenged.r />
  “I’ve already made that clear.” With that, Kevin turned his back on the seething doctor and returned to dismantling the sandbag wall.

  Heather and Aleah scrambled to return to work, each casting sideways glances at Kevin then each other, not bothering with trying to hide their smirks. Those looks transformed to ear-to-ear grins when Shari and Peter stepped in and began grabbing sandbags.

  “Now that we’re all here,” Kevin announced, “let’s form a line. It’ll speed this up.”

  They were so engaged in the task that nobody noticed the sound of an approaching vehicle until it came to a stop on the far side of the blockade a few hundred yards away. It was Shari who saw him first.

  “Oh…no,” she wailed, backing towards the big military truck.

  Everybody’s head popped up, but they all remained frozen in place. Having no idea who the man was that had stepped out of the pick-up, both Heather and Aleah tried to make sense of the change that came over the others.

  “Shaw,” Kevin spat, shoving the two girls to the ground behind an intact section of the barricade. His hand went for his holstered .45 in a motion so fluid that it would’ve impressed a gunfighter from the Old West.

  The man began wading through the maze of military tents and vehicles…with hands in the air. Kevin didn’t care; he clicked off the safety and drew a bead on the center mass of the approaching target.

  “Please,” Shaw called, just loud enough to be heard. “I’m unarmed.” Slowly, the man pulled his shirt up and turned a circle in place to prove his claim.

  “I don’t care,” Kevin growled. “My friends were unarmed, too. That didn’t stop you.”

  “You’re right.” Shaw came to a halt in a clearing, giving Kevin an open shot. “And if this is how it has to be, then I accept your judgment. I have no defense for my actions. So…go ahead.”