“Is something wrong, Dad?” Amber asked but Al ignored her. She turned to Zach with a concerned look on her face, but all he said was, “Later.” Everyone could sense that there was some serious tension between Zach and Al, and so they rushed to put on their packs so that they could get going quickly. Once they started walking, everyone began to chat amongst themselves to try to lighten the mood.
“You were from Chicago, right? Bulls fan?” Ross said to Zach.
“You got it. You know, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. I saw you play once at the United Center.”
“Heh, Matt and Pat just about lost their minds when we met for the first time.”
“What can we say, we’re big fans,” said Matt. Then he, Pat, and Ross got into a spirited discussion about the Milwaukee Bucks and other basketball related topics. Zach listened to their conversation with a sense of déjà vu, and he soon became lost in his memories…
“I got four words for you, Zach: eight championships in a row. I don’t care who you are, that’s dominance!” said the former lieutenant, talking about the Boston Celtics of the sixties. Though she lived in Chicago now, she had spent her childhood in Boston, had grown up as a huge Celtics fan, and right now she was having an argument with Zach over which NBA team had had the best dynasty. She was in favor of the Celtics under Bill Russell, but Zach vehemently argued for the Bulls under Michael Jordan.
She and Zach were sitting outside of a ski lodge, sipping on hot chocolate and watching the snow fall in the soft moonlight. After having spent that Independence Day in Chicago together they continued to date for several months, and right now they were treating themselves to a weekend-long ski date to celebrate New Year’s Day. Zach was an excellent skier, but he had spent most of the day on the easy runs, teaching his date how to ski. He had dubbed her his ‘little snow bunny’, which had earned him a good-natured snowball to the back.
“There was so little talent in the league at that time, except for Boston! There was no competition!” Zach countered.
“Oh, so Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlin were nobodies?”
“Okay, two other guys. Big whoop. Look, the golden age of the NBA was the eighties and nineties, the era that Jordan played in. He had to battle Showtime in LA, Bird’s Celtics, and the ‘Bad Boy’ Piston team, just to name a few.”
“Yeah, and his team didn’t win a title until Bird was gone, Magic was practically retired, and the Pistons just lost their momentum!” she interrupted.
“That’s only because Jordan had to run a one-man show for so long! When he finally got Scottie Pippen to back him up, they became unstoppable. Six titles in eight years, and the only reason they didn’t win in ’94 and ’95 was because Jordan had retired. If he had stayed, they would have won both of those years, making it eight titles in a row, and I guarantee that, had that been the case, the team would have stayed together in ’99 to go for nine in a row.”
“But they didn’t! That’s just conjecture.”
“True, but what they did do was go 72-10 in the ’95-’96 season and win every championship series in six games or less, all of which were against outstanding teams: Magic’s Lakers, Drexler’s Trailblazers, Barkley’s Suns, Payton’s Sonics, and Malone and Stockton’s Jazz twice. That, my woefully incorrect girlfriend, is dominance.”
“Psh, whatever. You know I’m always right,” she insisted with a smile. She brought the warm Styrofoam cup up to her lips and sipped on it while looking at a group of snowboarders coming down one of the slopes. Zach was looking at her, however, with the slightest trace of a smile. When she finally met his eyes, she smiled sheepishly and said, “What are you looking at?”
“Oh, just the most beautiful woman in the world,” Zach replied.
“Shut up, you,” she said, now blushing slightly.
“No, seriously. Look, she’s at that table right behind you,” Zach said, pointing behind his girlfriend. She hit him in the shoulder as they both laughed together.
“Remind me again why I’m dating you?” she asked sarcastically.
“Well, I assume you can’t resist my charm and charisma, or my devilish good looks.”
“Hmm, right. Well, I suppose that last part is true enough, my devilishly handsome Devildog.”
“Woof,” he replied, and they both laughed again. Zach loved this woman. They had only been dating for six months, but he knew that he loved her. And he was going to marry her, of that he was certain. He leaned across the table and he kissed her softly.
Zach shook his head to bring himself back to the present, as if his memories were an image on an Etch-n-Sketch that he wished to wipe clean. Ross was now saying that, had it not been for the zombies, he would have been the next Bill Russell, and Matt and Pat were in agreement. Zach must have looked upset because Abby looked up at him and said, “Are you okay, Zach?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I was just reminiscing,” he said. Abby knew what this meant and so did not press any further.
The group continued to walk until nightfall, at which point they set up camp for the night. Amber had the third watch, and when she was sure that everyone else was asleep, she woke up Zach and whispered, “So what’s up with you and my dad?”
Zach sat up, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “Well, he and I had an interesting conversation today while we were out scouting ahead of y’all,” he said, and then went on to tell Amber about how Al had accused Zach of being a loser who was just going to hurt Amber.
“I knew it!” she whispered angrily. “He always does this! He always treats me like I’m just a kid!”
“He means well, but-”
“But like you said, I’m a grown-ass woman. I can make my own decisions. God, he pisses me off sometimes! I’m going to talk to him tomorrow.”
“You think you can change his mind?”
“Absolutely. I’ve never confronted him about being so controlling before because I know where his heart lies, but this has to stop. He’s crossed the line now.”
“Okay. Just don’t be too upset with him. I mean, I can kinda understand where he’s coming from.”
“I will, don’t worry,” Amber said with a smile. “But thanks for caring.” She leaned forward and kissed Zach for the first time, catching him by surprise. It had only been a peck on the cheek, but it was still electrifying to Zach. Amber smiled again and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yeah. Goodnight,” Zach said, unable to think of anything romantic or witty to say. “My game is definitely rusty,” he thought.
The next day was even hotter than the day before, the high temperature being around 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and the group could barely walk a mile without having to stop to rest. Zach had given Abby his bandana again, and this helped a little, but the heat was still devastating. At around midday, they decided to head over to the river to swim for a bit. Leaving one person on the shore to stand guard with the packs (Al had volunteered for this), everyone else jumped in and swam around in the cool water. Zach eventually relieved Al so that he could join the others.
They started moving again about an hour later, and as soaked as their clothes were, the hot summer sun dried them completely in a matter of minutes. They stopped again sometime later after covering just over two miles, their longest leg of the day, and were discussing how much further they should go that day when suddenly they heard gunfire nearby. Cries of agony resonated through the air and a woman’s scream could be distinctly heard. Whatever was going on was happening very close by.
“Zach, someone’s in trouble!” Abby said, but no one else moved or said anything. They were all listening intently as the gunfire abruptly ceased but the woman’s sobbing did not. “Let’s go see if we can help!” Abby said.
“Hold on, Abby. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Zach replied, instinctively placing a hand of protection on her shoulder.
“That’s right. We shouldn’t get involved and jeopardize ourselves,” Al said, agreeing with Zach. But the screaming continu
ed. Abby was visibly disturbed by this and she tugged at Zach’s sleeve and said, “We have to help her, Zach!”
“Abby, listen to that!” Zach said. Listening carefully, they could hear what sounded like several people talking and laughing and the growl of idling engines. Zach turned back to Abby and said, “There’s probably a lot of people over there. What if we lead them right to us and you get hurt? It sucks, but we can’t save everybody in the world.”
Abby glared up at Zach angrily, put her hands on her hips, and said loudly, “No, but we can save that person!”
“Abby-”
“I don’t wanna hear it, Zach! It’s the right thing to do and you know it!” she said, pointing her finger at Zach in an accusatory way. He looked down into her eyes, and the fire that was there finally melted away Zach’s pragmatism.
“Abby’s right,” Zach said. “Let’s go see what’s up.”
“Now wait a damn minute!” Al said. “I’m not gonna let you two endanger everyone here with your idiotic heroics! Whatever is going on over there is not our problem!”
“Dad, they’re right! We can’t just walk away from that!” Amber interjected, gesturing towards the sounds with her hand.
“You stay out of this, young lady,” Al said.
Amber looked indignant and quickly replied, “Hey! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m an adult and can make my own decisions!”
“I have noticed actually,” Al retorted.
“Are we really doing this right now?” Ross said. “Al, let’s at least take a look.” Finding himself besieged on all sides and being alone in his opinion, Al reluctantly gave in.
The group quickly advanced towards the screaming with their guns ready. They were moving up a steady rise in the terrain, and near the top they dropped down to their stomachs and crawled up to the crest of the small hill. What they saw below them, less than one hundred meters away, was enough to make any civilized person sick to his stomach: a one-sided slaughter. Four dead bodies lay on the ground face down with their hands and legs tied up. Bullet holes riddled their bodies, hinting that they had been murdered execution style. The bodies were being stripped and looted by their killers.
Two pick-up trucks fitted with makeshift armor were nearby, each with a man in the back, holding a machine gun. There was also a large 7-ton truck, a military vehicle that could transport either troops or cargo, though the back was now empty. Zach counted twenty men in total, all of whom were wearing at least one article of clothing that was red, marking them as some kind of gang.
About half of these men were huddled together around a young, sobbing woman. Two men were stripping her clothes off and forcing themselves on her while she vainly tried to fight them off. Zach heard a whimper next to him and saw Abby watching this happen, eyes wide with fear. Memories of the Marshall Farm were flooding back to her right now, and she was scared. “Don’t look, sweetie,” Zach said, and she quickly covered her eyes with her hands.
“You see? There’s too many!” Al hissed, but Zach ignored him. He was watching what the men were doing to that poor woman, listening to her screams of pain and her desperate pleas for mercy. He looked down at Abby and recalled what she had said: it’s the right thing to do.
He was always humbled by the innocent morality of Abby. She always had black and white views on these issues. You either did the right thing or you did the wrong thing, there was no middle ground. Most people get older and begin to see the evils of the world and often desire to justify their own decisions. They paint the world in shades of grey: sometimes doing a bad thing could be good, or doing a good thing could be bad, depending on the situation. Which way of thinking was better? Zach wasn’t sure.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s the right thing to do,” he replied. “Ross, get those guys in the trucks.” And before Al could protest further, Zach disengaged the safety on his rifle and began firing at the men standing around the woman. Ross targeted the machine gunners and fired two rounds in rapid succession, each striking the man he aimed at in the chest. Al reluctantly joined in the shooting, now that their cover had been blown.
The men below had been caught completely unaware and unprepared to fight. Within seconds, their two machine gunners were dead, along with three others that Zach had targeted. Some fired back but the ambushers had a strong vantage point and easily picked off those few who chose to fight. The others dashed back to their vehicles that were already pulling away.
Ross put his crosshairs on the lone occupant of the last pickup truck, who had just pulled a U-turn and was beginning to drive away. Ross took a breath, adjusted his aim to account for distance and the movement of the vehicle, and then slowly squeezed off a round. It was a perfect shot, entering through the driver’s side window and obliterating the skull of the driver. He slumped over in the seat and the truck came to a gradual halt.
“Let’s go help that woman!” Abby cried as she jumped to her feet and raced downhill.
“Bug, hold up!” Zach said as he and the others got up and followed Abby.
The woman had gotten up to her knees now, but she was still sobbing quietly and trying to cover herself with her arms. Abby got to her first and said, “Are you alright? Are you hurt?” But the woman didn’t answer at first. The rest of the group arrived and stood in a semi-circle around the young woman. She looked to be in her early twenties, half-starved to death, and her blonde hair was covered in dirt and grime.
“I’ll get your clothes!” Abby said when the woman had still not answered. She quickly rounded up the woman’s pants which had been flung nearby and a t-shirt. She held these out to the woman and said quietly, “Here you go.” The woman looked up suddenly, as if she had just heard Abby for the first time.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she took her clothes. She quickly pulled her pants on and slipped her shirt down over herself. “Thank you to all of you,” she said, standing up now on shaky legs.
“Who did this to you?” Abby asked. The woman said that she didn’t know. She and her four brothers had just been walking through the area looking for food when they were ambushed by those men in red.
“God bless you people. God bless you for saving me. I can’t thank you enough,” the woman said.
Abby smiled and said, “You don’t have to.”
A loud shriek suddenly pierced the air. It was distinctly human, but it held a tone of demonic, otherworldly terror. Everyone looked back behind them, towards some trees not far away, just in time to see a large group of zombies break out into the open. Their arms flailed as they sprinted like animals. Their heads shook violently from the force of their screaming, and blood and some kind of black bile spewed forth from their open mouths. Some of them looked half-eaten, and you could see their glistening muscle tissue contract and stretch. Their skin was pale, their hair had mostly fallen out, and their eyeballs were either milky white or dangling against their skulls, bouncing around sickeningly as they ran.
People had always envisioned zombies as slow and weak, barely capable of maintaining a slow shuffle and a low moaning sound. This was only partly true, for zombies only reached this stage after several years of wasting away. But until that point, zombies could run and jump just like humans. Regular people, once they turned, became like Olympic athletes. And athletically-gifted people, once they turn, became terrifying creatures of nightmares.
They say this increase in physical capabilities is caused by the powerful human mind being controlled by a simple, single, animalistic desire: to feed. They say that since all the power of the superior human brain is now bent towards only one object, the body can be pushed to limits it might never have reached before. And so, when the zombie locks onto its prey, it exerts an almost inhuman amount of effort to take it, even if it hurts itself in the process.
There were stories about incredible feats being performed by zombies in the early days of the break-outs. One tale claimed that a large, former UFC heavyweight champion had been bitten and turned into a monster. A school bus full of peo
ple attempted to run him over in the road, but the beast ran forward and actually knocked the entire bus over on its side, ripped the doors off, and killed everybody inside.
Another story told about a college track-and-field star who was said to be the fastest man in the world. He fell victim to the disease and became the fastest creature on earth. People claimed to have seen him on the freeway, chasing down cars that were going sixty or seventy miles per hour and actually catching them. Others told of a traveling team of entertainers who performed parkour stunts that was infected in New York City while performing on stage. These zombies, who still wore their distinctive blue and red stage uniforms, became infamous for their lethality, cunningness, and extreme difficulty to kill. They could scale the sides of buildings, swing from lamp post to lamp post like demonic gorillas, or jump up into second or even third-story windows.
Simply put, the zombies that attacked the world were beyond horrifying, and an encounter with these things almost always ended in death.
“TRUCK!” Zach shouted, meaning ‘get the holy hell over to the truck Ross just scored for us’. Everyone ran as fast as they possibly could, though they knew the zombies would soon be upon them. Ross, the most athletic of the group, reached the truck first. He pulled the door open, yanked the dead man to the ground, and then hopped behind the wheel as Diane got into the passenger seat. Everyone else jumped into the bed of the truck.
“Wait!” Patrick screamed, and he suddenly ran back towards the zombies. Everyone looked back with confusion and finally saw Matt limping towards them with tears streaming down his face. He had been in the back of the group and had stepped into a prairie-dog hole, twisting his ankle badly. He had tried to call for help, but no one saw or heard him until they had already reached the truck.
Patrick reached his twin, put an arm around his shoulder, and helped him forward, but the zombies were closing in. Patrick’s decision had been suicide. Vicky tried to run after them but Zach grabbed her and said, “Stay here! You’ll die!”
“Let me go! Let me go!” she screamed as Zach lifted her into the back of the truck.
His Name Was Zach Page 10
