by Ivan Turner
“We’re close,” Martin said, his voice growing tense. “We’re so close.”
Now that his goal was in reach, he was terrified. What would he do if he found Abby’s phone abandoned on the floor? What would he do if he found a zombie carrying it around? What would he do if that zombie was Abby?
“Here!” he shouted. “Here!”
Deion pulled to a stop at the corner of Park Row and Beekman and Martin spilled out of the truck. He began screaming Abby’s name at the top of his lungs but his voice, as loud and deep as it was, was stolen by the wind. With his eyes on the phone screen, wiping the snow from it every ten seconds, he moved down Beekman. There was a line of store fronts, most of them dark. Finally he came to a little boutique with the gate down. The phone told him that he had reached his destination. How could they be inside of a store with the gate down? The chain was on the outside. How accurate was this stupid Friend Finder app? Then he heard screaming.
“Abby!” Martin began to pound furiously on the gate. The metal slats shook with every blow. He wasted precious seconds in his panic before noticing that there was no padlock on the gate. It was down but unlocked. Grabbing the chain, he began to haul it up. It was slow going with one hand. He had neglected to put the phone away. He just wasn’t thinking. Then someone was pushing him aside and Deion was pulling on the chain with both of his strong arms. It came up quickly after that. Martin shoved his phone into his pocket and felt the gun in his waistband.
When the gate was up, Martin pulled open the door and rushed inside.
“Daddy!”
He glanced only once at Sam before turning his attention back to the main attraction. Abby was struggling on the floor with a zombie. The man was in the remains of a regular business suit. He was face down on the floor, his arms waving wildly over his head. She had the cord of a computer mouse wrapped around his neck and she was straddling his back like a horse. But she was tiring. The fierceness in her eyes was all but gone. Martin knew his wife well.
Pulling Jazz’s gun from his pants, he flicked off the safety and rushed forward. He grabbed Abby by the arm and pulled her away from the zombie. She was so fixated on her battle that she didn’t understand what was happening. She was taken completely by surprise and stumbled into one of the displays. Free now, the zombie slid its arms underneath it and began to push itself up. But Martin stepped down hard on its back, pinning it once again. Then he leaned in close and fired the gun three times into its head. Poor Vincent shuddered under the fury of the bullets and then lay still.
“Martin?” Abby asked, utterly dumbfounded.
He turned to her. “Are you hurt?”
Unsure, she shook her head.
“Abby, were you bitten?”
“No, I…” She checked her arms and legs for any injuries. Her biceps burned with the exertion and her thighs ached from sitting on top of Vincent, but there were no tears in her clothing and no blood on her body. “I’m okay.”
With one massive step, Martin came forward and grabbed her up in a bear hug. Abby was still so puzzled by his appearance that she didn’t even respond. Chantelle finally let go of Sam and he came rushing forward to grab his father’s leg. Martin looked down and saw his son, really, for the first time. With his left hand, he pulled Sam up to his shoulder and smothered him between his parents. He giggled a bit.
Behind them, Chantelle glanced at Deion, who’d come in just behind Martin. Luke had stayed with the trucks. Deion winked at her and she smiled shyly.
“How did you find me?” Abby asked. “How did you get here?”
“Friend Finder.” He grinned. As soon as he got home, Martin was going to leave that app a five star comment. “And my new friend Deion drove me up in his snow plow.”
Abby still couldn’t grasp the whole adventure. She couldn’t imagine that Martin had left work, gotten into a snow plow, and come to rescue her. She could, however, imagine him setting off on foot and doing whatever it took. She looked Deion up and down, his bald head and his thick arms, and biker’s face. She marched up to him and gave him a big hug, whispering a thank you in his ear.
“What do we do about him?” Martin asked, looking down at Vincent.
Abby went over and tentatively reached into his pockets. There, she found his phone. “I guess I’ll get in touch with his family. He was so worried about his family.”
There was little more that they could do after that. Chantelle gathered up her things and, together they left the boutique. They waited for Chantelle as she pulled down the gates and put on the padlock. She wanted to protect the place from the possibility of looters. If the world wasn’t ending then she needed to keep her job. Of course, she wasn’t entirely sure how her boss was going to react to the broken displays and the dead zombie on the floor. She’d make sure to call just as soon as the phones were working.
“Martin, why don’t you and your family ride with Luke this time so that I can get to know the pretty lady better?” Deion said.
Martin shook his hand vigorously. “Whatever you want, brother. You ask her out, why don’t you. We’ll buy you both dinner.”
Deion grinned from ear to ear. They levered themselves into the trucks, Sam delighted at getting to ride in such a huge machine in the middle of a snowstorm. Luke and Deion put the trucks into gear and started back toward the bridge so that they could rendezvous with Olden.
***
At around 11:30, Luco called Naughton back into the room. Yuan had long since left. Since he was on duty, he couldn't very well disappear forever. Zoe was sitting up. Luco had raised the back of the table so that she could lean back. The restraints had been removed. She was being fed oxygen and Naughton could see a urine bag hanging from the side. It wasn't full, but it wasn't empty either. There was more color in Zoe's cheeks. She turned to look at him as he entered.
"I can't believe it." And he couldn't. As far as he was concerned, what he was seeing constituted a miracle.
Luco was floating. "I think it's safe to move her now. We'll have to take the IV. I've packed some medical supplies into that bag." He looked to see a large blue bag on the floor. "Will that be all right?"
"Yeah," he said, thinking that he had no bag packed. All of his things were at his apartment. His clothing and his jewelry. His collection of hotel matchbooks. He supposed that none of it was at all important.
Together they gathered up Zoe and helped her off the table. She no longer smelled dead. She didn't smell good, but she didn't smell dead either. They dressed her in her own clothing and covered her with the sweater. Yuan had turned up a jacket from the lost and found. It was a little bit big for her and cut for a boy, but it was better than nothing. They also wrapped her in a blanket. The temperature was in the teens and Zoe, now human, would freeze to death in a moment.
They had also managed to scrounge up a patient meal. It was cold but it was intact. When Zoe saw the food, she began to retch. Luco forced some jello into her mouth and then some water. She swallowed both and immediately perked up. By all indications, her entire system had started working again. The bacterium had preserved her perfectly.
They led her out of the doors. One or two people glanced their way but no one said anything. Once out in the cold, Naughton left them to go and get the car. Not his car. That wouldn't do. He had made arrangements for another car. The street was by no means clear. The sidewalks were worse. More than a foot of snow was piled up against the sides of the buildings. Since it was still falling, it was still accumulating. The plows had come by recently but there were still at least four inches on the road.
Naughton came back moments later. He was driving a grey Hummer H1. He pulled to a stop and got out of the driver's seat. He opened the back door and Luco helped Zoe inside. She lay down on the seat and Luco got in behind her, holding the IV bag.
"I'll sit with her," Naughton said.
Luco looked up at him. "You want me to drive this thing?"
"Just through the city."
"Lance, I've never even d
riven anything as big as a minivan."
"You'll be all right," he said, heading over to one of the storage compartments and pulling out a shotgun. "Unless you want to be responsible for fighting off the zombies.
Luco swallowed hard and then took a deep breath. She supposed that this was what being a fugitive was like. Over the course of the rest of her life, she'd probably have to do countless things that she never expected. At least it wouldn't be boring.
She got into the front seat and Naughton slid in next to Zoe. There was a screen on the dashboard with a street map loaded onto it.
"The guidance system is already programmed to take us to the Canadian border," Naughton told her. It's been programmed with the plow routes so that we won't have much trouble with the snow. Those roads are highlighted in green. We may still hit areas with eight inches or more, but this vehicle is equipped to handle two and a half feet of water. If you see a red area then head away from it. The guidance system will reroute us so don't worry about screwing it up."
"What are the red areas?" she asked even though she already knew.
He didn't answer her directly. "The orbital satellites are all blinded by the snow, but information from police reports has given us a good fix on the locations of large zombie groups. We'll probably hit stragglers and we may hit worse. The hummer's not designed for maneuvers so go slow. If there are two or three zombies, we can just drive through them. If there are twenty, we'll need to run."
"Okay," she said and then said it again. Her hands were clammy and there was sweat forming at the collar of her coat. Luco was more nervous than she had ever been in her life.
"Our new identities are in the glove compartment."
This startled her. She was just about to shift the vehicle into drive but held up and looked at him. "Identities?"
He didn't seem fazed. "Denise, we're on the run from the government. We may need to change our identities several times. I couldn't get a very thorough job done in a few hours and I burned through just about every favor I've accumulated over the years so this will be it for free. I kept our first names because getting used to new names is difficult. Our last name is Dakota."
"Our last name?"
Now he reddened. "It was easier to make us a family."
She smiled at him and then turned back to the wheel. Shifting the Hummer into drive, she pulled away from Arthur Conroy Hospital never planning to return.
Naughton was right about maneuvering. Driving the Hummer was nothing like the little Civic she'd had before moving to the city. She could feel the weight of it as she turned and even as she hit the gas. As powerful as the engine was, it was a far heavier machine than any other vehicle on the road. Its tires chewed through the snow and ice as if they were nothing. But her confidence turned to cockiness which almost spelled disaster as she took a turn too fast.
In the back, Naughton hung the IV on a storage hook. There was no way to belt Zoe in so he held her gently on the seat. She felt feverish. When he mentioned it, Luco told him that it was because her immune system was still restarting. There were antibiotics in the IV. Still, Naughton was skeptical. He couldn't understand how a little girl who had been dead for so long was suddenly alive?
They did encounter some straggling zombies on the streets of Manhattan. Luco avoided the red areas, even when it took them away from the plow routes. At one point, they had to deal with more than a foot of snow. The Hummer skidded and swerved, but managed to get through it just the same. The stragglers came out of a building on their left, drawn by the noise of the engine. Luco was driving slowly but not slowly enough for the zombies to catch up. Still, Naughton laid a hand on his shotgun just in case.
At last, they reached the West Side Highway and headed north and out of the city. They were stopped once by the police but Naughton's badge and his name were more than enough to get them going again soon. He made up a story about patrolling and getting the little girl home to her family. No one questioned him. They crossed several highways until they finally made it to the New York State Thruway. The road was worse than the plowed areas of the city but still manageable for the Hummer. After a short time, they pulled over and Naughton took over the driving. He was much more confident and capable behind the wheel and the going got easier.
The drove for several hours. Eventually, they passed beyond the boundary of the storm and were able to bring the Hummer up to highway speed. Zoe slept through most of the drive but came awake every so often. Luco talked to her, asked her questions about her memories. She didn't want to push. She couldn't imagine what must be going on in the mind of a girl who was once dead, then undead, then alive again. Did she remember biting Detective Stemmy? Did she still have that hunger for flesh? Luco offered her some crackers, but she didn't take them. She drank a lot of water, though.
"Lance, I think she's sick," Luco said after a while.
He glanced in the rearview mirror. "She's been dead for five months. What do you expect?"
"That's not what I mean." For a minute, he didn't get it. He was concentrating on the road. There was still some snow blowing about but it wasn't nearly as bad as in the city. Then she elaborated. "She has a nosebleed."
Now he understood, but he didn't know what to say. "Is she awake?"
"No. She's shivering."
"What do you want to do?"
Luco shook her head. "I don't know. The antibiotics don't seem to be helping." She reached into the medical bag and rummaged around. She came out with a thermometer. "Slow down for a bit."
Naughton let the pedal raise and watched while Luco put the thermometer to the girl's temple.
"How bad?" he asked.
"A hundred and six."
"Is it possible that her body is just going through some adjustment?"
"I don't know," Luco whined. It was the first time he'd ever heard her whine. Her eyes were shimmering.
With no other options, Naughton just kept driving. He was tired and stiff, but didn't want to risk stopping. He pulled off for gas once, and used the opportunity to stretch his aching body. Luco stayed in the car with Zoe, hovering over her and trying to soothe her. It took a while to fill up the tank and it cost an awful lot of money. He used his credit card because he still could and they would need their cash once they were discovered. It was a traceable transaction but that didn't really matter. Kraemer would eventually find the Hummer. And that was where his trail would end.
When he was done filling the tank, he ran to the bathroom, but Luco refused to go. So they hit the road once again.
A few minutes later, Naughton heard something else he'd never heard before. Luco was singing. She was still surprising him. He was suddenly thinking that she would make a fine mother for his own children. He got a little lost in the thought and was startled when she started shouting for him to pull over. He swerved to the left and then to the right. Finally, he found the shoulder and pulled the Hummer to a stop.
"She's seizing," Luco cried, opening the bag again and throwing the contents all over the place while searching for the right medicine. From the front seat, there was nothing Naughton could do. He watched as she frantically filled a needle with something from a phial. But Zoe's body lurched once and blood spurted out of her nose and onto her lips.
"No," Luco whispered. As helpless as Naughton felt, he knew she felt a thousand times more helpless.
Zoe shuddered once more and then went still.
"No!" Luco shouted and began chest compressions. When she moved in for mouth to mouth, Naughton stretched across the seat and grabbed her by the only thing that was in reach, her hair. Crying out in anger and pain, she took a swipe at him, her nails scraping across his face. But he didn't let go.
"You can't," he yelled. "You'll get the infection."
"I don't care," she cried.
"I care," he cried back, and shifted so that he could grab her by the shirt.
She swung at him again, but he blocked her with his other hand. "You let me go, Lance!"
Then Zoe
moved and they both stopped.
"Zoe?" Luco whispered.
Naughton let go of her shirt and she leaned in. She shifted again but he saw that her chest wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing, at least not in the way that living people breathe.
"Denise, get out of the car."
She moved closer to Zoe. She was so focused on the little girl that she didn't even realize that Naughton had gotten out on his side and was opening the door behind her. When Zoe's eyes snapped open, and her hand caught hold of Luco's wrist, she wasn't even shocked. Just saddened. There was no life in those eyes. And there was no life in Luco's heart. She would have just stayed there, let the little girl bite her if Naughton hadn’t reached inside the car and dragged her out. Zoe tried to pull herself up but the IV tube got caught on the hook and yanked her back before pulling out of her arm. Blood and fluid spurted from her arm and the tube. Naughton slammed the door shut.
