Still Alive (Book 5): Zombie River Run

by Bonds, Javan

  ☠☠☠

  “They don’t know how many of us there are.” Festus whispered to Sanjay. “They just know there’s one of us. So when they bust down the door, I’ll let them have a few slugs.”

  Patel was incredulous. “But they’ll be giving slugs to you, too.” This old man was willing to commit suicide to give The Phantom a chance.

  The senior clicked his tongue. “Son, do you know how old I am? Hell, I should have been dead years ago. The pacemaker and heart medicine is the only thing keeping me alive. If I go out this way, at least it’ll be for a reason. I don’t wanna go in my sleep.” The red accented Clone Trooper smiled through his confusion. Why wouldn’t anyone want to die in their sleep? That has to be an easy way to go.

  The men assaulting the Forever Young had to be bashing a crane against the door. Sanjay had it pretty well barricaded, but they were tearing through it never the less. Festus rose from behind an overturned table and aimed his revolver at the door. It splintered under the onslaught from the other side.

  When the door finally gave, Festus was unable to see through the dust from the exploding wood. He blindly fired three shots into the cloud of dust and waited. Suddenly, something small and hard smashed into his right shoulder. A full beer can? Bud Lite? The can crushed a bone and bounced off of Festus to explode on the floor. Before he fell, he could see a large, shirtless man sauntering through the door with a giant sledgehammer in hand, wearing some type of white mask. This disturbing mask was scarred and had breath holes in it.

  This beast of a man was surely what broke down the door. Festus doubted he hit him, but even if he did hit the man center mass with three slugs, it wouldn’t have even slowed him down! Grabbing onto the table leg to stabilize himself Festus aimed his pistol with one hand. Before he took the shot, an average sized human walked in behind his behemoth companion. The old man sent his round at this man, trying to take out the mortal of the two. The piece of lead caught the smaller man under the left jaw and ripped through the face upwards. There was no time to react besides a split second of eye widening before the cranium exploded. The body collapsed, momentarily pumping blood into what was left of the empty skull, running onto the floor mixing with the scrambled gray matter

  The Villain charged at the senior citizen who was on the verge of passing out. The old man could hear the monstrous footfalls and aimed his pistol in that direction. Empting his gun, unsure if even one round struck its intended target. The giant pirate never slowed and brought his mallet around to hit Festus as he came within striking distance.

  The hammer obliterated the old man’s hip as it swung around. It pulverized the table and destroyed any chance The Sacrifice had of walking ever again. He was knocked to the wall on the other side of the room and the giant was on him in seconds. Standing over the dazed geriatric, he brought the sledgehammer down on Festus’s other leg and pancaked his knee. Blood and liquefied bone oozed onto the floor with what sounded like a laugh from The Villain.

  The old man would’ve cried out in pain, but he was barely conscious. He tried to raise his right arm and forgot the shoulder was broken or dislocated. Instead of screaming in pain, he shakily raised his revolver somehow still in his left hand and aimed somewhere near the monster’s face. The senior pulled the trigger and heard the scariest sound in the world.

  Click!

  Today wasn’t his day.

  The grotesquely huge pirate let out a deep, maniacal laugh, shook his head and slammed the sledgehammer down onto the head of The Sacrifice. Blood, gray matter, and bone fragments were launched in every direction as Festus simply disappeared in an instant.

  The behemoth didn’t stop there. He started pounding the old man’s body into an unrecognizable mush. It seemed if the huge antagonist wanted to hammer the remains of the senior into the floor. Bloody goop that was once Festus now covered the front of the giant’s pants.

  Sanjay watched from the closet where he was hiding behind a hanging coat. He felt like a coward for hiding in the corner while that poor old man was beaten into oblivion. The Indian soldier wanted to avenge Festus, but knew that if he got killed doing so, The Sacrifice would have been for naught. Patel wasn’t sure he could stop this beast of a man even with his submachine gun. Using his katar would bring him within deadly range of the sledgehammer. That would be just like committing suicide! Though unsure, Sanjay could’ve sworn he saw the monster flick a flattened bullet from his shoulder as if it were just an annoyance.

  The giant in the hockey mask flung open the door to one of the cabinets and started rifling through the contents. After several cabinets were spilled onto the floor, he stopped when opening one. Sanjay found it funny that the mask even appeared surprised. He pulled out a bottle of pills and read the label. Obviously not seeing what he was looking for, the beast tossed it over his shoulder and picked up the next pill bottle. He repeated this process several times and grew angrier with each bottle. He was probably looking for some kind of narcotic and this must have been Festus’s heart medication. The giant roared with an inhuman voice and slammed his sledgehammer into the row of cabinets. As The Villain took out his insane rage on inanimate objects, Patel could hear an explosion and rounds being fired outside the door.

  ☠☠☠

  Corey recoiled at the sight of Thomas dead on the floor, lying in a growing pool of his own blood. He wanted to make these fuckers pay for killing his friend, but he knew sticking his head around the corner would only get him just as dead as Thomas.

  “What do you want?” he screamed from behind the corner.

  The Protector looked to The Expert and cocked his head. She shrugged and he lifted his helmet to give an answer. “What do you want?”

  Were these guys already on the ship when we got here? That doesn’t sound like the question of attackers, but defenders. He wondered if he heard them right with his ears still ringing from the flashbang. Corey figured he would go for sympathy and see if it would get him anywhere.

  “We are just trying to survive and came to this boat looking to trade. Your buddies were hostile.”

  Easy wanted to scream. “So my friends shot at you first?” This guy was full of shit. Sanjay and the old guy weren’t hostile. The Villain didn’t bring anything to trade; they only came to take whatever they could.

  “How many of you are there?!” Easy shouted.

  Corey didn’t know who all survived. If they came from the upper deck, all the guys outside were probably dead. Including Thomas, there were at least a couple bodies in this hallway. The only three he knew that were still alive was himself, Brutus, and Mitchell.

  “Enough! If you try anything, we’ll put you down.”

  Easy stood with his hands raised. “I ain’t gonna try nothing. I’ll come down there unarmed so we can talk.” He began walking until Corey could see him from around the corner.

  Corey lowered his rifle even though this guy was fucking massive. The dude was almost as big as Brutus! On top of that, he was wearing some sort of plate armor. He clanked with every step. “What’s your name, man?” The Protector asked the shaking little pirate.

  “Corey.” He sounded like a teenager.

  This guy was big, but he put off a vibe of being okay. He walked even closer and put out his hand. “Okay, Corey. I’m Easy. Have you seen...”

  The Protector stepped closer to grasp the young man’s hand. He could see fully around the corner and that Corey had no immediate reinforcements. When Corey reached to shake the armored hand, he was on his way to death within the blink of an eye.

  As Easy squeezed the offered hand, bones crunched. Then he violently pulled Corey from around the corner. He probably dislocated the Pirate’s shoulder when he slung him to the extent of his reach behind him and then pulled him close. Easy had spun around to place his back against the wall and now faced Corey. The young man had just started screaming, these events happened so fast his brain had to catch up.

  “How many of you are there?” Ea
sy spoke in an almost whisper.

  Corey tried to laugh through the pain and it probably came out as a whimper. He knew he was dead and nothing he told this guy was going to save him. The marauder spit in the face of the armored giant.

  Easy wiped his face with the back of his free hand and didn’t do anything more than smear it. Angered, he twisted the broken hand he still clutched, snapping bones to the elbow. Corey howled as the pain was unbelievable.

  “How many?” The Protector bellowed.

  Corey wasn’t going to answer. He couldn’t speak even if he wanted to. The young man only shook his head as he sobbed. The man with a giant mallet on his back put his knee on Corey’s chest and pushed while simultaneously pulling on his broken arm. It started stringing apart at the elbow. Blood was spurting from the newly created stump and Corey let out a shrill, horrified scream. Corey was having trouble understanding the image he saw. This armored knight stood there with his still pumping forearm and reached for the other hand.

  The man pulled him close and spoke through gritted teeth. “Fucking tell me! If your people hurt my people, I will make this ten times worse.”

  Corey pleaded through his tears. “I don’t know! I just know of me, Mitchell, and Brutus.”

  “Brutus?” the big guy asked.

  Corey gestured with his chin to the open door around the corner. “The big guy… in there.”

  Easy swept the kid’s feet out from under him. Next, he crushed his right knee with a metal booted stomp. “Don’t go anywhere!”

  Hammer and Gene could do nothing but gape at what they were witnessing. Easy going Easy just turned into a rabid psychopath. His older brother would be proud and horrified at the same time. They stood to join their fellow at the other end of the hall.

  The Protector waited to round the corner until his backup arrived. Hugging the wall, he didn’t notice any enemies peeking around the corner. The trio started creeping forward when they joined up.

  Iron Man and Samus took each corner and watched down the hall. The Tech stayed in between and checked each room as he moved. Two rooms down, no enemies. There was only one more doorway to go. The protagonists moved silently as they signaled the all clear. The next doorway was just before the end of the hallway. Gene was sure this room would contain the big boss.

  ☠☠☠

  Sanjay attempted to disappear into the corner, watching the massive brute outside the closet destroy everything he came across. He wasn’t even using his giant hammer to pulverize some of the pieces of furniture; they simply exploded into powder under his bare hands.

  The Phantom aimed his weapon at the mountain of a man rampaging through the room as he came to the closet. The beast ripped open the closet door where Sanjay had tried to will himself into the wall. Before the giant even moved back to the hanging coats, he made a noise of surprise. Sanjay was unable to open fire or even blink before the impossibly fast behemoth jerked the stubby rifle from the NSG HIT’s hands. The submachine gun was flung away in less than a heartbeat. The monster grabbed Sanjay with his other hand and heaved him out of the closet to land on his face nearly on the other side of the room.

  Sanjay turned over and pulled his pistol out of the holster, ready to defend himself. Before he could aim, the giant was standing over him and slammed the sledgehammer into his gun hand. Several bones were broken as the pistol flew away. Sanjay Patel screamed as knew he was about to die.

  ☠☠☠

  Easy rounded the doorway and was the first to enter the room. He could see a giant version of Jason Voorhees on steroids standing over one of his comrades with a large hammer. The massive brute swung the hammer into his friends’ pistol and sent the tiny weapon flying. He knew that the next blow would be to something vital and he had to save his compatriot.

  “Hey, fucker!” The giant stopped and turned to see his new challenger. This guy dwarfed Easy and made the bodybuilder look like a small child. “I got one of those, too.” He lifted the mallet over his shoulder and dropped the scabbard from the end, revealing the wicked blade. “But mine’s bigger.”

  The Protector charged The Villain, crossing their hammers. The metal shaft of his massive war hammer thudded against the smaller but still imposing sledgehammer. The armored bodybuilder pushed with all his might but could not overpower his opponent.

  The brute swept his legs out from under him and Easy fell to his back as the beast stood over him. Even the brute couldn’t do anything more than leave barely noticeable dents in the impenetrable armor as he repeatedly slammed his booted foot into the chest plate. Holding the downed protagonist’s only offensive weapon at bay, he brought his foot up to slam it down on Easy’s unarmored head.

  Easy was at a disadvantage and it was obvious that he was about to lose the fight. He gave even more pressure against the head of his hammer and the monstrous man pushed his sledgehammer into Easy’s armored shoulder. The metal gave but didn’t cave completely, but it surely broke skin. The Protector could feel hot blood gushing from the wound inside his armor.

  As the sledgehammer came down against his shoulder, Easy raised the other end of his war hammer. The razor-sharp blade sliced across the inside of The Villain’s thigh. Blood literally poured from the wound and The Protector was confident he had cut deep enough to sever Brutus’s femoral artery. Without immediate medical care, the giant would be dead within minutes and they both knew it. In those last few minutes, Easy was aware The Villain would do everything possible to take any protagonists with him.

  The beast let out a mournful roar as he lifted his hammer over his head to crush Easy’s cranium into the floor. With his weapon freed, the man on the floor shoved the back of the head of his hammer into the stomach of The Villain. The razored surface sliced into Jason’s abdomen as he was shoved him away. The multiple razors ripped and tore large chunks of meat as blood spurted while Jason tried to recover.

  The Protector leapt to his feet and was ready to hold his ground as the now profusely bleeding beast hit him with the force of a dump truck. Easy barely retained his footing as The Villain pulled back and swung at his side. Easy was able to divert the blow by lowering the head of his hammer just in time. The Villain reached out a hand to wrap around Easy’s unarmored neck, planning to choke the life out of the protagonist. The Protector turned his elbow in and ran the blade across Jason’s forearm, sending a spray of blood through the air. The Villain automatically recoiled his arm and The Protector brought his mallet up.

  With the razor bladed side of the hammer, Easy gashed The Villain’s abdomen to upper chest open. The giant fell back and Easy jumped to stand above him. The Protector was sure victory was now his.

  He turned the blunt side of the hammer to face the downed behemoth and raised it to give the killing blow. As it dropped, The Villain moved inhumanly fast to grasp the shaft of the war hammer to stop it in midair. Easy thought that Jason’s strength might be waning with the loss of so much blood, but he was wrong. The beast pushed the hammer in Easy’s arms back until the blades on the head were mere inches from The Protector’s face.

  Easy cried out as he fought against the Jason’s overpowering but waning strength. He pulled his knee back and rammed his foot into the crotch of the fallen man. Testicles ruptured as the metal boot collided with The Villain’s most sensitive area.

  There was no cry or spoken word from the beast on the floor, just a great inhalation of air and involuntary loosening of his grip. The Protector forced the hammer back down and gained enough momentum to crush the skull of The Villain.

  Easy pulled the hammer back to see a pool of flattened skin, destroyed bones, gray matter floating in blood, and a smashed but still recognizable hockey mask. He turned to see The Expert and The Tech standing just inside the doorway, having watched the entire scene unfold with amazement.

  “You two were there the whole time?”

  Gene answered, “Well, yeah.”

  “And you just stood there? You both have guns. You could h
ave shot him!”

  “Yeah, but it was more entertaining to watch you Mortal Kombat his arse.”

  “I could have died!” The Protector said incredulously.

  Gene tsked. “No, you couldn’t have. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Mo and Smokes, it’s that main protagonists can’t die according to the script.”

  “What the hell kind of garbage has my brother been feeding you? Which protagonist am I?”

  The Tech spoke reverently. “I will discuss it with The Oracle upon our return, but I believe I can now label you as “The Protector”.” All Easy could do in answer was smile and sadly shake his head.

  The Protector turned to his left to see Sanjay battered but still living. He walked over to give the man a hand and asked him about what had happened.

  ☠☠☠

  Sanjay Patel radioed The Medicine Man and cardiologist immediately began the trek to the Forever Young to start medical ministrations on his countryman and any other that might need assistance. His first sight was the man on the upper deck with his head almost severed. Next were two guys in the upper hallway filled with enough holes to strain pasta. Around the corner was the smallish pirate in a Crystal Gayle T-shirt, now cold, having obviously bled out. His severed forearm lay beside him. The brute wearing the Friday the 13th mask and another pirate with most of his head blown off lay below deck in a pool of their own blood.

  The Forever Young was in such a terrible mess it was decided that a cleanup crew would return the next day. They would deposit the dead pirates on the river bank for the peevies to feast upon and clean the yacht from top to bottom. The protagonists decided it would be a good idea to tether the Forever Young to the Cora, just in case they needed it at some point in the future. For now they would take care of Sanjay’s treatment and extraction.

  The party returned to the Viva Ancora, confident they had bested their enemy. This band of ruffians could not cause them any more TROUBLE.