by Kidd, Sean
Before I finished my speech, Chevy walked up and threw his arms around me, “I’m in, buddy. We’ll save your dad together. You know I wouldn’t miss that shit.” I smiled and hugged him back.
My eyes followed the group as each one of my friends devoted their undying loyalty to me.
I felt a smack on my back that almost knocked me off balance. “I’m in too, hoss.” Cowboy said as he tilted his hat to my mom, “We’ll find your husband, Ma’am.”
Everyone in the group was smiling, even our new addition, Sophie. I answered them all with a sincere look and a single head nod.
Luther was mumbling behind me again, “I’ll help you find your pop too, buddy. Please just don’t let those things eat me.”
Cowboy whispered in my ear, “He’s harmless, hoss. I’m gonna scare the shit out of him for a few more minutes, and then I’ll cut him loose.”
A chuckle came out of my mouth, and with that we were a team… a family.
With the team now intact it was time to make a plan.
Chapter 2
After a few minutes of hugs, and pledges of loyalty, the attractive blonde doctor caught my attention as she crossed the median. Moving toward her Jeep, I wondered if our new friend decided to part ways and take on the challenge of getting to Atlanta herself. I chased after and caught up with her as she made it to her vehicle, “Hey, are you leaving us?”
Sophie didn’t say anything as she reached for the door handle. I lay my hand on the back of hers, waiting for her to look at me, “Sophie, I can help you. You have to trust me.” She paused taking an extraordinarily long exaggerated breath, and released it slowly, “Listen, kid. I’m sure you have every intention of helping me, but I can’t risk going to New York City. You said it yourself. There are eight million people in that city, and a majority of them have turned by now. There are six of you. With all due respect, you don’t have a chance in hell of getting out of there alive, and I can’t afford to take any unnecessary risks. I wish you and your friends the best of luck, but I’ll have to go on alone.”
I was a little pissed off, but at the same time, I knew she was right. I didn’t want her to leave us; I wanted to make sure the cure got to Atlanta. Maybe I was being a little selfish, but I felt like it was my responsibility, and in my mind she needed us as much as we needed her. There was no way she could make it alone. No one could make it alone anymore. I wanted the world to go back to the way it was, and without the cure, that wasn’t possible. I didn’t want to put the fate of the world in one person’s hands. I’d give my life to save my family. What better way to make sure the serum got there then all of us, as a group?
I slid between Sophie and the jeep still trying to convince her, “Listen, Sophie. We need you as much as you need us. You have to trust me. I promise you, I want that serum to get to Atlanta as much as you do. You don’t have to come into the city with us. We’ll split up and set you and a couple of us up in a safe house with plenty of weapons just outside of the city limits. We’ll go in and find my dad, and then there will be more of us, and we will get the cure to Atlanta. You can’t make it alone.”
Sophie moved around to the back of the jeep and popped it open. She laid her hand on the box of ZMapp, closed her eyes, and looked up at the approaching storm, “I don’t know, Bob. What do I do?” she asked herself.
I overheard her praying to the sky and wondered who Bob was.
Sophie squatted down and sat on the bumper covering her face with her hands like she was crying, “Can these kids fight the dead and get me to Atlanta, Bob? Please, give me some kind of sign. I don’t know what to do.”
Sophie slid her hands down her face and looked back up into the darkening October sky.
Chapter 3
After leaving the message on Ty’s phone, it went dead. The Corporal swore under his breath and slammed his fist against the wall.
“Daniels, is everything all right? I mean, Corporal.” Cooper asked.
Daniels stashed the phone in his pocket and used his free hand to rub the pain from his fist, “Listen, Coop. I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but I don’t like it. This was supposed to be an overtime gig to bring this douchebag to NYPD processing,” he said pointing his thumb at the convict.
“Hey,” the convict interrupted, “I’ve got a name, and it’s not Convict or Douchebag. It’s Bunker, and if we’re going to be helping each other, you better stop insulting me and use my name, or you’ll piss me off.
Cooper stepped up onto his tiptoes and tried to square off with the man. The mismatch in size was humorous, “Listen, Convict. If you think for one second you’re not going to jail and we will chum up with you, then you’ve got another think coming.”
Daniels stepped between the two men to relieve the tension, “Take it easy, Coop. This isn’t going to do us any good. I hate to say it, but he’s right. Until we figure out what the hell is going on here, we need his help.”
Daniels paused, glaring into Bunker’s eyes, “But I promise you, my friend, if you try any funny shit with me, or you try to get away, I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your skull. Savvy?”
Bunker swallowed hard, intimidated by the Corporal’s persona, “You’ve got my word, Daniels. The way I see it, we’re stuck in the same situation. I don’t think it’s a matter of staying out of jail; I think it’s a matter of staying alive.”
“As much as I hate to agree with you, I think you might be right, Bunker,” Daniels said.
Cooper stepped over the remnants of dead zombies and peeked out the doorway. He scanned up and down the hall, “The hallway’s clear, Corp, but there are a lot of doors between us and the stairwell.”
Daniels pulled on Cooper’s shoulder moving him out of the way and checked for himself. If there was one thing he had learned in law enforcement, it was never take the word of a rookie.
Once he established it was clear, he glanced back in the room, “Cooper, you keep an eye on these people while Bunker and I leave for a quick recon mission. We need to find out where we are, and maybe we can find some weapons. Cooper, after we leave, you secure the door the best you can. Maybe you can wedge that desk against it.”
Under the desk, a teenage girl sat trembling. Her eyes were red and swollen with tears. She had her knees pulled into her chest, petrified after witnessing the massacre. She had never even seen a dead body before, now this horrific bloodbath happened inches away from her.
Daniels knelt down peeking under the desk, “What’s your name, honey?”
The girl wiped her tears away with a dry shirtsleeve, “I’m Cecilia.”
Daniels gave his head a light shake wondering if he had heard the name right, “Excuse me?”
“Yes, you heard me right. My name is Cecilia. Named after my grandmother. She was a proud woman, it’s an honor.”
Daniels, caught off guard a bit by her tenacity recovered by saying, “Well, it’s a beautiful name. It reminds me of a song from when I was a kid. I’m sure you’ve heard it.”
Daniels’ connection with the song made Cecilia feel safer. She thought of him as more of a person and not her first impression of a psychotic skull crushing zombie murderer. She reached her hand out, and Daniels took it, helping lift her to her feet.
“Can you help Cooper move the desk and secure the door when we leave?” Daniels asked, “Let no one into this room except for Bunker or me. Can you do that, Cecilia?”
Cecilia responded by wiping away the last of her tears and nodding, “Yes.”
Daniels smiled as he moved toward the office door, then checked again to make sure the hall was still clear. He moved swiftly with Bunker right behind him while Cooper and Cecilia secured the door with the antique wooden desk.
Halfway down the hall, Daniels stopped and listened for any sounds of the dead as Bunker watched his back.
Daniels lack of movement made Bunker nervous, and he was getting antsy, “Dude, which way are we going?” he asked.
The Corporal looked back at him, “Listen, Bu
nker. You can call me, Corporal, you can call me Corp. Hell, you can even call me, Daniels, but please don’t call me dude.”
“Sorry, Corp. I didn’t think it mattered. Which way do you want to go?”
Without answering Daniels moved toward a row of windows at the end of the hall.
The two were in awe as they peered across the New York City skyline.
“This place is huge, Corp. Do you have any idea where we are?”
“I’m as lost as you are, Bunker. Just a few hours ago, we were crossing 5th Avenue, where Cooper got us stuck in traffic. When those things attacked the car, and we got out to run, I got turned around. I thought they had us until we turned into the alley. If the back door of this building wasn’t open, we’d all be dead now. Thank God it was unlocked. I hadn’t even caught my breath when the dead inside of the building started chasing us. I’m still pretty confused about everything that’s happened. So since we’re on the subject, let me make sure I’ve got this right. Those things trying to kill us were Zombies, right? You were standing next to me, do you even remember any of this, Bunker?”
Bunker shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m done talking,” Daniels said, “let’s just find a way out of here. There’s a door at the end of the hall we haven’t tried yet.”
Beyond the door was another hall lined with offices on one side and windows on the other. Bunker walked halfway down the hall and stared out the window.
“Do you see something you recognize, Bunker?”
“How would I recognize anything, I’ve only been to the City once before, we were picking up a friend. I didn’t know my buddy had jacked the car a day earlier.”
“You’ve only been to the city once in your life, and got arrested for riding in a stolen car?” Daniels asked.
“Yeah, why would I come here? It’s too scary. I swore I’d never come back.”
Daniels sized up the tattooed giant standing next to him, “Too scary? Uh-huh.”
“You know what I mean.” Bunker said, a little offended.
“No, I don’t,” Daniels said in a sarcastic tone.
Bunker didn’t say anything as they continued their searched through the maze of offices, bathrooms, and kitchenettes.
Daniels suggested they move downstairs and try a lower level. The next floor was much of the same thing except for the lack of zombies. There was nothing but empty offices and windows. With no exits to be found, they made the decision to go down to the bottom floor.
Daniels maneuvered his way through the cement stairwell as Bunker followed. The winding stairs ended at a single, windowless steel door.
Daniels put his ear to the door trying to listen over Bunker’s heavy breathing.
The room beyond the door gave way to a myriad of voices and moans. Daniels reached for the brass door handle and gave it a slight turn. To his surprise, it was unlocked. He looked back at Bunker, “Finally, a little luck, it’s unlocked. Let’s figure out where the hell we are.”
Daniels swung open the door, assaulted with the smell of death. He slammed the door closed wedged his back against it without saying a word.
Bunker watched as Daniels’ face turned white as a ghost.
“What is it, Corp?” Bunker asked.
Daniels closed his eyes as his chin dropped to his chest. He was shaking his head and breathing too fast, “They’re all dead.”
Bunker reached for the door handle, and Daniels slapped it away.
Stunned, Bunker asked, “What did you do that for? I want to see how many of those things are out there?”
“No you don’t.” Daniels pleaded, now protecting the door with his body.
“Why not?”
Daniels put both hands on Bunker’s oversized shoulders. He looked nervous, like a man about to jump out of an airplane for the first time. “I’m not going to let you open that door, Bunker. Trust me, there’s nothing out there except zombies, and lots of them. Let’s just go back to the room and come up with a better plan.”
Daniels released Bunker’s shoulders and headed up the stairwell. Bunker stood there watching Daniels, wondering why he wouldn’t tell him where they were, “If you won’t let me look, will you at least tell me where we are?”
Daniels paused in between steps. He turned back slow, his face still white as a ghost, “We’re in Grand Central Station. The other side of that door is the main terminal, and it’s rush hour. You don’t want to go out there, Bunker. They’re dead. They’re all dead.”
Chapter 4
Dark clouds rolled in from the south. I watched as brilliant streaks of lightning illuminated the threatening sky. An unseasonably warm gentle breeze brushed against my face. The fetid smell was gone now, and the only thing that remained was the decaying aroma of fallen leaves. A reminder that old man winter was on his way.
Any other time in my life, the thought of winter would excite me, skiing Whiteface Mountain, snowmobiling through the Adirondacks, and the endless search for that trophy buck. Maybe even plucking a few holes in the ice in hopes of getting enough perch for a weekend fish fry. But now, with the power outages increasing, and all those simple luxuries we took for granted disappearing, life would become more difficult.
In this new world, people would starve and freeze to death. And as an added threat, let’s not forget to mention millions of dead were trying to eat us.
Dead, I kept going over it in my mind. The dead are trying to eat us. How could this happen? It wasn’t for me to say why, and I guess it doesn’t matter now. It’s time to be strong, a leader, and face these problems. It wasn’t my fault that any of this had happened, but I had the means to make it right again with Sophie’s serum. We could fix the world’s biggest problem, the Dead, or for a lack of a better word………Zombies.
Across the median, empty faces watched while I conversed with Sophie. Questions still ran through my head like; was this attractive older woman really the world’s hope and was the cure real? I prayed both were true because I had just bet my life on them.
Nevertheless, It was now my job to get them to Atlanta. The fate of the world fell right into my lap whether I liked it or not. I told myself, I could do it and to be strong, knowing it was the best chance for my family. A sense of pride and confidence came over me. It was time to do this thing and get moving, “Sophie, come with me. There’s no time to spare.”
I held Sophie’s hand and led her across the median where the questioning faces of my friends watched and waited for words of comfort, which they expected to come from me.
The light chattering amongst my new found friends quieted as I prepared my soapbox next to Kane’s Humvee. Chevy stood with mom, picking at his gunshot wound, looking for any sympathy she’d give him. The rest of the group was arming themselves and stopped to listen.
I cleared my throat, which caught Chevy’s attention. He looked up from his wound already smiling. He mouthed something to my mom, and they smiled and headed toward me, “What are you doing? Trying to get a date with the new chick, Two-gun?” Chevy chuckled.
I couldn’t believe he said that with Sophie standing right next to me. I felt my face flush and realized I was still holding her hand. I released it and snapped at Chevy, “You’re such a dick.”
Chevy giggled as he reached for the door handle of the Humvee, “Before you start, I’ve got a present for you, buddy.”
Chevy climbed onto the running board reaching into the center console. He emerged, beaming ear to ear, “I found your two guns, Two-gun,” he said holding up my leather holster.
He handed me the holster looking for forgiveness.
I had forgotten how heavy the two-gun rig was when it wasn’t belted around my waist. The smell of the leather’s mink oil tickled my senses as I raised it to my nose drawing in the familiar perfume.
Securing the holster around my waist, I felt a surge of power return to me.
With my Glocks back and my new found confidence, I knew I could do this.
“Where did you find them?�
�� I asked.
“Where do you think I found them? In the back of this rig. One of Kane’s henchmen must have found them and threw them in there for himself.”
I ran my thumbs along the spines of the Glock’s textured grips as I spoke, “Thanks, Chev. You don’t know how much I missed these things.”
Chevy moved in and gave me the man hug with the back pat combo, “No problem, Two-gun,” he whispered in my ear before finishing the hug, “I think you better give them the plan. They’ve been waiting here a while now.”
I was so excited about my guns; I hadn’t noticed the group huddled around us. Through them, I saw Kate’s dead body lying there undisturbed, except for a Yankee’s jacket, which someone had used to cover her face. Seeing her motionless body made my stomach quiver. I half expected to see her move, but she didn’t.
I nodded to each of the lost faces in the group until I found Cowboy. He was in the back with his arm around Sage. Tears had washed away any remnants of days old mascara.
“Cowboy, you seem to know these Humvee rigs pretty well?” I said pointing my thumb at the Humvee.
“You know I do, partner. What do you need?”
“I need you to make sure she’s tip top. Gas, oil, air, and whatever else these things take. Make sure she’s ready to roll in ten minutes.”
“You got it, hoss.” Cowboy said as he went for the driver’s seat.
I moved my eyes among the crowd again, almost at once finding the first friend I’d made since the apocalypse. She smiled when our eyes met.
“Sidara, I need you to take inventory. Guns, ammo, food, blankets, and see if you can find a first aid kit. My mom needs medical supplies to patch up Chevy’s scratch.”
“Hey!” Chevy laughed.
I glanced at Chevy raising my eyebrow, “We can only hope the band-aid she puts on there, will shut you up for a while. If anyone else has any problems or ideas come to me and make it quick, I want to be out of here soon.”
