They kept moving through the forest towards their goal. Eventually they heard the sounds of a large body of water flowing through the woods ahead of them. Breaking through a last burst of dense undergrowth they found themselves on the side of a large river. They took in the sight of the Chattahoochee without leaving the shelter of the trees. They had no desire to make themselves visible to whatever eyes may be patrolling the river. It was a good way to get yourself shot if someone mistook you for a Zombie. Normally people didn’t take pot shots unnecessarily as the noise would only serve to summon more Zombies. It wasn’t unheard of for men on islands in the middle of a river to be given a pile of ammunition to work on thinning down local Zombie hordes though.
They’d walked south to get to the river. They needed to turn west to get to the bridge. Kyler could just make where the bridge crossed to the other side of the river up ahead of them. They turned and began walking that way. An hour later they were standing alone underneath the interstate where it crossed over the river.
“Still plenty of time for them to get here.” Kyler said sitting down on a large hunk of concrete.
“We’ll see.” Mumbled Rodriguez. He sat down on the other side of the concrete hunk so that between him and Kyler they could see under both sides of the bridge. If any of their party did show up or if any Zombies decided to check out the covered area under the road, they should be able to see them before they were on top of them. They checked their weapons and drank some water then settled in to wait. Rodriguez shifted around uncomfortably on the jagged concrete. All of the running had opened up the wound on his rear from where he’d rolled out of a moving golf cart onto his own knife blade. He could feel the back of his boxers getting wet from the blood seeping out around the bandages.
Kyler was taking a mental inventory of all the pains and aches in his body as they sat there as well. He didn’t have any seepage currently but plenty of spots on him felt like they’d been ripped out then put back backwards. He’d been avoiding mirrors out of the fear that he looked like some kind of monster now that a good part of his neck and face had been severely burnt. He briefly considered asking Rodriguez how he looked but realized the futility of that idea before it even fully formed in his head.
It was getting pretty late when Rodriguez stood up behind Kyler and made the password sound. The answering double cough came back almost immediately. Kyler had spun around to see who’d shown up. A couple of shadowy figures approached out of the murk.
“That you Rod?” One of the shadows asked.
“Yeah. Me and Kyler made it. What took you guys so long?”
“Hid up in a tree most of the day with those things swirling around underneath us. Watched them rip apart most of the team. It was bad. Anybody else show up?” The soldier asked in a hushed voice.
“Nobody yet. Just you guys. You see anybody else coming this way?” Rodriguez asked.
“I think I’m it.” Another dark shape said emerging out of the darkness.
“That you sir?” Rodriguez asked.
“Yeah. I’m the last one. I waited behind watching and don’t think anybody else made it. We might as well head out.” Krantz said gruffly.
Kyler could understand the gruffness. The man had spent the day watching the men whose lives he was responsible for getting torn apart by the infected. It didn’t matter if the Zombies had developed some magical new power of hearing. They were still just a bunch of half-naked insane cannibals. If Krantz couldn’t keep his men safe from them, it didn’t say a lot for his leadership skills. Or, at least that’s what Krantz would be thinking to himself right now. In all reality keeping any large group of people alive in this new normal was a herculean feat.
“Where to sir?” Asked Kyler. Based on the finality of the order Krantz had just given there wasn’t much use in waiting around to see if anyone else was going to show up. It looked like they were down to a total of six men now. Kyler wondered if that meant their trip to Florida was going to be put on hold now. Six men may not be considered enough to get the job done.
“We’ll head to the interstate and cross the river then hike down the side of the road until we find a vehicle we can commandeer. There should be another radio post coming up. We’ll make contact with them and let command know our status and get our new orders. We’re probably getting scrubbed out of this mission since we should’ve been in Florida yesterday.” Krantz stopped talking for a second to let that information sink in before continuing. “Get your gear together. Let’s use what’s left of the night to get over the bridge and find some place we can snag a car.”
Krantz gave everyone a minute to take care of any calls of nature or grab a snack or whatever they needed to do. When everyone seemed ready, he led them up the side of the embankment to the interstate. The moon was over half full, so visibility wasn’t horrible. Standing on the interstate Kyler could see most of the way across the bridge. It wasn’t a hideously long bridge, but he still didn’t like the idea of getting stuck in the middle of it.
“We’re lucky we’re not swimming. A lot of other states blew up their bridges to try and stop the virus from spreading.” One of the soldiers said when he noticed the way Kyler was staring into the darkness.
“Keep your mouths shut or we’ll all be swimming. Or have you forgotten the Zombies seem to have picked up some new talents?” Krantz chastised the man who’d been quick to offer up the blown-up bridge trivia to Kyler and everyone else. Kyler kept his mouth shut as he didn’t want any questions about where he’d seen destroyed bridges up north or what he’d done up there. At this point he’d pretty much forgotten what his cover story was supposed to be. Only that everything had been loosely based on the truth so that he didn’t have to remember too many lies.
In a single file line, they hiked across the bridge. It’d been cleared of any cars that’d once been stalled out on it. Kyler assumed that was thanks to the crews the Senator had sent out all around the state to clear the roads. Cleared roads let them move soldiers around faster and get supplies wherever they were needed more efficiently. Roads were the secret weapon of the Roman empire. The Senator was living up to the Roman heritage of his title.
The Romans hadn’t had to deal with enormous roving bands of the infected though. Not for the first time Kyler found himself thinking how much simpler the apocalypse would be if all the Zombies would just hurry up and die. How they were still alive in such large numbers was a complete mystery. He was sure somewhere in some secret government lab there was a team of scientists who had some clue what was going on, but their knowledge was going to be too little too late at this point.
Halfway across the bridge Krantz held his hand up to signal them all to stop. Kyler watched while the soldier who’d taken point walked slowly towards a lump lying on the side of the bridge. The soldier slung his rife and pulled a Louisville slugger out of his pack. He whacked the lump in the head a few times before jogging back to his point position to continue leading them across the bridge. Krantz dropped his hand and the line moved forward.
Kyler glanced over at the lump on the side of the bridge. In the path of the herds that traveled up and down the roads there was generally a sub section of followers that were beat to hell and could barely keep up. Being Zombies these hangers on would drag themselves down the road behind the herd until their bodies finally gave out. They may be missing limbs, paralyzed by being run over by cars, or just ravaged so much by the disease that they could no longer function but whatever the reason whenever one was spotted it was killed as quickly as possible. This wasn’t out of any sort of compassion. It wasn’t even out of any sort of fear the creature could somehow still manage to attack them. It was based on the hard-learned lesson that mobile or not if the Zombie spotted regular humans it would start up the screeching that could be the death of anyone nearby.
The ones left behind always gave Kyler a sense of hope. If he didn’t see tire tracks across their back or entrails being dragged along behind them then there was no way to know wh
at had killed them. He hoped it was the virus finishing them off. That would mean that the disease may be finishing off the rest of them as well. Otherwise, at some point these massive herds of Zombies were going to combine. Kyler didn’t like to think what was going to happen when massively large herds were augmented by the Zombies with the new exceptional hearing capabilities. No human settlement on dry land was going to be able to survive for long with that happening. No matter how tall the walls or how high you stacked the boxes of ammunition eventually you’d just get overwhelmed. It just wasn’t possible to survive if a million or two Zombies showed up on your doorstep.
They made it across the bridge with no more interruptions. On the far side they stopped long enough to verify none of the cars pushed to the side of the road looked like they were in working condition. Once they’d verified that they were still going to need to walk they set off at a brisk pace. It was a good distance to the next exit and Krantz was hoping to get them a vehicle by daybreak so they could keep on moving. He was a little nervous what the command team was going to make of them not being able to complete their original mission then taking days to make contact to explain why. He also wasn’t looking forward to explaining how he’d lost most of the men under his command.
Kyler and Rodriguez maintained the pace set by the man running point. Neither of them was particularly in the mood to go for a late-night jog but there wasn’t too much they could do about it. They knew Krantz must have a reason for pressing them so hard. It wasn’t like Rodriguez wanted to tap Krantz on the shoulder and tell him that his ass cheek was killing him. Kyler was sure most of the men running done the side of the road with them had similar aches and pains to what him and Rodriguez were dealing with.
By the time they made it to the first exit the fast pace had slowed to a brisk walk. They’d valet jogged for long enough to give them all a sweaty sheen. Their sweat covered bodies got chilly when they stopped jogging. Kyler had been right when he thought every man there had aches and pains. You didn’t make it this far into the apocalypse as a member of the guard and not have gotten beaten up some along the way. You ended up either fighting or running for your life at least once a month. Half of the time you ended up doing both at the same time.
The sun was coming up when they climbed over the guardrails and took a shortcut through the woods to check out a subdivision they’d glimpsed from the top of an overpass. The other side of the interstate had looked more industrial. They all liked their chances of finding a working vehicle in the expensive looking houses instead of on the industrial looking side. Plus, the expensive looking houses couldn’t physically contain as many Zombies as the warehouses could. Less potential for Zombies was always an attractive element in any choice of destination.
Kyler fervently hoped if they did find a car that it was easier for them to jack it than the last time that he’d stolen an expensive collector’s car out of a nice home. He didn’t think the six of them would be able to fit into a tiny convertible Sting Ray anyway, so they probably weren’t doomed to repeat that eventful night. The small group beat their way through the brush on the side of the road. They climbed down a small incline to get on the two-lane road that passed under the interstate. The road went in the direction they’d seen the massive roofs of the homes they were hoping hid some working vehicles.
They walked through the open gate of an exclusive looking neighborhood. The tasteful sign sitting at the top of an elegant looking water feature declared it to be ‘Stone’ something or other. The last half of the sign was hidden by the top of an oak tree that’d fallen over on top of it. The gate was tilted open on one side with a UPS van having crashed through at some point in the past. About twenty feet in from the gate was the remains of a UPS driver still dressed in the tattered remains of his brown uniform.
They walked down the side of the wide paved road with stately oaks spreading shade over them. The first home they passed had all the hall marks of having been used as a Zombie nest. The front door was hanging off one hinge, multiple windows were broken, and there was a stench emanating from it that was palpable enough to create an invisible wall. There may or may not still be Zombies hanging out in the home but Krantz chose to pass that one up for now.
The next home looked like it was in better shape. The grass needed to be cut, and the leaves could use some serious raking but otherwise it looked about the same as it probably had when the apocalypse got underway. Kyler supposed that rich people used higher quality building materials and paint. That would explain why their houses held out longer. Krantz motioned for Kyler and Rodriguez to move in and check this one out.
They walked slowly up the long driveway towards the large grey colored home. It looked like it was at least a five thousand square foot home. They weren’t real concerned with what was in the house. The oversized three car garage at the end of the driveway was their primary focus.
Kyler and Rodriguez were both too short to see through the windows lining the top of the garage doors. Knowing Rodriguez couldn’t do it because of his injury Kyler dropped to all fours so Rodriguez could stand on his back and look in through the windows. Rodriguez dutifully stepped up on Kyler’s back to take a look. Inside the garage he saw a Range Rover and a nice-looking sedan. He hopped down off Kyler’s back and helped him up. Kyler looked at him expectantly. Rodriguez motioned for Kyler to stay put and jogged down the driveway to get Krantz and the others to move up on the house so they could work together to get inside.
Breaking into houses wasn’t an issue in the apocalypse if you weren’t concerned with making noise. You could walk up to any empty house and break a window to get in. There were two main issues with this approach. The first being that the noise would attract any Zombies in the neighborhood to come see what was going on. The second was that the noise would attract any Zombies who may happen to be hanging out inside the house to wander over and see what was going on. It was best to try and avoid both of those issues by breaking in as quietly as possible.
Like the thieves of every era the survivors in the apocalypse were opportunistic. Why break into a house when the one across the street had an unlocked door? Why break into a house at all if you could find an unlocked car with keys in it sitting in a driveway? In the case of this house the front door was a monstrosity that didn’t budge when they tried opening it. The sliding glass doors around back had been securely locked as well but the door leading to the bathroom had opened easily enough with a credit card swipe to disengage the lock. Rodriguez had kept his wallet through this whole ordeal just to have credit cards with him to open doors. He even still had a twenty-dollar bill in the wallet that he couldn’t make himself throw away. Cheap bastard.
They moved efficiently into the large home and quickly cleared it. Kyler was amazed at how pristine the place was. There was that musty smell you got from every house that’d been sitting vacant but otherwise the place looked great. Like you should be able to pick up the remote and turn the massive flat screen on to see who was making it to the Superbowl this year. With the house cleared they stacked up on the door leading to the garage. They went in fast and efficiently verifying there were no threats in the garage.
Kyler walked over and noted the towels lining the bottom of the garage doors. He’d already clocked the mummified heads of the man and woman sitting slumped over in the front seats of the Range Rover. Krantz was motioning for them to check the sedan and see if it was in working order. Not being able to help himself Kyler stole a peek in the back seat of the Rover first. Two small mummified figures were seat belted in the back. A mummified baby was resting for eternity in a baby seat.
Kyler turned away in revulsion and went over to where the rest of the team was working on getting the sedan gassed up and ready to go. They had a manual car charger with them that one of the men was currently winding up and using on the battery to make sure it had a charge before they tried starting it. Rodriguez walked quickly down the garage doors kicking the towels away from the bottoms of the doors.
When they were ready, they all piled in and started the car up. No one had suggested they try using the Range Rover instead although it would’ve fit their requirements a lot better. As used to death as they all were that situation was just too sad.
With the door manually lifted they headed out to the main road and took off to try and locate the closest outpost so they could report in and get their orders. Kyler remembered something he’d been told when they’d started driving down the interstate towards Atlanta and had to answer the radio man who’d reached out to them for the password to be on the road.
“I thought if we didn’t have any way to answer the password challenges over the radio, they’d shoot us.” He asked out loud. They were all crammed in the car with the ability to talk as much as they wanted. It still felt weird to say stuff out loud like that.
“That’s right. Luckily, we have a backup code. I need everybody on the right side of the car to hang a piece of clothes out the window. Rodriguez, I need you to set the cruise control for thirty-seven miles per hour and not change it.” Krantz ordered. “Be ready to stop on a dime when they come out to challenge us. Let me do the talking. We should be fine. Unless they shoot us.”
Zombies! (Book 5): Greater Love Hath No Man Page 3
