02 Flotilla of the Dead

by David Forsyth

  “That was exciting,” said Karen Blade. Gus had volunteered to drive the second bus, so Carl had to choose someone to ride shotgun with him. He thought they made a good team and she had done a great job on their last little drive. “And gross too,” she continued. “You know, I was looking behind us to see how well we cleared them away from the RVs and I noticed something.”

  “Do tell,” Carl commented as he caught up to the big Cat and fell in behind it. Only a few zombies were in the road after they passed the intersection with Park Lane, but they were expecting the first traffic jam at Rosecrans.

  “Well, as the zombies pressed back towards the convoy after we went by, some of them stopped to eat.”

  “Eat what?” Carl asked curiously.

  “Brains,” said Karen with a smile. “It looked like they only stopped at bodies that had their heads smashed or cut off.”

  “They eat the brains of other zombies?” Carl pondered. “That might be important. I’m glad you told me. Anything that distracts them could be useful.” Their conversation was interrupted by Carl’s fireman’s radio.

  “Engine 2 is clear of the hoard. All vehicles clear and rolling.”

  “Roger, Engine 2. Close up and be ready to keep them off our tail. We’ll need to clear some obstructions ahead.” The Cat was already slowing as it approached first major accident scene. There was no hesitation, however, as Joey used the scoop to toss cars and trucks left and right in order to clear a path through the abandoned vehicles blocking the intersection. It was a quick and well executed operation, delaying them no more than a minute. Carl was glad because he knew that, if they didn’t achieve an average of fifteen miles an hour, the fastest zombies from the horde at the refinery would catch up to the end of the convoy.

  The Pacific Coast Highway was relatively clear south of Rosecrans and the convoy resumed its pace for a few miles. Then they came to Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The intersection was a mess and the road beyond was also jammed with abandoned vehicles. Joey stopped the Cat to survey their options and Carl felt the first hint of doubt as he pulled up next to him. It took him only a moment to take in the scene, then he glanced at the map he had pulled up on the dash-mounted GPS.

  Lifting his WalkAbout camping radio that everyone would be listening to, he said, “We’ll cut through the parking lot of the Target Store and bust our way through to the eastbound lanes of Manhattan Beach Boulevard, then up to Aviation as an alternate route south.” Joey responded immediately by turning the Cat into the parking lot and clearing a few cars out of the way by simply knocking them aside as he drove through. Carl and the rest of the convoy followed closely.

  It took a little longer for Joey to make a path across the westbound lanes to their alternate route. While they waited Carl noticed a large group of zombies come away from the doors to the Target store and charge towards the convoy. There were close to a hundred of them and more were emerging from around the other sides of the department store. Carl used his fireman’s radio to warn Peter in the Panther of their approach. Then he turned to Karen with a concerned look and asked, “Why do you think so many zombies were crowded around a department store?”

  “I don’t know,” replied and then her eyes grew wide. “Why? You think there are people trapped in there, don’t you?”

  “That seems to be what attracts zombies,” Carl replied flatly. “I think we should check it out.” He cut across the parking lot towards the zombies and the front of the store as the Panther fired a wide blast of water over the Suburban. Carl ran down a few zombies and the rest were driven back through the parking lot, away from the convoy and the doors to the store, by the jet of water. The second fire truck arrived and used its water cannon to prevent the zombies from flanking the convoy.

  Carl pulled up facing the doors to the store. “Attention all Target Shoppers,” he said through the PA. “This is a survival convoy going to a safe haven. If you want to get out of that store alive, this might be your only chance. Is anyone in there? We don’t have time to waste here.” Moments later there was movement inside the glass doors to the store. A group of people were standing there, waving and looking left and right, obviously fearful of zombies. Carl didn’t blame them. There were clearly more of them than he could fit into the Suburban too.

  “Okay, we can see you. Hang on while I get a bus up to the doors. Don’t bring more than you can carry easily and you’ll need to do this quickly when the bus opens its door. Don’t worry about zombies as long as there is water falling around you,” Carl instructed over the PA. Then he raised the Walkabout radio and said, “Gus? Can you bring that bus over to the front of the store please? I’ve found some passengers for you.”

  “Ten-four, Big Daddy,” replied Gus, as Carl watched him pull the bus out from line in the convoy. Carl backed away slightly to make room for the bus, but kept his view of the doors to the store. They opened as soon as the bus pulled up and at least thirty people ran out through the shower from the water cannon and climbed aboard. They were a mixture of ages and races. Some looked like Target employees, but others were clearly customers or people who sought refuge in the store. Carl suspected they had been there since Z-Day. There had certainly been enough food and beverages in the store to have kept them alive.

  “How many more places like that do you think there are?” Karen asked in a sad tone of voice. “Stores full of people surrounded by zombies?”

  “Too damned many,” Carl replied. “We probably drove past a few already, but we can’t stop and help them all. These people were just lucky that we were delayed at this intersection.” Karen nodded, because it was all true. By the time the door of the bus closed the Cat had finished clearing a path. Carl turned around to lead the convoy forward, as the bus moved back towards its place in the line. Carl was sure that there would be an excited, if not festive, atmosphere among those rescued from Target. He hoped that Gus and the man riding shotgun with him would be able to handle the newcomers.

  The zombies were held back by the second fire truck as the convoy moved slowly across the street and tuned east. They passed a fire station, but Carl saw that the doors were open and the fire trucks were missing. They kept going. It was a long and relatively clear half mile to Aviation Boulevard where they turned south again. Thankfully, Aviation was also clear and they picked up the pace again.

  They were driving through a residential area now and zombies began to appear on the streets again. They came out of open doors and from back yards. Some of them ran into the street and were hit by the passing convoy. Others, perhaps the smarter ones if there were such a thing, ran alongside and tried to catch hold. Few were successful and none posed enough danger to stop and deal with them. Nonetheless, the experience of seeing zombies erupt into the street was sobering. While the threat they posed to the convoy seemed minor, the impression made on the people within it was major. This whole community seemed to be fully infested with zombies. That didn’t bode well for the rest of the city. If every neighborhood was overrun like this, the city was a lot worse off than the news had been reporting. That didn’t come as any to surprise to Carl. He just hoped that the road would remain clear until they reached a less populated area.

  There was another pile-up and traffic jam at Artesia, but the earthmover cleared a path without pausing and they avoided the abandoned vehicles on the other side of the intersection by cutting through a Denny’s parking lot. Then they were back on the road, passing apartment buildings from which zombies emerged. It seemed like an endless gauntlet of horror as the convoy drove through the outskirts of Redondo Beach. This journey might take longer than Carl had hoped, due to all of the detours, but he remained confident that they would find a way through.

  Aviation Boulevard was taking them too far west, so Carl instructed the convoy to turn east on Grant and they drove past more infested apartments. Carl was sure that as many as a thousand zombies were chasing after the convoy, not to mention any that were still following from the refinery. It was important for the
m to keep moving. At Inglewood Avenue they turned right and drove along next to a cemetery. Contrary to what the horror movies might tell you, no zombies came at them from the graveyard. It was actually the quietest street they had been on since leaving the Target store. As if to punctuate that fact, there was another Target shopping center right behind the cemetery. Carl and Karen exchanged glances and drove on. There was no time to stop and check for survivors this time.

  After a few more twists and turns they got onto Hawthorn Boulevard and pressed south through the city of Torrance. There were more wrecks and abandoned vehicles to deal with on this major street, but since it was lined with businesses instead of apartments, there were far fewer zombies running out to intercept them. They made steady progress for several miles, until they approached Pacific Coast Highway again.

  The street ahead was blocked by the biggest traffic jam they had yet seen. Joey slowed the earthmover to a crawl and Carl glanced at the map for an alternate. Then he gave directions to turn left on Skypark Drive which would take them around the east side of Zamperini Field, a small airport for general aviation. The road appeared clear and the convoy followed Carl down to the next turn.

  What greeted them as they rounded the corner would be hard to describe as anything less than a vision from Hell. Carl hadn’t realized that there was a hospital here. That was the last place he wanted to go. The street in front of the Torrance Memorial Medical Center was totally filled with zombies who all turned and charged the approaching convoy. Carl froze for a moment before grabbing the radio. “Peter!” he almost yelled. “Hold here with the Panther and keep them back with the water cannon. Everyone else stop! We’ll back up and go right on, Madison.”

  Carl pulled a U-turn in the Suburban as the larger vehicles shifted into reverse. They didn’t have to back up far. Madison would take them down the west side of the airfield and zombies couldn’t cross the field, due to the fences surrounding it. If the Panther could hold them back, the convoy should be able to elude them. Carl turned down Madison Street and was pleased to see a clear road ahead. Looking back, however, he was troubled to notice that the convoy was out of sequence as it followed him down the side street. The earthmover and water tanker hadn’t made the turn yet. The RVs were now right behind the Suburban, with the tow-truck trying to pass them and join Carl in the lead. This could mean trouble. Without Joey up front in the CAT they might run into something they couldn’t clear from the road.

  That was exactly what transpired as they rounded the end of the runway and Carl could see that the traffic jam on PCH had backed up to the side street next the Best Buy store. There was no way to get past that and, even if they could, it would only take them back to the gridlock of abandoned cars on PCH. Carl slowed down for a moment, thinking fast. Then he turned right into gated driveway that led to a large hanger inside the perimeter of the airport. He shifted into park and leaped out of the car to inspect the gate. As expected, it was locked shut. Carl hesitated to break the perimeter of the airfield, in case the rest of it was secure and especially if there were people hiding out on the field, but there was no better option. He drew his Beretta pistol and shot the lock off, unlatched the clasp, and pushed the gate open.

  No zombies had arrived yet as he returned to the Suburban and led the convoy onto the airfield. He radioed the escort vehicles and told them to wait inside the gate t until all the vehicles were through and secure the gate behind them. The fire trucks should be able to hold the zombies back until that was accomplished. Then he led the rest of the convoy out to the middle of the runway where they could see any threats before they got there. Scott decided that this would be a good place for a rest stop. They would get the convoy back into proper order and take time to plot the rest of their journey, if the zombies gave them enough time to catch their breath.

  The rest of the convoy arrived within a couple of minutes and the airfield remained clear of zombies. The Panther stayed back near the gate, using its water cannon to prevent the new horde of zombies from crashing through. At the same time the water tankers used the relative safety to refill the both fire trucks. They even tapped into a fire hydrant and found enough pressure to replenish the water in the tankers.

  Carl looked around and was pleased with what he saw, until looked towards the east side of the airfield. The hospital was right across Skypark Drive from the airport and thousands of zombies were lining the fence. A Liflight helicopter was parked on the helipad in front of the hospital, but appeared abandoned. The fence was holding the zombies back, but for how long? The bridge to the safe haven at Terminal Island was only a few more miles away, but at the moment it seemed more like a million.

  Carl looked around the airfield again, pausing to gaze at airplanes and helicopters that he wished he knew how to fly. Then he looked at the GPS map in the Suburban and tried to figure out how to get from here to there. The gridlock on PCH was discouraging. However, the airfield itself seemed to offer a detour around the traffic jam at PCH and Rosecrans. He looked towards the south-east end of the field where most of the hangers were located. Beyond them was a shopping center. According to his GPS, there was a road that would take them around the gridlock at the major intersection, if they could get there.

  There was no time for scouting missions. This was a make or break venture. A virtual army of zombies were closing in behind the convoy. Another horde from the medical center was massing against the fence and he doubted they would hold them back much longer. He made a snap decision and radioed the rest of the vehicles, telling them that it was time to move out and instructing them to resume their assigned positions in the convoy.

  Carl and Karen led the convoy down the length of the runway as he explained his plan to Joey in the Cat and the other escort vehicles with refinery radios. Following his directions, the Cat broke through the airport fence behind a car dealership and cleared a path to the corner of Airport Drive and Crenshaw by throwing new Acuras out of the way. The intersection was also jammed, but nowhere near as bad as PCH had been. The Cat cleared a path within a minute. Carl took that minute to look back and was disappointed to see that the zombies from the medical center had broken through onto the airfield, as had the group that the fire trucks had been holding back at the gate through which the convoy had entered. The two massive groups of zombies merged as they chased the convoy down the runway, forming a true horde of the undead.

  Luck was with them when they crossed Crenshaw and headed down Airport Drive. It took them through a shopping center where the Cat could clear a path through the parking lot in the few areas where abandoned cars blocked the road and there were not many zombies in their path. A minute or two later they were back on PCH where the going got tougher. While not jammed up as bad as at the intersection of PCH and Crenshaw, there were still scattered wrecks and abandoned cars that needed to be moved out of the way. Nevertheless, they pressed forward fast enough to keep ahead of the horde following them. Carl hoped to figure out a way to lose the pursuing undead before they reached the port.

  They continued down PCH for two more miles and the process of clearing the road and holding back zombies almost became routine. Carl planned to turn south on Normandie Avenue, should take them straight to the port, but a block before they got there it became clear that an alternate route would be needed again. Traffic was jammed ahead on PCH and as Carl zoomed in on the GPS he suddenly realized why. There was a Kaiser Permanente medical center on the corner of PCH and Normandie. That probably meant thousands more of the undead. He directed the convoy to turn right on the next street, which was Frampton Avenue, but soon realized he may have already gotten too close to the hospital.

  Zombies erupted into the street from a trailer and mobile home park. The road was clear of traffic, however, so he decided lead the convoy through the small mob. Then as he passed the next intersection there was a panicked transmission on the TalkAbout.

  “RV Nine has a problem! Flat front tire! We just hit a parked car too.” Shit, thought Carl. Not goo
d timing. He signaled the Cat to proceed and turned around in the next cross street, going back to help the people in the disabled RV.

  “Wrecker Two is on-scene. We’ll hook a cable and pull them out of here. Engine Two, cover us with water.” It was Chuck’s voice. He was riding shotgun with the mechanic. Carl was sure that Chuck would be the one to jump out and attach the tow cable. As the Suburban approached he confirmed his assumption. Chuck was standing in front of the RV, pulling a tow cable from the back of the truck and blasting zombies with his shotgun. Engine two, the fire truck bringing up the rear, had not been able to pass the other RVs blocking the narrow street. It was shooting occasional jets of water that way, but also had to use the water to keep zombies off the fire truck and other RVs.

  “This is fucked up,” Carl said to Karen as he stopped next to the wrecker and pulled out his shotgun. He opened the door and fired at zombie that was running towards Chuck, blasting its face off. Chuck smiled and nodded thanks as he turned and bent down to hook the tow cable under the front end of the RV. He leaned his head under to make sure of the connection as Carl shot down another zombie running across the street. An RV stuck behind number Nine started honking its horn and Carl cursed again, hoping they weren’t in trouble too and willing them to be patient.

  Two more zombies were rushing at him now, so he swung to his right and blew them away with two head shots. A strangled scream from behind him whipped his head back towards the disabled RV and his jaw dropped as he saw two zombies attacking Chuck who had just reemerged from under the RV. They must have come up on the other side of the RV where Carl couldn’t see them coming. He started to run towards Chuck, hoping to save him, but realized he was already too late when blood spurted from a bite on his shoulder. Carl stopped and aimed at the head of the other zombie that was biting Chuck’s arm, blasting him away with a chunk of Chuck hanging from its clenched teeth. Chuck was able to grab his hammer off his belt with his wounded arm and swung it forcefully into the head of the zombie that had bitten his shoulder. He rolled free and drove the hammer down again and again, cracking the zombie’s skull like a coconut. Then he met Carl’s shocked gaze and grinned.