by Josh Vasquez
The bridge exploded in a huge blast of fire and debris.
Chapter Fifteen
“What the hell?” Lexx yelled over the shockwaves and roar of the explosion, as they watched in shock as the bridge collapsed, and cars began to tumble into the Savannah River.
They could see the panic erupting on both side of the bridge. The cars that survived the blast were trying to push each other out of the way, trying to get away from the flames and heat. They pushed into each other, failing at breaking free, and only making the situation worse. Full panic had set in.
“How could they just bomb the bridge?” Lexx continued to yell, not giving a damn who heard him. “There were people on that bridge! Tori, you said those were Marine jets?”
She nodded slowly as she continued to stare at the remaining pieces of bridge. Her mouth was wide open in shock. A single tear ran from her eye down her cheek.
How could they? She thought. How could they?
Lexx was no longer yelling things, just swearing under his breath over and over. Ben too was in shock, not moving with his eyes closed. If he could just shut his eyes and maybe the bridge will still be there.
Maybe it didn’t happen. The military wouldn’t do that. Not our military. Would they? He thought.
The thoughts raced through Jeremy’s mind as well, but they quickly got pushed aside as his survival instinct kicked in. They had to abandon going to Parris Island. If the Marines were going to bomb the Talmadge Bridge, then they most likely would not take too kindly to visitors. The government must be trying to contain the spread of infection. That had to be it. And the fact that they were willing to take these kind of measures, well, that meant things just got pretty damn serious.
“We can’t go to Parris Island now.”
“And why not Jeremy?” Tori asked, snapping out of her daze and seeming agitated by his statement.
“Well,” he started. “For starters, the bridge we needed to cross just got blown up. Secondly, we’re pretty sure the place we were headed to are the same guys who blew it up. I’m sure your dad is a nice guy Tori, but I don’t think his friends will be as welcoming.”
“Those must have been rogue pilots. There’s no way the United States Marine Corps is going to bomb a bridge with fucking civilians on it!” she yelled.
“Either way, Tori,” Jeremy continued, calmly. “We physically cannot get there. The only other way is to get to I-95 and cross over into South Carolina that way, but I think it might be safe to assume that they’ll take out that bridge too. Unless you have a boat? Do you have a boat? No? Ok, then. Look, I think the government is trying to stop the infection of whatever this is from spreading. They’re taking some pretty serious measures, so things must be going really bad all over. Not just here.”
She huffed for a second, mulling over what he was saying.
“What about the bridge near Port Wentworth? It’s a smaller bridge and maybe-”
“I’m sure they’ll take that one out too Tori,” Jeremy interrupted, gently.
“So what do we do then? What’s the plan now Jeremy?”
She shot him a stare that questioned his position of authority. A position he just put himself into unintentionally. Lexx and Ben also both looked at Jeremy for an answer as well.
“Yeah, man,” Lexx said. “What’s the plan?”
Jeremy thought for a second. His mind raced as he played out possible scenarios and decisions.
“We go back to the plan from before. We head west. Ben’s parent’s live outside of Rincon, right Ben?”
Ben nodded.
“Okay, for now we head there, but we need to get away from Savannah as soon as possible. The city is heavily populated and will most like be concentrated with dead soon. We need to get out into the country. Less people, less zombies.”
They took a minute to discuss the plan. Tori wasn’t ready to give up on finding her dad, but also had no idea on how to get to him. South Carolina might as well be the other side of the world now. Ben wanted to find his parents. He was confident they would be at the house. He made his case that they would have plenty of food and supplies. His parents even had an RV they could probably use.
Lexx stayed quiet mostly. As the other three bickered about what they were going to do, he kept watch on what was going on outside the jeep. The explosion had attracted the attention of a lot of zombies. They were coming out from all over the place. The ruckus from inside the Jeep was probably not the best idea either.
“Hey guys, I hate to break up this lovely conversation you have going on here, but I think it’s time for us to get goin,” he said, motioning towards outside.
A good sized group of z’s had gathered around the Jeep. While most were focused on the flames near the bridge, some were starting to take notice of the Jeep, and what was inside the Jeep. One let out a moan which was answered by another. And another. And another.
Jeremy put the Jeep back in drive and slowly started creeping forward. The dead began to shamble in the direction of the moving vehicle. He picked up speed, trying to dodge the maze of derelict vehicles, and outrun the pursuing dead. They were slow, but he could only go so fast through the abandoned streets.
“Uh, they are gaining on us,” Ben said. He was fixed on the rear window.
Jeremy sped up, scraping the side of an old hatchback with mismatched hubcaps.
“Easy, Jeremy!” Tori yelled from the passenger seat.
“I’m trying!”
Ben continued to keep his eyes peeled on the back window. He scanned the amassing crowd of dead. There just kept being more of them. It was as if the whole city was behind them. There was no way there could be this many dead already. Maybe it was a good idea to bomb the bridge.
“Where do I go?” Jeremy asked frantically, as he came up to MLK.
“Take a right and then a left on Anderson,” Tori answered.
He jerked the wheel to the right and hopped the curb onto MLK Boulevard. Anderson was two blocks down, past Henry. Both were one way streets, each one heading the opposite way. He made a hard left onto Anderson when he got there, not bothering to wait for the still functioning stoplight.
“Oh, shit,” Ben started cursing from the backseat.
“What is it?” Jeremy and Tori both yelled at the same time.
“We got runners.”
Behind them, breaking through the crowd of slower zombies was a handful of runners. They pushed and pulled their dead comrades out of the way. Their bright, red blood and still pink skin was at a stark contrast to the sea of grey, rotting, dead flesh surrounding them.
“Must go faster!” Ben yelled.
Jeremy floored it. Anderson was surprisingly clear of traffic. A random zombie here and there, but very few cars. The freaks behind them started shrieking. One flew through the air, launching itself off another zombie and in front of the pack. Others followed and they all broke out into full sprint. One of them, what was once a young woman, must have landed wrong because she fell and rolled like a rag doll. She tried to get back up, but the bone was visibly broken in her right leg. It pierced through the skin right above the ankle.
The freaks were picking up speed and gaining on the Jeep. Jeremy stomped down the pedal as he raced down Anderson.
“Does anybody else feel like we’re in that one scene from Jurassic Park?” Lexx asked.
“Shut up Lexx!” Tori answered.
“Where to now?” Jeremy yelled, swerving away from a smoldering sedan.
“Turn left onto Bull, no, left on Drayton!” Tori yelled back. “I have an idea.”
“Oh, that’s not good,” Lexx laughed.
She shot him a look that told him to shut up. He shrugged and smiled. Ben yelled up a report on the crazies. There were three of them and they were about two cars length behind. He began thinking out loud as to why they were so fast. He muttered something about them not registering pain and therefore not dealing with muscle fatigue.
Jeremy saw the sign for Drayton and steered hard left on
to the street. Another one way street. The slower dead were way back now, most losing interest, but the runners were still there.
“Okay, what’s the plan Tori?” He said in a condescending manner, getting her back from earlier.
“Does this thing have four wheel drive?”
“Uh, it’s a Jeep isn’t it?”
“Cut through the park.”
“What?!” All three men said at once.
“Cut through the park and bob through the trees. Right now we’re on flat ground and they’re gaining on us. If we cut through the park we might lose them,” she said, her voice much calmer.
“I don’t know if that’s a good id-”
Ben was unable to finish his sentence before Jeremy jerked the wheel to the left, jumped the curb, and roared across the grass of Forsyth Park.
Chapter Sixteen
Grass and dirt shot out from behind the Jeep as it raced across the open field. Jeremy steered towards the large oak trees in the middle of the park. There was a wide enough walkway there between the rows of trees that the Jeep would easily fit on. Once they reached the walkway, Jeremy turned right, facing downtown. The runners were still close behind them, maybe two car lengths. They didn’t seem tired. Didn’t seem fazed at all.
Passing a large statue, with what looked like a confederate soldier on it, the Jeep sped by benches that once held the butts of tourists and locals alike. The park was split into basically two parts. The southern “half” was made of two large, open fields where locals and out-of-towners would come for picnics, to play flag football, or even a rowdy game of ultimate Frisbee. The northern “half” on the other hand was made up of southern staple plant life, such as Live Oaks, Magnolias, and Azaleas. The scent of Jasmine permeated through the air. A large fountain sat in the middle of the northern garden. It was often the background for postcards, Instagram shots, and bridal pictures. While Savannah was going to hell in a hand basket, this park seemed to still hold on to its majesty somehow. Even the water in the fountain was still running.
Jeremy reached the canopy of the trees and began to bob and weave through them as Tori had suggested. The dead were having trouble keeping up. He frantically zigzagged through. Lexx let out a holler of excitement. He had a smile on his face like a little boy on a roller coaster. Ben looked sick.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Look! Look!” Lexx yelled from the backseat. “Zombie wedding! Zombie wedding!”
The three others looked out to the right of the Jeep and standing near the fountain was what looked like the remaining bits of a bridal party. The bride wore white. Stained with blood, but still mostly white. Her groom stood next to her dressed in a tattered black tux. They were still holding hands. The rest of the bridal party was there too. The saddest of which were the bridesmaids. They had died in really ugly dresses and would remain that way forever.
“Holy shit,” Tori said.
“I know right?” Lexx replied. “How do you think that happened? Wouldn’t be great if the Priest turned and attacked them? Oh, oh, what about the mother of the bride? Oh yeah, that had to be it…”
The wedding party noticed the Jeep, but also noticed how fast it was moving. They did not pursue. To be fair, it seemed that they were in the middle of taking pictures and that it something you do not want to mess with. Jeremy kept going through the trees, the runners now falling way behind.
“Are they still behind us?” Jeremy yelled to the backseat.
“Uh… no. Wait, there’s one still pretty close,” Ben answered sickly.
“How close?”
“Twenty feet, maybe?”
Jeremy spun the Jeep around to a stop. The runner came out from behind a tree and ran full speed towards them, letting out an angry shriek. In a small bit of irony, the zombie was wearing running shorts and a marathon t-shirt. He was literally a runner. Looking to be in pretty good shape too, if it wasn’t for the bright red blood dripping from his mouth, and the missing right-forearm, you’d think this guy was just going for a run through the park. His eyes were bloodshot. Probably would explain why he did not see what came next.
Jeremy floored it and made a beeline for the runner. The runner didn’t slow down. Jeremy didn’t slow down. Jeremy kept his eyes on the zombies until the very last moment. Never once did he see that look that every human gets when they realize they played chicken with the wrong person.
The Jeep and corpse collided, sending the body tumbling below the Jeep’s tires. Jeremy didn’t stop but turned the Jeep towards the street.
“Holy shit, Jeremy! What the fuck?” Tori yelled.
It didn’t seem to faze him. He pulled the Jeep out onto Whitaker Street and headed deeper into downtown. Whitaker was another of the many one way streets in Savannah. Jeremy was going the wrong way. But road rules were the last of his concern. They’d lost their tail of runner zombies, but many of the “regular” ones were still all over the place. Most reached out for the speeding Jeep, but that was about as much effort they put forward.
“Jeremy, would you like to explain what the hell that was back there?” Tori asked.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Are you fu-”
“We need to get out of the city,” he interrupted. “We may have lost the runners, but this place is infested with dead.”
“Well, that was the plan wasn’t it?” Tori said, exasperated.
He nodded ignoring her tone.
“Cut him some slack, Tori,” Ben said from the backseat.
She turned around and shot him a look.
“It was a stupid move and it could have cost us the Jeep. That corpse could have just as easily rolled onto the hood, cracked the windshield, and showered us with infected goo. Do you want that? I bet he didn’t think about that.”
Ben sunk back into his seat, too car sick to argue with her.
“Jeez, babe. Lighten up,” Lexx chimed in.
“Listen. I am not your ‘babe.’ And no, I won’t lighten up. It was reckless and stup-”
“She’s right guys.”
Everyone looked at Jeremy.
“She’s right,” he reiterated. “It was a stupid move and I’ll try to think more clearly next time. But for right now we need to get out of here. And that way is west- Oh shit…”
There was a large group of dead several city blocks in front of them blocking the entire road. They had not noticed the Jeep yet, but it wouldn’t take much longer.
“Turn down this alley,” Tori said, pointing to her right.
Jeremy listened and turned into the back alley. It was littered with dumpsters and trash, but clear enough for the Jeep to fit through. Only problem was it lead them deeper into the city. Everything seemed to be pushing them away from leaving. They came to a small parking lot at the end of the alley. Jeremy pulled the jeep into the parking lot and brought it to a rest.
“Whoa, why are we stopping?” Tori asked, a look of concern washing over her face.
“Well, it seems that we are low on gas. We must have burned up a good bit when we cut through the park. These cars may still have some in them. If we could find a hose, maybe we could siphon some of it out and get going. But right now, we’ll barely make it out of the city,” Jeremy said.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said.
“Wish I was.”
“Awesome. Where are we going to find a hose?” She sighed.
“What about over there?” Ben said.
He pointed across the street towards the Savannah College of Arts and Design building. Painted on one of the windows was “shopSCAD”. It was easy to read because someone boarded up the windows with plywood.
“Maybe there’s a hose in there?” He asked out loud.
“Could be man, you can never tell with SCAD,” Jeremy said with a smile.
“Alright! Let’s go check it out then!” Lexx said, ready to get back on the road and still pumped from the ride through the park.
They checked the surrounding
area for zombies before exiting the jeep. Gathering up their weapons, Jeremy and Ben decided to leave their pistols in the jeep. Tori and Lexx would handle the firearms. Lexx with his shotgun and Tori with her pistol. It seemed clear for the most part, so they made their way across the street.
“Looks like somebody tried to board this place up,” Lexx whispered.
“Yeah, you think someone’s in there?” Ben asked.
“Maybe. If so the door’s probably locked.”
The door was unlocked. Ben looked at Lexx who only shrugged. They walked into the building and closed the door quietly behind them. Lexx turned the deadbolt on the door once they were all inside. The group looked at him.
“Just in case.”
The main room was large and open. It was filled with all sorts of SCAD merchandise and school supplies. Like most SCAD buildings, this was a restored historical building. So, while from the outside it looked like something from Savannah’s past, the inside was a mix of modern and antebellum architecture.
“Well, we should probably split up,” Tori said.
“Uh, I vote no,” Ben chimed in.
“Why?”
“Well, this may sound silly, but given our recent situation, nothing really sounds too absurd. I don’t think we should split up because, whenever people split up in horror movies, well, the black guy dies. And I don’t know if you noticed, but, um, I’m black…”
Lexx and Jeremy started laughing uncontrollably. Tori just stared at Ben, shaking her head.
“Are you serious right now?”
“I know, I know. Look, if you had asked me that a couple of days ago, the thought would have never come to mind. But c’mon, we are basically living in a horror movie right now. Cut me some slack,” he answered.
“Oh my god, that is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time,” Lexx said, pausing in between chuckles.
Tori just shook her head, but a small smile began to creep up around her lips.
“Ok, Ben. We stick together,” she said.
“Thank you. I know I may act somewhat white, but I don’t know how the rules work. If there are even “rules” anymore. Rather not take my chances, y’know?”
