“Don’t make me pull this train over,” Tony said with a glare and a grin, “I’ll do it, too… ya’ bunch of honkies!”
The tension had eased considerably, although I couldn’t let go of Sam. He looked down at me and kissed me hard on the mouth.
“So now what?” Tara asked.
“Looks like smooth sailing for a long while,” Vicky reported, “Straight shot north. I don’t know what might be on the tracks… but no more switches for sure.”
“Okay, then let’s roll,” I said to Tony, “What can this baby do?”
“Without cars?” Tony asked, “I think close to ninety. But I’d feel better if we kept it under thirty. I know it’ll take a while to get up to Jacksonville, but better safe than sorry.”
Sam nodded, “I agree. We’ve basically got a rolling fortress here. Let’s do it. Make turns for twenty-five knots.”
“Argh, Jim boy, Argh!” Tony growled in his best pirate.
Chapter 37
From the personal journal of Samuel R. Decker
The locomotive was even better than we thought. Evidently, it was a new model and was designed to sustain the crew for extended journeys. Aside from the little kitchenette space, there were two short sliding panel doors to either side of the two captain’s chairs. The one on the right led to a small head with sink and toilet, and the other led into a compartment with a full sized bunk. These fit just under the forward section of the cab past the two large ports.
We got Rivers onto the bunk and made her comfortable. The rest of us crashed on the hard floor of the cabin, using our packs as pillows. Tony and Vicky were still sitting in the chairs handling the train.
“Well, this is luxurious,” Andrea grumped as she tried to settle in, adjusting her pack and snuggling up to me at the same time.
“Yeah…” I said, “Too bad this wasn’t a passenger train. We could crash out in the sleeping car.”
“Wonder if we could find one somewhere?” Tara asked as she also tried to snuggle up to Andy.
“I’m not sure we can on this line,” I replied, “Not sure, but I think Amtrak might have a separate line… but I don’t know.”
“I’ve been checking into the database,” Vicky stated, “This line is freight only, and I guess has been for a long time. Mostly rock and freight from Jacksonville to Miami. Of course this main line connects with others, too.”
I sighed, “We need our rest. Does the line go by any shopping districts or anything? Maybe we can get some sleeping bags or something.”
“Well,” Tony said, “If we bump our speed up to like fifty or sixty… we’ll be in Jacksonville in a couple of hours. At twenty-five, it’ll be like eleven.”
“Like you said, XO,” I replied, “it’s dark, we don’t know what the hell we’re doing and we never know what’s ahead of us. That includes train bridges.”
Vicky turned around in her chair, “there are quite a few, actually… and they’re all up, as far as I can tell.”
“Shit,” I griped, “That’s kind of a damper on things. There’s no power to lower them, even if we could do it somehow…”
“I’ve been working on that,” Vicky said, “First off, our line goes pretty close to the Palm Beach Gardens mall. We could check it out, although I’m sure it’s dangerous.”
Andrea scoffed, “what isn’t these days?”
Vicky chuckled, “True that. Also, while the power grid is off, there seems to be an auxiliary control system for the bridges. We can hook into their power and use the locomotive’s generator to activate the bridges and lower them.”
“No shit?” I asked.
Tony turned and winked, “She’s pretty good at this shit, huh?”
“Glad we brought her, then,” I said, “Since you apparently haven’t been doing your homework.”
Tony flipped me off, “Hey, I’m driving that train, high on cocaine… KC Jones you’d better watch your speed…”
He sang this Grateful Dead line as he turned back around.
“Wise ass…” I mumbled, “Okay, kiddos, looks like no rest for the wicked. How far to Palm Beach Gardens?”
“Half hour at this speed,” Tony said, “According to the interactive map, the tracks are only about a half mile from the mall. Gotta be a sporting goods store in it.”
“Dandy,” Andy grumbled, “Another night raid through zombie infested waters.”
“Don’t forget bandits,” Andrea pointed out with a raised finger.
“And wild animals,” Tara offered with her own raised finger.
“Not to mention vampires, goblins, werewolves, yetis, aliens,” I added.
“Not to mention zombies,” Tony said, “Did anybody mention zombies? Cuz’ there’s probably zombies…”
“Swell…” Andy cranked.
“You can stay here,” I offered, “You’ve done quite a bit tonight.”
“Nah,” Andy sighed, “We’ll let mom and Vicky stay with the wounded. You know, the wounded? The poor Gunny who’s sleeping off her bullet wound… and the other guy, who is nursing his Ouchy for all it’s worth.”
“Oh, and who might that be?” Andrea asked with a giggle.
“Can’t really tell,” Andy said, “On account of it’s so dark in here and all.”
“Little honky brat,” Tony groused and flipped Andy off.
“That’s racist,” Andy said.
“Yup,” Tony quipped, “Can’t stand you crackers.”
After the laughs died down, Andy and Tara and I started checking our gear. I suggested we go in with only our rifles, side arms and chest rigs. If there was a sporting goods store, we’d check it out and find a way to haul anything back with us.
“Light and quiet,” I said as the engine started to slow, “This is a surgical strike. How’re your NVG batteries?”
“Mine are about half,” Andy said, starting to swap them out from the reserves in his pack, “You know… we used four bags of normal saline. That was all that I had in my pack.”
Tara checked her night vision batteries and indicated that they were good. I swapped mine out, too.
“Yeah,” I said, “that was half our stash. Doubt we’ll find more at the mall, but we can worry about that later. Let’s none of us get shot, stabbed, kicked, punched, gouged, scratched, poked or prodded, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Tara said, “I’m ready when you swingin’ dicks are.”
“What a mouth,” I joked.
“I’ll say,” Andy said with a wink.
“You guys be careful,” Andrea said, touching each of us and kissing me.
“Always are, mom,” I said with a grin.
“Not me,” Andy quipped, “I’m a reckless asshole… like Tony.”
“Boy,” Tony said as he brought the engine to a stop and powered down to minimum, “I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve this shabby treatment.”
Everyone looked at him and just stared. Vicky was giggling and tried to cover it with a hand. Tony finally grinned broadly, “Oh… oh yeah… that…”
“Alright, enough fuckin’ around,” I said a little more seriously, “I’m red, Andy orange and Tara’s pink, got it? We start on one, and walk up the prime number freqs after every conversation. Let’s roll.”
“Are you splitting up?” Andrea asked with worry in her voice.
“I hope not,” I said, “but one can never tell. This way, though, you’ll be able to monitor. By the way, major, you’re… Thomas.”
Andrea snorted, “Thomas the train?”
I grinned, “Yup. Unless you’d rather be the ebony vein stick. That’s Tony’s go to code name.”
I ducked out the door with the sound of laughter behind us. We went down the ladder and looked toward the east, where the once bustling two story Gardens’ Square mall sat abandoned, dark and admittedly foreboding. A span of grassy land and a thin but dense stand of trees stood between the tracks and the parking lot. We were up on a hill about thirty feet above the elevation of the first lot, so we c
ould see most of the huge building through the trees.
“Looks spooky,” Tara whispered close to my ear.
“Yeah,” I said intelligently.
“Thank God for these NVG’s,” Andy commented.
I lifted mine up over the brim of my cover and scanned the intervening land with my thermal M4 scope. There were no signatures.
“Looks clear,” I said, “Let’s move out. I’ll take point, Andy take up the rear. Five yard spread. Quiet as you can.”
It was eerily quiet. I don’t know why it felt that way, but it did. Maybe it was just the evening we had – helo in, get attacked, narrowly escape, get surrounded by zombies, narrowly escape, get surrounded by zombies again… narrowly escape…
I can’t be sure but there seems to be a pattern here.
I guess it’s just a weird world to live in now. In the dark, especially. Things seem strangely still and quiet one minute, and the next you’re surrounded by monsters or being shot at for no reason. Everybody left alive is edgy and in hiding, and everybody who isn’t left alive wants to shuffle up and eat you. Puts a little clench in the old turd cutter.
We made it through the woods without being eaten by zombies or attacked by any other mythical creature. As bad as zombies were, they weren’t supernatural, at least. Something turned them into what they are, but it was something that science could understand. That was, in a weird way, comforting.
Yet there was that tiny little voice in the back of your mind that thought, “Well, hey… zombies aren’t supposed to be real but they are… so what else might be lurking out there?”
Would we eventually meet Count Dracula, or be visited by E.T… or some Lovecraft-inspired monster that stands a hundred feet tall with purple tentacles and one giant sinister eye?
“Fuck me…” I grumbled as we started across the open knee-high grass.
“Starting to get creeped out?” Tara asked as she came up beside me.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
Andy came up on my other side and we strode toward the large and silent mall side by side. Although abandoned, there were still some vehicles left in the parking lot. That struck me as odd and I said so.
“Yeah, who would go to the mall during an apocalypse?” Andy asked, “Or after one?”
“We’re going to one now,” I said.
“Free shoes,” Tara offered with a grin.
Andy scoffed, “You broads and your footwear.”
Tara giggled, “Broads?”
Andy shrugged, “Yeah, and we’re going for sleeping bags no less. It’s all about shoes and bags with you ladies, huh?”
“Do what now?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, I can’t believe you two forgot them,” I said deadpan.
“Were we in charge of sleeping sacks?” Andy asked, “At no time did anyone ask Tara or me to grab a sack.”
“Now, that’s not true,” Tara jibed, “You asked me that this morning… you know, when you got out of the joint. Said after that hellish stretch, you needed a woman to grab your sack… for a change”
I snorted with laughter, “I thought you guys were in charge of sleeping gear. I got guns and food and bullets and stuff.”
“You’re right,” Andy said, “I’m sure it’s all my fault.”
“Ah,” I said, raising a wise finger, “You have a girlfriend now, sonny. Best you keep that phrase handy.”
Tara smacked my arm.
“How’d I get stuck with two men,” She huffed and then laughed.
“Stuck by two men?” Andy asked.
“Book ended by two dudes?” I seconded.
“Geez…” She huffed again.
By this time we were making our way across the huge parking lot toward the three story tall building. It looked like it had two floors, but they were very high. Tara confirmed this when we were about halfway to the closest entrance.
“This is a two story mall,” She said, “I’ve been here before. My grandparents live… used to live… in Jupiter Farms and we’d come here a lot. If we go around the right side we can enter on the second floor.”
“Does that matter?” Andy asked.
Tara shrugged, “Not sure. But don’t you army guys like the high ground or some shit?”
“Oh!” I said, holding a hand to my heart, “Army guys?”
She beamed, “Fuck with the bull…”
“She’s had bad influences,” I told Andy as we moved in the direction Tara had suggested.
“Yes,” Andy said, “They seem to be corrupting her.”
“I can hear you,” Tara said.
“Next thing you know,” I ignored her, “She’ll start having impure thoughts about weeners and such.”
“Perish the thought,” Andy said coolly.
“You guys are assholes,” Tara said with a smile.
“Least we didn’t say you had a small dick,” I chuckled, “That’s what we army guys usually do on a fire or recon op. Tell each other we gots little pee-pees.”
“Oh,” Tara said, “Well thanks for that I guess…”
The mall, with the exception of the cars in the parking lots, was pristine. The two hundred or so vehicles scattered around were mostly intact, although more than a few looked like they’d been through a wreck or three. I thought that this was odd, considering the population in the area. You’d think that a mall would be one of the first places looted.
“This is starting to drive the old creepometer up,” Andy said softly as we stood before one of the main entrances.
Everything looked normal, at least at first. When we put our night vision goggles on, the dark splotches on the concrete stood out a bit more. They were dark greenish-gray against the once white but probably now gray concrete. In addition to those on the sidewalks, the planters that decorated the entrance and even the columns sported splashes of what I had to guess was long-dried blood.
“Somehow that makes me feel better,” Tara said, pointing at a stain the size of a tablecloth, “There was some activity here, but it looks old.”
“Yeah,” Andy quipped, “I feel much better, especially when I look into that giant cave… maybe we shouldn’t just walk in the front doors, if we even can.”
“How else would we get in?” Tara asked.
“A service entrance into one of the stores maybe,” Andy suggested with a shrug, “Instead of just walking in to the mall proper.”
“Probably locked,” I replied.
“So?” Andy asked, “Just pick it.”
I scoffed, “With what?”
“You’ve got to have something small and skinny enough to slide into a lock,” Andy said, looking in Tara’s direction. I couldn’t see most of his expression because of the goggles, but his mouth was twitching.
She frowned for a second and then she smiled, “Yeah… like that pencil dick you’re hauling around!”
“Oh, here we go…” I drawled and laughed, “I knew we were corrupting her. Seriously, though… Let’s see if we can get these doors open first… hmmm… that’s odd…”
I was shining my flash into the mall. I had the lens pressed up against the tinted glass of the multiple sliding doors but I couldn’t see anything beyond it, even with the goggles. At first I thought my light had gone out, but a quick check confirmed it.
Andy tried a few feet away from me, “That’s weird… why’s it so dark?”
“Blackout curtains,” I realized, “Or some jury rigged version… and I can’t slide these doors apart. I think you’re right, L T… my creepometer is pegging right now. I think it’s time to make a hasty but dignified withdrawal.”
Just then, the doors in front of Tara slid aside spilling low light onto the sidewalk. Before any of us could react, a man dressed in black from head to foot stepped out and was almost toe to toe with Tara, who lurched backward with a little squeal of fright.
The man held a big nasty looking revolver in his right hand. Might be a Colt Python or even an anaconda. Probably a .44 like mine. The gun wasn’t pointed, though, so t
hat seemed like a good sign. And wise, since Andy and I both had him in our sights.
“Not so fast,” The man said in a deep baritone. He was a giant, probably six feet six if he was a foot. He was rangy looking, fit but not overly bulky. His dark hair was neatly trimmed as was his dark beard. He stared directly at me with eyes as black as deep space, or so they seemed in my NVG’s.
“Military?” he asked, “I recognize the BDU’s. And M4’s all, although the two blondes look pretty young to me.”
“We’re military,” I said simply, “And you are?”
The man’s thin lips slowly pulled into a smile that was full of white teeth and low on humor, “I’ll be asking the questions for now, soldier. I think it’s best you lower those rifles.”
From my left and almost behind me, I heard the sound of at least four rifles being charged. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know that there would be four men standing up from behind several of the parked cars and training weapons on us.
“Christ,” Andy grumped as he lowered his carbine and let it swing in the tactical sling, “Can’t we just have one fuckin’ night?”
The man’s Megalodon-like smile took on genuine amusement as he looked at Andy, “In this world, son? You’re asking a whole lot.”
I safed my M4 and let it hang and took a moment to look over my shoulder. Sure enough, four men dressed in black were slowly walking toward us, training a variety of long guns on us. Although they weren’t shouldered, they were aimed in our direction and held at the hip like a bunch of action movie jokers. I chose not to make a sarcastic comment just then, however.
“Let’s talk inside,” The big man said, indicating the open doorway, “It’s not safe to jaw jack with stiffs in the area, and believe me, they’re out there.”
“I believe you,” I said as we followed him inside and were in turn followed by the four other men.
Although I’d seen the light, I was still surprised. Even after I turned off my NVG’s and set them high on my head over the brim of my cover, the light was still bright enough to see by. It was low, to be sure, but it was definitely coming from some of the mall’s built-in lighting.
World of Corpses (Book 1): World of Corpses Page 50
