Zombie Crusade II: David's Journey

by J. W. Vohs

  David gathered everyone on the gravel shore of the island and explained, “The northern point of this island separates a dam across the entire river. The shallows on the west side, as well as low water levels leaving parts of the dam dry, mean that there could be hunters here. So we can’t stay. I know everyone is absolutely exhausted, and so am I, but we need to clear that dam as quickly as possible. Once we get past it the maps show calm water most of the way to an island where I’m hoping we’ll be able to camp. With luck we’ll be able to rest on the way there with the motors doing the work. But like I said, we have to get past here first.”

  Luke had been keeping watch on the closest shore, and he came trotting over to join the group and immediately interrupted David. “We must have had a couple of packs following us for a while because I just counted nineteen of them splashing through the shallows on the west side of the island. Not nearly as much water between us and the shore over there.”

  Everyone quickly readied weapons as David asked, “Where did they go?”

  Luke shrugged and admitted, “No idea, but they are on this island and I’m pretty sure they’re hunting us.”

  David considered this information for only a moment before ordering, “Everyone back in the water! Let’s get out in the current and we’ll discuss our options out there.”

  They returned to the boats and moved about fifty feet out into the rapids, then Luke grabbed David and exclaimed, “We need a diversion!”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “Give Dad one of the pistols and I’ll take my bow. We’ll head around the west side of the island making noise. Draw them to us while you guys follow the eastern shoreline up to the dam. As soon as you get on the water up there fire off the shotgun a few times and we’ll make our way to you.”

  David began to protest, “Luke, I . . .”

  Luke cut him off by demanding, “Just do it! You know this is the most dangerous part of the entire river so we have to take a chance. My dad and I can handle the diversion, and you need to lead these people outta here. Now go!”

  The teen then turned to his father, who’d been listening to the entire exchange and had already been handed Lori’s pistol. He nodded at Luke and said, “Let’s do it!” and the two immediately began running around the western shoreline of the island.

  David immediately realized that the decision had been made for him, and while he was angry that Luke and Jerry had acted on their own without waiting for him to approve the plan, he also realized that he had no time to worry about it now. He turned to the rest of the group already out in the water and motioned for them to begin following the shoreline toward the dam.

  David strapped the halberd on his back and picked up the shotgun he’d used to such devastating effect on the docks in Cleveland. The water above the dam was deep and wide, and relatively sluggish. Their motors could run unimpeded for dozens of miles once they passed this point, so he was willing to do whatever it took to get past this island. If they needed the long guns he wasn’t going to hesitate to use them. Jim and Gracie had the ARs out as well, carrying them at port arms as they struggled against the current while towing canoes behind them. Lori had her Glock, and Christy had all of her original weapons as they slowly moved forward. Even Trudy and Vickie had small pistols in their hands as they walked along beside the canoes with the children in them to try and prevent a repeat of the earlier nearly disastrous attack.

  The minutes seemed to stretch out painfully as everyone pushed themselves to the max against the current, its strength increasing with every step that took them closer to the dam. Finally they could make no further progress against the rushing water, and the group learned what it meant to portage during a canoeing trip. They pulled the heavily laden boats up onto the shore, and then everyone grabbed as many bags as they could carry and headed up the island until they passed the dam on their left. Everyone dropped the packs and returned to the boats as quickly as they could, all the while keeping weapons ready and a careful eye out for hunters. Once back at the pull-out site they lifted the relatively light canoes above their heads and quickly walked the three hundred yards to where they’d left the gear.

  Once again they saw no signs of the infected, and David ordered Lori to keep watch while everyone else loaded the canoes and got them back into the river. He told her to take the boats about fifty feet out into the deeper water and wait there for him; he was going to look for Jerry and Luke, who’d now been gone for over twenty minutes. He fired three shots at two second intervals, then reloaded the chamber with double-ought and headed out to look for his friends.

  CHAPTER 19

  Jerry and Luke had run along the eastern shoreline after leaving the rest of the group, shouting and making noise as they worked their way north. As they approached the dam they were both worried that the hunters hadn’t taken the bait, and they shouted even louder as they splashed through ankle deep water to take a fighting position on a small rocky outcrop about ten feet across. No sooner had they reached the tiny land mass than the first hunters came howling out of the brush slightly behind them. Luke shouted as he raised his bow, “They must have been heading south to where they saw the group come ashore! They had to backtrack to catch up with us! Should be nineteen of them!”

  Jerry simply raised his pistol in reply, and the father and son felt time slow down as the huge pack of hunters scrambled over the rocks lining the shore and rushed into the shallow water between them and the humans they so desperately hungered for. The lead creature met the business end of Luke’s first arrow with his cheekbone, falling limply into the water that splashed into a rainbow of spray as Jerry shot the second creature through the left eye and watched it tumble across the corpse of the first before falling into the shallow river.

  Luke’s next three arrows all hit home, killing three more of the hunters with the last one literally falling at his feet. Jerry was fighting as one would expect a father to fight for his son. He’d killed five of the creatures with the pistol while Luke was working the bow. Now they had ten bodies clogging up the shallow water between them and the rest of the pack, and as the remaining hunters were maneuvering around the corpses they became easier targets for the arrows and bullets being sent their way with deadly efficiency. Suddenly there were no more hunters on their feet, the large pack now lying still in the water with puddles of their black blood creating darkened clouds in the current floating away from the scene.

  Jerry was replacing the spent magazine when Luke, who’d been retrieving arrows from the dead, shouted out, “Dad! Behind you!” Jerry turned around to see dozens of hunters and a few zombies splashing through the shallows between the riverbank and their position. The noise of their shouting and fighting was probably attracting every infected individual within a mile of the river. They had no time to worry about how many creatures they might be facing though, as the first of the hunters came into range and met the same fate as those in the previous attack.

  The arrows and bullets were flying with rapid and deadly skill, and at least twenty of the massive pack were down when the first hunter broke through into axe range. Luke dispatched the unlucky creature without a thought, and unleashed three more arrows before he heard his dad shout, “Going to the halberd—no time to reload!”

  Luke dropped the bow on the rocks and stepped up to battle shoulder-to-shoulder with his father as at least twenty hunters crawled over the dead to reach the two fighters. Though the thought never entered their minds, Jerry and Luke were two of the most deadly people in North America at that moment, and they instinctively hacked and cut down every hunter that came within range of their weapons. When the final two dropped in a heap at their feet, the gore-spattered Luke grinned at his father. Jerry wearily reached out and clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder in a gesture of respect and affection. Suddenly the smile left Luke’s face as he looked past his father and breathlessly whispered, “Oh my God!”

  Jerry turned around to see more hunters than he could possibly count
pouring off of the bank of the Maumee and tumbling into the shallow water that was the only protection between he and his son. He shouted to Luke, “Hear a gunshot yet?”

  Luke yelled back as he nocked an arrow, “I really doubt that we’re gonna hear it over the water and the hunters!”

  Jerry had about two seconds to make a decision as he pulled out his last magazine and reloaded. “Go to them and tell ‘em to get the hell outta here!” he commanded.

  Luke released an arrow that struck the lead hunter in the forehead as he shouted, “Sorry to disobey, Dad, but I don’t leave anyone behind!”

  “Dammit!” Jerry shouted, realizing that he and his son were going to die here and there was nothing to do but fight till the end.

  Luke managed to send five more hunters to the ground before he was forced to turn to the axe, and Jerry killed at least ten of the creatures, most at point-blank range, before he took a step back and picked up his halberd. It was hopeless. The howling monsters funneled around the pile of their dead pack-mates and quickly surrounded the two humans, who now stood back-to-back as the hunters continued their mad charge forward. Suddenly Luke saw three or four flesh eaters fall into the water, then another group as this time he saw a black mist spray in conjunction with a loud “Boom!” A third, fourth, and fifth gunshot exploded nearby and suddenly the shallow water between their tiny bunch of rocks and the island was free of live hunters. He reached back with one hand and grabbed his father by the shoulder, yanking him around hard and pushing him toward the bank.

  David was standing on the shore off to the side of their position, reloading his trusty shotgun and shouting, “Let’s go!”

  Father and son needed no further encouragement, quickly splashing through the shallows as David once again opened up on the pursuing monsters. Dozens went down in the hail of lead balls, but the noise was attracting hundreds of hunters to the river and David broke into a run, quickly passing his exhausted friends, even while reloading. When he had a full chamber he shouted out, “Stay on this path, you got about two hundred yards to go.”

  To his credit, Luke trusted that David wasn’t trying to sacrifice himself for them so he kept on running. As he heard the shot gun unload again he knew that David would soon be on their heels, and as they broke free of the trees and saw the canoes floating out on the water about a hundred feet from the shore he risked a look back and saw that David had already caught up. “Go right in the water! We’re swimming!”

  The three warriors didn’t hesitate, leaping into the Maumee and swimming as fast as they could out to the boats where their friends waited for them. The pursuing hunters went in the water right after the men but quickly foundered as the depth rapidly increased. David signaled to the group to assemble in the shallows on the opposite shore so that the tired men could safely board the canoes, and everyone was unnerved by the howls of the hunters as the creatures watched the men climb in to boats populated with additional prey. The weary fighters laid back on their packs in exhaustion as their friends used the motors to power the canoes upstream in the calm water, slowly leaving the frustrated moans of the hunters far behind.

  The canoes motored slowly up the Maumee through farmland and woodlots, the river wide and sluggish, at every point deep enough for them to stay in the boats and feel relatively safe from attack. With two hours of daylight remaining they reached an island near a little town called Napoleon. The land mass was only about the size of a football field, but it did have trees and plenty of brush. The exhaustion and traumatic life and death situations of the past two days had taken a heavy toll on the group, and everyone was weary beyond words. David had them beach the canoes on the side of the island facing away from the direction of the town, then take the gear ashore and quickly conceal everything in the lush, July foliage to hide them and their equipment from any prying eyes.

  The tiny island was cleared in twenty minutes, and considering the depth of the water around them they weren’t surprised to find no hunters. Once the camp was set up and the guard established, David and Christy sat alone in their tent eating a dinner of cold soup and crackers. Christy quietly asked, “Are you surprised that we haven’t seen any sign of humans since we left the lake?”

  David thought for a moment, “Considering that I wouldn’t trust any people not under the barrel of our guns, I’m glad that we haven’t seen anyone else. They’re out there. Some of them are still hiding in their homes; others have formed groups and have barricaded themselves behind fortresses of some type. Since we’ve been on the water and trying to stay out of sight the entire time I’m not surprised that we haven’t seen anything except the infected.”

  She replied, “I guess you’re right. I was just getting worried that we haven’t been seeing anything but hunters. Sometimes I think that maybe we should have stayed on that island with Father O’Brien and built our own compound there.”

  “You know, for some reason I never even thought of that while we were there. If you’d mentioned it then I might have considered it. In fact, if I’d known how brutal this river trip was going to be I definitely would have stayed.”

  Christy smiled, “No, baby, you wouldn’t have. You have to know what’s happened to your family. I know you; nothing short of death is going to keep you from trying to get to Jack’s castle.”

  David frowned, “That’s true, but I didn’t need to drag everyone with me. Your mom and dad would have definitely been safer on the island.”

  “Honey, everyone would have been safer on the island. You’re just not getting it, are you?”

  “Getting what?” he asked with a note of frustration in his voice.

  “Everyone here with us, they’re family now. We’ve been through too much together. They’d follow you to hell and back, and so would I. And Luke, nothing could keep him on that island for long, not even Gracie. The boy’s on a mission.”

  “What mission is that?”

  Christy locked eyes with David, “To kill every one of these abominations.”

  “God almighty,” David replied. “He’s only sixteen!”

  “Have you seen the same kid I’ve been watching?” she asked incredulously.

  David took a moment to consider her question, “Yeah, he’s not your average teenager.”

  “Not even close, babe, and he’s just getting started. I think he was a very serious, spiritual kid before all this, and now he’s getting downright mystical.”

  Again David took a few moments to consider her words. “Maybe you’re right; I guess I’ve been thinking that he just has some sort of sixth sense or something, maybe a heightened instinctive awareness the rest of us haven’t developed yet.”

  Christy shook her head slightly, “It’s deeper than that, I think. Remember what Father O’Brien said? All religion aside, that boy is guided by God.”

  David let out a frustrated sigh, “How can you believe something like that?”

  She returned the sigh and continued, “Two months ago I didn’t believe in zombies. Or that some virus was about to destroy the world as we knew it. Or that you and I would be armored up like knights, using medieval weapons to kill monsters. I don’t care if this virus was man-made, evil has been unleashed in the world in a way that dwarfs any atrocities mankind has ever experienced.”

  “I don’t even know how to respond to that, Christy. I mean, my belief was shaky at best before all this went down. Now, I can’t imagine that God would let something like this happen. I’ve been thinking that we’re on our own down here.”

  Christy reached out and massaged his shoulders. “Baby, God’s never been closer to any of us than He is right now. People have the freedom to do what they’re gonna do, that’s the way He made us. This time we really screwed up, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t there, or that He’s given up on us.”

  David bowed his head, “Of course I want to believe that. And Luke definitely walks with angels at his side. His intuitions, his fighting ability, the indignation he feels in the presence of the infected . . .
yeah, I will concede that the boy’s on a mission from God all right. I just can’t see how the rest of us have any connection to anything other than this hell on earth.”

  “I know it’s not rational, especially given the state of the world, but my faith is stronger now than it was before the zombies showed up. I know the old saying that no one is an atheist in a foxhole, and I guess we’re all living in foxholes now, but I don’t think it’s that simple—at least not for me.”

  “Alright, counsel,” David prodded, “what’s your evidence? If being overrun by flesh eating monsters is evidence that God is here with us, then don’t try to tell me that God is love, or that I wouldn’t be better off without God at this point.”

  Christy smiled, “Ah, you can go ahead and blame God for allowing man to have free will, but mankind used that free will to create this situation without any help from the Almighty. Would you like to make the argument that man does not have, or even should not have, free will?”

  “No, but . . .”

  “Fine,” Christy interrupted, “then I will continue answering your question. We both can cite plenty of evidence to show that humans are capable of great goodness as well as great evil, and probably great stupidity trumps everything else. Whatever the motivation was to create these monsters, and I won’t hesitate to call the creatures evil, whoever created them could not have foreseen how this would play out. The ancient Greeks would tell you that this is the classic example of hubris—excessive pride that defies the gods and leads to destruction. The flesh eaters are not some plague from God; they are a plague from man.”