by Brad Knight
Mack filled his newly acquired backpack with gear. There were batteries, hand warmers, a utility knife, medicines, a crank radio and a couple first aid kits. Those were all things he knew would come in handy at some point.
“So, what’s the plan big guy?” asked Amber as she knelt on the bottom steps, below Mack who was at the storm cellar doors.
“We look for a car.”
“The minivan is probably still there.”
“I doubt it. At the very least they would’ve slashed the tires. And your dad’s ride was on its last legs. Anyway, we need something a little faster. When we get out there stay close to me.”
Amber nodded in agreement.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Mack opened the storm cellar doors.
Wydell’s residential area was dark. Street lights and the occasional motion activated lights provided some relief. But the vast majority of the small neighborhood was draped in the night.
There were still some meat puppets roaming around. From their attire it was clear that they were once part of the kill squad that massacred the town. Like every other puppet, they jerked around erratically and wandered. If any of them survived, they were nowhere to be seen.
“Stay low and stay quiet,” whispered Mack. He double checked the breach of his shotgun, then started to head deeper into the maze of houses and monsters.
The going was slow. Mack and Amber had to avoid detection. Getting seen or heard by the meat puppets would’ve been a disaster. And neither of them were sure they’d be as lucky as they were down in Dallas.
Amber pointed at one of the black SUV’s that was in the middle of the street. To get to it, she and Mack would have to go through the backyard and front yard of the house in front of them. Worse yet, the vehicle was parked right under a street lamp.
“You stay here. I’m going to go check and see if it works.”
Amber raised an eyebrow. “You’re kidding right?”
Thin Ice Mack, thin ice. “Fine, but stay close.”
While knelt down and with guns raised, they slowly approached the SUV. There didn’t appear to be anything around. Still, they needed to be alert. Meat puppets may not have been fast but once one screeches, the others close in with frightening numbers. Plus there were those dogs. No one in their right mind would want to run into them.
Mack looked around before trying to open the driver’s side door. It was unlocked. He leaned in to check if there were keys in the ignition. Much to his delight and relief, the SUV had a push button start. Thank god for modern cars.
“Get in,” whispered Mack.
Amber hurried over to the passenger side door of the black SUV. She was about to open it and get in when she saw something reflected in the window. Three meat puppet dogs were rushing straight at them. One let out what sounded like a high pitched howl.
“Shit, they’ve seen us!” said Mack before he opened the passenger side door from the inside. “What are you waiting for!?”
Amber jumped into the SUV. Seconds after slamming the door shut, the dogs collided with it. The loud thump of the collision made Amber scream. Then they tried to get in.
The dogs weren’t the same as the human meat puppets. Their teeth and claws changed into something metallic. Through the slobbery smears on the window, Amber could see the street lights shining off their chompers.
“What the hell is that?” Mack’s question referred to the sound in the sky. It almost sounded like planes, but there was no airport nearby.
That can’t be good. Something is off. I’m not going to stick around to find out what. Mack pushed in the ignition button. The SUV roared to life. Mack and Amber sped through the Wydell residential area streets. They twisted and turned, as they tried to find a way out. The neighborhood was a labyrinth of rustic homes. Then the whole car shook.
“Faster,” said Amber quietly as she stuck her head out of the passenger side window and looked behind the SUV. In the distance she saw a brief flash of light accompanied by a loud boom. Another followed. And another. The explosions were getting closer, fast. “Faster!”
You got to be shitting me. Someone is bombing the town? The hits just keep on coming. Mack pressed all the way down on the gas pedal. He ignored the road and cut through a backyard, in the opposite direction of the oncoming explosions.
The commandeered black SUV bucked up and down as the tires and suspension dealt with the off road conditions. But Mack didn’t care. It could all fall apart or break down as long as it delivered Amber and him from the bombs.
Amber and Mack both felt each explosion. Blast waves ran through their bodies. Their chests and heads registered the extreme pressure changes. Mack wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep driving. Only his desire to stay alive kept him going.
“Faster Mack!”
“I’m going as fast as this thing can.” Mack stayed calm. Yelling at a teenage girl wouldn’t do either of them favors.
As Mack drove, Amber watched the fireworks behind them. Each dropped explosive was closer than the last. When she looked the other way, out the front windshield, she saw that they were almost out of Wydell. Then she turned back as the loud roar of an airplane passed over them.
The last bomb landed on the last house Mack and Amber passed. It was close enough that the blast wave shattered the back windshield into thousands of nasty little projectiles. Amber’s face was peppered with the shards. One piece hit her in the left eye.
Immediately, she screamed out in pain. It wasn’t just the injury to her eye and face that caused her to cry out, but the vision in her left eye went black. All the meat puppets in the world could throw at her wouldn’t conjure up the same amount of fear she had while facing the real possibility of being partially blind and disfigured.
“My eye!” cried Amber as she slumped down in the passenger seat.
“Find something to put pressure on it,” suggested Mack. His words fell on deaf ears. Amber was too busy freaking out.
Mack let his foot off the accelerator a bit. Then he tried to scrummage around in the back seat. There was still reason to watch where he was going. Even though he was in the middle of a field, he couldn’t afford to hit or run over the wrong thing. They needed that SUV.
Blindly feeling around the back, Mack’s hand felt something that Amber could use. It was a black long sleeve tee shirt. He gave it to the injured girl in the seat next to him.
“Hold it on your eye. We’ll find somewhere to stop and I’ll take a look at it.” As soon as he handed off the shirt, Mack turned his attention back to what was in front of him.
Not too far in the distance, he spotted the highway. His vision adjusted to the dark, allowing him to spot the obvious gap in the seemingly endless fields of Northern Texas. He turned the stubborn steering wheel towards the road.
The bumpy uneven terrain beneath the SUV was detrimental to Amber’s injuries. Every little static wave of soil made her inadvertently push harder on her left eye. All the way to the highway, she winced and moaned. That made Mack feel horrible and guilty, even though he did nothing wrong.
“How you holding up girlie girl?” asked Mack after they reached the highway. They were heading north towards the Texas/Oklahoma border.
Amber didn’t answer. She just grumbled and looked out the window with her good eye.
“As soon as we find someplace safe, we’ll stop.” Mack didn’t want to stop until he put some distance between them and the flaming remains of Wydell, Texas.
***
Twenty minutes from Wydell was a gas station with a small convenience store. It was bigger than the one Amber and Mack fought their way out of back in Dallas. Difference was, the one off the highway was deserted and isolated. There were no buildings within sight, only cattle raising country.
The little bell above the front door dinged as Mack pushed it open with one arm. His other was around Amber helping her into the store. He had his backpack on with all the medical supplies he scrounged from the storm cellar.
Mack guided Amber
to the front counter. She hopped up on top. While doing so she almost fell. Blood loss wasn’t the reason why she was out of sorts. Before reaching the gas station she took a couple of the oxycotin she stole from her dad’s pharmacy.
“Let me see it,” said Mack in a soft voice.
Amber hesitated at first. Then she took the long sleeve tee shirt away from her eye. Mack examined her wound under the fluorescent lights of the store. The glass cut through Amber’s eyelid. Mack could see the white of her eye through it, once he wiped away some of the blood. It was a gruesome wound. Luckily it looked much worse than it was.
“You want the good news or the bad news?” asked Mack as he took some gauze and soaked it in hydrogen peroxide.
Amber gave Mack a dirty look, then sighed. “The bad.”
“Well, the bad news is you have a really nasty cut on your eyelid. To be safe you’re going to have to wear something over it and I’m going to have to try and stitch it closed.” Mack started dabbing the gash.
Amber winced and sucked her teeth. The hydrogen peroxide stung, but she knew it was necessary. Back before the outbreak, she read a story online about a guy who left a simple cut on his face from shaving untreated. A month later, the man lost his bottom jaw. Antiseptics were important.
“You’re gonna bring a needle near my eyeball?”
“Indeed I am. I’d advise that you stay still,” said Mack with a slightly morbid smile.
Mack finally got a real good look once he wiped away the blood and sterilized the wound. He prepared the thread and needle.
“Have you done this before?” Amber voice almost trembled.
“Nope.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t.”
“Shhh, stay still.” Mack slowly and carefully pinched Amber’s top eyelid and pulled it away from her eye ball. With steady hands he began stitching.
Amber closed her eyes. The image of her mother’s face formed in her mind. It was from the last time they saw each other. There was both terror and disbelief in Mrs. Long’s eyes.
“All done,” said Mack. “Let me just put something over it.”
Mack took a big piece of gauze and covered all four sides with medical tape. He then put the newly formed bandage over and around Amber’s left eye socket.
When Amber opened her eyes, she saw Mack cleaning up. There was no pain involved in the whole ordeal. Relieved, Amber hopped off the convenience store counter.
“We can’t stay. This place is too exposed.” Mack zipped up his backpack.
Amber had a little trouble navigating around the store. Having only one eye to see from was a change that would take some getting used to. Unfortunately she was amongst the zombie apocalypse. That time wasn’t going to be easy to come by.
“Not even for a little bit?’ asked Amber. The teenager knelt down and grabbed a bag of chips that was on the floor. She opened and started to eat before Mack could answer.
“No, not even a little. Let’s go.” Mack slung on his backpack and headed towards the door. Amber grabbed a couple more things, all junk food, and followed.
Mack and Amber left the convenience store. The former unscrewed the black SUV’s gas cap and started filling up. With each gallon in, there was a little ding.
Chapter 4: The Red River
“We need to cross,” said Mack they observed the bridge in the distance.
“That’s not gonna be fun.” Amber was atop the SUV roof while Mack was on the street below.
About a mile ahead of them was a bridge that crossed the aptly named Red River. On the other side was Oklahoma. It was the only way over the long winding dark red, almost maroon body of water. And it was covered in abandon cars, much like I-23 back in Dallas.
The bridge was the only way over, and it was the only way into Oklahoma that Mack knew of. If he and Amber wanted to cross through instead of over they’d have to contend with thick shrubbery, mud and several feet of fast moving water. He liked his chances on top better.
How are you going to do this? We can’t on foot. So…
“Get back in,” said Mack as he got in the SUV. Amber climbed down and joined him inside the vehicle.
Mack drove towards the bridge. He went slow and turned the headlights on, as the sun was falling. Amber sat in the passenger seat and checked her gun. She wondered if she could still shoot straight with one eye. Over the engine, she could hear the crows and vultures outside. They were feasting on the carrion that covered the elevated path over the Red River. Thick black smoke rose over the arch of the bridge. It was an ominous sign, but one they’d have to ignore.
“Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this. I’m going to go out first, see what’s out there. Then when its safe and I’ve figured out what to do, I’ll signal you and you’ll follow.”
“Yeah…that’s not gonna happen. C’mon Mack you should know better by now.”
She’s right, I should know better. But I don’t.
“I’m smaller and quieter than you. I should go,” suggested Amber.
“You also are a little blinder.”
“Only a little. You’re big and strong, that’s what I like about you. But it also makes you less sneaky. Trust me big guy, I’m a ninja when I want to be.” Amber gave Mack the look that children perfect in order to get their way.
You should probably let her go. Not only is she right, but if I don’t let her go she’ll turn into a little monster.
“Fine. But if you see any meat puppets, you come right back. Understood?”
Amber smiled. Then she hugged Mack. It caught him by surprise, made him jump a bit. She didn’t care.
“I’ll be as quiet as a mouse. I promise.” Amber was about to get out of the SUV when Mack stopped her.
“How many bullets do you have left?” asked Mack. He made sure that he made eye contact.
“Two.” Amber didn’t need to check. That number was burned into her mind.
“You make damn sure that you save at least one of those.”
“For myself?”
Yes. You don’t want to be ripped apart by those monsters. I don’t want you to be ripped up by those monsters. “It’s better than the alternative.”
“It won’t come to that. I promise.” Amber gave another reassuring smile and got out of the black SUV.
Nervous didn’t even begin to describe how Amber was feeling. The moment the car door closed she realized that she might’ve made a mistake. And it was a mistake that could possibly cost not only her life, but her humanity.
Mack parked not far away from the bridge. He stopped right before the line of cars that were once trying to cross it. As a consequence, Amber had to make her way through numerous possible hiding places for meat puppets.
Amber crept towards the bridge entrance. Above her was a sign with its name in maroon letters. There was an empty toll booth beneath that. She looked inside. A long smear of blood went across one of the windows. It was empty.
There was a gate that Amber had to duck under before getting on the bridge. She was mindful of not banging into it. Any noise at that point could prove to be fatal. Caution was warranted and practiced. Up above her, Amber could hear squawking. The buzzards were circling the area around the bridge. Vultures meant the dead, or soon to be, were nearby. That realization made her even more nervous.
The smells on the Red River Bridge were putrid. A now familiar corpse aroma was mixed with ozone from still running cars. There was also the smell of burning rubber, cloth and flesh. It wasn’t until Amber got to the highest point did she know where that burning scent came from.
At the other end of the bridge was a little slice of hell on earth. A dozen or so vehicles were on fire. Vultures feasted on what looked like barbecued people. Overturned by the exit/entrance was a military vehicle, a Humvee by the look of it.
With a loud clang, like metal against metal, a vulture landed on top of a car just in front of Amber. Once she got a good look at it, she slowly started backing up. The bird’s eyes were clouded over. Its talons a
nd beak shined like stainless steel.
The vulture spotted Amber. Out of its metallic beak came a sound so high pitched it almost shattered the car windows around it. It spread out its wings. She panicked and shot the creature.
“Shit!” Amber knew she was in trouble. She had to get off the bridge and back to Mack, fast. Her fears were confirmed by the swarm of buzzards who suddenly took an interest in her.
Amber turned around, ready to run. Something hit the windshield of one of the cars directly in front of her. The sound made her jump. There was a meat puppet inside. On instinct she shot at it. Her bullet missed and only shattered the very window that was holding the meat puppet back.
The puppet tried to climb out of the car. Right away Amber saw that it wasn’t like the others she and Mack ran into before. Its bared teeth were metallic and resembled a bear trap more than human jaws. Like the vultures and the dogs back in Wydell, its fingernails became little shiny knives.
Not willing to stick around and see if the meat puppet was able to get all the way out, Amber started running. She headed back towards Mack and the black SUV. But she hadn’t gotten used to using just one eye yet. And the bridge was covered in obstacles.
Amber’s shin collided with debris on the bridge making her want to stop and try to soothe them. Instead she kept running. Her elbows hit side view mirrors. Besides cursing, she did nothing about it. She just kept running. Then something tripped her up.
After hitting the asphalt on the Red River Bridge, hard, Amber scrambled back up to her feet. The meat puppet and the vultures were closing in. She knew that she wouldn't make it back to Mack. With no weapons or chance of escape, she closed her eyes and hoped that her end would be fast.
Amber heard the loud bang of a shotgun discharging. Then she heard a meat puppet shriek. She opened her eyes and saw Mack standing next to her. He unloaded the second barrel of his gun. It was enough to down the creature.
“Get up! Those fucking birds are still coming.” Mack held out his hand for Amber to take. She took it, enthusiastically.
