“Have you been bitten?” I called out.
“No, but…” she replied, stabbing another zombie.
She didn’t have to finish her sentence. We were both seconds away from being zombie chow. I couldn’t see a way out of our situation at that moment, but I inched my way closer to her one zombie at a time anyway.
Just when I thought we were both done for, an explosion from behind me and to my right had me ducking and shielding my eyes. A group of agitated zombies nearly trampled me.
“What the hell,” I shouted, jerking upright and scanning my surroundings.
Kayla had somehow climbed the top of the metal casing to the footpath on the opposite side of the bridge and had thrown a Molotov cocktail into the crowd. I watched as she prepared and threw a second before reaching into an open bag full of bottles for another one. How she’d managed to carry so many of Russ’ pre-made bottles up there with her, I couldn’t figure out, but she had about fifteen counting the two she’d already thrown.
The third and fourth ones hit the ground, and the screams of their dying brethren drew the attention of most of those zombies closest to us off us. With their numbers decreased by Kayla’s fire, the woman and I were able to fight our way off the bridge.
Once we were on the island, our next bit of business was to make a path for Kayla to get off the cage of the footpath and away from the fiery wave of zombies coming across the bridge. Russ was still picking off as many as he could, and the fire had a significant number of them scurrying into the city. That meant they weren’t paying that much attention to us. The bad part was that there were still zombies coming from the mainland. Their numbers were slowing for some reason—a reason I wasn’t going to argue with—but not nearly slow enough that I wanted Kayla among them.
Kayla threw a few more bombs. The air around us was filling with smoke, making it hard for us to fight and keep an eye on her. Eventually, she ran out of bombs. She didn’t move from where she was, thank God. She did pull out a gun and start shooting at the ones clawing at the cage. I don’t think I’d ever been so proud of someone in my life when I saw her not panicking at her situation but determined to go down fighting.
I have no idea how much longer we fought, but it was long enough for Kayla to run out of bullets and Russ’ shots to slow. Eventually, I noticed that there weren’t any more zombies coming off the bridge. We were only fighting those few stragglers that hadn’t fled onto the island and away from the fires still smoldering among the bodies.
Not too long after that, we were able to pull Kayla from atop the cage and rush back to the apartment. Russ was waiting on the first floor for us.
“Holy shit, that was intense,” he said, barring the door once we were inside.
“You should have been down there with us. That was fucking scary,” Kayla said with a chuckle.
Kayla jerked her head in my direction with an apologetic look, thinking I was going to scold her for her profanity. I wasn’t her father, and it was fucking terrifying, so I just smiled at her. I wanted to hug her, but gore covered my clothes.
“How the hell did you get up there?” I asked her instead.
“Flamethrower,” she said, shrugging out of the contraption and handing it to Russ. “Thank you for that, by the way.”
“Anytime. You wielded that thing like a professional,” Russ said, stowing the item in the apartment that he’d turned into an arsenal.
Kayla blushed and took the compliment. Their interaction worried me—made me think they might be growing to like each other more than they should. We were living in a different world, and Russ was a good kid, but I didn’t want them jumping into anything without really getting to know each other, and I didn’t think Kayla was ready for anything physical. I wasn’t delusional. I knew teenagers had sex, but if I could prevent them from going that far for a while, I would.
“Who are you people?” the woman asked, peeking into Russ’ weapon room as he stored the flamethrower.
The woman’s words startled me for a second. I’d completely forgotten about her. Judging by Kayla and Russ’ reactions, they had as well.
“We’re survivors just like you are,” I said, turning to her. “I’m Jason Masters. This is Kayla Rhodes and Russ Thompson. Kayla is a friend of my deceased niece. She came to me early on during the outbreak. We met Russ a few days ago when someone lowered the bridge.”
“I’m Tera Masey,” she said, sticking out her hand for me to shake.
I returned the gesture, but before our hands could touch, I looked down at mine to see that dried blood covered the gloves I wore.
“I guess we should clean up before we do too much more. Each apartment has a bathroom. We can shower, then meet up downstairs to swap stories,” I said, opening the door to one of the apartments that faced the bridge and the side of the building from which Russ was shooting.
The zombies had busted out the windows of the apartment. Luckily, the windows had bars, so they hadn’t overrun the place, but they had left a few body parts, a lot of blood, and other things, as they tried to get away from the fire.
“Gross,” Kayla said at the mess around the windows.
“Right. I’m betting all the apartments on this side of the building look like this. Let’s try the back side or the next floor,” I said.
“Ah man, I just cleaned all of these apartments,” Russ said, going to the living room window. He slipped on some bloody clothes. After steadying himself, the boy picked up an arm covered in tattoos. Shaking his head in disgust, he flung it out the window.
“It doesn’t matter now. There aren’t any more zombies coming across the bridge aside from the random straggler. We should be clear in a few hours to head back to Shore Haven,” I said, guiding Kayla out of the apartment.
“Shore Haven?” Tera asked, following us.
“Yep. That’s where Kayla and I live with my Uncle Jasper.”
“Jasper Masters, the doomsday lunatic who built a compound in the middle of the island?” she said, not realizing what she’d said.
“That’s him,” I said.
“Not so much of a lunatic, really,” Kayla said, pointing to the open window.
“I guess not,” Tera said.
“Let’s get cleaned up. We can talk about everything when we aren’t getting blood and stuff I don’t want to think about all over the place,” I said, motioning to the doors on the back side of the building.
A few of those apartments had missing windows, but enough were intact that we didn’t have to go to the second floor to clean up.
Chapter 14
~~~Jason~~~
—After the bridge fell.—
“So why the hell were you on that bridge?” I asked Tera after we’d all congregated at Russ’ kitchen table for a bite to eat.
“I killed a man,” Tera said without batting an eye.
“You did what?” Kayla asked nearly choking on her food.
“I killed a man. His people didn’t like it. I had to run,” she said without any emotion in her tone.
“Could you elaborate, please?” Russ asked.
I wasn’t going to push the subject, but it was clear the kids were.
Tera sighed, took a few more bites before saying, “Since the outbreak, I’ve been wandering the northeast. I didn’t know what to do. Mostly I was just in shock. A week ago, I came across a sign telling me that I was nearing Liberty Island. I thought maybe I’d find survivors here.”
She stopped to take a few more bites.
“I made it to Larkin where I ran into King Dominic and some of his disciples. I followed him to Edge Borrow.”
“King? Disciples?” Russ asked.
“Yep. That was what the King’s people called him and what he called his people. How he developed such a name and following so quickly, I don’t know. But they worshiped the ground that man walked on,” she answered.
“So why did you kill him?” Kayla asked.
“Because he was a sadistic bastard. Honestly, most of his foll
owers were as well. Not all. Some just did what they thought they had to because they were scared. Some didn’t have a choice.”
“What did he do to them?” That time I asked the question.
“You name it. Most of the women were, of course, slaves to the men. I don’t know what it is about the end of the world that makes the males of our species think they can or should treat women or anyone they deem weaker than them like property, like cattle. If you two,” she said, pointing her fork at Russ and me, “even think of trying to pull that shit, I’ll put you down just as quickly as I did Dominic. And if I decide to stay with you guys, she learns to do that as well.” She turned her fork to Kayla as she said the last bit.
“Look, I don’t know what you went through. I don’t know why some men and women, spend their entire lives pretending to be normal, well-adjusted individuals when in reality they are assholes waiting to take advantage of a situation that allows them to be the demented, perverted, unstable people they want to be. I’m not one of them. I’m pretty sure Russ isn’t either. I understand you want to be cautious, but be certain you don’t project that man and his people’s personalities onto us.”
I was trying not to let her words offend me. I wasn’t doing a good job at it.
“At first, I didn’t know what kind of people they were,” Tera said as if I hadn’t said anything. “They hid their crazy well. They let just enough women wander around their camp to make women like myself feel safe. What you don’t know is that those women are just as tyrannical as they are. They’re the ones who weed out the weaker women. Most die, the ones who survive but barely, becomes slaves, the ones who survive by killing or seriously injuring one of their own, become one of them. I, through pure chance, became one of them. In the process, I learned all about their world and knew that those who wanted to stop it couldn’t. Those that could either didn’t seem to want to or were planning to do what I did, but hadn’t managed to work out a plan that would work.”
“Was he the one herding those things across the bridge?” Russ asked.
“Yep. Dominic had been in radio contact with someone on this side of the island, helping them figure out how to lower it. Was it your people?” Tera asked.
“No. We were surprised when it came down,” I informed her.
“Good. What those people helping him didn’t know was that he was planning to flood the island with zombies. He wanted the turned to overrun the city, kill all of the survivors, then die, so that he could come in and take over the city.”
“How did he lure them?”
“He used what they wanted most. Live humans. When the bridge came down, the people from this side rushed across. His men captured them, bloodied them, then used them as bait. While those on this side were working on the bridge, he’d built a cattle yard that led the zombies right to the bridge. He’d lured thousands into pins and shipping containers he had lined up along the shore.
“He took those humans, one at a time, set them in front of the gates at the entrance to the bridge before prodding the zombies through the yard to where the humans were. The zombies followed the smell of the humans. Once they were at the bridge, they opened those gates, then released the person. The human had nowhere to go but back across the bridge. The zombies followed.
“While everyone was distracted with trying to keep the zombies pinned and moving toward the bridge, I started killing as many of Dominic’s men as I could, freeing some of his slaves, and doing what I could to cause chaos. He figured out quickly that things weren’t going as planned. Dominic needed all of the people he had to keep the zombies following the path to the bridge, though, so he couldn’t spare anyone to investigate what I was doing, not that he suspected that I was the one sabotaging him.”
“I can’t believe he was able to control that many zombies. There were thousands of them.” Russ said.
“He couldn’t. I damaged some of the setups, but the turned were strong enough to do some of it on their own. You couple that with the force of their numbers pushing against the barriers and something was bound to happen even if I hadn’t been there. That’s the only reason I was able to get away with what I did. His slaves were no help. Either the zombies ate them, or they ran. He also couldn’t control the entire yard. The outfit nearly spans the whole city.
“Another thing that helped me was the fact that he didn’t realize that the zombies like to move in a pack. Somehow, that large number brought in more zombies. So not only did he have all those creatures he’d captured, but he had more trying to get into the yard to get to them.”
“Why didn’t you run in the opposite direction?” Russ asked.
“I wanted to kill Dominic, and he and most of his loyal people were at the entrance of the bridge watching the zombies overrun your city. I slipped in among them and slit his throat. I pushed his body into a group of zombies after doing so. Before his people knew what had happened, I was on the bike path and running across the bridge.”
“How long do you think it’ll be before it’s safe to leave the island?” Russ asked.
“I’d wait to see if any of his people survive. You’ll know in a few days or so because they’ll probably start sending zombies our way again. Between the gunfire and the explosions, they’ll know that there are still people alive on the island. Individuals whom they know will fight back. They’ll want to be sure you’re dead before coming here themselves. If we don’t see any more massive hordes, that will mean they are either dead or have moved on without their leader.”
Tera pushed her empty plate away and looked at us. We’d all had to fight the zombies, but none of us had fought other humans. History told us that people like Dominic would arise during devastation like a zombie apocalypse, but it was hard to believe.
“I want to go back to Shore Haven,” Kayla said, looking frightened.
I would give my life to prevent her from ever being a slave to such people.
“We’ll go as soon as we can. Russ, Tera, you two are welcome. We have plenty of room and supplies. Russ, everything you have you’re welcome to bring it.”
“I’m in, man. All I want is my arsenal. You might not need it, but I don’t want it here where people like that can get to it,” he said.
“Not a problem. We’ll probably need most of it to get to the compound.”
I turned to Tera as if to ask what her answer was going to be.
“What is Shore Haven?” she asked instead of answering.
“Shore Haven is virtually a city within the city. It is a circle-shaped complex that takes up more than a few city blocks. It is entirely self-sustaining. It has its own power source. It has areas to raise animals and crops. It has plenty of housing, a large medical complex, etc. It is also fully stocked with provisions that will keep us comfortable until we get back on our feet,” I informed her.
“Rumor has it that the virus started there,” Tera said, sounding a bit skeptical.
“No one lived there until after the outbreak began. Jasper didn’t have a medical staff let alone any doctors experimenting on anything until then either.”
Tera didn’t reply. She looked worried and kept cutting glances Kayla’s way to see her reactions.
“I won’t lie, you’ll be locked in. It’s a lot like a compound. We stay locked down at all times. Yes, with Russ there with us, there will be three men and only two women. You’ll only have Russ and me to deal with, though. My uncle has locked us out of the fourth floor.”
“Why?”
“Fear would be my best guess. He won’t even allow me, his own nephew, near him. I doubt he’ll leave that floor until all of this is over.”
“How long do you think this will last?” she asked.
“Six months, a year, if we don’t all catch it. The creatures don’t seem to be lasting long. It’s been weeks since this started and most zombies that were originally on the island are dead. I don’t know if that was the lack of a food source or what.”
“I didn’t see such a rapid decline out
there. Maybe it had to do with the access to more live humans, or it could be that the virus is adapting. Viruses do that, don’t they?”
“I’m not a doctor or a scientist, but yeah, I think some can. Thinking about this thing, adapting, changing, maybe getting deadlier or stronger, is scary. Is there any news out there about a cure or vaccine?”
“None that I heard. I mostly met scared people trying to survive. I met a few zombie hunters whose only goal is to hunt those creatures down and kill them all before they too turn.”
“Surely someone is trying to stop this,” Kayla said.
“I’m sure someone is, but I don’t know anything about it. There isn’t much news in any form circulating out there. Everyone I met is scared and shifting to survival mode. None were interested in or thinking about much else.”
“Even if people here aren’t looking or can’t find a cure, maybe this thing hasn’t had time to leave the continent. Maybe other countries are working on a cure. The question then becomes, will they share or will they let us die,” I said.
“If they think we created it, they’ll let us die,” Russ said.
I couldn’t argue with that. I hoped we hadn’t created it. I hoped mosquitos or something else natural and unforeseen caused it. That would probably make it harder to find a cure, but it should keep others from blaming us and attempting to punish us for it, and possibly make them more inclined to help us find a cure or vaccine.
We sat around the table for a long moment after that thinking. Eventually, Tera broke the silence by saying, “I keep my weapons.”
“So you’ll come with us?” I asked.
“Only if I can keep my weapons and wear them at all times.”
“That won’t be a problem. Kayla and I wear ours all the time as well. I’m betting Russ will be doing the same. No one should go unarmed in this world—even in a place as secure as Shore Haven.”
She nodded. We shook hands, then everyone rose and began cleaning our mess and packing what supplies we could from the apartment complex.
Shore Haven Page 12
