“You might be right. I guess we’ll find out when we go up to the bridge,” Dave replied, “but if I don’t hear anything to make me think that things are going to get better, I’m still leaning towards trying to get over to the mainland.”
‘Hopefully you will change your mind,” Adam said, “together I think we can wait this out.”
“I hope I am able to change my mind too,” Dave smiled. “If the army can control those things, the island would be a great place to ride this mess out. I’m not looking forward to spending the rest of my life running from zombies. But if I have to run, I need to be somewhere where there is room to run.”
“Just try to keep an open mind,” Adam said. “I believe this island is the best place to be. If we stay here I really think we have our best chance of getting through all of this.”
“If things are clear enough outside, let’s go find out,” Dave said. “I honestly hope you’re right.”
Maggie got up and tried to get the guys to eat breakfast.
Dave and Adam each ate a Twinkie, but insisted the rest of the food should be saved for Everly and Joey.
Dave said he and Adam would try to find something else for all of them to eat on their way back.
Dave stressed that until they decided what they were going to do, food needed to be rationed.
Nicole and Maggie sat nervously on the couch as Dave and Adam left the cottage.
A lot was riding on what the guys found out today.
Dave opened the door and was immediately assaulted by the smell.
“Every time we go out, the smell gets worse,” Dave said.
“It must be the heat,” Adam replied. “I wonder how long it will take for all these zombies to rot and fall apart?”
“According to the movies it isn’t going to happen,” Dave replied.
“I hope that is another thing the movies got wrong,” Adam added. “So far about all the movies have right is the fact that zombies are the walking dead and smell like hell.”
“You seem disappointed that the movies haven’t been a very good guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse,” Dave chuckled. “You’re starting to sound like Maggie.”
Dave walked down the steps. When he reached the parking lot, he hesitated as he studied the grassy area around the motel.
“Let’s try to stay on the pavement,” Dave said, “The grass is a real mess.”
Dave led Adam through the parking lot and turned left on First Street. As soon as they reached the end of the building divided into Suites one and two, Dave turned left onto Church Avenue. The marina was only a block down on Church Avenue behind the motel.
The streets were deserted behind the motel and Dave and Adam walked quickly towards the marina.
At the marina, a dozen boats of various sizes bobbed in the water where they were tied to the dock.
A number of large yachts were up on supports, in dry dock for their annual hull cleaning.
A few almost completed, having had the barnacles scraped off the hull, were in the process of being repainted.
The boat that belonged to the old fisherman that Dave and Maggie had bought fresh fish from, had drifted away from the docks and was resting between two larger boats that were anchored about fifty feet out in the shallows of the inter-coastal waterway.
Dave could hear a grinding sound as the fishing boat rubbed against the other boats as it rose and fell with the waves coming into the marina.
The sun was up over the mainland and cast a golden glow over the blue water.
It was the start of another beautiful day on the island. Except for the fact the marina was deserted, it reminded Dave of when he and Maggie first came to the island.
Dave hoped it was an omen that today was going to be different from the past few days.
Dave motioned for Adam to follow him over to where the boats were tied up at the dock.
“Do you know much about boats?” Dave asked.
“A little,” Adam answered. “I have a twenty footer that I use for fishing but I haven’t used it in ages.”
“If I decide to go over to the mainland, which of these boats would you suggest I use?” Dave asked.
“Just about any of these would get you to the mainland if they will start,” Adam replied as he studied the boats. “But just in case you had to stay out on the water for a few days until you could find a spot where you could go ashore, you are going to want something with a cabin and also that is quiet so you don’t attract any attention, I would take this one.”
Adam pointed to a twenty-five foot blue and green sail boat.
“Does it have an engine?” Dave asked, “I don’t know how to use a sailboat.”
“It has a small engine,” Adam replied, “It has a nice cabin below deck where you could spend the night if you had to.”
“What about this one?” Dave asked pointing to a boat that was a little larger. Other than needing a paint job, it looked like a nice boat. It had a large cabin where he, Maggie and Joey could stay out of sight.
Adam laughed, “That one doesn’t run. If you went down in the cabin, you would find the engine torn apart and scattered around in about fifty pieces.”
“How do you know that?” Dave asked.
“I know the owner,” Adam smiled. “It belongs to Andrew Mooh.”
“Andrew?” Dave laughed, “So he does really exist. Why hasn’t he fixed the engine?”
“He’s been working on it,” Adam grinned, “for about three years now.”
“Three years?” Dave asked.
“He bought the boat a few years ago,” Adam replied. “He works on the boat every time he comes back to the Pelican Post. Every day when he gets up, he heads down to the marina to work on his boat.”
Adam started to laugh again, “I’m going to have to get him a GPS unit. The last time he stayed at the Pelican Post, he only managed to find his way down to the marina three times. He kept finding something more interesting to do before he got down here.”
Dave laughed, “I could see that happening.”
Then Dave got serious, “At least I could see that happening before, not now.”
“Yea,” Adam replied. “I hope you decide to stay, but if you don’t, you want the blue and green sail boat.”
“Thanks,” Dave replied. “I hope I can stay here too.”
Dave studied the boat for a bit longer, “Let’s go find the army.”
Nicole and Maggie sat near the window talking.
“I hope the boys come back with some good news,” Nicole said. “I don’t want to see you guys leave. Adam pretty much has his mind make up. He wants to stay on the island until this all passes. Even if the army is having trouble holding the island, he feels it has to be better than living on the mainland.”
“Unless Dave feels the army can handle the zombies, I know he wants to leave,” Maggie replied.
“I want you to stay,” Nicole said again, “maybe you can convince Dave to stay. Think about it this way. If the island and the mainland are both crawling with zombies, there has to be a whole lot more of them on the mainland. If we can knock off a dozen zombies a day, eventually we will run out of zombies on the island, then everything will be OK. On the mainland, you will never run out of zombies.”
Maggie laughed, “I see your point but I’m sure you know how guys are when they make up their mind about something. People say that donkeys are stubborn.”
“That saying was obviously said by a man,” Nicole laughed, “and he didn’t know Adam.”
“But I can see Dave’s point too,” Maggie smiled. “In order to live long enough to get through this, we need to find a place where we can find something to eat and get away from the zombies. On the island we are basically trapped. I just hope the army can control this so we don’t have to make the decision to stay or go.”
Nicole got quiet for a few minutes.
“Maggie, did you ever wonder how all of this happened?” Nicole asked.
“Yes, I thought about
. At first I thought it all started when Dave’s crew dug up the bodies up at the construction site,” Maggie replied, “But after we learned about all the zombies trying to cross the bridges to get on the island, that changed my mind. I feel it had to have started somewhere over on the mainland.”
“The Petty Officer said,” Nicole started to say.
“I didn’t believe a word that guy said,” Maggie interrupted, “You never trust the government. No matter where or how it started, the government only tells you what they want you to know and it usually isn’t what they tell you it is.”
Nicole laughed.
Maggie sat up in her chair, a frightened look came over her face.
She signaled Nicole to stay quiet.
“I hear voices,” Maggie whispered.
Nicole and Maggie looked at the kids. They were still sleeping.
Maggie moved over to the corner of the window and looked outside.
Nicole crowed in close behind Maggie.
Outside were the sailors in their blue uniforms.
“What are they doing?” Nicole asked.
Maggie watched as the sailors, in groups of two, moved from building to building, attaching some kind of devices on many of the building as they passed by.
“Maybe we should go out and find out what they are doing?” Nicole whispered. “Maybe they can tell us if the army has things under control yet?”
“No way,” Maggie replied.
“Why not?” Nicole asked.
“Because I don’t trust them,” Maggie answered.
“But they are on our side, they’re U.S. Sailors,” Nicole added.
“Nicole, before you met Adam, did you ever go into a bar and found that you were the only girl in the bar?” Maggie asked.
“A couple of times,” Nicole replied.
“I bet you felt a little uncomfortable,” Maggie said.
“A little,” Nicole replied.
“Now imagine that all the guys in the bar were sailors. Sailors who in our present situation probably think that you might be the last woman on earth,” Maggie smiled.
“You’re right, let’s stay here,” Nicole said looking uncomfortable.
“Just keep an eye on them and see what they are up to,” Maggie said.
The girls watched the sailors.
Three of the sailors attached something to the side of the Post Office.
Next they came over to the Pelican post.
They went into the office for a few minutes.
Maggie saw them come out of the office a few minutes later and move around the front of the Pelican Post.
One of the sailors spent a few minutes doing something at the corner of the building, outside of unit seven, her and Dave’s former unit.
Then they met up with another group of sailors and disappeared down Church Avenue.
“What do you think they were doing?” Nicole asked. “It looked like they were putting more of their GPS units on the buildings like they put on the bumper of your car.”
“That wouldn’t make any sense,” Maggie replied, “Surely they wouldn’t expect the building to go anywhere.”
Nicole’s eyes lit up, “I bet they are putting sensors on the buildings so they will know when the zombies come around,” Nicole said. “That way they can come and kill them.”
“I don’t know,” Maggie said, “that sounds too good to be true.”
“What else could it be?” Nicole asked. “If you think about it, it makes sense. They are trying to clear the island and the military has all kind of high tech weapons now days.”
Maggie thought for a few minutes, she just didn’t trust the government.
“You stay here,” Maggie said, “I’m going to go take a look at what they put on the building next to our old unit.”
“The guys told us to stay here and not to go outside,” Nicole said.
“Do you do everything Adam tells you to do?” Maggie grinned.
Nicole smiled, “I’ll keep watch.”
Maggie opened the door a few inches and listened.
“I don’t hear anything,” Maggie whispered. “Keep an eye out on First Street so nothing shows up and gets between me and the steps to the cottage. I’m going over to the main building and follow the walkway down to the corner of the building. If you see anything, knock on the door to let me know so I can get back up here before they see me.”
“OK,” Nicole replied, “Be careful.”
Maggie slipped out of the cottage and closed the door quietly behind her.
She crept down the steps to the parking lot.
After listening for a minute, she made a quick dash for the main building and ran under the overhang at unit three.
She slowly moved down the walkway, keeping her back to the building, shifting her gaze between First Street and Church Avenue behind the motel.
Maggie moved down past unit five and stopped in front of unit six to give her heart a chance to slow down.
The sound of her heart pounding in her ears was deafening.
Maggie was about ready to move on when a loud thump sounded at the window behind her.
Her heart almost jumped out of her chest at the sound.
Maggie slowly turned to look behind her and at the window.
Her hands rushed to cover her mouth to stifle the scream that began in her throat as Carl threw his body into the window.
Blood smeared the glass where his body had rammed into the window then began to run down over the glass.
Maggie stared at Carl’s body against the window, or what was left of his body.
Carl’s throat had been torn out. Blood oozed out of the numerous places on his body where large pieces of flesh where now missing.
Carl’s squirrel tattoo was pressed into the glass, blood dripped from where its head had been.
Maggie had never seen Carl’s squirrel tattoo before, she had only heard about it from Dave.
It was nothing like she had imagined.
Even if it still had a head, Maggie could never imagine herself being impressed enough to have ever gone home with Carl. She could never imagine that she would have ever gotten that drunk.
Maggie was staring at the grotesque scene at the window in front of her.
She wasn’t able to hold back the scream that came from her mouth when the window shattered.
Glass bounced off the concrete walkway, hitting her feet as Carl came through the window, landing two feet in front of Maggie.
She jumped as Carl’s hands grabbed at her feet.
She stepped backwards a few feet and stared down at Carl.
Carl crawled to his feet and staggered towards Maggie.
Maggie turned and ran towards the cottage steps.
She could hear Carl groaning as he stumbled after her.
Maggie ran up the steps.
Nicole opened the door as Maggie reached the top of the steps.
“Is that Carl?” Nicole shrieked. “I thought he was dead.”
“He is,” Maggie replied as she ran into the room and shut the door.
The girls stood at the window in the door and nervously watched Carl stagger over to the bottom of the steps.
He stood at the bottom of the steps and stared up at the girls, looking down at him from the window.
His ghastly eyes locked on to their faces.
Then he started to climb the stairs.
He barely made it up the first step before he fell backwards landing on the ground.
For the next ten minutes the girls watched Carl repeat the process, always ending back on the ground.
The first step was now a bloody slippery mess.
“What are we going to do if he gets up here?” Nicole said.
“We aren’t going to wait for him to get that far,” Maggie replied, “Pull the chairs over by the door. If he gets up more than three of four steps we are going to start throwing chairs at him. Maybe we can knock him back down to the bottom.”
Nicole started dragging all the
kitchen chairs over to the door.
Dave and Adam moved to the end of Church Street.
The Cortez Bridge was now only a few hundred feet in front and above them.
The drawbridge was still standing high into the air near the middle of the bridge.
Bodies were still pressing up against the drawbridge.
Dave and Adam were now close enough to hear the bodies splashing into the water as they tumbled off the bridge.
The occasional sound of a gunshot could be heard coming from the intersection of Gulf Drive and Cortez Road above them to the left.
“Come on.” Adam said, “We can cut through the police department parking lot and get to Highland Avenue. We can get up on the start of the bridge from there.”
When they rounded the corner of the police station, they could see a half dozen police cars parked by the station. The cars were all dented and bloody streaks ran back the length of the cars.
The police station looked deserted. The main door hung open and swung freely in the breeze.
“This doesn’t look good,” Adam said.
“It doesn’t sound too good either,” Dave added as the massive sounds of groans could be heard. As the wind shifted both guys put their arms across their faces to fend off the sick sweet smell of death that hit them in the faces.
“Stay down and follow me,” Dave whispered. “Let’s go up to the side of Cortez Road and see what is going on over here.”
When they reached the embankment that would take them up on the beginning of the bridge, Dave and Adam got down on their hands and knees and crawled up to the road.
They lay on their stomachs and stared at the scene.
The army had erected a ten foot high wire fence that stretched from the Gulf, three hundred feet to the inter-costal waterway.
Cars, trucks and the army’s tank were parked against the fence for support.
Twenty-five soldiers walked along the row of cars.
Now It Begins Page 18
