The Aftermath Trilogy (Book 3): The Aftermath [Ground Zero]

by Daniel Smith

  Dan though this idea was good.

  5 HARD LIFE LESSONS

  They followed the twenty until darkness stopping on the side of the deserted road only to refuel the van and use the bathroom.

  “We will sleep in the car tonight,” Manny said as he reclined the seat backwards.

  “You take first watch,” he finished as he made himself comfortable.

  Dan adjusted the seat as he looked out onto the dark road then up into the starry night sky. They continued their travels the next morning only stopping to use the rest room and refuel the van as they made their way into Shreveport. The van barely made it to the regional airport before the abandon traffic on the freeway became impassable. Near the 3132 interchange blocked by cars in both lanes of the dirty concrete highway intermixed with a few decaying bodies in some of them. Manny shut off the engine of the van.

  “Let’s see if we can find some gas,” he said opening the door.

  Dan opened his door getting out to start looking around the grassy hills that held the concrete roadway around and over him. He accepted the shallow pan and rubber hose, spare gas cans and the metal spike from Manny without comment.

  “You try those cars I will get these. Don’t go far,” he said with a smile as he moved off.

  Dan looked at the rows of cars moving towards the sloped center divider to the other side of the highway. He moved among a few of the cars opening gas caps to check for fuel. At one small white two door car he shoved the metal spike hard into the gas port. Feeling resistance for a moment before breaking through as Manny had taught him on how to remove the anti-siphon plate. Designed for preventing people from siphoning gas. Sticking the rubber hose down the opening, one good suck on the tube started a stream of gasoline pouring out. He shoved the tube into the empty gas can spitting out the taste of gas from his mouth. Standing he started looking into car windows before finishing moving onto the next. In the cab of a truck he saw a plastic bucket that said it held a month of food in it and a small black nylon bag with a strap. Trying the door he found it locked. Thinking for a moment he hit the window with the metal spike only to make a loud banging noise. Dan struck the window two more times before it broke in a shower of glass fragments. He was about to reach inside the truck when he heard a moan. Looking around franticly he saw the figure appear between two cars slightly in front of him.

  Dan looked at the man in the black suit now tattered and torn with a white shirt showing dried bloodstains. A black tie still on his neck under his pale sunken grayish face with one cheek torn open exposing his teeth underneath the opaque milky white eyes staring blankly ahead. He moved towards Dan in the afternoon light as a slight breeze making the short black hair of the man with small bits of debris hanging in matted dirty hair move slightly. Pulling the black hilt of the katana free with a metallic hiss, he gripped it with both hands the blade pointing slightly to the right of him at an angle. The man suddenly moved faster making him swing at the approaching zombie before he was fully ready. He did not hear the tattered suit as it ripped open along the stomach. Feeing the slightly violent tug as the blade slowed down ripping through the dry leathery flesh and through the muscles of the abdomen.

  Dan slightly turned as he took a couple of quick steps away from the man making sure the path behind him was clear before turning his attention back to the zombie. The slime coated intestines erupted through the destroyed muscles of his abdomen spilling out the dirty and bloodstained white shirt. The former businessman took a few shambling steps towards him into the pile of spilled intestines on the ground unconcerned his every step pulled more out. He had finished retreating now looking at the zombie. Knowing that even if he pulled the rest of his intestines out with his internal organs. The zombie would not stop until he destroyed the brain. As the undead advance toward him with his arms outstretched. Dan shifted the weight on his left foot pivoting slightly. Lashing out with his right foot and leg feeling the crunch of bone and cartilage as he slammed his foot into the zombies left kneecap with an audible snap. The creature went down with no cry of pain or shock expression just the present low mournful moan escaping the creature's mouth. The zombie went down hard while they were the undead they were still people break their legs they cannot walk. Cut off their hands they cannot grab you. Bust their teeth out they cannot bite you Manny’s words rang threw his thoughts.

  Dan approached the sprawled figure on the ground struggling to rise to get at him. With a quick and powerful motion swung the black blade of the katana into the side of the zombie's skull. Striking above the ear he felt the blade stop several inches into the skull and brain. The zombie stop moving as Dan placed his foot on the chest of the zombie and used both hands to wrench the blade free of it skull. Wiping off the blade clean on the man’s dirty suit. He crouched to search the man as Manny had taught him. Disappointed in finding nothing as he moved back to the truck to bring back the items he saw to find the gas can had stopped filling about three quarters of the way full. Opening the nylon bag to find two boxes of shotgun shells. He closed the bag to rechecked the cab of the truck more carefully looking for the shotgun. Giving up after not finding the shotgun he recovered the gas can. Heading back to the van with his find. Dropping the items off at the van he took another gas can moving to search of more gas. After about two hours, Manny and Dan stood at the van looking at the fuel and supplies they had scavenged.

  “We will head down the road to Simmesport. There is a bridge there we can try,” Manny calmly said as he closed the rear hatch of the van.

  Dan looked at the grayish black clouds crossing the darkening sky. As they made their way down the rolling blacktop on his side of the car once plowed fields showing signs of neglect as tall grass grew in them. The paralleling steel rails of railroad tracks flanked the other side of the road. The roadway was clear as they made their way into Simmesport Louisiana passing an abandoned diner with two wrecked cars in the parking lot. One looking blackened the burned metal frame sitting there. Further, down passing a gas station with a large handwritten sign saying out of gas swinging gently in the wind. While several cars sat abandoned at the pumps, they continued into town. Along the two-lane road, once cut grass was now going wild blending in with the tree line as they passed by the abandoned homes as they move towards the bridge.

  A grassy median separated and split the two-lane road. What few buildings they passed looked abandoned and damaged as he started seeing the rise of the bridge ahead of them. Manny slow the van just in front of the metal guardrail leading up the slight incline towards the bridge. Towards the top of the curve almost out of line of site, several parked trucks sat blocking the bridge Manny paused pursing his lips saying more to himself than Dan.

  “Doesn't feel right going up there is a perfect place to ambush us. We could not turn the van fast enough giving us time to get away,” Manny said.

  Dan roused himself from his half sleep as he now looked up the bridge a ball of anxiety building in his stomach. Waiting to see how Manny would handle the trucks further down the bridge. With the van motor still running Manny got out of the car with Dan following him to look around the scrub heading down towards the river. The scrub was wild looking with no holes in it. The grass lining the highway separating it from what few buildings they were was overgrown and wild Manny looked at all this as a slight smile started forming on his face.

  “If anyone was waiting down here for us,” Manny said his calm voice sounding almost like a schoolteacher passing on information during a lecture. “You would see either a break in the tree and shrub line. Tracks in the wild grass would show where people or animals traveled,” he said pointing this out to Dan.

  “So we are going to do this,” Manny said.

  Getting back in the van as Manny made a U-turn so the van faced the way they had just come. Putting the van into reverse he started backing up the bridge at a slow pace. Dan watched the van backed up the sloping bridge the ground falling away as they closed in on the river. Looking behind him through t
he rear window of the van Dan saw that it was two pickup trucks parked bumper-to-bumper.

  The trucks blocking the bridge preventing them from crossing sat where the start of the river would run under the bridge. Made of metal-studded gray boxlike rails that went up in a sloping arch to complete the bridge over the river. Manny stopped about a hundred feet from the trucks.

  “I am going to get out,” Manny said calmly as he handed Dan the short barrel shotgun. “I want you to sit in the open side door facing the way we came in case anyone tries to sneak up on us.”

  Dan nodded and took the shotgun before Manny looked at him one last time and said.

  “Let's do this.”

  Opening the side door of the van he sat looking down the bridge the nervous tension in his stomach churning as he scanned the highway for possible movement. Manny got out with his Ruger 7736 rifle held lightly in both hands his finger on the trigger guard barrel pointing slightly down but towards the trucks as he surveyed them. Dan did not see the four figures rise from behind the trucks but he heard one of them yell.

  “We charge a toll to cross this bridge, ” a voice called out.

  Dan looked behind him quickly catching sight of the four men behind the trucks as one of them started moving out slightly in front of one truck. He was waiting for Manny to say something in the same calm voice he always used.

  “What's the toll.,” Manny called back.

  This caused a round of laughter to erupt from the four people.

  “Whatever the hell we want,” one of them yelled back.

  Dan looked at Manny wondering what was going to happen only to hear him call back.

  “Too expensive will cross elsewhere.”

  This caused another round of laughter to erupt from them.

  “You don't get it, after what you and your people have been doing,” his tone holding an edge of menace.

  “Get ready and hold on,” Manny said quietly.

  Surprising Dan with the speed Manny jerked the stainless steel barrel of the rifle up from where it pointed. Sighting quickly down the barrel to snap fire an 30-06 round at the man standing in front of the truck.

  The loud crack of the rifle boomed out closely followed by the dull metallic thump of the bullet popping in to the engine block of the first truck. Dan heard the curses coming from the men as Manny jump back inside the van. Not bothering to fasten his seat belt the rifle still held in one hand as he slammed the gear lever into drive stomping on the gas pedal. The van lurch forward slamming the side door shut on Dan as he listened to squealing tires. The van taking too much time to build up speed for his liking. The driver’s door had slammed shut as Manny took off. As the van shot down the bridge, Manny calmly put the gun on the passenger seat. Without turning, he called back to him.

  “Let me know when they come,” he said as he drove down the bridge going the wrong way on the divided highway.

  Before making the one-hundred and five interchange Dan watched as two men each jumped into the trucks. One truck failing to start as a mix of smoke and steam started bellowing out under the hood. The other truck tires squealing backed up enough managing to turn to chase them down the bridge. The two men jumped from the truck bellowing smoke into the bed of the moving trucks with weapons. Dan listing to the roar of an engine and squealing of smoking tires as the truck lurched forward in pursuit.

  “They're coming,” Dan called out nervously.

  Manny slammed on the brakes of the minivan producing no skid thanks to the antilock braking of the van. As he veered the van into a right turn on the one-hundred and five interchange. Manny exited the driver door with the Ruger 7736 from where it sat on the passenger seat and raised it to his shoulder. Leaning slightly over so he looked down the dark black scope taking a deep breath letting it out slowly only to hold it as he pulled the trigger. The hypersonic crack of the metal jacket lead alloy one hundred and fifty-two grains round sounded. The bullet reaching the velocity of 2,805 feet a second rang out as Dan watched as the front of the truck blew out steam. Then started venting a whitish black smoke as the engine change from the roaring to a metallic clumping noise before stopping altogether. Manny did not wait for the results of the bullet he jumped back into the van in trying to floor the accelerator. Urging the best possible speed from the van going down the one-hundred and five. They flew by several wrecked cars passing several moving figures in them as they gained more distance from the bridge.

  “Will they follow us,” Dan asked nervously.

  Manny pondered the question for a second before responding.

  “Probably.”

  He started slowing the van and making a right turn onto a street going down slightly before making another right. Before pulling into the overgrown yard of a large two-story home. Maneuvering the van from sight behind the house. Parking the van and turning off the engine.

  “We will wait here and give them time. Make yourself comfortable, we will sleep in the van tonight. Just in case, we have to take off quickly. I doubt they will still be looking for us by morning and more interested in repairing or replacing their trucks. We will look for a different way across the river,” Manny said matter-of-factly. Rolling his window down slightly to allow a slight breeze to enter.

  “Who were they;” Dan said as he tried to make himself, comfortable on the backseat among their supplies.

  Manny thought on this for a few moments before a smile broke out on his face.

  “Trolls,” he replied with a grin. Dan looked at him strangely.

  “You know like the ones from the old fairy tales that they would stake out a bridge and demand money or something else for people to pass,” Manny said still smiling.

  Dan looked at him for a moment before stating.

  “I would call them thieves.”

  He thought about it but after giving it some thought he figured trolls for toll work to. Sending the afternoon around the van. Not bothering going into the homes around them. Only leaving the van to use the bathroom and stretched their muscles. It was early the next morning as they made their way back on the one-hundred and five heading down the two-lane highway pass the overgrown farmland. Driving parallel the Atchafalaya River looking for a way across. They have drove a good part of the morning as Dan watched the clouds building into a darker mass. He figured they would be getting rain soon. Manny driving the car slow on the highway.

  “We can go faster,” Dan said looking at Manny.

  “We could,” Manny replied with a smile. “But we will see any potential hazards sooner than we would going faster.”

  Dan had just nodded at as they approached the town of Millville. Just outside town, Manny had stopped to check the map with a frown.

  “There’s a railroad bridge crossing but no car,” he said. We will probably have to go further down as he started slowly driving into the town.

  They had gotten to the first intersection of the small-town seeing small brick homes and several trailers. When he stopped in the middle-of-the-road just past the intersection and turned off the van. Dan turned to him looking puzzled but before he could ask him Manny spoke.

  “I saw something down the side street there I think we should check it out.”

  Dan nodded getting out of the van stretching before reaching to pull out a tan lightweight windbreaker.

  “It was a little cool out today for his liking,” he thought.

  Putting the windbreaker on. He checked the forty-five autoloader making sure it sat secure in the holster at the small of his back. He removed the strap from the katana clipping the sword to his belt. He wonder if it was an easier way to carry the sword. Figuring he would try it today. He closed the door as Manny took the shotgun and started moving down the street in the direction he had seen.

  They walked as far as the next street when Manny looked at a fire pit. Sitting in the middle of the intersection chunks of burned wood sat in a pile of ash inside a makeshift cinder block ring. The remnants of old furniture sitting around it. Manny slowly looked a
round as concern started crossing his face.

  “Think we should leave,” he said to Dan turning but stopped.

  Dan turned stopping as several people started coming out of one of the homes that slowly turned into a group of people. He looked at them they all appeared Hispanic because they had the same hair and complexion as Manny did. He continued to scan the crowd noting several-carried ax handles a few machetes and baseball bats but he did not see any firearms. He felt the nervous tension forming in his stomach again, as he looked at Manny calmly staring at them the shotgun he carried hanging loosely at his side. The group stop at seeing them openly staring at the two of them. Before breaking in to an excited sounding talking breaking out among them, Dan then looked at Manny who had put a smile on his face raising his hand to wave while calling out.

  “Buenos Dias.”

  Causing a murmur to break out in the crowd allowing a smallish man to step from the group.

  “Buenos Dias,” he called out waving Manny to approach.

  Manny did not turn to look at Dan but spoke quietly.

  “Stay calm stay here and stay alert,” he said as he started slowly forward towards the group.

  Dan watch with concern as Manny approached the group speaking in Spanish. The basic Spanish Dan had taken back in school was not helping him understand what was going on as Manny approach the twenty or so men and women standing there. The tension would not leave his stomach as several of the group spoke while using their hands gesturing as more of them had pulled weapons. Dan looking around at the assortment of machetes baseball bats and axes held in hands.

  The discussion had gone on for a few minutes when the smallish man that first called Manny over. Step away from the group and started walking towards Dan. The look on his face gave him a bad feeling Manny shrug his shoulders and follow slightly behind him the 12 gauge shotgun still hanging loosely by his side. Dan's blue eyes locked on with Manny's brown for a moment while Manny’s face was expressionless He could see tension and apprehension in his eyes. Dan took a quick opportunity to scan the faces in the crowd they seem excited, happy and some he could not read. He could see no firearms yet so he turned to look at the small man. Who stopped about twenty feet in front of him. Noticing he was almost his height just a lot skinnier. He took in the black hair matted to a brown tone face with hard lines about the eyes. He spoke to him in broken English with a heavy accent that he had trouble understanding.