Zombies on the Rock (Book 2): The Viking Trail

by Carberry, Paul

  "Holy fuck!" Calvin shouted as the horde of zombies pounded against the back door. Dana could hear the wood splintering against the relentless pressure; the door wouldn't be able to withstand the determined assault much longer.

  "What the hell are we going to do?" Stella was terrified. Since the outbreak, Jack had kept her isolated from the marauding monsters. This was the closest she had ever come to one of those vile creatures, and panic was quickly overpowering her motor functions. The vulgar, revolting stench of those roaming corpses was enough to overwhelm anybody.

  "We have to get out of the cabin before they make it inside!" Jack was trying to remain calm, but fear was heavy in his voice. The dire situation was spiralling out of control at an accelerated rate. They only had seconds to react to the sudden ambush.

  Dana peered out through the giant glass door at the front of the cabin, and was greeted by the sinister smiles of four undead ghouls.

  "Go to hell!" Dana screamed at the milky white eyes on the other side of the glass barricade, which would pose no obstacle to the fearless, brainless fiends.

  "We’re trapped in here." Father Jon backed into the corner and slumped down, ready to give up.

  "Calvin, go get your axe," Jack snarled, startling Dana. She didn't expect him to take charge.

  "What about the door?" Calvin struggled as he pressed his weight into the splintering slab of wood in a futile attempt to keep it closed.

  "They are going to make it through the front door no matter what we do." Jack rushed over to the closet underneath the stairs.

  "You better have a good plan." Calvin reluctantly abandoned the door and raced towards his axe resting near the fireplace.

  "Everyone get upstairs, we'll try and close the hatch." Jack had retrieved his shotgun and was loading two shells into the barrel.

  Dana looked out the giant door and was horrified by the countless shambling corpses being drawn directly towards the cabin. The only thing slowing them down was the helicopter positioned just outside the steps leading to the bridge, parting the horde in half like the red sea. The cadavers were spilling around both sides of the helicopter, joining forces again as they neared the front bridge. There were too many of them to try and make a break for it now. If only Kenny was still alive, they might have had a chance to escape this madness in that helicopter.

  "What if we ran out now, maybe we could get away?" Dana didn't want to get trapped on the second floor of the cabin.

  Father Jon scurried upstairs, not waiting for anybody.

  Jack looked out the window. "They’re everywhere. There’s nowhere to go, we would never make it."

  Calvin grabbed Stella by the arm and helped her towards the stairs. "Jack, we have to go!" Stella called out, pleading with her husband to join her.

  "Just get up there, I'll be up once everyone is safe." Jack closed the shotgun and pumped the handle. "Dana, get upstairs and get that hatch ready to close."

  Dana ran up the stairs to join the others; when she reached the top of the stairs, a giant boom echoed from below. The sound of glass shattering quickly followed the first shotgun blast, then another loud boom as Jack fired another shell into the undead horde. "Bastards!" Jack howled a defiant war cry.

  CHAPTER EIGHT:

  BROKEN GLASS

  Dana struggled with the latch attached to the old wooden door cased in heavy iron at the top of the stairs. She had only used it once before last winter. Normally, the door was used to keep the heat from escaping upstairs in the winter, making it easier to heat the bottom floor. Now it was their only chance of keeping the marauding horde of organ craving freaks from ripping into their flesh.

  "Damn it." Dana hauled on the door, but it wouldn't budge; the large, metal frame was too heavy for her. Stella knelt down beside her and tried to help her with the latch, but the door wouldn't give an inch.

  A roaring, thunderous boom erupted from below as Jack unloaded another round into the skull of one of those undead freaks. Calvin rushed past Dana at the top of the stairs as he ran to help Jack, trying to buy them time to get the door ready.

  Dana could hear a loud grunt from Calvin as he swung the axe towards a shambling corpse. The head of the axe dug deep into the skull, sending a splatter of darkened blood up the wall. It was close enough that tiny droplets of the thick gore smeared the cuff of Dana's sweater. The wooden door at the back of the cabin splintered, the ostentatious cracking noise alerting the survivors that the dead were about to come crashing through the back entrance.

  "Jack, we are going to be surrounded." Calvin spun around to look towards the back door. "Shit, they're nearly through." Bloodied hands reached through the cracks, the slivers of wood stripping the flesh from their fingers and exposing pale bone.

  Jack pumped the shotgun and blasted a shambling corpse, the shell burying deep into the creature’s chest. A giant, sloppy wet sound echoed from the floor as a puddle of blood formed around the zombie’s feet.

  Dana watched in horror as a set of hands narrowly avoided grasping hold of Jack, who stumbled backwards from the force of the eruption. The relentless efforts of the undead propelled the clammy meat hooks forward again. The gnarly fingers clasped onto the fabric of Jack's jacket, causing him to stumble backwards, crashing hard against the wooden floor. A shockwave of pain exploded in his shoulder and ribs, paralyzing him. Calvin cleaved at the vicelike grip, severing the foul monster’s arm just below the elbow. A thick, dark liquid oozed from the gash and soiled the floorboards, creating a slippery, greasy mess.

  Jack managed to drag his body backwards towards the base of the stairs. To cover him, Calvin kicked a zombie in the guts, sending it sprawling back into the crowded room.

  "Get out of there!" Stella screamed from the top of the stairs.

  The two men backed away from the herd of zombies and stormed up the stairs, narrowly avoiding the clutching grasp of the undead gathering at the base of the staircase. Jack pushed Dana out of the way as she continued to fumble with the latch. He expertly unhooked it and struggled to lift the heavy steel door up from the floor.

  "Calvin."

  Jack competed against the cumbersome door. Calvin and Dana bent over to help with the door. Slowly, the door began to rise off the floor. A few of the more coordinated zombies had made their way near the top of the stairs. They managed to lift the hefty slab of iron and solid oak and let the door crash down into place, severing the outstretched arm of the nearest zombie.

  Dana looked down in horror at the severed arm resting on the floor, a trail of gore and viscera leading underneath the door. Before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, the undead swarmed underneath the door, pounding against the hatch that separated the dead from the living.

  Tina watched from behind the tree as a horde of undead creatures crowded the back porch, relentlessly pounding on the back door. "Well, there's no way we’re getting in that way." Tina looked back at Ted.

  "There is no way in from the front either." Ted pointed towards the lawn which was littered with zombies.

  The zombies' fists were bloodied from pounding against the old wooden door. As the door began to splinter, slivers of wood cut into their flesh leaving large marks of blood against the door.

  "So what in the hell are we going to do?" Ted asked sarcastically.

  Tina looked at the truck in the driveway. Maybe they could drive up to the door and they could crush the zombies. "What about the truck?"

  "What about it? You think we are just going to ride up to the door and rescue them. You know the zombies made it inside. They are trapped, let's just get out of here."

  "I'm not just leaving them." Tina looked around, desperately searching for a plan. Abruptly the door creaked one last time before the zombies burst through the splintered wood and began spilling into the cabin. Tina could see that the zombies had already taken control of the ground level of the cabin. Maybe Ted was right.

  "Alright, let's go." Tina and Ted started to turn back when a window on the second level of the cabin
opened.

  Tina twirled around to see Dana poking her head out of the cabin.

  "The door's busted in, they are making it in from both sides now!" Dana turned her head and yelled back inside the cabin, warning the other survivors with her.

  "Wait, Ted." Tina reached out and grabbed Ted's wrist. She could feel the hard scar underneath his jacket. The jagged edges of the wound felt like rocks underneath the sleeve.

  "What? There’s still nothing we can do." Ted wretched his arm back.

  "They’re still alive, we have to do something," Tina urged Ted. She didn’t think she could help them without him.

  "You have to come up with a plan, fast." Ted continued to back away as he spoke.

  Tina turned back towards the cabin and yelled out to Dana. Dana stuck her head back out the window. "Hey, Jack, get over here!" Dana called out. Jack stuck his head out the window, a surprised look on his face as he looked down at Tina.

  "What are we going to do?" Tina called back out to Jack.

  "Wait right there, I'll think of something!" Jack yelled out as more zombies made their way into the cabin.

  As the zombies pounded against the storm door, Dana trembled with fear. The sound of the dead flesh pounding against the metal door was truly disgusting. They must have been pounding their fists raw. The wet sounds of blood dripping onto the stairs mixed grotesquely with the sound of bones shattering.

  "Well, what else can we do? We can't wait here to die." Calvin held his axe in his hands ready, waiting for the door to give.

  "I don't think I can do it," Stella sobbed.

  "Honey, it won't be that bad. It's not that steep." Jack did his best to comfort Stella.

  "Maybe we could tie some bed sheets together. You know, to make a rope?" Dana suggested.

  Stella looked at Dana through tear filled eyes. "That might make it easier?" She sounded unsure or unwilling, Dana couldn't tell. Suddenly the storm door popped open an inch. Even though it was only for a second, it felt like an eternity. The cold stare of the zombies below the door shocked Dana. The milky haze of their eyes couldn't hide the broken blood vessels that ran like wild rivers over their eyes.

  Suddenly Jack leaped onto the top of the storm door. "We don't have much time left." Jack was trying to add more weight to the door so the zombies couldn't pry it open.

  "Gather those bed sheets, quick." Calvin seemed to call out to nobody, he was just hoping for a response. Dana started hauling the bed sheets off the beds and started piling them on the floor as quickly as she could.

  "Stella, please help Dana," Jack called out to his wife as the door seemed to pulsate underneath him. "Where the fuck is Father Jon?"

  "I'll get him." Calvin slid Jack the axe and stormed into the next room.

  As Dana piled the bed sheets on the floor, Stella began to tie them together as best she could. She fumbled with the knots, panicking as she watched her husband bounce up and down as the zombies relentlessly beat their hands against the door. Their moans seemed to grow louder every time the door creaked open. The smell of their prey seemed to send them into a total frenzy. Suddenly, Jack tumbled over as the door jolted open. Arms sprang underneath the door, propping it open. Dana sprang forward for the axe. The weight of the axe surprised her as she raised it above her head and she drove it wildly down into the floorboard, missing all of the dead flesh. Dana tried to pull the axe free, but wasn't able to budge it from the wooden floorboards.

  "Shit!" Dana screamed in frustration. The door popped up again as the zombies inched their way forward and more hands seemed to join in the effort.

  "Dana!" Jack shouted for help as he watched her struggle with the axe.

  Suddenly Father Jon crashed on top of the storm door and Dana spun around to see Calvin standing behind her. His giant hand grasped her by the shoulder and threw her out of the way. His hand grasped the handle of the axe and he yanked it from the floor with ease. With a sickening thunk, Calvin drove the head of the axe through the dead flesh sticking out of the opening. Three severed arms oozed blood at the top of the staircase. Calvin sent the axe flailing back into the opening and the blade carved more of the dead flesh as it sank through two more arms. Dark, thick blood continued to ooze on the wooden floor from the severed limbs as the door clanged shut. Calvin stepped on the door to add more weight before turning to Dana. "Get that rope made now. And get Ted to pull that truck into position!" Calvin barked.

  Ted was against this idea. He was completely opposed to it, but somehow Tina had managed to talk him into it. He turned the key and the truck engine rumbled. He was afraid that the noise would draw the zombies towards him. Even though he was immune to the disease, he could still be torn apart and devoured by those monsters.

  "Ted, they just threw a rope out of the window!" Tina called out to him from the bed of the truck. She had the rifle slung over her shoulder. She only had about a dozen bullets or so. A giant plastic bottle covered the barrel of the gun in an attempt at a homemade silencer.

  That was the signal; they were ready. They were going to try and escape through the side window down the steep slant of the roof and into the bed of the truck. The gearshift in the truck was covered in felt and as Ted placed his hand over the fabric, it tickled the palm of his hand. The dice in the mirror swung back and forth as the truck lurched into reverse. The bumpy ground rattled the cab of the truck as Ted backed into the side of the cabin. Instantly, zombies began to shamble towards the truck. They were coming from both sides. At first, Ted thought about abandoning this crazy plan, but after a moment he realized it was only a handful of zombies. Tina had already begun shooting at the closest zombies. Muffled pops were followed by bullets digging into the flesh of the approaching creatures.

  One zombie stumbled backwards as a bullet dug into its chest. The zombie behind him tripped over his fallen friend and crashed into the grass without bracing for impact. A red pool quickly formed underneath his head. As he strained his neck up, blood flowed freely from his nose and out of his mouth to cover his face in a red mess. Tina spun to the other side and let two more shots off. The first bullet found its mark dead centre between the eyes of a scrawny female zombie in a tattered, white blouse. The second bullet missed its mark completely and ricocheted off a tree at the edge of the river.

  Ted looked into the rear view mirror as he eased the truck into position. The slant of the roof seemed impossible to climb down. It was about a twenty-foot drop almost straight down from the window. Ted grabbed the gearshift and slammed it into first gear, his foot ready to go on the gas. Calvin appeared in the window, the axe dripping blood as he tested the rope.

  "I'm heading down first. I'll help keep the zombies off us while we make it down!" Calvin yelled out as he started to make his descent. Ted watched as a zombie got spun around as a bullet ripped into the meaty shoulder. Its dead eyes never seemed to lose focus on its target even as it spun around.

  CRASH

  Without warning, the truck shook violently. Ted's foot slipped off the clutch and the truck rocked again as it sputtered and cut out. Ted looked in the rear view mirror as the rope fell into the bed of the truck. The bed sheets must have come lose as Calvin made his way down. Tina had been knocked over and she must have lost control of the rifle. The gun lay in the grass on the right side of the truck.

  "Jesus!" Calvin moaned in agony from the bed of the truck. Tina did her best to help the giant man sit up, but struggled under his massive frame. Ted fumbled with the clutch and tried to restart the truck. The engine cranked and made a terrible grinding noise as Ted turned the key.

  "Damn it!" Ted slammed his fist into the dashboard.

  Tina hopped over the side of the truck in an attempt to retrieve the rifle. Her momentum caused her fall face first into the slippery grass. Calvin didn't seem to be moving at all, he just wailed in agony. His cries were drawing more of the undead directly towards them. It was like watching sharks being drawn towards a wounded seal. Ted could hear curses from the window of the cabin. Their genius
plan had failed brilliantly. Ted smashed the clutch to the floor and slammed the gear into place. He prayed as he turned the key. The engine roared as it came to life. More muffled shots fired as Tina tried desperately to create some distance between the undead and the truck. Calvin rolled over and managed to prop his body up on his forearms before pushing himself to his knees. Somehow he found the strength to stand up right.

  Ted jammed the truck into first gear and slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. The jolt of the truck as it hurdled forward sent Calvin flipping over the tailgate of the truck and crashing hard into the ground.

  Ted never looked back. He kept the gas pedal pressed to the floor as he sped down the old dirt road. He passed right by the entrance to the cabin where he left his children. He just kept driving away.

  The fall from the window into the back of the old pick-up truck had rattled Calvin. Then as Ted floored the truck, Calvin was thrust from the back and slammed hard onto his shoulder into the ground. The pain in his back was crippling. It took every last ounce of strength he had left to get to his feet.

  "Calvin!" Tina cried out trying to warn him. Calvin spun around just in time to catch the zombie by its outstretched arms and sent it tumbling into the side of the cabin. The momentum he generated to throw the zombie into the cabin caused him to lose his balance and his legs collapsed underneath him.

  Tina pulled the trigger.

  CLICK

  "I'm out of bullets." Tina started to bawl.

  Calvin focused on the zombie he had just thrown into the cabin. Its hair was still dripping, its skin was crinkled from the excess water, and both seemed to be drooping from the bone. It had managed to get to its feet before Calvin, already lumbering towards him. It was impossible to tell what was blood and what was mud. The creature's clothes were so wet from walking through the lake it was swirled all over his body like a tie-dye shirt. Tina had come up behind the zombie and swung the butt end of the rifle into the back of its head. Blood splattered outwards from the blow and the zombie stumbled onto one knee.