“Watch out for those zombies on the far side,” she replied.
Without looking behind me, I knew that she was already climbing into the turret to cover me. I brought the M-16 up to my shoulder and started walking slowly out onto the bridge. I was advancing in slow deliberate steps, carefully scanning the road and the rail on either side. I didn’t want to find myself suddenly surrounded by zombies that scrambled up over the rail.
At about the halfway point, the zombies on the other side noticed me. Thankfully there weren’t any Shriekers among them. They started coming directly at me at a steady pace. No Sprinters among them, either. That was good news for me and I started backing up, slowly. I wanted to let them keep coming at me and see how the bridge held up when they got to the buckled section.
They followed me out onto the bridge and didn’t seem to notice or care about the damage. I hoped the bridge would hold, but I had a bad feeling that it would collapse under the weight of the zombies. If it was going to collapse, I’d much prefer that it was under a group of zombies than under my Humvee.
“Wylie!” shouted Spec-4. “They’re getting a little too close.”
I had been busy watching the bridge and had stopped backing up so I could watch. They were less than twenty meters from me and closing. The bridge was holding. I shot a quick glance behind me and made sure it was clear, then I started falling back at a much faster pace. I made it back to the Humvee before the zombies had made it halfway across the bridge.
“Want me to take them out?” asked Spec-4.
“Save the ammo,” I replied. “There aren’t enough of them to slow us down.”
“Gotcha,” she said, and dropped back inside the turret.
Once it was sealed, I grabbed the mic and keyed up.
“Ok, Chuckles,” I said. “I’m gonna try it. Let me get across before you try. If we fall through, don’t try it.”
“Ya think?” he replied.
“Keep your fingers crossed,” I said and put the Humvee into gear.
I headed directly across the bridge, keeping to the center of the road. I only had to run over one zombie and it disappeared beneath the wheels with a satisfying crunch. The others just reached out at us as I drove past them. I held my breath as we approached the buckled section. I felt the bump as we crossed over it and I was cringing, waiting for us to fall into the river below. When we made it safely across, I slowly blew out the breath I’d been holding.
“Ok, Chuck,” I said into the mic. “We made it. How did it look?”
“I didn’t see anything fall,” he replied. “I’m gonna try it.”
“Keep to the center of the road and keep it steady.”
“Got it,” he said. “I’m gonna punch it and get my ass across as fast as possible.”
“Copy that,” I said. “I’ll move forward to give you some room.”
I drove about fifty yards beyond the bridge and slowed to a stop on a small hill. Behind me, I could see Southard beginning his run. I held my breath again as they shot across the bridge. As he passed the buckled section I could see something fall off of the bottom of the bridge and into the water, but the bridge held. They made it across. I let off the brake and started forward, again. Southard came right up behind me and slowed down to match my speed.
“We made it, but I think I felt something give when we crossed,” said Southard over the radio.
“Yeah, you did. I saw something fall into the water from beneath the bridge. Looked like a chunk of concrete.”
“It was probably me,” said Southard. “When I felt the bridge shift, I think I shat myself.”
As we rounded the corner at the top of the hill, I could see two patrol vehicles in the road. They were set up roadblock style, but I didn’t see anyone around. They were both Christian County patrol cars. We were well outside Nathanael County. I didn’t see anyone around, so I slowed down.
There were a couple saw horses set up and the cars were blocking the road. It was just like the roadblock that I’d been on when all this started. I put the Humvee into park and got out. I didn’t see any movement in the area and thought I’d better check things out before we tried to push our way through.
“Wylie!” snapped Spec-4. “Will you stop that? Let me cover you before you get out.”
She climbed back into the turret and got behind the SAW. I left my M-16 in the car this time and brought the AA-12. I swept both vehicles and didn’t see anything inside them. On the hood of the car on the left was a range bag. It looked like it had quite a bit of stuff in it.
I started to move towards it when I heard something moving in the trees to my right. I swung my weapon to cover that direction and saw about fifty zombies moving through the trees. They were unable to move quickly due to the underbrush, but that would change soon. If there were any Sprinters among them, they’d be on me in seconds.
I backed over to the car with the range bag and reached for it, keeping my eyes on the crowd in the trees. I had just grabbed the handles when I felt a hand grab my arm. I turned quickly to see a zombie in the uniform of a Christian County Deputy standing up from the other side of the car. It had a death grip on my arm and was leaning in to bite me.
Without hesitating, I swung the AA-12 around and fired. The Winchester Supreme Elite round did its job and blasted the zombie back, shredding its face and neck. It fell to the ground, still twitching. I grabbed the range back and turned to haul ass back to the Humvee. The first of the zombies were emerging from the trees and Spec-4 opened up with the SAW. Then I heard the second SAW come to life from Southard’s Humvee. I dove back inside and slammed the door.
“Get back inside!” I yelled. “We’re getting the hell out of here!”
I fired up the engine and put it in gear. I was just about to punch the accelerator when I heard Southard’s voice cut in.
“Wylie, don’t crash the roadblock!”
“Why not?” I yelled back.
“There are stop-sticks on the other side,” he replied. “You’ll blow your tires.”
“Damn it,” I cursed, slamming my fist into the steering wheel. “I have to go back out there. “
“They’re too close,” shouted Spec-4.
“We don’t have a choice,” I said, and jumped out.
I could hear the SAW kick back in as I sprinted for the roadblock. I had to trust Spec-4 and John to keep the zombies off of me while I worked. I kept the AA-12 ready and slid between the two vehicles. Sure enough, lying on the ground just on the other side of the patrol cars was two sets of stop-sticks. I grabbed the first set and threw them into the ditch. I had to turn and shoot two zombies that were trying to follow me through the cars.
The Winchester Supreme Elites did a great job of turning them to goo and I got quickly back to the business at hand. I snagged the second set of stop-sticks and threw them into the other ditch. In the trees, I could see more zombies coming. I reached quickly into the window of the nearest patrol car and turned on the ignition. Then I pulled it out of park and into neutral. I moved to go back between the two cars and stopped to shove the one I put into neutral. It moved easily and rolled off into the ditch, leaving us enough of a gap to drive through.
Zombies were now emerging from the trees on both sides of the road. I wasn’t sure if they were attracted by the gunshots or by the smell of the living. I didn’t have long before I would be completely cut off from the Humvee. So I did the best thing I could do. I ran like hell and shot anything that got too close to me.
I ran out of ammo just as I was reaching the Humvee and had to smash a zombie wearing a blue tracksuit in the face with the butt of the AA-12. It didn’t kill it, but it did knock it down. That bought me just enough time to dive inside and slam the door shut. I yanked the locking lever and pulled the transmission into gear, then stomped the accelerator to the floor and aimed for the gap I’d created. We flew through it with scant inches to spare on either side. Southard followed right behind me.
In my mirror, I could see zombies
swarming out onto the roadway. I didn’t try to count them because they just kept coming. Then we crested a hill and I lost sight of them. Spec-4 dropped back inside and sealed the turret. She gave me a look that would curdle milk when she slid back into the passenger seat.
“You nearly got yourself eaten back there,” she said, angrily.
“I had to do it. If I hadn’t cleared those stop-sticks, we’d have taken out our tires.”
“I don’t care,” she snapped. “You scared the living crap out of me.”
“I’m sorry, but if I hadn’t done it right then we’d have been overran.”
“We could have gone back the way we came.”
“No, we couldn’t. I don’t think the bridge would hold up for another passage. Besides that, the road’s too narrow for us to turn around. If we can’t turn around, Southard damn sure can’t with that trailer on the back.”
She sat there in silence while I drove. I knew she was angry, but there really hadn’t been any choice. If I had hesitated any longer, we’d have been stuck there. If it hadn’t been for Southard, we’d have disabled at least one of our vehicles and been screwed.
I followed the road we were on until it turned into back to the west. I knew that this would connect us to a back road that ran right to the outskirts of Nixa. From there, I could find my way all the way to the lake house. Highway 160 would be the most direct route, but I knew it would be impossible to go that way. It was the main artery south in this area. The only one bigger was US 65, but that was more than thirty miles out of our way.
Besides, taking the back roads all the way there avoided all of the populated areas. We’d only pass little places like Jamesville and Galena. I was heading for another itty bitty town called Cape Fair. My sister-in-law’s lake house was out there. I used to joke with her and tell her that it was so far out in the middle of nowhere that the mailman still rode horseback. Funny thing is, I was out there one time and saw just that. The roads were covered with snow and ice, so the Mailman just rode his horse.
When we reached the back road without any incident, I turned back south and headed into Nixa. The intersection at the highway was pretty much blocked. There were zombies everywhere. I had to drive through the yard of a house and cross the highway between a UPS truck and a big RV. I slid through them, scattering zombies in my wake. I cut through the parking lot of a Stop ‘n’ Rob and had to blast my way through about thirty zombies to do it. Once we made it past the zombies, I shot back out onto the road and had to pick my way between abandoned cars for about two hundred yards. Up ahead, I could see a school on the left side of the road and it was swarming with zombies.
“Hang on!” I snapped, gripping the wheel tightly.
I had to force myself to ignore the fact that most of the zombies were kids. We ran the gauntlet for almost a hundred yards before we made it clear. Southard stayed right behind us all the way, following through the gap we created. I felt a wave of nausea run through me as we ran over a zombie that couldn’t have been more than ten years old. I had to force myself to think about something else.
“What town is this?” asked Spec-4.
“Nixa,” I replied. “Why?”
“I’ve never been in this part of Nixa,” she replied.
We stayed on the road until it turned into Missouri Highway M and kept going. We drove for more than two hours, rarely getting above 30 miles per hour. We probably could have gone faster, but there were too many curves and hills. I didn’t want to risk topping a hill at 60 miles per hour and find a group of zombies or cars in the road. We just couldn’t afford to take the risk.
Just before we made it to Jamesville, I knew we’d have to cross another bridge. I was hoping that since we were well outside the Springfield Containment Zone that they wouldn’t bother blowing up the bridges anymore. Luckily, I was right. The bridge looked fine. It was nearly noon before we rolled into the blazing metropolis of Jamesville. Calling it a town was really not quite right. It was more like a village. There really wasn’t much there besides a couple small businesses and a few scattered houses. We didn’t see a soul there, either. It was a complete ghost town.
The locals must have fled to the Branson Evac-center as soon as the order to evacuate came down. There wasn’t so much as a dog running loose. It was more than a little creepy. But since we didn’t see anything, I decided to risk stopping at the little gas station. More to take a quick look around than anything else, but I wouldn’t pass up a chance to scrounge for supplies.
With the Humvees engines off, the only sound you could hear was the wind and the creaking of the old sign above the gas station’s garage. I sat for a few moments, just listening to the sounds. I didn’t want to climb out of the Humvee only to find a group of zombies shambling our way. After a few moments, we all climbed out with our weapons ready. No one said much of anything. It seemed too quiet to risk talking, like we didn’t want to break the silence for fear of calling in a zombie horde. I kept my AA-12 up and ready, just in case.
“So what exactly are we looking for?” whispered Spec-4.
“Let’s check and see if there’s any diesel to be had,” I replied softly. “We might as well tank up, if it’s safe.”
“On it,” whispered Southard, heading for the back of my Humvee.
One of the pump labels said diesel, so it was just a matter of locating the right ground tank. Southard found it on the third try.
“Pay dirt,” he said, giving me the thumb’s up.
I noticed that John hadn’t said a word since we stopped. He kept his bow ready and never stopped looking around. I topped off the tank of my Humvee with one of the fuel cans while Spec-4 did the same on the other one. Then we took the empty cans to Southard so that he could refill them with the pump.
Southard had no more than dropped the hose into the tank when John gave a whistle like a whippoorwill. I turned to see John pointing towards a little diner across the road. Coming from around the back of the diner were four zombies. Two were old men in over-alls, one was a woman in her mid-thirties wearing a waitress’ uniform and the fourth was a kid with wild hair and missing one shoe. They all had blood around their mouths and bite marks visible on their necks and arms. They weren’t moving very fast, either.
I don’t know if they heard us or if they were looking for something else, but suddenly they stopped and looked right at us. The kid started to growl like a wild animal and came running right at us. The two old men started to shamble our way, but the woman’s eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to scream.
John drew and released in one fluid motion. The arrow streaked right to its target, striking the would-be Shrieker right through the forehead. She crumpled to the ground without a sound. The kid was coming right for me. I waited until he was within a few feet of me, then I struck. I stepped into him and drove the butt of the AA-12 right into his face, snapping his head backwards and nearly causing him to somersault over backwards.
Before he could move, I struck him again just to make sure he stayed down. John put an arrow into both of the old men, dropping them before they even made it into the road. We waited for a few moments, just listening for any sounds of movement. When no more zombies showed up, I decided that we’d take a quick look around.
“Wilder, cover Southard,” I whispered. “I’m gonna take a quick look around while John recovers his arrows.”
“Alone?” asked Spec-4.
“I’m not going to leave your line of sight.”
“I should be done in a few minutes,” said Southard. “Don’t wander off too far.”
“I’ll be careful, Mom,” I said to him, grinning. “Switch your radios on, just in case. I’m on Jail Op Frequency.”
Everyone switched on their radios and checked their frequency. I knew we were well out of range to reach the jail, especially if the repeater towers were down. I thought that I’d try it, anyway.
Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Page 53
