“I can see why you like it here,” said Spec-4. “It’d be great to have a house down here. You know if it weren’t for all the zombies.”
“Yeah, it’s nice down here,” I said. “I couldn’t afford a parking space down here, on my salary. My sister-in-law’s the one who owns the house.”
“Is she rich?
“No, she’s not. She got the place the old-fashioned way…in the divorce.”
“I see,” she said. “The ‘Ex’ had money.”
“Had being the operative word,” I said, smiling. “He had money, she had a great lawyer.”
We were quickly approaching the water, now. I could see water on our left and directly in front of us. Although it was a residential area, there didn’t seem to be any large groups of the dead wandering around. I hoped that didn’t change any time soon.
“That’s it,” I said, pointing. “It’s straight ahead of us, right where the road starts to turn. The dock is in the back.”
“Got it.”
It was a nice place, with a big house and a large out-building. It had a huge yard with a path leading down towards the lake, about fifty yards away from the house. There was a new red Cadillac Escalade in the driveway and an older black four door Chevy Blazer.
“That’s my wife’s blazer,” I said, pointing.
“Do we go up to the house?”
“No, just drive through the grass and get us close to the dock.”
There were zombies down the road and several wandering around in the yards of a few of the houses. We drove into the yard and over the top of a zombie wearing hip waders and a fishing hat. She turned a wide circle and came to a stop near the path that led right out onto the small private dock. The nearest zombies were still quite a distance from us.
“We need to move quickly,” I said, jumping out of the door.
Everyone climbed out, since it was safe to do so. They all gathered near our Humvee while I grabbed my gear. Out of habit, they kept their weapons ready and watched the area around us for any signs of danger.
“John, you and Southard cover us,” I said, shouldering my pack. “Keep the women and the kid in the Humvee, in case you have company. Wilder, you’re with me.”
I didn’t wait for an acknowledgement, but headed off towards the dock. I brought up my AA-12 and swept the left side of the path, while Spec-4 swept the right. There were numerous zombies on the shoreline, but none of them were very close. The dock had its own boat house and a fuel tank next to it. It looked like it could hold a couple hundred gallons of fuel, easily. Hanging on hooks on the side of the boat house was a pair of canoes with paddles in racks beside them.
The dock had multiple slips. There were several boats still tied up to the dock, but I ignored them and headed to the far side of the dock. I could feel the dock shifting beneath my feet as we walked along it. Looking around, I stopped at the slip where my boat was usually tied up. Next to it was a slip that held a small fishing boat and a ski boat. Out on the lake, I could see a lot of boats. They all seemed to be drifting on the water, with no one visible on them. One boat stood out from the others. For one thing, it wasn’t drifting.
It was my boat. It wasn’t a beautiful boat, but it did have nice lines. I had to smile to see her sitting there in the morning light. To me, it was the most beautiful sight in the world. She was flying a Pirate Flag from the bridge with an American Flag flying from the other side.
“There she is,” I said, pointing.
“What do you call it,” asked Spec-4, smiling, “the Black Pearl?”
“Nope,” I said, grinning, “I call her the Caitríona.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s Karen in Gaelic,” I said.
“You named the boat after your wife?” she asked, an odd note in her voice.
“Yeah, I thought about it for a long time,” I said. “It just seemed perfect. I couldn’t think of a better name, if I tried.”
“It’s perfect,” she said. “You chose well. You’re wife’s a lucky woman.”
“Thanks,” I said, looking around the area.
“Well, how do we contact them?”
I took off my radio and started adjusting the frequency settings. Once I found the emergency band, I selected one and keyed up.
“Caitríona, do you copy?”
Then I waited. I’d try the same channel three times, and then move on to the next channel. I was starting to get nervous. The zombies were getting close from both directions along the shore. I knew the ones back near the house had to be getting close, too. Right about then, Spec-4’s radio crackled to life.
“917 to 829,” said Southard’s voice.
“This is Rogue-6,” she answered. “829’s on another frequency.”
“Whatever you guys are doing up there,” he said, nervously, “you’d better hurry it up. We’re gonna have company, soon.”
“How many?”
“Too fucking many,” he replied, a note of urgency in his voice.
“Copy,” she said, “stand by to move out.”
“Copy that,” he said, “sooner would be better than later.”
“Understood,” she said. “Rogue-6 out.”
Right about then, my radio crackled to life.
“Dad?” said the voice. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, Elliot,” I said, grinning, “It’s me.”
“Where are you?” Elliot asked, excitedly.
“About fifty yards away from you, standing on the dock,” I replied, waving one arm in the air.
I could see a flurry of movement on the deck of the boat. Several people emerged and started crowding the railing and waving their arms in the air. I even saw the big dogs bound out onto the deck to see what all the excitement was about.
“What do we do now?” asked Elliot.
“We’re all getting out of here.”
“Do you want us to bring the boat in?” asked Elliot.
“No, leave her anchored where she is,” I answered. “I’ll bring out the ski boat. Be ready when we get there, we don’t have a lot of time.”
“What do I bring with us?” asked Elliot.
“Just bring people and dogs. We’ve got weapons and food pretty well covered. Besides, we don’t have time to wait for you to pack.”
“We’ll be ready, dad,” said Elliot.
I hopped into the speedboat and motioned for Spec-4 to follow. She climbed in while I was retrieving a key out of a magnetic container hidden beneath the dash.
“Spare key,” I said, holding it up. “Unhook the lines while I fire her up.”
She cast off the mooring lines while I fired up the big engine. It rumbled to life and began to idle. I started changing the channel on my radio while she climbed into a seat. I could see zombies were now coming down the walkway from the shore. We were cut off from land.
“Here they come,” said Spec-4, pointing.
I nodded and keyed up my radio.
“829 to 917,” I said.
“Go,” answered Southard.
“How close are they?”
“Too damned close,” replied Southard. “Close enough to hit with a rock. They’re less than thirty yards away and closing fast.”
“Do you remember how to get to the marina from here?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Have John drive one Humvee and you take the other. Meet us over there as soon as you can get there.”
“Are you sure?” asked Southard.
“Yeah, get moving.”
“Copy that, we’re moving out. 917, out.”
Then we were moving, too. In seconds, we were racing away from the dock. The zombies were getting closer, but were still too far away to be a threat. We’d be out in deep water long before they reached us. I throttled up and headed right for the Caitríona. Behind us, the first few zombies tried to stop at the edge of the dock but the ones behind them forced them off into the water. It was deep enough that they instantly disappeared from view and didn’t resurface
.
In less than a minute, we were pulling along the aft section. Spec-4 stood up and tossed a line to my son, Elliott. He was taller than I was with dark brown hair and glasses, but had my features. Immediately, people began to climb into the speedboat. First inside was Kris Newberry’s daughter, Amanda. Next came my two other boys, Erik and Evan. They ran to me and hugged me tightly.
“Dad!” they yelled together.
Then my two little nieces climbed into the boat. One was eight and the other was five. My sister-in-law, wearing an expensive sweater and jeans, followed them.
“Kathy,” I said. “How are the girls?”
“They’re fine,” she answered. “They still think this is a game.”
We started shuffling the kids into laps, to make room for everyone. The boat was filling up rapidly. Suddenly, my two dogs bounded into the boat and headed right for me. They were slobbering and wagging their tails excitedly.
“What kind of dogs are those?” asked Spec-4, in shock.
“They’re a mastiff – dinosaur mix,” I replied, grinning. “This is Odin and Thor. Odin is the one that’s missing an eye.”
“Oh, that poor dog,” she said. “Did he get hurt in a fight?”
“Nope, he was born that way.”
Next in line, my wife climbed into the boat. I could tell by the look on her face that she was close to crying. Elliott was the last one to board. He was holding a shotgun and had a pistol on his belt. He was also carrying a black backpack. While Elliott took a last look around to double check everything, Karen came straight to me.
“Well, you certainly took your sweet time getting here,” she said, starting to cry.
“I’m sorry, babe. I got here as fast as I could.”
“What happened to your face?” she asked, touching the wounds on my face and forehead. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, babe. I’m still alive.”
“Where are we going, now?” asked Elliot.
“We’re heading back to the jail. So far, it’s the safest place I’ve found.”
“What about the Evac-centers?” asked Karen.
“We’re not going anywhere near the Evac-centers. I’ll explain it all when we’re safe.”
“Ok,” she said. “Wylie, we were so scared.”
“I know, babe. It’ll be all right. We’re together, now.”
That seemed to satisfy her, for the moment. Elliot moved up and gave me a big hug. I felt like I was about to cry, myself. I kept it together, barely. Right then, I was more proud of my sons than I had ever been before. They had all taken up the slack while I was gone. I could see how they were still looking after the others, even before settling in themselves. Karen had done an amazing job, getting everyone here safely and keeping them that way.
“I’m glad you’re here, dad,” said Elliot, smiling broadly.
“Me too, son,” I said. “Me too.”
“”I missed you, dad,” he said, softly.
I just smiled and hugged them all, as tight as I could. After hugs, kisses and some big slobbery licks from the dogs, I turned back to the boat controls. Now more than ever, I had to get us through this in one piece. Not only did mine and Spec-4’s lives hang in the balance, but my family did as well. I could not let them down. I would not let them down.
“Everyone,” I said, “this is Corporal Chrissy Wilder. She’s with the National Guard. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here now.”
She smiled and waved.
“Don’t let him fool you,” she said. “He’s the one who kept us all alive. I just helped out along the way.”
“She’s being modest,” I replied. “She’s saved my life more than once.”
She smiled and shrugged. I could see a tinge of jealousy in Karen’s eyes. That didn’t surprise me, at all. Suddenly, I had the distinct feeling that I was going to catch hell about Spec-4, once we were safe inside the jail. Oh well, at least we would all be alive for me to do so. I brought the boat around and headed around the tip of the peninsula. As soon as we cleared it, a large marina came into view.
“829 to 917,” I said. “What’s your ETA to the marina, over?”
“Holy shit, Wylie,” said Southard, “this place is crawling with fucking zombies. Are you sure that you want to do this here?”
“Do you know someplace better?”
“No, not really,” replied Southard. “We’re gonna have to make this really fast. We’ve got zombies all over the fucking place up here.”
“Copy that. What’s your ETA?”
“Give me five minutes, and then come in hot.”
“Got it. Can you give us any covering fire?”
“We’ll try,” Southard replied. “It won’t be easy. We’ve got no one in the turrets, and if we open the doors we’ll get swarmed.”
“Do your best,” I said. “Out.”
I throttled back and started to make a wide circle, keeping us where we could see the marina. There were zombies all over the area, but the beach next to the dock was miraculously clear. Then I saw the Humvees smashing their way through a large crowd of zombies. Southard had been right; the marina was crawling with zombies.
“Here they come!” I shouted, pointing.
I turned the wheel over and headed straight towards shore, pushing the throttle all the way to full. The big engine roared to life and we shot towards the shore, accelerating rapidly. The Humvees burst through the crowd and sped towards the dock. I angled the boat so that it would come in on the beach, right next to the dock. I wasn’t slowing down at all. The timing on this was going to be close.
“Hang on to something!” I yelled. “We’re going in hard.”
Seconds later, we hit the beach at full speed. We slid up into the sand and came to a stop almost fifty feet from the edge of the water. The engine roared louder with the prop spinning free of the water. I killed the engine and grabbed my weapons, as soon as I regained my footing. With extreme urgency, I turned to get everyone going. We only had moments before every zombie in the marina came running down on top of us. We had to get to the Humvees, and we didn’t have much time to do it.
“Move out! Head for the Humvees. Go! Go! Go!”
Erik and Evan were the first ones out of the boat. I had to smile because they turned around to help others out of the boat instead of running. My sister-in-law and her two little girls went out next. She carried the smaller of the two girls and my boys helped the other one along. Odin and Thor leapt out and took up positions on either side of the boys. I knew the dogs would die to protect them.
Next out was my oldest boy, Elliott. He took up a position and worked the action on his shotgun. Then he helped Amanda Newberry out of the boat and hurried along next to her, keeping the shotgun ready to fire. I couldn’t help but smile at my sons, thinking of the safety of others before their own. Now it was my turn. I sent my wife next. Spec-4 followed her while I brought up the rear.
Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Page 57
