The Long Road Ahead: A Zombie Tale

by Key, Thomas

  "Ladies, I’m here to help. Can anyone help me move this dipshit," I said in a hushed tone. The woman who had previously stood up came forward. As the light danced across her face, I saw that it was indeed Rachel. I, of course, said as much. "Rachel!" I said in surprise, right before I felt a closed fist clock me in the jaw. I spun, hitting the ground hard. A few of the women gasped. I was not surprised at all that she was there, having seen her before my foray into the camp. I was surprised however that I had finally found her. The world had begun to make sense again. Or at least it had before I hit the ground in a daze. When my world finally stopped spinning, I looked up to her. "That’s for getting shot down and making me come all of the way out here to find your ass," she said. She gave me her hand and helped pull me to my feet. Rachel then grabbed me in the tightest hug I think I have ever felt. With my head still spinning from the punch, I had to hug her back, holding on so I didn’t fall back down. "Damn girl you can throw a blow," I told her quietly. I felt tears rolling down her cheeks and onto mine as we stayed embraced. As my head began to clear, I looked behind us and, in the trailer, every single woman was staring at us. "This is getting kind of awkward," I told Rachel and she lightly pushed me away, a hint of a smile on her lips. I was able to get a good look at the group. Roughly twenty women, from teen to middle-aged, wearing torn or dirty shreds of clothing. My companion turned to the group. "He’s my friend. He’s here to help us." The group seemed to visibly relax.

  I heard a commotion coming from the way I had come. A group of four men were huddled around the path that I had used to gain entry through the parameter. "Shit. I think they’re on to me," I told Rachel. She nodded and whispered to the others. "If you want to get out of this place, I need you all to get up and follow us. We don’t want to leave anyone behind." A shuffling was heard as the group stood up. A couple of the women were bruised and bloody from recent encounters. "Those damn savages," I told myself as I picked up the man’s rifle and handed it to my friend. "What’s the plan?" she asked, looking outside and taking in the scene before us. I spotted a bus sized RV towards where the makeshift road out of the camp was. It looked like the only thing that could hold all of us. "We make for that RV. They seem to move around a lot and I’d imagine they keep their fuel topped off in case they need to get out in a hurry. We load up and make a beeline for Cannon AFB," I told her. She nodded. She motioned for the ladies to keep quiet and follow us out. We moved quickly out into the closest dark area en route. I ran back and grabbed the rifle of the other dead guy under the trailer. I now had my rifle and two dead men's, as well as my pistol and as I moved, I tried to keep the noise down. The door to the RV ahead of us was open. I retrieved my knife once again, ready to plunge it into another piece of shit. I motioned for the women to wait and I ran forward quickly, entering the bus in one smooth motion. I brought the knife up, but saw that the vehicle was empty. Lady luck again. I poked my head out and waved the group in. They hustled and rushed into the open door. As the women moved in, a short black-haired woman stopped me and asked for a rifle. She was wearing camo and her name tape read 'Wyrwitzke'. "That is a hell of a name," I told her as I nodded and handed over one of the rifles. "Tell me about it. Spell it without looking at it and I'll give you a week’s pay," she said with a smirk as she boarded the bus. I tried really quick in my head but no luck there, she had me. “We aren’t going to be able to outrun these guys in this,” I said as I followed everyone on. We were armed with three rifles and one pistol. With the way all of these guys were armed, it would not be at all a fair fight. "If we die, we die doing the right thing,” I told Rachel. She grinned and started the bus. I saw two men making a run for our vehicle. I opened the door again, and blew them away with two shots center mass on each man. "Floor it!" I shouted to Rachel. I want to say that we lurched forward, but it was more of a walk turning into a jog type of start. I wanted to laugh out loud, but I knew these people would think that I was batshit crazy if I had and you know how important first impressions are. Life or death important.

  Chapter 38

  As we began down the path towards the interstate, I heard multiple engines start up behind us. The night was lit up by headlights as what seemed like everyone in the camp loaded up and headed towards us. The sunrise began to color the horizon now with damn near magical hues of colors. As expected, we were not ahead of them for long. Our mode of transportation was quickly becoming the intended meeting place for a parking lot size group of vehicles. As the first pickup truck neared, I heard the sound of rounds bouncing off the big phat ass of the RV. Rachel was driving, and as she watched the enemy vehicles close in on us, another round shattered the driver side mirror. She gasped in surprise and looked up to me with a questioning look on her face. "I'm not sure what you want from me," I told her. "I'm making this up entirely as I go," I said. She got one of those, 'Are you insane?' looks across her face. After another moment of awkward silence, I grabbed my AR. "I'll just shoot back and see how that goes," I said as I walked towards the bus style RV door. The other woman with the rifle followed me to the door. "Any chance you have a shorter name, because I can't imagine butchering your last name repeatedly today. "Jaylin," she said with a hearty smile. "Alright Jaylin. We're going to fire back at these assholes I’ll fire, then when I hit empty, I'll come back inside and you take over the spot and fire. Can you do that?" I asked. She nodded with a look of fierce determination on her face. I hit a button on the dash which opened the door. I got prone and stuck my head and my rifle out through the doors. I took aim at the lead truck and began to fire away, single shots peppering the windshield. After only seven rounds, the truck veered off to the right and slammed into a ditch. I use the term ditch very loosely here in NM. There is not really any water in any ditches but there used to be. I think when the dinosaurs roamed or something. Damn droughts and global warming at their worst. At least, man’s carbon footprint will be all but annihilated now, and we may actually see the Earth recover from our destruction.

  The next two vehicles pulled up side by side and began to shoot back. I couldn't deal with the lead storm heading my direction so I quickly ducked inside and yelled for everyone to get down. As I was giving the order, I felt a tug in my shoulder and I spun. I felt someone catch me as I fell. It took a few moments for me to realize what had happened. One of those fuckers tagged me. I almost felt like yelling out loud to the gods, "I'm a good guy damn it, I'm not supposed to get shot!" but pain won out and I just groaned. I heard Rachel yell from the driver seat, "Put pressure on it!" The pain got more intense as someone did precisely that. Eventually, I shrugged off the help and the very nice lady tending to me made a quick tourniquet. I heard the pop pop pop of rounds being fired nearby as Jaylin unloaded her magazine without missing a beat. We had made the turn onto NM 209 and had managed to keep our pursers at bay. Another one of the girls, I didn’t catch her name, helped me make a makeshift tourniquet and once it was on, I figured I'd deal with the injury later. My mind was probably not in the right state of mind as I poked my head out again and began firing. Then again, when is it ever? I heard one loud pop and a whoosh as one of our rear tires began to go flat. We began listing to the right as we barreled down the highway at top speed. Which, unfortunately, was not all that fast in this RV. I heard a second one go shortly after, realizing that these cheeky fuckers got creative and adopted the strategy of shooting out our tires to stop us. We naturally began to slow and the RV began to get incredibly sluggish. Rachel was holding onto the steering wheel for dear life as she fought to keep us in the center of the road. I tried desperately to fire downrange to discourage them from continuing to shoot our shit.

  We continued to slow until we were at almost a snail's pace. We had completely shredded our rear two tires and were riding our rims at this point. In my head, I raised the white flag and felt the fear of defeat boil through me. These guys are going to fuck me up and hang me for zombie food, I thought as I pulled myself back inside and checked my ammunition. I had one more full magazine left
. 30 rounds as a final fuck you to these guys. I decided then and there that I would not be taken to be tortured and strung up. If they didn’t get me, I’d get myself and allow anyone else in this group to do the same. We finally came to a stop, the transmission seizing up. Smoke rose from the rear of the RV and the chasing vehicles behind us came to a stop also. I heard the sound of multiple doors open and close and men taking up positions behind their vehicles. I watched them with abject hatred as they got into position. The bad guys were going to win, I thought as I stepped back inside to look at Rachel. She had one of the left-over rifles from the Exiles and held it up defiantly, ready to shoot some shit. "We can’t win this one," I told her quietly. She literally slapped the shit out of me. "Get yourself together and don’t quit until I say that you can," she said as I finally caught her flailing hands. The look in her eyes were that of pure defiance. She was going to go down fighting with or without me. As we stared at each other, Jaylin whispered from behind me. "Two of them are coming this way," she said from her perch at the small bathroom window. "Are we going to do this or what?" Rachel said as she looked into my soul and I hers. "You’re right. I’m sorry," I said as my gaze dropped to the floor. She stepped forward, pulling my chin up in her hands and kissing me, full on, in front of everyone. I heard a “Get a room guys” from behind us as she pulled away.

  I turned and saw that Jaylin had also raised her weapon and was ready to join us. All of the women had faces of anger, ready to fight to the end. Those without weapons had found something to use. From pieces of a table, to pots and pans, these ladies were ready for war. I nodded and inserted my last magazine into my rifle and pulled the charging handle back. I walked to the door and stepped outside. The two men that must have thought they were absolutely clever by trying to sneak up on us were caught in the wide open. I put the rifle to my shoulder and fired, near point blank into each of their center masses. Jaylin and Rachel stepped out behind me and began to unload at those taking cover behind their trucks, giving me suppressive fire.

  As I fired the last round in my magazine, I saw the lead pickup explode in a huge fire bomb. I looked at my rifle as if God had finally given me those explosive tipped rounds that I had always imagined. The second vehicle, the black SUV from earlier that night had only another moment before it too burst into flames. I dove back into the RV and the girls beat me to it as explosions rocked our vehicle, causing the women inside to scream as we were bounced around like a parent sitting on a trampoline while the kids just wouldn’t stop jumping. The sound of a small engine passed by the open RV door. I poked my head out and glanced up. I saw the sleek outline of a Reaper UAV. The gift from heaven began to circle our vehicle, dishing out hell fire to anyone stupid enough to have followed us. Three more vehicles exploded before the idiots backed off, driving off into opposite directions. Rachel immediately jumped from her seat and started to tend to my wound. I heard the distinctive sound of helicopter propellers as a Chinook came out of the desert. The big beast was heading our way with the position lights on it flashing as the sun was now rising in full force. "You are such a pain in the ass," Rachel said as she made the tourniquet just a little tighter. I just grinned in response. The blood loss had taken its toll and I was beginning to feel faint. The helicopter landed in front of our RV, with its rear pointing at us. As the ramp lowered, a very familiar man walked down and out to greet them. It was Rodriguez. The women all filed out behind me and Rachel helped move me out to meet the crew who were rushing forward to gather us up. "Wow, nice ride," I told him, shaking his hand. "Yeah, it's only a loaner this time though," he said with a grin.

  Interlude

  Ace had been two trailers down, having a discussion with one of the men he had sent to deal with two men from Albuquerque that had thus far eluded him. The man before him, one of his lackeys had made the unfortunate life decision of disappointing his leader and letting him find out about it. The man who was known by the nickname of 'Scar' was bloody and beaten on the ground of the much smaller RV trailer. The interior had been renovated somewhat. By somewhat, it was gutted of furniture to allow for as much open room as possible. This was Ace’s torture spot. His special spot, as he liked to call it, much to the chagrin of the gang around him. It was the place no one wanted to visit, but everyone knew was there. The brass knuckles that Ace used was his favorite tool for the occasion. Scar had once been on the receiving end of a punishment, hence the name. The man had received a long cut from the tip of Ace’s knife from his hairline down to his jaw. Scar had screamed in absolute agony as the skin on his face had parted for his leader. It was bliss.

  As he was about to swing again, this time aiming for the man's head, the sound of alarm came from all over the camp. Ace’s head shot straight up, as if fired from a rocket and he ran out of the trailer. As he did so, several men ran past him, trying to catch up to a RV that they could never catch on foot. As he watched, the bus sized RV pulled away from the pursers. "That’s my god damned RV!" Ace shouted in frustration as he saw it begin to drive away. His men began to load up into pickup trucks and dirt bikes, and he went from frustration to pure madness that only true madmen know. The adrenaline being added to the bloodstream that normally would cause a fight or flight reaction. However, in this case, it triggered his absolute sheer joy of the chase. He was going to catch whoever drove off with his ride and he was going to bring them back to his special place. He was going to have hours of fun with them, until every inch of the person was marred by as many different injuries as possible. With a grin, he leapt up into the bed of a truck that was about to leave in pursuit. He leaned forward to the man driving and shouted, "Catch up to them or catch a bullet in your head!" as his smile spread from ear to ear as the truck quickly sped up and began to lead the pack of vehicles giving chase.

  Not long into the chase, Ace had the man dead to rights. The cross hairs of his pistol were squared solely on the man coming from the RV and into the open. With sheer glee, he figured out that the man was giving up. Oh, he was going to have so much fun with this one. Even more to his pleasure, several women vacated the RV behind the man. He damn near licked his lips in anticipation of torturing them all until what little souls that they had left were as broken as their bodies. As he jumped down from the bed of the truck, landing on the side of the road, an explosion ripped him from his spot. Ace was thrown a dozen feet, with his clothes actually catching fire from the heat of the projectile that had just absolutely destroyed the vehicle he had just been standing beside. He hit the ground hard, feeling the air rush from his lungs. The fire burned his skin, and he could feel it spreading over him. He began to roll, remembering what they had always taught him in school. Not that he went to school much mind you, but it was certainly something the teachers had made sure to ingrain in every elementary school student throughout the years.

  As he felt the flames finally give way to smoke, he lay on his back, and his eyes were able to focus on the scene in front of him. All of his trucks and bikes that had been chasing the RV were now just charred remains. Bodies of his former henchmen lay scattered in the dirt and on the roadway. He watched as a military Chinook helicopter landed, and one of the men that his own men had been chasing for days casually strolled up to meet the large aircraft. The anger in Ace was palpable as he watched the exchange and watched his whores board onto the helicopter. As it began to lift off, Ace was sprayed with an unfortunate amount of dirt and debris from under the rotors. On top of the fact that he had been burned and damn near killed by an explosion, his face was now inundated by pebbles, and he felt every single one of them as they hit home. Once the Chinook was in the air and flying away from the leader’s compound, he was finally able to sit up without the fear of being shot.

  Ace sat up far too quickly, feeling his mind rush to catch up with him. He turned to give himself true 360-degree situational awareness. It was then he saw the lone man. The man stood completely erect only 8 feet or so from Ace. "Help me up you idiot!" Ace shouted to the man. The man in response
, only tilted his head, as if to listen harder. "I said hurry the fuck up and help me up!" he shouted again, trying to stand up at all. Ace looked back in the direction of his base camp that was no longer within eyesight and dreaded the walk back as he looked back to where the lone man was expected to be, he was not. It took Ace aback as even without turning completely around, he knew where the man was. It was right behind him. He could feel the presence and whatever it was was unnatural. The feeling of hands grasping his neck, pulling his head as far as physically possible and seeing and feeling the no longer cold hands of the infected around his throat. The thought of Zombies aren't warm, shot through his brain as someone or something took a bite out his neck. As he felt the person or thing bite down hard again, and seeing his own blood squirt in front of his eyes. He lay back onto the ground. He saw the writing on the wall, and knew this was the end. It wasn’t supposed to end like this, he thought to himself as the light began to fade. I was supposed to be a king, he thought as the feeling of darkness began to pull at his consciousness. Then he felt a feeling of pure fear as he felt something come out of the darkness and grab his soul. A ticket to hell was in its hand as it grabbed him. With that, the life left Ace in the middle of the New Mexico dessert.