by catt dahman
“Maria and all the children were killed in the accident, Carl,” Mark said.
Carl started to shake his head, but his legs went out from under him, and he sat down on the ground, looking up at Mark. “We need to go find them?” Carl asked.
“No, Hon, they’re gone now,” Beth said as she sat next to him.
“So…we should find them?”
“Gone away. They went to Heaven.”
“Gone? Oh no…Beth?” He leaned over and cried in her arms. Her friend, the strong, funny, sometimes-crazy acting Carl had lost everything. She could remember how funny he was with his tobacco-filled lip, standing beside his monster truck, back in the old days.
“Go see about Teeg; he’s a crybaby.” Beth sniffled to Kim.
Len sat with them, and it was a long time before Carl could get to his feet. His team hugged him, and others wrapped their arms around him. He held on to Johnny
a while, and then he went to cry with Ivory Joe.
In the morning, they took out a dozen zombies who lined up outside the fence. Some poked them with spears, hating them, and enjoying the destruction of the foul creatures.
Carl told Beth that he was at peace after he talked to Ivory Joe.Carl’s wife and children were with Ivory Joe’s son and daughter-in-law and at peace, too, but she worried about him anyway.
DeVon pointed ahead and said that was the bridge they had to cross to get to the island. It was off from the city of Port Arthur, but they called it Port A anyway.
“That isn’t right.”
“Those are Zs, De,” Beth said, “I thought it was clear.”
“Maybe some came up.” The women climbed out of their SUV with Teeg and aimed their guns, shooting the half dozen shambling zombies they saw. “Those are inside.”
Beth understood what DeVon meant. A mass of them was behind the trucks parked on the bridge and used as a gate. No one was there to greet them or was on guard at the gate, except zombies.
Beth stood on the SUV and waved at Len and the rest to come closer. DeVon’s frown worried Beth.
Len scowled. “We left it cleared. Why are there Zs inside?”
“That’s what we are wondering.”
“I have a bad feeling,” Kim said, “let’s clear them out from over here, and then, DeVon, I want you to get the trucks moved; Bella will help.”
“We’ll go in and see what’s going on, and the buses will stay here. I want everyone with weapons hot and taking out any zeds that get onto the bridge. If a horde appears, get the buses and trucks through, and close it off. I know that’s a bitch, but do it.”
They shot from where they stood, watching heads explode. Rae and Rev covered the edges so Pak and Mark could join the team.
“One shot, one kill.” Beth teased Len when he missed one. Len growled and chuckled.
As soon as it was clear, they got in the SUVs and waited for DeVon and Bella to move the trucks, and then they went through. Matt and Julia motioned that they had the situation under control and told Len to check things out at a different spot.
Along the rest of the bridge, they found a few more zombies wandering.
“I like Port A,” Beth said.
“I liked it how we left it…clear,” Kim muttered.
Boats sat bobbing in Sabine Lake in the brackish water that would give up fish:
all they could eat.
Zombies fell out of the boats and were eaten by the fish, so the boats were empty.
Most of the zooms were beached and crumpled on the man-made reefs. The water was cleaner than most expected, and the sand was pristine.
Once off the bridge, they curved around and drove a few miles down a road.Several times they stopped and shot for a while, and twice, Len lobbed grenades into large masses of zombies, littering the road with body parts.
“This is totally wrong,” Kim said, “Beth, it was clear and empty. We did it. This is a huge amount. We blew the only other way onto the island.”
“We think they don’t swim?”
“They don’t. They hate water, and that’s the only thing I’ve ever seen them turn away from.”
Well, they aren’t worried about water per se; it’s the salt water they avoid,” Jet added. “They can’t swim. If they hit the salt water, they sink, and they go still, and the fish eat them.”
“Then if they didn’t come from the main bridge and they didn’t come from the bridge you blew or the water, where are they from?”
“Maybe a boat crashed onto shore, and they came out of that. Maybe they were in the swamp or trees, and we didn’t know.”
“That many? Unlikely. I like the cabins.” Beth noted as they came into view. She looked them over carefully and thought they were a smart choice with the way they were laid out and their excellent conditions.
The last of the zombies were outside the cabin on the left end.A dozen scratched and clawed at the door, moaning.
Zombies didn’t act that way unless they had fresh kills, and maybe someone was caught inside a building.
“We have a problem,” Len said. It was obvious; this was a serious issue. He and the others raised their weapons and made quick work of the shamblers.
“Jet, you and Teeg go get the rest, bring the buses in, and close it off. Watch everything. Something is really wrong. Rae and Rev, keep this road covered.”
The zombies they put down leaked brains and a little blood, but that didn’t account for the amount of gore they saw around the center of the half-circle of cabins and in front of the last cabin. The cabin was splattered with blood, and the ground looked soaked in places.
Len went to look at a pile of clothing, his sidearm ready. He found that the rags had been a man. One corner of the cuffs of the jeans was covered in dried blood. One foot was partially in a cowboy boot, an elaborate-styled boot with sprung soles rubbed thin from years of use. Len felt gut kicked.
Mark squeezed his eyes closed for a second.
From the hair that was left and the size of the body, Len felt that this was Lance who died and was partially eaten. Bones showed. His parents, Walt and Ali and brother, Matt, and cousin Tory would be devastated. “Beth, keep those buses back a ways, and don’t let Matt come over here.”
“Oh, Oh, Len.” She walked back a ways to do as he asked her and felt the ache beginning in her throat as she started to mourn for Lance.
Between the cabins lay another body, and this one still had part of a face. It was one that had been less eaten, had come back, and had been shot by the team.
Len had seen friends infected. He had seen people shot before his eyes. He had ten years of doing this behind him.
Yet while his eyes were still blurry with grief over losing Lance and he still reeled over people dying on that damned bus, he had to see another good person lying on the ground. “Kimball…” he bellowed. “Get me Kimball.”
Beth took off at a run to see what was happening but was waved away by Mark who had not gone to Len yet. Kim ran past and grabbed Len. “Come on, big guy, take a breath.”
“Kim, this is killin’ me.”
Kim stared into the face of the zombie they had just put down.
It was the former President of the United States’ brother, Nick, who had traveled from Arkansas with Matt and Lance, who had always been a steadying force, speaking softly and carrying a hot weapon. His scarred hands, from being crucified with Len and Kim, were splayed about his head.
Len shook his head sadly, trying to keep his feet beneath him. He looked to Kim to find some strength. Kim wanted nothing more than to lie in the dirt and weep, but he found some reserve deep inside of himself and sighed.
“See you on the other side, Nick.” He pulled Len away.
Manuel and Derek had deep bites on their arms and chests and were two more the group shot. They had been with the group only a short time, but they would be missed.
On the other side of the cabin were two bodies so eaten that they could not return.Len didn’t know who they were since they were just bon
es and clothing.
“Attention Cabin: is anyone there? It’s Len and the group,” his voice cracked weakly.
The door cracked open. “Len? That you, Boss?”
“Big Bill. Yes, it’s me.” Len let the tears come. “It’s good to see you, buddy.”
Big Bill lumbered out the door. “We ran out of water this morning; you got a drink on you?”
Len handed over his canteen and watched his friend drink deeply. “Can you tell me what happened here?”
Beth ignored what she was told and walked over, her arm through Mark’s arm; she didn’t know which one was holding up the other. Seeing Len in tears was almost enough to make her buckle at the knees.
Big Bill nodded.
Chapter 36
They Fought Back and Should Have Won the Battle
The day after the others left, a huge horde came from the woods and attacked them while they worked.
So huge in number, the horde was able to push the group back because they
didn’t have a plan. They fought back and should have won the battle, but a few of
the zombies were Berserkers.
“They went right after Robbie and Lance who tried to get away so he could fight,
but they tore Lance up, Boss. That boy made it, just to be caught and torn apart.
This was bad to see. And Mr. Lance, he fought hard, but they were all over him, and he wouldn’t just leave that boy with his one arm to suffer.”
The fast Berserkers seemed to control the dumb, slow ones, and the men
were forced to climb to the roof of the cabin and defend from there.
“We got the fast ones…most of them.They ate Lance, and they got Mr. Nick, Boss. It was the worst sounds I have ever heard, them smacking and chewing and gnawing like a dog on a bone.
He turned pretty fast and was down there trying to get to us…wasn’t a bit of him left…just looked hungry. His eyes was all blank and didn’t know me, Boss.”
Beth pressed her face against Mark’s arm.
Manuel and Derek were on the ground, so the group rushed the zombies, shooting, but the things surrounded them and started biting.
“They was screaming and fell down; it sounded like tape being pulled off a roll…yanno that duck tape. I can say with no shame I vomited right over the roof.”
Robbie finally succumbed to his wounds and got back up; he shambled around with one arm until Big Bill shot Robbie, along with Manuel and Derek.
At the first, Kevin, his hand dripping blood, got to the roof with Jessie and Big Bill, but then he “got this look in his eyes…like he wasn’t himself really; he was a-turnin’.
“That Kevin tried hard, Boss. He hit ‘em, and he shot until he was out of ammo,
so he lopped off arms, broke their legs, and beat their skulls with his axe, but he was alone on the ground and out-numbered.”
Jessie said to stay up on the roof, shoot, and wait for you boys, but Kevin couldn’t wait. Boss, Kevin was infected. I know he liked other boys, but he didn’t ever do any of that ‘liking’ around us who likes women. What I mean is he wasn’t no sissy; he was a fighter. He tried hard.”
“He was no sissy; he was a fighter; he tried hard,” Mark mumbled, “that should
be carved on his tombstone; it’s fitting.”
Big Bill continued, “We didn’t have much ammo with us ‘cause we were out working around the camp, but Kevin went right over and started hitting them in the head. He was so good at fighting I got to thinking we might have a chance.”
“I got off the roof with Jessie and Trip…and Trip…awe, Boss, Ole Trip weren’t a young man, and he landed all wrong and broke his hip. He was lying there screaming
in pain, and they started towards us.”
Kevin knew they had only a little time and couldn’t go back to the way they were. He tackled a Berserker and got him to the ground while it bit at his hands and arms.
Ignoring the blood and the horribly painful bites, he used his adrenaline to strike at the creature’s head until it was still.
“Jessie and I got Trip up between us, but those things come at us, and we lost him; those bastards got him and yanked him away. Jessie had a few bullets left, and
he put Trip down so he’d stop screaming.
He put Kevin down or tried to, but he didn’t get to the others. We run into the cabin. We ain’t cowards, but Boss, it was too many chasing us then.”
“Is Jessie okay?”
“Yeh, I ‘spose,” Big Bill called to the cabin, “Jessie, you comin’ out?”
Jessie, tanned and strong, came out of the cabin as a man who was pale and had lines on his face; he looked beat. “They ripped them apart,” was all he said.
Len rubbed his shoulder. “I know. Nothing else could have been done for Kevin. I’m glad you and Big Bill made it.” Len sank to his haunches to get his mind sorted.
Kim watched him. “Len, are you okay to keep going?”
“I think so.” That was the most he had ever admitted to being human. Only when Len lost his love and adopted daughter was he this devastated.
Kim told them about the bus accident, and Jessie paled more, the blood draining from his face.
“This is all one big fuck-up, Len,” Jessie said. “It’s all gone to shit.”
“Ya think?”
Chapter 37
The Young Were Inheriting the World, Just As It Always Was and Should Be
The buses came around the curve and pulled in behind the trucks of supplies and other SUVs that Mad Max had outfitted. Beth went to make sure no one came over yet.
Jet told them that DeVon and Bella were at the make shift gate, and the cattle were being brought in.
“You see all this, Jessie? We’ve moved all the way down this state to live on this island. Yes, you lost men, and we lost men, women, and some children, but we made it here.
This is just like ten years ago when we carved out a place to live and lost people and had struggles. Change can suck, Jessie. But we’re going to make it with determination,” Mark said, taking charge.
“Jet, you help Beth keep people back. No one needs to see these bodies. We lost Lance and Nick and many more.”
“Awe, man,” Jet said.
“I have a bunch to do, and Len and Big Bill are a bit shaken. I need Kimball. I know it sucks, but I need you to keep people back, and you’ll need to let Matt know his brother was lost here. Go easy and tell his daddy, too, “ Beth reminded Jet.
“Yes, Sir,” Jet said.
“Rae and Rev, I need help with moving bodies. I don’t want anyone seeing this.”
Big Bill touched Len’s shoulder. “Boss, can I share something with you? I been practicing to show you, and maybe you need it.”
He closed his eyes a second and with a melodic voice, recited something he had painfully memorized over two years.
He was a poor reader and had to get help with a lot of the words to pronounce them and to explain what they meant because he wanted to know what he was saying.
I was born in a bomb crater. My mother was an M16, and my
father was the devil. Each moment that I live is an additional
threat upon your life. I eat concertina, piss napalm, which is a
sticky bomb thatburns, Boss. But really, Marines don’t eat
wire and piss stuff like that. I can shoot a round through a
flea’s ass atthree hundred meters. Good shooting, Boss. I
travel theglobe festering on anti-Americans every where I
go for the love of Mom, Chevrolet, baseball, and apple pie.
I’m a grunt. I’m the dirty, nasty, stinky, sweaty, filthy,
beautiful, little son of abitch that’s kept the wolf away
from the door for over two hundredand twenty-five
years. I’m a United States Marine.
I mean you are, Boss, but you ain’t stinky or nasty unless you’ve been workin’.
We look like soldiers, talk like sailors, and slap the shit
out of both of ‘em. We stole the Eagle from the Air Force,
the Ropefrom the Army, and the Anchor from the Navy.
And on the seventh day, when God rested, we overran
His perimeter, and we’ve been running the show ever since.
But Boss, God is still running the show, and I give Him thanks every day,
but that’s how the poem goes. Warrior by Day, Lover by Night, Drunkard by Choice,
but I don’t drink, Boss. Marine by God; Semper Fidelis. There is Latin for something about being faithful and loyal, and you always been that.”
For a second, Len stood with his jaw clenched; his throat ached. He knew Big Bill could hardly read, and the effort this took for him to learn such a long piece was amazing. It was a quote from an anonymous Marine and meant the world to Len. The pain ran up his throat and into his jaw until he had to open his mouth and surrender a sob.
Tears rolled from his eyes.
Ten years’ worth. Len openly hugged Kim, crying in big brays, and Beth held them both. Mark motioned Big Bill and Jessie over, and they wrapped arms around the others. Rev and Rae watched, wondering what on earth was happening.
When he could talk again, Len said, “Big Bill, my dear friend, you are an amazingly smart and brave man, and you are a Marine at heart. You keep the wolf at bay, and I am honored by your hard work.Jessie, I want you to study that with Big Bill until you can say it. That is who you are as well, but you’ve forgotten it.”
“Stay on guard: watch for any movement. Can we get some people here to remove some bodies? Stay in the buses until we get this cleaned up, please,” Kim ordered.
It was a gruesome chore, but they moved the bodies of friends and enemies into a pile away from the cabins, poured fuel on the pile, and set it alight. The fire was out
of view of those in the buses.
Jet came back, shaking his head. Matt took the news badly. “Is Len okay, Dad?”
he asked Kimball.
“He will be, Jet. He’s taking these losses to heart and blaming himself. Thank you for letting Matt and his family know. I know how hard that was for you, but you did it with respect and kindness, I’m sure.”
“I tried. It’s hard to do that.”
