“I told you before, I’m not leaving you behind, Dad,” Kyle said.
“You might have to, Kyle. The other Scouts need you and if the creatures get to me, there isn’t much you can do by sticking around.”
“But….”
“No buts, Kyle. We’ve talked about this. I know it would be hard to do, but you need to get to your mom and sister and make sure they are all right,” Mike said. “I’m not saying anything will happen. Just that if it does, you fellas need to be ready.”
“We won’t let you down, Scouter Mike,” Martin said, leaning forward. He looked at Kyle. “You know your dad is right. We’ve got a responsibility to the others and to our families.”
Kyle glared. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Mike said. “I’ll just be able to concentrate on getting through this better if I know you guys are ready for whatever comes.”
“We will be ready, Scouter Mike,” Todd said. “Don’t worry about us.”
“Thank you,” Mike said. “I think we’d better get moving now. I see some of those things getting closer behind us.”
Mike put the truck into gear and drove it forward at an almost walking pace, keeping the distance between it and the creatures behind constant. Ahead, Steve was in the van easing his way through the press of creatures.
All the slow speed did was give the undead monsters more time to hammer away at the van. As Mike watched, the mindless horde smashed the side windows of the vehicle. The van stopped.
He had seen enough. They couldn’t risk losing Steve to these things. Mike stepped on the gas and plowed into the undead crowd, the truck careening into the van.
The sandwiched bodies between the two vehicles made a squishing sound. One of the boys in the back cried out.
The jolt of the crash moved the van sideways and forward, breaking the jam of bodies free enough that it could move again. Mike slammed the truck into reverse and backed away from the van, bouncing over several creatures that had managed to get behind him.
The van jumped forward, knocking creatures aside and running over those that fell in front of it. Two of the things were hanging half out of the smashed-out back windows.
Mike could only stare as some of the creatures that had just been run down stood, some on obviously shattered limbs. They immediately started their broken shambling walks toward the van in an unwavering single-mindedness.
Any reservations Mike had about these things being people and the morality of killing them evaporated. He knew these creatures for what they were: monsters. The enemy. Twisted mockeries of the people they had once been.
He slammed his foot down on the gas then, fish-tailing the truck as he spit bullets of gravel back at the attacking creatures. He threw the truck into a skidding donut, slapping the undead things with the rear of the truck until there was a huge circle of space with a littering of broken bodies surrounding it.
After circling three times, Mike straightened out the truck and took a run at the largest remaining group of the things that still mindlessly moved toward him despite the damage he had already inflicted on their brethren.
He crashed into them with such force that several bodies smashed into the front windshield as he pushed on. Bodies and body parts flew around the truck like some grisly wave until, at last, Mike and the truck were free.
He threw the truck onto the paved highway that led out of town toward the city and gunned the engine again. Mike knew he would have to slow down eventually or waste fuel. But at that moment, adrenaline running high, it felt good to have some control back.
Chapter 9
Mike followed Steve out of Water Valley after clearing out a large number of the undead with his truck. The vehicle was looking much worse for wear with a smashed, but serviceable, front windshield, gore-encrusted and dented front-end, bumper and hood with a body-shaped curve. Dried blood and odd bits of flesh completed the appearance of having driven through a slaughterhouse.
Not far off what had really happened.
Up ahead, Steve started weaving, and the creature hanging out of the van on the passenger side fell to the highway and rolled. Despite hitting the pavement at high speed it was struggling to its feet when Mike swerved and ran it down.
Moments later, the second creature tumbled from the van. Mike finished it off like the first. The truck did a funny hop with each of the collisions as the monsters went under the wheels.
The van and truck drove for another five minutes until they came to the top of a hill that looked down into the valley where Water Valley was. Steve stopped first and climbed out of his van.
Mike stopped the truck, opened the door, and stepped out to meet the man. “You okay, Steve?”
Steve shook his head and shaded his eyes with his right hand as he looked down on the town. “No, I’m not. I should have kept Stan with me.” He looked at Mike with worried eyes. “Did you see which way Shaun went?”
“I did,” Mike said. “He went down a side street to our left. Jeremy went right.” He put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known.”
Steve shrugged Mike’s hand off. “I’m going back to find them.”
“Wait a minute!” Mike said. “You barely got out of there last time. If I hadn’t given you that little love tap you would have been overrun.”
Steve shook his head again. “I’ve got to go back, Mike. That’s my son down there! If I don’t at least try, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“I guess I can understand that, Steve. But we need you too.”
“You will do fine with or without me. One of us needs to go back and see what has happened to the rest of the troop. Help them out if possible. You stay with your four and I’ll check,” Steve said.
“I guess I can’t argue with that, Steve,” Mike said. “Do you at least want to leave Connall with us when you go?”
“No need,” Steve said with a headshake. “Connall is gone.”
“What? How?”
“I think he smashed his head when I was fighting through that mob. When I looked back at the two trying to climb into the van, he was already finished.”
Mike’s knees almost gave out. “Are you sure he’s gone? He was pretty sick. Maybe he’s just passed out.”
Steve shook his head, his expression sad. “No, Mike. I’m afraid not. I checked to be sure when I stopped.”
“I don’t understand how that can be. I know Connall wasn’t himself. In fact, I’m pretty sure he has whatever has been affecting everyone else and I’ve seen those suckers bounce down the highway at fifty kilometres per hour and still get up.”
“That’s true,” Steve agreed. “But you’ve killed a couple.”
“I guess,” Mike said. “I cut the heads off of two of them. That worked pretty well.” He thought for a moment. “You know, I also killed one with the blunt half on an axe to the temple.”
“So, what is the common denominator here?” Steve asked.
“Heads, I suppose,” Mike said. “They seem fine without any kind of internal organs and I’ve seen several missing arms and legs, but you bash or remove their heads and they are done.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when I go into town,” Steve said. “I’ll start with the head if I get attacked.”
Mike shook Steve’s hand. “You be careful and bring them back, okay?”
Steve nodded. “I’ll do my best. And you will keep watch, won’t you? Maybe the guys will turn up after I leave.”
“I’ll lay on the horn if I see anything,” Mike promised.
“Good enough,” Steve said. He climbed into the van and started the engine. He gave a grim smile. “If I’m not back in three hours you all better get moving. You don’t want to be travelling in the dark.”
“I don’t want to leave you all behind, Steve,” Mike said.
“I don’t want you to need to,” Steve said. “So, I guess I’d better be back in less than three hours.”
“Good
idea. When you start getting close to the deadline, I’ll lay on the horn. Honk back if you can so I know to wait a little longer.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Steve rolled up his window. “See you around.”
Mike waved, not trusting himself to speak as Steve turned around on the highway and drove back down toward the town.
“Where’s Scouter Steve going?” Kyle asked from behind Mike. The boy must have climbed out of the truck while the two men were speaking.
“Back to town to try and find the others,” Mike said without turning. Steve’s van was about halfway into the valley and he could already see figures moving toward him.
“But…why?” Kyle asked. “He made it out of town safely.”
Mike turned then. “He had to go and find Stan. Just like you don’t want to leave me behind, neither does Steve want to leave Stan.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Kyle said with a nod. He looked down into the town and was silent for almost a minute before he spoke up again. “Dad, are we going to get home again?”
“I hope so, son,” Mike said. “I’ve got to believe that whatever is going on down there hasn’t gotten back to the city.”
“What if it has?”
Mike thought about that. What to tell him? Should he be positive and paint a pretty picture of what he hoped to find? Or reveal what was gnawing deep in his heart? “We’ve got to be ready in that case, I suppose.” He mentally shook himself. “We’re going to be stopped for a little while. Could you get the first aid kits out for when Scouter Steve comes back, please? Just in case anyone is hurt.”
Kyle looked at Mike for a long moment before he answered. “You got it, Dad.” He turned back to the truck, calling out to the other Scouts as he went. “Hey guys! Come on out for a minute. We’ve got some stuff to do.”
Mike heard the door to the canopy open and the boys talk quietly amongst themselves. He didn’t bother to check on them. They all knew what to do. As he watched, the van encountered the first of the figures marching out of town. The vehicle deliberately swerved and ran it down. The creature mindlessly walked into the impact.
Chapter 10
Steve had only one thought in his mind: find Stan. He hoped that by finding his son he would find the others, but that was secondary. Stan was the focus. If he were the only one still alive, it would be enough.
He shook his head to try and clear that thought out and refocus on the task at hand. Nothing made sense anymore. Entire populations wiped out and replaced by shambling dead.
Push them down and they got up. Run over them with a car and they got up. Maybe more broken than before, but determined to find and kill the living.
As he thought those words, Steve casually swerved the van to run down one of the animated corpses that walked toward him. He bumped over it and slowed the vehicle. When he saw it begin to stand again, Steve threw the van into reverse and backed over the creature.
The van juddered as it smashed over the thing a second time and Steve kept backing up until he could see the shattered body lying on the highway. The limbs were splayed underneath it at odd angles and the head… the head was a shattered mess. He must have run over it with one of the wheels.
It was not moving.
Steve thought about that for a moment. The corpse on the highway had gotten up the first time. He thought the head had still been intact. The second time, the head was crushed and it had stopped moving.
Connall had been animate right up until he had slammed his head against the side window. After that he was fully dead. Even the creatures back in the yard had been moving until Mike had decapitated them.
Why that would make a difference, Steve didn’t know. Maybe the theory he and Mike had was correct. The head was the key to stopping them. He made a mental note to mention it to the other Scouters if he saw them again.
If he saw them again….
Steve put the van into drive and pressed down on the accelerator, running over the mangled body one last time. He looked back at the smashed window behind him. He would have to keep his speed up to prevent anything from reaching in while he drove.
He pressed down on the accelerator just a little bit more. Time to find his son.
***
“Dad, I’ve got something to show you,” Kyle said from the other side of the truck.
Mike turned toward his son after watching Steve speed into town. “What is it?”
“Come over here and you’ll see,” Kyle replied.
Mike took one more look toward Steve and sighed. He walked around the truck to see the four boys standing and looking mysterious. “What’s going on, guys?”
Once Mike was completely around the vehicle, they sprang into action. The boys, in pairs, broke apart, and started to run. Kyle and Martin split into one pair while Todd and Ricky made up the other. Each pair of boys was holding a length of rope between them.
“What are you doing…?” Mike began to ask, before it became obvious what they had in mind.
Each pair separated so the rope was in the air about elbow-height to Mike. They ran around him in opposite directions so the rope wrapped around him with each circuit. Before Mike had a chance to respond, he was wrapped tight with several passes of two different ropes. The four boys stopped and stood holding the rope taut, one at each corner of Mike.
Mike struggled for a few moments, but couldn’t break free.
He stopped moving and looked at the grinning boys. “Okay, guys, you’ve got me. But why?”
“We wanted to show you we don’t need weapons to take care of those things,” Martin said. “We can stop them without endangering ourselves.”
Mike looked at the boys in each corner, noting where Ricky stood. Martin stood opposite him. He let himself sag back against Martin’s rope. Martin braced himself to take the additional weight.
Without warning Mike surged toward Martin. Ricky’s rope, loose when Mike had leaned back, snapped tight and out of the boy’s hand.
Before they could recover, Mike was nose to nose with Martin. “Gotcha! And if I were one of those creatures, you would be bit by now. Maybe dead.”
Martin, his face pale, nodded as Mike backed away from him.
“You fellows have a great idea here and I’m glad you decided to try it out on me rather than on one of the creatures first. Now you have some idea what might happen.”
“I suppose,” Ricky said, rubbing his hands together. But you tricked us.”
“Tricked you?” Mike shook his head. “There’s no tricks with this. Either you are successful and live or you fail and maybe don’t. And besides, don’t you think it might be harder to hold one of those things than me?”
“No, Dad,” Kyle said. “Those things aren’t smart. At least, not that we’ve seen.”
“Don’t judge them all on the few we’ve come across. You make that broad, sweeping assumption that they are all the same and you are in trouble,” Mike said.
“I suppose,” Todd said. “So what should we do?”
“Expect the unexpected,” Mike said. “I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense but it is true nonetheless.”
“So…?” Kyle said.
“So, expect anyone or anything you catch this way to try absolutely everything to get free. Be braced for it. Don’t take your time with it.” Mike shrugged. “I can’t give you all the answers except to always be on guard.”
“Okay,” Martin said loosening his ropes. “Can we try that again?”
“Sure. Let me free and do your thing,” Mike said.
They pulled the ropes off him and resumed their positions.
“Ready?” Kyle asked.
“Don’t ask. Just do,” Mike said. “Don’t warn your opponent, even if it’s me.”
“Okay.” Kyle waited a moment. “Go!”
They sprang into action and within seconds had Mike trussed up again.
“We’ve got your arms pinned and you can’t reach us with your teeth or feet,” Todd said.
“Yeah, go ah
ead, Scouter Mike,” Ricky said. “Try to get us!”
Mike waited for a few moments before he suddenly lunged toward Ricky. He managed a step before Martin, Todd, and Kyle braced their feet to stop him. No matter how hard he pulled, he couldn’t get any closer to Ricky.
Mike tried to quickly reverse direction and go after Todd but was stopped by the other three Scouts. Once again, he only managed a step or two before they stopped him. He tried for several minutes, pulling and jerking against the ropes. At best, he moved a couple metres with the Scouts moving with him.
As a last ditch attempt, he dropped his feet and hit the ground with a grunt. The sudden weight change on the ropes dragged the boys forward, but none of them lost his grip or let go.
Mike sat on the ground for a moment to catch his breath. “Okay, guys. I’m convinced. You can stop a single person. But, as you’ve seen, they usually travel in groups. What are you going to do if that comes up?”
“We thought about that too,” Todd said. “The long rope means we can make a barrier and still stay far enough back to avoid them. If there are several of the creatures, we can use the ropes to pull them together into a tighter group. Once they are together, we can wrap them up the same way we did you.”
Mike thought about that. It could work. “Fair enough, Todd. But what are you going to do with them? You can’t get close enough to tie off the ropes to keep them tied together.”
“I suppose we could pull them toward a cliff or something,” Todd said.
“We cut their heads off,” Kyle said quietly. “From what I’ve seen, they can’t survive without heads. Even smashing them in would work.”
His matter-of-fact tone sent a chill down Mike’s spine. He had to take a moment to collect himself before he spoke. “Cut off their heads? You would really do that?”
Kyle shrugged. “What else is there to do? Do you think we can save these things?”
“I don’t know, Kyle. They were people once. I’m sure of that.”
“Except, people need their guts to live,” Kyle said. “You’ve seen some that have no stomachs, hearts, or anything and they are still walking around. Could you save one of them?”
Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie Plague Page 6
