45
It takes a slap in the face from Norm for me to come back down to earth. Suddenly, the sound of the battle hits me full force — the lack of George’s screaming, the new screaming of Scott, the rolling echo of gunfire in an enclosed space.
The heat of the outside seeps in through the back door. We don’t know where we are going, just that I have a set of keys Scott has given me.
I hit the alarm button and soon here the chirping in the distance, drowning out the shots behind us. Norm kicks open the back door and sweeps the area. I’m next, making sure Abby and Herb are behind me.
Not surprisingly, three men, dressed in the dark camouflage of the men who we met upon our arrival to the base lean out around the corner of the building with their rifles pointed in our direction.
I’m quick, and I’ve become a good shot. I pull the trigger. Compressed thunder erupts from my hand. And then something happens — something you’d never think would happen in a million years.
It seems I’ve pulled the trigger a fraction of a second faster than the soldier has. My bullet slams into his rifle and by way of strange magic or science or complete dumb luck, his rifle explodes in his hands. The man screams out as his arm is ripped clean from his socket. Dark red blood rains down on the sand. The explosion reaches his partners. One of the men’s faces are studded with metal shrapnel. The other’s clothes catch on fire. Two of them drop. The one on fire rolls around. The soldier left standing is the one without an arm and he looks at the blood spraying from the socket with utter disbelief. So do I.
I’m thinking: What am I? How could I?
I decide to be a good guy, now. I aim at his face and pull the trigger. The bullet takes him in the middle of the forehead and he drops.
Dead.
“Go!” I shout. “Go! The alarm!” I say. “Follow the alarm!”
It takes them a moment to snap out of it. I don’t blame them. What just happened to those three soldiers is gruesome and it almost puts seeing a zombie walking around with its guts hanging out to shame.
It’s only as the sounds of more gunfire from within the small building burst into our ears that we start moving again. Around the building in a cracked-pavement parking lot is another Jeep like the one we’ve left in the front except it’s not sand colored and it has a roof.
I turn the alarm off with the press of a button and get behind the wheel. In the rearview, I see the stream of people come from the building. They run through the pool of blood that belonged to the soldiers like it was rain puddles. These guys are not wearing camouflage, either. They are wearing slick black suits and sunglasses so dark, they seem to suck in the light from above.
I throw the Jeep into gear while Herb cries out in fear. Norm and Abby pile into the back. The Jeep rocks and groans with the movement. I don’t wait until everyone’s buckled up to stomp on the gas pedal. I don’t wait because in the rearview I see the Men in Black point their weapons at me, smug looks on their faces. My brain is telling me I should jerk the wheel and risk flipping the vehicle over but I can’t. I’m almost entranced by the harmony in which the four men aim down at us.
“Get down!” I shout, pressing the pedal to the floor. They do.
Four shots sound like a chorus.
I hear glass break. The zap of a bullet taking the seat, and a tire blows. I momentarily lose control of the wheel and shout to try to set us back on the right course.
“Jack!” Norm shouts. “Watch it!”
I look up at the rearview mirror and in the glass that’s left is my face and over my right eye is a perfect star. It’s from a bullet hole.
Herb screams because the Jeep careens right for another small, squat building. At the last second, gritting my teeth, I swerve, missing it by about a foot.
“That’s why I drive!” Norm shouts.
“Is everyone okay?” I ask, practically screaming.
“Think so,” Abby answers. “Herb?”
“I’s okay,” Herb says, his voice low, shaky.
I cut the wheel so we are out of sight from more shots. I realize I’m shaking pretty bad. I don’t know if I can keep driving. The wheel is flapping on the left side. I don’t know how much longer we will get before the Jeep goes the way of Shelly.
On the horizon, in the shimmering heat, is the low rolling mountains of jagged rock. I close my eyes for a second, catch my breath. Then I open them and it’s the vast desert in front with no one behind us for now.
46
There was a cache of guns and ammo in the Jeep — a gift from God. Everyone has a weapon now except Herb. After what happened in the Ford outside of the Butain Airport, I think it’s best he leaves the shooting up to us.
The mountains never seem to get closer. We drive and drive the open stretch of desert until the small military base George brought us to is nothing but a speck in the fractured rearview mirror.
R.I.P., George.
What gets closer to us and has appeared within the last few miles is a fence that stretches the horizon as far as the eyes can see. Beyond the fence are the mountains and more desert. There is no old, abandoned town, there is no Blood Rock, and there is damn sure no lake in this dry place. Seeing the sand and the clouds of dust blow in the hot breeze makes my throat grow tighter. I’m so thirsty. The sun is so hot. I have no energy. Norm and Abby in the backseat look just as uncomfortable and dazed.
I must zone out because a rough hand is shaking me and saying, “Jack! You idiot!” over and over again.
My eyes open wide. The fence is coming to meet us dead on like we’re in Star Wars and coming out of hyperspace. I slam on the brakes. The tires crunch dirt and sand. I grip the wheel so hard, I think it’s going to turn to dust.
But we stop inches away from the metal.
I exhale. All that separates me from Darlene is a fence. That’s all. I can do this.
“Close one!” Herb shouts. He smiles and he’s bathed in sweat.
“Jesus, Jack, you almost killed us. That’s why I should be the driver, damnit,” Norm says.
I ignore him. I’m too shaken from all of this, from what happened at the base to what is happening now. I saw people die. I killed people. And more are going to die before this is all said and done. I guarantee it.
“Now what?” I say.
“Look,” Abby says. She leans forward and points through the dusty windshield. In the shimmering heat beyond the fence, settled at the base of one of the mountains — which are a lot bigger the closer you get — is a small crop of buildings. I hadn’t seen it before. My heartbeat races. There’s still life inside of me.
It’s a town.
“That’s it,” Norm says.
“How do we get over?” Abby asks. “I really don’t think I can climb and walk in this heat. I bet that metal is a million degrees. It’ll cook our skin before — ”
I shift into reverse, hating myself, but I see no other way. Abby’s right. We’ll never make it on foot.
Norm chuckles, leans back and says, “Buckle up.”
“Oh, God,” Abby says. I have this menacing look on my face. You have to. Because I have to be crazy to want to do this, but what other options are there? I don’t want to die in the desert, man. I don’t want to die anywhere. If we don’t do anything, that’s a sure thing. If I do what I’m doing now, there’s a chance we make it.
That’s all you need sometimes, is a chance.
Herb gives me a look. I think he’s going to protest, but he doesn’t.
I back up about one hundred feet, look at Norm and Abby and smile at them. “I love you guys,” I say. “If this doesn’t work out — ”
“Shut up, Jack,” Abby says. “I got enough of that sentimental crap back at the village. I don’t need anymore.”
“I agree with the little lady,” Norm says. “This is going to work. We’re going to be just fine.”
Herb is smiling. “I love you, too, Jacky!”
I smile at him, but there’s no joy in it. I’m scared. I’ll admit.
Scared to death. “Thanks, Herb,” I say and I mean it. I really mean it.
I shift into gear, grip the steering wheel tight, and slam on the gas pedal. A cloud of dust and dirt kicks up behind us, almost choking us out and blending us in with the landscape.
We all scream. We all hold our breath. We plunge toward the fence.
47
The sound the fence makes is not encouraging. I am no longer holding on to the wheel, but I’m pressing the gas. The fence buckles. It’s not like the movies. This isn’t a clean breakthrough. There’s problems.
I hear the wheels spinning, but we aren’t getting anywhere.
“Ease up,” Norm says.
The windshield cracks down the middle. Metal scratches at the hood. Herb has his head between his knees.
I stop pressing the gas pedal. We are tilted, two wheels on the driver’s side in the air, two wheels on the ground and fence crumpled beneath us.
“Well, I guess we walk,” Abby says.
Herb stares blankly at the broken fence. I get an idea, a bit of hope puffing up my chest. “Herb,” I say, “start dancing!”
He tilts his head at me. “Huh?”
“Dance, man!” I say.
Norm squints.
“I don’t have no music,” Herb says.
Realization starts to dawn on all of their faces almost instantaneously. I start humming a tune. Nothing in particular, but it has a rhythm.
Norm turns around. “Uh, Jack, we got trouble.”
I follow his gaze. A cloud of dust kicks up across the desert. A car. Two, maybe three of them are coming toward us. The black suited Central guys come to get revenge, come to stop us from ruining their plans.
“Herbie! C’mon!” I shout and start humming again.
Norm and Abby join me, echoing my tune almost perfectly, but they both eye me like I’m delusional. Maybe I am. We start rocking side to side, snapping our fingers. Herb dances, a big goofy smile on his face.
Bah-dum-dum-bah-bah-
He really gets into it.
“Herb, watch me!” I say. “Mimic what I’m doing.” I start rocking side to side. I bump the steering wheel and then the seat. Everyone else does what I do. Herb scrunches his face up in concentration. We keep humming.
I can hear the roar of the coming engines. In the vast desert wasteland, the sound carries. But they are close and despite my humming, my throat seems to be getting tighter and tighter. Herb squints at me, then mimics my movements. The Jeep rocks back and forth. I hit the gas. Weightlessness. Solid ground. Tires eating dirt, crunching metal.
“Yeah!” Abby says. “Way to go, Herb!”
The Jeep takes off, goes right over the crumpled fence as if it were made of cardboard instead of metal. We have since stopped humming.
“Good job!” Norm says, clapping Herb on the back.
“Why’d you guys stop the music?” Herb asks. He’s completely oblivious to what just happened, how he completely saved our asses. Where would I be without him, where would I be without my family?
So we start humming again, and I think it makes the pain and scariness of this situation ease a little. Then, as the cloud of dust and the speeding cars behind us grow farther away, I feel better. On the horizon is the town and beyond that is the shimmering blue lake and the mountains around it. I press the gas harder, not bothering to look back. Darlene, I’m coming for you.
48
“I don’t like this place,” Herb says as we are riding slowly through the dead streets of this ghost town. I don’t like it, either, and one glance and Abby and Norm in the backseat tells me they’re bugged out, too.
Faded wooden buildings stand vigil on both sides of us. I wish I could drive faster, but the narrowness of the streets and the unfamiliar territory prevents me from doing that.
“What the hell is this place?” Norm asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer.
“Hurry up,” Herb says. I can hear his teeth chattering. Before we entered the town’s limits, the sun was burning bright in the sky. Now, not so much. Now it seems everything is shrouded in shadow.
“Turn down that road,” Norm says, pointing between what looks like a stable and what might be a blacksmith’s place. I only think this because of the anvil sitting under an awning. There’s a bird’s nest in between the boards, but it doesn’t look like there’s been birds there for centuries.
I stop the Jeep. We are at a crossroads. This isn’t an Army tank. I can’t go ahead and plow through buildings like they were iron fences. Besides, I don’t know how well the Jeep is hanging on, or how much damage going through the fence actually did. I could swear now that we’re stopped that I hear a faint ticking sound from the engine, but I could just be paranoid.
“What are you waiting for?” Norm says. He’s leaned forward between Herb and I, his breath hot on my face. “Go that way.”
I point at the dashboard. The gas needle is getting dangerously close to E. Then what? We walk and wait for those goons from Central to mow us down? I don’t think so.
“Well sitting here ain’t doing us no good, either,” Norm says.
We are quiet for a moment. I can’t even hear our breathing. “Can’t see the lake from here,” I say.
Norm says, “Just go right.”
I look to where he’s pointing at the desolate street and I get that bad feeling again, but when I look left, the feeling doesn’t disappear. So I turn the wheel right. Abby gives me a reassuring look.
The Jeep creeps down the road as we go by store fronts with their windows knocked out or so dusty they are the same color as the wood or the sandy roads. I’m in a Western movie. Pretty soon a tumbleweed is going to blow out in front of us and then I’ll really lose my head.
“Can we dance again?” Herb says. His voice sounds hopeful. I look at him and see how ashy his skin looks and how far his eyes are bugged out.
“No, we have to be quiet,” Abby says. “In case there’s bad guys around.”
Herb nods. “Like Doc Klein, right, Abby?”
She doesn’t answer right away. Dread fills my stomach. Yeah, Doc Klein is a bad guy. No way around that. The bastard has done the unthinkable. He’s taken Darlene from me, he’s harmed my family — there’s no coming back from that. But I don’t say this. I can’t break Herb’s heart. He likes Doc Klein. He doesn’t get it, he never will.
When no one answers Herb’s question, he says, “Yeah, I gets it. I do. You guys don’t like Klein because he did something bad. But he’s my friend and I love him. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be eated. That has to count for somethin, don’t it, Jacky?”
I turn my head to face him and nod. It does count for something. Herb has become family. Without Klein, there is no Herb and there’s probably no Abby, either.
The Jeep eases onto another road and we’re facing the mountains again. They obscure the view of the lake with its deep blue water, but I know it’s there. I can smell it. In this ghost town, where it’s as dry and mummified as an Egyptian corpse, I think you could smell water a mile away.
“Herb,” I say, feeling like I have to assure him, like I have to make him feel better, “it’s going to be all right.”
“The hell it is,” Norm says. The sounds of skin slapping against skin comes as soon as the last syllable escapes his lips.
“Can it,” Abby says.
“Ow,” Norm whines.
I do my best to ignore their little exchange and focus back on the road while trying to sort my thoughts, but my thoughts aren’t on the end of the world; they’re on Darlene and they’re on revenge.
It goes right over Herb’s head and he says, “Really, Jacky, you aren’t going to hurt Klein, are you?”
The steering wheel gets slimy beneath my palms. Darlene’s eyes float up in my mind’s eye again — pained, haunted, scared. I can’t lie to Herb. I just can’t do it. I owe him that, right? I owe him the truth. He is my family after all and to lie to him would mean breaking the sacred trust that comes with love. Because
I’m going to kill Klein, plain and simple.
“Herb, I — ” but a noise cuts me off. I slam on the brakes. The wheels grind to a halt.
Gurgling. Moaning. Rattling.
“No…” Abby says.
I look up the road and I hope it’s just a desert mirage, but I know it’s not.
It’s zombies. And a hell of a lot of them.
49
“Go! Go!” Abby yells. I almost want to turn around and say What the hell do you think I’m doing?
Had to pick the right. We couldn’t have gone left.
Norm loads his pistol. Abby checks how many rounds she has left. I see this because I don’t trust the shattered rearview to guide me through the dusty, abandoned streets of the old mining town. I turn to look over my shoulder. It’s a habit from the former world and old habits die hard, I guess.
On my right, Herb no longer looks African American…he’s almost as white as a ghost. He screeches.
It’s zombies. I’m telling myself I can get away from them easily enough. Just go back the way we came.
As I hit the gas pedal to reverse on out of here and back to safety, the ticking in the engine goes full-blown hammer on anvil. Then the Jeep coughs a black cloud of exhaust, the steering wheel locks up, and the vehicle lurches and stops. It’s like a brick to the face. So there’s no engine humming. It’s just our breathing and much too close down the road, the rocking, jagged-boned corpses with their blazing eyes.
Norm wastes no time in freaking out. In turn, it freaks me out and probably freaks out everyone else. I can’t really explain it. He comes between the two front seats and squeezes me up against the door as he takes my spot. He jimmies the key and stomps on the locked gas pedal.
Nothing. And each second we waste, the zombies get closer.
Dead Coast: A Zombie Novel (Jack Zombie Book 4) Page 13
