by Sean Kidd
“I don’t think this is gonna work, Hoss.” Cowboy mumbled as he clutched onto the dashboard. I blocked everyone out, and focused on my deadly game of chicken, “I’m not turning!” I growled. My vehicle raced at the other Humvee. My mouth suddenly seemed dry, and I needed a drink to help me swallow. I pushed against the gas pedal, but it didn’t move. It was already on the floor. I gripped the steering wheel hard and leaned my head in, like it would make a difference. We were going so fast, and I had expected them to turn off by now. Maybe this was turning out to be a bad idea. I could see the passenger in the other Humvee. He was screaming at the driver. The driver wasn’t focused on me, but rather my new friend in the passenger seat. He looked like he was out for blood. They weren’t going to turn. I opened my mouth and screamed, “Ahhhhhhh,” and waited for impact. The other Humvee turned off with no time to spare. Our vehicles nearly struck each other, taking off my passenger side mirror. In the rear-view mirror, I saw their Humvee bounce off the curb and go up onto the back of a parked car. Cheers came from the back seat. Chevy grabbed the back of my seat and pulled himself forward, “You know what that sound is buddy? It’s victory!” He gave me a slap on the arm. “No Chev, it’s me, I just shit my shorts.” Everyone burst out laughing, except my mom. She was looking out the back window, “Ty, they’re coming again!” She was right. They had already backed off the car and were following us again. “Shit! What’s with these guys?” I said to Cowboy. “I told you. They’re not going to stop until we’re all dead!”
CHAPTER 64
I took every turn and cut through any parking lot I could find, and still they kept gaining on us. I found myself in the middle of the city parking lot were Chevy and I have been attacked by those dead, and where he later took out his revenge. It seems like that was so long ago now. The dead were growing in numbers. Across the lot, near the backside where Chevy had his plow incident, I could see hundreds, if not thousands of dead had gathered. They just seemed to be walking around in circles looking for something. Probably vengeance against Chevy. By the time I had turned onto Margaret Street, I had stopped trying to avoid the dead. There were too many of them, and with each thump off the bumper, our pursuers were given a slight advantage.
“I think it’s time to get out of the city, Hoss. We’ve already got Kane trying to kill us. We don’t need the added danger of these things too.” I agreed. I made my way toward Cornelia Street. By the mall I could catch the I-87 southbound on ramp. Kate’s crying was really annoying me. It was hard enough trying to keep those guys off our asses, without all her blubbering. Part of me felt the need to scream at her, while another part of me want to crawl back there with her and have a good cry too. At the top of Cornelia Street, I looked back, and they were right on my tail, “Chevy!” I called out, “I’m out of options. Any ideas?” Chevy pulled himself forward in the seat again and looked out the back window, “There're only three of them. I say we make a stand!” I didn’t see any other option. I lifted my fist, and Chevy gave it a tap and turned to the girls, “Everyone check your weapons. We outnumber those guys, more than two to one. Make sure you’ve got fully loaded magazines. It's time to fight!”
Chevy slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle. As he did, I felt a crash from behind, and I lost control of the vehicle for a second. “They’re ramming us!” Chevy screamed. The back end of the Humvee slid out as we left the on-ramp and merged onto Interstate 87. Their Humvee struck us again. These guys were relentless. The ass end of the Humvee kicked out, and my tires screeched. They hit us a third time while we were sliding. The back of the Humvee slid out far enough, I couldn’t gain control. We went off the side of the road and down into the medium. I hit the brakes, but it didn’t do any good. At the end of our slide, one of our tires caught the cement culvert and sent us tumbling. The Humvee finally came to rest upside down in the middle of the northbound lane. It felt like minutes had passed. My head throbbed from hanging upside down. I look over and saw Cowboy hanging upside down too. His face was covered with blood, and he was unconscious. Behind me, bodies were piled up. No one had been wearing their seatbelts, “Is anyone alive back there?”
“I’m okay.”
“Me too.” came from Sage and Kate.
“Mom!” I yelled. I felt a hand touch my neck, “I’m okay, Ty. So is Sidara.”
“What about Chevy? How is he, Mom?”
“Ouch!” Chevy moaned. “That was worse than being shot.”
Well, I knew he was okay. I gave Cowboy a slap on the arm, “Yeah, give me a second there, Hoss.”
Thank God, everyone was all right. I reached down looking for the seatbelt latch. I pushed it and dropped on my head, “Ouch!” Now I was upside down and twisted like a pretzel. I was working on getting myself upright when a deafening blow struck the side of the Humvee. I must have gotten a good knock to the brain, because I had completely forgotten about those guys. Another round struck the side of the Humvee. Everyone in the back was screaming. “Give us a fucking chance!” I screamed. Another shot rang out. My ears were ringing, and my head was throbbing.
“Stop!”
They must have heard me, because right after I said it, they stopped. One of them came over their PA system, “Do you want us to stop firing on you?”
“Yes!” I screamed, loud enough for them to hear through the Humvee’s bullet resistant glass. “Then follow my instructions, or we’ll throw a grenade inside.”
“What do what you want us to do?” I yelled.
“Driver! Open your door and throw all the weapons out of the vehicle!” I took off my holster and threw it out the door. Followed by my rifle and swords, “Everyone pass up your weapons.” I said. I was handed pistols, rifles, knives, and a grenade. I felt like I was at the end of a bucket brigade. The man on the PA came on again, “If we see any weapons on anyone, we will fire our fifty-caliber machine gun at you, along with a couple of grenades. Do you understand?”
“Yes!” I said looking over at Cowboy who was still hanging upside down and was petrified.
“Driver, exit the vehicle slowly, everyone else follow. Slowly! Any sudden moves and we will shoot you!”
I climbed out, trying to keep my hands above my head. I looked at their Humvee. There was a guy in the turret, and he had the fifty-caliber trained at my chest. There was also a man standing on each side of me. Each had a rifle.
“Turn around!” one of them barked. He grabbed my wrists and forced my hands behind my back. I felt him slip something over my hands, and I heard the zip of the zip tie tightening. “Ouch!” I yelped. “Shut up and move over to the center of the road!” The second man grabbed me by the zip tie and led me to the center of the highway, “Get on your knees!” I stood tall and stuck my chest out, “Why? What are you gonna do?”
He pushed the barrel against my throat and said, “Give me a reason!” I was defeated. I dropped to my knees and watched as the rest of my crew was zip tied and led over. We were all forced down to our knees and lined along the center of the highway. The man in the turret came over and stood in front of us. The one who had put his barrel in my throat tossed his rifle to the man from the turret, “Tommy, take this.” Tommy caught the rifle, “Thanks, Boss!” After tossing the rifle to Tommy the man reached in his belt and pulled out the .44 Magnum. He walked up and down the row, checking each one of us out. He stopped at Sidara, “This is yours, isn’t it?” He waved the .44 Magnum in Sidara’s face, “I’ve still got a score to settle with you.”
He turned and continued his inspection of us. He stopped at Cowboy. He stood there staring and shaking his head, “After everything I’ve done for you. You double crossed me!” He looked at Tommy and Luther, “I’ll show you what happens to my crew when they go against me.” He squatted down next to Cowboy, “The good news is, I’m going to kill you last.” Kane got up and started walking back toward me. Cowboy called out, “What’s the bad news?” Kane snapped a glare at Cowboy, “I am going to kill you by chopping you up into little pieces on my cutting table!”
“Fuck you, Kane!” Cowboy screamed.
A smile broadened across Kane’s face.
Kate was screaming and crying uncontrollably. Kane calmly asked her, “Please be quiet, honey. You’re getting very annoying.” He moved on, stopping at each one of us, “My name is Kane. This is my outfit.” He looked back at Cowboy, “Minus one. Now as you may know, my men and I don’t appreciate people stealing our property.” Sidara blurted out, “We didn’t steal your property. You kidnapped us and stole our weapons.” Kane waved a hand at her, implying she should shut up, “I stole you and your weapons fair and square. That makes you and everything that belonged to you, mine!” Tommy charged over to Kate, who was still screaming and crying. “Shut up!” he shouted as he kicked her in the gut. Kate fell over and curled up into a ball. “Thank you, Tommy. She’s really starting to get annoying.” Kane said as he strolled over to Chevy and I, “Now I’m assuming that one of you two is in charge. So, which one is it?”
“Neither of us.” I groaned.
“You took my mom and our friend. We just wanted to get them back!”
“I’m afraid they weren’t yours to take back. You need to understand that I am part of something bigger than-” He stopped in mid-sentence. He had been continually speaking louder, so I could hear him over Kate’s crying.
“Excuse me.” Kane said.
He walked over to Kate, put his .44 against her forehead and pulled the trigger. She went silent in mid scream and flipped over backwards. He walked back over to me, “You’ll have to excuse me. She was really getting on my nerves. Now where were we? Oh yes, who is in command here?”
“You sick fuck!” I coaxed. He lifted the gun to my head. I closed my eyes. Oh my god, why did I say that? I couldn’t breathe. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. Time seemed to slow down around me. Seconds felt like minutes. I couldn’t believe he was going to kill me. I couldn’t even fight back. I was waiting for the sound of the gun when I heard someone yell to my left. I opened my eyes in time to see Cowboy jump to his feet and charge at Luther.
Luther was hit so hard he went down like a rag man. Kane ran over to help, “Tommy pull Cowboy off Luther!” On the way to the ground, Luther’s head caught the corner of the Humvee slicing his head open and knocking him out cold. We watched helpless, as they beat on Cowboy until he was unconscious. Kane, out of breath came back to finish his business, “Now, where were we? Oh yes, that’s right!” He lifted the .44 Magnum and pressed it against my forehead. This was it. I didn’t want to die. I felt tears coming out of my eyes. I wanted to plead for him to stop, but nothing came out. Chevy tried to jump to his feet and tackle Kane, but this time they were expecting it. Tommy swung the butt of his rifle striking Chevy on the jaw. He fell to the ground at Kane’s feet. “Don’t worry. Your face won’t hurt for long. You’re next after your buddy!” I heard my mom screaming and pleading with Kane, “Please! He’s my son! He’s all I have in the world! Please don’t do it, I’ll do anything!”
Kane responded to her, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take care of you third. You won’t even have time to cry after I shoot him!” I felt him drive the gun against my head even harder. I could hear the seconds ticking by. I felt the gun move against my forehead as Kane pulled back the gun’s hammer. It stopped with a metal click. I took a deep breath and waited for the shot. I hoped it wouldn’t hurt.
I felt a gentle breeze across my face. The fetid smell was gone here. I heard nothing but silence, even the screams seemed to disappear. My racing heart slowed, I knew I’d miss my mom and Chevy, my brother.
A warm mist of blood, sprayed over my face. There was no pain. In fact the only sensation I felt was that of a tear rolling down my cheek. I fell over backward or rather, I was pushed. The screams were coming back now, but had transformed into cheers.
The weight of someone against my body. I opened my eyes, Kane was laying on top of me. There was a small hole just under his eye with a single drop of blood running down. I looked down the line, and everybody was still on their knees except Chevy, who was now under Kane.
Tommy ran over and looked at Kane to see what had happened. He glanced above me as a shot rang out. He fell over backwards. The bullet caught him in the throat. He was fighting to live, every breath he took sounded like he was breathing through a snorkel that had filled partially with water. I looked back and saw a blonde woman standing by a jeep on the southbound side of the highway. She was lowering her rifle and walking towards us.
CHAPTER 65
I watched as the blonde woman crossed over the grassy median and tactically brought the rifle back up to her shoulder, “Are there anymore!” she yelled. Still on my knees with my hands fastened behind my back, I answered, “No, you got them! We’re friendly.”
Friendly? That sure sounded corny, “My name is, Ty. Those guys you shot, kidnapped my mom and friends! They were going to kill us!” By now, the blonde was almost next to me. She still had her rifle raised and pointed, “Yeah, I could see that. How do I know you’re not going to try to kill me if I cut you free?
“You have my word.” The blonde gave Kane a kick in the arm to make sure he was dead. She reached down and took the cane knife off his belt, then came over to free my wrists. She threw the knife on the ground in front of me, “Cut your friends loose.” she said.
I grabbed the knife and made quick work of freeing my friends and mom. I paused to look at Kate’s body. It made me sick to my stomach thinking of how Kane had just snuffed her out like that. I wanted to kill him, but our new friend had already taken care of that. I cut Cowboy loose as he was waking up, “Hey are you okay?”
“Nothing a few day's rest couldn’t fix.” he said as he moved his jaw from side to side with his hand. “What do you want to do with him?” motioning to Luther, who was knocked out from hitting his head on the Humvee, “Tie him up!”
I made my way back to the blonde woman with my hand extended, “Thank you. You saved my life. One second later and I would have been dead. I guess I owe you my life. And again, my name is, Ty.” With her AR-15 now hanging from the sling, she extended an open hand, “I’m Dr. Sophie Simone.” The others gathered around, they had all extended their hands in friendship. After having saved my life, I figured the least I could do was offer Sophie a safe haven, “Sophie, over the last couple of days, we have all sort of found each other. We’re going to try to make a run at this new world together, if you’d like to join us. I mean, you just saved all of our lives. It's the least we could do.” Sophie looked at our group, “I appreciate the offer, but I have to get to the CDC in Atlanta. I have the cure for this epidemic.”
“There’s a cure?” I mumbled.
“Yes!” Sophie said. “There are still millions of people out there like us. They are still at risk from turning into one of those dead if they are bitten or get sick and drink the water.”
“Why Atlanta?” I asked.
“Because I have the blueprint for the cure on a hard drive in my jeep and the facility there is still under military control and safe.” Sophie paused, “You’re welcome to come to Atlanta with me. I’d sure like someone to watch my back. You could help me save the world!” I thought about her offer. I looked at my mom and thought of the chance of a new world, being able to walk the streets again, “Yes! I’ll help you get to Atlanta.” I looked back at my new family. One by one, they each said yes. Sidara was the last to answer. She was staring at the ground in front of her, “I’m in, but can we stop in Virginia on the way? I need to know if my family is alive!” I turned to Sophie as she spoke, “Yes, we can go through Virginia.” Sophie looked around at everyone in the group, “I just want to thank each of you for doing this. A chance of a new world lies in our hands.” Sophie stopped talking in the middle of her speech and looked at me, “You’re buzzing.”
“What? Oh, my cell phone.” I yanked it out of my pocket. The screen was still lit up. “One Missed Call.” I turned the screen to Sophie, “It’s been doing this for the last two days
. It’s always static.”
Ding!
“One New Voice Message.” displayed on the screen. I hit the home button. It was from an unknown caller, “Like I said, it’s always static.” I hit play and put it on speaker phone. After a few seconds of static, I said, “See, nothing.” Then a voice came over that shocked me, “Ty! Ty! It’s Dad! Can you hear me? I’m trapped in a building in Manhattan. I’m with some people. We’ve joined together to fight. There are dead everywhere! You need to get us some help! Ty! Can you hear me?”
Then, the phone went dead.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
