Knight Terrors: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale

by Beard, Stephen J.

  “What happened to the people?”

  In my head I replied ‘why does it matter?’

  “We didn’t kill them if that’s what youre asking.”

  “No, no that’s not what I meant. You didn’t bring them back here did you?”

  “No, I’m not very trusting these days. And these people just felt wrong from the beginning.”

  “Good,” said Tracie. “After what I’ve been through, I don’t want to be around many new people.”

  “But, all of us are new people to you.”

  “Your group saved my life, that’s different. And I can see you’re kind Ryan, I can see it in your eyes.”

  I looked down at my feet.

  “You don’t know the things I’ve done. The things I’ve had to do. But, thank you for the kind words.”

  With that, I went to find my kids. Tabby had already found Mike and Mal was playing with William under Pat’s watchful eye. They seemed to be having a good time playing army men or something in the dirt on the parade ground. No point bothering him. I wanted him to find a friend in William and I should just let that happen.

  I decided to climb up to the top of the fort and take over Karen’s lookout duties. She had about an hour left of her shift but I wanted to clear my head and think about the near future. First, downtown was a lost cause. Too many people and not enough supplies. Mount Pleasant would become the focus. There were plenty of grocery store over there and the people were more spread out. Plus, there was a Lowes, two Wal Marts and a new gun store.

  Next we were going to have to become self sufficient sooner rather than later. Even Mount Pleasant is going to run out of supplies. That means farming and fishing for starters. We will also need to collect rainwater. There’s just not enough supplies out there for the long term. We might even need to get chicken or rabbits for meat. Although I couldn’t see Mal or Tabby eating a bunny if they knew what it was.

  Lost in thought I didn’t hear John come up to relieve Karen.

  “Sorry, Ryan. I thought you heard me. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “No worries. Just deep in thought.”

  “We did good today, didn’t we?”

  “We didn’t bring much back to the fort John. But we didn’t lose anyone despite our troubles. And that’s a good day.”

  As I walked back down to the parade ground I couldn’t help but notice how normal everything seemed. People doing what they needed to survive. But, I t was more than that. People seemed happy. People were smiling, they were talking and sharing and living.

  We all talked over dinner about what had happened on the supply run. The decision to keep all newcomers outside the fort until they could be assessed made even more sense now.

  The future of our self-sufficiency was discussed as well. Everyone was on board. Some people would gravitate toward fishing, some toward farming. It would work.

  Wednesday, December 31, 2014

  A dreary start with low dark clouds for the last day of the year. Karen brought me coffee this morning. I guess this is becoming a thing. Thor woke up from where he’d been sleeping next to me and padded off.

  “Thank you, Karen. How are the kids doing?”

  “They’re good I think. Mal has become fast friends with Willie. And Tabby has been helpful when she’s not been with Mike.”

  This got a look from me.

  “No, they’re good. He’s a good kid and she’s matured a lot since this all started.”

  “Well, she hasn’t had much of a choice.”

  “No she didn’t, Ryan. I want to go on the supply run today. Lois went yesterday and now I want to go.”

  “Karen I appreciate that you want to help and I do not doubt your abilities. But, you are not going.”

  She started to protest.

  “I’m not taking Lois either. Here’s why… Today I have to drop the team off downtown, where yesterday we were attacked by humans and zombies. They have to take the bus up East Bay St and over the Ravenel Bridge to Patriot’s Point. And we’ve not seen any of those roads. They may be blocked or full of zombies or worse. I need people that have done this before. No on the job training today.”

  “I see what you mean.”

  “I’m not saying no, I’m saying not this time.”

  “Okay.”

  “Thanks, Karen.”

  Over breakfast I spoke about the day. It was sobering to say it out loud.

  “We have a shift to make today. Downtown is lost for us. We encountered a lot of zombies and very little in the way of supplies. So, today we have to move the bus, and really all the vehicles to Patriot’s Point in Mt Pleasaent. More stores: Less people. Hopefully, I’ll be waiting there with the boat. So, today no mistakes. Check your ammo, all your supplies. Replenish as needed. Replace all the batteries in whatever takes batteries. Tony, you’re in charge here. So some target practice and practice getting people up the ladders into a shooting position. Let’s get going. We leave in 30.”

  The ride out to Liberty Square was quiet and uneventful. I think everyone was busy thinking and worrying about the long day ahead. We decided on the way that we would take the bus and the RV and leave the land cruiser in case we needed a back up plan one day. That meant two people in each vehicle. And we had no idea what the roads or the bridge looked like.

  For me the stress was two fold. One, I had to get the boat across the channel and dock it at Patriot’s Point by myself. I didn’t know what I’d find once I got there. Two, I had no control over the other two vehicles. I didn’t want to be responsible for all these people but I am. So, I want to be in control. Or, at least, some semblance of control.

  “Tom, you have any problems with Mike being in charge?”

  “Nope, he has a lot more experience. I’ll follow his lead.”

  “Okay, no unnecessary risks. Got it? Keep in touch. If this isn’t gonna work we’ll meet back here and go to plan B.”

  Mike nodded.

  “Don’t sink our ride home, Boss Man.”

  “You guys be careful.”

  We didn’t exactly dock at Liberty Square. The wind was blowing gently toward the pier so I just pulled up and reversed the engines to stop my forward motion. The breeze kept me against the pier.

  I waited until they drove off before pulling the boat away from the dock. My plan was to move over to the bridge. I’d feel better if I could see them. It wasn’t long before they called.

  “Ryan, copy. This is Mike.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “There’s a lot of zombies, man. They’re just milling about. Over.”

  “Are you blocked?”

  “Yeah, but we can clear a path. You’re gonna hear some shooting though. Over.”

  “10-4. Thanks for the heads up.”

  A few moments later I could hear the crack of the rifles. They sounded far off. Steady, controlled shots. They were doing well. After a few minutes, the shooting stopped.

  “Ryan, copy?”

  “Go.”

  “The bridge is blocked heading north. We can see that from here. We’re going to go around and try to go north on the southbound side.”

  “Go for it.”

  Then, a few minutes later…

  “It’s better anyway. We’re moving.”

  I couldn’t see them from where I was but it didn’t make sense to go under the bridge and get further away from Patriot’s Point. So, I started more in that direction.

  “Halfway, Ryan. Halfway.”

  As I approached the USS Yorktown moored at Patriots Point, I could see a few zombies milling around on the flight deck. There were more on the hanger deck. So, it was infested. Damn. The ship would’ve made a good fall back position or forward post. It had limited access and could be defended from the land side easily. But zombies on the ship would be impossible to clear. Too many small rooms, too many big areas, too many hiding places.

  Then, as I got closer, an amazing thing happened. One that I had not expected. When the zombies heard the stead
y thrumming of the boats’ engine they began to move towards the sound. When they got to the edge of the Yorktown they simply fell into the water, still reaching for the boat. They had no regard for their self preservation at all. They simply wanted, needed to get to food. They fell like lemmings. I could see them bobbing in the water after they fell. Then they sank below the waves.. Entranced by what was going on, I steered a little closer to the bow of the Yorktown than I had intended and one landed on the Beauregard. The distance must’ve been at least 80 feet so the zombie, a woman, broke a lot of bones and was no immediate threat. But, I would have to keep an eye on her in case she could crawl. I was in the wheel house with the door closed to keep me from the chill in the air.

  “We’re just about across, Ryan.”

  The boat dock here was different than the one at Liberty Square. Here I would have to pull, or back straight in. Then pull, or back straight out again. Easy, maybe but that slip looked awfully narrow. While I had piloted boats throughout my childhood, the Beauregard was much, much bigger than anything I had experience with. Several times bigger, in fact. So far, I’d gotten by with mostly luck and patience. My skill level was basic at best.

  Turns out the width of the slip wasn’t my problem. Worried about the wrong thing I didn’t realize how short the slip was and I was going too fast. I hit the back of the slip, cracking one of the pilings. The boat seemed undamaged. That’s Beauregard: taking a beating and soldiering on.

  I went back and kicked the dive bombing zombie off the boat and checked for others on both decks. Satisfied, I went onto the pier to get the lines attached. With almost no wind sheltered behind the Yorktown, I was able to tie up the boat in about ten minutes.

  “Pulling up.”

  The pier led up about twenty feet to a landing with a gift shop and ticket office. There were a few zombies here who had heard me hit the dock and were lined up for a meal. I dropped all of them with my crossbow from the other side of a crowd control gate. The last one had a Patriot’s Point name badge. I didn’t look at the name.

  Suddenly, the rest of the team was getting out of the vehicles.

  “Hey, Boss Man.”

  “Hi fellas. How’s your morning so far?” That got a smile from Mike which wasn’t hard to do these days.

  “A few too many zombies and way too much traffic. And we need to stop for gas.”

  The gas station on the corner had ten zombies that we killed quickly then gassed up with the hand pumps. It was tiring work but we got through it quickly. When it was time to go, Tom walked around to the passenger side of the bus and looked surprised when I walked up beside him.

  “The keys are in it,” he said.

  “No, you go ahead. I’ll navigate.”

  As we got underway again, I leaned back to John and said

  “I could get used to this.”

  The closest grocery store was another Harris Teeter only three blocks away. The road was congested with abandoned cars and wrecks. We had to push a few out of the way. The parking lot of the Teeter was inside an ‘L’ shaped strip mall. One side was anchored by a Starbucks and the other side by a Rite Aid Drugstore. The Teeter was next to the drugstore. The lot had fewer zombies than I had expected and it had something we hadn’t seen much of yet. Corpses. They were scattered around the lot with many up near the door of the Teeter. This place had already been looted. But, I think the looters were still here on the ground.

  We didn’t see any living people but noticed a white cargo van that would need checking out in a moment. It took all five of us only ten minutes to walk the lot and clear any zombies. There were several in cars but there was no reason to let them out. The ones in cars always seemed angry. Of course, you’d be angry too if you were locked inside a car with food walking by.

  The cargo van told the story for me. It was surrounded by weapons, mostly firerarms. They lay where they were dropped by their owners as they were bit and turned. The van was nearly full of supplies. The group probably did a good job of getting stuff out of the building only to get flanked by other zombies attracted by the noise of the gunfire. It was a group just like us. Past tense.

  There was a very angry zombie in the front seat of the van. He and the supplies inside would have to wait.

  The store had been picked over pretty well. It was difficult to breathe inside and I was lucky to have a bandana in my pack to put over my nose and mouth. So far in the Zombie Apocalypse people seem to take the water but forget about the other liquids. There was soda, juice, Gatorade and the like. All of it had calories that normally we wouldn’t need but those calories were needed in our new world. There wasn’t much canned food left inside. Perhaps the other group had it in the van already. We did grab all the firewood bundles that were stacked outside. And we picked up plenty of food for Thor

  The angry zombie fell right out of the van when we opened the door. He was easy to dispatch. We could see a wound on his arm where he had been bitten. It remineded me suddenly of Mike’s father, Micheal and how he had been bitten just steps from the bus doors and safety. There was a hastily scribbled note on the passenger seat. I felt guilty reading it, knowing it wasn’t for me.

  Gail,

  I’m sorry. I messed up bad. Hope you live a long life. I love you.

  Rob

  Dec 26

  “That was five days ago,” I said. “I wonder why they haven’t come looking for these people?”

  “Maybe they did,” said Tom. “maybe they didn’t make it either.”

  “They could’ve been overrun at home.”

  “Maybe they did make it here but didn’t find the note.”

  “I don’t think they’d have left the supplies.”

  “Good point.”

  “What’s next, Ryan?’ asked Mike.

  “Well, there’s a Whole Foods right across the street.”

  “Aren’t they known for their organic, fresh, wholesome stuff?”

  “Yeah.”

  “All of that will be rotted by now, and then some. We might not make it two feet in the door”

  “You’re probably right but it seems silly not to check.”

  The Whole Foods did not look like it had been broken into but there just a ton of cars parked in the lot. Most of them had zombies inside.

  “Why did people come to Whole Foods for the Zombie Apocalypse?” asked John.

  “I dunno. It’s Mount Pleasant. A lot of people shopped here. Maybe they thought there a natural cure for the flu vaccine problem.”

  “Maybe,” said Tom. “There’s still gonna be a lot of zombies in there. And as you agreed, not much for us.”

  “Okay, I’ve always told you guys to speak up when there was something you didn’t like. Tom says no. Mike?”

  “I’m with Tom. There’s probably a lot of risk and no reward.”

  “All right, I won’t push. But, we’re not full and we need more stuff. There’s a Publix about a mile away. Let’s go take a look.” I turned to Keith. “How’s the cargo van on gas?”

  “Almost Full.” Keith was driving the new van. Mike had the RV and Tom and I were in the bus.

  “Okay. Stay close.”

  The drive should’ve taken five minutes. Thirty minutes later we pulled into the Publix lot.

  But, it looked as though the effort was worth it. There were only a dozen or so cars and the doors looked intact. I don’t know why it hadn’t been looted. But the sign on the door said the store closed the day I got worried; the day Sam, the kids and I hit the Bi-Lo on Johns Island. The manager must’ve seen the writing on the wall like I did. The doors were locked; we’d have to break the glass. But, otherwise same plan as usual. Old hat at this point. Except you never got used to it.

  Mike took out his tomahawk and made a swing at the door. It cracked. It was some work to get all the glass out. But, there were no zombies. Instead a wretched smell attacked us from inside the store. We all stepped back and vomited.

  The plan was to go in and keep to the side away from the veggie
s and as far from the meats as possible. That really didn’t matter much. We needed hazmat suits to do this right. We rotated. Each person went in and grabbed something with a shopping cart then took a turn guarding the door for fresh air. It was slow, but we filled our vehicles in about an hour.

  It was tough driving the bus back to Patriot’s Point. Too much weight.

  When we pulled back into the lot near the boat we found two zombies that had wandered into our area. After taking them out we took a break to eat what we had brought with us in our packs. After the Publix no one was really hungry. But we needed some energy to load the boat and get back to the fort. We were all running on empty.

  Loading the boat was frustrating. We had to walk down a pier and we couldn’t get that close to the boat to begin with. We found a few carts and that helped but it was back breaking work.

  “Ryan,” said Mike. “Don’t react. Got it?”

  “Sure,” I laughed to make it convincing.

  “I think we’re being watched. Over near the main parking entrance, blue SUV, passenger window down.”

  I looked over as cautiously as I could while pretending to stretch my back.

  “They pulled up just a minute ago. I’m sure of it,” said Mike.

  “Okay, let’s keep an eye on them. Without being obvious, of course. And not just at them. They could be a diversion.”

  Everyone nodded and we continued our work. It took almost two hours to load the boat. The SUV left after about fifteen minutes.

  “What do you think?” asked John.

  “Well, they didn’t want to come say ‘hello’ which means they weren’t in need of any supplies. That could mean they are powerful. Or at least think they are.”

  “If they were powerful why didn’t they just come on over and take what they wanted? They could’ve surprised us easy.”

  “They could’ve been a scouting party; maybe two or three people. Not enough to be sure they’d take us.”

  “Well, they know where we live now,” said Tom. “Doesn’t take a genius when they saw us loading the boat.”

  “We’ll see them coming. It’s one of the great things about an island home.”