With a loud thump Tom was ripped off the deer stand by one of the adrenalized Zombies. The Zombie and Tom landed hard on the ground a few feet from the base of the deer stand. Pete and Kyler watched helplessly as the Zombies in that immediate area converged on the prone man and began ripping the flesh from his body. The adrenalized Zombie who’d knocked Tom off the platform originally screamed and swiped at the Zombies he deemed to be in his way. That Zombie ripped off one of Toms ears and chewed on it like an appetizer while ripping at Toms throat until his blood started spurting out.
Kyler raised his pistol to shoot Tom. He knew if their situations were reversed, he’d want someone to put a round through his skull. No way would he want to spend the final minutes of his life being eaten alive. Pete reached down and grabbed Kyler’s wrist and shook his head side to side to tell Kyler not to do it. Knowing he was going to regret it, feeling like a coward, Kyler didn’t take the shot. A minute later the screams from Tom stopped being audible to them over the screeching of the Zombies and the roar of the approaching fire.
Surrounded by the noise of the blaze coming for them and distracted by cannibalizing Tom and all the animals fleeing the fire the Zombies began to wander off. It began to get unbearably hot for Pete and Kyler squatting up in the tree just out of eye sight of the final Zombies streaming away from the fire. A giant glowing ember flew straight into Pete’s hair causing him to bash his hands down on his head trying to put it out. He slipped and fell out of the tree. He bounced off the side of the deer stand as he fell to the ground below. He hit and was still.
Kyler scrambled down the tree and flew down the rungs of the old deer stand down to where Pete lie on the ground. He’d been grotesquely saved by landing amidst a pile of the Zombies Tom had shot when they’d first climbed up into the tree. Kyler gently shook him, and Pete looked up with pain glazed eyes. He was admirably able to keep from screaming from the pain he must be experiencing from his left leg being twisted around the way it was.
Kyler ignored the blazing hot ash steadily raining down on them and began trying to extricate Pete from the pile of pungent corpses he’d landed in. When it became too hot to stand it anymore, he grabbed Pete by the arms and started dragging him away from the fire. The man felt excessively heavy, but Kyler just dug in and kept dragging. It was so hot now he had his eyes closed as he trudged backwards through the woods. Once he’d gone about a hundred yards, he collapsed on the ground in a place where they were partially shielded from the heat by two large trees growing next to each other.
He looked down at Pete. Pete was covered in ash and a small dead Zombie was attached to his left foot. Kyler had been dragging along that extra weight as he walked. Sighing and wiping ash off his face to try and keep it out of his eyes Kyler began wrenching and pulling and otherwise working to get the Zombie off Pete’s foot. It only took a couple of seconds to figure out the ash covered corpse of a child had a belt on that had managed to get hooked on Pete’s foot somehow. Kyler was gratefully for the ash in this case. It kept him from having to look into a kid’s dead face as he worked on detaching him.
Pete suddenly shot straight up and bean looking around desperately. He spotted Kyler and reached out for him.
“Don’t leave me.” He sobbed. He was completely terrified. The shock from the fall must’ve worn off. He’d awakened in the middle of the burning forest in the weird light cast by the fire moving towards them thinking he’d been abandoned. He’d tried to stand up to run but the pain from his twisted leg prevented him from doing that. His first glimpse of Kyler he’d thought he was a Zombie ripping away at the lower part of his body.
“All good brother. I got you.” Kyler said shoving the carcass of the Zombie child to the side. He worked on getting Pete to a standing position, but the pain was too much for Pete and he passed back out again. Grateful for his one season of wrestling in High School Kyler threw Pete over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry and started moving through the eerily lit woods as fast as he could go without risking a fall.
The problem was that the farther in front of the fire he got the more Zombie’s he started to see. He may have been able to blend in with them if he hadn’t been carrying Pete. It wasn’t like anything was able to see or smell good this close to the blaze. The odd shadow he cast supporting Pete seemed to grab the Zombies attention though. He heard the familiar screech and saw two Zombies running towards him through the undergrowth. Luckily, they were oblivious to the weeds and briars so didn’t try to pick an easier path to get at him. Kyler squatted down and let Pete roll off his shoulders onto the ground. Pete let out a muffled moan of pain then lie still on the ground.
Kyler pulled a machete and a hatchet out of Pete’s belt. He planned on leaving the hatchet embedded in a Zombie somewhere since the damned thing had been poking him painfully in the back with every step he’d taken since throwing Pete over his shoulders. They had ammunition left but even with the roar of the fire Kyler didn’t want to risk attracting more Zombies by shooting at them. He was going to have to kill every Zombie they met by hand. It was going to be a long night.
He walked towards the Zombie closest to them. It’d just beat its way through the bushes and was running towards him with hands stretched out in front of it. The Zombie was a beast. You couldn’t really tell the race of Zombies any more under typical circumstances due to the spread of the pus-filled boils across their faces but in the light of the fire with ash covering everything it was completely impossible. Not that race mattered at all in relation to a gigantic Zombie running towards him. Kyler’s mind skipped ahead to the fact that equality had finally been achieved. All you had to do was get bitten by a Zombie and you were good.
He realized his brain was latching on to random ideas and thoughts as a coping mechanism. The Zombie coming at him was huge. The whole race thing had popped into his head because his first thought had been this was a Samoan, or a Sumo wrestler turned Zombie. It didn’t look the Zombie had missed any meals since being turned. The thing was huge and coming straight for him. Kyler felt like he was standing there with a pair of knitting needles trying to stop a massive bull from running him down. Deciding he’d rather live for a few more minutes than maintain operational silence Kyler dropped the hatchet and machete to the ground.
In the same motion as he dropped the weapons to the ground he reached back over his shoulders and yanked his M-16 around and jammed the stock into his shoulder. Releasing the safety and switching the weapon into full auto came naturally to him at this point. The weapon seeming like an extension of his body. He pulled the trigger and saw red spots flash on the surface of the obese beast bearing down on him. He kept the trigger depressed until the Zombie finally faltered a step. It hit the ground and slid a few more feet forcing Kyler to take a couple of steps back not to come in contact with it.
He kept the M-16 in his hands and waited for the other Zombie coming at him in the weeds to emerge. Once the Zombie had managed to claw its way back up so that its head was visible Kyler put a round right through its forehead. Before that Zombie had even finished falling backwards into the weeds Kyler was picking up the hatchet and machete he’d dropped on the ground. He made his way back over to where Pete was passed out on the ground. Part of his pants had burned away from hot ash falling on them. His exposed skin was also starting to turn a dark shade of red.
Kyler hesitated staring down at the man. Sweat was dragging pieces of ash into Kyler’s mouth and eyes. He could barely breathe at this point due to the smoke wafting through the woods. Zombie screeches were echoing all around them as the closer Zombies responded to the sounds of gun fire and began to reverse their course to come back towards the fire to try and locate the source of those noises. Being the source of those noises Kyler knew he needed to do his best to not be here when those Zombies arrived. They were coming from every direction so whichever way he went he was going to have to cut down a few Zombies with the machete or hatchet to make it through. He wasn’t going to be able to do that with Pete acr
oss his shoulders.
The part of his brain in charge of self-preservation was whispering for him to move out and leave Pete there. Pete was probably going to die anyway and on one would ever know. Pete himself probably wouldn’t even wake up. He’d just slip away the victim of smoke inhalation and shock. He didn’t even know Pete that well. The guy could be a bit of a blowhard and his stories tended to drag on longer than necessary with punch lines that weren’t worth listening to the buildup. From what he did know of Pete, he was pretty sure the man would’ve left him behind without spending a lot of time thinking about it if the situation had been reversed.
This wasn’t really about Pete though. It was about the scouts he hadn’t been able to save when he first encountered the Zombies. It was about Mike having thrown him in a boat and allowed him to live while he himself was turning into a Zombie. It was about having to kill Mike so he could sail away free. It was about those people in that condo who he had a nagging feeling hadn’t made it out alive even after all his work to help them. He risked his life for people because it was the right thing to do. It’s what his dad would’ve expected of him. It’s what he expected of himself.
His hesitation to pick Pete up wasn’t based on trying to decide if he was going to leave the man behind or not. It was based on deciding if he wanted to pick him up and try to break through the incoming Zombies or if he should just make a quick stand right there and see what happened. Maybe another opportunity would present itself.
Loud screeches that were danger close solved the problem for him. He wasn’t going to be able to pick up Pete and make a run for it before those Zombies were on top of him. The thick smoke from the fire was becoming more prevalent. The sun had sunk below the horizon for good now. If there was a moon Kyler couldn’t see it through the thick canopy of pine needles and smoke. He squatted down to get closer to the ground to give himself a rest from the smoke. The closer to the ground he got the cleaner the air was. The less like breathing in fire it was to take deep breaths.
His plan shifted as he breathed in the cleaner air. He’d stay here for a few more seconds and deal with any Zombie’s who’d been able to home in on the sound of him firing the M-16. Once he’d done that, he’d pick up Pete and head parallel to the fire and deeper into the woods. He was hoping the bulk of the Zombies were still towards the road since that’s where they were coming from. Going away from the road and sticking close to the fire might be their best chance at escape. Especially since he was going to be in full on flight mode with the dead weight of Pete wrapped around his shoulders like a neckerchief. An ungainly two-hundred-pound necklace with weapons sticking out of it that may go crazy when he woke up.
The Zombies he’d heard screeching ran right by in the smoke. Plenty more were screeching in frustration all around him, but visibility was down to about zero. Hoping he didn’t walk straight into any of them Kyler hoisted Pete up onto his shoulders and set off at a brisk pace in the direction he hoped was the way he wanted to go. He’d gone about ten feet and was navigating his way over a fallen tree when a Zombie emerged from the smoke right in front of him. Hating himself for doing it Kyler immediately dropped Pete and pulled his machete. The Zombie let out a screech as it realized a real human was standing in front of it. The Zombie moved forward with that horrible screech on its lips. Luckily it was so focused on getting to them it tripped on the log Kyler had been trying to navigate.
Kyler brought the machete down hard on the things head as it struggled back to its feet. The machete hit the top of the things skull and bounced off emitting sparks. Undeterred Kyler swung again. This time he aimed for the other side of the head and hoped whatever steel plate this Zombie had in its head didn’t cover the whole skull. The Zombie was thrashing around and the uncertain footing on the side of the downed tree caused Kyler to miss. The machete hit the other side of the things head and slipped off to the side. He lopped off the Zombies ear, but he knew that wouldn’t even slow it down.
He pulled the machete back up in the air for another try and felt a hand grab him from behind. He spun around and swung the machete at the Zombie who’d come up out of the smoke behind them. He scored a hard hit across its ribs that made the Zombie stagger back a step. It came at him again immediately though. He kicked it hard and lost his footing in the branches he was standing in. He fell backwards into the side of the log striking his back painfully. The Zombie with the lopped off ear immediately sprang on top of him trying to get its teeth into his shoulder. He’d lost the machete, so he grabbed the disgusting thing by its hair and held it at arm’s length while pulling out his knife. Once he had it out, he stabbed upward into the Zombies throat as hard as he could. He was rewarded with a massive spray of blood and the feeling of life leaving the body of his opponent as it slumped down into the branches.
Stumbling backwards out of the pile of bloody branches Kyler looked around for the other Zombie wondering why it hadn’t already attacked him. He spotted it lying in the branches on top of Pete chewing on the man’s face and neck. Kyler brought the knife down hard into the Zombies back as it ripped a long piece of skin off the side of Pete’s face revealing the pink muscle underneath. Kyler kept stabbing until the Zombie stopped moving. He shoved it off of Pete who’d regained consciousness during the ordeal. His eyes blinking as sweat and ash poured into them directly since he was missing his eyelids now.
Pete was screaming in horror and pain. Missing large pieces of his skin. Unable to walk due to the broken leg. He’d been bitten so he was going to turn soon. Rather than forcing him to suffer that final indignity Kyler plunged his knife into Pete’s head through the open eye staring at him. He did it over and over again telling Pete how sorry he was the whole time. When Pete finally stopped moving Kyler slowly stood up. He bent down and stripped Pete of his last weapons and the small pack he’d been wearing. It was full of essentials like ammunition and bottles of water. When Kyler opened it later to pull out one of the waters, he also found a few pictures of a pretty woman holding a baby shoved in there as well.
Kyler kept going. There didn’t seem to be a tragedy he couldn’t survive no matter how many people died around him. The smoke and the fire shielded him from the Zombies. His plan to stick as close to the fire as possible seemed to work. He stuck to that narrow alley in front of the fire where it was horribly uncomfortable and dangerous to be. A shift in the wind would’ve been the end of him. His luck held and eventually the fire stopped being so intense. He walked until he couldn’t walk anymore. His lungs aching from the heavy smoke and ash. He stopped to vomit and drink the last of his water. He kept going until he couldn’t anymore. Hoping neither a Zombie nor the fire decided to show up and ruin his beauty sleep he fell to the ground and curled into a ball.
He was too dehydrated to cry real tears. He was too tired and his lungs too damaged to sob for long. He fell quickly into a deep dreamless slumber. Around him the fire raged into the wee hours of the morning. Zombies stumbled around looking for prey. In that tiny copse of trees, he lay undetected with the tight canopy above him keeping out the sunlight the next morning so his exhausted body could keep sleeping.
Chapter 24: The Brotherhood
Randy’s hand was turning blue. He was sitting on the floor of a room that’d been retrofitted as a holding room. It looked like it could hold up to about twenty men if needed. There was a metal bar running around the perimeter of the room about a foot off the ground. Randy and Tony were both handcuffed to the bar. They’d been searched and had their weapons and most of their clothes removed. They were both sitting in the room currently wearing only their underwear.
“At least they took the hoods away.” Tony said. They’d been handcuffed facing away from each other but quickly repositioned so they could talk.
“I could go for some water though. My hood was all dusty on the inside.” Randy replied.
“Yeah. What kind of post-apocalyptic prison are these guys running here anyway? If we can find some living politicians, I have half a mind to w
rite a stern letter.”
“As soon as I can get on-line, I’m ripping them apart on Yelp.” Randy replied straight faced.
“Can you both please shut up? Can you not read?” The guard sitting at the large wooden desk in the front of the room said in an exasperated voice. He was trying to read a book and their back and forth was annoying him. There were hand written signs on the wall saying to sit silently and wait.
“Hey man. What’s your name?” Tony asked.
“My name is you need to shut the hell up or I’m going to beat you with this wooden bat they leave up here for the purpose of beating morons who don’t want to pay attention to the damned signs.”
“Do you have like a nick name or something you go by? I can’t imagine having to say all that every time I need you to hook me up with a trip to the bathroom.” Tony said. Randy wondered how long the guard would give Tony to keep up his wise cracks before choosing to whack him a few times with the bat. They’d planned on ingratiating themselves with the guards and doing their best to not have any ulterior motive other than joining up. They were hamming it up a bit at the moment, Randy was just hoping the soldiers here wouldn’t see right through it.
The guard didn’t bother responding to Tony. Tony got the hint and shut up. Randy took the break to think through what they needed to be doing for this to work. They’d gotten past the first step which was to get captured without being killed. He went ahead and decided they could put a check in that box. They’d talked about trying to capture one of the men and just force the bases location out of them through torture and threats. They’d all really loved that idea compared to the getting captured plan, but it had even more things that could’ve gone wrong with it. They’d have had to somehow ambush the guys coming for them who had drones and superior firepower. The men they’d be fighting also had ways of communicating to call for reinforcements. Even if they won the fight and captured the prisoners they might not know where the children were being kept. With plenty of time to plan and setup an ambush site it would’ve probably been possible for them to do it, but as a quick and dirty solution to rescue their daughters it didn’t pass the smell test.
Zombies! (Book 3): Violence Solves Everything Page 22
