“We have to use the slide!” Barry butted in. His excitement couldn’t be contained, and he grinned ear to ear as he told the passengers how they were going to get off the plane.
The entire mood changed in an instant, and the overwhelming silence dissipated to an excited gasp. Three men in matching jerseys jumped up and pulled their gear out from under their seats. They eagerly looked at Barry and Lena. The annoying man who said “dude” too much smiled brightly, ready for whatever came next. Even Roy had cracked a smile at the news of using the slide.
Lena rolled her eyes at Barry. She knew he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it to him. “Yes, we have to use the slide,” she affirmed to the eager passengers.
“Here’s the deal,” Barry continued, “you can choose to stay or go, but the zombies over there—” he gestured behind him to the pile of zombies “—they’re staying on board.”
Lena was relieved Barry was helping take charge. It was nice of him to take some of the load even when he didn’t have to. “It won’t be easier on the ground, but we won’t be stuck. Plus, the smell is probably better than in here.”
The circulating smell of zombie flesh, sweat, and other different odors had become normal by then. Lena was used to smelling the unique stench of the cabin.
The passengers cheered. Harrison was more upbeat than before. He was ready to do something useful. Some of the passengers began gathering their belongings, and they argued over hand luggage and their wheeled suitcases.
“The wheeled luggage could be a problem.” Lena knew those wheeled cases would only slow the passengers down. They had to be as quick as possible. Their lives depended on it.
Barry’s brows furrowed as he looked at the tense look on her face. “Did you know they only started putting wheels on a suitcase ten or so years after the suitcase was invented?” he said, attempting to lighten the mood. He waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Or something like that.” He smiled awkwardly at Lena, hoping his jokes had worked.
Lena smiled in return. She appreciated his efforts. “Thanks, Barry. I’m just worried about these folks and their suitcases. It could slow them down, and we can’t afford that.” She nodded towards the chaotic mass of passengers and suitcases.
“That sounds like a horror story title. The folks and the suitcases…” he whistled softly as he watched the commotion. “I can’t even think of anything witty to say,” he added sadly.
“Guys, listen up!” Lena called over the crowd. “I know you want to take your things with you, but you can’t.”
“Why not? I have a very important conference to get to.” Dr. Jack Enright gripped his black suitcase tightly. He was running late, and that was the one thing he despised more than anything in the world.
Dick Francis pretended not to hear Lena’s words. He was a doctor, and he’d helped save the air marshal. He felt confident that he, out of any of the passengers, would be given special privileges.
“There are zombies down there, lots of them. Your suitcases will just slow you down.” Lena tried to convey how important it was to listen and leave the luggage behind, but their expressions worried her. “Take only what you need.”
A ripple of shock made its way around the passengers. Levi, the excited teenager, looked eagerly outside the window at the heavy grey skies. The lumbering grey zombies added to the sad reality. He counted six zombies standing directly next to the plane, and another dozen were moving about in no organized formation. He knew Lena was right.
“Mum, look. There’s loads of them.” Levi nudged his mother, Claire, to look out the window.
She looked at the zombies on the ground, remembering that her husband, Sean, was on the way to the airport. She just hoped he would come quickly. “I see them, Levi. Do you have everything you need?” she asked as calmly as she could.
Levi pulled his backpack onto his lap and sifted through the contents. There wasn’t a lot he needed to take. As he sorted through the bag, Claire kept impatiently checking her phone, waiting for a signal to call Sean.
Finally, the phone binged softly, telling Claire that it had connected to a tower. Without hesitating, she urgently dialed her husband’s number and waited as the line began to ring.
“Claire, oh my God. Are you okay?” he asked.
“Sean! We’re at the airport. Right now, we’re safe, but there are so many zombies!” Claire spoke quickly, afraid of what could happen if she didn’t.
“I’m on my way, honey. Stay safe.”
Claire nodded, knowing that was all she could do. She had to keep herself and the children safe. She just didn’t know how to stay that way with all the zombies wandering around. “I will. Just hurry!”
The line went dead, and Claire collected her thoughts. Her husband was on his way, and the other passengers were getting ready to disembark the flight. She could do this. They could do this.
Lena looked at Barry. “I guess it’s time to use the slide,” she said.
Barry smiled, unable to contain his excitement as he hurried down the aisle to where Captain Petrus and Crystal were finishing the preparations. “Is it ready?”
Captain Petrus nodded. “Yes, sir, it is.”
Chapter Three
The winding roads to the power plant were silent and slightly eerie in the overcast grey weather. The once bustling streets were dormant, and there was no sign of anyone around. The small shops that lined the road were quiet and empty.
Sean closely followed the vehicle in front of him, tapping the steering wheel as he drove. He hoped to find some form of life soon, and it made him uncomfortable seeing the city so vacant and silent.
“What is Sergeant Turner doing?” Mallory Kearley’s strong voice crackled loudly through the intercom system of their Land Rovers. The modifications had included an intercom between the different vehicles so they would be safe on the route to the power plant.
Sean was taken off guard. Sergeant Terry Turner was still ahead of him, leading the convoy to the power plant. They needed to protect the power plant.
As Sean looked closer at the official vehicle in front of him, he saw that Sergeant Turner was signaling to go left. The bright orange blinking light broke through the extra armor they had fitted to the rear bumper. Sean was confused. He was almost certain it was a right turn to the plant, so he was unsure why Sergeant Turner would signal to go left.
A static crackle blared through the speaker. “Hey, Sean, can you tell what he’s doing up there?” It was Mallory again.
Sean had no idea what the sergeant was doing. He wasn’t sure if he should follow the sergeant or turn right and stick to the original plans of heading to the power plant.
“I’ll ask,” Sean said into the intercom system.
Sean called out to Sergeant Turner over the comm system.
“Yeah, Sean?” he casually said.
“Where are you going?” Sean asked as the sergeant turned left. A temporary shot of fear coursed through his veins. He stopped at a stop sign on the turn longer than he should have, hoping the sergeant would quickly answer him.
There was a pause, and the silence made Sean a little uncomfortable. Without an answer, he made a quick decision to turn right. He was now the first Land Rover in his platoon’s convoy.
“Follow the plan, Sean. I’ll be with you as soon as possible,” Sergeant Turner finally said.
“Sir, my kids and wife are at the London Airport. They just landed. I want to go help them, sir.” The words burst out of him in a rush. He had wanted to tell the sergeant about his family but was torn between fulfilling his duties and protecting the ones he loved the most.
“Which flight were they on?” Sergeant Turner asked. He knew that Lena was on a flight from New York City. If Lena was on the same flight as Sean’s wife and kids, he knew they would be safe from danger. Lena would do all she could to keep the passengers safe.
Sean racked his brain as he tried to remember. He knew the flight was from New York City, but he wasn’t sure what flight numbe
r it was. He hadn’t thought to check the email for details since he came back from Syria. “Uh, it’s from JFK. New York City JFK. Not sure the number, though, but I can check.”
“My daughter, Lena, was on a flight from New York City this morning,” Sergeant Turner told Sean. The road ahead of the sergeant was just as quiet as the one he had just turned off. Occasionally, there was a single zombie dragging itself around. The sight of silence was sad and lonely.
Sean flicked through his emails at top speed while doing his best to focus on the road. He finally found the email containing the flight details for Claire’s flight. “Flight 1997. That’s her flight number, Sergeant. Flight 1997 from JFK to London.”
Sergeant Turner silently thanked the stars that Lena and Sean’s family were on the same flight. “They’ll be safe, Sean,” he paused swallowing hard. Saliva had built up in his throat. “Lena is on that flight. She’ll protect them.”
Sean continued down the route to the power plant. They’d left the main streets of the town center behind them and were driving slowly down an empty, winding road. The empty shell of a red car sat on the side of the road, abandoned and laid to waste.
Farther down the road from the empty car was a large pool of rippling blood. It flowed with the soft breeze and reminded the platoon that this was another battlefront. Sean had expected to leave Syria behind him when he arrived back in the UK, but seeing the pool of blood reminded him of the streets of Syria. It reminded him of his broken comrade Cordell and his blown-up body.
He continued driving, trying to leave the memories behind him. He had another battle in front of him to win.
“I’m heading to the airport now. You have to get to the power plant, okay?” Sergeant Turner finally responded Sean’s more pressing concern.
Sean sighed a breath of relief, knowing his family would be safe with both Sergeant Turner and Lena. Two highly trained UKSF officers and friends. He knew he didn’t have to worry anymore and could focus on the task ahead of him.
In the back of his mind, his wife and kids’ safety lurked, ready to torment and taunt him with lies and confusion to distract him from the job he needed to do. He leaned forward, focusing fully on the empty road. More and more car wrecks littered both sides of the road, but there were no people, just the ghostly shells of the machines.
“I will keep you up to date,” Sean told the sergeant as he continued down the road which had turned into a graveyard of discarded vehicles.
“I’m parking at the airport now. I’ll keep you in the loop here, too. Good luck, Sean,” he said.
Sean focused on the road. “Yes, sir. I will. Over and out.” He passed the abandoned wreckage of what was once a Jeep Wrangler. The once powerful monster had been smashed into metal swiss cheese.
“Sean, where did the sergeant go?” Nathan Davids asked. The pig-faced soldier was at the back of the convoy, confident and even excited about the zombie outbreak.
“Ring, ding, ring, ding. Where did the sergeant go!” Ryan Moo’s squeaky voice sung the words out of tune, and Sean burst out laughing at his silly voice.
The voice of Kearley burst through the intercom. “What the hell was that, Moo?” she asked, surprised. She had no idea what song he was singing.
“It’s ‘What Did the Fox Say?’ Have you never heard of it?” he seemed genuinely surprised they had never heard the popular song.
Sean didn’t reply at first. There was a zombie in a bright orange, high-visibility vest in the middle of the road. The zombie didn’t move, seemingly unaware of the powerful vehicles rumbling towards him. He didn’t even turn to face the loud noises of the Land Rovers.
Sean panicked, wondering what he should do with the obstacle. It was a zombie, and he thought it would be best to kill it, but the thought of running over the brightly clad zombie sent chills down his spine. This would be the first zombie he’d had to dispose of. “Hang on. Zombie at twelve o’ clock,” he said into the intercom.
“Copy that, Welch. I see him, too, go get him!” Moo assured the rest of the convey.
Sean felt safe within his heavy metal confines. The strong battering ram on the front end would hurt the zombie more than it would impact the Rover. He floored the accelerator and smiled at the force from the powerful machine. Sean and his Land Rover picked up speed, and the loud vehicle crashed forcefully into the standing zombie.
Bits of grey flesh sprung up and littered his windscreen, and the yellow hard hat rolled to the side of the road as he hit it head on. It was a mess of fabrics and flesh as the Land Rover easily killed the zombie on the road.
“Gross! Cool, but gross,” Ryan Moo cackled.
Sean was impressed at his Land Rover and the power in his own two hands. He breathed quickly as the zombie was left far behind the convoy. He cheered with the others over the intercom as they continued on the road to the power plant.
Nathan Davids soon became impatient. “Very smooth interlude there, Sean,” he sneered, glancing behind him to see the remaining grey lump on the road. It looked like normal road kill.
“Davids, so nice of you to join in this communication,” Ryan Moo’s voice was cheery and upbeat.
“Well fuck you, too.” Davids tried to control his temper.
“So, back to the question,” Kearley interjected. She hated hearing the men of the platoon argue. “Where is Sergeant Turner going?”
Sean came to an abrupt stop. There were a dozen cars scattered across the road, forming a barricade and effectively stopping the convoy continuing their journey. Ryan Moo screeched to a stop behind Sean, slamming on the brakes before he crashed into Sean’s Land Rover.
Ryan breathed heavily as the vehicle groaned under the abrupt strain. “What now?” he asked quickly into the intercom. “Why the hell did you stop?”
“Can’t you see all those cars, or are you a blind prick?” Sean was agitated from all the interruptions. He just wanted to be at the power plant already.
Ryan was seething mad. He hated when people called him names. “I am not blind or a prick,” he angrily spoke in the intercom. “I just wanted to know what was going on. No need to call me bloody awful names.”
“Sorry, man. Just frustrated at another roadblock.”
“There’s another roadblock?” Davids aggressively asked.
“Yeah, a dozen cars. It’s pretty big,” Sean said. He looked left and right, but he couldn’t see a way around. Muddy field on both sides, and a large ditch that stretched between the field and the road on the right. “Big ditch on one side, muddy field on the other.”
Ryan Moo opened the door and climbed down. He went towards the field on the passenger side, investigating the ditch. It was wide and steep, and even the Land Rovers wouldn’t make it across. Ryan Moo circled around the vehicle and looked at the open field on the other side.
“Muddy quagmire,” Ryan mused.
Sean chuckled at Ryan’s vocabulary. “Wow. Nice, long word, bro, but what do we do to get around it?” Sean asked.
“In theory, the Land Rovers should be able to grip the muddy ground. We could just drive around the barricade if it works.” Ryan and Sean walked towards the barricade as Ryan spoke. He was a combat engineer, and he was confident his plan would work. He’d done the same thing several times, and it had worked every time before.
Sean mulled the words over. Ryan’s plan sounded good, and he thought it could work. They walked around the barricade to see the damage. Beyond the barricade was a road littered with abandoned cars. There were so many that the road was undrivable.
“Well, what now?” Sean asked Ryan. “Your genius only gets us to the other side of the barricade. What do we do after that?”
Ryan chewed his lip as he walked amongst the graves of the cars. It was hard to imagine how the road had become so clogged. There were blood stains on the windows and grey specks of zombie flesh added to the potholes in the asphalt.
“Hmm, we need all the Land Rovers,” Ryan said as he began forming his plan. “We could try driving
across the soggy ground over that way.” He pointed across the field to the hazy horizon. “The road follows round the field, so we could save time by crossing it.”
“What if the tires don’t grip?” Sean asked, pointing out an obvious potential flaw. “What then?”
Ryan thought for a moment. “Well, then fuck me,” he said glumly before heading back to his vehicle.
“God help us if they don’t grip then,” Sean muttered to himself and followed Ryan back to the line of parked Rovers.
Kearley and Davids were waiting for Sean and Ryan to return, and neither of them looked hopeful.
“Well, time to bring the good news.” Kearley was afraid of what they would say. She couldn’t see a way around the problem and thought they would have to turn back and find another route altogether.
Davids crossed his arms over his chest and waited in silence. He was certain they would have to turn back and find another route to the power plant which would cost them precious time. They were losing time like water through cupped hands.
“We’re going across that field,” Ryan said flatly, cutting to the chase. He liked it when people were blunt. It was easier to deal with the truth than shaky, unconfident answers. “There’s no way around the barricade on asphalt, so we’re going across the field to where the road curves around.” Ryan pointed as he spoke, so the rest of the platoon was on the same page.
“So, we never actually got an answer from you, Sean. Where is Sergeant Turner?” Davids asked again. He hoped he would get an honest answer, face-to-face, instead of over the intercom system.
“Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot.” Sean chuckled. “He went to the airport. His daughter was on a flight home, and he’s gone to help with the zombies out there, too.”
Davids nodded. It made sense, so he didn’t say anything else. He didn’t feel there was anything else that needed to be said.
“Alright, let’s go,” Ryan said, breaking the silence.
Sean headed around his vehicle and pulled himself up into the driver’s seat. Within seconds, it roared to life beneath him. He turned onto the field, hoping and praying the Land Rovers would grip to the wet ground.
Pandemic Z | Book 2 | Pandemic Z 2 Page 3
