900 Miles (Book 2): 900 Minutes Page 14

  “Did Gordon’s men takeoff? Is it clear?”I whispered above the roar of the fire, hoping that we could take off into the woods and away from this hell.

  “No, I haven’t seen them move,”Kyle said without hesitation.“They’re out there.”

  It was killing time, and I didn’t see a clear way to make sure we weren’t going to be on the wrong end of that equation.

  A shriek, thirty feet from where we thought Gordon’s men to be, broke our conversation.

  “Ohh God! No no noooo!”Two men jumped up, scattering out into the parking lot. Three of the faster monsters were descending upon the poor bastard they had left behind, who was calling out to the Lord Almighty. Screaming at the top of what his smoke-filled lungs would allow, he discharged his weapon into the air as the first Z caught hold of his leg, tripping him backwards while the other creatures dove down atop the unlucky son of a bitch, pinning him down.

  I didn’t have the right vantage point to see everything that happened. However, I could see his arms flailing around trying to hold back the dead as he madly threw punches into the air. The bloody spray accompanying the dark flesh being torn from his body was the last thing visible before he finally stopped moving.

  Wildly firing their weapons into the creatures surrounding them, the two men, now in the middle of the parking lot, stood at each other’s backs. They spun around, discharging a flurry of bullets into the dead circling up around them.

  The chest cavity of one of the Zs blew out toward us. I could actually see the muzzle shot of the weapon through the dripping hole. Relentlessly, the monster continued to advance on the guy until he pulled his shit together and put a bullet into the thing’s skull.

  We were knee-deep in death. Complete mayhem broke out as both of our two little groups stepped from our hiding places, ready to kill, or be killed. Gordon’s boys were less than twenty feet from us, and taking the bulk of the onslaught. Even with the light from the forest fire now engulfing everything around us, the gunshots still flashed brightly as each Z dropped around them.

  The monsters were emerging from the forest in larger numbers now. Kyle appeared to be saving his rounds and was taking them down with the butt of his shotgun. I watched in amazement as Jarvis, dragging his crippled leg behind him, used the wrought iron fence post that Kyle had found earlier with spectacular precision. Not flinching for a moment, he dropped each creature that came within striking distance.

  There was no hiding. We weren’t going to run up to the top of a building to get a break, or take off in our heavy duty Hummer to escape. We were in the open. We couldn’t even climb a tree to get away. They were all on fire.

  For the briefest of moments, the parking lot was devoid of creatures, giving us enough time to look over at Gordon’s men. They were breathing deeply, awaiting the next wave of the horde. To my surprise, they both appeared young. Too young to be out here firing guns at us. I remember thinking that they looked no older than seventeen. When I was that age, I was fighting acne. These kids were out here fighting for their lives.

  Making eye contact with us, both of the kids lifted their guns toward Kyle, who already had the shotgun pointed in their direction. The fire was blazing, weapons were drawn, and we had a giant horde of Zs honing in on our location.

  Yet nobody pulled the trigger…

  I watched as the kids looked at each other. Even through the smoke, I could see the fear in their eyes. This was a no-win situation, and we all knew it. Kyle nodded over toward the woods, while still making eye contact with them. In that moment, I realized that we had an unspoken agreement.

  The enemy of my enemy was now my friend - at least for the time being. The odds were too stacked against us. We needed each other to get out of here alive.

  I watched the taller of the two boys, who was wearing a red handkerchief around his forehead and a belt of ammunition across his chest, nod back and turn toward the woods with his machine gun.

  Teenagers are often plagued with delusions of invincibility. At least, I know I was at that age. Nobody can hurt them, and they’re about as cool in their own mind as they’ll ever be. Mix that with the fact that they know everything, and you have a dangerous combination.

  I had the feeling that any thoughts of knowing everything and being invincible left this kid’s mind the day the Zs started to rise. The same day he probably saw his first peer get mangled by the dead.

  An image like that will kick start the hell out of adulthood. Everybody grows up much quicker now. Nobody is given the chance to enjoy it.

  We’d be working together, trading each step through the blazing forest for the blood of the creatures that were quickly approaching. There was only one chance. We had to make it to the chopper.

  The unspoken agreement pulled our two small groups together. Kyle waved his arm at the two boys and they darted over toward us, keeping their eyes fixed on Kyle’s shotgun. No words were exchanged. We knew what had to be done as Kyle threw Jarvis over his shoulder, and we started down the seemingly long path leading back toward the water’s edge.

  With the backpack of meds bouncing off my back, every muscle in my body told me to stop. It screamed at me to lie down and rest.

  “Keep pushing! We’re almost at the water,”Kyle yelled at me as he realized I was starting to slow.

  The two creatures running toward us, completely on fire, helped me jump back to attention. They moved up on Kyle first. Jarvis, still over Kyle's shoulder, took a wide swing with Kyle’s fence post, knocking both of the melting creatures off their feet. They struggled, trying to get back up, the smell of their burning flesh momentarily filling the air as I leapt over their smoldering bodies like hurdles, and kept moving toward the water.

  Don’t look back!…flashed through my mind…Keep moving!

  Hitting the trail back at the water’s edge, where we’d initially pulled ourselves out of the lake, Kyle turned back toward our two frenemies.

  “The chopper, it’s just past the lake over there, right?”he said, pointing toward where we’d seen it land earlier.

  They both paused, unsure of how to respond.

  “Yes or no, kid? No time to figure out whether we’re going to kill each other or not!”Kyle barked, prompting the taller of the boys with the ammunition belt across his chest to respond.

  “Yes,”Mr. Ammo said timidly, pointing over toward the lights that still glowed from where the helicopter sat.

  “Are there men waiting to ambush us?”

  Mr. Ammo looked to his friend, then back to Kyle while ever so slightly nodding yes once again.

  Kyle shook his head, as I reached a hand up to my face, trying to rub the smoke from my eyes.

  Covered in soot, I very quickly managed to dig more black dust into my eyelids, which felt more like sandpaper on the inside than actual skin. Inching toward the water’s edge, hoping to quickly splash them clean, I found myself frozen solid. Through the tears, I could just barely see the tiny seismic splashes that echoed off the nearby bank. It was as if someone was thumping a half-filled cup of milk, and my first instinct was that a bloated Z was floating nearby.

  “Holy effing shit!”I heard one of the boys call out from behind me. Guess they saw it too, and it wasn’t a zombie.

  Gazing down the shoreline, I nearly tripped backward as I realized what the source of the waves was. The rhythmic splashes running around the entire lake were caused by something much larger than one monster. The combined footsteps of the dead, marching toward us, were literally shaking the Earth.

  The crap in my eyes no longer mattered. Fear pushed me forward as I chased after our little group that had taken off like bats out of hell toward the landing spot.

  The horde was audible over the roar of the fire. Their moans, which created one giant whale-like bellow, had my skin crawling as we continued to rush down the trail. Looking over my shoulder toward the loudest point of noise, I could see some Zs dropping into the water across from us. However, the bulk of the horde was still further back.
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  If this were prehistoric times, I would have thought there was a herd of dinosaurs tearing through the forest. My heart leapt into my chest at the sight of the trees and brush, illuminated by the now clear moonlight, all being pushed down in the horde’s path. This army of the dead was tearing through anything in its way. Trees, fire, water - nothing would be stopping it from overwhelming us in just minutes.

  There are bad moments, and then there are moments so epically bad that you’re never quite the same. On a scale of one to ten, one being unicorns jumping out of a pot of gold and ten being ass-raped by a T-Rex…this moment was turning into a twelve.

  We were almost at the edge of the tree line that hid the helicopter when I saw that the fire had already spread to the tall dry grass that covered the field. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nearly vomited it back up as we stepped around the final burning tree to see that the helicopter was covered in Zs, all with flames fuming off of their burning flesh. The chopper appeared to have attempted a takeoff, but had crashed before it could get high enough to escape. It was tipped sideways with all the rotors snapped, and the glass on the front was busted through.

  The creatures were pressing their melting bodies against the chopper, tearing apart what was left of the pilot and a few other men. There were enough of them getting eaten alive to tell me that they had indeed stayed back by the chopper…no doubt the final trap to flush us out. Lucky for us, in the end, the only thing they flushed was their lives down the shitter as they were overrun by the creatures who’d gotten there first.

  “They tried to take off without us!”Mr. Ammo yelled out, almost surprised to see that they’d attempted to leave him and his friend.

  We all stood there, hunched over, trying to figure out what to do next. I watched as Gordon’s boys frantically looked around for any other fallen friends. The smaller of the two boys, who was holding a gun that was clearly too big for his stout frame, was at full alert—ready to blast anything that stepped out of the shadows. He had a shaved head, that giant gun, and a look in his eyes that screamed fear.

  Shaking with exhaustion and fueled by terror, I stared out at the sky, watching as the smoke from the forest mixed with the clouds, making it difficult to tell one from the other. The moon was shining, but only barely visible. I was trying to clear my mind, but not a plan in hell was popping into my brain.

  We’d rolled the dice, and came up with snake eyes. We all fucking knew it.

  Kyle turned toward the group, setting Jarvis down on the ground to rest his back. As the rest of us worked through the various stages of accepting defeat, Kyle stood a little taller, and lifted his shoulders a little higher. Looking at the chopper, then back at us, I could see something in his eyes, and it wasn’t surrender.

  “We’re heading there,”he said as he carefully pointed toward the woods with the least flames.

  “But that’s back where the horde is,”Mr. Ammo said.

  “Then stay here!”Kyle fired back.

  Mr. Ammo and his shorter friend stood dumbfounded.

  Kyle dug the butt of his rifle into the dirt below him, glaring at us as he belted out,“We are going to survive! We are notgoing to die like this! It’s time to ask yourself one thing. Do you got the stones to keep going?”

  Shifting his shoulders toward us, staring directly into our eyes, he took a deep breath and continued with a determination I hadn’t heard in his voice since the Arena.

  “Jarvis, you have the stones to make it back to your people? John, you got the stones to get back to your son? I’m going to push through this nightmare. I can tell you one thing, tomorrow I’m waking up next to Mia!”

  Standing a little taller, I met Kyle’s glare with a nod that told him I was ready for the fight. My son Tyler needed his father, and this war was far from over. Kyle nodded back, and then looked down at Jarvis, extending his arm. Jarvis shot out a hand, and he was pulled up to his feet.

  “Let’s get back to Avalon, boys!”He punctuated this by slamming the wrought iron fence post into the dry, rocky dirt at his feet.

  It was time to push ourselves to the next level of endurance. It was time to go further, dig deeper, push harder than we’d ever gone before. Only time would tell if we’d make it.

  We all thought we had the stones, even Gordon’s boys. Now it was time to prove it.

  Chapter 19

  NOTHING.

  The heat from the fire radiated against my skin, and it felt like the body armor I was wearing was starting to melt. I wasn’t sure if it was burning, but I could almost taste the smell of melting plastic in the back of my throat.

  For a moment, it felt as if the fire was alive, and moving in to cut off certain escape routes, blocking others with fallen debris. The bastard was daring us to try to make it, and putting up every defense it could throw at us.

  At one point, an entire tree dropped down directly in our path. With the blaze to the right and left of the trail, we couldn’t simply go around the tree, and the flames shooting off the bark in front of us were too high to jump over. On the verge of turning back, we watched as the smaller of Gordon’s boys lifted his oversized weapon and started to fire. Screaming with delight, as the bullets tore through the burning tree, he blew a hole just large enough for us to squeeze through. It was us versus this most ancient of man’s foes, and none of us wanted to let the fire win.

  A savagery pumped through my veins. The primal instinct to do whatever it would take to beat the flames. Another branch fell from above. Reaching up to shield my face, I knocked it away with my forearm. Feeling a burn across my chin, I realized my beard had caught fire. No stopping. No time to tend to the wound. It wasn’t the last one I’d get that day. We all kept pushing.

  We just had to make it to the pass beyond the lake. When we were nearly at the tree line that would take us around where the fire had not yet reached the brittle forest, I took one last look over my shoulder. With the exception of some creatures dropping directly into the lake, most likely destined to live a waterlogged existence along with what was left of Rodgers, the mega-horde appeared to be splitting in two around the edges. I couldn’t be sure, but we appeared to be on the far left side of the horde’s path.

  I could only hope that we’d be able to evade the bulk of the onslaught.

  As we hurried around the tree line, a gust of wind pushed our mismatched group back. As the black, now melted body armor across my shoulders flapped from the force, I realized that the flames we’d made it past were literally trying to suck us back, soaking up all of the oxygen from the forest ahead.

  Throwing caution to the wind, literally, we plowed through into the depths of the dark forest. With limited time to pass back between the fire and the horde that was quickly approaching, I went into a mental state that long distance runners often refer to as a runner’s high. I wasn’t even feeling my legs or my muscles, which I was sure would kick into full throbbing pain the next day; I found myself able to make each leap forward a little longer, pushing myself to move a little faster. Every step counted, and I knew it.

  Fear is an amazing thing. Scientists say that our ancestors evolved based on fight or flight, that most basic of human instincts, and it was kicking into full gear for all of us.

  I didn’t hear moaning at that point. Rather, as we came up close and personal with the creatures getting ready to overrun us, screams of terror were all that radiated through my mind. Looking back now, I’m not sure if it was me screaming or someone else in my group. For all I knew, we were all shitting bricks as the zombie horde hit our path.

  Kyle was leading the way, with Jarvis still across the top of his shoulders. For the briefest of moments, I witnessed Kyle trip up. Try as he might, he wasn’t going to keep this pace for much longer.

  The first of the horde began blocking our path, rolling onto the trail like an avalanche of sloppy shit running down a jagged hill. There were so many of the creatures sifting through the trees that there was nothing we could do but start to fire, swing, punch
…hell, even spit at the bastards.

  The stockier of Gordon’s boys didn’t let up on his trigger. Amongst the violent sparks of muzzle flash, nothing stood out more than the bullet cartridges flying off to his right. I don’t have a clue what kind of gun it was, but the cartridges were big enough to be nearly as loud hitting the ground as the gunfire itself was.

  Black spatter was blasting up all around us, and there was a point where I wasn’t sure who was friend and who was Z, all while we darted through the darkness attacking anything in our way.

  Through the moonlight, a steep, tree-covered hill emerged at the far side of the trail. Passing the bulk of the Zs in the front of the pack, I heard Kyle yell out something about just needing to make it to higher ground.

  You got the stones to get to your son, radiated through my mind. It was a challenge, not a question. Kyle always knew the right buttons to push.

  Sweat was rolling down my face, mixing with the soot melted across my forehead, making it near impossible to see.

  “Thirty yards, we can make it!”I heard someone yell out.

  Leaving the thickest of the horde’s numbers behind, I knocked through each monster in my path while attempting to avoid the now-thinning group ahead of us.

  With each step, I kept repeating the word“NOTHING!”Swing of the hammer, then another step.“NOTHING!”

  “Twenty yards!”I heard another person scream out.

  I looked up toward the direction of the voice, which gave the creature to my right just enough of an edge to snag my leg. Face hitting the dirt with a thud that rang through my ears, I found myself sliding through a thick broken branch which snapped across my shoulder. Momentarily dazed, I flipped over, having just enough time to look straight up at the only visible light in the sky, a series of magnificently floating embers which seemed to be gracefully swimming through the passing clouds. Then I felt my entire body jerk back.

  Grabbing for anything to hang on to, I started to panic at the realization that I was being dragged by my boot with two creatures fighting over which was going to get to sink its filthy teeth into my flesh.