The Week of the Dead (24 page)

Ethan wrapped the revolver and belt around in a circle and stuck it under his arm. “It will be taken care of, sir. Now if you’ll excuse me, I would like to take a violent shit.” The captain exchanged a strange glance at the young man. “Oh yeah, man, all the coffee I’ve choked down, plus being stuck in a tank with Runt, I’ve got to poop
very
badly!” The captain shook his head and smiled. Ethan attempted to salute as he walked out and made his way down the hall. Reynolds was waiting for him outside the office. He stood after he heard the knob turn.

“What did he say?”

“We did a great job! Gotta poop!” Ethan responded as he quickly paced down the hall.

Road trip

Chapter 53

Wednesday 0650 CST

Millington

T
he night before, miles and miles away, Devin and Erica were gathering their belongings. “We need every vehicle packed with supplies. We will pack tonight and leave in the morning. Agreed?” Devin asked those who looked at him. They moved vehicles in and out of the bay doors of the hardware store. As soon as they opened the doors, creatures would pour in. More and more would arrive. Some would be stronger than the others. Everyone slept on the roof that night. Devin told them it would be safer up there.

The next morning, Redbeard tapped Devin’s boot to waken him. “This sun is rising,” Redbeard said in his booming voice. People who heard him rolled and stirred. No one had a good night’s rest. They were being hailed from the creatures gathering outside. “Will they ever shut the fuck up?” Razor asked as he looked over the side of the roof. “Oh crap,” he said softly.

“What is it?” Redbeard asked.

“There’s a lot more of them.”

“How many more?” Devin overheard.

“At least double of last night,” Razor said.

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Jamison came around and spit over the ledge.

“Easy for you to say. You weren’t running around with them last time.” Devin beamed.

“This doesn’t change anything; we knew there were going to be some of these things. We just didn’t know how many. We’ll just stick to the plan,” Ferret said as he walked to the ledge as well.

“Why don’t we just use another bomb?” asked Walker.

“They’re too close to the building. It might be blown out from under us. Can’t risk it. Let’s get everyone ready, and then we’ll deal with it. “Everyone! Get up! It’s time to move. We have a long day ahead of us. Let’s gather our stuff and go.”

After everyone gathered their things, a couple with a blond-headed child came to Devin who was loading things in the back of the pickup with the machine gun in the back of it. “Excuse me,” the elder man asked.

“Yes, sir, how can I help you?” Devin asked as he turned his attention.

“We’d like to split up and go our separate way.” Devin sat on the tailgate taken aback.

“What do you mean?”

“My parents have a house close to the Loosahatchie River, and we would like to be with our kin.”

“Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but the Loosahatchie is in the opposite direction. It’s the direction we just came from.” Devin looked at the wife and the child. “You two, do you wish to go with him or with us?” The wife picked up the little girl and held her husband’s hand. “Jamison, toss me one of those pistols.” Jamison did so without glancing his direction. Devin looked at the man who seemed to be a few years older than he was. “This is a 9mm. The safety is here. You’ve got a full magazine of fifteen rounds. If you get bitten, shoot yourself in the head,” Devin said as he handed the man the pistol.

The words weighed heavily on the man as Devin went back to packing the truck. The family turned and went away. Erica arrived. “What was that about?”

“They wanted to leave. They are going to the Loosahatchie,” Devin said in a monotone.

“Did you try to stop them?” she asked.

“No, he is a man doing what he thinks is best for his family. I gave him a gun and told me to shoot his self in the head if he got bitten. Hopefully, it won’t be a waste of ammo, and he might take a few of them out beforehand.” Erica could feel the coldness coming from Devin. “I had no right to keep them somewhere they didn’t want to be,” he said sharply.

The sun had shown through the high windows of the building. “Time to go people!” Jamison shouted over the commotion on the concrete floor as everyone finished packing their vehicles. “We have a lot of ground to cover. Let’s not waste the sunshine. Every vehicle gets a walkie-talkie. We’re all on channel 5. You hold the button and talk and release. This is how we will communicate,” he said as he displayed the walkie-talkie. “Every vehicle is getting a firearm as well, pistols and shotguns only. Since we are the only ones with military training, we keep the automatics with us. Handheld weapons are free at your disposal. Redbeard, would you show them.” Jamison stuck out his hand to help Redbeard onto the platform he was standing on.

“All right people…” He turned to Jamison with his mace in hand. “You should aim for the head and neck area.” He demonstrated a blow on Jamison as if he was a creature. “This will disorient them if not kill them. If you hit them in the chest, it might slow them down, but they will get back up. They will not stop until they’re down for good. If your weapon gets stuck in one of them, you’ll leave it where it is. Trying to pull it out will result in you dying. Trust me. That’s how we lost Erik. He got his sword stuck in one of them and tried to pull it out, and we were too late to rescue him. Odin is with him.” The Vikings Elite all commented “Odin be with us” simultaneously.

“Let’s get this show on the road. Jamison will lead in the truck. Everyone else file behind us. Vikings, you ride alongside, and we will come up in the rear with the little truck,” Devin said as he motioned everyone to the bay door.

“Coast is clear,” Razor said as he looked out the little window to the vehicles that were previously loaded and parked the night before. Jamison checked his rifle and nodded at Razor. Razor pulled the chains to open the door. With the clicking of the chains, everyone crept forward in a group. Those who already had weapons were pointing them in every direction. One of the creatures was leaning against the side of the building. It was quickly and loudly taken out by one of the women with a shotgun. She cocked the shotgun and kept moving like it was just a regular day.

Jamison fired up the truck with an echo of similar engines singing back to his diesel leading the orchestra. Erica handed Devin a pair of sunglasses. “You’re kidding, right?” he looked at her.

“These were the only pair I could find.”

“Yeah, they’re chick glasses.” He objected.

“Fine, don’t wear them,” she said as she slid a similar pair upon her face.

“Fine,” he sighed. They started the caravan again heading north except for the couple who headed toward the river. They broke off at the first major intersection. Devin pressed the radio button. “Good luck.” He heard no response.

After a few hours of silence, the radio clicked on with the sound of Walker impersonating an enthusiastic radio host. “Gooooooood Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is Walker, call name Big Truck. Behind us we have Yellow Sedan. Yellow Sedan, give us a ‘Hell yeah,’ would you please?” The radio clicked again with an unfamiliar voice.

“Yes, this is the Yellow Sedan. Hell yeah!” the radio expelled an old shaky voice.

“Sounds like my grandmother,” Devin said to Erica with a chuckle. Walker came back on the walkie-talkie.

“I want every vehicle to go down the line and with their call names. Don’t get fancy. Go ahead.” After the Yellow Sedan, there were Red SUV, Grey SUV, White Coupe, The Blue Hybrid, Red Pickup, White Sedan, and The Viking Mobile that Tara was driving and was surrounded by the Vikings on motorcycles, and finally Devin picked up the walkie-talkie behind the armored car.

“Last call name: Can of Whoop-ass!” Devin said into the radio.

“I said don’t get too fancy.” Walker clicked back.

“Well, I got the .50 in the back,” Devin retorted.

“Devin?” Walker said.

“That’s right, Big Truck. I guess I’ll change it to Caboose. How are the roads looking?”

“According to this map and the four energy drinks I’ve had this morning, it’s looking good. We’re going to stay on this two-lane highway until we come to Brownsville, and hopefully we’ll make it to Humboldt by night fall. We’ll stay on the back roads out of the big cities. Hopefully we won’t find a lot of resistance. Come back,” Walker asked into the radio.

“Understood. This is Caboose. If you have a problem, do tell over the radio. There is no shame in asking to pee or if you have vehicle problems. We are going to get through this. We are going to survive,” he said as he put the radio on the seat in between him and Erica.

He looked at her looking out the window. “Nice shoes,” he said as he noticed her new outfit and footwear. “Couldn’t take the boots anymore, huh?” he asked with a smirk. Erica responded by wiggling her toes through the sneakers.

“It was hard to run in those big things. I felt like I was wearing a clown’s shoes.”

Devin broke into a big laughter. “I’m glad you didn’t find my red nose.”

The Changing

Chapter 54

Wednesday 0900 CST

Fort Knox

A
fter Ethan finished his well-deserved toilet break, he touched the toilet paper feeling its coarseness. “Well, here’s to the end of the world,” he said as he ripped off a few squares of something that felt like tree bark between his cheeks. “There’s probably enough friction to start a fire for fuck’s sake,” he commented. After everything was taken care of, he stood up and strapped the gun belt around his waist. He looked at himself in the mirror. He reflected on how just a few days ago he was a kid in college wasting his life and money studying things he’d never cared about. Now he was dressed in military clothes with a tactical vest on. His hair was tucked under a bandana. He felt like a gunslinger of the old West. “Hello, pilgrim,” he said in his best John Wayne voice. He heard a banging on the door. He turned to see Runt standing in the frame. “Sup?” he skipped the pleasantries with Runt.

“You got to see this,” he said as he sprinted down the hall at full speed.

Ethan followed suit.

They came to the ledge of the wall where a group of creatures stood. “What’s this about?” Michaels came at the beaconing as well.

“They’re changing, sir.” Michaels and Ethan climbed next to Reynolds who spoke as he was looking at something through binoculars. “You’d better see this.” All of them watched as they saw a single creature in the distance. It fell to its knees as it began to metamorphosis. Its torso expanded upward making it taller. Small holes appeared through the skin on the ribcage. The ribs seemed to come out of the skin threshold like body spikes. The creature howled as its jaw unhinged. The masseter muscles expanded to make the creature’s head wider to the point of the chin. “Holy God!” Michaels called out as he watched the creature change into an Alpha creature.

“Like caterpillars to butterflies,” Ethan said.

“We’re so fucked!” Runt complained.

“Easy. It doesn’t know we’re even here,” Ethan said as he watched the creature stand up and begin sniffing the air. The creature turned and faced the concrete wall making eye contact with Ethan through the binoculars. The creature let out a sound from its new body. The outcry was met by another similar noise that came from the tree line. “Two o’clock!” someone shouted. From the tree line came another. This one was mostly covered in mud. Its hair had fallen out. When it came into full view, the group saw that the skin on its fingers had been shredded and degloved exposing long bones that came to a point. “That one brought company!” someone said.

“Reynolds, can you take them out?”

“Aye, sir.” Reynolds motioned for a rifle from his wall guard. He leaned into the rifle and looked down the iron sights. “Aim for the fucked-up ones. Everyone, fire!”

The creatures saw this and began running toward the wall. “They can run?” Michaels asked from behind the binoculars. The only thing that answered was Reynolds firing four rounds followed by a round of single shots fired. Reynolds had aimed for the eyes. That didn’t stop them. The Alpha creatures came to the wall in a crashing speed. The wall guard picked off the slower ones as they came closer. Reynolds dropped the rifle and sprayed a line of fire at the creatures against the wall. The smell of kerosene and death rose to their nostrils. “Holy fuck,” Runt said. “Yeah, remind me not to piss him off.”

Rainstorm

Chapter 55

Wednesday 1400 CST

Brownsville

J
amison led the caravan up Highway 14 going north. Occasionally, they would have to weave around obstacles, but the roadway was usually clear. It felt like late afternoon as the sky began to darken. “Hey guys, I think it’s about to rain,” Devin said to the walkie-talkie. His sentence was followed by a thunder clap that shook the windows of the small truck.

“We copy you, Caboose; Big Truck almost needed a new pair of pants.”

“We need to store the bikes,” Tara said over the radio. There was an instant downpour of rain. The Vikings took the rain in stride. The transport truck being driven by Jamison pulled over to a gas station on the side of the road. The Vikings pulled under the cover. Jamison stopped the truck outside of the gas station. The other cars followed in tow. “Looks abandoned.” Devin heard over the radio. “Everything is abandoned these days.” He heard the voice from the Gray SUV. “Yeah, but this looks like it hasn’t been open in years.” Walker pulled out his map and flashlight as lightning lit up the sky briefly. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything around here for a couple of miles.” Devin listened as he watched the Vikings climb into the armored car with Tara behind the wheel.

“Vikings, are you safe?” he asked. Redbeard’s voice came over the radio.

“We’re fine, just a little wet.”

“All right, looks like we’re going to camp here until the rain let’s up. Kill your engines, and crack your windows. Everyone, just be cool,” Devin answered. He saw headlights turn off. “If you step out of the vehicle, call it over the radio. Otherwise, we think you’re one of them.” He was met with a stream of “Yeses” and “OKs.”