The Week of the Dead (36 page)

Redbeard was facing off against the Alpha. ‘
Nidhug
’ he called it, a Norse mythological dragon that fed off humans. Redbeard felt his blood boil as he gritted his teeth as he held the shield against the back hand of the monstrous creature covered in scales. He spun around the fist and brought the mace to the creature’s hairy back. It let out a yelp as Redbeard raised his mace to finish the job. The Alpha took this opportunity to sweep Redbeard’s feet out from under him. He fell with a thud. He saw the clawed fingers wrap around the shield that was strapped to his arm. The Alpha picked Redbeard up by the shield, trying to shake him loose. After a few shakes, Redbeard was tossed into the air. Lucky for him, Razor and Ferret cushioned his fall. “Ow, fuck!” one of them exclaimed as they felt their leader’s massive body collide with them.

Isaac was doing skin checks with people coming from the melee. He was examining a young girl. Paul looked on as he was next in line. Phil was being checked by one of the nurses from the hospital who hitched a ride. Isaac saw a mark on the girl’s ankle. It looked fresh. It looked like a bite mark. The veins around the site were turning blue and black. There was white fluid seeping from the wound. Isaac got Erica’s attention with a specific glare. They stopped what they were doing and took the girl to the other side of the vehicles. They faced her forward and without a word, Isaac fired a round straight to the back of her worn pigtails.

Paul did the math and knew what had just happened. He didn’t see any wound. He instantly felt fear fill his body. Paul looked at his father who had a tear coming from his face. Paul looked at Isaac and Erica coming back from the back of the Rolling Pig without the little girl. Paul instinctively ran for the trees. “Paul! No!” Phil shouted as he started running after him.

“Stay here, I’ll take care of this!” Erica said as she too took after the boy.

Redbeard got back to his feet. He raised his mace and screamed at the creature. The Alpha responded with his shout as well. Redbeard held his shield in front of him as he charged the creature. He felt the collision with the Nidhug as they both collided like sumo wrestlers. They were bumping and pushing back and forth. Redbeard did it again but stepped to the side. The dumb Alpha used all of its body weight and fell to the ground. Redbeard stood on the giant rocklike hand and brought his mace down upon the creature with such force that his mace made sparks against the asphalt under the creature’s head. The second Alpha saw its companion just recently eradicated. It released a growl and began to charge toward Redbeard, who was still focused on the headless Alpha on the ground. He turned to see the beast coming at him from the side of his helmet.

He was caught off-balance. He didn’t have the footing to hold the shield up. He closed his eyes expecting the blow or bite of the next Alpha. He shouted a vicious roar. The second Alpha was coming at him from thirty feet. Its speed did not match the size of the creature. It looked like a concrete wall with legs coming toward him. He tried to reposition himself but tripped over the corpse next to him.

Over the gunshots, there was a loud “yee-haw!” coming over the radio. By the time Redbeard had refocused on the Alpha, there was a dump truck where he had previously looked. The dump truck was backing up. It made beeping noise as it came to a quick stop. “Hit it again!” was heard over the loud Hemi engine. The dump truck rolled over the Alpha again, smashing its deformed skull like a piece of pottery filled with goo. Humans jumped out of the bed of the dump truck. Most were dressed in flannel and hunting gear, except for the one in the driver seat; he wore camouflage.

Erica and Phil were shouting for Paul who was booking it through the forest. His little legs were fast. His dad wanted him to play sports, so he was accustomed to sprinting down the sidewalks of Philadelphia streets. “What’s the kid’s name?” Erica asked.

“Paul!” Phil shouted. “It’s not what you think! They are good people!” Phil shouted over them. Erica found a few stray zombies walking through the muck. She centered three slugs into two of their skulls. Paul heard the shots and took a turn to the left. Thinking someone else had been executed or they were shooting at him.

At the sight of the dump truck spilling its contents of humans onto the battleground, most of the first group stopped firing. Jamison, Walker, Gavin, Reynolds, Clint, Devin, Faith, and Tara all stopped firing. Redbeard, Razor, and Ferret were still shield bashing zombies with the aid of Rune. They would get a single zombie in between their shields and hold it closed as the other one removed its head. The humans jumped out of the dump truck firing civilian weapons. Some were wearing hunter camouflage with orange vests or hats. There was a female who jumped out wielding a broken stop sign that she swung like a hammer.

There were two college age kids who jumped out last. One was tall and thin. He had long blond hair held back in a topknot. He was firing a home-defense style M14 with a pistol on his hip. Behind him was a shorter and chubbier boy with a head of curly hair that seemed to connect with his bushy beard. The dark rimmed glasses fit with the worn-out button-down shirt and shorts that were once clean. This human carried a sawn-off shotgun. The makeshift pistol grip was being held by his left hand, while the right one was holding the barrel mount that looked like a triangular weed-whacker handle that went over the barrel and was connected to the pump. These two college-aged kids ran to the front of the dump truck. The chubby one fired two rounds of his shotgun into the crowd.

“Holy shit!” Ethan exclaimed as he tapped Reynolds on the boot with his elbow. The driver of the dump truck saluted. “Corporal ‘Tripod’ McAdams reporting for duty!” he said. Ethan was the first to grab the young man by the back of the neck and give him a hug. He held on to the back of his neck and looked at the boy again.

“Holy shit! You made it!”

“We heard you screaming over the radio. We came to your aid,” Tripod said as he fired a sidearm.

“We appreciate it,” Ethan said. “Mop it up!” Jamison shouted as he jumped down from the truck.

The humans took the command in stride. They all came to the vehicles. Fresh magazines were slammed in guns. Tara and Faith both turned to keep watch as the line of humans moved forward. Lead by the Vikings crouched behind their shields, the humans walked over the battleground. They moved in a line, like a modern-day phalanx. Any creature that still moved was executed. There was one that had its legs blown off. Redbeard took the time to lift his large shield and brought it down upon the crawler like a guillotine. They reached the end of the makeshift ambush. “Is anyone hurt?” There was a sea of “Nos” and “Nu-uhs.” Redbeard took off his helmet. “Hizzah!” he shouted as he shook his mace and shield in the air. Those who were integrated into the Vikings let out a “Hizzah!” They were met with blank faces from those who were wearing cotton as opposed to armor or ballistics vests.

By the time the gunfire had ended, one of the nurses from the ambulance had come forward to the trucks. “They went into the woods!” was all she could muster from her large panting frame. Devin looked at the ones from his group for a second and hurried toward the ambulance. Razor and Rune were with him in stride.

Playing in the Woods

Chapter 74

Friday 1000 CST

Elizabethtown

L
ittle Paul had scurried into the dark forest. He took a stop at a tree base. There he caught his breath. He pressed his face against the tree in time to see Erica’s red hair running past him. Paul pressed his back to the tree and closed his eyes. There was a shuffling noise coming from the right side. Paul kept his eyes closed as the shuffling came closer. He heard an excited grunt as the sloppy footsteps came closer. Paul could smell the iron-like metallic smell of blood. He tensed up. He kept his eyes closed. From his hearing, he knew it was getting closer. He let out a scream as he got down in a squatting position.

Feeling the dirt on his bottom, he listened. The shuffling feet were not heard. He heard a new grunt. He felt something kick at his feet. The next grunt was a little lighter in tone. Paul kept his eyes closed. His heart raced as the thing in front of him squatted down. Whatever was on the other side of his eyelids brought a hand down the back side of his head. There Paul tensed even harder. A grunt was even softer this time, and the hands brought Paul’s forehead against his. Paul felt the heat coming off this new individual as they sat there holding forehead against forehead. Paul opened his eyes one at a time. He saw the
Rammstein
band shirt covered in blood. He looked under one of the forearms to find a gray body covered in swamp muck lying motionless on the ground with a wooden club next to it.

By this time, multiple galloping feet appeared. Rune stood up and pulled the boy behind him and raised his club again. He waited for whatever was on the other side of the tree. Erica stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Rune. Rune stood in front of Paul with his club raised. Erica came from the trees followed by Razor. Devin and Phil showed up from the road side of the woods. Phil ran and did a power-slide move and scooped Paul up. “You run fast, buddy!” he said as a tear rolled down his cheek.

“Daddy, why did they kill that girl?” The little boy said with a slight tinge of a northern accent and snot coming out of his nose.

“Well, because, buddy, she was sick and she was going to turn into one of those things,” Phil said as he pointed at the dead thing under Rune’s feet. “They were trying to protect us.”

Phil stood up and led everyone out toward the vehicles. He grabbed Rune by the shoulder. The teenager was taken aback when the sobbing man hugged him. “Thank you,” Phil whispered sobbingly at Rune. Rune, who was very affectionate, but still wasn’t sure about these strangers, simply patted Phil on the back twice, signaling the end of the hug.

Louie’s

Chapter 75

Friday 1500 CST

Elizabethtown

A
fter the mop up, everyone moved the vehicles to the center of Elizabethtown. Tripod was leading in the dump truck. There were random zombies coming out from behind buildings and out of alleyways. They were picked off by the hillbillies in the dump truck before they mobbed up. They came to an intersection, and Tripod parked the truck. Everyone followed suit. The newly formed motorcade stopped outside a lonely building with the name “Louie’s” on the outside. “Why are we stopping?” Erica asked. Tripod looked at her and Jamison.