Zombie Theorem (Book 1): The Culling (21 page)
I screamed when I noticed what was about to happen. The Master Sergeant grabbed the last soldier and launched him into the water. That one act gave two zombies enough time to tackle the Master Sergeant taking him to the ground and ripping into him and his gear. Just like Little Jonny, he pulled his side arm and started drilling holes into the heads of the zombies around him. He got to his feet shakily, waved at us, then ran into the crowd of zombies using his rifle to bash heads in. We heard his blood curdling screams then a single gunshot.
I pointed us toward the bay and increased our speed. I dropped my head feeling tears burning down my cheeks and blurring my vision. Then a big arm pulled me into an embrace. My stress level was so high I felt like I was out of control and my emotions were taking over. “Dude, for a man who was never a soldier you’ve done a masterful job keeping it together. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
A little hand slid into mine, I looked over at Angel and she smiled but with tears in her eyes. “We have further to go. I need you to come back to me.” I stopped crying and looked into her soft little eyes. I was drawn back for a second, she had one pale blue eye and one brown. I wiped my eyes with my right hand and gave her a little smile.
“You’re right we do have farther to go. Thank you.” I whispered the last part just so she could hear me. She winked took Brian’s massive hand and lead him out of the pilot house, leaving me alone. I straightened up and scanned the waters.
Vic and Kuppers came in then, they looked out onto the bay. “So where are we going my Pilot?” asked Kuppers.
“Not sure yet. But the traffic is really picking up. I don’t think it’s safe to be floating around. What do the NG guys say?” I sounded and felt a little more in control again.
“They said they called in for a Helo to come and get them. So where ever you think we should drop them safe, sounds good to me.” Kuppers answered.
“I have an idea, but not sure what you guys are gonna think of it.” I said.
“Well son, say what you gotta say. You’ve done good so far. Oh and later on you need to explain that little girl to me.” Kuppers said.
“I don’t think I understand that little girl much either, but Vic knows as much as I do. He can fill you in. So my idea is for us to head to Alcatraz. We can drop those boys off and from there create a plan and figure out what we got.” I explained.
“That’s not so crazy, I like that plan. It has a place they can lay a Helo down on, and we should be able to secure it. You were right Vic, this guy is smart, we’ll keep him around a little longer. Alright head on over.” Kuppers instructed.
I gave him a thumbs up and pointed the bow to the west. I clicked on my radio. “I need eyes all around the barge. call out traffic before it gets near us. This thing turns slowly, I can’t see shit from the pilot house, and this is close to as fast as she goes. We are heading to Alcatraz.” I took a moment and looked out at the city. The fire from the airplane crashes were out of control, burning through Telegraph Hill and out toward Pier 39. The whole city looked like a pyre; flames reaching into the sky from many neighborhoods.
“Left side we have two sail boats coming our way pretty fast.” Doc calls out on the radio.
“Behind, in front, or bearing down? Can’t react without knowing more.” I call back out.
“30 yards off bow, if we cut back power to half, they should pass by.” Came Apache back on the radio.
I cut back the throttle and craned my neck over. Suddenly there they were, two sailboats go rocketing by. Must’ve been running on the wind the fire was creating. Once they were half way across the bow, I hit the throttles to maximum again. “Close call. Keep calling it out guys!”
“More traffic coming up on the bow eighty yards out. They are slow, looks like all kinds of pleasure craft. We can’t go around, we are gonna have to slow down and stay behind them. I’m afraid if we try and pass, they may try boarding and that will swamp us. The Beast is heavy; hell we are just about overloaded now.” This came from Kuppers so I chopped the throttle down to a quarter, just enough for headway.
I could see the craft coming up in front of us. At first I thought they were heading our way but noticed we were coming up on them quickly. I chopped the throttle to stop and popped out of the pilot house. I had to see the big picture. I ran to the Beast and climbed on top. Everybody turned their attention to me. I stood up high and could see the bay spread out in front of me.
The boats in front of us started making headway from our barge. Like a flock of birds, they turned as one eastward toward Oakland. I looked over toward the docks by Pier 39 and saw the blue and gold ships pull out from their slips. I knew they were heading to Alcatraz and knew I had to beat them there, so we could dock. I’d need time since I have never done that, plus we had no rope to tie up with since I cut them so we could escape. I jumped to the hood and onto the deck running back to the pilot house. I got on the radio and called Kuppers to meet me there. I slid into the house and pushed the throttles to their maximum power settings and felt the barge start gaining speed way to slow. It felt like we were in syrup instead of water.
I looked to my left and saw Kuppers come running in. “Give me the skinny kid.”
“Those ships pulling from Pier 39 are headed to Alcatraz and if they beat us there I won’t be able to dock. And if I do beat them there we have no way to tie up, I cut them to get off the pier. I need you guys to figure something out, and let me know how close those ships are gaining on us. It’s gonna be close.” I yelled back.
“Got it kid, keep up the good work. I’ll take care of this.” He clicked on his radio and called out. “Apache and Brian stay at the bow and call out when those big ships start getting close, we need to beat them to Alcatraz or we are screwed. The rest of you bastards meet me at the Beast. We got some planning and improvising to do, double time it.”
We needed more speed, I felt like getting out and pushing the damn barge. I could see Alcatraz filling up my windscreen, and I knew I had to start turning to swing around to the east side of the island, where the docks were situated. Brian came over the radio. “Looks like they are headed to the north west side of the island.”
“They are going to slide into the docks first, since they won’t have to make a U-turn like us.” As if by magic I felt the barge pick up speed finally hitting her stride. And I cranked the wheel and slid around the tip of Alcatraz.
“Looks like two of the ships have collided, and the third is having to slow down to get by them. We are going to make it.” Apache reported over the radio.
Since we were on the short end closest to the docks I could make the piers out. I could see that there was a newer dock on our side so I wouldn’t have to U-turn. I chopped the throttle to almost nothing, then started swerving right and left to bleed speed. There are no brakes on a boat and the last thing we needed was to crash into the dock. “There is a new dock on our end. I am trying to bleed speed so when I hit that dock I need those ropes out and tied off or we are gonna just float away and lose our spot.” I called over the radio.
I swerved back to the left and saw that my speed had been chopped back to a quarter of its original speed but still too fast to dock. I smacked my head with my palm and groaned. The barge had reverse, I pulled the lever and the transmission shifted into reverse. The barge shuttered and a terrible metallic screeching came from the rear. The sound didn’t die, so before the transmission could destroy itself, I shifted it back to its forward gear. I heard Kuppers yell on the radio. “Brian we are going to need your retarded Sasquatch strength, get over here now.”
At about ten yards from the dock I turned toward it and put the throttle to dead stop. We had slightly too much speed, and I knew we were going to float on by the dock. To my shock the barge came to a dead stop and then pulled closer to the dock. I reached over and switched off the engines, grabbed the key from the ignition and put it into one of the many pouches on my vest. I ran out and around the Beast to see Brian and Kuppers on the dock tying off black skinny ropes attached to the barge.
I left the pilot house and found Vic standing on the side of the barge looking over to a dock. “Where the hell did they get ropes?”
“They are rappelling ropes that we had on the APC. Doc and Cupcake wove them into the ropes you cut and then Brian and Kuppers jumped onto the dock and using their strength they slowed us down.”
I thanked him and went to the Beast to find the little girl. I found her sitting next to Apache, they seemed animated in discussion. I waved at her and the little girl blushed and waved back. I saw the guard guys running to the other dock.
“What’s going on over there Doc?”
Doc spit a big wad of gum over the side into the water and squinted at me. Damn he really did look like an old west cowboy, except for the gum instead of chewing tobacco. “They are going to check every person on that ferry to make sure no one is infected or bitten. You did a good job Dan. Where did you learn to pilot a boat?”
“Up to this point I’ve never piloted one in my life. The engine was running when I climbed into the pilot house so I pushed the throttles forward and after cutting the ropes, I just tried to drive it like a car. It was kind of like one except you had to think way ahead before doing anything.” I shrugged my shoulders telling him the truth.
Doc started laughing and slapped me on the back. “Not too fucking shabby! Good job buddy. I’m glad you decided to join us.”
I stood there, kind of lost with nothing to do. I heard my name called out and looked over to see Brian waving me over. I trotted over and jumped to the dock. Vic, Kuppers, and Brian motioned for me to follow them. Over the radio I could hear Kuppers relaying orders to the other parts of the team. “Apache, stay with the little one on the Beast. Cupcake, Doc, and Senshi stay behind and secure the dock and barge. Back up the guard if they need you. Be right back.”
We crested the hill and came up on a section that allowed us to see the city. I was blown away at the sight. A brown cloud hung over most of the city and we could see flames engulfing the docks. Brian handed me a pair of glasses and while looking through them, I could make out individual people running around looking for safety or help; instead of safety they were being dragged down and ravaged. “I just don’t get how quickly people are changing over and see how fast they are moving. This isn’t what we witnessed in the tower.”
“Has to be a mutation in the disease. For both issues.” Brian answered.
I turned and scanned the bay out to Treasure Island and Berkley. They seemed tranquil almost idyllic. I knew that wouldn’t last long once the refugees who are infected, made it over the bay. I checked out the Bay Bridge and saw total bedlam. When the plane hit, it made the bridge impassible. That was a good and bad thing the way I saw it. The zombies could not make it over to the other side, but then again neither could anyone else. In fact, it trapped the ones who were on it, turning it into a buffet for the zombies. I handed the glasses back to Brian and shook my head.
“Well your idea of staying away from the bridges was a good one. I’ve seen some bad shit overseas, but this looks very apocalyptic. So what’s our next step Dan?” Kuppers asked.
“We should probably stay here and wait for the boat traffic in the bay to thin out a little. Then we can head out of the bay, under the Golden Gate, head north and come up on Highway One at Stinson Beach. From there decide where everyone is going.” I answered truthfully.
“I can’t find fault in Dan’s plan.” Piped in Vic. “But what do we do for, or to the people coming off of those ferries?”
“Let’s make sure they can get into the buildings and secure them. Then it’s up to the NG to feed and protect them. We can spend the night here on the island and then head off at first light.” Brian added his two cents to the plan.
“I can agree with that, but two people must stay with the Beast at all times. I suggest we keep Apache and Cupcake with the Barge along with that little girl, no safer place for her.” Kuppers added.
We all nodded our agreement and Brian and I moved out toward the buildings to make sure they are accessible for the refugees. Vic and Kuppers headed back to the Beast to let the team in on our newly formed plan. At one of the closest entrances into the main cell block, Brian and I ran into a couple of park rangers as we were trying to figure out how to open the locked doors without damaging them too much.
One of them, a tall, blonde, female, seemed to be in charge. I walked up and shook her hand. “Ma’am we are with the SFPD Tenderloin SWAT. My name is Dan and this gorilla is Brian. I take it you’re up to date on what is happening on the main land?” The male guard eyed me suspiciously but took my hand and shook it.
“I’m Charlotte and this is Douglas, we are the Rangers on duty right now. We don’t have much info of what’s going on over there except for what came over the Coast Guard radio. Something about rioting and some sort of deadly flu.”
“That is somewhat the truth. Most of San Fran is on fire and the rioting is actually, and I know you are not going to believe me, heck I barely believe what I am about to say and I witnessed it, zombies.” I informed them.
Douglas started laughing at me but stopped when Charlotte puts her hand on his chest. “What do you mean zombies?” she asked.
I handed her Brian’s glasses and point toward the pier. “Why don’t you see for yourselves.”