By the time I made my 3rd trip up the stairs, this time carrying a wooden box full of fragmentation grenades, I saw through the kitchen door window, that Frank and James had pulled into the driveway. I decided to take a quick break and stepped outside for a smoke. I yelled down to Maggie what was going on and gotten a muffled response back. I shrugged and took it as an “Ok, be right up” and headed on outside, reaching into my pocket for the pack.
As I lit up I could see that there were not one truck but two, each of them, driving one or the other. I grinned to myself seeing James behind the wheel of one of the trucks and found that I wasn't surprised at all. I realized that it might not be such a bad thing, having a kid that young driving already. Besides I knew that a lot of “farmers kids” tended to learn how to drive early on in their life, sticking mainly within the farm property lines, running errands or what-not. Never know when it might come in handy these days.
The second truck was a big Ford 250 four door extended cab and a flat-roofed topper on the full sized bed. This was driven by Frank who waved at me as I came out the kitchen. James' truck was the GMC that I saw parked by the house and it was already partially loaded with supplies neatly stacked near the cab. I approached Frank as he was getting out of the truck. He pointed at my cigarette and asked, “You got another one of those?” I nodded, reaching into my pocket, then Maggie's voice called out from behind me. “Oh no you don't! John, don't give him any, he's been trying to quit and I've thrown away just about everything that he could possibly smoke.” I turned and saw that she was standing by the open kitchen door, smiling, but her tone was serious enough for me to take my hand out of my shirt pocket empty. I turned to Frank and shrugged, “I've learned that it's best not to argue with her when she uses that tone of voice.”
Frank nodded and patted me on the arm, “so have I m'boy.” He then leaned closer whispered with a wink, “I smoked my last one last night, I'll get one from you later alright.” I chortled and whispered back, “as long as you don't get me in trouble, you got a deal.” Then in a normal voice I regarded the truck he brought in. “So we'll be taking two vehicles then?” He turned and looked at the truck and patted it affectionately, “yes, we'll be able to carry more with them and if one breaks down, which I doubt either of them will, we still got a means to keep moving.”
He looked over at Maggie who was talking with James in signs, he watched for a moment as did I as I looked at her and suppressed a longing to go over there and just to be near her. The look on James face was calm and quiet and I could see his eyes flicking over to me and back to her. He raised his hands up in the air in an “oh well” gesture and walked around her and jogged into the house. When Maggie turned to face us I could see that whatever they were talking about wasn't happy news, at least for James. She walked over to us, shoulders slumped and looking somewhat dejected but she kept her chin up.
Frank, took her expression at value, “I did the best I could to explain it to him hunny. I even let him blow off some of the initial steam” he pointed to a spot beyond a line of trees. Both Maggie and I looked in that direction and I felt my eyes widen at the sight. A large column of smoke rose up from behind the tree lines. “What the...? He set fire to the barn?” I asked incredulously. Frank grinned and nodded in affirmative. “Yes, not a lot of kids can be allowed to take their anger out via arson, but I'm surprised that the ordinance hadn't gone off ye-” there was a thunderous boom and the column of smoke became a small mushroom cloud as even from that distance I could see debris go flying into the air.
I turned and looked at Frank, his face was one of sadness and loss. He looked at me and shrugged, “can't leave all that stuff lying around loose.” He looked at Maggie “how's things in the basement?” Maggie replied, “almost done. Still have a few more cases of ammo and some rifles to bring up, we uh, only just started clearing the basement,” she finished with a blush rising in her cheeks.
Frank simply nodded. “Well, lets get at least half way done then we'll have dinner and finish off the rest afterwards.” I had a feeling that I was missing something and then it dawned on me. Both Frank and James knew of our tryst. Frank must've explained it to James at the barn, which undoubtedly got the kid upset and throwing a tantrum sufficient enough to destroy the barn, even though it seems that they planned to do so anyway. I was torn between curiosity as to just what they had in the barn and apprehension and something else, on the idea that her father and son knew this “stranger” was having sex with her. Were there any secrets in this family? I found myself once again wondering just what had I gotten myself into when I hooked up with this woman.
In a couple of hours we managed to get the covered truck filled with weapons and ammunition, while the other truck had food stuffs, five gallon collapsible water containers, filled, and a number of jerry cans full of fuel. Frank and James pulled a large camouflage tarp over it all and secured it to the truck bed. In the basement I was idly playing one of the video games but not really paying attention to what was going on, my little spaceship was getting smashed by asteroids every other second, as I pondered my being here with this family and whether I should simply move on at the first opportunity or stay with them. I was growing terribly fond of Maggie already, but wasn't sure exactly what I was in for with all the military hardware stored like a survivalist nut's wet dream, a son that looked like he'd been happier if I had been in the barn when it blew, and a father who holds information about top-secret underground shelters. It was all too crazy for my taste, but then again, I wanted to survive this crazy upside down world and everything said hanging around with this bunch would definitely ensure that.
I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked up to see Maggie coming down slowly.
She moved over to the end of the pool-table which was now cleared of the items that sat on it earlier, but the plastic cover still remained. She lifted herself up and sat on the edge letting her feet dangle as she watched me play in silence. After a bit I quit playing the game and sat on the table with her and we chatted about us for the next hour or so. Eventually we came to a conclusion and agreement that we could both live with. We both wanted things to go slowly. The sex was a by-product of our getting to know one another intimately and as a means of stress relief. The journey ahead of us would give us plenty of time to know each other better. We realized that taking it slow would be the best thing since in “this world” where death is far more prevalent than it ever has been, the chances of getting hurt or the degree of hurt would be less.
Maggie said that “not really caring” about someone in a “combat zone” is really impossible. No matter how you try to distance yourself, the people you live and fight along side with become part of a family and closer than any clique of friends that a civilian life would provide. I had to agree, although combat was still a relatively new thing to me. At least we weren't being shot at. How little did I know.
We pulled the cover off the pool table and set up a game and played until Frank called us up for dinner. I found out to my pleasure that Maggie played a challenging game of pool. But it was so sexy just watching her play. The intensity of her concentration as she lined up her shots and the care she put into the cue stick in the amount of power hitting the ball. It was also fun just watching her bend over the table making her shots because her shirt was loose and the view was rather nice. More than once she caught me looking and blushed but kept on playing. By the time Frank called down to us for dinner she had beaten me soundly three out of five games.
After dinner, everything was washed and cleared away and Frank laid out his plans that we would leave early in the morning and head south, south-west to Wildfire 2. Along the way we would communicate with each other via two way radios, and Frank would attempt to contact any one monitoring the frequencies at the Wildfire complex to let them know we were coming. He assured me that he had the pass codes and even though he was retired he still had clearance to gain entry. I inquired about the rest of us, especially me since I wasn't family or anything remotely military. He gave a wink saying that I could always pose as Maggie's new husband. At that I couldn't help but look over at James who for his credit didn't scowl or get up from the table in disgust. I could only hope that he was slowly accepting the idea. I had a feeling it was going to take more than just a couple of days.
When the dirty dishes were put away in the dishwasher, Maggie and I returned to our pool game downstairs accompanied by James who simply sat on the steps and watched us in silence. Frank was “finishing up” packing upstairs and getting ready for bed. Soon, Maggie pointed at the clock on the wall indicating it was James' bedtime and sent him back upstairs with a kiss. For the next half hour we played pool until Maggie decided that we play something else instead. This lead us to her bedroom since James took my room. He even went through the trouble of moving my pack out into the hallway and I found it a little comforting that it was propped up neatly against the wall and not laying on the floor like it had been tossed out. The lad may not like me much but he still gave respect to another's property. Maggie and I made love for a couple more hours before falling asleep in each others arms.
Next morning at 5am was met by coffee and to my surprise warm doughnuts, which had been thawed out from the freezer. Once breakfast was cleared and washed we got our things from the bedrooms and loaded up the trucks with our personal effects. Since the big military band radio was in the larger of the two trucks, Frank and James would ride in that while Maggie and I drove the other. We would drive out to the main highway until it connected with freeway and head south. I explained that driving would be confusing since depending upon how far they were from major population centers outbound lanes would be jammed with cars, forcing us to jump from side to the other at regular intervals. Since both trucks had four wheel drive capabilities it wouldn't be a problem crossing medians and using police crossing lanes where-ever encountered. The only real worry would be coming upon unexpected herds of zombies. If we spotted them early enough we could either stop, turn around to the nearest exits or find alternate routes around them. Fighting them would be an exercise in stupidity. Though we had the ammo and the fire-power, those things were best avoided as much as possible.
Frank was the last to leave the house and I half expected him to do it at a run, setting off a timed charge or fuse or something. But he was casual as he walked to the truck and got in. We tested the radios and then headed on out of the driveway. I half expected to see Maggie turning around in her seat beside me to get a last look at the house but she didn't. I still found myself checking the rear view mirror for a potential explosion but was somewhat disappointed. I didn't comment on it however, being distracted with Maggie's hand resting on my thigh and her head against my shoulder. In twenty minutes we were on the freeway and headed south on a northbound lane which was nice and clear of any cars.
Our ride was a quiet one, except for Frank checking in every half hour. I wondered if Frank was a fluent in signs as she was. Maggie confirmed that her father had indeed learned a year later than she did when he saw the happiness of his grandson as he talked with his mother. His own wife was also learning but died of breast cancer several years later. Frank had been alone since, except for summer visits from James and holidays from the two of them.
Maggie and I were discussing our favorite movies and trying to find titles that we could agree upon when Frank's voice came on the radio, “Oh shit! Stop, stop, stop. Turn around!” Up ahead we could see tail lights brighten on Frank's truck as he came to a hard stop. As I hit the brakes I could see beyond Frank what looked like a herd of zombies. I yanked the wheel hard and began putting the truck in reverse as Frank did the same. Maggie told me to lean towards the steering wheel, as I put the truck in forward gear again. I did so and felt the back rest push up against me briefly as she reached behind the seat and pulled out an M-16 and began cranking down her window. She also popped open the glove box and I saw that there was a pistol and a few magazines.
When I turned my eyes front to drive, it was my turn to say “oh shit!” as ahead of us was another group of walkers coming up from the shoulder. I could see that in moments we would be swarmed. “Get that window back up dammit!” I yelled. Maggie switched from watching her father and son turning their vehicle to the group of zombie in front of us. She gasped and hit the power window button.
From behind us now I could hear gunfire and a squeal of tires. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Frank had managed to get his big truck turned around but James was leaning out of his window firing upon pursuing walkers as the truck was picking up speed. Maggie looked also and reached out to grab the radio and screamed angrily into it. “Dad, get James' ass back in the truck dammit!”
I was looking in the rear-view mirror as something hit our truck and I saw that it was zombie that managed to reach us. It bounced off the hood and another was working it's way around to my side. I was trying to get the truck up to speed, but the zombies were causing me to slow down too much.
My window was up already but I saw with a quick glance that Maggie's was still part way down, she was still trying to watch the truck behind us. “Maggie!” I yelled, she turned to look at me. “Get that damned window up!” pointing at it. She turned and pushed at the button on the door to close it the rest of the way. As the window slid up ward a pair of hands grabbed on to the top of it and the zombie they belonged to was pulled up to where it's face pressed against the glass and it's fingers were caught.
To my left I heard pounding and saw that the second zombie that bumped into us made it over to my side and was trying to break the window. I stomped on the gas and the tires squealed as it sought contact with the road surface, a second later we leaped forward, throwing the driver side zombie to the pavement as the passenger side zombie was helplessly being dragged along. In the rear view mirror I could see Frank's truck closing the distance behind us and Maggie punched the power window button enough to lower the glass and the dead thing lost it's grip when I jerked the wheel right just enough to shake it loose. Maggie shut the window completely and turned in her seat to see behind her. In the rear view again, I could see that James was safely back inside and Frank gesturing at him in quick jerky movements. The front wheels of their truck bounced over the zombie we just shook loose crushing it.
“Are you two alright?” came Frank's voice on the radio. Maggie fumbled with the mike for a moment before responding. “Yes sir, is James alright?” she asked with a hint of panic in her voice. “He's fine, kind mad that he didn't get to kill any more of those things, but he's okay.”
Maggie sighed and turned back to face forward and rested the rifle butt on the floor for a moment before realizing what she was doing and flipped it around so that the barrel rested on the floor instead. She let out a deep sigh, “well that was unexpected.” I grinned as I searched for an off ramp to an overpass where we could pull over and regroup, “you think so?”
I grabbed the mike from Maggie's lap and pushed the talk button, “Frank?” I called and waited. His response was immediate, “yes go ahead.”
“I think we'll take the next off ramp and regroup and see if there's an alternate route on the map that we can detour around.” I finished.
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea, we'll stay behind you and follow your lead.”
“Roger that” and put the mike back in it's hanger on the dash. Beside me Maggie chuckled. “Roger that” she repeated, “we're rubbing off on you I think.”
I snorted in mock contempt. “Sure the hell hope not.” Maggie giggled and scooted over on the seat, resting her head on my shoulder again. After a long moment she asked quietly in that submissive voice of hers. “Think we'll run into any more today?”
“I sure the hell hope not” I replied grimly. How little did I know.
Ten minutes later we found an overpass with an off ramp and parked in the center but not getting out of the vehicles. We were taking no chances. With the windows rolled down we waited as Frank checked out a map he had in the truck. With no-one to monitor the satellites the GPS units were down, so it was back to basics as far as navigation was concerned. Maggie was in an animated conversation with James and it forced Frank to try and lean back and hold the map down so to not block the view. Finally he got frustrated with James pushing down the map and his grandfather's chest back so he could talk to his mother, and got out of the truck cursing a little. I got out on my side after checking the mirrors and joined Frank as he laid his map out on the hood of our truck since it was lower. I glanced up occasionally to see that Maggie and James were still at it, with hands flying. I knew she was berating him for hanging outside of the truck and he was trying to justify his actions. There was a muffled thump and I looked up and saw James sulking in his seat, his body angled towards the door so that his back was to his mother. I looked over at Maggie who simply glared at him. I could see that it wasn't over by a long shot.
I then realized that Frank was asking me something and I had to ask him to repeat his question. “I asked if you think that this route” pointing to a line on the map, “ might be a better way to go until we get far enough south to avoid that herd and get back on the freeway?” I shrugged.
“Looks like it might be the better choice,” I said as I drew my finger along the line on the map, “there's a small town it looks like, before the road connects to a feeder some 20 miles beyond where we turned around. If we're lucky we'll be back on the freeway before noon.” Frank studied the map and nodded. “Alright we'll do that then. You take the lead this time, I gotta finish talking with James about that stunt he pulled on that herd back there.” He looked down the direction we came from. “Speaking of which...” he pointed. I turned my head and looked, sure enough we could see faint dots on the highway and they were growing larger. “They're actually chasing us?” I couldn't believe my eyes. “Those guys must really be hungry.”
Frank folded up his map and clapped me on the back. “Lets get going then” and headed back to his truck. As I got in ours shut the door I could see that Maggie was staring straight ahead and in my estimation fuming that she couldn't get James to listen. I wisely kept my mouth shut on the subject and instead, outlined what Frank and I talked about outside. She just nodded without saying anything and as soon as we were rolling again, she slid back on over next to me and put her head back on my shoulder.
We rode in silence for a while and I glanced occasionally in the rear-view mirror to see if Frank was talking with James or not. Maggie sat up straight, moaned aloud and pointed to something she saw on the road. It was a child's body. Poor kid I thought and continued driving, keeping an eye out. The road was bracketed by tall trees on either side of us but remained clear with an occasional car either pulled over or wrecked against one of the trees. As we rounded a curve I put on the brakes.
Across both lanes of the highway was a full sized yellow school bus with a flat front tire. As I rolled to a stop I scanned the area, finding nothing. The front door of the bus was partially open and I could make out a body lying on the floor and guessed it was the driver. Behind us Frank came to a stop but left us room to reverse if we needed it. I picked up the mike and called him. “What do you think? We can't just turn around again, but I'm guessing that we could probably push that bus on out of the way... that is if you don't mind using the bumper of this truck.” Frank was quiet then responded, “yes looks like we might have to do that. Do the tires look straight enough to push it without steering? We only need to go just a little ways or is there a way around the bus?”
I studied side of the closest end, which was the front. There was a deep linear depression on that side, likely a drainage ditch, the other end I couldn't see too clearly but I guess it was impassable as well. There's only so much that four wheel drives could do provided that the terrain wasn't too narrow or too deep in places where the vehicles would high center. Besides, all we needed to do was to push the bus back far enough for the trucks to pass on the shoulder. “No,” I responded back, “gonna move over to the front and try giving it a little push, just enough to let both of us pass around and keep going.”
“Alright give it a shot, we'll stay here and keep you covered” answered Frank.
“Ok,” speaking to Maggie and passing the mike to her, “hold on to your cute butt.” She giggled but picked up the automatic rifle and held it in her lap. I backed up a little, turning the wheel, then spun the wheel around the other way and put the gear in drive. I carefully maneuvered the truck to where it almost went off into the drainage ditch then turned hard and ended up nose to nose with the bus, before stopping, a second later I put it back into park.
“What?” asked Maggie. I closed my eyes and shook my head, “it just occurred to me that the bus might be in park. I'm going to have to make sure it's in neutral.” I opened my eyes and looked at her. She smiled and nodded, “I'll keep you covered also, just be careful, there might be sleepers on the bus, double chec-” I cut her off politely, “Yes, I know hun, I know. I'll look under the row of seats and make sure the stiff inside is really dead.” I pulled out my pistol from it's holster and chambered a round and clicked on the safety before putting it back, opened the driver door quietly and got out.
Above me birds sang in the trees and everything seemed peaceful. If that were true I wondered, then why were the hairs on my neck starting to stand up? Cautiously I approached the bus and drew my weapon, holding it in both hands and looking left to right after each step. My mind was screaming ambush, but I knew better than that because zombies are stupid and can't think far enough ahead other than walking and biting anything they can catch. As I neared the bus, my ears strained to pick up any sound other than the birds singing cheerfully around me.
A moment later I was by the partially opened door and peered inside. The body on the floor was definitely dead and grossly devoured, parts where the clothes were missing were down to gristle and skeleton. I gave the glass on the door a light tap with the barrel of the pistol and waited. Nothing. Holding the gun with one hand I pushed open the door with the other, it made some noise but not much. I got on the first step and readied myself, holding the gun with both hands again. Finally the smell of the cadaver on the floor hit me. It was bad, but not over-powering, it was lucky that most of the side windows on the bus were opened. I took another step up inside and crouched down so that my head wouldn't appear above the partition separating the steps from the first seat.
Another step up and now I was able to peek around the partition and see inside the bus for the first time. So far it looked empty. I bent low to look under the rows of seats and saw nothing unusual except maybe for a child's backpack on the floor near the back of the bus. Hmm, not a good sign. I took another step inside anyway, my pistol now aimed at the rear door of the bus. I gave a low whistle and waited to a count of 10. Nothing moved. Ok, then, just the driver who was dead as dead can be and the bus was empty. I turned to the driver's seat and steering wheel and looked at the knobs and dials for a moment, the gear stick was definitely in drive. Sitting down I felt for the pedals and found the clutch and pressed it. I laid my hand down on the knob of the stick, at the same time I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I then heard Maggie's scream from somewhere outside the bus.
I spun in the seat and found myself face to face with a zombie. A small child of a zombie, a small tow-headed, blonde girl child of a zombie. She must've been laying in a curled up position in one of the seats. I had a second to berate myself for not walking the length of the bus to double check. Her face was partially devoured and she grinned at me as if inviting me to come and play with her. The mouth opened and a child like growl emitted from her throat. Without thinking, I brought my gun up and shoved the barrel into her mouth and squeezed the trigger. The back of the dead girl's head exploded and splattered on the windows and roof. The gun's report was muffled but my ears still began ringing. I looked back towards the rear of the bus again and apparently she was the only one inside. At least I hoped she was.
I felt something bump into the front of the bus and turned, seeing that Maggie had gotten behind the wheel of our truck and was beginning to push the bus. I quickly stomped on the clutch and worked the stick-shift to neutral and let off the clutch, the bus began to move backwards as Maggie pressed on the gas. I kept watching her for a second, and then turned around to double check behind me.
Suddenly I began hearing a truck horn blasting and turned to see Maggie's face behind the steering wheel her face was one of terror and she pointed frantically at me. Confused I was looking behind me inside the bus, when suddenly a movement outside caught my attention. I spun around and looked outside the driver's side window and my veins froze to ice.
On the opposite side of the bus were zombies, at least a dozen of them. A couple were adults but the rest, to my horror were children, about the same age of the girl walker with whose brains I just decorated the interior of the bus with. Worse of all they were alerted to our presence. They were moving very quickly towards the bus and a few were already pounding on the sides and reaching up to the opened windows. Fortunately most of them were too short to reach the windows themselves and as I watched in the mirror they worked themselves forward to the front of the bus. That would've been sorta alright except I saw, in the driver's side convex mirror, that several had begun crawling under the bus itself. If I didn't get the hell out I'd be trapped.
I made sure the bus was still in neutral before attempting to get up out of my seat, as I rose up the bus lurched backwards again as Maggie still kept on the gas. The flat tire flopped up and rolled on the rounded edge before being crushed back flat again by the weight of the bus and me still in it. I nearly lost my balance and grabbed at whatever I could to keep from falling. Not easy to do when you're trying catch anything with one hand because the other one is gripping your pistol with the other. I managed to steady myself when the bus stopped moving. I made for the open door and drew back when a zombie kid appeared and reached in at me.
I was about to shoot it when it's head also exploded sending brain and skull fragments flying. I looked out of the open door and saw that James had gotten out of his truck and was aiming at yet another kid zombie which was working it's way to the open door. He fired and through the narrow glass of the doors, I could see he scored another hit, as head debris went flying. I heard a voice shouting at me, “John! Get out of there!” It was Frank and my jaw dropped once again as he stood outside his truck beside the open door of the driver's side with of all things, a LAW rocket perched on his shoulder, aimed directly at the bus. Just when I thought these people would cease to amaze me.
Everything suddenly went to that classic slow motion that you usually see in the movies. I half stumbled, half jumped from the bus and ran like mad for our truck. The driver's door opened to receive me and I caught a glimpse of Maggie scooting back over to the passenger's side to let me in. Just then, a loud whoosh went past behind me, followed a second later by a very loud boom and I felt the heat of the explosion as deadly shards of glass and bits of metal flew around me. Instinctively I ducked but I kept moving. Finally I reached the truck and jumped inside, banging my knee on the door frame as I scrambled to get into the seat. I managed to find my seat and slam the door shut.
From there I could see that Frank made an exceptional shot with the LAW rocket, firing the projectile through an open window where it burst through the opposite side window and exploded. The main body of the bus protected us from the major force of the blast.
I turned to Maggie to say something when a grossed out face appeared in her window. It was one of the adult walkers and it was trying to get in by grabbing at the door handle of the truck. I raised my pistol and was about to take aim when it's head burst in a vicious cloud of blackened blood, brain matter and skull fragments. James scored yet another kill. I grabbed the mike of our two way radio and screamed into it, “lets get the hell outta here!” and dropped it to the floor, jamming the gear shift lever into reverse and stomping on the gas.
I turned to see behind us, still mindful of the ditch, which would trap us if I ran us into it. I turned the wheel hard to the left as the truck spun it's tires smoking. There was a brief thud and one of the rear wheels of the truck lifted briefly as we ran over a child zombie that managed to get that far. Frank was waving frantically at James who stood there taking aim again. I could see even at that distance the same feral grin he had on his face the day before. Finally, Frank tossed the spent LAW launcher in front of James' line of sight getting the boy's attention. He made a gesture that was plain to understand, “Get your ass in the truck now!”
For a moment I thought the boy was going to disobey, but he lowered his rifle and raced around his opened passenger door and jumped inside. Frank did likewise on his drivers and slammed the door shut. His truck wheels began smoking as he drove it in reverse as fast as he could go. In a move that would make any Hollywood stunt man envious he whipped the truck around in the middle of the road and paused a fraction of a second before driving forward. I knew I couldn't do anything that fancy and had to keep whipping the wheel around until I too faced the direction from which we came. I jammed the gear lever into drive and stomped on the gas once more, thankful for having an automatic. Soon we were yards away from the smoking bus, but our troubles were not quite over.
“Maggie!” I shouted as I spied still another child zombie behind us, climbing up on the bed of the truck from the rear bumper. She didn't even have to ask and turned around with the M-16 and managed to get the sliding rear windows open enough to stick the barrel out. Instinctively I plugged my right ear with my finger as she fired, blasting the dead kid off the truck in a triple shot from the gun. In the mirror I could see the body bouncing roughly on the pavement and imagined that the head had came off and was rolling off in a different direction.
We drove like mad men for about a couple of miles, reaching speeds up to 90 before Frank's voice came on the radio, “Alright we're going to slow down, I think we're out of danger, we need to see how badly we're hurt.” Up ahead I saw Frank's truck slowing and I followed suit, finally the brake lights came on and again I responded likewise. About a quarter mile later we were pulled off the side of the road side by side and we sat there. Maggie held her rifle out the back window for a long moment sighting down and looking for movement. I leaned back and shut my eyes, leaving the engine running.
“Roger that” and put the mike back in it's hanger on the dash. Beside me Maggie chuckled. “Roger that” she repeated, “we're rubbing off on you I think.”
I snorted in mock contempt. “Sure the hell hope not.” Maggie giggled and scooted over on the seat, resting her head on my shoulder again. After a long moment she asked quietly in that submissive voice of hers. “Think we'll run into any more today?”
“I sure the hell hope not” I replied grimly. How little did I know.
Ten minutes later we found an overpass with an off ramp and parked in the center but not getting out of the vehicles. We were taking no chances. With the windows rolled down we waited as Frank checked out a map he had in the truck. With no-one to monitor the satellites the GPS units were down, so it was back to basics as far as navigation was concerned. Maggie was in an animated conversation with James and it forced Frank to try and lean back and hold the map down so to not block the view. Finally he got frustrated with James pushing down the map and his grandfather's chest back so he could talk to his mother, and got out of the truck cursing a little. I got out on my side after checking the mirrors and joined Frank as he laid his map out on the hood of our truck since it was lower. I glanced up occasionally to see that Maggie and James were still at it, with hands flying. I knew she was berating him for hanging outside of the truck and he was trying to justify his actions. There was a muffled thump and I looked up and saw James sulking in his seat, his body angled towards the door so that his back was to his mother. I looked over at Maggie who simply glared at him. I could see that it wasn't over by a long shot.
I then realized that Frank was asking me something and I had to ask him to repeat his question. “I asked if you think that this route” pointing to a line on the map, “ might be a better way to go until we get far enough south to avoid that herd and get back on the freeway?” I shrugged.
“Looks like it might be the better choice,” I said as I drew my finger along the line on the map, “there's a small town it looks like, before the road connects to a feeder some 20 miles beyond where we turned around. If we're lucky we'll be back on the freeway before noon.” Frank studied the map and nodded. “Alright we'll do that then. You take the lead this time, I gotta finish talking with James about that stunt he pulled on that herd back there.” He looked down the direction we came from. “Speaking of which...” he pointed. I turned my head and looked, sure enough we could see faint dots on the highway and they were growing larger. “They're actually chasing us?” I couldn't believe my eyes. “Those guys must really be hungry.”
Frank folded up his map and clapped me on the back. “Lets get going then” and headed back to his truck. As I got in ours shut the door I could see that Maggie was staring straight ahead and in my estimation fuming that she couldn't get James to listen. I wisely kept my mouth shut on the subject and instead, outlined what Frank and I talked about outside. She just nodded without saying anything and as soon as we were rolling again, she slid back on over next to me and put her head back on my shoulder.
We rode in silence for a while and I glanced occasionally in the rear-view mirror to see if Frank was talking with James or not. Maggie sat up straight, moaned aloud and pointed to something she saw on the road. It was a child's body. Poor kid I thought and continued driving, keeping an eye out. The road was bracketed by tall trees on either side of us but remained clear with an occasional car either pulled over or wrecked against one of the trees. As we rounded a curve I put on the brakes.
Across both lanes of the highway was a full sized yellow school bus with a flat front tire. As I rolled to a stop I scanned the area, finding nothing. The front door of the bus was partially open and I could make out a body lying on the floor and guessed it was the driver. Behind us Frank came to a stop but left us room to reverse if we needed it. I picked up the mike and called him. “What do you think? We can't just turn around again, but I'm guessing that we could probably push that bus on out of the way... that is if you don't mind using the bumper of this truck.” Frank was quiet then responded, “yes looks like we might have to do that. Do the tires look straight enough to push it without steering? We only need to go just a little ways or is there a way around the bus?”
I studied side of the closest end, which was the front. There was a deep linear depression on that side, likely a drainage ditch, the other end I couldn't see too clearly but I guess it was impassable as well. There's only so much that four wheel drives could do provided that the terrain wasn't too narrow or too deep in places where the vehicles would high center. Besides, all we needed to do was to push the bus back far enough for the trucks to pass on the shoulder. “No,” I responded back, “gonna move over to the front and try giving it a little push, just enough to let both of us pass around and keep going.”
“Alright give it a shot, we'll stay here and keep you covered” answered Frank.
“Ok,” speaking to Maggie and passing the mike to her, “hold on to your cute butt.” She giggled but picked up the automatic rifle and held it in her lap. I backed up a little, turning the wheel, then spun the wheel around the other way and put the gear in drive. I carefully maneuvered the truck to where it almost went off into the drainage ditch then turned hard and ended up nose to nose with the bus, before stopping, a second later I put it back into park.
“What?” asked Maggie. I closed my eyes and shook my head, “it just occurred to me that the bus might be in park. I'm going to have to make sure it's in neutral.” I opened my eyes and looked at her. She smiled and nodded, “I'll keep you covered also, just be careful, there might be sleepers on the bus, double chec-” I cut her off politely, “Yes, I know hun, I know. I'll look under the row of seats and make sure the stiff inside is really dead.” I pulled out my pistol from it's holster and chambered a round and clicked on the safety before putting it back, opened the driver door quietly and got out.
Above me birds sang in the trees and everything seemed peaceful. If that were true I wondered, then why were the hairs on my neck starting to stand up? Cautiously I approached the bus and drew my weapon, holding it in both hands and looking left to right after each step. My mind was screaming ambush, but I knew better than that because zombies are stupid and can't think far enough ahead other than walking and biting anything they can catch. As I neared the bus, my ears strained to pick up any sound other than the birds singing cheerfully around me.
A moment later I was by the partially opened door and peered inside. The body on the floor was definitely dead and grossly devoured, parts where the clothes were missing were down to gristle and skeleton. I gave the glass on the door a light tap with the barrel of the pistol and waited. Nothing. Holding the gun with one hand I pushed open the door with the other, it made some noise but not much. I got on the first step and readied myself, holding the gun with both hands again. Finally the smell of the cadaver on the floor hit me. It was bad, but not over-powering, it was lucky that most of the side windows on the bus were opened. I took another step up inside and crouched down so that my head wouldn't appear above the partition separating the steps from the first seat.
Another step up and now I was able to peek around the partition and see inside the bus for the first time. So far it looked empty. I bent low to look under the rows of seats and saw nothing unusual except maybe for a child's backpack on the floor near the back of the bus. Hmm, not a good sign. I took another step inside anyway, my pistol now aimed at the rear door of the bus. I gave a low whistle and waited to a count of 10. Nothing moved. Ok, then, just the driver who was dead as dead can be and the bus was empty. I turned to the driver's seat and steering wheel and looked at the knobs and dials for a moment, the gear stick was definitely in drive. Sitting down I felt for the pedals and found the clutch and pressed it. I laid my hand down on the knob of the stick, at the same time I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I then heard Maggie's scream from somewhere outside the bus.
I spun in the seat and found myself face to face with a zombie. A small child of a zombie, a small tow-headed, blonde girl child of a zombie. She must've been laying in a curled up position in one of the seats. I had a second to berate myself for not walking the length of the bus to double check. Her face was partially devoured and she grinned at me as if inviting me to come and play with her. The mouth opened and a child like growl emitted from her throat. Without thinking, I brought my gun up and shoved the barrel into her mouth and squeezed the trigger. The back of the dead girl's head exploded and splattered on the windows and roof. The gun's report was muffled but my ears still began ringing. I looked back towards the rear of the bus again and apparently she was the only one inside. At least I hoped she was.
I felt something bump into the front of the bus and turned, seeing that Maggie had gotten behind the wheel of our truck and was beginning to push the bus. I quickly stomped on the clutch and worked the stick-shift to neutral and let off the clutch, the bus began to move backwards as Maggie pressed on the gas. I kept watching her for a second, and then turned around to double check behind me.
Suddenly I began hearing a truck horn blasting and turned to see Maggie's face behind the steering wheel her face was one of terror and she pointed frantically at me. Confused I was looking behind me inside the bus, when suddenly a movement outside caught my attention. I spun around and looked outside the driver's side window and my veins froze to ice.
On the opposite side of the bus were zombies, at least a dozen of them. A couple were adults but the rest, to my horror were children, about the same age of the girl walker with whose brains I just decorated the interior of the bus with. Worse of all they were alerted to our presence. They were moving very quickly towards the bus and a few were already pounding on the sides and reaching up to the opened windows. Fortunately most of them were too short to reach the windows themselves and as I watched in the mirror they worked themselves forward to the front of the bus. That would've been sorta alright except I saw, in the driver's side convex mirror, that several had begun crawling under the bus itself. If I didn't get the hell out I'd be trapped.
I made sure the bus was still in neutral before attempting to get up out of my seat, as I rose up the bus lurched backwards again as Maggie still kept on the gas. The flat tire flopped up and rolled on the rounded edge before being crushed back flat again by the weight of the bus and me still in it. I nearly lost my balance and grabbed at whatever I could to keep from falling. Not easy to do when you're trying catch anything with one hand because the other one is gripping your pistol with the other. I managed to steady myself when the bus stopped moving. I made for the open door and drew back when a zombie kid appeared and reached in at me.
I was about to shoot it when it's head also exploded sending brain and skull fragments flying. I looked out of the open door and saw that James had gotten out of his truck and was aiming at yet another kid zombie which was working it's way to the open door. He fired and through the narrow glass of the doors, I could see he scored another hit, as head debris went flying. I heard a voice shouting at me, “John! Get out of there!” It was Frank and my jaw dropped once again as he stood outside his truck beside the open door of the driver's side with of all things, a LAW rocket perched on his shoulder, aimed directly at the bus. Just when I thought these people would cease to amaze me.
Everything suddenly went to that classic slow motion that you usually see in the movies. I half stumbled, half jumped from the bus and ran like mad for our truck. The driver's door opened to receive me and I caught a glimpse of Maggie scooting back over to the passenger's side to let me in. Just then, a loud whoosh went past behind me, followed a second later by a very loud boom and I felt the heat of the explosion as deadly shards of glass and bits of metal flew around me. Instinctively I ducked but I kept moving. Finally I reached the truck and jumped inside, banging my knee on the door frame as I scrambled to get into the seat. I managed to find my seat and slam the door shut.
From there I could see that Frank made an exceptional shot with the LAW rocket, firing the projectile through an open window where it burst through the opposite side window and exploded. The main body of the bus protected us from the major force of the blast.
I turned to Maggie to say something when a grossed out face appeared in her window. It was one of the adult walkers and it was trying to get in by grabbing at the door handle of the truck. I raised my pistol and was about to take aim when it's head burst in a vicious cloud of blackened blood, brain matter and skull fragments. James scored yet another kill. I grabbed the mike of our two way radio and screamed into it, “lets get the hell outta here!” and dropped it to the floor, jamming the gear shift lever into reverse and stomping on the gas.
I turned to see behind us, still mindful of the ditch, which would trap us if I ran us into it. I turned the wheel hard to the left as the truck spun it's tires smoking. There was a brief thud and one of the rear wheels of the truck lifted briefly as we ran over a child zombie that managed to get that far. Frank was waving frantically at James who stood there taking aim again. I could see even at that distance the same feral grin he had on his face the day before. Finally, Frank tossed the spent LAW launcher in front of James' line of sight getting the boy's attention. He made a gesture that was plain to understand, “Get your ass in the truck now!”
For a moment I thought the boy was going to disobey, but he lowered his rifle and raced around his opened passenger door and jumped inside. Frank did likewise on his drivers and slammed the door shut. His truck wheels began smoking as he drove it in reverse as fast as he could go. In a move that would make any Hollywood stunt man envious he whipped the truck around in the middle of the road and paused a fraction of a second before driving forward. I knew I couldn't do anything that fancy and had to keep whipping the wheel around until I too faced the direction from which we came. I jammed the gear lever into drive and stomped on the gas once more, thankful for having an automatic. Soon we were yards away from the smoking bus, but our troubles were not quite over.
“Maggie!” I shouted as I spied still another child zombie behind us, climbing up on the bed of the truck from the rear bumper. She didn't even have to ask and turned around with the M-16 and managed to get the sliding rear windows open enough to stick the barrel out. Instinctively I plugged my right ear with my finger as she fired, blasting the dead kid off the truck in a triple shot from the gun. In the mirror I could see the body bouncing roughly on the pavement and imagined that the head had came off and was rolling off in a different direction.
We drove like mad men for about a couple of miles, reaching speeds up to 90 before Frank's voice came on the radio, “Alright we're going to slow down, I think we're out of danger, we need to see how badly we're hurt.” Up ahead I saw Frank's truck slowing and I followed suit, finally the brake lights came on and again I responded likewise. About a quarter mile later we were pulled off the side of the road side by side and we sat there. Maggie held her rifle out the back window for a long moment sighting down and looking for movement. I leaned back and shut my eyes, leaving the engine running.
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