Knight Terrors: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale (10 page)

     Tom stepped back and looked over at Pat who shook her head.  John had his arm around his aunt and he shook his head too.

     Tony kicked me subtly, well as subtly as you can kick someone.  I knew what he wanted.  I was expected to speak.  It was the last thing I wanted to do.  It was my fault that Keith was dead.  And I didn’t really trust what was going to come out of my mouth.  But, I reached up and Mike grabbed my hand.  Tracie helped steady me and I rose.  I had to pause because I felt lightheaded.

     “Keith died saving my life.  I will beforever grateful.  And I’m sorry he’s gone.  Our future needs good young men like him if we are going to survive as a people.  He will be missed.  And our future is a little less bright.  As hard as it is, we have to go on.  We have others that depend on us.  So, tonight we mourn the loss of yet another bright life.  But tomorrow we go on fighting to survive.”

     It was all I had.  Mike helped me sit back down.  Sweat dripped from my face and I hung my head.  Tony appeared beside me

     “I’m not sure that was the uplifting speech everyone needed to hear.”

    “It’s all I’ve got Tony.  I’m not really cut out for all this.  Hell, Sam was my backbone and now she’s gone.  I’m out of my league here.”

     “You’re stronger than you know,” he said.  Tracie nodded.

     Mal came over and sat in my lap.  It hurt but I didn’t care.

     “How’s your foot daddy?

     “It hurts buddy.  How are you doing?’

     Okay.  Willie and I play zombies.”

     “Oh, how do you play?”

     “We don’t really have rules.”

     “Then how do you know who wins?” I asked.

     “Nobody wins.”

Saturday, January 3, 2015

     “Boat!  I see a boat!”  It was Tabby’s voice over the radio.

     I jumped up and remembered that I couldn’t do that just a moment too late.

     “Fuck,” I yelled as I went back down.  My ankle throbbed.  I popped another pain pill.  Looked like I was going to need it today.

     It seemed as if everyone was moving up to the top of the Battery to see what Tabby was talking about.  Tony came and joined me at my campsite.

     “It’s killing you, isn’t it?” he asked.  “Not being up there.”

    “Yeah, I need to know what’s going on.”  I reached for the walkie.

     “Talk to me Tabby,”

     “Dad, it’s a boat.”

     “Yeah, honey I got that part.  Tell me about it.”

     “It’s one of the other Fort Sumter boats.”

     “Do you see any people?”

     “A few.”

     “Dammit Tabby.  How many?”

“Sorry, sorry.  Ah, I see four plus whoever is driving.  They’re still pretty far out.  Next to Castle Pinckney.”

     “10-4, Tabby.  Thank you.  Sorry for yelling.  Can you stay up there and keep watch?  I need everyone else down here with your gear in five minutes.”

     By the time they gathered I had a plan.

     “Karen, Pat, who’s the better shot?”

     “She is,” said Pat, pointing at Karen.  Karen nodded.

     “Ok, Pat take the kids and go down into the Battery and hide with the supplies.  Take a radio, bolt the door. Tracie go with her.  Go.”  Tracie looked like she was going to protest then decided not to.  Good, I didn’t want to explain why I wanted her safe.

     “Lois and Karen.  I need you on top the case mates.  Take radios, stay low.”

     That left me, Mike, Tom, John, Tony and Beth.

     “Mike, I want you on the Beauregard.  Take a radio, stay out of sight.  If the shit hits it I want you to surprise them from another front.”

     He nodded then looked up at Tabby before turning to go.

     “Mike, stay low.  I don’t want them to see you.”

     I put Beth in charge of locking up after we went out.

     “Let’s get started.  It’s gonna take me and Tony a little longer to get out there.”

     “Speak for yourself, hop along.  I’m doing good with the cane.”

     “Fine then you can help me.”

     Even with the cane and a lot of help, the walk down to the end of the pier was painful and slow.  The other boat was pretty close by the time we got out there.

    “Mike, you got a good spot?”

     “10-4, Boss Man.”

     “Alright, keep your radio low and be ready.”

     “10-4.”

     “Ryan,” said Tony.  “We haven’t really talked about this in detail.”

     “There’s a lot of variables.  If they start shooting, well then we’ll know they’re bad guys.  Otherwise, we’ll talk a bit.  Maybe invite the leaders in for breakfast.  Talk amongst ourselves.  See what happens..”

     Tom nodded but didn’t say anything.  Come to think of it, he hadn’t said much at all this morning.

     As the boat drew up to the pier there were eight people including the guy driving.  Four of them had military uniforms and I could see two women and a boy about Tabby’s age.  The guy driving had as much, or as little skill as I had and the line handling was clumsy and slow.

     “I don’t like seeing the uniforms,” said John.

      “Might be a good thing,” I replied.

     Once they were tied up the four uniformed men stepped off the boat and came towards us.  They had handguns in tactical thigh holsters but no rifles.  I had no doubt there were rifles trained on us from somewhere.

     “Good morning,” said the taller of the men.  He was wearing insignia that indicated rank.

     “Good morning to you as well,” I replied.  “But that’s close enough for now.”

     The men stopped about 30 feet away.  The man with the rank spoke again.

     “I’m Captain Ron Rendina of the U.S. Air Force.”

     “Is there a U.S. Air Force anymore Captain?  What’s the word from the government?  Is there anything left?”

     “No.  No, there’s nothing left that we know of.”

     “Damn, when I saw the uniforms I thought maybe…  Well, doesn’t matter now.  I’m Ryan Knight.  I am the leader of the group out here at the fort.”

     I introduced my people and he introduced his.

     “I’m sorry for the cold reception, Captain.  We were attacked on Johns Island by another group of survivors.  People who preyed on others to get by.  We lost a lot of people and barely escaped.  I’m not as trusting as I used to be.”

     “I understand completely, Mr. Knight.  But we are refugees, not conquerors.”

     “That’s for us to decide. Captain.  My family is in there.”  I pointed to the fort.  Captain Rendina nodded.  “I need to be sure.”

     “How would you like to proceed?” he asked.

     “Slowly.  First, understand that we mean you no harm.  We just want our families to be safe.  If we wanted your supplies you’d be dead.  That’s not who we are.”

     Rendina nodded.

     “And, I hope you understand the same, Mr. Knight.  We all want the same thing, safety.”

     “Do your people on the boat have enough supplies for breakfast?”  He nodded.  “Then why don’t the four of you join us inside for a bite to eat?”

     “That would be fine, Mr. Knight.”  He grabbed a walkie off his belt.  “We are going to go inside the fort and break some bread with these nice folks.  Call if there’s any problems”

     I grabbed my walkie.

     “Beth, would you get the gate for us.  We’re gonna have these folks in for breakfast.  Mike, you can bring it in, too.”

     We waited until Mike came off the boat and joined us.  He helped me limp up to the gate.

     “That was good thinking, Mr. Knight.  Putting a man on our flank like that.  I didn’t know he was there.”

     “As I said, Captain, we’ve had to defend ourselves.  And I’ve seen enough movies to know that flanking an enemy can win battles.”

     “How’d you tweak your, what is it, your ankle?’

     “Yeah, ankle.  Door broke open at Lowes, zombies were on the other side.  I fell and twisted it.  Tom’s nephew, Keith helped me get away but got bit for his trouble.  We’ve seen too much death, Captain.”

     “We have, too, Mr. Knight.”

     Breakfast was cold cereal over milk reconstituted from evaporated milk.  But we all had hot coffee and that put smiles on our visitors faces.  They hadn’t enjoyed hot coffee in a while.

     We told an abbreviated version of our story.  I tried to embellish a little and make us seem more formidable than we were.  I doubt that Captain Rendina bought it.  He could see everyone in our group.  He was studying us but hid it well.

     “Mr. Knight, I want you and your people to feel as comfortable with us as possible.  I’m sure we all understand that every living human is one less zombie that we have to exterminate.  But, I also understand that we are invading your living space, your home.  So, let me start by saying that it was my people who saw you the other day at Patriot’s Point.”

     “I was wondering…”

     “Their orders were to observe and report and that’s what they did.  We were going to watch you for a bit longer to see if you were friendly but we spotted a large group of zombies outside our fences and decided we couldn’t stay put.”

     “Where were you situated?”

     “The National Guard compound on Mathis Ferry Rd.”

     “Huh, I forgot about that.”

     “It seemed safe until the zombies showed up in those numbers.  We counted over 100.”

     “We saw them too.  We were headed towards the Walmart and had to backtrack because they filled Hwy 17.  Where do you think they came from?”

     “I don’t know.  Initially we thought your group led them to us.  But, now that I’ve met you I know that isn’t true.”

     “That’s how we lost Mike’s father actually.  A group of looters lured a large group of zombies to where we were at the Costco.  We got trapped inside.  It was dumb luck that Mike and I made it out.  All of this had just started and we didn’t know what we were doing.”

     “The Air Force base got overrun early.  We aren’t allowed to carry arms on base and by the time anyone knew what was going on there were too many zombies to deal with.  I don’t know how many survived.  Our group was bigger when we got out but we had some disagreements in leadership.”

     “I don’t always want the job but these people trust me to lead them.  How’s that going to sit with you?”

     “You’ve done well to keep these people alive, Mr. Knight.  I’m sure you rely on certain people because you know their stragnths and weaknesses.”

     I nodded.  Thor came over to sniff the new people.  He didn’t seem concerned but Captain Rendina didn’t pet him.

     “Then you’ll come to know our strengths and weaknesses and know when to accept our counsel.”

     “How are you fixed for supplies, Captain?”

     “Could be worse.  We have about a months worth.  Everybody has a clothes and a sleeping bag.  Not much firewood though.”

     I looked over at Tom then Mike and Tony.  I didn’t see any alarm on their faces.  But I didn’t think I could tell what they were thinking.

     “All right Captain, is there anything else we can tell you?”  He answered no without asking the other men.

     “Then I will ask you to retire to your boat and give us time to talk.”

     “Of course.”

     We all stood, even me with some help and shook hands with the newcomers.  Then we let them out and waited for Tabby to say they were on their boat.  It felt wrong somehow to talk about them while they were still on the island fort.

     “Tony, gut feeling.  Don’t think about it.”

     “Seems genuine enough.  He’s either a good guy or a damned good liar.  He is in total control, though.  They are not having this conversation over there right now.”

     “Tom?’

     “We need the help and the expertise in logistics.  Everything will go better with more people.”

     “Mike?”

     “I guess I’m the only one who got a bad vibe huh?”  He looked around then looked down and kicked the dirt.

     “Spit it out.”

     “It’s not something in particular.  I just don’t like him.  His group and our group are not going to blend.  They’ll be them and we’ll be us.  And if we do let them in, he will take over and things will be very different.”

     “We need the help,” countered Tom.

     “Yeah, we do.  I just wish we had been approached by a smaller group.  They get integrated and we get stronger.  Another group our size?  Or, stronger, cause they are, you realize?  I don’t know…”

     “Okay, let’s break and think about it for a bit.  We’ll get back together right before lunch.  That’ll give us time to think.”

     I waited while everyone got up and went their separate ways.

     Tom was angry, obviously.  But I wondered how much of that was me.  Mike was upset, too.  I couldn’t read Tony and wanted to hear his thoughts some more.