Knight Terrors: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale (2 page)

     “Everybody, good job.  Really.  I could not have done that without you.  Now, gear up and lets all meet on the lower deck.”

     I grabbed my gear and turned to Tabby.

     “Can you keep a good watch for me while I figure out what we’re going to do?”

     She nodded.

     Mal, you stay with Tabby, okay?”  He shook his head.

     “She’s gonna be up here all by herself…”

     I could see this bothered him.  But not enough to make him stay with her.

     “I left a radio for you on the seat.  Call me if you need anything, Tab.”

     I kissed her on the head and headed downstairs with Mal in tow.  Everyone looked just about ready to go.

     “What’s the plan, Boss Man?”

     Thor padded over and I reached down to pet him.  He’s been a trooper through all this.  I’m sure he missed Sam, too.  Mal sat on the floor and petted Thor, too.  He got a lick on the face for his effort.

     “I figure the fort is either full of people or it’s full of zombies.”

     “I hope its zombies,” said Tom.

     “Me, too,” said Mike.  “If its’ zombies we just kill them all and clean up really well.”

     “And if it’s people?”  asked Karen.

     “I don’t know.  If we think they’re good people maybe we can work together.  If we’re not sure then we might have to spend a few more nights on the boat while we make a decision.”

     Everyone seemed in agreement.

     “Do we go up and knock?” asked Beth.

    ‘Sort of,’ I replied.  “Beth, why don’t you and Pat stay here with Tony and the kids.  Everyone else up on the observation deck.  I’m gonna ring the bell.”

     With everyone up looking out at the fort, I went into the wheel house and found the button I was looking for.  I leaned out of the door and yelled…

     “Hold on to your butts.”

     In the new, quiet world of the zombie apocalypse, the horn was the loudest thing I could imagine.  The group groaned and covered their ears.  One, two, three seconds.

     The sound echoed off the fort and surrounding islands for what seemed like minutes.  I came out of the wheel house and watched with the others.  Some of them were shaking their heads to get the ringing out.  I was glad that Thor stayed down on the lower enclosed deck.

     “Nobody’s home,” said Tom.

     “Maybe, they also could be trying to figure out what to do,” I said.

     “You’d think they’d peek out or something though,” said Lois.

     “Well, keep your eyes moving.  Let give it a few minutes,” I said.

     One minute turned into two, then five and almost ten.  We were all impatient to get this done.

     “Well, shit,” I said.  “I don’t know if this is good or bad.”

     “I think it’s good.  It means there’s only zombies in there,” said Tom.

     “I hope you’re right,” I said.  “Do we have a ladder on board?”

     “I think I saw one in the engine compartment,” said Mike.  “I’ll go get it.”

     With no power, the fancy, motorized lift on the dock didn’t work.  So, getting off the boat was a challenge. But, it would be easier in an hour or so as the time came up.  I lifted Thor up onto the dock.  He’d been holding it long enough and probably had to go pretty badly.  I worried about him getting too far ahead of us but he was smart enough to stay away from any zombies he might find.  I hoped so, anyway.

     Mike, Tom, John and Keith followed me off the boat onto the pier.  Mike found a six foot folding ladder and we carried that with us.

     The pier leading up to the fort was about 100 yard s long and opened into a recessed smoking area in front of the entrance, or sally port. The big double wooden doors were closed up tight.  But the padlock was missing so it was locked up tight from the inside somehow.  John gave it a good push just to be sure.  It didn’t budge.  To the right of the main entrance was a smaller entrance with a wood door recessed back into the wall of the fort.  This door still had the padlock.

     “That’s our way in,” I said.  “So, long as it’s not bolted from the inside somehow.”

     “Do we go in now?” asked Keith.

     “No, I want to see what we’re dealing with.”

     Further around to the right was a grassy area and the remains of the original wharf.  During low tide you could walk from the fort to James Island across some mud flats.  But, I doubted that zombies could navigate the mud without getting stuck then floating away.  On this side of the fort the wall was the lowest; only about ten feet tall.  With the ladder we should be able to see over.

     “Keep your eyes open,” I said.  “I’ll go up and have a look.”

     The other members of the team took up defensive positions while I climbed quietly up the ladder.  By the time I got to the top my heart was pounding.  Only then, I realized I was holding my breath.

     Looking down over the wall into the parade ground I could see about 25 or so zombies.  They were all clustered over to my left near the sally port.  I guess they heard the horn.

     “Zombies,” I yelled back down to the team.  No point keeping quiet now.  “Maybe 25 or so, all over near the sally port.”

     I scanned the parade ground for a few more minutes and saw nothing else.

     “The usual?’  Mike asked as I came back down the ladder.

     “Yeah, the usual.”

     Experience has given us a pretty good way to consistently kill zombies in a building without getting ourselves into too much danger.  At least it’s worked well so far.  The key is limited access.  If you only open the door wide enough for one zombie to get through at a time, you can kill them one at a time and not risk getting overwhelmed.  A single zombie is not too much of a threat anymore but in large numbers they are very deadly.  The strategy has worked well so far.

     This looked to be an easy one.  To the right of the sally port was a walkway about five feet wide.  It led around to the old wharf.  On one side of the walkway was the fort, on the other side was a three foot tall, concrete retaining wall.  On the other side of the wall was dirt.  So, you could stand on the dirt and look down onto the walkway and the little recessed door.  Zombies aren’t coordinated enough to get over the wall.  All we had to do was open the door and stand on the wall.

     “Boat, this is Ryan.”

     “Go ahead, Ryan,” it was Tony.  “What did you find?”

     “Zombies.  About 25 or so.”

     “Sounds like a lot for that sport fisherman.”

     “It would have to be packed pretty tight.  But, I think I saw some park ranger uniforms in there.”

     “Ah, 10-4.”

     “Tony, make sure we’re keeping a good watch.  Boats, people, anything.  I think we’ll be making some noise.”

     “10-4.”

     I could hear Tony relaying instructions to the others on the boat as I turned back to my team.

     “Okay, crossbows first to conserve ammo.  If we need to switch we can do that easily from up here.  Let’s take our packs off.”

     Everyone stepped back and took off their back packs and laid them on the ground.  Then we lined up just back from the retaining wall.

     “I’ll go pop the lock and we’ll go from there.”

      I hoped down off the wall and peered around the edges of the door as best I could.  Nothing.  I raised the bolt cutters and bit through the padlock.  Then I stepped back, ready.  Nothing.

     Fuck.

      Now I’ve got to figure out where the zombies are which means sticking my head in.  The walls of the fort are several feet thick making a tunnel of sorts.  One that I couldn’t see out of.

     I looked back at the team.  They all looked anxious and very serious.  Except for Mike.  He was grinning.

     “What?’

     “That look on your face.  You look terrified.”

     “I am terrified, Goddammit.”

     “You want me to do it?” Mike asked.

     “No, just give me a minute.”  Mike was very capable and would probably do a better job.  But I was here and I was not going to let a 16 year old take my place.

     I dropped my crossbow on the top of the wall at Mike’s feet and looked up to see him still grinning.  Turning back towards the doorway, I drew my pistol.  I figured it would be easier to turn with my Glock than my crossbow.  As I inched forward ever so slowly, I was imagining and zombie coming around the corner at me and chomping down on my arm.  But nothing appeared.  The zombies were all over near the sally port.  I scooted back out to the walkway and holstered my handgun.

     “They’re over by the other door.  I’m gonna make some noise and draw them over.”

     With that, I started back through the door way into the fort.  When I had just cleared the short tunnel into the fort a zombie appeared in front of me just on the left.  There was nothing and then he was just there.  I was too close to him and couldn’t get my rifle up.  So, I backed up and drew my handgun as I did.  But, I had turned slightly to face the threat without realizing it.  Now as I backed up I was backing up inside the fort.  I fired once, then twice and the zombie went down with a round to his leg.  Still backing away as he fell toward me I fired twice more at his head.  The second one found its mark and his head exploded.

     At this point I realized where I was.  Not out on the walkway but still inside the fort.  And the other zombies were now moving towards me.  I reached the entrance to the door just before the lead zombie did.  I felt her hand on my shoulder as I turned to get to safety.

     I jumped up onto the wall and fell to the ground, rolling as I did.  Feet appeared around me and I looked up into everyone’s faces.  The gun was incredibly loud in the close quarters of the fort.  I couldn’t hear a thing.  Mikes mouth was moving but I didn’t hear what he was saying.  I shook my head and covered my ears.  I saw him turn and say something to the others and they turned back to the door and began to fire their crossbows.  Mike looked at me and bit his arm, then looked questioningly to me. 

     I shook my head.  No, I had not been bit.

     But, I could see that everyone was firing at the zombies as they appeared in the door.  That wasn’t going to work.  I began to wave my arms but no one saw me so I yelled.

     Apparently I yelled really loud because I couldn’t hear anything.  They all turned to me.

     “One shot, one kill.  Take turns.  Conserve your bolts.  Don’t waste em.”  They settled down quickly into a rhythm and the killing went good.

     After ten or so zombies had been dispatched, it became clear that the doorway was going to fill up with dead zombies before all of them got through.

     “Cease fire, cease fire,” my hearing was starting to come back.  “We’ve got to clear the path some or this won’t work.  Tom, get on one side and I’ll get on the other.  You guys cover us.  Wait till they’re almost through to tag em.”

     Tom and I got to work clearing zombies.  He’d grab one and drag it out of the doorway, then a bolt would zip by then I’d grab one and drag it out and another bolt would zip by.  It was dirty, smelly work.

     “Hey, Boss Man,” called Mike.  “Slow up.  You’re getting ahead of us.  I don’t want them getting through that fast.”

     Tom and I stopped and retreated around the corner of the doorway.  Mike, Keith and John each fired once more then nothing more appeared in the doorway.

     “Is that all of them?” John asked as Tom and I climbed back up onto the wall.

     “It looks like the right amount,” I replied.  “Let’s retrieve our bolts while we can and take a moment to get ready.”

     Tom and I covered the youngsters while they retrieved the bolts from the zombies.  One of the zombies moved and Mike jumped back.  Tom fired a bolt into its head.  A reminder that even the safe way that we clear buildings is only a little safe in the zombie apocalypse.

     No other zombies appeared in the doorway.

     When the bolts that were reusable were recovered, we sat down and had a bottle of water and a power bar.  Thor came padding over from wherever he was hiding to get some water from my hand and a bite of my bar.

     “I guess we’re going in there now?” asked Keith.

     “Yep, we have to clear every inch of the fort before we bring the others in.  We have to be sure it’s clear or we risk everything.”

     “Is there a plan?” asked Mike.

     “I think we’ll start at the top and work our way down.  I know my way around the fort pretty well until we get underneath, then we just have to be thorough.  Check your headlamps.  It’ll be dark underneath.  Once we get inside the door we close it behind us.  I don’t want the boat to deal with any surprises.  I’ll call them and tell em what we’re doing.”

     Fort Sumter is a shell of its former self.  The walls once towered fifty feet above the water with officers and enlisted mans barracks on three interior sides.  Only ruins of those things remained.  Instead, the interior was dominated by Battery Isaac Huger.  This huge, black reinforced concrete structure was built during the Spanish American War and was used through WWII.  It had 2 disappearing guns and a maze of rooms below consisting of powder magazines, ammunition storage and machinery to lift those things to the guns.  Part of the parade grounds of the original fort had been excavated on the harbor side of Battery Huger.  The ocean side remained filled in and was the same height as the battery.