The Beginning of the End (Book2): Road to Damnation (9 page)

I hated to admit it,
but I knew he was right, and I was sick of flicking switches.

“Do you want to check
the engine room or do you want to call it quits and take the
vehicles?” I asked feeling defeated.

“I know you had your
heart set on the ferry, but I’d rather just get there sooner than
later. Besides, I don’t like boats. I can’t swim.”

“You can’t swim?”
I giggled.

“I’m from Texas;
it’s all desert. What’s the point?”

“Hell with it then,
let’s take the vehicles. I don’t want to take a chance of losing
you overboard, not being able to swim and all.”

Back at the gift shop,
we met up with the girls. They were sitting at a table drinking warm
bottled soda.

“What are you guys
doing? You’re supposed to be grabbing supplies.”

“They’re all gone.
These are the last of them,” Sidara said, holding up her drink.

“Gone? What do you
mean they’re gone? Like they were closed down for the season
early?”

“No,” Sidara said,
“like someone’s been taking them. The only thing left is some
Vermont Maple Syrup and maple flavored candies. It looks like
someone’s been coming here every day eating the food.”

“If someone’s been
stealing food, then where the hell are they now?” I asked.

“Sidara’s right.”
Mom said, “someone’s been coming here, and I’ve had the
strangest feeling we’ve been being watched since we stepped out of
the Humvee. I think it’d be a good idea to get out of here as soon
as we gas up. I’ve had Sage watching out the windows since we
realized it.”

The side screen door
slamming open startled us. Chevy ran in screaming, “We need help!
Hurry, Luther’s holding them off.”

The rhythmic sound of
Luther’s AK-47 firing started and repeated until he changed out his
mag. A second of silence followed by more firing. I ran outside to
help. I felt like I was moving in slow motion. At first, I didn’t
see anything. I followed Luther’s gun barrel as it pointed to the
top of the hill. My worst fear had come true. We were trapped. A
horde of more than a hundred zombies was making its way down the
hill. Luther swung his Kalashnikov away from the pack of zombies and
toward the bottom of the hill.

“What are you
shooting at, Luther?”

“Runners!” he
screamed.

“Runners?” As I
watched closer, I noticed about one in ten zombies moved like living
people. They were fast and agile. They ran like Olympic sprinters.

“Holy shit! Kill
them, kill them all!” I screamed.

Daniels chased after
Cooper screaming for him to stop as he raced through the lobby. It
was too late. Daniels caught sight of something in the shadows as the
rookie took off. The sound of Cooper’s boots clomping on the tile
floor alerted the cloaked demon as he stalked the shadows. A mangled
hand appeared from the void behind the men’s watch kiosk and
latched onto the back of the rookie’s collar. His feet were still
moving at full speed when they came out from under him. Cooper saw a
flash of light when his head struck the floor. He remained conscious
but groggy.

The weight of whatever
was connected to the arm knocked the wind out of Cooper as it pounced
on his chest.

Panicked screams
reverberated through the room as the creature sunk his teeth into
Cooper's neck. Arterial spray splattered the walls.

Daniels raised his M4
as his finger found the trigger. He paused, not having a shot. There
was no way to shoot without hitting Cooper.

In a desperate attempt,
Daniels screamed at the zombie, “Bite me you son of a bitch!”

It was no use, the
vicious attack continued as Daniels charged toward the attacker.

Cooper’s screams
turned into gurgles and his arms collapsed at his sides. His eyes
rolled back, and his body let out an unconscious quiver.

Daniels crossed the
room and kicked the creature’s head flipping him over onto his
back. Clear of Cooper, Daniels pulled the trigger on the M4 and
didn’t stop until Bunker grabbed his arm.

The zombie’s head was
riddled with bullet holes.

Daniels slung his rifle
and fell to his partner’s side, “Cooper, can you hear me? You’re
going to be okay. Just hold on.”

Daniels squeezed
against the wound with his hands trying to stop the bleeding. The
last few beats of Cooper’s heart spurted out the rest of his blood
through Daniels’ fingers.

Daniels couldn’t stop
the bleeding. Finally, it stopped on its own. He bent over clutching
his friend’s patrol shirt trying to give words of comfort to his
deceased friend. The only thing that came out was, “I’m sorry.”

The realization of
Cooper’s death set in, causing Daniels to feel light headed as he
collapsed back onto his ass. He raised his arms looking at his
blood-covered hands. Dropping them to his thighs, he tried to wipe
the dead man’s blood off on his pants.

Daniels didn’t
realize he was bawling until Cecilia touched his shoulder. He wiped
away his tears, leaving streaks of blood on his face, “I’m sorry,
Cooper. I couldn’t take the shot.”

* * *

“He’s alive!”
Kaden screamed.

Daniels jumped to his
feet and moved away. Cooper lifted a bloody hand and touched the open
gash on his neck. A gurgled moan came from somewhere deep inside of
him.

“Stay back. Look at
his eyes, they’re turning blue.” Bunker said pointing at the
reanimated corpse.

The rookie’s eyes
transformed from brown to swirling blue as the group watched in
amazement.

“How are you alive?”
Daniels asked.

“He’s not,”
Bunker said, “you know it, Daniels. Snap out of it. It’s not your
fault. He’s one of those things now. We need to take him out before
he turns one of us into a zombie.”

Daniels lifted his
rifle and centered the sight on Cooper’s head, “I’m sorry, my
friend.”

Daniels tried to pull
the trigger, but his finger wouldn’t move. Fear surged through his
body as he watched Cooper transform from a corpse to a hungry zombie,
in less than thirty seconds.

The bright red blood
around Cooper’s wound had turned into black coagulated ooze.

Daniels knew Cooper had
turned, but didn’t want to admit he was gone, “No, you can’t be
one of those things. Cooper, it’s me, Daniels. You can fight this
thing. Be strong. Look at me.”

A long extended groan
came out of the dead cop’s mouth. He stepped toward Daniels
reaching for his throat.

Daniels pushed his hand
away, “No, Cooper, please. Please be okay.”

Cooper reached out
again taking a hand full of shirt. The rookie’s head lurched
forward fast, biting at Daniels.

A crack of thunder
sounded off. The noise pierced Daniels’ ear. He snapped his head
around, looking at the barrel of Bunker’s M4. It was pointed at
Cooper’s skull.

The smell of burnt
gunpowder filled the room.

“You didn’t have to
kill him!” Daniels screamed as he collapsed onto the floor next to
Cooper’s body. Bunker didn’t have a choice. Cooper had turned
into a zombie. There was no denying it. Daniels had lost his partner.
There was nothing worse for a veteran cop. More tears ran from
Daniels’ eyes. Cecilia bent over and tried to comfort him, but it
didn’t do any good.

Daniels sat next to the
body with his hands over his face for the next few minutes. Nobody
said a word. They knew Daniels was on the edge of losing it and gave
him the time he needed to mourn.

When Daniels was ready,
he stood up, and wiped the last of the remaining tears away. He
turned to address the group, “I need to get home to my family. If
any of these motherfuckers get in my way, I’m going to kill them. I
don’t care who they are, or who they were. Daniels dropped the mag
out of his AR-15, inserted a fresh one as he stormed away from the
group. He kicked the glass exit door open, stepping outside into the
street. The group watched the madman firing his rifle in every
direction while screaming, “Die, you motherfuckers. Die!”

The mass of dead
staggered down the narrow ferry road. Those who were too close to the
edge of the embankment tumbled off the road into the lake. Panic
coursed through the group of survivors as their nerves pushed to the
limit. The urge to flee was overpowering, but there was nowhere to
run. It was fight or die.

“We can’t get them
all; there are too many!” Sidara screamed.

“Just keep firing and
hold them off for another minute. I’ve got an idea!”

I made a break for the
Humvee and found what I was looking for inside. Sidara left her MOLLE
vest on the floor of the back seat. I searched the pockets until I
found one of the grenades and sprinted back to the front line. The
horde was closing fast and almost upon us. I fought the urge to pull
the pin and throw the grenade. I needed to wait for the right moment,
“Concentrate on the runners and let the group get closer.” I
ordered.

The runners dropped as
the horde neared. Thank God my friends could shoot.

Our guns slaughtered
half of the Dead, but it used up most of our loaded ammo. We had
plenty of ammo in the vehicles, but it didn’t do us any good. It
was all loose rounds, it would have to be loaded in the magazines
before we could put it to use. It would take hours to reload the
hundred magazines in our cache. This grenade had to work or we were
all going to be dead.

The horde was about
fifteen yards away now. I had never used a grenade before, but I had
seen enough movies to know it was as simple as pulling the pin and
throwing it at the threat. With another quick peek at the horde, I
knew it was now or never.

I pulled the pin on the
grenade, and the silver spoon thing popped off. I hadn’t expected
that to happen and watched it as is bounced onto the pavement. “Throw
it!” someone screamed.

I launched the grenade
right into the middle of the zombie group and screamed, “Get down!”

Everyone ducked and
grabbed pavement.

Waiting the three
seconds for the device to explode felt like an eternity. When it did,
I wished I’d never used it. With our close proximity, the force hit
me with a vengeance. It felt like someone struck me on top of the
head with a baseball bat and ran me over with a truck at the same
time. It left me with a searing high pitched ringing in my ears, and
my fingers searching the inside of my mouth for loose teeth.

Smoke was clearing from
the epicenter of the blast. All but three of the zombies were dead.
The remaining three were mangled and on fire. The blast had
disoriented them enough to leave them wandering in circles.

In too much pain to get
up, I rolled onto my side and reached for my Glock to finish off the
rest of dead. I lifted my arm to shoot when one of the zombie’s
heads exploded. How the hell had that happened, my finger wasn’t
anywhere near my trigger? Before the body hit the ground, headshots
took out the remaining two dead.

“Stay down. It’s a
sniper.” Chevy called out,

“Yeah, but I think
he’s helping us.” I returned.

I raised my hands, made
my way to my feet, and moved out from cover. Out of the corner of my
eye, I saw a zombie that I thought died in the blast. It tried to get
up and move toward me. Before it was on its feet, a round took it out
like the others.

I followed the sound of
the gunshot to the roof of a small building that doubled as the
marina boat shop. There was a humongous man on the roof no less than
6’ 3” and 300lbs. He was jumping up and down cheering. It was
hard to tell because of the distance, but it looked like he was
wearing, what looked like a Batman mask with a little kid’s cape
attached to it. Couldn’t be, the blast must have rung my bell.
Maybe I was just seeing things. Then I heard it.

“Na Na, Na Na, Na Na,
Na Na, I’m Batman!” he shouted as he danced around the rooftop.

I wasn’t sure if he
was Batman, but today he saved my ass, and that made him my hero.

A second male stood up
from a lying position behind Batman. He was a few inches shorter and
much thinner. He gave Batman a pat on the back and said something,
but my ringing ears prevented me from making out what it was. Looking
in our direction, he gave a friendly wave, “We’ll be right over!”
he yelled.

Chevy and I moved into
the middle of the destroyed horde and surveyed the carnage. The
grenade had done the job. The thought of the explosion brought back
the throbbing in my head,

“Is everyone else
okay?” I asked rubbing my temples.

“My head is killing
me too,” Chevy said.

My mom joined us in the
middle of the pack and put an arm around Chevy as she answered me,
“Yes, honey. All of us girls are okay.”

“Hey, that’s not
nice.” Chevy shot back.

The two strangers were
off of the boathouse roof and heading our way.

“It looks like we’re
going to have some company in a minute. Let’s start reloading all
of our magazines. I’m sure everything for miles around us heard
that blast. I want to be ready if it attracted more zombies. Cowboy,
those two guys are on the way over here. Why don’t you grab the
sniper rifle and set up on the ferry before they see you.”

Cowboy looked confused,
“They helped us, hoss. Do you think they will hurt us?”

“I don’t know, but
I’m not taking any more chances. I’ll give you a wave when I
determine everything’s okay.”

“You got it,
Two-gun.” Cowboy said, grabbing the .50 cal and taking off for the
upper level of the ferry.

The two men crossed the
parking lot with their hands up. They both had hunting rifles slung
across their shoulders. When they reached the far edge of the blast
radius, they stopped, and the thinner male called out, “We come in
peace,” he said.

As a sign of trust, I
raised my hands, “Us too,” I responded.

“I’m Batman!” the
big man yelled again.