An Apocalypse Family (Book 1): Family Reunion (7 page)

He didn’t care that she’d attacked him. That was his great-granddaughter out there, and he was going to help her if he could. But his head swam, and before he could find her, his vision started to tunnel into darkness. He passed out and his head came to rest on the horn.

Josh heard the car horn and stopped his search. “Mom, is that Dad?”

Barb also stopped and listened. “It sounds like our horn.”

Josh walked back to her. “Come on, he must need us!”

They made their way back around the pileup to see the car facing the wrong direction, the entire right side smashed up.

“What the hell?” Josh uttered. He ran toward the car and saw his dad slumped over, head resting on the steering wheel. He ran around to the driver’s side and opened the door, reached in, and gently laid him back in the seat. It was then that he saw the blood.

“Mom, come here, quick!”

Barb hustled as quickly as possible, which was a halting jog with a walking step thrown in here and there. She made it to the car and saw the arm hanging in the window. She was no wimp, but the sight of it combined with the crazy state of affairs surrounding her was just too much; she fainted and fell to the ground like a sack of spuds.

Josh, caught off guard, didn’t know what to do.
Do I leave Dad to help Mom?

He opened the back door, pulled Gramps out of the driver’s seat, and laid him in the backseat. He took off his belt, put it around his dad’s leg, and tightened it as much as he could. That accomplished, he went over to his mom, who had started to come around. He helped her back to the car and got her over to the passenger seat with a little pushing and shoving.

Once he had everyone situated in the car, he started forward only to realize the damage was so bad that it was close to undrivable. He looked back and saw the flashing lights of what looked like an ambulance a quarter-mile south. He fought with the wheel, got turned around, and slowly made his way in that direction. It took several minutes, but he made it. He pulled up behind the ambulance and jumped out of the car.

He noticed something was different than it was just a few minutes ago.

The quiet!
The sounds of people screaming had stopped, and there was no shouting between emergency workers.
What the hell?

He stood there for a minute trying to figure out what was going on.

“Where is everyone?” Barb asked, leaning over toward the driver’s side.

“I don’t know, Mom, but we have got to get Dad to a hospital. Are you well enough to help me move him to the ambulance?” He half expected her to argue with him about stealing the ambulance, but she just nodded and got out of the car.

They moved Grandpa Don into the ambulance and laid him on the floor; there weren’t any stretchers. Barb got in with him. Josh closed the back doors and went around to the front of the truck, got in, and started it. The radio squelched and he grabbed the mic off the dash.

“Hello, is there anyone out there? Hello?” Nothing. He threw the truck in gear, did a three-point turn, and headed north.

The trip from Woodinville to the ferry went without incident: no resistance, no survivors. The ferry was still where I’d left it, securely wedged into the pier. Max wanted to pull the fence down so we could back the vehicles up to the pier.

“Max, I think we ought to leave it up. Let’s check the ferry before we do something we can’t undo,” I argued, finishing the energy drink I’d taken from Sarah’s stash.

“Why?” was his only reply.

“Well, I thought we might be able to get the ferry running eventually… and even if we can’t, it’s a good place to keep as a secured area.”

Max mulled that over for a few seconds and nodded. “Okay, so what’s your plan for today?”

We discussed in detail how we should approach the situation, and came to an agreement. Lisa would stay with the vehicles and signal us if anyone else showed up while Max and I retrieved what we could from the decks of the ferry without going inside; once that was done, we would inspect the rest of the ship, time permitting.

“Okay. Lisa, are you good with this?” Max asked.

“It’s Raven, Chicken Two. And yeah, I’m fine.”

I hadn’t explained our code from earlier to Max, so he wasn’t in the loop.

“Chicken Two?”

Lisa laughed. “Yeah, you’re Chicken Two and Uncle Ryan is Chicken One. I’m Raven.”

Max’s only comeback was, “So why is he Chicken One?”

I threw the empty can I was holding at him. “Come on, let’s get this done.”

Max and I scaled the chain-link fences, cussing and bitching the whole time. We caught our pants and shirts on the loose metal ends and tried not to impale any important body parts. Once over the fences, we made our way to the ladder.

“Man, what’s up with this pier?” Max asked as I climbed down to the ferry.

“I read on the placard in the park that it was an old Coast Guard patrol boat station in World War Two. Some guy bought it and made it into a fishing pier that closed sometime in the late ’60s.”

“Huh, learn something new every day,” Max said as he made his way down.

We went around the vehicles to where the Humvee was located and began to move the contents up to the pier. It was hard, sweaty work, but after a couple of hours, we had four cases of MREs—minus what I’d already pilfered—the remaining six M4s, and the nineteen remaining grenades. In addition to that, I’d missed the 5.56 ammo boxes under the case that held the M4s.

“How much of this ammo should we take?” I asked Max.

“All of it. You never know if we’ll ever make it back here.”

I blanched. “But that is like five thousand rounds, dude.”

He just smiled. “Quit bitchin’ and start pitchin’, recruit.”

“Okay, Chicken Two,” was the only comeback I could think of.

It was two o’clock before we got it all loaded into the vehicles. The Malibu sat on its haunches like a cat pissing.

“Looks like we need to find better transportation,” Max said, pointing at the Malibu while sitting back against the wheel of the Rover.

“Well, I don’t think anyone is going to throw us in jail if we just go find a dealership and requisition a couple of trucks,” Lisa offered.

“Another great idea, Lisa, we’ll do that,” I said. “Do you think it’s too late to hit the road for Meg’s?”

Max shook his head. “I think we should go find a truck and transfer everything into it and go. Once we get out of town, we should be safer. Don’t you think?”

I nodded. “I would still like to explore the ferry and see if it’s salvageable; but you’re right, the longer we stay in a populated area, the longer we will be surrounded by thousands of these freaks.”

We loaded ourselves into the vehicles. I drove the Malibu and Max drove the Rover, with Lisa riding shotgun. As I drove, I couldn’t help but think about my family back in West Virginia.
Were they still alive? Did Auddy make it home from South Carolina?
I need to find out! How would I ever make it all the way home? I need to get to Meg’s house for now, then I can figure out what to do next.

I came out of my reverie suddenly when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. I slammed on the brakes and Max almost rear-ended me. A gaunt black cat ran across the road in front of us.

Great! Just what I needed, seven years of bad luck!
It was the first sign of life I’d seen all day.
Well, I guess the pussycats made it through the outbreak.
I released the brake and waved to Max and Lisa to follow me.

Once we were back out on the Pacific Highway, I stopped and went back to the Rover.

“Which way?” I asked after Max rolled down his window.

“I think our chances are better if we head toward Lynnwood,” Max said, looking both north and south on the highway.

“Looks like the businesses pick up that way,” Lisa threw in.

I peered down the road. “Okay, south it is.” I got back into the Malibu and turned right. The car bottomed out with every bump I hit. If we didn’t find something soon, I was sure I’d lose the muffler.

Not more than a half-mile down the road, I saw that Max had chosen well. There was a Ford dealership just ahead, and it was a large one. I pulled up in front of the showroom and stopped. I looked around but saw no signs of life; it was eerie how quiet the world was in the absence of all normal human noise. I got out of the car as Max and Lisa exited the Rover, grabbing the M4 as I went.

“Let’s have a look.”

Max had his M4 and Lisa carried the M9. We moved around to the side where the main doors were located.

“Looks like someone beat us to the punch,” Max observed.

The glass doors were shattered and there were what looked like muddy footprints covering the floor just inside the door.

“Something, not someone. I think we found a nest of freaks, Max,” I said.

Lisa took an involuntary step backward, but Max lean forward for a better look.

“Yeah, I think that’s dried blood.”

He reached down and ran his finger across one of the footprints. It didn’t smear, so it wasn’t fresh. Max stood up and pointed to a beautiful white F350 Super Crew Platinum four-wheel drive truck in the showroom.

“That’s what we want, right there.”

It had the eight-foot bed and was probably twenty feet long in total.

“That thing is a monster,” I said. I’d wanted one of its little brothers, the F150, for some time now.

“Do we risk looking for the keys, with those things in there?” I asked.

“Well, with the light from the big windows, it should be safe… I think,” Max said as he ducked under the door handles and stepped into the building.

I checked my M4 and made sure it was locked and loaded. I took the safety off and followed him in, Lisa close behind me. The showroom was a hundred feet long and fifty wide. The sales offices were little glassed-in cubicles running down the back wall. I began to check them for the manager’s spot, hoping to find the keys. No luck. I noticed there was office space on the second floor that looked over the showroom.

“How do we get in there?” I said, pointing it out to Max and Lisa.

There was a lounge area at the other end of the room, and next to it was a hallway. Above the hallway entrance was a sign for the restrooms and another sign that said “Manager’s Office, Parts Department, and Service” with a little arrow pointing down the hallway.

Max frowned and said, “That way, I would guess.”

The path of bloody footprints went from the front door to the hallway and beyond.

“Great,” I responded, not really meaning it.

The light from the showroom windows shone all the way to the far wall. A double door led to the service and parts department on the first floor. Another sign pointed up at a stairwell that said, “Manager’s office.”
Sonofabitch!

I looked at Max and he shrugged. “If we want the truck, that’s where we have to go.”

The prospect of exploring the dark stairwell took me right back to that first night with the freaks. My adrenal gland started pouring its magic sauce throughout my body.

“Okay, Lisa, trade me weapons.”

I put the safety on the M4 and showed her how it worked. I gave her the four mags of .556 for it, and in exchange took the four mags of 9mm from her. I checked the automatic to make sure it had a round in the chamber, and moved toward the stairwell.

“Okay, Max, I’ll try to stay low. You got me covered?”

I could see by his eyes that the adrenaline had him in its grip as well. “Yeah, got you covered, Bro.” We slowly moved up the steps.

I got to the first landing and pulled out the flashlight, and Max followed suit. The combined effect was to illuminate the entire stairwell up to the second floor. I put my foot on the next step and heard panting. It was hard to tell where the sound was coming from, as the linoleum floor and enclosed concrete walls formed an echo chamber. I took the next step and the panting grew in intensity.

I could now see a window at the top of the stairs to the left, looking back in the direction of the parts and service departments. I pointed at my eyes and motioned to Max that I was going to try to look to the right at the top of the stairs. He nodded that he understood and pointed his rifle at the corner. I felt the telltale sweat dribble down my side as I moved up another step.

The panting seemed to pick up even more. I knew it was probably just my imagination, but I could swear that the freak knew I was coming.

Well, no shit Sherlock, your shadow is as plain as skywriting.
I crouched even lower. I could almost see around the corner when Mr. Sales Manager jumped at me with a blood-curdling shriek. I fired two shots, more a reflex than anything else. My shots struck it in the chest. I watched as if it were a slow motion replay, and I couldn’t figure out why its head had exploded.

It wasn’t until I rolled it off me that I realized Max had fired as well. His shots had literally blown the thing’s head half off. The freak’s blood had covered my shirt, which I immediately pulled off. I wiped my face off with a clean spot and threw it on top of the now-dead freak.

I looked at its skin; this was really the first time I’d examined one closely. The skin was pale. It looked almost translucent, and I could see the veins running under its skin like dark roadmaps. Max and I hadn’t said a word up until then.

“Pretty fucking scary looking, eh?” Max whispered.

“Are you guys okay?” Lisa yelled up the stairwell.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Don’t come up,” I yelled back.

There was no need to subject her to this scene, and another person would just be in the way. I stepped back against the wall and let out a deep breath.

“You ready?”

Max nodded. I scaled the steps quickly this time, fearing I wouldn’t be able to move at all if I thought about it too much. I aimed the light down the hall; it was clear. Max followed me up and we slowly went forward. The unnatural quiet enveloped us as we moved toward the first door. I could picture the hustle and bustle of a car dealership, people scurrying around trying to get deals done. The darkness carried its own malevolent presence that made the air itself feel heavy.

I had to consciously fight the urge to flee that was running through me. The first door we came to was open. I paused to listen for any sign that the room had a freak in it. I didn’t hear anything, so I motioned Max to go in and to the right and I would go in and to the left. He nodded, and we went in fast and low. I kicked a small metal trashcan as soon as I came through the doorway, and sent it sailing across the floor where it crashed into a metal desk as loud as a fart in church. I shined the flashlight around the left-hand side of the room, expecting an attack at any second.

Max cleared his side of the room and said, “That was graceful.”

“Yeah, not exactly textbook, was it? Do you hear anything?” I asked.

“No, and if there were any more of those things in here, they would be screaming and hissing about the noisy guys in the next room.”

I flipped him off and went back into the hallway, shining my light down each way just to make sure we were still alone. The other rooms proved to be empty, and we chalked all the bloody footprints up to the sales manager’s exploits.

We found the key rack in the manager’s office, and on it, the keys to the F350.

“Should we just take this whole board downstairs and save the next guys a little trouble?” I asked Max.

“Nah it’s too heavy. Just grab another set of keys to a 4×4 diesel; that way we only have to find one kind of fuel.”

I searched the board with the light and found a tag identifying a 4×4 Super Duty crew cab F250 King Ranch model and we beat feet back downstairs.

We couldn’t find the keys to the doors that they used to move the vehicles in and out of the showroom.

“Well, now what?” Lisa said.

I responded, “You think we can shoot the lock out of that door without breaking the glass?”