Deadfall: Hunters (24 page)

Things started to get harder when we stopped hopping between large resorts and had to go between beach houses. We had to crawl through the dunes, oftentimes on our stomachs through this tall beach grass. The sand was still wet from the storm, and so we got soaked. It worked, because we didn’t draw any attention from the walkers that were flowing along the road next to the beach and the beach itself. Slow going though. I remember most just spitting sand that kept getting into my mouth, then shaking all that sand off once we got into each house. Beyond that though, none of us were really used to crawling around on our stomachs. It was a novelty the first time, but by the sixth or seventh house, we were really exhausted.

Then Janine twisted her ankle. I’m not sure how she did it, especially since we were crawling on our stomachs, but we all heard her shout out. It was a quick shout, but if we heard it, they did too. I was way ahead that time, so I twisted around to try to see what was going on. I could see Blevin’s large form over the tall grass and I instantly looked down towards the street. Already, some of the walkers were starting to stumble up along the sand in front of the dunes. They were going at it aimlessly, so they hadn’t seen us. Instead, they were reacting to whatever sound they had heard.

There I was, just a few feet away from the rear wooden staircase that led up to the next house. There was plenty of sand piled up in front of the house so that we would be able to sneak in easily. Maxie was next to me next, and we both peered through the grass to see what was going on, but all I could see was some movement in the grass thirty or forty feet back. Meanwhile, the zombies continued to come up into the dune, heading towards them. There was an initial small dune, which then dipped down and rose up again into the main dune where we were. Once they got over that first tiny dune, they’d see us. At that time, I couldn’t see what was going on with them. Sarah told me she had stopped to look after Janine as she sent her son ahead of her with Tague.

I saw the boy next, emerging from the grass. I waved him over and looked back for Tague, but saw him crawling down the dune towards the zombies. He was getting in the way in case they did see us. He crawled up the side of that small dune and waited there and looked back at me. He couldn’t see the zombies coming up the other side, but I could. I held up four fingers, as there were four near the top. Now, I had no doubt that Tague could handle four zombies, at the same time. I was sure of it. Problem was, if they saw us, then they’d start their whole moan and groan thing that always attracted more of them. I watched as Tague took out a large stake he had. I had never seen it before, but I wasn’t surprised. As soon as the first zombie came over the crest of the smaller dune, Tague stood up quickly and speared it right up through the jaw and it dropped down Tague’s side of the dune. He was quick, and quiet, and was just as efficient when the second zombie came stumbling over the dune. Then, the other two came over, at the same time. Tague acted quickly, spearing the first zombie. But as that creature dropped on the sand, landing on top of one of the previously destroyed zombies, the last one moaned in recognition of their prey. I looked back behind it down to the road, and the reaction was instant. Bodies stopped and turn in time to see their brother drop in a heap.

A whole river of them turned off the road and began falling over each other to get up the dune. I shouted out ‘NOW!’ Tague looked over the dune and saw them coming and broke into the fastest run he could muster on that sand. Back through the grass, I could see Blevin’s large form running back in my direction. As he came through the grass, I saw him carrying Janine in his arms, like a baby. Sarah came bursting through behind him. I rushed them up the stairs where Maxie had already gone up to get inside with the boy. When I looked back, the first wave of zombies were falling over the top of the dune, rolling down the hill in a flurry of sand. Tague shot through the grass and up the staircase and I followed up as quickly as I could.

Up on the deck, Maxie was ushering everyone inside of the house. I peered through the edge of the house back down towards the dune. They hadn’t seen us yet, as they kept pouring over the dune straight out towards the beach, instead of coming towards the house. We dashed inside the house, and began to pick up furniture and move them towards the doors and windows. We couldn’t just drag them because that could make a lot of noise. It was a deadly balance between trying to hurry as fast as we could and make as little noise as possible. When everything we could had been moved, I dared sneak into one of the side rooms, and ever so carefully, peek out the window.

It was bad, but could have been worse. Zombies had piled out over the dunes. There were hundreds of them. Looking out of a northern window, the other side of the house, showed that many had also come out on that side. We were surrounded. Now, the only good thing was that they hadn’t seen us come into the house and we had managed to remain quiet enough. They weren’t bashing in around the house, just wandering the dunes.

It was a long night.

Now, I had waited out zombies before. They really are dumb, and it was only a matter of time before they cleared out of the dunes and resumed whatever they were doing. In the meantime, we would have to hole up in that house. It was the best thing we could do, especially since Janine had truly sprained her ankle. Turns out, as she had come out of the last house, she had stepped on something round in the sand and managed to turn her ankle on it. And what did she turn her ankle on? A human skull. How’s that for the cold reality of this world.

So here we are, huddled up in the middle of this house. I’m in a small bathroom with no outside windows, so I felt safe using the flashlight to write this entry. Maxie had slipped outside some time ago onto the deck, which was still clear. He had put out a load of pots and pans to collect rain water. It had started to rain again, but it wasn’t more storm, just like, the after effects of the storm. We did find the whole front half of the house missing its roof, but as it had all crashed down in front of the house, we still felt reasonably safe. It was a mess on that side of the house, and not safe enough to walk around. Instead, Maxie checked it all out and put more pots around the gaps in the roof, for water. And for security measures. Pots and pans were still a wonderful zombie alarm... Maxie knew what he was doing. He had survived this far. We all had.

Actually, Sarah and her son hadn’t survived, at least not like us. This was their first time coming face to face with the hordes of zombies. The battle we had fought in Haiti had a few hundred zombies, on either side. What was out there, what IS out there, are thousands. Hell, hundreds of thousands. I asked her if she was ok and she didn’t answer. Back in Haiti, she had been in control. She had been the cool, calm and collected one. Here, the shit was real.

Then again, it’s not like I have much room to criticize. I spent the first months of this apocalypse holed up in a high tech hideout with hot food, hot showers and warm beds. I left that hideout not out of desperation, or to help anyone. Nope, I left because I was bored.

I’ll have to talk to her at some point, if I get the chance. She had said some things earlier today, just some comments, which made it seemed like she had missed her country. Of course, this wasn’t her country anymore. It wasn’t anyone’s country but the dead.

I am sitting across from Evan and Chris. I already found Aaron and Lucy and they are doing great. Lucy is sporting that baby bump wonderfully. They managed to save everyone from Florida and made it safely to Sunny Pointe. Well, we did too. Thing is Sunny Pointe is in a load of trouble, as is everyone here.

Let me start way back in Myrtle Beach. We were stuck in a house overnight and were surrounded by zombies. I’ll have to catch us up to now.

I was certain we could wait out the zombies. I was surprised that it only took that night. Whatever was pushing that nearly infinite horde of zombies helped draw the zombies off the dunes and back on their march. As we woke up that morning and snuck some peeks through the windows, not only were we greeted by a bright sun, but the dunes had been cleared. Our little house to house sneak hike could continue. Sarah had wrapped Janine’s ankle up with some clothes she had found and we were on our way. Blevin stuck to Janine, although the swelling had gone down quite a bit and she said she was good. We got into a good groove and there were times we didn’t even have to crawl on our stomachs but instead just walked through the tall dune grass. That’s how it went, from house to house, until we hit the more urban area of the city, with really expensive condos and a golf course. We found the marina behind the golf course. Around the early afternoon, we got into one of the taller condos and made our way to the top floor. In the whole time we had been on land, we had yet to encounter a single zombie inside a house. It didn’t change there. They were all out and gone marching.

From the top of the condo we spied out towards the Marina. There were a LOT of boats there, of all varying sorts. Large yachts, smaller fishing boats, motor boats of all sizes and costs. Most of them were either half sunk or in horrible states of disrepair. They hadn’t been maintained since Deadfall, and that hurricane had finished the job. Then again, we only needed one boat. Small would do. If we could get something working out in the sea, we could be in Wilmington in less than a day, maybe more if we had to rely on the wind.

Maxie pointed out three different boats. Two were smaller motor boats, more than large enough for us though. They were probably the best answer to get us there quick. There were a couple of issues with how we were to decide which to take. There were still plenty of zombies down below. Not nearly as many as before though. Those here seemed to be stuck here. There was no way up the coast unless they crossed the river. There appeared to be some trying to make their way around the marina. This ambling around was probably worse for us as they’d spot us a lot easier than if they were on their march. Where the two motor boats were, on the main part of the marina, we’d have to get through them, or create a distraction large enough to move more than a hundred zombies, if not more.

On the far side of the marina though, Maxie had spotted a clipper. That’s what he called it. It was a sail boat. As Maxie looked through the binoculars, he said that it was sitting well in the water and since the sails had been put away long ago, they might be in good shape. Better for us, all we’d have to do was to find a way to sneak down to the marina and find a small boat to get across to the other side. There appeared to be no zombies on the other side.

Maxie kept saying there are no zombies, that’s the better choice. More importantly it was a sailboat. He didn’t have his anymore. I think we owed it to him to replace his boat.

Sneaking down past the first rows of three to four story condos was easy. These ultra-colorful buildings were built so close to each other that at times I wondered how anyone here had any sense of privacy. Keeping away from the walkers was easy. We did run across one unusual scene. From the window of a condo, second story I think it was, was a body. We could only guess it was a woman, by the dress and long hair. But that was all that was left of her besides the bones. We couldn’t tell how it was hanging out of the window, but there it was, hair dangling down off the scalp that still stuck to the skull. Dead a long time.

The only reason I made mention of that were the flashbacks that slammed their way into my brain at that very moment. I saw her again at the window, just looking out to me. I hear her every night now. Always calling out to me. Every time I think I’m getting over it, I just keep getting sucked up into it.

I shouldn’t. I should be able to let it go, walk away, accept it as a part of this new world. So why can’t I? I want to claim it is some sense of overwhelming love, one that transcends the bounds of life and death, but seriously, we only knew each other a few months, if that. I can’t be that sappy. My father died, and it was sad, but I don’t dream about him every night. I had no idea if Chris or Evan were alive at that point, or if Aaron and Lucy made it back. So why her?

Maybe these are things I don’t need to write about.

So we came to the last row of condos right in front of the marina port. We came up behind the condos because there was certainly a presence on that street in front of the building. Tague dashed inside to scout while the rest of us hunkered down behind some large dumpsters. When he came back out, he let us know of a small motor boat he had spied up against a house boat on the pier. It was also very close to the fuel depot, just in case the thing was empty. Of course, that would be the easy result. If it was broke, we’d be stuck on the house boat with presumably, a horde barreling down on us. Then we’d swim. I don’t remember asking if everyone knew how to swim.

So we needed a distraction to cut through the street full of zombies. Blevin instantly offered to go full rage out into the streets, but while I certainly trusted his ability to take care of himself among the walkers, we needed something to create a corridor between them. Maxie had an idea.

There was this small car, a Ford Fusion, I think, in a small alleyway between condos. It was pointing straight out towards the main street. Maxie snuck into the car and got it into neutral. We’d push the car out into the street, towards the right, creating a mess and hopefully taking a few of the creatures with him. Blevin would go flying out towards the left, diving into any creature in his and our paths.

The car rolled out first, instantly making every walker in the area stop, turn and look. Now, it wasn’t like it was motoring out of there. We had just pushed it, so it wasn’t smashing the zombies into bits. Instead, it knocked or pushed them out of the way. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was effective. Funny thing is, Blevin was probably far more effective. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but he is truly a sight to behold when he goes at the zombies. I’ve wondered about this before. He’s a big and strong guy, but why can’t any of us do anything even remotely close? I asked him about this later, and his answer was so simple it was scary.

“I’m not scared.”

That was his sole answer, nothing else to it. He seemed satisfied with the answer so I didn’t push for more details.

The rest of us scuttled between the rolling car to our right and the raging hulk to our left and made for the pier. Maxie was supposed to jump out of the car at the last moment, but grossly misjudged where he was, and went with the car right over the edge. Someone screamed, but when I made it to the pier and looked over, he was clear of the car and swimming towards the house boat.

Blevin dropped in behind us as he ran towards the boat. Tague was well ahead, ducking into the fuel post. As we ran by, he ducked back out with a small red gas can in his hand, but he shrugged as he ran past, shaking what seemed like an empty can. I looked back once to see Blevin slowly retreating on the pier, throwing fists and kicks in every direction. His favorite tactic was simply hitting a walker back into another bunch, making them stumble and fall. If they fell in the water off of the pier, he gave out an especially hardy laugh.

To our delight, there was a zombie on the house boat, but before we could even react to it, Janine had stabbed it through the neck with what seemed like a large hook attached to a chain. I had never seen it before, and by everyone else’s reaction, neither had they. Now, I think her main idea had been to hook the zombie by the neck or head, and tear it off, but Janine was still just a young girl. She yanked hard on the dumb creature and sent it toppling over the side of the boat as it stumbled around for its balance. In that case, it ended up being more than effective enough. Nevertheless, Janine let out a cry of frustration as she lost her weapon into the waters.

Tague rushed around the side and jumped into the small dinghy and went straight to the motor and began trying to crank it. Sarah and Clayton jumped in, followed by Janine. We had agreed they would cross first. Tague grunted as he tugged at the motor yanking on the rope trying to get it started, but it didn’t even sputter. I ran back around to the front just as Blevin was reaching the boat. He was still fighting like a maniac, but it was clear even he was about to get overwhelmed. Zombies were trying hard to get to the large man on the pier, and were falling over into the water just trying to get to him.

This is when I had a clear moment. An idea. It wasn’t much, but in hindsight it saved us, and I am writing about it because I’m damn proud of it. I took out my gladius and hacked the ropes off that held the boat to the pier. I shouted after Blevin, who in one backwards glance, noticed what I was doing, and made a dash for it. He jumped across the few feet of water, and with his superior strength, helped pushed the boat off of the pier. The large square boat drifted out into the water and the zombies came falling over the side of the pier, their moans and groans drowned by the water when they sank.

We weren’t going anywhere, but at least, the boat wasn’t about to become our coffin. A few moments of adrenaline were followed by relief. It was a good thing too because Tague came around from the other side to let us know the little dinghy’s motor didn’t work. He did have some paddles, so he would take the first group over, and then come back for us. As they rowed across, Maxie joined us alongside the boat after his little swim.

Maxie stood in awe on board his new boat as we inspected the sails under his command. As he had predicted, the boat was in really good shape. He pointed out, again, with pride, that these kinds of boats were built to last. So we unfurled the sails and got everything tied up as the zombies across the marina serenaded us with moans and groans of disappointment. It took a lot of shouting and yelling from Maxie as we rushed all over the ship to get her going. She was a much bigger boat than other previous ride, but Maxie was still sure we could sail her. Once we got everything up, and the wind picked the sails up, we sped out into the ocean, and left Myrtle Beach behind.

I spied the name of the boat over the side. A Slice of Pie.

“A stupid-ass name,” Maxie said.

He still hasn’t told me what he’s going to rename it.

We sailed through the night and pulled up into the Cape Fear River around five in the morning. Two small boats came speeding by us and then pulled up alongside us. They hadn’t recognized the boat, but one of the guys recognized me. Evan, Chris, Aaron and Lucy were there at the docks to greet us and I must say, it was an amazing feeling. We introduced our new passengers and were treated to most likely the best breakfast I have had in a very long time.

We ate fresh fruit, peaches and oranges someone had brought up from the south. All of the orchards in Georgia and Florida were growing wild, but still bearing fruit, so large caravans had driven south to harvest as much as possible. We exchanged stories. Thankfully, Aaron and Lucy’s story had been uneventful. They had managed to get the group of survivors from Miami back to Sunny Pointe without much of a hitch, although they soon learned they couldn’t drive down interstates anymore. Those were purely the domain of the zombies now.

Evan and Chris got into a few details about these hunter groups he had helped form and their success. That of course led into their predicament at the moment.

Sunny Pointe was under assault from thousands of zombies and in real danger of being overrun. The last human hold out I knew about was about to fall.