Last Stand of the Dead - 06 (19 page)

Charlie nodded.  “Duncan, find a spot on the riverbank that you could ground us on.”  Charlie went back to the bench seats and pulled a length of rope out of the storage unit under the cushions.

“Okay, hang on.”  Duncan revved the engine and headed upriver, scanning the riverbanks for someplace suitable.  What we were doing was difficult, since there was a lot of debris and submerged obstacles that could damage our boat.  But after a minute, Duncan found what he was looking for and suddenly angled the boat to the right.  Shoving the throttle forward, we lurched towards the side of the river, heading towards a small, rocky beach.

I winced as the metal pontoons screeched up the gravel, halting us abruptly.  One of the bikes nearly fell over, which would have been a disaster, since it was the end one and it would have fallen into the water. 

Duncan cut the engine and Charlie quickly jumped off the boat and tied the end of the rope he was carrying to a nearby tree.  The other end was secured to the back of the pontoon, keeping the vessel steady while we got the bikes off.  The front of the boat was going nowhere, and I was slightly worried that it might be permanent, but I couldn’t concern myself with that now.

Charlie worked the bikes around on the boat while I went ashore and got my bearings.  We were a little bit further east than we needed to be, but were still in good shape.  I could see
DuPont
road from the river, and that’s wh
ere
we needed to get to
get to
the
Marsailles
Fish and Wildlife Area.  If all went well, we would get there just before the kids and take them out
,
before they had a chance to scatter.

Just as I was headed back to the boat, I could hear Charlie start up one of the bikes.  From the sound of things, it was the CBR, and I was very curious as to his plan of unloading.

There was a loud noise as Charlie revved the engine, then a
high-pitched
whine,
and
then a crunch as tires hit the gravel.  A second later, Charlie was hurtling past me, bumping over the grass and weeds.  Charlie stopped and turned the bike off, grinning like a kid. 

“You
gotta
try that, it’s awesome!” he said.

I laughed. “Looks like I should.”  A second engine started up, and although it wasn’t as loud, it definitely had authority.  The same progression of events occurred, but this time I ran closer to see, and managed to catch Duncan in mid-flight
,
as he used the pontoon boat as a ramp and jumped off of the boat, landing on the gravel and speeding up the riverbank.  He was faster than
Charlie was
, and nearly got air a second time as he topped the bank.

Duncan and Charlie grinned like idiots at each other,
and then
Duncan pointed at the boat.  “Your chariot awaits,
sirrah
.”

Shaking my head
at the two kinds of fools I cho
se to work with, I hurried down the bank and into the boat.  I straddled the BMW and walked it back into place between the pilot and copilot’s seats on the boat.  Getting the engine started, I revved it as well, keeping the rear bra
ke locked as I gave it some gas
.  When I was
ready,
I released the brake, shooting forward and off the end of the boat.  I nearly lost my balance as I land
ed
, and managed to wobble my way over the edge of the riverbank.

I joined Charlie and Duncan, and together we made our way to the river road, carefully dodging debris.  When the river flooded, this part always caught some of it, and without crews to clear the way, there was a lot of dead wood and dried out seaweed.
  There was other debris here as well, and if you looked hard enough, you’d find quite a few remains of people whose last refuge from the dead became their grave.

To the south of us, the forest was huge.  It was an area bigger than our own forest, and to the south of that
,
was the nuclear power plant and cooling lake.  The plant still supplied a lot of power to several towns, and we were lucky to have found a person who survived the Upheaval to have worked there.  They stayed nearby and kept the plant running, although at limited capacity.

We rode as quickly as we could to the forest, and once there
,
we stopped at a small information center.  The place was long abandoned, but looked to be in decent shape.  English ivy was growing over a good portion of it, covering about a third from one end to the other.

We shut the bikes off and I walked over to the center.  From my vantage point, I could see into the visitor area, and realized there was nothing of use in there. I was looking for a map, and said so out loud to my companions.

“What about that?”  Duncan asked, pointing to a sign about a hundred feet away.  It was located slightly out of the way, but I realized that it was on a trail, just an overgrown one.

“Perfect.”  I went over quickly and after a cursory glance, found that the park was laid out just as I had hoped.  There were several trails, but they all interconnected and they were all loops.
They all connected to a center trail
.  It was like a cargo net of trails and would serve nicely.  I
looked
down the first trail, and was reli
ev
ed to see it was still there.  It was smaller than when it first began, and eventually would fade away altogether, but for
now,
it was enough.

I looked at Charlie and
Duncan.
  “This one’s going to be tough.  We are going to need to be sharp to make this work. Stay on your bikes,
and
keep moving.  If you go down, get to a tree and get climbing.  We’ll save you later.  Mike made a sizable dent in these bastards, and I want to finish the job. 
Any questions?”

“Why didn’t we just take the truck over here?” Duncan wanted to know.

Before I answered, Charlie snapped his fingers. 
“The trails.
  Nice thinking.”

Duncan looked confused.  “I’m still lost.”

“Never
mind,
” I said, laughing.  “Let’s get this moving.  I’ll take the southern end of the forest, Charlie, you’re in the middle, and Duncan,
you’re
north.  Let’s keep a
sharp eye and stay in contact.  First one who sees movement lets the others know before engaging.  Let’s move.”

Chapter 34

We rode carefully through the forest, keeping a sharp eye on the trails.  The paths were covered
with
leaves in spots, and it didn’t take too many leaves to cause a bike to slip.  Here and
there,
animals scurried out of our way, and more than one family of ground squirrels bolted for cover at the sight of the metal monsters invading their domain. 

Duncan broke off and stopped, and in my rear view mirror I could see him setting up the bike, scouting for a good position, and he would be checking his ammo and shotgun in due order.  Goofy as he could be, Duncan was a fighter.

About halfway in, Charlie slowed and stopped, and I gave a wave as I left him behind.  I worried and didn’t worry about Charlie, if that made any sense.  He could die, just
as
I could, but it would take some serious killing to get it done. 

About five minutes
later,
I reached the southernmost loop of the trail and found a place for the bike.  I was going to leave it on idle, since I didn’t want to have to start it up, but I decided to leave it off just for noise.  I figured I would start it when I saw the zombies, since they’d be seeing me as well. 

I called on the radio to Charlie and Duncan, and got ‘All clear’ from them both.  The hardest part about this game was the waiting.  It gave me too much time to think about things, and
inevitably,
my thoughts drifted back to my brother.  The unfairness of it all was galling, and I felt extremely guilty for not being there when he died.  I felt guilty for waiting so long to rejoin the fight, but I was tired of fighting.

The forest settled down after I turned off the BMW.  I pulled the shotgun around and put the sling over my shoulder and neck.  I wanted it in front of me at all times for the next few hours.  My backpack was in place, and my other weapons were easily at hand.  The only thing I didn’t have was my rifle, but Tommy was carrying that to
Leport
.

The sun was a little past
its
high point, so the trees let in a decent amount of light.  The underbrush was thick, but not impassable.  I was hoping the zombies would come straight through, but we’d see them from our positions if they opted to go around.  All around me, I could hear rustlings as the animals got used to my presence and treated me as part of the forest.  The leaves were turning, getting ready to carpet the forest floor once again in preparation for the winter months.  The only thing that kept the trails somewhat clear was the fact that the winds off the river could be strong, and they blew through these trails with enough regularity to keep them pretty clear.  We had the same thing happen at Starved Rock.  The trails stayed clear most times, and only needed maintenance on a semi-regular basis.

I kept my eyes on the tall grass in the distance, figuring the zombies would be coming from that direction.  I also kept a watch on what the animals were doing.  If they ran for cover or ran in my direction, I knew the zombies were coming.

“Anything out of sorts on anyone else’s end?” I asked quietly on the radio.

Charlie answered first.  “All quiet. 
Couple of rabbits are
at the edge of a small clearing in from of me.  If they bolt, I’ll know something else.”

“All clear up
here,
” Duncan said.  “Thought I heard a truck on the road, but couldn’t see anything.”

“It’s possible.  First one to see anything,
calls
out,
and then
keeps
it quiet.” I said.

“Well,
duh,
” Charlie replied.

I laughed.
“Got me on that one.
Talon out.”

The minutes stretched into an hour, and I was beginning to wonder if we were too late.  But just as I was trying to figure out our next move, Charlie’s voice came over the radio, quiet as a whisper. 

“They’re here.”

I started the cycle, grateful I had the BMW, which was a quiet running bike to begin with.  The idle was
quiet
as well, but the forest went quiet around me at the metallic sounds.

The wind rustled the leaves, masking the sound of the bike, and I eased the bike into first gear, wincing at the small click that motion caused.  I kept one hand on the clutch as I positioned the shotgun, figuring to run and gun.  I pointed the bike north and eased up on the clutch, slowly moving forward.

Suddenly my radio came alive with the sound of Duncan’s voice.

“Are you sure?  We’re clear up here.”

Oh, shit.  The last thing I heard on the radio was Charlie cursing at Duncan.

“You idiot.”

The next sound I heard as I pulled on the throttle was gunshots.

Chapter 35

I didn’t stick around to hear Duncan’s response.  I raced north, hoping I would not be too late.  As I got within fifty yards of where I thought Charlie was, I saw a huge group of zombie kids racing around a large tree.  Smoke blasted down from the center of the leaves, flattening several zombie kids.  I pulled the clutch again, and this time grabbed the shotgun with my right hand.  Aiming about where I could find little heads, I launched several rounds towards the horde, being rewarded with at least three
knockdowns
.  Fifty yards was about the range of effectiveness I could expect from a shotgun and buckshot.

Of course, this turned all of their attention to me, even though Charlie used the respite to reload and launch another broadside from the foliage. I reloaded and pulled away as the front line charged me, easing up on the clutch and heading away to a deeper part of the forest.  I wanted them to chase me, to draw them away from Charlie. 

As I moved, I heard three more shots, then the sound of a CBR firing up.  I knew then Charlie was safe, and I had the majority after me.  I rode slowly enough to keep the zombies running, but I couldn’t turn
around, shoot,
and take a few out.  I crossed a side path and nearly turned north, but in the next couple of seconds, I was glad I didn’t.

From the left came
Duncan
and he was blazing like a bat out of hell.  He must have
been going thirty miles an
hour, a risky proposition in the forest of leaves and branches.  His left hand held the shotgun, with the barrel riding alongside the windshield.  Duncan fired as he came within range, splitting the horde in half.  He kept moving, and slammed into a small boy who flew through the air, bouncing off a tree, and lying still at the base.  Duncan corrected the slide that
was
caused and stopped about forty yards away to reload. One push and he was ready to go again, but he chose to ride away to the south, much to my chagrin.