Life Among The Dead (32 page)

“
That is exactly what we are dealing with today.”

“
Are you serious?” David asks.

“
Yes.” Oz tells the skeptical nurse. “We are about to head out through the loading dock. You will see gross things, horrible things, don’t touch any of it. It may be too much for you guys. So, I want you all to keep your eyes closed.”

Oz gets the kids lined up in a chain. They all hold hands as they walk through the devastated bodies. Oz is the engine and David serves as the caboose. The conductor takes them in a looping line around torsos and limbs. They zig past severed heads, and zag around unidentifiable parts.

“
Keep them closed.” Oz chants, looking ahead of them to see what is coming up. He tries to keep an eye on their small feet as they blindly step around the gore. The kids are being very cooperative and willing to play the game even though David isn’t helping matters. His eyes are wide open, Oz can hear him gasp and groan at what he is witnessing.

At the end of the dock Oz finds a truck for them. Its back is open as it patiently waits for someone to unload it. The contents suggest it was here to stock the gift shops. It is half full of boxes labeled with the names of different brands of snack foods and manufacturers of trinkets. He leads the train of survivors inside the open trailer.

“
David, we need to make sure all this stuff is secured.” The leader starts reducing stacks of soda and boxes of chips. He doesn’t want anything to shift or fall onto the passengers. David creates a space for the kids. He levels out crates full of plush animals for them to sit on. The children love the idea; they open the boxes and relax on the seats made of stuffed animals.

“
Where are we heading?” David asks Oz who is grabbing a bag of cheese-flavored popcorn from one of the boxes and a bottle of warm soda.

“
North.” The man says as he exits the trailer. “I think.”

“
That’s it? Just north?” David asks puzzled.

“
I dunno. That’s what the Minute Man said.” He closes the door to the truck, hoping his cargo will be safe.

The big man drops himself off of the concrete slab and onto the ground. There isn’t a zombie in sight, not a moving one at least. The sky is getting dark and the air temperature is dropping fast. He wishes he had let the man with the muzzleloader finish his sentence. All he knows is to head north, and hope for the best.

66

Dan fires another salvo at the approaching zombies. He is actually having fun holding back the dead. It reminded him of a video game he used to play at the arcades when he was younger.

“
I’m Dan by the way.” He tells his partner between rounds.

“
Jason.” The man responds.

“
I’m sorry about your family.” He feels compelled to give some sort of condolence to the man. It seems weird having fun considering what had happened.

“
It wasn’t mine.” The man’s face saddens. “We were in the middle of a divorce… Her and her new boyfriend got pregnant.”

“
Oh.” Dan is at a loss for something to say.

“
I only came to the hospital to get her to finalize the papers. What a dick, huh?”

Dan can see the man probably still loved the woman. He supposes they shouldn’t continue on this topic for it might be too painful for him.

“
So, these are zombies?” Jason asks, changing the subject himself. The man smiles, Dan knows it is only a mask.

“
Yeah.” The soldier replies.

“
And, you don’t know what caused it?”

“
No.” Dan is getting sick of people thinking he has the answers. “Nobody knows I guess.”

“
Do you know what I think it is?” Jason poses the question. “Antibiotics.”

He lets his estimation hang, as if trying to bait Dan into asking him to expound on it. Dan is silent and Jason decides to explain himself anyway.

“
I had some time to think about it at the hospital. All our lives we get antibiotics pushed on us by doctors, and what do they do? They kill bacteria, and viruses, and stuff. But, those things all mutate, or evolve, and there are different strains. What if something evolved to do this?”

“
That is an interesting theory.”

“
Like that flesh eating disease. What if that became a parasite and is now using us as its host. We are eating each other to feed the parasite.” Jason looks to Dan for acknowledgement. The soldier just nods with a considering look.

“
Any other day I would say you were nuts. But, today there is nothing but possibilities.”

Dan looks over his shoulder towards the blue bus that contains his wife and newborn son. He wants to get to them and get going. Small streams of spilled gasoline are moving his way down the slight incline of the bridge.

“
I think we should have enough gas for now, and these fuckers are starting to get thick.” Dan points to the horde of zombies heading their way. More are joining from the city, as if drawn to the noise of the weapons being used against them.
Like moths to the flame,
Dan thinks.

Dan is ready to sprint off the jeep when Jason grabs his shoulder.

“
I think we should take one of these jeeps. We could get all the ammo onto one. These guns are awesome and could be useful.” Jason relates his idea.

That’s brilliant,
Dan thinks. It’s such a good idea he is pissed that he hadn’t thought of it. “Good thinking. I’ll tell them to head out and come back. You wanna drive?”

“
Hell no, I get the gun.” Jason laughs.

“
Fucker.” Dan kids before darting towards the shuttle.

The man filling the tank had gotten a system down to get as much fuel as possible into the vehicle. His middle finger is jammed into the receiving hole, holding the flap open. His other fingers form a chute for the gas to flow down.

“
We should have enough for a while.” The man reports.

“
Good job. We’re heading out.” Dan tells him and then rounds the vehicle to see Heather. Dan always liked the smell of gasoline, but this is too much. He hopes the kids will be ok with that stuff in the air.

“
Hey, guys.” Dan greets his family. Vincent has his face pressed against his mother’s chest, breathing deeply. “He’s asleep again?”

“
They do a lot of that for the first few months. Don’t get used to it though.” His wife smiles.

“
We’re going to take off now. Jason and I will be following in one of the Jeeps. We can use the fire power.”

“
No, stay with us.” She protests.

“
I’ll just ride in it for the first leg, then I’ll switch out with someone else.”

“
Can I come with you?” She doesn’t want to let him out of her sight. He really didn’t want to be away from her either.

“
I would feel better if you stayed in the bus. The jeep has no roof or doors.” Dan looks to the driver. “Keep to the rural roads and avoid cities and towns whenever possible.”

“
Got it.” The nurse says.

Dan kisses his wife for a long time, not wanting to disengage the tenderness. He gives his son a kiss on his head. Before leaving he hands Heather his pistol.

“
I don’t want it.” She shakes her head.

“
Take it.” He insists. “If anything happens to us you will need a weapon.” Dan can see one of the guys onboard already has the muzzleloader. He wants to be sure Heather and Vincent have protection. Although she doesn’t like guns Dan knows she can handle it. He had taken her to the range a few times and she is a decent shot.

“
I love you guys.” He says.

“
We love you dad.” Heather speaks for Vincent in a baby voice.

As soon as the gasman enters the bus the door is shut. Dan taps on the side to let them know to take off. He jogs towards the jeep. The sky is clouding over and the sun has almost disappeared. It is a lot colder than it was this afternoon, Dan notices. The jeep ride will be extremely cold once night falls.

The chopper in the sky is moving so slow it seems to just hang in midair. Dan and Jason had watched it earlier. The aircraft had turned and circled the city, now it is traveling towards them once more.

67

The man piloting the helicopter has had his fun circling the city, now it’s time to head home. It has always been his dream to fly. His only escape from his overbearing wife was flight simulators. He loves them. The man prides himself on mastering the most advanced games he can get his hands on. He always said he wanted to fly before he died.

His body shifts in his seat as he guides the chopper down Main Street. The plastic he sits on crinkles under his almost completely bare body. Mortie is starting to think this is his lucky day since his wound has stopped bleeding, and now he is fulfilling his lifelong wish of flying.

Mortie the mortician lives just outside of town. His home is beyond the Washington Bridge that crosses the Charles River. His backyard is actually the largest cemetery in the area and the perfect place to set down. He can’t wait to get home so he can be safe and comfortable when he commits suicide.

Mortie had taken too much liberty with his flight, wasted too much time. His eyes are now having trouble focusing; he can only see a blurry smudge where his instrument panel should be. If he wasn’t already planning on killing himself, he would be worried. Mortie isn’t concerned. He is totally at peace for the first time in a long, long while.

68

The jeep isn’t turning over. Dan and Jason had grabbed all the ammo out of one and put it into the other. They had snagged the gas can off of the back of the one they were leaving behind as well.

“
Maybe it’s flooded?” Jason suggests from his perch behind the .50 cal. “We should wait for it to drain.”

The soldier watches the blue bus get smaller in his rearview. The sound of the chopper blades cutting through the air is getting closer.

“
He’s really flying low.” Jason says. Dan looks up. The craft is flying only a yard above the roofs of the cars on the bridge.

Dan tries the ignition again.

“
I told you we have to wait.” Jason tells him.

“
We can’t wait.”

The struts below the chopper bounce off the roof of a delivery van 200 yards away. They are scraping along the tops of the vehicles.

“
Fuck me.” Dan says as the feet of the flying machine catch a convertible by its windshield. It lifts the car and the two fly into a semi. The chopper is now somersaulting forward onto the line of traffic.

The blue shuttle is safely away as the propellers of the craft slices into steel and asphalt. They break off as it travels nose first into the bridge becoming a fireball. The inferno rolls towards Dan and Jason.

69

Oz had watched as the helicopter flew over his truck. He has been pushing cars out of his way to get through Main Street. The powerful machine bullies its way towards the Washington Bridge. He knows living folks are heading north and he plans on catching up to them.

The janitor watched as the low flying craft scraped the roofs of the vehicles stalled ahead of him. He stopped when the chopper took its sudden nosedive. The truck full of children has almost made it to the bridge. Oz can see open road ahead, just passed the apparent roadblock that had caused the traffic jam. The helicopter explodes, setting off the neighboring cars. Oz is stunned for a brief instant.

“
Fuck me.” He says. The explosion is heading towards him. The stand still traffic is erupting in a chain reaction. Car after car bursts violently, approaching like a fuse.

The transmission is in reverse as he tries to back away from impending doom. He doesn’t have much experience with driving vehicles while towing, but he has no choice. Oz carefully guides the truck through the opening he had made.

He is worried about the children inside the trailer that weaves stubbornly. If he was by himself he would probably just let the fire take him, but he can’t let these kids down like he feels he had Toby.

The cars continue to explode in succession, chasing them. He shifts his glance from the windshield to the mirror as he desperately retreats backwards towards the hospital. The trailer sharply banks to the right as the inferno ultimately catches up to them. Oz has to shield his eyes from the brightness of the fire. “Sorry kids.”

70

The shuttle is accelerating across the bridge. Nurse Cindy is having a hard time keeping it under control as the ground below them shakes incessantly like a tectonic tremor. Flaming pieces of debris rain down like the wrath of God. One of the green jeeps falls from the sky and almost clips the frontend of the bus as it lands, smoldering and upside down. It strikes the pavement so hard it leaves an impression.

Heather looks back with disbelieving eyes at the fireball that expands where her husband used to be. Her mouth hangs open, tears falling down her cheeks. She cradles the child they had made together, wanting to scream, but unable to find any breath.

The tanker truck explodes. The force clears the twisted wreckage from the surface of the bridge sending it over the sides and into the icy Charles River. Sections of the structure are starting to fall apart, weakened by the intense blast.