The Living Dead Series (Book 3): Dead Coast (12 page)

The vines finally broke free. “I’m going to push you out as far as I can before you start the motor. Ready?”

He pushed until the water reached his chest and he lost his footing. Bea pulled him in while Carl yanked on the starter. The engine coughed then began to
chug
. They turned the prow toward the opposite shore again.

Just as they reached the middle of the river a flotilla of infected drifted toward them. The bodies started slamming into the boat hard, slowing them down and making it difficult to steer. Bloated, gray hands clutched at the boat, making it rock dangerously. Bea leaned over the sides and punctured rotted skulls with her fence rail then kicked them back into the water.

They were surrounded and no matter how many they destroyed, more were there to take their place. Two women grabbed onto the motor and tried to climb aboard. Carl attacked them with the axe but before they dropped off, the motor stalled again. Infuriated, he stomped the reaching arms and both women slid backward into the river- taking the motor with them and capsizing the boat.

Bea and David spilled into the muddy, infested water, gasping at the cold. They tried to cling to the overturned boat but just before they grasped the side, the current turned the boat around abruptly, slamming it into David’s head. He went down.

Screaming his name, Bea let herself sink and reached out with both hands to pull him up. It was impossible to see in the murky dark but she felt broad shoulders and grabbed him by the collar, pulling and tugging desperately. She broke the surface to find she had pulled an infected up with her. The cadaverous face had no eyes or ears and his throat was just a shredded black hole. Releasing him and kicking away she plunged down again, fighting a current that wanted to drag her down into the deep and sweep her away.

Her hands closed on hair and she opened her eyes but still couldn’t see who or what she had. Struggling back to the surface she found she had David this time. He was unconscious and she struggled to keep them both from going back under.

She heard a shout. The boat was to their left, flipped back over with Carl clinging to the side and pulling it along as he paddled toward them.

Pushing David ahead of her she swam to the boat. Carl helped hoist David up and over the gunwale.

“Do we have any paddles?” she asked.

“No, Supergirl. Everything fell out.”

“If we push together we might make it to shore. You stay here and guide. I’ll take the back.”

Carl nodded and she dived, swimming under the boat. Surfacing, she placed both hands on the hull and kicked as hard as she could. It was working. They were getting closer to the shore.

Steeling herself for a final push she took a deep breath and was immediately pulled under by a cold hand clutching her ankle in an iron grip. Down, deeper and deeper she went while kicking and prying at the dead hand holding her captive. Her lungs were on fire.

Finally her boot connected with the rotting shoulder and the arm broke free. She made a feeble attempt at swimming up but she had lost all sense of direction and wasn’t sure where “up” was anymore. She was spent. Bright sparks of light floated briefly in front of her eyes then everything went black.

Somehow, she was on a muddy bank and on her knees, vomiting. The only sensations she felt were of cold and of rocks cutting into her knees and hands while she retched. She vaguely noted that someone or something was behind her and struggling to climb the bank. She vomited again and got to her feet.

The bloated monster behind her slipped backwards in the mud before climbing out of the water again. Droves of the infected were coming ashore up and down the banks, as far as she could see. A bright glint of metal shone far up the bank to her right. The aluminum boat. Were David and Carl still alive?

She jogged slowly up the bank, dodging the clumsy dead and looking for David. She came upon him just a few yards away. He lay with face pressed into the mud, not moving. His forehead still bled watery trickles of blood from a deep gash and she took that as a sign he was still alive. Two infected emerged from the water and began to climb the bank eagerly.

Training for emergency situations, especially terrorist situations (the term “man-caused disaster” never really caught on, even in politically correct D.C.) was routine for anyone working in the nation’s capital. She knew how to carry someone in a fireman’s lift but had never done it with anyone as tall as David.

A rusting metal silo loomed just up the bank. Debris lapped against its base indicating how high the water had risen. If they could get inside they might hold out for a little while. She moved below David on the bank and took his arms, tugging and shifting him until his body lay more or less across her shoulders.

The dead lurched after them as she stumbled up and over the weedy mud. Her feet sank into the ground and seemed to grow heavier with each step. Moans echoed around her, spurring her on but her strength was almost gone.

The dead were close. Their odor, dank and rotten, was suffocating. She couldn’t see behind her or even to the side. An open door in the silo beckoned. So close.

She felt something tugging, trying to pull David from her shoulders and she fought back, kicking and aiming for the knees, hoping to break the decaying bones and at least knock the creature to the ground.

“Supergirl! Wait! It’s me.”

Carl lifted David and slung him easily over a shoulder. “Let’s go.”

They climbed the last few feet of the bank and cautiously entered the silo. Startled birds fled through a large hole in the silo’s roof. Carl lowered David to the floor and Bea pulled the door closed on the following dead.

Bea assessed the building. They were in a cavernous, empty space, smelling of damp earth. A ladder ran up the side to a small platform near the damaged roof. Bird droppings formed a thick layer on the ground. The slime-covered, metal walls were rusted away in places and there were gaps near their base, large enough for something to crawl through. And from the sound of it something was approaching.

The blows started almost immediately, the metal vibrating under their force and echoing painfully inside. The dead knew they were in here. And they were hungry.

David started to vomit and she ran to roll him on his side. Dirty water mingled with the bird droppings and created a smelly soup. He retched one last time and sat up, shuddering.

“Where-?”

“Silo. On the west side of the river. Can your guy find us here?”

“Depends. Where’s my pack?”

“We lost everything.”

“My phone’s gone then. That’s what they were supposed to be tracking.”

The noise from the attacking dead was deafening and worse, groping hands found the gaps in the walls. Broken nails dug ceaselessly at the ground, widening the gaps even more.

Bea went through her pockets and pulled out her phone. Water was behind the screen and she couldn’t see anything on it. She shook it in frustration. Calming down, she touched the screen as if it were working and she was pulling up her contacts. Running her finger down the screen to where Brian’s number usually appeared she tapped it. And waited. She heard nothing.

David tried to stand but staggered. His pants were shredded below the knee and his calf throbbed in pain. Lifting the shreds he saw a four-inch gash, wide and jagged. He tried again to stand and blood poured down his leg. He leaned one-legged against the silo wall, feeling faint.

“That needs stitches,” Bea said. She thought she caught a glimpse of white bone deep in the wound.

David shook his head. “Eventually. Can you dial a number?”

“Maybe. That’s what I’ve been trying to do but my screen isn’t visible. Give me the number and I’ll try it.”

She tapped in the number he gave her and then put the phone on speaker. They heard the line ring then a sound as if someone had picked up, a garbled voice message, then silence. David took the phone and recited a rather long string of letters and numbers before handing it back.

“Well, we know something is working, somewhere. We should know if they’re looking for us soon enough.” His face was gray and strained just from the effort of staying upright and blackness flickered at the edge of his vision.

Just then they heard a loud moan and looked over to see an infected crawling under the wall, partially into the room. Carl stomped the head until the skull cracked and black fluid flowed into the ground. Two more broke through and grabbed Carl’s ankle. He fell and a putrid mouth tore into the flesh of his calf.  Dirty, skeletal hands pulled him under the jagged metal wall and out. Bea grabbed his arms and pulled him back but lost her grip and he was gone.  Immediately more decaying hands appeared in the gaps and continued to dig, clawing at the soft, moist soil.

They were out of time. If a rescue were underway it was going to have to happen now. Not knowing what else to do they climbed the little ladder up to the platform, David’s leg pouring blood the whole way. He missed his footing once and nearly fell but finally made it to the top and fell prone, exhausted. Just before he lost consciousness he heard thunderous hammering on the metal walls and felt vibration as if they were collapsing. Darkness, comforting and quiet, beckoned, and he surrendered without a struggle.

W
hite Paper written by Department of Defense CDC liason, Hamm Schilling (Pro Tempore), on the decision to use tactical nukes within the continental United States. Post Urban-Shield.

PRIORITY: URGENT

Overview:

Addressing the current plan involving the scheduled tactical bombing of population centers within the United States:

The effects of a nuclear blast are well documented.  Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Tunguska event (strictly speaking not a nuclear bomb but a nuclear event nonetheless) have been thoroughly examined, dissected, discussed, and divulged. Most of us consider a nuclear bomb the most destructive and deadly weapon known, having been conditioned to do so from childhood. Yet how effective is it really?

At ground zero it is true the impact is devastating. With the explosion of a one megaton bomb anyone and anything within a radius of 2 kilometers will be obliterated. A bomb this size will generate hurricane-force winds. An enormous crater, over 60 meters deep and 300 meters wide will form. For anyone living, death will be instantaneous as their body is vaporized in the blast. The death toll at this range is approximately 100 percent. Destruction of the infected inside this area is a near certainty.

However, if we move beyond ground zero to an area 4 kilometers outside the blast zone the picture changes significantly. Here we will find the skeletons of some structures still standing. Poured concrete buildings often hold up against the hurricane force winds at this distance and underground shelters are quite effective. Approximately 50 percent of the population is dead here and 40 percent are seriously injured either from burns or being hurled into objects by the winds.  A significant number will suffer “flash blindness” from the brightness of the explosion and everyone not inside a shelter will suffer deep flesh burns that reach to the bone. Most of these victims will linger just long enough to die in agony. Deleterious effects on the infected will be minimal.

Fallout:

The effects of fallout, long term and short, cannot be disregarded. Depending on wind speed and duration, radiation will continue to spread for some time. Within a 50 kilometer radius death will probably occur the same day of the blast and the area will be contaminated for years.  A more gradual but still painful death awaits all those within a radius of 350 kilometers.

But what effect will it have on the infected?

Conclusion:

It is my expert opinion that the impact on the infected will be minimal outside of ground zero. The infected are not destroyed by burn wounds, blindness, or blunt force trauma unless it is applied to the cranial area. It is highly doubtful that they will succumb to radiation sickness. The long-term effects of nuclear bombing are known to be devastating to human beings as well as the environment.

I further contend that the bacteria destroying properties of radiation
may well retard the degradation and decomposition
we are already seeing in the virus victims and thus
I counsel patience rather than rash action
. By deploying nuclear weapons we may well be prolonging the ‘life-span’ of the infected while further damaging and weakening the living as well as poisoning our environment for decades and longer.

Therefore I urgently request that all preparations for tactical nuclear strikes be immediately abandoned and we pursue a course of patience and when possible, simple avoidance of the infected. Warm weather will soon blanket much of the country and will accelerate the decay of the dead.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

Commander Hamm Schilling (Pro Tempore) CDC liason

~

Office of the President of the United States

Dear Commander Schilling,

              Your request has been received and after due consideration, is hereby denied. We believe the current crisis demands the utmost urgency and believe the “wait and see” course you recommend is inadequate and would fail to secure the safety of the American people.

              Desperate times often call for desperate measures and it is with full knowledge of the seriousness of our situation that we resolve to address this crisis to the full extent of our ability.

~

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U.S. Department of Defense Publication No. E-N549

Having determined that containment measures have failed to stop the spread of the Z-virus, beyond question the most destructive natural disaster the modern world has ever faced, and that large urban population centers must be considered high risk sources of infection the D.O.D. in cooperation with Homeland Security is issuing the following warning:

Strategic nuclear strikes to be the initial step in Operation Clean-Up and intended to replace failed Operation Urban Shield will begin immediately and are scheduled in the following order:

• Dallas/Ft. Worth area- immediately
  
• Washington, District of Columbia-within advised time-frame
  
• Atlanta-to be determined
  
• New York Metropolitan area-to be determined
  

These strikes will be in accord with our stated strategic policy of containment/elimination. Unintended casualties are inevitable but are within the limits of acceptable risks. Citizens unable to evacuate the intended strike zones should shelter in place as they are able and should keep in mind the following information:

Devices will be detonated as close to designated ground zero areas as possible, thus minimizing fallout but directly hitting intended targets.

Most damage will occur within 1.7 miles of ground zero. Above ground structures inside this radius will be destroyed. If you are within this area and cannot evacuate you should seek deep, underground shelter.

Severe damage will still occur outside of this area up to a 7.4 mile radius of ground zero. Anyone unable to evacuate these areas should also seek deep underground shelter.