Zombies! (Episode 10): State of Emergency (14 page)

If a person is being strangled, his or her first instinct is to reach up and try to pull the offending strangulation device away. Though zombies did move air into and out of their bodies, asphyxiation was of no danger to them. Vincent had no regard for his own well being. He was still only interested in the food clinging to his back. Trying to grab at Abby, he flailed his arms awkwardly over his shoulders. Though he was bigger and stronger, he tipped himself off balance. Abby pressed the advantage, pushing against him and knocking him to the ground. He hit the floor with a thud and she directed her forearm at the back of his head in the hopes that she could force a deadly impact with the floor. The maneuver backfired. Vincent's head bounced harmlessly against the industrial carpet while her arm exploded in pain. For a moment, she lost all sensation in her fingers. The cord went slack and Vincent tried to wriggle free. If he had been anything but the stumbling cadaver that he was, he would have certainly succeeded. But Abby caught hold in time, pressing her hand into a fist by sheer force of will. The cord went taught again as she pulled with all of her strength.

"Chantelle," she cried. "Get something sharp." Chantelle hesitated, then let go of Sam and made for the counter. But Sam wanted his mommy. He took two steps toward her before Chantelle yanked him back, her fingers pressing firmly into his arm. He began to cry. She was just about to lose total control when she heard something. Turning, she saw the gate rattling. Someone or something was on the other side banging.

“Chantelle!” Abby cried.

Chantelle ignored Abby, focused on the pounding on the other side of the gate. Then she watched in alarm as, slowly, it started to rise.

***

The city on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge was covered in a blanket of white snow. Even the trail of the zombie army had been almost entirely covered up. All that remained were indentations in the snow where it wasn’t quite as deep as in other places. The trees in the park stood tall and snow capped, crying white water onto the ground at their bases. The streets and the park were completely empty. The people had fled and it seemed that the zombies had moved on to whiter pastures.

Deion pulled out ahead of Luke, spilling out to the right on Centre Street. Martin checked his phone and told him that Abby was back the other way. It would have been too difficult to maneuver the plows into a U-turn so Deion cut to the right on Chambers. He pushed the snow ahead of them to the left and scraped his way down the block. At the other edge of the park was Broadway. There he made a left. The way down was treacherous. They had to cover the length of the park and there were a few cars in the way, those that had been left behind by people who’d thought it would be quicker to run from the zombies on foot. Deion maneuvered deftly around them and hung a left on Park Row.

“We’re close,” Martin said, his voice growing tense. “We’re so close.”

Now that his goal was in reach, he was terrified. What would he do if he found Abby’s phone abandoned on the floor? What would he do if he found a zombie carrying it around? What would he do if that zombie was Abby?

“Here!” he shouted. “Here!”

Deion pulled to a stop at the corner of Park Row and Beekman and Martin spilled out of the truck. He began screaming Abby’s name at the top of his lungs but his voice, as loud and deep as it was, was stolen by the wind. With his eyes on the phone screen, wiping the snow from it every ten seconds, he moved down Beekman. There was a line of store fronts, most of them dark. Finally he came to a little boutique with the gate down. The phone told him that he had reached his destination. How could they be inside of a store with the gate down? The chain was on the outside. How accurate was this stupid Friend Finder app? Then he heard screaming.

“
Abby!
” Martin began to pound furiously on the gate. The metal slats shook with every blow. He wasted precious seconds in his panic before noticing that there was no padlock on the gate. It was down but unlocked. Grabbing the chain, he began to haul it up. It was slow going with one hand. He had neglected to put the phone away. He just wasn’t thinking. Then someone was pushing him aside and Deion was pulling on the chain with both of his strong arms. It came up quickly after that. Martin shoved his phone into his pocket and felt the gun in his waistband.

When the gate was up, Martin pulled open the door and rushed inside.

“Daddy!”

He glanced only once at Sam before turning his attention back to the main attraction. Abby was struggling on the floor with a zombie. The man was in the remains of a regular business suit. He was face down on the floor, his arms waving wildly over his head. She had the cord of a computer mouse wrapped around his neck and she was straddling his back like a horse. But she was tiring. The fierceness in her eyes was all but gone. Martin knew his wife well.

Pulling Jazz’s gun from his pants, he flicked off the safety and rushed forward. He grabbed Abby by the arm and pulled her away from the zombie. She was so fixated on her battle that she didn’t understand what was happening. She was taken completely by surprise and stumbled into one of the displays. Free now, the zombie slid its arms underneath it and began to push itself up. But Martin stepped down hard on its back, pinning it once again. Then he leaned in close and fired the gun three times into its head. Poor Vincent shuddered under the fury of the bullets and then lay still.

“Martin?” Abby asked, utterly dumbfounded.

He turned to her. “Are you hurt?”

Unsure, she shook her head.

“Abby, were you bitten?”

“No, I…” She checked her arms and legs for any injuries. Her biceps burned with the exertion and her thighs ached from sitting on top of Vincent, but there were no tears in her clothing and no blood on her body. “I’m okay.”

With one massive step, Martin came forward and grabbed her up in a bear hug. Abby was still so puzzled by his appearance that she didn’t even respond. Chantelle finally let go of Sam and he came rushing forward to grab his father’s leg. Martin looked down and saw his son, really, for the first time. With his left hand, he pulled Sam up to his shoulder and smothered him between his parents. He giggled a bit.

Behind them, Chantelle glanced at Deion, who’d come in just behind Martin. Luke had stayed with the trucks. Deion winked at her and she smiled shyly.

“How did you find me?” Abby asked. “How did you get here?”

“Friend Finder.” He grinned. As soon as he got home, Martin was going to leave that app a five star comment. “And my new friend Deion drove me up in his snow plow.”

Abby still couldn’t grasp the whole adventure. She couldn’t imagine that Martin had left work, gotten into a snow plow, and come to rescue her. She could, however, imagine him setting off on foot and doing whatever it took. She looked Deion up and down, his bald head and his thick arms, and biker’s face. She marched up to him and gave him a big hug, whispering a
thank you
in his ear.

“What do we do about him?” Martin asked, looking down at Vincent.

Abby went over and tentatively reached into his pockets. There, she found his phone. “I guess I’ll get in touch with his family. He was so worried about his family.”

There was little more that they could do after that. Chantelle gathered up her things and, together they left the boutique. They waited for Chantelle as she pulled down the gates and put on the padlock. She wanted to protect the place from the possibility of looters. If the world wasn’t ending then she needed to keep her job. Of course, she wasn’t entirely sure how her boss was going to react to the broken displays and the dead zombie on the floor. She’d make sure to call just as soon as the phones were working.

“Martin, why don’t you and your family ride with Luke this time so that I can get to know the pretty lady better?” Deion said.

Martin shook his hand vigorously. “Whatever you want, brother. You ask her out, why don’t you. We’ll buy you both dinner.”

Deion grinned from ear to ear. They levered themselves into the trucks, Sam delighted at getting to ride in such a huge machine in the middle of a snowstorm. Luke and Deion put the trucks into gear and started back toward the bridge so that they could rendezvous with Olden.

***

At around 11:30, Luco called Naughton back into the room. Yuan had long since left. Since he was on duty, he couldn't very well disappear forever. Zoe was sitting up. Luco had raised the back of the table so that she could lean back. The restraints had been removed. She was being fed oxygen and Naughton could see a urine bag hanging from the side. It wasn't full, but it wasn't empty either. There was more color in Zoe's cheeks. She turned to look at him as he entered.

"I can't believe it." And he couldn't. As far as he was concerned, what he was seeing constituted a miracle.

Luco was floating. "I think it's safe to move her now. We'll have to take the IV. I've packed some medical supplies into that bag." He looked to see a large blue bag on the floor. "Will that be all right?"

"Yeah," he said, thinking that he had no bag packed. All of his things were at his apartment. His clothing and his jewelry. His collection of hotel matchbooks. He supposed that none of it was at all important.

Together they gathered up Zoe and helped her off the table. She no longer smelled dead. She didn't smell good, but she didn't smell dead either. They dressed her in her own clothing and covered her with the sweater. Yuan had turned up a jacket from the lost and found. It was a little bit big for her and cut for a boy, but it was better than nothing. They also wrapped her in a blanket. The temperature was in the teens and Zoe, now human, would freeze to death in a moment.

They had also managed to scrounge up a patient meal. It was cold but it was intact. When Zoe saw the food, she began to retch. Luco forced some jello into her mouth and then some water. She swallowed both and immediately perked up. By all indications, her entire system had started working again. The bacterium had preserved her perfectly.

They led her out of the doors. One or two people glanced their way but no one said anything. Once out in the cold, Naughton left them to go and get the car. Not his car. That wouldn't do. He had made arrangements for another car. The street was by no means clear. The sidewalks were worse. More than a foot of snow was piled up against the sides of the buildings. Since it was still falling, it was still accumulating. The plows had come by recently but there were still at least four inches on the road.

Naughton came back moments later. He was driving a grey Hummer H1. He pulled to a stop and got out of the driver's seat. He opened the back door and Luco helped Zoe inside. She lay down on the seat and Luco got in behind her, holding the IV bag.

"I'll sit with her," Naughton said.

Luco looked up at him. "You want me to drive this thing?"

"Just through the city."

"Lance, I've never even driven anything as big as a minivan."

"You'll be all right," he said, heading over to one of the storage compartments and pulling out a shotgun. "Unless you want to be responsible for fighting off the zombies.

Luco swallowed hard and then took a deep breath. She supposed that this was what being a fugitive was like. Over the course of the rest of her life, she'd probably have to do countless things that she never expected. At least it wouldn't be boring.

She got into the front seat and Naughton slid in next to Zoe. There was a screen on the dashboard with a street map loaded onto it.

"The guidance system is already programmed to take us to the Canadian border," Naughton told her. It's been programmed with the plow routes so that we won't have much trouble with the snow. Those roads are highlighted in green. We may still hit areas with eight inches or more, but this vehicle is equipped to handle two and a half feet of water. If you see a red area then head away from it. The guidance system will reroute us so don't worry about screwing it up."

"What are the red areas?" she asked even though she already knew.

He didn't answer her directly. "The orbital satellites are all blinded by the snow, but information from police reports has given us a good fix on the locations of large zombie groups. We'll probably hit stragglers and we may hit worse. The hummer's not designed for maneuvers so go slow. If there are two or three zombies, we can just drive through them. If there are twenty, we'll need to run."

"Okay," she said and then said it again. Her hands were clammy and there was sweat forming at the collar of her coat. Luco was more nervous than she had ever been in her life.

"Our new identities are in the glove compartment."

This startled her. She was just about to shift the vehicle into drive but held up and looked at him. "Identities?"

He didn't seem fazed. "Denise, we're on the run from the government. We may need to change our identities several times. I couldn't get a very thorough job done in a few hours and I burned through just about every favor I've accumulated over the years so this will be it for free. I kept our first names because getting used to new names is difficult. Our last name is Dakota."

"
Our
last name?"