6th Horseman, Extremist Edge Series: Part 1 (40 page)

“They are using their brains,” Josh says.
“I’ve been watching their behavior and they definitely have
motivations and memory. Maybe they’re using their host’s
brains.”

I have to agree with Doof. They’re after us
in a bad way. “And they can talk to each other,” I add. We’ve gone
hundreds of miles, and they still know we’re here. I’m on edge, but
it’s safe in the boat. Just as we get closer to the dog pile
growing on the edge of the drawbridge the pile suddenly swells. The
puppets are creating a massive towering structure by clinging to
one another. The squirming is unnatural. Body parts are bent back
on themselves and some of the puppets scream and gurgle strange
noises. I run to the seat behind the pilot wheel and pull up the
cushion. There’s my clean and loaded M-16. I flip the safety
off.

“What are you doing?” Rice is starting to
panic. I don’t have time for her shit. I run to the rail and brace
myself with one foot. I pop off a few rounds in the growing tower
of bodies. The squirming increases. To my surprise the tower bends
over on itself and arches over the channel waters. A massive
cluster of bodies crashes onto the boat. Everyone on the deck
scatters.

Rice is caught underneath the mass of bodies.
Tanis gets hit and is thrown into the port railing. The boat rocks
heavily, then hits the opposite side of the canal. Water sprays
upward. I stumble and fall. Everyone falls. Puppets that had been
waiting on the opposite side, mouths watering, leap from the bridge
platform and onto the boat. Ian slams the throttle into full gear
and the
Pioneer
careens down the canal, overloaded with the
infected. The bodies untangle like the relaxing of a muscle. They
stand and fill the walkways between the cabin and the settee. It’s
like they’re lining up for burgers. I guess my shift is about to
begin.

I’m guarding Ian, who is white knuckling the
steering wheel. Hana and Ben are on the port side of the cabin.
Rice is buried, Josh and Tanis are at the bowsprit and Markus is
below. He comes up top with weapons in hand.

Hana takes her rake. I take my Beater Stick
and hang my rifle on my back. The first ugly fucker gets a jab to
the jaw. I can’t kill the things so I knock them overboard.

I smash the kneecaps of a fat puppet and yank
its lapel ‘til it flips over the lifeline. Ben screams. I look. Ben
and Hana are getting overwhelmed and he’s clutching a wound on his
arm. I turn back to my line of puppets and move faster. It’s like
flipping cards. One after the other goes off the boat.

I clear my side of the cabin and move to the
center of the boat. Rice isn’t dead. She’s screaming like a banshee
though. I smash knees and bat off puppets one after the other.

Markus is behind me. He has his baseball bat
and is doing a good job keeping them off my right side. Tanis
climbs onto the shrouds, which have rope ladders that lead to the
top of the masts. He climbs over their heads and starts kicking
field goals with their skulls.

“Everyone hold on!” Ian yells.

“Grab something!” I repeat.

I grab the nearest rail. Ian turns the boat
starboard and the whole ship rocks. Puppets near the side fly off.
Others fall like dominoes only to regain their feet and continue
trying to claw us to death.

I reach Rice and pull some hairy, fat guy off
her. Her face is split and a piece of her ear is hanging off her
head. Her blouse is shredded and she’s covered in worms. Blood
oozes from everywhere. I take her hand and pull her from the group
on the forward half of the deck. Josh and Tanis have their
attention, for now.

Ian orders us to hold on again so he can rock
the boat. Some fall away, but not enough. Markus has his back to
me. “I’m tired. I might not — ”

I hear Hana scream, which distracts me for a
moment. One grabs me. Then another. They’re strong. This isn’t
working. I push them away. Markus and I back up into the narrow
space between the cabin and the railing.

Our sails are down and bundled on the booms.
Blue shit drips in chunks.

I see Josh. He’s fighting with the secondary
anchor. Good boy. We connect eyes. I wave him to me. He ducks under
the grabbing arms and snarling faces and jumps on the settee. He
bashes some puppets off the seat in the middle of the boat and
jumps over Rice.

“The Anchor!” I yell. He’s smarter than he
looks and I know he’s got a clue about what I want to do. He tosses
the anchor over our line of puppets. I catch it and wrap it around
the neck of the fucker in front of me. When the thing is secure to
the anchor line I toss it overboard. The line goes taut and catches
a dozen puppets all the way to the bow. They’re smashed into the
lifeline now.

“Ian! Hit the gas!”

“I’m going full speed!”

No matter. It only takes a moment. The anchor
catches the bottom of the canal and turns the anchor line and the
lifeline into a scissor. The dozen puppets are cut in half. Their
top halves fly into the canal and the bottoms crumble to the
deck.

“I’m dragging!” Ian yells. He slows the boat.
He doesn’t know it’s our anchor.

Markus and I run to the horde and start to
fight. Josh tugs on the anchor line and eventually pulls it free.
Hana and Ben make progress too. The four of us are now in the
middle of the boat, pushing the horde to the front. Josh is
overwhelmed and climbs out to the very end of the bowsprit. He
hangs on and all the puppets that try to get to him slip and fall
to the water.

“Puppet tower!” Ian screams.

I look to the back and see another mass of
bodies rising high on the canal edge. The top falls and a dozen
more puppets flood the cockpit. The boat rocks and the momentum
pushes us to the opposite side where we hit. Ian fights but has to
leave the wheel. He runs to us.

I hear snarling. Dogs sprint over the edge of
the canal and land on the back.

I steady my breath, though our situation just
got a lot worse. The dogs push through the puppets and approach us,
barring their teeth, roots hanging out of their eyes.

“Lets get below,” Ian says. The settee has a
ladder into the center of the boat. Markus opens the door.

“No. We need to get them off our boat!” I
scream. I’m not gonna retreat and leave the topside full of
fuckers. We’d be sitting ducks.

I turn to the door and reach inside. There’s
a small box hanging on the wall. From the box I pull out several
handheld flares. I light mine and toss around the others.

The dogs stop and so do the other puppets.
“Got your attention now?” I wave the red fire at them and they back
up. Hana, Ben, and Ian clear off the back and get Josh off the
bowsprit and Tanis off the rope ladder. Markus and I push all the
fuckers to the back where they cower and screech.

The puppets on the edge of the canal stop,
too. They’re thinking. I know it. They’re trying to decide how to
get us. They’re only getting smarter. One of the dogs bolts toward
Ian, but Ian jabs the flare into its face. It yelps and backs up
toward the others. They crowd the steering wheel.

I advance on the horde. I’m next to the
cabin. There’s a port window next to me. I see movement. It’s Andy.
He’s coming up top!

Andy swings open the cabin door. He’s staring
at the horde and some vicious lookin’ dogs. “What’s going on?
Where’s Kat?” he says. I know the kid is looking for Tanis’
dog.

“Get your ass below!” I scream.

The group starts to come at us in a
collective bundle. Twenty of them and six dogs of different breeds.
They surge. Andy is snatched off the ladder and pulled into the
group.

“No!” I scream. I drop the flare and start
swinging. A dog leaps and bites into my arm. I fall back and grab
its throat. My thumb pushes into its larynx as easily as pushing
into mud and I snap its neck. Its jaw slackens but it’s still
clawing at me. I throw it overboard.

Andy screams.

The kid!

Andy’s voice vanishes.

“We need more fire!” I yell. The puppets
start to move closer, one step at a time. Bastards at the back seem
to be protecting their catch.

I look at Ben. “Pants, now!”

“No fucking way!” he argues.

“Pants or I throw you at them!”

“Andy!” Yells Hana. She’s bashing the horde
with her rake but it’s doing no good.

Ben slips off his pants. I tie them around my
beater and light them on fire. Ian takes the torch and starts to
push them back again. The larger fire works, for now. The horde
pushes all the way to the helm again.

I see Andy’s body. He’s lying at their feet,
silent and still. I feel rage fill me. I want to explode and become
the Phoenix. I want to eat them all. I want to fly that kid out of
here, to a better place, but I think he’s already gone. He’s free
from this world.

I glance at Ian. Tears fill his eyes. He
stops and closes them. I think I’m going to have to slap him across
the face, but instead he snaps to. He reaches down and grabs a line
and pulls. “Which way is the wind?”

I hold up my bloody hand. The breeze tickles
my skin. “Port.”

“Pull that main sail halyard up as fast as
you can. Hana, untie the sail.”

Ben and I grab the halyard as Hana unties the
sail.

I start to pull on the halyard. Hand over
hand we pull. The mainsail rises into the sky like a majestic
flag.

Ian grips the railing and so do the rest of
us. The wind suddenly catches the sail. It fills up and cracks with
a sound like a whip. A line connected to the boom tightens and the
boom swings to port so fast I almost miss seeing it shatter a
couple of skulls. The boat rocks toward the middle of the canal and
dumps the rest of the puppets and the dogs. I leap, slide off the
wood, and grab Andy’s shirt. The boom lands in the water and kills
the sail’s power.

“Pull the sail down!” Ian orders. The boat’s
listing so far over it might start taking on water. Hana helps Ben
pull down the sail and the boat sits up again.

Ian runs to the front and hits the throttle.
The boat speeds into the canal. In a few minutes the horde is left
behind. We pass through the rest of the narrow channel while
waiving our flares at the crowd along the sides. They can’t touch
us now, but I have no doubt they’re trying to figure out their next
move.

I check Andy’s pulse. He’s gone. The most
innocent of us all is gone.

Hana looks at me. I shake my head.

Hana and Markus carry Rice below. I’m glad
she’s out, but when she wakes up, she’s going to fall apart all
over again.

Ben, Josh, and Tanis stand mid-ship like
statues. They come over to me. In silent respect they help me pick
up Andy and toss him overboard. We stand at the lifeline and cry. I
cry for some kid I met only a week or so ago. He didn’t deserve
this. None of them did. Not one of the millions of children
deserved this fate. I will kill Zilla when I get the chance. My
hands will break his neck just like the dog. Only, I will make sure
he feels every bone in his body break first.