The crap in my eyes no longer mattered. Fear pushed me forward as I chased after our little group that had taken off like bats out of hell toward the landing spot.
The horde was audible over the roar of the fire. Their moans, which created one giant whale-like bellow, had my skin crawling as we continued to rush down the trail. Looking over my shoulder toward the loudest point of noise, I could see some Zs dropping into the water across from us. However, the bulk of the horde was still further back.
If this were prehistoric times, I would have thought there was a herd of dinosaurs tearing through the forest. My heart leapt into my chest at the sight of the trees and brush, illuminated by the now clear moonlight, all being pushed down in the hord
e’
s path. This army of the dead was tearing through anything in its way. Trees, fire, water - nothing would be stopping it from overwhelming us in just minutes.
There are bad moments, and then there are moments so epically bad that yo
u’
re never quite the same. On a scale of one to ten, one being unicorns jumping out of a pot of gold and ten being ass-raped by a T-Re
x…
this moment was turning into a twelve.
We were almost at the edge of the tree line that hid the helicopter when I saw that the fire had already spread to the tall dry grass that covered the field. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nearly vomited it back up as we stepped around the final burning tree to see that the helicopter was covered in Zs, all with flames fuming off of their burning flesh. The chopper appeared to have attempted a takeoff, but had crashed before it could get high enough to escape. It was tipped sideways with all the rotors snapped, and the glass on the front was busted through.
The creatures were pressing their melting bodies against the chopper, tearing apart what was left of the pilot and a few other men. There were enough of them getting eaten alive to tell me that they had indeed stayed back by the choppe
r…
no doubt the final trap to flush us out. Lucky for us, in the end, the only thing they flushed was their lives down the shitter as they were overrun by the creatures wh
o’
d gotten there first.
“
They tried to take off without us
!”
Mr. Ammo yelled out, almost surprised to see that the
y’
d attempted to leave him and his friend.
We all stood there, hunched over, trying to figure out what to do next. I watched as Gordo
n’
s boys frantically looked around for any other fallen friends. The smaller of the two boys, who was holding a gun that was clearly too big for his stout frame, was at full aler
t—
ready to blast anything that stepped out of the shadows. He had a shaved head, that giant gun, and a look in his eyes that screamed fear.
Shaking with exhaustion and fueled by terror, I stared out at the sky, watching as the smoke from the forest mixed with the clouds, making it difficult to tell one from the other. The moon was shining, but only barely visible. I was trying to clear my mind, but not a plan in hell was popping into my brain.
W
e’
d rolled the dice, and came up with snake eyes. We all fucking knew it.
Kyle turned toward the group, setting Jarvis down on the ground to rest his back. As the rest of us worked through the various stages of accepting defeat, Kyle stood a little taller, and lifted his shoulders a little higher. Looking at the chopper, then back at us, I could see something in his eyes, and it was
n’
t surrender.
“
W
e’
re heading there
,”
he said as he carefully pointed toward the woods with the least flames.
“
But tha
t’
s back where the horde is
,”
Mr. Ammo said.
“
Then stay here
!”
Kyle fired back.
Mr. Ammo and his shorter friend stood dumbfounded.
Kyle dug the butt of his rifle into the dirt below him, glaring at us as he belted out
,“
We are going to survive! We are
not
going to die like this! I
t’
s time to ask yourself one thing. Do you got the stones to keep going
?
”
Shifting his shoulders toward us, staring directly into our eyes, he took a deep breath and continued with a determination I had
n’
t heard in his voice since the Arena.
“
Jarvis, you have the stones to make it back to your people? John, you got the stones to get back to your son?
I’
m going to push through this nightmare. I can tell you one thing, tomorrow
I’
m waking up next to Mia
!
”
Standing a little taller, I met Kyl
e’
s glare with a nod that told him I was ready for the fight. My son Tyler needed his father, and this war was far from over. Kyle nodded back, and then looked down at Jarvis, extending his arm. Jarvis shot out a hand, and he was pulled up to his feet.
“
Le
t’
s get back to Avalon, boys
!”
He punctuated this by slamming the wrought iron fence post into the dry, rocky dirt at his feet.
It was time to push ourselves to the next level of endurance. It was time to go further, dig deeper, push harder than w
e’
d ever gone before. Only time would tell if w
e’
d make it.
We all thought we had the stones, even Gordo
n’
s boys. Now it was time to prove it.
Chapter 19
The heat from the fire radiated against my skin, and it felt like the body armor I was wearing was starting to melt. I was
n’
t sure if it was burning, but I could almost taste the smell of melting plastic in the back of my throat.
For a moment, it felt as if the fire was alive, and moving in to cut off certain escape routes, blocking others with fallen debris. The bastard was daring us to try to make it, and putting up every defense it could throw at us.
At one point, an entire tree dropped down directly in our path. With the blaze to the right and left of the trail, we could
n’
t simply go around the tree, and the flames shooting off the bark in front of us were too high to jump over. On the verge of turning back, we watched as the smaller of Gordo
n’
s boys lifted his oversized weapon and started to fire. Screaming with delight, as the bullets tore through the burning tree, he blew a hole just large enough for us to squeeze through. It was us versus this most ancient of ma
n’
s foes, and none of us wanted to let the fire win.
A savagery pumped through my veins. The primal instinct to do whatever it would take to beat the flames. Another branch fell from above. Reaching up to shield my face, I knocked it away with my forearm. Feeling a burn across my chin, I realized my beard had caught fire. No stopping. No time to tend to the wound. It was
n’
t the last one
I’
d get that day. We all kept pushing.
We just had to make it to the pass beyond the lake. When we were nearly at the tree line that would take us around where the fire had not yet reached the brittle forest, I took one last look over my shoulder. With the exception of some creatures dropping directly into the lake, most likely destined to live a waterlogged existence along with what was left of Rodgers, the mega-horde appeared to be splitting in two around the edges. I could
n’
t be sure, but we appeared to be on the far left side of the hord
e’
s path.
I could only hope that w
e’
d be able to evade the bulk of the onslaught.
As we hurried around the tree line, a gust of wind pushed our mismatched group back. As the black, now melted body armor across my shoulders flapped from the force, I realized that the flames w
e’
d made it past were literally trying to suck us back, soaking up all of the oxygen from the forest ahead.
Throwing caution to the wind, literally, we plowed through into the depths of the dark forest. With limited time to pass back between the fire and the horde that was quickly approaching, I went into a mental state that long distance runners often refer to as a runne
r’
s high. I was
n’
t even feeling my legs or my muscles, which I was sure would kick into full throbbing pain the next day; I found myself able to make each leap forward a little longer, pushing myself to move a little faster. Every step counted, and I knew it.
Fear is an amazing thing. Scientists say that our ancestors evolved based on fight or flight, that most basic of human instincts, and it was kicking into full gear for all of us.
I did
n’
t hear moaning at that point. Rather, as we came up close and personal with the creatures getting ready to overrun us, screams of terror were all that radiated through my mind. Looking back now,
I’
m not sure if it was me screaming or someone else in my group. For all I knew, we were all shitting bricks as the zombie horde hit our path.
Kyle was leading the way, with Jarvis still across the top of his shoulders. For the briefest of moments, I witnessed Kyle trip up. Try as he might, he was
n’
t going to keep this pace for much longer.
The first of the horde began blocking our path, rolling onto the trail like an avalanche of sloppy shit running down a jagged hill. There were so many of the creatures sifting through the trees that there was nothing we could do but start to fire, swing, punc
h…
hell, even spit at the bastards.
The stockier of Gordo
n’
s boys did
n’
t let up on his trigger. Amongst the violent sparks of muzzle flash, nothing stood out more than the bullet cartridges flying off to his right. I do
n’
t have a clue what kind of gun it was, but the cartridges were big enough to be nearly as loud hitting the ground as the gunfire itself was.
Black spatter was blasting up all around us, and there was a point where I was
n’
t sure who was friend and who was Z, all while we darted through the darkness attacking anything in our way.
Through the moonlight, a steep, tree-covered hill emerged at the far side of the trail. Passing the bulk of the Zs in the front of the pack, I heard Kyle yell out something about just needing to make it to higher ground.
You got the stones to get to your son, radiated through my mind. It was a challenge, not a question. Kyle always knew the right buttons to push.
Sweat was rolling down my face, mixing with the soot melted across my forehead, making it near impossible to see.
“
Thirty yards, we can make it
!”
I heard someone yell out.
Leaving the thickest of the hord
e’
s numbers behind, I knocked through each monster in my path while attempting to avoid the now-thinning group ahead of us.
With each step, I kept repeating the wor
d“
NOTHING
!”
Swing of the hammer, then another step
.“
NOTHING
!
”
“
Twenty yards
!”
I heard another person scream out.
I looked up toward the direction of the voice, which gave the creature to my right just enough of an edge to snag my leg. Face hitting the dirt with a thud that rang through my ears, I found myself sliding through a thick broken branch which snapped across my shoulder. Momentarily dazed, I flipped over, having just enough time to look straight up at the only visible light in the sky, a series of magnificently floating embers which seemed to be gracefully swimming through the passing clouds. Then I felt my entire body jerk back.
Grabbing for anything to hang on to, I started to panic at the realization that I was being dragged by my boot with two creatures fighting over which was going to get to sink its filthy teeth into my flesh.
My mind flashed to my wife Jenn, those deep red eyes that had blankly stared at me as she turned into one of these creatures.
I’
d spent countless weeks thinking back to what I could have done differently to save her. There were times when I did
n’
t believe I deserved to be any more alive than her. In the end, I realized that there was only one thing I could ever to do: honor our love.
Love. Sometimes i
t’
s all you need to give you the strength to do what it takes. That day, it was the only thing that saved my life.
Arching my stomach, I pulled both of my legs in, actually bringing the creatures within inches of my face, then dug in with every ounce of strength left in my body and kicked outward, knocking both of the dead off balance. Breaking free of their grasp, I rolled up to regain my stance and screamed in the most primal of screams.
“
NOTHING is going to stop me from getting back to
MY SON!
NOTHING
!”
I brought the hammer down across the closest creature, turned and sprinted the short distance toward the hill.
Feeling the Zs reaching for the hair on the back of my head, I reached the incline.
“
Grab my hand!
Grab it now
!
”
Seeing nothing but an arm in the darkness, I grasped it at the wrist and was yanked up the steep incline just as another of the dead wrapped its arms around my leg. My boots took a nice bite, but it was
n’
t hard enough to break through the leather as the arm I was holding pulled me up and away from the death below.
Even the moonlight did
n’
t shine brightly enough to help us truly understand how steep the hill actually was. Nor did it reveal that amongst the thick trees the ground was almost completely covered in bowling ball-sized boulders. It was nearly impassable. Nearly being the key word. We could move up it, but not at any quick pace. Fortunately, it appeared too steep for the mindless monsters below to be able to navigate. They were piling up at the edge of the incline, crawling over each other to try to climb toward their prey.
From time to time, I would see one make it a few yards up, but these creatures, especially the slower, more decomposed ones, did
n’
t have the dexterity to navigate the jagged terrain.
Looking up to the man who had grabbed my shoulder, I made eye contact only to realize that it was the taller of the two boys, Mr. Ammo. After making sure I was set on a sturdy perch, he started to fire the last of his rounds into the creatures clawing at the bottom of the vertical pass.
As his bullets ran out, we both turned toward the peak to start our ascent. Glancing above us, I briefly made eye contact with Kyle, who with a grunt was dragging Jarvis behind him. They had made it, and it seemed that I was the laggard of the group. At least that was what I thought before hearing another burst of weapon fire from below. The stocky bo
y’
s machine gun was screaming out into the night.
Spinning around, I heard Mr. Ammo crying out as we realized the stocky boy was nearly surrounded by over twenty Zs. About to be overrun, he quickly reloaded with what
I’
m sure were the last of his rounds. I could see the creatures being mowed down all around him. Split in half, heads blown off, the bullets passed through their weak flesh and into the forest around him.
He was screaming over the sound of the rapid fire as I watched a tree just beyond him splinter into a million pieces and start to fall. I could
n’
t see where it landed, but it only seemed to draw more attention to where he was making his stand.
By the time the tree hit the ground, all I could see was his arm reaching up through the blood-covered Zs crowding around his body. I ca
n’
t be sure exactly, but I think that for the briefest of seconds, I saw him pull his face above the sea of creatures, almost like a man getting one last breath of air before sinking beneath the water to his death.
His eyes were white and reflected nothing less than terror back at us. Then he was silent.
“
Keep going
!”
I finally heard Kyle scream back to us
.“
We need to make it to the summit
.
”
The climb was hell, and I fell flat to my face in the darkness more than once, smashing my chin and forehead into the jagged rocks. Mr. Ammo was ahead of me, and I could hear him cursing himself with each step forward. He knew he was fucked in a billion different ways, and his journey to safety did
n’
t end at the top of the hill.
Kyle and Jarvis flipped over the peak first. Losing complete sight of them, I pushed harder, being more careless, taking more lumps trying to catch up. With all the madness, for some reason not being able to see them had me unnerved.
Surprised that they did not look back down at us after the
y’
d made the climb, I found myself even more crazed as I lifted my feet and arms in unison, taking advantage of the fact that I had the hammer to dig into the ground for leverage.
If there was a horde up there, w
e’
d be finished. There would be no escape. No running after this climb. I was done, and I damn well knew it. Even with each step, I was practically spitting dry saliva out of my mouth, still whispering the wor
d“
NOTHIN
G”
with each breath.
At that point, I knew there was nowhere else to go. Nothing could have prepared me for what I found at the summit.
NOTHING.