Chapter 25
As Carlie swam, she felt the swift
current whisking her away and the weight of her pack pulling her under. The
opposite shoreline was still a long way off as she struggled to make headway
and stay afloat. As she swam her body momentarily angled towards the freighter
and she could see dozens of creatures flinging themselves off the deck into the
murky water.
She increased the pace of her strokes
and was mid-river, with still a quarter of a mile to the opposite shoreline, when
she caught sight of Matias and Amy clinging to the roots of a massive oak tree
a hundred yards distant. She nervously scanned for Shane for a second before
choking on a mouthful of silty water that tasted like sour pudding. She gasped
for air, coughing, and then fought her way through the current as she glided
past a mangled leg in burnt jeans.
Carlie’s arms grew heavy and she wanted
to cast off her pack but needed the sealed laptop inside. Her lungs were on
fire as she forced out each arm stroke while kicking with her cumbersome boots.
She saw a series of docks and a boathouse coming up. Carlie swam furiously as
the current continued gripping her. The structure was nearly a hundred yards
away now as she fought the river to reach her destination. With a flurry of
strokes she left the main undertow and could feel her boots strike the rocky
bottom as the dock neared.
Carlie felt the tension ease in her
chest and she sucked down some air as she began wading towards the dilapidated
white boathouse. She struggled momentarily to move forward as if the current
wasn’t finished with her yet then realized that her belt was being tugged on
from behind. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shriveled yellow hand slowly
reach over her shoulder. Carlie spun around but saw no one as she felt the
weight increase on her back. Another yellow appendage was pawing at her hair in
front of her face. She staggered in the knee-deep water, grabbing both of the
bony hands and flinging the mass over her head. In the murky water before her
was the legless figure of a ballerina clawing at the water, trying to reach her,
its droopy face resembling a Sharpei. Carlie staggered backwards towards the
riverbank. She saw a tree branch resting partly along the shore and grabbed it.
Leaning forward, she poked the thrashing creature on its frizzy pink costume
and sent it back into the current, staring into its coal-black eyes as it
drifted away.
Carlie felt the sun on her face and
suddenly realized that the tactical advantage of the dark was gone. She
swiveled her body to the right and made a dash for the boathouse, darting past
rows of tethered watercraft, jet skis, and powerboats. Climbing up on shore,
she ran to the side door and saw that it was slightly ajar. She looked down and
noticed muddy boot prints covering the transom. Carlie removed the seven-inch
fixed blade from her sheath and slowly opened the door. The tracks went to the
left of the barnlike structure. An odor of varnish fumes coupled with cedar
permeated the air. She hoped that the tracks belonged to Shane and wanted to
call out his name but knew that there would be creatures roaming every corner
of this wasteland of a city.
As Carlie stepped forward, water from
her boot squeaked out onto the plankboard floor. She heard movement to her
right and saw something dart out from behind a small rowboat leaning against
the wall.
Chapter 26
“Echo Charlie One, do you copy, over?”
said Boyd into the radio on the Blackhawk as they swept along the riverside to
the east.
“Bravo Team, this is Echo Charlie Three,
over,” said the voice of Matias through the speaker.
“Damn good to hear your voice—where is
your team holed up at?”
“It’s just myself and Amy. We are about
fifteen hundred meters to the south on the west side of the river by the coastguard
headquarters. It’s a three-story building with an aerial antenna on it, over.”
“Copy that, we are on our way. What
about the rest of your team, over?”
“Location unknown.”
Boyd put down the mic and looked through
the window ahead.
Shit
—
two of my guys dead already and now three of
their team are missing. Not a good start to such a short mission. Wonder how we
would have fared if Shane or I were in charge from the get-go.
He stared
out at the river below, straining to see movement while running his gloved hand
along the scruff on his chin.
Never figured I’d be doing combat
search-and-rescue ops in my own country.
He reflected back on his life five
days ago when he was having a barbecue in his backyard with his unit buddies
and another new girlfriend. Boyd took off his glove and brushed his hand along
the crucifix hanging under his shirt.
Dear Lord, what have we done to deserve
this?
Chapter 27
“You can put the pig-sticker away. I
ain’t one of those gravy-faced cannibals,” said Jared as he stepped out from
behind the rowboat. He prodded his right ear with his index finger and shook
his head, sending a spray of sand and water droplets onto the floor. “I like
experiencing the river better from a gambling boat.”
Carlie lowered her blade and looked
around the building. “Did you see where the others ended up?”
“Nope, and my earpiece ain’t working.”
“Mine too. I have to figure out a plan
to get the helo to us, assuming they’re still in the game,” she said while
noticing his muscular chest showing through his soaked shirt.
“Plan—I got a plan for ya, sister,” he
said, moving forward and dropping his pack. “I know of a few remote bayou
homesteads that you can only get to by boat. Heck, I bet that some of the simpletons
back there don’t even know what’s happened in the world. They’re living fat and
happy off the bounty of the swamps. We can all hole up there in style and
forget about hanging our necks out for those flesh-munchers.”
“You’re kidding, right? Did you forget
about what we found back in that freighter? You want to just retreat into a dark
corner and forget about our duty to humanity?”
“Now, see that’s your problem—you’re
crippled by your antiquated Samurai code and a need to right the wrongs of this
world. You’ve got to forget about being so righteous. Grab what you can of this
life while you’re still able to.”
“It’s no surprise that we live by
different perspectives. Personal code and conduct is all that separates us from
those things out there. It’s a part of being human. Pff…” She paused abruptly, blowing
a strand of hair off her face. “We’re wasting valuable time. I saw a decent
speedboat out there that should meet our needs. I’m gonna quickly check my
earpiece and then we can be on our way.”
“The place I need to get to—the place I
told you about in our little deal—is only a mile downriver from here. It’s
tucked away along a seldom-visited side canal. I can be in and out in minutes,”
Jared said.
Carlie walked over to a workbench and
put her weapons on the table, then set her pack down and removed her vest while
glancing back at Jared. “We need to locate the others first and then relay a
message to White Sands. After that, if it’s safe, we’ll head there.”
“Alright,” he said, holding his chin up.
“I’ll play it your way for now but once we find the others the deal is back on,
right?”
“Yes.”
She tried her comms one more time and
heard a slight crackling noise then the brief sound of Boyd’s voice before it
went quiet again. Carlie quickly did a visual inspection of the chamber and
barrel in her M4 and Glock to check for any blockage from mud. Jared stood
beside her, clumsily performing the same motions while trying to mimic her
actions.
“Did you hear that?” Jared said, staring
towards the side door while trying frantically to reassemble his pistol. “I
thought I heard something moving outside.”
Carlie grabbed her rifle and secreted
herself against the wall. She moved towards the door and peered through the
narrow eye-level window while straining to hear any movement.
“I’ve got movement by the parking lot twenty
yards away but can only make out a few of those things. There’s bound to be plenty
more coming now that the sun’s up. You ready yet?”
“Almost done,” he said as Carlie heard
him fumbling with his pistol. “Funny, but I never used a gun to kill anything except
for small game when I was a kid huntin’ in the swamps.”
He walked over to the door and handed
Carlie her pack. “The log book on the desk should indicate which boats are
fueled up. I’ll take a look and grab the keys from the lockbox,” Jared said.
“Make it snappy. These creatures are
moving this way.”
While Carlie kept watch on the shoreline
and boat docks, Jared returned with a set of keys. “Dock number seven, pier
five are today’s winning numbers, my good lady.”
“Alright then, I’ll provide cover fire
from here while you start up the boat,” she said with a slight feeling of
concern that he could depart without her. “On second thought, I’ll come with
you.”
Chapter 28
As the Blackhawk extracted Matias and
Amy from their hiding spot along the riverbank, Boyd continued trying to
contact Shane and the others on the radio.
“They couldn’t have floated more than a
few miles downriver,” said Matias. “We were all only a few minutes behind each
other. It was just sheer luck that I ended up slamming into the logjam that Amy
was floating on.”
“We’ve already combed the riverbanks on
both sides for the last thirty minutes. Either they are further down or they
got swept under.”
“Sir, I just caught a flash coming from
that cluster of buildings along the south shoreline,” said the pilot. “Look,
there it is again, a series of three flashes—that has to be them.”
Boyd knew the glint of a signal mirror
well, having taken endless survival courses over the years at Ft. Bragg. A
pattern of three flashes repeated over and over is the key to drawing attention
to your location. “Let’s go get ’em,” he said with a grin.
As the Blackhawk moved forward, the
bright flashes disappeared. With the helo closing on the site, Boyd quickly
realized that it was Shane and he was on the run. A mob of fifty or more
creatures were closing the distance between him and the edge of the building.
Boyd saw Shane jump a few feet down to a
lower section of the roof and sprint towards the edge. Below him in the parking
lot were more creatures. “This is going to be tight,” Boyd said, grabbing the
clip-on cable from the ceiling-mounted unit and attaching it to his chest
harness. “Take us in low—we’ll have to do a moving extraction.” The red-haired
soldier opened the helo door while Boyd sat on the edge. As the Blackhawk
neared the building, Boyd gave the thumbs-up to the soldier next to him, who
flipped the switch on the winch and began lowering him.
Creatures were jumping down on the roof
as Shane backed into a corner and began shooting. As Boyd approached from
behind him, Shane fired off two more rounds and then slung his rifle. Boyd was
nearly on top of him as Shane turned and grasped the man’s chest and embraced
him with a bear hug. As the helo swung away with the duo, a creature leapt off
the roof in pursuit and wrapped itself around their knees.
Boyd felt his body jerk down under the
weight and his chest harness cut into his torso. Holding onto Shane with his
left hand, he removed his pistol with his right and aimed at the creature’s head
but the spinning motion of their ascent caused his round to shoot off the lower
jaw. The creature reeled back, its mouth completely missing but it still pawed
at their legs with its greasy yellow fingers. As Boyd readied his pistol, Shane
smashed the beast in the head with his boot and they watched it tumble onto the
red-and-white umbrella of a hot-dog stand below.
The Blackhawk had cleared the city front
and was over the river as the two men were hoisted back into the cabin.
Shane made his way onto a bench while
trying to catch his breath. “Boyd, your punctuality was most welcome.”
The sliding door closed behind Boyd as
he unhooked the cable. “You looked like you were unhappy with the real estate
down there.”
Boyd took a swig of water from a nearby
bottle. “Carlie and Jared are the only ones unaccounted for. Did you see either
of them drift past you?”
“Carlie floated by but she didn’t hear
me shouting. Before I had to retreat to higher ground, I saw her headed in the
direction of a dock about a click away from my location.”
“Alright, let’s sweep further downriver
this time and see if we can locate ’em,” Boyd shouted to the pilot.
Chapter 29
As Jared sprinted for the pier with
Carlie behind him, she caught sight of six creatures milling around the
treeline near the parking area. The rotting corpses immediately began fixating
on them and started trotting towards the dock. Carlie began shooting while
moving laterally towards the dock as Jared ran down to a sleek silver speedboat
attached to the pier,
Within seconds, she had dispatched the
small group only to see a dozen more slipping out from behind adjacent
buildings. Carlie saw a lanky security guard with a red-soiled mustache stumbling
towards her through her rifle scope and dropped him with one shot in the side
of his temple.
She could hear Jared attempting to start
the engine. As Carlie backed along the weathered planks of the old dock, she
kept delivering single headshots at the incoming crowd of mutants. After
shooting one which was dressed in a tuxedo with one shoe missing, she noticed
movement out of the corner of her left eye. Turning, she saw the same
disjointed ballerina from earlier pulling its legless torso across the
shoreline towards her. “Are you shitting me—talk about a repeat performance,”
she said, leaving the pathetic creature alone while returning to shoot an
incoming construction worker.
Carlie heard the engine of the boat
sputter and then roar. She shot one last rotund creature in a bathing suit waddling
onto the dock and then hopped into the speedboat.
Jared backed out from their nestled
location between the other watercraft and then sped forward into the main
artery of the river. The remaining creatures on the dock leapt into the shallow
water but were soon swept away in the current. As the boat sped off Carlie saw
the lone ballerina lying on the dock, thrashing its arms and howling. She
stared at its face through her scope, looking at its vacant expression.
That
was probably someone’s daughter and wife last week…or even mother.
Now,
she’s nothing more than a prisoner trapped in this hellish world
—
a world
she didn’t ask to be consigned to.
She stared into its hollow eyes,
searching for any glimmer of personality. Then Carlie raised her rifle up,
fixing the red dot of the scope on the creature’s head, and pulled the trigger.