Authors: William Kenney
Aiden gave a quick thumbs-up, but did not raise his head. There was blood on the back of his neck and a trickle running from one ear. Conor was in much the same shape.
"Jasper, you hit?" Klaus asked, seeing the old man grimace in pain.
"Shot through the damned calf," he said. "Hurts like a bitch... but it ain't bleedin' much. Think I'll make it."
"Hang on, ya'll. Them rednecks on our ass again," Bo said, swerving to avoid zombies in the road, knocking their arms aside as they reached for the van. "I don't know my way around here. Somebody gone have to give me directions."
Just then one of Coach's trucks appeared on the street ahead of them, coming their way. Bo took a left down a side street, heading downhill as bullets riddled the side of the van, narrowly missing those inside.
"We don't have a whole lot of options here," Klaus said, gripping the seat as Bo weaved in-between burned-out cars. Bo turned right onto a street that ran parallel to the river, suddenly visible to his left, crumpled ruins of the bridge visible far in the distance.
Bo pushed the van to its limits, speeding as fast as he could along the street, trying to outrun the trucks. Ahead there was a small group of zombies feasting on a fresh kill, several rising to their feet as the van drew closer. There was nowhere to go but through them, so Bo slammed on the gas.
"Hang on!" he called out, gripping the wheel tightly as the first creature collided with the van's grill, its head popping loose at the neck and exploding against their shattered windshield. A half-dozen more thuds rocked the van as Bo plowed through them, tires skidding on their bodies.
In the distance they could hear gunfire as the trucks turned onto the street.
"Make a left!" Klaus shouted, pointing to a side street. Bo jerked the wheel just in time, jumping a curb and pulling onto Riverside Drive. The trucks gained ground quickly, now just a few hundred yards behind them.
Aiden aimed his rifle through the back window and started firing as the rednecks' bullets pinged off the vehicle all around him.
"Try to keep it steady, Bo!" he called out, doing his best to aim true.
"Ain't gone happen, brutha!" Bo replied. "Too many dead fuckahs in the street!"
Aiden squeezed off three quick rounds and managed to kill the driver of one of the trucks, the vehicle instantly veering wildly to the right and crashing into a brick building.
"Ha, ha! Fuck you, too, dickheads!" Aiden shouted in triumph. "One down-"
The van's back tire blew, falling victim to a well-placed shot by one Coach's good-ole-boys, the van abruptly out of control.
"Aw, shit!" Bo said as they slid sideways, laying waste to a dozen zombies then jumping a curb and crashing through a chain link fence into the riverside park. Tires churned, throwing grass and mud into the air as they hurtled forward, unable to stop.
Conor and the others were thrown all about the van, knocking into one another, the windows and the ceiling as the vehicle rose and fell like a ship in a storm. They topped a small rise and violently slammed sidelong into a small outbuilding that housed the park's public restrooms.
The force of the impact threw everyone to one side and the van up on two wheels, loose objects dropping from seats to clatter into the cluster of bodies. They rolled slowly down the riverbank, still balanced on two wheels for a moment and then fell to their side with a metallic crunch.
Bo and Klaus were both saved from serious injury by the airbags, only suffering from abrasions and split lips. The others groaned as they tried to escape the daze they were now in, stuck in a tangle of bruised bodies and limbs.
Conor pulled himself up, using a headrest to stand, staring out the van's back window.
"Damn..." he said, his voice rough and tight with pain. "Shitload of zombies on the way, guys. Get up."
"There's nowhere left to run..." Klaus mumbled, wiping blood from his chin. "Our front end is resting in the water."
"So we hold them off from here as long as we can," Aiden said, struggling to find footing in the van. He helped Trish to her feet, then, checked his rifle. "Well, shit... guess that won't be long. I'm outta ammo."
"Uh... I got two shells," Jasper said, holding his head. "Not much help."
"Shit. I ain't waitin' in here to fill some zombie's belly," Bo said. "Fuck that! Let me outta here."
He climbed up the front seats, using the middle console as a step and pulled himself up through the side window, cursing all the while.
A deep horn sounded from out on the water, turning his head toward the river. His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open.
"Hell, yeah! Come on, ya'll! We're rescued!" Bo called down to the others. "Come on!"
Everyone began to scramble to exit the van, some through the side doors, others out the back.
"What is it?" asked Bailey as she stepped out and onto the grass. The zombies were getting very close, smelling the living flesh, longing to consume it. Hundreds of them had now entered the park, drawn by the sound and the smoking van. Bailey turned to see a towboat pushing several barges toward the riverbank.
Bullets ripped up the grass around their feet as they quickly made for the bank, limping and dazed from the crash.
Inside the towboat they could see the captain waving an arm for them to come aboard. The barges slid up alongside the shore and he sounded the horn once more. Coach's boys began to take shots at the boat, holes appearing along its side.
Bo bounded down the bank with Klaus just behind him, both men leaping into the muddy water and swimming hard toward the barges. The others quickly dove in as well, zombies gathering at the shore to stare longingly after them. The dead things were smart enough to remain there and not risk the water's current.
Bo was up on the barge first, kneeling to help the others come aboard, ducking as more gunfire sounded from on land. The horde of zombies prevented Coach from moving any closer, instead forcing him to reluctantly turn and flee as the rest of Conor's group pulled themselves to safety.
"This way!" the towboat captain called out through an open window in the wheelhouse. "Get on boat!"
The others shakily made their way along the barge, loaded with massive containers and crates, eventually leaping onto the towboat where they were greeted by the heavily bearded yet bald captain.
"Hurry, get inside. We're outta here," he said, studying the throng of undead monsters congregating at the river's edge. He shook his head and returned to the wheelhouse, throttling the boat, moving it away from the shore. In a few minutes, the boat was lazily moving down the center of the river, passing the ruins of the bridge, many partially submerged vehicles stuck in the shallows, several still occupied by their dead drivers.
"We're lucky you showed up, sir," Trish said to the captain as they all watched the riverbank in fear of pursuit.
"Heh, no shit," he said, turning to her with a sly smile. "I've been watching the shore as I came down the river, just in case. Saw a lot of poor souls bite the dust before I could get to them."
"Thank you..." Conor said, extending a hand. "I'm Conor, this is my brother Aiden."
The others made their introductions and the captain welcomed them all with a nod.
"Name's Mick. Mick Kelly," he said, his eyes on the river ahead. "You guys look like you've seen some serious shit in the last few days."
"You could say that," Jasper offered, sitting on a nearby chair, inspecting his wounded leg. "Got any beer?"
The captain laughed out loud.
"Well... I had some. Been under a little stress lately. Needed to take the edge off quite a bit, if you know what I mean," he said.
"I do," said Jasper. "I do, indeed."
"There's a place to tie-up a few miles from here," Mick said. "We can stay there as long as we need and those things won't be able to reach us."
"After what we've been through, that sounds amazing," Klaus said, holding his head, still pounding from his dance with the airbag.
"Yep. Safe and secure. Right out in the middle of the river," Mick said.
The others visibly relaxed, smiling at one another in relief.
"Maybe we can get a decent night's sleep," Trish said and the others voiced their agreement.
"Yeah, we'll be good for awhile," Mick explained. "But..."
"But what?" Aiden asked, staring at the darkening sky.
"Food'll run out and eventually we're gonna have to go ashore again. It's inevitable, I'm sorry to say."
Their moods soured somewhat at the thought and they stared at the smoking buildings just visible over the trees at the shoreline.
"Let's get some rest. Heal a bit, then we'll deal with that issue," Conor said.
"Great. Starve to death or face those dead muthafuckahs again," Bo said with a frown. "Hard decision, ya'll."
"Won't be..." Mick said without turning to face him. "When you haven't eaten in a few days..."
...to be continued