“Right,” I
answered.
Luther glanced at the
body and back at the group again, “So, do you think it’s possible
that if you bit a zombie, you’d turn into a zombie?”
I was confused, “Why
would I bite a zombie?”
“I’m not saying if
you bite a zombie. I’m saying what if an animal, like that bear,
bit this zombie?”
“Are you trying to
say, there could be a 600-pound zombie bear running around here?
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Cowboy injected,
“That’s almost as crazy as us saying we’re caught in the middle
of a zombie apocalypse right now.”
I thought about it for
a few seconds, as did everyone else in the group, “I think you’ve
got a valid point there, Cowboy. Let’s pack up our shit and get the
hell out of here. I’d rather not find out if there is such thing as
a fricken zombear running around here, looking for lunch.”
I didn’t need to say
anything else that was all the motivation everyone needed to get
moving.
It took less than three
minutes for everyone to split back into our groups and load into the
Humvees. I don’t know if the zombear existed or not, but I will
damn well guarantee, I’ll use him again when I need to get everyone
moving in a hurry.
Once loaded, I pulled
out to the main road and waited for Cowboy to pull up next to me.
He pulled up chomping
on a blueberry Pop-Tart. “Breakfast of champions,” he said
holding up the pastry.
Chevy held up a
chocolate bar, “I think I got you beat on that one, Cowboy.”
I waited until Chevy
was done bragging about his breakfast, “If you guys are done
discussing breakfast options, I’d like to lay out the plan.”
“Whoa, someone’s
not a morning person,” Sophie jibbed.
She was sitting in the
front passenger seat of the Humvee, eating a cinnamon brown sugar
Pop-Tart, one of my mom’s favorites.
“Sorry, Soph. I’m
really excited to find my dad today. If we hop right on the highway,
we should be there in about three hours. I’ll feel so much better
when I know he’s okay.”
Sophie spoke as she
held her hands outside the Hummer’s window, wiping the remaining
crumbs away, “It’s all right, Two-gun. I’ll be happier when we
get him too, for your mom’s sake.”
Cowboy bent forward in
his seat to peak around Sophie, “You lead the way, hoss. We'll
follow about a half a mile behind you, like we planned.”
I gave Cowboy a thumbs
up while I checked my phone. No new messages. I opened the message
app, and touched the letters,
“Dad,
we’re on our way. We’ll be there in about three hours. That’s
9:30 am. We’re heading for the George Washington Bridge. Stay safe.
See you soon. Ty.
I looked back over at
the second Humvee, “Okay, I just messaged my dad and told him we
were on the way. Let’s get moving. Hey, look out, Zombear!”
Everyone in their Humvee looked out the window in panic. We all
laughed as I stepped on the accelerator.
We were on our way.
After a night with his
new love interest, Kane’s brother opened the door to the motel
room. Kane was lying there, with an arm sticking straight up in the
air, still stiff from the rigor mortis.
“Get up, brother.
It’s a new day, and there’s murder in the air. Today we catch
your friends and avenge you. Now get up, up, up.”
Daniels opened his eyes
and sat up on the edge of his bunk. Everybody was still asleep except
for Sawyer. He was already up and had left the room. Daniels put on
his boots and headed for the cafeteria. He’d do just about anything
for a cup of coffee right now. It looked like it was going to be his
lucky day. He stumbled across a restaurant coffee maker with
instructions for the employees.
It looked pretty easy.
Flip on the power. Add water. Place filter and coffee in the
receptacle, and hit start.
A bottled water, a
packet of coffee, and he was in business. He loaded up the filter
with the coffee and hit start. He listened as the machine gurgled and
hissed, brewing his sweet elixir.
The power had been on
for hours now. He prayed it’d hold out a few more minutes until his
coffee was done. Next to the coffeemaker there was a full rack of
clean mugs and enough sugar and powdered creamer to last a lifetime.
When the coffee finished, he filled a couple of cups and headed for
the deck of the ship. It didn’t take long for Daniels to find
Sawyer. He was right where he expected to find him. Sitting next to
the SR-71 Blackbird watching the sun break the horizon. Next to him
the bomb rested on the deck, the sight of it gave Daniels an uneasy
feeling.
Daniels held one of the
cups of coffee over Sawyer’s shoulder. He smelled the steamy aroma
before he realized Daniels was standing behind him, “How did you
find me?” he asked.
“I thought I’d come
up to the deck and watch the sunrise. Something tells me it might be
my last. I saw the plane when we came aboard last night, and the way
you talked about it, I knew it meant something special to you. So, I
grabbed a second cup and took a chance.”
Sawyer took a sip of
the coffee, and spoke without looking back at Daniels, “I always
loved a good sunrise. I promise you, Mr. Daniels. I will do
everything in my power to help get you and your friends off this
island, before this bomb goes off. I’ve got a little girl I’d
like to see again. Blowing myself up isn’t going to do them any
good.”
Daniels took a sip of
the hot coffee and sat down next to Sawyer, “I’ve got two boys
and my wife. They’re the world to me. Yesterday morning, I texted
them asking for help, before I knew we were going to light off that
firecracker. As far as I know, they’re on the way to the city, or
maybe even here already.”
The thought of Ty and
Jen gave Daniels the urge to check his phone. Pulling it from his
shirt pocket, he hit the button and watched as the screen lit up.
There were no new messages. He slid the phone back into his pocket
and fastened the button, “I still haven’t heard from them. I
can’t stand the thought of setting that bomb off until we find
them.”
Sawyer didn’t say
anything, but rather reached into the side pocket of the pack and
pulled out a silver electronic device with an attached fat black
antenna. He handed it to Daniels, “That’s the remote detonator.
The key word here is remote. Not timer. Once Beck and I install it,
it doesn’t start a clock. It merely makes it possible for someone
in Atlanta to detonate the bomb by using a GPS signal.”
“So what if the
switch is already flipped on in Washington or Atlanta or where ever
these guys in charge are? You and Beck connect the wires and we all
go boom?”
“It won’t go off
instantly, the bomb goes through charging cycles. While that’s
happening a timer counts down.”
“So how long would
that take, if the bomb was already flipped on?”
Sawyer took the
detonator back from Daniels, “I don’t know. Maybe an hour or
less.”
“How much less?”
Daniels asked.
“No less than thirty
minutes. But they’d never do that. They’d want to give time to
whoever armed it, to get out of there.”
Daniels took another
sip of his coffee and watched the sun. It was almost halfway up now.
“Do you think thirty
minutes is enough time to get to a safe distance from this thing?”
Daniels asked.
Sawyer thought about
it, “I think the minimum safe distance is the other side of that
bridge,” he said pointing at the George Washington Bridge in the
distance. “I can have us there in fifteen minutes. We’ll be
halfway through Jersey before this thing goes off. We might be even
further with the lack of traffic. They won’t know the remote
detonator is attached until I tell them.”
“It doesn’t send
some kind of signal to them?” Daniels asked.
“No,” Sawyer held
up the device and rubbed his thumb against the antenna. “This thing
is a receiver only, not a transmitter. Don’t worry, we’ll be
fine.”
“And what about my
family?” he rumbled.
“I don’t know,
Daniels. I just don’t know.”
* * *
Daniels got up and
walked toward the rising sun. It was almost up, radiating its warm
October glow. It was going to be another fabulous fall day, other
than the zombie invasion and nuclear bomb.
Daniels pulled the
phone back out and dialed Ty. Unlike most of the modern world,
Daniels still remembered numbers and preferred punching them into his
phone. He used to wish for a world without cell phones, like when he
was younger, but now it was the only connection to his family. Even
if the cellular network wasn’t very reliable, there was at least a
chance of getting a message through.
After hitting the final
number and pressing send, he held the phone to his ear, waiting for a
ring. Static and clicks covered the line. For a brief second, he
thought he heard someone else speaking. Then the line went dead and
stopped making noises altogether. He ended the call and opened up the
message app. He still couldn’t tell if his last messages had gone
through. Daniels one finger tapped the keys, typing out his message,
“Ty, it’s Dad. Stay away
from the city. Not safe. Go to Newark. I’ll meet you there today.”
He hit send and watched
the status bar. It zipped across the top of the screen. He wondered
if all the messages were really sending?
He slid his phone back
into his pocket and headed back in the ship to wake everyone up.
My phone rested in the
center cup holder, still attached to the white charging cable the
girls and Luther almost lost their lives over. I planned on keeping
it connected to power as much as possible. I didn’t want to take a
chance of something happening and being without a full battery again.
The miles crept by
slowly, and I fell into a daze an hour into our trip. I couldn’t
get to Dad fast enough. The gas pedal had been glued to the floor
since we left. I was pulled back to reality when my phone buzzed and
played a tune. I had set my text message ringtone to an old cartoon
show. It was the Jetson’s doorbell chime. When I heard that
doorbell ring, I reached for the phone as fast as I could. If
Cowboy’s Humvee were close enough, he would have seen our vehicle
swerve in the road. I picked up the phone and yelled for Chevy to
hold the steering wheel. I opened up the message and looked at the
screen. It was full of squares and mixed letters. About the only word
I could make out was, “Dad.”
I looked back at Mom
and the girls. They were staring at me, wondering why I wasn’t
telling them what it said. I held up the screen. One at a time they
looked and leaned back in their seats. I could see the disappointment
on their faces. They looked the way I felt.
Mom pulled herself
forward and touched my shoulder. Always being the optimist, she said,
“It’s great news, Ty.”
I glanced in the
rearview mirror at her, “What the hell is that suppose to mean,
Mom,” I paused, “I’m sorry for snapping. I’m just upset.”
She rubbed my shoulder
again, “I know, honey. But the message is good news. We may not
understand it, but it lets us know he’s alive. Just a couple more
hours and we’ll be there. Maybe the closer we get to him, the
better the phones will work. We can’t give up hope, Ty.”
“Thanks, Mom. I
didn’t think about it like that.”
The minutes ticked away
as the miles passed. The closer I got to Dad, the more my chest
tightened. I couldn’t get there fast enough. The Humvee was maxed
out just under 60 mph, but it felt more like 40 mph. We had more than
enough fuel to get to New York City and beyond. There would be no
more stops. It was N.Y. or bust.
I felt like fate was
playing against me. Deep in my mind I knew something would delay us
again, a blocked highway, a flat tire, or in this new world, the
possibility of a gigantic horde of flesh eating zombies. No matter
what obstacles were laid out in front of me, I would find my father,
and I was going to find him today.
Groggy and tired, the
Intrepid’s guests entered the ship's cafeteria one by one. Beck was
in the corner doing push-ups, while Destiny stared from behind, “You
sure are keepin’ fit, sugar.”
Beck glanced back over
his shoulder, red-faced, “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Anything you need,
honey, you just let Ms. Destiny know. Like drying off that sweat, or
massaging those buns. I’d be more than happy to help.”
“Be careful, Beck,”
Daniels said as he walked into the room, “She’s a feisty one.”
“Oh, you know I am,
Officer Daniels,” she said throwing an exaggerated wink in his
direction.
Master Chief Sawyer
walked into the cafeteria right behind Daniels. Beck jumped up to his
feet and headed over to Sawyer snapping off a salute, “Morning,
sir.”
Sawyer saluted back,
“Good morning, Beck. Why don’t you get yourself a cup of joe and
meet Daniels and me at the table near the end of the food service
line, so the others can’t hear us.”
“Aye, sir,” Beck
said, as he headed for the coffee station.
A minute later, Beck
joined them at the table, he brought the pot back and refilled the
other men’s cups before sitting down.
“What’s the status
of the device, Master Chief?”
Sawyer tapped the top
of the backpack, which was resting at his feet. “She’s tip top. I
armed it on the deck a few minutes ago.”
“You what?” Daniels
whispered, trying to keep the rest of the group from hearing he was
upset.
“I armed the bomb on
the deck, after you left me.”
Beck went to speak, and
Daniels cut him off, “Well how much time do we have left? What’s
the timer say? Listen, Sawyer, this is my life you’re dealing with,
and I really don’t care to stick around to see your fireworks
show.”