We were approaching the large turnpike that would branch off into the several smaller roads that would either lead to a part of the airport or around it. I slowed down until my pace was matched with Ty, who was standing next to Bash as they discussed quietly where we should go.
Earl, Brian and Penny had caught up with the boys and I decided to stand off to the side and let them hash out the best route while keeping watch. Looking over the concrete dividers, the airport seemed large and endless and all the open space around the terminals and the runways made me nervous. We were still a ways out, but even from our perch on the interstate I could make out the slow moving forms milling about. They weren’t much more than moving dots from back here, but I counted more than would make me comfortable under better circumstances. The only person with us with any real combat experience was Earl and he was a bit long in the tooth to take charge of the mission, but I couldn’t think of any one of us more qualified.
Walking over to the group, I waited for a lull in the discussion before putting in my two cents. “Whatever we decide, it needs to be soon.” I cast my eyes to the clouds rolling in from the east, then west, where I could still hear the rumbling of feet. If we didn’t do something soon, we’d be caught in a downpour and a tidal wave of what was likely zombies. Looking back at the others, “I think Earl should take point since he’s the only one of us with any combat experience.” I didn’t miss the shock on the faces around me, which only confused me more. Did they expect me to take charge? Ha! Not likely. I had no idea what I was doing and it was time they learned that I definitely wasn’t the person to follow.
Earl coughed and cleared his throat. “Ah, well…” He started, looking around the tangle of roads we needed to cross still and the vast concrete jungle that lay ahead. He turned and pointed to an empty lot just to the northeast of where we were. “That looks like the best way to get into the tarmac; from there it’s just a matter of how fast we can run to the hangars.” His brows furrowed in thought and his boot scuffed the pavement as he considered the plan.
I didn’t have any better ideas. “I think Earl’s right,” I started, looking at Brian. “Are the hangars where we need to go?”
He turned from the tarmac we’d all been watching and nodded. “Yeah, that’s our best chance of locating a plane we can use.” There was worry written all over his face and I just hoped the bravery behind it won the battle for dominance.
Looking back to Earl, “Well sir, what’s the plan?”
He studied me for a moment and understanding lit his eyes. I sighed in relief that he recognized my utter terror and complete lack of faith in my own ability to lead us with any sort of conviction. He turned and pointed back to the tarmac, “Let’s head that way. We need to move quick and quiet. Keep the kids in the middle; I’ll take point with Brian so he can scout the hangars.” He looked at me, “Angie, I need you and Jack to cover the sides as much as possible. Can I trust you to keep us from a breach?”
Earl looked at me so hard I thought I would crack under the weight of his stare. Swallowing down the bile that had risen to my throat, I croaked out something that sounded like “Yeah” and nodded my head.
We all took a moment to make sure every available weapon was ready when a bolt of lightning followed by a loud cracking whip of thunder chose that moment to let us know the storm had arrived. I sure hoped Brian could fly in a storm.
Earl moved to the front of our rag-tag team of unlikely survivors and nodded once then turned and started at a fast jog towards the series of concrete dividers we needed to clear.
Taking that as the sign to go, we all moved as one, keeping pace with him. I stayed to the left of the group, weaving around to cover as much of them as possible. Looking over, I noticed Jack mirroring my movements on the right side of us, with Bash and Ty taking the rear. Penny was in the middle with Johnny riding piggy back and a rifle in hand. Her hair was wild and for a moment she looked like a tiny but fierce Amazon warrior protecting her young and I couldn’t stop my smile. Chloe had Roscoe’s leash wrapped around a wrist and carried her rifle across her chest, trying to cover Penny from all angles.
It would seem that Penny was the most vulnerable because of Johnny, but I knew it was actually Brian we needed to cover. He’d said it himself, Penny was a better shot and I didn’t doubt her ability to get nasty when it came to the idea of her children being threatened.
Moving up closer to the front, I stayed just behind and to the left of where Earl and Brian were leading us over the dividers. I was slower about hopping over them this time, lest I trip again. Now really wasn’t a good time to try to show off and end up on my ass.
No one said anything as we quietly hopped from one road to another until another lightning bolt lit the sky, apparently causing a rip in the clouds as the first few drops landed on my face. Wiping them, I waited for the thunder that would follow when something caught my eye to the left.
I walked away from the group to the edge of the middle of the overpass to get a better vantage point. It was hard to see through the smoke still shrouding the city and the grey of the rain, but I could just barely make out what looked a lot like an invading army headed right for us from the west. My stomach dropped down to my toes at the sheer size of the crowd and I soon realized the rumbling under my feet matched the pace they were moving; the horde was here.
Running back over to the others, I grabbed Earl’s shoulder to stop him. He looked at me questioningly but before he could say anything, I shoved him in the direction of the horde and waited for him to realize the shit was about to hit the fan.
I knew he saw what I did when his eyes got so wide all I could see were the whites. “Fuck! We need to move now!” He broke out in a run towards the remaining divider that would lead to the final road before we’d have to get off the interstate.
“Wha-“ I heard Penny say before a chorus of “Oh fucks” and “Holy craps” rang out when the rest of the group caught on. After that we ran as fast as we could under the weight of our packs and weapons.
Reaching the concrete wall, I hauled myself over it and ran to the last one and stopped next to where Brian and Earl were stopped. Looking down, I realized the problem. There was nothing below us except a 30 foot drop onto the tarmac.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” Earl echoed back my sentiment before turning to Brian. “You still got the rock climbing gear?”
“Yep,” Brian said as he started pulling out ropes and carabineers from where they’d been clipped to his pack.
Penny caught up and set Johnny down to help Brian with a harness. I watched on as he fit the harness around himself and they anchored a rope to the tow hook on a nearby truck.
“Ok, Brian will drop down first.” She looked at the rest of us, “He’s going to attach the other end of the rope to that pole and we’ll use it as a zip line.” I looked at the lamp post sitting next to a building about 50 feet out from the interstate and almost crapped my pants. How the hell were we going to get the dog on a zip line?
Before I could ask, Brian reached for Roscoe’s leash from Chloe and wrapped the dog in some excess rope, effectively making a harness for him too. I watched in awe as Ty just helped tie the ropes like it was no big deal and he did this shit every day. Apparently everyone in the world went rock climbing except for me.
I didn’t say a word, just watched the horde get closer, although they were still a little over a mile away and not exactly moving fast. I couldn’t tell how many there were or why a group of zombies had decided to band together, but as far as war tactics went, it seemed effective.
That idea alone was enough to freak me the fuck out; if they had consciously decided to travel in a pack to blanket the city looking for food, that would suggest a higher level of reasoning than any I’d witnessed from the dead so far.
I thought back to the two mutating girls at the truck stop Jack and I had seen and wondered if maybe this was the result. What if the virus first caused classic zombies which then evolved superfast into smart zombies? The whole of human survival depended on us being smarter than them as they outnumbered us and I had to wonder what would happen if they started retaining their ability to reason on a higher level? We were so fucked.
Pulling my gaze away from the impossibly large crowd swarming over and around buildings and cars like slow moving locusts, I realized I had missed Brian repelling down the overpass with Roscoe in his arms. Walking back to the ledge with the others, I looked down to see he had already unhooked himself and the dog and was making his way to the pole where he was going to attach the line.
I pulled the rifle with the scope from my back and kept watch for anything headed towards him, but there was nothing. For being as open as it was, this part of the tarmac was pretty clear, but we were still quite a ways from the airport proper, so if we were going to find trouble, it likely wouldn’t be until we got closer to where we needed to be.
Brian had finished securing the line to the pole and I looked at the taut rope stretching out an impossible distance. “So, how exactly do we get down?” I asked no one in particular.
“Find something you can use as a handlebar,” Penny tossed to me from where she was busily fixing a harness to Johnny.
Looking around, I noticed for the first time the others were busy casing the nearby cars, coming back to the ledge after they’d found something they could use. Chloe had a crowbar, Ty and Bash each held a small length of PVC pipe and Earl was testing the strength of an ice scraper. I started towards a car with the trunk open and started to dig around, not really sure what I was looking for.
All I could remember from seeing people sailing down zip lines on TV were the hooks and harnesses they were wearing that had been designed for it; we didn’t have any of that. I thought to the various movies where the hero repels across one using whatever he happened to have handy, but seriously doubted the realism.
I finally settled on a weird metal ring and a small bungee cord. I carried my prize back to the others and stared at the items in my hands for a moment. Then I folded the cord over to fortify it, and using my knife, bent the hook on the bungee cord around the metal loop.
Carrying my little device over to the others, I stood and waited my turn. I watched wordlessly as all 4 kids sailed down the line, Johnny and Chloe strapped together.
Just as Penny was preparing to sail after them, the moaning of the dead got a whole lot closer. I spun around to see a group of more than 20 headed right towards us on the overpass.
“Oh fuck, hurry!” I yelled and watched Jack and Earl’s eyes get wide with urgency as Jack started over the ledge.
He paused, “Angie go before me.” He started to climb back towards me.
I pushed him back over the ledge, “Just go, Jack. All they can do is kill me.”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s what I’m worried about.” He couldn’t get another word out as Earl gave Jack a good shove, sending him spinning down the line towards the others.
Earl and I looked at each other and I nodded towards the line. “Go, I’ll be right behind you.”
He looked like he was about to protest so I turned around and started firing into the crowd.
“Go!” I yelled through the shots as my finger clenched the trigger.
I was backing up towards the wall and the first few that my bullets had missed were nearly to me. Turning, I saw Earl touch down on the other side and didn’t waste any time as I started to wrap the bungee cord around the line and tie it off on the loop. I didn’t have time to clinch the end of the cord so I didn’t slip out so I wrapped it around my wrist and climbed over the side, putting as much of my arm through the metal loop with one hand and shooting with the other.
A little Asian woman was so close I could smell the rot on her breath as her hands struggled to find a part of me to hold on to. I pulled the trigger on the rifle only to be met with the ‘click’ of an empty chamber.
“Son of a bitch!” I yelled, turning the rifle around and using it to beat her across the face before her teeth got any closer. She growled at me, a host of teeth and hair and other really gross things falling out of her mouth with her attempt at speech.
I pulled my body all the way over the ledge and pushed off with my feet, leaving her and her 20 or so friends screaming at me from the side rail as I sailed backwards towards the others and my grip slipping.
The angry woman on the ledge climbed over and was starting to climb onto the rope when I really started to panic. I couldn’t risk them following us. Grabbing the machete from my thigh, I reached up, said a prayer to anyone who might be listening and cut the rope.
The world became a blur as I started to fall. I could hear the screams of the dead as they fell over the wall onto the concrete below and the yells of my group who were likely watching me as I fell to my death as well.
Time stood still and while I didn’t have a chance to look around, my life did sort of flash through my mind on an afterthought. I didn’t want that, not at all. I shook my head to clear the horror show and replaced it with Jack and Ty and Chloe laughing in the Hummer about my choice in music. That was the image I wanted to take with me into death, not the terror I’d survived, but the small ray of joy I’d found in the end.
My introspective was cut short when I landed on something hard, rolled off, fell a few more feet and hit the ground. Every bone in my body shuttered and a sharp pain went careening through my right shoulder all the way to my fingers.