Message three.
“John, the outbreak is all over the place. What started in New York is here in Atlanta, too. There were sightings of these creatures downtown. I’m not sure what to do. Joe and Sue next door are talking about heading to their cabin up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They’ve invited me, John. I may go with them to get out of here until you get home. Please call me as soon as you get this message. I need to hear your voice.”
Next message.
“John, I can’t believe this is happening! We’re in the car heading up to Blue Ridge. The roads are jammed though, John. We’re stuck in complete deadlock traffic on Interstate 400. One of the people in the cars ahead of us ran into a few of the creatures back in the city. One of the kids was bitten on the arm. He’s burning up with fever. We’re trying to find a doctor for him. I’m not sure what is going to happen. We don’t know how sick this kid’s going to get. Please call me. Please call me back, John!”
Message five.
“John, oh my God! The kid just turned into one of them. He bit his mom, and she turned into one of them right away. People are panicking. The creatures are all over the place. I’m hiding in the car with Joe and Sue. I’m scared, John! I don’t want to be bitten. Oh no! Oh no, John, one of them is banging on the window. (SCREEECH) Drive! Drive! Drive! Push that car out of the way!”
The sixth message.
“John, we are on a dirt road, parked. Sue hit her head when we were driving away from the highway. A lot of blood, but I think she’s okay. Joe drove right over two of them before we drove straight into the woods. I don’t know how we made it out to this road. It’s a miracle. I don’t know why you can’t call me. I need to know you’re okay. This is too crazy. Please, John. Please call me. Please come home to me!”
Final message.
“John, you need to get here right away. Owwwww! The contractions have started. The baby is coming!”
Chapter 7
Nothing like “incentive” to push a man beyond his limits. A man with the right kind of motivation can do anything. Anything.
The phone felt cold in my sweaty hand. Stunned, I remained with it pressed against my ear long after the final message ended.
Gazing down over the railing, spinning my wedding ring on a shaking finger, my mind raced as I watched the waves spin off from the wake of the ferry. Nothing would stop me. Nothing could stop me. I needed to get down to Atlanta. Just 900 miles to go.
Kyle walked over. Hesitant to say much, he mentioned that we were about twenty minutes from the drop point at the I-95 in Jersey.
Not making eye contact, I started to speak. The words just came pouring out. I explained to Kyle that my motivation to get home went beyond my wife. I told him about my unborn or maybe now-born child, and then went on to dissect the series of voicemail messages I had just received.
Having made that drive to the Blue Ridge Mountains many times, I knew there was just a short period of time that Jenn would have been on I-400. If she only made it that far, then she’d have to make the decision to either turn around or head somewhere else. They would never make it to the cabin with all the traffic and those things already running wild in the streets.
I noticed some movement in my peripheral vision to my left. A man on the other side of the ship appeared to be very agitated, incessantly looking into his car. He was wearing a blue jump suit. It was the kind you’d see on someone working in an auto garage. Someone flipping out, I thought. He wouldn’t be the last.
Still staring out at the ocean, I muttered to Kyle that Jenn was eight months pregnant. She was pissed that I was leaving for this trip, and kept telling me that I’d really feel like shit if I missed the birth of our first child.
She was right. I did feel like shit.
Neither of us said anything for a moment.
Changing the subject, I sighed heavily and said, “We really haven’t talked about what we do next. We only have one car. Do you have someplace to go? I understand if you need to get to someone or someplace different from where I’m heading.”
Kyle paused for a moment. “I’ve been thinking about that actually. My buddies down in Augusta at Fort Gordon are the closest thing I’ve got to family. I’d like to go join up with them. If you’re good with it, I figured we could travel together as far as Georgia. We’ve gotten this far with each other, and besides, I don’t have any place to go. My apartment is under twelve feet of zombie shit by now.”
I always liked that about Kyle. He had a way of making you laugh even during the most tense situations.
I smiled, and said, “I was hoping you wouldn’t make me get down on my hands and knees begging to come with you. It’s a long trip to make by myself with all this madness.”
There was a shout from across the deck now. We both turned to look, as a few people were trying to hold the guy in the blue jump suit down. He tore loose, his jump suit sleeve tearing completely off, as he jerked his car door open.
In that instant, another guy in a blue jump suit jumped wildly out of the car. He approached a woman who was sitting in awe watching everything go down, and took a giant chunk out of her shoulder.
She dropped to the ground, with her blood soaking into the wooden deck of the ship. She twitched a few times, before she sat right back up, and ran over to the closest person to her. Before anybody knew it, there were seven of those things running loose on the ship.
I could see the shore where we were heading. We must have been less than five minutes from our destination.
Pulling my hammer from my belt, I glanced at Kyle, and then toward the crowd. He nodded, and then we both advanced on the zombies.
Kyle had left his metal weapon in the Hummer; a mistake he would not repeat. He searched around for a moment, and found a gaff, a metal pole that was clearly for pulling things out of the water. It looked about five feet long, and had a pointed hook on the end.
Today, it would serve a slightly different purpose than originally intended.
A newly turned Paker, dressed in his now blood-soaked black uniform, started right toward me. I could see the gouge on his neck where he’d been bitten, and knew I had to act fast. Drawing my arm back, I paused only slightly at the thought of killing one of the guys who had just earlier saved my life. My body contracted as I arched up and then down swinging the hammer through its skull, making a deafening crack as it broke through the bone with the ease of a spoon cracking through an egg. It was so deeply embedded, that I had to put my foot on its shoulder to pull the weapon out of his skull. I closed my eyes, and shuddered as it popped out with some brain-like flesh hanging from the metal end.
I could hear a few bone fragments clatter to the wooden floor, as I looked up to see two women and a man sitting in their car with the doors locked. Three of the creatures were beating the car with their bare, bloody hands before the first window shattered.
Fear gripped me. I thought of Jenn and our neighbors as they ripped one of the women right out of her seat. She let out an ear-piercing scream as all three of the creatures began to dig in. The other two passengers fought to escape the vehicle, only to step into their own deathly demise upon exiting the vehicle.
One heavier set guy not far from me was wearing a life preserver over a brown suit. The preserver was literally pulled so tight around his waist that you could see fat rolls folding over the straps. Two of the creatures saw him standing there, cowering in the corner. As they started to move towards him, he crawled up on the side of the boat, and simply rolled over the edge.