Chapter Twenty-Eight
“We have to go back,” Charlene said.
She was right, of course. Time was limited. It sounded melodramatic, but time was now a luxury I did not have. I wanted Charlene and Dave as far away from this danger as possible. I wanted to see them safely to Mexico, with or without me. “You have more clips, Dave?”
“No.”
“Still have my machete?” I said.
He shook his head. “On the bus.”
“Take mine,” Charlene said. She opened the car door and got out of the vehicle. She pulled the machete out of its sheath.
Dave got out, too, and took the machete.
I had my knives.
“You can’t even walk. Your ankle is twisted,” she said. “You’re staying in the car. Get behind the wheel.”
“Charlene--”
“Stay!” She turned to face the bus. “Dave, let’s go!”
“Shit,” I mumbled. They were gone. Headed into a battle that I couldn’t protect them in. I scrambled up and over and plopped into the driver’s seat. I grabbed my pants and pulled my leg up. I looked at my ankle.
It wasn’t twisted, like Charlene thought. I’d been bitten.
How long did I have? When would I turn? When would the virus consume the inside of my body and kill me? It would hurt, I imagined. Death would be painful. Knowing what came next, while dying, unbearable.
I didn’t want Charlene to see me that way.
Couldn’t let her.
Turning the car around, I aimed the car’s grille at the bus and at my family.
My daughter wasted no time. She engaged the zombies from behind. They’d been pounding on the bus walls when Charlene sliced her blade through necks and severed heads from shoulders.
Her element of surprise worked, but was short lived.
The creatures now knew she was there, and she must have looked more tantalizing standing before them, than the thought of a people inside a locked up and modified school bus.
Dave hacked zombies like he was pushing his way through a jungle trail in the Amazon. Slashing to the left and the right, he cut away limbs, leaving dangerous zombies alive, but considerably more harmless.
The two now fought back to back.
I drove the car at the mob of creatures. I felt like I was in a jousting match. This little car was nothing like the bus, it lacked the cow scoop, and didn’t have the brawn and power and stamina to destroy the things. It was still a car, and when I drove into a mass of monsters, I found my new weapon to be highly effective.
Dropping it into reverse, I hit the gas, backed up and switched it back into drive. A second run knocked out five zombies, but my tires were hung up on the guts and entrails inside a cadaver's belly. I punched the gas pedal, and practically felt those innards spray from the spinning tires before I caught traction and lurched forward. The front of the car hit the side of the bus.
The bus door opened.
Andy, Kia and Melissa came out armed with guns.
Their shooting was awesome. The three of them dropped zombies.
Dave used his foot, planted on the chest of a fallen zombie, to yank his machete out of its skull.
It took too long. “Dave!”
A creature grabbed him from behind, tackling him.
I opened the car door.
Charlene was defending herself against two zombies, and the others were shooting and reloading weapons. Dave needed my help.
I hobbled forward and raised my knife high. I slammed the blade into the back of the zombie’s neck, felt the vibration of the saw skip across the spine. I pulled on its shirt and lifted him off Dave.
Blood spewed from Dave’s throat. He gurgled and spat blood from his mouth. His hand went to the wound. His fingers were quickly lost in a sea of oozing red blood.
“Ah, shit, shit, shit,” I said.
Dave’s eyes were wide open. He looked scared. The fear was evident in his stare.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said. There was little else to say.
“Dad!”
I looked over my shoulder. Another zombie was about to latch onto my back.
A gunshot sounded. I heard a bullet whiz over my head. The new hole in the center of the zombie’s forehead was perfectly placed. It fell backward, dead.
I looked to the right. Kia smiled, and nodded at me. Her gun in her hands.
I heard someone scream.
Andy was down. I saw his legs. They protruded out from under a pile of zombies packed on top of him.
Kia and Charlene worked at getting the monsters off of him.
I saw a zombie climb onto the bus.
I knew Michelle was on there. Injured. Dying. She was defenseless.
Dave’s hands reached for me, demanding my attention.
There was no way to save him. There was nothing I could do. I held his hand.
He squeezed it. His hand went limp. Eyes closed.
I raised my knife, and closed my eyes too, I didn’t want to do this. I opened my eyes and drove the blade into an eye socket. It was the easiest way to hit the brain.
Charlene swung her sword like an axe chopping wood on a stump. The sharp blade cut away heads, arms and chopped into bone with ease.
Kia fumbled with her weapon. She dropped a full clip. She slapped at her pockets as if checking for more ammo.
Someone screamed behind me. I spun around. I placed my forearm on my leg and pushed myself up into a standing position.
Melissa had her back to the bus. Four creatures had her raised up off of her feet. They tore into her stomach with their hands and teeth, and spilled her bowels.
“Charlene! Kia!” We needed to get out of here. I couldn’t see around the bus. If I had to guess, more zombies were coming. They’d be coming from every direction. Our cries of pain and anguish had to be like more of a dinner bell than the sounds of gunfire.
Michelle stepped off the bus. She limped toward Kia, falling in line behind the other zombies already after the woman.
“Kia!”
Something grabbed my arm. I shrugged my way free. I took a step and then brought my arm around. The guy was bald. Decaying. Ugly as sin. My hand held the knife tightly. The blade slit the thing’s throat. The head bobbled and fell backward. It hung onto the shoulders by a thin thread of flesh before pulling free and dropping onto the pavement. I don’t know why it looked like a bowling ball; like you would place your thumb in his mouth and fingers in his eye sockets.
Charlene aided Kia. She cut the zombies off at the shins. They dropped one after the other. It didn’t stop them from dragging themselves forward, but their threat was less serious.
With relentless stamina, my daughter fought the creatures and only hesitated when she reached Michelle. Only hesitated, but then cut her legs away and when Michelle fell, she swung as if the head were a ball on a tee.
Kia managed to load her weapon. She fired again, impressing me with her accuracy.
“Get to the car!” I said. “The car!”
I hobbled toward the vehicle and climbed into the driver’s side. I closed the door, and backed away from the bus, backed over lumbering zombies. The car bounced and shook, and utilized the shocks more than they’d been tested before, I was sure.
Charlene climbed in beside me.
Kia reached for the back door and was gone.
Charlene opened her door. She got out of the car.
I couldn’t see anything. I heard the struggle. Something had Kia. Charlene used her sword, driving it down into something, over and over. She got back into the car. Closed her door a second time.
“Drive,” she said.
I didn’t ask. Didn’t need to.
I drove.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
1111 Hours
We drove in silence for miles. The miles turned into hours.
We needed gas. I got off the Interstate and found a gas station. “Stay in the car,” I said.