Pandora 2: Death is not an Option (13 page)

Max quickly ran up and lifted his arm over his head. Chopping down, he buried the point of his sickle in the top of the zombie’s head. The ghoul stiffened and then collapsed to the floor, pulling the deeply buried sickle out of the elderly man’s hand.

Luke then stepped toward the third attacker. He swung the blade again, and this time it almost decapitated the zombie. Held on by just a few strings of muscle, the head flopped to the side. Swinging with the other arm, this time he succeeded in separating the two. The body fell to the side as the head dropped down and rolled to Luke’s feet. Looking down, he saw the eyes looking up at him and the mouth open and close. Luke scrunched up his face in disgust and kicked the head through the broken glass door and into the parking lot.

Quickly moving back out into the large parking lot, the group saw a number of undead starting to filter into the lot.

Yelling over the alarm, Steve said, “Let’s get the hell out of here. This noise is drawing them in from everywhere.”

They all jumped into their vehicles and starting them up, raced around, and followed Steve out of the lot. They passed a Dunkin’ Donuts as they left and saw two girls in the store’s uniform staggering after them. Both were ripped open, probably by the man they just encountered. Their milky eyes followed the group as they snarled at them. But they soon became trapped and thrashing in the bushes around the store.

As they raced toward Woolbright Road to turn back onto 95, they saw their way was blocked by a huge crowd of zombies coming from the direction in which they wanted to go. Quickly turning right
and cutting through a gas station, they zoomed up Woolbright Road heading west. They were moving away from the zombies, but they were also heading away from Interstate 95.

Jake dropped part of his boat’s passengers off in Miami. Everyone was given another chance to decide what he or she wanted to do. The original group members who wanted to return still stuck with their decision. Naomi, who wanted to stay in Key West originally, threw her vote in with Jake. As she originally stated, she just couldn’t do it anymore. She would miss her friends terribly but didn’t think she would survive another day on the mainland. She was hoping they would all wind up in Antigua, eventually. Tina Brown also voted to go to Antigua. She knew she would be better off there and protected. Regina, Frank, Konrad, Hector, and Mel wanted to go with Sean and Tommy. So did Carlos Guzman.

They all thought it would be better to get to Florida’s west coast, where there was a lower population density. They reasoned fewer people ergo fewer zombies. Sean, Jack, and Tommy got a south Florida map and worked out a route to get there. Their main roadway was “Alligator Alley”. This was a straight highway that ran horizontally across the state. Officially called Route 75, it was uninhabited and ran through the Everglades, which was protected swamp and marshland. They were hoping that since there were no houses, stores, or businesses along the way, the only zombies they would find would be the unlucky souls who were turned and trapped in their cars. At least, that was the plan.

Mel found a boat in one of the many marinas around Miami, and the eighteen brave survivors sailed across Biscayne Bay. Because of the bad weather, the trip up to Miami had been a little rough. Several people were seasick. Travis Cassidy was the worst. He was so sick, he
couldn’t even stand. It was raining and dismal. Already late afternoon, they all wanted to be off the boat. Docking in the small marina in Coral Gables, they disembarked and sought shelter in the small hotel nearby. They avoided the few zombies they saw and, forcing the side door, entered the deserted hotel. Tommy, Sean, Jack, and Paul searched the building from top to bottom. Finding it empty, they raided the kitchen in the attached restaurant and were able to find a few cans of food and a few boxes of very stale but mold-free crackers. They divided the food, and everyone sat around the ballroom and ate.

After Mike had told Susan about finding Carlos in that building, she had gone out of her way to make sure that he was taken care of. She was horrified by what the man they killed was probably going to do to him. Carlos seemed so…so harmless. As they were sitting around talking in groups, Susan looked up to see that Carlos and Hector were deep in conversation. They were all smiles. While Carlos spoke absolutely perfect English, she knew that Hector’s first language was Spanish and his English was very poor. It was nice that he had someone whom he could communicate with fluently. Because the hotel was empty, several people had gone looking in the rooms to see what they could find. Some of them had clothes and suitcases in them. They took whatever fit. Carlos, who wandered off on his own, came down with a small leather camera case. Mike had asked him what he was going to do with the camera, but Carlos said it was empty. He liked the bag and thought it may come in handy for something.

As the night lengthened, the group started to retire in twos and threes to the rooms upstairs to sleep. Travis was already asleep in one of the rooms because he was still sick and nauseous. He just wanted to sleep.

Carlos had wandered into the kitchen and was looking around in there. Tommy had Manny check on Travis and then take first watch
in the lobby. They wanted to make sure that unwelcomed “guests” did not wander in.

At last, only Sean, Linda, Jack, Regina, Carlos, and Hector were left.

Jack said, “Do you really think we’ll be able to make it to the west coast of Florida?”

“Yes,” said Sean, “I do.”

“Once we make it to Alligator Alley,” said Regina, “we should be in good shape. It’s a straight run to Naples and the west coast. If we stay on the inland highways and away from the more populated coast, we’ll have a chance. There are several army bases around too. Maybe some of those are still functioning.”

“Well,” said Jack, “we’ll have our work cut out for us getting to that point because there are sure a lot of zombies around here.”

“Thanks a lot!” Linda said with a laugh.

“And on that note,” Regina said, standing, “I’m turning in. We have a long, dangerous day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“I think we’ll be going to our room also,” said Sean. He and Linda stood and waved good-night.

“Yeah, I’m getting sleepy too,” added Carlos.

They all said good-night and went to the second floor rooms to spend the night. Hector stood and looked at Carlos. The other man was taking his time getting up. Turning to Hector, Carlos said in Spanish, “All right, Hector, everyone is retiring for the night. Now, let
me show you that great Mexican restaurant next door. I know they’re closed like I told you earlier, but I’m sure we can still find some food in there.”

“I’m glad you know the area here,” said Hector. “I could really go for some food from home.”

“I tell you, Hector, this place is the absolute best,” Carlos said, winking. “The rest of them wouldn’t appreciate good Spanish food.”

“How about Manuel?” asked Hector.

“Nooo,” said Carlos dismissively. “He is just coming off guard duty and wants to get some sleep. You know these Army guys, all regulations and no time for fun.”

“Okay,” nodded Hector.

“Follow me and don’t make a sound,” said Carlos conspiratorially. “We don’t want to wake anyone.”

The two men quietly made their way toward the back of the hotel. The back door that went to the pool was broken. Carlos had noted that fact earlier. They went out into the dark night. Carlos gestured over to the right. “This way,” he said.

They made their way through the palms to the hotel property’s edge.

“I don’t see anything,” complained Hector.

“Don’t worry; it’s about fifty feet down this path.” Carlos looked at Hector, who was now smiling gratefully. He couldn’t wait. Carlos
smiled at him and put his hand on his shoulder. He couldn’t wait either.

What Carlos knew that Hector didn’t was that there was no Mexican restaurant down the stark path. What was there was an abandoned building. Earlier in the kitchen, Carlos had found a multitude of sharp and fascinating instruments in the drawers. Knives and picks and a wonderful meat cleaver. All were now in the camera bag he was carrying. He just couldn’t wait to get started using them.

Steve stopped the caravan at a zombie-free area of the road. He and Luke got out of the Toyota and walked back. Josh was riding with Karen now. She had taken a liking to him at the condo building, and they both had flirted with each other. Back at Home Depot, she had asked him if he would ride with her. He jumped at the chance.

The six of them stood in the street, looking around. The sun was rapidly sinking on the horizon, and they needed a place to spend the night.

“What are we doing, guys?” asked Josh.

“Any ideas?” asked Luke.

“I see a strip mall down the block,” said Steve. “Let’s try to spend the night in one of the stores.”

“What about going into one of these communities we keep passing?” asked Max. “I’d sure prefer a comfortable bed over a floor.”

Looking sideways at Josh, Karen said, “Yes, a bed sounds good to me too.”

Steve snickered and then said, “So would I, but I think there’s more of a chance of running into zombies in there. Lots of houses equal lots of people.”

“Not necessarily,” said Josh anxiously.

“Do you want to go knocking on doors to find out?” Ana asked. “Steve’s right. We are safer in an empty store.”

Looking around, Max said, “Let’s make up our minds. I don’t like standing out in the open like this. It’s like whistling in a graveyard.”

“Yeah, literally,” said Steve.

Looking disappointed, Josh said, “Okay, strip mall it is.”

Everyone got back in the cars, drove to the next block, and then pulled into the parking lot. Getting out again, Steve pointed. “Look, Dunkin’ Donuts.”

“There’s an Italian deli also,” mentioned Max.

“Great,” said Steve, smiling. “We’ll hit Dunkin’ first and then the deli. Whatever we don’t eat, we’ll take. There’s got to be cans of food in there. Let’s go.”

As they all strode toward the empty shop, Josh pulled Karen back. “Hey,” he whispered, “look over at the far end of the row.”

Karen looked to her right and then, with a big smile, looked back at Josh. “Mattress World.”

Josh smiled back and wiggled his eyebrows. “Sneak off a little later on?”

“Yeah,” she said mischievously, “after we eat. You’ll need your strength.”

The Dunkin’ Donuts shop turned out to be a bust. There were plenty of doughnuts left, but they were all as hard as rocks. The rats had visited also and, not being as fussy, had a feast. There were still one or two rodents in the back, and the hungry group of survivors quickly left. One thing they had noticed after the Pandora outbreak was that the rats had become emboldened. With fewer live people and dwindling food sources, the rats were starting to lose their innate fear of humans. Even with the zombies, somehow the vermin knew they were much faster and even smarter. It was not unusual to see them scurrying about the streets right under the zombies’ feet. The undead clumsily chased after them but usually to no avail. The rats were much faster. However, every so often an unlucky rat was caught. It was horrifying to see the zombie holding the squirming rodent up to his face to eat it while at the same time the rat was biting the ghoul’s face.

The deli proved to be a treasure trove of gourmet goodies. All of the fresh foods had long since rotted, but a virtual cornucopia of packaged and canned foods was more than edible. It was now nighttime, and the group was seated in the back of the store. They had candles lit and were just finishing their varied meals.

“Oh man,” said Luke, burping, “that was incredible. I can’t remember the last time I ate that much.”

“Me too,” Steve chimed in. “That really hit the spot.” Gulping down the last of a bottle of cola and belching loudly, he said, “I’m stuffed.”

Ana shook her head but smiled when she said, “Ugh, men are such pigs.”

Everyone laughed. They were all feeling pretty good now. It was amazing how a good meal and a full belly changed your whole outlook on life.

“You know,” said Steve, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, “I’ve been thinking—”