Winter Apocalypse: Zombie Crusade V (15 page)

Everyone was quiet for a moment before Carolyn asked for their attention. “Look, I would like you all to indulge me in an unusual request.”

Robbie squeezed her shoulder. “Babe, I think we pretty much owe you our lives, so whatever you want, just spit it out.”

Carolyn’s request was met with unanimous approval. Before the two ships finally parted ways, the traumatized survivors devised a plan to maintain communication between their groups. Then they bid farewell to a blazing lifeboat that was returning the smoldering remains of Bruce and Father O’Brien to the waters that the old sailors had so often called home.

CHAPTER 13

The fury of the blizzard had sputtered out with the coming of dawn. Eddies of powdery snow still drifted across the brilliantly white landscape, but the wind had died down and the mid-morning sun was shining brightly. Unfortunately, the unfettered rays of light did nothing to raise Deb’s spirits as she gazed toward the bobbing fleet from her position on the small island. Christy’s plan had worked: the refugees were warm and dry. In the process, Deb’s fears had proven prescient as the banks of the Maumee were now lined with hunters as far as she could see in both directions. A Blackhawk periodically flew over the area, doing nothing but keeping an eye on the situation as the flesh-eaters rested in the snow drifts. When the horde had first arrived the monsters had raised a ruckus, howling and testing the depths of the water near the stationary humans and their boats. Once they’d realized there was nothing they could do here but keep watch, most of the creatures had settled down, and the helicopter was apparently content to maintain the status quo for the time being.

Christy slowly approached the brooding Deb, pulling her parka even more tightly about her head as a stray gust of wind blew a few stinging bits of snow into her face. “Hey, stop worrying about the hunters; we’re dry and we have food.”

“Mrs. McCrory the only one we lost?”

“Yeah,” Christy quietly answered. “She was eighty-six, Deb, and was fighting some sort of respiratory infection before we evacuated.”

“I know,” Deb sighed, “but I wish she didn’t have to pass away out here on an island in subzero temperatures.”

“Me too, but it could have been a lot worse. You did good getting everybody here; we should all be hunter-poop by now.”

“We might be yet,” Deb suggested. “How long will our food last, two, maybe three days?”

“Something will break our way,” Christy countered. “Vicksburg isn’t sitting still, and I have faith in Chuck. We just need to hold on until the cavalry arrives.”

“We will, but what difference is a squad of soldiers gonna make against these thousands all around us?”

“Hey,” Christy good-naturedly bumped Deb’s shoulder. “I heard all the stories about the Battle of the Castle. You guys were overrun, and spent the night in the buildings surrounded by an army of infected.”

“We did,” Deb yielded a small smile. “I was pretty worried then, too, and I trusted that Jack and Carter were gonna save the day.”

“Yeah?” Christy smiled back. “Well maybe they’re gonna save the day again when they get here.”

Deb looked sadly into Christy’s eyes. “People trusted me in Fort Wayne, even when I ordered them to evacuate in the middle of a blizzard. Somebody snuck in and blew our wall under my watch. A platoon from Utah died defending the breach, and Andi ended up captured. Ten more people have died on the river, and the only thing keeping me sane is the hope that Ted got the kids safely onto the train to Vicksburg.”

Christy slowly shook her head before explaining, “You’re looking at this the wrong way. We all could have, probably should have, died last night. Your leadership, the decisions you made under immense pressure, saved almost seven hundred lives despite a brilliantly executed enemy plan. This is war, Deb, and people die in war. A good leader figures out a way to keep as many of their people alive as possible while still accomplishing the mission. You did just that, and I’m damn proud of you.”

Deb reluctantly nodded in agreement. “Okay, I’ll look at it that way, but I think I know now why Carter has nightmares sometimes. Listen, talk to people and see what ideas they might have for getting out of this mess. If help comes, we’ll take it, but if not, we’re gonna have to save ourselves.”

Christy smiled triumphantly, “You got it, Deb.”

Everyone on the helicopter was wide awake, checking over their equipment one last time after Chuck had announced that they were fifty miles from the Maumee, and closing fast from the south. Carter had moved a bit forward, toward the cockpit, in order to use the radio  he hoped to contact Deb with; as he vacated his seat, Jack saw that his buddy had brought the .50 caliber BMG along.

“Carter,” he demanded, “what the hell you bring that thing for? You gonna carry it all the way to the island?”

“Hey dummy, don’t even try to act like I don’t know what I’m doin’. How many times I save yer ass over in the big sandbox?”

“Uh, never,” Jack replied with a note of irritation. “I’m not kidding around; why did you bring that heavy bastard along?”

“Two words, professor: Black Hawks.”

Jack just stared at Carter with astonishment for several seconds. “You are the stupidest son-of-a-bitch I ever met.”

“Look, we already brought one chopper down with this piece, and sent a few others runnin’ with their tails ‘tween their legs. Ya always tell me that a good commander has to think ‘bout what the enemy’s doin’ at all times. So just what ya think we’re gonna find when we get to the river?”             

David interrupted the back and forth conversation. “I expect a lot of hunters to be shadowing the boats, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find a Blackhawk or two controlling the monsters.”

Carter smirked at Jack and held his hands up in the air in a gesture that said, “Well?” Then, when Jack had no reply, hesent a different gesture t
o
his old friend that said something entirely different before continuing on toward the radio.

Deb heard the first transmission clear as a bell and excitedly replied, “Carter? Are you guys close?”

“Yeah, honey, we’re only about ten minutes from the river. Where y’all at?”

“Is David close by?”

“Yeah, he can hear us; what ya need him fer? Why do ya want him when ya already got me on the line?”

“He’ll know what I’m talking about down here.”

Carter looked over at David to make sure he could hear everything, and as soon as the younger man nodded his understanding, Carter explained, “He’s good to go, baby. Tell us what’s goin’ on.”

“Okay. We got jumped last night, not too long after we cleared the Hosey Dam. We lost nine people, and most of the survivors got soaked during the fight. So we tied off the boats on the Landin Road Bridge, and the old rail bridge a few hundred yards downstream. We built fires on the nearby islands and got our folks dried out. This morning, we’re surrounded by thousands of hunters on both sides of the river. Christy says there are a few more shallow areas ahead, so we’re worried we won’t make it through the next ambush. We need to know what you want us to do.”

Carter raised his eyebrows and handed the mike to David. “Hey Deb, this is David here. Can you put Christy on?”

“Sure, just a second.”

David released a pent-up sigh of nervousness and worry when he heard his wife’s voice over the air. “David, you know where we’re at?”

“Yep,” he answered. “You have any suggestions before we try to make a plan from up here?”

“I’ll tell you when those choppers pass us next time, moving east to west. If you guys can figure out a way to drive them off for a few minutes, it might create some confusion among the hunters that we can use to get a head start downstream.”

David shared a look with Carter, who nodded in approval as he pointed toward the .50 caliber rifle. “We can definitely try, babe. There are still a few rapids east of the Highway 30 bridge; you won’t be safe till you make it past them.”

“That’s what I figured,” Christy responded. “As soon as you chase off those Blackhawks, turn back to the east and give us some cover at the Bridge. The approaches are elevated on both sides of the river, and there’s a fence with a strand of barbed wire between the fields and the highway. Hopefully, there’ll be snow drifts to slow the hunters as well.”

Another check with Carter showed the experienced soldier pointing at the ground. David nodded before replying to his wife. “We can’t do that from the chopper; we’ll have to set up a defense line to the north and south of the bridge. As soon as you guys pass below, we’ll have Chuck extract us and drop us on the first protected island downstream of you. Got all that?”

“Loud and clear. How many fighters you have up there?”

David frowned before tersely answering, “A dozen.”

He could hear the alarm in Christy’s voice as clearly as if she was sitting in the chopper with him. “You can’t do anything with a dozen people at that bridge; they’ll swarm you in seconds. How soon until the others arrive?”

“We’re all you get for the moment, babe, but you know we’ll hold longer than that. None of that matters right now; you’ve got hundreds of civilians down there counting on us to save them. That’s exactly what we’re gonna do.”

Christy knew David was right about one thing: the lives of hundreds of civilians were at stake. She decided to follow her own advice and trust that David, Jack, and Carter knew what they were doing. “We’ll be ready to pull anchor the second you tell us to, but you guys better have some deadly tricks up your sleeves.”

“Good, now we’re only five minutes out. What’s the status on the enemy Blackhawks?”

The radio went silent for a moment while Christy checked with Deb about the position of the helicopters. “They just headed by us, moving to the east, about three minutes ago. They’re probably headed back this way right now, but they’re not flying very fast. You guys ready to go?”

David saw Carter sliding open the bay door a bit with the heavy rifle in hand. “Yep, we’re ready.”

It wasn’t long before Christy nearly shouted, “We see ‘em! Come in directly toward us and you should be right on their tails.”

Chuck had taken the mike back. “Yeah, Christy, this is Chuck; we have the river in sight and a visual on the enemy birds to our northwest. Suggest you sign off now and get those boats untied. We’ll be coming in low and fast. See you soon.”

Luke opened his eyes and was surprised to see early morning daylight spilling in from the cabin’s windows. Searing pain burned through his limbs, and he wanted to cry out for water, but he was too weak to speak. Gracie was asleep in a chair right next to the bed, close enough that he thought he might be able to reach out and touch her. When he tried to move his arm, his entire body began to violently convulse. In an instant, Gracie’s face was hovering over his, but her image quickly faded into darkness.

“Help me hold him down!” Gracie shouted to Zach. “I don’t want him to fall—”

Zach threw his linebacker’s body on top of Luke, but the force of the spasms was almost too much for him. “Maddy, go get Charlotte,” he yelled over his shoulder. Luke began making strange, guttural noises that only encouraged Maddy to move faster as she flew out the door.

The seizure began to subside, and Luke’s body went limp with the exception of a random twitch every few seconds. Gracie and Zach didn’t speak, but stared at each other with haunted expressions until Gracie burst into tears.

“He has to make it, Zach,” she sobbed. “He has to; I can’t go on without him, and I don’t think this war can either.”

Zach just looked at the ground and mumbled, “He’ll always be a hero, no matter what.”

Charlotte and Maddy burst through the door. Charlotte was mid-sentence in scolding her daughter, “ . . . where I tell you, young lady! I don’t have time for . . .” She stared at Luke for a few seconds, and her voice was gentler when she spoke again, “Lucy, since you’re here you might as well make yourself useful. I’d like some coffee, and make sure you wash your hands before you handle any food.” She walked over to Luke and felt his forehead with the back of her hand; he was so pale and still that she was slightly surprised to find him still hot to the touch.

“I’ll help her,” Maddy offered. “Come on, Lucy. Let’s see if we can throw together some breakfast for everybody.”

“He had a really bad seizure,” Zach explained quietly. “And he made some weird noises.”

Gracie drew a quivering breath. “We should sit him up and try to give him some water.”

Charlotte chose her words carefully, “He looks pretty weak; we don’t want to do anything to overtax him. Let’s just prop up his head a bit more and you can spoon water or even some snow into his mouth.” She didn’t think it would do Luke any good, but she believed it might make Gracie feel better.

“That’s smart,” Gracie agreed, regaining full composure. “We don’t want him to choke.”

Zach and Charlotte made eye contact, and it was clear to each that they were thinking the same thing. Charlotte fluffed a couple extra pillows and tried to sound calm, “Zach, will you lift Luke up a bit? Gracie, let’s get these pillows under his shoulders.”

Gracie was quick to help, then she was totally focused on Luke. “I think his fever is down a bit,” she observed as she dribbled cool water in his mouth from a wet rag.

“Uh huh,” Charlotte replied politely. “Zach, I think I saw some extra food at your cabin; will you help me bring some of it over here?”

Zach was exhausted, and didn’t pick up on Charlotte’s intentions right away. “I don’t know what we have over there that you’d want—“ he began. When he saw both Charlotte and Maddy staring at him with expressions that told him he was missing something, he felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. He remembered his promise to Jack, and he needed to let Charlotte know how they would be handling the inevitable.