S. Davis - 900 Miles

I had no real control as I spun around, swishing through the long seaweed outside. For what seemed like an eternity, I lost my sense for which way was up, and I found myself kicking wildly, trying to hold every small ounce of air in my lungs.

Ready… waiting to feel a pair of cold dead teeth dig into my flesh, I found myself just floating, paralyzed. Still clutching the hammer in my hand, I finally re-opened my eyes. There was no sting like you’d find with salt water, and a light below made me glance down. Through the blurred darkness, I watched as at least a dozen creatures descended upon Rodgers right in front of the chopper’s headlight, pulling him apart on the murky, mud-covered ground.

The gurgled horrifying scream as he lay there being torn apart was all that was audible. To this day, I remember it clearly. Sometimes I hear it in my dreams.

I couldn’t see Jarvis or Kyle, but knew I needed to head up. Kicking for everything I was worth, I pushed through the liquid death. Every muscle in my body was burning, and I could feel my lungs begging for a breath as I fought to keep them for pulling the cold water into my chest.

There was no way I was going to make it. I was too far down. Drowning was supposed to be a painful, but quick death. I wondered if I’d be destined to be one of these floating creatures down there after I turned.

Tyler shot through my mind. A cold, more piercing than the water I was cursed in, flushed through me. Tyler. My little boy. My precious baby boy. After everything I’d been through to protect him, was I giving up now?

Hell no!

A burst of adrenaline shot through my body. The cold turned warm, and the pain turned into energy. The murkiness at this depth made it impossible to know how far I still had to go, but I wasn’t stopping. I’d come too far. I needed to go up. Up to my son.

The hammer, held firmly in my hand, was the first to hit the cold air. It felt heavy as it reached the dark night sky. Pulling life back into my lungs, I shot out of the water feeling like one of those seals doing a back flip at Sea World. Splashing around frantically to stay afloat, I looked for the closest land.

“John!” It came from behind me. “Over here!”

Kyle was swimming backwards, holding Jarvis’s head above water. They were heading for a set of nearby trees. Intent on not getting sucked down by any of the Zs lurking below, I kicked into full speed, which probably looked more like a snail trying to sprint as I fought against the waterlogged body armor trying it’s hardest to pull me back down.

Land wasn’t too far away, and the three of us pulled ourselves onto some stones lying on the shore. I saw Jarvis spit water out of his mouth and nose, which was good. He was alive. Kyle lay there breathing heavy, with his arms spread out on the ground.

“Jesus, man. You picked the wrong team?” Kyle finally sputtered, looking up at me. “That was some cold shit, man. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“It was the only thing I could think of,” I replied, looking down at the smooth pebbles.

“I know! It was some Dirty Harry kind of shit.” Half a smirk crossed his face.

“You likely saved us, John. I know you saved me. If it hadn’t been Rodgers getting torn to shreds down there, it surely would have been me. You did what needed to be done. Feel confident in that,” Jarvis said making direct eye contact.

Looking back out at the water, I remember thinking he was right. However, it didn’t soften that dark feeling that had crept into my mind. As if a tiny black seed had been planted, I already felt it ready to grow over what had been left of my humanity. A darkness that cloaked the light, making it easier to be a killer. Easier to do what needed to be done. I feared how much I would allow it to blossom.

The air was crisp, and our clothes were wet. In a survival situation, this was a bad combination. The fact that Jarvis was still losing blood didn’t make it any better. Taking a quick survey of our surroundings, we discovered that we’d landed in nothing more than a lake in what felt like a park. It could have been the hard ground, a building, or a forest. Given the circumstances, I guess we were about as lucky as we could have been.

Luck. In the end, it’s the only reason that anybody’s still alive in this world. There isn’t a person still breathing who doesn’t realize that at any given moment that proverbial coin could land tails down. So many of us have relied upon that fifty-fifty chance. Even more of us aren’t around to talk about it.

The moonlight revealed a series of trails that wrapped around the lake. We needed to find some sort of shelter, not only to get out of the elements, but who the hell knew how many roaming Zs lurked in the forest. I had images of dead hippies with long, cornrow hair jumping out of the trees at us wearing torn, bloodied camping gear.

“There’s a trail map over here,” Kyle whispered over to us from a small pole prominently sticking out of the ground by the trail’s edge.

Jogging over, I glanced down at the map. I’d been into camping and backpacking when I was younger. Seemed do it less and less as I got out of college. Either way, I knew my way around a park. I also knew there was usually some sort of shelter.

Now we just had to get there, and hope that Gordon or the dead wouldn’t find us first.

Preventing Forest Fires for Over 100 Years!

Kyle was pulling Jarvis up, propping him against his shoulder when we heard it. Starting as a distant whisper that called out to us through the waving tree limbs, it echoed through the park like the cries of some benevolent force. Growing louder, I knew the sound all too well, and saw the recognition in Kyle’s eyes as he looked up.

My heart skipped a beat when the light from the sky came into sight, pointing down at the forest ground as it tore through the air toward us.

They were on our trail, and we had nowhere to run.

Dragging Jarvis, Kyle shouted, “Duck down by that tree!” over the roar of the copter’s engine.

The three of us quickly found ourselves face first in the dry forest leaves. I felt a broken limb digging into my ribs as I looked up to see the chopper swinging around the lake, keeping the bright beam focused on the small waves sloshing back and forth.

When it didn’t find any signs of life, it took to doing a pass around the whole lake, keeping the beam on the water’s edge. I watched the trees below swinging rapidly up and down, reminding me of the type of audience-created wave you’d see at a baseball game.

The light passed over us twice, spitting up dried leaves all around. Fighting to hold back a hacking cough, I could feel dust settling in my nose and throat. Luckily, we were buried in enough green shrubbery to go undetected. Finally, the chopper halted, simply hovering in the middle of the lake.

“Maybe they’ll think we’re dead and call off the search.” I coughed through the dust still floating all around us.

No such luck.

The chopper twisted counter-clockwise, its tail turning around toward us. Then it moved forward just over the trees on the opposite side from where we sat. Wide-eyed, I watched as it started its descent. They were landing in what must have been an open field or a parking lot across from our position.

“They’re really after us,” Kyle said, stating the obvious.

“Gordon’s a persistent man, boys. Once he sets his mind on something, he simply doesn’t stop until he gets it,” Jarvis replied.

I thought back to something I’d heard Rodgers say to Jarvis earlier. He’d asked Jarvis how he could betray his best friend, referring to Gordon. All along, I had thought Gordon was just taunting Jarvis by calling him things like old friend. I was starting to believe there was much more history behind that story. Knowing that now wasn’t the time to get to the bottom of it, I decided to table the conversation until we were out of this mess. If we got out of this mess.