Mark Tufo - 'Til Death Do Us Part

He nodded to her. He noted the look of concern on Tomas’ face; apparently the boy had the same reservations that he himself had. He walked away from the duo and back towards where the majority of trucks were parked. “Roy, radio the guards tell them to pull back to the fallback area.”

“We getting out of here?” Roy asked, the hope clear in his voice.

“Just do what I said,” Kong told him as he walked by. “Walt!” Kong yelled motioning with his hand. Walt had been reading when he heard Kong’s yell. He stepped down off the truck holding on to his book fearful he was going to lose his page. “What are you reading?” Kong asked, astonished that the man could concentrate enough to read in the midst of all that was going on.

“ BeSwitched by Molly Snow, it’s a paranormal romance, funny shit.”

“Romance?” Kong asked.

“It takes me away from the horror of all this.”

“Fair enough. In about ten minutes I’m going to need you to open up your trailer.”

“You’re really going to let them go?” Walt asked.

“ I’m not doing anything Walt.”

“Shit.”

“Just make sure you get back in your truck as soon as you undo the latch.”

“I appreciate the advice, but that’s like telling me not to put my hand on a stove burner.”

“I’m sorry for getting you into this, Walt.”

“I’m a big boy, Kong, I should have taken one look at Eliza and left.”

“Just get back in the truck as fast as you can,” Kong said, clapping the man on the shoulder.

“Not a problem, even being in the cab knowing they’re locked in the trailer is an uncomfortable feeling.”

Kong wasn’t sure where Eliza got the new breed of zombies, but they terrified him. There was rumor that she had a doctor that could genetically alter the zombies; some thought she had perhaps gone to a ‘Fat Farm’ and bitten the residents there. Though no matter where she got them from, the zombies in the back of Walt’s truck were enormous; the smallest of the them tipping the scales at five hundred pounds, and they were meaner than the normal zombies, the vials were no guarantee against an attack. More than one of Eliza’s helpers had been devoured while they were tasked with the unenviable job of strapping helmets on the brutes.

Eliza had armed herself with the zombie equivalent of a tank and she was about to unleash her armada. God help them all.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Mike Journal Entry 19

We were advancing slowly. The zombies were beginning to thin out as we got further from the house where rifle shots were starting to ring out. Thoughts of Little Turtle shot across my brain plate. I shook them out, that hadn’t ended so well. Tracy kept looking back, worried about the kids. I was being cautious looking for guards. I knew that they must have sought safer ground for a moment as the zombies retreated, but that didn’t explain the complete lack of them now. They were nowhere in sight. Normally that would have made me happy, except for that damn nagging pit in my stomach that told me all was not right in Oz.

“You feel that?” BT asked.

And I had. It was a slight tremor, then it began to build. I could feel the vibrations as they moved up my legs. We all were looking around trying to figure out what it was.

“Maybe hide?” Tracy asked the best question of the day.

We moved forward to get in and around some raspberry bushes. It wouldn’t stop a bullet, but we were damn near invisible.

“Tanks?” BT asked.

“We have to go back!” Tracy said with alarm as she started to rise.

“It’s not tanks,” I told her, cocking my head to listen better.

“How do you know that? We have got to go back and protect them!” Tracy was on the verge of panic.

“Trace, hold on, it’s not tanks. I’m not saying it’s good, it’s just not tanks,” I told her, trying to get a bead on what was happening. The hanging raspberries in front of us were starting to dance on the vine.

“How do you know that, Mike?” BT asked looking around.

“Been in a few combat missions, tanks are noisy as fuck, so loud you can’t hear yourself think.” Now the bushes themselves were starting to sway. It’s fucking huge whatever it is , I thought, keeping that little nugget of discord to myself. “Here goes nothing,” I said as I slowly stood up so I could look over the hedge. At first I didn’t see anything…and then I’d wished I hadn’t seen anything. Amazing how quickly that change in thought set came about. I dropped down.

“Well?” BT asked.

“Tanks would have been better,” I told them.

Tracy hazarded a look. “Oh my God.”

BT popped up. Had anybody been watching, they would have thought they were catching an episode of Mere Cat Manor on NatGeo. “Are those helmets? Are those giant fucking zombies with helmets?” BT asked as he sat down hard in our makeshift hidey hole. Tracy had not yet come down. I pulled on her shirt.

“How can something that big be moving that fast?” she asked, looking off into a distance only in her field of vision.

“Now at least we know why all the guards are gone,” I said.

“Now what?” BT asked.

“Eliza pulled her men back because of those things, so apparently they’re as dangerous to her side as they are ours. We wait until they pass.

“The vials don’t work?” BT asked, holding tighter on to his.

“I’m not sure maybe you should go check it out,” I told him.

“Oh hell no. As the only black man surrounded by a bunch of whities, I’ve already bucked the trend by staying alive this long. I’m not going to do anything that would threaten that now.”

“Fair enough,” I told him. Wait it is.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Last Stand

Travis had been behind the steel curtain firing rounds at the advancing zombies. It was like killing mosquitoes; no matter how many you took out, there was always another one to take its place. Rifle fire was happening at various parts of the deck as the Talbots tried to keep the zombies at bay. The trench claimed a fair number, but was rapidly filling in as zombies literally fell ‘on the sword’ for their brethren.

“Should have dug it deeper,” Ron said as he came in next to Travis. “Any return fire?”

“Nothing,” Travis said, taking a moment to reload. “I don’t think they’re there anymore, but like my dad says, ‘life isn’t something you gamble with’ so I haven’t stuck my head up to really look around.”

“Smart boy. They’re going to have that trench filled in soon, and the fire won’t last forever. The blood and gore from the zombies is going to clog the nozzles.”

“You know that’s pretty gross right?” Travis asked as he put his rifle back up to the firing slot.

“You feel that?” Ron asked as he watched a spent casing jump.

“You’ve got to see this,” Travis said, pulling back and handing the scoped rifle to his uncle.

“What am I looking for?” Ron asked, looking through the scope.

“Look at the edge of the zombies.”

“What...the...fuck?”

“Yeah that’s pretty much what I thought.” Travis said.

“They moving in heavy machinery?” Gary asked, running around the corner of the house.

“I guess that settles the idea of guards still being out there,” Travis said. Standing so he could get a better view of the oncoming nightmare.