Floodwater Zombies (35 page)

The group of ragged survivors laughed, hugged and cried, relishing in a miraculous victory that had come at the sacrifice of so many. Rory wasn’t sure if the tears rolling down his cheeks were from the wind or because Woody wasn’t there to celebrate this second chance. Either way, Rory would never take another minute of life for granted. Never take another person for granted. Life was too short to waste living through a computer, or phony reality shows. Today, he would start living life
with
other people. He turned to Rachel and smiled. She hugged him again just as the bearded man exploded out of the water up ahead.

The monster’s skinny black tie looked like it was strangling him but his cavernous eyes remained fixed on the boat. Rory dropped his smile and let up on the throttle while Rachel screamed. The man spread his meaty arms, readying himself to catch the boat with a pose more fitting for Superman. “Fuck this,” Rory muttered, narrowing his eyes and pressing on the throttle. The engine wound tighter as the boat picked up speed. Hooper screamed Rory’s name just before they smashed into the hulking stiff with a jolting bang that threw everyone forward in their seats. Unlike Superman, the bearded stiff quickly disappeared from view. They felt his body bounce along the underside of the hull, the motor sputtering when the prop found the man and sliced him into pieces. For a split second, Rory thought the high-performance engine would stall. And then it did.

Silence swooped in around them, interrupted only by the cries of some nearby crows as they lazily drifted down the highway. Rory twisted the key and the engine turned over, spitting white clouds out the back end, but wouldn’t catch. He let up on the key, wary of burning out the starter and hoping it was just flooded and needed a minute to catch its breath, like the rest of them.

“Where’d he go?” Rachel cried, her eyes nervously darting back and forth across the dark water surrounding them, the .38 in her hand.

“Stay away from the edge!” Rory said, bracing himself for the man to spring from the murky liquid and take one of them back in with him.

“There!” Alex yelled.

They followed his pointing finger to the bearded man’s head, bobbing in the water like a marina buoy on Halloween. Relief washed over the boat, turning frowns to smiles in the dawn’s early light.

“Did that guy have super powers or something?” Hooper asked, watching the head drift into the trees. An earsplitting scraping sound answered him as the underside of the boat mashed against a large rock or tree stump just beneath the water, abruptly stopping their momentum. The boat swung hard to the left. Rachel’s arms cart wheeled through the air, the boat’s side pressing into the back of her knees. Rory reached for her as she began falling backwards in slow motion. He grabbed her arm just as she toppled over and came away with only her gun, lucky it didn’t go off. Rachel splashed into the water, the look of absolute horror branded into her face like a tourist who just fell off a swamp boat in alligator infested waters.

“Rachel!” Rory screamed, dropping the .38 to the flooded floorboards and reaching over the boat.

She surfaced and inhaled deeply through a gaping mouth, quickly slipping into a current sweeping through the trees. Her arms immediately went to work, carving through the water like Michael Phelps going for gold. Despite her devotion, she made little headway into the current.

“To your left!”
Rory yelled, noticing the water wasn’t as strong on that side thanks to the boat’s blockage.

With a few more gasps and kicks, Rachel found the soft spot and began gaining ground.

“That’s it, you got it, honey!” Kourtney yelled, setting the Colt .45 on a bench seat and reaching over the side of the boat, trying to extend her arms another fifteen yards. “A little further!” Her face dropped when an elderly woman rose from the water, like she had been there all along, waiting for just such an opportunity. The thing’s wretched face cleared the water and stopped rising. “Oh God,” Kourtney mumbled, staring blankly at the decaying geezer quietly evaluating the situation with soulless eyes.

Rory’s brow folded as the lady stood up. She was topless with jagged holes where her breasts used to be. A jagged bone jutted from her emaciated shoulder. Before he could yell out a warning, the woman dove forward and began swimming like hell.

“Jesus Christ,” Rory said faintly, paralyzed by the thing’s implausible stealth.

“Swim, Rachel! Swim!” Kourtney shrieked.

Rachel glanced behind her to see something wiggling across the surface of the water and turned back around with terrified eyes.

Kourtney leaned further over the boat’s edge, stretching every inch of her lean body. “Faster, honey!”

Rory reeled in his reaching arms, knowing Rachel would never make it, and drew his weapon like a wanted gunslinger. “Swim!”

“She’s not going to make it,” Kourtney muttered.

“Come on, Rachel!” Hooper shouted, taking aim with his shaky left hand.

Rachel paddled wildly through the water, the thing gaining behind her.

Rory closed one eye and fired one shot, then another, jerking the lady from her persistent rhythm. He hit her again, slowing her down but not arresting her pursuit. He holstered his gun as Rachel reached the side of the boat and took one arm while Kourtney grabbed her other. “Pull!” he yelled through gritted teeth as they leaned back and pulled Rachel halfway into the boat.

Hooper grabbed the back of Rachel’s collar with his good hand, lending his weight to the rescue.

“Oh my God,” Rachel panted, pulling herself up onto a red and white striped chair. “I thought I was going to die.” She screamed and jerked from their grips, slipping back into the water.

The old woman clutched Rachel’s ankle with two wrinkly hands, pulling her poisonous teeth closer with a series of wet sounding grunts. Rachel kicked and screamed while Rory and Kourtney grabbed her arms, playing tug of war with the rotting corpse. The old lady snarled and thrashed about in the water, winning the battle. Her mouth opened wider.

“No!” Rory screamed
,
the image of Rachel turning into one of those things like Woody had flashing through his mind. He released Rachel’s arm and unleashed his weapon, fearing it was already too late, fearing a single stumble on his part.

A gunshot rang out, making everyone hunch their shoulders. The old lady’s head snapped backwards as her forehead imploded. She slammed into the water on her back and slowly floated away. Their heads turned to Alex, who was preoccupied watching the saggy
ghoul
disappear into some flooded trees. He lowered his grandpa’s gun and turned back to the others.
“Told
ya
I can shoot.”

“And thank God for that!” Hooper exclaimed.

They pulled Rachel back into the boat. She collapsed into a vinyl seat, struggling to catch her breath. “Looks like those YWCA swimming lessons finally paid off,” she sputtered.

Alex turned his big eyes to Hooper. “Can I be a deputy, too?”

He laughed and winked at Kourtney. “I don’t see why not.”

Rachel took Alex’s hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”

Alex’s face turned almost as red as the water sloshing around inside the boat.

 
The engine started on the fourth try and, shortly thereafter, resumed speeding them back towards town.

“We did it!” Kourtney cried, planting a big wet kiss on her son’s cheek and then one on Hooper’s lips that made Alex wrinkle his nose.

Rory laughed and turned to Rachel, frowning when he saw blood running down her forehead. He quickly returned his attention to the newly developed waterway ahead, wary of making a rookie move and - of all things -
getting taken out
by a mighty Elm tree. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said softly, stepping through the bloody water in the boat and hugging him again. “It’s from the steering wheel, not that…
thing
.”

Hooper breathed a sigh of relief, and frowned with the pain that flashed through his broken arm as he shifted in his seat.

“Is this water going to turn us into zombies?”

Rory rotated his head to the back of the boat and followed Alex’s bewitched gaze to the slushy stew hiding their shoes. Rory turned back around and let up on the gas. “We need to find a bucket.”

A mile or two down the road, Rory realized he was going too fast again and let up on the throttle. They had bailed out as much of the gory water from the boat as they could with a small cooler Kourtney found under the seats, but enough of the zombie stew was still sloshing around their feet to make him want out of the boat as soon as possible. He wondered if there could be a cut on his feet or legs he didn’t know about. He wondered if Hooper would have to shoot him next.

“Whatever you do, don’t turn it off,” Hooper yelled, grimacing with the pain coursing through his broken arm. “We may never get it started again.”

“I heard you the first time,” Rory grumbled, letting the boat slowly motor along the deserted highway that was now more like a water park’s lazy river. He exhaled a long breath that puffed his cheeks and ruffled his lips. “I think it’s letting up,” he said, holding his palm out and glancing to the thinning storm clouds above.

“Good!” Kourtney smiled, squeezing Alex tightly.

Alex turned to his mom and furrowed his brow. “Are they still going to eat us?”

Her face twisted, the wheels spinning in her mind. “No, honey,” she said, stroking his wet hair and smiling at him. “They can’t get us anymore.”

Hooper mimicked her smile and let out a victorious hoot that echoed off the rolling hillsides, scaring them all. “Hell yeah!” he laughed, wincing with the outburst.

Rory and Rachel looked at each other and smiled. “We made it,” Rory whispered, turning back to the flooded road ahead.

“I just hope our families are okay,” Rachel said, staring at the flooded roadway with unfocused eyes, wiping fresh blood from her face with a wet hand.

Hooper settled into a more comfortable position and released a long breath. “All I know is the first thing I’m going to do is arrest whoever is responsible for this!”

Kourtney’s gaze tightened. “The first thing you are going to do is go to the hospital.”

Rachel turned in the passenger seat to face the sheriff. “You know why all those bodies were in the lake, don’t you?”

Hooper’s eyebrows dipped together. “Why?”

“Oh shit,” Rory said, easing up on the throttle.

Everyone leaned forward to see the highway’s shiny blacktop rise up out of the water up ahead and disappear over a tall hill.

“End of the line!” Rory said, gunning the engine.

Rachel released a sharp cry, lurching backwards in the red and white striped seat. “What are you doing?” she shouted over the husky exhaust.

“I’m gonna beach it on dry land!” he yelled over his shoulder. “No way
we’re
getting out in the water!”