Jeremy stared in shock as the helicopter flew
past them.
“I can’t believe it,” White said. “I haven’t
seen anything in the sky since the second day when we saw the medevac chopper
go down.”
It’s not possible…
Jeremy thought.
He continued to watch the lights of the
helicopter vanish into the night.
“It’s not possible…” He said aloud this time.
White looked over at Jeremy and noticed that he
was sweating.
“You alright man?” he asked, placing his hand on
Jeremy shoulder.
“It just can’t be true,” he mumbled, his eyes
still fixed on the sky.
“No, it is. You’re not seeing things. I saw the
helicopter too,” White said.
Jeremy pulled away from White and took a step
forward.
“I know that helicopter,” Jeremy said.
“What? What do you mean you know that
helicopter?” White began asking, deeply confused on what Jeremy was getting at.
“That was,” he started, still struggling to
believe it himself. “That was my father’s helicopter.”
***
“What do you mean you saw your father in a
helicopter?” Black asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
Everyone minus Lexx was in the bunkroom. Jeremy
and White rushed downstairs to wake the others and share the news. CJ sat up on
his cot, much more alert than Black.
“I mean my dad is alive and he’s out there,
flying around in his damn helicopter!”
Jeremy could not believe the words coming out
his own mouth, how could he expect others to believe them? He was sure, without
any doubt, that it was his father. The yellow paint job, old school pin-up
model on the side, there was no mistaking it for his father’s helicopter.
Had it been with him on the yacht when he left?
Has he survived all this time?
A dark thought crossed his mind.
What if it wasn’t him? What if someone killed
him and took the helicopter?
“Which way was he headed?” Black asked.
“Looked like the hospital,” White answered.
Black looked at his partner. He seemed unsure of
Jeremy’s story, but the fact that his partner was backing the kid up, it made
him seriously consider it.
“So, what are we going to do?”
The four of them all looked at each other.
***
They rushed to the armory and began to load out.
White handed one of the rifles to CJ, who nodded and tried to hide his smile.
He then in turn handed a shotgun to Jeremy before grabbing one of the M4’s for
himself. Black also took one, slinging it over his shoulder.
“Okay, we check the hospital roof and if he’s
not there, we leave. I don’t want to be out there too long at nighttime,” Black
said, checking the action of his rifle.
Everyone agreed. Fighting zombies at night was
on no one’s bucket list.
“What’s this?” CJ said, holding up a small sheet
of paper. “It’s a note from Lexx!”
He handed the note to Jeremy who read it aloud.
“Dear Jeremy, Sorry man, but I have to do this.
I gotta go find Tori. Tell the cops I borrowed a couple of the guns and
possibly one of the squad cars. And maybe the Coke. I’ll come back when I find
them. Lexx.”
He looked up from the page.
Typical Lexx,
He thought.
“Are you kidding me?” Black said.
“No, that sounds like Lexx. Don’t worry. He’ll
bring them back. C’mon, we’re wasting time,” Jeremy said.
***
Zombies crowded the hospital parking lot. It was
as if something drew them to the building. They shambled and bumped into each
other and the parked cars.
Jeremy drove the truck by slowly.
“Looks like we’re going to have to fight our way
in,” he said to CJ, who sat beside him.
Black and White rode behind them in another
police cruiser.
Jeremy got on the radio and relayed the good
news to the officers.
“Yeah, that’s what we were just talking about,”
White said over the radio. “You sure you want to do this tonight?”
Jeremy thought about it for a moment.
“He might be gone by tomorrow. I’m betting he
landed on the roof and that’s what all these z’s are doing here. They followed
him here.”
“Lucky us,” White said. “We’ll follow you. Over
and out.”
Jeremy circled the truck back around and parked
outside the parking lot. Zombies were already starting to take note of the new
vehicles.
“You sure you want to come with us? You can take
the truck back to the precinct,” Jeremy said, looking at CJ.
“And be by myself? No thank you. Besides, you
know I’m a good shot. You need me.”
Jeremy could not help but smile at the teen boy.
He may be thirteen, but he might as well be my
age.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said.
He opened the door and began to trot towards the
building. His shotgun blasted the first zombie, the boom echoing through the
silence of night. The zombies all began a chorus of moaning. He racked another
round into the barrel and steadied his next shot.
Something grabbed his arm and he turned to fight
it off, but the z’s head snapped back and its body fell to the ground. Jeremy
looked back to CJ, who gave him a thumbs up and fired another shot.
Black and White’s automatic fire entered the
fray, the “pop-pop-pop” of controlled three-round bursts providing a rhythm to
their soundtrack of death.
When they reached the entrance, they looked back
at the path they cleared. New undead were filling the void.
“Where are they all coming from?” Black shouted.
“C’mon, we got to get to the roof. Dad’s got to
have heard the noise by now,” Jeremy yelled back.
They heard shrieks in the distance.
“Let’s go!” Jeremy yelled.
The four of them ran for the stairs, Black and
White flipping on the lights attached to their weapons.
“Jeremy, tight quarters in the stairwell. You
take point,” White said, holding the door open.
Jeremy nodded and entered the stairs. They
climbed quickly.
When he came around the turn at the third floor,
Jeremy came face to face with a hulking zombie. The thing must have been seven
feet tall. It reminded him of the dead Lumberjack.
Jeremy jumped back and fired the shotgun at the
thing’s face. Unlike the Lumberjack, who seemed indestructible, this monster
died when shot in the face. Its face shot out through back of its head and
splattered against the wall.
Jeremy felt his heart settle back down in his
chest and began to run again. The others lagged behind him, but he kept on
pressing up.
He reached the roof access door and burst
through the door.
His father had the helicopter running and was
preparing for takeoff. When he saw someone run through the stairwell’s door, he
pulled a revolver from his leather jacket.
“Get back!” He shouted. “I have a gun!”
Jeremy lowered his shotgun and placed it on the
ground.
“Dad!”
***
David Riggins stared at his son.
It’s not possible,
he thought.
“Dad! It’s me!” Jeremy yelled.
“Jeremy? You-you’re alive!?”
David dropped his revolver to the ground and ran
towards his son. Jeremy met his father halfway and the two embraced tightly.
David began to cry.
“Oh my son! You’re alive! You’re alive!”
The others reached the top of the stairs and
Black closed the door behind them.
“I hate to ruin the moment for you two, but
we’ve got company in the stairwell!” He yelled, as he braced the door shut.
The cries of the runners ascending the stairs
echoed behind the door.
“You got that thing ready to go?” White asked.
David looked at the helicopter and then back at
the people with his son.
“It’ll only fit four people, anymore and we
won’t get off the ground!”
“Dad! We have to get everyone in there!”
He looked at his son and shook his head.
“We won’t be able to get far enough off the
roof. Even with four people, we’re pushing the weight limit,” David said.
There was a slam against the door, Black
straining from the blow.
“Just go! All of you! I’ll hold the door!” He
yelled, straining against the growing weight of the runner’s pushing.
“No! You can’t do this by yourself Will!” White
shouted, starting to walk to help his partner.
“Dammit Michael! We don’t have time for this
80’s buddy cop movie bullshit! Get your ass in the fucking chopper! And if the
internet ever comes back on, make sure you delete my browser history!”
Another slam against the door.
White cursed under his breath and ran to the
helicopter. CJ and Jeremy helped White climb in. He looked over at Black who
was still holding the door closed.
“Go! Get us out of here!” He yelled at David.
The helicopter lifted slowly off the roof and
began to hover. David directed it over the edge of the roof and the helicopter
continued to rise.
***
On the roof, Will Black looked up to see the
chopper leaving. His face poured sweat and his muscles ached.
“Alright you sons of bitches, let’s do this.”
He jumped back from the door and scrambled
backwards, swinging the M4 from around his shoulder.
The runners rushed through the open door and ran
for Will. He opened fire and felt relief when he saw that they still died when
shot in the head.
Jeremy had been right though. They were scary as
hell looking.
Their bright, red blood poured from their
orifices.
“Die muthafuckers, die!”
One leapt through the air, launching itself
twenty feet towards Black. His eyes connected with the runner’s bloodshot ones
and for a second he thought this was it.
But the runner’s head exploded in a shower of
gore.
Multiple heads followed and the runners began to
fall.
Black looked up behind him and saw the
helicopter hovering above, White and CJ sniping the runners from the air.
“Yeah!” He yelled, picking up his gun and charging
into the fray.
“Leeeeroy
Jenkins!”
Lexx drove the stolen police car into the early
morning fog that blanketed the Georgia countryside.
I will find them. I will find her.
On their way to Statesboro, Lexx had done his
best to remember all the twists and turns that Jeremy made. He was confident he
would find his way back. From there, however, he had no idea on where to look.
The radio cackled to life, static pouring from
the speakers in the dashboard.
Lexx’s eyes dropped down to the receiver.
He did not see the black shape wander out into
the road.
***
Tori watched as Josh and Avery stared at each
other in disbelief. She recognized the boy now, but he seemed so much older
than when she met him a month ago. Avery was no longer the goofy kid who helped
them escape from the psycho hipsters in Savannah.
“What… What are you doing here?” Josh finally
asked.
“Well, we’re on a scouting party. What are you
doing here?” Avery asked back.
Both men were not sure how to react.
“We were separated from our group. You’re
alive,” Josh answered.
Avery smiled.
“You surprised?” He asked.
Josh shook his head and walked over to his
friend.
“A little,” he said with a chuckle as he
embraced Avery.
The two men hugged.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes man,” Avery said.
“Wait a minute, aren’t you the girl from Savannah?”
His eyes fell on Tori. She nodded. Avery pulled
back from his hug and looked at Josh.
“You know these people?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Josh answered. “I picked them up outside
of Savannah. You know them?”
“Yeah man, they helped me escape some crazy
hipsters in Savannah. How’s Jeremy? And Ben? And Lexx?”
Tori looked down at the ground.
“We don’t know,” Josh said. “We got separated
from them a couple days ago. My family was all killed.”
Avery looked at his friend with a sadness in his
eyes.
“I’m so sorry to hear that man.”
He pulled Josh back into another hug.
“Thanks,” Josh said, wiping a few tears from his
eyes.
“Avery,” Tori started. “Where have you been this
whole time?”
Avery looked over to Tori and pulled away from
Josh. His smile grew wide.
“Well, there’s been an uprising back in Savannah.
People are starting to fight back against the undead. Parts of the city have
been reclaimed for the living. And we have heard from other cities that the
same thing is happening all over the US. There’s colonies in Charleston,
Athens, and all down the Georgia coastline. The war against the zombies has
begun.”
***
Jeremy sat with his father on the roof of the
police station.
“So, your mother… She’s dead?”
Jeremy slowly nodded at his father’s question.
The man put his head in his hands and cried. Jeremy
was unsure on how to process his father’s response.
Did he still care about her?
He thought.
The man looked up, the tears wet on his cheeks.
“I’m so sorry son. She was a truly amazing
woman.”
“She was,” Jeremy said.
His father wiped the wetness from his face and
did his best to pull himself together.
“Dad, where have you been this whole time?”
Jeremy’s father stood up and walked over to the
edge of the roof.
“I… I was on the yacht for a while. I left
before everything supposedly happened. I had no idea what was going on with the
rest of the world. I was accompanied by two ladies and we spent most of the
time drinking and…”
“Spare me those details, Dad,” Jeremy
interrupted.
His father looked back at him.
“Yes, sorry. Well, after several days of partying,
we were out of alcohol. We jumped in the helicopter and made a trip inland. We
had no idea what happened when we arrived. Savannah looked like a war zone. I
went to my house first and found that my Jeep was stolen.”
Jeremy cleared his throat.
“Um, actually, I took it.”
“What?” His father asked. “You took it?”
“Yeah, after mom was killed. I tried to find
you. I made my way through Savannah to your house, only to find that you
weren’t even there. So, I took the Jeep.”
“Oh, well, that’s okay I guess,” his father
said.
“It ran out of gas though, so we had to abandon
it.”
His dad did not look too pleased with the fact
that Jeremy abandoned the Jeep, but decided not to press the issue.
“So, what did you do next?” Jeremy asked.
“Me and the girls gathered what we could from
the surrounding houses and went back to the yacht. We waited until it was
absolutely necessary to return. When we did, we came across a group of
survivors. They explained to us what happened and asked them to join them. They
were part of a larger group who was trying to take back the city. They wanted
me to join them and use the helicopter for surveying the surrounding area and
for long distance supply runs. I’ve been with them ever since.”
Jeremy could not believe it. This whole time, they
had been trying to avoid the cities and it was the cities that were making a
difference.
“I want you to come back with me.”
Jeremy looked at his father.
“Come back with you?” he asked.
“Yes,” his father said, pausing before
continuing. “Come back to Savannah with me. You would be safe and well taken
care of. I can teach you how to fly helicopter and we can go on runs together.
And-”
“And what about these people?” Jeremy
interrupted, holding his hand out towards the police station. “What about CJ?
And the police officers? And our friends who are still out there? We still need
to find them.”
His dad seemed hurt by his resistance.
“Look, Dad, I’m so glad you are alive and that
you found me, but I’ve been on mine own since… well, since you left. You can’t
just fly in here, tell me about some survivor colony, and expect me to leave
everyone else, do you?”
“No, that’s not what I meant, Jeremy! Of course
they can come! God knows we could use more police officers. The boy running it
now has been doing a great job, but has been definitely overwhelmed with all
the… well, nevermind. The point is we can use all the help we can get!”
Jeremy felt that maybe he was too harsh. Maybe
he was letting his dad have some of the built up frustration from over the
years.
“And the others? We still have to find them.”
“Okay, then that’s the first thing we do. We can
use the helicopter to get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area and we will
find your friends. Then, we can return home.”
Home.
The word echoed in Jeremy’s head.
What does that even mean anymore?
Savannah at one time was his home. And then, the
dead came back to life. From that point on, home was vague term. They wandered
from place to place, the warehouses, the construction vehicle facility, the
abandoned houses along the way; all of them places of momentary refuge, but
none a home.
But then they had the cabin. And for a while,
things were great. Normal even. Jeremy finally felt like he could call
somewhere home again.
But a madman violently ripped it all away from them.
Now, they were scattered. Lost.
The sun began to peek over the horizon. The red
burning orb slowly rose, casting its light out over the land, the darkness
fleeing from it.
Jeremy took a deep breath and let it escape his
lungs slowly.
The darkness had its time. A new day was
breaking.
End of Book Two