“If I were in charge of a group of survivors at Fort Sumter,” said the Chief, “I would try to post a watch somewhere outside the fort on the island. I hope they don’t have enough people or weapons to do that.”
Bus asked, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to wait one more day? We could fly over it at night and see if we can spot any campfires.”
“We can’t risk it,” said the Chief. “If they hear the plane, they may increase their security for a few days.”
Tom had been quiet and wanted to be careful of what he said because Molly was in the room. She was cheerfully dishing out food, trying to do her part. Allison was sullen, as usual, but she didn’t want the tension to be obvious to Molly.
“I’m a little worried about leaving the plane on the beach,” said Tom. “These pictures show that the beaches are totally exposed with nothing to use for cover. Even if we pulled camouflaged tarps over the plane it would still stick out like a sore thumb.”
“What do you suggest?” asked the Chief.
Tom rubbed his stubbled cheeks and looked at the pictures. “If we leave the plane out in the open and something happens to it, we may be able to get inside the shelter, but how would we ever leave?”
“He has a good point,” said Bus. “We have two pilots, so why don’t I drop you guys off and then fly the plane back out. Once you’re inside the shelter you should be able to find the radio and tell me when to come back to pick you up.”
Kathy said, “Chief, you’ve got more hand to hand combat experience than Bus. We could use you when we get ready to take the fort.”
I could tell the Chief didn’t like someone else being in the pilot’s seat of his Otter seaplane, but even he had to admit it made sense. If they were stranded on Fort Sumter, there wouldn’t be a way to get back to Mud Island unless Jean could come get them. The current occupants of Fort Sumter were likely to have at least one boat, but there was no way to guarantee it would be at the fort when it was time to take the fort from them. It was also the most likely place to find an armed guard.
The Chief looked at me since I was the only member of the group going on the mission who hadn’t given an opinion. That is, the only member of the group left with an opinion that would count. I didn’t think Allison’s opinion would count for much.
“I don’t know,” I said. “On the one hand, the reason we’re going during the day is because the sound of the airplane landing would carry a greater distance at night, but the sound of the plane powering up for a take off is going to be plenty loud even in the day time. I think we would need to land a mile or more down the coast to avoid being heard. It would be a longer walk, but it might be worth it.”
“What about the idea of beaching the plane or flying it out?” asked Kathy.
I answered, “Well, if someone hears it land, they’ll come looking for it, so we’ll need to get into the dunes as fast as we can. The beach is so wide along the place where we should land that they would spot it from a long way off. It would be good to have it be gone by the time they look.”
Jean said, “We don’t know what size force you guys are going to find at Fort Sumter, so flying the plane for a take off to the south would make sense, and it shouldn’t be on the beach very long.”
The Chief said, “So be it. We’ll land near the lighthouse at the southern tip of Morris Island and head as far into the dunes as we can. Let’s try to be out of the plane so Bus can take off within five minutes of coming to a stop.”
With that decision made, everyone got up from the breakfast table and started gathering their gear.
“I wish I was going with you,” said Jean as she slid her arms around my waist and laid her head against my chest. It was getting harder for her to do that, but then it would be my turn to bend over to make it easier for her.
“I’ll bet you could still handle your machete better than the rest of us,” I said.
“Sweet talker,” said Jean. “Have you always had such a way with words when you tried to charm a woman, Eddie?”
“I don’t think I ever charmed a woman before you,” I said.
She got a little impish grin on her face and said, “What makes you think you ever charmed me?”
I looked down at her belly and said, “Your Honor, I would like to enter Exhibit A into evidence…or would that be Exhibit B for baby?”
Jean laughed and hugged me even tighter.
“Okay, you lovebirds,” said Kathy. “Jean, leave the boy alone so he can get his gear ready.”
I reluctantly let Jean go and caught up with the others. Our standard list of supplies was enough food and water to last three days. If we were out longer than that, we were probably in some kind of trouble that supplies wouldn’t help us get out of. It was better to leave room for more ammunition than more food.
We gathered our gear up near the entrance of the shelter and began our routine for departure. One person always had the job of checking all of the camera angles to see if we had any infected dead roaming around on the island. This time it was Jean because she didn’t have to gear up to go outside. She scanned the whole island and gave us the bad news. She said the infected were all over the place. The good news was that they were still moving in the general direction of the moat. We didn’t have the ability to hear what was happening, but the hundreds of infected dead in the water were thrashing around so much that the noise had to be incredible.
Jean said some of the infected weren’t able to stand and were just squirming around on the beach. I went over to watch with her and saw that the beach was thick with their bloated bodies. The infected that had been caught in the nets were being washed ashore with the incoming tide, and they looked like beached fish. They were too waterlogged to support their own weight.
“How’s the area around the dock looking, Jean?” asked the Chief.
“Not as bad as the beach, Chief. There are a few that are trying to cross the path that leads to the dock. You’ll have to take them out before you can get to the plane.”
Allison looked like she was going to be sick again. She was wearing the heavy duty coveralls we had found in the storerooms, so she was well protected from her neck down, but she was holding her machete at an odd angle, almost as if she had no idea how to use it. I didn’t think this could go well.
After one last hug and kiss from Jean, we only had to wait while Molly was reassured by her parents that they would be fine. They took turns hugging her and telling her to be a good girl for Jean. Molly had been cheerful and always trying to help out with chores around the shelter, but she had stayed quiet, generally listening more than talking. She said she would be okay and that she would listen to Jean, but her lower lip was giving away her fears. Still, she managed not to cry when we began slipping out through the big door to the shelter.
I closed the door and blew one last kiss to both of them then ushered Allison away from the entrance onto the path. The Chief, Kathy, and Tom had already begun moving forward, stalking the first of the infected dead that were on the path. Bus hung back closer to Allison. Although he was like a miniature version of the Chief, he wasn’t as formidable when it came to killing with a machete. That was fine with us because he had other skills. Besides being really intelligent, he was a good doctor, and there weren’t enough of those to go around.
I kept Allison in front of me, partially so I could see if anything came at her from the sides, and partially because of the way she held her machete. I figured she was just clumsy enough to stab me in the back with it. I thought I saw Bus glance back at it himself a few times.
The first infected dead we came to had gotten much closer to the entrance of the shelter than I had ever seen before. The weather had really taken its toll, and it looked like more than one creature had been feeding on it. There weren’t any blue crabs clinging to its clothes, but there was no doubt there had been.
I had gotten into the habit of not thinking about what I was doing when I would kill another infected dead. I tried to ignore what they were wearing, how old they had been, or their gender. It didn’t matter what they had done for a living when they were alive. Some wore uniforms, and some wore business suits. I thanked God there weren’t many children.
This one was about as unremarkable as the rest, but it went down easier than usual when the Chief swung his machete. He looked back at us with an expression that said, “Did you see that?” Another stepped from the bushes, and Kathy swung low. The blade took off the left leg at the knee, and it fell helplessly backward into the bushes.
We never really stopped to watch when someone else in our group was busy killing an infected dead because it was while you were watching that you were most likely to be caught off guard. There always seemed to be another after you found one, and sometimes I wondered if they would ever stop coming.
A third infected stumbled onto the path, but this one came from the left where the ground sloped upward a bit. The slope made it stumble straight into Allison. Tom and Kathy were busy with their own infected and didn’t know what was going on behind them.
It reached for Allison with uncoordinated, grasping fingers, and her use of the machete for defense was less coordinated than the infected. All I could do was hope I didn’t cut Allison by accident as I shoved my own machete between them and then swung it in an uppercut motion. The blade came up across its chest and connected with its underarms both at the same time.
Its arms came off at the shoulders, and my blade went straight up under its chin. I watched it fall and was amazed to see my blade had severed the head from the body. Allison was screaming, undoubtedly attracting every infected dead on Mud Island, but the rest of us were looking at each other and thinking the same thing. The weather was breaking down the bodies of the infected and making them easier to kill.
We all converged on Allison at the same time. Tom tried to get her to at least stop screaming, and the rest of us formed a circle around her facing outward. For the next fifteen minutes, the bushes were constantly being parted as more infected would come through. We didn’t take turns because there were too many. We just kept swinging high and low.
At some point in time, Allison let go of her machete and just sat down on the ground. In a way it made it easier for the rest of us because we could cover her better. Tom was also able to help us instead of trying to calm her down.
Eventually there was a quiet that settled over the group as no more infected dead came at us. Allison was curled up on the ground covered in more human remains than she would have been if she had stayed on her feet. She was crying softly, but at least she wasn’t screaming.
“We have to take her back,” said Tom.
“No,” she yelled.
All of us made a shushing noise at the same time. She didn’t yell again, but she glared at each of us one at a time. We were all just waiting for her to make the next move.
She said in a low voice, “I’m not going back. I’m going with you, and I’m going to help.”
Allison looked straight at Kathy and said, “I’m not losing my husband to another woman just because she kills zombies better than me.”
There it was, finally out in the open. Kathy seethed with anger because Allison’s jealousy had gotten them swarmed by the infected dead. Tom was too dumbfounded to speak, and I heard the Chief mutter, “They aren’t zombies.”
Despite the tension, Bus said, “One of these days someone is going to explain to me why they aren’t zombies.”
That made us all relax just in time for the next wave, but this time Allison picked up her machete and started swinging at the infected that came through the bushes near her. She made us all nervous with her wild swings, but at least she was contributing.
When it was all over, she asked us in a softer voice if she had caused that last attack, and we all nodded at her. She put one finger to her lips to show she understood, and we started moving again. From my position at the rear I saw Allison giving Kathy scathing looks, and I saw Kathy ignoring her. That was the difference between a pro and an amateur out here. One knew who the real enemies were.
When we reached our dock, there were several of the infected walking off the flat wooden boards straight into the water. We just stopped and waited for the last of them to fall in. They were apparently still being drawn in the direction of the place where the Russian ship had sunk. Even from this far away we could hear the chorus of groans from the hundreds of infected dead that had surfaced when the ship sank below the surface.
“Let’s get going,” said the Chief.
We all threw our gear into the plane that was tied to the dock and untied the mooring lines while the Chief climbed into the pilot’s seat. He always did something to foul the wiring under the instrument panel so no one could steal the plane while we were in the shelter. Whatever it was, he could fix it in a heartbeat, and he had it ready to go before we were done with the lines.
The powerful engine of the de Havilland DHC-3 Otter roared to life. Tom and I gave the plane a hard push and then jumped onto the pontoon and through the open door to the passenger and cargo hold. The Chief let the plane rotate to the starboard until he was pointing away from the dock and then increased the power. He brought the plane around the dock in a hard, sweeping turn to the right as he passed the houseboat tied to the very end of our dock.