Alaskan Undead Apocalypse (Book 4): Resolution (21 page)

He panned further to the left and stopped on
a short service pier. There was a small launch, no more than a
rowboat, tied at the end. He watched it rise and fall with the
lively current, mesmerized with the little craft.

William loved being on the water. There was
no place he would rather be. When he was on the water, William felt
connected to the world in ways that he didn’t feel in any other
place. Things just made sense to him riding the tide in and out of
the Sound. It was as predictable as a heartbeat to him.

His eyes wandered to another building, a
small office of some sort. He paused for a moment, then looked back
to the boat. William cocked his head to one side and side
hopefully, “I think I might have a way out for us.”

Jerry didn’t look away from the lot. His
rifle was reloaded and ready but he was no longer shooting. He had
the beasts’ attention and they were quickly approaching him. Jerry
was thankful for the fence between him and them, and he fervently
hoped it would be enough to restrain them. Standing there and
waiting was becoming more and more difficult. Jerry wasn’t
accustomed to feeling such leg buckling terror at seeing the things
anymore. They were so tragically commonplace that he normally
didn’t have much reaction these days.

Finally, Jerry asked, “You see a truck or
bus or something?”

William was smiling. “No. I got something
different in mind.”

“Good. I think we should get outta here.
We’ve got as many in that lot as I think we are goin’ to get. Time
for us to head inside.”

“One of your boats? Really? Did you not see
the docks?”

Danielle was about to re-launch her barrage
of questions at William but her headache was too distracting. She
rubbed her temples and wiped away more sweat from her forehead. The
glucose tube she ingested was still taking effect. She couldn’t
afford to lose her wits and become a burden to these people. It was
one thing to have to drag unresponsive children but she was an
adult and would require much more effort.

Danielle lowered her head into her hands.
She was afraid her responses might be unduly influenced by her
condition. Maybe William’s plan made perfect sense to everyone
else.

“How bad are the docks?” Jerry asked. He
didn’t like being in the ferry office without any way to see out.
He felt claustrophobic and blind at the same time. He needed to see
where they were headed. William grew excited about whatever he saw
while they were still out by the fence, but they moved away so
quickly Jerry wasn’t able to look himself.

“They were pretty bad when we saw them
last,” William acknowledged. “I didn’t think no one saw. No tellin’
how bad they are now with all the activity we stirred up. We may
have gotten most of them locked away behind the fence anyway. This
may be the best time to do it and it’s got to be safer out on the
water. You asked for any ideas and that’s my idea.”

Emma said, “We don’t know how many more of
them are left out there. If we’re goin to Shotgun Cove, and I mean
if
, then we need to find a good way to get
there. We got more cars than we can possibly use out there waiting
for us, but we don’t know if any of them are still working. It
would suck to get out there all exposed only to find that not a one
on the outside of those knots would start. If we did get one to
start, then we’d have to cut through both sides of town to get out
and probably have those things trail us all the way back. ‘Sides,
we don’t even know if those things have gotten into the Cove
already. What happens if we get there and it’s overrun? We’ll just
have to find our way back again... Neil, if we could get a boat, we
would have some other travel options. Zombies can’t swim, ya
know.”

Neil agreed and added, “We can take a look.
If it doesn’t look safe, we can always come back here and hole up a
bit longer.”

William nodded. “Okay then. I think I’ve got
an idea about how to get there.”

“You got a tank parked nearby?” Emma
quipped. In her mind, Danielle was right. There could be and
probably were hundreds of those things still down there, and once
they were out on the piers, there wouldn’t be room to move around.
She shuddered at the thought of getting trapped and overwhelmed on
those narrow strips of slippery boards. Would there be any escaping
their ravenous jaws even in the water? She doubted it very
much.

William saw her worry and said in a calm and
confident manner, “If we head the other way,” he pointed in the
direction opposite where his boats would be parked, “we can get
ourselves into another boat and use that one to get over to
mine.”

Jess asked, “Why not just use that boat to
get us back? Why go through the effort of getting onto one of
yours? Sounds a little like you’re just trying to save your own
investment.”

William shook his head. “It was a rowboat.
You don’t want to try and row all the way over to the Cove. That’s
a pretty good distance. The boat would be overloaded too. If we
came into any inclement weather— and it looks like we probably
would— that boat would be swamped in a heartbeat. We need something
bigger. The only reason why we’re goin’ after mine is because I’ve
got the keys to mine and know that they’re all gassed and ready to
go.”

Jess asked, “How can you be sure?”

William had spoken with Paul. Both boats
were ready for their charters and just waiting for William. William
also guessed that there would be ample provisions still on the
boats too. If they could get on them, things would start looking
up. He was sure of that. The problem was just getting onto them
safely.

William took a deep breath. “Anyone have a
better idea?”

No one did, although none of them were
willing to say that William’s plan or any of its many moving parts
were “good ideas.” With an absence of other options, William’s plan
quickly grew legs.

Neil was relieved that for once he was not
the one to have to come up with the answers to their problems. If
pressed, he would also admit that he wasn’t entirely comfortable
with ceding control to anyone else, especially a stranger. Could
they trust this man? Could
he
trust this
man? Did he have a choice?

Regardless of hesitation or trepidation,
Neil allowed himself to do exactly that: trust. He had no reason to
do so. He didn’t know this man or the woman with him for that
matter. These strangers seemed ill prepared to face the world as it
was, and yet, Neil saw something in the imposing black man who was
built like and as big as a bulldozer. His eyes possessed a
deep-seated strength, but glowed with compassion and kindness as
well.

It was trust that led them out the back door
of the building and onto the road again. They ran out along the
fence, the horrid faces on the opposite side growling and snapping
at them the whole way. Upon clearing the fence, William pointed
toward a lone dock still some distance away that jutted out into
the water. He said enthusiastically, “That’s it. The boat is tied
up there.”

Jerry, peering through his scope, corrected,
“I think I see two boats.”

“Good,” Neil said. “We’ll use them both.
That gives us more options.”

They moved along the waterline, picking
their way carefully over the rocky shingles. The snow had iced up
across some of the surfaces causing each of them to slip at least
once along the way. Their bags were getting heavier and heavier. On
more than one occasion, there were thoughts about dropping items
from them or setting down an entire bag. Neil understood the
griping about sore arms but he kept everyone focused on getting
through it with as many supplies as they could. In the long run,
they would appreciate the food and the bullets if it meant the
difference between living and dying.

Emma asked, “With two boats, can we just use
those to get to Shotgun Cove?”

“No, we need to get ourselves onto
Serenity
,” William said. “She’ll get us
there safely. You can count on
Serenity
.”

Of his boats,
Serenity
was his favorite. She was a great boat with
fine character. He’d ridden her through some serious squalls and
she always rose to the occasion.
Serenity
could be trusted. She was also in a better position to be able to
push off quickly if the need arose, and it most certainly would. If
they were to make a fast getaway from danger, he couldn’t ask for a
better scenario.

“What’s
Serenity
?”
Danny asked.

William chuckled. That was a great question
and one that he wished he could truly answer. Maybe once he was
aboard her,
Serenity
would remind him. He
needed to be on the sea. That was where he always found serenity.
He said through his shiny grin, “She’s my boat and she’s gonna get
us home.”

They climbed from the waterline and emerged
on a paved road, which angled down to the water in other spots. The
pier was just beyond. In front of them, the road was empty, though
there were several small buildings to either side of and a few
stalled trucks in the middle of the sloped road.

Their legs found reserves of energy, while
the descending angle of the road also did its part to help quicken
their pace. They weren’t running, but the solid jog at which each
of them traveled was carrying them down the road quickly. They
moved like people excited by opportunity, like Black Friday
shoppers rushing into the early bird sales while everyone else was
at home still sleeping off their Thanksgiving meals.

They charged down the road. The challenge
was in controlling the noise they made as they barreled down the
pavement. With the water beckoning more and more in front of them
their focus and speed increased. The excitement nearly getting the
better of them, Neil finally slackened his pace as he approached
the first vehicle, a dirty but fairly new full sized Chevy pickup.
Ahead of the others, he stopped and leaned into the car to catch
his breath.

“We need to be more careful,” he huffed
through strained breath. “We’re making too much noise.”

His warning came too late. They’d drawn the
attention of a handful of ghouls slithering from behind and around
the rusting shipping containers and shacks which served as service
offices in front of them. They oozed into the road with their
emaciated, claw-like hands extended in front of them. Their heads,
more animated than any other part of their bodies, jerked with
excited, tortured tics.

“Damnit!” Neil barked. “I knew this was
going to happen.”

Emma raised her rifle and squeezed off a
series of rounds. The first two bullets punched holes in the front
windshield of a blue family sedan parked along the street’s
shoulder and near to the walking abominations.

She took a deep breath, held it, and then
fired again. These next rounds were much more effective. The
stooped man in the lead pitched backward, holes in his chest, neck,
and forehead. Emma exhaled and then repeated.

Jerry dealt with another using his hunting
rifle, the recoil of which no longer left his shoulder aching. He
quickly chambered another round but paused when he saw William step
forward with the M4 Neil had given him. Jerry said, like a player
encouraging his teammate, “You can do it, man. Just don’t forget to
breathe.”

Jerry smiled at William who looked over at
him. “They’re still a ways off. Fire from your shoulder and not
your hip.”

William knew how to shoot. He’d just never
shot at people. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine them as
something other than human beings. Looking at them, however, would
likely have worked just as well. These things walking toward him
were devoid of everything human except the rudimentary outer
shell.

Opening his eyes wide and then narrowing
them into slits, William pulled the trigger once, a single shot
hurtling toward the devils. It struck one of them in the shoulder,
a burst of dark syrup exploding out its back.

“It pulls a little to the right,” he
remarked. He adjusted himself in his stance, narrowed his eyes and
shot again. This time his target spun away, tripping the final one
too clumsy to avoid the fallen carcasses around it.

Emma shot again, having closed much of the
distance to her quarry. Two bullets punched into the top of its
head, driving down toward its neck and throat. Much of the
scrambled matter traveling the length of the bullets’ path spilled
unceremoniously out the beast’s mouth looking like vomited
petroleum moments before it too toppled forward.

“We’re wasting time!” she called to the
group. “Let’s keep moving!”

They skirted the knotted pile of dead bodies
by running on the opposite side of the car. The bodies’ mildewy
odor, ripe with the stench of decay, was unavoidable. It hung
heavily all across the road in an invisible cloud filling their
nostrils with its muted foulness.

Neil whispered, “I never get used to the
smell.”

“Makes me wanna gag every time,” Emma
said.

Following their shooting, Neil saw what he
expected; more of the undead drawn to their shooting.

The short road in front of the group of
survivors was clear all the way to the pier. The bottom of the
road, sitting in a shadow, was still white with snow and frost.
Neil saw no footsteps in the snowy road, which helped him control
his mounting fear.

The previous night, Jerry and Danielle had
spoken for quite some time. The topic of the undeads’ moan found
its way into the conversation. Jerry told Danielle about his theory
of young ears and the sound the creatures made. He thought that
maybe younger ears could hear
more
of the
sound, and consequently felt it much more deeply. He asked if she
had felt a sickening vibration in her chest when those things were
around and she had. It had been a background irritation for her but
one that did not go unnoticed. She had not put the two together.
She hadn’t been around them as much as he had. It made her wonder
what else she needed to know to stay alive.