End of the Line (42 page)

             
“Mike, this is Dave, what’s going on?”

             
“Dave, I’m glad to hear your voice. We were worried you wouldn’t make it.”

             
“We ran into bad trouble,” Dave explained.

             
“How bad?”

             
“Lost half our group including Rachel.”

             
“Shit. Sorry. It’s a mess here. Some people tried to get off by boats. There’s a gigantic ferry crash. I thought I could get some engines started, but I can’t. And—I don’t think I can sail. I mean we probably could but with small boats.”

             
“We should be there in less than an hour. We can work something out.”

             
I knew how to sail. I supposed I had to save everyone again. Or I could go my own way?

             
I feel asleep but was woken by screaming. It was a woman’s voice. I ran from my room. The lights were all still on. Even if the grid went down, we had a generator. I tried to find the source of the screaming.

             
It was Edina. Uncle Len had attacked her. His eyes looked glazed over. Uncle Len didn’t just attack her, he was biting her and pulling out handfuls of flesh and eating it.
             

             
“Uncle Len! What are you doing?”

             
He looked at me with those glazed over eyes and made a horrible moan, then went back to eating Edina who cried out in pain. He had disemboweled her. I ran back to my room, got a gun out of my case, and loaded it without thinking.

             
When I got back, Daddy had come down the stairs from his suite on the third floor. “Len, what the hell?” he said. That’s when Uncle Len dropped Edina and attacked him, grabbed him and bit him in the shoulder. My father cried out. I aimed the gun and blasted Uncle Len, my father’s best friend for 40 years, away. He crashed into a wall.

             
Then he got up.

             
I screamed and shot him again, sweared it was in the heart but no blood splattered behind him, only gore.

             
And he got up again.

             
My father was moaning. I had to save him.

             
I shot Uncle Len in the head.

             
This time he didn’t get up.

             
I sat and cried. Joe came up the stairs frantic.

             
“What happened? Grace, Dad?”

             
I could barely get the words out of my mouth. I killed Uncle Len. I murdered him.

             
“Uncle Len attacked Daddy,” I finally cried out.

             
“What?” Joe said his eyes wide. He went to my father and grabbed a handkerchief out of his pocket to stop the bleeding. The wound did not look that bad.

             
I got myself together. I had to for Daddy. Joe was helping him, I want over to Edina. But her eyes were open and dead. I swallowed hard and went to Joe.

             
“Joe—Something bad is going on. I shot Uncle Len twice and he got up. I think he was already dead. He was eating Edina.”

             
“Grace—stop with this nonsense. I need help getting Dad to a room.” My brother had a one track mind, he ignored the bullet ridden body of Uncle Len and how Edina’s guts were all over the place.

             
Then Edina got up. She looked like Len. Her skin was pasty and her eyes glazed. She didn’t seem to notice when she stood that her large intestines hung out. She was dead, I swear it. She began to moan like Uncle Len had before.

             
“Joe!” I screamed. Joe turned around and saw Edina.

             
I shot her in the head. Edina, who had been my father’s housekeeper for longer than I’d been alive, Edina who was when I was young and not allowed at mommy and daddy’s fancy parties would bring me food from it. Maddie, whose motherly charm reminded me so much of her, I couldn’t say thank you for the meals. I wished I had. The best I could do was give her peace when the zombies got her.

             
“Fuck!” Joe said and I rarely heard my brother curse.

             
“Joe—she was dead—Dead and came back.”

             
“Grace--“ he paused, probably trying to ponder what was going on. “Help me get dad to a room.”

             
I did what I was told. I considered myself obedient to the family. I carried Daddy on one side while Joe took the other. We didn’t take him to his room because it was in the master suite on the next floor but instead took him to another guest bedroom.

             
Joe removed Dad’s jacket. The wound didn’t look so bad but Daddy looked pale. I was afraid the same thing would happen to him.

             
“Joe,” I said. “It’s this illness. It does something to you. Daddy could have it. He could die--” I couldn’t mention that he might come back like Len and Edina. Daddy didn’t even react to what I said.

             
“Dad’s not going to die,” Joe said. I think that was more for his benefit. “Go into my room. Get my first aid kit. I’ll clean his wound. It won’t get infected.”

             
I could see the bay now and the mess of traffic. Dead cars littered the street, some had even caught fire, and some even had bodies inside, probably of flu victims considering the decomposition. Dave managed to get around it by riding on the grass. I saw zombies but not many as when we were ambushed. Maybe what was left of the government did manage to figure out how to gather them. I watched Harlan being pulled out of the truck. I shot so many zombies but I was too late to save him as they bit down into his flesh. I gave him a gunshot to the head like a good girl. I know Eric hates me, but I did Maddie a favor.

             
I saw the marina. A big sign said “NO PARKING BOAT OWNERS ONLY” Dave swerved into the lot, knocking the sign down, and I giggled. He gave me a strange look but did not say anything.

             
I saw Mike waving us down and Dave stopped the truck. I got out and took in the scene. Port Jefferson was beautiful and the sea air felt wonderful, cool and windy. I ignored the wrecks and the burnt out shops and restaurants. When I was a kid, my brother would take me here to get ice cream.

             
Mike was right. The sea was a mess of boats and some of the boats had zombies in it, others were empty with half sails out. It looked like the ferry had tried to launch and crashed into dock as it was leaving. It sunk sideways, floated on the water like debris and blocked the port out.

             
Dave opened up the back of the truck. Tanya went to Mike and shook his hand. I tried to get close enough to hear.

             
Tanya explained to Mike about the ambush, Maddie and the other’s deaths, and Rachel’s suicide. He did not seem happy. I kept to myself. I knew those kids would be upset. First Eli, then Rosa now Maddie. I did not want to be around when he told them.

             
Joe cleaned daddy’s wounds, gave him antibiotics and a tetanus shot. Joe acted as Daddy’s doctor so he always had medical supplies handy.

             
Daddy didn’t look well. Joe was trying to call for a helicopter on his cell phone.

             
“Daddy,” I said, holding his hand. His grip was weak, not the strong hands I’m used to.

             
“Joe—“ he said. “Take care of your sister. Grace—I’m sorry.”

             
I didn’t get a chance to ask him what he was sorry for because Joe interrupted. “We’ll get you a chopper and we will all get out of here.”

             
But Joe couldn’t get an answer on his phone. No one would be coming for us. None of our riches could help us now.

             
We walked down the boardwalk to the marina. Many of the slips were empty. There were only four sailboats I could see, the rest were powerboats. Mike took us to where his wife Hannah had their daughter and the two kids. They were in a sailboat still tied to the marina. The sail was partially up.

             
Simon didn’t say anything, but Brie yelled. “Where’s Maddie?”

             
Mike ignored her for the moment. “I tried to get the engine running, but it’s been sitting too long. I’ve been trying to get the sail up. I think we might have to paddle.”

             
None of these people knew what they were doing.

Chapter 28

             
I left the assault rifle in the truck, and then I searched the horizon for boats I could sail. I began walking. I left the marina and was on the street. Port Jeff had two marinas, separated by the ferry station: one for smaller boats, the other for bigger ones. I kept one eye out for zombies, another for something we—I could use.

             
“Hey, Princess!” It was Jim’s voice. I heard his feet behind me. “Where do you think you are going?”

             
I tried to put on my best act. I turned around.

             
“I’m looking for a way out, sweet James.”

             
He cringed at the nickname. “So you’re leaving us?”

             
“I doubt you can leave this harbor.”

             
Jim looked upset but I wasn’t sure yet what I planned to do.

             
“You may think you can live without us. We’re going get a boat together and paddle up to Connecticut if we have to. See if we can find a car, walk all night. We should have enough distance from the blast tomorrow.”

             
I laughed and for all I knew he could be right.

             
He turned serious for a moment. “Princess, you shouldn’t go off on your own. Please come with us.”

             
When Daddy died, Joe didn’t want me to shoot him. Despite what happened to Edina and Uncle Len, Joe couldn’t do that to Daddy.

             
I tried not to fall apart. Uncle Len was hard, Edina was hard, Daddy was devastating. My heart was gone. I didn’t feel anything. The idea that my father who had been around my entire life, who while had a nanny help raise me, always found time. He was gone from my life forever. And I couldn’t save him. I wasn’t fast enough getting my gun.

             
Joe, on the other hand, was flabbergasted. Daddy had died of something no one should die off. What should be put on the autopsy, died of a small bite?

             
Jim finally left and walked back to the others. I’m sure they would all be happy that I was gone. Tanya might be annoyed at the loss of a good shooter but Mike could probably shoot. I moved to other side of the marina where the yachts were parked. I passed a hotel called Danford which now had smashed doors. I searched the marina. Most of the yachts were still here. 

             
I heard the moan before I saw them. There were two, easy to dispatch, a woman wearing almost nothing but a skipper’s hat and a kid who looked 12. Probably got lost heading to the light.

             
Daddy came back after an hour. Joe didn’t say anything when I shot him in the head. I wish I’d done it before he rose.

             
I couldn’t look at the splatter but Joe did. I walked out of the room and went to mine at the end of the hall, fell on my bed, but the tears didn’t come.

             
A moment later, a knock. I didn’t say anything but Joe came in.

             
“We need to leave.”

             
“Where will we go?”

             
“Not to the City. It’s probably overrun by now. Probably try to get to the marina and take the yacht.”

             
I was terrified. I did not want to leave here and leave daddy to decay.

             
Joe read my mind. “I’m going to bury father in the garden.” The garden was fenced off, so that would keep those things out.
             

             
“What about Edina and Uncle Len?” We had put their bodies in the guest room.

             
“We need to leave as soon as possible. I have time for father, that’s it.”