Knight Terrors: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale (3 page)

     We were forced to go single file through the narrow doorway into the fort.  The first person through could’ve easily been grabbed from the left or right.  But, there were no zombies on either side.  There were four zombies coming across the parade ground towards us.  One was crawling.  We took them out as we got close.  I led the team up the steps to the top level.  No zombies here.  I wondered if the one that was crawling was up here and fell trying to get to us.

     We descended one level and entered the museum.  The museum exhibits guided you to the left as you came in and then around to the right as the war progressed.  You ended up back at the door you came in.  We found six zombies in here including one in a park ranger uniform.  Zombies don’t do doors very well and we surmised they had been turned in the museum.  Maybe they were seeking shelter just like us.

     On the same level as the museum was a small gift shop; empty.  We continued and swept the remains of one of the two disappearing gun mounts before descending one level to the bathrooms.  There were two zombies in each.

     “Before we go the rest of the way down we need to go back up and clear the other staircase.  Keith, stay here and keep watch.  We don’t want to miss a single zombie.  The rest of us will go back to the top and sweep down the other stairs and through the casemates.  We’ll meet back here.”

     There were only three zombies on the other side.  They were all injured in some way.  We dispatched them easily.  The casemates were all clear.  That just left the rooms under Battery Huger.

     “Now for the hard part.  I’ve never been under Battery Huger before.  My understanding is that there’s a series of rooms connected by tunnels.  I don’t know how many.  We’ll need a way to mark our way and which rooms we’ve already searched and cleared’” I said.

     “Duct tape?” replied Tom.

     “Sure, that’ll work.”

     I went first.  The light faded quickly into black.  I was glad to have the head lamp.  We went slowly.  The zombie apocalypse had given us a crash course in how to clear buildings.  But this was different than Costco or Target.  Every few feet we marked the wall and we marked every room we cleared.

     The rooms had heavy doors, or in some cases gates.  Most had machinery rusting away in the humidity:  loading machines for the WWII guns, lifts for powder and shells.  We found no zombies.

     At the next to last room we found a locked door.  When we pulled on it we could hear whimpering coming from behind the door.

     “Hello?  Hello?” I called.

     “Can you hear us?” called Tom.

     We could hear crying now.  It sounded female.

     “Ma’am, my name is Ryan Knight.  With me are Mike Pickler, Tom Morgan, his son John and nephew Keith.  Our families are on a boat docked at the pier.”

     “Are they gone?” she asked from inside.

     “I think all the zombies are gone, yes ma’am.  We haven’t found anyone else alive.  We have just one more room to check.”

      “I’m not coming out till they’re all gone.”

     “Okay, we’ll check the other room and be right back.”

     “No, don’t leave me!”

     I turned to the others.

     “Go check that room and come right back.”

     “I’m here.  They’ll be right back.  It won’t be long.  Are you hurt?”

     “No, but I don’t have any food or water.”

     “I can fix that.  Are you alone?”

     “Yes.”

     “What’s your name?”

     “Tracie.”

     “Okay, Tracie.  Here they come.”

     “Room’s clear, Boss Man.”

     “Tracie, you can come out now.”

     A pause.  Then the sound of a bolt being thrown.  The door slowly creaked open.  Behind it a woman appeared.  She had dark hair and looked to be in her mid-thirties.  And she was very pregnant.

     “Tracie, I’m Ryan.  Let me help you.”

     She took my hand and I led her out on to the parade grounds.  The sunshine was almost too much after being in the dark rooms.  We sat in the sun.  It was cold underneath the Battery.

     “Boat, this is Ryan.”

     “Go, Ryan.”  It was Tony.

     “The fort is clear.  We have found one survivor; a woman.  She’s pregnant.  She’s been alone for a few days and she’s a little dehydrated.  I’m going to give her some water and a breakfast bar.  But, I want Lois to come in and check her over.  Mike will meet her on the pier.”

     Mike trotted off.

     “Ryan, this is Lois.  Make sure you don’t overdo it.  Little sips and small bites.”

     “10-4.”

     It took only a few minutes for Mike to come back with Lois.  Meanwhile Tracie took little sips and small bites.  She said nothing.

     “Tracie, this is Lois.  She has medical training.  Let her look you over, okay?”

     Tracie nodded and gave a weak smile.

     “Mike, stay with them.”

     He nodded. And I pushed the button on the radio again.

     “Tony, this is Ryan.”

     “Go ahead.”

     “Lois is taking a look at our survivor.  Mike is watching over them.  We need a little time to clean up in here.  I don’t want to start off in our new home with corpses all around.”

     “10-4, anything we can do?”

     “No, not really.  Have some lunch for us when we’re done.”

     “10-4.”

     Tom, John, Keith and I spent the better part of an hour carrying zombie corpses over to the original wharf outside the fort.  Keith went to the boat and came back with a five gallon gas can.  Thor and I watched as the mound was doused with gas and set ablaze.  Unfortunately, in real life, bodies don’t burn so easily.  It took the rest of the gas can to reduce the bodies.  We were lucky the wind was blowing away from the fort.

     The mood on the boat was upbeat as they moved around gathering up the last of the belongings and supplies.  Tracie had been brought to the boat and was still being monitored by Lois and Beth had the watch.  But, the rest of us had something to eat together.

     “How was it?” asked Tony.

     “I hate clearing buildings,” I said.  “But we used the doorway to our advantage like we’ve done in the past.”

     “Once inside,” continued Tom.  “There were only a handful of zombies but there were a lot of rooms to search.”

     Keith nodded.

     “Boss Man,” said Mike.  “Do you still feel good about this?”

     “Yeah, there’s plenty of space and a lot of it is sheltered under the casemates.  We can also use the museum to get out of the weather and the rooms under the Battery for storage.  It’s hard to get into and you could fall back under the Battery if needed.  You could defend that as long as your supplies held out.  I think we still need a 24 hour watch, but, yeah, I’m happy.”

     “I’d be happier if we knew what happened here,” said Tom.

     “Agreed.  Mike, would you go get your mom and our guest?”

     Mike nodded and went to get the ladies.  I finished off my spam sandwich and drank some Gatorade.  It was the last of the bread.  Tracie and Lois came over and sat down.

     “Talk to me Lois.”

     “Like you said, she’s dehydrated and slightly malnourished.  It shouldn’t be a long term problem.  We got here some multivitamins and she has to eat something 6-8 times a day.  But, otherwise she’s healthy and as far as I can tell the baby is fine.”

     “Thanks, Lois.  Tracie, I’m Ryan.”

     “I remember.  Thank you for saving me.  I don’t know what I would’ve done if you guys hadn’t come along.”

     Introductions were made all around except for John who was on watch.

     “Tracie, we have some questions as you probably would’ve guessed.  I don’t want to upset you but we need to know what happened her before we move in.”

     “No, I understand.  What day is it?”

     “Sunday, December 28
th
.”

     “Damn, okay.  That makes this worse.  It was Wednesday morning when we got here.  There were 24 of us.  The boat was a great idea but no one really knew how to drive it.”

     “We saw that…”  Mike quipped.

     “Well, no one got hurt when we hit the pier.  We didn’t find any zombies inside.  During the night, the zombies we didn’t find found us instead.”  Tracie began to cry and Lois put her arm around her.  “I hid after my husband was bitten trying to protect me.  That was sometime early Thursday morning.”

     “I’m so sorry Tracie,” said Beth.

     “Any idea where the zombies came from?  Where they were hiding?” I asked.  She sniffled a little, then answered.

     “They were in the black structure but I don’t know where.  I think they were the park rangers.”

     I leaned back and thought about what Tracie had said.  I was pretty sure we’d gotten all the zombies.  Several we killed today were in uniforms.  Still, I’d never been under Battery Huger before today.  I was tired of losing people.  It’s possible that we missed something.  Damn.

     “What are you thinking, Boss Man?” asked Mike.

     “You guys think we missed any rooms under the Battery?”

     He shook his head.

     “No, we were pretty thorough.”

     “I think we got em all, Ryan” said Tom.

     “It’s clear,” said Keith.

     “It’s our families.  We have to be 100% sure,” I said.

     “We can check again if you want…” replied Tom.

     “I do.  Lois, will you supervise everything getting packed up?  I want to know for sure it’s clear in there…”

     Once inside the parade grounds I turned to my team.

     “I’m sorry guys.”

     “It sucks, Ryan.  But, you’re right.  We’re bringing the people we love inside.  We have to be sure,” said Mike.  Everyone nodded.

     Mike was maturing more every day.  He’d make a great leader should anything happen to me.  Course, it wasn’t good to think that way especially after just losing Sam.

     Turns out, we were thorough the first time.  We didn’t miss any rooms nor any zombies.

     The tide had changed and loading the boat wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.  But it was getting late in the afternoon before everything was inside the fort.  No one was sure where to set up initially.  Some wanted to stay out in the open near the doors.  Some wanted to hide in the interior of Battery Huger.

     The compromise was to set up the supplies in fall back positions inside the Battery and keep what we needed for day to day living under the casemates next to the parade ground.  That way no one felt trapped inside but they could retreat to great defensive positions in the event of an emergency. 

     Out here, I believed the threat wasn’t zombies but other humans.

     We weren’t much of a group anymore.  Ten adults, three children and one dog.  Tony had been shot through the thigh two days prior and was down for a while.  And someone had to watch over the kids.  Assuming Tracie could fight, that left 8 adults who could fight.  The only thing that would keep us from being overrun during a determined assault was this great defensive fortification.  It once withstood a 587 day bombardment from Union troops.  It would now keep us safe.

     The mood at dinner was still upbeat.  Most people seemed to feel safe and happy even after the events of the last few days.  Even Thor seemed happy as he ran and played with Mal.

     I didn’t share their feelings.  We left more supplies at the house than we took.  And that was after losing some supplies in the fire at Tony and Beth’s house.

     But, what comes first?  Getting supplies or prepping for defense.  The fort was sturdy but the doors would have to be reinforced.  Crossbows would be useless against humans.  I needed to make sure everyone was proficient with their firearms.  But, without supplies…  Well, without supplies there was no point.  We talked over an early dinner.

     “After the horror and loss of the last few days, today was a good day,” I began.  “We found and secured a new home.  And we found another survivor.”  I indicated toward the pregnant woman sitting with Lois.  “This is Tracie if you haven’t met her yet.”

     Tracie waved a little wave but didn’t stand.  I paused and she looked nervous.  I was about to continue when she stood.  She was crying as she spoke.

     “I was fairly sure that I was the last person alive on Earth when I heard the horn from your boat.  Thank you for finding me.”  With that, she sat back down, put her head on Lois’ shoulder and cried.

     I felt bad for what she’d been through especially with losing Sam.  But I was also concerned about having a pregnant woman in the group.  I doubted she could fight and without a real doctor the delivery was a potential problem.

     “I know you guys look to me for leadership but speak up if you disagree.  With the rest of the afternoon we need to accomplish two things:  we need to reinforce the doors and we need to get our supplies organized so we can do inventory and plan supply runs.”