Ragnarok Rising: The Crossing (The Ragnarok Rising Saga) (19 page)

“What?” asked Spec-4, turning in her seat.

“They can’t be heading for anyplace on the shore,” I explained. “There are too many undead in the area. I bet they have a boat anchored in the middle of the lake.”

I started paying closer attention to the docks that we passed. I saw a number of pleasure craft, but no pontoon or house boats were anywhere to be seen. That seemed extremely odd to me.

“Where do you think it will be?” she asked, looking around.

“There's a resort near the main highway,” I replied. “I’d do it somewhere near that, if it was me. The resort would have plenty of supplies to raid, it’s close to a town and the water is still deep enough to keep the undead at bay.”

“How far away is that?” she said,
turning back to her rowing.

“Still quite a few miles,” I replied. “We’ve got a lot of rowing ahead of us before we get there.”

“Why don’t we steal a boat with a motor?” she said, shaking her head.

“If we can find a dock or marina that’s not crawling with the dead,” I answered, “we’ll give it a try.”

“We’ll lose them in the dark,” she said, nodding. “We might be able to slip in close to the shore and grab a boat. They shouldn’t be able to see us.”

“The sky is clear and the moon is almost full,” I replied. “The lake should be well lit tonight.”

“Think that will keep us from stealing another boat?”

“I doubt it,” I replied. “We’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled for the right opening.”

We didn’t have to wait long. As we approached the last place where I’d seen the wake of the other boat, I could see a marina along the north shore. It loomed almost directly ahead of us, in the darkness. There were several boats still moored there, including what looked to be a couple of sleek, fast power boats. They were the overpowered speed boats used primarily for racing and pulling skiers.

“There’s our target,” I said, pointing. “Let’s grab one of those.”

“Do you know how to handle one?” asked Spec-4, grinning back at me.

“I think I can figure it out,” I replied
, grinning. “Let’s see if we can get in close without attracting too much attention. Remember, sound carries well over water.”

We crouched low in the boat and kept paddling towards the end of the pier. I could see movement in the trees beyond the entrance to the marina, but I couldn’t see anything on the dock. We paddled slowly, cautious to keep the noise level low.
As we approached the end of the dock, I angled the boat to bring us along next to the dock. We both readied our weapons, getting ready to fight our way clear.

I put my hand against the end of the dock to keep from hitting
it and attracting attention. I slipped the line around the mooring cleat and cinched it down tight. Once it was secure, I slipped out onto the dock and brought my weapon up to my shoulder. Spec-4 got out behind me and crouched down in the shadows. I didn’t see any undead on the dock, but it didn’t hurt to take precautions. This wasn’t a game where we would respawn if we died. If we were to get bit, it was game over.

Our weapons were suppressed, so we knew we would be keeping noise to a minimum. I selected a boat that looked like it would do nicely. It was larger than your average ski boat, with a single cabin beneath the front end. The engines were inboard and it had sleek lines. Worst case scenario, we could spend the night on it with no problems. The quarters would be a little tight, but it would be better than sleeping on the rocks.

Quickly, we transferred our gear from the Jon boat to the ski boat. It took only a few moments to make the transfer. We even took the canoe paddles. You never know when they might come in handy. I did a quick scan of the ski boat and found nothing aboard. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the keys, either.

I had a quick decision to
make. I could hotwire the boat, which would take time, or I could try to find the keys in the small marina’s office at the end of the pier. I gave it a quick thought and decided to go after the keys. So far, we hadn’t ran into any of the undead. If we could keep quiet, there wasn’t any reason that they would come out onto the pier. Piece of cake, right?

"I'm going to try to get the keys," I whispered. "Stay with the boat and cover me."

I loosened the mooring rope so that we could cast off in a hurry. I didn’t want to be fighting to untie a rope with the dead bearing down on us. With the rope tied loosely, I slipped back onto the dock and started making my way towards the marina office. I kept in a crouch and moved slowly so my footfalls didn’t make too much noise on the wooden boards of the pier.

I could feel my heart beating in my chest and sweat was pouring down my face. The night air was cool, so I knew it had to be nerves. As I approached the little office, I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. I swung my weapon to cover the door as I clicked on my tactical light. A flood of light illuminated the interior of the small office.
There were two undead inside. One was a man in khaki shorts and a polo shirt. The other was female and wearing a bikini.

I shouldered the weapon and prepared to fire. Before I had the chance to squeeze the trigger, the bikini-girl started shrieking.
I centered my sights on her forehead and squeezed the trigger. The round silenced her scream mid-screech. She fell to the floor, lifeless once more. The male launched himself at me with shocking speed. That could only mean he was a
Sprinter.

I side-stepped his rush and stuck out my right foot. He tripped over it and fell face-first into the dark water next to the pier. With a tremendous splash, he hit the water and immediately sank from view. The splash seemed to echo all around me, in every direction.
It had to have alerted every zombie in the area. I could already hear the sound of movement in the brush beyond the end of the marina.

Reacting as fast as I could, I scanned the board that held everyone’s keys. I located the correct slip and grabbed a set of keys
. They were on a float-chain to keep them from sinking if they were dropped in the water. Seconds later, I was running down the pier towards the waiting ski boat. Spec-4 was already at the edge of the pier and motioning for me to hurry.

Behind me in the darkness, I could hear a lot of movement. I knew it had to be a large number of the dead emerging from the trees and coming after us. I lowered my head and ran as hard as I could go. When I reached the boat, I leapt across the distance and landed in the middle of the deck. Spec-4 used a paddle to shove us off into deeper water.

I glanced back in time to see well over a dozen of the dead coming down the pier and heading right for us. The lead among them were moving rapidly and closing the distance faster than we were pulling away from the dock. If they jumped, they’d easily make it aboard the small boat.

“Aim for the
Sprinters
!” I bellowed and brought my weapon to my shoulder.

In lieu of a reply, Spec-4 opened fire. Her first round took down the lead
Sprinter
with a well placed headshot. All pretense to stealth was now completely out the window. The dead knew where we were and were coming for us. I flipped my switch from semi to full auto and opened fire on the crowd.

My fusillade cut into the front ranks of the dead and had devastating effect. The first four fell to the deck and began twitching. I hit one in the face and knocked it over into the water, never to be seen again. The last two
Sprinters
leapt across the space between us and landed in the back of the boat. I didn’t want to risk shooting a hole in an engine, so I reached for my splitting maul.

My fingers wrapped around the handle and I sprang forward, before Spec-4 could bring her weapon around to engage them. I lunged at the nearest one and drove the end of the maul into
its face with a savage thrust. The creature flailed wildly and went over backwards into the dark water with a splash.

The second creature jumped on me, but I managed to
stay on my feet and keep the handle of the maul between us. I brought the handle up and into the chin of the thing that had once been a woman in a paramedic’s uniform. I shoved back against her with all the strength I could I could muster. It lunged forward in an attempt to lock its teeth on my face, but I forced it back and away from me.

Letting go with my right hand, I kept the handle against its throat. Before it could try to bite me a second time I drew the old Army Colt and fired off one round. The roar of the weapon was like a cannon across the quiet lake, echoing off in both directions. The
back of the creature’s head exploded in a shower of gore as it stumbled backwards towards the back of the boat. Spec-4 stepped forward and drove her fist into its mouth, knocking it completely out of the boat. It sank like a stone in the dark water.

The remaining zombies stood on the edge of the pier and frantically tried to reach us.
We were too far away for them to reach and drifting farther away by the second. In their attempts, one of them would occasionally be pushed off into the water. It reminded me of a nature documentary I'd once seen on penguins. With a smile, I held the keys aloft and let them dangle before me like a trophy.

“Good,” said Spec-4. “Let’s get out of here.”

I fumbled with the key and finally got it into the ignition. I was worried that I had grabbed the wrong key, but it started easily. The battery still had enough charge to turn over the starter. It groaned and coughed before it caught and roared to life with a deep rumbling sound. The engine was definitely build for power and speed. I let it idle for a few moments to warm up before throttling up and heading back out into the deeper part of the lake.

I consulted the fuel gauge and discovered that we only had about half a tank of gas. I didn’t know what kind of range that would give us, but I knew I wasn’t in any hurry to try for a fuel run. The heavy roar of this engine would rule out any chance of a stealth run. The dead would hear us coming a mile off. Our best hope lay in finding a drifting boat or if we cut the engine and drifted in.
Even then, it wouldn’t be easy.

I let the big engine idle as we slowly moved out into the main channel in the center of the lake. Once we were nearly in the middle, I throttled up and gave the big engine some fuel. Immediately, the front of the boat lifted up and we took off down the lake at a high rate of speed. Throttling back, I brought the prow of the boat back down lower in the water and proceeded at a much slower pace.

The moon was a good guide and it kept us clear to navigate as we shot around cove after cove, making good time as we continued down the lake. We passed by so many abandoned homes along the shore that we quickly lost count. Numerous docks and private piers slipped by in the darkness, giving mute testament to how much we'd lost to the dead. My memories of this lake were happy ones, filled with fishing trips, camp-outs and swimming. In fact, our last camp-out was near Linn Creek, Missouri. Not too far from where we were at the moment. I hated that those memories were clouded by the undead that now prowled every cove, port and pier at the lake.

I kept the boat moving
mostly on autopilot, as I was lost in my thoughts of happier times. I could remember my wife and me coming here when we were still dating. I even remembered skinny dipping in a remote cove near Ha Ha Tonka State Park. I was so distracted by my memories that it took Spec-4 hitting me in the shoulder to bring me out of my reverie.

"Wylie!" she snapped. "You might want to take a look over to our left."

I immediately throttled back and brought the boat down to a much slower speed. We settled forward in the water, casting a wake out to either side. The big engine idled like a jungle cat purring. We drifted forward on momentum only as the sound of our engine echoed off into the distance.

To my left I could see a man-made island. It consisted of boats of all sizes and shapes. Mostly pontoon boats, but there were big cabin cruisers, too. They were anchored in the deepest part of the channel, within view of Bagnell Dam. Connecting them together was a series of walkways constructed from pieces of floating docks. There had to be close to fifty
pieces, all tied together.

I spun the wheel and angled the nose of the boat towards the floating island. I could already see lights in some of the portholes and movement along some of the decks. As
we drifted closer, I spotted a Jon boat with an outboard motor attached to the back. It was tied up alongside one of the sections of walkway.

As we drifted closer, several people came out on the decks of the three pontoon boats that were the closest to us. I couldn’t help but notice that they were all armed. Although it was a hodge-podge assortment of weapons, ranging from deer rifles to civilian versions of the AR-15, I could clearly see that they didn’t appear friendly. No on
e pointed their weapons directly at us, but they didn’t go to any trouble to point them away from us, either.

We had drifted to within about twenty yards when one of them emerged from the crowd. He was much larger than the others, being well over six feet tall and over 250 lbs. He was mostly muscle and covered in tattoos. He was wearing combat-style boots that were unlaced, knee length yellow and red
Bermuda shorts with no shirt. The tattoos covered his legs, arms and chest. I wasn’t close enough to make out the details, but at least they were good quality tats. His long brownish-red hair was pulled back in a pony tail and his matching beard was braided and gathered together right above his sternum.