Shades of Gray (14 page)

“You’re insane, you know that?!” Jake yelled. I turned to him, three coats tied together and balled up in John’s arms, and stared him down.

“You’re damn right I am. Coat, now.” I extended my hand and waited him out.

I knew it wouldn’t take long. Then again, he had just lost his grandma. I was about to find out if this was the old Jake, or the new version, the one who had thrown a man to his death without a second’s thought. While we played that game, John was on the radio with Michael, relaying the hasty plan I had just pulled out of my ass.

“She’s gonna do
WHAT
?!” was the reply.

John stepped over to the ledge to look down. “Yeah, Mike, she’s doing it. Twenty foot drop, but with our coats tied together, that should take her most of the way down. What we gotta do is buy her the time she needs to get to those boats. Now stop your fussing and get ready to do some screaming on my signal.”

“What’s the signal?” Jonah asked quietly next to John’s shoulder. John just shrugged and made an odd face.

“Damnit, Kase,” Jake growled and jerked his coat off. I handed it to John.

“Okay, guys, listen up. You’re gonna have to relay all this once I’m on the move, so pay attention. When I hit the ground, I’m gonna hit it runnin’. You need to pull these runners back a bit, keep them distracted, let me get to the boat.”

The three of them stood around me, arms crossed and faces red, veins throbbing in their necks.

“Now if this works, and I can draw them all into the river, all you need to do is haul ass down the staircase and to the house. That back door is already sealed up, but you’ll need to reinforce the front somehow. I don’t care how or in what order you do it, but get some shooters on the roof with enough ammo to waste these bastards. Every one of them. ‘Cause when I come back in to shore, I’ll be coming in hard. Got it?”

My own heart was racing with the thought of what I was about to do. That’s what it had come down to: do something incredibly stupid and quite possibly die, or sit here being incredibly stupid and definitely die. I was willing to take my chances.

Jonah rubbed his chin. “So, what you’re sayin’ is, don’t nail up the front door until you’re back inside?”

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s
exactly
what I’m saying.” I turned to John and motioned to the ledge and the coat-rope in his arms. “John, can you hold this?”

He cocked an eyebrow at it, then at me and shrugged. “Only one way to find out I suppose.” He stepped over and threw the coat-rope over the side. “Oh yeah, plenty of length.”

“I got a feelin’ that’s not gonna be her problem,” Jake finally spoke up, staring at me with a hard look, his face tipped down slightly. John handed the walkie to Jonah and told him to take care of informing Michael. I stepped up to Jake and squeezed his upper arms.

“We’ve done worse. We’ve gotten through worse. You just keep them off my ass for a few seconds, alright?” He shook his head but hugged me tightly, giving me a pat on my back before striding out along the wall.

“Hey! Yeah you, ya worthless meatsacks! Come on! Come and get it, ya filthy bastards!”

Jake waved his arms over his head and stopped halfway out between the right gate tower and the platform I was getting ready to descend from. Jonah said a quick few words to Michael over the radio, walking out to join Jake. I could only imagine what Mia was thinking, and saying, over on her side. I watched the group underneath us begin shifting towards Jonah and Jake.

“Don’t drop me,” I said to John, wiping my hands against my thighs and sitting on the ledge. I noticed I’d lost my gloves somewhere and my knuckles were scuffed up. Nothing serious, but the scratches were still fresh.

“I can promise I’ll
try
not to drop you.”

I grabbed the coat tightly in my hands and swung my other leg over. John’s voice stopped me before I could begin scaling the wall.

“Soon as you hit the ground, Kasey, you run. Don’t stop for nothing, you hear me?”

I smiled, one of those crooked grins. “Sure thing, big man. See you on the inside.” I quickly and quite clumsily began scaling down, hand over hand, the toes of my boots scraping the concrete. My heart was thumping so hard I couldn’t hear myself breathe, until I realized I was holding my breath as tightly as my fingers gripped the pseudo-rope.

“Stay calm, stay calm,” I repeated to myself.

Halfway down the wall.

Ten more feet to go.

I could still hear Jonah and Jake yelling and shouting to the deadheads. I looked up and could tell my weight was putting a strain on John. The lower I went, the harder it was on him. My arms as well; they were on fire from exertion. I wondered if Michael and Mia had been able to draw the runners from the end of that side, but quickly dismissed it from my mind.

“Too late now. What’s done is done.”

There were two extra boats at the dock besides the one Nancy had been loading. I would aim for one of those two. If the motor wouldn’t start on the first pull or two, then I’d hop to the next and try it. It all depended on how well the others were doing on distracting the deadheads. If worse came to worse, I’d start swimming. Suicide, maybe. That would also depend on how much of a head start I had on the runners. Although I hadn’t seen it, I didn’t believe the runners could swim. They could walk underwater just fine. They’d be slower, and less mobile, but they didn’t need to breathe. I’d have to make my way to deeper water, stay away from the shallows.

Five more feet.

“Hell with it.”

I let go of the coat-rope, dropped the last five feet or so, and almost went back on my ass. I glanced up and saw John was off balance too; the sudden lack of weight holding him had sent him out of view with his arms flailing.

No time.

I started off at a hard run, my arms pumping and my eyes straight ahead, no longer paying attention to the yelling on top of the wall, or the screaming coming from the ground. I was only a few feet from the end of the wall, and tore past it seconds after dropping to the ground.

Now we’ll see if this works.

I sprinted in a straight line directly to the boats without slowing or turning my head to the right. It wouldn’t have made a difference if I had looked; if the runners were after me, I was already dead. When I got to Nancy’s remains, I didn’t hesitate. I jumped and sailed over them, my boots hitting the soft ground on the other side and my legs crying out in protest. To be honest, the only reason I knew it was even Nancy lying there was because my eyes caught a hint of gray hair in the moonlight. The rest of her, the very little that was left, had been stripped to the bone.

Keep moving
.

I jumped up into the middle boat. That was the first chance I’d had since tearing across the yard to get a look behind me, since the motor was on the back of the boat and I had to turn around to yank the pull cord. A few runners on both sides had noticed me and were beginning to jog away from the main groups. It appeared the ones up on the wall had led the deadheads too close to the staircase for comfort. Then I realized that in a few seconds, it wouldn’t matter.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I panted, watching more and more of the runners break off from the main group and start running my way. I yanked hard on the pull cord.

Nothing.

“
COME ON
!” I screamed, yanking once more. That time the motor caught and roared to life. I turned my screams back to the runners, using the handle on the motor to steer the boat away from shore.

“
Hey assholes! That’s right, over here! Hungry?! Come and get me!
”

I kept yelling at them, random words and occasional swearing, trolling slowly out into the water, giving them plenty of time to catch up. I was far enough out that they couldn’t grab me, not so far that they might lose interest. I grinned when I saw the groups were converging behind the house and clumping together into one huge mob.

My eyes slid from the swarm of runners (whose front ranks were splashing into the water), to my friends on the wall. Seconds later, they disappeared, the large house blocking my view of them.

Be fast, guys.

They were headed to the staircase. I cranked my shouting up a notch, bellowing out anything and everything that crossed my mind, and maybe a few things that should have remained unsaid.

The louder I yelled, the more irate the runners became, practically falling over one another in their haste. One by one their heads disappeared underneath the murky water. After half of the group had gone under, I picked up speed and headed out towards the middle of the river. I figured it was at least forty feet deep in that area, maybe deeper, which would keep me safe from reaching hands. As long as they couldn’t swim, I’d be as snug as a bug in a rug. At least until it was time to make a run back to shore. After the last of the runners vanished underwater, I slowed to a stop, keeping the engine running. I was panting, grinning, sweating, and shaking all over. But I was happy. They were off the wall. By my estimate, already inside the Winchester, safe.

I sank back into the boat, leaned against the cross plank, and waited. I would have smoked a cigarette, but Jonah and I had finished those up some time that afternoon. I wasn’t even entirely sure how long to wait before heading back. I knew I needed to give the swarm enough time to make it as close to the middle of the riverbed as possible. That would give me plenty of time, once I hit the shore, to run around the house and get inside. So I waited, shifting my eyes from the water, to the Winchester’s roof, and back to the water. I had never been blessed with an over-abundance of patience, though I was definitely more tolerant than Jake. That thought made me laugh. Strange, how relieved I felt, yet I was sitting in a boat, in the dark, in the middle of the river, with freaking zombies underneath me.

It was then that I heard a whistle. Jumpy as a rabbit, I jerked hard enough to rock the boat. My eyes flew to the rooftop, zeroing in on the source of the noise. From that distance, I couldn’t tell who it was, but someone was definitely on the roof, waving at me. Then another someone, and another, until there was five bodies on the roof, all waving. I took that as my signal to head back. I sat up and knelt on one knee next to the engine, one eye on the water. It was so dark and still, I realized I’d never be able to locate the zombies. Gunning the motor, I turned the boat around and headed back toward shore at full speed. The impact would probably throw me out. I knew I had to put as much distance between me and the water as I could. I glanced up at the rooftop on my way in and saw everyone had lowered themselves into shooting positions.

Least they’re covering my ass if this goes to hell,
I thought just before plowing into the muddy shore. I’d been right: I flew from the boat, somersaulting and landing on my back. It was enough to almost knock the air out of me. Before I could panic, I was on my feet.

Back door, no good
.

I darted toward the right corner of the house, glancing back over my shoulder just before making the turn.

No sign of the dead.

My leg muscles were really starting to balk on me, so I slowed up just a bit once I saw nothing was on my tail. The runners were still underwater. Once I reached the front of the house, I had to begin jumping and dodging the runners we had put down earlier that day. Sure, they were
dead
dead, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Too many times had I happened upon a zombie I thought “dead,” only to find its jaws still snapping. Hopping and skipping like a deer, I weaved my way to the front porch in time to hear the first shrieks come from the river.

“Crap,” I wheezed, leaping up the steps two at a time.

Abby was at the front door, holding it open. I heard gunshots ring out from above. My boots thumped across the porch and I fell inside. On my back and gasping for breath, I watched Todd and Abby shut and lock the door, then secure the 2x4’s that had been leaning in the corner. I let my head fall back, my arms and legs sprawled out on the floor. I’d never be able to shoot with my heart racing.

Relax
.

Steady
.

“Done! Let’s go!” Abby yelled and grabbed my hand to yank me to my feet.

There was no time to worry about the assorted windows scattered throughout the first floor. I let Abby drag me up the two flights of stairs to the roof, let her lead me to a chair in the corner. A rifle had already been placed there for me, as well as several boxes of shells. I sat still for a moment, looking around at everyone and their gear. They each had plenty of ammo, and at least one rifle.

Now this is more like it.

I felt an instant stab of guilt over Nancy. I ground my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. Once my heartbeat was even again, I turned in my seat, took a deep breath, picked up the rifle, and started throwing the lead. We had put down at least half the swarm when the first steady
thump-thump
’s began pounding through the air.

The damned cavalry had arrived.

November 19th: just before midnight