The Reaper Virus (24 page)

Eastern clouds began to change colors
indicating that night was approaching and unfortunately we were
still on the ground. I suggested to my new friend that we pick up
the pace. He had looked back and came to the same conclusion. We
both jogged until only three coal cars were between us and the
massive pillar.

“We need to get on the other side of the
train.” I panted. It took every bit of concentration I possessed to
not focus on the pain that radiated throughout my body.

Phil pointed to the break in the next pair of
cars and led the way between them. We had to carefully pass a six
foot long section where the tracks had no bottom. This strip’s
reinforced tracks hovered over a drainage outlet for the water on
the north side of the rails. Beneath it was a drop about man-size
in height to the caliginous water below.

The pseudo-bridge was wide enough to casually
walk across, yet we still tiptoed over it like children. I’m sure
we looked ridiculous. It was too bad the undead didn’t have a sense
of humor, because they would have had the chance to point a rotting
finger and laugh. Our fear was not without warrant, as up until now
the railroad tracks had been a solid gravel-filled hike. Back on
solid ground we had reached the entry point in the train. I looked
farther down the tracks to see if the end of the coal train was
visible. The lengthy beast appeared to have no end. It dizzyingly
continued in an optical illusion-like eternity.

The area where the two coal cars coupled
together was filthy. I was sure every connection in the miles of
cars looked exactly like this one. It only took a minute for Phil
to hobble over the greasy obstruction. He extended a hand and
helped pull me over. I landed awkwardly on the other side,
immediately surprised by our proximity to the water’s edge.

Any time for familiarizing myself with this
new side of the train was cut short once we realized we had
company. Coming up on us from the area of the bridge was a pair of
undead. They quickly saw us and excitedly advanced along the
graveled trackside. There wasn’t time to plan. By the time we knew
the zombies were there they had already closed to within a train
car’s length. Phil looked at me in utter panic. He didn’t need to
say anything as his face screamed for guidance.

“There!” I shouted while pointing in the
direction of the hobbling ghouls. Phil ripped his stare away from
the enemy and followed my point to the metal ladder built into the
frame of the railcar. Only problem was that the ladder was located
mere feet from the zombies. I glanced behind us and saw that the
gravel dropped off at the drainage inlet we’d just crossed. The
only way now was back over the coupling or up that ladder.

I yanked the Kukri free and sprinted towards
the two infected. “Phil, get up the ladder!” I shouted without even
looking back. Phil already followed my lead and was jogging to keep
up. The undead excitedly picked up their pace and started thrashing
towards me. In seconds I was within their lunging radius.
Simultaneously, Phil began to pull himself up the ladder. I knew
that we needed to buy time to get up the metal rungs and beyond
their reach.

The first reaper threw its festering arms up
and launched at me. I anticipated this and sliced through the air
with my blade. Metal met the rabid man’s infected arm just above
his elbow. Force from the blow pushed the Kukri into the bone. Time
slowed further as I watched the arm recoil and hyperextend at the
joint. Lacking any living elasticity, the tendons snapped and his
flesh followed suit. His forearm tore and ripped free; transferred
kinetic energy offered the severed limb to the bordering waters of
the James.

My victim was thrown off balance by the
attack and followed the direction of his lost limb. He fell to the
gravel and tripped the other zombie that trailed a few steps
behind. I was growing disturbingly comfortable with having to
attack something that could have shared a beer with me two weeks
ago, all for the sake of giving myself some extra time.

Phil shouted over the side of the coal car
and eagerly beckoned for me to climb. I started up the shallow
rebar ladder while the second zombie regained its footing. Needing
both arms to climb, I sandwiched the bloodied weapon under my right
armpit. Three-quarters of the way up though, the fallen reaper had
made it back to his feet and well within lunging range. He let out
an unsettling screech and leapt towards my dangling body.

I swung the Kukri in a wide left handed grip
and twisted on the ladder to match my swing. The zombie’s temple
caved at the strike and the blade became embedded within its skull.
I felt my body being pulled towards the ground as the creature’s
legs went limp.

“Holy fuck!” I didn’t release my hold on the
weapon fearing that if I did, the blade would fall into the river
still stuck in its victim. Panic filled my brain. I shook my arm
hoping to dislodge this vile anchor. The eye closest to the wound
was missing and the other stared back at me with an unholy
blackness. Another shake caused an unctuous crimson mix to bubble
past the zombie’s jagged teeth and drip down its chin. The sight of
this alone caused bile to begin traveling up my esophagus.

The few seconds in which this all transpired
felt eternal. My right hand started to lose its grip, so I looped
my arm around the ladder. “Come on, you dead piece of shit!” I
shouted at the fully dead man spewing tar from his gaping mouth.
The weight was pulling my upper body down and contorting me in ways
I was never meant to bend. This was it… I knew I had to let go of
the Kukri or I’d end up in the river.

My hand relaxed and a tear mixed with the
sweat beading my cheek. Although it was nothing more than a piece
of metal, the Kukri had acted as my only source of control. It had
made me feel confident and empowered enough to remain amongst the
living. With it I felt safer than I had with any gun and strong
enough to make it home. Even during the apocalypse it had not
failed me. I was overcome with the thought
I
was about to fail
it
.

I felt another pressure on my arm. I followed
my first instinct and looked before defending myself. For once not
being a trained combatant came in handy, because if I had struck
the situation would have become unthinkably worse.

Phil dangled from the cusp of the coal car
and grabbed hold of my upper arm with both hands. I became the rope
in an unholy battle of tug-o-war. Most people would have exploited
this relief to let go of the weight and climb to safety, but I
couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead I took the extra strength
and contorted myself enough to bring my left boot to the place the
Kukri was lodged.

I let my foot follow the track of the blade
and kicked. Tread met flesh and I pushed until the Kukri was freed.
A trail of viscous fluid dripped from the weapon down to where to
heap of infected man dropped. My arm was so numb I couldn’t feel it
any longer. I swung it around and pushed on the ladder’s rung with
my wrist. After a minute of shaky climbing I collapsed onto the
pile of jagged coal.

* * *

1632 hours:

My chest heaved. The coal was like lying on a
bed of nails, but I’d never felt anything more comfortable. I
stared up at the waning light and realized how close our deadline
drew. Phil sat on the edge of the car, waiting for me to signal
that it was time to move on again.

“Thanks,” I said between shallow breaths.

“Don’t mention it. You almost got pulled off
the ladder… why didn’t you just let go of your sword?”

“It means a lot to me.” There was no point in
going into detail about anything – even with someone whose life I
saved and who probably had just saved mine. “Also I don’t think
it’s a good idea to let go of a weapon right now if you can help
it.” Phil nodded lightly in agreement. “So, I guess this makes us
even now doesn’t it?”

He let out a chuckle. “Not even close,
Nathan. I’ll have to do a lot more than that to not feel like I’m
in your debt.”

“We can settle this later. But right now
we’ve got to get moving.”

Phil had already gotten to his feet on the
foot wide lip of the train car. He stared past me at the
overhanging arched bridge. I looked at his expression, hoping that
he was trying to find options for us to climb up. Frankly, I was so
overcome with ache and exhaustion that anyone else taking charge
would come as a relief.

A smile cracked his lips. “Good thing I have
an idea then, eh partner?”

He pulled me to my feet and we started
navigating our way across the few coal cars that separated us and
the bridge. The vertigo that raced through my brain from looking to
my left quickly stabilized my wobble. I had no desire to allow my
tired legs to send me tumbling off the ledge to the gravel or river
below. We had to navigate two breaks in the balance beam where
another car coupled onto the metal serpent. More time was spent
with paranoid checks of the area below than was spent climbing down
and up again.

I don’t know about Phil, but I felt like a
child pretending the ground was hot lava whenever we got close to
the gravel. The train cars may be filthy, dangerous, and
uncomfortable, but they were also elevated. There was a level of
comfort associated with being lifted above the reach of the undead.
All the while I was thinking about how Maddox would be so jealous
of my super cool train car clubhouse…

Soon we were immersed in the cold shadow of
the high rising bridge. I plopped down and dangled my legs over the
side of the car. There are only a few times in my life where I had
felt that much debilitating pain. Flipping my pack around, I
quickly found a snack bar, water, and ibuprofen. “So… what’s your
idea for getting up there again?”

“I thought you were trained to look for
details like this man?” he said with a wry laugh.

“Ha! Low blow my friend.” I quelled my
embarrassment and followed his pointed finger. Then I saw it – a
ladder. On the far side of bridge pylon was a metal rung ladder. It
looked sort of like the rebar ladder we first used to climb on top
of the train. The only problem was where the ladder was in relation
to us.

“Alright, since I spotted it,” Phil said,
“you get to figure out how we get to it.”

I let out a disgusted chuckle and surveyed
the situation. It felt like a twisted geometry problem. I flashed
back to a high school memory of me being my typical smartass self
and telling the geometry teacher that her class was pointless. She
refuted this by saying “Geometry has a lot of real world
application. Now, if you have one more outburst you’ll be getting a
demerit.” Zombie or not, I bet she was laughing at me now…

The ladder was positioned just past the
water’s edge. If the James River were in less of a flood stage it
might be above dry land. However, the current high water level
placed it a few feet past the shore’s mark. The water wasn’t what
troubled me though. Our real problem was reaching the ladder. From
where I stood the bottom rung was a few feet
above
the level of my head. That put it almost two
stories above the ground. Whoever designed the access ladder was
either stupid or sadistic… maybe both. I furrowed my brow in
frustration. This was at least the second time in the last few
hours that a path had been made needlessly overcomplicated.
Evidently my dampened spirit was visible to Phil.

“Don’t look that way,” he said sternly while
fiddling with his pant leg again. “You’ve still got that rope don’t
you?”

It was almost like I hadn’t heard his
question; I was curious about why he kept touching his leg. “Why do
you keep messing with your leg, Phil?”

He sounded irritated. “It’s fine… just a
little itchy alright? Stop worrying about that and pass me the
rope.”

“I’m not sure you noticed this about me, but
I’m not exactly Indiana Jones.” He chuckled. “I don’t think God
ever intended me to do anything as heroic or athletic as swinging
from a rope. I may have police training, but I was always very
comfortable behind a desk and a radio. This whole plunging a sword
into things that look like people mess is not a natural action for
me.”

We both shared a laugh at my expense. I was
alright with being a self-admitted pariah when it came to physical
ability. Embarrassment meant nothing in this new world. As long as
a person could stay alive it didn’t really matter what they were
seen as a month ago. A moment of shame pitted my stomach with that
thought. No matter what was going on in the world, I still knew the
things I had done to lead me to where I now stood. In the end I
wondered what would separate a newly odious person like me from the
undead I’d been battling.

Phil took the rope from me and began to
unravel it. I watched as he skillfully knotted strategic points
along the length of the line. The sky continued to darken. It
looked as if the realm of the bridge’s shadow began to blend with
the rest of the world. Our time was quickly running out.

“Looks like you’ve done this before,” I
said.

He nodded. “My girlfriend…” He paused for a
moment and stared blankly at the coal. “She and I used to do long
camping trips. We made sure a lot of them had some kind of climbing
involved.”

“Good, so this should be easy. I don’t want
to rush you, but we have ten, fifteen minutes max until the sun is
down,” I said in as serious of a tone as I could muster. “I’m
almost positive these things hunt better at night. I want to be
where they
absolutely cannot
reach us by
then.”

“I get the point. I’m just about done,” Phil
said while again scratching at his leg.

His motions were skillful and swift. It was
comforting to watch him and feel that he knew what he was doing. He
finished the last thick knot then dropped the tangled mess. “Help
me look for a larger chunk of coal that might be good for throwing
that far.”