Losers vs. Zombies, page 9
“Is there anything we can do? Maybe contact them and tell them how to kill the zombies.” My mind was busy trying to recall what I knew of New York City. I drove through there in my truck driving days.
“So far we haven’t been able to establish contact. I asked you in here because I wanted to see if you were willing to fly up there and help them. We have a pilot that grew up in Brooklyn. He wants to go and see what help he can give. He has seen and heard some of what your group has taught us. He knows he would need help. Would you consider going with him? Maybe taking some of your group if they were willing.”
“I will go. I will have to ask them if they are willing.” I said. I didn’t like this at all, but I felt like I needed to do it.
Once I was back at the table with my group, I told them the news. I gave them a few minutes to think before I asked for their decision.
“You guys know what you are doing now. It would be much, much safer for you to stay here and continue helping the survivors here. There’s no way to guarantee your safety if we go to New York. I am going to go. Any of you that are willing can come with me.” I told them with mixed feelings. Part of me wanted them to come with me and part of me hoped they would stay here.
“How long do we have to decide?” Susan asked.
“The plane is taking off in the morning. They would prefer a head count tonight if possible.” I told them.
“Wow. This is just too weird. They want you idiots to go kill the zombies.” Amy was half laughing, half hysterical. I think she knew that Steve would want to go. “They can just forget about trying to get me to go. I ain’t that damn ready to die. You morons can head out if y’all want to.”
I actually breathed a sigh of relief. While I wanted Steve there with me, I would happily leave him behind if it meant being rid of Amy. I looked at the others trying to see which way they were leaning.
“I will go. I got nothing left in Mobile now.” Bob declared.
“Count me in.” Harold volunteered.
“I need to think about it for a while.” Susan said with a sideways glance at Katy.
“We will go.” Eric said. He and Wendy were smiling like they were eager for this adventure. I hated what I was about to say.
“No. You two need to stay here where it is safer. You’ve been through enough and need to finish growing up before you throw your lives away.” I said sternly.
“But we can help!” Wendy insisted.
“I know you can but I don’t want to put someone so young in that much danger when there is a better alternative.” I said. Both Eric and Wendy put their heads down in disappointment. They would understand later in life.
“I will go.” Tina said.
“Me too.” Angie added.
“Sorry guys, I think I want to stay.” Cindy stated.
“That’s perfectly ok, Cindy.” I told her as she left the table. She smiled and turned away from us.
“I will go.” Laura said.
“I’m going.” Steve said. He looked at Amy. “If you want to stay, then stay. This is too important for me to say no to.”
Amy teared up and left the table in a huff.
“I’m sorry to ask you to put yourselves in danger like this again. We finally had help here and the plans are working. At least we are leaving Burke with a fighting chance of survival for his people.” I said sadly.
“Don’t apologize. We might all be dead already if not for you. Now here we are being asked to save others. How can we not try?” Harold said. His words made me feel a whole lot better about them coming with me.
“Go pack your things. I will need to spend most of the day with Burke. He needs to have a better idea of how to plan out his own attacks against the zombies.” I told them.
As they left the table, I pulled out my bottle of pills. My feet were the main problem today. I was barely able to walk now. My biggest fear was becoming too disabled to get away from even the slowest zombie.
I spent hours with Burke telling him the principles I used for my plans. He took notes on what I was saying. I stressed the trapping them part more than anything else. I felt like he understood what I was trying to get across.
Once that meeting was over, I went to the tent. I went there to pack but ended up taking a nap. I didn’t want to be on my feet anymore. I was glad the others were going around to say goodbye to the friends they made in camp. I didn’t want them to see the tears I shed over the pain I was in. They didn’t need to know.
We boarded the plane. The soldiers gave us a huge send off. Almost all of the camp survivors came to the airport to see us off. Susan, Katy, Cindy, Eric, and Wendy were crying as we walked away. I would miss them. Right as we were boarding the plane, Amy came running up to us and hugged Steve.
“I’m going too. I thought I could let you go but I don’t want to stay here without you.” She told Steve through her tears.
“I was hoping you would change your mind.” Steve said as he led her onto the plane.
Motherfucking, shitty ass damn luck! Why couldn’t she have stayed?
Chapter 11
The pilot warned us about the landing. He was flying without the aid of the tower. He was a little shaky and the landing wasn’t very smooth, but we made it.
The soldiers did a good job of planning for our arrival. There were thirty soldiers that made the trip with us. Some of them took the lead when exiting the plane. They held their guns at the ready in case we were attacked. The next few soldiers carried car batteries for whatever vehicles we could find. Our group got off the plane next. We were followed by another group of soldiers who had their guns at the ready to protect our rear.
We headed for the car rental area. Not finding anything we liked, we headed to the parking lot. We found nine trucks that would work just fine. They installed the new batteries and we headed out. Overall, about forty zombies got close enough that we were forced to shoot them. We considered that to be a lucky break.
“The transmission we found came from the Upper West Side in Manhattan. The speaker said their group was near Central Park.” One of the soldiers reminded me.
“I think we need to go to the Henry Hudson Parkway. From here, take the 678 north to I-495 west. Once we cross the bridge, keep heading west. Did you guys bring the syphoning pump?” I asked.
“Yes sir. We brought some gas cans full and a syphoning pump so we could get more as needed.”
“Good, but quit calling me sir. I’m Brad or ‘hey you’ whichever you prefer.” I said. The soldiers chuckled some.
“Why the Henry Hudson?” Anthony asked. He was the one who grew up in Brooklyn and was the one driving.
“If I’m remembering correctly, we already have a pit almost completed for us. There is a part of that stretch of roads where one street is down with two streets running at a higher point above it. The walls are too steep for a zombie to climb. All we need to do is cause some cars to block the ends and we have a good pit to burn zombies. We need some things like accelerant. The main thing I wish we had was some dynamite or that C4 stuff you guys use. It might also be smart to find some sand bags and tarps to cover the drains.” I explained.
“Hey Pete, look on the map and see if there are any bases around here. I’m not sure where else we could find explosives. Why we need explosives again?” Anthony asked. It was a legitimate question.
“If there are overpasses, we need to blow them up. That way we will be on one side and the zombies won’t be able to cross to become a danger to our group. I need to figure out a way to knock down the protective walls lining the roads as well. I would say jackhammers but we don’t exactly have air compressors to run them. I guess we could find some way.”
“What if we run vehicles into the walls at high speeds? That might knock them down. We can set a brick on the accelerator and tie the steering wheel off so the car won’t swerve. Would that work?” Pete asked.
“I believe so. We might need to find some heavier vehicles though. Maybe a bulldozer.” I added.
“I know where we can get a bulldozer. I don’t know if any of us knows how to drive one but I know where one is!” Anthony said.
“Get me to it and I will figure out how to drive it.” One of the other soldiers said. I didn’t know his name.
The drive seemed to take forever. We were creeping around the traffic jams at crawling speed. I was reminded about how much I hated New York. West of the Hudson River wasn’t too bad but the boroughs were a pain in the butt.
We reached the site with the bull dozer. It took a few minutes to get it cranked. Once it was rolling and we were getting back into our truck, inspiration hit me.
“We won’t need dynamite. We really never did. We can use the dozer to push cars and stuff to block access to any roads that would lead to where we are.” I told them. “Just get us there and we will see what we can do.”
“Shouldn’t we go find the survivors first?” Pete asked.
“No. If this works the way I am hoping, we will be killing every zombie in a huge area. Then it will be much safer for us to go looking for the survivors. Besides, they will hear the explosions and might come find us.” I explained.
“I thought you said to forget about the dynamite. What explosions?” Anthony asked.
“We won’t be removing the cars from the zombie pit area. Once the fire hits the gas tanks, we will be getting some explosions.” I stated. I began looking out the window at the vehicles we were passing. “Stop!”
“What? What’s wrong?” Anthony said as he jammed the brakes. The trucks behind us almost ran into the back of our vehicle.
“That tanker truck has gasoline in it. We just found our accelerant. Drive closer so you can jump start it for me.” I said as I got out and headed for the semi.
Once it was cranked we still had the problem of the cars in front of it blocking the road. The bulldozer came barreling up then and I went to tell the driver to clear the road for me. He loved the idea since it meant he got to be really destructive. That was how we made the rest of the trip to the Henry Hudson Parkway.
I was watching the area we were passing when I saw the perfect place to set up. I gave everyone their orders and they went to work. A great number of zombies were already showing up. I instructed the dozer driver on setting the edges of the makeshift pit with cars he pushed off our road. We were on the east side so the cars made holes in the concrete barrier killing two birds with one stone.
It took us a while and we ended up shooting around a hundred zombies which only brought many more zombies to us. Finally we were ready. We had moved to the west side and had the gas truck ready to spray the zombies down with gas. I gave the order and several of the soldiers began firing their guns into the air. About every five minutes or so afterward, I would say shoot and the soldiers would fire a few more bullets.
I wasn’t really prepared for what happened. A great many zombies were coming our way when we were setting up but it was a manageable number. The only thing I can figure is that the majority of these zombies had been much further away and it took them this long to get here. There were mobs of zombies.
We watched mesmerized by the sight of thousands of zombies falling into the pit. They just kept coming. Some of the zombies were knocked to the ground and were probably already dead from the sheer mass of feet stepping on them. In one hour we might have had over ten thousand zombies fall into our trap. I was beginning to worry about whether there would be enough room to hold them all when I remembered the pit in Mobile. The zombies kept walking into the pit even after the fire was going.
“Let’s get ready to light them up. Don’t fire your guns any more until I tell you to. You might accidentally blow us up.” I shouted at the soldiers. They put their guns away to make sure there weren’t any accidents.
I grabbed the hose and hooked it to the tank on the trailer. I released thousands of gallons into the pit. I tried to spread the gas around but most of it went in front of us. Once the tank was about empty, I drove the truck up the road until I was sure it would be far enough away so it wouldn’t blow up. As soon as I was back, I got everyone away from the pit. I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t get incinerated. I made a fire ball out of a rock and a piece of cloth. I threw the fire ball into the hole and ducked before it made it there.
WHOOSH! The fire blazed high. Some of the soldiers started to stand so they could go look. I made them sit back behind the car we were hiding behind. It only took a few more seconds for them to see why. First one car then a dozen more exploded. I stayed where I was until I was fairly sure no more explosions were coming.
I slowly stood and walked over to the pit. You couldn’t get too close because of the heat. I looked across the street and saw the zombies still falling into the pit. The soldiers and I all fell back far away from the heat and took a seat to wait out the fire.
We waited.
We kept waiting.
We grew tired of waiting.
“We need to start firing shots in the air again.” I told them. Some of the soldiers stood and fired.
We waited.
Not too many more zombies were showing up now. I walked over to the pit and watched what remained of the fire. The number of dead zombies was absolutely incredible! We may have killed more zombies in this one effort than we had during all our time in Mobile. I got everyone’s attention.
“Now we need to go find those survivors. If you see something important, honk the horn in your truck. Otherwise follow us. We have the address where they are supposed to be.” I told them.
Anthony knew the way. The apartment building was easy to find. Our procession of trucks had barely come to a stop when people came rushing out of the building toward us. There were hundreds of them and they looked hungrier than the zombies.
“How did you know about us?” One of them asked.
“Your radio transmission.” I said.
“See, I told you guys that would help!” A wiry little man with glasses shouted.
“Our camp was monitoring every kind of transmission we could.” Pete told them. “When we heard about you guys, we loaded a plane and came to help.”
“Wow, a plane? Where were you when you heard us?” A woman asked.
“In Mobile, Alabama. We have a base camp there.” I looked around and asked, “Do y’all have a leader?”
“Not exactly, but Jennifer and Tom seem to be the best at decision making.” The small wiry man said.
“Would Jennifer and Tom please come to the front?” I asked.
“I’m Jennifer. This is Tom.” Jennifer was thirtyish and Tom was a balding fiftyish. They made their way to where I was standing.
“Hi, I’m Brad. Glad we found you.” I said with my hand out to shake. “You guys look hungry. We brought a little food with us but not enough for everyone. One of you needs to go with Anthony to show him where the nearest grocery store might be. If the grocery store is empty try all the drug stores, dollar stores, and gas stations. If anyone knows a local warehouse that handled and delivered can goods, let Anthony know. That would be the best for everyone. How many people do you have?”
“Around six hundred now. We had over a thousand living in this building but hunger would drive them outside and none of them made it back.” Jennifer said. She turned to her group and shouted, “Does anyone know of a warehouse close by that handled canned goods? Or any other place in this area that might still have food?”
“I do.” Came a shout from the back of the crowd. The people parted to let the speaker through. I was shocked to see a boy of about twelve step forward. “My dad worked in a warehouse like that. I can show you where it is.”
“Alright, go with Anthony here.” I put my hand on Anthony’s shoulder. “Anthony, take Harold and about eight of the men with you. We need all the food and water you can get. Take three of the trucks and see what you can find. The rest of our guys need to spread out and take watch. We don’t want to shoot unless we have to. Try to kill them some other way if there is only a few.”
Anthony called some names and loaded up. I turned back to Tom and Jennifer to see what else they might need.
“Do you have a doctor with you?” She asked.
“No, sorry. What is the problem? Sickness or injury?” I asked.
“Sickness. Patty, has a heart problem and needs a doctor.”
“If she knows what medicines she needs, we might be able to get it for her.” I told her. She turned to look for Patty.
“Simon, go look for Patty. Ask her what medicines she needs.” Jennifer instructed.
“Any other problems?” I asked.
“Nothing too bad.” She looked behind us to the west. “What were the explosions and gunshots earlier? We saw tons of smoke and wanted to go see but we were scared to leave. Someone said there was a huge mass of zombies headed toward the smoke.”
“We needed to cleanse the area some before we came looking for you. We probably killed over twenty thousand of the zombies.” The crowd’s eyes got huge.
“Really? How did you kill that many?” Tom asked.
“Actually, Brad is underselling it. I think it was over thirty thousand.” Steve said. “You would have to see it to fully understand. Brad has come up with some interesting ways to kill zombies. He is the reason Mobile is becoming habitable again.”
“It wasn’t just me. You guys deserve as much of the credit as I do. Y’all did most of the work.” I replied.
“Maybe so, but we would probably be starving inside of Fred’s by now if you hadn’t shown us how to kill the zombies.” Bob said.
“Is there any way you could show us the place you killed them?” Tom asked.
“Sure. Actually, it might be a good thing. You guys know this area a hell of a lot better than I do. Maybe you can point out other places where we can do this same thing again.” I figured it was worth a try anyway.
We took one of the trucks over to the sight at the parkway. Tom, Jennifer, Pete, Steve, and I went.
“Holy shit!” Jennifer said in awe. “You guys did all of this today?”
“Yes. We have done this sort of thing before. We all know what our jobs are and the men do a great job of following orders.” I told them. “Now, what I need from you two is information. You see how we have a pit with the ends blocked? We need someplace like this so we can trap the zombies in one area. I know we may not get a half mile stretch with quite this much depth, but someplace kind of like this would work.”
