Chapter 12: Fallout & Walkabout

NOW

The sky spun back together into a dark spool, "Did anybody else see that?" before unraveling again. He remembered it like it was yesterday, but he knew this hadn't happened yet. Doctor Samuel Gordon Chase wandered the frozen dark alone.

Or was he just losing his mind?

Samuel was somewhere else the entire ride when a hiccup of awareness threw him back into reality. It was not until then that he had a look around, and a grave look it was.

What a nightmare everything had become. The faded fray of civilization, haunted and hollowed out homes, ghosts of families, neighbors and strangers all gone, dead or worse. The fallout had a strange effect on the undead, turning them from rabid dogs to the meandering dead and rendering them twice as harmful. Anyone could outrun them but if just one touched you, chances were... you’re dead.

Only Atticus and Samuel had guns. This was not what Atticus had in mind when he wondered about what the future might bring while still piloting safely above the apocalypse in his War Bird. They turned the corner and there it was.

The entire hull was broken in half, fractured apart and stacked together next to each other. Everything inside the ship was in pieces except for the center console and Samuel’s seat. Atticus had no idea how they survived. Like a detective searching for clues he uncovered an assault rifle, threw it over to Ed and uncovered the center console. Ed examined the assault rifle. It was cracked down the magazine and only had one bullet inside of it. Ed threw the rifle away; it was garbage.

“What is that?” Rebecca asked as Atticus pulled something out.

“You know how every plane has a black box…”

Atticus got up and looked around; there was nothing they could do. Nobody left to report to, no safe ship to fly over the wretched earth, they were finally on their own. He threw the War Bird's black box on the floor.

The first thing they needed to do was start gathering supplies and prevent themselves from being eaten or caught in the fallout winds. Other than that, Atticus knew they would need an arbitrary reason to keep going, so for now it continued to be getting to Samuel’s house.

“Doctor, let's go find your family.”

“Right, can you take us, Ed?”

“Where are they?”

“Uptown, near the park, off Madison.” Samuel kept forgetting he wasn’t in the city, “In Manhattan.”

“Yeah, I know, hop in.”

“Are you sure you-”

“Central Park North, right?” Ed said.

“Exactly. Atticus?” Samuel yelled from the truck after realizing he was gone.

Atticus was under the hood of a black Ford Mustang with Frank and Wheeler watching him.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Try it now."

Wheeler got in the driver's seat and started the car. Samuel and Rebecca rode in the pick-up with Ed and Nora. Atticus, Frank, and Wheeler went in the Mustang. They moved slowly around all the parked cars, some were empty, some were tombs. If they didn’t cruise at a slow enough speed it would cause too much noise, attracting unwanted attention.

This was not an easy feat, Atticus was the only one who could navigate and maneuver amongst the wreckage. And there was some serious wreckage. Entire stores and gas stations, super markets and apartment buildings torn down against the road, against the chaos and the odds.

Just because the War Bird was grounded didn’t mean Atticus couldn’t travel in style anymore. The black Mustang led the convoy towards Central Park. Even though Ed knew how to get there, and it was Samuel’s home, Atticus still led the way.

They got well enough through the shattered highways and city streets outside of Manhattan. Until they hit the east side Samuel had no idea where they were, a blasted grey landscape. He couldn’t find anything familiar; his landmarks were either demolished or buried in the ruin. Tight turns wrapping up clustered city parkways made things difficult to maneuver. Atticus was carving a perfect path out of the wreck, never having to turn around, never having to double back or stop.

They slowed down, approaching a river. There was a bridge too small to be anything else other than the 3rd Avenue Bridge. Samuel finally found his bearings. He turned around in his seat, “Only about ten more blocks!”

But when they were almost stopped by a stubborn Prius sticking out in the middle of the road, the doors were opened on Ed, Nora, Rebecca, and Samuel as three hooded guys attacked them inside the truck.

Ed and Samuel were punched in the face repeatedly. Before they forced Nora and Rebecca to do something they'd never come back from, the black Mustang rolled up on them. Atticus lowered the window with his gun sticking out. He pulled the e-brake and whipped the car around so he was face to face with the looters. They exchanged rounds.

"Aim for the gas tank!" One of the hoodlums called out to no one.

Atticus had already picked off both his wing-men. He set his sights on the ringleader who turned and ran. Atticus chased him down on foot. Frank and Wheeler comforted Nora.

"Those guys were assholes."

Rebecca tended to Samuel and Ed. "You two probably have mild concussions but other than that should be okay."

Atticus returned and reassured them, "We're safe. They're all dead."

“Where are all of the zombies?” Nora tried to get her mind off of the attack.

"Are we really using that word now?"

“Whatever we're calling them, the nuclear blast must have driven them out of the city. If it wasn’t for the fallout radiation Manhattan would probably be the safest place in the world right now.” Ed explained.

They crossed another street and turned the corner, all crouched over and moving gently through the debris. Rebecca followed Samuel with Atticus behind her, Nora behind him, Ed behind her, and Frank and Wheeler bringing up the rear. They got to the other side of the corner and the uptown skyscraper was fractured off its base above them. Its grinding echoed through the hollowed streets, whining, and moaning like a great metal oak tree.

“We have to go for it,” Atticus warned them, “We have to run NOW!”

The fractured skyscraper succumbed to the pressure and finished cracking through horizontally. The structure slid off the slanted angle; its edge came barreling towards them. It collided with the row of parked cars running parallel with them as they escaped to the park. At the corner of Central Park was a circle, just beyond that circle was Samuel’s townhouse. He was finally home. Samuel abandoned the group and made a dead sprint for his door. Rebecca screamed and Atticus ran after him.

She screamed as the front door opened on its own before Samuel reached it. Atticus had a flashback to Maryland. He stopped running and tried to swallow the lump in his throat and was caught off-guard by the sight of it.

There was something standing in the shadow of the house. Samuel went right in and the door slammed shut behind him. Atticus was shaken back to reality as he ran for the door. He saw Ed and Rebecca’s faces and looked behind them.

The stone-titan geronimo…

Rebecca’s scream…

The slamming door…

What could only be next but groans and moans from the subway station entrance?

The zombies still had Manhattan.