Chapter 31: Fracture

Annie coughed and slid out of a broken window. She cradled Jackson in her arms.

“Warren!” Rebecca nudged him.

“Warren, wake up!” Rebecca got Warren’s eyes open, and they both crawled out of the car. Warren picked up Jackson and Rebecca helped Annie up.

“Where’s Samuel?”

“I don’t know!” Rebecca cried out, putting her hands on her forehead, “He wasn’t wearing his seatbelt!”

The zombies circled around the car crash.

“We need to go!” Warren yelled, looking around at them.

Samuel kicked back when he came to, he could feel the heat on the back of his neck. He had been thrown to the other car wreck. His palms were pulsing with pain. He looked at them; they were covered in little pieces of broken glass. Blood dripping down from his eyebrow hit his hands. When Samuel wiped it he could see a girl hanging above him. It was Alana. Her body was dangling outside of the upturned car.

Samuel could hear his son’s voice. He leaned forward and got to his feet. When Samuel backed away from the car he saw the zeeks were everywhere. On the other side of the wreckage, Adam was wrestling to keep one away from his sister who was still unconscious. Samuel was still dazed. He looked around and stared blankly at Adam panicking in front of him.

“PLEASE! HELP ME!” Adam begged Samuel.

Samuel watched the zombies bite at Adam’s arm as he held them off with one hand while trying to revive his sister. Samuel tripped backwards and landed back on the ground. He was concussed. He dragged his hand along the littered pavement and caught a baseball bat under his fingertips. He picked it up and got to his feet, but before he could use it, Warren pulled up with another car. They were too busy shooting and picking up Samuel to notice Adam and Alana. Rebecca treated the wound on Samuel’s head and gave him some morphine.

Adam pushed the zombies off him and fell back on the ground. He slid under the car. The zombies sniffed and drooled and looked for him. As they lowered their heads like blind dogs searching for a treat Alana started to moan awake. They stopped and moved into the car.

Alana’s moans quickly turned to screams as they tore into her. Adam scurried out from underneath the car and tried pulling them off her. But they bit into her arms and legs and ripped open her chest between them. Adam was driven mad at the sight of it. He picked up a long piece of glass and cut into the back of their heads. He dropped a couple until their focus switched to him. By then his sister’s face was long gone. Her eyes glazed off as if made of glass. He fought them off one by one until the piece of glass got stuck in one’s head while the next attacked. Adam tried to kick it off.

He was ready to face his own death when Tyrell decimated the rest of them with the front of his car. Tyrell got out and helped Adam into the car. Adam dropped the piece of glass, his hand was nearly sliced in half.

“Did you see the people I came in with?”

“I saw them. They were heading towards the marina, with everyone else.”

“Do you know the way?”

“Know the way? I made the route!”

“Great!”

“Just watch out for roadblocks.”

“Is that what we’re calling the zombies now?”

“Do you mind? I just watched my sister get torn to shreds because your friends left us there to die.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure they had their reasons.”

“We’ll find out, won’t we…”

Tyrell didn’t press it any further and made a note of Adam’s resentful tone. He would keep an eye on him. When Tyrell and Adam arrived at the marina it was worse than the beach. Tyrell stopped just up the road where it was still safe. They saw the beginning of town, there was not a soul in sight, walking dead everywhere, but no souls.

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Tyrell tried multiple vantage points to see if anyone had made it to Charlie’s marina. Adam knew it was hopeless. He looked at the shotgun Tyrell had resting next to him.

“Just as I feared,” Tyrell calmly exhaled, popping the car into reverse and back off the road. He pulled the switch he fashioned and pressed the trigger. From across the barrier island there was a large rumble. Gradually it hit them and a light in the western distance could be seen. Tyrell blew up the entire oil refinery.

The zombies inside the marina started moving back out onto the road towards the exploding oil refinery. They followed the noisy flashing light, stumbling right past Tyrell’s car. When the coast was well clear, he turned his car back on and drove into the marina. They got to Charlie’s pier and saw several cars parked outside.

Tyrell parked the car and before he could grab the shotgun Adam snatched it away and pointed it at him.

“Back out of the car, slowly. Take that gun off, slowly.”

Tyrell got out of the car and threw his pistol. Adam backed him away and grabbed his pistol up off the ground. Tyrell backed up to the store Charlie was living in.

“Let’s say hi to your friends.”

“No need.” A voice said out from the dark.

“Who’s there!? Who is that?” Adam demanded.

Atticus leaned out from the shadow to reveal himself holding an assault rifle.

“Where is Doctor Chase?” asked Adam.

Another voice said from ground level, “He’s down but he’ll pull through.”

“Oh, thank god. Thank the lord that the doctor is going to live!” Adam yelled out, “WHEN SO MANY HAVE DIED AROUND HIM!”

“Settle down now,” Atticus ordered him.

“How many more doctor!?”

“Put down your weapons!”

“I have two guns and a hostage,” Adam bargained, “I give the orders!”

Rebecca, Annie, and Quinn listened from inside with Samuel as Charlie and Warren got everything on the yacht working.

“Give me the doctor and your black friend lives.”

“You prick!”

“You’re lucky all I said was black,” Adam nudged Tyrell with the shotgun.

Marcus walked out from in front of the marina. Adam turned to face Marcus and Atticus briefly had a clearshot, so he took it. It cut into the back of Adam’s head and just missed severing his spine, exiting cleanly out of his mouth. Adam pulled the trigger of his pistol in reaction. Tyrell squirmed. Unclear, from the outside looking in on whether or not he was hit.

Atticus switched to automatic, knowing his time to save Tyrell was almost up. Marcus aimed his pistol for Adam’s gun and shot his hand off. Adam screamed and elbowed Tyrell across the face giving him enough time to get his pistol free. Adam shot Tyrell three times in the torso and once in the head before using his body as bullet-fodder to escape. Atticus and Marcus could not bring themselves to continue putting bullets into their fallen friend. Instead, they got back inside and prepared to leave. How the hell was that guy still standing after getting shot in the mouth and his hand blown off? He was running on pure rage, and it cost them their friends life.

On the boat, Samuel was shaken free from his daze by all the gunfire as they were getting ready to take off. Atticus and Marcus ran past them. “Tyrell?” They both shook their heads.

“No. How? He was our engineer.” Samuel sounded defeated. Samuel did the calculations in his head. “He was supposed to live.” Samuel stood up and walked towards the door as everyone boarded.

“DAD! WAIT!”

Rebecca carried the medical bag aboard and watched Quinn and Annie chase Samuel and his son. The doors opened but it wasn’t Samuel who breached them. Things might have been different if it was, or even if it was Adam that came through those doors, but it wasn’t. It could only be one thing. The same thing it always was, the undead.

They piled into the doors and separated Samuel, Warren, and Quinn with the rest of them on the boat. Charlie anchored away upon seeing them, whereas Annie handed the wounded pup to Marcus. Rebecca tried to get Annie to make a jump for it as well, but the poor girl was too scared. The boat sailed away, and Atticus tried to think of something quick to say, where to meet, something like, “SAVANNAH, GEORGIA!”

Samuel and Warren heard them scream from the boat. They escorted Annie and Quinn down the back alleyway to their car. Warren got in the driver seat and the two girls jumped in the back. Samuel was still concussed. As they sped away Samuel asked his son, “Do you know where Savannah is?”

“Georgia, right?”

“Right. Stay on the parkways and watch for the signs. Once we’re headed west it should only technically be two lefts.”

“What?”

“Didn’t they say they burned all the bridges?” the girls in back panicked.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way across,” Samuel insisted, “We’ll get to Savannah.”