Chapter Two
It had been more difficult and time consuming getting to the plantation house than they'd anticipated. It was only a short distance from the safehouse to the massive old home, but apparently every single worker had stayed on the plantation and consequently succumbed to the sickness. For every step they took, they encountered ten infected. But they had finally gotten into the house and were now standing in the grand foyer at the foot of a massive staircase taking stock of their situation.
"There might be a boat out beyond that back wall. It's the river right there. There has to be a boat," Coach said, cracking the door open a bit to look out.
"Well, you'd think that's true but one time, my buddy Keith," Ellis began. "Well, he was sure these rich folk by us had a boat out back and he figured he'd take my dare and go streaking. Let me tell you, those bees were sure upset with him when he ran into their hives! He tried real hard-,"
"Son. Was there a boat or not?" Coach cut in.
"Oh. Sorry. No. There wasn't," Ellis finished quickly.
"Well, I guess the only way to find out is to go out there and take a look for ourselves," Coach decided.
"I think there's ammo and some guns out there," Rochelle observed.
"And some health kits," Nick added.
"Well, that decides it then. We can't stay here forever," Coach said, hefting his axe.
The four quietly slipped out the back door and onto the sprawling, wrap-around porch. Coach led the way with Nick bringing up the rear. There were fewer infected back here in the garden and none really paid any attention to stocked up on ammo and headed to the gate leading to the water. It was locked, but Ellis was able to climb up with a boost from Nick where he could see an empty dock.
"Sorry, guys. I hate being right about this," Ellis shook his head as he slid back down to the ground.
"Damn. What do we do now? We're in the middle of nowhere here," Nick cursed.
"We could try making our way along the riverbank and hope we come across a boat that way," Coach suggested.
Rochelle looked around as the guys continued discussing options. She saw another table several feet away and wandered over to it. There was a radio on it and it was still charged. Shrugging her shoulders, Rochelle picked up the mic and gave it a try. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"
She nearly dropped the mic when a voice came back at her. "Well, hello there! It sure is good to hear another voice! Where you at?" came the thick Southern drawl.
The others hurriedly gathered round as Rochelle replied. "We're holed up at a big plantation house right on the river."
"I know where that is. Listen-get yourselves together and hang on for a bit. I should be able to get there in about half an hour. My name's Virgil. See ya soon!"
"Half an hour? We can do that," Ellis said.
They heard a half-strangled moan and looked up to see two infected running towards them. Coach took one swing and beheaded them both. Looking around, they saw more starting to notice them.
"I think we need to get back to the house until Virgil shows up," Nick said, raising his gun and taking aim at what was once a woman staggering towards them.
"I agree, Nick," Coach replied. "Come on. Let's brace ourselves up on that second floor balcony where that big gun is set up."
On their way through the house, Ellis stopped to check in a few rooms and came back with some pipe bombs and molotovs plus a few bottles of some aspirin he had found. They divided the spoils up amongst them and found a room right off the balcony with two exits that were easily defendable. The hard part would be staying still and waiting for rescue to arrive.
Rochelle took a spot in the back corner of the porch and brought her newly found carbine off her shoulder. Coach and Ellis took up spots just at the point where the porch turned right to go around the front, so Nick came back to stand next to Rochelle on her left, guarding the side railing.
"Awfully quiet," Ellis muttered.
"I imagine as soon as that boat comes into earshot it'll stir things up," Coach answered, leaning against the railing.
As Coach and Ellis continued to talk, Rochelle looked out across the vast expanse of what should've been a gorgeous garden. She could almost see the beauty if she kept her gaze high enough to avoid the scattered bodies in various stages of decay that were sprawled throughout the grounds.
"You seem lost in thought. Something bothering you?" Nick asked quietly.
"You mean other than being caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?" she asked, with a little laugh.
"Point taken. You just looked a little more lost than usual," Nick replied. "I thought maybe you were thinking about someone somewhere."
"No-not really. Both of my parents died a few years back," Rochelle said quietly.
"Sorry to hear that, "Nick replied. "No brothers or sister?" Here he paused for a moment before continuing, "Or a boyfriend?"
Rochelle laughed ruefully. "I'm an only child. As for a boyfriend-well, that's really the reason I wound up in Georgia in the first place."
Nick waited to hear the rest but when Rochelle didn't volunteer anything more, he prodded, "You moved here for him?" Why was he asking? It wasn't like it was any of his business and he was breaking his own rules; never learn too much about someone. It made it easier to walk away if you didn't let yourself get to know anyone. But there was something about Rochelle that made him curious. She was the strongest woman he'd met in a very long time. She sure as Hell was no damsel in distress-not with the way she swung an axe!
"I guess you could say that. I was engaged to Malik for just about two months when I caught him with my best friend from work. And when I say I caught them, I mean in the worst way possible." She laughed again, a short, self-deprecating laugh.
"Wow. Geez, I'm sorry, Rochelle. I didn't have any idea-," Nick tried to apologize.
"It's okay. I wanted to get out of there-I'm sure you can imagine-so I volunteered for the first assignment out of town." She looked back at Nick. "And voila! That's how I wound up in the middle of this nightmare. Although this one is probably a little better than the one I ran away from."
Rochelle got up from her seat on the floor and went to Coach, who was examining the large gun that had been stationed in the middle of the porch. Ellis was talking about using it to blast a hole in the locked gate to get to the boat that would soon be arriving. Nick only heard half of the conversation, though. He was still processing everything Rochelle had told him. He knew what it felt like to discover the person you loved with someone else. He could empathize with her. As he watched her making a quick study of the gun and how the ammo fed through it, he realized he was primarily thinking about how smart she was. Well, that was a first for him! That's not saying he didn't appreciate her looks and body-he'd already checked those out weeks ago. But he couldn't help but think about how this small woman was so full of surprises. Beauty, brains, personality-and that's when Nick came to the realization he was wading into extremely dangerous territory. Not only did he find her attractive, he actually liked her. And that was not good. Shaking his head, Nick roused himself from his thoughts and walked over to the others.
"I'm pretty sure this gun will take care of that gate. I'm just worried about the attention it's going to attract when we do it," Coach was saying.
"I agree but how are we all going to jump over it? You need one person on the ground to do the boosting up. How does the last person get up?" Ellis asked.
"You're right," Coach sighed heavily. "And it looks like that boat may be coming. Something is stirring our friends up," he observed, seeing the infected starting to move agitatedly around the gate and surrounding wall.
Nick cocked his head, trying to listen, and thought he could barely make out an approaching motor. "Well, looks like it's time to see if the gun works!"
Rochelle swung it around to point at the gate and then looked at the rest of the group. "You ready?"
The three men nodded, bringing their guns to bear and Rochelle opened fire. As soon as she did so, most of the infected turned in the direction of the noise and started running towards them. Rochelle kept firing until the gun nearly overheated and finally the gate fell apart, revealing the dock on the other side. They could hear a boat horn from not far away and then their attention turned to the infected climbing the railing in front of them and filing up the stairs of the house to their rear.
Their position on the top porch made it easier to defend. A smoker had tried to grab Ellis but because of the railing, failed miserably. Nick polished it off with one shot before Ellis had even had a chance to cry out. As the infected swarmed up the stairs and rails, it was almost as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Rochelle began to think they'd make it out of this relatively unscathed. She could hear the engine of the boat now and knew they only had to hold out a little longer. It made her feel better and when she was in a good mood, she felt little could stop her. She glanced quickly to her right where Nick stood picking off the infected that tried to climb the post from the ground level. She saw one zombie slip past Coach and run towards Nick's unprotected back. In one smooth move, she turned and aimed her gun over Nick's head and dispatched it before it could reach him. The look of shock on Nick's face was priceless and she had to laugh.
"Damn, Rochelle! Way to give me a heart attack! I thought for a minute you'd decided to take out your anger at men on me!" he quipped.
"Nah-I have better ways to do that-and I'd want to take my time," she threw back. It was worth the innuendo to watch his eyes widen even further and then hear the laugh he barked out.
"I hate to break up your little flirting session, but it looks like that boat is here," Coach called.
Everyone turned to look towards the river. Sure enough, the boat was coming up to the dock. "Time to go, Kids!" Nick yelled.
Ellis took the lead down the stairs inside the old plantation house followed by Rochelle with Nick and Coach bringing up the rear. On the way, they grabbed more ammo and got to the back door.
"This ain't going to be easy," Coach said, spraying the closest infected with his AK-47.
"Nothing worth having ever is...that's what my momma always said," Ellis quipped with his usual boyish enthusiasm. "But this should make it a little easier," he added, tossing a vial of puke at a particularly slow moving infected. Immediately, it was swarmed and the way to the path to the boat was cleared.
"Good thinking, Son!" Coach said as he motioned Rochelle and Ellis ahead.
It was a short sprint to the demolished gate and Rochelle turned to lay covering fire as the others raced to the area. Coach was bringing up the rear when she heard it. She searched wildly for where it was and Nick's eyes widened as he caught up to her.
"Where-" he gasped out.
"Tank!" Ellis screamed, panting behind Coach. It was coming from the house and had ripped up a massive chunk of concrete step, which it aimed right at the running man.
"Coach!" Rochelle screamed, as the big man stumbled. He didn't go down though, and as he continued running, he yelled out, "Keep going!"
Nick pushed Rochelle towards the docks. "Go! I'll cover him!"
She jogged a few feet away, pulling a molotov out with one hand and her lighter with the other. Ellis ran forward to Coach, helping to lay down covering fire. The tank had gained ground and was getting closer when Rochelle heard another roar from the left side and saw yet another tank.
"Get on the boat!" Nick screamed at her. As Coach and Ellis ran/staggered past, she lit the cloth sticking out of the neck of the Yuengling bottle and threw it with all her might on the ground just in front of the two approaching tanks. Both were immediately engulfed in flames and she turned around quickly to see Ellis and Coach reaching the boat. Then she felt herself being yanked nearly off her feet as Nick grabbed her arm and spun her past him.
"Go!" He yelled at her, turning to empty a clip from his sniper rifle into the two behemoths. Then he was running beside her as Coach and Ellis shot over their heads. As she launched herself onto the boat, Nick yelled, "Go-go, go!" and landed beside her.
The boat cleared the dock just as the first tank reached it. The smell of burning flesh wafted to them briefly and then was taken away by the wind generated by the moving boat.
"They don't get much closer than that, Folks," a voice called from the cabin and the survivors picked themselves up to move to where their savior was steering the boat.
"Thank you so much for picking us up!" Rochelle exclaimed upon meeting the captain.
"Oh, it's my pleasure! I was beginning to think there was no one left. Hearing your voice come over the air gave me hope again. My name's Virgil. What's yours?" the rail thin older man asked. He looked to be in his fifties and had a weathered quality about him that made the survivors feel instantly at ease.
"I'm Rochelle and these are my friends Coach, Ellis, and Nick," Rochelle introduced themselves.
"Pleasure to meet y'all," Virgil replied, shaking each one's hand. "Where y'all headed?"
They looked at each other and Nick replied for the group. "New Orleans. It's the last EVAC station on the East Coast. At least that's what we've heard."
"Yup. That's what I heard, too. But I also heard they're pulling out fast. I can drop you folks off there if you want. Right now we're in Weeks Bay. If we hug the coast, we're about two days east of New Orleans. Shouldn't be a problem getting there 'cept I'm going to need to stop for gas. Hope y'all don't mind helping me out with that. There's a place in Biloxi I can pull in to tomorrow. It's right off the dock and seeings how y'all have guns, I thought you might be willin' to 'blige me," Virgil semi-asked.
"Brother, you saved our lives back there. I think we can get you your gas," Coach replied good naturedly.
"Well thanks a lot! Now, I'm guessing you four might want to clean yourselves up a bit. I've got a pumping, salt water shower if you'd like. Got a few spare shirts that might fit ya if you want to wash your own things," Virgil offered.
"Mister, you just won a place in my heart forever," Nick exclaimed.
"Y'all get yourselves cleaned up and then I'll give you some poles and we can catch our supper, Virgil added.
"I LOVE fishin'!" Ellis exclaimed excitedly. "One time, my buddy Keith and I…"
"I call first dibs on the shower!" Rochelle interjected.
"Second!" Nick exclaimed.
"You're last, Son," Coach added, clapping Ellis on the shoulder.
Ellis looked confused for a moment. "Well, okay then."