An (Incomplete) Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse: Chapter 13
March 19th, 1999 - 4:25 am
He doesn't hear them so much as sense them, in the end.
Tom is sitting halfway between the van and the perimeter of rope and empty cans they'd set up when it happens. He's switching between watching Rachel sleep, a few feet away from him, and trying to stay as warm as he can while wrapped in the smallest of their blankets. He hadn't wanted to take one of the larger blankets away from her because it was downright freezing in the middle of the night, but his long sleeved henley and the thin throw blanket he had weren't doing much to combat the cold.
He sighs, eyes darting around the perimeter again, before he gets up and heads to the van.
Maybe they have an extra blanket inside.
His fingers have just touched the door handle when he first feels his stomach drop. He glances around, hand going to the knife on his hip, to try and see what had alerted him, but the night seems calm and quiet. He can hear Tex's soft snores from inside the van, and he can see Danny and Kara curled around each other, fast asleep, a few feet away from him. None of them had made any noise, but despite the appearance of calm, Tom can't shake the feeling of unease growing inside of him.
Something had felt off since dinner the previous night, and right now it's enough to make the hair on his arm stand on end.
Something's not right, he thinks, and quickly abandons his mission of finding a new blanket to walk the rope perimeter Kara and Danny had set up.
Everything's intact; the perimeter is solid, but it's not enough to reassure Tom.
He frowns, and then decides to climb on top of the van for a better vantage point. The moon is full and bright, so he's hoping that he'll be able to see a good distance, to reassure himself that everything is fine, but the sinking feeling in his stomach only grows as he clambers up on top of the van, trying to be as quiet as possible so he doesn't wake Katie or Tex inside. He's standing to his feet, trying to step around the gas cans tied to the roof, when he sees them.
Hundreds of them, in the distance.
He still can't hear them; they're a silent, terrifying army, shuffling slowly toward their camp.
"Fuck," he says empathically, and tries to calm his racing heart as he scans the horizon. He can't see an end to the herd in either direction; just endless lines of rotting, putrid bodies, packed close together from east to west, north to south. He can't even estimate how many there are because he can't see where the pack begins or ends. They cover both sides of the highway, the land in between, and on either side.
They are an endless swarm; the moonlight is shining on them, illuminating the horde of undead heading straight toward them, and Tom feels like he's going to throw up.
He freezes for several long seconds, and then begins moving all at once, his hands shaking and his heart pounding.
"WAKE UP!" he cries, purposely beating the handle of his knife on the side of the van as he slides down, his feet connecting with the ground with a dull thud. He winces as pain shoots up his shins, but quickly runs toward the others, kicking the sleeping bag Danny's in before he falls down beside Rachel, shaking her shoulders frantically. "Wake up, Rachel," he says, and there's panic in his voice.
He's never felt like this before, even when facing down the enemy in Afghanistan.
"Tom?" Rachel asks sleepily, and he swallows around the lump in his throat.
"Yeah, you gotta wake up, Rachel," he says, and reaches a shaking hand out to help her stand to her feet. She's clearly exhausted, but alert almost immediately, picking up on the terror in his voice. Danny and Kara are up as well, he notices when he glances back, and Tex has just stuck his head out of the van. "We have to go. Now. We have to go now, as fast as we can," he says, and Rachel grabs their blankets into her arms, running toward the van as Tom follows close behind.
"What's wrong?" Danny asks, throwing his own handful of blankets inside. Kara follows right behind him, her hands full of the dishes and the camp stove they'd used to make dinner the previous night. Tom takes it from her and tosses it all in the van, not caring about the mess he's making.
"They're coming," he says, and he knows he's not making a lot of sense, but the terror of seeing so many of them in one place is making it hard for him to think.
Tex reaches out, placing both hands on Tom's shoulders. He forces the younger man to meet his gaze, and feels his heart start beating fast when he sees the absolute fear written in Tom's eyes.
"What's coming?" he asks, and Tom motions toward the distance. He can't see them from here, standing on the ground, and quickly climbs back on top of the van, holding a hand out to pull Rachel up as well. Tex and Danny join them, Kara climbing inside the van to sit with Katie, and Tom can see the exact moment that they notice.
"Oh... my god," Rachel says, a hand flying to her mouth, and Tom wants to reach out and hold her but he can't make his limbs move.
"What the fuck," Tex adds, his eyes roaming across the horde of zombies. They're closer than they had been when Tom had first seen them, and his heart is beating painfully against his ribs.
"What're we gonna do, boss?" Danny asks, and Rachel shakes her head in silence, terrified and out of her depth.
What can they do? They can't drive through them. There's too many. They could drive around them, Tom thinks, but there's no roads, and there's no guarantee of how wide the herd is, and they can't go backwards, because then they'll constantly be looking over their shoulders, knowing that the biggest grouping of the undead they've ever seen is following behind them.
They have to find a way around the undead, a way to continue their path to Baltimore.
"I don't know," Rachel admits. Tom can see how scared she is, and he's suddenly reminded of how young they are; Danny, Kara, and Rachel hadn't even finished college. They're all so young, barely even adults, and he can't stand the thought of Rachel trying to make this decision on her own, so he steps in, shoving away his terror and focusing on solutions.
"We have to find a way to get on the other side of them," he says, and Tex is nodding, already climbing down to reach inside the van for the atlas. "Maybe there's a detour we can take."
"That's... that's a good idea," Rachel says, her voice shaking ever so slightly as she allows Tom to help her to the ground. They don't have long, he knows, and he wants her inside the van, safe, while they're coming up with a plan.
He follows in after her, closing the door once Danny joins them. Kara is holding Katie in her lap, and they're both clearly scared even though they hadn't seen the horde with their own eyes. Tex is shaking his head as he flips through the road atlas.
"There's a way around," he says, and Tom almost breathes a sigh of relief. Before he can, however, Tex continues. "We gotta backtrack about a hundred miles, and we can meet up with I-15. That meets up with I-70 in Utah, and from there we can reroute back to Baltimore. Not ideal. It'll add at least 500 miles on to our trip, but it's the only major highway."
"Back roads?" Tom suggests, and Rachel shakes her head.
"No. They're too clogged, and every time we've traveled smaller, back roads, we've come across some... unsavory people. Better to stick to the major interstates."
Tom nods, and briefly wonders if a small town is where they had run into Neils, the man who had been obsessed with Rachel. He shoves that thought away for later, however, and bites his lip.
"That could work," he admits, and then, when Rachel looks at him questioningly, he continues, "but... we could also stick it out here, save the time it would take us to travel so far out of the way."
Everyone in the van turns to look at him, and Tom continues quickly, "a few miles back there was a ... I don't know what it was called, but it looked like some sort of drainage system, to allow flood water to pass through the valley. There was a section between the two roads, big enough for a car. We could pull into that, turn everything off, and wait for them to pass around us."
The van is silent as everyone mulls over his idea.
"I hate to lose the time," Rachel admits, biting her lip. "It would add almost a week to our journey that we weren't anticipating if we take I-15. We'd need to stop again, stock up in more food and fuel."
"Yes," Danny says slowly. "But on the other hand, Tom's plan... if they notice us, we're fucked. We'd be in the middle of the herd, and there would be no way out. Someone so much as sneezes, or they smell us, and they'll tear this van apart to get to us."
Tom nods; he's not wrong. It's a risk, and he acknowledges that. "I agree. It's terrifying. Either plan is solid, I just wanted to make sure we had options. We need to decide now, however, and get moving. Let's take a vote."
Everyone in the van immediately turns to Rachel, and Tom shakes his head, speaking up for her. She's brilliant and wonderful and a great leader, he thinks, but she shouldn't have to shoulder this one alone.
"No, Rachel isn't making this decision on her own. It's too much to put on her, too much pressure. We decide together, like a team. We vote. I say we stick it out here."
Rachel shakes her head, and then speaks up quietly. "I vote we detour to I-15."
Kara is next to speak up, clearly uncomfortable with weighing in on the decision making, but speaking her mind regardless. "I agree with Rachel. I don't want to be a sitting duck, surrounded by them."
"All right," Tom says. "Two to one we detour. Danny? Tex?"
He truly is happy with whatever decision they make, and he's comforted to see that Rachel had so easily disagreed with him. He wants to be a partner for her in this, not the sole leader, and by voting opposite of him, she's shown that they can disagree and compromise. She didn't defer to him just because he was older, because he was a man, and he's glad of it.
"Detour," Tex finally says, and Danny nods his head in agreement.
"All right then," Tom says decisively, and reaches out to squeeze Rachel's shoulder. "Let's get a move on, then. We need to stay ahead of them."
March 19th, 1999 - 6:55 am
The hours driving toward I-15 are tense and filled with silent fear. No one speaks for the first hour, but as the sun begins to rise and they can see only clear, empty land behind them, everyone begins to relax.
Rachel knows, logically, that they're moving much faster than the horde, but she had been unable to relax until the sun finally dipped above the horizon and she could see with her own eyes that they weren't being followed.
She breathes out, relaxing back in the driver's seat, and feels a small smile tug on her lips when she feels Tom reach over and take her hand. She grasps his tightly, entwining their fingers, and lets the tense lines of her body relax in increments as they continue to drive. Tom runs his thumb over the soft skin of her hand, offering his silent support, and she is once again struck by how thankful she is that they found him.
"Thank you," she finally whispers, breaking the silence that had hung over the van for the past two hours.
Tom hums from the seat beside her, and she glances over to see that he's leaning his head back, his eyes closed.
"For what?" he asks, and she smiles at him before turning her attention back to the road. She keeps hold of his hand, clinging to it like a lifeline as she drives.
"For helping me lead."
Tom opens his eyes at that, rolling his head so he can look at the woman in the seat beside him.
"You're a great leader," he says, and she can tell he means it by the absolute sincerity shining in his eyes. She reluctantly breaks his gaze and turns her attention back to the road as he continues. "You've done so much, you've kept everyone alive for so long, but these decisions, the big ones, you shouldn't have to make alone. We're here for you; I'm here for you, and we'll make it out of this together."
Rachel smiles, squeezing his hand to let him know she'd heard him, but doesn't respond verbally. The van falls silent for several more moments before Tom speaks up again, but this time his tone is light.
"Any reason you didn't get an RV when you guys picked a vehicle? Indoor toilet, bed, all that jazz. We might even be able to find hook-ups at campsites occasionally, have water for showers. We could find one with a ladder up the back, use the top of the RV for keeping watch. It'd be a lot safer for whoever was on watch. I love our rope and can system, but it's pretty low tech."
The van is silent as his words register, and then Tex makes a noise in the backseat. Tom turns to look at him in amusement.
"Holy shit, why didn't we think of that?" he asks, his voice laced with wonder, and Tom chuckles.
"I guess you had more on your mind staying alive than car shopping," he says, and Rachel makes a noise of agreement beside him. "I'm just saying. We could keep an eye out during our cross country trip, see if we could find one that would fit all of us."
"Fuck yeah," Tex says, and Danny and Kara are nodding in agreement. "Beats the hell out of sitting on the floor all day. We could have couches. We'd be livin' in style, man!"
"All right," Rachel agrees, her voice light for the first time since Tom had woken her up that morning. "New mission: since we're extending our little trip for at least an extra week, we'll go car shopping. Find us an RV for traveling. Tex, check the atlas for campsites. They'd be our best bet, and we have to stop somewhere tonight; might as well make it worth it."
"Can do, boss," Tex says, and Tom turns his attention to the window as the other man begins shuffling around in the backseat.
The mood in the van had lightened considerably, and as he listens to Danny, Tex, and Kara in the backseat mapping out where they'll stop for the night, Tom leans his head back against the headrest and closes his eyes. He sighs when he's immediately assaulted with flashes of the horde of zombies he'd seen earlier, and pinches the bridge of his nose, grimacing as he tries to chase away the images that he knows will haunt his dreams for many nights to come.
Rachel notices, and squeezes his hand where they're still clasped together on the console.
"What's wrong?" she questions, voice quiet and just for him. Neither one of them want to interrupt the soft voices and laughter in the back.
"What was that?" he whispers, and she knows immediately what he's talking about.
The horde.
The hundreds upon hundreds, maybe even thousands of the undead that had been shuffling toward them. Tom shudders as he remembers the way they had moved; together as one, silent from a distance, their shuffling movements jerky and uncoordinated but quick. He remembers the distance they had covered from when he first noticed them and when he had shown the others; they had moved faster than any he'd seen before, and he wonders if it's because there were so many of them. He thinks about what would have happened if he hadn't noticed them until too late, and has to fight a wave of nausea as he does.
"I don't know," Rachel admits finally, her voice low and tired. "The first herd... the one when Eric went missing, that was the first time we saw them grouped together like that. But last night, that was... "
She trails off; she doesn't know what it was. She just knows that it was horrifying, beyond anything she'd seen thus far.
"They moved quickly," Tom adds, running his thumb over the skin of her hand to calm his racing heart. "They moved together, like ... like they were... like a hive mind, or something."
Rachel was nodding and biting her lip, a worried look on her face. "We've noticed that they're stronger when they're together, too. When they're all alone, they're almost too easy to take out, but when there's a big group of them, they're harder to kill. Faster, stronger... almost smarter, even."
Tom sighs and leans his head back against the headrest, taking his hand from hers to run it anxiously though his hair.
"I'll feel better when we get to Baltimore," he decides, dropping his forearm over his eyes.
"Yeah," Rachel says, her voice quiet, and then she sighs. "I hope it's what we're expecting it to be."
"It has to be, after all of this shit," Tex says from the backseat, and Tom realizes that at some point everyone in the backseat had grown quiet, listening to his and Rachel's conversation. He doesn't have anything else to say, though, so he just nods in response to Tex and keeps his arm over his eyes, blocking out the light, and tries to relax as they drive.
As he does, however, he realizes that the feeling of unease that had plagued him the night before hadn't actually gone away, it had simply lessened, and as they continue driving it settles back in his stomach, heavy and unpleasant.
He tries not to dwell on what it could mean.
