Chapter 25
Nate's hand grasped hold of the edge, and he wasted no time putting his last bit of energy to pull himself up and onto the side of the riverbank. Nate smiled as he crawled a little farther to safety, and he through off his backpack, letting it rest on the ground. He rolled over, and stared at the sky. Nate allowed a smile to spread across his face.
"Yes," Nate yelled, gasping in-between his exclamation, "Yeah, oh yeah! Boo-yeah! Hahaha… Yes, what are you gonna do NOW?"
Nate stood, feeling how light his body was now. He smiled, doing a little dance.
"YES! Haha. Whatcha gonna do, dog? You don't know me. You don't KNOW me!"
A gunshot rang out, and Nate heard a 'thump' of a bullet hitting the dirt not far behind him. Nate dove to the ground, grabbing his pack and crawling behind a rock as more gunshots rang out. Bullets hit all around him, and when he ducked behind the rock, he noticed they slammed into the side of the rock.
When the gunfire stopped, Nate chanced a glance around the side of the rock, cursing as he clutched his rifle.
"What the hell, man!" said Nate, trying to glance at his shooters, "I'm walkin' here!"
On the other side of the gaping riverbed a group of people stood, clad in leather and random rag-tag clothes. They held automatic rifles like the FAMAS and other weapons. Behind them, a fleet of motorcycles sat, parked. Nate closed his eyes and cursed, his blood beginning to boil.
"American," yelled a familiar voice, "Why am I not surprised."
"Hey, frenchy," yelled Nate, peeking around the rock, "Are you following me or what? This is weird."
"Stop," yelled LeVuke, "Calling me fenchy, American. I have a name, and I vould love it if you learned it. I am very eager to learn yours."
"Yeah, well… why do I have a feeling you don't really care?" asked Nate.
"Oh, I do," said LeVuke, "I have not met zuch a challenge since my time with ze Los Banditos from before! That IZ when I changed my name. You have escaped me, slapped my honor in the face, killed my men AND my people, and evaded me out of my own country. You, are definitely a plague on this land."
"Well," said Nate, "You weren't exactly the best host, Frenchy."
"I'm going to chase you, American," said LeVuke, "I'll chase you to your Africa, I'll chase you to China, I'll chase you to America, I'll even chase you to HELL and back! For you and I, we've been at var zince before we met."
"Damn, Frenchy, that's serious stuff," said Nate.
"I'm going to kill you," said LeVuke, "And I'm going to kill your friends. I'm going to make sure that every single one of them feels the burden you have put on zem."
"Leave them alone, dude," yelled Nate, staring at his jammed rifle and letting out an exasperated sigh, "They… they just want hope. They don't deserve this."
"They deserve MORE," yelled LeVuke, "You filthy, pig-dog! I will skin them and hang zem by their appendages back on the ruins of MY tower!"
"This is not about them," said Nate, "Please… they… they think we'll be alright. We're… we're all just looking for hope."
"And I am here to destroy that hope!" said LeVuke.
Nate spotted some items getting thrown into the river, and laughter from many of the French bikers as they items disappeared from sight.
"Au Revoir, my Kitties!" yelled LeVuke.
Down below, several explosions could be heard that shook the very ground Nate sat on. The wood of the boat could be heard splintering and rocks shattering down below. Howling and yelps of pain could be heard below from the wolves, but the gang across the river hooted and hollered as well.
"Listen to zem die, American," yelled LeVuke, "Now you stay there and cry your eyez out. Do what you vish, but we will be coming to get you, and we WILL find you, American."
Nate was silent, almost laughing at the stupidity of LeVuke, but he allowed him to believe what he would.
"You know what, Frenchy?" yelled Nate, "It's ME who isn't done with YOU. You come for me, and you find me, alright? And I guarantee you, I'll be waiting. I'll have a gun, and I'll have a knife, and I'll be waiting for you. And I'll go All-American REJECT on your ass. It's the last Alamo, Frenchy, and I'll show you how it goes. Yippee-Kie-Ay!"
"You do that," said LeVuke, "I said once before. I am the Napoleon of France, and I come to conquer, not to chase down a rat to let it scurry off into the zewers."
Nate began to reload his revolver, smiling.
"I want to kill you, American," yelled LeVuke, smiling, "Oh, and by ze way: Two things wrong wiz your analogy. One: It waz the Mexicans, not Ze French, at the Alamo."
Nate slapped the revolver back into a firing mode and he cocked back the hammer.
"And the second?" yelled Nate.
"Secondly," continued LeVuke, "The Americans lost ze battle of the Alamo."
"Well," said Nate, smiling, "We did give them one hell of a fight."
Then, Nate peeked around the corner and aimed his pistol right at the group, sweeping it for LeVuke.
"Oh, and they were Mexican," yelled Nate, "Not no boot licking, pansy-ass, biker Frenchies!"
Nate gave up looking for LeVuke, and he began to fire into the crowd he saw. The small amount of gunfire set off return fire on a massive scale. Nate ducked behind his rock, before grabbing his backpack and crawling away, trying to keep the rock between the hostile bikers and himself.
"And so we begin," said Nate, smiling as he crawled, "And where the hell is my HAT!"
The tree branch snapped (or crumbled, more like), sending Charles crashing down to the ground. Shatner just ignored it, walking carefully towards the mountain in the distance.
"So, I'm not sure we're actually going south," said Pandora, "In fact, I'm sure we're not."
"No, we're not," said Kate, "I know a place not far… I think, and they might be able to work with us to get us some transportation to the coast."
"How do you know they'll take us?" said Seth, "We going to give them all our newly gotten medicine and food?"
"Well, the thought crossed my mind," said Shatner, "It worked in Wales."
"Not really," said Kevin, "You still stole a boat."
"Borrowed," said Leo, "Borrowed and broke."
"He said he'd replace it," yelled Iawn as he continued jumping from burnt tree to burnt tree.
The forest they now walked through only had a few, very large trees left in the charred wasteland of a forest. They walked an old road that went through the center, but they could barely see it at times through all the ash and dirt that covered the ground.
They had been walking almost a week and a half, no signs of life since the old couple way back at that town. Slowly, Shatner had felt them slipping farther and farther into confusion. He rubbed his aching head, staring up at the sun through the thick, grey clouds above.
"I spy… something grey," said Fred.
"Not fair, everything's grey!" refuted Andy, "This sucks."
"Get's old after the hundredth mile or so," said Charles.
"Or first," mumbled Shatner.
"I think I see something," said Iawn.
"Not how you say it," said Andy.
"We need to see a way out of this deathtrap," said Seth, "All the ash is covering up anything that would be considered eatable."
"We DO have food," said Kevin.
"You should always be prepared to lose that food," said Seth, smiling.
"Hey, I saw movement, a dark figure in the distance!" yelled Iawn suddenly, even pointing.
"Now we're talking!" replied Andy, "Alright, is it a ghost?"
"Dark figure?" mumbled Shatner, raising his head to look in the direction Iawn pointed.
In the distance all he could see were the trees still standing and the piles of dirt and ashes. The ash fell, like giant black leaves. It reminded Shatner of the fall season, before the war, when the leaves would fall off the trees, and sprinkle the world with color and depth.
Shatner stepped away from the group, getting lost in his thoughts as he stared off into the Ghost Forest. Shatner thought of the fall… tried to trail back why he thought this. This… ash falling like leaves. Shatner blinked, this was Fall. This season, was the Fall: the Fall of humanity, the Fall of life, the Fall of their time here. And Winter would fallow… a time of death, a time of cold, a time of burial. Shatner blinked again.
Winter was coming to their world, just as fast as the fastest flutter of ash. Shatner blinked again. He thought of what Winter meant back in D.C. A shortage of blankets. A fight to stay dry, to stay warm. Searching for wood to burn, food to eat, a place to escape being buried in the snow-bank. How hard it was…
Shatner almost blinked again, but something caught his eye. He would have missed it. He woke up, and his eye scanned the forest, darting from place to place. Then he saw it, a dark figure, staying low, jumping from one tree to another.
"I see it too," whispered Shatner, then he woke up, shaking himself into action, "I see the figure. Guys, battle decisions, it's a TRAP!"
Shatner ran to the nearest tree, pressing his back against it and peering off into the forest. The other did the same. Their rifles trained down, into the forest. Seth gave a weary glance at Kevin, who gave an eerie glance back.
They stayed still for a few minutes, Shatner sweeping the forest, looking for that figure.
"Toldja," whispered Iawn to Leo, provoking a retaliatory elbow from Leo.
"I did not see anything," said Kate, "Where are we looking?"
"It was a figure," said Shatner, "Ducking around out there. There might be more of them, this could be an ambush!"
"This is only good to kill us," said Seth, "And I don't think we'd be talking right now if they wanted us dead."
"So we won't fire just yet," said Kevin, "But I don't want to be taken hostage again."
They waited around for a few more minutes, just staring out into the forest. The younger members began to get fidgety, and Seth, Fred, and Kevin began to get skeptic.
"Are you sure you saw a figure?" asked Seth.
"It could have been a piece of ash," nodded Fred.
"I'm bored," said Leo, "And now there isn't even the knowledge that we're making lee-way to keep us going."
"I know what I saw," said Shatner, "I just don't know why… I just."
"We should keep going," said Kate, "But be keeping a close eye on the forest. We should not take any chances."
"I agree," said Fred, standing up and continuing to head down the road, "Let's keep moving, the sooner we're done with this trip the better!"
"I just," started Shatner, but he never finished his statement, he just rose to his feet and walked with the rest of the group down the road once more.
Now tensions were high. Everyone was looking, everyone was searching. Shadows were built out of the ash, thing men and dangerous bikers materialized out of ash and played around with the imaginations of the travelers. Soon, shady men and dangerous bikers materialized to demons and snakes and nightmares, poking from the trees and crawling across the ground towards the group. The wind blowing became the screams of a woman being eaten or a soldier as he rammed his bayonet into the stomach of some horrible beast.
Shatner shook his head; he tried to destroy the images that were forming. He saw the looks on the others faces, their fears as they watches the ash-leaves fall. He needed to appear strong, or stronger, to keep them calm. He needed to make sure everyone was calm.
They walked on several more minutes, very uneasily, into the setting sun. Shatner was beginning to think the shadow earlier was just as real as the goblins and spiders of his fears now, and that it was all just his nerves getting at him.
"I have to go to the Lou," said Chalres, him looking questionably at Kate and the rest.
"I have to jingle as well," said Kevin, "Wait a moment, we'll be right back."
Kevin patted Charles' shoulder and brought him to the edge of the forest. The others sighed as they waited for them to return. They were gone a few minutes, and then the group saw them returning, swiftly, back to the road.
As they past a patch of ash, a hand burst from the pile, grabbing hold of Charles' sleeve and holding on. Charles let out a streak and stepped back, Kevin jumping at this exclamation.
Shatner saw what happened. He raised his gun. Kate let out a yell of "NO!". The others tried to bring their guns to bear as well.
Charles tried to fight the hand, but as he did a figure rose from the ashes, ash going everywhere.
"ZOMBIE!" yelled Charles, "Shoot it!"
"Oh God!" yelled Kevin, jumping back from Charles.
The figure rose, pulling Charles in the way between it and the others. Shatner has to wait to shoot, watching as all the ash that was kicked up in the commotion settled. Shatner's eyes widened as he realized what was going on, and he dropped his rifle down, rolling his eyes.
"What the hell," he mumbled, and the others gasped.
Nathan Flint stood holding Charles as if he was a hostage, his goggles down, his clothes covered in ash and his stuff stuffed behind him. He was smiling, one of his hands in the air, holding his revolver.
"Hey, kiddo," said Nate, "Miss me?"
Charles pushed away, a shocked look on his face. Nate smiled, holding his hands out in a "Ta-Dah" fashion. Charles' eyes widened more, before he took a step forward and kicking Nate square in the balls. Nate hunched over, dropping his revolver and his eyes shut. Charles ran away, hiding behind Kate.
"Shoot him!" yelled Charles, "He's a Zombie!"
"Nate's back from the dead!" said Pandora, "Me and him had a zombie plan, shoot HIM!"
"Wait, stop it," cried Nate, his voice high pitched as he doubled over, "Zombies can't feel pain…"
"Oh, that's true," said Pandora.
"What the HELL," exclaimed Kate and Shatner together.
"You're alive?" gasped Kevin.
"Of course I'm ALIVE!" yelled Nate, "What do you think I'm doing here?"
"We saw you fall," said Andy.
"We saw you die!" yelled Fred.
"Yeah, well… trust me," said Nate, "There is A LOT you didn't see, and my death isn't one of them."
"What happened," said Shatner.
"Oh… you know…" said Nate, "Stuff… so, why are we standing around?"
Kate walked up to Nate, smiling, "You made it,"
Nate smiled, "Well… you know…"
Kate suddenly slapped him, hard. Nate blinked, rubbing his face, and her look hardened as she crossed her arms. Everything went silent for a moment.
"So… 'show me your boobs' huh?" She said, "You pig! I wish you would've died!"
"Ouch," said Nate, rubbing his face and smiling, "Nice to see you, too."
"So, uh, you have any ideas?" said Seth.
"Some wheels," said Nate, "I caught up to you guys in a few days. This is ridiculous, you guys are slowing ME down."
"He's got a point," said Kate, walking away, "Our pace has been… sludgy, ya? Ve need to move on, much faster."
"So, what do you suggest?" asked Shatner, "We check every vehicle along the way for working parts? Fix one up? Something?"
"One of these places is bound to have a working vehicle," said Nate, walking past Pandora before stopping, and smiling as he grabbed his hat off his head, "Hey, thanks Beatle! I was wondering where this went."
"Yeah… no problem," said Pandora, a little disappointed.
"Pandora held onto that for you," said Kate, continuing to walk down the road.
"Yeah, thanks," said Nate, smiling at Pandora as he replaced his hat on his head, and lifted up his goggles from his eyes, "Trust me, it means a lot."
"So, what do you suggest?" asked Shatner, "We steal some poor colonies vehicle?"
"No, we go searching," said Nate, "Those vehicles came from somewhere, dude."
"Alright," said Shatner, now going with the group as they began to move down the road, "So what do you suggest? We're just going to head to a city and take what we can?"
"It'll take us years to get there at the rate we're going," said Nate, "We've been talking about this for ages, but now we need action. We need some wheels."
"Anyone here a mechanic?" said Shatner, "No, I don't think so. We have to think about it."
"Good, plenty of time to think on the run," said Nate, switching into an English accent, "Come on, then. Chop, Chop. Hurry, now, lads!"
Shatner sighed, but smiled behind Nate's back. No one admitted it then, but they were glad he was back.