I caressed her cheek and tucked a wayward strand of damp hair behind her right ear. “But that’s the world now, baby. There’s danger everywhere. I promise not to seek it out, but if I have to choose between letting you and Azazel die or doing something stupid to save you, I’m gonna pull whatever crazy-ass shit I need to. We might be safe on the river for now, but bad things can happen anywhere anytime.”
I waved toward the tree-lined shore, as if metaphorically gesturing at the whole world, but no metaphors were required.
Bad things were clearly afoot—right in front of our fucking faces.
Chapter
27
“I’m a reasonable guy. But I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things.” – Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Clare gasped, squeezing my hand even tighter. “Oh, my god.”
“Holy crap,” I said, “we must be close to Vicksburg.”
The storm of zombies that had swept through Hazlehurst had become an undead hurricane. The trees along the shore had given way to power plants, riverside casinos, and a shitload of flesh-seeking monsters… as far as the eye could see. The hordes we’d spotted in Port Gibson greatly paled in comparison to the numbers here. Had to be at least a hundred thousand of them, some moving with purpose, others bumping into each other, but all of them seeking out their next meal—and unfortunately finding it.
Amid the shouts and gunshots that drifted across the river, we witnessed several survivors attempting to fight off the storm presently invading their town, but all attempts seemed futile. Like the courthouse defenders back in Port Gibson, they tried valiantly to escape their undead attackers, but there were too damn many of them.
Clare and I watched in horror as the zombies ripped the unfortunate humans to pieces. Even from a distance, the gore was hard to take. But, despite the awful scene, I knew that risking a mere bite or scratch was far worse than letting the zombies devour you.
Better to die than to turn.
Of course, I never wanted to perish like that. If I ever found myself backed into a corner, with absolutely no options, I’d remember to save the last bullet for myself.
As Clare and I remained frozen against the railing, surveying the mayhem, I prayed that the zombie hordes were too preoccupied with their landlocked victims to pay much attention to us.
Unfortunately, though, we weren’t the only passengers watching the fall of Vicksburg. Several screams and shouts echoed throughout the ferryboat.
Part of me wondered why the passengers seemed so shocked by the sight. Hadn’t they passed by the city several times as Captain Sal made his way up and down the river, hoping to hear from his daughter?
Perhaps they’d only drifted by at night. Or maybe the zombie hurricane had exponentially increased in size. Or else, some of the passengers were simply so shell-shocked and traumatized that they couldn’t help but unleash their fears in such an imprudent manner.
Whatever the case, the same situation that had occurred on that rickety-ass bridge in Homochitto National Forest began happening here… only to a much more alarming degree.
Whether due to the shouts or smells coming from the Stargazer, many of the zombies along the shore detected our presence, and as soon as they did, their collective attention shifted to the floating buffet on the river. Without hesitation, they leapt into the water, and their compatriots swiftly followed. The Mighty Mississippi soon teemed with the undead, to the point that the creatures began to form an undulating bridge composed of multiple layers of crushed bodies—a bridge that extended far into the river, growing ever closer to us.
Until now, we had been favoring the eastern shore of the Mississippi, but I could tell that Sal had begun to guide his vessel toward the center of the river. Unfortunately, though, the pile grew so fast that I feared he couldn’t avoid running aground. He’d likely turned the wheel hard to the left, but hard was a relative term when dealing with a hulking ferryboat.
“Shit. Shit. Shit! I mean, seriously, don’t we deserve a fucking break?”
“Sleep can wait,” Clare shouted, releasing my hand and darting toward our van. “We have to do something!”
Sooner or later, my exhausted body would reject the sense of urgency and collapse where it stood, but until that happened, I wouldn’t stop fighting—and apparently, neither would Clare. So, I bolted after her, and together, we gathered several of our rifles.
Just then, George burst outside, still gripping her own weapons, and sprinted toward the open rear doors of our vehicle.
“Oh, good,” she panted, “you’re not asleep yet.”
I sighed. “Starting to think we might never get the chance.”
Jess and Casey appeared a few seconds later.
“We need to do something,” Casey yelled.
“Dad’s trying to pull away from shore,” Jess explained breathlessly. “But he might need some help.”
“Right,” I said, distributing the weapons and extra ammo. “So, we need to start shooting.”
“Shoot what?” Casey asked, a tad desperately. “There’s too many of them.”
“I get that,” I replied. “We can’t get ’em all, not without wasting all our ammo, but we can slow them down.” I hastened toward the railing, the others trailing me. “Since they’re filling in fast, I wouldn’t shoot the ones up front. Their heads are barely above water.”
“Yeah, but won’t they reach us first?” Jess said, gripping the borrowed rifle like a pro.
Not a surprise, given the resourceful dad she had.
“I don’t think so. We need to shoot the zombies up high, in the back.”
“You mean the ones climbing over the others?” Clare asked, her eyes wide with alarm.
“Yep. Those are the ones that might reach us before Sal can pull the boat away.”
The zombie bridge, which had expanded and angled itself toward the Stargazer as we sailed past Vicksburg, was closing in fast. To keep it from reaching the vessel, the five of us lined up along the railing and opened fire on the upper part of
