She swerved left and cruised down Multnomah St., ignoringthe red lights. The concentration of helicopters was thicker here, and shecould hear their noise through her windows and the blast of the airconditioner. She passed underneath I-5. As she zoomed under the road hangingfifty feet above her, she saw bodies falling onto the pavement behind her.Presumably, they were the dead who were lurking on the elevated highway above.
Katie crossed over the Max tracks, and skirted around theRose Garden. The dead milled around the front of the place, the windows to theRose Garden were smashed beyond belief, revealing a yawning black cavern. Itgave her the chills, so she continued past, her Durango speeding past theoutstretched arms of the dead. She hung a right on Interstate and continuedaround the block, circling around to the Memorial Coliseum. The dead were thickhere, and she couldn't avoid bumping some of the out of the way. She had toslow down or risk damage to her vehicle. The last thing she wanted was to betrapped just yards away from the Memorial Coliseum with hundreds of the deadbetween her and her goal.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she toyed with thethought of backing up and trying to find another way out, but she plowed ahead,her mind fixated on the possibility of normalcy, on the possibility of beingrescued. She looked in her rearview mirror to see that the dead had closed inupon her. She accelerated forward, shoving them, moving them aside; a few fellunder the wheels of her vehicle, and she bounced around in the cab of theDurango, smacking her head against the window as she rolled over their bodies.Then she saw it, a chain-link fence blocking the road. Soldiers stood onplatforms behind the fence, rifles at the ready. They were firing.
Christ, she thought. How the hell am I supposedto get in there? Bodies dropped around the car, and she saw one of thesoldiers pointing with a red flag to a section of the fence that had beenopened for her. Soldiers stood blocking the entrance, mowing down anything thatgot between her car and the opening. The ride to the opening was awful. Her SUVjounced over the bodies on the ground. She could taste it in her mouth, thebreath of freedom that the fence represented, the freedom from the world ofdeath that surrounded her. Hope made her floor the accelerator, and her headbounced off the headrest behind her as the vehicle accelerated. A dead manstepped in front of the car, and his body went flying. Immediately, the soundof the SUV changed. Instead of the wonderful purr that she had fell in lovewith at the dealership, the Durango now emitted a clunky, grating noise. Steambegan pouring out of the hood of the vehicle, and she could barely see fivefeet in front of her.
Katie skidded to a halt, just in time to avoid runningover two soldiers who had their hands out in a halt gesture. The steam billowedfrom the vehicle, but she didn't care. She was alive. She was safe. Katieunfastened her seatbelt, and popped out of the driver's side. She spun aroundto look behind her as the soldiers swung the gate closed, securing the gatewith heavy chains and padlocks.
The dead were there almost immediately, their facespressed up against the chain-link fence as if they could chew their waythrough. "Fuck you!" she screamed at them, her middle finger in theair and tears streaming from her eyes. She dropped to her knees sobbing. It wassome time before she realized that she was being gripped by the arms anddragged toward the Coliseum.
She watched the faces of the dead shrink as they pulledher away. I made it. I fucking made it, she thought. Now what?
Chapter 11: Riverside
Lou had thought it up first. The military man just wentalong with it. Helicopters swung through the sky, but Zeke wanted nothing to dowith the military. Lou didn't know why, but he could sense that. Zeke wasmilitary; Lou would bet his soul on that fact. It was the way he carriedhimself, quiet, confidant, almost robotic. But there was something else goingon in the man. When they had been handcuffed to the bar in the police station,Lou had been sure that the man had left him for dead, all hell breaking loosearound him, people dying, coming back to life, and then eating each other. WhenZeke had slipped his handcuff and walked out of the station, Lou had thought hewas dead. The cold look in his eyes as he walked away was enough to tell himthat. But then he had been there, kicking at the wall with him as things in thepolice station became even more desperate. He owed Zeke.
So he had come up with a plan, a way to get out of thecity. The world's oldest highway ran right through the heart of town, and allthey needed was a boat to take advantage of it. They ran towards the riverafter their escape from the apartment. The dead stumbled after them. They hadtheir guns in their hands as the afternoon sun beat down upon them. It was themiddle of the day and it was hot.
The four blocks down to the riverfront had beenessentially danger free. The dead were about, but they ran hard past them everytime they appeared between themselves and their goal, a boat, a ticket out oftown. Maybe things were shitty everywhere, but at least on a boat, they couldget away from the thousands of dead that littered the city's streets... unlessthey could swim. Lou didn't want to think about that.
They reached the green strip of grass on the west bank ofthe Willamette River. It was a wide open space, which suited Lou just fine. Hehad experienced enough of the dead popping out around corners, arms clawing atair as they attempted to take bites out of his flesh. This was much
