"Clear!" Zeke yelled, and Lou fell back so thatZeke could do the heavy lifting again. He was much more accurate, and they hada lot more ammunition for the machine gun. They were almost to the sunshine,when a fresh wave of the dead fell over the side of the bridge above them. Zekewent full auto with the machine gun, ripping through the bodies in front ofthem. "Run!" he yelled, and they did.
They sprinted as if the entire world was on their heels.The dock was within sight. All that stood between them was five-hundred feet ofrocky river shore. "Fuck yeah!" Lou yelled between deep raggedbreaths. The dock was there, right in front of him. He kept his eyes on thesails of the ships, willing himself to keep moving, though his legs burned, hisknees ached, and his shoes felt like he was lugging hollowed out walruscarcasses on his feet. He tripped once, and tumbled to the jagged rocks wherethe river water lapped at their cold grey forms. He bounded to his feet, usingthe last reserves of his energy, and they approached the river dock. Heclambered up the side of it, Zeke ahead of him. His boots rang out on thealuminum ramp that lead from the shore, then they thumped on the wooden planksof the dock.
Lou turned around, and behind him he saw his worstnightmare. Their flight through the city had created a roiling, stumbling mass.Good luck to anyone who ran afoul of that group. Lou focused back on the taskat hand, "What boat are we gonna take?"
"Anyone we can. You know how to hotwire aboat?"
Lou looked at Zeke like he was crazy. Then a voice rangout over the docks. "Over here!" a man yelled. Zeke and Lou turned tosee who was yelling at them. It was the red-bearded man and his family.
Zeke patted Lou on the chest and said, "Looks likebeing a hero pays off."
Lou could not explain the feeling that he felt then. Itwas a warmth that started somewhere in his heart and radiated throughout hisbody. But it was more than that. It was as if some long dead part of him hadcome back to life, some part that he had tried to destroy throughout his entirelife, a life marred by mistake after stupid mistake. It was pride, something hehadn't felt in a lifetime.
His boots clunked on the wooden dock, feeling lighterthan a heart full of pride. He hopped onto the boat and sat heavily. The boatwas all white. A canopy covered the pilot's seat, but there was room for sevenor eight people in the boat if they crammed in tight enough. The man with thered beard tried to start the boat up, but it wouldn't turn over.
"Untie the boat would, ya?" he said. Zekehopped out of the boat, and undid the rope that secured the boat to the dock.The buzz of a thousand corpses got closer, but still the boat wouldn't start,the engine making a sickly choking noise.
"Is this thing going to start or what?" Lousaid. The man's wife and children huddled in the back of the boat, a hopefullook on their face.
"It'll start. It's just been a while," thebearded-man shot back, concern creeping into his voice.
Zeke hopped back into the boat and began reloading themagazines for the machine gun. Lou took his cue from him and did the same."Dammit!" the bearded-man yelled, before slamming on the steeringwheel as Lou slid another 9mm bullet into the magazine in his hand. The clompof the dead reverberated off the wooden boards of the dock.
"You better get that thing going, man. We don't gotall day," Lou yelled before turning to the children and their mother."You guys might want to move up front, and cover your ears." Theymoved dutifully, the mother prodding the children protectively. They sat in thefront seat, right on top of each other, their hands over their ears.
"You ready to do this?" Lou asked Zeke.
"Whether I'm ready or not, it's the way it has tobe." Zeke held his fist out to Lou, and Lou pounded it with his own fist.They took aim at the heads of the nearest of the undead column that trompedacross the wooden boards.
They surged along the dock, as if they knew that theirprey had nowhere to go. Their arms were held straight out before them, handsformed into claws as if they could tear their flesh apart from ten feet away.The engine gagged again, choking and grinding. No luck. The girls beganscreaming, and Lou fired off his first shot. The lead corpse fell into thewater where it floated. Zeke put another one down, but they were moving fasternow, like a snowball on its way downhill, gaining momentum the closer it got tothe bottom. Lou didn't have time to think anymore. He didn't have time tomeasure his shots. For every two shots he fired, one of them dropped, and thenthey were at the edge of the dock trying to get onto the boat. His gun clickedempty, and he began swinging the pistol like a hammer, bashing the grip of thegun into the matted bloody hair of the dead. They pushed, flowing at them likean unbreakable wave, and then he heard the happiest sound of his life.
The engine sputtered to life, black smoke spurting out ofthe exhaust of the boat. The boat lurched forward away from the dock, and Louthrew the dead woman he was struggling with into the water. Even as she flewaway from him, her arms grasped and clawed at him. When she hit the water, shesank like a rock, her arms reaching up
