“I don't know. She is out.”
“It is the head injury. Her skull is busted in, she shouldn't be walking around.” said Ruben, “Not that I am a doctor or anything.”
“Can we move her?” asked Javier.
“Leave her.” put in Chen, the rest of them looked at him until he looked away, “Look we gotta get moving. Max, where are the zombies?”
Max paused for a moment then said, “Behind us, a lot of them seem to be staying still, maybe buried under the rubble of the buildings. There are a bunch that way too.” He waved his hands to the north of them.
“Great. Isn't that where the boats are?” asked Javier.
Bill nodded. “Well we will skirt around one edge. Chen can you manage on your own?”
“Not too well. If I had a crutch, I would do better.”
“We'll work on that. Max are there less zombies to the east or west?”
“West.”
“That is good the boats are kind of that direction too. Now that the bombs have stopped do we take our chances on the streets or duck back down and follow the rail road tracks?”
“Through the smoke? That would be crazy.” said Chen, eying the impenetrable cloud behind them warily.
“Maybe, but we would get clear of the dust in a couple of blocks then head straight north to the harbor. Max, can you sense anything along the tracks?”
“Well, it isn't really a precise ability. I can only sense them, it isn't like I can see a map or anything overlaying where they are. But when I look where the tracks are going I don't sense anyone in the cloud.”
“It is a straight shot, so I suggest we go for it. It won't be clear for long, I bet those zombies will start wandering around again soon enough.”
Bill turned and passed through the break in the fence, dropping down onto the rail road tracks, where he turned and waited for the others to follow.
“Don't we even get to vote on it?” whined Chen.
Ruben chuckled, “A Sergeant's 'suggestion' is the same as an order private. Let's get going. Javier, help Max out with Stewart. Chen I will help you down. C'mon.”
Once they were back into the trench that held the rail road tracks they made good time getting into the dust. The men wrapped camouflaged bandannas around their faces to keep out the dust. Max got one wrapped around Stewart's face too, he pulled it up over her eyes, which made her look all too much like a corpse to him. He was sure they had traveled back to a point where the art center was once again beside them when a huge explosion went off to their right. All of the men dropped down between the rails, Javier and Max dumped Stewart between them and each held one arm over her neck and head while the bombs continued to rain down. This bombardment seemed to last forever to Max, every time he thought it was over another explosion would go off and more debris would fly over his head. Dirt and pieces of rock were pouring down on them like a heavy rain. In his gut Max started to worry about heavier debris, when he lifted his head to see if he could spot better cover he saw a semi- tractor crash down ten yards behind them. The windshield was strangely intact and it landed upright. One of the massive front tires broke off and flew through the metal wheel well and came bouncing their direction. Max ducked and screamed at the same time as the tire missed his head by inches then bounced up and out of his sight. After that he buried his face in the dirt and found himself praying, something Sarah would have been proud of. He could see her in his mind, arms crossed and an amused look on her face. “So this is all it took to get you to accept God? If I had known being in the middle of a field of explosions would do that I might have arranged for it to happen while I was still alive.”
“Oh yeah? I don't think that even you could have arranged that.” Max said to his dead wife.
“Don't rule out my determination buster. Father O'Maly said you would find something that would bring you around someday.”
“You spoke to Father O'Maly about my faith?”
“You didn't think we just talked about our brownie recipes at all those bake sales did you?” Sarah snorted in amusement, “It was always the women, and that one guy Bob, lamenting about how their spouses didn't seem to 'get' it. That their partners needed to do more than pay lip service to the Lord. Look at you now. You are about to swear to follow his laws if he will just get you out of this mess alive. Maybe if you had been more faithful to begin with this wouldn't have happened.”
“Geez. And this is coming from a dead woman who was killed by Satan's zombies?”
“I died faithful. I am in heaven awaiting you, don't knock the Lord's ways.”
“We can talk about it when I get there I guess.”
“If you get here.”
“Touche. Why can't I even win a fight with you now. I mean you are dead and all. This whole conversation is in my mind…”
“Am I? You better thank God for seeing you through this. And don't forget your promise.”
Max thought about the promise he had made his dying wife, that he would raise the kids in religion, sighing he said, “Yeah about that…”
“You promised!”
“I will follow through as best I can. I am just really sorry we left you there.”
“You left me there? Well I guess you couldn't take me with you…”
“Well….you sort of turned into a zombie and tried to kill me.”
“Did you…did you finish me off? I wouldn't want to be running around eating people.”
“Sorry…I didn't get the chance, you kind of pushed me out of the attic. We barely got the access closed before you got down.”
“I hope the kids didn't see.”
“No, they were all…you know I am having problems breathing..Not feeling so good.”
“Max! Max!” Sarah's voice called after him as he faded into blackness.
Chapter 49
“Max! Max! Are you watching them? Stay focused buddy!” came Bill's voice.
“Sorry.” Max mumbled. Looking towards Bill's pointing arm. A couple of zombies were wandering down the pier where he now stood, they were not yet close to the car the group had pulled across the dock as a barricade.
Once the bombardment had finally ended the remaining members of the group Max, Bill, Stewart, Javier, Ruben and Chen had managed to get to the marina, where they were hoping to sail a boat out of the harbor and into Lake Michigan. Their retreat was still hazy in Max's mind, he knew they had taken the train tracks behind the Art Institute up a few blocks to get away from the artillery shells that never seemed to end. The tracks were set lower than the surrounding streets and through luck or fate none of the shells had fallen on them. The ones that burst to the sides sprayed them with dust and debris and in one memorable instance had shaken all of them from their feet as well. After taking a set of concrete stairs back to street level they had found a white SUV with most of its windows shot out, just waiting for them with the keys in the ignition. A pack of zombies had gathered around the vehicle and getting through that with their two wounded, Chen and Stewart, had been harrowing. Stewart had finally seemed to snap out of her constant dazed state when one of the zombies had grabbed her legs and started to pull her under the waiting car. As soon as everyone was loaded up Bill had outdistanced the pack of mostly slow zombies and brought them to the marina. Now Max and a barely coherent Stewart were watching the car they had parked across the pier with Chen's assistance while Bill, Javier and Ruben went from boat to boat trying to find one with a motor they could start.
The city was engulfed in a huge dust cloud that was barely breaking up in the constant wind from the lake, the sound of a helicopter could be heard, but none of them could see it.
