“We’re out,” Spade said.

I ran as fast, and as hard as I could. Felt the burning in my lungs. Muscles around my stomach tightened. Squeezed. I wouldn’t be able to keep it up. Adrenaline only lasted so long. We’d been at it awhile, and I felt drained.

“Keep running, Daddy,” Cash said. I wondered if he heard my thoughts, or read my mind.

“We’re not stopping, not until we’re somewhere safe.”

Spencer said, “Pettenski! Pettenski, get back here!”

“Sir,” Spade said.

“No, we keep running.”

I had to look. I did not like being blind.

Pettenski had stopped on the bridge. He held a long knife in each hand. He was going to take them on alone. With knives.

“I can’t let him do this alone,” Spade said.

“We have orders. We need to get the civilians to the Coast Guard. You know that, Private First Class! Pettenski is buying us time to complete this mission. You will stay with us!” Spencer sounded as winded as I felt.

No one ran very fast right now. Pettenski earned all of our attention. You might call him crazy, a rebel, but to me, Pettenski was a hero. A martyr.

The first fast zombie reached Pettenski. He dropped down, swept its leg, and drove his blade into the back of its neck once it landed face down on the asphalt. Like a coiled spring, Pettenski shot back up to his feet in time to grab the arm of a second zombie. He drove the blade into its throat, and sliced.

Spade took off.

“Spade!” Spencer said.

When Spade didn’t stop, when he continued toward Pettenski, Spencer turned to us. “We’re moving. Now.”

“We have to help them,” Dave said.

“They are trained soldiers. They have combat experience. They can take care of themselves. Now move it!” Spencer pointed east. “Now!”

Spade yelled and then jumped into the fight. He kicked over a zombie, dropped a knee onto its back, lifted its head by its hair, and drew his blade across its throat.

My kids saw more than they needed. “Let’s go,” I said to Dave.

Dave took Sues by the hand.

Allison was crying. I bit my upper lip. There were no words.

Charlene was already following Corporal Spencer.

It didn’t feel right leaving two soldiers behind. Did not feel right at all.

Chapter Four

On the opposite end of the O’Rourke Bridge were more disabled vehicles. The hood was up revealing the engine compartment of an SUV. One of those small Italian cars was on its side, up on the sidewalk of the bridge. Others were smashed together.

When people inoculated with the vaccination changed into zombies, it happened fast enough. They actually change. How long the incubation period lasted, I had no idea. Like I’d said earlier, seemed like everyone changed on the same day, though, which, when you thought about it, didn’t make sense. None at all, but it still felt that way.

“Sergeant, we crossed the bridge. Headed down to the marina now.” Spencer waved with his arm. We were taking the Joy Lane footpath. “Yes, sir.”

The path led to Marina Drive. The river we’d just crossed, we now headed back toward. Sailboats and yachts filled parking spots in a large lot. The Genesee River emptied into Lake Ontario. It wasn’t an oddity, but was one several rivers that ran south to north. There was no mistaking it, as it was muddy brown, and smelly. Some of the larger boats still sat in slips.

“Coast Guard has a boat on the way to get us,” Spencer said.

Clouds filled the sky. There might be another storm. At the very least, it was going to rain.

Spencer yelled into his radio, “Spade. Pettenski. Let’s go. Let’s go!”

I wished I had heard if they answered. The Corporal gave no indication. We didn’t stop. “Are they coming?” I said.

“Keep going,” Spencer said.

“We can’t leave them. They’re right there,” Dave said, and pointed up at the bridge.

“Spade. Pettenski.” Spencer looked intently at Dave, as if he was attempting to say, I’m trying, I’m trying.

“We should go back for them,” I said.

“The boat’s coming.”

“It can wait,” Dave said. “Sues, you stay here.”

I told Allison the same thing. “Watch my kids.”

“I cannot let you go,” Spencer said. He had no ammo and no grenades, so the only way he could stop us was physically. I had no doubt he could do it, but would he try?

I heard the Coast Guard. The silence around us was shattered by the engine puttering in the river. “We’ll be fast,” I said.

“Daddy, no,” Cash said.

Charlene took his hand. “Hurry back,” she said.

Dave and I ran fast. I ignored the stitch in my side and pressed my hand against the pain. It was not going to slow me. The sound of that boat getting closer just screamed salvation.

“We don’t have any weapons,” Dave said.

I ignored him. We rounded the walk to the bridge and stopped.

Pettenski was down. Zombies were on top of him. They pulled and ripped at his flesh. Spade was about to throw creatures off his comrade. It would be useless at this point.

“Spade,” I shouted. “Spade!”

He wasn’t going to be able to save Pettenski.

Dave and I ran at them.

Spade looked at us, waved us away.

There were more zombies on the bridge. They took up four lanes, moving like a mob. Slow, sluggish, but deadly.

The milky white skin that glazed their eyes was almost too much to bear. You wanted to look away, close your own eyes and wish them gone, and wish the nightmare over.

“Come with us, Spade,” Dave said. “We can’t save Pettenski. We can’t.”

Spade kicked the head of a zombie with combat boots. Must have been steel-toe, because I heard the crunch from where we were.

“Let’s go,” I shouted. “Now!”

Spade looked torn. “Now, Spade. Now,” Dave said.

Perhaps sensing the uselessness, Spade left Pettenski. Pettenski was beyond healing, beyond mending. He was dead.

Spade ran at us with fast zombies chasing after him. Five, no, six of them. The creatures sprinted. Spade didn’t have a chance.

I ran toward Spade.

The man had been fighting for over five minutes, puncturing and annihilating a whole host of undead. He was raw, and worn out.

“Knife,” I yelled as I got close.

He tossed it; I caught it, and ran past him.

I drove the blade into the closest zombie. It went through the eyeball. The jagged blade sawed into the brain. I shoved my foot into its gut and pulled the knife free. I spun to my right, all the way around, and buried the blade into the throat of another.

Thick black blood oozed from the wound, coating my hand. The zombie pulled back. I lost my grip. The knife was still lodged in place.

The other four zombies were almost on me.

I lunged forward and used both hands to retrieve the weapon just as I was tackled.

It was on me. Up close. Its flesh was purple, and pasty. Those milky white eyeballs. Bits of human flesh wedged between teeth as its mouth opened wide. It looked as if its nose had been chewed off completely. Black gums, rancid breath, and a darting black tongue came at me.

I stabbed it over and over in the back and side, feeling the blade bounce across bone. It had to be doing damage inside, severing things and shredding others.

The zombie seemed unaffected.

It was all about the brain, the central nervous system. It truly was the only way to stop them. Only, I couldn’t get at its head.

Its hands wrapped around my throat. I fought with one arm to wriggle free, to no avail. It kept snapping teeth at me, jousting its head forward hard, but my forearm deflected the bites.

It was going to be the end. There were far too many zombies on the bridge. Even if I managed to get away from this one, it would be only a fraction of a second before…

Bullets rang out. A lot of them. A machinegun was being fired.