The Last Words

From the journal of Timothy Lorne 12/25/2012

While Joe went to get this tub moving we had our hands full up on top. We had gotten all the nutters off the boat but some were swimming out to us and we weren’t moving fast enough to get away from them. Plus there were some on the barge, wading through the shit to try and get to us, even climbing down the line to get to our ship.

And of course, as luck would have it, the tow ropes weren’t rope, but thick metal cable that I couldn’t just shoot through like the mooring ropes had been. And they were attached to a big reeling rig that I had no idea how to work.

“Any idea how to work this?” I asked Cassie.

Cassie shook her head no and Joe and the Doctor were busy trying to get this thing started and going.

The best we could do was pick them off as they tried coming down the line until there were none left, and there couldn’t have been too many on the barge, they hadn’t had enough time.

Of course, that was all depending on if we got going or not.

We were drifting pretty fast, and the barge itself was drifting much faster, pulling the end of the boat around and putting pressure on the tow rig. If they didn’t get it going soon we might drift into the other bank. The other bank which was chock full of crazies just waiting to get aboard. Apparently, we had attracted quite a crowd now, on both banks, watching us, some of them even trying to swim out to us, though it didn’t look like many were likely to make it. We were drifting too fast and they weren’t swimming like people swim, just kind of wildly kicking and dog paddling. Guess they had forgotten how to swim too.

I kept trying to figure out the tow rig, how to loosen it or better yet get us detached from the barge when Cassie drew my attention to the far end of the barge.

It had almost completely turned and was getting mightily close to the other bank.

I went to the front and yelled, “Joe, how’s it going? We’re getting pretty close to the bank on the other side and we have company waiting for us over there.”

He took a look out and said something I can only assume was a swear and was back at it.

I heard the engine rumble, then stop. OK, progress. Then it rumbled again.

Good, good. Oh shit.

The other side of the barge was close enough to the shore now that some of them were making it to it and trying to get aboard. If we got too close it might even get stuck, then we would really be fucked. I had to find a way to get us detached but of course I couldn’t read any of the signs and Cassie was trying but didn’t seem to have any idea how to work the rig either.

Now the barge was right up by the shore and some of them had made their way around it and were climbing up the rope. It wouldn’t be long before they made it up the barge and over to us. Worse than that though, the front of the barge was coming around to the bank and dragging the tugboat with it. If we got right up to the shore in this we were fucked. The shore was crawling with crazies now, they looked like bugs on a carcass, waiting for us just right over there, and I didn’t think any amount of guns or ammo was going to save us if we hit that shore.

Another rumble, and this one kept going. Holy shit, we had a chance. Now Joe was trying to get it going forward but the end of the barge on shore was giving him some trouble. He yelled something at Cassie and she replied, looking at the cable ropes.

I felt the small tug rumbling and could hear the cable straining and he must have been kicking it up to try to get us loose, and it was rocking. The sound of screeching metal against rocks was the sound of the barge getting free of the shore, the powerful little tugboat pulling as hard as it fucking could. God, I hope we don’t burn it out, then we would be dead for sure.

But it worked, we were free, we were on the way past the bridge and out to sea.

Oh, the bridge, that was a whole ’nuther problem.

From the journal of Jude Guerrero 12/25/2012

I gave the wheel to Dr. Gates, telling him to just keep it going straight so I could see how things were going outside.

We were still attached to the barge, and the barge had affected on it, heading up through the shit to where we were, and not giving a damn about it.

Tim Tom and Cassie were fending them off, no real problem, while I tried to figure out how to get us free from the barge when suddenly I heard a loud thump, then a splash. The affected were falling out of the sky now.

“What the fuck?”

We were passing under a bridge. The affected from both sides were sprinting up the bridge and some of them were even jumping off to try and get us, they wanted us that bad. The problem wasn’t that they could survive the fall, a couple hit the boat and were dead, the problem was just getting hit by a falling one.

We all had to get in the wheelhouse to avoid being landed on, which meant not being able to protect the boat from any trying to crawl down the tow line from the barge, and not being able to work on detaching us from the barge. We were moving fast enough that we were clear of the bridge after a minute so we were able to go out and see the damage. A few broken bodies of affected, blood smeared on the deck, but it didn’t look they managed to break anything.

Two had made it down the rope to the boat but I took them out with the .45 and Tim Tom got the others trying to make it down the line. But they were still jumping from the bridge, onto the barge now, and it looked like they were surviving that fall because, well, they were falling into a nice soft giant pile of shit. We could see a lot of them jumping from the bridge, and if even just some of them survived we would be in trouble if we can’t get detached from the barge.

Now we were working on getting detached from the barge while trying to keep the affected from coming down the line to our boat. It was amazing how fast they could come down that metal wire line. But, I guess, when you didn’t give a fuck about burning your hand with friction or falling in, it was easier to move much faster. Cassie and Tim Tom were keeping them off, but there were several lines for them to come down. We were attached very close to the barge and eventually we might run out of ammo. Plus, we had to stop and reload. We couldn’t keep this up forever, and worse, I could already see another bridge coming, covered in affected. They seem to have noticed us, and there were probably a few more bridges until we were clear. If we can detach the barge then at least we can keep them from getting aboard that and crawling down the ropes at us, and we’ll be able to move much faster past the bridges so they’re less likely to land on us.

I managed to loosen the line up some, giving them a longer distance to cross to us. But I still couldn’t figure out how to detach us. It looked like it was attached at the barge, so that was the only place to easily detach it. The shotgun wasn’t going to sever that thick steel line and it would be dangerous to do anyway. No, we were going to have to find some way to do it at this end, and soon.

Then it hit me and I ran back into the wheelhouse.

“Doctor, did you throw the welding in the bag?”

“Well, yes, I think, yes.”

“Hot dammit.”

I went and grabbed it and took it to Tim Tom. He knew exactly what I was wanting. Better than that, he seemed to have a good idea of the best way to do it too.

He started cutting as close to the mechanism as possible, to avoid the cable flaying after it broke and cutting one of us in half. And, he cut some off each at a time, so that once they started coming apart we wouldn’t have one or two cables on one side pulling us.

“Doc, slow it down,” I yelled.

“You sure?”

“Just a bit.”

We couldn’t just put on the brakes or the barge would hit us.

Tim Tom kept working, first this side then that, until he was down to one cable still attached on each side, and he kept going back and forth, cutting some off one then the other.

When one went he went back to work on the other as the boat started leaning to one side because of the pull of the barge.

“Slow down a bit more.”

The barge was getting closer. The affected on that side were already starting to jump at us to try to get to the boat, but not quite making it.

I knew he wouldn’t know what I was saying but I couldn’t help but yell it, “come on Tim Tom, hurry up.”

He got it as a few affected made it to the boat and we had to clear them off the deck with our .45s. As soon as the last cable snapped he turned to me and grinned, yelling, “hey Joe, Merry Fucking Christmas.”

I grinned then turned to the front. “Doctor,” I yelled, “full speed. Full speed!”

He cranked it up and we were off, and just in time. We were almost right under the other bridge now and the affected were leaping off at us.

A few hit but died on impact, and we went through fast enough that not many made it. We were able to get up enough speed, these things weren’t exactly built for speed, to get under those last two bridges and then we were out at open sea.

I took over.

All clear.