Pushing Up Gravestones - Pushing Up Gravestones – Chapter 24

The
helicopter buzzed across the purple skyline of dusk, looking more and more like
a surreal watercolor painting as the night wore on. A flock of geese flew
underneath the flying-machine in a V-formation, unconcerned by humanity blatant
attempt at imitation. The animals were immune to the virus, it seemed. They
were frolicking; at least, in this area they were.

Perhaps
once all the humans had either died off or turned zombie, all of life would
once again be at peace with the Earth?

Time would
tell, and perhaps that is another story.

The group
had been flying for about fifteen minutes– the pilot was a young man in his
early 20s, who said his name was Joseph. He had arrived in the nick of time,
really. The other survivors didn’t have a good handle on who he was, but that
didn’t seem important right now. So long as he wasn’t waving a gun in their
faces or spitting rotten death-foam and trying to maul them, he was fine.

Both Denise
and Ferrah, having given up (for now) on attracting Rory, had a crush on their
new savior. Both were trying to conceive of an appropriate ploy to gain
Joseph’s interest.

The
helicopter floated up over a large hill, and its belly seemed to be inches away
from the rocky grasses below. Thankfully, the hill wasn’t quite a mountain, or
else the pilot may have crashed the helicopter.

Joseph
eased the cyclic control stick forward, gently, with more care than he’d ever
used in his entire life. Just as the summit was reached, the nose of the
helicopter rose up and over and then aimed down again. Joseph pushed the
control stick forward with a sudden jerk of his arm, and the helicopter shot
down the other side of the hill.

Denise and
Ferrah grabbed each other, and Rory held Tina’s hand. Everybody (even Joseph)
braced for an immediate impact and the (somewhat desired) end to all this
madness. But it never came. They had survived.

Joseph
eased once more on the control stick, leveling the flight-machine with about
six feet to the ground, and everybody blew out a sigh of relief.

“Nice
flying, sunshine!” Rory cried from one corner, before returning his gaze
to the window. The scenery was beautiful. Large forests. Probably a whole hell
of a lot of game to bag. Rory missed his pops. And where the hell was ma,
anyway?

“Thanks,
man!” Joseph called out. “So… Amora Airforce Base! What’s so
special about that place?”

Denise and
Ferrah broke from their private conversation (the two had been bonding
surprisingly well, now that a zombie apocalypse had forced them to be allies).

“That’s
gotta be where mom and dad went!” Denise assured everyone. “The
military has guns and sophisticated hardware, right? Then they’re the only ones
who can protect us survivors and kill all the zombies… Everybody knows that!
So I’m positive mom and dad went there.”

Silence for
a moment as everyone digested what was said. Then Joseph spoke, “You
sure?”

“Well,
no…”

Ferrah saved
Denise from any further embarrassment. “It’s that or land somewhere else,
and fight ’til we die. Nobody knows where anybody is. But, damnit, we gotta try
and look. And finding the military is our best shot right now.”

Joseph
nodded and took the helicopter over a small pond, sending ripples surging out
through the once-calm waters. “You know, once upon a time,” he said,
“I used to think the media and news and entertainment industry was the
biggest, most powerful thing… That the news anchors would still be reporting
day and night, during some sort of nuclear apocalypse or zombie invasion, or
dark wizard army attack, or whatever… Heh. Our place didn’t last very long at
all. I wonder how the rest have fared. What if we’re the last ones left?”

None of the
others knew what to say to that. Such grim reminders didn’t sit right with
them.

Denise
leaned back and stretched her arms until she was satisfied. She looked out her
window and saw that they were now flying over a desert. They couldn’t be far
from the airforce base now.

Rory and
Tina were giggling away, playing a seemingly neverending game of paddycake.

Ferrah got
up and sat over beside Joseph, in the copilot seat. She knew how to get him
interested. “My dad taught me to fly one of these.” She saw Joseph’s
head turn to look at her, in her peripherals.

He said,
“Oh yeah? Great! Then get geared in and help me… if I need it.”

‘Well, that
didn’t work…’ Ferrah thought, as she quickly glossed over all the
instruments. She knew where everything was. “Yeah, dad loved to fly. It
was his all-time favorite hobby. He wanted to help me get my pilots
license…”

“So,
you know about the cyclic control stick, obviously,” Joseph said, as he
tapped the large stick– jutting up, between the pilot and copilot seats– with
the palm of his hand.

“Mhm,”
mumbled Ferrah, losing interest fast.

  “The pedals– anti-torque pedals, I
should say.” He pointed down toward his feet, where, sure enough, there
were two pedals. Finally, he squeezed himself back against his seat and
indicated to a single bar to his left. “The throttle.”

“Yup.”
Ferrah started fiddling with her hair.

“Mmmuuuhhh!!!”

Tina’s
hands dropped and her ears perked up. The neverending game of paddycake had
ended. “Woah. You guys heard that too, right?”

A mumbled
mixture of grunts and uh-huhs was heard throughout the helicopter’s cabin.

Tina
laughed and slapped her forehead. “So… think it was a zombie?”

“Mmmmuuhh
Mmmmmm!”

Louder this
time, the moan seemed to be closer.

Rory stood
up and took aim with his Mosin-Nagant M91 bolt-action rifle. He didn’t quite
know what to aim at just yet, so he took to aiming all over the cabin,
erratically cycling targets every two seconds or so.

“Put
that thing away, before you kill someone,” Ferrah said sagely.

“That’s
precisely the point, darling. I know what I’m doing.” Rory signaled with
an up-and-down jerk of his gun. “Joseph, keep this bird steady. Denise,
open that door there, beside you, then back off behind me.”

Denise
nodded and did as she had been told.

All waited
for something to happen; for whatever it was that was making those strange
noises to show itself.

“Quiet,”
Rory whispered, with a hand raised. He slowly pulled the bolt back, causing the
rifle to give a *click-click*. It was now ready to be fired.

“Mmmmm….”

“I
think it’s clinging onto our helicopter! It’ll try to come inside. I think…”
Rory kept his gun pointed at the open doorway, seeing the night sky pass by
from twenty-five feet in the air. He waited for even a fraction of a foe to
appear.

Just as he
was about to lower his weapon, a zombie reared its ugly mug from around the
doorframe. “MMMUUUHH!!”

The thing
was hanging upside down, barely missing having its legs chopped off by the
spinning blades up top. Who knew how long it’d been hanging there, clutching on
for dear life, waiting for the machine to land so it could hunt more humans.

Without
wasting another precious second, Rory squeezed the trigger. A 7.62mm bullet
shot out and hit the zombie square between the eyes. The creature’s head exploded,
like a potato in the microwave, sending out a wave of black blood and flinging
dead brain cells. It lost its grip as it died, falling twenty-five feet and
hitting the ground with a sickening *crunch*.

“WOOOOH!”
Tina cheered, as Denise hurried over to close the door.

“Great
shooting, Tex.” Joseph grinned as he flicked some switches on the console.
“Alright, looks like this is it.”

The
helicopter hovered in place, and everybody gathered behind the windshield to
get a view of the Amora Airforce Base.

“Why
are all the lights off?” Ferrah asked.

“I
dunno, but I don’t like it…” Denise said, thinking that the lights being
out meant no one was home. Unless– perhaps the zombies were attracted to
bright lights, and the military knew that? She didn’t know. “I just want
to find my parents.”

Joseph
pushed a couple buttons and threw another switch. “Me too, Nisey-poo– but
we gotta land here, anyway. This bird of ours is running out of fuel.”

Tina
sighed. “So we gotta get gas, too! Awwww…”

“Looks
like this is turning into an adventure and a half,” Rory noted.

Denise blew
her brown hair out of her eyes, and then, flustered with it, tied it back into
a ponytail. “Okay. Let’s do this. Land it, and we’ll see if anyone’s home.
If we can’t find my parents, or anyone else, I guess we’ll find some gas and
skidaddle.”

“You’re
the boss,” Joseph said, glad that the job hadn’t been tossed into his lap.
It seemed that all four of the others, even the little girl, shared the
leadership role. That was fine. Let him fly the helicopter, and maybe crack a
few jokes every now and then.

Tina and
Rory sat back in their original spots, and continued where they had left off in
their game of paddycake.

Denise
settled in her own place, but had the misfortune of accidentally sticking her
hand into a puddle of black zombie blood. She wiped it in disgust, hoping no
one had seen the gaffe.

Joseph,
with the help of Ferrah, landed the helicopter onto the designated helipad (H)
of the Amora Airforce Base. The winds had been picking up, so the job was
harder than it needed to be, all things considered. With the gentle care
required to nurture a small lifeform, Joseph smoothly performed the feat. Only
as the landing-skids touched the asphalt did the party know it had been a fairly
safe flight.

The doors
of the helicopter opened, and the feet stepped out. It felt good to be back on
solid ground.

“It’s
so… weird out here!” Tina exclaimed.

And it was,
Denise agreed. The darkness cloaked the base in mystery. An aura of uncertainty
was pulsating from the base, and each of the survivors couldn’t deny that they
felt it, too.

Were all
the soldiers hiding in some underground bunker? Or had everyone already fled,
perhaps by plane or by helicopter? Where were mom and dad?

“Stick
together!” Rory ordered with his gun drawn, but not steadied or aimed.

The group
of five wandered through the dark and eery base, not certain if they were
alone, or if all in the vicinity had taken to hiding amidst the many shadowed
quarters. They passed by a large warehouse-like structure, continuing past and
stopping outside of an important-looking building, with steps going up to the
front door.

“Okay,
let’s vote,” Denise said. “Those who want to go in that warehouse
over there, raise your hand.” She pointed out the very warehouse they had
passed.

Joseph and
Rory raised their hands.

“Okay,
now those who want to go in this… officer’s quarters, or whatever it is,
raise your hand.”

Her and
Ferrah raised their hands, leaving a 2-2 tie and Tina as the only one who didn’t
vote.

“Tina,
honey,” Denise started, “you didn’t vote, sweetpea. How come?”

“Because.
I want to go to that cool secret-looking place.”

“I
don’t want to play games,” Joseph said shortly.

Rory
understood kids. “Eh, come on, man. Ease off.” He bent down until he
was eye-level with Tina, then asked, “Where’s the ‘cool secret-looking
place’?”

Tina
turned, pointing a finger down the pitch-dark road. “It’s down there. I
saw it when we first came in.”

“You’re
sure?” asked Rory. He knew kids like to confirm their knowledge. Built
character, it did.

“Yup.
I saw it.”

“I
believe her,” he said, and that was it.

“So
where do we go first?” Ferrah asked.

“Here,”
Tina said, looking up to the roof of the important-looking building.

So, in they
went.

The door
was unlocked, and the lights were off. Thankfully, the lights weren’t out,
though. Denise flicked the switch, and light shone down.

Using his
knowledge of the news corporations, Joseph wisely revealed that the important
stuff would be on the highest floor and in the biggest personal office.

The group
went up to the seventh floor; winded, once they’d gotten to the top.

“Probably
somewhere back there,” Joseph guessed, indicating further along footpath.
Sure enough, past the computers and cubbies, there was a massive office, with a
green lampshaded-light turned on.

“A
light?” Denise whispered to everyone, shocked. “Who’s in there!
Hello?” She turned the doorknob, and went into the office. Behind the
expensive desk, there was a man in uniform, dying and spitting up blood. The
group rushed to his side, attempting to do the impossible for him.

“Hello!”
Denise said, touching the man’s brown skin and holding his hand.

His eyes
fluttered open, just a little. “W… well I.. *ahchugh* well I’ll be!
Survivors…”

“Yeah,
we’re trying!” Ferrah said.

“What
happened?” Denise asked. She wanted to find her parents, damnit.

The
uniformed man struggled to speak the words, “O– over… run… Zombie–
b– bastards!” He showed a wound he had sustained to his abdomen. Blood
oozed from a hole that should never be that large. “AAAAAAAAAH—” He
started to twitch, and it seemed that every muscle in his body was possessed by
a demon and scorched by hellfire.

“HE’S
CHANGING!” Joseph yelled, clasping Rory by the shoulder.

Rory knew
what had to be done. He pulled back the bolt of his Mosin, and shot the soldier
in the head.

Brains–
that still looked human– ran down the filing cabinets and the back wall.

“Way
to go,” Joseph said with a smile.

The group
went down the seven flights of stairs, and then headed outside. Denise had
remembered to turn off all the lights.

Much to
Tina’s chagrin, next on the list was the warehouse. So the group went there
next.

Rory busted
the lock off the door with the butt-end of his rifle.

Joseph slid
the door slightly ajar and peered inside. “Looks fine,” he said,
bringing his head back out.

Everyone
went inside for a poke around. And the warehouse seemed fruitless, at first.
That is, until Rory stumbled upon a cargo container full of sleeping zombies,
stacked up on top of one another like some weird Jenga game from hell.
“Uh, you guys?” he called out to the others.

“Mmmmmhuh?”
mumbled one of the zombies, waking from his relaxing slumber, nodoubt hungry.
The other zombies began to rise with the first, one by one, as one stirred the
ranks below it.

“YOU
GUYS! RUN!” Rory screamed now. He knew he had done it. He didn’t have
enough ammo to take on all the zombies, not with the reloading he’d have to
do– and besides, the Mosin wasn’t ideal for close-quarters combat. He raced to
the warehouse entrance.

Denise
heard Rory’s warnings and alerted the others. “Rory said something’s
bad!”

The other
four waited for Rory, who came out shortly after, sweaty. “Come on!”
he said. “Zombies!”

“That
cool secret place!” Tina screamed excitedly.

Denise
wanted to think, but there wasn’t any time for thinking. It was decided ones
the groans were heard.

“MmmmmuhuhuhuhMMMMM!!”

It sounded
like at least fifty.

The survivors
took off running, down the road, toward the abandoned bunker that Tina had
seen. Most kept their eyes ahead, but Ferrah looked behind periodically and saw
an ever-increasing number of zombies joining the fray. There were the slow ones
and the fast ones, but both looked menacing enough.

“There
it is!” Rory called out, pointing at the rusted door with a latch on it,
about fifty feet ahead. He burnt the last of his energy in a full-on sprint to
the finish. He unlatched the door, screeched it open, and waved the others
inside.

Joseph was
the last one to make it inside the abandoned bunker, which looked like it was
about to crumble to dust and their remains.

Rory pat
him on the back when he was safe inside, and then swung the door shut with a
mighty tug. He locked the door in a scramble, slamming the latch into place.

“There,”
Denise said.

Nobody
really knew what she meant, including Denise.