The Creeping Dead: Book 2 Page 13

  There was no way they would hear him.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Tyrell.

  Vinnie was leaning forward in his seat, ready to jump out. He looked determined. “We’re getting off on this end.”

  At last, their chair was approaching the landing platform. Vinnie flipped up the safety bar and looked back as the attendant scolded him for doing it himself and too early. He saw the glowing eyes floating in the darkness, flickering in the reflected firelight and the light of the moon.

  The attendant grabbed the chair to slow it down, and Vinnie jumped off, pulling Tyrell with him.

  “Hey!” the girl protested, but Vinnie didn’t stick around to argue.

  Tyrell’s feet were dragging on the boardwalk. “Wait up!”

  Vinnie paused for a second, allowing Tyrell to get his footing. “C’mon! You want to help your mom, don’t you?”

  They only had to wait a moment for Lenny’s chair to reach the landing platform. Vinnie was already shouting at him, “Lenny, you have to go home!”

  The attendant, frowning at Vinnie’s apparent mean outburst, raised the safety bar and slowed the chair so Lenny could hop off.

  Lenny stepped to the side, and Vinnie grabbed him. “Lenny, go home! You have to hide!”

  “Hey, leave him alone,” said the attendant.

  Vinnie turned on her. “The dead are back! They’re on the beach!”

  “What?” asked the girl.

  Vinnie realized that she probably wasn’t here for the first attack, so he didn’t waste time explaining to her. She wouldn’t get it.

  “Noooo.” Lenny shook his head in denial of what was unfolding. It couldn’t be happening. Not again. The good guys won last time.

  “Lenny, go!” Vinnie insisted. “I’ll meet you later.”

  That last part seemed to soften the order. “You and me?”

  “Yes, Lenny, you and me. Go!”

  Lenny nodded and began to hobble his way off the landing platform. Vinnie and Tyrell followed right behind him, Vinnie pushing him through the turn style. Vinnie picked Tyrell up and carried him as he passed through.

  Vinnie pointed with his whole arm off the boardwalk. “Lenny, go to headquarters. Put on your cape and mask and hide. This is a job for Lava Man! Wait for me.”

  Lenny looked over at Billy, who shrugged. Excited by the opportunity to don his superhero outfit and be a savior once more, Lenny gave two thumbs off and walked off the boardwalk in earnest.

  *

  Lenny walked as fast as his legs would take him, breezing past people walking onto the boardwalk. His walking wasn’t the best, so he kept his hands out, balancing and bracing himself in case he fell, like his physical therapist taught him.

  He looked to his right, where Billy Blake kept up with him. “We have to save the day again.”

  Billy winked and gave him a thumbs up. “I’m with you all the way, Lenny. Let’s kick some ass!”

  The families Lenny practically knocked down as he rushed in the other direction looked back and squinted as they saw a special person talking to thin air.

  *

  Vinnie turned to Tyrell. “We’ve got to warn everyone.”

  Tyrell nodded, and they dashed down the wooden ramp to the beach. People were standing around as the musician was belting out “Dream A Little Dream of Me” by the Mamas and Papas.

  Vinnie looked around frantically, searching the crowd.

  “There’s my mom!” cried Tyrell, pointing.

  “I see Officer Becky,” said Vinnie. “You go get your mom. Tell her what we saw.”

  Tyrell nodded obediently and dashed off. Tara smiled at first, checking her watch and wondering why they were back so soon. When she saw Tyrell’s expression, hers turned to concern.

  Vinnie wasted no time. He bee-lined over to Becky, who was standing with one of the National Guard officers. “Officer Becky, am I glad to see you.” He was catching his breath.

  She saw the expression on his face. “I was just chatting with Captain McBride, here. What’s wrong, Vinnie?”

  “Good…I’m glad…he’s here, too.”

  McBride frowned. “Catch your breath, kid.”

  “There’re zombies on the beach, and they’re headed right this way!”

  There were murmurs and concerned looks from other bonfire goers. Becky grabbed Vinnie by the arm and pulled him aside. She leaned in close and spoke through gritted teeth. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re making a scene.”

  “No, really! I saw them from the sky ride. There’s a whole bunch of them heading this way from the water.”

  Becky put her hands on her hips. “This isn’t funny, Vinnie.”

  Captain McBride was looking towards the blackness, listening to the waves crashing. “I don’t see anything.”

  “There must be a hundred of them.” Vinnie pointed to the pitch black. “There!”

  Becky looked and saw nothing but full dark. “Vinnie, you’re scaring everyone.” Her tone was reprimanding, but there was also fear in her voice.

  Vinnie grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You have to do something. They’re here. Please!”

  Vinnie was a good kid. Plus, he was one of the heroes of the first attack two years ago. If anyone knew what those things looked like, it’d be him. Becky nodded. “Okay. We’ll have a look.” She nodded to Captain McBride, who got on his radio.

  “Send down a squad, and bring some lights,” he said.

  Tara shuffled through the sand towards where they were standing and accosted Vinnie. “What in the hell is going on here? You have my son scared half to death, talking about seeing zombies on the beach.”

  “I saw them,” insisted Vinnie. “I swear it. We need to get out of here. All of us. Now.”

  “I thought we had an understanding, to move past all this zombie stuff,” scolded Tara.

  “I’m not lying, and I’m not crazy,” insisted Vinnie.

  “Now hold on just a second,” said Captain McBride. “No need to create a panic until we’ve had a look.”

  Six guardsmen strolled across the sand towards them. They were carrying lights. Three had odd-looking rifles. They looked like flare guns.

  “What’s up, Marty?” asked one of the soldiers.

  “Captain McBride,” McBride insisted. “This boy, here, said he saw something advancing up the beach towards us from the sky ride.”

  “They were zombies,” explained Vinnie. “I know what I saw.”

  “Let’s get some lights on this beach,” said Captain McBride.

  The three men with powerful LED lamps spread out. The musician kept playing, but the crowd’s eyes were on the National Guardsmen.

  They flicked on the lights, and the pitch darkness by the water lit up with numerous pairs of reflections, like cats eyes.

  “See!” cried Vinnie. “That’s them!”

  “What in the hell…?” Captain McBride strained his eyes, trying to make it out.

  “We’ve had a big feral cat problem,” offered Officer Becky. “There’re probably tons of them out there.”

  There was murmuring in the crowd. The musician had stopped playing, and everyone was backing away from the beach.

  McBride waved at his men holding the rifles. “Fire bioluminescent rounds.”

  The other three men stepped forward and fired a round each. There were pops, and a green spray scattered in the air. The spray illuminated and appeared to stay suspended in the air, never reaching the ground.

  “Signal flare,” McBride ordered.

  A soldier brought him a small box. Captain McBride opened it, removed a small pistol, loaded it with a flare, and took aim above the suspended bioluminated green dots. He fired above the middle of them.

  At first, there was a bright red light that bounced around and blurred everyone’s vision. Within seconds, everyone saw an illuminated horde of dead standing there, waiting silently.

  “Evacuate the beach!” shouted McBride, and everyone began to r
un and scream. Like the predators they were, the dead screeched and took off after their terrified prey.

  McBride was on his radio, and Officer Becky had her weapon drawn. The townsfolk swarmed past them and towards the ramp. They stormed the wooden ramp, pushing and shoving to get back onto the boardwalk.

  When the crowd cleared, Tara was standing there, shouting for Tyrell. An older woman was face down in the sand, and an old man was sitting in the sand, stunned, knocked over by the wave of fleeing people.

  Vinnie was still beside Officer Becky.

  “What are you still doing here?” she asked.

  Vinnie snapped out of his hysteria. “I’ll get Tyrell! You and the captain get the other two.”

  As Vinnie took off to run, Tara was right beside him. As they closed the gap with Tyrell, the tsunami of dead were closing in on them. Unarmed, Captain McBride went for the lady who was lying face down in the sand. Apparently, she had been trampled by the panicked exodus. Becky placed her hands under the old man’s arms and hoisted him up with a grunt.

  Soldiers took to the beach, taking aim at the advancing dead swarm. Some remained on the boardwalk in an elevated position.

  “Fire at will!” commanded Captain McBride into his radio. He hoisted the unconscious woman onto his shoulder and began to plod his way through the sand back towards the boardwalk.

  The soldiers on the beach created firing lines, and the ones on the boardwalk began shooting at the dead.

  Vinnie snatched Tyrell up in his arms. “I’ll be faster,” he told Tara. She nodded, and they ran back up the beach towards the ramps, ducking their heads. The hungry dead were right on their heels. However, they were slower in the shifting sand, which bought Vinnie, Tara, and Tyrell some time.

  The soldiers on the beach in front of them held their fire, allowing them passage. Vinnie, carrying Tyrell, and Tara rushed past them.

  Becky had one hand under the old man’s armpit, helping him along, and the other held her weapon. She trained it at the closest zombies, watching them as she shoved the old man towards the boardwalk. Fortunately, they struggled as they staggered through the sand after them. Unfortunately, so did the old man.

  When they all had passed the soldiers on the beach, clearing the lines of fire, the soldiers opened up on the screeching dead. They dropped several of the dead with headshots, but missed others, striking some in the center mass. The dead were too close, and they quickly overwhelmed the guardsmen. There were screams of terror as soldiers were engulfed in a tide of snapping jaws and teeth.

  “Don’t look back!” shouted Tara, as she and Vinnie dashed up the ramp. Tyrell, facing backwards, saw it all over Vinnie’s shoulder. He saw soldiers fighting hand-to-hand, being tackled, spurts of crimson gushing from their uniforms where teeth found purchase. He saw the dead pulling out intestines and fumbling them like they were Slinkies, their wild eyes glowing in the firelight.

  Becky and McBride had made it up the ramp and joined the others on the boardwalk.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Becky.

  McBride’s eyes were sharp. “The State Police have been alerted. Reinforcements are on their way. The Army’s been called in, too.”

  They looked at the beach. The wave of dead was currently being held back by the firing line up on the boardwalk. Many were also preoccupied with their fallen prey, biting and dismembering in frenzy.

  Vinnie placed Tyrell back on the boardwalk. The boy almost collapsed, his legs like wet noodles, but Tara caught him.

  “Get him out of here!” said Vinnie, shouting over the volleys of gunfire.

  “What about you?”

  “Dharma and Marie Russo’s kids are on the pier!”

  Tara understood. “You be careful!”

  Vinnie nodded, and Tara dashed off, ushered off the boardwalk and into the town by police.

  Vinnie turned to run when someone grabbed his arm. He wheeled around and saw Marie Russo. She looked fierce. “Where’re the kids?”

  “With Dharma on the pier!”

  “Let’s go!”

  As they ran, Vinnie took out his phone and dialed Dharma. The phone rang, but she didn’t answer. They navigated their way through the bedlam of first responders and National Guard, heading left down the boardwalk as everyone else was headed off.

  * * *

  Dharma, Salvatore, and Alessandra were all on line, their chests thumping to the bass being kicked out by the DJ. In fact, the whole boardwalk shook from the Raging Rapids ride, which is why none of them heard or felt their cell phones going off in their pockets.

  They were only three people away from getting on, and the current ride was slowing to a stop.

  “AS THE RAGING RAPIDS SLOW AND EVENTUALLY COME TO A STOP, PLEASE KEEP ALL HANDS, FEET, AND BODILTY APPENDAGES INSIDE YOUR CAR,” instructed the DJ, a young black guy dressed in a white T-shirt and black shorts, from his booth.

  The wide cars came to a halt, and the safety bars lifted. Teens of all stripes exited with smiles on their faces, still bobbing their heads to the DJ’s sick beat.

  “THANKS AGAIN FOR RIDING THE RAGING RAPIDS! I HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT TIME, AND DO COME BACK NOW…”

  As the current batch of riders filed out the exit, Dharma and the kids waited patiently. When the last rider had exited, the attendant opened the entry gate. Alessandra nodded enthusiastically to Dharma. Salvatore did his best to look bored, but he was excited, too. Dharma could tell.

  They entered the ride, climbing the curved slope alongside the cars. The first two people, a teenage couple, took the first available car. The third, a teenage boy, grabbed the second. Dharma and Alessandra grabbed the third, and Salvatore grabbed the fourth.

  The rest of the riders went around, grabbing the next available car until the attendant closed the entry gate. It took another moment for the remaining riders to occupy all of the cars, and the DJ took the opportunity to introduce himself.

  “WELCOME, LADIES AND GERMS, TO THE RAGING RAPIDS RIDE! YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY BRAVE SOULS WHO AREN’T AFRAID OF DANGER!”

  Dharma knew this DJ. His name was Chris Washington, a student at Ocean County Community College. Nice kid. She waved to him inside the DJ booth, a small box made out of metal and Plexiglas with a single door. He saw her and winked.

  WHILE THE LOVELY CLARISSA GOES AROUND LOWERING YOUR SAFETY BARS, I ASK THAT, FOR YOUR SAFETY, YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS, FEET, AND ALL OTHER BODY PARTS INSIDE THE CAR THROUGHOUT THE RIDE.

  “NOW THAT WE’VE TAKEN CARE OF BUSINESS, I HAVE JUST ONE QUESTION FOR YOU…ARE YOU READY TO PAAAAR-TEEEEEEY?”

  There was a decent cheer that came from the occupied cars. However, the young DJ wasn’t satisfied.

  “C’MON, Y’ALL, YOU’RE ABOUT TO RIDE THE RAGING RAPIDS, SO I ASK YOU, ARE YOU READY TO PAAAAAR-TEEEEY?”

  This time, the riders erupted into a collective roar of excitement and enthusiasm.

  “THAT’S MORE LIKE IT. OKAY, FOLKS. HANG ON TIGHT AS THE RIDE STARTS, SIT BACK, AND ENJOY AS I SPIN THIS SAVAGE BEAT!”

  Clarissa pressed the green button, activating the ride, and Alessandra reflexively grabbed the safety bar. Her body was tense with excitement. Dharma saw Salvatore in the car ahead of them, looking cool as a cucumber. He did, however, glance back at them once.

  The ride lurched out of inertia and began to slowly rotate around its center, and DJ Chris crossfaded the current backbeat into a remix of a popular dance song.

  The ride picked up speed, throwing Alessandra (seated on the inside) up against Dharma. They both smiled and laughed at the rising tickle in their stomachs. Within seconds, the ride was off at full speed, and they flew around and around as DJ Chris injected all kinds of sound effects into the song, periodically shouting cheers into the microphone.

  As they flew round and round, Dharma caught quick glimpses of the pier, then the DJ booth, and the pier again. The breeze felt good on her face and neck, but as she passed the pier, she saw people running away from the ride. As they passed around again, she saw everyone on the pie
r running en masse, as if in panic.

  What the hell?

  Alessandra hadn’t seen any of it yet. She was tipping her head back, enjoying the centripetal force and soaking in the music.

  Dharma’s skin went cold and chills shot down her back when she saw it.

  Dozens of dead were shambling on the pier, grabbing fleeing people and biting down. Children…children were being snatched from their parents’ arms as they cried out in horror.

  Dharma sat forward in her seat, terror-stricken. Alessandra didn’t notice. Dharma didn’t know what to do first. Then she decided.

  She had to signal Chris to stop the ride.

  As she swung past the DJ booth, she waved her arms at Chris, shouting that he had to stop the ride. On the second pass, he saw her and waved back, flashing her his trademark smirk.

  “REMEMBER, KIDDIES, ALL HANDS AND ARMS MUST REMAIN INSIDE THE CAR WHEN THE RIDE IS IN MOTION.”

  Alessandra noticed Dharma frantically trying to get the DJ’s attention. “What’s wrong?” she shouted into Dharma’s ear. But when she was thrown up against her and caught a glimpse of the pier over Dharma’s shoulder, she saw what Dharma was reacting to.

  Now the both of them were waving their arms at the ride attendant, who mostly ignored them, playing on her cell phone. On the second pass, she managed a smile.

  The ride began to slow down. Didn’t anyone else see what was happening? Dharma and Alessandra waved their arms and shouted, but DJ Chris spoke over them.

  “AND NOW WE PREPARE TO GO BACK IN TIME, SO HOLD ON TIGHT…”

  The dead were approaching the ride. They must’ve been attracted to the sounds. They pushed at the entry gate, swiping cold, dead hands at Clarissa, who was watching the control panel.

  “WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT…”

  The dead pressed up against the gate. It was buckling, the half-engaged latch giving way.

  “IT’LL BE ALL RIGHT…”

  The ride momentarily came to a complete stop. Dharma and Alessandra looked on as the dead began to lean over the gate and fence in front of the ride. The flimsy metal fence was beginning to topple over.