"I"ll be fine. Just be sure to close up the plane behind you so nothing can get in."
Natalie hesitated.
"You know I"m right," said Everett. "If you take me with you, you"ll either have to leave me exposed out there or die trying to defend me. Once you reach the Beachhead, tell them where I am. They"ll send someone after me."
"How do we get to the Beachhead?"
Everett pulled the maps out of his pocket and handed them to Natalie. "Continue straight down this road and you"ll know exactly where you are. It"s less than four miles from here. Now hurry."
Natalie left the c.o.c.kpit and headed for the exit hatch. Before she closed it behind her, Everett called out, "Don"t forget to send help."
Other than some b.u.mps and bruises, and some reinforced fear of flying, everyone in back had made it through the landing safely. The Angels had formed a perimeter around the C-130, and so far only had to deal with four rotters. Pandelosi was helping Ari load the briefcase with the Zombie Vaccine into a backpack to keep her hands free for the trip.
"Where"s the pilot?" asked Duncan.
"We"ll have to come back for him. He took a piece of shrapnel when the engine shredded the Humvee, and can"t walk." Natalie noticed that none of the military folks seemed concerned about leaving him behind.
"So where do we go from here?" Pandelosi asked.
"Everett says just follow this road straight and we"ll know where we are, and then we can follow the maps to the Beachhead." Natalie deferred to Pandelosi. "Do you want to lead?"
The lieutenant hesitated, but then her military bearing took over. "All right people, listen up. Stay single file, with ten feet between us. Keep your eyes open for revenants." She faced Natalie. "Are your girls okay with taking orders from me?"
"They are."
"Good. If we get separated, we make our own way to the Beachhead and meet up there. Any questions?"
None.
"Let"s move out," Pandelosi said. "Natalie, you"re with me."
The group made its way through the parked aircraft. At the end of the makeshift airstrip, four rows of Jersey barriers blocked all eight lanes of the highway, arranged in such a way so as to create a staggered pa.s.sage through them to slow down rotters. The going was easy because no vehicles clogged this road. Once past the barricade, they headed toward the bend in the highway. Off along the eastern horizon, the first rays of sunlight reflected off the bottom of the clouds, creating a perfect sunrise.
Pandelosi went through the maps Everett had given them, opening and closing them, growing more and more frustrated. As they rounded the bend in the highway, she refolded them and shoved them into her pocket.
"What"s wrong?" Natalie asked.
"These maps are f.u.c.king useless. I can"t figure out where we are."
Natalie pointed ahead of them. "Maybe that will help."
The highway led to the Golden Gate Bridge.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR.
"You gotta be kidding me," said Duncan. "How the h.e.l.l are we going to get across that?"
"We walk," snapped Pandelosi. "Do you think they would have set up an emergency airstrip on the Sausalito side of the Bay if they hadn"t secured the bridge first?"
"I guess," replied Duncan somewhat contrite.
"This is going to be a cakewalk compared to what"s ahead of us." Pandelosi waved them forward. "Move out, people."
Approaching the bridge, Natalie surveyed it for potential danger. She noticed a set of Jersey barriers arranged across the entranceway in the same way as at the airstrip and open in the center to allow traffic through. On the other side of the barricade, vehicles were neatly lined up along the two outer lanes on either side of the bridge as though someone had parked them there, leaving the four center lanes un.o.bstructed. The two pedestrian walkways on either side of the bridge were also clear. No rotters were visible.
When they reached the barricade, Pandelosi stopped and faced them. "Split into four groups as we cross."
"I thought you said this was going to be a cakewalk," chided Duncan.
"No sense being bunched up and an easy target in case we run into something. Since you like to second guess me so much, you can join me down the center of the span. Kim, you take the left walkway. Batchelder has the one on the right. You ladies can team up with us as you see fit. Keep ten feet between you. Let"s roll."
The military personnel spread out. Pandelosi walked down the left side of the four center lanes and Duncan took the right. Kim and Batchelder swung over the guardrails and moved along the east and west exterior walkways, respectively. Amy and Sarah followed Kim. Sandy and Doreen fell in behind Batchelder. The rest of the Angels stayed in the center, with Josephine and Emily trailing Duncan and Natalie, Stephanie, and Ari following Pandelosi.
As they approached the north tower, Pandelosi waved for Natalie to join her. When Natalie caught up, the lieutenant pointed to the cars lining the outer guard rails. "What do you make of the fact that the cars look like they had been parked here rather than abandoned, and that there"s no blood or bodies around?"
"I"m taking it as a good sign."
"How so?" asked Pandelosi.
"Every other city we"ve encountered completely fell apart during the outbreak. So far we haven"t seen any rotter activity here. Secretary Fogel knows what he"s doing. Maybe we finally found a place that"s really safe."
"I hope you"re right." The lieutenant glanced over her shoulder and saw most of her unit and the Angels gazing up at the North Tower that stood five hundred feet above them. "Pay attention, people. You can sightsee on your own time."
Duncan replied with, "Hooyah."
When they reached the middle of the center span, a knot of traffic blocked the bridge a thousand feet ahead of them. Pandelosi raised her hand for the others to halt, and checked her flanks to make certain Kim and Batchelder saw. When everyone had come to a stop, she pointed to Duncan and Natalie. "You two are with me."
Duncan stayed to the rear, scanning the span for danger. As the women approached, they saw a tour bus on its side at an angle and blocking the right four lanes, its roof facing their direction. There were no indications of a struggle, no blood smears or broken windows. Abrasions in the concrete near the rear end of the bus and accompanying dents in the roof indicated the bus had originally blocked six lanes and had been moved. The parked vehicles on either side of the bridge ended one hundred feet before the accident, leaving a path that veered to the left and disappeared around the bus. Raising their weapons, the two women made their way around the overturned vehicle.
Traffic crowded the southern span and stretched back as far as Natalie could see. Hundreds of cars, SUVs, a few buses, and even a propane truck sat stalled along the southern span. Two lanes on the eastern side of the bridge were clear. Natalie a.s.sumed that the cars dispersed along the northern span had been removed from the southern portion to make a path. A single rotter stood fifty feet away staring at the windshield of a taxi. Its back was to them, and it did not appear to be aware of their presence. Pandelosi raised her M-16A2, took aim, and fired off a single round. Its head jerked and its body stiffened for a second before falling to the cement. Pandelosi gave Natalie a thumbs-up, and they rejoined the others.
"We heard a gunshot," said Duncan. "What"s up?"
"Just a stray revenant." The lieutenant spoke so all four groups could hear. "We"re halfway home. There"s a lot of traffic on the other side of the bus, but for the most part it looks clear. Stay alert. Let"s move out."
The four groups set out. They had gone about one hundred yards when Duncan called out, "Revenant."
A rotter in the remnants of a woman"s business suit staggered between two lanes of parked vehicles, its gait swaying and uncertain because it still wore a single high heel, its head twisting from side to side as if searching for something. Duncan raced forward, closed to within ten feet, and took it down with a single shot to the forehead. Raising his right arm, he waved the others forward.
After another several yards, Natalie spotted a rotter moving down the un.o.bstructed lane toward them, this one shirtless from the waist up, its abdomen exposed and decayed flesh dangling off its ribcage. At that moment, off to the right, she heard Duncan call out, "Revenant." He didn"t refer to the shirtless rotter, but to a second one in a bicyclist"s outfit that stood up from between two stalled cars and lumbered toward him. Duncan took it down with a single shot. Pandelosi raised her M-16A2 and put a bullet through the head of the shirtless rotter.
Natalie stepped up to her. "Maybe we shouldn"t be firing on them. The noise is attracting them."
"What do you suggest?"
"My girls have hunting knives. We can take them out quietly."
Pandelosi nodded and called out to Duncan. "Let the women lead."
Natalie and Stephanie moved ahead, leaving Ari to mind the backpack containing the briefcase. Emily and Josephine took the lead on the left. Each of them slung their weapons and removed their hunting knives. After another few yards a rotter in a chauffeur"s uniform appeared on the right from behind a tour bus and stumbled toward Josephine. Josephine moved quickly. Slamming her arm against its chest, she drove it back against the front of the bus and plunged the blade into its right eye, twisting once to scramble its brains. The rotter went limp. It dropped to the ground, sliding off of Josephine"s knife. She circled around the bus to the right. Emily moved along the left.
"Hey!"
The yell came from the left. Kim and Sarah were waving. When they had Natalie"s attention, they pointed toward the south span.
Pandelosi walked up to her. "What"s going.... Jesus Christ on a f.u.c.king bicycle."
A thousand feet ahead of them, hundreds of rotters filled the entire southern span of the bridge, all heading in their direction.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE.
"What should we do?" asked Duncan.
"Fall back," answered Pandelosi.
"To where?" Natalie protested. "Those things will just follow us. The farther we retreat, the harder it"ll be to reach the Beachhead later."
"What do you suggest?"
Natalie pointed to the southern end of the bridge. "We go forward."
"We can"t fight them all," said Duncan.
"We don"t have to. We can bait-and-switch them."
"What are they doing?" asked Amy.
"We should join them." Sarah headed for the guardrail to join Natalie and Pandelosi.
Kim stopped her. "Don"t expose yourself yet. Wait and see what they plan on doing."
Amy looked toward San Francisco. "I don"t see any rotters on the walkway. Why don"t we make a break for it?"
"The left two lanes are wide open. The revenants will spot us and swarm the walkway, and if they get across that guardrail we"re trapped."
Amy sighed. She felt trapped already.
On the western pedestrian walkway, Batchelder and the others didn"t see the approaching horde of rotters or the central group stop to confer. They continued ahead, and soon were several hundred feet ahead of the others.
Josephine"s view of the approaching rotters was obstructed by the tour bus. Emily noticed them and paused to gape. Being distracted, she didn"t see the rotter in a 49ers sweat suit inside the tour bus. It followed her along the center aisle, tracking her from the shaded windows. When it reached the open rear door, it turned onto the stairs, lost its footing, and fell off. Emily heard it moan an instant before it crashed into her. The two slammed into the adjacent Toyota and slid to the cement. Emily cried out as she felt the femur in her left leg break. The rotter clawed and bit at her right leg, unable to penetrate the leather. She took her hunting knife and plunged it into the back of the rotter"s skull, twisting the blade. It went limp and collapsed across her legs, sending bolts of pain through her body.
Natalie and Pandelosi rushed over. Duncan, Ari, and Stephanie raced ahead of them and took up firing positions.
"Are you okay?" Natalie asked.
"No. My leg is broken."
"We"ll carry you." Natalie helped her up.
Emily gasped and fell back against the Toyota, breathing heavy. "I"m not going anywhere today, honey."
"We"re not leaving you."
"You have to." Emily held up her hand to cut off further discussion. "I"m not trying to be a martyr. Get me somewhere safe. I"ll distract the rotters and give the rest of you a chance to escape. When you come back for Everett, pick me up on the way."
Natalie hesitated.
"It"s the only way. I can"t move, and if you guys try to carry me it"ll get us all killed."
"She"s right," said Pandelosi.
"Okay. Where around here is safe?"
"Right there." Emily pointed to a propane truck two lanes over and three vehicles down. "Every rotter on this bridge will see me, and none of them can get to me."
"Are you sure about this?" asked Natalie.
Emily nodded.
Natalie and Pandelosi threw one of Emily"s arms around each shoulder and escorted her to the tanker, the latter wincing with every step. The women helped her onto the ladder and waited until she had a good handhold. The horde was three hundred feet away.
"Are you sure you"ll be okay?" Natalie asked.
"It"ll be better than the alternative, honey," Emily said. "Now get out of here so you can send back help soon. It"s going to get cold up here when night hits."
Natalie hesitated, wanting to say something profound. Instead, Pandelosi grabbed her by the arm and pushed her back toward the bus, yelling for the others to follow.