Induction

“Keep her safe, Jake,” were the last words he spoke.

Seth shoved me hard toward the boat. “Go!” he yelled in my face like a drill sergeant, and Jake dragged me behind him, slowing only to pick up Daphne’s carrier.

The area was teaming with undead. At the end of the dock, Jake vaulted me onto the bottom deck of the houseboat. The rifle, still strapped to my shoulder, dug into my flank as I hit the deck and rolled onto my side. Will helped me to my feet; it seemed like someone was always helping me to my feet lately. I turned a slow circle and saw Meg on the padded white bench. Tracks from her tears stood out in stark contrast on her cheeks.

“I didn’t hear you. I turned and you just weren’t there anymore. I swear to God I tried to go back for you, but they wouldn’t let me.”

“I know, Meggy. It’s okay, really. There was nothing to hear. You couldn’t have known.” My words seemed to relax her, like she was expecting me to blame her or be angry.

There was no time to reassure her, though, because the dock was slowly filling with the undead in their relentless pursuit. Jake ran for the wheel and started the engine. We pulled away only a few feet before we heard the engine going into overdrive.

The line was still attached, and the houseboat didn’t have enough horsepower to tear loose the mooring. The crowd of ghouls was less than twenty feet from the boat, and once upon us they could tumble off the dock and invade or last bastion of respite.

“Seth! What are you doing, man? It’s suicide!” Vinny was beside himself. Seth had stepped off the boat and was untying the coil of rope.

Vinny and Will each grabbed for wooden poles, the ones used to gauge depth, and ran to the edge of the boat. They began using the end of the pole to jab and push back the advancing crowd. There were too many of them to hold back and a good amount made it by them. I pulled the rifle from my shoulder and began taking shots. My arms still shook with fatigue, but I managed a few head shots. Still, my attempts were futile.

We screamed for Seth to jump back to the boat. He just looked up at us and smiled. A look of determination and resignation set in his features as the first of the undead bore down on him.

I stood with my eyes transfixed on Seth’s shirt. Multiple wounds began flowing with blood, and the white T-shirt turned red.

I heard Vinny and Will still struggling to keep the majority at bay with the pole, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Seth. To his credit, he didn’t so much as whisper as they tore him apart. And he didn’t stop unraveling the rope until it fell limply into the water.

“Go, you idiots,” he managed between clenched teeth before he was pulled back and disappeared under a sea of writhing bodies.

Jake hit the gas and we began to pull away from the dock in earnest. Will yelped as his pole got stuck in the crowd and he was pulled forward into their eager embraces.

“No! Will!” Meg screamed as she barreled her way across the deck and grabbed for Will’s legs. Her hands found no purchase, and she shouted his name as the distance between us and the dock grew.

I made my way to her and engulfed her trembling body in my arms. Vinny helped guide her to the bench seats, and we both held her as she was wracked with sobs.

Epilogue

I stared out the back of the boat at a dead Sanibel. There were many small fires blazing, but unlike those burning upon our arrival, these were flames of death. I unzipped the carrier and pulled Daphne onto my lap. She nuzzled into Meg, almost as if she, too, was trying to console her.

I thought of all that had been lost today. Nancy, Gabby, Dale, Adam, Seth, Will and likely six hundred others, and probably the last group of living we would see for a long time or perhaps ever. The Rossi clan was intact, and the price for our lives was steep.

That night we anchored in our old location. We would stay here until we recuperated from the emotional turmoil that plagued each one of us. Meg was understandably inconsolable. My pack contained a pretty hefty first aid kit. I made sure to stock up heavily with benzos and sleeping pills, knowing that if we ever needed the bug-out bags, we would need them. I gave her 5 mg of Xanax and she drifted into a fitful sleep shortly after.

Jake and I lay in bed, both of us staring at the ceiling and ruminating over the day’s events. Without taking his eyes from the ceiling, he told me what happened.

“There was this woman, Madeline. She lived on Sanibel with her husband and little girl, Fiona,” he started. “Everyone just assumed her family was dead. That’s what she said at least. I met her once during patrol. She was walking home from dinner, and I knew just by looking at her that she wasn’t right in the head. She was skittish; kept looking back over her shoulder like she was being followed. When she saw me, she couldn’t look me in the eye.”

I thought about that for a minute. “But, Jake, that could be said for most people nowadays.”