And, then suddenly, I was done.All my gear was loaded, and Ripley was pacing out in the moonlight to keep from spooking the livestock.I had no reason to wait anymore.Nothing holding us back.
I climbed onto Vince, and as soon as we were out of the stables, I urged him to go as fast as he could.Given the snow and the darkness, it was more of a cautious trot than the exuberant gallop I’d imagined, but with the cold wind whipping in my face, it was exhilarating enough.
Once we were finally running, all my regret and hesitation melted away.That’s not to say that I didn’t love Boden, Stella, or Fae.I loved them with everything I could.I loved them more than myself.But that’s why leaving only made sense.They would be safer without me.
The first few days we spent covering as much ground as we could, but some point before dusk, Vince would let me know when it was time to stop for the night.
As the last traces of daylight faded behind the snowy pines, I guided Vince off the trail into a sheltered hollow beneath a stand of firs.After all the work he’d done all day, my main focus was on making sure that Vince was comfortable.
I removed the decker and gear bags from the mule’s broad back.My fingers were stiff in their gloves as I shook out the wool blanket for him and checked his hooves for packed ice.He snorted, tossing his head, but stood patiently as I rubbed him down and scattered oats for his supper.
After that, I set about making my own camp.The ground was frozen, so I stamped out a patch in the snow for my sleeping roll and spread a canvas tarp underneath for extra insulation.
I hoisted my bags with my provisions up into the branches of a sturdy pine, looping the rope several times to keep it out of reach of any hungry bears or even human thieves that might happen upon us.
While I did all that, Ripley sometimes went off to wander and hunt on her own, but she always came back once I got the camp stove going.Her favorite part of the night was when I melted snow and made broth with the dried meat.Most of it went to me, since she supplemented her diet with squirrels, rabbits, and birds.But I still shared with her, because it was basically impossible not to when she pressed her giant head against me.
I thought of Boden, Stella, and Fae often, but I never let my thoughts linger on them.My worries and my guilt couldn’t help them.
Before I had left, I been worrying about the cold nights and struggling to keep warm if I couldn’t find shelter, but it wasn’t bad at all.In fact, one night, when Ripley was fully pressed up against me, I had to take off my sweater because I was too warm under the blankets.
But soon I realized that the warmth was actually a problem.I’d waited until the snow seemed fully set before I left, in part to deter followers, but also because zombies were largely absent during the winter.Some I think migrated south, others seemed to hibernate almost, standing frozen between the trees until spring thaw came.
While the rising temperatures might protect me from hypothermia, it also meant that zombies were on the move once again.When I woke up on my fourth morning away from the boat, snow was melting from the branches, and I could hear zombie death groans in the distance.
I packed us up in a hurry and got back on the road in record time.Both Ripley and Vince kept glancing back over their shoulders, their ears on high alert for the calls of the zombies, but they rushed onward.
Unfortunately, all of us were so busy looking over our shoulders that we didn’t notice what was right in front of us.Not until a small horde of a dozen zombies came shambling out of the dense brush.
40
Remy
Vince stopped short when he saw them, his sturdy hooves skidding through the snow.I nearly launched over his head, but I braced myself enough with my legs to keep from tumbling headlong in front of the zombies.
Ripley was already primed for a fight with the infected, and she ran at them.While I climbed down off Vince, she feinted left and right, dividing the horde to make them easier to combat.
I grabbed my splitting maul from my things.It had a long handle, like a sledgehammer, with a broad axe as the head.That made it an ideal tool for cutting wood or cutting down zombies.
Vince stomped his feet and his nostrils flared with rage as he snorted.I quickly put distance between us, because I didn’t want my axe hitting him in the chaos.
He turned away from the zombies, kicking with his powerful back legs.Hooves cracked through their decaying limbs, sending them flying.When a zombie managed to get too close to him, the mule grabbed it by the head.The gelatinous skull squelched between his teeth, and he shook the zombie like a rag doll until the neck popped off, decapitating it.The headless corpse fell to the ground, and Vince spit out what was left of the skull.
Ripley continued her attacks by taking powerful swipes with her paws, tearing legs out right from under the zombies.They weren’t killed by that, but they were severely hampered without any lower limbs.Plus, when they were legless on the ground, it was easier for Vince to stomp on their heads, crushing their greenish-grey matter with the slush and mud.
While I kept my focus on swinging my ax and finishing off any zombies that had only been maimed by Ripley or Vince, I didn’t see the top half of one, dragging itself toward me with its bony hands.I only noticed it when the zombie clamped down hard on my left foot, tearing straight through my boot and sinking teeth into my flesh.
“Dammit!”I yanked my foot free, then drove my axe down right between the zombie’s eyes.
The worst part of it all was that it was almost over.If I had only been vigilant enough for a few more minutes, we would’ve gotten out of this without any injury.Vince was more helpful against fighting the infected than I expected, and this should’ve been an easy win.
As I finished off the final zombie, I wondered if maybe I’d grown complacent on the boat.I didn’t usually find myself the victim of such a clumsy attack as that.
Thankfully, I was immune to the lyssavirus, but a foot injury during the first week of my long journey was not good news.
I hobbled back to Vince and gave him an appreciative scratch on the neck.“You’re kind of a bad ass, aren’t you?”
He made another snorting sound before sniffing me, practically inhaling my hair.I gave him another friendly pat, then moved on to getting my first aid kit from the packs.
