Diana sat in the seat next to Connor, watching the shore fly by as they raced up the Schuylkill River. She still couldn’t believe they had made it. So many times it looked like they were destined to die and rise again . . . too many times. Hit by a sudden wave of powerful emotion, she started sobbing uncontrollably, her head buried in her hands.
Connor looked to his left and watched with a feeling of sympathy. He knew why she was crying. Letting out the pent up emotions was good. They had been on the run nearly non-stop for hours, through swarms of flesh hungry zombies, barely having a moment to catch their breath. He knew the feelings. They tended to hit you like a sledgehammer after times like this. When you walked among the undead and came out of it with your soul still intact. When you stared death in the face and told it to F off.
The flood of emotions was often too much, leaving you a blubbering mess. But in the end it made you stronger, and Diana would definitely be stronger after this. She had the heart of a warrior. He didn’t see it when they first met, but he saw it now. He had seen it a dozen times as they fought their way through the countless legions of undead in the city. She was strong. She survived.
Turning his gaze back to the river ahead, he smiled as he heard Doug’s voice yelling over the sound of the engines. Some people, on the other hand, dealt with it differently.
Doug stood at the back of the boat, watching Boathouse Row fade in the distance along with the swarm of zombies lining the shoreline.
“Not today, you undead pricks!!” he yelled, his middle finger still held high above his head.
Taking off his gore-covered jacket, he threw it aside and stripped off the coveralls. Pulling down his shorts, he slapped his ass as he mooned the zombies.
“Bite my ass!” he yelled.
Pulling his shorts up, he took a deep breath, smiling as the air rushed through his hair as the boat sped along. Looking to his friends, he suddenly noticed Diana sitting with her head in her hands. Rushing to her side, he grabbed her in his arms and hugged her tight. Lifting her face from her hands, she flung her arms around him and returned the hug.
“We did it,” she sobbed. “We made it.”
“I told you we would,” Doug whispered in her ear.
Pulling back from the hug, she held his face in her hands and leaned in and kissed him. Softly, tenderly, they held each other as the world melted around them. For those few moments, there was no apocalypse. No zombies. There was just the two of them.
Pulling back, she smiled as she stood up and walked over to Connor, who sat at the controls, still grinning. Standing behind him, she wrapped him in a bear hug, holding him tight for a good ten seconds.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
Turning away, she headed below deck.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to lie down,” she said, still smiling as she started down the steps.
She had barely disappeared out of sight when Doug cocked his fist back in excitement.
“Yes!” he whispered
Connor just shook his head.
“I knew it,” he said laughing.
With the city skyline safely behind them, Connor eased back on the throttle as they cleared Kelly Drive and the Fairmount Park area. Speed wasn’t a necessity now, and fuel wasn’t easy to come by. The zombie count had lessened as they traveled north, and soon they were seeing nothing but trees along the shoreline as the boat continued on. Diana was asleep below deck as Connor set the boat on slow cruise. Turning to his friend, he held out his hand.
“Thanks Doug,” he said, a serious look on his face. “You saved my life back in the museum. I won’t forget that.”
“You would have done the same for me,” said Doug, taking his hand and smiling. “Besides, I’m pretty sure we’re even considering the whole cafeteria incident. I really thought I was a gonner.”
“Still. Thanks. This turned out to be anything but a routine mission, and I’m glad I had you watching my back.”
“Any time, pal. And I mean that. Any time you need me, I’ll be there.”
Connor smiled at his friend.
“Understood,” he said.
Doug turned and looked at the river ahead, but suddenly turned back to his friend.
“I just gotta ask,” he said, a questioning look on his face. “How did you know we were on the 2nd floor of the mall? I mean, that was a risky plan letting the swarm in like that. How did you know where we were?”
Connor smiled as he turned back to his friend.
“I didn’t,” he said. “I had a 50/50 chance at getting it right. I figured they’d likely be set up on the 2nd floor to give two possible escape routes, but I really didn’t know.”
Doug just stared at him, a disbelieving look on his face.
“Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Desperate times, my friend.”
“And what about the gun?” asked Doug. “I thought you had a rule about firing a gun around zombies? You took a big risk doing that.”
Looking back to the river, he paused for a minute before turning back to his friend, the smile fading from his face as he remembered the event.
“There’s an exception to every rule, Doug,” said Connor, his eyes reflecting the trauma of the day. “That was the exception.”
Diana slept below deck for the remainder of the boat ride home, exhausted from the trauma of the last two days. Up at the controls, the two men rode in silence for many minutes before Doug finally turned to Connor.
“What next,” he asked.
Connor sat silent for a moment before answering.
“”What next?” he replied, an hint of anger in his voice. “I’ll tell you what’s next.”
Cutting the engine to just above idle, he turned to his friend, his eyes burning with rage.
“We find those bastards that left us to die in the city, and we kill them. And after we’ve killed them, we take care of Morrow.”
Doug just looked at his friend, as if he had already known the answer.
“I feel the same way you do about this,” said Doug. “But I’m not sure I can kill a man in cold blood like that.”
Connor looked at his friend and smiled.
“Who said anything about killing them in cold blood?”
“I’m not sure I get where you’re coming from on this one. So we’re not going to kill them?”
“They’re going to get what’s coming to them. Morrow is a psychotic madman and he has to be stopped. They murdered an entire lab full of scientists and tried to kill the three of us, all to keep the zombie apocalypse from ending.
Connors knuckles were turning white he was gripping the steering wheel so hard.
“They’re going to pay. They’re going to learn the hard way that they fucked with the wrong person.”
Doug sat in silence for a second before responding.
“You’re doing it again,” said Doug, frustrated. “I’m still confused as to how they’re supposedly going to die, yet we’re not going to kill them in cold blood. Besides, they’ve got a secure facility at the Chemcorp complex, and they have god knows how many armed men guarding the place. How the heck are we even going to get to them?
Connor’s look suddenly changed as a devious smile crept across his face.
“We’re going to catch us a swarm,” he said.