TYBEE ISLAN
ISLAND
By By Paul Paul Cales Cales & Becca
Continued from the July 2018 Beachcomber.
Catch up @ http://tybeebeachcomber.com/magazine
Chapter 13 – CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
CLICK! CLICK CLICK
Day 4.5
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | AUG 2018
toward the drama.
As they approach they hear Brian shouting, “It’s your fault! It’s
YOUR fault!”
“Holy shit, man,” Rudy says. “What happened to Jay?”
“Tony and Nate killed him,” replies Brian.
“What?” Rudy says. “We were over there chatting and all of a
sudden all hell broke loose. How the hell did…”
“First, they left an unloaded rifle in their tent, then Nate leaves
Jay with a pistol that’s on safety and doesn’t have a round
chambered! Who does that? It’s the zombie freaking apocalypse for
Christ sake!”
“Oh, what?” Nate begins. “I’m supposed to slip the pistol to Jay
and say ‘Here’s a pistol to use on Carrie instead of that buck knife. A
bullet needs to be chambered and don’t forget to click the safety off
before you shoot sweet little Carrie in the face.’ I’m supposed to say
that RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER!?!?”
“Guys we need to…” Becky begins before Brian cuts her off.
“Shut the hell up Becky!” He raises the Beretta and points it at
Tony and Nate. “I should just kill you,” he says through clenched
teeth.
“Hold up, Brian,” Rudy says. “Let’s keep it together.”
“Screw you, Rudy! What? You’re on their side now?”
“It’s not like that, man. I’m just sayin’ there’s no protocol for
weapons configuration in the zombie apocalypse. It’s not like
anyone wanted this to happen.”
Brian turns toward Rudy and says, “Okay, big man. Since you
want to be on their side…” The moment he looks away Tony
springs toward him. He grabs Brian’s wrist and plunges his shoulder
into his gut, knocking him to the ground.
“Get the damn gun!” Tony shouts at Nate, who promptly steps on
Brian’s hand and pries the pistol from his grasp. Tony releases and
Brian curls up trying to regain the breath that was knocked out of
him from the fall.
“No more!” Tony says to the group. “If someone gets bit, we
take care of it right away. No hesitation, no remorse. We can’t let
something like this happen again. This is a freaking mess.”
“Maybe someone should take care of you, Tony,” Brian spits
out as he manages to get his feet under him. “Rudy, you should
probably come with me. I’m getting the hell out of here.”
“Nah dude. I’m not going anywhere. You shouldn’t either.”
“I’m not staying here with these idiots. I’m gonna take Jay’s boat
over to Wassaw Island. I can’t stand to be around them after what
they’ve done to Carrie and Jay.”
“What WE’VE done to Carrie and Jay?!” Becky exclaims. “You can
go straight to hell for all we care.”
“You’re such a freaking bitc…” Brian begins before Tony’s shout
cuts him off.
“Shut up and go, asshole!”
Brian packs what little food and gear he, Carrie, and Jay had into
the boat and heads out into the darkness.
When they can no longer see the boat Nate sighs and says, “I’m
kind of relieved he’s gone.”
“Yeah, but knowing Brian, we’ll see him again,” Tony replies.
“Yeah, man,” Rudy says. “That cats got about five of his nine
lives left at least.”
“So, what’s the plan then?” Nate asks.
Tony takes a deep breath before he begins, “Well, we still recon
tomorrow. We still need to implement a guard as well. We need
to be extremely vigilant now. Not only do we have those things to
Carrie leaps toward Brian with the voracity of a velociraptor,
knocking him to his ass. She lurches toward his face, crashing her
teeth together. Brian shoves the SKS sideways into her mouth and
she chomps down on the rifle, breaking small bits of her teeth.
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
“Get her off of me, Jay!” Brian shouts.
“The damn gun won’t fire!”
“Check the safety, you idiot!”
Jay looks at the left side of the Beretta. No red dot. He quickly
shoves the safety lever forward and squeezes the trigger again.
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! The hammer recoils and slams forward three
more times and the pistol still doesn’t discharge.
Brian shoves Carrie back with every ounce of his being. She falls
backwards, slamming into Jay. She clamps onto the front of his
right leg with her jaws. Jay screams as she crunches through his
tibia, the sound eerily similar to that of a hyena snapping a gazelle’s
leg in half. Brian lifts the SKS to eye level and squeezes the trigger.
Click! He pulls the charging handle on the right side of the rifle and
releases. The bolt stays in the locked rear position. “What the hell?”
he screeches, as he realizes there are no bullets in the gun.
Jay slams the butt of the Beretta into the top of Carrie’s head,
but she continues to chomp on his leg. “Get her off of me, man!” he
shouts in desperation.
Brian kicks Carrie square in the chest, dislodging her from Jay’s
leg. Jay sits up, drops the Beretta, and grabs for his leg. Carrie
spins around, recoils, and leaps back toward him. She sinks her
teeth into his right orbital and forehead.
Brian grabs the Beretta, pulls the slide back to chamber a round,
and squeezes the trigger. The 9mm bullet explodes from the barrel,
spinning counter-clockwise. It slices through Carrie’s ear and into
Jay’s skull, entering through his left eye. He immediately slumps
backward, and Carrie releases him. She turns toward Brian. Her
face dripping with blood, she glares at him with her yellow and red
eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says as he squeezes the trigger one last time.
Rudy, Tony, Nate, and Becky turn toward the sound of the gun
firing. “She’s turned!” Becky shouts. They all rise and begin to run
/magazine