TYBEE ISLAND
By By Paul Paul Cales Cales & Becca
Continued from the Jan 2019 Beachcomber.
Catch up @ http://tybeebeachcomber.com/magazine
CHAPTER 19 – A LETTER FROM DOUG
DAY 6.5
“Sorry sorry sorry!” Joey shouts. “I know I wasn’t supposed to slam on
the breaks. This tank really does stop on a dime. Who would have thought 72
tons of steel would… Hey Tony man, you good?”
Silence answers him.
“Dude say something!” Joey says into the helmet, just to hear nothing
in return. “Why’d you tell me to stop anyway? I don’t see anything, just the
bridge. Oh… duh… There’s something on the other side of the bridge, right?
You can see it from the top of the turret.”
After waiting a few beats to give Tony time to respond, Joey speaks
up again. “You’re starting to worry me now. What’s happening?” He turns
around and through the turret cage he can barely make out Tony’s lifeless
body leaned forward onto the tank commander’s sights. He notices drops of
blood splashing off Tony’s right knee and shouts, “OH SHIT, I’VE KILLED HIM!”
He franticly looks for a way out of the driver’s hole and into the turret and
continues talking to himself. “Okay, okay, okay, calm down Joey. How the hell
do you get out of here? I can’t go back the same way I came in because the
turret is in a different position and the door is on the other side now. There’s
got to be a way to open this hatch.”
In a frenzy he begins looking around for the controls that will open the
driver’s hatch and continues his one-sided dialog. “Okay. Where’s the damn
button that says, ‘open hatch’? Jesus Christ, to start the damn tank you push
a button that says, ‘Push to Start’! It’s got to be that simple.”
As his panic increases and he is getting incredibly close to pushing
buttons to which he doesn’t know the purpose, the radio in his helmet
cracks back to life. “It is not that simple Joey,” he hears Tony’s voice tell him.
“Oh, thank god you’re alive! I thought I killed you.”
“When I clear these cobwebs out of my head, explain to you how to free
yourself from the driver’s hole, and get my hands around your neck, you’re
going to wish you HAD killed me. I’ll promise you that much.”
“Dude, I’m SO sorry. You yelled stop and I got excited and pushed really
hard on the brake pedal. Wait… you did warn me not to slam on the breaks,
didn’t you?”
“Yes, I most certainly did. It’s my fault man. I forgot to show you how to
stop quickly without giving everyone in the tank whiplash.”
“You okay though man? I saw blood.”
“I think so. I don’t think my nose is broken. It’s just bleeding a lot and I
have a nasty bump on my forehead.”
“Why did we stop?”
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | FEB 2019
ISLAN
“Oh, there’s an obstacle just over the crest of the bridge.”
“What is it?”
“Looks like someone set up a checkpoint or something. Lots of concertina
wire and some poles holding the whole mess together.”
“The Army put it up?”
“Nah, man. Civilian for sure. It’s too messy, even for the National Guard.”
“Well what’s next then?”
“Let me get my bearings. How long was I out? Did you touch any other
controls down there or mess with anything AT ALL?”
“You were only out for like a minute. I didn’t really have time to. I was just
kinda sitting here freaking out.”
“Okay,” Tony begins, and clears his throat. “To the right of the brake pedal
is a parking brake. Push it to the floor, slide the gear selector to ‘N’ and we
can get out and move this wire that’s in our way. We don’t want it getting
wrapped up in our sprockets and roadwheels. My old platoon sergeant, get
this, his last name was Slaughter, would definitely not approve of concertina
wire in the roadwheels.”
“His name was actually Sergeant Slaughter?”
“Sure was. But he was nothing like the pro wrestler. I’ve got lots of stories
about that guy, but we’ll save those for around the campfire.”
After just a few minutes Tony and Joey return to the tank after
uneventfully clearing the roadway and slip back into their positions. Once
their helmets are in place Joey says, “Okay, boss. Where to?”
“Doug’s house dummy. But hey, let’s go down Tybrisa and up Izlar, so we
can pull up next to the fire escape and won’t have to get off the tank to get
into Doug’s place.”
“Yes sir!”
“Don’t call me sir, Joey. I work for a living.”
As they ride, Tony shoots any approaching zombies with the loader’s M240
machine gun. He focuses on the zeeks that move more quickly and leaves
the slower, lumbering zombies alone. He’s impressed that his proficiency
with the tank and its weapon systems has not waned in the slightest, though
it’s been almost twenty years since he’s even seen a tank up close.
“Dude, how many have you killed so far?”
“On this ride? Probably a hundred and fifty or so. Did you notice that some
of those things move more quickly than others?”
“Not really. I’m focusing on the road and on not killing you again. Wow,
though! That’s a lot of zeeks. You’re good! I wanna shoot something!”
“Can I drive? Can I shoot? Pretty soon you’ll want to be the Tank
Commander.”
“There are two tanks you know…”
“One thing at a time, Joey. Turn left… more left… steadyyyyy aaaaaand
stop.”
“I just stopped the tank and you’re not dead.”
“Well done, Joey. Congratulations. I guess you CAN follow directions. Now,
slide through the back of the driver’s hole and into the turret. We’re heading
up the fire escape.”
Joey pops his head out of the turret and begins to shout, “Dougie, we’re
heeeee-eeer!”
Tony slaps him on the back of the head swiftly to shut him up. “Quiet
asshole, those things can hear you.”
“I deserve that,” Joey says and rubs the back of his head while gazing up
at Doug’s place. “Do you see Doug?”
“No, Joey. I don’t. Wait until I get into the window before making your
assent.”
They secure their hand guns and Tony climbs the fire escape and sticks
his head into the apartment. Not seeing any movement inside, he signals for
Joey to climb up. “Hey Doug,” Tony whispers into the place. “You in here?”
When nothing inside runs at him, he raises his voice. “Yo Doug!”
“Is he home?” Joey asks, as he sticks his head through the window and
into the apartment.
“I don’t think so, but he might be asleep.”
/magazine