TYBEE ISLAND
By By Paul Paul Cales Cales & Becca
Continued from the Feb. 2019 Beachcomber.
Catch up @ http://tybeebeachcomber.com/magazine
CHAPTER 20 – IT’S LIKE WATCHING Z-TV
DAY 6.5
“We’ve got to get back to the camp,” Tony says and sees, from behind
Joey, a quick spurt of motion. “What was that?”
“What?” Joey says and jumps straight up into the air as if he had seen a
mouse running at his feet.
“Shhhh. Listen.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know,” Tony whispers, while looking around the area. “It sounds
like paper being moved around.”
“Don’t go over there Tony!” Joey whispers firmly.
“Check this out,” Tony says, as he discovers the source of the sound,
a small cardinal flapping around on the floor on the opposite side of the
kitchen island.
“What’s wrong with it?” Joey asks, while watching it struggle to move the
way a bird should.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen one of these guys get into a house before.”
“Look at its eyes. They’re all bloody.”
“And he’s missing a wing. Should we put him out of his misery?” Tony
asks.
“Let’s just get the hell out of here,” Joey suggests, and they descend back
down the fire escape onto the top of the tank. “What’s the plan then, Tony?”
“Let’s head over to Alley 3. I want to use the thermal sights to scan Little
Tybee.”
“What for?”
“We can see everything from animals to humans. Anything that leaves a
heat signature.”
“Can you see the zeeks?”
“That’s a great question. If they’re truly undead they should be cold,
right?”
“I mean, if these are the rise from the grave George A. Romero zombies,
then yeah, they should be cold.”
“Jump into the driver’s hole and crank this baby up. I’m going to turn on
the thermals to cool them down. Meanwhile, we’ll head over to the back
river.”
They get to Alley 3 and pull all the way down the boat ramp to the water’s
edge. Tony engages the turret controls and scans Little Tybee for signs of life.
“I can’t see the southern end of the island where our camp is … but it looks
like Crabber Brian and his two friends are at our old camp site.”
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | MAR 2019
ISLAN
“You can see all that?”
“Sure can! Make sure you engage the parking brake and leave the tank
running. I’ll spin the turret around so you can climb through.”
Once Joey climbs out of the driver’s compartment and into the turret
Tony says, “Alright. Stay right there while I elevate the main gun so you can
slide your plump ass into the gunner’s seat. DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THE
CONTROLS, BUTTONS, SWITCHES, KNOBS, ANYTHING…”
“Okay, okay, okay, Geez!” Joey shouts over him as he settles into the
gunner’s seat. “I got it.”
“Look into the sight and I’ll put you on the target.”
As the view gets into place Joey gets excited. “Holy shit! You can see
everything in such fine detail. But why is it all in black and white?”
“So, the white stuff is hot, and the black stuff is not. We can inverse the
colors the other way if you prefer.”
“You can even see their clothes and hair. The detail is amazing! Oh look, I
can totally tell that is Doug by the way he’s standing and pointing at Brian.”
“Yeah. I think he’s yelling at him. Oh crap! Do you see the really white
objects getting closer and closer to them from their left?”
“Are those zeeks?” Joey asks.
“Um… yeah. I’m sure they are. I’m just a little confused why they’re so
damned white. They’re hotter than people. Which means…”
“Which means they’re not really dead. It’s like they’ve got a really bad
fever or something.”
“And they’re getting uncomfortably close to Doug, Brian, and Lisa.”
“Send them a warning shot or something!” Joey says.
“Anything we do will make them look at us and not at the threat coming at
them.” Tony sighs.
“Damn!” Joey exclaims. “This is like watching Z-TV.” As they continue to
watch it becomes apparent that the small group on Little Tybee are oblivious
to the danger that is bearing down on them. The zeeks are approaching
Doug and Lisa from behind, but Brian is facing them.
“Why doesn’t Brian see them?” Tony asks.
“He should! It looks like they’re only about fifty feet away and closing
in fast.” As they watch through the thermal sight on the tank, they see the
zeeks, a group of about fifteen, close in on Brian, Doug, and Lisa. When
they’re about ten feet from the group Brian lunges toward Doug. Taking Doug
by surprise, he pushes him down to the ground and Lisa immediately tries
to help him up. She’s grabbed by five of the zeeks and is torn apart. Doug is
able to get his feet under him and dodges the remaining zeeks.
“I’m going to try to keep the zeeks off Doug,” Tony says, and starts to
move. He opens the Tank Commander’s hatch and pulls the charging cable
for the M2 .50 caliber machine gun, slides back into his seat, and looks
through the optics. He lays down a line of suppressive fire between Doug and
the zeeks… taking out about half the group with the first 20 round burst.
“Holy shit!” Joey shouts in excitement. “You can actually see the blood
spray when they’re hit. Where’s Brian going?”
“It looks like he’s heading toward the trees and Doug is getting into his
kayak.”
“Where’s Lisa?” Joey asks.
“She’s gone Joey. Let’s take out the rest of those bastards.” With that
Tony dispatches the rest of the zeeks with three more short bursts of the M2
machine gun. Once finished, he elevates the M2 and the main gun so Doug
can see the tank is not a threat. He clears the weapon systems of rounds and
grabs a green flag out of the sponson box and places it onto the flag holder.
“Okay, Joey. The green flag is up. Let’s hope Doug sees that we’re no threat
and heads this way.”
“I just hope we didn’t make too much noise and the zeeks on this island
aren’t heading our way.”
To be continued…
/magazine