After checking everything, I grabbed Clutch’s and my gear and climbed out.
With Jase’s support, Clutch lifted himself out of the plane by holding onto the spar and lowered himself onto the chair. I handed him his rifle and backpack.
Tyler came over and scrutinized each of our faces. “Well?”
I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words. I searched for something to say, but nothing coherent formed. How could anyone describe what was headed our way? No one else spoke either, likely unable to find the words as well.
After a long pause, he clenched his fists and kicked at the ground. “Shit!” He took a deep breath and looked back up. “How bad is it?”
“Imagine your worst fucking nightmare times a million,” Clutch said bluntly.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jase said. “Huge herds. Each one has thousands and thousands of those things.”
Tyler was silent for a moment. “Do any pose a risk to the park?”
I swallowed. “We have a week, maybe two, until the first herd gets here. If we were a hundred miles east, we’d have longer. But the park is right in their path.”
“God,” Tyler muttered.
“Camp Fox is not equipped to hold off that many zeds,” Clutch said. “The park’s hills and waterways will slow them down, but they’ll still plow right through the park. We’d burn through all of our ammo, and there’d still be more.”
“We have to run,” I added.
“Where will we run to?” Tyler asked quietly.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We can keep ahead of the herds for a while. Maybe Montana or Wyoming where they’re building those super-cities we keep hearing about.”
Tyler shook his head. “The herds could already be hitting through those areas now.”
“Okay, then. We could go gypsy. Keep on the move until they pass through,” I said, frustrated that I had no better answer. “As long as I have a plane I can scout out areas and make sure that we’re not heading straight for another herd. Or, we can try the Pied Piper plan and lead them away from the park. That plan has never failed. If we’re lucky, the herds will stick to the roads and steer clear of the park completely. After all, it’s pretty secluded.”
Even I didn’t believe my words. Hungry zeds had a knack at sniffing out prey. A few dozen people in a small area would be a tasty snack for a herd.
“But if the plan failed, we’d be doomed,” Clutch said.
“We can’t sit on our asses and hope they bypass the park. I’ve already reached out to all my radio contacts. We have one potential option,” Tyler said finally. “How’d Marshall fare? Did Bill find his family?”
I shook my head. “It’s been completely wiped out.”
Tyler sighed. “I was afraid of that. It’s going to devastate Manny’s people.” He scratched his head. “And Bill?”
I gave him a slow shake of my head. He didn’t need to know the ugly details.
“Damn it.” He kicked a pebble on the concrete. “I need time to think. We’ll talk more after dinner. I’ll meet you all at the square,” he said and took off.
As though we hadn’t just seen the Grim Reaper headed our way, a grin grew across Jase’s face and he hustled toward the truck. “Good. I’m starving.”
Food, the best temporary medicine for a shitty day. It was the only time I knew Jase wasn’t faking his happiness. Everyone loved food now, likely because we all knew how precious it was. Without the convenience of drive-throughs and grocery stores, food took on a whole new meaning. That, plus all the hard physical work we did each day, made mealtime an almost religious experience.