Rot in Hell

"Newark is no longer there."

The president lowered his head. "Did it go quickly?"

Vice President Effing retorted, "The zombies struck hard and fast, with relentless firepower." They are now slowing down, feeding on and infecting every living thing in the city after wearing down resistance. The slums are currently being massacred because they failed to flee in time.

As they waited for noon, Derring looked out the Hackensack Courthouse window while Effing behind him. All day long, Teaneck and New Milford were overrun by zombies across the Hackensack River.

"There!" With a sharpening of intensity, Effing drew his voice and said. 45 Magnum.

"What, Jesus, Russell?"

Then Derring saw it—a zombie scout sprang nimbly along the muddy, stony banks of the Hackensack, hundreds of yards away. Keeping his senses sharp, he avoided the water's edge while brandishing his sword.

"It's a zombie!" Effing pointed his heavy weapon. After holding it steady for a while, he shook his head to holster it.

"I am going insane—I must leave this place!" As he ran frenzied hands over his once-auburn hair, Derring rasped.

Then leave. I'll take your place," Effing said. "Do you remember the nuclear codes?"

Derring croaked, "My birthday, yours, and 1776," as he sagged onto the couch where he had spent the previous night.

"Dec. 7, 1948, June 1, 1944, 1776…" Eyes closed, he recited with effort. I believe that's 61194412719481776. It's easy to remember.

Is it something you would do?” the President asked.

"Nuke the city, what?"

"Yes, would you give it some serious thought?"

Effing stopped and squinted. Only if you gave me the authority by resigning. Without a doubt, I would fire our nuclear weapons on every zombie-infested city on the planet. Every city would be radioactive ash, and none would survive.

"But the people..." Derring muttered.

"What else is there, Mr. President?" Effing slammed his fist against the window and roared. "What's your clever scheme? Tell me if you have a better plan than allowing every human being to be converted or eaten. Now is a better time to burn them than later!

With a tiny squeak, his palm moved along the glass, and he let out the words, "Unbelievable."

Jenna Gray and Mike Benko entered the dealership. The trucks had been taken over by the Army, who assigned men to protect them at all costs. A troop of Pennsylvania National Guardsmen stood in front of rows of Saturns as they crossed the suburban street.

"Hello!" As she stepped onto the sidewalk, Jenna Gray yelled. The troops stared at them calmly and without emotion.

A young sergeant remarked, "Don't waste our time if you want cars." "When the President and his cabinet evacuate, these are for them."

"Is the President present?" "Oh!" said Mike Benko.

"President Derring is up at the Courthouse with his generals and part of his cabinet," the sergeant said, sounding mildly irritated. These are not civilian vehicles. Get out on foot.

"On foot?" Mike Benko pushed. Against an army of zombies? Are you unaware of what they would do to us? We wouldn't survive for a day.

The sergeant retorted, "Start now, and you could reach Totowa by nightfall." "We'll keep the zombies at bay."

"How long?"

The sergeant stopped talking. There was a flash of doubt and uneasiness beneath his pale, icy exterior. His stance was unstable, his severe mask faltered.

He steadied himself and said, "It doesn't matter." "Look for another exit."

"You realize that we are practically dead?" Jenna Gray lost her temper. "There isn't another option. Yes, we should have gone sooner, but we were already in Teaneck Armory when it collapsed.

"The army?" Intrigued, the sergeant remarked. "You managed to avoid the massacre?"

"Yes," Jenna Gray replied impatiently. We walked through Teaneck for kilometers, avoiding soldiers who thought we were zombies and zombies who wanted to murder us. Would you abandon us to perish in Hackensack after we've made it this far?

"Is there another ship leaving?" Calm down, Mike Benko asked.

The sergeant shook his head and let out a deep breath. "No," he acknowledged. "I really detest this, but there is nothing I can do about it."

"You are a jerk." Jenna Gray's fists tightened as she growled. After all of this, you'll let us die? Even so, are you human?

The sergeant held his rifle across his chest and said, "Miss, let me do my job." "The President keeps these cars!"

"What will it accomplish?" She yelled.

"He is the leader of the nation!"

"And I'm a citizen of the United States!" Jenna Gray retaliated. "You can't spare one of the forty cars here? Sergeant, how many people have you killed in order to "protect the President"? You callous, frigid wretch!

"Directions are directives!" he snarled. "I would shoot you if I were ordered to do so for attacking a serviceman. I would defend this city by myself from Variant Cs if I were told to. In such circumstances, humanity is subordinated. I would rather kill a thousand civilians than allow my nation to collapse!

Jennifer Gray spat, "Then it's already buried." She snarled, "You'll rot in hell for this," and turned away. Despite his dread, Mike Benko followed her.

The sergeant closed his eyes and ran his fingers over his pocket and along the barrel of his rifle. He located it—a string of rosary beads that his mother had given him three months before to his enlistment in the Guard.

He had a tremble of fear for his soul for the first time.

He croaked, "Wait." Mike Benko and Jenna Gray turned; her face was ablaze with rage. A trooper gave him a nod and grudgingly provided a chain of automobile keys.

The sergeant muttered in a low, defeated voice, "Take this one." Mike Benko was at the wheel when Jenna Gray and he opened the Saturn's doors and slid inside.

With a softening of her fury, Jenna Gray muttered, "Thanks." She was shocked that this austere figure was now offering keys.

Wherever you're going, good luck," the sergeant answered. Jenna Gray looked back as Mike Benko started the engine and saluted. They left the lot and drove along the boulevard toward the west.

Jenna Gray exhaled, "We're free."

On the banks of the Hackensack River, Tobey, Von Dornen, Thorpen, and Father Robson—the leader and generals of the zombie revolt—were waiting for the last attack on the fortress in North Jersey. The heartland of America was vulnerable to their control after Hackensack fell.

"In line!" Rallying armored troops along the river, Tobey yelled. He called in Variant C officers to plan the strike using his crippled hand.

"Dornen von! Enemy status!

The gloomy commander came over. Two National Guard infantry battalions and a cavalry battalion—a maximum of two thousand men. Several have not been tested against Variant Cs. They will be attacked from two directions by our Newark allies.

"Great," Tobey remarked. "Marcia Thorpen! Our troops?

Father Robson, who was still wearing bandages on his ankle and shoulder, and Marcia Thorpen came forward with reports.

"There are 12,000 Variant Cs and 5,000 Variant Bs in our army in Teaneck," Thorpen stated. Roderick brings 7,000 Cs from New Milford across the river, while forty thousand additional Cs and Bs march from Newark. Sixty-four thousand zombies, all aimed at the heart of Hackensack.

“Robson—the entire zombie country?”

Robson adjusted his weapon and cleared his throat. They have taken control of Montreal after breaching Canada's defenses. They are utilizing rural areas as waystations and striking metropolitan areas. Except for Boston, we own New England and Connecticut. Zombies surround the Meadowlands and Essex on their way to Philadelphia, and Newark has fallen.

"We hit Paterson in the evening and Hackensack in the morning tomorrow," Tobey said.

"Are you ready?"

"I am as prepared as I will ever be. Go slowly, please.

"It's bleeding."

As he eased his mouth closer Jenna Gray's self-inflicted cut on her arm, Mike Benko calmed his breathing. He kissed the wound and let blood to seep in. His hands were shaking, showing his struggle, and his brow was drenched with sweat.

Every nerve in his body cried out for him to rip her arm off and shatter her neck in a single strike. Her lifeblood—his sustenance—pulsed through her warm, pale body, which was a network of veins and arteries.

"Stop…"

Mike Benko gritted his teeth and distanced himself. Before she sloppily wrapped gauze around her forearm, Jenna Gray's worried blue eyes briefly locked with him. His fingers trembled with want as he gazed at the seeping cut, but his desire was sated when the bandage covered it.

Let's continue to drive, Mike Benko. Have sufficient strength?

He started the motor and drove away from the deserted gas station off Route 78, tucked away in a grove. After ingesting her blood, he declared, "We'll push west as far as this tank takes us." Perhaps Harrisburg, but more likely the Lehigh Valley, which is close to Scranton. For the time being, we should be secure there.

With a sigh, Jenna Gray clasped her hands and turned on the radio.

"—Variant C strains have emerged in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh; Pennsylvania's cities are nearly overrun," a voice screamed from the speakers. North Jersey and Boston are holding firm, but this terrible plague has—

Mike Benko flinched back, slamming the dial with a howl of agony, his knuckles bleeding. He slammed the brakes and came to a stop in the middle of the highway.

He kicked the floor and screamed, "Is there nowhere?" "Those creatures are present everywhere? Where else are we able to go?

Silently, Jenna Gray tucked her legs under her and bit her lip.

"We will perish," she muttered. "I..." Her voice faltered.

Mike Benko reclined. Without anticipating a response, he questioned, "Is there any point?" "There are zombies everywhere—west, east, and north. When we go to Philadelphia...

Jenna Gray put her head on her knees and rasped, "Between a rock and a hard place."

Sitting in solitude, they were vividly aware that terrifying beasts were starving twenty miles away. Mike Benko gave her a quick glance before averting his eyes.

"Jenna Gray, you know I'm one of them."

"You're not. They're evil, and you're not.

"I am malevolent."

She looked out at the dark countryside, the grass still immaculate, untarnished by ruin and Variant Cs.

"I'll return," Mike Benko declared. "To Hackensack."

Jenna Gray looked across at him. "Are you certain?"

"With soldiers there, we're safer. Out here. He broke away and restarted the car after their eyes locked. "Let's do the opposite."

"I never imagined it would end this way." Jenna Gray took a breath.

Mike Benko put his head on the wheel and nodded. Overwhelmed by his raging want for meat, he drove off. He gave Jenna Gray one last look before turning back to the road.