The North: A Zombie Novel by Sean Cummings

bank, but we’d be exposed to the southern tip of the community of Montgomery and that meant possible swarms, too. I dropped back down and lowered the hatch door over my head. Kate was carefully removing the gun tape from around the doors and gun ports while Jo held a small garbage bag.
    It was dumb luck that had allowed us to make it two-thirds of the way to the western edge and I decided when push came to shove, it probably didn’t really matter which route we took – there was always going to be an element of risk. I pressed the talk button on the radio. “Ark Two, we’re going to alter our route. Stay within twenty meters and keep your turret peeled to the right. The best way to go is along the forward slope of the Bow River, over!”
    “Roger, Ark Two,” Cruze replied. “Um … you do know we’re going to be exposed from the high ground.”
    “I know,” I said grimly. “And if we have to, we’ll gun the engines and race along the riverbank like we’re on a combat run. But the sooner we get to the western edge of the city, the better. Keep your weapons primed – we don’t know what we’re driving into.”
    “Will do, Dave,” said Cruze. “We’ll have an eye for creeps and obstacles, too.”
    I squatted on my crew seat and leaned into my periscope. “All right, Doug – keep along the bank,” I said into the intercom. “Sid, you’re our eyes on this again and you’re weapons free if shit hits the fan!”
    The engine groaned as we pushed through a tangle of broken trees and brush. I could hear the turret spinning left and right behind me as I swung my periscope to the right just in time to see a shopping plaza come into view.
    Dozens of charred bodies and skeletons lay strewn about the sidewalk. The only proof that it was ever a plaza was the Safeway grocery sign at the entrance to the parking lot. I decided that survivors must have barricaded themselves inside the store – that’s where the food was. Judging from the scorched shell of the building, they’d either been overrun or fought a pitched battle against other survivors to get at the goods. In the end it didn’t matter because there was nothing left.
    We edged along the uneven ground at a decent clip as I surveyed the now dead community. Burned houses dotted the landscape, their foundations poking through the blackened ground like gravestones. Bowness Road, once a main artery into the city core, was filled with debris and abandoned cars. I spotted small clusters of the monsters turning their heads toward us as our two APC’s passed by.
    “Ark One, they’ve caught wind of us,” said Cruze into her radio. “I don’t know if you can see them, but there’s creeps coming out of houses and burned-out shops. Want me to open up on them?”
    “Hold fire for now,” I said into the radio. “The ones behind us aren’t a threat. If there’s a few hundred in front of us, then we’re in the shit. Keep going straight, Doug!”
    The APC crawled over deadwood and debris along the riverbank. I tapped the fuel gauge with my index finger, noticing that we’d burned half of a tank of diesel.
    Damn. We should be out of the city by now.
    The temperature gauge showed we weren’t putting any major strain on the engine, but this was just the first day. What about tomorrow? What about when we’d eventually break down or when our Jerry cans were empty?
    The cool breeze brushed against my face and the air carried the stench of death and smoke. I glanced to my right and nodded to Cruze who was standing in her crew commander’s hatch with her weapon at the ready.
    “What are you seeing up ahead, Sid?” I shouted
    “Hang on,” he shouted back as he gazed into a pair of binoculars “Dave, you
gotta
see this!”
    I motioned for Sid to climb down. He slipped off his helmet – his face was practically gray.
    I pointed to the crew commander’s hatch and Sid handed me the binoculars. He grimaced as he made room for me to climb up into the turret. In