Deadland's Harvest (part 2 of the Deadland Saga)

Lust (Chapter 26)

There was nothing we could do as fire-tortured steel made horrendous cries. The northern edge of the bridge gave way first. When the arch's cables snapped, the pavement curved before setting off a chain reaction of concrete and rebar porpoising down the bridge. An avalanche of fire, steel, and dusty concrete plummeted into the Mississippi with a sonic sizzle. Much of the bridge sunk, sending up waves down the river. Many huge chunks of debris still littered the surface and burned while the current grabbed at it.

"Oh, shit." I could no longer watch for zeds. I stood and helplessly stared as the burning debris floated directly toward the Aurora. My hand flew to my heart and I clutched my shirt. My stomach churned as people ran out on the deck, screaming and shouting. When the first debris slammed into the towboat, I gasped. Someone fell off the edge and screamed the ten short feet down to the water, where the sound was abruptly cut off. As debris piled up against the boat, both it and its barges rocked.

The two barges that had been barely hanging onto the rest of the group broke away with a drawn-out metallic screech. Small flickers of fire erupted the grain in barge Number Eight into dark clouds of smoke.

I jumped off the back of the HEMTT before remembering to take a cursory scan for zeds. I stopped, found none, and ran up to Clutch, whom everyone had been gathering around. "What do we do?"

"They need our pontoons to speed up evacuation. Bryce, Kurt, and Joe, you're with me on the pontoon to help with rescue at the Aurora."

"How about me?" Jase asked.

He pointed to where I'd spent the last couple hours. "You and Cash need to keep this area clear of zeds, so Camp Fox can safely land. Make sure none of these grounded zeds can endanger people as they get to the dock."

"Okay," I said.

Clutch and the three other men took off running toward the woods and back to the pontoon. "Be safe," I called out, but I had no idea if he'd heard me.

Griz's pontoon was already in the water and halfway back to the Aurora, but they were having trouble zigzagging through the debris and kept having to back up and go for a different route.

I swapped my rifle for my machete and made a winding path through zeds on the ground. I stopped at each one that still had life in it and swung. Jase and I carved a path to the boat ramp in ten minutes. We spread out to make a wider path.

"Hey," Jase called out. "Three tangoes at my eleven o'clock."

I jogged back up the eastern bank and followed his finger. I saw the shapes exit the trees across the road. "I'll start on the right."

I had my rifle out and had taken two shots by the time Jase took the last one. After making sure no more emerged, I turned around and headed back toward the ramp. I lifted my rifle and looked through my scope at the Aurora. Clutch and his team had made it onto the towboat. People were running at him like a flock of sparrows. Against the rail, Clutch was shoving people back who couldn't take the ladder. Many were weighted down with bags, and I could see Clutch was yelling and motioning at them to drop their things. No one seemed to be listening.

When the smoke blocked my view of Clutch, my heart clenched. "Be safe," I whispered, suddenly knowing in my heart that I didn't care if anyone made it to shore as long as Clutch made it back safely.

"What?" Jase asked.

Anger at the stupid fire hardened my features. "Nothing."

The flames had engulfed the outer four barges and were already spreading to the four closest to the towboat. All of our grain...gone. My heart pounded, and I found it hard to hold my rifle. At least the fire hadn't overtaken the closest barges or towboat yet, but smoke was shooting out from everywhere. I could still make out barges Four and Three through the haze, where Kurt was taking a crate of ammo from another scout who'd just emerged from our armory. Smoke bled through where the bay doors met in the middle. "Hurry," I whispered as they carried out our irreplaceable supplies.

A fire shot up, and Kurt disappeared. I squinted to see smoke and flames pour out from a hole where Kurt had been standing a second earlier. Oh, God.

"The fire—" Jase didn't finish.

The sound of automatic gunfire drowned out the sound of everything else, and we both ducked. I quickly realized it wasn't automatic gunfire but the sounds of ammo going off in the fire. My legs were suddenly wobbly and I leaned against our Humvee that still sat next to the boat ramp.

We were about to lose everything. Our food, ammo, everything. And there wasn't a single fucking thing we could do except watch Camp Fox quite literally go up in flames.