Billy Sunday walked in front of his group. He checked the view through his scope every few steps. They had a river in the distance, and not a mirage. They would have to purify the water to use it.

He didn't want to drink anything where gray monsters charged across the plain and tried to eat them.

He also wasn't that sure about the plant life that doubled as offensive weapons. They had proved helpful in a roundabout way for the squad. If they had got too close, he had no doubt they would have been shot at while trying to fight zombies.

He paused and looked around in a circle. The river flowed southerly as far as his compass and his line of sight on the sun could tell him. He didn't see an end from where he stood. He saw plants lining the banks to suck in the water.

Would they start shooting at the team when they approached the water? Grenades might be needed to clear a hole in the bank so they could follow the water to wherever it went.

Would being on the water protect them from the zombies? He wished he could think of some other name than zombies. Nothing came to him.

“What do you think, Billy?,” asked Spinnelli.

“More of those strange plants are growing along the river,” said Billy. “I don't know what will happen if we try to go through them.”

“Best guess?,” asked the commander.

“I think they will start shooting at us,” said Billy. “I think we might have to throw grenades into the bushes to clear a hole, drag the sleds up, and then put them out on the water.”

“See how close you can approach without getting shot at,” said Spinnelli. “The outside limit is where we'll set up to clear the bank if we have to.”

“All right,” said Billy. He slung his rifle so he didn't feel the urge to shoot at the weird plants. He slowly approached until one of the plants started spinning the leaves of what he took for flowers. He took a step back and the spinning slowed. “It looks like we can get up to ten feet before they start turning hostile.”

“We can throw grenades on them, push through the hole, and float down the river on the sleds,” said Spinnelli. “Too bad we don't have a flamethrower to help deal with this.”

“Don't you think they'll let us pass?,” asked Hanson. “Or do we look too much like the zombies we shot up?”

“I don't think they want to hear any explanation we can give them,” said Billy. He noted that the plants that were closest to him aimed their flowers at him.

“All right,” said Spinnelli. “We'll set up within sight of the water. Then we'll think about what we want to do.”

“I'm going to back up, Cap,” said Billy. “I don't like the way these things are centering on me.”

“All right, Billy,” said Spinnelli. “We're almost there.”

Billy backed up so he could keep an eye on the plants and the flowing water. He saw the plants visibly relax. They wouldn't start shooting until he violated their space, but they were aware of him.

If they charged those things, they were going to get lit up like the zombies had last night. He didn't look forward to having to fight through the hedges. If they blew up a patch, they needed wide enough that the ends couldn't shoot at them as they threw themselves into the water.

How long did they have before the river stopped flowing? If it ran out while they still trying to get in the water, they would wind up walking between two layers of plants shooting at them.

He looked at the surging water. It looked like the water level was dropping.

If they didn't punch through the plants soon, they would be waiting another day with low water and food for another surge of water coming down the river bed. And there might not be water the next day, or any day before they died from dehydration.

The rest of the squad joined Billy at his vantage point. Espy had the back trail. His rifle would give them cover from anything chasing them across the flat land.

“If we're going, we have to go soon,” said Billy. “It looks like the water level is dropping.”

“Eckles, get ready to throw smoke down,” said Spinnelli. “Hanson and Espy, grab one of the sleds. Sunday, help me with the other. Eckles, as soon as you finish throwing smoke, switch to bangers and flash them. Then we run to the river.”

“We'll need a gap blown in the plant line,” said Billy. “Otherwise they'll start shooting at us as soon as they can see us.”

“You don't think smoke will give us enough cover?,” said Spinnelli.

“It depends if they have anything like eyes,” said Billy. “If they can feel our steps on the sand, they might be able to shoot blind at us.”

“Blow a hole, then we run,” said Spinnelli.

“I'm good with that,” said Eckles.

“I wonder how fast they grow back,” said Hanson. “We'll have to sprint for the water if they have a fast regrowing system going.”

“Any other concerns before we do this?,” asked Spinnelli.

“What happens if the river dries up while we're still in the river bed?,” asked Billy.

“We follow the river bed without the sleds,” said Spinnelli. “Everyone with a sled, grab on and lift them. Bloop them, Eckles.”

Eckles moved to the front and one side. He unshipped the grenade launcher he used against hard targets. He took aim at the plant line. The sled teams needed a clear shot through the weird plants to the water. He figured two shots would be enough against the living wall.

He pulled the trigger. The first grenade in the barrel blasted chunks of flowers and vines straight up in the air. The second landed at the edge of the blast crater of the first grenade. Another blast widened the hole so they had the minimum distance that Billy had reported as the shoot zone.

That didn't mean much now that they had decided to be hostile to the plants.

The sled teams sprinted for the water. They held weapons at the ready to return fire. Bullets probably wouldn't do much against the flowers, but it was better than getting shot at and doing nothing.

Espy and Hanson hit the water first. Spinnelli and Billy dropped in the water next. Eckles held his weapon up and dropped in the water. He grabbed on to Spinnelli's and Billy's sled.

The water pushed the team away from the hole they had punched in the defenses. They tried to stay in the center of the water. Various plants rotated to shoot at them, but they moved out of attack range before the plants fired their seeds across the distance.

“Fill the canteens,” said Spinnelli. “We can purify the water when we reach a stopping point for the night.”

“I don't see any fish,” called Hanson.

“Is that bad, or good?,” asked Eckles.

“Depends on if the fish are zombies,” said Spinnelli.

“So the water might be poisonous,” said Eckles.

“Or it might be good, and the zombies might be some kind of natural animal that doesn't depend on the water at all,” said Billy.

“The plants certainly need it,” said Spinnelli. “We might not be in a natural situation here.”

“Someone grew all these weird plants?,” asked Eckles. “For what?”

“To kill zombies,” said Billy. “I don't think the zombies could get to the water before we opened the way for them. If the plants grow back faster than normal plants, they might have covered that hole in their defenses already.”

“We'll need to find a place to land,” said Spinnelli. “We can't float down this river forever.”

“We could, but what happens when we reach the end of the line and there's still nothing there?,” asked Eckles.

“We'll eat you first,” said Spinnelli.

“Thanks, Cap,” said Eckles.

“Something's ahead,” said Billy. “Does anyone have a read on what that is?”

“It looks like some kind of flotilla,” said Hanson. “We might have to fight it out.”

“We don't have any way to stop our forward movement,” said Spinnelli. “We might need your grenade launcher, Eckles.”

“I'm ready to go,” said Eckles, holding on to the floating sled with one hand, and the launcher with the other.

The obstruction ahead split so that the sleds would have to go down the center. That would expose the squad to fire from both sides. Eckles would have to shoot one side, then the other to punch a hole.

Billy held his rifle ready to shoot. He had seen the plants work over the zombies the night before. He had no illusions what would happen if they couldn't deal with the plants on the water.

“Looks like we have contact,” said Hanson. He waved his arm in the air. “There's an actual human being on the river bank.”

Billy swept his rifle up. The scope showed him someone standing beside the river. They waved their hand back at Hanson as the squad floated by. They raised their other hand to their mouth.

“They have some kind of radios,” said Billy. “Our native just let someone know we're on the river and heading downstream.”

“Hopefully they're friendly so we don't have to waste ammunition trying to fight our way clear,” said Spinnelli. He triggered his radio. “Don't shoot unless shot at. This might be a chance to resupply and find out what's going on.”

“They might need guys like us if the zombies are an example of local wildlife,” said Eckles.

“They have these weird plants,” said Billy. “Why would they need us?”

“How far do you think these plants will bloom?,” asked Eckles.

“Good point,” said Billy. They had a renewable fighting force, but it was tied to the amount of water and nutrients in the soil. He doubted the plants needed that much food since they were blooming in the desert, but water had to be important to them.

“How intelligent are these plants?,” asked Spinnelli. “And are they plants at all?”

“I don't think we can find that out unless we take them on,” said Eckles. “I don't want to do that unless we have to, Cap.”

“I know,” said Spinnelli.

“We have another contact,” said Hanson. “It looks like they want to throw us a rope.”

“Grab it,” said Spinnelli. “We need some kind of contact with the natives so we can figure out if we can get home from here.”

“This could be bad,” said Billy.

“We don't have a choice,” said Spinnelli. “We're dead ducks if we stay on the river.”

Billy saw his point. If they strayed too close to the sides, the plants lining the banks would shoot down on them. They didn't have any cover, and shooting back would be a waste of ammo except for Eckles's grenade launcher.

A rope that looked like a vine dropped in the water in front of the lead sled. Hanson grabbed it and wrapped the end around one of the skids under the sled. The sled pulled on the vine as the river kept pulling on it.

“Get ready to abandon ship,” said Spinnelli. “Hanson, we're going to try to latch on to your sled.”

“Throw me a rope, Cap,” said Hanson. “I'll tie it off.”

Billy dropped his backpack on the sled. He unhooked the climbing rope from the side. He unwrapped it and formed a loop at one end. He spun the loop over his head and threw the rope to Hanson. He tied his end off when the other man caught the loop in his hand on the first try. He undid the loop and tied the rope to the skid beside the vine from the shore. The second sled floated by and kept going until it reached the end of the tether.

“Be ready in case we have to shoot these mooks,” said Spinnelli.

The first sled headed for the shore.