Without watching where I was going, I tripped on Cheney’s foot and let go of the struggling woman as I landed hard of my rear.
The woman righted herself, standing over me with a dull expression as she reached down, her fingers opening and closing in midair, searching for me. In that moment, I knew that she wouldn’t stop until she was feasting on one of us.
“Get away from her!” Sully yelled.
She turned around slowly and stumbled to him, groaning.
Something inside me clicked. It wasn’t about me killing her. It was about me saving my friends. Though I knew it would haunt me, I yanked the shotgun out of the dead man’s grip, and aimed the barrel straight at her head.
I whistled, catching her attention. When she was once again facing me, I fired. The force of the blast sent her frail body flying backwards, throwing her against the wall with a dull thud. She slid down into a mangled heap, a thick trail of blood smearing the wall behind her head.
There was no time for shock or regret just then. A tiny voice in my head told us we had to run. We needed to get out of the house as quickly as possible and find higher ground. The sounds of the shots were sure to attract anyone nearby, and if they were sick too, we wouldn’t be able to secure the house from them.
I ushered everyone out the door, forcing them into the truck before taking my place behind the wheel and sped away, only slowing once we neared the edge of the road.
The trail up the foothills was packed in hard ground, but we could still easily kick up dust clouds for anyone to follow if we went too fast.
I navigated the truck through the twist and turns of the trail, searching for an area big enough to hold us that would allow us to see anyone coming for at least a mile around, but with tree or brush cover to keep us hidden. It took us half an hour of driving ridiculously slow before I found a prime location. We were toward the top of the foothill, near a grove of trees that could shield the truck and a small fire, but was otherwise completely open with a good view of the valley below.
I was still on edge, still completely alert and restless, so I got out and paced the area, checking for signs of others camped out nearby. Something rustled in a tree and my hand automatically flew to the Colt at my hip, until I realized it was just a squirrel.
“Wait. Why didn’t I use my pistol at the farm house?” I asked myself.
It was right there, strapped to my leg and ready to use, but I had instead grabbed the shotgun. What was I thinking? Maybe I wasn’t. I shrugged mentally and continued my search of the area.
I checked twice before giving the all clear.
Chapter 10
Billie, Dean, and Sully piled out of the truck. They were all in a haze, the day’s events sinking in. It was like our roles were reversed. Where I had been dumbstruck and horrified that morning, and they thinking much more calmly than I, they now watched their every step, jumping at every sound and I was their protector, the one to guide them to safety through it all.
Billie clung to herself, cradling her wrist and burying herself in her twin’s arms.
“How are you holding up?” I asked her.
She scooted away from me, not speaking.
“Ok then.” I said. “Dean? How are you doing? Can I get you anything?”
“My mom.” He whispered, almost inaudibly.
I couldn’t help them with that, and I was getting restless again so I walked back to the truck and dug out the binoculars.
I was scanning the surrounding hills when I heard Sully walk up behind me.
“Don’t take it too hard. They’re just scared.” He said softly, putting his arms around my waist.
“I know,” I said.
He stepped closer, his chest pressed against my back.
“See anything?” He asked.
“Not a thing.”
“How about in town?”
I sighed. “I haven’t checked yet. I’m almost afraid to.”
“Do you want me to?”
“No, I’ll do it.” I said. “You’ve already done more than you should have had to.”
“You’re one of my best friends. I’d do anything to protect you.” He said, resting his chin on my shoulder.
I wanted to lose myself in his arms, to curl up with him and let myself forget all of this, but I had to keep watch. I had to protect them from whatever the hell was going on. And so, with a deep, steadying breath, I turned my gaze to the city below, searching the few visible streets for people. There was movement, but not much of it. The city would normally be bustling with cars and pedestrians which were almost completely absent just then. A few cars crawled along the roads, many were parked. It seemed like there were more people walking than driving. Maybe it was a ‘spare the air’ day. The alternative was almost too unbearable to consider.
“So…” Sully started, then paused for a minute before starting again. “You seem to be doing a bit better than earlier.”
“I am?” I asked.
“Well…you’re not freaking out anymore.”
“I guess so.”
“Are you going to be OK, dealing with all this? I mean, no offense or anything, but it’s like you’re separating yourself from the situation instead of facing it.”
“It’s my way of dealing, I guess.” I said, shrugging.
I could have told him the truth. I could have said that ‘facing the situation’ would leave me broken: a psychological wreck and a not even half of a shell of the person I used to be. I could have told him that I was starting to feel numb inside, that I kept telling myself this was for their sake; that I had to make myself think of those people as animals or something already dead. I couldn’t ‘face’ any of this because if I did, I was likely to put a gun to my own head and pull the trigger.
He stayed next to me for a while, both of us finding comfort in human contact before he decided to sit down next to the twins, who hadn’t spoken a word in all this time. They needed more comfort than I did right then.
The sun clung tightly to the sky, its slow trek through the remaining blue a losing battle against time as the light eventually began to fade, darkness following behind it like a hungry dog. Its last rays fought valiantly on the horizon, tinting the clouds around it a bright, bloody red shot through with yellow and orange as it finally died, the blue-black of night left victorious. Although I normally found sanctuary in the dark, every noise, every imagined movement set my nerves on edge. Anything could be out there.
“The fire pit has been dug and the kindling stacked. Do you mind if we use your lighter to start the fire?” Sully asked from behind me, making me jump.
I pulled the small plastic lighter out of my pocket and handed it to him wordlessly. I was starting to get cold, but didn’t dare leave my path around the encampment, too terrified of what might be lurking out of sight.
A small glow struck to life inside the perimeter, the fire low but increasingly warmer as it caught the sticks being fed slowly to it until it reached its acceptable peak, teasing my lower legs with insubstantial heat, barely enough to keep the worst of the chill at bay.
I continued my endless circle, my eyes and ears straining against the night for some time before someone rose and tread quietly to me. I risked a quick glance and saw that it was Dean. Billie remained seated on the ground by the fire, staring at us.
“Hey,” Dean said.
“Hey,” I said back.
“Listen, Billie and I wanted to… to thank you… for what you did- for what you’re doing. And we want you to sit down; get warmed up. It’s unusually cold.”
“I can’t. I have to keep watch.” I said.
“We can do it,” He said. “Billie and I talked it over and we can both keep watch while you get some rest.”
“What about weapons? I don’t want either of you two accidently shooting anyone.”
“I’ll take the axe and she’ll use the baseball bat we found under the back seat.”
I hesitated, unsure if I should give in.
&n
bsp; “It’s the least we could do for you after all this.” He said.
“Oh, all right.” I said, and waited for them to arm themselves and begin shadowing my circle before settling down next to the fire.
I was blissfully warm so close to the flames; as I allowed my muscles to relax, I realized just how cold I had been. Sully stayed silent, gazing into the blaze, his mind elsewhere. I would have loved to be a thousand miles away on a beach somewhere warm, the sun beating down on my body, washing over me like a hot bath. I envied Sully, with all the places he could mentally be while I was stuck here in this slowly forming hell. He could be off anywhere in the world, and I was Dante, heading deeper into the inferno.
The next morning I awoke to the chirping of birds and my face buried in a folded jacket, my own pulled tightly around me, shivering in the morning chill. Everyone was already up, deciding what they wanted for breakfast. For a few moments, I thought yesterday had just been a terrible nightmare, but the realization of the truth was like a hard slap to the face as I spotted everyone’s weapons within easy reach.
Today was a new day- a shining testament to survival skills and naive hope. My friends seemed almost happy, like this was a normal camping trip. I wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying until I heard them arguing as I grabbed a package of eggs a-la MRE.
“You tell her.”
“No, you tell her.”
“No, you!”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
My friends jumped, turning to face me with startled, uneasy looks and a blush to their cheeks.
“We’ve been thinking and…” Billie started.
“That could be dangerous.” I interrupted.
The boys sniggered. Billie shot them a dirty look.
“We’ve agreed that with the way these ‘sick’ people have been acting- eating flesh- not feeling any pain, their eyes going all milky, they have to be…” She said, using ‘quotey’ fingers at the word sick.
“Don’t say it. Do not say the ‘Z’ word.” I said, interrupting her again.
“Somebody has to. Zombies.”
“Billie honey, you can’t honestly believe they are zombies.”
“How can you not? Their crazy pain tolerance?”
“Drugs.”
“Eating flesh?”
“Psychosis.”
“Their eyes?”
“They could have been blind before they got sick, or maybe the drugs made them blind.”
She made a little annoyed sound, low in her throat. “So we managed to find two blind people who took the same drugs and have the same psychosis? What are the odds?”
“Pretty good, actually. There are millions of people who take the same medications. Who’s to say it wasn’t a bad batch?” I said.
I knew I was reaching a bit, ok a lot, but I simply could not believe that we were overrun by flesh eating zombies. A true zombie was a reanimated corpse, and that only happened in fiction. End of story. No zombies. But then again, what if they were right? What if, just below us, zombies were shambling around the city, looking for brains and living flesh?
“This is ridiculous.” I said. “Zombies?”
“We know. But it’s the most likely answer. Everything fits.” Dean said.
I had shot that man square in the chest at close range. That would be enough to kill anyone under normal circumstances but he lived through it. He only died when I shot him in the head. Same for the old woman. She should have stopped breathing when I put her in the choke hold, but it didn’t affect her. A shot to the head did. I was starting to feel like I was in a George Romero flick and feeling like you’re in a violent zombie movie is never a good sign of things to come.
“You seem to be doing better today.” Sully pointed out.
“Not better, just more numb.” I admitted. “And what about you guys? You’ve got to be out of your minds if you’re not still scared shitless.”
“So what’s the plan for today?” he asked, ignoring my question.
“I don’t really know just yet. It’s too risky to go into any area with a large population, so we need to stick to the outskirts; avoid people all together if we can.”
“If we’re going to be camping, we need supplies. I refuse to live of MREs and sleep on the ground.” Billie said.
“Ok, let’s pull out a map and mark locations we might be able to shop at.” I said.
“Screw that. There is a perfectly good grocery store not far from here, and a sporting goods store too. We can get everything we need there.” She said.
“They’re both in town.” I said.
“So?”
“So, this infection or whatever it is spread fast. Large populations got hit the worst because of how many people were shoved together. You want to believe this is the zombie apocalypse, what happens in movies when the survivors go out into town right after it hits? What happens in just about every single zombie horror? People get killed ‘cause they’re out on the street with all the monsters instead of listening to the rational person with epic survival skills.”
“This isn’t a horror movie.” Billie said, sighing.
“Damn right it’s not. So you’re going to listen to me and get the idea of going down there out of your head.”
“Ricktatorship.” Dean said, trying to hide it in a fake cough.
“If that’s what it takes to keep you morons alive, so be it.” I said, glaring at him.
“Ouch.” Sully said,
“Bite me.”
“Gladly,”
“Not to mention the fact that you guys already said that in the event of the zombie apocalypse, I would be in charge.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t the zombie apocalypse,” Dean said.
“I thought you said it was,” I shot back.
I ate my dehydrated breakfast in silence while my friends conferred; occasionally throwing me furtive glances over their shoulders. I sensed mutiny.
I was cleaning up our makeshift campsite when they approached me.
“We’ve decided.” Sully said.
“Am I walking the plank or being duck taped to a tree?” I asked, only half joking,
“We’re going into town. Not far in, just those two stores. We want you to come with us.”
“There is no chance in Heaven or Hell. And you’re not taking my truck on your little suicide mission either.”
“You want us to walk?” Dean asked.
“I don’t want you to go at all.” I said.
“We’re going with or without you.” Billie said with a shrug.
“No.” I insisted.
“All right. We’ll see you later.” She said and started to walk off. Dean and Sully rushed to catch up with her quick pace.
They hadn’t gotten too far when I finally shouted “Damn it. Ok, I’ll go with you. But if things get hinkey, I’m dragging your asses out of there by your ears, kicking and screaming if I have to.”
“Thanks!” Billie said.
“You’re the greatest.” Dean said.
“I know, I know. I’m the greatest pushover ever.” I said, climbing into the driver’s seat and slamming the door.
There was just no telling what kind of danger we were getting ourselves into.
Chapter 11
“If we’re going to do this, we need to stop before we actually get into town to see if it’s clear.” I said when everyone was inside the truck.
“Clear of?” Dean asked.
“Sick people.” I said.
“Are you expecting to see a herd of zombies milling around the nearest café?” Sully asked.
“No, I’m expecting to see a crowded public area during the middle of the day, possibly with deranged people who want to use my arms as toothpicks prowling the streets.” I said.
He gave me a weird look, like I might be insane or something.
“What? It makes more sense than zombies roaming the streets.” I said.
I drove down the small path mainly used by ATVs and dirt bikes
down to the gravel parking area a few miles outside the edge of town. I didn’t see anyone around so I got out and stood in front of the truck to search the streets with my binoculars. The cars I had seen the day before didn’t seem to have budged an inch. There were people moving around far off, but I couldn’t get a good read on their faces. At least they weren’t attacking each other. That had to count for something.
“Happy now?”Billie asked.
“Not in the slightest.” I said, pulling off my gun and stashing it out of sight next to my seat before climbing back in.
“But you’re taking off your gun.” Sully said.
“That’s because if we run into a cop or some skittish person down there, I don’t want to get caught with a loaded weapon in me.” I said.
The rest of the short drive down to the grocery store was silent.
It was so unsettling to drive down the street and pull into a nearly full parking lot when there wasn’t a single person to be seen. Cars, motorcycles and bikes littered the road and sidewalks, a few of the cars had smashed windows, their broken glass glittering in the sun. Litter swept across the asphalt in a gentle breeze. There wasn’t a soul to be seen on the long stretch of road. God, it really was like a zombie movie.
“I really don’t feel good about this.” I said.
“I’m starting to get that feeling myself,” said Sully.
I pulled us into a parking spot near the door and patted my pocket, checking the knife hidden there.
“Ready to be disappointed?”Billie asked.
“Yeah, sure.” I said, noting the open doors and lack of light coming from the store front.
“Maybe it’s a power outage.” Dean suggested.
“I really, truly wish that is the case.” I said. “In and out, no dawdling and stay together” I added, looking at each of them in turn.
They nodded.
We stepped inside the dark building and looked around. Just like in the street, there didn’t seem to be anyone there.
“Grab a couple baskets, will you?” I asked Dean, who was nearest the stack.
He picked up two and handed one to his sister, keeping the other for himself.
“Only grab stuff that doesn’t have to be refrigerated. Preferably only stuff that doesn’t really require cooking ether,” I told them.