After breakfast, my hopes dashed. I felt my mood shifting to a dark place. Jones told us we couldn’t leave. He and Charley had their heads together earlier and his look from the upstairs window should have told me something was up.
I should have questioned the decision, but I didn’t want to upset Jones. He was our leader and so far we had survived. I put my faith in him and did my best to relax. It went against my nature and I strained to conform. In the end, I trusted him and like the bolted door, put it out of my head.
Charley pulled out a deck of cards as a diversion. Brittany suggested Spades and we partnered up. We were getting into the spirit of the game and just to look at the four us, betrayed our circumstances. We were all young people sitting around a card table in the kitchen playing cards, with no hint of danger or death. No traces of the world we resided in. We were kids and the world was our oyster.
Our innocence shattered, moans filtered in from outside. The zombies found us. We froze for an instant. That gave us time to listen and judge how close they were to the back door. Jones ushered us out of the room and we crept upstairs. Each of us went to our packs for our weapons. I had both, my hammer and my knives. Brittany had a baton in one hand and a metal pipe in the other. I passed her a knife. She wrapped the sheath around her right leg and put the knife in it. For the present, her intention was to fight by swinging and bashing. I agreed and looked for something in the room to hit with. I could always throw my knives, I would have to recover them to use them a second time. Bashing seemed better.
Charley and Jones held batons and for backup, they had Molotov cocktails. They went back down to the living room with Brittany while I looked for a weapon to bash zombies. There was nothing in the room useful, not even the rod used to hold the hangers in the closet. It was entirely too weak and already bent.
I searched the rest of the floor and then went downstairs to continue my search. I thought about the house’s plumbing and hoped to find a metal pipe I could rip out. We knew there was no basement; it was one of the first searches performed. There had to be something, someplace where I could get at pipes. I began my assault on the downstairs. I went room to room and found nothing useful. There was always the metal from the bed frames, but they braced the mattresses at the windows and we needed them there more.
“Zee.”
Brittany interrupted my feverish search. I was in the downstairs closet rummaging through the junk on the floor. I stopped. My heart dropped from her soft tone alone. Something was up. Why us?
“What?”
“You better come upstairs.”
“Tell me, Britt, what is it?”
“Come with me.”
She turned and I followed. I walked behind her through the living room to the stairs. I looked around for the boys and neither was there. The zombies were howling outside and through a crack between a mattress and window, I saw dozens. They weren’t coming into the house. They were nevertheless massing around the house.
I followed with trepidation. For her not to tell me meant it was bad and she didn’t have the words. My mind reeled with possibilities and I was happy to reach the door to end the suspense. We went inside and both boys were at the window. They turned and the look on their faces was telling. It was definitely bad news. Like the man on his way to the electric chair, I recoiled. Brittany caught a hold of me and saved me from further embarrassment. I walked to the window with a heavy heart.
Jones moved aside and when I looked into his eyes, I can only guess it was pain in them. I can say for certain I saw no fear. If his eyes could talk, they would perform some sort of apology to me.
Breaking my gaze, I looked out at the zombies; they were everywhere and steady coming. My heart sank even lower. We were in a hopeless predicament and it would be a matter of time before the zombie hordes overran us.
“I’m sorry, Zee.” Jones spoke softly.
“It’s okay. I didn’t want to go out like this, but it’s not my choice.”
“Zee?” Brittany’s voice shook.
“Leave her alone,” said Jones, shaking off Brittany.
I turned from the window and went back to our pallet in the center of the room. There was nothing to do but wait. I would never see Simon again. Nothing Brittany or anyone said could make it easier for me. I had to accept the inevitable. I crawled under my blanket and buried myself under the covers. I could hear the others walking around and I wanted so badly to cry and feel sorry for myself. I couldn’t. These were my last hours. I would go out like the kickass soldier I was, fighting tooth and nail to survive. To cry would mean defeat and sour the others, I wouldn’t do it. Not for me, not for anything. I stayed under the covers and waited.
After a while, I began to get worried and then impatient. Why weren’t they breaking down the door and killing us? I threw off the covers and looked for my team. Brittany had come and sat next to me. Jones and Charley were at the window.
I looked at Brittany. She said nothing, but it was in her face. Something was wrong. They knew something that I didn’t. I brought my face in closer to Brittany’s and she blinked, it was true, something was wrong.
“You tell me right now!” My voice shook like I couldn’t believe. My threat was not veiled; it shone in my voice as clear as day.
Brittany teared up and closed her eyes. I turned to Jones, he stared at me. He probably had been staring at me the whole time. I got to my feet and our eyes never left each other’s. I walked to him as fast as I could. Before I could say a word and deliver my threat, he stopped me.
“Look down.”
I pressed my face to the window and looked down by the side of the house. I didn’t hear them before, but now, I heard them as if they were in the room with me. As if someone had turned the radio up, loudly. Zombies were screaming and howling and feasting; feasting on a body, feasting on Thompson. I collapsed and passed out.
I woke to louder noise. I didn’t need to be at the window to know their number grew. I could hear them and feel them all around me. I lay on the pallet. I got up and went back to the window for another look. Jones watched me in silence. I felt him watching and as long as he didn’t speak, I was perfectly fine with the staring. I looked down at the masses of zombies and found Thompson’s body. The creatures pulled him apart and many feasted on him. I left the window and started pacing. Back and forth, faster and faster I went. Jones watched me the whole time. I kept throwing distractions up in my mind, trying to drown the sound of the zombies and make peace with reality. Try as I might, I failed.
I stood against a wall and shut my eyes tightly, rocking. With clenched fists that dug into my palms, I tried to hold on. I told myself it would be over soon and I could hold on and make it. Tighter and tighter I dug into my palms, maybe the pain would distract and outweigh the screams and howls that echoed in my head.
Visions of Thompson’s body flying from one zombie to the next, like Frisbees, crept into my thoughts. I opened my eyes to find everyone staring at me. Jones and Charley from the window, Brittany from by the door. Only Brittany moved. The door was wide open. She looked downstairs toward the living-room door and then back at me. My guess is that she was on guard duty.
Rather than speak, I closed my eyes again and concentrated on breathing. In and out, slower and slower I breathed. There was nothing to say, nothing to do. I would wait with the others and in time they would leave.
Again, I went to the window to check their progress. Why should Thompson affect me this way? I didn’t even like the guy. And why was my team keeping things from me? Did they expect I would go off the rails once I saw Thompson? I was stronger than that. I have seen dozens of people eaten by zombies. I have seen dozens more, turn into zombies, some I knew.
I looked at Jones and his eyes darted back and forth, evaluating me. I thought of what he did last night, his checking up on me, and I wondered how I fared under his gaze. I was his second and needed to prove it.
I steeled myself and boldly gazed out the window like it wasn’t there. Zombies didn’t
bother me one bit. I thought of home and my family and glared out at them in defiance. Their chewing noises meant nothing. I was home free until I made the mistake of looking down. I saw Thompson’s head roll out into the open. His eyes looked up at me and they were judging me. I collapsed, again.
I woke in the center of the room on the pallet. Stirring awake, I felt a hand on me, rubbing up and down. I opened my eyes to find Brittany comforting me. “I’m sorry, Zee.”
“You knew?”
“We did. I hoped you wouldn’t see it.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know, I imagine—”
“No, not that. How long have I been out?”
“Oh. A few hours.”
“Look, Zee—”
“It’s okay, Britt. I should have known it would happen.”
“How are you, Zee?” Jones came over and asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You better be. We’re getting out of here in a little while and I need you fired up and ready to go.”
“Are they leaving?”
“Most of them have left already,” said Jones. “Look. I didn’t think that would happen when we tossed the body. I should have thought of all the possibilities. I’m sorry. I know he was your friend and that was not the way for anybody to go. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
Jones gave his famous smile to calm me. His brown eyes met mine and I settled inside.
“Thanks, but I’m fine. How soon can we leave?”
“I’m hoping for soon, however, the reality is that we may be here until nightfall.” Jones looked sad.
Charley came over and handed me a bottle of water. “We had lunch already.”
I still didn’t like him. I needed somebody to blame and he was it. Brittany was at my side and poking me in the back, so I politely smiled at the man and took the bottle. I can’t lie and say that it wasn’t refreshing, it was fantastic.
I ignored the smile he gave me and stood. I didn’t hear the zombies anymore, their number must be down tremendously.
“Zee, what are you doing?”
I ignored Brittany’s question and walked to the window. This window had proven to be the death of me. I wanted to conquer it. Jones and Charley came swiftly to my sides and Brittany stood behind me, ready to catch me if I fell. I ignored them all and looked out into zombie world.
The zombies were scattering. Where Thompson once laid, there was nothing but a red stain. Every piece of him devoured. I quickly looked away and focused on the distant zombies, trying to figure out where they were going. It would be dark soon and contrary to my wishes, this road trip had taken a serious detour.
We were within walking distance of salvation and had been stopped at the Pearly Gates. We would make it, I was sure of that. It was a matter of time and opportunity and we had both.
Chapter Sixteen
Zombie Zora Page 15
