by Weeks, Kris
She jolted awake from a louder than normal bang on the walls, quickly shot to her feet which startled Caden and made him start crying again. A window had broken and numerous decaying wrinkled hands were reaching inside. Mary backed up to the far wall that had no windows and knew that soon they would make their way into the building and eat her. She had to do something. Mary loaded up the bags on her back, pulled the metal bar from Jennifer’s head and held it with a firm grip in one hand and Caden in the other. Mary had no choice. Mary gouged the metal bar through each window pane and cleared all of the glass from them. She stuffed the pole into one of the pockets of the bag; this is it, she was psyching herself up.
She placed the crying Caden on extended counter top just barely out of reach of the zombies hands and waited for the rest to come around to the front of the small building. When she could not see anyof themout of the windows of the door, she swiftly flung the door open, slammed it closed and took off running away from the road and the building. She wasn’t able to run how she did when she was much younger, but did okay for a woman in her fifties. She could still hear them growling and grunting in the distance from the building she had just left. Mary kept running trying to get far enough away to not here Caden scream once they had gotten him. Mary tried to convince herself as she ran, that she did what she had to do and that he should not live without his family; but she could not convince herself and quickly turned and headed back. She made her way to the edge of the tree line she ran into and could see the building rocking back and forth. She quietly snuck up to the back of the building and around to the door. She stepped up into the buildingandreached out tograb Caden still wrapped in his blanket trying to avoid the reaching grabbyhands.Mary was surprised and thankful they had not got him yet. She pulled the blanket over to her and caught him as he slid off the counter. She backedup,stepped out of the door, needing to get somewhere safe.
She turned to round the corner of the building but was grabbed by one of the bony fingered hands and suddenly pulled to the ground. Mary fell and felt a sharp excruciating pain in her leg as it buckled underneath her. Caden slipped from her hold, landed with a hard thud in front of her and rolled out of her reach. Mary tried to crawl but was unable to move her leg to push forward.
A small nasty smelling woman grabbed the blanket, pulled the edge of it that made the small baby roll out of the blanket and bared Caden to her. She clumsily grabbed his arm and picked him up, arched her neck forward, opened her mouth wide showing her rotting jagged teeth and took a chunk from his swinging leg. Caden let out a blood curdling scream that made Mary flinch and shiver. Mary tried again to pull herself forward with her hands, but couldn’t seem to do that either. She became tired quickly and her energy was leaving her body as she still tried. She finallygave up and laiddown asadirty looking man kneeled down next to her. His eyes were dark and sunk in, his nasty teeth clattered as he lowered his head, bit her hand as she put it up to his mouth to try and block him, instead it was as an offer to him. She had failed at trying to keep herfriends and herself alive.
Eric and Rue still stood at the entry way. When they heard Mary scream, the two turned and entered back into the lobby, locked the door and listened a moment for any sounds from the others.
“Let’s get to bed.” Eric ordered.
CHAPTER 3
THE SUNshined through the
windows lighting up the rooms. Rowena’s cry echoed through the building as Karlin and Adrianna raised their head at the same time and looked around.
“Jennifer left huh?” Karlin asked
sadly. Adrianna nodded her head as she patted Karlin on the shoulder then waved at her to get up and handed her someclean clothes. Bothof themmade their way out of the room and met Willy, Andrew and Nate in the hall.
“Morning ladies!” Andrew tried to say with joy. Karlin and Adrianna glared at him and headed to the break room for breakfast. All of them expected Mary to already be in there preparing food for them all. The five searched the room for her, then they all turned at once tolook downthehall tothe lobby. There was no sign of Mary. They quietly looked at each other with question and wonder. Eric emerged from the door at the end of the hall.
“What the hell are we all standing around for? I am sure there is more to do than that.”
Willy, Andrew, and Nate reluctantly began to move towards the lobby and began to try and look busy by cleaning up waiting for Eric’s instructions. Karlin and Adrianna turned and started to put together some food for the group expecting Mary to come in at any moment and tell them to get out of the way.
By the time they got enough food prepared for everyone, there was still no Mary. Karlin worried and wondered where Mary was filled a platter with a few sandwiches and took down the hall. She lightly knocked on the door.
Rue opened the door and allowed Karlin in since she only had one hand free from coddling Rowena to her chest. “Set it over there please Karlin.” Rue pointed to the desk.
Karlin placed the platter where she requested then noticed only Barker’s blonde hair poking up from under a blanket in the corner. Karlin scanned the room looking for Garrett and Caden, but did not see either, which confirmed that Jennifer had taken her children and left. Karlin sighed and removed one of the sandwiches that she had made for Garrett in case he happened to be there; even though she knew in the back of her mind that Jennifer had left and took her children.
She walked out of the room and quietly closed the door. She laid the extra sandwich on the counter next to Adrianna on a napkin and solemnly made her way to the table with loss of appetite.
“Karlin, we knew she was going to leave, she needed to be with her kids.” Adrianna tried to make her feel better.
Karlin laid her head down on the table. “I know, but I wish she would have taken me with her.”
Adrianna caringly brushed the hair back from out of her face and placed a sandwich in front of her. The four men entered the room and sat at the first table as Adrianna sat sandwiches in front of each of them. Everyone giving their thanks to her except for Eric who just gobbled his down without even a nod.
“Where is Mary?” Karlin piped up as everyone got their mouths full. Eric’s eyes immediatelyshot toward Karlin before she was even able to get the end of Mary’s name out of her mouth. “That is not your concern, you are a child, your concern is to learn to fight and take care of things.”
They all looked from Eric to Karlin then back at Eric with shock and surprise in their eyes and on their faces. “But really, where is Mary?” Nate shot back.
Eric shook his head. “Not your concern either.” Before Nate responded to the jerk with something he may regret, he stuffed his mouth full of the rest of his sandwich then quickly excused himself fromthe tableand headed back to doing what they were all told to do in the lobby.
Willy looked around the room just then realizing that neither Jennifer or Mary were there. He was concerned at this point that Mary had tried to help Jennifer, had gotten herself in a bind and was stuck outside somewhere. Thankfully, their instructions from Eric before breakfast was to load the van with what they could so they could leave that afternoon.
Andrew and Willy finished their sandwich at the same time and removed themselves from the table as well, meeting Nate in the lobby.
“We knew Jennifer was leaving, but where the hell is Mary?” Willy asked the other two.
Andrew shrugged and walked to the door to look outside. “Could she have gone with Jennifer?” He asked.
“Or could she have been forced to go with Jennifer?” Nate suggested knowing what Eric had done before.
The three stood in silence for a moment trying to decipher their own opinion.
They all snapped back to reality and started gathering some things that they would be able to stack into the van. Nate unlocked the door and allowed Andrewand Willyoutbefore closing it behind him. They slowly approached the entryway and searched for any zombies that may be stumbling their way. With no danger in sight, they made their w
ay to the nearby van and popped open the back of the van to start puzzle piecing everything together to make sure that it fit. Willy took the armfuls from the other two and began stacking while Nate and Andrew went back for more. The tools stood upon the side wall of the vanand leaned over the last row of seating. Nate came back with a few of the gas cans that had been brought up from the warehouse portion of the building. Willy instantly stacked those against the other side of the van carefully. Andrew brought an arm load of blankets and handed them off with Nate following with as much canned food as he could from the break room. Willy began to stack the cans close to the back of the seat and across to build somewhat of a wall. They gathered their clothes and items fromtheir room and loaded them up. A few growls were heard from behind them as they made room for the others belongings. All three of them turned at once to see a mid-size woman with glasses that sat crooked on her face. Her arm dangled at the elbow and hit her limping bent leg, she brought it down letting it fling around to her back as then shot it up to try and keep her balance.
“It’s Mary!” Nate hollered to let the other two know. Andrew grabbed the closest weapon from the van and held her at bay with the end of the garden hoe. “Are you sure?”
Nate nodded as he grabbed a shovel and Willy grabbed a piece of rebar. “We have to take her out or she is going to take us out.” Willy told them while poking her backwards.
“She’s drunk!” Nate laughed at his long running joke. “Yeah, drunk and wanting to eat us.” Andrew pushed her hard with the garden tool.
“Fine!” Willy lurched forward thrusting the rebar piece into Mary’s head, he pushed with both hands then stepped back as her body made a thud on the ground.
Andrew and Nate put their weapons back,closedup the van then made their way back inside.
Willy bee lined it to the breakroom and put both of his hands on the table in front of Eric. “So I am going to assume that you did to Mary what you did to Alex?”
Eric moved his eyes up to Willy and back down to the last bite of his sandwich. Without saying a word he put it in his mouth and wiped the crumbs free fromhis hands. Eric stood, stepped out and moved to the end of the plastic picnic table. “So was that a question?” He asked Willy.
“It was, what the hell did you do to Mary? We just had to take her out because she was part of the undead!”
Eric shrugged and turned to walk away, but Willy grabbed his arm and spun him around. Eric’s face lit up with anger as he looked down at his arm then back at Willy. “Don’t touch me, and it is not your concern about Mary.”
Adrianna and Karlin stood across the room watching the confrontation. Eric turned tothembefore walking out. “Get your belongings together and get them in the van!”
Neither of the girlsmoved. “NOW!” He startled them with his loudness. Adrianna and Karlin moved to the doorway and followed Eric out then turned into their room shutting the door behind them. They both began packing their things into bags without speaking in fear that Eric would chastise them.
Karlin stopped her progress of packing and turned to Adrianna. “Eric is going to kill us all.” Karlin quietly stated.
Adrianna stopped what she was packing and walked to Karlin, she put her hand on her arm. “I will do whatever I can to not let that happen Karlin.”
Karlin nodded and turned away. Adriana wished that she could make her believe her, but knew that she could only do so much for her friend that she felt responsible for.
Once they were done packing they piled their things into the hallway, went into the break room and began to pack up what had not been taken earlier. They piled snacks into bags and placed them near the door that led outside. Both girls gathered their belongings and stood near the door waiting. Andrew, Nate and Willy all came out of their room and stood next to them waiting for the rest of the group.
“I wish we had a vehicle of our own.” Willy whispered. Everyone nodded in agreement when the door opened from the end of the hallway.
Barker walked out loaded down with bags, Rue with Rowena sitting on her hip with two huge bags hooked on her shoulder and then Eric holding nothing except the van keys in his hand. Nate took a quick step when Adrianna grabbed his arm and shook her head at him, knowing that he was going to make his way to Rue. Nate looked at her and gently removed her hand from his arm and headed toward Rue. He pulled both bags from her shoulder and threw both straps over his. He allowed Rue to go in front of him, turned to follow when he was jerked backwards by the bags and stumbled up against the wall.
Eric slid in front of him as he tried to straighten his stance. “No one asked for your help, give the bags back!” He told him through grinded teeth.
Nate stood erect and nose to nose with Eric. “She has a baby, we are able and willing to help, let us do that since you won’t.”
Eric put his forehead to Nate’s. “Put the fucking bags back on her shoulder now!”
Rue ran back to the two men and squeezed in between them. “Stop!” Eric backed off of Nate, glaring at him from the small hallway. Rue grabbed one of the bags, pulled it over her armup to her shoulder and then the other. “Thank you Nate, no need to make this harder than it has to be.”
Rue walked into the lobby and joined the others. She turned and waited for Nate and Eric to come out of the hallway. The two battled with their stares when Nate finally turned to walk to the lobby. Eric watched him as he made it to the door, quickly unlocked it and flung it open after grabbing some of the bags from the floor. Everyone followed except for Eric.
With the vanloaded and everyone in a comfortable place as much as they could be in an eight person van, Eric finally appeared from the building and crawled into the driver’s seat. “The rules are still the same. I make them, you follow them and that is that.”
He started the van and pulled out of the lot onto the highway. The van was quiet except for periodic noises from Rowena. The highway was crowded with cars and drunks were spread thin as they made their way down highway thirty one. Eric would dodge any of them walking around and would slow around cars that were in the way. He exited from the highway after an hour as the Welcome to Tyler sign appeared. He drove slowlyas he turned off of the highway. Another few miles passed as well as buildings that theyall thought were suitable to stop at; Eric drove by them. The undead were thickening the further they drove into Tyler and the deeper they got into the compact town.
“Where the hell are wegoing?” Nate asked. Eric peered into the rearview mirror at him then moved his eyes back to the road. “No worries buddy, there will be plenty for you to HELP with here.”
Nate scoffed at his snide remark and sat back hard in his seat. Eric slowed the van and turned making his way under an arch marked with the name of Caldwell Zoo.
The crew all looked at each other in a bit of confusion. “Going on a field trip?” Adrianna shot out with a laugh.
“No, there are animals here, which means food.” Eric shot at her. Nate, Willy, and Andrew snickered at each other at the thought of going in and taking animals from the zoo to eat. “Hell, half of them are probably zombies already!” Willy laughed.
Eric stopped the van and got out. Everyone watched him look around. It appeared that there was only a few of the dead walking around outside the zoo. Eric wondered how many were inside the zoo. He walked to the edge of the steep steps, took each one with caution making it down to the fence that surrounded the zoo and watched the area for anymoment then motioned to the van for everyone to get out.
Nate, Andrew, Willy, Adrianna, Karlin, Rue with Rowena and Barker piled out and made their way down the steps and stood near Eric.
“I will lead you all in. Willy and Nate take to the right, Andrew take the girls to the left. See what you can find, make sure you EACH have a weapon, if you see something worth killing to eat, kill it. Bring it back to the front gates.” Eric explained.
CHAPTER 4
THEY ALL stood single file
behind Eric at the gate. There was a chain that looked as though it sec
ured it, but when Eric grabbed it, it was just wrapped around the gate. He pulled it off and opened it just enough to let everyone in.
They all went the ways that they were told to and Rue followed the girls and Andrew.
“RUE!” Eric hollered. “You stay here with the children.” He instructed. “I can go help Eric.”
He shook his head at her and pointed to the gate. “You keep watch.”
Rue sighed and went to stand at the gate. Nate and Willy took off and quickly found a cage full of different kinds of birds. Some were small and a fewgood sized ones, but not anything to eat that they could see. Nate finally spotted two larger sized birds sitting in the corner of the large enclosure and looked for a way into it. He started to the side of the cage and Willy followed.
“What is it?” Willy caught up with Nate. “Quail I think!” Nate became rather excited finding a door. “Good eatin’ right there!”
Nate turned the knob to let himself in with Willy squeezing in behind him then closing the door back.
“Sooo, are you going to catch them or what?” Nate crept their way. “Hell I don’t know, I used to have to kill chickens to eat, but we just broke their necks, I would think I can do the same to them.”
Willy shook his head as he watched Nate make his way to the birds. He came within about a foot of them, slowly reached down to grab one then fell as the two birds came at him and startled him making him throw his hands up over his head. Nate jumped back up and searched for them. Willy bent down and grabbed one that had come his way by the neck. The other ran past Nate to the other side. Nate followed it and jumped at it grabbing it by its leg and holding on for dear life while Willy laughed as Nate grabbed on with the other hand trying to keep up with the flailing quail. Nate worked his hands up the bird’s body to its neck and twisted with both hands. He jumped up quicklyleaving the bird. He wiped himself off angrily, scoffed at the bird on the ground and peered up at Willy who was holding the other bird by its neck and petting its head.
