Genesis Virus

by Pinto, Daniel

  Delilah pounds on his chest with both fists. “You’re an asshole. I thought you cared a little.” She rests her forehead on his chest and sniffles for a minute…sucks in her breath…her voice becomes deeper. “I’m ready to go.” She plants a salty kiss on him, making him feel like a beloved abuser, that wasn’t his intent, he only wanted a easy result for him to escape.

  He puts his hands on her lower back; a few moments of silence follow.

  She says. “Lets make a deal, we watch each other’s back no matter what.” Reminding him that she has saved him too, more than once.

  He picks her up by her thighs, staring into her melancholy eyes. “I’m sorry…if we fall we fall together…swing over to my back, I’ll carry you.” He can see she’s exhausted. She hugs his chest from behind. “You better not drop me, I’ll kill you.”

  David angles back in jest. “Whoa, you’re too heavy. Brace for impact.”

  She sinks deeper into his back and chokes him with both forearms. “DAVID. I’ll rip your ears off. Put me down.”

  He laughs holding the top of her hands. “No, this is what you wanted. Enjoy the ride.” He runs through the trees and she closes her eyes.

  9

  David hugs Youngblood from behind and lifts him in the air. “I’m a Lifter creature that likes only teenage boys. Virgin blood taste the best.”

  Caught off-guard, Youngblood tries to look back. “Oh shoot.”

  David says. “It’s a miracle that the gang is reunited and ready to hit the road again. Without technology we can lose each other if we turn one too many corners without each other and without a plan. The walkies can’t do it all.”

  Delilah hugs Coop and says. “Coop good to see you’re okay…Don’t over think it, David. The Gods of luck and hope are on our side.”

  David lets go of the blushing Youngblood, he says. “I’m sorry about the other day. You’re like the little brother I never wanted.”

  Youngblood adjusts his shirt. “It’s cool, friends fight, right?”

  David smiles and nods. “Yeah they do,” he pats Youngblood’s shoulder from the side then looks at Cooper. “Was it your idea for the smoke?”

  Cooper says. “Yes, but I was scared I didn’t know what I was inviting through those bushes. Negative stereotypes can come in handy.”

  No one feels the need to explain that joke to a confused Delilah nestling on a stump almost out of sight. Youngblood unties the horses and Coop rolls up the hammocks.

  When David was watching the zombie parade, Coop covered a fire in green vegetation, placing and removing a wet blanket over it, to create white smoke. He did so in three quick successions, for an hour to show David they were safe. And for today Coop stop when he found old tires, creating a steady dark beacon for David to find his way home.

  David dusts Coop’s quilt and folds it, to hurry things along. “Lets go get our friends and leave this area. I’m getting the band back together.”

  Delilah says. “He’s been saying that last part all day. I know you all didn’t miss him.”

  Cooper kicks dirt over the fire. “It’s not too bad around here, actually kind of calm.”

  Delilah hollers from the side. “Thanks to the Queen.”

  Cooper says. “Did you meet a King too?”

  David says. “A castle and monsters, with a dash of romance. I’ll tell you on the way.”

  Cooper says. “Can’t wait.” He tries his best to ignore the funny energy between the lovers.

  David says. “I see you’re still wearing that black cowboy hat.”

  Cooper makes his voice deeper. “Yes I like Yul Brynner, the villain in the Ten Commandments movie and the hero in Magnificent Seven.” He runs his fingertips on the rim of the hat. Heroes in the classic westerns always wore a white hat as a shorthand explanation to the audience, to root for this man, but my man Yul was so cool, he made black his color, regardless of which side he was on.”

  David says. “Who does that make me, Steve McQueen?”

  Cooper says. “Color me impressed.”

  David shrugs and says. “I have my moments.”

  10

  At the original campsite, Delilah and the Indians are feeding the horses, David’s brushing his teeth when he hears. “Cuc-kooo.”

  He turns completely around with his gun pointed from his hip, biting onto his toothbrush.

  Lou says. “Put that thing down before you hurt yourself.” Ava comes tracking through the forest behind Lou.

  David lets out a built-up gasp, he hugs her. “Put some ump in that weak hug.”

  Ava says. “It was suppose to be a snatch and grab job, but everything went to shit, literally.” She stayed in town for a few nights, not the sickbay warehouse. She interviewed everyone about the Boss.

  David touches Ava’s earlobe and earring. “Well you look nice, it couldn’t have been that awful.”

  The Chief walks between them. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  David has his chin in his hand as he studies her body. “Those cuts need to be cleaned everyday and dressed.”

  Ava says. “Way ahead of you mom.” She smacks his shoulder so he can drop it. She continues. “The people we met lived in squalor domiciles...maybe after all of this we can help them out.”

  David says. “We’ll see, you could be their savior.”

  Ava says. “I’m serious. Don’t patronize me.”

  David says. “I know. But let’s worry about today for now and our own.”

  She looks around as if she just heard something. “I spent the last few days killing Crawlers.”

  David says. “Huh, Crawlers? So now we have Crawlers, along with Walkers, Runners, and Jumpers. Next thing you know we’ll have Fliers. How niche of them.”

  Ava says. “Stephen King himself couldn’t have imagined up this shit I saw. The speed and agility of a spider.” She makes her hands stiff trying to simulate claws, and strikes near David’s face.

  He smiles and sways back. “I believe you. Relax, you’re safe now, I’m here.”

  “Oh, really.” Ava ignores him, eyes glossed over in remembrance, she reaches behind her and gives David her trophy, a new retractable metal baton. He flings it open. She keeps the bandit’s grenades. A gift for the Boss.

  “This is for you, I can’t figure it out.” He takes the flashlight shaped object from his belt.

  Ava spins it in her hands like a empty bottle. “What is it?”

  David says. “A captive bolt, stun gun for cows. I got it from Queen.”

  Ava holds it at opposite ends. “Ah, you shouldn’t have. Queen?”

  David says to her as he looks at Lou giving Coop a duck call. “You and her could be best friends.”

  Delilah tries to touch David’s arm, but he moves away before she can. “You guys ready to hit the road.”

  Ava acts as if she doesn’t see the nuance between the lovers. “The Chief is beat, too much pride to admit it…I saw something on the way here you might enjoy David, it’s a few blocks this way, we can walk if you’re up to it.”

  David says. “After you.”

  Delilah says. “Where we going?” All head south.

  11

  David turns his head around with a big grin. “I hadn’t seen one of these in years.”

  An enormous blacking canvas hangs behind him like a poster in the sky.

  Ava points at it. “It’s seen better days.”

  David says to both women. “You can go back if you want, I’ll catch up to you all in a minute. I want to enjoy this drive-in movie theater for a moment before it disappears forever. Me time.”

  Ava says. “I could use a moment alone from those guys.”

  Delilah says. “Me too.”

  David hops onto the top of a car’s hood and lies back on the windshield with arms crossed behind his head like it’s a lawn chair. An empty lot is in front of him then the huge black square with white spots. The girls do the same as David, on different cars on the opposite sides of him.

  Minute
s go by and Ava looks just as tired as the Chief. Delilah is to herself, ready to leave this dump, the absence of context irritates her confusion. What’s the big deal?

  David laughs at the drive-in movie theater, the two women look at him and grin in confusion, he says. “You can’t see it. The past, your favorite movie.”

  Delilah moves around on the creaky hood. “Which is?”

  Ava says. “For him, the Wizard of Oz.”

  Delilah squints and slides back. “Really? That overrated, silly thing.”

  Ava says. “It’s my favorite too.”

  Delilah says. “Of course it is.”

  David says to Ava. “It’s the part when the cowardly lion is singing inside the Emerald City about courage.”

  Ava talks as the two characters, Dorothy and the lion. “If you were king, you wouldn’t be afraid of anything…not nobody not no how…”

  David laughs with shiny eyes. “There you go.”

  Ava shows her brilliant smile. “Guess this one.” She makes her voice deeper this time. “I could of had class. I could’ve been somebody…instead of a bum, which is what I am, lets face it.”

  David looks at her. “Marlon Brando.”

  “Ok, but which film?”

  David closes his eyes, taps his forehead. “Um, um, give me a second, I got it…On the Waterfront.”

  Delilah looks at Ava to find out if he’s right. Ava says. “Lucky guess.”

  Years ago, when Ava first arrived at David’s bunker, she didn’t a say a word for weeks. One day she was scoping out her new surroundings and she heard a familiar song with its vocables and followed the sound to find David alone in a room with one television and two couches, she sat on the empty one. As time went on, she sat next to David and the two of them watched every movie available. Digesting an eclectic collection of digital films that were preinstalled in their bunker. Maybe it was the personal collection of the CEO of GAI or some tech nerd that had free rein to choose. Either way, two strangers bonded over the universal language of film and each would imagined the person they lost that gave them this love of cinema in the first place, sitting right next to them.

  Meanwhile, David is deep in thought, seeing and hearing different scenes, with and without color. A kaleidoscope of nostalgia in his mind’s eye. He says. “This has survived the years, so one day I could stop here and enjoy it.”

  More time goes by, Ava falls asleep.

  They are three lifeless mannequins lounging on classic automobiles as if they were starring in a Coke commercial before the feature film begins.

  Delilah whispers to a sleeping David. “David, I think it’s time to go.”

  David leans his head up to see four Crawlers, skinny as cheetahs, argyria bluish-grey skin accentuated by hairless bodies. A clowder of Crawlers paces around unaware of the living, like the blind nocturnal coming out for food. He remains firm and shifts his eyes to see Ava with two hands on her handgun. He makes a gesture with his head, signifying no. Delilah does a cross up and down her chest. If only if it was that simple.

  David gently lifts his behind off the hood and shimmies his belt from each loop, his scalp is soaked with sweat. He constricts his stomach and holds his breath. The car creaks and depresses on flat tires. Delilah holds her gun barrel pointing up and leaned against her forehead. She mumbles a prayer. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Ava’s back is pressed against the windshield and she’s pointing her gun between her legs at the patrolling Crawlers.

  David slowly glides off the hood with his belt in one hand and his new metal baton in the other.

  He jumps down in the lion pit towards a Crawler and it imitates him, going right when he goes left and vice versa. A show for the audience, he snaps his belt in the air like a whip and the zombies take a step backwards.

  Up close, David swings at the ground as he runs and jumps to the side, hitting the overly ecstatic creature in the jaw. David sees the jaw dangle by a thread as he slides back on his feet, crouching low. He then purposely falls to the ground and lays completely flat as two Crawlers jump over his stomach, he quick rolls on the ground as the other Crawler snaps in a straight line towards him, chomping sounds like garden shears.

  Behind the movie screen, dozens of Crawlers are in a procession in a block long line, three bodies width, shoulder-to-shoulder. Ava makes a noise with her teeth clench for Delilah to look at her then she points with her chin to the parade of Crawlers. Delilah looks at Ava, shifts around getting ready to run, the car groans, attracting David’s Crawlers. Ava slams her hand down an inch from the hood and mouths the words to Delilah, “be fucking still.” To fire their handguns and make quick work of the four zombies would invite scores of hyenas to rip them to ribbons painting the screen red, twice over.

  David taps on the ground with his new baton and the Crawler attacks the spot mid-blink and falls for the subterfuge. In circumvolution, David moves around the zombie like a rodeo clown teasing the charging bull. He gets behind the nimble beast and chokes the Crawler with his belt, the belt cuts into David’s hands from the sheer force. He hears a snap as he straights the Crawler to two feet and to his eye level. A curvature in its neck. He turns the zombie into a leaping Crawler; it knocks the wind out of him.

  He throws the body onto the Crawlers, they jump at its torn belly and rip out of chucks of flesh like it’s their first meal of the day.

  A Crawler is rushing behind him, David stabs it in the throat with the baton as it whacks him down. David maneuvers behind it, squeezes his thighs over its lungs, and grabs both ends of the baton still lodged in the Crawler’s throat. Twists the baton around like a vault handle and with the last twist, he rips off the Crawler’s head. David stands with the head in his hands, a Crawler tries to bite him in the chest, but instead David shoves the zombie head in the Crawler’s mouth, and hits it on the top of the head as it chews on the scalp. David hits the limp Crawler in the head repeatedly watching the last zombie. It’s tasting on the dead remains, with a black tongue and no jaw. He has come back full circle, to the first Crawler and the last thing in his way.

  David approaches it from behind soft-footed like a ninja. Puts one hand behind its neck, the zombie runs in place like a pet that knows what’s coming. He slides the baton under its front row of teeth, and pulls its head apart towards him. It drops to the ground and David squishes the brain with his boot.

  Delilah lies back on the car hood in exhaustion from the tension, emotionally and physically. Ava comes up to David. “Let’s get going, let’s not push our luck.” He looks like he’s about to faint and has to sit down. “Ava, you weren’t lying about these Crawlers, I kept missing them.”

  Ava slides the baton into itself. “I killed bigger ones. These were baby cat sized.” David lies back in the dirt. “You fight ‘em next time.” Even though his lungs are on fire and his hands won’t stop shaking, it was worth the detour.

  12

  The next day, at night, after everyone is sleeping, Delilah opens David’s tent. He’s lying on his side, head on prayer hands, eyes closed.

  Delilah says. “It’s cold tonight.”

  Face buried in his pillow. “No it’s not.”

  She plumps down. “Scoot over.”

  He does and lifts one arm with the blanket for her to get in. She rolls in; her body is tensing as he rests his arm on her side. He smells like an old shirt that she wants to put on; he doesn’t make a move for her like she thought he would. She certainty will not make the first move, it’s his turn.

  She turns around to face him, waking him up again. “You can’t just say sorry and everything is forgiven.” Baiting him to talk.

  “Ok, I’m not sorry, is everything better.” His lips almost touched mine.

  She puts her cold hands under his shirt, he jerks back. “Why didn’t you talk to me all day?”

  “I didn’t talk to anyone, it’s difficult while driving.”


  “You know what I mean.”

  David says. “Stop acting mad, I know why you’re here, no need to beat around the bush.” She clenches her thighs.

  “To talk. I couldn’t sleep, not everything is about you and your little friend.”

  She gets up and leans on one arm. David pushes his watch, and there is a green glow in the tent. “Why do you always want to talk to me, when I’m trying to sleep, in a weaken state…oh you’re taking advantage of me that’s it, right? Get out.”

  She presses his watch to see his face. “Shut up. Stop making fun of me.”

  David says. “I don’t know what you want from me. I rather go out there and kill those things than talk about this anymore. I’ve given you everything I can give. You’re this way because you don’t trust me. That takes time.”

  Delilah says. “You don’t know everything.” I fantasied about this all day?

  David says. “I know that I’m tired.”

  She says. “Why didn’t you tell them about us?”

  He interlocks his fingers with hers. “I don’t care what they think, only what you think of me. I’ll tell them if you want, but I already know what their reaction is going to be. Negative. They’ll take it like I’m throwing my happiness in their faces. That’s why I haven’t bothered to explain myself, it’s not that I’m embarrassed, it’s the opposite, I don’t want them to belittle how I feel about you.” He leans his forehead against hers. “You ruined a good dream I was having about you.”

  Delilah says. “I need to tell you something about my past.”

  A long pause.

  David says. “Don’t.”

  Delilah says. “You sure?”

  David says. “It’s not important, I know who you are.”

  Delilah lies back down, her heart racing. “You don’t know everything.”

  David says. “Don’t worry about it, go to sleep.” He kisses the corner of her mouth in the dark. She jerks forward. The green light is dying down. He puts his hand on her hip. “Your pillow talk needs a lot work.”