The Dead Divide Us

by Vincent S. Tobia

  “Perfect.” Paul said, and then turned his attention to Warren.

  “And why don’t you start to seek out the best hunters in the crowd and put together a little group of people who can stand guard. Make sure they are safe with their weapons though, we don’t want anyone guarding a post that doesn’t respect their firearm.” Paul said to Warren.

  “Shit, I already know a few folks who I want to put on my team. And I was National Guard for over three years. I’ll train these sons of bitches right!” Warren said with great pride. Paul looked back at Roy again. He was still speechless. Roy needed to get away from the crowd of neighbors, the group of people who still believed he was being honest with them.

  Paul turned around to the enthusiastic crowd and shouted.

  “Ok, listen up. Glen and Warren are going to be in charge of setting up guard posts and combining our efforts for food and supplies. So you all need to check in with them. The sooner the better.” Paul then grabbed Roy by the arm and started to lead him through the crowd, toward his home.

  It was as if Roy was speaking to them the whole time, not Paul. As they pushed forward, people were thanking Roy for helping them. Roy just put on a fake smile as Paul rushed him through.

  Paul had reached the front door and the crowd was now behind them, Glen and Warren were already taking charge in their duties. They had already split the crowd into two groups and leading them in separate directions, each for their own task at hand. Ruth and Kirsten quickly opened the front door from inside; they had been watching the outside events the entire time from the window.

  “Come on, get inside!” Ruth said.

  Paul helped Roy go through the front door first. Inside now, he began to close the door, but he noticed that Stan Hadley was still standing on Roy’s driveway. He was looking directly at Paul, and he was not moving away in the direction of the crowd. Stan stared at Paul with a cautious eye.

  Was Stan Hadley onto them? Did he see through their lies?

  Paul slammed the door shut, locking himself and his family away from the madness of the outside world. He then reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

  3

  Paul stood just outside of Roy’s living room; his two sons leapt off the couch and came running over to him. The inside of the house was dimly lit in the grey afternoon; they felt no urge to turn any lights on. In the dark they would stay. Roy felt more comfortable that way, keeping his face barely visible.

  Shawn was overtly glad to see his father return, as was Eddie but he did a much better job of hiding his excitement. Eddie was after all, still trying to act strong through everything. Ruth had hugged Paul immediately as he entered the house, and she was still hanging onto him from behind.

  “That crowd outside just formed so quick! We didn’t know if we wanted to open the door or not.” Ruth said, as Shawn crashed into Paul’s legs, hugging them tightly.

  “Daddy!”

  “You did the right thing, that crowd outside was one step away from an angry mob.” Paul said, now hitting the call button next to his brother Robert’s name in his cell phone.

  “What are you doing?” Roy asked. He sulked down on his large grey sofa chair. His wife Kirsten was next to him, sitting on the arm of the chair and Alexis was standing near him holding his hand. Roy was still white as a ghost, still partially frozen from willingly turning his back on this community.

  “I’m calling Robert.” Paul said and everyone became silent.

  Paul heard a brief moment of static noise before the call started to finally ring. But he could tell the connection was awful, the static only became worse and each of the rings sounded distorted. Then finally Robert picked up.

  “Paul…”

  “Rob! Hey, are you okay? How are Mom and Dad?” Paul asked, very glad to hear Robert was alive.

  “Paul…”

  The connection was getting worse by the second. It now sounded like a dust storm was wiping through the cell phone speaker.

  Paul could only make out these final words:

  “Paul…listen….Mom………..Colton…” then the connection was lost.

  What was he trying to tell him? Could Robert even hear Paul? He mentioned their mother, so maybe he did get them to safety.

  “Shit!” Paul muttered.

  “What is it?” Ruth asked, eagerly.

  “The damn connection broke up, it’s lost.” Paul said, as he began to try and redial. But to his dismay the cell phone no longer had any service. This was never a problem with his phone before.

  “Roy, I don’t have any service here. Can I use your house phone?”

  “Of course, go ahead.” Roy said, pointing to the cordless phone sitting on the end table next to the couch.

  Paul quickly picked up the phone, it clicked on, and he began to dial Robert’s number. But something was wrong; it didn’t feel right to Paul. He hung up the phone on the receiver and then picked it up again. There was no dial tone.

  “Roy, you don’t have phone service.” Paul said, in disbelief. Ruth and Kirsten both gasped out loud.

  “No way.” Roy said as he walked over to the phone. He tried it too, getting the same result as Paul.

  “Paul’s right. The phone is out.”

  Roy walked back across the room to his family.

  “Alexis, why don’t you take Shawn and Eddie downstairs to the den and put on a DVD?” Roy asked. “I’d like to have a word with just us grownups.”

  “Um, okay,” Alexis said, but she sounded very worried.

  “Go ahead guys; we’re just going to chat for a few minutes.” Ruth told both of her sons and then patted them on the back.

  “But Mommy,” Shawn protested, as he followed Alexis and Eddie downstairs. Alexis, Shawn and Eddie walked past the large television in the living room and opened the basement door located in the back hallway. They still had the television on, but it was still only playing old news, literally still the same segments from earlier that morning. “We’ll only be a few minutes.” Roy said as he closed the basement door behind the kids.

  “What are we going to do?” Kirsten asked Roy.

  Roy and Paul shared a look, they had already known they had to leave town.

  “We gotta go. We gotta go to the cabin. If we stay around here, we will all die.” Roy said, with great certainty.

  “Not that cabin!” Kirsten said.

  “Honey, I just had to lie to everyone out there! Everyone in his neighborhood, they think, no they expect me to help them out. I can’t do it. It’s impossible.” Roy said, he sounded like he was getting a little too close to the edge. Paul had never seen him like this.

  “Hold on, what was said at the town meeting? Why is everyone here so god damn hectic now?” Ruth asked. Paul then gently grabbed her hand.

  “We found out that the virus has reached Denver.” Paul said carefully. “Principal Wyatt had family there, and it’s all over the city apparently.”

  Ruth’s eyes slowly dropped down to the floor and became filled with tears.

  Was there any hope left for her family in Wisconsin? She knew she couldn’t reach them anymore; she had been trying to call all morning. Au revoir ma Mere et mon Pere.

  “I’m sorry.” Paul said to his wife.

  “So you see; the disease is making its way here. The populated areas are getting crushed by it. We need to isolate ourselves. The mountains are our only hope.” Roy said.

  “We don’t have supplies. Food, water, clothing. It’s going to be extremely cold up there!” Kirsten said.

  “You ladies need to salvage anything you can from both our houses. Start packing up the food and clothing. Paul and I will have to make a trip to Gus’s Hardware store.”

  “Ammunition?” Paul asked.

  “Yes. I’ve always had Gus order my shotgun shells and rifle ammunition. And he won’t sell my ammunition to anyone but me. It’s probably a good idea for you to pick up as much ammo as you can for your nine millimeter too.” Roy said.

  Paul walked
out of the living room, with his hand on top of his head. He was thinking.

  “Guys, how are we going to get out of here? This neighborhood will be on us like flies on shit.” Paul asked.

  “We’ll just have to continue to lie to them.” Roy said abruptly and cold.

  Just then a loud knocking was heard at the front door.

  “Shit, already.” Paul said.

  “No one said this was going to be easy. Not one word about the cabin, ok?” Roy whispered, as he went to the door. Roy peeked out of the small window and looked back shaking his head in disapproval. Then he slowly opened the door.

  “Sheriff. Nice to see you, come in please.” Roy said.

  4

  Seeing Sheriff Baxter was the last thing Paul wanted. He was already worried and filled with an overwhelming fear that they would never be able to safely leave Green Falls. He just wanted to protect his family and he knew he had to get them as far away from the high populated areas as possible. Paul wanted to be in control. Paul wanted to be the one with authority over his destiny. Sheriff Baxter now literally stood in his way.

  “What can we do for you Sheriff?” Kirsten asked, now playing the cover-up game as well. But Sheriff Baxter only stood there in the threshold of the front door not saying a word and he did not enter. . Paul thought he looked angry, but then again Sheriff Baxter always looked angry.

  “Would you like some coffee?” Kirsten asked, awkwardly.

  Again, Sheriff Baxter did not answer. He only stood there staring; studying the four of them over.

  “Please come inside, Sheriff.” Roy asked.

  “Are you ok?” Paul finally said to the Sheriff. The Sheriff slowly turned his head toward Paul.

  “Who is the fucking Sheriff of this town?” Sheriff Baxter asked harshly.

  “Uh, you are.” Paul said.

  “I am!? Oh that’s funny, cuz it don’t remember putting those two halfwits in charge of anything.” Sheriff Baxter said, now definitely proving he was angry.

  “Glenn and Warren? They are helping organize these people. And they are more than able to do what they were told.” Paul said.

  “What gives you the authority to tell anyone what to do!?” the Sheriff lashed out directly at Paul.

  “What gives you the authority?” Paul fired back.

  Ruth noticed how ugly this situation was getting. Soon it was going to go from a conversation to a confrontation. She grabbed Paul and pulled him back toward the living room. Sheriff Baxter was now extremely furious, Roy was holding him back at the doorway.

  “I’m onto all of you sons of bitches! I know you are running!” the Sheriff yelled.

  “That’s not true Sheriff, and you are out of line here.” Roy said, sternly.

  “The Mayor knows you are running too, as soon as you didn’t take his offer as deputy. He knows your running!”

  “I’m going to ask you to leave, now!” Roy demanded. Sheriff Baxter started to back away slowly, now with an evil smirk on his face.

  “Mayor Schacht knew your grandfather. Did you know that, Roy?”

  “Ok. Who cares?” Roy said from inside of the doorway.

  “You will care. He knows about your little cabin up in the mountains. The Mayor has actually been up there himself, many years ago with your granddad.” the Sheriff said. Roy couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “Goodbye, Sheriff!” Roy said, slamming the door hard.

  From behind the closed door, Roy, Paul, Ruth, and Kirsten were all able to hear Sheriff Baxter yelling from outside.

  “We are watching you all! If you try to run, we will get you!”

  Roy returned to his living room.

  “He’s scared Roy. He knows this town is fucked.” Paul said.

  “Let him calm down, he’ll have his hands full soon enough.” Roy said back.

  Then Kirsten, who had reentered the living room, let out a loud gasp.

  “Look!” she cried out as she pointed at the television screen. Paul entered the living room, and he couldn’t believe what was on the TV.

  The screen was black, no news reports, and no newscasters. But there was a brand new alert caption running along the bottom of the screen.

  It read: PORTLAND, OREGON - UNDER ATTACK FROM VIRAL STRAIN - WAR ZONE, REPEAT PORTLAND IS A WAR ZONE

  “Jesus Christ, already? Portland?” Paul said out loud. Portland Oregon was only a mere 150 miles away from Green Falls Washington.

  And before Paul took his next breath, the television clicked off. Kirsten quickly tried to turn it back on, it wouldn’t work. Paul noticed the digital clock next to the couch was off too. And the sound of the refrigerator running in the kitchen had stopped. The children in the basement began to scream, now sitting down there in the dark.

  Green Falls was officially without power.

  And its people were already taking to the streets in massive drones of the desperate and frightened. Soon they’d all be coming to Roy’s house for answers.

  “Get the kids, gather the supplies. We aren’t staying here any longer then we have to.” Roy said.

  “Let’s go.” Paul confirmed.

  Chapter 9: Back to Colton

  1

  “Paul! Holy shit, can you hear me?” Robert asked.

  Robert was sitting in the back seat of his truck having cleared themselves of the farmhouse and large crowd of infected people. Rita had driven the truck up Forrest Inn Road and parked it at the bottom of the large mountain ridge that surrounded and looked down upon the entire town of Colton., The ten foot ridge wall, filled with rocks and stones of all sizes, stood up in front of them. Robert was extremely thankful that the ridge area was not overrun with the flesh hungry sick. As he jumped into the back seat, he noticed his cell phone was still sitting in the cup holder and had started to ring. He picked it up immediately expecting it to be Paul, and he did hear his brother’s voice, but the connection was extremely bad.

  “Is it Paul?” Rita cried out, concerned about her other son.

  “Yeah, but I can barely make him out.”

  “You aren’t going to get any reception out here, up on the ridge.” Jan added, sitting in the front passenger seat.

  Robert heard Paul’s voice but it was horribly muffled and disjointed; he was trying to speak. He also heard something else coming through, behind the mix of phone static and Paul‘s voice. A sound that was lying beneath the conversation he was trying to have, and somehow Robert could distinguish the connection with his brother and that of the phantom noise.

  It was a faint series of beeps, seemingly falling in sequential order.

  Morse code? Could it be? Who else was listening to them? Who was trying to communicate? Who else was out there? Could they be trusted?

  “Paul, please listen to me if you can. Mom, Jan and I are heading back to Colton. Dad didn’t make it, but we are trying to save…” Then the connection was lost. Robert closed the cell phone shut and reopened it, trying to call Paul back.

  “Shit! Lost the fucking connection.” Robert said.

  “Well did he sound alright?” Rita asked, concerned.

  “I don’t know; I could barely hear him. I thought maybe I heard something else too. Sounded like beeping, a code maybe.” Robert added.

  Jan turned around in the front seat to look back at Robert.

  “Morse code?” Jan asked, and then he trailed off in thought.

  “That signal could be coming from town?” Rita asked.

  “I suppose Colton would be the closest place to transmit a signal like that. But up here on the ridge, who knows.” Robert said.

  “Could be coming from Barryville.” Robert added.

  “Could be that someone is trapped down in Colton….” Jan said, and then his voice cracked as he was getting choked up.

  “It could be Fran and your two girls, down there.” Rita said.

  “That thought had crossed my mind, yes.” Jan added.

  “That’s a lot of ‘could be’. We’re taking enough chances as it is
.” Robert said.

  “Chances are all I have left.” Jan said with great significance, and the three of them sat there quietly in the truck for one whole minute. The sound of a solitary bird, steadily chirping in its nest, echoed in the ridge around them. Jan was right. Robert had already forgotten the feeling he had once they escaped the hoard of the infected from the farm. Hope. And chance. That’s all they had left now. When the day was to be said and done, the probability of survival was determined to be bleak. The three of them had left the farm with hopes of reaching Jan’s family, and bringing them to safety. With the information that Major Frost had provided them, things did not sound very promising. He stated that Colton was overrun and lost. Yet they still clung to the hope that Jan’s wife Fran and his daughters Susie and Carol were still alive, hiding away somewhere. A long shot for sure, but Jan Goodman deserved a fighting chance at regaining his family. Jan also deserved the help of Robert Laundry. Hope. And chance.

  “Listen, all reception is lost up here on the cell phone. Let’s get out and climb up to the top of the ridge for a look down onto Colton. That’ll give us a better idea of what we are dealing with.” Robert said. He looked around inside the truck, out of all of the windows. The woods were behind them, but not one infected was around. That solitary bird still chirped and tweeted as the heavy snow continued to fall.

  “Robert, should I turn off the truck?” Rita asked. Up until now the green and rusty Bronco was sitting parked with the engine still running. The starter was giving them issues, and if they turn the engine off now they may never get her started again.

  “Good question. Jan what do you think? Kill the engine?” Robert asked.

  Jan exhaled, thinking.

  “Keep it running for now.”

  “Ok, I got my bat.” Robert said.

  Jan and Rita carefully exited the front seats of the truck. Robert followed behind Jan. Their feet hit the freshly fallen snow with a crunch. This would be the perfect day to build a snowman, or even a snowman family complete with snow dog and snow cat. Instinctively, all three started to look around, cautious of their surroundings.