by Eric Baker
Looking once more up and down the boardwalk, he reached back his hand to Daisy. She took it in her own. He glanced back, giving her hand a squeeze. Together, they stood. Eli pulled her forward, and they both began to run.
Eli tried to step lightly on the boardwalk, but the sound of his boots was like gunshots to his ears. He kept looking right and left, but it didn’t seem like any of the zombies at the hotel had heard. Reaching the dusty street, Eli continued running with Daisy in tow. From behind and to his left, he heard the sound he prayed wouldn’t come. A growl.
Looking in that direction, Eli saw a shadow seem to detach itself from the boardwalk farther down from the store they had just left. They were halfway across the street when a sudden thought came to Eli. What if Doc had blocked the door?
Reaching the steps to the front of the saloon, Eli let go of Daisy’s hand and grabbed the door. Locked. Glancing back, he saw the figure stumbling across the street. Daisy was facing the figure, hand on her pistol. She looked determined but was waiting to see if Eli could get them inside before she acted. They both knew there wasn’t time to wait for Doc.
Stepping back a few feet, Eli put every ounce of strength into a lunge at the door, hitting it with his left shoulder. The lock gave way, and Eli tumbled into the saloon, falling to his knees, hands splayed out before him. Shotgun pellets peppered the wall where Eli would have been standing.
“Doc! Stop shooting! It’s Daisy and me!”
Eli stood and spun around without looking for Doc. Daisy was through the door as soon as he cleared the door frame. They both grabbed the door and slammed it shut, putting their weight against it. A second later the door shook with the impact of a body slamming into it head first.
____
Tommy Metzer stepped out of the window on the top floor of the Dire Hotel. His heart was beating faster than he ever knew it could. He’d almost fallen once before, running around with friends on top of the buildings, but that time there wasn’t people down below trying to eat him. Now there was, and he could hear them in the darkness below.
For a minute, he thought about turning back. He was sure that no one would blame him. Heck, he was only twelve years old! Why wasn’t someone else doing this? But even as he thought it, he knew the answer. He was light, he knew the rooftops, and even more, he had volunteered.
He had only done it for his mom, hoping he’d be able to get medicine for her, something that would help her. As tough as she was on him, he still loved her. But he hadn’t thought about the people down there. Or the fact that everyone in town was in the hotel. All the lights that would be on in shops, on the street, and in rooms, were dark. And except for a little moonlight, so were the rooftops.
Thinking about his mom, Mildred, made him smile a little. Boy, would she be mad when she found out!
After a few moments of calming his nerves, Tommy stepped up to the edge of the roof. The edge of the other roof was just barely visible. He knew it wasn’t that far, but in the dark, it seemed a lot farther.
All the buildings were built almost on top of each other, and most of them were basically just one long broken up roof line. Focusing on the small patch of the roof he could make out in the faint moonlight, he stepped back, then lunged over the gap.
The darkness made it hard to judge, but he was sure he had judged it right. At least, until his left foot hit the edge of the roof and slipped off. His weight came down on just his right foot, but now he was off balance. He fell to his left, and he clawed forward, trying to find a purchase with his hands.
Coming down hard on the edge of the roof, Tommy felt the air blow out of his lungs. Hard. He kept grabbing forward, pulling roofing shingles and loose debris off the roof, only to clatter off into the darkness of the alley. With his left leg dangling below, he was finally able to get a purchase.
Pulling himself up, he rolled over onto his back, taking agonizing deep breaths around his bruised chest. He could hear the blood in his ears, whooshing back and forth with every rapid heartbeat. His breath and heartbeat together were so loud he could swear it was growling like a caged animal.
As he continued to lay for a minute on the roof, his breathing and heartbeat slowed to a more normal rate. Then he realized for the first time that the animal sounds weren’t from him. They were coming from below. Scratching and pounding on the walls, groans, and moans from the people below, coming to see what the noise had brought them.
Tommy listened, then rolled over on his side. Looking over the edge, he could see movement in the alley. A slow moving cloud made its way across the moon, and the alley was dark. But then for just a second, he could see what lay below him. Faces in the dark, black and gray in the moonlight, looking straight at him, arms reaching out, hands grabbing for him.
Tommy rolled back and clutched his chest in fear. He had seen the zombies in the lobby earlier, even watched as they were gunned down. He had felt some fear, to be sure, but he knew the men in the lobby would protect them all. And they had. But now he was alone, in the dark, with no one to keep him safe. His legs and arms felt like needles were pricking him all over, yet he felt that his whole body was numb.
How long he lay like that, Tommy didn’t know. But after a while, the sounds from below faded away and he could focus. He remembered why he was in the dark doing something he had been punished numerous times for doing in the past. He wanted to help his mom.
Taking a deep breath, Tommy sat up. Every movement was hard, his body stiff and fighting him with every motion. After a moment, he pulled himself up to his feet and got his bearings. Looking back at the hotel window and the balcony, he almost laughed out loud at how close it was. In his excitement, the darkness and fear had convinced him it was a lot farther.
He faced the hotel and leaned over the edge of the alley. The people were all gone except for one dark shadow shuffling away. Tommy felt a slight shudder go through him as he remembered how close he had come to falling.
Looking back in the direction he had to go to the saloon, he thought about the roof line ahead. If he remembered right, from here on they were all connected. He should be able to make it all the way to the saloon without any more jumps. Squaring his shoulders, he took a deep breath and set off over the rooftops.
The trip was made easier with the occasional break in the clouds to let the moonlight through. The frequent sounds from the street kept making him want to look over the edge to see who was there, only to see dark shadows walking the same direction. Almost as if they saw him and were keeping pace. The thought made him shudder, and he stopped looking at them as much. But he couldn’t help himself, and his occasional looks only verified they were still there.
On one look over the edge, he could see the light from the front of the saloon spilling into the street ahead of him. He could also see a large mass of people in the street, milling around. It could have been a party, maybe, except for the weird groans and moans, and the occasional shriek that caused his body to shiver.
He had been thinking hard about how he would get into the saloon, but he still didn’t have a plan. In all the late-night excursions he and his friends had made, they had never actually gone into any of the buildings. And the saloon had been a self-imposed off-limits to them all after one of the other boys was nearly shot by a drunken cowboy.
Looking over the front edge of the roof, he could see a balcony down below. It looked like a long drop, but if he slid over the edge and held on, he thought he could do it without getting hurt. Deciding it was the best course of action, he slid over the edge. Hanging by his fingertips, he was just about to let go when the thought occurred to him that the windows and door might be locked. Panicking, he tried to pull himself back up, but it was too late.
Fingers cramping and fear in his belly, Tommy dropped to the balcony. He was unprepared for the drop, so when he hit, he bent forward. His head impacted the door, knocking him onto his back. The back of his head smacked the wood, and he lay there, stunned.
The stars above him were ther
e whether he closed his eyes or not. He found that it was hard to breathe, his head felt numb, and the wooden planks beneath him dug into his back. Then he heard a slight creak from the hinges of the balcony door as it opened.
____
“Doc! Daisy! Grab that table, anything to block this door!”
Eli was leaning hard against the front door of the saloon, doing his best to keep the man outside. The zombie, he corrected himself. It was as good a name as any, and it kept him from seeing them as human. He knew couldn’t afford the delay that humanizing them might cause him since the zombies wouldn’t waste a second in jumping him.
The zombies didn’t seem to retain a lot of intelligence. That was the only thing keeping the door closed right now since they appeared to have gained incredible strength. Hearing the hits that came every few seconds on the door, though, Eli couldn’t help but wonder if it was increased strength, or just a willingness to give everything they had, whether it broke them or not.
Daisy and Doc wrestled a table close and turned it on its side. Eli waited for another hit on the door, then together they struggled to move the table into position. The door was hit again, this time opening a few inches before it impacted the table. All three of them gave a hard shove, and the door closed. The three of them then fall to the floor, backs against the table, breathing heavily from exertion and fear.
“So, Doc.” Eli waited a second for Doc to finish coughing. “I’m sure glad you never took me up on that target practice.”
Doc coughed again before giving Eli a hard look.
“What kind of fool runs around in the night, with all those things out there running around? You two have a death wish?”
Daisy had her head back against the table, eyes closed, her breathing slowing.
“If you don’t mind, Doc, it might be a good idea to keep your voice down.” Eli spoke softer, glancing at Daisy while he spoke, concern for her etched on his face.
“And why in the world do I have to do that? You got a headache?”
“No, Doc, you old coot.” Daisy kept her eyes closed, her head bouncing with the blows on the door. “It’s because those zombies out there are attracted to sound. And right now, thanks to your wayward shot, we can expect a lot more company.”
Doc’s eyes got a little wider at Daisy’s comment, and he looked to Eli for confirmation. Eli nodded.
“From what we can tell, they’re all pretty mindless, but they go for motion and sound. If we can keep it down in here, they might forget about us. Or, they might just gang up and bust down the door. I honestly don’t know at this point.”
Daisy leaned forward and looked at Eli with concern, and he shrugged. None of them knew what to do.
“If we had some idea of what we were dealing with, it might at least help us understand what to do.” Eli ran his hand through his hair in exasperation.
“Well, now, I might be able to help on that front. While you and the rest of the town were out there, running around in the dark, I’ve been working here as best I can.”
“Oh! Maggie!” Daisy jumped to her feet, looking around frantically for the waitress.
A loud bang on the door responded to her outburst. Daisy guiltily looked at the two men.
“Sorry!” Her stage whisper came out with emotional hoarseness. Doc waved his hand down, motioning her to keep calm.
“She’s fine, she’s fine. I realized you might not make it back when I heard all the shooting earlier. So, I got some whiskey on the wound - and inside her - and set the bone as best I could. She handled it like a champ, better than a lot of men would have. Strong girl, that one.”
“Doc! Where is she?” Daisy couldn’t contain her worry.
“What? Oh, I moved her into the side room over there, trying to keep her out of the way should we have any more problems out here.”
Eli stood up next to Daisy, and together they properly looked around the room for the first time. The bodies of the dead lay side by side near the stairs. It was evident that Doc had tried to clean up the blood from the floor near the kitchen, dark red mop swipes visible on the wood.
Daisy ran across the room to go check on Maggie. Eli watched her go, then turned back to Doc.
“Alright, Doc, you said you had some ideas about what was going on, with all these people, zombies. What have you found?”
The door bounced as a body banged into it from outside, but the hits seemed to be getting softer. The heavy tables the saloon used were a Godsend.
“If you think it’s safe, help me up off this hard floor, and I’ll tell you.” Doc reached up, and Eli grasped his hand, helping him stand up. Doc swiped at his pants, then stretched his back before continuing.
“Well, I didn’t have much else to do, so I started thinking. I also started cutting, using a butcher knife.” He pointed toward a table near the other bodies.
Eli hadn’t noticed before, but now he saw that there was a body on the table, covered with a tablecloth. His eyebrows went up, and when he saw the blood drops on the floor below it, his stomach rolled.
“Doc, I know that you know what you’re doing, but this…” Eli looked back at Doc, feeling a little lost for words.
“Now I know this may not be the best place for it, but you have to admit we have a crisis on our hands. Since I couldn’t get to the office, I figured it best if I keep trying to find…”
The creaking sound of a door opening upstairs caused Doc to stop talking. He and Eli faced the railing on the second floor, Eli’s hand on his pistol. They heard shuffling footsteps in the quiet. The door banged behind them, and they both jumped.
At the top of the stairs, a short figure appeared and stepped down the first step, looking around. In the dim light of the stairwell, Eli could just make out the pale face of what looked like a young boy. Blood was on his forehead, his eyes black in the shadows.
Eli swiftly drew his gun and aimed at the boy’s head.
“No! Stop, please don’t shoot!” A familiar woman’s voice sounded from behind the boy, then she ran forward to stand behind him.
“P…please… don’t kill us!” Her voice cracked with terror as she pulled the boy back against her.
Eli and Doc looked at the woman in shock, but before they could respond, another voice interrupted.
“Alice? Is that you?” Daisy had just come out of the side room after checking on Maggie. She looked back and forth from Eli, pistol in hand, to Alice and the boy.
“Is the boy hurt, Alice?” Eli’s hand wavered, but the pistol didn’t lower.
“Yes, but he’s fine. He bumped his head, and he’s a little woozy. C… could you please put that away, Sheriff?” As the owner of the Cactus Saloon, along with her husband, Frank, Alice was usually more together than she felt right now. And while she was kicking herself inside for her weakness, the fear was still controlling her.
Eli looked at Doc, who just shrugged. Putting away the pistol, Eli moved to the stairs. He took two at a time, slowing as he approached the top.
“Are you OK, son?” Eli’s voice was softer now, still unsure, but taking Alice at her word.
“Yes, sir, I think so.” The boy's voice was timid, and a little slurred.
Eli felt better at hearing the boys voice. So far, he’d heard only groans, moans and shrieks from his other encounters. Looking closer at the wound on the boy’s head, he called down to Doc.
“Doc, may be a concussion here. Looks like you have another patient.”
Eli looked up at Alice. Her face was pinched and creased with worry and fear.
“Alice.” She didn’t respond, just continued to look around in fear, hands in front of her holding the boy’s shoulders.
“Alice!” She snapped her gaze back to Eli. “Have you been upstairs this whole time?”
“I… I didn’t know if it was safe. Frank… Frank told me to get upstairs, to stay safe. He would come get me. He never did. I heard shooting… I stayed there… Fr… Frank?”
Alice was rambling. Her fear overloading
her brain, Eli thought it was a wonder she was even moving. Taking her arm, he guided Alice and the boy down the stairs.
Daisy and Doc helped them both down the last step. Doc took the boy to the side while Daisy helped Alice into a chair.
Alice continued to look around as if expecting something to jump out and grab her. As she was sitting, her eyes landed on the table with the covered body. When she saw the blood drops on the floor, her eyes jumped to the bodies in the corner, stacked like wood. Her hands flew to her mouth, and she let out a muted scream.
Daisy moved between her and the bodies. She knelt, getting face-to-face with Alice.
“Alice! Look at me! Listen! They’re not going to hurt anybody.” Daisy waited for Alice to nod her understanding. “Sweetie, let’s go into the other room and check on Maggie. OK?”
“Maggie? Is she hurt?”
“She’ll be fine, just a broken arm. Doc fixed her up, but we need to keep an eye on her. Do you think you could do that for us?”
Alice just nodded, then started looking around again.
“Frank? Where are you? Frank!” Alice’s voice got louder, ending in a shout.
The front door to the saloon received a massive blow, sliding the heavy table in front of it back about an inch. Daisy clamped her hand over Alice’s mouth, but the damage had been done.
Eli ran to the door, pushing hard against the table. It slid back into place, but the hits on the door continued.
“Quick! Grab another table.”
Doc and Daisy got on each end of one of the bigger, heavier tables and lifted. Daisy tried her best to move her end, struggling to lift it. Doc lifted his end about an inch and started back toward the door, but Daisy’s side scraped the floor.
Eli ran over to take Daisy’s side.
“Help Doc! Hurry!”
Daisy ran around and together she and Doc lifted their side, Eli on the other. They moved as fast as possible and got the upright table in place just as the door slid open again. Wedging the legs in against the legs of the overturned table in front of the door, together they pushed it against the door just as a hand from outside reached through the crack.
