Daniel nodded. “Maybe we should take a good, long look at where we’re standing. There are more than a few good buildings here, bricks and cinder block. There’s a fresh water lake a quarter mile north and woods for miles all around. Maybe we forget about this,” he pulled the crumpled, torn flyer from his pocket, “and we set up shop here. I’ll bet there’s even a church around here somewhere.”
“Do you think it will be okay with the size of that, that swarm only a few miles away?”
“You saw them Rev. They were just milling around. Almost like they’d have stayed there forever if we hadn’t come along. I’m thinking once we set a perimeter here, you send a handful of fast runners back the way we came and have them lure that herd south. Have them go for a few miles, then turn east and make their way back without being seen. The zombies will keep going until they hit the Florida swamps, for all I know.”
“We’ll have to find something to eat. Why don’t we stay the night? We’ll let the group decide in the morning.”
Daniel agreed and walked off toward a group of men. I saw him explain something to them and point to a few of the buildings. They split off in three small groups, presumably to find food.
They returned a short time later with duffels full of canned goods and armloads of firewood. Daniel built a fire in the alley between two brick storefronts as cans and bottles of water were passed around. The Townies traded one another for the various cans of tuna or fruit cocktail and broke off into small conversations. A few thanked Daniel for the work he did on the bridge and for finding them food. He shook hands and joked with them. Maybe they were finally beginning to re-accept him into the group. I thought about bringing up his idea to make a new home in this place but decided against it. I feared it might be a long discussion and as the sun dipped behind the buildings and the evening chill crept in, I figured that the Townies would prefer to snug down and get some much-needed rest. If it were meant to be, it could wait until morning.
Conversations went on as the sun set and one by one, or two by two if you will, the Townies moved into one of the buildings and made their beds for the night. Daniel and I were the last to remain outside. The night had indeed grown chilly. Daniel doused the remains of the fire and we went inside. I saw Daniel give one last look around before entering as if taking it all in. It may have only been my imagination, but I believe I saw a look of hope, and maybe even satisfaction on his face. I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pile of rags that served as my pillow.
I was shocked awake by the sound of shattering glass, then a scream. Then another. The third was followed by a hissing sound as of steam escaping a radiator. The room quickly filled with a cloud of acrid burning smoke.
“Gas! Gas! Gas!” Daniel screamed as he waved his arms over his head in what almost looked like a weight lifting gesture.
Those closest to the door threw them open and rushed outside. There waiting were several large men who began clubbing the first few who staggered through. Daniel clapped a t-shirt to the front of his face with one hand and grabbed for his rifle with the other. The Townies stumbled about, not knowing what to do. My own instincts fought within me, wanting to go out to the clean air, but knowing that brutal hands awaited me there. After I could hold my breath no longer, it came rushing from me in a violent exhale. I tried to breathe in, but my lungs refused the acid cloud that filled the room to every corner. My eyes stung and any exposed skin burned. The men waited just outside the doorway as they had no masks. One by one, the Townies, unable to bear the gas any longer, would rush out the door. Each was met with the butt of a rifle. Their limp body was caught as it fell and carried off. I couldn’t see where. And I did not want to.
Daniel’s rifle, at least I believe it was his, who else would have had the fortitude to put up any semblance of a fight at that point, began to crack in the darkness. I saw one of the men outside fall backward, his hands flying to his neck and a red spray arcing into the air. The other men jumped back as Daniel fired several more times. Another window at the back of the room shattered inward and the barrel of a shotgun poked through. The boom was deafening and the flash temporarily blinded me. I heard someone scream behind me. As I turned the shotgun exploded again and then again. I caught site of someone, I couldn’t tell who through the haze, immediately to my left just as the buck shot hit them. Her chest disintegrated and she dropped to the floor. She didn’t even have time to gasp.
Gunfire rang out all around me then. My only thought was for the children. I called out names, but only received screams in return. I began to crawl through the burning fog trying to find any of the children. The shotgun went off again just a few feet behind me. My ears rang and I felt crumbles of cinder block fall across my back. I hurried forward not caring if the shot was meant for me. If it was, I would already be dead. Again, I called out to the children by name and again I got no response. I heard Daniel yelling orders to the men that remained alive. He was telling them to break the remaining windows to let out the gas while he fired alternately through the doorway and back through the windows.
The men outside continued to grab anyone that went out, yet made no attempt to enter the building. Daniel hadn’t succeeded in taking any more of them down. I heard one of the men outside call, “How many?” Another answered, “Fourteen.” Then I heard a loud cat call whistle and the gunfire from the windows ceased. I heard the slam of a sliding metal door, as of one on a van and an engine fired up. I looked over to Daniel, a knowing and terrified looking passed over his face and he bolted to the doorway. He dropped to one knee and began firing out toward a target I could not see.
Tires peeled and a few shots were fired back. I ran to the door in time to see several vehicles’ taillights disappearing around a corner. Several of the Townies had broken from the building and tried to give chase on foot but no avail. Our attackers were gone. It was then that the significance of the “Fourteen” hit me. Fourteen was the number of our camp that they had taken. Taken to where and to do what with, I could only imagine. As the shock of the realization sunk into me, I heard the moans and crying from those that were left coming from behind me. I turned and went back inside, the poison had almost cleared now. There were bodies strewn all over the floor, blood and vomit pooled around mangled figures. Some of the bodies were far too small. Still, I grieved less for those whose husks remained in this room than for those who had been kidnapped.
Anyone who was able had made their way out to the alley where only a few hours ago, Daniel and I had contemplating building a home for ourselves here. There was no way that would happen now.
“We have to go after them.” It was John, one of the few men left. “There’s no telling what those bastards are going to do to them.”
Murmurs of agreement circulated among the group along with “They took the children” and “probably cannibals” and “make them pay”.
Daniel answered in a whisper, “We can’t go after them.”
There were shocked gasps in response.
John gathered up his large frame and glared at Daniel. “Why the fuck not?! We’re just supposed to let those, those sons of bitches take our… take our…” He broke down in sobs. I passed a glance back toward the remaining children and saw that John’s son was not among them.
Daniel cast his eyes downward. “There’s no way. We don’t know where they went, how many of them there are, how many guns they have. None of it. For all we know, they’ll cut us down right around that corner right there.” He pointed toward the intersection where the trucks were last seen. “There aren’t enough of us left to put up much of a fight,” he added bluntly.
With that reality put so plainly, many of the group began to wail openly. Daniel was likely right. There were maybe two dozen of us left. To have our number cut down so swiftly shook me. I turned and went back into the building, raising a hand to those who moved to follow me.
I knelt in the blood beside one of the bodies. I rolled the small, eleven-year-old husk onto its back, crossed its arms over i
ts chest and closed the blue eyes that a day before had still held an innocence that this world would likely never see again. I said a prayer to the God I wasn’t sure listened to me anymore that He might take mercy on these souls and on those that had been taken. ‘Give them peace, Lord,’ I thought, ‘At least let their deaths be swift.’
I moved around the room offering what may have been considered Last Rights to each corpse that was once a member of our family. I wept without tears over every one of them. I have no idea how long this took, but when I had finished I rose from my knees, my pants soaked and dripping with blood and gore, to find Daniel in the doorway.
“We gotta move, Rev. Either those motherfuckers will be back or, more likely, all that noise will have drawn the crowd we avoided earlier. The Townies are ready. We were just waiting for you.”
I nodded and walked, slump shouldered and exhausted out to the group. As I passed Daniel, I turned and said, “Burn it down, Daniel. Not one of these should be cursed to rise again.”
Daniel then nodded in return. “Way ahead of you.” He had set a five-gallon gasoline can just inside the doorway. “I’ll wait until you guys are on your way, then I’ll light this place and catch up to you.”
We had no choice then. At that moment, our only hope lay with the faint promise held by the flyer.
27
Max and Rocky
I wish I had found someone like Jeremy from the beginning. He might be a grown up, but he never really acted like he was or treated me like I wasn’t. I don’t know. It’s just so much easier with him. Daniel and the Rev were fine for a while, but they were always fighting about something. They reminded me of my friend Randy’s parents. His parents started bickering and having small fights while we were playing. I think they were trying to hide it from us. Some people think kids are stupid.
Anyway, they’d start with these small fights, hiding inside, thinking we don’t know what is going on. But over time, those fights got bigger and harder to hide. It always made my stomach feel weird when they would fight. I felt bad for my friend. Sometimes I would bring him back to my house for a sleep over. Sometimes, though, I would just run back home to hide from all that craziness.
My mom would shake her head and ask my dad, “Why don’t they just get divorced, already?” I didn’t really know what that meant until one day I went to play at Randy’s house and he told me his dad didn’t live there anymore. Things were quiet there after that. We got to play more and have fun, except for when Randy went to his dad’s place. Then I would just have to wait for him to get back.
I wonder if Daniel and the Rev ever got divorced. They should have. It would have been much quieter and I would have had a lot less stomach aches. It didn’t matter anymore, though. I was heading to that fort that everyone seems to want to get to. Problem is I can’t decide if I feel like being around a huge group of people again. What if they are as bad at getting along as Daniel and the Rev were? I feel like it might be a better idea for me and Rocky to just keep doing our thing.
I kind of like hanging around with Jeremy, especially if he keeps puking all the time. That is so funny. The sound he made still makes me laugh every time I think about it. Rocky seems to like him better than any other person we have met out here so far, and I trust Rocky when it comes to judging people. He seems to know when someone is up to no good. We spent most of our time hopping from car to car, making our way down some random back roads in New Jersey. Eventually, we found ourselves at what I thought to be a pretty strange sight until Jeremy told me it was actually a tourist spot.
Thompson’s Family Farm looked more like an amusement park than a working farm. It had fields, sure, but it also had rides and playground equipment. There were signs with prices for each activity they offered. Many of them were things my dad had to pay people to help with, not the other way around. They also had a splash pad and a petting zoo. The biggest building towards the front had huge signs advertising pies and jellies, all the things my mom would make during the harvest. The weirdest part, though, was that none of the buildings seemed to be very damaged. As we walked through, I started to feel like we were being watched.
“Jeremy? Do you feel like somebody is…”
He cut me off before I could finish my question.
“Just keep walking like you aren’t suspicious, but yeah, I think there’s someone else here. It’s way too nice. What does Rocky think?”
Rocky’s ears perked up at the sound of his name. He sniffed at the air and gave a sharp yip. He smelled someone, and they weren’t dead. He didn’t seem very concerned, though. Normally, he would bite at my rear until I moved fast enough out of the area where he sensed danger. There may be someone nearby, but Rocky didn’t think they were a problem. That was, until the bullet ricocheted off a metal sign near Jeremy’s head. Jeremy dove onto the ground but Rocky turned and began barking at the building that was advertising the pies.
He bolted towards the front door and slammed into it with his full weight. I had never seen Rocky so mad, not in the entire time since we had left our own farm. He had never acted that way before. It was almost like the shot had sent him over the edge. I pulled myself up off the ground and ran towards him.
“No, Kid! No! Get back here!” Jeremy screamed at me as I ran. “The dog can take care of himself!”
“I have no one else left! Rocky! Come on, boy! They just want us to leave,” I begged as I ran towards my seemingly rabid dog.
When my hand touched Rocky’s back, he instantly calmed down. He sat at full attention with each of his hairs standing on end and an almost soundless growl that came from deep inside his chest.
“Stay where you are or we’ll shoot all three of you. And kid, you better figure out how to calm that dog down before we come out. Do you understand?” A voice from inside the building ordered.
“Yes, sir,” I answered. “Calm down, Rocky. If they were going to shoot us, they would have done it when we were out in the open.” I scratched his head as I explained to him, even though I wasn’t totally sure it was the truth.
He backed down some more, curling up against my feet with his eyes closed. I think he was playing possum. There was a series of knocks sent back and forth between the top and bottom floors. So, they had signal, too. Nice to know.
As the door creaked open, I saw that a gun was pointed at my forehead.
“Kid, just listen to them and everything will be fine, okay?” Jeremy’s voice shook as he tried his best to convince me, even though he didn’t totally believe it himself.
I wasn’t stupid, though. I had made it a long time on my own, well, with Rocky, but you know what I mean. I knew to do what they said, at least until what they said didn’t make sense anymore. But by that time, I would find a way out. That was always my plan when I came upon strangers. If I couldn’t hide quick enough, I would play the ‘dumb kid’ part. That’s what they all thought I was anyway.
I looked over at Jeremy and he winked. I guess he didn’t think I was stupid. Maybe, he was smarter than I thought. The owner of the gun stepped out from behind the door. She was a girl, and she was right around my age. She quickly looked me up and down and then, keeping the gun pointed at me with one hand, stretched her other hand out in front of Rocky’s face.
“I know you’re faking it, pup,” she said.
His eyes popped open and he sniffed at her fingers. Then he did something that most people would consider rude and licked her fingers as if they were covered in food, all while his tail went crazy.
“I knew peanut butter would do the trick,” she said as I stared at her, mouth on the floor. “You need to get him to go back out to your dad and then we can talk. Any weapons you have need to be dropped on the ground right now.”
“Whatever you say,” Jeremy replied before I had a chance. “Here, boy.”
Rocky stood up and marched his way over to Jeremy like a good little soldier. He sat and kept his eye on the girl but I knew it was only because he was hoping that she might have more
peanut butter for him to munch on. She had figured out his kryptonite. I sat down ‘crisscross applesauce’ style and waited for the group to figure out what they were going to do with us. Jeremy got up off his belly, and sat right next to me.
“Stay there now,” she said as she pointed the gun at his head for the first time. “Papa, we all clear?” She yelled up to the window of the pie building. “You two alone?” She asked as she kicked Jeremy in the leg.
“Yup. Just me, the kid, and the dog. We’re just passing through,” he answered.
“They say they’re alone. What do you think, Papa?” She yelled up again.
“I’ll be down in a minute. Don’t let them move,” her father answered.
“You two better not move. I’ll shoot you right in the head. I used to be afraid to do stuff like that, but now…” She stopped for a minute. “Now, I’ll put one right between your eyes.”
A man walked through the front door of the pie house, but he couldn’t have been her Dad. He seemed much too old. His hair was all crazy and grey, and he had a beard that was a lot like Santa Clause’s.
“What’s your name, son?” He asked.
“Jeremy. This is Max, and that’s Rocky.” He motioned towards Rocky, who had decided upon seeing the old man that he could lay down and relax.
“What’s your business here, Jeremy?”
“We were just passing through, sir. Max and I want to get to a place called Batsto. You ever heard of it?”
“Bet you found one of those dang flyers. I don’t know why so many of you youngsters are willing to trust a piece of paper you found on the ground.”
“We don’t really have anywhere else to go. Seemed as good as any place,” Jeremy explained.
“That’s a pretty stupid reason to go somewhere. What happens if you bring this boy right into a trap?” He pointed his finger at me accusingly as he asked.
“What if it isn’t a trap and the kid can finally get a decent night’s sleep?” Jeremy asked.
Aftershock Zombie Series (Book 2): Breakdown (A Collection of Survivors Tales) Page 13
