Darkness and The Grave: A Zombie Novel

by John Tolliver

  Two overweight young men stood on the front porch wielding shotguns. The younger one stared at Randy for a moment before aiming the gun at him. “Good morning sir. My name is Donald Chambliss. This here is my brother Doug Chambliss. We both live across the street and I must ask, is Jillian Wilson with you?”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jillian Wilson

  Day 25

  “Good morning Miss Jillian,” a familiar voice said.

  She opened her eyes and saw an overweight young man with thin brown hair standing over her. He was holding a shotgun and had it trained on her face.

  “Doug? Doug Chambliss?” she asked, confused.

  “The one and only.”

  “Why are you aiming a shotgun at me?”

  “To make sure you come with us.”

  She slowly sat up and sized up the younger Chambliss brother. She had known both Doug and Donald since her childhood. They had both been a little slow and very strange. “Where are you taking me?” she asked.

  “Across the street to our house. Mama wants to see you. She thinks you can help Papa.”

  “What’s wrong with your father?”

  “He’s sick. He’s grouchy. He needs some cheering up. Mama thinks you could do it. Papa always thought you were cute.”

  Jillian shuddered. She remembered the salacious old man from her teenage years. He would often sit on the front porch in the evening during the summertime, staring at neighborhood girls as they rode their bicycles by. She remembered that her parents never trusted the man. Her dad especially had warned her to never talk to him.

  “Come on now, get up,” Doug said softly. “I know Donald doesn’t want to hurt your friends, but you remember right? He’s got that nasty temper.”

  She got out of bed, wondering what they were going to do to Adam and Randy.

  “Now, put on your coat and let’s go downstairs. Donald’s waiting for us.”

  She complied and walked down the stairs in front of Doug as she zipped up her coat. She was relieved to see that Randy and Adam were both okay.

  “Hey Jill,” Adam said quietly.

  “Hey.”

  She also noticed the older Chambliss brother standing by the door.

  “Come on,” he said. “Papa’s waiting.”

  She followed Donald outside. It was much colder now than it had been the day before. She shivered as she walked across her parents’ front yard. She looked back and saw Adam and Randy behind her, following. Adam raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

  She turned back around and looked up at the Chambliss brothers’ house. It stood directly across the street from her parents’ house and, like the other houses in the neighborhood, had an identical floor plan. She noticed that the tan siding was peeling off in many places and several windows were boarded up. Weeds poked up through the snow in the front yard.

  “Right this way Miss Jillian,” Donald said. He led her and the others around the side of the house to the backyard. He paused to open a gate and then led them to the back door.

  She noticed three unburied zombies stacked in the corner of the yard. She felt herself growing nauseous as Donald reached down and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her close to himself. He smelled of onions and stale pipe tobacco and something else, some sickly sweet odor. She did her best not to gag as he leaned down toward her face.

  “Don’t try anything stupid Miss Jillian. My mother doesn’t want us to hurt you, but she didn’t say nothing about your two friends,” he whispered ominously.

  She nodded.

  “Right this way then,” he said as he stood back up and opened the back door. He pulled her into the kitchen and she noticed right away that the whole house had the same sickly sweet odor. She looked down at the cracked yellow linoleum on the floor. The wallpaper depicted a floral scene drawn in abstract shapes. She saw dirty dishes piled up in the sink. A woman coughed from the living room.

  “Hey Mama!” Doug yelled as he closed the backdoor. “We got Miss Jillian! We also brought her friends!”

  “Friends?” the woman called from the living room. “Friends?” Her voice sounded husky, as though it had been distorted by decades of chain smoking.

  Jillian noticed the floor shaking. She looked up and saw an absurdly obese woman walk through the hallway into the kitchen. The woman wore black horn-rimmed glasses and her curly gray hair was in rollers.

  “Hello Jillian,” the obese woman said. “I’m Mama Chambliss. I’m sure you remember me?”

  Jillian nodded.

  “Can you help my sweet husband?” she asked.

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He’s sick. I think he needs a cute redhead to snap him out of it. Boys, please put Miss Wilson’s friends in the basement. If they resist, break their hands.”

  Jillian turned and watched as the two Chambliss Brothers herded her fiancé and friend into the basement.

  “Don’t you dare hurt Jill!” Adam yelled as he disappeared into a stairwell.

  Mama Chambliss laughed. “We won’t son. Now listen to my boys or they’ll break your hands!”

  Jillian turned and looked at her. “Look ma’am, I’m not sure what you have in mind here, but you can’t just abduct people at gunpoint.”

  “Miss Wilson, one day if you get married you’ll understand my desperation.”

  The two brothers returned to the kitchen and closed the basement door. There was pounding on the door. She could hear Adam and Randy yelling.

  “Miss Jillian,” Donald said. “Please tell your two friends to shut up.”

  Jillian walked to the basement door. She cleared her throat. “Adam! Randy! Relax! I’m okay. They’re not going to hurt me. I think this is all just a big misunderstanding. We’ll get out of here soon.”

  “Jillian, be careful!” Adam said.

  “I will Adam.”

  “Take Miss Wilson up to Papa’s room,” Mama Chambliss said.

  Donald picked Jillian up and threw her over his shoulder. She cried out in surprise.

  “Be quiet Miss Jillian, I don’t want you to agitate Papa,” the oaf said. Then he walked into the living room and climbed a staircase. Jillian wondered where she was being carried. He paused and unlocked a door. Then he led her up a narrower staircase. It was dark up here. She heard a familiar growl come from the top of the stairwell. Donald paused again and unlocked another door and carried her into the room. Then he set her down in a corner of the chilly and dimly lit attic.

  She looked around. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw multiple storage chests and cobwebs. She also saw the elder Chambliss man chained to the opposite wall. It took her a moment to realize he was a zombie. She gasped. Suddenly she felt a cold and heavy manacle close around her ankle.

  “I’ll come back up here this evening for you Miss Jillian,” Donald said. “Please talk to my father, try to snap him out of this.” He turned and walked out of the room. She heard the door’s lock turn after it had closed and she heard footsteps going down the stairs.

  It took her a moment to realize she had been locked in the attic with a zombie.

  “Wait!” she yelled. She stood and tried to walk to the door and only made it about two feet before her chain went taut. She tripped and fell over. She looked back at the wall and saw the chain was anchored on a steel plate bolted on to a stud. She tugged at the chain. There was no give.

  She turned and saw the zombified Mr. Chambliss gazing at her. Part of his face had sloughed off, exposing the fascia and bone. She suddenly felt nauseous. She turned and threw up. Her stomach heaved as her vomit splashed on the hardwood floor. Papa growled.

  She sat up. “What’s wrong with these people?” she wondered aloud.

  Papa began to crawl toward her. She cowered against the wall. Papa’s chain grew taut finally, stopping him about four feet away from her. Mercifully, she was out of reach. She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. He reached for her with his left hand and gazed at her. His eyes had faded white and lacked any s
ign of warmth. He growled and strained against the chain.

  “Please let me out!” Jillian screamed as loud as she could. She stomped on the floor. “Please let me out! Come on! Come on!”

  She screamed for what felt like hours before she finally gave up. They had locked her up in their attic with a zombie. She glared at Papa.

  “You got what you deserved, you pervert,” she muttered.

  Finally, after several more hours, the door unlocked and Doug walked in. “Hi Miss Jillian. Are you hungry?”

  She glared at him. “You locked me in a cold, dark room all day with a zombie and you ask if I’m hungry?”

  He knelt down in front of her. “Miss Jillian, please don’t say such things when we get downstairs. You know, Donald’s got a temper and Mama won’t suffer no one to talk ill of Papa. He’s sick, we know that.”

  “He’s dead!” Jillian said.

  Doug shook his head. “I’ve tried telling Mama and Donald that, but they won’t believe me.”

  She stared at him. “Let me go. Let me and my friends go now and we’ll pretend this didn’t happen.”

  “I’m sorry Miss Jillian, Mama made it clear you all can’t leave until you’ve healed Papa.”

  He unlocked her manacle and led her downstairs. It was at least much warmer on the first floor. She was led into the kitchen where Mama, Donald, Adam and Randy all sat around the table.

  “Did you make any progress with my sweet husband?” Mama asked.

  “No ma’am,” Jillian replied. Careful, don’t say anything stupid, she thought. “I am still trying to determine how to help.”

  The fat woman smiled. “Good. I’m sorry that our dinner will be so meager, but the boys foraged some bacon and some crackers. Eat up!”

  Jillian looked down at her paper plate. It had two strips of bacon and a pile of wheat crackers. She munched on the food and realized she hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a couple of days. She quickly devoured what was on the plate.

  She looked up at Mama and wondered if the brothers would carve bacon from their sow of a mother if they couldn’t find food.

  “Now Miss Wilson, once you heal Papa, you and your friends are free to go,” Mama said.

  “Thank you. I will work hard on it tomorrow,” Jillian said. She realized she had no idea how she was going to get her or Adam and Randy out of this. She hoped they had a more productive day in the basement.

  “Now, Miss Wilson, we are going to allow you to spend the night with your friends down in the basement,” Donald said as he stood and walked over to her.

  “Oh, you are?” she asked.

  “Yes. I think most of the spiders have died by now.”

  She shuddered. “That’s nice.” She noticed the shotgun resting on the kitchen counter.

  After everyone had finished dinner, Jillian, Adam and Randy were led down into the basement. It was dark and cool, but at least it wasn’t as cold as the attic had been.

  “Sleep well folks,” Doug said as he walked up the stairs and closed the door behind him.

  “So you’re okay Jill?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” she replied quietly.

  “What was in the attic?”

  “A zombie.”

  “A zombie?” The surprise was evident in his voice.

  “What kind of zombie?” Randy asked.

  “The brothers’ father,” she replied.

  Randy sighed. “Wow. That sucks.”

  “Yeah.”

  “We need to figure out how to get out of here,” Adam said quietly. “If he’s a zombie, there’s nothing Jill can do for him besides kill him.”

  “Wait, I have an idea,” Randy said.

  “What’s that?” Jillian asked.

  “What if we released the zombie into the house and sicced him on the hick family?”

  Adam huffed. “We’re not doing anything that puts Jill in danger.”

  “I wouldn’t be able to do that anyway,” she said. “He’s chained up on one side of the attic and I’ll be chained up on the opposite side. Besides, the door is locked too.”

  “I found a few keys in a jar over on a shelf down here earlier today. Maybe one of them would work,” Randy said.

  “You know, if one of those works, I could unchain myself, unchain the zombie, hide in one of the chests up there and maybe even unlock the door and let Papa go feed on his family,” she said.

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Adam said. “We’ll be safe down here too.”

  “Then once the carnage settles down, Jillian can come down, finish off the zombies and let us out,” Randy said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said. “Where’s these keys you found?”

  “Hold on,” Adam said. She heard him fumble around in the dark and then she heard jingling. “Where are you?” he asked.

  “Over here.”

  She heard nearby footsteps and she reached out and touched his knee. He knelt down and handed her five keys.

  “Hopefully one of these works,” he said.

  “Yeah.”

  She felt his arm slide around her shoulders.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said.

  “Me too,” she replied.

  Eventually she heard Randy snoring. She realized Adam was asleep too. She laid down on the cold, hard floor and gradually fell asleep.

  When she awoke, she saw sunlight shining in through a window near the ceiling. Adam and Randy were both still asleep. She heard footsteps up above and then heard the basement door open.

  “Miss Jillian? It’s time to go help Papa!” Doug yelled from the top of the stairs.

  Adam stirred.

  “I’ll be up in a moment!” Jillian called. She stood and stretched. She checked her pockets to make sure she still had the five keys. She bent down and kissed Adam on the forehead as he opened his eyes.

  “Be careful,” he whispered.

  “I will be. I love you Adam.”

  “I love you too.”

  She walked up the stairs and saw Doug and Donald both waiting for her. This time they permitted her to walk up the stairs to the second floor and then up to the attic. Donald fixed the manacle around her ankle and then the brothers left. The zombified Mr. Chambliss growled from the corner.

  When she had been in the attic for a while, she pulled the keys out of her pockets and tried them on the manacle’s lock. The first three didn’t work. The fourth key, a small gold key did, however and soon she was free of the chains. She stood and stretched and then tiptoed to the door. Surprisingly, the first key worked. She left it in the lock. She carefully opened the door and listened. She heard conversation echoing up from far below. She couldn’t understand what was being said, so she quietly crept about halfway down the stairs.

  She heard Mama talking.

  “Now look boys, tonight when they’re asleep, I want you to go downstairs and kill those two men. We are going to grill them up and we’ll have meat for the winter!” the obese woman yelled.

  Jillian suddenly felt sick. She wondered if the bacon from the night before had actually been bacon. She quickly crept back up the stairs.

  Before, she had wondered if she would be doing the right thing unleashing a zombie on her captors. Now she was convinced it would be the right thing to do. Now to release Mr. Chambliss without getting bitten.

  She walked over toward the zombie and sized him up. His chain appeared to be about six feet long. She realized if she knocked him over, she could have enough time to try a key and then scoot back out of reach if it didn’t work. She looked down at the four keys in her hand. She wondered if the lock on his manacle was keyed the same as the other lock. She’d have to try it to find out.

  She reached out with her foot and pushed the zombie over. She ducked down and tried the first key on the lock. It didn’t fit. She quickly rolled out of the way as Chambliss reached for her. She knocked him back again and tried the second key. It didn’t fit either. She rolled away again. She kicked him over a third time and tried the next key
. It worked. The manacle fell off Chambliss’ emaciated ankle. She stood and ran over to an armoire leaning against the wall as the zombie stood and hissed. She opened the door, shoved some old clothes aside and climbed in. She closed the door as Chambliss clawed at it. She heard him growling.

  After a few tense moments she heard him shuffle away. She heard the door creak open and then heard him tumble down the stairs. A few more moments passed and she heard Mama Chambliss scream. She heard the brothers screaming. A few seconds passed and she heard the boom of a shotgun. Then all she heard was Mama crying. She wondered what had happened.

  She slowly crept out of the armoire and made her way downstairs. She paused at the top of the stairs to the first floor; Doug lay at the bottom, limbs splayed. There was a pool of blood beneath him; he wasn’t moving. She slowly crept down the stairs and saw Donald lying next to his brother. His throat had been ripped out. She peered around the corner and saw Mr. Chambliss’ corpse lying next to Mama with the shotgun on the floor between them. The obese woman was on her back in the living room, atop the shattered ruins of the coffee table. She was bleeding profusely from her left arm. She saw Jillian and glared.

  “You! You! Because of you my boys are dead!” she roared. She flailed for the shotgun.

  Jillian carefully stepped around the brothers’ corpses and walked into the living room. “What did you feed us last night?” she asked pointedly.

  The obese woman glared. “Bacon! You ingrate! We fed you store-bought bacon!”

  “Oh? Then why were you telling your sons to kill my fiancé and friend tonight so you’d have meat for the winter?”

  Mama’s expression changed to one of fear. “We... we…we...” she stammered.

  “You what?”

  “We weren’t going to hurt you!”

  “You’re not going to now,” Jillian said. “Now, did you feed us real bacon last night?” She knelt and picked up the shotgun. She pulled the slide and discharged a spent shell.

  The obese woman nodded. “Yes! Yes! I was just thinking ahead! You know, winter is coming and what would we do for food?”

  “Where’s the box for the bacon?”