The Swamp

by Yates, R

  “Hang out here for a minute.” Sam said and rushed into the RV, only to emerge a second later holding one of the large backpacks they had stored under the bed. The crazies had looted the Fleetwood, but apparently not thought to look in the storage compartment hidden beneath the mattress.

  The pair moved into the woods, and walked even to the road back the way they had come. Sam figured the crazies wouldn’t expect them to double back.

  The thick underbrush snagged at their clothing and scratched their skin, but they pressed on. They talked about what they should do in whispered voices. They agreed that walking the road was not an option, at least for now, they would be too vulnerable.

  “Basically, we need a car or something. We have to get out of this area as fast as we can.” Sam said.

  Rebecca added, “And I doubt those guys are going to be real happy when they get back either.”

  “You can say that again,” Sam replied, “And we can’t take on that many of them. We only have about forty rounds left for all three guns.”

  “At least we got away…” she said, and Sam noticed she was crying.

  “I miss him too.” Sam said sadly.

  They walked until they found an ancient tobacco barn hidden in the woods well off the road. The forgotten structure was partially collapsed, but looked like as good a place as any to rest. They went inside to rest for a few minutes and quickly fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  He found himself in another dream. His wife was there with him in the barn, and the two of them were staring down at Rebecca’s sleeping form.

  “How could you?” she said angrily. “I have been here waiting on you.”

  “I didn’t know…” he responded defensively, “So many things have changed.”

  “Our vows haven’t changed, I gave you children, and you replace me.” She sounded hurt, and it broke his heart.

  “I’m sorry baby, I still love you.” He reached out and took her hands and was shocked at how cold they were. “Please forgive me!”

  “It’s too late there is only one way we can be together now…” As he looked into her eyes, they changed. The pale blue eyes that had drawn him to her started to turn dull and clouded over. Her skin dried and turned gray before his eyes, as her long blonde her fell out in chunks. He tried to pull away from the corpse of his wife, but she held fast to his hands. “Till death do us part”, her drawn lips cracked as they formed the words. She lurched forward and sunk her teeth into his neck and pulled back. He could see the chunk of his flesh as she began to chew.

  He sat up suddenly, gasping for air. His hand went to his throat, but found no wound. He looked around and at first wasn’t sure where he was. He slowly became aware of where he was and that Rebecca was there, asking him if he was alright.

  Chapter 16

  It took him awhile to recover enough to discuss the dream, and even then he was reluctant. He felt very strongly for her, and he didn’t doubt that she felt strongly for him, but the fact remained, he was a married man. His heart was torn, He loved his wife, but he was pretty sure he felt almost the same for Rebecca.

  “Rebecca, we need to talk.” Sam finally said.

  “What’s wrong Sam” She said, the concern obvious in her voice, “You woke up gasping.”

  “It’s about us,” he said, and saw her face fall, “I am a married man, and my wife is still out there.”

  She sat there, looking at the ground between them, but didn’t say anything.

  “Talk to me Rebecca…” Sam finally said. “I need to know what you are thinking.”

  Her face rose, and her eyes met his. “I guess it doesn’t matter, does it. I’m not you fucking wife.”

  Sam was taken aback by her anger, “Why are you made? I am trying to be honest with you!”

  “Because I fucking love you and you just threw me away from some dead bitch!” she screamed at him and turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

  “Wait Rebecca…” he said, but she snatched her arm away and stormed off.

  He thought of chasing her, concerned that she would go outside and disappear, But was relieved to see her stop at the door and stand there, staring out.

  They stood there, him watching her, and she pretending he didn’t exist. He eventually gave up his vigil and dug into the pack for some food. He came out with a can of pineapple and some packages of saltines. He sat these out on the ground in front of him with two of the 5 bottles of water they had.

  “Rebecca,” he called out, surprised to see her jump at the sound. “Come eat something.”

  She made no move to come over to him, “Please.” He added, “You don’t have to talk to me, just come sit down.” She turned to look at him and the redness of her eyes and wet face caused his heart to break all over again.

  She stood there in indecision, and finally hunger won out. She crossed the distance and sat down. She used a cracked to scoop out some of the fruit and slowly chewed. She refused to look up at him.

  “I am sorry,” Sam said as they finished the meal, “I really am”

  “You said we weren’t going to talk about this.” She said, but he didn’t see any anger on her face.

  “I know, but I just had to say at least that.”

  “So what do we do now?” She eventually asked.

  “I don’t know, this isn’t a situation I have ever been in,” he said honestly, “I am torn.”

  “I meant about getting out of here.” Rebecca said coldly, and then her expression softened. “I am sorry too, about calling your wife a bitch, about telling you she was dead… about all of it. This is just a fucked up world, and it’s led to a bunch of fucked up situations.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry. I know you were angry with me, and I know people say things they don’t mean when they are angry.” He really didn’t blame here for what she had said, but it had stung none the less.

  “When we were in those cages, all I wanted was to hold you, but I had decided it was just a fantasy, since we were going to die there. Somewhere along the way, it became real. Then we got out, and I knew you were married, but I couldn’t help myself. Then we had our moment by the RV last night… I am sorry for doing things you came to regret.”

  “That’s the thing Rebecca, I don’t regret them. I love you, Rebecca. I felt bad about loving another woman not knowing about Annie, but I didn’t regret our kiss. Sam confessed, “I know it doesn’t make any sense…”

  “It makes perfect sense, Sam.” She said

  He looked up and discovered she had finally met his eyes with hers, and she was smiling at him. “So what do we do?” It was his turn to ask.

  “We have the now, that’s it. We both know that tomorrow may not come for either of us, or what it will bring. Maybe she is out there, maybe she isn’t anymore. All I know is to take what we have now.” She said as a tear rolled down her face.

  Sam took a moment to think about her words, and then leaned forward, taking her face in his hand. He drew her forward and kissed her.

  She didn’t respond to the kiss for a second, but then joined him fully. Emotion coursed through Sam, guilt, fear and love rushed through his heart, but in the end love won out. He pulled her forward and drew her into his lap. They wrapped their arms around each other and held on tightly. She drew back from the kiss and looked into his eyes.

  “I love you Sam.” She whispered.

  “I love you too, Rebecca.” He said back.

  She put her hands on the side of his face and drew him into a kiss, then pulled back and slid her hands down to undo his shirt. He thought of resisting, but the idea quickly fled. Instead he moved his hands from around her and pulled her t-shirt over her head. He looked at her, awed by her beauty as the sun streaming in the windows lit her skin. He leaned in and kissed her again.

  They made love several times that morning and into the afternoon. Sam felt like a teenager again and delighted in exploring her body. She returned the attention with a passion that surprised him. By the t
ime they were sated, they knew it was too late to move on that day and lay down to sleep in each other’s arms. Sam fell asleep with the smell of her hair filling his nostrils, and no dream troubled him that night.

  Chapter 17

  The sun was coming up the next morning, as they shared a breakfast of cold beef-a-roni and the last the saltines. Sam felt a hopefulness that he hadn’t experienced for a very long time. After the meal, Sam began to pack their meager possessions into the back pack.

  “I have an idea,” He began, “The swamp is about 30 miles away, almost due west. That would take us several days if not more to walk, and it takes us back towards those crazies.”

  “Okay.” She said, listening.

  “The farm where my family was being held is about five miles from here, ten at the most. It was run by a group of soldiers, and I saw several good vehicles. A couple of Humvees and a big truck, not counting the one that drove off. There might even be weapons and supplies in them.” Sam explained.

  “So you want to go back to the farm, but won’t it be covered in the dead still?” She asked, instantly finding the flaw in his plan.

  “Quite possibly, But we both know how easy it is to get around them. There was also a truck that got away that night, maybe enough followed it… Besides, we have to go back through Reverend Joe’s wacko land one way or another, and I’d much rather do it in something bullet proof” Sam said.

  “Sounds like a plan to me!” Rebecca said brightly. “Lead the way to my olive drab limousine.”

  He lifted the pack to his shoulder and smiled at her. They walked outside into the sun, but as the approached the trees, she stopped and looked back at the ramshackle building. “I’m going to miss this place,” she said sadly, “a lot of good memories here.”

  “Don’t worry we will make lots of good memories in other places.” He said. She smiled up at him and they set off.

  They decided to walk along the tree line and risk being close to the road. They agreed that the speed they would gain would make up for the visibility, and neither relished the idea of stumbling through the briars all day. They made good time, and Mother Nature had blessed them with a morning that wasn’t too hot.

  The two walked until almost noon when they came upon a long abandoned house. Sam guessed it was a derelict long before the world had fallen, because its paint had long since flaked away and not a single piece of glass remained in any of the windows. They stopped for a lunch of all their remaining food, and regrettably, the last of the bottled water. Sam wasn’t too worried about that, because he was pretty sure they were almost to their destination. He figured the farm was less than an hour’s walk from here.

  After the food was gone, Sam glanced at the suns position in the sky, “We have plenty of time left before dark, and this place seems pretty secure. We can stay here for an hour a rest before moving on.”

  “Good,” she said from behind him as he looked out the window at the tall grass blowing in the wind. “But whatever will we do to kill the time?”

  He smiled, and started to make a very ungentlemanly suggestion, but before he could turn to her, something struck him lightly in the shoulder and clung there. He reached up and pulled her bra from his shoulder. He looked at her and saw that that was not all she had removed and stepped towards her. They ended up spending two hours before moving on.

  The ripples of heat lifted from the pavement in front of them, the cool morning had turned into a scorching afternoon. Sam hoped he was right about the short distance to the farm.

  “Hey Sam, do we have any water left? She finally asked, about a mile into their walk.

  “I wish we finished the last one at lunch. I have been watching but haven’t seen anywhere to refill yet. Don’t worry there is a well at the farm.” Sam’s thirst jumped at the thought of cold well water.

  They walked on, hugging the tree line for the shade, when she suddenly grabbed his arm, “Look!” she pointed down the road, “Someone is there.”

  Sam squinted at first, he was unable to see what she was pointing at, but then he followed her finger and saw them. Far ahead, moving in the heat ripples, shape were milling about in the road. He pulled Rebecca into the trees and fished around in his pack until his hand closed on the small binoculars.

  Looking through the lens, he could make out the several walkers standing in front of the farm. The farm was a clearing bordered on three sides by trees, and from this angle, he could only make about a dozen of the dead, but he could only see a small portion of the yard.

  “We have to get across the road and into those trees.” Sam told Rebecca. “Then we can work our way through the woods and get a good look at what we are up against.”

  “Can we do that without them seeing us?” she asked.

  “If we stay low, and move quickly,” Sam answered, “I think we can do it.”

  They crouched and sprinted across the road. Sam again used the glasses, but couldn’t make out if any were paying attention or moving towards them, so the worked their way about a hundred yards in and headed to the farm. They made it to the edge of the clearing in about 30 minutes. The undergrowth slowed them way down, and seemed to take forever after the day’s quickness of the road.

  The farm was much as Sam expected it. The barn still stood where it was, but the farm house was a blackened wasted pile of rubble. Towards the front of the yard around the house, He saw the line of Humvees. Their large blocky frames looked quite menacing compared to the vehicles he was used to, but he had read about them, and knew the main advantage to military vehicles was the fact that they wouldn’t need a key.

  He took note of the dead milling around. There were about three dozen that they would have to deal with. Not undoable, but he would have been happier with less.

  “There were a lot more last time I was here,” Sam told her “I had hoped that a bunch of them would follow the truck when it left and it appears most of them did.”

  “But something is not right here,” she said after her turn with the binoculars, “They should have gone dormant by now, but something has them riled up.”

  He looked again, and thought back to his conversation with Paul on the way here the first time, it seemed like years ago, but not even two weeks had passed. “Someone told me about that, but I haven’t seen it. Have you?”

  “Yes,” Rebecca said back, “Many times when we were on the road we would come across some of them, then we would have to run and hide. They would only look for us for about an hour or two, and then they would just stop. They would stay that way until they saw something else they wanted to eat, then they would just carry on like nothing had happened.”

  “So that means something has been through here recently.” Sam guessed “Crazies?”

  “I have no idea, “she said,” but I don’t like it.” He could see she was growing nervous.

  “Well let’s get in there before whatever it was comes back.” Sam said and told her his plan.

  The farm was still surrounded by the large fences, but the interior was divided into four smaller sections by other fences. These had originally been used to keep cattle or horses in one section, and to divide the planted fields. In the front of the property by the road, a smaller fenced in area had surrounded the farmhouse, and this is where most of the dead were confined, but unfortunately, so were the vehicles. These fences stood about five foot tall, and since the reanimated lacked the intelligence to climb, they would be a sufficient barrier.

  Sam planned to work his way into the fields, and move towards the remains of the farm house. With any luck, they would spot him and bunch up against the fence, where he could easily take them out one at a time. He did not think there were enough of them to push down the gate, so they should be safe.

  He didn’t have anything to cut the wire, so he had to use his stick method to get them under the razor wire, and then they simply climbed over the fence on the inside. They made their way easily across the fields, and soon found themselves standing at the massive bar
n doors, which still stood open from that night.

  The smell of human confinement, the urine, sweat and staleness assaulted them, but Sam just pulled his shirt over his nose and stepped inside. The floor was littered with the blankets and few possessions the captives had abandoned when the left. Sam searched around, and soon found what he needed, in the corner set a pile of left over materials from when the farmers that once owned this land had built something long ago. He retrieved several pieces of rebar, each about 3 foot long and hefted it, it was a little heavy, but it would work. He stepped out, feeling pity for his brother and the other people that had been stuck in there, locked into that place every night, and rejoined Rebecca.

  The barn was only a short distance from the house, and already they had been noticed. The dead were moving towards them, massing at the fence. He felt a sense of self satisfaction that his plan was working. He crossed the distance to the fence, and using the rebar as a spear, drove it into one of the dead’s face. He felt bone crack as it pierced the rotting flesh and the thing went down. He moved on to the next one and did that same, with the same result.

  Rebecca joined him and they worked together for the few minutes it took to clear the dead that had already gathered. He could see some stragglers still working their way over, but they had a minute to rest.

  “Working like a charm,” He bragged to Rebecca, “A few more minutes and we will be in.”

  “I never doubted you for a minute.” She replied.

  “Stick with me kid, you will go far,” he replied smugly, and stepped forward to down another one that had finally made it to the fence, standing on the bodies of the ones beneath its feet. He stabbed it through the eye, and watched it fall. He looked for his next target, and noticed something odd. The few remaining inside the yard had turned away from them, and were now staring at the front of the property.

  A feeling of panic flooded through him. “Oh shit!” He said, and grabbed Rebecca’s arm. “Something is coming.” He whispered to here, and pulled her away from the fence at a run.