I was smart about packing light, but wished I were able to bring more. I had only a buck knife and one pistol as my weapon to live through my travels in search of a cure.
The sun was just coming high enough into the sky to feel it when I thought about how much my wife would have loved this warm day. I kept my knife handy in my left pocket and decided I would only pull it if necessary to keep my hands free from getting tired and too sweaty. I kept my gun in my bag and wanted to save ammo as much as possible and only use it if I could not handle things with my knife.
I kept my backpack evenly weighted on my back until it got heavy and would release one of the straps and hold it with one shoulder and then move it to the other and then put it back onto both to keep me from getting stiff joints from being in one position. I walked and breathed at the same pace to try to keep from being winded, not that it helped in the sun that was starting to only get hotter. The trees weren’t casting shade on the road, but only on the sides of the road, which is where I didn’t want to be. I was afraid I would be surprised by a horde of the mongers that were lurking around.
I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I had to make it somewhere where other survivors may be or to a place that I could find a cure for this, there had to be a way to stop this. I had to be able to help save my wife and turn her back to her loving and beautiful self. I was working overnight and got home early this morning to find her lying on the floor, I wasn’t aware of what all was going on as I tried to figure out what happened and tried to get a hold of the police when she started to turn and I watched other zombies meandering through my neighborhood.
She had opened the door to be nosey, as she always has been, and was bit. I could not bring myself to shoot her, so I left her to go on this adventure with hopes that I could find something to help bring her back to me.
She is locked in our home, waiting for me to find something to save her. I can’t let her down. I was devastated when her beautiful skin became wrinkled and gray, she had been wearing shorts and a t-shirt and both were torn and bloody from whomever bit her to turn her into one of these; and now here I am.
The small pebbles crunched beneath the rubber soles on my boots. I kept watch around me and so far, after a few hours into this, I have only had to kill six zombies not including the ones that were around my own house trying to get at me.
I swung my pack around and took out one of the bottles of water and took a sip and put it back and swung my pack back around. I needed to make it to a bigger town to something that is government related. I decided that I would need to go to a bigger city to see if there was something I could find and started my track to Tyler. I had made it to the intersection of Highway 80 and Highway 69 that led into Tyler. I turned the corner not expecting anything dangerous since it was quiet and led myself directly into a mass amount of zombies that seemed to be starving.
I pulled my knife from my pocket and stabbed the first two that were right on top of me, with their bodies lying in front of the horde, they all began tripping over them and gave me time to make my way around them. I dodged some of them to get past and ducked into a building that was up ahead. I squeezed behind the shop door that was already open and stood as still as a statue while watching the rest of them walk by.
The stench of them was almost enough to make me gag, but I held it in and kept quiet until they all finally seemed to have disappeared. I stepped out, poked my head out of the store and could see the back of all of them. The sun was making it hotter out there and the bit of the wind that was blowing allowed the stink of them to linger in the streets and flow into the store that I was standing in more than it already had before. I gagged, raised my hand to cover my mouth and nose as the smell intensified, but could not hold it back and vomited onto the sidewalk. I held my head over far enough that I would not get any on my boots and realized that the zombies had taken notice. I lifted the bottom of my shirt and wiped my mouth. I stepped back slowly into the store hoping that I could find a back door. I turned and started looking for another exit, seeing the opening to the right behind the counter that is where I headed assuming that the opening would be the exit. I turned under the small archway and was greeted by reflections of myself in three full-length mirrors and surrounded by four dressing rooms. I turned a circle and there was no exit from here. I backtracked out of the fitting room area and turned toward the back of the store without even looking to see how close the zombies were. I readied my knife from my pocket and pushed my way through a few racks of clothes, tipping them over to slow any of them that may be on their way. The back door, or what I hoped to be the back door, came in to view as I rounded a corner into a stock room. I sprinted to it, hit it full force with my shoulder, and bounced back off it. I was stunned and stared at the door for a moment, as if it was going to open on its own. It finally processed through my mind as I heard a plethora of growls echoing behind me. I reached for the bar in the middle of the door and pushed it, the door opened up wide and allowed the bright sun into the mildly lit room and I stepped out, which seemed to make the zombies move faster and their growls got closer.
I stared at them rounding the corner for a moment and slammed the door shut and held it there with both hands even though I heard the lock click.
I was breathless by this time and placed my forehead on the door and pulled back quickly when the heat from the metal scorched me.
“Fuck this day!” I hit the door with the palm of my hand.
The clamor from them banging was making my ears ring; I had to get away from it. I swept my eyes across my surroundings, I could see a street down the alley that I had led myself into and headed in that direction. A fence blocked the end of the alley. I steadied one foot into the chain link and pulled myself up. Once to the top, I pushed myself up and threw both legs over at the same time and hit the ground in a squat and froze while I looked around hoping that I had not made too much noise.
I stood up and had made it to the street and looked both ways. I couldn’t believe the crowd of them that had formed at the door of the store that I was at. Some of them were kneeled in front of the store, which made me flinch that they were okay with eating the vomit that I had spewed onto the sidewalk.
I ran the other way away from them and down another side street and back around to make it onto the highway and continue on in the direction I was going. I had made good distance fairly quickly and shortened my long strides and looked for a shade tree. Not far up ahead of me a tree was bent over the road and gave just enough shade on the asphalt for me to stop under. I twisted my backpack around to the front of me and set it on the road as soon as I entered the shadow of the leaves and branches.
I bent my leg up under me and sat down keeping one foot planted on the road in case I had to move fast. I pulled my water out and took a sip and let it coat my throat. I took one more small sip, put it up, and pulled out one of the small Ziploc bags my wife had made for me the night before for my lunch that I had not eaten yet when I heard about the infection hitting our town and hurried home. I opened it and pulled out the sandwich and took a bite and put it back. I dropped everything back in my bag, strapped it onto my back and stood. I could feel the dehydration setting in, but knew that I could not spare very much water at one time and had to ration the food as well as the water that I had brought.
I continued on, destined to get to the bigger city. I steadied my pace and breathing again and moved on. I could hear the growls and I could see zombies off in the distance in the fields on the side of the road, but none that were any immediate danger to me. I came to a few vehicles that had been abandoned, without stopping to take a look I finally came to the welcome sign for the city of Tyler.
I almost started a light jog just to see where I could get and remembered that I needed to keep a steady pace to conserve energy. The sun was still blistering hot, but the light wind that blew was helping to keep me cool. I had made good headway when I saw a green sign with an arrow, but couldn’t read the writing as far away as
I was.
I was focusing so hard on the sign that I didn’t notice the three men standing in the grass to my left until I heard the rustle of the fallen leaves. I spun my head in the direction of the noise and the three men had already spotted me and were heading my way. I jammed my hand into the pocket of my jeans and clamped my hand around the handle of my knife. I pulled it out, unsnapped the holster from around, placed the holster back in my pocket and kept walking. I directed my sight back and forth between them and the sign.
The fastest one was coming quick, but did not have a limp like the other two. He could not have been able to see very well since one of his eyes was hanging from the socket and the other was practically crusted shut with blood, but he was sure moving at me as if he had twenty-twenty vision. The one behind him had one leg that was broken at the middle of his shin and the bone showed clearly every time he stepped on that leg. The last one was walking on the insides of his feet as though maybe his ankles were broken. Both of his arms were bent backwards at the elbows and his palms pointed to the ground and stayed at his sides no matter how much he hobbled back and forth. I glanced at the sign and back at them and then back at the sign; I was close enough to read it now and could see that it said ‘Texas Health And Human Services’. Below that stated ‘Texas Center For Infectious Diseases’.
I was making my way further away from the mangled men who were trying their hardest to follow me and had now made it across the road and were directly behind me, which turned out perfect since I had to cross over to go in the direction that the sign pointed.
I crossed over and started down the small side street, still making sure I was moving away from the three men. I could see a curve up ahead and took to a light jog to see if I could throw them off. I slowed my steps as I made my way out of their sight and a building appeared in front of me. I glanced back and could not see any of them that wanted me for their late lunch, so kept a good pace going to get into the building.
The glass double doors came into view, I began to sprint and skid to a stop as soon as I was able to see inside. The undead were meandering back and forth inside. Some were lying on the floor flopping like a half dead fish while some were bouncing off the walls and turning to walk another way like the Roomba vacuums that they had come out with. I was so confused about the view of them all and why there were some lying on the floor when they looked as though they were okay to walk when a shot rang out, a man bounced back against the door I was looking into. I stepped over to look through the other side and saw a woman standing on an upper floor with a gun. I waved my hand to get her attention and she pointed behind her. I raised my hands in question of what she was trying to tell me. Again, she pointed almost violently shaking her arm to the back of the building.
I assumed that she wanted me to go around back. I stepped away from the door and turned to start toward the back of the building, until I got to the corner and the thought crossed my mind. ‘What if this woman was setting me up or wanting to kill me?’
Cautiously I stepped around the corner and made my way to the back of the building. I peeked around the next corner and saw a zombie at the other end of the building. A door that blended in with the building cracked open and the woman from the upstairs stuck her hand out and waved me to come over to her. I put my back against the wall and slid over to the door.
A whisper came as I approached her. “Do you have weapons?”
I nodded at the woman. “A knife and a pistol in my bag.”
The woman opened the door just enough to let me slide in, she closed and locked it immediately. “Hand them over.”
I glared at the woman. “I’m not sure I am willing to do that.”
She shrugged. “That is fine, but I don’t know you and I’m not willing to keep you here with weapons for you to take over my space with.”
I nodded with understanding. “I don’t know you either. Listen, I will keep my pistol in my bag and my knife in my pocket unless I need to use it on them as long as you don’t shoot me.”
She smiled. “I only shoot the undead, not the living.”
“Well, I guess we have that in common. I came here looking for a cure; my wife is boarded up in my house as one of these and it all started in my town and I figured this would be a place to start.”
She pivoted on one foot and started walking toward another door, she pulled it open and waited for me to walk through before closing it and pushing on it to make sure it secured itself. We were in the stairwell of the building and she started up the stairs waiting for me to follow her stopping on the landing that turned into another stairway. I took two steps at a time, following her up the next flight and through the door. She walked to the railing where I had seen her standing before, she pulled her gun from her waistband and showed it to me. It was a dart gun.
I looked at her a bit confused. “A dart gun?” I questioned.
She nodded and took aim at another one and pulled the trigger. “I thought I had found a cure and have shot the few that are on the ground, so far I have only had two come back to life and they were still zombiefied if you will, but seemed to have sense. I reconfigured the recipe and the last one I shot before I waved you in was shot with it. At this point, he hasn’t moved, but it took the others an hour or so to start moving. So, at this point it is a waiting game.”
I was impressed and turned to look at the bloody mess on the bottom floor. “Which ones have come back after being shot?”
She pointed at a woman down below that was looking at up at us. Her eyes were not grey, her skin was not pale like the ones that I had seen before; if it had not been for the torn clothes and matted hair and the hint of growling she was still doing, I would have thought she was human.
“She looks almost human!” I leaned a bit more over the rail.
The woman nodded and pointed to a man. “That one has actually acknowledged what I tell him, watch.”
The woman hollered at him. “HEY!” the man looked up at her. “Go to the door.”
The man jerked his head from one side to the other and walked to the door and stood there. “See they understand what I am saying, but it is like the zombie is still in them.”
My jaw dropped open as the man turned from the door and stared up at us. “This is great! We need to get this somewhere that it can be used for everyone!”
She shook her head. “It wouldn’t matter at this point, not until I can bring them fully back.”
I processed the thought of what she was saying and stopped my brain long enough to agree with her. “So, you have only shot one with the enhanced juice?”
She nodded and pointed to the man that was lying near the door. His hand was twitching and his head was moving back and forth.
We stood with angst waiting for it to come out of its unconsciousness. He rolled his body from one side to the other and then sat straight up from the floor. His face would have looked normal to me if it had not been for the dried blood across his face. He lifted his head up to us and raised a hand up.
The corners of the woman’s mouth turned up before she spoke. “Can you hear me?”
The man nodded slowly and he began to stand.
“Are you okay?” She hollered.
The man walked to the stairs and lifted one leg and slammed it down on the step. He clutched the railing and lifted the other foot up and put it on the same step. He pulled his body to lean forward and made the same motions and appeared to have accomplished mastering the stairs. As he approached the fourth step and pulled himself forward, one of his feet slipped and he slid down the three steps he had made it up.
The woman winced as he bounced on his knees and back down to the bottom floor. “Can you understand me? Do you want to come up here with us? Do you know you were a zombie?”
The man raised his head and looked at us in defeat with tired eyes. He nodded his head one time very softly as if he did not have the energy to do anything more. He pulled himself up from the floor and planted a foot back up on the first step.<
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I was in awe that this was happening when my wife came to my mind. “Okay, I think it is safe to say that others deserve to know about this. Can I have some to save my wife and then we can help you get it to the main CDC?”
The woman cocked her head at me, squinted her eyes, and stared at me for a moment. “I am not sure I want this going to anyone else yet, and no, I am not giving you any of it. I made this to perfect before giving it out to anyone.”
I jerked back from the woman and thought for a moment. “Why would you call me in here, if you did not want my help?”
She turned back to the mass of them pin balling from wall to wall. “If I can get them all to go back to normal here, then I know that I can do one at a time and maybe we can block off the city and live normally. After that, I will get it where it needs to go.”
I leaned in close to her. “But my wife is one of these, and I want her back and you can help me, help her, and help us!”
She shrugged. “Maybe, but right now I am worried about the ones in here that are ready to have me for their meal. I will worry about what everyone else wants later.”
I turned to walk away from the woman and turned back. “That is selfish of you. I am in search on how to save my wife and you are depriving me of that when you have it at your fingertips.”
The woman did not speak as I walked away. I made my way back to the stairs that we came up and pushed the door open just enough to see into the stairwell. There was no noise and I did not see anything and stepped out into the late afternoon sun. I held the door open behind me for that just in case and scanned the area. I could hear heavy growling that was louder than it should be; I darted my head left and right and could not see anything. I still held the door and stepped back towards the opening. My confusion enhanced as the growling sounded as though it was right on top of me.
Zombie War: Interviews From The Frontline Page 20
