by Deyo, Jason
There was some movement of chairs, but the conversation went quiet after the exchange.
“What did I tell you?” Amelia said to Kim. “You show a little cleavage, get a little friendly with one of them and there you go.” Amelia helped her up from the workbench. “So are you going to take the tall one up?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure he’s the one that was just talking. He will be the easiest to get. I’ll make sure the rest are asleep before I pull him into the room though.”
*****
Soggy tea leaves sat at the bottom of an almost drained pot and the Dutch oven, once filled twice with vegetable beef stew and ravioli, now sat empty. The four men scraped the pot clean, getting every last morsel of food. They all sat back with their hands resting on their bloated bellies.
Eric, who had been quiet most of the night asked, “Mrs. Kimberly…” He was interrupted before he could finish his question.
“Kim is fine,” she corrected him.
He continued, “If you don’t mind me asking, where are your husband and son?”
His companions looked at him as if he just kicked a kitten. Even Drew, the thirteen year old, looked at him as if he just committed a mortal sin.
After seeing their faces, he thought about what he had said. “I’m sorry. I should never have asked. I wanted to have a conversation, but should not have asked…that. I guess I’m still getting used to the new etiquette.”
“No, it’s ok. It’s only natural to have questions. It’s a strange new world out there. Unfortunately my world consists of these four walls. I couldn’t travel outside of them. Those zombies,” She laughed and rubbed Dave’s neck. “They would get me in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t know what to do.” She indicated to Dave that he should pull back the seat, so she could sit on his lap.
“I think you would learn pretty quickly. You have to now,” Eric responded.
“My husband was a prepper. I think he watched every episode of that silly show on Discovery, or TLC…one of those networks. Keith had to prepare for every situation. Every week he had to get another tool or supply.” She laughed. “It really does start to get expensive after a while. He would love it when a bad storm rolled over and we lost power. He would always say, when we lose power, it’s just an excuse to buy camping equipment. He was joking, but he always found an excuse to run to the Walmart and grab a new thing or two. I think this is the one scenario he didn’t take too seriously though. God do we—or now I—have a ton of supplies. I don’t even know what three quarters of it is, let alone know how to use it. He saved all this food and water before he left. I came home one day and there was literally a pallet of five gallon buckets, filled with military food; you know, stuff that comes in pouches. A whole pallet was just sitting in my driveway.” She laughed.
Dave rubbed her back sympathetically. She sat quietly for a second and then continued. “Keith always had a sixth sense about different things and as soon as he heard what was happening, he left early to pick up our son. Once, way back in the day, when Jimmy was first born, we were going to take this jogging stroller out and go for a quick jog through the park, but last minute Keith stopped and wanted to take a different route. He said he had a bad feeling and wanted to go a different way. I didn’t think much of it, until I was watching the news a few days later and saw the cops had killed a mountain lion in that same park. I didn’t even know we had mountain lion over here. He was pretty reliable that way.”
Kim smiled again. “He had one of his sixth sense feelings when this all started, so he left to get our son from school, which isn’t too far from here, but never made it back.” She paused again looking at the wood grain of the dining room table. “Honestly, before y’all showed up, I was in a really dark place. God it’s been ten, eleven days since this started and I have been here by myself.” She squeezed Dave’s shoulder. “I was losing my mind. That’s why I called you guys over. I just needed some company. Just being here eating dinner with me, has really improved my spirits.”
Everyone sat around the table quietly looking at their empty dishes, not saying much of anything other than how great the food was, until Rod spoke up. He spoke in a New York style Puerto Rican accent. “My wife, Drew’s mother Julie, came home from the hospital…She was a nurse. Well, she came home and had some scratches on her arms and what looked like vomit stains on her uniform. She was clearly agitated and nothing I did could brighten her mood. She went into the bedroom to get changed and take a shower. Dave came over to get us. He lived next door, so we went with him.” He pointed to Eric, the thicker companion. “We just got…” he stuttered, “got home from work and were watching a movie, when Dave told us about a woman being attacked right outside our apartment.” Kim caught the stutter and raised an eyebrow, but Rod continued. “A group of people was eating her. We watched in disbelief, but then we started listening to the news. I ran back to get Drew, just in time to see Julie had changed.”
“We fought her. She broke my thumb.” Rod held up a wrist covered in dirty gauze. “She attacked Drew, then me, then all of us. We had to lock her in a bathroom to escape. Now we’re headed north to find Julie’s family, and Eric is headed to Maryland to find his.”
“I am truly sorry,” Kim said. “It’s strange, but maybe it’s better I didn’t have to see that.” She paused.
“I don’t know if I will ever forget it. I think it would have been better if we never did.” Rod said and grabbed his son’s shoulder. Rubbing it hard, letting him know he was there for him and that he was a strong child.
The room was quiet once again, but Kim resumed the conversation. “So you guys worked together? I noticed a little pause… You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Kim nodded to Eric and Rod.
“Yeah we do,” Eric responded.
“They were in the Baby Navy,” Dave responded. “They couldn’t make it in the real military.” Dave laughed.
Kim smiled at his laugh and looked at Eric and Rod. “Baby Navy?”
Eric spoke before Dave could say another word. “He likes to talk shit because we joined the Coast Guard. Secretly he’s jealous because he didn’t have a high enough ASVAB score to get into the Coast Guard.”
“ASVAB?” she said slowly, making sure she repeated it correctly.
The men started talking over themselves, but Eric talked directly to Mrs. Kim. “It’s an aptitude test to see if you have the brains to make it into the branch of military you want. Basically getting into the Navy is about as hard as tying your shoes in the morning; they accept just about everyone. The Coast Guard is the hardest branch to get into, so Dave will never admit it, but he’s secretly jealous.” He smiled. “Rod and I went AWOL.” Eric could see another acronym had thrown her off. “We basically left the military without authorization in order to find our families up north.”
Dave squeezed her close, butting into the conversation with no regard to what they were saying. “Don’t listen to these guys; they just didn’t want to sail too far from the coast. They want to make sure they can swim back to shore if they had to.”
The men tossed a few light-hearted jokes back and forth, laughing despite hearing each one for the thousandth time.
“I’m glad you called us when you did,” Dave said to Kim, squeezing her again.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“We were just talking about finding a place when you got our attention.”
“How does that work? Finding a place to stay?”
“Well, if it’s not too dark it’s a lot easier, but basically we find a place with the door open and then make sure it’s empty…of the sick people,” Dave answered.
“What if it’s not empty?”
“Then we…” He was about to say kill, but caught himself. “Then we take care of the sick person. If we can kick them out without a fight, great, but if they make a lot of noise then we…” Dave realized that by using the term sick he was suggesting that the undead were still human. He didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have sex wi
th this woman, and was pretty sure that’s where this was going, so he lied. “Then we move on and find another place to stay. We do a good job scouting the places we stay, so we rarely encounter anyone.”
Killing had become second nature to these travelers. Over the past ten days they had killed multiple undead and become desensitized to the act of killing these creatures. They no longer thought of what they were doing as causing death, but simply permanently ending the zombie’s existence. The four companions never acted out of malice, but would kill if needed. They were attacked in a grocery store days before when an employee of the store tried to shoot them as they were gathering supplies. Dave had been the one to shoot and kill the man, but justified it to himself as self-defense.
Eric got up from the table holding his belly. “I would love to discuss this, but I am completely stuffed. Could I sit back and get comfortable on your couch?” Rod got up and pushed his chair in, following Eric’s lead.
“Oh of course; let me grab some blankets and scrounge up some pillows and you can make yourselves comfortable wherever you please.”
Eric found himself sprawled on the embroidered couch, Rod spread out on the suede loveseat, and Mrs. Kim found a sleeping bag and comforter for Drew to put on the floor right next to his father. As Drew stretched his legs, the heel of his foot brushed over a rough section of dried blood directly under the couch. He moved his foot away, never investigating the spot.
Rod watched as Mrs. Kim held onto Dave’s hand, guiding him upstairs.
*****
Sweat dripped from Kimberly’s body onto Dave’s skinny bare chest. He looked up at her, holding onto her large round breasts, as she slid back and forth, and up and down on top of him. She tried to control her moans, but when she climaxed her nails dug into his chest and she let out a roar that Dave knew must have woken up the crew downstairs. But instead of stopping or even slowing down, Kim thrust harder on top of him, moaning and grinding deeper.
Dave loved it. He was fucking a MILF with huge tits and an awesome body. He couldn’t wait to tell Rod and Eric what had happened and how great it was, but in all reality, his stomach was killing him. He had eaten way too much, and every time she bore down on him, he felt as though he was going to vomit.
Secretly he wanted to stop, but she continued for what Dave believed was the same reason he wasn’t stopping. He believed neither one knew when the next opportunity to have sex would come about.
Kim couldn’t remember the last time she had sex. She didn’t want to stop, but there was something else in his eyes other than pleasure. She got the sense that something was wrong. She didn’t want to relinquish control, but she could feel him wanting to roll over, so reluctantly she allowed him to stand up and she got onto her hands and knees on the bed.
Dave grabbed her hips and pushed himself inside her, entering her hard and deep. With mild discomfort he thrust as she pushed against him. He felt the soup and stew slosh back and forth, but with every hard thrust, Kim’s moaning made him thrust harder.
Standing at the edge of the bed with her kneeling in front of him, Dave noticed an odd smell mixed with the scented candles, potpourri dishes, and many different air fresheners and perfumes. He thought it must have been him, because he hadn’t bathed in quite a while, but if she didn’t say anything when she was on top of him, she must not care either. The smell wafted past him again. Masked by the multi-scented room, it now took on a familiarity. For a while he had thought it could be her, but this was not the smell of a woman. It was the smell of the undead.
Kim turned to watch him and saw his eyes were not on her, but were looking around instead. He caught her watching him and smiled. “You all right baby?” Mrs. Kim asked, but didn’t give him a chance to reply. “Don’t stop!”
Dave was thinking either they were piling up in front of the house and a breeze was carrying their smell through the window, or one was very close—possibly in the house. Either way, Dave was going to finish. He thrust hard. “You feel so good right now,” he responded.
“Don’t stop!”
He thrust again, trying to ignore both the smell and the contents of his stomach continuing to slosh back and forth. Kim moaned loudly. He shushed her, but he did not stop slamming himself against her, pulling her hips hard, thrusting deep inside her. Now it was a challenge. He could tell Kim was trying to be silent, but he forced himself hard inside her trying to make her moan, and then he came inside her without warning.
Dave fell over her and she collapsed under him. She began to laugh. “Are you happy baby?”
“You have no idea.” He rolled over to his back. “Oh my god! That was amazing.” He put his hand over his mouth. “I forgot we need to be quiet.” Mrs. Kim began to laugh hard and held a pillow over her face trying to muffle the sound.
Dave’s knees were hanging off the bed. He tried to climb up the bed while lying on his back, but he was too sweaty and his skin stuck to the sheets. He gave up and stuffed a pillow under his head.
“We should do that again in the morning, before you take off,” Kim said.
David had closed his eyes and was quickly drifting into a slumber. He moaned something in acknowledgement.
“Goodnight,” Kim said and he did not reply. He let out a long exhale and loud snoring followed. Kim smiled and stood up, as if she was rejuvenated. She opened up her dresser drawer, dug through some clothing, and found the gallon-sized zip lock baggy with the bloodied ballpeen hammer.
*****
Between Eric’s snoring and the ruckus Dave and Mrs. Kim were making, Rod was only able to periodically drift in and out of consciousness. As he lay staring at the ceiling he continually worried about the noise those two were making leading the few undead outside right to the front door. Kim moaned louder followed by a loud grunt. Thank god. I hope they’re done. Maybe now we can sleep without having to worry about defending ourselves tonight from the horde that will surely be waiting for us in the morning.
He was finally able to sleep, but as soon as he closed his eyes a loud thud shook the ceiling. Dave must have really hit the headboard or someone fell off the bed, because this thud was significantly louder than any of the noises they had made earlier.
A few quiet seconds passed. Rod was beginning to get upset, but in a strange way he was also happy for Dave. An irritated smile stretched across his face, and he repositioned himself on the loveseat, saying a silent prayer that they would finally rest for the night.
The crackling of wood in the dying fire made his eyelids heavy, but he was stirred awake by a familiar sound. The familiar sound did not belong in a house. Something long and metal was being dragged across the ground. He recognized the sounds almost instantly. His work on a buoy tender in the Coast Guard made him keenly aware of specific sounds, and there was no mistaking the sound of a chain being pulled across the floor and ratcheting through the gears of a chain fall.
He listened hard. The once soothing lull of the crackling wood annoyed him. His eyes opened wide when he heard a groan, followed by another heavy and hard thump on the floor. The chain was being pulled through the metal gears of the pulley again, causing the metallic surfaces to chime, followed by another groan. This time the chain was pulled harder followed by an excited growl. That must be coming from outside. That didn’t come from upstairs.
Rod had to see for himself. He tossed the covers over the back of the loveseat and sat up, being careful not to step on Drew who was sleeping below him on the floor. He looked at Eric who had his back to him with his face crammed into the back of the couch.
It was quiet now, so he questioned what he thought he had heard. “Drew,” Rod whispered, as he gave him a light nudge with his foot. Drew opened his eyes quickly from a dead sleep. Apparently Rod was the only one who was having a hard time sleeping.
“I need you to stay awake for a second. I’m going to check on Dave.” He crept over to his backpack and slipped his shoes on. He looked up the dark steps and could see a light at the top of the stairs.
/> *****
“Remember he has to be alive,” Amelia told Mrs. Kim as she stood next to the slumbering Dave, bloodied ballpeen hammer in hand. “Are you really going to bash him in the head with a hammer?”
“It worked on Mason.”
“Yeah, but Mason didn’t exactly lose consciousness. He was still able to…” Amelia thought about what she wanted to say. “He actually tried to shoot you.”
“I’ll just hit him a little harder,” Kim said without remorse and with a slight chuckle in her voice. Amelia rolled her eyes, but did not comment.
Kim raised the hammer and brought it down on his head. Dave’s eyes shot open and he waived his arms above him, sliding from the bed. He let out a bizarre cry as if he were trying to scream, but could not. He staggered to his hands and knees and fell as he tried to gather his bearings. Mrs. Kim brought the hammer down again, aiming for the back of his head, but missed and struck his neck. He pushed himself to his knees, holding his arms out in front of him, trying to defend himself from the next blow, but could not control his arms well enough to hold them steady. His eyes wouldn’t focus. The room was spinning and he lurched back toward the bed.
Kim raised the hammer and struck him directly on top of his head. His body went stiff and he fell flat on the bedroom floor. The thud was loud and Kim got scared that she might have woken up his friends downstairs.
“That was too loud,” Amelia said, holding her face in shock. “What are you going to do about them?”
She touched his neck to see if she could feel a pulse. Kim was shocked to discover he still had one. “I can’t believe he’s still alive. I need to take care of him first. Once Jimmy is set, I’ll go down stairs with the shotgun, lead them out back and kill them. That way I don’t mess up our new furniture and I don’t have to drag them out.”
