Cat and the Belle

by Victor Cruz

  He chopped at a third one that was coming straight for him. Kicking it off, he noticed Reggie with Inez fighting off an entire room full, but they didn’t look to be in danger. There were a good team thick and through.

  Diego was in the hallway and using a statue of a tribal woman to beat one to death. Scott Murphy had something in his hand and in the same hallway as Diego. It was a wonder to see the two of them try and fit in the narrow hallway while being surrounded by the dead. The gunfire continued from the roof and Maxson rushed to the door to stop a second wave that tried to enter.

  “Help, help, hellllllppp!” A woman’s scream could be heard from an unknown location, but it was too late for her. Her high-pitched scream ended her pleas shortly afterwards. Deep down he knew that it wasn’t either Catalina or Belle, but he was still worried nonetheless.

  Please don’t take them…not like this.

  The fighting continued, and Maxson was losing space to swing his axe. The only logical thing to do, before being overrun was to finally retreat. He hated having to do it, but it was their only shot at this point.

  “Follow me to the garage!” Maxson yelled out to anyone who would listen while slaying another beastly corpse. For how slow they were, they had overtaken the house fast. And for how allegedly dumb the creatures were, they were smart enough to realize they could pull the boards off. It was his own shoddy craftsmanship that was now allowing the dead to crawl through the windows from the wraparound deck. Glass broke as they continued to break in from all directions.

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Maxson could see that he was going to the garage by himself. The farm was surrounded by the creatures and the number was in the dozens. He killed the nearest one and booted another off the deck before making his way to a big fat one that tried to block his path towards the garage. Decapitated cleanly, its head fell to its feet and Maxson continued on to massacre the next one.

  Slug and Dustin had made it outside and were fighting alongside of one another. Slug had a coat rack and Dustin was swinging. Colton could be seen on the roof picking them off on the other side of the house. He had to stop and reload, but would have plenty to shoot at when he finished. Catalina came rushing out of the front door with a frying pan in her hand. She smacked the nearest one dead.

  “Cat! Cat!” Maxson felt his heart stop and for the first time feel fear.

  She luckily saw him and came running towards him. Pete Sullivan came crashing out of a window behind her and rolled to his feet gracefully. The shorter than average man was lean and nimble, with a receding hairline. Even though he was the same age as Maxson, he had a few extra springs in his step due to his smaller size. He had nothing in his hands, but came running in Maxson’s direction. Slug and Dustin also began to fight their way over towards him after hearing him yell after Catalina.

  Maxson didn’t wait and began to open the garage door with one approaching close. He had time to get the door open before Catalina wasted the creature.

  “Beat you to it,” Catalina taunted. “Now c’mon! What’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  Maxon ran into the garage with Catalina following close behind and the rest of the group behind her. He unlocked the armory and began to pass out weapons to his impromptu security.

  Maxson passed a .38 revolver to Dustin, “You ever shot a gun before?”

  “Of course! All the time back where I’m from,” Dustin boasted loudly and snatched it from Maxson’s hand, taking offense.

  “Make each shot count! Headshots or no shots!” He handed out a 9mm pistol to Catalina, a.45 to Slug and was going to hand Pete the .22 rifle, but he reached over him and grabbed the shotgun instead.

  “I’ll take that big guy,” Pete said giving him a hard slap on the back and laughing as he ran off. He knew Maxson wanted it.

  “Fucking Pete!” Maxson griped as they both ran out the door.

  “I’m better with the shotgun!” Pete used the stock of his shotgun to slam into the side of one the creature’s heads as he ran by.

  “You said that about the pistol, too,” Maxson scoffed back.

  “You’re right. I did,” Pete said before turning up the speed to pull far ahead of the group. He was too impatient to work as a group and Maxson knew he had a bit of a hero in him.

  “From the back, you look like you have a full set of hair!” Maxson said, watching Pete flip him off. He said something back, but he was now out of earshot.

  Slug fell to the back and was trying to keep up, but his pace was only a trudge behind. The round man was was having a hard time breathing and had to slow himself to walk until he rested himself against the tree. The .45 in his hand basically useless.

  “C’mon you fat fuck!” Dustin yelled at him. Pointing the gun recklessly at Slug. Not to intimidate him, but out of sheer reckless ignorance.

  “No shooting towards the home! There are people still in there!” Catalina yelled out at them, but especially at Dustin who had already begun to take aim at someone from their own group.

  Maxson had his .22 and began to help Colton pick off the ones that were away from the home. One by one they began to fall as he took a step forward with each shot. It was like shooting fish in a barrel as the bodies piled up around the home. The few that heard the gunshot that came towards him were just as quickly downed as the others.

  By the time the group returned, gunfire from multiple sidearms were coming from inside the home.

  “Get down!” Catalina dropped her chest to the ground, but was the only one to do so. Everyone else had begun to do their own thing.

  The house had already begun to enact their own plan. Dustin reacted by shooting a few and disobeying Catalina’s orders causing potential crossfire. Pete was acting like a desperado with a shotgun and a badge to kick ass. Slug wasn’t even a part of the formation and had been left far behind. They could only hope that he used common sense for once and didn’t accidentally shoot them from behind.

  Nobody was working together and they looked like an unorganized mess. It was only a matter of time before they shot all the creatures or shot one another trying to in the process. There was no time to relay orders to them as Maxson continued to shoot them down.

  Yargan Othur’s big frame could be seen pushing one out of the window on the bottom floor. He stuck his big red head out of the window and took a gander at what was happening and looking a little too casual for what was happening. A bullet from someone’s gun hit the wood right next to the window he was standing in. He noticed the bullet and looked at it briefly and without any other reaction. The burly red bearded man turned and casually leaned back into the home without a word as usual.

  Pete had taken a shotgun and made his way to the deck to shoot any walking towards the home. Slug, Catalina and Dustin were all walking up the side of the house using revolvers or pistols to take out the rest.

  The gunfire finally stopped and the dead died once again. The group walked around and put a bullet in the head of any that squirmed or twitched. A few rounds were wasted ensuring the dead remained motionless until they all grabbed bats, or stones, or even their own boots to smash in the dead’s heads. The house was full of cold bodies and a few that were still warm, but partly devoured. What was left of them was impossible identify without figuring out who was left after the mess. One of them was clearly a female, by the toe ring still on the half-eaten foot. Pieces of a man were found all over the living room. A palm without phalanges, a chunk of hair attached to a part of the scalp and strip of flesh hanging off a lump of exposed muscle from what looked like the thigh.

  Tyler and Krystal Richardson had both locked themselves into the basement. They were pinned down and unable to contribute to the fight, but were still alive. Pete and Scott weren’t happy about Tyler not joining the fray, because they both thought him and his wife acted better than everyone else.

  Mabel had watched over Henry while he recuperated and had put a dresser in front of the door. Suzie and Belle had done as Maxson asked earlier and locked themselves into the b
edroom they shared with some of the other women. Diego, Inez and Reggie had fought off the entire downstairs by the time they retrieved their guns which explained the gunfire from inside the home.

  Besides Colton, who Maxson would deal with later, the only ones unaccounted for were the Essex brothers, Charlotte Reynolds, Marge Ellis and Howard Tritt. Maxson knew it was Charlotte by the way her voice sounded when she cried for help and now the toe ring. A loss that the men at the farm would all suffer together as she was easy on the eyes.

  “Have you guys seen Marge?” Catalina asked everyone. Everyone shook their heads and began looking at the corpses that were all over the first floor of the house. Maxson still hoped that the torn apart man was one of the Essex brothers.

  Where the hell are they? Wondered Maxson.

  “I think these are Howards,” Slug held up the pair of flamboyant glasses that were originally intended for a female.

  Maxson stared down at the pair of glasses that almost felt like a symbol of hope for a new beginning for the Howard. “Those are them.”

  Fuck! Maxson clenched his teeth.

  “Catalina…” Scott said from the other room. “…I found Marge.”

  Maxson followed Catalina to see Marge on the floor. There was a hole in the middle of her forehead and she was staring straight up at the ceiling without blinking. They all stared down at Marge who went out fighting and was now lifeless staring back up at them. Scott kneeled down next to the body and taking a pulse.

  Maxson was surprised that he could kneel as easily as he did. He was almost a decade older than anyone that had fought off the horde.

  “Yip. Dead,” Being almost entirely Irish, Scott had red features like Yargan, but mixed with more of a reddish brown and patches of gray.

  “Not getting back up type of dead?” Maxson asked.

  “No. Bullet went straight through de’ brain,” Scott confirmed. A bullet to the brain was one of the best ways to kill the undead.

  Scott had seen tons of dead bodies up close before as a police detective before everything had fallen apart. Reaching down, he moved her head from side to side to let the light catch the wound in the middle of her head. Examining it from different angles and then lifting her head up. Looking at the back of the head he commented.

  “No exit wound. I bet you guys a pot of Irish gold that it was a .38, or a 9mm. No bigger. But it could even be that .22 ya’ got,” Scott eyes landed on Maxson’s rifle in his hands.

  “No way,” Maxson didn’t shoot once near the home.

  Scott nodded slowly, but agreeingly, “Aye, I’d say the entry wound is too big for you’re wee .22,” Scott, had been noticing looking to Catalina and Dustin. His fingers were checking for a pulse to make sure that he didn’t feel anything. “How ‘bout the two of you? Do yourself some shooting near the house?”

  Catalina looked down at her 9mm silently and Dustin waved the revolver at the entire room dismissively. Scott, Tyler, Krystal, Diego, and Slug all flinched when he waved the gun around prompting him to defend himself. “Calm down the gun isn’t even loaded. I was able to get all my shots off to save ya’ll.”

  “Give me the gun, Dustin,” Maxson put his hand out.

  Dustin looked at him as though he wasn’t going to at first. But he did, and slapped the gun into Maxson’s hand immaturely. “Fuck this.”

  “Here…” Catalina held her own gun out to Maxson. “Please… take it.”

  Maxson holstered both of the weapons into his waist band and Dustin stormed off. Scott went to go find some tweezers and other small tools to begin digging the bullet out of her head. Catalina couldn’t watch and silently walked out of the room and Maxson tried to follower her but was stopped.

  “What happened to Marge, Maxson?”, Belle said at the foot of the steps.

  “Marge is dead, Belle,” Maxson answered directly. There was no way to sugarcoat it now.

  “Dead? Huh… no… I was just talking to her… No! What… how?” Belle’s eyes went wide.

  “Howard and Charlotte too,” Maxson sighed, but knew it was better to just get it all out at once.

  Belle’s mouth dropped and her eyes welled up with tears. Maxson put his arms around her and held her as she cried on his shoulders. “It happened so fast…”

  “I know,” Maxson replied only being sleep less than an hour ago.

  “We’re not safe here… we’re not safe anywhere…” Belle began to conclude.

  Maxson squeezed her, “You’re safe right here, right now, with me.”

  Belle squeezed him tight and held him without any indication that she was going to let go. Finding the comfort in his arms of the beautifully shaped woman was easy for Maxson who had just put his life on the line just earlier.

  “Ay, Maxson. You use a hammer and an axe? What’s up with that?” Diego asked walking towards the very first corpse that Maxson had put down. It was on the stairs near them and the sledgehammer was still there.

  “No. That thing brought it here,” Maxson replied. Belle had walked back up the stairs to go check on Mabel, Suzie and the rest of the survivors.

  The rest of the group that was more familiar to Maxson was all still around while Scott still continued his investigation. Diego was giving him a questioning look without saying anything.

  “I’m serious. The creature used that hammer to break open the door… well I think,” Maxson tried to recollect. So much had happened he couldn’t remember if he actually witnessed the thing use it on the door.

  Everyone in the room was looking at him skeptically, other than Slug. For being perceived to be slow, he seemed to be the only one to understand Maxson immediately. His glistening head and round face covered in sweat and fear.

  Yargan had a stoic, but blank expression and had no idea what was going on. He was watching intently though, always looking like he was ready to do battle.

  “You mean to tell us that thing used a sledgehammer to break inside the home like a burglar would? Better hide our wallets,” Tyler mocked cockily with his arm around Krystal’s neck, looking to get a laugh out of the room. Dustin snickered with Pete joining and Krystal fawned a fake laughter, but rolled her eyes.

  “I’m not sure if it broke in the house with it…” Finally admitted Maxson.

  “Oh, now you’re not so sure,” Dustin threw in his voice.

  “Shut the fuck up, both of ya’ll,” Reggie hit the bottom of his closed fist against the side of a wall.

  The room went silent and Inez asked, “What happened Maxson?”

  “Well I didn’t see it knock the door in with the hammer, but when I tried to hit it, the thing used the handle to block my axe!” Maxson blurted out and quickly added. “I know it sounds crazy.”

  “Then that’s what happened,” Reggie nodded.

  “Either way, we need to get this place cleaned up,” Inez stated and Diego immediately began cleaning the place up.

  Maxson could hear a few of them laughing at him while he grabbed two smaller dead bodies and began to drag one by the wrist and the other by the ankle out the front door that was broken open. Standing on the deck was Colton. His hands were on the railing of the deck and he was looking down at the ground.

  Maxson said nothing to him as he dragged the dead bodies, but Colton followed him.

  “Maxson… I’m sorry… I know I fucked up,” Colton admitted.

  “Fucked up?” Maxson stopped finally. “Howard, Charlotte and Marge are all dead… because you fucked up.”

  “I know… I heard… awe-shit Maxson, I only meant to give my eyes a second to rest. I didn’t think I’d fall completely asleep!” Colton explained.

  “You didn’t think? Do you ever think, Colton? Seems like everything I ask you to do, you constantly are fucking up,” Maxson accused.

  “Awe-c’mon that ain’t true,” Colton denied while looking away looking away.

  “Watch duty… you fuck up. Keeping track of our ammo… you fuck up. The time I asked you to find to talk to those waterfront guys? What did you
do?” Maxson asked.

  “I fucked up…” Colton nodded. “But that wasn’t my fault. That guy was a piece of shit and his wife was hot.”

  “See what I mean, Colton? Do you ever take anything seriously? I mean any-fucking-thing?” Maxson could see he wasn’t getting through with him and was running out of patience.

  “Pérdon,” Diego said from behind. He was dragging a dead body out behind Maxson.

  Maxson shot Colton one last long look before walking off. Even Diego who was a nice guy that was usually always friendly gave Colton the cold shoulder.

  “Awe-c’mon, Diego!” Colton whined realizing that the house was mad at him. Walking to a spot fifteen yards from the house, Maxson gave him a nod of approval and Diego nodded back, “He mess up. Mess up mucho.”

  “He sure the fuck did,” Maxson could see Colton walking off and looking down.

  “How do you think they find us here?” Diego asked. His grammar sometimes off, but the confidence that he spoke it made it sound natural.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe they sniffed us out,” Maxson suggested, remembering the creature had no nose and jumped to the conclusion that maybe that was helping it smell.

  “They can do that?” Diego had never heard that before.

  “I really don’t know, but I don’t think much is known about them. If it is, that knowledge is in some underground military base and without a way to get that info to us,” Maxson said. It didn’t really bother him that they didn’t have the answers, but wondered if at least someone in the United States did. All he had to know how to do was survive and keep the others around him alive in the process.

  The two men stacked the three bodies and went back to the house for more. As they approached the home, Maxson could hear the faint crying of a woman on the side of the house. “Go ahead Diego, I’ll be back in a second to help.”

  Diego went back to work hard like he always did and Maxson walked to the side of the home where the crying came from. Catalina was leaning against the house by herself and facing away from him, but he could hear her stifling her tears.