Cat and the Belle

by Victor Cruz

  “Ahhh!” Maxson reacted.

  Tearing through the fabric and ripping it off as Maxson jerked his arm away. The creature’s head flung back from Maxson’s tugging, but still had his arm. It came in for a third bite, but Maxson stuck his second hand through the gate to stiff arm its head. Its mouth drooling its black sludge as it chomped its teeth hungrily at the air.

  Fuck! He just bit me! Maxson panicked, knowing that a bite was always fatal. The chomping creature made it impossible for him to let go of its head to reach for his axe.

  “Maxson!” Catalina could be heard closing in from behind.

  Maxson was pissed. If he was going to die, he was going to watch the thing that killed him die first. Instead of pulling back, he lowered his shoulder and charged the gate in a short burst. Even with the lack of leverage, it knocked the creature off balance. It continued to hold on to him, with its with its grip on Maxson’s arm. While holding onto Maxson, its head flung back, but this time Maxson reached through the gate. Clasping at the back of its neck, Maxson slid his hand up and squeezed his fingers to palm the back of its head.

  “Take a bite out of this!” Maxson yelled, before pulling back with all of his might, and with him, the back of the creature’s head. The front of its face rammed the metal bar so hard that it might as well been Maxson’s axe. Wedged in the front of its forehead was the metal bar and it stood there lightly twitching before it came to a stop. It was motionless, but it was embedded into the bar so deep that it kept its standing. One of its eyeballs busted out of its socket to ooze black down its cheek and its jaw must have been broken by the way it was mangled in the gate.

  The dark blood ran down the gate with the creature standing on the other side, hanging from its forehead. Maxson pulled back and reached down to grab the axe before stumbling completely away and back into Catalina’s arms.

  “Maxson! Are you okay?” Catalina was beginning to inspect him.

  “I told you to stay in the car!” He grumbled.

  “You’re bit!” Catalina said grabbing at the hole in his clothing.

  “Yeah…” Maxson confessed with a long exhale.

  “No… Maxson…. No…” Catalina began to panic.

  She began to check his shirt, and put her fingers through it. Maxson could feel her fingers searching for the teeth marks in his arm, but even he could feel that there was nothing to be found. Catalina began to tug his shirt up and Maxson obediently allowed her to pull the side of his clothing up over his shoulder. Her hands felt small as they gripped his bulging and veins pulsating from the adrenaline coursing through him still. She twisted his arm, turned it, and even rubbed it up and down a few times. Maxson thought a few too many times for her simply to be checking, but that wasn’t the time and this wasn’t the place to be thinking about that.

  “I don’t see anything. You weren’t bit. You weren’t bit! I think that scarf saved your life,” Catalina stated unaware that Belle had made it for him as a gift. “Very lucky scarf.”

  “Luck had nothing to do with it. A man always makes his own luck,” Maxson stated logically. However, hearing that the tan scarf that Belle knitted and made him wear that very day had saved his life was surreal to Maxson.

  A surreal coincidence, that’s all that was.

  The fact that it even was in the zone the creature was biting in was incredible and he wondered what the odds of that were. It wasn’t like the son of a bitch was biting at his neck. Maxson wasn’t smart enough to do those sorts of calculations and began to put the layers of clothing over his chiseled form. He gripped at the tan scar and began examining the hole in the scarf which was the extra layer needed to protect him from the end of his story. “Well that’s fortunate, because I didn’t feel like dying today.”

  “What the hell were you even doing?” Catalina asked.

  “I was trying to unlock it,” Maxson stated what he thought was the obvious. Dropping the scarf and the thought of luck and destiny from his mind.

  “You’ll need some sort of tools to unlock that goliath of a gate,” Catalina responded back in her own obvious manner with a hint on condescension.

  “Yeah, and how would you know that?” Maxson said frustratingly.

  “You think they’d let just any big dumb lug like you just waltz right up and unlock it with your bare hands?” Catalina even shook her head at how naïve she perceived him to be.

  “Well it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Maxson said to her before adding, “I’m big, strong and brave, not smart.”

  “Yeah, well brave and dumb crossover a lot of the time, so just be happy that you’re big and strong,” Catalina sneered.

  “And another thing. What does my memory have to do with anything?” Maxson continued.

  Catalina didn’t respond, interrupted by the sound of the rattling gate next to them. Another creature had appeared next to the one that was still hanging dead off the gate. A third and a fourth followed before the entire gate was completely covered with them. There had to be at least two dozen of the dead crowding the gate and wailing loudly into the woods.

  “Maybe we weren’t being locked out. Maybe they were keeping them locked in,” Catalina corrected herself from earlier. Her words sounded like a whisper under the noisy cries of the famished flesh-eaters imprisoned by the metal bars and taunted by Maxson and Catalina’s presence. They wildly thrashed their arms through the bars of the gate causing it to rattle. As a united group, the dead shook the gate more than the powerful Maxson could ever hope to, but it was clear they weren’t going to break through even if they were doubled in number.

  Maxson thought they would be leaving soon, but Catalina was not satisfied, “Follow me.”

  Watching her jog off the path and down the stone wall that went into the woods. Maxson followed her with his axe picked up and at a ready position. He wasn’t going to be caught without it for a second time in the same day. As they trekked down the side of the stone wall, the sound of the lake grew louder and its upcoming clearing was signified by the rays of lights passing through the dark woods. The light reminded Maxson that it was day time, but it also showed Catalina a stump. She had been able to swim gracefully through the overgrowth of natural foliage that the woods produced.

  Maxson was athletically coordinated for his height and with his long legs he could top out at a respectably at a full sprint. But running in the woods was different sort of speed and was a place where he needed to be light on his feet. Something he wasn’t very good at. Dodging trees, shouldering through bushes or jumping over fallen trees was all part of following Catalina.

  “Hurry up!” Catalina summoned him with a hand and a hushed tone resting at the base of the stump. The stump was over a tall off the ground and had a wide base.

  Maxson wasn’t tired, but he could feel a light burn from keeping up with her. “What’s the plan?”

  “Stand on this stump. Lift me onto the wall,” Catalina guided. She began to point where she wanted him to stand.

  Maxson didn’t offer up an argument and positioned himself on the stump in a way that would be capable to maintain his balance. Once they were both ready, Catalina stepped her hiking boot into Maxson’s hand to use it as a step.

  Maxson simultaneously lifted her femininely hourglass form up and held her until he felt her weight disappear. She had grabbed atop of the wall and straddled it with one leg on each side of the stone wall as she looked around.

  “What do you see?” Maxson asked.

  “Sh, I’m looking. Toss me up your binoculars,” Catalina put her hand out to catch them before using them to peer inside the walled area. By the time she was done scanning, Maxson’s burning calves had cooled off and feeling rested. “I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

  “I could use some good news,” Maxson replied.

  “This place will work for our new home,” Catalina said.

  “How can you tell that by just by looking at a cabin?” Maxson wondered.

>   “It’s not just one big cabin. There a few, with a big mansion building. Definitely a vacation for the wealthy and elite. I can’t quite tell, but I can see a dock, boathouse, shed or maybe garage, and on the other side…very tall and beautiful building.”

  “What’s the bad news?” Maxson had an idea what it was, just needed to know how many.

  “More than fifty, less than one hundred,” Catalina said it with a shrug. “Let’s call it a hundy to be safe.”

  “Ah-hell, to be safe, she says” Maxson said aloud as he put the axe on his shoulder. He took a minute to scan his surrounding to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him. “Yeah, no sweat off your back.”

  “Quit complaining, you guys have got this. You were just saying you were big and strong, weren’t you?” Catalina said down to him. She stared down at his silence before breaking it herself, “If you don’t want to be in charge of this one, I know Konrad would.”

  “Nuh-uh,” Firmly began Maxson. “Konrad doesn’t need to be in charge of anything.”

  Catalina sat atop the wall still, “I don’t understand what you two have against one another.”

  “What the hell is he saying behind my back?” Maxson astutely replied, as he never brought up Konrad up to Catalina.

  Realizing she she had said too much already, she attempted to downplay it, “Calm down, its common knowledge you two aren’t the best of friends.”

  “You coming back down here anytime soon?” Maxson ignored her statement.

  Catalina swung her leg back over so she was facing outside the wall and towards Maxson. Lowering herself with her arms, she slowly made it down to Maxson. Maxson grabbed at her dangling legs. He brought her to the ground gently only to be smacked the shoulder roughly.

  “I didn’t need your help!” Catalina brushed herself off, before adding, “But thank you.”

  “Mhm,” Maxson ignored her attitude and grabbed his axe while she marched off towards the Comanche. “Besides, Cat, what are we going to do about that gate? We don’t exactly have a key.”

  Catalina stopped and turned abruptly. Her brown eyes narrowed in on Maxson. “Do you doubt me or something?”

  Maxson felt a chill go down his spine and realized the scariest thing in the woods right now was not the dead, but was the beautiful Latina woman standing right in front of him. “I-I never said that.”

  “You don’t think I can handle a gate?” Persisted Catalina.

  Maxson shrugged for multiple reasons, but mostly because he didn’t have a plan for it. “I was just saying that it’s a big gate and all.”

  Maxson could hear himself channeling Colton’s inner spirit for stammering out idiotic explanations.

  “Pft,” Catalina was amused and shook her head while walking back to the car. “You forget so much about me. Don’t worry, Maxson, I’ve got the gate.”

  Maxson followed her back to the Comanche. He couldn’t blame himself for his own forgetfulness. It felt like a lifetime since the infection had taken over.

  I’ve lost my brother… I’ve lost my past life… now I’m losing my mind… Maxson reflected.

  Most of the dead had given up and slumbered off from the gate by the time they returned to their vehicle. The one with the gate embedded into his forehead stood motionless with a few by his side that were sticking their arms out at them through the gate. The dead groaned their goodbyes and with their reaching arms waved farewell to their supper.

  Maxson looked at the creatures with disdain as he revved the engine in defiance to them.

  Save your sendoff, freaks, I’ll be visiting again, like the Grim Reaper.

  Cruise con catalina

  They had gotten out of the hilly woods and were back to entering flatter lands as they approached Greenbrook. The sun was still only beginning its trajectory down towards the horizon which meant plenty of daylight still left. A day that was filled with ups and down for Maxson. From thinking he was about to die, to now driving back to the farm with his dream car things couldn’t have been going better in his eyes.

  “Anything happen on the farm while we were gone yesterday?” Maxson said trying to make conversation.

  “Nobody touched your girlfriend, if that’s what you’re asking,” Catalina jabbed.

  “Nah, I wasn’t that asking that,” Maxson lied. “And she’s not my girlfriend.”

  “On her knees with your big cock in her mouth, and she’s not even your girlfriend?” Catalina asked.

  Hearing her talk about him and Belle was strangely arousing, especially when she called it his big cock Yet he was still unsure if he should fess up to what she was saying and looked at her with a blank look on his face.

  “Oh c’mon, Maxson, don’t lie. I accidentally saw you two one night,” Catalina said.

  “When?” Maxson asked.

  “The night Henry and Mabel made their relationship official” Catalina said, then gave him frame of reference. “The night they kissed while Diego was playing the guitar.”

  “What were you coming to my room for?” Maxson asked.

  “I can’t remember now. All I can remember is your naked form attached to her pretty little face,” Catalina said with a smile that suggested she knew she was pushing the boundaries.

  Maxson pushed through his discomfort like he always had to with Catalina to try and gain the offensive. “Bet that thought keeps you warm at night.”

  “Psh.” Catalina hissed and went silent for a few seconds. “Maybe.”

  Maxson was shocked to hear what she said. “Is that right?”

  “She’s a pretty little thing,” Catalina admitted. “I’m surprised she didn’t say anything about me.”

  “What would she say about you?” Maxson asked, slightly disappointed that Catalina thought Belle was the attractive piece and not him.

  “One night, we had a…. how would you say, a moment, or you could say a few moments.” Catalina remained cryptic.

  “No way,” Maxson’s mind almost couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing.

  “Yup,” Catalina said through a stifled smile, still unsure if Maxson was jealous, she asked. “That’s not a problem is it?”

  “A problem? Hell no!” Maxson hollered. “Did you both…”

  “No, Maxson. It was just a little kiss and some light touching. I felt too guilty for the age difference with her and felt like I was taking advantage of her. Unlike some people,” Catalina gave Maxson a judging stare.

  “Don’t look at me that way. I’ve been trying to keep her at arm’s length, but I’m only so strong as a man,” Maxson said. “When did you guys hook up anyway?”

  “A month or two before you two.” She stated proudly.

  “How?” Maxson was wondering where he was.

  “We were both drinking and talking about our losses. Crying in each other’s arms and holding one another and it just sort of naturally happened,” Catalina gave him all the details that she was willing.

  “I could see your sister being into that, but I just didn’t know you went that way, Cat,” Maxson said giving her a wide imaginative smile.

  “Don’t get any funny ideas, because I’m not! At least, not really… or haven’t done anything like that since Mason was alive,” Catalina said. “We were both just lonely. It gets lonely, struggling out here to survive, Maxson.”

  “I’m not judging,” Maxson said hearing her trying to explain herself. “That’s usually your job.”

  “I’m just giving you a hard time. I actually understand and am happy that at least someone is getting some,” Catalina confessed. “It’s kind of sad that Belle is my last. I should just fuck Konrad and get it over with.”

  “Konrad? What the fuck? Out of all the men? Really? Konrad?” Maxson couldn’t believe his ears, as his eyes saw the sigh for Greenbrook coming up.

  “What? He’s not that bad, really. He’s built like an ox and does whatever I want him to when I ask. He’s actually really nice to me too, even though some of rest of the group dislikes him,” Catalina tried to co
nvince him, or possibly herself. For a moment she looked loss before giving a light shrug. “I think he’s kind of charming once you get to know him.”

  “No. Not Konrad.” Maxson stated firmly.

  “It’s not your say, Maxson. I’ll do what I want with my body,” Catalina stated as firmly back and noticed that Maxson was not turning towards Greenbrook. “Where are you going?”

  “Back-roading it. Never been back here and I want to see what’s down this road.” Maxson decided to pass the town down the backroad that they’ve never taken before. They usually all lead to the main road or somewhere near it close enough he could always find their way back to the farm.

  Maxson was silenced by Catalina’s proclamations and in his mind was subconsciously conjuring up a plan to stop Konrad and Catalina from getting together in any sense of the word. It made his heart pang with what he knew was jealousy and his stomach churn from disgust as they slowly drove down the country side. The metallic black Comanche purred when it found a long stretch of road and Catalina had noticed.

  “I thought you use to boost cars growing up?” Catalina provoked.

  “You know I did, when I was younger, and times were simpler,” Maxson knew what she was getting at as he shifted gears to increase the speed.

  “Your brother must have been the driver? Or at least the fast one,” Catalina hissed.

  Maxson’s foot pushed down until he could switch gears once more and looked over at Catalina. He stared at her with his foot pushed down and until she finally backed down.

  “Okay, okay! Just stare at the road!” Catalina squealed excitingly, but not directing him to slow down.

  The Comanche was built for speed, but the speedometer was not meant to record it. Topping out at 120, the gauge could only flick as though it was trying to break through and swivel all the way around.