by A. L. White
For a while, Zeus and Perseus kept the zombies at a distance from Virginia. The circle around them began to close in tighter and tighter, until there was no daylight left to be seen. The only sounds were the awful moaning murmurs of the zombies, punctuated by the lads’ snarling and teeth snapping together. Virginia closed her eyes and thought about her family and Bob. In her mind, she had done her best to survive in this world that was left to them. If not her father, she was sure that Bob would have been very proud of her and the lads. Sleep was coming on fast for her, probably from the loss of blood, Virginia thought. It didn’t matter to her now, did it? Not much point in figuring it out just before she was going to die.
CHAPTER 24
Charlie and Tim scanned the corpses from the roof of the school using high powered rifles with scopes. Any movement and either man would have placed a bullet square into the zombies head. Below, others were walking through the carnage checking for survivors and verifying that the zombies were dead.
“Tim, keep a good eye on the RV, too. I am going to check the front,” Charlie said as he walked through the snow toward Main Street.
“Gotcha, boss,” Tim confirmed.
There were fewer bodies in front of the school, but still more than expected. Wiping the snow from the ledge and then using it to rest the rifle on, Charlie started slowly scanning the corpses for movement. Of the fallen, a few of the faces looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember if he knew their names or not.
Sudden movement coming down Main Street in his peripheral vision caught Charlie’s attention. Swinging the rifle over and looking through the scope, he saw the massive herd coming toward them. A few yards from the front, there was what looked like the two dogs and the girl that had just come to the school; lying in the snow nearby was the big guy, Todd. Charlie ran over to where Tim was and grabbed the backpack laying nearby in the snow. Pulling the flare gun out with two flares, Charlie fired the first toward the herd.
“Tim, go to the front and try to keep the creatures off the people in the street as best you can!” Charlie ordered as he headed toward the door, grabbing a few sticks of dynamite as he passed. Once he was out on the schoolyard, Charlie caught sight of Boo and Lori, and he began franticly waving his hand.
“Charlie, what is wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost,” Boo said.
“There is a whole shitload of the creatures coming down Main Street. That isn’t the worst of it; the girl and the dogs are lying in their path between us and them.”
Lori lost all color in her face and sprinted toward Main Street. Jermaine and Al followed, trying desperately to catch up. Once on Main Street, Lori saw the group lying directly in front of the herd. Again the three broke into a full run toward Virginia. Just past the library, Lori’s little sister faded from view. The zombies now had them surrounded, and were closing in. Luckily Lori and the others were still unnoticed and had the element of surprise on their side.
The first volley of gunfire and explosions had little effect on Lori. Her focus was completely on reaching Virginia and pulling her out of there safely, if possible. The closer Lori got the more the feeling came over her that all was lost and hopeless; despite that her body felt stronger and impervious to pain or feeling. There was no way of knowing why or how she could be feeling both at a time. Before her the creatures were falling in ever larger numbers. The gunfire was no longer in volleys, but a constant echo of gun blasts broken only by the sound of large, concentrated explosions. Off to the left a whooshing sound cut through the noise and fires erupted in several of the houses. People were coming up the street to join in the rescue.
Finally reaching Virginia, Lori reached down for her bow and shoved the end into the head of a large zombie. She then jumped onto the back of the next one, sinking her teeth into the neck while reaching around to rip out its throat. In her mind it was her and the zombies alone. There was no reason to be found in her actions; there was only death and destruction. Strength that Lori had never known came to her as she worked her way through them, hissing and growling. Once she made it to Virginia and Todd, she whirled around at the herd, picking the largest one that she could find. Springing like a tigress, she was on it, sinking what she would later think were fangs into its neck. The creature tried to break free of the death grip Lori had on it, but could not. There was a sudden blast close to her ear and the zombie’s head exploded, taking her quarry down. Landing on top, she jumped up and onto the next target. Over and over, the instinct to kill led Lori through the maze of zombies surrounding them. After a while she didn’t even hear the ruckus around her. She saw the creatures and she killed them where they stood.
Al tried to keep up with Lori as best as his old legs would allow, but he settled for standing guard over Virginia and Zeus. Anything that got passed Lori had to make it through Jermaine, and then Al. For the first time, there was no hint of fear within him. There is no time to be afraid, he thought to himself. Everything moved in slow motion. Each shot he fired hit its mark, and with machine precision, the next was lined up. Then, seeing Lori off in the distance, fear returned to Al for just an instant, but long enough. Al noticed that Lori looked more like the zombies they were fighting than she looked like herself. Her skin was gray and sallow; Albert could swear on his mother’s soul that he saw the glint of fangs in the remaining light. Al closed his eyes and shook his head in a desperate attempt to rid himself of the vision.
Al didn’t see the creature get past Jermaine; charging with speed, toward him. The last thing on earth that Albert saw was the contorted, half decayed face of a zombie as it reached into his chest, breaking all of his ribs. The creature bit down on Al’s face as it pulled his still beating heart out. As Al fell to the ground the first of three shots hit the creature, causing it to twitch with each strike. Regaining its footing, the creature took Al’s heart and walked off toward the bridge. The zombies were all walking away. No one had ever seen the creatures break off an attack before.
Lori fell to the ground, exhausted, barely able to breathe. She felt as if her body was on fire and about to explode any minute.
“Umm, are you okay?” Jermaine asked.
Turning her face away, because she wasn’t sure exactly what she looked like and feared that she may look like a zombie, Lori replied, “I am fine. Virginia?”
“I think she will live. Deep down I think she has a mean side that will not let her be anything but fine,” Jermaine said kneeling down beside Lori. “We lost Al, though. I think one got passed me.”
Charlie and Boo made their way over to Lori and fell to the ground. It was easy to see that Boo had suffered some pretty bad wounds during the fight, but Charlie looked like he was okay.
No one said anything for a few minutes while the three stared at Lori. Seeing is believing, except the three were seeing something that their minds refused to believe. All around them people were moving through the corpses; congratulating each other on a great victory. Most felt it would be a turning point in the human existence on earth. Doc was leading a group of men from one corpse to another, looking for wounded. When he made it to their group, Doc kneeled down and started checking Virginia’s leg.
“Looks like you’re going to make it, young lady,” Doc said with a smile.
Moving over to Albert, Doc closed his eyes and whispered something into his ear. Rising and moving over to Boo, he knelt again.
“I am doing well, Doc. Why don’t you go help someone that needs it?”
“Beau, I do believe someone has shot you. Do the creatures carry guns now?” Doc asked smiling.
“No, they do not!” Boo replied. “I think one of ours got a little excited and started shooting anything that moved. I heard someone yell sorry right after I got hit!”
Turning to one of the men that followed him Doc motioned, “Take these three to the main floor of the library. Someone stay with them while the rest of you go grab some cots. I will be along in a little while to check on them.”
With that Doc continued h
is way checking the wounded.
Lori stood up and reached a hand down to Charlie. Looking up into her eyes, Charlie couldn’t believe how beautiful they were now after seeing what he had seen moments ago. Charlie was unsure at first if he should grab the hand being offered. Jermaine interrupted his contemplation, “Look, what you fellas saw a little while ago isn’t anything. I trust my life in this woman’s hands now just like I did before we got here.”
Everyone could hear the defensive nature that Jermaine’s tone had taken.
Charlie reached up and took the hand being offered. As far as he could tell this whole battle may have turned out a lot different had Lori not charged into the herd the way she did.
“I have been in battles across the South Pacific, said prayers to the All Mighty in a foxhole that I shared with an atheist; I have seen all natures of evil back in those days. Cost me my wife and boys when I came home as I will forever be stuck in those places…what I saw today is no different than what I saw back then,” Boo said.
“You actually pray? Know the words to a prayer?” Charlie asked jokingly.
“Yes, I do. And I sure as hell did that night. Funny thing is, my atheist friend was pretty good at praying by morning, too.”
The men went over to Virginia and gently picked her up. Breathing normally but exhausted, she said nothing until they started to move toward the library, “Are Todd and Zeus ok?”
Todd was curled up in a ball where he had first hit the ground covered in blood. Next to him lay Zeus and Perseus, as if they were standing guard over their new friend.
“Looks like they’re fine to me,” Lori replied. “Todd, do you want to go with Virginia and make sure she gets to the library?”
Todd jumped up on his feet, “Really? Can I go too? Can I look for Tressa after we get in the library?”
One of the men chuckled and replied, “Tressa is busy making food for these brave people. You can go see her in the kitchen if you want, Todd.”
“I better make sure Virginia and the puppies are okay first, Mister.”
Todd reached down and petted the lads, then followed the men carrying Boo and Virginia.
Two men walked alongside Lori until Charlie and Jermaine politely pushed them away from her, taking their place. Neither of them liked the way those two were acting toward someone that they personally thought was a hero. Lori was quite possibly the only reason they were all walking and talking right now. Charlie made a mental note to talk to Doc about it.
CHAPTER 25
The back half of the main floor of the library had been turned into a make-shift triage center. The wounded went there first then would move to either the rooms on the upper floor, or be carried out the side entrance to a waiting van. No one talked about where they were being taken to, or why. Whenever it was brought up to Doc or Aunt Zoe they would skirt the subject and start talking about the patient’s own issues. Virginia noticed that Charlie was stopping by to see Lori on an almost routine schedule. Not knowing how long they had been in the library frustrated her, but it soon passed. On one of the visits Charlie brought along what Virginia thought were the ugliest plastic flowers that she had ever seen. When Lori questioned him as to where he had found the plastic roses, Charlie simply said, “Old lady Grabitz never could grow anything, so she surrounded her home with plastic flowers. If you asked her, she would tell you that she was the only one with beautiful flowers during the droughts.”
Thinking that maybe something was happening between the two made Virginia happy. She liked seeing how Lori lit up every time he visited. She was so happy with the ugly, fake flowers. It had been a long time since Virginia saw her glow like this. It was hard to believe that she did, after what everyone saw that day. Lori’s secret and knowledge of what was inside of her was out. No one acted strange, they all acted as though they had not seen anything; or so Virginia had thought.
That day, when Doc made his rounds, Charlie asked him, “Why is Lori still in the library? When is she going to be free to go back to the dorm?”
Doc sighed, “Charlie, first, I am not sure she can return to our room with the way you are carrying on. Secondly, we have a few things to talk about before Lori is free to go back over to the school. On the other hand, Virginia is getting around here pretty well; she could possibly go by next weekend.”
“Doc, I don’t see a reason for either to be in here. Boo was wounded just as bad as the girl and he is back at the school,” Charlie replied.
Doc looked around at the other patients in the room, then reached for the crutches near Virginia, “Come on, then. I think it is time we have a talk.”
Doc led them into a side room that had been used in years long passed for Saturday afternoon readings to the children. He motioned for everyone to sit. He helped Virginia into a chair and closed the door. Doc took in a deep breath while he searched for the words to say, just as he had done so many times in the past when preparing to give bad news.
“Everyone here thinks Lori is a hero. In fact, they are having a celebration dinner with games for the kids this coming Saturday.”
“Then she should be allowed to be there; if it is a celebration in her honor,” Charlie replied.
“Well, it isn’t just in her honor, Charlie. A lot of people had a hand in the outcome of that day: Todd, Virginia, you, and countless others.”
“We all did our part, Doc, but if she didn’t block the viaduct, or charge into the herd to save Virginia, nothing would be here now and you know that. Or perhaps you don’t know that, because I don’t remember seeing you fight the creatures!” Charlie stated.
Doc tried to pat Charlie’s shoulder but was brushed away. He turned toward Lori, “I don’t know what happened to you out there. I don’t know if you’re turning into one of those creatures or if, inside of you, you hold the secret to turning them back. I do know that other than the few who fought alongside of you, you scare a lot of the people here now. They think one night you will wake up as a creature and kill as many as you can. And you demonstrated you’d do a good job of it.” Looking over at Virginia, Doc continued, “You have scared the hell out of them since day one. How does a girl of fourteen or fifteen get so good at killing?”
Before either could reply, Charlie asked, “So they are doomed to live in the library forever? Or…?”
“Don’t be silly, Charlie. The library couldn’t hold or keep anyone in that didn’t want to stay here. Even now there would be no way for us to keep them in here. I wanted to move Lori over to the jail, but Beau said he would take down any man that tried to move either girl out of the library. Funny thing is, all you kids gave him the name Boo because he scared you, and now as an old man, he still does.”
“So what are our options?” Lori asked.
“The best I can come up with is for you two to leave. Follow that map of yours, and try to find a safe place to hold out until the world decides to right itself.”
Charlie stood up and faced Doc, looking him squarely in the eyes, “What the hell are you talking about, Doc? That is not what you said this place would be!”
Not budging an inch, Doc replied, “Then maybe you should step up and lead, Charlie, because after that day these people feel they have something here worth protecting, and they will protect it. I can’t promise you how long I can hold them back, or even how long their fear of what Beau will do will stop them, but most of the ones that survived are not from Rivers Crossing; they don’t have the same feelings for what we set out to do. They are looking to survive and rebuild what we all had before this.”
“So to do that, we kill innocents? Boot them out of here and let them fend for themselves?”
Doc sat back down, “I think that these two could take care of themselves just like they did before getting here, Charlie.”
Charlie too sat back down, “Then it is settled, isn’t it? The three of us will leave as soon as I can get some supplies together.”
“Aww, come on, Charlie! No one says you have to go!” Doc exclaimed.
>
“Virginia and I will be fine by ourselves, Charlie. You don’t have to leave your home,” Lori added.
“Doc, I have said since the beginning that as soon as you got things going here, I was leaving. Well, you have things going somewhat, and I don’t much like what I see around here anymore!” Charlie added.
Doc knew the look on Charlie’s face well enough to know that no amount of reasoning would change his mind. “Charlie, we have tried hard to make the people here feel like they are part of the community. It is the only way we can start rebuilding some kind of normal life here.”
“Understood Doc, and I wish you the best of luck with that,” Charlie replied.
“Nothing will change your mind?”
Charlie took a long look at Virginia, and then into Lori’s eyes, “I don’t think so, Doc.”
Doc dug deep into his coat pocket and pulled out a worn out, old Chicago Bears key chain with two keys dangling from it. “Outside, you will find a black Chevy Suburban with a full tank of gas. Tim and Tom went over to your old house and went through it room by room. They have assured me that it is safe to stay in. Thought maybe the ladies here would be a little more comfortable there; if you’re all right with that, Charlie.”
Charlie smiled at Doc, “That would be fine, my old friend. Thank you, Doc.”
Doc stood up and walked over to Charlie, handing him the keys, and surprised Charlie by enveloping him in a bear hug, “You take care out there, Charles. I have always thought about you as if you were the son I never had.”
Breaking away, Charlie could see that Doc had a tear rolling down his cheek as he said good-bye to the girls and left.
Charlie looked over at Lori and said, “Well, are you two ready to get out of here?”
