Wake the Dead

by Vanucci, Gary F.

  He’d have to be more careful.

  He quickly got to the apex of the roof and peered carefully out at the scene below. There were dozens of the things gathered. He wasn’t sure where they’d come from, but he needed to do something about it. Consequently, he picked one out, knocked an arrow, steadied his breathing and let it fly. It was a perfect shot, cleanly piercing a zombie’s head and downing the wretched thing.

  “Now all I have to do,” he said as he retrieved another arrow from his quiver, “is that fifty more times…”

  He nocked another arrow and let it fly. It too found its mark truly. Time and time again, he hit zombie after zombie, hitting the mark much more often than he did not. And as the sun moved notably in the sky above, heaps of zombies littered the ground in various states of injury, mostly unmoving.

  As he moved around, he could not help but note a pile of things through a tiny skylight window in between the solar panel glass. The items he could make out included fishing gear, and he realized that there was an attic or crawl space above the ceiling of the cabin. That was something he would need to investigate—if he survived this, he supposed.

  He began to fire at the ones still feasting on the deer, and one of them stood, saw him and raced toward the cabin, much faster than the others had moved. The undead creature tried in vain to get up the side of the cabin, clawing and scratching as it tried to get a handhold. Others joined in as they noticed Alex on the roof, stumbling into one another, knocking themselves over in their frantic desire to get at him.

  “They fed,” he confirmed aloud, linking the feeding to the speed and strength he had seen on the first few encounters months ago with the damnable creatures. “The others are starving…it’s gotta be,” he said, reinforcing his earlier theories on the subject.

  He only had a few arrows left and would need to climb down and either shoot them, or retrieve his arrows. He downed three more, leaving only a pair left that he could see.

  He ran to the opposite side of the cabin, hung down from the roof and lowered himself down and onto the ladder.

  His heart thundered in his chest as he heard the sound of something approaching from around the corner, footsteps landing heavily on fallen branches and leaves.

  And it was coming fast.

  He leaped down, falling backward and rolling on his side, coming to a stop. His shotgun had come free of his grasp on the way down, too, landing many paces away. He could not retrieve the bow or quiver from his back in time before the thing was on top of him. As he began to get his feet under him, he caught sight of those dead eyes coming around the corner—wide, crazed and full of hate.

  As it rushed at him, he decided to allow it to close the distance, knowing at the very least that he could outthink it. He dropped his weight, extended a leg and tripped it up, sending it sprawling away headfirst. He ran to and grabbed the shotgun before it got to its feet again; he drove the butt of the rifle into the zombie’s head over and over. Its skull crumbled under the fury of those repeated blows.

  Another zombie closed on him and was upon him before he could spin to face it. The zombie extended a filthy hand, grasping the shotgun from him and he let it go, stumbling backward. But, before it could close on him, a black form appeared from out of nowhere to knock his attacker to the ground.

  Shadow!

  Alex removed his bow quickly, grabbed an arrow protruding from the eye of a nearby zombie, yanked it free, set it, and loosed it into this one’s skull. Shadow was tearing at the fleshy parts of its legs when it finally stopped twitching. Alex placed a boot on its head and yanked the arrow free as Shadow continued to tear at the flesh.

  Again, he was not certain, but Shadow seemed bigger than he last remembered…and stronger, too, he believed. Had to be the size of a full-grown wolf at this point, but again, he had no frame of reference. Perhaps Shadow was simply the descendant of wolves with superior DNA.

  Something to pursue another time, he lamented as he realized his day of work was just beginning.

  He went about retrieving all the arrows he could, along with his previously removed boot, and set to the task of finishing off any zombies that showed signs of movement.

  As he passed by on his way to inspect the deer, still retrieving arrows, a hand reached out and grabbed his leg and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

  “Shit!” he yelled in exasperation. He stood on the thing’s hand and drove his knife through its skull. He looked skyward and uttered a few more curses under his breath before his heartbeat slowed to a normal rhythm again several moments later.

  “Now…what to do with all of these bodies….” He quickly lamented the fact that he was going to have to bury them.

  It was then that Alex noticed that Shadow was bleeding from his side. Alex immediately ran into the cabin, which was in very bad shape, noting that several windows were broken and his door was open, slightly off its hinge, wildly looking for medical supplies.

  Later, he thought, as he found and retrieved the first aid kit in one of his packs, and ran back outside with it.

  He tried to dress the wound, but Shadow would not allow him near the injured area.

  Suddenly, he heard the sound again of footsteps and the sound of his cabin door creaking open. Is it Liv?

  He removed his attention from the wounded wolf in time to glimpse sight of the outline of a figure deep within the shadows cast by the cabin. He swallowed and peered within, trying to penetrate the darkness.

  His heart sank however as he heard the familiar moan of what could only be one of the living dead.

  It barreled down on him, rushing toward him crazily with arms outstretched.

  Alex calmed himself and quickly removed the shotgun from his back with one hand, pushing himself to his feet with the other, pumped a round into the chamber and blew its head clean off just as it got to within an arm’s reach.

  Its body fell away and he closed his eyes, awaiting the impact. Instead he heard the thud of the body as it slumped to the earth before him.

  When he opened his eyes again, its twitching hand was less than an inch from his right foot.

  “Fuck me…”

  ***

  Over the next few hours, Alex had managed to properly inspect the wound on Shadow’s right flank and recognized that it was not life threatening. It would undoubtedly heal on its own. It was what appeared to be a bite wound, but it must not have been very deep. Alex was also relieved that the wolf did not appear to be diseased or present with any hostility, he reflected thankfully. As he methodically began to hollow out a rather large pit in the ground some fifty paces west of the cabin, he considered the situation as he had come to know it.

  He figured at this point that he was immune to the source of zombie plague, but anyone he had seen who had died, immune or not, had returned to a life after death—and not the good kind. As far as he could tell so far, the disease had not affected animals either. However, he had no idea if the folks who were resistant, along with all of the animals, were carriers of the virus.

  “So I guess we’re both immune, eh, Shadow?” he said absently to the wolf.

  Further thoughts led him to believe that they had the virus inside them, but for some reason, after the initial wave that killed almost everyone in the world, a small percentage of the population was unaffected.

  Lucky? Alex considered. It is something to debate for sure.

  He did a quick inventory on the damage inside the cabin from the few undead that had gotten inside. They had broken windows, unhinged his door, and generally made a mess of things inside.

  It would take him days to clean it up and make repairs to whatever he could.

  He boarded up the broken windows, two of four, as best he could with some wood paneling scraps he found in the bedroom closet, along with the hammer and nails he’d brought along from home.

  He also located the crawl space in the attic and the ladder leading up to it, tucked right along the seams of the wooden panels on the ceiling, no chain
hanging and nothing to indicate it was even there. It was camouflaged well and Alex wondered if it was designed that way on purpose.

  If so, this person had thought of everything.

  Once he figured out a way to get a grip on it, using the other ladder to get a closer look, he pulled down and then climbed up the attic ladder. He immediately identified some useful items among the objects stored there. He saw fishing gear that included a tackle box and a pair of fishing rods, and a folded map, presumably of the surrounding area. He opened a cardboard box with tablecloths and plastic drop cloths neatly folded into squares, a lunch-sized cooler, a toolbox with basic tools, and an off-road bike that was currently in pieces. There was also an empty duffle bag and another backpack up there, both empty.

  Most notably, in the corner of the attic, was a handful of old fashioned and probably illegal foot snares. Some looked to be archaic bear traps from decades ago. That sparked his imagination and he began visualizing how he might go about setting traps around the cabin in the very near future so that he would never be taken by surprise again—by the living dead or otherwise. He also realized with some clarity that he could not let that happen again if he wanted to survive.

  Alex dragged the tools and the bear traps down and left the rest up there for a later date.

  He spent the whole day continuing to dig a huge pit, meaning to toss the zombie bodies inside, one by one. It was an exhausting endeavor over the next few hours as he began. His back was suddenly very sore as darkness began to fall. Shadow even helped him by trying to dig a hole beside his, which made him burst out openly in laughter.

  However, a short while later, Shadow was found tearing at zombie body parts and gnawing on them, dragging them away from the pit.

  “That tasty to you?” Alex asked skeptically with another genuine laugh.

  “It must be,” called a voice from behind him, stealing his mirth just as quickly, as the source of the feminine voice registered in his mind.

  “Liv?” he asked, unable to turn around to face her directly. He ran the gamut of emotions in that moment and remained still. Perhaps the exhaustion of the day’s work finally caught up to him.

  After a long moment, he spun around and sure enough, it was her. She appeared to be unharmed. Shadow growled, but Alex smacked him absently on the snout and the wolf lay down behind him.

  “What happened to you?”

  He looked more closely at her and saw that she had a tear in her eye. Alex was exhausted, covered in dirt and gore from his encounter with the zombies, and from digging the pit. But it all went out of his head when he heard her voice.

  “I thought you were gone forever.”

  “I was checking—I felt like I owed my sister that much.” She began sobbing uncontrollably as she fell to her knees. He ran to her and offered her comfort, embracing her and allowing her to continue sobbing until she stopped of her own accord.

  “So you went after your sister?” Alex asked her, holding her at arm’s length.

  “I went to the rendezvous point, waited there and even spent the night. It’s a few hours northwest of here.”

  “Didn’t run into anything…or anyone?”

  “No sign,” she admitted, looking him in the eyes and regaining her footing. “They never showed, but I did manage to kill one of the zombies who happened into the area. Shot him right in the fucking head,” she said angrily, reenacting the scene for him. “Oh, and this thing really has some kick!”

  She stared at him blankly as Alex continued held her gaze in silence. She finally strode over to stand before him, and held the gun handle out for him to take from her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to steal your gun.”

  “Well, I understand why you did…now. You know, you could’ve just—“

  “I know. I could have told you. But, I didn’t want my problems to become your problems,” she stated bluntly. “While I do like hanging out here with you, this is your place, not mine.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you about that, so, fair enough,” he said, looking around at the overall mess of the area. “Well, if you feel like you need to earn your keep, I’d be happy for you to help me out. There’s plenty of shit to do around here,” he said with a chuckle, gesturing to the remnants of bodies strewn about haphazardly, and then pointed to the pit. “Just take a look around.”

  “What the hell happened here while I was gone!?,” she asked, as if she had just realized the condition of the cabin area and the bodies. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. They aren’t, though.”

  “The place looks like shit,” she said with a grin, but he did not return it this time, recalling the anguish of the past few hours.

  “We were attacked here by a mob of them. They came in and devoured a deer carcass I had lazily left over the fire last night. I didn’t even consider that it would attract zombies. They fed on the deer and then they came after me and Shadow.”

  “Damn. Maybe they happened upon you by chance?” she suggested. Alex scratched his head and shrugged.

  “I suppose that is possible. Either that or they have a thing for deer meat.”

  “And…how the hell did you survive?!”

  “Wasn’t easy. Took ‘em down mostly with the bow, methodically, one by one. Climbed up on the roof and picked ‘em off,” he said scratching at his beard. “Now I’m digging a pit to bury ‘em. I’d kill for a hot shower after this.”

  “Just tell me what you want me to do, Alex. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help.” Alex said nothing in response, more than a bit annoyed that she had left him alone to face the attack without her. But, he was quick to stifle that ire and sighed, handing her a second shovel. The pair proceeded to hollow out more of the earth in relative silence.

  They made their way into the cabin as darkness stole the light completely and fell asleep quite easily under the collective strain of their physical and emotional exhaustion.

  The next day was fashioned with more of the same activity, the two of them working in conjunction to dig the first half of the day. Once Alex was satisfied with that, Olivia made her way inside to attempt to straighten up the cabin and clean the stains left by the undead invaders.

  They hardly spoke again that day and Olivia did not leave to look for her sister, which left Alex feeling very guilty.

  Alex punished himself, working harder as he dragged bodies, one by one, over to the pit, and tossing them in.

  That took the rest of his day and his back ached from the strain of it all.

  They took one break from it to share a meal—a huge plate of spaghetti with no sauce—barely speaking at all, Olivia apologizing to Alex repeatedly and him stating it was not necessary.

  Olivia even came out and helped him finish the task even after nightfall consumed their daylight.

  Once they were finished, the pair succumbed to absolute exhaustion. They fell asleep quickly, her on the sofa and him on the floor, while Shadow remained outside, lying in front of the door.

  No words were spoken.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning saw Alex up and going through a stretching routine, trying to get life back in his aching limbs.

  Memories of Sara, and what could have been, permeated his thoughts along with passing fancies of his unborn child. That angst, as well as the frustration of the past day’s events combined to motivate his workout session this morning. His heart raced and the intensity of the workout followed suit, as anger and frustration mounted.

  It wasn’t long after he finished that he found himself drenched in sweat. He grabbed a clean pair of pants and a shirt from the dresser he had brought into the living area many months ago, and stared at Olivia who was still sleeping on the sofa. He allowed her the luxury of that comfortable spot while he slept on a heap of towels and blankets piled up on the floor. The makeshift bed was comfortable enough, he decided, though his low back was stiff these last few days due to a combination of the sleeping area and the work he’d done these past few days.

 
Olivia did offer it back to him last evening, but she looked so tired that he could not take it from her. He stared at her sleeping and again, Sara’s face replaced hers in his mind’s eye. At first it was the face he had come to know and love those many years ago, before quickly shifting into the ghastly zombie he had put down in an unsettling fashion. He flinched, shaking his head in an attempt to free the hints of demons past plaguing his mind.

  He opened the door, strode over to the hand pump and began filling two buckets. He washed his workout clothes, stripped down to his bare skin, and with the second, washed himself with a towel that he cleaned and kept out here, hanging over the water pump handle for the most part.

  “I like what I see there,” called the voice of Olivia from behind him. Alex reflexively covered himself with the towel as she held her stare.

  “Do you mind?” Alex asked.

  “I don’t mind in the slightest, Al,” she said, smiling and making him feel even more awkward. She walked right over to him and pumped the handle, filling a pitcher with water, holding his gaze.

  “It’s Alex,” he finally spoke. “Or Alexander. My dad was Al.”

  She lingered for a moment longer, her eyes remaining on him until she finally walked away and into the cabin. Shadow trotted over to him and lay down near him in the shade. “I should have let you chase her off in the first place, eh, boy?”

  When Alex finally had himself cleaned, toweled off and dressed, he entered the cabin to the aroma of caffeine, which overwhelmed him delightfully.

  “What is that?!” he asked eagerly.

  “I had some coffee packs with me, so I used the stove to boil some water.”

  “Wow. That smells amazing,’” he said, salivating at the smell of something that reminded him of days gone by. She handed him a mug and they sat down at the table, sipping coffee from mugs.