The Real Night of the Living Dead

by Mark Kramer

  “You were a kid, Clara. You didn’t love me. And if you thought you did then you didn’t know what the word meant.”

  Her brow wrinkled as she said, “How can you tell me I wasn’t in love with you? I may have been a kid, but I knew what I wanted in life. I wanted you, Veimer.” She paused. “And you threw it away. A lifetime together, you threw it away for a job with your brother in Jersey.”

  I gazed at her. The smile from her face was gone. She was telling the truth. She did love me. What a stup I was. I never realized it when we were together. But we were kids at the time. So young we were.

  For what it was worth, I apologized. Then we spoke for a little more than an hour, talking about the old neighborhood and what made her want to become a nurse.

  By the end of that day, I realized, if I didn’t love her then, then there was a feeling inside me now, a feeling of not wanting to be apart from her, wanting to hold her and never let go. I cared for her now, but I was afraid that she didn’t care two bits about me. How could I blame her after having left ten years ago?

  That night, I laid in my bed at the dorm and stared at the ceiling until long after midnight. I couldn’t fall asleep. All I could think about was Clara, how beautiful she was, how I hurt her so long ago, the feelings I had for her now, and if she may still have the same feelings for me. I decided I would try my best to win her back. That would be my goal while I was stuck here, completing my sentence.

  A few days later, during my lunch, I snuck over to the nurses’ dormitory. I asked one of the women there which one was Clara’s bed. She led me to an alcove in the corner and pointed out the bed. I left roses ― that I asked Melvin to pick up for me from the florist around his home ― on top of the pillow with a note attached that read:

  To Clara, a

  Would you ever consider forgiving that dumb kid who made the worst mistake of his life when he bailed on an angel and left her to fly without her wings?

  Love,

  The Dumb Kid

  That night, as I was wrapping up my shift, I was taking the tunnel alone from N-5 back to N-3. She must’ve found out from my super where I was working, because, as I neared the end of the tunnel, her arms reached out from the darkness and pulled me in.

  We kissed for what seemed like ten years, making up for the time we spent apart. Then we made love right there in the dark, filthy, damp tunnel…and it was beautiful. The best experience that I ever had in my life.

  We were a couple after that night. We did our best to keep it a secret, only a few friends knew, but we planned on staying together. Clara said, then, “I love you, Veimer. And I don’t care how long it takes, I’ll wait for you until your time here is over.”

  We were dedicated to spending an eternity together. That’s why I was determined to reach Clara. Even if it meant fighting my way through hundreds of living dead maniacs who wanted only to rip my body apart and feast on my flesh.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I told them about Clara, my “childhood friend”, and how I wanted to be sure that she was safe.

  The only person still holding out on going to the children’s camp was Hank. The doctor’s only reason for coming with us was that he knew he wouldn’t be safe here. He just wanted to be sure we took the safest route possible to get there. And, since he was responsible for him, he was bringing the older patient along for the journey.

  For the past twenty minutes, we were resting. Then the older patient opened his mouth, “I am a very smart man, you know? I am a professor at Beaver College.”

  We stared at him, Billy smiling. No one said a word.

  Hank said, “Who the hell asked you?”

  The professor ignored Hank and said, “Do you know that Shakespeare created the name of Jessica?” No one said a word. Hank shook his head. “The name, as it is spelled today, first appeared in The Merchant of Venice. Jessica is the daughter of Shylock. I would bet you did not know that to be a fact?”

  “Hey, I got one for ya,” said Billy. “I bet ya ain’t know Garrett didn’t kill me. No sir. I got him though. He cried like a lil’ girl when he saw me, but I ain’t show no mercy on the sorry lil’ rascal. Shot’im and left’im for dead. The double crossing runt.”

  “My daughter is named Jessica,” said the professor, acting as if Billy didn’t even open his mouth. “She’s attending Temple University. I haven’t seen her since my wife passed.” He raised his eyes and looked at the group of us; I was sitting on the floor, between Melvin, who was sleeping now, and the nurse; Billy was on the other side of the nurse; the doctor and Hank were sitting across from us, leaning against the racks of food. “I don’t believe I am crazy. If I am, I have good reason, you see? This is my sixteenth day here at Byberry. Just last month, February sixth to be exact, my darling wife, who I love so very much, was robbed of her life. She was on the train that derailed in Woodbridge Township. She was one of many who were robbed of their lives. I cried for two days straight, as I thought I would never see her again. But the night after her funeral, she came to visit me by bedside.” He chuckled, saying, “We spoke for hours upon hours. How I adore her. Now she comes to me every night. Which is why we must leave now; I must get to my bed, so I don’t miss my darling Sharon.”

  “Shut your hole, Professor,” said Hank, “before I shut it for you. Please get these lunatics out of here…”

  The nurse jumped into a sitting position, screaming. She surprised all of us; Hank was about to shoot her until she started screaming for help. We could see the whites of her eyes looking at us through the mud caked on her face. It was then she realized that whoever was attacking her was gone. She stopped screaming but was breathing heavy, her chest heaving fast.

  “Geesh, girl, your screams would raise the hairs on a wolf’s neck,” said Billy. “I think I done crapped my pants.”

  The doctor rushed to her side. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

  “Doctor Cochran?” she said.

  “Do I know you?”

  She was still shaking as she said, “No, probably not…My name…is Pearl. Pearl Atkins. I just know you from seeing you around the campus.” Tears began running down her face. “They’re dead.”

  “Who?” said Doctor Cochran.

  She looked at him with wide teary eyes and said, “All of them!”

  Hank said, “Who’s all of them?”

  “In N-3, we were doing occupational therapy. We heard noises. We walked to the front. We saw patients running inside, but I don’t know how, you understand? They were dead.”

  “How do you know they were dead?” shouted the ignorant guard.

  “I’ve been in the morgue here. I’ve seen my share of dead bodies. That’s what they looked like. Like Death,” she said. “But they were alive. One of them had a bone sticking out of their neck, but they moved like it wasn’t even there. And they charged at us, like demons from Hell. I had no choice but to run. They killed the nurses that were in my station, the two Marys. I saw them being eaten as I ran, screaming. That was it, I remember running across the field. It was raining…But they were coming out. Everywhere.”

  “That’s where we found you,” I said. “You were lying in the mud. Billy here carried you over.”

  The lights flickered. The brief moment of darkness startled Pearl, and she screamed.

  “Vee, it’s ‘bout time we skedaddle,” said Billy.

  I nodded.

  Melvin’s eyes shot open, and he screamed in pain. Again, we were startled by the scream of someone in our group.

  I was even more startled when half of Melvin’s face blew off his head and splattered against my own face. I wiped the blood and pieces of flesh from my eye and looked to see Hank, both hands on his revolver, pointing it at Melvin.

  I froze.

  Everything appeared to be moving in slow motion. Then, when Hank’s eyes gazed at me, I exploded with rage. I ran and tackled him. As we hit the floor, the revolver flew out of his hand, and I began punching him.

  I was so goddamn angry. I
told him, I would take care of Melvin when the time came.

  My left hand was wrapped around his neck, while my right was balled into a fist and crashing against his face. I could feel someone trying to pull me off the filthy bastard, probably that doctor, but I kept going. I knew it wasn’t Billy trying to pull me off, because I could hear him shouting Yeehaa!!! as he bounced up and down in front of us.

  Hank wasn’t laying there like a slab of meat, he was punching back, but I couldn’t feel the hits. I had a long fuse, but once it ran out, that was it, I’d lose all my smarts, my senses. I was unstoppable.

  My eyes were frozen on him as the blows landed. By now, his nose had a new shape, with a little blood on his face to go along with it.

  It seemed as if I was on top of him for hours, but it was more like two minutes, tops. As my rage began to diminish, Doctor Cochran, with a little help from Hank pushing, was able to pull me off.

  I shouted, “Why the hell did you shoot him?”

  The dazed guard wiped the blood that had run out from his nose onto his upper lip. He stared at the blood, stumbled back a step or two, wiped his red hand on the back of his navy blue pants and said, “You got some nerve, convict. Why do you think I shot him? He was one of them sick people.”

  “Bullshit,” I said.

  The doctor interrupted, saying, “Gentlemen, please.”

  Billy the Kid was still cheering in the background.

  “Hey, bozo,” said Hank, “how would you know, eh? I looked right at him. He was one of them…Dead.” Saying the word like he had to force it out against his own belief.

  “Gentlemen, we need to control ourselves.”

  “Who’s a gentleman, doc?” said Hank. Billy got in one more Yeehaa!!! when Hank turned to him, shouting, “Would you please shut the fuck up, you scrawny little shit.” Billy stopped and laughed. The professor, with his bare ass showing through the gap in his gown, was shaking his head, disgusted with Billy’s behavior. Pearl was sitting on the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs, trying to pull herself together. Hank turned to Cochran, “This convict ain’t no gentleman. Go ahead, ask him why he’s a convicted bum.”

  I had the urge to pound his face again, but my urge was interrupted by the start of another kind of pounding.

  A pounding on the back door.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It started as a low single continuous thumping.

  Our eyes were glued to that back door.

  The thumps were followed by a long drawn out moan.

  Pearl yelped. Hank whispered for her to shut up. I turned to her and could see her bottom lip quivering.

  Then the single thumps multiplied by five. The moans were magnified. They were outside N-5 and growing. Fast.

  “We should leave,” said Doctor Cochran. “I have a family, and I want to get home to them.”

  “We need weapons,” I said. “Where can we get weapons? Do you guys have a storage room somewhere?...Hank?”

  “You’re asking me?” he said, sounding surprised. “You are something, buddy. Unbelievable.”

  Doctor Cochran interrupted, firing back at Hank, saying, “Enough of this. If you don’t want to assist us, then I will be sure to ask for your resignation once this madness is over.”

  “Resignation? Look at what the son of a bitch did to my face.”

  “What he did doesn’t even compare to what you did,” said the young doctor. “Murdering a man in cold blood.”

  Hank was shocked.

  Pearl was on her feet now. She grabbed the doctor’s arm, saying, “Please, let’s stop fighting and leave. I want to go home.”

  Hank said, “Say, I see how it is, trying to frame me for killing some lowlife who was going to attack us anyway? You should be thanking me. All of youse.”

  “I know the guards have a weapons shed,” said Cochran. “You lead us to it, and I’ll be sure to have you awarded with a pay increase and promotion. Not only that, but I’ll report that you put your life in jeopardy to save us all.”

  Hank’s forehead wrinkled. “Promotion? You kidding me? That’s even if we live to see the sun rise.”

  “You lead us to the weapons, we have a damn good chance of that happening,” said Cochran. “You don’t, then surely we will die, whether it be here or somewhere else on the campus.”

  The banging on the exit door increased. I could only imagine how many creatures were outside, desperate to get in.

  Hank wore a look of disgust, as he contemplated his decision.

  The door leading to the kitchen began to rattle and moan.

  Our eyes went to this door, barricaded with an empty rack. Through the square window, we could see three of these monsters, their dead yellow eyes gazing at us through the glass, and their faces smeared with blood.

  Knowing that we were hiding in here, their banging grew harder, and their moans turned to screams.

  Hank went to the corner and grabbed his revolver that had slid under the racks.

  Billy shouted, “Come on in. We ain’t scared of ya ugly boogers. We’ll bite’cha back. How’s that grab ya?”

  “Shut up, asshole,” said Hank. “Before I make you shut up. You want them to hear us in here?”

  “Hear us? You dumb bumpkin,” said Billy, “they starin’ right at us. Look at the one feller watchin’ you. He wants that fat belly a yours. To him, you like a big ol’ Thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings.”

  Hank punched Billy, sending him crashing into the racks and food falling to the floor. No one took notice of the blow to Billy. We were too busy concerned with the infected people on either side of the storage room, trying to get in.

  I ran to the sacks of potatoes and started piling them in front of the back exit. The rest of the group stared. I said, “Don’t just stand there, start bringing them over. We want to secure this door for as long as possible.”

  Billy ran right over and began helping. Then the doctor. Then Hank. Then the professor and Pearl.

  Within five minutes, the back exit was protected, and, with the door locked and the weight piled behind it, we had at least another thirty minutes before those creatures would be able to get inside.

  The same couldn’t be said about the other door. We all stood by the back exit, staring across the storage room, as the empty rack was bouncing off it with every thump these creatures sent.

  Hank said, “We’ll have to get through them. Through that door.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Then what?”

  “We’ll have to get to the service tunnel.”

  I started shaking my head, “It’s pouring out there. Tunnels are probably flooded.”

  “Hey, well, that’s a chance we’ll have to take. I doubt they’re completely flooded. May be a few feet high, but nothing we can’t handle. Just be prepared to get your long-johns soaked.”

  I nodded.

  Doctor Cochran said, “That army that you said was headed this…”

  I interrupted, saying, “Yeah, if they’re not beating at the main entrance then they’re already inside, so we need to be careful and look out for each other. I’m sure those outside were part of that mob.”

  “What mob?” said Pearl, concerned.

  “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, darlin’,” said Billy, throwing his arm over the muddy nurse’s shoulder. “As long as I’m here, ain’t nothin’ gonna happen to you.”

  The square window on the front door was cracked. One of them hit it with a kitchen utensil.

  Hank was nervous now, saying, “Okay, okay, we get to the tunnel. We’ll go to the dormitory. From there, we head east to the guard house on the boulevard…”

  That’s when the lights went out, followed by a loud crash.

  They busted through the front door. And we couldn’t see a damn thing.

  Chapter Eighteen

  A few of us were screaming. But the maniacs screamed louder, and our screams only enticed them to move faster toward us.

  Hank was quick to grab the flashlight on his belt. He s
hined it on the approaching monsters. From the slim path of light hitting them, we could see that there were four, still about thirty feet away, but they were moving fast.

  “The racks. The racks.” I shouted.

  Hank was smart. He kept the light on them, while the rest of us wrapped our hands around the beams of a rack section, dragged it across the floor, knocking cans of food from the shelves, and pulled it out in front of us, doing our best to shield us from them.

  They didn’t have time to react. All four ran into the metal rack. One hit so hard that she was knocked back, falling to the floor.

  Hank stood behind us, shining his light, as we held the rack steady.

  One of the creatures got smart and started moving around the rack.

  “Push it over. Hurry!” shouted Hank, the beam of light bouncing as he grew nervous and shaky.

  We grunted, pushing the heavy rack. It toppled over on to the creatures, pinning them down for the moment, burying them under a few hundred pounds of weight that consisted of the metal rack and canned foods and fruits.

  Hank shined the flashlight on the rack; hands cleared a path through the food and were reaching up into the air, trying to grab hold of any one of us. One of the arms reaching up was layered with blood and bites, chunks of flesh gone; another helpless victim forced to become one of the infected. The infected woman, who had crashed and fallen, was free from the chest up. The heavy rack had broken a few of her ribs, two of them were poking out of her side. She flailed as we followed Hank around the fallen rack and past the creatures.

  The others ran out of the storage room when I remembered Melvin’s wallet. I ran back inside ― it was pitch black ― and crouched down, feeling around for Melvin’s body.

  I found him.

  My hands were wandering around his waist, feeling for his pocket with the wallet and keys.

  The infected woman, with the broken ribs, was still pinned, but was close enough that the tips of her fingers were scratching at the back of my pants, trying to capture me.