Evolution of the Dead

by R. M. Smith

  Scott walked down the length of the truck on the passenger side while Nick walked the driver’s side.

  “Clear over here,” Nick called out.

  There was nothing on Scott’s side either.

  They both looked under the truck. Nothing was there. The back end was still pushed against the other two trucks. Nothing had moved.

  Scott asked Carmen, “What did you feel?”

  “It felt like the whole truck shifted.”

  Scott asked the other three girls “Did you guys see anything?”

  They all shook their heads no.

  The box end of the truck visibly shook again.

  Her eyes wide, Kim said, “There’s someone inside!”

  Rita’s mouth dropped open.

  “Back up you guys,” Nick said. “I’m gonna move the truck forward.” He jumped into the driver’s seat.

  Everyone backed out of the way.

  Nick turned over the engine. He drove the truck forward a few feet. Putting it in park he jumped out and met the rest of them at the back of the truck. The back doors weren’t latched.

  “Oh shit,” Rita whispered to herself as she backed away from the rest of them. She walked to the front of the truck.

  Carmen closed her door. She kept watch out the side mirror.

  “Ready?” Scott asked as he grabbed the unhooked latch on the back door.

  Nick nodded.

  Scott pulled the door open.

  A voice asked “Who the fuck are you people? Why did you lock me in here? Where are we?”

  “Who the hell are you?” Nick asked.

  A fat short man with a cue ball cover up wearing a three piece suit jumped down out of the back of the truck. “I’m Norman Hinshaw! This is my truck! It’s from my store! What are you doing with it?”

  Scott asked, “What do you mean it’s your truck? We took it from the Rent-A-Center.”

  “I’m the manager of the fucking Rent-A-Center! I’m gonna call the cops on you sons of bitches. You stole my truck!”

  “Trucks,” Kim said, correcting him. “We took all six of your trucks.”

  “All six? What the hell are you doing? Who told you it was ok to take them?”

  Carmen saw Norman step around the rear of the truck. “Aww shit,” she whispered.

  “She did,” Kim said pointing at her.

  Norman walked up to her side of the truck. “Carmen Mayfield! You’re fired!”

  “Whatever,” she said.

  “And I’m calling the cops on all of your asses.”

  “Go ahead,” Nick said. “None will come.”

  “Oh yes they will,” he stammered.

  “Oh no they won’t” Kim stammered back at him. She felt like bopping him on the top of the head with her fist.

  “Why won’t they?”

  “Take a look around,” Scott said.

  “Fine.” He waddled over to the edge of the bridge. His jaw dropped. “Holy shit.”

  “Yeah. Holy shit is right.”

  “I thought it would be over by now,” he said quietly to himself. “But it’s not. It’s everywhere!”

  “And this is the only safe place in the city,” Nick said. “Thanks to Carmen, we’re safe; including you. So I’d say you owe her an apology for saving your sorry ass.”

  “She still stole my trucks. All of you did.”

  “Get over it, fat man,” Scott said.

  “The name is Norman. Norman Hinshaw, Rent-A-Center manager.”

  “The royal prick,” Carmen added loudly as she pushed her door open again.

  He glared at her. He saw that she wasn’t wearing any clothes, just underwear. “Put some clothes on. My God.”

  “They got puked on, do you mind?” Carmen said angrily.

  Kim asked, “Hey, where did Rita go?”

  “Rita isn’t here,” Norman said quietly – or at least he hoped she wasn’t.

  “I’m here, Normie,” Rita said from the front of the truck.

  Norman put his hand over his chest. “Oh. So you’re in on this too?”

  “No. I came along with them. They saved me; but um Normie…What the hell were you doing in the back of our truck?”

  “Your truck?” Scott asked confused.

  “Hiding,” he said looking away from her.

  Rita cried, “You saved your ass, didn’t you, you bastard?” She stormed over to him, scolding him with her finger. “You left me there to die, didn’t’ you?”

  “Well I…”

  Nick walked back to the rear of the truck with a smirk on his face.

  “You’re safe with us, Norman,” Carmen said. “We used the trucks to block off the road so none of the freaks could touch us. They can’t get to us here.”

  “Well, thank you then I suppose,” he said looking at her bare legs.

  “You’re welcome then, I suppose.”

  Nick came back to the front of the truck. “This guy has been storing food and water in the back of this truck. There’s cases of soda and bottled water and boxes of canned soup and crackers. A mattress, some candles, all kinds of shit. What are you, some kind of prepper?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re not a prepper, Normie! Quit lying. This was where we came to have sex.”

  “What the fuck,” Carmen said. She felt nauseous. Janet stifled a laugh behind her palm.

  “That’s not true,” Norman said, sweat beading on his brow. “Well, not all of it. I’ve been storing food in here for months, too. I had it just in case a hurricane came through, you know. I didn’t know there was going to be a plague or whatever this is.”

  “We’ll share the food,” Scott said bluntly.

  “Like hell. I’ve been storing this for me.”

  “And me,” Rita added, her hands on her hips.

  “You’re part of us now,” Scott said to Norman. “Like it or not, we’re all going to share your food.”

  Norm quickly moved to the back of the truck. He reached in. Pulling a shotgun out of a closed compartment, he turned it on Nick who was steps away.

  “Whoa. Wait.”

  “It’s my fucking food. It’s my shelter. You all stay the hell back.”

  “Calm down, Norman,” Carmen shouted back at him.

  “You shut up.”

  “Normie, we had plans,” Rita said with a tear in her voice.

  “They’ve changed.”

  “Listen, come on, man,” Scott said with his hands up in the air. “We’re in this together. Nobody needs to get hurt.”

  Norman was pointing the gun back and forth between Nick and Scott. Kim was still standing next to Carmen. Janet and Rita stood behind Kim.

  “It’s my shit. I stored it. You want more? There’s some in the back of truck number two.”

  “Which one is number two?” Scott asked.

  “The one with the fucking green color coded key. Now leave me the hell alone or I’ll use this.”

  “Take it easy,” Scott said as he backed up, his hands still in the air. He and Nick both backed up next to the other ladies.

  When they were far enough away, Norman hopped up into the truck and pulled the doors closed. The frame of the truck squeaked when he got up into the back of the truck.

  Rita cried, “Normie! What about me?”

  “Fuck off,” he yelled from inside the truck.

  Scott walked to the back of the truck. “Come on man, you gotta at least let us have something in there. We’re hungry out here!”

  “Fuck off. Get it in truck two,” Norman shouted from inside, his voice echoing.

  Scott motioned for Nick to come to his side of the truck. He leaned over and whispered something in Nick’s ear. Nick nodded and quickly went around to the driver’s side of the truck. He got up into the cab. As fast as he could, he started the truck, threw it into reverse, and backed it into the other trucks.

  “Hey! What the hell?” Norman screamed from inside.

  The back of the truck slammed into the other two. Norman was trapped. “You as
sholes!” he screamed. “Let me out of here!”

  “Give us some of the food!” Scott yelled.

  “Fuck you!”

  “Ok, then stay put.”

  Norman started to hammer the inside of the truck with his fists. The whole box end of the truck was visibly shaking back and forth. Carmen had to hold on so she wouldn’t get tossed out of the truck due to the shaking.

  “Holy crap!” she said, bracing herself.

  Truck two was parked on the other end of the bridge with its rear pushed up against the rail. It was the one Nick had been driving. They all decided moving it out and then having to push it back in again would be too dangerous. They wouldn’t have enough time. The crowd of dead people had grown enormously on the other side of the trucks closer to the Rent-A-Center.

  Norman was going to have to give up some of his food. It was that simple.

  Nick pulled the truck away from the other two again. As soon as it was far enough away, Norman came crashing out of the doors with his shotgun at the ready.

  “Alright you bastards. Which one of you sons of bitches wants it first?”

  Scott stood his ground, his hands out in front of him. “Now listen, we don’t want any trouble, Norman. It’s getting dark. There’s an injured woman here. There are seven people here, including you. All we’re asking is for a little bit of food. We’re planning on leaving tomorrow at first light. I have a plane. I will fly us out of here when we get to the airport. I’ll happily fly you out of here with us. All we want is something to eat in trade. That’s all, man. So come on, what do you say?”

  Norm looked at him over his shotgun. “You have a plane?”

  “Yes. I’m a pilot. I bought it with my own money three years ago. I am a millionaire. I’m an architect. My family planned to meet there in case something like this ever happened. My father will be there. I have a younger sister who will be there, too. The plane is three miles away at Executive, you know, the small airport right over there…”

  “What buildings did you design?”

  Carmen sighed. “Oh God.” She knew Norman was going to be a dick about this. He always was. It didn’t matter what kind of a deal he was offered, he always wanted to have the upper hand. She said “Jesus, Norman, come on, take the offer.”

  “You shut up,” he told her without taking his eyes off Scott. “Just shut up over there. I know what I’m doing.”

  “I could offer you money,” Scott said, “but who knows what it’s worth right now. Look around us, Norman. We’re surrounded by dead people who want to kill us just by touching us. One touch, we’re all dead. You know that. So come on man, give us a little bit to eat.”

  “How can you be hungry?” he asked, his head tilted. “This has only been going on since lunchtime.”

  “Its dinnertime now,” Scott said without a hitch. “We’re all hungry.”

  “Ok,” Norm said. “I’ll give each of you a bottle of water and a sleeve of crackers. But nobody gets the Fig Newton’s. Understand? Nobody gets those except me.”

  “Those were mine,” Rita said angrily.

  “Rita, we’ll do fine with just crackers now, ok?” Scott said to her, trying not to jar Norman’s attention. He said “Sure man, no problem. Crackers and water. That’s fine.”

  “Alright.”

  Kim asked, “Do you have any pain medication in there? Carmen broke her foot and she needs to take some.”

  “No,” Norman said. “I just have food in here.” He lowered his weapon. As he reached up to pull himself into the back of the truck, something flew through the air and splatted on the back of his hand.

  He jerked his hand back quickly, shaking it. It was itchy. Looking down, he saw a pink bloody splotch of flesh on his hand, the skin around it blossoming in a yellow sickening color.

  Rita screamed.

  Scott looked to his left at the group of dead leaning over the two trucks, reaching. A woman with scaly dried skin had her attention on Norman. She was leaning back. Suddenly, her head jerked forward. She spit a small wet glob out of her mouth. It flew through the air and hit Norman on the back of his neck.

  “No!” Norman screamed. He turned and unloaded his shotgun into the crowd on the other side of the trucks. When the bullets hit the people, they didn’t move. Their dead skin puffed where a bullet hit. Dust and shreds of skin flew. There was no life in these people. The bullets had no effect.

  Another person, a man with one eye still dangling from a socket suddenly leaned back. His mouth formed an “O.” His head jerked and a small glob of flesh came flying out of his mouth. It hit Rita on the side of her face.

  She screamed.

  “Everyone get down!” Scott shouted. He ducked down. He ran to the front of the truck with Janet. Kim followed. Nick jumped into the cab next to Carmen. She rolled up her window.

  Norman was screaming, unloading more bullets into the dead crowd.

  Rita was bent over holding her face.

  Now more of the dead group were leaning back. The group had evolved. Now they could spit.

  Norman and Rita were pelted with hundreds of airborne specks of flesh and blood. As Norman’s body went into convulsions, he pulled the doors to the truck closed.

  “Sons of bitches,” he cried in pain. “You had this planned! I know you did!”

  Rita stood up, spread her arms, wailing in pain. Her whole shirt was covered in blood. She hobbled to the side of the bridge and deeply threw up over the side. More globs of spit spattered up onto her legs from below.

  On the other end of the bridge, more of the dead began to spit. Below the bridge, all of the dead looked up at the same time and started to spit into the air, attempting to lob their dead bile over the edge of the bridge above them.

  Scott held the two women close, pressing his body close to them, wrapping his arms around them, trying to shield them.

  The spit couldn’t reach them.

  Inside the truck, Carmen started to cry as she watched the spit spattering across her window. Nick was looking around nervously as the spit started to accumulate on his side.

  They were stuck.

  Rita fell face forward over the bridge railing. Her body slammed onto some cars below.

  Nick started the truck.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Carmen screamed, shocked.

  “I’m going to drive us out of here.”

  “No you’re not! You’ll run over those guys!”

  “We gotta get out of here!”

  “You’re not going to run them over! Honk the god damn horn! Let them know what you’re doing!”

  Nick put the truck into gear.

  “Honk the fucking horn, asshole!”

  He looked her up and down, pissed, scared. He didn’t give a shit what she was saying. “Why don't you shut the fuck up?”

  Carmen grabbed his forearm. She drug her fingernails across his skin. “You honk the horn and let them know what you’re gonna do, Nick! Don't run them over!”

  He yelled, “God dammit!” He honked the horn.

  Scott looked up over the hood at him.

  Nick yelled, motioning with his hand, “Walk backwards! I’m driving forward!”

  Scott understood. He told the girls, “We need to walk backwards.”

  As slowly as possible, Nick drove forward out of the range of the rain of spit.

  In the center of the bridge, they were in the clear. Nick opened his door.

  Scott came around to the driver’s side. He waited until Nick opened the door.

  “Thanks,” he said, careful not to touch the exterior of the door.

  Kim was crying.

  “Now what are we gonna do?” Janet asked.

  Angry, holding his arm, Nick said, “There’s not room enough for all of us in this cab, but we need to drive out of here.”

  “Norman is in the back of this truck,” Kim said, wiping tears away. “We need a different truck.”

  Instead of asking Nick, Carmen asked Scott, “How’s the one on the other si
de?” She didn’t want to talk to Nick anymore. He scared her.

  The truck in the center on the other side of the bridge was facing toward the Rent-A-Center. The only thing clear was the back end of the truck. Both sides were covered in spit.

  Scott walked over to the back of the truck closely followed by the girls. He unlatched the overhead door which opened upward. Inside there were three king size mattresses leaning against the wall, a wooden bedframe, a dresser with the drawers stacked on top, a detached mirror, and a couch with missing cushions. The cushions were stacked on the other side of the mattresses next to a sealed cardboard box.

  “We can use the mattresses as protection,” Kim said. She pulled the penlight out of her pocket and clicked it on. She flashed it up at the mattresses. “We can block the spit with them.”

  Scott said, “No. Let’s get in the back of the truck and close the door. Maybe the freaks will forget about us.”

  Kim climbed in. “Scott, here.” She pocketed her penlight and tossed him a cushion. “Get Carmen up here. Give Carmen the cushion to block any spit.”

  Scott caught the cushion. He went around to Carmen’s side. He almost grabbed the door handle by mistake. Luckily he didn’t or he would have been dead like Norman and Rita. Carmen pushed the door open. Scott lifted her out and carried her to the back of the other truck.

  Kim threw the dresser drawers outside onto the pavement. Nick stood by the back of the truck, debating whether or not to stay with these people or not. Carmen had pissed him off. She had hurt him. Blood was running down his arm where she scratched him. He gave her a dirty look as Scott helped her up into the back of the truck.

  Kim was having a hard time trying to move the dresser. With a sigh, Nick climbed up into the truck. He helped Kim shove the dresser to the back of the truck.

  Kim asked, “What happened to your arm?”

  Nick said, “I scraped it getting into the truck.” He jumped back out of the truck. He helped Scott set the dresser on the ground. They both shoved it off to the side. It slid over the wet cement and crashed into the guard rail on the passenger side of the truck.

  Kim knocked over the mattresses. They fit nicely laying down flat. Nick set the mirror down on the ground.

  Kim said, “Um, you guys?”

  Everyone stopped what they were doing. They looked at her with questions on their faces.