Zournal (Book 2): Cruising The 'Poc

by R. S. Merritt

  I realized I would be leaving Ginny unguarded if I went in the garage and helped Ann. Luckily, Ann picked that moment to come out, she let the shirt down and gasped for air for a few seconds. Then she tossed the shirt over to me.

  “Your turn. We hit the rope with the truck for the manual activation for the lock thing for the garage door to get pulled up. I think it’s going to take some brute strength. So, go take care of that, try not to need your eyes or have to breathe. That place is still pretty much tear gas central.”

  With that cheerful and completely useless advice I took a deep breath of clean air then went into the garage. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been but it still wasn’t pleasant. My skin instantly got irritated and my eyes started tearing up on me. I looked around for the release latch and the rope Ann had been talking about and saw them situated above the truck cab. I climbed up into the bed of the truck then slid onto the cab and started screwing around with the lock release that the rope pull was supposed to manipulate.

  I pulled down on the metal latch and the door slid up a little bit as the tension in it moved the door up a few inches off the floor. I moved down off the cab of the truck, into the bed of the truck then hopped down to where the garage door was. I grabbed it by the bottom and it slid easily up. When I had it up to about neck height I was tackled by an oriental looking guy with protruding black veins who was wearing a pair of shorts and screaming his head off as he tried to sink his teeth into my body.

  He got a big mouthful of my shirt and seemed confused by that. I realized I had no weapons on me. GI Joe had taken our knives and everything else and thrown them in a pile. I should have grabbed my stuff out of the pile on the way in but I hadn’t wanted it to get in my way climbing on the truck so had left it. I wasn’t going to let that rookie mistake cost me my first date with Ann, I grabbed the guy by his armpits and swung him out the door. As soon as I tossed him I ran and jumped up, grabbing the garage door and started slamming it shut.

  It didn’t shut all the way as the Zombie had managed to get his head and one arm underneath it. I picked it up and slammed it a down a few more times until the Zombie was no longer moving. His head was cracked open, leaking grey matter and blackish blood all over the concrete. Reeves and Thomas came rushing in. Reeves looked at the cracked head Zombie then at me.

  “Making enough noise their boss? Want to bang the garage on that guy’s head a few more times? He looks pretty dead to me though. If you’re done fooling around, we need to get the hell out of here before those Seals change their mind or the other guys get here. I grabbed your weapons, unless you just want to carry around a garage door to bash brains in with?”

  I gave Reeves a look he was getting used to, his humor was not appreciated. My body was shaking. I was pretty sure I had managed to pull out all my vertebrae when I LeBron Jamesed the garage door. I hurt. A wave of exhaustion hit me. After effect of the gas or whatever but I leaned against the wall by the open garage door and just tried to breathe for a second. Ann walked in through the door. She looked over at me then over at the Zombie with the smashed head, then back at me again, shaking her head.

  “Alright tough guy.” She stuck her hand out and I grabbed it and she grunted as she helped pull me up. “You Ok?” She whispered to me once I was up. She was staring in my eyes and holding my hands. All of a sudden I was very Ok. The wave of exhaustion went away. I moved in for a hug and a quick kiss.

  “Get a room!” Reeves yelled from across the garage where he was throwing crap in the back of the truck that he found on the ground. I saw him throw in a gas container he found somewhere as well. Hopefully a nice full one.

  I smiled at Ann and started working on getting everything loaded up and grabbing anything that looked useful. I gave us a minute to get everything together then we were in the truck, backing up, spinning around and rolling back down the two-lane blacktop through the marsh. We got in the truck and started driving.

  The route was pretty clear. We had to bypass a couple of wrecks and the random Zombie would run screaming at us here and there but it looked like Zombies and marsh covered islands with lots of canals didn’t mix very well. I was tempted to stop and search some of the homes for more supplies but figured it was more important to put some extra distance between us and the dysfunctional militia behind us. We’d managed to get away from them three times now and I was pretty sure that had used up all of our luck with them. As long as the highway was clear and we had gas I saw no reason not to try and get as far away from here as quickly as possible.

  About five seconds later Ann told me we needed to stop at one of the house because her and Ginny had to pee. Seriously. The end of the world and women are still screwing up road trips. Having no valid reason to tell her we didn’t have time for that, since she obviously knew that stopping may get us killed, I asked if it needed to happen now or if we could make it another few miles.

  We pulled into the next driveway I saw. My ‘few miles’ query had been rejected without anyone even saying a word. We drove down a long driveway to where the home was situated by the bay. The homes had started becoming a little less elaborate but were still way out of the realm of anything anyone in my family could have ever afforded. I pulled us in next to the front door and turned the truck off. I left the keys on the dash and jumped out. We didn’t take keys with us because if we were all running and the guy with the guys got killed and was being eaten by a bunch of Zombies it would have sucked trying to get them from them.

  I missed Home Depot and the ability to make extra keys. Every time I threw the keys up on the dashboard I felt a little like I was tempting fate by not bringing the keys with me. This home looked pretty standard so I was not overly concerned. Thomas, Ginny, Reeves and Ann all hopped out and took up our de facto house entering line up. I was first because it turned out I had a great affinity for kicking down doors. Reeves or Ann were typically right behind me, covering me with hand weapons and pistol in case I got jumped on or surprised. Ginny and Thomas brought up the rear with Ginny being the eyes and Thomas rushing wherever needed to finish off any Zombies we put on the ground who were still alive. I’d taken to calling him “Double Tap.”

  We headed towards the door to see if we could get in that way and the damn thing swung wide open. A Zombie was standing there; he must have heard the car pull up and come out to investigate. Behind him I saw four or five more of the Zombies blocking the hall. The one in front was about five feet in front of me and looked to be about six foot something with shoulders and arms intended for weightlifting competitions. He was just wearing a pair of blue jeans which left his huge chest exposed. He had the bulging veins running all over him as well as a bunch of cuts and bruises.

  He flung himself towards me before I had time to do more than start picking my sword up. He barreled into me and we both went down in the rose bushes next to the sidewalk entryway we had been moving towards the front door on. My head cracked against a planter or something. I struggled to get the sword up and between us so he could not bite me. I grabbed the blade with one hand and had the hilt in the other. The big ass Zombie had me pinned to the ground and used on hand to knock away all the briars and such keeping him from me.

  Once he had knocked the offending foliage out of the way he plunged his face towards me. Mouth wide open. Eyes, red, full of hate. I shoved the sword up as hard as I could right into his mouth. It broke through most of his teeth but he kept coming at me. I kept the sword held up both my hands. It was like world’s most insane bench press. The Zombie kept pulling back and trying to get around the sword but I kept it firmly in his mouth. Even while he was ripping at me and pummeling me with his hands. He had ripped my t-shirt and was trying to pull my skin off and had one hand he kept striking me in the face with. I gathered my strength and pushed up as hard as I could. That didn’t do shit.

  The Zombie continued to beat the crap out of me. I continued to push up on the blade as hard as I could. Blood and ichor and drool poured out of the things mouth as it g
rowled and gnawed on the sword and continued to punish me with swipes to the face and chest. The head was getting closer and closer to me as my arms started to give out. I could barely see at this point since he’d raked both my eyeballs multiple times. I felt the pressure lessen up on the sword and I pushed up hard to try and shove him off me.

  The Zombie was in the process of getting up to try and attack Ann who had just hit the Zombie in the head with a bat to try and get it off me. I pushed at the exact time Ann swung again so her full swing hit me right in the forearm. Ouch! Blowing of the pain, I continued standing up and prodded the zombie with the sword, causing him to look back and forth between Ann and myself before throwing himself at Ann. That gave me the time to bring the sword up and swing it as hard as I could at his head.

  I missed his head but him in the shoulders as he lunged for Ann. This made him lose his balance and he slammed into her legs instead of carrying her to the ground. Ann fell on his back and the Zombie was struggling to roll over and get at her. Ginny lunged in, grabbed Ann and pulled her out of the way. Thomas smacked the Zombie with the heavy solid metal stair pole, putting the Zombie out of commission finally. Remembering the other Zombies, I had seen in the doorway, I spun around. My arms were too tired to lift my sword so I let it hang down for now as I tried to get my mind back in the battle.

  I felt something dripping all over my face. I reached up and felt blood everywhere. The world started spinning and everything seemed way too close all of a sudden. I saw the bodies of the other Zombies laying on the sidewalk where the rest of the crew had taken them out. I sat down. I saw Ginny heling Ann stand up and both of them walking towards me. That’s the last thing I saw before passing out.

  Entry 23: Talk like a Pirate Day

  I woke up laying on a moldy couch. My whole body ached. My face was on fire, especially my eye. My right eye was completely swelled shut. My lip and most of my face felt about eight times bigger than normal. Reeves and Thomas were standing above me, staring at me. I moved my head around, painfully and slowly, and did not see Ann. I did see Ginny lying on a love seat on the other side of the room. It looked like we were in someone’s family room. A couch, a loveseat, an easy chair, all focused on a useless flat screen TV hanging on the wall.

  “Hey Reeves, where’s Ann?” I croaked out. Even my throat hurt. I was assuming all the pain and suffering was a lingering effect of getting the shit beat out of me by Goliath the Zombie.

  “She went to try and find you some anti-biotics and some more bandages and crap.”

  “And you let her go?” I asked, trying to sit up and immediately regretting it as a wave of nausea hit me and the room decided to do a few pirouettes.

  “I didn’t LET her do anything.” Reeves said, obviously extremely frustrated with the whole situation, “She scrubbed off your face with peroxide and cotton balls, ripped the medicine cabinets in there apart to find stuff to patch you up with, then she told me and Thomas to stay here and take care of you and Ginny. She got in the truck and she left. Not much you can do with her once she gets like that.”

  I felt a slight wave of sympathy for Reeves, I’d have to deal with that side of Ann plenty of times myself, she’s pretty much a steam roller once she gets her mind set on something. My worry and fear for her completely overwhelmed the slight sympathy though.

  “You shouldn’t have let her go. How bad am I hurt? Is there a mirror or something in here you can bring over?” When Reeves did not immediately make any jokes about my face I started to get a little worried. I kept poking around, felt like I had some serious swelling and I had bandages covering most of the right side of my face, including over my right eye. I asked Reeves again how bad it was since he had still not responded.

  “Pretty bad boss, your right eye was all bloody as hell and looked like it was going to fall out of the socket. We packed it as tight as we could and layered bandages over it and we’re hoping that fixes it but it looked pretty bad. The rest of you face is just pummeled and scarred and will just end up making you slightly uglier.” Reeves tried on a weak smile that melted back into a worried scowl.

  “Reeves, you there?” Ann’s voice came across the Walkies. Reeves clicked his talk button in the affirmative. Ann continued, “I found a drug store, it was pretty empty, but I was able to find some antibiotics, pain pills and some bandages. I also grabbed a couple of bottles of sterile water and some regular water. I’ve managed to pick up a bunch of stragglers so I’m going to drive past the house you’re in right now and park at the next house then swing around through the backyard. I’m going to slow down and fling out this water and the other heavy stuff as I go by. Try to grab it really quick before the parade catches up. Hopefully, they just keep right on going. How are Steve and Ginny doing?”

  Reeves hit the talk button and held the Walkie in front of me, “Hey babe. Never been better. Seems like I may live so you are still in imminent danger of having to go on a date with me.”

  Reeves pulled the Walkie back over and got up and looked out the window, “Ok, I think I hear you. I’m going to go outside and wait for you to drive by and grab the stuff you fling out. I’ll be in the shrubs next to the pile of dead bodies waiting on you…”

  About a minute later there was the noises of a truck stopping, a door opening and shutting and then the front door to the house opening up again. I looked up and saw it was Ann coming in the living room. So much for plans, they didn’t seem to hold a lot of water around here. Ann however was holding a lot of water; she was carrying a big jug of purified water and a couple of bags filled with who knew what else. She came and sat down beside me on the floor. She started running her fingers through my hair.

  “Change of plans, I had Reeves jump in the truck and drive it down to the next house and told him to head back here when he could do it safely. I wanted to get in here and get some more drugs into you and change your bandages. First things first. Drugs!” She gave me a smile, a kiss on the forehead, and a handful of small pills.

  “Roofies and Viagra?” I asked.

  “Penicillin, ampicillin, and some codeine. Like I’d need the other two things to get you.”

  “Only two things I need are a time and a place!” I continued to joke. Although at the moment I’d also need someone to help me standup and to keep me from puking all over myself and to tell me where stuff was since I could barely see. I could also barely talk; my throat was killing me on top of everything else. I could see Ann was putting on her serious face.

  “We need to stay here a few days. We’re real close to I-295 but I think you and Ginny need to rest. It probably wouldn’t hurt the rest of us to get some rest either. Reeves should be lugging a couple of big school backpacks full of food and supplies back over here I took from the drug store. Once that codeine kicks in I’m going to change your bandages and clean your face with the sterile water then bandage everything back up. I found a first aid book at the drug store too so that should be helpful since I’m having issues pulling up Web MD on my phone.”

  Ann went and woke Ginny up long enough to have her take some medicine and tell her to get some rest. Reminded me of how when I was in the hospital as a kid with a really bad flu the doctors and nurses kept telling me to rest then woke me up every hour to give me medicine or take my vitals. Also, if they want you to get rest and be comfortable what was up with keeping the temperature like sixty degrees and giving you a thin ass sheet to sleep with? Considering the price to stay in the hospital for a night it should have had magic fingers and a thousand-thread count comforter to sleep with.

  I asked Ann how the trip to the drug store had been.

  “Pretty uneventful, killed a few sick people, drove around dead bodies, looted a store while wondering if I was going to be attacked and killed. Just ended up getting attacked, avoided the getting killed part which was nice. The normal. How was your day?”

  I tried to smile at her but it hurt my face too much. Whatever random pills I had just taken I really hoped they dulled the pain soon.
Ann held the water bottle back up to my lips and poured some more water in my mouth for me. I’d barely gotten the pills down because my throat had hurt so bad. The water going down felt like fire, but at the same time I was dying of thirst so wanted to drink more of it. I laid back and closed my eyes while Ann busied herself getting stuff organized.

  About twenty minutes later Thomas and Ann went to the back door and let in Reeves, who had been calling us on the radio to let us know his status and where he was at. He reported that there was probably about thrifty Zombies at the house down the street where out truck was now parked. He had also seen probably another fifty or so stragglers parading up the road in that general direction. He’d had to carry six school bags, obtained from a display at the drug store, full of water and canned foods and random medicine back with him through the swampy marshy nastiness in between the two homes.

  The plan was to chill out here for a few days until we’d run out of supplies then depending on how everyone felt we’d move out at that time. We’d be able to hopefully collect the truck by then with minimal Zombies still hanging out. Ann had thrown a bunch of supplies in it that she and Reeves had not been able to get into the house. There were no cars at this house. There was a boat at the end of the pier that would fit us all but we were all a little sick of boats at this point. Plus, we couldn’t find the keys to it anywhere.