Zombiemandias (Book 0): After the Bite

by David Lovato

  “My name is Steven Fletcher,” I said, holding out a hand to shake the reverend’s. He reciprocated. “And, no. My wife and I are just visiting.”

  “Oh, my goodness! The writer!”

  “Yeah, that’s me,” I replied with a smile.

  “I’d like to say I do enjoy your books. They always give me quite a fright!” The reverend shook his head, and looked down for a moment, then back up at me. “Forgive my rudeness. I’m Reverend Danthers.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Reverend, and thanks,” I said. “Anyway, it’s a great town you’ve got here.”

  “I would have to agree. It’s a fine town. So, what brings you to Belford anyway, Mr. Fletcher?”

  “Well, this is where I must ask you for a small favor,” I said.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  “I’m working on my next book, and I heard this town, specifically this church has some history to it.”

  “Yes, well, most will say this church is haunted. That must be what you’ve heard, and I think the rumors are true.”

  “Really? See, this is good news. I was hoping, if it’s not too much trouble, tomorrow night I could set up my gear in the church, and see if I can pick anything up.”

  “Gear?” Danthers said.

  “Ghost hunting equipment, for lack of a better term.”

  “Really, I don’t see why not, Mr. Fletcher. You would of course understand if I tagged along as well? It’s not that I do not trust you, it’s just that…”

  “No, I understand,” I said. “Besides, I won’t be needing to stay all night anyway. I hope you know how much this means to me. Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome,” Danthers said.

  “Now, I was wondering, what can you tell me about the church’s haunting?”

  “Well, back in 1863, there was a young woman. Barely twenty years old. Her name was May Farmington. She was the current teacher of the school. This church, I mean, when it was a school. Well, her son passed away due to Scarlet Fever, and she spiraled into a very dark depression, and eventually hanged herself from these very rafters. Her spirit roams up and down the rows of pews, calling for her child.” Danthers looked to be fairly uncomfortable just then, and it was starting to make me feel the same way.

  “That’s very sad,” I said.

  “It is.” Danthers yawned and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then back at me. “If you’ll excuse me, I really should be going. I’m quite exhausted. It was very nice meeting you though, Mr. Fletcher.” He smiled.

  “You too, Reverend,” I replied.

  “We will meet around nine, if that is a good time for you,” the reverend said. It sounded more like a question.

  “That sounds great. That must be when she normally shows up, I’m guessing?”

  “Usually sometime after nine at night. There have been early morning sightings by others, I have been told, but mainly at night. At least, that’s when I’ve seen her. You don’t hear of many ghost sightings to have happened in broad daylight.”

  “That’s true,” I said. “Thank you, and have a good night, Reverend.”

  “You as well, Mr. Fletcher.” We parted ways, and I headed back to the motel, where Mary was taking a shower.

  I lay out on the bed and waited. Not long after I’d arrived, she came out of the bathroom in a long silk robe. It was very fluid as she walked over to me. I saw her perky breasts, that smoking body that she moves just right, and felt myself harden. The fabric on her right shoulder began to fall, and she undid the silken strands in front. The rest slid off, and that’s when things really heated up.

  III: First Day in Belford

  The morning brought soft sunlight through the window. It flowed over the room, and woke me up when it stroked my face. I sat up in bed and stretched my arms, looking around. Mary had the covers up to her chin, and was sleeping like a baby. Her hair was strewn over the pillow. She looked beautiful lying there.

  I got out of the bed and did a full-body stretch, and then grabbed some clean clothes to take into the bathroom. I needed a shower to fully wake up and start my day. By the time I got out of the shower, Mary was up, and she had the television on.

  “Morning,” I said as I walked out, rubbing a towel through my hair. I pulled on a tee-shirt and sat down next to Mary.

  “Good morning,” she replied with a kiss on the cheek. “How did you sleep?”

  “Pretty damn good.” “I bet you did.” Mary laughed as she said, “What’s on the agenda today?”

  “Whatever you want to do,” I replied. “There’s supposed to be a lot of cool stuff in this little town.”

  “Let’s look at the shops, and eat lunch at the little Italian restaurant. I think it’s called Mario’s.”

  “That sounds like a plan then,” I said.

  The day was perfect for the walking we did through the town. There was a good breeze going nearly all day, and the sun was shining. The lasagna I ordered for lunch was as great. We visited a chocolate shop and bought a box, and they even let us pick the flavors.

  We ate dinner at the diner again, which was fine. You won’t find a McDonald’s or a Corner Café here in Belford. Just honest, family-owned establishments who have managed to keep afloat over the years.

  A beautiful night followed that beautiful day, probably one of the most beautiful nights I’ve ever been around for. We had just come back from the little park not far from the church. It was a little while until I was supposed to meet Reverend Danthers, so we decided to watch TV.

  “Do we have any ice left?” Mary asked me. I looked over into our little pail on my nightstand and saw it was mostly water.

  “You need some right now?” I asked.

  “If you don’t mind,” she said. I smiled, for I couldn’t say no to her, especially when she spoke with that sweet voice and gave me the puppy dog eyes.

  “I’ll get some ice, and do you want anything from the vending machine?”

  “No thanks,” Mary replied. I took the ice pail, dumped the water out, and went to fill it.

  The ice machine was not more than a few minutes from our room, by the stairs to the upper floor. I stuck the bucket under the spout on a little platform, pressed the red button, and waited for it to fill. I looked across the sidewalk and saw a car in the parking lot. A woman in the passenger’s seat looked a little adamant about keeping her husband away from her. I rolled my eyes. Get a room, seriously, I thought. I mean, we are at a motel. When the bucket was filled, I turned back toward my room. The woman got out of the car and bolted. The man just fidgeted around in his seat. He looked like he didn’t even know how to work a seatbelt. I figured he was drunk, and laughed a little.

  When I got to our room, the television was muted, and I heard the toilet flush. Mary came out of the bathroom, smiled, and took the bucket.

  “Thanks, Steve,” she said. She got herself some ice water, and we sat down to watch the movie. Before we could even switch it on we heard a blood-curdling scream.

  “What is wrong with you, Eric? No, let go! Fucking get off!” There was another scream. It sounded like it was next door. I exchanged a worried expression with Mary.

  “What the hell?” I said. We heard a loud thud, a gunshot that made both of us jump, and then crying and heavy breathing. Mary and I hunkered down low and waited a minute, but all we heard was crying.

  “I’m going to go check things out,” I said.

  “No, just stay here, please,” Mary said.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said.

  “Be careful, Steven.”

  I cautiously stood up and went to my bag. I withdrew my handgun from the side pocket and went to the door. The sun was low in the sky, but the birds were still chirping a little as I moved to the next-door window. What I saw made my stomach turn. The woman was sitting on her bed, hunched over, holding her wrist, and she was still crying. The man, who I assumed was Eric, was lying on the floor with a hole in his head. Despite my better judgment, I knocked on the window. The wom
an looked up, came over to the door, and opened it for me.

  “What happened here?” I asked.

  “Look at my wrist,” she said. “My husband bit me. He just freaked out and took a fucking chunk out of my arm!”

  “Wha—are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding you?” she said. I realized how stupid a question that was. “Does it fucking look like I slit my wrist? A knife with human teeth? Really?”

  “I’m sorry.” I heard something from the parking lot, and when I looked I saw a couple of people walking toward us. They looked a little disoriented, like they had just gotten off the teacup ride at Disneyland. “Who are they?” I asked, not really thinking the woman would know, but I asked anyway.

  “Hell if I know,” she replied. This was followed by a sigh, and some tears. “Are you alone here?”

  “No, my wife and I are visiting,” I said. “Will you let us help you out?”

  “I’d appreciate that,” the woman said.

  “All right, cover the wound with something as best you can, and I’ll get my wife, and we’ll go.” The woman nodded, and tore a scrap from the bedsheet to wrap around her wrist. I tucked my gun into my pants, and led the woman out.

  “I’m Steven Fletcher, what’s your name?”

  “Carly Westwick.” I nodded, and smiled. We went next door and I began speaking right as I came in.

  “Mary, we’ve got a bit of a problem. Carly’s injured. We need to get her to the doctor. She’s in sort of bad shape.” Mary shot up, and looked at us with wide eyes.

  “What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you later, but for now, call an ambulance. We need to get Carly help.”

  “Okay,” Mary replied. The people from the parking lot appeared at the window. They looked like they were confused, and I looked to Carly. Mary was dialing numbers on her cell.

  “What the hell are they doing?” Carly asked. I shook my head, wondering that myself.

  “No idea.” I helped Carly try to keep the bleeding to a minimum, and Mary was not getting an answer. She looked at me frantically.

  “Fuck, let’s just drive her there ourselves!” I said. “Carly, let’s go.” Carly didn’t respond, but looked at me with the same eyes as those that were outside. There was something really fucked up about them, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. “Hey! Let’s go!” I shouted. She leaned toward me, and then tried to bite me, grabbing at me with her mouth wide open.

  “Get the fuck off of him!” Mary said. She practically tackled Carly, and Carly fell to the floor, then went for my ankles. She almost got a hold of one, but I kicked her away.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here!” I said. We grabbed our suitcases and went for the door. Carly tried to get back up, but I smacked her hard in the head with my bag. She fell again. This allowed us time to get out, but the people at the window tried to get us just like Carly had. One of them, an older woman with long white hair, grabbed Mary’s sleeve. I was able to knock the woman in the head with my bag, and with Mary’s hand in mine, we made it to the car and got in. We locked our doors, and caught our breath.

  “I think we should go to the church,” I said. “It’s probably the safest place to go to for now. We can leave town in the morning.” Out of the corner of my eye, I watched a bloodied man run for his car, get in, and speed off.

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t just leave?” Mary asked.

  “It’s almost eight, and I don’t want to be driving until four in the morning,” I said. “Reverend Danthers is a good man. I’m sure he’ll let us stay there.”

  “Okay.”

  We drove down the street toward the church. There were a few accidents in the area, and we spotted a woman on top of her husband. There was blood splattered all over the lawn. The woman looked up at us as we drove by, but did not abandon her meal. Mary looked down and gagged, nearly vomiting all over the floorboard. I looked forward solemnly at the church.

  We arrived soon, and outside the church, Reverend Danthers had just dropped a body down the steps. He looked extremely disgruntled. He saw us pull up, and smiled. We got out of the car.

  “Reverend, this is my wife, and we need a place to stay for the night, would it—” The Reverend cut me off.

  “Please, come in! It isn’t safe out here. God’s house will keep you safe for the night.” I smiled at the reverend, and then at Mary, and then we headed in with our belongings.

  “What is happening to the town?” I asked, as the reverend was locking and covering windows. I helped him out a bit.

  “I don’t know any more than either of you,” the reverend replied.

  “The end of days?” I said. “God must be tired of us.”

  “That isn’t it,” Danthers said. “God made a covenant with Noah that he would not wipe out humanity again. This is something else entirely.”

  “These people—these things that used to be people are attacking others for some reason.” I looked at the reverend for a moment, and he looked back at me with a solemn expression on his face. I was sitting on a pew after we’d finished with the windows, next to Mary, who was silent. Danthers sat in the pew in front of me, turned back to meet my eyes. “I wonder if this is exclusive to Belford.”

  “I wonder the same thing, Mr. Fletcher,” Danthers replied. I didn’t know what to say after that, so I just sighed. There wasn’t much more talk after that. We sat in our separate pews. Reverend Danthers offered us something to eat later on, and something to drink. We ate in the dimly lit church. It was silent, minus the faint sounds of gunshots in the distance. There were soft screams as well. No birds were chirping.

  “Well, I guess we won’t be needing to get to business,” Danthers said to me quietly. Mary was asleep, and I was about ready to drift off.

  “No,” I said with a little chuckle. “No, I guess not. The ghosts can wait. The book can wait.”

  Danthers smiled. “Have a good night’s rest, Mr. Fletcher.”

  “You as well, thank you for opening your church to us.”

  “It is God’s house, you are always welcome here.”

  I soon fell asleep, and slept like a rock all night.

  IV: Escape from Belford

  “Are you ready to go?” I asked Mary as I washed myself in the reverend’s quarters in the back of the church. I splashed water on my face to wake myself up, and looked at my watch. It was barely nine, and I wanted to get a good start out of Belford.

  “Yes, just about.” I heard her voice from out among the pews. When I was finished, I walked out there, and she was hugging Reverend Danthers.

  “I wish you both luck. Just get to your home safely. God shall be with you if you believe.” The embrace ended, and Danthers smiled at Mary, then at me.

  “We can’t thank you enough, Reverend,” Mary said.

  “Yes, thank you very much for your hospitality,” I added, looking from Danthers to Mary. I put an arm around Mary, and we departed. Reverend Danthers stood behind us. I turned back for a moment, still walking, and he waved. I waved back and walked through the doors to our car.

  “Now, let’s get the hell out of Belford,” I said.

  “Let’s,” Mary replied. I turned the engine over, pulled the car out, and went down the road. The air was stagnant in the car, so I turned the AC on, as I didn’t want to risk having the windows open. Pretty soon, we got to the exit, and to my extreme dismay, there was a police barricade.

  “What are they doing?” Mary said. “Why are they stopping people from leaving?” I saw her eyes tear up.

  “I’m sure they’re just monitoring who leaves and who enters. They’ll let us get by. We’re not like those things back there.” Mary nodded, seeming to feel a little better. At least one of us did. I got out of the car and leaned on my door. One of the cops pointed his gun at me. “Whoa, whoa!” I threw my hands up in the air. “I’m not one of them. We just want to leave!”

  “No one leaves Belford. No exceptions.” The officer’s voice was cold b
ut gruff. It was no wonder why my blood ran cold.

  “But, we’re not infected,” I said. “See?” I showed myself to the officer, my arms, neck, and chest. “I’m not infected.”

  “We’re not taking any chances. Belford is officially under quarantine, please return to your home and wait for officials to check in on you.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” I shouted, taking a step forward. I heard the gun click. It was just a warning; the officer had cocked his gun.

  “Don’t take another step, sir!” the officer shouted back at me. I gulped and looked at Mary as she stepped out of the car.

  “Mary, stay in the car!” She looked at me. She had been crying.

  “I’m gonna be sick…” She lurched forward, and the cop aimed his gun at her. She fell to her knees as she up heaved all over the pavement. The cop panicked, his face tight with fear. Before all the vomit left her system, there was a loud gunshot. I hoped it was from somewhere in Belford, but it came from the officer’s gun. My heart froze, and Mary slumped over, holding her stomach. She vomited the rest of her stomach contents out, and there was blood in it.

  I quickly rushed around the back of my vehicle, so that the cop wouldn’t freak out, and dove down next to her. I put an arm around her, propped hers over my shoulders, and looked up to the cop, still pointing his gun at us.

  “Fuck you! What fucking right do you have, shooting her? She had to throw up! That’s all!” My voice rang through the mountains. You shot her, and she wasn’t infected either, you fucking bastard!” The cop did not respond, but stood there, pointing the gun at us.

  “Steven,” Mary said. “I love you, Steven…”

  “Mary, I love you too, please don’t talk. We’ll get you help.” I glared at the cop, while helping Mary into the car as he spoke.

  “Just turn around, and go back to the town. You’re not getting past.” I didn’t say anything more to the cop, as there was nothing more to say. We just drove back down the street, and went to the doctor.

  I hoped that the doctor was keeping himself locked in. Mary was losing a lot of blood, and needed immediate attention. I tried to keep down the sickening thoughts racing through my head; I knew she was going to need more than a small-town doctor for her wound.