After the End

by Bonnie Dee

  Derrick led them behind the counter to a back room, which was larger than the serving area. Apparently the owner of the Freeze had once lived a one room apartment back here.

  Gloria Patton sat on the edge of the bed, her face bright red and eyes puffy although she was no longer crying. Julie was beside her, bouncing Ian on her knees and singing quietly to him. Ronnie pressed close to her side, watching blank-eyed with no smile on her face.

  Mrs. Scheider sat on the floor, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, while Carl, Joe and Deb stood in the center of the room arguing. They all looked up when Derrick and the others entered.

  "You made it!" Deb threw her arms around Lila and hugged her, crushing her bruised ribs. Lila grunted in pain, but hugged her back.

  "I told you they'd come," Derrick said. Lila could tell from his tone there'd been some discussion about whether he should go back and wait for them.

  "Doug?" Gloria jumped up from the bed, her eyes searching Ari's face.

  "I'm sorry," he said. There was nothing else to add, no explanation that needed to be given under the circumstances.

  Gloria let out a keening wail, and Joe hurried to shush her, holding her and pressing her face against his chest. "Sh, Mrs. Patton. Please be quiet."

  They'd lost one. It could have been much worse, but that was of no comfort to Gloria. Lila collapsed onto the ground, leaning against the opposite wall from Mrs. Scheider. She thought of the people they'd met today and wondered how many had made it out alive. What were they doing now? Where had they run to?

  She stopped thinking about it. There was no point. Besides, she was too exhausted and jittery to focus on anything. Bits of thought scattered through her mind like kaleidoscope colors, but she couldn't put them together into any coherent pattern. Mostly she thought of what it had felt like to drive a knife into human flesh and then stare right into the face of death.

  She looked at Sondra. Ari had helped her to the bed and Julie took a look at her injured ankle while Ronnie held the baby. Sondra winced and whined and made a big deal about how much pain she was in. Lila still sort of detested her but the woman had saved her life.

  "You shot that thing," Lila said. "Thank you."

  Sondra smiled at her. "I just squeezed the trigger. I've never shot a gun before in my life. Lucky I didn't accidentally shoot you instead." And then she was off, telling everyone every detail of their escape and how she'd saved Lila's life.

  Julie wrapped Sondra's ankle with tape from the first aid kit and Deb passed out the last of the water bottles, admonishing everyone to drink lightly until they could get more.

  They'd lost almost all of the merchandise they'd acquired at Humboldt's and the sport shop. Backpacks, sleeping bags, even Ian's diaper bag had been abandoned as they ran for their lives. So the entire stop had been for nothing. They'd gained little and lost a life.

  Ari leaned against the wall then slid down to sit beside Lila. He leaned close and whispered, "Are you all right?"

  She nodded. "You?"

  "Sure." He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes like Mrs. Scheider.

  Lila wanted to curl up on the floor and put her head in his lap. Instead, she leaned next to him, shoulder to shoulder. Her eyes fell shut and the drone of conversation washed over her. Being alive had never been sweeter than at this precise moment, after the near loss of it. They were safe, for now, and that was enough.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Thirteen

  Their trip to the marina began to take on the quality of an epic quest. A few short miles—it should've been accomplished in a day, even on foot. Two at most. But Sondra's twisted ankle and Mrs. Patton's nearly catatonic state following the loss of her husband forced them to postpone the start of their journey for another full day. They squatted in the deserted Tastee-Freez, while Ari and Joe went and brought back food for them.

  That night they didn't dare to have any light. With no bedding, they lay in complete darkness on the linoleum and waited restlessly for morning. The theater where they'd spent the previous night seemed like a plush palace in comparison. The only good thing as far as Lila was concerned was that she lay next to Ari, his body curved around hers, his arm slung over her. She didn't mind being on the hard floor so much with his body heating her back and the beat of his heart lulling her to sleep.

  The next day there was nothing to do but sit and wait for Sondra to heal and listen to her babble. Everyone made attempts to offer their sympathy to Gloria, but she was beyond their words. No one could reach her or connect with her. At last, impatient Deb snapped at her. "Look, you got a kid here. Pull yourself together. Feed him. Take care of him. Live because of him. You can mourn later."

  Lila cringed at her harsh tone but evidently it was what Gloria needed to hear. The blank look left her eyes as she focused on Deb's face, then she took her infant son from the other woman and held him to her breast.

  A dull afternoon of waiting, playing cards, taking naps, coloring pictures with Ronnie, putting together a meal of canned food and cleaning up after it with limited water, was followed by another night. Once more Ari took the spot beside Lila. If the others noticed how close together they slept or that they were curled together when they woke in the morning, no one said anything about it.

  The next day Sondra could limp around the room. Dr. Joe pronounced her well enough to travel as long as they didn't go too far that day.

  Lila was ready to move on. She couldn't have taken another day of idly waiting. They might be risking their lives out there, but they were in just as much danger here in the Tastee Freez.

  They headed out, walking in their diamond shape with Ari on point, Deb and Derrick flanking him on either side, Joe and Lila bringing up the rear and the others protected in the center. Lila was nervous, acutely aware of her position and the need to almost literally have eyes in the back of her head. Zombies might attack from behind at any time and her neck was sore from swiveling it to constantly look over her shoulder.

  "We need rearview mirrors," Joe commented as they marched along.

  Lila eyed the empty cars they passed and wondered how hard it would be to rip one off.

  Today, the fifth day into the crisis, the air reeked so badly from rotting corpses it was hard to breathe. All of them wore handkerchiefs or other strips of material over their noses and mouths as if that would help. Lila wondered if a person could get sick merely from the overpowering odor. Weren't organisms present in the stench of decay? Just as she would begin to think she was adjusting to the awful smell, they'd pass another site of a zombie attack and the rank odor would break over her in a fresh wave.

  They walked along a side street and were several blocks from the Tastee Freez when Lila checked behind them and saw a little girl. She was skipping in the middle of the street, a child of about Ronnie's age with a doll in her arms. Only when she lifted the doll to her face to kiss it did Lila decipher what she was actually seeing. The child wasn't skipping she was shambling and thing Lila had taken for a doll was a severed arm the girl chewed on. Lila gave a low whistle, their signal for a zombie sighting, and everyone's heads swiveled almost simultaneously to look behind them.

  The creature was some distance away and hadn't spotted them yet. Ari motioned them forward and the group hurried around the next corner.

  Lila's heart pounded, her nerves fried by a fresh jolt of adrenaline like a double espresso to the system. She grew even more diligent about scanning the empty streets around them. With everything so quiet, it was too easy to be lulled into believing they were safe and could walk unnoticed all the way to the Hudson River. But the truth was every step was as treacherous as quicksand and their enemy could erupt from anywhere at any moment.

  "You hear that?" Joe asked and shaded his eyes to look up at the sky.

  The distant sound of a helicopter—maybe more than one—was the sweetest music Lila had ever heard. She stared into the cloudy sky, but saw nothing. Too many tall buildings blocking the way. But the chop
per noises were followed by the sound of gunfire echoing from the skyscraper mountains

  They all stopped, straining to see or hear more. Something was happening in the distance. At last, something was being done to help.

  "Maybe that Hunter woman and Ann were right," Joe muttered so only Lila could hear. "Maybe it really is safer to find a place and hole up until everything is sorted out."

  "Come on," Ari called. "Keep moving."

  "My ankle," Sondra said. "I've got to rest soon."

  Lila stifled her irritation. It wasn't Sondra's fault she'd been injured, and maybe her ankle really did hurt as much as she claimed. It had certainly been swollen yesterday. But the woman was such a drama queen Lila couldn't help but feel she enjoyed being the center of attention.

  "There's a diner up there." Deb pointed. "Maybe we can find some food that's not spoiled."

  The greasy spoon joint was open for business and smelled like the bowels of hell. They entered carefully, listening for sounds of other survivors or the roving undead, but the place was still except for buzzing flies. The floor was tacky with blood. Red was smeared on the walls, the booths, the counter, remnants of customers mingling with abandoned plates of the lunch special, which a hand-written sign announced was tuna salad and minestrone soup.

  Lila's eyes watered from the stench. She wanted to turn around and go right back outside, but Ian was fussing, working himself up to a good, hard cry. They didn't need that noise drawing attention.

  Gloria found a booth in the back that wasn't gore spattered and sat down to feed her son. She moved like the undead herself, a blank-eyed automaton going through the motions of living. Sondra and Ronnie sat across from her. Ari kept watch while the rest of them went to the kitchen to scavenge for food.

  Derrick and Carl investigated the dry goods pantry, bringing out boxes of cereal, crackers, chips and cans of soup and pudding. Julie opened one of the industrial sized soup cans which Deb put in a pan to heat. The stove was gas so she could light the burner with her Bic. Lila realized she hadn't seen Deb smoke a cigarette the past couple of days. Either she'd run out or was choosing the most stressful time possible to give up the habit.

  After Julie opened a gallon can of tapioca, Lila scooped it into bowls. Joe produced a package of bacon from the freezer, which he claimed hadn't completely defrosted yet. He laid strips on a griddle over another burner then got bread from a rack on the wall.

  "Don't dare spread that mayonnaise on it. No doubt it's spoiled," Mrs. Scheider warned as he unscrewed the lid of a jar.

  "I'm not an idiot. I didn't get it from the fridge. It's freshly opened," Joe said.

  Even the grown-ups are getting short-tempered, Lila thought with amusement. The rising scent of frying bacon tantalized her nose and had her saliva glands working overtime. It almost covered the horrible odor of decay all around them. Deb prepared a pot of coffee and it started to percolate on the back burner.

  The familiar breakfast smells of bacon and coffee eased Lila's taut nerves and gave her comfort. But the very moment she relaxed, the sound of shattering glass came from the front of the building. Sondra and Gloria's screams resounded through the air followed by gunfire.

  "Shit! You guys, go." Derrick grabbed his rifle and rushed to the front to help.

  The others ran for the back exit. Deb grabbed Carl by the arm and dragged him along with her. Lila was torn between escaping with them and going to help Ari. But he'd given them all instructions to "run, Forest, run" if they were attacked. While she hesitated, her moment to decide was past as zombies swarmed around the lunch counter. Lila threw the cast iron frying pan of bacon at the closest one then ran out the kitchen door into the alley.

  Joe, Carl and Deb were pushing a dumpster in front of the door to block it. Lila barely made it out in time before they heaved the heavy metal container in front of it. Bodies banged against the door from inside. The loud, horrible thumps made the door rattle in its frame, but the dumpster held firm.

  "Come on." Deb lead the way up the alley.

  "But the others." Lila protested.

  "We can only hope they made it out the front. We'll meet them at the building on the corner like we said we'd do if we got separated."

  Lila knew she was right, but it didn't make leaving the others behind feel any better. She trotted to keep up with the group, but her heart and mind were with Ari in the diner. It didn't seem possible he and Derrick would manage to fight off the zombies and get everyone safely out.

  On the way to the office building they'd chosen as a meeting point, they saw a running group of people in the distance followed by a posse of revenants. Flattening their bodies against the nearest wall, they held still and waited for the commotion to die down before resuming their run. They burst into the building's lobby. Joe and Deb did a quick sweep of the ground floor, which was mostly a maze of cubicles. Julie, Carl and Lila waited near the front, watching anxiously for the rest of their group.

  When Lila sighted them, her throat tightened. Ari carried Ronnie, her arms and legs wrapped tight around him as if she was a little monkey. Sondra limped beside Derrick, holding onto his arm, and Gloria with Ian in her arms brought up the rear.

  "Wait. Where's Mrs. Scheider?" Julie said. "She was in back with us."

  "She went to use the restroom just before... Shit!" Carl exclaimed.

  "No." Lila looked around the lobby as if the woman would magically appear. "I'm sure she was with us." But no amount of wishing would make it true. Mrs. Scheider was missing.

  Ari and the others burst through the door just as Deb and Joe returned to give the all clear status on the ground floor of the building.

  "We left Mrs. Scheider," Lila announced.

  "Damn it!" Derrick's face was a mask of blood, the whites of his eyes stark against it. "We fought off about a dozen zombies and got everyone out without a scratch, and you guys ditched Mrs. Scheider?"

  "It was an accident. We didn't mean to leave her behind. We didn't notice she was missing until we got here. But she was in the restroom, so she might be alive."

  Ari unfastened Ronnie's arms from around his neck and set her on the floor. "I'll go back and see if I can find her."

  "Wait," Deb said. "She's gone and it's terrible but we can't risk losing you. What happened to 'it's all about the mission'?"

  "I'm afraid Deb's right," Joe added. "It's not likely Patricia made it out alive."

  Lila had nearly forgotten Mrs. Scheider's first name. Hearing Joe say it filled her with a fresh pang of guilt and sorrow.

  "No one went back for my husband. No one saved him!" Silent Gloria was suddenly vocal, her eyes blazing and her face twisted in a scowl.

  Ari turned to her. "It was too late for him, but it might not be for Mrs. Scheider. I'll only do a recon. If it's too dangerous, I won't go in." Before anyone could argue, he left, slipping out the door and running down the street much faster than he could with all of them slowing him down. Maybe he'd been right before and he should take the data, Carl and only a couple of other useful people like Deb or Derrick and head for the marina. They could probably make it there in an afternoon, take a boat and be on the mainland by evening. The rest of the world might be overrun with zombies, too, but it couldn't possibly be as dangerous as being trapped on an island with them.

  Lila sank to the floor, but her leg jiggled nervously as she waited for Ari's return. She listened while Sondra related the story of their escape, how the zombies had stormed the diner, crashing right through the large, plate glass windows; how Sondra had grabbed Ronnie and Gloria and led them outside through the broken window while Ari and Derrick held off the zombies; and how they'd dodged and hid to shake some of the monsters which pursued them.

  "Shut up, Sondra," Derrick cut across her chatter. "Just shut up for a while." He sat on the floor, holding Ronnie on his lap and rocking her. She was pressed against his chest, her thumb in her mouth and the stuffed unicorn clenched in her other hand. Her eyes were wide open and staring.

  Lila
wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. Seconds slipped past like droplets of blood, clotted and sticky. Ari wasn't coming back. … He was. … He'd have Mrs. Scheider with him, safe. … Both of them were dead and they were waiting here for ghosts—or maybe zombies.

  "They're here," Joe announced. "He's got her." He opened the door and Ari came in, carrying Mrs. Scheider in his arms. There was blood everywhere, her face, her arms, and his, too. Ari staggered and Joe helped him lower the woman to the floor.

  Joe stripped away her blouse and checked her wounds. With no running water and their supply of bottled water running low, he used it sparingly, rinsing away the blood from her neck and shoulder. Deb knelt beside him, holding a flashlight trained on the wounds, while Julie dampened fresh cloths and offered them to him.

  Lila did the same for Ari, wetting a T-shirt and offering it to him to clean up with. "Are you hurt?"

  He shook his head. "It's her blood—and some of theirs. The things were gone when I got back there. She had run into the pantry and barricaded the door, but not before they bit her. Luckily she was still conscious and heard my voice, because she passed out almost immediately after I found her."

  "If their blood mixed with hers, she must be infected," Deb said.

  "I don't know," Carl answered. "I don't know if the mutated blood could enter her bloodstream. If she's not the same blood type, I couldn't imagine that happening."

  "I can't imagine any of this happening, but it is," Joe said sourly as he continued to swab the bites on Mrs. Scheider's shoulders and upper back.

  The old woman stirred, blinked, and opened her eyes. She looked around at them all hovering over her.

  Julie offered her water, holding a bottle to her mouth and cupping the back of her head. "How do you feel?"

  Mrs. Scheider swallowed. "How do you think I feel?"