by A. L. White
Jack motioned her to stop and was relieved that she did. It was all making sense to him now - that is what the riddle was hiding from him. It wasn’t a disease but a parasite that was using our bodies to give themselves life.
“How many do you estimate we could save by killing off the parasite?” he asked her. Julie noted that he wasn’t talking to her like she was a crazy woman anymore but to her as if she was an equal.
“None I am afraid,” she replied sadly.
“None?”
“The body is dead with the exception as I said, of what it needs to survive. It has become one with the corpse you could say.”
That was a blow to Jack’s ego. If he could not save the victim then there was no riddle, no puzzle to solve.
“We tried removing the parasite from the more lively types and all died immediately. Well, stopped being whatever they were or are.”
“This is the next step in human evolution, to go back to a basic simple being that just eats and sleeps,” Jack said more to himself than to Julie.
“That could very well be true; if we are alive others are alive too. We need to find them if we can and do what we can to help them survive. That is our duty Jack; it is why we are still alive.”
“Maybe that is the question we should be asking then; why are we still alive?”
They both thought about that for a long while as they made their way down U.S. 30 until they entered the small town of Plainfield. Jack liked the way the town looked like it was something out of one of those old pictures from a bygone era. Zombies were milling around everywhere he looked. They were drawn toward the sound of the van but they were in no danger. Julie kept the van moving at a steady pace, navigating around any cars in their way by turning up side streets and then returning to 30 well past the jammed area. She turned right on U.S. 59 and sped up as the herd following behind them grew in size. 59 was a four lane road so the going was pretty easy; most of the vehicles were off to one side or the other leaving the center free. Jack thought that they may have been pushed over that way by emergency vehicles or others trying to escape.
When they came to a corner with a Wal-Mart on one side and a video store kitty-corner from it they saw a black truck off to the side by a storage unit. Julie could see that it was fairly well loaded with supplies. They needed food and water if it was to be found on their route. As much as she didn’t want to stop, there wasn’t much choice. She turned the van toward the truck and proceeded slowly, eyes darting all over the place for any movement.
CHAPTER 6
As they approached they could see the carnage that surrounded the entrance to the storage facility along with the truck. There were places that you couldn’t see pavement or grass alongside the entrance for that matter because of all of the bodies. Julie slowed to a stop just before she reached the place to turn in and was trying to decide if she should drive over them or go through there on foot. In truth she didn’t want to do either; what she wanted to do was turn around and head as fast as she could back to the main road. There was a little voice inside of her that kept whispering that they needed the supplies in that truck. By her estimate they had enough food and water left for a day and the heavens knew when they would come across something as easy as this looked. It looked safe enough if not gruesome; maybe they could just grab what they needed and get the Hell out of there before attracting any attention.
She let her foot slowly off the brake and slightly depressed the gas pedal and creeped ever so slowly forward over the bodies. She saw Jack grimace as the popping sounds came from under the wheels and he quickly rolled his window all of the way up. There was no sign of anything moving so far - nothing had jumped out at them or stirred from the shadows. Julie inched her way toward the black truck in the middle of it all. She quickly formulated a plan to pull as close as she could so that the side door would be near the bed of the truck. Short and sweet she thought. Open the door, reach into the bed, grab the supplies, close the door and get the Hell out of there. Easy-peasy.
As they reached the truck Jack said “There is someone sitting in the driver’s seat.” Julie leaned as far over toward Jack as she could while still driving to try to see for herself.
“Stop!” Jack said.
Julie brought the van to a halt putting it into park so she could see the driver too now.
“He doesn’t look like he is moving,” she said.
“There is only one real way to find out if he is alive or not,” Jack replied.
Julie smiled at him and motioned toward the truck. Jack acted like he didn’t see it or he really didn’t, she thought. It was hard to tell when he was doing something on purpose or was off in his mind figuring something out.
“It could be another trap,” Jack said, as the color left his face. He had been part of one little trap and there was no way he was taking an active part in another one. He knew that Julie didn’t believe a word of that whole thing but he was there. He saw it and above all else, he lived it.
“Switch places with me for a minute,” Julie ordered, halfway into his seat before he could get out of it. She could get a better look at this person or thing and make her mind up. It looked alive from where she sat; the chest was going up and down in slow sCHAPTERow breaths. And then the truck’s window started to go down. Julie felt herself jump and then settled down and lowered hers enough to communicate through the narrow opening. The man in the truck opened his eyes and turned his head toward Julie taking in the sight of other human survivors. He lifted a bloody hand up to his face raising one finger and gave her the shush sign. Julie made the OK sign back and lowered her window about half way down.
“Can you drive a stick young lady?” the man asked barely above a whisper.
Before Julie could think she asked, “Have you been bitten?”
The old man smiled at this and looked to be pondering his answer to the question. He knew it was a good question, one he hoped the girls would ask anyone they happened upon that looked like he did. In fact, he probably would have put himself out of his misery if he found someone that looked like he did. He could see the woman was getting anxious and probably ready to put a bullet in his head any moment so he answered her question first.
“No I have not been bitten, thank God.” He drew a deep breath causing his chest to ache. “Nothing is still moving that got that close to me as far as I know. When the ammo ran out I used my knife and went crazy swinging it around hitting them in the head. Missed one and sunk it into my thigh.” He smiled at her and felt like he was even blushing a little. “After that I fought my way into the truck and then stopped the bleeding as best I could.” Bob didn’t want to tell them just yet that he had also been having massive chest pains that started after the whole hand to hand fighting had started. No sense in making himself look like any easier of a target than he already looked to be right now.
Julie thought for a moment then said, “I can drive a stick.” She saw that the old man’s face light up on hearing that. “I think we should move you to our van though, it may be a better mode of transportation in your current shape.”
The old man shook that notion off vigorously. “The truck will get us further and gives us more options in case we have to go off-road any place. Plus then we just need to move whatever you have into the back there or behind the seats in the cab.”
Julie looked over at the gas gage in front of Jack; she could see that they were under a quarter of a tank now. If they took the truck and it had gas in it, she wouldn’t have to get out again just to look for fuel or to find another vehicle with gas. Inside a vehicle was a better option to her than being out in the open.
“We don’t have much left,” she replied.
“Then make your way over here and help me slide into the middle,” he said as Julie heard the doors of the truck unlock. “And lady, be as quiet as you can be okay? There are things around here that I would prefer not to see until they are in the rear view mirror.”
Julie nodded her agreement and tur
ned to Jack. “Okay, we are going to move over to his truck. What do you have that you want to bring with you?”
Jack stared back at her in shock. He wasn’t getting out of this van here, not a chance.
“We are almost out of gas and food; we don’t have a choice in this. Do you know how to shoot that thing?” she asked pointing at the 45 that Jack was cradling. In truth, Jack didn’t have a clue. It just made him feel better holding it. He couldn’t even say if it had any bullets in it and he didn’t want to know if it didn’t.
Julie turned back to the old man and motioned that she was on her way and he acknowledged her with a painful nod. She turned to make a quick check to see if there was anything that she wanted to bring with her. There was nothing beyond the clothes she was wearing that she herself had brought, having come to the van straight from the quarantine area back at the lab. Still, there were the maps that Julie felt could be useful, so she turned back to grab them.
Slowly opening the van door she climbed down out of her seat. Feeling her foot squish through what had been a face nearly caused a scream to escape but it was held under control. The door to the truck opened and she could see the old man trying to slide himself over. Julie pulled it open enough to squeeze her petite body into it and helped the man move over as far as she could move him. Jack could help by pulling as she pushed when he got in. That was when she noticed the absence of Jack and quickly shot a glance back at the van. He was still sitting behind the wheel of the van petrified at the thought of getting out.
“Jack!” she said in the same whispered tone that she and the old man had been speaking in. There was no response from Jack.
“Jack!” a little louder. “JACK!” She nearly yelled and the old man quickly made the sign of “Quiet” to her and Julie nodded her head. It had worked; Jack was looking at her from across the van now.
“You can do this Jack, just be quiet and move slowly,” she said reassuringly.
Jack didn’t look like he was buying any of that. It didn’t look very safe to him at all.
“Jack if you don’t start moving I am going to leave you here all by yourself. It will just be you and them here and you will never see if the data at the center will solve your riddle.”
“What riddle?” the old man asked while Julie ignored him. She could see the color coming back to Jack’s face now. Bringing up the riddle had done it, because it was Jack’s purpose. He looked over at her and smiled as he flung the van door open and stepped down. He was surprised that he didn’t feel like vomiting as he had at the mall. The smell here was much worse and walking on the corpses was without saying worse. He was so proud of himself that he looked in at Julie and the old man as he went around the front of the truck and smiled, followed by a little wink.
The old man wanted to rebuke him, tell him to stop being happy with himself and pay attention to what he was doing before he got himself and them killed. But he didn’t and was glad he hadn’t as Jack opened the passenger door. Jack flung a foot and himself up into the seat trailing his right leg. That was when he felt something grab his leg and pull sharply. He screamed out loud enough for someone a block away to hear. He was being pulled back out of the truck from below and couldn’t find anything to hold on to. The old man locked his arm around Jack’s upper torso and told Julie to drive on. He was so calm that Julie started the truck, put it in first gear and let the clutch out. Jack was still screaming and the old man took that bloody hand he had shushed her with and clamped it over Jack’s mouth, which had the effect of making Jack scream louder.
The motor roared to life as the truck started to move and Julie shifted into second gear. Whatever was holding on to Jack had a steel clamp-like grip on his leg. As the truck moved he could feel the leg twist then felt the pop as the bone broke. Then it felt like he was free with the leg dangling out the open door as they made it back onto the road. The old man helped Jack as best as he could to pull his leg in. Jack, in a daze, finally helped him and could hear the door closing next to him.
“It doesn’t look like he was bit, but I can’t tell with his pants on,” Bob said.
Julie could hear everything around her. She could see the old man holding his chest and slumping over a little toward Jack, and see the bone protruding from Jack’s leg with blood gushing out of it. It was like a nightmare, that if she drove fast enough and far enough, she would awaken back in her bed and hear the surf pounding the beach at home.
The old man’s calming voice brought her back to reality. “Okay, we need to find a wide open place where we can see in every direction what is coming at us. Do you see anything like that little lady?”
Julie scanned all around them and only saw parking lots filled with cars and who knew what else.
“No,” he answered himself for her and faced toward Jack. “Take your belt off and make a tunicate so you don’t lose any more blood before we can stop and take care of that properly.”
Jack did as he was told and pulled his belt off fighting through the pain. With Jack taking care of his wound the best he could, the old man gave Julie some quick directions to follow. He explained that if all had gone well and nothing had happened that there should be an RV waiting for them there with some supplies to help himself and the young fella here out.
CHAPTER 7
Bob came to lying in a cramped bed with no room to move around in. Came to would be a polite way to put his awakening; he was awaken by the tongue of a very large dog who was too happy to contain himself any longer. Bob stared into the large black muzzle that was attached to a body that was now dancing all around in the confined space of the RV.
“Good morning fella, did you miss me?” Bob asked the dog. Zeus wagged his tail with more force now and licked all the harder. Perseus flew into them both like a bowling bowl striking the pins causing Zeus to practically end up in the tiny bed with Bob.
“Good to see you finally awake again,” a voice said to Bob as he pushed the Lads off of him the best he could. There was the little girl. It brought a feeling of happiness and warmth to Bob seeing that they had made it here okay. She squeezed her way in between Zeus and Perseus and gave him a long hug. Then she backed up, smiled and walked away.
“Bob is up,” she said and then there were two more figures coming down the tiny hallway. He recognized them both, returning their smiles with a somewhat painful smile of his own.
“How is the young fella doing?”
The older woman, Bob couldn’t remember her name now, said “Not very good I am afraid.”
Bob could remember how bad his leg looked and he knew there wasn’t anything in the first aid supplies here that could help in an injury like that.
Lori somehow got the Lads to leave the area and sit down by Virginia in the front of the RV. She reached out and held Bob’s hand. It made him feel like he was dying and they were about to deliver the bad news to him. Still he did feel good having the two girls around again. For a while there he had thought that the last thing he would see would be those damn ugly bastards and the cab of his truck.
“While you were out Virginia and I moved all the supplies from the back of the truck into the trailer and on top of the RV,” Lori informed him.
“Not a bad idea,” Bob replied. “We don’t want to ditch the truck if that was what you were thinking.”
She took that as an insult but did her best to hide it from Bob. “I know,” she replied.
Julie interjected herself into the conversation. “I need to take Jack into the medical wing of the building if we can. There is nothing I can do for him, or you, out here. In there we can find medical and surgical supplies.”
Lori knew Bob wasn’t going to like this at all. In the short time that she had known him, safety was a key part of the overall plan. Going into a building that could be filled with zombies or the other, was just not in the plan. Surprisingly he seemed receptive to the idea and even for it.
“How are you planning on getting us all in there?”
Julie leaned a
gainst the cabinet opposite of Bob. “The med wing was segregated from the rest of us. If it isn’t already closed, it can be closed off from the rest of the building. I think they thought that would be the only area that could allow a breach.”
“You know a lot about the building,” Bob stated more as a question.
“I am the only survivor as far as I know from that building,” she replied and dropped her eyes to the floor.
“If you’re the only survivor then we can assume that it’s not closed off now then.”
Lori agreed with Bob, it had to be somehow opened to the rest of the facility or there would be others alive to tell this story.
“We need what is in there to keep you and Jack alive. You may have had a heart attack this morning and you both need your wounds cleaned and dressed followed by antibiotics.”
They could both see Bob was in pain and that his mind was going over everything Julie had just said. Finally he looked up with a growing look of concern and said, “It will have to be done in three steps just to be safe.” He waited for either of them to say something, when neither did he continued; “You two take the truck and drive around the building at a safe enough distance so you can see if anything comes out after you in enough time to get the Hell out of there, but close enough so you can find a safe place to move the truck and RV close to us when we go in. By safe, I mean if the shit hits the fan we can get to them with little or no problems.” He waited for any questions or comments, when none materialized he went on. “That’s the first step; once you found that safe spot you will drive back here just as you drove in, going nice and slow not attracting any attention to you. Then we will very cautiously move the RV and truck to the safe spot you found next to the building. That’s the easy part; step three is going to take everything you have in you to pull it off.”
