“I'm tired,” Sam whined.
“We just gotta keep moving,” Tom replied.
“But my feet hurt,” Sam groaned, letting out a loud sigh. Joel fought back a growl of disapproval. He was more like me than I'd realized—which was probably why I felt threatened by him in the first place.
“That's nothing compared to what it will feel like when a wild pack of zombies rips you to shreds,” I muttered under my breath, picking up my pace to try to distance myself from the annoying conversation behind me. Benji shot me a sympathetic glance. I wasn't cut out to be a leader. Plain and simple. I didn't mind taking care of Benji because he never complained. He did what you asked and was always happy and grateful, always trying to make the best out of this insane situation.
“Try not to focus on them,” I heard Tom say as Benji and I power walked farther out in front of them. “Maybe think about something that makes you happy for a bit. That always helps.”
Benji must have heard Tom's advice and taken it to heart.
“It sure was great to be able to watch television again,” Benji said shortly after. “Sitting there in that living room on a comfortable sofa, feeling the cool air on my skin and flipping through shows was like a small slice of heaven. It was like coming home after school before my parents got home and having the run of the place, like the way things used to be.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think there might be a time in the future when all of this is behind us?”
“You mean the zombies?”
“Yes.”
“Definitely,” I answered. “It's just a matter of time until our military forces eradicate all the infected. All we have to do is survive until then.”
Easier said than done, I thought.
“Sometimes I feel like it will never end,” Benji said honestly.
“It just feels that way. It will end. You'll see.”
“How long do you think that's gonna take?”
“It's hard to say,” I shrugged. I think it was the first time I had admitted the truth to myself. “This thing is way more out of control than I ever imagined it would be. Then again, we might be closer than we think. It all depends on what the military has been able to accomplish. We have no way of knowing what they’re working on, what their ultimate strategy is.”
“Do you think it's gonna be months or even years until they have it under control?”
“Without radio or television news reports, it's all kind of a guessing game,” I said. “Then again for all we know, we could wake up tomorrow and everything could be back to normal.”
“Man I hope that happens,” Benji said with a little laugh. “I'd love to go home. I never knew how much I could miss it.” I liked the way a little bit of hope had lifted his spirits so I pressed on.
“They’re probably using all their energy to reclaim the cities,” I said.
“You think so?”
“Sure,” I offered. “It's what I would do. Secure the bases, then start spreading out slowly and taking back the land. The cities already have everything they need to support a population. There is food, shelter, water, the means to create electricity. The way I see it, all they have to do is quarantine off a major city then slowly move in wiping out the biters as they go. Then they set up a detail to guard the perimeter and move on to the next city.”
“That makes sense,” Benji said. There was a noticeable skip in his step now.
“Eventually the only zombies left will be out in the wild.”
Benji shot me a worried glance and I realized what I had said. We were out in the wild! My mind made the same connection his had just made. What if a horde of zombies was being flushed our way from Lompoc right now?
Smooth move, I thought. Say something quick to make him feel better.
“I'm pretty sure we're alone out here, so don't freak out and let your imagination get the best of you.” Benji didn't say anything. He just nodded and gulped. We walked along in silence for what felt like over an hour before he spoke again.
“So what's the deal with your brother?”
I was glad to have a reason to speak again.
“He's a Corporal in the Marines,” I said proudly.
“So why didn't he stay with you at Vandenberg?”
“He's got too much work to do to stay in one place,” I answered. “Since Z-Day hit he's been called to service up and down the coast.”
“And he's in Hueneme now?”
“That's right,” I said. “Like most military bases that are still active, they've combined all the different armed forces into one cohesive unit down there. He told me he was working on something big, something that could change the course of this fight, maybe end it all together.”
“So why didn't he take you with him?” It was an innocent enough question. Benji hadn't said it with any malice in his voice yet it felt like someone had socked me hard right in the gut when I heard it. He had a good point. I didn't know for sure why Moto hadn't taken me. There was a part of me that did feel abandoned. I'd trained hard, always done exactly what he said, but he still left me behind with the rest of the kids when they called him down. Didn't he realize I wasn't a child anymore? When was he going to stop treating me like one?
“He was coming back for me,” I said, my voice cracking, “once he got things set up.”
“Oh,” said Benji. He looked sorry he'd brought it up.
“He was just getting settled in. That's all.”
“Right.”
“Then once he had things under control he was going to set me up on the base,” I said. “Until then he wanted to make sure I was safe.”
“Well that worked out just great, didn't it?” I heard Joel say mockingly.
I jerked around to see the Parker twins and Sam staring at me. I hadn't realized they had caught up to us. My face burned with embarrassment.
“You don't know anything about it,” I shot back self-consciously.
“How do you figure?” Joel yelled back.
“Guys,” said Benji.
“You don't know the first thing about my brother.”
“I know he didn't come back to save you when that horde of flesh eating demons overran the base,” Joel spat.
“Yeah? And neither did your father!” I angrily shouted. Fire flashed in Joel's eyes. I was instantly sorry I had said it, but not because I was afraid of Joel. It was a cheap shot and I knew it. We were all hurting. We were all scared. And now we were turning on each other like feral animals. Still I knew I couldn't back down an inch. If I didn't stay on top of Joel he would wrestle control of the group away from me. I wasn't about to let that happen. I needed to keep us on course.
“Take it back,” Joel retorted in a low, threatening voice.
“Make me!” I said, my fists bunching up defensively.
“Guys!” Benji shouted again.
“What?” I said, turning to face him. Joel was on me before I had time to register what was happening. I didn't think he had it in him. I was so used to most of the people at the base respecting my reputation as a fighter and staying clear of me. He knocked me off my feet and we rolled on the ground. He got in a quick punch to the right side of my head and then I blocked the next. I flipped him over and slapped him hard across the face. I pinned him to the ground as he fought to get up and a stream of curse words came out of him like he was possessed.
“Guys!” Benji shouted a third time, trying to get our attention. “Listen!”
Everyone stopped moving and listened. Off in the distance there was a loud rumbling sound that filled the pit of my stomach with churning fear.
Please don't let that be a zombie horde, I thought.
“What is that?” Joel asked. All the fight had left him. I got up and helped him to his feet. He jumped back away from me and dusted himself off.
“Quiet,” Benji retorted.
The unexplained noise grew louder and louder. The closer it got, the more it sounded like some kind of big machine and less like the un
dead.
“Look,” Sam shouted, pointing back in the direction we'd come from. We all turned at once and stared in astonishment as a black military helicopter shot up over the ridge and passed over the top of us. It was so loud we couldn't hear anything else, but Joel and Tom waved their arms and yelled anyway. The helicopter was gone just as quickly as it had come, leaving us alone with our desperate thoughts.
“That's a good sign,” I said.
“How do you figure?” Joel asked.
“Yeah man, they left us out here,” Tom loudly complained.
“It means we're still in control,” I said confidently. “We've still got equipment and we're still fighting.”
“Unless those were zombies,” Sam said. Everyone laughed at him.
“What?” Sam tried to cover up his embarrassment.
“Last time I checked, zoms can't fly helicopters,” Tom said. “I think we're good.”
“Oh,” muttered Sam.
“Can you even begin to imagine how screwed we'd all be if that were the case?” Benji patted Sam on the shoulder and walked to my side.
Joel gave me a guarded look and I turned and walked on. Neither of us spoke about our scuffle but I knew I didn't plan on letting my guard down around him any time soon. He was faster than I had thought he would be. Sooner or later we were going to butt heads again. It was just a matter of time. I was seriously hoping we could go our separate ways once we got into the city. After all, there was no reason for him to follow us all the way to Hueneme. And he had Tom to keep him company.
The first chance I get, I've got to ditch him, I thought. The sooner the better.
We came to a fork in the road where the freeway became an overpass as it intersected another highway. A curl of fog wrapped over the bank giving it an eerie feeling. There was something in the way up ahead, something big and still. It was way too large to be a zombie but even from a distance I got the feeling it wasn't going to be good.
“What is it?” Benji whispered.
“Only one way to find out,” I replied.
I unsheathed my sword and carefully sauntered forward. Joel followed close behind me, then Tom, Benji, and last, Sam. There was an orange street lamp overhead illuminating the object. The fog drifted away by the time I was ten feet from it to reveal a large deer laying on its side with its throat ripped out. Dark blood pooled onto the ground around it. Foot prints dragging through the blood led away into the dust on the side of the road.
“What did this to it?” Benji looked stumped.
“From the looks of those foot prints I'd say it was a zombie,” I suggested.
“Nonsense,” Joel chimed in. “There is no way a deer would let one of those undead things get this close to it, let alone stand there while it tore its throat out.”
“It doesn't make any sense, man,” Tom agreed, obviously trying to diffuse the tension between us.
“Maybe it was wounded,” I said.
“Or sleeping,” Benji added.
“It's a mystery,” Tom agreed.
“First the helicopter and now this,” Joel said sounding exasperated. “What's next?”
Almost as if on cue Sam let out a blood curdling scream that ripped through the night. We turned and saw that something had attached itself to his leg. It was a zombie that had been cut in half, a crawler. It had snuck up over the side of the embankment and taken him by surprise, wrapping its arms around Sam's tiny leg and pulling itself in for a bite. It all happened so fast there was nothing we could do. Sam wailed in pain like a siren.
Joel lunged toward him and kicked the twisted corpse off Sam with his combat boot. It rolled helplessly on its back trying to flip itself over. Blood covered its dark mouth as broken teeth snapped at the air like some kind of swamp creature straining for its last meal.
“It's getting back up,” Tom yelled, shaking me out of my state of shock. As quickly as I could, I ran over and cut its head off, separating the brain stem from the body. Instantly it went still like a deadly toy with its battery removed. Sam fell on the ground and began examining his bite mark with shaking hands. We all gathered around him.
“That thing came out of nowhere,” Benji said.
“Let's have a look at that wound,” Joel said. Sam had been pulling the skin to show the blood oozing out. He moved quickly to cover it up.
“It's not that bad,” he said.
“Does it hurt?” Tom asked.
“It stings a little bit,” Sam volounteered. “But I'll be fine.”
For a kid who was crying about his feet being sore, he sure got tough all of a sudden, I thought.
The truth was that he wasn't going to be fine. He was infected and there was nothing in the world we could do about it. Every second that passed brought him closer to his fate of transforming into a mindless killing machine with an insatiable appetite for living flesh.
No one said anything for a long time. We just exchanged looks and stood around Sam while he stared down at the concrete not blinking. It had to be setting in, what the bite meant. His life was over now. Nothing could bring it back. Ten minutes ago he had a future. Now all that existed were his last few moments. Benji leaned down and hugged him and Tom sat by his other side. Joel gave me a glance that told me to meet him a little ways over toward the deer. We both quietly walked away and stood looking at the dead animal, not making eye contact.
“What do you think we should do?” Joel fidgeted.
“What can we do?” I asked. “He's a goner for sure.”
“Yeah,” Joel agreed. “That thing got a good chunk of him.”
“The virus is definitely in there. No doubt about it.” I turned and spit over the side of the bridge.
“How long do you think it's gonna take him to turn?”
“Hard to say.” I looked back at Sam to see if he was watching us. He hadn't lifted his head. Benji was cooing words of encouragement in his ear. “From what I've seen, when someone gets bit good and deep like that it doesn't take long for them to go full zom. Especially someone that small.”
“Yeah.” Joel absentmindedly tapped the deer carcass with his boot. “I've noticed that too. So what do you think we should do with him?”
“I hate to say this,” I started, “but there is no way we can take him with us now.”
“No argument there,” Joel said sternly.
“I hate to leave him out here,” I said. “I'm not sure we have a choice now.”
“He's gonna become one of those things soon,” Joel said in a gentle tone. “When he does, he will be a danger to all of us. Plain and simple.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Isn't it obvious?” Joel looked up into my eyes. “The only humane thing to do is to kill him.”
He's right, a little voice in my head told me, even as I shook my head no.
“But he's just a kid,” I feebly protested, “a small, helpless kid.” Joel looked sympathetic as I struggled with it.
“He won't be for long,” he calmly said. “Think about it.”
“No,” I said in total shock and yet it made sense what Joel was saying. Soon Sam would not only be a tiny, out-of-control monster but also a threat to each of us. “He's terrified. Look at him! We can't do that to him.”
“We have no way of knowing what happens after someone turns,” Joel argued. “We don't know if they die right away or if they are, you know, trapped in there, seeing everything they are doing but unable to control it. By not killing him we could be condemning him to a living hell beyond anything you or I ever imagined.”
“So we just shoot him in the face and move on?” My voice cracked. “Would you do that to me if I was bitten? Or Benji?”
“If that's what it came down to, I would,” Joel said.
I'll bet, I thought. He's probably wishing it was you that got bit in the first place so he could get you out of the way.
“What if it was Tom?” I asked. Joel hesitated. I'd hit a nerve. “Would you be willing to casually blow your twin brother
's head off because he was going to turn into a zombie?”
Good, I thought. He does have some kind of moral center after all.
“If it came down to that,” Joel said, but it was clear the wind had gone out of his sails. He couldn't even look me in the eye anymore.
“Let's hope it never does,” I said, turning and walking back over to Sam.
“We about ready to get going?” Sam asked, trying to sound calm. “I think I can walk on it as long as I don't put any pressure on it. Maybe I can get a tree branch and make some crutches out of it.”
“You can't come with us anymore, Sam,” I said. The others looked away as I spoke. Sam looked crestfallen.
“I'll be okay,” he said, trying to change my mind. “It's not that bad.”
“I'm so sorry buddy,” I offered, leaning down and looking him in the eyes. Tears burst out and drooled down his face. “We can't take that risk. I wish there was another way, but there just isn't.”
“You can't just leave me out here in the middle of nowhere all alone,” Sam protested.
“I'm fairly certain you wouldn't appreciate the other suggestions floated for how to deal with this situation,” I said. Sam's young eyes filled with fear as the meaning of my statement settled over him in a chilling moment of realization. His eyes flashed from Joel to the gun he was carrying then back to me.
“Please don't kill me,” Sam begged as a fresh round of tears burst out of him. It was taking everything I had in me not to lose it. A tiny spark of anger at Joel rose up in me but I held it in check.
“No one is going to kill you,” I promised.
“What am I supposed to do? Sit out here and wait to die?” Sam wailed. Benji put his hand on Sam's shoulder, comforting him.
“Listen, little man,” I said, “this is what you’re going to do. You're going to turn around and follow the road all the way back to that set of abandoned houses where we first found you. Got it?”
Sam didn't answer. He just nodded. I wasn't sure he entirely believed us. I glanced at Joel and burning hatred filled my guts. It was wrong to scare this poor kid in his final moments.
Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde Page 4
