by TW Brown
One of the children, a girl judging by the silky blouse that was almost ready to fall off the frame due to a combination of being snagged and dragged and who knows what else, kept shifting from one foot to the other. It reminded Vix of how children act when they had to pee. The other was almost a statue. It simply stood there making no move forward or back.
“Oi!” Gemma called, snapping Vix out of her observation. “You gonna stand there, or are you going to help me with these two. They don’t seem to want to join their friends.”
Vix shook her head to clear it and started forward. They must have heard her footsteps or something, because they both turned to face her. Vix froze in mid-stride; one foot still in the air as if she were afraid of what might happen should it touch the ground.
She could see their faces now. Her heart wanted to break. The little boy had a jagged bite taken out of what had once been a pair of plump cheeks. The little girl had fared worse. Her belly had been ripped open. And now she knew why the shirt was still on. It had fused to the wound with filth and dried gore.
The little boy’s head tilted to one side and its eyes locked on hers. She would swear for the rest of her life that it glanced down at the weapon in her hand and then back up to her eyes. The pair took a step back.
Vix had no idea what to think now. She had never known a zombie to back away, and yet, here were two doing exactly that. They took another step…right into range of Gemma’s spear. Her first thrust drove into the back of the little boy’s head. The girl turned just in time to catch the next jab in her right eye.
“Good work,” Gemma sighed, sliding off the van and landing on the ground between the two children. “Nice plan to get their attention and scare them back to me.”
“I didn’t,” Vix whispered. For some reason, she couldn’t take her eyes of the two downed bodies.
“What?” Gemma only asked with partial interest. She was already walking back to the water truck to reclaim their prize.
“I didn’t try to scare them back towards you,” Vix explained. “In fact, I am wondering how you didn’t notice the way those two were acting.”
“Acting?” Gemma had that confused expression that Vix was becoming accustomed to whenever the two of them were talking about zombies.
“Never mind,” Vix said with a scowl. Maybe she had been imagining it. After all…everybody knows that zombies don’t think. “A couple more miles and we will be at the M25 interchange. We should be able to find a place to rest for the night.”
***
“Down here, quick!” Danny hissed, waving Jody and Selina over from where they were crouched behind a Dumpster next to the alley.
The sign coming into town read Newport, Arkansas. The population was, according to the sign, 7,342. Judging by what they’d seen so far, none of the town’s citizens had survived…and none had left. Zombies were everywhere.
The two scurried across to join Danny in the dark stairwell. A half dozen steps led down to a metal door with a small window. The door was currently propped open by a chunk of concrete.
“I used to get in a little trouble when I was growing up,” Danny said in response to Jody’s arched eyebrow. “The one that put the nail in the coffin was when I broke into my high school. I had this stupid idea that I could get into the school, hack the computer, and then tweak my grades.”
“Got caught?” Selina chuckled.
“As I was breaking into the main office. I guess the school had some sort of silent alarm as well as motion detectors. The cops said that the person on the radio basically told them my entire route.”
“Talk later, let’s get inside,” Jody urged.
The trio slipped into the long, dark hallway. Doors lined both sides, just offset from each other. The gloom outside didn’t do much to light the way. Plus, the cold had seeped inside to the point where icicles hung in places from the ceiling.
“So tell me what good we are doing by coming in here?” Selina managed through teeth that were already chattering.
“We can find a spot to build a fire that hopefully won’t attract attention,” Jody whispered. “Now please be quiet for a moment…I thought I heard something.”
Selina bit back the response that initially came to her lips. However, she had learned her lesson after last night. They’d had the luxury of stumbling across, of all things, a car that had several bags of groceries in the back seat. It had run off the highway and was nose down in a deep ditch barely visible from the road.
“Probably swerved to avoid hitting a zombie,” Danny had quipped.
A lot of the food had spoiled, but there were a couple of bags of canned food that were in perfect condition. That night, they had beef stew cooked over a fire that Jody made in a hole that was almost waist deep.
During the meal, Danny was spinning tales and cracking jokes—which was the same thing he did most of the day as they hiked along in the slush. It helped her keep her mind off of how miserable she was and how very cold her entire body felt…especially her hands, feet, and face.
After one of his more humorous jokes involving two blondes, a step ladder, and a platypus, Selina had laughed so hard that stew actually came out of her nose. Of course that only made her laugh harder.
Jody kept insisting that she quiet down. She had given him some flippant retort about being out in the middle of nowhere and that he should just chill out. Five minutes later, four walkers stumbled into their camp.
“Sorry,” Selina whispered, nodding for Jody to lead the way. She thought she caught Danny mimicking her out of the corner of her eye.
They reached the second door and Jody held up his hand to signal a halt. Danny moved up beside him and the two made a few hand gestures. Without any indication that she saw, they burst through the door and disappeared into the room. A rasping moan sounded for a split second, followed by the familiar crunching splat of a head being crushed or busted open with Danny’s or Jody’s hand ax.
The two emerged and they all continued up the corridor. Jody checked each room very carefully. When they reached the end, they discovered a stairwell leading up. Jody signaled that they retreat back up the way they’d come. He led them into an empty classroom and shut the door.
“If we rig a trip wire at the stairs, we should be able to camp here tonight. This room is perfect. It is big enough that the smoke won’t overwhelm us.” His voice was still above a whisper.
“Won’t it all go out the window if we just open it a crack?” Selina asked.
“Sure, but some of it will still build up in the room,” Jody answered. “We don’t want to end up suffocating or being overcome by smoke inhalation.”
“I’ll rig the line,” Danny offered as he slipped out the door.
Jody began gathering books and creating a pile. He had a good sized stack, and was about to light it when Selina grabbed his hand. She reached down and plucked a ragged paperback from the pile.
“Wuthering Heights,” she said with a wistful sigh. “I loved this book when I was in Honors English my junior year in high school.”
“I was a fan of Tom Jones,” Jody said as he started the blaze.
“The singer?” Selina asked with a giggle.
“No…it is an old English comedy,” Jody said with the first thing close to a laugh that she’d heard from him since they left Bald Knob. “In fact, if you read it, you will see the genesis of probably three-fourths of the sitcoms ever written.”
“Huh.” Selina sat down and flipped through the pages of the book.
“I’m gonna go out for wood as soon as Danny gets back,” Jody said peeking out the door. “I saw a stack of pallets over by that knocked over school bus. Those should be well seasoned and burn nice.”
“Do you need any help?” Selina asked.
“You could come hold the door,” Jody said with a nod. “If I am on the run from anything, I don’t want to worry about setting things down and opening the door.”
She hopped back up to her feet and followed. Jody gave
Danny a brief explanation in a loud whisper before heading back down the corridor. Just before they reached the door, Jody froze and raised his hand to signal a stop. Selina didn’t need to be told; she could smell it.
Pulling his blade, Jody put his hand on the knob. Selina drew hers and took a few steps back. She had learned from a few of their incursions into abandoned homes that it was always best to give each other room. When you are swinging a blade at something that is trying to eat you, there isn’t a lot of time to make sure you have enough space between you and your fellow travellers.
Cracking the door just a bit, Jody peeked out. The stairwell was empty. He pulled the door open and crept out. Step by step, he climbed until he could see over the lip and out into the parking lot. A few feet away, a handful of zombies were crouched on the ground. From this close, he could hear the smacking of mouths and the wet rip of pieces being torn away. What puzzled him was the fact that he hadn’t heard anything.
A rock bounced near his head causing Danny to flinch and duck down. His heart felt like it was going to come through his chest. He glanced back at Selina with a scowl.
“What?” she mouthed silently.
“The rock?” he mouthed back. She shrugged.
Danny crept back up and looked again. His eyes scanned the lot more carefully, looking for anything that might be out of place. There! Up on top of a school bus a small figure sat hunched over but waving one hand.
Creeping back down to Selina, he whispered in her ear, “There is somebody up on a school bus across the parking lot. It looks like a kid. I’m gonna take out the few in the parking lot and then haul ass back with what I think is just one person. Have the door open.”
He didn’t wait for confirmation. He’d already wasted enough time. The zombies would be finished with the poor individual that they were snacking on very soon…if they weren’t already. He reached the top of the steps and was only momentarily upset to find out that he would now be facing six zombies instead of five. The group was already wandering off and the person on the ground—a young boy in his early teens by the looks—was trying unsuccessfully to stand. It seemed that there was too much damage to the left leg for it to bear any weight.
Jody came in low under the first zombie and brought his blade up under its chin. He shoved it back and it hadn’t even hit the ground when he swung with a backhand, catching the next closest threat in the forehead. He knew well enough not to bother with that weapon any more for the moment and drew his Ka-Bar. A stab into the eye took the next closest.
A hand clutched at his sleeve and he quickly shoved off and brought the weapon around and drove it into the temple. The fifth one was a few steps away and Jody moved in with a strike to the forehead. He let his arm relax as the zombie slumped to the ground. This time, he put one foot on a shoulder and yanked the knife free.
He turned around just in time to see the figure from the bus crouching over its undead former companion. A hand ax came out from the thick coat the person was wearing and smashed into the face of the most recent addition to the zombie population.
“C’mon,” Jody hissed, “we need to get out from the open.”
The person ignored him, pulling the ax loose, but continuing to squat down over the body. Jody moved closer, but stayed beyond what he guessed to be a few feet past arm’s reach.
“Hey, you in the coat?”
Still no acknowledgement, but the person did stand up. It was a girl. She turned to face Jody, tears running down her face.
“I know you’re upset, but we need to duck out of sight for a bit. Down those stairs.” He pointed and took a few steps. The girl did not budge. She glanced at the stairs, and then returned her gaze to Jody. There was something in her eyes.
“You don’t trust me?” Jody sighed. “Look, I get it. There has been some crazy shit going on, but you threw the rock at me to get my attention.” She seemed to consider his statement. “My name is Jody—”
“And my name is Selina.”
Jody jumped and spun around with his arm half-cocked. He only took a fraction of a second to appreciate that she had wisely stayed out of range before the anger at being surprised resumed control.
“What have I—” he started.
“She’s mute,” Selina cut him off and moved past Jody to the girl. Jody turned to see the newcomer nodding vigorously.
“How could you tell?” Jody was perplexed.
“She put her hand over her mouth and shook her head,” Selina said over her shoulder.
It took a few moments for them to get inside and for her to get out a dog-eared notebook full of scribbles, but eventually Jody, Selina, and Danny were introduced to Katherine Yares.
***
Slider kept to the shadows. He had been having no trouble following the trio as they travelled north. It wasn’t like they seemed to be trying to hide. Then, shortly after they reached the outskirts of a town called Newport, he lost them.
It had been almost two weeks since they’d left Bald Knob to its fate. Once or twice, he had considered making his presence known to the trio. He didn’t think that he would be welcome just yet. Besides, he was somewhat curious to see how that kid Jody handled himself.
Now that he was no longer working under the command of the captain—an idiot with an over-inflated view of his abilities in Slider’s personal opinion—he was no longer bound to carry out the last orders he’d been given: Kill Sergeant Rafe.
Despite his ability to become detached in the field, Charles “Slider” Monterro was no monster. He did not take joy in killing. It was simply his job. Nothing more. Nothing less. He’d been aware that Rafe and his buddy with the thick New Englander accent were devising something involving the women. He was a little surprised when the young man departed Bald Knob with just one.
So, Slider had followed. Always keeping his distance. He’d been almost certain on more than one occasion that they would fall prey to the walking dead. Once, he’d even moved close enough, prepared to come in at the last second and save the day. In Slider’s mind, that was the only way he would be ingratiated to the group.
He was just about to give up. After almost two hours, he was willing to move on. It would have been nice to fall in with a group; he held no illusions about the likelihood of survival if a person were to remain on their own. It was not a matter of if, but when. He was preparing to climb over a fence that enclosed a golf course when he saw two small figures dart across the road about a half of a mile ahead.
Sticking close to the fence, he started to move after them. He had a difficult time figuring out how two youngsters could be out by themselves with conditions being what they were. A moment later, three men emerged from some sort of shack that he was almost directly across from. One of them was limping and they were whispering angrily back and forth to one another.
“…told you to tie that one up before fucking her,” one of the men hissed.
Slider didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. He didn’t care what else was said. He now had a purpose. He tried not to laugh at his inner-monolog…the one that had insisted that he didn’t kill out of pleasure. He was about to enjoy what he did.
Taking the crossbow from his back, he quickly dropped a bolt into place and brought it to his shoulder. He gauged the distance and figured that he would have two shots before these goons were on him. He chose one without a limp, aimed, and fired.
The first shot caught the man in the center of the chest. No need for a head shot here…center mass would be just fine. He dropped the crossbow, jammed his toe into the metal hoop, caught the drawstring with his two handles and pulled to cock the weapon. He looked up as the surviving goons were charging his way. His training was serving him well as he blocked out everything except the task, preventing the rush of adrenaline from causing him to make foolish mistakes.
He brought the weapon to his shoulder, sighted, and fired. The second man dropped, the look of surprise almost comical on his face as he ended up on his knees staring down at the
feathered shaft jutting from the middle of his chest.
Slider had no time to admire his work. He drew his knife just as the man with the limp skidded to a stop about ten feet away. He threw his hands up in the air in surrender.
“I d-d-don’t want no p-p-problems, f-fella,” he stammered.
“Those kids,” Slider growled.
“What? Them muties? You want ‘em…hell, have ‘em both,” the man couldn’t get the words out quick enough. “If that was all this was about…well we could have worked somethin’ out, man. No need for violence. In fact, we got other stuff to trade as well…food…even a knife bigger than that ‘un.” The man pointed to the Ka-Bar in Slider’s hand.
“Run,” Slider whispered.
“Huh?” The man appeared to be confused by the word.
“I said run,” Slider repeated. He slid the knife back into its sheath.
Apparently the man mistook the intention. “You want me to hurry and go get what we got for trade?”
Charles “Slider” Monterro walked up to the stranger. He brought up his right hand and the man reached out to accept what he assumed was a proffered handshake. Like a snake, Slider grabbed the extended hand, used it to whip the man around, and grabbed under the chin with his left hand while cupping the back of the man’s head with his right. In a single action, he jerked hard. The satisfying crack sent a shiver down Slider’s spine.
Yes indeed, he thought as he began up the road after the two small figures he’d seen run away, sometimes it was actually enjoyable killing another man.
15
Tough Choices
Dr. Zahn’s voice would make an excellent alarm clock. It has that certain quality to it that makes you want to smash the button and shut it off…for good. I’m not proud of the fact that this was my first thought as I opened my eyes.
“…can’t simply expect him to do everything when it comes to the dirty work.” The doctor was ripping somebody a new one by the sounds of it.
