by Gouge, W. B.
David hadn’t moved this whole time, he had just stood there looking at his grandfather when Henry suddenly bolted forward and let out an awful roar. David instinctively dodged right and ran through the living room crashing against the front door and twisting the knob at the same time. The door flung open and he stumbled, as he reached the porch he pumped his arms trying to gain speed, but his legs wobbled underneath him. He was drained from the drugs and lack of sleep, his whole body was running on pure adrenaline now. He gasped for air, his legs felt weak beneath him and he could hear his grandfather’s footsteps right behind him on the wooden porch gaining ground with every step. David jumped off of the porch and headed for the driveway believing that he would soon collapse, every step felt like it was the last drop in his tank. That’s when he heard a loud pop behind him. He dragged on a few more steps and spun around to see what had happened. There was his grandfather, face down on the ground. Henry didn’t stay still long, almost immediately he tried to scramble to his feet but there was another explosive pop and he dropped down again. Two red holes in his back began to pool up with blood as he turned his head and looked back toward the house. David saw a man with a pistol trained on his grandfather walking toward the old man. Henry growled and rose to his hands and knees when the man with the pistol fired a third shot into Henry’s face. Henry’s head snapped back and he collapsed like a bag of sand.
David fell to his knees with his eyes fixed on his grandfather’s body. Henry was completely lifeless now, lying dead in the dirt of his own front yard. David struggled to catch his breath, he felt as though he couldn’t breath and his vision started to go dark. He struggled to hold it together fighting off unconsciousness when the man with the pistol stepped in front of him and pointed the pistol at his face, “Are you sick?” he asked David.
David didn’t answer. Instead he starred up at the gunman, he felt dizzy. He could make out the man’s grey uniform, like a police officer from another area but he couldn’t tell where. Tears formed in his eyes as he spoke, “My grandpa… what happened to him… he was…”
David finally focused on the man’s face. The middle aged man with salt and pepper stubble holstered his weapon and sighed, “He was sick kid, there was nothing you could have done for him.”
“Sick?… Wha…” David’s voice cracked.
David wished that this was a hallucination. He wished he would wake up and find himself in his bed alone in his room to find this was all a dream. But the baking sun on his skin and the tightness of his chest were real, and he knew he was already awake.
Behind him he heard a pickup truck roaring up the driveway. Owen slammed the brakes and gravel flew as the vehicle stopped. The gunman drew his pistol again and held it up in the air. Owen jumped out of the truck with the baseball bat and stood starring at the gunman, then at Henry’s body, “What the fuck happened David?”
Liz ran to David’s side, “Oh god! David? What happened?”
Owen clenched his fist around the bat and started toward the gunman. The stranger pointed the pistol at the ground in front of Owen, “Don’t be stupid kid! He was sick like all the others.”
David put his hand up, “Owen stop! My grandpa was… he attacked me and…” David paused, the thought shattered his foggy state of mind, “Grandma!?”
He climbed to his feet and ran into the house, “Grandma! Grandma!?!” he yelled.
As he reached the hallway the bathroom door cracked open. David halted and stood watching and waiting. Edna stepped out into the hallway and began crying when she saw David, she hurried toward him, her arm wrapped in a bloody towel, “Oh David! Thank god you came…”
He hurried to meet her and helped her into the living room. “What happened?”
The old woman was inconsolable. She was crying and trying to tell David something but he couldn’t understand her. David through his arms around her and she broke down and sobbed into his shoulder. He held her while Owen and Liz and the stranger came in the living room. The man wandered around the first floor, he seemed to be scanning each room for something before moving to the next room. Owen kept his eye on him the whole time, Liz sat on the other side of Edna and put her arm around her. “Grandma, can you tell me what happened?” David said quietly.
“Where is you grandpa? He’s… David I don’t know what’s wrong with him…” she managed to whisper, her eyes darted around frantically looking for Henry.
“He’s outside… Grandma, he’s dead.” David didn’t know how else to tell her that her husband of more than forty years was dead out in the yard, shot to death after having tried to kill him like some maniac.
Edna broke down, she wailed into David’s shoulder until she was out of breath. David cried too, with his eyes clenched shut and his arms around the last person he had left in the world. Owen and Liz traded looks, they felt sorry for their friend, they knew all too well what it was like to be alone. After a while Edna began to pull it together, perhaps from the exhaustion. David asked her again what had happened.
She sniffled a few times, wiped her eyes and looked up. Her eyes were deeply red and she spoke in a squeaky voice, “Your grandfather was out in the yard… he was standing there… just standing there looking into the corn…” she started to cry again.
Tears ran down David’s face, he knew it was difficult for her but he had to know what was going on so he asked her to continue, “He… didn’t look right. He looked like he was in pain, the way he was standing there. He moved in a twitchy way. I went out to ask if he was ok.” Edna looked scared suddenly.
“He turned toward me like he was surprised to see me, then he came running toward me… I haven’t seen him move like that for years. And his face…” her eyes unfocused as she described Henry, “his face was blank, somehow…”
She held her arm to her chest, the towel was soaked through with blood, “He grabbed my arm, and he bit me so hard, I felt his teeth scrap the bone David!” she collapsed into tears again and buried her face into David’s chest.
David looked at Liz, she seemed scared and confused by the story. Owen wore a disgusted look on his face. The stranger came in and turned on the TV, then he sat on the chair in the corner. The television displayed the emergency broadcast message. A loud tone rang in the background as a robotic voice read along with the text on the screen.
The television instructed anyone watching to stay indoors and avoid causing any civil unrest. The instructions included that police were working to resolve the violence and that any looters would be shot on sight. Next they were told that the President had declared a state of emergency nationwide that was already in effect. The last part seemed strange, it instructed them to avoid contact with anyone who was behaving abnormally. “Yeah no shit!” Owen said.
“Shhh! Quiet!” David barked at Owen.
David held his arm around Edna tightly, she whimpered a little and held her arm close to herself. Liz tried her best to comfort her, Owen kept switching back and forth from watching the television to watching the strange man. “I have to take you to the hospital.” David said to Edna.
She nodded and they stood up together slowly. “I’ll come too…” Liz started.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea right now.” Said the man, “Your grandfather wasn’t the first one I’ve seen like that. And judging by what we just saw on the TV, there is probably a lot more people out there just like what you saw.”
He seemed calm, but David detected fear in his voice. David was scared too, but the fact that this guy was scared bothered David for some reason he couldn’t understand. This man had shot his grandfather and turned the gun on David without hesitation. And now when David talked to him, he saw fear in his eyes, and had heard it in his voice too. He didn’t seem like a cold blooded killer to David. “Who are you?” David asked.
“Greg.” Said the man, but he kept his eyes on the screen.
“I’m David.”
Greg nodded and waited for David to speak again. “You can wait here ‘t
il things die down out there if you want. But I have to take my grandma to the hospital now.” David’s voice was shaky.
He tried to sound determined, but he was afraid, and he felt like it wasn’t fooling anyone. “You’re not going to leave him here alone are you?’ Owen asked David pointing at Greg.
“He saved my life out there Owen, and he didn’t have to. Right now I have to get my grandma help.” David said.
After that David helped Edna to the front door. He knew Owen was just trying to help. “Can I use your truck?” He asked and Owen agreed, “And can you stay here and keep an eye on things while I’m gone?”
Owen nodded, turned his chair toward Greg and sat back down keeping an eye on him. Greg glanced over at Owen, then back to the TV. David told Edna to wait by the door for a second. He grabbed the blanket off of the back of the couch and headed out the front door. He hurried over to where his grandfather’s body lay. Henry lay on his back in the dirt next to the driveway, David wasn’t sure how he had taken two gunshots and continued to pursue him but he could tell that Henry hadn’t moved since he had been shot the last time. David stared at the two ragged bullet wounds in his back, and avoided looking at Henry’s face. David’s eyes teared up for a moment, he looked around wondering what had caused this kind man to become so…enraged. He stared around the yard for several seconds, the heat of the sun made it uncomfortable be he needed to think. The drugs in his system had subsided now and he was tired. He gently covered Henry’s body with the blanket and hurried back to the door. David led Edna and Liz toward the pickup truck making sure to shield Edna from seeing Henry’s body. Edna had a hard time and was leaning heavily on both of them. David had never seen her so frail before this moment.
As they approached the truck they heard shouting coming from the end of the driveway. David could see two people in the road shouting to someone, David, Edna and Liz watched as the couple shouted and waved their arms. David could just make out what they were saying, “Hurry! Hurry! They’re coming!” they shouted.
As they watched the couple waving and shouting to people charged out of the corn field across the road and were headed right for them. The older man and young woman began to run toward the farmhouse screaming. The people who came out of the corn field chased down the older man in the driveway and tackled him as the young woman approached the truck. “Get inside! Hurry!” she screamed at David.
David looked past her to see the people from the corn field clawing and biting the old man as he screamed her help. One of them was tearing flesh from his arm with their teeth when they locked eyes on David. “Get grandma back into the house! NOW!” David yelled.
David hurried as fast as he could, he didn’t want to see what was happening at the end of the driveway, and he didn’t want those people to catch up to them. The screams of the old man died down as the group reached the front porch. Edna collapsed in front of the stairs, “Oh, I cant go on.” She sighed.
David and Liz tried to help her but she was heavy and too weak to get back up. The young woman ran up to them and stopped “I’ll get her legs!” She yelled, then she lifted Edna’s legs and carried them along with David and Liz holding the old woman’s arms.
David could hear screams and growls coming from behind but didn’t dare look back. He silently prayed that the attackers wouldn’t come this way. Greg came out and stared down the driveway with a nervous look as they carried Edna onto the porch, “Come on goddamn it!” he yelled.
Owen helped the girls get Edna inside the house. David looked back down the driveway to see that the people had ripped the old man to shreds and were eating him. David tried not to throw up when Greg took him by the arm and pulled him into the house. Greg grabbed the door and slammed it shut before he locked the dead bolt. David looked through the small glass window in the wooden door and saw that two more had come out of the corn and ran past the man’s body toward the house. There were at least five or six of them now and there would be no stopping them once they reached the house. “They’re coming this way!” he yelled.
Five
“We have to keep them out of the house!” David thought looking for a way to barricade the door. Greg grabbed the end of the couch and pulled it toward the door. David and Owen hurried to the other end of the couch and pushed it. Liz and the young woman helped Edna to the dining room and sat her down at the table. David looked around at the others, “We need to get them somewhere safe.” He said pointing toward the dining room.
David tried to think of a place for them to hide, “The cellar?”
“The cellar!” Greg replied and turned toward Liz and the young woman, “Get her down to the cellar and stay there.” He shouted.
They hurried to the task, one of them on both sides as they helped her to the cellar door and headed down the steps. Greg looked out the large front window in the living room, “Do you have any guns in the house? Or anything else we can use as weapons?” he drew his pistol.
“No! I don’t think so!” David yelled.
Owen held up the baseball bat from the country store, “I got this!”
“Don’t get close to them if you can help it!” Greg replied.
There was a loud crash in the kitchen followed by the sound of broken glass. Owen and Greg headed there first, David right behind them. Greg reached it first with his gun drawn and pointed at the kitchen door. Outside two people slammed the wooden door with their fists trying to get inside. They smashed out the small window and their arms were grasping through the openings at the men inside. Shards of glass had cut their arms and they were slinging blood around on the floor when the door started to open slightly. Greg kicked the door hard forcing it closed again. He then raised the pistol and fired directly at one of the attackers sending him backward as he collapsed. David’s ears were ringing from the blast of the pistol in the small kitchen. Then he fired again, the bullet left a red hole in the man’s throat. To their surprise he kept on pounding the door making a gurgling sound as red foam oozed out of the wound. Greg pointed at the fridge, “Push it in front of the door now!”
David and Owen grabbed the refrigerator and pushed it across the kitchen, Greg slid out of the way and they blocked the door with the heavy machine. A bloody arm reached in through the gap between the fridge and the door and fell on the handle. Greg stepped in front of it, pointed his pistol through the narrow gap and fired. David had barely managed to cover his ears this time. He opened his eyes after the muted gunshot rang out and saw the arm slipped back out the window as the person fell backwards. They heard a thud, but a new pair of arms took up the assault and were reaching in through the gap. Greg fired through the gap again and again until he was out of bullets. He began to reload but the weight of the attackers was pushing the door open and sliding the fridge back.
David hoped there weren’t many more, he wasn’t sure how many bullets Greg had but he was sure it wouldn’t be enough. Greg took his time and aimed carefully while Owen stood behind him with the bat ready. David heard a loud crash behind him and hurried to the living room to see another person was frantically beating on the front door. Now they were trapped with both door leading into the house being blocked by these strange maniacs. David could see the figure slamming on the door through the thin windows. It was a small framed woman in a blue dress with a flower print. She was covered in blood from her waist up to her mouth, her lips looked like shredded lunch meat hanging over her bloody, broken teeth. She locked her gaze on him and shrieked in an awful way as she slammed her skinny arms violently against the wood of the door. One of her arms snapped loudly at the wrist and began to flail, but she continued to swing it even after she had broken the bones.
David felt dizzy as he stood watching this horror scene play out when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. A large shape moved across the porch and came smashing through the large living room window. He instinctively turned away from the flying glass as the large thing landed on the coffee table turning it over before it landed in the floor. Dav
id turned back quickly to see a large man in overalls climbing to his feet as he grunted and groaned. His back was to David as he stood, he was at least a foot taller than David, broader and at what must have been one hundred pounds heavier. David looked down at the broken coffee table looking for a weapon. He crouched and grabbed one of the legs of the table and stood back up to face the large man as he turned.
His arms and face were covered it cuts and scrapes and a large ragged wound in his neck oozed dark red blood onto his clothes. Even through all the injuries David recognized him. It was Paul Simmons, his grandparents’ neighbor. He was a few years older than David and a bit of a bully in his younger years. Now he was a nightmare standing there in flesh and blood. His blank, hollow eyes locked on David and he let out a roar. As he lunged forward reaching for David, he raised his makeshift club and swung it as hard as he could at his at Paul. He closed his eyes and swung with all of his might knowing that if he missed he was going to die by the hands of this monster. Luckily, he was rewarded with a solid crack as the club met Paul’s considerable mass. Both of them fell to the floor, David from the unstable swing he had taken, and Paul form the sheer force of the heavy weapon crashing into him. David scrambled to his feet with the table leg still in his shaky hands. Paul rose slowly, the side of his head was slightly dented where David had hit him. Paul’s left eye bulged from its socket and blood trickled from the nasty wound.
