“Let’s go baby,” Crystal said beside me, smiling that smile I had longed to see for so long. I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut tight.
“What?” I said as I opened them, looking to my side. Samantha sat there, my sword propped up between her and Wall.
“I said let’s go,” she said, neither looking anything like nor sounding like my beloved. I looked around, and all of the rest nodded or signaled their readiness in some way. I took a deep breath and turned the Fury’s key, praying the car started.
The cars engine roared to life, and I pulled slowly out of the garage and down the drive. I looked around and saw the other soldiers and survivors working on the fences, moving bodies, and generally cleaning and fortifying the property. I smiled at the life that had returned to the place, and was sure that Carl and Sharon would agree with the decision I had made. We made it to the end of the drive, and I looked around the car once more.
“You are all sure?” I asked.
Wall simply nodded, and Doc tilted her head in a gesture I took to be an affirmative. Abigail smiled at me, beaming like a kid in a candy shop. Samantha touched my knee, smiling shyly.
“I think we all are, Eddy,” she told me. “The question is: Are you?”
“I think so,” I said, smiling sheepishly. “I really do. Timmy? Are you ready for this?”
“Fuck yea!” he said after a moment, the boy’s grin threatening to split his face in half. “Can’t think of a better way to spend the day, can you?”
I shuddered, my own sons coming to mind with his words, and once more hoped they were alive.
But I would see soon, I thought to myself. I just hope I’ll see them all.
I pushed down on the accelerator, and the Fury roared to life, taking us down the street.
32.
“What do you think?” I asked Wall. We had only been away from my in-laws property for a few minutes, but the next decision was a big one, one I could not make alone.
We sat at the intersection of One-Fifty and Henning Road, a small bar known as the Nugget to our right, looking around. The sun was rising quickly, and its heat could already be felt on our backs.
“Well,” he said, looking at me, “what are our options?”
“Kickapoo, that way,” I pointed to our right as I spoke, then threw my hand in front of us. “Then we have One-Fifty and Seventy-Four that way.”
“Well,” he began, reaching up to scratch his head, looking back and forth between the two directions. “I hate to say it, but they all sound equally fucked, excuse my language.”
“No need to say you're sorry man,” I told him. “I agree whole heartedly with you. This is a loaded question. Each way has its own problems, and I don’t really want to deal with any of them.”
Timothy popped the back door open, sliding out and coming up to the front of the car with Wall and I. He reached down and dug into one of the million pockets his pants had, apparently finally finding what he was looking for.
“I got an idea guys,” he started, once more a smile splitting his face. “Let chance decide, that way the choice isn’t ours, its Fates.”
He held something up, perched between two fingers. I had to look close to see what it was, but once I did, my eye widened in recognition. He held one of my dice in his hand. I knew it was mine because of its color and shape. It was twelve sided, a brilliant emerald green.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
“Out of your desk,” he responded, a sly grin on his face. “I saw them when we were there looking for you. I have a fondness for them, and figured they’d provide a little distraction at some point, so I took them.”
“Really, Tim, you just took them?” Wall said, looking at him and shaking his head, disappointment in his voice.
“You better believe it,” Tim shot back, undaunted by the big man. “I also got a couple of decks of cards, a small speaker and a MP3 player.”
Wall threw his hands into the air, turning away from the boy with an exasperated sound.
“Look,” Tim started, “you don’t mind, do you Eddy?”
“Whatever,” I looked at him, my voice tinged with the same tone that I carried with my own children when they did something wrong. “It’s already been done, not much I can say about it now. Though I don’t know how much distraction we will need during the end of the world.”
“There’s always time for a little fun, right?” Tim had a devilish look on his face, and his eyes twinkled with a strange light.
“Yeah, yeah,” I reached out and grabbed the die from him. “But you had a decent idea for the route. I hate making decisions, so let’s see what fate has in store for us.”
We decided on each ways designating numbers, and then I tossed the die onto the Fury’s hood. It clattered upwards, and then slowly came back towards us, finally rolling to a stop. Four: that meant Kickapoo, the country route. Not exactly the shortest route, but it may be the safest. I could see Walls look of disapproval with the way I chose, but he kept silent and slid back into the car. Timothy started back to his own seat, but I reached out and stopped him, pulling him close.
“Look,” I told him, my voice edged with anger. I could feel my blood pressure rising, and was trying to keep my cool. “I understand you’re young, and you don’t know any better. But I’ll warn you once, and only once: Don’t fuck with us.”
He started to speak, but my hand, like it had a mind of its own, shot out and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling his face within an inch of mine, and him onto his toes. He choked on his words, and his eyes went wide. I saw fear there, and that was satisfying to me. I smiled.
“I know that look,” I started again, “The one you had here a moment ago when you spoke of “fun”. If you fuck around, if your fun puts anyone in this car in even the littlest bit of danger, I will not hesitate to put you down with my bare hands.
“Do you understand me?”
He nodded quickly.
“Am I clear?” I asked him.
“Cry… Crys… Crystal…” He stuttered the reply.
“Good,” I said as I released him. He stumbled a few steps, then turned and ducked into the car.
I had seen that look before, on more than a few people’s faces. The pupils to large for their eyes, and the twitch in the jaw that told me they were clenching it while trying to make it seem they weren’t. I looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath.
Damn tweekers, I thought. Baby, give me strength.
I returned to the car, starting her up. I smiled when I noticed that I turned the turn signal on. I turned North, towards Kickapoo, and, according to the roll of the dice, our Fates.
33.
“They’re beautiful,” Samantha said from beside me.
We all stood outside the car, leaning or sitting on it, staring across a small field. I looked at her, seeing the look of innocence, of wonder, and was reminded of my daughter, Aliyah. I smiled and looked back towards the field.
Six horses ran around freely in the pasture, seemingly untouched by the apocalypse that shadowed the rest of the world. We all stood there, watching the animals, entranced by their beauty and their freedom.
“Almost a shame to leave them locked up,” Doc said.
“Safer that way,” Wall responded. “Nothings going to get through that fence, at least not easily. It’s better for them.”
“I know,” the girl said, getting back into the car. “But it does not mean I have to like it.”
One by one, we all got back in. When it was my turn, I threw one last look at the horses, remembering a conversation I had had with my beloved one night. I had told her I would rather ride a horse if something like this happened instead of drive a car. Look at me now.
I got in and pushed on the accelerator, stating back on our way. We wound our way through the roads of Kickapoo State Park; the only sounds heard that of the cars engine. The park itself looked pristine, like the problems of the world had not touched here at all. My revelry was interrupted by
Doc when she spoke, drawing me back to the real world, and it’s very real problems.
“You know,” she said, laughing a little, “Not one of us has had breakfast yet. Did anyone grab anything and put it in here, or is it all in the back?”
She looked around at everyone, who either shook their heads or didn’t do anything, which told her just what she needed to know.
“Right outside of the park,” I said, “is a small town. I grew up there. There’s a truck stop, a restaurant, and a store right near the exit. We can run in and check them out, save our stuff for when we need it.”
“That idea sounds reasonable to me.” Wall said, nodding.
“I agree.” Doc said. Samantha nodded her agreement, and Abigail said nothing, just smiled. Timothy had been pretty much silent since him and I had our little spat on the intersection, so he had no input.
We continued on our way, going slowly. I never pushed the car to much over thirty miles per hour, for I didn’t know what was going to be around the next corner. I started laughing, the image of a zombie cow standing in the middle of the road coming to mind.
“What the hell?” Wall asked me, concern in the question.
“Nothing man,” I said, reaching up to wipe a tear from my eye. “Seriously, nothing, just thought of something, and it was funny.”
“Okay…” he replied, and went back to looking out the window. There was silence for a few moments, which I broke, a question pressing on my mind.
“Where are they all?” I asked generally, everyone in the car knowing more about what’s going on than I did. It was Doc that answered me.
“The dead?” she asked me, continuing when I nodded in the affirmative. “We haven’t ever seen many of them during the day, and when we do, they seem almost drained. And the ravenous are hardly ever seen in the daytime.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Don’t really know,” she replied, and I could see her shaking her head in the rearview. “I got ideas, mainly about the heat, or maybe it’s the U.V., but truth be told, we just do not know why.”
“So yet another thing the movies got wrong,” I said under my breath.
“What?” Doc asked me.
“Nothing,” I said, “just commenting on all of this. My family and I were huge zombie buffs, had hundreds of movies devoted to them. Just wish I could see them and tell them we were right, the movies had it all wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Wall asked.
“Well,” I began, “for one, these things don’t seem as stupid as the movies and books make them seem. Especially the ravenous, those seem pretty smart. Hell, the ones you saved me from at my in-laws had tracked me from my house, and sat there and waited for a sign that I was still in there before they attacked. They hunted me, you understand?”
“We’ve seen it before,” Doc told me. “The ravenous seem to retain some bit of their memory even. I’ve even heard reports of them picking things up, using them as weapons.”
“What’s the difference though,” I asked. “Why are there two kinds of creatures? What made the infection go in two, such radically different, directions?”
“Again,” Wall said, “not sure. Environmental factors, physiology of the initial host? It could have been one of a billion different things. Truth is, we may never know.”
“What about animals,” I continued, “and what happens with everything they eat? What about eating them?”
“Eating a zombie? What the fuck!” The question came from a few mouths simultaneously, and I instantly felt stupid for asking it, and felt obligated to explain.
“I meant an animal.” I said, shaking my head. “Like a rabbit or a deer that has been infected. Can you cook it and it is safe? Hell, for that matter, can anything like that even be infected?”
Wall and Doc looked at each other, and I could tell neither of them had questioned this before. I of course wondered about this, mainly due to the fact that there wouldn’t always be canned food, and I loved to eat.
“Eddy,” Wall said, turning to look at me, “I understand that you have questions, and a few of them I’ve had myself. A few of them I hadn’t ever thought of. But, for the most part, I can’t give you an answer. I wish I could. I wish I could answer all of them, even put a stop to all of this. I think about it every day.”
He sighed and hung his head, then spoke again.
“We just kind of have to go with it for now, I guess.”
The car fell silent for awhile, and I felt guilty for bringing so much up. I kept grilling these people, ones I may need to rely on in the near future, about these creatures, and just realized I didn’t even know much about them personally. I had never stopped to ask any of them anything personal. Who were these people that travelled with me? What did they like or dislike? Hell, I didn’t even know any of their full names, besides Wall.
“I’m sorry everyone,” I said, “I didn’t mean to rain on the parade.”
“It’s all right,” Doc said, “I understand. We all do, believe that. You have been asleep for all of this, and thankfully you missed the worst part of it. No one can blame you for wanting answers.”
“I just bombarded you though,” I said, shaking my head. “I just have so many questions, and it seems no one has answers. I’m so sorry.”
“Look,” Samantha began, and then cut it short, a shriek coming out instead. I slammed on the brakes, the tires squealing on the pavement, the car sliding. I was sure, even though I didn’t look, that everyone’s eyes were glued out the windshield like mine were.
We had come around a curve, and up a small incline, both helping to hide what we now saw. There, at the bottom of the hill, was a group of zombies. Group, on second thought, was an understatement. It was a herd of the things, at least a hundred of them total. When we had come to the top of the hill, and they saw the car, heard the engine, they turned towards us almost as one.
“Oh fuck!” I heard Samantha say beside me.
“Eddy,” Wall said.
“I see them,” I said, “don’t worry. I got this.”
I threw the car into reverse, turning to see my way. I backed up to the very apex of the hill, and looked at everyone in the car with me. They were scared, though Wall did not show it outwardly. He remained stoic, but I saw his eyes were wide, and small beads of sweat had popped up on his brow. Samantha clutched my sword, her knuckles white from the death-like grip. I had to decide quickly what to do, that much I realized when I heard the tell-tale roars of ravenous through the windows. I couldn’t tell how many there were, but it sounded like more than a few.
I wasn’t going to die here, not like this.
I turned back and looked through the rear window, pushing my foot down on the gas peddle. We started moving, slow at first, and then quicker as we went down our side of the hill. I could see the bend we had come around, actually more of a T-intersection, coming up fast. I needed to slow down, but fear had hold of me and I didn’t. We went onto the other part of the crossroad, to late to notice the large dip, and the fact the ground on that side was soft.
The Fury thumped down hard, bouncing all in the car around violently. I shook my head to clear it out.
“Why the hell did you stop man?!” Timothy asked more a general question than one directed to me.
I hit the gas, my heart dropping and my stomach tying itself into a knot as I felt the wheels spin in the soft earth. I threw the car into drive and tried again, but with the same result. My throat stuck, and my mind reeled with the realization that we were all going to die.
“I…” I tried to speak, but the words choked off, unable to come out.
“We’re stuck.” Wall said. I nodded and looked out the windshield, up to the hill maybe half a mile away. I closed my eyes and released a deep breath.
I’m so sorry Baby, I thought. I’m not coming for you after all.
My face exploded in pain, and whipped to the side. I looked back and there was Samantha, staring at me with fury in her eyes. She had slapped me, and wa
s biting her lip. I could see she wanted to cry, but was not allowing herself to.
“Goddamn it!” she said, her voice breaking from its normal controlled tone. ”We aren’t dead yet, get out and push.”
I didn’t know what to say, or what to do. My eyes moved from her to out the windshield, back to her again. When Wall opened the door, moving with a speed I would have never guessed the big man to possess, and went to the back of the car, the decision was made for me. I too went out of the vehicle, Samantha sliding over to my now empty seat.
Wall and I got to the rear, and we hunched down and placed our shoulders onto the rear end of the car. I looked at Wall, and the grim look on his face told me he was ready. I hit the trunk twice, and was relieved when I felt the car lurch forwards. Wall and I both grunted, and threw our weight into the car, feeling it slowly move forward.
All at once the Fury shot forwards, and I was in the dirt at the edge of the road. I picked myself up quickly, and saw that the passenger door was still open. I shot towards it, yelling for Wall to follow. It wasn’t until I heard a cry from behind me that I realized something was wrong.
I turned and saw Wall there, not far from where the rear end of the car was a ravenous held at arms length, the thing kicking and flailing about. Another was coming quickly down the road, almost on all fours like an animal. Then something amazing, something I knew I would never forget:
I watched Wall take a couple of steps, the arm holding onto the squealing creature rolling back like a pitcher in a baseball game. With a grunt I watched his arm shoot forward, and the ravenous fly from it, soaring through the air. It slammed into the other creature, and I could have sworn I heard bones crack. Both creatures went tumbling onto the ground, rolling more than a handful of feet back. The ravenous were resilient creatures though, from all I had seen and heard, and they were both back onto their feet in a second.
My Apocalypse (Book 1): The Fall Page 11
