100 Days of Death

by Ellingsen, Ray

  Finally he said, “I’m Albert Lazaro, I’m here to rescue you.” The girls looked at each other and then back to Albert.

  I reached into the room and yanked on Albert’s scruff, pulling him out of the room. The younger girl began to cry, but the teenager hugged her and escorted her into the hall. They ran to the others without being told.

  Albert watched the little girl until I shook him. He looked at me, distracted.

  “I’m here to rescue you?” I asked. “What are you, Luke Skywalker? Get your head back in the game, man.”

  As we had rehearsed it last night, Albert took the lead, telling the group to stay behind him. I motioned to the black guy and as he passed me I whispered, “You stay where I can see you.”

  He glared at me but nodded.

  Once outside and at the edge of the building, Albert strolled out across the grounds toward the back of the lot. We all watched anxiously, waiting for an alarm to sound. When he was safely among the piles of cars, he looked around and then motioned for us to follow. I stayed behind as the group crossed the open compound, my weapon trained toward the trailers and buildings.

  When it was my turn, I walked out into the open, stopping halfway to bend over and pretend to tie my boot. This gave me a vantage point of the entire complex.

  There were three people in sight, two in the garage working on a truck and one smoking a cigarette outside of a trailer, but none of them even looked my way. I joined Albert and the others and one by one we slipped through the cut section of fence and into the relative safety of the forest of wrecked steel and cars…or so I thought.

  We made our way through the wreckage and I stopped to cover our trail. Before I could turn back around I was tackled and knocked to the ground. My first thought was that it was my new sparring partner looking for round two. I was instantly pissed and spun in his grip, wrapping my arm over the back of his neck and locking my forearm up under his chin in a reverse guillotine headlock.

  I got my knees under me and started to stand up, pulling on his neck. That’s when two things hit me at once. The first was the stench, and the second was the sight of Albert and the entire group, including the black guy I thought I was struggling with, standing nearby with their mouths hanging open.

  I realized then that my assailant was one of the Infected. I tried to snap the thing’s neck, but the leverage wasn’t right. I started to panic, worried that the thing might get its teeth into me.

  I dropped us both to the ground, landing on top of it. I shifted my hand up under its chin and turned its face upward, keeping its body pinned with my body. I grabbed the top of its head with my other hand and cranked its neck around. It didn’t work so I relieved the pressure and torqued its head around again.

  This time it gurgled and I heard two wet, grinding cracks as its neck finally snapped. The thing lay still. I gasped, trying to catch my breath. My carbine, attached to me on its sling, had jabbed into both my ribs and my leg as we had rolled around on the hard ground. Albert had his finger to his lips and was making an exaggerated “shushing” noise.

  I got to my feet and glared at Albert. I now knew why the bikers had allowed people to become infected. They were using them as junkyard dogs. It explained the double fence too. I motioned Albert to move everyone out quickly. I didn’t want to run into any more of them.

  We made it to the back wall and I cut the zip ties on the chain link and we left the compound. We led the group to our staging area a block away and finally stopped to catch our breath.

  That’s when I realized that the Hispanic couple was missing. When I asked Albert about it he said that they had run off as soon as we got out of the compound. I was so busy looking for the undead I hadn’t even noticed. I also noticed the CB radio tucked under Albert’s arm. When I asked him where he got it, he said he took it off the seat of the tow truck in the yard. Where the hell had I been this whole time? I wondered.

  We all stood there awkwardly. It was the black guy that spoke first. “So what happens now?” he asked.

  “You can do whatever you want.” I said.

  He looked at me skeptically. “Oh, you went to all this trouble just to let us all go, huh? I don’t suppose you’d give me one of your gats, seeing as how you both got two each?” He asked.

  He looked down at my .45 secured in its thigh holster.

  I raised my carbine slightly. He nodded smugly then eyed the girls. Albert stepped in front of them protectively.

  “Yeah, OK. I get it.” He said.

  He took a step back, then another. He spun and disappeared around the side of the building. Albert went around the corner to make sure he was gone. The near naked blond woman looked at me apprehensively. I took off my leather jacket and handed it to her so she could cover herself. She nodded her thanks as she put the jacket on.

  The little girl’s lower lip started to quiver. I was worried she would start crying again and attract attention. The teenager hugged her and shut her up.

  “Look, we don’t want to hurt you. You’re all free to go.” I said, mostly because I didn’t know what else to say.

  Albert came back and without warning blurted out, “We have a secure place with food and water. You can stay with us for as long as you want. You’ll be safe.”

  It’s funny; I hadn’t even considered what to do with anyone that we rescued. Apparently, Albert had put quite a bit of thought into it already. I was a little pissed that he offered up my house and food so easily. The little girl looked hopeful, the teenager dubious, and the woman at the verge of tears.

  My mind urged me to say something. I wanted to tell them that we didn’t have enough food, or room. They would only complicate things and the last thing I wanted was to be responsible for anyone else. I searched for a delicate way to rescind Albert’s offer.

  I was just about to tell them that we would help them find a car to get them out of town when the woman’s striking green eyes looked into mine.

  “Thank you.” She said simply.

  She looked at the other girls and they nodded to her. She looked back at me and smiled slightly. Inside my head I screamed, “You Idiot! Tell them no!”

  I looked down at my feet instead. “We should get out here.” I mumbled.

  On the drive back I noticed that our new guests were in serious need of a bath. Albert and I were polite enough not to say anything.

  When the little girl asked where we were going, I looked back at her and asked, “You like dogs?” She smiled.

  The rest of the today was spent settling the girls into the house. By the way, the little girl’s name is Grace, the teenager is Roz (I guess that’s short for Rosalyn), and the woman is Alison. Albert and I heated several large pots of water on the propane stove and let the girls bathe themselves in the bathroom. My clothes look ridiculous on them but they will have to do until we can go shopping.

  We made enough pasta for all of us and ate in silence. I groaned inwardly as I watched each of them eat as much as Albert had on his first night here.

  As I thought about the new sleeping arrangements, I became even more depressed. Alison followed me as I walked back to my aunt’s bedroom. The only times I had gone in there since she died were to vacuum and dust. Alison looked around at the room and finally at the empty hospital bed on the far wall.

  She picked up a framed picture from the dresser top. It’s a photo of me and my aunt that was taken several years ago. She had just gone through chemotherapy and had lost most of her hair. She had been pretty self-conscious about it, so I shaved my head hoping she wouldn’t feel so alone. In the picture, we are both smiling and wearing matching bandanas on our bald heads.

  Alison glanced around the room again and then looked at me curiously.

  “It’s a long story. Don’t ask.” I said. “I’ll get that bed out of here. There’s a queen sized bed out in the garage I can set up and I’ve got an extra
cot too.”

  Alison nodded quietly.

  I set everything up and left them alone. They can work out the sleeping arrangements themselves. Everyone was exhausted and went to bed early. Albert went into my room and shut the door. Chloe and I went back to the couch in the TV room. It’s my damn house and I don’t even have a bedroom to sleep in. It figures.

  DAY 25

  I woke up a little after 2 a.m. with a start.

  I listened for a few minutes but didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary so I went back to sleep. I woke up again at 11 a.m. to the smell of cooking food. I felt groggy and a little disoriented.

  Alison smiled at me when I walked into the kitchen. She was making pancakes and cooking up sausage. She told me breakfast would be ready in ten minutes. Roz was in the living room. She had found my iPod and had the ear buds on. She ignored me. I walked out back to find Albert tinkering in the garage. Grace had found the dog brush and had already brushed five pounds of hair off Chloe as she sat patiently and endured the process. Chloe was in heaven.

  I felt like I was dreaming. The normalcy of the situation was strange. I went around behind the garage to relieve myself. I had thought of solutions for our plumbing and shower problems but they could wait until after breakfast.

  As I looked around at breakfast, I realized that I had never had so many people at my table. We all ate in silence until I brought up the issue of the plumbing and said that Albert and I would take care of it today. Once I started talking, I got on a roll and suggested that we should have some basic communication guidelines and a few rules about noise so we wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention from the undead, or worse. Everyone listened attentively, but no one responded.

  Finally, one by one, everyone got up from the table to go back to doing whatever they had done before breakfast. Alison cleared the plates while I got some water out of one of the barrels out back. We washed the dishes together in comfortable silence. It’s funny how complete strangers can become familiar so quickly.

  After a while, I went outside to see what Albert was up to. When I opened the garage he was not there. I knew he wasn’t in the house.

  I was walking up the driveway when I heard the front gate open. I must have gotten stupid and complacent with our new guests around, because I was unarmed. I was still deciding whether to run or crap myself when Albert came waddling around the corner weighed down with a huge duffle bag over his shoulder. He handed me his Ruger 10/22 as he went by me and, between gasping breaths, told me he was being followed.

  Panic seized me when I heard the all-too-familiar moan and then a crash against my front gate. I eased around the corner with the 10/22 at the ready. Three of Them were clawing at the Bougainvillea and trying to reach through it. I froze for a moment and then got my wits about me. It took me five rounds to dispatch them through the fence. I crouched behind the bushes for several minutes waiting, but no others showed up.

  I was a little pissed at Albert and stormed into the house ready to light into him. When I got to the living room, I saw the girls going through the contents of his bag. I figured out that Albert had probably been down the street at the neighbor’s house where we had found his clothes. He had raided the wife and daughter’s wardrobe there and brought it for the girls. They were very appreciative. Albert gave me a guilty look when I told him to meet me in the garage when he was done.

  When he finally showed up in the garage my adrenaline had settled down and I didn’t have the energy to fight with him. Besides, I wouldn’t have thought to get the clothes. He is certainly a better host than I am. We spent the afternoon building a sound suppression box for the propane generator and running the exhaust out a hole in the back of the garage wall. We now have emergency power if we need it.

  Albert and I went up on the roof and he pointed out a motor home sitting in the driveway of a house several doors down. I had seen it there before but never thought much about it. He suggested that we could pull the water pump, power system, and batteries out of it to use for rigging a hot water shower in the house. We could use the generator to keep the batteries charged.

  Tonight we made plans to raid the Winnebago and also unscrew a few of the boards on my back fence so we can get through without having to climb over each time. I have some extra hinges so we can rig makeshift doors in several places. I told Albert that we can use the neighbor’s pool water to flush the toilets.

  I just realized why I woke up at 2 a.m. this morning. I set the timers on my improvised explosives I left at the biker yard to detonate at that time. I wonder if they worked. Tomorrow I will set up the CB unit Albert appropriated and see if there is any radio chatter about it.

  Things are looking up…so how come I feel so much dread?

  DAY 26

  This morning I got Albert up at 5:30 a.m. so we could get rid of the three corpses out front.

  I didn’t want to use the truck so we piled them into my wheelbarrow and quietly hauled them down the street to our unofficial disposal area.

  When we rolled into the back yard to dump them in the empty pool with the others the stench brought tears to my eyes. Rats scurried around the putrid remains near the shallow end and crows perched in the trees all around glaring down at us. I’m sure they remember me killing their kin. We are going to have to either find a ton of lye or burn these bodies soon.

  On the way back, I spotted a creature crouched down on a lawn across the street. I shot him in the back of the head with no hesitation. We left the wheelbarrow and approached him cautiously. The thing had been feeding on the carcass of a dog. I didn’t feel like going back to dispose of the body so we left him lying there.

  I needed a shower but settled for a sponge bath. After breakfast with the girls, Albert and I went to the motor home parked in the driveway several houses down. There were several Infected roaming the neighborhood so we locked ourselves inside the trailer and gutted it from

  the inside. It was slow work and we were both dreading having to remove the batteries and water pump that we had to access from the storage area outside the vehicle.

  I stood guard while Albert disconnected everything. I had to shoot two undead that were attracted to the noise we were making. We left the bodies where they dropped, and used the wheelbarrow to haul everything we salvaged from the motor home.

  While Albert rigged our new shower up, I went to work on the fence. I was just finishing my second makeshift “gate” in the fence when I sensed someone standing behind me. I turned to find Alison watching me with interest.

  “Can I speak with you for a minute?” she asked.

  It wasn’t a request. Any thoughts that I may have had about her being quiet and meek were dispelled as soon as I looked into her piercing gaze.

  “Sure.” I replied, wondering what I was getting into.

  Without any preamble she asked me why we had rescued her and the others.

  I told her that we had found out that the bikers had captives and that Albert had insisted on rescuing them.

  “Your friend pays a lot of attention to Grace.” she said bluntly.

  I suddenly got where this conversation was going. I had noticed Albert doting on Grace but hadn’t thought much of it.

  I quickly explained about Albert’s little sister, even telling her about Albert taking the patrol car weeks ago to go find her. I recounted most of his story to her, leaving out, of course, Albert’s little love fest and his bout with crabs. I could see Alison’s concern turn to relief as I explained it to her.

  “I’m sorry,” she started. “It’s just that…” “You don’t know us.” I finished for her.

  She nodded. We talked for over an hour after that. I found out that Alison had been an office manager and worked every year at the local Renaissance Faire. After her roommate had become infected, she volunteered at the hospital until it became overrun with plague victims.

  Alison and a
few others had been holed up on the top floor of the hospital until the bikers had found them almost two weeks ago. She didn’t know what had happened to the others she was with. I did. The bikers had let them become infected. I didn’t bother to tell her this.

  When I told her that I had rigged explosives to the wall of the biker’s compound her eyes narrowed. When I explained that I was planning on going to see what the damage was, she told me she was going with me.

  The whole time we talked, she avoided telling me what had happened to her during her captivity, but I got the sense that it was pretty horrible. She helped me finish the gate and we went in to check on Albert.

  We now have a hot water shower thanks to Albert’s ingenuity. He attached the hose to a pump that is powered by our generator. We can now draw water from any source. There is a mess of extension cords and hoses going out the bathroom window, and the propane tank and water tank take up half the bathroom, not to mention he drilled holes in my wall to support the tankless water heater, but the comfort of having hot water makes up for it all.

  Only Grace and Chloe don’t seem to care. If anything, I think they both prefer not having to bathe at all.

  I went to tell Roz, thinking it might cheer her up. I found her in the living room putting my iPod through its paces.

  She looked up at me and said, “Your music sucks.”

  She turned away, ignoring me. I guess she’s not a big fan of the Tragically Hip.

  After dinner, Albert, Alison, and I sat in the living room to talk about our plans for the immediate future. Grace and Chloe went to bed (I guess I’m on the couch alone from now on), and Roz was off sulking in Albert’s room.

  Throughout the day, Albert and I had taken turns monitoring the CB radio, hoping to find out what had happened after we left the biker compound. So far, there hasn’t been anything on the air. When I told Albert my plans to drive up to Sylmar in the morning he wasn’t at all interested. Before, I could barely stop him from charging up there and now I couldn’t drag him there to save his life.