Karl nodded and smiled. “That was a long time ago, Amigo.” he said.
Alison and Grace came out. Grace was wrapped in an oversized checkered flannel shirt and had a towel wrapped around her head.
Karl saw Grace and stared at her wistfully. Alison stepped in front of Grace protectively and apologized for not asking first before taking one of Karl’s shirts. Karl continued to gaze past Alison. Alison pulled Grace behind her and Karl snapped out of his reverie.
“Sorry, she just reminds me of someone.” he said.
Karl showed everyone to their rooms and then went to the kitchen and heated up a pot of stew. Grace asked to sleep with Alison so I was able to get a room to myself. I wondered if Karl had lost a family. I didn’t want to ask. The rest of the evening was spent exchanging our stories of what we had been through.
Albert asked Karl if he had been in San Francisco ever since the fall. Karl tensed and said, “Where else would I have been?”
I told him we heard gunfire before he found us and asked if it was him. Karl grinned at me and admitted that it was, citing that he had a disagreement with a few of the locals that needed to be taken care of. We talked about how to build sound suppressors for our weapons. He was pretty impressed with the ones on my carbines and asked if I could make him one for his FN FAL assault rifle.
Karl is a funny guy. He seems easy-going one minute, and on the verge of some darkness the next. I will give him this, though. He has managed to survive in style. He has invited us to stay as long as we want. I am hoping that maybe Albert and Alison will want to stay with him. It would be good to know that they have someone like Karl to protect them.
DAY 54
The rains have not let up.
Early this morning, I got up and went downstairs to the courtyard. I noticed an above-ground sprinkler system using PVC pipe. I removed a section and then found a wider diameter PVC under the drain of the fountain in the lobby.
I removed some screen from one of the windows and two hose clamps from the abandoned Bentley sitting in one of the parking spots. I found Karl’s FN assault rifle and after an hour, had a working silencer fitted to it.
When Karl got up this morning and saw his modified weapon in the living room, I thought he was going to pee himself. He actually got a little misty eyed and thanked me repeatedly. We test fired it in the apartment downstairs.
It fires a .308 cartridge (larger caliber) and makes about as much noise as Albert’s M-1 carbine. Regardless, it’s certainly quieter than it was yesterday.
I told Karl that we still have supplies on our boat and want to get them before they sink in the harbor. He agreed to take us down to the docks to retrieve them. I am hoping to find a vehicle for myself while we are out.
Albert came out to the living room at around 10 a.m.. He looks like hell. He is sniffling and blowing his nose every five seconds. I think we are all wondering if he may be infected. Alison suggested that she and Grace stay with Albert to keep an eye on him. Karl and I will get as much as we can in one load and go back for the rest if we are able to. More later.
San Francisco has definitely become the Wild West.
So much has happened since my last entry this morning, I don’t even know where to start. Karl and I left for the docks around 11 a.m. The streets were fairly devoid of undead, although twice infected people ran at our vehicle. Both times Karl swerved in order to run them down.
As we crossed the Embarcadero to the entrance of Pier 39, I noticed that someone had moved our vessel to the slips right next to the shore. A station wagon was backed up on the lawn in front of the docks with its tailgate open. Two men were offloading all of our supplies and walking them up the dock to the car. I was furious.
Karl took in the situation and pulled up next to the station wagon. He yanked his newly silenced FN out from behind his seat and grinned at me.
“I know these boys, let me handle this.” he said.
We walked to the edge of the sidewalk overlooking the slips and stopped. The pouring rain had masked our movement and they didn’t even realize we were there until Karl spoke up.
“Well, hell, if it ain’t the Bible thumpers. I thought stealing was against your religion.”
They turned to find two guns on them. One of them had his hands full and the other had a gas can in one hand and a bolt-action rifle in the other. The one with the gun looked like he might try to use it.
Karl grinned at him. “My friend here, the one you’re stealing from right now, well, he made me this here silencer and I’m just dying to try it out.” he drawled.
The man with the gun swallowed and started to slowly set his weapon on the narrow boardwalk.
Karl shook his head and motioned for him to toss the gun. The man hesitated, then dropped it into the ocean. It hit with a plop and sunk to the bottom of the harbor. The guy with his hands full had frozen in place and had not moved. Karl looked at him and the guy carefully set his load down on the dock. He unslung his weapon and tossed it into the water without being told.
The first guy (his name was Robert) set down the gas can and glared at Karl defiantly. “We got a truce between us Karl. You don’t come near us and we don’t hunt you down. You do anything and my folks will come after you.” he said.
Karl gave Robert a toothy smile. I realized that he had the situation well in hand and turned 180 degrees and kneeled down, covering our flank with my weapon. I didn’t want any undead, or Robert’s friends sneaking up behind us. I didn’t see what happened next, but I heard the conversation plain enough.
Robert couldn’t just shut his mouth and kept at Karl.
“We didn’t know this was your friend’s stuff. Don’t you start nothing over this. We stay in our own neighborhood and leave all of you sicko freaks alone. You remember that and let us go.” he whined.
“You mean all of the queers, niggers, and all us other folks who aren’t religious nut bags like you?” Karl replied.
There was a long silence. Then Robert started to speak. “I mean all of you short eyed…” he began.
Karl cut him off. “Freeze! Don’t you go for that gun. Don’t you…”
Suddenly, I heard Karl’s suppressed weapon discharge several times. I heard a splash as someone landed in the water. He fired two more times and I heard someone crumple to the dock. I wanted to turn and look, but was concerned that someone may have heard the racket. I could smell the gunpowder drifting in the air. Karl patted me on the shoulder to let me know he was still in the game. Satisfied that nobody was coming, I stood up and turned around. Robert was nowhere in sight. His friend lay face down on the dock, not moving. I looked at Karl.
He shook his head and said, “It was us or them. Robert tried to sneak a pistol out and I had to shoot him, swear to God. His buddy drew down too.”
I looked in the back of the station wagon. It was full of our gear. They would have taken it all. I looked back at my supplies on the dock and asked Karl to help me haul them to his Humvee.
As we walked down the dock to the boat, we had to step over the man Karl had shot. Karl put his boot up under the guy and rolled him into the ocean. I didn’t see a pistol on him, or in his hand. When I commented on that, Karl suggested that it probably fell into the drink. I nodded and we went to work.
We were only able to get a little over half of our gear off the boat. We unloaded everything out of the station wagon and transferred it to Karl’s vehicle.
While I was arranging the gear in the Humvee, Karl got in the station wagon and drove it across the sidewalk and into the ocean, jumping out before it took out a portion of the dock and sank to the bottom of the bay. He walked up to me and told me that the owners of the car were a bunch of religious zealots that would hunt us down if they ever found out that we killed two of their members.
The rain let up as we drove down Stockton Street and passed Jackson Street. We were in the hear
t of Chinatown. We saw numerous Infected. Karl turned onto a side street and up a blind alley. As we drove there was a smell of decomposition in the air, but also the smell of burnt rubber, wood, and…something else. There was soot up the walls and blackened heaps everywhere. Our tires crunched over the piles.
We stopped in front of a parking structure at the end of the alley. There was a steel mesh gate pulled down over the entrance. Karl got out and rolled the gate up just high enough for the Hummer to fit underneath.
We pulled forward and Karl rolled the gate back down, sealing us in. We drove up to the roof and parked. There was a truck with a large steel tank in its bed parked near the edge of the roof. We walked to the truck and looked over the side of the structure. Below was the alley we came through. With the mesh gate down in front of the parking entrance, the area below was a dead end.
Karl grabbed a nozzle and hose attached to the tank in the truck, opened a valve, and began pouring the liquid from the tank over the edge and down into the alley below. The smell of gasoline permeated the air. Karl smiled at me but didn’t say anything. After a minute of pouring, he shut off the valve and replaced the nozzle back on the truck.
He went into the cab of the truck and came back with an air horn canister. He grabbed a nail out of his pocket and positioned it over the air horn’s activating button. He winked at me.
“Ready to have some fun?” he asked. I raised my eyebrow.
Karl depressed the air horn and jammed the nail in the button. The horn emitted a monotone wail. Karl dropped it over the edge and we watched it fall three stories and bounce off the concrete. The horn continued its constant honk. What sounded like hundreds of undead responded from all directions.
As we watched, at first dozens, then close to a hundred creatures poured down the alley to the source of the noise. They packed themselves like sardines in the alley, climbing over each other to get to the horn. Slowly, the sound diminished, finally shutting off as the canister ran out of pressure.
Karl pulled out a cigar and lit it. He took a couple of long drags on it. When he held it out to me I shook my head. He shrugged and flicked it over the edge. I watched the cigar disappear in the milling crowd below. Several moments later, I heard a whoosh as the gas fumes ignited. The undead caught fire and pushed and shoved at each other, spreading the growing flames.
I watched in grim fascination as the flames spread down the alley, engulfing almost every creature in sight. The monsters cried out and howled, one by one falling to their knees and finally laying down, motionless, their bodies burnt shells, barely recognizable as human. This wasn’t Karl’s first barbeque.
In minutes it was over. Several more undead wandered near the end of the alley, but the heat deterred them and they moved on. Karl took aim and shot several stragglers that got within range. I watched in silence.
Karl turned and studied me for a long minute.
“You strike me as educated. So, why don’t you spew out a few twenty dollar words and tell me what’s going on in that noggin of yours.” he said.
I kept my expression neutral and asked, “So, you figure you just burned, what, around a hundred of those things just now?”
Karl looked down to the street and nodded.
I continued. “And I’m guessing you do this at least once a week?” Karl set his jaw, his expression darkening. He nodded.
“Well, if you’ve been doing this for the last month and a half, once a week, then you’ve probably murdered at least six hundred of those things. My only thought is that it’s a shame you haven’t been able to kill six thousand so far. Keep up the good work, though.” I finished.
Karl stared at me for a beat and then started howling with laughter.
He looked at me with tears in his eyes and through his grin said, “Hell, you’re all right.” We walked back to his vehicle together.
The truth is that, while I agree he’s got the right idea, it reminded me a little too much of Wayne the biker’s methods.
As we drove toward Karl’s place he turned to me. “So, you and Alison got a thing going there?” he asked.
“We started something, I think. But it’s over.” I responded. Saying it made my heart sink.
Karl nodded. “Is she Gracie’s mother?” he queried. I shook my head and told him about our rescue of them from the wrecking yard.
Karl chewed on his lower lip.
“She’s quite a find. Kids that age are precious little gems.” he said.
I thought about what a little pain in the ass Grace was most of the time. She always had to pee, she complained about everything, talked, hummed, and jabbered incessantly, and cried at the most inappropriate times. Karl and I clearly had different definitions of what precious was.
I grunted non-committally. After a minute of silence, I decided to take Karl into my confidence. I told him everything about my plans to leave. I even told him my hopes of Albert, Grace, and Alison maybe being able to stay with him. He listened to me attentively.
“So you want to pawn them off on me, huh?” he responded. He grinned. “Don’t worry. They’re welcome to stay. If your pal Al is infected though…”
“He’s not.” I said, without much conviction. Karl just nodded.
“It’ll be a shame to see you go. I think we could have made a pretty good team.” he said. He asked me what I needed to hit the road.
I told him a sturdy SUV would help. He promised that tomorrow he’d take me to the dealership and set me up with “the very best in four-wheel transportation.”
We got back to his apartment around 4:30 p.m. Alison’s eyes lit up when she saw me. I looked away, not wanting to deal with the feelings churning inside me. Grace hugged my waist and gave me a picture she drew for me.
Albert was bundled up on the couch watching a DVD. He sniffed and nodded at me.
Karl leaned close to me and said, “I won’t say anything, so you can just tell them when you’re ready.”
I nodded and went to my room. I have been thinking a lot about my father. I wonder if he’s still alive. I think I will make my way up toward Oregon. I grew up there and know the territory pretty well. It is just as well that I am leaving this group. I couldn’t ask them to follow me for my own selfish reasons.
DAY 55
Today a storm blew into the bay that was so fierce it rattled the windows.
We watched as rain flew almost horizontally into our building. Albert’s cold is just that. If he had been infected, he would have turned by now. Karl and I had agreed to lock him in his room for everyone’s safety. Albert slept so soundly that he never knew what we had done.
Grace watched movies all day on the DVD player. I sorted through the gear we brought back and prepared several bags of supplies to take with me when I leave. Alison tried to talk to me several times today. Finally, I relented and listened to her express her concerns about the future.
She asked me several times what I wanted to do. I avoided the subject. I guess I’m a coward. I should just come out and tell her I’m leaving, but I can’t bring myself to. I know that once I get a vehicle, I will probably load it up in secret and then escape like a thief in the night. I feel shitty about it, but I don’t owe her anything. I saved her life. That should be enough.
She asked if we should find another boat or travel by land. I told her she should do what she wanted and not rely on anyone else to decide her future. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at me. Alison walked away and left me alone. I sat for a long time and watched the rain splatter onto the courtyard below. I hate this world.
DAY 56
This morning while I was packing up a portion of our freeze-dried foods, Alison came into my room without knocking.
I was irritated by the intrusion but she seemed oblivious. There was urgency in her voice when she spoke to me.
“Look, I know we’re not talking, or whatever it is, but I
need you to come out to the living room right now. I need your help.” she said.
I dropped what I was doing and followed her down the hall to the living room. As we passed Albert’s room, I could hear him snoring inside.
When we reached the living room, I saw Karl sitting on the couch with Grace. He had his arm on the back of the couch and was leaning in close to her. Grace looked scared. Karl was saying something to her quietly. He stopped when I entered the room. His eyes narrowed at Alison and then he looked at me.
“What’s up, Karl?” I said as neutrally as I could.
Karl sat up straight and leaned away from Grace. She scampered off the couch and ran to Alison. I watched Grace for a moment and then looked back to Karl.
Karl smiled sadly and shook his head.
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare her. I once had a girl just like little Gracie there.” he commented. His eyes narrowed and he balled his fists. “She was taken from me.” he said, harshly.
We all lingered in uncomfortable silence. Karl stood up and looked out the window.
“Weather’s cleared up. Why don’t you and I go out and find you a proper ride?” he asked me. “I’ll go warm up the Hummer.” he added.
He walked by Grace and tousled her hair. Alison stared at the floor, clearly uncomfortable. When he was gone, Alison told Grace to go take Chloe to her room to play quietly. I tried to get away but Alison stepped in front of me.
“Something’s wrong with him. We should get out of here.” she said.
“Look, you heard him. Grace probably reminds him of a daughter, or niece, or something. Besides, you had the same concerns about Albert, remember?” I countered.
Alison stared at me in disbelief.
As I walked downstairs to join Karl, I felt myself getting more and more irritated with Alison. I wanted to tell her to go do whatever she wanted, but didn’t want to get into an argument with her.
Karl was waiting for me in the Humvee. We drove out into the city in silence. We came to a building that looked more like a bank than a car dealership. The windows had been broken in and the building looted. Karl turned up Olive Street and stopped in front of a garage with a steel security gate. He got out and grabbed an enormous set of bolt cutters. He snapped the lock with ease and pushed the gate aside. I looked down the street and saw two of the Infected running toward us.
100 Days of Death Page 21
