by T. W. Brown
Ken listened. She had a point. He’d locked up more than his share of individuals who should never see the light of day or take a breath of free air for the rest of their lives. Not everybody inside was a threat to humanity, but enough of them were for her point to ring true for him. He glanced over at the convict and was surprised to see a nod of agreement.
“So we leave them to die,” Jason finally said.
It was not so much a question as a vocal acceptance of what they had just decided without having to debate or vote. Ken was glad that the other two women were not present. He just did not think that they would see things with such a lack of emotion. He knew that the moment emotion became part of the equation, rationality was often the first victim on the sacrificial altar.
“Let’s shut the gate and get to the house,” Ken said. They had not seen any more zombies since leaving the Reynolds’ place, but he was not up for tempting fate.
“I’ll hop in back,” Jason offered.
“Umm, actually, there isn’t room,” Erin said with a wicked smile.
“Let me guess,” Jason said, “you brought back some supplies?”
“You could say that.” Erin simply smiled.
“We will show you at the house, but let’s get off the road.” Ken had seen enough for the night. He’d done things he could not imagine.
“I’ll just shut the gate and meet you guys at the house.” With that statement, Jason gave the truck a pat and headed for the gate.
A few minutes later, Ken, Jason, and Erin were opening the back of the truck and admiring their newfound haul. Jason gave a whistle of admiration and reached in to pull out a .30-06 with a high-powered scope attached. Ken had to fight the urge to yank it from the man’s hands. Instead, he began counting silently to a hundred.
“What about the people back at your place?” Jason asked.
“They are going to work on plans on how to best combine both properties. We are gonna have some work to do in order to make it secure. Most of what is in place is simple. Just three or four strands of barbed wire. I think we will need something better to keep the zombies out. If a dozen or so of those things come at the fence in one area, I don’t see it withstanding the force,” Erin replied.
“I think we better plan for more than just the zombies,” Jason said with a grim tone that made Ken give the man a sideways glance. “It wasn’t the zombies that came out onto the porch with a street sweeper or held that girl Rose at knifepoint. I think that the living will be a bigger problem in a short time. Maybe once things settle a bit and the dust clears, then perhaps we can relax some, but if we are gonna secure these two properties, then everybody needs to come together and be prepared to do their part.”
“I’m glad that everybody is making decisions as to what to do with my sister’s place.” The voice surprised Ken and the other two. It did not slip past Ken’s attention that Jason had instantly brought the rifle to his shoulder.
***
Rose felt her heart thud when the man with all the tattoos aimed that rifle at her. She also saw the embarrassment on his face as he realized at whom he was pointing that thing. He lowered it almost as quickly as he’d raised it.
“I’m sorry, Rose, I just thought that you were going to be okay with this place and my family’s joining up.” Erin stepped forward.
“You really think it is going to be necessary?” Rose asked. She could accept what she’d seen. She could accept what had become of her sister, niece, and nephew. What she still could not accept was that this would be how civilization crumbled. Surely the government had a plan. Didn’t they have some sort of zombie apocalypse document on the CDC website or something?
“I’m as sure as anybody can be right now,” Erin replied with a shrug.
“I just—” Rose began, but the sudden blaring of the strains of a song by a woman that was urging the listener to “fuck the pain away” interrupted and caused everybody to jump.
Erin reached in her pocket and yanked out her phone. At first, she seemed to stare at it like she didn’t know what to do. At last, she swiped a finger across the screen and answered.
“Cherry?”
Rose was close enough to be able to overhear the conversation. It never occurred to her that she might be intruding, but what she was hearing could not just be shut out of her head. There were sounds of gunfire and distant screams that sent chills flooding through her. The screams were unlike anything she had ever heard in her life and sounded as if they were conveying a pain of unimaginable levels.
“Westy? Where are you?” a female voice cried.
“I can’t believe it’s you. How did you get the phone to work? They have been damn near useless for hours.” Erin was visibly shaking as she listened to the voice on the other end; not to mention the sounds of chaos and hellish screams that had both Jason and Ken moving forward as if drawn by some invisible Pied Piper.
“No time,” the voice replied.
The sound of stress and fear leaked through the phone and wrapped its snake-like tendrils around the hearts of Rose and, by the looks of it, Jason and Ken as well. It was a physical presence that had risen pebbles on Rose’s arms as well as the back of her neck where she had no doubt that her hair was standing on end.
“Where are you?” Erin asked.
“Still in the hospital.”
“But…I thought…I’m so sorry.” Erin’s voice was strangled as she obviously fought back tears that brimmed on the cusps of her eyes.
“You did the right thing, Westy. But there might be a chance we will be getting out.” There was a pause, and Rose thought that the connection might have failed, but just as Erin opened her mouth, Cherry continued. “Most of us anyways. Greg and Brandy are…gone.” Another pause. “There is a police detachment on our floor. They secured it against at least a hundred of those things. It was awful…so many died…” the voice trembled and then the sound of Cherry clearing her throat could be heard. “Anyways, they managed to secure the stairwells. While they were doing so, one of them checked out a service elevator shaft. He said that they might be able to clear the closest stairwell to that shaft. The zombies are thinnest there. We are waiting until it is light outside so that we can hopefully see. There are frosted windows, the real skinny types, but at least it is some sort of light. You would be surprised at just how dark those stairs are. Flashlights only do so much, and most of them were used as weapons when the cops began to run low on bullets. They say they have enough for one last charge if we are going to try and get out of here.”
There was a burst of bitter laughter, and a voice could be heard saying something unintelligible. “Dave says that the cops never ran out of bullets in the movies, but I keep telling him that we almost never saw any cops except the dirty ones in the movies…well, the dirty ones, the two that raided Monroeville Mall’s conveniently located gun shop, and Ving Rhames. Most of them didn’t really count, and they weren’t anything like the men and women that we have watched literally sacrifice their lives to save as many people as possible—”
“You said you guys are breaking for it when the sun is fully up?” Erin interrupted. “So about an hour or so from now?”
“Probably,” Cherry agreed. “And I will get to you any way that I can. Trust m—”
And then there was silence.
“Cherry?” Erin whispered it first, but then she found her voice and cried it over and over.
Rose didn’t know what to do. It was in that instant that she realized that she had been eavesdropping on what was basically a private conversation. Jason was the first to move as he stepped forward and eased the phone from Erin’s hand. She fought him at first, insisting that her friend Cherry might still be on the line.
“It says, ‘call ended’ on the screen,” Jason pointed out.
“No,” Erin wept and collapsed into Jason. He glanced over the woman’s head with an expression that clearly indicated that he was at a loss as for what to do.
Rose stepped up and eased an arm
in, allowing Erin to sort of fall into her. She stroked the woman’s hair and whispered soothing words as she hugged the distraught semi-stranger.
She’d known Erin only in passing. Actually, she thought that Violet knew her pretty well. However, Erin had always seemed to be on the way out every single time that she came to visit. They’d maybe spoken less than a hundred words in the past three or four years. It was not as if there had been any animosity, they simply had never really been formally introduced. Rose had always thought that it might have something to do with how her sister had so few friends over the years. Even when she had managed to make one, they would meet her younger and more easy-going sister Rose and slowly, Violet would be pushed out of the picture. It had never been Rose’s intention, and she hadn’t even been aware that it was a thing until Violet’s twenty-ninth birthday a couple of years back.
Rose had come over for their usual birthday dinner and went to grab something to drink while the steaks finished on the barbecue. She’d seen the ice cream cake when she opened the freezer for ice cubes. She hadn’t said anything right away. She had regretted that decision later. Maybe if Violet had not been drunk off her ass on birthday wine, maybe then she would not have laid into Rose so bitterly about how Rose always stole her friends.
“…going after her,” Erin announced as she pushed away from Rose, scrubbing at her face with her hands.
***
“I’m going after her.” Erin pushed away from Rose’s arms and scrubbed at her face with what almost looked like anger.
“You’re gonna do what?” Ken asked.
Jason glanced at the man and was surprised to find himself on the same page as the ex-cop. After all, hadn’t they just made the choice not to go check the site of a helicopter that had crashed nearby. Hadn’t Erin said something about not taking foolish risks? Now she was seriously considering…no, Jason shook that first thought away. She wasn’t considering a damn thing. It was etched in stone. The woman had her mind made up.
“I am going back to Portland.” It was a simple declaration, but Jason heard the dare implied to any who might think to stop her.
“And that makes sense how?” Ken pushed the issue.
“This isn’t about making sense,” Erin said with a chill in her voice that Jason recognized as threatening violence. Apparently the ex-cop recognized it as well.
“How do you expect to survive the thirty mile trip back into Portland? I think it is safe to say that it has grown exponentially worse since yesterday. Hell, this entire fucking country was still basically in denial until just a few hours ago, and I think we can safely say that they are so late to the party that the band has already packed up and left.”
Jason swung his head around and was surprised to discover Juanita standing in the doorway to the house. Her hair was a mess, and it was clear that she had not been awake for more than a few minutes, but she obviously had heard enough to know what was going on.
“The news is showing scenes of cities in flames,” Juanita continued, talking over Erin’s attempt at a response. “New York is burning out of control. Chicago…Los Angeles…they just appear to be gone. The ticker says that none of the media centers are responding. Oh, and now there are reports that our own military is fracturing. People are now being told to avoid the FEMA centers. The military is either deserting their posts or conscripting civilians…or using them as human shields as they bug out and abandon their posts.”
“Jesus,” Rose breathed.
“Jesus has nothing to do with this,” Juanita replied flatly.
“How did it get so bad so fast?” Ken asked with disbelief ringing clear in his voice.
“So fast?” Erin spun on the man. “This has been building for a few weeks. It has simply been suppressed. It was a back page story. Any attempts by people to point out what was going on were met with derision and open mocking. That Dr. Sing bitch called it juvenile fantasies. Who the fuck fantasizes about the end of the world and humanity with any seriousness?”
There was a moment of silence. Jason looked from one face to another. When he locked eyes with Juanita, she obviously saw what was flitting around behind his eyes. She pursed her lips and gave a curt nod. It was not so much angry as it was acceptance.
“I’m going with you,” Jason finally said once he was positive that he could stand by those words. It had actually been a mental debate. Deep down, he knew for a fact that he was afraid of what was out there. He’d heard the screams of those being torn apart. It would probably haunt him forever.
Erin faced him and cocked her head to one side. “Why?”
At first, Jason did not think he’d heard the entire question. After a moment, he just shrugged. “It is the right thing to do.” That earned a scoffing snort from Ken.
“You two go ahead and rush off to your death.” Ken shot a look at the loaded bed of his truck. “I imagine you’ll be wanting to pick from the haul we just brought back.”
“I will.” Erin left no doubt that there would be no debate.
“And your friends? What do you want us to tell them?” Ken shot back. If Jason didn’t know any better, he would swear that the man was trying to talk them—or at least Erin—out of this fool’s errand.
“Don’t care.” With that, Erin turned to Rose. “Your sister has some stuff stored in her pantry. Could I take a few things? I won’t take much, just enough to hold me over and keep my energy up. We can forage on the way back. I will replace everything I take.”
Ken made another sound, but it seemed to get caught in his throat when Erin shot him an icy glare. Rose was a different story.
“You can take whatever you think we will need.” Rose stood there patiently while the statement sunk in.
“We?” Erin asked with open skepticism.
“I’m coming with you.”
“This is not going to be pretty,” Jason warned. He thought that the woman might be biting off more than she could chew. Where Erin was compact and just a bit muscular, Rose was long, lean, and lanky.
“No illusions that it would be,” Rose replied with just a hint of gruffness hardening her voice.
“Then we can’t stand around talking.” Erin clapped her hands together with enough force to cause the black and white Border Collie to come out and investigate. “We grab enough food and water to keep us going, but hopefully not enough to weigh us down.”
Rose’s face seemed to brighten suddenly. She made a sound that was almost a squeal and rushed to her car. Popping the trunk, she came up quickly with what looked to Jason like some sort of funky backpack.
“My Camelbak!” she exclaimed. She obviously saw Jason’s confusion. “It holds two liters of water, and they are easy to refill along the way at any spigot.”
“Nice.” Erin actually smiled.
It didn’t take long. They whipped up a few peanut butter sandwiches and grabbed the bunch of bananas from the counter. Even though they were taking Rose’s car, they were making allowances for the possibility that anything could happen between here and the hospital.
Ken watched quietly, making no offers to help. Jason heard Juanita ask him why he would not help them and was actually surprised at the answer.
“They didn’t do anything to deserve the death sentence. I won’t lift a finger to send them to Hell.”
Just before they left, Rose made arrangements with Juanita to look after her dogs. The woman seemed happy to be given something to look after. And with the briefest of goodbyes, Jason, Erin, and Rose climbed into Rose’s small car and headed for the gate.
Into the Breach
Jason eased past a cluster of three zombies that were hunched over and feeding. He could see well enough in the gloom of pre-dawn to pick out a pair of legs. They looked small.
“Oh, my God,” Rose breathed from the back seat.
“Don’t look out at that,” Jason said, doing his best not to sound like he was scolding her. “You are going to see enough to fill a thousand lifetimes’ worth of nightmares. Just sit ba
ck and try to relax.”
It had been mostly uneventful up to this point. The occasional zombie was easy to swerve around. As they cruised along Highway 26, Jason was surprised at how many accidents they encountered. Even more eerie was the fact that none of them had been responded to by emergency vehicles. To see two, three, and even a seven car accident scene just sitting there in the road was surreal. A few of them were not void of movement. They passed more than a handful of accident scenes where occupants could be seen moving in the vehicles. He did not so much as slow down.
As they passed the first one earlier on, it had been Rose that asked why he wasn’t even going to see if they could help. Fortunately, Erin answered so that he did not have to be the heavy.
“If they are injured, we can’t help them.”
“But we are headed for a hospital,” Rose insisted.
“A hospital that is overrun with the undead,” Erin reminded.
Jason did not think that too many of the “people” they were passing in those cars were of the living variety. He still shivered at one image in particular. They’d passed a three car wreck that forced them to move into the right hand emergency lane as they drove by. The wreck was just outside his window, and he made the mistake of peeking into the mangled minivan that had its sliding door ripped off in the collision. Inside was a car seat that was well lit by the interior light that would remain on for as long as the van’s battery held its finite charge. The small figure that turned its head his way and opened its mouth in a moan that he was thankful not to have heard over the running loop of the EBS warning that was on the radio was missing both legs right around the knee. It was very obvious that those tiny legs had been ripped off by the now absent attackers. The tattered flesh hung around the two grisly stumps were more ropy than tattered like you would see if they’d been chewed on. Just before he paid heed to the screaming demand that he look away coming from the rational part of his mind, he saw one arm come up as if to reach for him. The other arm was gone, leaving nothing but the exposed socket joint that he swore he could see amidst all the black, dried blood.
