by Lee Deadkeys
More vehicles added to the congestion as other people, for one reason or another, had abandoned their vehicles or worse.
Sam and Ox moved from vehicle to vehicle, siphoning what gas they could and filling up the three large gas cans Mason had brought from his garage. Frank and Jess crawled beside them in the two vehicles, stopping and sifting through the abandoned vehicles for any useful supplies.
Two hours later, they stopped and took stock of what they’d found; four more full cans of gas, boxes of supplies ranging from the hastily assembled and mostly useless, to complete and well-organized food stuffs, coils of rope, batteries, and flashlights.
Loaded to the bursting point, they set out again. Slowly but surely, they maneuvered through the city streets. Screams and gunshots followed them to the city limits. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they passed through the last of the mess of vehicles and onto North Lake Pleasant Parkway and more passable roads.
Rudy and Rhonda’s House
Rudy walked through the dusty dreamscape, summoned by an ancient alien god. How long, he wondered, have I been walking? He looked to the strange sky, squinting at a moon two times brighter than the sun; a moon that had drown this arid world in fathomless shades of blue.
A Titan moved in the valley below, dragging its great chains over the bones of some long dead colossal beast….
Rudy woke with a start to the sound of chains being dragged over his nerves. Sitting up, he crossed himself and wiped the sweat of nightmares from his brow. A whiff of foul putrescence coated his tongue and for a moment he feared the blue world of his dream had followed him to this realm. Then he heard the grinding clatter of the chain again and his heart sank.
As he pulled on his boots, he listened to his sister coo and softly sing to the creature that he’d once thought of as his best friend and brother-in-law. He steeled himself and walked into the kitchen.
The stench nearly knocked him off his feet. He had no idea how Rhonda managed to be this close to Virgil day in and day out, for all these weeks, without vomiting. He could barely tolerate sleeping on the couch in the living room, much less be in there with it.
“Morning,” she said as he went to the sink. He grunted a reply and tried the tap. Nothing. Then he remembered the water was out, like the phones, TV and everything else it seemed. Pulling a jug of water from under the sink, he found a dirty glass, filled it with warm water and drank. Refilling the glass, he threw a spoon of instant coffee in and then drank that down too.
“Could you help me with him?” Rhonda asked his back. No! he screamed in his head, his finger ticking against the wood grips of his Colt. Without a word, he walked over with his head down, his eyes averted.
“I think he looks better today, don’t you?” she asked in a rush of words, and Rudy noticed again that edge in her voice, a slip in her sanity.
Rudy planted his feet and took a deep breath, readying himself as best he could… and looked up. Nope, I wasn’t ready for this! His mind shouted the words even as his traitorous eyes refused to look away.
Virgil swayed at the threshold of the mudroom. Flies as thick as a thunder cloud swarmed around the stagnant room. Rudy’s eyes, now suddenly alive with motion, took everything in; the piles up untouched food shoveled into a corner, articles of tattered and stained clothing scattered around the floor… and the stuff, everywhere the black shit that seemed to leak from every hole.
Rudy groaned. “Better? You think this is better?” He grabbed Rhonda by the arms and turned her to him. “Woman, what the hell do you see when you look at him?”
“Brother, just, please… I don’t want to—” she said, her voice trembling.
A fly crawled at the corner of Rudy’s mouth and another landed under his eye. He pictured the disgusting things probing the piles of putrid goo leaking from Virgil, then landing on him and tracking it all over his skin. He felt a prickle of fear, wondering if he could be infected by the filthy vermin crawling over his face. Fear was quickly replaced by anger and he turned Rhonda toward her husband.
“Look at him! That ain’t Virgil anymore!” Rudy yelled, holding her there as she tried to turn away. The shouting seemed to excite Virgil and he began lurching against the chain. His hugely bloated body splitting where the rope Rudy used the first day began to cut into the flesh.
“Stop it, you’re upsetting him,” Rhonda cried.
“Upsetting him?” Rudy yelled, a part of him wanting Virgil to break the thin chain and give him a reason to end his suffering. “He’s beyond all that now, Ronnie. Look at him, really look,” Rudy said as some of the anger left and was replaced by exhaustion and hopelessness. “He hasn’t eaten a thing in weeks and he’s doubled, almost tripled in size. And his skin, it’s the color of death, of decomposition. He, he wouldn’t want this, Ronnie,” Rudy said, crying and helpless to help his friend. “He wouldn’t want to linger like this, like Uncle did….”
Rhonda turned and slapped him across the face. “You want to shoot him like a dog?” She stood before him, breathing hard, fists balled. “You touch him and I’ll kill you!” she screamed and ran from the room. A second later Rudy kicked the mudroom door shut, and locked the monster away.
Rudy was stranded in the blue world again, but this time the Titan had company. A slithering cobalt dragon circled the Titan, searching for a weakness. Rudy struggled forward, the indigo sand sucking at his feet and slowing him.
He was irrationally afraid for the Titan, needing to warn it that the dragon was not what it seemed. Waving his arms overhead, Rudy hoped to get the Titan’s attention. He cried out, I have the key to victory, my friend! but the endless winds splintered the words on his lips. The battle raged below, the ancient enemies engulfed in a veil of cerulean, heedless to his call. The Titan swung its chain.
No! Rudy cried and fell to his knees.
The chain connected, the dragon shattered, and the Titan was consumed by midnight.
The sound of watery grunts jerked Rudy from the blue world and back into the grey nightmare of this one. Wiping the tears from his eyes he sat up on the couch and tried to place the strange noise. It reminded him of a rodeo his Uncle had taken him to when he was ten. A rider had been thrown to the ground and the bull had gored and stomped him repeatedly, crushing the man under nearly a ton of pissed off beef. One of the clowns trying to protect the rider from further attacks had a mic attached to his overalls. The bull finally contained, the crowd hushed in horrified silence, all that could be heard was the clown leaning over the downed man, reassuring him that help was coming… that and the wet labored grunts from the dying rider.
Rudy shuddered at the memory and tried to focus on the source of the present sound. He got up slowly. His sister had kept to her and Virgil’s bedroom and he realized now that he hadn’t seen her since their argument. He was about to call out to her, apologize for even the vaguest hint at ending Virgil’s suffering, when her shrieks rang out from the kitchen.
Rudy rounded the corner to find Rhonda pointing in the mudroom. He clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her as he looked around frantically to find the reason for her alarm.
Virgil was throwing himself at the backdoor as if trying to escape, and although that was odd because he hadn’t tried it before, Rudy didn’t see how that could’ve caused such a strong reaction from Rhonda. She must’ve sensed his confusion because she leaned close to him and whispered, “Outside.”
Rudy took a step to the side to look around Virg and out the window in the backdoor… and froze. His heart hammered as a wave of lightheadedness dimmed his vision to pinpoints.
Out on the dirt access road running behind the house were dozens of people, Virgil’s people, Rudy thought because they too were in various stages of bloat and discoloration. Most were naked, with some degree of facial mutilation and all of them walked in step.
Virgil continued his lunatic barrage against the chain, each time stumbling back before lunging forward again. The rope tied around his waist hung slack, but as Virgil
struggled to get out it became entangling around his right leg, cutting deep gashes around his calf. Rudy was about to tell Rhonda that maybe she should look away, that she didn’t need to see this, but before he could stop her, she flung open the door and ran to help Virgil.
Rudy was right behind her, reaching for her but only managing to grab a few strands of hair. She slowed when she got to Virgil and bent to free the rope from around his leg. With each exertion, the blackish-brown substance that usually trickled from Virgil’s orifices was now propelled out of him. His legs were covered in it and it began to pool on the floor around his feet. Rhonda slipped in it, almost toppling into her raving husband before kneeling on one knee as she tugged at the rope.
“Get away from him,” Rudy said in a low growl. Virgil’s head cocked to one side and Rudy felt his heart leap into his throat. Rhonda ignored him and yanked again at the rope. Virgil turned, quick as a giant disgusting cat and grasped her by the head. Rudy made a mad leap for her, hooking a hand on the waistband of her pants and yanked. She screamed, one hand flailing behind her and the other slapping at Virgil. Rudy glanced out the window in the backdoor and felt his grip on his sister lessen. All of Virgil’s people had stopped on the road, and then as one, began to turn toward the house. Oh God, they're coming for us, he thought, knowing it was true.
Rhonda screamed again, snapping his attention back to the situation. Virgil was heaving over Rhonda’s upturned face, ready to sick something up. The taught skin of his hugely distended stomach churned and writhed with fetal life. Rudy’s petrified mind conjured the image of the legless cobalt dragon from his nightmares. He pictured its vomitus birth and… enough!
Rudy grabbed the chair in the corner and braced it between Virgil and himself. With everything he had, he wrenched Rhonda back, dragging her through the door and kicking it shut. He bent and grabbed Rhonda, jerking her to her feet as Virgil reached the end of the chain. He roared and lunged, slipping in the puddle of filth covering the floor and tripping on the toppled chair. Rudy watched in shocked horror as Virgil fell forward onto the upturned legs of the chair. Rhonda loosed a mortified scream as Virgil’s stomach burst open, showering the glass in black sludge. Something large, the size of an arm, shot through the glass and hit the wall beside them. Rudy glanced at it long enough to see movement, a twisting, thrashing—that was in him—thing, and he was running for his truck, hauling a sobbing Rhonda behind him.
North Lake Pleasant Parkway
“God, I’m glad to be out of that,” Jess said.
Ox perked up from the back seat of the Jeep, “I’ll save my gladness for the cabin. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet.”
“Way to shit on my parade, Ox. Can’t you just let me relax a little without killing it with your gloom and doom?”
Ox shrugged, “I know you don’t like me to sugar coat it.”
“Sugar coating, sure, but damn, let me have the moment.”
Mason slowed the Jeep noticeably; Ox and Jess immediately ceased their banter.
“What is it?” Jess asked, tense.
Mason pointed through the windshield, “Big RV just off the road a ways up, on the left.”
The wind was up, blowing a light dust across the road and cutting visibility. Ox and Jess leaned forward in their seats, as if this would help. Mason pointed again, “Up there, about 200 feet, on the left.” The wind stilled suddenly, dust settling and the sun catching the back window of the RV.
“Yeah, I got it now,” Jess said. “Could be some good stuff in there.”
“Could be we have enough stuff,” Ox said, settling back into the seat. “You said the cabin was stocked for a year, at least.”
Jess grunted. “I said the last time I was there it was stocked, but that was a long time ago. We don’t know what we’ll find, better check out the RV. No such thing as being too prepared.”
Ox shook his head from the back, “I don’t like it, Jess, could be trouble. All those movies you made me watch, this should strike you as a setup. Could be people in there ready to steal everything we just stole….”
“We didn’t steal anything!”
“Okay, Jess, okay. We liberated it from its rightful owners.”
Jess turned sharply and looked at him. “You tell me how….”
“Hush up you two,” Mason said as he slowed the Jeep to a limp. “Frank and Sam are signaling to stop.”
Mason pulled to the shoulder twenty feet from the RV; Frank pulled up along the passenger side and rolled his window down.
Mason leaned forward enough to see around Jess. “What do you think, Frank, should we check it out?”
Frank scratched at his stubbly chin for a moment while looking at the parked RV. “Tires are flat, looks like the two front ones and this here rear one.”
Mason turned to look, the rear right tire was definitely toast and the rest of the RV had a forward cant. He couldn’t see them from this angle but decided to take Frank’s word for it.
“Now how do you suppose they would get three flats?” Sam said from the other vehicle. No one answered. “Could be someone spiked the road.” They all turned and looked back at the road.
“Why didn’t we hit it?” Jess asked, not able to see anything past the truck.
“Lucky?” Sam asked with a shrug.
“Maybe we should see if there’re people inside, they might need some help,” Ox said.
“No,” Jess said, moving her handgun to her lap. “Let’s get out of here, this could be trouble.”
“Ah, so if there’s something in it for us then we can take a risk but if it comes to helping others….”
“Pretty much,” she said with a nod. “Look, I just got you back and you didn’t want to stop in the first place, remember? I’m just agreeing with you, so stop pushing my buttons. You’re getting to be as bad as that one….” she said and jerked a thumb at the truck.
Sam threw his hands up exasperated, “I didn’t say anything to you.”
“Everyone quiet down!” Frank said. “Let’s go have a look, Mason. You all stay put and watch our backs.” Mason nodded once and fished his firearm out from between the seats.
The two men exited the vehicles and made their way slowly to the RV, heads on a swivel, guns tucked within easy reach but out of plain sight. Frank walked slightly ahead of Mason.
They closed the distance quickly and were less than eight feet from the side door when it banged open. A woman leaned out from the opening, holding the biggest bored shotgun Mason had ever seen and aimed it square at Frank’s chest.
Mason instinctively moved his hands up and away from his gun. Frank’s instincts apparently worked the opposite way, because in an instant he had pulled the gun from his belt and taken aim at the woman. The motion had a bad effect on her.
Mason tensed, wondering if they were far enough away for Frank to survive the blast, doubted it and felt his guts go watery. The woman was screaming something but hysteria turned her words into gibberish.
Frank spoke now in that calm, soothing way and began to slowly let the gun go loose as he slightly raised his hands. The gun pointed harmlessly toward the sky as it dangled from the trigger guard by his index finger.
Jessica had the passenger side door open and one foot on the ground before Ox could grab an arm and yank her most of the way back in the Jeep. Mason heard Jess cuss Ox, and turned his head slightly so that he could see her peripherally and slowly shook his head. She must have acknowledged this because everything went quiet back at the Jeep.
Mason slid his eyes back to the woman in the RV. She had stopped screaming nonsense at them and appeared to be listening to Frank, although the shotgun stayed aimed at his chest and had picked up a tremble from the wielder. Mason heard Frank’s words as if from a great distance and the tone began to work on him as well, steadying and calming.
My God, Mason thought, he’s the psycho whisperer. The shotgun lowered a few inches as Frank worked his magic on the woman and was now pointed at his stomach. Everything fe
lt as if it were slowing down, losing that hectic edge and Mason dared to think it might just turn out all right after all.
RV-woman’s head shifted slightly to the right, toward something over Frank’s shoulder. Her eyes widened noticeably and the shotgun swung back to its original position, the center of Frank’s chest. The woman looked directly at Mason, “Tell her to get back in that thing or I’m going to blow this fella in two.”
Mason jerked his head back and groaned. Jess was moving around the front of the Jeep, gun hefted at arm’s length and aimed in the direction of the woman.
“Jess! No!” Mason yelled, but the look on her face told him she was beyond listening.
“Stop pointing that gun at my dad, bitch. You want to point it somewhere, then point it at me, I’ll likely be the one who shoots you, anyway.”
RV-woman obliged instantly. Jess stopped walking and nodded once, satisfied. Mason stood stock still, unwilling to escalate the situation further. The RV woman stared at Jess for what seemed like hours, but something had changed in her demeanor. She no longer seemed as threatening or as afraid and when she spoke her voice had lost almost all the hysterical bite.
“That’s your daddy, huh? Whatever you people are looking for here, it ain’t worth your life. I suggest you be on your way before more people have to die.”
“More people? Has something happened here?” Frank asked, his tone even and calm despite the shotgun now trained on his daughter. The RV woman barked a sharp laugh and rolled her eyes, the front of the shotgun going slack and now pointing at the ground in front of Jess’s feet. “Buddy, you been on the moon the last few weeks?”
Jess lowered her gun as well, although not as much as the RV woman.
“We saw the flat tires on your rig, thought we could lend some assistance,” Frank said.
The woman dropped her eyes and sighed. “They spiked the road with nails or something, stuff too small for my Ned to see. Not the swelled up people, these were regular folks. They came out of the desert two days ago on motorbikes and a couple trucks, killed my Ned, took my daughter, Alexandra, our Alex….”
