Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise

by Kinney, Matthew

  “Dan?”

  Trying not to attract any more attention than necessary, Dan remained silent as he hurried over to George.

  “Did you get bitten?” Rayburn called, starting to back away. “Are you one of them?”

  “No,” Dan whispered loudly. “I’m just trying to be quiet, and you should do the same.”

  “Sorry, I’m just glad to see you. I made it through a couple of neighborhoods, but I ran into a lot zombies on the way.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help,” Dan said, feeling guilty.

  “I killed a few with the bat. I wish I had a gun. It would have been a lot easier.”

  “Just remember, you don’t need to reload a bat. Besides, the noise would have drawn more of them to you.”

  “What happened to you, anyway?” George asked.

  “I had a little trouble getting away from our buddies on the highway, but I think we’ve left them behind. I want to go into the store and try to find a map, but we’ve got to be quiet. Then we need to get away from here,” Dan said. “It’s already been a long day and the sun isn’t even up yet.”

  “You’re telling me,” George said.

  Dan whispered. “There should be a back door. Let’s go in that way.”

  “Whatever you think,” Rayburn replied, turning to follow Hixson.

  Using the crowbar, Dan got the door opened quickly and looked inside. Though the parking lot was lit up, the store was dark. Dan called out to see if anybody or anything would answer. When nothing stumbled out, they both stepped into the store, and George eased the door shut behind them. They appeared to be in a small back room, and Dan used his light to make sure they were alone. Opening the door that led to the front of the store, he looked around then called out again, quietly. This time his words were met with a low moan and the shuffling of feet.

  ~*~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  Lindsey finished off her coffee quickly, knowing that Autumn was anxious to get to the lab.

  “Are you going to hang out with Wombat today?” Autumn asked as they left the cafeteria.

  “I’m going outside to work,” Lindsey said as they took the stairs up to the second floor. “I’d rather be outside than inside while the weather is still decent. It has nothing to do with Wombat.”

  “Right. It’s all pretend, and you have your heart set on Lee,” Autumn replied with a grin.

  “Not anymore, I don’t,” Lindsey said as they approached the lab.

  “Great, then you and Wombat can get together,” Autumn said, opening the door.

  Lindsey laughed and shook her head. “You don’t give up, do you?”

  “Never,” Autumn said.

  “I’ll be back later to see how everything’s going,” Lindsey told the girl before going downstairs.

  Out in the parking lot, the stench from the undead filled the air as always. Their moans could be heard on the other side of the walls, and Lindsey wondered if she’d ever really get used to the sound. Still, it was better than being locked up inside the hospital all the time.

  “Wow, you made a lot of progress,” she told Moose, who was working with two of the others on building cinder block watchtowers.

  “It’s coming along pretty good,” he said, slapping some mortar on a block. “If all goes well, we’ll have them finished today.” He placed the block on the bed of mortar and lightly tapped it with his trowel.

  “No more climbing up onto the wall, Gunner?” she asked with a grin.

  The older biker shook his head. “Getting too old for that stuff. We’re going to add some stairs if we can get the materials.”

  Lindsey laughed and waved goodbye to them before crossing the parking lot to the gate. The biker on guard duty climbed a ladder and looked over the wall.

  “All clear,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she told him, pushing the gate open. It felt strange for her to walk out without worrying about what was on the other side. She guessed that it was probably the same way for the others after getting used to fighting their way out each time they left the hospital.

  She crossed the street to the park, surprised to see how much progress had been made on the wall. It seemed to be going much faster now that they had a routine down. The west wall was done, and the east wall was over halfway finished. Snake, Helga, Wombat and several others were already at work, though the sun had only been up for twenty minutes.

  “Can I help?” she asked.

  Helga’s eyes narrowed, and Lindsey made a point of stepping closer to Wombat.

  “Sure, Xena,” Snake said. “You can either help with the wall or you can help keep the zombies from crawling over the cars.”

  “I didn’t bring a weapon down, so I’ll help with the wall.”

  “You need to carry a weapon anytime you step outside the hospital,” Snake told her. “I tell all my guys the same thing.”

  “I’ll go up and get my crossbow,” she said.

  “Here,” Wombat said, handing her a crowbar. “Use this for now.”

  Lindsey took the weapon and thanked him, though she was hoping she wouldn’t have to get close enough to the dead to use it.

  Taking a shovel, she walked over to where Wolf and Sparky were building wire cages for the gabion walls.

  They stepped back after getting the next segment together then Wild Bill moved in with the loader to fill the cages with rubble from a nearby pile. Most of the workers were spaced out along the new wall, scooping up the excess rubble with shovels and putting it into the cages. Each time a cage was filled completely, it was wired shut.

  Lindsey flinched when she saw Helga pick up a large rock and toss it into one of the wire cages.

  “That could have been my head,” she whispered to Wolf.

  “I don’t think she’d actually kill you,” Wolf said, glancing over. “Maim, maybe. But we’re all keeping our eyes open, just in case.”

  “Thanks,” Lindsey laughed, getting back to work with the shovel.

  The labor was tedious, but it felt good to be doing something active. She enjoyed working with the bikers and the others who were helping, and as long as she kept her distance from Snake, everything was fine.

  She looked up again when she heard someone yell. Some of the dead were piling up in a low spot between two small cars, and three of them fell over the vehicles at the same time. Within moments, the bikers had taken care of all of them. The bodies were dragged to a growing pile to be dealt with later.

  At lunchtime, food was brought out so that the group didn’t have to worry about quarantine. While most of the others took a short break after eating, Wombat spent some time teaching Lindsey to use the crowbar as a weapon. After working with her for ten minutes, he had her try it out on a dead man that had just made his way over one of the cars. Lindsey didn’t like the sound the skull made when the crowbar cracked it, but she knew she’d need to get used to it. She killed off two more before their break was over, and Wombat promised to work with her more when they finished for the day.

  ~*~

  California Coast

  “Hold the light,” Dan said, jamming the flashlight into Rayburn’s hand, “but don’t shine it in my eyes.”

  Hixson lifted the crowbar, ready to meet his foe head-on. The dead man wore long shorts and a jersey from a local basketball team. Dan wondered if the zombie might have been recognizable as a player, had its face not been chewed off. The ghoul was close to seven feet tall. Whether he actually played the sport or not, he appeared to be extremely fit.

  “Careful, Dan,” George said, adding needlessly, “he’s a big one.”

  “No kidding.”

  Dan was six feet tall, and he had to swing the crowbar up to get to the man’s head. The ex-basketball player had a long reach, and when he grabbed for Dan, he blocked Hixson’s swing. Dan stumbled back and tried again, with no better luck. Realizing he had no other choice, he ducked under the dead man’s arms to get behind him.

  “Don’t let him see you,
George,” Dan said. He lifted the crowbar to swing it again, and was blinded by the light of the flashlight, which was now bouncing erratically all over the inside of the store. For a moment, Dan couldn’t see anything, but he soon felt a dead hand brush his face. He staggered back blindly, blinking to try to clear his vision. When he could see again, he slipped behind the zombie once more, this time hitting it in the head before it could turn around and grab him. It took three hits to drop the man, and once the body lay still, Hixson leaned against a wall to catch his breath.

  “Is it safe to come out?” Rayburn called.

  “Yeah, George,” Dan said, pushing away from the wall. “Remember that part about not shining the light in my face? You almost got me killed.”

  “Well, you also said that I shouldn’t let him see me. I was just doing what you told me to do.”

  Dan didn’t bother answering. He did a quick search of the store but found nothing more to concern him.

  “Let’s make this fast,” he said. “I’m going to look for maps. Will you grab some more food and maybe some water bottles, assuming we have room?”

  “The packs are still pretty full, but I can fill a plastic bag with some light stuff.”

  By the time Hixson returned with an atlas, George had filled two plastic bags and was putting his pack over his shoulders. Hixson reached down to grab his pack, but was startled by the sight of dead faces pressed against the glass.

  “Really?” he asked. “We’re just not getting a break today, George. Can you carry both bags for now? I’m going to need my hands free.”

  “Sure,” George said, picking up the second plastic bag.

  They went back through the office, and Dan paused at the door, not sure what they’d encounter. He switched weapons, pulling out his pistol since he could drop the dead faster that way. They’d just have to be gone before they drew a crowd.

  “Stay behind me,” he said, opening the door quietly.

  Dan found himself face-to-face with a woman who had no lower jaw.

  ~*^*~

  ~32~

  California Coast

  At least she can’t bite, Dan thought, putting a bullet into the dead woman’s face.

  “Get up the hill, but stay there. I don’t want to lose you again,” Hixson said. He fired off a shot at a ghoul that was only a few feet away then he sacrificed another bullet to finish off one more that was coming around the corner.

  Dan quickly climbed up the hill then crouched next to Rayburn, watching to see what would happen. Within moments, the dead began to flood into the area behind the convenience store, milling around. None of them moved toward the hill, to Dan’s relief. Leaning close to Rayburn, he whispered, “Let’s sneak out of here.”

  The two men retreated, one step at a time. Once they were a safe distance away, Dan took one of the bags from George, and both men turned on the flashlights they’d picked up in the store. Dan thought that the light would allow them to move a little faster, but Rayburn was beginning to lag behind.

  “What’s wrong? Do you need to stop for a while?” Hixson finally asked.

  “No, I’m just watching out for rattlesnakes,” Rayburn said, eyes on the ground.

  “Well, shit, George, it’s slowing us down.”

  “Getting bitten by a snake would really slow us down,” Rayburn said. “We can’t exactly go to a hospital.”

  Hixson exhaled loudly. “We’ll try to pick up some hiking boots along the way.”

  “They’re hard to see, even in the daylight,” Rayburn said, shining his light on the ground in front of him.

  Dan looked down, frowning. As they continued west, the sky began to lighten, making travel a little easier. Rayburn shut off his flashlight, though his attention was still focused on the ground in front of him.

  “At least they’ll be sluggish since it’s cool this morning.”

  “The zombies?” Dan asked.

  “No, the snakes.”

  “Let’s go this way,” Dan said, pointing toward some houses. He folded his map and put it away. They moved through the streets until they came to a dead end, where Dan stopped to look at the map again.

  “It looks like all these neighborhoods run off of the highway,” he said. “They don’t really connect to each other, so we’ll have to go through the brush to get to the next one.”

  “Great,” George said, looking concerned. “There’s a lot of chaparral, running up and down the canyons. You know how many snakes could be hiding out there? We’d never even see them until it’s too late.”

  “Like you said, the air is cool this morning. I don’t think snakes come out until it’s warm.”

  “I think you’re just saying that so I won’t worry.”

  They stopped for a break when they found a small park. Rayburn pulled out a couple of bottles of mocha flavored coffee and handed one to Dan, keeping the other for himself.

  “I’ve never tried this stuff. Is it good?”

  “Very sweet, but it’s good,” George said, digging out a bag of beef jerky to share.

  Dan pulled the map back out and they looked it over together, choosing a route that would take them northwest toward Oxnard. He’d also picked up a large atlas at the convenience store, which they would need once they were out of the area covered by the map.

  “There’s not much out there,” Dan warned. “We’ll be sitting ducks if they come looking for us.”

  “What other choice do we have?” Rayburn asked with a shrug. “We found out the hard way how bad the highway is.”

  They finished eating in silence then packed up to continue their journey.

  ~*~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  “Boss!” someone yelled to Snake. “We’ve got a problem.”

  Snake glanced over to where the fencing was being rolled out.

  “Only you, Mouse,” he said to the small biker who had managed to get himself tangled up in the wire. “How did you even do this?”

  “Not sure, Boss, but I think it attacked me when I wasn’t looking,” Mouse said, glaring at the fencing.

  “The fence attacked you?” Snake asked, trying to find the end so he could help the others unwind it.

  “Why not? The dead are coming back to life. Maybe other stuff is coming alive too.”

  Snake rolled his eyes, but he didn’t reply.

  Once they freed the biker from the wire, Wolf said, “Mouse, why don’t you take a break and go work on that scratching post you wanted to make?”

  “You guys don’t mind?” he asked, brightening.

  “No. Go ahead,” Snake said. “You look a little scratched up from the wire so you probably shouldn’t be out here with the flesh-eaters, you know? In fact, you shouldn’t be out until that hole in your shoulder is healed.”

  “That’s true,” Mouse said, checking his shoulder and the light scratches on his arm. “The kitten doesn’t like it when I’m gone long, anyway. He gets pretty lonely.”

  “I’m sure he does,” Snake said, letting out a long breath when the biker scurried off.

  “What are we going to do about him?” Wolf asked after Mouse was out of earshot. “He’s a walking hazard. If he isn’t hurting himself, he’s hurting someone else. He slows us down, too.”

  “I know, dude,” Snake said. “Mouse is pretty much an all-around screw-up, but I just haven’t found anything for him yet.” He looked around at the park, thoughtfully. “Then again, he does seem to have a knack for handling animals.”

  “He sure has a way with that kitten,” Wolf agreed. “The guys said that it was completely feral. They didn’t think Mouse would be able to get it out of the car where they found it, but he grabbed it, and it calmed right down. It was asleep inside his shirt when he showed it to me.”

  A few of the men had been trapped outside the walls because of the rescue of the kitten, but nobody had been killed. Still, it had been a foolish risk to take over a kitten that had been surviving just fine on its own. Snake had pointed out to Mouse that they
could have gone back out later to rescue it when the streets weren’t crawling with the dead. Mouse hadn’t even considered the option. He’d just seen the kitten and had known that it needed to be rescued.

  “He’s got a good heart,” Snake said. “He just doesn’t have a lot of common sense. I’m thinking that maybe we can find some chickens and bring them in here once the wall is done and put him in charge of them.”

  “He’d never let you kill them,” Wolf pointed out.

  “We can use the eggs,” Snake said. “We can get more chickens for meat and keep them at a farm outside of town or something. It would keep Mouse busy and provide fresh eggs for the kitchen. Dr. Doom was asking about eggs, too.”

  “What for?”

  “It’s one way to make a vaccine. He’d need a ton of them, though.”

  “Anything that’ll keep Mouse from ‘helping’ us is fine with me. We can tell him how important the eggs are,” Wolf said. “Maybe that’ll solve the problem.”

  ~*~

  Southern California

  “I wish we could have found something a little sportier,” George said, looking out the window of the old sedan they were driving.

  “Really?” Dan asked. “After walking so many miles, I’d think you’d be happy with anything, as long as it runs.”

  “It stinks, too,” Rayburn said, glancing into the back seat, which was still covered with gore and blood. Dan had tossed the body out, but the stench remained.

  “I’m just glad this road isn’t as bad as the highway was. At least we can drive on this.”

  Dan suddenly turned his head, listening as he brought the car to a stop.

  “Chopper!” he yelled.

  They’d already had a helicopter fly past them earlier and had been able to hide in some shrubs. This time, they were in an open area, and there was no place to hide except in the car. He quickly rolled his window up as Rayburn flung his door open and flattened himself on the ground.