by Mark Clodi
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jed called over to him, “If they didn't see him before they sure as shit will now!”
“I didn't think of that. I only wanted to see if he were alive.” Bubba called back.
The trapdoor started to creak, straining against the bolt Jed had thrown to lock it. Carefully Bubba aimed his rifle at the trap door. The straining metal gave suddenly and the door was torn completely off of its hinges, leaving a patch of lighter darkness to mark where it had been.
Nothing came through the door; nothing came through the openings in the side of the building. Minutes passed with both men waiting anxiously for something to happen. Hon groaned and rolled over down below, the light rolled off of him and dropped into the pallets beneath him, back lighting him to the men above.
“Where...” Hon's voice moaned.
“Shhh. Hon! Shhh! Stay quiet!” Bubba said urgently.
“Oooh, my arm. I am bleeding again.”
“Hon, you gotta be quiet. You hear me? Hon, do you hear me?”
“I hear you dad. I think something happened to Kelsy, she bit me, dad!”
Bubba swallowed quietly, “It's Bubba Hon. Bubba. You wake up now, you hear, you sit yourself up and get your head straightened on.”
The boy tried to sit up on the pallets and by doing so, he seemed to become more aware of his surroundings, “It's so dark.” he said quietly.
“Yeah happens every day about this time. You back Honny boy?”
“Bubba?” Hon said, looking around in the darkness.
“Up here. On the catwalk.”
The boy looked up, his pale face and caked with dirt. He moved to make a slight wave then clinched his arm to his chest in pain. “My arm's all bloody Bubba, what do I do?”
“You still got that nest in those pallets?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I know you took a first aid kit in that backpack you had. You crawl in there and get it. Grab that light too and shut it off if you can reach it.”
Hon slowly extracted himself from where he had fallen. He reached the warehouse floor without any problem and then Jed called out to him, “Hon, can you get to the front office?”
“Sure.” he said, starting to walk in a wobbly fashion that direction.
“No Jed! Stop Hon!” Bubba called, bringing the boy up short.
“Damn it Bubba, I need a new gun, he is down there and could get it.”
“He is just a boy Jed, let him get into his hideaway!”
“This is survival Bubba! The zombie ignored him, I heard what he said, he is probably one of them!”
“He ain't Jed, you and I both know he ain't, he is warm, he gets cold, he ain't turned!”
“I ain't what?” asked Hon, the southern twang in his voice coming through clearly.
“A zombie Hon. You tell Jed you ain't a zombie! He even ate with us, normal food!”
“And never gained an ounce.”
“He pissed and shat, you ever see a zombie do that?”
“Well hell Bubba there's a lot of things I never seen a zombie do.” Still Jed was thinking of the many time he had seen the boy use the bathroom in the mornings. “Maybe he is alive, but he isn't like us anymore. He could get a rifle, then climb up here with us.”
Hon started swaying on his feet; in the glow of the flashlight Bubba saw the splatters of blood forming a pool under Hon's arm. “He is losing blood, he needs to get that taken care of. He can worry about getting us more guns after that.”
A rock sailed through the blow out bay doors and struck the support pole where the ladder was fastened, the noise as it hit startled all three of them, sending Hon scurrying towards the tunnel he had crafted months ago and causing Bubba to shift his rifle to point at the noise. Two zombies dropped down from the roof to land on the catwalk, they started to run towards Bubba, however the walkway began to sway ominously beneath their feet. With a shriek of twisting metal the catwalk gave away beneath them, and dropped twenty five feet to the floor below, taking the zombies with it.
Neither Jed nor Bubba was on that section of catwalk anymore, both men watched as the only thing linking them fell away, both men thought the same thing, 'How is he going to make it now?' and were surprisingly optimistic about their own survival. Then Bubba turned to look at the ground and see if he could spot Hon anywhere, all he saw was one foot disappearing into the piled up pallets.
Chapter 17
Hon cried as he pulled himself into his tunnel, his arm was killing him and he suspected that Jed thought he was a zombie. 'This is bad.' He remembered to pull down his 'door' behind him as he made his way into the pallets, he could not reach the light, it was just too far away from where his tunnel was.
Reaching his sanctuary he found his pack by touch and unzipped it to find the flashlight he had there. Something wasn't right, the inside of the pack was all fluffy and full of shredded paper. Mice. Mice had gotten into his pack and made a nest there, eating the granola bars and shredding the clothing he had squirreled away. The small first aid kit was stored inside of a hard plastic shell and it seemed to have survived, Hon found one of the two flashlights he kept in the pack and turned it on. He turned his backpack on its side and placed the first aid kit on top of it. To Hon's relief he saw that the kit had not been ravaged by the mice. He shrugged off his jacket and immediately started to get cold, compromising he put his good arm back in and pulled the hood over his head while keeping his bloody arm poking out through the zipper in front. Seeing the blood seeping from his arm made it worse somehow, he stifled a cry as he peeled back his shirt. It hurt too much to continue. Thinking about it for a minute he remembered that the first aid kit had a pair of scissors in it. Opening the kit he took out the scissors and slowly cut his shirt open until he could peel the cloth back from where his arm was bleeding.
Bubba and Jed had made him practice first aid with them, they stressed that any little wound now could kill them from infection and everyone had to clean and take care of themselves better because there were no doctors anymore. At the time Hon had only been a listless student, but he had learned a few things. You had to stop the blood from dripping out. You had to put disinfectant on the wound. You had to keep it clean and change the bandages every day, sometimes more if it was bad. Of course the good first aid kit was in the trailer, Hon's kit was little more than the kind normally found in automobiles. There were packets of disinfectant and gauze and two rolls of elastic cloth to hold the gauze to a wound. First, Hon had to stop the blood, but if he could get some disinfectant on the wound that might help. He struggled for a moment to get a packet of the disinfecting salve opened, then gave up and just cut it in half with the scissors; he smeared half a package on his forearm and almost fainted when he realized the injury extended all the way through his arm and out the other side.
He tilted sideway and rested his head against the wall, was covered in the survival blankets he had hung up months ago. The blood was still dripping out. He had to do this or he would really be hurt, or even die. Hon didn't even try to open the paper packet of gauze with one hand; he just cut the ends off of all the packages in the kit and made two even piles to work with. Instead of trying to smear the sticky salve on the part of his arm he couldn't see, he just pressed it all out onto the gauze that would go on that side. Then he unwound one of the flesh colored elastic bands and set gauze on it, topping that pile with the disinfected piece he had prepared. Hon quickly pressed his arm onto that pile of gauze, then wrapped one piece of the bandage over to the other side of his arm, putting more gauze over the wound there. Slowly and awkwardly he wound the bandage around his arm, tucking the loose end into itself the way Bubba taught him. By the time he had finished the very last of the day's light has vanished from the sky outside.
“Bubba?”
“I am still here Hon, you get all bandaged up?”
“I did. I ain't a zombie Bubba.”
“I know, I saw you bleeding Hon.”
“Where are the zombies at?”
“I don't know Hon, they are probably waiting for something. They know we got a ton of bullets and guns.” Bubba said this last part rather more loudly than Hon thought he needed to.
“Bubba.” Jed's voice called softly out of the darkness.
“Yeah?”
“Can you reach the ladder?”
“No.”
“What if you jumped for it?”
“Maybe. What are you thinking?”
“I can't jump for it, but I could climb down a pole. If we can get to a truck....”
“Yeah, or even an RV.”
“Mine?”
“Yeah, you got the keys in it? Hon and mine is shot. They hit it with that car. I think yours is okay.”
Hon could not see either of the two men, he had stuck his head out into the tunnel he had made, but the light on the ground didn't reach up far enough to reveal either of the men. He backed into his first room and then turned and crawled into the second small chamber he had created to check on his pack there. The mice had chewed a hole through it, but had not made a nest inside of it or done anything other than eat the power bars he had put inside of it. Going through both bags while sitting in his main room he sorted the good from the bad and put everything inside of the better bag. His arm was starting to hurt.
Looking in the first aid kit he saw some medicine, pills, which he was not good at swallowing. Sighing he took a packet out and cut it open, he put the pills in his mouth and opened one of the sports drinks he had packed away to try and swallow them down. The sports drink was frozen solid. The pills were already in his mouth and his arm was still hurting. Hon quickly chewed on the pills and tried to swallow the resulting foul mess down. The taste was awful and he was near retching when he heard Bubba yelling for him.
“Hon! You alright? Hon?”
Hon gasped for air and tried to force himself to speak past the glob in his mouth, nothing would come out.
“Hon!”
“Relax Bubba! Keep it down!” Jed called.
“I'm...okay.” Hon said, coughing. “I took some medicine and my drink was frozen. It tastes bad and my arm hurts.”
“Okay, if you are hurt then you are still alive and that is a good thing. You didn't get bit did you?”
“No. Did you?” countered Hon.
“No. Jed didn't either. We are going to try and get to Jed's 'RV', okay? Can you get over there?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, once we get inside we will decide what to do from there. Are you ready?”
“Yeah. I can go now.”
“Go where?” called out a voice from the blown open bay door.
Chapter 18
Xavier waited until it the sun had set completely before making his next move. It was a cloudy, snowy night and other than the meager light from one flashlight on the floor in the warehouse the place was pitch black. The darkness didn't bother him in the slightest, his transformation had gifted him with a form of second sight that allowed him to see the living quite clearly, no matter how dark it became.
The two zombies that had collapsed the catwalk had initially tried to break free, but a swift command from Xavier made them 'play dead', giving him even more of a feel for what was going on inside the warehouse. With the weaker zombies he had a form of bond that worked at his discretion, he could read their thoughts, and see what they were up to and where they were at. He also enjoyed a limited ability to see what they were seeing, the vision he received was not always clear, but sometimes it was helpful. For some reason he did not pick up on their other senses, he could not feel what they felt or hear what they heard, but he could scan their thoughts and get the information second hand. The men inside did not fire on the zombies, so either his plan had worked, which Xavier had thought was unlikely, or the men didn't have as much ammunition as they let on.
The one man appeared to be delusional from his wounds, talking to someone who was not there, showing concern for a ghost. Xavier had seen it happen before. Someone loses a loved one, a child or a spouse and they think the person is still alive and with them. No doubt a terrible tragedy, one Xavier loved to exploit, now how could he use this to his advantage?
Inside Hon thought about his escape tunnel. The dead man's voice didn't say anything else, but he couldn't see the thing either. Slowly he eased backwards into his hidden room, and from there he grabbed his tools and shimmied down the tunnel he had made to the outside wall, using his light sparingly so he wouldn't give away his position. He moved the last of the lumber out of the way and slowly pushed the hacksaw blade into the slit where he prepared to cut through the last inch of the sheet metal wall. The problem was the noise, he made one pull and it sounded to him like church bells going off a block away, Hon paused, waiting.
“Where do you think you will be heading too? We've got the place surrounded and you have lost half your team.” called Xavier from outside the blown out wall.
“Don't bother answering Bubba.” called Jed quietly, “We can do this.”
Bubba looked about, Steve's rv was not too far off of the catwalk, it was still a good fifteen feet from the catwalk to the top of the rv, but that was better than a twenty five foot drop. All he had to do was crawl off of the catwalk onto one of the ceiling supports for a few feet, then he could drop onto it. He didn't reply to Jed, he just started moving. Hon hadn't been able to get the light from beneath the pile of pallets, something Bubba was thankful for now, it provided enough light for him to see by, even if it left dark shadows in far too many places for his liking.
Xavier heard whispering, then the sounds of movement inside. Gesturing with his mind he motioned a couple of his troops forward into the building directing them to go along the walls, well out of the radius the light cast out from the pile of garbage at the back of the warehouse.
Jed could see Bubba making his way over the catwalk and immediately surmised what the man was going to do. Not a bad idea, can I drop on mine?
Looking at the roof supports he saw that he probably could, if he were willing to take a little risk. He was not going to get a better option; after all, the men didn't have any ladders that would reach up this high. They did have rope, maybe... Shrugging Jed discarded that notion. That would be a plan for when they had time, now, time had run out. His rifle was useless as all but a club to him, so he slung it over his shoulder and tentatively started out onto one of the roof supports as he knew Bubba would be doing in moments. Lucky bastard, Bubba only has to go about five feet to drop down and I gotta do this for thirty or a little more. Then again Bubba always had been lucky.
Xavier risked putting his head around the corner to get a read on where the men were, they appeared to be climbing around on the roof supports. Shaking his head he concentrated and tried to bring them into focus. I don't believe it. He sent the rest of his troops into the building while the two men were clinging to the rafters.
Up above both men heard the zombies pour into the building, the zombies were not trying to be stealthy. Hon heard the noise too, and furiously cut at the last bit of metal preventing his escape.
In the building across from Hon, Maggie looked out the window at the warehouse as the zombies went in. Jaye crouched down in front of her peeping at times from the same window. He seemed oblivious to her now. She glanced at his back, then to the warehouse, then back to Jaye's exposed back. She was not particularly hungry, but consuming a full human alone would bring her power up to a new level. She paused as she heard the sound of a saw across the way. Jaye turned and flashed her a grin and raised one thumb up. Why have one, when I can get two? After all, what do I owe him? He doesn't even have a bullet to put in Xavier's brain like I hoped.
Bubba dropped first. He hung down from the support, decreasing the distance by only that much gave him confidence that he would be okay. The roof of the rv was only about eight feet below him after he lowered himself.
A twisted ankle at the worst. He thought, as he let go. Bubba's fall was cushioned by the roof of the rv giving away un
derneath him. Both of his legs punched through the thin metal and marginal insulation that the roof was constructed from. He stopped he was embedded up to his knees, stuck, but unhurt.
“Shit.” he said softly. Leaning forward he tried to pull his right leg free, it quickly became tangled up in the roofing material, but he did manage to pull it a few inches upwards. Before moving his left leg he tried to position himself upright, this helped and he was able to remove his left leg completely from the hole, but his right slipped downwards further from his effort, to mid-thigh. Moving his leg to get good leverage he jumped when something grabbed onto it from below. I didn't lock the camper!
That didn't look too bad. Thought Jed, after watching his friend land on the rv. He quickly became aware of the inaccuracy of that though as he watched Bubba struggle to extricate himself from the roof. I gotta get over there. He won't be able to get himself out alone.
Jed eyed the next roof support over, it was only about four feet away, just out of reach, and he would need to pass through it and jump twice more to even have a chance to help Bubba. At no time did 'not pulling a Jim' enter his mind. He made the leap and easily caught the support, quickly climbing through the metal frame he jumped for the next one, the roof shook as he hit, but the support held his weight just fine.
Below Xavier watched from the shadows, he had taken up a position near the pile of wood pallets and wondered just what the redneck still up on the metal supports was doing. He could not quite see Bubba from his position on the floor but surmised that there was something wrong with the man. Maybe he was hurt when he landed?
