“If you guys need anything, I’m across the hall,” Carmen says. “Oh, and try to keep it down. Darlene’s sexcapades have kept me up too much in the past.”
Now I’m going red. Don’t wanna know.
“Kidding,” Carmen says, and laughs as she walks to her room. “Love you, D.”
“Love you, too,” Darlene answers.
I go into the bathroom and wash up. Then five minutes later, I’m cuddled up next to Darlene with Cupcake at our feet. All of us drift off into the deepest sleep we’ve had in a long, long time.
50
I awake feeling better than I have in an even longer time. Darlene is not up yet, so I roll out of bed carefully. The sun shines through the green curtains. I peek out of them and see it’s looking to be a beautiful day. I don’t know what time it is, but if I had to guess I’d say it was close to ten in the morning.
Outside of the door in the hallway I hear movement. It causes me to jump. I reach for my pistol on the nightstand. You can never be too careful.
A light knock on the door.
“Jack? Darlene?” It’s Abby.
I go to the door and crack it open. Abby’s face looks well rested. The dark purple rings under her eyes are almost gone. The whites are no longer blood shot. She looks fresh, good. Has she put makeup on? Great, I’m going to have to keep a closer eye on this Mike fellow. Another thing to worry about.
She glances up and down and chuckles.
At first I’m confused, then I follow her gaze. I’m standing in my boxers, nothing else. They’re pretty snug, if you catch my drift, and they outline parts Abby doesn’t want to see.
“Oh, sorry,” I say, and reach for my pants, letting the door creak open. It’s now that I catch a scent that causes my stomach to grumble loudly. It’s bacon. God, the sharp, sweet and savory scent of bacon could hit me from a mile away. I pull my shorts on and say, “Wait, is that — ”
“Bacon? Hell yeah. Sausage links, too,” Abby answers. “That’s why I was gonna wake you guys up. Get it before it’s gone and all that.”
“Norm?”
Abby shrugs. “Let him sleep,” she says.
I smile. “Now, Abby, that’s not nice.”
“He probably got enough sausage last night,” she says.
We both stare at each other for a long moment and then burst out laughing. We laugh so hard Darlene wakes up with a puzzled look on her face.
“What’s so — Is that bacon?” she asks.
Tears squirting from my eyes, I nod.
Darlene moves faster than I’ve ever seen her move — and I’ve seen her run from the living dead. She doesn’t fuss about her hair or makeup or outfit. She just pulls her pants on and comes to the door. Cupcake startles awake at Darlene’s movement. Good guard dog, I think to myself sarcastically. He bounds over to me, stretches, and wags his tail.
“Hungry, boy?” I ask.
His eyes say Yes, always.
“Let’s go,” I say.
The four of us head toward the smell of breakfast.
51
The amount of people streaming in and out of the dining hall is immense. It’s like the world’s most popular restaurant — and right now, it probably is. Cupcake waits outside, where a guard sent for some food for him. Doggy catering. This place is great.
Inside, I see Carmen hovering near the pancakes, and Eve stands at the head of the same table we ate dinner at the previous night. She’s wearing jeans and a button up plaid shirt, untucked. Her figure is quite good for a woman her age. If it’s any inclination, Darlene’s going to be hot when she’s pushing sixty. I’d love her no matter what, though — even if she gets fat.
“My two beautiful girls,” Eve says, smiling. She holds a cup of orange juice in her hand. People bustle around the room. Tables have been set up in the great dining hall. Scarred-wood picnic tables. And it seems everyone in the whole compound is in here. The smell of eggs and bacon and burnt bread hang heavy in the air. Conversation stabs at our ears. I love it. It’s the sound of life, the sound of normality.
“Thank you,” Abby says, curtsying.
This brings Eve to laughing. Carmen steps forward. “Nice try, Abby.”
We all laugh this time.
“Here, here,” Eve says. “Grab a plate and pile it high. We celebrate today.”
Mike waves to Abby from a different table. He seems to be with his family. A dad and two little kids. Abby waves back, blushes.
I look around the room, see the easy look on all the people’s faces. People sit close together, laughing, talking. Children run around and hide under tables near their parents’ feet. It’s pandemonium — the good kind.
“What’s the occasion, Mom?” Darlene asks.
“Two things,” Eve says. She holds up her a peace sign. “By some divine intervention, I’ve gotten you back, Darlene. I’ve prayed and prayed and somehow my prayers were answered.”
Darlene smiles, looks away. I know she’s trying not to cry. I put my arm around her.
“We have one of these special feasts once a week,” Eve says. “Because of your arrival, we’ve decided to move it up.”
“Thank you,” I say, honestly grateful. The food smells better than the night before. I hadn’t thought that was possible.
“You’re most welcome, Jack. Anything for the man who helped bring me my daughter,” Eve says.
I smile wider. Didn’t think that was possible, either.
“I want you all to meet the council,” Eve says. “They’ve heard so much about you, Darlene. And you, Jack.”
I nod. “I’d be delighted to meet them.”
“Grab your food first and come sit at our table,” Eve says. She points at the table up on the stage, overseeing the whole dining hall. A group of very different people sit, eating and talking animatedly.
I waste no time in grabbing the food. Darlene, either. Abby looks to have found her way to the buffet table, too, over with Mike and his family. They’re laughing. Smiling. It’s a good sight to see.
Then I hit the table, and I must have a whole pig’s worth of bacon on one plate and on another, a dozen scrambled eggs with melted cheese on top, hash browns and toast on the side. We walk to the stage, holding our plates high so as not to have them bumped out of her hands by the bustling people going to and from the buffet table.
Not long afterward, Norm and Tim stroll in, holding each other around the waist. They are almost too infatuated to notice the breakfast buffet. They walk right by it, but once Norm catches a whiff of the food, he snaps his head around.
I see this from the table. I’ve just sat down.
Eve says, “Council, I’d like you all to meet my eldest daughter Darlene and her fiancé Jack Jupiter.”
There’s four of them — two women and two men. One man, a middle-aged Asian fellow with glasses — stands up and shakes my hand. “It’s so nice to meet you. Name’s Ken.” He then takes Darlene’s hand and bows his head to her. She blushes.
The other man — a bit older with graying hair and a harsh tan on his face — talks with about a loaf’s worth of bread in his mouth. “I’m Zack. Pleasure.” He waves, looks at the grease gleaming on his hands, and licks it off.
“Don’t mind him,” one of the women says. “I’m Olive. I’ve heard so much about you, dear.” She’s probably closer to our age than Darlene’s mom’s age, but she talks like my grandma. “And you, honey.”
I smile, nod, and say, “Nice to meet you, Olive.”
The last member of the council besides Tim doesn’t stand up or say anything. She just looks at us with watery eyes.
“Oh, Tabby, please,” Eve says.
Then, like a bomb, Tabby bursts out into sobs. She’s quite a big woman, pushing seventy if I had to guess. Her stomach and breasts jiggle with the movement. She springs up, much more spry than expected, and wraps Darlene up in a big bear hug. I laugh pretty hard, hearing Darlene’s muffled protests, and then Tabby turns on me. Next thing, I know there’s no light left in th
e dining hall and I’m hit with the sickening sweet smell of flowery, old woman perfume. She kisses me hard on the top of the head.
“A miracle! A miracle, I say,” Tabby says.
She lets go and goes back to her seat with gleaming tears in her eyes.
“Well, there you have it,” Eve says, “the rest of the council.”
Ken laughs. “We’re not much, but we get by.”
I know all about that, I think to myself.
“That we do,” Olive says, sounding so very wise and mature, but looking like she’s fresh out of college.
I wave Abby over. She comes reluctantly, but comes nonetheless.
Tim and Norm join us, too. Tim, as skinny as he is, actually has more food on his plate than Norm does. They sit at the corner of the table. More pleasantries are exchanged. We eat. We laugh. We talk and catch up.
Ken and Zack say they’re surprised we made it across the entire country.
“Any men and women like that,” Zack is saying, “should be in a position of leadership.” He reminds me of the type of fellow you can always find drinking at the end of a bar any time of day. The same guy who looks like he’s rife with problems, but always offers the right advice to solve your own.
“Agreed,” Ken says.
“You two never agree on anything,” Tim says, before downing the rest of his orange juice.
“If you want, Jack, I can take you and your group on a tour of the rest of the compound later today. We’ve made quite a place here. I’m proud of it. Like to show it off.”
I look down the table at Norm. He shrugs.
“Sounds good,” Abby says. “If Mike can come…”
She looks to me for approval. I respect that. “Sure, I don’t mind. Darlene, wanna tour our future home?”
Darlene smiles.
I nod to Frank.
“Good!” Frank says. He reaches over and claps me on the back hard enough to rattle the table when my chest hits the edge. “We’ll head out about 2:00 p.m.”
“Men,” Olive says in her husky grandma voice.
“You said it,” Carmen says. The women start laughing. All of them except Abby, who smiles slightly.
52
After breakfast — which was big enough to be considered breakfast, lunch, and dinner — I head back up to the room with Cupcake at my heels. He looks satisfied and like he’s put on about fifteen pounds since I found him a couple night’s ago.
I change into clothes that seem to have materialized out of thin air after I take a hot shower. I could probably go back to sleep again, but for the first time in a long time, my nightmares aren’t better than the reality I’m living in.
Abby comes into the room just as I’m lacing my boots up. The clock on the nightstand reads 1:38 p.m.
“Mike coming with us?” I ask.
She shakes her head, looking disappointed. “No, he’s helping his dad in their wood shop. They build chairs and stuff for the people in here. Then he has to guard the wall tonight.”
I nod. Slowly, this Mike guy is earning my respect. He seems like a good man. If Abby likes him, who am I to stand in the way?
“Too bad,” I say.
“Yeah,” Abby says. “But I’m still coming. I need to walk after that meal.”
Darlene comes behind me and hugs me around the waist. She smells good — like cherries. “Be safe out there, Jack.”
I turn my head so I’m looking at her from the corner of my eye. She leans in and kisses me on my right cheek. I hear the scratch my stubble makes against her skin. “I will,” I say.
“Get a room,” Abby says.
“This is our room,” I say. “You get out of it.”
“Oh, yeah,” Abby says, then chuckles.
“See you when I get back?” I ask Darlene as Abby and I head out.
“I’ll be here, hanging with Mom.” She blows me a kiss.
I leave her standing there, thinking, Man, I’m going to marry that girl.
53
We take our guns — Norm, Abby, and I — because, in this world, it feels weird without them.
Outside, the air warms my skin. The usual crowd of people are hustling and bustling among the main strip of carts and vendors and the occasional shop. The tree line does well to block the sun’s scorching rays, and the sea breeze down at the far end of the compound helps, too. I still can’t believe this place was once a park. It’s almost a full-blown city. Goodbye, San Francisco. Hello, Haven.
Zack leans against a bare tree. Electrical lines run from the tree to another tree. These are the apocalyptic equivalent to telephone poles. Zack smokes a cigar. He has a big pistol on his hip and on his belt are bullets. He’s like an old cowboy. I think I’m going to like this guy. Ken stands nearby talking to Carmen. They both look very out of place in their clean clothes and his sunhat.
We walk the dusty road toward Zack.
“Carmen, you going, too?” I ask.
“Just until we get near the livery. I’ve been training the horses. Thought, I’d tag along until then to make sure this old fart — ” she cocks a thumb at Zack “ — gets his history right.”
Zack chuckles. “You’re quite the firecracker, Carmen,” he says. “But this old fart could outrun, outshoot, hell, out-anything you.”
“Wanna bet?”
“How much?” Zack asks.
Carmen doesn’t answer, only smirks.
“That’s what I thought, darling,” Zack says, and takes another drag of his cigar.
Carmen mouths Blah, blah, blah while making talking motions with her hand.
“Ready?’ Zack asks once the laughter dies down.
“Yes, sir,” I say.
“Where’s Darlene?” Carmen asks. I barely hear her because I’m looking at the fence beyond the tree line to my right. Guards are posted all around. The fence stretches high. There’s lookout spots.
“Jack?” Abby says.
“Huh?” I say, shaking myself back to reality.
“Where’s Darlene?” Carmen asks again.
“Oh, she wanted to spend time with your mom,” I say. “She’s back there with Cupcake, taking it easy.”
Carmen laughs. “Typical of her. She was always into the idea of a girl’s day out.”
“She was the cheerleader and you were the athlete,” Norm says.
“Yep,” Carmen answers.
We start walking down the same road we walked up yesterday. My eyes drift toward the merchants. There, in the same spot as the previous day, is the merchant who sold body parts of the famous. Next to him, someone is grilling hamburgers. The health department wouldn’t let that fly.
The merchant catches my eyes, looks at me like he knows me. I suddenly feel cold.
I look forward and try to ignore him.
“The finest eyeballs this side of the Bridge! You bet your sweet cheeks!” he yells after us.
“What the hell was that?” Norm asks.
“Merchants,” Carmen answers. “Mom lets them in because they bring in goods. It’s not all former celebrity organs.”
“That safe?” Norm asks in front of us. Ken and Zack lead the way. They look to be in deep conversation.
But Zack whips around and says, “Damn right, it’s safe. Crew and I vet ‘em all. They’re just a bunch of ninnies that wouldn’t hurt a fly. Most of them don’t want to ruin their chances of being behind the walls. Nothing to worry about.”
Tim shrugs.
“If you say so,” Norm says.
“Hey! Whoa!” someone screams as they run past us. Three more people follow after him. Down the road near the entrance, others have congregated.
“Never seen so many!” a woman says.
I look to Norm. He wears his soldier’s face. Tim looks nervous, and Zack’s hand goes to the big gun on his belt.
“What is it?” Ken says. He sounds like a man who’s never seen battle before. Because that’s what this is — battle. I know it. I can smell it in the air.
“Zombies,” Abby says matter-o
f-factly.
I scan the ensuing chaos. People are both rushing toward the gates and away from them. Everyone’s frightened or exhilarated — everyone except my group. A thought flashes across my mind and it says to go back to Darlene.
But she’s with her mother. Her mom is the queen of this place. They won’t let anything happen to her. She’s safe. And you need to be here, Jack, in case they break in — which they won’t. This place is like Fort Knox.
“Better check this out,” Zack says. He starts walking toward the chaos. It’s funny to see this old man — who reminds me of Tony Richards — go through the people because they seem to subconsciously move out of his way. He has this presence. I hope I’m half as bad ass as this guy when I hit his age.
“Should we check it out?” Abby asks. She sounds tired. Tired of zombies.
“No, they’ll handle it,” Tim says. “Best leave it up to the professionals.”
Norm makes a noise like pshh and says, “You don’t know who the professionals really are.” He looks at me. “Little bro?”
I’m quite curious. I shrug.
Abby says, “It never ends.”
“Zombies, people, goblins and ghouls,” Tim says, “it doesn’t matter. Nobody is getting through that gate.” Someone rushes by and shoulder checks him. He goes spinning around and almost falls, but Norm snags him. He rubs his shoulder and grimaces. “I wish people would understand that.”
“Better check it out just in case,” I say.
Then something peculiar happens. In all the pandemonium and chaos, I get this feeling. You know exactly the feeling I’m talking about. It’s that feeling you get when it’s the middle of the night and you’ve just watched a scary movie and the lights are off and the house is quiet. You hear a noise — or rather, you think you hear a noise. So you double-check that the doors are locked and the blinds are drawn, and as you do this, you feel like you’re doing it for an audience, an audience of one. A serial killer, a psycho, a demon, a troll, a ghost. Whatever it may be, it’s watching you, waiting for you, biding its time.
That’s the feeling I get. Except, it’s no ghost or ghoul; it’s a very deformed and creepy-looking merchant who peddles human organs as souvenirs of the old world. He sees me look at him while people race across the road. His one eye glitters with glee. He holds up a hand and waves.
Jack Zombie (Book 5): Dead End Page 12
