Chapter Seven
At the bottom of the stairs was a throw rug. Jude hit it at 50 miles per hour and it slid from underneath him. Remarkably he stayed on his feet and kept going. I avoided the rug and as I came out of the house the bright sunlight momentarily blinded me. I paused and Jude took that opportunity to sprint around the corner of the house towards the blaring horn of the truck. I recovered quickly and ran to catch up. By the time I reached the corner the horn had stopped and I heard voices screaming.
Holland was in the backseat of the truck while Jude was confronting Steve who was sitting in the driver’s seat. Leaning up against the hood of the SUV was the prodigal Harley grinning from ear to ear with a blade of grass sticking out of his teeth.
“You scared us to death, you idiot!” Jude yelled at Steve. “Do you realize we were upstairs when you went crazy on the horn? We thought something was wrong and I almost broke my neck rushing out here.”
The veins on Jude’s neck were bulging and it was obvious just how upset he was, but Steve seemed blithely unaware of how close Jude was to clocking him.
“Harley came back and I just wanted to hurry you guys along,” said Steve in a laconic manner. “No one said Indians were attacking or anything. Geesh. What blew up your skirt, Mary?”
Jude took another step towards Steve and Harley and I had the same thought and both of us stepped forward to diffuse the situation.
“Come on, guys,” I said. “Lets not lose our heads here. Lets stick together and not argue. Agreed?”
Jude sullenly nodded and Steve did as well. In fact Steve seemed a bit chastened and thoughtful.
“All right, fellas, what are we doing standing around? Lets head for town. We’re burning daylight,” said Harley. He began to load his equipment in the back of the vehicle.
“We can’t yet, Harley,” I said. “We’ve got a situation here”
“What situation?”
“Well, first off the Jordan’s are missing and their cars are all here,” I said. “Secondly, the backdoor has been kicked in and almost ripped out of the frame. The electric is out at the house and the landline is dead. Oh yeah, and all the livestock is missing. Did I leave anything out, Jude?”
Jude shook his head no.
“One more thing, Billy. I just tried the radio and there are no stations available,” volunteered Steve. “Not even satellite. You know how the man said no static at all? Well, we got nothing but static.”
“There may be a bad power outage, guys,” said Harley. “Sometimes it takes a long time to fix things in the sticks.”
“A power outage shouldn’t effect satellite, man,” said Jude.
“Maybe solar flares then,” mused Harley. “I have heard they can wreck satellites and the power grid.”
Jude and Harley began to debate the likelihood of a solar storm when I raised my hand to stop them.
“Guys, why the power and radio stations, as well as our cell phones, are out is academic. What I am more concerned with is what happened here and what we should do.”
Everyone took a moment to think about that. Everyone except for Holland who appeared to have fallen asleep in the back seat. Finally Harley jumped in.
“I think we are over thinking this because we were already a little frazzled when we got here. I can think of a bunch of explanations for what you found.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
“Okay. Well, first off the Jordans could be away and someone broke into their house. I know everyone thinks they don’t lock doors down here, but break-ins happen all the time. Houses are isolated and robbers get in and out quickly. Secondly, maybe old man Jordan came home drunk and his old lady locked him out and she called the police. By the time they get here the old man has broken into his own home and they haul him off and she stays with friends. She’s still with friends. Now that’s just two off the top of my head. If I had time I could think of a dozen more.”
He was right on the facts, of course, but I felt like this was the second time today we, as a group, were turning our backs on someone in trouble. I suddenly realized everyone, except Holland, was looking at me waiting for a decision. It had been that way ever since our little group had formed in middle school. I had always felt pretty good about being our, mostly unspoken, leader, but there were days I wished someone else would make a decision for us.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” I began, “we can’t do anymore here I guess, so our next move has got to be to drive into town and find a sheriff, or somebody, to report about killing the bear, pointing a gun at that guy, thanks again, Harley, by the way, and whatever has come down here. We’ll go ahead and push this stuff on up the ladder, wash our hands of it, and get back to civilization”
With that, we began to sort things out. Steve and Jude got into the backseat with the ever drowsy Holland, Harley took shotgun, and I took the drivers seat. I noticed that Harley and Jude still had their rifles out. I started to say something and thought better of it. Jude had seemed to appoint himself my bodyguard and Harley just liked guns. I would remind them once we got to town to disarm, but what did it hurt now? All the doors were shut and I turned the ignition. I half expected the engine would not start, but it roared to life. I took one last look at the Jordan’s home, hoping to see something I had missed before. The wind kicked up and the trees made a soothing rustling noise. With a sigh, I backed the truck down the long driveway, onto the blacktop.
As I shifted into drive, I asked aloud, “What is this little burg even called? Does anyone remember?”
“It’s called Purgatory,” said someone from the backseat.
“Purgatory, eh? Well, that sounds welcoming,” I said. And with that we began down the road. It was only about ten miles. With any luck we would take care of business there and make it home in time for dinner.
As we went down the road the SUV was almost completely in the shade as the trees on either side of the road almost met in the middle to form a tunnel. It was slightly claustrophobia inducing, but it was also very majestic. We were all taking in the scenery, and our own private thoughts, when I noticed Harley’s right hand was roughly bandaged with a rag or something.
“What happened to your paw there, buddy?”
Harley glanced at his hand and shrugged
“Nothing really, just caught it on a piece of barb wire”
“Where did you run into barb wire?” I asked.
Harley did not reply and seemed to sink into a brown study.
“Dude, tell me what happened,” I said with some impatience.
Harley looked over at me.
“You know you’re gonna make someone a fine wife one of these days. Truth is, I kinda drifted towards the ravine after I fell back to try and make contact with the guy we saw.”
“And?” I said encouragingly.
“And nothing. Going down the ravine I thought I saw something move, but as I moved towards it I came across an old barb wire fence covered in bramble. I tried to climb over, but I sliced my hand up and wrapped it in my handkerchief. End of story, full stop.”
He had not been looking at me while he was telling the story, but that was not unusual. Sometimes Harley seemed in his own head.
“Well at the very least we should find an urgent care place or something for you when we get to town. At least you should have a tetanus shot. You never know about things like this. Ignore it and it could turn into something worse.”
“I suppose,” he said, “but I’ve had a tetanus shot in the last year so I think it’ll wait for now”
“Did you ever catch sight of him?” I asked.
“Sight of who?”
“The guy in his PJs,” I said. “Remember, that’s who you went looking for even though we agreed not to do that.”
“Oh him,” muttered Harley. “Nope, didn’t see him.”
He turned to face the road and I decided to do the same, especially since I was driving. I looked at the speedometer and was surprised to see we were speeding along at 65 mph.
I backed off the accelerator and fiddled with the radio. There was still nothing, but static.
“Would you quit fooling with that and just hit the seek button?” said one of the back seat passengers.
That seemed like an intelligent thought and so I tried it. The radio went from one end of the spectrum to the other without stopping.
“There, happy?” I asked. “All the locals stations are down and being in these hills doesn’t help any. But it didn’t seem to be an issue on the way in.”
Everything that had happened today was gnawing at me. We had had a long day, but it all seemed a bit unreal. I felt like a mouse in a maze. I wasn’t in control of the situation. After a couple of miles in silence the county road we were on came to a dead end against a state route. Left was heading for home, half a day away, and it was mighty tempting, while a right turn would lead us into Purgatory where we could contact the proper authorities. Before another debate broke out, I did a rolling stop and hung a right towards the town.
It occurred to me that we had yet to encounter another car. I thought church would be out by now and we should have run into somebody. I started to remark something to that effect to Harley, but he was staring out the side window deep in thought. I decided to leave him to his reverie. I turned to the back seat riders instead.
“Does it seem pretty dead out here to anyone else?”
To my surprise Harley roused himself. “It’s Sunday and folks don’t just pop in to church for 15 minutes. They have real fire and brimstone services that go on for a while. You’re in God’s country man. These people down here are proper God fearing folk and not heathens like we are.”
“I suppose so,” I said. “And for that matter I don’t remember a parade of cars on the way in.”
I was still skeptical when I heard Jude shout, “Billy! Look out!”
We were still traveling through an area that was wooded and I looked up in time to see that a figure had come staggering out of the trees onto the highway. I hit the brakes and swerved hard to the left. I felt the SUV begin to skid sideways and the vehicle was lifting onto two tires. Not wanting the truck to flip, I eased it back to the right and narrowly missed the man that had tottered into our way. Looking in the rearview mirror I saw a figure in jeans and a flannel shirt. His longish brown hair was uncombed and looked like a fright wig. He was doing a shuffle similar to the one I had noticed the guy in the night shirt doing. Was everybody down here a drunk, a half wit, or both?
“Gentlemen, I think we have just seen a demonstration of why cousins are not legally permitted to marry,” said Steve with a smirk.
Harley and Jude both laughed. I was still kinda shook up and I wasn’t certain Holland had even woken up. I tried to crack a smile, but my head was throbbing and I wanted to just lay down somewhere and maybe have a bite to eat. However, my spidey sense told me that something was up and that I should keep my wits about me.
The figure was fading rapidly in the rear view. I didn’t feel like checking to see if he was all right and nobody else suggested it either. We resumed a companionable silence as the wheels devoured the road. The woods began to thin out as we went along and the country became more open, but no less mountainous. I was expecting to be wheeling into the town within ten minutes or so when I heard Holland say, “Pull over. Billy, pull over here, man.”
He accentuated his request with a bony finger pointing to a small building off the highway. There was sign out front that read “Bait Shop”. I was thinking that they must have a huge marketing budget to have come up with that one. Of course, there didn’t seem to be any competitors around, so maybe they were doing business.
I eased off into the small gravel parking lot in front of the store. As we came to a stop, the truck skidded a little in the loose stone.
“Okay, why are we stopping here?” I asked. “My bait needs have been met for the month. Does anybody need a pocketful of wax worms?”
“Very funny,” said Holland. “Look at the window.”
A quick glance showed that the bait shop sold not only live bait, but also soda, snacks, and sandwiches. My stomach growled at the thought of food and my mouth watered in a Pavlovian response to the idea of eating.
“I’m hungry too, guys, but do we really want a sandwich from the guy who sells live leeches?” I asked.
“Come on, Billy,” said Jude, as the backseat emptied. “I just want some Slim Jims and some chips. Besides, maybe someone here can tell us what happened to the power and cell signals.”
That made sense and when Harley began to get out too I decided to join the gang and not get left behind. I could use a cold can of pop anyway.
As we got out, I noticed this place looked deserted too. There were no cars in the lot and a neon sign in the window was unlit. The shop was built upon the lines of a small shack. The wood siding had been painted red once upon a time, but it was faded and patchy now. There were steps leading up to a small deck with two lawns chairs sitting beside an old metal cooler. The front entrance was next to the chairs. There was a screen door on the outside and I could see that the inside door was open.
Steve looked over at me and grinned, “First ones here. First ones here.”
“All right,” I said. “You all wanted to stop so lets get your precious snacks. Maybe there’s a working phone here.”
I started to climb the steps and I noticed the guys were all yawning and stretching like we had been in the SUV for an hour instead of ten minutes. I was a little sore too, but a cold root beer sounded really good to me so I reached the top of the steps first. I pulled open the screen door.
“Anybody home?” I asked sticking my head inside the shop.
I received no reply, but I walked in. The rest of the guys piled in behind me and began to fan out. The place looked deserted. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the gloom inside. Evidently the power was out here as well. I was wondering if I was ever going to see a working light bulb again. Edison was probably turning over in his grave.
To the left of the entrance was a counter with a cash register sitting on it. There was a take a penny/leave a penny bowl next to that with a display of smokeless tobacco products on the end. Directly next to the counter was a coffin case freezer unit with a cinder block holding the lid shut tight, with a wall mounted fire extinguisher next to it. . The back of the store had several refrigeration units with pop and deli products, but since the power was out I did not want to think of what they smelled like if opened. To the right were several aisles with shelves. The bait shop was evidently the country equivalent of a small convenience store in these parts, as I saw items like aspirin, tape, magazines, etc., in addition to the snacks that had lured us in.
I noticed Harley was greedily eyeing the pork rinds and that Jude was checking out the phone on the wall. I was wondering if we should take what we needed and leave the money on the counter when I heard Steve’s incredulous voice.
“What the what?”
My eyes were drawn to the rear of the bait shop. My eyes had adjusted to the gloom, but the back of the shop was draped in deeper shadow. I took a step towards where Steve was pointing and saw the outline of the figure of a man leaning over what I took to be a live bait cooler. The figure stiffened as if he had just realized we were present and slowly turned. As he wheeled to face us he stepped out of the shadows with a lurch. I felt my gorge rise and I nearly threw up.
The guy was eating the bait. He had a mouth full of wriggling worms. His face was ashen and his nose looked as if it had been partially chewed off. He pointed at us with one hand and he opened his mouth and let out a kind of a growl. As he did so some of the live worms slithered out of his mouth onto his shirt and then onto the floor. He growled again, or was it a moan? He was reaching out with both hands and they looked so gnarled that they appeared to be talons.
“Mother of Mercy,” I heard Jude croak. “What in the world is going on?”
I was frozen somewhere between shock and nausea. The figure was about twenty feet fr
om us and he began to take unsteady steps towards us, gaining speed as he covered the distance.
Holland was nearest and as the man approached Holland stuck a hand out as if to ward the man off.
“Buddy, buddy,” Holland said in a soothing voice that did not sound frightened to me. “We’re not gonna hurt you.”
Holland was slowly backing up, but ran out of room as he backed into the counter. The man kept coming on with that low animalistic growl and finally he half sprang, half lurched onto Holland. They crashed to the ground and before any of us could gather our wits Holland began screaming in pain.
Chapter Eight
Holland continued to scream as we watched in horror. They seemed to be wrestling when Holland bellowed in pain, “He’s freakin’ biting me! Help, guys! Help!”
I saw a blur go by me on the left. It was Jude. As Holland continued screaming, Jude grabbed the man by the shoulders and tried to throw him off of Holland, but the guy had a death grip on the writhing Holland and would not let go. The screams reached a fevered pitch and I saw a puddle of blood begin to flow from the tangle of bodies.
By this time Harley had roused himself to action. Holland had quit screaming and was now voicing a low moan. Jude continued to attempt to wrestle the guy off our friend, when the crazed figure turned and snapped his teeth at Jude. I could see that his face was ghostlike with dead looking, filmy eyes. His hands and arms were covered in blood. I was certain it was Holland’s blood. Jude jumped back and I admit I took a step back as well. I heard the screen door slam shut and I did not need to turn around to know that Steve had just split. I noticed next to the cash register there was a baseball bat. It was next to a sign that read no credit. I jumped the counter to get at it. It was an old wooden bat with duct tape around the handle. The weight felt good in my hands and I turned back towards the skirmish.
With the guy’s attention on Jude, I saw that Harley had managed to get around behind him. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall and took a step towards the attacker.
Zombie Civilization: Genesis (Zombie Civilization Saga) Page 4
