“I was out of my mind scared, but thank God for Henry. He kept his head somehow and we tried to find a way out of town. We kept running into abandoned vehicles that blocked the road. Henry tried to go around through a yard once and we almost got stuck. It had been raining a lot and the ground was very soft. If we had gotten stuck we wouldn’t be here now. It seemed like every time we stopped for more than a minute we saw more of those monsters. We saw houses under attack and heard shots ring out several times, but we never saw anyone normal. We were getting low on gas and it seemed we were trapped so Henry thought our best and safest plan was to head back to our house and lie low until the police or the army showed up. Henry and me are both good with a gun and we thought we could protect ourselves.
“We made it back here the last few blocks without any of those things seeing us. Henry fell down the stairs in the dark that night and he’s been laid up ever since. I’m not a nurse, but I set it the best I could, like I told ya. The fever came on him a few days later and he has not been himself since. We’ve been living on dry goods and my home canned food. I have never been so sick of green beans in my life. Anyway, we might’ve made another attempt to get out if it wasn’t for Henry’s condition. And even so, where could we go? It’s been weeks and we’re still waiting on help. Boys, I think the whole world has gone mad.”
“It’s a reckoning,” said Henry. This time it was a low croak and his wife did not scold him.
“You mean to tell me you’ve been hiding here for three weeks and not done anything?” I asked. “How do you know if there’s even still danger?”
“Still danger?” She said with a bitter laugh. “How long ago was your friend killed? How long ago did he come back to life a monster?”
“I didn’t mean that,” I said with embarrassment. “I just meant, you don’t even know what’s right around the corner.”
She looked at me with contempt.
“I know more than you think. I’ve watched out these windows,” she said waving her hands in the air. “And I’ve seen more than a more merciful God would have shown me. These monsters are hunting the living for food.”
Chapter Twelve
I heard Harley snort.
“Look I’ve seen some crazy things today, some things I can’t explain, but I ain’t seen anyone eat anyone else,” said Harley.
Steve nodded dully in agreement and I thought maybe the woman was a bit touched.
“You haven’t seen it because you ran and because you were lucky. That monster in the bait shop would have eaten your friend if he could have, and your friend would have eaten you.”
I had somehow forgotten how out of my mind scared I had been just a an hour or two ago. Being inside this house with family pictures on the wall and a Bible on the end table made the things that had happened outside the house seem unreal.
“Anyway, boys,” she said in a softer voice. “I’ve seen things you haven’t. Since we have been here I have watched these monsters attack and kill friends and neighbors from the windows of this very house. I have seen neighbors killed and eaten and I have seen other neighbors doing the killing.”
The stark statement from her, said with such simple sincerity, made me believe for the first time. I felt like I might be sick again.
“It must have been just an hour after Henry’s fall that I heard the first screams. Our neighbors across the street were hammering. I think they were boarding up the house and the noise must have brought out these things. They attacked the house. I couldn’t count how many there were. Just too many. I heard shots ring out from inside the house and then I saw three of my closest friends come running out through the garage. The monsters were on them in seconds and they ate them as I watched.
“Just when I thought it was over, the neighbors next to them started firing guns. They took out some of the monsters, but the noise just attracted more and the house was overrun.”
“Why didn’t you help?” I asked.
“What could I do except bring them down on Henry and me?” she said, turning on me savagely. “They should have been smarter and kept quiet like us. We have kept all the doors and windows locked and we have made it. They come out at night mostly unless something like noise activates them. They disappear generally during the day. I’ve learned one thing from watching the attacks. It looks like only a head shot kills them. That’s why you’re alive. You hit that monster you came across in the head.”
“Where did all these monsters come from?” I asked. “Do you have any idea?”
Again she looked at me with withering contempt.
“Have you still not figured it out? The night of the solar flares most ordinary men and women turned into undead monsters. Ever since they have been feeding on the living. Pretty soon all that will be left are the monsters. Maybe they’ll starve then and the Earth will begin anew.”
I thought I was past being stunned, but I wasn’t. The lady’s words seemed to make sense, but something in the back of my mind said it was insane. I was horrified at what the woman had said, Harley seemed skeptical and what Steve was thinking was not apparent.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s say everything you say you’ve seen has really happened. Why didn’t we change? Why didn’t you and your husband change? Why were two of your closest neighbors spared?”
“I’ve wondered that myself,” she said with a long sigh. “Why was this little cluster of houses saved when it seems like almost the whole town changed over? I don’t know why, but I can tell you this. At night I have seen hundreds upon hundreds of those things wandering the streets. I thought maybe Henry and me were the last living souls in this town, maybe even the state. Seeing you makes me wonder if there aren’t more survivors somewhere.”
Harley was still stone faced, but Steve seemed about to explode from some emotion he was attempting to tamp down. A battle he seemed to be losing.
“But how have you survived among so many of these monsters?” I asked softly.
“We have just kept quiet like I said,” she answered. “They don’t seem to move around a lot during the day unless something disturbs them. They seem to need something to activate like noise or movement. At night it’s a different story. They appear to be nocturnal and they search for food in packs, but once again you’re safe if you stay put and keep down. It is terrifying at night. I watch from the upstairs window as they shuffle by. So far they haven’t bothered us although they have been right on our doorstep several times. Boys, you don’t know terror until you hear a pack of fiends on your porch lurching around. I have watched them through the peephole. I don’t want to ever get any closer again.”
“Okay, I get that it’s worked so far, but that also means you’re stuck,” said Harley. “What are your plans when you run out of food?”
“My only plan so far has been to survive and to save my husband. I don’t care about anything else. My world for now ends at that front door. And besides, boys, I think the whole world went sideways three weeks ago. I don’t think there’s anywhere left to go to that’s better than here.”
The conveying of all she had seen had exhausted the woman and she was breathing heavily with her head bowed. With a quick intake of breath she met my eyes with something like sorrow.
“You boys better be on your way,” she said. “I can’t do anything else for you. It’ll be dark soon and you do not want to be caught in the open after dark.”
Steve started to head towards the door while Harley merely stood.
“Ma’am, we can’t leave you here. Maybe you better come with us,” I said. “We’ll protect you.”
She barked a bitter laugh.
“You protect me? How are you gonna do that? You’re just kids!”
I felt my face flush and noticed Steve was grinning.
“I’m almost twenty,” I said with some dignity. “I’m a man.”
“Maybe so,” she said softly. “But Henry can’t be moved and I won’t leave without him.”
I was trying to decide if she was
as crazy as her husband when a car horn went off outside on the street. It was one long steady blare.
Harley looked over at me and said, “That’s Jude. He’s in trouble.”
“My God is he trying to bring them down on us?” screeched the woman. “Every fiend in earshot will be all over us if he doesn’t stop. I knew you were going to bring them down on us. I knew it!”
“Ma’am, he’s probably just nervous that we’re taking so long in here,” I said with a grimace. “I’ll get him to stop.”
The words were barely out of my mouth when there came a thunderous crash against the door.
“Oh, my God, they’ve found us,” the woman said in an icy voice of terror.
The horn continued and then a shot rang out. Henry began screaming about a reckoning again. The woman moved towards Henry, trying to quiet him, but it was no use as he continued raving. I could not tell how many things were pounding on the door, but it sounded as though they would be through it any second. I saw figures appear at the window and they too began pounding. One pane broke and I saw a grotesque hand and arm snake through the blinds tearing at the slats.
“Ma’am,” I shouted. “The back door. We have to go now!”
“The back door is right through the kitchen,” she said calmly. “Save yourself. I won’t leave Henry.”
“We have to go now! Right now,” I ordered.
I looked around and Harley had assumed a stance directly in front of the door. Steve was nowhere to be seen.
“Harley, where’s Steve?” I shouted.
As he turned to answer, the dam broke. Two of the front windows burst and the creatures began pouring through. They were among us. The woman had taken her place next to her husband and was standing guard by him with a revolver in her hand. They lurched towards her and she opened fire. She got two in the head in her first flurry of shots and she took a step back and fired again. They were backing her into a corner and I aimed my gun and fired. I saw the head of one of them literally explode like a rotten pumpkin.
Just as it seemed we may have time to clear the room, the door caved in. I now found my escape route blocked and fired wildly towards the new group. They were a mixture of men and women creatures, with ravenous hunger in their eyes. The woman screamed and I saw her go down under a crush of snapping teeth and clawing hands. Her screams rebounded off the walls as I continued to fire. I heard Harley open up and saw that he was now in front of the kitchen door through which our escape route ran. Harley had a revolver in one hand and a shotgun in the other, firing each in turn calmly and with devastating effect. For a moment we had cleared the room. At least a dozen creatures littered the floor in various states of dismemberment. The woman was dead and Henry was moaning in his bed still strapped down. Harley managed to wedge the door shut again. I saw a new army coming up the steps just as he shut the door and braced his body against it.
“This can’t hold, Billy,” he bellowed. “See if the back way is clear and I’ll hold the fort here for a minute.”
“What about the old man? They’ll kill him.”
“And if we stay we’re all dead. I hate to say it man, but these creatures are looking for a meal and he’s it. It’s thunderdome, Billy. We have to survive to save the world, hero.”
The thuds on the door were increasing and I knew Harley was right, but I felt bitter tears upon my cheeks at the knowledge. I raced through the kitchen and found the back door was already open. Of course, that must have been where Steve went in all the chaos. I stepped out into the fading light on the small deck and saw no one. I heard Harley bellow and then a succession of shots rang out. Just as I was prepared to charge back in, Harley burst through the door to join me in the back yard. He was sweating profusely, but he had a big grin on his face.
“Let’s hit it,” he said. “Man, Tour of Duty has got nothing on this.”
I grimaced at him in return and slapped him on the back.
“Come on, man,” I said. “Let’s mount up. We aren’t out of this yet.”
We heard gun shots ring out from around the side of the house. This was the only path back to the SUV and we took off in unison around the corner of the house. In the side yard we found Steve battling three creatures. One lay motionless at his feet and his shirt was untucked and flapping in the wind. I could hear him screaming “Oh, no…Oh, no” repeatedly. He was emptying his rifle into one of the creatures. The slugs hit the man directly in the chest. The creature fell back with each impact, but continued his snarling attack on Steve. Steve appeared to be in a complete panic and Harley and I opened fire just as it looked as though he would have been snowed under. I shot the one Steve was battling in the head and he went down in a heap of black blood and torn tissue. Harley calmly blasted the other two with his shotgun. He pumped another shell into the firing chamber with one hand and gave Steve a withering look.
“Hit ‘em in the head, amigo. Didn’t you hear the lady?”
I could tell Steve was in a state of near shock, and I grabbed him by the arm and ran though the grass into the front yard. Harley brought up the rear and a glance back at him showed Harley had an eye peeled for pursuers behind us. I prayed that we would not be caught between the frying pan and the fire. There was more ammo in the SUV, but we couldn’t fight forever on what we carried. So far, so good.
“We’ve got to get to the truck, guys. Come on,” I said. “Let’s move before we’re cut off.”
We all began running through the moist grass of the yard and all spilled out into the front lawn of the house where it had all began. The creatures were still streaming into the house. I could hear no screams from that direction, so I prayed that Henry went quick and felt renewed shame at the way we left him as bait for our attackers. So intent were they upon feeding on the corpses in the house the creatures did not notice us at first, but we noticed something right away. Jude was gone, and so was the truck.
Chapter Thirteen
“I’ll kill him,” said Steve. “I swear by all that is holy, I will kill him if I ever catch up to him.”
I would not have believed that Jude would abandon us, but he was gone.
Harley was calm and began reloading from shells in his jacket pockets. I heard the firm clunk each time he jammed in another. Steve, taking his cue from Harley, did the same. His hands were shaking. Whether it was from rage or fear I could not tell. I was still reeling from the shock of the missing vehicle. I looked in front of me and noticed the lengthening shadow from a streetlight pole. Darkness was coming and I doubted we would be alive to see the break of day tomorrow.
Looking to my right in the fading light I received more bad news. One of the creatures on the porch had finally noticed the group and was shuffling down the steps toward us. His movement caused several others to look and a chain reaction began. Instead of fighting the pack at the kill inside the house, the still hungry monsters began to advance upon us.
“Let’s move, guys,” I shouted, and no one had to hear it twice. We took off at something faster than a trot, but less than full speed. Instinctively we ran right down the middle of the pavement so as to avoid any creatures hiding near cars. Harley was leading with Steve at his shoulder and I was bringing up the rear. If Harley knew where we were going, he did not share it and I followed grimly behind, glancing over my shoulder every couple of seconds to gauge the pursuit. The group behind us appeared to be growing as creatures began to emerge from shadows as the sun was setting.
Harley grunted something and it caused me to look up. The street ahead of us on the next block was filling with shuffling forms.
“We’re cut off,” he yelled, and we ground to a halt.
The group behind us was closer than the group ahead so we needed a quick decision.
“Let’s fight it out here, Billy,” said Harley. “We have enough ammo to wipe out both these groups if we keep our heads and don’t waste shots.”
Just as he said that, Steve squeezed off a round with no apparent result.
I grabbed the ba
rrel of his gun and pushed it down.
“You’re just wasting it. We may have enough bullets now, but I get the feeling every shot fired brings two more of those things. It’s time to get off the road and under some cover. Follow me.”
With that, I sprang towards the side yard of a house and jumped a low fence. I could hear Harley and Steve behind me. Running through a backyard, we came to a chain link fence and jumped that also. I saw a beware of owner sign and smothered a laugh. We continued over to the next cross street and again into another back yard with a swing set and pool. I could smell the water. It had turned brackish and it reeked. We had seen no new enemies, and the ones we left behind were nowhere in sight.
All three of us were perspiring and out of breath. Whether this was from actual exhaustion or the tension and terror, I could not tell. For myself I didn’t care where it came from, I just needed a blow. The backyard we were standing in had an old tool shed and I motioned silently for the others to follow me and we hid in the dark shadow of the shed and prayed it shielded us from ravenous eyes. Steve dropped to one knee and Harley stayed on his feet gazing across the yard, and the adjoining yards and houses, alert for the creatures. I leaned against the shed and tried to think of a plan that would find us alive in the morning. I felt sick to my stomach again, but I had already emptied my insides today, so nothing came of it. I suddenly realized how hungry I was. I felt the rough siding of the shed on my hand. I almost got a splinter from the wood as I ran my hand over it and nearly yelped in pain. Harley glanced at me because of my quick jerk, but Steve was fiddling around with his shirtsleeve and didn’t seem to notice at all.
“What are we going to do now, Billy?” asked Steve, standing up. “We can’t run all night.”
“I know, I know,” I replied. “Just give me a minute to think, okay?”
Zombie Civilization: Genesis (Zombie Civilization Saga) Page 7
