Respect for the Dead (Surviving the Dead Book 1)

by Shawn McLain

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  Devin screamed, yanked the wheel and smashed the breaks as hard as he could. Bodies flew forward, slamming hard into each other in the back of the truck. Beth’s head slammed into the dash. Even standing on the breaks Devin couldn’t stop in time and the little car was smashed. Stars swam before Beth’s eyes and a warm trick of blood seeped over her forehead from just under her hair. Several people groaned from the back. “Is everyone ok?” Devin asked rubbing his own forehead. He reached over and inspected Beth’s injury.

  “I’m ok. Better than them, I bet.” Beth said pointed at the wreck of the little red convertible. Devin looked stricken. Beth knew he was thinking he had just killed a fellow survivor. “We should check…” Beth began, placing a hand on Devin’s arm.

  “Look!” Matt pointed from between them.

  To everyone’s amazement the hard top of the convertible was thrown off and three people clamored out. A blonde middle age woman wearing a red fancy dress ran as fast as she could in high heels toward the truck. A second woman with dark hair was helping a younger man out of the wreck. They followed, although much slower, as the man appeared injured.

  The blonde was already pounding on Devin’s door. The other two had barely made it half the distance to the truck. The woman helping the injured man was also dressed in evening clothes. She appeared to be of Asian descent. The man was in his twenties; he was also dressed nicely but looked more like a waiter than a party attendee.

  The blonde never looked back at the other two as she continued to pound on the door. Devin was trying frantically to get her to go around to the back door.

  “Are they alive? They’re not zombies are they?” Trevor asked, terrified from behind Beth.

  “No they appear to be ok. Well hurt from the crash, but alive.” Beth announced.

  Hector jumped up and opened the back door. He quickly surveyed the street. There were several zombies closing in. He ran around the side of the truck yelling for the crash victims. The blonde pushed past him throwing herself into the back of the truck. She landed painfully on Matt’s legs. Without any apology she sat up and pressed herself against the wall screaming, “Go, let’s get out of here.”

  “Your friends aren’t in yet.” Devin shouted from the front.

  “Come on!” Hector encouraged glancing back at the approaching undead.

  When the two had reached the side of the truck Hector ran and grabbed the injured man. The woman hurried around the corner. She was helped in by Martin. Gillian jumped out to help Hector. The man groaned as they piled him into the back. The doors slammed, “Alright Devin get us the hell out of here!” Hector yelled.

  Throwing the truck into reverse Devin floored it. Three loud thumps echoed through the back as the truck slammed into the advanced group of zombies. Clearing the wreck, Devin put the truck into drive and sped from the scene. The woman in red was taking deep angry breaths, her hair covering her face. The other woman was thanking Hector and Devin.

  “Oh shut up Linda! If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have needed their help. Did you forget they hit US!” The blonde glared from her companion to the others in the truck. Beth was shocked at her hostility.

  “Settle down Stancy. We are safer in this than in your little sports car.” Linda explained exasperated.

  “You got that right! Nice driving by the way.” Stancy spat out.

  “Hey! Enough with the yelling! Who the hell are you people?” Hector demanded. Stancy spared him a sneer before ignoring him to stare out the front window.

  “Sorry about her, my name is Linda Vu. This is Seth Carpenter, and that lovely even tempered woman is Stancy Greene.”

  “Were any of you bitten, or scratched by any of them?” Hector asked. His hand on the hilt of his sidearm.

  “No, no one was bitten or anything. Seth was hurt in the crash.” Linda spoke uneasily, her eyes on Hector’s hand. Seth moaned from the floor of the truck as it hit a bump.

  “Oh suck it up.” Stancy grumbled.

  Gillian gave her a look of loathing as she tried to determine the extent of Seth’s injuries. “He’s banged up pretty good.” She explained to Hector. “This bumpy ride isn’t going to do him any good. I can feel several broken ribs.”

  “Devin, we’re gonna need a place to hold up.” Hector leaned over Beth to explain. He looked over at Beth’s bloody face. “You ok kid?”

  She gave him a weak reassuring smile. “Yeah just a knock on the head. Glad we picked up such charming company for it.”

  Stancy snorted, “We were doing fine until you smashed into us.”

  “We were smashed in there like sardines! Seth was crammed on top of me, we were not fine.” Linda shouted.

  “No one asked him to come along!”

  “He would have been killed if we didn’t bring him.”

  Stancy raised herself slightly and pointed at Linda. She looked as if she were a gathering storm about to release a tirade to fill the entire truck.

  “That is enough! I will stop this truck and take you right back to your car and leave you there!” Devin shouted from the front. He looked over to see Beth desperately trying to stifle a laugh.

  “Damn! Sounded just like my dad on Vacation.” Matt said from the back, a note of aw in his voice.

  That was all Beth needed. The giggle fit broke over her. Her laughter was joined by Matt and Gillian. Hector shook his head smiling. Devin wore an amused look as he slowed the truck, trying to ease the bumpy ride for the injured man. Stancy glared murderously around at her new companions. Seth groaned, Gillian returned to his aid. Beth got herself under control but kept looking over at Devin amused.

  Martin watched both women, who were staring daggers at each other. “So what is your story?” He asked waving his hands to note the evening dresses the two women were wearing.

  “We were at a dinner party…” Linda began but Stancy cut her off.

  My brilliant husband,” she started sarcastically, “decided to raise everyone’s spirits by throwing an, everything is going to be alright, party. The idiot, like he had a clue.” She wore an ugly expression. “So we set up this expensive ass party and invite all of his clients and golf club friends, oh what fun.”

  “You seem to enjoy yourself just fine.” Linda cut in, giving a significant nod to Seth.

  “Huh! He didn’t last long enough for me to enjoy myself.” Stancy sneered.

  “What?...Ohhhhhh. Hey you said your husband had the party. You mean you were..” Matt began quickly catching on.

  “Oh please like he ever noticed or cared.”

  “Well it was lucky you were in the back yard screwing Seth when the zombies came in the front door. He probably saved you life!” Linda angrily threw at Stancy.

  Seth moaned a little and held his stomach. “Devin we really need to find a place. This guy is in really bad shape.” Gillian called.

  “So you were having a party when the zombies broke in?” Matt asked.

  “Yeah, but they didn’t really break in.” Linda began. She took a deep steadying breath. “We were in the living room, by the front door when we heard a knocking. Ray just opened the door and they were on him. Biting and there were so many of them.”

  “Well that was just like the idiot, I’m sure he was thinking the more the merrier. Just let the bastards in. If he had been more intelligent he would have known better. So there we were with zombies killing everyone at the party. Serious downer.” Stancy said with a harsh laugh. Seth gave another moan as Devin took a sharp turn to avoid another wrecked car.

  “Well I ran out of the house into the back yard as these two are finishing up,” Linda motioned between Seth and Stancy, “I tell them what is going on and we ran for my car. Trouble was it was only a two-seater. Stancy took my keys and Seth jumped in on top of me.”

  Seth coughed, blood appeared on his lips. “Damn it, this guy definitely has internal injuries.” Gillian called out. “Devin if you see an ambulance or maybe go by my office…” She started, Seth grabbed her h
and and gave a groan then slumped onto the floor.

  “Oh Shit.” Matt breathed and began pushing himself as far from Seth as he could. Gillian began checking for a pulse. Beth pulled her gun and nodded at Hector who was also getting ready.

  “Oh what the hell?" He just pissed all over the floor.” Stancy cried trying to get away from the liquid.

  “He’s gone.” Gillian stated in a fear laden voice edging away from the corpse. Linda stared down at Seth’s lifeless body.

  “He’s gotta go. He’s gotta go, gotta go now.” Matt began panicking.

  “What? We can’t…” But what they couldn’t do never was spoken as Linda’s argument was silenced by Seth sitting up and ripping into her arm. Stancy’s screams filled the truck. She pushed Matt toward Seth as she tried to crawl over him to get as far away as possible. Linda was screaming in pain a terror, Seth was happily chewing, her arm still clutched in his hands. Hector tried to pull him from her. Martin was punching Seth repeatedly in the face, Trevor was cowering in fear against the passenger door, curling up as tight as he could.

  “Max! Open the door!” Beth shouted pulling her gun aiming it at Seth. Max turned to see the door handle and grabbed it. He threw the back doors open and Devin hit the accelerator. Hector wrenched Seth away from Linda and Beth fired. The corpse jaw exploded sending broken teeth and jaw clattering against the metal shell of the truck.

  Linda screams increased, a tooth sticking out of her face. Seth’s hand grabbed her hair and pulled her toward his useless shattered mouth. She fought to get away but Seth grip was too tight. Beth fired again, the sound reverberated around the truck. Devin was dazed and swerved trying to clear his vision. Beth blinked the pain away her ears ringing. Seth’s corpse swayed and fell backward out of the truck. Martin grabbed at Linda’s hand but she was pulled out with the corpse. Her screams ended as she hit the pavement with a sickening crunch. She rolled for several feet. Hector joined Max and together they pulled the doors shut.

  With the doors finally closed Max flung himself against the wall breathing as if he had run a mile. Beth sat on her knees in the front facing toward the back of the truck. Her gun still at eye level, she shuddered turned around and let the gun fall to her lap. She opened and closed her mouth several times trying to clear her ears. Hector handed her a bottle of water and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Beth took a drink and closed her eyes.

  “Great now the floor is piss and blood covered.” Stancy whined.

  “Then why don’t you clean it up?” Beth yelled from the front. She threw the water bottle into Stancy’s lap.

  Stancy began to say something but quailed under Hector’s glare. She settled for mumbling something about “think your something cause you have a gun little girl.”

  Sounds of the Morning

  Wes and Steve listened hard, there was a loud smash. “Damn they hit something.” Wes moaned. Several moments passed. Steve and Wes listened hard. “Nothing!" No gunfire, nothing. They’ve had it.” He groaned.

  “Wait!” Steve held up a hand. Wes listened. The truck’s engine could be heard accelerating. The two men smiled at each other. Both thinking the same thing, “There are others out there, Beth could be ok.”

  The moment ended with the reverberating crash of a trash can being knocked over. The man at the top of the stairs tensed and raised his weapon. Steve and Wes followed suit. The three swept the area back and forth trying to locate the source of the sound. “Psst.” The bald man pointed at his eyes then to the bus to the boy’s left. Wes spotted a shadow moving under the vehicle.

  Being the smallest, Wes quickly and quietly edged down the stairs. He cautiously approached the bus. Steve made a sound behind him. Wes turned to Steve cautioning him not to get too close. He waved back that he understood.

  Readying his weapon Wes crouched down and peered under. He could see two legs slowly dragging along the side of the bus. It was heading for the gap and the entrance to the makeshift courtyard. He followed the legs with his gun. Steve spied the head of the zombie through the school bus windows. It was a man with dark messed up hair. He seemed to know where he was going and the bus was unexpected barrier. The zombie kept bumping into the side and bouncing off to stumble several feet then bump into the bus again.

  Wes moved to the front tire ready to take the undead creature down. Steve spotted in his scope to the gap in the busses, the other man glancing over but keeping watch over the rest of the compound. The zombie appeared in the gap. He did not appear to be injured in any way, but was definitely one of the walking dead. The creature bounced off the front of the bus. It stumbled forward for a pace or two, then paused. Steve’s finger tensed on the trigger. The ghoul looked around. It sniffed at the air, groaned slightly, then continued past the gap. Steve followed its progress through the next buses windows until he lost sight of it.

  Wes came hurrying back up the stairs. “Why did it keep going. I swear that it could tell we were here. Not that I’m complaining mind.”

  “I’ve seen a few of em do that.” The sentry stated.

  “Do you want a break?” Steve asked the man.

  “Thank you no. I just got on point recently”

  “Former military.” Steve whispered to Wes, “good person to have.”

  “I wouldn’t say no to a coffee though.” The man commented as Steve and Wes turned to re-enter the church.

  “Black?”

  “Yes please”

  Wes nodded and went through the door. Steve took a moment to look up at the bright blue sky. He said a quick prayer for his father, and one for his missing sister.

  Searching

  Disgusted, Matt threw the filth and blood soaked empty money bag he had used the clean the floor out door. He couldn’t help but laugh as it smacked into the face of a zombie wandering down the road. The surfaces were clean but the smell lingered. Stancy had refused to help out in any way so Matt ended up doing what he could. Shaking his hands and rubbing them on his jeans he shuddered. Hector pulled the door closed. The sound told Devin he could speed up a bit.

  The mid-morning sun was already high in the sky. Devin had already tried several routes out of town only to find all of them blocked. He was aware of the increasing grumbling from the back. Beth had volunteered to give up the front seat to someone else, suggesting they take it in turns. Gillian was now seated in there with Beth now crammed in the back with the others. She did her best to keep upbeat. Devin and Gillian put on a brave face but Matt seemed to be the only one truly positive.

  At each blocked road, zombie packed route, or flaming debris Matt would just sigh and say, “Well that was obviously not the way to go.”

  After the third time they turned around heading back toward the dead city Stancy had had enough. “Oh shut up, what are you? One of the God opens a window type?” She demanded.

  “No!” Matt shouted back, his façade failing. “I just don’t see the need to be negative all the time! Like you.” From there it started to spiral out of control until Hector put a stop to it. In the tense silence that followed Beth grudgingly couldn’t help agree with Stancy. Matt’s constant reassurance was kind of annoying. She also agreed with Matt, Stancy’s negativity was doing nothing to help. In the end she decided she would rather have Matt’s overly optimistic view even if it leads to constant disappointment.

  After a while Devin attempted to roll the stress from his shoulders. He flexed his fingers and cracked his neck. He had been driving for hours. He had suggested someone else could drive, but as no one else knew the town as well and no one wanted the truck to actually stop for a driver switch, so Devin remained in the driver’s seat.

  “Ok this is no go. We’ll try to get to the bridge to Tire Hill.” Devin grumbled while putting the truck in reverse. He had tried to push a couple of cars out of their way to get to the open road just beyond a three car pileup. The cars did not budge. He was beginning to feel the frustration from the others as well as the feeling of being trapped.

  “We could try to make it ou
t on foot.” Gillian suggested half heartedly, “Find another vehicle?” This idea was not met with enthusiasm. Devin pulled forward and headed around the block toward another two lane bridge a couple of miles away. This one he hoped was still open. If it was they could finally get out of the city. Where they were going to go he didn’t know he just needed to get out. Needed to be anywhere except this familiar but dead city.

  Glumly Gillian stared out the side window. The side streets slowly slid by. Her mind wandered to her friends and family. Then suddenly something caught her attention as they passed a burnt out car buried in the blackened front of a house. “Stop! Stop!" Go back, back up.” She cried.

  Devin slammed on the breaks and immediately apologized to everyone in the back. Gillian was jumping up and down in her seat. Devin backed the truck up to be even with the side street. Several feet down the alley they saw an ambulance. Its rear doors hung open; a stretcher lay on its side a little way away from the doors. “There might be something we can use in there.” Gillian slapped her hands on the side of the door. Hector and Beth had both pressed their way up front to see what the commotion was about.

  “What do you think? Worth the risk?” Devin asked.

  Beth and Hector looked at each other, “Definitely.” They both confirmed.

  Devin hesitated then eased forward, shifted into reverse swinging the wheel he backed down the side road toward the Ambulance. Matt looked out the small window in the back door, his directions took a few scraps on fences and garages to get the lefts and rights straight. Beth and Hector picked their way to the back doors with Hector taking over the navigating from a grumpy Matt. Beth stood ready bracing herself against the door waiting for Devin to get close enough. Gillian appeared at her side. Her face was anxious but she seemed ready.

  “Max! Come on we need you.” Hector growled, while the police officer tried not to be noticed.