by SJ Morris
I thought of my kids as I lay down, and prayed that I would see them again.
I fell asleep thinking of their smiling faces, running to greet me at the gates of the cabin when we all finally got there.
Chapter 23
The noise didn’t wake me, nor did Kamil.
Rather, it was the smell that jerked me from my slumber.
I looked over at Dana, who was still fast asleep, and Chuck, who was snoring quietly.
I nudged him a little, to make him roll over and stop snoring, because I was worried the smallest noise might attract the infected, making them want to try and get inside.
So far, all I heard were some noises outside of rustling, but I was sure it was about to get worse.
I thought about waking Dana, quietly.
All we needed was for her to wake up, hear them outside, and start screaming.
She had gotten much better at not screaming when it counted, but I couldn’t leave this one to chance, so I woke her, cautiously.
“Dana, wake up, sweetie. You have to be quiet, please. There’s no immediate danger right now, but they’re here.”I whispered as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
“I’m going to wake up Chuck, so he knows too, and then, I’m going to head to the roof with Kamil, to see what’s going on and how bad it is.”
“Okay. I’m heading up with you. What time is it?”Dana whispered, rubbing her eyes.
“It’s just after midnight.”Responded Chuck as he rolled over. He apparently had a Seiko watch, that was straight out of the eighties, with its green luminescence.
He sat up quietly and stretched like it was any other, regular morning.
The three of us grabbed our bags, just in case, and made our way up the stairs.
I opened the door as quietly as I could and the stench that flowed in from the beautiful night sky was undoubtedly the most disgusting, vile, and foul thing I have ever smelled in my entire life.
I thought the first infected I killed was bad, but this, oh my goodness. This was a million times worse.
It was as if someone had drained a lake of its water and all of the fish that lived in it had sat at the bottom of the sticky marsh-mess and rotted in the hot sun. Oh, and while they were rotting, a manure and a garbage truck collided in the dried up lake, and caught fire.
Unfortunately for our assaulted senses, even that explanation doesn’t even remotely do it justice.
The stench made me take a step back, into Dana, and we both dry heaved at the same time. Chuck was further down the stairs still and from what little light the moon was shining down onto his face; I could tell even he was having trouble keeping his dinner down.
It took us a few minutes, but we eventually managed to clear the doorway. We crouched down, even though we were up high because we didn’t want any chance of being seen.
Kamil was at the far corner of the roof, peeking his head over the side. He looked to be concentrating hard, so I made a small noise in the gravel on the roof that would hopefully go unnoticed by the infected below but would catch Kamil’s attention without him jumping up.
“What the hell are you guys doing up here? You’re supposed to be sleeping.”He demanded in less than a whisper.
“Are you kidding? Not even Rip Van Winkle could sleep through the awful stench of these things. So how many are there, do you think?”I asked as I ventured to the edge of the roof and peeked over myself. What I saw was astounding. There was infected shuffling past the feed store building on all sides I looked out down the road and the infected stretched as far as I could see. I was glad it was dark and the moon was only a quarter-full so it wasn’t that bright. I could only imagine the horrors we would see if there was more light.
It seemed what we did to fortify the feed stores vulnerable entryways was working. The infected were just streaming past the building, without stopping to look around. There were a few that were caught in the corners of the building and behind an abandoned car on the side of the road, but they weren’t bunching up so much that they were pushing the car, or toppling over one another.
In fact, for mindless, eating machines, they actually seemed to be rather orderly.
The only conclusion I could draw was that when they didn’t have the incentive of food, they were pretty calm.
What I found most surprising about them, though, was how much noise they didn’t make.
In all of the zombie movies or shows I had ever seen, the monsters are always making that guttural moaning noise, or some form of hissing sounds.
Looking down at the thousands that were walking past us, it was strange to realize that they made almost no noises, except for the shuffling of shoes or bare feet and bumping into things. I was glad we saw the horde coming when we did. If we hadn’t, I was sure we would have walked right up to the mass, without even knowing it and by the time we would have realized our mistake, they would be right in front of us and it would be too late to plan an escape.
These things were proving to be more deadly every time I faced them.
I crouched back, behind the cover of the roof wall.
Dana lay down in Kamil’s arms, with a blanket covering her face and I guessed she went back to sleep.
We did have a very tiring day of bike riding, so she was probably pretty worn out.
Chuck was in awe of what he was watching. He was bright-eyed and I was worried he was going to do something stupid, like stand up and start hooting and hollering.
After all, I didn’t really know the man all that well, it had only been maybe four or five hours since we first met.
Chuck surprised me, though. After looking over the edge of the roof with his mouth opened and his eyes bugging out of his head for a few minutes he simply turned to me.
“Thank you for saving my life. I never wouldhave been ready for this.”He whispered before he leaned his head against the wall, calmly and pulled his shirt over his nose, closing his eyes in a somewhat peaceful manner.
I couldn’t help but think, maybe if we hadn’t headed in his direction, the horde wouldn’t have come here at all and there would be no need to save him.
However, I knew I couldn’t think that way, though; not with the sheer numbers that were shuffling below us.
There was no way all of these infected were here just because of us. They had to be driven by something else to have amassed these numbers, in the same place, going in the same direction. They might’ve been collecting stragglers from each new area they trampled through, for all I knew.
Yet, to my surprise, the reason for the migration patterns of the horde was irrelevant to me at the moment, because they were heading south. My family was north so every infected on the planet could head south, for all I cared.
Except, of course, for the ones in Canada. They should stay right where they were.
Everyone seemed to be dozing off.
Even Kamil’s eyes were getting heavy, with Dana snugly tucked in his arms.
I, on the other hand, was not going to even try to go back to sleep with what was going on around us.
My plan might be working, for now, but I knew that all it took was one infected to figure out there was food inside our building and we were pretty much done for.
There were a few times I had to fight the urge to stand up and unload what was left of my nine-millimeter clips into the crowd of infected or find a bottle of whatever alcohol I knew Chuck had to have hidden somewhere and make a Molotov cocktail to toss into the horde.
After sitting there, watching them slowly walk past us for hours, I became furious I had to let them go.
There was no way for me to exterminate these monsters so I had to let them just keep walking by or the four of us would be joining the crowd.
I found myself missing Chris a lot and hoping desperately that he was still out there, somewhere, alive.
I hoped he was taking care of my kids in my absence and that everyone at the cabin was still safe. I knew Liam and his other jerk-off cronies were dead, so the
y wouldn’t be going afterthe cabin, or my family inside it, but they weren’t the only dangers they faced.
The sun started to come up just as I started to drift off to sleep.
I couldn’t hold off anymore, I was completely exhausted. My ribs hurt, my legs hurt, my back and butt were killing me from the bike, and I had an awful headache.
I assumed the constant, disgusting smell of the infected was the cause of the headache, but aside from that, I was well aware that my body pretty much had it. The last time I peeked over the wall, the horde was starting too thin, so I guess I felt safe enough and finally drifted off to sleep.
I had horrible dreams of the infected learning how to do things they normally couldn’t. They were climbing, busting through windows, and crashing through doors. In my dreams or more accurately, nightmares, they found us and devoured all my new friends right in front of me. Even though they didn’t touch, or even look at me, there was nothing I could do to save Kamil, Dana, and Chuck.
Monsters surrounded me but I felt so alone.
I stood on the roof, crying, as more and more infected poured in and greedily ripped pieces of Kamil, Dana, and Chuck apart, completely gorging themselves.
I blinked through my tears, not being able to wipe them away faster than they were falling. When I was finally able to see, I looked at the infected. I really looked at their faces... and it was my family.
Allycia, Tyler, and Lance were tearing into Kamil. Tom, Chris, and Dan were grabbing handfuls of Dana and shoveling her into their mouths as she screamed out for help. Lastly, all of the children from the daycare we saved were happily snacking on Chuck.
Chuck looked up at me and with his dying breaths said these words;“This is how it’s meant to be. There's no stopping this plague. We did this to ourselves. You couldn’t stop it before and now your punishment is to watch it all happen, Abby.”
I woke up with a rush of breath like I’d been punched in the stomach.
I looked around frantically and I was still on the roof. The sun was reaching high in the sky, so it must have been just before noon and I was alone on the roof.
Alone.
This left me with a sick feeling that my dream was real and I had fallen asleep while the infected came and went, taking my friends with them.
I vomited almost immediately.
Just then, Dana burst through the door, fully intact, running right for me.
It was just a dream.
“Thank you,”I said into the sky.
“Abby, you have to come help, quick! There are some men trying to get into the building. Kamil told me to get you, you have to come now!”
“Slow down and be quiet, if they are trying to get in, they should be right over there.”I pointed towards the back end of the roof.
I grabbed my gun from my pack, that was now covered in vomit, and headed to the back of the roof to see who and how many were now threatening my friends and myself.
I peered over the ledge and there were three men reaching through the already broken glass on the windows, trying to push the shelving that was posted in front out of the way.
Kamil and Dana did a pretty good job securing them, though.
Even after hundreds of infected stomped by, these three huge guys were cursing up a storm, trying to get in.
Two more showed up from around the corner, yelling that the other entrances were blocked off too.
I was paying so much attention to the assholes below that I didn’t hear Chuck come up to the roof.
“Who the hell are you jack-offs and why are you trying to break into my store?”Yelled Chuck with his Colt 45 trained on the biggest one of the group. He motioned with his other hand for Dana and I to stay hidden behind the roof ledge, which we did.
“Good morning, Sir! We thought the old place was abandoned and we might be able to find a place to hang out for the day. We’re sorry for barging in like this, but there are walkers all over the place, so there isn’t much time for formalities. How about you let us in? You by yourself?”
“They ain’t walkers, they crazies, and most of‘em just walked on past late last night, so I reckon there ain't too many more of‘em out there at the moment. You and your men ain’t looking for a place to hang out for the day. You’re looking to steal anything you can get your hands on, aren't cha?”
“Come on now, old timer. You’ve been alone too long now, haven’t you? You are alone, right?”He said again, searching for information.
“I’m just an old man in my old feed store. Who would want to spend time with me?”Chuck said trying to cover for us, not very well, it appeared.
“Sure thing, Pops. You’re just alone and no one would want to hang out with you duringthe end of the world and all, right? You have a safe place to stay, no walkers can get inside, and I bet you have food and water too. But who would want to stay with you?”He said very sarcastically.
Just as I was about to crawl to the other end of the roof, to see if I could climb down and maybe flank these assholes, or get Dana to hide in the woods, at least until they left, I heard a‘click’.
I almost shit my pants as I turned around and was facing a greasy, middle-aged man, with black blood caked all over him, thinning, dirty hair, a grin on his grimy face, and a gun pointed in mine.
“Hey, Samson! I found two pretty girls up here and Joey found a cute black guy inside. I’d say we hit the jackpot!”He yelled over the roof, smiling bigger to show his yellow and brown teeth.
Chuck turned as soon as he heard the guy speak and the gun he was holding to my face was now pointed at Chuck, as the dirty man pulled me up to use me as a shield.
All I could think of was that we had survived last night, with thousands of infected, walking right past us, to die slowly at the hands of these filthy monsters.
I couldn't pinpoint what caused it, exactly, but something inside me snapped. It could have been the dream of my family and friends either being infected or dead. Or, it could’ve been that I was always running from one shitty situation to the next without a break in-between, but one minute, I was locked in this disgusting man's arms, breathing in his awful body odor, and the next, I was stamping my foot down on his instep, slamming my elbow into his ribs, and breaking free from his grasp to then turn and punch him in the throat.
I watched as he fell to the gravel rooftop, clutching his throat and gasping for air.
I quickly grabbed Dana and pushed her towards Chuck, before grabbing my pack.
I pulled out my gun and pointed it at the asshole, flailing on the ground.
There was yelling all around me, but my mind was so clouded with rage, I couldn’t tell who it was coming from.
I walked up to our, would-be captor and put a bullet in his left kneecap. I ran past a stunned Chuck, to the edge of the roof, to find that the other men had disappeared.
I guessed that their friend’s screams made them run for cover.
I just hoped cover wasn’t inside the store since that would be our easiest place to defend against these scumbags.
I bolted for the roof access door and opened it slowly, thinking I was going to get downstairs and surprise our new guests, but instead, I was greeted by the butt-end of a rifle to the forehead and all went black...Yet again.
Chapter 24
I woke up to a cold rain pounding on my back, as I lay face down in the dirt, with my hands tied behind my back and my feet tied to a pipe.
My face hurt badly and it was hard to open my right eye, but I could see I wasn’t alone outside in the rain. The jerk off I shot on the roof was sitting in a metal chair, about ten feet from where I was tied. He had his leg bandaged up in a dirty, ripped t-shirt, a bottle of something in his lap, and he was snoring.
Awesome... Now that I knew the man was unconscious, it was likely going to get me into more trouble, because now, I had no choice but to try and get away.
I flipped over, to lie on my back, and scooted as close to the pipe where my feet were tied as I could. I was able to reach
the rope my feet were tied with and started untying myself as my captor snored in, what I assumed, was a drunken stupor.
They had tied each foot separately and then tied them together, so it seemed to take forever, but I eventually got the knots undone.
Just as I started scooting in the mud, towards the sleeping idiot, I heard a commotion from inside and had to roll back over to pretend I was still unconscious.
The remaining four guys came out of the store dragging Kamil and Dana behind them. They too were tied up, and Kamil was badly beaten. I couldn’t tell if he was awake or not as they dragged him out into the rain. Dana had a red handprint across her cheek and her clothes were torn some, but other than that, she seemed like she was unharmed.
“Get this whipping boy tied to that tree over there and drop his pants for me. I want him posted up good and proper for me, let the rain wash off his cute, dirty, black ass!”Yelled the big guy Chuck had originally been talking to when we were on the roof.
Chuck, oh no!I didn’t see Chuck at all and all five of the men that attacked us were accounted for out here. I did everything I could to refrain from sobbing at the possible loss of the man we’d just met, who was kind enough to open his place of refuge to us. They had to have killed him; they had to.
“Come on, Sampson, I’m trying to sleep over here and you’re yelling. Can’t you do that quietly?”Said the man in the chair next to me.
“Why don’t you get off your ass and bring that pretty little trigger happy bitch over here, Scotty. We’ll tie her up next to my new toy and you can let the rain wash her down too,”responded Sampson.
“I would if my damn knee wasn’t blown to shit! Jessup! Get over here and take this one’s clothes off. Lettin’the rain wash her off ain't too bad of an idea, while she’s still out. Save me the trouble of having to wash her down later, before I fuck her up good and right!”Scotty said as he took another big swig from the bottle in his hand and rubbed his leg.
“Come on, Scotty. If I do that for you what are you gonna give me? Sampson already claimed the big black guy and said the other girl is off limits. Can't I have at least the second go-round if I help?”Responded Jessup. He was a skinny, white kid who couldn't have been more than nineteen.
