Southern Zombies 5: South of Hell

by Ann Riley

  It’s been fourteen months or so since the zombies. I can’t keep an actual count anymore. Time seems to have no meaning in everyday life now.

  You wake up at dawn and go to bed when it gets dark. There isn’t any need to monitor time. Why would we? We have no appointments, work, or activities to attend. There is no school for the kids anymore. Tammy and Becky home school the younger ones each day in a classroom they put together in the basement of our home. Doc participates by introducing the older ones to medicine and has them practice bandaging, taking vital signs, and is currently showing them how to give injections via a doll that he brought with him from his office in Jackson.

  We are trying to rebuild some kind of normalcy within the family, but really, how normal can we make it with zombies running around?

  A loud bang on the side of the truck brings me out of my reverie. I look over in time to see an expression on Marc’s face that tells me he is going to unleash the Hounds of Hell on the next biter that hits his truck. When I turn around to look out the back window, I see a couple of sprinters about to grab a hand hold on the side rail of the truck bed.

  “Help me out the window Diane.”

  “What? Why?”

  I point to the back of the truck with my chin and she slides the window open. I put Morgan into the floor of the truck and tell her to lie still.

  “We don’t have time to crawl through, let me in the window. I can shoot from here.” Diane says.

  So much for our hearing.

  Her first shot rings out and it sounds like we are in a tin barrel. The noise is deafening.

  The arm of the first biter veers off to the right and Diane quickly fires again relieving him of his second arm.

  I look around at Bobby and Marc only to see Bobby steering the truck while Marc shoots from his window. I guess the one that hit his truck is having seconds thoughts about his mistake now.

  Diane takes out the two sprinters and there are only a few crawlers left.

  “I’ll come back and take care of those.” Bobby says.

  Finally, we make it to the driveway. As Marc makes the turn, we see a red Ford truck sitting in the upper part of the drive. There are two men in the truck and one standing behind the open driver’s side door.

  “Who is that?” I ask Marc.

  He shrugs.

  I reach for my gun and put Morgan down on the floor behind the seat and tell her to stay there.

  Marc stops the truck and gets his rifle from the floorboard as he hands the walkie talkie over to Bobby.

  Bobby takes the walkie-talkie and presses the button to talk.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” He says into the walkie-talkie.

  No answer. We sit for a few seconds waiting for a reply.

  There is static on the radio and we hear Trey’s voice.

  “Don’t know. They won’t tell us what they want or who they are. They have been here about five minutes. They just keep asking for daddy.” Trey says.

  Bobby looks over at Marc and asks, “Do you know them?”

  “No. I don’t recognize the truck or the driver from here.” Marc says.

  Diane crawls through the back window into the truck bed and takes aim at the driver.

  Marc steps out of the truck. When the driver of the Ford hears our truck door open, he turns to look at us.

  “What do you want?” Marc yells out.

  “I’m looking for Marc.” The man says.

  “You found him, now what do you want?” Marc asks again.

  “I was told that I could come to you for trading a few items.” The man says.

  “What’s your name?” Marc asks.

  “Jared.” The man replies.

  “What do you want to trade Jared?” Marc asks.

  “We need a couple of ATV’s to check the backside of our property. It’s a long walk and the only way to get in and out is with a four wheeler.” Jared tells Marc.

  Marc looks back into the truck at us, then back at Jared.

  “I don’t have two. I have one that we aren’t using. That’s all I have. What do you have to trade?” Marc asks Jared.

  “I can pay you in cash.” Jared says.

  Marc laughs.

  “What in the hell am I going to do with money now? There is nowhere left to spend it. You need to do better than that Jared.” Marc says.

  “I have one hundred rounds for a 30 06 rifle, a case of buckshot and a case of slugs for a twelve-gauge shotgun.” Jared says.

  Marc seems to think about this for a second or two. We need ammo, but we also may need that four wheeler. However, we still have the Honda Pioneer and three extra four wheelers.

  With a decision made, Marc looks back at Jared.

  “Alright. All of you get out of the truck and go to the back. Put your hands on the tailgate and don’t make a move. We have beads on you from three different angles.” Marc tells him.

  We watch as they get out of the truck and slowly move to the tail gate. One of the men looks to be very young. Maybe Jared’s son? The other man could be his brother as he bears a striking resemblance to Jared. All three are decently dressed and well groomed. Normally, that isn’t a big problem, seeing people not well groomed I mean, but when you have an apocalypse, you seem to take more notice of people and how they look. If you see people who are well groomed, then you have to think that even though we have an apocalypse going on, they still try and keep themselves presentable. Maybe they don’t have running water in their homes, electricity or operational plumbing, but they still try to present themselves in a positive way. It would be easy to let yourself go and not care how you look or how you smell, but if you have any pride and are concerned about being well groomed, you will find a way to make that happen.

  The three of them get to the back of the truck and put their hands on the tailgate. Marc tells them to empty their pockets while they stand there.

  “Why? We don’t have any weapons.” Jared tells Marc.

  “That may be so, but I want to be sure.” Marc says.

  The three of them start lining the side of the truck bed with items pulled from their pockets. Knives, bullets, bottle openers, and even a baggie of marijuana. I figure that marijuana will soon become a high production crop since we are not governed by laws anymore. I guess we all have to get through the zombies the best way we can.

  They stand there looking at Marc as if he may shoot them at any second.

  Marc starts walking over to them and looks back to see Diane is standing up in the truck bed with the gun on them.

  “Let me see the ammo you have.” Marc says.

  Jared slowly opens the tailgate and reaches for a plastic tote, like the ones we could buy at Wal-Mart once upon a time with lids for storing items. He slides the tote over to Marc and Marc pulls it to the edge of the truck.

  “How did you know to come here?” Marc asks him.

  “A guy named Terry told me that you might have some things to trade. He said you always have a ton of shit that you buy and trade for and I should check and see if you had an extra ATV.” Jared says.

  “Yeah. I know Terry. Next time, make sure you let my family know who you are and what you want instead of trying to be evasive.” Marc tells him.

  “Yeah, I see that now. You never know who or what you will be dealing with now and I try to take precautions.” Jared tells Marc.

  “Well, you could have gotten shot by not telling anyone who you are.” Marc says.

  Jared nods.

  You would think people would know this by now, but it seems not. By driving up to someone’s home and not telling them who you are and what you want is the best way to get your day ruined.

  Marc turns to walk to the house with the three men following him and I start the truck to drive up. I get an ugly look from Marc as apparently he thinks I may put a dent or scratch on it.

  I can see Trey and Tammy with guns on the roof of the house. I have to smile at seeing Tammy with a gun is something I never thought I would see. Tammy has
always been the tender heart of the family, easy to cry and always emotional when her feelings were hurt. With her being Diane’s youngest child, she was doted on by my mom and spoiled by all of us. She spent a great deal of her time while growing up with my mom and me. She always wanted to stay with her “Mammaw Pauline” and my mom spoiled her. The zom poc has turned her into being a very protective, and sometimes overbearing person, depending on what her focus is on at the moment, who would kill to protect her family. I think it has turned most of us into that person.

  “I would like to say that I’m not sure this is a good idea. I mean, what if they have made this story up just to get a look at how we have everything set up so they can come back later and attack?” I say to Bobby and Diane, who by now has her head poking through the back window.

  “I thought about that. I will talk to Marc about it.” Bobby says.

  When I park the truck and get out, I see Kelley and Robert come from the patio with guns aimed. This looks like a gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

  Jared and his two followers stop and raise their hands. Marc waves a hand at Kelley and Robert telling them to lower their weapons. Kelley looks at Marc like she really isn’t interested in lowering her weapon, but she does to avoid an argument.

  These two, when we were kids, would have fights that would make you believe you were at a WWE wrestling event. Kelley, being the oldest of Diane’s kids, thinks like older siblings do, follow my rules because I am older than you.

  That philosophy didn’t work with Marc. What I can say about Marc is that he didn’t listen to any of us.

  He did what he wanted. He was hell bent on torturing Kelley and me any way he could find to do it.

  To say he was a bad child is an understatement. He never thought about the consequences of his actions, such as shooting us when he got angry with a BB gun. This led to the BB having to be removed by Diane while we screamed bloody murder. We may have grown up fighting each other, but no one on the outside was allowed to fight anyone of us. We stood up for one another when we had to against cousins or other friends.

  Jared and his friends relaxed somewhat. Marc motioned them to follow him to the barn where he kept the ATVs stored. Trey, who had come down from the roof, followed behind them with his rifle under his arm, lowered, but still on alert for any trouble.

  After the excitement, I feel my leg pounding. I go over to sit on the patio in the swing. Kelley walks over and sits beside me. Diane has gotten Morgan out of the truck and is gathering her bags.

  “Who is that?” Kelley asks.

  “Her name is Morgan. We found her and her mom sitting on their porch. Morgan is sick, I believe with Toxo, but her mom had been bitten by a zombie. She begged us to take the baby with us. She knew if she didn’t leave, she would kill her when she turned. So, here she is. I need to find Doc so he can examine her. Maybe he can give her the Toxo vaccine.” I tell Kelley.

  “Poor baby. How old is she?” Kelley asks me.

  “She’s four, and she seems to be a very outgoing child given the circumstances. She’s talkative. She is happy to be able to play with kids her age again.” I tell Kelley.

  “She’ll be fine. Our kids will make her feel at home.” Kelley says.

  “Yeah. That’s one thing we have enough of, kids.” I say.

  Kelley smiles and pokes me in the arm.

  We have four babies under five years old and they are a handful. Like I’ve mentioned, I love kids. But I love the fact that I can love them and give them back to their parents. Especially when they start to cry.

  Doc makes his way from the infirmary to the patio and stands there staring at Morgan as Diane walks up with her in tow.

  “Well, who is this?” Doc asks.

  “My name is Morgan.” She says.

  “Nice to meet you Morgan. Are you not feeling well?” Doc asks her.

  She shakes her head no.

  “We think she may have toxo. Will you take a look at her?” Diane asks Doc.

  He nods.

  “Come on sweetie, so Doc can make you feel better.” Diane tells Morgan.

  Morgan falls in behind Diane toting a teddy bear under her arm.

  “She’s precious.” Kelley says.

  “Yeah. I’m glad we found them when we did. I feel bad that we couldn’t do anything for her mom though.” I tell Kelley.

  Kelley takes my hand and squeezes it as we sit in silence on the swing.

  Chapter 12

  Soon, Marc and his groupies are coming back from the barn. The two guys with Jared push the four-wheeler out of the barn and the younger one gets on to ride it back up.

  Trey is walking up with the older man at his side.

  Finally, they reach the house and Marc tells Trey to get on the Pioneer and go get the ammo from Jared’s truck.

  Trey obliges and heads off on the Pioneer.

  “You know anyone that goes by the name of “Red”? Jared asks Marc.

  Marc takes a minute to think about the question then replies, “The only person I know that goes by that name is dead.”

  “This man is in his late sixties, if the story is true, and owns a lot of land in the Thaxton community. He’s been terrorizing people for months and we have a few who want to fight back against him.” Jared says.

  “How many does he have working for him?” Marc asks.

  “Hell, too many. I’ve heard counts that range as high as one hundred, but like I said, the story may not be true.” Jared tells Marc.

  “It’s probably true. If he is doing what you say he is, I’m sure he has a gang of idiots working with him.” Marc tells Jared.

  “You’re probably right.” Jared says.

  “Do me a favor and don’t send anyone to me for trading. And tell Terry not to send anyone else my way. We don’t have too much left to trade. Besides, I don’t want everyone in the state to know where we live.” Marc says.

  Jared nods.

  “What are you going to do about Red?” Marc asks.

  “I don’t know yet. We have to get rid of him before he kills us all. Maybe the community can get a group together to fight him off. I’ll talk to them when we get back home.” Jared says.

  “Make sure you have people you can depend on. People that won’t run at the first sign of gunfire.” Marc tells Jared.

  Jared nods.

  Trey comes back on the Pioneer with the plastic tote of ammo. Marc directs him to the storage building to unload it.

  “Thanks man. I really needed this four-wheeler to check my back property. I think Red is trying to position men back there to watch us and see what we are doing.” Jared says.

  “Well, don’t go back there without protection.” Marc tells him.

  They shake hands and Jared waves the other two men to the truck.

  We all stand beside the house and watched them back out of the drive and leave. If all encounters would go that well, the world may be able to rebuild. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

  Tammy comes from the medical office and looks forlorn.

  “How is Rosa?” I ask her.

  She just shakes her head.

  “She’s worse?” I ask.

  “Yeah. We are keeping her comfortable with pain medication, but she doesn’t have much longer with us. She is getting weaker and she is beginning to talk nonsense. She thinks she is at work at times; then she thinks she is caring for her kids. I try to sit with her as much as possible. Robert is with her now. I think he is having a hard time coming to the realization that she’s not going to get any better. I hear her talking to him at times. She’s trying to reassure and comfort him and tell him to let her go so she can rest now.” Tammy says.

  “What are y’all doing?” Marc asks me and Kelley.

  “Swinging.” I say with a smile.

  “How is Morgan?” He asks us.

  “She’s still with Doc.” Kelley says.

  At that moment, Doc comes from the medical room.

  “She will be fine. She does have toxo,
but I can treat that. It will take a few weeks, but she should make a full recovery.” Doc says.

  Kelley, Marc and I all breathe a sigh of relief. At least we have some good news.

  “I need to go and check on Mr. Radley. Who wants to go with me?” Marc asks.

  “I will.” Kelley says.

  Diane and I look at each other.

  “What?” Kelley asks.

  “Well….” I start to say but get cut off by Kelley’s banter.

  “You think we may kill each other before we get back?” Kelley asks.

  Diane and I shrug.

  They may be brother and sister, but that has never stopped any arguments, fights and sarcastic comments from either of them. I’m really anxious now to see if they can make a trip together without killing each other on the way.

  While I try to hold my laughing and snorting in, Marc and Kelley gather a few items to take with them. Kelley’s main items to gather is her wine flask and her rifle. I’m not really sure that is a good combination for her.

  Marc walks by me and says, under his breath, “Fuck you.”

  “Hey!” I exclaim.

  “I’m minding my own business here. Leave me alone.” I tell him.

  “You have a special family.” Bobby tells me as he walks over to sit by me.

  “It’s taken you twenty-four years to come to that conclusion?” I ask him.

  He gives me a snort.

  “Let’s go.” Marc yells to Kelley.

  Kelley walks out of the house with her wine flask on her belt and rifle slung across her shoulder.

  “Will you come on? It’s going to be dark soon.” Marc says.

  “I’m coming, give me time.” Kelley says.

  Yes, this should be a very interesting trip.

  Chapter 13

  After Marc and Kelley leave, Diane and I sit and chat. We’ve noticed that the zombie population seems to be dwindling. However, we’re not sure if that is because we live so far out in a rural area, or if they are dying. Can they die, again, I mean. Sure, they are already dead, but can they cease to exist without interference from the remaining survivors? Will they hibernate, go into stasis, or just run out of people to eat? Those are questions we need answers to.