Southern Zombies 5: South of Hell

by Ann Riley

  With us being in a rural area, we don’t see as many now as when it first started.

  “How can we find answers to these questions?” Diane asks me.

  “Why in the hell are you asking me? I’m not the zombie whisperer. Doc should have some answers as far as stasis or starvation for them, but I think the only way to know if they are dying is to go out and look around other areas which are dangerous even if there aren’t any zombies. We have to be wary of survivors too.” I tell her.

  Speak of the devil and he shows up.

  “Hey Doc. Quick question.” I tell him.

  “Do I really want to hear this?” He asks me.

  “Probably not, but you are anyway.” I say.

  “Can zombies starve?” I ask.

  He looks perplexed for a moment. Then looks as if he is in deep thought.

  “I would say yes. If they consume all of their food source, then yes, they can starve. However, they are already dead, and even with them being inanimate, they would still be able to transmit zombiism. So it wouldn’t be like they were dying, they would just cease to function. They will rot and decompose like any other body would, but I think it would be almost accurate to say that they can’t starve to death since they are already dead, they can only become inanimate.” Doc says.

  “So, if a zombie has no more people to eat, you think they would become inanimate, rot, and decompose?” I ask him.

  “Yes. I believe so. You have to remember; there is no data on zombies. None that could be accurate anyway. You can’t have accurate data on something unless it has been tested, and as you know, we’ve never been able to test on a zombie.” Doc tells us.

  “Well, hell.” I say.

  “Would you say that maybe they are becoming inanimate now? I mean, it has been fourteen months since the outbreak happened, so shouldn’t they be dying out now?” I ask him.

  “It’s possible. The only true way to know would be to go out and scout areas, and that’s dangerous.” Doc says.

  “Yeah, no shit.” Diane says.

  “Pontotoc and Lee counties are not that big. We could scout close to home. But going any farther away would be stupid on our part. I say we should look around for survivors, which isn’t very high on my to do list, as we never know what kind of survivors we’ll find. It’s really a shame that people can’t come together and rebuild the world after a catastrophic disaster.” I tell Diane.

  She nods in agreement.

  “Well, what do you think?” I ask Diane.

  “Let’s wait and see what Marc thinks about going out to look around. I think we may get more trouble than we bargain for by doing that. I don’t really think there is a safe way to accomplish this task.” Diane says.

  “Nothing has been safe since the zombies came.” I tell her.

  “Yeah.” She replies.

  I look up to see Tammy heading to us with tears streaming down her face. I elbow Diane and throw a glance towards Tammy. Diane looks up and motions Tammy to sit with us.

  “Rosa just passed away. She went peacefully and in no pain. Robert is saying his goodbyes to her right now; then we will discuss how he wants to handle her funeral.” Tammy says.

  “I’m sorry.” I tell Tammy.

  I start to give her the old saying of “at least she isn’t suffering now”, but I can’t. Rosa was a spiritual woman and Catholic, so I know she was close to God, but that saying has always bothered me for the simple fact that the age old question of “why did it happen to such a nice person” has never been answered for me.

  I have made it known that I am a firm believer in God, but I can’t understand why good people have to suffer with terminal illness and disease.

  People who have lived as close to God’s plan for us as possible and worshipped him their whole life, why are they punished with illness and disease?

  Am I blasphemous? I’m not trying to. But if the balance has to be kept between life and death, couldn’t people who are child abusers, serial killers, rapists and animal abusers be the first in line to be dealt the illness and disease? I know we aren’t supposed to question God, but it does weigh on my mind.

  I had to watch my mother endure cancer. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was fifty-one and had a mastectomy. She survived nine more years’ cancer free, until it metastasized into her bones.

  She started having back pain and went to get an MRI, and she had bone cancer. She lived six months from the day we found she had cancer again.

  During that time, she was in constant pain, regardless of the number of pain pills she took, she couldn’t eat, drink, sleep and her kidneys started failing.

  I had to call the ambulance for her one night due to her not being able to breathe, and she never came out of the hospital.

  She was there three days while they drained fluid from her lungs and she died on the third night.

  That was the night my whole world crashed and burned and sent me into a period of depression, stupid behavior and bad decisions. I turned into a drunk, ended up in the hospital for stomach issues, and just really didn’t give a shit about anything. I finally got my life back together. It took me a few years, but I made it, then our daddy was diagnosed with cancer. Lung and kidney cancer to be exact. He didn’t tell me or my sister and we found out by accident. We had to force him into moving to her home so she could care for him. He lived about five months after we found out he was sick.

  Then three years ago, my best friend was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. She was forty-seven and had a seven-year-old daughter. I watched her go from being a vibrant, hyperactive, funny woman, to being someone who was sick every day and could barely get off of her couch. She was diagnosed in October and passed away the following July. Her concern was for her daughter and parents. She told me she wished she would’ve never found out she had cancer or had taken chemo treatments. She would have rather spent the remaining time she had being active with her daughter instead of being sick every day and not being able to spend quality time with her family.

  I don’t think anyone realizes the effect cancer has on a person until they see someone close to them go through it.

  It doesn’t seem fair to me.

  I snap back to reality from Diane’s elbow in my ribs.

  “What?” I ask her.

  She points toward the fence line that runs along the edge of the trees. I look for a few seconds and don’t see anything.

  “I don’t see anything? Do you have your glasses on?” I ask her.

  “Can you not see them sitting on my nose?” Diane asks.

  “Well, now that you mention it.” I say sarcastically.

  Just what we all need; a smart ass.

  I take another look, and finally see a zombie at the edge of the trees. Then I see another, then another. Soon, there are about seven getting closer to the fence. I look over at Diane, and she shrugs. So much for not seeing many zombies in rural areas.

  “What does that mean?” I ask her.

  “How should I know? I don’t know why they are coming, if that’s what you mean.” She says.

  I ignore her reply and head inside to get my rifle. I grab one for Diane and Tammy on the way back out. They are both staring at the zombies.

  “See anyone you know?” I ask them.

  “You are so wrong for that.” Tammy says.

  “Well, the way y’all are staring, I was just wondering.” I say.

  We start walking to the barn so that we can get in the loft and have a better line of sight. Trey meets us at the barn door with a questioning look on his face. I point to the zombies with my chin while I walk into the barn.

  “Damn it.” Trey says.

  I smile as I continue to amble up the ladder to the loft. It’s not easy to climb with a bum leg. I almost miss a step and fall off the ladder, then hear Tammy snort.

  “Oh, you would love for me to fall so you can torture me some more, right?” I tell Tammy.

  “Don’t be an ass Tracie.” Tammy says.
/>   I flip her the finger.

  The barn has three windows down each side wall, a window at the entrance and a loft window that has a pulley for lowering hay to the ground at the back wall. One side faces Diane and Burrell’s home and the other side faces the woods. Tammy, Diane and I each take a window. Trey goes to the loft window and takes two bales of hay and puts them by the loft window on the floor so that he can use them as a prop for his rifle. I grab the walkie talkie hanging by the window I’m standing in and try to get Bobby and Mitchell’s attention.

  While I’m standing there calling their names, over and over in the walkie talkie, Bobby comes up behind me and says “What?”

  I let out a squeal and slap at him.

  “That’s a good way to get your ass shot off mister. Nice of y’all to show up.” I tell him and Mitchell.

  They both get on the opposite side of the barn to keep an eye on the house.

  “Where is Burrell?” I ask Bobby.

  “With Robert and Doc.” Bobby says.

  I nod. At least he’s not by himself.

  As I turn back to my window, I look over at Tammy to see her standing there with her mouth hanging open. The look on her face resembles surprise, shock, lack of understanding, and wonder; all rolled into one expression. I look out to where she is looking, and I soon have that same look.

  Behind the zombies at the fence, about one hundred yards out, it looks like a wave coming. We are in mid-summer, which means, we have sweltering heat. As I look out across the distance behind the zombies, it looks like a heat wave, a mirage, coming from the ground and shimmering into a line that looks to be about one hundred yards wide. I keep looking and can start to make out human shapes, or zombie shapes. I can’t get a good count because of the sun, but it looks to be more than a few hundred. I see Trey reach in his pocket to pull out his cigarette lighter.

  “What are you doing?” I ask him.

  “Setting a fire on the other side of the fence.” He says.

  “No! If the zombies catch fire and manage to get past the fence, they will burn down everything. Fire won’t stop them and they will continue walking and setting fire to everything they touch.” I say.

  Trey nods.

  Looking back to the window, I can see the number at the fence has doubled.

  I also hear shots coming from the front yard area where Becky is currently on guard duty.

  “Trey, look out of the loft window to the guard tower in the front and see if you can see your mom.” I tell him.

  He looks out, then pulls his head back in and nods at me.

  “She’s firing at a couple of biters that are in the driveway.” He says.

  Diane and Tammy are still looking out across the field at the oncoming horde.

  “Trey? How much gas is in the Pioneer?” I ask him.

  “A full tank. Why?” He asks.

  “Get on it. Get Becky to let you out at the front gate. Drive out into the field and see if you can get close enough to draw the zombies away from their current direction and head them across that field. We have to get as many as we can on a different course. We can’t take on all these and live through it. There’s too many.” I tell him.

  Trey slides down the ladder and I hear the Pioneer start up. I yell over to Bobby and Mitchell to cover Trey while he heads Becky’s way.

  “He’s going to try and draw some of them away from us.” I tell them.

  Something isn’t right. We have never seen this many at one time out this far. We are not in a very populated area and here we have a horde coming at us. This set up smells more disgusting than the zombies.

  I look back at Diane. She is still mesmerized by the sheer number of zombies we have coming at us.

  She must feel me staring at her, because she turns to face me and says, “I finally know what the old saying south of hell refers to now.”

  Yes. I believe we do.

  Chapter 14 –Marc

  Marc and Kelley had a quiet ride to Mr. Radley’s house. Kelley pointed out some zombies, maybe twenty-five, ambling across a field from the highway.

  “I haven’t seen that many together in a while.” Marc says.

  “Me either.” Kelley replies.

  They continue their quiet ride and soon are pulling into Mr. Radley’s driveway. He is sitting on the porch, shotgun across his lap, looking at them as they approach.

  “Well, he isn’t a zombie yet and he looks better than last time we saw him.” Marc says.

  Kelley snorts out a laugh.

  Marc stops the truck and gets out. He throws his hand in the air and calls out to the old man.

  Mr. Radley immediately recognizes him and waves him up to the porch.

  “How are you doing young man?” Mr. Radley asks Marc.

  Marc reaches a hand out to pat Mr. Radley’s shoulder.

  “I’m doing good. I’m glad to see you are too. You look much better than when I saw you last.” Marc says.

  “Man, that shot cleared me right up. I felt like running a mile a few hours after y’all left me. Feeling better every day. I’m telling you, y’all got a good doctor at home.” Mr. Radley tells Marc.

  “Who’s that pretty little girl you got out there?” Mr. Radley asks Marc.

  Marc lets out a whoop, and Kelley flips him the finger.

  “That’s my older sister.” Marc says, putting emphasis on “older”.

  “Come on up here and let me see you girl. I haven’t seen a pretty girl in years.” Mr. Radley says.

  Kelley gets out of the truck and walks up to the porch. She reaches a hand out to Mr. Radley and he takes her hand and places a kiss on it.

  “That’s sweet of you Mr. Radley.” Kelley tells him.

  “I always said a woman should be treated like a queen. I treated my missus like one our whole marriage. I miss that old girl.” Mr. Radley says, with a tear in his eye.

  Kelley places an arm around his shoulder and gives him a hug.

  “Mr. Radley, you are welcome to come with us. We have room. You don’t have to be alone.” Marc tells him.

  Nah. I’ll stay here. I’ll be fine. I can still shoot the balls off a gnat, so I’m not scared.” Mr. Radley tells Marc.

  Kelley and Marc almost choke laughing.

  “I know where you live anyway, and my old truck is still in running condition. Mrs. Radley canned enough food to last us for an eternity, so I’m not going to starve.” He tells Marc.

  Marc nods.

  “If you change your mind, come see us. I’ll be coming back and forth to look in on you.” Marc says.

  “I sure appreciate that young man. This damn shit storm has turned man against man. These damn fools think they own the world now. They don’t have enough sense to see they are slowly helping the zombies wipe out the human race. Bunch of damn ass bags.” Mr. Radley says.

  Kelley and Marc start into another fit of snorting and laughing.

  “Mr. Radley, you take care, and remember if you need us, we’re not far away.” Kelley tells the funny old man.

  “Thank you pretty lady.” Mr. Radley says.

  They say their goodbyes and head to the truck.

  “He’s funny as hell.” Kelley tells Marc.

  “Yeah, he is.” Marc says.

  They leave and head back home.

  Kelley pulls out her wine flask, takes a big drink, and hands it across to Marc.

  “What are you, the wine supplier for the whole family? Where in the hell are you getting all this wine?” Marc asks.

  “I made it.” Kelley tells him.

  “I should have known.” Marc says.

  As they get closer to home, they can see more zombies have gathered in the field and are heading west.

  “Are they heading to our house?” Kelley asks.

  “Kind of looks that way.” Marc says.

  He pulls over on the shoulder of the road and tells Kelley to drive.

  He picks up his rifle from the seat and rolls down his window to get a better look. At this point, they
are about a mile from home. Marc knows that distance is cut down to about three-quarters of a mile the way the zombies are going.

  “Drop your speed to about twenty.” He tells Kelley.

  Kelley slows and reaches over for her rifle that she had placed on the floor of the truck.

  About a half mile from home, Marc sees someone on a four-wheeler, or some sort of ATV.

  The best thing about being so far out is open flat land. No hills, no traffic. Just wide open land where you can see as far as your eyesight will let you.

  “That’s Trey on the Pioneer.” Marc tells Kelley.

  “Well, this don’t look good.” She says.

  They both look out of the driver’s side window at the same time, and let out an audible gasp.

  “Holy hell. They are headed to the house.” Kelley screams.

  “Get closer to Trey.” Marc tells her.

  They finally get close enough so that Trey looks over from his zombie rerouting and sees them. He knows he can’t stop, or all the zombies he is trying to lead away will surround them. Marc sees what Trey is doing and gets into the back of the truck and fires a few shots into the air. As they sit and watch, they can see the zombies come to a dead stop, pun intended, and look to where they heard the dinner bell ring. It looks to be about four hundred or a little more slowly moving toward the house. Marc’s shots were able to distract around fifty and get them to follow behind Trey’s line of admirers he has gathered.

  “Keep circling and see if you can get more to follow you out.” Marc yells to Trey.

  “I’m going to need more gas.” Trey yells.

  Marc grabs a five gallon can of gas he keeps in his truck for times like this. He waves Trey to the truck and leans over the side to put the gas on the Pioneer.

  “Get to the house.” Marc tells Kelley.

  They roll up to the driveway and the first thing Kelley sees is Becky shooting at zombies pressing against the fence at the front gate.

  Marc jumps out and opens the gate for Kelley to drive through and hastily closes it as two zombies head over for their daily meal. Marc shoots them.

  “They are taking us down.” Becky tells him.

  “Get to the barn. Tracie, Bobby, Mitchell, Diane and Tammy are down there trying to hold them off. Burrell is firing from the house at a few that have fallen over the fence.” Becky says.